“Edge Solutions does a lot to support local businesses and growth in the technology sector in Atlanta, so we are pleased to work with Alpharetta-based Intorrent to offer our first voice solutions to the markets we serve,” said Julie Haley, CEO.  “Everyone needs phone service, and we are confident that Edge can offer a better alternative with our Intorrent partnership.”

The new relationship enables Edge Solutions to deliver Intorrent Supercell™, Intorrent Technologies’ cloud/hosted phone system. Intorrent Supercell runs a company’s communications via the Internet. By renting online server space based on an organization’s needs, the service eliminates the need for almost all on-site hardware.  For small, nimble operations or businesses with multiple small branch locations, Intorrent Supercell™ decreases costs and saves space in a company’s IT center.

“We’re honored that Edge Solutions has added Intorrent’s cloud-based phone system to their managed services portfolio,” said Darrell Hensley, CEO of Intorrent Technologies.  “The team at Edge Solutions has a solid track record of successfully providing technology solutions to organizations of all sizes, and our VoIP offering will make their comprehensive IT and data mix even more compelling and effective.”

About Edge Solutions

Edge Solutions delivers proactive IT solutions that provide a competitive advantage. The company’s team of industry experts is dedicated to providing the right IT solution with expertise in data storage, infrastructure, virtualization, data security, networking, cloud computing, professional services, asset and services contract management to organizations across the Southern United States. 

About Intorrent Technologies

Intorrent Technologies specializes in Asterisk-based VoIP deployments for small- and medium-sized businesses, as well as multi-location enterprises. Cloud, premise or hybrid, Intorrent’s solutions and expertise helps companies from any industry optimize their communications and lower costs.

The post Edge Solutions Delivers Intorrent Technologies VoIP Solutions appeared first on Edge Solutions.

I have already blogged about what a wonderful town Alpharetta is for technology companies, but I have to brag again: The Food Truck Alley event every Thursday night here on Old Roswell Street is a great way to mix techies and foodies!

Pairing food or beverage tasting and technology is quite a business trend these days.  By the way, we have a lot of “foodie-techies” here at Edge Solutions.  Did you know that our Media and Entertainment Specialist Scott Saturday is a Le Cordon Bleu-trained chef?

The gourmet food trucks line up in our alley right outside The Edge door starting at 5:00 pm, and every week we have to make crucial decisions: Sustainable Lobster Mac ‘n Cheese at the Happy Belly Truck, or the Smoked Brisket over Cheddar Grits at the WOW Truck?  Spicy Noodle Salad at the Viet Nomies Truck or crispy fried plantains at “A Taste of Puerto Rico” Truck? Hmmm…..

Don’t try to make such an important decision without a cocktail first. Start at The Edge, where family, friends, and fellow techies gather as soon as the live music begins. We crank open the old warehouse windows for happy hour where another significant decision awaits you: should you pour a chilled, dry Italian Rosata, or would you rather pull an ice-cold Yuengling out of The Edge antique Coke machine?

Last Thursday, we toasted Edge’s newest technical engineer Alex and his family, who have lived all over the world and are international foodies, too. We discussed the necessity of lemon in Greek food as we ate kale and green egg smoked salmon salad. We also mulled over the best ways to streamline and optimize your storage infrastructure over truffle fries. Aha, and yum.

Let me hear from you: Are you a foodie-techie too? Stop by The Edge for Food Truck Alley food therapy every Thursday in June, but please let us know, so we can be sure to have enough beverages for all!  jhaley@edgewit.com

The post Life at The Edge: Old Alpharetta’s Food Truck Alley is a Can’t-miss Event for Foodies and Techies appeared first on Edge Solutions.

10.  Buy breath mints beforehand:  They’ll cost three times what they’re worth at the Vegas hotel gift shop, and you must have some to share as the day wears on and you’re expected to network at the technology fair over cocktails.

9. Go along with the whacky sales motivation guy:  IT vendors have the best intentions when they hire the latest guy on the circuit to give us a few gems of sales advice.  We find that going along with yelling collective answers back to him, or trying out his “intro line” on your neighbor lightens up the day.

8. Plan for bad WiFi:  Conference organizers always promise WiFi, but it usually ends up seriously overloaded and slow. Consider buying a mobile internet device, so that you can stay connected.

7. Keep a running tally of acronyms:  Write them down. It helps you pay attention, and you may learn a new one.

6. If it’s in Vegas, bring water or find it at the show:  Chances are, you aren’t from the desert, aren’t a camel and you will be walking and talking a lot.

5. Take your phone charger out on the show floor with you:  This is great for emergencies, but more importantly, it’s a good way to make a friend when you share.

4.  Follow company executives on Twitter:  This provides both informative and sometimes amusing updates that you may not hear on the main stage.

3. Pack your own snacks: There rarely seems to be food out when you need it most.

2. ALWAYS visit the back of the hall: You will almost always see a few start-ups that are smart and aren’t blowing their budget on the more expensive floor space, or the companies that are new to the convention and may be the next hot ticket.  Get there first and make a real connection, usually with the leaders in the company.

1. If it’s in Vegas, bring your walkin’ shoes!

The post Road Warrior Tips: Top 10 Tips for Attending an IT Conference appeared first on Edge Solutions.

We always want to share the coolest new technology to help your systems perform at optimal levels.  Edge Solutions is pleased to partner with Avere to deliver NAS optimization solutions.

New First-of-Its-Kind Hybrid Storage Appliance

The new FXT3800 from Avere is a hybrid Edge filer that contains both Flash/Solid State Drive (SSD) media and Serial Attached SCSI hard drives (SAS HDD) and delivers significant performance gains in benchmark testing. With this new hybrid technology, Avere can now automatically tier data across four media types: RAM, SSD, SAS and SATA HDDs.  This delivers maximum performance for the hottest files while moving cold data out of the performance tier and onto SATA.  Get ready to both minimize costs and shrink the data storage footprint. 

Dynamic tiering assures that every block of file data is located in storage that matches its current level of activity. As a result, the new system is 40% faster than the FXT 3500, the company’s previous top performer on the SPECsfs2008 NFS benchmark test, and is far less costly than flash-only solutions.

Avere Demonstrates Blazing Fast Cloud Storage Results in Latest Benchmark Test for Enterprise Applications 

Avere achieved record SPECsfs2008 NFS results for the second time in two years with its new hybrid Edge filer, the FXT3800 continuing to beat out solutions from EMC and NetApp. The results also demonstrate Avere’s architecture delivers unparalleled application performance to any NAS environment, including those where the storage is located across a long geographic distance from the end-users, with up to an 80% reduction in cost and footprint in comparison to legacy NAS solutions.

Ask us about Avere solutions and how our team at Edge Solutions can help you implement optimized storage environments.

The post Cool New Tech: Ready to Boost your NAS Performance? appeared first on Edge Solutions.

“We are pleased to have an updated website that truly represents our forward-thinking culture, and shows how our dynamic team really is the differentiator when working with Edge Solutions,” said Julie Haley, CEO.  “We plan to blog a lot more to let our customers and partners know what’s going on with us—from new solutions we’re bringing to market to educational events we’re hosting each month.”

Edge Solutions’ new website outlines each IT solution category the company delivers to customers as well as the key industry segments the company serves.  In addition, the site showcases Edge Solutions new IT training portal where customers can order technical training courses for certifications from companies such as Citrix, CompTIA, Juniper Networks and Microsoft.

“We are proud to showcase our team and highlight our areas of expertise with a contemporary and socially-engaging site,” said Kristen Beatty, vice president of marketing. “We worked closely with our strategic marketing agency to find the right combination of information, tools and feedback loops that will be beneficial to our customers and prospects.”

The post Edge Solutions Launches New Corporate Website appeared first on Edge Solutions.

Wednesday, May 15, 2013
10:00 am
Regions Field, Birmingham, Alabama

Please contact us for registration details.

The post Storage and Baseball Event with SpectraLogic at Regions Field – May 15 appeared first on Edge Solutions.

Word has been out for a while now: Georgia Tech’s start-up accelerator/incubator Advanced Technology Development Center (ATDC) in Atlanta has nurtured technology entrepreneurs and “birthed” over 150 successful companies. These companies include Mindspring (1996), Air2web (2000), and BlinQ Media (2011).   

What most people didn’t know is that the sleepy little suburb called Alpharetta—known for its many horse farms and for its stagecoach stop on the way to the Dahlonega gold rush—is the home to 35% of those ATDC technology start-ups.  There are many reasons that these companies chose to set roots down here, but hush!  

I am not sure if I am ready to share this secret—Alpharetta is an amazing place to launch and grow a company.

There is a great sense of community here. In the center of “Old Alpharetta,” housed in the upstairs of the Old Waters Warehouse, Edge Solutions has created a hip headquarters with notable soul. We also have a friendly ghost, but that is another story.  Downstairs, there is a funky art and jewelry shop that features incredible local talent and has just expanded.

That sense of community is extended mealtimes. Each of our neighbors provides first-class TLC when we walk our customers and business partners to breakfast, lunch and dinner:

• Mel and Zelda at the infamous Corner Deli
• Mittie’s Café down the street
• Smokejack BBQ, which our Edge team frequents a lot
• Our special friend Pasquale at Las Casa Italian Grill

All the locals businesses here know and support each other.

For startups, Alpharetta is a dream come true, helping entrepreneurs succeed in a number of different ways. After noticing the abundance of tech companies within the city limits both large (like McKesson, HP, Microsoft) and “”emerging” (like Jackson Healthcare, Priority Payments, and Edge Solutions, naturally) our astute Mayor Belle Isle just set aside a chunk of change to launch Alpharetta’s own technology incubator. Stay tuned! 

But you don’t have to wait: there are already tons of resources to support your dreams:

• ATDC already has an “Alpharetta Startup Circle” with weekly freewheeling discussion for early stage entrepreneurs.
• The Greater North Fulton Chamber is housed here and provides many great networking, events, expos, small business recognition, and it as acts as an important nurturing arm for its entrepreneurs.
• TAG (Technology Association of GA) is doing some amazing accelerating and support here, from its monthly networking lunches to its technology forums served with wine.  You can always find like-minded techies with whom you can collaborate, team up with, learn from, or simply make friends!

We were hoping to have this best-kept-secret to ourselves, but the good word is already out.

Let me hear from you: What do you love about working or starting a business here in Alpharetta, Georgia?  Please send me a note at jhaley@edgewit.com.

The post Why We Love Doing Business in Alpharetta, Georgia appeared first on Edge Solutions.

“Edge has been our guide from physical to virtual, and virtual to cloud. They have been an integral part of moving us forward,” said Jim recently.  “Edge Solutions is way, way cool.”

If you’re looking to embark on a managed services strategy, ask us for more details about our partnership with City of Woodstock.

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Read more about how we helped CCTC improve IT efficiency.

The post Edge Solutions Helps Central Carolina Technical College Improve IT Efficiency appeared first on Edge Solutions.

The post Edge Solutions Named #3 on Inc. Magazine’s 2012 Inc. 5000 List appeared first on Edge Solutions.