Greg Galitzine : Greg Galitzine's VoIP Authority Blog
Greg Galitzine

IP Communications

Education is Key to Growth of SIP Trunking

September 16, 2008

Joel Maloff is Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing at BandTel.   He's pulling double duty this week at ITEXPO, speaking both in the Ingate SIP Trunking seminar as well as in the TMC University session entitled Best Practices in VoIP Security.   The fact that Maloff is speaking at a conference designed to educate attendees fits right in with the general theme of education that is playing a major role in his life these days.   Maloff, who is tasked with driving BandTel's strategic focus and message, is spearheading a more aggressive campaign built on proactive education to help customers understand how Band Tel can help them achieve their goals.   But it's not just end users that need education. Maloff told TMCnet that the reseller community is in need of education too, to better understand how they can embrace a recurring revenue stream. Resellers and VARs are interested in selling product, he said. BandTel offers them an opportunity to establish a recurring revenue stream via their various programs.   Consultants who advise end users also need to be educated about the various options provided by SIP Trunking.   Among the bigger challenges facing the industry, Maloff believes that the FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt) being spread by certain providers will eventually fall away as more pure SIP Trunking deployments underscore the value propositions and customers begin to understand how they can leverage SIP Trunking.

PODCAST: Texas Instruments' Fred Zimmerman

September 12, 2008

Fred Zimmerman, Director, CPE VoIP Solutions for Texas Instruments' Communications Infrastructure & Voice Business is scheduled to deliver a keynote address at the upcoming Communications Developers Conference taking place in Los Angeles at the LA Convention Center, September 16th to the 18th.   Fred will be speaking at 11:30 am on Wednesday the 17th.   In this podcast interview, Zimmerman touches upon the focus of his keynote as well as TI's role in the SMB market and what's driving SMBs to adopt VoIP.   Zimmerman also discusses advancements in the user's quality of experience, by leveraging such new innovations as HD Voice and Wideband audio, quality of service and "PIQUA", advanced user interfaces and more.   Be sure to check out the podcast, and if you are able to come down to the Communications Developer Conference in LA Convention Center in Los Angeles next week (September 16-18) be sure to schedule your trip to include Zimmerman's keynote at 11:30 am on Wednesday the 17th.    

Quintum, Brekeke Offer Joint IP-PBX Solution

September 9, 2008

Quintum Technologies, a subsidiary of Network Equipment Technologies (NET), and SIP-based IP PBX maker Brekeke Software announced that they have completed interoperability testing of Quintum's Tenor VoIP MultiPath switches and gateways with Brekeke Software, Inc.'s IP PBX.     An award-winning product, Brekeke PBX is an SIP-based IP-PBX system that provides reliable and scalable IP communications for enterprises and service providers. The Brekeke PBX provides all essential IP-PBX features that enterprise users require, including voicemail to e-mail, "confirm call," and number portability. The newly introduced edition of Brekeke PBX, Multi-Tenant Edition, provides a simple and flexible yet easy to deploy solution for service providers that want to offer hosted IP-PBX services. Brekeke PBX supports both Windows and Linux platforms.   The combination is being hailed as a "perfect fit" by Ernesto Casas, General Manager for Binnacle Technologies, a value added distributor dedicated to VoIP in Latin America.   Early reports from customer camps are positive as well.   Having recently deployed the Quintum/Brekeke combination, Francisco Martin, CTO of Beyond En Linea, a Binnacle client commented, "With the combination of Quintum and Brekeke, we were able to deploy advanced communications for all our employees regardless of where they are located, integrate our remote branch offices in Venezuela, and integrate users in key partner locations."

Enterprise SIP Security - Free Webinar!

September 8, 2008

One of the most serious subjects in all of telecom is security. It's something that is on the mind of everyone who is considering deploying next-generation SIP-based telecommunications solutions in their enterprise. And often times, there's just not enough firsthand information available.   Well an upcoming Webinar featuring speakers from two of the leading companies serving the enterprise market -- AudioCodes and Interactive Intelligence -- aims to educate attendees by teaching them the various things they need to know before deploying any SIP-based solutions.   Namely, attendees will learn about:
  • SIP Security challenges
  • Security misconceptions
  • Tools to counter security threats
  • Proactive monitoring; and
  • Effective solutions that are simple to deploy, tough to break
  In this webinar, the speakers will address the challenges and the misconceptions surrounding SIP Security, and examine the tools available to counter them. This session will also explore robust solutions that not only tackle security threats, but also empower businesses to proactively protect their networks from current and future attacks.

Action-Packed Week (Part 1)

August 22, 2008

Long day today.   Fitting end (almost) to a busy week, replete with travel.   Monday was Boston and the Channel Partners Conference.   Tuesday was Manhattan and SpeechTek.   Wednesday was an opportunity to catch up back in the office in Norwalk, CT.   And today was a travel/meeting/dinner day in Huntsville, Alabama.   ...via Nashville.   Let's see if my memory is up to the task this evening...   On Monday we met with Michael Storella, Director of U.S. Business Development for IP phone maker snom. Among the things we discussed were the company's new initiatives, including an OCS related solution, which according to Storella should help snom open up some opportunities in the large enterprise market. As he said, the initiative "...opens up conversations with Fortune 500-types, where we generally hadn't had these contacts before.

NEC Visit -- Dallas, TX

August 1, 2008

While I was down in the Dallas metropolitan area this week, I had the opportunity to meet with a number of companies including Irving-based NEC.   My colleagues and I were treated to a wonderful tour of the NEC Executive Briefing Center, which features many of NEC's offerings that are available to enterprises today.

  There were several new and unexpected items on the tour; these products will be announced in the coming weeks. But of course the tour showcased much of NEC's product line including their latest endpoints, a small form factor, thin-client PC, their new storage solution, and the various productivity enhancing applications that the company is well known for.

  The tour also brought us 'round to two demonstration areas focusing on NEC solutions as applied to a pair of specific vertical markets: Hospitality and Healthcare. As expected these demo rooms were outfitted with the latest devices and applications designed to improve the experience for patients and medical staff in the case of the healthcare demo, and hotel guests and the staff that services them in the hospitality demo.   Regarding what's coming down the pike, all I can say right now is that NEC is partnering with a well known networking company to provide a product that will help enable remote workers to be more productive.   Their channel will have the product in hand by mid-August and will start reselling the solution, so we have to wait a bit longer for official word of the new solution.   NEC also showed us a prototype of the next version of an enterprise communications server that's still in customer trials and should be announced by the mid-to-end of August. The solution is designed as a pure IP play, supporting all existing applications such as voice, mobility, and unified communications.   The product will offer a smooth migration path for existing customers who wish to move to an all-IP infrastructure.   Lastly, NEC officials told us to watch out for several new solutions spanning the following areas: speech, video voice mail, and some new things from the Sphere acquisition of one year ago.   The NEC folks told me that, in terms of trends, they're seeing healthy activity in the hospitality and healthcare markets.



Dallas is Sizzling!

July 28, 2008

Rich Tehrani is not the only TMC editorial voice in Dallas this week.
  I'm here as well visiting clients and dropping in to see what's going on at IP Sizzles.   So far today, I've had some interesting meetings with NEC and Fujitsu. More to come later, but suffice it to say there is a lot of interesting stuff going on here in Texas.   NEC is working on new platforms and new terminals (phones) and new applications to address their bread and butter Enterprise market, including some interesting applications targeting verticals such as healthcare, hospitality and higher education.   Fujitsu continues to build on their success in the optical market. The highlight of the visit today was a tour of their manufacturing facility in Richardson, TX. As I said, I'll cover this more in depth later on, but I just wanted to thank Traci King and Danna Melcher for their time and for arranging such an interesting tour of the facility.   Now it's off to IP Sizzles...

Cisco Goes Pure for Home Networking

July 23, 2008


Cisco announced earlier today that it is acquiring Pure Networks, a developer of home-networking software.
  The acquisition will help Cisco to grow its solution set as the home networking market continues to grow more complex as home users continue to add new devices and services that connect to computers and to each other.   Pure Networks' home networking-management solution is designed to enable users to easily set up and manage their home network and connect a range of devices, applications and services.   Their flagship offering, Network Magic is billed as being the solution that helps stop users from wasting hours wading through manuals and confusing instructions or waiting on hold for technical support. The solution also promises to make it easy to:  
  • Set up their network in minutes
  • Print from any computer and share files
  • Securely connect to a wireless network and prevent intruders from accessing the home wireless network; and more.
  As Kurt Scherf, Vice President and Principal Analyst at Parks Associates, points out in the company's Analyst Blog,   Pure Networks and Cisco were no strangers to each other. Pure Networks' software was already a key element in the Linksys Easy Link Advisor (LELA) solution aimed at simplifying the setup and management of wireless networks.   Cisco will pay $120 million for Pure Networks, and they expect the acquisition to be completed in Cisco's first quarter of fiscal year 2009.  

Brocade Buys Foundry for $3 Billion

July 22, 2008

Brocade Communications Systems Inc. is shelling out $3 billion to buy data equipment maker Foundry Networks Inc.   The move is receiving generally positive reviews as a move that will not only strengthen Brocade's product offering but will also allow it to more effectively compete with Cisco Systems.   The combination of Brocade's storage switches and Foundry's data networking switches could have a significant impact on the combined company's ability to offer a complete solution through an enhanced channel strategy.   Brocade, agreed to pay $18.50 in cash plus 0.0907 Brocade share for each Foundry share, valuing the company at $19.25 per share.   Back in May Foundry announced a pair of modules that reportedly allow their BigIron RX Series switches and the NetIron MLX Series routers to deliver the industry's highest 10 gigabit Ethernet (10GbE) and gigabit Ethernet (GbE) density of up to 512 ports of 10GbE and 1,536 ports of GbE in a single system.

Martin to Comcast: You're Punished!

July 11, 2008

Looks like Kevin Martin is ready to drop the hammer on Comcast.
        FCC Chairman Kevin Martin said Thursday that he will recommend that Comcast -- the nation's largest cable company -- be penalized for violating the FCC's principles that are designed to guarantee access to the Internet. This would be the first such penalty levied in defense of the agency's open access rules.   It's expected that the two democratic appointees to the Commission will side with Martin.  

  The Washington Post is reporting the following corrective measures will be recommended:
  • Comcast will have to stop its practice of blocking
  • Comcast will need to provide details to the Commission on the extent and manner in which the practice was been used; and
  • Comcast will have to disclose to consumers details on future plans for managing its network going forward.
 




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