
By: Greg Elliott, Director of Business Development at 1102 GRAND
Fortune 500, Inc. 500, government as well as small to medium size clients count on 1102 GRAND every day for their colocation needs. I enjoy reaching out to our clients regularly to see how their businesses are growing and changing, and how 1102 GRAND can assist with any challenges they may have.
Adam Ward, CTO of Admo.net, took a few minutes to update me on how things are going for his company and I wanted to share them with you.
Adam, tell me about Admo.net:
In 1998 Admo.net began offering shared hosting to the masses. We quickly learned that it wasn’t all about servers and technology. Sure, it’s very important for us to be prepared, knowledgeable and technical; but what’s really important is people. It’s the reason we’re in business-to provide world class service and support to real people around the world. We realize that you need someone to speak to you on a human level and to understand your business needs to reach your goals. We understand people and we believe that is what makes us different.
What products or services do you currently offer your clients?
Admo.net offers an assortment of enterprise-class services including offsite backup, dedicated servers, collocation by the rack unit, virtual private data center, virtual private servers, reseller and shared hosting. We also offer supplemental consulting services including on-site VMware consulting for new and existing environments.
Where have you seen the most growth over the last year?
In the last year we have had the most growth in our highly-scalable cloud solution and in our DDoS mitigation services.
Why did you choose 1102 GRAND to collocate a portion of your IT infrastructure?
Admo.net chose 1102 GRAND because they are Kansas City’s premier carrier-neutral facility. Their prices are reasonable, and we have a world class team committed to our success. 1102 Grand delivers the ability to connect to any provider in the metro area and this is key to our success as a hosting provider.
If a company wanted to utilize your services, how would they get in touch with you?
Please get in touch with us on our website at www.admo.net, via email at sales@admo.net or just give Adam a call direct at 816.866.0123.
Thanks Adam for taking the time to share with us a little about your business. We wish you continued success. As always, if you would like to schedule a tour to check out 1102 GRAND, or have any general questions feel free to send me an email at Greg@1102Grand.com or give me a call at 816-213-7731.
By: Greg Elliott, Director of Business Development at 1102 GRAND
I would be willing to bet if you asked ten people what their definition of cloud computing technology is, you would probably get ten different answers. There are a number of reasons why this is the case and there are quite a few levels to understand. There are a number of ways we are seeing our clients at 1102 GRAND develop their cloud strategies. The two we have seen to be the most popular are:
1) Clients have their own private cloud, utilizing their infrastructure that physically resides in private rack or cage space at 1102 GRAND. Some are building out their private cloud for internal uses and others are offering private cloud as a service to their customers.
2) Clients are developing a hybrid cloud approach, utilizing private cloud for their sensitive information and using the public cloud for other data.
I ran across an article, “Forget Public Cloud or Private Cloud, It’s All About Hyper-Hybrid,” by Thor Olav of CIO, that dives deeper into the hybrid approach.
Cloud is certainly not a one size fits all approach, and each company will have to decide what will work best for their overall strategy. If you want to be in touch with companies that are offering private cloud services at 1102 GRAND, I would be happy to make the connection for you. Also, if you would like to check out 1102 GRAND, let me know at greg@1102grand.com.
Also, come and join us at Centriq’s Cloud Intelligence Conference – April 12, 2012 in Overland Park. Learn more and register here!
Posted by: Greg Elliott, Director of Business Development at 1102 GRAND
I recently attended an ACCP (Association of Customer Contact Professionals) meeting where Michael Amigoni, COO of Dibon ARO BPO, gave a fascinating presentation on the virtual call center. Over 15 years ago, Michael had the vision to tap the power of the new “distributed workforce” operational model to increase his customers’ service quality and lower delivery cost. He co-auth
ored a book, “Managing the Telecommuting Employee,” sharing best practices to help virtual call centers “maximize profit and productivity.” Michael shared with us excerpts from his book and interesting and sometimes funny real life examples of what to do and what not to do when running a virtual call center. Michael gave a comparison ROI between a regular bricks and mortar call center and the virtual call center. The total savings for the virtual call center was about $1,200,000 annually! He also shared with the group that two of the best things he ever did since getting involved in the contact center industry was moving their datacenter to 1102 GRAND and migrating to the inContact Software Platform. By moving their datacenter to 1102 GRAND and switching to inContact, it freed him and his team to focus on their core business, customer service. Now, on the datacenter side, they don’t have to worry about redundant cooling units, power feeds, battery backups, generator service, etc., they leave all that to us at 1102 GRAND. I was able to purchase Michael’s book at the event. To preview and purchase “Managing the Telecommuting Employee” go to http://bit.ly/rYZmNK. Great stuff, thanks Michael!
I encourage all who currently own or run a contact center, or are interested in the contact center industry, to come and check out an ACCP meeting. ACCP is a professional, non-profit association whose members represent customer contact organizations and the vendors who support them. The membership consists of organizations of all sizes and from a variety of industries. They have first and third-party focused members including telemarketing, call centers, collections, customer service facilities, help desks, client retention, etc. To learn more about ACCP and upcoming events go to http://associationccp.com/Home.aspx or give me a call at 816-213-7731.
Posted by: Greg Elliott, Director of Business Development at 1102 GRAND
Recently, I helped organize a group called The Right Money at the Right Time at the Right Terms. SITAKS (Regional Software and Information Technology Trade Association) hosted an engaging panel discussion on raising business capital. The
panel shared how growing businesses secure the right money at the right time at the right terms and discussed what the latest trends are in our local business ecosystem.
The panel discussion featured experts in capital-raising and shared their tips on:
What terms & conditions investors & angel groups look for.
Part 1

Part 2

DOs and DON’Ts on what should be included in both a pitch and a presentation.
Part 1

Part 2

One successful entrepreneur-turned-investor’s personal experience on what works and what does not in connecting with investors.
Panelists included: Toby Rush, founder and president of Rush Tracking Systems; Michele Weigand, managing partner of Focused Perspective; and Dr. Joel Wiggins, president and CEO of the Enterprise Center of Johnson County and executive manager of Mid-America Angels Investments. Entrepreneur Davyeon Ross of Digital Sports Ventures moderated the discussion.
To learn more about future SITAKS educational and/or networking events feel free to contact Greg Elliott – SITAKS membership committee chairman or go to www.sitaks.com .
Many thanks to newly opened Regus office space for allowing us to use their impressive facility (fractional office space) on the Plaza. Contact Danielle Torneden (Danielle.torneden@regus.com) or Tara Dyer (tara.dyer@regus.com) for more information on the Regus facility.
Posted by: Greg Elliott, Director of Business Development at 1102 GRAND
I ran across this article on CIOInsight.com on the prediction that hardware spending will reach $99 billion this year. At 1102 GRAND we are definitely seeing evidence of this spending on a daily basis. We are watching customers moving gear into newly built out collocation rooms within our building, as well as existing customers adding new or upgrading existing equipment. The growth appears to span many different verticals, but web hosting, managed IT service companies, healthcare IT and call centers are definitely the front-runners this year at 1102 GRAND.
Gartner: Data Center Hardware Spending to Hit $99B in 2011
Who says the future of IT is all in software? All software has to run on some sort of processor, physical or virtual, and all those have to run on something you can see and touch. And with the continuing deluge of data pouring into servers and storage arrays, there is no shortage of processors happening anytime soon.
Thus, IT hardware sales are going nowhere but up and to the right. Gartner has some new numbers that back up this trend.
The industry researcher is projecting that worldwide data center hardware spending will reach $98.9 billion by the end of calendar year 2011, up 12.7 percent from $87.8 billion in 2010, according to a report it published Oct. 13. Data center hardware spending is forecast to total $106.4 billion in 2012 and surpass $126.2 billion in 2015.
Data center hardware spending includes servers, storage and enterprise data center networking equipment.
Back to Pre-Downturn Levels
“Worldwide data center hardware spending will finally reach and surpass 2008 levels,” said Jon Hardcastle, research director at Gartner. “Growth in emerging regions particularly Brazil, Russia, India and China (the BRIC countries) is balanced by continued weakness relative to pre-downturn levels in Japan and Western Europe.”
Storage is the main driver for growth, Hardcastle said. “Although only a quarter of data center hardware spending is on storage, almost half of the growth in spending will be from the storage market,” he said.
Posted by: Greg Elliott, Director of Business Development at 1102 GRAND
Event Date and Location
2011 Technology Entrepreneur Speakers Program: Testing Your Business Idea- Frequently Overlooked Questions
Tuesday, October 18 from 5:30-7:00 p.m.
Polsinelli Shughart PC
Kansas City, MO
$25 Advanced Registration. $30 On-Site Registration
Testing Your Business Idea- Frequently Overlooked Questions
For the final program of the year, hear from featured speaker, Cason Coplin, Chief Executive Officer at EcoFit Lighting, on five key areas to investigate for starting and growing your business.
Attendees will learn about:
• Market validation
• Product viability
• Financial support
• Management talent
• Execution capability
By: Greg Elliott, Director of Business Development at 1102 GRAND
Apple is everywhere, especially this week with the tragic passing of Steve Jobs and the release of the iPhone 4S. Even our hometown wireless provider, Sprint Nextel, will finally have the iPhone available mid-October. Phil Poje and his new company, Tech Orchard, recently launched into the Apple game as well. Phil has always been a great proponent of 1102 GRAND and we are excited to hear about his new venture. I had a chance to catch up with Phil this week to ask him a few questions about Tech Orchard and why he chose to start a business in the Kansas City Area.
Tell us about your new company.
Tech Orchard purchases and finds new homes for used iPhones and iPads; thus reducing landfills and overflowing desk drawers. Sellers can get cash or can donate the money to their favorite charity with Tech Orchard matching 10% to the same charity. www.techorchard.com
Tech Orchard will also assists organizations with the purchase, leasing, renting, and management of 1-1,000 iPads and/or iPhones. Our services will include, but not limited to implementation, security issues (data encryption), integration, iPad app development, and training.
Who are your clients?
Tech Orchard partners with individuals, businesses, healthcare, and educational institutions in purchasing pre-owned iPads and iPhones; then re-selling them after being refurbished.
What value do you offer your customers?
Tech Orchard buys old iPads and iPhones, and makes sure that any important data is securely erased. We provide cash back in order to purchase new equipment. Customers can feel good that the devices are being re-use or recycled responsibly.
Why are you in Kansas City?
I was born in Kansas City Missouri, raised in Kansas City Kansas, graduated from University of Missouri-Kansas City and have lived on both sides of the state line. The vibrant K.C. region is a great place to live, work and raise a family. The friendly Mid-western culture and variety of intellectual, sports and recreational activities make this a wonderful place to call home and build a business.
What is the best part of doing business in Kansas City?
The friendly culture of Kansas City along with the strong work ethic makes our city great for doing business. In addition, KC has recently been ranked among the best in the nation in terms of its IT work force. We have many innovative companies; and organizations like Google and others are recognizing the value our city and region has for them.
What are the benefits of working in Kansas City?
Smart people! Great educational institutions like KU Medical Center, UMKC, KU, K-State, Avila, Baker, Park College, DeVry and a stellar group of junior colleges. Also, we enjoy having many organizations like KC Next, SITAKS, KCIT Professionals, EDC of KC, ECJC, Kansas Pipeline, KCADC, Kauffman Foundation, Start KC and many others who are helping businesses like ours grow and prosper. At Tech Orchard, we are proud and privileged to be part of the Kansas City region.
What are the financial or economic incentives to living in Kansas City or the metro area?
Low cost of living, great communities, strong workforce, good infrastructure, and ease of transportation are a few of the financial/economic incentives of being based in Kansas City. In addition, we are developing a good community of investors who strive to re-investing back in new area companies.
How does someone get in touch with Tech Orchard to learn more?
Direct inquiries to Phil Poje, CEO, phil@techorchard.com
By: Greg Elliott, Director of Business Development at 1102 GRAND
As I read the article, In the Pipeline: A Tidal Wave of Data, I started thinking about how much data I generate on a given day. I send tons of emails and texts, make pandora selections, tweet, post on LinkedIn, make charges on my debit and credit cards, utilize smart phone apps, make calls…well, you get the idea. Then I look at my children, who are better multi-taskers than I am, doing online homework from their laptops while simultaneously texting friends and downloading apps on their iPads. It is obvious that we will continue to generate more data, especially with the availability and affordability of increased internet capacity and speeds.
In the article, James Kobielus of Forrester predicted that storage will continue to increase at a more affordable cost, thus gaining my attention. He said, “By the end of the decade, petabytes of storage will live in the palm of your hand.” A blog post from Mozy.com in 2009 did a great job of illustrating what a petabyte looks like: 1,000,000 gigabytes equals a petabyte, or 13.3 years of HD-TV Video!
It will be interesting to see if Kobielus’ prediction comes true, but one thing is clear, more data is coming and we better be ready.
By: Greg Elliott, Director of Business Development at 1102 GRAND
Thank you to all the golfers, sponsors and Deer Creek Golf Club for another successful golf tournament and IT networking event. The competition was fierce yet friendly and great connections were made.
Congratulations to the winners:
1st Place- Bluebird Network: Mike Brigman, Steve Crane, Don Gehringer and Scott Brown
2nd Place- K&W Underground: Rex Schick, Bill Reidy, Scott Plumb and Dwight Davis
3rd Place- Gary Kapperman, George Porta, Wayne Walker and Connie Walker
Longest Drive- Wayne Walker
Longest Putt- Bill Reidy
Closest to the Pin- DJ Good
Thank you again to our tournament sponsors: Rockefeller Group Technology Solutions (RGTS), K&W Underground, Stanger Industries, Lantel, Time Warner Business Class, KNK Telecom, Westhues Electric, Boulevard Brewery, Clayman Promotions, and Centriq IT Training. We couldn’t have done it without your generosity!