INTERNET TELEPHONY — November 2012

Got Game? Businesses Leverage Game Mechanics to Drive User Behavior

Babies play on iPads. Preteens don't remember life before the Wii. And Generation Y has been raised on a regular diet of broadband-enabled computers, smart mobile devices, and connected gaming systems like the DS and the Xbox. In fact, a 2011 MTV study revealed that members of Gen Y, which make up 25 percent of today's workforce today, think a "game-like metaphor" can be applied to virtually every aspect of their lives.

ITEXPO ROUNDUP

MultiAlert911 - Finding Gold on the ITEXPO West 2012 Show Floor
Doing the show floor walk at technology conferences and gatherings can easily turn into a mind-numbing exercise. A telecom and wireless communications event such as ITEXPO is even more challenging, as almost every company in attendance has products on the show floor that require a good amount of time and explanation to fully understand and get a handle on.

Unified Communications Appears to be Ready for Takeoff
For those of us attending the annual ITEXPO West event in Austin, paying attention to things where attention should be paid is an occupational delight. And the interesting thing about this year's event in the context of IP-based integrated enterprise communications is twofold.

Strategic Solutions Series

Sangoma's New Strategy Bears Fruit
INTERNET TELEPHONY in May ran a cover story about Sangoma's new strategy to rev up growth via the delivery of new turnkey solutions, a significantly ramped up product release schedule, and global expansion. In it, Sangoma President and CEO Bill Wignall talked about his three-step process to energize the company and propel growth by better meeting the needs of customers and prospects via this strategy.

Departments

The Channel
On RAD's Radar

It's the User Experience, Stupid
It's all about UX - the user experience. Carriers have a tendency to talk about value and solutions out of the side of their mouths. I say that they talk about it, but that's as far as that goes. No differentiation. It is total commoditization of me-too services to which they expect the channel to add value.

Network Infrastructure

Toolkit on Environmental Sustainability for the ICT Sector
For the past several years the ICT industry has heeded the call that it needs to develop technology that is more sustainable, more energy efficient and in general much kinder to the environment than what it developed in the past.

Security

How to Lessen the Likelihood of Password Security Breaches
So far this year, millions of passwords and password hashes have been leaked from high-profile companies including eHarmony, LinkedIn, and Yahoo. At the end of 2011, Stratfor also fell victim to a password security breach when the hacktivist group Anonymous released more than 800,000 password hashes along with personal information and credit card numbers for its users.

Unified Communications

Ensuring UC Lives Up to Its Promise
Many organizations are spending big bucks on UC rollouts ¬- whether we're talking about full-featured unified communications solutions, all or parts of Microsoft Lync functionality, desktop video, telepresence, or other communications, conferencing and collaboration tools. But performance monitoring tends to be an afterthought. That's unfortunate, as it can lead to UC implementations failing to live up to their promise.

IVR Myths Busted: No Standard Exists for Measuring IVR Utilization
This is the first in a series of articles that breaks down popular myths associated with IVR systems and offers tips for increasing utilization. The other two pieces of this series can be found at www.tmcnet.com.

Cloud & Data Center

Cloud Continues to Gain Strength
Cory von Wallenstein, chief technology officer at Dyn, in a recent interview with this magazine noted that no one is afraid of using Salesforce or other cloud-based solutions, and that cloud technology will only continue to go deeper in the market as time moves on. North Bridge Venture Partners in June unveiled new research in which 50 percent of respondents stated their belief that the cloud makes sense even for their most important business applications.

Getting the Most out of Managed Services
Cloud services, mobility, security - these trends pose some of the most significant challenges facing IT departments today. For enterprises looking to effectively and efficiently navigate this complex and changing landscape, turning to a managed services provider may very well be a strategic choice.

Cloud & Data Center

Talking Customer Experience with Radialpoint
INTERNET TELEPHONY talks with Jordan Socran, vice president of business development-North America at Radialpoint about enhancing the customer experience in the world of broadband access and beyond.

The Enterprise Cloud Adoption Framework
In the silly season of the late ‘90s, while sock puppets and trading exchanges dominated the headlines, a quiet revolution transformed our global supply chains. We now remember it as an era of dubious distinction that embodies the irrational exuberance of the time. But it did teach us a great deal about agile value chains, and it now informs our most successful business models.

Wireless

What to Expect in the Next Generation of Virtual Assistants
Today, whether we're aware of it or not, we are using elements of Artificial Intelligence while on our mobile devices. Beta versions of artificial intelligence tools such as Siri and Google Now offer us recommendations, automatic notifications and schedule meetings we tell them to. But, what does the next version of AI look like for our daily lives? And what lies beyond these command-based and simpler notification services?

GETTING VERTICAL: ENERGY & UTILITIES

New Mexico Utility Rolls out Smart Grid Infrastructure
Drought is a major concern in the American southwest, especially in the summer months. When it comes to water conservation, The Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority saw the importance of deploying a smart grid infrastructure, while also taking a customer education approach.

Smart Grid Means Business: Evolving Utility Needs Match IP network Offerings
With the power industry set to spend substantial amounts of money to modernize the grid over coming decades, a parallel opportunity is arising for telcos to expand their involvement in smarter grids.

SPECIAL FOCUS

INTERNET TELEPHONY Congratulates Winners of the UC Excellence Awards
With the rise and snowballing expansion of mobile networks and applications, communications, connectivity and collaboration seem to be everywhere. Unified communications solutions that intelligently bring together real-time and recorded voice, IM, presence, audio and video conferencing, and other capabilities continue to improve and become available to a broader cross section of the populace.