Upcoming Meeting Notice


SAVE THE DATE:

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


2010 EUROPEAN CONFERENCE
JUNE 16-18, 2010
Hotel Concorde Montparnasse – Paris, France

(Click here for more information.)

Avaya
Contact center
Grandstream
HP
Mobility sales
SIP
Toshiba
UC
VAR program
Wireless

Avaya

Avaya's proposed acquisition of Nortel Enterprise Solutions receives clearance
Avaya announced it received clearance from the European Commission for its proposed acquisition of Nortel's enterprise solutions business. The proposed acquisition is subject to additional regulatory reviews, and Avaya expects to close the transaction in December 2009.
Visit www.avaya.com. ^Back To Top

Contact center

OAISYS Tracer delivers affordable, enterprise-class quality assurance and workforce optimization
OAISYS announced the immediate availability of Tracer version 6.0, the industry’s leading digital recording solution for contact centers. Tracer 6.0 delivers new feature enhancements to better support large-scale, enterprise-wide deployment of the award-winning Tracer professional interaction management solution. Tracer’s live call and auto call monitoring functionality, as well as improved agent coaching and evaluation features, reduce training costs and increase revenue, driving overall profitability for contact centers. Tracer utilizes patent-pending OAISYS Portable Voice Document (PVD) technology to capture telephone-based interactions as digital call recordings, or voice documents, that are available to store, organize, playback, annotate and share with others as needed.  This core PVD functionality is paired with Tracer’s advanced contact center management features, including employee performance evaluations, the ability to live monitor calls and generate quality and resource utilization reporting. 
Visit www.oaisys.com. Back To Top

Grandstream

Grandstream Networks expands video surveillance portfolio
Grandstream Networks announced the release of two new CMOS IP surveillance cameras, the GXV3601_HD (720P high definition) and GXV3601_LL (low light), that add to the rich functionality and versatility of Grandstream’s IP video surveillance portfolio by providing exceptional visual clarity with high definition and under low light conditions. Grandstream’s IP camera products not only dramatically reduce the cost and time associated with installing surveillance systems, they also offer greater functionality and increased flexibility for remote video monitoring/control and 2-ways audio communication based on industry standard such as VoIP/SIP. The VoIP/SIP capability is unique because it enables seamless convergence between video surveillance and Voice-Video-over-IP communication applications. The use of VoIP/SIP essentially turns these cameras into smart camera phones not just for video monitoring but also 2-way audio intercom/monitoring using the prevailing SIP standard. Live video feeds from Grandstream’s surveillance cameras can also be routed through Grandstream’s GXE502x IP PBX and streamed onto Grandstream’s IP video endpoints like the GXV3140.
Visit www.grandstream.com.
^Back To Top

HP

HP to acquire 3Com for $2.7 billion
Hewlett-Packard Co. said it agreed to buy networking-gear maker 3Com Corp. for $2.7 billion in cash, the latest move by HP to bulk up its product line amid a broader push by the few remaining technology giants to turn themselves into one-stop shops for corporate customers. The Palo Alto, Calif., company—the world's largest tech company by revenue—also preannounced positive fiscal fourth quarter results. It posted an 11% jump in operating earnings and an 8% decline in revenue from a year ago, beating analyst estimates.
Visit www.hp.com.
^Back To Top

Mobility sales

The Five People You’ll Meet in Mobility Sales
By Mark S.A. Smith
Selling Mobility solutions isn’t like selling other types of technology. There isn’t just one decision maker. The budget and approval come from five different power sources—each with different priorities and decision criteria. So let’s explore who’s involved in setting Mobility priorities and how to achieve consensus to make the deal work over the long haul.
Read entire article.
^Back To Top

SIP

SIP Forum forms Smart Grid Special Interest Group
The SIP Forum announced that it has recently formed a new Smart Grid Special Interest Group (SIG) with the focus of evaluating the appropriateness of using SIP as a protocol for a number of Smart Grid areas, including the Home Area Network (HAN), Utilities' Operational Network, and PEV (Plug-In Vehicle) deployments. The Smart Grid initiative is founded on the premise that communication between devices using standard protocols will bring significant value to the electricity industry. While there are many protocols and standards used by the electricity industry, none address the need for a common, ubiquitous network. Also, the majority of these protocols and standards are quite different from those used in the telecommunications industry. The challenges facing the electricity industry are very similar to the challenges that the telecommunications industry faced a decade ago which subsequently led to the deployment of IP based networks and SIP as a de-facto protocol for session management. It is the SIP Forum's belief that the 'communications overlay network' of the Smart Grid industry is very similar to the communications network of the telecommunications industry, and it would benefit the Smart Grid immensely to assess how protocols such as SIP addressed the challenges in the telecommunications industry and how it may be able to address their challenges.
Visit www.sipforum.org.
^Back To Top

Toshiba

Toshiba launches entry-level unified messaging for SMB users
Toshiba America Information Systems Inc., Telecommunication Systems Division announced Strata Messaging, a new low-cost, entry-level Unified Messaging solution for the Small to Medium Business (SMB) market.  Compatible with Toshiba’s Strata CIX family of IP business communication systems, Strata Messaging is now available through Toshiba’s network of Authorized Dealers nationwide. It is ideally sized and priced to address the Unified Messaging needs of users of the smaller Toshiba VoIP systems, the Strata CIX40 and CIX100. Strata Messaging supports 2 to 8 ports of voice mail, up to 400 mailboxes, and has 300 hours of storage.  The base system package offers two voice mail ports and 10 seats of Unified Messaging.  Additional ports and Unified Messaging seats can be purchased and licensed through Authorized Toshiba Dealers. Strata Messaging resides on an external Linux-based appliance equipped with internal components designed for reliability.  Because it is an external device, it does not use a full card slot in the system; rather, it uses only a portion of a GIPU or MIPU IP card leaving the remaining ports free for other applications. Strata Messaging connects to the Strata CIX through IP channels.
Visit www.toshiba.com.
^Back To Top

UC

Polycom expands visual communication solutions
Polycom, Inc. is introducing the latest addition to its VVX 1500 solutions portfolio, the Polycom VVX 1500 D business media phone, the industry’s first simultaneous dual-stack (H.323 and Session Initiation Protocol (SIP)) device. This new UC endpoint is ideally suited for large organizations with existing H.323 video deployments that are planning for a future where video and telephony communication will migrate into one UC platform. Polycom’s family of VVX 1500 business media phones are the only devices to combine a personal video conferencing system with a fully featured VoIP telephone with Polycom HD Voice and an open application programming interface (API) and Web browser for real-time delivery of personalized Web content as well as integration with key business applications.
Visit www.polycom.com.




snom and ESTOS partner to deliver unified communications and CTI to VoIP phones
snom Technology AG announced it has teamed with ESTOS to ease the deployment of Microsoft TAPI-enabled business applications like unified communications and CTI solutions. The partnership allows ESTOS’ ECSTA for snom middleware to convert snom’s Computer Telephony Integration (CTI) interface protocol to the Microsoft TAPI standard. ESTOS ECSTA for snom, when used with ESTOS ProCall solutions, allows both companies to deliver unified communications and CTI functionality to medium-sized businesses and service providers. The new ESTOS ECSTA for snom middleware enables snom’s 3XX Series and 8XX Series intelligent VoIP telephones to support additional call center, CTI and unified communications applications in both 32-bit and 64-bit Windows operating system environments. ESTOS ECSTA for snom also enables snom phones to take advantage of several telephony functions through TAPI-enabled applications. Those functions include making, answering, holding and retrieving calls; consultation calls; single-step transfers; alternating calls; setting and receiving forwarding status; and setting and receiving do not disturb status.
Visit www.snom.com or www.estos.com. ^Back To Top

VAR program

Mushroom Networks announces value added reseller program
Mushroom Networks, Inc. announced a new value added reseller (VAR) program that will enable authorized partners to resell the company’s unique line of Broadband Bonding products to the Internet service provider and IT services market sectors.  With this program, Mushroom Networks is looking to expand and strengthen its global presence as demand for low-cost alternatives for extremely fast and reliable Internet services continues to grow. Broadband Bonding is a revolutionary technology that combines multiple high-speed Internet connections of any type (DSL, cable, wireless etc.) into a single Internet connection.  Mushroom Networks’ VAR program covers the company’s complete line of products ranging from its flagship TRUFFLE, with ability to combine up to six wired broadband connections plus one USB cellular-card, to PortaBella, a wireless solution that combines up to four USB cellular-cards targeting various mobile applications such as traveling sales, temporary offices, live video streaming and broadcast news teams.
Visit www.mushroomnetworks.com.
^Back To Top

Wireless

Enterasys offers Extreme Networks customers exclusive no cost WLAN upgrade
Enterasys, the network infrastructure and security division of Siemens Enterprise Communications Group, announced the availability of its free Extreme Wireless Upgrade program for Extreme Networks customers seeking to protect existing investments and simplify the upgrade path to 802.11n, as well as immediately increase performance and security. The new program enables Summit users to upgrade current WM Series wireless controllers and A350/A450 access points with significantly enhanced software that is not available from Extreme. This program also simplifies upgrading to 802.11n wireless technology by enabling customers to continue to use existing Summit controllers and access point mounting brackets.  Enterasys will also honor up to one year of existing Extreme Networks wireless maintenance and support.
Visit www.enterasys.com.
^Back To Top