Upcoming Meeting Notice


SAVE THE DATE:

NORTHEAST USA REGIONAL RECEPTION
SEPTEMBER 15, 2009
Tia's Restaurant - Boston, MA


MIDWEST REGIONAL RECEPTION
OCTOBER 14, 2009
Hotel Lumiere - St. Louis, MO

(Click here for more information.)

NATD European Conference Grows
Amid a challenging sales environment for all telecommunications equipment and services, the Association of Telecommunications Dealers (NATD) saw growth in attendance as it held its annual European Conference in Amsterdam last week. The conference attracted NATD members from throughout the EU and from the US and Canada. As with all NATD Conferences, business building programing was mixed with networking opportunities. Graeme Cordrington, a recognized expert on multigenerational workplaces, mixed humor with insight as he inspired members to get more from themselves and for their teams. “He really opened our eyes to the differences between the various generations we are working with and selling to,” said Joe Marion, the NATD’s Executive Director. An afternoon session focused on the four stages of effecting energy change in our homes and offices (Measure, Empower, Upgrade and Celebrate), and the NATD furnished all attendees with free copies of Cordington’s book, "Mind the Gap." Informal networking occurred as members enjoyed a tour of Amsterdam’s famous canals and enjoyed a reception at the American Hotel. In a year where many telecom events have declined, the NATD continues to grow both its European and North American conferences and regional events.
Visit www.natd.com to learn more.

NATD in the news
Obituary
Avaya
Book review
Case study
Cisco
Fax
IP phones
Mitel
NEC

NATD in the news

NATD elects new members
The following companies were voted in as new Members to the NATD in June 2009:

Americom Technology, Inc – Jon Giberson – USA
Communications Test Design – Christopher Carr – USA
DTC Int’l Ltd. – James Norden – UK
Epoka Group – Jan Brandrup – Denmark
Modern Ent. Solutions – Michael Herzog – USA
QX3 Telecom – Debera Phinney – USA
Trinet Systems, Inc. – Jim Tinnell – USA ^Back To Top

Obituary

Obituary – Nortel Networks
by Phil Ruffin
Telecom Reseller “Nortel Notes”

Those of us who have been around long enough will always remember where we were when we learned of the deaths of John F. Kennedy, Walt Disney and Elvis Presley. More recently, we learned of the deaths of Farrah Fawcett, Ed McMahon, and Michael Jackson. June 2009 will long be remembered for the well-publicized deaths of those we loved and respected. These famous deaths are etched in our memories, but for those who have occupations in the telecom world, a recent death resounds within us that will ring with profound changes for years to come. On June 19, 2009, Nortel died. The press announcement on its web site stated that Nortel had entered into an agreement with Nokia Siemens Networks to sell its CDMA and LTE businesses. The announcement went on to state that Nortel would sell its other businesses and ask to have its stock delisted from the Toronto Stock Exchange.
Link to full article
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Avaya

Avaya and IBM expand relationship with focus on unified communications and security interoperability
Avaya and IBM announced an expansion of their alliance relationship to deliver unified communications solutions backed by newly Avaya certified security products for enterprise clients and government organizations, worldwide. The two companies also plan to focus support on Avaya Aura - Avaya's new unified communications architecture - by incorporating Avaya Aura into existing IBM converged communications services. As part of the expanded alliance, the companies will jointly deliver unified communications solutions that streamline mission critical and complex communication systems, achieve rapid return on investment and improve productivity by helping to allow users to communicate anytime from anywhere, regardless of device or network. In addition, Avaya has certified the IBM Internet Security Systems' Proventia GX 5208 and Proventia Management SiteProtector SP1001 as compliant with IP telephony solutions from Avaya, enabling IBM to offer comprehensive intrusion protection for Avaya Aura's communication system.
Visit www.avaya.com or www.ibm.com.
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Book review

Fiber-Optic Systems for Telecommunications
Reviewed by William A. Flanagan

Densely written, this volume evenly balances the theory with the practice. The first half gets deep into the technical details, from the physical construction of fibers and couplers to the light signaling formats and data frames that carry information. The second half looks at the practical aspects, with a thorough chapter on computing the power budget and optimal input power for an optical link.

Here you can find the features and functions of the different lasers, filters, couplers and amplifiers that carry light pulses over land and under sea. Freeman gets down to the way the light encodes 1's and 0's. Nice summaries explain the impairments that affect FO links, from connector loss to non-linear optical effects caused by high power density. SONET, still a workhorse of telecom transmission systems, gets a complete review, including the formats of containers, multiplexing, signaling channels and other header content. Past the midpoint, Freeman shifts to the practice of optical networking. Separate chapters focus on power budgets, planning and installation, availability, fiber selection and optical switching systems.

In the back there's a good list of acronyms and a long (22 pages) index.

Author: Roger L. Freeman
Hardbound: 390 + xviii pages
Publisher: Wiley-Interscience (2002)
ISBN: 0-471-41477-8
List Price: $127.50
Amazon Link: http://www.amazon.com/
Fiber-Optic-Systems-Telecommunications-Freeman/dp/0471414778/
ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1245123296&sr=1-1^Back To Top

Case study

Toshiba VoIP telephone system proves to be the right remedy
Toshiba America Information Systems Inc., Telecommunication Systems Division delivered the right remedy for Florida-based Interventional Cardiologists of Gainesville (IVC).  IVC provides cardiovascular healthcare services via its Gainesville headquarters as well as at a branch office in Lake City, Fla.  The company needed a new business telephone system to manage its call load while continuing to provide exceptional patient service.  Margarita Purvis, major accounts manager of Authorized Toshiba Dealer ComSys, recommended the Toshiba Strata CIX IP business telephone system. Designed by the ComSys team, IVC’s business telephone system consists of a Strata CIX670 VoIP communication system located at the Gainesville headquarters and a Strata CIX100 system at the Lake City location.  The systems are networked together using Toshiba’s Strata Net over a high speed Internet connection with MPLS protocol. The Strata CIX670 system also includes Toshiba’s Strata Media Application Server (MAS) that houses multiple applications, including Toshiba Stratagy ES Voice Processing, Network eManager, Unified Messaging, Fax Feature Group and Call Accounting Software. There are a variety of endpoints at both locations, including digital display telephones, wireless headsets and attendant consoles.  Moving to the Toshiba Strata CIX business telephone system helped IVC save nearly $200,000 over five years.
Visit www.telecom.toshiba.com.
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Cisco

Spanlink Communications ranked among North America’s top 500 technology integrators
Spanlink Communications, a Minneapolis-based provider of Cisco unified communications and contact center solutions, has been recognized by Everything Channel as one of North America’s top technology integrators. Spanlink placed number 401 in the 15th annual VAR500 ranking.  The VAR500 list details the leading revenue producers among technology integrators and technology solution provider organizations in North America. The list’s ranking is based on gross worldwide revenue of hardware and software sales, as well as earnings from professional and managed IT services. “We are thrilled to be a new addition to the VAR500 list this year,” said Scott Christian, CEO of Spanlink Communications. “This award highlights our commitment to providing customers with leading business communications solutions and marks another milestone in Spanlink’s partnership with Cisco.”
Visit www.spanlink.com. ^Back To Top

Fax

Sagem-Interstar's IP fax solutions now rated "Avaya 5.1 compliant"
Sagem-Interstar announced that its XMediusFAX boardless T.38 FoIP server solutions are compliant with key IP telephony solutions from Avaya.  XMediusFAX FoIP solutions have been compliance-tested by Avaya for compatibility with Avaya Communication Manager 5.1 along with Avaya Media Gateways. Sagem-Interstar is a Gold 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 Gold member of the program, Sagem-Interstar 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.
Visit www.sagem-interstar.com or www.avaya.com/devconnect.

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IP phones

8x8, Inc. and Aastra roll out co-branded IP business phones
8x8, Inc. announced it has joined forces with Aastra to roll out and support co-branded Virtual Office business IP phones, bundled with the 8x8 Virtual Office suite of services, at nationwide Office Depot retail locations. Aastra will supply the co-branded 8x8/Aastra 6755i Virtual Office IP phone, while 8x8 provisions and manages the 8x8 Virtual Office hosted IP PBX service. Designed with 8x8’s advanced network address translation (NAT) traversal technologies to facilitate usage from any high speed Internet connection worldwide, the 8x8/Aastra IP phones plug into any broadband Internet connection to allow users to immediately make or receive calls without performing any network configuration or firewall manipulation. In addition, the 8x8/Aastra IP phones deliver enhanced features including corporate directory display and lookup, extension dialing and transfers, intercom paging, shared line appearance and an embedded XML browser.
Visit www.8x8.com or www.aastra.com.
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Mitel

XETA joins Mitel Hospitality specialistPARTNER program
Mitel continues to strengthen its hospitality focus with the addition of XETA Technologies, Inc. to the Mitel Hospitality specialistPARTNER program. XETA provides enterprise-class communications solutions and managed services to the converged communications market in the United States. Mitel's Hospitality specialistPARTNER program combines Mitel's long-standing leadership in innovative applications tailored to the hospitality market with the experience of select Mitel channel partners. Hospitality specialistPARTNERs are supported by the Mitel hospitality expert sales team and benefit from ongoing training, product development and marketing support that enable them to deliver solutions that meet the unique needs of their customers.
Visit www.xeta.com.
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NEC

NEC demonstrates technologies for enhancing guest experience and driving revenue
NEC Unified Solutions, Inc. will demonstrate the UNIVERGE Sphericall for Hospitality software-based communications solution for medium-sized hotels among its featured hospitality solutions at HITEC 2009, July 22-25 at the Anaheim Convention Center.  Additionally, NEC will feature the following advanced hospitality communications solutions in booth #810: IP Communications Servers – NEC’s robust, feature-rich communications servers are designed to help meet the communications needs of any size property; Attendant Console for Hospitality – the UNIVERGE UA5200 Attendant Console Hospitality Module is a smart application that provides the latest in advanced call-processing capabilities and productivity enhancements; applications for guest phones – these easy-to-use applications are designed to help hoteliers enhance service through intelligent applications on guest phones that display news, promote hotel events, schedule wake-up calls, on-demand call recording and speed dialing; and IP phones – NEC’s latest IP phones move the standard guest phone to the next level with an extensive feature set and modular design.
Visit www.necunified.com.
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