Ultra-Fast Broadband, PBX Hackers and Winners
Industry information, special deals, our October iPad winner & introducing Cameron Bendall!
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The Samsung Galaxy S
November sees the exciting arrival of the Samsung Galaxy S into Digital Island mobile device range! The Galaxy S is broadly considered to be the best Android phone on the market, and depending who you speak to, a better option than the iPhone 4... With the scales globally now firmly tipped in favour of Android OS, timing couldn’t be better to be able to offer this fantastic device to our partners and customers.
The Galaxy S runs Android 2.1, has an incredible 4 inch screen making everyday web browsing a pleasure, is light to carry and has displayed the level of robustness which we’ve come to expect from Samsung devices. Even our resident iPhone die-hard Director Blair Stewart threw in the towel once he got his hands on the Galaxy S, and has become the phone’s greatest proponent!
See our Partner specials to find out how you can painlessly own a Galaxy S, but please get in quick as Telecom Retail has currently solid out of these devices and our own stocks are disappearing fast!!
Digital Island and Origin IT ran a joint event at Jucy Rental’s premises on mobility for business. Ten lucky winners were presented with handy Nokia prizes of bluetooth headsets, car chargers and mobile phone holders.
Stu Cowdell, Digital Island Director, stepped up to give a presentation on 'Smartphone User Profiles – Android, Blackberry or iPhone 4?' using the table below. You can see our comparison table for the iPhone vs Galaxy S here – and here is a smart alec skit on why consumers might I want the iPhone 4.
This evaluation might change if you take into account Digital Island's pricing for the Galaxy S!
The Ultra-fast Broadband (UFB) project has been talked about a lot in the media recently, but there is a lot of misunderstanding about what this massive project is about and what it means to the average New Zealand business. From Digital Island’s perspective, we think the rollout of a nationwide fibre network is an exciting and forward-thinking initiative. The importance of data communications for the average New Zealand business has become paramount in the last few years, and with data hungry services like cloud computing rapidly increasing the need for fast and reliable connectivity, the future requirement for massively increased speeds becomes obvious. UFB opens the doors to whole new realms of possibilities, and we see the project as having a great long-term influence on the growth and prosperity of the New Zealand economy.
In the lead-up to the 2008 election, the National government made an election promise to invest 1.5 billion dollars to fast-track a nationwide fibre network rollout. This new fibre network is deemed a necessary investment for the future, as the current copper network owned by Telecom NZ is not capable of providing the ultra high speed data connectivity that is recognised internationally as being a key economic growth factor.
Specifically, the government objective was outlined: “to accelerate the roll-out of ultra-fast broadband to 75 percent of New Zealanders over ten years, concentrating in the first six years on priority broadband users such as businesses, schools and health services, plus greenfield developments and certain tranches of residential areas.”
This bold initiative will create a solid communications platform on which a multitude of new products and services will be developed. And with the network being ‘open-access’, any Telco, large or small will have the ability to purchase capacity on the new network on an equal basis. This new capability will undoubtedly contribute greatly to stimulating economic and social development over the next 50 years.
So, you may ask, what specific benefits does the UFB project give for the average New Zealand business? Some examples of immediate benefits are…
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Video Conferencing: The massive increase in speed and quality will give access to high quality video conferencing, which greatly improves interoffice and International communications, and reduces the necessity for carbon hogging, expensive air travel.
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Cloud Computing: Cloud computing or software as a service is becoming more and more popular – instead of purchasing expensive software applications , and expensive servers to run the applications, many businesses are simply subscribing to a ‘cloud’ service. However this relies on a fast, stable and reliable data service. A good example of cloud services is ‘www.salesforce.com’.
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VoIP/Unified Communications: The massive bandwidth and much more reliable connectivity will give excellent impetus for businesses to move from old school ISDN / PSTN calling to next generation Voice over IP calling and Unified Communications.
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Telecommuting: With stable, reliable and fast broadband access, employeess would be able to reliably access work resources like Servers and PBX systems from home, and communicate interactively via teleconferencing. This gives much more flexibility to both businesses and employees, and as a side benefit, traffic will be reduced!
Although these benefits will be fantastic, the real significant benefit will be a more of long-term one in providing the platform for products and services that haven’t even been invented yet. We look forward to leading the charge with a vast array of gleaming new products and services that can take advantage of this ultra-fast network, and passing on the many benefits to our customers.
Ultra-fast Broadband…. we can’t wait!
Cameron Bendall – Senior Sales Engineer, Digital Island Ltd
Customer referral rewards
It's quick and simple... and we'll thank you for it!
Want to refer a business that you think would benefit from Digital Island’s fantastic products, unbeatable pricing and fanatical service? Click here to email our corporate sales team directly with the details of a referral, and we'll get right on the project, either working beside you on a new proposal or simply taking excellent care of one of your valued clients.
And here's the recognition part:
All partner referrals are entered into our Salesforce database. At the end of each month we will hold a prize draw, with an entry for each partner referral that has been closed during that month. The winner will receive a super cool techie prize!
Thank you and congratulations to Neil McGowan from Digital Arena – last month’s winner of an Apple iPad 3G 32GB!
November’s partner referral prize will be a Samsung Galaxy S Android Smartphone!
Digital Island Partner Business Specials
Grab a Galaxy S for yourself! Our special Galaxy S offer available until 13 December (or while stocks last) exclusively for our partners is:
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$299 on the Digital Island Partner Plan for vodafone connections brought to Digital Island
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$499 on the Digital Island Partner Plan for non-vodafone connections brought to Digital Island
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Digital Island Partner Plan is just $20 per month, 25c calling, free group mobile calling, 5c group landline calling, with a minimum $300 handset subsidy!
We hope you have taken advantage of some of our special deals intended for use by your own business, so that you can reduce costs and experience Digital Island's fantastic telecommunications products and service. You will need to log in to view these offers.
Digital Island Customer Specials
View our current customer specialswhich are available to any of your customers who are with us already, or who move their telecommunications to Digital Island.
Galaxy S for $149 on connections brought from Vodafone to Digital Island Mobile's DigiSmart250
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DigiSmart250 plan includes 250 minutes for $99.00 per month
Free SIP Trunk set up, Free local calling, great rates
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SIP channels $12 each per month
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Free local calling
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National calling 5c per minute
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Land to mobile calling 20c per minute
Offer valid on contracts signed before 31 December 2010.
Trade in your Vodafone for an extra $200 handset subsidy
Move your business mobiles from Vodafone before 30 November and receive an extra $200 subsidy per connection toward your
favourite handset - and we'll send you a box of chocolates just to sweeten the deal further!
FREE Nokia accessories worth $99 with Nokia phones
Purchase any Digital Island Nokia mobile and while stocks last receive a complimentary pack from Nokia containing:
Case Study
Customer’s challenge:
One of our large tertiary college customers, who had enjoyed the cost effectiveness of a simple ADSL solution with a large data cap (200GB) started to experience difficulties, both in terms of speed and data consumption, with their entire allowance being burned through very early in the month.
As a result of a very simple investigation we quickly discovered the college had recently been very successful in doubling their student numbers! With all students having internet access via PCs, Laptops and various smart phones the internet connection was quickly becoming overwhelmed.
The Solution
For a relatively small uplift in the monthly rate, Digital Island installed a 5Mbps synchronous HSNS internet access circuit for the coming academic year, and combined with 5 Mbps unlimited national access/1Mbps international access. The students can now look forward to high speed browsing, super fast facebook and even perhaps a bit of learning!
Contact Stu Cowdell or your favourite Digital Island Sales person to learn more.
Staff profile – Cameron Bendall, Senior Sales Engineer
I was born and raised on the North Shore in Auckland, and apart from a four year stint overseas, Auckland has always been my home. I have always had a passion for technology, and have been involved in the technology industry in various roles for the last 15 years – Account Manager, Corporate Sales Manager, Technical Solutions Manager and my current role at Digital Island. My current role has been one of the most the most rewarding ones of my career – primarily involved in our corporate data products, I have enjoyed having a lot of input into the development of this aspect of the business, and seeing the massive growth of this product set has been immensely satisfying. As the role is straddling the fence between technical and sales, it can be very challenging at times trying to achieve the right balance, but the variation also means the job never gets boring.
I live on the North Shore with my lovely partner and two beautiful daughters. With two young children I don’t have much time for my own hobbies, but get immense vicarious enjoyment by living through their happy experiences and joyous learning. Current child challenge: learning to ride a bike.
Best place you have ever visited: Travelling up through Malaysia and through Thailand with my partner was one of the most incredible experiences of my life. Thailand in particular I thought was particularly memorable, and I would love to go back and spend several weeks visiting some of the more remote regions. I would also really like to visit Vietnam which I’ve heard is even better than Thailand!
If you could only take one thing with you when your house was burnt to the ground?I would take my portable hard drive, which I use to backup all my important information. 20 years worth of photos is an irreplaceable treasure.
If you could choose one thing to eat while stranded on a desert island for 6 months? Does beer count as a food? Hmmmm, probably eye fillet steak. Yum!
Thing you enjoy most about Digital Island: I really enjoy how the entire team works together and strives towards a common goal. Too often in organisations there is strong division by department, and inter-department battles are ugly and counter-productive. At Digital Island there is absolutely no sign of that – everyone is highly professional and communication at all levels is excellent.
Your mantra for corporate data projects/solutions: In designing and developing solutions, I like to keep the solution centred around the benefits it can provide for the customer’s business. It is very easy to get carried away and provide an overly complicated solution that does not conform to requirements, so it is vital to take a holistic view, focus on the benefits and keep the solution as simple as possible.
Your mantra for life: ‘We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.’
An oldie but a goodie: The Website is Down
PBX fraud/hacking
Recent discussions between telecommunications companies have shown that a number of businesses in New Zealand had been hit lately with PBX fraud/hacking. This type of fraud has been around globally for the past 10-20 years, however there seems to be a concerted focus on attacking businesses in New Zealand at the moment.
PBX fraud can generally be avoided if the client asks their PBX and / or voicemail vendor to audit both facilities and check for potential fraud weaknesses.
The types of fraud perpetrated have often ocurred previously elsewhere in the world, so New Zealand based PBX and voicemail vendors should already be aware of the types of telecommunications fraud their product is vulnerable to, and should be able to apply permanent fixes if an audit shows their product to be insecure.
What is PBX Fraud?
A PBX is a computerised system that manages an internal telephone extensions network. It is a highly flexible system in that it can, if necessary, provide access to telephone services by dialing into the system from outside the PBX network.
This service is called DISA (Direct Inwards System Access) and, if enabled, it permits employees to route national and international calls through the PBX with the cost of these calls being billed to the owner of the PBX. Access to this service requires the use of a PIN, however this can be abused and may result in unauthorised calls costing many thousands of dollars. Most PBX’s have engineering and maintenance access codes, and if these are compromised the attacker will have total control of the system.
There is plenty of information on the Internet relating to toll fraud, PBX fraud, etc. Go to Google and use the words PBX, PABX, toll fraud to find useful information about this type of fraud.
How will I know if my PBX has been a victim of PBX Fraud?
If your PBX has voicemail and is DISA enabled then it is susceptible to this form of fraud. Usually, the only indication that you will see is a substantial increase in your telephone bill. Detailed billing will assist in identifying any potential unauthorised calls, which are usually International calls but they can also be National and mobile telephone calls.
Another indicator is where customers trying to dial in, or employees trying to dial out, find that the lines are always busy.
Audit your bill each month:
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Check your bill regularly and ensure you can account for all itemised calls
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Look for calls to international countries that you wouldn’t normally be doing business with.
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Look for calls being made outside of your business hours.
How can I protect my PABX from this type of fraud?
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If DISA is not required ensure that it is disabled. If it is required, ensure that the people who supplied the PBX or who are maintaining your system understand the full functionality of the PBX and that they can configure DISA properly.
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If automatic logging of calls is available, enable it. It may help in identifying the extensions number being used to compromise the PBX and it may also identify the source of the external call.
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Regularly check the log records for repeated short duration calls to the same number. This could be an indication of an attempt to attack your system.
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Ensure that the PIN’s for voicemail, DISA and engineering access are activated, and changed regularly.
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If possible engineering access should only be permitted on a ‘call back’ basis; this will prevent unauthorised access to this privileged account.
Prevention Strategies
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Never give out technical information about your system to callers - unless you are completely certain who is on the other end of the line.
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Do not allow your system administrator to maintain factory set passwords for maintenance of your system.
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Introduce a PIN and password management policy where employees are not permitted to use predictable PIN numbers such as the last digits of their DDI, sequential numbers like 1111, 0000, or incremental numbers like 1234.
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Ensure that PIN numbers are changed regularly, and supervisor and maintenance passwords are changed when the administrator, an employee, or a contractor leaves the business.
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Do not place a list of all your staffs names and contact numbers on your website or out on the Internet. You are providing the would-be fraud offenders with a list of all your company phone numbers that they can now try to hack into.
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Do not allow unlimited unsuccessful attempts to enter voicemail - configure the system so that 3 unsuccessful attempts results in call failure.
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Disable an administrator, contractor or employee's mailbox account when he or she leaves your company.
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Schedule regular PBX checks with your maintainer and form a regular risk mitigation strategy to limit any system vulnerabilities.
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Ensure that your PBX room is locked when not attended.
