December 30, 2010
SCS Commodities, the largest independent floor and OTC energy broker on the NY Mercantile Exchange, has trusted AMRCON to manage its IT support since 2008. So, when executives at SCS decided to move to a larger space, they called upon AMRCON’s expertise to manage the build-out process of its IT infrastructure and data center solutions.
“There are so many issues that must be thoroughly examined when moving any business from one location to another,” said Dee Rudko, CEO of AMRCON. “But, when you’re talking about moving the highly technical and sensitive aspects of a trading floor with no disruption in business, it is extremely complex.” SCS is moving from a 6,000 square foot space to a 19,000 square foot space with 103 trading seats to accommodate the company’s current 65 traders and allow for future growth.
Luckily for SCS, Rudko and his partners at the Schneider Electric and American Power Conversion (APC) have handled the project management for many build-outs, with particular experience working with financial companies. Preliminary planning for the SCS build-out began in November of 2009, and the first phase of the build-out just started mid-October.
To coordinate all the electrical and teledata needs for the new location, AMRCON called in Schneider Electric, the world leader in energy management. Schneider Electric is well-known for working for high-end security companies like those in the financial, educational, and healthcare industries. Joe Metcalfe at Schneider is managing the first phase of the build-out.
“We’ve just begun the demolition work on the floor,” said Metcalfe. “We are pulling old wiring and beginning to set-up the electrical and teledata needs for all of the trading desks on the floor. This process should take about six weeks, and then once the floors and walls get put into place, the project gets handed over to APC.”
APC, a subsidiary of Schneider Electric, is the industry leader in developing and building the physical infrastructure to support critical data needs. On the SCS project, Andrew Conte of APC, is managing the data center design for the new trading floor.
“Once the electrical and teledata are ready, and the walls and floors are built, then we will come in and build the data center,” said Conte. To support such a large trading floor, the data center itself will be quite big, requiring 800 square feet of space alone. And, it will feature the latest in green technology to reduce energy waste and save money.
In terms of the green initiatives, the SCS data center will feature UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply) technology developed by APC that will create 96% efficiency on a 36% load, compared to older technology that can only create 75% efficiency on a 36% load. “So, SCS will realize huge energy savings on their power consumption,” said Conte. “But, they’ll also be saving on the cooling side because we will install row and rack-based closed couple cooling.”
Row and rack-based closed couple cooling, invented by APC, enables a data center to receive the proper cooling it needs by cooling row by row rather than cooling an entire room. “Energy is wasted when a room is over-cooled or under-cooled,” said Conte. “With our unique cooling system, we will be dedicating the cooling to exactly where it is needed, thereby saving energy and reducing energy costs. It is also scalable, which means that in the future if SCS finds it needs more capacity, we can always add it. We call it, ‘pay as you grow’ technology,” said Conte.
“We anticipate a seamless move with absolutely zero downtime,” Rudko said. The SCS build-out will continue through the rest of the year, with a projected move date of February, 2011.
November 29, 2010
Busy month, end of year rounding the corner and projects getting pushed to close before the end of the year have simply left me in a time deficit. My beautiful wife Sunny and I still managed to spend some time together. We were very grateful to be invited to the The Silver Hill Hospital Gala held at Cipriani’s 42nd Street NYC, for a benefit dinner. It was attended by about 200 people to include some celebrities and many other supporters. The event was a huge success and benefited the lives of children suffering from mental and substance abuse disorders. Silver Hill Hospital in New Canaan Connecticut devotes an entire segment to such adolescents. Sunny and I have been active supporters for several years.
Yes, some fun and games went into my business trip to Florida for the IT Nation Conference. I already spoke about the business end. This picture to
the right is of my little guy Deeko and myself by the pool watching Santino go down the water slide at the Waldorf-Astoria in Orlando. He looks like he’s thinking “hmm, when do I get to do that”. I think Santino went down the slide at least 10 times. I feel like I’m getting pretty old! Not getting used to those crows feet next to my eyes. Will someone please comment and tell me if those go away?
Yes, a trip to Orlando would not be complete without a visit or two to Downtown Disney. Buzz lightyear and crew are well represented here. Even little Deeko almost jumped off a bench yelling “to infinity and beyond”, I was lucky to catch him and explain he shouldn’t try that again, lol. That wasn’t the last of it. This page makes it seem like I was on vacation but I really put in about four 12 hours days, really I did! Only a few days were spent on leisure time. I got bits and pieces while Sunny ran around entertaining these guys. Not sure how she has the energy, maybe that’s why we’re such a good fit, we’re both high energy.
I’m going to cut it here and hope everyone stays calm and relaxed with the holidays coming up. Talk to you next month. Dee Rudko, CEO
October 31, 2010
It seems like everything went into turbo mode this time of year. Not sure what it is, but I’ve hardly had time to sit at my desk. Halloween is always a little busy for the Rudko’s. Before the 31st I think we take part in at least 3 events where costumes are required. The biggest hit is our trip to Hershey PA for trick or treating. If you have children it’s a great little escape and it’s become more and more popular each year. Hershey does quite a bit around the park and they keep adding new things each year as it grows in popularity. They even have a section just for trick or treating. The guys love it.
We also had another big occasion in the family with the Christening of Douglas Thomas Hay
. Congratulations to the Hay family and please let us know what you’re feeding that little guy? I think he’s as big as Deeko already. It was nice to have the entire family together. It seems events like this are far and in between.
I am sorry we’re late this month with getting all of this out. Between traveling and all that we have going on at the office it’s been tough. Expect quite a few new announcements from AMRCON from now until the end of the year. Not to mention our new website will be completed in just a few more weeks. We’re very excited to have it completely overhauled once again. It seems I’m just never happy with technology for too long before I have to redo it all over again. This is a good thing for all friends of AMRCON. It means we’re providing a better experience for you. Thanks everyone for following us.
September 29, 2010
Some people say I’m a bit nuts for doing this but I’ve always wanted to learn how to fly! So starting in August I began training on the helicopter in the picture. Now I’ve flown small planes before so being up in the air in a small aircraft is nothing new. I will say a helicopter takes a bit more coordination and control. It’s been a lot of fun and hope to continue toward my license through the year when I have time of course. That’s usually the only part that gets in the way, my schedule. However, it’s a bit more time efficient then playing golf. It only takes a few hours of my day, so its a lot less time and you don’t need to coordinate with other people other than the instructor. So I can schedule a flying lesson much faster making it an efficient hobby. My hope is to be able to someday avoid the traffic going upstate to the house, or to CT to visit family. In the next couple of months I will test both routes to see how long it takes and learn the route. I’ve flown over CT quite a bit in the past and its pretty neat that before I could only circle my family property, this time I get to land in the yard!
We have a very happy family announcement to make this month. My little sister Motria was married to Robert E. Grasing II late this month. I think she’ll always be a little sister though. They are 
currently all over Europe and Facebooking their days which is pretty cool. The ceremony was absolutely perfect, as it should be for my little sister. I think both sets of parents were a part of quite an amazing union. I only had room for one picture, so here it is. I think this is the one that sums it up. Everyone is very happy for the new couple and wish them many years of happiness. Friends & Family who want to see more, please visit “Motria Grasing” FB page, where you will find 1.1M pictures.
So with September coming to a close, we have one more quarter to year end. This is always an exciting time of year, but none the less stressful as well. The holiday’s are coming though, and I always look forward to them. It seems during the year everyone is so busy with their own lives. Even my side of the Rudko family, now with 2 sons, have mini vacations, the Jersey Shore, upstate and all kinds of busy trips planned over the weekends. I generally work nonstop during the week, so no one really sees me. The holiday’s are the times that really bring the extended family together. It seems the cold usually slows everything else down just in time. I’m really looking forward to the upcoming months. Regardless of how fast and crazy this year went by, I think we’ve been really blessed. The holidays are a nice time to share that all around. This image kind of sums it up, walking along the boardwalk in Keyport on the water.
June 30, 2010
I usually have so much on my mind I just don’t know where to start. I know business has been very busy and balance between work and family has had its challenges. The nice thing about it is that AMRCON has been growing at a steady pace that allows for additional qualified employees to make AMRCON even better. So I’m going to try and leave the business end of the blog at that. We’re very blessed and doing very well. A Thanks to all of our loyal clients.
After all of the excitement of the past few months the family had the chance to get away for a spell to the family house upstate. Funny, while we were there we found some familiar characters in the photo 
to the right. Does anyone recognize these notorious gangsters? OK, so maybe not all of us are notorious gangsters but the 2 little ones are for sure! We try and do it all up there, and it was funny that the last time we had done one of these pictures we only had Santino, so we had to get an updated photo. The extended weekend was mostly spent in the Lake George area, Water Slide World, the family house on the Hudson River and some stops here and in-between. I can honestly say I only opened up my laptop twice, and I think once was just to look something up locally. Can someone tell me if learning how to relax just comes with age? I’ll tell ya it’s been getting easier, but it’s so stressful for the years you try and figure out how to unstress! Doesn’t that defeat the purpose? Regardless, I’d like to hear from anyone that can tell me if and when they noticed things just got less stressful: was it at a certain age, monetary goal success, moving, children, marriage, promotion? What was it, or maybe it hasn’t happened?
More trips to come. If any of you want to share your thoughts in the blog, please feel free. I’ve also started a mission on Twitter “DeeRudko” and you probably all know how to find me on Facebook “Dee Rudko”. A new fun little application is Foursquare. It’s an application that allows you to check into locations as you move through your day, it also links back to Twitter and Facebook. Check it out. I’ve been playing a bit of a game with a few of my friends to see who can score the most check in points. So far Cliff has us all beat, but I’m trying to catch up. Check it out and search for me. If you haven’t started in social media, you should. The business opportunities are endless. The personal aspects are fun. I found people I haven’t talk to since grade school. Funny thing is I started networking with them in business as well. Funny, some of us were fighting on the playground, now we’re passing business referrals. Who would have thought?
May 30, 2010
May really came and went. It seemed as though our move and build-out made time speed up for the most part. Looking forward to the beach months, although I will be less available this year with everything we have going on. However, I make it a priority to put work down for the weekend and we generally spend time at the pool club in Holmdel, NJ with the kids. They just love it. Really the spotlight of the month was my oldest son’s birthday. Santino turned 4 on the 29th, and those that were following our newsletter from the beginning will appreciate some of these photos, since I started the written letter just about 4 years ago. 
Picture to the left is my youngest Deeko, my niece Nicolette, and Santino the birthday boy. It was a great day at the bounce house. I had a few cigars and the day was a hit. I just can’t believe I have this 4 year old that reminds me so much of myself. I know I’m in for it since my mother’s wish will eventually come true. You know which one I’m talking about. It was that time when you were young and you did something to upset your mother beyond belief. She turned to you and said “you wait until you have kids, I hope their just like you”! Now does that ring a bell? I haven’t met anyone yet that’s told me the curse wore off just in time, so I figure I’m in for it. Comment below for advice or if you know just what I’m talking about.
We’ve gained quite a few followers since then and have come a long way. We truly owe all of our success to our clients. We now have loyal ODS Managed Services clients in their 5th year of service. A client retention better than 98% and referrals that come in telling me how their colleague spoke to them about AMRCON for an hour about our quality of support. We really do want each and every client to be 110% satisfied with our service, our quality and professionalism. I know this is my personal page, but this means alot to me, making it personal! My humble thank you to all that have joined us along the way.
May brought closure to some pretty stressful matters, with that always come new ones. Yes, you heard it, I too can have stress. Although I’ll never show it, lol. At some point in my life I realized the need for balance. Without it we suffer and so will everyone around us. When someone asks me what I think the key to my success is, I’ll tell them spiritual, emotional, and physical balance. Some people call it various things, but for me that’s what it boils down to. I found it all made sense when some of the most successful, fulfilled, and happy individuals I knew followed some form of this unwritten law. Years ago I adopted it and can never go back. I thought I’d toss this in because it’s really how I hold together through anything put in my way. That’s what was on my mind for May.
June is just going to be terrific. AMRCON has so much going on from our Partner program continuing to excel, our ODS Managed Services trademarking, the new office, some great case study work coming soon and so much more. Keep tuned in – Dee Rudko, CEO
May 27, 2010
As networking equipment and servers become more powerful, and costs begin to rise on their support contracts, the environment is usually the last item that is budgeted for. Today, small businesses utilize spare closets, medium businesses may have a dedicated equipment room, and larger corporations will have a custom built data room. As we safeguard our investments against file viruses, email spam, and internet hackers, we have seen in our experience, that the actual monitoring of the network room, is usually sub-par.
Although you don’t need to have an entire Cloud System in your office or a VMWare infrastructure running a server farm, most company’s will have an Active Directory Domain Controller, Email Server, and possible a dedicated File Server. While we pour resources and funds into the server management aspect to ensure we can work, and communicate, we sometimes don’t stop and realize the very basic health of the room:
(1) Multiple extension cords, surge strips, overloaded electrical outlets.
(2) Servers and Network Equipment dispense great amounts of heat that need an escape.
(3) Do we really know how much time is left on the batteries (if any at all).
Utilizing the best equipment, requires the best monitoring to ensure that your systems stay online without downtime. When installing any of the different models of APC Symetra units (Batteries, KV Power Modules, Environmental Modules), they each perform a different function and safeguard. The batteries allow the run-time to increase if you lose electrical connectivity in the building, the Power Modules increase the load capability of the unit, and the Environmental Modules monitor temperature and humidity in the room.
By accessing the web based interface of the APC/UPS Network Management Card that installed in the unit, you have a dashboard of the health of the environment at your fingertips. You can instantly see the Equipment Load, Battery Run-time, Temperature and a slew of other usual monitoring. The application allows you to setup multiple server monitoring, graceful shutdown thresholds, and the most important feature is EMAIL notification or SNMP alerting. If the device switches to battery, you are notified; if it gets too hot; you are notified. Data can be damaged if servers just power off. Equipment can be damaged if the AC unit fails or overheats.
As equipment is an investment, so should the proactive monitoring.
For a walk-through of our new data center, feel free to contact us at AMRCON, and we can schedule a meeting.
May 18, 2010
The new ODS “Virtual System Administrator” interface is almost ready for live launch. We have spent months preparing, building and testing the new function ability of this state of the art server. The entire environment is built on the proven technology of 64bit platform of Windows Server 2008, and utilizes the database scalability of Windows SQL Server 2008.
We decided to install on a HP DL380 server, Dual XEON processor, 10GB of Memory, and 2 RAID arrays, as this is a powerhouse of hardware, capable of handling some of the most system intensive programs.
The Graphical User Interface has been completely redesigned. The module tabs and function lists have been combined into a single expandable-collapsible explorer like navigation pane
Some of the new features include “Users, Scopes and Roles”, for added security and access for Master Administrators, Consultants and End Users. Computer groups have also been migrated into Organizations, Machine Groups and Departments.
The Info Center includes a new function called the INBOX. The inbox holds messages generated by other users or by the ODS System. Much like email, you can use it as a method of system notification or to communicate with other ODS users.
Your Complete Remote Access Tool
With a goal of minimal user interruption Live Connect gives you the tools to do anything and everything you can imagine with an agent, directly.
Complete Agent Data including procedure history
- Audit Information
- A robust drag and drop file manager for transferring files to and from the agent
- Command Prompt
- Remote Registry Editor like regedt32.exe
- Task Manager to see running processes and resource consumption
- Full Featured Event Viewer
- Ticketing interface to update active issues directly
- Chat for IM like conversations with the agent user
- Desktop Access for full interactive remote control of the agent
- Discovery is a tool to sweep the local network(s) of the agent and discover all network nodes
- Video Chat allows for fully interactive face to face video chatting with the agent user if their machine has a camera
April 15, 2010
Congratulations Robert Montfort winner of the AMRCON drawing for the iPod. The Matawan Aberdeen Chamber of Commerce expo last month was a terrific hit. AMRCON has been a proud member and has taken part for 3 years now. AMRCON has benefited from all of the excellent vendors in the MACOC. It’s a very professional group and anyone in the area should consider giving the MACOC a visit and join. For more information be sure to visit the www.macocnj.com web site. Hope to see you at the next event. Thank you Robert for participating in our drawing and I hope you’re putting the iPod to good use!
March 31, 2010
What a month! I’m feeling a bit wiped out from the move and I think my son Deeko has the right idea. It’s sounds good but not an option at this point. I have been working extended days in the hopes of taking advantage of some long weekends with the family this summer. Before I start fantasizing about the summer I’ll try and keep it in the now. March was a terrific month for AMRCON and the Rudko’s. As you know the move is well under way and going very well, you can read about that in the other posts. So I’ll keep it on the personal note side.
As we all gain momentum in our business year I sometimes find it difficult to break away and find some balance. My wife usually plans some weekend events with the kids but it’s sometimes still difficult to slow the mind down. So over the year I sought out some tools to help me find balance. I feel that I have the spiritual and emotional aspects under control, but after losing 30 pounds over the past year I felt I needed to get back into running. Some type of physical activity whether it be working out, running, or even walking was once a big part of my daily routine. In fact in high school I ran an average of 8-10 miles daily. I still hold a few records as well as under a 5 minute mile personal best. Thus I’ve been having issues with my knees. I guess you can’t have it all. I’m still pushing and running a few miles twice a week.
I started the process by going to the RoadRunner in Shrewsbury, NJ to get fitted for some sneakers and custom insoles, they were great. Being an engineer I can’t begin to tell you how impressed I was with the technology they had to properly fit my feet with the right running sneaker. I highly recommend them, check it out.
My balance seems to help me stop in the evening regardless of the amount of hours I put in, which right now is about 10-12 a day. I’m energized in the morning and rarely have slow 
afternoons. So I think there is something to be said about maintaining balance. The weekends are great when I’m with the kids and Sunny, it seems I can be there with more concentration. Not just physically being there and mentally elsewhere. These are my guys to the right as of March. Santino will be 4 in May and Deeko just turned 1 in December. Not sure where all the time goes. I wish everyone well in April, enjoy the nice weather finally. Again, everyone is welcome to come visit our new site anytime. Be sure to follow our grand opening event that we will be posting soon.
SCS Commodities, the largest independent floor and OTC energy broker on the NY Mercantile Exchange, has trusted AMRCON to manage its IT support since 2008. So, when executives at SCS decided to move to a larger space, they called upon AMRCON’s expertise to manage the build-out process of its IT infrastructure and data center solutions.
24x7 Monitoring and Self Healing
Vendor management and liaison services.
Helpdesk and Onsite Support.
Security, Back up and Disaster recovery.