Since 1940, Telcos have enjoyed massive success.

The cloud is about to either radically change that, or radically change the telco.

When the cable guys came out with IP phone services to your house at 1/5th the cost of your standard land line, the Telcos fought it (of course). Now all of your phone service is IP, whether you know it or not, or whether you still use your Telco for it or not.

The Telco survived because it adapted to a new reality (And because humans are lazy).

Since the dawn of the Cloud Era (you know, way back in 2008ish), I’ve been trying to figure out how the monolith organizations such as Telcos were going to play in this transformative era. At first they did what they always do — “Oh, a shiny new business opportunity, we’ll do it too!” — they put up infrastructure as a service (Telcos are the equivalent of the “channel” historically for infrastructure vendors – and got “stuffed” with gear in the exact same way.  Now they are trying to find a means – any means – to get someone to use that capacity). Then they started offering some kind of services themselves – backup has been a popular one, though since Telcos don’t speak that language, they tend to languish or focus (rightfully) on consumers.

But what is a Telco? A telco is a communications infrastructure provider – who happens to have the most important thing required in this transformation – a direct customer billing relationship.

Now that all Telcos – and all enterprises – have adopted IP-based telephony, the stage has been set for the next wave — which will be complete cloud-based unified communications (including video) services.

Telcos will have to adapt to providing these services in order to retain their value over the next 10 years, or they will be relegated to being bandwidth brokers alone.

Enterprises will want to outsource ALL of their complex UC/Video needs the exact same way they outsourced their complex CRM needs. As a matter of fact, this is exactly the kind of value added next generation service SalesForce should be providing – since the whole point of “unified” now means “integrated” and SalesForce is the integration platform of choice for most businesses.

SalesForce won the CRM war not because it taught the market to want CRM – it won because the market wanted CRM but no one delivered it in the way buyers wanted to consume it – until SalesForce. Make it simple and give it to me as a service. That’s how people want to consume complex infrastructural/core stuff. Unified communications and video are the exact same thing.

So, there is no SalesForce for UC – yet. This is why Telcos have to get their shit together here, lest they miss out on a massive global movement yet again.

The arms dealers will be interesting to watch evolve. It’s still way early, but Microsoft has a play – and they sure have a cloud initiative. IBM has the cloud, but not a play yet. Dell and HParen’t doing anything that I can see. People like Polycom will be interesting to watch. Ciscomade a big bet here long ago – and is doing quite well (although until they or a partner deliver it as a cloud service, they will have the same problems as Siebel did early on with CRM – way too complex and expensive for a normal company to deal with)

The existing arms supplier to the Telcos for IP Telephony version 1.0 is Broadsoft, but Telcos are mumbling that they don’t have the chops to be there for version 2.0. Thus far, while there are a few contenders, the one I’d bet on is Thinking Phone Networks in Cambridge, MA. Little, but they seem to have all the right parts, people (CEO is a continuous home run hitter), and are built for the cloud. They have very large, very global players cruising in and out of the peoples’ republic of Cambridge as of late, and I know of at least one multinational global conglomerate OEM deal about to happen. I don’t know enough about the others (yet) to be able to tell who has a legit chance or not. This is a new space for me, but one I do find fascinating.

My point isn’t to call the winner, my point is to call the next market in this space. Just like the big banks said “no one will ever buy stock online” or the Telcos said “no one will ever use an internet phone system” (How are Nortel and Avaya doing these days?), both have evolved WAY beyond from what could be – to what should be. We don’t want to own and manage PBXs anymore then we want to run our own power plants. It’s a natural cloud-based service.

My data of record is in the cloud on salesforce – connected/integrated seamlessly with my communications – and none of it sits on my site. I rent what I need when I need it.

It’s the reason I now run Apple everywhere in my life. It just works. And that’s how all this stuff is supposed to be.

by Steve Duplessie

www.thebiggertruth.com

From the Wall Street Journal

The carrier launched and expanded its 4G service today in Tulsa, Okla..; Fort Collins, Colo.; Lansing, Mich.; Omaha, Neb.; Council Bluffs, Iowa; Northwest Arkansas, Johnstown and Altoona, Penn.; Memphis, Tenn.; Ithaca, N.Y.; Syracuse, N.Y.; Provo and Orem, Utah; greater Worcester, Mass.; Cincinnati and Columbus, Ohio; the metrowest area of Massachusetts; and the capital region of New York.

The carrier appears well on track to meet its goal of reaching 185 million potential customers with its LTE network by the end of the year.

Matt Kapko
RCR Wireless

Level 3 will take ownership of Global Crossing for stock shares valued at $23.04 per share. The terms of the agreement dictate that Level 3 will issue 16 of its shares for each share of Global Crossing. The deal price is a 56 percent premium to GLBC’s closing price on Friday of $14.80.

The two companies said in a joint statement on Monday that the deal value is $3 billion, which includes Level 3’s assumption of $1.1 billion of Global Crossing’s net debt.

According to Level 3 Chief Executive Jim Crowe in a statement, the fit between the two companies’ networks, services portfolios and customers has proven to be compelling. Level 3 is a provider of fiber-based communications services.

The companies also said that ST Telemedia, which holds 60 percent of Global Crossing, has agreed to vote for the offer, subject to certain conditions.

A report in the Wall Street Journal shows the companies’ combined network will serve a customer set with owned networks in more than 50 countries and connections to more than 70 countries. The deal is expected to generate synergies from network expense savings, operating expense savings and reductions in overall capital spending.

The deal gives all Global Crossing equity holders 16 Level 3 shares for each of their common or preferred shares. With Global Crossing valued at $23.04 per share that makes for a 56 percent premium based on Level 3’s close Friday at $1.44.

According to Level 3 officials, the company adopted a shareholder rights plan designed to protect its federal net operating losses. The plan is expected to deter trading that would cause an ownership change that could hurt the company’s ability to use the tax assets. The deal brings the company significantly closer to such an ownership change.

For the past two years, Level 3 has posted straight quarterly losses as many businesses put their Internet- networking services spending plans on hold. Some analysts predict that business spending on tech is picking up again.

Susan J. Campbell is a contributing editor for TMCnet and has also written for eastbiz.com.

• Written by Susan J. Campbell
• Edited by Janice McDuffee
• www.tmcnet.com

By Ed Silverstein, TMCnet Contributor

Session Internet Protocol (SIP) trunking appears ready for significant new investments from enterprises, a new study reports. Business leaders, meanwhile, are weighing how the deployments will impact operations and future initiatives, according to the study.

A survey of IT decision-makers at enterprises shows a little more than one-third of the respondents are implementing SIP trunking services “in a substantial manner” and “56 percent plan to increase their investments in this technology in 2011,” according to a press release on TMCnet.

The survey involved 138 business executives who have authority to make decisions on telecommunications. It was conducted by Voice Report.

BizTechReports says the trend toward SIP trunking is taking place despite “significant levels of confusion and trepidation about SIP trunking.” Cost, reliability and interoperability are some of the concerns voiced by survey respondents.

In addition, the survey found:

• Some 56 percent plan to invest more money in SIP trunking during 2011.
• Some 58 percent plan to deploy SIP trunking to additional locations during 2011.
• Some 74 percent of the respondents identified “consolidation of telecom services” is a plus to using SIP trunking services.
• Some 60 percent of SIP trunking users say they achieved 10 percent or more in savings over previous costs.
• Some 56 percent plan to invest more money in SIP trunking during 2011.
• Some 58 percent plan to deploy SIP trunking to additional locations during 2011.
• Some 45 percent of respondents were concerned about SIP trunking service reliability.
• Some 27 percent of respondents had issues and/or questions on the reliability of their SIP trunking services.

TMCnet’s Patrick Barnard recently interviewed Broadvox’s vice president οf Marketing and Sales, David Byrd (News – Alert), who said businesses are choosing to transition to SIP for such factors as: cost, capex, and infrastructure. They say they choose a product based on factors other than cost. But the No. 1 reason is still cost. “It’s abοut saving money,” Byrd said.

Ed Silverstein is a TMCnet contributor

Edited by Tammy Wolf

www.tmcnet.com

Thinking Phone Networks (TPN), a leading supplier of SIP trunks and hosted VoIP and Unified Communications services, continues to receive accolades from those who monitor the telecommunications industry.  This week, TPN’s  “ThinkingSuite” unified communications platform received the 2010 Product of the Year Award from Internet Telephony, a major industry trade publication.  Additional information is provided in the attached press release.

ValuLink Technology Solutions has a proud and long standing relationship with Thinking Phone Networks.  Because of its vision, its operational excellence, and service quality levels so high it is able to provide a 99.999% service uptime SLA, TPN  holds premier provider status with ValuLink where a number of IP services and larger customers converge.

This week’s Internet Telephony announcement follows a string of many honors Thinking Phones has recently received, including their inclusion in both the Gartner Inc. “Unified Communications as a Service” Magic Quadrant, and ABI Research’s Hosted VoIP and Unified Communications Top 10 Matrix.

Thinking Phone Networks_Internet Telephony Product of the Year Award Press Release_02_08_11

A smart move that can save entrepreneurs money–and at the same time implement the latest in technology and management resources–is the virtual office. Very simply, a virtual office is one where employees may no longer be housed on site; in fact, they could be spread across the U.S. or even the world.

The term “virtual conversations” illustrates the idea perfectly–conversations that take place via instant messaging or on social networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace and chat rooms. In a virtual office, employees work out of their own homes, a rented office space or a larger, shared office building. The virtual office contains a computer, printer and fax machine, among other equipment. Often the computers have webcams which allow video conferencing.

For meetings, many employees use software such as GoToMeeting that enables them to see each others’ computer screens without leaving their own desks, even if the meeting is taking place thousands of miles away. This way, an individual can work with others and actually share their screen. This helps members linked in to the meeting to view slides or software from various sites.

Webinars use this process to reach out to a large number of participants at the same time. In Webinars, meeting attendees can also use their telephones to talk to the presenter or moderator and sometimes to each other. The cost of this equipment is more than offset by the savings realized by not having to pay travel expenses, site rentals or office space rent.

What do virtual employees like about this system? Sharyn Katz, accounting manager for Boston Software Systems Inc., in Sherborn, Mass., says, “I enjoy the independence and freedom of being able to set my own workflow based on the company’s needs and priorities.” Certainly, she must be prepared to “deliver the goods” when her boss needs them, but she has a great deal of leeway when creating her own schedule.

Others say they enjoy not having to report to an office on a regular basis. They can work from their own home or another space. In fact, they can be wherever they like–a client’s office, the library, the coffee shop, the beach–wherever they feel content and most productive.

Other employees say they enjoy being almost totally responsible for themselves with no boss or supervisor hanging around their desk, looking over their shoulder or pressuring them for work results. Many employees who prefer the independence of working alone in a virtual environment say they’re spared the bother, distraction and negative office politics found in the traditional office setting.

Deb Beck and Dave Linde, principals of Studio 18 Group in Wellesley, Mass., both say they’ve benefited from gaining strategic management clients from throughout the U.S. They’ve accomplished this not through face-to-face business development meetings, but rather by using electronic tools to increase their client base. Finally, virtual employees are spared the expense, frustrations and time loss commuting to a traditional office location.

Along with these positive features obviously come negative ones. The chief complaint most virtual employees mention is social isolation. There’s no water cooler or “coffee klatch” for a casual exchange of comments, work-related or not. They can’t simply walk down the corridor to chat with a colleague, even for a few minutes.

For these staff members, seeing other employees on a computer or video conferencing screen simply does not replace personal contact. As for time off, those without firm personal or professional boundaries can end up spending much of their non-work hours back at their desk, pounding out more work and forgetting about the importance of work-life balance.

Another drawback is that it’s too easy to start work late, run an errand or find a distraction rather than doing one’s work. Frequently, these behaviors are a means of compensating for the lack of having other people to interact with. A further disadvantage of a virtual office when compared to a traditional one is that in a conventional office, if employees need additional guidance or direction on a project or task, they can simply walk down the hall to speak with someone. In the virtual office, it sometimes takes more time to get information, especially when the key person, or an alternate, isn’t available.

Given these positive and negative factors, what caveats exist for the effective entrepreneur who wants to create a virtual office?

First, hire the right people. This is true in any company, but even more so in the virtual one. Deb Beck of Studio 18 Group says that successful virtual employees are “self-starters and self-disciplined–it’s definitely lonely working in a vacuum, and they need to be able to deal with this.” Katz echoes Beck, saying that effective virtual employees, “need to connect with other outside communities,” not just the virtual work environment they’re in.

The virtual leader needs to have the utmost trust in new hires. The leader will not physically see or interact with employees as easily as in a traditional company. Therefore, business owners in these settings must have an extremely high level of confidence in their employees. Employees need to be exceedingly self-reliant and committed to the task and the organization; self-motivated to work independently and without much supervision; and dedicated to the success of their work. Productivity, self-efficiency and autonomy are essential.

Even though virtual employees need to be self-reliant and self-directed,the effective virtual entrepreneur needs to set realistic benchmarks and check-in times. To be able to manage someone from a remote location you must have some type of criteria to measure progress and success; e.g., total contacts made or total widgets produced. Some leaders reserve a particular time of the day or week for call-ins or staff meetings, using GoToMeeting or video-conferencing products.

Communication needs to be sufficient, frequent and intense enough to satisfy both the employer and the employee. Many set interim deadlines for projects so there are no surprises or gaps. Some, like Boston Software Systems, Inc., organize regional or national retreats once or twice a year. The purpose of these get-togethers is varied: opportunities for social interaction with employees who may never have met or who need to get to know each other; management and productivity purposes to discuss and improve processes, policies and procedures; information sharing; and creating a sense of unity, team building and esprit de corps.

A virtual office in this era of cost-cutting can save you a great deal of money. However, the prospective virtual entrepreneur needs to enter into this state-of-the-art management concept with goals of hiring the most appropriate employees and creating a fail-safe process.

By David Javitch

David G. Javitch, Ph.D., is Entrepreneur.com’s “Employee Management” columnist and an organizational psychologist and president of Javitch Associates, an organizational consulting firm in Newton, Massachusetts. With more than 20 years of experience working with executives in various industries, he’s an internationally recognized author, keynote speaker and consultant on key management and leadership issues.

At the end of 2010, $146 billion for telecommunications services were estimated to be spent by all US businesses. According to the Insight report, by the close of 2015, spending on wired and cellular calling will grow to $269 billion. A compound annual growth rate or CAGR of 13 percent is therefore represented over the forecast period.

All the growth in the telecommunications industry is being created by business spending for cellular and other wireless services. Over the five year forecast horizon, all US business spending for wireline services will be essentially flat. Over the period of 2010-2015, wireless expenditure is however expected to grow at a CAGR of 23.5 percent.

The market segments of construction; financial, insurance, and real estate; professional business services; and transportation will be the biggest spenders on cellular services. 14 vertical industries categorized by the NAICS have been analyzed by the study. Corporate spending for wireline and wireless telecommunications services in each of the 14 industries has been the focus of the study.

In a release, Robert Rosenberg, president of Insight said, “The year 2010 – like 2009 – was all about a shaky economy, unemployment hovering at 10 percent, and retrenchment in every industry sector we examined.”

According to Rosenberg, there are no new businesses being formed. Existing businesses are also retaining fewer employees. Existing employees, however are made more productive with wireless services. New ways to reach potential customers are also provideded to business with wireless services. Wireless is therefore responsible for the growth in demand for telecom services.

By Calvin Azuri, TMCnet Contributor

Calvin Azuri is a contributing editor for TMCnet.

Edited by Jennifer Russell

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

January 20, 2011

CONTACTS:

Barbara Boshoven, VP of Corporate Affairs, bboshoven@ussignalcom.com, 616-988-7000

Christine Hoek, christine@articulate-pr.com, 616.662.9241

Expansion responds to customer demand.

US Signal Announces Completion of Major Illinois Expansion

GRAND RAPIDS, MICH. — US Signal today announced that the expansion of its long-haul fiber network into Southern and Central, Ill., St. Louis, Mo. and Southern Indiana is complete. A leading data service provider in the Midwest, US Signal has been a pioneer of connectivity for more than a decade.

“We are pleased to announce the completion of our Southern Illinois expansion,” said Stephen Oyer, US Signal’s co-chief operations officer. “Expanding our fiber routes throughout our footprint is critical to US Signal’s strategy of responding to customer demand.”

This expansion will add approximately 1,000 miles of long-haul fiber to the US Signal network. The expansion is part of US Signal’s commitment to being the most dependable, flexible, and reliable provider of data bandwidth in the Midwest. As the nature of the work environment evolves to embrace mobility, US Signal’s expanded presence allows its customers to remain connected and have access to the information they need when they need it, using the stable network provided by US Signal.

The expansion includes central offices in the cities listed below:

· Bloomington, Ill. (BLTNILXD)

· Peoria, Ill. (PEORILPJ)

· Springfield, Ill. (SPFDILES)

· Mattoon, Ill. (MTONILXC)

· Centralia, Ill. (CENLILCE)

· St. Louis, Mo. (STLSMO01 and STLSMOZC)

· Terre Haute, Ind. (TRRHINXA)

US Signal/Expansion

“This expansion is a key component to US Signal’s philosophy of connecting key markets with advanced data transport services,” says Kirk Dombek, director of business development. “The newly completed long haul routes enable US Signal to deliver advanced products like Virtual Ethernet Service, which provides access to a fully meshed, scalable and reliable network to support any data bandwidth providing a multitude of options for our customers.”

According to Dombek, “The value of Ethernet for businesses is the ability to mix and match any of the available Ethernet access types not only in metro areas, but also across the entire US Signal footprint. Virtual Ethernet Service reduces the complexity of a customer’s network configuration and, therefore, interface costs are greatly reduced and multiple access types are offered.”

US Signal’s network now includes more than 9000 route miles of long-haul fiber and more than 1100 miles of fiber optic metro rings in 23 markets connecting regions in Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin and Missouri. The US Signal network provides on-off ramps comprised of major carrier hotel locations, incumbent telephone company central offices and other lit buildings.

About US Signal

The US Signal network, one of the largest in the Midwest, includes more than 1100 route miles of fiber optic metro rings in 23 markets and over 9,000 route miles of long-haul fiber connecting more than 150 on-off ramps, comprising major carrier hotel locations, incumbent telephone company central offices and other lit buildings.

For additional information on US Signal please view our Vendors page and click on US Signal.

The study has ranked Thinking Phone Networks among the Top 10 North American Hosted VoIP and Unified Communications Service Providers based on its recent designation by Gartner, Inc., as a unified communications Magic Quadrant Visionary.

ABI Research has developed the Top 10 Matrix as an analytical tool, which has been designed to provide a clear understanding of vendors’ positions in specific markets and based on several unique criteria such as innovation and implementation among others. The ABI Research report states that the North American hosted VoIP and Unified Communications market continues to display strong growth, driven by the need enterprises’ have to cut capital expenditure through outsourcing their communications.

In a release, the president and CEO of Thinking Phone Networks, Steve Kokinos, said, “Thinking Phone Networks is honoured to be ranked by ABI Research among the Top 10 hosted unified communications service providers. We view our inclusion in the Top 10 as recognition not only of rapid growth, but also of the real value our cloud-based unified communications services are providing to enterprises seeking to streamline business processes.”

Thinking Phone Networks, is focused on unified communications-enabling enterprise organizations and the company’s innovative ThinkingSuite cloud ecosystem is a powerful combination of core unified communications capabilities with a powerful analytics engine and application integration on a single hosted platform. The Unified Communication services have significantly changed the way distributed enterprises collaborate, streamline business processes, and respond to customers. The cloud-based ThinkingSuite unified communications services are available in the market for immediate enterprise deployment.

By Carolyn J Dawson, TMCnet Contributor

To learn more about Thinking Phone Networks please view the Vendor page and click on Thinking Phone Networks.

How to Effectively Manage Storage and Protect Data in the Cloud

The shift to cloud brings new challenges to data storage, which is already complicated by virtualized systems, tape storage, network-attached storage (NAS) and other data storage formats. Because all data in a cloud lives in the same shared system, management of the data becomes paramount in maintaining service levels and securing critical business information.

Organizations should evaluate how their storage resources can most effectively be used in the cloud. Before they can do that, it’s best to categorize the model of cloud computing in the organization.

Three types of cloud computing dominate the landscape:

• private (in which a company hosts, owns and manages its own cloud infrastructure)
• public (in which a third party owns and manages the infrastructure)
• hybrid (in which the public and private models are combined)

In hybrid models, the public cloud often acts as an overflow facility for the private cloud or is used to satisfy other application needs such as off-site information protection. The underlying characteristic of each is that cloud services need to be available and reliable to users, while effectively optimizing resources and providing a pay-as-you-go delivery model.

Keys to effective cloud storage management
Despite advantages of the cloud, not all organizations gain the maximum benefits. When outsourcing business processes to the cloud, organizations can select service options such as performance and capacity levels that best suit an organization’s particular needs. Crucial components for storing critical data in the cloud are storage management, data protection and disaster recovery.

For example, a retail company could opt to store and manage data (such as in-store transactions, online purchases and supplier details) on a private cloud because it allows for better control and access to sensitive data. The retailer, however, might decide that keeping copies of data for disaster recovery on a public cloud service is a lower-risk option.

Whether it chooses to leverage a public, private or hybrid cloud model, the company needs to ensure that their cloud has automated data lifecycle management (DLM), built-in data reduction and advanced application protection, to name a few.

Data lifecycle management (DLM)
When assessing their cloud model, organizations should take the following two items into consideration:
Item No. 1: DLM
To better plan and manage storage in cloud environments, organizations must efficiently use their resources by placing data on the most appropriate tier of storage that meets service delivery requirements and then eliminate data that’s no longer needed. For example, a healthcare provider who just admitted an emergency patient will need to access the patient’s recent records quickly.

This type of Tier 1 data should be stored on high-quality, faster media storage, while the patient’s older records may be archived on tape (which is slower to access). Either way, the cloud service should provide a range of service-level options that balance performance and costs based on the expected use of the stored data.

Organizations also need to ensure that their data is segregated to ensure that confidential information doesn’t get into the hands of others, even in a disaster recovery scenario. Organizations should also ensure that they have applications that provide reporting tools that identify where data is located and can sort by access or saved dates, owners and numerous other filters; automation of data migration between multiple tiers of storage based on policies to move unneeded data from primary storage systems, and transparent operations to minimize impact on other key operational processes.

With these tools, organizations can set policies to take appropriate action or move unnecessary data that clog storage systems and run up usage charges. This automated migration creates a more efficient operating environment, reduces administrative costs and the need to acquire extra hardware.

Item No. 2: Storage resource management (SRM), utilization and optimization
An easy way to visualize storage in the cloud is thinking of it as a huge warehouse. However, this design can obscure visibility into individual storage elements. For example, over time, a cloud service provider may add new storage systems from different vendors, choosing the best products available at the time of purchase. How can you tell which devices are performing as expected and which are creating service delivery bottlenecks?

Although storage resources are shared in a cloud, they still require management based on accurate, timely information. Cloud administrators need tools capable of aggregating and displaying that information, then acting on it in a centralized, optimized way that fulfills business goals. By giving administrators consolidated control over storage systems, storage networks, replication services and capacity management, it restores that visibility to help storage managers establish available capacity, evaluate security, correlate backup/restore performance to Recovery Time Objectives (RTOs) and perform many other necessary functions.

Data protection in the cloud
Cloud services rely heavily on keeping data and applications continuously available. Failure to provide access due to data disasters (such as database corruption, virus attack, and hardware failure or local/regional disasters) could be catastrophic to any organization. Data protection processes such as backup and recovery need to be designed into cloud environments from the start—not added later. Before establishing your cloud infrastructure, it’s important to be familiar with technologies and products used for storage management, protection and disaster recovery.

It’s possible to obtain storage and protection services from companies that specialize in storage—assuming they provide management, data protection and disaster recovery among its services. However, outsourcing storage and applications can put your company at risk.

For example, what would happen if your critical applications and cloud data are hosted on a system that experiences a major failure? You should ensure that your service provider is performing backups as often as necessary to meet contracted Recovery Point Objectives (RPOs), which is what an organization determines is an “acceptable loss” in a disaster situation. You must also have tested the restore processes to meet contracted RTOs, which is the duration of time in which business processes must be restored after a disaster or disruption to maintain business continuity.

Planning for the future
Businesses feel the pressure of quickly implementing cloud models, making development of the environment challenging as companies need to find what suits their needs now as well as for years to come. The exponential growth of data combined with the proliferation of data-intensive services is a significant contributor to why data storage is expanding at an even greater pace in the cloud. However, users need to be mindful as storage clouds still present challenges. These challenges include managing cost, intense computing power, security and data mobility across cloud providers—all factors that affect quality of service (QOS).
As solutions come to market to tackle these challenges, companies must prepare themselves for new innovations as the next wave of storage cloud computing evolves. Ultimately, organizations will need to integrate the functions and data in the cloud with various aspects of their business and collaborate with their business partners.

By: Stephen Wojtoweck
2011-01-31
published on www.eweek.com

By Peter Burrows

For more than three years, iPhone owners have grumbled about dropped calls and slow service on AT&T (T), the exclusive cellular network for Apple’s (AAPL) transformative device. Now they’ll have the chance to see if Verizon (VZ) can do any better. The company recently announced it will start selling iPhones on Feb. 10. (Existing customers can pre order the phone on Feb. 3.) For those who still haven’t chosen sides in the AT&T vs. Verizon showdown, consider these points before signing a contract:

Price: Verizon customers will pay the same as AT&T’s—at least for the device itself. A 16-gigabyte iPhone costs $200, while the 32-gigabyte model is $100 more. The more important retail factor, however, is the monthly service charge, and Verizon hasn’t released any details yet. The industry scuttlebutt is that the company will offer an all-you-can-eat data plan, which AT&T stopped doing last year to keep data hogs from straining its network. Verizon currently charges $30 a month for the unlimited plans on other smartphones, with voice and text messages costing extra. That’s $5 more than what AT&T charges its heaviest data users, who can download up to 2 gigabytes of data per month. For those who like to stream The Daily Show with Jon Stewart while in line at Costco (COST), $5 may be a small price to pay.

Quality: It’s hard to know whether AT&T deserves the battering it has received for poor network quality. Each carrier’s coverage differs from area to area. AT&T increased its investment in wireless infrastructure by over $2 billion in 2010, and says it’s improving. As of last August, however, the percentage of dropped calls on AT&T’s network had risen to 5.8 percent, compared with 2 percent for Verizon, according to a survey by Changewave Research. Infonetics Research co-founder Michael Howard says AT&T is more conservative with its network investments and took longer to upgrade from copper wires to fiber-optic cables and other cutting-edge gear. “Verizon planned its network with greater foresight than anyone else,” says Recon Analytics analyst Roger Entner. “They have a very well-built network, and they don’t cut corners.”

Features: The carriers’ iPhones are nearly identical, but where they differ, AT&T has the advantage. Verizon’s network is based on a technology called CDMA, which runs voice and Internet over different tracks. That means Verizon’s iPhone owners won’t be able to surf the Web or use apps while on a call. AT&T users can, and the company says that more of its customers use the simultaneous talk-and-surf capability every day than watch videos or use GPS navigation.

Verizon users can, however, pay extra to transform their iPhone into a Wi-Fi hotspot, and share its cellular signal with up to five other gadgets. AT&T’s iPhones currently link up with only one other gadget, and connect with them via a more limited Blue tooth signal.

Speed: A big part of AT&T’s promotional pushback against Verizon is that its network is faster. Thanks to recent upgrades, AT&T boasts speeds of 6 megabits per second—fast enough to download a song in four or five seconds, and roughly three times what most Verizon subscribers see. Yet that speedy connection is available only in regions where AT&T has finished upgrading the wires that connect cell towers to the Internet, a process that won’t be finished until at least 2013.

Future Proofing: The Verizon iPhone will likely have a short stint in the spotlight. Every year since 2008, Apple has announced a new, upgraded iPhone in early summer. Buying a Verizon iPhone in February likely means missing out on a sleeker version in a few months’ time—although that’s always a worry when buying gadgets.

Both AT&T and Verizon are building next-generation 4G networks with turbo charged speeds. Neither existing iPhone works on them, but analysts expect Apple to introduce a 4G iPhone within a year or so. Verizon is much further along—its 4G service is already available in 38 cities—so its service is a better bet for those hoping to upgrade to 4G speeds as early as possible.

Of course, the iPhone matters not just to Verizon’s customers but also to its investors. No one doubts that winning Apple’s “Jesus phone” will increase Verizon’s subscriber base. UBS Securities (UBS) expects the company to win 3.5 million new customers in 2011, while AT&T, Sprint (S), and T-Mobile will lose around 1 million between them.

Managing that growth won’t be simple. Verizon is expected to pay $5 billion or so to subsidize new iPhone owners this year, which could drag down profit margins. Walter Piecyk, an analyst at brokerage firm BTIG, expects the opposite. He says the iPhone bonanza will allow Verizon to spread fixed costs like stores and TV ads across more units, boosting margins from 46.4 percent last year to 48.1 percent in 2012. If Verizon’s network can handle the new subscribers, he says, it will further damage AT&T’s brand. “They’ve had the iPhone for four years, and they’re still trying to catch up with demand.”

The bottom line: AT&T must now compete with Verizon for iPhone customers. The latter offers a more reliable but slower network.

Burrows is a senior writer for Bloomberg Businessweek, based in San Francisco.

As the owner of an iPhone for the past 4 years, I can tell you that you will constantly change your “go-to” app on a weekly, if not daily basis. It’s part of the fun. (iPhun?) But the recommendations below are what I keep on my iPhone all the time. I like knowing they are there, even if I don’t use them all the time. These are in no particular order, but all are absolutely free!

The Weather Channel: Too easy. Quick, local info. Too bad they recently lost the road cameras, but maybe we will get that back in the future.
Dictionary: The searches on this app are a breeze. The developers have done a nice job making this app faster with each new update. Now with voice recognition, it takes no time to find the right word. Thesaurus is there too!
iTalk: I like this app better that Apple’s, “Voice Memos.” It has great quality and you can move your recordings to your PC or Mac through the air! (Over a wi-fi network, anyway.)
FlashLight4G: Simple. Gives you the flash light from the back of the phone when you need it. Extremely useful. I keep it on my home page because I can’t tell you how often I’ve needed a little light.
Key Ring: For those people who have a thousand login names and want to make sure each account has a unique password, this free app works just fine. It’s a simple data base with a very intuitive interface. The data is stored in encrypted form and protected by a master password.
AppShopper: Imagine the App Store on steroids. That’s AppShopper. You have quick access to reviews, price changes, wish lists and more. Sometimes it’s easier to find what you need through this app.

These apps are useful and they are free. You can’t go wrong trying them out.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Mike_Howdyshell

Choices Matter

In the past three articles I walked through a step by step procedure about how to review telephone bills to procure savings.  I ended that process with a reminder that you have choices for your telecom contract.

When someone asks me what I think about a problem they are having my mind goes to a few questions that allow me to qualify their situation.

CASE STUDY 1 – A simple scenario

This case was “a problem with ‘slow’ computers”.

I asked if they just replaced their phone system and was told they have very old phones that need to be replaced.  I asked how many phones and the answer was 15 or 16.

That led me toward a possible VoIP solution.  I asked how many locations they had: One office and a warehouse.

More questions: How was the business doing, are they at a standstill, reduction in force, or are they growing?  The answer was they are expanding warehouse facilities.

I then asked who carried the phone services and when the present contract ended.  I was given a contact name. I called and got a copy of the phone bill.  I assessed the bill and learned the contract was renewed over a year ago.

I had a team member with this carrier relationship make a call, ask how we could work out a bandwidth upgrade for this client and if we could remove some other services and bring in SIP.  The customer qualified for a VoIP solution by changing the present phone services and adding a new phone system via a SIP arrangement.

The costs:  the savings on the present contract after upgrading the bandwidth was over $600 a month.  Adding the new phone system made their total monthly cost about $140 more than they were paying on just their telephone services.

So, for a small increase they had a new open-ended phone system that could grow with them by adding another phone, or they could remove a phone or two at any time and not pay for those phones.  If they needed another phone they paid for the new phone and the flat rate monthly cost to operate it.  And at the end of three years they owned the phone system.

No $40,000 bill, no added, hidden costs.  Just a solution specifically suited to their company needs.

Next time: CASE STUDY 2 –  A more complex situation

Running the distance

After reviewing your phone bill for what your line charges include there is a section where you should find your local and long distance rate charges.  Write down your charge for that package plan.

Normally there is a ‘package plan’ monthly fee for a limited number of minutes on long distance service and toll free number service.  Write down how many minutes you are allowed under that package plan.

At the bottom of the columns most of the billing companies have run a total of your minutes used.  Take a moment and write down those total minutes you have used.

If you then look at the columns of calls you have made you will likely see that you went over your package plan of, say for example, 500 minutes.  When you go over your elected plan minutes, the company can then charge you anything from six (.06) cents per minute to twenty (.20) cents per minute.

So, if you go over by 68 minutes you may have an extra charge of 68 times 6 cents equaling $4.08.  Well, that’s no big deal right?  So what if you do it 12 times, that’s only  another $50 a year that you spend.

On the other hand, if you had a straight plan of .019 cents a minute it would have cost you $10.80 not the $37 for the package plan and the $4.08 for the overage which comes to $41.08 per month.  So, if you fix that one little thing you are then paying around $10.80 per month (568x.019) instead of $41.08 which saves you $30.28 a month which over a year saves you approximately $363.36.

Ask yourself how many minutes have you been charged overage costs in the past year?  What are the real costs?

Can you now see why you should take the time to assess your telecommunications costs?  It’s the beginning of a new year.  Do you really want to renew that contract that you have in place without even looking for a way to save money?

Always remember that you have choices.

Literally speaking, there are several benefits of Video Conferencing:

• Multiple Functionalities within one: Video Conference calls benefit the user with different advanced features and attributes such as slideshow presentations, live video chats, web tours and more. It offers the user with a concrete conferencing soultion, allied with the mixed impact of audio and video.
• Cost Curtailment: With the help of Video based Conferencing, organisations, especially the small scale businesses, are being able to cut down their costs. They can hold their training sessions, meetings or other campaigns with the help of web video conference, which otherwise demands large money flow. Such type of Conferencing facilitates business-to-client or business-to-business communication at an economic price.

There are different types of Video based Conferencing Systems and they are namely- Integrated conference room, Set Top Video Conference system, Telepresence conferencing system and Desktop Video conferencing system. Each of these types has specific benefits. While the most commonly used Video Conference call System is the Integrated Room Conferencing system, the cheapest one is Desktop Video Conferencing System.

For this kind of conferencing, all that is required is a Computer, a Web-Camera and access to the Internet. The operating system must have conferencing software installed. Through this innovative yet simple operator assisted conferencing system, users can transfer data, share PowerPoint presentations as well as send text messages to the chat participants during the conference.

For online Conferencing, high quality internet connection is recommended. A connection with speed of minimum 128 kilobytes is an absolute necessity so as to ensure uninterrupted communication and smooth data transfer. For transferring high resolution videos or images, internet speed of 1GB is essential.

The host of live Conferencing can conduct one-on-one meeting with multiple participant. This telecommunication technology also allows to distribute message to various participants of the Conference. Collaborative white boarding, an advanced feature of this type of conference allows the users to share a same virtual board, and hence can view, review or discuss the same document image or presentation in real time.

Nowadays, the usage of Wireless headphones in Desktop Conferencing is highly encouraged. The Bluetooth technology involved with it helps in uninterrupted and enhanced service, coupled with an improved audio quality.

Today, every business house, large or small scale businesses favor Desktop Video Conference for communicating with their business partners or clients. A host of desktop video conference call service providers have ushered in to help medium and small businesses to avail desktop conferencing facilities. These Operator assisted Conferencing results in gifting inexpensive & faster communication, enabling business acumen to initiate necessary dialogue whenever desired. They can even monitor the proceedings at different office branches, helping them to manage their business better.

In this fast paced world, when every business houses are striving for a reliable communication network to collaborate with their clients and associates, Desktop Conferencing is aptly catering to the needs of these houses. This kind of Operator assisted Conferencing have evolved to help companies achieve their business means in a more cost-effective and economic manner. This type of Conferencing offers more personalized ways of communication and owning to its multi functional assets, it has benefited the cause of every business type.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Hope_Dever

The growth of Broadband has been exponential, with approximately 500 million American subscribers in 2010. There are national plans promoting the universal availability of affordable and accessible broadband connectivity; especially to areas of low population density with the use of WISPs (Wireless Internet Service Provider). Cellular towers are now being outfitted with 3G and 4G network capability that support high-speed broadband, which enable cell phones to have access to the Internet; and with the inclusion of cellular broadband routers, multiple computers can be connected to the Internet through one cellular connection.

If you’re considering using a broadband provider, here are some guidelines:

• If you currently have (or are considering) a Cable service for your TV, also determine if they provide access to the Internet as well. Generally Cable companies provide inexpensive high-speed access through cable modems. A router with WiFi will enable multiple computers in your home to connect to the modem concurrently.
• If you have a cellular phone, contact your service provider and determine if they also provide high-speed (at least 3G) access to the Internet.
• A Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) uses existing telephone lines. If this is available in your area, compare prices to the above alternatives. Applications for broadband are growing every day. Below is a partial list of the most interesting…
• Voice over IP. This is a group of technologies that provide voice, fax, and messaging communications, and multimedia.
• Broadband Radio. Most popular radio stations now offer streaming audio over the Internet. This means you can listen to the radio broadcast anywhere in the World where you have access to the Internet.
• Online Shopping. As an alternative to shopping at the store, you can now shop virtually through the Internet. This is also referred to a Business-to-Consumer (B 2 C) and Business-to-Business (B2B) online shopping.
• Internet Television. Did you miss your favorite TV show? Well, now you can access free and paid services that record popular shows and watch them on your computer. HULU.com is a service for American shows.
• IPTV (Internet Protocol TV). In the future it is likely that most television will be delivered through the Internet, as opposed to Cable or Airwaves.

The future is the Internet. To enjoy the full benefits of the Internet, you will need broadband access.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Todd_Kingsley

And it’s avoidable in the first place-an apt business owner shouldn’t let faulty equipment get in the way. Usually, when something goes wrong with a phone call, it’s not the phone itself-but the receiver. Office workers that usually deal with phones all day wear headsets and a headset with lackluster features will not help efficiency at all. In fact, it can do a whole lot more harm than just being ineffective.

On the other hand, a great headset can make any office worker productive. Though it may not seem like it, quality headsets do have a huge impact on telecommunications. Most business owners-or companies, for that matter-don’t take the necessary time to look over the headsets they’re using. And that can lead to wasted time, ineffective communication, and poor reception between customers and employees.

When office workers have the proper equipment to do their job thoroughly, like a Jabra Bluetooth headset, there’s no room or margin for error. Although when a worker is using substandard equipment, there’s always a chance that something can go wrong. So, don’t let anything go wrong-even though upgrading and purchasing new equipment can be tedious, it’s not costly; especially with simple equipment like office headsets-or even something like a Jabra Bluetooth headset.

Just because the equipment you use is working doesn’t mean there isn’t a better option. Daily operations can definitely improve-even with a relatively simple office headset upgrade, like a Jabra Bluetooth headset. At the least, it’s worth looking into.

Especially with simple equipment like office headsets-or even something like a Jabra Bluetooth headset.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jabra_Bluetooth

What’s on The Line?

Now that you have pulled all of your information out of file folders and spread your bills all over your writing space you may wonder “What does all this mumbo jumbo mean?”

You’re looking at a bill and see Billing Summary and think that’s a place to start.  Plans and services $400, Long Distance Service $50, You notice there is a charge for voice mail, say $9 and a voice mail service fee of $15.  Okay, so now you know what you’re paying a month in total.  But what do these charges break down to and what are you getting for this price?

Let’s start with the business lines and what services are on them.

• Business lines up to 8 lines– if you need more lines it may entail signing a new contract for another 3 years.  Without a review with someone other than your carrier, your direct sales person auto renew your account because he just wants to keep his sales numbers up.  It’s just a fact.  Write down that you need to check what happens if you add more lines to your service.
• 3way calling with transfer – With transfer you can transfer an incoming call to another line or add another person to a call in progress.  If calls are not local, long distance or expanded local calling rates may apply.  But remember, if you hang up and the other parties continue to speak to each other you will incur those charges until they both disconnect the call.
• call forwarding busy line – Sends telephone calls to voice mail or to another number when your line is busy.
• call forwarding don’t answer- redirects your telephone calls to another telephone number if you do not answer your telephone call within a pre-specified number of rings.
• ring control- The number of telephone rings before your call is forwarded can be determined by the subscriber, but set by the telephone company. This can be set from one to 10 rings.
• remote activation of call forwarding –control your Call Forwarding feature from any touch-tone phone.  This is a residential product.
• message waiting indication for audio or visual – this is normally built into your telephone
• caller ID Name and number delivery – allows you to see the telephone number and name of the caller before you answer the phone.
• call return – Dial *69 to find out who called, then press 1 to return the call.
• anonymous call blocking – rejects calls from people who intentionally block delivery of their calling party name and/or number.
• star 98 to voice mail – Dial *98 from your home phone and instantly connect to the voice mail system

Now take a look at how many of these services you use, and how often, and for what reasons.  Write this all down, because it’s part of your assessment for telecom decision making.

Begin with the Bottom Line

The first question on the agenda when quoting telecom services is what the customer presently has for services and how much they are paying for those services.

I would like to begin this new year by informing you about some telephone and bandwidth services, and ideas, that could help you.  But these ideas can’t help if you don’t know about them, or haven’t given them a thought, or if you have not ever wondered how they work.

To begin I would like to draw a comparison of telecommunications services to the commercial real estate market.  When looking for a business site the prescription for success is location, location, location!

If you stop to consider your telecom expenses when you are about to move your business site, location is also a significant consideration because of access to the latest technology.  It’s also a time when you should be looking at your telecom plans to reduce your telecom expenses with newer technology.  And because you already assessed your present services with vendor management, invoice auditing, and telecom service procurement options it should be easy, right?

On the other hand, if you have avoided planning your telecom inventory for years, your guesses could be wildly inaccurate and your organization could have no true enterprise-level telecom expense control going on. In short, you don’t know what you don’t know.  What you need are answers.

So, start gathering data now, regardless of whether you are moving or not.  This means looking at everything you’ve got including landlines, data circuits, wireless devices, and all other telecom services for which you are billed.

After you have all the data together, life starts getting a lot easier.  You’ll have easy answers to telecom expense questions and renewal options and winning IT decisions. Paying telecom invoices will be friendlier because you will be sure that what you are paying for is what you need.

The best part of accomplishing this task is that you will have a visible, working knowledge of your present telecom position and a plan to lower your future expenses.  When it is time to expand, and the need for new telecom decisions arise, your equipment and service purchases will be orderly and you will be asking for what you need rather then what someone is going to sell you out of the box.  You won’t need to scramble through what you don’t know because you know you already know.

Do YOU know?

• It is more effective than traditional email. With traditional email, every message looks the same in your prospect’s mailbox. Most of the emails are spam sent out by machines that are not even relevant to the prospect’s needs. With video email, you can target your prospects individually and through your video presentation, you can customize each message, even down to each individual. With the link that says, “Please watch my recorded message.”, it builds curiosity in the prospect that urges him to click on the link and see what the message says. Actual results reveal that video increases the results by 22% over traditional email. I have sent out video messages to a list of 1000 executives that I targeted with personal messages and ended up doing business with thirty one individuals and started a dialogue with fifty seven executives.
• It is easy to use. You just need a webcam and access to video software to film your personal videos. There are several video email software programs that you can find with a search on the web. Once you have made your video, you can store it and recall it at any time. You can make generic videos to go to a vertical industry or you can make individual videos to go to specific people. You may have a brief aversion to filming yourself, but once you practice a bit, you will become a real pro.
• It is just like being there. With a video of yourself making a presentation, it is just like you are in the room with your prospect making your pitch in person. It is almost better because you are uninterrupted. You can deliver your entire message without being diverted to other topics or issues.
• Visuals, like PowerPoints, can be deployed. Again, just like making live presentations, you can roll in PowerPoint slides that will appear beside your video and give emphasis to the points that you are making. There is a feature that allows you to upload your presentations or jpegs and store them for use on your videos.
• You can roll in videos. You can actually play a video beside your video, which brings in even more information to the prospect. If you don’t want to have two videos going simultaneously, you can switch your video off until the other video has stopped playing.

In the final analysis, you owe it to yourself to try video email marketing. I am sure you will find, like I did, that it is an exciting way to capture your prospect’s attention and get better results.

Mike Burns has been in the conferencing industry since 1971, having originally worked for Southwestern Bell and AT&T. In 1989, Mr. Burns founded Conference Pros International and in 2000, Mr Burns founded A+ Conferencing, a conferencing provider that sells exclusively through master agents and resellers. Mr Burns speaks and writes about the conferencing industry frequently.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Michael_R._Burns

• What percentage of your new sales in 2011 will be IP Communications (SIP and Hosted) and how much will be “old Technology” (PRI and pots)?

We’ve been selling SIP trunks — and to a lesser degree, hosted — since 2004.  Although we’ve seen sales steadily grow year over year, last year was the first time our SIP/hosted sales truly rivaled “traditional” product sales.  There continue to be a lot of phone vendors who advise customers to avoid “IP” in favor of traditional products only to have us bring in IP-based dynamic T1s and PRIs — products I’m leaving lumped into the “traditional” product category for the purposes of this response. We are finally starting to see that change as more and more IP PBX manufacturers push SIP to go with their SIP enabled products. Yes, we still sell a lot of POTS lines, but we’re talking multi-location customers with one or two lines per location or we’re talking alarm/elevator/modem/etc., support lines. What is unmistakable is the up-tick in interest in hosted services in the small business space.  “Traditional” may hold its own with SIP for another year, but from where we are sitting the pendulum is really close to crossing the median and may well make it across in 2011.

• “Why wouldn’t I use Vonage as a business phone service?”
• I run a small office, and we’re moving over to VoIP. What are the benefits of using a “business” branded service like Vocalocity, as opposed to something like Vonage?

We have a lot of customers using either VoIP hosted services, SIP trunks supporting premise-based equipment, or a combination of both, but those are primarily larger customers for whom we can deliver service solutions that provide Quality of Service (QOS) across the entire network with 99.999% uptime Service Level Agreements (SLAs).

With smaller customers and connections that go direct to the public internet (usually cable or DSL), we still try to maximize the odds of the customer having a good experience.  That means dealing with business grade products whenever and wherever possible.

For example, we recommend synchronous DSL (i.e., 768K x 768K) versus “best effort” products (i.e. cable broadband or, say, 6M x 768K asynchronous DSL), but since “slower” synchronous speeds cost more than “faster” asynchronous products, that’s frequently not an option — especially when the customer is a heavy bandwidth consumer for applications other than voice.  When that’s the case, as it frequently is, we need to test the customer’s connection for latency and jitter to determine if the connection will reasonably support voice and, if so, how many simultaneous calls are viable before degradation is likely to set in.  No matter what the answer is to those questions, we want the customer to have a router that can at least provide premise-based QOS so they won’t shoot themselves in the proverbial foot.

So what about VoIP service providers for the SMB space?  Our first rule is simple: if the provider also plays in the residential space, we don’t play with them. It’s not that you can’t have a good experience with some of those crossover products.  You can.  But with so many variables involved that we can’t control, we need to control all we can, especially since the money differential involved is often pretty small.  If the customer has a service issue, we want them to reach support quickly and we want the person they speak with to be someone who deals exclusively with businesses. It is amazing what a difference that alone can make relative to ultimate customer satisfaction levels.

Now, as far as which company might be the best match for a smaller customer, the fact is there are several providers out there who are very good. Unless the customer is speaking with someone pushing the only thing they have to sell, to narrow it from here would require some conversation with the customer about preferences, needs, growth plans, whether hosted or dial tone replacement is the better fit, etcetera, etcetera.

January 5, 2011

For immediate release:

LOUISVILLE — ValuLink Technology Solutions, a broker of voice and data telecommunications services for businesses worldwide and the parent of industry leading website www.t1town.com, has reached agreement to represent regional data services provider US Signal.

Headquartered in Grand Rapids, MI, US Signal’s network includes more than 7,000 route miles of long-haul fiber and more than 900 miles of fiber optic metro rings in 22 markets connecting regions in Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin and Missouri. The US Signal network provides on-off ramps comprised of major carrier hotel locations, incumbent telephone company central offices and other lit buildings.

“US Signal is a nice fit,” says ValuLink CEO Clem Wyman. “We do a lot of business with customers who have locations in the Dayton, Columbus, and greater Chicagoland markets, all of which are sweet spots for US Signal.  Their peering arrangements are such that with the right mix of in-footprint locations, US Signal can provide totally secure MPLS networks to customers with locations in their region and pretty much anywhere in the country, as well.”  Wyman said US Signal has “a quality network, excellent customer service and, is priced to win.  They also have a deep commitment to their agent channel.”

Wyman is a widely recognized telecommunications expert who is often asked to speak to customer and industry groups on topics such as VoIP, SIP trunks, and Unified Communications.

With the addition of US Signal, ValuLink, which has offices in Louisville, KY, and Greenville, SC, now has over 50 service providers it can quote for customers, depending on where they are located.  Via T1 Town, ValuLink also is able to deliver other business value-add services ranging from Merchant Services accounts, to full, variable-expense cost containment evaluation services, to mobile marketing services such as Short Codes, among others.

Network

The US Signal debt-free, fiber optic network is one of the largest, fully deployed networks in the Midwest, covering Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin and Missouri. With nearly 7,000 miles of lit fiber and metro rings in 22 strategic tier-one, tier-two and tier-three markets, the US Signal optical backbone features Cisco Systems Dense Wave Division Multiplexing (DWDM) technology and is designed with a SONET, redundant architecture. All of US Signal’s services are delivered over this protected network to ensure resiliency, flexibility and scalability. Our around-the-clock surveillance also provides additional security and confidence. US Signal’s performance guarantee ensures quality service and dependable issue resolution to protect your profitability and vital customer relationships.

History

US Signal’s fiber network was built between 1998 and 2000, when the company’s management owned US Xchange, a facilities-based competitive local exchange carrier headquartered in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Prior to that date, the owners of US Signal also successfully launched and operated Teledial Inc. and City Signal, Inc. Both companies were facilities based fiber optic networks operating in the South, West and Midwest regions of the United States. US Signal Company was established in 2000 with the vision of becoming a full-service, fiber optic provider offering carrier class service to carrier, wholesale and retail customers. US Signal has continued to grow its network by adding over 3,000 miles of fiber, access to over 150 on/off ramps, and tripling its metro market presence.

Build your network success with US Signal

With US Signal’s capacity services, IP data services, flexible colocation solutions, and the unmatched density of over 150 on/off sites throughout the Midwest, you will be able to access solid, reliable capabilities of fiber optic connectivity. US Signal’s unmatched market density brings you closer to your business opportunities.

54 Washburn Avenue | Cambridge, MA 02140 | 800.890.1553 | www.thinkingphones.com

Thinking Phone Networks Positioned in the Visionaries Quadrant of Leading Analyst Firm’s Magic Quadrant for Unified Communications as a Service Report

Placement Based on Company’s Completeness of Enterprise Unified Communications Vision and Ability to Execute

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., December 22, 2010 – Enterprise cloud communications service provider Thinking Phone Networks today announced that leading industry analyst firm Gartner, Inc. has positioned the Company in the “Visionaries” quadrant of its highly regarded 2010 “Magic Quadrant for Unified Communications as a Service, North America” report.

“We consider our position in the „Visionaries‟ quadrant by Gartner confirmation of the value our cloud-based unified communications service portfolio brings to enterprises looking to significantly improve business processes, enhance collaboration, and be more responsive to customers,” said Steve Kokinos, Thinking Phone Networks president & CEO. “Our analytics-driven platform communications-enables business processes and gives management unprecedented visibility into all areas of an organization, streamlining these processes and lowering costs.”

In the 2010 “Magic Quadrant for UCaaS” report published December 20, 2010, Gartner analysts Daniel O‟Connell and Bern Elliott state, “Unified Communications (UC) offer businesses the ability to significantly improve how individuals, groups, and companies interact and perform. Businesses should view UCaaS as an emerging alternative to premises-based UC platforms for improving productivity, processes and workflow.”

The “Magic Quadrant for Unified Communications as a Service, North America” report analyzes UCaaS providers on their ability to execute and completeness of vision in such areas as innovation, products, services, and marketing strategy. Gartner reviewed Thinking Phone Networks‟ ThinkingSuite, a unified communications ecosystem which integrates communications with business applications and allows enterprises to redefine business processes and workflows for organizational efficiency and competitive advantage. The ThinkingSuite platform combines a powerful business analytics engine for process and workflow visibility, third-party application integration to merge previously standalone systems, and best-in-class unified communications applications including voice, video, mobile, presence, messaging, and collaboration.

Learn more about communications-enabling your enterprise and dramatically improving business processes with ThinkingSuite unified communications services which are available now. For more information, contact us at info@thinkingphones.com or visit our new Web site at www.thinkingphones.com.

About Thinking Phone Networks

Thinking Phone Networks is focused on unified communications-enabling enterprise organizations to drive dramatic business process improvement. Our innovative ThinkingSuite cloud ecosystem combines a powerful analytics engine and application integration with comprehensive unified communications capabilities on a single hosted platform. ThinkingSuite communications services are deployed by hundreds of leading-edge enterprises at thousands of locations around the globe.

About the Gartner Magic Quadrant

The Magic Quadrant is copyrighted 2010 by Gartner, Inc. and is reused with permission. The Magic Quadrant is a graphical representation of a marketplace at and for a specific time period. It depicts Gartner’s analysis of how certain vendors measure against criteria for that marketplace, as defined by Gartner. Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in the Magic Quadrant, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors placed in the “Leaders” quadrant. The Magic Quadrant is intended solely as a research tool, and is not meant to be a specific guide to action. Gartner disclaims all warranties, express or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

Windstream issued approximately 20.6 million common shares valued at $273 million based on Windstream’s closing share price on Dec. 1 of $13.24, and paid approximately $279 million in cash as part of the transaction. Windstream also repaid approximately $266 million of Q-Comm’s total outstanding net debt. Windstream financed the transaction with cash and proceeds from a bond offering in October.

KDL provides long-haul and metropolitan fiber services to a diverse base of bandwidth intensive customers, primarily serving wireline and wireless carriers, as well as the large enterprise, government, education and medical markets. KDL’s contiguous fiber network spans nearly 30,000 fiber route miles in 23 states and the District of Columbia.
Norlight is a competitive local exchange carrier that serves approximately 5,500 small and medium size business customers in Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee and Wisconsin.
Windstream expects to achieve annual operating expense and capital expenditure synergies of approximately $25 million.

Additional Information
Stephens Inc. and BofA Merrill Lynch acted as financial advisers and Bryan Cave LLP acted as legal adviser to Windstream on the transaction. RBC Daniels acted as financial adviser and SNR Denton US LLP acted as legal adviser to Q-Comm. Waller Capital Partners, LLC acted as a financial adviser to Q-Comm’s Norlight, Inc. subsidiary in connection with the transaction.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
Windstream claims the protection of the safe-harbor for forward-looking statements contained in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements, including statements regarding the expected benefits of the acquisition, are subject to uncertainties that could cause actual future events and results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are based on estimates, projections, beliefs and assumptions that Windstream believes are reasonable but are not guarantees of future events and results. Actual future events and results of Windstream may differ materially from those expressed in these forward-looking statements as a result of a number of important factors. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated above include, among others: the possibility that the anticipated benefits from the acquisition cannot be fully realized or may take longer to realize than expected; the possibility that costs or difficulties related to the integration of Q-Comm operations into Windstream will be greater than expected; the ability of the combined company to retain and hire key personnel; and those additional factors under the caption “Risk Factors” in Windstream’s Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2009, and in subsequent Securities and Exchange Commission filings. In addition to these factors, actual future performance, outcomes and results may differ materially because of more general factors including, among others, general industry and market conditions and growth rates, economic conditions, and governmental and public policy changes. Windstream undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. The foregoing review of factors that could cause Windstream’s actual results to differ materially from those contemplated in the forward-looking statements should be considered in connection with information regarding risks and uncertainties that may affect Windstream’s future results included in Windstream’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission at www.sec.gov <http://www.sec.gov> .
About Windstream
Windstream Corp. (Nasdaq: WIN), headquartered in Little Rock, Ark., is an S&P 500 communications and technology company with operations in 29 states and the District of Columbia and about $4 billion in annual revenues. Windstream provides IP-based voice and data services, MPLS networking, data center and managed hosting services and communication systems to businesses and government agencies. The company also delivers broadband, digital phone and high-definition TV services to residential customers primarily located in rural areas and operates a local and long-haul fiber network spanning approximately 60,000 route miles. For more information about Windstream, visit www.windstream.com <http://www.windstream.com>

The term “virtual” implies that the connections between crossroads are not dedicated but rather connections made as needed between points.

“Virtual Private” means that private “tunnels” are established over a public network, such as the Internet. Tunneling involves the condensing of encrypted data inside IP packets.

Additional security is provided through firewalls at sites that participate in the VPN.

To begin you must assess your WAN requirements and determine if needs would be best served by an IP VPN solution.

This decision to assess may be determined by the following factors:

• The need to keep data private and protect IT resources from malicious attacks
• Using the Internet to reach numerous locations throughout the U.S. or around the world
• Need for an efficiently interlocked map to facilitate direct communication between sites
• Allowing remote users/sites to access the network via their local ISP (dial-up, cable or DSL)
• Deploying a computer network that business partners can access via their existing Internet connection
• Providing branch offices with direct access to the Internet and the WAN over a single circuit
• Provisioning higher bandwidth for demanding applications like remote data storage
• Accommodating bursty (load inflicted, such as large document transfers) applications without compromising performance
• Uniting a diverse number of applications over a single WAN network for greater efficiency

After assessment it’s just a matter of deciding which type of IP VPN best suits your needs, how various types of IP VPNs are deployed, and which IP VPN service provider to choose.

Types of IP VPNs

There are two general categories of IP VPNs, CPE-based and Network-based, along with a variety of technologies and ways that they can be implemented.

CPE-based IP VPNs

A CPE-based IP VPN can be deployed using Firewalls with VPN capability at each location.  Recently, however, Firewall/VPN appliances have been introduced with

Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs) that encrypt/decrypt data much faster than software. One way is to integrate the VPN encryption functionality into the router having a “single-box” approach which can be much more cost-effective and is easier to manage.

Advantages

The primary advantage of using a CPE-based approach is that it encrypts/decrypts data at the customer location which ensures the highest level of protection across the entire WAN.

It enables sending data across the public Internet with the comfort of knowing that even if someone intercepted it, they would have an extremely difficult time decrypting and exposing the information.

This ability to use the public Internet makes the CPE-based approach an ideal solution for sites that are connected to the Internet via different ISPs (e.g., as a result of an acquisition), and for providing access to telecommuters and mobile workers.

Disadvantages

The primary disadvantages of a CPE-based IP VPN are the cost and time associated with deploying and managing the CPE and Hub site equipment, and administering the site-to-site VPN tunnels.  Naturally, the more sites one has, the more equipment one needs to purchase, deploy and manage.

Network-based IP VPNs

Network-based IP VPNs perform all of the site-to-site VPN functionality within the service provider’s network using either IPSec encryption or Multi-protocol Label Switched routing (MPLS).  To offer MPLS network-based IP VPNs, service providers run MPLS on the routers in their POPs to build Label-Switched Paths (LSPs) across their network.

Advantages

The general advantage of network-based IP VPNs is that they require much less capital expenditure for the customer than the CPE-based approach and they limit the number of VPN tunnels that need to be managed.

The most significant advantage of an MPLS network-based IP VPN is the enhanced performance which enables customers to unite all of their data communications onto a single network infrastructure for on-net/off-net sites and remote users (one router, one local loop, one access port, etc.) and assign different Classes of Service to each application or source/destination address.

Disadvantages

MPLS network-based IP VPNs are limited to those sites that can be reached by dedicated or Layer 2 access technologies (dedicated T1/T3s, frame relay or Layer 2 DSL). CPE-based network VPNs, on the other hand, can reach any site that has Internet access.

Also, with a CPE-based network VPN, the encryption can degrade performance and, unlike with MPLS, there is no bi-directional Class of Service capability available; performance-sensitive applications can be prioritized only in the outbound direction.

This document is excerpts taken from Implementing an IP VPN white paper by MegaPath.  The entire article is available on www.t1town.com under data services.

intro_megapath_wp_implementing_ip_vpn

BLOLgger for CrunchGear.com, TechCrunch.com, and a few other things

The combined acquisition is worth $40 million which includes $33 million that was paid at closing and the remaining balance of up to 17.5 percent of the combined purchase price to be paid upon achieving certain future milestones.

MaximumASP provides cloud services such as managed virtual servers and dedicated servers, while Aretta Communications provides cloud services such as private branch exchange and session Internet protocals trunking.

Both companies target small- and medium-sized businesses throughout the US.

Cbeyond says the acquisition of MaximumASP will bring multiple benefits to its business, including entry into a large, high growth cloud services market, expansion of product portfolio into IT services designed for small businesses, a broader geographic opportunity outside Cbeyond’s existing 14-city footprint, new Web distribution and private label reseller channels, and significant cross-selling and up-selling opportunities.

Additionally, Cbeyond sees a greater opportunity to sell Cbeyond’s existing cloud services via the acquired online platform in the future, a new customer economic model based on server virtualization, a 33,000 square foot data center, and a platform to provide additional software and infrastructure as a service offerings.

“The acquisition of MaximumASP and Aretta Communications is an important step forward for Cbeyond’s business,” says Jim Geiger, CEO of Cbeyond. “We believe these acquisitions will provide significant growth opportunities, leverage our existing channels of distribution, and expand our innovative technology and expertise. In addition, we are excited to bring on board a team of talented people and a first class technical platform and data center. We believe that small businesses will be increasingly outsourcing their IT hardware and services to the cloud and that Cbeyond can play a key role in enabling this trend.”

The two acquired companies are expected to earn an aggregate fiscal 2010 revenue of about $12 million.

Cbeyond was advised by The Bank Street Group for the acquisition of MaximumASP.

Next generation network centered around key data centers in New York and New Jersey offers scalable, low latency data network with fast delivery capability

WHITE PLAINS, NY, October 27, – AboveNet, Inc. (NYSE: ABVT), a leading provider of high bandwidth connectivity solutions, today announced that its Core Wave services are now available to enterprise and carrier customers in the New York metro market. The new offering provides customers with a flexible, dedicated and cost-effective data transport solution for point-to-point connections in and between top metro business hubs.

AboveNet’s Core Wave solutions are ideal for bandwidth-hungry enterprises and carriers, including financial services organizations, which must have fast, secure, low latency connectivity for business-critical transactions.

“The New York area is at the heart of the worldwide financial community,” said Bill LaPerch, chief executive officer of AboveNet. “Core Wave services provide customers with the trusted, high bandwidth network solutions necessary to conduct business in this dynamic market.”

The products provide 1Gbps, 2.5Gbps, and 10Gbps connections between key data centers and/or enterprise locations in the New York and New Jersey area, and offer the benefits of a dedicated wavelength service along with the flexibility and time-to-market advantages of a next generation infrastructure solution.

Utilizing ROADM (Reconfigurable Optical Add/Drop Multiplexer) technology, Core Wave solutions provide dynamic wavelength add/drops and inter-ring connectivity with flexible traffic routing. Benefits to customers include:

• Multi-protocol capability: Ethernet, TDM, storage and video
• Protection options and transparency advantages
• Dedicated fiber access to enterprise locations
• Fast service turn-up
• Space and power savings
• Industry-leading latency guarantee with AboveNet’s Agility Guarantee program

Core Wave customers can also leverage AboveNet’s expansive network footprint to connect to business-critical locations in the top U.S and European metros. AboveNet connects to buildings containing more than 400 data centers, and its infrastructure includes 2.3 million fiber miles, an intercity network spanning approximately 12,000 route miles and a global Tier 1 IP backbone.

For more information about AboveNet’s Core Wave services, please visit http://www.above.net/corewave.

About AboveNet, Inc.
AboveNet, Inc. provides high bandwidth connectivity solutions for business and carriers. Its private optical network delivers key network and IP services in and among top U.S. metro markets and globally. AboveNet’s network is widely used in demanding markets such as financial services, media, health care, retail and government.

# # #

This news release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Factors that could cause or contribute to such risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, general economic and business conditions, competition, changes in technology and methods of marketing, and various other factors beyond the Company’s control. This also includes such factors as are described from time to time in the SEC reports filed by AboveNet, Inc., including the most recently filed Form 8-K.

So, what are your alternatives to spending time in hotels and airline terminals?

Collaborative Meetings

With new flash-based collaboration solutions you can share documents, applications and even incorporate items on your desktop. Your meetings are able to include whiteboards, chats, and application sharing utilities on high quality webinars that allow you to present with distinct professionalism.

Video Messaging

Video is, by far, the most successful way to give your message impact. You can easily create a personal video message while incorporating PowerPoint slides and media clips and email them to your clients and prospective clients.
With video messaging you are able to easily run a live webinar and produce an active, creative presentation that will be remembered. Research has shown that a shorter, more connected video message is very effective for communications because the person on the other end can see your face and hear you talking directly to them. If you then add videos of customer testimonials and product shots it can become a convincing box of goods.

Large Group Webcasting

Cater to a larger enterprise group with a solution that enables you to schedule, produce and manage your own webcast events. It is possible to use streaming video and audio during this larger, broadcast style meeting. Webcasting eliminates the need for connecting large pieces of equipment that are difficult to move or set up.
The arrival of streaming media is an advantageous addition for corporate education.
It eliminates travel, removes time restrictions and distance issues and is cost-effective and convenient as a dispersed audience method of involvement.

Maximize Your ROI

Simply stated, this is a solution that is convenient, economical and packed ready for use:

• An inexpensive alternative to many face-to-face group meetings and events
• A simplified method to produce and deliver streaming media webcasts
• At your disposal whenever you need it, even on short notice, for events such as:

• corporate meetings
• marketing events
• online training

Prepare Before for the Event:

• Set up the event through a simple point-and-click user interface
• Select the registration type, ranging from quick access, to secure password protection, to credit card collection
• Automatically create an index of sessions in the event, to provide convenience for prospective participants
• Automatically generate URLs for attendees to register for and view an event
• Customize the branding to reinforce your brand identity
• Upload your slides to the event at a moment’s notice
• Make downloadable materials available for participants
• Send out branded and customized email notifications to your audience
• Create polls, surveys, tests and URLs for use during your webcast
• Track registrants as the event approaches

Live Action During Your Event:

• Conduct your webcast
• Further interact with the audience by pushing polls, surveys, tests and URLs
• Manage live Q&A with your audience through our Message Center
• Monitor your online participants
• Support different media players and connection speed types for true compatibility
• Support streaming video, streaming audio only and conference call-supported participants from the same live event
• Follow Up After Your Event:
• Create an on-demand archive presentation from the live webcast
• Send out branded and customized post-event email blasts to announce the archive
• Obtain collective as well as individual responses of polls, surveys, and messages from webcast participants
• Track viewer usage statistics on both the live and archived event

After reading this information, you may just want to give that travel a second thought!

By Phil Goldstein
Created Oct 15 2010 – 9:52am
Lost in the kerfuffle of the FCC’s proposed rules on wireless “bill shock” was another action geared to aid mobile broadband deployments. The five-member panel voted 5-0 Thursday to move forward with a plan that will create a “Mobility Fund” to help pay for 3G and 4G mobile broadband buildouts in unserved rural areas.

The Mobility Fund, first proposed in February, is part of the FCC’s national broadband plan. The national broadband plan includes specific provisions to reform the Universal Service Fund, which is intended to help fund the deployment of telecommunications services in rural America.

The FCC said that up to 4 million Americans cannot access 3G service because they live in difficult-to-cover locations, sparsely populated areas or are far from network centers. “The status quo for USF is unsustainable,” FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said. “The current program is designed to support the communications networks of the past, not the future. It is–we have to acknowledge–filled with inefficiencies. And it is poorly targeted in too many respects, with perverse incentives and the result is that millions of Americans remain unserved by broadband.”

The new fund will use a portion of the USF money that Verizon Wireless (NYSE:VZ [1]) and Sprint Nextel (NYSE:S [2]) voluntarily gave up in 2008. The fund will use between $100 million and $300 million to finance one-time capital infusions for 3G and 4G buildouts in rural areas. Additionally, the FCC proposes a reverse auction to determine which providers get support, which specific geographic areas will receive support, and at what levels.

The FCC’s notice of proposed rulemaking seeks comment on whether to make support available to any unserved area or to target support by making it available in a limited set of unserved areas, as well as what the minimum performance and coverage requirements should be.

Both Republican commissioners, Robert McDowell and Meredith Attwell Baker, expressed reservations about the fund, but said they supported its goals. Both questioned whether the fund will require an expansion in the size of the USF, which many have criticized as being bloated and inefficient.

“I think the way to look at this is that this something of an experiment,” David Kaut, an analyst at Stifel Nicolaus, told FierceWireless. “What they seem to be signaling is, ‘Here is a very definite need. Let’s bring up the areas that don’t have 3G to at least 3G, and if there’s s a good 4G proposal we’ll consider that.’”

Interestingly, Verizon executives recently suggested that the FCC funnel USF money–specifically that tied to the Mobility Fund–to rural carriers that enter into the operator’s LTE licensing program.

So, really, what can a T1 do for me, you ask?

Well, let’s take a look at how many different types of T1s exist.

And, what do they do?

The reliability of a T1 line is superior to standard telephone lines or DSL so give a much greater level of service. Most T1’s come with a Service Level Agreement (SLA) that guarantee speed, uptime, and latency (the time it takes for the signal to travel from one point to the other).

A Voice T1 handles up to 24 calls simultaneously, or more if voice compressed.  There is no limit to how many telephone numbers that can point to a T1. These numbers are called DID’s, short for Direct Inward Dialing.  DIDs operate on the assumption that not everyone in the company will be on the phone at the same time.

A Channelized T1 is split up into 24 equal channels. Each voice grade channel Digital Signal, level zero (a DS0) can plug directly into a PBX for phone service and features.   ISP’s (Internet Service Providers) use this type of service to connect customers using dial up modems.

Another type of T1 is an ISDN-PRI (Integrated Services Digital Network-Primary Rate Interface) or simply stated, a PRI.  A PRI uses one of 24 channels available to carry call information and control signals rather than an actual call.  This provides the information for Caller ID and screen pops, customer information and history that “pops up” on screen prior to incoming calls being answered.

A Data T1 is configured to transport data signals rather than voice traffic. Data T1’s have become increasingly more popular with the increased demand for VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) services. VoIP requires a reliable and stable internet connection to work properly.

A Private Lines is a dedicated circuit between two or more locations. The terms point-to-point and point-to-multipoint are used to describe this service. Private lines are used for direct and secure access between locations; to connect PBX’s or multiple servers; to restrict internet access to a single location.

The Fractional T1 is limited to a predetermined number of channels or bandwidth. Fractional T1’s are typically used for small businesses and small branch offices and carry the same reliability and guarantee as a full T1.

An Integrated T1 combines both voice and data services on the same T1. The voice channels simply lay dormant when no phone calls are being made or received.

A Dynamic T1 will instantly allocate bandwidth to a phone call on an as needed basis.  When a call comes in or when an outside line is accessed, the required bandwidth needed for the call is dedicated to that conversation. When the call is completed the bandwidth is released and made available for data use.

A Bonded T1 combines multiple T1’s to make them work as a single circuit.

So, what makes one T 1 different from another? It’s the equipment at each end. The equipment and its configuration will determine the speed, routing, type, cost, etc. of the T1. Each T1 provider will vary in their services offered, provisioning, service guarantees, footprint, etc. T1 prices also vary greatly.

PRESS RELEASE

LOUISVILLE, KY — Clem Wyman, CEO of Louisville-headquartered  ValuLink Technology Solutions, will address a national audience of his peers on the topic of Unified Communications in a Hosted telephony environment in Washington DC on September 21.

Wyman, who is also a nationally recognized expert on VoIP, SIP and related voice and data technologies, will be speaking before a selective audience at the Telecommunication Industry’s Channel Partner’s trade show.  The show is being held at the Gaylord Hotel September 20-22.  A audience of approximately 2,000 telecom agents, broker and carrier representatives, and industry leaders are expected to attend the Fall trade show and expo.

Earlier this year, Wyman served as the independent, third-party consulting expert leading a national webinar produced by FOCUS.com and sponsored by AT&T.  The topic of that presentation was  “Building Bigger and Better Business Communications”.

In Washington , Wyman will be presenting a case study on how the combination of hosted VoIP services and integrated software solutions helped Lexington-based Fazoli’s Restaurants accomplish a variety of productivity and communication-based needs in an efficient and highly cost effective manner.

ValuLink Technology Solutions is a telecommunications consulting company which represents the  best of breed in terms of carrier service and communications product providers around the world. It is also the parent of newly launched T1Town.com which helps customers meet a host of needs in the wired, wireless and virtual (cloud computing) operating environments.

The Channel Partners Conference & Expo, produced by Virgo Publishing, is the communications industry’s only event exclusively for indirect sales organizations – agents, VARs, systems integrators, interconnects and consultants – focused on transforming their businesses to become converged solutions providers.

FOCUS, which is located at www.focus.com, helps business decision makers and IT professionals make better and faster decisions by providing open access to research, tools and peer and expert networks.

Over the last few years, the VoIP (Voice over IP) population has taken on SIP as its protocol of choice.  SIP is an RFC standard (RFC 3261) from the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), which is the organization in charge of the control and development of the machine that comprises the Internet.

SIP is a request-response protocol that acts similarly like two other Internet protocols, HTTP and SMTP.  These two protocols power the World Wide Web and the email system.  So, SIP mingles contentedly with internet applications and can be used to build connected voice (and multimedia) services.

SIP has become a robust force which is influencing today’s telecom industry. But SIP does not do everything, and it does not solve all problems. SIP has limits, but it works well with other protocols to get a job done.

SIP is hardly a cure-all and was never designed to be.  SIP is flexible and sticks to doing what it does best.

Plays Nice in the Sandbox

SIPs role is to help session creators deliver invitations to potential session participants wherever they may be.

SIP was modeled after HTTP, using URLs for addressing and SDP to convey session information.

SIP was designed so that it would be easy to attach SIP functions to existing protocols and applications, such as e-mail and Web browsers. It does this by limiting itself to a component values system and focusing on a specific set of functions.

SIP is, however, an important piece to IP telephony protocols and has four functions that work with existing and future IP telephony:

1. SIP allows for the establishment of user location (i.e. translating from a user’s name to their current network address).
2. SIP provides feature cooperation so that all of the people in a session can agree on what is to be supported among them.
3. SIP is a device for call management – adding, dropping, or transferring participants.
4. And finally SIP allows for changing features of a session while it is in progress.

SIP is not a session description protocol; SIP does not do conference control; SIP is not a source reservation protocol and it has nothing to do with quality of service (QoS).

SIP is an important protocol which is becoming widely deployed. SIP delivers a voice over IP network into a true IP communications network capable of delivering next generation converged services. SIP is powerful, but simple. But that power comes from doing what it does best, and playing nicely with other protocols in the converged protocol sandbox.

The Bait: Advertisements that promise steady income for minimal labor – in medical claims processing, envelope-stuffing, craft assembly work, or other jobs. The ads use similar come-ons: Fast cash. Minimal work. No risk. And the advantage of working from home when it’s convenient for you.

The Catch: The ads don’t say you may have to work many hours without pay, or pay hidden costs to place newspaper ads, make photocopies, or buy supplies, software, or equipment to do the job. Once you put in your own time and money, you’re likely to find promoters who refuse to pay you, claiming that your work isn’t up to their “quality standards.”

Your Safety Net: The FTC has yet to find anyone who has gotten rich stuffing envelopes or assembling magnets at home. Legitimate work-at-home business promoters should tell you – in writing – exactly what’s involved in the program they’re selling. Before you commit any money, find out what tasks you will have to perform, whether you will be paid a salary or work on commission, who will pay you, when you will get your first paycheck, the total cost of the program – including supplies, equipment and membership fees – and what you will get for your money. Can you verify information from current workers? Be aware of “shills,” people who are paid to lie and give you every reason to pay for work. Get professional advice from a lawyer, an accountant, a financial advisor, or another expert if you need it, and check out the company with your local consumer protection agency, state Attorney General and the Better Business Bureau – not only where the company is located, but also where you live.

Forward work-at-home scams to spam@uce.gov.