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Microsoft, Facebook, RIM, and others write to the FCC in support of AT&T-Mobile merger
FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski has mail. It's only a page and a paragraph long, but the letter he's received this week has much gravitas attached to it, coming as it does from a select group of the tech industry's biggest companies, all of whom are lending their support to AT&T's proposed acquisition of T-Mobile. Of the eight new proponents of the deal, Microsoft, Facebook and Yahoo form a sub-group of software / web content distributors, whereas Qualcomm, RIM, Avaya, Brocade, and Oracle will have been motivated to speak up because they see the takeover as expanding opportunities to sell their mobile and networking hardware. The entire octet agrees that the melding of AT&T and T-Mobile's networks into one is a requisite move for broadening mobile broadband availability in the US and for keeping the country competitive with the rest of the world. In their words, "an increasingly robust and efficient wireless network is part of a virtuous innovation cycle." Virtuous for them, perhaps, but what about consumers faced with an increasingly binary choice of mobile carrier? Who shall protect their virtue?
Panasonic, Yahoo, more admit defeat, sign deal with Klausner
It's easy to mock the little guy when he takes a handful of giant corporations to court. Such litigious overzealousness usually gets tangled up or tossed out altogether -- Klausner Technologies, however, is laughing all the way to the bank, with a stellar track record taking on some of tech's biggest names over the past few years. To date, the company has scored wins in visual voicemail patent battles with Apple, Google, Verizon, LG, and Vonage -- the company also struck a deal with Sprint, though presumably with less teeth-pulling. This week, Klausner added four more big wins to the list, inking deals with Panasonic, Yahoo, Qwest Communications, and Avaya in the wake of suits against the tech firms. The company still has ongoing battles with RIM and Cisco that will hopefully stay civil. We'd hate to see someone send a visual voicemail they'd regret later.
Avaya intros business-oriented A175 tablet, shows off Flare user interface
Avaya's not a name you generally hear when circling the consumer electronics water cooler, and even though it just introduced a new tablet, you still won't ever see this guy in Target, Best Buy or Walmart. Expected to cost between $1,500 and $2,000, this 11.5-inch enterprise tablet is designed primarily to be used at a cubicle, doubling as a SIP phone and tripling as an office collaboration tool. Dubbed a "Polycom killer" more than an iPad killer, this unit relies on Aura 6.0 and the newly designed Flare user interface (detailed in the video past the break), which enables touchscreen operation and supports multi-user video calling, email, web browsing and support for Android applications. Specs wise, it's "slightly thicker than an iPad," has a trio of USB 2.0 ports, inbuilt WiFi, 3G / 4G WWAN support and an integrated battery for those days when you simply have to clock in from the comfort of Venice Beach. Hit that More Coverage link for a live report at the device's unveiling, and feel free to start hassling your manager to order up a few dozen of these. Or use that money for office-wide raises -- whatever floats your boat. [Thanks, Bob]
Netgear intros business-class networking solutions, partners with Avaya for VoIP
Fresh off its acquisition of Infrant Technologies, Netgear is unloading a bevy of new RAID NAS products, a host of small to mid-size business networking gear, and a newfound partnership with Avaya to provide VoIP to SMB customers. On the storage front, the four-bay ReadyNAS NV+ (desktop) and ReadyNAS 1100 (rackmount) devices support RAID 0/1/5 and X-RAID, automated backups and alerting, gigabit Ethernet, UPnP AV multimedia access, a number of USB ports, and room for up to four SATA drives. As for networking gear, the company is busting out its new WFS709TP ProSafe Smart Wireless Switch, WGL102 ProSafe 802.11g Light WAP, WAGL102 ProSafe Dual Band Light WAP, eight-port GS108T Gigabit Ethernet Smart Switch, 24-port GS724TP Smart PoE Switch, and a monstrous 48-port GS748TP Smart PoE Switch to finish things off. As if that wasn't enough to digest, Netgear is also partnering up with Avaya to provide "an IP telephony solution for small businesses with 20 users or less." The newfangled lineups will be available at varying times and prices, so be sure to visit the read link for specifics on each individual model.[Via SmallNetBuilder]
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Avaya announces one-X Deskphone Edition IP phones
Four upcoming VoIP phones from Avaya are promising to meet the communications needs of nearly every type of employee at your company, from the receptionist on the phone all day to the salesperson always on the road to the executive who needs complete control over his/her conference calls. Falling under the general one-X Deskphone Edition brand, all members of the 9600 series -- the 9610, 9620, 9630, and 9650 -- feature high-quality audio with G.722 wideband audio support, Avaya's Communication Manager software, and the ability to add new apps on-the-fly through the integrated Wireless Markup Language (WML). As you step up the model line, each phone adds more features and controls for advanced users, so the 9610 is a rather simple unit designed for ease-of-use by the general public in a lobby setting, while the 9650 is meant for people who are making and taking calls non-stop throughout the day. Although Avaya neglected to release any pricing information, we do know that the 9620 and 9630 will be available next month, while the 9610 and 9650 won't show up until early next year.
Plantronic's Voyager 510-USB Bluetooth headset: a first for enterprise VoIP softphones
Yeah, we know life can be unfair. At home you're setup with a cordless phone and wireless laptop allowing you to roam about in full untethered data communication glory. Then you return to work only to be tethered to the cube, and more specifically, the corporate phone. Well, Plantronics may have a solution if your local IT drones are VoIP enlightened. See, Plantronics just announced their new Voyager 510-USB which they claim is the first system to bring Bluetooth connectivity to enterprise class VoIP softphones (read: not that clunky VoIP handset on your desk). As the name indicates, the 510-USB slug-on-ear headset also features a USB little-buddy for slottin' up to your laptop. What's unique here is the PerSonoCall software which allows the kit to integrate with Avaya, Cisco, Nortel and yes, Skype among other softphone software, to offer call notification and remote call answering/ending via the headset whether you're scooting about the airport, office, or home on your lappie. The headset will switch "seamlessly" between your VoIP softphone and cellphone and should give you about 100 hours standby or 6 hours talktime within the usual 10-meter radius of your PC. Not bad, eh? Now get on the horn with IT and pester 'em for a softphone solution until those pansies cave.
