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How 5G Is Overhyped

More than anything else, 5G is technology that will improve wireless networks. They might experience less latency, have faster speeds, and higher efficiency, but it’s true that these changes might not be as considerable as once thought. In the words of Sprint’s chairman and former CEO Marcelo Claure, the primary difference between 4G LTE and 5G will be like the jump from black and white to color TV.

The many advancements made possible through 5G, like smart cars and cities, are in fact possible without 5G connectivity. Eric Xu, the current chairman of Huawei, has claimed that consumers will see no real difference between 5G and the current state of things.

This, combined with the fact that the United States pays some of the highest rates for mobile connectivity, means that users will likely have to pay an exorbitant amount for 5G connectivity.

How Carriers Are Leveraging 5G to Their Advantage

Cell carriers Sprint and T-Mobile have proposed a merger that would attempt to combine their resources for the future of 5G connectivity; in more specific terms, to “win the race.” That being said, government regulators are hesitant, as it effectively reduces the number of major mobile carriers in the country from four to three. Meanwhile, both of these companies have claimed to be able to produce 5G independently for a long time, and Tom Wheeler, a former FCC Chairman, believes that reducing the competition for this technology is a dangerous prospect: ““The ‘China is winning on 5G’ argument of Sprint and T-Mobile is creative, and probably the only rationale they could concoct after the government twice before rejected their proposal to reduce national wireless competition from four providers to three.”

The United States ranks 62nd in 4G speeds, and this is mostly due to the limited competition and high fees associated with this service. 5G may be a crucial step forward, but it might not be as big a game changer as those in the industry make it out to be. What are your thoughts on this? Let us know in the comments.

The Word is Proactive

The saying is, “kicking myself”. It is used after something terrible happens and you are going over the steps you didn’t take that would have kept that terrible thing from happening. There is a word for this type of step, and the word is proactive. To be proactive, you first have to be aware.

Awareness is a big deal in any situation, but in risk assessment, it is crucial. The larger the perceived risk, the more aware you need to be about it. In the case of your business’ IT, there are a lot of (very quickly) moving parts, and any of them can cause your business to stop rolling along like the well-oiled machine it is. It would be a shame if that one iffy component fails leaving you paying your staff to sit around and twiddle their thumbs. This is why you need to be proactive.

Proactive IT Maintenance

The idea of proactive IT maintenance is now decades old. Essentially, when one of your business’ core computing apparatuses is compromised it can really hamstring your business’ ability to create revenue. In fact, downtime is one of the most expensive parts of dealing with technology malfunctions. With proactive maintenance, you can begin to see your hardware functioning better, your network clear from threats, and your business’ productivity grow.

How does Digital Seattle’s proactive maintenance accomplish this? Simple, using state-of-the-art monitoring and management software, our experienced technicians use its dynamic automated tools to check every critical piece of technology for inefficiencies. If we come across hardware that isn’t working up to expectations, we’ll do our best to sort the problem out so that your IT doesn’t cause any downtime.

Patch Management

Aside from downtime, software vulnerabilities can cause a lot of headaches for any business. If the software you depend on hasn’t been updated with the latest threat definitions and software patches, there could be trouble. As a part of our proactive maintenance platform, we make sure that the tools you use to be productive are updated, eliminating vulnerabilities and providing effective productivity, management, and collaboration tools to your business.

If you are interested in learning more about our proactive IT maintenance and what type of monetary and productivity benefits a comprehensive IT service can provide, call Digital Seattle today at (206) 709-9556.

Break-fix IT management was largely considered a waste of resources, as it would mean your organization was waiting until your technology was already failing before seeking assistance. This would mean experiencing downtime while waiting for someone to resolve the issue, which further adds to the cost of the incident.

Preventative managed IT provided by a managed service provider, or MSP, is the better alternative, as it means you are effectively preventing IT issues from becoming problems in the first place. What this does is that it mitigates the possibility of downtime, along with all of its expenses. The problem is that this kind of IT isn’t possible unless you have a team dedicated to making sure that your technology is operating as intended.

Outsourcing this responsibility to a managed service provider is a great way make up for a deficit in your IT management. Some of the services offered by a managed service provider include, but are not limited to:

• Server hosting
• Cloud hosting and management
• Data backup and disaster recovery
• Email hosting
• Network maintenance, monitoring, and management
• Security monitoring and deployment
• And more!

Simply put, a managed service provider manages anything technology-related you want them to. Whether it’s something as complicated as deploying a new software or hardware solution or a task as simple as setting up an email account, you can bet that any managed service provider will be able to provide stellar assistance with any of your business’ technology issues. In many ways, a managed service provider is a company that provides even further solutions, as you’re leveraging the expertise of trained, professional IT technicians who understand fully the amount of trust you are placing in them to manage your technology behind the scenes.

Digital Seattle can be the managed service provider that is right for your business. To learn more about the services we offer, reach out to us at (206) 709-9556.