LINK project and pictures

This is my final project

ISP

Original questions:

How does an Internet Service Provider work?

1.       How do they get their bandwidth? (Middle Mile, Fiber Transport, Century Link CO…)

2.       How does aggregated bandwidth get out to the World Wide Web and back? (First Mile - Egress points in Denver, ABQ, Grand Junction – Level 3, Global Crossings, AT&T … routers, switches, IP addresses…)

3.       What are the different forms of ISPs (Phone companies – wired and cellular , cable companies, local ISPs Wireline: copper, fiber, coax, wireless types – licensed and unlicensed, mobile/cellular)?

4.       How does Brainstorm distribute internet to customers? And how does each delivery type actually work? Describe and chart (Dial Up, DSL (shared line with phone and stand-alone), remote DSLAMs,  T1s, fiber, Ethernet over copper, pt. to pt licensed wireless, pt to pt unlicensed, fixed wireless – access points, Wifi, WiMax?

5.       How does a wireless installation work – describe the steps, equipment and tools involved?

6.       How does a T1 or DSL installation work? How do field repairs work for these?

7.       What is VoIP and how does it work?

8.       How does email work?

9.       How do websites work? Web hosting?

10.   How does Brainstorm support customers that are having issues? How does the tech support system work (calls, trouble tickets, notes in Plat, remote repairs, field repairs, and follow-up?

11.   How does Brainstorm keep track of all its customers and bill them correctly?

12.   What are the geographical areas that Brainstorm serves – provide a basic coverage map?

13.   What are the positive things that Brainstorm does for the community?

Summary for your 3 weeks:

1.       The five most interesting things you learned the past 3 weeks in general?

2.       The five most interesting areas of technology you became exposed to?

3.       Areas of technology you are most interested in that you’d like to explore or learn more about?

4.       If you could create the perfect technology job for you what would it be (feel free to combine any of the areas you have been exposed to)?

How does technology and the internet impact different types of companies and entrepreneurs?

1.       Short summary of what the company or individual does.

2.       How do they use technology/the internet to run their business?

3.       How does technology/the internet help in their business success?

4.       What areas of the business or their use of technology is the most interesting to them?.. and to you?

Answers:

1.      Brainstorm is an internet provider, but they have to get their internet from larger companies that provide internet to ISPs. The chain of internet supply starts with a very large internet provider which owns large parts of the internet fiber optic network. These companies are called tier 1, for example AT&T and Sprint. Next are tier 2 providers, smaller then tier1, these companies distribute to ISPs and directly to some customers, for example "Cable and Wireless" or KCOM group. These companies own the infrastructure that provides internet to smaller companies. The internet is distributed to companies like Brainstorm who are tier 3 networks; the internet goes out through their towers and wires to homes and businesses. Brainstorm is provided internet bandwidth through Hurricane Electric, Fast Track and Eagle Net.

2.      Many people ask what the internet is. Where is it kept? Who owns it? But these are the wrong questions. The internet is not made up of a specific building or company. The internet is a system built entirely of different web pages and services. Every web page has its own server bank and storage. When you connect to the internet, the first thing you see is usually a news company or a search engine, like Google. This is just a webpage that you have requested to view by entering its URL in the address bar at the top of your internet browser. When a web page gets a request from your computer it sends packets of information from wherever its specific servers are located through a fiber optic grid that connects all the different server banks making up the internet. These information packets are sent back through the different levels of internet providers to your local provider and finally to your computer. All information packets sent over the internet have an address. Search engines help you organize the different web pages on the internet. But you can create your own web page without having to build a server. This is because companies build servers and then rent them out to people to host their web pages, similar to renting space in an apartment. Your web page is still somewhere on a server sending and receiving information packets. The internet is really a web. A net of fiber optic cable connecting all the different servers and users.

3.      Their are many different companies that provide internet service, many of them to one another. Their are the large multinational corporations like AT&T that then provide internet to smaller ISPs which then again provide it to smaller local companies. Their are many different types of service providers as well. Wild Blue is a satellite internet provider sending internet to remote places via satellite. Verizon wireless provides internet via cell phones and other mobile devices. For details on other forms of providing internet see table.

4.      Once the bandwidth is provided to an ISP it is then distributed in several different ways. First, the internet must travel through their main server building, where it is routed to either, towers for wireless connection or through DSL cables for direct connection. When the internet enters the house through either the DSL phone line or a wireless radio, it is sent through a router. Routers are used to distribute the internet in that house and provide Wifi. Routers can be used to set the speed of a connection by either given a roaming IP address or set to a specific IP. If the router is set to roaming, it will randomly switch between IP addresses in the IP bank that the ISP owns, the speed of the internet will be determined by how clear the connection to the tower is or how far it is from the central server station. When a router is set to a specific IP the ISP is able to isolate it and channel faster internet specifically to that IP address, boosting the speed.

5.      For wireless installation their has to be existing towers in place to connect with. A radio is attached to the side of the house and aimed toward the tower. Wireless radios come in many different forms such as dishes or square panels. A LAN cable is fed from the radio into the house and connected to a router. See paragraph above.

6.      T1 or DSL works by sending internet through a copper cable instead of over wireless. Repairs to the actual cable have to be done by excavation. When the wire reaches the house it travels through a modem like other internet options. A T1 line is a grouping of 24 DSLs. For more detailed information see illustration.

7.      VoIP refers to phones service over the internet. A VoIP phone does not incur long distance fees and works on a different principle then normal analog phones. Originally, voice was sent as a frequency through copper cables and then directed through a switch board back to the person you wanted to call. With a VoIP phone your conversation is broken down into the type of information packets that transmit over the web. They each have an address to the IP address of the phone on the other end. The information packets are reassembled and then you can communicate back and forth. This does not mean that you cannot talk to people who still have analog phones. When calling an analog phone number your packets are addressed to the switch board and their they are decoded and sent through copper wire. On the way back the process is done in reverse.

8.      Email works much the same way as any other process on the internet. Your email client is a webpage that you go to, to write your message.

9.      As I mentioned before, a website is an address in a server. This address is called an IP and when you request information from a web page, your computer sends information packets to this IP. The IP then sends back the required information and this shows up as the web page on your computer. "Web hosting" is allowing people to pay for space on a server in order to store their web page and IP address.

10.  When Brainstorm helps a customer, they try to trouble shoot the issue by asking the customer to try different processes, depending on the result, they can then determine what the problem is. Brainstorm has a program that allows them to directly monitor the strength of the internet connection between towers, so sometimes they already know what the problem is. If the problem requires direct tech support, the customer must bring in the equipment. But, if the issue is with a tower or radio, they will create a work order through their software Platypus, that the field tech can then reference when they are attending to the job.

11.  Brainstorm uses a program called Platypus to catalog their customers and notify them as to when they need to pay their bill. Platypus can also be used to write notes on particular accounts and send out work orders for field tech. Platypus allows anyone that has access to instantly check the data base and find valuable information such as address or telephone number. This is incredibly helpful for doing repairs or contacting the customer.

12.  

13.  Brainstorm provides internet to people who are more remote than most. Large companies would not bother putting up infrastructure in these remote areas because their is not a lot of money to be gained. Brainstorm is local and works with businesses to create positive change in the community. They do not outsource their tech support to other countries but hire locals and pay them well so that their customers get the best help possible.

Summery of the last 3 weeks

1. The five things I found the most interesting were wireless installs, learning about how wireless networks operate and provide internet, learning how companies use technology to maintain their businesses, seeing the servers in the telecommunications hub and learning how much effort is required just to have a public internet connection.

2. The six areas of technology that have stood out to me as most interesting are programming, networking, tech support, design of hardware (robotics, phones, watches), website and graphic design.

3. I would really like to learn more about robotics and web design. I talked with several different people on these subjects and they grabbed my attention as jobs that would keep me excited and motivated.

4. The perfect technology job for me would be the design and testing of drones, where I got outside for tests but also some desk work programming and designing the physical robot.

Brief summery of businesses I have visited in the last 2 weeks

Stone Age develops tests and sells tools for high pressure water cleaning.

They use multiple different computer programs for 3D imaging and constructing of their products. They have a computer program that simulates the amount of pressure from the water passing through the equipment. Most of their computers are set up using only a couple servers and no towers; all computers are linked together and are called Virtual Machines. Your particular work station can be accessed from any of the access terminals.

Internet plays a major role in ordering, corresponding, tracking packages, clearing customs for selling over seas, Internet is used for phone calls using VoIP. With out internet or technology they would not be able to supply as many customers with their products. Shipping would take much longer and ordering would not be as fast. Instead of using computers to create 3D models they would have to build them by hand. Testing would take much longer because all of the scenarios would have to be individually played out in real life instead of simulated. Everything would be filed in paper and not be as easy to find or organize.

We found the idea that a 3D model could be created on a computer and then sent to the machine shop and created exactly how you designed it virtually, (down to a millionth of an inch) was the most interesting part of their system.

Audio Air is a company that designed a modem that transmits the sound of the television to an app that you can download on your phone. Bars can rent these modems so that their customers can listen to what ever TV they want. They use the internet as the very back bone of their business. Without it they would not be able to sell abroad and no one would be able to download their app. Their second largest source of income is through selling ad space on their app or on the TV. This would also be impossible without the internet. They can use the placement of the modems to specializes the type of ad sent your phone. My favorite part is that the theme of the app changes depending on what bar you are in.

Duffy is a free lance web consultant and webpage designer. He also does advertising. He uses Word Press to design his websites. This means he is a "Front end" designer, this means he works with the part of the internet that people actually see. A "back end" designer actually writes code such as HTML. Using word press he can create a web page within hours, where as a backend designer would take much longer. Obviously he would have no job without the internet. I found it very interesting that you can make money by creating something that does not actually exist. I find it fascinating that we have grown to put value on things that are nothing more than electrical synapses. The thing that interested him the most was that the larger the field of things you do the more local you have to be, and the smaller and more specialized your skills the broader the range of your customer base.

I also got to meet with The City of Durango but I was not able to talk long with them, they seemed to have a system much like Stone Age with virtual computers and virtual servers. Without the internet the city of Durango would not have as accurate maps and would not be able to remotely control utilities. They would not be able to remotely access the computers of their employees to trouble shoot. They would not be able to monitor the location of their police cars or save the video from the cameras on those cars. My favorite part was the 3 dimensional maps that were made using satellite mapping.

Southwest Connects is a local business that attempts to catalog all of the talent and human resources in the 4 corners and allow people to find the people they need. They rely on the internet to save these different profiles. Their business goal is to allow people to find better matches for teams or work groups so that the full potential of the Southwest can be utilized. They also use their website to monitor statistics about social trends. Humans can understand subtle things very easily and computers can monitor statistical things very easily. Working together they allow for clearer understanding of a situation. The most interesting idea I found at Southwest Connects was that they believed the industry was going to change from being a very money oriented system to an open source type program.

Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory makes chocolate candies and ships them. They use technology in many different ways, they use the same virtual servers as Stone Age. They used to use paper filling systems, but now they have scanned in all their documents, so that they can look up a name or order number and be able to see that document instantly. Like Stone Age, Skype and VoIP phones are used for long distance communication. They have a program that allows them to see though all the security cams in any of their stores. They also have a monitoring system that allows them to see exactly how many of every kind of chocolate they sell and how much profit is made from a particular product. This works for all the stores they own, including the ones in Japan and the Middle East. They use software to monitor how many sales they are making at all of their stores and allows them to predict up to 3 days in advance how much they have to produce with their machines. All of their machines are also controlled by their network. My favorite part of their technology was their ability to see into any of their stores.

Seccuro provides IT, security, telecommunications and limitless tech support to all of their customers. They also use virtual computers to supply all of the companies that use their services. They have their own server room, but create, supply and maintain servers for their customers, they maintenance computers as well. They service some banks and hospitals so they have to stick to a security system called HIPAA. The thing I thought was the most interesting was the fact that they maintained their telecommunications network 99.99 percent of the time, when the standard is almost 15% less.

Durango Space is a small company that works with startups to invest. They also have a service called messenger pigeon that allows people to put stickers on their things and then find them again though an app. Jim and I talked a lot about careers and the direction technology is going. We talked about how everything is either getting very small or very large. For instance Google and Samsung are competing to create a wrist watch that would allow consumers to have their smart phones on their wrists. On the other hand, computers are now using vast numbers and trying to find trends and patterns in human nature. My favorite part was watching some videos about robots and some creations that MIT are working on.

Fast Track is a tier 2 internet supplier who develops the infrastructure of fiber optics in the four corners. Fiber optics are very thin strands of glass that travel through cable. Light can be pulsed through the cable in a pattern of 1s and 0s so that data can be transferred from one end to another. This light can be broken down into different colors in a spectrum and each color can be pulsed individually to create individual channels through an individual strand. Fiber optics travel at the speed of light but can decrease over time. One of the things I found the most interesting was that to make the light travel farther, very strong lights were pointed at the strand and the molecules of that light would speed up the light already passing through the strand. I got to splice a strand of fiber optic on my own.

I also went to a local business that supplied virtual computers and cloud service. They introduced me to the idea of a different type of operating system than Microsoft or Apple. Lynx and the different variables of it are an open source free operating system that allows you to change and customize your interface. Currently, Lynx is less restrictive to work than any other operating system.

J3 Media is a business that does webpage creation and graphic design. They mostly use open source webpage design software called Mura and Word press. They demonstrated how easy it was to create a web page by just plugging in different links or dragging and dropping pictures and headers. I saw some web pages they designed and business cards they had created.