Skip to main content

Why IT Departments should allow Skype...Your Network Sniffer

I've been having frequent problems with my ADSL connections recently. I have the same provider both at home and at work.

On both connections I get intermittent; seemingly random, outages on the pipe. The service provider has a "help desk" that are typical in Telco environments and IT Companies you know the routine:
  • restart your computer
  • check the cables
  • restart your modem
  • "are you sure you've got the password right? is caps lock on?"
Anyway the problem at home was initially a broken modem after 4 months of use and the problem at work was initially a broken splitter after about 2 weeks of use :(

Anyway getting to the point (finally), how did I know there was a problem with the network in the first place? not just the usual random web page not available (aka someone's turned the server off)

I knew because my trusty network sniffer couldn't find a way out; what is the sniffer I hear you ask?

The answer is Skype!

Wherever I am, inside or outside of a firewall, I know if there is at least one way out to the internet if I see this in the bottom right hand corner
Due to the way that Skype transits the network, generally speaking if it can't create a connection then this means that there isn't one.

If IT departments allowed people to install Skype they would empower the user to alert them very early to a broken network connection. The other benefit, for me, is that inside the firewall I can't use Yahoo or MSN messenger. Again Skype comes up trumps for me as I can use Skype Chat. A big up for Google as well as due to the way that GoogleTalk, a jabber based IM opposed to SIP, is integrated with Gmail I can also use their IM as well.

I'm sure it's a coincidence that both SIP IM's can't get out but Jabber and the Skype propiretary IM's can.

So you know you've got network problems when you see this guy

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

PC over IP - The Teradici Effect

Teradici are hoping to blur the lines between PC and Data Centre. Their solution allows a use to view multiple screens and control the blade PC over IP. This is kind of like the dumb terminals with a new edgy deployment. The intention is that all of the computing power is performed offsite in a centralized area, the Data Centre, and this will save on power and maintenance costs as the engineers are co-located with the hardware and therefore don't have to go out to the client site for basic maintenance. The Teradici Company Article found in the Wall Street Journal

In the overlap of technology, marketing and social media the QR Code is critical

Outside of consulting on telecommunications, CIO advisory, and the business adoption of technology I also completed an MBA.  One of the projects was on the potential use cases of two dimensional barcodes. Today the QR Code , one of many types of 2D codes, is seen as being a critical component of any good marketing plan.  As a natural integration between social media and devices I would extend VMob Bob's question " What can a mobile operator learn from Facebook ?" and also ask how can they step and start to make innovations with the extensions to social media that already exist today?

Access as infrastructure, what does this mean for Telco 2.0?

Having recently attended a seminar by Catherine Middleton from Ryerson on Australia's NBN initiative it got me thinking about "access as infrastructure". The Australian Government is investing $B's of public and private capital in a national broadband network that is a fibre to the premise platform, although for distant and remote sites it will most likely be a fixed wireless solution.  The proposition from Dr. Middleton is that ubiquitous access will create a platform for services that separates competition from access, sounds like Telco 2.0. The question I posed was if the idea is a common platform but close to 10% of that access will be at 12Mbps rather than 100Mbps (fixed wireless versus fibre) then surely the lowest common denominator will prevail and services will be designed for 12Mbps.  You would then question the rationale of FTTP or FTTH when you could go fixed wireless.  Over time LTE and similar technologies will see an increase in speed that will of...