Live/work homes - wired for business

The last five years have seen huge advances in communications technology. But the huge array of gadgetry, cabling, hardware and software coming onto the market, complete with the unnervingly expanding terminology, has left many of us scratching our heads, unsure quite where to start. Not least is the concern that what we fork out for today will next week be fit only for the recycling bin

GROUND RULES

The good news for developers and home-based businesses alike is get your basics right and you'll be good for the next 50 to 100 years, according to Simon Murley, managing director of award-winning ICT specialists Microcomms.

‘Over the next 20 years, there will be a lot more fibre optic cabling in the ground and you can't beat that for broadband,' he says. Wireless technology, he predicts, is also set to become increasingly stable but ‘a good resilient pipe in the ground' will for many years yet continue to form the backbone of communications technology.

With a stable broadband connection, any household can be set up for business. ‘The key word out there is convergence,' explains Murley. ‘It's getting to the point where everything you need can be supplied over the internet so we can provide a system that controls all your domestic and business needs, even the security and lighting, so long as you have the cables in the ground.'

The edge Microcomms claims to have over many rivals is that it offers a one-stop shop for all these services. If you're a developer Microcomms can offer advice, the hands-on installation, a choice of ICT packages for the occupants to enhance your scheme's marketability and - even, if you want, an ongoing source of revenue.

 

For the occupier, be it a growing business or a one-person operation, they can offer flexible technology packages to suit your home and business needs and your budget. Running all your services (broadband, phone calls and line rental and so on) through their own server brings substantially lower costs and cuts out the need to pay separate companies for each.

And they're there with expert support and the know-how to adapt your home and office set-up as your requirements - and the technology - change. The environment benefits and you benefit from less time spent on business travel. And, as any home-based business knows, that's more time for friends and family... or extra time to nurture your nestling business.

TRACK RECORD

Microcomms' ‘hosted internet protocol telephony' service, which last year won it an industry award, cut the phone bills of construction company Midas Group by around £170k in just 12 months.

‘It meant all calls made by employees to another member of the company anywhere in the world were free,' says Murley. While Microcomms handles the technical side from a server base in London, the client simply uses a software-based (skype) phone or a hand set that operates wherever it can pick up a wireless signal.

‘You tell me what local dialling code you want - London, Mumbai or whatever - and I'll send you the phone,' he says. Even international calls to colleagues are free, while calls to local or national numbers, mobiles and other countries are substantially lower than the norm.

Think again those of you who thought Rick Stein owed his tan to Cornwall's climate. ‘He now lives in Sydney, Australia,' reveals Murley. But equipped with an internet phone embedded by Microcomms on his laptop, Stein can call any of his staff in the UK free by logging into wireless broadband while he's on the move.

But while Rick Stein has relocated from Cornwall, Microcomms has kept its main base on Cornwall's digital peninsula. ‘We deal with clients as far away as the Canary Islands. But with video-conferencing we have been able to slash the amount of business travel we do,' says Murley. ‘All you need is a phone, a PC or Mac and broadband and you have a way to speak to people across the world without burning up fossil fuels.'

GETTING CONNECTED

The three main options for broadband or dial-up internet access are fibre optic cable, ADSL supplied via a standard phone line and satellite. So how does Murley rate them?

Fibre optic cable: easily the most stable and least likely to date, no restrictions on speed or the amount of information you can run through it, uploads and downloads material at the same speed

ADSL: download speeds faster than upload, quality depends on proximity to BT phone exchange, so vulnerable in rural or other isolated areas to ‘not spots' (weak internet connection), though this can be boosted by investing in wireless links to a more stable broadband connection.

Satellite: not very reliable and uploading ability is slower than downloading

LIVE/WORK KNOW-HOW

Microcomms is the first provider to create special packages for the new live/work sector, with services tailor-made for both live/work developers and live/workers themselves. The company has hands on experience providing solutions to many creative enterprises established in south-west England on the back of Cornwall's emerging digital capacity. Many of these, it knows, are home-based businesses, often operating in live/work type premises, with substantial workspaces included in the property.

DEALS FOR DEVELOPERS

The financial benefits of properly planning the ICT infrastructure in any live/work development are considerable. Among them are increased marketability (and therefore property value) and the potential of an ongoing revenue stream, with owners paying service charges that include phone, broadband etc. The options on offer from Microcomms include:

Planning: establishing how many people/businesses the development will need to support now and potentially in the future then laying in the pipe work essential to support that level of broadband

Installation: working with the mechanical trades to ensure 15 years on the scheme will still have the capacity to support and expand any ICT application the occupants may need

 

Virtual or real office facilities: many of the most successful live/work developments include a business hub where residents share office space and hi-tech equipment. Sharing these facilities with other small or growing businesses in the area can offset costs and boost networking. Microcomms can kit out the hub and it can advise on a range of flexible options including, for example, virtual office (remote reception) services and high speed web conferencing

Marketing bonus points: a range of ICT packages live/workers can choose to go with their property from the most basic (bronze: phone and email) to gold (fully functioning - all whistles and bells - for both domestic and business use including TV, film and music downloads and CCTV). By including these with the purchase price, the cost can be added to the mortgage

IT and office support: an state of the art service for live/workers managed by Microcomms with the added bonus of a monthly revenue stream for the developer

DEALS FOR LIVE/WORKERS

Even the smallest business now depends heavily on a reliable internet connection. But making better use of your internet connection can also significantly cut household and business bills by routing all your requirements through broadband, from music downloads, lighting and building security to phone, email and web access.

Microcomms can offer live/workers and home-based business all the ICT facilities they need, including:

the ‘internet ready' office, allowing you to make and receive low cost or free phone calls and get high speed email and web access

business starter package, including a basic website, design and print of letterheads and business cards (including e-stationery), email accounts and data back-up

one-home network including control over lighting, access to TV channels and other audio/visual downloads via broadband

remote access to ICT services through incubator units, available from any broadband enabled location in the world - ideal for businesses on the road or supplementing those normally based in an office

video conferencing from business hub facilities or your own PC or Mac

virtual office and e-business services including remote call handling, messaging and reception

safe email exchange from any global location, including message back up

ICT support online, by phone or - as a last resort - in person

CCTV security linked direct to your PC/Mac screen or TV

WIRING UP EDEN

Though the government is committed to rolling out installation of fibre optic cables across the country, the major telecom companies responsible for laying the cable still have a lot of ground to cover - or dig up.

If the cable hasn't yet reached your neighbourhood and you live too far away from the nearest broadband-enabled exchange for adsl broadband, or at 5.6km (3.5 miles) are teetering on its edge, there's a good chance that, like the Eden Project, you're in a broadband 'notspot'.

Charged with getting the Eden Project online, Microcomms turned appropriately to renewables. ‘If you need to connect one side of a woodland to another getting the diggers in is going to upset everyone,' says Murley.

Microcomms took a more sensitive route, connecting the project to a building where the broadband signal was strong via a network of poles disguised as trees and shrubs with sporting transmitters powered alternatively by solar panels or wind turbines.

The result is a stable broadband connection enabling not just phone, email and web access but also a network of CCTV cameras covering the Eden Project's car parks.

JARGON BUSTER

Broadband capacity - what do the numbers mean? If your connection runs at 11Mb, you should be able to upload and download very very large files at speed. Down at 1Mb, emails with small or no attachments should transmit quickly but sending or receiving larger files or opening web pages with complex images may be frustratingly slow.

Telephony - any system of communicating over the internet or otherwise by voice using a phone handset or headset

VoIP - voice operated internet protocol. A phone set that channels call over the internet, plugged in to your computer via a USB connection. Phone calls can be free or are very cheap, depending on who you call

Skype - similar to VoIP but you need to install special software. Calls to other skype users are free, others are very cheap. Linked to ebay

WiFi - trademarked brand name which is short for wireless fidelity and owned by the Wi-Fi Alliance, a non-profit outfit that created the brand. Operates via radio waves transmitted at a very low level, equal to roughly 0.1% of a mobile signal. Plus side is that wireless transmission doesn't need extensive wiring but the technology is less advanced and not as stable as fibre optics

Router - flashing box that sits on (or near) your desk indicating which lines are active (eg connection to printer, adsl, VoIP etc)

Wireless router - flashing box that allows you to pick up broadband inside the house via an ADSL connection. The router is plugged into the phone socket, but your laptops and PCs need not be - they connect to it wirelessly. Operates at very low level again so may occasionally encounter interference from other domestic appliances or solid stone walls

Are you thinking of offering tailor made telecom/broadband services to live/workers? Contact us and we will add details of what your offer on these pages