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

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Breaking
NATD in the news
Acquisitions
Book review
Conferencing
Mitel
Samsung
Security
SIP
Storage

Breaking

Avaya completes acquisition of Nortel Enterprise Solutions
Avaya announced the successful completion of its acquisition of Nortel Enterprise Solutions (NES). Approximately 6,000 NES employees have joined Avaya, including 25 top managers. Avaya has begun to execute its plans to integrate the operations and customer care functions of the two organizations. Avaya has promised a roadmap for integrating Nortel products into its product line for Jan. 19.

The investment ranking for the privately held company was dropped to B3 – six steps below the lowest rating that is considered investor grade, according to the Wall Street Journal. The rating is an assessment of how credit worthy entities are. A B3 ranking is marked by subject “high credit risk,” and having "generally poor credit quality,” and is among the rankings commonly referred to as junk.

The Nortel deal has lots of potential upside for Avaya, and that includes securing the top ranking among unified communications vendors, but Moody’s Investors Service says the path to integrating Nortel and solidifying that lead is perilous, the Journal reports. The borrowing as Avaya did to finance the $900 million purchase "will leave little cushion to support unforeseen operating or integration challenges and minimal ability to make material debt repayment," according to Moody’s.
Visit www.avaya.com/nortel. ^Back To Top

NATD in the news

MetrolineDirect offers refurbished computers and servers
MetrolineDirect has been a leading provider of refurbished PBX equipment for over 20 years and now offers quality refurbished computers and servers to its customer base. With today's economy squeezing budgets, companies are looking for new ways to stretch their IT dollars. Many businesses have begun to offset hardware costs by choosing used equipment for the maintenance and expansion of voice and data networks. By purchasing used PBX equipment as well as refurbished PC and data equipment, businesses can save up to sixty percent on network hardware costs. MetrolineDirect is a leading solution provider for used voice products and, now, quality refurbished computers, as well as servers and other data networking equipment.
Visit www.metrolinedirect.com. ^Back To Top

Acquisitions

TMX Funding acquires assets of Teledex, LLC.
TMX Funding Inc., an affiliate of Scitec, Inc./TeleMatrix, Inc., has acquired assets of Teledex, LLC following completion of a non-judicial foreclosure sale. Assets acquired by TMX Funding include: (a) all goods consisting of inventory, equipment and fixtures wherever located in the world, including but not limited to Malaysia, Hong Kong and The United Kingdom; (b) all URL addresses owned or controlled by Teledex; (c) all tradenames owned or controlled by Teledex; (d) all schematics, designs and other technical information owned, licensed or controlled by Teledex; (e) all telecommunication numbers, including all telephone and facsimile numbers, issued to Teledex; and (f) all accounting data and information, but not including any accounting software or software licenses.   
Visit www.scitecinc.com or www.telematrix.net. ^Back To Top

Book review

Deploying QoS for Cisco IP and Next-Generation Networks: The Definitive Guide
Reviewed by William A. Flanagan
President, Flanagan Consulting
[email protected]

The highly detailed content of this book shows every sign of being a definitive guide to Quality of Service (QoS), as advertised. If you work with Cisco equipment and perhaps other makes, as well, and want to understand exactly how a router handles packets and queues subject to different classes of service, then Chapter 2, "Introduction to Cisco's Quality-of-Service Architecture for IP Networks" may be worth the price of admission. How to use QoS takes up three chapters covering Quad-Play Networks (mixing voice and video with data), Next-Generation Networks (including the carrier's viewpoint), and Mobile Networks (as QoS applies to cellular networks from 1G to 4G). There are many sections that examine specific problems and offer solutions. Since the purpose of QoS is to ensure the services delivered on a network meet service level agreements, there is appropriate coverage of SLAs over three chapters. There's a ton—maybe two—of solid information in this volume. The information seems technically accurate throughout, but the organization of the materials makes it a tough "read."

Authors: Vinod Joseph and Brett Chapman
Publisher: Morgan Kaufmann Publishers (an imprint of Elsevier) (2009)
ISBN-10: 012374461X
ISBN 13: 978-0-12-374461-6
List Price: $59.95
Digital Guru Price: $53.96Back To Top

Conferencing

Glowpoint and MMC Worldwide (MMCW) announce telepresence and video conferencing partnership
Glowpoint, Inc. and MMC Worldwide (MMCW) announced an agreement to offer enhanced video solutions to the medical and pharmaceutical industries. The multi-year engagement will combine MMCW’s recently achieved Polycom certification and distribution status with Glowpoint’s managed services and global video exchange service, called the Telepresence interExchange Network (“TEN”), to deliver a complete turn-key solution for doctors and hospitals worldwide. The solution will provide telepresence and video conferencing interconnectivity to the global medical community, with ease of access from anywhere in the world. In addition, the partnership plans to support MMCW’s chosen charity, Medical Missions for Children, a 501(c)(3) organization focused on providing diagnostic and treatment consultations for critically-ill children in 108 countries around the world.
Visit www.glowpoint.com or www.mmcworldwide.com.
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Mitel

Mitel files U.S. IPO
Mitel Networks plans to launch a $230-million IPO on the NYSE, one of the largest offerings ever by an Ottawa-based company.  The company will use the proceeds to repay debt and for general corporate purposes. The company said that could include acquisitions. Mitel had revenue of $735.1-million in the 2009 fiscal year, up 6.2 percent from the prior year. It reported a loss of $193.5-million, compared with a profit of $12.6-million in the same period a year ago. Mitel tried to go public in 2006, but the effort was put on hold after it acquired Inter-Tel. This time, the underwriters are led by Bank of America Merrill Lynch, JPMorgan, and UBS Investment Bank.
Visit www.mitel.com.
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Samsung

Samsung BCS adds two new feature-rich systems to affordable OfficeServ 7000 series
Samsung Business Communication Systems (BCS) introduced the compact OfficeServ 7030 and economically-expandable OfficeServ 7200-S as the two newest additions to its popular series of converged telephony solutions for small and medium-sized businesses. Ideal for cost-conscious start-ups, entrepreneurs and other businesses looking to upgrade their communications capabilities and optimize operational efficiencies, these new platforms allow these businesses to cost-effectively leverage advanced functions such as VoIP, SIP trunking and WiFi with “right-sized” capacities tailored to meet their needs. The compact Samsung OfficeServ 7030 is flexible enough to support up to 20 stations using a combination of Samsung’s wired and wireless handsets, IP phones and digital telephones. With support for up to 64 stations, the OfficeServ 7200-S allows users to take advantage of the powerful set of built-in and add-on features of the larger OfficeServ 7200 platform with capacity “right-sized” for these businesses.
Visit www.samsung.com/bcs.
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Security

Electronic Safety and Security (ESS) courses begin at BICSI
In response to the convergence of ESS systems onto the network, BICSI announces three upcoming ESS courses which are based on the Electronic Safety and Security Design Reference Manual (ESSDRM), 2nd edition. ESS100, the first course, discusses security design basics and theory, as well as current and future trends. ESS110 is a 5-day course that provides professionals with the knowledge needed to design ESS systems. This course reviews various integration practices, methodologies and devices when designing electronic safety and security systems, identifying how physical and electronic safety and security work together as a comprehensive package. ESS200 features a fast-paced review of the BICSI ESSDRM, highlighting the critical areas professionals should know for the ESS Specialist exam.
Visit www.bicsi.org/ess. Back To Top

SIP

Broadvox to feature GO! SIP Trunking at ITEXPO East 2010
Broadvox announced it will have the latest version of its GO! SIP Trunking on display at TMC’s ITEXPO East 2010 to be held January 20-22 in Miami, Florida. Broadvox GO! SIP Trunking is a virtual phone line that utilizes a broadband connection and SIP to deliver inexpensive local, toll-free, domestic and international long distance service through a robust private IP network. It works directly with an IP PBX or an IAD when connecting to a TDM PBX or key system. Broadvox customizes specific SIP Trunking solutions for each customer to satisfy their particular business communication needs. Broadband connections are also available for those who do not have a current provider or need to upgrade. GO! SIP Trunking includes unique features such as business continuity, geographic load balancing, scalability and dynamic load balancing to prevent bottlenecks during peak communication hours.  
Visit www.broadvox.com or www.itexpo.com.
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Storage

Global Crossing selects HP to enhance unified communications platform
HP announced that Global Crossing has chosen HP StorageWorks Enterprise Virtual Array (EVA) solutions to improve storage utilization and better allocate storage capacity in support of important business initiatives. The EVA offers an easy-to-use management interface so Global Crossing can quickly assign available storage space as business needs change. It also adds elasticity to Global Crossing’s technology environment by helping consolidate underutilized storage capacity. To support the company’s unified communications strategy, the HP EVA is managing the storage needs of more than 5,000 internal mailboxes that offer up to 1 gigabyte of storage each. The EVA’s virtualization capabilities also support Global Crossing’s server virtualization and SAN strategies. Lastly, the HP EVA features HP StorageWorks Business Copy EVA software, which improves data recovery and availability, enabling Global Crossing to ensure critical information is always accessible through local replication and specialized backup.
Visit www.hp.com.
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