Telstra helps drive networks in central Australia

With Calibre One business technology consultant Darren Gore

What networking brands and services do you specialise in?

Calibre One aims to have two choices across all of its product categories: a premium, and a carefully chosen lower-cost alternative. We work exclusively with Telstra for wide-area networks.

When did your company first get involved in this area?

Calibre One originally sold home and SMB products, but for the last 10-plus years, we have focused on SMB and larger business markets. Since then we have enhanced our partnerships with both Telstra and Cisco to bring true enterprise-class options to our customers.

What are your networking credentials?

Calibre One has engineers with Cisco and D-Link certifications, as well as more general trade and vendor certifications. In recent times, we have also started to acquire certifications for skills specific to security. The requirement for training and certifications seems to be a constantly moving target.

Which distributor do you use for networking?

Our key suppliers are Ingram Micro, Dicker Data, Bluechip IT, Westcon and Synnex.

Have you heard about any cool developments in the networking space recently?

The development of the internet of things is fascinating. In my apartment alone, the number of things connected to the internet is expanding incrementally, from lights and a robot vacuum cleaner that we control with apps, to a washing machine that self-orders its own washing powder when running low. The development of networks to support these devices will be an interesting space to watch and, most importantly, see how we secure them.

Can you tell us about a recent deployment you have done?

In partnership with Telstra and Cisco, we recently deployed a WAN across four sites for Halkitis Bros (a cement manufacturer in the Northern Territory). The project replaced the customer’s legacy copper network, which was no longer meeting their needs. The objective was to gain a reliable, robust and scalable network.

What is driving customers’ networking projects?

Business customers are looking for networks that can support better and more efficient ways of doing things, and assist them to meet their business objectives. But not all businesses are seeking the same things – their objectives might be financial, productive, humanitarian or just in the pursuit of access to new markets.

Networking is…?

The art of connecting people via their devices to an end service that they need. This can be local, remote assets or cloud services, and can be fixed or mobile. It covers a lot.