Desktop as a Service is a relatively new concept to most of us.
It’s one of the newer concepts under the banner of “Cloud Computing”.
It’s exciting by the many freedoms that it gives us as business owners, but a bit scary at the same time. In this short post I want to explain some of the
advantages of a DaaS solution but also cool and calm some of your fears as
well. I’ve had an opportunity to spend some time with the folks at Virsage over
the last month. Chris Dodge and his team have historically been an IT support
shop, but they began to see the writing on the wall about 4 years ago when they
developed a DaaS app called Workplace.

With Workplace you never need to buy another server for your
business. Taking from their website, “Workplace is a comprehensive
cloud-based solution that gives you access to your line of business
applications, email and files from any PC, Mac, iPad or smart phone. Virsage
WorkPlace includes Microsoft Office, remote access from anywhere, daily
backups, and professional support at a low monthly cost with no hardware
investment. Because WorkPlace is a hosted monthly service, upgrades and feature
enhancements ensure you never have to worry about your technology platform
becoming obsolete.” For a better and more detailed explanation check out
this 5 min You Tube clip.

I mentioned the “scary” word earlier. Change is always a
bit scary, but to keep up in this fast paced world we need to embrace it and
move forward. This solution has so many advantages that any concerns I have are
squashed.

Cloud computing is here and it’s not going away. Because of the
cost savings, the security, and confidence of knowing that all of my businesses
data is backed up in a SAS 70, secure data center this is looking like a
stellar directions to go. After doing a demo and playing around with Workplace
I am sold. Have you heard of BYOD or Bring Your Own Device? You and your
employees can access the information you need from your iPad, smart phone,
desktop or laptop regardless of where you are (in the world). Tough to beat!

If you have any questions or wish to get a quote – Cottonwood Communications is now a Virsage partner.

I know that this saying is quite cliche, but it’s been on my mind lately as I think of the amount of time and money that businesses spend to evaluate their telecom (voice) and data cost(s).

Today there are more businesses that want to charge you money to evaluate what you have than ever before.  If you’re a government entity there are companies that want to help you write your RFP, there are also many call accounting groups that want to audit your telecom and wireless expenses.  They’ll plug in all of your numbers to make sure that you’re not paying too much and compare that against what the proper rate structure is.  If you have an abundance of time and you want to talk things out with each of the carriers to see what their most current promotions are, you can contact each one individually and get quotes for each of your locations.  Below are links to some of the more well known carriers:

CenturyLink – AT&T – TW Telecom – Integra – Paetec - Level 3 – LightYear – XO Communications

Call accounting software, RFP audits and working with the carriers directly are all good things to consider depending upon your situation.  My point in this posting is to let you know that there is an option to spending tons of upfront money and time in evaluating your current telecom and data costs, especially if you have a multi office environment.  Work with a carrier agnostic agency that already has relationships with all of the carriers and access to many additional resources that you might be seeking to save yourself time.  In most cases these individuals or agencies will charge you nothing upfront, they have extensive industry experience, and they make their money once they place you into a service or product that works best for your business.  After many years inside the direct channel for a number of carriers and now 6 years with the indirect side of our business it’s important to know that you will not pay more money when you buy through an agency vs. buying direct.  The cost model is identical regardless of who you sign an agreement with.

Save time and money and seek these consultants out.

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  Happy Independence Day to all of our customers and partners!  Have a  great weekend!

What’s your Business Continuity/Disaster Recovery plan?

Many businesses and local government experts are turning to the cloud for these solutions.  The quickest way to get 500+ miles of separation between your data center and your backed up information or a secondary site is through a cloud provider.

This month’s edition of channel partners magazine suggested that one in four company’s is seeking out a BC/DR solution.  For the remainder of the summer one of our cloud partners is offering a 10 Mb Internet connection for “FREE” when you use them for a BC/DR solution.  Check with us for details.

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Theodore (Ted) M. Thonus

Owner – Cottonwood Communications, LLC

303-289-3443

ted@cottonwoodcomm.com

www.cottonwoodcomm.com  
6/21/2011                                                                    
                                                                                                                                   

Theodore M. Thonus, Owner, Cottonwood Communications, LLC Nominated for his Leadership and Vision at the 2011 CSIA Apex Awards  

Ted Thonus, Owner at Cottonwood Communications, LLC has shown outstanding work and dedication in 2011 which leads to recognition in the 10^th annual CSIA Apex Awards.   

Denver, Colorado – 6/21/2011 – Theodore M. Thonus, Owner, Cottonwood Communications, LLC is announced today as a nominee for the 2011 Apex Awards, the prestigious technology awards recognizing outstanding accomplishments and leadership by Colorado’s technology companies and professionals. The winners and finalists will be announced live Tuesday, July 12, 2011 at The Robert and Judi Newman Center for the Performing Arts at the University of Denver. 

Since the program’s inception in 2000, CSIA’s Apex Awards have been awarded to well-deserved technology companies and executives who lead these amazing companies.  Presented in five categories for companies and five categories for professionals, the awards recognize success, innovation, vision, leadership, excellent customer support and community contributions.  

“I’m honored to be named a nominee for these prestigious awards that recognize technology professional and their leadership,” said Ted Thonus, Owner, Cottonwood Communications, LLC.  “We’re excited by the impact we’re having in the local government, construction and healthcare verticals we focus so hard with.  Not only do we support many of our customers with their traditional telecom services, but we’re also helping introduce many of those same customers to the benefits of cloud computing.  Cottonwood Communications has many outstanding customers that we’ve supported over the years.”  

“Leadership and vision is an important aspect for all companies, especially in the technology industry.  It’s important for these humble leaders to be recognized for all their accomplishments,” said Su Hawk, president, CSIA.  “Our Apex Awards provide them a once-a-year opportunity to celebrate their success, and generate awareness around their work, which includes Ted Thonus at Cottonwood Communications.”

About Ted Thonus, Owner, Cottonwood Communications, LLC:

Ted Thonus, the owner of Cottonwood Communications has worked in telecom and IT for the last 20 years, and the team at Cottonwood Communications has over 47 years in combined experience in our industry. Cottonwood Communications was founded in 2005.  Prior to starting Cottonwood Communications, Mr. Thonus began his career with Allnet Communications in San Diego, CA then returned to Denver to work with ICG and Qwest Communications. He attended the Colorado Rocky Mountain School in Carbondale, CO, and holds a BA in International Affairs from the University of Colorado, Boulder.

About CSIA:

CSIA is the leader in uniting and growing Colorado’s information technology industry by providing advocacy, education, business connections, and information, while supporting economic development, unification of  technology stakeholders, and larger recognition of the industry and the people involved to develop and promote Colorado’s technology industry.  CSIA also works nationally to ensure Colorado’s technology voice is heard, through TECNA, a coalition of technology associations across the United States and Canada, as well as with TechAmerica, the national lobbying organization for federal issues.  Since 1994, CSIA has been involved in legislative issues and public policy to represent the information technology industry in Colorado, and has provided a number of annual programs, events and connections to support business success.  For more information on CSIA please call (303) 592-4070 or visit www.coloradotechnology.org

The beauty of implementing destop virtualization is that little changes for the end user.  Most can still access the applications they do today without any problems – the apps aren’t on their computer any longer, but are hosted in a datacenter somewhere.  Somewhere can be in a back room at the same address, or in a datacenter 500+ miles away.  It doesn’t matter today.  In many cases, companies and local government want their information to be >500 miles away for security and redundancy reasons.

With VDI, the IT administrator captures what is called a “golden image” of how they want the desktop to appear, and then depending upon the user, they can customize which applications are available.  The MAC (moves, adds, & changes) work required in supporting a traditional desktop arrangement by help desks and IT personnel having to work and support end users and remote users is nuts!  One talented admin can do the work of many once this type of system is put into place.  Additional reductions in cost come from consolidating and using less servers than were previously used.

Whether you use VMware or Citrix, both provide software that delivers VDI capability.

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2.)   DISASTER RECOVERY – If you’ve been looking for an easy way to back up and mirror your critical information at a location that’s 200-300 miles+ away from your primary site, look to the cloud for this.  All you need is a connection to the provider and they can back up and mirror your data at (in many cases) one of their data centers that’s a state or two away.  Pay for infrastructure pricing and utilize dynamic or static parking, burstability, and hot stand-by options.

3.)    SURVIVABILITY – In my 20 years as a telecom-IT specialist I have seen some poorly constructed and engineered customer phone/data centers in my time (by this I mean very disappointing rooms).  All things being equal, most cloud providers will have strict requirements at their data centers.  Rarely built in flood plains, or susceptible to wind storms or tornados, these data centers are built to last and protect your data better than you or I ever could.   Setting up a private cloud which is behind your firewall and accessible only by you and your staff is a great way to insure that even if your primary data center is taken out, your network isn’t.

4.)   REDUNDANCY – Many of the large carriers are now in cloud computing and can do a phenomenal job at helping you, but going with a provider which is carrier neutral (agnostic) is a better option in our opinion.  Partnering with a provider that has relationships with all the carriers allows you as a business or local government  to use the carrier you already have to add an additional port for your WAN (Wide Area Network).  In many cases these same groups can provide you a multi carrier connection to the Internet to act as your primary connection or a redundant connection to what you’re already using.

What are your thoughts?  It occurred to me that Disaster Recovery and Survivability could have been one benefit together, but I wanted to make the point separately.  Is your company seeing additional benefits with your private cloud?  Visit Cottonwood Communications to start a discussion about the additional benefits of adopting a private cloud solution.

Register Today – C-Level @ A Mile High is this Thursday! 

C-Level @ A Mile High is your opportunity to meet and network with more than 900 technology professionals, including more than 65 C-Level “Celebrities.”  All you have to do is buy a ticket and join in on the networking all evening with all celebrities and attendees.

And, if you want guaranteed future face-time with one of the 65+ C-Level “Celebrities,” you can bid on them in the silent auction!  No other event has this many technology executives and professionals in one place at one time.  So, if technology is your space, then this event is the place!

What’s this bidding on “Celebrities?” All the “Celebrities” will be there to networking and meet new people the night of the big event. But, if you want future exclusive time with one or more “Celebrities,” then you can bid on them in the silent auction. The highest bidder (just like eBay), will win the “Celebrity” package, which at the very least is a one-on-one future meeting with the “Celebrity” at his/her location.  

Each attendee will be given a personal bidding card, thanks to Holland & Hart.  The bidding card makes it easy and fun to bid and check your winning status electronically!  *Bidding cards are not payment cards.  Payment is due upon close of event in order to receive the package.

In addition, silent auction items, such as golf, sports memorabilia, vacations, wine baskets and restaurant tours will available. Remember, these silent auction items can be used for business by taking clients, partners or prospects. Check out just some of the silent auction items below.  
Many “Celebrities” have kicked in lunch, golf, a sporting game and more to the highest bidder of their package! Check out just some of the extra cool “Celebrity” packages. 

·       3 in 1 Package!:The person or company who wins the 3 in 1 “Celebrity” package with Jon Cox (VP of IT, High Sierra Energy), Andrew Russell (Exec. Director, Software Development, Comcast) and Philip Winterburn (CIO, Rivet Software), will join them for a wine-paired dinner at Colt & Gray on a mutually convenient date in April.  Patrick Quinlan, CEO of Rivet Software will also be joining for dinner.

·       ANL Medical Management Package: The person or company who wins the ALN Medical Management Package will enjoy dinner with ALN Medical Management CIO (Eliot Payson), CEO (Tim Coan) and COO (Tim Griffin) at a premier Denver steak house of the winner’s choice. Opportunity to discuss expansion plans, business development opportunities, the physician practice transformation, health information exchange, clinical technology (Electronic Medical Records) and healthcare IT in general. 

·       Bill Barrett Corporation Package: The person or company who wins the Bill Barrett executive package will be invited to send up to three representatives to join Michael and Kim at the Kitchen Table Cooking School in Greenwood Village, where you can hone your culinary skills while getting to know each other.  Then, a follow up business meeting will be scheduled with the appropriate people from Bill Barrett where the winning bidder will introduce their company, products and services. 

·       Business Controls, Steve Foster, President:  The person or company who wins Steve will join Steve in a suite, donated by CIBER, for the Sunday, April 10, 2011 Avalanche game against the Edmonton Oilers.  This package includes 15 seats for your company along with Steve’s specially invited guests that include: Kristin Russell, Colorado Secretary of Technology and State CIO, Governor’s Office of Information Technology; Todd Olson, CFO, Governor’s Office of Information Technology; Micki Nelson, CIO, MWH Global and other executives from CIBER.

·       ClickBank, Greg Lems, CTO: The person or company who wins Greg will enjoy a dinner meeting at TAG Restaurant, Denver’s hip, continental social food venue in distinctive Larimer Square.  This dinner will take place on a mutually agreed upon date and will expire at the end of 2011.

·       Colorado Rockies Baseball Club, Bill Stephani, Director – Information Systems: The person or company who wins Bill will enjoy a “backstage” personally guided tour of Coors Field. In addition, the winning bidder may bring up to two additional guests for a Colorado Rockies game to be determined by mutual agreement. 

·       Denver Broncos, Russ Trainor, Executive IT Director: The person or company who wins Russ will enjoy a behind the scenes tour of Invesco Field @ Mile High on March 25, 2011 for 2 guests at 10:00 AM-11:00 AM.  Lunch to follow at Colorado Hacienda (I25 and Colorado Blvd)  from 11:00 AM – Noon. 

·       DigitalGlobe, Inc. Package: The person or company who wins the DigitalGlobe executive package will enjoy a round of golf at the Boulder Country Club with both John Oechsle, EVP, Strategy, Product & Marketing and Yancey Spruill, CFO, DigitalGlobe. 

·       Gambro Renal Products, Chris Doerr, VP Information Technology: The person or company who wins Chris will be invited to send one representative to join for 1/2 day skiing where the two of you can visit and get to know each other a bit.

·       Integrated Asset Services, Jeffrey Knight, CIO: The person or company who wins Jeffrey will enjoy lunch for 4 at McCormick & Schmick’s in DTC and 1 additional hour to discuss services with the Technology Leadership Team.

·       Janus Capital Group, Dave Landy, Chief Technology Officer: The person or company who wins Dave will attend a Colorado Rockies game with Dave Landy.  Note that Dave is a big fan of MLB, particularly the Boston Red Sox!  Date to be mutually determined to accommodate schedules.

·       Kroenke Sports Enterprises, Rick Schoenhals, Executive Director, Information Technology: The person or company who wins Rick Schoenhals, Executive Director, Information Technology, Kroenke Sports Enterprises, will enjoy one hour of exclusive face-to-face future time with Rick.  In addition to his meeting time, Rick is offering 4 tickets to a mutually agreeable regular season game for the current season of one of KSE’s sports teams (Denver Nuggets, Colorado Avalanche, Colorado Mammoth, or Colorado Rapids).

·       Kroll Factual Data, Russ Donnan, CIO: The person or company who wins Russ will enjoy a round of golf at Ptarmigan Country Club or Old Baldy Club.

·       Lincoln Trust Co., Helen Cousins, EVP & CIO: The person or company who wins Helen will enjoy cocktails after work to allow ample time to get to know each other’s companies.  Helen will invite 2 direct reports.  In addition, the winner bidder will also have access to Helen’s 2 bedroom 2 bath condo (sleeps 4)  at the PGA Resort in Palm Beach Gardens Florida for up to  5 contiguous nights. This is valid from May thru November 2011 based on availability. It will include an unaccompanied guest form to allow the winner to play on any of 5 championship courses at the Resort. (The winner will be responsible for greens fees.)

·       Newmont Mining Corp., Rob Grant, Director of Global Infrastructure and Architecture: The person or company who wins Rob will enjoy a round of golf at Green Valley Ranch with both Rob and Shelly Barnes Sr. Director PMO, IT Services & Infrastructure of Newmont Mining.

·       Pearson eCollege, John Vice, VP, Technology Operations: The person or company who wins John will be invited to send two representatives to a Colorado Avalanche game and dinner at the Blue Sky Grill.  John will bring along another representative from Pearson eCollege who is appropriate to the business conversations. 

·       Pendum Package: The person or company who wins the Pendum Package (Kirby Slunaker, CIO and Jeff Gardner, COO), will enjoy lunch and a one hour meeting.

·       Quark, Mark Lawler, VP, Information Technology: The person or company who wins Mark will enjoy dinner at a restaurant of choice, an afternoon of golf, or a half day of skiing.

·       ReadyTalk, Dan Cunningham, CTO & Co-Founder: The person or company who wins Dan will enjoy club level seats to an Avalanche game and dinner at TAG in LoDo with Dan Cunningham and ReadyTalk CEO, Dan King. 

·       Regional Transportation District, Trent Ratcliff, IT Senior Manager/CIO: The person or company who wins Trent will enjoy lunch with Trent and either the CFO or Purchasing Director as well as a follow up lunch with Trent and a few members of his staff to discuss future IT and business needs planned for 2012-2016.  Potential Bonus! A round of golf for 2 guests to join Trent and his wife at the Sanctuary, subject to availability and time. 

·       SquareTwo Financial, Bill Weeks, SVP & CIO: The person or company who wins Bill will enjoy a round of sporting clays (100 targets) with Bill at Kiowa Creek sporting club or other mutually agreed location like Colorado Clays, etc. 

·       Starz Entertainment Package: The person or company who wins the Starz Entertainment executive package will enjoy one hour of exclusive face-to-face future time with both Judy Batenburg (VP, IT Infrastructure) and Linda Gonzalez (Executive Director – IT Support).  The winner will also win the complete first season DVD set (4 DVDS) of Spartacus Blood and Sandand, and 4 Long sleeve Starz shirts.

·       The TriZetto Group, Alan Cullop, CIO & SVP: The person or company who wins Alan will enjoy lunch for up to 2 guests at Del Frisco’s. 

·       tw telecom, Harold Teets, CIO & SVP Information & Network Technologies: The person or company who wins Harold will enjoy lunch at Elway’s Restaurant located in the Cherry Creek. 

·       UDR, Inc., Cameron Etezadi, Senior Vice President – Chief Information Officer: The person or company who wins Cameron will enjoy one hour of a scenic airplane flight departing from Centennial Airport in a Cessna 182RG, followed (or preceded, for the brave folks) by lunch or supper at The Perfect Landing restaurant on-field. 

·       ViaWest, Nancy Phillips, Co-Founder, COO & Director: The person or company who wins Nancy will enjoy a round of golf at Lakewood Country Club with Nancy and Roy Dimoff, CEO and Chairman, ViaWest.

·       Western Union, Wilson Davis, VP, Corporate Systems: The person or company who wins Wilson will enjoy dinner at Del Frisco’s in the Denver Tech Center with Wilson Davis and another colleague from Western Union.  Winning bidder will have the opportunity to request who the additional colleague is that will be joining them for dinner.  For example, head of network engineering, IT recruiting or web development. 

·       Zayo Networks, Glenn Russo, President: The person or company who wins Glenn Russo, President, Zayo Networks will enjoy dinner with Glenn at The Capital Grille in Downtown Denver. 

Just Some of the Silent Auction Items:  

·       Nicon COOLPIX Digital Camera Package

·       iPad

·       Kindle

·       XBox 360 w/ Kinect

·       Restaurant – Café on 3 at the Golden Casino in Black Hawk

·       Discovery Flight in a new Cirrus SR22T

·       Hot Air Balloon Adventure with 2-Night Hotel Stay for (2)

·       Golf at Ridge Castle Pines for Two

·       Ski – Two 1-Day Lift Tickets

·       Whitewater Rafting 1/2 Day Adventure

·       Zumba Fitness Group Classes

·       Personal Training Package at Matrix Fitness – 3 sessions, complete with a fitness evaluation

·       Matrix Fitness & Spa – 3 month Premiere membership

·       Nuggets Tickets

·       Colorado Avalanche- John-Michael Liles Autographed Hockey Stick

·       Colorado Avalanche Team Autographed Hockey Stick

·       Ed McCaffrey 8×10 plaque

·       Elway/ Davis Deluxe 16×20 framed

·       Lance Armstrong Photo Collage

·       Mickey Mantle unsigned 16×20 Framed

·       Packers Super Bowl piece with game used ball

·       Rodgers Framed Jersey

·       Sakic/Forsberg 16×20 Framed

·       Tebow Helmet  with case

·       Todd Helton Rocky Mountain News Framed Photo

·       Troy Tulowitzki Baseball w/ case

·       Ubaldo Jimenez “No Hitter” 8×10 framed

·       2011 ESPY Awards Center Loge Tickets in Los Angeles with 3-Night Stay & Airfare for (2)

·       2011 Masters (Augusta, Georgia) Final Rounds with 3-Night Stay for (2)

·       America’s Cup Stars & Stripes Experience in San Diego 4-Night Package for (2)

·       Choose Your Favorite 2011 NASCAR Race with 2-Night Weekend Stay for (2)

·       NASCAR Car Racing Experience with 4-Night Stay for (2)

·       Costa Rica Luxury Resorts 5-Night Stay with Airfare for (2)

·       Disney World Resort Family Adventure 4-Night Package with Airfare for (4)

·       Kennedy Space Center Space Pass & Astronaut Training Experience with 4-Night Stay & Airfare for (2)

·       Le Cordon Bleu Paris 5-Night Adventure with Airfare for (2)

·       Machu Picchu in Orient-Express Luxury 7-Night Package with Airfare for (2)

·       Napa Valley Wine Country Experience Features Chauffeur, Wine Train, Meritage Resort & Spa 3-Night Stay & Airfare for (2)

·       New Orleans Jazz & Dining Package with Renaissance Pere Marquette 3-Night Stay & Airfare for (2)

·       New York Amazing Long Weekend (3-Night) Package with Airfare for (2)

·       The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas 3-Night Luxury Stay with CIRQUE DU SOLEIL VIP Tickets for (2)

·       Elvis w/ Guitar 16×20 Framed

·       Jimmy Buffet w/ Guitar 16×20 Framed

·       Marilyn Monroe Red Dress 8×10 Deluxe Frame

www.CLevelMileHigh.com

March 10, 2011
5:30pm – 9:30pm

Invesco Field
1701 Mile High Stadium Cir; Gate 7
Denver, CO  80204

TICKET INFORMATION

NOW    

At the Door

CSIA Premium Members

(Premium members only receive a total of 2 complimentary tickets; any additional tickets may be purchased at the member price)

2 Free 

2 Free

CSIA Members

$195

$220

Non Members

$295

$320

Not yet a Member of CSIA?  Contact Michelle Marek, 303-592-4079, for more information.

15 years ago each of your offices needed to have dial tone from the LEC (Local Exchange Carrier) or a CLEC (Competitive Local Exchange Carrier) in order to make office to office phone calls, or connections outside of your network.  Today many businesses have a WAN or Wide Area Network that connects all of their offices together and provides 3 or 4 digit dialing between all of their employees.  All dial tone comes from a centrally located phone system that gets numbers from a SIP provider and distributes them out to their employees from a central location.  What may have taken a team of 10 or 20 engineers/phone techs to manage in the past can now be managed by one individual very easily.

The primary requirement for VoIP to work throughout your organization is a solid connection to the Internet or to your companies WAN.  Where VoIP solutions begin to fail is when you have numerous remote locations that can only support 1.5 Mb DSL or cable connections.  1.5 Mb of bandwidth can get eaten up quickly with simultaneous phone calls.  Some IP based phone use compression that will only allow you to make a few calls at a time.  Make sure you understand the math behind this technology and understand how many simultaneous calls you can make for the amount of bandwidth you have.  This can and will be a major mistake for many IT Managers adopting this technology.

If you’re a new business, adoption of VoIP should be a cinch.  There are numerous companies on the market that offer VoIP solutions with the equipment included.  This is nice because you’re getting a turnkey, tested solution and won’t need to work with an equipment vendor and a VoIP carrier – but rather just one company.  Check out offerings from Telesphere, and Paetec to start – but if you’re pushing 100+ locations you may want to entertain Qwest as their footprint may cover more of your offices.

As the writer of this blog we try not to self promote all the time, but we already have relationships with many of the VoIP providers.  Shoot us an e-mail and tell us about the VoIP project your planning!  What challenges are you running into with your implementation?

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Since I’m a technology guy I thought I would bring these terms to your attention.  I really liked this picture as it represents one of our Native American friends, but of course my post is not about his culture but rather about your digital type.

I recently was introduced to these terms by Tiffani Bova, VP of Research for Gartner Inc.  My children are “digital natives” – from day one, they have had electronics in their hands;  Everything from BlackBerry (founded by RIM in 1999), iPhones, iPods (first came out in 2001), Laptops, Wii, Guitar Hero (introduced in 2005) and Playstation.  If you were born before 2000, you are probably more of a “digital immigrant”.  We came into the world playing with blocks, not Webkinz and Club Penguin.

If you don’t have young children you have missed many of the sites that have been established over the last 5 years.  Everything is set up like a child’s version of Second Life.  Second Life was established in 2003 as an alternative world where adults can create avatars and live out an alternate (online) existence.  Many of the children sites created today are designed around the same principal – create your online character (a penguin, or a stuffed animal) and cruise around the online world – make sure you feed the Puffles, and feed your avatar friends, or they will die.  My daughter uses this as an excuse to justify why she needs to get on my laptop every other day.

I love technology and consider myself somewhat of an early adopter for many of the new concepts entering our lives - I’ll reserve my opinion for a few years to see if it was a good direction to take our digital natives.

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