Natick schools recognized by state for being cyber aware

October 26, 2021 by Admin Leave a Comment

Massachusetts has recognized 34 municipalities and public school districts, including Natick Public Schools, as being Cyber Aware Communities. The announcement was made at an online event hosted during National Cybersecurity Awareness Month by the Executive Office of Technology Services and Security (EOTSS).

Those recognized were the top performing participants in this year’s round of the Municipal Cybersecurity Awareness Grant Program.

Natick Public Schools outlines its data privacy & security efforts as well as the Technology Services Department’s mission.

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Learn about ground-source heat pumps for your Natick home or business

October 18, 2021 by Admin Leave a Comment

SPONSORED CONTENT: Natural gas prices are expected to rise significantly this winter, driven by increased global demand and U.S. shortages in supply, according to Eversource in an email to customers. The energy provider has filed proposed rates with the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities (DPU) that, if approved, would take effect Nov. 1. An average residential heating customer using 126 therms of gas per month during the winter would likely see a monthly bill increase of $24.64, depending on individual household energy use, the type of rate a customer is on, and weather conditions.

As an alternative to reliance on fossil fuels for heating and cooling needs, many home- and small business owners are moving toward installing ground-source heat pumps. Ground source heat pumps move heat in and out of the ground through pipes buried underground, ending the need to heat and cool with fossil fuels.

Learn more about ground-source heat pumps

Register to join the MetroWest Solar + Clean Heat Challenge team and Achieve Renewable Energy to learn about the basics of ground-source heat pumps, how these systems are installed, and about how you can get your property assessed for this technology at no-cost.

WHEN: Wednesday, October 20
TIME: 7pm-8pm
WEBINAR LINK: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_3WPvw9M1TZicrrw_HyTXGA

It takes far less energy to move heat than it does to create heat, which means ground source heat pumps are very efficient. Typically, a fossil fuel heating system is 80-90% efficient, wasting 10-20% of every dollar you spend on oil, gas, or propane. A ground-source heat pump can be 350-500% efficient, providing 3.5-5 units of heat for every unit of electricity you pay for.

Because the ground is more stable in temperature year-round than the outdoor air, ground source heat pumps are more efficient than air-source heat pumps and air conditioners at heating and cooling, making ground source heat pumps the most efficient heating and cooling technology available.

Microsoft swears its naming of Project Natick was random

June 9, 2021 by Bob Brown 1 Comment

Among the top Google search results for the word “natick” curiously are “Microsoft natick” and “Project Natick.”

They refer to an effort by Microsoft launched in 2015 called Project Natick focused on building underwater data centers to support cloud networking for coastal communities. The company is now in Phase 2 of the project, which entails installing a renewable energy-powered data center boasting more than 800 servers in the North Sea.

Microsoft's Project Natick — Microsoft’s Project Natick: Power washing a data center that sat on the sea floor off the Orkney Islands in Scotland (photo by Jonathan Banks/Microsoft)

The Project Network website features an FAQ that directly addresses the question of:

What does the name Natick mean?

Natick is a codename and carries no special meaning. It is a town in Massachusetts.

I know my way around tech code names, having been a longtime reporter and editor for International Data Group’s Network World , and I just wasn’t buying it. One of the project founders had to have lived here or had something special happen in Natick. A first date at the Mall, or something.

Not wanting to take Microsoft’s marketing site at its word, I wrote to Project Manager Ben Cutler, who I was so pleased responded to me directly and quickly. Though I was disappointed that indeed, there’s really no great significance to the Natick name for this project.

Cutler wrote: “It really is just a codename. For no particularly good reason other than randomness to avoid naming things in any way that ascribes meaning, at one time my team used names of cities in Massachusetts as codenames. Natick was one of those. We’ve also used names of national capitols, birds, minerals, and other randomly selected name categories.”

So there you have it.

As for the meaning of the name Natick itself, we’ve seen different explanations, but the one we have ingrained in our heads is that which we saw for years at the Golf on the Village Green: “Place of Hills.”

Meanwhile, be assured you can’t order yourself up some Microsoft Natick locally anymore. The Microsoft Store at Natick Mall was shuttered in 2020.

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