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

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NATD in the news
Avaya
Awards
Book review
Emergency response
Mitel
Net neutrality
Nortel
SIP Forum
Unified communications

NATD in the news

NATD HELPS ORPHANAGE IN HAITI
The NATD Charity Foundation has made a donation to a not for profit organization called God's Littlest Angels of Haiti. This organization runs an orphanage in Haiti in need of our help, as you can imagine.  Several of the staff have lost loved ones and most lost their homes.

Someone we know from IBM is personal friends with Tom Vanderwell, a GLA Board of Director, so we know it is legit. In 2004 Tom adopted 2 children from the orphanage and in 2006 joined their Board. Dixie, the orphanage Director, was interviewed by Matt Lauer on the Today Show Wednesday morning:  http://godslittlestangelsinhaiti.org/2010/01/13/dixie-speaks-with-matt-lauer-from-the-today-show-about-the-situation-in-haiti/  

If you are looking for a grass roots organization where the money in Haiti will make a BIG difference, consider God's Littlest Angels of Haiti.

For more information on GLA of Haiti and to MAKE A DONATION, please go to http://www.glahaiti.org/home  They can use ANY amount of you can spare.  ANY AMOUNT.

Joe Marion
NATD Executive Director
[email protected]
www.natd.com

Denny McBroom
NATD Charity Foundation Chair^Back To Top

Avaya

Psytechnics selected for gold membership in Avaya DevConnect program
Psytechnics announced it has been selected for membership in the Avaya DevConnect program as a gold member. The Avaya DevConnect program promotes the development, compliance testing and co-marketing of innovative third-party products that are compatible with standards-based Avaya solutions. Member organizations have expertise in a broad range of technologies -- including IP telephony, contact centers and mobility applications -- helping companies extend the value of multivendor networks and transform voice into an intelligent business application that delivers true value to the bottom line. Psytechnics Experience Manager provides enterprise and managed service provider IT organizations with a comprehensive voice and video performance management solution that enables them to proactively manage the users' experience ensuring voice and video calls are consistently of business quality. Problems that impact the user experience are identified in real time, diagnosed and then repaired, quickly and efficiently, using the most appropriate IT resource.
Visit www.avaya.com/devconnect or www.psytechnics.com.
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Awards

Veramark named one of the best companies to work for in New York state
Veramark Technologies, Inc., a leading provider of Telecom Expense Management (TEM) solutions, announced it has been recognized by the New York State Society for Human Resource Management (NYS-SHRM) as a winner of the "2010 Best Companies to Work for in New York State." Company selection was based on an assessment of the employee policies and procedures, as well as results of an internal employee survey conducted by the Best Companies Group. Forty New York-based winners were selected in two categories: 25 small/medium-sized companies (15-249 employees) and 15 large-sized companies (250 or more employees). Veramark was among the winners in the small/medium-sized company category.
Visit www.veramark.com or www.bestcompaniesNY.com.
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Book review

PM Crash Course for IT Professionals
Reviewed by Danica Richard
PMP certified project manager, Waypoint Ventures, LLC
[email protected]

PM Crash Course for IT Professionals is well-written in familiar project management terminology, yet the authors thoughtfully provide explanations of key terms. They also include tricks of the trade, stories contributed by ‘real’ PMs and quotes from ‘real world’ IT professionals. This book is very informative without being overly technical and is laid out in a manner that allow will appeal to and benefit new and experienced PMs alike. Supplementing the book is an interactive Web site where readers can share experiences, seek solutions to problems and access printable templates and forms.

I highly recommend this book for anyone who wants to brush up on their project management skills or who is new to the industry and wants a better understanding of the project management processes and how they can be applied in the IT world.

Authors: Rita Mulcahy and Martha L. Young
Publisher: Cisco Press (October, 2009)
ISBN-10: 158720259X
ISBN-13: 978-1587202599
List Price: $59.99
Digital Guru Price: $44.99^Back To Top

Emergency response

Amcom Software helps emergency callers with next-generation 911 IP technology
Amcom Software, Inc. announced that Adams County, Indiana is successfully fielding 3,500 monthly calls with the Amcom 911 call center solution. Running the Amcom system on an underlying next-generation 911 (NG911) IP network now enables Adams County to shave precious seconds off the connection time for each call, speeding response times. The team at Adams County incorporated an IP-based network not only to handle 911 calls from wireless and IP phones, but also to accept calls from landlines. This forward-looking infrastructure effectively prepares them to handle anticipated changes in the way people contact 911, including the use of 911 text messages and videos.
Visit www.amcomsoftware.com.
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Mitel

Madison Memorial Hospital improves communications health with Mitel
Mitel announced that Madison Memorial Hospital, a healthcare facility serving five counties in eastern Idaho, has selected a Mitel unified communications software solution to increase employee accessibility, improve flexibility, drive cost savings and ensure redundancy. Working with Mitel specialistPARTNER, Mountain West Telecom, Madison Memorial selected the Mitel Communications Director software to deliver seamless communications during years of scheduled construction and expansion into different campuses, while also running a hospital where downtime in communications is simply not an option. With Mitel Unified Communicator Mobile, employees' mobile device of choice becomes a full-featured extension of the corporate network ensuring calls are answered no matter if they are in the hospital or offsite. To enhance staff communication, Madison deployed Mitel Audio and Web Conferencing (AWC), allowing for collaboration through video and desktop sharing without having to pay expensive monthly hosted audio and web conferencing fees.
Visit www.mitel.com.
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Net neutrality

Watchdog group warns against Internet regulation, urges “agency neutrality” in FCC filing
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is planning new rules to dictate how Internet providers can manage the information that flows over their private networks. These rules would foreclose the evolution of innovative, pro-competitive network and business models and, worse, would inject politics into the governance of Internet networks, the Competitive Enterprise Institute warned in a public comment submitted to the FCC. Net neutrality rules, announced late last year by FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, would empower a heavily politicized federal agency to dictate the outcomes of otherwise-private disputes over network access and pricing, and will also likely extend to the content sectors now advocating the rules. “Banning proprietary business models is just the opposite of true ‘openness,’” said Wayne Crews, CEI Vice President for Policy. “The FCC seems to be forgetting that not every network has been built yet, and tomorrow’s networks and business models need not resemble those that prevail today. The FCC is wrong to assume that today’s politicians and regulators know what’s best for companies not yet created, networks not yet deployed, and business plans not yet formulated."
View the CEI comment to the FCC.
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Nortel

Global Connect conference will focus on Avaya’s Nortel product strategy
The International Nortel Networks Users Association (INNUA) confirmed its support and readiness for the integration of Nortel and Avaya. “We have engaged with Avaya to ensure that the needs of Nortel customers are met,” said Brad Tompkins, INNUA President. Additional insight into Avaya’s Nortel product strategy will be a major focus of INNUA’s 2010 Global Connect annual conference, taking place April 18-22, 2010, in Denver, Colorado. INNUA is also working closely with the International Association of Avaya Users (InAAU) and INSIGHT 100, the group representing users of Nortel’s SL-100/CS2100 product line, on the co-location of Global Connect with InAAU’s conference to meet the needs of all Nortel and Avaya product users in one city at one time. It is expected that the combined event will bring upwards of 4,000 Nortel and Avaya users, vendors and Avaya executives to Denver.
Visit www.innua.org.



Nortel wins approval to auction Internet phone unit
Nortel Networks Corp. won court permission to auction its Internet telephone business with an opening bid of $282 million from Genband Inc., which makes equipment for Internet calling. Bankruptcy judges in the U.S. and Canada approved rules for the auction, including as much as $13.6 million in fees for Genband, which is co-owned by Equity Partners III LP, an investment manager for JPMorgan Chase & Co. The two judges, acting in a joint hearing linked by audio and video, overruled an objection to the fees, agreeing with Nortel that the payments were needed to lock in Genband’s bid. The incentive fees were necessary because “this is a fragile business,” Nortel Chief Strategy Officer George Riedel said in court in Wilmington, Delaware. The unit lost as much as $17 million in the last quarter and the outlook for future business is becoming less certain, he said. The auction would be among the last held by Nortel, which has been selling assets since filing bankruptcy last year.
Visit www.nortel.com.^Back To Top

SIP Forum

SIP Forum elects new Board Chairman and Board members
The SIP Forum announced the recent re-election of industry veteran and VoIP pioneer Richard Shockey to the Board of Directors and the election of Mr. Shockey as new Board Chairman. Additionally, the Forum has re-elected Dr. Eric Burger to the Board of Directors and named him Chairman Emeritus, and elected Dr. Alan Johnston to the Board. Meanwhile, the SIP Forum announced the reappointment of Marc Robins as Managing Director and President. The elections of Shockey, Johnston and Burger, all industry trailblazers, complement the SIP Forum's already prestigious Board of Directors, which also includes Chris Gatch, CTO of Cbeyond; Steven Johnson, CEO of Ingate Systems; Glenn Russell, Director of Business Services at Cable Television Laboratories Inc. (CableLabs); Rene Sotola, a Vice President in the Global Telecommunications practice at CGI Group; and Robert Sparks, Principal Engineer at Tekelec. Each member of the Board of Directors serves a two-year term.
Visit www.sipforum.org.
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Unified communications

China UnionPay standardizes customer service with unified communications from AltiGen
AltiGen Communications, Inc. announced that China UnionPay Co., Ltd. has deployed an AltiGen software-based call center and VoIP solution as part of its customer service solution that is being implemented into numerous banks all across China. Established in March 2002, China UnionPay (CUP) is a bankcard association established under the approval of the State Council and the People's Bank of China. China UnionPay is the only national payment network in China with more than one billion cards issued on its network. CUP Data and AltiGen have co-developed an integrated customer service system that has been deployed by numerous banks and credit unions throughout China. The AltiGen call center system provides customers with both automated voice services and human agent services to achieve the most beneficial and cost effective service for each caller. The AltiGen solution also fulfills the requirements of branch offices and departments to carry out crucial business tasks such as customer surveys, publicity, customer care services, channel management and support management.
Visit www.altigen.com.
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