auza.net

With crime rate already on the rise in Tagbilaran City, video surveillance has become a necessity for many businesses and homes to help deter attacks from criminal elements and prevent employee pilferage of company materials and inventory. You bought the video cameras that record the data digitally on your computer. Now what should you do next?

It is now possible to view the monitored areas remotely using the Internet as the “path” for the data. A business owner travelling in Manila can open his browser on his laptop, connect to the Internet and then open up the camera’s IP address to view the video stream. However, not all Internet access services will work properly with video stream.

An important thing to note is that published bandwidths of most Internet subscriptions are for the download data traffic. Upload traffic is normally very small compared to download traffic. Video cameras upload the video data so at the camera location, you need to get an Internet access service with data rates for upload and download are the same and if you foresee that you will be viewing the video stream for 24×7, you need to get dedicated Internet access service. Otherwise, the video, when viewed remotely, will be very choppy.

It is also possible to avoid using the Internet for the video stream path as long as you are able to deploy your own branch office connections within Tagbilaran or subscribe to wide area network services that may be provided in your area. A local area interconnection service will provide a very low latency from the server location to the client location.

A very interesting service that Google, the largest search engine on the Internet, has recently released for beta use is called Google Trends. It allows the user to see the search volume for a certain keyword for the past few years. This information is very powerful if you are relying on the Internet for marketing or selling your products.

For example, if you are in the tourism industry, you would know if the keyword Bohol has gained more popularity over other provinces. You would also know if which cities in the Philippines the search volume originated. That then enables you to target certain cities for your Internet marketing effort.

Have a look at this and you will see that search volume for the keyword Bohol has increased slightly in 2007 compared to previous years. However, when compared with Cebu, you will see that Cebu has been searched on a much higher scale vs. Bohol and this search volume has increased significantly in 2007. The Bohol trend is actually relatively flat when viewed together with Cebu. What does this mean? This could mean a lot of things, like we are not marketing Bohol as much as Cebu, or there are much lesser people interested in doing business in Bohol vs. Cebu and so on. There could be a lot of reasons but that is beyond the scope of this article.

Google trends can be a very powerful tool for Internet based business activities. You should try it today.

Probably one of the commonly used yet most misunderstood technologies is the Internet.  And perhaps its most misunderstood element is the capacity of a user’s Internet access subscription often termed as Internet Bandwidth.  With the proliferation of Internet access services priced at around Php1000 per month or even lower with bandwidths published as “up-to” 2MBPS or even higher, many frustrated users ask why is a 2MBPS connection still slow to load a normal webpage?

Internet connection from the Philippines going out to the world is done through submarine fiber optic cables going from the Philippines to Taiwan, Hongkong and other countries that serve as hubs for interconnections.  Just image the cost of laying out thousands of kilometers of expensive cables submerged into deep ocean, then include the cost of operating it and repairing any cable faults.  That’s not going to be cheap to use this interconnection service.

The very large bandwidth specifications published by many Internet Service Providers, including telcos like PLDT, Smart and Globe, is generally a marketing ploy.  It gives you an illusion that your connection is going to be very fast.  And this is true, when you are the only one using it.  When you look at the fine print, most likely you will see a zero committed information rate or CIR, which technically means they are not committing to any service rate at all.

So in order to be able to offer Internet access at Php1000/month given that the international connections is expensive, the service providers “share” the connection among its subscribers.  A 2MBPS connection with zero CIR is probably shared by a hundred or so users, although of course, the service providers will not divulge this information.  Zero CIR can also mean if there is no service (or zero information rate), then there is no obligation by the provider to fix the issue because they are not committing to any information rate.

Even if CIR is published, you should note where the CIR is measured.  If it is measured at the provider’s facility to your facility or home, then that’s not yet the real CIR because that CIR doesn’t include yet the data traffic going out of the country yet. It can only mean data traffic from you to the provider’s facility.  CIR should be measurable up to at least the US border connections.  A CIR of 64kbps and bandwidth of 1MBPS means you can use 1MBPS if it is available but if there are many simultaneous users, you can still use 64kbps, because the service provider has committed to provide that.  This also means that the service provider can only serve 16 clients per 1MBPS bandwidth.

Shared connections is subject to congestion when many users use the service at the same time, yet it is not necessarily a bad thing though since it allows cheap access to the Internet for many users.  But if your business or transactions require consistent Internet access service 24×7, you need to consider Internet access service with CIR measured at the U.S. borders.

Auza.Net deployed the initial wireless node for its wireless mesh network in Tagbilaran City on December 4, 2007.  A first in Tagbilaran and in Bohol, the project is part of the company’s thrust to provide carrier grade network services that may be used for high quality Internet access with dedicated bandwidth, private networks to connect branch offices and surveillance applications. With a total capacity of 10MBPS (upgradeable in 10MBPS increments), the infrastructure is expected to provide multiple services for the company’s clients. At high density areas, prepaid WiFi service will also be deployed.

Auza.Net used the SkyPilot family of products distributed by RAY Networks, Inc. to implement its wireless mesh network. The mesh network can serve clients with business grade Internet connectivity requirements such as call centers and other BPO firms. Businesses requiring online transactions between its branches or partners within the service area can also subscribe to Auza.Net’s private network service. City wide video surveillance requirements is also possible.

Latency between service nodes is expected to be within 15ms for single hop nodes, allowing for real-time applications to be implemented throughout the city. Busineses can simultaneously access POS applications, video surveillance and the Internet across their branches and partners.

Service bandwidth specifications are sold at 64kbps increments and is currently limited to the initial capacity of 10MBPS. Clients expecting to require such services should contact Auza.Net via at info@auza.net. Please state your network capacity requirement, locations and expected service start and duration. Currently we already have a reservation of 4MBPS total. The wireless mesh network is expected to be operational with the initial clients on December 8, 2007 and service areas will be expanded each month. Auza.Net will also expand to Panglao within the first quarter of 2008.