ENTERPRISE NEWS

www.tmcnet.com/2094.1
Toshiba (News - Alert) Debuts IP5000-Series IP Phones
Toshiba America Information Systems has announced they are introducing a new IP telephone, the IP5000-series. The phone features integrated Gigabit Ethernet for high-speed network connections directly to the desktop and the telephones are compatible with the Toshiba Strata CIX family of IP business communications systems. Features added to the IP5000 telephones include an Octal-stand and a headset as well as an easy-to-read backlit LCD screen and other functionalities of a digital phone.
www.telecom.toshiba.com

www.tmcnet.com/2095.1
3CX IP PBX (News - Alert) Interoperable with Linksys IP Phones
3CX, recently announced the successful completion of interoperability testing with Linksys IP telephones. The integration of these two products should yield a cost effective VoIP telephony solution designed for the small and medium business market. According to the 3CX CEO Nick Galea, the system’s interoperability with Linksys (News - Alert) IP telephones portfolio conforms to the company’s strategy of offering a SIP-based IP PBX that works with the world’s leading IP phones. Galea said 3CX is pleased that the collaboration between 3CX and Linksys to perform interoperability in laboratory tests between their products has proved fruitful.
www.3cx.com
www.linksys.com

www.tmcnet.com/2098.1
Critical Links Certified on Intel (News - Alert) Platform
Critical Links, a global provider of converged voice, data and IT solutions for SMBs, has announced that its edgeBOX product is now certified on the Intel Modular Server platform through the Intel Enabled Server Acceleration Alliance program. The edgeBOX offers a broad feature set and a high level of fault tolerance, while also addressing the increasingly important concern of service assurance. The edgeBOX software also includes a wide range of capabilities such as full-fledged VoIP, VPN, security, storage and collaboration services.
www.edgebox.net

www.tmcnet.com/2097.1
Enterprise Telephony Market Up 26% in Asia Pacific, Down in North America
According to a report by Infonetics Research (News - Alert), the worldwide enterprise telephony market inched up two percent between the fourth quarter of 2007 and the first quarter of 2008 to $2.5 billion, with TDM, pure IP and hybrid equipment sales all posting low single-digit sequential growth. The report, “Enterprise Telephony Worldwide Market Share and Forecasts,” says the overall market is up six percent from a year ago, buoyed by strong IP PBX systems equipment sales, despite falling TDM PBX/KTS equipment sales. According to the report, in Asia Pacific, TDM and IP PBX manufacturer revenue was up 26 percent sequentially from fourth quarter 2007 to first quarter 2008. Another highlight is that the TDM segment of the enterprise telephony market is forecast to drop below the $1 billion mark for the first time in 2008.
www.infonetics.com

www.tmcnet.com/2096.1
AudioCodes’ New Mediant 1000 Multi-Service Business Gateway (News - Alert)
AudioCodes recently introduced its Mediant 1000 Multi-Service Business Gateway (MSBG) — a modular, all-in-one, networking device that combines a Media Gateway, enterprise class Session Border Controller, Data Router and Firewall, LAN Switch, WAN access, Stand Alone Survivability (SAS (News - Alert)) and an on-board general purpose server. The Mediant 1000 MSBG is designed to address the needs of service providers and cable operators when offering IP-Centrex and SIP Trunking services, as well as the needs of distributed enterprises.
www.audiocodes.com

www.tmcnet.com/2100.1
Grandstream Unveils New SIP Phone for SOHO
Grandstream Networks (News - Alert), a manufacturer of next-generation IP voice, video and IP-PBX products, has introduced a new single-line SIP phone, the GXP280, designed to meet the needs of the Small Office, Home Office (SOHO) market. The product has a one-line appearance with FLASH, to handle two simultaneous calls, dual switched 10/100Mbps Ethernet ports, a 128 x 32 pixel graphical LCD with support for multiple languages (including English, Spanish, German, French, etc), three XML programmable context sensitive soft keys, and headset jacks (both 2.5mm and RJ9 jacks).
www.grandstream.com

www.tmcnet.com/2099.1
IBM (News - Alert) Launches Blue Business Platform SMB Initiative
IBM has announced a small and medium-sized business initiative called “Blue Business Platform” to simplify information technology for the SMB. The solution comprises a number of elements including Lotus Notes and Domino mail, file management, directory services, firewall, back-up and recovery, anti-virus, and anti-spam features. Lotus Symphony will be offered as the office productivity software within the Lotus Foundations suite. The solution carries IBM’s promise to get a small or medium business up and running within 30 minutes. It is the first offering in a planned line of small business appliances, and contains the hardware and software essential to local and start-up businesses with five to 500 employees and little or no in-house technical resources.
www.ibm.com

SERVICE PROVIDER NEWS

www.tmcnet.com/2101.1
VocalTec (News - Alert) Sells 11 VoIP Related Patents
One of the early pioneers of the VoIP industry, VocalTec Communications, announced that it has signed a Patent Purchase Agreement (PPA) to sell selected patents — half of their VoIP related portfolio — to Karo Millennium (News - Alert) J.P., L.L.C. VocalTec agreed to sell 11 of its 22 patents and certain patent-related rights for the price of $12.5 million. The package being sold to Karo Millenium comprises nine U.S. patents, one Israeli patent and one Australian patent. VocalTec will hang on to an additional 11 patents as well as several trademarks, which includes the term “Internet Phone.”
www.vocaltec.com

www.tmcnet.com/2102.1
Irish Service Provider TIPS Picks Quintum (News - Alert) Solution for Managed VoIP
Irish solutions provider TIPS is using technology from Quintum to implement an innovative “land and expand” managed VoIP services strategy. Unlike a regular VoIP solutions reseller, TIPS doesn’t ask its customers to take on the costs and risk associated with purchasing hardware and building their own VoIP architecture. And, unlike the average managed services provider, TIPS doesn’t ask customers to drop their current carrier and give TIPS all their business. Instead, they install a Quintum switch on the customer’s premises at no cost and allows the customer to decide what portion of their voice traffic they want to re-route over the TIPS network.
www.quintum.com

www.tmcnet.com/2103.1
IDT Introduces New Teleconferencing Service
IDT Asia (News - Alert), has launched a global teleconferencing service for businesses of all sizes in Singapore. The IDT Connect Asia service is specially customized for the Asian market, and allows companies to quickly and effortlessly establish teleconferences on their own, immediately and on demand. All conference calls are consolidated into the company’s IDT1595 monthly statement for easy cost-management, and individual conference calls can be assigned with accounting codes when they are established so that the cost can be allocated to individual projects. In addition, IDT currently provides dialing access points into the service from 36 countries around the world, with more countries signing on, enabling a truly global reach.
www.idt.net

www.tmcnet.com/2104.1
Time Warner (News - Alert) Cable Launches Usage Cap Trial
Starting June 5, 2008, new Time Warner Cable Internet subscribers in Beaumont, Texas, were introduced to monthly allowances for the amount of data they upload and download. Those who go over the limit will be charged $1 per gigabyte. Buckets will range from a low of about 5 Gbytes a month for users on the 768 kbps service costing $29.95 a month, up to about a cap of 40 Gbytes for users of the $54.90 per month service operating at 15 Mbps. If Time Warner is correct, and only about five percent of users really impose excessive loads, there is little reason late adopters will have to fear running over their limits.
www.timewarnercable.com

www.tmcnet.com/2105.1
Comcast (News - Alert) to Begin Traffic Shaping Tests
Comcast began testing their new “protocol agnostic” network management solution in June in two markets. Where it had been specifically targeting BitTorrent (News - Alert), Comcast now says it will switch to a different approach that shapes traffic without specifically targeting P2P protocols. The new approach will target heavy users at times of peak congestion. According to company officials, the solution will “temporarily” dampen heavy user traffic until the congestion has passed. Heavy users will find their traffic is forced to “wait in line” while other customers’ data requests go through first. Apparently Comcast is considering notifying customers in real-time if their service is being managed, “should this be necessary and technically practical.”
www.comcast.com

www.tmcnet.com/2106.1
ECI Telecom, Ceragon (News - Alert) in Joint Backhaul Deal
ECI Telecom and Ceragon Networks announced a joint multi-service transport radio solution for carriers. The solution combines ECI’s XDM and Broad-Gate Multi-Service Provisioning Platforms (MSPP) with Ceragon’s FibeAir IP & SDH microwave technology. The alliance is designed to addresses the demand for an end-to-end integrated wireline and wireless backhaul solution, and offer reduced time-to-market, improved manageability and lower integration costs.
www.ecitele.com
www.ceragon.com

www.tmcnet.com/2107.1
Max Leverages Comverse Solution
Max Telecom (News - Alert) recently launched voice and data services for residential and corporate subscribers over its WiMAX infrastructure, according to reports. The Bulgarian telecom operator reportedly used the Comverse (News - Alert) MyCall Converged Communications, IPCentrex and business trunking solutions. According to the company’s CEO, by using Comverse IP telephony solutions, Max Telecom was able to migrate subscribers in a totally transparent way to receive voice services via a WiMAX (News - Alert) access point.
www.comverse.com
www.maxtelecom.bg

WIRELESS NEWS

www.tmcnet.com/2108.1
T-Mobile (News - Alert) USA Hits ‘Play’ with Nokia 5310 XpressMusic Phone icing
T-Mobile USA announced the availability of the Nokia 5310 XpressMusic phone. T-Mobile will offer the Nokia (News - Alert) 5310 XpressMusic which offers a variety of features, including easy to use external music controls, stereo Bluetooth connectivity, wired stereo headsets, a USB cable for side-loading music and a memory card. At only 0.39 inches thick and weighing as little as 3 ounces, the Nokia 5310 XpressMusic offers up to 18 hours of music playback, with memory for up to 3,000 songs on an optional 4GB microSD card. The device is available in three color combinations exclusively from T-Mobile: black/red, black/purple and black/orange.
www.nokia.com
www.t-mobile.com

www.tmcnet.com/2109.1
Swedish 2.6GHz Auction Reflects European ‘Realistic’ Spectrum (News - Alert) Value
The second European 2.6GHz spectrum auction in Sweden provides much needed information on the price that operators will pay for 2.6GHz spectrum throughout Europe, said Analysys (News - Alert) Mason, a firm that offers market insight for telecoms, IT and media. The Swedish auction concluded at a price of €0.13/MHz/pop ($0.20). Bart-Jan Sweers, Strategy Consultant at Analysys Mason, said: “Clearly prices fetched at the 2000/2001 European UMTS auctions, especially in the UK and Germany, are unlikely to be repeated. On the other hand, operators are reporting a rapid uptake of mobile broadband dongles, and new WiMAX players may be eager to enter the arena, suggesting that prices may still be substantial.”
www.analysysmason.com

www.tmcnet.com/2110.1
Google (News - Alert) CEO: Mobile Advertising to Generate More Revenue than Web
Google CEO Eric Schmidt says the next major growth wave for Google, in terms of search engine marketing, is the mobile Internet. Schmidt cited the iPhone (News - Alert) as the first mobile device with a good web browser and that more devices will come to market, enabling advertising to become personal. The CEO predicted that within a few years, mobile advertising would generate more revenue than advertising on today’s web. Cloud Computing was another trend the Google boss considered “very interesting.”
www.google.com

www.tmcnet.com/2111.1
Femtocell (News - Alert) Management and Integration to hit $360 Million by 2013
Companies providing device and service management solutions for femtocell networks will garner $360 million in revenue by 2013, according to a new brief from ABI Research (News - Alert). The critical functions that need to be supplied by network management and integration vendors include performance management, remote configuration, security provisioning, timing, traffic routing and management, update management, access control and authentication, and accounting. The increasing adoption of industry standards such as TR-069 and IEE1588V.2, as well as innovative use of GPS and TV signals, are likely to simplify the situation significantly.
www.abiresearch.com

www.tmcnet.com/2112.1
Over 2.4 Billion Units of Bluetooth Gear Set To Ship
The use of Bluetooth-enabled equipment is set to explode over the next few years with close to 2.4 billion units expected to ship worldwide in 2013, according to ABI Research. Of the 2.4 billion, more than half will be cellular handsets; adding the accompanying headsets brings that figure to more than 75 percent of the total market, the study says. Notebook computers and portable music devices will run a distant second and third, although the compound annual growth rate for the latter is by far the greatest of any product class, said ABI Research senior analyst Douglas McEuen.
www.abiresearch.com

www.tmcnet.com/2113.1
WeFi Mashes Up with Twitter
Combining an increasingly popular Internet connection service with one of the Web’s fastest-growing uses among young people, a community-based global wireless fidelity network today announced that it’s integrating with a microblogging network. WeFi Inc. officials say Twitter users who sign up with their service can automatically receive real-time updates of their WeFi friends’ locations. Twitter users also can receive updated messages on changes and events through WeFi by following the newly developed “wefi_twitt” user. WeFi’s chief executive officer, Zur Feldman, says the new collaboration reinforces his company’s position in mobilizing WiFi communication. The company already has a “mash-up” with Facebook (News - Alert), which allows the two websites’ applications to interact easily.
www.twitter.com
www.wefi.com

www.tmcnet.com/2114.1
FCC (News - Alert) May Auction 25 MHz of Wireless Spectrum
Federal communications officials have scheduled a vote on rules for a spectrum auction for 25 megahertz in the 2155-2180 MHz advanced wireless services band, requiring the winning bidder to offer free broadband service under what some analysts are calling an “aggressive” build-out schedule. Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin. The FCC raised nearly $20 billion earlier this year by auctioning 62 megahertz of the 700 MHz spectrum. Some analysts are speculating that the agency may re-auction the 700 MHz D Block, which went unclaimed in the auction earlier this year after no bids met the $1.3 billion starting price.
www.fcc.com

OTHER INDUSTRY NEWS

DEVELOPER

www.tmcnet.com/2115.1
Emerson (News - Alert) Enhances MicroTCA Portfolio
Emerson Network Power, is broadening the company’s MicroTCA portfolio through increased software support, new and enhanced products and a wider range of operating system choices. In addition to introducing the SpiderWareM3 platform management software for remote management, monitoring and maintenance of IPMI-compatible MicroTCA (News - Alert) platforms, Emerson added the AMC-9210 to its product line. Based on the Cavium OCTEON Plus high-performance, multi-core processor architecture, the AMC-9210 is ideal for addressing the growing need for wire-speed packet processing solutions.
www.emersonnetworkpower.com/embeddedcomputing

www.tmcnet.com/2116.1
Mushroom Cooks Up Porcini Broadband Bonding Device
Mushroom Networks (News - Alert), a developer of one-sided broadband bonding technology, has introduced the Porcini broadband bonding network appliance aimed at the small and medium business (SMB) market. The Porcini device is capable of integrating up to four broadband Internet connections of any type including DSL, cable, and T1 into a single virtual high-speed link. An additional USB port enables a fifth cellular data modem connection to be added to the overall mix.
www.broadbandbonding.com

www.tmcnet.com/2117.1
GL Simplifies SS7 and ISDN Monitoring
GL Communications (News - Alert) announced the release of T1 E1 Analyzer Software Version 5.11 with new applications and enhancements. The additions to the T1 E1 Analyzer product suite now include new applications: SS7 and ISDN Protocol Decode Agents that permit remote real time monitoring and analysis for network wide applications. According to company officials, “A very large SS7 and ISDN network can be easily monitored with this protocol decode agents and integrated into existing third party applications.”
www.gl.com

SIP

www.tmcnet.com/2118.1
Voxeo (News - Alert) IVR and SIP-based VoIP Available as OEM Platforms
Under a new program, customers will be able to OEM Voxeo’s IVR and SIP VoIP platforms, providing the same proven platform Voxeo has developed over the years, with their own branding. Voxeo officials say their IVR and SIP hosting service will help businesses save money by making those services more reliable and easier to manage, while enhancing brand awareness. Voxeo has developed so-called “cloud-based” telephone platform services, which appear to customers as a single, virtualized IVR system. According to the company, the platform includes call control features to make, take, route and connect calls and voice media features that play, record, conference, recognize, and synthesize speech in a dozen different languages.
www.voxeo.com

IP CONTACT CENTER

www.tmcnet.com/2119.1
West Buys Genesys (News - Alert) Conferencing
West Corporation has acquired Genesys SA, a leading multimedia conferencing and collaboration service provider for $345 million. The firm will be combined with InterCall (News - Alert), West’s conferencing subsidiary. With the agreement, InterCall will have access to Genesys’ flagship product, Genesys Meeting Center, which provides an integrated multimedia conferencing solution that is easy to use and available on demand.
www.west.com

www.tmcnet.com/2120.1
Nuance (News - Alert) Partners with MultiVision
Speech and imaging solutions provider Nuance Communications has struck a deal with MultiVision Communications to resell MultiVision’s MediaCenter messaging and collaboration software platform to its customers. MediaCenter uses Nuance’s speech recognition technologies in applications such as greeting customers by name when they are called by the automated system. Nuance’s recognizer is supported by the MultiVision product to allow customers have been called to interact with the solution such as by saying: ‘Yes, I want to make a payment.’
www.nuance.com
www.mvcinc.com

CHANNEL

www.tmcnet.com/2121.1
LumenVox Achieves BroadWorks Compliance
LumenVox has achieved interoperability validation of its Speech Engine on the BroadSoft (News - Alert)’s BroadWorks VoIP application platform. BroadSoft’s application software enables service providers to deliver hosted PBX, mobile PBX and SIP and IP business trunking services. According to LumenVox (News - Alert), the interoperability enables BroadSoft’s customers to use speech recognition technology in conjunction with BroadWorks. The LumenVox Speech Engine is a standards-based speech recognizer that supports multiple languages and can perform speech recognition on audio data from any audio source.
www.lumenvox.com
www.broadsoft.com

TELECOM EXPENSE MANAGEMENT NEWS

www.tmcnet.com/2122.1
Tangoe (News - Alert) Reports Record Sales Volume and Revenue in First Quarter
Tangoe reported record volume for direct and indirect sales during the first quarter of this year, which ended March 31. Tangoe won 33 direct and indirect deals in the first quarter, reflecting the company’s increasing customer base diversification and surging growth in integrated, fixed- and mobile-related business. “Our performance is a confluence of factors – a perfect storm if you will – that have come together to fuel our growth in early 2008,” said Al Rossini, senior vice president of global sales and marketing at Tangoe.
www.tangoe.com

www.tmcnet.com/2123.1
Callidus Picked by Vodafone New Zealand
Callidus Software (News - Alert) recently announced that Vodafone New Zealand, a subsidiary of Vodafone Group, selected the Callidus TrueComp suite of software products to manage sales performance and incentive compensation programs for its 2,000 sales personnel, dealers and agents in New Zealand. Callidus Software is already being used by mobile operators of Vodafone (News - Alert) in other markets. TrueComp software’s ability to “expedite the alignment of sales with corporate objectives” was cited by VNZ officials as a reason for the deal.
www.vodafone.co.nz
www.callidus.com

www.tmcnet.com/2124.1
Ezwim (News - Alert) Launches Telecom Service Management
Ezwim has launched Telecom Service Management (TSM), a workflow management service that complies with ITIL standards and defines standard workflow procedures for complex tasks. TSM is designed for enterprises operating in a complex multinational environment, dealing with many third-party vendors like operators, logistics providers, etc. It offers enterprises the flexibility to streamline unique telecom management processes into a transparent set of workflows, catalogues and SLAs. The Telecom Service Management service results in more than 50 percent cost savings in service management and an improved end-user self-service experience.
www.ezwim.com

www.tmcnet.com/2125.1
Comstructure, Abilita Partner on TEM Solution
Comstructure, known for its Telecommunications Expense Management (TEM) software solutions, and Abilita, a nationwide telecommunications consulting company, have decided to join in a strategic venture. Comstructure will give Abilita its iCIRT TEM software application that can be used by Abilita’s offices and clients. iCIRT has proven to be an effective tool in reducing the cost and management of communications expenses that account for approximately three to six percent of an enterprise’s total annual revenue. With the addition of the Comstructure software, Abilita will now be able to provide a full suite of total TEM services.
www.comstructure.com
www.abilita.com

www.tmcnet.com/2126.1
Austin Logistics (News - Alert) In Deal with China’s Camelot
Austin Logistics, a provider of event-based decision support solutions, has entered into a formal partnership agreement with Camelot Information Systems, a provider of business and IT consulting and the top ranked Banking Solutions Provider in China. Austin Logistics and Camelot already share common relationships with several Top 10 banks in China. “We are very pleased to partner with Camelot, and most importantly we strongly believe the synergies between our two companies will bring even greater value and service to our clients in China,” said Pan Feng, managing director and chief representative to China.
www.austinlogistics.com
www.camelotchina.com

www.tmcnet.com/2127.1
Romtelecom Selects Subex’s Rocware for New Ops Center
Subex Limited, a global provider of Operations and Business Support Systems (OSS/BSS) for communications service providers, has announced that Romtelecom, Romania’s largest fixed-line operator, has selected Rocware solutions to form the core of a new Revenue Operations Center (ROC). Romtelecom officials say they want to reduce the risk of financial loss from revenue leakage, fraud or bad debts. Romtelecom’s ROC environment will include Subex’s Moneta Revenue Assurance Solution, Nikira Fraud Management Solution and the Prevea Risk Management Solution.
www.subexworld.com
www.romtelecom.ro

www.tmcnet.com/2128.1
Intec (News - Alert) Unveils Total Service Mediation Framework
Intec announced the availability of Total Service Mediation (TSM), a complete solution designed to manage every interaction between the communications network and upstream OSS/BSS. TSM provides total set of functionality required to mediate the data flow between a telecommunications network and the support systems for that network. It is a mediation framework that integrates the user experience across Intec’s entire mediation product range, Inter-mediatE, Inter-activatE and Inter-session, while providing “best of breed” functionality. The TSM framework recognizes inter-relations between the three main capturing, verifying, and executing customer-generated events and requests.

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