Upcoming Meeting Notice


SAVE THE DATE:

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.)

Breaking news
NATD in the news
Avaya
Book review
Education
IBM and UC
Mitel
Nortel
Power
SMB
snom

Breaking news

Strategic Products and Services and PhoneXtra complete company merger
Strategic Products and Services (SPS) and PhoneXtra announce they have successfully completed due diligence reviews, signed purchase agreements and completed all necessary transactions required to successfully merge the two companies. The combined companies will operate as Strategic Products and Services (SPS). SPS and PhoneXtra both specialize in the design, installation and support of converged communications solutions, advanced IP telephony applications, unified communications, network infrastructure and mobility solutions. As Avaya Platinum Certified BusinessPartners, both SPS and PhoneXtra have strong market presence, customer relationships, plus technical and service capabilities. The merged company creates the most dominant communication solution provider in the eastern half of the United States. The merged company employs more than 380 individuals in over 25 cities nationwide. Existing PhoneXtra locations in Fairfield and Freehold, NJ; New York, NY; Horsham, PA now add to the overall SPS footprint. PhoneXtra-Atlantic, a former subsidiary of PhoneXtra, is not part of the merger with SPS and will become a standalone entity through its divestiture.
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NATD in the news

CTDI acquires Phoenix Wireless
Communications Test Design, Inc. (CTDI) announced the acquisition of Phoenix Wireless, a leading provider of wireless communications and electronics accessories. The acquisition is strategic to CTDI and Phoenix based on financial, operational and customer synergies. The acquisition will enable Phoenix to expand its product and service offerings through CTDI’s capabilities, which include engineering and distribution expertise via more than 3,800 employees and 39 world-class distribution centers in North America, South America, Europe and Asia. Following the acquisition by CTDI, Phoenix Wireless will continue to provide the highest quality wireless and electronics accessories under the Phoenix brand.  And as a strategic and sizable parent company, CTDI will enable Phoenix Wireless to significantly expand its product offering, distribution channels and services via access to CTDI’s global capabilities.  These synergies will provide customers with just-in-time, in-region delivery of Phoenix Wireless products on a global basis.
Visit www.ctdi.com.


Notice of Ethics Complaint
An ethics complaint was filed by Williams Telecommunications Corporation, an NATD Member and NTTN Subscriber, against MicroCore Systems Canada, an NATD Non-Member and an NTTN Non-Subscriber.  The contact information for Williams Telecommmunications Corporation is Tony Clapham (e-mail address: [email protected]), 5610 Kennedy Road, Mississauga, Ontario L42 2A9, Canada, Telephone: 905-712-6388.  The contact information for MicroCore is Tyrone Thompson (e-mail address: [email protected]), 133 North Service Road E., Oakville, Ontario Canada L6H 1A3, Telephone: 905-337-0384.
 
MicroCore responded to the complaint and in accordance with the NATD Procedure for Filing and Processing Complaints, the matter was set for hearing before a Hearing Panel consisting of three members of the NATD Ethics Committee.  Both parties were provided an opportunity to participate in the hearing.  Based upon the written documentation submitted by both parties and upon the evidence adduced at the hearing, the Hearing Panel determined that MicroCore violated the NATD Code of Ethics and recommended a Level 2 Sanction, which requires that the full Ethics Committee and the NATD membership be advised of the sanction and the violation.
 
If you have any questions regarding the details of this complaint, please contact one of the parties involved.
Visit http://www.natd.com/public/pages/codeofethics.asp.
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Avaya

TONE SOFTWARE and Communicado Inc. partner
Tone Software Corporation and Communicado, Inc. announced a technology partnership designed to deliver expanded quality and service level management capabilities for converging IP Telephony and Unified Communications environments.  The integrated solution combines comprehensive, platform-independent voice quality and performance analysis with in-depth voice fault management and service level assurance, resulting in a powerful “best of breed” solution that ensures quality converged communications service delivery across virtually any technology mix.  The integrated Communicado and Tone offering delivers a platform-independent convergence management solution that supports the full gamut of TDM and IP gear from Avaya, Nortel, Cisco, Siemens, NEC, Mitel, etc.   Further, the respective vendors are both Avaya DevConnect Development Partners, offering Avaya Compliant tested solutions that seamlessly deliver pre-net assessments, fault, performance, QoS, traffic, and capacity management for voice environments at various stages of transitioning from legacy TDM technologies to IP enabled architectures.  
Visit www.communicado-inc.com or www.tonesoft.com.
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Book review

Telecommunications and
Data Communications Handbook
Telecommunications and Data Communications Handbook, by Ray Horak, is a thoroughly researched and comprehensive survey of telecom and datacom technologies and services, from the most basic to the most complex. The book begins with basic concepts and definitions and marches through the full ranges of transmission media and voice, data, and video systems, networks, standards and protocols. Horak sets the technologies in context, providing an excellent level of detail on the origin and evolution of fiber optics, cellular radio, digital carrier systems, TCP/IP, and the Internet, as examples. While written for a reasonably astute academic and professional readership, Horak develops each topic in plain English and in such a commonsense and patient manner that the book is equally informative and useful to a student or relative newcomer to telecommunications. We think that anyone with a compelling need for a complete and accurate understanding of telecommunications can benefit from it.

Published by Wiley-Interscience (September 2007)
791 pages, $99.95 (Full retail)
ISBN-10: 0470041412
ISBN-13: 978-0470041413
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Education

AOTMP University offers professional development programs
AOTMP recently unveiled a new career development program dedicated to telecom and IT professionals and implementing industry standards and best practices into enterprise management processes. AOTMP University offers a structured program for telecom and IT professionals seeking to advance their careers and learn efficiency-boosting and cost-cutting methods for enterprise telecom and IT management. Courses teach AOTMP’s best practices for financial and operational management processes in an enterprise telecom environment. The program offers a flexible curriculum of online courses and certification programs providing more than 300 hours of training on topics like telecom fundamentals, VoIP, disaster recovery, auditing, wireless management, project management, vendor management and more. Four levels of recognition may be achieved based on the number of successfully completed credit hours.  Participants can work with AOTMP to develop a Recommended Education Plan (REP) to determine coursework that best serves individual needs and career objectives.
Visit www.aotmp.com.
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IBM and UC

Avistar, IBM to provide bandwidth management for unified communications
Avistar Communications Corporation announced that it will be working with IBM to provide bandwidth management for unified communications and collaboration solutions. As part of this work, Avistar’s C3’s dynamic bandwidth management technology is being licensed by IBM. The goal of this relationship is to help customers take full advantage of their unified communications capabilities – including videoconferencing -- without experiencing degradation of service or investing in network upgrades or additional overhead. Videoconferencing is a dynamic area of the unified communications (UC) market, which is estimated by Wainhouse Research to reach $30-40 billion by 2011. The cornerstone of IBM’s unified communications strategy is IBM Lotus Sametime, an award-winning and market-leading platform that offers integrated, enterprise unified communications tools such as IM, VoIP, video chats and web conferencing.
Visit www.avistar.com or www.ibm.com.
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Mitel

Mitel takeover delivers flat sales
Revenue from the Inter-Tel Inc. takeover that Mitel bought out last August remained steady at around $825 million compared to a year earlier, far below the company's expectations of rapid expansion, according to a regulatory filing. Numbers disclosed in a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing from fiscal years 2007 and 2008 revealed that combined revenue from the two companies increased only marginally to $825.7 million from $825.3 million. But at the same time, losses per common share narrowed to 50 cents from 60 cents. Net losses from the merger also saw a steep improvement to $12.3 million in April 2008, exactly $20 million less than the performance seen in April 2007. The numbers were presented as if the Inter-Tel acquisition had occurred at the beginning of each period. Mitel acquired Arizona-based Inter-Tel, a business communications firm, for $25.60 per share with a total purchase price of just under $730 million. The company noted in the filing that the total purchase price came to $742.1 million after incorporating all of its costs as a result of the acquisition.
Visit www.mitel.com.
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Nortel

Nortel puts Metro Ethernet group on sale block
Nortel announced it was revising downward its guidance for 3Q and full-year 2008 and that it was “exploring the divestiture of its Metro Ethernet Networks business.” Both of these announcements have far-reaching implications for the packet-optical networking market and industry as a whole. The company cited cutbacks in capital spending as one of the chief reasons for its revision. Nortel combined its separate ON and carrier data switching businesses about two years ago, creating the Metro Ethernet Networks (MEN) division, which has been one of the strategic thrusts for the company. The company is a strong competitor with a good optical and data networking portfolio built on solid intellectual property. Nortel is currently the third-ranked ON vendor globally and boasts that it has over 400,000 network elements deployed in over 150 countries worldwide. The company has taken a lead role with PBB/PBB-TE, electronic dispersion compensation, and other new technologies such as 40G/100G. Nortel cited strategic reasons and the desire to monetize the value of its MEN business to shore up its balance sheet as the rationale behind the divestiture. The company provided no details regarding possible suitors, but did say it was a safe assumption that it was looking for a cash transaction.
Visit www.nortel.com.
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Power

The Eaton 5130 UPS solves costly power problems for IT and telecommunication systems
Diversified industrial manufacturer Eaton Corporation announced the introduction of its Eaton 5130 uninterruptible power system (UPS). Part of the Powerware series, the 1250 to 3000 VA line-interactive models are specifically suited for protecting servers, routers, switches, workstations, as well as VoIP and EDGE/3G/WiMAX wireless networking equipment against costly power fluctuations and outages. Designed to deliver clean, continuous power no matter the state of the incoming utility power, the 5130 is one of the most flexible UPSs on the market today offering one of the best price per performance ratio. Available in slim 2U (3.50 inches) and 3U (5.25 inches) rack and tower configurations, the 5130’s compact size is ideal for dense rack enclosures. In addition, user-replaceable hot swappable batteries allow users to safely install new batteries without powering down the connected equipment or removing the UPS from the network rack. For applications requiring longer run times, slim 2U external battery modules can be quickly added to provide hours of backup time – especially important for telecommunications, VoIP and healthcare systems.
Visit www.eaton.com.
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SMB

U4EA Technologies announces wireless LAN solution for small-to-medium business market
U4EA Technologies announced the Fusion 300 Wireless LAN Controller and Fusion 50 Access Points (AP), a centrally managed Wi-Fi solution designed specifically for the small-to-medium business (SMB) segment. The Fusion 300 is optimized for environments with limited in-house IT or wireless expertise, enabling SMBs to have a secure wireless network with enterprise-class functionality up-and-running in less than 15 minutes. According to the State Department, companies with fewer than 500 employees represent 99% of all U.S. businesses; advances in technology, particularly unified communications, are driving demand for Wi-Fi in this market. The Dell'Oro Group predicts the penetration rate of wireless LAN will double by 2012, approaching $4 billion. Yet there are virtually no solutions specifically tailored for the business and IT needs of the small-to-medium sized business. The Fusion 300 and 50 are now available through U4EA's partner distribution network, which includes service providers, distributors, VARs and resellers serving the SMB and SME market.
Visit www.u4eatech.com.
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snom

Camrivox and snom announce Flexor CTI for NetSuite
Camrivox Ltd and snom technology AG announced the release of Flexor CTI for NetSuite, the latest addition to the Flexor Software family of CTI products. Flexor CTI for NetSuite is uniquely designed to offer a simple, cost effective and scalable solution to small and medium sized businesses, integrating VoIP telephony with NetSuite web-based applications at the desktop, bypassing costly system and equipment upgrades. With no server required, and no costly administration or IT support, Flexor CTI maximizes customer investments in CRM. Delivering an enhanced CRM experience, Flexor CTI for NetSuite enables call logging, call reporting, click- to-dial, contact screen pop-ups and on-screen call control.
Visit www.camrivox.com or www.snom.com.
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