Telecom Junkies

Next Gen 911 (NG911) 2013 with the ability to deliver detailed location, medical, and environmental information about a 911 caller 2013 is a quantum leap over today's legacy E911. Just one problem, industry pros say it will be 3-5 years before significant deployments. But Mark Fletcher, Avaya's Public Safety Specialist and 911 guru reveals some great news in this Telecom Junkies podcast with CCMI's George David. In a few weeks, a novel approach that uses Over the Top (OTT) technology will allow enterprise to deploy NG911 sooner than they ever thought possible!

Hyoun Park, principal analyst at Nucleus Research, and George David, president at CCMI, review telecom expense management (TEM) trends from 2012, and discuss what to expect in 2013. Find out why midsize organizations began to embrace TEM solutions more fully this year, plus understand how mobility, BYOD, and apps are forcing enterprises to control spend in whatever way they can. As for what2019s to come in 2013 for TEM, expect more change and more unexpectedness. A shifting economy, the expansion of managed IT services, and rapid-fire tech changes, promise to keep the TEM marketplace hopping. Our Junkies give you the breakdown that will get you thinking in the new year.

Mobility, spectrum, and cloud computing were the dominant themes at the Telecommunications Industry Association's (TIA) annual conference in June. In this episode of Telecom Junkies, CCMI President George David talks with TIA President Grant Seiffert for an inside look at the conference to explain TIA's role in advancing these key trends and what they mean for enterprise users.

A headline session at May's International Avaya Users Group annual conference was "The Great E911 Debate," moderated by Avaya's Mark Fletcher and featuring four companies on the cutting edge of the E911 market. Our last Junkies episode gave you a look ahead on the debate, and now each of the participants return with an on-target review of the debate and the key issues it addressed.

A feature session at this year's International Avaya Users Group annual conference in Boston is "The Great E911 Debate." And this episode of Telecom Junkies gives you a taste of the issues and themes that will be covered by the panel. Listen in as moderator Mark J. Fletcher, ENP, Avaya's Product Manager for Public Safety, gives you a preview of the debate and then has each of the panelist outline their place in the E911 ecosystem. Debate panelists are: * Nicholas Maier, Senior Vice President – RedSky * Bill Svien, Vice President of Corporate Strategy – 911ETC * Tim Kenyon, ENP, President – Conveyant Systems * Lev Deich, Director – 911 Enable

Telecom manger Andrew Wolf at Linfield College had a problem -- one just about all communications pros face or will face: huge file downloads were chewing up precious bandwidth and dragging down network performance. Plenty of traditional fixes were available, but the cost and staff to manage the apps were serious obstacles. Then Andrew landed on a unique "bandwidth behavior" approach from Art Reisman at NetEqualizer. End result -- great performance at much lower costs, a real win-win. Get all the details in this latest episode of Telecom Junkies.

Telecom procurement and management has grown more complex for SMBs as both wireline and wireless service offerings have exploded. Outsourcing may seem like an out-of-reach solution for many enterprises that think the costs will outweigh the benefits, but don't rush to judgment. In this episode, guest Telecom Junkies, Joanie Wexler, an independent editor in the communications industry, and Gary Storm, President and CEO of vCom Solutions, examine the alternatives available to SMBs for cost-effective ways to manage their telecom inventory and expenses.

QR – quick response – codes, those little square boxes, seem to be everywhere these days. But they have limitations, like the need to install yet another app (or several apps) on your mobile device in order the read the code. Listen in as Aram Kovach, CEO and chief fantasy officer at Mobius International, and George David, CCMI president and Voice Report publisher, talk about an Augmented Reality image-recognition-based service developed by Mobius. It's device and carrier agnostic and replaces kludge-y QR codes with a easy-to-use true-image-based technology.

Mobile data ... BYOD ... cloud computing ... internationalization ... TEM M&A activity ... just a few of the trends that impact enterprise-wide telecom expense management solutions. In this episode of Telecom Junkies, you hear about each, plus a lot more, when Joe Basili, managing director of the Telecom Expense Management Industry Association (TEMIA), walks through 2012's trends with CCMI President and Voice Report publisher George David, and tells you what they mean to your enterprise.

Believe it or not, but the technology behind the nation's 911 system is 40+ years old! But that's about to change – and quickly. CCMI President & Voice Report Publisher George David talks with 911 guru, Mark Fletcher, product manager of public safety solutions at Avaya, about next generation 911 (NG911), an affordable IP-based framework that delivers a lot more than location information ... like individual medical histories! It's a fascinating development that also offers enterprise users a fast road to world-class 911 performance, but there are a few "gotchas."

The hype about the growing move to BYOD – bring your own device – has many industry pundits predicting the demise of corporate-liable policies for mobile devices. "Not so fast," says Brandon Hampton, managing director at MOBI Wireless Management, in a fast-moving Telecom Junkies podcast discussion with CCMI President and Voice Report Publisher George David. Listen in as Brandon acknowledges the "consumerization" trend, but also explains how savvy companies blend a variety of policies to put in place a workable and cost effective mobile telecom management plan.

The average lifespan of a mobile device is now a mere 18 months (and getting shorter). That translates to 5 million "retired" devices every year in the U.S. Here's the issue: most of the devices sit in someone’s desk or in a forgotten storage room – or perhaps they're in a dumpster or landfill. And each device carries sensitive corporate data and a laundry list of environmentally hazardous materials. In this latest edition of Telecom Junkies, e-Cycle Founder Tonia Irion and CCMI President and Voice Report Publisher George David take a close look at an end-of-life strategy you can adopt to securely and safely dispose of mobile devices ... and make money along the way.

Neglecting to change a default password is a much more common occurrence than you might think ... and there are several surprising reasons why. Security Evangelist & Microsolved CEO Brent Huston in a revealing conversation with George David, president of CCMI and publisher of Voice Report, walks through the behavioral and cultural factors that lead to dangerous – and costly – security breaches and explains why data security must be a strategic imperative for every enterprise.

That's right, it's a brand new title. And whatever title you select, more and more enterprises now have a person charged with the specific responsibility to manage – cradle to grave – the deluge of mobile devices every enterprise faces today. Listen in as John Engles, Principal Product Manager – Mobility Group at Symantec and CCMI President and Voice Report Publisher George David walk through the issues and challenges this position faces and along the way gain valuable insight into Symantec's – long a force at the desktop level – take on solutions to your mobility challenges.

Expense management – for both mobile and wireline – is a well-established discipline among communications technology pros. And so are the ways expense management solutions are procured and deployed ... until now. Join Xigo CEO and co-founder Dave Spofford and CCMI President George David as they take a hard look at the market and technology drivers behind Xigo's dramatic new approach to solving the expense management puzzle.