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Mack-inations
Give a man a fish
By Tim McElligott
Oct. 13, 2005
Corporations and small companies across the country and the fine people
who work for them have once again risen to the challenge of humanity by
reaching out to their brothers and sisters in the Gulf Coast region with
aid. Money has poured in by the billions. Volunteers have stepped
forward selflessly. Homes have been opened; meals have been shared.
Bureaucracy, by its nature, delayed some of the more institutional aid
from getting to where it needed to go, but the desire of individuals to
help, often coordinated or facilitated by the companies they work for or
the organizations they belong to, should be commended.
One company, perhaps, deserves a special nod. Not because it did more or
cared more, but because of the way it went about it.
Convergys Corp. from Cincinnati, one of the two leading telecom billing
companies and one of the largest call center providers, was part of a
long list of telecom companies that raised, matched or otherwise donated
money for those suffering the effects of recent hurricanes. Kudos to
them all. However, Convergys took to heart the adage that says: "Give a
man a fish; you have fed him for today. Teach a man to fish and you have
fed him for a lifetime."
With one gesture, the company addressed two issues: the immediate need
for financial assistance and the enduring and systemic problem of
unemployment in the region. It offered jobs.
Convergys and other call center providers have been harshly criticized
for sending jobs overseas (I'm guilty.) So it was good to see one of our
own reach out to offer call center jobs to those displaced by Hurricanes
Katrina and Rita.
As this column's often quoted Max Ehrmann said about the value of work
in his "Desiderata": "However humble; it is a real possession in the
changing fortunes of time."
Convergys has yet to provide data on how many people have taken the
company up on its offer, but the offer was made and that's the important
part.
E-mail me at tmcelligott@primediabusiness.com
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Top News
MetaSolv
solves activation for U.S. ILEC
By Tim McElligott
TelephonyOnline.com
MetaSolv Software and a U.S.-based Tier 1 carrier have
executed a framework agreement that will make MetaSolv the strategic
provider of service activation solutions for the carrier's IP-based
services.
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Lucent
to migrate TeliaSonera to IP version 6
By Tim McElligott
TelephonyOnline.com
TeliaSonera has turned to Lucent Technologies to help
manage its migration to IPv6, the next-generation Internet protocol. The
pan-European mobile and fixed line operator, based in Sweden, will use
Lucent software and services for its complete migration next year.
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Oracle
opens competency center in China
By Tim McElligott
TelephonyOnline.com
Last December, Oracle launched its Carrier Grade
Framework in an effort to drive standards-based modularization of
communications platforms among other things related to efficiency and
open software interfaces. Today, the company opened the Oracle Carrier
Grade Framework (CGF) Competency Center at the Oracle China Development
Center in Shenzhen, China. The CGF Competency Center, led by a
development team from Oracle and Intel, will drive the adoption of
standards-based technology in communications networks worldwide.
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Convergence
sparks convergence in billing space
By Tim McElligott
TelephonyOnline.com
Comverse Technology signed a definitive agreement today
to acquire the global software and services division and certain related
assets of CSG Systems International for approximately $251 million in
cash.
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Telcordia:
Operator business model is dead
By Tim McElligott
TelephonyOnline.com
At this week's Fixed Mobile Convergence conference in
Chicago, Telcordia's Grant Lenahan, executive director of wireless
mobility and chief strategist, declared in a session on the operational
impact of IP multimedia subsystem architecture that the traditional
operator business model is dead. He and Siemens' director of network
technology, Filipe Alvarez Del Pino, went on to explain how that was a
good thing.
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OSS
eBay buys VeriSign
payment gateway for PayPal
eBay and VeriSign announced a strategic alliance that
calls for the two companies to collaborate on payment services and
security initiatives for e-commerce. Under the terms of the agreements,
PayPal, an eBay company, will acquire VeriSign's payment gateway
business for approximately $370 million and combine it with PayPal's
leading merchant services platform. VeriSign will also provide eBay and
PayPal with a suite of security services that includes the deployment of
two-factor authentication, a security system that gives customers a
one-time password or digital certificate to help protect against online
identity theft.
VeriSign's payment gateway processed more than $40 billion in total
payment volume last year. PayPal plans to accelerate its merchant
services business by expanding its customer base to tens of thousands of
new small and medium-sized business customers online. The payment
gateway is a real-time, scalable Internet payment platform that allows
merchants to authorize, process and manage online payments. The
combination of VeriSign's payment gateway with PayPal's existing
services will provide merchants with multiple processing choices from a
single provider, including VeriSign's gateway, PayPal's Website Payments
Standard, Express Checkout or Website Payments Pro.
The companies also signed a multi-year security technology agreement
that calls for eBay to invest in the deployment of VeriSign technologies
that enable and protect online transactions, including the purchase of
up to one million two-factor authentication tokens. eBay and PayPal plan
to begin the rollout of two-factor authentication to customers in 2006,
including marketing and security programs designed to promote customer
adoption.
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Telcordia
transforms paradise
Hawaiian Telcom has selected Telcordia's Service
Delivery Suite of Products and professional services to complete its
transition to an independent network in six months. Formerly known as
Verizon Hawaii, and officially as Hawaiian Telcom in May 2005 after the
Carlyle Group's acquisition of Verizon, the company is a local exchange
carrier, managing directory, long-distance and Internet services
businesses.
Hawaiian Telcom turned to Telcordia to efficiently transform the company
into a successful independent carrier and enable them to provide their
customers with the most advanced services and products for the market.
The solution for Hawaiian Telcom includes the Telcordia Converged
Application Server. The multi-application platform supports a wide range
of customizable services for traditional IP and converged networks
across all domains. The Converged Application Server is part of
Telcordia's recently launched Maestro IMS Portfolio.
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Salesforce.com uses
Genesys for CTI platform
Niche customer relationship management solutions
provider Salesforce.com has contracted with Alcatel-owned Genesys to
provide the main computer telephony integration platform for its
Salesforce service and support application. The integration is done
through Salesforce.com's Appforce Telephony Application Interface (ATAPI
2.0), part of the Appforce on-demand platform.
By integrating Genesys contact center software, Salesforce.com will
provide customers with an easy-to-deploy support solution with advanced
telephony integration features. As part of an expanded partnership,
Salesforce will offer pre-built and pre-tested integration for the
Genesys 7 Real-time Customer Interaction Suite. The combined offering
will provide a solution that integrates call control, tracking,
reporting and other contact center functions.
Salesforce Service & Support is an ideal application for customer
service, product support, field service, order desks, telemarketing,
telesales and IT help desks. The company has approximately 1700
customers worldwide. In its first year, Salesforce Service & Support
customers have more than 12 million service and support cases under
management. Together, the technologies allow customer data to be
instantly populated into the Salesforce Service & Support Agent Console.
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VoIP
Big River using
Tasman routers
Tasman Networks, a supplier of converged services
routers, said this week that Big River Telephone Co. of Cape Girardeau,
Mo., is using its routers to extend its Midwest IP network buildout. The
technology also helps Big River's customers migrate from incumbent
carriers' platforms to the company's own network.
Big River Telephone covers Arkansas, Illinois, Kentucky, Mississippi,
Missouri and Tennessee with converged voice and data services. In
December 2004, the FCC ruled that UNE-P services cannot be provided to
CLECs after March 2006, establishing a 12-month transition period
effective March 2005, when CLECs can convert their customers to another
permanent service arrangement such as resale, UNE-P at commercially
negotiated rates or UNE-L in combination with the competitor's own
switching facilities. Tasman's converged services routers enable
non-incumbent carriers to migrate from an expensive UNE-P plan to this
more cost-efficient business model.
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Step by step,
TCS and 8x8 solve VoIP E-911
8x8, the packet8 broadband voice-over-IP and videophone
communications service provider, and TeleCommunication Systems (TCS), a
provider of wireless communications solutions, have partnered to provide
new roaming E911 services to all of 8x8's Packet8 subscribers regardless
of the site location from which the voice and video services are
utilized.
The agreement with TCS moves 8x8 one step closer to migrating its
existing fixed-line E911 services to achieve compliance with the FCC
directive by the Nov. 29 deadline.
8x8 was among the first VoIP service providers to offer replacement
enhanced 911 services to its subscribers in June 2004. TCS' VoIP E911
solution provides real-time address validation for all Packet8
subscribers placing calls from one location or when they're nomadic,
meaning they are moving from one location to another. TCS' technology
provides advanced address verification tools, routing key access
infrastructure and boundary information for each public safety access
point (PSAP) in the U.S. to determine the correct PSAP and the level of
emergency service available to Packet8 subscribers.
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TCS also inks with VoIP
Inc.
VoIP Inc. and TeleCommunication Systems Inc. announced
this week that they have partnered for the reliable delivery of E911
services for voice-over-IP service Providers.
TCS Chief Marketing Officer Tim Lorello said VoIP Inc. has focused on
providing the backbone that VoIP service providers need to terminate
calls into the PSAPs.
This makes them an ideal customer for our VoIP E911 solution. We enable
VoIP Inc. to provide the E911 services that allow their VSP customers to
meet the FCC mandate.
VoiceOne is the industry's first private network 911 service for
broadband and packet communications. There are five redundant entry
points for 911 calls to enter the network through the Internet or
private peering. These entry points are strategically placed
geographically to provide the shortest path for a phone call originating
anywhere in the U.S.
Once the call is received on the VoiceOne network, TCS is queried to
analyze the registered location of the caller for the proper delivery to
a PSAP, call center or other emergency location. Based on the
destination of the location required to deliver the call, it is
maintained on the private VoiceOne MPLS backbone, providing better call
quality and redundancy for transport, compared to other solutions
utilizing the Internet for call delivery.
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Farmstead turns up
VoIP in Hartford
Farmstead Telephone Group said this week it has gone
live with its One IP Voice network service in Hartford, Conn. Today
(Oct. 13) the company also will expand connectivity to New York City and
later this month will expand to four more U.S. cities: Raleigh, N.C.,
Milwaukee, Atlanta and Dallas. When fully deployed in January 2006, the
hosted voice-over-IP service will provide local, long-distance and
Internet service to small and medium sized businesses.
One IP Voice is a wholly owned subsidiary of Farmstead Telephone Group.
It provides carrier-based Hosted IP Telephony solutions along with
Network Services. The primary target of the One IP Voice offering will
be to the SMB market with under 200-employee businesses. The
facilities-based One IP Voice offering will include Hosted IP Centrex
and IP Trunking services, bundled with private One IP Voice "Last Mile"
connectivity on a national basis, long-distance calling, On Net calling,
local area calling, 911 capabilities and wide area network voice and
data connectivity. One IP Voice will also offer a consumer VoIP product.
Back to Top
Mpower powers up with
General Bandwidth gateways
General Bandwidth said this week that Mpower
Communications has deployed its G6 Universal Media Gateway in an
expansion of VoIP business services.
Doing IP telephony for the last six years, Mpower now offers data,
telephony, Internet access and Web hosting services for small and
medium-size business customers. The facilities-based service provider
will take advantage of General Bandwidth's gateway, which is fully
redundant and supports from 240 to 16,128 DS0s on a single chassis.
With services from its existing Class 5 switches and next-generation
feature servers, Mpower will be able to provide integrated voice and
data solutions supporting 8 to 32 voice lines over a single access line,
full support for PBX equipment over their IP network and IP hosted PBX.
Back to Top
In Print
Syndesis
Wins Tier 1 Contract
By Tim McElligott
Telephony
With service provider customers worldwide, Toronto-based
Syndesis is far from a one-company provider, but this week the company
announced a contract with one of North America's largest Tier 1
providers with committed plans for IPTV that nearly match the revenue
from its other contracts combined.
Back to Top
CRM Goes
Small To Get Big Again
By Tim McElligott
Oracle isn't saying much about its plans to integrate
Siebel Systems, either on a technical or strategic level, leaving
pundits to speculate on what may be going on inside the head of Oracle
CEO Larry Ellison. But when it comes to Ellison, people soon discover
that like many of the companies he has acquired over the last few years,
it's all about CRM. In this case, however, that acronym stands for Can't
Read (his) Mind.
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The
Inter-nyet
By Tim McElligott
Obviously, this is a rhetorical question: Does the UN
think the U.S. is made up of a bunch of idiots? Of course they do, but
hopefully we aren't stupid enough to relinquish control of the Internet
to such a dysfunctional, bureaucratic and arguably corrupt organization.
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