Rock Solid Internet for a Rollercoaster Year
“It was a deer-in-the-headlights moment for businesses,” said Kent Kolstad, Livewire Founder and Technical Director. “When everything shut down due to the pandemic, in-person events were canceled and suddenly, companies had to figure out how to transition to virtual event formats. It was uncharted territory for them.
“For us, it was an opportunity to deliver peace of mind by putting our expertise to use. Our Livewire team had extensive, pre-pandemic experience in hybrid and virtual event production, so we were able to help our clients feel comfortable, knowing we were well-positioned to take care of their new event needs.”
Livewire was founded in 1999 and became a brick-and-mortar company in 2013.
“We are a progressive production company that is always embracing new ideas and staying on top of cutting-edge technologies,” Kolstad said. “We chose Midco as our internet service provider back in 2013 because they were the same. Midco’s infrastructure continues to be newer and more modern than other providers, and they’re always expanding. Pairing that with their pricing, it’s an unbeatable combination.”
Recovery Reinvented 2020 - LIVE@Livewire - Office of the Governor of North Dakota
Keeping Businesses Connected 24/7
Midco owns, operates, engineers and monitors every inch of its powerful core fiber network, which spans more than 10,500 miles across the Midwest. This infrastructure means customers enjoy reliable, 99.999% network availability and 24/7 connectivity – along with unlimited data and the flexibility to scale speeds as business needs change.
As it turns out, Livewire appreciated the ability to scale its internet service in 2020. Even with the increased demand for virtual event production services, throughout most of the year, the company ran on one of Midco’s high-speed broadband business internet plans.
“It performed exceptionally well, especially when you consider the type of content we were running on it!” Kolstad said.
“I’ve never had a call or communication that is anything other than Midco wanting to serve me well. For businesses looking for an internet service provider, there is no better choice than Midco.”
Hyper-Fast Dedicated Fiber Internet Plans
Toward the end of 2020, Livewire converted to Midco’s dedicated fiber internet service, offering smooth, symmetrical upload and download speeds and best-in-class connectivity.
“We had questions about our conversion to dedicated fiber, and the Midco team was so responsive. They’re always easy to work with and genuinely want to do what’s best for us. And the conversion process was easy!” Kolstad added. “For our company, it was the right move at the right time. Since then, we’ve streamed up to six live virtual events from our facility on one internet connection. We’ve never had any issues with our Midco internet service – broadband or fiber. It’s always rock-solid.”
That’s one of the reasons Livewire continues to be impressed by its internet partner.
“Midco is a large company that’s able to serve comparatively smaller-scale businesses, addressing the core needs of individual clients on a moment’s notice,” Kolstad said. “That has been one of the biggest benefits of working with Midco. They can accommodate our changing needs as we continue to grow.”
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Proactive Network Monitoring
From deep valleys to surprise peaks and everything in between, now more than ever, businesses of all sizes need reliable, robust internet solutions that offer stability – keeping them up and running 24/7.
Midco’s Network Operations Center plays an important role in service continuity. The team at the center monitors the network around the clock, anticipating issues and addressing them before they are a problem.
“We’ve never had an issue with our internet going down. Midco is on top of it,” said Kolstad.
As Livewire looks to the future – knowing zero downtime is mission critical – its team is discussing adding a secondary connection as a failover system.
“Reliability has never been a problem for us with Midco,” Kolstad said. “But when we’re ready to move ahead and add an additional path for network redundancy, Midco is equipped to make it happen for us.”
Reflecting on his longstanding partnership with Midco, Kolstad added, “I’ve never had a call or communication that is anything other than Midco wanting to serve me well. For businesses looking for an internet service provider, there is no better choice than Midco.”