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NATD in the news
Audiocodes
Avaya
Book review
Conferences & exhibitions
e911
Mitel
Network performance
Partnerships
Recognition
snom
VoIP

NATD in the news

SoTel Systems partners with The SIP School
The SIP School continues to establish itself as the provider of the global standard in SIP training and certification by gaining a major partner in SoTel Systems.  On deciding to offer The SIP School’s range of SIP and VoIP training programs to SoTel clients, Value Added Resellers and SIP service agency channel, SoTel had this to say: “The choice of SIP School was really not a decision at all.  They are simply the best self-paced learning option for gaining not only knowledge of SIP technology, but also how to sell it and the potential for an enterprise-class certification program for SIP through them is the ‘icing on the cake.’  This program is key to the education and certification of not only our Value Added Resellers but also our SIP channel partners.  This is part of our complete plan for becoming the SIP Partner to have for all telecommunication VARs in 2011 and beyond.” – Kevin Hill, Manager – Technical Assistance Center.
Visit www.sotelsystems.com.


Carousel Industries signs letters of intent to acquire Juma Technology and OmniPresence
Carousel Industries announced that it has signed a letter of intent to acquire the assets of Farmingdale, NY-based Juma Technology Corp., subject to certain approvals. Juma Technology is an Avaya Business Partner and a business unit of the publicly traded Juma Corporation (JUMT). By acquiring Juma Technology, Carousel Industries builds on its core capabilities in convergence, IP telephony and traditional networking while expanding its customer footprint in the northeastern region. Juma Technology was formed in 2002 and most recently was recognized for its fast growth and innovation by leading technology magazines including CRN, which ranked Juma number 50 on its Fast Growth 100 List in 2009. Juma Technology has approximately 350 customers and offices in Farmingdale, Long Island and New York City.

Carousel Industries also announced that it has signed a letter of intent to acquire the assets of Marlborough, MA-based OmniPresence, Inc., an integrator of A/V and visual collaboration services. When the acquisition is completed, the newly acquired company will form the core of Carousel's Visual Communications and Collaboration Group. By acquiring OmniPresence, Carousel significantly increases its capacity to incorporate collaborative A/V elements into a broad range of installation opportunities. OmniPresence, which was founded in 2002, has a customer base of approximately 2,500 end users.
Visit www.carouselindustries.com.
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AudioCodes

AudioCodes selected by MediaMind for global deployment of Microsoft Lync
AudioCodes announced that MediaMind has selected AudioCodes’ products to enable the migration to a new Unified Communications system, based on Microsoft Lync. MediaMind will be migrating its 16 sites in 12 countries to use the AudioCodes’ VoIP infrastructure, including Mediant Survivable Branch Appliances, SPS (SIP Phone Support), 300HD IP Phones and the AudioCodes Enterprise Mobility solution. “AudioCodes products enable us to make the best out of the Microsoft UC environment by integrating it seamlessly with the PSTN, desktop IP Phones and mobile devices,” said Efi Cohen, Vice President Technology, MediaMind. “We plan to install the AudioCodes Survivable Branch Appliances in each of our sites, enabling survivable connection of the branch UC users into the PSTN and inside the corporate network.” 
Visit www.audiocodes.com.


AudioCodes debuts new enterprise mobile productivity suite with MobilityPLUS
AudioCodes announced the launch of MobilityPLUS, an integrated enterprise solution that extends the feature set of Enterprise Telephony and Unified Communications systems to a broad range of leading smart phone platforms. Leveraging existing enterprise WiFi or 3G/4G data services, MobilityPLUS enhances enterprise employee productivity with “anytime/anywhere” connectivity. It interoperates with market leading PBXs and IP-PBXs, as well as with integrated Unified Communications systems such as the Microsoft Office Communications Server R2 and Microsoft Lync 2010.  MobilityPLUS includes an Enterprise Edition of the widely deployed AudioCodes VoIP Mobile Access Solutions (VMAS) mobile clients and an AudioCodes Mediant business gateway with an embedded mobility integration application. The VMAS mobile client is available for Apple iOS, Android, Symbian and other popular mobile operating systems, making VMAS compatible with the majority of smart phones in use today.
Visit www.audiocodes.com.
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Avaya

"Father of Ethernet" uses Avaya immersive web collaboration platform
Avaya announced that Robert M. Metcalfe, inventor of Ethernet and founder of 3Com Corp., used Avaya web.alive to enable remote attendees to participate in his first lecture as professor of innovation at The University of Texas at Austin Cockrell School of Engineering. Avaya web.alive is an immersive web collaboration platform that uses avatars, high-quality graphics, audio and analytics to bring a new dimension to real-time business collaboration among remote participants. Web.alive expands on traditional methods of collaboration, i.e. audio, video and webconferencing, to provide an engaging, interactive and intuitive environment that meets the requirements of users in any size business. During Metcalfe’s lecture, more than 40 remote participants using their own personal Avaya web.alive avatars were able to see, hear, move and interact with Metcalfe's avatar and presentation materials in a manner similar to the in-person participants at the university. 
Visit http://demo.avayalive.com.


Avaya DevConnect at Enterprise Connect 2011
For almost a decade the Avaya DevConnect program has developed an ecosystem of developers who forge products and services for Avaya platforms. The DevConnect program is both Avaya’s developer program and Avaya’s third party technology program. Today DevConnect serves a community of approximately 14,000 companies that develop products for their own use or for commercial sale. At Enterprise Connect, Avaya DevConnect members represented a little over a half of all the companies exhibiting at the conference.  The Avaya DevConnect program is the largest of all such programs in the UC market.
Visit www.avaya.com/devconnect.
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Book review

Cisco Networking Simplified (Second Edition)

The world of Cisco networking can seem overwhelming to the uninitiated.  There are literally hundreds of books about Cisco Systems and networking.  The vast majority are narrowly focused on a specific subject and were written for those already in the industry or students guided by an instructor.  It’s rare to find an introductory overview covering the depth and breadth of Cisco in more simple language.  This book does a credible job at making Cisco, and networking, less intimidating. In this completely revised and expanded edition, the authors have added over 100 pages, two sections, and 18 sub-sections (or chapters, if you will).  Additionally, they have rearranged and changed section and sub-section titles essentially making this second edition a wholly new book.

This book is for anyone with an interest in how the internet works in general, and how Cisco Systems supports internetworking applications including data, voice, video, image, etc.  Whether you want to become a networking professional or just want to understand what they’re talking about, this book is a good introduction.  I like this book and recommend it to anyone with more than just a passing interest in Cisco networking.

Reviewed by Jeff Owen, Independent IT Consultant with 20+ years experience in telecommunications/networking and IT.
Contact Jeff at [email protected]

Authors:  Jim Doherty, Neil Anderson, and Paul Della Maggiora
Illustrator:  Nathan Clement
Softcover: 432 pages
Publisher:  Cisco Press (December 2007)
ISBN-10: 1-58720-199-2
ISBN-13: 978-1-58720-199-8
Price:  $44.99; Digital Guru $27.50^Back To Top

Conferences & exhibitions

Leading network innovators to participate in TIA's industry event
The Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) announced the inclusion of Ericsson, Juniper Networks and Nokia Siemens Networks in the list of major sponsors of TIA's annual industry event, TIA 2011: Inside the Network. They join Alcatel-Lucent, GENBAND, and Walker and Associates in supporting TIA's new Summit and Exhibition being held this May 17-20 in Dallas, Texas. TIA's Summit is an integrated educational and networking event for leading information and communications technology (ICT) network innovators. TIA 2011: Inside the Network is the first event of its kind for the ICT industry and includes both live and virtual participants from around the world.  The event will facilitate business and technical conversations about how broadband communications suppliers, providers and operators will meet the needs of customers of all kinds with One Network - secure, reliable, scalable, and sustainable. AT&T Chairman and CEO Randall Stephenson will deliver the opening keynote address.
Visit http://www.tia2011.org/.
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E911

Conveyant Systems announces Sentry E9-1-1
Conveyant Systems, Inc. announces the Sentry E9-1-1 application for Avaya’s CS 1000 PBX. Tim Kenyon, President of Conveyant Systems, stated, “Conveyant Systems is pleased to officially announce our TeleDirectory Sentry E9-1-1 solutions.  Sentry is designed as a modular framework to provide the functions enterprises need to help solve their E9-1-1 issues including IP phone location discovery and on-site notification.  This modular design allows the system to be customized for each application to address specific needs, which in turn keeps the cost of the solution affordable.”  Kenyon also indicated, “Organizations that serve as their own PSAP may use Conveyant’s TeleDirectory PC-based Console application which is fully integrated with Sentry.  When an emergency call is received by the PSAP TeleDirectory Operator, a screen pop is provided to the operator including the exact location information of the 9-1-1 caller.  Detailed information and notes may also be available including cubicle number, special needs or requirements, or a detailed location description such as ‘third office from the stairwell.’”
Visit www.conveyant.com.
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Mitel

Mitel optimizes customer operations with Benbria’s incident notification solution
Benbria announced that Mitel has deployed Benbria BlazeCast to further enhance their outstanding customer service operations with advanced notification, tracking and reporting. Benbria delivers incremental value to Mitel’s operations by streamlining the notification, accountability, escalation and resolution of customer feedback. Using a multi-modal, unified communications approach, Benbria BlazeCast enables Mitel customer operations to accelerate the customer feedback to resolution process by using a variety of communications channels and devices. Benefits include enhanced customer satisfaction, maximization of operational efficiencies, optimized response time, reduced maintenance costs and improved transparency.
Visit www.mitel.com and www.benbria.com.


Mitel extends leadership in the hospitality market
Mitel announced that Mitel’s cloud-based technology is being used to support a new hosted UC offering from DCI for the hospitality market. As a top Mitel authorizedPARTNER for the hospitality market in the US, DCI is offering the hosted service for hotel properties based on Mitel’s Multi-Instance Communications Director (MICD), which is designed to improve the delivery and cost structure of current on-premise communications solutions such as PBXs. This hosted service, which integrates a number of applications together, is one of the first of its kind in the hospitality industry. Building on Mitel’s Freedom architecture and investments in their cloud strategy, Mitel is offering a compelling hosted communications alternative to traditional on-premise based solutions for hotel properties including telephony and communications services for guest rooms, hotel operations and convention/meeting facilities.
Visit www.mitel.com.
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Network performance

Plixer unveils Scrutinizer NetFlow Analyzer 8.5
The clear trends towards data center consolidation, remote access, and voice and video traffic combine to place increasing pressure on IT management to stay ahead of network performance issues. That translates into the careful selection of network performance analysis tools to identify, isolate and resolve QoS issues. Scrutinizer NetFlow and sFlow Analyzer version 8.5, the latest in the Plixer network management software toolset, scales from the Helpdesk to the largest Network Operations Center (NOC). Scrutinizer employs Cisco’s NetFlow Technology, an IOS software feature on Cisco switches and routers, to retrieve the traffic flow data, and parse and present it in a clear and intuitive graphical view. Scrutinizer enables Cisco routers to function as probes, so there is no need for additional hardware, and supports deep packet applications recognition using Cisco NetFlow NBAR, which provides the ability to identify applications beyond HTTP. Scrutinizer also supports advanced reporting and alarming filters to alert NOC staff when user-definable performance thresholds have been exceeded, and can do so by subnet or groups of IP addresses.
Visit www.plixer.com.
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Partnerships

Catalyst Telecom enhances portfolio with Acme Packet session border controllers
Catalyst Telecom has signed a distribution agreement with Acme Packet. Acme Packet session border controllers (SBCs) enable the reliable delivery of trusted, first-class interactive communications (voice, video and multimedia) across IP network borders. Acme Packet SBCs support a variety of solutions, including SIP trunking, IP contact centers and hosted IP communications services for a wide range of businesses – from SMBs to large enterprises. “SBCs are a critical tool for Catalyst resellers who provide value-added solutions for enterprises,” said Mark Vella, vice president of business development, Acme Packet. “This partnership connects Acme Packet with a network of leading resellers, expanding our reach to enterprise customers requiring a secure, interoperable and reliable SBC solution.”
Visit www.catalysttelecom.com and www.acmepacket.com.
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Recognition

Veramark named one of the "best places to work" for second consecutive year
Veramark Technologies, Inc. announced it has been recognized by the New York State Society for Human Resource Management (NYS-SHRM) as one of the "2011 Best Companies to Work for in New York State." The award is based on employee satisfaction surveys, with winners receiving high marks in areas such as work environment, work/life balance, job satisfaction, opportunities for advancement and overall workplace excellence. "We are delighted to be recognized for the second year in a row as one of the Best Companies to Work for in New York State," said Tony Mazzullo, Veramark's CEO and President. "Earning this honor two years in a row is compelling evidence that Veramark is on the right track. We believe that we have a very special spirit at Veramark, and it's great to see this spirit acknowledged publicly." Selection of the 2011 Best Companies in NY 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.
Visit www.veramark.com.
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snom

snom technology launches hardware-based IP PBX solution
snom technology announced the release of snom ONE plus, a new hardware-based version of the company’s award winning snom ONE IP PBX. The combination of snom’s leading business-class IP phones and the snom ONE plus provides a full-featured business-class IP telephony solution for organizations with 5 to 150 extensions, making it one of the most scalable plug-and-play systems on the market. Built on standards-based SIP technology, the snom ONE plus provides VARs with a plug-and-play hardware appliance for business IP telephony that is pre -installed and configured with snom ONE IP PBX software for easy deployment with snom business IP desktop phones and endpoints, including the snom 3xx series, snom 8xx series, snom m9 DECT phones, and snom MeetingPoint conference phone.
Visit www.snomchannel.com.
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VoIP

Voxbone recorded continued solid growth in 2010
Voxbone said its growth and market acceptance continued apace in 2010, with revenue and network traffic climbing significantly and customers indicating high levels of satisfaction. The company reported that revenue rose 38 percent from 2009; minutes of use for inbound traffic grew to 2.1 billion, up 40 percent; the number of employees increased to 58, up 53 percent; and its core network experienced no downtime. This growth reflected service expansion and strong customer satisfaction for the market-leading wholesale provider of geographical, toll-free and iNum worldwide telephone numbers. The rising demand from global carriers and mobile and fixed national network operators for innovative and high-quality inbound solutions accounted for much of Voxbone's 2010 growth. The quest by these service providers for new revenue streams and the ongoing transition to VoIP are expected to further drive Voxbone's success in 2011.
Visit www.voxbone.com.



Digium expands listing opportunities for AsteriskExchange
Digium, Inc., the Asterisk Company, announced it is adding a new listing category to AsteriskExchange dedicated to custom applications for Switchvox, the company’s line of VoIP business phone systems. Switchvox provides an easy way to create custom applications that integrate the communications system with business processes to improve productivity. Individuals and companies who are already developing for Switchvox are encouraged to promote and potentially sell their applications in this new category on AsteriskExchange. To jump-start the development and promotion of the Switchvox Solutions category and the AsteriskExchange, the standard fees are being waived for all Asterisk and Switchvox-related listings.
Visit www.asteriskexchange.com.
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