Preventing disaster before it strikes: The company that provides early warning signs that your network is at risk

On this episode of Connected Nation, we're back at the Broadband Nation Expo to talk about early warning signs, those little simple things that let you know that something's wrong with your broadband network before the whole network goes down. We talk with a company that makes it possible to stop disaster before it occurs.

Recommended links:

Asentria website
John's LinkedIn

Transcript

Jessica Denson (00:08):

On this episode of Connected Nation, we're back at the Broadband Nation expert to talk about early warning signs, those little simple things that let you know that something's wrong with your broadband network before the whole network goes down. I talk with a company that makes it possible to stop disaster before it occurs. I'm Jessica Denson, and this is Connected Nation. 

Again. I am at the Broadband Nation Expo taking place in Orlando, Florida, and I am in the exhibit hall. And as I always do at one of these conferences, I'm talking to one of our neighbors who I've seen a lot of people stopping at, and it's a centria. And I have pulled over John Neely, who is the director of Business Development. Welcome, John.

John Neely (00:54):

Welcome. Thank you for having me, <laugh>. Thanks for having me.

Jessica Denson (00:56):

Yeah, I'm excited to talk to you. You're a, you're a tall drink of water. You're pretty tall. <laugh>. How old are you? Uh,

John Neely (01:03):

I'm six foot two. Six foot two on a good day.

Jessica Denson (01:05):

Yeah. I'm 5, 5, 5, 6 on a good day. So, <laugh>. Nice. So I'm looking up at you, <laugh>, I'm straining a little bit. Just want my audience to know that I'm willing to do the hard work for you, <laugh>. Um, tell me about Centria. What, what does Centria do?

John Neely (01:18):

Uh, so we make solutions for monitoring, controlling remote communication sites,

Jessica Denson (01:22):

Uhhuh.

John Neely (01:23):

Um, so at the site there's gonna be power, environmental and security aspects that allow it to function. And we make a hardware solution that goes at these remote sites and allows you to, uh, pick up alarms from all those devices, control all those devices, and give you an easy way to monitor your various, um, remote stations throughout your whole network.

Jessica Denson (01:42):

So is essentially, it's like an early warning sign kind of thing?

John Neely (01:46):

Yes. Yeah. So traditionally it's been, uh, contact alarming, traditional alarming. So you're gonna get an alarm when a piece of equipment fails, uh, when AC power is lost, when temperature gets too high. But a lot of what we do now is providing additional data. So it is an early warning system,

Jessica Denson (02:02):

Uhhuh,

John Neely (02:03):

Uh, with machine to machine learning, AI and big data the way it is, A lot of people now gather a huge amount of data and then they can process it to see things like my generator oil, uh, pressure is dropping, so that means it's going to fail, but it hasn't failed yet. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. 

And so that is what we see a lot of people moving towards this smart predictive maintenance, uh, that makes it easier for them to keep these sites online and not just wait around until something critical fails before sending a technician out there.

Jessica Denson (02:31):

So for your average person, they probably think when it comes to telecom industry, when it comes to fiber or a satellite, it's just that the, the wire goes down or there's no electricity, but it's not so simple. Right? <laugh>?

John Neely (02:43):

Yeah. Yeah. It's not just as simple as that. So, you know, there we stay away from, uh, the critical core of the network. So we're not gonna be monitoring like fiber integrity for fiber or, um, RF data for the, the mobile network side.

Jessica Denson (02:58):

Mm-hmm

John Neely (02:58):

<affirmative>. Uh, but at remote sites, there's a lot of equipment that makes sure it works. And you're saying, oh, the power goes down, it's gonna go out. So they have like backup battery systems, backup generators. The idea is to keep those sites online even during critical we weather events, even when AC power is lost. And to do that, you need to have a pretty good idea of what's going on at the site, you know? Mm-hmm <affirmative>. 

If you've got a generator out there, it's not useful if you can't tell if the generator's turned on. Uh, batteries aren't useful if they're discharged and you have no idea that, uh, they're discharged. Um, so our solution is a vendor agnostic way to be able to monitor all those systems. Um, and another thing we come across is these networks are huge, very, uh, geographically diverse. Um, so our solution allows us to normalize the equipment at the edge,

Jessica Denson (03:42):

Uhhuh.

John Neely (03:42):

So you probably don't have the same DC rectifier at each and every site. Our solution makes sure that all the data that you're using to monitor is uniform, uh, no matter the make and model of the various subsystems.

Jessica Denson (03:53):

So a centria ascent, why do I have a hard time with that word? Ascent, riaa. Am I saying it right?

John Neely (04:00):

Centria.

Jessica Denson (04:01):

Centria. There we go. I've put it all together. Centria. It is. Um, you go in after the, after the, all the hardware's been laid after everything's been laid, and then find those places that are critical are, are critical to keeping the system running.

John Neely (04:17):

Correct? Correct. Generally, we come in after stuff speced every once in a while. We do get a Greenfield network. We're one of one of the original pieces of equipment going in there. But yeah, usually we're coming in afterwards. Uh, we're bringing them our solution and finding kind of the critical stuff that they need to monitor. Uhhuh <affirmative>. 

Um, so, you know, it does vary client to client. Our device is customizable. So, you know, for certain clients, uh, HVAC monitoring control is very important for other clients. They may not care about that. They just want to know if there's power to the site. So our solution allows you to do whatever you need to to monitor those critical

Jessica Denson (04:50):

Pieces. And the data that comes through, does that come through their own system or do you guys monitor it?

John Neely (04:54):

Um, so it comes through their own system. So generally we're sending the data via SNMP to their network operation center. Uh, but with some of the big data analytics that I've been talking about in the last, like five to seven years, we've added Kafka, MQTT, it's got a restful API. Uh, so we do see people moving away from traditional SNMP alarming to these newer protocols that allow you to ingest far more data, um, and then allow other smart systems to work on them.

Jessica Denson (05:21):

So what about, can I ask you about, um, severe weather? Is that something that you guys also watch for or is that something that they can monitor or No?

John Neely (05:30):

Um, so the cybos itself does not monitor it. So I was talking about, you know, the new protocols and like our API in particular. Uh, so we have clients that are gonna be monitoring weather services through the National Weather Service, API, and it'll go and tell them like, you know, critical events on the way, there's a high likelihood of a tornado or hurricane, and we expect the power to be lost in this area. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. 

Uh, so our device then can generate reports and let them know, like all the batteries are charged and operational, uh, we can test the generators, make sure they're working, ensure the generators have enough, uh, fuel, um, and then during the event, it provides data to make you make sure that the site is still online. So if the site is gonna go offline, you get a warning and go out there and react to it, you can ensure that fuel is, um, still full, uh, fueled up at these remote generators, uhhuh,

Jessica Denson (06:18):

And

John Neely (06:19):

Give you environmental warnings and allow you to gracefully shut down site. Should it start flooding, should temperature run away, humidity, run away, something like that.

Jessica Denson (06:27):

So centria I said it right? Got it. Yes, I got it. Now. Um, what's its footprint? Is it national? Is it global? Where, where is

John Neely (06:35):

It? Yeah, we're, we're global, uh, mostly in the United States and Canada, but we have done quite a few projects, um, in Europe, middle East, and North Africa. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. Uh, but traditionally, you know, we're probably like 90, 85%, um, focus in the United States and Canada.

Jessica Denson (06:51):

So you mentioned geography and topography. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. How critical is that a piece? Do you have to really think about like, if you're in the wilds of Wyoming versus the cold of Alaska? You know?

John Neely (07:02):

Yes. No, very, very much so. And it, it depends, uh, like location to location, you know, it's very common for us to get our foot in the door at these clients for their ultra remote sites. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. You know, in Alaska we've got clients with mountaintop sites that are unreachable six months out of the year, and the other six months you've gotta take a helicopter up there to get there. 

So being able to have this solution that is customized for those ultra remote sites and whatever critical, uh, weather events that can bring, you know, being buried in snow, having, um, having common flooding or high humidity down in the Gulf Coast, um, allows us to provide these solutions that are very, very critical. You know, the ROI on our device is instantaneous. 

If you can avoid a single truck roll at these locations. Yeah. And then as they start to get more comfortable with it, generally we're try to deploy throughout their whole network. Uh, but those, those ultra remote sites with, uh, high frequencies of weather events are definitely our bread and butter.

Jessica Denson (07:56):

Yeah. And happy customers.

John Neely (07:57):

Yes. Happy, happy customers, <laugh>.

Jessica Denson (07:59):

Yeah. So it's, it's something, you guys do business to business, obviously you don't work with the, with the customers directly, but I can imagine the impact is pretty critical. Do you guys monitor that data as well?

John Neely (08:09):

Um, it depends. For some of the larger clients we do, generally we just provide the data and the end user is going to to use it how they see fit. That's something we've always prided ourselves in being open and available. Way too many vendors try to silo you into their ecosystem. 

You know, you need a cloud subscription, you need something going back to their network. Uh, we're not like that, but like I said, for some of our larger clients, we are providing this like minute to minute monitoring and providing them alerts when stuff's going wrong.

Jessica Denson (08:36):

So how long has, tell me a little bit more about the company. How long has the century been around mm-hmm <affirmative>. Um, what's its kind of mission? Ours vision? Yeah.

John Neely (08:44):

So centria started in 1984, uh, in Seattle, Washington.

Jessica Denson (08:48):

So a while. Yeah.

John Neely (08:48):

So a while We used to do, uh, buffer boxes for PBX systems, <laugh>. So how you used to monitor who was calling who on phone systems back before it was all digital. Um, and then in the nineties, in the late nineties, we had these buffer boxes out there and people started to say, Hey, it'd be great if, you know, we could pick up temperature and humidity where it is, and we could pick up a contact closure to let us know that AC power has been lost or something else has failed. 

And as PBX systems have gone away, that monitoring has become more and more important. So really since around, uh, 99, 2000, our main business has been this remote site monitoring. Um, our mission is to provide a reliable monitoring solution for anybody with a remote communication network.

Jessica Denson (09:31):

Uhhuh. So anybody who's works without small ISPs large. Yep. Okay. All

John Neely (09:35):

The way from wisps to tier one mobile network operators. It doesn't matter if it's mobile, um, if it's wireline, if it's fiber. From our point of view, it's very similar pieces, equipment, and we have solutions to monitor them.

Jessica Denson (09:47):

Uh, so I can't, I can't let you go with that. Discussing emergent technology since you mm-hmm. You brought up the buffer boxes, <laugh> Yes. Things have changed.

John Neely (09:54):

Yes.

Jessica Denson (09:54):

And now everybody's talking ai. Mm-hmm. Has centria been planning for AI for a while, or are you looking at how to implement that within your system? Uh, how are you approaching ai?

John Neely (10:04):

Yes, absolutely. Um, so we've been planning for a while. Like I said, in the last five to seven years, we've added our restful API, Kafka and QTT. So these protocols are gonna work with this, um, these new AI tools for quite a while. Before that, before AI was the big buzzword, it was machine to machine learning.

Jessica Denson (10:20):

Mm-hmm <affirmative>.

John Neely (10:21):

Um, so a couple examples of some things we've done for clients are, uh, we have their, their big AI system connected to the weather service, and then they're controlling HVAC through our units so they can make micro adjustments to their HVAC settings day to day to try to optimize HVAC usage. Um, another thing we've done is, oh, um, load shedding. 

So, you know, power, especially in certain markets, uh, can be variable cost on the, depending on the time of day, uhhuh <affirmative>. Uh, so these systems integrate to pick up that cost out automatically, and then our units can switch between various power sources, uh, to keep the site, um, you know, recharge batteries, do this kind of high voltage, high energy usage operations in the middle of the night, or at some time when power costs less than at noon when you might have like peak power, for example, like Texas, certain markets in Texas during the day, it can be like three to four times more expensive per kilowatt hour, uh, during peak times versus off peak times.

Jessica Denson (11:20):

Mm-hmm <affirmative>. So I always do this to everybody, so don't feel mm-hmm. Don't feel like I'm targeting you, but tell me about you and what, why you do this Director of business development. What brought you to, brought you to centria? I said it a centria. A centria. <laugh>. Anyway, what brought you to Centria? You know, maybe a little bit about your past that you would like to share.

John Neely (11:39):

Yeah, no, absolutely. Ah, so I went to school for computer security network technologies, so like IT stuff mm-hmm <affirmative>. Um, as I got outta school, I, uh, I got hired by Centria originally in tech support, and I worked there for about two to three months. They, Hey, you're good at talking to people. Let, let's move you up to sales.

Jessica Denson (11:55):

Yeah.

John Neely (11:56):

Uh, so, you know, despite me, I went to school for IT stuff, so I didn't have to talk to people. <laugh>, now I'm customer facing. Turns out I like

Jessica Denson (12:03):

It.

John Neely (12:04):

I'm doing podcasts. <laugh>. Yeah, I'm doing podcasts, making YouTube videos, the whole nine yards. Um, but I, I came up into sales. I started doing some inside sales stuff, uh, you know, worked my way up through centria account exec and major account exec. I worked, um, dish, uh, boost Mobile for, for quite a while. And then after that, that dried up, um, they, they moved me over Director of sales. And that's the position I've been in for about the last year and a half.

Jessica Denson (12:27):

And you're based out of Seattle, right?

John Neely (12:28):

I am based outta Seattle.

Jessica Denson (12:29):

I based status. Seattle is, is your company remote or is it a hybrid kind of model, or what is, what is

John Neely (12:33):

That? Um, it's hybrid. For most positions we've embraced remote work. Um, like I still say I am in Seattle, I use the opportunity to move 30 minutes south, which during rush hour is two hours south. Oh,

Jessica Denson (12:45):

Wow.

John Neely (12:46):

So I work, uh, work remote now when I'm not traveling. Uh, but we do have manufacturing and shipping and some other positions that are critical to be in office, uhhuh, and those are still in office. So we're, we're a hybrid model, depending on your position.

Jessica Denson (12:58):

Depend. That makes sense. That's where I think business should go. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. Is where it makes sense.

John Neely (13:03):

Yes.

Jessica Denson (13:03):

If you can be at home, be at home, if there's a hybrid, there's a hybrid

John Neely (13:06):

<laugh>. Yeah, exactly. And I'm, I'm on the road about half the time. Yeah, me too. So I have to be, uh, you know, when it, we switch over to remote, it wasn't really that big of a change. It's like, Hey, this is just like working from a, from a hotel bedroom, so

Jessica Denson (13:17):

Uhhuh

John Neely (13:17):

Hotel office. So, you know,

Jessica Denson (13:19):

Yeah. I've done a lot of Hotel <laugh> work as well. <laugh>. Oh, yeah. Uh, yeah, I travel a lot with work and I have a remote. We, I work remotely at home too, so.

John Neely (13:27):

Yes.

Jessica Denson (13:27):

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I I'm a big fan of it. I used to work in newsrooms and I like this a lot. <laugh>.

John Neely (13:31):

Yes. No, this is much nicer. The, yeah.

Jessica Denson (13:33):

So the Pacific Northwest is gorgeous too, right? It is. Is it, is it great living

John Neely (13:37):

There? It is. I love the area. I've been there since I was like five or six, really like everything about the area besides the cost of living. Yeah. It can be quite expensive sometimes

Jessica Denson (13:46):

Because it is so great, right. <laugh>

John Neely (13:47):

It is. Exactly. More and more people just keep moving there, you know? I think Seattle's doubled its population in my lifetime. It's,

Jessica Denson (13:54):

Oh my gosh, that's

John Neely (13:55):

The, not building houses fast enough.

Jessica Denson (13:56):

So is that where your home is? Or did you grow up somewhere else?

John Neely (14:00):

Um, no, I grew up in Seattle. I was originally born in Virginia, but I've been in Seattle since, since, like I said, I was like five or six. So it, it's been my home for a long time. You know, I've moved around different areas in the Seattle metro area, and now I am for anybody that's familiar with the area, I'm down, down south, close to Puyallup in Tacoma. Um, but, but I've been in the western Washington area pretty much my whole life.

Jessica Denson (14:20):

Whole life. Well, it's a beautiful place. Well, thank you. Well, let me give you a chance to give some final words. What do you want people to remember about Centria, besides how to say the name <laugh>? What, what would you like people to take away from our conversation?

John Neely (14:32):

Um, I would like people to know that for these remote sites, uh, the value that you can get get from, uh, being able to monitor and control these subsystems is, is very valuable to these, these, uh, type of clients that we have. You know, a lot of times we're not coming against, it's not a critical piece of equipment like a DC rectifier. 

Um, a lot of times we're coming against, oh, let's do nothing. No form of monitoring versus some form of monitoring. You know, just being able to, to know that there's these solutions out there and know that they have truly incredible ROI and stuff like that in the right situations is very useful.

Jessica Denson (15:08):

All right. Well, I'll include a link to the company, Centria Yeah. And the description of this podcast so our listeners can get ahold of you. Sweet.

John Neely (15:15):

Sounds good. Thank you very much for having me on.

Jessica Denson (15:17):

Thank you. John Neely, who is the Director of Business development, he's the guy you wanna contact if you wanna do business with Centria, right?

John Neely (15:24):

Yes, yes. I'd be happy to. Happy to talk to anybody out there that wants to do business.

Jessica Denson (15:27):

Yeah. Thank you so much for your time. Yeah,

John Neely (15:29):

Thank you very much.

Jessica Denson (15:32):

We'll continue our coverage from the Broadband Nation Expo on future episodes of Connected Nation. Until then, I'm Jessica Sen, and this is Connected Nation.