Source: www.voip-news.com

MTS Allstream is going to use NetIQ AppManager to manage their customers’ Unified Communications applications and infrastructure. It will be used to manage more than 1 million VoIP phones around the globe.

“We needed a solution to help us measure performance levels and enhance end-user experience,” said Eric Fletcher, senior vice president, Marketing at MTS Allstream. “NetIQ provides us with the ability to report on service levels, diagnose call quality degradation and remediate issues immediately. NetIQ AppManager allows us to scale and manage our customers’ UC components — all from a single console. With NetIQ, we can deliver value by optimizing end-user Quality of Experience (QoE), which is exactly what our customers need and have come to expect.”

According to the company:

MTS Allstream first leveraged NetIQ Vivinet® Assessor to effectively predict the overall expected call quality on customer networks. Now utilizing NetIQ AppManager, MTS Allstream can holistically manage customers’ UC deployments, including application servers and network devices. As a result, MTS Allstream delivers compelling customer value by preventing end-user downtime and proactively enhancing service levels 24×7×365.

“Now managing over one million of the world’s VoIP phones, our proven history in this space is a testament to the value that our comprehensive monitoring and reporting delivers for the additional applications that comprise Unified Communications management,” said Criss Scruggs, senior manager, Product Marketing at NetIQ. “Service providers like MTS Allstream require a heterogeneous management solution like NetIQ AppManager, as it will not only meet their current needs, but also reliably scale to accommodate future growth plans.”

Source: www.voip-news.com

You can sort of track the general acceptance of a technology by who’s talking about it. Is it limited to high-tech publications and those in the know? Or are celebrities and well-known publications chatting it up too?

VoIP has made a fast ascent into the second category with Oprah regularly pushing Skype on her popular talk show, the New York Times talking about it and now U.S. News and World Report posting about it on their blog. I daresay that VoIP has hit the mainstream.

Now, the question is, where does it go from here?

Source: www.voip-news.com

Grandstream Networks, which offers IP PBXs, SIP trunking gateways and IP voice and video solutions, is now fully operable with Voipswitch softswitches.

“Voiceserve is glad to announce our partnership with Grandstream Networks. Achieving interoperability with Grandstream’s IP PBX, allows Voiceserve to provide its consumers with very high quality and reliable VoIP business solutions. Grandstream’s premier products in conjunction with our Voipswitch Solution will offer the consumer the a robust solution to fit their communications requirements”, said Chris Oglaza, CTO, Voiceserve,Inc.

According to the companies:

The Grandstream IP PBX offers advanced functionality, ease-of-use and affordability as an all-in-one IP PBX solution. Grandstream’s IP PBX small office phone system is known for relieving the small business owner of the significant costs (both labor and monetary) involved with installation. Not only does the phone system offer the affordability and flexibility of IP telephony, but also advanced features like video conferencing, customizable auto-attendant, ACD, voicemail, fax server, robust dial plan, SBC, CID interrogated pinning and paging. The product also offers one-button provisioning of SIP Trunks, auto-detects and configures IP phones and other hardware, making setup a piece of cake. The products robust versatility and functionality coupled with Voipswitch’s network ensure customers a high quality experience.

Source: www.voip-news.com

Want to channel your inner nerd with a Trek-inspired VoIP handset? Oh yes, it seriously is possible. There is a new VoIP phone modeled after the original Star Trek Communicator. For $75 you too can own this piece of Star Trek-fan addiction gear.

Of course, you need to keep it wired to the computer via USB at all times to actually, you know, work. But what’s a little lack of high-techedness for the Trekkie?

Read more about it on CNET.

Source: www.voip-news.com

Verizon Business has unveiled enhancements to their Hosted IP Centrex, the cloud VoIP service. The enhancements allow businesses to create effective telephony solutions by leveraging their IP networks and applications.

“Whether companies want to reduce real estate costs, improve productivity, increase customer and employee satisfaction or reduce carbon emissions, the tools exist today for businesses to do the job right,” said Blair Crump, group president of worldwide sales for Verizon Business. “By thinking outside of the box – or in this case, the physical office — companies can transform their operations to establish a more global presence, or a more local presence, as their business requires, while controlling costs.”

According to Verizon:

The new enhancements are:
– Expansion of the company’s Burstable Enterprise Shared Trunks (BEST)
capability to Hosted IP Centrex. BEST enables cost savings by
allowing customers to use idle VoIP capacity in one location to
accommodate an increase in traffic from another location.

– The addition of features that enable Hosted IP Centrex customers to
make the virtual office a reality for remote workers, and allow
businesses to more efficiently establish a local presence. These
features include the ability to have calls made from a softphone — a
software program using a computer, headset and a broadband Internet
connection — appear to originate from the user’s business line;
easily register a physical location for E-911 purposes; and to
provision local business numbers for teleworkers that are in business
markets strategic to an enterprise.

Source: www.voip-news.com

In a move meant to make routing more cost effective in the MTS Allstream IP Network, MTS Allstream has opted to use Iristel Virtual Signalling to help with converting Time Division Multiplexing Voice Traffic to IP based traffic.

According to the company:

Iristel’s fully managed and integrated Virtual Signalling solution carries SS7 TDM traffic for Canadian Incumbent (ILEC) and Competitive Local Exchange Carriers (CLEC) without having to backhaul capacity across the border. The Iristel solution saves carriers costly signalling and media platform charges while maintaining the integrity of all voice media streams and logic.

“Our goal at MTS Allstream is to serve our customers by moving data over our advanced network effectively and efficiently. Streamlining the cost of backhauling our traffic will help us achieve this goal,” says Dave Ballantine, Senior Vice President, Global Carrier Solutions at MTS Allstream. “By working with an experienced Canadian carrier such as Iristel, we can cut our traffic backhauling expenses while providing our customers with the high quality of service they have come to expect from our IP network.”

Source: www.voip-news.com

The 2009 Data Centre World Exhibition is coming in London next week. Scheduled for Feb. 24-25, the presenters will include Corning Cable Systems GmbH & Co KG, which will be showing their Plug & Play Universal Systems, designed to reduce the carbon footprint of data centers with the factory-terminated, modular components.

The company will also be showcasing their FutureCom EA system with the S500 Module, a universal general cabling solution for using Ethernet, VoIP, telephone, TV and other services.

Other highlights include:

- Pretium(R) Integrated Solutions Zero-U System, which features pre-engineered optical harnesses that map directly to the line card ports of major equipment vendor SAN directors. The Zero-U System includes MTP(R) Connector brackets mounted into the cabinet’s vertical manager to facilitate patching instead of consuming valuable rack space as is traditional, providing more room for data centre electronics. The Pretium Integrated Solutions family also includes the U-Space System, which provides the high-density benefits realized by the Zero-U System, utilizing a traditional rack mount housing for the MTP Connector patching area.

- Integrated Trunk Module (ITM), a factory-terminated, MTP Connector trunk assembly integrated into a Plug & Play Universal Systems module. The trunk cable stored within the module is easily deployed to an exact length, so precise pre-planning of cable length is not required.

The ITM provides a quick and convenient method for deploying and/or redeploying optical connectivity and is well-suited for zone distribution architectures, from the zone distribution area to equipment cabinet(s). Additionally, the ITM can be easily deployed between the data centre main distribution area and individual cabinet locations.

- UniCam(R) Pretium Performance Connectors, which offer industry-leading optical performance in a fast, easy field-termination solution.

Source: www.voip-news.com

There is a new Point of Presence in downtown Miami from Towerstream. The WiMAX provider installed the PoP on the Wachovia Financial Center on South Biscaye Blvd.

According to the company:

Towerstream offers a variety of bandwidth options from T-1 to 1000Mbps as well as service reliability backed by an industry-leading Service Level Agreement (SLA) and a no-risk, money-back guarantee. Towerstream’s wireless broadband network delivers high-speed Internet access supporting VoIP, bandwidth on demand, wireless redundancy, VPNs, disaster recovery, bundled data, and video services. Companies utilizing multiple appliances simultaneously, such as streaming video and VoIP, can prioritize their bandwidth to secure mission-critical activities. In addition to Miami, Towerstream currently serves businesses of all sizes in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Seattle, Boston, San Francisco, Dallas-Fort Worth and Providence/Newport. Towerstream also offers a Rapid Installation Program which guarantees installation within 48 hours.

“As Towerstream continues to execute on its business plans for 2009, expanding the range and power of our networks continues to be a priority,” said Arthur Giftakis, Vice President of Engineering for Towerstream. “As a result, we are able to bring our reliable, affordable and fast service to more businesses in more places while also ensuring our existing customers continue to receive the high-quality service they have come to expect from Towerstream.”

According to Towerstream:

In addition to strengthening Towerstream’s service in Miami, the company is also powering the PoP with building-wide access to its high-speed, wireless broadband solution. The site is the fourth Towerstream-powered building in the U.S. to take full advantage of wireless gigabit broadband delivered directly from the company’s rooftop equipment. As a result, Wachovia building tenants can enjoy high-quality wireless broadband at very low costs, giving them true redundancy and service reliability.

Source: www.voip-news.com

Cable, internet and VoIP provider Stream Communications has completed their acquisition of Satra, a cable and internet provider in Poland. The company was purchased for 19.58 million PLN.

According to Stream:

The transaction with Satra was financed from the proceeds received by Stream Poland from Cyfoca (a subsidiary of Penta) in the form of a loan which will be later converted into shares in Stream Poland in the following manner:

1. The Penta Investment subsidiary Cyfoca entered into a Master Loan
Agreement with Stream Poland for up to PLN 126.6 million. Loans are
granted based on loan applications for individual acquisitions each
time funds are needed, until March 31, 2009. The terms of the loans are
as follows: interest 3M WIBOR + Margin 0.75% with a loan period of up
to 12 months.
2. Because the share registration process in Poland is lengthy, the Master
Loan Agreement permits Stream Poland to make acquisitions in shorter
time frames, while still enabling Penta to receive the agreed upon
Stream Poland equity. Conversion of the loans into Stream Poland equity
will be made under the previously disclosed conditions set out in Phase
two of the Stream Communications-Penta agreement.

“We are continuing to make progress on the acquisition strategy we laid out when Penta bought its stake in Stream Poland last year, including almost 100 percent growth to date of Stream Poland’s subscriber base to over 124,000 RGUs. Acquiring Satra provides an opportunity for Stream Poland to create, along with the 2008 acquisition of Gdansk-based Internet provider Homenet, a new operational cluster to which economies of scale can be applied as Stream Poland expands in that territory,” said Jan S. Rynkiewicz, president & CEO of Stream.

Source: alanweinkrantz.typepad.com

During the month of December, I spent quite a bit of time going line item by line item in my business and household budget trying to reduce costs.

Since then, Telephony Magazine covered the story and today, The Wall Street Journal did this piece.

Source: www.voip-news.com

Towerstream has installed two new Points-of-Presence in downtown LA, offfering more high-speed internet access that supports a variety of technologies including VoIP.  The fixed WiMAX service provider has installed the PoPs on top of the First Regional Bancorp building.

The new PoPs strengthen the signal in Century City, Santa Monica and Culver City.

“Los Angeles is one of the most competitive markets in the country. To stay ahead, our company has to be efficient and effective, so network downtime is not an option,” said Jeff Caverly, President of G3 Mastering Solutions. “Towerstream’s service brings us unprecedented network reliability, speed and bandwidth, helping us to keep our business online and meet our customer’s demands on time.”

Source: www.voip-news.com

Nortel is streamlining to keep costs down and productivity up.

The company is using Verizon IP Trunking service with Burstable Enterprise Shared Trunks to consolidate its U.S. corporate voice infrastructure and save on IT costs. The company has a three-year agreement with Verizon.

According to Nortel:

With Verizon IP Trunking service, Nortel will move from a distributed voice architecture to one that is simplified, centralized and more cost-effective. The BEST feature, which Verizon Business introduced earlier this year, is an on-demand networking capability that enables customers to use idle trunk capacity from one or more locations to dynamically accommodate increases in traffic at other locations, providing more design flexibility and reducing the total number of trunks required across the enterprise. Two key Verizon IP Trunking features that enable the Nortel solution include DID (direct inward dial) transport to a Nortel central access point, and E911 support.

“Consolidating our voice infrastructure to VoIP will provide network efficiencies that serve to increase productivity while driving costs lower,” said Steve Bandrowczak, chief information officer for Nortel. “In the initial phase of deployment alone, we anticipate significant operational savings with a return on investment in a little over a year. The endgame is that it allows us to focus on our business, which is serving our customers.”