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January/February 2011 6 Telecom ResellerCuelloFuture trend of the SMB marketBy Mario Cuello, Epygi CEOAs small to medium-sized businesses(SMB) are preparing for a new year,many are investigating new technology,including video conferencing, whichimproves the efficiency of their employees.Even though video calling first appearedin the 1950’s and has been progressivelyadopted by enterprise-level customers inthe last 15 years, it has only been in the pastfew years that the technology has produceda mainstream SMB consumer demand. Forthis reason, many telecom experts predict2011 will be a turning point for Voice overInternet Protocol (VoIP) users, especiallythose companies who employ fewer than 200workers, to take advantage of point-to-pointvideo calling and videoconferencing ratherthan staff members making strictly an audiophone call or travelling to conduct face-tofacebusiness. During the dig out of the economicrecession, many SMB and enterpriselevelbusinesses will continue to conservetheir monetary resources but will have agrowing need to build personal relationshipswith clients without leaving the office. Forthese reasons and others discussed below,the telecommunication industry will see anincreased adoption of this technology, andvideo capabilities will become the wave ofthe future. “IDC predicted that 2009 wouldbe the year of the great enterprise videoexperiment and despite difficult economicconditions, the worldwide market for videoconferencingand telepresence grew 17%year over year and will eclipse the $5 billionmark in 2012.”With more of the global workforce turningto video capabilities in their personallife with the use of the iPhone® 4, Skype®and YouTube®, a continued demand forthese same features in the workplace willbe on the rise. You can see from the IDCchart that they predict sales of video-conferencingto double between 2010 and 2012and triple by 2013.According to a QuickPoll survey, thenumber one reason companies are adoptingvideo-conferencing is cost-savings. Withvideo features, corporations save moneyon face-to-face interaction, and the moneysaved can be put towards more featuresto improve a business, such as upgradinginternal technology, hiring more staff,etc. Video calls and videoconferencing aremade in real-time, which enhance productivityby increasing remote collaboration,building relationships and easily viewingbody language. This new technology putsSMBs on the same scale as large corporationswith respect to the limitless opportunitiesto speak to clients or potential clientsno matter where the office is located. Thisleaves endless possibilities for SMBs.The three main factors that will shapethe video-conferencing industry are thetechnology, bandwidth and interoperability.The technology has already been developedand has been around for years now, however,due to the high costs of the technologyand bandwidth needed to support the videofeature, establishments avoided the investment.Recently, the costs of the technologyand bandwidth have decreased to the pointthat companies are now able to see anROI when using these video features. Theinteroperability between conferencing systemssuch as web and audio conferencinghas allowed video conferencing to join thenext generation.Epygi Technologies’ Quadro IP PBXstate-of-the-art systems are designed forthe global SMB market at a cost effectiveprice point and support the video callingSee CUELLO, page 20Empowering SmallEnterprises GloballyEpygi offers enterprise-grade, VoIP telephone systems starting at only $795and can scale to 1,000 extensions.Auto-provisioning with leading IP phone partnersBuilt-in call recordingAutomatic Call Distribution with barge-inIntegrated video and voice conferencingPhone: (+1)972.692.1166Worldwide Enterprise Videoconferencing Revenue and Endpoints, 2009–20142009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014Videoconferencing revenue ($M) 1,892 2,742 3,877 5,308 6,947 8,755Growth (%) 16.7 45.0 41.4 36.9 30.9 26.0Endpoints (000) 218 300 405 533 686 845Growth (%) 5.4 37.4 35.0 31.5 28.9 23.2Web: www.epygi.comEpygi Technologies, Ltd.6900 North Dallas Parkway, Suite 850Plano, Texas 75024Email: sales@epygi.com

Telecom Reseller 7 January/February 2011FoIPThe emergence of T.38 as the de facto standard for FoIPBy David Hanes, CiscoVarious transport methods have beendeveloped for transporting fax communicationsover an organization’sIP network. However, in the last few yearsone protocol among these various transportmethods has emerged as the clear de factostandard. T.38 is now the predominantprotocol choice for contemporary FoIPcommunications.T.38 was first introduced as a fax relaystandard by the ITU-T in 1998. Althoughmany had high hopes that T.38 wouldsoon become the future of FoIP, othertransport methods were already firmlyentrenched and proved quite difficult todislodge. These other transport methodsincluded fax passthrough or voice banddata (VBD), which is simply carrying faxcommunications over high quality voicecodecs like G.711, and proprietary faxtransport solutions. At least one majorindustry player developed a pre-standard,proprietary implementation of T.38 thatuntil recently was still supported as thedefault FoIP transport method on its latestproducts. Additionally, the ITU-T releasedthe T.37 Store-and-Forward fax standardin 1998, as well. T.37 provided the abilityto transport faxes over IP networks usingemail, which at least conceptually has somereal advantages. So, why has T.38 eventuallywon out over these alternative FoIPtransport options?In retrospect, the answer is fairly straightforwardand can be best summarized bythe following attributes of T.38: real-timetransmission, redundancy, and third partyinteroperability. These T.38 attributes toone extent or another are almost alwayscritical to customers looking to deployFoIP in their IP networks. Consequently,a FoIP transport mechanism that fails insupporting one or more of these attributesis usually dismissed. Table 1 compares thealternative FoIP transport methods with thethree important attributes of T.38.Fax passthrough is the simplest choicefor transmitting fax communications overan IP infrastructure. The fax call is treatedlike a VoIP call from the IP network’s perspective.Using a voice codec like G.711,incoming fax tones are digitized, transportedover IP, and then played out to thedestination fax endpoint. While this is areal-time process like T.38, the issues ofredundancy and third party interoperabilitycan be problematic, as indicated in Table 1.Fax transmissions contain digital dataand are sensitive to any sort of packetloss or excessive jitter in an IP network.Unfortunately, fax passthrough implementationsare vendor specific and many vendorsdo not offer packet redundancy, whichinvolves the transmission of extra copiesof the fax data to compensate for packetloss and, thereby, ensure that the entirefax arrives successfully at the destinationdevice. T.38 includes a multi-level redundancymechanism, while most passthroughofferings fail to offer even a single levelRead about Hanes’ book:Fax, Modem and Textfor IP Telephonyat telecomreseller.com/booksof redundancy. For those vendors that doimplement passthrough redundancy labtests show that packet loss even below 1%can still result in unreliable fax transmissions.T.38 with full redundancy enabledhas been reported to tolerate packet losslevels in excess of 10%.Passthrough has also suffered interoperabilityproblems due to the lack of aunified standard. Most contemporary faxpassthrough implementations simply usethe call control protocol to activate theG.711 codec when a fax passthrough callis needed, but interoperability problemswith this method are still seen. The ITU-Tattempted to standardize the transmissionof fax and modems over a voice codec withTable 1. Comparison of Important T.38 Attributes and Alternative FoIP Transport OptionsSee FoIP, page 20T.38 Attributes Fax Passthrough/VBD Proprietary Fax Relay Protocols T.37 Store-and-Forward FaxReal-time transmission Yes Yes NoRedundancy Varies Usually no YesThird Party Interoperability Varies No. Yes(TM)Max100: Largest Enterprise Telecom BundleMenu of Services over 100-Meg Ethernet LoopVoice, Video, Data & InternetChoose Any Combination of Services for Your Max1001) Up to 1000 SIP Trunks for Your Incoming & Outgoing Telephony2) Enjoy Up to 100-Meg High Speed Tier-1 Internet Service3) Managed Toll Free with Flexible Routing Criteria4) Local & Remote DID Service Plans5) Build Your Dedicated MPLS or VPLS Private Data Network6) Dedicated Remote Storage Services for Disaster Recovery7) Dedicated Standby Server(s) for High-Availability Enterprise8) Audio, Video & Web Conferencing ServicesLoop Connectivity is Based on Layer-2 Ethernet Transport whichSeamlessly Extends Your Existing LAN Transport Protocol.Offer is Valid for Enterprise Accounts only.(TM)BBCOMContact: info@bbcom.comTel: 1 (888) 243-0739Powerful. Flexible. Dependable.Wave IP Business Communications SystemsVERTICAL.COM

Save Big On®Avaya Maintenance.No Strings Attached.We simply offer a maintenance packagethat is customized to your needs.Straightforward Savings.No Hidden Fees or Charges.Excellent Quality.National Coverage.Only WMA Maintenance can save you $2,500 annually or morewith no decrease in coverage and in most cases more !!!24 hr., 7 day serviceReplacement Assemblies In StockDisaster RecoveryReal time remote alarm monitoringReal time customer notificationRemote PBX administrationPBX setup, moves, adds & changesFault isolation & clearingWalt Medak & Associates, Inc.“Crash Kits”Learn more at medak.com or call 800-452-6477 Translation UpgradeConversions...Training Maintenance EquipmentNationalCoverageAnd no outrageousOEM FEES!Authoritative. Independent.Accurate. Get Avaya training from WMA.NEWCLASSESFORMINGAura® CommunicationManager® (x)/Definity®Basic VoIPAdministrationMar 14 -18Avaya Call CenterTrainingACDAdministrationand VectoringMay 16 - 20Aura® CommunicationManager (x) /Definity BasicAdministrationTrainingFeb 7-11Aura® CommunicationManager® (x) /Definity® AdvancedAdministrationTrainingFeb 28 - Mar 4Core TechnicalTraining(Wiring, Alarms,MaintenanceTroubleshooting)March 28 - April 1Learn about our training and maintenance programs at medak.com or contact Gary Kwong Gary@medak.com 800-452-6477

Telecom Reseller 11 January/February 2011TMTelecom Resellertelecomreseller.comSubscriptionsOr change address, unsubscribe: 4140 Key Lime BoulevardBoynton Beach, Florida 33436-1608 • Call 561-732-2335Web www.telecomreseller.com • E-mail publisher@usernews.comAdvertisingCall 360 260-9708 • Toll Free 800 667-8965 • Fax 360 260-9726Web www.telecomreseller.com • E-mail publisher@usernews.comNews DepartmentPlease e-mail articles and press releases as attachments in Microsoft Word format toeditor@usernews.com. Suggested length is 250-300 words. At the end of the article,please provide contact information. Do not send graphics. We reserve the right to editfor content and length.For further clarification, please visit www.telecomreseller.com and click on SubmissionGuidelines. Our Editorial Calendar (also online) is useful for appropriate subject matter.Publisher and Director of AdvertisingDouglas Green, publisher@usernews.comDeputy PublisherCarole SangiorgioBusiness ManagerCharlotte Kluge, controller@usernews.comPresidentKen KlugeExecutive EditorDiana Lightmoon, editor@usernews.comCopy EditorMichelle MoodyTechnology EditorRay Horak, rayhorak@usernews.comGraphic Design and ProductionSpritzer Type and DesignThe publishers of this newspaper assume no responsibility for statements made by advertisersin their advertisements, nor do they assume responsibility for statements or opinionsexpressed or implied in the columns of this newspaper.Newspaper delivery to conference performed by CTS Air ServiceMedakAvayaDemystifiedBy Walt MedakThe following question came from our goodQ friends at Western University in Pomona, CA.Our IT Director asked us if we could preemptthe voicemail greeting with a broadcast messagein the event of an emergency. In other words, playa message/announcement before the call plays thedefault name or greeting on all voice mailboxes. Richthought we could do that by adding an announcementin hunt group 10 (voicemail). I tried that in thehunt group pages but it doesn’t seem to work.I did a little testing here, and I agree thatA the “First Announcement Extension:”option in the voicemail hunt group won’taccomplish what you want to do. It willplay before going to voicemail if you callthe hunt group directly, but not when acall is sent there via a coverage path. Oneoption I came up with would be to changethe coverage paths used for voicemail.Instead of using the hunt group, h10 inyour case, as the coverage point, set up anew VDN and vector. The vector wouldbe very simple. The first line would playthe announcement you want callers to hearbefore going to someone’s voicemail greeting.The second line would be “messagingskill 10 for extension active.” When notneeding an announcement to play you canjust take out the first line of the vector.Is there an easy way to identify the unusedQ ports on our Definity phone switch? We have6 lines to add (5 analog, 1-4 wire digital) and we’reat a bit of a loss.There are a few ways to find outA which ports are available. One is touse a wizard available in ASA (Avaya SiteAdministration) or the older DSA (DefinitySite Administration). Under the “General”tab of the browser window, there is a wizardcalled “Browse Unused Ports.” Clickon that option and ASA will connect to theDefinity and give you a report of the portsthat are available.If you aren’t using ASA, or if you liketo do things manually like I do, you can login and use the command “list configurationall.” This will bring up a list of all ofthe circuit packs installed in the system.In either case, for the analog phones youwould need to look for circuit packs called“Analog Line” which, most commonly areTN742, TN746 or TN793. The 4-wire digi-tal phone would require a TN754 DigitalLine circuit pack. All of the packs canhave various suffixes, such as TN746B andTN793CP.When you find the right board you willneed to identify if there are ports available.If you look at the right-hand side of thescreen, each board’s ports are listed. If theport has a number (e.g. 01, 02) it is alreadyassigned. If the port has a letter (u, t or p) itis not assigned. For example, let’s say theports of a TN754 Digital Line show 01, 02,u, u , 05, 06, 07, u. That would mean ports1, 2, 5, 6 and 7 are assigned and ports 3, 4and 8 are available.And as always, if questions please call800-452-6477. %For more visit medak.com.VISIT OUR NEW WEBSITEtelecomreseller.com

January/February 2011 12 Telecom ResellerOWEN REPORTINGContinued from page 5network isn’t large enough to directly takeadvantage of what an aggregator has tooffer, you may indirectly benefit throughyour choice of service provider. If youare a service provider, you may be able toimprove your position within your marketthrough the use of one.TR Who is Mammoth Networks?Hogan Mammoth Networks is a facilities-basedaggregator of wholesale dataservices. For our service provider clientswe provide simplicity and cost-savings intheir network architecture and single billingplatform. We accomplish these tasksby aggregating, or consolidating, multiplecarrier services into one physical circuithandoff to the provider.Our wholesale relationship with thelarge carrier community allows us to offerservices at competitive rates, with an efficientblend of networking technologies.Through the telecom agent communitywe also deliver services to large multi-siteenterprise customers, and specialize in supportingtransitions from legacy networksto Ethernet services as well as multi-siteWANs utilizing private line, MPLS, layer2 VPN and voice QoS.TR What makes Mammoth different?Hogan Primarily our service and companyculture. We build and sustain long-termrelationships with clients and provide flexible,creative solutions. Our team comprisestelco veterans who have experience workingwith independent carriers and designingsolutions in rural markets, which makes usa good fit for any provider or company withhard-to-reach locations.TR How can Mammoth help providers andbusiness customers?Hogan We offer consolidation of disparateend user circuits and carrier networks intoone aggregation circuit. We are able toprovision nationwide private line connectivityfor use in a customer’s environmentof choice: ATM, Frame Relay, Layer 2VPN, Ethernet, Internet Access, IntegratedT1 delivery.TR Does it matter what type of data circuitsI have or which carriers I use?Hogan No. We are technology and carrieragnostic.TR What size network makes your servicesworthwhile?Hogan Our rule of thumb is to work withlarge, multi-location businesses with robustIT departments.TR I understand that Mammoth gets muchof its business through word-of-mouth andan agent channel, so what can Mammothdo for agents?Hogan We enable agents to offer morevalue to service provider and large businesscustomers by simplifying carrier networkarchitecture and billing platform, andreducing access costs. This combinationprovides an opportunity to manage a largerpercentage of existing customers’ networks.Mammoth currently provides access to anetwork that spans the 48 contiguous states,and has recently announced a partnershipwith AKN in Canada to establish a privateconnection between their two networks.For Mammoth this expanded reach willprovide access for customers to AKN’sCanadian Layer 2 DSL and T1 services.For AKN, access to Mammoth empowersits enterprise and service providers with asingle point-of-contact for transferring dataacross North America.Is there an aggregator in your network?If not, maybe you should consider it. %For more visit mammothnetworks.com.ObituaryRandy Lloyd, 54Account Executive Randy Lloyd passed awayin his sleep Friday, December 24, 2010. He wasin his fourth year at Panaseas International, asupplier of telecommunication products basedin Houston.He was a well-liked and respected memberof the telecommunications community and isremembered for his knowledge of both productsand people. Many customers appreciated thathe took care to get to know them and theirneeds.“We are all feeling a profound sense of lossand shock at Lloyd’s passing,” said Brian Kiep,owner and president of Panaseas. %Phone: (631) 242-8877Fax: (631) 242-8996The Associaon for Informaon Communicaons TechnologyProfessionals in Higher EducaonWE BUY:DEFINITY, MAGIX,PARTNER, IP OFFICECALL, FAX or EMAILYOUR AVAILABLE LISTSFOR AN IMMEDIATEPRICE QUOTE!S ELLING UNUS ED,REFURBIS HED,TES TED WORKINGIP SOLUTIONSDEFINITY: phones, systems, circuitpacksLEGEND/MAGIX: phones, systems,modulesPARTNER: phones, systems, modules40th AnnualConference & Exhibion“Succeeding in the New Reality”April 3–6, 2011 • Orlando, Florida• 50 Breakout Sessions• Daily Keynote Sessions• 90+ Companies in Exhibit Hall• The Best Professional Networking!www.acuta.org• Warranties• SAME DAY SHIPPING• Advance Replacements• Substantial Savingswww.dan-mar.com • email: mpaolano@dan-mar.comPhone: (631) 242-8877 • Fax: (631) 242-8996 Please ask for Mike Paolano150 West Industry Court, Deer Park NY 11729

Telecom Reseller 13 January/February 2011Black BoxBlack Box contestBlack Box, provider of voice communications,data infrastructure and networkingproducts, announced the startof its Cable & Cabinet Makeover Contest.Participants can enter photos of their disorganizedwiring closets, telco rooms orcabinets for a chance to win a makeover bycompany experts including up to $20,000 inequipment and installation services.Andy Schmeltzer, Structured CablingProduct Manager, said, “A disorganizedcabling and cabinet setup costs time andmoney. Moves, adds and changes are moreexpensive. Even a small problem can costmuch more in labor and network downtime.But with a well-organized closet, problemsare easily fixed or avoided altogether.Black Box has the solutions and expertiseincluding SpaceGain CAT5e and CAT6cables and patch panels, Elite IT cabinets,cable management equipment and environmentalmonitoring systems to clean up andprotect even the messiest closet.”After the entry period ends on February16, five finalists will be selected fromwhich the grand prize winner will be chosenby popular vote. Photos of the finalistswill appear on blackbox.com, where voterscan register to choose their favorite. Inaddition, everyone who enters the contestor registers to vote receives 10% off theirnext order. %For more visit blackbox.com.DatelDatel Call Sweet! Live providesreal-time monitoring and historicalreporting for your contact center inone seamless interface. Getting informationin easy-to-understand format allows you tomake informed decisions which improveproductivity. It includes features like integratedchat, agent tray, click-to-dial andreporting. %For more visit datel.com.Great Values from Companies With Great ValuesTHE NATD SHOWCASEComponents: Buy & SellA leading Independent Stocking Distributor, Dan-Mar deliverstremendous values in excess, obsolete and overstocked electronicsand telecommunications components and systems.We are not a broker. We are a partner to leading OEMs, managingthe efficient disposal and re-marketing of their overstocked, excessor obsolete components. Dan-Mar delivers thebest values on the best quality components.Phone: (631) 242-8877Fax: (631) 242-8995Email: Sales@Dan-Mar.comVisit: www.dan-mar.comThe Association of Telecommunications DealersThe NATD setsthe industrystandard ofbest practicesin telecomindustry.Learn more atnatd.comThe membercompanieslisted belowsponsoredthis ad.

January/February 2011 14 Telecom ResellerPartnersCTXIT companies that need experienced professionalsto fill temporary gaps in theirpartner channel marketing and sales organizationsnow have a global source of interimtalent. CTX Resources launches at a timewhen temporary-help payrolls are on therise as companies turn to interim resourcesto fill labor needs.Founded by former longtime IBM channel-marketingexecutives, CTX deliverstalent to IT companies that need experiencedprofessionals for short-term engagementsbetween one and 12 months. Thefirm’s flexible arrangements make a newalternative for those that formerly had tostaff short-term positions through outsourcingor consulting organizations.“We place our experienced executivesin the precise areas where and when ourclients need them, cost-effectively and ondemand,”said Stephen Reid, president andfounder. “Our leadership team has helpeddrive billions of dollars in partner channel-and alliance-related revenues for ITcompanies, and much more if you factor inall of the talent we’ve assembled.”Skilled associates can serve immediatelyin a variety of roles such as channel marketingor sales leaders, alliance strategy andsupport and channel operations. Support isdelivered across multiple areas includingdesign and development of channel programs,partner recruiting and enablement,and marketing and sales execution. Theyinclude needs analysis, project scoping,solution identification and ongoing relationshipmanagement.“All IT organizations operate in a complexworld of business partners, alliances andextended relationships,” said Tim Wheaton,vice president, marketing and sales. “Thismodel has become the norm yet often generatestroublesome workload spikes. This isespecially true now in the face of cutbacksIndependent Distributor of Telecommunications EquipmentGiving you options.and efforts to lower costs. CTX offers asolution that can minimize the disruption oftalent shortages and maximize sales growthpotential in the partner channel.” %For more visit ctxresources.com.Inc.TONE SOFTWAREContinued from page 5system is physically on their premises,but administered and maintained by ToneSoftware’s expert staff. This is a key point forsecurity since system and data stay securelyon your premises. Also, by utilizing Tone’sexperts to administer the ReliaTel system,your staff is free to attend to more strategicissues affecting the bottom line.With their turnkey solution you geta vendor-supplied hardware and softwareinstallation with ongoing administrationand support of the ReliaTel platform aswell as the licensing all structured into amonthly program. In these tight economictimes Tone Software’s program erases theneed for CAPX dollars and justification.Additionally, the monthly fee includesfuture upgrades to the ReliaTel system.Tone Software decided to introducetheir hybrid solution because of the changingmarket and economic dynamics seenthroughout the industry and to reduce roadblocksto funding acquisition of ReliaTelrelease 3.0. Hearing from customers andindustry pundits, Tone realized that financialbuckets were changing and they neededto offer choices on how ReliaTel can beacquired, installed, and administered tosupport their customers’ business goals.Tone’s hybrid solution is a flat fee permonth model based on the size and complexityof the voice network and infrastructurebeing managed.See TONE SOFTWARE, page 28A1 Teletronics has a 36,000 square foot facility stocked full of telecom gear from today’stop manufacturers. We carry current and heritage products, new or refurbished.No matter what your telecom needs, we have a solution.Avaya ® • Nortel ® • Cisco ® • Mitel ® • Ipitomy ® • Polycom ® • Plantronics ® & More800.736.4397www.a1teletronics.comAs an Independent Distributor, A1 Teletronics, Inc. is not affiliated with the manufacturers of the products it sells except as expressly noted otherwise. Any andall trademark rights associated with the manufacturers’ names and products are owned by the respective manufacturers.866 -912- 8526 | www.blackboxresale.comSaving money doesn’t mean sacrificing quality.Take advantage of our five-year warranty on most remanufactured telephones.Five-yearwarranty on mostremanufacturedand repairedphonesAD00051-bbox-Telecomm-CiscoResale-Strip_5-10.indd 16/1/10 5:15:49 PM

NeedHelp ManagingAvaya and Nortel?Get the ION solution.WINNER!“Innovation of the Year”International NortelNetworks Users Association(INNUA)2008Whether you’re managing heritage Nortel systems, supportingAvaya Aura, or preparing for new tools like Avaya Secure AccessLink (SAL), we can help you:• Simplify the transition• Effectively manage mixed environments• Provide better service and response to your customersFor more than a decade, Avaya and Nortel partners have relied onION Networks products for secure remote device administration.Makers of theASG Defenderfrom AvayaWe know this stuff. Let’s talk.+1 908.546.3900, Option 7http://www.apitechnologies.com/ion/connect

Easy Install. Higher Margins.Robust Voice Mail Feature EnhancementsCascade mailboxEmail notification of voice mailAdministrative mailboxVirtual mailboxesAnnounce only mailboxClass of Service (COS) settingsOutcall retires/intervalUser enhancementsSTS digital telephone supportCall Screening (answer machine emulation)Caller ID name/number in call logImproved administration“The robust voice mail features now available with SBX IPversion 3.5 makes this the only key system for small businessesto consider. SBX IP offers enterprise telephony class features atan affordable price, VoIP enabled for immediate or future deployment"CHRIS MARKLAND, PRESIDENT, PM COMMUNICATIONS"SBX IP version 3.5 provides a wealth of voice mail features thatenable small businesses to improve business efficiencies. Inaddition, the ability to support STS digital telephones allows meto offer my installed base an upgrade path to take advantage ofVoIP applications"HERALD GIVENS, PRESIDENT, IMAGE ELECTRONICSFor further details, contact Inside Salesat 1-877-VERTICAL (877-837-8422), Option 2or learn more at www.sbxip.com

CALLACCOUNTINGwww.sierragold.com1-800-775-0025BNOW IN CONVENIENTSINGLE SERVER SIZEBy Jeff Rodman, PolycomRodmanThree issuesin 2011As we peel the lid off 2011’s opportunitiesand challenges, there arethree major dichotomies. Some fundamentalbusiness communications decisionsare being made around new features,brands and models, and will have a profoundinfluence this year and on everythingelse that follows.See RODMAN, page 28Single Server, Resource Conserving, HighPerformance Call Recording & WFO SolutionsEngage Unity solutions are matched combinations of TelStrat’s Engage Contact CenterSuite components optimized to deliver complete, no-compromise call recording andworkforce optimization (WFO) capabilities on a single server. Ideally suited for smallto medium contact centers, Engage Unity solutions provide maximum capabilities withminimal cost and IT resource impact.Engage Unity starts with Engage Record and lets contact centers add their choice of speechanalytics, screen capture and agent evaluation/coaching all together on one server. Singleserveroperation significantly lowers the complexity and cost of entry for advanced WFOcapabilities. Total cost of ownership expenses are slashed, with fewer IT resource needs,reduced power consumption, and overall simplified management. Engage Unity evenshrinks a contact center’s carbon footprint. So, Engage Unity solutions let contact centerssave green and actually be green.See Engage Suite at:Enterprise ConnectBooth 1316Feb. 28-Mar. 2, 2011Orlando, FLEngage Unity. Small footprint. Big contact center capabilities.sales@telstrat.com | 972-543-3500 | www.telstrat.comBy Sue BradshawBradshawGet ready forsuccessful SIPtrunkingAdopting a SIP trunking service isnot a simple process. A profusionof choices and decisions awaits youon pricing, service availability, capacity,service level agreements, and muchmore. That’s in addition to selecting theequipment you’ll need like SIP-enabledIP-PBXs, session border controllers as wellas sizing your SIP trunking implementationcorrectly.See BRADSHAW, page 22Cisco MonitoringClarus IPC PlusClarus Systems, provider of integratedVoIP management software and services,announced version 4.0 of ClarusIPCPlus+. It incorporates essential testing andmonitoring features for UC and supportsleading vendors such as Cisco and HP.It can integrate with network managementsystems and was recently certified byHP for Network Node Manager i version 9,permitting users to seamlessly move througha combined suite of HP and Clarus tools.“Enterprises want a comprehensive managementsolution to test and monitor IPTand VoIP capabilities as well as UC applications,”said Gurmeet S. Lamba, SeniorVice President, Product Development.It utilizes newly-designed and customer-provenalgorithms which permit fastertesting during new deployments, upgradesor continuous regression testing. WhetherSee CLARUS, page 20Engage UNITY Ad-Red Box-TR-JUNIOR-FINAL-1-26-11.indd 11/26/2011 3:10:17 PM

AgendaCalendarFebruary 28–March 3VoiceCon is Enterprise ConnectOrlandowww.voicecon.comFebruary 28–March 1Gartner CIO Leadership ForumDubai, UAEwww.gartner.comFebruary 28–March 4Training: Avaya UsersWMA TrainingCommunication Manager®(x) / Definity®Basic Administration TrainingPortland, ORwww.medak.comMarch 1–5CeBIT GermanyHanover, Germanywww.cebit.deMarch 7–10Cloud Connect 2011Santa Clara Convention Center, CAwww.cloudconnectevent.com/MARCH 9–11NATD: Winter ConferenceHOLLYWOOD, FLwww.natdmeetings.comMarch 13–15Channel Partners Conference & ExpoLas Vegaswww.channelpartnersconference.comMar 20–23COMPTEL PLUS Spring 2011 Convention& ExpoLas Vegaswww.comptel.orgMarch 21–25Microsoft Management Summit 2011Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas, Nevadawww.mms-2011.comMar 24TEM Edge Webinar: TelesoftKey Considerations before Starting aTEM Programhttp://www.telesoft.comApril 3–6ACUTA 40th Annual ConferenceOrlando, Floridawww.acuta.orgApril 4–62011 BICSI South Pacific Conference &ExhibitionBrisbane, Queensland, Australiawww.bicsi.orgApril 4–6Gartner CIO Leadership ForumLondon, UKwww.gartner.comApril 25–27SIPNOC 2011Hyatt Dulles Hotel in Herndon, VAwww.sipnoc.orgApril 27–29Gartner Business Process ManagementSummitBaltimore, MDwww.gartner.comMay 1–May 4Aastra Users Conference 2011Loews Santa Monica Beach Hotelwww.aastrausa.com/conference2011May 2–4Gartner Business Intelligence SummitLos Angeles, CAwww.gartner.comMay 3–5Broadvox 2011 Partner SummitDallas, Texaswww.broadvox.com/Date-TBATraining: Avaya UsersMay 8–12INTEROPLas Vegashttp://www.interop.comMay 10–12BITS Business IT South America a CeBITEventPorto Alegre, BrazilMay 17–20TIA 2011Gaylord Texanhttp://www.tiaonline.orgMay 22–26IAUG International Avaya Users GroupLas Vegashttp://www.iaug.orgDate TBATraining: Avaya UsersWMA TrainingSip Planningwww.medak.comMay 22–25NEC Users GroupJacksonville FLhttp://www.necusersgroup.comMay 31–June 2CeBIT AustraliaSydney, Australiawww.cebit.deReal World Trainingfor Technicians by Technicians• Avaya ® /Nortel ® Systems• Hands-on Training• 5 Days or Less!• One-on-One ClassesIndependent Distributor of Telecommunications EquipmentA1’s Independent Knowledge TMFor a full list of classesand availability, contact :800.736.4397www.a1teletronics.comAs an Independent Distributor, A1 Teletronics, Inc. is not affiliated with the manufacturers of the products it sellsexcept as expressly noted otherwise. Any and all trademark rights associated with the manufacturers’ names andproducts are owned by the respective manufacturers.Inc.Save 70% On ConferencingOnline meetings &webinars for less!Easy to useNo risk free trailSavings Vs. WebExWeb-Conferencing-Central.comCall 949-631-0274

Telecom Reseller 19 January/February 2011Ask a ProIs there an easy way to compare wireless voiceQ plans across multiple carriers to determine thebest rates?With over 14,000 different wirelessAplans available at any one time acrossall carriers, it can be very tricky to compareplans to find which ones are optimal for theusers in your organization. What you needis a great equalizer and that is the plan’sOptimal Net Cost per Minute, the best possiblecost per minute (CPM) for a specificservice plan based on usage. This is derivedby dividing the monthly recurring plan costby the number of toll minutes includedin the wireless plan. For example, a planwith a rate of $39.95/month and including500 minutes has an Optimal Net CPM of$.0799/minute. This calculation allows foruniform comparison between multiple carriersand plans.I discovered a six-figure overbilling on one ofQ my telecom bills that goes back over the pastyear and am having a problem getting a credit. Thecarrier told me the FCC will not allow credits for morethan 60 days. Is this true?Absolutely not. There is not an FCCA provision for only allowing credits forthe past 60 days; however, there may belanguage in your contract with the carrierthat limits how far back you can obtaincredits. This is referred to as the valid creditperiod. When identifying the applicableperiod, start with your contract, as termsand conditions will always prevail. If thecontract doesn’t yield results, go next tothe regulatory body for that provider (statepublic utility commission for LECs, FCCfor wireless and interstate voice and datacarriers). The FCC, for example, sets a limitof two years for credit requests and back-billing events. If, when dealing with a LEC,the state PUC doesn’t provide a definition,check for state consumer protection legislationregarding valid credit periods. Lastly,check the provider’s tariff, as that languagemay be more advantageous to you thanwhat is listed on the invoice. %For more visit aotmp.com.ColwellTis the Seasonfor GivingBy Timothy C. Colwell, Vice Presidentof Global Performance Management, AOTMPMobile giving is the hottest newdonation method for charitablecontributions. This is an excellentexample of using the technology to meet adefined need and support a worthy cause.This first came onto my radar early lastyear following the earthquake in Haiti. TheRed Cross Relief Fund began soliciting $10donations via SMS to support aid efforts.There are now many more charities solicitingdonations this way. These are real andthe money does make its way to the designatedcharitable organizations.A caution flag went up for me as Iconsidered how this might affect businesses.Should a user with a corporateliablemobile device donate via SMS, thedonation charge will appear on the corporatephone bill. This presents a potentiallysignificant financial risk. So I contacted thecompany that provides the SMS donationplatform to learn more about actions a businesscan take to prevent employees makingunintended and unauthorized donations onthe company dime. The firm, mGive, indicatedthey cannot block or prevent donationtransactions from their technology platform;however, the wireless carriers thatallow SMS donations are consistently doingso using a Premium SMS service and youcan block all these with your carrier. Theblocks may be called Purchase Blocker,Premium Content Blocking or PremiumText Messaging Blocking. Blocking withcarriers on corporate-liable plans is onemethod of reducing the financial risk ofwell-intended employees donating unauthorizedcompany money. %Contact the author at tcolwell@aotmp.com.At Zeacom, we’ve been helping business improve communications for over 15 years.Zeacom provides a single point solution for all your Contact Center and Unified Communicationsneeds, that’s both easy to use and rich in functionality.Contact us to find out how you can reduce your communications costs, improve customer serviceand increase your revenue opportunities.If you care interested in becoming a Zeacom partner or want to learn more about how partneringwith us can benefit your business, contact us at 1-888-993-2290 or zeacomusa@zeacom.com.Get the bigger picture at Zeacommunity 2011 – January 31 – February 2, 2011Need to get up to speed with the latest UC trends? Certain you can get more out of yourContact Center, but not sure how? Don’t miss the opportunity to attend Zeacommunity 2011and hear strategies, success stories and cases where businesses have utilizedZCC/UCB solutions to differentiate themselves in today’s marketplace. Learn more andregister now at www.zeacom.com.Aura® CommunicationManager® (x)/Definity®Basic VoIPAdministrationMar 14-18Avaya Call CenterTrainingACDAdministrationand VectoringMay 16-20Aura® CommunicationManager (x) /Definity BasicAdministrationTrainingFeb 7-11Aura® CommunicationManager® (x) /Definity® AdvancedAdministrationTrainingFeb 28 - Mar 4Core Technical TrainingClass Schedule(Wiring, Alarms,MaintenanceTroubleshooting)March 28 - April 1NEWCLASSESFORMINGLearn about our training and maintenance programs at medak.com or contact Gary Kwong Gary@medak.com 800-452-6477

January/February 2011 20 Telecom ResellerFoIPContinued from page 7the V.152 standard. However, this standardhas not gained broad support so interoperabilityresults vary between different vendorswhen implementing fax passthrough.As reflected in Table 1, proprietary faxtransport protocols suffer even more than faxpassthrough when it comes to interoperability.Because these protocols are proprietary,they lock an organization into one vendor’sproduct line and, in most cases, are inferiorto T.38 in terms of performance. On theother hand, T.38 has broad support frommultiple vendors, which lends itself naturallyto multi-vendor deployments. Also,because T.38 is a unified standard a frameworkis readily available should interoperabilityissues be encountered.Fax transmissions occur in real-time,which is the biggest downfall with a technologylike T.37 where the fax is capturedand stored. The originating fax machinereceives a confirmation and disconnectsbefore the fax is actually delivered to itsfinal destination. Notifying this originatingfax machine that the destination is busy,does not answer, or even truly receives thefax transmission is problematic.To work around some of these statusand confirmation issues, the T.37 standarddepends on SMTP (Simple Mail TransportProtocol) and its DSN (Delivery StatusNotification) and MDN (Message DispositionNotification) messages. While these DSN andMDN messages are promising, unfortunatelythey do not fully address the real-time issue;furthermore, they lack wide-ranging supportfrom mail servers and clients.An additional nail in the coffin of T.37 hasbeen the emergence of IP fax servers. Faxservers typically use T.38 and capitalize on itsadvantages while also offering all of the faxand email conversion benefits of T.37.Deploying FoIP can be a daunting taskand the selection of a fax transport methodis probably the most important decisionthat you will need to make. Various faxtransport options are available but onlyT.38 provides a real-time transmission supportwith multi-vendor interoperability anda robust redundancy mechanism. Theseattributes are some of the main reasons whyT.38 has risen to be the de facto standardfor FoIP communications and why T.38should be your first choice when selectinga fax transport solution for your network. %David Hanes is a technical expertfor Cisco Systems in the area of UnifiedCommunications with a concentration inthe design, deployment, and troubleshootingof voice and fax over IP technologies.He is the coauthor of Fax, Modem, andText for IP Telephony and holds CCIE certification#3491.Conference: February 28–March 3, 2011Exhibition: February 28–March 2, 2011Gaylord Palms Resort & Convention Center // Orlando, FLSPECIAL OFFER FOR TELECOM RESELLER READERSTake $200 Off a 4-Day or 3-Day Pass or Register for a FREE Expo Plus Pass with VIP Code CNWQVR04!Learn About New Technology TrendsShaping CommunicationsOnly at Enterprise ConnectCONFERENCE TRACKS• The Social Network—NEW!• Unified Communications• Planning/Implementing IP Telephony• Mobility• SIP and SIP Trunking• Video and Collaboration• The Cloud and Virtualization• Managing Technology, Costs and PeopleKeynotesKevin KennedyPresident and CEOBarry O’SullivanSenior Vice President,Voice Technology Group,Arthur FilipVP and GM, Technology ServicesConsulting, Enterprise BusinessGurdeep Singh PallCorporate VP, Unifi edCommunications GroupDavid GurléGM and VPRegister today at www.enterpriseconnect.com/orlando or call 1.866.203.8169A closer look at FoIP redundancyT.38’s mutli-level redundancy mechanism is an important reason why it is such a compellingchoice as a FoIP transport protocol. This redundancy mechanism is inherently necessarybecause T.38 is almost always deployed using the UDP (User Datagram Protocol) option of thestandard. UDP is a connectionless transport layer protocol and does not guarantee delivery ofthe T.38 information.The way that T.38 redundancy works is that fax information is divided into IFP (InternetFacsimile Protocol) packets. These IFP packets are then stuffed into T.38 packets for transmissionover the IP network. When redundancy is enabled for T.38, secondary copies of IFP packets aremade and transmitted separately from the primary IFP packet. This allows a T.38 packet containingthe primary IFP packet to be lost because a subsequent T.38 packet containing the secondary IFP,which is a copy of that primary, will still make it through.The T.38 standard has a provision to use TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) instead of UDP. TCPdiffers from UDP in that it is connection-oriented and retransmission mechanisms within TCP ensurethat information is not lost. Therefore, redundancy is not required for TCP. Interestingly, T.37 Storeand-Forwardfax’s SMTP protocol uses TCP, as well, and also benefits from TCP’s ability to ensure thatlost packets are retransmitted. In reality, however, vendors rarely, if ever, support T.38 over TCP. UDPencapsulations are ubiquitously used for real-time communications such as T.38 fax because they areless overhead-intensive than TCP. And while TCP’s method of retransmitting lost packets is sufficientfor a non-real time FoIP transport like T.37, these retransmissions add latency that is impractical formost real-time traffic.NTTN Ad_Layout 1 6/8/10 2:33 PM Page 1Can you pass ourtest?CUELLOContinued from page 6and conferencing feature. One of the pastdisadvantages of video calling has been thatthe costs can be high, but Epygi offers freepoint-to-point video calling, which reducesthe upfront capital investment that mustbe made. Users do not need special equipment,licenses or service to make a videocall; they just need a Quadro IP PBX andIP video phones. Video services are inherentto our IP PBX platforms and are furthercomplemented with the integrating of videophones such as the Polycom VVX1500,the Grandstream GXV3140 and YealinkVP-2009P.As video technology is further accepted,more and more organizations around theworld will discover new ways to use videorather than just video calling, such as integratingand streaming security camera feed. %CLARUSContinued from page 17it is Direct Inward Dialing (DID), CallPermissions, Forward to Voicemail orConferencing, the end result is the customercan completely validate whether abranch office or headquarters location isready for business, ensuring availability ofcommunication services.“ClarusIPC Plus+ version 4.0 mirrorsensures the highest quality of voice servicesfor end users,” said Brendan Reidy, CEO.“With enterprises continually monitoringresources and costs, we design our offeringsby listening to customer feedback. Oneconsistent request centers on keeping all thevoice management features in one package.By integrating UC capabilities we make theprocess easy to manage for IT professionalstasked with keeping the UC environmentup-and-running.” %For more visit clarussystems.com.Most peopledon’t!Not everyone qualifies for the exclusive NTTN.We do a comprehensive search into eachprospective new member that insures thehighest standards for all our members. Backedby our stringent code of ethics, members can beassured that they will be trading with othercompanies that will meet their expectations.Where Integrity Has It’s PriviledgesVisit natd.com now

You already useyour smartphonefor everything.We’re redefiningeverything.Smartphones and Amcom Software.Hospital communications redefined.Simplify communications and strengthen care by using your BlackBerry ® , iPhone ® , or Android forcode alerts, patient updates, lab results, consult requests and much more. In short, everything.www.amcomsoftware.com/smartphonesDownload a free white paper and other resources on pager replacement.© Amcom Software, Inc. 2010 All rights reserved. Amcom is a trademark of Amcom Software, Inc. BlackBerry ® , RIM ® , Research In Motion ® , SureType ® , SurePress and related trademarks, namesand logos are the property of Research In Motion Limited and are registered and/or used in the U.S. and countries around the world. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owner.

January/February 2011 22 Telecom ResellerBRADSHAWContinued from page 17In fact you may experience a sense ofdéjà vu as many of the questions you needto ask are those that you already asked (orshould have asked!) when replacing TDMwith VoIP all those years ago. It’s not surprisingtherefore, that many enterprises needsupport and guidance. This article discussesone of the critical considerations of migratingfrom TDM to SIP trunks − that of understandingcurrent call activity and volumesacross your existing VoIP environment.The good news is now that you are afew years down the VoIP track, you are ina much better position to understand whatto look for and how to find answers. Youshould now have the tools to analyze andproperly assess your VoIP environment,providing valuable information that willposition you well to design and negotiate thebest rates, contract and service level agreementswith carriers and service providers.Understanding call flowsBusinesses are wasting enormousamounts of time and money with legacyPRI systems and over-trunking. By collectinginformation over a day, week or amonth you can easily see how much sparecapacity you have – that you are paying forbut not using!This type of information means you canmake informed decisions about SIP trunksizing and network capacity. For exampleyou can assess a branch’s one-day PSTNcall volumes, activity and channel usage.If only a few of the 30 available channelsare used over the 24 hour period, you cansee immediately that this location is heavilyover-trunked and plan to optimize its callsover a SIP trunk.Is your network ready?In a SIP trunk implementation gatewaysneeded to connect to the PSTN reside at theITSP, so SIP trunking reduces branch-levelPSTN capacity requirements and traditionalTDM lines, resulting in cost savings.However, reducing the local loops’capacity means you’re placing increaseddependency on the WAN to carry real-timevoice traffic. If you’re prepared to take therisk and achieve the benefits then you mustput 100% of your effort into making it work.One of the basic questions you need torevisit is that of network readiness. Is yournetwork ready to route the previous off-netbranch PSTN traffic across the WAN to theSIP trunk’s location?Monitoring call flowsAdministrators can certainly look at logsand phone bills to try and discover how manyminutes they’re using per month. Some mayeven take a random walk through the officeshowing the number of people on the phoneat any given point in time. However, doingthis for a global enterprise just doesn’t stackup. You need to take the guesswork out ofcapacity planning and know your environmentbefore you change it.If you can monitor and report on availability,capacity, and call volumes, you’llhave great insight into call flows traversingin and out of the infrastructure and plan forany network upgrades or consolidation thatmay be required.Specialized VoIP monitoring, designedspecifically for managing enterprise-VoIP willshow you the number of active calls so thatyou can establish how many lines are needed.Not everyone uses the phone at the same time.If your company runs a call center, you’ll usuallyrequire a higher ratio of phone lines toemployees but rarely does a business requireone reserved phone line per employee.You can also conduct route pattern analysisin real time and historically to establish trendsand determine the calls offered and carried andany queuing overflows that occurred.Another benefit of SIP trunking is inbandwidth utilization. VoIP usage is generallycharacterized by several hours a daywith many calls, several hours a day withvery few calls and what’s known as the‘busy hour’. The busy hour is the busiestdaily hour measured by attempted calls.Granular details of call volume can be brokendown into voice stream and Erlangs, byPBX or across all PBXs.This information is useful when assessingthe aggregate busy hour as well as thebusy hour for each PBX. For example, acompany has two PBXs, one in Denver andone in Sydney. The aggregated busy hourtotals are calculated when people workingin different time zones cross over.If it is 9-10 am AEST in Sydney, it willbe 3-4 pm the previous day in Denver.Reports indicate that the afternoon is thebusiest time for Sydney and morning isthe busiest for Denver. This informationlets you know when people are using thetelephony system and how far it is pushedduring peak time.In this way you’ll know exactly theusage, capacity and head room on yournetwork for the busiest period of each dayand for each region.Additionally, if you know how manyconcurrent calls occur per site, you cantake advantage of call load balancing. Youcan instruct your ITSP or configure yourSession Border Controller to help managecapacity in real time, using excess trunkcapacity if needed from other locations.Ensuring call qualityBy now you should certainly have goodQoS policies in place, so you will know ifyou are achieving and maintaining consistentvoice quality. When considering ITSPs,you’ll need to confirm they offer support foryour preferred codec or codecs, which inturn can influence SIP trunk sizing.Although SIP trunks are capable oftransporting multiple media types, mostITSPs currently only offer G729 or G711for voice. If it’s possible to standardize oncodecs – for example G711 throughout, itwill reduce the challenge of supporting andtranscoding multiple codecs across multipleIP-PBXs. Another benefit is that G711 canprovide support for Fax over Voice. If youhave selected G729 for voice you’ll need tobe able to flag fax calls and provide G711for them on an as needed basis.Real time, historical online data and customreports provide very useful statisticsto understand the call quality that’s beingachieved prior to SIP trunking. Real timedisplays and historical reports help uncoverpatterns of unacceptable voice quality andnarrow problems down to particular groupsof phones, regions, locations, route patternsor time of day. Furthermore, an end-to-endview of the entire VoIP ecosystem meansyou can correlate, diagnose and resolvenetwork performance issues that can affectthe quality of your VoIP service.See BRADSHAW, page 23Want to self-maintain?Experience our commitment to qualityCan MOS tell you theroot-cause of a poor quality call?You can feel secure with our guaranteebecause we test, retest, and certify ourproducts to ensure top quality. Black BoxResale Services — your source for newand good-as-new telephone equipment.Our offerings include:» Unmatched repair and refurbishing capabilities.» Telephones, conference phones, cards, headsets,and wireless telephone systems.» Equipment from top manufacturers.» Thousands of other voice and communications products.Five-yearwarranty on mostremanufacturedand repairedphonesNo. MOS is like a thermometer—it tells you that you have a temperature andthat you’re sick, but it does not tell you where and what is wrong. To fix theproblem, you need to know how your network is performing.Introducing PathSolutions VoIP Monitor,a VoIP network performance management solution that:• Installs and fully configures in15 minutes for any size network.• Continuously monitorsperformance of the entirenetwork.• Identifies the root-cause of VoIPproblems in plain English.Try VoIP Monitor FREE for 5 daysCall 1-877-748-1777, email sales@PathSolutions.com,or visit us at www.PathSolutions.com/TelecomReseller866 -912- 8526 l www.blackboxresale.comBlack Box ® and the Double Diamond logo are registered trademarks of BB Technologies, Inc.PathSolutions VoIP Monitor isthe only solution that tells you whereand why your call went bad and then recommends a fix.

January/February 2011 23 Telecom ResellerBRADSHAWContinued from page 22Using customized reportingGood documentation via detailed reportsis important to prepare you fully for theITSP RFP process or for entering into ISP/ITSP negotiations. Reports can be used forexecutive and operational purposes to providequantitative measurement of the actualservice delivered. The type of informationit’s useful to know includes:• Voice quality—Voice quality over time,exceptions, network impairment factors• Service levels—Route pattern availability,IP and PSTN trunk availability• Capacity planning—PBX call load andutilization, trunk utilization, phonecounts• Analytics—Call failures, long calls, calltypes, node utilization, call throughputSummary report types also provide an“at a glance” view of grouped components’faults, failures, availability and utilizationand help you plan for cost-effective growth.Helping resolve interoperabilityissuesAs SIP continues to evolve, a varietyof equipment compatibility and interoperabilityproblems has occurred. In order tosuccessfully migrate to SIP trunking, yourIP-PBXs, SIP trunk service and borderdevices must be compatible. If they aren’t,you can’t complete voice calls.You can use specialized VoIP managementto provide details of your VoIP ecosystemto help identify compatible and noncompatibledevices. Equipment inventory,updated in real time, can prove invaluablein assessing the network components thatmay need attention prior to SIP migration.Achieving least cost routing (LCR)Creative use of SIP trunking can allowan enterprise to reduce calling costs evenfurther if you employ the use of least costrouting (LCR) and multiple ITSPs.LCR is the process by which a companychooses the path of an outbound communicationby the price of the call, opting for thelowest price. If a company uses multiple SIPtrunks from different service providers basedon geographic locations and time zones, eachcall can be routed to the cheapest providerbased on country codes, saving a significantamount of money on international calls.Information about the types of callstraversing your network, their location,duration, voice quality and connected calltypes, helps you understand your existingcall patterns prior to considering LCR.ITSP service validationOnce you’ve deployed SIP you need tomonitor the quality of service during initialSIP deployment and ensure you’re gettingeverything you signed up for. Naturally thiswill vary between customers and platformsbut if you have real time and historical dataavailable you can see details of quality ofservice, availability, utilization, throughputand performance of SIP trunks.Monitoring the SBCAlthough a border element maintainsconnection logs you don’t want to be openingthem for analysis each time you needupdated information. Specialized VoIPmanagement will do this easily for you inreal time. You can see at a glance the totalnumber of available sessions, broken downto inbound and outbound, the SBC’s statusand network details such as the maximumburst rate and latency metrics.Managing multi-vendor integrationAs SIP provides enterprises with moreoptions for multi-vendor integration, unifiedmanagement of a multi-vendor environmentbecomes even more critical.Successful SIP trunking reduces costs andcomplexity for users but for administratorsthe system is now truly global with manymore moving parts to manage.The flexibility to monitor multi-vendorPBXs, different vendors’ border controllersand SIP devices enables you to monitorindividual device availability, interface status,capacity and usage and see the impactof one device on another.Real-time monitoring of voice quality,route usage, capacity and failover activityprovides a complete picture of a multivendorenvironment making it possible tostreamline processes, teams and toolkits forboth the enterprise and service provider.In conclusion, an assessment of yourcurrent VoIP environment gives youinvaluable information that will positionyou well to design and negotiate the bestrates, contract and service level agreementswith carriers and service providers. %Contact the author at Sue.Bradshaw@ir.comCALLACCOUNTINGwww.sierragold.com1-800-775-0025

About CIPTUGLearn about new technology trends shapingcommunications at Enterprise Connect 2011Enterprise Connect will be heldFebruary 28 - March 3 at the GaylordPalms Hotel in Orlando, FL, and coversthe full range of platforms, services andapplications that comprise modern communicationsand collaboration systems.The keynote lineup reflects the changingmarket landscape in enterprise communicationsand collaboration, comprising topexecutives from companies with a longhistory of market leadership as well as relativenew-comers who have achieved morerecent success.A mix of industry analysts, vendors andenterprise executives will also participateas speakers during the conference’s 40+ indepthsessions, which are organized aroundthe following themes:• Unified Communications• Mobility• The Cloud and Virtualization• SIP and SIP Trunking• Video and Collaboration• The Social Enterprise• Planning/Implementing IP Telephony• Managing Technology, Costs and PeopleEnterprise Connect continues theVoiceCon tradition of being the onlyindustry event where all of the enterprisecommunications equipment, software andservice suppliers / providers are in onelocation. More than 100 companies will beexhibiting in the Enterprise Connect Expo.Register today at www.enterpriseconnect.com/orlando.CIPTUG, the Official Cisco IPTelecommunications User Group, invitesyou to join us at Enterprise Connect!Registration discounts are available foractive CIPTUG members – email us formore information! Also, please watchwww.CIPTUG.org for more informationon activities for CIPTUG members duringEnterprise Connect. We look forward toseeing you there! %telecommuter A businessperson whoworks and communicates largely fromhome through the use of information andcommunications technologies, rather thantraveling to a company office.end office A local central office (CO),which is at the end, or edge, of the publicswitched telephone network (PSTN).Excerpted from Webster’s New WorldTelecom Dictionary by Ray HorakPUZZLED OVER HEADSETS?Fontel & Jabra are here to help!Fontel & Jabra have theright pieces to complete yourtelephony solutions puzzle!Stay in Touch around the office– one headset for all your phonesToday's business cards often feature differentnumbers for desk, mobile and softphone. The result?You find yourself grabbing your mobile just as thecaller gives up and tries the desk phone instead! Thanksto Multiuse technology, all your phone calls come to theJabra Pro 9470same headset. Just tap the talk button and start using theJabra PRO 9470.Multiuse connectivity: desk, soft and Full hearing protection with Jabramobile phonesSafeToneTouch screen base with SmartSetup Up to 490 feet of wireless rangewizard – Dual microphone NoiseMinimal energy-consumption with JabraBlackoutTM systemIntellipowerSuperior comfort with 3 wearing stylesWideband sound (150 Hz – 6,800 Hz)Up to 10 hours of talk timeWant to self-maintain?Experience our commitment to qualityYou can feel secure with our guaranteebecause we test, retest, and certify ourproducts to ensure top quality. Black BoxResale Services — your source for newand good-as-new telephone equipment.Our offerings include:» Unmatched repair and refurbishing capabilities.» Telephones, conference phones, cards, headsets,and wireless telephone systems.» Equipment from top manufacturers.» Thousands of other voice and communications products.Five-yearwarranty on mostremanufacturedand repairedphonesGN Biz 620 GN9330e USB Link 220 & 280 GN2000 IP NC GN9350e804 E StreetAurora, NE 68818800-238-0787 • www.fontel.com866 -912- 8526 l www.blackboxresale.comBlack Box ® and the Double Diamond logo are registered trademarks of BB Technologies, Inc.

Telecom Reseller 27 January/February 2011NECUCNEC and SwisscomPolycom and SamsungSwisscom Hospitality Services hasdeployed NEC’s Sphericall-basedhosted solution platform as an SaaSsolution. Leo Brand, CEO, says, “Weselected NEC as our partner for voice largelybased on the strengths of the platform inthe cloud environment, which delivers scalabilityand low cost-of-ownership, enablingus to embed communications into applicationsand processes across the hotel. Theplatform is being deployed in a virtualizedcloud environment, which means that ascitizenM continues to expand it can utilizethe same technology at new hotel siteswithout incurring further set-up costs.”Michael Levie, COO at citizenM says,“We need a cost-effective solution whichis reliable and secure, as well as somethingwhich can be deployed quickly and easily.By using a cloud-based service model weachieve that and avoid the cost and disruptionof deploying our own infrastructure.”Chris de Silva, EMEA Vice President ofNEC, said, “We are delighted to be partneringwith Swisscom to develop cloud-basedservices for the hospitality sector in the UKand beyond. As these services proliferate,management and location of core applicationsand user computing environmentsbecome irrelevant. The enterprise andworker are now more interested in costeffective,rapidly-deployable services.” %For more visit necunified.com.Samsung Electronics announced anagreement to deliver UC solutionsfor Polycom mobile platforms to beembedded and distributed on the AndroidbasedSamsung Galaxy Tab.“Polycom’s differentiated strategy is todeliver innovative UC solutions on partners’mobile platforms, as opposed to creatingproprietary systems,” said SudhakarRamakrishna, general manager of UCProducts and chief development officer.“We believe the application will drive anetwork effect for users and businesses byenabling the Galaxy Tab to connect witheach other as well as other standards-basedtelepresence and video conferencing systemsand applications.”Polycom’s approach enables mobile (3Gand 4G) access to UC applications for consumersand enterprise users. The solutionsinclude feature-rich mobile clients integratedwith standards-based and interoperablenetwork solutions and enable users toparticipate both in point-to-point and groupconversations while enjoying HD qualityand functionality. The infrastructure is usefulfor placement in service provider networksto enable cloud-based UC delivery.Hosoo Lee, executive vice presidentand head of the Samsung Media SolutionCenter, said, “We are partnering withPolycom to bring a standards-based videocommunications experience to a wide rangeof UC applications and devices includingthe new Galaxy tablets and smartphones.”Leveraging Polycom video communicationsand UC solutions, the application forSamsung devices will deliver low-latency,high-resolution video experiences and networkresiliency. It will combine a directoryand chat capability allowing Samsungmobile device users to easily find eachother and connect.“This furthers Polycom’s strategy toproliferate UC support to a multitude ofdevices, enabling users to leverage applicationsregardless of their location andwithout compromising quality or functionality,”said Ramakrishna. “The agreementwith Samsung will be complemented byrelated Polycom initiatives to leverage ourUC technology and expertise to powermobile devices and cloud-based serviceplatforms.” %For more visit polycom.com.CiscoHP Cisco Trade-InHP announced a Cisco trade-in promotionfor qualifying U.S. customers. They estimatenearly $9 billion in Cisco networkingequipment is approaching end-of-life orservice in 2011 and it enables clients toupgrade from existing gear to standardsbasedHP solutions. This is the first HPNetworking program to deliver upfront savingswith an additional 20 percent off thelist price on HP A- and E-Series switches.“There is no better time for a promotionlike this,” said Marc Sarazin, executivevice president of Sales and Marketingat AdvizeX, an HP partner. “Not only isa huge volume of Cisco gear reachingend-of-life, we saw a lot of customers putoff scheduled network upgrades when theeconomy slowed down so there’s demandthere, too. This is a great way to helpcustomers migrate to HP now, reducingnetwork complexity and headaches whilelowering costs.”To facilitate a smooth transition, the solutionsoffer interoperability with Cisco andother equipment. HP also provides networkplanning and migration services as well asfast-track certification training. As a resultclients can upgrade their core, data centerand campus infrastructures to achieve greatervalue from IT networking investments.“Under the single-vendor stronghold ofthe past, enterprise networks have gottentoo complex, difficult to manage andexpensive,” said John Kissane, vice president,Americas Sales, HP Networking.“This gives organizations a choice thatdelivers flexibility and performance.” %For more visit hp.com/go/networking.

January/February 2011 28 Telecom ResellerRODMANContinued from page 171. Diversity over Monoculture. A vendorthat tries to lock customers into a proprietarysolution is doing a huge disservice.UC is the latest battleground and seems tobe in the middle of a wave of acquisitionsby a very small number of huge vendors.Every time this happens, choices diminish.Support, features, pricing, and eventhe continued viability of every tool onthat platform are driven by one company’sdecisions and business model. This trendmakes the adoption of standards and diligentadherence to them absolutely essentialin 2011. Without users demanding thisassurance of openness and interoperability,UC platforms will continue to ballooninto sole-source environments that mandateeverything from endpoints to cloud tools tonetworks and accessories.2. Conduit vs. Environment. One of theshifts accelerating is the move away froma single centralized workspace. Where wework and how we do so is evolving anddriving some major changes in the enterprise.IT is already opening up to iPadsand Android in a way that would havebeen unheard of a few years ago. Withthe deskphone no longer the only way totalk, we’re even seeing user need forcefundamental changes in what defines such.Combining voice with applications andvideo is changing the perception of whata phone is and can be. Polycom’s VVX1500 is an example of how the old dialphone has to become a high productivity,highly-connected instrument if desk-basedworkers are to stay effective.3. Communication vs. Engagement.Once you’ve got the tools and a place tobe for awhile, you can go ahead and makephone and video calls, but is the muffledcellphone call good enough? Are you okaywith DSL packet drops that hang up onyour customer or make the video stutter?The reason you need better, lifelike communicationsis because you’re now dependingon that to run the business. Connectionis no longer under IT’s care, so the toolshave to become more resilient. You can’tmeet face-to-face with everybody in yourworking world so the sound and imagehave to reproduce the quality of the personalexperience.As endpoints of all flavors add a camerafor live chat, a marginal image and spottysound isn’t the way to run a business. We’llbe seeing moves to make that right in 2011. %For more visit polycom.com.router An intelligent switch capable of decidingwhere to forward packets based on a view of thenetwork as a whole.physical 1. Something that exists in the realityof the material world, rather than in logic, as anidea or notion. Something physical is tangible,and can be seen and touched. A physical circuit,for example, might consist of metal, glass, orplastic. 2. Associated with the sciences such aschemistry and physics that deal with nonlivingthings such as energy and matter, rather thanthe sciences such as biology and physiology thatdeal with living organisms. So, a radio circuit isphysical, even though it is not tangible.protocol The rules and conventions for exchanginginformation between computers or acrosscomputer networks.Excerpted from Webster’s New WorldTelecom Dictionary by Ray HorakKONNECTTMOffice Phone SystemIt does what?No PBX RequiredNo Hosted ServiceEffortless Multi-SiteVoIP and LandlinesCall now or visit our siteto learn how KONNECTis the best solution forany small office.we make voice simple TMwww.konnectoffice.com 403-247-8472

Telecom Reseller 29 January/February 2011TONE SOFTWAREContinued from page 14“In today’s economic climate, businessesand MSPs are struggling to find the financialand human resources to aggressivelyadvance their business communications initiatives,”said CEO Shirley Balarezo. “Thenew ReliaTel Turnkey model is designedto deliver a high-value convergence managementsolution in a business model thateliminates financial and human resourcebarriers, empowering both enterprises andMSPs to efficiently and cost-effectivelyachieve their advanced communicationsbusiness initiatives.”Each implementation of a ReliaTel systemis custom fit for the customer. CAPXand OPX savings will vary depending onthe size of the organization and type of visibilityinto the network desired. However,once implemented, the customer benefitsfrom monthly expense predictability forsystem administration and maintenance.Having personally managed multi-milliondollar networks, I can appreciate this featureof a vendor provided solution.Tone Software is the first to bring sucha hybrid solution to market since other vendorsof convergence management systemsoffer only either fully hosted or customeroperated on-premises solutions. In a competitivemarket I expect others to eventuallyhave similar offerings, but for now ToneSoftware has significantly raised the bar. %For more visit www.tonesoft.com or www.reliatelsolutions.com.RUFFINContinued from page 30and (3) enter the list bin number instead ofthe target number itself. For example, youwould program a one-way direct hotlinekey like this: (key number) HOT L (thebin number in the list that holds the targetnumber).Once you have hotline keys programmedyou can assign names to the numbers onthem. Use LD 95 for this. You don’t haveto use their real names—just “The Boss” orsimilar titles work well.If you find creative ways to use hotlinesin your applications please pass them to meand I can inform others. %Contact the author at philruffin@hotmail.com.logical Based on facts, rational thought, andclear reasoning. In the context of telecommunications,a logical circuit, for example, does nothave a physical presence in the sense that it isnot tangible.gateway 1. A node that interconnects two ormore disparate networks, both physically andlogically, serving as a protocol converter (e.g.,PSTN to IP) and media converter. 2. The collectionof hardware and software required tointerconnect two or more disparate networks,including performing protocol conversion.protocol converter A collection of software andfirmware that converts the protocols used in onenetwork, sub-network, or network element (NE)into those used by another. Protocol conversionis the responsibility of a gateway.Excerpted from Webster’s New WorldTelecom Dictionary by Ray Horak