Growing With the Times – Over 38 Years of Utility Auditing Experience

by Sean Murray | Aug 20, 2015 | Uncategorized

“Hi, My Name is Paul Steberger. I have been helping companies reduce their telecom costs for over 30 years. If you would like your telecom contracts thoroughly reviewed by a seasoned expert who has a consistent record of securing savings, and even refunds for his clients, contact me t…
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Telecom Consulting by Applied Utility Auditors

by Sean Murray | Aug 10, 2015 | Uncategorized

Whether you are trying to reduce you’re IT / Telecom/ Internet costs, are looking for a new carrier, a new telecom system, an internet solution, or simply want to review your current bills– we can help.

With over 37 years experience in telecom consulting, installation and auditing, w…
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Alteva on Unified Communications

by Sean Murray | Aug 10, 2015 | Uncategorized

FRI, MAR 19, 2010 11:35 EDT REPRINTED FROM CIO BLOG

Unified communications, UC, “bridging the gap,” communications and collaboration, integrated communications … it’s being talked about everywhere – magazine articles, news snippets, tradeshows, software manufacturers and h…
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Secure VoIP, Cloud-Based Phone Services via Simple Steps

by Sean Murray | Jul 27, 2015 | Uncategorized

Republished from TMCnet.com

The scramble to adopt VoIP and cloud-based phone services means enterprises and service providers alike need to be extra vigilant when it comes to security. Thankfully, there are a number of simple measures businesses of all sizes can take to ensure proper privacy and security procedures are being followed.

A recent article from My Business Voice, an Australian VoIP solutions provider, published on WhaTech highlights what businesses can do to ensure proper security as they migrate to VoIP and cloud-based telecom solutions. One of the best things a company can do is to be aware of the risks associated with IP-based services as well as implementing well known and trusted security measures. This is a must, and service providers should also be part of this process to ensure the highest levels of security possible are achieved.
The first part of this undertaking is ensuring service providers have several layers of security on their end. The customer premise requires a firewall, of course, but it must be configured properly to ensure only the necessary ports are left open. Additionally, IP addresses should be monitored and blocked after a certain number of unsuccessful access attempts.
Service providers should also be providing call encryption and providing a VPN for remote users when possible. Securing devices themselves is obviously necessary and multi-layer passwords are advisable across the board. Ensuring service providers stay on top of regular software updates and security patches is also extremely important to security as well as reliability of services.
Finally, VoIP and hosted PBX (News – Alert) solutions require proper monitoring and management to ensure solutions run smoothly and securely and without service interruptions. It’s important for customers to determine what types of monitoring options are available to them and ensure they are being properly implemented and used.

COMMON WORDS & PHRASES AND THEIR …ODD…ORIGINS – WHO KNEW???

by Sean Murray | Apr 28, 2015 | Uncategorized

Have you ever ever wondered where some words and phrases come from? Here are a few we can finally stop wondering about…

Booze – A combination of the Middle English (c.1300) verb “bouse”, meaning to drink heavily, AND the name of a famous Philadelphia distiller named E.G. Booze. Ben Franklin published a book of synonyms in 1722 and used the word “boozy” as a synonym for “drunk”.

 

Three sheets to the wind – was originally used to describe a drunk person in 1812 to describe the image of a sloop-rigged sailboat whose three “sheets” or sails had slipped through their blocks and were thus lost to the wind, and “out of control”.

 

Hammered – originally meant to be “heavily defeated”, and became officially recognized in 1986 as meaning drunk.

 

Dashboard – the original dashboard was a board in the front of wagons and carriages to stop mud from horses hooves from splashed into the vehicle.

Limousine – comes from the name of the Limousin region in France, where the chief city is Limoge. Apparently, the people of that region traditionally wore a hood that was similar to the hood, or profile of early luxury cars.

Chauffeur – another word with French origins meaning the “stoker” or operator of the steam engine (chaud, meaning “hot”, thus “chauffer” meaning “to heat”, from the Old French verb “chaufer” –“ to heat”.

Enough drinking and driving slang – Why are we buried in a…

Coffin – early 14th C. for a place to store valuables, taken from the Old French “coffin” meaning “sarcophagus”. 

Dead as a doornail – meant “insensible” in the 1300’s, and by the 1500’s meant “inactive and dull”.

Dead man’s hand – in poker comes from the pair of aces and pair of eights that Wild Bill Hickock was holding when Jack McCall shot him in 1876.

Back to drinkin…

Dead Drunk – was first used in the 1590’s, and in a “dead soldier” became an empty bottle of liquor in 1913.

Thank you to the television show – “American Slang”, and to the web-site “Online Etymology”
If you ever want to grow a braincell back after all of that drinking…
Check out Paul’s Pick of the week: “Online Etymology” 

And a final thought…

“What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the master calls a butterfly. – Richard Bach