18Mar
Author: crossi
Categories: Ramblings
Ignite Boulder is one of those events that seems to fit right into the unique culture of this town. What is Ignite Boulder, you might ask? Well, let me sum it up in one word: entertaining. Ignite events are held all over the country, and the format is pretty simple. Presenters are chosen by the organizers and the attendees weeks before the event via online voting, and anyone can sign up to present. Each Ignite has a theme, such as Heart and Soul, and the presentations are supposed to have some connection to that theme. This is where it gets interesting. Each presentation is only allowed to be 5 minutes and 20 slides long, and slides auto-advance every 15 seconds. This leads so some very quick, but generally enlightening, and almost always funny presentations.
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16Mar
Author: beth
Categories: Ramblings
16Feb
Author: zack
Categories: IT Management, Ramblings
In a recent study conducted by The Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index, Boulder received top honors as the overall happiest, healthiest, and most optimistic city in the United States. The study surveyed more than 350,000 Americans across the country and assessed their lives based on a variety of pre-defined categories. While Boulder did not sweep every category looked at by the researchers, it did get the highest rank in the “Work Experience” arena. At Applied Trust we have always known this was true, but it is nice to get some nationwide visibility for it.
We care about having a good work and life balance for everyone that works here. That’s why the ATE Employee Canon is so important to us. Having this realization and making conscious, proactive maneuvers to maintain it is a key component to fostering a positive “work experience” like the one discussed in the survey. The section measured job satisfaction, ability to use one’s strengths at work, trust and openness in the workplace, and whether one’s supervisor treats him or her more like a boss or partner. These metrics align very closely to how we view work and how we want to spend our time there.
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01Jan
Author: trent
Categories: IT Management, Ramblings
Ok, I admit it – I’m generally not a fan of New Year’s Resolutions. I believe that folks should always be looking for ways to make positive changes, and shouldn’t need a specific day/event as a trigger. That said, it does make a nice marker date for an annual evaluation of the state of things.
Last year, I posted an end-of-year IT checklist, which I again encourage all IT folks to take a quick look at — this is a great time to evaluate and update a number of key IT areas. At the very least, don’t forget to update your copyright dates!
I’m hoping 2010 can be a year of positive change for IT. In that light, as a community let’s make a few resolutions:
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20Dec
Author: trent
Categories: Ramblings
I’ve watched with amusement these past few weeks as the marketing folks at Verizon finally figured out what I’ve personally known for the last year, and captured it in their “coverage maps” campaign. In summary, Verizon coverage is awesome while AT&T coverage completely sucks. Way-to-go Verizon marketing geniuses!
I know this, because in September 2008 Applied Trust moved all of its staff onto the iPhone platform as our corporate mobile communications device. I am the first to admit that my iPhone plays music really well… Apple-quality well. And I do like that. And I guess having an iPhone somehow makes me “more cool.” But as a functional cellphone for business communications, it’s a nightmare. Oh, and sometimes SMS messages arrive a day or two late, missing the typical SMS 60-second SLA by 2+ orders of magnitude.
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11Nov
Author: trent
Categories: Ramblings, Security
10Nov
Author: beth
Categories: Ramblings
Over the course of 2009 we’ve embarked on a number of employee-initiated projects to help make Applied Trust a place where we really want to work long term. Dan’s recent blog post about our new and improved third-floor deck is one example. Another of these projects involved introducing healthier beverage options for our employees, clients, and other guests at our office. The primary focus of this initiative was to replace beverages sweetened with high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) – predominantly sodas – with those that are not.
For anyone who’s not familiar with it, HFCS is any of a group of corn syrups that has undergone processing to convert its glucose into fructose and has then been mixed with pure corn syrup (100% glucose) to produce a desired sweetness. It became a popular substitute for sugar in the 70s and 80s, as high sugar import tariffs were imposed and government subsidies paid to growers kept the price of corn low. It is used in almost all processed foods, and it is the number one source of calories in the United States.
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04Nov
Author: dan
Categories: Green IT, Ramblings
This past spring Applied Trust took its third-floor deck space to a new level!
Although the deck has always been a desirable aspect of Applied Trust’s office environment, we felt the space wasn’t being used to its full potential. Some employees said that it was too sunny and got too hot to work out there with a laptop. Others said it was the lack of acceptable work space and the presence of pigeons that deterred them from working out there. We decided to make an effort to provide our engineers with a more inviting outdoor workspace that would be fun to use and would add value to our work space for years to come.
After looking into options we decided on some sun shades, some new workspaces, a way of providing music, and deck plants. The plants were a key element; not only do they add to the aesthetics of the deck, but they also add to the “green” image of the office, by helping to offset our carbon output. We chose the following plants to fill the planters:
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05Oct
31Jul
Author: ben
Categories: Infrastructure, Ramblings
At Applied Trust we’ve been using the Zimbra Collaboration Suite for a few years now. Ned is our primary admin, and he probably has some criticisms based on his in-depth experience, but from my user perspective it has been great. A few highlights for me:
- I have a good sized mailbox – about 3GB with tens of thousands of individual messages – and our very simple server is plenty fast. Loading messages out of any folder is quick and painless. Searching is also very fast.
- The shared calendar features are spectacular. Setting up meetings with Exchange users is a cinch. Words like “August 3rd” or “Thursday” in the email window are highlighted, and holding the mouse over it shows upcoming meetings. My only complaint is that you can’t seem to set the default calendar sharing rules for new users. When we hire new people, we need to both make our calendar viewable by them, and accept their calendar share. High maintenance.
- Similarly, contacts works great. Very little to say since it works so well.
- Integration with the iPhone is as good as for Exchange users. I have calendars, email and contacts on my phone with no problem.
On the infrastructure side, Ned probably has more to say, but we’ve done many upgrades and they all seem to have gone very smoothly.
As an open source-based collaboration suite, Zimbra is a strong competitor Exchange. I’m happy. Ned, care to comment?
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I’m excited to say that