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One of the newest employees hired by Kennebec Telephone Co. Inc. has to drive 40 miles to work, one way, because he couldn’t find a closer home for his family. Kennebec and neighboring communities in central South Dakota don’t have much open housing to offer new residents.

Leaders of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe Telephone Authority take pride in their business being the first tribally owned telecommunications company in the United States.

For most businesses, losing sensitive data to a hacker can have far more serious consequences than losing information in a fire or flood. If electronic information is backed up, as it ought to be, data lost in a natural disaster can be replicated. However, if information is lost or stolen, there is no telling when or how long it could be misused.

As a student, Chris Aeilts wanted to be a traveling sound technician for a big-time rock ‘n’ roll band. Playing in a band during grade school and high school helped him develop a keen interest in electronics and sound technology.

It’s not unusual for Tony Kinneberg and his student crew to hear from TV viewers in other states or even other countries when they’re broadcasting a Parkston High School sporting event. Remote viewers are especially likely to tap into an online service to view local cable coverage when the school district’s TV channel is carrying a significant basketball game, says Kinneberg, who is the school technology coordinator and a teacher at Parkston.

Developing workers internally can help a company on multiple fronts. Good training can increase employee productivity and promote worker satisfaction. It also can enhance the appeal of the company, which is useful in attracting new employees.

SDN Communications has achieved a level of networking certification that will help its business clients pursue local, regional and global opportunities.

SDN encourages its employees to be active and healthy and not just with verbal encouragement. In addition to hosting wellness presentations and competitions for employees, the company offers its workers cash incentives for good health practices.

Community service is encouraged by example rather than by mandate at Midstate Communications in Kimball, S.D.

SDN Communications accepts an Above and Beyond Award in recognition of extraordinary support of its employees serving in the South Dakota Guard and Reserve.

The need for women to enter the technology and telecom fields in the near future is crucial. Take a look at the current state of the industry as it relates to women choosing the fields.

You know the feeling. You’re at a crowded venue trying to text a friend, send a photo or simply pull up a web page. All you get is the eternal spinning wheel. Nothing goes through. Even with an unlimited data package, if the data network is maxed out by users, no one connects.

It’s not surprising that hackers and data thieves are attracted to large, successful health-care systems. Hospitals and other health-care facilities are entrusted with enormous amounts of personal information about patients.

The Sioux Falls School District will begin the third year of its Student Technology Initiative in September with more broadband power than ever. Education officials determined last school year that middle schools, in particular, needed more Internet connection speed, and they will get it.

Interest is running high in a cybersecurity camp designed for girls that will be held at Dakota State University.

Although TrioTel Communications Inc. serves a relatively small market in South Dakota farm country, its customers enjoy a level of connectivity that companies serving some of the largest cities in the United States cannot beat.

Finding good employees is a constant challenge. One good way to combat the problem is to hire promising interns and groom them into full-time employees. SDN Communications is among the companies that has been making greater use of its internship program in recent years.

At SDN Communications, 'Enjoy the Uptime' is more than a slogan. Providing uptime for businesses is the bottom line.

Denny Law, chief executive officer of Golden West, jokes that his cooperative doesn’t convene many all-employee meetings. The gatherings would require employees to drive too much.

Before 2016, Alliance Communications will begin a new era. The next chapter in the history of the telecommunications cooperative will start with a new leader. Don Snyders, longtime general manager of Alliance, has announced his plans to retire later in 2015.