Small Business Bundle (Wireless, Wired, And Internet, From AT&T For $100!

AT&T Small Business Service

Demonstrating its ongoing commitment to providing affordable solutions for small businesses in a tough economy, AT&T* today announced the industry’s first bundled offer targeted at small businesses that includes wireless, wired and high speed Internet services, starting at less than $100 a month.

The “All for Less” bundle is now available to qualifying small business customers (one to four lines in a single location) across AT&T’s 22-state footprint. The services, which come on one consolidated bill, include:

• Wireless from AT&T: Customers will be able to conduct business on the go with 450 minutes each month per wireless device, which operates on the nation’s fastest 3G network, available in nearly 350 U.S. metropolitan areas. AT&T provides a full suite of wireless devices and solutions that are ideal for small businesses.
• AT&T High Speed Internet Business Edition: Available in a variety of speeds to accommodate the needs of any small business, the service includes U.S.-based business-class technical support, all-in-one protection suite for selected tiers, up to 11 e-mail accounts and AT&T Wi-Fi^SM connectivity at more than 20,000 hot spots at convenient locations nationwide and more than 90,000 hotspots worldwide.
• Local Voice: Unlimited local calling voice package, including Call Forwarding and Caller ID.
• Long Distance Voice: Unlimited domestic long distance calling.

To qualify, customers must already have wireless service or purchase new wireless service from AT&T in addition to new or existing local voice, long distance voice and broadband services.

“We know that small businesses today depend on communications services to keep their operations productive and to do business wherever they live and work,” said Ron Spears, Chief Executive Officer, AT&T Business Solutions. “Small business customers also tell us that they like the simplicity of bundles – one provider, one bill, and greater discounts. That’s why we’re introducing an offer that includes our portfolio of industry-leading services at a great value, helping jump start small business activity in a tough economy and giving them yet another reason to select AT&T.

“In addition, the wireless component of this bundle is enabling the anytime, virtually anywhere communications desired by small businesses on the go,” Spears said. “Through our nationwide capabilities and unparalleled product and service portfolio, we offer bundles that maximize productivity both inside and outside the office.”

According to industry research firm In-Stat, small businesses with one to four employees spent nearly $17 billion last year on telecom services and associated equipment in such areas as wireless, broadband, and local and long distance voice – all of which AT&T is positioned to serve.

For more information or to purchase All for Less, small businesses should call a small business advisor toll-free at 1-866-790-3712 or visit att.com/AllForLess. Businesses with more than four lines or businesses with multiple locations that are interested in similar bundled offers from AT&T should contact their small business advisor or designated AT&T account manager.

Small businesses looking to find information about all AT&T products and services or free business resources such as webinars, white papers, training, case studies and best practices can visit att.com/onwardsmallbusiness.

AT&T Press Release.

Tags: AT&T Small Business Service, AT&T High Speed Internet Business Edition, AT&T hot spots, AT&T Wi-FiSM, ATT, Telecom News

Mitsubishi Launches First Ever All Japanese made Communication Satellite, Superbird-7

Tokyo, Japan – Mitsubishi Electric Corporation (President and CEO: Setsuhiro Shimomura)announced today it has successfully launched Superbird-7, which is Japan’s first domestically produced commercial communications satellite, and the next-generation communications satellite for Space Communications Corporation (SCC).
Superbird-7 was successfully launched from Guiana Space Center, French Guiana at 5:44 a.m. on August 15 (Japan time) using Arianespace’s launch vehicle, Ariane 5. The satellite separated from the launcher at 6:09 a.m. and succeeded in spreading its solar paddle at 7:02 a.m.
The Superbird-7 will be positioned into stationary orbit 36,000 kilometers above ground level and Mitsubishi Electric will continue in-orbit testing until September 2008.
Superbird-7 was made at Mitsubishi Electric’s Kamakura Works in Kamakura City, Kanagawa Prefecture. It uses Mitsubishi Electric’s original DS2000 satellite bus platform, which was developed based on the Engineering Test Satellite-8 (ETS-8), made for the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. The DS2000 is also currently used in the Multi-functional Transport Satellite-2 (MTSAT-2), made for the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism of Japan and the Japan Meteorological Agency.
The well-equipped facilities at Kamakura Works have enabled Mitsubishi Electric to efficiently conduct its production and system tests in a single building, with a variety of testing facilities for satellite production such as a space chamber that simulates the high vacuum and extremely low temperatures of space, vibration test equipment, an acoustic test room and a compact antenna testing range. The Kamakura Works also has all the necessary satellite control equipment to check the satellite performance and functions in stationary orbit after the launch and separation of the launch vehicle.
Details of the Superbird-7 Launch
The agreement with SCC is for a ‘delivery in orbit’ (DIO) contract, in which Mitsubishi Electric will manage the project entirely from satellite design, production and launch, installation of satellite control equipment, to final extensive in-orbit testing prior to final handover to the customer. Mitsubishi Electric will hand the satellite over to SCC after the in-orbit testing and also, provide full operational support during its 15 year-life span.
To date, all 18 satellites currently operated by Japanese broadcast and communications companies have been US-made. Superbird-7 will be the first Japan-made commercial satellite to be launched into orbit.

Tags: Telecom News, communications Satellite, Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, Superbird-7, DS2000 satellite, Ariane 5

Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) of Oman issues 5 new licences to basic mobile service resellers.

TRA issues 5 new licences to basic mobile service resellers

In the framework of the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA)'s policies aimed at enhancing liberalization of the telecommunications sector in the Sultanate, and in its effort to provide a wide variety of telecom services in the Sultanate, the TRA has issued on the morning of Saturday June 28th 2008 a statement on the granting of five class II licences to five companies as resellers of basic mobile services in the Sultanate.

In its statement, the TRA said that the five granted licenses are for a period of five years, but extendable. The TRA statement said the licensees can resell basic mobile services after buying airtime from operators at bulk rates in accordance with commercial agreements concluded with the operators. These services can then be rebranded and offered to subscribers at retail rates.

The TRA added that, licensees have the option of programming and issuing their own branded SIM cards or relying on the host operators to provide their programmed SIMs. Additionally, the licensees can independently recharge the products and services distributed by them, or utilise the infrastructure of the host operator. Billing and invoicing may also be independently handled by the licensee or by the host operator.

Mohsin bin Alawi al Hafeedh, TRA Member, said "the new Class II licences were expected to boost demand for basic mobile services as the resellers target new subscriber segments through enhanced marketing strategies."

The TAR member said, "the infrastructure serving basic mobile services is expected to grow as well, and hoped hope that the new licences would help bring down prices and further diversify of the offered mobile services to subscribers."

AL Hafeedh added, "under the license terms, the new firms are obliged to earmark a minimum of 65 per cent of all jobs for Omanis during the first year of operation. They must also set up contact centre to respond to customer queries and complaints".

It's worth mentioning that the five licences are granted to Injaz International, Kalam Telecommunications, Majan Telecom, Mazoon Mobile and Arabia connect (FriNDi mobile ) .

The telecommunications Regulatory Authority is a corporate body established under the telecommunications Regulatory Act issued under Royal Decree No.30/2002 as a result of the Government’s initiative to liberalize the telecom sector in Oman.

The TRA’s mission is to set up and implement a fair, flexible, efficient telecommunications regulatory framework, develop the industry through a market-driven environment, ensure accessibility of all kinds of services within limits to all, balance the interests of all stakeholders and align with Vision 2020.

For further information please contact

Mr. Hafidh bin Nasser Al Maskary

Media and Consumer Affairs Manager

Tel: +968 24574339

E-mail: hafidh@tra.gov.om

Tags: Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) of Oman, Telecom News, wireless

Jajah SMB, Another Side Of Jajah Business.

MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA--(Marketwire - July 17, 2008) - JAJAH, the world's most innovative telecommunications company, announced today it has expanded its SMB Solution Suite to incorporate a managed service IP telephony solution, including a fully functional 'soft' PBX. The suite of services gives every small and medium business the ability to IP-enable their existing telephony systems and make VoIP calls to over 200 countries without any additional investment.

"The days of investing in PBXs from Nokia Siemens or installing expensive Cisco IP switches are long passed," said JAJAH Co-Founder Roman Scharf. "Now every company in America can instantly switch its entire telephony infrastructure onto IP, delivering significant cost savings with virtually zero start up cost. Companies of all types and sizes are utilizing the JAJAH SMB Solution Suite, from local Greek restaurants through to Logitech."

The JAJAH SMB Solution Suite gives every employee access to:

* All devices: make or receive calls via mobile, landline and even softphone (PC-based telephone), with specific plug-ins for Blackberry and Windows Mobile phones available. Pre-paid and analog-only phones will also be supported.

* Productivity Tools: a suite of Productivity Tools gives the ability to embed telephony within Office Automation Tools, including support for Google Enterprise Apps and Microsoft Office. Features also include centralized address book, database and directory lookup services.

* Presence: flexibility to choose which phone to use to answer a call. At the touch of a button, choose whether to accept an inbound call on mobile, landline or softphone, or even to divert the call to a voice mail, which will be converted to text and delivered as an email into the employee's inbox. Employees can specify their location and availability, while the network will also make intelligent routing decisions based on last-call and office hours.

* Dial Plan & Portability: no need to change numbers as the JAJAH system fully supports number portability. The JAJAH SMB Suite also offers sophisticated dial-plans, call monitoring and limit-setting amongst other budget management tools.

* Unified Communication & Voice 2.0: Support for visual Voicemail (where voicemail is converted to text), universal messaging, SMS, conference calls, scheduled calls, call logging, and address book synchronization.

* IP-Backbone: For the first time, access to a global telephony backbone will be built in, with all calls routed over JAJAH's award-winning IP-telephony backbone. This not only reduces calls costs, but increases voice quality.

"It's simply too expensive for a business to switch out all of its existing phones, infrastructure and PBXs in favor of hardware-based IP Telephony solutions. We know from our successful consumer business that ease-of-use and low cost of adoption are key in the move to IP telephony," said JAJAH Co-founder Daniel Mattes.

"JAJAH's thousands of business customers have already told us we save them money. Now we give them the enterprise productivity tools and a platform to serve the needs of companies with up to 5,000 staff. Telephony is core in the SMB market and JAJAH's platform is an anchor for future business expansion, whether within the US or across the globe."

JAJAH's SMB Solution Suite will be available directly via the JAJAH website at www.jajahSMB.com, with a global indirect channel partner to be announced in the coming quarter.

Tags: Jajah SMB, VoIP business, Telecom News

China Netcom Selects Alcatel-Lucent For Video Telephony Services In Beijing

Alcatel-Lucent announced that it has been selected by Beijing Netcom, a subsidiary of China Netcom, for a next-generation network service transformation in Beijing. By leveraging the services launched on this next-generation network (NGN) and through the deployment of a new softswitch, Beijing Netcom will be able to provide a wide range of advanced services to its customers, such as point-to-point video telephony services. This contract was signed through Alcatel Shanghai Bell, Alcatel-Lucent’s Chinese flagship company.

This project is the first in a series of service transformations planned by China Netcom to provide video telephony service in six cities hosting Olympics-related activities. In addition to Beijing, the new services will be offered to Tianjin, Shanghai, Qingdao, Shenyang and Qin Huangdao.

Beijing Netcom, which expects to complete the NGN deployment by the end of June, will be able to supply its residential and business customers with advanced video telephony and video color-ring services. The network also will support voice communications between video phone users and other Beijing Netcom customers.

“We will use our comprehensive network transformation solution, including our significant network experience, to enable Beijing Netcom to provide more new multimedia services to its end users,” said Olivia Qiu, President of Alcatel Shanghai Bell.

Alcatel-Lucent will provide key elements of its NGN portfolio including the Alcatel-Lucent 5020 Media Gateway Controller, which provides media gateway control for interconnection with the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) and other IP networks; the Alcatel-Lucent 7510 Media Gateway, which provides media handling; and the Alcatel-Lucent 1300 Convergence Network Management Center, which provides integrated network management.

Prior to this project, Alcatel Shanghai Bell was selected by China Netcom to deploy a nationwide long-distance NGN trial network covering all 31 provincial markets of China.

Alcatel-Lucent is a leading NGN solution provider for telecom operators, government organizations and enterprises around the world, having NGN solutions deployed in more than 263 fixed and mobile networks to date.

Tags: China Netcom, Alcatel-Lucent, Beijing Netcom, Shanghai Bell, video telephony

Sprint’s Nextel Deal, A $29.5 Billion Loss

Om Malik at GigaOM said I'd be awed, no I am dumb founded!, I really thought Ebay-Skype was a big deal.
Sprint Nextel reported a $29.5 billion loss, scratched its dividend and lost 683,000 customers. The company wrote down $29.7 billion of the $36 billion it paid for Nextel in 2005.
tag: Telecom News, Ebay-Skype, Sprint Nextel, Sprint's Nextel loss

Telex Services Are Begining To Fade

British Telecom is shutting down Telex services, a point to point hardwired communication system. This is still being used in financial markets and mainly in maritime operations. All ships carry a Telex machine. But all these are coming to an end as users of telex are switching to other systems.
tag: Telex, telecommunication, Telecom News,

Verizon's New Song LTE, Long Term Evolution

After "opening" it's network to any device that "meets" the conditions, Verizon is coming out with a real solution. Verizon has said it would use a technology standard called LTE, for Long Term Evolution, for its next generation of devices. So what is this LTE? Bits Blog of NYTimes has an article. Also Techcrunch has bit about the closed openness of Verizon as well. Enjoy the openness of .........

Tags: verizon, LTE

Motorola's Zander Steps Down, Razr Not Sharp Anymore!

SCHAUMBURG, Ill. – 30 November 2007 – Motorola, Inc. (NYSE: MOT) today announced that its Board of Directors has elected Greg Brown, 47, as Chief Executive Officer of Motorola, effective January 1, 2008. Mr. Brown currently serves as President and Chief Operating Officer. Mr. Brown will succeed Edward J. Zander as CEO, and Mr. Zander, 60, will continue to serve as Chairman of the Board of Directors until the annual meeting of stockholders in May 2008.

On behalf of Motorola’s Board of Directors, Samuel C. Scott III, lead director, said, “I want to take this opportunity to thank Ed for his vision, expertise and tireless commitment to Motorola. We greatly appreciate his many contributions and wish him all the best in the years ahead. Today’s decision is the culmination of a thoughtful and disciplined process of succession planning.”

Scott added, “The Board is delighted that Greg will serve as CEO. We are confident that he will bring a combination of strategic insight, operational discipline, and inspirational leadership needed for accelerated and sustained growth.”

"We are exceedingly fortunate to have a leader of Greg’s caliber, vision and experience. He has been an invaluable partner and I am confident he is the right person to be the next CEO of Motorola and lead the Company through its multi-year transformation,” said Zander. “Next year marks my 40^th year in the technology industry. This is the right time for me to move on to the next phase in my life and spend more time with my family. I am grateful I had the opportunity to lead Motorola over the last four years. It’s been a wonderful experience.”

“I am privileged to become the CEO of Motorola,” said Greg Brown. “This is a unique Company with strong technology, people and customers. I welcome this opportunity to lead Motorola successfully into the future. We have a lot to do and I am intensely focused on building shareholder value. I look forward to working closely with Ed to ensure a smooth transition.”

Tags: Telecom News, motorola, ed zander, greg brown

Cisco significantly increases investments across a broad range of business activities in China

BEIJING, China - Nov. 1, 2007 - Cisco® today announced a multi-year investment initiative aimed at strengthening its business commitments and long-term corporate strategy in China. The program, announced today by Cisco Chairman and CEO John Chambers at a press conference in Beijing, defines a three- to five-year plan of increased investment in China in alignment with the country's long term economic, societal and environmental goals.

"Today's announcements underscore both China's strategic importance to Cisco's global operations and the broad range of growth opportunities presented by the China market, particularly as an innovator in the next wave of the Internet's development in collaboration and Web 2.0 technologies. Cisco has made significant investments in our China business since we established operations in the country in 1994 and this program will lay the foundation for the next chapter in Cisco's development in China," said John Chambers, chairman and CEO of Cisco.

Cisco's multi-year investment program will include:

* A significant increase in local procurement. In the past five years, Cisco has purchased more than USD $7 billion worth of China-sourced components and services, a critical part of the company's virtual manufacturing supply chain. According to Cisco estimates, these procurement commitments provide employment to 50,000 people in manufacturing management roles and through contract manufacturing and supplier partners.
* The total value of Cisco's commitments in China since 2002 are estimated at more than USD $8.5 billion, and under the initiative announced today, could expand to approximately USD $16 billion during the next five years, including significant increases in materials procurement, and increases in education, Cisco Capital, research and development, direct and indirect investments and sales and service operations.
* A Memorandum of Understanding with China Development Bank to explore a joint investment program that would provide capital and expertise for innovative Chinese businesses. The initiative is intended to support high-growth Chinese companies over multiple sectors, with a focus on information technology, "green" innovators, and other key segments (see separate announcement).
* A commitment to expansion of the Cisco Networking Academies program in cooperation with China's Ministry of Education to add 300 additional academies in vocational colleges during the next three years, with a specific focus on China's central and western provinces. Currently, there are more than 200 Networking Academies in 70 cities throughout China, which have trained more than 90,000 students since inception. The new initiatives will add the capacity to train an additional 100,000 students by 2010. Cisco will also donate more than USD $6 million worth of networking equipment to assist in establishing labs in the new academies.
* A memorandum of understanding with Alibaba Group, China's largest business-to-business (B2B) on-line portal. Under the MOU, Cisco and Alibaba will explore ways to jointly offer collaboration and business management solutions to small and medium businesses (SMBs) in China. Under a previous agreement, Cisco will also invest USD $17.5 million in Alibaba.com Limited, a subsidiary of Alibaba Group, as part of its planned initial public offering on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, becoming one of only eight cornerstone investors in the listing (see separate announcement).
* Establishment of incremental funding up to USD $400 million for Cisco Systems Capital China for providing financing facilities to Cisco customers in China during the next three to five years. Cisco Systems Capital China commenced captive financing operations in June 2006 and has funded USD $60 million in customer assets to date.
* The establishment of Cisco's first global "green" technology center to address the increasing need for sustainable development, energy efficiency, reduction of electronic waste, and emission reductions inside and outside of China. The center will also augment existing programs underway by Cisco China's R&D teams in the area of application specific integrated circuits (ASIC) power efficiency design and expand this into other product areas.
* Establishment of product and research teams to develop innovative networking equipment to address the SMB (small and medium business) market and emerging countries markets, leveraging local design and manufacturing resources.

Cisco first established operations in China in 1994 and now employs more than 2,300 staff in sales, customer support and service, research and development, BPO/IT outsourcing, Cisco Capital and manufacturing. The company has 12 offices in China, a major R&D facility in Shanghai, Scientific Atlanta R&D/manufacturing facilities, as well as several development centers supporting WebEx, which Cisco acquired in March 2007.

Tags: Telecom News, Cisco, Alibaba Group, China