Upcoming Meeting Notice


SAVE THE DATE:


OCTOBER 2, 2008
Regional Midwest Meeting
The Loon Cafe - Minneapolis, Minnesota

OCTOBER 23, 2008
Northeast Regional Meeting
Carmine's Restaurant - New York City, NY

JANUARY 21 - 24, 2009
Annual USA Conference in San Diego, California
Registration now available.

(Click here for more information.)

NATD inside
Upfront
At INNUA
Avaya
Market
NEC
Open
Quintum
SMB

NATD inside

Dear NATD Member:

A few weeks ago the NATD held a Planning session. One of the benefits of membership we focused on was the "on-Going Networking" we provide to our members. When our members look for someone to help on a specific type of deal, we can usually find another NATD Member. Earlier this month, I put two of our members together on such a deal. Here is what they said to me:

Thank you for contacting NATD and T&T, if ever there was a transaction where all parties came out good, this is one. It fell together nicely!
Steve Smith, T & T Communications
800-717-0656

Joe - you have been very helpful to me over the past years and this alone makes membership in the NATD worthwhile. I usually only do business with companies that are NATD members for various reasons.
Mark Hladik, Tip Capital
352-637-6117

We want YOUR help in promoting the NATD to new/qualified members. Use this example as a benefit of membership when you tell other dealers about the NATD.  We are asking every member to PLEASE take ONE MINUTE, look at our current Membership list http://www.natd.com/public/pages/currentmembers.asp and recommend ONE NEW MEMBER who is not on the list.  This will help us all.

AND NOW THE CONTEST:

For each "lead" you send to us between now and September 1, 2008, we will enter your name into a special drawing.  The winning name will be drawn and announced at the NATD Meeting in New York on October 23rd.  You need not be present to win. (If two companies recommend the same prospect, we will enter the first one received, so the sooner you send us the name, the better for you!)

The winner will be offered a choice of:
1.  Free NTTN for 2009
2.  Free NATD Membership for 2009
3.  Three free nights at the NATD San Diego Meeting on Jan. 21-23, 2009

Just email me with your referrals:
Contact Name:
Company Name:
Email Address:
Phone Number:

We will "take it from there." Do your "buddies" a favor and recommend the NATD to them. Thank you for your continued support.

Joe Marion
[email protected]^Back To Top

Upfront

INNUA survey highlights strong momentum for Unified Communications
INNUA, the international Nortel user's group, issued the results of its survey of Nortel customers worldwide which says that 78 percent plan to deploy unified communications within the next two years. The independent survey results from Webtorials also found 58 percent of users surveyed were more interested in unified communications now than 12 months ago. INNUA announced the results of the survey at Global Connect, its annual conference for Nortel enterprise customers. The survey results are based on a sampling of more than 800 Nortel enterprise customers. All respondents either belong to one or both Nortel user groups, INNUA or INSIGHT 100 Inc, a group comprised of large campus users. More than 60 percent of respondents are represented by healthcare, government, financial and education customers. In addition, an overwhelming majority - 93 percent - of respondents recognize that unified communication solutions cannot be 'bolted on' separately but must be closely integrated with today's desktop environment.
Visit www.innua.org.
^Back To Top

At INNUA

Nortel and SecureLogix team to deliver voice security and management solutions
SecureLogix Corporation and Nortel have formed a strategic relationship to deliver first-of-kind voice security and management solutions to enterprise customers worldwide. Under the new sales and marketing agreement, Nortel and certified Nortel resellers will market and sell the SecureLogix ETM System and related voice security assessment and monitoring services as part of Nortel’s new Voice Security Services offering. Nortel Voice Security Services combine patented technology from SecureLogix with Nortel voice and security expertise to help enterprise customers secure multi-vendor, multi-technology voice networks. These services include assessment of costly voice service theft and misuse across the enterprise, inefficient phone service configuration and resource utilization, and underlying voice network vulnerabilities that threaten the security of voice and data networks. Nortel resolves these issues through ‘best practices’ consulting and implementation of the SecureLogix ETM System.
Visit www.nortel.com or www.securelogix.com.


Mediatrix Telecom enhances its award winning line of VoIP solutions
Mediatrix Telecom showcased the new Mediatrix 4102 – 2 Port VoIP Access Device at INNUA Global Connect 2008.  "Networking with Nortel users is central to Mediatrix Telecom’s continued success and is invaluable as we work to meet the growing needs of our business." said Philippe Babin, PLM Director at Mediatrix Telecom. "Being able to give the INNUA Global Connect 2008 attendees the opportunity to get a sneak peak at our new Mediatrix 4102 enables us to further share technology strategies and best practices with like-minded colleagues." The Mediatrix 4102 is a high-quality and cost efficient VoIP gateway connecting Residential and SOHO environments to an IP network, while preserving investment in analog telephones and faxes. It allows Services Providers to deploy rapidly and economically their solutions in smaller premises and it is the ideal solution for remote line connection to larger private networks. With an embedded PPPoE client and its innovative Transparent IP Address Sharing technology, the Mediatrix 4102 and the PC or router connected to the second Ethernet port have the same public IP address, eliminating the need for private IP addresses or address translations.
Visit www.mediatrix.com. ^Back To Top

Avaya

KnoahSoft solution now rated “Avaya Compliant”
KnoahSoft announced that its Harmony Suite 1.6 is compliant with key IP telephony and contact center solutions from Avaya. KnoahSoft’s Harmony Suite helps businesses improve customer satisfaction and increase operational awareness by providing contact centers with a low-cost, modular, web-based solution. Built for VoIP from the ground up, Harmony supports call recording, quality and performance management needs and initiatives. The solution’s workflow-enabled feedback loop enables management to rapidly identify and address customer and operational issues and opportunities on a timely basis. The Harmony Suite now is compliance-tested by Avaya for compatibility with Avaya Communication Manager 5.0 with Application Enablement Services (AES) 4.1. KnoahSoft is a member of the Avaya DevConnect program—an initiative to develop, market and sell innovative third-party products that interoperate with Avaya technology and extend the value of a company’s investment in its network.
Visit www.avaya.com/devconnect or www.knoahsoft.com.
^Back To Top

Market

Dell’Oro Group reports Asia Pacific surpasses North America in PBX line shipments during the first quarter
A recently published report from Dell'Oro Group reveals that during 1Q08 macroeconomic weakness and seasonality led North American line shipments to their lowest level in three years.  The report indicates that fiscal year end strength in Japan and continued growth in China helped Asia Pacific grow to 29 percent of line shipments during the quarter, surpassing North America for the first time. The report also reveals that in North America, Cisco widened its lead to five points over Nortel and Avaya. Cisco also became the second largest vendor, besides Nortel, of worldwide line shipments in the quarter by surpassing Avaya.  Nortel remained the top vendor of worldwide line shipments. NEC, Siemens, and Alcatel-Lucent rounded out the top six vendors in the market respectively.
Visit www.delloro.com.
^Back To Top

NEC

NEC provides turnkey security services for Davis + Henderson
NEC Unified Solutions, Inc. announced NEC Network Security Solutions as the turnkey security solutions provider for Davis+Henderson (D+H). Founded more than 135 years ago, D+H provides checking and lending support services to Canada’s retail banking institutions.  Because of the relationship D+H has with Canada’s banking industry and the sensitivity of the end customers’ data, the company is audited two to five times each month. NEC and managed security services partner SecureWorks are providing the security monitoring, management and reporting that enable D+H to quickly react to external threats and stay proactive in order to meet the demands of regulatory compliance and frequent audits. In conjunction with strategic alliance partner SecureWorks, NEC enables protection across D+H’s network, safeguarding the perimeter, critical internal assets, confidential data, remote users, customers and partners. NEC’s services, partnerships and strategic alliances with companies like SecureWorks are a unique element of NEC’s UNIVERGE360 approach to business communications, which places people and their roles at the center of communications.
Visit www.necunified.com/security.
^Back To Top

Open

WARP, the PIKA Appliance, now generally available
PIKA Technologies Inc. announced its family of Appliances is now ready to ship to its customers. The Appliance for Asterisk and the Appliance for Linux are smaller-sized and lower-cost alternatives to the traditional deployment platform of an off-the-shelf computer with plug-in voice boards, and have been purpose built for voice-application deployment. They are ideal for deploying small-medium sized IP-PBX systems, integrated voice response (IVR) self-service systems, predictive dialing systems, fax servers and many others. The PIKA WARP Appliance product portfolio brings application developers the hardware functionality of traditional purpose-built business telephone systems at a fraction of the cost and in a smaller, more reliable footprint than the off-the-shelf computer/voice board alternative. Typically, a business telephone system contains many features that are not available using computers. PIKA has included these features, and more, in its customizable Appliances that are compatible with VoIP and analog trunks and telephones.
Visit www.pikatechnologies.com.
^Back To Top

Quintum

Quintum enables solution provider to execute uniquely effective "land and expand" managed VoIP services strategy
Quintum Technologies announced that Irish solutions provider TIPS is using Quintum technology to implement an innovative and highly effective “land and expand” strategy that makes it easy for customers to give the go-ahead to money-saving VoIP initiatives by eliminating both capital cost and risk. The strategy also enables TIPS to capture a greater share of its customers’ voice business over time. Unlike a typical VoIP solutions reseller, TIPS doesn’t ask its customers to take on the costs and risk associated with purchasing Quintum hardware and building their own VoIP architecture. And, unlike the typical managed services provider, TIPS doesn’t ask customers to dump their existing carrier and give TIPS 100% of their telecom volume. Instead, TIPS installs a Quintum switch on the customer’s premises at no cost and lets the customer decide what portion of their voice traffic they want to re-route over the TIPS network. Customers can use TIPS for their inter-office traffic, their fixed-to-mobile traffic, their in-country long distance traffic, and/or their international traffic. They can change their minds any time – adding or eliminating “traffic of interest” as they see fit. They can also disengage with TIPS altogether if they ever want to, or they can use TIPS exclusively. The customer is always in control and always has zero risk.
Visit www.quintum.com.
^Back To Top

SMB

The Complete IP PBX for SMBs

Telecommunications manufacturers continue to focus on the Small and Mid-size Business (SMB) telephony market. Among the new entries in 2007 and 2008 (to date) are SMB systems that come complete with pre-loaded business applications, eliminating the need for the separate software or hardware that is typical with traditional PBX systems.

Database and analyst group TelecomTactics, a division of The Telecom Intelligence Group at Access Intelligence, finds that about 60% of new telephony system introductions in 2007 targeted small businesses or branch offices of larger organizations that have fewer than 250 employees. This trend continues in 2008, with announcements of three new platforms for very small offices in just the last three months.

Also in 2007 and 2008 (to date), manufacturers have rolled out a handful of mid-size systems (those supporting between 250 and 750 stations), but fewer new systems for larger businesses (above 750 stations). However, some larger platforms, previously on the market, are being upgraded for more capacity, as well as with enhanced functionality (business continuity, productivity and mobility are key areas for system upgrades).

Read entire article.
^Back To Top