Posted by Carl on Dec 5, 2008 in
Good Going
Riverbed Technology (NASDAQ: RVBD) today announced that the largest privately held mechanical contractor and service firm in the United States, Limbach Facility Services, is successfully using Riverbed® WAN optimization solutions, allowing its employees to quickly access large files for the design and development of new projects. Since installing the Riverbed Steelhead® appliances in the Detroit Metro area, Limbach Facility Services has increased its application response times from 3-12 minutes to 1-3 minutes, resulting in real-time collaboration for employees working on design drawings from remote locations.
Since its inception in 1901, Limbach Facility Services has grown into a $350 million national mechanical contractor and service firm, consistently ranked as part of Engineering News-Record’s Top Specialty Contractors since 1964. The company has employees in 11 cities across the U.S., including Ann Arbor, MI; Boston, MA; Columbus, OH; Detroit, MI; Los Angeles, CA; Palm Springs, CA; Philadelphia, PA; Pittsburgh, PA; Orlando, FL; Washington, DC; and Tampa, FL.
Limbach provides mechanical and sheet metal contracting services from the inception of a project to the completion and maintenance of a newly-built facility. Limbach employees use AutoCAD when developing drawings for steel and metal piping, and Meridian for CAD file management. To obtain access to CAD files, detailers at remote sites used to wait anywhere from 3-12 minutes to pull a file from a remote server and conduct the check-in and check-out process for large CAD design files. On an average worksite, the company has anywhere from three to five CAD detailers accessing files back and forth to where the Meridian file server is located.
“Slow application response time was affecting the productivity of our designers, forcing us to look for a application acceleration solution. Our attempt at adding bandwidth didn’t do the trick. We realized we needed speed – not space or extra bandwidth – to access the applications we use most,” said Aaron McCarthy, IT manager of Limbach. Limbach began looking for a WAN optimization solution to accelerate frequently used applications such as AutoCAD – specifically CAD Mech and CAD Duct software from TSI – and Lotus Notes.
Working closely with ModernTech, a reseller of Riverbed WAN Optimization solutions, Limbach learned more about the Steelhead appliances and participated in a three-month evaluation. For Limbach’s small IT team, the solution was easy to install and simple to maintain. Upon implementation of the Steelhead appliances, Limbach’s CAD detailers immediately began touting how fast accessing applications had become. Limbach experienced an application performance improvement up to three times.
Since each project is allotted a certain amount of CAD drawing hours, the ability to reduce the time a CAD detailer utilizes to get a drawing on his screen and start working saves Limbach money. “A three times improvement in speed does wonders for our business. We knew this solution would pay for itself just for the increased speed in accessing CAD drawings, because we would have three to five people working off site needing to collaborate in real time,” said McCarthy.
The deployment of the Riverbed solution has enabled Limbach to improve delivery of services to its customers. “We can now deliver results to our customers at a faster pace. Since construction is very time sensitive, this product fits us very well,” added McCarthy. Based on its success, Limbach plans to deploy Steelhead appliances at all 11 of its sites.
Posted by Carl on Dec 5, 2008 in
Good Going
Dyslexia is a condition that affects the way people see things, affects their ability to read, spell and manipulate numbers and letters. Now it is routinely screened for in elementary schools; all school-age children go through dyslexia screening. This has only come about in the last 15 years or so. People who graduated from elementary school more than 15 years ago have probably never gone through dyslexia screening. There are many adult dyslexics who do not know they are dyslexic.
Dyslexia affects possibly 1 out of every 10 people.
There are different theories about what causes dyslexia.. The two most prominent theories are an underdeveloped medulla (part of the brain) and defects in the developmental migration of brain cells.
While a human fetus is growing and developing within its mother’s womb, certain brain cells are formed at one location and must migrate from where they are formed to where they should be to do the job for which they were intended. Most of the time this migration goes just fine. Sometimes the cells get detoured and end up in other nearby places. This seems to be a major contributing factor in the occurrence of Dyslexia.
Those who follow the medullar theory treat dyslexics with special exercises involving coordination and balance to stimulate the development of the medulla. On the other hand, those who believe in the cells migration theory treat dyslexia by teaching dyslexics how to get the same results by using their brains differently.
Probably 90-95% of adult dyslexics do not know that they have dyslexia. It is important to be able to recognize the primary dyslexia symptoms to see if you or someone you know may actually be a dyslexic in need of training as to how to deal with it.
When there are symptoms present, the only way to know for sure is to go through dyslexia testing. There are two levels of dyslexia testing: screening tests and full professional tests.
To be able to use the “gift of dyslexia”, the silver lining to its normal cloud, you must first overcome the limiting problems it brings. The first step is to get a full professional test to know for sure if you are dyslexic or not and, if so, what exact dyslexia symptoms do you have, since everyone is different.
Fortunately high-quality adult dyslexia testing is now available online. It’s fast and economical. For more information just click on any of the links above.
Disclaimer: This posting is based on information freely available in the popular press and medical journals that deal with dyslexia. Nothing herein is intended to be or should be construed to be medical advice. For medical advice the reader should consult with his or her physician or other medical specialist.
Posted by Carl on Dec 5, 2008 in
Good Going
The thought of head lice may get you scratching your hair in horror but they are surprisingly common even in this modern age. Head lice are masters of survival and have managed to outwit man’s attempts to eradicate them over thousands of years.
They do this by being difficult to see until the hair becomes heavily infested with them. It’s thought that a person will have been bitten thousands of times before the scalp becomes irritated enough for the familiar head scratching to begin.
This is why using a head lice comb is so important. Although children are the most likely to catch head lice adults aren’t immune either. It’s very easy to catch lice off your own children. So comb your family at least once a month.
If you find any evidence of nits or lice you need to find ways to remove head lice.There are a whole host of head lice home remedies available to you if you want to avoid the use of chemicals. They can however, be very messy and time consuming.
Modern over the counter treatments have come on in recent years and are a lot safer than they used to be. They are usually a lot quicker and less fiddly to use than natural treatments.
The choice is yours and with all the possibilities out there you’ll be able to find an effective head lice treatment that suits both you and your family. Just remember that most effective weapon in the fight against head lice is a good quality head lice comb that will find the little horrors however much they try to hide.
Remember if you are unsure as to whether or not your child has head lice seek appropriate medical advice.
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