No Jitter – "8 + Ways to Save on Communications"

March 30, 2011 by Nathan Miloszewski

I wanted to bring attention to a very extensive article written by Gary Audin over at No Jitter titled “8 + Ways to Save on Communications” that looks at ways for an enterprise to save money in their communications budget.

These cost savings ideas are based on panel suggestions from the 2011 Enterprise Connect Conference and as Audin explains, there are two distinct angles to work from when trying save on communications:

  • One-time costs
  • Continuing/on-going savings

He goes on to add that:

“Some of the recommendations appear to be modest in their savings but can add up if applied across the board in a large enterprise. Small enterprises may benefit even more because the IT staff is stretched thinly and may not have found time to investigate the potential savings. The savings are listed in the order they were presented. The speaker’s name is next to the recommendation title. I have added my own comments to each presentation.”

Click here to read the full article that goes into great detail.  Thanks for sharing your ideas and comments, Gary!

Microcopter Surveillance

Rising from the ground using eight rotors, a micro-helicopter goes undetected to transmit GPS coordinates and images of sensitive locations to soldiers or SWAT team members ready to strike.

If you think that microcopter surveillance in this age of UAV’s (unmanned aerial vehicles) being used by the Air Force and Navy doesn’t sound far-fetched, you’d be right.

A graduate student at Florida Tech is working on just that for his master’s degree project.

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Axis IP Cameras and the Japanese Disaster

Axis has issued a press release with their comments regarding the situation in Japan:

With reference to the catastrophic earthquake in Japan, Axis Communications hereby announces that the company has secured product supplies and does not currently see any immediate shortages in the supply of components in the near-term.

There may be some delivery issues in the next few quarters due to components shortages however, the 10 employees in the Axis Toyko office were not directly affected.

Full story here.

Switch to VoIP Urged

BCS reports that a switch from standard phones to VoIP phones is being urged for UK households.  Norm Bogen from the research firm In-Stat has “claimed that more people need to be educated about the benefits of VoIP” and that:

‘The opportunity is when it is time to replace the home phone – replacing it with a four-phone digital enhanced cordless telecommunication VoIP solution would be very cost-effective, but consumers need to be educated about this.”

This is coming on the heels of the FCC reporting that in the United States, VoIP subscriptions grew by over 20% from 2009 to 2010.

Expert Says Video Surveillance Critical for Data Centers

March 29, 2011 by Nathan Miloszewski

Latest news from BCS reports that video surveillance is an integral part of data centers high-security operations to augment existing electronic access control security measures:

Tom Reeve, editor of SecurityNewsDesk.com, has explained that data centres inherently have to be a ‘very high-security operation’.

‘In addition to the normal access control and electronic security you would expect in a data centre, a good CCTV system can help back up the essential audit trails you need in order to determine who’s been coming and going, for example,’ he commented.

‘Certainly CCTV [is] essential in a high-security operation like that, where you’re depending on it 99.9 per cent of the time.’

Integrating IP surveillance into your businesses existing systems gives you greater control, options, and flexibility.

There’s not much that’s more influential than the power of video evidence of an event or crime.

In this reports example, access control systems govern who is allowed in and out of your facility. Combining this system with a video management system allows for visual verification of who is passing through your secured areas.

You’ll have video evidence when something like “tailgating” happens. This is when someone is trailing an employee and gains entry to an area without swiping a card.

Recording IP video at all doors will allow you to quickly identify who should or should not be in your building.

Faxing is Alive and Well

Bill Sims over at TMC has written an intersting article titled “Fax: Still Necessary for Business, But VoIP Migration Issues Persist” where he relays an interview done by TMC’s Erik Linask with Quentin Dible, the VP of Operations for FaxBack.

Sims explains that while faxing is an important and sometimes preferred communication tool for businesses, it is often overlooked.  However based on the interview he references, lately there seems to be an increased interest in faxing, even more so than before:

“Dible agreed, saying one of the big pushes for that is when people migrate to VoIP, and they’re still dependent on fax, there are sometimes connection issues. “It’s been a huge push to make that fax machine that people still need work much better.”

More specifically, it’s a fax Analog Telephone Adaptor instead of using SIP, Dible said, to talk across the network.”

There are some fax over IP myths but it’s apparent that faxing is not a dead technology and while there may be some integration and reliability concerns, trust us, it’s possible to converge faxing with your VoIP system.   We like to recommend FaxxBochs as a highly reliable fax over IP solution.

VoIP faxing can be sensitive and may seem tricky to configure but the benefits like a single unified network, digital document archiving,  lower cost, and remote usage for areas where fax lines are unavailable can be well worth the investment for a business.

AudioCodes Selected for Global Deployment of Microsoft Lync

AudioCodes has announced that a global provider of digital advertising solutions will migrate its ICT infrastructure to a UC system based solely on Microsoft and:

MediaMinda, a global provider of digital advertising solutions that optimize the use of media, creative and data for enhanced campaign performance has selected AudioCodes because:

“As we service the largest advertisers globally, our choice of a Unified Communications system was taken very seriously,” said Efi Cohen, Vice President Technology, MediaMind. “We evaluated a number of potential suppliers, and learned that the combination of Microsoft and AudioCodes offers us the best match for our needs.

AudioCodes products enable us to make the best out of the Microsoft UC environment, by integrating it seamlessly with the PSTN, desktop IP Phones and mobile devices…All of our employees will be using an AudioCodes 320HD IP Phone.”

If AudioCodes is the best fit for a corporate network servicing global customers, what can it do for you?  Call us today to find out more.

How to Hijack Wireless Video Surveillance

Thanks to John Honovich at IP Video Market Info for pointing out this video report of the perceived threat of wireless surveillance hijacking.

Honovich adds the following commentary that the wirless surveillance kits referenced in the video are the inexpensive, entry level, basic models used by homeowners and small businesses who only need simple systems:

These kits generally do not offer encryption nor significant constraints in accessing the video. If you walk down a busy street, sooner or later you are likely to find one (the video implies that this happens all over the place but this may be aggressive editing on the producer’s part). 

On the other hand, these kits are statistically uncommon in video surveillance overall and in professional wireless deployments. Obviously, the overwhelmingly majority of surveillance is wireline and therefore immune to this hack. Even among wireless systems, professional versions generally have encryption or use IP transmission, preventing these cheap wireless appliances from intercepting the video feed.

Don’t Let Cost Be Your Guide

March 28, 2011 by Nathan Miloszewski

In an IP camera buyers guide article at Source Security, Simon Nash, Senior Marketing Manager of Sony Europe, stresses:

Don’t let cost be your guiding light. Most people buy surveillance cameras with cost as their highest priority and effectiveness as the second, which results in grainy, out-of-focus images.

A great deal of knowledge and expertise is shared in this article from points to conider when converging from analog to IP, evaluation criteria for IP cameras, and do’s and don’ts when making a selection.

We understand that cost and budgetary concerns are always paramount.  But it’s important to know and hear that the right system for you isn’t simply the cheapest.

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