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March 2019 Newsletter

Dear Friend of Servato,

Pollen pervades our lives this time of year. For every show I went to over the past several weeks, there were dozens of people battling allergy symptoms. The Asthma and Allergy Foundation for America releases an annual report on what towns or cities are more afflicted by the irritants and then ranks them through a Top 100 (You can find the entire report here). New Orleans cracked the top 10 by rocketing to #7overall with Baton Rouge coming closely behind at #9. Other notable areas are as follows:

  • Memphis, TN at #4
  • Louisville, KY at #6
  • Charleston, SC at #30
  • Augusta, GA at #38
  • Omaha, NE at #66

Despite the sniffing and sneezing, a lot happened in March. Rural broadband earned a few more wins through Tennessee, Mississippi, Nebraska, and New Hampshire. These initiatives will ensure telemedicine connectivity and support underserved areas in need. Servato earned another patent on Adaptive Charging methodology. You can find more about that below along with an interview with our CEO, Chris Mangum titled Recharging. Engine Policy and Advocacy also interviews yours truly and you can find it here. Additionally,  we dig further into the personnel that make the Servato team tick in an interview at the bottom.

Interview with CEO Chris Mangum  

 

 

 Rural Life

Nebraska and Tennessee both received millions of dollars of capital injection this month through the Universal Service Fund and Tennessee's Department of Economic Development and Community Development. Windstream in Nebraska secured $2.2 million to serve 13 local exchanges in and around Lincoln and Omaha. All of these locations are within 100 miles of these two cities focusing all of this development on the eastern half of the state. The magic number for Tennessee also happens to be 13; except, there are 13 providers in the state that will split the $14.8 million grant creating broadband access across 17 counties. Grant winners will invest $20 million themselves for a total of $34.8 million throughout the two-year funding process. WK&T Telecommunications will take back the most to their community of the lot with $2 million for Henry County where Paris, TN lies. Governor Bill Lee of TN follows the footprint of Governor Bill Haslam, who announced the Tennessee Broadband Accessibility Act last year. The TBAA put forth $45 million through grants and tax credits to providers along with deregulating electric cooperatives so they can now provide broadband service.

FirstNet's efforts towards providing telemedicine in rural areas will start to take effect as an agreement with University of Mississippi Medical Center came to fruition. This relationship will lay the groundwork for other partnerships due to this being the first undertaking by the nationwide wireless public-safety network. The state of Mississippi has the 3rd highest rural population in the United States behind only Maine and Vermont. States like Maine and Vermont, such as New Hampshire, progressively set new norms for what rural broadband deployment should look like. The Granite State reached an agreement with Consolidated Communications to provide a public-private funding mechanism (New Hampshire Senate Bill 170). Consolidated upgraded speeds to 500,000 homes across the state last year. Chesterfield, NH will deploy municipal bonds instead of raising property taxes, typically incurring no additional interest on the bond.

Federal Shutdown Impact on Rural America

 
 

 

A Milestone Worth Reckoning

 

The United States Patent and Trademark Office granted Servato our fourth patent on the Company's Adaptive Charging methodology. It is a newly issued patent that is a continuation of one of the Company’s earlier patents in its battery management patent portfolio directed toward battery charging. The new claims broaden the scope of protection afforded by the Company’s battery management patent portfolio for its novel battery charging system.The Company now has 4 issued patents and one pending patent application in this technology area.

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Frost and Sullivan also brought attention to Servato in early January after they declared us their 2018 Global Entrepreneurial Company of the Year in Energy Storage. The attention and coverage extended well beyond the initial press release. You can find a few of the reasons why we earned the award here:

 

2018 Year in Review

 

and here you can find the award write-up:

Frost and Sullivan Award Winner

 

Analytics

Servato's SPS (Smart Power Systems) product line builds on innovative design and proprietary technology. Adaptive Charging forms the central nucleus of our approach to better battery management, driven by the intelligent algorithm that charges and rests batteries to maximize life expectancy and availability. We are pleased to announce that we are using the performance data gathered from managed batteries to provide our customers insights into how their networks perform from a power perspective.  Much as power utilities track the frequency and duration of power outages, our SPS solutions enable network service providers to track the same.  This allows them to quickly identify problem sites and prioritize them to address network reliability issues. Imagine having detailed outage data identifying which sites are more problematic than others.  How would that improve the field's ability to request capital to address these issues?  Now stop imagining and let's discuss in more detail.

Contact Servato

 


Sincerely,
 

--

Brandon Davenport

Business Development Manager

Servato

Brandon Davenport Servato

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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Q/A with Eric Hedlund

Throughout his career, Eric Hedlund (Servato’s VP of Sales), has created
opportunities for others, driven by his entrepreneurial spirit throughout his career. He has
started companies, lead engineering and sales teams, and managed product development at a variety of
outfits. In this interview, we explored his decorated career in telecom to find interesting insights to pass
down to young fledglings in the industry, such as myself.

BD - "As an original member of the Servato team, what change is the most evident from then to today?"

EH – “We now have a wide range of products in our product line portfolio that can meet the requirements of both larger and smaller customers.  We are also now are not just a Battery Management solution provider, but a complete DC Power Management and IoT solution provider.”

BD - "Did you ever foresee that change happening back then?

EH – “Yes, we had a longer term vision for how the company and product set would evolve.  But when just getting started it is essential to have focus and to execute.  We were focused on the larger service providers with enough space for our initial 4-string solution. Once we began getting market penetration, we knew we would have to offer several size and mounting options, hence the 2- and 1-string configurations that can easily expand. Battery Management solutions are important, but not as critical as a DC power plant.  It only made sense to combine the two with our SPS-R, a carrier class rectifier with integrated battery management.” 

BD - "Customers love to see you travel to the most rural portions of our country as the VP of Sales because you care about hearing their feedback. This population is Servato's go-to-market.  So, how do you balance this travel?"

EH – “If possibleI try to always be home Monday’s and Fridays and have a least one full week home a month.” 

BD - "Are there any memorable locations you have come across during your travels? "

EH – “One of the most memorable was in Arizona. Overseeing an installation on the border of Mexico one day and installing on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon the very next day.  Everyone should go see the Grand Canyon if they have a chance.  I was lucky enough to paddle through it for 8 days long ago. What a trip!!” 

BD - "I bet that still doesn't top your favorite skiing memory. You spent many weekends growing up in the mountains of New England perfecting the double diamond runs. If you had to pick one mountain what would it be?"

EH – “In New England several, on a power day, Mad River Glen or Sugarbush, VT; spring skiing the bumps on Bear Mountain at Killington, VT or snow fields at Sugarloaf, ME. Adrenaline-rush skiing definitely, Tuckerman’s Ravine on Mt Washington, NH.  Outside New England, Jackson Hole, WY.”

BD - "How does this compare against your favorite Boston sports championship?"

EH – “Without a doubt, 2004 Red Sox World Series win, which I credit my dog Fenway for “Reversing the Curse”.  Fenway joined our family summer of 2004 and the Red Sox won that year, plus 3 additional WS wins since, ‘07,’13 &’18.  Fenway recently passed, but he had a great run.  He is greatly missed!” 

BD - "How many years does Brady have left?"

EH – “4 more years.  He wants to play till he’s 45.  He’s got some more championships in him.”  

BD - I'll leave this conversation with that. Thanks for your time, Eric

 

From Last Month

Dorion, Servato's Head of Support and Software Engineering, spoke about his love for the game of golf. He said he would be too nervous to play with Tiger, Nicklaus, Lefty, or Arnold Palmer and would opt to play with current buddies or his son. Dorion loves The Masters and can't wait to go to Augusta, GA in the future.Who do you have to win it all next weekend?

 

 

Did You Know?

Servato's ActiView® platform now supports advanced analytic reporting for customers. We take pride in owning one of the largest databases of stationary lead-acid battery field performance. We create reports for our customers so they can better understand battery budgeting needs, what existing load and capacity are at their sites, and how to make the best use of existing battery assets.

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 Let's talk if you are looking to find an alternative way to test batteries that delivers a more accurate and predictive state of health measurement.

 

 

 
 
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Recent and Upcoming Events

The Servato Sales team has covered dozens of shows this year. We hope to see you in the near future, so if you are at any of these upcoming events, please come and visit our booths.

  • Battcon 4/23/2019 - 4/26/2019 in Orlando, FL
  • Battery Council International 4/28/2019 - 4/30/2019 in New Orleans, LA
  • North Dakota TOC Conference 5/14/2019 - 5/16/2019 in Fargo, ND

 

Cover photo courtesy of: Alkimson

 

About the Author: Brandon Davenport

Brandon Davenport
Brandon Davenport is a Business Development Manager for the Servato team. He covers the Southeast sales territory, manages marketing efforts, and leads battery analysis efforts.