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2010 WINTER CONFERENCE AND EXHIBIT SHOW
JANUARY 20 - 22, 2010
Royal Sonesta Hotel - New Orleans, LA

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NATD in the news
Avaya
Case study
NEC
Polycom
Power
Pricing
Samsung
Speech
VoIP

NATD in the news

Catalyst Telecom partners with RedSky Technologies
Catalyst Telecom has added RedSky Technologies, a leading provider of automated E911 software solutions for the enterprise, to its line card.  Through this relationship, Catalyst Telecom’s reseller partners will have access to RedSky’s innovative E911 solutions, enabling them to easily integrate these solutions into their end-user customers’ Avaya voice solutions.  RedSky solutions can track phone locations for on-premise users, as well as mobile users with softphones or VPN connectivity; send real-time notifications of all 911 calls made; and connect a 911 call anywhere in the United States, while providing comprehensive location information for emergency responders. 
Visit www.catalysttelecom.com or www.redskyE911.com
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Avaya

Avaya to host Virtual Partner Conference
Avaya announced that it will launch the Avaya Virtual Partner Conference, an event that will offer a combination of on-demand training, live question and answer sessions and key reference materials. The conference is designed to provide Avaya's global channel partners with in-depth details on Avaya's business strategies, product and service roadmaps, and information on critical tools to improve their company's effectiveness and overall success. The Avaya Virtual Partner Conference will launch via webcast at 9:00 a.m. Eastern on Tuesday, November 10, 2009. It will feature several video presentations wherein Avaya executives address FY2010 channel initiatives and demonstrate how partners can be successful with the Avaya Aura unified communications architecture and new service options. There will also be in-depth discussions on the new partner program, Avaya Connect, and the streamlined competency model.

The Avaya Virtual Partner Conference website will also feature a Resource Center pre-loaded with presentations and relevant documentation and Virtual Briefcases that will allow partners to save pertinent resources for later use. Videos and resources will be available on demand at the Avaya Virtual Partner Conference website for a minimum of six months.  Avaya partners interested in participating in the virtual conference can register by going to the Avaya Partner Portal and clicking on the Events and Forums tab.
Visit www.avaya.com. ^Back To Top

Case study

Avaya helps boost services to consumers with disabilities
Avaya announced that Humanim, a Maryland-based non-profit serving individuals with disabilities, has implemented an Avaya Aura unified communications solution to drive down costs. The new technology also added employee flexibility and business continuity capabilities and simplified administration of its telecommunications system. The organization recently purchased the 150-year-old American Brewery Building in East Baltimore to centralize its on-site services for its consumers, help provide local jobs and encourage redevelopment in the area. Seeking a new communications system for the site, the non-profit turned to Avaya Platinum-certified channel partner, Carousel Industries. Humanim estimates a savings of more than $5000 per month from the reduced requirements for copper lines alone with the Avaya Aura solution. In addition, the organization opted to equip employees with Avaya softphones integrated with Microsoft Office Communications Server (OCS), further reducing capital expenditures while increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of both office and field staff.
Visit www.avaya.com or www.carouselindustries.com.
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NEC

NEC announces partnership
NEC Corporation of America, Inc. (NEC) announced that Tidebreak, Inc. has joined the UNIVERGE Solutions Partner Program.  Tidebreak will work with NEC to provide its collaborative classroom environment for education customers. In addition to innovative learning space technologies, Tidebreak’s interactive learning space technologies support three major ideas: transforming large displays into communal work surfaces; enabling the easy movement of content among students, instructors and devices in a classroom or group meeting; and automatically capturing and disseminating information to participants as they co-create new ideas. Tidebreak’s technology offers campuses a software-based alternative to the traditional but costly audio/visual hardware infrastructure, creating the potential to lower total cost of ownership and maintenance costs to a point where advanced technology classrooms can scale across the entire campus.
Visit www.necunified.com or www.tidebreak.com.
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Polycom

Vivox uses Polycom HD Voice
Vivox Inc. delivers voice chat to over 15 million users and supports billions of minutes of chat per month. Having doubled its number of users in the past year, the company expects to see exponential growth in the next 12 months thanks to a growing customer base and its recent launch of the Vivox Voice on Facebook application. One of Vivox’s key differentiators is its high quality voice, which is powered by Polycom using the company’s high definition (HD), royalty-free Siren 14/G 722.1C voice codec. Polycom, which first introduced HD Voice in its video conferencing systems more than 15 years ago, is also a visionary in delivering HD for voice communications. Polycom introduced its first HD phone in 2003 and is now delivering its entire lineup of SoundPoint IP desktop, SoundStation conference and VVX 1500 business media phones with built-in support for Polycom HD Voice and other high definition codecs. Other telephone manufacturers are following suit; business-class phones that don’t support HD Voice are rapidly disappearing, and the move to HD Voice across all communications modes is rapidly accelerating.
Visit www.polycom.com. ^Back To Top

Power

Tripp Lite continues green initiative with energy efficient UPS systems
In an effort to further its green initiative, Tripp Lite has developed its latest line of SmartOnline Single-Phase UPS Systems to incorporate an Economy Mode function. Operating in Economy Mode, the SmartOnline Series, from 1000-16000VA, boasts an industry-leading efficiency rating of up to 97%, which in turn leads to less heat built up in data centers, lower energy consumption and dramatic savings in both cooling and energy costs. Tripp Lite has long been at the forefront of the green initiative, realizing early on that engineering energy-efficient products not only made sense from an environmental perspective, but from a business perspective as well. By offering products that reduce corporate CO2 emissions and, consequently, operational costs, Tripp Lite provides its customers with a competitive edge that helps them succeed in today’s dynamic marketplace. The new SmartOnline models are poised to be the most effective yet, with their cumulative reduction of energy, expenditures and environmental impact.
Visit www.tripplite.com/greeninitiatives.
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Pricing

PAETEC launches online quoting tool for agents
PAETEC Holding Corp. announced the deployment of a powerful online pricing tool for its agent partners.  The new system, called the Agent Online Quoting Tool, will empower sales agents to independently qualify opportunities, create pricing quotes and produce service agreements for a significant portion of PAETEC’s product portfolio.  PAETEC’s channel managers will continue to support the sales process, products and special pricing not yet available in the quoting tool.  Agents can now design customized and personalized telecommunication proposals and instantly generate on-demand service agreements if the proposal meets minimum financial thresholds for PAETEC. Currently, the software allows agents to price a range of products including: dynamic IP, offering instant bandwidth allocation between VoIP and Internet; dedicated Internet access; PRI ISDN circuits; and equipment rental. Additional products will continue to be added to Online Quoting Tool. 
Visit www.paetec.com. ^Back To Top

Samsung

SMB Marketing -- Exorcising the Ghosts of Y2K
Ten years ago, the nation was gripped in fear over Y2K. With dire predictions of phone and computer crashes, safety system failures, and loss of overall communications, businesses reacted swiftly by implementing major technology overhauls and upgrades ― spending upwards of $300 billion to prevent Y2K-related computer date-reading problems. The memory of these large-scale business disruptions, costly infrastructure upgrades, and time spent training staff in the rush to beat the Y2K deadline lingers in the minds of business owners and has helped propagate the myth that telecom upgrades are a disruptive, time-consuming and costly ordeal. But today, this is no longer the case.

Many easy-to-implement, cost-saving solutions are now available to SMBs. For instance, Samsung, already known for its low-cost, high-quality consumer electronics, continues to deliver leading-edge business communication applications through its OfficeServ 7000 series of converged platforms. These platforms make enterprise-level applications such as wireless, messaging and mobility affordable to SMBs. Plus, many of the systems require no additional cabling or power thus simplifying integration/migration and reducing business disruptions.

The Y2K myth is still impacting upgrade decisions today with many SMBs believing they simply can’t afford to. But, in reality they can’t afford not to.
Visit www.samsung.com.
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Speech

Nuance and IBM develop, market and deliver speech solutions for ten industries
Nuance Communications, Inc. and IBM have entered into a comprehensive Joint Initiative Agreement to further accelerate innovation and advanced speech recognition solutions for enterprises, consumers and partners worldwide. This partnership builds upon the technology and IP collaboration between the companies announced earlier this year. As part of the Joint Initiative Agreement, IBM named Nuance its Preferred Business Partner for speech technologies and related professional services to complement IBM’s Industry Solutions portfolio. The companies will collaborate to address and fulfill the needs of customers in ten industries: Automotive, Banking, Electronics, Energy and Utilities, Healthcare and Life Sciences, Insurance, Media and Entertainment, Retail, Telecommunications, and Travel and Transportation.
Visit www.ibm.com or www.nuance.com.
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VoIP

snom partners with CudaTel for affordable, easy VoIP deployments
snom Technology AG announced it has teamed with CudaTel, a wholly owned subsidiary of content security vendor Barracuda Networks Inc., to deliver an affordable, reliable and easy to deploy end-to-end VoIP communications solution to the SMB and enterprise markets. The pairing enables businesses to use snom's portfolio of Linux-based SIP VoIP phones with CudaTel's recently launched CudaTel Communication Server offering, an IP PBX and communications appliance that delivers dozens of new features and functions managed via a Web- based user interface. CudaTel's platform is based on FreeSWITCH, a free open source software communications platform for voice and chat-driven products released under the MPL free software license.
Visit www.snom.com or www.cudatel.com.
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