Restandards Institute

After several years of using my laptop computer, I noticed that my Hewlett Packard power supply was not providing me with the battery life that it once had. I knew that batteries lost their charging capabilities over time, just as my cell phone battery did. While I could afford to go out and buy a new cell phone every two years, I could not say the same thing about my laptop. I had spent close to one thousand dollars on my laptop and had no intention of replacing it. I needed to look into options for purchasing a replacement Hewlett Packard power supply.

I inspected the cords and the adapter and they seemed to be in great condition so I rationalized that the problem with my Hewlett Packard power supply for my laptop must be my battery. I looked on-line and was pleased to find that I could purchase a new battery for my laptop model for a low price. When my new battery arrived I installed it and charged it right away. I realized that there was once again a significant difference in the life of my battery, only this time it was in my favor. Problem solved!

I was also having some problems with my desktop computer. It seemed as if my Compaq Presario memory was close to being used up because my computer was running sluggish. Finally, a warning pooped up informing me that I had used x amount of memory space and that my computer’s memory was running low. This was another instance where I depended upon my computer on a daily basis and I needed it to function properly but I did not have the money to replace the whole computer or the time to spend transferring over all of my important files. I needed to explore other options.

I scoured the internet once again looking for Compaq Presario memory upgrades. I had assumed that this fix would be more expensive and a lot more technical than replacing my battery. I almost could not believe the prices that popper up for upgraded memory chips. They were completely affordable and they also came with step by step instructions for installing the chip into my exact model. Once the memory chip arrived I installed it immediately. The Compaq Presario memory upgrade was a very simple process and I could tell that my computer was running more efficiently immediately.

As the owner of a 300-employee business in Santa Monica, finding a local partner to develop my business’s network was important because I knew that a Southern California-based ISP would provide me with the best service at competitive prices. I needed to find someone who could provide me first with Los Angeles colocation for our servers, to ensure that we had backup and support for our network if it were to ever crash. As a business that generates a good deal of revenues from online traffic, it’s important that we keep our site operational at all times, and the collocated host option is one that has benefited us in a few ways, which I’ll mention in a second. We also looked for a company that would bundle our colocation with a Los Angeles Wimax solution, which we learned would be far less expensive than and as reliable as a fixed-line system like DSL, cable, or fiber-optic as far as a last-mile connection is concerned.

Our partner in the project was able to provide both of these services at an outstanding value, and with the assurance of service and quality that comes with working a  small business that has its reputation at stake in the small community. The company’s Los Angeles colocation center is by far the most sophisticated I’ve seen, and I toured them all personally when deciding where our services should be kept. A smaller client list makes it easy for the network operators to allocate bandwidth as is necessary to deal with peaks and valleys in network capacity usage, and an extremely impressive streamlined network architecture makes the website and our access to our own back-end data much faster, more reliable, and more stable than it has ever been.  Network operators monitor things 24 hours a day and can identify potential problems before they bring the storefront down.

The Los Angeles Wimax solution I received was also second-to-none. While Wireless last-mile technology in an urban environment may be counterintuitive, the convenience and low cost literally made it impossible not to buy laptops for any employees who wanted them – a promise that I know is likely to pay off by making them more productive at their work.

Bottom line: when planning your network infrastructure and IT solutions, talk to a local partner who deals with lots of small businesses like yours and won’t implement a cookie-cutter corporate solution. Doing so for my business saved us a bundle and gave me the confidence that our network and infrastructure is safe with a partner who has my best interests at heart.