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Convergence Breaking News

  • Could the Droid X Replace Your Laptop?
    The Droid X appears to be an opening day hit. Motorola's new smartphone--Verizon Wireless' answer to the Apple iPhone 4 via AT&T and HTC EVO 4G via Sprint--has already sold out online and at various retail shops across the nation. The ongoing iPhone 4 antenna soap opera has no doubt helped spur interest in the Droid X, as have positive reviews and Verizon's aggressive and [
  • Thinking Phone finds success with UC approach
    We sat down recently to talk about hosted VoIP services offered by Thinking Phone Networks with Steven Kokinos, the company's president and CEO. Thinking Phone Networks targets large and mid-tier enterprise customers and currently has about 500 business clients covering over 2,000 offices. The company's largest client to date provides services to about 7,000 users.
  • The Avaya FAQ
    Avaya has made news over the past few years by going private, buying up Nortel's enterprise division and revamping its channel partner system. Here are some frequently asked questions about Avaya.
  • HP draws on Avaya as a unified communications partner vs. Cisco
    HP has brought Avaya into its alliance partners program in a move that will help it compete against Cisco by offering more choices to customers interested in unified communications and contact centers.
  • Q&A: SIP pioneer/Cisco Fellow jumps ship to Skype
    Jonathan Rosenberg, co-author of the Session Initiation Protocol, joined Skype in November 2009 as chief technology strategist to apply what he's learned about disruptive IP technologies. Network World Editor in Chief John Dix caught up with Rosenberg over a Skype voice connection to see what the Skype lure was for him.
  • Unified communications saves Canadian school district $200k/year
    The Pembina Trails School Division in the Canadian province of Manitoba is saving $200,000 a year in telecom costs thanks to its unified communications deployment, which includes Adtran NetVanta software, Windows-based Dell servers and Polycom and Grandstream IP phones.
  • UC pays off for Fluor, NHL hockey team
    Fluor Corp. and the Buffalo Sabres weren't looking to implement a unified communications infrastructure, but pressing telecom needs led both in that direction after Fujitsu exited the U.S. PBX business.
  • Skype vs Google Talk
    Skype and Google Talk overlap in offering VoIP, video and instant messaging over the Internet, but the wild card that will determine whether one rival triumphs over the other is what Google might do.
  • Google is no competitor for Skype - yet
    Google's recent purchase of codec innovator Global IP Solutions (GIPS) has observers in a froth over a possible showdown between Google Voice service and Skype, the most popular and largely free VoIP service that includes video and conferencing. But Skype shouldn't worry in the short term.
  • VoIP phone service reaps savings, features for staffing firm
    When staffing firm Aquent scrapped its decentralized phone system for an outsourced VoIP service it saved $20,000 per month, expanded the features of its videoconferencing system and enhanced functionality of its ERP system in one fell swoop.
  • Collaboration vendors join for interoperability
    A number of unified communications vendors including Microsoft, Polycom and Hewlett-Packard have formed the Unified Communications Interoperability Forum, a group to make sure all the pieces needed for collaboration will work together.
  • Cisco buys Moto -- no, not that Moto
    Cisco Tuesday said it intends to acquire privately held Moto Development Group, a product design consulting firm that helped develop Cisco's Flip video camera. Moto, not to be confused with Motorola (which sometimes is referred to by the nickname Moto), develops products and product strategies for the consumer industry.
  • Microsoft to kill Response Point VoIP sales Aug. 31
    Microsoft will stop selling the Response Point phone system on Aug. 31, as it clears the way for Microsoft Office Communications Server to be the vendor's primary VoIP platform.
  • Nortel patent play?
    A published report says Nortel is shopping around its remaining patent portfolio, but the company won't confirm the rumor, saying only that it is trying to "maximize the potential" of them.
  • When they try it, businesses like telepresence: survey
    Telepresence -- the high-def videoconferencing that creates the illusion participants are sitting in the same room -- is still in the early stages of adoption, but businesses that try it, like it and want more, a new study says.
  • VidyoHealth enables remote medical examinations
    Naples, Fla., cardiologist Julian Javier likes to look into his patients eyes to see how alert they are and to see their complexion when he make diagnoses, so he was interested in some sort of videoconferencing system that could give him that glimpse without requiring prohibitively expensive gear on the patient's end.
  • Interop: Avaya CEO touts lasting impact of SIP
    Session Initiation Protocol will remain the driver of innovation in unified communications for the next decade, putting it on par with TCP/IP as a networking game changer, Avaya's CEO told an overflow crowd at his Interop keynote address Tuesday.
  • Orange leads HD mobile voice race
    HD-quality mobile voice is here at last – and, according to a new study from ABI Research, about 487 million mobile subscribers will use HD-enabled handsets to enjoy clear, comprehensible conversations over upgraded networks in 2015.
  • Skype 'rescues' professor stranded in Europe by volcano
    When professors "phone it in," it usually means they're being lazy or dispassionate about the lessons they're teaching. But for Columbia University Law professor Tim Wu, phoning it in was the only way he could teach his classes this week.
  • Teleflirtation: The latest hot way to hook up
    The realistic audio-visual atmosphere of telepresence combined with off-channel instant messaging is giving rise to a new social phenomenon dubbed teleflirtation.
  • Nortel and Avaya Essentials
    The full impact of Nortel’s bankrupcy may not be measured just yet. Yet the insutry goes on. Avaya in particular is faced with the daunting task of keeping its own customers happy but also transitioning its newly acquired Nortel base. Here’s a look at the stories around this major shift.
  • Vendors ally with Microsoft at Voicecon
    At Voicecon's opening Monday in Orlando, vendors are poised to push unified communications and Microsoft is stepping into the spotlight by announcing alliances with other vendors whose gear interoperates with Microsoft Office Communications Server.
  • Cisco's John Chambers answers his critics: What premium pricing?
    Cisco CEO John Chambers addresses competitors' criticism of premium pricing, proprietary technology and circumventing IT when necessary.
  • Salesmanship helps Pepsi bottler win over users to unified communications
    Unified communications technologies haven't caught on as expected, and even though IT managers report some solid productivity benefits, rolling out such new technologies can take some salesmanship at the IT level with end users.
  • Juniper, Polycom team up for telepresence
    Juniper and Polycom have announced an alliance to offer telepresence and video conferencing services to enterprises through service providers.

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