INTERNET TELEPHONY — January 2012

Bright Side of the Road: Key Industry Players Mostly Upbeat about 2011, the Year Ahead

The economy at large didn't make for a very pretty picture in 2011, and most folks don't expect it to improve significantly in the year ahead...



Feature Articles

Columbus Security Effort Includes City-wide Access Control and Video Surveillance
The city of Columbus, Ohio, is quickly becoming a role model of municipality security with its ongoing unification of access control for city buildings into one centralized location and its use of a fiber-optic network that saves money and helps increase public safety.

Gathering Clouds: Telesphere Aims to Consolidate a Fragmented Industry
The cloud services space is highly fragmented and could benefit from consolidation, and Telesphere believes it's in a plumb position to pull things together. That's the word from CEO Clark Peterson, who recently spoke with INTERNET TELEPHONY at the company's headquarters in Scottsdale, Ariz.

SimpleWan Introduces vMPLS for Multi-location Organizations
A new company called SimpleWan delivers a subscription- and hardware-based service called vMPLS that enables secure multi-location connectivity over legacy and/or newer broadband connections. "It's MPLS virtualized," says Comvoice CEO Erik Knight.

The Expanding Possibilities of Carrier Ethernet
New Ethernet solutions are enabling carriers to make their services available on a much wider basis and at higher data rates than once imagined possible. That includes a range of both copper- and fiber-based solutions.

Chicago's Columbia College Lights Up Dark Fiber
Technology is always moving forward, and we continue to make amazing gains in connectivity, devices and interoperability. At the same time, it's sometimes surprising just how low tech things can be behind the curtain.

The Six Steps to Policy Excellence
Striking the right balance between risk mitigation and the commercial demands of the business is an essential skill, which must be adapted according to the nature of your industry and the size, culture and risk appetite of your organization. This role needs to have clear ownership at the senior management level.

What's Next in Smartphone Usage
Smartphones have become so ingrained in our personal and professional lives that it's hard to believe it's only been about five years since Apple introduced the iPhone. Consumer enthusiasm for these devices in only expected to intensify in the next two years, according to PwC, as apps become more creative and convenient.

Departments

Unified Communications

SIP Trunking and Beyond: Call Recording Made Easier?
Businesses across many vertical industries are facing regulatory compliance and oversight from government agencies that include a long list of regulations such as SEC 17a-4, HIPAA, SOX, PCI-DSS, FSA and MIPPA. A major component of being compliant means that businesses need to record interactions with their customers. At minimum, recording voice calls provides a record of these interactions in the event that proof is required if a dispute arises. These recordings serve to demonstrate that all necessary regulations were met in a call between a customer service representative and their client.

Making Smart Investments in Infrastructure
CIOs and IT managers are taking a critical eye toward infrastructure investments. I've spoken to a number of industry colleagues and they agree that while the economy has loosened things up somewhat, investments must first prove their worthiness in order to trigger the spend.

Open Source

M2M Players Form Open Source Working Group
A handful of M2M players this fall formed a working group aimed at expediting the deployment, development and testing of machine-to-machine solutions. Founders of the effort include the Eclipse Foundation, integrator Eurotech, IBM, and Sierra Wireless.

The Channel
On RAD's Radar

Prospecting for Gold
One way is the carrier lit building list. Many carriers that own fiber provide these lists to their agents and sales people. It is a ready-made prospecting list...

Special Focus

TMC, INTERNET TELEPHONY Congratulate IT Product of the Year Award Winners
One way is the carrier lit building list. Many carriers that own fiber provide these lists to their agents and sales people. It is a ready-made prospecting list...

Q&A

Talking Mobile Wallet with TMNG's Rich Nespola
INTERNET TELEPHONY recently interviewed Rich Nespola, chairman and CEO of TMNG Global, which provides consulting and advisory services to companies in the mobile wallet ecosystem, about what's happening on the mobile wallet front.