Covad Enhances Service Model for Click Commerce While Targeting VoIP Resellers
Click Commerce, a provider of on-demand supply chain management solutions, has announced that Covad, a national supplier of integrated voice and data communications, has upgraded its demand chain management solution and will move to a 'Software as a Service' delivery model.
The upgrade to the Click Commerce hosted solution was a result of Covad's efforts to reduce software and hardware maintenance costs, improve delivery of enhancements, and ensure reliability and security for their partner communications.
Debbie Jo Severin, vice president of marketing for Covad, noted that the company is aggressively targeting VoIP resellers and plans to use the Click Commerce solution to drive successful growth in this market. By moving to an on-demand model, Covad can accomplish this goal, free up valuable IT resources for other projects and reduce the total cost of ownership.
Covad offers DSL, VoIP, T1, Web hosting, managed security, IP and dial-up, wireless broadband and bundle voice and data services directly through its network and through Internet Service Providers, value-added resellers, telecommunications carriers and affinity groups to small and medium-sized businesses and home users nationwide.
By focusing on reducing costs while improving deliverables, Covad is narrowing in on the variables that tend to take top priority in the world of the VoIP reseller. This area still offers tremendous opportunity that Covad is well positioned to exploit. Continuous updates will be one of the critical keys to market stability as the technology and its challenges continue to change. A proactive approach will ensure consistent growth.
Siemens Survey: Mobility, Entertainment Top U.S. Mobile Consumer Wish List
Mobile subscribers in the United States are ready to catch up with their global peers — including closing the gap on the world’s most advanced users in Korea and China — in the adoption of new cellular innovations that make mobile devices sing, play, and work harder than ever before, according to more than 5,000 global respondents of a new Siemens Communications survey.
According to the Siemens survey, U.S. and World Demand for Wireless Applications, topping the U.S. mobile applications wish list are:
Mobile e-mail services, already used by many U.S. consumers today, to manage both office and private e-mails, calendars and contact lists — 69 percent said they are interested.
Mobile music services for access to a radio station or to download songs and listen to them in their mobile devices — 56 percent.
Mobile television services to allow the watching of existing television channels or to enable the downloading and playback of specific video content — 53 percent.
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IBM Extends Websphere Portfolio
IBM has announced new middleware and hardware systems to help telecommunications carriers more quickly, easily, and affordably create, deploy, and manage new, revenue-generating, converged services combining voice, video, and data over both fixed and mobile networks, leveraging a service oriented architecture (SOA).
IBM announced the IBM WebSphere IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) Connector, IBM WebSphere Presence Server, and IBM WebSphere Telecom Web Services Server.
IBM is extending its WebSphere software portfolio to help enable a flexible, IMS-compliant services plane solution supporting the delivery of IP-based services and leveraging a SOA approach. This approach can help telecommunications service providers evolve previously siloed network infrastructure into reusable services that can easily interoperate using industry standards. These products build upon the latest release of IBM’s WebSphere Application Server, which has deeply integrated SIP technology to deliver a truly converged HTTP/SIP service execution platform for next generation services.
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Avaya Grows one-X Family; Launches New IP Phones
In a follow-on announcement to March's launch of the one-X family, Avaya unveiled its next generation of IP phones designed to deliver simplicity and faster access to advanced applications. The Avaya one-X Deskphone Edition is designed to enhance user experiences through more intelligent access to intelligent communications.
“With more businesses facing information overload, it's the clarity of voice communications that cuts through the clutter and gets things done,” said Geoffrey Baird, vice president and general manager, Communications Appliances Division, Avaya.
The phones are the latest addition to the Avaya one-X family of products that give users access to the full range of IP applications with greater simplicity, consistency and control across Avaya devices and interfaces. The one-X family also includes the Avaya one-X Mobile Edition, Quick Edition, and Desktop Edition.
In redesigning and building its new IP phones for businesses, Avaya reached out to actual users. In a survey conducted by Avaya, 85 percent of people who used the phone said it could have a positive impact on productivity and save costs by reducing mistakes and dropped calls, while 90 percent said the phones could save time through easy access to mobility features, reducing phone tag. Ninety-six percent were won over by the phone's ability to quickly find contact information.
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ZTE & Skytel: High-Quality Wireless VoIP
CDMA2000 1xEV-DO Rev. A is the first commercially-developed technology to enable high-quality wireless VoIP. Leveraging session initiation protocol (SIP), it is said to achieve VoIP calls which are potentially of the same quality as PSTN calls. It is actually an enhanced version of an earlier 1xEV-DO release, a broadband wireless technology which is already deployed on networks everywhere (including Skytel’s current network).
Rev. A is said to improve data rates, Quality of Service (QoS) and network capacity. With it, service providers can deliver IP-based applications and services such as video messaging and large file upload. Rev. A is also a key enabler for delay-sensitive services, such as push-to-talk and Instant Multimedia Messaging (IMM), as well as integrated voice and data services, such as video telephony.
The deal is a significant achievement for ZTE because it marks the first successful deployment of CDMA2000 solutions with EV-DO Rev.A for commercial use globally. The upgraded network is expected to be complete by the end of Q3 this year.
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