October 2008 Archives

You are invited to attend a
Special Microsoft - Response Point
Free Webseminar Series - Open to All
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November 11, 2008: Telecom "Interconnect" Hardware Systems
aka "CPE-Customer Premise Equipment (Part 2)
This free one-hour webseminar focus on various hardware, software and hosted (web-based) solutions. It's intended to give you a "taste" of the competitive landscape and help you position your RP sales efforts efficiently and effectively. Here are some of the key highlights:
• Traditional Key Systems
• RP-Response Point - new approach to the SMB-Small Medium Business
• Hybrid Systems - Open Source and other new approaches
• Hosted/web-based solutions
• PBX-Private Branch eXchange
• IP-PBX
• Media Gateways
• Multiplexers
Note: due to the brevity of these webseminars, some of these concepts will not be discussed in detail.
Signup Now at:
https://training.partner.microsoft.com/plc/details.aspx?publisher=12&delivery=255099
Please note these seminars are open to the public but you must have a Live or Passport ID.
You just have to sign in with your LIVE or Passport ID and you can register. Look at the right almost to the top Sign In.

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December 10, 2008: Top-10 Tips for Success - "Show Me the Money" - Re"sponse Point, Service Providers, VARs (Part 3)
This next free one-hour web seminar will bring all the services, solutions and concepts together into a "happy meal." That is, there is more to owning a car than driving it off the lot. There is more to making your initial sale successful than the technology.
1. User Assessment - what do they really want
2. Network Assessment - what your local network looks like
3. Systems Upgrade - routers, switches, cabling - what you will likely need to do
4. Data systems integration - getting help
5. Service Selection - RP Service Providers - what others provide
o Bandwidth.com, Cbeyond, Junction Networks, NGT, Packet8
o Agents, Master Agents - understanding how telecom is sold
6. Installation and test - anticipating disaster
7. Troubleshooting and diagnostics - knowing what you are hearing
8. Training - "driver training"
9. Billing - CTL-Contract Termination Liability - "watch out"
10. Followup and Additional Services - "selling dessert"
Signup Now at:
https://training.partner.microsoft.com/plc/details.aspx?publisher=12&delivery=255100
Please note these seminars are open to the public but you must have a Live or Passport ID.
You just have to sign in with your LIVE or Passport ID and you can register. Look at the right almost to the top Sign In.

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Course Leader - Thomas B. Cross - CEO TECHtionary.com has three decades of experience in startups and consulting advisor with leading providers and venture capital companies in market planning and development, hardware/software design and development, project management, intellectual property in telecommunications, information technology, conferencing, teletraining, telecommuting, groupware, networks, call centers, internet, artificial intelligence and other fields. He has managed the successful development of more than 10 software, hardware and internet products to market and received industry awards for this work. He has authored 13 books, wrote, produced and direct ed 15 commercial videos and creator and producer of the World's Largest Anima ted Knowledge Source on Technology - http://www.techtionary.com - recipient of Web Hosting Magazine Editors Choice for Best Technical Help. Tom is a columnist for many leading publications such as Internet Telephony where he is the Technology Editor and columnist on OCS-Office Communications Service Newsletter with a blog at http://blog.tmcnet.com/cross-talk/. He is a member of the Technical Board of Advisors for the VoIPSA-VoIP Security Alliance. Tom holds CompTIA Certified Security Professional certification and Pearson Vue Certified Test Administrator.

Like the many flavors of ice cream, there will be as many flavors of SIP-Session Initiation Protocol Trunk types and SIP applications. As we move forward I will continue to scour the universe for the more unique and interesting types. Shown in the animated tutorial is four of the many "flavors" of SIP trunks.
sip-trunk-4types-ipsec-mpls.swf

Here are the written explanations: - Public Internet - performance and security based on WAN connection - in this configuration performance is only as good as the upstream connection to the carrier, the bandwidth across the carrier's network and trunk connections to the PSTN or other carriers. In other words, you may have more than enough bandwidth to the carrier (provider), however the bandwidth "inside" the carrier's network is congested or insufficient. See Sidebar for more.
- Private MPLS-Multi-Protocol Label Switching - VPN-Virtual Private Network used for customers with several sites and not visible for other customers. MPLS is one of the most popular means for customer and carrier QoS and performance. In addition, pricing for MPLS is now, in many cases, the same as an IP circuit/connection. This suggests that customers with SIP trunking, PC or desktop video and other voice applications need to take an advantage of the many different levels or types (gold, silver, bronze) of MPLS for their applications. - Over IPSec VPNs for more security - requires more complex management using IPSec-IP Security implementation, real-time encryption & decryption, and potential multiple networks. IPSec and the following TLS will also be increasingly required for both real security and for corporate compliance tracking. IPSec adds encryption which may be enough but for those who need more, TLS and SRTP will be required. - With TLS-Transport Layer Security and SRTP-Secure Real-time Transport Protocol used for highly secure situations.
This is where Port Level Security or TLS-Transport Layer 4 Security takes place. That is, control access by the Port Number such as deny or access to Port 5060-5061 for SIP or access to any other function. This is called a Stateful Inspection for a firewall to check, alert or audit the status (state) of the TCP connection - SYN, SYN-ACK or FIN.
With elaborating on SPIT-SPAM over Internet Telephony, VOMIT-Voice Over Misconfigured Internet Telephony, call-jacking and a myriad of other voice attacks, they will be coming soon to a SIP device near you suggesting planning for complex SIP security processing now.

SIP SIDEBAR - First, sufficient bandwidth for SIP trunking and SIP applications will still be a limiting factor in its deployment. For example, I did a study for a major ILEC a few years ago in Atlanta and found vast capacities of optical fiber in certain parts of the CBD-Central Business District but a few blocks away, optical bandwidth was non-existent. Today, a colleague has found that in securing metro-optical ethernet that many of the buildings requested are not on any carrier's optical network. This has resulted in considerable delays on the part of the customer to expand their internal network for SIP, video and other applications.
Second, the SIP carrier may not have sufficient inbound or outbound PSTN trunk connections for peak demands by customers. Often called the "Mother's Day" syndrome where it all works fine until you have an overload on peak holidays.
Third, check with your carrier to In regard to peering with other SIP networks, this is the next "weak link" in the proliferation of SIP. One of the exciting features in OCS-Office Communications Server and other systems is the ability to create "federations" between companies. For example, there are more than 80,000 users using OCS IM-Instant Messaging between Intel and Microsoft. The concept of federations will grow exponentially as companies create IM bonds between each other. In addition, you can PC video conferences as easily as you do IM. I have done successfully on the bus using my AT&T broadband card. In other words, add SIP peering to your list of planning considerations.

This content is presented in detail in The SIP Planning Guide available in the onsite, online and via webseminars formats. Here is the schedule for the onsite course Portland - November 6-7. For more details, go to http://www.techtionary.com or directly at http://www.techtionary.com/sip/planning-guide/.

For more information and scheduling, please call Tom Cross at 303-594-1694 or cross@gocross.com

Attention Wireless Broadband Card Users

I am looking for feedback on performance, availability and anything else you want to say about your wireless broadband card. I have been using AT&T or at&t for many months now with widely varied access, availability and software issues.

So, let's see what you have to say?

Unified Communications Solutions in a Sinking Economy
10 Reasons Why Advanced Communications with Telepresence Cuts Costs, Shortens Sales Cycles and Accelerates Business Communications

BOULDER - October 12 - TECHtionary.com today announced significant solutions coming from UC-Unified Communications, Telepresence, Video teleconferencing, UM-Unified Messaging SIP-Session Initiation Protocol technology and made part of its SIP Planning Guide and Microsoft OCS-Office Communications courses. SIP portends to be the most significant solution to business communications since "sliced bread." In a rapidly sinking economic climate, SIP may be just the sauce that even the Fed Reserve would use to bring about solvency. Here are the Top-10 significant solutions to select UC-SIP solutions today:
1 - Soaring maintenance costs can be . .
2 - Significant operating costs are mitigated by . .
3 - Simplified management brings about . .
4 - Simple network configurations solves . . .
5 - Straightforward network design proves to . . .
6 - Slimmed billing consolidates ...
7 - Swamped staff can consider . . .
8 - Sizeable overall savings result from . .
9 - Substantial business opportunities are realized by ...
10 - Stateful security from . . .

"The SIP Planning Guide course continues to improve in nearly every aspect of UC-Unified Communications, Telepresence, VoIP-SIP, OCS and IPT-Internet Protocol Telephony. This course is now even more vital to every organization as VoIP/SIP is new and new approaches to planning and managing are important to understand how. Coupled with the new improved solutions-answers, privacy/security section, troubleshooting guide and QoS primer, the SIP Planning Guide course are without peer from any source." noted Paul C. Daubitz - President - ATI-TeleManagement (http://www.ati-telemgt.com a professional management consultancy).

These courses are designed to help enterprise technical-executive managers, channel partners and others better understand installation, configuration, management and troubleshooting of any UC/SIP system as well as Microsoft's OCS (Office Communications Server). There is more than a year of research, interviews, discussions, meetings and presentations to channel partners, providers, manufacturer's and other interested parties in the OCS and SIP/UC industry.

The SIP Planning Guide is available in onsite, online and via webseminars formats.
Here is the schedule for the onsite course Portland - November 6-7. For more details, go to http://www.techtionary.com or directly at http://www.techtionary.com/sip/planning-guide/.

For more information and scheduling, please call Tom Cross at 303-594-1694 or cross@gocross.com