INTERNET TELEPHONY — December 2014

The New Workspace: Tech Players Jockey for Dominance at the Virtual Water Cooler

Work is no longer a place; it's an activity... More>>>

Departments

Channel

Do We Need More Partners?
It is always a quantity vs. quality debate. A duopoly carrier whose business only works on scale needs to chase as many partners as you can. A duopoly wants as many feet on the street as possible. Microsoft, IBM, and Dell want as many partners as possible because they want to be on every desk. In fact, their survival depends on being on every desk. It isn't that a smaller carrier doesn't want as many partners as possible. In fact, most do want more than 400 partners, but is it realistic?

Special Focus

TMC Labs Calls 3CX Phone System a Solid Buy
By telecom standards, 3CX Phone System for Windows is a relatively new entrant into the communications space, but over the years the company has distinguished itself as a provider of easy-to-use communications and collaboration solutions.

Corporate Profile

Big Time: Transbeam Expands to Meet the Growing Needs of Even the Largest of Enterprises
Transbeam Inc., traditionally viewed as a regional network provider, has upped its game - delivering more advanced network solutions, expanding its coverage area, carrier partnerships and service portfolio, and investing in more fiber. All of the above have better positioned the company to cater to the needs of even the largest enterprises and are fueling strong growth at Transbeam.

Roundup

Wireless LAN
Mobile devices and applications continue to proliferate in enterprise networks, and wireless LANs continue to expand to serve them. A recent survey by Infonetics revealed that companies plan to increase the number of access points in their wireless networks by about 19 percent per year over the next 2 years.

Getting Vertical

Making Websites Pay Off
Startup AnswerDash recently moved out of beta with a solution that aims to drive sales, lower customer support costs, and deliver analytics related to organizations' websites. It does that by making answers to website visitors' questions more easily accessible, and enables those websites to improve over time by capturing the questions visitors have asked in the past and presenting them with the answers where they need them on the site.

Network Infrastructure

Change is a Constant at Three Leading Infrastructure Suppliers
Things just keep getting more interesting for the routing and switch vendors as they continue their move to capture market share in the new software-centric, virtualized world. That seems to be especially accurate for Brocade, HP, and Juniper Networks, which are neck-and-neck for second place in the enterprise networking and communication market.

Amdocs Intros NFV Orchestrator, Aligns Policy Solution with ETSI Work
We've long been hearing from telecom equipment and software companies about the need for facilities-based service providers to better monetize their assets.

Developer & Open Source

Midokura Open Sources MidoNet
The networking part of the OpenStack ecosystem remains fragmented and needs someone to step up and bring things together, according to Midokura. So the four-year-old network virtualization company is open sourcing its MidoNet technology.

Progress Software to Buy Development Tool Firm Telerik
Agility, infusing applications with real-time communications functionality, and mobility are three key trends of today. Addressing all of the above, Progress Software Corp. is moving to acquire Telerik AD for $262.5 million. The deal is expected to close this month.

Unified Communications

Panasonic Discusses How HD Voice Reinforces the Value of VoIP
There's no question that voice over IP has come a long way in terms of adoption and quality, but Kim Murtagh, senior product manager for Panasonic Business Telephone Systems, says VoIP still suffers from a reputation problem with many people in the general population who believe the technology is risky and doesn't deliver the availability and quality that the PSTN does. However, HD voice, she says, can go a long way toward debunking that misconception.

MP3 Inventor Fraunhofer Talks HD Voice
Fraunhofer is a diverse organization with about 23,000 employees catering to applied research and development. The not-for-profit organization is divided into 66 institutes, one of which is IIS - best known for the invention of mp3. INTERNET TELEPHONY recently interviewed HP Baumeister, director at Fraunhofer USA, Digital Media Technologies, to learn what the company is up to in the HD voice realm.

INTERNET TELEPHONY Recognizes Lync Pioneers
Microsoft Lync has made its mark as an enterprise-ready unified communications platform that connects people everywhere, across devices, as part of their everyday productivity experience. This solution is notable not only for its broad functionality and adoption, but also for the ecosystem that supports it.

Awards & Accolades

TMC Labs Reveals UC Award Winners
As you might expect, in a world where the cloud is mentioned everywhere, even on mainstream TV, cloud communications would be a big part of this year's winners. Companies embracing the cloud that won this year include Lifesize in video, Sonus Networks in security, Nextiva, Star2Star Communications LLC, Votacall, and VoxOx in general UC. What is truly remarkable is how each of the above differentiates itself.