Gigabit, because time is precious.

I do a lot of large file transfers, and our WiFi network doesn’t cut it. So, I need to go wired. When I do that, I plug my laptop into the PC port of my Digium phone. Then, I frequently download DVD ISOs that I then turn into Virtual Machines, running on my laptop, for testing various versions of Asterisk, various FreePBX-based distributions, and for demoing Switchvox. I also do backups of my machine to a remote time capsule, and each one of those is quite large since new VMs are constantly appearing in my backups.

The latest release of CentOS, version 6.5, spans two DVDs for a total of 5.4 gigabytes. On a 100-base network, that’s a bit over 8 minutes that I’ll be waiting just for a download before I can make my virtual machine and get to work. But, on a gigabit network, it’s only 47 seconds. That’s a savings of 7 minutes.

Once my VM is installed, it’s around 20 gigabytes. When time capsule wakes up to back it up on a 100-base network, that’s about 30 minutes that I’ll spend while my laptop’s performance is mortally wounded as it copies files to the network-based time capsule. But, on a gigabit network, it’s just under 3 minutes. So, that’s 27 minutes saved.

Add them together, and that’s 34 minutes of time on a 100-base network. And, while I’m still productive that whole time with other things, my work is impacted the whole time, either because I’ve had to find a 27-minute task to fill my wait with, or because my laptop’s running *much* slower due to the backup process. Meanwhile, in gigabit land, it was less than 4 minutes to move that same data.

Since your time’s precious, too, you might be interested in our new model D45 IP telephones. They’re economically priced two-line SIP telephones for use with Switchvox and Asterisk, and they’re equipped with gigabit connectivity on the LAN and PC ports. Along with our existing, gigabit-capable model D70 IP telephone, they’re a great way to make better use of your time.