April 2019 Newsletter

 

Dear Friend of Servato,

Pollen in March and now measles cases reached record highs in April. We're only one-third of the way through 2019 and 764 cases of measles have been reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That surpasses the previous high in 1994 and also comes in the wake of the 2000 declaration that the disease had been eradicated. The chaos of the month does not stop there: Boeing 737-MAX crashes, major power outages occur abroad and home in the United States, Mueller's Report releases, and Tiger wins the Masters! Let's hope for boundless May flowers the rest of this month.

Despite the less than positive global media attention, rural broadband in the United States did experience a few bigs wins on a national and local level. A-CAM funding from the Federal Communications Commission generated an additional $65.7 million to go towards underserved rural locations that do not meet the 25/3 speed standard issued by the FCC. North Carolina also made a positive step forward after Vance, Granville, and Franklin counties all announced plans to deploy a wireless broadband provider by September. Servato also realized a few big milestones. We increased our batteries managed by 19% and site footprint by 21% during the first quarter of this year. Due to that growth, we now bring in well over 1 million battery hours of new test data measurements per week.

You can learn more about where Servato sees its role in the greater rural broadband ecosystem here and click below for an assessment on federal dollars for infrastructure.

Federal Shutdown Impact on Rural America

 

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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  

 

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February 2019 Newsletter

Dear Friend of Servato,

I apologize for the delay to send this latest monthly newsletter. Mardi Gras took place last week so festivities and parades naturally took over some of my time. Did You Know? The average Mardi Gras Krewe spends over $2.6 million each year on their parade and the accompanying ball they host. This figure, plus the approximately $2,450 per member, creates a large budget for plenty of family-friendly beads and other throws. That second figure outpaces the average expenditure for a string of 12V VRLA batteries, the main target for Servato devices... whoa that's a lot!

Rural broadband recently received a boost from the federally-approved, NTIA-backed, National Broadband Map. This data originally pulls from carrier responses, but there are some inconsistencies with the people represented. Movements like this support rural providers where it hurts them the most: funding for projects, social problems afflicting their customers, and affordable technology. A majority of Servato customers reside in these rural swathes of our country. Recent natural disasters and unequal service circumstances additionally make it even more difficult to provide a great customer experience. The media tailors its message to urbanites due to sheer volume, which lends itself to why I like to try to shed light on topics you might find interesting. You can find other content on the big button below and an interview with our VP of Sales,  Eric Hedlund, at the bottom. 

 

Federal Shutdown Impact on Rural America

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January 2019 Newsletter

Dear Friend of Servato,

Frost and Sullivan formally recognized Servato as the Global Entrepreneurial Company of the Year in the energy storage space this January. The award garnered the attention of ABC, MarketWatch, and regional news outlets such as The Oklahoman (more on that below). Energy storage and transmission played a significant role several months ago during the California wildfires as PG&E's aged transmission lines and natural gas facilities sparked mass-incineration resulting in several executive firings including CEO Geisha Williams. PG&E personnel also allegedly falsified records in a rush to comply with California regulators.

Conversely, Servato customers afflicted by the polar vortex streamlined portable generator cycles by having insight into their battery backup time. We should expect more stringent regulatory reactions to both of these "natural" disasters, especially as federal infrastructure spending continues to earn more lip service from politicians as it did during the recent State of The Union address.

Federal infrastructure debate contributed to the partial government shutdown that shook the national economy, reverberating through the suburban and rural corridors of our country where many federal workers reside. Read this original content piece that visualizes how significant this actually is.

Federal Shutdown Impact on Rural America

Lastly, scroll to the bottom to read my interview with our very own CEO, Chris Mangum, about his recent discovery that his grandfather won a Silver Star in WWII.

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December 2018 Newsletter

Dear Friend of Servato,

 

2018...

This past year has been a time of significant evolution for Servato and our customers. Customer feedback from our SPS line of products has driven us to create the first integrated rectifier with battery management, which we call the SPS-R. Customer impact is at the core of our product design philosophy. The SPS-R embodies this philosophy in a way that makes its development the highlight of our year. In 2019 we look forward to continuing our unrelenting mission of Ensuring The Internet is Always On by strengthening partner relationships, adding new ones, and looking to our customers for feedback and guidance on new functionality and capabilities.

2018 Year in Review

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November 2018 Newsletter

Dear Friend of Servato,

The accolades (and data) continue to pile up at Servato, while the Thanksgiving holiday fades into the winter holiday season. As the giving season approaches, we could not be more honored to let you know that Servato has won the 2018 Entrepreneurial Company of the Year Award in the Global Energy Storage category from Frost and Sullivan. This recognition means a lot to our organization and the people that work hard every day to create an amazing product and customer experience. Servato rallied all of those dedicated people together last week for a team meeting in our Boston office, and one takeaway is that data is moving front and center as a top priority for us as we aim to better serve our customers. We believe that optimally designing the SPS-248 last year and the SPS-R™ this year has positioned us to make significant strides on improving technician efficiency and impact. Servato is also featured in the December issue of ISE Magazine with an article titled, Being Powerfully Redundant Matters. Battery management can be de-prioritized in tough scenarios when the cards are stacked against carriers, but it does not have to be that way.

The "Camp Fire" wildfire earned its place among the top 20 of California's wildfires of all time, with its destruction of over 150,000 acres through Butte county and the surrounding area. More importantly, it is already the most deadly California wildfire of all-time with a death toll currently standing at 85. Destruction like this rears its head all across the country in new forms. We pay our respects to the firefighters who have fought bravely to extinguish this tragic wildfire. Network service providers have a responsibility to mitigate downtime as much as possible during times like this. How are you preparing? 

  Disaster Planning  

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Octoboer 2018 Newsletter

Dear Friend of Servato,

What do Drew Brees, the World Series, and Servato all have in common?... We all broke records in the month of October!

Drew Brees broke the all-time passing yards record, surpassing 50,000 yards and eclipsing Peyton Manning.  The Red Sox and Dodgers engaged in the longest World Series game ever at 18 innings (7 hours and 20 minutes!) in the seven-game series. And last but not least, Servato surpassed the 100 Million operating hour mark for systems in the field and is now gathering more than 250,000 new battery test data points every week into Servato's ActiView® data platform.

October was a busy month for the Servato team. MATSS in Kansas City, MO, KTA-TTA in Bowling Green, KY, and SCTE Cable Tec Expo in Atlanta, GA make up the short list of association shows we participated in. Hurricane Michael devastated the Florida panhandle much as Hurricane Florence did to the Carolinas in September. An historically warm month across the United States created ideal conditions for more storm systems.  But while 2018 has produced severe weather and tremendous damage, it has not yet been as severe as 2017 in terms of total financial impact (recall Harvey and Maria). Do you want to learn more about how we prepare providers backup power for ice storms, tornadoes, and more?

  Disaster Planning

 

 

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September 2018 Newsletter

Dear Friend of Servato,

Hurricane Florence showed its immense might this past month to the Carolinas. The damage prevented the Servato team from being in either state this past month as flooding continues to be an obstacle to short-term stability. We did speak at the Oklahoma Telephone Association's Technical Conference and at the NebraskaLink Summit on "Technology Adoption for DC Power". These talks by VP of Sales, Eric Hedlund, lay a framework for how integration works in the big picture. Each year more record-breaking storms and weather-related disasters inflict billions of dollars of damage. Recovery times are long and tiring for everyone, making holistic network awareness that much more important.

 

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August 2018 Newsletter

Dear Friend of Servato,

ISE EXPO in Denver proved to be another great show this year for the Servato team. The weather was kind to us, and all of our partners were present to support our team. The highly anticipated SPS-R™ was officially announced, Servato CEO Chris Mangum spoke about data utilization for technicians, and there were several great Tech Talks that punctuated our time spent. In this edition we'll cover August highlights as well as the latest news happening in our industries right here from HQ in New Orleans. You can also read more about what others have said about us recently here, here, and here.

 

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July 2018 Newsletter

Dear Friend of Servato,

The sun is shining bright, and major storms have avoided New Orleans so far this summer. Despite the good fortunes, we can not wait to be on our way to Denver for ISE EXPO. We have big plans next week and can not wait to connect with many of you at the Colorado Convention Center. Servato CEO and President, Chris Mangum, will be giving a seminar on Using Data to Improve Productivity and Efficiencies for Telecommunications Technicians on Thursday, August 16th at 8 am. In this July Newsletter edition we cover show information, trending news, and more from Servato HQ.

 

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Battery Management Blog

Backup Batteries are almost always out of site and out of mind. Most engineers and managers try to spend as little time as possible working on them in order to spend more time delivering better service. But when battery issues are a problem, frustration ensues. 

  

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