Nextiva Receives 2011 Communications Solutions Product of the Year Award

Press release:

Nextiva Receives 2011 Communications Solutions Product of the Year Award
Nextiva Office Recognized as Innovative VoIP Communications Tool

Scottsdale, Arizona August 15, 2012

Nextiva (www.nextiva.com), a leading provider of cloud-based business VoIP services, announced today that it is the recipient of TMC’s Communications Solutions Product of the Year Award for the second year in a row.

TMC, a globally integrated media company, presents this award to products that facilitate voice, data and video communications, or a combination of them. Companies that receive the esteemed Product of the Year Award must exhibit a combination of vision, leadership and thoroughness.

“We are proud to distinguish the greatest achievements in the unprecedented growth of communications technologies in 2011,” said Rich Tehrani, CEO of TMC. “Nextiva has shown their dedication to quality and superiority while addressing the ever-changing marketplace demands.”

Nextiva Office delivers comprehensive phone systems to small and medium-sized businesses, including high-quality features such as advanced call routing, call manager dashboard, push to talk and Nextiva Anywhere. Nextiva provides an online portal so that business managers can quickly and easily access all of their service and usage information.

“We’re thrilled that our Nextiva Office product has been recognized as a Product of the Year for the second consecutive year,” says Yaniv Masjedi, VP at Nextiva. “We continuously enhance our products so that our customers always have access to the most innovative communications tools as well as a team of experts who provide Amazing Service and support all of our customers’ needs.”

2011 Product of the Year winners are announced on the websites for INTERNET TELEPHONY and Customer Interaction Solutions.

For more information on Nextiva’s business communication solutions, please visit http://www.Nextiva.com.

ABOUT NEXTIVA
Headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona, Nextiva is a privately held member of the Unitedweb family of companies. Nextiva is one of the country's leading providers of cloud-based, VoIP business communication services. Nextiva has won more than 30 Independent Technology & Telephony Awards, including the "Product of the Year Award" by Internet Telephony magazine for four years running. Nextiva delivers “Fortune 500” phone service at start-up prices and serves thousands of small-to-midsize companies across the United States. For more information call 800-983-4289 or visit http://www.nextiva.com.

About TMC
TMC is a global, integrated media company that helps clients build communities in print, in person, and online. TMC publishes the Customer Interaction Solutions, INTERNET TELEPHONY, Next Gen Mobility and Cloud Computing (formerly InfoTECH Spotlight) magazines. TMCnet.com, which is read by two million unique visitors each month, is the leading source of news and articles for the communications and technology industries. TMC is the producer of ITEXPO, the world’s leading B2B communications event. In addition, TMC runs multiple industry events: 4G Wireless Evolution; M2M Evolution; Cloud Communications Expo; SIP Tutorial 2.0:Bringing SIP to the Web; Business Video Expo; Regulatory 2.0 Workshop; DevCon5; HTML5 Summit; CVx; AstriCon; StartupCamp; MSPAlliance MSPWorld and more. Visit TMC Events for a complete listing and further information. For more information about TMC, visit www.tmcnet.com.

The PBX Death Knell, Can You Hear It?

When I owned a small business, in the late 90s, the day came when a couple of analog lines and multi-line phones didn’t seem professional enough. So I had to start calling local phone-system companies.  They all came out with their brochure, and pretty pictures of ugly boxes, and phones with lots of buttons to learn.  Eventually I settled on a 5-year lease, and they came and installed their ugly boxes.


For more, click the link below:

http://blog.ringcentral.com/2012/03/the-death-knell-for-the-pbx-can-you-hear-it.html

Nextiva Receives 2011 Unified Communications Product of the Year Award Nextiva Office Recognized for Innovation in VoIP Business Communications

Nextiva Receives 2011 Unified Communications Product of the Year Award
Nextiva Office Recognized for Innovation in VoIP Business Communications

Scottsdale, Arizona (March 29, 2012)

Nextiva, a leading provider of cloud-based business VoIP services, announced today that it is a distinguished recipient of TMC’s Unified Communications Product of the Year Award for the second consecutive year.

TMC, a globally integrated media company, has presented this award for the past five years to companies that brought ground-breaking advancements to unified communications technologies in the previous year. For Nextiva, the award represents more than recognition for the leading VoIP business solutions it provides to its small business customers. It also demonstrates their commitment to Amazing Service™ which includes every facet of the customer experience, from first contact through their business growth and expansion and their ongoing relationship with Nextiva.

Rich Tehrani, CEO of TMC, explains that “the Product of the Year Award is meant to honor companies whose products or services have gone the extra mile to help improve unified communications solutions for both the customer experience and the ROI for the companies that use them.”

Nextiva Office delivers a comprehensive VoIP phone services to small and midsized businesses, including high-demand features such as advanced call routing, screen calling and dial-by-name directories. Nextiva offers an online portal for owners and managers to have quick and easy access to all service and usage information.

“We are honored to have received the ‘Product of the Year’ award again this year,” says Yaniv Masjedi, VP at Nextiva. “We’re thrilled that our Nextiva Office business VoIP phone service is recognized as an innovative, quality product. It shows our customers that they are our first priority and that our commitment to advancing unified communication technology and services is as strong as our desire to help them simplify and grow their businesses.”

2011 Product of the Year winners were published in the March 2012 issue of INTERNET TELEPHONY magazine, a leading publication in IP Communications.

For more information on Nextiva’s business communication solutions, please visit http://www.Nextiva.com.

ABOUT NEXTIVA
Headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona, Nextiva is a privately held member of the Unitedweb family of companies. Nextiva is one of the country’s leading providers of cloud-based, VoIP business communication services. Nextiva has won more than 30 Independent Technology & Telephony Awards, including numerous “Product of the Year Awards” by Internet Telephony magazine. Nextiva delivers “Fortune 500″ phone service at start-up prices and serves thousands of small-to-midsize companies across the United States. For more information call 800-983-4289 or visit http://www.nextiva.com.

About INTERNET TELEPHONY Magazine
Internet Telephony has been the IP Communications Authority since 1998. Beginning with the first issue in February of 1998, Internet Telephony magazine has been providing unbiased views of the complicated converged communications space.

About TMC
TMC is a global, integrated media company that helps clients build communities in print, in person, and online. TMC publishes the Customer Interaction Solutions, INTERNET TELEPHONY, Next Gen Mobility and Cloud Computing (formerly InfoTECH Spotlight) magazines. TMCnet.com, which is read by two million unique visitors each month, is the leading source of news and articles for the communications and technology industries. TMC is the producer of ITEXPO, the world’s leading B2B communications event. In addition, TMC runs multiple industry events: 4G Wireless Evolution; M2M Evolution; Cloud Communications Expo; SIP Tutorial 2.0:Bringing SIP to the Web; Business Video Expo; Regulatory 2.0 Workshop; DevCon5; HTML5 Summit; CVx; AstriCon; StartupCamp; MSPAlliance MSPWorld and more. Visit TMC Events for a complete listing and further information. For more information about TMC, visit www.tmcnet.com.

Introducing Mobile VoIP for Android Smartphone

A recent smartphone study by Nielsen reports that almost half of U.S. mobile subscribers now own smartphones (49.7%) with 48 percent of smartphone owners saying they owned an Android device. In addition, a recent survey by AT&T reported 85% of small businesses have adopted smartphones, with first-time buyers favoring Androids by a wide margin.

RingCentral already offers VoIP calling for iPhones. So we’re excited to announce the launch of the RingCentral app for Android to enable VoIP calling on your Android smartphone. With VoIP, your phone uses your data plan or WiFi when available to enable voice calls, so you don’t have to consume expensive minutes from your carrier’s cellphone plan.

http://blog.ringcentral.com/2012/03/introducing-mobile-voip-for-android-smartphone.html

Quest Software Delivers End-to-End Business Management Platform to SMB Managed Service Providers

Quest Software Delivers End-to-End Business Management Platform to SMB Managed Service Providers

PacketTrap MSP 6.2 Features Integration with Standalone Professional Service Automation System; VoIP Monitoring Added

ALISO VIEJO, Calif., March 22, 2012 – Quest Software  (Nasdaq: QSFT) today announced the availability of PacketTrap^® MSP 6.2, the latest version of its remote monitoring and management (RMM) platform designed for SMB managed service providers (MSPs). Delivering comprehensive integration of RMM functionality with professional service automation (PSA) technology, PacketTrap MSP 6.2 is an industry leading end-to-end business management platform. MSPs can now access a single console to manage – and simplify – business processes including job scheduling, technician management, CRM, service requests and billing and invoicing.

For small- to mid-sized MSPs and IT solutions providers, PacketTrap MSP delivers affordable enterprise-class remote server, application and network management for MSPs to use across customer environments. The integration between PacketTrap MSP 6.2 and PacketTrap PSA, the company’sprofessional service automation solution, enables users to:

·         Better track tickets, improving customer service and reducing status calls;

·         More accurately account for technicians billable hours to increase revenue; and,

·         Decrease the billing cycle by more quickly and accurately invoicing for completed work.

“Among the many enhancements to PacketTrap MSP, integration with our standalone PSA solution was a strategic development investment as it meets MSPs demand for technology that can be used to more easily complete many common business tasks,” said Matt Bolton, vice president of product management, Network Management Division, Quest Software. “Often we find that our target customers are not in the business of running businesses. By utilizing an intuitive platform that is far less cumbersome then other solutions on the market, yet offers the same functionality, MSPs can focus on providing new services to their own customers and marketing to new prospects.”

Quest Software launched PacketTrap PSA earlier this month following the company’s acquisition of BlueFolder, Inc., a leading provider of field and professional service management solutions. Quest Software enhanced BlueFolder’s existing PSA technology, providing MSPs with a solution to dramatically increase time savings and profitability by simplifying many business management processes.

In addition to integrating with PacketTrap PSA, PacketTrap MSP 6.2 features other enhancements such as monitoring support for Cisco wireless controllers, which are increasingly used to manage all wireless access points, and new monitoring templates for pre-defined monitoring and alerting of common applications.

Unique among RMM solutions, PacketTrap MSP 6.2 now enables MSPs to monitor customers’ Avaya VoIP infrastructure, which includes Avaya Aura Communications Manager, Avaya DP Office, PBX systems, IP Phones, Gateways, switches, routers and end-to-end network, physical and virtual IT infrastructure. Using PacketTrap MSP 6.2, MSPs can monitor customers’ VoIP systems and network infrastructure using the same trusted, user-friendly platform in order to make customers’ VoIP implementations more successful.

Pricing and Availability

Both PacketTrap MSP and PacketTrap PSA are now available as standalone solutions. MSPs and IT solution providers that purchase both PacketTrap MSP and PacketTrap PSA will have full integration between the solutions. PacketTrap MSP also integrates with other PSA solutions through technology partnerships.

For more information and a free fully featured trial of PacketTrap MSP 6.2, visit http://www.packettrap.com/packettrap-psa-free-trial/.

Quest Foglight NMS Offers Market's Only Complete Network Monitoring Tool for Avaya VoIP System

Quest Foglight NMS Offers Market’s Only Complete Network Monitoring Tool for Avaya VoIP System

ALISO VIEJO, Calif., March 21, 2012 –

Quest Software, Inc. (NASDAQ: QSFT) today announced that the company’s  Foglight® Network Management System (NMS) now features support for Avaya Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) systems. Available today, this added support enables network administrators and engineers to achieve greater visibility into how their network and Avaya VoIP systems work together.  In addition to providing real-time monitoring of Avaya performance and quality metrics, Foglight NMS for VoIP allows network engineers to better address dropped calls, poor voice quality, network delays, and other performance issues before they happen.  

Tweet This: Quest @Foglight NMS offers market’s only complete network monitoring tool for #Avaya #VoIP System via @Quest http://bit.ly/z9Xj8E

News Facts:

·         As organizations grow, organically or through mergers and acquisitions, they place increased importance on VoIP solutions like those offered by Avaya to keep their workforce connected.

·         VoIP is a high traffic application that experiences performance issues usually caused by problems on the network. Network engineers are increasingly faced with responsibility for administering VoIP infrastructures, and struggle to achieve adequate visibility into how their network and VoIP systems work together.

·         While various point tools are available to manage and monitor VoIP systems, voice implementation often suffers from dropped calls, poor voice quality, packet loss and latency issues. Because of this, creating the most efficient VoIP environment, enhancing user satisfaction and meeting SLAs is a constant challenge for network engineers. With Foglight NMS for VoIP, Quest provides Avaya customers with a single tool for unparalleled network and VoIP infrastructure monitoring.

·         Avaya is one of the top VoIP technology vendors, serving one million businesses worldwide. Quest ensures that Avaya customers get the most from their Avaya investment with a network that’s always on, and a workforce that’s always connected.

·         With the addition of VoIP management and monitoring capabilities, Foglight NMS offers Avaya customers an integrated performance monitoring solution for both network and VoIP infrastructure, in one intelligent, easy-to-read dashboard.

·         A leading tool for monitoring network infrastructure, Foglight NMS is part of Quest’s market-leading Foglight Performance Monitoring portfolio, which offers a variety of solutions that provide an intelligent, consolidated view of application, network, and infrastructure performance. The portfolio enables IT departments to monitor service levels and resolve performance bottlenecks, manage application performance from the end user’s point of view, and consolidate tools for physical, virtual, and cloud environments.

Foglight Network Management System for VoIP Provides:

·         In-depth, detailed monitoring of VoIP quality metrics like MOS, Jitter, packet-loss, delay, network utilization

·         Installation and configuration in less than 15 minutes

·         Comprehensive set of reports and alerts on all VoIP related voice metrics

·         Distributed architecture to monitor across local and remote geographical locations

·         Agent and agent-less options for simplicity, scalability and performance 

·         Unified, granular monitoring of VoIP and network infrastructure using a single pane of glass

·         Network Traffic Analysis to help engineers understand, troubleshoot and perform capacity planning of VoIP and network infrastructure

·         For more information about Foglight NMS for VoIP, or to download, visit http://www.quest.com/foglight-network-management-system/

Supporting Quotes:

Matt Bolton, vice president of product management, Network Management Division, Quest Software

“As a major player in end-to-end IT infrastructure monitoring solutions, Quest is uniquely positioned to be the vendor of choice for Network and VoIP Infrastructure Monitoring.  Integrated into the full Foglight Application Performance Monitoring solution, Foglight Network Management System (NMS) is a leading tool used to monitor Network infrastructure. It is a natural extension to provide solutions to manage and monitor VoIP infrastructure, as well.”

Supporting Resources:

·         Quest Software, Inc.: http://www.quest.com/

·         More Quest news: http://www.quest.com/newsroom/

·         Twitter:  http://mobile.twitter.com/quest

·         Facebook:  http://www.quest.com/facebook  

·         LinkedIn:  http://www.linkedin.com/

·         Quest TV:  http://www.quest.com/tv/

News Release from Cisco - Contact Center

PRESS RELEASE

AAA, CareCore National and Skowhegan Savings Bank Improve and Speed Interactions with Customers with Cisco Contact Center Solutions

Cisco Blends Telephony Technology with New Solutions to Help Companies Deliver Better, Faster and Targeted Customer Service

Related Information

John Hernandez, Vice President and General Manager, Collaboration Business Applications Business Unit

SAN JOSE, Calif., March 12, 2012 – Cisco today announced continued contact center solution momentum with a host of new customers that have deployed products from the Cisco® Customer Collaboration suite, including Cisco Unified Contact Center Enterprise, Cisco MediaSense, and the Cisco SocialMiner™ solution. New customers include AAA, a motor club and leisure travel organization; CareCore National, the largest evidence based healthcare solutions company in the U.S.; and Skowhegan Savings Bank, an independent Maine-based mutual savings bank. Through the use of Cisco Customer Collaboration solutions, AAA, CareCore National and Skowhegan Savings Bank are increasing efficiency while providing the best customer care possible.

AAA

Following goal-setting sessions in 2008 and 2009, AAA of western and central New York saw a need for more effective and efficient interactions with its employees and customers. AAA wanted to put together a member service infrastructure that connected its contact center and branch offices and supported interaction across multiple channels (such as phone, instant messaging, and e-mail). As a result, it deployed Cisco's Unified Contact Center Enterprise system with existing workforce and quality management solutions.

AAA's incorporation of Cisco's contact center solutions allowed for consistent processing, training, and call quality monitoring/scoring, providing a simplified infrastructure while lowering costs. By integrating Cisco's customer relationship management solution, AAA is able to easily associate call recordings and screen captures with the appropriate member's records, all while saving an average of 45 seconds per call by proactively presenting agents with comprehensive customer information during the call.

CareCore National

CareCore National, a company that has contracts with more than 25 health plans and works closely with 650,000 physicians, sought a solution that would lessen the burden on physicians using CareCore's contact center to gain authorization more quickly for crucial patient medical procedures.. Through the use of Cisco's Unified Contact Center Enterprise, CareCore is able to route physician contacts to the best available health plan resource, streamlining communications to improve the physician's experience while reducing costs. CareCore uses Cisco MediaSense to efficiently record conversations on the network for regulatory compliance and to potentially mine for business intelligence to improve customer interactions and processes. Through the implementation of Cisco's solutions, CareCore has improved service-level agreements by reducing the average amount of time it takes a doctor to reach a contact center agent resource from 90 to 60 seconds.

Skowhegan Savings Bank

Skowhegan Savings Bank, an independent mutual savings bank, recently deployed Cisco SocialMiner, a social media customer care solution, in order to respond to customers and prospects communicating through public social media channels. By enlisting the help of Cisco's SocialMiner, Skowhegan is able to monitor conversations surrounding its brand without incurring too much of a contact center agent's time, allowing them to focus on building deeper relationships with customers. SocialMiner helps support Skowhegan Savings' innovative and progressive approach to banking by providing a platform to listen and respond to customers' conversations across various social channels, enhancing its service and improving customer loyalty across all 10 of its banking branches.

As a worldwide market leader in contact center technology, Cisco is helping businesses and organizations elevate their customer care by combining traditional contact center technology and processes with key innovations in social media, Web 2.0 agent workspaces, video, and network-based recording and analytics.

Supporting Quotes

• Bob Leach, CIO, AAA

"Our members communicate with us in a number of ways and regardless of the channel they use, we want to be able to get that member to the best associate, whether in one of our brick –and- mortar locations, or in one of our call centers. However, we realized that we had a major gap between our vision and the technology we had to get us there.. With Cisco, we are able to provide high-quality interactions to any of our 750 handsets anywhere within minutes."

• William Moore, Executive Vice President / CTO, CareCore National

"Cisco contact center products empower CareCore National to provide industry-leading care for our customers today, while laying a strong foundation for the future.  Cisco Unified Contact Center Enterprise helps our physician clients reach the right care resource the first time.  For example CareCore National has reduced the overall time for a physician to talk to one of our medical directors from about 90 second to about 60 seconds, significantly improving the experience while lowering costs.  Cisco MediaSense lets us record calls using the network, providing optimum efficiency and scalability.  The recorded calls not only help us comply with industry regulations, but they also enhance our ability to performance-manage our care processes by integrating the call recordings directly into our cloud-based storage and care management platforms."

• Fred Haberberger, CIO, Skowhegan Savings Bank

"The customer experience is paramount at Skowhegan Savings Bank, so it's important for our clients to be able to contact us in the manner in which they prefer.  Cisco Unified Contact Center Express helps us ensure that every call gets answered by a helpful person, while Cisco SocialMiner gives us the power to engage with current and prospective customers via social media.  Cisco Customer Collaboration solutions are helping Skowhegan better serve our clients and grow our business."

• John Hernandez, Vice President and General Manager, Collaboration Business Applications Business Unit, Cisco

"Customer Collaboration encompasses exciting new technologies such as social media and network-based recording, as well as traditional contact center capabilities," said John Hernandez, vice president and general manager, Customer Collaboration business unit at Cisco. "With Cisco, companies and organizations can choose the right mix of capabilities most suited to their needs.  We're excited to see CareCore National, Skowhegan Savings Bank, and AAA of Western and Central New York exemplify this strategy."

Supporting Resources:

• For more product details and information, visit the Cisco Customer Collaboration page.
• For more information about Cisco's collaboration news and activities visit the Collaboration Blog or follow us viaTwitter @CiscoCollab.

# # #

News Release from Dell - VoIP Kiosks

Dell OEM Solutions Helps Gratifon S.A. Power VoIP Kiosks and Prepare for Future Growth

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Date : 3/7/2012

Round Rock, Texas

• Small business Gratifon relies on Dell cloud computing, industrial PCs, and support to deliver innovative VoIP kiosks across Latin America
• Dell OEM Solutions reduces overhead for Panama-based start-up during rapid growth period and enables global expansion

Gratifon S.A. is leveraging Dell OEM Solutions’ OptiPlex XE PCs and cloud services for 50 kiosks that provide sponsored phone calls at no cost to residents and tourists in Panama. With Dell OEM Solutions technology and services, Gratifon can plan for future growth, focus on innovating its core business and deliver new offerings that help connect consumers.

Gratifon (Gratifon.com) has invented a voice-over-Internet protocol (VoIP) kiosk that connects consumers at tourist locations, hotels, airports, malls and supermarkets to any landline or cell phone worldwide at no cost. During the conversation, the kiosk displays interactive video advertisements on its full-color screen. Gratifon’s kiosks help consumers find restaurants, attractions and lodging, and advertisers benefit by being able to place relevant ads at point of sale locations.

Gratifon needed small, quiet, industrial PCs that would withstand the humid, hot weather of Central America to power its kiosks. The company turned to Dell OEM Solutions’ industrial OptiPlex XE PCs, which have an extended three-year lifecycle and can operate in temperatures of more than 110 F. OptiPlex XE PCs help customers decrease field maintenance costs with component-level stability and standards-based remote management while delivering the performance needed to power quick calls, high definition video and a pleasant user experience.

Dell OEM Solutions also provided the Dell Cloud with VMware vCloud® Datacenter Service, a VMware-based public cloud service offering that provides scalable computing power and storage, eliminating the need for Gratifon to build out its own data center, while delivering simplicity, ease of deployment and a single point of contact for support of the overall solution. Managed by skilled Dell technicians, the solution combines VMware’s cloud software with redundant hardware, power, and cooling to deliver high scalability and reliability. Beyond the software and hardware, Dell’s cloud specialists provided configuration assistance and training, as well as ongoing support, through Dell ProSupport to Gratifon.

With Dell solutions technology, Gratifon has been able to expand, deploying 50 kiosks throughout Panama and plans to add another 250 kiosks within the next six months. Longer-term goals are to roll out approximately 3,000 kiosks in Colombia, Ecuador, Argentina and Brazil within 12 to 18 months.

Dell OEM Solutions works with its customers to help them leverage Dell hardware and services to bring their intellectual property to new markets with greater efficiency so they can spend more time on their own innovation. A division within Dell, Dell OEM Solutions provides original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) with customized services, support and technologies that meet their unique specifications. Many fast-growing, innovative companies looking for a tier-one technology provider turn to Dell OEM Solutions as their single, global source for comprehensive, end-to-end design, manufacturing, logistics, supply-chain and support services to help them improve agility and competitive differentiation.

Quotes:
“As a startup, technology is key to ensuring that our growing business can thrive,” said Oz Yosef, Gratifon CEO. “By leveraging the Dell OEM OptiPlex XEs and cloud services for our kiosks, we were able to cut costs and expand our business in ways we didn’t know possible.”

“We’re pleased to help Gratifon bring their innovative VoIP kiosks concept to the public and grow its business,” said Ron Pugh, executive director and general manager, Dell OEM Solutions, Americas. “By providing Gratifon with a single source for the hardware, services and support to power its kiosk, we give them the reliability and flexibility to expand into new markets.”

About Dell
Dell (NASDAQ: DELL) listens to customers and delivers innovative technology and services that give them the power to do more. Dell OEM Solutions helps its customers find more balance between execution and innovation with dedicated OEM resources, industry-standard hardware and global services and support capabilities. Dell helps its OEM customers improve their time to profit and run their operations more efficiently for increased competitive edge. Learn more at www.dell.com/oem.