News
It’s an IP new year!
Once again, it’s the season for New Year’s resolutions. While some of us do not make resolutions, I think most take time to pause and think about their plan of attack for the year ahead. With the current economic climate, thinking ahead is more important than ever.
March 6, 2009 By Neil Sutton
Economic slowdowns offer great opportunity and incentive for people and
organizations to adapt, change, and re-invent themselves. There are
several great companies that were founded during recessions. In the
early 1980s, Ted Turner believed people were ready for 24-hour news,
and he started what became CNN. In 1973, when oil prices shot through
the roof, Fred Smith thought that people would pay for air delivery,
and on its first night of operation this new company we all know as
FedEx delivered 186 packages to 25 cites.
More recently and closer to home, the SP&T News December cover
story on the Securing New Ground Conference by Neil Sutton provided a
great source of inspiration for change. The article’s final quote from
a conference participant jumped out at me, “If you don’t get your IT IQ
up there, you’re going to lose out to the IT people.” Bill Bozeman,
President and CEO of the PSA Security Network, has predicted that “25
to 30 percent of traditional security installers may have to shut their
doors due to increased competition in the market”. As a manufacturer’s
representative of IP security products, I can tell you that many new
players entering the field have an IT background, and they are starting
to capture a significant portion of the market.
So why not make one of your New Year’s resolutions “Increase my “IT
IQ”? Let’s face it, IP is definitely not going away, and slower times
offer an excellent opportunity to catch up. I won’t pretend to have a
magic recipe to transform your organization. I won’t promote any
particular training program or certification either. Like others have
already done, consider hiring someone with an IT background. Better
yet, enlist a partner with IP skills. You may decide to begin a
training program in networking, computer technology, or database
management. There are a myriad of options and resources available to
increase your IT IQ.
My own learning experience for IP technology started when residential
broadband and Ethernet cards became available. I got tired of
unplugging the DSL modem from the home computer to plug into the office
laptop to get Internet access. I needed a network before personal
routers were available and bought my first one as soon as they came on
the market. I then tried every menu, option, and configuration
available in these products. I learned the way many of us have learned
our trade: hands-on.
Go buy a basic wireless router for the sole purpose of learning. It’s a
great way to understand, hands-on, about IP addresses, DHCP servers,
WAN versus LAN, and much more. Email me once you have bought that new
router and I’ll make sure to help get you going.
Salut!
JF Champagne is the Canadian Sales
Manager for Brivo Systems LLC, a manufacturer of web-based and
web-hosted access control. JF can be reached at jf.champagne@brivo.com
or (416) 238-5606
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