There’s nothing funny about telecommunications. It’s straight forward, serious. Dare I say even a little geeky? It’s a reputation well earned. After all, we all rely on the telecommunications geek factor to keep the work world turning. The phones, our computers, and the Internet demand reliability.
Traditionally, SDN’s advertising has matched that persona. Straight forward. Just the facts. Nothing remotely funny.
That changes this week. You may have seen hints of what was to come – a shark in our front page Argus Leader banner on Monday. The jaws have even made appearances in the
An illustrated shark will swim on a television screen near you to help explain what SDN can do for your business. The shark represents office time killers:
- Internet that’s too slow
- Office phone systems that don’t quite work
- Connectivity among your branch offices that just don’t sync
Those problems kill productivity. SDN is the answer: the shark slayer.
It’s all an illustration, of course, but like any 30-second commercial it’s meant to capture attention. We think it will. In the days ahead, I’ll blog more about how we arrived at this campaign, and what went into it behind the scenes.
Vernon Brown
Marketing Manager
Those interested in technology have no shortage of learning opportunities from SDN Communications this week. Infinera, our partner helping us power the REED Network, will roll in with its truck full of high-capacity fiber optic equipment. That event is open in our parking lot, 10am - 2pm, Wednesday, June 25th.
Quantum Storage will offer an important session on its product the next day at 10am, Thursday, June 26th at the Holiday Inn City Center. This Lunch and Learn will address the ever-growing concerns businesses have in how to keep data and keep it safely.
There’s still time to register for either event. To register or get more information, call or email Julie Hoyer at 605.978.3525 or julie.hoyer@sdncommunications.com
Vernon Brown
Marketing Manager
Another great “Tech Radio” show is in the bag for South Dakota Public Broadcasting. We don’t normally have a show on the fifth Friday of the month, but we pinch-hit for “Food for Thought”.
Some great emails today including questions on those digital picture frames that are coming loaded with viruses; how do we avoid spreading the virus? That’s tough since just connecting the picture frame to your computer allows the virus to propagate to your machine. Our advice was to research online the model of the picture frame you want to buy to ensure you are not getting one with a virus. We got questions on small form factor laptops, digital rights management installation problems, the second generation of the Amazon Kindle, and using older printers with Vista Premium.
“Tech Radio” featuring the Computer Guys is a call in show, and today was no different. A caller from Rapid City asked about using Quicken 2000 with Vista and not being able to print. The Computer Guys suggested upgrading Quicken to the latest version, as Vista can be finicky about working with older software. Another caller from Hot Springs got us on the topic of Google Earth and all its amazing and fun features, as well as the requirements to run it with all the bells and whistles. Finally, our last caller from Sioux Falls let us know that his printer issue from last week was resolved with some registry hacks and now everything works fine. Tune in for our next show of call-in tips, geek toys, and banter on noon central time, June 13th.
Amos Aesoph
Supervisor of SDN Corporate IT
“Computer Geek”
Sometimes it takes a party to recognize where you’ve been.
We had one at SDN on Tuesday, May 20th celebrating the opening of our new building. We affectionately refer to it as the Pet Store because the space used to be occupied by
As marketing readied for the event, I couldn’t help but think about how far our Technologies Division has come. It started the same year I did at SDN – 2002 – with just three employees. Two of them remain with us today –
Today that little acquisition has resulted in a financially strong business employing 18 of our more than 100 SDN employees. They’ve installed phone systems in the region’s largest companies, networked countless computers, and cabled hundreds of miles inside buildings. In fact, the U.S. Navy recognized the Technologies Division with a Letter of Commendation for the quality and timeliness of its work at the Pensacola Air Base, which SDN helped restore after Hurricane Ivan’s destruction.
The Technologies Division services have grown every day over the last six years, but it’s like raising a child: you don’t recognize the growth until one day he’s graduating. The ribbon cutting was our graduation. We sent invitations, more than 75 gusts showed up, we shared the accomplishments, ceremoniously cut the ribbon, and had a party. The only thing missing was the cake!
Many companies talk about reliability and customer service, but how many have their customers talking sincerely about it on television.
SDN Communications is proud to unveil its new commercial campaign today where real customers reveal real feelings about the SDN experience. The spots feature executives from companies with South Dakota household names, such as Daktronics, Trail King, and L.G. Everist. Click here to see the spots for yourself.
One of the great joys of working for SDN Communications is to see how passionate customers are about the services they receive from us. In each case of the above named companies, the executives happily agreed to talk about broadband connectivity, internet, and phone system services they’ve received because they view their relationship with SDN not as a vendor, but a partner in their business. We’re proud to serve them. We hope you enjoy hearing from them.
Vernon Brown - Marketing Manager
Timing is everything. Especially in the research world.
To borrow and tweak a phrase from FedEx, when data has to absolutely, positively be there in minutes (not overnight), researchers will need a network with capacity like SDN will deliver for the state’s Research Education and Economic Development (REED) Network.
What is the REED, how will it work, and what will it do? Answers to those and more follow:
What is the High Speed Research Education Economic Development (REED) Network?
It is a public-private fiber optic network partnership. This Information Superhighway will closely follow I-90 and I-29 linking universities and research institutions to offer bandwidth of 50,000 Mega bits per second (Mbps). It is designed for collaborative research efforts. It would link the following institutions:
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South Dakota State University - Brookings -
University of South Dakota - Vermillion -
Dakota State University - Madison - Northern
State University - Aberdeen -
Black Hills State University – Spearfish - SD
School of Mines – Rapid City -
University Center – Sioux Falls - EROS – rural Garretson
Sanford Lab at Homestake – Lead - State Government - Pierre
Why do we need a research network?
To allow our universities to compete for research projects, which ultimately bring ideas, capital, and people to
What is this network capable of at 50,000 Mbps?
- It could download the entire text of the U.S. Library of Congress in 12 minutes
- Every man, woman, and child in the nation could be on six phone calls at the same time over this network
- Speed is important because research organizations like EROS can “clog the pipe” or take hours to transmit data without speeds like the REED would offer
- As Sanford Lab at Homestake starts research or more universities receive research projects, the information pipeline will need to be in place to deliver large amounts of data at efficient speeds
Do all locations need the same amount of bandwidth?
No. Institutions will have varying bandwidth needs depending on number of students, employees and research projects. Each location will be able to grow its broadband capacity as its needs grow.
Why did Gov. Rounds choose a dim fiber solution?
- A dim fiber solution simply means SDN Communications builds and owns the network and the state subscribes to a pre-determined bandwidth need. It has the option to grow into larger bandwidth, but any excess capacity can be accessed by health care, financial, weather and other private entities.
- One of the other alternatives would have been a dark fiber solution, which means the state would have owned the entire network, but then it wouldn’t generate tax revenue. Plus, it would be years, if ever, that the state would fully use the entire broadband capacity of a dark fiber solution, therefore it would be less cost effective.
- The dim fiber solution is the most affordable solution for the state.
What is the cost of the High Speed REED?
- The agreement, which needs legislative approval, represents a $30 million contract over 20 years.
- The one time costs to launch the project is $11.8 million, but an $8 million grant from the Great Plains Education Foundation will get it off the ground; The Board of Regents, through a bonding effort, will pay for the remaining $3.8 million.
- Ongoing annual costs will be $900,000 more than the Regents’ existing networking costs and will be budgeted for by the Board of Regents
- SDN Communications will provide $10 million in incentives to the state for its growing bandwidth needs.
Why not use existing fiber for the High Speed REED?
- Some segments of existing fiber are reaching their life expectancy in the next few years.
- New fiber will deliver better performance and last for the life of the project.
Why was SDN chosen to build the High Speed REED?
- SDN provided the most flexible, affordable solution to benefit the state and private sector.
- SDN is the region’s premier provider of large-scale networks
- SDN and its Member Companies – 19 of
South Dakota’s cooperative, municipal, family and tribal-owned telephone companies – have a keen interest in growing the state’s economy because of the major investment they’ve made in technology infrastructure. - Together SDN and its Member Companies have an existing fiber network of 14,000+ miles touching 300+ SD communities.
- SDN already provides the following to the state:
- Connectivity for the Digital Dakota Network (DDN)
- Internet to state government, K-12, and higher education
- Network surveillance for state’s DDN – monitoring 750 devices, 3,400 network interfaces at 360 locations.
- SDN is the only network offering connectivity to three other states – Omaha, NE, Fargo, ND, and Cheyenne, WY – which will provide a protected network (if one path is cut it can be rerouted in another direction, especially since SDN and its Members have 14,000 miles of fiber in SD.)
- SDN and its Member Companies
- Hire 1,000 technical employees across the state that can maintain and protect this network.
- Provide local decision making for the network.
“Nebulous.”
That’s how a digital advertising agency described Web 2.0 at a marketing conference I attended this week. So hazy, in fact, that when corporations demand 2.0 capabilities on a website designed by this digital ad agnecy, this agency has to ask the client what it thinks Web 2.0 means. Hmmm….
I’m not sure I can get my arms around all that Web 2.0 offers, but I do understand it means more interaction between customer and vendor via a website. SDN Communications welcomes that!
Still, this South Dakota high-tech company gets high marks from customers for its low-tech service style. Sure, we could do it more efficiently by having you talk to a machine when you call about broadband connectivity, Internet, networking equipment, or network surveillance. We could even route your problems via email only. But customers continue to tell us in surveys they love our human touch: it defines businessimplification.
Now that we’re striving to give you this 2.0 method, we welcome your feedback. Post your comments for all to see and learn from on this blog. My intent is to post things here on a somewhat regular basis or when inspiration strikes. I’ll invite others in the office - those with more technical know-how - to do the same.
So welcome to Web 2.0 - SDN style. “Nebulous” as 2.0 might be, let me be perfectly clear about SDN’s Rule 1.0: you can always just pick up the phone to talk to us.
-Vernon Brown, Marketing Manager
