Source: www.voip-news.com

When there are natural or human-caused disasters, you need communication to be restored quickly and kept up so that critical communications can reach their destination. Verizon Business’s new Emergency Response Mobile Communications Service does just that. And they can do it from anywhere in North America.

“Obviously, the faster a company can overcome an unplanned communication disruption, the faster it can get back to business,” said Diane McCarthy, senior vice president, network field operations. “But to be most effective, ERMCS needs to be incorporated into a larger business continuity plan. We can help on that score as well by providing professional consulting services that can include developing, assessing and testing response plans.”

According to Verizon:

ERMCS vehicles use satellite links to restore vital business communications. Each self-sufficient vehicle is equipped with wired VoIP telephones and wired and wireless Ethernet access for laptops. Several vehicle configurations are available, including 40-foot and 53-foot vehicles that offer up to 24 individual work stations, each with its own telephone jack, Ethernet port and electrical outlet. These vehicles provide local, long-distance and international calling, along with Internet access and fax service.

“While the details can vary by company, a complete business continuity plan will include a way to reestablish communications,” said McCarthy. “The ERMCS can successfully fulfill that role by offering a complete package of communication offerings combined with reliability and flexibility.”

Source: snapvoip.blogspot.com

US ARMY Marches Towards VoIP, Unified Communications.
The Army plans to migrate all of its circuit-switched voice communications to packet-switched voice-over-IP technology, said Col. Scot Miller, head of the organization that builds and runs the Army’s global telecommunications network.

The transition to VOIP, implementation of a unified communications architecture and the movement to centralize IT applications in area processing centers are the three primary initiatives that will dominate the agenda of the Army’s networking group for the foreseeable future, Miller said.

The Defense Information Systems Agency, as the lead agency responsible for the Pentagon’s networks and IT systems, is evaluating VOIP to assess whether it meets the strict availability and operational standards that are necessary before it can be used to carry command-and-control voice calls for the military. DISA likely won’t approve the use of end-to-end VOIP technology until 2009 or 2010, Miller added.
News Source Government Computer News.