Upcoming Meeting Notice


SAVE THE DATE:

MINNEAPOLIS REGIONAL MEETING AND RECEPTION
SEPTEMBER 22, 2010
Le Meridien Chambers Minneapolis Hotel, Rooftop Lounge – Minneapolis, MN

TAMPA REGIONAL MEETING AND RECEPTION
OCTOBER 21, 2010
Maggiano’s Little Italy - Tampa, FL

(Click here for more information.)

NATD gatherings and video contest
Avaya
Book review
Call recording
Epygi
Law and issues
Westcon

NATD gatherings and video contest

Telecom Dealer Rooftop Gathering Minneapolis
In 1953 an American doo wop pop R&B band was formed called the Drifters. In 1962 Carole King co-authored the song UP On A Roof which the Drifters recorded. On September 22, 2010 the NATD is inviting you to party with us on the rooftop of the Meridien Hotel in Minneapolis. 

FOR TELECOM DEALERS ONLY... Minneapolis Meeting and Reception
September 22, 2010
LE MERIDIEN HOTEL ROOFTOP LOUNGE at Le Méridien Chambers
901 Hennepin Avenue, Minneapolis, MN 55403
612-767-6900
Members and Non Members Welcome. Please Click Here!

Bring your video camera.  Download your best NATD video to YouTube and send us the link.  The winning video goes to NATD Vegas 2011 free of charge.  Not coming to MN.  (What's with that?)  You can still download your best NATD video and enter it.  Cool or what? 

Joe Marion
NATD EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR



Telecom Dealers and Flamenco Dancers Gather in Tampa
I've got my dancing shoes on and am ready to party at the NATD Tampa Reception, this year being held at the oldest Spanish Restaurant in Florida. How about you?
Flamenco Joe

Tampa Regional Reception
October 21, 2010
COLUMBIA RESTAURANT AT YBOR CITY 
2117 East 7th Avenue, Tampa, Florida 33605
813-248-4961
Members and Non-Members Welcome. Please Click Here!

Bring your video camera.  Download your best NATD video to YouTube and send us the link.  The winning video goes to NATD Vegas 2011 free of charge.  Not coming to Tampa.  (What's with that?)  You can still download your best NATD video and enter it.  Cool or what?

Joe Marion
NATD EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR 



NATD Great Moment Video Contest
1.  Come to one (or both) of these meetings:
September 22, 2010 at Le Meridien Hotel Rooftop at Le Meridien Chambers Minneapolis
Cost: $125
-OR-
October 21, 2010 at COLUMBIA RESTAURANT AT YBOR CITY 
Cost: $125
2.  Bring your video camera and take an "NATD Moment Shot." 
3.  Download it to YouTube and send us the link.

The winning video goes to the next NATD MEETING free of charge. 

Not coming to Minneapolis or Tampa?  (What's with that?)  You can still download your best NATD video (or your best rave about the NATD) and enter it.  Cool or what? 
The winner of our Great NATD Memories Essay last year was Hans Cats of Teleswitch.  He won a FREE TRIP to PARIS. 

Joe Marion
[email protected]
www.natd.com^Back To Top

Avaya

Avaya launches next-generation contact center solutions
Avaya introduced its next-generation of contact center solutions to meet the real-time demands of a rapidly evolving customer service environment. Central to the new offerings is Avaya Aura Contact Center, a multimedia work assignment application for mid-size contact centers that connects customers and their information to the right agent or expert via any communications mode (i.e. voice, video, e-mail, chat). It uses the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP)-based collaborative session model of Avaya Aura – the company’s business communications applications platform – to enhance the efficiency and quality of customer service. Avaya Aura Contact Center complements the large enterprise solutions of Avaya Aura Call Center Elite, and will serve as its multimedia extension. Other new solutions unveiled include Avaya Aura Workforce Optimization (WFO); Avaya Proactive Outreach Manager; Avaya Aura Call Center Elite 6.0; and Avaya IQ 5.1.
Visit www.avaya.com.
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Book review

Cisco Unified Presence Fundamentals
Reviewed by Jeff Owen, Independent IT Consultant

Cisco Unified Presence Fundamentals provides an excellent overview of UC and Cisco’s view of the next evolutionary step; Unified Presence.  The authors provide detailed, step-by-step instructions (with screen shots) for installing and troubleshooting Cisco’s Presence solution.  However, this book was written for networking professionals already proficient with Cisco Systems and UC. The authors assume the reader is already familiar with several Cisco Systems and UC technologies/functions such as the Cisco Unified Communications Manager (CUCM), Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) trunking, and Computer Telephony Integration (CTI).  Therefore, a considerable level of prior knowledge and proficiency is advised. (This reviewer recommends at least CCNP.)

As can be seen by the number of acronyms in this short review, this book was obviously written for networking professionals already knowledgeable of, and proficient with, Cisco Systems and UC.  That said, it is a useful primer, installation how-to, and ongoing reference for anyone serious about implementing the Cisco Unified Presence solution in their organization. Like VoIP, Unified Communications (UC) has arrived and is here to stay. The quicker your organization implements UC, the quicker you’ll reap the benefits. If you are a Cisco user, this book can help.

Jeff Owen is an independent consultant with 20+ years experience in telecommunications/networking and IT. He has worked in engineering, project management, and management positions for major corporations in the telecommunications, finance, aerospace, and IT consultancy industries. As an industry analyst for Datapro and Gartner, Owen authored numerous analytical reports published for international consumption. He can be reached at [email protected].

Authors: Brian Morgan, Shane Lisenbea, and Michael C. Popovich III
Publisher: Cisco Press (June 2010)
ISBN-10: 1587140446
ISBN-13: 9781587140440
List Price: $60.00
Amazon: $48.35^Back To Top

Call recording

OAISYS launches SureDeal 60-day guarantee
OAISYS announced that it is now offering a 60-day money-back satisfaction guarantee to eligible buyers of its award-winning Talkument and Tracer call recording and interaction management solutions. Talkument and Tracer are compatible with leading IP business communications systems, including those from Avaya, Mitel, ShoreTel, Toshiba and others. The announcement is an extension of the OAISYS SureDeal Services program, which encompasses all of the various pre-sales support services OAISYS provides to customers and resellers. These services include product demonstrations custom-tailored to meet specific business needs along with comprehensive and accurate solution configuration based on a customer's unique technology environment, recording needs and operational requirements.
Visit www.oaisys.com.
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Epygi

A Few Minutes with Mario Cuello
By Ray Horak
Epygi Technologies designs, manufactures and distributes IP PBXs, VoIP gateways and VoIP conference servers designed specifically for the SMB market. Since its formation in 2000, the privately held U.S. corporation has competed globally as well as in the domestic market. The Epygi Quadro family of IP PBXs comprises systems as small as the 2x, which supports up to 2 analog stations (phones, fax machines or POS terminals) and 16 IP endpoints. On the high side, the QuadroM32x adds a lot of features and scales up to 192 IP phones and up to 400 total extensions, including FXS phones, LAN IP phones, and remote and virtual extensions. Epygi also manufactures the Quadro FXO and Quadro E1/T1 gateways, and the Quadro CS SIP conference server. I recently had an opportunity to spend a few minutes with Mario Cuello, CEO and co-founder of Epygi. I had some prepared questions. His responses were extemporaneous and very enlightening.
View entire interview.
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Law and issues

Rumpelstiltskin LLP: Spinning One Junk Fax into Robes of Gold
by Ray Horak
In an effort to address a growing number of telephone marketing calls and certain other telemarketing practices thought to be invasions of privacy, Congress enacted the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991 (TCPA), codified at 47 U.S.C. § 227. We all know about the restrictions on unsolicited telemarketing calls to consumers and the national Do-Not-Call (DNC) list that effectively ended those annoyances…or opportunities, depending on your perspective. Many of us also are aware that, with some enumerated exceptions, the TCPA made it unlawful “to use any telephone facsimile machine, computer, or other device to send, to a telephone facsimile machine, an unsolicited advertisement unless….” The TCPA defined a telephone facsimile machine to “mean equipment which has the capacity (A) to transcribe text or images, or both, from paper into an electronic signal and to transmit that signal over a regular telephone line, or (B) to transcribe text or images (or both) from an electronic signal received over a regular telephone line onto paper.” This very specific language was later broadened in FCC regulations which themselves were codified in 2003 at 47 CFR Parts 64 and 68. These FCC rules added personal computers equipped with fax modems and fax servers to the list of devices covered by the law, but specifically exempted “fax sent as email over the Internet.” There also is an exemption if you can prove an existing business relationship (EBR). It’s not quite that simple, of course, as there remain technical arguments about the definitions of such critical terms as facsimile machine, transmit, email and regular telephone line, to name a few.
Read entire article.
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Westcon

Westcon's Chairman Reflects On 25 Years In the Channel
By Scott Campbell

Westcon Group celebrates its 25th anniversary this month and founder and chairman (and former CEO) Tom Dolan recently spoke with CRN’s Scott Campbell about the company’s beginnings, growth and what to expect going forward. The following are excerpts from the conversation:

Let’s start at the beginning. What was the genesis of the company? What were you guys focused on back then?
It was 1985 and we were all about PC networking. Companies like Novell and 3com were blazing new paths of PC networking. Our objective was to get into that business. We functioned as a VAR for about a year, focused on anything around that technology. At a certain point, we were landing some larger opportunities and one of our manufacturers asked us if we could take care of some small dealers that wanted to buy five or 10 network interface cards at a time. We said sure, we’d do that. We had left our last employment and we got paid with a system in lieu of compensation. We walked away with what would call today an ERP system. Then it was an order processing system and as we got into the business of taking care of small dealers, and we had a system to handle it. It was easy and efficient. We liked working with dealers from day one. We liked being closely associated with technology that was driving the business. After 18 to 24 months, we made the strategic decision to spin the end user business off to a couple of dealers and focus on wholesale.
View entire interview.
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