B2BNZ

Fibre - What to do with it once your on it for SME's

2011-08-09T12:06:00.000+12:00

What a great start to the week, for those of you that attended the Unsion Fibre Launches in Napier and Hastings this week. Good breakfast, great presentations and heaps of chatter about the possibilities in the cloud.

Thought I would Start blogging about what you can do with it , Unison Fibre (or a big phat pipe of data & speed).

With out reinventing the wheel I found this on the net , after a search with Google i found this:

from: http://www.broadband.co.uk/guides/beginners/page3/ in the UK so actual speed may well be different.

How fast is a big phat pipe compared to 256k Telecom ADSL?

Broadband Speeds

256K? 1.5Mb? What do the numbers mean? What speed do I need?
When we're talking about Internet connection speeds, things can be really confusing! For a start, Internet transfer speeds are measured in kilobits per second and megabits per second, and those are not the same as the kilobytes and megabytes we use when we're talking about hard disks and files.
Let's not worry about the numbers. What matters is how they apply to the kinds of things you'll do on the Internet. Here's a table to make it simple:

Internet Connection Speed	Time to load a typical web page*	Time to download a typical 5-minute song**	Streaming Video Quality
56K dial-up modem	14 sec	12 min 30 sec
256K ADSL1 Telecom Wholesale	3 sec	3 min	Low Quality
512K broadband	1.6 sec	1 min 30 sec
1Mb broadband	0.8 sec	41 sec
2Mb broadband	0.4 sec	20 sec	Medium Quality
4Mb broadband	0.1 sec	5 sec
6Mb broadband	Instantaneous	3.5 sec
8Mb broadband	Instantaneous	2.5 sec	TV Quality
Note: all figures are approximate and represent best-case download speeds. Actually speeds will generally be lower. * Assumes a typical web page is 100 kilobytes of data. ** Assuming a typical song is a 5 megabyte MP3 file.

So you can see that an entry level 512K broadband Internet connection is around ten times faster than a 56K dial-up Internet connection, , allowing you to view web pages with barely any noticeable delay, whereas with an 8Mb broadband connection, you could watch TV quality video over the web!
Any of the broadband speeds will be perfectly good for viewing the majority of web pages - having to wait a second or two for a page to load is perfectly acceptable - unless you're going for a world speed-reading record, that is!
But the Internet is so much more than just pages of text and a few images: what about music, video, animations, games and all the other stuff that makes the Internet so much fun?
Consider the download time for a typical 5-minute pop song - around one and a half minutes with a 512K connection. The time it takes to download is less than the time it takes the song to play. What this means in practice is that your computer will be able to play the song while it downloads. We call this streaming - the sound 'streams' to your computer fast enough that it can be played as it arrives, without all that waiting around.
Streaming also applies to video. You'll find that many web sites allow you to watch video, even live video, without having to wait around for more than a few seconds for it to start. In many cases video is offered in two or more different sizes or at different qualities - so that you can choose the one that plays best with your connection speed. Having a faster connection means you can watch the video at a larger size and better quality.
And what about gaming? Well, it depends on the type of game. For those of us who want to play a little backgammon or a card game on a wet afternoon, any kind of broadband connection will work fine.
If however you're one of those people who want to take on the world at Counter-Strike or Doom 3, or connect your XBox to the Internet, you may want to consider going for the fastest connection you can practically afford: playing first-person shooters is one of the most demanding ways to use a broadband internet connection. But don't worry too much - most providers will allow you to upgrade to a faster connection at any time (you'll just pay a higher monthly charge).
Rule of Thumb: Here is a summary of our recommendations:

The Best All-Rounder - For the majority of Internet users, a 1Mb deal will offer the best balance between price and performance.
Entry-Level - (256K or 512K) doesn't offer the performance you'll need to be able to get the best out of streaming audio and video. Of course, if you only use the Internet to read web pages and send email, a slower connection may be adequate.
Heavy or Shared Usage - A faster connection (2Mb or faster) is probably worth considering if you intend to play a lot of games, or if you intend to share the Internet connection between more than two or three computers at home or in the office. A connection at the higher end of the scale (4Mb upward) will allow you to take advantage of newer trends - such as video and music on demand or Digital Broadband Internet TV.

We are now MailChimp Experts!

2011-07-13T15:05:00.000+12:00

Hi ,

I have some great news , I am now a Mail Chimp expert!! Woohoo!!

Talk to me about using mailchimp in your business , like chimps I am cheap!

You'll be surprised!

To celebrate we are discounting our Mail Chimp set up fees by 50% . thats half price!!! Lets Do it!

call now 06 9299940

Talkmore.co.nz

2011-07-11T22:19:00.000+12:00

Talkmore often for less

Introducing to you talkmore.co.nz as the new face of our VoIP operation.

Visit the new website comment and like to go in the draw to win 1 of 5 $200 Account Credits form Talkmore to spend on our services.

This month we thought it would be a good idea to make our calling offer clearer, easier to understand and install so that more people can talkmore often for less.

So what are you waiting for go and look at Talkmore.co.nz and Buy Now Today.

Bizniz Packs 2011

2011-02-24T22:04:00.000+13:00

Hi there,

We are going to spend this year focusing on four key areas of bizniz systems that small bizniz's should have.

Security of information
Backing up valuable data
Disaster recovery planning.
Reducing Overheads

I know that we are all thinking about whats is happening in Christchurch and thinking that it could happen to us at any stage. None of us want to be in that situation and we are all thinking about them.

Unfortunately not only has there been loss of life, there will also be a loss for all , loss of work, housing, infrastructure and business information etc.

When I studied 15 years ago at EIT my computer lecturer talked to us about the importance of backing up data especially as the y2k bug was just around the corner, remember that? We were all going to loose power and chaos would set in as all the worlds pc's were going to crash? Well it didnt happen but we did prepare for it none the less.

Since then even I have been naughty and not done regularly back ups , but who has? The only real thing I have done to protect all my email and calenders (this is my most valuable data) is used Google Apps Premier for all things email, contacts, calenders. even my quotes are on with Google, cost only US$50 per year per user. Damn good value for what it does, I was so impressed I now resell and Install Google Apps. This is such a great product more business should be using it.

Well what about those guys that have large files stored on there own server or pc in house, what do they do?

do they burn multiple dvd's each night, or a tape drive, or copy to a removable harddrive? or do they have a flash and expensive cloud based back up service? and does this use more data? They probabaly do and pay a pretty penny for it. They also have a recovery plan for those times when all things go seriously wrong, how do you replace all that lost knowledge and information?

What happens to the phone lines when they go down? How do we keep in contact with our clients with no phone cause we cant get to work or the office? How do we invoice from a computer when its burnt in a fire? I have even lost my cell phone and all my contacts are gone?

Ill try and answer these questions with our BizNiz Packs for 2011...

Keep watching,,,,

Ben

As posted on Fruitbowl 15th December 2010

2010-12-15T21:00:00.000+13:00

A year inreview By Ben Keehan / B2BNZ

I haven’thad much to blog about over the last few months so I thought I would save it upfor this month.

This hasbeen a huge year for me with many successful sales coming from referalls andnew prospecting that I have done.

The door knockingthat we did paid dividends but in retrospect I got better quality sales fromthe referrals that you all gave me , I really appreciate these valuable leads.

All of mynew customers have benefitted financially from the savings we gave them injoining up. One particular Transport Company saved $4k over 4 mobiles by movingto our NZ Zone rate plan. This was a pretty compelling reason to move and greatknowing we also gave him price certainty in this current climate.

A lot ofpeople want to know if the new fibre loop will help to improve there business.As talked about in this mornings blog on Fruitbowl. I see the future for us all depends on theability to connect and door more with cloud based IT, VoIP . Fibre is a premiumcircuit and is available know if you are willing to pay the current marketrates. ROI will come if you embrace the cloud and VoIP as these are generallyfar cheaper than traditional alternatives.

I BenKeehan of B2BNZ pledge to you that we will be advocates for the cloud and VoIPcommunications. We have entered into a wholesale agreement with a nationalupstream provider and as of today we will be actively promoting the use of VoIPand SIP trunking to Local Business.

Compared totraditional telephone lines (PTSN) VoIP and SIP is far more cost effective with:

2000 local minutes included per line.
5 c National Tolls
5c to 30 Countries
25c to any mobile in NZ
Voicemail to email per line
Call transfer
Caller ID with White Pages look up
Call forward
Remote Dial tone access from Mobile phones

We also area Google Apps Reseller!

GoingGoogle is an awesome way to save serious money on your IT expenditure. GoogleApps provides each user with 25gb of storage and if your running AndroidPowered smart phones you will be able to do a full remote sync of Email,Contacts and Calendar while out and about.

Google Appsalso provides Documents online with full collaboration so users in your groupcan all view and edit the same document in real time!

Our pricingis realistic with local phone support or on site if required. We provide allhardware sales , support and we can provide Flexirent for new product up to$20,000.00

Don’t worryabout fibre yet, it will take at least 3-5 years before we actually have fibreto all doors.

If yourequire your own slice of the internet with an SLAgive me a call so we can discuss your needs

I see 2011as being the year that we all take the bulls by the horns and move withtechnology. A year of “First’s” Did youknow that HB will be one of the first areas in NZ to have TVNZ radio network decommissioned and beon digital broadcast only? This means weare part of a big picture project and I reckon we will be the first in thecountry to have some really cool toys launched by the likes of Vodafone andeven XT.

Once againthanks for all the business this year and from my family and I, we wish you alla very Merry Christmas and a safe and Happy New Year.

Thanks,

Ben Keehan

www.b2bnz.co.nz

06 9299940

B2BNZ announce Naked Bis Paks

2010-11-06T16:50:00.000+13:00

We now how hard it is to get ahead in todays tough economic climate so we have come up with our New Naked Bis Paks.

Everything you need to communicate this year with a price guarantee.

Call me now for to book your appointment on 06 9299940

AddThis Chrome Extension

2010-11-02T20:37:00.000+13:00

AddThis Chrome Extension

Lets Get Naked with B2BNZ !

2010-08-24T22:00:00.010+12:00

Naked: with out clothes, with out coverings or ornamentation.

Naked Communications; with out wires or physical hardware , Hosted / Cloud based.

B2BNZ provide a range of top quality products from leading NZ providors giving you our Naked Communications for the Home or Office.

Our products and services include:

Naked PBX for $35 per month

Naked Alarms & Monitoring for $35 per month

Naked Fleet Tracking for $35 per month

Naked Software for Android and other Smart Phones

Strip away the layers and get back to the bare essentials with B2BNZ.

Leading products , service and prices from the best suppliers. Personal Service from our small team ensure the best experience and best service can be given.

We are capable of looking after your needs and finding you the best solution anywhere in the North Island of New Zealand.

Talk with us about a product demonstration at your business or home today.

06 9299940 contact@b2bnz.co.nz

HB Chamber Of Commerce Unsion Small Business Expo

2010-08-19T21:25:00.000+12:00

Join the Best Brains in the Bay on September 8 + 9
in the National Tobacco Factory, Ahuriri, Napier.
The Hawke's Bay Chamber of Commerce is proud to host the largest event for business in Hawke’s Bay featuring leading international business brands through to local service providers. Visit us at booth 62

You don’t have to be a nerd or a tech-head to listen to Richard Suhr on Thursday 9th at 11am. Richard is the Head of Google Enterprise for New Zealand, Australia & South East Asia. Everyone will understand what he talks about and with more and more people using Google Applications, it will be relevant to so many people. There is an exciting range of all kind of speakers, from Richard Suhr, to the Minister for small enterprise to Hannah Samuel and Mark Robotham (Escalator Programme).

Check out the latest business products and services, get information to manage your business better, improve productivity, increase profitability, and network with thousands of other business owners. Join the Best Brains in the Bay on September 8 + 9 in the National Tobacco Factory (Rothmans Building), Ahuriri, Napier.

The Expo offers a range of onsite activities, including:
More than 80 exhibitors
Free seminars both days of the Expo
Take a break at the EXPO Cafe
Celebrate HB Businesses on Wed 8th at 5:30pm
2010 Westpac HB Business Awards Finalist Announcement
Pitch your wine skills against other businesses....

We will be showcases some really cool ideas that will help you with your business and communications. Android devices and Apps for the Iphone that are practical and real time syncing. And hopefully a new product launch from B2BNZ

Go to www.hbbusinessexpo.co.nz for the latest info. Entry is free and you can visit the Expo between 10am and 6pm.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Alarm Monitoring from your Iphone?

2010-08-17T12:39:00.000+12:00

Ever wanted to control your alarm from your Iphone? Or wanted to remotely turn a water pump on or off? Maybe a wind turbine or frost protection system. Maybe you moving to an IP PBX with SIP trunks and need to update your Alarm system

Now you can with our remote / wireless monitoring app from your iPhone or web portal.

Call me for more information. 021 738769

The Revolution has begun.

2010-06-10T21:15:00.000+12:00

Vodafone has formally announced on their forum site today, a new value based proposition for small business.

Long overdue Vodafone had the vision and strength to be the first to bring price certainty and real value to groups with 5 or more mobiles.

An outstanding plan with all you can eat voice plan for under $150 per month per mobile means users can now ring any network or landline in New Zealand any time, free voice mail, free local number on mobile and free calls in group plus free calls from company landlines as well!! Well done Vodafone!!!

Add a generous hardware subsidy and being able to keep your 027 number means now is a great time to switch to Vodafone. Terms and conditions do apply.

Google Apps for Small Business

2010-03-23T21:42:00.000+13:00

Keep your documents current.

It's easy to make sure everyone sees the most updated version of your file, everytime. When there are multiple people editing at once, we'll keep a record so you can see who added and deleted what, when.

Edit your documents and spreadsheets from anywhere.

All you need is a Web browser - your documents and spreadsheets are stored securely online. To work on documents offline, or distribute them as attachments, simply save a copy to your own computer in the format that works best for you.
Share changes in real-time.

Invite people to your documents/spreadsheets and make changes together, at the same time. Your sharing tools are integrated with your Gmail contact list so it's easy to invite new collaborators and viewers within an organization.

Contact me for more information on how to make your business truely mobile. 069299940

Upvise NZ

2010-02-18T19:56:00.000+13:00

Upvise Supported by B2BNZ

What is Upvise?
Upvise provides mobile on-demand sync & collaboration software and hosted services for small businesses and individuals. With Upvise, you can organize and share information with your co-workers, and sync data between all the mobile phones and web accounts in your company.

The Upvise suite of applications is dedicated at offering a combination of productivity and simplicity while on-the-go.

Applications for your Small Business
Manage your Contacts and Sales Leads and Opportunities, get things done with Tasks and Projects, store your data with Notebooks, Send Work orders to field staff

Applications for your Personal Life
Sync your Contacts, Notebooks, Shopping Lists and access public information sites with RSS News, Wikpedia.

Why should I use Upvise?
In today's fast moving world, being able to access information anywhere at the right time is vital.

With Upvise you can access all your company data instantly on your mobile. Completing a sale for example often requires access to key information. Upvise will help you get the data on time, you won't need to wait until you're back at the office to get the crucial piece of info. Upvise can also help you improve your customer relationship, by keeping important customer-related info always at hand. Wouldn't it be nice if you could check the latest open issues on this very important project in your client's meeting room? Or send a job to any of your workers, let them make comments and notes or billing info, add a photo , get mapping data with Google Maps on Android devices.

Upvise is useful for your sales people, for your technical staff, for administrative tasks, and for just anyone in your company who needs to access and share information.

Share information company wide
Upvise is collaborative by design. Any data that you enter in Upvise is instantly shared with your co-workers.

Enter a new contact via the web iterface, and it becomes available to all your co-workers on their mobile phone and web account. If your colleague met a new client this morning, and posted the company profile to Upvise from his phone after the meeting, you could get the phone number of this new customer while on your way to the airport a few hours later.

The primary benefit of collaboration at the end of the day is that it improves overall awareness: employees have a better and more targeted information base from which to make decisions in all situations.

Will I waste my time trying to make the technology work?
No, because Mobile access has just become simpler with Upvise.

Upvise is a turnkey software solution. You don't have to install or manage any server, as everything is hosted on Upvise servers. The Upvise client software that you install on your phone has a very simple and intuitive user interface, which you will learn to use within minutes. You do not need dedicated IT staff to set up the service and keep it going. This is what makes Upvise different from existing solutions, from e.g. Microsoft, SAP or Oracle, which involve high IT costs

How much does it cost?
Upvise brings you on-demand mobility. You can buy only what you need, when you need it. There is no upfront investment. Let's look briefly into the business case:

Hardware: everyone has a phone nowadays, so it's likely that you don't need to buy any hardware. You may already be using a Blackberry or Windows Mobile device. If you're not, Upvise also works on all the basic Java phones. So you won't need to invest in expensive smartphones or sign up for a Blackberry service for everyone in your team.
Data plan: Upvise syncs via GPRS data plan , about 24kb per sync, so not a lot of data, estimate about 200mb per month should be enough.
Upvise software: the licence for a premium account costs $49 US per user/year, i.e. $4US/month/user.
If you already have a compatible phone and a data plan, the additional cost of Upvise is $4US/month/user.
Will Upvise fit my company's specific needs?
Our applications are simple enough to be generic and should fit most companies' needs. If you do have special requirements, you can customize existing apps or create your own mobile apps. It's easy to tweak the Upvise contact detail form to add your own fields or remove unwanted ones.

Contact us with your requirements, we'll be more than happy to help you tailor Upvise to your needs.

Who uses Upvise?

Trucking Companies
Trades People
Maintenance Crews
Any small business that wants to sync information between operators.

Reliable Customer Service
We are serious about customer service. Our customers depend on us to provide reliable, useful products and exceptional customer service. We do our best to meet and exceed their high standards.

For more information in New Zealand and a 2 month trial account please contact@b2bnz.co.nz or call 0800 222 017.

I am happy to show you how Upvise can help your organisation this year.

Thanks,

Ben Keehan
Managing Director B2BNZ
Reseller for Upvise in NZ

A week in Review

2010-02-12T20:17:00.000+13:00

Yippee Friday!!!! The end of the working week and of to Waipatiki on Saturday.

This week in review.

We have trialled the new transport delivery system on the HTC Magic and the Nokia 3710fold. Looks great , works well on both but more interactive on the Android platform. Looking forward to releasing the web interface. Will do a podcast on this from the showroom!

We have been in front of many disgruntled XT customers and will continue to do so over the coming weeks. If your business wants to be with a very reliable mobile network call me to discuss.

Will be doing a small feature on SIP and Voip as some business are asking for this, look out for this over the next week.

Have a great weekend

Ben

Transport Sector Developement

2010-02-08T10:13:00.001+13:00

Over the last few months I have been working on a project that will compete directly with mainstream transport management systems.

The idea came about from a client who needed to change some MDT units in their fleet, there main complaint was about the ongoing costs of the current market offerings. As their fleet is large they are realistic about cost in the current market.

What I have come up with does the following:

Allows them to keep track of units in their fleet via GPS
Despatch jobs to each unit
capture consignment notes and container numbers.
enter quantities on site
sync data between handset and server
Capture proof of pickup and delivery
Real time reporting
Send jpeg files such as RUC to each hand held
Geo Fence for Of road reporting
Google Maps interface for directions on device
Email and messaging to device via Google Apps.
And off course the device is a Mobile Phone as well.

If this sounds like the type of unit you need please call me for more info and a demo on 0800 222 017

Switch to Xero

2010-02-04T11:42:00.000+13:00

With the New Financial year approaching fast this is the time to upgrade your accounting system and your accountant to XERO.

XERO is the worlds best package for Small Business accounting , I know as I use it myself.

It has saved me lots of money and time as all bank feeds are downloaded directly into Xero , reconciliations are simple and easy due to this.

I can do all my bookkeeping online from any computer and Xero handle all the updates.Best of all its cheap as chips.

Its easy to set up and you can link your accountant to see your data , this improves their job as well.

visit www.xero.com or call my accountant , Walsh and Assocaites for more info: Sarah or Vaughan on 06 8336295

Remote Control Access of PC's

2010-02-04T11:23:00.000+13:00

Ever wanted to remotely access computers or servers easily (with permission of course) for support or running remote programs?

I have been playing with Team View , trialling this to remote access 100 pc's in the field.

This is a nice app, downloads in 10 minutes, access and control a pc easily and securely. Free for residential users , paid for commercial.

www.teamview.com

have fun,

Ben