Telecom in the News; Integra Telecom

NWMAP brings you updates in Telecom making the news. Integra Telecom made a few headlines this month, including the announcement of their new CEO, Kevin O’ Hara. Kevin was formerly co-founder of Level 3 and company board member. He is taking over for Tom Casey.

Integra has made most of their headlines due to the widespread and fast growing expansion of services this last year. In a recent article it states that Integra extended Hosted VoIP across its entire network. Integra is giving its business customers options. Since no two businesses are the same, businesses have the option to purchase a basic phone system with traditional calling features or a completely hosted solution with a dedicated switch.

Pairing its network with PBX gear from vendors including Mitel and NEC, the Managed PBX service is a completely managed premise-based system that provides businesses with a fixed monthly price. One of the clear benefits of the service, especially for smaller businesses with little or no IT staff, is that it can reduce reduce the complexity of managing separate equipment and service vendors.

Read more: Integra Telecom extends hosted voice across its entire network – FierceTelecom http://www.fiercetelecom.com/story/integra-telecom-extends-hosted-voice-across-its-entire-network/2011-12-07#ixzz1h0OIWTbH

Also making headlines is Megapath with its enhanced managed security suite. Among the many updates are in-the-cloud signature updates, scanning, and cleaning to create what MegaPath says will be “a steady flow of clean data to businesses.”  Taking care of security threats before they become a problem is certainly a proactive solution.  
 

Telecom in the News: November 2011

At the end of the month, NWMAP Telecom likes to update our agents and clients on the Telecom that made news.

One of our carriers has seen a lot of news this past month; Paetec recently acquired former Intellifiber/Cavalier and the acquisition between Paetec and Windstream has the FCC’s approval. What does this mean for customers? As stated by the agency: “poses no significant competitive harms and should provide benefits to residential and business customers resulting from Windstream offering a broader range of competitive services in the markets served by the combined company.”

Read more: Windstream gets the FCC’s blessing for its PAETEC acquisition – FierceTelecom http://www.fiercetelecom.com/story/windstream-gets-fccs-blessing-its-paetec-acquisition/2011-11-28#ixzz1f3k6BtDv

http://www.fiercetelecom.com/story/paetec-equips-fort-drum-fiber-services-through-disa/2011-11-28

Integra continues to up their game. We’re hearing from them in the news continuously and it clearly symbolizes their increasingly predominant presence in the telecom industry. To better provide customers telecom services, Integra Telecom is reaching out by putting ADTRAN to work on Ethernet solutions.

Another source for Telecom news concerning your business and HD video meetings is https://blog.imeet.com/. Recently they’ve focused on a series of blog postings about digital meetings disasters. This is valuable for those that have iMeet services and those wanting to learn about the technology.

Hope you’ve had an excellent November, from NWMAP!

Telecom Carriers Make News

Every month NWMAP likes to recognize and spread the word about some of our 40 Telecom carriers who make the news. We also like to keep everyone updated on new products by our carriers and any new announcements that may be of value to our clientele and/or Telecom Agents.

The first tidbit of news is the partnering of Wecom Inc. with Integra Telecom to deliver carrier class service to rural businesses in the SW U.S, including Arizona, an area NWMAP serves and continues to expand services. Integra Telecom has been making significant news all of 2011 regarding their continued expansion of services. We look forward to more in 2012.

Also an announcement from Integra is bringing on a new Communications executive to take charge of it’s growing portfolio. Joe Harding has been appointed Senior vice president of product management and development.

Read more: Integra Telecom brings aboard Level 3 vet Joe Harding – FierceTelecom http://www.fiercetelecom.com/story/integra-telecom-brings-aboard-level-3-vet-joe-harding/2011-10-24#ixzz1cKFVSuFu
 

Paetec deployed Visual Messaging App for Smartphones. Some features include voicemail transcription into text for phone users. Basically it gives them enterprise level service right on their phone. Receiving messages on your phone is as easy as receiving instant emails for voice messaging.

Make the Most of Cloud Technology for Your Business

Not too long ago, NWMAP introduced Cloud Firewall Services (CFS) from Integra Telecom https://nwmap.com/new-from-integra-cloud-firewall-services-cfs . More businesses are becoming interested and utilizing cloud technology. One of the caveats to this is even the IT departments can’t keep up with changing demands of new new products and services so it’s important to take stock of what you have and what you need before embarking on new technological territory. 

Of course the agents at NWMAP can give you free quotes and assess your needs for free. A telecom broker is always a good service to use for something so important as your business’ efficiency and bottom line. They can help a business make a smooth transition to using cloud services. Here are some tips about utilizing cloud technology:

  • Assess the demands cloud technology will place on your current network. For bandwidth concerns it may be wise to contact a Telecom Agent or your provider.
  • Realize that cloud is only as secure and reliable as its connection.
  • For your network’s ability to handle cloud services, you must know your network’s scalability, reliability, redundancy and quality of service (Qos).
  • Consider ethernet or MPLS- it can lower costs.
  • What is your plan with using Cloud based services? Applications?
  • Make an existing overview of how many employees, how much use/transactions, determine busy points of usage. Calculate bytes usage based on this info and determine bandwidth usage.
  • There will be a lot of estimating and guesswork, but a Telecom agent can significantly reduce chances for errors.

To contact a Telecom Broker, click here: https://nwmap.com/contact-us

 

Integra in The News; September 2011

Every month NWMAP likes to keep you updated on our carriers in the news. This month Integra Telecom made several announcements. For starters, Integra named Ken Worcester as Channel Partner Lead. We’ve been hearing about Integra’s growing Ethernet and IP- based voice services and with Ken as Channel Partner Lead, all sales leads will report to him concerning how they are carrying out the program’s initiatives.

In other news, Integra adds fiber to 50 more buildings, proof of Integra’s very motivated plans to expand consistently now into 2012 and beyond. This means access speeds from 5 Mbps up to 10 Gbps in buildings located in the metro areas of Portland, Ore., Seattle, Phoenix, Boise, Sacramento, and Salt Lake City. Read more: Integra Telecom adds fiber to over 50 more buildings across U.S. – FierceTelecom http://www.fiercetelecom.com/story/integra-telecom-adds-fiber-over-50-more-buildings-across-us/2011-09-20#ixzz1YnV2AVm1
Also, Integra deepens cloud presence with a security service called Cloud Firewall Service (CFS). Find out more: https://nwmap.com/new-from-integra-cloud-firewall-services-cfs

 Integra has also partnered with Palo Alto Networks to deliver it’s Cloud-based services, which include a mix of new security services, everything from application visibility and control to URL filtering, Intrusion Prevention Systems (IPS) and Intrusion Detection and Prevention Systems (IDPS),anti-virus, anti-spyware and file/data content filtering. Read more: Integra Telecom adds Palo Alto Networks’ platform to its cloud services suite – FierceTelecom http://www.fiercetelecom.com/story/integra-telecom-adds-palo-alto-networks-platform-its-cloud-services-suite/2011-08-29#ixzz1YnWlIt90