Business News Holding

Tag: sme

  • Avaya Expands Business Collaboration for Small and Medium Enterprise Market

    Avaya introduced the new version of Avaya IP Office—the company’s flagship communications solution for small and medium-sized enterprises.

    According to the company,  Avaya IP Office Release 6.1 delivers a host of business collaboration and customer service enhancements "that can improve ease-of-use and worker productivity for SME workers, and generate significant new efficiencies for businesses."

    Avaya IP Office has been recognized for its total cost of ownership (TCO) benefits, delivering savings of approximately 25% in acquisition and ownership costs when compared with a competing vendor solution.

    The new version of Avaya IP Office expands upon its TCO strengths by enabling installation via a single DVD containing the open standards-based Linux operating system (OS) and key communications applications. Formerly, the OS and IP Office applications had to be installed via several sources and multiple DVDs.

    "This new approach can cut down software installation times by as much as 75%,2 saving on labor costs while simplifying installation. Additionally, when compared to other OS environments, Linux does not require user licenses, driving further savings for Avaya IP Office users," as the company claims.

    Other advancements introduced by Avaya include:

    * Flexible Avaya one-X Portal for IP Office: The solution’s dynamic Web-based desktop communications interface for remote, mobile and office workers features a newly-designed, customizable interface with drag and drop application gadgets. The solution—which lets users manage calls, instant messages and e-mails from one PC-based portal—is more flexible, allowing users to place gadgets (i.e. Directory, Call Log, etc.) wherever they want on their screen. Further customization includes ‘skins’ and branding with a business’ name.

    * Improved Contact Center Reporting: Now, an SME can gauge the success of a customer campaign through location-based business intelligence that analyzes the calls flowing into a contact center, and makes them viewable on a geographic map. This capability provides a visual report of the volume of customer interaction based on each customer’s location.

    * Expanded Video Options: Avaya IP Office expands upon its videoconferencing capabilities, going beyond Softphone-based video to now offer more advanced multi-point HD videoconferencing with up to 4 parties.3 Additionally, it enables video integration with selected third-party SIP phones.

    * Multi-site Management: SME owners can now manage multiple office sites using one consolidated interface and a single log-in. This lets users view and manage all of the key communications parameters (i.e. user rights, hunt groups) of multiple locations (up to 32).

  • Broadvox and Cypress Communications Announce Merger Agreement

    VoIP and unified communication service providers – Broadvox and Cypress Communications – announced the signing of a merger agreement.

    While both companies deliver a hosted VoIP and hosted unified communications solution, neither customer base is expected to be affected by the merger. Customers using Cypress’ C4 IP product and those using Broadvox’s GO!VBX will see no changes in their current feature sets, phones, or technology platforms. The Cypress C4 IP solution is ideally suited for enterprises, while GO!VBX primarily targets SMBs.

    According to Stephen L. Schilling, CEO and President of Cypress Communications, “The merger positions the combined Broadvox and Cypress company as a broad-based market leader, serving both carriers, SMB and SME VoIP segments. The combined company will boast one of the largest VoIP networks and will continue to provide 24×7 support and service for the more than 10,000 business customers and hundreds of thousands of users each and every day.”

    Cypress will gain access to Broadvox’s network backbone for direct origination and termination of voice traffic to more effectively serve the needs of its expanding customer base.

    Broadvox will benefit from the increased utilization of its network backbone and the ability to enhance its carrier, SMB and SME offerings with the Cypress Communications’ unified communications suite of services.

    The closing date of the merger is subject to certain terms and conditions customary for transactions of this type, including regulatory approvals. The companies announced that the finalization of the transaction is expected within 60-90 days. Because the two companies are privately held, no other merger details will be made available.

    "We are excited about this opportunity to enter into a merger agreement with a leader in unified communications as a service," remarked Andre Temnorod, Chairman and CEO at Broadvox. "The new, combined company will be in a position to expand its ability of providing high-quality and innovative services to our target markets and this strength will be a key to our continued future success. While we look forward to finalizing the transaction, it’s important for our customers, partners and other stakeholders to know that it is ‘business as usual’ at both Broadvox and Cypress Communications."

    Hosted unified communications provider Cypress Communications is known for helping to define the unified communications as a service (UCaaS) category and has been providing hosted communications to small and mid-sized businesses and enterprises (SMBs and SMEs) for more than 25 years.

    Broadvox has nearly a decade of experience in providing SIP Origination and Terminating services to carriers. In 2007, Broadvox began offering SMBs and SMEs various SIP Trunking products and this year expanded the offering with virtual PBX hosted services.

  • SME Integrated Solutions for the Telecom Sector

    We spoke to Paz Vigil from SME a Spanish company that was present at the Mobile World Congress. In the telecom sector they specialize in integrated solutions to locate and manage every kind of telecom appliances.

    The company provides the necessary infrastructure to ensure the correct operation of equipments.

    Watch our video interview to get a feel for the customized products this company provides to network operators.