auza.net

A group of senior managers from Metropolitan Cebu Water District (MCWD) composed of Engr. Joseph Caballes, Engr. Ronnie Legaspi, Engr. Henry Mejor, Engr. Jose Singson, Jr., and Engr. Rommel Yu visited Tagbilaran city on August 14 and 15 to evaluate the city’s first wireless mesh network operated by Auza.Net for possible use in Cebu City to enable MCWD to link up all its wells, reservoir, pressure measurement points and other applications into a single IP based wireless network. Once implemented, the network will enable real time monitoring and control as well as make data collection very efficient removing the error prone manual reading and paper based data collection methods.

The group was accompanied by Juner Yaneza, of Raynetworks, Inc. (SkyPilot Philippine Partner), Gregg Tecson of Telepoint and Junrey Obe�ita of Auza.Net. The group evaluated the network performance at various nodes, including the longest link of 9 kilometers at Bolod, Panglao.

Tagbilaran has the largest wireless mesh network in the Visayas using the SyncMesh technology and equipment from SkyPilot Networks, Inc (www.skypilot.com). Deployment is very flexible and it is possible to have a private network between two or more offices that is secure and reliable at a very reasonable monthly cost. Using VLAN technology, the private network nodes act as a LAN switch allowing users to link up computers and applications between nodes seamlessly yet securely.

Masigasig Magazine, a supplementary publication to the Enterprenuer Magazine by Summit Media featured Tagbilaran City and Auza.Net in its July 2008 issue. Masigasig described the city as a gateway to Bohol and narrated on various reasons why it is a potential location for investement in IT enabled businesses. One of the reasons stated is the presence of SMITEs or Small and Medium IT Enterprises in Bohol already doing IT enabled services. Auza.Net was featured as one of these SMITEs and the DYRD-AM worldwide broadcast website www.dyrdam.com was given as an example of the company’s successful ventures.

Auza.Net published its maiden issue of the Auza.Net Technology Updates publication printed in the Bohol Chronicle on July 13, 2008.  This one page publication showcases Internet based technologies that are relevant to Bohol and to Boholanos and is published in the Sunday edition of the community newspaper.  The company aims to help businesses utilize new technologies to improve business operations, the academic community to leverage free and open technologies as primary and supplementary educational tools and the home users to get the most out of computers.

DYRD-AM Worldwide will celebrate its 1st year anniversary on July 8, 2008 with a special program to commemorate the successful broadcast of DYRD-AM around the world through www.dyrdam.com website.  Auza.Net is proud to have sustained this endeavor for this long and the company continues its commitment to serve the Boholano community through the online broadcast for many more years to come.

Please listen to the launching ceremonies held on July 8, 2007 at the Prawn Farm at the Island City Mall.

This year’s on-the-job-trainees or OJTs culminated the 2008 Summer OJT program in a simple but memorable celebration at the Auza.Net activity center on June 7, 2008. The OJTs expressed their gratitude for the knowledge and experienced gained over the previous two months. This year’s OJT program focused on web development using WordPress. The OJTs were able to develop and/or update at least 14 websites in coordination with various partner organizations including the Bohol Tourism Council, KIA, K&N Productions, Philippine Information Agency and DYRD-FM.

Visit our OJT website at www.techsier.org for more details on the OJT program of Auza.Net.

Auza.Net completed Tagbilaran’s first wireless mesh network on April 8, 2008 with its first mesh node installed in Catarman, Dauis, Bohol. The mesh node connects to the gateway node at the company’s facilities and will enable network connections from the city to Panglao, Dauis and Baclayon. The company installed its gateway node in December 2007 to serve clients in the vicinity of the company.

Businesses requiring private networks or business grade Internet access service may now avail of such services allowing them to do business in the coverage area. Because the service is wireless, installation is quick and can usually be completed in one day. Private networks allow companies to interconnect their businesses without exposing company information and data to the Internet, increasing security. It also avoids the latency and complexity involved in using residential grade Internet services for private networks which can significantly decrease performance of company applications.

Each node can serve customers up to 10kms away and can be given flexible network bandwidth capacities. With a total capacity of 10MBPS, the mesh network is capable of serving large network requirements. Currently 5MBPS is used or reserved by existing clients of Auza.net and the system may be upgraded with another 10MBPS capacity as needed.

The mesh network has proven to be stable and reliable with latency from customer to gateway node at 10ms average only. Packet loss was recorded at 17 packets per million which is virtually zero packet loss.

The Summer OJT program of Auza.Net for 2008 will start on April 9 with at least 15 qualified candidates from a total of 29 applicants.  The promising students will be given real-world application of their knowledge in IT.  In 2007, the OJT program resulted to the release of the worldwide broadcast of DYRD-AM via http://www.dyrdam.com.  The website http://www.boholweb.com was relaunched also on that year.  In that year also as well as in previous years, the OJTs were able to implement various networking requirement for Auza.Net’s office and customers.

This year, Auza.Net will attempt to scale up significantly the effort to publish useful business, educational, and entertainment information.  Several websites will be implemented and a lot of information will be collected and published.  The company hopes to help businesses and organization find useful information quickly and at the same time provide a venue for advertising companies, products and services for free to help small and medium businesses in promotions.  With a large team of OJTs this year, the company anticipates a fast paced OJT program this year.

The team at Auza.Net welcomes its OJTs for Summer 2008!

Auza.Net sponsors the website of the Philippine Tarsier Foundation, Inc. starting March 2008. The website address is http://www.tarsierfoundation.org.  The company hopes that by providing information about one of Bohol’s icons, the tarsier, it can contribute to its preservation. The foundation is currently encouraging donors to support its various programs. For more details, please send email to tarsier_foundation@yahoo.com.

Auza.Net now supports an enterprise ready accounting system that has all functionalities required by any business, big or small, through an SAAS (Software As A Service) model starting February 2008. Auza.Net uses SQL-Ledger from (www.sql-ledger.org), an open source double entry accounting system that is web based and feature rich. The cost of maintaining an electronic record of all company transactions will be dramatically reduced through this service. At the same time, connectivity with branches and satellite offices will no longer become an issue assuming these are connected to the Internet.

In the SAAS model, the computers containing the application are hosted at a data center with multiple network connections, multiple power sources and highly secure facilities. This ensures very minimal downtime, if any, at the same time, spreads out the cost of the system on a monthly basis.

To setup up your own servers with high uptime and reliability, you need at least multiple Internet connections, backup power and high quality hardware. For this, you can easily spend Php 100,000. Then add the monthly costs for manpower, maintenance, power failures and insurance, it can easily cost another Php 3,000 to 5,000 monthly. SAAS allows you to start the service with minimal upfront costs and at reasonable monthly fees (this varies depending on the level of services required).

The servers are hosted in the U.K. and uses a Solaris based platform which is known for its rock-solid stability. Security, availability and reliability are assured by the provider while allowing the customers to perform their own local backups for added security of the data.

In SAAS model, the subscriber does not need to buy the software or get a license. The only upfront cost that would remain is the consulting fee which will be determined depending on the level of support services required. Using other solutions require you to buy a software license and for enterprise applications, this can run into millions.

Auza.Net offers 30-day free trials for interested parties. For more information, please send email to info@auza.net

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.