Data102 Partners with Apple to Bolster Local Service

Posted on October 22, 2014 by Randal Kohutek

The latest in a series of big moves for leading Colorado Springs datacenter

Data102 announced today that it has directly peered with Apple to improve service for Colorado Springs businesses and residents. Data102’s customers will be able to use popular Apple services like iTunes, Apple TV, iCloud, and iLife with much less latency and connectivity issues than are common with some other colocation service providers.

“We’ve already seen the benefits,” said Randal Kohutek, Data102 Operations VP. “Traffic is taking a shorter path, with lower latency. Not only does this provide better service to Apple users, it also opens up capacity on the network for general use. It’s a win-win for all of our customers.”

Data102 was able to improve service by connecting directly with IPv4 and next generation IPv6 Apple networks in Denver and Los Angeles. The direct links and redundant networking mean less lag for users and a better experience overall.

“As an Apple user myself,” noted Kohutek, “I’m glad to offer such a high level of service to our new and existing customers—something no one else in our market can.”

This is the second major partnership announced by Data102 this year. In May, they announced a deal with Netflix that dramatically improved streaming from the entertainment giant and opened up bandwidth for all users. And they aren’t done yet.

Kohutek concludes, “I look forward to finding and peering with relevant content providers to continue to push the envelope on what our customers can expect from their network.”

About Data102
Data102 is a Colorado datacenter and IT services provider. The company offers products and services such as managed firewalls, hosting, collocation and bandwidth. The team at Data102 is proud to be able to deliver affordability, reliability, and flexibility, as well as an unparalleled level of customer service. For more information about Data102, LLC, visit http://www.data102.com.

View this press release at prweb.com

ATS – Another Layer of Automated Redundancy

Posted on October 21, 2014 by Randal Kohutek

Data102 has numerous layers of redundancy at every level of infrastructure. Nowhere is this more evident than the power supply and cooling systems. Obviously, without power, servers are just expensive paper weights damaging your business and productivity. And without proper cooling, the hardware is at risk. With that in mind, Data102 has an elaborate system of checks and balances, controls, and monitoring systems like power distribution units, uninterrupted power supplies, and a redundant pump system, among many other systems, ensuring that every piece of hardware in our datacenter keeps running no matter what happens on the outside. A vital component of the power system is automatic transfer switches.

ATSs—Proactive Power Protection

The job of an automatic transfer switch (ATS) is to monitor the electricity powering the datacenter and to transfer power from one power source to another should the need arise. The transfer switch detects inconsistencies or outages coming from public utilities, for example, and will switch power to our generators if necessary. This has been especially necessary during periods of rolling brownouts where power levels drop significantly, causing major problems for large electrical systems. ATSs can also detect shorts or interruptions within the building or datacenter itself.

In order for an ATS to transfer power to the generators, they have to be on. The automatic transfer switches activate the generators as necessary before switching over. Once the generators are producing sufficient power, the transfer switch will make the jump almost instantaneously—within 100 milliseconds. This transfer is so fast that the servers do not experience a power loss.

Since ATSs monitor the power system at all times, they can send notifications to our technicians as soon as problems arise. In addition, every Saturday our ATSs fire the generators to make sure everything is working properly and that the generators are producing good, clean power. A report is then made available to our technicians to ensure our backup systems will be ready to go at a millisecond’s notice.

The Safest Datacenter in Southern Colorado

Data102 has put all of these controls in place to guarantee 99.9999% uptime to all of our customers. Be assured that your servers will be up, functioning safely, and protected in the state-of-the-art datacenter at Data102. This assurance is what has made us southern Colorado’s leading colocation and managed hosting solution. Give us a call today to find out more about our infrastructure and services.

The War Against Toll Fraud – VoIP Protection

Posted on October 7, 2014 by Randal Kohutek

Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) has become the preferred voice solution for many businesses around the globe. According to some estimates, over a billion people will soon be using VoIP platforms for personal and business calls. This growth has happened because VoIP is a cost-effective, feature-rich platform, which makes it ideal for businesses, especially. Like all digital services, though, there can be security issues.

What You Need to Know about VoIP

VoIP’s greatest strength—that it’s a digital, cloud-based phone and data service—can lead to security issues that aren’t a problem with traditional phone lines. VoIP communicates on port 5060, which is used extensively for many purposes. Hackers know this and can tap into a VoIP system to access handsets and make international calls, which is referred to as international toll fraud. This can cost an unsuspecting business a lot of money and service complications.

To break into a VoIP system, hackers will send bulk invites out, targeting handsets. Because they don’t know what extensions are active on a given phone system, they have to try thousands of combinations. When they find one that’s active, they hack the password and gain full access to phone service, voicemail, and any other services available to an authorized user.

This invasion can be stopped, however.

Data102’s Arsenal of Mitigation

At Data102, we have an array of monitors and controls in place to keep your VoIP system fully functional and free of unwanted traffic. We monitor invites, and when something suspicious is suspected, our controls will automatically lock down the IPs to keep your phones safe. These monitors can be checked in real time and take automatic action when necessary.

When hackers are trying to break in, speed is vital. A third party IT company could take hours to respond to the issue, if they catch it at all. At Data102, our controls ensure that attacks will be prevented so you aren’t left trying to pick up the pieces after the fact.