Episode 267: The Altispeed Origin Story - a podcast by Noah J. Chelliah
from 2022-01-09T07:00
The team from Altispeed Technologies join Noah this episode to tell the story of how Altispeed Technologies was born, where it is today, and where the team is headed!
01:15 Altispeed TodayHelp Desk - Issac
Installation and Support - Kenny&Peter
Backend R&D - Richard&Simon
Administration - Sarah&Jess
02:28 Epoch 102:30 Origins of Altispeed
02:40 Why Open Source05:50 Professional Development Program
07:50 RHEL 5.0&Red Hat
11:15 Dec 2009 Altispeed is Born12:25 Noah does everything
13:50 Altispeed Mission Statement14:55 Philippians 2-4
15:08 Matthew 20-2817:00 Epoch 2
17:20 Altispeed's First Hire18:38 The 3 Hiring Questions
Do they get what we are trying to do?Do they want to do what we are trying to do?
Do they have the capacity to do it?Value People and Relationships above all else
19:40 Buck Stops with Me20:00 Employees are a mixed blessing
21:42 Epoch 3Remote Services&Support
Podcast StartsA Complete Disaster
Success is standing on a pile of failures26:18 Epoch 4
Covid 19 Hits28:50 Going forward decisions
30:15 How to serve better30:46 Peter&Kenny Join the Disscusion
31:00 Kenny's Take34:30 RpiSurv (https://github.com/SvenVD/rpisurv)
37:15 FOSS Polish39:02 ANS Outreach&Service
41:55 Noah can work "on" not "for" Altispeed43:43 Noah's dedication to ANS&the community
44:50 Ask Noah Show Studio48:30 Epoch 5
The Future of Altispeed49:28 People stay when they can directly impact the work they do
50:22 How to serve clients going forward52:32 More than a show tag line
58:16 Tony from Jitsi AsksHow do you control what you support?
VirtualizeDefine things up front
Altispeed rejects "monkey hands jobs"One place to call has value
Being the "middle man" allows you to introduce FOSS alternatives1:14:36 Today people ask "what can technology do for me" not "what can I do with technology"
1:16:40 How Altispeed does cloud better1:19:35 Radio likes to be self sufficient
1:20:22 Build Modular Solutions1:22:55 Plans for 2022
1:24:05 Software is more than a tool1:24:44 Learn from others
Dave Ramsey - Podcast (https://www.ramseysolutions.com/shows/the-ramsey-show/)Franklin Covey - 7 Habits of Highly Effective People Book (https://www.franklincovey.com/the-7-habits/)
Rabbi Daniel Lapin - Thou Shalt Prosper Book (https://rabbidaniellapin.com/product/thou-shall-prosper-hardcover-book/)1:27:48 Reducing friction and setting boundaries
Altispeed Tools1:29:52 Element/Matrix
ChannelsReply Chains
ReactionsFederation
Spaces1:40:02 SeaFile (https://www.seafile.com/)
Beautiful UIAble to be White Labeled
1:42:24 Nextcloud (https://nextcloud.com/)Deck
Gets better over time1:44:30 OSTicket (https://osticket.com/)
Lacking Solid Mobile AppOpen API
1:48:08 Simple Help (https://simple-help.com/)Proprietary
Intuitive UIUnstable on Macs
Self HostedExtra tools that reduce friction
Audience Questions1:50:52 Kpovoc Asks
I’d be curious to know how often your clients have problems that might be easier solved by a custom written software vs finding an applicable existing FOSS solution?Many times combining/modifying open source solutions works best
1:54:30 Tony AsksI'd be interested in knowing if you charge customers extra if they want to make changes to an already working solution. Would that be a charge to not have them abuse your time/technician time?
Managed Service ContractsHourly Service
What is your most popular service?Access Controls and Cameras
Networking1:57:42 AtypicalKernel Asks
How do you deal with clients who don't communicate their needs clearly?Discovery Process
R&D Phase
PresentationExecute
Circle back to DiscoveryProject Planning recommendations
Follow upHow do you deal with a client who blames the solution rather than acknowledging their own mistakes and/or short comings?
Teach the userHelp them understand the limitations of their technology
2:09:30 Tony AsksAre you able to share how you price a solution/support contract?
Price hourlyContract Services are locked down
What access control systems do you typically deploy?Axis A1001 Door Controller (https://www.axis.com/products/axis-a1001)
Powerful integrationsHID Readers (https://www.hidglobal.com/products/readers)
Proxy III (https://www.hidglobal.com/products/cards-and-credentials/hid-proximity/1346)Adams Rite door strikes (https://www.adamsrite.com/en/products/electric-strikes/)
Completely ModularUnderstand your threat vector
HID SEOS (https://www.hidglobal.com/products/cards-and-credentials/seos)Why Noah like HID products
2:19:50 Kpovoc AsksDo clients pay for the discovery process?
No, neverDiscovery benefits Altispeed not the client
2:21:25 Tony AsksHow do you deal with a customer who comes to you asking you if you can provide a solution for something you've never done? Do you tackle it even if it is a one of?
We love learning new technologyNoah loves getting to see behind the scenes
Altispeed specializes in thisTony clarifies his previous question
We try to move to a open source solutionWe still take on proprietary software to reduce friction and server the customer well
2:25:14 jutana AsksYou mentioned virtualization desktops , are you then using thin clients to access or low end PCs, also how do you deal with multimonitor support (SPICE?) and or USB peripherals? How are you dealing with standardizations on physical machines, imaging or other?
RDP in lightweight Windows 10Moving away from this
Thinlinx (https://thinlinx.com/)Continuing to explore
Focus is more on the back end VM2:29:15 Tony Asks
Do you guys host email yourselves?Not currently
Mail in a Box (https://mailinabox.email/)2:30:31 toadrocksboat Asked
Do you provide critical 24/7 after hours support? How do you balance that with such a lean team?Absolutely
Open Source Tooling helps us do thatMentioned in the show
Cable Comb (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01BTUI1TQ/?tag=minddripmedia-20)Volumio (https://volumio.com/)
Rivindale (http://rivendellaudio.org/)Axia LiveWire (https://www.telosalliance.com/livewire-aes67-aoip-networking)
Ink Scape (https://inkscape.org/)Kden Live (https://kdenlive.org/)
Gourmet (https://github.com/thinkle/gourmet)Virsh (https://www.libvirt.org/manpages/virsh.html)
Cockpit (https://cockpit-project.org/)-- The Extra Credit Section --
For links to the articles and material referenced in this week's episode check out this week's page from our podcast dashboard!This Episode's Podcast Dashboard (http://podcast.asknoahshow.com/267)
Phone Systems for Ask Noah provided by Voxtelesys (http://www.voxtelesys.com/asknoah)Join us in our dedicated chatroom #GeekLab:linuxdelta.com on Matrix (https://element.linuxdelta.com/#/room/#geeklab:linuxdelta.com)
-- Stay In Touch --Find all the resources for this show on the Ask Noah Dashboard
Ask Noah Dashboard (http://www.asknoahshow.com)Need more help than a radio show can offer? Altispeed provides commercial IT services and they’re excited to offer you a great deal for listening to the Ask Noah Show. Call today and ask about the discount for listeners of the Ask Noah Show!
Altispeed Technologies (http://www.altispeed.com/)Contact Noah
live [at]asknoahshow.com
-- Twitter --Noah - Kernellinux (https://twitter.com/kernellinux)
Ask Noah Show (https://twitter.com/asknoahshow)Altispeed Technologies (https://twitter.com/altispeed)
Further episodes of Ask Noah Show
Further podcasts by Noah J. Chelliah
Website of Noah J. Chelliah