NATD in the news
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Post-PBX?
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NATD in the news

NATD/IATD Conference successful in Dublin          
Over sixty-five telecom dealers from around the world gathered in Dublin, Ireland in June for the Summer NATD/IATD Conference. The conference featured discussions on the latest policies from the major manufacturers, news on NATD activities in major telecom markets and several informative presentations. As the NATD/NTTN encourages companies to resell the telecom equipment they are replacing or retiring, the group is working on educating the telecom community that using the reseller market is a valid “green” option when compared to disposal. The secondary market keeps thousands of phones, switches and other parts in useful operation rather then becoming a disposal challenge.

Nigel Sergent, Publisher, BPL Business Media, made a presentation on the future of the telecom market and on how resellers might adopt themselves to changing conditions. Hugh Logan, a business mentor, made the keynote presentation on how to balance the need to keep costs under control with the need to provide excellent customer service. He spoke at length regarding how it can be the smallest or least-examined bits of a business that can damage a company’s credibility with its own customers.

These presentations are available to members at www.natd.com.


NATD Charities presents award
The NATD Charities Summer convention award of $5,000 was presented in Dublin on June 24. The award was accepted by NATD member Mr. Rick French, President of Infinity Telecom of Toronto.  Formal acceptance by the Toronto Area Chapter of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of Canada will be at the NATD Winter meeting in Miami.  NATD Charities is pleased to recognize the Toronto Chapter of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, and the presentation serves as a token of our appreciation for the work the society performs, benefiting our membership and the Toronto community.

The NATD Charities award has been presented at each general membership meeting for the last 5 years.  The award has only one stipulation:  the funds need to be expended by the non-profit charity selected, in the local community that has supported a NATD member/family in his time of need.


WalkerCom achieves the highest certification from Avaya
WalkerCom, Inc. is a multi-disciplined firm headquartered in Pearland, Texas, but with Continental US reach.  With their staff of Avaya Certified Experts, Specialists and Associates, WalkerCom can solve complex business challenges brought about by changing technology and business imperatives.  As a Certified Minority Business Enterprise, WalkerCom is a One-Stop-Shop for all Voice and Data technology needs. They offer VoIP Solutions for all industries, from small businesses to enterprise networks.  Founded in 1987, they celebrate 20 years of having an outstanding reputation as a leading, full-service telecommunications company.
Ph: 281-997-5700
Visit www.walkercom.com.


D & S Communications, Inc. launches “No Lose” Maintenance Program
D&S Communications, Inc. announced the launch of its “No Lose” Maintenance Program for business telecommunication equipment and service.  The program is designed to save fees for business customers over a traditional port-based maintenance contract. A traditional maintenance program works like an insurance policy.  Customers are charged a flat fee per port no matter what happens to the telephone system.  D&S Communications’ “No Lose” program does not charge the customer more than a traditional program, but D&S keeps a transactional accounting of each service visit and equipment replacement.  At the end of the year, if the total accounting exceeds the traditional port-based fee structure, there is no extra charge.  However, if the total is less than the port-based cost, D&S allows their customers to choose whether they wish to receive 80% of the difference as a credit toward next year or 50% of the savings as a cash refund.
Visit www.dscomm.com.

NATD Ethics Notice
Telex Telecom was removed from the NTTN due to a violation of the NATD Code of Ethics. NTTN members should be aware that any emails you receive from JOE PAGARELLI, [email protected] of Telex Telecom are NOT coming via the NTTN. NATD and NTTN members can find a list of Ethics Violators and Non Participants by going to www.natd.com (you must log on and click to member’s link).

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411

Verizon selects speech solutions from Nuance Communications
Nuance Communications, Inc. announced an agreement with Verizon to provide Nuance Voice Search for future Directory Assistance (DA) services.  As the market leader, with more caller-paid and advertising-supported DA installations than any other vendor, Nuance has optimized the performance of its industry-leading speech recognition and text-to-speech technologies for DA-specific applications. Nuance Voice Search gives wireline or wireless callers faster and easier access to the information they need, while simultaneously increasing call automation rates for carriers and service providers.
Visit www.nuance.com.
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Avaya

Regulators OK $8.2B purchase of Avaya
Federal antitrust regulators have approved the purchase of telephone systems maker Avaya Inc. for $8.2 billion by two private equity groups. The government has completed its review and approved the deal without any conditions, according to a notice issued by the Federal Trade Commission. The company said June 4 that it had agreed to be bought out by Silver Lake and TPG Capital, two private equity firms with significant technology holdings. The company said in announcing the deal that it expected the transaction to close in the fall of 2007.
Visit www.avaya.com.
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Citel

Citel announces Phonoscope to offer Portico TVA VoIP migration equipment
Citel announced it will supply its Portico Telephone VoIP Adapter (TVA) to Phonoscope Services, Inc. (Phonoscope) as part of Phonoscope’s Asterisk-based Hosted IP telephony service. Using Citel’s Portico TVA in a hosted environment enables enterprises to obtain the feature and cost-savings benefits of voice over IP while continuing to utilize their existing PBX telephones and wiring infrastructure. Phonoscope will use the Citel/Asterisk solution to accelerate business-grade IP telephony migration in the greater Houston metro area. The solution from Citel and Phonoscope delivers the features and functionality of VoIP without the disruption and expense associated with typical “rip and replace” VoIP migration solutions. With the Portico TVA, enterprises avoid network upgrades, new handsets, and retraining. PBX handsets connect over existing wiring directly to the Portico TVA, which connects to Phonoscope’s network over Ethernet via the SIP protocol. Portico TVA interoperates with more than 65 handset types including Avaya Definity, NEC DTERM, Nortel Meridian, Norstar, and Centrex-compatible P phones, Panasonic DBS, and Toshiba Strata DK.
Visit www.citel.com.
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Dealer news

Unified TelData expands San Francisco headquarters
UTDi announced expansion plans nationwide as well as a new Technology Center for client demonstrations and briefings. UTDi, which has boasted a distribution based testing facility, will now also offer an in-house briefing facility. Known for their ability to design, manage, execute and service their clients’ voice & data solutions, UTDi has now developed a closed loop process for supporting client requests. "First our Solution Architects meet with our clients to design the latest in converged solutions. Most of our clients today want to flatten and consolidate," explained CEO Lyhn Haller. "They are looking to bring their data networks together with their voice applications utilizing VoIP and SIP technology. In most cases the designs include wireless solutions, mobility workers, contact centers and unified messaging. We bring them into our technology center where they can see the latest developments in converged applications. Once the design is finalized, we assemble and test their solutions in our distribution based staging and testing facility."
Visit www.utdi.com.
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Post-PBX?

New FrontRange Voice release integrates software for a single ''install and call'' solution
FrontRange Solutions announced the availability of version 5.1 of FrontRange Voice, a complete communication solution for dynamic companies of all sizes. Among the federated solutions offered by FrontRange, FrontRange Voice 5.1 combines several technologies to create a single IP telephony solution that is developed entirely in software so customers just need a PC, a broadband voice provider and an Internet connection to begin calling. FrontRange IPCC 5.1 integrates with the company’s GoldMine, HEAT and ITSM to provide support for office phones and call centers without the complicated setup previously required, simplifying the process to install and call. With FrontRange Voice 5.1, customers get all the benefits of tight integration between the phone system, and CRM, IT Service Management and Help Desk applications, enabling advanced self service, data driven skills routing and CTI screen pops at an affordable price.
Visit www.frontrange.com.
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snom

snom announces partnership with BlueNote Networks
snom technology AG announced a strategic partnership with BlueNote Networks. After extensive certification procedures, snom phones are now officially interoperable with BlueNote’s SessionSuite software solutions. BlueNote's SessionSuite product family integrates voice, video and other interactive communications with business applications through Web services to help improve productivity, collaboration and business agility. The product family comprises rich SIP-based Internet telephony software, Web Service APIs and client software applications. It can be deployed standalone or alongside existing PBX systems to create innovative communications-enabled business applications accessible by distributed workers, partners and customers. All snom VoIP telephones are highly configurable and easy to manage through the keypad-cursor, dedicated function keys and menus, or Web browser and offer user-friendly features like full-programmable keys and downloadable ringtones.
Visit www.snom.com or www.bluenotenetworks.com.

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Unimax

Unimax announces 35 percent revenue growth
Unimax announced a 35 percent increase in revenues for the first half of fiscal year 2007 compared with results from the same period in 2006. This marks the highest level of revenues in the company’s history. The record-setting performance reflects the market’s validation of Unimax’s focus on a market-driven product and business strategy. Unimax is used by thousands of companies to simplify administration and integration across many brand-name telecommunications platforms, such as those provided by Avaya, Cisco and Nortel. Unimax’s 2nd Nature application framework provides secure, unified administration across multi-vendor platforms for voice mail list management; moves, adds and changes (MACs); password self-service; automated provisioning; transaction auditing; reporting; data synchronization; and other solutions.
Visit www.unimax.com.
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