The New Breed – Waiting In The Wings?

We’ve been on the phone with dozens of general contractors over the last few months, getting their take on PlanWell® and our other product offerings, but also putting our ear to the ground, so to speak, in order to better gauge the future.

We can’t help but notice a growing sense of technological urgency, a feeling that change is afoot and that it will come within the next decade.

“It’s interesting how it works,” says Brendan Keating, who inherited responsibility for developing and maintaining the computer systems at Artco Contracting and Development in Newark, NJ. “Technical things that come more easily to people of my generation seem to confuse the older guys. I guess it’s because computers have always been a part of my life. It’s easier. The older guys have to learn it.”

It’s no secret that a number of top construction executives are ready to retire, turning their decision-making responsibilities over to younger executives who, it seems, believe technology is the key to our respective future – as The PEiR Group does.

“Take Sub-Hub,” Brendan says. “The younger guys are relatively excited about it, think its neat they can go online and view the plans… that sort of stuff. It works for them. The older guys just refuse to go online. Period.”

Industry watchers say that with the previous decade’s wide profit margins and increased stock values, retiring executives do not want to invest their millions into solutions that they are uncomfortable with or deem too expensive. But as younger executives assume control of the larger companies, they will bring dramatic new perspectives in technology application with them.

“I’m not saying it’s the same across the board,” Keating says. “Technology doesn’t work the same for everyone. Some people, it doesn’t matter what age they are, can use a computer and can make PlanWell and Sub-Hub work for them. But others just don’t want to bother.”

The reprographics industry stands to benefit greatly from this shift, a move to technology we've been been predicting for some time. Our goal has always been to be viewed as a partner to our members, but the ability to bring solutions to the table our members can use will set us apart from those companies who don’t adopt.


Editor: Have you noticed a “technology divide” among clients in your region? Have you encountered any classic examples of this syndrome? How did you overcome it?

Understanding Your Hosts File – and Using It

Technical Insight From The PEiR Group
By Dan Davis

The PlanWell Job Tracker provides a direct link to files which have been uploaded by your customers using EWO.

By clicking on the folder icon for the EWO order, the Job Tracker will open your FTP folder where you can access the zipped order files, and distribute them to production.

When you click on the file it will look in the database to find the address for your FTP server, and log you in automatically. If this does not work for you, it may mean that you need to add an entry into your Hosts file.

The Internet allows every computer to have its own unique address. These addresses are generally an IP number, but can also be in the form of a name like ftp.reproshop.com. This is what is known as a Domain name. Domain names are leased from various companies, and registered with Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). When you register a domain name, Domain Name Servers throughout the world will add your domain name to their lists, so that Internet requests for ftp.reproshop.com will be forwarded to your correct IP address.

In general, this addressing scheme will then allow anybody but you to connect to your FTP. However, your network might be set up in such a way those external addresses, like your FTP may not be reachable from inside your firewall. But you can make this work! All you need to do is find out the internal address for your FTP server, and set up an entry in your Hosts file.

The Hosts file is a text file which resides in one of the following locations on your computer:

Windows Vista - C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS\ETC
Windows XP - C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS\ETC
Windows 2K - C:\WINNT\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS\ETC
Win 98/ME - C:\WINDOWS
It will have no extension, and can be opened using notepad.

Once you have located the file, scroll down to the bottom and add the following:

xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx ftp.reproshop.com

Replace the x’s in the sample with the internal IP address for your FTP server.
Now each time that you try to browse for ftp.reproshop.com , your computer will first check the hosts file to see if you have a special address for it, and if it finds one, it will use it, instead of the address which are given out by the DNS server.

Once you understand how the Hosts file works, you may wish to take more advantage of it by adding shortcuts to frequently visited sites, or by pointing ad-based web sites to your localhost to speed up your internet browsing.

Samples:
72.10.44.177 peir - This will allow you to just enter peir in your browser to get to the peir web site!
127.0.0.1 ad.doubleclick.net - will block all files supplied by that Double Click Server to the web page you are viewing, which will make many pages load much faster!

Several organizations publish Hosts files that will greatly eliminate annoying ads and other time wasting promotions, and update them frequently. If you would like to learn more, please visit one of the following sites:

http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm

http://someonewhocares.org/hosts/

http://hostsfile.mine.nu/