Upcoming Meeting Notice


SAVE THE DATE:

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

(Click here for more information.)

NATD Conference
NATD in the news
Avaya
Awards
Cable
IP
Obituary
NEC
Security
Speech recognition

NATD Conference

Don't miss the next NATD Conference!
The North American Association of Telecommunications Dealers (NATD) is an international trade association comprised of companies that provide voice and data communications products and services.  We would like to invite you to attend the NATD European Conference 2010 in Paris, France to find out more about our association, code of ethics, membership, member services and many other business opportunities available to you.  

On Thursday, you will enjoy a day of networking with other telecom dealers.  The afternoon will consist of private visits and wine tasting at some very exclusive wine cellars in Paris and lunch at a upscale French Brasserie.  On Friday, you will have the opportunity to hear a fabulous Keynote Speaker and participate in roundtable discussions on the Alcatel, Siemens, Nortel, Avaya and Cisco markets!  Friday evening you will enjoy a spectacular dinner at the Eiffel Tower.

Delegates will include Telecom Dealers from the US and Europe. Visit here to learn more http://www.natd.com/public/pages/meeting.asp.

Ruth Marion
NATD

Special Offer
First time attendees:  If this is the first time your company has attended a NATD Conference you may register at the discounted NATD Member rate by filling out the form at http://www.telecomcompanies.com/requestinfo.html or by contacting that NATD office in the US by calling 561-266-9440.

^Back To Top

NATD in the news

NACR supports Avaya Integrated Roadmap
Empire Technologies was recently acquired by NACR (North American Communications Resource, Inc.), making them the largest Avaya Channel Partner and a nationwide leader in delivering end-to-end, value-added communications solutions and personalized support for businesses. NACR is not only already authorized to design and sell Nortel products including data — they have also been providing monitoring, maintenance and support through their Network Operation Centers (NOCs) for the past five years. NACR has added new product sales and design capabilities to support the combined Avaya Integrated Roadmap, starting with the Avaya BCM and Communication Server 1000 R6 (CS1000). NACR is also one of the few Channel Partners to have both Avaya and Nortel credentials.
Visit www.nacr.com.
^Back To Top

Avaya

Avaya deauthorizing Ingram Micro no big surprise
Channel observers said that Avaya's choice to deauthorize Ingram Micro as an Avaya distributor in the U.S. will be somewhat disruptive in the short term, but isn't surprising. Avaya confirmed that it would cut Ingram Micro from its list of U.S. distributors. Ingram first became an Avaya distributor in December when Avaya completed its $915 million acquisition of Nortel's enterprise business. Ingram's fulfillment of Avaya orders will continue through June 30, Ingram Micro confirmed, after which it becomes a distributor for Avaya in Canada only. Meanwhile, Avaya's distributors in the U.S. going forward will be Catalyst Telecom, Westcon Group, Jenne and Tech Data. To Avaya and former Nortel VARs, the decision could create some consternation for solution providers with existing Ingram Micro relationships. But several said it wasn't a surprise considering that Avaya never signaled it would hang on to everyone.
Visit www.avaya.com.



Orange Business Services has achieved global Avaya service certification
Orange Business Services is the first EMEA-based global provider to complete Avaya’s Global Remote Operations assessment. This means that multinational companies can rely on Orange Business Services for global ITIL-based Day-2 support for the complete line of Avaya products including IP telephony, contact center and unified communications.  Orange Business Services is a Global Avaya partner and has already achieved Avaya Platinum partner status in EMEA and India and Gold in North America, Latin America and Asia Pacific; this means that Orange can design and deploy Avaya-based solutions in over 190 countries. The Global Operations Support assessment ensures that the necessary infrastructure, process and systems are in place to provide effective implementation and support services to customers.
Visit www.orange.com or www.avaya.com.
^Back To Top

Awards

Avaya and Avaya International User Group announce winners of the Customer Innovation Award
Avaya Inc. and the International Avaya User Group announced the winners of the annual Avaya Customer Innovation Awards at The Art of Evolution/GlobalConnect 2010 conference.  The awards recognize Avaya customers in five categories that have demonstrated a visionary view of the business value of communication technologies, the most resourceful and creative use of unified communications and contact center solutions to solve business challenges, or a commitment to communications excellence over time.

The categories and winners of the 2010 Avaya Customer Innovation Awards are:
Technology Innovation Best Practice: Banner Healthcare -- Banner Healthcare's deployment of Avaya's Unified Communications solutions enabled its US-based doctors to partner with a hospital in Israel to take calls "off hours" to offer round-the-clock care.
Business Innovation Best Practice: HSBC Brazil -- Over the past two years, HSBC Brazil deployed Avaya Contact Center solutions to improve customer service and lower costs. The new solutions enabled innovations that yielded a 100 percent return on investment within three months of replacing the former vendor's solution.
Enterprise Transformation (sub 1,000 employees): Coppin State University -- With the help of Avaya, every building and floor on the campus is now partitioned into emergency zones to allow the campus police control center and the local 9-1-1 operations center to instantly see the location of every emergency 9-1-1 call to quickly and accurately respond in a crisis. 
Enterprise Transformation (more than 1,000 employees): Aetna -- Aetna's visionary use of Avaya Contact Center solutions established a centralized, flexible self-service environment to offer 24 hour access to service and reduce agent workloads.
Sustained Excellence: Marriott International -- By consolidating its communications infrastructure to a flattened, centralized and extended model (FCE), Marriott International lowered costs and streamlined management, administration and future upgrades.
Visit www.avayausersconference.org.
^Back To Top

Cable

Belden introduces one all-new and two enhanced precision video coax cables
Belden is pleased to announce Belden Brilliance 1794A Precision Video Coax Cable, the first cable designed specifically to meet the requirements of emerging 1080p/60 (in U.S.), 1080p/50 (in EU) 3 Gigabit applications. Belden also announces the expansion of its highly popular line of Brilliance Low Loss Precision Video Coax Cables (1694A), with a water-blocked version and a dual link version.  Both cables are designed for use in SDI, HD-SDI and 1080p/50-60 applications, as well as analog video. The new cables were shown for the first time at the 2010 NAB Show in Las Vegas.  Belden also featured the new Belden FiberExpress Brilliance Fiber Optic Connector, offering fiber terminations in five seconds or less. 
Visit www.belden.com.
^Back To Top

IP

Pharmacists Mutual Insurance selects IP communications system from Interactive Intelligence
Pharmacists Mutual Insurance Company has selected the Interactive Intelligence all-in-one IP communications software suite, Customer Interaction Center (CIC), to support its on-site and branch office employees. CIC was sold by Interactive Intelligence reseller Spanlink Communications.  Spanlink will also provide ongoing support of the system. Pharmacists Mutual selected the Interactive Intelligence software because of its flexibility, rich feature-set and ease-of-use. When the implementation is complete, the Interactive Intelligence software suite will support several hundred Pharmacists Mutual employees, about 15 percent of whom work remotely from branch offices. The initial deployment will enable advanced communications functionality including unified messaging, multichannel recording and real-time monitoring and reporting.
Visit www.inin.com or www.spanlink.com.
^Back To Top

Obituary

Robert H. Nelson
Bob Nelson, one of the original Microsoft Small Business Specialist Community (SBSC) program managers out of Redmond, has recently passed away. Bob succumbed to conditions related to mesothelioma (learn more about this disease HERE), a condition developed from his working in Navy shipyards early in his career around asbestos. I worked closely with Bob over the years and watched his mastery at work as he developed popular prize programs, including the Grand Canyon River Rafting Sweepstakes and the Smart Car contest. Off work, I enjoyed many long training rides with Bob, as we’re both avid cyclists. You can learn more about Bob Nelson HERE. 
Harry Brelsford | CEO | SMB Nation, Inc. | www.smbnation.com

^Back To Top

NEC

Digital Telecommunications Corporation achieves elite Triple-Diamond status in NEC’s Accelerator Program
An NEC-exclusive authorized associate for more than 20 years, Digital Telecommunications Corporation (DTC) has achieved Triple-Diamond status in NEC’s Accelerator Program for the first time.  DTC was able to grow its business by 40 percent in 2008 and another 20 percent in 2009.  The company took advantage of attractive financing opportunities from NEC Financial Services to help customers meet their business goals without allotting massive capital budgets. The Accelerator Program is NEC’s performance program for Associates based on several key metrics including sales volume, technical certifications and percentage of NEC solutions being sold in their business. By participating in the program, associates have access to innovative communications solutions as well as exclusive benefits and discounts.
Visit www.necam.com or www.digitaltel.com.
^Back To Top

Security

Matrix Telecom is now Matrix Comsec Pvt. Ltd.
Matrix Telecom has recently diversified into the manufacturing of security products. Hence, to precisely communicate its area of operations that is communication and security, Matrix has changed its name to Matrix Comsec Pvt. Ltd.  However, Matrix will continue to market its telecom and security products under the brand name of Matrix Telecom Solutions and Matrix Security Solutions, respectively. The name change reinforces the Matrix brand as an integrated corporation that reflects the company's long-term strategy to advance its global presence and more closely align and strengthen the identity of each of its operating divisions: Telecom and Security.
Visit www.matrixcomsec.com.
^Back To Top

Speech recognition

Speech recognition capabilities added to the DiaStar server
Dialogic Corporation and LumenVox announced the integration of the DiaStar Server release 2.1 and the LumenVox Speech Engine. This integration brings the power and flexibility of the LumenVox ASR solution to Asterisk developers building voice and video applications with the DiaStar Server. New and enhanced features that are now available through this integration include:

• Speech recognition for English, Spanish, and French

• Real-time barge-in and speech recognition using the native Asterisk speech API

• Support for speech industry standards, including SRGS grammars

• Compatibility with the award-winning LumenVox Speech Tuner to help test, troubleshoot and improve speech recognition accuracy

These newly available features and enhancements continue to expand Asterisk developers' ability to utilize the DiaStar Server to create applications such as IVVR systems, video surveillance systems, video portals, mobile advertising and banking, multimedia social networking and basic video call completion.
Visit www.dialogic.com or www.lumenvox.com.
^Back To Top