Earlier this month, OpenDNS launched a new program — OpenDNS for Managed Service Providers. Today we’re chatting with Conor Quinlan, CEO of MePush, a Penn. based Managed Service Provider, about what Managed Service Providers do, horror stories from the field, and why OpenDNS Enterprise is such a fantastic solution for their clients.

Tell us a little bit about MePush?
MePush Inc is not Geek Squad, we are not a group of IT super geeks in a back room. We are a nimble team with a solid balance of IT skills and personality. Our customers love us because we can speak their language, we can break it down and make a business case and not just tell them they need something because it is fast, etc. Our business is built on long term relationships so we we build raving fans and not mere customers. We focus primarily on business, home office and residential computer repair and network services.

Can you explain what a managed service provider does?
A managed service provider is there to guide a client’s technologically, as it relates to their business. Our MSP clients not only get a managed network with all the proactive bells and whistles, but more importantly they get a partner that helps guide their business from a technology standpoint. We see ourselves as an in-house CTO.

What’s exciting about being able to offer OpenDNS Enterprise to your customers?
Simplicity. Simplicity. Simplicity. No hardware, no difficult setup. No custom configs. I can install it in five minutes and that includes the three minutes your DNS servers need to propogate my changes. We also love the potential for the virus-free network. We coach our clients to assume that anti-virus alone is a horrible solution. They need pre-network protection. Thus OpenDNS Enterprise.

Any horror stories of removing malware or viruses from customer workstations or networks?
Sure. But this blog is rated G. If it were R rated we could tell you in detail what we have to see on a daily basis when we are cleaning PCs. In our opinion Facebook and porn sites waste a lot of people’s money. But I guess it is good for business.

What tools prove indispensable to you and the rest of the MePush team when you are working?

• Hirens Boot CD
• Ccleaner
• Combofix, Malware Bytes etc
• Suprisingly MS Security Essentials
• Paragon Imaging Tools
• PacketTrap networking monitoring

Interested in answering five questions for the OpenDNS Blog? Let us know!

OpenDNS fans don’t just use us in the workplace — they set us up at home, too. Today we chat with Daniel Côté, who uses OpenDNS to protect his computer and iPad at home.

Tell us a little bit about yourself…
I’m a professor of social work at a university in Ontario. When away from the classroom and computer, I have a personal trainer who keeps me fit. I like tech toys, so I use an iPad to track my fitness progress in a spreadsheet.

Where are you using OpenDNS? At home or in an office?
I use OpenDNS at home for the moment, for both business and personal reasons. I do a lot of research in academic databases and journals online, so connecting to the internet in a fail-safe and efficient way is vital to my work. At home, my router has been redirected to OpenDNS so my iPad also connects to it for DNS services.

2010 is going by so quickly. What’s the best thing that’s happened to you this year?
Hard to say in terms of events. Most fun purchase was a 27 inch iMac that is awesome in terms of performance and usability. Being able to work on full-size side-by-side documents in large format on screen really speeds up my efficiency. Opening up the box this summer felt like Christmas all over again.

If you were stranded on a desert island with only one tech toy, what would you keep?
That’s easy. With no phone service, my iPhone wouldn’t be helpful on a deserted island. I would say the iPad would be great to have. Working to the next level in Angry Birds and in Cut the Rope definitely would help pass the time. Now if only there were some sort of solar panel built into the iPad screen to recharge the unit, I could use it for years while stranded there, right?

What’s the one gift you’d most like to get this holiday season?
Aside from health and well-being for my family and friends, I’d like to have an iPad kind of gizmo built into my vehicle as the main instrument panel.

Interested in answering five questions for the OpenDNS Blog? Let us know!

OpenDNS users are found all over the globe. In today’s Five Questions post, Francisco Aparecido da Silva tells us about the tech scene in Brazil and why he loves using OpenDNS with his students.

Tell us a little bit about yourself.
I’m a Linux SysAdmin at Julio Stampa Distribuidora Ltda., and a teacher at Faculdades Santa Cruz, both in Curitiba, Brazil. I am married to Fabiana Rocio Fabrin and we have two children, Gustavo (ten years old) and Julia (two years old). I love padling, my favorite sport, and walking on the weekend.

What’s the technology community like in Brazil?
In Brazil, we don’t have community focused on DNS technologies but I ‘m involved with SysAdmin communities and Debian GNU/Linux communities. When it comes to DNS technology, OpenDNS is the best one to me.

How did you hear about OpenDNS?
I’ve used OpenDNS since December 2007. A long time ago, I had managed servers with DNS, like BIND, but I was looking for a new way to improve security on the networks I manage … and the security of my students. I’m very happy to know about OpenDNS.

You actually teach students about using OpenDNS as well, right?
Yes. In Faculdades Santa Cruz, I teach about network security. OpenDNS is a very good way to improve security in business, student and, of course, home networks. To students, I show them how to use OpenDNS on every type of network.

If you weren’t involved in technology, what would you do?
Actually I’m involved in technology all the time, with commercial automation, networks security … and I contribute to congresses about free software. Here, in Brazil, we have FISL, Latinoware and other events about this. I live technology, I love it and I wouldn’t really do another thing.

Interested in answering five questions for the OpenDNS Blog? Let us know!

Gary Rogers is the director of technology for a digital agency and has been a happy OpenDNS user for years. Today he explains how OpenDNS has proven indispensable for his company, starting from when they were connecting through a residential cable service, to today, with an enterprise grade optical carrier. Through it all, OpenDNS has been their go-to. More in today’s Five Questions post, below.

Tell us a little bit about yourself, and where you work:
My name is Gary Rogers. I am the director of technology at Rain in American Fork, Utah. I have a B.S. in Information Technology from Utah Valley University in Orem. My wife Karen and I share three wonderful children. In my spare time I enjoy being a father and flying single engine airplanes.

Here at Rain, we are a full-service digital agency that specializes in desktop web and mobile application development. Basically, we are a bunch of geeks that happen to get paid to mess with cool technology. For us, OpenDNS is certainly a daily part of that technology.

How did you hear about OpenDNS?
I heard about OpenDNS from a former co-worker about four years ago. At the time, our office Internet connection happened to use a residential grade cable service which presented abysmally slow DNS resolvers. After becoming aware of the service and giving it a try, making the switch to OpenDNS was an easy decision and we’ve never looked back.

What’s your favorite OpenDNS feature (i.e. faster Internet, Web content filtering, etc) and why?
We whole heartedly love the faster Internet! Recently we upgraded our office to an enterprise grade optical carrier. One would think a fast pipe such as this would make carrier DNS service that much faster. It turns out that OpenDNS continues to resolve up to 40% faster than the carrier’s own servers. We are in love with the level of quality and performance that OpenDNS continues to provide.

On to the sillier questions… It’s getting to be the season where people start thinking about which gadgets and toys they want for the holidays. What gadget are you hoping to get this year?
I *really* want an iPad. For three applications: Netflix, Habor Master HD and ForeFlight Mobile (its a digital flight tool for general aviation pilots).

Pumpkin pie or Apple pie?
Pumpkin pie… because apple pie is just disgusting! Whenever I eat a slice of apple I am reminded of pastries that one might find at a popular fast food restaurant. Such pastries usually have been sitting under a heat lamp for several hours, and that makes me afraid that I might see colors such as #C4B078 later coming from my mouth.

Interested in answering five questions for the OpenDNS Blog? Let us know!

Bradley Chambers is a true OpenDNS enthusiast. He uses it at home, uses it at his office, and does a great job of helping to get the word out about OpenDNS on Twitter. Today talking about OpenDNS (and himself!) in a new place — as our interviewee for the OpenDNS Blog Five Questions series.

Tell us a little bit about yourself…
I’m the director of information technology at Brainerd Baptist School in Chattanooga, Tenn. I have a B.S. in management from Covenant College. I am married to Leah (three years) and we have a nine-week-old son named Sawyer. I love running (runkeeper.com), coffee (Keurig) and the Georgia Bulldogs.

Where have you set up OpenDNS? At home or elsewhere?
I have used OpenDNS at home for years and when I was in a position at work to be able to decide on OpenDNS, I did that as well. We also recommend FamilyShield to our parents as a drop-dead simple content filtering solution to cover their laptops, desktops and iPod touch/iPads. I also recommended it to a friend who deployed it at his organization.

What’s your favorite OpenDNS feature?
My favorite feature is the fact that I don’t have to buy a piece of hardware. We have a super fast fiber connection (Chattanooga is host to the fastest Internet in the USA with speeds available to a 1 Gb), so I try to limit the hardware we have onsite. We can run cloud-based applications that feel like they are stored locally. Deploying OpenDNS took all of around five minutes. We also love the academic fraud filter as well.

Now the fun questions: Are you dressing up for Halloween this year? And if not, what was your best ever Halloween costume?
My best costume ever was a combination of UPS boxes. I borrowed it from a friend who works for UPS.

If you had to pick one website over another… Twitter or Facebook?
Twitter. I love Facebook, but I have developed new friendships over Twitter. Facebook feels like a way to maintain the old ones where as Twitter feels like a way to meet new people for friendship/business opportunities. We actually don’t block either of them at my office. Our people spend a ton of time outside of work developing lesson plans and grading papers … so if they want to take five minutes and check Facebook, then who am I to say they can’t? It’s also becoming a communication medium to announce snow days, etc.

Interested in answering five questions for the OpenDNS Blog? Let us know!

We frequently hear from people who are excited because OpenDNS has increased their Internet speed. James Trippe is something of an extreme case. He recently reached out to us and told us about how websites were taking a minute to load on his machine when relying on his ISP for DNS. Once he set up OpenDNS, that dropped down to less than a second per page. Here, he tells us a little bit about why getting speedy Internet in his world can be quite the challenge.

Tell me a little bit about where you live?
I live in north Georgia in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains. The population here is less than 600 within the city proper, so I am in a quite remote area.

Does that affect your connectivity at all?
Yes, absolutely. There is only one ISP here, and they call the connectivity regarding my service their “best-effort.” In other words, it’s not guaranteed to work since I am so far out. Cell phone signals are also scant at best, negating the use of a USB modem via my cell phone company.

How did you find out about OpenDNS?
I was searching an Apple/Mac forum for ways to improve inordinately SLOW internet connectivity. Several members posted how well OpenDNS had worked for them.

While your Internet may lag from time to time (pre OpenDNS, of course) what’s the best part about living in a remote area?
A much lower population density: No traffic (anytime!), cleaner air and water, less noise, and beautiful land untouched by human hands.

And what do you most wish you could find at your local store that isn’t available?
I do a lot of gourmet cooking, and sometimes I am unable to find relatively obscure or exotic ingredients. Also FRESH seafood.

Interested in answering five questions for the OpenDNS Blog? Let us know!

When Internet and college students mix, there’s bound to be some less than savory websites being accessed. Such is the story of Alexander Brown, an IT support engineer at Boland College in South Africa. He was at his wit’s end until he discovered OpenDNS…

Tell us a little bit about Boland College?
Boland College is a Further Education and Training college in Worcester, South Africa. The college helps students who do not qualify for university to get a further education after completing high school. We have a wide range of subjects ranging from Farming Management to Information Technology. The Boland College group is made up out of six campuses all over the Western Cape Province.

How did Boland College start using OpenDNS?
About two years ago we received funding from our Department of Education to improve our campus network. We installed fiber optic lines and now have a 410-PC-strong network. This also meant that each and every class had access to the Internet. This was fantastic in the begining, but soon the reality of students on the internet became apparent.

I had to sit for hours and trawl through my proxy logs to find and see which porn sites and [filesharing] sites were being accessed by the students. I was slowly losing the battle. Having to manually create blacklists to block these sites was a major headache. In the end I just got fed up with it. Then I read an article in a local PC magazine. One of the guys explained an easy way to filter and manage your Internet use with out any fuss. They were explaining how OpenDNS worked.

And so…
The next day I went to your website and had a quick browse. It could not believe my eyes! Here was the solution to my biggest problem. I created an account and started testing to see what was filtered. Amazingly everything I tried I could not get pass the block page. What I love about this is I can manage the other campuses’ internet without even having to drive there. Fantastic!

The World Cup was recently held in South Africa… are you a big soccer fan?
It was an unbelievable month of intense suspense as the big guns in soccer played against each other. The feeling in South Africa at that time was amazing, people were talking soccer everywhere and bragging about their best teams and how far they will go. Some people were driving with little flags on their cars to show their support for their teams. Sadly South Africa didn’t get very far. So I supported the Netherlands all the way ’til the finals. It was so much fun!!!

What is the one tech gadget you can’t live without?
Gadget-wise, I am one of those guys that goes “Whoop” to everything with lots of buttons and lights. At this moment my Samsung touch screen phone is the gadget at the top of the list. With this I can do just about everything except for opening my beer.

Interested in answering five questions for the OpenDNS Blog? Let us know!

He rescues kittens in trees and people from car accidents. He’s a security official by day, and volunteer firefighter by night (and sometimes in the day, too). Meet Keith Young, EMT and volunteer firefighter for the Myersville Volunteer Fire Company. He’s the subject of this week’s “Five Questions” installment.

Why did the Myersville Volunteer Fire Company decide to use OpenDNS?
I wanted to reduce legal liability for having a wide-open Internet pipe in the firehouse by restricting adult-related traffic. We operate on some funding from the county along with donations from citizens, so we had to find a very inexpensive solution for web filtering.

Did you have a Web content filtering solution in place prior to OpenDNS?
No. We just couldn’t afford other solutions. Additionally, since the IT infrastructure at the station is managed by volunteers, we did not want complex hardware or software that would need to be administered. Therefore, we had to find a solution that was “in the cloud”.

How did you get involved in volunteer firefighting? Do you have a different day job?
About a year and a half ago, I was involved in a project with my day job (security official for the government) to modernize ambulance operations. As part of that job — and since I had no prior firefighting/EMS experience — I spent a week riding in an ambulance to understand how EMTs/Paramedics perform their duties. After that week, I was hooked so I signed up for the next available state training. One year later, I was a certified volunteer EMT for my home town of Myersville.

What’s the typical call that comes in to the VFC?
Actually, there is no such thing as a typical call. In a single day, we could have a cardiac arrest, a person on the highway who had trouble breathing, a major car accident, and someone who got sick from new medication. The next day, the only call could be for the firefighters to put out a car fire.

Mac or PC?
Whatever fits the need… My wife is a graphic designer, so we have PCs and a Mac at home. At the station, we have PCs and some Chromium OS installed, but the firefighters/EMTs bring in everything from PC laptops to handhelds/phones to tablet PCs. This is yet another reason why clientless OpenDNS works for us…

Interested in answering five questions for the OpenDNS Blog? Let us know!