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NATD in the news

Voda One launches multi-city training
Westcon Group, Inc. announced that its Voda One business practice is hosting a new road show series dedicated to helping its resellers find success in the small business market. The training is focused on Avaya Quick Edition, Avaya’s robust VoIP communications solution targeted at small businesses and enterprise branches. Westcon Group vendors supporting this solution and participating in the Coffee Clubs include Avaya, NETGEAR and Hitachi Cable. Voda One’s Coffee Clubs are informal educational sessions that provide customers with insight on the latest technologies that can positively impact their success. The sessions, which will be run from 9:00 and 11:30 am each morning, will be held at office Avaya locations in New Jersey, Texas, Massachusetts, California, Illinois and Colorado. Participants in Voda One’s ConvergencePoint program are encouraged to attend and engage in strategic discussion. NETGEAR and Hitachi Cable, both Avaya DevConnect partners and Westcon Group affinity partners, will be on hand to explain how their respective products can make an Avaya Quick Edition-based communication solution more compelling to a small business customer
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Upfront

Unisys and NEC sign unified communications agreement
Unisys Corporation and NEC Corporation have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) agreement to expand their collaboration to include enterprise unified communications solutions for customers. Those solutions are intended to help clients integrate multiple data and telecommunications streams to enhance the cost-efficiency of their information networks and improve business collaboration. As part of this agreement, Unisys will integrate NEC’s UNIVERGE IP architecture and solutions into the Unisys Communication and Collaboration (C&C) portfolio that is based on Microsoft Exchange Server 2007, Office Communication Server (OCS) and Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS). The collaboration between Unisys and NEC will be showcased at the Unisys Convergence Center of Excellence (CCOE) in Reston, Va. This CCOE also connects Unisys labs and demo centers in Eagan, Minn. and Redmond, Wash. Combining Microsoft technology, Unisys services and NEC solutions, the CCOE makes it possible for enterprise customers to see exactly how their telephony and IP networks will converge into a single unified network that can then be optimized for real-time enterprise collaboration using presence, mobility, conferencing and communication-enabled applications. At the center, customers will be able to experience seamless communications between various NEC endpoints and Microsoft desktop Office applications including Office Communicator 2007.
Visit www.nec.com or www.unisys.com.
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Cisco

Cisco achieves major milestones in enterprise telephony market
A lag in the North American market has pushed the worldwide enterprise telephony market down a notch in 2Q07 from 1Q07, dropping 1% to $2.3 billion, according to Infonetics Research's latest "Enterprise Telephony" report. The Asia Pacific market ground to a halt in 2006 but is rebounding nicely in 2007, with PBX line shipments up 11% in the first half of 2007 compared to the same period in 2006, the report shows. "Cisco achieved two major milestones in the second quarter: they took the lead in North American PBX line shipment market share, and they captured the top spot in the worldwide IP PBX system segment, pushing ahead of Nortel and Avaya in both segments for the first time," said Matthias Machowinski, directing analyst at Infonetics Research. Other highlights from the report:

• The overall enterprise telephony market is forecast to grow to $11.9 billion in 2010.

• Hybrid PBX systems, sales of which increased 3% in 2Q07, represent 66% of all PBX/KTS system line shipments worldwide; pure IP lines represent 18% and TDM lines are at an all-time low of 16% of total line shipments.

• The race for line shipment market share leadership in the fast growing IP PBX market is heated, with a 1-point spread in 2Q07 between the top 5 vendors: Cisco, Nortel, Avaya, Alcatel-Lucent, and Siemens.

• IP phone shipments increased 8% in 2Q07, led by far by Cisco; 3Com posted a strong quarter for IP phone sales.

• 44% of all PBX/KTS and IP PBX system sales come from the EMEA region (up 2 points), 32% from North America, 18% from Asia Pacific, and 6% from CALA.

Visit www.infonetics.com.
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Hosted

CommPartners Connect completes $11 million in equity financing
CommPartners Holding Corporation (dba “CommPartners Connect”) announced an equity investment in excess of $11 million led by PAR Capital Management, Inc. (“PAR Capital”), a Boston-based private investment company.  CommPartners Connect is a nationwide CLEC certified, facilities based network operator providing VoIP and TDM services to carriers as well as enhanced Hosted Applications to small and medium sized businesses through a network of strategic partners and resellers.  The investment from PAR Capital and other existing shareholders is expected to provide the capital for the company to expand its market opportunities and accelerate its growth.  CommPartners Connect, formed in 2003, said that it has now raised in excess of $57 million in private equity to date to fund the company’s network expansion, applications platform and sales channel development.  CommPartners Connect currently provides wholesale VoIP services to over 200 service providers, dealers, and several domestic and foreign carriers utilizing its privately managed, controlled, and fully-redundant network and applications platform.  
Visit www.commpartnersconnect.com.
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Interop

New Mexico’s Homeland Security Department deploys Cistera IP communications solution
Cistera Networks, Inc. announced the successful integration of its Quality Assurance and Compliance Solution at the 2007 New Mexico State Fair in Albuquerque, which provided radio interoperability capabilities that improved security and emergency communications. The New Mexico Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, in partnership with INX, utilized Cistera’s Quality Assurance and Compliance technology to provide seamless communication during the event.  The solution established radio interoperability between public safety officers and the fair’s private security by using a proprietary application service to bridge radio frequencies used by different agencies.  Cistera’s IP Communications solution allows hand-held radios to communicate with any voice-enabled device including two-way radios, cellular phones and desktop telephones. In addition to providing interoperability for two-way radios, Cistera’s Quality Assurance and Compliance Solution will archive all voice communication over the system, which is especially useful when analyzing the specific timeline of events during an emergency or unexpected event.  
Visit www.cistera.com.
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Market

AMI-Partners: Behavioral segmentation key to unlocking value in US SMB telecommunications and managed services markets
AMI's segmentation of the US SMB telecommunications market reveals the presence of 4 unique segments, of which 2 key segments are driving the bulk of adoption and spending on emerging high-growth areas, including hosted VoIP, premises-based IP-PBX and managed services (security, storage, network support, etc.). These leading segments are also transforming the SMB landscape by rapidly implementing various elements of a Unified Communications (UC) portfolio, such as web conferencing, Instant Messaging (IM) and soft phones, among others. While comprising only 25-40% of all SMBs nationwide, these two segments drive 70-80% of spending on emerging communications solutions. The other two segments, while 60-75% of all SMBs, drive no more than 20-30% of spending on such solutions. The 4 segments include:

• Enterprise Adopters (Tier 1 SMBs): Solutions buyers, willing to pay premiums for scalability, QoS and SLAs

• Cutting Edge Adopters (Tier 2 SMBs): Desire latest products and solutions, but not at premium prices

• Value Adopters (Tier 3 SMBs): Price-point buyers, acquire mature technologies and point products

• Needs Help Adopters (Tier 4 SMBs): Uncomfortable with technology, buy simple, basic communications products

Visit www.ami-partners.com.
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Mitel

XETA signs solution provider agreement with Mitel
XETA Technologies announced that it has signed an agreement with Mitel Corporation to become an authorized dealer of Mitel's integrated communications solutions and services tailored to the hospitality market. XETA will participate in Mitel's premier PARTNER program--the highest partner status--which provides select business partners with product training and marketing support programs. "The decision to partner with Mitel is consistent with our strategy to acquire and further penetrate the Fortune 1000 customer base, including the lodging vertical," said Greg Forrest, Chief Executive Officer of XETA. "Mitel has a significant installed customer base in the lodging vertical. Adding Mitel to our product and services offerings is expected to bring new customer relationships and expand the size of our addressable market. In addition, becoming a Mitel authorized dealer allows us to bring new products and services into our existing customer base with limited overlap from our current product lines."
Visit www.mitel.com or www.xeta.com.
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Moves, adds & changes

Dialogic Corporation acquires Cantata through purchase of EAS Group, Inc.
Dialogic Corporation announced that it has acquired all of the outstanding shares of EAS Group Inc. Subsidiaries of EAS include Cantata Technology, Inc., Excel Switching Corporation, Brooktrout Technology, Inc. and SnowShore Networks Inc. The acquisition was a share-based transaction and the former shareholders of EAS are now minority shareholders in Dialogic. Through the acquisition of EAS and its subsidiaries, Dialogic will expand its product portfolio and customer base in the communications technology enabling market segment with the rich portfolio of Cantata communication boards and software.  The addition of the SnowShore IP Media Server, the Excel Converged System Platform (CSP), the Excel Multi-Services Platform (MSP) and Cantata Technology IMG 1010 product families to Dialogic's product portfolio will enable Dialogic to expand its customer base in the service provider market segment. The addition of the Brooktrout TR1000, Brooktrout TR1034, Brooktrout TruFax and Brooktrout SR140 product families will also strengthen Dialogic's leading position in the enterprise market segment.
Visit www.dialogic.com.
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White papers & market perspectives

Why Voice Still Matters
Simple voicemail has evolved into complex integrated messaging platforms and the generic black handset has been replaced by a plethora of devices. Service providers can become critical partners for companies looking to ensure availability of their voice network.

Overview: Communication is the cornerstone of commerce. Companies today enjoy a wide range of communication options. Face-to-face meetings are still the most powerful, but are too expensive in terms of time and money for all but the most important interaction. Electronic communication, such as email and instant messaging, remains the most convenient and cost-effective, but lacks intimacy. Yet, despite all of our technological advances, the best balance of efficiency and intimacy is still the telephone. This is why companies place so much importance on the voice network. However, several factors make managing voice network reliability more difficult than ever. Most importantly, the network is more complex. In addition to the legacy POTS, companies now have VoIP and wireless voice networks. Simple voicemail has evolved into complex integrated messaging platforms. The generic black handset has been replaced by a plethora of devices including IP phones, cell phones, smart phones and even personal computers.

Further, the availability demands for the voice network are higher than in the past. Users expect the network to work without interruptions. The cost of losing phone service is so expensive that companies require five nines reliability around the clock. Thus, service level agreements (SLAs) are as demanding as ever before. And, finally, despite increased network complexity and higher SLAs, staffing of network support personnel has remained flat or even declined. As a result, one of the most pressing issues companies face today is how to effectively manage their voice network. Within this challenge lies a golden opportunity for service providers. Equipped with the proper tools they can become critical partners for companies looking to ensure availability of their voice network.

To download this white paper click on the link below:
http://www.asentria.com/promo/tr-wp1.aspx
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