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NATD in the news
Avaya
Book review
International news
Juniper
Power
Resellers
Sales training
SIP trunking

NATD in the news

SDC Solutions supports guest services and staff communications at MGM Grand Detroit
SDC Solutions, Inc. announced that MGM Grand Detroit, a premier hotel and entertainment destination, has implemented SDC’s IntelliDESK PC-based Console to deliver enhanced guest services and internal communications.  With its robust hospitality feature set, IntelliDESK has provided the tools for MGM Grand Detroit to streamline its guest services and call handling operations for approximately 400 hotel guests, millions of casino and restaurant guests, and more than 3,000 team members at their $800-million dollar property.  Implementing SDC’s IntelliDESK has helped MGM Grand Detroit align internal communications and provide front-line guest service representatives with a comprehensive set of features to assist them in delivering a five-star guest experience. IntelliDESK allows call center operators to view guest profiles upon call answer, set wake-up calls and access property and local information for efficient and secure handling of all calls. Additionally, SDC’s interface with MGM Detroit’s property management system supports call center knowledge and confidence by providing real-time updates to the call center when a guest checks in or departs from the property.
Visit www.sdcsolutions.com.


Ethics complaint filed
An ethics complaint was filed by Fredrik Thornberg ([email protected]), Nortech Holding A, Centralvagen 69, Akersberga, SE-18432 Sweden, Telephone:+46 8 501 690 00, an NATD Member and NTTN Subscriber against:

Jett Communications LTD
Contact Person: John Ettridge  (email: [email protected]) 
Unit 11, Park Road 
Swanley
Kent BP8 8AH
United Kingdom
Telephone: +  44 1322 665 595

We want to inform you that Jett Communications LTD has chosen not to participate in our ethics process and as a non-member of the North-American Association of Telecommunications Dealers (NATD) and a non-subscriber of the NTTN, they are not required to participate and this should not be construed as an admission of the facts.

If you have any questions regarding the details of this complaint, please contact one of the parties involved.

ADDITIONAL ETHICS INFORMATION:
Information regarding our Ethics Process can be found by clicking on www.natd.com/public/pages/codeofethics.asp.
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Avaya

Nectar CMP solution now rated "Avaya Compliant"
Nectar Services Corp. announced that its Converged Management Platform (nectar/CMP) is compliant with key IP telephony solutions from Avaya.  The nectar/CMP helps businesses monitor and manage the different layers of their converged network and systems infrastructure. The service is now compliance-tested by Avaya for compatibility with Communication Manager 5.1.  Nectar Services 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. As a Platinum member of the program, Nectar is eligible to submit products for compatibility testing by the Avaya Solution Interoperability and Test Lab in Lincroft, N.J. There, a team of Avaya engineers develops a comprehensive test plan for each application to verify whether it is Avaya Compliant. Doing so ensures businesses can confidently add best-in-class capabilities to their network without having to replace their existing infrastructure -- speeding deployment of new applications and reducing both network complexity and implementation costs.
Visit www.nectarcorp.com or www.avaya.com/devconnect.
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Book review

Voice over WLANs: The Complete Guide
This book is a thorough treatment of the subject that will guide just about anyone through the background, underlying technologies, planning processes and managerial issues associated with VoWLANs. Finneran begins with an insightful overview on the convergence of WLANs and VoIP. He then patiently and thoroughly builds the necessary technical foundation in radio transmission, WLAN components, media access control protocols, and privacy and security issues. His explanation of the IP protocol suite and its application in voice routing and QoS management is at just the right level. Drilling deeper into the subject, he guides the reader through network design, traffic engineering, VoWLAN configuration, fixed-mobile convergence (FMC), and network management, all of which is pretty technical fare, but Finneran presents it in such a way that it goes down easily. Voice over WLANs: The Compete Guide is absolutely essential for anyone with a need to know about VoWLANs at a practical level. Highly recommended.

Authors: Michael Finneran
Publisher: Newnes (November 2007)
ISBN-10: 075068299X
ISBN-13: 978-0750682992
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International news

UK PBX market down
Growth of the UK telephony market skidded to a halt in the third quarter as SME spending crashed, figures from research house MZA reveal. After registering 4 per cent growth in Q2, sales of PBX and IP PBX extensions fell back 5 per cent to 723,000 in the three months to September on an annual comparison. The top three players - Nortel, Avaya and Cisco - all registered weaker sales during the quarter. MZA said the collapse was particularly pronounced among SMEs, with the 2-10 extensions market plunging by almost 20 per cent. Meanwhile, the 31-100 market dipped by more than 15 per cent. Things weren’t so dire at the high end, with growth in the 100-plus extension market hitting 1 per cent thanks to some deployments at specific large accounts. Yet again, IP proved a high-point, with IP extensions growing 19 per cent in the below-100 segment and rising 13 per cent in the 100-plus sector. IP extensions now account for 24 per cent of all extensions being sold in the below-100 extensions market and 70 per cent of the 100-plus market.
Visit www.mzaconsultants.com.
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Juniper

Juniper sets sights on Nortel partners
Juniper Networks is plotting to woo Nortel Networks partners away from the struggling networking vendor and bring them into their own camp.  Juniper issued a letter to Nortel partners, opening its arms to them as they navigate through economic uncertainty and evaluate their vendor partnerships. Last month, Nortel posted $3.4 billion in losses for the third calendar quarter. The loss was Nortel's biggest drop in seven years, despite two years of job slashing, which in 2007 saw Nortel cut 3,900 employees and 2,100 more in 2008. Juniper, on the other hand, closed out the third quarter of 2008 with revenue of $947 million, up 29 percent from the prior year, marking its most successful quarter to date. Despite the appearance that Juniper is only looking to poach away Nortel's partner base, Frank Vitagliano, Juniper's senior vice president of worldwide channels, said Juniper is using Nortel's struggles as an opportunity to tell new and existing partners that Juniper plans to invest across the board in the channel and that it believes partners can and will survive the economic downturn.
Visit www.juniper.net.
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Power

Tripp Lite wins 2008 CDW Partner of the Year award
Tripp Lite has been selected as a 2008 CDW Partner of the Year. The Partner of the Year awards honor CDW partners that have provided exemplary products, programs and support to CDW and its customers. "The Partner of the Year award is especially gratifying because we've worked hard to build a strong relationship with CDW,” said Bob Nahorski, Tripp Lite Vice President of U.S. Channel Sales. "With CDW's help, Tripp Lite has achieved 23 consecutive quarters of double-digit growth. We work well together because we're both committed to providing customers with reliable, cost-effective IT solutions backed by superior service and support. We're proud of our partnership with CDW and look forward to its continued success.”
Visit www.tripplite.com.
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Resellers

Westcon looks to round up Avaya resellers
Networking distributor Westcon has embarked on an initiative to recruit partners capable of selling Avaya enterprise solutions in a number of Middle East countries. Avaya represents a leading component of Westcon’s convergence portfolio and so the distributor is keen to court resellers in the UAE, Oman, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, Yemen and Pakistan.  “Westcon’s major focus is to replicate our world-leading convergence model here in the Middle East to provide leading-edge convergence technologies and services to our channel partners,” said Brian James, business unit manger at Westcon Middle East. “The addition of Avaya to our portfolio brings a true technology and a market-leading vendor to our channel. As well a consultative business development team, Westcon Middle East will have a pre- and post-sales team working in tandem with Avaya to bring onboard the sales and technical skill sets for these partners to deliver on a consultative model required for enterprise sales of Avaya equipment.”
Visit www.westcon.com.
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Sales training

First-of-its-kind sales training institute opens in New Jersey
The A Fluent Vision Sales Institute, a comprehensive sales training school, will begin classes in January 2009 implementing the first consultative sales curriculum to be licensed by the State of New Jersey. "The Institute provides the public with highly professional and intensive sales training usually offered only by top corporations, which are the organizations we have been training for years," said Robert Keller, co-founder. "In addition to the fact that our founders and staff have decades of highly accomplished, professional sales and management experience across a range of industries, we felt it would be beneficial for students and future employers of our graduates to know that the curriculum has been approved by the State of New Jersey." The AFV Sales Institute's Psychology of Successful Selling is a 32 session classroom program. It provides instruction in the principles of entrepreneurial economics, critical sales skills and the distribution channels for goods and services. AFV Sales Institute originated the Psychology of Successful Selling in the IT sector, although it is not exclusive to that industry. The Institute teaches students the process of selling regardless of the product or service. The AFV Sales Institute was founded by Robert Keller and Walter Santiago, who have 40 years of sales and management training experience for leading companies in the IT sector.
Visit www.afvsi.com.
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SIP trunking

Nortel helps SMBs get more powerful, cost effective communications
Using an IP Powered Business solution from Nortel, service providers can help their enterprise and small and medium sized business (SMB) customers reduce their monthly bills with an IP PBX trunking solution that eliminates the need for separate voice and data connections. Nortel has adapted the concept of "trunking" to the IP-enabled landscape resulting in lower telephony costs, rapid return on investment (ROI) plus the future opportunity for enhanced communications including Instant Messaging (IM), presence, white boarding and application sharing. Nortel's IP PBX solution is one of two access options available in Nortel's IP Powered Business solutions.  For service providers, SIP PBX trunking provides the opportunity to sell revenue-generating applications to their subscribers like unified communications, or VOIP VPN, on top of voice communications.  For SMBs and enterprises, SIP PBX trunking allows an easy evolution to unified communications. Nortel estimates that unified communications can help businesses realize cost-savings and an increase in productivity of up to 18 percent.
Visit www.nortel.com.
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