Business Phone System Reviews | SE Telecom

Let’s face it: at some point or another, odds are pretty good you’ve used your cell phone while driving. Whether you’re a road warrior who spends hours every day in the car or whether you just happen to get a call from a family member while you’re driving to the mall, part of the point of having a cell phone is that it’s mobile. (Remember, too, that in the early days cell phones were referred to as “car phones” as often as they were as “mobile phones.”)

If you’re in New Brunswick, however, you’d better be sure your cell phone has a speaker or a Bluetooth headset and that you’re using them instead. New legislation, aimed at reducing distracted driving, will prohibit drivers from using hand-held cell phones (as well as hand-held GPS devices) while driving. The bill also bans any video screens, such as televisions or DVD players, from being in the visual field of the driver.

If you’re caught texting while driving, or even talking with your cell phone up to your ear, you’re looking at a fine of $172.50 as well as three points on your license.

There are some reasonable exceptions included in the law. If you’re using a hands-free option (like a headset or speakerphone) you’re all right. It also exempts emergency service personnel (police, fire and ambulance personnel) from the regulation when they’re on duty. In addition, you are allowed to report an emergency or call 911 while driving. The law doesn’t affect the use of 2-way radios by commercial truck drivers, either.

This law will go into effect early next year, after an effort to get the word out to the public about the new law. New Brunswick is actually one of the last provinces to create these kinds of restrictions on cell phone use while driving.

The networking layer is undergoing some serious advances right now, largely thanks to two evolving technologies: TRILL (Transparent Interconnection of Lots of Links) and SPB (Shortest Path Bridging). The second of these is one worth taking a few minutes to look at today, and is one in which Avaya is making great strides.

SPB, ostensibly, sets out to replace the spanning tree protocol, a standard that has outlived its usefulness. Today, we have the capability to infuse the network layer with a whole lot more intelligence, and SPB on Avaya equipment is a great way to do that. Specifically, this standard allows the network to be able to track things like virtual machines and workloads across the entire enterprise network, giving IT the ability to manage their infrastructure in a unified, logical way.

Avaya’s Virtual Network Enterprise Architecture (VENA) is specifically designed to help IT manage its assets in terms of the whole rather than as parts. From storage to servers to network infrastructure, the new standard helps IT treat the network the way it should be treated: functionally, rather than in a component fashion.

Avaya isn’t out there all alone with VENA, either. The prospect of smarter switching will, naturally, lead to a greater degree of self-discovery and management of network assets. A number of companies, including VMWare, QLogic and Coraid have thrown their support into Avaya’s VENA efforts. VMware, in particular, sees potential for VENA to usher in the next generation of virtualization technology, allowing for more nimble virtualization solutions. VMware’s product, vMotion, will allow virtual machines to move across the network in a dynamic fashion using VENA technology.

The impact that VENA and SPB in general will have on the enterprise is hard to underestimate. What is certain is that tomorrow’s switches are going to be smarter, and more focused on holistically managing IT assets than ever before, largely thanks to Avaya.

Updates Coming to the Successful Avaya Connect Program

You just can’t have too much of a good thing, or at least that seems to be the case with the Avaya Connect channel program. This program, which is only about a year old, has been tremendously successful. Avaya announced at the Americas Partner Conference in Las Vegas that they’re adding a number of new Avaya certifications, as well as throwing in some other goodies.

Two new certifications from Avaya – the Video Expert and Data Expert certifications – will be given to partners who have advanced sales and support capabilities in those specific areas. These two join the SME Expert and Service Expert certifications that are currently offered to channel partners.

Individuals will get a new certification option known as the ACSA, or the Avaya Certified Solutions Architect. This one comes with a specialization in either Unified Communications or Contact Center solutions.

All of these new certifications will come around in the third quarter of 2011, and shows Avaya’s commitment to quality and competency, rather than just on sales. This commitment is also reflected in the fact that Avaya has been cutting the fat, dropping a large number of previously-authorized partners in favor of partners in the top tier.

Other new offerings that go along with this announcement include the Avaya Connect Partner HelpDesk, which will assist partners in areas like the channel program, marketing, services and training.

There will also be a set of courses designed around services marketing and business marketing. These courses should help partners be able to shore up any weaknesses they might have in the area of business skills.

The Avaya Connect program promised to continue its agile approach to the market. There is currently a bids approval process in pilot, and there are plans to make some new product available to certain partners before a general release. More thoroughly-developed ISV programs are on the way, as well.

Whether the “competency over volume” approach will work in the long run or not, for now it seems to have energized both partners and customers.

The Rise of the Consumer IT Department

IT departments used to be able to dictate what was allowed for use in business from a technology standpoint. End-users caught between a rapidly changing technological world and the laws of the IT department are starting to change how IT views consumer products in the business realm. Let’s look at just two areas consumer tech is penetrating corporate IT departments:

The rise of the tablet.

Tablet devices are nothing new to IT departments. Sure, there has been a large evolution of these devices, but many technology geeks know these devices have been around for years. Yet, Apple was able to change how consumers view tablets, and now enterprises are taking notice. This technology is becoming so popular that even Avaya has developed a tablet based on consumers’ demands.

The Avaya Flare is a business-oriented tablet that embraces consumer tech. It runs off Android, a consumer cell phone operating system. It makes use of video teleconferencing, something that consumers have enjoyed for years thanks to solutions such as Skype. Finally, it is making use of a multi-touch interface that has become a new standard amongst consumer tablet devices. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but it is a melding of how consumer tech is penetrating the impenetrable corporate IT barrier.

The use of social media.

While the Avaya Flare is a blending of consumer hardware with corporate needs, social media comprises many forms. Enterprises are realizing the power of this form of communication, and are dedicating huge budgets to it. Avaya is no different here. They have indicated that their social media budget has increased from 2009 to 2010, and this will rise yet again in 2011. Avaya is making use of items like Twitter and YouTube to share information and grow their business. Their YouTube channel is the newest addition to their social media repertoire. Both of these social media outlets started as ways for the average Joe to connect with friends.

Avaya continues to take these consumer level trends, enhance them, and make them viable solutions for business everywhere. It will be interesting to see how the face of IT departments changes even more over the next five years.