Upcoming Meeting Notice


SAVE THE DATE:


OCTOBER 6 - 7, 2008
TECH EXEC FORUM for technology resellers
Hyatt Regency - Chicago, IL
Click here for more information.

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

OCTOBER 23, 2008
Northeast Regional Meeting
Dinner at the Meadowlands Racetrack - East Rutherford, NJ

JANUARY 21 - 24, 2009
Annual Meeting
Hard Rock Hotel - San Diego, CA

(Click here for more information.)

Member in the news
Avaya
Contact center
EU markets
Leasing
Mitel
SMB market
UPS

NATD member in the news

ScanSource delivers all-star line up to train, inspire customers at IMPACT NOW
ScanSource, Inc. has announced the details for its 2008 IMPACT NOW show November 10-11 at Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort.  ScanSource is committed to helping its reseller customers build their business through creative education and informative entertainment, while also providing an outlet for them to see the latest and greatest technology innovations from ScanSource, Inc.’s best-of-breed manufacturers.  At IMPACT NOW Orlando, resellers will have the opportunity to improve their leadership skills through powerful Disney Institute training sessions, while also hearing first-hand from Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak on how his company became one of the world’s most recognizable brands.  What’s more, attendees will have the opportunity to have one-on-one discussions with the industry’s leading manufacturers and attend seminars hosted by the CEOs and presidents of these companies, while also catching an appearance by Motorola-sponsored IndyCar driver and race winner Danica Patrick.
Visit www.scansourceinc.com or www.impactnoworlando.com.

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Avaya

ConvergeOne consolidates Avaya sales teams
ConvergeOne, LLC has announced that it will integrate its Avaya sales and implementation teams from Combest, Inc. and NACR (North American Communications Resource), Inc. under the NACR brand. NACR, headquartered in Eagan, MN, is the largest Avaya BusinessPartner as well as the largest operating company under the ConvergeOne umbrella. Its other operating companies are Combest, based in Atlanta, GA and S1 IT Solutions, headquartered in Boise, Idaho. NACR is a privately held value added solutions provider that provides comprehensive communications solutions including VoIP, convergence, mobility, collaboration, unified messaging and contact centers; consultative, design, implementation and testing services; and ongoing maintenance, repairs and technical support. In addition to being the largest Avaya BusinessPartner, with 55 locations across the country, NACR is a six-time BusinessPartner of the Year.
Visit www.nacr.com or www.avaya.com.
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Contact center

Envision Telephony announces contact center leadership roundtables
Envision Telephony, Inc. announced four new dates and locations for its 2008 roundtable series “Contact Center Leadership: What Makes Great Leaders So Great?” The roundtable and networking series will be in Columbus, Ohio on September 23; Baltimore, Maryland on October 16; Charlotte, North Carolina on October 22; and Long Beach, California on November 5. This networking event provides contact center leaders with fresh ideas, best practices and a renewed energy for managing a contact center workforce. The roundtable series will be led by Connie Smith, chief evangelist for Envision. Smith has been involved in the contact center industry in various roles for more than 20 years. She has helped more than 30 world-class contact centers with building, relocations, mergers, assessments, vendor selection, workforce management, metrics, telephone systems, CRM and CTI applications, customer service skill development, training initiatives and quality programs.
Visit www.envisioninc.com.
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EU markets

Nortel crowned UK's top PBX vendor
Strong sales in the enterprise space and mid-market helped guide the UK PBX market to a four per cent increase in total extensions during Q2 2008, research has revealed. In its quarterly report on the UK PBX and IP PBX market, analyst firm MZA reported that 726,000 extensions were deployed in the three months to the end of June. This marks a four per cent increase on the same period last year. 48 per cent of Q2 2008 deployments were in the above 100 extensions market, up from 44 per cent last year. Extensions in the Micro PBX market, as well as the rest of the 2-10 extension market and the 10-30 extension market, all suffered double digit declines. The market segments between 30 and 100 extensions all experienced modest growth levels, while the over 1,000 extensions market enjoyed the most rapid growth.

Nortel was crowned the UK's top PBX vendor during the quarter and held a 16 per cent market share. After acquiring Inter-Tel, Mitel moved into second spot. The vendor was also top dog in the below 100 extensions category, followed by Nortel and Panasonic. Cisco led the above 100 extensions field, followed by Nortel and Mitel. Aastra and Siemens both enjoyed impressive quarters and made up ground on the leading vendors. During the quarter 47 per cent of all extensions deployed were IP, compared to 37 per cent in Q2 2007. More than two thirds of extensions in the above 100 extensions space were IP. 26 per cent of those in the below 100 extension market were IP, up from 15 per cent last year.

Cisco accounted for 30 per cent of IP extensions deployed in the UK during Q2 2008, with Mitel a close second with a 25 per cent share. Mitel took top spot in the below 100 extensions market with a market share of more than a third. Cisco took second spot with a market share of more than 25 per cent and the networking giant was also comfortably ahead in the above 100 extensions space.
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Leasing

ELFA’s survey of economic activity: Monthly Leasing and Finance Index
The Equipment Leasing and Finance Association's (ELFA) Monthly Leasing and Finance Index (MLFI-25), which reports economic activity for the $650 billion equipment finance sector, showed overall new business volume for July increased 17.2 percent when compared to the same period 2007. Cumulative year-to date new business volumes show an increase of 4.8 percent compared to 2007.

The MLFI-25 is the only index that reflects levels of equipment financed in the U.S. economy. The MLFI-25 complements other relevant economic indices, including the monthly durable goods report produced by the U.S. Department of Commerce, which reflects new orders for manufactured durable goods and the Institute for Supply Management Index, which reports economic activity in the manufacturing sector. Along with the MLFI-25 these reports provide a complete picture that describes the use of productive assets in the U.S. economy: equipment produced, acquired and financed.

“Business investment in capital goods continues even in light of the credit crunch and weakness in the overall economy. It is a testament to business confidence and export demand,” said Kenneth E. Bentsen, Jr., ELFA President.
Visit www.elfaonline.org.
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Mitel

Mitel takes lead in SMB market share
Mitel announced that respected industry research firm InfoTech has confirmed its market leadership position in the U.S. for IP Telephony (IPT) for small businesses. According to the report titled "InfoTrack for Unified Communications: 2008 SMB Market Analysis" (IUC), Mitel captured 17.2 percent of the 2007 SMB IP telephony market, well ahead of major competitors like Cisco, Avaya and Nortel. Following its merger with InterTel in 2007, Mitel gained 8.5 percent of market share beating its closest competitor NEC by 3.4 percent. InfoTech defines the SMB market as Small Businesses (SB) with two to 100 employees and Medium Businesses (MB) with 101 to 500 employees. Results from the InfoTech InfoTrack Unified Communications (IUC) research study indicate that 19 percent of small businesses surveyed had already started implementing IPT by the end of 2007, while 16 percent indicated that they had already completed their migration from TDM to IPT and 41 percent planning to implement IPT including eight percent that had conducted trials. Of the medium businesses that participated in the survey, 16 percent had completed the migration to IPT and 32 percent indicated that they had already started implementing IPT. Another 32 percent noted that they were planning to implement IPT including three percent that had conducted trials. Only 20 percent of the MBs had no plans for IPT implementation.
Visit www.mitel.com or www.infotech.com.
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SMB market

ADTRAN announces innovative switching solutions for value-driven SMB market
ADTRAN, Inc. announced a new array of NetVanta switches designed to address a variety of SMB applications and provide a wealth of new benefits including higher density, Gigabit Power over Ethernet (PoE), power conservation, wireless controller capabilities and a new limited lifetime warranty. These solutions are designed to address the need for value-driven, business-class solutions in the SMB market and to provide a means for SMBs to both upgrade and future-proof their Local Area Networks (LANs) as they embrace architectures such as Gigabit-to-the-Desktop and VoIP. ADTRAN's NetVanta family of voice and data networking solutions was designed specifically for this market and uniquely addresses the needs of the value-driven SMB by providing a reliable, easy-to-use, business-class product at an SMB-friendly price point. New innovative features being introduced in these platforms include the ability to act as a Wi-Fi access controller, thus eliminating the need for a separate controller; intelligent power conservation, which enables PoE units to conserve energy by reducing power consumption; LLDP/LLDP MED, which simplify the deployment and troubleshooting of IP phones on a VoIP network; cable diagnostics which simplifies troubleshooting and repairs of the Ethernet cable plant/infrastructure; and a limited lifetime warranty.
Visit www.adtran.com.
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UPS

Eaton’s Evolution UPS wins reader trust award
Diversified industrial manufacturer Eaton Corporation announced that Network Products Guide, a world-leading Silicon Valley Communications publication reporting on technologies and solutions, has named Eaton’s Evolution and Evolution S uninterruptible power systems (UPSs) a winner of the 2008 Best Products and Services Award. This annual award honors products and services that represent the rapidly changing needs and interests of end-users of technology worldwide. Eaton’s Evolution units, sold under the MGE Office Protection Systems brand, are the perfect solution for protecting rack-optimized servers, storage systems and Internetworking equipment against damaging and costly power disruptions. The Evolution 650 VA to 2 kVA and Evolution S 1250 VA to 3kVA models all feature multiple form factors to suit any need: Tower or Rack/Tower versatile with a choice of depth sizes to accommodate a variety of rack enclosures. The Evolution is one of the first line-interactive UPSs in its class with an adaptable, multi-position Power Distribution Unit (PDU) that provides an innovative, space-saving method of easily adding receptacles to the back, side or top of the UPS – freeing up much needed space in dense rack environments.
Visit www.eaton.com.
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