admin

We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

21st December 2018 by admin

As we draw closer to Christmas, we’ve been thinking about how busy and rewarding this year has been.

We’ve more than doubled the size of our sales team which has been exciting for all of us and is helping us achieve our growth strategy as we move into next year.

We’ve taken on some rousing new customers and we look forward to supporting them into 2019 and beyond.

As the telecommunications industry is constantly evolving, we’ve been adapting our products and services offerings to ensure that we are leading the way. We also want to ensure that we are in a position to offer our customers the most up-to-date and efficient services to future-proof their business.

We are looking forward to seeing what 2019 has in store for us and we want to wish everyone a very merry Christmas and a happy new year!

Our Favourite Christmas Gadgets for 2018!

14th December 2018 by admin

We’ve reached that time of year again! Christmas has come around and, if you ask us, it’s come around incredibly quickly!

Has anyone left their Christmas shopping to the last minute? If so, we’ve got your back! We have some great ideas for technology gifts this year that will please all ages.

PlayStation Classic

There has been a lot of nostalgia fever in the gaming community recently, with the Crash Bandicoot Trilogy and Spyro Trilogy remakes being major releases over the past year and a half. PlayStation have taken the nostalgia to the next level with the PlayStation Classic! It comes pre-loaded with twenty games, including Ridge Racer and Tekken – perfect for younger children and those who love classic games!

Polaroid Mint

This is a great gift for those who love Polaroid style images! The Mint is a 2-in-1 camera and printer that is available in 5 colours. It has Bluetooth built in so that you can print off any picture wherever you happen to be. The images are 4.5’ x 3’ and have a sticky, peel-off back to them. They’re also water, tear and smudge resistant!

Apple TV 4K

Apple TV 4K allows you to watch TV, Films and so much more in 4K HDR quality! It comes with Dolby Atmos Sound and Siri built into the remote, allowing for voice search. This is the perfect gift for anyone who loves TV and films!

Tile Mate/Pro

Is anyone you know prone to losing their keys or anything else? This little gift is perfect for them! Pop one of these on your key ring and if you lose your keys, you can use the Tile app to ring the device and it will sound an alarm so that you can find it. This could be a lifesaver for some!

Anki Vector Robot Sidekick

This may look like and odd present but having a tiny robot that responds to you and its surroundings sounds like an awesome present to us! Vector can time things for you, take pictures and so much more. Plus, you can buy it a little space like a bed for a pet, how cute is that?

Fitbit Alta Fitness Tracker

This is for the more active people amongst you. The Fitbit Alta is a great way of tracking your exercise throughout the day – it even helps you stay active with reminders to move! It’s also a good, cheaper alternative to some of the smart watches on the market currently.

Oculus Go VR Headset

We mentioned in a previous blog that VR and AR are becoming more popular. They’re especially popular in gaming but this VR Headset doesn’t require a PC! You can use this VR headset to watch 360° live sports, videos, TV, films, concerts and so much more – cool isn’t it?

Garmin Speak Plus with Dash Cam

If you’re buying a present for someone that travels a lot, this could be a great gift for them! This gadget acts like an amazon echo device for your car! It’s packed with features like spoken directions, music and radio streaming, dash cam recording and many more.

There you go, 8 gadgets all on the market that would make great Christmas presents! Some of these gadgets are pricey so you can always make them a joint present to someone!

If you’ve bought all your presents already, why not treat yourself and buy one of these for yourself? The Vector Robot is definitely on our wish list!

Project Loon – The future of internet connectivity?

23rd November 2018 by admin

In the UK, we have a robust broadband connectivity network that allows most of us in the country to access the internet at any time.

However, you may be surprised to hear that we are part of just a slight majority when it comes to internet connectivity. Reports show that only 55% of the world’s population has access to the internet as of June 2018 – meaning that well over 3 billion people are unable to connect to the world wide web!

Reaching those who are not yet connected is challenging for many different reasons, such as, a lack of funding, poor infrastructure or a remote location.

In 2011, Google X stepped in and began testing a system dubbed ‘Project Loon’. The idea behind it was to transmit an internet connection down to those who need it via a mini-satellite. The original prototype was made up of a weather balloon and a collection of off-the-shelf radio parts.

By 2013, Project Loon was an official Google Project, and the balloon technology had developed via the help of vigorous testing in New Zealand under stratospheric temperatures.

But how does it work…?

The technology developed can be broken up into three main parts:

1) Antennas

They transmit connectivity obtained from ground stations down to any LTE capable phone, much like the way a mobile network transmits signal.

2) Charging Equipment

A row of solar panels power the satellite when sunlight is present and an additional battery acts as a backup during the night.

3) Flight Capsule

This contains the electronics commanding the unit and the navigation system, which uses automated algorithms and predictive models on wind speeds and directions. This is continuously monitored by someone on the ground.

The balloons themselves are made from sheets of polyethylene – the material used to make some shopping bags – and contain helium. When fully inflated, they stand 39ft tall and 49ft wide and can travel for around 100 days.

Taking Flight…

The first to connect to one of the balloons were a family in Canterbury, New Zealand in 2013 and they connected via an internet antenna attached to their house.

The first LTE connection was made in 2014 by a school in Campo Maior, Brazil. It was the first time they had ever connected to the world wide web.

These balloons have since been used multiple times to provide internet coverage after natural disasters. In 2017, Project Loon teamed up with the FCC to provide connectivity to around 200,000 people in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria.

The Future…

As of July 2018, Project Loon graduated from Google X and has now become a subsidiary of Alphabet Inc. It is clear that Project Loon now plays a massive role in supporting humanitarian issues but this new technology could become commercially beneficial in the future too.

Horizon Service Outage

15th November 2018 by admin

Yesterday Horizon users experienced a severe service outage.

Firstly and foremost we want to sincerely apologise for the disruption this caused to you, our customers.

GAMMA Horizon’s Andy Morris (COO) issued the following statement;

“We fully recognise the critical nature that communications play in the day-to-day operation of an organisation, however large or small. Wednesday’s issue was an extraordinary event and in no way represents our historical performance.”

Here at Boxx we live and breathe this product, so experienced the same frustrations yesterday. However, Horizon is still a product we firmly believe in.

We choose to work with GAMMA over and above other hosted telephony suppliers because of their commitment to and continued investment into their network. On this occasion the issue was unprecedented and appears to be related to a software bug. In over 7 years, this is the first time an issue like this has occurred, which is an outstanding record of resilience.

In saying the above, we do not underestimate the severity & impact on your business. We absolutely respect the critical nature and all of our staff have been committed to dealing with the situation.

This morning we were invited to attend a webinar with GAMMA, who have been very open & forthcoming about what caused the problems yesterday.

Andy Morris reassured us with these comments;

“The underlying root cause is fully understood and we have no reason to believe we will not be able to continue to support the high levels of service you rightfully expect.”

We of course understand that it was an incredible difficult time yesterday and feedback provided to us this morning by some of our customers indicates that we could have communicated with you better.

A situation like this brings spotlight to disaster recovery plans and we now intend to revisit our own processes, so that we are able to provide information to our customers more quickly.

We would also recommend that all businesses review their own contingency plans – covering all business functions, including telecommunications. Account managers here will be to looking to discuss your telephony disaster recovery plans with you in the coming weeks.

Dean Burgin
Director – Boxx Communications

Anti-Bullying Week 2018 – How to protect yourself and others online

9th November 2018 by admin

The week commencing 12th November 2018 marks the beginning of this year’s Anti-Bullying Week, the theme of which is ‘Choose Respect’.

The idea behind this theme is to show that bullying is a behavioural choice. From there, we can encourage people of all ages to be respectful instead of hurtful.

One of the biggest types of bullying in modern society is cyberbullying. It is almost commonplace with the new type of behaviours that have formed online, such as ‘trolling’ and ‘stan’ cultures.

Nowadays, it is very easy for someone to post hurtful content online without any repercussions because they can do so anonymously. It can also come from any person with access the internet at any time of the day – meaning that it can be difficult for people to escape online harassment.

However, modern technology can now help keep people away from harmful content, so we’re going to take you through some ways that you can protect yourself, your children or others. Whether it be routers, software or handsets, many technologies now often include screen time limits or application restriction features. Most notably, Apple’s iOS 12 now has a new Screen Time function which encompasses these elements.

Settings like this allow you to limit how much time is spent on devices and how much time is spent using individual apps. This is a great way to manage how much media you (or your children) are creating or exposed to.

Additionally, the content that is displayed when accessing the internet can also be restricted often using age ratings or by banning ‘explicit’ content.

If you have a child whom you feel is a victim of cyberbullying or is bullying others, you can limit their internet access with parental controls. This is a great way of making sure that either a person or device within your household can’t access the internet unsupervised.

It is great to see that businesses are taking into consideration some of the dangers of the internet and placing controllable limits on their products; take a look at the features your router and/or smartphone offers – it could all lead to a reduction in cyberbullying.

In the meantime, if there is anyone you know that may be being bullied, always remember to reach out and support them. Also, if you have noticed any online bullying, be sure to report it as most sites have policies against a cyberbullying.

The Ocean Plastic Crisis – How is broadband aiding the clean-up?

26th October 2018 by admin

A big topic in the public eye recently has been the ocean plastic crisis. Tonnes upon tonnes of plastic has been discarded into our oceans instead of being reused and recycled, which has resulted in numerous environmental problems.

It is estimated that 8 million tonnes of plastic are thrown into our oceans annually; that number is only set to increase as our plastic output is predicted to increase 10-fold by 2020.

Micro-plastics are bits of plastic that are smaller than a fingernail. This is the plastic ingested by animals and it kills an estimated 1 million sea birds and 100,000 sea mammals every year.

Coral can get diseases through plastic pollution; once a piece of plastic touches an area of coral, the likelihood of that coral becoming diseased increases from 4% to 89%!

There are 5 large gyres of plastic in our oceans, with one specific gyre called ‘The Great Pacific Garbage Patch’. This floats between California and Hawaii and is claimed to be 1.6 million square kilometres in size. Texas is around 700,000 square kilometres, so this gyre is over double the size of Texas!

How is this issue being tackled?

The non-profit organisation called The Ocean Cleanup is teaming up with the satellite communications company Iridium to speed up the ocean cleanup process.

The Ocean Cleanup will be sending out a fleet of sixty collectors into The Great Pacific Garbage Patch. These collectors are 600 metres long and have a screen underneath so that plastic can’t flow underneath whilst also avoiding wildlife.

Each one of these collectors will be equipped with two broadband satellites at each end. These satellites will be transmitting live data back to The Ocean Cleanup’s base in Rotterdam.

The data they will be receiving ranges from overflow detection, location data, pictures, 360° live video and system performance updates.

You may be wondering how they are able to send all this information from the middle of the ocean…

The data is transported from the broadband satellites on each of the collectors up to interconnected low-orbit satellites, specifically 66 of them across 6 polar orbiting planes! Therefore, there is no need for any ground infrastructure!

Iridium’s latest constellation of satellites is still being launched. They have already had 7 NEXT launches with help from SpaceX to get 65 satellites into orbit. They only have one launch left to get another 10 satellites up. 66 of those satellites will be used with the other 9 being used as backups. There is also another 6 spare satellites on the ground.

There are other pieces of technology on the collectors that will play a big part in the cleanup process.

Each one of these collectors is autonomous! Once they are placed in an optimal location for collection, they are left to roam around the gyre. The satellites will translate the path and current location of the collector back to Rotterdam so that they can track the progress of each one.

The Ocean Cleanup also wanted to make sure that their solution was as environmentally friendly as possible. So, their collectors are energy neutral.

What this means is that it only uses the waves and wind direction to move around. Also, all of electronics on the collectors, such as the lights, are solar powered.

All of these technologies teamed together should make for the most successful effort in the ocean cleanup yet!

Page 2 of 27

« Prev 1 2 3 4 … 27 Next »

We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Categories

Yearly Archive

Subscribe to our newsletter

Our Favourite Christmas Gadgets for 2018!

Categories

Yearly Archive

Subscribe to our newsletter