Whether you’re scared, angry, or just confused about the current time of COVID-19, you have to admit it’s dramatically changed our world.
Although Texas and other states are hoping to get more people back to work soon, most of us agree that COVID-19 is going to make many things different, including some of our workplace activities and social customs.
For instance, it might be awhile until we feel comfortable casually shaking hands or giving hugs again. We might all start having dry hands from all that hand sanitizer and cleaning wipes.
At the workplace level, sanitation might improve, which is probably a good thing.
One thing that we may see more of is virtual meetings – although they were an option for the last few years, these types of meetings were sometimes thought of as a novelty or a last resort option if people couldn’t gather in person.
Now, of course, virtual meetings have become the norm since employees are often scattered around the community and good employers don’t want to bring people together and risk everyone’s health.
So we’re all learning apps like Zoom, Teams, WebX and others. Odds are we’ll continue to use these even after the all-clear. Getting together virtually can cut down on travel costs and commute time and even power.
But to do these meetings properly does require some planning and making sure a company has enough bandwidth in place to handle regular video meetings as well as other hardware and software demands.
If you were considering investing in dedicated fiber, this is the perfect occasion.
In the Greater Houston area, there’s already 5,500 route miles of fiber in place which is owned by PS LIGHTWAVE, a telecommunications provider based here. This is considered the country’s largest private fiber-optic Metropolitan Area Network, with more than 1,600 on-net locations.
PS LIGHTWAVE has been able to create collaborations with most mainstream carriers to create smart network solutions for all types and sizes of business at the private and public levels.
The dedicated fiber networks have been skillfully designed to add redundancy, which means all sorts of back-ups can kick in if there are disruptions. There is also protection against latency.
Our clients can also benefit from 4G and 5G services. 4G has been the standard for several years, and 5G is a new option that is just beginning to roll out in our part of the world. It promises faster speeds, better connections and higher capacity.
Many mobile phone owners are awaiting the arrival of 5G to upgrade so their mobile devices will also have access to higher speeds and data transfers.
This is also something employers should keep in mind who are arranging video conferences and virtual meetings. Many employees want the freedom of tuning into a meeting from anywhere via their smartphones, rather than their home computer or office computer.
Even when more workplaces re-open, it’s likely that many employees will want to continue their remote lifestyle, rather than going back to how things were when everyone sat at the same desk all day.
Companies wanting to upgrade their networks to support greater employee traffic demand due to COVID-19 as well as future needs should discuss a variety of options that are now available to them. Options can include Voice Over IP, where data and voice move together; or dark fiber, which allows clients to manage their own network equipment.
The company can also make sure you have adequate bandwidth to accommodate high demand through the day as well as projecting certain peak times when the bulk of meetings are supposed to be taking place. Estimating what types of virtual meetings will be needed, how many and what cost all can be a good way to have a discussion with companies offering network solutions.
Overall, exploring the utility of dedicated fiber can be useful discussions for your business especially if more organizations are not only using remote meetings to make sure people stay connected and also cutting back on travel costs.
PS LIGHTWAVE provides high-speed, fiber Internet for public and private commercial entities in the Greater Houston and surrounding areas.
Through our high-quality infrastructure, innovative technology and expert, locally based support, we deliver not only the best in connectivity and reliability but in scalability and redundancy. We invite you to learn more about our services, our history and our dedicated team.
