No Jitter Weblog

Real-Time Communications and Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI): Where Is It Today?

dcarolus@ncompass-inc.com (Doug Carolus) — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 09:32:11 -0500

Doug's co-author on this piece is Matt Urbanowicz, sales engineer at N'Compass Solutions.

Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) is the practice of bringing computing resources back into a centralized site such as a data center and providing users with these resources remotely (from "the cloud"). By eliminating the need for each user to have their own PC workstation hardware & software, VDI enables IT organizations to deliver user processing and applications as a centrally managed service--and in doing so, increase desktop security, improve manageability, enhance infrastructure utilization, offer rapid provisioning, increase processing flexibility, and build "greener" IT infrastructures.

The PBX is Dead (Or Maybe the Term is Dead)

amsulkin@aol.com (Allan Sulkin, TEQConsult Group) — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 08:55:50 -0500

PBXs have taken a beating for many years now, and their death has been proclaimed time and time again. Is the time finally here?

How Long Until Voice is Just Another Critical Application?

sorell@unifieditsystems.com (Sorell Slaymaker, Unified IT Systems) — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 09:53:58 -0500

Today, voice is the most expensive application within an IT organization, consuming 6- 10% of the annual IT budget. In the future, voice will just be another critical application that runs on the shared enterprise IT infrastructure. This will cut the cost of voice services by 50% and enable easier integration with other applications. This integration will empower a business to operate more efficiently, grow top line revenue, while quickly adapting to an ever-changing global marketplace.

My DSL: Now and Forever?

delphi-inc@att.net (Gary Audin, Delphi, Inc.) — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 09:22:37 -0500

Will I have a supported DSL service for the foreseeable future? I am skeptical. If the PSTN is to be retired, then what happens to the copper local loops that support DSL modems?

UPS: Time To Get Green

matt_brunk@telecomworx.com (Matt Brunk, Telecomworx) — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 09:07:48 -0500

UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply) manufacturers have been given notice to submit comments to the new UPS guidelines being formulated under the Energy Star program no later than April 2, 2010.

Speaking of the Hosted vs. Premises Debate

ekrapf@techweb.com (Eric Krapf, Editor) — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 10:10:18 -0500

In addition to reading Melanie's post below and her work over the last year on this topic, you can also get a look at the hosted-vs-premises debate in this very cool cross-blog debate that our friend Dave Michel is conducting.

Join us at VoiceCon to Debate the Merits of Hosted and Managed UC

melanieturek@gmail.com (Melanie Turek, Frost and Sullivan) — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 10:01:38 -0500

This year at VoiceCon Orlando, I'm trying something new: a session without a single PowerPoint slide. During the session on hosted and managed UC, taking place on Wednesday March 24 at 8am, the panelists and I will spend the entire time hashing out the merits of cloud-based services for unified communications, and answering audience questions.

Cisco�s Big Announcement: CRS-3, The Foundation for the Multimedia Internet

zeus@zrk.net (Zeus Kerravala, The Yankee Group) — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 10:41:48 -0500

At long last, the wait is over! For the past month or so Cisco has had all of us industry watchers holding our breath for a big announcement that Cisco claims will revolutionize the Internet. The website that has been promoting the announcement has had a "Y2Kesque" timer counting down the days, hours an minutes to the launch. Over the past few weeks there has been a wide range of guesses as to what this announcement is. I've heard everything from a new set top box with Apple TV like capabilities to Cisco building out its own fiber network to the launch of Starent at Cisco to enable 4G connectivity. My guess was actually Starent and 4G but I too was wrong. So what was the announcement?

Video Conferencing Is Coming out of the Meeting Room

tsahil@radvision.com (Tsahi Levent-Levi, Radvision) — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 10:12:37 -0500

If you look at the numbers, you can see that room systems are playing a leading role in video conferencing deployment in the enterprise world. These are those bulky terminals that are connected to a large LCD display and are wired into the heart of the meeting room.

Avaya IP Office R6.0 Enhancements

amsulkin@aol.com (Allan Sulkin, TEQConsult Group) — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 09:56:43 -0500

Avaya has announced the latest release for its SME market flagship offering, IP Office R6.0. One of the objectives of the new release is to make some UC tools and applications more affordable to its customers with relatively small line size requirements (less than 20 stations). Among the new IP Office options and capabilities are the following:

Dispatch From the Front Lines of the New Media Battle

mfinneran@att.net (Michael Finneran, dBrn Associates) — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 14:02:17 -0500

Good thing I don't care much about the Oscars, because we here on Long Island have become cannon fodder in the latest battle between old media and new. Out here in the land of over-taxed suburban bliss, my cable service and that of 3.1 million of my neighbors is provided by Cablevision. For the few weeks leading up to the Oscars (apparently one of the few valuable properties still controlled by the broadcast TV industry), ABC has been in a contentious battle with Cablevision over what Cablevision should pay them to carry their channel.

More On EMR/ELF Radiation

matt_brunk@telecomworx.com (Matt Brunk, Telecomworx) — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 13:29:39 -0500

My weekend was scheduled with visits and engagements but not about Telecom, VoIP or troubleshooting. Instead, the focus was on energy, energy efficiency and how to avoid or deter--that is redirect the utility company from building a huge substation that folks organized as C.A.K.E.S. in my state (Maryland) are rejecting. In my travels I was given the 59-page testimony presented by Professor Martin Blank of Columbia University discussing the effects of EMR/ELF Radiation primarily from power lines but it also included findings about ELF (extremely low frequency) and low level electromagnetic radiation (EMR) associated with cellphones.

Networking and the New Data Center Dynamic: A New Wave of Change?

tnolle@cimicorp.com (Tom Nolle, CIMI Corp.) — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 10:29:49 -0500

Twenty years ago, enterprise networking as we know it was born. IBM, whose System Network Architecture (SNA) had dominated networking from its birth, lost its grip on the space. SNA was swept away, IBM got out of the networking business, and Cisco and other network equipment vendors rose to prominence. The networking space has had a great run, but whether that run continues will probably depend on the outcome of the latest war in the data center.

Animated Reality and Web Conferencing

sorell@unifieditsystems.com (Sorell Slaymaker, Unified IT Systems) — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 10:08:58 -0500

Next-generation web conferencing suites should look at animated reality to enhance business communication.

Cisco and Ireland

sheila@mcgeesmith.com (Sheila McGee-Smith, McGee-Smith Analytics) — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 08:18:03 -0500

With St. Patrick's Day just around the corner, what better time to review a recently launched project in Ireland that Cisco is supporting with its collaboration technology. Your Country Your Call is a 70-day competition to pick, "two truly transformational proposals so big that, when implemented, could secure prosperity and jobs for Ireland. Proposals that could help change the way we do things, allow businesses to grow, employment to be created and prosperity to flourish." Each of two winning ideas will receive 100,000 Euros and a development fund of up to 500,000 Euros is committed for the implementation of each winning proposal.