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  • Hosted VoIP Choices Extended By Snom


    Snom     has stated its 7xx series of SIP-based IP endpoints which has received certification to work with Class 5 Softswitch and IPsmarx' multi-tenant IP-PBX platform.

    The certification enables IPsmarx customers the ability to make use of Snom's 7xx series phones with Class 5 Softswitch and its multi-tenant IP-PBX, which includes email marketing, integrated billing, e-commerce functionality and call routing that are wrapped up in a single solution.

    IPsmarx is unique since its VoIP-based telephony services have been packaged to include service applications, billing, marketing capabilities, softswitch and account management. This single solution supports both direct and indirect sales channels. The integrated billing, softswitch and application servers offers scalable and reliable delivery of SIP trunks, VoIP business lines and hosted IP-PBX services with faster time to market and with low costs of ownership.

    Mike Storella, COO of snom indicated that IPsmarx has been the market leader in the fast growing IP-PBX and Softswitch market.

    There has been a steady growth for hosted IP-PBX services as customers leverage its main benefits in terms of convenience, cost, reliability, rich features and unlimited calling.

    In 2010, IPsmarx joined Snom's technology partner program in Snom’s quest to achieve interoperability with the leading communication technology partners.

    The 7xx series of phones from Snom include:
    710: The 710 phone has a rich set of everyday business telephony features, supports four SIP identities and it is suitable for small and large scale deployments.
    720: The 720 supports 12 SIP identities and is Bluetooth headset ready. It also comes with two Gigabit Ethernet ports including one for Power over Ethernet and a USB connector.

  • Best Buy Kicks Off Save Early-Pre-Black Friday, HDTV's Included


    Best Buy is kicking off an online-exclusive save early pre-Black Friday sale. This means that there will not be an outdoor waiting in line since it is an online sale. There are numerous perks that you can get from the Best Buy’s pre-Black Friday sale without standing in line and fighting crowds. Best Buy is also offering free shipping for customers who make purchases for over twenty five dollars.

    Shoppers will save money on big savings on the pre-Black Friday sale on products and will also save on travelling costs.

    One of the featured products on sale is the VIZIO-E-Series Class LED 1080p-120Hz-Smart 55” HDTV. The TV will be available for $729.00, down from $799.00. Some people may not see the seventy dollars as a big deal. However, waiting for black Friday sale may not guarantee that the prices will be lower. Shoppers may be forced to spend hours in line only to find that the product is not available or has a higher price tag.

    You can also purchase the Sharp 32 inch LED 1080p-60Hz HDTV. The smaller but amazing TV goes for $269.00, offering you twenty dollars in savings. Again, this is not a very large saving, but you are guaranteed of buying the television without fighting the crowds.

    Best Buy wishes to get shoppers buying before Black Friday since it will come a bit late this year. Shoppers can either opt to get the amazing deals now or patiently wait for the biggest shopping day.

  • Western Digital Announces My Cloud EX4 Four-Bay Personal Cloud Storage System That Holds Up To 16 TB of Data


    WD has announced the WD My Cloud EX4, a new personal storage application. The new cloud storage is a high performance and 4 bay network attached storage device that is aimed at workgroup and pros users. The storage system is ideal for home or office users who are looking for a way to manage and backup large amounts of data.

    My Cloud EX4 is available in several capacities and the users can purchase the enclosure only and then make use of their own hard drives. The units are available with preloaded hard drives with capacities of 8 TB, 12 TB or 16 TB. Personal drives can be hot-swapped or installed easily and quickly without the need of any tool.

    The device also features a USB expansion port on the back, which allows users to attach compatible USB hard drives to increase the storage capacity. The enclosure provides you with several options for securing data including JBOD as well as RAID 0, 1, 5, 10. The device is shipped together with WD SmartWare Pro software, which allows multiple PC users to back up to the My Cloud EX4.

    Mac users are also able to use the Apple Time Machine backup software for data backups. The My Cloud EX4 device is capable of backing up data from internal drives to cloud services such as ElephantDrive or Amazon S3. The device is currently available for sale at a cost of $379.99 for the enclosure, 8TB version for $799.99, 12 TB versions for $949.99 and the 16 TB versions for $1149.99.

  • EPC Opts for Ontario VOIP firm Instead of MTS


    Calls to retender a contract worth about $6 million that was awarded to an Ontario firm were rejected by a city committee, despite protests from MTS, the losing bidder.

    Calls to retender a contract worth about $6 million that was awarded to an Ontario firm were rejected by a city committee, despite protests from MTS, the losing bidder.

    On Friday, the city announced the new telephone contract that was selected by the public service online. The overall combination of awards is expected upon approval to transfer about 4,000 landlines to VOIP service and the award is expected to save $1.5 million over a period of 5 years.

    However, MTS held the view that it was competitive on all contracts, including the VOIP landline that it lost to FlexITy Solutions. The company further questioned why the executive policy committee supported investment from outside Manitoba.

    Kelvin Shepherd, MTS’s president alleged that the small firm that won the tender may lack the necessary security level that is needed to safeguard sensitive city data.EPC members on the other hand noted that the tender would have immense benefits to the city residents and it voted to support the proposal, with a descanting vote coming from Coun. Brian Mayes (St. Vital).

    City staff noted that they are not permitted to discriminate on a tender process basing on geographical location.

    Cisco is a business partner of FlexITy and its  regional director, Shane Warnez intimated that the company has over 9 years of experience with VOIP, has a proven security record and already operates in the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority.

    MTS was awarded several services by city including landline and cellular contracts worth nearly $10.6 million.

  • Moto G Smartphone to Be Unveiled By Motorola Aimed At Emerging Markets


    Google owned Motorola mobility handset maker is still struggling to find its niche in the smartphone market. Sales of its high-end smartphone Moto X have not been very impressive. Now the company intends to target the low end market with a cheap phone. However, this comes with a limitation since the phone will not be available in China, the worlds lading low end smartphone market.

    The company announced the low-end smartphone on Wednesday and it is set to retail at $180 without a contract. Motorola believes that it appeal to people in emerging markets like Chile, Brazil and Peru, with a combined population of 500 million potential customers.

    Much of its appeal is poised to come from Google’s Internet services embedded on the smartphone. The phone would be much less smart in china which blocks much of Google’s services including Google play.

    Motorola’s CEO Dennis Woodside said that the company’s ability to compete in china is a bit constrained and the smartphone will not be offered in the country initially.Motorola is confident enough that the smartphone will appeal to a large number of people outside China to make it successful.

    Unlike other low end smartphones in the market, the Moto G will have a 4.5-inch high-resolution screen and will also run the latest android software. However, there will also be some tradeoffs that come with the low cost smartphone. Moto G will be 5 ounces heavier than many popular smartphones.

    Motorola indicates that it will sell the Moto G at a profit and the phone is expected to hit the shelves in Brazil and parts of Europe on Wednesday and then reach US, India and other parts of Asia on January.

  • Ming-Chi Kuo Predicts Apple HDTV Set in 2015 and A7-Powered Apple TV In 2014


    There has been a lot of speculation regarding an anticipated Apple-designed TV set this year. However, research by Ming-Chi Kuo with KGI Securities notes that the much anticipated product is not set to arrive until 2015. He however indicates that a refreshed Apple TV that is powered by its 64-bit A7 processor will instead be launched in 2014.

    This news comes after a similar report undertaken by from NPD DisplaySearch intimated that a wearable iDevice and probably the much rumored iWatch is set for release in 2014. The research noted that the Apple HDTV has been shelved until 2015.

    Apple was expected to refresh its Apple TV in October this year but this did not happen and many people were left wondering whether Apple had postponed the launch of the TV or a much more advanced TV was in the pipeline to replace the $99 set-top box.

    The Apple Tv has been receiving more channels over the past few months. In July, both Eddy Cue and Tim Cook attended the Sun Valley Conference in Utah where Liberty Media Corp Chairman John Malone was said to be in a meeting with certain attendees. This indicates that a TV product from Apple could be in the making, but nevertheless it leaves all of us in a limbo about the expected release date.

    If Kuo is right, then we could be a few years off from seeing an Apple-designed TV reach the market.

    Source: Apple TV Hacks

  • Samsung Overpowers Rivals in china’s Smartphone Market

    Samsung appears to be overpowering low-cost Chinese competitors in the enormous smartphone market according to a study.

    According to research firm Canalys, Samsung, which is already the largest smartphone vendor in China saw a 21% jump in market share for the third quarter ended 30th September compared to 14% a year earlier.

    Samsung doubled its sales in the Chinese market with nearly 19 million smartphones in the quarter.

    According to Canalys, Samsung grew much faster than its close rival  Lenovo Group Ltd, which had a 64% increase in sales but its market share remained the same at 13%.

    China overtook the US as the largest smartphone market last year, and the rapid market growth is driven by demand for low cost smartphones. Nicole Peng, a research director for Canalys said that Samsung’s growth in shipment volume came mainly from the mid-range and low-end segments.

    According to Peng, many Chinese consumers would choose a Samsung smartphone if it is a little more expensive than a cheap Chinese phone. Samsung is widely known for its TV sets.

    In the third quarter, Apple’s iPhone shipments to the Chinese market grew by 32% as compared to the year earlier, though its market share shrunk to 6% from 8%. Apple’s hefty price tag for the iPhone 5C indicates that it focusing on the high end segment, where margins are stable but growth is not very robust.

    Peng noted that the battle between Samsung and the low-end Chinese companies will continue to intensify.

  • $25 Million Raised by Coho Data for Cloud Storage

    Ignition Partners, a new investor in Coho Data has helped the company to raise $25 million. Andreessen Horowitz, an existing investor was also involved in the funding round.

    With the funding, Ignition Partners has seen their managing director, Frank Artale join Coho’s board of directors.

    Coho Data is involved in the provision of cloud-based storage facilities for its clients.

    The company has just emerged from stealth mode last month and it has indicated that it will use the funds to set up research and development as well as marketing. This will be done as the company prepares to launch its DataStream product later in the year.

    The startup was launched in 2011 and has offices in Vancouver, Sunnyvale and British Columbia.

  • Apple’s 2014 Lineup includes iWatch and HDTV


    Apple’s media event on Oct. 22 turned into a bit of a damp squid with only some upgrades to the existing products being unveiled. However, reports indicate that Apple is ready with a new product line to be unveiled in 2014.

    According to CNET, Apple is also working on a HDTV. Apple may also release add-ons for its standalone TV set such as a Bluetooth controller and a gaming console to complement the former Apple TV.

    Apple’s upcoming products seem pretty interesting with amazing features such as bigger screens and finger print recognition. Amongst the most interesting products is the new Apple’s upcoming wearable tech. Apple is poised to release its wearable tech early next year, after Sony and Samsung released theirs and Google reportedly on its way. The much speculated iWatch is also set to be released next year as reports indicate that the company has been hiring employees on its engineering team.

    In September, Apple released the iPhone 5S and 5C models, which retained the screen size of 4 inches like their predecessors. Global smartphone leaders Samsung, Nokia and Sony are releasing smartphones with larger screens, which may provoke Apple to build their next generation iPhones with larger screens. An iPad maxi is also said to be in the lineup and is set to be accompanied by a keyboard cover.

    Images: Federico Ciccarese/Ciccarese Design