Westwind Digital Communications

As the evolution of computers have gone from a specialty tool to an everyday necessity, so have individuals level of knowledge. I know this is going to be hard to believe, but when it comes to technology, I am an early adaptor. Smartly so on some technologies and a bust on others. A self-taught computer user that loves the newest toys is the best way to describe me. While I was the first kid on the block to get an iPod, I was not one of those that got a Laser Disk Player. In case you missed that fad, it was a DVD on steroids and was about the size of an LP. If I need to digress further back to “What in the world is an LP?”, than this would be a blog on ancient Inca tools and not what is the latest and greatest within the world of voice, data, and video.

There are limits to my knowledge base and I’ll be the first to admit it. However, if it comes down to calling one of my I.T. buddies or heaven forbid a “Help Desk” it usually goes far beyond an easy fix. Unlike my mother-in-law who called me one day because, “Yahoo is missing.” I let you sit and ponder that one.

And then there is my father who works on computers for up to 12 hours a day and needed help getting his music library downloaded on his iPod. Yeah, 45 minutes on Apples website and several restarts later his iPod turned into a Zune to which I simply replied, “I’m going to need to call you back.”

David Fletcher-Hall - Our "go to" guy

Small businesses are much the same way as my parents. They are good at what they do, but not experts in everything. Computers are powerful tools that can both simplify your life, but be very aggravating. Finding a business partner to offset the sides you are not as confident in does not show signs of weakness, but flashes of brilliance. Andrew Carnegie once said, “The secret of success lies not in doing your own work, but in recognizing the right man to do it.” Knowing who to turn to is as easy as asking.

If you read our blog often you see a theme (aside from the random movie quotes) that usually starts, “We were talking to a customer . . . “

Being in business for 20 years you get to see and hear a lot of things. Fortunately this time it was not a situation Westwind Digital or the customer created, but it was a headache we both had to deal with. The topic today is the importance of structured cabling and maintaining the integrity of your investment.

A small business had made the investment when moving into a new office of going with structured cabling. One reason is they went with a VoIP telephone system.

There are many reasons compelling to go with a structured cabling system. Instead of rehashing them, here is a good article citing a few of them.

http://www.technology-toolkit.com/computers-and-technology/what-is-a-structured-cabling-system

What we ran into was an electrical subcontractor that came in behind us. As you can see below, they ran the electrical lines literally on top of ours.

An example of what not to do.

What is the big deal you ask? Great question! Electric lines put out a lot of “noise” and interfere with the signal going through a CAT 5 line even if the cables are shielded. This interference will make any phone sound like you are talking in a tin can and could even knock a computer off the network. Here is an example of what a good structured cable should look like:

What a good run should look like.

Not that we are telling you how to run a business. If you paid for structured cabling, you might as well reap the benefits of having it.

The last blog got me thinking about how it is we convey what it is we do here at Westwind Digital. That seems to be an easy answer, but when talk about technical issues to non-technical people you can see the fog in their brains begin to form. Mind you we all have certain levels of technical talk we can be comfortable with. If you want to see a haze form in my eyes start talking about HTML code or TCP/IP. Zzzzzzzzzz, What? I’m sorry I just woke up.

My 30-second commercial sums it up best when I tell people we help business owners sleep at night. With Westwind Digital they do not need to worry about whether or not their phones are working. They do not need to worry about customer or employee shrinkage because of their video surveillance, and they do not need to worry if their accounts receivable department is able to send out invoices due to I.T. issues. It is a bit simplistic, but it lets the listener know about our three areas of business VOICE, DATA, and VIDEO in terms a business owner can understand and appreciate. Features like unified messaging, voice over IP, and structured cabling are just that, features. People who run small businesses have a hard enough job. Their #1 job is in to make money and if we can help save them money, then that is what will keep us in business.