As seen at INNUA
NATD in the news
Avaya
Mitel
Nortel
Partners
Security
Software
Tools

As seen at INNUA

Blink if you NATD
The NATD had a very strong presence this year at the INNUA (Nortel User’s) Global Connect, with over twenty member companies exhibiting. Julie Perry of PB Exchange and Melody McKay of TELPRO INC (and Executive Board Secretary of the NATD) made sure that all member companies were furnished with blinking buttons that read: “Got Ethics?” Telecom Reseller’s Doug Green designed small table top posters for each NATD exhibitor that provided some background on the NATD. A printed version of the NATD WORLD was distributed to end users and also exhibiting vendors and other companies. A registration bag insert invited attendees to visit and find out more information about the NATD. It was the most unified effort made to date to pull together a branding identity for the NATD at the major Nortel user event. Intensive planning by the Nortel committee showed results, as more users are able to identify what the NATD stands for. The NATD today has a presence at many major dealer and user events, including most major OEM events as well as general enterprise shows such as VoiceCon. NATD literature is also mailed to interested attendees after these events. The NATD had a presence at CeBIT this year in Europe under the IATD label.


Nortel UC 1-2-3
Nortel has unveiled a global program providing solutions that simplify the transition to Unified Communications. UC 1-2-3 streamlines the process of selecting, purchasing and deploying a UC solution. It is combined with the latest release of their flagship VoIP system, Communication Server 1000, networking data products and select multimedia applications. It is also designed to help businesses cope with the challenges of communications over a network where people, machines and multiple devices all meet. Ned Payne, Vice President of North American Enterprise Market, says that everything that can be connected to the network will be. Devices, whether person-to-person, machine-to-machine or application-to-application, mean networks will have to be built differently. Hyperconnectivity is not about putting routers on top of routers, switches on switches, or boxes on boxes. With their Microsoft and IBM relationships, voice portfolio and infrastructure, Nortel is ramping up what they can bring to market. According to him, “It’s going to fundamentally change how things have been in the past.”
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NATD in the news

D & S Communications, Inc. merges with Protech Communications, Inc.
D&S Communications, Inc. announced that it has completed a merger with Protech Communications, Inc. (PCI).  Jason Kubasak, CEO of D&S Communications, Inc., will take over as senior manager of both companies.  PCI will continue to serve all of its customers but the production of its telecommunication equipment repairs will be moved to the D&S Communications headquarters in Elgin, Ill.  Kubasak said that PCI would continue to operate under its own name and that the owners of PCI will remain involved in sales and marketing aspects of the business. PCI has operated a telecommunication equipment repair facility since 1985.  During this time, it served as a certified repair center for Avaya.  “We have known and competed with PCI for many years, and we are glad to join forces with PCI to produce high quality repairs for their many solid customers,” Kubasak said.  “We are aggressively looking to expand our repair business precisely at a time when most companies are downsizing this dimension of their business.  PCI is a perfect fit for our desire to grow our repair business.”
Visit www.dscomm.com.


Linksys achieves significant operating efficiencies with solution from Symphony Metreo and IBM
Symphony Metreo, Inc. announced that Linksys, a division of Cisco Systems, Inc., has successfully implemented FS&OP Manager to help synchronize and align demand and supply and drive increased operational efficiencies for the company. Since going into production in January of this year, the innovative FS&OP solution has helped to deliver significant performance improvements across the company including a 90% reduction in expedited shipping, a reduction in overall shipping costs, and a decrease in inventory alongside a significant reduction in stock-out events. In addition to the quantitative benefits, the system has also brought the organization together by allowing cross-functional teams to collaborate and make decisions on a single, global set of numbers for demand and production planning.  Linksys leveraged the strong relationship between Symphony Metreo, for the FS&OP solution, and IBM Global Business Services for their deep supply chain domain and implementation expertise. The relationship emphasizes the combination of people, process and technology working in concert to deliver the most value to Linksys.
Visit www.linksys.com or www.symphony-metreo.com.
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Avaya

Avaya to push VoIP, software as a privately held company
Two private equity firms plan to take Avaya private, spending $8.2 billion for a company with moderate growth. Silver Lake and TPG Capital said they'd pay $17.50 a share for Avaya, ending a week of takeover speculation. Rivals Nortel Networks and Cisco Systems reportedly also considered buying the company. The price is 28% above Avaya's closing price on May 28, just prior to media reports surfacing of a possible takeover. The deal is expected to close this fall. Jim Finn, an Avaya spokesman, says the agreement will help Avaya transform itself from a phone gear maker into a company that also focuses on software and services. Avaya has been led by Louis D'Ambrosio since July, when former Chief Executive Don Peterson stepped down. The company has made some acquisitions to push deeper into Internet telephony and software. While sales growth has been tepid, earnings have improved on cost cuts and more emphasis on higher-profit-margin products.
Visit www.avaya.com.
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Mitel

Mitel announces Hospitality specialistPARTNER designation
Leveraging over 30 years as a proven provider of hospitality-specific communications solutions, Mitel has created the Hospitality specialistPARTNER designation. A supplier of innovative unified communications solutions to many of North America's leading hotel companies, Mitel is now combining its leadership position in the hospitality market with the focus and experience of select Mitel Hospitality specialistPARTNERs. The Hospitality specialistPARTNER is also the next step in developing Mitel's newly introduced PARTNERprogram that enables channel partners to build mutually successful business opportunities in the rapidly growing IP communications solutions market. To gain membership in the program potential Hospitality specialistPARTNERs follow rigorous requirements and must demonstrate technical expertise, sales success and a commitment to deploying Mitel unified communications solutions. Members of this program have privileged access to the Mitel hospitality sales team and benefit from ongoing training, product development and marketing support that enable them to deliver hospitality solutions that meet the needs of each individual customer.
Visit www.mitel.com.
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Nortel

Occam Networks BLC 6000 named as compatible product
Occam Networks Inc. announced that Occam’s Broadband Loop Carrier (BLC) POTS and Combination POTS/ADSL2Plus blades have successfully completed compatibility laboratory testing with Nortel DMS-10 Packet Gateway Interface product.  Occam is a leading supplier of innovative Ethernet and IP-based loop carrier equipment to telecommunications companies. Compatible Occam blades in the compatibility laboratory tests included the BLC 6150, 6151, 6152, 6252, 6244 and 6246.  Nortel conducted tests as part of its Nortel Developer Program.  Through the program, Nortel tests third-party products that are complementary to Nortel’s enterprise and carrier VoIP and multimedia solutions for Nortel’s communications platforms. Interoperability testing with Nortel CS 1500 and CS 2000 communications servers is also underway.
Visit http://www.nortel.com/prd/dpp/partners/carrier_partners.html.

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Partners

Vyatta Partner Program
Vyatta, a leader in Linux-based networking, has announced its Vyatta Ready partner program, designed to create an ecosystem around the company’s open-source secure routing software solution. The program targets value-added resellers (VARs) and independent hardware and software vendors (IHVs and ISVs). For this broad set of channel partners, the program offers a low-cost, high-margin alternative to network equipment solutions from Cisco and other proprietary vendors. VARs can quickly and easily construct solutions to meet any market need using individual Vyatta Ready hardware and software components certified by other partners. “Developing our Vyatta Ready partner program is an important step in the rapid growth of our global partner ecosystem, which we believe will make our Linux-based networking solution a standard fixture in growing networks and data centers around the world,” said Keith Hartley, vice president of alliances. “We’ve designed the program to foster an open, flexible channel in keeping with our open-source roots, offering the maximum benefit for both our partners and their customers.”
Visit www.vyatta.com.
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Security

NetIQ drives evolution of SIEM
NetIQ announced the upcoming worldwide release of NetIQ Security Manager (SM) 6.0 with Change Guardian for Windows. With this release, NetIQ is delivering the industry’s first comprehensive security information and event management (SIEM) solution with robust user and access monitoring, real-time auditing of system changes and powerful threat detection for the Microsoft Windows platform. Traditional SIEM approaches have limited visibility of user activity and changes on host platforms. Their visibility is further limited when administrators disable cumbersome native Windows object-level logging. With the threat vectors changing to avoid traditional perimeter and network protection, traditional SIEM solutions are blind where they are needed most – at the host platform. NetIQ SM 6.0 with Change Guardian for Windows delivers integrated user monitoring and change auditing technology with full SIEM capabilities to overcome these challenges and fully protect the host platform where corporate data resides. By leveraging Microsoft’s file system filter drivers for server monitoring capabilities not provided by other SIEM vendors, security teams get an easy-to-read audit trail, real-time alerting of dangerous activities and a much smaller performance footprint than native Windows auditing.
Visit www.netiq.com.

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Software

Eastern Bag & Paper Group deploys Voxware’s open, 100% SOA-based voice-driven software
Voxware, Inc. announced that The Eastern Bag & Paper Group has deployed Voxware’s software and reached pre-deployment standards within 4-weeks. Voxware’s software will enable Eastern Bag workers to minimize errors and increase productivity. Eastern Bag has deployed Voxware’s software at its Connecticut facility on LXE HX1 wireless mobile computers. Voxware, Inc. provides open, standards-based software solutions for supply chain logistics that optimize the full spectrum of warehouse operations for greater accuracy, productivity and flexibility in supply chain execution.
Visit www.voxware.com.
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Tools

New website makes specifying air filters easier for design engineers
The new website for Universal Air Filter is easier for design engineers to navigate to help them save valuable time and money.  Seven of the most popular design applications (telecom, power generation, broadband/CATV communications, computer networking, defense electronics, medical equipment, HVAC) are featured on separate landing pages to find specific information faster and more efficiently.  Product page banners have been updated to provide clear pictures of various filter frame styles and options. Useful design tools such as 3D CAD models, a free prototype service and aftermarket filter information can now be quickly found on a series of easy-to-locate banners prominently displayed on the UAF home page.  Online order forms to request a quote and an easy-access sign-up form to receive a free online newsletter also are included on the new site.
Visit www.uaf.com.
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