Edgewater Networks Helps Ensure The Quality Of IP Communications
VoIP is a great solution for real-time communications—provided you have a system configured to properly monitor, secure, and allocate your voice and video data. Santa Clara, Calif.,-based Edgewater Networks understands this caveat. The company has been specializing in making VoIP-based communications easy to set up since 2002, and its heritage descends from a virtual who’s who of companies that pioneered this space, including Cisco, Siemens, Nokia, and First Virtual Communications.
“The management team has a lot of experience in TDM (time-division multiplexing) and packet-based networking of voice and video,” says Dave Martin, vice president of marketing at Edgewater Networks (www.edgewaternetworks.com). “We were founded on the belief that real-time communications over IP networks were going to be the next big thing in networking, and IT operators and service providers faced challenges in rolling them out.”
Secure & Reliable Real-Time Communications
Martin explains that the primary applications that tend to cause the most trouble for IT departments are converged networks, videoconferencing over IP, hosted voice and video over IP, connecting an existing PBX via SIP trunking, and secure access for remote employees working either in home or branch offices of an organization. “There are so many issues with security, quality of service (QoS), ongoing maintenance, and troubleshooting that we wanted to create solutions that would optimize real-time communications over IP networks and provide security and reliability for our customers,” Martin says.
According to Martin, Edgewater’s value lies in its ability to simplify the setup and monitoring of real-time applications, which in turn helps its customers reduce their costs and deliver a best-of-breed end-user experience when converging voice and video data with conventional data. “If you’re a service provider, we can reduce the TCO for delivering managed voice and video services and reduce customer churn because the service will work more reliably. If you’re an IT administrator, we can simplify branch office connectivity for you and provide a better experience for users of these applications,” Martin says.
Modular & Synergistic Solutions
Edgewater Networks takes a modular approach with its solutions. Each product line works well individually and often is all an enterprise needs. Combined, however, Edgewater’s product lines work in synergy to provide the sort of results that make VoIP a near no-brainer.
For example, Edgewater offers its EdgeMarc Network Services Gateways as access devices that are deployed as part of a network infrastructure. “Enterprise IT use [the EdgeMarcs] for branch office or office connectivity or secure remote access for their road warriors or remote workers who need secure connectivity into the enterprise for voice and video,” Martin says. The EdgeMarc product line is so broad that it scales to fit everything from a SOHO environment all the way up to a large enterprise.
Edgewater also offers the EdgeView, a hardware-based VoIP support system that works as an integrated VoIP quality probe, monitoring and troubleshooting the entire VoIP network. “When someone places a call using an IP [phone], the EdgeView generates statistics around the audio quality that user experiences during that call,” says Martin. “If that user has a bad experience, the EdgeView helps to isolate where you might have network impairments within your distributed enterprise that are affecting the call quality.”
The EdgeView typically is deployed in a network operations center or the primary data center, where it can monitor the entire network, while EdgeMarc routers are more often used as gateways to branch offices or remote locations. Either product line offers excellent functionality and seamless integration with existing VoIP networks, but the two really shine when they are used together. “If you have a user who tells you he had a [poor-quality] call an hour ago, it’s hard to start to figure out what is going on, given the distributed nature of IT networks,” says Martin. “The EdgeView provides you with visibility into the quality of your VoIP application. You can take problem resolution times from hours down to minutes because you are now able to monitor call quality at all different points of your network.”
Prioritizing The Right Data
Perhaps the most important thing a VoIP solution can do is to ensure that voice and video traffic gets priority over other traffic in order to maintain end-user call standards. With real-time communications, Martin says, “If you don’t have QoS built into the network, you’ll find that other data traffic can delay voice or video packets, which causes obvious problems for the person making the call.”
Edgewater’s EdgeMarc appliances are protocol-aware, which enables them to determine which devices need priority treatment should congestion occur within the network. “The EdgeMarc will automatically place them in the priority queue for the network operator or service provider, so it is not required to set up a complex access list or identify all the end points by IP address and so forth,” says Martin. “Because it is voice-aware, it can use that intelligence to simplify the prioritization and traffic shaping that has to happen.”
Martin says that the EdgeMarc is so effective in this regard that many service providers use the devices even when they do not own the actual infrastructure. “They will drop an EdgeMarc appliance behind someone else’s copper and essentially use it as a demarcation point for the service and provide the needed quality of service over that access point,” Martin says.
Making VoIP Seamless
In addition to prioritizing voice and video data, Edgewater’s products give users the ability to maintain stringent security and high availability standards in a range of scenarios. “If you’re offering a hosted service and the access point goes down, our devices can provide call control so that your employees and your customers continue to get voice services,” says Martin. “Or if you’re an enterprise with your own PBX connecting to a SIP trunk provider, we can provide the proper security and QoS and then help ensure interoperability between the service providers, SIP trunking network, and the PBX itself.”
Edgewater’s EdgeConnect managed power over Ethernet switches are optimized for converged networking environments such as a hybrid PBX/VoIP environment just described and can provide inline power to IP phones, as well. “You can see we’ve created another networking solution that stands alone in its own right, but when you combine it [with our other solutions], you really leverage all the capabilities that we have towards reducing TCO and resolving problems quickly,” says Martin.
Wednesday, 31 March 2010
Thursday, 25 March 2010
VCOMM Take on Master Distribution for Extricom
Extricom, a designer and manufacturer of high-performance, next generation wireless LAN (WLAN) infrastructure solutions, today announced a master Distribution Agreement for its innovative family of wireless switches and access points with VCOMM, a UK-based specialist distributor of IP telephony and Fixed Mobile Convergence solutions and part of Coms Plc. The agreement forms part of Extricom's ongoing strategy to form alliances with partners that have the skills, knowledge and resources to take advantage of the growing market for mobility-focused WLAN infrastructure.
VCOMM brings many years of experience in delivering high margin, niche solutions to market. "We constantly are looking for the most innovative Wi-Fi products to provide to the Service Provider and Reseller channel," stated Taffy Johal, VCOMM's Sales Director. "Extricom is focused on seamless mobility and the Channel Blanket architecture excels in support of multi-application environments, particularly VoIP. As such, Extricom is a natural complement to our range of IP telephony products and services. Add to that Extricom's deployment simplicity, stellar performance, and operational flexibility, and we believe it will be a critical infrastructure offering for our integration partners."
Extricom's Wireless LAN system is a new generation of business-class wireless infrastructure that scales from a single office to multi-building corporate campuses. The system's unique Channel Blanket architecture delivers simpler design and maintenance, robust wireless connectivity, and seamless mobility. Developed to tackle real-world business challenges, the Extricom WLAN has established its reputation by providing reliable service in some of the harshest environments possible where other WLANs have failed to perform to expectations. The Extricom system is also the industry's most versatile platform for 802.11n implementations; whether in a greenfield deployment or in mixed mode, Extricom delivers maximum performance for both 802.11n and 802.11a/b/g clients from the same infrastructure.
"One of the things that's been holding back widespread adoption of VoWLAN solutions is the lack of reliable, resilient wireless infrastructure that will support any mobility requirement." commented Gideon Rottem, Extricom's CEO. "Extricom's multi-layer wireless LAN is a highly technologically differentiated solution that has an outstanding field record in support of IPT and FMC deployments. Our partnership with VCOMM, a well-established vendor in this market space, will create tremendous opportunities for both companies"
About VCOMM
VCOMM is a trade only, value added distributor that provides IP Telephony products and services to the UK Service Provider and Reseller channel. VCOMM is a part of the Coms PLC network, which also includes Coms.Com and Coms.Net. VCOMM's staff bring many years of experience in delivering high margin, niche solutions to market and are ideally placed to move quickly and decisively within this exciting and evolving space.
VCOMM brings many years of experience in delivering high margin, niche solutions to market. "We constantly are looking for the most innovative Wi-Fi products to provide to the Service Provider and Reseller channel," stated Taffy Johal, VCOMM's Sales Director. "Extricom is focused on seamless mobility and the Channel Blanket architecture excels in support of multi-application environments, particularly VoIP. As such, Extricom is a natural complement to our range of IP telephony products and services. Add to that Extricom's deployment simplicity, stellar performance, and operational flexibility, and we believe it will be a critical infrastructure offering for our integration partners."
Extricom's Wireless LAN system is a new generation of business-class wireless infrastructure that scales from a single office to multi-building corporate campuses. The system's unique Channel Blanket architecture delivers simpler design and maintenance, robust wireless connectivity, and seamless mobility. Developed to tackle real-world business challenges, the Extricom WLAN has established its reputation by providing reliable service in some of the harshest environments possible where other WLANs have failed to perform to expectations. The Extricom system is also the industry's most versatile platform for 802.11n implementations; whether in a greenfield deployment or in mixed mode, Extricom delivers maximum performance for both 802.11n and 802.11a/b/g clients from the same infrastructure.
"One of the things that's been holding back widespread adoption of VoWLAN solutions is the lack of reliable, resilient wireless infrastructure that will support any mobility requirement." commented Gideon Rottem, Extricom's CEO. "Extricom's multi-layer wireless LAN is a highly technologically differentiated solution that has an outstanding field record in support of IPT and FMC deployments. Our partnership with VCOMM, a well-established vendor in this market space, will create tremendous opportunities for both companies"
About VCOMM
VCOMM is a trade only, value added distributor that provides IP Telephony products and services to the UK Service Provider and Reseller channel. VCOMM is a part of the Coms PLC network, which also includes Coms.Com and Coms.Net. VCOMM's staff bring many years of experience in delivering high margin, niche solutions to market and are ideally placed to move quickly and decisively within this exciting and evolving space.
Wednesday, 24 March 2010
Quintum's intelligent VoIP switches and gateways are 'The Perfect Fit' for converged communications applications
Quintum's 'Any to Any' connectivity enables Tenors to integrate VoIP applications into any network environment, including PBXs, IP-PBXs, Legacy TDM endpoints, SIP endpoints and both PSTN and IP-based Service Providers. Quintum supports companies around the world, utilizing Tenors in a variety of VoIP applications.
ENTERPRISES
Quintum's Tenors offer VoIP functionality at the edge of the enterprise network ... unmatched by any other vendor - including dynamic call failover, out-of-the-box interoperability, SIP and H.323 support, and more.
Quintum's Enterprise Tenors support Unified Communications, IP-PBX survivable branch office, call centers and multi-office trunking.
SERVICE PROVIDERS
Service providers have to provide consistent local access and a superior customer premises equipment (CPE) solution. The CPE has to install easily into your customers' existing environments - regardless of what kind of environments they may have. It has to protect call quality and has to help control initial provisioning costs and ongoing Operational expenses.
Service Providers use Tenors to support Hosted IP-PBX, SIP Trunking, VoIP Termination and Calling Card applications.
PBX/IP PBX Compatibility
Tenor VoIP Gateways and VoIP MultiPath Switches have been designed to be compliant with all major international telephony interface standards and signaling protocols. This results in these products being compatible with the majority of Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) connections, and the Customer Premise Equipment (CPE) devices that connect to them. Quintum has a long history of successfully deploying Tenor products throughout the world.
PBX/IP PBX Compatibility
Tenor VoIP Gateways and VoIP MultiPath Switches have been designed to be compliant with all major international telephony interface standards and signaling protocols. This results in these products being compatible with the majority of Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) connections, and the Customer Premise Equipment (CPE) devices that connect to them. Quintum has a long history of successfully deploying Tenor products throughout the world.
3Com
Aastra
Aastra Intecom
Aastra-DeTeWe
Alcatel-Lucent
Allworx
Altigen
Avaya
Brekeke
BroadSoft
Cisco
CosmoCom
Deltapath
Dialexia
Digium/Asterisk
Ericsson
Fujitsu
Genesis
Hitachi
Inter-Tel
Interactive Intelligence
Matra
Microsoft
Mitel
NEC
NEC Philips
NEC Sphere Communications Inc.
NetSapiens
Nortel
Oracle
Panasonic
Samsung
ShoreTel
Siemens
Tadiran
Toshiba
Vertical
SBC Compatibility
Tenor VoIP Gateways and VoIP MultiPath Switches have been designed to be compliant with all major international telephony interface standards and signaling protocols. This results in these products being compatible with the majority of Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) connections, and the Customer Premise Equipment (CPE) devices that connect to them. Quintum has a long history of successfully deploying Tenor products throughout the world.
Acme Packet
Audiocodes
Cisco Systems
Data Connection
Ditech Communications
Emergent Network Solutions
Huawei Technologies
IntereXchange Carrier
Juniper Networks
MERA Systems
NeoTIP
Newport Networks
NextPoint Networks
Sansay
Sonus Networks
Tekelec
Veraz Networks
For further enquiries please contact VCOMM UK Ltd on : +44 (0) 16352 32437 or email us on info@vcomm.co.uk
ENTERPRISES
Quintum's Tenors offer VoIP functionality at the edge of the enterprise network ... unmatched by any other vendor - including dynamic call failover, out-of-the-box interoperability, SIP and H.323 support, and more.
Quintum's Enterprise Tenors support Unified Communications, IP-PBX survivable branch office, call centers and multi-office trunking.
SERVICE PROVIDERS
Service providers have to provide consistent local access and a superior customer premises equipment (CPE) solution. The CPE has to install easily into your customers' existing environments - regardless of what kind of environments they may have. It has to protect call quality and has to help control initial provisioning costs and ongoing Operational expenses.
Service Providers use Tenors to support Hosted IP-PBX, SIP Trunking, VoIP Termination and Calling Card applications.
PBX/IP PBX Compatibility
Tenor VoIP Gateways and VoIP MultiPath Switches have been designed to be compliant with all major international telephony interface standards and signaling protocols. This results in these products being compatible with the majority of Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) connections, and the Customer Premise Equipment (CPE) devices that connect to them. Quintum has a long history of successfully deploying Tenor products throughout the world.
PBX/IP PBX Compatibility
Tenor VoIP Gateways and VoIP MultiPath Switches have been designed to be compliant with all major international telephony interface standards and signaling protocols. This results in these products being compatible with the majority of Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) connections, and the Customer Premise Equipment (CPE) devices that connect to them. Quintum has a long history of successfully deploying Tenor products throughout the world.
3Com
Aastra
Aastra Intecom
Aastra-DeTeWe
Alcatel-Lucent
Allworx
Altigen
Avaya
Brekeke
BroadSoft
Cisco
CosmoCom
Deltapath
Dialexia
Digium/Asterisk
Ericsson
Fujitsu
Genesis
Hitachi
Inter-Tel
Interactive Intelligence
Matra
Microsoft
Mitel
NEC
NEC Philips
NEC Sphere Communications Inc.
NetSapiens
Nortel
Oracle
Panasonic
Samsung
ShoreTel
Siemens
Tadiran
Toshiba
Vertical
SBC Compatibility
Tenor VoIP Gateways and VoIP MultiPath Switches have been designed to be compliant with all major international telephony interface standards and signaling protocols. This results in these products being compatible with the majority of Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) connections, and the Customer Premise Equipment (CPE) devices that connect to them. Quintum has a long history of successfully deploying Tenor products throughout the world.
Acme Packet
Audiocodes
Cisco Systems
Data Connection
Ditech Communications
Emergent Network Solutions
Huawei Technologies
IntereXchange Carrier
Juniper Networks
MERA Systems
NeoTIP
Newport Networks
NextPoint Networks
Sansay
Sonus Networks
Tekelec
Veraz Networks
For further enquiries please contact VCOMM UK Ltd on : +44 (0) 16352 32437 or email us on info@vcomm.co.uk
Polycom Introduces SoundStation IP 5000 Conference Phone Delivering HD Voice Conference Calls at a Breakthrough Price Point
Conference Phone Icon and Market Leader Polycom Brings Remarkable Voice Quality and Open SIP Interoperability to Small Conference Rooms, Private Offices and the SMB Market
LONDON/SLOUGH, UK - 23 Mar 2010 : Polycom, Inc. (Nasdaq: PLCM), the global leader in telepresence, video and voice communication solutions, today announced the Polycom SoundStation® IP 5000 conference phone. The SoundStation IP 5000 features Polycom HD Voice™ and offers robust SIP-based VoIP interoperability at a price that is well within reach of organisations of all sizes. Designed specifically for the needs of private offices and small meeting rooms, the voice quality of the SoundStation IP 5000 far surpasses that of traditional desktop speaker phones.
"Polycom is an innovative company and continues to lead the conference phone market with more than 80 percent market share," said Paul Waadevig, principal consultant, Unified Communications, Frost & Sullivan. "The SoundStation IP 5000 rounds out the company's high-quality conference phone portfolio and fills a gap in the market by providing a high-quality conferencing solution for private offices and smaller-sized conference rooms."
As the conference phone market leader and provider of conference phones for the world's leading unified communications (UC) providers, Polycom is the most recognised brand in conference rooms worldwide. With the introduction of the SoundStation IP 5000, Polycom redefines what businesses can expect from VoIP conferencing endpoints in terms of price and performance. The small footprint of the SoundStation IP 5000 makes it ideal for small conference rooms and private offices. Leveraging the Polycom Open Collaboration Network (POCN) strategy, the SoundStation IP conference phone family delivers a best-in-class collaboration experience that enables businesses to leverage existing UC investments as well as tightly integrated, end-to-end, standards-based solutions that deliver an unrivaled communications experience.
High Quality Conferencing with Immediate ROI
"We have been using Polycom SoundStation IP conference phones in our larger conference rooms, and their clarity and ease of use have delivered tangible benefits during our conference calls," said Michael Smith of Maricopa Property Development. "The SoundStation IP 5000 is a great fit for our smaller meeting rooms and private offices. It offers the great voice quality I expect from Polycom at a price that is affordable, and being able to conduct high-quality conference calls from our offices and other smaller rooms is improving our productivity."
"We traditionally relied on desktop speaker phones for conference calls, because we felt that while the sound quality and microphone pickup was superior on high-performance conference phones, they were cost-prohibitive for a business of our size," said Darren Loher, chief architect of Envysion. "The SoundStation IP 5000 breaks down barriers in terms of price and performance. It's affordable, and it also delivers the amazing acoustic quality for which Polycom conference phones are known. It is already making our internal and customer meetings more productive."
Features & Benefits
•Polycom HD Voice technology for crystal-clear calls that sound as natural as being there
•Patented Polycom Acoustic Clarity™ technology – delivering the best IP conference phone experience without compromise
•Small footprint fits easily on desk or small table
•Robust VoIP interoperability – Compatible with a broad array of SIP call platforms to maximise voice quality and feature availability while simplifying management and administration
•High-resolution display – enables robust call information and multi-language support
•Interference resistance from mobile phones and other wireless devices while delivering clear voice conferencing with no distractions
"As a VoIP service provider, we are excited to be able to offer an affordable conference phone with great voice quality to our customers," said John Real, vice president of the Colorado Region for Zayo Enterprise Networks. "With its advanced features at a breakthrough price, the SoundStation IP 5000 is sure to be a hit with our new and existing customers."
'With the introduction of this groundbreaking HD Voice conference phone, customers can now experience high quality, productive conference calls in their private offices and small meeting rooms at an affordable price," said Jim Kruger, Polycom vice president of Solutions Product Marketing. "Our customers can leverage their VoIP investment for easier deployment and configuration, as well as interoperability with the largest number of IP PBXs and hosted IP services in the industry."
Pricing & Availability:
The Polycom SoundStation IP 5000 conference phone is available through certified Polycom reseller partners at an MSRP of €439/$599. It is expected to begin shipping in April throughout North America and Europe, and in other select countries worldwide.
Supporting Links:
•Polycom SoundStation Conference Phones
•The Polycom Conference Phone Product Finder
•Top 10 Conference Phone Etiquette Tips
•Follow Polycom on Twitter and Subscribe to Polycom News RSS
Tags / Keywords:
Polycom, SoundStation, voice over IP, VoIP, conference phone, conference call, collaboration, telecommunications, audio conferencing, audio conference, VoiceStation
About the Polycom Open Collaboration Network
Polycom's integration efforts with its partners supports Polycom's Open Collaboration Network strategy, providing an open and interoperable collaboration solution that gives customers greater flexibility and investment protection for their UC environment. By working with leading unified communications platform providers, Polycom is able to deliver its productivity-enhancing and cost-saving telepresence, video and voice collaboration solutions as an integrated part of core unified communication environments, making the technologies easily accessible as part of the everyday workflow within a comprehensive solution that is easy to deploy and manage.
About Polycom
Polycom, Inc. (Nasdaq: PLCM) is the global leader in telepresence, video, and voice solutions and a visionary in communications that empower people to connect and collaborate everywhere. Visit http://www.polycom.eu for more information and follow us on Twitter @AllAboutPolycom.
© 2010 Polycom, Inc. All rights reserved. POLYCOM®, the Polycom "Triangles" logo and the names and marks associated with Polycom's products are trademarks and/or service marks of Polycom, Inc. and are registered and/or common law marks in the United States and various other countries. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.
LONDON/SLOUGH, UK - 23 Mar 2010 : Polycom, Inc. (Nasdaq: PLCM), the global leader in telepresence, video and voice communication solutions, today announced the Polycom SoundStation® IP 5000 conference phone. The SoundStation IP 5000 features Polycom HD Voice™ and offers robust SIP-based VoIP interoperability at a price that is well within reach of organisations of all sizes. Designed specifically for the needs of private offices and small meeting rooms, the voice quality of the SoundStation IP 5000 far surpasses that of traditional desktop speaker phones.
"Polycom is an innovative company and continues to lead the conference phone market with more than 80 percent market share," said Paul Waadevig, principal consultant, Unified Communications, Frost & Sullivan. "The SoundStation IP 5000 rounds out the company's high-quality conference phone portfolio and fills a gap in the market by providing a high-quality conferencing solution for private offices and smaller-sized conference rooms."
As the conference phone market leader and provider of conference phones for the world's leading unified communications (UC) providers, Polycom is the most recognised brand in conference rooms worldwide. With the introduction of the SoundStation IP 5000, Polycom redefines what businesses can expect from VoIP conferencing endpoints in terms of price and performance. The small footprint of the SoundStation IP 5000 makes it ideal for small conference rooms and private offices. Leveraging the Polycom Open Collaboration Network (POCN) strategy, the SoundStation IP conference phone family delivers a best-in-class collaboration experience that enables businesses to leverage existing UC investments as well as tightly integrated, end-to-end, standards-based solutions that deliver an unrivaled communications experience.
High Quality Conferencing with Immediate ROI
"We have been using Polycom SoundStation IP conference phones in our larger conference rooms, and their clarity and ease of use have delivered tangible benefits during our conference calls," said Michael Smith of Maricopa Property Development. "The SoundStation IP 5000 is a great fit for our smaller meeting rooms and private offices. It offers the great voice quality I expect from Polycom at a price that is affordable, and being able to conduct high-quality conference calls from our offices and other smaller rooms is improving our productivity."
"We traditionally relied on desktop speaker phones for conference calls, because we felt that while the sound quality and microphone pickup was superior on high-performance conference phones, they were cost-prohibitive for a business of our size," said Darren Loher, chief architect of Envysion. "The SoundStation IP 5000 breaks down barriers in terms of price and performance. It's affordable, and it also delivers the amazing acoustic quality for which Polycom conference phones are known. It is already making our internal and customer meetings more productive."
Features & Benefits
•Polycom HD Voice technology for crystal-clear calls that sound as natural as being there
•Patented Polycom Acoustic Clarity™ technology – delivering the best IP conference phone experience without compromise
•Small footprint fits easily on desk or small table
•Robust VoIP interoperability – Compatible with a broad array of SIP call platforms to maximise voice quality and feature availability while simplifying management and administration
•High-resolution display – enables robust call information and multi-language support
•Interference resistance from mobile phones and other wireless devices while delivering clear voice conferencing with no distractions
"As a VoIP service provider, we are excited to be able to offer an affordable conference phone with great voice quality to our customers," said John Real, vice president of the Colorado Region for Zayo Enterprise Networks. "With its advanced features at a breakthrough price, the SoundStation IP 5000 is sure to be a hit with our new and existing customers."
'With the introduction of this groundbreaking HD Voice conference phone, customers can now experience high quality, productive conference calls in their private offices and small meeting rooms at an affordable price," said Jim Kruger, Polycom vice president of Solutions Product Marketing. "Our customers can leverage their VoIP investment for easier deployment and configuration, as well as interoperability with the largest number of IP PBXs and hosted IP services in the industry."
Pricing & Availability:
The Polycom SoundStation IP 5000 conference phone is available through certified Polycom reseller partners at an MSRP of €439/$599. It is expected to begin shipping in April throughout North America and Europe, and in other select countries worldwide.
Supporting Links:
•Polycom SoundStation Conference Phones
•The Polycom Conference Phone Product Finder
•Top 10 Conference Phone Etiquette Tips
•Follow Polycom on Twitter and Subscribe to Polycom News RSS
Tags / Keywords:
Polycom, SoundStation, voice over IP, VoIP, conference phone, conference call, collaboration, telecommunications, audio conferencing, audio conference, VoiceStation
About the Polycom Open Collaboration Network
Polycom's integration efforts with its partners supports Polycom's Open Collaboration Network strategy, providing an open and interoperable collaboration solution that gives customers greater flexibility and investment protection for their UC environment. By working with leading unified communications platform providers, Polycom is able to deliver its productivity-enhancing and cost-saving telepresence, video and voice collaboration solutions as an integrated part of core unified communication environments, making the technologies easily accessible as part of the everyday workflow within a comprehensive solution that is easy to deploy and manage.
About Polycom
Polycom, Inc. (Nasdaq: PLCM) is the global leader in telepresence, video, and voice solutions and a visionary in communications that empower people to connect and collaborate everywhere. Visit http://www.polycom.eu for more information and follow us on Twitter @AllAboutPolycom.
© 2010 Polycom, Inc. All rights reserved. POLYCOM®, the Polycom "Triangles" logo and the names and marks associated with Polycom's products are trademarks and/or service marks of Polycom, Inc. and are registered and/or common law marks in the United States and various other countries. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.
Tuesday, 23 March 2010
Announcing New SoundStation IP 5000 Conference Phone
Overview
Polycom is pleased to announce the new SoundStation IP 5000 conference phone. Designed for smaller conference rooms and executive offices, it features a small footprint and new, modern design at a breakthrough price.
This new product is being publicly announced on March 23, 2010, and this information is to remain confidential until that date.
Polycom HD Voice for Crystal-Clear Interactive Conversations
The SoundStation IP 5000 features Polycom HD Voice technology, boosting productivity and reducing listener fatigue by turning ordinary conference calls into crystal-clear interactive conversations. It delivers high-fidelity audio, capturing both the deeper lows and higher frequencies of the human voice for conference calls that sound as natural as being there.
Advanced Audio Performance
For all calls, the SoundStation IP 5000 conference phone delivers advanced audio performance that is designed for executive offices and smaller conference rooms with up to 6 participants. From full-duplex technology that eliminates distracting drop-outs to the latest echo cancellation advancements, only Polycom can deliver a conference phone experience with no compromises. Conference calls are made more productive and efficient by three sensitive microphones with 360° coverage that allow users to speak in a normal voice and be heard clearly from up to 7 feet away. The phone also features technology that resists interference from mobile phones and other wireless devices, delivering clear communications without distractions.
Advanced IP Functionality
It shares the same SIP phone software with Polycom’s award-winning SoundPoint IP products – the most comprehensive, reliable and feature-rich SIP products in the industry, featuring proven interoperability with more IP PBX and hosted solutions than any other IP phones. Plus, the SoundStation IP 5000 includes integrated Power over Ethernet (PoE) and a high-resolution backlit display for vital call information and multi-language support.
Service Overview
Support services are available for the SoundStation IP 5000. Polycom’s high value support contracts can provide your customers with software upgrades, advanced exchange hardware replacement, and telephone technical support. Polycom branded maintenance is available for end user customers with at least 500 Polycom SoundPoint IP and SoundStation IP units deployed, while Partner branded maintenance contracts can be purchased at any quantity. Support pricing for Polycom’s SoundStation IP Conference Phones can be found at the end of this bulletin. Contact your Polycom service sales representative for more information.
Availability & Ordering Information
The SoundStation IP 5000 is now available for order, and is expected to begin shipping April 1, 2010.
Please note, the conference phone supports Power over Ethernet (PoE), and does not ship with an AC Power Kit. Customers who need to connect the device to AC power should also order the separate SoundStation IP 5000 AC Power Kit accessory.
Polycom is pleased to announce the new SoundStation IP 5000 conference phone. Designed for smaller conference rooms and executive offices, it features a small footprint and new, modern design at a breakthrough price.
This new product is being publicly announced on March 23, 2010, and this information is to remain confidential until that date.
Polycom HD Voice for Crystal-Clear Interactive Conversations
The SoundStation IP 5000 features Polycom HD Voice technology, boosting productivity and reducing listener fatigue by turning ordinary conference calls into crystal-clear interactive conversations. It delivers high-fidelity audio, capturing both the deeper lows and higher frequencies of the human voice for conference calls that sound as natural as being there.
Advanced Audio Performance
For all calls, the SoundStation IP 5000 conference phone delivers advanced audio performance that is designed for executive offices and smaller conference rooms with up to 6 participants. From full-duplex technology that eliminates distracting drop-outs to the latest echo cancellation advancements, only Polycom can deliver a conference phone experience with no compromises. Conference calls are made more productive and efficient by three sensitive microphones with 360° coverage that allow users to speak in a normal voice and be heard clearly from up to 7 feet away. The phone also features technology that resists interference from mobile phones and other wireless devices, delivering clear communications without distractions.
Advanced IP Functionality
It shares the same SIP phone software with Polycom’s award-winning SoundPoint IP products – the most comprehensive, reliable and feature-rich SIP products in the industry, featuring proven interoperability with more IP PBX and hosted solutions than any other IP phones. Plus, the SoundStation IP 5000 includes integrated Power over Ethernet (PoE) and a high-resolution backlit display for vital call information and multi-language support.
Service Overview
Support services are available for the SoundStation IP 5000. Polycom’s high value support contracts can provide your customers with software upgrades, advanced exchange hardware replacement, and telephone technical support. Polycom branded maintenance is available for end user customers with at least 500 Polycom SoundPoint IP and SoundStation IP units deployed, while Partner branded maintenance contracts can be purchased at any quantity. Support pricing for Polycom’s SoundStation IP Conference Phones can be found at the end of this bulletin. Contact your Polycom service sales representative for more information.
Availability & Ordering Information
The SoundStation IP 5000 is now available for order, and is expected to begin shipping April 1, 2010.
Please note, the conference phone supports Power over Ethernet (PoE), and does not ship with an AC Power Kit. Customers who need to connect the device to AC power should also order the separate SoundStation IP 5000 AC Power Kit accessory.
Polycom Broadens Portfolio of Seamlessly Integrated Voice and Video Solutions Optimised for Microsoft Unified Communications
Polycom Offers Enhanced Collaboration for Microsoft Communications Server "14" and Video Experience with Microsoft SharePoint Server and Microsoft Exchange Server
LONDON/SLOUGH, UK - 22 Mar 2010 : Polycom, Inc. (Nasdaq: PLCM), the global leader in telepresence, video, and voice solutions, today announced it is expanding its relationship with Microsoft Corp. to jointly develop and deliver an extended portfolio of unified communications (UC) solutions that will enable more effective collaboration for its customers. Polycom is the only company that offers a comprehensive portfolio of integrated solutions spanning voice, video and application integration for Microsoft Office Communications Server R2 and Microsoft Communications Server "14," Microsoft Exchange Server 2007, Microsoft SharePoint Server, and Microsoft Active Directory.
Expanded Portfolio of Solutions for Communications Server "14"
Polycom is introducing three new CX series phones. These new network-based IP phones include two handsets and the industry's first and only IP conference phone optimised for Microsoft Communicator "14." The new phones are also the first Microsoft-optimised phones to feature Polycom HD Voice™ technology and offer the most robust feature set of any endpoints designed for Communications Server "14". The latest additions to the Polycom CX series include:
•The Polycom CX500 IP phone – designed for use in public areas such as lobbies, break rooms or hallways
•The Polycom CX600 IP desktop phone – delivers rich presence and exceptional voice quality to a mid-range desktop phone
•The Polycom CX3000 IP conference phone – provides outstanding voice quality and rich presence for more productive and efficient conference calls and is the only conference phone currently optimised for Microsoft Communicator "14"
The CX series' native integration with Communications Server "14" simplifies phone deployment and management and provides an unparalleled, rich communication experience. Polycom phones feature a familiar Microsoft user experience, such as presence, contact lists, single sign-on capabilities, user-associated numbers (as opposed to device-specific numbers), and easy, click-to-call and click-to-conference capabilities.
"A unified communications infrastructure that includes Polycom and Microsoft solutions will give CDOT the reliability, flexibility and scalability we need to collaborate on demand throughout the state using voice, video and more," said Thom Rivera, enterprise architect for the Colorado Department of Transportation. "As we begin our journey to further integrate a Polycom experience with Microsoft Office Communications Server, we look forward to the possibility of synchronising our entire UC environment with capabilities such as scheduling, calendaring, IM and Active Directory."
"Polycom is widely regarded as one of the pioneers in collaboration technologies and is taking a leadership role in articulating the value of integrating into leading UC environments," said Matt Davis, director of Consumer and SMB Telecom Services, IDC. "Microsoft's user interface at the PC level with Polycom's user experience at the device level provide a flexible, scalable and intuitive UC solution that enables customers to leverage the latest technologies."
Expanded Integration with Microsoft Collaboration Tools
The new Polycom CX series phones enhance Polycom's broad portfolio of solutions for Microsoft environments which also include deep telepresence and video conferencing integration. Recent telepresence and video conferencing developments include:
•Polycom Conferencing for Microsoft Outlook – This breakthrough solution for Microsoft Exchange Server and Microsoft Outlook dramatically simplifies how users schedule and join video meetings with Polycom HDX room systems. By putting Polycom visual communication into the normal Outlook workflow, Polycom Conferencing for Outlook can reduce administrative support requirements and drive higher use of productivity-enhancing and cost-saving visual communication investments.
•Polycom Microsoft SharePoint Server Solution – Video-enabled SharePoint Server sites make it easy for users to publish, manage and view video media content securely, offering the capabilities of the Polycom Video Media Center™ (VMC™) 1000 within the SharePoint Server site. Users can leverage Polycom video endpoints to easily and cost-effectively create their own high-quality video content that can be automatically uploaded to the Polycom VMC 1000.
"Polycom delivers a broad portfolio of exceptional voice and video experiences in a Microsoft environment," said Kirk Gregersen, senior director of Communications Server Marketing at Microsoft. "Our customers are looking for flexible solutions that integrate seamlessly and are highly reliable. Polycom is working to expand its offering of fully integrated end-to-end solutions for Microsoft environments as well as develop next-generation communications that will result in higher productivity and enhanced collaboration for businesses around the globe."
"We continue to deliver on the Polycom Open Collaboration Network strategy by bringing to market the industry's broadest solutions portfolio that integrates with the market-leading UC solutions," said Jim Kruger, Polycom vice president Solution Product Marketing. "Microsoft is clearly a leader in delivering Unified Communications. Our expanded partnership will benefit our customers by allowing them to leverage their existing UC environments and protect their long-term investments in technologies such as Communications Server, Exchange Server, Outlook and other key Microsoft business applications."
Polycom offers the most comprehensive voice and video collaboration solutions for Microsoft Unified Communications environments, including a highly scalable infrastructure platform for enabling reliable, broad-scale video deployments across organisations; industry-leading telepresence, HD video conferencing and desktop video collaboration systems that enable people to work more effectively across distances; integrated recording and streaming for capturing and sharing conferences and video content, allowing teams to use real-time communication to create video assets for more effective communication; and a complete line of VoIP phones designed specifically to leverage the presence-based contact capabilities of Office Communications Server 2007 and Office Communications Server 2007 R2 to simplify everyday communications.
Availability:
The enhanced Polycom integration with Exchange Server, Outlook and SharePoint Server are planned for availability in the second quarter of 2010. The new Polycom CX IP phones are scheduled for release when Communications Server "14" becomes available.
About the Polycom Open Collaboration Network
Polycom's integration efforts with its partners like Microsoft support Polycom's Open Collaboration Network strategy, providing an open and interoperable collaboration solution that gives customers greater flexibility and investment protection for their UC environment. By working with leading unified communications platform providers, Polycom is able to deliver its productivity-enhancing and cost-saving telepresence, video and voice collaboration products as an integrated part of core unified communication environments, making the technologies easily accessible as part of the everyday workflow within a comprehensive solution that is easy to deploy and manage.
About Polycom
Polycom, Inc. (Nasdaq: PLCM) is the global leader in telepresence, video, and voice solutions and a visionary in communications that empower people to connect and collaborate everywhere. Visit www.polycom.com for more information and follow us on Twitter @AllAboutPolycom.
© 2010 Polycom, Inc. All rights reserved. POLYCOM®, the Polycom "Triangles" logo and the names and marks associated with Polycom's products are trademarks and/or service marks of Polycom, Inc. and are registered and/or common law marks in the United States and various other countries. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.
LONDON/SLOUGH, UK - 22 Mar 2010 : Polycom, Inc. (Nasdaq: PLCM), the global leader in telepresence, video, and voice solutions, today announced it is expanding its relationship with Microsoft Corp. to jointly develop and deliver an extended portfolio of unified communications (UC) solutions that will enable more effective collaboration for its customers. Polycom is the only company that offers a comprehensive portfolio of integrated solutions spanning voice, video and application integration for Microsoft Office Communications Server R2 and Microsoft Communications Server "14," Microsoft Exchange Server 2007, Microsoft SharePoint Server, and Microsoft Active Directory.
Expanded Portfolio of Solutions for Communications Server "14"
Polycom is introducing three new CX series phones. These new network-based IP phones include two handsets and the industry's first and only IP conference phone optimised for Microsoft Communicator "14." The new phones are also the first Microsoft-optimised phones to feature Polycom HD Voice™ technology and offer the most robust feature set of any endpoints designed for Communications Server "14". The latest additions to the Polycom CX series include:
•The Polycom CX500 IP phone – designed for use in public areas such as lobbies, break rooms or hallways
•The Polycom CX600 IP desktop phone – delivers rich presence and exceptional voice quality to a mid-range desktop phone
•The Polycom CX3000 IP conference phone – provides outstanding voice quality and rich presence for more productive and efficient conference calls and is the only conference phone currently optimised for Microsoft Communicator "14"
The CX series' native integration with Communications Server "14" simplifies phone deployment and management and provides an unparalleled, rich communication experience. Polycom phones feature a familiar Microsoft user experience, such as presence, contact lists, single sign-on capabilities, user-associated numbers (as opposed to device-specific numbers), and easy, click-to-call and click-to-conference capabilities.
"A unified communications infrastructure that includes Polycom and Microsoft solutions will give CDOT the reliability, flexibility and scalability we need to collaborate on demand throughout the state using voice, video and more," said Thom Rivera, enterprise architect for the Colorado Department of Transportation. "As we begin our journey to further integrate a Polycom experience with Microsoft Office Communications Server, we look forward to the possibility of synchronising our entire UC environment with capabilities such as scheduling, calendaring, IM and Active Directory."
"Polycom is widely regarded as one of the pioneers in collaboration technologies and is taking a leadership role in articulating the value of integrating into leading UC environments," said Matt Davis, director of Consumer and SMB Telecom Services, IDC. "Microsoft's user interface at the PC level with Polycom's user experience at the device level provide a flexible, scalable and intuitive UC solution that enables customers to leverage the latest technologies."
Expanded Integration with Microsoft Collaboration Tools
The new Polycom CX series phones enhance Polycom's broad portfolio of solutions for Microsoft environments which also include deep telepresence and video conferencing integration. Recent telepresence and video conferencing developments include:
•Polycom Conferencing for Microsoft Outlook – This breakthrough solution for Microsoft Exchange Server and Microsoft Outlook dramatically simplifies how users schedule and join video meetings with Polycom HDX room systems. By putting Polycom visual communication into the normal Outlook workflow, Polycom Conferencing for Outlook can reduce administrative support requirements and drive higher use of productivity-enhancing and cost-saving visual communication investments.
•Polycom Microsoft SharePoint Server Solution – Video-enabled SharePoint Server sites make it easy for users to publish, manage and view video media content securely, offering the capabilities of the Polycom Video Media Center™ (VMC™) 1000 within the SharePoint Server site. Users can leverage Polycom video endpoints to easily and cost-effectively create their own high-quality video content that can be automatically uploaded to the Polycom VMC 1000.
"Polycom delivers a broad portfolio of exceptional voice and video experiences in a Microsoft environment," said Kirk Gregersen, senior director of Communications Server Marketing at Microsoft. "Our customers are looking for flexible solutions that integrate seamlessly and are highly reliable. Polycom is working to expand its offering of fully integrated end-to-end solutions for Microsoft environments as well as develop next-generation communications that will result in higher productivity and enhanced collaboration for businesses around the globe."
"We continue to deliver on the Polycom Open Collaboration Network strategy by bringing to market the industry's broadest solutions portfolio that integrates with the market-leading UC solutions," said Jim Kruger, Polycom vice president Solution Product Marketing. "Microsoft is clearly a leader in delivering Unified Communications. Our expanded partnership will benefit our customers by allowing them to leverage their existing UC environments and protect their long-term investments in technologies such as Communications Server, Exchange Server, Outlook and other key Microsoft business applications."
Polycom offers the most comprehensive voice and video collaboration solutions for Microsoft Unified Communications environments, including a highly scalable infrastructure platform for enabling reliable, broad-scale video deployments across organisations; industry-leading telepresence, HD video conferencing and desktop video collaboration systems that enable people to work more effectively across distances; integrated recording and streaming for capturing and sharing conferences and video content, allowing teams to use real-time communication to create video assets for more effective communication; and a complete line of VoIP phones designed specifically to leverage the presence-based contact capabilities of Office Communications Server 2007 and Office Communications Server 2007 R2 to simplify everyday communications.
Availability:
The enhanced Polycom integration with Exchange Server, Outlook and SharePoint Server are planned for availability in the second quarter of 2010. The new Polycom CX IP phones are scheduled for release when Communications Server "14" becomes available.
About the Polycom Open Collaboration Network
Polycom's integration efforts with its partners like Microsoft support Polycom's Open Collaboration Network strategy, providing an open and interoperable collaboration solution that gives customers greater flexibility and investment protection for their UC environment. By working with leading unified communications platform providers, Polycom is able to deliver its productivity-enhancing and cost-saving telepresence, video and voice collaboration products as an integrated part of core unified communication environments, making the technologies easily accessible as part of the everyday workflow within a comprehensive solution that is easy to deploy and manage.
About Polycom
Polycom, Inc. (Nasdaq: PLCM) is the global leader in telepresence, video, and voice solutions and a visionary in communications that empower people to connect and collaborate everywhere. Visit www.polycom.com for more information and follow us on Twitter @AllAboutPolycom.
© 2010 Polycom, Inc. All rights reserved. POLYCOM®, the Polycom "Triangles" logo and the names and marks associated with Polycom's products are trademarks and/or service marks of Polycom, Inc. and are registered and/or common law marks in the United States and various other countries. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.
Thursday, 18 March 2010
NET Delivers Valuable SIP Phone Options for Microsoft OCS
Expanded choice, lower cost, and IP phone investment protection
Network Equipment Technologies – NET – is adding even more value to Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2 (OCS). In addition to the enhancements now available with the NET VXe Series Voice Switches delivered last October, NET will formally announce its new SmartSIP module to support connection of a wide variety of SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) phones to Microsoft OCS. Availability of SmartSIP is expected almost immediately, in April 2010.
The first hint of the new capability came with the acquisition of the core technology from Evangelyze Communications in February, as reported here on UCStrategies.com. Clearly, it did not take NET long to package the functions into the new NET SmartSIP module.
Here’s an early preview of the new offering. NET SmartSIP will provide three major values for any enterprise that deploys Microsoft OCS:
1. Connect existing or new SIP phones to OCS: The NET SmartSIP module will connect a wide range of SIP phones to Office Communications Server. Currently, only phones that use the Microsoft IP Protocol can connect to OCS; but with NET SmartSIP, customers are able to use SIP phones they already own and also have a broader range of choices when selecting phones for OCS uses.
The SmartSIP module also provides investment protection for those companies that already own SIP-based phones such as the Cisco 79xx series, Polycom SoundPoint IP series, Linksys SPA942, Aastra 6571/67, or X-Lite Soft Phone. NET has tested each of these SIP phone types to assure they will work properly with OCS, using the SmartSIP module.
NET plans to continue testing other brands and models of SIP phones supported by SmartSIP, but points out that many SIP phones currently in the market are likely to work with SmartSIP, even without NET testing and certification.
2. Integrate SIP phones with Microsoft OCS features: The SmartSIP software links the SIP phones to OCS to provide important features. For example, with SmartSIP the OCS users will see the SIP phone status in OCS presence indications and will know if the SIP phone user is on a call before even starting an IM session or attempting to call them.
Of course, SmartSIP supports all the major telephony functions on the SIP phones including: Call Hold; Call Retrieve; Call Waiting; Call Transfer; Call Forwarding – Busy, No answer, Unconditional; and Message Waiting Indicator. In addition, SmartSIP provides calling party name identification through Active Directory lookup.
3. Automatic Provisioning for reduced Total Cost of Ownership (TCO): SmartSIP provides a very easy and convenient provisioning module through which each SIP phone can be automatically linked to any user’s Active Directory entry and OCS account simply by association of the SIP phone’s unique MAC address. Each phone is entered only once in the master inventory table and from that point on, the SIP phone will automatically register when it is plugged into the network and will be associated with the user and extension defined in Active Directory and OCS.
All of this functionality is delivered by the SmartSIP software module, which can run in any of three configurations. For smaller businesses, the SmartSIP module can reside on the same Windows Server as the OCS Mediation Server role. For mid-sized operations, the SmartSIP module can run on an NET Tenor Hybrid gateway. For large enterprises, unlimited scale is available by running SmartSIP module(s) on standalone 64-bit servers using Windows Server 2003 or 2008.
SmartSIP is expected to be licensed via a server license for the SmartSIP module, plus a quantity-based license for each phone in the list price range of $30 per phone. An economical support agreement is also available, if desired.
The bottom line on this upcoming announcement is pretty compelling, since it expands customer choices, lowers customer costs, and protects customer investments – always good things. Early on, Microsoft arranged for partners to develop a number of special-purpose voice and video terminals and devices to complement the OCS software. Now, NET is expanding that range of choices by attaching SIP phones that look and act like traditional desk phones, but benefit from the functionality of OCS. The fact that these SIP phones have very attractive price points (or are already owned) and that SmartSIP streamlines the administration and device management is just icing on the cake.
by Marty Parker,
Network Equipment Technologies – NET – is adding even more value to Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2 (OCS). In addition to the enhancements now available with the NET VXe Series Voice Switches delivered last October, NET will formally announce its new SmartSIP module to support connection of a wide variety of SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) phones to Microsoft OCS. Availability of SmartSIP is expected almost immediately, in April 2010.
The first hint of the new capability came with the acquisition of the core technology from Evangelyze Communications in February, as reported here on UCStrategies.com. Clearly, it did not take NET long to package the functions into the new NET SmartSIP module.
Here’s an early preview of the new offering. NET SmartSIP will provide three major values for any enterprise that deploys Microsoft OCS:
1. Connect existing or new SIP phones to OCS: The NET SmartSIP module will connect a wide range of SIP phones to Office Communications Server. Currently, only phones that use the Microsoft IP Protocol can connect to OCS; but with NET SmartSIP, customers are able to use SIP phones they already own and also have a broader range of choices when selecting phones for OCS uses.
The SmartSIP module also provides investment protection for those companies that already own SIP-based phones such as the Cisco 79xx series, Polycom SoundPoint IP series, Linksys SPA942, Aastra 6571/67, or X-Lite Soft Phone. NET has tested each of these SIP phone types to assure they will work properly with OCS, using the SmartSIP module.
NET plans to continue testing other brands and models of SIP phones supported by SmartSIP, but points out that many SIP phones currently in the market are likely to work with SmartSIP, even without NET testing and certification.
2. Integrate SIP phones with Microsoft OCS features: The SmartSIP software links the SIP phones to OCS to provide important features. For example, with SmartSIP the OCS users will see the SIP phone status in OCS presence indications and will know if the SIP phone user is on a call before even starting an IM session or attempting to call them.
Of course, SmartSIP supports all the major telephony functions on the SIP phones including: Call Hold; Call Retrieve; Call Waiting; Call Transfer; Call Forwarding – Busy, No answer, Unconditional; and Message Waiting Indicator. In addition, SmartSIP provides calling party name identification through Active Directory lookup.
3. Automatic Provisioning for reduced Total Cost of Ownership (TCO): SmartSIP provides a very easy and convenient provisioning module through which each SIP phone can be automatically linked to any user’s Active Directory entry and OCS account simply by association of the SIP phone’s unique MAC address. Each phone is entered only once in the master inventory table and from that point on, the SIP phone will automatically register when it is plugged into the network and will be associated with the user and extension defined in Active Directory and OCS.
All of this functionality is delivered by the SmartSIP software module, which can run in any of three configurations. For smaller businesses, the SmartSIP module can reside on the same Windows Server as the OCS Mediation Server role. For mid-sized operations, the SmartSIP module can run on an NET Tenor Hybrid gateway. For large enterprises, unlimited scale is available by running SmartSIP module(s) on standalone 64-bit servers using Windows Server 2003 or 2008.
SmartSIP is expected to be licensed via a server license for the SmartSIP module, plus a quantity-based license for each phone in the list price range of $30 per phone. An economical support agreement is also available, if desired.
The bottom line on this upcoming announcement is pretty compelling, since it expands customer choices, lowers customer costs, and protects customer investments – always good things. Early on, Microsoft arranged for partners to develop a number of special-purpose voice and video terminals and devices to complement the OCS software. Now, NET is expanding that range of choices by attaching SIP phones that look and act like traditional desk phones, but benefit from the functionality of OCS. The fact that these SIP phones have very attractive price points (or are already owned) and that SmartSIP streamlines the administration and device management is just icing on the cake.
by Marty Parker,
Monday, 15 March 2010
Comdasys and TELES deliver hosted mobile UC solution
TELES partners with Comdasys to combine FMC solution with Class 5 application for enterprises and service providers.
Berlin and Munich,, March 04, 2010
TELES, the Berlin based Next Generation Networks and Access Gateway vendor, has sealed a technology partnership with Comdasys, the leading provider of Mobile Unified Communications Solutions to extend full softswitch functionality to mobile users of TELES C5 service provider and enterprise solution.
Comdasys' award winning MC Solution is the industry's most comprehensive fixed mobile convergence solution. It has been designed for enterprises to help them deploy and mobilize voice and UC applications. This increases productivity while at the same time reducing mobile communications costs. The Comdasys MC Solution now supports VoIP and UC features on Symbian, iPhone, BlackBerry, and Android based smart phones.
Combined with the Comdasys solution, TELES advanced and feature-rich Class 5 NGN softswitch provides carriers with a unique and compelling solution for their enterprise customers by expanding the services offered to include a fully hosted mobile UC solution with hosted PBX functionality.
TELES Product Marketing Director, Thomas Haydn, is convinced that the addition of Comdasys’ FMC application is in touch with service provider and enterprise customer requirements: “Comdasys have designed an excellent solution for enabling fixed-mobile-convergence for all established smart phones on our Class 5 softswitch. Mobile users will gain a completely new spectrum of functionality including PBX features, mobile least cost routing, and a seamless handover to wireless networks. All of this adds up to a very comfortable and convenient unified communications experience for the mobile user regardless of location and network.”
Comdasys General Manager Marco Genoni also welcomes the collaboration: “TELES Class 5 solution is the perfect platform for our fixed mobile and unified communications solution and we are very pleased to support TELES efforts to provide enterprise customers with increased functionality and lower costs.”
Berlin and Munich,, March 04, 2010
TELES, the Berlin based Next Generation Networks and Access Gateway vendor, has sealed a technology partnership with Comdasys, the leading provider of Mobile Unified Communications Solutions to extend full softswitch functionality to mobile users of TELES C5 service provider and enterprise solution.
Comdasys' award winning MC Solution is the industry's most comprehensive fixed mobile convergence solution. It has been designed for enterprises to help them deploy and mobilize voice and UC applications. This increases productivity while at the same time reducing mobile communications costs. The Comdasys MC Solution now supports VoIP and UC features on Symbian, iPhone, BlackBerry, and Android based smart phones.
Combined with the Comdasys solution, TELES advanced and feature-rich Class 5 NGN softswitch provides carriers with a unique and compelling solution for their enterprise customers by expanding the services offered to include a fully hosted mobile UC solution with hosted PBX functionality.
TELES Product Marketing Director, Thomas Haydn, is convinced that the addition of Comdasys’ FMC application is in touch with service provider and enterprise customer requirements: “Comdasys have designed an excellent solution for enabling fixed-mobile-convergence for all established smart phones on our Class 5 softswitch. Mobile users will gain a completely new spectrum of functionality including PBX features, mobile least cost routing, and a seamless handover to wireless networks. All of this adds up to a very comfortable and convenient unified communications experience for the mobile user regardless of location and network.”
Comdasys General Manager Marco Genoni also welcomes the collaboration: “TELES Class 5 solution is the perfect platform for our fixed mobile and unified communications solution and we are very pleased to support TELES efforts to provide enterprise customers with increased functionality and lower costs.”
Tuesday, 9 March 2010
Avaya and Polycom to Jointly Develop and Market Video and Voice Communications Systems
Agreement reflects companies' shared commitment to open, standards-based unified communications
LONDON/GUILDFORD/SLOUGH, UK - 09 Mar 2010 : Avaya and Polycom, Inc. [Nasdaq: PLCM], are expanding their existing relationship and will jointly develop and market integrated video, voice and collaboration solutions. The companies plan to deliver fully integrated, end-to-end unified communications (UC) solutions that use the Avaya Aura™ Session Initiation Protocol (SIP)-based platform and the Polycom Open Collaboration Network strategy.
The planned joint solutions will provide Polycom's full range of voice and video systems integrated with Avaya Aura delivering real-time collaboration to customers. Avaya Aura will enable companies to administer, schedule and manage the joint solutions in a single, consistent manner, and control bandwidth to support a superior user experience and optimal deployment of network resources.
The expanded partnership supports Avaya Aura as a fundamental control point for managing and delivering communications across organisations.
"Companies are the real winners in the unified communications market because UC can save time, money and other valuable resources," said Roopam Jain, principal analyst, Frost & Sullivan. "As more and more companies flesh out and execute on their UC strategies, interoperability and standards such as SIP are critical."
Jain added, "Because every UC deployment has unique requirements, standards-based solutions are key. It's encouraging to see Avaya and Polycom team to enable this type of open collaboration and feature-rich, purpose-built solutions."
"The Avaya Aura platform enables our customers to integrate, manage and use communications in new ways to improve business performance," said Alan Baratz, senior vice president and president, Global Communications Solutions, Avaya. "By adopting the Avaya Aura platform, Polycom products will benefit from the seamless interoperability it offers. Together we'll offer customers a choice of collaboration solutions with the flexibility and functionality they require."
"We continue to deliver on the Polycom Open Collaboration Network strategy, and Avaya is leading the charge in adopting open standards as the core for its business communications platform," said Andy Miller, Polycom executive vice president of Global Field Operations. "Avaya is a significant global presence across multiple industries. These existing relationships give us an excellent opportunity to introduce customers to our new UC solutions."
The Avaya Aura platform simplifies existing voice and video communications architectures, including the ability to integrate communications across multi-vendor networks, to deliver business communications with more capabilities, fewer costs and less complexity. The combined Avaya and Polycom offers will support customers who want to maintain their existing communications investments as they adopt new capabilities and solutions.
About Avaya
Avaya is a global leader in enterprise communications systems. The company provides unified communications, contact centers, and related services directly and through its channel partners to leading businesses and organizations around the world. Enterprises of all sizes depend on Avaya for state-of-the-art communications that improve efficiency, collaboration, customer service and competitiveness. For more information please visit www.avaya.com. For more information on the Avaya DevConnect program, visit www.avaya.com/devconnect.
About the Polycom Open Collaboration Network
Polycom's integration efforts with Avaya support Polycom's Open Collaboration Network strategy, providing an open and interoperable collaboration solution that gives customers greater flexibility and investment protection for their UC environment. By working with Avaya and other leading unified communications platform providers, Polycom is able to deliver its productivity-enhancing and cost-saving telepresence, video and voice collaboration products as an integrated part of core unified communication environments, making the technologies easily accessible as part of the everyday workflow within a comprehensive solution that is easy to deploy and manage.
About Polycom
Polycom, Inc. (Nasdaq: PLCM) is the global leader in telepresence, video, and voice solutions anda visionary in communications that empower people to connect and collaborate everywhere. Visit www.polycom.com for more information and follow us on Twitter @AllAboutPolycom.
POLYCOM®, the Polycom "Triangles" logo and the names and marks associated with Polycom's products are trademarks and/or service marks of Polycom, Inc. and are registered and/or common law marks in the United States and various other countries. Avaya is a registered trademark of Avaya Inc. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.
LONDON/GUILDFORD/SLOUGH, UK - 09 Mar 2010 : Avaya and Polycom, Inc. [Nasdaq: PLCM], are expanding their existing relationship and will jointly develop and market integrated video, voice and collaboration solutions. The companies plan to deliver fully integrated, end-to-end unified communications (UC) solutions that use the Avaya Aura™ Session Initiation Protocol (SIP)-based platform and the Polycom Open Collaboration Network strategy.
The planned joint solutions will provide Polycom's full range of voice and video systems integrated with Avaya Aura delivering real-time collaboration to customers. Avaya Aura will enable companies to administer, schedule and manage the joint solutions in a single, consistent manner, and control bandwidth to support a superior user experience and optimal deployment of network resources.
The expanded partnership supports Avaya Aura as a fundamental control point for managing and delivering communications across organisations.
"Companies are the real winners in the unified communications market because UC can save time, money and other valuable resources," said Roopam Jain, principal analyst, Frost & Sullivan. "As more and more companies flesh out and execute on their UC strategies, interoperability and standards such as SIP are critical."
Jain added, "Because every UC deployment has unique requirements, standards-based solutions are key. It's encouraging to see Avaya and Polycom team to enable this type of open collaboration and feature-rich, purpose-built solutions."
"The Avaya Aura platform enables our customers to integrate, manage and use communications in new ways to improve business performance," said Alan Baratz, senior vice president and president, Global Communications Solutions, Avaya. "By adopting the Avaya Aura platform, Polycom products will benefit from the seamless interoperability it offers. Together we'll offer customers a choice of collaboration solutions with the flexibility and functionality they require."
"We continue to deliver on the Polycom Open Collaboration Network strategy, and Avaya is leading the charge in adopting open standards as the core for its business communications platform," said Andy Miller, Polycom executive vice president of Global Field Operations. "Avaya is a significant global presence across multiple industries. These existing relationships give us an excellent opportunity to introduce customers to our new UC solutions."
The Avaya Aura platform simplifies existing voice and video communications architectures, including the ability to integrate communications across multi-vendor networks, to deliver business communications with more capabilities, fewer costs and less complexity. The combined Avaya and Polycom offers will support customers who want to maintain their existing communications investments as they adopt new capabilities and solutions.
About Avaya
Avaya is a global leader in enterprise communications systems. The company provides unified communications, contact centers, and related services directly and through its channel partners to leading businesses and organizations around the world. Enterprises of all sizes depend on Avaya for state-of-the-art communications that improve efficiency, collaboration, customer service and competitiveness. For more information please visit www.avaya.com. For more information on the Avaya DevConnect program, visit www.avaya.com/devconnect.
About the Polycom Open Collaboration Network
Polycom's integration efforts with Avaya support Polycom's Open Collaboration Network strategy, providing an open and interoperable collaboration solution that gives customers greater flexibility and investment protection for their UC environment. By working with Avaya and other leading unified communications platform providers, Polycom is able to deliver its productivity-enhancing and cost-saving telepresence, video and voice collaboration products as an integrated part of core unified communication environments, making the technologies easily accessible as part of the everyday workflow within a comprehensive solution that is easy to deploy and manage.
About Polycom
Polycom, Inc. (Nasdaq: PLCM) is the global leader in telepresence, video, and voice solutions anda visionary in communications that empower people to connect and collaborate everywhere. Visit www.polycom.com for more information and follow us on Twitter @AllAboutPolycom.
POLYCOM®, the Polycom "Triangles" logo and the names and marks associated with Polycom's products are trademarks and/or service marks of Polycom, Inc. and are registered and/or common law marks in the United States and various other countries. Avaya is a registered trademark of Avaya Inc. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.
Thursday, 4 March 2010
Come check out Digium at UC 10 next week (10th and 11th) Olympia, London
DigiumAsterisk World London at UC EXPO is the conference that addresses "Everything Asterisk" for business users, resellers and executive decision-makers.
Come to DigiumAsterisk World to discover how Asterisk, the world’s most widely used open source telephony software, can save you money and empower you to create more flexible telephony solutions.
Asterisk, originally created and maintained by Digium, is the world’s leading open source telephony engine and tool kit. Offering flexibility unheard of in the world of proprietary communications, Asterisk empowers developers and integrators to create advanced communication solutions...for free. The first ever Asterisk event focused purely on Asterisk for business, the DigiumAsterisk World London is "Everything Asterisk" for the business user, reseller, and executive decision maker.
DigiumAsterisk World London is focused on Asterisk business users and potential users who are interested in getting more in depth experience with Asterisk, and who also want to learn more from Asterisk adopters and see what's happening in the Asterisk market. DigiumAsterisk World London at UC Expo is a unified communications and collaboration event, where decision makers will learn they have a cost effective and powerful choice.
DigiumAsterisk World gives these audiences the opportunity to experience the global reach of Asterisk and the world class solutions which can solve traditional problems with new technologies and techniques.
Please join the excitement in London, 10-11 March 2010 and meet several open source-based Asterisk solutions providers, the Digium team, successful users, resellers and integrators and see many demonstrations of feature rich and cost savings solutions! To register, click here.
Come to DigiumAsterisk World to discover how Asterisk, the world’s most widely used open source telephony software, can save you money and empower you to create more flexible telephony solutions.
Asterisk, originally created and maintained by Digium, is the world’s leading open source telephony engine and tool kit. Offering flexibility unheard of in the world of proprietary communications, Asterisk empowers developers and integrators to create advanced communication solutions...for free. The first ever Asterisk event focused purely on Asterisk for business, the DigiumAsterisk World London is "Everything Asterisk" for the business user, reseller, and executive decision maker.
DigiumAsterisk World London is focused on Asterisk business users and potential users who are interested in getting more in depth experience with Asterisk, and who also want to learn more from Asterisk adopters and see what's happening in the Asterisk market. DigiumAsterisk World London at UC Expo is a unified communications and collaboration event, where decision makers will learn they have a cost effective and powerful choice.
DigiumAsterisk World gives these audiences the opportunity to experience the global reach of Asterisk and the world class solutions which can solve traditional problems with new technologies and techniques.
Please join the excitement in London, 10-11 March 2010 and meet several open source-based Asterisk solutions providers, the Digium team, successful users, resellers and integrators and see many demonstrations of feature rich and cost savings solutions! To register, click here.
Monday, 1 March 2010
Comdasys Enhances its Mobile Convergence Solution Offering with VoIP over WiFi for RIM BlackBerry Smartphones
Comdasys reaches out to Enterprises using BlackBerry Smartphones
Comdasys AG, the leading provider of reliable, secure and scalable Fixed Mobile Communications solution for enterprises and service providers, today announced that its award winning MC Solution now also supports WiFi call routing for BlackBerry Smartphones. The newly released BlackBerry MC Client will be generally available as of December 1, 2009.
Comdasys' award winning MC Solution is the industry's most comprehensive fixed mobile and Unified Communications solution. It has been designed for enterprises to help them deploy and mobilize voice and UC applications. This increases productivity while at the same time reducing mobile communications costs. The Comdasys MC Solution now supports VoIP and UC features on Symbian, iPhone, BlackBerry and Android based smart phones.
"With the release of our newest MC Client we can now provide the advantages of VoIP to enterprise and business users using RIM BlackBerry Smartphones", said Martin Bitzinger, CTO of Comdasys. "The addition of VoIP to our proven Blackberry MC Client further enhances our market leading MC Client offering that now supports mobile handsets of the major smart phone operating systems.", he added.
With this new MC Client supporting VoIP and UC features for RIM BlackBerry smart phones, Comdasys' addressable market is further widened especially in North America and Europe due to the high popularity of the RIM BlackBerry smart phones. In fact, users of RIM BlackBerry can now take full advantage of cost savings and enhanced communications efficiency that the MC Solution provides.
Comdasys' MC Solution has earned great market recognition not only for the number of mobile devices and features supported but also for its reliability and scalability from a dozen to tens of thousands users. The Comdasys MC Solution has two components, the MC Controller and the MC Client. The MC Controller supports a broad range of PBX features through seamless subscriber interface integration. Comdasys sells the MC Controller in three models scaling from 50 to 1500 users. For more users Comdasys licenses the MC Controller software for integration into blade servers and thus scaling to service provider grade. Comdasys delivers the required tools for easy deployment and remote configuration of the MC Client. These tools are part of the MC Controller offering. The MC Client is a software module that is integrated in mobile handsets. It provides an intuitive and homogeneous user Interface for across basebands such as WIFI, Cellular and GPRS/UMTS for rich IP-PBX feature access.
Comdasys AG, the leading provider of reliable, secure and scalable Fixed Mobile Communications solution for enterprises and service providers, today announced that its award winning MC Solution now also supports WiFi call routing for BlackBerry Smartphones. The newly released BlackBerry MC Client will be generally available as of December 1, 2009.
Comdasys' award winning MC Solution is the industry's most comprehensive fixed mobile and Unified Communications solution. It has been designed for enterprises to help them deploy and mobilize voice and UC applications. This increases productivity while at the same time reducing mobile communications costs. The Comdasys MC Solution now supports VoIP and UC features on Symbian, iPhone, BlackBerry and Android based smart phones.
"With the release of our newest MC Client we can now provide the advantages of VoIP to enterprise and business users using RIM BlackBerry Smartphones", said Martin Bitzinger, CTO of Comdasys. "The addition of VoIP to our proven Blackberry MC Client further enhances our market leading MC Client offering that now supports mobile handsets of the major smart phone operating systems.", he added.
With this new MC Client supporting VoIP and UC features for RIM BlackBerry smart phones, Comdasys' addressable market is further widened especially in North America and Europe due to the high popularity of the RIM BlackBerry smart phones. In fact, users of RIM BlackBerry can now take full advantage of cost savings and enhanced communications efficiency that the MC Solution provides.
Comdasys' MC Solution has earned great market recognition not only for the number of mobile devices and features supported but also for its reliability and scalability from a dozen to tens of thousands users. The Comdasys MC Solution has two components, the MC Controller and the MC Client. The MC Controller supports a broad range of PBX features through seamless subscriber interface integration. Comdasys sells the MC Controller in three models scaling from 50 to 1500 users. For more users Comdasys licenses the MC Controller software for integration into blade servers and thus scaling to service provider grade. Comdasys delivers the required tools for easy deployment and remote configuration of the MC Client. These tools are part of the MC Controller offering. The MC Client is a software module that is integrated in mobile handsets. It provides an intuitive and homogeneous user Interface for across basebands such as WIFI, Cellular and GPRS/UMTS for rich IP-PBX feature access.
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