VoIP Tangle Week…The VoIP arena Sees a Serious Techno Tango Slugfest among heavyweights, but I am watching the Social Media Infrastructure Plays…by the Mountaineers in Cisco Systems. They know what it is all about!

AVAYA SOA PROMISE

On March 5th Avaya promised Telephony 2.0 announcing new capabilities that bring SOA (service-oriented architecture) bred into telephony so companies can easily integrate this into their business processes. I decided to hold my breath on AV.

AVAYA and LENOVO UNITE AROUND FINGERS and SOFTPHONE

Avaya then announces their IP Softphone and the inclusion of biometric logins via a deal with Lenovo which promises authentication and therefore prevention of unauthorized calls- this makes sense. All through Lenova’s fingerprint reader and Password Manager (which I actually like). To boot the ThinkPads will also come with a message waiting light, transforming the keyboard illumination function (Function-Page Up Key) into a visual alert to check voicemail. Clever- I love the keyboard illumination light too- not sure if I will like it blinking though. However, it is those little features, like the light, that make you love the Thinkpad line.

THINKPAD BUYING TIPS & DEALS

Yes- I am a huge fan and I think everyone should get one- put Ubuntu on it for irony.

INSIDER TIP 1 Place your order, then have them call you back, (click the text box that says call back) sometimes, if you seem confused you can get that finger print reader for free- or weasel something- just be confused and they will often throw a tidbit or two in for free and my reps are always honest if something sucks. Thinkpads are just great machines. I am a loyalist and my Libretto nor Alienware compare.

INSIDER TIP 2- try the Lenova Discount Outlet - don’t bank on customization though- you might try their Special Offers Page. but if you like low prices and not afraid to up the power later…you might try looking at Ubid. I did by an X 40 Series off of ebay once, back when it was IBM, but I prefer the customization. Still try ubid it isn’t as flooded.

ME AND THE IMPENDING ThinkPad T60p WIDESCREEN SERIES

I just purchased one of the new, heavily loaded, Lenova T60P, (Intel® Coreâ„¢ 2 Duo processor T7600 (2.33GHz, 4MB L2, 667MHz FSB with an ATI Mobility Fire GL V5250 with 256MB, 15.4 WSXGA+ TFT and 3 GB PC2-4200 DDR2 SDRAM 533MHz SODIMM Memory…sadly all the jumbo hard drives were at 5400 RPM so I settled on a 100GB Hard Disk Drive at 7200rpm)) perhaps too soon, even with a 3-4 week wait- forgoing my love and tradition of the ultra-lite X series which I have had a model 20, 30, 40, and 60. I was never a fan of the R Series, Z Series, but I am now interested in the T series). If I had waited a bit? Maybe I would be all VoIP, because according to Avaya this is not a roadmap- this is reality…right after Avaya’s announced move into SOA they are actually going to do something “clever”.

Per Information Week

Avaya’s CEO Louis D’Ambrosio kicked off this year’s VoiceCon conference in Orlando, Fla., with a bang. D’Ambrosio, in an opening keynote address, announced a partnership with Lenovo to integrate Avaya’s Internet Protocol telephony capabilities in Lenovo’s notebook computers along with a suite of services for communications-enabled business processes. D’Ambrosio prepped the audience by making a bold statement that intelligent communications, a term Avaya uses to describe converged IP telephony networks designed for communications that go beyond voice, is happening today and is not a vision of the future. “We’re not talking roadmaps here. Intelligent communications is a reality,” he said.

Avaya wants to be the leader in that market. It’s teaming up with Lenovo to pre-load advanced IP telephony features on Lenovo’s ThinkPad notebooks in hopes of enhancing the communications experience for business professionals as they place and receive phone calls from their computers.

BACK IN THE BATCAVE in REDMOND

Meanwhile back in Redmond (NASDAQ: MSFT) Microsoft is getting set to release enhanced VoIP Solutions. The big deal- MSFT predicts in the next three years 100 million office customers will shift to software and click to call. No kidding with Let’sTalk’s incredibly low international rates and options like Skype for Business are now on the table. I don’t sense anything approaching brilliant from MSFT in that prediction- you don’t need hardware there- well minimal. Go ahead download Skype and try it- PC to PC calls are free, the video rocks (except for Mac- which appears to have moved in retrograde in latest version) and I use it more than anything else. Of course it sports AES Encryption, port agility, tunneling and other SOX and HIPPA inducing problems- but Facetime got the IM and VoIP Security call on that one- as did SYMT.

Google is allready distributing it well where else but among other goodies in their pack:

I wonder if they go all VoIP soon and cozy up to someone…if any company has problems it is Google (NASDAQ:GOOG). Problems…at any rate I imagine it will happen.

NORTEL RE-DELAYS THE DELAY

Last week Nortel (NYSE/Toronto: NT) announced that it will delay the filing of its 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2006, until mid-March 2007. The company will also restate earnings for 2004, 2005, and the first nine months of 2006… again- wow. Now that is a re-statement. I doubt it will have any real effect. This week they are preaching ACTA. The ATCA standards, organized by the PICMG espouse a generic telecom chassis, that allows systems vendors to buy a “shell of hardware” and some software from outside suppliers. In theory this shortens the design cycle and lowers costs which will free vendors to focus their braintrust on software development. Ahem.

CISCO SYSTEMS GETS “SOCIAL MEDIA CLARITY”

OK- intentional buzzword alert, oldy but goody, for Greg at SMOmashup.com.

As an afterthought- and actually a big deal if you think about it. Network Computing reports that Cisco Systems Inc (NDD: CSCO) unveiled its Unified Communications System 6.0 that’s UCS 6.0 for rest of you, packed with a bunch of powerful stuff and there is no end to the social media, social network snap-ups in sight- smart strategy if you ask me, that and SIP-based IM and integrated presence! I bet MSFT and Lotus noticed.

SIP-based IM and integrated presence were two of the major changes Cisco introduced this week in the newest release of its Unified Communications system., version 6.0. This is the first time Cisco has provided IM at the desktop and puts it in direct competition with corporate IM suppliers, namely Microsoft and Lotus.

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Cisco Systems gets IM out of the gate…like the rest of the normal world- it is the future, heck it was a decade ago with ICQ. That and VoIP. E-mail sucks…ask any kid.

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Previously, Cisco provided presence on a separate, optional server to what was then called Unified CallManager. Cisco also added the Cisco Unified Mobile Communicator, which puts presence, corporate calling, and unified messaging capabilities as an application on BlackBerry, Windows Mobile, Symbian OS and, eventually, Brew handsets. Other additions to the Unified Communications System includes a new Wi-Fi phone; upgraded its MeetingPlace 6.0 Web conferencing with Flash for better PowerPoint viewing; the Cisco voicemail system, Unity 5.0, with handsfree and security functions; Cisco’s contact center with e-mail and chat integration and created special technology bundle for SMEs.

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TEN MILLION NO SET BACK TO “SOCIAL MEDIA” BUYING BLITZ

Despite losing $10 million to a fraudster Cisco isn’t done with their social media acquisitions either. The company bought select assets of privately held Utah Street Networks, the operator of the social networking site Tribe.net and is on the lookout for more. Ugh. Tribe.net? OK…they wanted the infrastructure- not tribe.net- good.

So Tribe.net will remain independent and since the financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, we don’t know what they are paying, but I am sure it is a drop in the bucket.

Speaking of Cisco I recently found out their CEO and Board Chairman of Cisco is a native West Virginian (well born in Cleveland, but moved to Charleston as a tot), as were other key founders. Some WVU alumni, some Marshall. Eitherway chalk one up for the Appalachian technologists no one knows exists. Didn’t know that did you? Go ‘eers, go Thundering Herd.

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