Volume 16 | July 17th, 2020
is faxing making the Pandemic worse?

Hello Greetings!

Summer greetings to you and your families. I hope that you had a chance to take a relaxing break around the July 4 th long weekend.

About a month ago, I wrote about legacy technology, and I shared the story of NASA and the Space Shuttle program. The Space Shuttle used innovations that have become part of our daily lives. Some of those technologies have remarkably remained the same, and some others have evolved or spun-off into more efficient forms.

Here is a link to NASA’s website with a summary of the most relevant space shuttle spin-off technologies: https://spinoff.nasa.gov/Spinoff2011/shuttle_spinoffs.html
Persistent Legacy Technology during Covid-19

On a related note about old legacy technologies, a particularly persistent one is faxing, especially in the health care industry. It is considered a safe and privacy compliant technology to transmit patient information.

According to the US Department of Health and Human Services, “ The Privacy Rule allows covered health care providers to share protected health information for treatment purposes without patient authorization, as long as they use “reasonable” safeguards when doing so.” These treatment communications may occur orally or in writing, by phone, fax , e-mail, or otherwise. To learn more about HIPAA and privacy rules, you can follow this link https://www.hhs.gov/hipaa/for-professionals/faq/482/does-hipaa-permit-a-doctor-to-share-patient-information-for-treatment-over-the-phone/index.html#:~:text=Yes.,e%2Dmail%2C%20or%20otherwise.

The challenge for the healthcare industry is that in 2010, the CDC made investments to improve electronic patient health records at physician offices, yet made no investment to tie it into public health records, and this has continued to make healthcare systems inefficient.

Here is a quote from Oscar Alleyne, Chief Program Officer at the National Association of County and City Health Officials: “The best way I can describe it is to imagine you’re on the information superhighway, but you’re traveling with a bus pass,” https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/13/upshot/coronavirus-response-fax-machines.html

Legacy transformation should be easy

Faxing is one example of old analog technology; fire and burglar alarms in local city, county, and state fire codes remain outdated. For instance, the National Fire Protection Agency has guidelines from 2010 that require businesses to use analog lines still. https://www.nfpa.org/Assets/files/AboutTheCodes/72/72-2010_FAQs.pdf

Granite offers alternatives to “old-fashioned” faxing that is compliant with HIPAA regulations. Our solution integrates with e-mail systems and provides a “paperless” experience that can also improve efficiency.

In conclusion, legacy technologies might be slowing down your business and costing you more in the long run. In continuation of my previous newsletter, where transformation must be a key objective, your company, organization, or enterprise must embrace it.
Again, wishing you a safe and healthy summer and please do not hesitate to contact me directly to evaluate any legacy services that might still be in use at your organization.


Sincerely,



Raul


Raul Medina, Relationship Development Manager
P:  617-890-6782
M:  617-953-3070
Introducing Granite Guardian

The video link below will help you understand Granite’s new monitoring tool Granite Guardian.



How does Granite Guardian work?

In order to monitor any of our customer’s network elements, Granite uses several communication protocols to pull reachability status and analytics into the new Granite Guardian Monitoring.

Granite Guardian connects to our internal billing system and our NOC ticketing system. This interconnection allows Granite to receive an alert that a customer’s network element is unreachable. At that time, Granite Guardian communicates with the billing system to determine services and customer details.

Then those details are used to generate a new NOC ticket automatically. After the new NOC ticket is open, Granite Guardian will automatically send an email to the customer’s contact with the NOC ticket information.

Achieve peace of mind Granite is monitoring your network elements 24/7
If your business experiences an issue, Granite will already be working towards a remedy and communicate through appropriate contact to ensure clear communication throughout.
Granite's "WAN" size fits all needs approach
North America’s Choice for SD-WAN



Today I am sharing a video that will help you understand our Granite “WAN” Size Fits all approach for SD-WAN Technology

What does it mean?

It means that Granite has the largest and most diverse selection of access products, which includes:

  • Mobility
  • Broadband
  • Dedicated Internet
  • and much more

These products can be delivered with industry-leading SD-WAN technologies from
  • Fortinet
  • Cisco 
  • vmware

Granite can deploy these solutions anywhere in North America, and we are continually adding new technologies.

With 24/7 monitoring, automated alerting, and proactive remediation, Granite’s US-based team, can provide technical assistance into your existing solution or build one to your specifications while managing it end to end.

In today’s evolving business landscape, It is more important to choose a partner that gives you the flexibility and reliability that Granite Guardian’s WAN Optimization platform can provide.
To ensure that you have the BEST Network solution and support for your business and your budget.

Let us be your choice for your WAN size fits all needs .

In Case You Missed It (in the news)
RAPID SIP Deployment
in 24 to 48 hrs turn-up
and
NO contractual term.
Granite Business SIP Trunking uses Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) and our state-of-the-art voice optimized network.
•
24 - 48 hour turn up, no term
•
SIP Trunks provisioned and setup within 24- 48 hours
•
Same day testing available prior to deployment / installation
•
Nationwide coverage
•
IP Business Trunking is available as digital trunks or as emulated (Analog Handoff) PRI lines
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Granite SIP Trunking is compatible with all major IP PBX’s that are capable of SIP registration
•
SIP helps save money compared to current local, long distance and Internet service rates