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Thinking of Letting IT Helpdesk Reps Work From Home?

Thinking of Letting IT Helpdesk Reps Work From Home?
Written on January 27, 2008

A remote workforce can be a dream or a nightmare. Find out how you can predict the outcome.

While working offsite can increase productivity and employee satisfaction and lower your operating costs, it’s not right for everyone. Before you decide to make the move, take a cold, hard look at your needs, habits and resources. HR – if your employees are already spending time on a lot of calls to and from home, taking time off to deal with personal matters, don’t function well without structure and guidance, or are workaholics, letting them work from home could turn into a production nightmare. Find out more in 10 signs that you aren’t cut out to be a telecommuter. If you’re considering implementing an offsite IT helpdesk workforce, find out how Bomgar’s remote control software is uniquely suited to ensure the security of client and company data and make the move productive and cost effective.
http://www.bomgar.com/helpdesknews/index.php/archives/697

Help desk site

Help desk site -
looking for a clean Cutomer connection siteCategory: Web Page Design (Coded)
Website, Trademark or Brand Name: EMR Helpdesk
Desired Tagline: Where Doctor's go for help
Desired Color Scheme: Red and white
Accepted File Formats: Standard Web Formats (.jpg, .gif or .png)
Contest Created: Yesterday 18:38
Contest Ends: 6 days and 2 hrs

http://contests.sitepoint.com/contests/5064

Help Desk

Winter Is Here! Why Not Arizona!
One of our key accounts in Southern Arizona is looking for 2 RPG Consultants to help in the development and support of in-house developed applications. These applications include marketing, merchandising, inventory planning, purchasing and customer order processing.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

Determine project requirements, perform general design work, create detail designs, program from general and detail designs, and test new business applications or changes to existing business applications.

Ensure that the existing application architecture is maintained, including application processes and database designs.

Respond to and solve related Help Desk problems.

Prepare project status reports and account for project time.

Develop a basic understanding of business functions and system relationships.

QUALIFICATIONS:

BS in Computer Science or at least 4 years equivalent work experience.

At least 5+ years programming experience working on an IBM AS/400.

Must be proficient with the use of PCs and terminals and have good communication and AS/400 database skills.

Knowledge of AS/400 RPG/ILE, Client Access, Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Word, and Microsoft Excel.

Must be able to move computer hardware between stations (includes lifting hardware up to 50 lbs. w/ assistance as needed).

Contract will pay $60 to $70 per/hr. Contract duration is 2+ months with the possibility of extensions.
Visitors, residents and businesses will find that Tucson offers just about everything in the way of sports, recreation, arts, culture, dining, lodging and financial opportunities. Because of our beautiful weather, activities can be enjoyed year-round!


Required Skills:

BS in Computer Science or at least 4 years equivalent work experience.

At least 5+ years programming experience working on an IBM AS/400.

Must be proficient with the use of PCs and terminals and have good communication and AS/400 database skills.

Knowledge of AS/400 RPG/ILE, Client Access, Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Word, and Microsoft Excel.

About AS/400 Personnel Agency, Inc.:
AS400 Personnel is a leading technical recruiting firm specializing in permanent and contract employment. We work with professionals to support both iSeries (AS/400) and non-iSeries datacenters with a variety of skills and abilities that include RPG, JAVA, VB, HTML, Oracle, SAS, and much more. AS/400 Personnel has been working as a strategic IT staffing partner to small, mid-sized, and Fortune 100 companies since 1996. Our experience and our expertise enable us to provide IT solutions that consistently exceed client expectations.

Industry:
Retail


Pay Rate: $60.00 - $70.00
Emp. Type: Contract
Duration: 3+ Month
Travel: No Travel
Location: Tucson, AZ
Overtime Pay: None
Job Number: CJAZC1-27
Date Posted: 1/27/2008

AS/400 Personnel Agency, Inc.
Other Phoenix jobs with this company.

Attention: Bill Sears
Toll Free: (800) 248-8678
Fax: (760) 635-1177
Email: Send an email to as400personnel@msn.com

Help Desk Technicians needed up to $18.00

Opportunity Number: 15610361
CompanyName: ACT 1
Location: San Diego, CA US
Categories: Information Technology

Salary: 25000 - 35000
Updated: 1/27/2008


Help Desk Technicians needed up to $18.00 -

Finance company in Mira Mesa in need of 5 desktop/help desk technicians to assist with installation of phone systems, provide software and hardware support, and troubleshooting.

Minimum 3 years of helpdesk experience.
Full time, M-F



Requirements:

call for details, 3 years helpdesk experience needed.
http://www.beyond.com/JS/General/Job.asp?id=15610361&aff=FE1E04F6-9592-4CD2-A242-CD8247A4C0D7

All in a Day's Work

All in a Day's Work
By Pfc. Samantha Schutz
Automation helpdesk resolves MND-B's technology problems

When the 4th Infantry Division became the Army's first "digitized division" in 1995, its Soldiers were introduced to a new way of being connected - by technology.

Using a computer network with common operating systems, all units within the Ironhorse Division and Multi-National Division - Baghdad, are able to communicate and share information regarding the mission at hand.

To keep the network running smoothly, a smaller network of Soldiers specializing in automation - the use of computers to reduce the need for human work - run an around-the-clock helpdesk to continuously monitor, upgrade and repair the connections.


St. Louis, Mo., native Spc. Bryan Pilger, an information systems operator and maintainer with Company C, Special Troops Battalion, 4th Infantry Division, sorts through work orders behind the automation helpdesk window in the division headquarters at Camp Liberty, Jan. 24. Pilger and the rest of the helpdesk technicians handle any technological issues for the entire Multi-National Division - Baghdad area of operations. (U.S. Army photo by Pfc. Samantha Schutz, MND-B PAO)



The Soldiers who are part of the helpdesk network do a variety of jobs to fulfill their overall mission.

When a new computer enters the division's hands, it must first be imaged by the helpdesk technicians. Imaging includes uploading brand-new operating systems, such as Windows, and software like Adobe Photoshop and CD burning tools, said Austin, Texas, native Sgt. 1st Class Troy Merritt, the noncommissioned officer-in-charge of the division automation management office, Company C, Special Troops Battalion, 4th Inf. Div.

Once a computer is imaged, it has the capabilities required for it to be connected to the MND-B network. The helpdesk staff also handles the creation of user accounts for the network.


Spc. Bryan Pilger, a St. Louis, Mo., native and an information systems operator and maintainer with Company C, Special Troops Battalion, 4th Infantry Division, plugs imaging cables into desktop computers at the automation helpdesk in the division headquarters building at Camp Liberty, Jan. 24. The imaging process includes uploading new operating systems and software to desktop and laptop computers, and it is usually completed within 24 hours.(U.S. Army photo by Pfc. Samantha Schutz, MND-B PAO)



Each Soldier's information, like where they work and how to contact them, is stored in their user account so coworkers can easily communicate with one another.

Also, if a division staff member has secret clearance and access to a secure network line, they are able to access the MND-B portal, a centralized website where all the units can compile knowledge, Merritt said.

From the portal, anyone who needs assistance with a network-related issue can contact the helpdesk directly by filling out a "trouble ticket," or work order, said Merritt. The helpdesk staff continually checks the portal for new trouble tickets and addresses each individual problem.


St. Louis, Mo., native Spc. Bryan Pilger, an information systems operator and maintainer with Company C, Special Troops Battalion, 4th Infantry Division, links a cable into a laptop computer to begin the imaging process at the automation helpdesk in the division headquarters building at Camp Liberty, Jan. 24. The imaging process includes uploading new operating systems and software to desktop and laptop computers, and it is usually completed within 24 hours.(U.S. Army photo by Pfc. Samantha Schutz, MND-B PAO)


"We're averaging anywhere from an hour and 50 minutes to two hours from the time a ticket is submitted to the time it gets closed," said Merritt.

Since the Ivy Division arrived in Iraq, the helpdesk has imaged nearly 1,400 computers, created nearly 2,800 user accounts and resolved nearly 800 trouble tickets, Merritt added.

While Merritt oversees automation operations, he said it is the junior-enlisted Soldiers who get the work done behind the scenes.

"(The technicians) are the heart, life and blood of the helpdesk," Merritt said. "They are all very technically proficient and very professional."

Not only does the staff of the helpdesk know their job well, they also enjoy building on the knowledge they already have.

Although the helpdesk stays fairly busy, two Soldiers spend their downtime researching and improving their jobs.


Spc. Alan Rubilar, a native of Falls Church, Va., and an information systems operator and maintainer with Company C, Special Troops Battalion, 4th Infantry Division, stacks newly-imaged desktop computers for reissue to division staff members at the automation helpdesk in the Ironhorse headquarters building at Camp Liberty, Jan. 24. The imaging process includes uploading new operating systems and software to desktop and laptop computers, and it is usually completed within 24 hours. (U.S. Army photo by Pfc. Samantha Schutz, MND-B PAO)


"We're constantly trying to make the system better," Spc. Bryan Pilger, a native of St. Louis, Mo., and part of the helpdesk staff and information systems operators and maintainers with Co. C, STB, 4th Inf. Div.

"Before, the imaging process required much more user interaction, but we wrote new scripts and cut a lot of that out," added Spc. Alan Rubilar, a Falls Church, Va., native, with the helpdesk staff. "Now it requires less time and produces fewer errors."

Working efficiently is a priority for the helpdesk staff, which even puts together an assembly line to make imaging computers easier in the limited space they have inside the division headquarters building.

"We have less to work with this time," said Nacogdoches, Texas, native Staff Sgt. Tracy Smith, the noncommissioned officer-in-charge of the helpdesk, Co. C, STB, 4th Inf. Div.

When Smith deployed as part of the helpdesk staff in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom 05-07, the staff had a larger space to work in. Even though the space is more crowded now, the Soldier's don't mind working in close quarters.

"I think we're doing a good job," said Smith. "I'm just blessed to be working with the best guys in my job field and, as far as I'm concerned, in the Army."

Technology is constantly evolving, and with highly trained, professional Soldiers staying up-to-date with the flow of information, the 4th Inf. Div. will continue to stay at the forefront of digital development.

Site requires host and domain name

Question: I want to create my own Web site. Which is better -- signing up for hosting, or buying a domain name?


Answer: You will need both. A host sells you space on a server to store Web pages. It also gives you a bandwidth allowance. That's the limit on traffic to your site. The domain name is a Web address. Visitors will need it to find your site. There are countless Web hosts and domain name registrars. It pays to compare prices. Many hosts also offer free domain names. This can save you about $10 a year.
Q: My mouse failed in the middle of something I needed to save. I ended up losing my work. If this happens again, what can I do?
A: Nearly everything can be accomplished from the keyboard. Keyboard commands are similar in most programs. I'll use Microsoft Word as an example. You could save the document with Ctrl + S. To save and close a document, use Ctrl + W. You may get a small window asking if you want to save. "Yes" is highlighted. Just press Enter. Microsoft and Apple have long lists of keyboard commands. I have links at www.komando.com/news.

Pheasants Forever to have state meeting in G.I.

Pheasants Forever to have state meeting in G.I.


Nebraska Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever will have their 2008 state habitat meeting and banquet Feb. 2 at the Midtown Holiday Inn in Grand Island.
Seminars will run from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., with the state banquet beginning at 6.

The 26 seminars will focus on all aspects of increasing and improving wildlife habitat in Nebraska. Wildlife professionals from across the country will be present to inform and educate those in attendance on all things wildlife in Nebraska.

The state meeting is also home to the popular Landowner Help Desk, where landowners can receive wildlife habitat advice at no cost. Landowners who wish to visit the help desk should bring a legal description of their property in order to receive one-on-one assistance.

All sessions at the Midtown Holiday Inn will be open to the public for a full-day price of $30 (which includes lunch) until Monday. Beginning Tuesday, the ticket price will go up to $40.

The banquet will be open to members for $15 and nonmembers for $45 but is limited to 250 attendees. All proceeds raised will benefit habitat projects and youth events across the state.

Participants can register for the meeting online at www.nebraskapf.com or by calling the Pheasants Forever state office at (308) 754-5339.

Need a Content Management Site

Project: Need a Content Management Site
ID: 1201147120

Status: Open
Budget: $75-100
Created: 1/23/2008 at 22:58 EST
Bidding Ends: 2/6/2008 at 22:58 EST (13 days left)
Project Creator: eure1
Rating: (6 reviews)
Description: I would like to make a site clone like http://www.faithwriters.com. I'm looking to start a Christian website for writers to submit there work and also for pastors to view short stories. Need login for unlimited users to view stories and a place for writers to sumitt short stories.

If you have a script for this kind of site it would be a plus. If not I do know of one that I can purchase.

Thanks

Job Type: PHP
MySQL

http://www.scriptlance.com/projects/1201147120.shtml?ref=dcm

Polycom Expands Integrated HD Video Recording, Streaming and Content Management Solutions

Polycom Expands Integrated HD Video Recording, Streaming and Content Management Solutions
Posted: January 23, 2008 by Chris Payatagool
Polycom Expands Integrated HD Video Recording, Streaming and Content Management Solutions

PLEASANTON and SAN DIEGO, Calif. - Jan. 21, 2008 -Polycom, Inc., the world's leading provider of unified collaborative solutions, today announced a new, entry-level version of the Polycom Video Media CenterT (VMC) 1000 video content management solution and enhancements to the Polycom RSST 2000 video communications recording and streaming server. Together the integrated solution enables organizations to easily produce, manage, and stream video conferences and content to internal or external audiences through their video conference and network infrastructures.

Polycom will showcase the VMC 1000 and RSS 2000 solutions to an audience representing 650 channel partners at the Polycom Global Partner Conference taking place this week in San Diego, Calif.

"Interest in video communication is growing rapidly, and organizations are struggling to cost-effectively deliver, manage, and produce video content," said Joe Sigrist, senior vice president of video solutions at Polycom. "By integrating video conferencing systems with video content management, Polycom enables customers to leverage their video conferencing investments to create a powerful, scalable enterprise video communications network."

Polycom's integrated solution allows organizations to use all Polycom video endpoints (and third-party H.323 video endpoints) to create high-quality video content, which can be streamed live or made available on demand through the VMC 1000's easy-to-use and customizable web portal. Used in conjunction with the Polycom RSS 2000 recording and streaming server, customers can record point-to-point and multipoint video conferences (including content shared within a call) and automatically store them centrally. Additionally, by using the VMC 1000 in concert with Polycom's video conferencing systems, a video conference can be streamed to specific, targeted individuals and groups, or streamed to broader audiences.



The new, entry-level Polycom VMC 1000 solution supports 250 concurrent streams and provides IT administrators comprehensive control of their digital video assets, from creation, capture and encoding, to portal publishing and webcasting, to storage and archiving. Videos can be synchronized with content and other data to create rich media education and training programs, and stored content can be easily located by category, keyword, availability and more through embedded search features. Content streaming and on-demand playback supports from 250-1,000 concurrent unicast users (depending on system configuration) and unlimited users via multicast for global scalability. Standard reporting capabilities include the ability to track viewership, content popularity and user statistics for measuring program success, compliance and security.

The widely deployed Polycom RSS 2000 provides simple recording and streaming of conferences and presentations that extend the reach of video collaboration among employees, customers and partners. The Polycom RSS 2000 allows users to easily stream, record and playback content from any standards-based video conferencing endpoint. Version 3.0 enhancements to the RSS 2000 video recording and streaming server include:

* Support for Multicasting - New multicasting support increases scalability and reduces the network load for streaming live video conferences, events or content.

* More efficient resource use through clustering - Customers can now pool RSS 2000 systems on their network and allow users to dial a common number to record on any RSS 2000 and then easily retrieve that content centrally either through the RSS 2000 or through the Polycom VMC 1000.

* Support for UltimateHDT - New support for SirenT22 high definition voice, complements existing support for HD video (16:9 widescreen) and HD content, allowing users to now record and stream UltimateHD video conferences with HD video, HD voice and HD content.

Web Content Management (WCM) Tech Exchange Webcast on Performance & Scalability

We will be hosting another Technical Exchange webcast on January 31. Attend a web conference to view and hear the presentation from our WCM expert on the topic of IBM Workplace Web Content Management (WCM) performance and scalability.

http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/nflsblog.nsf/dx/WCM_Performance_TechExchange

Intrasphere Technologies Launches PharmaCM: Content Management for Life Sciences Organizations

NEW YORK, Jan. 23 /PRNewswire/ -- Intrasphere Technologies, a leading consulting firm that provides business-focused services and solutions to life sciences organizations announced today the launch of PharmaCM, a comprehensive content management solution -- powered by Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 (MOSS). The solution enables users to overcome ineffective content authoring, management and distribution processes.
PharmaCM helps organizations manage drug product information that is critical to patient safety more effectively, including the content for drug labels, clinical trial protocols, and drug safety reporting in a user friendly manner, empowering business users to easily create, manage, submit to regulators and intelligently reuse their information.
"The launch of PharmaCM is a significant milestone for Intrasphere. With this solution our clients can manage their regulated information seamlessly from one platform, built on Microsoft Office SharePoint Server," said Woo Song, Co-Founder & Chairman, Intrasphere Technologies. "It is critical for life sciences organizations to have the ability to create and manage content such as product labels, clinical protocols and study reports while at the same time staying in compliance with the latest regulations including the recent FDA Administration Act. PharmaCM makes it possible for them to easily manage this process in a familiar Microsoft environment."
"Life sciences organizations can spend a significant amount of time and money reformatting content to meet specific regulatory requirements," said Mike Naimoli, U.S. life sciences industry solutions director, Microsoft Corp. "PharmaCM addresses this challenge using Open XML formats and Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007, giving customers the ability to set up an environment that facilitates the reuse of content, and that enables authors to create documents with a consistent look and feel."
PharmaCM provides an intuitive and familiar interface for generating a series of regulated documents including protocol disclosure forms required for registration on http://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ as well as structured product labels (SPL) as required by the DailyMed on the National Library of Medicine.
About Intrasphere Technologies
Intrasphere Technologies, Inc. (http://www.intrasphere.com/) is a consulting firm focused on the Life Sciences industry. We provide comprehensive, business-focused services that help companies achieve meaningful results. Our professionals leverage strategic acumen, deep industry knowledge and proven project execution abilities to deliver superior service that builds true business value.
Some of the world's leading global pharmaceutical companies look to Intrasphere as their trusted solutions partner.
Founded in 1996, Intrasphere is headquartered in New York City with operations in Europe and Asia. Intrasphere has been recognized nationally for performance by industry leading organizations such as, Deloitte & Touche, Crain's New York Business and Inc. Magazine.
Intrasphere Technologies, Inc.

Proctor Academy Selects Kintera Platform

Proctor Academy Selects Kintera Platform
Switches to Kintera Donor Management, Continues to Use Kintera Fundraising and Web Site Management Software

SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Kintera® Inc. (NASDAQ:KNTA) today announced that Proctor Academy, a co-educational independent school in Andover, NH has selected Kintera’s platform of software solutions for fundraising, e-mail and communications, Web site, wealth screening, and donor management.

Proctor Academy, which has been using Kintera’s e-mail, has added Kintera donor management to its list of Kintera solutions enabling the school to increase efficiency by using only one system.

“Using one platform for our donor management and engagement needs will help us work more efficiently while maintaining the exceptional experience our donors have come to expect,” said Keith Barrett, director of development for Proctor Academy. “Having already used Kintera’s products for a couple of years, I am confident that moving our CRM to Kintera is the right thing to do. Kintera’s platform of products provides us the tools we need to be creative in our fundraising and provide an enhanced donor experience.”

Proctor Academy will switch to Kintera’s CRM application for donor management. Kintera Sphere CRM helps institutions and independents schools such as Proctor Academy centrally record and manage the important aspects of constituent relationships. Additionally, the e-mail and communications software enables Proctor Academy to send personalized communications to each donor.

“Kintera is pleased that more and more institutions are seeing the benefits of a unified software as a service solutions platform,” said Rich LaBarbera, Kintera CEO. “Proctor Academy is an excellent example of how independent schools can use Kintera’s platform to create a personalized donor experience. In addition, as our community of Kintera Connect partners continues to grow, more and more applications will become available to help institutions achieve their mission.”

Kintera is the only software as a service provider to offer nonprofits a comprehensive solutions platform with functionality, such a content management system (CMS), advocacy, constituent relationship management (CRM), donor management, and wealth screening, integrated in one platform. In addition, Kintera Connect, the company’s open application integration platform, enables partners and clients to create best of breed solutions to meet their unique needs.

In addition to Kintera’s suite of software products, the company also delivered its open application platform, Kintera Connect, on Oct. 12. To foster the development and innovation of applications for nonprofits, Kintera created the Kintera Connect partner program. Today the program consists of more than 30 partners from both the enterprise and nonprofit technology sectors. The Kintera Connect partner program has been designed to build new applications in a variety of categories including donor management, call center, content management solution mash-ups, data and analytics, e-commerce, fundraising, mobile solutions, and social applications.

For more information on Proctor Academy, visit www.proctoracademy.org. For more information on Kintera, visit www.kintera.com.

Critical Media Announces WorldNow Veteran, Ion Puspurica Has Joined Its Management Team to Head the Company's New Broadcaster Services Group

Critical Media Announces WorldNow Veteran, Ion Puspurica Has Joined Its Management Team to Head the Company's New Broadcaster Services Group
Puspurica to Lead Global Campaign to Release Critical Media's Syndicaster Platform to 650 Broadcasters


NEW YORK, Jan. 23 /PRNewswire/ -- Critical Media, Inc., a company at the forefront of real-time broadcast media search, syndication and information services today announced that former WorldNow founding member and top business affairs executive Ion Puspurica has joined its management team to head the Company's new Broadcaster Services Group. Founded by Screaming Media co-founder, Sean Morgan, Critical Media is building the definitive real-time platform for enhancing the utilization of professionally generated broadcast media assets online. As Executive Vice President and General Manager of the Broadcaster Services Group, Puspurica will be responsible for managing services that add velocity to Critical Media's online publishing and syndication businesses, while also creating tremendous defensibility by enabling the Company to provide a unified digitization, distribution, utilization and monetization platform.

The Broadcaster Services Group provides broadcasters with a gateway to access, and tools to leverage, Critical Media's proprietary fourth generation real-time global broadcast capture and digitization platform that currently is already ingesting and digitizing all of their broadcast signals 24/7, within seconds of airing. The Group's initial product offering -- Syndicaster, offers unequaled economies of scale, providing broadcasters a single, unified platform for creating, managing and distributing broadcast video assets online. Now station groups can have all of their broadcast content, from all of their stations, published and distributed from a single mRSS feed, and can easily distribute online fully keyword searchable video or audio clips within seconds of airing.

Syndicaster, currently in beta agreements with over 40 broadcasters, will be rolled out to 650 broadcasters globally beginning January 31st. Syndicaster eliminates the need for distributed hardware and software solutions for digitization and clip creation and when appropriate, seamlessly works with broadcaster's existing content management platforms.

"Syndicaster is a suite of tools and services that together are a core strategic asset for the Company, serving as a content acquisition engine for its syndication platform, ClipSyndicate, and a marketing engine across all the Company's business lines. Fully leveraging this asset requires the expertise of a seasoned executive with a proven, track record in deploying new businesses in broadcast markets worldwide. We are delighted to have Ion assume this responsibility," says Morgan. "Additionally, because Critical Media's platforms deliver significantly more value at substantially lower cost than any other solutions provided individually or in aggregate, the Company intends to use pricing aggressively to gain market share. Our pricing flexibility comes from two dynamics; the fact that we are already monetizing our infrastructure through our Information Services Group's Critical Mention real-time broadcast intelligence platform, and more importantly, because we are at the forefront of what we believe is the inevitable market migration of these services from primarily distributed hardware/software solutions to web- based platforms," added Morgan.

"The fact that Critical Media is essentially turning broadcast and other video and radio into fully keyword searchable mediums, effectively transforming these online assets from browseable to discoverable, fuels a large opportunity not only in syndication but across a range of information and business services, positioning the Company for strong growth in the years ahead," said Puspurica.

"The launch of Syndicaster will be initiated by a 'full-on-assault' effort to rapidly provide 650 broadcasters (whose content is being ingested and digitized 24/7) with user names and passwords to Syndicaster. We've truly managed to deliver a risk-free, streamlined workflow, taking all complexity out of distributing and monetizing video broadcast news online," continued Puspurica. "While transmission and transcoding charges will apply for distribution in multiple formats to other distribution platforms, distribution to ClipSyndicate is free and ahead of competitive distribution points and platforms, making ClipSyndicate the go-to, dynamically updating repository for near-real time authoritative video assets, ready for syndication."

Puspurica will also oversee the launch of SearchItLive, still under non- disclosure beta with a number of radio and TV broadcasters, slated for release in Q1 2008. "To date, broadcasters who have seen Syndicaster are almost universally equally interested in adopting SearchItLive, our white label search box solution, providing federated, distributable search functionality for all of a station group's broadcast television and radio assets." added Puspurica.

About Ion Puspurica

Prior to joining Critical Media, Ion served 10 years in various management positions with WorldNow, the leading provider of Internet technologies, distribution channels, and online revenue streams for over 320 CBS, NBC, ABC, and FOX affiliates. As founding member of the WorldNow team, Ion helped build the largest online network of local news and information sites (Local Media Network: LMN/WorldNow ranks within the Top-10 U.S. properties for News & Information - comScore). Before WorldNow, Ion conducted investment activities in Europe and Asia for the Gannaway Group, focusing on opportunities in media and entertainment. Earlier in his career, he spent 5 years with Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC), a leading systems, solutions and technical services company. Ion serves on several industry association committees, including the IAB Digital Video Committee, Local & Classifieds Committee and Mobile Advertising Committee.

About Critical Media

Critical Media is a company at the forefront of real-time broadcast search, syndication and information services. The Company's global, proprietary infrastructure captures and digitizes broadcast content in real- time, making it keyword searchable within moments of broadcast. Critical Media aggregates professionally-generated video and audio content from around the globe and accelerates its utilization and monetization online. Comprised of three divisions; Information Services/Critical Mention which provides real- time broadcast intelligence to desktop users, Media & Publishing Services/ClipSyndicate, an ad supported video syndication platform for mid and long tail websites and advertisers, and Broadcaster Services/Syndicaster/SearchItLive, the first web based platform for mid-stream creation of discrete assets and real-time broadcast search syndication. For more information, please visit www.critical-media.com.

Website: http://www.critical-media.com//

User generated content hits Australian TV

A new television initiative has set out to bring the YouTube generation to Australian TV. Launched this week as a national first, user generated ‘Participation TV’ links 3G phone capabilities with broadcast TV, giving mobile-ready youth a shot at their thirty seconds of fame.
Optus, MTV, and software development company Gravity have jointly launched a Participation TV program, Vidcast, which invites audiences to participate by submitting video clips via either a video call or MMS.

Upon video calling an Australian mobile number, audience members are greeted by a pre-recorded video message and guided through MTV’s terms and conditions. Callers can then record their own 24 second video clip which, upon submittal, is sent to an online content management system. Video clips sent by MMS directly enter the same content management system.

Once in the content management system, video clips are reviewed by an MTV moderator and then are either broadcast on Vidcast, published on an Optus Web site, or rejected. After each clip is moderated, its author receives an SMS notification about whether the clip will be aired.

Vidcast’s phone-to-TV technology is called IVVR, and builds on the automated voice call answering technology that is currently in use by some technical support lines and customer care centres.

The technology has been developed by Gravity, which was formed in 1996 as an Internet-focussed content management service provider, but during the past two years has changed its strategy to encompass mobile telephony and television in response to customer demand.

“IVVR – Interactive Voice and Video Response – is similar to IVR [Interactive Voice Response], which is the old 1902 service, where you dial a number and push numbers to navigate through a menu,” explained Gravity Sales Manager, Frank Lodewick.

“The key area of our development is in user interactions. We’re developing technology that allows our customers to interact with their audience,” he said. “We got a lot of requests along the years for SMS, MMS, video [functionality], and that’s what made us broaden our strategy to mobile, Internet and TV.”

Vidcast is said to be the first Participation TV program of its kind in Australia, and is expected to appeal to the youth market as it brings together two of the biggest technology trends of 3G video calling and user generated content.

“More and more people are connecting and sharing content online,” said Michael Smith, Optus Consumer Group Marketing Director. “We’ve seen this with the explosion in popularity of social networking sites like MySpace and online video sites like YouTube in recent years.”

“Participation TV is a dynamic new technology that will bring this online element to television transforming viewers from passive to active audiences and allowing fans with similar interests to connect,” he said.

User-generated TV may be new to Australia, but according to Gravity's Lodewick, Participation TV programs have been airing in Europe and Asia for more than a year.

Lodewick mentioned TV programs that allow roving reporters to call in to submit breaking news from the street, game shows that invite live video contestants, and talk show polls that air the opinions of people in their living rooms.

“It is quite a new concept to Australia, and there are several things that we can do,” he said. “The main markets that we are looking at are in the U.K., Italy, Holland, France, Singapore and Malaysia. This is the first show that is launched in Australia; in those countries it has been happening for more than a year.”

The application of video calling in Australia has been expanding since 3G services were made available by Hutchison in 2003. Gravity’s IVVR system uses the same video technology, Lodewick said, except that calls are terminated at an application instead of at another person.

“SMS happened in exactly the same way,” he said, noting the current demand for TV programs, like Channel 10’s Big Brother that allow audiences to vote for contestants via SMS. Lodewick also mentioned a demand for mobile services delivering ringtones and games that are purchased via SMS.

“During its first few years as a service, people could text information to one another. After awhile, people realised, ‘Hey, if I can send a message to a person, I should also be able to send a message to an application, or send stuff from an application to a person’.”

“That’s exactly the phase we are at now. We’re saying that video calling doesn’t necessarily mean person-to-person, it could also mean person-to-application.”

The potentials of person-to-application video calling extend beyond Vidcast, Lodewick said, expecting Gravity’s technology, which is offered as a managed service, to be applicable to either publishers of magazines or newspapers, recruiters who could conduct preliminary interviews, and dating Web sites that might offer video chats with potential matches before physically meeting up.

“We have many, many applications for this technology, and this is just one of them; we are talking to a lot of companies,” Lodewick said.

Vignette APAC chief exits

ENTERPRISE content management company Vignette is on the hunt for a new Asia-Pacific head following the sudden departure of Graham Pullen

Mr Pullen has been in the IT industry for over 33 years, including an initial two years at Vignette as national sales director before leaving in 2001.

In 2002 he joined Documentum as managing director of Australia and New Zealand.

The following year storage giant EMC acquired Documentum.

Mr Pullen spent less than 24 months under the new EMC management before returning to Vignette in early 2005 as Asia-Pacific general manager and vice-president.

A Vignette spokesperson confirmed his tenure had ended.

“After three years at Vignette, Graham Pullen has left the company to pursue other opportunities. We wish him well and thank him for his service. Vignette has begun a search for his replacement," Gayle Wiley, Vignette senior vice president of worldwide human resources, said.

Mr Pullen previously had stints with PeopleSoft, Silicon Graphics and BEA Systems.

Vignette has been struggling to reinvent itself and stave off increasing competition from incumbent and new players.

John Brand, research director at Hydrasight, said Vignette and most of the other major content management vendors have had a tough time of late because of two main issues.

"There's the competition from open source web content management solutions such as Joomla, OpenCMS, Bricolage, and around 50 to 100 other niche commercial and open source packages.

"Also, organisations on the whole have scaled back their e-commerce and enterprise content management plans," Mr Brand said.

While having developed and acquired some good technology, Vignette has tried to promote web-based business process efficiency and enhanced collaboration to an audience that was either not entirely ready to adopt it, or not convinced that it would have considerable business benefits, he added.

Despite the competition, Vignette's strong regional client base should see them through. "We don’t expect them to lose those clients completely," Mr Brand said.

Globally, third quarter revenue in 2007 was $US43.5 million, a 11.7 per cent decrease compared with the same period in 2006. Fourth quarter results will be announced tonight.

Mr Pullen's exit comes days after SAP lost its local chief Alan Hyde. Sun Microsystems, Quantum and Mincom are also recruiting new chief executives in Australia

Structured Settlement

Structured Settlement

What are structured settlements?

Structured Settlements are financial tools used to resolve court settlements in personal injury cases. A structured settlement uses annuities through insurance companies like Allstate to fund the arrangement.

How do you factor a Structured Settlement?

Factoring a structured settlement is also known as selling the rights to your structured settlement payments. There are many companies who factor structured settlements and annuities. These companies use discount rates as a pricing model.

Selling a structured settlement can be a complicated process for the annuity owner. This is how a structured settlement is factored:

1) The structured settlement annuity owner receives quotes from various structured settlement factoring companies.

2) The policy owner chooses the company they would like to do business with.

3) The factoring company begins the underwriting process, which includes the following:

* receiving approval from the insurance company (not necessary, but saves time and money for future court approval)

* securing proper investor language for transfer

* obtaining local attorney in the state the settlement was settled in

* obtaining a court date in the state the annuitant currently resides

4) The law IRC 5891 requires that all structured settlement factoring transactions be approved by a state court. If this is not pursued by the factoring company then a punitive excise tax penalty will be placed on the transaction.

5) The entire process takes between 6- 8 weeks to receive funding.

Structured Settlement Company I Like To Recommend

For 15 years, Stone Street Capital has been a leader in the specialty finance industry. With over $1 billion in originated transactions, we've helped thousands of people receive immediate money for their future payment streams. Stone Street Capital is responsible for many innovations that are standard in the industry today. In addition to the direct services that Stone Street provides, we have also taken the lead in petitioning state lotteries on behalf of our clients. Due in large parts to Stone Street’s efforts, lottery winners’ rights have been established in many states.

Be A Structured Settlement Recipient

Be A Structured Settlement Recipient

You never know when you will need some help from a speciality finance industry, Stone Street has been a leader in this industry for over 15 years. If you have won money from a lottery, or contest, or have been injured in an accident, you have the option of receiving your money in one lump sum, and this can happen as soon as you receive your structured settlement. For many this is a preferred method, because you can get that large sum of money into the bank, or into an investment right away. It can be used to pay off hospital bills, or credit cards. Stone Street treats each client as an individual with their own personal needs and wants, so this payment is geared to your own lifestyle.


Structured Settlements are usually used in cases of personal injury settlements. In a Structured Settlement a plan is worked out and an amount is decided upon for the injured party. Usually this is paid off over a period of time. If it is to the advantage of the injured person to receive his or her payment in one lump sum the trained professionals and lawyers at Stone Street can work out a payment of one lump sum. This sometimes helps the person to get on his or her feet, with money left over.

It is your money so your choice. Check out www.stonestreet.com to get all the information you will need to make an educated decision. You will be able to understand all your options, and there is a toll free number, so any questions you may have can be answered by the people at Stone Street.

Car Donations: How to Make Your Next One Easy

Car Donations: How to Make Your Next One Easy
Each day, someone in the United States makes the decision to donate one of their vehicles. Although a relatively small number of individuals make the decision to donate their cars, many more think about doing so, but end up not. One of the reasons for this is because many individuals think a car donation is too much work, despite the good that could from it. The reality is that car donations are only difficult if you make them. There are a number of ways that you can go about making your next car donation a smooth and easy one.

Perhaps, one of the reasons why many individuals assume that a car donation is too much work is because they try and donate their car on their own. With this, you must find and contact local charities or non-profit organizations. This could be extremely time consuming and there is even a chance that you will not find anyone who wants to accept your car donation. However, there is a way that you could make your next car donation count, a much easier way.

Instead of trying to donate your car on your own, you are advised to seek professional assistance. That assistance should come from a car donation program. Car donation programs exist all across the United States. Their goal is to make sure that non-profit organizations are given cars or, at least, the money for those cars. They do this by, personally, collecting the cars themselves. Then, they will spend their own time trying to find a non-profit organization for your car donation. Essentially, this makes donating a car as easy as it could possibly be.

As previously mentioned, most car donation programs will arrange for the pick up of your car donation, but not all will. For car donation at its easiest, you are advised to request a pickup. If one is not available, you will want to find a program that offers this additional feature. You will find that it will not only save you time, but even gas money. A well-known and reputable car donation program or center should be more than willing to pickup your donation for you, even if they do not outright advertise that they will.

If you plan on using your car donation as a deduction on your taxes, you will need to get the proper documentation. When using a car donation program, you will not always be provided with these documents upfront; they will often be sent to you after your vehicle has officially, been donated. To ensure that you do get the proper credit for your car donation, you are advised to request a small certificate of donation or pickup. This will ensure that you will be protected, in the event that anything should go wrong with the car donation program that you used. Although it is almost guaranteed that everything will go right, you are advised against taking any unnecessary risks.

By keeping the above mentioned points in mind, you should be able to donate your unused or unwanted vehicles with little or no hassle. It is likely that your donation will be greatly appreciated, by whoever gets it.

Donate your car not so temping after all

Donate your car not so temping after all


You may hear radio ads stating that you can donate your car and you can get a tax donation right? right. But what you don’t hear nor what they tell you is the down side of this process that can only cause you frustration and headaches.

When I called up the local service in my area which we’ll leave nameless first of all answered the phone in a rather rude tone. Secondly, the fact that they said to just drop the car off up at their site in Cleveland and wait for a phone call and that when it came to a price I would just have to wait to see what the car sold for and then I would be TOLD what I would get for it. I know I might be naive about all of this but the way theymake it seem is that you show or tell them what you got they look it up on a chart that would somehow fairly tell them roughly what it might be worth whether through kbb or wherever and then they’d cut you a check/ tax credit for that amount. Apparently I was wrong dead wrong. This also means that they could have your car forever until it sold.

The car I was getting rid of I wasn’t in that big of a hurry but I didn’t like the fact that I had to drop off the car both sets of keys AND THE TITLE! to a place out in BFE and wait for them to call and tell me how much they decided they wanted to sell it to a friend of theirs or whomever.

I know this might just be me but I wouldn’t donate my car for nothing! There’s always demo derbys going on get a few spray cans and a case of beer and have a blast one day during the summer and smash the hell outta stuff. I’m the ACF and I’m out!

Donate Your Used Car

Donate Your Used Car
Do you plan to sell your old car? Think twice before you, because you go through the process of making contact with an agent, or will have a small ad in the local newspaper to sell your car. This would mean that you are constantly phoning and disturbances. In addition to this there will be a lot of your time to sell your old car and an appropriate customers at the best price and get the paper work.

With all these problems, you want to sell your car? Consider donating your car for charitable purposes. There are many car-donation programs that various car charitable organizations. You can donate your car in one of these charity organizations or any of the love that you support. The main charity organizations, a successful and trustworthy car donation program are American Kidney Foundation, Kars4Kids, Cure Childhood Cancer Activated Ministries and apart from the others.

You donate can use the car in these charity organizations. All you need is your old car and a clean title. If you donate your car, you will get a tax cut. This tax cut is usually equal to the price for your used car. To find out the cost of your car, you can judge it by a certified appraisal car experts or relate to the Kelly Blue Book (KBB). Now with this information with you, all you have to do is a call to your favorite charity car and have it on your door step. In addition to donate your car, you can also donate your boat and motorcycles.

This car, you donation will help to support the needy and give them a better life, and you also get a tax cut. More importantly countless blessings. So do not hesitate to donate your used today.

Cord Blood Biobanking: Indiana Legislative News

Cord Blood Biobanking: Indiana Legislative News
Last week at the Second Regular Session of the 115th Indiana General Assembly, Representatives Peggy Welch (District 60), Eric Koch (District 65), Kreg Battles (District 64), and P. Eric Turner (District 32) introduced House Bill 1020. The proposed legislation will establish a nonprofit corporation to operate an umbilical cord blood bank. As written the legislation also "[r]equires physicians and participating hospitals to inform pregnant patients of the option to donate umbilical cord blood". Although the primary purpose of the bank is to provide medical benefits for Indiana's citizens, it may (depending on the progress of the legislation) provide cord blood for future research studies. The bill was referred the the Committee on Public Health on January 14th, 2008.

PredictER Blog will follow this legislation and will post a more thorough commentary on the ethical, legal and social issues of this proposed biobank in the near future.

Area hospitals recognized for contributions to special blood bank

Area hospitals recognized for contributions to special blood bank


Melissa McEver
January 18, 2008 - 11:55PM
HARLINGEN — Officials from the Texas Cord Blood Bank congratulated Valley Baptist Medical Center-Harlingen on Thursday for collecting more than 1,000 units of umbilical-cord blood to help patients with life-threatening illnesses.

Officials also recognized Valley Baptist-Brownsville for collecting 450 units of cord blood for the statewide bank.

The hospitals have helped put Texas “at the forefront of increasing the supply of cord blood,” said Mary Beth Fisk, executive director of the Texas Cord Blood Bank.

The Texas bank, part of South Texas Blood and Tissue Center in San Antonio, is one of only a few public cord banks across the country, according to the National Marrow Donor Program.

Cord blood is extracted from the placenta and umbilical cord after a healthy birth, and is often rich in stem cells, or cells that haven’t yet differentiated, according to the March of Dimes. Cord blood can be used instead of bone marrow for transplants in patients with leukemia, lymphoma and sickle-cell anemia, among other diseases.

Valley Baptist’s facilities were among the first hospitals statewide to participate in the program, said Jim Wesson, chief executive officer of Valley Baptist-Harlingen. No other local hospitals currently participate.

The bank has collected 8,000 units of cord blood since its inception in July 2005, Fisk said. Eight hospitals contribute to the bank.

One cord-blood donor, nurse Oneida Garza, said the decision to donate her baby’s cord blood was easy.

“I donated because of the different diseases cord blood can hopefully treat or cure,” said Garza, who works in the labor and delivery unit at Valley Baptist-Harlingen. Her son, Ethan, is 7 1/2 months old.

A state legislator from the Rio Grande Valley, Sen. Eddie Lucio Jr., D-Brownsville, helped get the cord-blood bank off the ground, Fisk said.

The Texas Legislature earmarked $4 million last session for the bank, and Lucio hopes to obtain more next session, said his chief of staff, Paul Cowen.

“We want to expand (the program) all over Texas,” Cowen said.

Wesson thanked the local women who have participated in the program.

“We’re very excited about this accomplishment,” he said.

Help Desk Manager

The Service Desk manager oversees the 7X24X365 Service Desk staff in a business to business technical call center ensuring premium service delivery and excellent customer service. This includes creating, improving, and managing all processes related to the resolution of end user issues and service requests.

The Service Desk Manager will be responsible for transforming the existing support team into a world-class Service Desk providing monitoring of infrastructures, management of incidences, and processing of service requests. Provide staff management and technical direction and champion efforts toward evolving into an ITIL based organization.

Job Responsibilities:
•Provide day to day oversight, management, and direction to the Service Desk staff.
•Management responsibilities include, but not limited to, interviewing, hiring, and training employees; planning, assigning, scheduling and directing work and projects; defining goals, objectives, and appraising performance; rewarding, coaching, and disciplining employees; address concerns and resolve problems.
•Responsible for the overall direction and enhancements related to the incident management/Service Desk process or tools
•Working across groups and function to improve incident management and customer experience of working with the Service Desk
•Involvement in the problem management process where appropriate
•Primary interface for new support requests, generation of requirements for support turnover, and introduction of new support
•Assign and manage projects to completion on time and within budget
•Establishment and reporting of metrics around productivity, efficiency, and customer satisfaction
•Cross departmental coordination of customer concerns around incident handling
•Identifying Solution Knowledge Base issues/gaps and expand use of solutions to improve resolution time within the service desk
•Conduct research on emerging products, services, protocols, and standards in support of the Service Desk
•Champion changes and change adoption through out the organization
•Evaluate processes, tools, and people for efficiently operating within the Service Desk
•Oversight of external customer communications, adherence to customer SLAs and as needed participation in customer presentations


Required Skills:

•5 years of management experience
•2+ years of experience in a technical service desk
•Experience using automated problem/incident management system
•Experience working as an interface with business users and technical IT staff
•Must be self motivated and able to work with minimal supervision
•Exceptional customer service skills and proven ability to work in a customer centric environment
•Demonstrated ability to assess complex situations, set priorities and implement action plans
•Exceptional written, verbal and interpersonal skills to effectively and professionally communicate with management, staff and customers as well as demonstrate sound judgment and reasoning
•Proficient in MS Office tools

Desired Skills:
•ITIL Foundations certificate preferred
•Remedy ITSM
•Six Sigma process
•Web application knowledge
•Mainframe, Production Control, and Network Operations knowledge



About Synergis:
Synergis is your premier source for both Contract Consulting and Permanent Placement of I.T. professionals. With headquarters in Atlanta, Synergis has the inside track to the local IT employment market. We represent many of the region’s top companies and are absolutely committed to providing them with the highest quality talent. Equally important, we take the time to carefully match each candidate’s career objectives to the best opportunities available.

First and foremost our colleagues and associates, the people you work with every day, are our greatest resource. They are the foundation upon which Synergis has grown into one of the region’s premier IT staffing resources. Top performers need a high performance environment and the best available tools to reach their full capability.

Benefits:
Health Insurance, Life Insurance, Dental Insurance, Disability Insurance, Paid Vacation, Paid Sick Leave, 401(k), Flex Time, Casual Dress, Vision Insurance

Pay Rate: $79,000.00 - $88,000.00 + 10% Bonus
Emp. Type: Full Time
Travel: No Travel
Location: Norcross, GA
Overtime Pay: Straight Time
Job Number: AHSDM
Date Posted: 1/23/2008

Synergis
Other Atlanta jobs with this company.

Attention: Ashley Harwell
Email: Send an email to Ashley.Harwell@Synergishr.com

get more details of this job
http://www.atlanta.computerjobs.com/job_display.aspx?jobid=2049686

Game, Set, And Match!

Game, Set, And Match!
• Numara Software has won a major new deal with the Lawn Tennis Association to install its market leading service management solution, Numara FootPrints 8.

Reading, UK, 22nd January 2008: Numara Software, a leader in service desk management solutions, announced today that it has won a significant new contract with the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA). In late September 2007, the LTA implemented Numara FootPrints 8, an advanced and adaptable service management platform with ITIL compatibility, across the entire organisation. Numara FootPrints 8 handles up to 200 support calls per week across all of the LTA’s 170 offices around the country, which includes the newly opened state-of-the-art National Tennis Centre based in Roehampton, South West London. Following a company restructure which increased the diversity and complexity of user enquiries, the LTA made the decision to look for a solution that would give it the flexibility to accommodate the needs of the business today and wherever it might be tomorrow.

The LTA’s infrastructure is very fragmented and support can vary enormously, with high volumes of requests coming into the service desk at any given time. Previously, the LTA was using another help desk product from Numara Software - Track-It! According to Adam Batey, Technical Support Administrator at the LTA: “Track-It! is a great product that has suited us well to-date and the support we’ve received from Numara Software has been first-rate, but our needs have become more complex. So, when we decided to look for a new product it made sense to go back to Numara Software to see whether FootPrints would fulfill our requirements. Both the volume and complexity of our IT support requests had increased so we needed a solution with more powerful automated workflows and a wider range of customisable templates so that we could design a Service Desk that suited our unpredictable needs. Numara FootPrints 8 met our criteria.

In our business the demands vary from one week to the next. For example, the IT team can be supporting a major tournament like Wimbledon, setting up Broadband for a week, running all the IT back office for this high profile event and at other times we might simply be dealing with requests at a local county level. Flexibility, adaptability and open form design are major business drivers, and it is really important that we keep IT resourcing costs to a minimum.”

Numara FootPrints 8 was implemented in less than two weeks using Numara’s Professional Services team, who were instrumental during the design and set up phase. In addition, the LTA was extremely impressed with FootPrint’s integration with Numara Asset Manager. Numara Asset Manager enables the LTA to instantly view and manage end users’ PC configurations, run audits, manage software compliance and generate inventory reports. One month on and the organisation is extremely satisfied with the product and has already started to use Numara FootPrints enhanced functionalities.

“Through FootPrints and Track-It! Numara Software offers best of breed helpdesk solutions for businesses of all sizes; this is reflected in the 50,000 companies using our software and the fact that we have over 14 million assets under management worldwide. The FootPrints 8 solution chosen by the Lawn Tennis Association, delivers enhanced functionality levels that allow customers to increase operational efficiencies, reduce costs, quickly implement industry best practices and meet compliance standards” commented Andy White, Managing Director – EMEA & APAC Numara Software. “Market feedback indicates that the latest version of FootPrints, has been successful because it enables customers to easily adapt to changing businesses needs, without incurring costly administration and management overheads. We expect the Lawn Tennis Association to be just one of many UK wins that we will be announcing before the end of 2007.”

The LTA is the governing body for tennis in Great Britain, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man. Its objectives are to promote and develop tennis and adhere to and safeguard the interests of the sport and governing body. The LTA employs 350 staff and has 170 different locations spread around the country, with 7 key regional offices and 30 plus county offices and a number of High Performance Centres, nationwide training facilities and the newly opened National Tennis Centre. The National Tennis Centre provides a one-site national focus for the sport in Great Britain, offering players the best opportunity to realise their potential by providing world-class facilities and back-up. The NTC was officially opened by Her Majesty the Queen, the patron of the LTA, on 29th March 2007.

Numara FootPrints 8 was launched in September 2007. For more information please visit www.numarasoftware.co.uk.

AdventNet Enhances Its Active Directory Solution ADManager Plus to Increase Administrative Efficiency With Role Delegation to Helpdesk Technicians

AdventNet Enhances Its Active Directory Solution ADManager Plus to Increase Administrative Efficiency With Role Delegation to Helpdesk Technicians
PLEASANTON, CA--(Marketwire - January 22, 2008) - AdventNet Inc., a leading provider of enterprise Management Solutions, announced that its ManageEngine ADManager Plus helps delegate specific tasks to Helpdesk technicians on their Active Directory and perform granular management actions, limiting them to an Organizational Unit or the entire domain.

Delegation of authority is a definite cost saver to any organization, which reduces administrator's burden drastically. With the Help Desk Delegation feature, ManageEngine ADManager Plus enhances it further by providing an administrator the facility to group permissions into specific roles, using a web-based user interface. The highlight of the web-based console is its ease-of-use wherein any helpdesk technician with little knowledge of Active Directory can perform delegated roles. The administrator too will have complete information and control on the roles delegated, from the admin console.

ManageEngine ADManager Plus is an enterprise ready windows Active Directory Management and Reporting Solution, which facilitates easy delegation of management tasks to help desk technicians. Human resource staff can create users in Active Directory by a bulk import from a CSV file and templates. Selected users in the particular domain are delegated with roles for managing tasks like reset passwords, unlock accounts, and disable accounts. In addition, the administrators can move single or bulk Active Directory users from one OU to the other, and also assign roles to the technicians to generate Active Directory reports specific to an OU.

"I have always found Active Directory to be a very back-room and technical product only suited to network/security administration, whereas ADManager Plus puts a very friendly and powerful interface over the top of that and I've been very pleased with the functionality," says our satisfied customer Greg Nockolds, Data Architect, IPPSA - Information Planning, Policy, Standards & Applications, Department for Child Protection.

"Role delegation in Active Directory has always been a challenge for administrators what with the option of setting thousands of permissions," says product manager Manikandan Thangaraj. "ADManagerPlus simplifies this function to a large extent and makes their life easy," he added.

About ManageEngine ADManager Plus

ADManager Plus strives to be the world leader in Active Directory Management and Reporting. It counts for many of the world's leading enterprises and serves a diverse range of organizations, which include a significant number in Banking / Finance / Insurance, Health care / Pharmaceuticals, Education, Hi-tech / IT / Manufacturing and Government / NGOs. The development team takes pride in serving over 1000 satisfied customers which also includes several of the fortune 500 companies. A 30-day trial with full functionality is available for evaluation. For further details on customers, pricing, technical support and the product visit our site at http://www.admanagerplus.com

About AdventNet

Enabling Management Your Way™

AdventNet provides affordable software in the areas of network applications and database tools. With a broad product portfolio and an active customer base ranging from enterprises, equipment vendors and service providers, AdventNet has emerged as a very affordable and high-quality alternative to expensive software that is common in the industry. AdventNet is headquartered in Pleasanton, CA with offices in NJ, NH, India, UK, China and Japan. It has a well-trained partner base around the globe and thousands of customers world-wide. Visit us at www.adventnet.com.

How Web 2.0 Affects Content Management

You can't turn your back these days without a Web 2.0 or enterprise 2.0 service provider sneaking up on your content management infrastructure.

They come in all shapes and sizes, from project management and simple workflow to blogging, RSS, and rich media services.

I alluded to how content management is going social in one of my earlier posts and thought it made sense to dive a little deeper and look at the real impact Web 2.0 is having on content management.

Blogs
If you're a CMS vendor and you don't have a blogging strategy, I'd suggest you find a new product manager or head of strategic alliances. And if you serve the SMB marketplace and can't compete with Web teams using WordPress and Movable Type, I guarantee you it only gets worse. While you're gathering requirements for how the fuctionality maps to your platform, blog teams will be on their second or third prototype. Granted, it might not be a full-blown Web solution, but it will be enough to raise some doubt.

On the user side of CMS, blogs have spoiled us in a good way. Users now demand complete control and administrative flexibility over the content they use throughout their business. And users have figured out what dynamic content really means through blogs. It's the conversations they build on-the-fly that are so compelling. And it's those on-the-fly or ad-hoc requirements that cause the most pain in the CMS world.

RSS
Another one of the underpinnings of Web 2.0, RSS, also is having significant impact on content management. For some, just grappling with the fact that users now have the ability to essentially opt-in or out of their Web site content is downright scary. "You mean users might not visit our Web site to see our flashy new design? They can just subscribe and get the actual content?" If that's what your client is saying, you have a lot of work to do, Mr.CMS consultant.

Social Networking
There he goes, you're saying. Another Web pundit pushing all this Facebook and LinkedIn stuff down my corporate throat. Not exactly. Social networking's impact on content management is pretty straightforward, actually.

On the vendor side, the toolset providers are figuring out they need to prepare for loosely coupled handshakes between their APIs and the likes of Flickr or Facebook. More and more, our personal information stored in our Web community is being mashed up with our corporate data;, giving our colleagues a sense of our true identity. Again, if you're in the content management space and aren't acutely aware of the SoNet effect, you've been warned.

So, are these tenets of Web 2.0 just creating more confusion as companies look for better ways to manage content? Do they fill in some of the functionality that our CMS toolsets lack? Or here's a thought. Perhaps what's important isn't the functionality at all.

Maybe what's most notable is how Web 2.0 has raised the bar for a few of the things we should all demand more often -- ease of use and flexibility.

Trancontinental Media sites now powered with Nstein's Web Content Management solution

Trancontinental Media sites now powered with Nstein's Web Content Management solution
Leading Canadian magazine publisher re-launches its flagship site
canadianliving.ca and boosts its visitors from 400,000 to 1 million
per month using Nstein's solution for online publishing

MONTREAL, Jan. 22 /CNW Telbec/ - Nstein Technologies Inc. www.nstein.com
(TSX-V: EIN), a leader in online publishing solutions for newspapers,
magazines and online content providers, announced today that Transcontinental
Media, Canada's largest publisher of consumer magazines, migrated two of its
most popular sites onto Nstein's Web Content Management (WCM) solution.
Transcontinental Media chose its flagship site Canadian Living
(www.canadianliving.ca) and French lifestyle site Le Bel Age (www.lebelage.ca)
to be the first sites for the deployment of Nstein's solution. Because of its
robust yet flexible framework, Nstein's WCM was selected since it allows
Transcontinental to rapidly go online with new business initiatives such as
microsites, providing new advertising revenue opportunities.
Other key factors that led Transcontinental Media to adopt Nstein's
content management system were: a LAMP architecture that significantly reduces
IT costs and external dependencies, a native XML structure simplifying the
consolidation of complex legacy data and a built-in search engine.
While Transcontinental reinforced the implementation of best SEO
practices, the deployment of Nstein's WCM framework now enables the
organization to easily publish high volumes of content and rapidly increase
content visibility and availability for search engines. Since the re-launch of
canadianliving.ca in October 2007, reports have shown a tremendous increase in
website traffic, boosting from 400,000 unique visitors per month to nearly
1,000,000.
"As we moved into the next generation of Web technologies, we wanted to
unify our processes into one centralized platform and ensure the autonomy of
each site," said Zouhaire Sekkat, Vice-President, Digital Media,
Transcontinental Media. "Nstein's WCM provides a framework where content can
be easily published, reused and shared across our properties. We are glad to
benefit from Nstein's e-publishing expertise-helping us to heighten our online
visibility and create a more pervasive experience of Transcontinental Media's
brands across our paper and digital properties."
"By moving its flagship sites onto our platform, Transcontinental Media
has shown its confidence in Nstein's ability to increase traffic and
stickiness with our web content management software," said Luc Filiatreault,
President and CEO of Nstein Technologies. "We look forward to the next few
months when migration of other web properties of Transcontinental Media will
be rolled out using Nstein's WCM."

About Nstein Technologies Inc.

Nstein Technologies (TSX-V: EIN) develops and markets multilingual
solutions that power online publishing for the most prestigious newspapers,
magazines, and content-driven organizations. Nstein's solutions generate new
revenue opportunities and reduce operational costs by enabling the
centralization, management and automated indexing of digital assets. Nstein
partners with clients to design a complete online strategy for success using
publishing industry best practices for the implementation of its Web Content
Management, Digital Asset Management and Text Mining Engine products.
www.nstein.com

<<
- The TSX Venture Exchange does not accept responsibility for the
adequacy or accuracy of this release.

- Any statement that appears prospective shall not be interpreted as
such.
>>



For further information: Investor Relations: Bruno Martel, Chief
Financial Officer, Nstein Technologies Inc., (514) 908-5406,
bruno.martel@nstein.com; Media: Rina Marchand, Marketing Manager, Nstein
Technologies Inc., (514) 908-5406, rina.marchand@nstein.com

Checkintocash.com has fast approvals

Checkintocash.com has fast approvals
In 1993, a new cash advance service was born. The first Check Into Cash location opened in Cleveland, Tennessee. Cleveland now serves as corporate headquarters for offices located throughout the United States.

Checkintocash.com has fast approvals. Receive cash instantly and Checkintocash.com can hold checks. They are pioneered the cash advance service. At Check Into Cash payday advance centers, the procedure is simple: A cash advance customer issues a check payable to Check Into Cash from a personal checking account. Check Into Cash provides the customer with the cash needed – instantly! For a one-time flat fee, a Check Into Cash payday loan customer can obtain money in a manner that is QUICK, EASY & CONFIDENTIAL

What is a payday loan or online payday advance?

A payday loan or payday advance is a small, unsecured short-term loan ranging from $100 to $1,000 (depending on the state) offered by a payday lender, such as Check Into Cash. A payday loan is typically used as a cash advance until your next payday.

Payday loans help cover unexpected expenses that come up between paydays. A payday advance can solve temporary cash-flow problems without bouncing a check or incurring late payment penalties. And a payday cash advance is usually less expensive than those other alternatives.

A payday advance fills a need not met by banks or other financial institutions. And getting a payday loan or payday advance from a reputable payday lender is easy; there is no credit check or waiting period. All you need is a photo ID, a current bank statement and proof of income. Check Into Cash takes care of the rest.

How does a payday loan or online payday advance work?

To receive your payday advance in one of their 1,250 centers nationwide, you’ll simply write a personal post-dated check for the amount you want to borrow, plus the payday loan fee. Check Into Cash will hold that check until your next payday. At that time, you can come in and pay off the payday advance in person. Unlike other payday lenders, Check Into Cash will not force deposit the check you wrote (unless required by state law.) Either way, you get the payday loan you need, and no credit check is required.

To receive a payday loan online from Check Into Cash, simply fill out their short online application. Funds will be deposited into your account the next business day. Your payment will be debited electronically (ACH) from your active checking account on the date your payment is due.

Plus, if for any reason, you change your mind about getting a payday loan or online payday advance, you have up until the close of business the following day to rescind your payday loan transaction, at absolutely no cost to you.

So the next time an unplanned expense comes up, remember a payday loan from a trusted payday lender like Check Into Cash can give you the cash you need until payday. It’s as easy as one, two three…and it’s QUICK, EASY & CONFIDENTIAL.

Check Into Cash: http://www.checkintocash.com/

CASH ADVANCE SERVICE

CASH ADVANCE SERVICE
I have been in situations that I need some extra money to pay my bills. When I was studying I hardly could get around although I was working part time. I can imagine that there are more people who are dealing with such situations. It can be hard to pay your bills when you are dealing with financial issues.

I found this great site which offers a solution when you are in financial trouble. This site is called Usaquickpayday.com. If you are looking for a payday loan to pay your bills or if you want to buy something then Payday loan can be the solution.In case you got to pay bills before your next pay check is received then a Usaquickpayday.com can help you out.
You can apply quickly for a payday loan at Usaquickpayday.com. Once your payday loan is approved you can get your money deposited to your account electronically the same day. You can apply for a payday loan from $100 up to $1500. The whole process is completed online. This site offers faxless cash advances for you without any paperwork. If you are a US citizen you can provide the monthly income and proof of employment to apply for a payday loan.

If you want a payday loan you can apply without going through the trouble of filling paperwork. Get a payday loan from the professionals in lending.

Cash Advance Payday Loans

there are really times when we are short on our budge and we just can’t wait for payday to come, its really a headache isn’t it? what if there is a payday loans - meaning you can advance loan and pay it during payday. cash advance payday loans provides this kind of service for people who need to a safe and secure way to get an emergency cash.

but what are the requirements? you just need your employment status. since you have your steady job, its just as easy as 1-2-3. remember you do NOT need a credit check to be able to apply. cash advance provides or help consumer solve their short-term cash problem. as a consumer also we also need to be responsible for the loans we apply, to be sure to pay and be able to continue our daily life free of loans.

be safe and be responsible , if you are thinking of safe and secure emergency cash, cash advance is your best choice.

Payday loans are big business for them, poorhouse for you

Commentary by Chief Master Sgt. Stanley Bauer
84th Combat Sustainment Wing

1/18/2008 - HILL AIR FORCE BASE, Utah (AFPN) -- In an interview on "Dan Rather Reports," Mary Ann Olson said she took out a payday loan for $140 and ended up paying back more than $2,000. She turned to them because she didn't have enough savings to purchase a pair of orthopedic shoes due to multiple sclerosis. She believed it was the only option to solve her money problem.

Unfortunately that's true for military members as well, who some say are the payday loan's best customer.

In the same report, a military member took out a $300 loan from a payday lender near his base and ended up having to pay back $15,000. He went to the payday shop because he was short of cash and had expenses associated with raising three children. On payday, he would go store to store, borrowing money from one lender to pay off another.

There are better options when seeking help.

Financial stability is a major factor for readiness, wellness and security. It's extremely difficult for an Airman to deploy, or be productive for that matter, if he has financial difficulties. Financial woes are also a common thread in suicide cases as well. That's why it's important we work together to solve some of these issues.

Payday loans have become a $40 billion business and are especially prominent outside military bases. David VanBeekum, a market manager for a local bank near Hill Air Force Base helps to educate Airmen about how payday loans work. He said Utah has 350 payday lenders and almost 10 percent of them are located just outside the base's gates.

But you don't have to physically go to the stores. The Internet has 2.5 million links for payday loans, 4 million for cash advance sites; and 31 million for check advance sites. In addition, the Hill Air Force Base Airman and Family Readiness Center, which offers financial counseling services for military members, found that in California the payday loan outlets outnumber McDonalds and Burger King restaurants combined.

Typically, payday loans are for relatively small amounts of money in increments of $100, up to $1,000. It's easy to obtain one of these loans. All anyone needs is a bank account, proof of a steady income such as a pay statement, and a simple form of identification. It takes about 20 minutes to secure a loan.

Payday lenders target women, those who earn $25,000 or less per year, minorities, and military members. The borrower writes a personal check or grants electronic access for the amount of the loan and a finance charge. However, these loans are not long term and become due on the borrower's next payday, either in one or two weeks. The interest compounds quickly and calculates to an average of 390 to 780 percent annual percentage rate. There's no payback installment plan so the borrower must pay the entire amount due in order to avoid another finance charge associated with an extension of the entire loan principle.

This style of business traps the borrower into a repetitive cycle. On average, a person choosing a payday lender ends up with eight to 12 loans per year. A successful payback of the loan is not reported to the credit bureaus and there are documented cases of companies resorting to unlawful or questionable collection tactics.

Each state establishes its own regulations, finance fees and interest rate limits, not the federal government, Mr. VanBeekum said. There's even a lender in Utah who charges as much 1,335 percent, and even though they're required by law to advertise the interest rate, 75 percent of them do not.

The Consumer Federation of America, a non-profit advocacy group, has studied the payday loan industry for the past 10 years and said the industry meets the criteria for predatory lenders who have abusive collection practices, balloon payments with unrealistic repayment terms, equity stripping associated with repeated refinancing and excessive fees, and excessive interest rates that may involve steering a borrower to a higher-cost loan.

Besides the high interest rates, CFA surveyors found they misrepresent themselves as check cashers even though they are not registered with the state as a check cashing entity. They will not cash your personal check. Instead, they are only willing to hold your check until payday. The lenders will threaten or badger the client into paying the loan and many people end up rolling over the entire balance of the loan, and thus incur the finance fees again. A number of payday lenders have also ignored the Electronic Fund Transfer Act and found ways to access a consumer's account when not authorized or when authorization was withdrawn.

Gina Rickertson, a payday lender in New Mexico, acknowledged that 70 percent of her customers are military. "Some of the military are my best customers -- and my most faithful paying, too," she said.

The truth is, military members do have alternatives for financial assistance. The Air Forces offers interest-free loans for those in need and they can receive free financial counseling. During the holidays, the top enlisted members always find families in need and ensure they have meals or gifts for their children. Also, military members receive monetary compensation for food and their medication is free. Most financial trouble comes from mismanagement, lack of knowledge, or revolving debt.

Continued education is key to combat against using these financial traps. The base briefs every first-term Airman as they report for duty. We all need to be aware of this trap and work to help our Airmen stay financially fit.
http://www.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123082778

Payday lending foes have their eyes on compromise

When the General Assembly gathered a year ago, Jay Speer and other consumer advocates reiterated their call for abolishing payday lending in Virginia.

This year, the executive director of the Virginia Poverty Law Center and other critics of the short-term loans have modified their opposition. They’ve endorsed bills that would cap the annual rate for payday loans at 36 percent, the ceiling in place for other small consumer loans made in Virginia.

At the urging of Del. Terry Kilgore , R-Gate City and chair of the House Commerce and Labor Committee, industry representatives and critics of payday lending plan to gather in Richmond today to discuss possible compromises in their legislative proposals.

Dan Drummond, a lobbyist for the Washington -based payday-lending organization Community Financial Services Association , expressed hope that the two sides may find some common ground. “We don’t like to keep fighting this battle year after year,” he said.

Still, payday lenders remain vehemently opposed to rolling back the existing ceiling, which amounts to an annual rate of 390 percent for a typical two-week loan.

With a rate of 36 percent, lenders couldn’t cover their overhead, let alone make a profit from payday loans, they say. “They put that cap into effect in Oregon, and lenders left,” Drummond said.

At least 19 bills to modify or abolish Virginia’s Payday Loan Act have been introduced during the current session of the General Assembly. Some call for an interest-rate cap. Some would impose more stringent limits on the ways lenders can collect overdue loans.

One proposal, sponsored by Del. Bob Marshall, R-Manassas, would allow municipalities to impose a maximum annual interest rate that lenders could charge and limit the number of loans that could be made to a borrower.

Virginia legalized payday lending six years ago after some lenders used a legal technicality to evade the state’s interest-rate ceiling for small loans.

Legalization brought with it modest oversight by state regulators and opened the doors to a torrent of lending, especially in Hampton Roads.

Payday lenders can make available as much as $500, usually for two weeks, to individuals who have a job and a bank account. Borrowers provide the lender with a post-dated check for the amount of the loan, plus the interest charged.

The debate over payday lending has less to do with specific interest rates and more to do with the borrowers who find themselves trapped by a rapid build up of interest charges. The industry insists that the number of borrowers who get in over their heads with payday-lending debt remains slight.

“It’s not our goal to put people in a position where they can’t pay us back,” said Jamie Fulmer , a spokesman for the Advance America Cash Advance chain of payday-lending stores.

Advance America and other lenders have promoted their product as a service for financial emergencies and a less-costly alternative to bouncing a check. The amount of payday lending in Virginia – $1.3 billion in 2006 – is evidence, they contend, that consumers want access to convenient, short-term credit.

Speer and other critics have responded by citing the increase in individuals who have become heavy users of the loans. The number of Virginia residents taking out payday loans fell almost 3 percent in 2006 to 433,537, according to the Bureau of Financial Institution s’ latest annual report on payday lending.

The number of borrowers using 13 or more loans, however, climbed almost 7 percent to 96,831.

“What we want, more than anything, is to deal with the cycle of debt” that traps many borrowers, said Mark Hubbard, a lobbyist with McGuireWoods Consulting. Hubbard is assisting the Center for Responsible Lending, a Durham, N.C. -based organization that has been especially critical of the industry’s practices.

Del. Mark Sickles, D-Fairfax, said he sees a role for payday loans, in part, because “our typical financial institution in Virginia doesn’t make $300 loans.”

Rather than endorse the campaign for a sharply lower interest rate, Sickles introduced a bill, HB 1103, that would limit the amount of a loan to a percent of the borrower’s gross monthly income.

His bill also would allow lenders to gain access to a borrower’s bank account through electronic debit or wire transfer .

Sickles’ package also calls for adopting an online data base to verify that lenders and borrowers abide by the prohibition against rolling over an existing loan.

In the midst of their lobbying in the Capitol this week, lenders and critics said they agreed on one issue: Allowing regulation at the municipal level isn’t appropriate.

“This is an issue that has to be addressed at the state level. It’s a statewide problem,” said Speer of the Virginia Poverty Law Center.

http://hamptonroads.com/2008/01/payday-lending-foes-have-eye-compromise

Are Payday Loans a Service or a Disservice?

S ome bills simply must be paid. So when the rent and the car payment come due but Tasnuva Ahmed's next paycheck is a week away and the wallet is empty, she visits her local payday lenders.

Zips up to the Check 'N Go on King Street in Alexandria, hurries inside and emerges 14 minutes later with a few hundred dollars, an advance on her next paycheck. Cost: $15 per $100 borrowed. Ouch.

Plus the interest she owes on loans from five other payday lending shops around town. Plus the interest on the last round of loans that she has rolled over because all her interest payments prevent her from paying off the principal on her loans. Mega-ouch.

"I owe $450 every two weeks," says Ahmed, a 27-year-old manager at a service company. "Sometimes this is your only option. I respect the fact that they're there when you need them. You have bills, and you have to pay them. But I have never recommended this to anyone. You can't catch up. I started with $100, and now I'm in so deep, this is my second-biggest expense. It's almost close to rent."

Virginia legislators are deep into their second year of debate over whether to tighten the rules governing the state's 790 payday loan shops -- or to squeeze them so hard they close up entirely. The District and three states have driven out the shops either by banning them or by capping their interest rate at 36 percent, as compared with the 391 percent they now charge. Maryland doesn't allow payday loans at all.

This is not as easy an issue as it might appear. Yes, the interest rates look exorbitant. But people who have lousy credit and cannot turn to banks -- many who have jobs and own homes but run short between paychecks -- need a source of money. They find themselves at the counter at Advance America, ACE Cash Express or Cash & Go, where they can get a two-week loan of up to $500.

About 430,000 Virginians borrowed from a payday shop last year, and nearly three-quarters of them took out more than a loan every month.

"These people know what they're doing," says Zainab Charley, the counter clerk at an Advance America on Leesburg Pike. "They're all adults. They know their own financial problems. If you want it, we can give it to you."

The way the industry sees it, they provide a service. You want it, pay for it. "I never say this is the right product for everybody in every situation," says Jamie Fulmer, spokesman for Advance America, which has opened 142 shops in Virginia since the state legalized payday lending in 2002. "But people don't want the government making that choice for them."

The industry and its supporters in Richmond -- payday lenders contributed $486,000 to legislators last year -- propose to save their business by limiting borrowers to two or three loans at a time and prohibiting customers from taking out a new loan until at least 24 hours after they've paid off their last one.

The industry argues that it is being singled out for criticism even though its companies' profit margins are about half that of big banks.

People who need quick cash face a variety of pricey options, industry advocates say, arguing that their 391 percent interest rate compares favorably with the cost of bank overdrafts, credit card late fees or bounced-check fees.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/19/AR2008011902280.html

Top 8 Tips for Taking out a Payday Loan

Top 8 Tips for Taking out a Payday Loan

The cash advance and payday loan industry provides short term loans for consumers on a personal level. Payday loans are useful to consumers who may not be able to pay a bill and need an emergency cash loan.

The payday loan industry has boomed throughout the 90’s and will continue to be the most reliable emergency cash relief. Many things have changed and will continue to do so, but the payday loan industry will continue to stand strong with consumers. The industry is valued at over $40 billion in personal cash advance loans and provides the largest emergency income source to aid in the average consumer’s life.

After scouring the web and reviewing different payday loan sites I found two that I thought were the most reliable. They actually have industry experts who write articles on best practices. The first site is MyPaydayCashAdvanceLoans.com which is a great resource for a cash advance loan. PersonalPaydayCashAdvance.com is another trusted resource for payday cash advance loans. Finally check out the Community Financial Services Association of America to learn more about responsible lending and borrowing.

In today’s age it’s a lot easier to get a payday loan online rather than walking into a store. There are a few things you should know before pursuing an online payday loan so take a second to read the Top 8 Tips for Taking Out a Payday Loan.

Review the disclosures and contract carefully. If you have any questions make sure to ask. This can save you time and money.
Make sure saving is your top priority; the best loans are the ones from your own account!
Your first priority is paying the loan back by your next paycheck to avoid any penalties.
If applying for a cash advance be sure you have your bank, employment, and pay stub information with you.
Seek out alternative sources for the personal loans such as, family friends, etc. Only after you have exhausted the alternatives should you seek a payday loan.
Don’t overuse payday advances, only sparingly, if needed.
Always know the due date of your payday loan.
Online payday loans are a great alternative to the cash advance store. It is easier, faster, and more convenient.

Everybody Loves Raymond (Season 3) DVD Review

Everybody Loves Raymond (Season 3) DVD Review

First telecast in the Fall of 1996, Everybody Loves Raymond became an instant favorite among TV audiences, a love affair that would last for nine memorable seasons. Following on the heels of a series of successful sitcoms starring stand-up comics - Seinfeld, Home Improvement, The Drew Carey Show, etc., Everybody Loves Raymond drew upon the comedic talents of Ray Romano who plays the role of the title character Ray Barone

A successful Long Island-based sportswriter, Ray and his wife Debra (Patricia Heaton) enjoy a happy marriage and the company of their three children - daughter Ally (Madylin Sweeten) and twin sons Geoffrey (Sawyer Sweeten) and Michael (Sullivan Sweeten). But they also happen to live directly across the street from Ray's parents, Frank (Peter Boyle) and Marie (Doris Roberts), who take it upon themselves to enter their son and daughter-in-law's house whenever they wish (without knocking) and dispense advice and sometimes insults. Joining Frank and Marie is Ray's brother Robert (Brad Garrett), a divorced policeman, who periodically lives with Frank and Marie and is often jealous of Ray's idyllic life. Together, they create the perfect loving and dysfunctional family

The Everybody Loves Raymond (Season 3) DVD features a number of hilarious episodes including the season premiere in which Ray and Debra's house gets quarantined after they spray for termites. Moving into Frank and Marie's house along with the kids, they decide to give Ray's parents a dose of their own medicine, but quickly learn that it's near impossible to turn the tables on their annoying relatives Other notable episodes from Season 3 include "Getting Even" in which Debra vows revenge on Ray for embarrassing her, prompting Ray to drive himself crazy in anticipation of her retaliation, and "Moving Out" in which Robert attempts to move out of his parents house and into a garage apartment only to realize that the couple he's now living with are clones of the very parents he sought to escape

Below is a list of episodes included on the Everybody Loves Raymond (Season 3) DVD:

Episode 48 (The Invasion) Air Date: 09-21-1998
Episode 49 (Driving Frank) Air Date: 09-28-1998
Episode 50 (The Sitter) Air Date: 10-05-1998
Episode 51 (Getting Even) Air Date: 10-12-1998
Episode 52 (The Visit) Air Date: 10-19-1998
Episode 53 (Halloween Candy) Air Date: 10-26-1998
Episode 54 (Moving Out) Air Date: 11-02-1998
Episode 55 (The Article) Air Date: 11-09-1998
Episode 56 (The Lone Barone) Air Date: 11-16-1998
Episode 57 (No Fat) Air Date: 11-23-1998
Episode 58 (The Apartment) Air Date: 12-07-1998
Episode 59 (The Toaster) Air Date: 12-14-1998
Episode 60 (Ping Pong) Air Date: 01-11-1999
Episode 61 (Pants on Fire) Air Date: 01-18-1999
Episode 62 (Robert's Date) Air Date: 02-01-1999
Episode 63 (Frank's Tribute) Air Date: 02-08-1999
Episode 64 (Cruising with Marie) Air Date: 02-15-1999
Episode 65 (Ray Home Alone) Air Date: 02-22-1999
Episode 66 (Big Shots) Air Date: 03-01-1999
Episode 67 (Move Over) Air Date: 03-15-1999
Episode 68 (The Getaway) Air Date: 04-05-1999
Episode 69 (Working Girl) Air Date: 04-26-1999
Episode 70 (Be Nice) Air Date: 05-03-1999
Episode 71 (Dancing with Debra) Air Date: 05-10-1999
Episode 72 (Robert Moves Back) Air Date: 05-17-1999
Episode 73 (How They Met) Air Date: 05-24-1999

Britt Gillette is author of The DVD Report, a blog where you can find where you can find more reviews of movies and TV series. Source: http://thedvdreport.blogspot.com/2006/02/everybody-loves-raymond-season-3-dvd.html.

Traveling with Your Pet; Some Useful Tips

Traveling with Your Pet; Some Useful Tips

Remember to bring along your pet's rabies and health certificates if you are taking your pet on vacation with you. It is also a good idea to have the name of someone who would be willing to come and get the animal in case of an accident. If you are staying at hotels, you would do well to research which ones accept pets (many do) and which ones do not.

Some airlines will let your pet ride in the cabin with you for a $50 one-way fee, but it must be small enough to fit in a crate that will then fit under the seat in front of you, and your pet will count as one piece of your carry-on luggage.

And just like children, pets DO get carsick! If you are planning a long trip with your pet and he isn't used to traveling in the car much, you might want to take him out for a bunch of rides - gradually lengthening the trip each time. Also putting the animal toward the front of the vehicle will sometimes help with a dog that does get carsick (less motion than at the back).

How many times have you driven down the street to see a car go by you that has a dog hanging out the window? Or sitting in the driver's lap? Not only is this a probable accident waiting to happen, but the dog's head and eyes are in danger of being injured by debris. It is always a good idea to restrain your dog when he is traveling in the car with you - either with a harness or in a crate. If you use a harness, you might consider covering the seat with a seat cover or an old blanket that you can take out and wash.

And last but not least, under no circumstances EVER leave your pet in the hot sun in the car (even with the windows down). It is akin to putting them into a 120 oven!! Have fun with your pet and enjoy your summer.

Market crash: A quick guide for young investors

If you are young and restless and into the stock markets then this is for you.


For the Indian stock markets are caught in a whirlwind and you might need a straw to hold on to something. Some words of wisdom, some nuggets that may help you to relax, howsoever often you may have heard them before.


Waking up this morning would you have imagined the 30-stock benchmark index, the Sensex, would crash by more than 1,500 points after noon?


The US markets seemed a bit stable with the Dow Jones down by about 0.5 per cent. The Indian stocks too had been on a downslide since January 15. However, the shock and awe that the Sensex witnessed today must have made a few of the weak-hearted amongst you stop and take heed.


Weak-hearted we all are but if you also have some patience -- considering your age -- here's what you should keep in mind to weather stock market turbulences.


1. Start nibbling in


If you believe in India's growth story every steep fall should be seen as a buying opportunity. If you haven't yet entered the market but want to then tighten your belts. Market crash like the one today is an ideal time to buy. However, since these are very tumultuous times don't put all your eggs in one basket.


That is, if you have Rs 100 to invest then put only Rs 25 or even less during such crashes. If you have heart for some risk then put Rs 25 out of that Rs 100 today and keep the rest for later. However, do this only if you are willing to stake your money for at least five-seven years. The long-term stock market story in India still looks positive.


2. Don't panic


If you are already invested in the market and are sitting on huge losses, don't panic. The macro economic story in India led by the consumption, infrastructure and engineering sectors still have chances to remain insulated from what's happening in the US markets. This because many believe that the US recession is responsible for the current weakness across global markets.


If the US can't buy our goods, no problem. India and Indians have the purchasing capacity believe some experts, who say that the US recession will not have a huge impact on the Indian growth story.

Make money with shares

Moreover, India's demographics, skewed heavily in favour of the young, will help India overcome external pressures in the long run. Young Indians like you are spending more on their daily needs thereby increasing the consumption demand.


So if you are a brave heart and believe that there are bound to be minor hiccups along the way this is your time. Add more and good quality stocks to your portfolio.


3. Avoid averaging


If you are a short-term trader and think that you can buy more of the same stocks to average your buying price then you may be in for a rough ride. Nobody knows for sure about which direction the markets will take in the weeks ahead.


Any bad news coming from global giants like the US, Europe and China can only have multiplier effects. If the markets were to tank further your losses are likely to increase manifold. So book your losses and get out of the market.


However, if you want to invest with a long-term perspective start nibbling in on good quality stocks.


4. Don't go by tips


If you are young and eager to make money then you are an ideal target for those who give stock tips. They will start flying thick and fast from tomorrow. Or may have started doing rounds even today for all we know. Some of your friends will ask you to buy stocks; some other will advise you to sell them.

Greed = Loss at the stock market

Agreed you will find a lot many stocks at prices far lower than what they were a fortnight ago. Check for their credentials. For this is the time when gullible investors go for the bait thrown by stock market manipulators. Don't buy any stock merely because a broker or a market punter advised you to.


Similarly, there will be a host of technical advisors jostling for your attention. "This particular stock looks weak on the charts. Traders can make some profits by selling them now and buying the same at lower levels with strict stop losses." Shun the thought. For you never know when the markets will bounce back.


Bottom line: don't trade on tips. Better still don't trade at all. Go for long-term investments. For the time being forget what Lord Maynard Keynes said: "In the long-term we are all dead."


God knows what will happen in the long-term but in the current scenario if you were to act on tips then you will only be responsible for your own ruin.


5. Mutual funds are your best friends


In such times let experts manage your money if you find stock markets to be a hot potato. Put your money in mutual funds for the mutual fund manager is a market expert and is assisted by a big team of market specialists. A decision made by a team of experts will help you make far greater profits than what you will try to do on your own.


The stock market hammering of the last few days should be taken as an opportunity to buy into good diversified equity funds. For, they put their money into the markets irrespective of any sector, theme, or market cap limitation.


When the markets will bounce back they will have a far higher chance of appreciating faster than any other type of mutual funds.


6. Don't try to time the markets


As an individual you are in no way going to buy when the market falls and sell when the market rises. Believe in investing money into stocks or mutual funds' systematic investment plans, SIPs, regularly. This is the only key to avoid getting ruined in the stock markets.

Want to bid for shares? Read this first

The stock market crashes -- like the one witnessed today -- get evened out by long-term gains. For instance, those who had been regularly investing from the time markets crashed steeply during the May 2006 crash would not feel bothered about the crash today.


The market had crashed to some 12,000 points then from about 16,000 levels in just a month's time. Today even after the crash the market was trading at 17,000 plus levels.


Remember that age is on your side. If you are in your early, mid or late twenties then this is the right time for you to put your money in stock markets. Historically, stock market gains have outweighed gains from other asset classes over 10-year, 15-year and 20-year time horizons.


Who knows, by the time you are in your 40s or 50s, twenty years from this day, you might look back at this crash as your first stepping stone towards building wealth for yourself and your family.

Markets are shut when . . .

The Bombay Stock Exchange in a media release on Tuesday said that it implements, on a quarterly basis (SEBI circular SMDRPD/Policy/Cir-37/2001 dated June 28, 2001) the index-based marketwide circuit breaker system.

The system is applicable at three stages of the index movement either way at 10%, 15% and 20%. This circuit breaker brings about a coordinated trading halt in all equity and equity derivative markets nationwide.

When will circuit breakers kick in

The market wide circuit breakers would be triggered by movement of either Sensex or the NSE S&P CNX Nifty whichever is breached earlier.

In case of a 10 per cent movement of either of these indices, there would be a one-hour market halt if the movement takes place before 1 p.m.

In case the movement takes place at or after 1 p.m. but before 2.30 p.m. there will be a trading halt for � hour.

In case the movement takes place at or after 2.30 p.m. there will be no trading halt at the 10 per cent level and the market will continue trading.

In case of a 15 per cent movement of either index, there will be a 2-hour market halt if the movement takes place before 1 p.m.

If the 15 per cent trigger is reached on or after 1 p.m. but before 2 p.m., there will be a 1 hour halt. If the 15 per cent trigger is reached on or after 2 p.m. the trading will halt for the remainder of the day.

In case of a 20 per cent movement of the index, the trading will be halted for the remainder of the day.
http://www.rediff.com/money/2008/jan/22shut.htm

2008 Oscar nominations: Our predictions

On the day of the announcement of the nominations for the 80th Annual Academy Awards, Contributing Editor Aseem Chhabra gives us his nom predictions. Here they are:

Also read Arthur J Pais' list


Best Motion Picture
Atonement
No Country for Old Men
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
There Will be Blood

Best Director - Motion Picture
Paul Thomas Anderson -- There Will be Blood
Joel and Ethan Coen -- No Country For Old Men
Sidney Lumet -- Before The Devil Knows You're Dead
Sean Penn -- Into the Wild Joe Wright -- Atonement


Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture
Julie Christie -- Away From Her
Marion Cotillard -- La Vie En Rose Angelina Jolie -- A Mighty Heart
Kiera Knightley -- Atonement
Ellen Page -- Juno


Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture
George Clooney -- Michael Clayton
Daniel Day-Lewis -- There Will Be Blood
Emile Hirsch -- Into the Wild
Frank Langella -- Starting Out in the Evening
Denzel Washington -- American Gangster

Best Performance by an Actress In A Supporting Role
Cate Blanchett -- I'm Not There
Ruby Dee -- American Gangster
Julia Roberts -- Charlie Wilson's War
Amy Ryan -- Gone Baby Gone
Tilda Swinton -- Michael Clayton

Best Performance by an Actor In A Supporting Role
Javier Bardem -- No Country For Old Men
Philip Bosco -- The Savages
Hal Holbrook -- Into the Wild
John Travolta -- Hairspray Tom Wilkinson -- Michael Clayton



Best Screenplay (original)
Diablo Cody -- Juno
Tony Gilroy -- Michael Clayton Tamara Jenkins -- The Savages
Kelly Masterson -- Before The Devil Knows You're Dead
Adrianne Shelly -- Waitress


Best Screenplay (adapted)
Joel and Ethan Coen -- No Country For Old Men
Christopher Hampton -- Atonement
Sarah Poley -- Away From Her
James Schamus & Wang Hui-Ling -- Lust, Caution
Aaron Sorkin -- Charlie Wilson's War
http://specials.rediff.com/movies/2008/jan/22nom.htm

Sensex slumps 2,139 pts; Rel Energy drops 30%

January 22, 2008 10:00 IST
Last Updated: January 22, 2008 12:20 IST

The Sensex is now down 2,139 points at 15,466. The NSE Nifty is down 671 points at 4,538.

Reliance Energy [Get Quote] has slumped 30.5% (Rs 542) to Rs 1,234.

Tata Steel [Get Quote] has plunged over 21% to Rs 570. ONGC [Get Quote] has tumbled over 19% to Rs 900.

Reliance Communications [Get Quote] has dropped almost 18% to Rs 504.

DLF has shed 16% at Rs 760. Mahindra & Mahindra and HDFC [Get Quote] have slipped around 15% each to Rs 570 and Rs 2,298, respectively.

NTPC, Tata Motors [Get Quote] and ICICI Bank [Get Quote] are down over 14% each at Rs 176, Rs 560 and Rs 1,008, respectively.

Slight recovery when it re-opened

The stock market re-opened after trading was suspended for one hour at the Bombay Stock Exchange after the benchmark Sensex fell to the low of 15,576.30 within minutes of opening, crossing the circuit limit of 10 per cent.

There was some stability seen in the markets upon re-opening, although the Sensex and the NSE Nifty were down 4% and 5% respectively.

Early shock

On Monday, the 30-share barometer tumbled by 1,408 points on concerns regarding the American economy going into recession.

The market opened at 16,884.09 points. At the time suspension, the Sensex was quoted at 15,576.30 points, plunging 11.53 per cent from Monday's close.

A similar trend was witnessed at the National Stock Exchange, whose barometer Nifty opened at 5,203.35, and later spiralled downward to a low of 4,569.50, a slide of 12.1 per cent. It was last trading at 4,578.35 points.

If the Nifty falls another 306.93 points and the Sensex another 1,326.63 after the market opens at 10.55AM, then trading will be halted for another two hours, reported NDTV Profit.

This is the fourth instance that the market has hit 10% lower circuit, said a CNBC-TV18 report. The first time was during the Harshad Mehta scam in 1992, then in 2004, when the NDA lost to the Congress and in October 2007, when the P-Note issue was on. The Sensex is down 25%, Nifty, down 28% and CNX Midcap is down 31% from its life-time highs.

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What to Expect When You’re Free Trading

What to Expect When You’re Free Trading

IN the days before Tuesday’s Republican presidential primary in Michigan, Mitt Romney and John McCain battled over what the government owes to workers who lose their jobs because of the foreign competition unleashed by free trade. Their rhetoric differed — Mr. Romney said he would “fight for every single job,” while Mr. McCain said some jobs “are not coming back” — but their proposed policies were remarkably similar: educate and retrain the workers for new jobs.

All economists know that when American jobs are outsourced, Americans as a group are net winners. What we lose through lower wages is more than offset by what we gain through lower prices. In other words, the winners can more than afford to compensate the losers. Does that mean they ought to? Does it create a moral mandate for the taxpayer-subsidized retraining programs proposed by Mr. McCain and Mr. Romney?

Um, no. Even if you’ve just lost your job, there’s something fundamentally churlish about blaming the very phenomenon that’s elevated you above the subsistence level since the day you were born. If the world owes you compensation for enduring the downside of trade, what do you owe the world for enjoying the upside?

I doubt there’s a human being on earth who hasn’t benefited from the opportunity to trade freely with his neighbors. Imagine what your life would be like if you had to grow your own food, make your own clothes and rely on your grandmother’s home remedies for health care. Access to a trained physician might reduce the demand for grandma’s home remedies, but — especially at her age — she’s still got plenty of reason to be thankful for having a doctor.

Some people suggest, however, that it makes sense to isolate the moral effects of a single new trading opportunity or free trade agreement. Surely we have fellow citizens who are hurt by those agreements, at least in the limited sense that they’d be better off in a world where trade flourishes, except in this one instance. What do we owe those fellow citizens?

One way to think about that is to ask what your moral instincts tell you in analogous situations. Suppose, after years of buying shampoo at your local pharmacy, you discover you can order the same shampoo for less money on the Web. Do you have an obligation to compensate your pharmacist? If you move to a cheaper apartment, should you compensate your landlord? When you eat at McDonald’s, should you compensate the owners of the diner next door? Public policy should not be designed to advance moral instincts that we all reject every day of our lives.

In what morally relevant way, then, might displaced workers differ from displaced pharmacists or displaced landlords? You might argue that pharmacists and landlords have always faced cutthroat competition and therefore knew what they were getting into, while decades of tariffs and quotas have led manufacturing workers to expect a modicum of protection. That expectation led them to develop certain skills, and now it’s unfair to pull the rug out from under them.

Once again, that argument does not mesh with our everyday instincts. For many decades, schoolyard bullying has been a profitable occupation. All across America, bullies have built up skills so they can take advantage of that opportunity. If we toughen the rules to make bullying unprofitable, must we compensate the bullies?

Bullying and protectionism have a lot in common. They both use force (either directly or through the power of the law) to enrich someone else at your involuntary expense. If you’re forced to pay $20 an hour to an American for goods you could have bought from a Mexican for $5 an hour, you’re being extorted. When a free trade agreement allows you to buy from the Mexican after all, rejoice in your liberation — even if Mr. McCain, Mr. Romney and the rest of the presidential candidates don’t want you to.

Steven E. Landsburg, a professor of economics at the University of Rochester, is the author, most recently, of “More Sex is Safer Sex: The Unconventional Wisdom of Economics.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/16/opinion/16landsburg.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

'Hannah Montana' movie tickets are hot

'Hannah Montana' movie tickets are hot
NEW YORK - Parents hoping to purchase tickets to the Hannah Montana movie may be in for a tough time.


Hundreds of showtimes are already sold out on Fandango and theater owners are constantly adding new ones, says Harry Medved, spokesman for Fandango, the nation's largest movie ticketing service. The movie opens nationwide Feb. 1 and runs for one week only. Tickets went on sale Dec. 1 and can be purchased online or at the box office.

"We have 21 girls in our Girl Scout troop and I wanted to be able to offer it to all of them, thinking it would be great if we could go together," said Patti Feurman, mother of two in Ridgefield, Conn. "It was impossible to get that many tickets for a single show. We all had to break up to try to find tickets and we are all at different showtimes."

"Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert" captures singing sensation Miley Cyrus during her 54-date tour. In the movie, Miley, 15, star of Disney Channel's "Hannah Montana" series, performs as both a solo artist and as her television character, Hannah Montana. The movie is in Disney Digital 3D.

The concert movie was the No. 1 seller on MovieTickets.com its first week on sale, selling more on that Friday, Saturday and Sunday, than any other movies for the entire week, said Joel Cohen, MovieTickets.com's executive vice president and general manager. He says the ticketing service has sold thousands of tickets each day since.

The film was 30 percent of the ticket sales on Fandango as of Thursday, right behind "Cloverfield," which comes out Friday, and has consistently been a top-selling ticket on the site, says Medved. A Los Angeles movie theater had a 12:01 a.m. Feb. 1 showtime, with other theaters starting around 8 a.m. that day. The movie is playing in more than 600 theaters.

"It's the best-selling concert movie in Fandango's seven-year history," said Rick Butler, chief operating officer of Fandango.

Despite the slight headaches, some parents say the movie makes up for some of the disappointment their children felt when Miley's "Best of Both Worlds Tour" sold out within minutes of when the tickets went on sale.

"I think the movie is going to be something special for the kids who didn't get to see the concert," says Patricia Garrett, of Anaheim, Calif., who unsuccessfully tried to purchase concert tickets to take her 9-year-old daughter.

Disney declined to comment on why the movie is out for only a week and would not say whether the film's run would be extended or if it would be released on DVD.

It's not unusual for a movie to come out only out for a week.

Mary Dalton, associate professor of communication at Wake Forest University, says some religious films were released in a similar fashion years ago. These days, she says some small films might play in Los Angeles and New York for a short time to qualify for Oscar nominations, and many other films are test-marketed for a few days without having a larger release later.

"The Hannah Montana movie is really more like big-screen television and less like conventional movies," says Dalton, who teaches film. "The idea is to get people to come out at a certain time and see the film."

Maria Bailey, who flew her two daughters across the country to meet Miley, says the one-week only movie is actually a "gift" for most parents.

"It comes and it goes quickly," says Bailey, also author of "Trillion Dollar Moms: Marketing to a New Generation of Moms." "It prevents the market from getting over saturated with Hannah Montana-ism."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080118/ap_en_ot/hannah_movie

Hannah Montana - One in a Million

Hannah Montana - One in a Million
No one was more surprised than I last October when, after reviewing the slim little DVD Hannah Montana: Life's What You Make It, that particular review quickly took more hits than any previous ones I had up on DVDTalk, even beating out James Bond, for god's sake. Now that is a measure of the recognition factor of The Disney Channel's funny little tween sitcom, Hannah Montana, and the enormous popularity of its singing star, Miley Cyrus. The latest release of the series, Hannah Montana, Vol 4: One in a Million, features four more episodes from the sprightly comedy that's turned into must-see TV for millions of kids.

http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review.php?ID=32036

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Foot soldiers for the Ron Paul revolution

Foot soldiers for the Ron Paul revolution

The freewheeling tactics of his supporters have made the GOP candidate an Internet sensation and an unlikely phenomenon.
By James Rainey, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

The late-fall night fairly crackled with energy -- from a persistent Santa Ana wind, the high-tension power lines overhead and, especially, from the crowd packed inside the living room of a ranch house at the west end of the San Gabriel Valley.

Eighty people sat elbow to elbow on tight rows of folding chairs, chattering with enthusiasm and ideas. They would produce wall calendars and a concert. They would reenact the Boston Tea Party on the Santa Monica Pier. They would write to every independent voter in Iowa.

Related
- 2008 Primary Tracker: Follow the presidential nominating season
- Complete election results from The Associated Press

The foot soldiers of the Ron Paul Revolution, Pasadena Division, were only getting started.

Founded nine months ago by one of the first followers of the Texas congressman and Republican presidential candidate, the Pasadena "meetup" spawned more than 1,200 similar groups that claim nearly 77,000 members nationwide.

These fervent supporters and their freewheeling tactics have helped turn Paul into, first, an Internet sensation and, now, this political season's most unlikely phenomenon.

A 45-year-old artist and adventurer is bicycling from Santa Monica to the Jefferson Memorial in Washington to raise awareness about Paul. A Nevada brothel owner recently promised to take up a collection from her customers. One Colorado backer quickly raised more than $350,000 online this week, with a plan to launch a Ron Paul blimp.

"It's bigger than one. It's bigger than a group," Juliet Annerino, a Silver Lake fitness trainer and singer, said at the recent gathering of the Pasadena group. "We are making history right now. Right here."

Paulites tend to be tech-savvy, tired of traditional politics and suspicious of their government and the mainstream media.

But after that, they defy categories. A quick survey of the Pasadena group found Democrats, Republicans, Libertarians and Constitution Party followers uniting behind some or all of the Paul libertarian agenda -- ending the war in Iraq, abolishing gun control laws, legalizing marijuana and dismantling big hunks of the U.S. government, especially the IRS and Federal Reserve system.

"I think you could build a case that Ron Paul is part of a tradition of those unhappy with the iron grip of the status quo, from Ross Perot to Ralph Nader right back to Teddy Roosevelt and the Bull Moose Party," said Bruce Buchanan, a professor of government at the University of Texas at Austin. "What they all have in common is a freedom from the normal tendencies toward caution and equivocation."

National polls and most political analysts still make Paul a long shot, though he recently climbed into fourth place (with 8%) in three surveys in the early primary state of New Hampshire.

His biggest splash before that came Nov. 5, when an online effort (in web-speak, a "money bomb") brought in $4.2 million, one of the largest single-day hauls in the history of political fundraising.

For months, the one-time obstetrician-gynecologist and Air Force flight surgeon had been a growing phenomenon on the Internet; his YouTube videos and website ( www.ronpaul2008.com) had become more popular than any other presidential candidate's, Republican or Democratic.

Those were heady achievements for a campaign that did not exist until January, when a handful of Paul enthusiasts -- two of whom met while promoting a documentary on the government's failure to search for POWs allegedly still held in Southeast Asia -- came together in Hollywood. Over two days in a suite at a Comfort Inn, the organizers mapped out the rudiments of Paul's website.

"Nothing was going fast enough for people," said Bill Dumas, who participated in the early strategy sessions. "They were really excited and wanted more ways to participate."

In particular, the Paulites wanted to organize and meet with each other. Believing it would take too long to create an organization, Dumas signed on with the social networking site Meetup.com.

He formed the Pasadena group for Ron Paul 2008 in March and put a link on Paul's website to help others start meetup groups. "It was quickly just bombarded," said Dumas, 51. "People began starting their own meetups all over the country."

Paul said in a recent television appearance that even he was surprised by the fervent response. "We are tapping into this sense of frustration," he said.

At the recent Pasadena meeting -- held at the La Cañada Flintridge home of Bill Johnson, an international corporate lawyer -- two young men described their plan to send hand-written letters to Iowa's 700,000 independent voters, urging them to register Republican and turn out for Paul at the Jan. 3 caucuses.

Annerino talked about two fundraisers she had on the drawing board -- a "Rock for Ron Paul" concert Jan. 17 in Hollywood and a "Hotties for Ron Paul" 2008 wall calendar.

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-ronpaul1dec01,0,678486.story?coll=la-home-center

Raid On Ron Paul Dollar Maker

Secret Service and FBI agents raided the makers of Ron Paul silver dollars, Liberty Dollar of Evansville, Ind., early Thursday in a move likely aimed at stamping out an illegal currency.

The company started selling precious-metal coins stamped with an image of Paul earlier this year, with the first one made of silver available in July. Part of the marketing for the coins involved a promise that part of the sale price would be donated to the Paul campaign.

But if the raid results in the conviction of anyone involved, it is possible that the Paul campaign may have to return a cash donation made by Liberty Dollar.

The silver coins, which weigh one troy ounce, were sold for $25 each, with $5 being promised to help fund Paul's presidential bid. The gimmick fit in well with Paul's campaign promise to bring back the gold standard of monetary policy in which precious metals would back paper dollars.

http://www.thestreet.com/s/raid-on-ron-paul-dollar-maker/markets/marketfeatures/10390631.html?puc=googlefi

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Rachael Ray

Rachael Ray Show
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All Things Rachael Ray
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Every Day with Rachael Ray
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Rachael Ray Show
today's show Emily Procter. Sexy star Emily Procter shares the behind-the-scenes gossip from CSI:Miami including her latest love interests and the cast's off-camera pranks.
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Rachael Ray keeps a full plate

Rachael Ray keeps a full plate


Rachael Ray
Rachael Ray has a successful daytime talk show. So it would make sense if she cut back on other work, right?

Wrong.

Ray Monday signed a new two-year deal with Food Network to produce 60 episodes a year of her "30 Minute Meals" and produce a new prime-time series, "Rachael's Vacation."

Ray said she had no hesitation about continuing with Food Network while also doing her daytime show, books, a magazine, the charitable organization Yum-o and other cooking-related ventures.

"We've been together 600 and something episodes," Ray noted yesterday. "Not only would I never leave, unless they asked me to, it's made the daytime show so much more exciting to me."

There's a lot of crossover with the staffs of all her shows, Ray said, which makes the heavy workload easier.

She's showing no signs of letting up, either.

"The Rachael Ray Show," seen weekdays on WABC/Ch. 7, is in production until April. She'll do "30 Minute Meals" in May, June and July, and do the travel shows when possible.

"The more work I can do, the happier I am," she said while on a trip to promote her book "Just in Time."

"I love to travel, I love to cook, I love to chat. I grew up with people who worked 100 hours a week. I love life."

The new Food Network deal includes 20 fewer "30 Minute Meals" episodes than the past deal, said a spokeswoman for the network. Last season Ray also did "$40 a Day," which she no longer produces but continues to air.

Ray will continue to do holiday specials for the network as well.

"Rachael is the quintessential example of the homegrown stars we create at Food Network," Food Network president Brooke Johnson said in a statement.

Ray started with Food in 2001. She said the key to her success - and ability to juggle so many projects - stems from being unafraid to return to old roles, such as being a waitress. "To me," she said, "I'm still a waitress, trying to give people what they want from me."

While success can bring unusual new ventures, she says there's no way she'll head down the sitcom path once taken by another superchef, Emeril Lagasse.

"Nobody comes to me, saying, 'Hey Rachael Ray, she should do a TV show,' " Ray said. "Nobody's that kooky."

Bring It On To Win It

Bring It On To Win It

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Orion Ensemble
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'American Idol' brings Fox ratings win
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Healthy Desserts

Healthy Winter Desserts Recipes and Tips : Food Network
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Korea's Internet call market to grow sharply on household adoption: report

Korea's Internet call market to grow sharply on household adoption: report

The Korean market for internet-based telephony is expected to grow over 50 percent annually over the next five years as an increasing number of households and businesses replace their traditional service with the new and cheaper way of making calls, a report showed Thursday (Jan. 17).

According to the report by industry consulting firm, IDC Korea, the local market for Internet calls, or Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), will likely expand by an annual average of 53 percent between 2007 and 2011 to 1.42 trillion won ($1.5 billion).

The report put the local VoIP market last year at an estimated 255.2 billion won, up 52.2 percent from a year earlier.

"Until now, the VoIP market here has grown as businesses moved fast to adopt the new telephony service. As more households are expected to follow suit, its size will likely grow at a faster pace down the road," an IDC Korea official said.

The report added that the government¡¯s plan to introduce the "number portability" system this year will add to the growth momentum as potential users will not have to worry about changing their long-held numbers in subscribing to Internet telephony.

VoIP provides lower charges than traditional telephony services.

Especially for those subscribing to the same operator, customers can receive a sharp discount. However, due to service unreliability and lack of awareness, many households have been reluctant to switch to the VoIP service, experts say.

SIP Trunking Leading the Way to Pure-IP Telephony

Many voice service providers at one point or another turn to trunking as a technique for sending multiple phone conversations over a single line. Trunking broadly means the use of multiple, parallel ports to increase transmission speed beyond the capabilities of individual ports.

There are different methods for performing trunking. One is PRI trunking, in which “PRI” refers to “primary rate interface,” a telecom standard for multiple voice and data transmissions between physical locations. Another, more modern technique is SIP trunking, which makes use of the Session Initiation Protocol (News - Alert), an application-layer protocol for managing communications sessions.

Since SIP has become a widely accepted standard for Voice over IP (VoIP) services, many providers are looking to SIP trunking as a more modern and flexible alternative to PRI trunking. The benefits of VoIP are best achieved by using SIP trunking rather than PRI trunking.

The motivation for changing from PRI to SIP is mostly associated with the change from traditional, circuit-switched telephony to “packet switching” (i.e. VoIP). As traditional PBXs are replaced with IP BPXs, the benefits of SIP trunking—like the ability to use virtual channels—become more apparent.

SIP trunking works best in a pure IP environment, which in some cases may take time to realize. It’s true that many hybrid deployments exist and are still being created (e.g. using T1 lines in conjunction with VoIP), but the trend is toward all-IP and part of the reason for this shift is the flexibility of SIP trunking.

The problems associated with VoIP connections that involve both IP and TDM networks are being eliminated as the world moves toward all-IP. Looking long-term, it makes sense to go all-IP and adopt SIP trunking, resulting in a much cleaner and more sophisticated telephony environment.

In essence, a SIP trunk consists of a call routed over a carrier’s IP backbone, in conjunction with an IP PBX. SIP trunking is a modern replacement for PRI circuits, and one that, when properly deployed, offers significant cost savings and increase reliability.

To learn more about the topics discussed in this article, please visit the SIP Trunking channel on TMCnet.com, brought to you by Excel Telecommunications (News - Alert).

ASC Introduces EVOip, Version 8.0, for Voice-over-IP Recording

ASC Introduces EVOip, Version 8.0, for Voice-over-IP Recording

Offers More Recording Channels and New Integrations

Hoesbach/Germany, January 17, 2008 - ASC (www.asctelecom.com), a leading global provider of innovative solutions to record, analyze and evaluate communications, today announced the introduction of EVOip 8.0, a new VoIP recording solution with additional channel capacity and compatibility with a wider range of IP phone systems.

EVOip Server Software now records up to 280 channels simultaneously, and, for the first time, integrates with PBXs from Avaya, Nortel, IP Trade and 3Com. In addition, IP phone applications and functionality with existing solutions for Alcatel, Cisco, Mitel and Siemens have been expanded. For example, EVOip+ for Cisco now works with the common SIP protocol, and record-on-demand may be easily initiated by a single button push on the phone itself. The active version, EVOip active for Cisco, is compatible with Cisco Unified Communications Manager 6.0 and higher.

Harald Zapp, Chief Operating Officer of ASC, said, "Our company has coordinated with leading telecommunications providers, often through rigorous partnership programs, to integrate and certify EVOip as a seamless extension of their proprietary IP phone systems. As a result, we can now offer our VoIP recording solution as a superior alternative to a broader range of customers, often in high-volume demanding environments."

Version 8.0 is more user-friendly because many functions may now be accessed directly through the IP phone. These include start/stop, keep/delete and search-and-replay for recorded calls. CTIntegration facilitates this search by tagging calls with more index data than ever before.

EVOip 8.0 now lets the user quantify the number of recordings on a daily, weekly, monthly or quarterly basis. It supports more languages including Chinese (Simple and Traditional), Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean and Spanish. The product also works with ASC's new Time & Alarm Manager (TAM) for synchronization and contact operation, and displays the current status of connected recorders. The TAM resides at its own IP address and distributes the time signal via network to ASC's communications recording system, MARATHON EVOLUTION.

EVOip captures telephone calls from the network and enables storage, playback and archiving of the entire interaction. It is entirely software-based and designed for maximum flexibility, scalability, and ease of integration and installation. It records encrypted calls, offers keyword spotting (searching for spoken words) and provides adjustable modes for individual, bulk or selective recording.

For more information on the features available for your IP phone model, please visit www.asctelecom.com/english/voip.html.

IPEVO Introduces Mac-compatible Internet Devices

IPEVO Introduces Mac-compatible Internet Devices

By Niladri Sekhar Nath
TMCnet Contributing Editor


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In a bid to broaden its support for Voice over IP (VoIP) applications and devices, IPEVO (News - Alert), a leading manufacturer of experience-driven Internet devices, has introduced Mac-compatible Internet devices for Mac users worldwide.



The devices will include VoIP conference station that delivers a business quality teleconference experience over the Internet. The device is universally compatible with most Internet communication applications, including Skype (News - Alert), Google Talk, Windows Live Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger, AOL, iChat, and enterprise VoIP Systems such as Microsoft Office Communicator, Avaya one-X Desk phone Edition, Cisco (News - Alert) IP Communicator, and Nortel (News - Alert) MCS Client.

The USB handset will offer outstanding quality and seamless integration with Skype software, as well as with Microsoft Office Communicator and Avaya (News - Alert) one-X Desk phone Edition. Universal VoIP Handset that makes Internet calling as easy and clear as using a regular telephone. The IPEVO Universal VoIP Handset provides an intuitive and hassle-free VoIP experience via all major Internet communication applications.

IPEVO has also introduced a portable that offers exceptional sound quality in both handset and speakerphone modes. The speakerphone's versatility provides business quality conferencing over Skype on the go.

"Mac users are always looking for the perfect blend of form and function. At IPEVO, we take a very user-centric approach to product development that keeps an eye on both aesthetics and performance," said Ed Lucero, VP & general manager of IPEVO North America. "The IPEVO philosophy is that smart design takes the complexity out of technology -- essentially making it second nature.”

Niladri Sekhar Nath is a contributing writer for TMCnet covering telecommunications, service providers and networking. To see more of his articles, please visit his columnist page.

Don’t forget to check out TMCnet’s White paper Library, which provides a selection of in-depth information on relevant topics affecting the IP Communications industry. The library offers white papers, case studies and other documents which are free to registered users.

VoIP Requirements list

VoIP Requirements list

Voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP as it is commonly called, is a revolutionary technology that has created an upheaval of sorts in the domain of long distance communications. End users can now use their personal computers to talk to friends and relatives - who could be located in another part of the globe. A reliable broadband connection is used for the purpose. The need for conventional telephone lines can be done away with; low cost calling made available through IP telephony solutions is increasingly taking the place of traditional phone networks among residential as well as corporate users.


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However, certain requirements need to be met for the most satisfactory use of this high-end technology. The equipment used, for one, has to be of the highest quality. Broadband connection in a computer is necessary for good audio quality, for instance. The experience can also be optimised using PC speakers and microphones.

A basic VoIP requirements list has to be in place for users to make the most of the VoIP phone services. As is well-known, the flexibility of VoIP makes it more user-friendly as compared to traditional telephone networks. Users are able to make quite a few calls over a single connection. A stable Internet connection is all that is needed � and one can make calls from almost anywhere in the world. Innovative features include video integration, fast and efficient exchange of data files, and audio conferencing. Quite a few security features are in place; and users can be sure of security of their calls. Other functionalities found in PSTN networks are also found in IP telephony. These include caller ID, automatic redialing and call forwarding. And with the latest trends in technology, it has become easy to make VoIP enabled calls through mobile devices as well.



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VoIP security is not that difficult to implement. Quite a few voice over IP solutions are supported through encryption which make them very much reliable and user friendly. Security is also implemented through patented audio codecs and compression techniques.

Moreover, one should ensure that the broadband connection through which the calls are routed are not congested. This rules out voice drop-outs and long delays.

One can say that the VoIP phone is perfect for quite a few people � from frequent travelers, bored housewives to high-end professionals and busy executives. People who are not near to any fixed line phones or who are traveling the world find these solutions very much affordable and easy to use. With prepaid VoIP phone cards easily available in the market, there are no problems involved in making such calls.

However, when using VoIP products or subscribing to a VoIP service, users must make some provisions against untoward circumstances such as power failures and the services of broadband carriers going down.

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Government Surplus Real Estate Listings

Government Surplus Real Estate Listings

Government surplus real estate listings, including commercial and residential properties for sale through sealed bids, auctions and negotiated sales.
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Corporate Surplus Real Estate Listings

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Surplus corporate real estate listings, including office, warehouse and retail space and commercial and industrial properties for sale.
www.vandema.com/ListingsCo.htm

Surplus Real Estate

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Real Estate for Sale, Government Surplus and Foreclosures: USA.gov
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Last update: 12/18/2007. Surplus real estate. State Property for disposal:
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Survey finds over half of UK companies use VoIPPermalink: Survey finds over half of UK companies use VoIP

Survey finds over half of UK companies use VoIPPermalink: Survey finds over half of UK companies use VoIP
by Jan Harris


Extreme Networks Inc and Data Integration recently polled 115 UK firms which employ more than 500 people and found that over half of them (59 per cent) now run IP telephony on their Lan.

The uptake of IP video technologies is lagging behind IP telephony, with only 32 per cent of companies found to be using IP video.

This could suggest that there is an increasing need to educate companies in the benefits of running a converged network, such as lower costs and improved efficiency.

The results, from Extreme Networks’ and Data Integration’s first annual voice and video over IP customer satisfaction survey, also showed that most businesses were ’satisfied’ with their VoIP services and 88 per cent ‘happy’ with them.

Eighty-five percent of companies using IP video were ‘happy’ with their deployments, and a further 27.2% of UK businesses are expected to deploy VoIP solutions in the next three years.

Extreme Networks Inc is a provider of Ethernet infrastructure solutions, and Data Integration, an IT services and integration company.

THE ORIGINAL IPHONE

THE ORIGINAL IPHONE
The phone that uses VoIP and the telephone network

Story by GEOFF LONG


There's nothing quite like being an early adopter, and I guess getting one's hands on an iPhone in Thailand qualifies one for the title. I've even got the phone working on my telecom operator's network, without the need to head down to the geek section of Mahboonkrong (MBK) to unlock it or looking online for a hack to open it up. That's because my iPhone is actually of the Linksys variety.

The name "iPhone" may be forever associated with Apple now, but it's Linksys, and its parent company Cisco, that originally owned (and still does) the registered name. If you cast your mind back to when the Apple iPhone was launched, you might remember there was a bit of public sparring over who had the rights to the name. They resolved that dispute in February 2007, with the result that both companies are free to use the "iPhone" trademark on their products throughout the world, although other details of the agreement were undisclosed.

So back to the Linksys iPhone (model number CIT400 if you're interested), which is every bit as innovative and stylish as its Apple namesake: It's a dual-mode cordless phone that makes Skype Internet calls over my broadband connection or regular calls through the phone network. And it will even make the Skype calls without the computer being turned on. Setting it up is a breeze, at least it is once you get your home network prepared. The unit comes with a wireless base station that connects to your broadband connection via Ethernet. In my case, the ADSL modem used the only available Ethernet port on my computer, so I had to get an Ethernet hub, which you can pick up from any IT shop for 500 baht or so.

My hub came from a neighbour, who retrieved one from his electronics spares box. It didn't come with a cable, so I rustled one up out of my own junk gear collection.


The Linksys CIT400 iPhone.

So assuming you have an Ethernet port to plug into, you simply plug the base station into it (cable supplied). Then there's a cradle for the phone that plugs into the mains. The phone itself is powered by two AAA batteries, which are again supplied. Turn the phone on and it will automatically open to the Skype sign-in page. If you've already got a Skype account (I did), you enter your user name and password and you're ready to go - all of your regular contacts will show up on the phone. For those of you who haven't been exposed to the wonders of Skype, it's a "free" - not really, but read on - VoIP (voice over Internet Protocol) service from the same people that disrupted the music industry with the file sharing service Kazaa. Skype is also a peer-to-peer service that makes use of existing telecoms infrastructure rather than creating its own from scratch. The result is that telcos hate it and users love it. The telcos claim that Skype is a freeloader, making use of their network and taking away their business. The users don't care because their telephone bills are slashed.

To sign up for Skype, you just go to the website (http://www.skype.com) and create an account, like the 246 million or so other people that have already done so. Most of those are making calls from their computer to another Skype user on their computer. When you do that, the calls are free (you're already paying for your broadband connection, however, so free is relative).

Needless to say, not everyone is on Skype, so if you want to make calls to someone's 20th century telephone, or even mobile phone, you'll need to sign up for what's called Skype Out. Basically you fork out some money, usually online by credit card, to get yourself some calling credits. This allows you to use your Skype connection to call any phone on the planet. There's also a Skype In service, where you actually get a regular telephone number that allows your friends to call you from their phones.

In fact, there's a whole Skype "ecosystem", to use the current buzzword, of Skype accessories and services, both business as well as consumer-oriented. You can make video calls and group calls, use instant messaging, get services such as voicemail, use Skype for the mobile or buy accessories such as headsets for the computer - or dedicated cordless phones like the Linksys iPhone. In fact, spend a bit of time exploring the Skype website and you might be surprised at just how much activity has spread up around this Internet telephony service.

A final word on VoIP generally. Skype is by no means the only company offering such services, nor was it the first. There are literally hundreds of similar companies out there, some of which offer cheaper international rates than Skype. Skype has also been criticised because it is proprietary, meaning that some of the protocols it uses are closed to other services.

If you want "open" VoIP, there are plenty of services that use the open SIP standard. The problem with SIP services is that they are not always easy to configure. Even my geek neighbour (yep, the same one who gave me the Ethernet hub) concedes that they can be tricky to set up. With Skype, it just works and works incredibly well, in part because of the proprietary technology they have deployed.

A recent study by German traffic management vendor ipoque, which analysed three petabytes of anonymous data representing around one million users, concluded that Skype represents 95 per cent of all VoIP traffic. The reason? Because it's easy to use and gets around restrictive network environments such as corporate firewalls and NAT boxes. "While standards-based VoIP systems using SIP, H.323 and IAX require manual configuration to get around the resulting limitations, Skype has many built-in mechanisms to automatically deal with such network conditions and to offer as seamless as possible operation in most environments," the report noted.

That ease of use is clearly evident when using the Linksys iPhone. As I said, I simply plugged it in and it worked. The phone itself resembles a slightly-larger than usual mobile phone. It comes with a colour screen and the menu functions are all well-thought out. Click the "Contact" menu at the lower left, and it will bring up all your regular Skype contacts. You can also set your status the same as you do on the computer, so if you want to show that you're unavailable, you just select that option from the menu.

To make a call, you select the relevant contact and press the green call button on the phone. Everything sounds and acts like a regular call, including the dial-tone. I've tested it both internationally and locally, to other Skype connections and to regular phones, and the call quality has been mostly fantastic - better than my mobile connection a lot of the time.

You also get an option to use the Skype service or call via your normal fixed-line provider, in my case TOT. And this is one of the best bits of the phone - for the technophobes in the house, they can simply pick it up, enter a regular phone number and make a call through the regular phone system. They don't even have to know that it also makes Skype calls.

Another thing to mention is that it's actually a DECT phone rather than a Wi-Fi phone. DECT, as I've come to appreciate, provides better call quality than through Wi-Fi and also better coverage. I was shocked to see the wife using the phone from about 35 metres away through two walls and a ceiling, but reception was fine.

The thing I really like about it is that it untethers you from the computer when using Skype. I've been a Skype user for years but haven't really made use of it because I just like to pick up a phone and make a call. With this unit, I can do that. It has also encouraged me to get all of my regular contacts on Skype - not just signed up but actively logged in.

In fact, everybody that I've shown this device to wants one. That's great for me, because it means more of the people I regularly call will also be logged into Skype and more accessible. For those that are not, I can use Skype Out or just go through the regular phone service.

As I said, Linksys is not the only one with this type of device. There are apparently similar phones from the likes of Philips, Siemens, Netgear and GE. That said, a friend bought one from one of the aforementioned vendors and still hasn't got it working. Could be the gear, could also be the friend. What I do know is that Linksys has a good reputation for gear that's easy to set up and use.

And sadly, some not-so-good news to finish with. Apparently the Linksys CIT400 iPhone is not being shipped anymore. It has been available in Thailand, but there are no new stocks coming in. However, there is a new model coming in 2008, according to my sources at the company.

So if you happen to find a CIT400, be assured that it's a great phone, but also be aware that there's a new model on the way. The price according to online shopping sites suggest it should retail for around 3,500 to 4,000 baht.
http://www.bangkokpost.com/Database/16Jan2008_data01.php

Prepare for VoIP power failures

Prepare for VoIP power failures
QUESTION:

Is it true that you lose VoIP phone service if there's a power failure? What can you do if it happens and you don't have a mobile phone to fall back on?

ANSWER:

Since voice-over-Internet protocol (VoIP) telephones use the Internet to send and receive calls, a power failure does indeed derail your service, including the ability to call 911. The VoIP modem and other network equipment involved all need electricity.

Plain old copper-wire telephone service carries its own power and is therefore more reliable during blackouts. For this reason, some people keep minimal phone service and a cheap noncordless phone for use in emergencies.

If you don't want to maintain a separate phone line, adding an uninterruptible power-supply unit to your VoIP equipment or home network can give you a few hours of power. These power units provide a battery backup for your system and can be found for $200 or less at stores such as Best Buy.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/orl-fix-biztech1208jan12,0,6186910.story

How to Set Up Windows Mobile Internet Calling

When Windows Mobile 6 was announced, one of the cool new features we noticed was the integrated Internet Calling capabilities. This would theoretically let us use our Windows Mobile phones for voice over IP calls, however, there was no obvious way to set this up nor was there any documentation about what services are supported. Furthermore, when Windows Mobile 6 devices started showing up, most of the carriers hid or removed the Internet Calling feature and we all forgot about it.

Today I found a number of threads on XDA-Developers about how to set this up. Click on for more information.

So how does it work? After the very complicated configuration process, I have to say I am very pleased. I can now easily make nationwide and international calls over my WiFi network extremely inexpensively. Unfortunately, depending on network congestion and which SIP VoIP server you use, there may be a slight delay.

How is this better than Skype? Well, I can dial directly from my contacts address book, I can use Microsoft Voice Command to make calls, and it’s fully integrated with the native Windows Mobile dialer. Also, it works with a Bluetooth headset, which is pretty important for me.
http://www.pocketnow.com/index.php?a=portal_detail&t=news&id=4941

Citycell fined Tk150cr for VoIP involvement

Citycell fined Tk150cr for VoIP involvement


Citycell, the country's oldest mobile phone operator, has been fined Tk 150 crore by the telecoms regulator for its involvement in illegal VoIP or international call termination.

The company has already paid Tk75core to the telecoms watchdog--Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC)-- and the rest of the amount will be paid within a short time in two instalments, BTRC sources said.

"We discovered Citycell's involvement in illegal VoIP in May last year during a raid in the company's Mohakhali office," said a high official of BTRC, adding, "Following a understanding with the BTRC the company paid Tk75crore this month and will pay the rest of the money by March."

The high official said the joint force drive against VoIP is still going on.

Officials at Citycell refused to comment on the fine.

Citycell is the fourth mobile operator to be fined for their involvement in the VoIP scandal. Grameenphone, the country's largest operator, was fined Tk168.40 crore, AKTEL Tk 145crore and banglalink Tk125crore. In total, Tk 588.4 crore will be deposited to the government exchequer as compensation.

VoIP made it possible to terminate international calls illegally, as only Bangladesh Telegraph and Telephone Board (BTTB), the state owned body, had the right to do this.

The business proved extremely lucrative to the VoIP operators as well as the mobile companies who benefited from the traffic.

While the business was much talked about during the last four-party alliance government no actions were taken to stop the practice.

The present caretaker government took the issue seriously and started drives against illegal VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) users from January, 2007.

BTRC sources said law enforces raided Citycell's Mohakhali office in May 2007 and found huge amounts of VoIP equipment. Later, BTRC also filed a case at Gulshan police station against Citycell.

Citycell is the country's only CDMA (code division multiple access) mobile phone operator. It launched its operations as country's first telecoms operators 14 years ago. The company dominated the mobile telephony market until the entrance of its first rival Garmeenphone in 1997.

Now, SingTel Asia Pacific Investments Pte Ltd owns 45 percent, Pacific Motors Limited owns 31.43 percent and Far East Telecom Limited owns 23.57 percent shares in the company.

In November 2007, the number of Citycell subscribers was 1.38 million.

Since January 2007, BTRC and joint forces have detected several dozen illegal VoIP operations.

AKTEL, the second mobile operators, blamed its recent fall in subscribers on the VoIP scandal last year.

"We were badly and psychologically affected by the VoIP case," Dato' Yusof Annuar Yaacob, chief executive officer of Telekom Malaysia (TM) International, told The Daily Star on Thursday.

Presidency Takes over Galaxy Backbone

Presidency Takes over Galaxy Backbone

President Musa Yar'Adua has directed that Galaxy Backbone PLC be moved from the Ministry of Science and Technology to the Presidency to bring the government-owned infrastructure service provider under the direct supervision of Aso Rock.
Technology Times learnt weekend with the directive, Galaxy Backbone, which hitherto was under the supervision of the Ministry of Science and Technology now comes under the supervision office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babagana Kingibe.
Efforts to clarify the new supervisory oversight over the company weekend proved abortive but a senior government source said the decision may be linked to the sensitivity of the critical role the company will play in carriyng government information.
Ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo's administration had set up Galaxy Backbone to integrate existing Information and Communication Technology (ICT) infrastructure of government into a national backbone and create a reliable data, voice and video transmission to pipe the infromation of all Federal Government ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs).
Only recently, the company said it will save about N302.4 billion annually through provision of free Internet services through a nationwide project under way to install 5000 VSAT (very small aperture terminal) network with nodes distributed in all the local government areas and offer VoIP (voice over internet protocol) services and chat rooms for government offices.
According to information obtained from the company's website, Galaxy Backbone operates as a commercial entity on a partnership between the Federal Government and Private sector in the ratio of 51 per cent and 49 per cent respec-tively.
"The private sector share is made up of a number of investors while the government share consists of shares for the Federal Government and the Jigawa State Government.
The share allocation to Jigawa State Government is in consideration of the assets and operations of the Jigawa State Government owned Galaxy Information Technology and Telecommunications Limited", it says.
At formation, the Petroleum Development Trust Fund (PTDF) provided about N2 billion ($15 million) to finance the first phase of the company's activities to enable it execute the folowing mandates:

Build and operate a single nation-wide infrastructure platform to provide network services to all Federal Government Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs);
Manage all national databases and transversal applications and services for all Federal Government MDAs;
Provide connectivity and internet access to rural and underserved communities and 3rd party customers;
Integrate people, Technology and Best practices to operate a financially independent company;
Meet and sustain service quality standards as contained in Service Level Agreements

Government expects that the national backbone project under way by the company will among others harmonise and aggregate of bandwidth (transmission capacity) purchase by the Federal Government for effective planning, monitoring and cost control in line with the economic reforms.
Its is also projected to provide the best value of ownership to the end users while offering full automatic and dynamic bandwidth on demand (BoD) capability, thus making available the required bandwidth where and when it is needed.
When fully developed, Galaxy Backbone will offer an open architecture based on Internet Protocol Technology and latest industry standard.
http://www.thisdayonline.com/nview.php?id=100368

Citycell fined Tk150cr for VoIP involvement

Citycell fined Tk150cr for VoIP involvement
Md Hasan


Citycell, the country's oldest mobile phone operator, has been fined Tk 150 crore by the telecoms regulator for its involvement in illegal VoIP or international call termination.

The company has already paid Tk75core to the telecoms watchdog--Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC)-- and the rest of the amount will be paid within a short time in two instalments, BTRC sources said.

"We discovered Citycell's involvement in illegal VoIP in May last year during a raid in the company's Mohakhali office," said a high official of BTRC, adding, "Following a understanding with the BTRC the company paid Tk75crore this month and will pay the rest of the money by March."

The high official said the joint force drive against VoIP is still going on.

Officials at Citycell refused to comment on the fine.

Citycell is the fourth mobile operator to be fined for their involvement in the VoIP scandal. Grameenphone, the country's largest operator, was fined Tk168.40 crore, AKTEL Tk 145crore and banglalink Tk125crore. In total, Tk 588.4 crore will be deposited to the government exchequer as compensation.

VoIP made it possible to terminate international calls illegally, as only Bangladesh Telegraph and Telephone Board (BTTB), the state owned body, had the right to do this.

The business proved extremely lucrative to the VoIP operators as well as the mobile companies who benefited from the traffic.

While the business was much talked about during the last four-party alliance government no actions were taken to stop the practice.

The present caretaker government took the issue seriously and started drives against illegal VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) users from January, 2007.

BTRC sources said law enforces raided Citycell's Mohakhali office in May 2007 and found huge amounts of VoIP equipment. Later, BTRC also filed a case at Gulshan police station against Citycell.

Citycell is the country's only CDMA (code division multiple access) mobile phone operator. It launched its operations as country's first telecoms operators 14 years ago. The company dominated the mobile telephony market until the entrance of its first rival Garmeenphone in 1997.

Now, SingTel Asia Pacific Investments Pte Ltd owns 45 percent, Pacific Motors Limited owns 31.43 percent and Far East Telecom Limited owns 23.57 percent shares in the company.

In November 2007, the number of Citycell subscribers was 1.38 million.

Since January 2007, BTRC and joint forces have detected several dozen illegal VoIP operations.

AKTEL, the second mobile operators, blamed its recent fall in subscribers on the VoIP scandal last year.

"We were badly and psychologically affected by the VoIP case," Dato' Yusof Annuar Yaacob, chief executive officer of Telekom Malaysia (TM) International, told The Daily Star on Thursday.
http://www.thedailystar.net/story.php?nid=19149

VoIP scores with triple play

The introduction of triple play strategies -- bundling of voice, broadband and pay television services -- is the key to VoIP growth in the Asia Pacific region, but will also reduce its importance as a selling point for telcos.

According to research firm Ovum, triple play strategies are ripe for adoption by small telcos: "VoIP is giving smaller fixed challengers the opportunity to build up true triple play offers without having to rely on resale of incumbent wholesale services, and to exploit IP technology to do so at lower cost," Ovum research director David Kennedy said in a statement.

Incumbents have invested a lot into fixed line infrastructure, Kennedy told ZDNet Australia, and will respond by cutting call prices rather than switching to VoIP.

As telcos' revenues from fixed line services drop, "the network they are trying to defend will become a less important part of their business", according to Kennedy.

When a certain point is reached, Kennedy predicts "maintaining the old PSTN technology ceases to be viable" and the telcos will offer VoIP. Such a turning point could be when fixed line revenues fall below 10 percent of total income, he estimates; currently fixed line accounts for over 25 percent of most Australian operators' revenues.

The VoIP revolution will not occur immediately, as Australia has "been a bit of a laggard" with the technology, Kennedy said, adding it will take "at least a couple of years" for the strategies to impact Australians significantly.

A catalyst which could speed up the change is the introduction of fibre-to-the-node across Australia. Should the copper local loop be removed, some kind of digital voice service, most likely IP-based, will be necessary, according to Ovum.

Even when telcos begin to offer VoIP, they will not be using the technology itself as a selling point, Kennedy said. Users will not care whether VoIP or fixed line is used as a part of the triple play, as long as the quality of voice services is high, he continued: "No one will be marketing hard on voice services in the future."

The standalone cost of voice within a triple play bundle will also be less transparent, according to Kennedy, with considerations including broadband speed and access to broadcast content more likely to affect operator choice.

http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/communications/soa/VoIP-scores-with-triple-play/0,130061791,339285106,00.htm

Small Business VoIP

MobileMax and 8x8 Launch International Mobile Calling Service
MobileMax (News - Alert) and 8x8 have together unveiled a new mobile calling service that will provide a digital voice solution to international calls. While MobileMax is an expert in mobility and unified communications technologies, 8x8 (News - Alert) specializes in Packet8 broadband Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), videophone and mobile VoIP communication services.

Based on MobileMax Residential Edition software for carriers and service providers, the service dubbed as "Packet8 MobileTalk” makes use of a downloadable software application compatible with any smart phone including Windows, Palm, Blackberry and Symbian (News - Alert)-based mobile phones. This phone routes international calls from the mobile phone through the Packet8 digital VoIP network. The service will help cell phone users trim their phone bills while maintaining superior voice quality and flexibility associated with mobile calling.

"We are delighted to have signed our first distribution agreement with an American VoIP provider," said MobileMax EVP Sales and Marketing, Gaddi Menahem. This agreement indicates the great market need from VoIP and telecom carriers to enter the mobile market and to compete with mobile operators on costly mobile minutes. MobileMax technology enables providers like 8x8 to quickly launch a successful mobile service and to provide quality, innovative solutions for the residential, SMB and enterprise mobile market."

"Packet8 MobileTalk is a breakthrough application that dramatically improves the international mobile calling experience from start to finish," said 8x8 Chairman and CEO Bryan R. Martin. "Most mobile phone users typically avoid placing overseas calls from their cell phones because their mobile carriers charge exorbitant rates for such calls. With Packet8 MobileTalk, subscribers won't think twice about calling Europe or Asia from their cell phones because instead of one-to-three dollars per minute, they will be paying as little as two-to-five cents per minute over the Packet8 network to most destinations."

The solutions will be showcased by MobileMax at the Internet Telephony (News - Alert) Conference and Expo, January 23rd to 25th at the Miami Beach Convention Center.
http://www.tmcnet.com/channels/small-business-voip/articles/18197-mobilemax-8x8-launch-international-mobile-calling-service.htm

Network Operators to Begin Migration to All-IP Mobile Networks by 2010

As we roll in a new era where VoIP services will be supported in HSPA networks, there will be a transformation of 3GSM (News - Alert) networks to all-IP, challenging the latest WiMAX technology. Several Network operators are already getting ready for the migration to all-IP by using separate softswitches and media gateways.

http://www.tmcnet.com/voip/ip-communications/articles/18206-network-operators-beg-migration-all-ip-mobile-networks.htm

BCS adds Worksmart to its hosted VoIP services

BCS adds Worksmart to its hosted VoIP services
11th January 2008
By Staff Writer
US-based telecommunications and data connectivity company Business Communication Services has included a hosted voice over internet protocol service Worksmart to its repository of communication tools for small and medium sized businesses.


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Worksmart, a product by on-demand unified communication services provider Panterra Networks, is built on software as a service (SaaS) technology platform to deliver integrated communication services replacing silo on-premise systems and applications.

According to the company, Business Communication Services (BCS) voice over internet protocol (VoIP) services will provide unified voice, switchboard, call distribution, voicemail and messaging facilities to the users. The company also said that its customer will be able to avail inbound toll-free and worldwide outbound calling and 800 services with options to include advance collaboration call center support with integrated voice, web, video and messaging.

BCS also claimed that the users of its VoIP network can take a monthly subscription for its services which can be operated through only phones and software.

Reza Khorramian, vice president of sales at BCS said: "Voice over IP systems free up small businesses, especially those with five to 10 employees, and gives them ultimate freedom to navigate their own telephone systems without having to deal with phone companies, technicians or expensive and overwhelming equipment."

Panterra Networks recently announced its partnership with video, voice and data collaboration, and communications solutions integrator Visual Systems Group to provide Worksmart, which was launched in October 2007, to SMB markets.


Source: ComputerWire daily updates

Windows Mobile 6 (WM6) download for HTC P4350

Windows Mobile 6 (WM6) download for HTC P4350

Dear readers, another digital related post today. Not software for your desktop or a small cabfle for your smartphone, but a full os upgrade for the HTC P4350. With this file you can upgrade from windows mobile 5 (WM5) to windows mobile 6 (WM6). Below is a list with a number of either new or improved features in this version. Since a lot of Vodafone users, this upgrade is for Dutch Vodafone HTC P4350’s only, experience problems connecting using windows live mseenger, I’ve also included a newer version of windows live messenger in the package (seperate cabfile).

Before upgrading, backup all your data since installing a new os on your phone is like performing a hard reset, thus deleting all your personal settings (files stored on microSD will not be affected). Finally, two things: 1. use this at your own risk, follow all on screen instructions and you should be ok. 2. To be able to use GPRS goto connections->vodafone office (yes, office) and change the accespoint from live.vodafone.nl to live.vodafone.com . Somehow HTC entered the wrong AP in this rom upgrade. After installing take a look at internet explorer->htc page->software or surf to www.freecabs.de for loads of free programs and games!

Some features:

• Better-looking e-mail. Users view e-mail the way it was intended with its original pictures, tables and formatting, whether from a corporate e-mail server such as Exchange Server 2007, Web-based accounts such as Windows Live Hotmail or Yahoo! Mail, or a wide range of other service providers.
• Ease of viewing and editing of Office system documents. The new Office Mobile suite, built for all Windows Mobile powered devices, gives users a truly familiar and powerful experience with rich viewing and editing capabilities, without having to worry about the deletion of critical formatting and images.
• E-mail management and setup with fewer clicks. Nine new one-click options have been added, including Reply All, setting a flag, moving a message to a subfolder, and, of course, Delete. Users can set an automatic out-of-office reply while on the road when using a Windows Mobile 6 powered device and Exchange Server 2007.
• Synchronization with Windows Vista. Windows Vista™ and the Windows Mobile Device Center take the guesswork out of managing a device and swapping music, pictures, movies and Outlook information between PC and the device.
• Smart calendar bar. This innovative new feature gives users the ability to understand at a glance the day or week ahead and quickly determine open time on their schedules. With Exchange Server 2007, they can see who is attending a meeting and forward or reply to meeting requests.
• Web search, e-mail, instant messaging (IM) and blogging all together. Windows Live for Windows Mobile will provide customers with a rich set of services including Windows Live Hotmail, Windows Live Messenger, Live Search and Windows Live Spaces, uniquely designed to work with Windows Mobile software. Users can also find all their contacts in one unified list and see presence information on their Windows Live Messenger contacts.
• Contacts with context. Call history is now placed where it belongs, in each individual contact card, so people spend less time searching and more time communicating

• Security options. The platform offers a variety of security options, giving IT departments ways to help secure a device, including new Exchange Server policies and certificate options, storage card encryption, and continued support for remote and local device wipe.
• Protected content. Organizations using Information Rights Management (IRM) technology to help control the viewing, storing and printing of confidential information on PCs can now extend those capabilities to Windows Mobile 6 powered devices, a feature not available on any other mobile phone platform.
• Line-of-business applications. Powerful, new mobile versions of the Microsoft .NET Compact Framework and Microsoft SQL Server™ are built into Windows Mobile 6, making it even easier to create and access sales tools, inventory tracking and many other applications from a Windows Mobile 6 powered smartphone.
• Internet sharing. A new built-in application makes using a Windows Mobile 6 powered smartphone as a laptop’s high-speed modem “one-click easy” with either a Bluetooth wireless or cable connection.
• Communication alternatives. Windows Mobile 6 makes it easier for operators and device-makers to integrate a voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) solution into devices they are building. British Telecom in Europe, as well as HP, will be among the first to provide smartphones with new VoIP offerings for their business customers.

A Growing Business to Help Find VoIP Providers - VoIP-Pricer

A Growing Business to Help Find VoIP Providers - VoIP-Pricer

One of the ways to create and maintain a successful business is to provide a service or product that makes a task easier for a person to complete. For example, instead of trying to cut our own hair, we pay to have hairstylists or barbers cut it for us. Or instead of going out to a farm to buy our produce directly from farmers, grocery stores exist to facilitate the transaction. In a similar fashion, a company called VoIP-Pricer exists to help facilitate the research and selection of VoIP solutions for businesses.

VoIP stands for “Voice over Internet Protocol,” and is a system whereby voice communications are transmitted over the Internet. Also called Internet telephony or broadband phone, the benefit of VoIP to a business is typically that it is a less expensive alternative to regular telephone lines and systems. But as with many such services, there is a large host of VoIP solutions providers jostling to get your business. It can be a challenge to find and know what is the best provider for you.

This is where VoIP-Pricer.com and InstantVoIPQuotes.com come in. These are owned by the same company and both exist to match VoIP solution providers with candidate customers—they exist to make the VoIP search and selection easier.

InstantVoIPQuotes.com is a free site that will match a business or customer with 4 potential VoIP providers. If you go to the site, you will be asked to enter some contact info and business info, then will be contacted by a company specialist, who will then fully determine your VoIP needs and recommend 4 VoIP provider for you. If you agree, those providers will then call you. Very easy, and can help reduce your slogging through the mire.

VoIP-Pricer.com offers a Buyers Guide and a Comparison Guide that will help you identify and choose from the top 9 VoIP vendors in the market—these guides really help facilitate the research of vendors, and give you the ability to easily compare one vendor to another.

A free market system strikes again as a business like VoIP-Pricer grows in response to a market demand for help and guidance with VoIP solutions.

http://business.knowmoremedia.com/2008/01/growing_business_to_help_find.html

Siemens Gigaset S450 IP Dect Sip VoIP phone

Here we have a stylish office or home VoIP phone from Siemens, VoIP meaning voice over Internet protocol. The Siemens Gigaset S450 IP Dect Sip comes in stunning silver with black control box, is cordless, and is quite easy to set up and puts everything at your fingertips. With the S450 it is easy to switch between fixed line calls and internet calls and no requirement for a PC.



2 internet calls in parallel or 1 fixed-line call and 1 VoIP call in parallel with multiple handsets
Dual mode: Easy switch from VoIP calls to fixed line calls by single keypress
E-mail notification with time - date and subject
Multiline: assign up to 4 VoIP numbers* for multihandset use
All in all the Siemens Gigaset S450 IP Dect Sip is a good all round VoIP phone costing in the area of £100.00


http://www.phonesreview.co.uk/2008/01/10/siemens-gigaset-s450-ip-dect-sip-voip-phone/

It Is Broadcom® VoIP Solutions for Teledex , To Provide Innovative Hotel Guest Room IP Phones

It Is Broadcom® VoIP Solutions for Teledex , To Provide Innovative Hotel Guest Room IP Phones

Broadcom VoIP Technology Enables State-of-the-Art IP Phones for the Hospitality Industry that Provide Superior Voice Quality and a Full-Featured Multimedia Experience

LAS VEGAS, Jan 08, 2008 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX News Network/ -- 2008 International CES -- Broadcom Corporation (Nasdaq: BRCM), a global leader in semiconductors for wired and wireless communications, today announced that Teledex, the leading worldwide provider of guest room telephones for the hospitality industry, has selected its voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology for three of Teledex's latest state-of-the-art IP phones. Advanced Broadcom® VoIP processors and flexible development software enables Teledex to deliver a unique line of session initiated protocol (SIP) and hybrid (analog/SIP) phones that provide hotel guests with exceptional voice quality and rich multimedia features.

"Voice over IP has become prevalent in the hospitality industry since significant cost savings can be achieved from only having to maintain a single network that carries both voice and data traffic," said Stan Schatt, Vice President and Networking Research Director for ABI Research. "As a result, major hotel chains have been early adopters of VoIP technology."

The Teledex phones that integrate Broadcom's VoIP technology include the Teledex Hybrid HD6200 series and the Teledex SIP LD4200 series. Both series of Teledex IP phones leverage Broadcom's advanced BCM1103 VoIP processor that combines superior voice services with rich, graphical content to meet the specific needs of today's hotel environment. By enabling advanced communications features over the hotel's existing IP network, Teledex's VoIP phones leverage common browser-based technologies that enable content and applications development in an open, collaborative environment.

Teledex also selected Broadcom's BCM1190 VoIP processor for the popular SIP ND2200 series, which is the first non-display VoIP phone designed specifically for the hotel industry. The Broadcom BCM1190 IP enables Teledex to deliver cost effective, yet feature-rich IP phones, like the Teledex SIP ND2200 series, with the same voice quality and security features as higher-end models.

"Broadcom's expansive VoIP portfolio and unique integration capabilities have enabled the development of three distinct models in the Teledex VoIP phone lineup," said Paul King, Director of North America Sales for Teledex. "Our innovative hotel guest room IP phones, with a complete solution for guest room deployments, present a consistent look and feel across all models, as well as outstanding performance characteristics."

"Today's IP phones offer a wide range of features, especially in the hospitality industry where content usually accessed on televisions can now be accessed on VoIP phones," said Rob Franzo, Director of Marketing for Broadcom's VoIP line of business. "The VoIP hospitality products developed by Teledex are innovative, feature-rich, low powered, and designed to be a multifaceted tool specifically for the hospitality industry."

Keep your Internet phone service going in a blackout

Is it true that you lose VoIP phone service if there's a power failure? What can you do if it does, and you don't have a cellphone to fall back on?

Since Voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP, telephones use the Internet to send and receive calls, a power outage does, indeed, derail your service, including the ability to call emergency services. The VoIP modem and other equipment involved all need electricity.

Plain old copper-wire telephone service carries its own power and is therefore more reliable during blackouts. For this reason, some people keep minimal phone service and a cheap, non-cordless phone around to use in emergencies. If you don't want maintain a separate phone line, you can add an uninterruptible power supply unit to your VoIP equipment or home network to give you a few hours of power - hopefully long enough for the lights to come back on. You may also want to check with your VoIP provider to see what measures it takes in the event of a network or power outage.

I use Gmail and have turned on the POP3 function to download messages to my computer. I sometimes check mail on the Web version of Gmail, but notice that messages I download don't show up in my online In box. Is there a way to keep all the mail on the Web, too?

You can configure Gmail to keep copies of your messages on the Web, even if you download them first with your regular mail program. To change the way Gmail handles your messages, log into your account at www.gmail.com and click the link for Settings in the top right corner of the screen. Click on the tab for "Forwarding and POP/IMAP." In the drop-down menu next to "When messages are accessed with POP," choose the option to keep Gmail's copy of the message in your Inbox.

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If you had the option set to archive Gmail's copy of the message instead of deleting it, the missing messages are still on the Web. Click the All Mail link to see them. Another way to do this is to switch your Gmail account settings from POP to IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol) - if your desktop e-mail program supports IMAP. Because IMAP keeps your messages on the server, your mailboxes stay consistent no matter where or when you check your mail.

You can find more information about using Gmail with IMAP at snipurl.com/1wgyx.

ATCOM Business Telecom Solutions Inks Deal with Triangle Orthopaedic Associates, P.A.

ATCOM Business Telecom Solutions Inks Deal with Triangle Orthopaedic Associates, P.A.

Raleigh, NC, January 10, 2008 --(PR.com)-- David Finch, president and CEO of ATCOM Business Telecom Solutions (www.atcombts.com), a communications solutions provider, has announced that the firm has signed a deal with Triangle Orthopaedic Associates, P.A., to provide the practice with the latest Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technologies. The deployment of VoIP will allow the practice to communicate more effectively with their existing locations, and to connect to future sites as well. Triangle Orthopaedic Associates, which is one of the largest orthopedic practices in North Carolina with over 25 physicians and 11 offices throughout the Triangle, Oxford and Roxboro, currently has four locations connected by VoIP. Three additional locations will be connected by the end of July 2008.

Linking the offices together with VoIP will allow for seamless communication between offices. Patients can be easily transferred from one office to another in order to set appointments, speak to physicians and check on insurance and billing. The VoIP connectivity will allow for centralized voice mail to create a more efficient messaging system. In addition, employees will have four-digit dialing between offices to allow easy access to other departments and offices.

“We are pleased to work with Triangle Orthopaedic Associates,” said Finch. “This Voice over IP application will allow the practice to transfer calls between offices and better serve the needs of their patients.”

About Triangle Orthopaedic Associates, P.A.:
Triangle Orthopaedic Associates, P.A., is a physician-directed medical practice caring for patients with musculoskeletal and pain problems through state-of-the-art medical treatment, surgery, physical medicine and rehabilitation, physical therapy, occupational (hand) therapy and a chronic pain program, as well as other medical diagnostic services responsive to the needs of their patients. Triangle Orthopaedic Associates gives their patients’ needs the highest priority and treats their patients with the highest level of respect, compassion and dignity at all times. The practice, which has over 20 physicians and eight offices throughout the Triangle, Oxford and Roxboro, N.C., supports each community it serves and utilizes local hospitals when possible. Triangle Orthopaedic provides care regardless of the patient’s ability to pay. Business operations, including the coding and billing of services, are conducted with the highest ethical standards. For more information, visit the Web site at www.triangleortho.com.

About ATCOM Business Telecom Solutions:
ATCOM Business Telecom Solutions, a communication solutions provider founded in 1979, is an industry leader in business telecommunications with an expertise in Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), a technology that enables businesses to upgrade their existing systems while embracing Internet technologies such as the Web, e-mail, instant messaging, presence and video conferencing. With a client base comprising over 5,000 businesses, ATCOM offers deployment of business telephone systems, unified messaging systems, wireless solutions, LAN/WAN infrastructure/services, video conferencing, carrier network services for local and long distance, and structured cabling solutions for voice and data. The privately-held firm is headquartered in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, with regional offices in Charlotte and the Triad. ATCOM has twice received award recognition as one of North Carolina’s Top 50 Technology Companies, most recently in 2001. For more information, please call 800-849-8266 or visit the Web site at www.atcombts.com.

Patty Briguglio
MMI Associates, Inc.
919-233-6600
patty@mmimarketing.com
PR Firms Raleigh, NC

http://www.pr.com/press-release/67350

Skype's mobile dreams

Internet-calling software provider Skype sees the mobile market as the next frontier for its service, but economic realities in the voice market--coupled with mobile operators who feel threatened by Skype--could put the kibosh on large-scale adoption for some time to come.

Skype, a peer-to-peer software application that allows people to make free phone calls to other Skype users over the Internet, has become an easy and inexpensive way for people all over the world to stay in touch.

In addition to allowing voice calling and instant messaging to other registered Skype users, the service offers premium services, such as Skypeout, which allows cheap calls from Skype to landlines or mobile phones worldwide. Another paid service, Skypeln, provides a personal and portable number that people can use to accept calls anywhere in the world.

Now the company is focusing its efforts on the mobile market.

"Our users aren't always at a computer," said Tony Saigh, business development manager for mobile at Skype. "But 96 percent of the time people have their cell phones within 1 meter of them, so it makes sense for us to extend our application to users on mobile devices. I think it also opens the market up for us to people who want the freedom of using Skype but don't want to be tied to a computer."

At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week, Skype made several mobile-service announcements, including one touting its plans to work with chipmaker Intel to put Skype software on Intel-powered mobile Internet devices, or MIDs, and on portable PC-like devices that use Intel's low-power processors. Skype also said that it will work with Sony to put its software on the PSP 2000 portable gaming device. Skype also announced its software will be embedded on the new version of Sony's Mylo personal communicator, the Mylo COM-2, which is a small, portable, PC-like handheld device. Skype software had already been available on the original Mylo personal communicator that was launched in 2006.

While these devices will all connect to the Internet via Wi-Fi or, eventually, the WiMax broadband wireless technology, Skype has also struck a deal with a major wireless carrier to embed its application on cell phones that will use the carrier's 3G cellular network. In October, the company announced the new Skype phone in collaboration with the U.K.-based mobile operator Hutchison 3 UK. The phone, which is being demonstrated at CES, is already available over 3's network in seven countries, including the U.K., Australia, Austria, Denmark, Ireland, Italy, Sweden, and soon Hong Kong.

There's no question Skype's downloadable software application has struck a chord with traditional broadband Internet users. The service, which was bought by eBay for $2.6 billion in 2005, has been viewed as a model of success for voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP, services, with more than 246 million users worldwide as of September. Now the question is whether the application can become a hit in the mobile market.

"When you look at adoption of VoIP on the PC, it was all about cost avoidance," said Charles Golvin, an analyst with Forrester Research. "Skype offers some clear feature benefits, but I'm not sure that is going to be enough to entice people to download the service or even encourage carriers to partner with them."

The hurdles
On the one hand, mobile is the most natural extension for Skype's application, because phones are designed for voice communication whereas PCs are not. Skype says that its stripped-down, mobile version of its software, which has been available for Windows Mobile since 2004, has been downloaded more than 7 million times. But there are still several hurdles facing Skype that could keep its mobile application from reaching the same level of success Skype enjoys in the broadband world.

Some of the barriers are technical. For example, the 3G networks that are used to provide data services are not designed to carry voice. These networks offer far less bandwidth than wired broadband networks, which means data packets are often delayed on their way to their destination. This may not be a problem for data such as e-mail, but for voice this latency can make calls sound choppy. At this point, most experts agree that voice-call quality is far superior using the old circuit-switched voice networks rather than the 3G data network.
http://www.news.com/Skypes-mobile-dreams/2100-7352_3-6225368.html?tag=ne.fd.mnbc

Start Your Own VOIP/Pc2phone/CallCenter/CallBack Business

Start Your Own VOIP/Pc2phone/CallCenter/CallBack Business

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Friends:
Want to setup VOIP company, a business under your own brand name? We have complete solution to launche VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) company. All support comes included.
Features: PC2Phone, Device2Phone, Calling Card, Callback,sms callback solution, Ani Callback solution, DID callback solution, Cli Callback, Pin Callback, Wholesale Termination, Online Billing, Unlimited Resellers Creating, online shop, invoice generator, paypal integrated online shop, pin recharge modules, H323 and SIP.
No ties to us, deal with the wholesalers you want and buy VoIP minutes from any one in the market without any expensive equipment.
Basically all kind of services that are available in the market. We always observe and follow the current trends in technology trying to react timely to changing customers demand by enhancing our system and adding new features.
The services can be divided on retail and wholesale:
Retail :
• PC to phone and PC to PC – using our own sip based softphone with embedded voip tunnel client which allows for communication (both receiving and making calls) from behind voip blockades/firewalls, for example from UAE or other countries where voip ports are closed;
• device to phone i.e. making and receiving calls from SIP or h323 terminals (bidirectional NAT support), full compatibility with all popular brands of soho gateways and IP phones, support for 5 class services, voicemail, waiting message indicator feature, actual balance information on phone's display and more.
• DIDs/Virtual phone numbers services – assigning phone numbers from various geographical regions to SIP or h323 devices or softphones. Customers can pick up a phone number directly from the web interface with immediate delivery. The system can work with leading DIDs provider thru their API or/and using own DIDs numbers stored in the local database.
• Class 5 services – call waiting, call forwarding, follow me – possibility to set forwarding rules conditioned on various events like busy, no answer, not logged with different forwarding destinations/phone numbers (possibility to set multiple numbers with different priorities), hold, hold with conversation
• Voicemail – checking voice messages by calling predefined voicemail number from softphone or SIP/h323 device or from PSTN thru the IVR system (calling cards) or using the callback service. Detailed information about left messages on the web interface. Possibility to record own welcome prompt. Email notification about new voice messages
• Callback services – triggered by SMS, Web or a missed call. Works with DIDs as an access numbers. Authentication by callerID (ANI) or PIN. Also supported DID callback with unique DID associated with each customer and his/her phone number. Manageable thru the web interface, possibility to add multiple ANIs per user. Multilingual Interactive Voice Response system (IVR). More on the callback and its variants here
• Calling cards – phone to phone services in which a customer dials an access number first, then he or she is asked about PIN (or authenticated by callerID/ANI) and then prompted for a destination phone number. The system comes with own IP based IVR system that supports several languages (possibility to add new), balance announcement, max duration for the call announcement, also it allows to recharge account by PIN and register actual ANI during the call and more. There are several scenarios which can be associated with particular access numbers. Moreover new scenarios can be added or the existing ones be modified by softswitch's administrator as they are programmed in xml format. More on the IP IVR can be found here
• CallShops – by callshop is understood a place like internet café or a shop where are cabins/booths with IP phones from which customers can make calls and then pay for them at a cash desk. The callshop is a windows based application which shows all the cabins and the calls that are taking place. When a customer has finished, the cashier can see the made calls with their details and costs and can charge the customer. The application also allows to print bills. The advantage of this solution is that the callshop application does not require any special hardware as the calls are not sent thru it, instead they go directly to SoftSwitch (thru the internet connection) and the callshop program exchanges with SoftSwitch only little data needed for billing purposes. Also as the clients can be used softphones installed on PCs or FXS gateways with analogue phones connected, not necessarily IP phones.

Wholesale services:
• Wholesale termination – bulk voice traffic termination, in this scenario Sofswitch acts as the traffic controller which on one side collects calls from clients gateways or other equipment, authenticate them, and then depending on the routing tables send the traffic further to termination gateways/gatekeepers. The whole traffic is billed and controlled in real time, the billing supports both prepaid and post-paid accounts types. Also the media (voice) flow can be set per destination and be sent in full proxy mode where all packets are going through the switch or in the modes where only signalization is sent through the system while the media goes directly between endpoints. The system allows to hide the source and the destination what is often important especially if you work as a broker buying and selling traffic from various parties. Additionally the system offers high flexibility in modifying calls setup, called numbers, enables you to manipulate prefixes, caller IDs and all other significant data before sending calls to the destination. There is also a web interface both for clients and terminators with CDRs (which can be exported to file) and other reports. More on the softswitch's functionality here.
* VoIP Termination
* Wholesale VoIP
* PC2Phone Platform
* Device2Phone
* Calling Cards Platform
* Softphones VPN/Tunnel ( Customized Skins )
* DID and DID's Managment with intigration of ( Voxbone.com, DIDx.org and Local DIDs )
* Web/ANI/DID/SMS Callback solutions
* Portal (Builtin all the end user Modules)
* Online Shop
* Online Shop intigrated with verious type of Payment gateway ( Paypal, Saferpay, authorize.net, Money Broker etc..)
* Invoice Generator
* VOIP Tunnel
* WebPhone
* IVR Box ( Multilingual, English, Spanish, Thai, Bangoli, Arabic, French + your own Customized IVR)
* Web Based Real Time CDR.
* VSR and VSC Modules. ( 3 Level Reseller Programme )
* CRM (customer Relation Managment)
* VSM (voipswitch Manager)
* SIP/H323 Translation
* PostPay/Prepay

http://forum.voxilla.com/general-voip-discussion/start-your-own-voip-pc2phone-callcenter-callback-business-26065.html

HD Voice

HD Voice
The bandwidth of the telephone connection between our homes and the telephone network hasn’t changed in my long lifetime. Although some noise has been eliminated in long distance calls (sometime and if we’re not on a cellphone), voices on the phone still sound like they did sixty-five years ago. We’ve trained ourselves to accept the clipped quality of a telephone voice with its lack of emotional overtones.




You wouldn’t dream of listening to music over the phone. You expect and get much better sound quality from almost any radio and on TV. Movies have Dolby sound. But the telephone is still the telephone.




Guess what? It doesn’t have to be this way. The answer to telephone voice is voice over IP (VoIP) – so long as both parties are NOT on the public switched telephone network.




In the early days of VoIP, we had to save scarce bandwidth and contend with uncertain Internet delivery so we compressed voice even further than the phone network does and made quality even worse. But, today, bandwidth is relatively plentiful and cheap processing power usually lets us overcome any short delivery glitches (technically called jitter). Now high definition voice is not only possible but it’s also being delivered.




My friend Daniel Berninger’s been telling me this for a long time. As CEO of FWD International (in which I’m an investor), he’s insisted that all our new voice applications (like Facebook VoiceMail) be high definition. But, since I have a tin ear and had a cheap set of earphones, I didn’t realize how important high definition voice is.




Yesterday I had a phone call to make to someone in Israel. I tried to place the call on my Vonage phone (cheap rate to Israel). Since Vonage is designed to interface with the traditional phone network and since I was calling an ordinary phone, I would have gotten the usual phone quality if I’d connected. But Vonage said it had no circuits available. I knew the Skype ID of the person I wanted to contact so I put on my brand new headset and called that ID through my computer.




Fortunately the person I was calling is an active Skype user and he was on his computer and saw and answered my Skype call. He apparently had a decent quality headset as well. Skype devotes extra bandwidth – you’re paying for it, not them – to making call quality good when the call is between two Skype users. The quality was not only good – it was superb. Usually when I speak to someone for whom English is not his native language, there is a lot of “what” and “please say that again” and “I didn’t quite understand you” in both directions. None of that. We were on Skype an hour and sound quality made the conversation much better than a phone conversation has ever been.




I used to think the reason I have a hard time understanding people on the phone is because I can’t see their lips and their expressions. Now I realize much of the problem is the terrible audio quality – which we’re so accustomed to – of a traditional phone call.




As more and more of our communication goes over abundant Internet bandwidth and bypasses the telephony last mile and as the handset and headset manufacturers have an incentive to spend a little extra on speakers and microphones to support HD voice, we’re going to start insisting on getting what we’ve been missing. Ironically, voice over IP over a DSL connection over your old copper wires to the phone company (assuming those copper wires support DSL) can be and soon will be better than traditional telephone voice.




Is any more example needed of lack of innovation on the traditional phone network?




BTW, what did I pay for this hour long Skype call to Israel given that I already have a computer and an Internet connection? Nada! Zilch! Skype-to-Skype calls are free anywhere in the world. That’s just money, though; HD voice is priceless.

http://blog.tomevslin.com/2008/01/hd-voice.html

Saving on communications

Saving on communications

Not too long ago our business moved from land line phones to VoIP lines. What is VoIP? Voice over Internet Protocol is a protocol optimized for the transmission of voice through the Internet or other packet switched networks.

VoIP refers to the actual transmission of voice. VoIP is also known as IP Telephony, Internet telephony, Broadband telephony, Broadband Phone and Voice over Broadband. "VoIP" is pronounced voyp.

What does that for us? It means huge cost savings. By utilizing a VoIP phone and service we have been able to save hundreds in our phone bills per year. This could be another great idea for shelters and rescues. Most have Internet access now. So what better way to save on those phone and long distance calls than utilizing VoIP.

A company called Best Deal Talkswitch has a selection of Internet based phones, with multiple or single lines, as well as a selection of PBX and analog telephone systems. Some with free shipping. Best Deal Talkswitch is a Platinum-level reseller of Talkswitch and is the largest Talkswitch reseller in North America.

Best Deal Talkswitch also provides all the ancillary items you would need - wiring, cabling, installation, set-up, training and support - throughout the United States. Their PBX phone system is designed specifically for small and medium business and for those organizations or companies that have multiple locations.

Now may be the time to look into VoIP. We certainly are glad that we did.

Covad and Samsung Announce Upgrade to Covad Nationwide Network that Enables Local & Long Distance Service

Covad and Samsung Announce Upgrade to Covad Nationwide Network that Enables Local & Long Distance Service,
New Choice for Communications Services Available Soon for Covad Partners

San Jose, Calif. (Jun 28 , 2005) – Covad Communications Group, Inc. (OTCBB: COVD) and Samsung Electronics Company, Ltd. ( Samsung Electronics (005930) ) today announced that Samsung Telecommunications America has been selected as the provider of new central office equipment that will power Covad's market launch of line-powered voice access. This new technology enables Covad to offer basic local and long distance voice services, along with high-speed Internet and, eventually, video over DSL.

Earlier this month, Covad and its partner EarthLink announced plans for commercial trials of line-powered voice access in Dallas , San Francisco , San Jose and Seattle starting in October. This will be the first large-scale application of the service in the U.S. , offering communications users another choice for simple, reliable local, long distance and high-speed data services.

Covad has selected Samsung's Multi-Service Access Gateway technology to be installed in the core of Covad's nationwide DSL broadband network. In addition to line-powered voice access, t he new Samsung Multi-Service Access platform will allow Covad to enhance its offerings through the further deployment of Voice over IP (VoIP) services as well as advanced high-speed broadband services such as ADSL2+ and G.SHDSL. ADSL2+ provides higher ADSL speeds at greater distances. G.SHDSL is the next generation of SDSL providing higher symmetrical speeds at greater reaches. These two services will ultimately enable new voice and video services on Covad's extensive nationwide network, which passes more than half the homes and businesses in the U.S. , in more than 900 cities.

“Covad is extremely pleased to enter into this strategic alliance with a world-class company like Samsung as we develop and grow together this new voice and data service offer,” said Charles Hoffman, Covad president and chief executive officer. “This initial market deployment is just the beginning of what we expect to be a highly-disruptive service. We are working to deliver nationwide deployment of line-powered voice access and next-generation broadband services that will offer cutting edge technology and an alternative choice to businesses and consumers across the country.”

“We're delighted Covad has selected Samsung's AceMAP platform as the deployment vehicle for advanced broadband services across its nationwide network”, said Jeong Han Kim , President of Samsung Telecommunications America, a subsidiary of Samsung Electronics Corporation. “The power of a Covad-Samsung alliance ensures Covad's continued position as a leading provider of Next-Generation broadband services.”

Line-powered voice access marries the usability of traditional phone service with the advanced features of VoIP. In addition to traditional calling features like Caller ID, Call Waiting and Call Forwarding, customers will also have VoIP features like Find Me/Follow Me, a Web-based call controller and click to dial. Customers will continue to use their existing phones, wiring and computer equipment. Just like traditional phone service, line-powered voice services will remain working during a power outage and the service fully supports enhanced 911 calling.

The new Samsung Multi-Service Access platform enables line-powered voice by taking an analog voice signal from a customer's basic telephone and converting it into digital form at the Covad central office where the Samsung Access Gateway is located. The digital signal is then transported over Covad's nationwide broadband network and terminated to any telephone on the partner's Voice over IP network or the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) managed by the local phone companies.

Unlike DSL broadband service, line-powered voice access is not distance sensitive. That means Covad's nationwide network will, in the future, be able to serve 40 percent more customers with voice services in the current Covad footprint.

ADSL – The “A” in ADSL stands for “asymmetric.” ADSL has greater downstream than upstream rates. These rates are dependent on the distance a user is from the central office and may vary from as high as 9 Mbps to as low as 384 Kbps.

SDSL - The “S” in SDSL stands for “symmetric.” Symmetric DSL transmits at the same download speeds and upload speeds.

About Covad
Covad is a leading nationwide provider of integrated voice and data communications. The company offers DSL, Voice Over IP, T1, Web hosting, managed security, IP and dial-up, and bundled voice and data services directly through Covad's network and through Internet Service Providers, value-added resellers, telecommunications carriers and affinity groups to small and medium-sized businesses and home users. Covad broadband services are currently available across the nation in 44 states and 235 Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) and can be purchased by more than 57 million homes and businesses, which represent over 50 percent of all US homes and businesses. Corporate headquarters is located at 110 Rio Robles San Jose , CA 95134. Telephone: 1-888-GO-COVAD. Web Site: www.covad.com .

About Samsung Telecommunications America
Samsung Telecommunications America, L.P., a Dallas-based subsidiary of Samsung Electronics Company, Ltd., researches, markets and develops telecommunications equipment throughout North America . Samsung is a registered trademark of Samsung Electronics America, Inc. and its related entities.

About Samsung Electronics
Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. is a global leader in semiconductor, telecommunication, digital media and digital convergence technologies with 2004 parent company sales of US$55.2 billion and net income of US$10.3 billion. Employing approximately 113,000 people in 90 offices in 48 countries, the company consists of five main business units: Digital Appliance Business, Digital Media Business, LCD Business, Semiconductor Business and Telecommunication Network Business. Recognized as one of the fastest growing brands, Samsung Electronics is the world ' s largest producer of color monitors, color TVs, memory chips and TFT-LCDs. For more information, please visit www.samsung.com .

Safe Harbor Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995:
The foregoing contains "forward-looking statements" which are based on management's current information and beliefs as well as on a number of assumptions concerning future events made by management. Examples of forward-looking statements include the expected features and performance of new services. Readers are cautioned not to put undue reliance on such forward-looking statements, which are not a guarantee of performance and are subject to a number of uncertainties and other factors, many of which are outside the company's control, that could cause actual results to differ materially from such statements. These risk factors include the ability to deploy new service in a timely manner, the impact of increasing competition, pricing pressures, and consolidation in the telecommunications industry, and uncertainty in telecommunications regulations and changes in technologies, among other risks. For a more detailed description of the risk factors that could cause such a difference, please see the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. This information is presented solely to provide additional information to further understand the results of the company.

Broadcom And Trolltech® Will Deliver Multimedia Enabled VoIP Solutions, All Based On Linux!

Broadcom And Trolltech® Will Deliver Multimedia Enabled VoIP Solutions, All Based On Linux!

Combination of Broadcom® VoIP Technology and Trolltech's Upcoming Qtopia Software Offerings for Broadband Devices Enables Advanced VoIP Solutions and Faster Time-to-Market for IP Phone OEMs

LAS VEGAS, Jan 08, 2008 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX News Network/ -- 2008 International CES -- Broadcom Corporation (Nasdaq: BRCM), a global leader in semiconductors for wired and wireless communications, and Trolltech® (OSLO: TROLL), the leading cross-platform software development company, today announced a partnership to deliver a complete multimedia-enabled voice over IP (VoIP) development platform for IP phone manufacturers. The combination of Broadcom's proven VoIP technology and Trolltech's upcoming Qtopia software offerings for broadband devices enables a feature-rich graphical user experience as well as exceptional voice and video quality. The VoIP platform will provide OEMs with an integrated software package that enables faster time-to-market for the development of next generation IP phones.

Trolltech's Qtopia is a software application platform and user interface for embedded Linux® devices that has been optimized for Broadcom® BCM1103 VoIP processors and its VideoCore® II-based BCM1180 multimedia co-processor. Trolltech's upcoming Qtopia software offerings for broadband devices will support unified communications (including voice and video calls, and visual messaging) as well as full web integration. Qtopia software enables users to easily access any website or multimedia content, turning the IP phone into the communications center of the digital home.

"As Internet telephony becomes a more mainstream solution, and the need for highly integrated, high performance VoIP solution increases, leading phone manufacturers will continue looking to Broadcom as their supplier of IP phone chips," says Martyn Humphries, Vice President and General Manager of Broadcom's VoIP line of business. "With Trolltech's ability to provide the development tools and frameworks, we enable our customers to provide high functionality Multimedia IP Startpoint™ devices and a great user interface to the market more rapidly."

Broadcom's advanced BCM1103 VoIP processor and BCM1180 video and multimedia co-processor combines superior voice services with rich graphical content, including two-way H.264 CIF video calling. The BCM1103 features an integrated MIPS® processor, a digital signal processing (DSP) processor, a Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) switch and Fast Ethernet (FE) physical layer devices (PHYs). The BCM1180 is software compatible with the established VideoCore family, allowing rapid development of next generation products and backward compatibility for applications software. This highly integrated video and multimedia processor for advanced desktop multimedia VoIP products combines video and audio processing, polyphonic sound synthesis, an LCD controller, and SRAM on a single chip.

The BCM1180 is optimized for video conferencing, video playback, and multimedia streaming applications, but requires very low power. The BCM1103 plus BCM1180 enables manufacturers to build IP phones with integrated GbE switching and other essential features to support improved voice quality, guaranteed voice security, and advanced graphics-driven multimedia applications that demand more processing power.

"The combination of Broadcom's leading VoIP silicon portfolio and unique, yet comprehensive PhonexChange™ VoIP software package has proven to be a compelling and powerful platform for building exciting new services and attractive user experiences," said Haavard Nord, CEO for Trolltech. "Our Qtopia software is the foundation for 10 million plus consumer electronic devices worldwide so this partnership with Broadcom will enable their customers to build customized next generation IP and mobile devices with robust voice, video, web and multimedia features."

New Generation of Communications

New Generation of Communications


Advances in technology have made VoIP and video over IP scenarios a reality, increasing the significance of the role of software in voice and video communications. This is driving an industry shift from network-centric systems to software-driven solutions. In this transformation, the power of software can simplify communications chaos.
http://www.cio-today.com/news/A-New-Generation-of-Communications/story.xhtml?story_id=021001KZ6SVX

A new generation of digital communications

A new generation of digital communications and collaboration solutions that take advantage of voice over IP (VoIP ), video over IP and presence is eliminating the boundaries between people and the communications devices they use every day.
At work, these unified communications solutions are streamlining communications and collaboration between employees, partners and customers in ways never imagined, and can reduce complexity and cost for I.T. professionals. Microsoft Corp. bought its PBX in 1994 and put a phone on every worker's desk. In 1994 the standard PC was a 486/33-MHz and the Internet had not "happened." In the last 12 years, the PC has grown and the Internet has changed the way we work, but the phone has not learned a new trick.

In fact, even if we replaced the desktop phone with the most current IP phone, little would change. We still can't make three-party calls easily or put a person on hold to call somebody else; and when we do place a call, we are still more likely to reach voice mail than we are the person whom actually we want to contact.

A transformation is occurring in the communications market, however. Central to this transformation is the growing importance of software in voice and video communications and the shift from function-specific communications infrastructures to communications systems powered by software. Software-based communications and collaboration technologies can help companies improve productivity, accelerate innovation and reduce complexity for both the user and the I.T. professional.

As the strategic value of UC technology becomes clear, the imperative to adopt new solutions grows stronger. That means organizations must grapple with questions about the most effective way to take advantage of the capabilities and benefits that these solutions provide. Should you take an incremental approach, and deploy solutions that work with your existing infrastructure ? Or should you simply rip out your existing infrastructure and start from scratch?

Linux-Based VoIP Partnership Announced

Linux-Based VoIP Partnership Announced
Chipmaker Broadcom and Qtopia software maker Trolltech are developing a multimedia VoIP development platform for next-generation IP phone manufacturers.

By Elena Malykhina
InformationWeek
January 9, 2008 03:30 PM


Chipmaker Broadcom (NSDQ: BRCM) and software developer Trolltech this week formed a partnership to create a multimedia voice over IP development platform based on Linux.
The development platform is intended for original equipment manufacturers that want to build what the companies call "next-generation" IP phones. It combines Broadcom's VoIP technology and Trolltech's Qtopia Linux platform and user interface for mobile devices.

The Qtopia software is considered next-generation because it supports advanced technologies like unified communications, which links business processes with presence information, e-mail, voice mail, instant messaging, and videoconferencing, to facilitate efficient communications. It also provides Web integration, allowing mobile users to access Web sites and multimedia on IP phones.

"Our Qtopia software is the foundation for 10 million-plus consumer electronic devices worldwide so this partnership with Broadcom will enable their customers to build customized next-generation IP and mobile devices with robust voice, video, web, and multimedia features," said Haavard Nord, Trolltech's CEO, in a statement.

Qtopia has been optimized for Broadcom's BCM1103 VoIP processors and BCM1180 multimedia co-processor intended for improved voice quality and rich graphical content on devices, according to Trolltech. The processors use low power and can enable applications such as two-way video calling.

The companies announced their plans at this week's Consumer Electronics Show taking place in Las Vegas, where Broadcom also partnered with Microsoft to develop technologies that will let consumers hook their TVs to the Internet for interactive digital television offerings. Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) said its Mediaroom Internet television client software will be used on set-top boxes with Broadcom's system-on-a-chip technology.
http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=205601431

Patton Adds SIP Registrar to SmartNode(TM) VoIP Equipment

Patton Adds SIP Registrar to SmartNode(TM) VoIP Equipment

For enterprise VoIP systems, Patton (News - Alert) delivers interoperability, survivability, and easier deployment by adding SIP registrar to the ultra-rich feature set of SmartNode(TM)

SmartNode(TM) VoIP... more than just talk

See product information at http://www.patton.com/voip/

GAITHERSBURG, MD and BERN, SWITZERLAND: Patton � the leader in business-class network access, connectivity, and VoIP equipment � together with Patton-Inalp Networks AG � creator of SmartNode(TM) industry-leading VoIP technology � announces SIP Registrar functionality is now available in SmartNode(TM) VoIP gateway-routers and customer-premise equipment (CPE).


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Building SIP registrar functionality into SmartNode(TM), Patton solves the interoperability issues normally involved with SIP-based enterprise VoIP systems, especially when adding an IP-PBX (News - Alert) or SIP phones.

Combined with dial back-up and IP link redundancy (see http://www.patton.com/company/newsrelease.asp?id=1030), existing SmartNode(TM) features, SIP registrar also strengthens network survivability and service reliability.



Find Solutions for Enterprises, SMBs & Service Providers at the INTERNET TELEPHONY Conference and EXPO East - January 23-25, 2008 in Miami Beach, FL.
Click here to learn more about DSP modules and how they power multimedia messaging services for mobile networks while decreasing the development costs.

Find Solutions for Enterprises, SMBs & Service Providers at the INTERNET TELEPHONY Conference and EXPO East - January 23-25, 2008 in Miami Beach, FL.
Click here to learn more about DSP modules and how they power multimedia messaging services for mobile networks while decreasing the development costs.

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Building on the industry�s richest set (see http://www.patton.com/company/newsrelease.asp?id=1082) of VoIP calling, routing, and survivability features (see http://www.patton.com/company/newsrelease.asp?id=1030), SmartNode(TM) offers SIP registrar as a licensed feature in SmartWare(TM) release 5.T.

�VoIP technology is worthless,� said Ramon Felder, President of Patton-Inalp, �unless it works. SmartNode interoperates with all the players, all the softswitches, all the IP-PBXs. Never mind our mile-long list of advanced features. We�ve got the industry�s most powerful call routing and numbering capabilities. But so what? Our gear actually works in the real world. Interoperability is what drives carriers and integrators to Patton.�

Flexible routing and numbering plans have long been market-leading SmartNode(TM) features. Patton�s interoperability program certifies an ever-growing roster of major-brand softswitch (see http://www.patton.com/technology/vendors.asp) and IP-PBX (see http://www.patton.com/technology/softwarevendors.asp) vendors.

SIP registrar enables SIP clients, such as software-based phones and PBXs, to register directly with the VoIP gateway or CPE, instead of a SIP softswitch. The feature offers the following benefits for enterprises, integrators, and Internet Telephony (News - Alert) Service Providers (ITSPs):

System interoperability. ITSPs trust SmartNode CPE as a well-known SIP-network termination point. Together with back-to-back user agent and inter-protocol transcoding, the SmartNode(TM) SIP registrar ensures compatibility of all VoIP system elements�from service provider equipment to the end user.

Simple set-up. Engineers need only set up one network device (SmartNode(TM)) instead of two (SmartNode(TM) and SIP server or softswitch). SmartNode with SIP Registrar reduces call-route complexity by centralizing call-routing within the gateway-router. That means enterprise integrators and network administrators can install, configure and operate VoIP systems with lower hardware costs and fewer headaches

Network survivability and service reliability. Via breakout connections to the local PSTN, SmartNode provides dial back-up and IP link redundancy. With IP-PBX and SIP-phones registered in each branch-office SmartNode(TM), inter-office VoIP calls can traverse the PSTN. So even when the IP network fails, SmartNode users can still talk to each other.

Low-cost entry, no-cost growth. For a basic small-enterprise VoIP system, SIP registrar can dramatically reduce cost-of-entry by eliminating the expense of purchasing and installing a SIP server. VoIP-enabled small businesses can enjoy zero-cost growth by adding freeware soft-phones that can register with the SmartNode gateway--no SIP server required.

About SmartNode(TM) VoIP Solutions
SmartNode(TM) VoIP solutions make it easy for carriers to deploy VoIP services quickly by combining proven interoperability with all major brands of softswitches and seamless integration with existing ISDN protocols, services, and network architectures. Thousands of SmartNode(TM) gateways have been successfully deployed in numerous ISDN carrier networks, including one of Europe's earliest first-line VoIP services. The SmartNode(TM) brand carries a strong six-year track record of successful deployments with satisfied carriers. SmartNode (TM) VoIP gateways, routers, and IADs scale from 2 to 120 analog or digital voice ports. Offering all the industry-standard interfaces (T1/E1, PRI/BRI, FXS/FXO, V.35/X.21, Ethernet, G.SHDSL and more), SmartNode(TM) supports SIP, H.323, T.38 Fax-relay, fax-bypass, modem-bypass, plus Voice-over-VPN with AES/DES IPsec voice encryption, plus upstream Quality-of-Service (QoS) with Patton's advanced DownStreamQoS(TM) for clear, toll-quality voice.

About Patton-Inalp
Inalp Networks was founded in 1998 to design, develop and market advanced Internet Protocol (IP) based multi-service platforms that deliver voice, video and data services over a converged network. Patton Electronics, Co. (Maryland, USA) and Inalp Networks AG (Berne, Switzerland) joined forces in 2002 to manufacture and market the SmartNode(TM) brand of advanced VoIP products. Patton-Inalp Networks AG is the VoIP competency center and Europe-Middle-East-Africa (EMEA) sales organization for Patton�s business-class network access, connectivity and VoIP equipment.

About Patton
Patton is a multi-national organization that manufactures voice and data-communications equipment for carrier, enterprise, and industrial networks worldwide. Incorporated in 1984, Patton markets a catalog of over 1000 products including SmartNode(TM) VoIP solutions that support SIP, H.323, and MGCP for analog and ISDN telephony; ForeFront(TM) multi-service access infrastructure solutions for TDM and IP service delivery (T1/E1, G.SHDSL, xDSL, dial-up); IPLink(TM) CPE solutions for last-mile/local-loop access (WAN routers, modems, remote access servers, NTUs, CSU/DSUs); CopperLink(TM) Ethernet Extenders; EtherBITS(TM) device servers; EnviroNET(TM) NEMA4-compliant hardened networking equipment, and a full range of network-connectivity Micro-Products (interface converters, short-range modems, multiplexers, surge protectors).
For more information or a free catalog, contact sales@inalp.com.

Patton-Inalp Networks AG
Meriedweg 7
CH-3172 Niederwangen
Switzerland

Tel: +41 (0)31 985 25 25
Fax: +41 (0)31 985 25 26
Email: info@inalp.com
Web: www.inalp.com

http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/2008/01/09/3203673.htm

Vyke Communications - Q4 Trading Update

About VYKE
Vyke Communications plc is the leading mobile Voice over Internet Protocol
("VoIP") service provider and is headquartered in the UK with subsidiaries and
offices in Norway, USA, Iceland and Malaysia. The strategic goal of Vyke is to
combine its expertise in VoIP-based communication systems, mobile data service
creation/handset technology and wholesale carrier network management to provide
a converged communication solution. Vyke's current set of mobile-oriented
products offers up to a 95% discount compared to current typical mobile operator
pricing structures.

About VYKE MOBILE IP
Vyke Mobile IP is the leading mobile-oriented Voice over IP (VoIP) service
offering users up to 95% discount compared to typical mobile operator pricing
structures. One of the first mass market mobile VoIP services, launched in April
of 2006, Vyke Mobile IP features mobile oriented sign-up steps, automatic
configuration services and pricing.

About the VYKE product suite
The Vyke suite of communication products features advanced services providing
users with low cost, mobile operator/fixed line provider independent ways of
making voice calls and sending text messaging from the mobile phone, PC and
internet. Over 1 million active paid usage accounts have been created within the
Vyke product suite.

Please visit www.vyke.com

Scottish council installs voice over IP

Argyll and Bute contact centre allows staff to work from remote offices

Argyll and Bute contact centre staff will use VoIPArgyll and Bute Council is using voice over IP (VoIP) to support a new virtual customer service centre (CSS), enabling staff to work from distributed offices throughout the mainland and islands.

Macfarlane CallPlus contact centre technology is embedded within a new Cisco IP infrastructure and integrated with Lagan Frontline CRM software to ensure relevant information is passed to council advisors, with customer details displayed on-screen to desktops as workers take calls.

The computer-telephony integration also delivers simultaneous voice and data transfer so that when calls are passed to back-office personnel for resolution, updated customer records are transferred to their screens at the same time.

The CSS, which went live in June, has four advisors handling 700 to 800 council tax queries a week at a single centre in Campbeltown, and the operation will expand to more sites.

The council’s CRM software integrates with its Northgate SX3 council tax system allowing advisors to change customer records without the need for double entry.

The council plans to move benefits, street lighting and roads, leisure bookings and its library catalogue into CSS by December, following business process re-engineering reviews.

Customer service personnel will also have access to a new online web portal and other self-service technologies to assist callers with over-the-phone payments.

‘Previously calls came into various council offices and were answered within hunting groups. We had no record of how many customer calls were being answered, how long they lasted or how many calls were being abandoned,’ said Mhairi Renton, customer services centre manager, Argyll and Bute Council.

‘With the Macfarlane system, we have all the information plus more. We can better plan for peak calling times and, if a call report throws up issues, we can rectify them.’ a
http://www.computing.co.uk/computing/news/2194014/scottish-council-installs-voice

UK slow to adopt voice over IP technology

UK slow to adopt voice over IP technology
UK businesses are trailing the rest of the world in adopting IP telephony and other unified communication tools.

Only 33 per cent of UK companies are using voice over IP (VoIP), while 28 per cent use videoconferencing and none have adopted mobile VoIP according to a survey by vendor Dimension Data.

The average uptake for the 13 surveyed nations was 37 per cent for IP telephony and 36 per cent for video conferencing, although investment in mobile VoIP is low across the world.

Dimension Data predicts that VoIP will figure in most corporate agendas over the next two years.

'The research indicates that unified communications and associated technologies are more widely adopted than anticipated,' said Rob Lopez, managing director for solutions at Dimension Data.

'Whilst organisations have been reluctant or unable to adopt these technologies as a corporate standard, clients around the world are telling us that consumers are bringing these technologies into the workplace.'

Datamonitor carried out the survey on behalf of Dimension Data, interviewing IT managers and users from 13 countries across Europe, America and Asia.
http://www.computing.co.uk/computing/news/2196950/uk-slow-update-communications

Voip to cut London NHS costs

Voip to cut London NHS costs
Converging voice and data will help reduce phone bills


21 London trusts have signed up so farNHS trusts across London hope to cut their phone bills by connecting existing voice networks to the N3 national health service broadband infrastructure.

So far 21 organisations have joined the pilot, and another 26 are expected to sign up before the end of the year.

The aims is to use voice over IP on N3 to converge voice and data over a single network and reduce costs.

North West London Hospitals NHS Trust was the first trust to join the pilot.

Trust IT director Rick Juniper, said: "Converging our voice and data provides us with a simple and efficient way to manage our communications needs.

"It also presents a significant opportunity for us to quickly reduce our telephony costs."

N3 is one of Europe’s largest Virtual Private Networks. So far it has 20,000 connections, linking every NHS organisation across England.

http://www.computing.co.uk/computing/news/2205037/nhs-london-voip-pilot

Cambridge University moves to voice over IP

The University of Cambridge is to install 20,000 voice over IP (VoIP) handsets in a multimillion-pound deal with BT, Cisco, and the university’s IT consultancy supplier PTS Consulting.

Cambridge said the new system will allow students to collaborate in new and more innovative ways using instant messaging, voice emails and streaming video.

"As one of the world’s leading universities, Cambridge is keen to attract and retain the very best students and researchers. Part of that involves providing thoroughly modern facilities that reflect our forward-looking relationship with technology," said Ian Lewis, director of university computing services at Cambridge.

The project will cover 200 institutions around the UK and take approximately 18 months.

http://www.computing.co.uk/computing/news/2206675/cambridge-university-moves

A New Wave of Unified Communications Software from Microsoft

Microsoft (News - Alert) aims to put “people at the center” with its unified communications and Voice over IP (VoIP) software that promises to revolutionize the way people communicate. Touted as a milestone for Microsoft and for the entire communications industry, the Microsoft offerings announced in October 2007 further the transformation toward software-based communications from a traditional PBX telephony model. Microsoft identifies some major trends that are enabling this transformation, including hardware performance improvements, advances in technology and the global and mobile nature of today’s businesses.


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In addition, Microsoft sees a business model shift from a single vendor for all communications needs (vertical model) to a more horizontal model that combines hardware, software and technology which, though from differing vendors, all works together.

In October 2007, Microsoft unveiled the following new products: Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 (the next version of Microsoft Live Communications Server 2005) for Voice over IP (VoIP), video, instant messaging, conferencing and presence; Microsoft Office Communicator 2007 client software; a new version of the Microsoft Office Live Meeting advanced conferencing service; the Microsoft RoundTable conferencing phone for audio and video collaboration and a Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 service pack update for enhanced e-mail, voice mail, calendaring and unified messaging. Combined, these solutions improve business communications and productivity and make it easy for employees to connect with colleagues and customers who can simply “click to communicate.”

In addition to innovation (such as RoundTable, a conferencing phone with 360-degree camera - pictured) and the time-saving improvements possible with unified communications software (reduced phone tag and less travel), a software-based communication solution can also lower other telephony costs – elimination of a conference call service is one example. Some customers are already claiming a cost savings of 25-30 percent over traditional technology, according to Microsoft.

To date, Microsoft has partnered with 50 companies that will roll out new products and services based on Microsoft’s platform, including systems integrators, telephony providers, independent software vendors and device manufacturers. With Microsoft now competing in the VoIP market, leading business communications manufacturers are reinforcing their plans to interoperate with Microsoft Office Communications Server (OCS) 2007 to enable new unified communications capabilities.

Following the February 2007 beta release of the OCS 2007 specification, most leading vendors in the VoIP system market, including Alcatel-Lucent, Avaya, Cisco, Ericsson (News - Alert), Mitel, NEC, Nortel and Siemens, announced plans to make their equipment compatible with OCS 2007. The Microsoft software solutions can be utilized along with existing PBX infrastructures so that businesses need not discard expensive equipment in the near term, but migrate slowly toward an all software-based communications solution which is likely just a matter of time. See related snapshots below on how Mitel, NEC and Nortel (News - Alert) are partnering with Microsoft for new solutions going forward. www.microsoft.com.

VoIP Market Takeaway: Microsoft’s October 2007 launch of the next phase of its unified communications and Voice over IP (VoIP) software furthers the transformation toward software-based communications from a traditional PBX telephony model. One cannot argue with Microsoft’s assessment of major trends that are enabling this transformation - hardware performance improvements, advances in technology and the global and mobile nature of today’s businesses.

As Microsoft steps into the Voice over IP (VoIP) market, leading business communications manufacturers are reinforcing their plans to interoperate with Microsoft OCS 2007 and other Microsoft software, while also continuing to develop their own Unified Communications (News - Alert) portfolios. A recent InfoTech primary research study found that almost one-quarter of the companies surveyed expect to implement a complete software-based VoIP system from Microsoft. However, half of those will be LCS or OCS users that won’t migrate to an all Microsoft solution until there is a strong reason to upgrade.

This represents a good opportunity for the IP-PBX vendors that offer integrations with Microsoft LCS and OCS, because they can take advantage of the strong interest in Microsoft’s voice-related systems to sell their IP-PBXs integrated with LCS or OCS now, according to Terry White, vice president/InfoTrack for Unified Communications.

http://www.tmcnet.com/unified-communications/articles/17799-new-wave-unified-communications-software-from-microsoft.htm

Tata Rs 1-lakh car NANO Pictures and Photos

Tata Rs 1-lakh car NANO Pictures and Photos

Tata Rs 1-lakh car NANO Photos

Tata Rs 1-lakh car NANO Photos

Tata Rs 1-lakh car NANO Pictures

Tata Rs 1-lakh car NANO Pictures

Tata Rs 1-lakh car

This is what the Tata Rs 1-lakh car looks like!









The Tata Rs 1-lakh car is here! And it's called the Nano!

Tata Group chairman Ratan Tata on Thursday unveiled the Tata Nano at the 9th Auto Expo in New Delhi.

Details of the People's Car:

Ratan Tata, while unveiling the nano, said: "The car will meet all current safety norms and all emission criteria. The pollution it will cause will be lower than 2-wheelers."

The car, Tata said, is smaller than a Maruti [Get Quote], but has 21 per cent more volume or space inside than the 800. He said that the dealer price of the car will be Rs 1 lakh, plus value-added tax (VAT) plus transport charges.

The car will have a 624-cc petrol engine generating 33 bhp of power. It will sport a 30-litre fuel tank and 4-speed manual gearshift. The car will come with air conditioning, but will have no power steering. It will have front disk and rear drum brakes. The company claims mileage of 23 km per litre.

The car's dashboard features just a speedometer, fuel gauge, and oil light. The car does not have reclining seats or radio. The shock absorbers are basic.

Nano, the world's cheapest car, costs almost half of the cheapest car currently available anywhere in the world.

''Since, a promise is a promise the standard dealer version will cost Rs 1 lakh,'' said Tata Sons chairman Ratan Tata.

He informed that the car is 8 per cent smaller bumper to bumper, than the Maruti800 but at the same time 21 per cent larger in its interiors and can sit up to four people.

Dispelling myths that the car was not safe enough Tata said, 'The car has passed the full-frontal crash and the side impact crash''. He also side stepped emission concerns and said the car will meet Euro IV norms.

While critics had been sceptical throughout about the car meeting safety and emission norms, coming as it is at that price, Tata said he was happy to announce that Nano meets all norms as would a modern car.

The car is eight per cent shorter than Maruti 800 on bumper to bumper length, but is 21 per cent more spacious, claimed Tata.

Alluding to fears expressed by environmentalist R K Pachauri and green activist Sunita Narain that the car at that price would add more vehicles on the road leading to higher vehicular pollution, Tata said the 624 cc, 33 HP petrol engine meets Bharat Stage-III emission norms and can also meet the Euro 4 norms.

"Pachauri will not have a nightmare and Sunita Narain can also sleep," he quipped, while recalling that some people had suggested that the car should be called 'Pachauri' and some others said that it should be named 'Mamta' � probably referring to the position TMC leader Mamta Banerjee had taken against the setting up of the small-car project at Singur in West Bengal.

Commenting on the safety standard, he said the car has gone through a full frontal crash test as per norms.

The Nano will come in three variants -- standard and two deluxe models with AC. The standard car would be available for Rs 1 lakh (ex-showroom), while VAT and transportation costs are extra.

The Nano is expected to be commerically launched in the second half of 2008. News reports say that Tata Motors [Get Quote] hopes to sell 500,000 units of the car, almost four times the number of Indicas it sells. Tata plans to focus on a market segment hitherto untapped.

Not since the launch of the Maruti 800 in 1983 has any car gripped the imagination of a nation and indeed car manufacturers the world over so intensely. If commercially successful, the Tata Nano can alter the passenger car market in India, and perhaps the world, beyond description.

Text: K Krishnakumar | Photographs: Rajesh Karkera

Toshiba Introduces SIP Trunking for Its Family of Strata CIX IP Business Communication Systems

Toshiba Introduces SIP Trunking for Its Family of Strata CIX IP Business Communication Systems

IRVINE, Calif.--(Business Wire)--Toshiba America Information Systems Inc., Telecommunication
Systems Division (Toshiba -- www.telecom.toshiba.com) today announced
it has added SIP Trunking capabilities to its Strata(R) CIX(TM) family
of IP business communication systems. SIP Trunking is now available
from Toshiba's nationwide network of Authorized Toshiba Dealers.

"As a leading innovator in VoIP technologies, Toshiba is committed
to delivering fully-featured VoIP solutions for our vast customer
base. The addition of SIP Trunking to our Strata CIX family of IP
business communication systems emphasizes this commitment, and we are
pleased to be working with leading SIP carriers Cbeyond(R) and
American Broadband Services," said Brian Metherell, vice president and
general manager for Toshiba Information Systems, Telecommunication
Systems Division.

Toshiba begins its nationwide rollout of SIP Trunking capabilities
with SIP carriers Cbeyond of Atlanta, Ga., and American Broadband
Services (ABS) of Fresno, Calif., and will expand to additional
carriers during 2008.

"Toshiba's SIP Trunking feature gives users ISDN-like features
over a data connection without the need to buy separate services for
voice and data. In addition, using Toshiba's SIP Trunking capabilities
allows enterprises to have increased calling capacity on the same
bandwidth," said David Fridley, senior product manager, IP Telephony,
for Toshiba America Information Systems, Telecommunication Systems
Division.

Toshiba's new SIP Trunking capabilities allow the Strata CIX IP
business communication system to communicate with a service provider
natively over an IP circuit, which can be used to carry voice and data
simultaneously. Inside the CIX, the voice is converted to data and
sent to the service provider along with the same circuit as the other
data packets. This allows one circuit to be used for voice and data,
and it also allows for data to get all the bandwidth when no voice is
present. Quality of Service (QoS) is managed by the service provider,
allowing voice to instantaneously take priority over data.

Unlike older solutions where a VoIP Gateway is necessary to
connect the IP network to the TDM trunks, the Strata CIX system with
the MIPU card and SIP Trunking puts the SIP Trunk support natively
into the telecommunications system. The same MIPU interface also
supports IP stations, remote users, soft phones, WiFi telephones, and
Strata Net multi-system networking.

Key product features and benefits include:

-- Offers ISDN-like features over a data connection

-- Eliminates the need to buy separate circuit cards for voice
and data

-- Potentially eliminates the need and cost of a separate service

-- Eliminates "wasted bandwidth" of unused PRI channels

-- Allows bandwidth to be used for data when no calls are active

-- Offers ability to host other services in addition to SIP
Trunking, including IP Stations, SIP Stations, Toshiba's
Strata Net IP, Voice Mail and ACD resources

-- In addition to SIP Trunks, Toshiba's MIPU cards also support
IP stations, SIP stations, Strata Net channels, and
applications.

"Toshiba's SIP Trunking capabilities work over our customers' IP
networks, potentially eliminating the need and cost for separate
services such as T1, ISDN PRI or multiple analog lines, while allowing
them to expand their IP reach beyond premises to remote locations as
well as remote and mobile users," added Ericson Abing, product manager
for Toshiba America Information Systems, Telecommunication Systems
Division.

Compatible with Toshiba's full line of Strata CIX IP business
communication systems, Toshiba's SIP Trunking capabilities are
available on two IP interface units: Toshiba's MIPU16 and MIPU24
support 16 ports and 24 channels, respectively. Both are compatible
with BeyondVoice(R) with SIPconnect from Cbeyond and VoIPZone from
ABS. The MIPU interface units are now available from Authorized
Toshiba Dealers nationwide.

About BeyondVoice from Cbeyond

Cbeyond's BeyondVoice with SIPconnect service, an integrated
package of local and long distance voice, broadband Internet and
mobile services, is now integrated with the Toshiba Strata CIX family
of IP business communication systems. Cbeyond uses its own private,
IP-based managed services network to provide more than 20
productivity-enhancing applications including BlackBerry(R), broadband
laptop access, web hosting, data backup, file-sharing and virtual
private networking to its 33,000 small business customers.

SIPconnect is a certification mark of the SIP Forum.

About VoIPZone IP Trunking from ABS

VoIPZone IP Trunking from ABS allows users to have access to the
telephone network via many different IP network services, including
T-1, xDSL, and MPLS networks, enabling voice and data services to be
carried simultaneously over the network, dramatically simplifying the
customer's network requirements. No longer are separate circuits and
connectivity required for voice and data, nor do companies need to
wait for weeks or months for PRI delivery. IP Trunking can, in many
cases, be delivered in as little as 72 hours with existing approved
customer connectivity.

To find an Authorized Toshiba Dealer in your area, visit the
Toshiba website at www.telecom.toshiba.com.

About Toshiba America Information Systems Inc. (TAIS)

Headquartered in Irvine, Calif., TAIS is comprised of four
business units: Digital Products Division, Imaging Systems Division,
Storage Device Division, and Telecommunication Systems Division.
Together, these divisions provide mobile products and solutions,
including industry leading portable computers; projectors; imaging
products for the security, medical and manufacturing markets; storage
products for automotive, computer and consumer electronics
applications; and telephony equipment and associated applications.

TAIS provides sales, marketing and services for its wide range of
information products in the United States and Latin America. TAIS is
an independent operating company owned by Toshiba America, Inc., a
subsidiary of Toshiba Corporation, which is a global leader in high
technology and integrated manufacturing of electrical and electronic
components, products and systems, as well as major infrastructure
systems. Toshiba has more than 191,000 employees worldwide and annual
sales of over US $60 billion (FY2006). For more information on
Toshiba's leading innovations, visit the company's Web site at
www.toshiba.com.

(C) 2008 Toshiba America Information Systems, Inc. All product,
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CES: AllWorx' Low-Cost VoIP Switch for SMBs Integrates Mobile Phones

Finding business solutions at a event called the "Consumer Electronics Show" can sometimes be tricky. But they are here. One of those solutions is AllWorx' 6X Voice-over-IP (VoIP) "switch" for small-to-medium businesses. One of the 6X's coolest features is how, if you don't answer an incoming call, the call gets pushed out to your cell phone. If you don't answer your cell phone, the 6X pulls the call back for pickup by its own voice mail system.



According to the AllWorx CEO George Daddis Jr. (seen in the video), the 6X supports up to 60 people simultaneously and is dirt simple to connect to other 6X switches in remote offices. Everyone gets a 4-digit extension and voice mail and calls routed between branches are routed over the Internet.

In the video, we check out all of the ports on the back of the 6X. There are six-inbound ports for phone lines and two others for faxes and Polycom-type conference room devices. There's a WAN port and LAN port. The WAN port goes out to the Internet for connecting to other branch offices. The LAN port is there for the switch to connect to the same LAN that all of your handsets would connect to.

Allworx's devices (the 6X and the handsets) also support the standard for Power-over-Ethernet (PoE). The 6X itself is available from Allworx for $600.

http://www.informationweek.com/blog/main/archives/2008/01/ces_allworx_low.html

VoIP staffing means balancing skills, expertise

VoIP staffing means balancing skills, expertise

Twenty percent of companies that relied on private branch exchange (PBX) have migrated to IP telephony. That's not exactly a red-hot adoption rate, but change is upon us.

According to Gartner, more than 80% of companies are undergoing trials of IP telephony. In three years, a majority of companies will be using it, the consulting group predicts. And no wonder, when even equipment like video security cameras have become digital and are now the norm.

In fact, the migration to IP telephony (IPT) is a technology milestone in the view of Gartner analyst Carl Claunch. In his list of top 10 technologies for 2008, Claunch said IP telephony represents the first major change in voice communications since the digital PBX and cellular phone changes in the 1970s and 1980s.

People first

When companies migrate to IPT, they move from a parallel infrastructure to a converged environment. Separate networks for switched voice and packet data are combined into a single converged network. The first order of business, experts said, is to clean up your network and make sure it is prepared and ready for Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP).

But CIOs who rush headfirst into a VoIP deployment before assessing the skill sets of their IT staff are asking for trouble, warn analysts such as Elisabeth Herrell, who covers IP and unified communications at Forrester Research.

For a successful VoIP deployment, voice and data networking staffs need to learn to work together effectively, early in the process. It's important for both groups to communicate closely and share information to ensure that the IP network and telecom applications are understood by both staffs.

"Companies that shift all responsibility to data managers will face challenges in managing voice features and applications, as well as expertise in traffic engineering and telecommunications functions," Herrell pointed out in her report on operational guidelines for IP telephony.

IPT is much more complex than a standard LAN-based application, Herrell said. IPT requires knowledge of LAN, bandwidth management, quality of service knowledge and security skills. It demands an understanding of voice functions and applications.

In a conventional model, the data and telecom groups have separate duties and do not need to share job responsibilities. And in many companies, the two cultures are often at odds. In a converged environment, IT organisations need both network expertise to monitor and maintain the network, and telecom expertise to configure and manage telecom features and applications, as well as provide carrier support, Herrell said.

Off doing their own thing

Ken Gaugush, a senior systems engineer at Avaya, agrees. "Probably the biggest thing CIOs need to be aware of when hiring for a convergence project is to foster communication between the data centre and telecom groups," Gaugush said.

CIOs might want to quickly hire a liaison who understands both functions. CIOs at big companies often come from a data centre, not telephony, background and may not be experienced with real-time data flows or be able to fully gauge the expertise of two teams that will need to work together, Gaugush said.

Telecom experts typically have a good understanding of what the business requirements for quality of service are for VoIP. They may understand availability, but they usually don't have a good handle on the data pieces of it, Gaugush said. On the flip side, people with a data centre background typically are pretty well versed on what the disaster recovery needs might be, but they may or may not understand quality of service.

At some companies, the staffs are well-integrated, but more often "telecom is kind of off doing their own thing and the data network is off doing their own thing, and the implementations can be a little bit rocky if both sides haven't communicated well," Gaugush said.

CIOs should look for someone who can translate the goals and objectives of the various business units into a converged infrastructure and align those with the goals and objectives of the IT organisation.

Staff up for every application IPT touches

In today's move toward unified communications, the core IPT group must include IT staff familiar with the application services that run on the IP network, said Todd Landry, senior vice president at Sphere Communications.

Many of the newer systems, such as the Sphere software, operate on top of the IP network and interact with other systems in the network, such as the email system. In principle, the task of putting voicemail messages into the email inboxes of users may seem fairly simple, Landry said. Not so, in reality.

"In some cases, where an organisation did not bring their Microsoft Exchange people into the program, or they had outsourced it and had a mail system up and running, the realisation that they really didn't have the on-staff expertise to figure out how to configure their Exchange system creates friction," Landry said.

The message here: In addition to the IP networking experts, CIOs need to line up the experts for all the business applications the new IP system is going to touch.

With separate time-division multiplexer-based PBXs, organisations relied on the expert who was well-versed in that box. He had a special cable and special port he could plug into. With IP telephony running on a software system, CIOs now need to also bring in the IT group that is well-versed in the company's software-based systems as well as the servers they run on in the back office.

As for getting the telecom and data people talking, "What we have seen is that they are bringing the telecom expertise within the company into the IT fold." Landry said.

Forrester's Herrell makes the same point. "In a converged environment, technical support for managing the telephone configurations and changes is greatly simplified," she said. "Although telecom plays an important role in the transition, the data organisation must take the lead due to the major impact of IPT on the network."
source-http://www.searchcio.com.au/tips/tip.asp?DocID=1286655&SiteID=19

Voice-Over-Internet Protocol

Voice-Over-Internet Protocol
An overview of VoIP from the Federal Communications Commission. With news, FAQs, factsheets, and findings.http://www.fcc.gov/voip


Voice over Internet Protocol - Wikipedia, the free encyclope...
Encyclopedia article with background information, technical details, and the advantages and disadvantages of VoIP.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voice_over_IP


Voice over Internet Protocol - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Voice over Internet Protocol ( VoIP ) is a protocol optimized for the transmission of voice through the Internet or other packet switched networks . VoIP is often used abstractly ... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voip


Howstuffworks "How VoIP Works"
VoIP, or Voice over Internet Protocol, brings telephony and Internet ... VoIP, or Voice over Internet Protocol, is a method for taking analog audio signals, ...http://communication.howstuffworks.com/ip-telephony.htm


What is Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP)?
FAQ Details Page ... Voice over Internet
Voice over Internet Protocol

Good VoIP networks 'need quality monitors'

Good VoIP networks 'need quality monitors'


04 Jan 2008
Tools to monitor the quality of circuits that carry Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) transmissions are crucial to implementing an effective VoIP network, according to the editor of a technology website.

Writing on TMCNet, web editor Brian Solomon also claims that understanding whether a business' infrastructure is ready for such a move is crucial to determining whether a new VoIP network will prove a success.

"Beyond considering ROI [return on investment] and other financial calculations, executives must consider the technology available. They must assess their companies' tolerance levels for risk and change," Mr Solomon said.

With regards to quality, voice will be the key indicator of the new network's performance, with it necessary for "standards-based measurement tools that will track, report and correct voice quality" to be included in any new network.

Last month, new rules from Ofcom determined that VoIP handsets must provide access to emergency service numbers at all times, with the change due to come into effect as of September 30th 2008.

http://www.zycko.com/news/18414821-Good_VoIP_networks_need_quality_monitors

SPAM and SPIT: what are the dangers?

People are concerned about getting SPIT in their ears these days. Deb Shinder just wrote about how UC might present new opportunities for spammers today. People look at the new means of communicating with a warm fuzzy feeling inside, rushing to adopt new communications technologies for cost savings, better business integration, and so on — then, with dawning horror, they begin to realize that the spam infection that has so invaded their email inboxes with advertisements for “sexual enhancement” and phishing links to steal our credit card numbers may spread to their telephones and other communications media.

These are good things to think about. Consider the ramifications of your technology choices, and think about how you can protect yourself against what is going to happen. Ponder all the possibilities, all the consequences of changing technologies.

On the other hand, there’s a lot more to that than just identifying potential problems. You need to consider how such problems are likely to arise in order to be able to do anything useful with that information. Risk assessment in situations like this, to be accurate and meaningful, has to entail more than just throwing your hands in the air and saying “I can’t use anything! It’s all just a vector for more attacks!”

Deb did a good job bringing this to our attention. Let’s have a look at:

Future Conditions of SPIT
Email spam is as prevalent as it is for exactly one reason: the ubiquity of email. As Deb rightly points out, spitters benefit from a lack of per-call costs when spitting at you, just as spammers benefit from a lack of costs for stamps to spam at you. The reason for this in both cases is that beyond getting basic connectivity to the Internet, there’s no charge involved in sending calls (or emails). On the other hand, spitters won’t want to get caught any more than spammers do.

That’s why we have spam and phishing botnets. TCP/IP traffic can be traced back to its source of origin, which could cause a lot of problems for spitters and spammers. The solution spammers have come up with to this problem is the almighty botnet: infect thousands of MS Windows desktop systems with a spam trojan that uses the infected system’s resources to send spam to the world. This not only makes the trail to find a spammer end (usually) at the infected system, but also provides geometrically increased capacity for volume of spam due to the efforts of a single spammer. Without these capabilities, spam wouldn’t be anywhere near the problem it is now — and until spitting can be accomplished in the same way, there won’t be this kind of volume of spit, either.

What spam has and spit doesn’t is the ubiquity of sending capability. It’s easier for a computer to have the ability to send email than to have real internet telephony for a number of reasons.

Limitations of SPIT
Perhaps most obviously, VOIP is high-bandwidth, while email is not. VOIP isn’t just carrying ASCII text, words rendered into digital code; VOIP has to turn an analog signal into digital code, send it from point to point through multiple gateways without significant data loss, and reassemble an analog signal at the other end. This involves very high bandwidth requirements as contrasted with email, and requires a lot more error correction to do effectively.
IP telephony (closely related to VOIP itself, with a lot of overlap) requires IP-to-POTS gateways at least until everyone with a telephone is using VOIP. These gateways can be expensive, and having one on-site defeats the cost savings purpose of IP telephony. As such, people using VOIP for their telephones tend to pay for access from a POTS gateway service provider. This is much cheaper (in most cases, at least) than maintaining a non-VOIP telephone line, which usually costs around $25 per month even without long distance, in my experience. Because of the problem of needing a gateway service and maintaining the VOIP system in your home yourself, self-managed IP telephony uptake will be slow for a while — too slow for spit botnets to grow in that niche.
Home IP telephony services are increasingly being offered by ISPs. You may have noticed that Comcast Cable, for instance, is pushing its VOIP package pretty hard. This moves the entire service off-site, so you don’t have to maintain anything but your Comcast (or whoever’s providing the complete service) bill. These IP telephony service providers don’t go through your computer, though — they provide you with dedicated VOIP equipment. This means that would-be spit botnet masters are going to have to adapt from the easy spam botnet model to the more difficult spit botnet model, where the platform is an embedded system rather than a general purpose OS notorious for its lax security in average deployments like MS Windows.
The Dangers of IP Telephony
So far, it doesn’t seem like spit will be much of a danger for a while. The worst that IP telephony will do for spit in the short term is make long-distance telemarketers a little more profitable. Unless VOIP on the home front moves from the occasional dedicated device to a PC feature in widespread use, we should not see anywhere near the volume of general spit that we have of spam. As IP telephony becomes more popular, though, keep an eye out for changes in the technology.

Once VOIP does start becoming a highly popular means of communication, new problems will arise that seem like solved problems for email spam. For instance, it’s more difficult to produce a reliable Bayesian spit filter than a Bayesian spam filter, especially if you want to minimize false positives. At the moment, about the only ways to reliably filter spit would probably be to either disallow all incoming calls (probably not ideal for most people) or use whitelists and blacklists for allowed communication partners (probably more reasonable for home users than for businesses with toll-free customer service lines, but still suboptimal).

Of course, there are other dangers in dealing with VOIP and Internet telephony than just spit. Encryption is important to maintain privacy, for example, because it is a lot easier to tap a phone line when that “phone line” is just a stream of data over the Internet. Incoming calls might contain malware at some point in the future — or, particularly if we use VOIP systems that try to do too much magic with handling file types (such as running an IP telephony terminus on a current Microsoft Windows machine), we might get malware arriving on the VOIP protocol’s port, but getting executed by some other program instead of handed off to the device that demodulates the digital signal to recreate the analog voice in your ear.

Finally, the biggest threat to VOIP systems in the near future — a threat that doesn’t require VOIP to be very popular at all — may actually be spam (and email phishing). If you’re deploying VOIP systems at your place of business (or even at home, being that kind of bleeding-edge technology geek) — e.g., with an Asterisk server connected to POTS through a gateway service provider — there are other things to consider for security purposes. VOIP is, like any other communication protocol on the Internet, managed by services running on computers. Just as with those other protocols, these server processes can constitute a security risk, and they need to be protected: firewalled, hidden from port scans, watched by logging programs, and so on. Even if you’re not getting spit all over you, you still might get your VOIP server hijacked and turned into an email spam bot.

I find that pretty ironic.

http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/security/?p=387

NETGEAR(R) Enables the 'All Access Home' at CES 2008

LAS VEGAS, Jan 06, 2008 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX/ -- NETGEAR, Inc. (Nasdaq: NTGR), a worldwide provider of technologically advanced, branded networking solutions, is introducing its family of next-generation Wireless-N networking solutions, expanding its line of wired and wireless network bridges and extenders, and launching a family of robust intelligent network-attached storage devices for consumers at the 2008 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas this week from Jan. 7 - 10, 2008. In addition to introducing 18 new products and showcasing its six CES Innovations Award honorees, NETGEAR will host a number of workshops and presentations and will broadcast "Live from CES" to online visitors from around the world, from NETGEAR's "All Access Home," located in booth #36219 in South Hall 4 of the Las Vegas Convention Center.

"With applications such as social networking websites, broadband video streaming, console gaming, and Voice-over-IP increasing in mainstream consumer adoption, the Internet and home networks have combined to create the backbone technology that is driving both productivity and entertainment in the connected home," stated Patrick Lo, chairman and chief executive officer of NETGEAR. "These emerging applications have created the demand for home networking products that deliver faster speeds over larger areas with greater reliability. This year at CES we're introducing an unprecedented slate of 18 networking products in the wireless, broadband, powerline, optical fiber, coaxial, and storage categories that will enable consumers to take full advantage of and enhance their experiences with these new network-enabled applications. The 'All-Access' home at our booth on the CES show floor demonstrates to consumers how our broad family of products provides access to the Internet, stored digital media wherever, whenever and however they want it, and seamless in-home distribution of content, enabling them to fully appreciate these new networked applications like never before."

NETGEAR -- Live from CES

For the second year in a row, NETGEAR is taking its tradeshow presence to the world through a live Webcast on NGTV, the broadcast arm of the NETGEAR Community viewable through the NETGEAR Website at: http://www.netgear.com. In addition to watching interviews with NETGEAR executives and other leaders in the home networking industry, viewers will be able to view a series of educational presentations hosted by company representatives on a variety of home networking-related topics.

In an effort to encourage and make it easy for others to share their excitement of NETGEAR and CES with the world, NETGEAR has established an official Blogger Station in its booth where bloggers can serve as the eyes and ears of the show for those who cannot attend. In addition to providing a valuable service to interested readers around the world, bloggers have the opportunity to win prizes from NETGEAR for creating the best blog and can be featured on http://www.netgear.com.

A series of free NetWorkShop Presentations will be presented onstage at the NETGEAR booth throughout the show. These educational seminars will feature topics including: 802.11n and the innovative RangeMax metamaterial internal antenna array technologies, ReadyNAS intelligent network storage solutions, powerline networking, digital entertainment in the connected home, and NETGEAR business networking.

NETGEAR Receives Six 2008 CES Innovations Awards

True to its legacy of innovation, NETGEAR received honors this year for six of its newest products from the 2008 CES Innovations Design and Engineering committee. The following products were named Innovations 2008 Design and Engineering Award honorees in the program which recognizes the most innovative consumer electronics products in the industry's hottest product categories:

-- HD/Gaming 5GHz Wireless-N Networking Kit (WNHDEB111)
-- Pre- DOCSIS 3.0 Wireless Cable Voice Gateway (CBVG834)
-- ReadyNAS(TM: 103.94, -2.96, -2.76%) Duo 2-Bay Gigabit Desktop Network Storage
-- ReadyNAS(TM: 103.94, -2.96, -2.76%) Pro Multi-Bay Gigabit Desktop Network Storage for Business
-- Space-Saving Powerline Network Extender Kit (XEPSB103)
-- Powerline HD Plus Ethernet Adapter Kit (HDXB111)NETGEAR's Next-Generation Wireless-N Products Utilize Metamaterial Antenna Technology to Deliver Faster Speeds at Longer Ranges

Connecting the seemingly endless variety of network-enabled devices for productivity and entertainment in the home demands a wireless network infrastructure that provides range, security, reliability, speed, and stability of connections. NETGEAR's next-generation wireless-N family of routers and adapters are based upon the 802.11n draft specification and deliver the fastest speeds, longest ranges and most reliable connections. The innovative new products utilize an internal array of Smart Antennas based on metamaterial technology, a revolutionary and patented innovation with unique transmission properties that provides the highest level of quality, reliability and signal optimization even in dense integrated circuit designs, to deliver best-in-class performance and stability of wireless connections across the full 802.11 spectrum. This high-performance multi-antenna array technology, which has been incorporated across the NETGEAR family of next-generation RangeMax Wireless-N products, delivers the superior range and throughput that has established NETGEAR's RangeMax technology as the industry performance leader stemming back to the introduction of its 802.11g MIMO RangeMax series of WiFi routers and adapters.

The NETGEAR RangeMax Dual Band Wireless-N Router (WNDR3300) delivers the highest Wi-Fi performance for today's Wireless-N notebooks and dual-band adapters while providing simultaneous support for legacy 802.11g devices as well as clients based on 2.4 GHz and/or 5 GHz Wireless-N. In addition to an array of eight metamaterial antennas, the WNDR3300 supports 5 GHz Wireless-N, enabling the RangeMax Dual Band Wireless-N Router to avoid interference from household appliances, cordless phones, Bluetooth devices, and even other neighboring Wi-Fi networks, and maximizes wireless performance and range to deliver faster downloads, high-quality media streaming, and better online gaming.

The NETGEAR RangeMax Wireless-N Gigabit Router (WNR3500) incorporates an ultra-fast five-port 10/100/1000 Mbps switch (one Gigabit Ethernet WAN and four Gigabit Ethernet LAN ports), to deliver the fastest possible wireless-to-wired network performance, and an array of eight internal antennas to reduce the effects of RF interference and maximize wireless performance and range. Automatic Quality of Service (QoS) ensures reliable support for Internet, voice, video, and gaming applications, enabling users to simultaneously surf the Internet, e-mail, stream high-definition video, make Internet phone calls, and play online games.

The RangeMax Dual Band Wireless-N USB 2.0 Adapter (WNDA3100) enables users to upgrade their notebook or desktop PCs to dual-band Wireless-N delivering more wireless channels, less interference and better connections. Backward compatible with older 802.11g equipment, the WNDA3100 provides enough bandwidth to support music downloads, file sharing and high-definition multimedia applications.

NETGEAR also announced that it will deliver to the market the Wireless-N MoCA Router (WNMR834) based upon the MoCA 1.1 specification to simultaneously provide a Wireless-N network infrastructure and enable consumers to use their existing in-home cable TV coaxial outlets to distribute high-definition digital video and multimedia content, at a raw data rate of 270Mbps, to high-definition televisions, digital and Internet set-top boxes, computers, and other networked devices. The Multimedia over Coax Alliance (MoCA(TM: 103.94, -2.96, -2.76%)) is an open, industry driven initiative promoting distribution of high-definition digital video and entertainment through existing coaxial cable in the home.

NETGEAR Bridges and Extenders Provide High-Speed, Reliable Network Connectivity for Network-Enabled Devices

Providing high-bandwidth connectivity to the network for network-enabled devices such as laptops, gaming consoles and media adapters, without the need to run unsightly Ethernet cables, requires the use of bridges and extenders. NETGEAR is introducing a variety of wired and wireless bridges and wireless network extenders designed to deliver fast, reliable network connections to support bandwidth-intensive applications around the home.

NETGEAR's Powerline AV Ethernet Kit (XAVB101) and Powerline HD Plus Ethernet Adapter Kit (HDXB111) provide a reliable, high-speed 200 Mbps network connection to the home network and Internet over existing electrical wires to devices such as digital media receivers, set top boxes, game consoles, PCs, or storage devices. Both the XAVB101, which is based on the HomePlug AV standard, and the UPA-based HDXB111, which features built-in power sockets to save power outlet space, provide built-in quality-of-service (QoS), to ensure high-quality connectivity for high-definition video streaming, online gaming and Voice-over-IP (VoIP) applications, and easy operation based on a plug-in design and push-button security setup.

HD/Gaming 5 GHz Wireless-N Networking Kit (WNHDEB111) provides more wireless channels, less interference and better, more reliable, connections to enable high-performance network gaming and simultaneously streaming high-definition videos at the highest-possible Wireless-N speeds. Utilizing the patented metamaterial array of six smart internal antennas to optimize range and avoid RF interference, the HD/Gaming 5 GHz Wireless-N Networking Kit connects to any existing router or gateway and provides quick, easy, secure network connectivity through simple "Push 'N' Connect" using Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS: 46.77, -1.78, -3.66%).

The NETGEAR Plastic Optical Fiber Ethernet Adapter (PF101) is an easy-to-install bridge that utilizes easily bendable and thin plastic optical fiber to transmit large amounts of data from room to room at the speed of light. Compatible with any Ethernet-enabled device, the PF101 delivers data speeds of 100Mbps at distances up to 50 meters over a very small diameter cable that is easy to run along base boards, under carpets and around tight corners, making it an ideal solution for distributing high-definition video across the network to the set-top box.

The 5 Ghz Wireless-N HD Access Point/Bridge (WNHDE111) incorporates six smart metamaterial antennas to optimize range and connects to any existing router or gateway to provide more wireless channels, better connections and less interference. By plugging the WNHDE111 to an existing router or gateway, any home network can be upgraded to support the latest WiFi-certified 5GHz 802.11n draft 2.0 wireless and existing 802.11g networks can be upgraded to a dual-band 2.4 and 5 GHz network providing up to 23 more congestion-free channels. Automatic QoS ensures prioritization of voice, video and gaming traffic for seamless simultaneous task handling. Setup is made simple through plug-and-play, automatic configuration, while "Push 'N' Connect" using WPS ensures an easy, secure Internet connection.

The RangeMax Wireless Signal Extender (WPN824EXT) connects into an existing wireless router or gateway to upgrade and extend the performance and range of an existing network. A patented internal array of seven smart metamaterial antennas for WiFi 802.11g networks deliver optimum range and data throughput performance, making the WPN824EXT an affordable solution to extend the wireless coverage in homes for routers and ISP gateways that have inadequate wireless range. The RangeMax Wireless Signal Extender dynamically selects from an array of hundreds of antenna combinations to find the optimal, interference-free path to each wireless client, delivering a fast, stable wireless connection.

NETGEAR also announced that it will further expand its technology portfolio of wired, wireless and powerline Ethernet bridges and extenders with the availability of the first industry-standard and MSO-certified MoCA Ethernet-to-Coax Bridge based upon the MoCA 1.1 specification in the first half of 2008. The MoCA 1.1 Ethernet-to-Coax Bridge Kit (MOEB1002) is designed for high-definition video streaming and online gaming applications, enabling consumers to use their existing in-home cable TV outlets to distribute high-definition digital video and multimedia content, at a raw data rate of 270Mbps, to high-definition televisions, digital and Internet set-top boxes, computers, and other networked devices.

NETGEAR Delivers Intelligent Network Storage to Consumers

The ReadyNAS(TM: 103.94, -2.96, -2.76%) Duo 500GB Gigabit Desktop Network Storage (RND2150), ReadyNAS Duo 750GB Gigabit Desktop Network Storage (RND2175) and ReadyNAS Duo 1TB Gigabit Desktop Network Storage (RND2110) are intelligent network storage solutions that enable consumers to centralize, organize and share all digital media in the home with a simple-to-use solution that delivers best-in-class performance, scalability, versatility, and data redundancy that was once reserved for higher-priced business-class solutions.

By simply connecting any digital camera to the front-mounted USB port, ReadyNAS Duo quickly and easily copies the photos, and makes them available to computers, PDAs and other network-enabled devices in the home or across the Internet. In addition to the users' personal stored digital audio and video content, ReadyNAS Duo also provides integrated support for BitTorrent(TM: 103.94, -2.96, -2.76%) enabling users to download digital entertainment content directly to the ReadyNAS Duo and stream all stored audio and video content through a media adapter into a home entertainment center without requiring any of the network computers to be on and in use.

To protect valuable digital media, ReadyNAS Duo, when equipped with the optional second drive, automatically mirrors all digital data to protect against data loss due to a disk failure using NETGEAR's own patent-pending X-RAID(TM: 103.94, -2.96, -2.76%) technology.

NETGEAR's Broadband Modems and Gateways Provide Reliable, High-Speed Connectivity to the WAN

The only thing more important than having a high-speed whole home network to support the entertainment and productivity needs of the connected home is providing a reliable, fast connection for that network to the broadband Internet. NETGEAR is introducing a variety of new members to its family of broadband modems and gateways including the Pre-DOCSIS 3.0 Wireless Cable Voice Gateway (CBVG834) which uses channel bonding to enable 100Mbps downloads together with digital voice. The DOCSIS 3.0 Cable Modem (CVD31T) is based on the next generation of the Data Over Cable Service Interface Specifications for much higher upstream and downstream speeds. The state-of-the-art VDSL2 DECT Voice Gateway (WG934NOUD) integrates a VDSL modem, router, 802.11n access point, two VoIP ports and DECT base station. NETGEAR is also introducing a 3G Modem (MBM621) which enables easy sharing of the newest mobile 3G networks.

About NETGEAR, Inc.

NETGEAR (NASDAQGM: NTGR: 31.24, -2.55, -7.54%) designs technologically advanced, branded networking solutions that address the specific needs of small and medium business and home users. The Company's product offerings enable users to share Internet access, peripherals, files, digital multimedia content and applications among multiple personal computers and other Internet-enabled devices. As an ENERGY STAR(R: 42.11, -1.42, -3.26%) partner, NETGEAR offers products that prevent greenhouse gas emissions by meeting strict energy-efficiency specifications set by the U.S. government. NETGEAR is headquartered in Santa Clara, Calif. For more information, visit the company's Web site at http://www.netgear.com or call (408) 907-8000.

(C: 28.24, -0.69, -2.38%) 2008 NETGEAR, Inc. NETGEAR(R: 42.11, -1.42, -3.26%), the NETGEAR Logo, ReadyNAS, and X-RAID are trademarks or registered trademarks of NETGEAR, Inc. in the United States and/or other countries. Other brand and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders. Information is subject to change without notice. All rights reserved. Actual data throughput will vary from maximum signal rates stipulated. Network conditions and environmental factors, including volume of network traffic, building materials and construction, and network overhead, lower actual data throughput.

Safe Harbor Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 for NETGEAR, Inc.:

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Specifically, statements concerning the expected performance characteristics, specifications, market acceptance, market growth, specific uses, user feedback and market position of NETGEAR's products and technology are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Safe Harbor. These statements are based on management's current expectations and are subject to certain risks and uncertainties, including, without limitation, the following: the actual price, performance and ease of use of NETGEAR's products may not met the price, performance and ease of use requirements of customers, product performance may be adversely affected by real world operating conditions, new viruses or Internet threats may develop that challenge the effectiveness of security features in NETGEAR's products, the ability of NETGEAR to market and sell its products and technology, the impact and pricing of competing products and the introduction of alternative technological solutions. Further information on potential risk factors that could affect NETGEAR and its business are detailed in the Company's periodic filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including, but not limited to, those risks and uncertainties listed in the section entitled "Part II - Item 1A. Risk Factors," pages 27 through 38, in the Company's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the fiscal quarter ended September 30, 2007, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on November 9, 2007. NETGEAR undertakes no obligation to release publicly any revisions to any forward-looking statements contained herein to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20030730/NETGEARLOGO)

SOURCE NETGEAR, Inc.

http://www.netgear.com

http://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/industries/telecom/article/netgearr-enables-access-home-ces-2008_424789_13.html

Top Global Launch the World's First HSUPA Router with Built-in QoS and ALG to Deliver Data and Voice (VoIP) Over 3G Cellular Networks (VoIPo3G)

Top Global Launch the World's First HSUPA Router with Built-in QoS and ALG to Deliver Data and Voice (VoIP) Over 3G Cellular Networks (VoIPo3G)

Extending Top Global's leadership in 3G mobile router technologies, the MobileBridge™ supports seamless migration to HSUPA with peak downlink speed of 7.2Mbps and uplink 5.76Mbps making broadband wireless Internet a reality for both data and voice. The MobileBridge™ (model: MB8000, MB9000, and MB6800M) incorporated Top Global patent pending intelligent quality of service (QoS) technology and application layer gateway (ALG) protocol to deliver superior VoIPo3G services which Disruptive Analysis forecasts 255 million subscribers by 2012.

CES, Las Vegas, NV (PRWEB) January 6, 2008 -- Top Global, the global leader in mobile wireless convergence systems, announced today that the MobileBridge™ product family supports latest cellular communication technology - HSUPA (High-Speed Uplink Packet Access (HSUPA) and VoIP over 3G (VoIPo3G). The MobileBridge™ is a patented gateway/router that links 3G and 4G wireless networks with WLAN and LAN, enabling enterprises to enjoy the flexibility and convenience of broadband wireless Internet in truly mobile and remote environments.

HSUPA enables high-speed uplink data communications such as voice over internet protocol (VoIP) and interactive multimedia with improved data speed and shorter latency. Although we first demonstrated VoIPo3G feasibility back in 2003, analysts and 3G carriers have only begun to explore the vast potential of this application recently. Disruptive Analysis forecasts 255 million active VoIPo3G users by the end of 2012. With increasing worldwide penetration of HSUPA and EVDO Rev.A, uplink bandwidth has improved significantly which makes VoIPo3G an attractive application for end users and carriers. Many of our enterprise customers are using the 3G MobileBridge (MB8000) with IP phones which route voice traffic from their remote offices over 3G cellular network work to their corporate IP-PBX. Partnering with our customers, we have developed technologies to overcome two major issues. The first one is quality of service. We have implemented our proprietary native QoS in our Enterprise product line: MB8000, MB9000 and MB6800M (more product info can be found: http://www.topglobalusa.com/) to support VoIPo3G. For example the MB8000 can intelligently route voice traffic with higher priority than other data transfers like file download, etc. Therefore, one can still carry on a clear conversation and download a large file at the same time. The second issue is NAT/Firewall traversal. We have implement VoIP friendly NAT in MB8000. On the other hand, our MB9000 and MB6800M support SIP and H.323 application layer gateway (ALG) to deliver VoIPo3G. The ALG enables secure transport of VoIP traffic through the firewall and NAT so packets don't bounce off the firewall.

As the market demand for uplink speed grows, there are clear advantages to support seamless migration from HSDPA to HSUPA in our MobileBridge™ product family. Using the MobileBridge™ with AC881 and AT&T HSUPA network, average uplink throughput of 500-800 kbps and downlink throughput of 600-1400 kbps can be achieved. With HSUPA and EVDO Rev.A technologies, our MobileBridge can better support innovative mobile applications and advanced features including:

%uF06E Broadband Wireless Internet Access. Similar to EVDO Rev.A, the HSDPA technology delivers higher data rate than DSL, and cable. It offers additional freedom and flexibility for customers to get anywhere anytime internet access.

%uF06E New Applications. High speed uplink makes HSUPA (and EVDO Rev.A) an ideal technology for applications such as VoIP, video surveillance, and interactive multimedia communication.

%uF06E Mobility. Optimized handover schemes with short latencies ensure real-time applications such as VoIP performance without service dropout or degradation in moving environments.

Please contact Top Global at support @ topglobalusa.com to schedule a time to see and experience the HSUPA router and VoIPo3G