NextLevel Internet’s service supports disaster recovery efforts during region’s recent black out

NextLevel Internet today announced that the company’s NextLevel Voice and co-location services provided uninterrupted service to emergency organizations and first responders during the massive power outage in San Diego on September 8, 2011.  

The power outage, which was the largest recorded in the region’s history, lasted for more than 10 hours and left roughly eight million people and thousands of organizations in parts of Southern CaliforniaArizona and New Mexico without power, Internet, and phone access.  This disruption of power and the associated loss of connectivity could have resulted in the loss of life, money, or reputation for many of those affected.

“We had a number of emergency calls, all of which were either handled at our office or on our off-hours emergency line,” said Michael Murphy, president of Computer Protection Technology. “With customers such as Scripps Healthcare and General Atomics, it is imperative we maintain our communications channels.  During a time of uncertainty, NextLevel’s services remained fully operational and were a great success from our end.”

NextLevel’s hosted voice and co-location services are maintained in secure, SAS 70 Type II compliant data center environments with disaster recovery plans, multiple generators, redundant power, multi-homed bandwidth and diverse dial-tone carriers in place to maintain business continuity during a disaster scenario.

“With the immense power outage in Southern California last week, I’m happy to report our customer’s service never skipped a beat,” said Eric Fleming, vice president technology operations for Golden Hour Data Systems.  ”As we help facilitate communications in the emergency medical transportation industry on a 24/7/365 schedule, our customers are often on lifesaving missions transporting those who are critically injured or ill. NextLevel’s proactive actions to ensure uninterrupted internet and hosting services have a direct effect on helping to save people’s lives.”

NextLevel’s high-availability (HA) hosted VoIP service provides organizations the advanced features and security of a sophisticated Private Branch Exchange (PBX) system for a fraction of the cost, with unsurpassed ease of use and often with zero system set up fees. NextLevel Voice eliminates costly maintenance and upgrade fees associated with obsolete phone equipment, while often getting rid of some of the monthly fees associated with a company’s access to the Public Switched Telephone.

For organizations that would like to request more information on NextLevel Internet’s hosted voice, business-to-business co-location, Internet, and managed data services, please visit www.nextlevelinternet.com.

The Most Socially Networked Cities in America

by Ronnie Manning

As social media becomes more and more intertwined with PR strategy and planning, I found a recent article in Men’s Health listing the Top 100 Most Socially Networked Cities in America of great interest.  Due to the fact that as of late I’m regularly deep in the trenches of social media, I was extremely surprised at some of the findings - especially how low on the list San Diego was listed (#27) and that Silicon Valley wasn’t listed as the number one city.  As social media and networking continues to evolve, I’m sure that we will see cities continue to rotate in lists such as this. 

So how did Men’s Health develop the listing in the first place? According to the magazine – “We started by calculating the number of Facebook and LinkedIn users per capita, followed by overall Twitter usage (NetProspex). Then we looked at traffic generated by the major social networks, including Myspace, Friendster, Reddit, and Digg (analyzed by ad network Chitika). Finally, after factoring in the percentage of households that check out chat rooms and blogs (SimplyMap), we had the results you see below.”

To view the entire listing, please visit http://bit.ly/guo9SE 

The Top 10 (with my old stomping grounds coming in at #1) and some numbers that surprised me are below…

Most socially networked

1 Washington, DC    
2 Atlanta, GA    
3 Denver, CO    
4 Minneapolis, MN    
5 Seattle, WA    
6 San Francisco, CA   
7 Orlando, FL    
8 Austin, TX    
9 Boston, MA    
10 Salt Lake City, UT    

Surprising results

25 Las Vegas, NV
27 San Diego, CA 
33 Los Angeles, CA
36 Miami, FL
39 Chicago, IL 
58 Baltimore, MD
70 New Orleans, LA

And the least socially networked on the list goes to…

100 El Paso, TX

Speaking of being socially networked, feel free to follow me below and help get your city higher on the list!

    

NextLevel Internet Offers SAS 70 Type II Compliant Data Center in North San Diego

NextLevel Internet, Inc. today announced that the company has opened access to a new, secure, SAS 70 Type II compliant data center in Rancho Bernardo, CA. The expansion to the new World Trade Drive Data Center follows the relocation of NextLevel Internet’s headquarters to North County San Diego in September 2010. NextLevel Internet provides business-to-business co-location, Internet, hosted voice, and managed data services for organizations of all sizes.

The Statement on Auditing Standards (SAS) 70 is an internationally recognized auditing standard developed by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA).  SAS 70 Type II compliance certifies that NextLevel Internet’s data center has adequate controls and safeguards in place when hosting and processing data for the company’s clients.

The new facility delivers greater power density, advanced cooling technology and increased scalability versus previous data centers. The 88,000 square foot data center is built with an environmentally friendly air filtration system that can use external air to cool the facility when air quality matches certain optimal humidity and temperature parameters.

Upon opening, NextLevel Internet had moved approximately 60 clients to the new physically secure site that features biometric scanning, video surveillance, appropriate seismic controls and very early smoke detection apparatus (VESDA).

For organizations that would like to request more information on NextLevel Internet’s business-to-business co-location, Internet, hosted voice, and managed data services, please visit www.nextlevelinternet.com.

Follow Mynt Public Relations on Twitter

For the latest news, commentary and random thoughts, follow Mynt Public Relations and Ronnie Manning on Twitter to join the conversation.  Also, if you are in the public relations or media fields, feel free to participate on #journchat on Twitter, every Monday at 8 p.m. ET.  Tons of great conversations and discussions on today’s hot PR, journalist and Social Media topics. 

twitter 

Are you in San Diego or beyond? let’s connect…

"Mynt Public Relations has provided seamless public relations support for our San Diego based security software and services. During the last several years Mynt PR have dramatically enhanced our social media presence, such as Twitter and Facebook, garnered product reviews, and editorial features. Ronnie brings a strong background in technology PR that is evident from the services he provides."

— Ken Hamilton, President, TotalTech

Because this is one of my favorite weeks of the year in San Diego, am getting this out to anyone who may be visiting the area or didn’t know it was coming up so soon.  San Diego restaurant week is kicking off on Sept. 18th. I try to take advantage of this every time and explore a new restaurant. Details below.

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“Extraordinary 3 course menus from San Diego’s best restaurants. Experience cuisine that delights your palate and defines the art of dining in San Diego. Choose from over 180 of San Diego’s best restaurants and enjoy a 3 course meal for $20, $30 or $40 per person, depending on the restaurant. Now is your chance to discover new restaurants and enjoy all your favorites at a discounted price.”

visit http://www.sandiegorestaurantweek.com/ to see which restaurants are participating!

The importance of media training and maintaining a positive view on interviews and media opportunities.  Polish your interview skills with this article from PRNewsOnline

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….”Every PR person has worked with spokespeople who are not exactly media friendly. These folks usually feel that they are experienced enough, not to mention downright talented, when it comes to being interviewed by members of the press. 

The reality is often pretty much the opposite. The reasons for this negative attitude runs the gamut from “been burned before” to “journalists are stupid,” which means changing a spokesperson’s way of thinking about the media requires a number of different approaches and tactics.

Training—or, actually reeducating and refocusing—these spokespeople is a definite challenge. My approach includes insight into the journalist mind-set, mock interviews—sometimes recorded and always in front of a couple of peers—followed by a positively focused critique and specific techniques for practical, immediate application. I add a bit of psychology to help actions and reactions along the way.

We all know that having a spokesperson with good media interview skills is vital to any business. The best spokespeople are those who are able to keep a cool head under pressure and put the company’s message across clearly and concisely. A spokesperson that views interviews as torture sessions from which they expect only to be misquoted convey a poor impression of the organization and often, not surprisingly, achieves the negative press they expect.

read more at http://bit.ly/9zJZhD



the lonely paddle boarder - La Jolla cove

the lonely paddle boarder - La Jolla cove

Great read by Riva Richmond at the Wall Street Journal on the importance of location based services such as Foursquare and Facebook Places.  I just checked into Mynt PR and I’m the Mayor - very nice.  A little local Foursquare tip if you are in San Diego any time soon - Check into Bub’s if you are in PB and get your free tatortots - one of my favorite Foursquare check-ins.. who doesn’t like tatortots!

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Restaurants, retailers and other small businesses with storefronts are embracing location-based social networks – think Foursquare or Facebook Inc.’s Places – to woo customers and keep them coming back.

The services allow smartphone-toting customers to “check in” to a business or address, and then instantly share that information with friends or connections. Other fast-growing pioneers in the field include Brightkite Inc., Gowalla Inc. and online-review heavyweight Yelp Inc.

Marketing experts say the services offer inexpensive, easy and effective ways for a small business to get its name out and engage customers (see related article, “Getting Customers to ‘Check In’ With Foursquare”). Foursquare and Yelp currently offer the most developed tools for small companies that want to run promotions, though other services are developing similar ones.

If you want to try a location-based service, it’s easy to get started. First, find out whether your business is already listed in services popular in your area. If so, claim ownership and make sure the listed information is complete and correct. If not, add the listing yourself.

read more at http://bit.ly/bHD0OL