Special Focus

TMC Announces This Year's INTERNET TELEPHONY Excellence Award Winners

By Paula Bernier, Executive Editor, TMC  |  October 13, 2015

THE WINNERS

4PSA                                    VoipNow

ADTRAN                               ADTRAN ProCloud Wi-Fi Managed Service

Allworx                                  Allworx VoIP Communication Systems

CallTower                              CallTower’s Skype for Business Voice Offering

CentileHosted                         UniCom

Cradlepoint                             AER 2100 + Enterprise Cloud Manager

Crexendo Inc.                         Crexendo Telecommunications

Digium Inc.                             Switchvox

Fonality                                  Fonality Contact Center

J-Curve Technologies             Cloud-Based Wizard Tool

MegaPath                              Hosted Voice

One Source Networks (News - Alert)             Cloud Route

Patton Electronics Co.            Patton Element Management System

Plixer International (News - Alert)                 Scrutinizer v12

Star2Star Communications     StarSystem

SwitchRay Inc.                       SR-54500 Class 4 VoIP softswitch

TelePacific Communications (News - Alert)   OneAir Fixed Wireless

Toshiba America Information Systems Inc., Telecom Sys Div         

Toshiba’s Hybrid Cloud VoIP Network

VirtualPBX                             VirtualPBX Office

Votacall                                   Votacall VM 2 Text

XO Communications              XO MPLS IP-VPN

4PSA                                     

VoipNow

VoipNow is a technically advanced unified communications platform for service providers. It features rapid setup and deployment, a comprehensive set of features, an integrated charging and billing engine (and charging plans can be customized on multiple levels), and competitive pay-as-you-grow pricing – even when deployed on partner premises. It can support multitenancy, has straightforward charging, and offers a full overview of call activity. Calling features include call queues, conferencing, incoming call rules, IVR, reporting and statistics, and more. VoipNow Mobile, its mobile client, replaces desktop phones and brings manageable and secure BYOD.

ADTRAN     

ADTRAN ProCloud Wi-Fi Managed Service

ProCloud is a service that ADTRAN offers to enable its service provider customers – even those without much knowledge about wireless networking – to get into the managed Wi-Fi business instantly and easily. Scalability; no upfront costs; visibility of end user devices and the network itself from a single pane of glass; round-the-clock proactive monitoring and alerts; priority technical support response times (1 hour and 30 minutes); fast turnaround on hardware replacement when needed; and backup to the cloud that provides a hitless, seamless transfer if one data center goes out are all among the features and functions of ProCloud. ADTRAN can manage both the Wi-Fi infrastructure and the management of it, or leave the management piece to the service provider or other reseller. Whatever ProCloud option a partner selects, ADTRAN says, it will position that service provider to grow its portfolio and address the expanding mobile opportunity.

Allworx

Allworx VoIP Communication Systems

The Allworx 48x provides a complete VoIP communication solution with presence management and integrated voicemail out of the box. Presence management enables users to see who is available in the office and pre-configured call routes use that same presence information to get incoming calls to the available staff members. The smaller Allworx 6x system works well for remote locations, and Allworx’s Advanced Multi-Site application can bring the central and remote locations under one integrated system. The Allworx Interact Professional application can be used by front office staff and others to manage incoming and outgoing calls from their PCs. Interact Professional combines PC-based call control features with the voice quality of the Allworx IP phones to improve employee productivity. Using Interact Professional, the staff can also easily monitor call logs and do one-click call recording, which offers additional legal protection. As for the Allworx IP phones, they come with enough buttons to offer easy one-touch dialing between locations. The built-in speakerphone quality on the phones, in conjunction with Allworx’s Conference Center feature, make hosting virtual meetings easy and cost effective.

CallTower     

CallTower’s Skype for Business Voice Offering

Skype for Business brings together the familiar experience and user love of Skype with the enterprise security, compliance and control from Lync to create the most loved and trusted communications platform for doing things together. It enables collaboration and conferencing, IM, mobile, video, and voice. With full integration with Microsoft Office 365 and Microsoft's cloud based services, Skype for Business gives users the ability to collaborate across geographic boundaries. This is essential for doing business well and communicating with constituents. Users of CallTower’s Skype for Business Voice Offering also can search for anyone in the Skype directory and add them to their contact list. Then they can connect, communicate and collaborate with a click of a button.

CentileHosted           

UniCom

The CentileHosted unified communications solution, UniCom, creates an intuitive, feature-rich experience to manage communications for the desktop, softphone and mobile applications. There is both an installed and online version, which enables the end user to make, receive, and manage communications with a single click and the ability to control calls from the desktop or desk phone. It empowers the individual user with the ability to control communications from several different sources and locations, and to effortlessly connect mobile and desktop communications. UniCom, which is integrated with the CentileHosted platform, allows end users to manage their presence, telephony settings, forwarding and voicemail rules, hunt groups, call queuing with call center application caller ID and call screening services, as well as accessing the corporate and private directories, click-to-dial from a contact, chat, text messaging and callback.

Cradlepoint   

AER 2100 + Enterprise Cloud Manager

Cradlepoint’s AER platform is a robust cellular WAN management application system, and is the only 4G LTE networking platform to offer dual-modem multi-carrier support and Unified Threat Management capabilities to meet the growing needs of small and micro branch networks. The Cradlepoint AER2100 is designed for the distributed enterprise to intelligently manage converged wired and wireless connectivity for a highly available connected experience at the edge. This solution combines routing, WAN diversity, advanced security, private network support, and high-performance Wi-Fi in a platform that can be deployed, managed, and optimized via Cradlepoint Enterprise Cloud Manager. Network administrators can extend applications and services to remote branches through the real-time deployment of cloud-enabled services, applications, and analytics. Users can rapidly deploy and dynamically manage networks at geographically distributed stores and branch locations with Enterprise Cloud Manager, Cradlepoint’s network management and application platform. That Enterprise Cloud Manager addresses deployment – configuring devices by groups or individually, and easily updating firmware with a few clicks; management – monitoring device status in real time and allowing for alerts to be set to optimize data usage and network uptime; and intelligence – which leverage network analytics to optimize WAN traffic and improve network performance and quality of experience.

Crexendo Inc.           

Crexendo Telecommunications

Crexendo Inc. is a full-service cloud solutions provider that delivers critical voice and data technology infrastructure services to the start-up, SMB and small enterprise markets. Crexendo is comprised of engineering, sales, marketing and support professionals that combine left-brain logic with right-brain creativity to design, build, and deliver cloud services that drive business productivity. Crexendo is fully committed to the reliability and security of its cloud systems. Starting with a data center featuring multiple levels of redundancy and the highest level of security defenses, every facet of its development is benchmarked against the maximum security and reliability standards. Crexendo is 
Payment Card Industry compliant, and CLEC licensed for its cloud web, telecommunications, and network suite of services.

Digium Inc.   

Switchvox

Digium Switchvox is a business phone system with unified communications tools, mobility applications, and robust calling features. It can be deployed on-premises, as a hosted service with Switchvox Cloud, or as a hybrid solution, providing a fully featured UC system for companies of any size. With all its features included pricing model, Switchvox solves business communications problems, without the worry of complex feature licensing – and at a fraction of the cost of most systems on the market.  The company also offers Digium IP Phones, or the Switchvox Softphone for mobile. And Switchvox Cloud gives companies the power and customization capabilities of a premises-based system and the cost savings of a hosted service, eliminating costly, upfront capital expenses. 

Fonality         

Fonality Contact Center

Not every business has a formal contact center, but most can benefit from contact center functionality, according to Fonality. That's why Fonality includes unlimited queues for all employees. As a result, users can create queues for different departments and any employee, at any time, can be a member of every queue for no additional charge. For customers who want even more call center functionality, advanced contact center functionality can be added to Fonality’s Professional and Ultimate editions. 

J-Curve Technologies          

Cloud-Based Wizard Tool

J-Curve Technologies offers a depth of support services and solutions that match the unique needs of every client. It operates as a seamless extension of its customers’ organizations and brands, with 24 hour a day, 7 days a week operations. The company’s range of solutions include detailed implementation project plans, help desk support, IT services and dispatch, professional and consulting services, and technical support. It also provides reporting, business intelligence, and data analytics. And it can run in-house training labs, offer live on-site and remote training, and more.

MegaPath      

Hosted Voice

MegaPath Hosted Voice delivers more functionality than a traditional phone system, without the costs of managing and maintaining a PBX. The hosted phone system delivers powerful calling and mobility features that enable employees, groups, and entire organizations to streamline how they communicate. With Hosted Voice, users can choose from a wide selection of VoIP phones available for lease or purchase. It also supports more than 50 calling and mobility features that help businesses stay competitive, such as voicemail transcribed as email, call recording, and auto attendant. MegaPath Unified Communications capabilities combine voice with screen sharing, IM, presence, video calling, and more for an integrated experience across desktop, mobile devices, and desk phones.

One Source Networks          

Cloud Route

This service puts global call routing at the user’s fingertips. It allows companies to route by single numbers or groups to one or more SIP trunks, route profile groups, or chosen PSTN numbers. All routing is custom designed for users’ networks based on business-specific rules and can be updates as frequently as desired. Routing options include time of day and day of week, sequential, and specified geographical trunk selections. Users can also elect to pull numbers back and reroute. Cloud Route also provides filtering to allow search for specific criteria for routing purposes, as well as highly detailed statistics and reporting.

Patton Electronics Co.         

Patton Element Management System

A proliferating army of deployed customer premises devices is a good thing for a service provider, but it does present a management challenge. Now, with Patton’s Element Management System, service providers can deliver remote, real-time support for all of SmartNode and third-party CPE. In addition to remote configuration, it can help with troubleshooting, and fault clearing, as well as do mass software upgrades for efficient, cost-effective OSS/BSS. Designed to integrate smoothly with existing network-management systems, processes, and workflows, the Patton EMS employs carrier-specified Automatic Configuration Server functionality combined with TR-069. Its ability to do touchless configuration and turn up, among other tasks, means lower operating costs. And it’s available in standalone, integrated OSS/BSS, and Patton TR069 Proxy Server Mode options.

Plixer International  

Scrutinizer v12

Scrutinizer is at the foundation of the Plixer incident response and behavior analysis architecture. It is available as a physical or virtual appliance, or as a Windows download. Scrutinizer performs the collection, threat detection, and reporting of all flow technologies on a single platform. It delivers real-time situational awareness into the applications and their historical behaviors on the network. In addition to its ability to support dozens of distributed collectors and archiving and analyzing several million flows per second, it does topology mapping with active links, and deduplication and stitching across collectors. Its flow analytics capabilities include archiving raw data for decades, forensic audit trail reporting, threat detection of odd traffic patterns, threat reputation support, and features a Threat Index that indicates weighted threat severity over time. It supports multitenancy, additional reports for many vendors including Cisco and Citrix (News - Alert), and much more.

Star2Star Communications 

StarSystem

Star2Star is a scalable cloud communications company that offers every customer a 30-day money back guarantee, professional installation with every sale, and the StarBox Cloud Connection Manager. StarBand includes a rich suite of features such as StarWatch and StarPath. With StarWatch users receive StarRecovery disaster recovery software, a 99.999 percent uptime SLA for voice service, free next business day parts replacement, and support (U.S. based, two NOCs, 24/7/365 monitoring alerts). StarPath includes end-to-end traffic shaping which optimizes call quality as network conditions change. The package also comes with many more advanced UC features, including call activities reports, direct inward dial, failover, fax, find-me follow-me, inbound caller ID, and much more.

SwitchRay Inc.         

SR-S4500 Class 4 VoIP softswitch

The SR-S4500 is a four-in-one wholesale VoIP Class 4 solution for best-in-class switching, routing, billing, and border control functionality. Its routing is defined by more than 40 parameters including ACD, ASR, LATA/OCN, LCR, PDD, QoS, and SLA. It features LCRLRN- and priority-based routing. It blends profitable and unprofitable routes to provide higher ASR, allows blocking and routing traffic where designated with pre-routing control, and offers blocking by CPS and ANI/dialed numbers. The LNP servier stores data from external databases in its cache and serves as an external LNP database. It’s comptabile with LERG databases, allows users to set prices based on the state or LATA jurisdiction, restricts specific jurisdiction types for routing, supports those who charge by dial number by LRN, and supports SIP P-Charge-Info headers to correspond with FCC (News - Alert) 11-161 regulations. These are just a few of its many features and capabilities.

TelePacific Communications           

OneAir Fixed Wireless

TelePacific’s Enhanced Fixed Wireless delivers Internet, voice and MPLS, all with guaranteed service level agreements as a fully integrated part of the company’s core network. If users are not located in a place where a conventional wireline or cable company has a strong infrastructure, costs can soar and performance can be problematic, at best. TelePacific’s high performance enhanced fixed wireless networks deliver guaranteed, affordable performance that can support user needs for connectivity, cloud,  and continuity solutions. Users enjoy lower initial capital costs, lower initial operating costs, lower promotional costs and focused sales effort, faster, more cost-effective implementation and seamless integration with fixed wireless broadband service. A combination of licensed and license-exempt radio band technology, and point-to-point microwave frequencies, ensures maximum up time and provides bandwidth up to 100mbps. Customer premises equipment is installed quickly using non-penetrating tripods or an existing structure. The CAT5 cable plugs directly into an Ethernet LAN or PC and can service from a large number of individual hosts or servers. TelePacific monitors and controls network elements, bandwidth allocation, and traffic patterns to detect network over/under-utilization, traffic re-routing, troubleshooting and repairs, billing, customer resource management, and other administrative tasks.

Toshiba America Information Systems Inc., Telecom Sys Div    

Toshiba’s Hybrid Cloud VoIP Network

Organizations often evolve in phases. Organic growth fuels expansion into new facilities and geographic markets. Mergers and acquisitions bring a mix of operational support technologies. Most organizations of any size run on a diversity of processes and platforms. For example, a given business may have installed a digital-and-IP phone system at its original location, then deployed pure IP phone systems at new locations that opened within the last few years, and then embraced cloud telephony in the last year to support satellite locations and remote workers. Customers can get all three of Toshiba’s phone system options from one trusted source. With Toshiba’s VIPedge cloud-based telephone solution, features are available on a pay-as-you-go monthly service, with no onsite server required. Toshiba’s IPedge pure IP system is built on open standards and deployed on a Linux server that occupies less than two inches of rack space. And Toshiba’s Strata CIX platform is a converged IP/digital/analog system that’s ideal for sites that don’t have LAN wiring to every desktop, still use digital phones, and will evolve to IP in stages.

VirtualPBX   

VirtualPBX Office
If your office is traditional brick and mortar or consists of geographically dispersed employees, VirtualPBX offers an office phone system for you. Each plan is made to be an ideal fit solution for customers’ unique needs, whether they need to serve an office of one or 100. VirtualPBX product offerings include hosted VoIP, disaster recovery, phone/fax/email integration and U.S.-based free customer support team available directly from the company’s offices in downtown San Jose.

Votacall         

Votacall VM 2 Text

The VM 2 Text solution from Votacall allows users to receive voicemail transcribed as a text message and email. The company always attaches the wav file in case users want to listen to it. The Votacall VM 2 Text App, an add-on to Votacall’s standard hosted VoIP voicemail service,  translates up to one minute of a voicemail message into text. The message appears as a standard text (MMS) message on the end user’s smartphone. In addition, the app will send the transcribed message and audio file to an end-users email address for multiple points of access.

XO Communications           

XO MPLS IP-VPN

This intelligent MPLS IP-VPN service gives multi-location businesses a secure, cost-effective MPLS-enabled wide area network solution that provide the strong network performance. It allows for network security, optimized bandwidth utilization, network visibility, the ability to prioritize applications and traffic as desired, the option for XO-provided hosted security, quality of service guarantees, streamlined network management, application performance management, simplified billing with one optional flat rate for class of service, the ability to run VoIP and data applications over the same circuits, scalable bandwidth from DS1 to 10gbps, and much more.




Edited by Kyle Piscioniere