Source: www.voip-news.com

DevMar Associates are now a distributor for AAR’s Contingency Response Communications System. The communications system is intended to provide local, state and federal agencies with an interoperable communications solution that is simple and yet bridges the gap between agencies, command and control.

“AAR is looking forward to working with Dennis DuVal and his team at DevMar Associates,” said Lee Krantz, Vice President and General Manager of AAR Mobility Systems. “Dennis’ extensive background working with government agencies at many different levels, combined with his knowledge of the communications requirements during a disaster and experience as Chief of Police of Syracuse, NY gives him solid credibility and makes him a natural fit to represent the CRCS in the marketplace.”

According to the company:

The CRCS is an IP-based, agency-neutral solution that allows first responders to communicate and exchange information with radio interoperability, live streaming video, wireless Internet and VoIP services. Potential operators include military, firefighters, law enforcement, National Guard, Department of Homeland Security and other organizations involved in disaster recovery activity.

Source: www.voip-news.com

Tadiran Telecom will be providing advanced communication solutions for the Beijing Subway, which is planned to become the largest subway in the world by 2015. Under the new agreement, Subway Line 15 and Daxing, which is a subway line in the southern city quarter, will include 87 units of IPx3000 system and FlexiCom 5000 system connected across 57 km of tracks. That will provide converged voice, data and video communications, dispatch and system-wide management applications for the monitoring of the whole network in real-time.

“Mission critical, converged communication systems that support voice, data, video and advanced communications have become a necessity in the transportation market. Tadiran has been leading this technological ground,” said Zeev Aviv, VP Sales & Marketing of Tadiran Telecom. “The Beijing Subway is an ambitious project with special communication requirements. Tadiran Telecom will make use of the experience, customization capabilities and know-how that it has accumulated in the transport industry over the past decade. Our flexibility and reliability have yielded success in past projects and have made Tadiran the company of choice for China’s transportation projects.”

According to the company:

Tadiran Telecom solutions are already providing mission-critical communications to much of Beijing’s public transportation, including the Beijing Subway lines 4 and 5, the Airport Express subway line, and the Beijing Airport Command Center. Due to the successful installations, Tadiran Telecom has been chosen again over competition from major players such as Siemens, Alcatel, Feihong, Ericsson and Harris. Line 15 is the sixth line awarded in the Beijing subway to KTT, Tadiran’s subsidiary in China.

Source: www.voip-news.com

A webinar next week will bring together industry leaders to talk about Advanced Advertising: Next Steps. The webinar is being hosted by Communications Technology magazine and the panel will include Sigma Systems CTO Brian Cappellani as well as reps from Canoe Ventures, Comcast Spotlight, TANDBERG Television and OpenTV. They will talk about strategy, objectives, architectural design and more.

“Subscriber data gives Next-generation Operators a strategic advantage over non-traditional content providers who are competing for the same advertising dollars,” said Cappellani. “Operators who are looking to gain a bigger share of the advertising pie should join this webinar for insights into standards, technologies and processes needed to benefit from interactive and addressable advertising.”

Here’s the detes:

When: June 18 at 1 p.m. (EDT). To register for the “Advanced Advertising: Next Steps” webinar, go to: http://tinyurl.com/sigma-ctmagadwebinar.

Details: Jonathan Tombes, editor of Communications Technology, will moderate the webinar, which will cover:

– MSO strategic goals and operational tactics
– Canoe Ventures’ advanced advertising system
– Standards and overall business processes
– Required ‘below the line’ components and systems

Source: www.voip-news.com

Smoothstone and IPLogic Inc. have formed a partnership. Now IPLogic clients will be able to take advantage of Smoothstone’s hosted IP communications services and on-demand applications.

“IPLogic has always been focused on offering our clients communications solutions that reduce cost and increase productivity,” said Kenneth Yanneck, President of IPLogic. “We work to offer our clients the best of the best. Our new partnership with Smoothstone is a direct result of the decision we made in our own search for a communications provider. We believe in Smoothstone’s solutions for our clients, because we’re a Smoothstone client ourselves.”

According to the companies:

As a leading managed IP services provider, Smoothstone will offer its industry experience in hosted communications to IPLogic’s varied base of clients, including organizations in healthcare, education, government, financial services, hospitality and gaming, and manufacturing and distribution.

IPLogic had recently selected Smoothstone’s SIP Trunking services for their own communications network. Smoothstone provides trunking to their Cisco CallManager hardware in their New York and Pennsylvania offices. The desire to form a strategic partnership followed quickly after their own successful implementation.

“Smoothstone and IPLogic share a common focus on understanding clients’ needs first and building customized communications solutions around those needs,” added Yanneck. “Smoothstone’s dedicated support and network management team complements their unmatched IP communications experience, which makes them the perfect solution to offer to our clients in need of unified communications services.”

Source: www.voip-news.com

Skype has a new partnership with Yuuguu. Read about it on VoIP News of the UK.

Check out Doug on IP Comm for coverage of the HD Communications Summit.

VoIP Watch says that Wi-Fi voice is a burgeoning sector.

Source: www.voip-news.com

There is a new software and services solution based on Microsoft Unified Communications that offers SMBs a way to delivery cost-effective and feature-rich customer service experiences available from Clarity Consulting. The solution uses multi-modal and presence-based communications services that are built on top of existing Microsoft Unified Communications infrastructure.

“Consumer expectations for superior service are at an all-time high and mega-brands like Apple and Amazon are consistently raising the bar,” said Jon Rauschenberger, chief technology officer, Clarity Consulting. “With Clarity Connect, we’ve created a solution that lets small to mid-sized businesses deliver the kind of customer service solutions that the big brands do without expensive third party licensing or complex on-site maintenance. Our goal is to make customer interaction management more affordable and accessible to the SMB market.”

Interested? Here’s the detes:

Given that customer retention and loyalty is at a premium, SMBs struggle with justifying the cost of linking customer touch points such as the Web, call centers, instant messaging, and emails for a consistent user experience. Using Clarity Connect, SMBs can bring together customer touch points through a combination of Microsoft software products installed at the customer site and services hosted by Clarity. This combined software plus services offering reduces the cost and complexity of building a fully integrated call center without compromising features and benefits such as immediate response and issues resolution which customers expect when they interact with customer service agents.

Specifically, Clarity Connect builds on the investment companies have made in the Microsoft Office Communications Server and Exchange Server products. Deployed at the customer’s premises, these servers manage all unified communications and feature support for voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) along with native support for external connectivity. Additionally, customers can take advantage of fully secure, corporate grade instant messaging and email capabilities. The services part of the offering includes a fully hosted customer interaction management platform and integration with CRM, SFA and support desk applications

Source: www.voip-news.com

The latest report from Pyramid Research and Light Reading Communications Network has been released. This one focuses on communications in Uganda, where mobile penetration is expected to increase from 39 percent in 2009 to 70.7 percent in 2014.

“Mobile penetration rose from just 1.9 percent at year-end 2002 to an estimated 39.0 percent in 2009,” says Sylwia Boguszewska, analyst at Pyramid Research and author of the report. “Pyramid expects it will increase further to reach 70.7 percent penetration by 2014, while the number of mobile subscriptions will exceed 27 million,” she adds.

Communications Markets in Uganda looks at both the fixed and mobile sectors, as well as emerging technologies like WiMAX, IPTV and VoIP.

An excerpt is available at http://www.pyramidresearch.com/downloads.htm?id=18&sc=PR050409_CIRUG.

“As a result of a successful liberalization process, Uganda now boasts five mobile operators, three of which are well-established: MTN Uganda, Uganda Telecom, and Zain Uganda,” says Boguszewska. “They were joined by Warid Telecom, which entered the market in February 2008, and Orange Uganda, which launched in March 2009.”

Source: www.voip-news.com

A webinar is scheduled for Tuesday that will address the topic: Delivering Communications in a Down Economy: Is SaaS the Answer? It’s being hosted by Frost & Sullivan. The online webinar has complimentary registration.

Here’s the detes:

WHEN: Tuesday, May 5, 2009 at 11 a.m. EDT, online, with
complimentary registration

SPEAKERS: – Melanie Turek, Principal Analyst, Unified Communications,
Frost & Sullivan
- Elka Popova, Program Director, Unified Communications,
Frost & Sullivan

SUMMARY: As Unified Communication technologies mature and customer
awareness of UC benefits substantially increases, the
economic recession seems to present the biggest barrier to
more widespread adoption of UC solutions. Vendors and
service providers are therefore looking for innovative
delivery models, such as hosted services and software as a
service (SaaS), that can facilitate UC implementation and
bolster market growth. To date, hosted voice has stumbled in
a marketplace dominated by PBX vendors and their channels.
Is SaaS a better fit for UC?

SUPPORTING “Currently, there is a lot of hype around cloud computing
QUOTE: and SaaS, as service providers and technology vendors vie
for a piece of this potentially growing market,” states
Turek. “While this model has certain benefits, market
participants should remember the lessons from the
inglorious past of hosted communications and apply
prudence when betting on SaaS.”

SUPPORTING – Follow Elka Popova on the VoIP & Telecom Blog, Sip That,
RESOURCES: http://bit.ly/16uScp
- Follow Melanie Turek on the Enterprise 2.0 Blog,
http://bit.ly/9JsIo
- Follow Popova and Turek on Twitter: @epopova,
@melanieturek
- During the briefing, join the conversation on Twitter
using hashtag: #ucsoft
- Visit Frost & Sullivan’s practice groups, Conferencing &
Collaboration, http://bit.ly/qvtNb, and Enterprise
Communications, http://bit.ly/k7cul

REGISTER: Email stephanie.ochoa@frost.com your full name, title,
company name, company telephone number, company email
address, city, state and country or receive a recorded
version of the briefing anytime by submitting the
aforementioned contact details.

Source: www.voip-news.com

Verizon Business’s Managed Unified Communications and Collaboration Service was awarded the 2008 Product of the Year Award by TMC’s Unified Communications magazine.

“This award from TMC and Unified Communications magazine underscores our commitment to delivering innovative solutions to help customers address critical business objectives,” said Nancy Gofus, senior vice president – global business products, Verizon. “Verizon Managed Unified Communications & Collaboration Service is a cost-effective, highly scalable solution that helps businesses and governments streamline business processes, drive employee productivity, accelerate decision-making, enhance customer service delivery and control costs.”

According to Verizon:

The service provides large-business and government customers with management of the newest capabilities of the Cisco Unified Communications System Release 7.0. Launched in December 2008, the service enables enterprises to deploy the latest in unified communications and collaboration (UC&C) technology, while helping reduce the complexity of managing, monitoring and maintaining these solutions. Verizon Business is the first global service provider to deliver a managed service based on the Cisco Unified Communications System Release 7.0.

Source: www.voip-news.com

The first MSHA-approved ActiveMine network will be installed in a West Virginia underground coal mine next month. The 50-node network from Active Control Technology will be the largest MSHA-approved underground Wi-Fi network to date. Wi-Fi telephones are expected to be not too far behind.

“ActiveMine’s open standard frees mines from being locked into proprietary and antiquated wired networks,” said Steve Barrett, President and CEO, Active Control. “We have brought the Internet to mining and made it 100 percent wireless, making possible a world of new applications and devices for mines.”

According to Active Control:

The installation will mark the first time a coal mine has deployed a full Wi-Fi standards-based communications network. This means that with ActiveMine, the premier wireless voice communications and tracking system for mines, the mine can utilize any Internet Protocol-based application over its network.

…

The new system will replace a pre-MSHA approved ActiveMine system which has been in operation since May 2008 in a non-gassy area of the mine. ActiveMine’s Wi-Fi telephones are expected to receive MSHA approval soon.

Source: www.voip-news.com

Integration. That’s the buzz word for VoIP right now. With incredible growth in the VoIP marketplace, it’s no surprise that integrating UC applications like conferencing and chat with business applications is the next step for hosted IP telephony.

“Small businesses will continue to be attracted to hosted IP telephony offerings primarily for cost-efficient voice communications, although some of them will also choose a hosted offering for the ability to gain access to a complete UC package from a single provider,” said Frost & Sullivan Global Program Director Elka Popova. “Medium and large businesses will also appreciate the economies provided by hosted IP telephony, but will seek such solutions mostly so they can focus on core business processes and gain access to applications and capabilities that they can test without making a capital investment.”

According to Frost & Sullivan:

While integration with other applications can help the hosted IP telephony market plough ahead, significant technology enhancements to premise-based solutions and extensive private branch exchange (PBX) vendor channels present significant barriers to further market penetration. IP telephony vendors will have to develop astute channel strategies since most market participants are small, next-generation providers with limited geographic presence and service support capabilities, and with no established customer base or brand-name recognition.

Service providers should, therefore, seek to expand and diversify their channels and strengthen relationships; however, these moves will need to be based on specific portfolio requirements. Meanwhile, the low barriers to entry will cause the North American market to remain extremely fragmented. The incumbent local exchange carriers (LECs) are reluctant to grab larger market shares due to the fear of cannibalizing legacy service revenues and limited demand for next-gen hosted telephony services among their existing Centrex base.

“In order to ensure extensive customer reach and superior customer support, service providers need to develop stronger relationships with various VARs, SIs, and agents that may include real estate companies, IT consultants, and moving companies,” said Popova. “Further, providers should seek to develop an eco-system of partnerships to jointly enhance market awareness and be able to offer customers a range of interoperable solutions and capabilities.”

Source: www.voip-news.com

The cost of communications is a big burden for companies, but it is something that can be managed with the right know how and tools. Do you need to know how to optimize your company’s communications with IP telephony and VoIP, wireless, conferencing solutions and applications – and do so in a way that is recession appropriate?

Well, there is a free live webinar coming that will address all of these things. Optimizing Your Communications in a Recession is slated for March 18 at 1 p.m. EST.

Here’s the detes:

You will learn:

• A tactical approach to optimize your communications effectively in a recession
• Use IP telephony, VoIP, wireless and conferencing solutions and applications to optimize your communications
• Cost-effectively enable your employees to be productive 24×7
• Drive greater business value and productivity on minimal budget
• Tips to increase cost savings and productivity across your organization

Click here to learn more or to register.