TMC has officially selected iAreaOffice, the cloud-based business communications suite from iAreaNet, to receive the 2012 INTERNET TELEPHONY Product of the Year award, presented by INTERNET TELEPHONY magazine.

The company begins the New Year with a host of new features for its flagship product, and a fierce determination to help channel partners serve the ever-changing business needs of their clients.

“The editors of INTERNET TELEPHONY have verified the selected products demonstrate quality and innovation, plus provide real needs in the marketplace. These winners have exemplified excellence in IP communication technologies and I extend my congratulations to all,” said TMC’s CEO Rich Tehrani (News - Alert).

iAreaNet was credited for a number of its new features and capabilities, including the addition of social media management to its Intranet offering, and the company’s updated redundancy profile, which now includes a new switch in Atlanta.

The end of 2012 provided a challenge for many Internet telephony companies, and TMC acknowledged iAreaNet’s creation of the iAreaNet Disaster Prevention offering. The new solution gives businesses with live disaster prevention with no rebuild time, and can be set up and fully operational in a matter of 24 to 48 hours.

iAreaNet recognized the necessity of such a feature, as the U.S. Department of Labor has calculated that 93 percent of businesses that experience a disaster go out of business within five years.

By giving businesses a more immediate rebound capability, iAreaNet helps lower this number significantly.

For this and many other reasons, Andrew Campbell, managing partner at iAreaNet, considers his solution “a critical addition to any channel partner portfolio.”

Campbell added that “Rapid technology innovation is pushing VARs and channel partners into a world with never-before-seen frontiers in terms of business requirements.”

One such requirement is the ability to tap into social media, which has virtually taken over the Internet today in 2013. iAreaOffice has met this challenge in various ways – for instance, it has been updated with a communications feature similar to Facebook’s “Wall.”

“This dovetails with our already popular employee center,” said Campbell. “Companies can create the basis for a truly social corporate environment in 2013, with concerns about privacy and security addressed.”

In this way, said Campbell, iAreaNet is focused on a “virtualized, ‘Internet-area network’ approach to enabling business communications, and IT is tailored to address shifting business user consumption habits,” like social media.

Smartphones and tablets have also had their hand in changing the business landscape for Internet telephony, with many businesses (approximately 88 percent, according to a study by Farpoint Group (News - Alert)) already using some type of bring-your-own-device (BYOD) policy, sanctioned or unsanctioned.

This is another consideration iAreaNet has made with iAreaOffice, as many of these policies do not have adequate, cohesive BYOD management.

“Employees will want to access their iAreaOffice-based corporate resources with their smart personal devices whether it’s technically ‘allowed’ or not. That’s the nature of a mobile, often virtual workforce. Our dedicated apps are specifically designed to address the critical need for endpoint security as IT consumerization continues apace, while delivering an intuitive interface for increased productivity on the go within the mobile office,” said Campbell.

The term ‘mobile’ can often be an automatic trigger for security worries, but it can also help companies recover in the face of disaster, as iAreaNet’s CEO James DeCrescenzo commented. “We want to ensure that our channel partners and customers have peace of mind when it comes to business continuity in the face of anything from a cut cable to a natural disaster. That’s why superlative redundancy and reliability, and our new continuity offering, are key themes for iAreaNet this year.”

Additional new features include iAreaNet’s extensive upgrade to its phone system, including Ring All, a more customizable find me/follow me functionality and an improved user interface.

iAreaOffice’s selection as INTERNET TELEPHONY Product of the Year 2012 is a great achievement for the company and its product, as the group editorial director of INTERNET TELEPHONY Erik Linask (News - Alert) explained.

“Judging this year was more difficult than ever, with the breadth of products being reflective of the continuous evolution of the IP communications market. These winners have been chosen based on their innovation and ability to solve real business communications challenges,” said Linask.

iAreaOffice is giving businesses, VARS and agents the ability to leverage the benefits of the cloud service delivery model, and combine data, mobile connectivity, and a top IT communications portfolio, all in one.

The suite includes the latest version of Microsoft (News - Alert) Office full platform, with the ability to integrate other software including QuickBooks, Saga, Amicus, Fireworks or Dreamweaver.

The 2012 INTERNET TELEPHONY Product of the Year winners are published in the February 2013 issue of INTERNET TELEPHONY magazine, available at www.itmag.com.

Also, from January 30 to February 1, Andrew Campbell will be speaking at the ChannelVision Expo in Miami, where he’ll serve as a panelist for “Disaster Recovery to Disaster Prevention: Changing the Conversation and Driving Sales.” 

Want to learn more about the latest in communications and technology? Then be sure to attend ITEXPO Miami 2013, Jan 29- Feb. 1 in Miami, Florida.  Stay in touch with everything happening at ITEXPO (News - Alert). Follow us on Twitter.