Telecom in the News: April 2012

NWMAP likes to review the top Telecom news stories for each month. This is what was happening in March and April.

March wrapped up the Channel Partners Conference and Expo in Las Vegas. For a complete review: https://nwmap.com/2012-channel-partners-vegas-telecom-conference-and-expo-review

Other news:

Communications network provider MegaPath Corp.’s aggressive Ethernet over Copper buildout has put the carrier among the nation’s largest providers of EoC service.

In the past year, MegaPath has aggressively expanded its EoC footprint. In September, it announced it would provide service nationwide.

 Read more: MegaPath among largest Ethernet over Copper players – FierceTelecom http://www.fiercetelecom.com/story/megapath-among-largest-ethernet-over-copper-players/2012-04-17#ixzz1soNqkrlT

Windstream is offering new disastor recovery service. The drive here is about unburdening a business from having to build their own disaster recovery capabilities themselves. By handing these processes to Windstream, they can replicate and recover critical servers and data center infrastructure in the cloud at a lower cost.

Integra Telecom is adding another page to its growing medium-to-large business service cookbook by launching a new set of optical wavelength services. Targeted at large enterprises, health care, and financial service companies, the new service provides metro-area and long-haul private networking for a set of customers that want high-bandwidth, dedicated network transport between their locations. Delivered over Integra’s DWDM-based fiber network, the focus is on providing customers flexibility and choice. They get the service with either a TDM or Ethernet interface in increments of 1 Gbps, 2.5 Gbps, or 10 Gbps.

 
In April, EarthLink Business will unveil IT services for smaller, single locations. The provider has offered an enterprise version but wanted to target other organization sizes as well.
 
Cloud computing and services is all the buzz. Cloud computing service delivery has a strong business case that includes cost reduction, service acceleration, and improved service delivery quality and reliability. Before developing the business case, however, it is necessary to define cloud services because the term cloud has been overused.

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.