June 30, 2010

Avaya Battling to be Top Dog in Enterprise Telephony market

Filed under: Unified Communications, VoIP — Tags: , — admin @ 10:24 am

TMC recently picked up on a report from Infonetics that reports that Avaya are in a struggle to be top of their field in Enterprise Unified Communications in the US.

The report which covers the first quarter of 2010 states that the acquisition of Nortel by Avaya has allowed them to close on Cisco who currently sit atop the competition in Enterprise VoIP.

Analysts did predict the Nortel deal to be the key event that would put Avaya ahead but issues surrounding the acquisition coupled with Cisco’s strong performance have only enabled Avaya to tie with Cisco at the very most.

The report goes on to point out that Avaya saw a 25% quarterly jump in PBX revenue after absorbing Nortel’s enterprise solutions business, that both Avay and Cisco posted their strongest PBX revenue standings since the end of 2008, and that despite these strong performances, the market overall saw a 4% drop for the quarter.

For more details on the report the TMC article can be found here and the report itself can be downloaded here.

June 29, 2010

Avaya chosen by the Days Hotel Shoreditch for IP Communications solution

Filed under: Unified Communications — Tags: , — admin @ 5:38 pm

More hotel talk from Avaya. The communications systems provider has been picked by Q\DOS Networks Ltd, a specialist in Telephony and IT solutions to the UK hotel industry, as the IP communications system of choice for the new Days Hotel London Shoreditch.

Situated neatly between the City of London and the Olympic park, the Days Hotel London Shoreditch is the first hotel venture for Major Properties, a developer of residential and commercial property. Q\DOS designed, installed and managed the sleak communications system for Days Hotel Shoreditch, and used an Avaya IP Office 500 communications server to host hospitality messaging and guest voicemail system via DuVoice – an Avaya DevConnect Partner.

The DuVoice platform integrates superbly with the current property management and call accounting systems in the hotel, ensuring quick and easy connections for guests and staff. The new system also integrates nicely with the hard-wired and wireless internet access in guest rooms and public areas, wake-up calls services, and TV services.

Avaya’s IP communications system can also reduce hold times, offer print-and-click call management, and check room inventory, reservation details, and other information.

As a cherry on an already substantial cake, the system also highlifghts to staff if a guest is a repeat customer, thus suggesting personal touches based on user history.

For more information on the Avaya and Days Hotel working together, the press release can be found here.

NEC integrates Unified Communications on Mobile and Desktop Phones

Filed under: Unified Communications, VoIP in the Workplace — admin @ 5:12 pm

NEC Unified Solutions have this week released today two new unified communications (UC) solutions – Business ConneCT Mobile Client and XML Terminal Client, The new applications increase and improve the functionality and capabilities of NEC’s communications servers to smart phones and desktop terminals.

Primarily aimed at contact centre environments, Mobile Client and XML Terminal Client are designed to pull together multiple tasks into one fully integrated and affordable solution for all NEC’s existing and future communications platforms.

BCT Mobile Client can greatly boost business productivity by integrating mobile smartphone users with the organisation infrastructure. As mobile calls are routed through the office telephone system, companies can save on mobile phone costs as well as reaping the benefits that come with mobile devices becoming true office extensions , allowing organisations to communicate more efficiently, thus increasing productivity.

Standard services that come with BCT Mobile Client include access to a corporate directory, presence notification, and unique contact numbers and voicemail boxes for each mobile employee.

BCT Mobile Client has been built to be compatible with all modern, popular mobile smartphone operating systems and browsers including iPhones, Android, Windows Mobile smartphones.

As far as desktop ip telephones go, the BCT Mobile Client can function on NEC’s DT700 range of desktop phones including the DT710 Economy, DT730 Enhanced and the DT750 Sophisticated terminals ensuring that all employees can be integrated into the same network regardless of location.

For more information, read the press release from NEC here.

June 24, 2010

Alcatel-Lucent team up with Accor Hotels on IP Solutions

Filed under: VoIP — admin @ 4:20 pm

Hot on the heels of Avaya’s announcement to supply an Austrian hotel with Unified Comminications (UC) devices, Alcatel-Lucent announced today that they have signed a  3 year contract to supply VoIP equipment to the Accor Group hotel chain.

A press release from Alcatel-Lucnent stated that there will be three different UC solutions available based on the quality of the hotel and it’s size.

As well as services for guests, Alcatel Lucent are also supplying IP phones for Accor staff including neccessary installation, maintenance and training on the new equipment.

From a guests point of view, the new deal will provide VoIP services such as voice mail, a direct-dial telephone number, call forwarding, “do not disturb” notifications and IP TV services.

The partnership’s scope covers the full range of Accor hotel brands except for Etap Hotel and HotelF1. A global implementation is already under way with more than 50 Accor hotels across Europe, Africa, South America and in the Asia Pacific region being served by Alcatel-Lucent IP solutions. In total. Accor Hotels manage more than 4,100 properties worldwide.

For more information, the full press release can be viewed here.

June 9, 2010

VoIP in Eastern Europe can be example for rest of Continent

Filed under: VoIP — Tags: — admin @ 9:26 am

An article on VoIP Monitor points out how the Eastern European business sector have taken to VoIP technology a quite a rate. New VoIP networks are being paired with traditional traditional SS7 PSTN based telephone networks in an effort to improve company effectiveness and reduce costs.

It is news like this that is encouraging not only for suppliers, but also for end users who might be skeptical and harbour doubts about new IP based communications solutions.

Traditional telephone systems are still widely used in the business sector and the switch over can seem like a leap too far for many company’s in terms of cost and also resources needed such as staff training for the new systems that will be installed.

With examples of company-wide transitions to VoIP Phone Systems from European counterparts, more UK businesses might be willing to dip their proverbial toe in the water.

With the economic downturn affecting many businesses, the thought of splashing out on a new communications infrastructure might understandly be the last thing on a finance director’s mind but with the saving acheivable over traditional systems, the a new VoIP telephone system might not be a bad investment.

June 5, 2010

Polycom are all for Desktop Phones

Filed under: IP Phones, Unified Communications, VoIP — Tags: , — admin @ 11:51 am

VoIP blog No Jitter picked up on an interview with Tim Yankey, Polycom Director of Product Marketing for Voice Products.

Tim purports that the common desktop office phone is far from disappearing from the workplace due to the fact that alternatives such as softphones built to be used with PC’s are not decicated to the job of handling a phone call but rather they use PC resources that can and will be split between multiple applications.

Reports to back up the trend – that does go against the idea that the modern UC-empowered employee is on the move, using a mixture of smartphones, laptops, headsets and such like to take their office with them – show that companies such as Cisco have seen orders for desktop phone units increase in recent months.

A report by analysts Frost & Sullivan also projects an overall growth in shipments and revenue for IP desktop phones for the coming years.

Interesting reading and something for every business to consider when ooking to upgrade their IT/communications infrastructure.

You can read the entire No Jitter article here.

June 3, 2010

Prediction for 2014: VoIP more popular than traditional telephone systems

Filed under: VoIP — Tags: , , — admin @ 10:46 am

Rajani Baburajan at TMCnet discusses how VoIP or Unified Communications (UC) could overtake traditional PBX and PSTN by 2014.

This prediction is probably not far from accurate as VoIP systems and services have rocketed in popularity over the last few years. While not visible to the outside world from a B2B perspective, the burgeoning market for cheap international phone services, Skype and the wealth of IP based communication apps for modern smartphones cannot help but point to towards the popularity of the technology today.

Based on research from market analysts Wainhouse, Rajani’s article goes on to states that as one the fastest growing managed services area, VoIP services are being offered by most network service providers in one form or another.

The research report goes on to look at the growth of the hosted and managed UC and conferencing services markets in Europe, noting that combined revenue from both areas should reach $4 billion by the end of 2014, surpassing the revenue collected from traditional PBX and PSTN services.

YOu can read the entire article here

May 25, 2010

HP and Alcatel team up on the UC front

Filed under: Unified Communications, VoIP — Tags: , — admin @ 4:24 pm

HP and Alcatel-Lucent announced yesterday that they will be working together to provide new unified communication (UC) solutions for their combined client base.

The joining of forces has killer potential with both companies being suitably placed with their own field.

A portfolio of HP’s IT equipment and services, and Alcatel-Lucents VoIP solutions offer their clients a “open and highly scalable solution” that “meet the needs of each individual customer’s requirements”.

Examples of benefits include use of Alcatel-Lucent’s open IP Telephony with HP’s Genesys Customer Interaction management platform, reduction of operational costs, and increase in the effectiveness of enterprise-wide resources.

HP will be employing their consulting services to help clients develop a vision of their UC needs based on their requirements, with priorities being determined for each area of the overall solution.

For more information, you can read the full press release from Lucent Alcatel here

May 19, 2010

Google Goes Shopping for VoIP

Filed under: VoIP — Tags: , — admin @ 3:48 pm

Google announced on Tuesday that it made an offer of $68.2m to buy IP technology company, Global IP Solutions (GIPS).

GIPS are the company behind some notable pieces of IP software engineering including codec sused by Google Talk, and previously Skype, that handles issues such as packet loss.

One of the main benefits from Google’s point of view will be the iSac Codec that should see an introduction of VoIP quality voice experiences on Google’s burgeoning mobile products that are currently powered by their Android software.

In a nutshell, the codec allows for a more seamless transition from high-speed to low-speed connection e.g. 3g to EDGE. Voice quality is maintained and the call is uninterrupted.

Additionally, software such as VideoEngine can be applied to mobile phone cameras to improve video recording quality.

The full story can be read on TMC here.

May 10, 2010

Avaya’s Hospitality Device

Filed under: Unified Communications — Tags: , — admin @ 6:24 pm

Park Hotel Weggis to Offer Superior Guest Experience with the Guest Media Hub from Avaya

Avaya have launched a sophisticated touch-screen device that is directly marketed at the hospitality industry.

The Avaya Guest Media Hub is an in-room communications device specifically built for hotels and other hospitality venues, and is currently installed in the Park Hotel Weggis on the shores of Lake Lucerne, Switzerland.

The Guest Media Hub utlizes IP Technology to offer guests a combined phone, hotel information service, alarm clock, stock market checker, weather service and much more all from the comfort of their room.

The device can also be tailored to individual guests by looking at the history of returning guests and offering suggestions for services, events and attractions that may interest them.

Park Hotel Weggis have said in press statements that the Avaya Guest Media Hub was chosen to offer their clientele the latest in technology while improving the level of service they offer their guests

For more information, read the full press release here.

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