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Introducing PANGAEA Internet’s New Website (Sept 2013)

In This Issue
PANGAEA’s New Website
New Grant Program
New Board Member
Testimonial Drawing
New Advertising Campaign

Quick Links

Coming Soon
Don’t miss our 10th Anniversary Celebration.  PANGAEA Internet will host the Carolina Foothills Chamber of Commerce’s “Business After Hours” on November 12 at 5:30pm.  Look for additional details in future news.

Testimonial Winner
Our third quarter testimonial winner was
Carole Finger of
Heritage Healthcare.  Read Carole’s testimonial on the Testimonial Page of our new website.

Customer Referral Program
PANGAEA Internet is available to all commercial customers that are near our fiber route.  (See our Network Map.)  If a referral from a current PANGAEA customer results in a signed service agreement, we will credit your PANGAEA invoice $200!!!  Click this link to fill out the form.

Board Officers
Jim Edwards (President)
Joe Crowder (Secretary)
Harry Grymes (Treasurer)
Board Directors
Chris Braund
Jeff Byrd
Keven McCammon
Rhonda Owens
Marche Pittman
Russ Pitts
Staff
Ron Walters, Executive Director
Stu Davidson, Operations Director
Carolyn Whitehead, Office Administrator
Contract Support
Jody Gill, CPA, Accounting & Reporting
Sean O’Connell, Network Technician

PANGAEA Internet Announces New Website
We are excited to announce the release of our brand new website.  Take a few minutes to explore the new site here, www.pangaea.us.  We welcome your feedback.
 
New on the PANGAEA website:
  • Home page where you can
  • Read about PANGAEA Internet’s history, community impact and other company information on the Company Page
  • See the News pages for our newsletters, photos and new customers.

New Grant Program
 
PANGAEA Internet has launched a new grant program to assist potential customers with installation costs for PANGAEA’s “Speed of Light” fiber optic internet service.
Read more about this new program and submit an application on the Grant Application page of our new website.

PANGAEA’s New Board Member
   
The Board of Directors and Staff at PANGAEA Internet welcome new board member, Chris Braund.  Chris is currently Lake Lure’s Town Manager.
Read more about our board members on the Directors, Management & Staff page of our new website.

Testimonial Drawing – $200 Invoice Credit
 
When our customer’s submit a testimonial, they have a chance to win an invoice credit.  PANGAEA recently increased    the credit from $100 to $200.
If you haven’t already submitted a customer testimonial, please take a couple of minutes and give us your feedback.  Just click this link and provide a couple of sentences regarding how PANGAEA Internet has impacted your organization.  The drawing is conducted once each quarter.

New Advertising CampaignBusiness Card Ad 2013
Thanks to our loyal customers, we recently created an advertising campaign to promote our service in Polk and Rutherford counties.  Be on the look-out for our new ads.
PANGAEA Internet | staff@e-polk.org | https://pangaea.us 75 S. Trade Street, Suite C
Post Office Box 340 Tryon,  NC  28782
(828) 859-3072
This email was sent to ronw@e-polk.org by carolyn@e-polk.org |
PANGAEA Internet | Post Office Box 340 | Tryon | NC | 28782

 

May 2013 News from PANGAEA

In This Issue

New Customers

New Office

10th Anniversary

Community Impact

Broadband Communities

Network Mapping

Rutherford Business Expo

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Quick Links
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Did You Know?
The capacity of a fiber is measured in the number of bits sent per second. Megabit (a million bits) defined the capacity of early fiber-optic cables. Next came gigabit (a billion), and now comes terabit (a trillion). The latest transatlantic cable is rated at 2.4 terabits. In one second, that cable can transmit a hundred hours of digital video or 30 million phone calls across the Atlantic.

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PANGAEA’S QUARTERLY TESTIMONIAL PROGRAM

 
If you haven’t already submitted a customer testimonial, please take a couple of minutes and give us your feedback.  Just click this link and provide a couple of sentences regarding how PANGAEA Internet has impacted your organization.  Every quarter, all customers who have submitted testimonials will be entered into a drawing to receive a $100 invoice credit!
Our second quarter winner! Bryan King, President Lakeside Mills, Inc.________________

Customer Referral Program
PANGAEA Internet is available to all commercial customers that are near our fiber route.  (See our Network Map.)  If a referral from a current PANGAEA customer results in a signed service agreement, we will credit your PANGAEA invoice $200!!!  Click this link  to fill out the form.

________________

Board Officers

Jim Edwards (President) Joe Crowder (Secretary)

Harry Grymes (Treasurer)

Board Directors

Kate Barkschat

Chris Braund

Jeff Byrd

Keven McCammon

Rhonda Owens

Marche Pittman

Russ Pitts

Staff

Ron Walters, Executive Director

Stu Davidson, Operations Director

Carolyn Whitehead, Office Administrator

Contract Support

Jody Gill, Accounting & Reporting

Sean O’Connell, Network Technician

   
New CustomersPANGAEA Internet is pleased to welcome our newest customers.  These businesses are now experiencing the speed and reliability of our “speed of light” fiber optic internet service:

    • Coldwell Banker, Rutherfordton
    • Brasfield &Gorrie, Columbus
    • Forest Edwards Insurance, Forest City
    • Charles Watkins Auto, Forest City
    • WNC Edutech, Columbus

 

New Office – Ribbon Cuttingribbon cutting

 

We’ve moved!  Earlier in May, PANGAEA Internet relocated to a location that provides our staff with much needed office and meeting space.  Now that the dust has settled, we invite you to attend our ribbon cutting ceremony and take a tour of our new offices.

 

The ribbon cutting ceremony will New Office 3be held on Tuesday, June 4, at 12 noon. Light refreshments will be available, along with a sampling of our super-fast fiber optic internet service.

 

You’ll find our new office at 75 S. Trade Street in Tryon.

 

 

 

10th Anniversary Celebration!

 

Coming soon  . . . don’t miss our 10th Anniversary Celebration.  PANGAEA Internet will host the Carolina Foothills Chamber of Commerce’s “Business After Hours” this November .  We’ll have more details in an upcoming newsletter.

PANGAEA’s Community Impact

 

Our super-fast fiber optic internet service allows local businesses to compete on a worldwide scale. Here’s what Bryan King of Lakeside Mills has to say:

As a small business competing in a Global economy, we have found PANGAEA to be a true asset for our company. The ability to communicate with our trading partners at the speed of light has truly enhanced our competitiveness and efficiencies. We believe PANGAEA to be an asset to small businesses in our county.

 

Bryan King, President

Lakeside Mills, Inc.

 

Broadband Communities 2013 Broadband Communities (f.k.a., Broadband Properties) is the largest broadband industry association in the United States. In 2004, they awarded PANGAEA Internet their “Community Fiber Network of the Year Award.” Pretty amazing considering PANGAEA was only a year old and had less than seven miles of fiber between Tryon and Columbus, NC.Today, we are closing in on our 10th anniversary, we have 180 miles of fiber in Polk and Rutherford counties, and we serve nearly 100 customers. Our Executive Director, Ron Walters, spoke at the 2013 Broadband Communities conference in Dallas to provide an update on the impact we have had in our community.

See his presentation at BBC 2013 Presentation.

Network Mapping Underway!PANGAEA Internet is now using CrescentLink mapping software from Palmetto Engineering and Consulting of Fort Mill, SC. This advanced software will allow PANGAEA to map our entire fiber optic network.The new map will incorporate all Stu Mapping - May 2013applicable data elements such as the number of fiber strands, splice point locations, pole attachment locations, and fiber assignments and distances. Operations Director Stu Davidson (at right) takes a breather from the task of converting data for use with the new software, which will be completed this summer.

Rutherford Business Showcase

 

Sean O’Connell, Network Technician, demonstrates our fiber splicing equipment.
The Superior Business Internet Service in Polk and Rutherford Counties of Western North Carolina. Serving Tryon, Columbus, Mill Spring, Saluda, Lake Lure, Rutherfordton, Spindale, Forest City, Ellenboro, Bostic and Cliffside.

February 2013 News from PANGAEA

Logo

 In This Issue

-Community Impact

-New Employee

-What Customers Are Saying

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Quick Links
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Did You Know?

Fiber Optics Use Light

 There is no electrical current being passed through fiber optic cabling, only light. Because of this, there is no heat and no heat means no burning and no fire hazards.  During normal use, fiber optics are the safest option for data transmission.
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PANGAEA’S QUARTERLY TESTIMONIAL PROGRAM

 
If you haven’t already submitted a customer testimonial, please take a couple of minutes and give us your feedback.  Just click this link and provide a couple of sentences regarding how PANGAEA Internet has impacted your organization.  Every quarter, all customers who have submitted testimonials will be entered into a drawing to receive a $100 invoice credit!
Janet Sciacca, Exec Dir, Foothills CofC
Our first quarter winner!Janet Sciacca, Executive Director, Carolina Foothills Chamber of Commerce 

 

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Customer Referral Program
PANGAEA Internet is available to all commercial customers that are near our fiber route.  (See our Network Map.)  If a referral from a current PANGAEA customer results in a signed service agreement, we will credit your PANGAEA invoice  $200!!!  Click this link to fill out the form to submit your referral.
 
 
________________

Board Officers

Jim Edwards (President) Joe Crowder (Secretary)

Harry Grymes (Treasurer)

Board Directors

Kate Barkschat

Jeff Byrd

Keven McCammon

Rhonda Owens

Marche Pittman

Russ Pitts

Staff

Ron Walters, Executive Director

Stu Davidson, Operations Director

Carolyn Whitehead, Office Administrator

   PANGAEA’s Community Impact  
In PANGAEA Internet’s recently completed Customer Survey, over 90 percent of the respondents rated PANGAEA Internet’s performance and value, as compared to other competitive options, at above average or excellent. One of our satisfied clients is St. Luke’s Hospital in Columbus, a 25-bed critical access care center with a 10-bed psychiatric care unit, which is staffed by approximately 320 employees.

 

 

David Pearson serves as the hospital’s Information Technology Director. “We have a good partnership with PANGAEA,” Pearson says. “I like to think of them as a community partner that helps us provide quality patient care, which in the end, is our reason for being here.

 

“No matter how big or small my situation is that I need a solution for, they always work with me and St Lukes Signfind a way to help us,” he says. “We have a number of local facilities which need to connect with us. Some are just up the street, while others are across town. PANGAEA always works with us to establish a point-to-point fiber-optic connection between their offices and the hospital.”

 

Making these connections allows clinical data to be transmitted quickly between locations. Before PANGAEA, that process was problematic. “For example, physicians need to be able to view X-rays, MRI’s, and other images as they are produced by the Radiology department,” Pearson says. “When I first arrived at St. Luke’s, we had slow virtual private network connections. Whenever we had a storm or any sort of power disruption, they would go down, which required us to go out and reset them to get them working again. With PANGAEA’s fiber-optic connection, we don’t have to do that.”

 

The use of modern electronic medical records systems makes it possible for medical professionals to obtain patient data whenever they may need it, but a secure, fast connection is needed for the systems to work properly. “Whether our clinicians are on campus at one of our fiber-connected buildings, at their offices, or even in their homes, they need access to medical records at any time,” Pearson says. “Whether a physician is employed by the hospital, or by an affiliated medical practice, PANGAEA provides a secure connection which allows them to access records quickly from wherever they may happen to be.  That’s a capability we didn’t have before we began working with PANGAEA.”

 

PANGAEA Internet has helped St. Luke’s through every step of upgrading their facilities to a modern, high-speed fiber-optic network. “They helped us set up our fiber network and connect five of our buildings through it,” according to Pearson. “Without their help, it would have been a much more difficult project. They had all of the contacts and vendor relationships necessary to complete the work, and they basically ran the project for me. They knew what needed to be done, and I didn’t have to manage the details. It was a load off my mind. They’re a great community partner. We’ve been extremely pleased with PANGAEA’s Internet service at our facility.”
To learn more about how PANGAEA Internet can help your business, call 828-859-3072.

 

PANGAEA’S New Employee

 

Thanks to our customers, PANGAEA Internet continues to grow. To help us manage our growth and continue providing you with the highest-quality internetCarolyn Feb 2013 Nwsltr service, Carolyn Whitehead has joined PANGAEA Internet as our Office Administrator.  She has extensive administrative experience, having managed the office of the Lake Region Lakes Management District in Winter Haven, FL for 23 years.

 

Carolyn and her husband, Richard, moved to the area last June in order to be closer to their daughter and grandson in Rutherfordton. They recently purchased a home in Landrum, and are delighted to be in the Carolinas. Carolyn feels that her experience working in a governmental setting will be very useful in PANGAEA Internet’s non-profit environment, particularly when it comes to meeting the needs of public-sector clients.

 

“I’ll be providing administrative support to our staff and communicating with our customers and I’ll be the first point of contact for anyone who calls our office,” Carolyn says. Among her day-to-day duties will be updating and improving company documentation processes, managing accounts receivable, completing the annual customer satisfaction survey, developing reporting tools to track quality of service, and coordinating external communications, such as the website, Facebook page, and newsletters.

 

Carolyn particularly enjoys the professionalism of the PANGAEA Internet team. “I’m looking forward to being able to help grow our company,” she says.

 

 

What Customers Are Saying
“Polk County Schools has been using PANGAEA as an integral part of our network for almost 10 years.  PANGAEA gives us fast, reliable connections between our schools and our administrative office.  Last month, we lost internet access because of damage to the state’s data network.  Unfortunately the disruption happened on a day when we had almost 150 students scheduled to do state mandated End of Course testing.  Without internet access, we could not administer the test.  PANGAEA came to our rescue with a backup connection to the internet that allowed us to function while the state’s network was being repaired.  Although PANGAEA has always provided us with high quality service at a reasonable price, on this day their service could best be described as Priceless!”-Dave Scherping, Technology Director, Polk County Schools
The Superior Business Internet Service in Polk and Rutherford Counties of Western North Carolina. Serving Tryon, Columbus, Mill Spring, Saluda, Lake Lure, Rutherfordton, Spindale, Forest City, Ellenboro, Bostic and Cliffside.