Telepresence developer Telanetix this week announced successful closing of its $34.9 million acquisition of AccessLine Communications, a provider of hosted VoIP services. Both companies deliver software-based communication solutions via internet protocol and will jointly offer a portfolio of products and services on a common technology platform.

Research has shown strong performance, productivity and loyalty among the majority of employees who telecommute. Telecommuting does present challenges, though. One of these is the lack of face-to-face interaction.

Video conferencing solutions can easily be added to the employee’s computer to integrate with all other company-based solutions. With the touch of a key or a click of the mouse, the employee can be conferencing with his or her boss, participating in a meeting or even conversing with a customer on the other side of the world.

VoIP technology company AudioCodes and enterprise IP telephony solutions provider ShoreTel this week declared interoperability between their products—specifically, AudioCodes’ gateways and ShoreTel’s IP telephony system for Microsoft  Exchange Unified Messaging deployments.

Thanks to this interoperability, enterprises can use AudioCodes’ and ShoreTel’s solutions to create an integrated unified communications solution to improve productivity.  

Open source SIP-based Enterprise Communications Systems firm Pingtel announced this week that its SIPxchange ECS solution is now being used by  gas and oil producer Pennsylvania General Energy. SIPxchange is installed at PGE’s Warren, Pennsylvania headquarters to deliver improved voice communications to its entire staff.

TMCnet.com columnist Art Rosenberg followed up on a previous article about the demand for unified communications solutions. In his article this week, Rosenberg discussed why the telecom industry is still going through a disruptive cycle of change and examines what it will take for the hype over unified communications to settle down in favor of using the technology to solve real business process problems.

When TMCNet first reported that NEC had purchased Sphere Communications back at the beginning of August, the news was somewhat secretive, being announced only on NEC’s Japanese language Web site initially. Subsequently, as the news made its way into various other markets, Sphere chose to confirm the deal rather than keep the world wondering.

Earlier this month, TMCnet associate editor Erik Linask caught up with Sphere’s senior vice president Todd Landry at ITEXPO West 2007 to discuss the benefits of the merger for both companies.

The Linux Phone Standards Forum established a formal liaison and framework for cooperation between itself and the Open Mobile Alliance. Both organizations are focused on standardizing next-generation mobile services. The first joint effort will be creation of specifications for enhanced interoperability across a range of devices and software platforms.

IVR Technologies, a company that specializes in RADIUS billing replacement technology and SIP server solutions, announced that its Talking SIP platform now includes support for streaming audio and video-based advertising.

The new capabilities let service providers increase high-margin revenues using a business model partially or completely supported by ads. Audio and video-based ads provide an opportunity to improve upon the brand-awareness shortcomings of Internet-based advertising, especially as consumers become immune to banners, pop-ups, skyscrapers and gutter ads.

Communications technology company JAJAH released its new application programming interface (API), enabling businesses and online services to combine customized voice 2.0 features and click-to-call solutions with their Web sites.

Companies have already begun to adopt JAJAH’s Web-based communication services. Business organizations worldwide save on call costs by implementing JAJAH solutions. At the same time, they can offer value added services to their customers by integrating the JAJAH API into their own Web properties.

An ordinary business task like sending or receiving a fax can be greatly simplified by moving it online using a wireless-enabled laptop computer. A RingCentral Fax account coupled with a laptop with a wireless card means fax can be taken on the road. The benefits of online fax coupled with mobile computing include efficiency, cost savings and clearer fax imaging.

IP networking solutions providing UTStarcom this week announced the upcoming delivery of its new RollingStream end-to-end IPTV solution to Bharti Airtel, one of India's leading integrated telecommunications service providers. The solution helps service providers introduce a new service to its customers consisting of live broadcast television, time-shifted TV and video-on-demand (VoD) bundled with the operator's existing broadband and voice services.

A new survey conducted by the Data Center Users’ Group, a group of data center, IT and facility managers formed by Emerson Network Power, shows just how serious companies are about becoming “green” by getting their carbon emissions under control.

The study indicated that 75 percent of companies polled now have their data center arranged in a hot aisle/cold aisle configuration to increase cooling system efficiency, while 65 percent are using blanking panels to minimize recirculation of hot air and 56 percent have sealed the floor to prevent cooling losses.