Coordination through the Metaswitch press people (Engage PR) is suggested, but not required.

There’s also an invite-only event where to go out to Mike Tyson’s [...]]]>

I’ll be at Metaswitch Forum in Las Vegas from October 3 through October 6, so if you’re looking for an opportunity to brief face-to-face, this is it.

Coordination through the Metaswitch press people (Engage PR) is suggested, but not required.

There’s also an invite-only event where to go out to Mike Tyson’s house at 3:30 AM in the morning and try to see his tiger. 

My brag was witnessing the last launch of the space shuttle program, STS-135 Atlantis last week. (Yes, like any good gawking media person, I took pictures and video. You can see [...]]]>

Polycom sage Jeff Rodman (@jefferyrodman) and I swapped around tweets last week about things you just can’t DO via telepresence these days. 

My brag was witnessing the last launch of the space shuttle program, STS-135 Atlantis last week. (Yes, like any good gawking media person, I took pictures and video. You can see the YouTube clip here. There’s also a bunch of articles over at http://satellite.tmcnet.com)

Jeff added “first kiss” and “winning pitch” to the list.  I’d throw in “rock concert” for the simple examples. 

Interop Las Vegas 2011, Mandalay Bay Convention Center, Las Vegas, NV

Running around the show floor on Tuesday, May 10 and Wednesday, May 11.

TIA 2011, Gaylord Texas, Dallas, TX

Wednesday, May 18  – “HD Voice: Implementing the Advantages” 8:30 am – 9:15 am.

After my [...]]]>

I’ll be at two shows in May. 

Interop Las Vegas 2011, Mandalay Bay Convention Center, Las Vegas, NV

Running around the show floor on Tuesday, May 10 and Wednesday, May 11.

TIA 2011, Gaylord Texas, Dallas, TX

Wednesday, May 18  – “HD Voice: Implementing the Advantages” 8:30 am – 9:15 am.

After my presentation, I’ll be on site through about 2 PM local time before I have to head to the airport.

As usual, if you are seeking a briefing, email me at moo@vegascommando.com.

Offering solutions from 10 users up to 1000 users – this would cover SMB up to [...]]]>

LG-Ericsson has launched the iPECS-LIK business communications products family.  The company says iPECS-LIK delivers all of the functionality of a traditional PBX (and seriously, who is buying a “traditional” PBX these days?) with the addition of UC features.

Offering solutions from 10 users up to 1000 users – this would cover SMB up to the “entry level” for the enterprise, depending on who’s definition you use – iPECS-LIK is a pure IP platform and includes applications such as PDA and PC softphones, a PC attendant for incoming call management, UC, unified messaging with an open interface based on TAPI and an Advanced Interface Messaging (AIM, hmm) interface for computer telephony integration with third-party apps.

There’s also specialized interfaces for the hospitality market and Skype Connect for SIP.

The iPECS-LIK Call Server provides a bunch of telephony features, including the usual hold/transfer and video calling, plus least-cost routing, incoming call distribution, and SIP trunking.  “Standard SIP terminals” and legacy digital phones are supported.

An LG-Ericsson Unified Communications System, provides unified messaging capability that combines voice, instant messaging, video and FAX and email messaging under a single easy-to-use intuitive user interface.  You’ve got the usual advanced features like multi-phone ring, ACD supervisor, ACD statistics reporting, caller-controlled routing, and caller ID routing.

Needless to say, there’s a lot of stuff that I’m not listing here.  Support for HD voice via G.722 is available.

The webphone API uses the Adobe Flash platform to embed/integrate voice features into business (web) applications, so customers visiting a [...]]]>

It looks like France Telecom/Orange is leading the way again in the major carrier space. The company announced it now provides a webphone API cloud service for embedding phone service into a web site.

The webphone API uses the Adobe Flash platform to embed/integrate voice features into business (web) applications, so customers visiting a web site can simply click-to-call without having to download a client (Hmm, I bet Skype can’t be too happy with that).

In the future, Orange Business Services “will propose innovative services” leveraging Webphone API as a bigger part of its cloud strategy for real-time business solutions.

Sipera says the E-SBC can deployed in as little as two hours for typical implementations and can scale from 10 to 10,000 concurrent sessions.  Features include [...]]]>

Siper Systems (www.sipera.com) has introduced an E-SBC (Enterprise Session Border Controller) appliance, designed for SIP trunk termination and including a VoIP integration module for rapid installation and implementation.

Sipera says the E-SBC can deployed in as little as two hours for typical implementations and can scale from 10 to 10,000 concurrent sessions.  Features include the SIP Trunk Integration Module (STIM), an interoperability framework to simplify the interface with enterprise UC servers and IP PBXes and a “simple” upgrade path to implement the full Sipera UC-Sec security appliance to get VoIP and UC firewalling, plus protection against VoIP toll fraud and UC intrusion.

The product is available today and the company says it’sas little as10 percent of the cost of “market-leading carrier-focused SBCs” (i.e. Acme Packet’s product).

Official turn up is slated for June 1, 2011 and will enable Microsoft Lync users to “seamlessly” interop with Zeacom Communications Center (ZCC) contact center solution.   Customer service agents will get extra tools to improve service [...]]]>

Earlier this month, Zeacom (www.zeacom.com) announced that its contact center solution will interoperate with Microsoft Lync 2010. 

Official turn up is slated for June 1, 2011 and will enable Microsoft Lync users to “seamlessly” interop with Zeacom Communications Center (ZCC) contact center solution.   Customer service agents will get extra tools to improve service quality and efficiency by combining traditional contact center capabilities with presence-driven unified communications.

ZCC is in use with 3500 customers around the world and is “in demand” internationally in key vertical markets including financial services, local government and housing, transportation and utilities. 

You can find more information on XO’s rollout of its HD voice and video service on HD Voice News.  Key points out of its release are 1) They’re supporting HD voice and video on an enterprise-basis [...]]]>

NOT from Orlando, Florida – Global Crossing, Verizon Business, and XO Communications all introduced cloud-based communications services today.

You can find more information on XO’s rollout of its HD voice and video service on HD Voice News.  Key points out of its release are 1) They’re supporting HD voice and video on an enterprise-basis 2) Pay for service on a per-seat basis, with a choice of Cisco and Polycom phones.  Key point NOT in XO’s release – They’re working with Neutral Tandem to exchange HD voice calls with other carriers.

Global Crossing (www.globalcrossing.com) had a rather generic announcement for its CaaS (Communication as a Service) introduction.   You know, “combines company’s products, blah-blah, ‘pay-as-you-grow’ blah-blah, integral to our global cloud solution strategy, blah-blah, pay by the seat, blah-blah.”  The distinct separator here is a mobile app that allows a user to join or host an audio conference from “popular mobile devices” (See, generic?) by clicking an icon and syncs meetings with users’ calendars.

Perhaps more interesting out of the Global Crossing announcement is it’s declaration that it’s developing additional cloud solutions to include virtual compute, storage and infrastructure capabilities, and a security offering, with future additions including a hosted app development environment and hosted software apps to “support strategic opportunities.”

I’m scratching my head wondering why GC just doesn’t announce it has bought a couple of hosting/cloud-y providers and be done with it.  A strategic deal with Amazon would be cool too, but I’m shooting from the hip at the moment.

A write up of Verizon’s announcement on its UC Cloud/per-seat offering should be up later today…

The NetVanta 2000 series of devices use ADTRAN’s baseline hardware with Sonic Wall’s software on top, getting the company quickly into the security market without having to develop software in-house.  ADTRAN is owning the product, so if you [...]]]>

Huntsville, Alabama-based ADTRAN (www.adtran.com) has announced a full line of Unified Threat Management (UTM) solutions.

The NetVanta 2000 series of devices use ADTRAN’s baseline hardware with Sonic Wall’s software on top, getting the company quickly into the security market without having to develop software in-house.  ADTRAN is owning the product, so if you buy it and have a question, you call ADTRAN.

Each of the four appliances includes SSL and IPSec VPN clients, anti-virus and anti-spyware clients and all of them are/can be managed under a centralized global management system (run by Sonic Wall). 

The NetVanta 2630 is the baseline box, with support for 3G and analog modem (seriously, do people know what an analog modem is these days?) to serve as a primary or failover WAN option in disaster recovery scenarios.  The 2630W adds secure 802.11b/g/n wireless LAN capabilities.  The 2730 is designed for branch offices and distributed mid-enterprise networks while the 2830 is designed for central sites and larger organizations that need higher performance.

NetVanta 2000 Series hardware platforms list prices are:

• NetVanta 2630 (including one year of Continuous Threat Protection): $1,055
• NetVanta 2630W (including one year of Continuous Threat Protection): $1,255
• NetVanta 2730 (including one year of Continuous Threat Protection): $1,885
• NetVanta 2830 (including one year of Continuous Threat Protection): $3,965

First 12 months of Continuous Threat Protection are included with the price of the hardware, while two and three year options (i.e. service contracts for updates/monitoring) are available.  IPSec, VPN and SSL clients are priced at $55 list per user available in multi-user bundles.  Anti-virus and anti-spyware clients are available starting at $195 list for five users and one-year subscriptions.

SonicWALL GMS software begins at $2,995 list, with additional node pricing based on the number of units managed.

From a business growth perspective, you see how all the pieces play together. ADTRAN expands its portfolio into security – what SME and enterprise customers want these days, now more than ever between WikiLeaks attacks and threats of cyberwar all over the place.  The offerings bundle existing hardware with third-party software, so ADTRAN gets a quick time to market and the oh-so-sweet recurring revenue stream as businesses (hopefully) sign up for multi-year contracts.  And it all builds upon ADTRAN’s dive into software+services which the company started last year with its UC product offering.

At this rate, I’m tempted to predict that next year’s product will be a 1U line of business/enterprise network storage products with optional off-site storage backup provided by either a third party and/or the service provider.  SATA drives are dirt cheap and multi-terabyte, so you can hot swap ‘em while everyone could use an easy-to-use NAS storage solutions with “in the cloud” backup.

It’s a three year, multimillion dollar contract providing Office Depot with a “strategic [...]]]>

Global Crossing announced it has signed up a Big Deal with Office Depot, providing the company with a large MPLS network for “more than 100” Office Depot warehouse distribution centers and large customer sites in the U.S., Europe, China and Israel.

It’s a three year, multimillion dollar contract providing Office Depot with a “strategic alternative network” in addition to its existing service provider.  Global Crossing is providing a flexible usage-based billing model to help OD manage network throughput more efficiently and cost effectively. 

In total, Office Depot has nearly 1,600 worldwide retail stores, a dedicated sales force, and $4.2 billion in e-commerce operations.  Annual sales for OD are around $12.1 billion and the company employs around 41,000 people around the globe.