VoIP & Gadgets Blog

10 Lessons from Volleyball, Part 2

By Peter on Thursday, May 23

Part 1 of the 10 Business Lessons from Volleyball can be found here. In volleyball, the only play you control yourself is...

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Tagged sales, strategy, volleyball

CloudTC and N-Able Acquired

By Peter on Wednesday, May 22

"Australian-owned IP PBX systems company, Vixtel, has completed the acquisition of Silicon Valley based glass phone developer, CloudTC, for an undisclosed figure,"...

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Tagged hosted pbx, itexpo, mergers, phone system, RMM

ProfitBricks: Where InfiniBand Meets Cloud 2.0

By Rich Tehrani on Wednesday, May 22

In a recent meeting with William Toll and Pete Johnson of ProfitBricks, the pair were ecstatic to explain how their company has...

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Tagged amazon, cloud computing, data center, ec2, infiniband, interop, profitbricks, public cloud, technology

Proactive Care Puts Operators One Step Ahead

By Peter Bernstein on Monday, May 20

By Thomas Fuerst, Senior Director, Multimedia Solutions MarketingAlcatel-Lucent

Monitoring and analyzing network data proactively saves operators time, money, and customers.

When a network service fails, it makes headlines, ticks off customers, and costs that network operator money. When a failure is headed off in advance, on the other hand, there might not be praise-laden headlines, but it's newsworthy nonetheless.

The traditional approach to customer care has typically been: a disgruntled customer calls customer service and complains of a service interruption or problem; the rep, learning of it for the first time, sends out a technician the next day, and eventually finds a resolution. Often, customers are left feeling put out, and the operator has spent significant time and money resolving the problem. Even worse is the customer who doesn’t call and just feels this is ‘typical’ of their network experience. That is a customer at risk of leaving.

Proactive care flips this dynamic on its head by using predictive analytics to identify potential outages or errors in the network and stop them before they occur. It consists of three main parts: one, constantly monitoring and measuring data on the network; two, real-time analysis of the data; and three, the most important, acting on that analysis to fix the problem.

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Tagged Alcatel-Lucent, big data, customer care, KPIs, network monitoring, procativecare | Responses

10 Lessons from Volleyball

By Peter on Monday, May 20

I've played volleyball for over 25 years. I have traveled around the US to watch the pros live - both indoor...

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Tagged hiring, strategy, volleyball

Emerging Threats Combats a Million Plus Pieces of New Malware a Week

By Rich Tehrani on Friday, May 17

There are 250,000 plus new pieces of malware being produced each day equating to one piece per person in the US in...

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Tagged emerging threats, interop, malware, security

NFV-Based Software Telcos Need OSS/BSS Interoperability

By Rich Tehrani on Friday, May 17

One of the goals of ETSI NFV is to allow new entrants to provide solutions to carriers based on software instead of...

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Tagged bss, carrier, ericsson, huawei, interoperability, nfv, nokia siemens networks, nsn, oss, sdn, software telco

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Microsoft Surface = Threat to IP Phone Market

August 6, 2012

Microsoft has already irked some of their hardware partners with Microsoft getting into the hardware business via their pending Microsoft Surface product launch later this year. Perhaps lost in the battle between Microsoft and their PC/laptop/tablet hardware partners is the pending battle that I predict between Microsoft and their Lync phone hardware partners, such as snom and Polycom.

In 2011, I wrote an article discussing how the Apple iPad (and also Android tablets) will be your next desktop IP phone. More recently, last month I wrote how the Microsoft Surface tablet could also be a game changer in the IP phone market:

This touch support [in Windows 8] will give Microsoft an advantage is fulfilling my prediction that tablets will replace the desktop phone. Windows 8 tablets running Lync will become the ultimate unified communications device, performing everything from your traditional voice (VoIP) to HD video conferencing, as well as collaboration, instant messaging, and all the other typical UC features.

Posted in Cisco, Lync, Microsoft, SIP, ShoreTel, Skype, TMCnet, Unified Communications, Video Conferencing, VoIP, Wireless

Tagged: cisco, ip phone, ipad, lync, microsoft, polycom, shoretel, snom, tablet, video, voip : Related Tags: microsoft surface, windows tablets, phone market, video conferencing, hardware partners, microsoft

New Hotmail/Outlook Sucks on iOS & Android & Why That's Good for Microsoft

July 31, 2012

So the big news today is the revamped Hotmail, which is a dramatic improvement over the old version in terms of design aesthetics as well as usability. Sporting a Metro-like UI it is quite apparent that Microsoft is dedicating serious resources on a unified user interface that is the same no matter if you're using a laptop/PC, Windows Phone, Xbox 360, or Windows 8 tablet. This investment could pay long dividends for Microsoft. Who wouldn't want a consistent UI across multiple devices?

Posted in Android, Apple, Cloud, Microsoft, Skype, Social Networking, TMCnet, Tablets

Tagged: android, apple, facebook, galaxy note, hotmail, ios, microsoft, outlook.com, samsung, skype : Related Tags: hotmail, microsoft, facebook, outlook

FreedomPop for iPod Touch - Free 4G Internet Coming!

July 25, 2012

Skype founder Niklas Zennstrom's new FreedomPop, a 4G broadband "free" wireless internet provider, which recently announced FREE 4G wireless internet for iPhone using the Freedom Sleeve 4G for iPhone 4/4s will soon launch the Freedom Sleeve for the iPod Touch. Yeah, that's right, I said FREE 4G wireless internet - with some small caveats of course...

Posted in Apple, Internet, TMCnet, VoIP, Wireless

Tagged: 4g, apple, clearwire, facetime, freedompop, internet, iphone, ipod touch, mobile data, mobile voip, skype, wi-fi : Related Tags: wireless internet, freedom sleeve, internet, wireless

Kerio Operator 2.0 IP-PBX Integrates with CRM

July 24, 2012

July of last year Kerio launched a new Asterisk-based distribution and now almost exactly one year later Kerio Operator 2.0 is being announced with support for integration with popular CRM solutions, including SugarCRM and Salesforce.com. Kerio Operator 2.0 now enables access to the Asterisk Management Interface (AMI). The open API allows 3rd party applications, like customer relationship management (CRM) systems and desktop-based dialers, to be integrated with Kerio Operator.

Posted in Asterisk, SIP, Unified Communications, VoIP

Tagged: asterisk, click-to-dial, crm, ip pbx, kerio operator 2.0, voip : Related Tags: kerio operator, kerio, operator, integration, appliance, screenpop

Lync Server 2013 Adds Skype Federation & Many Other New Features

July 23, 2012

Lync Server 2013 can federate with Skype, which is huge new feature that greatly enhances Microsoft's UC portfolio and may explain the $8.5 billion premium Microsoft paid for Skype. You can now fully integrate Skype contacts into Lync and call or instant message anyone on Skype. Alas, only voice and no video support yet. In May I discussed how Xbox 360 integration with Skype was slow going, so Skype federation with Microsoft Lync is welcome news.

Posted in Lync, Microsoft, SIP, Skype, TMCnet, Unified Communications, Video Conferencing, VoIP

Tagged: federation, h.264, lync 2013, lync server, microsoft, rdp, skype, uc, unified communication, vdi, video conferencing, virtual desktop infrastructure, voip : Related Tags: video support, audio video, skype federation, activex control, skype, microsoft

New Lync 2013 Tracing Folder Location

July 19, 2012

If you're looking for the tracing logging files in Lync 2013 you're likely looking in the wrong place. In prior versions of Lync it was located here:

%userprofile%\Tracing
i.e.
C:\Users\<username>\Tracing

In Lync 2013, the client tracing folder in now located here:
%userprofile%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Office\15.0\Lync\Tracing
i.e.:
C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Office\15.0\Lync\Tracing

It makes sense that they'd move it here since Lync 2013 is tightly integrated into Office 2013 and that is where the Office suite has kept its data files for years. I've always preferred to have my root (C:\) folder as clean as possible will minimal subdirectories and the same goes for my user profile (c:\Users\tkeating) folder. So glad to see the change.

Well, this has been your helpful Lync 2013 tip of the day!

Posted in Lync, Microsoft, Unified Communications, Video Conferencing, VoIP

Tagged: folder, location, logging, lync 2013, tracing : Related Tags: users username, local microsoft, located userprofile, microsoft office, appdata local, tracing

Microsoft Lync Server 2013 Adds Touch Support - Killer Enterprise Tablet UC!

July 18, 2012

Microsoft is continuing to make strides in their Lync platform. While the big news two days ago was the Office 2013 news, including support for touch and cloud support, you may have missed the simultaneous news about the Microsoft Lync Preview 2013 becoming available for download.

Microsoft Lync 2013 is an enterprise-ready unified communications platform that supports instant messaging, voice, HD video, and conferencing, and eliminates the need to use a VPN for encryption. Lync 2013 supports HD video conferencing and it's the first version of Lync to take advantage of Windows 8 “touch first” capabilities to provide fast, natural, hands-on control of communications.

This touch support will give Microsoft an advantage is fulfilling my prediction that tablets will replace the desktop phone. Windows 8 tablets running Lync will become the ultimate unified communications device, performing everything from your traditional voice (VoIP) to HD video conferencing, as well as collaboration, instant messaging, and all the other typical UC features.

Posted in Lync, Microsoft, SIP, TMCnet, Tablets, Unified Communications, Video Conferencing

Tagged: apple, h.264, hd video conferencing, instant messaging, ipad, lync, lync server 2013, matt landis, microsoft, unified communications : Related Tags: windows tablets, video conferencing, eliminating another, touch support, microsoft evalcenter, microsoft

Polycom Launches SDK, Doubles Scalability, Better Tablet Video Conferencing Support

July 16, 2012

I spoke with John Antanaitis, Polycom VP of Marketing to discuss the news about their various news announcements made today. One of the announcements is a new version of RealPresence Mobile (1.3) which now runs on HTC One smartphones and the HTC Jetstream tablet, along with the new Apple iPad. This version adds far end camera control (FEC) to allow users to control the camera. RealPresence Mobile 1.3's camera control feature enables you to remotely control the camera on the other end of a video meeting allowing users to pinch-to-zoom, pan, or tilt the camera to get a better look at the subject or the environment. This feature is especially important in many vertical market applications such as healthcare, for more in-depth patient consultations; educational settings, for panning the classroom or zooming in on a speaker or presentation; and manufacturing plants, to closely examine the products on the factory floor.

Posted in Apple, Polycom, SIP, Tablets, Unified Communications, Video Conferencing, VoIP

Tagged: collaboration, htc, ipad, jetstream, john antanaitis, polycom, realpresence mobile, realpresence platform, tablets, video conferencing : Related Tags: video conferencing, realpresence mobile, polycom realpresence, control camera, camera control, polycom

Ion Audio's WATER ROCKER Waterproof Floating Speaker

July 12, 2012

Show of hands - who doesn't want floating speakers in their pool or hot tub controlled by you, the master DJ using your iPhone, iPad or any other audio source that works with a 1/8-inch audio jack? Sure you could break out your 80s boombox and play some FM radio or play some CDs, but you don't want to look uncool now do you? Now what's cooler than a floating speaker in the middle of the pool so your party guests, family and friends can enjoy your 'Top 50 Most Played' iPhone music playlist with the music playing just inches away? Well, check out Ion Audio's Water Rocker:

Posted in Accessories, Gadgets, Home Entertainment, MP3 Players & Digital Audio, Mobile Phones, Wireless

Tagged: beach, hot tub, ion audio, lake, pool, portable speaker, water proof, water rocker : Related Tags: water rocker, floating speaker, rocker, water, speaker, audio

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