Page 5 - Telecom Reseller FebMar 2017

February/March 2017
GUSTAVSEN
More and more cloud uni ed communications (UC) providers are looking to So ware-de ned Wide Area Networking (SD-WAN) to ensure Quality of Service (QoS) over public Internet connections and as a good approach to handling these high-bandwidth requirements.
And, there’s mobility. e convenience, intuitiveness and ease-of-use of mobile smartphones and tablets have made these
our preferred devices for quick and easy management of enterprise communications, yet voice quality still lags behind that of a traditional hard-wired telephone. Next-generation o ce phones entering the market combine a mobile smartphone experience with the high quality audio of a desktop telephone.
Read more below on three of the trends
that will be on our radar in 2017 – team collaboration apps, SD-WAN as it relates to the cloud UC experience and next-gen o ce desk phones – as business communications vendors race to keep pace with the changing ways we work.
Getting On Board with Team Collaboration
New team collaboration applications are emerging that aim to ease communications among virtual or distributed work groups. ese new apps make multiple technologies such as messaging, audio, video, multi-party meetings and content sharing accessible from a single user interface on a desktop or a mobile device. Team members simply log into a virtual “room” or space where they can easily share together in real-time with others on the team. is concept of centralizing a particular project’s related conversations, interactions and documentation can really make a di erence in the successful management and completion of a project.
Market research rms are beginning to track market impact and adoption. Here is what some are saying. Synergy Research is watching teamwork applications as “an emerging and super-high growth area that features Cisco’s Spark and vendors like Slack, Cotap and Redbooth.” IDC speaks to the intersection
of workplace and mobile messaging. “ e exposure of users to applications that are simple, easy to use, and that connect a disparate group o en across geographic boundaries, has become a standard expectation.” IHS Infonetics acknowledges these are “the early days of team collaboration solutions,” but momentum and adoption are growing.
A range of team collaboration apps are
now available, including many on the market for years from cloud providers (e.g. Slack, Redbooth, HipChat and others). Traditional telecom manufacturers (nearly all of which have now added cloud services to their portfolios) are quickly getting on board too with new
team collaboration applications that are easily accessed as subscription-based cloud services. Read more here about several team apps now being o ered by some of the established telecom vendors.
SD-WAN MEETS CLOUD UC
So ware-de ned Wide Area Networking (SD- WAN) has been making big headlines lately
as the next frontier for enterprise networking and a better approach to handling the high- bandwidth requirements of the modern workplace, including the increasing adoption of cloud-based applications for information technologies (IT) and uni ed communications and collaboration (UC&C).
SD-WAN technology promises not only to simplify branch o ce networking and the delivery of WAN services, but also touts application performance improvements and lower costs compared to traditional and less exible network techniques such as Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) and Internet Virtual Private Networking (VPN).
develop and estimates that SD-WAN revenues worldwide will surpass $6 billion in 2020, with a Compound Annual Growth Rate or CAGR
of 90% over 2015-2020. IDC cites a recent U.S. survey that shows as many as half of enterprises will consider a migration to SD-WAN over
the next two years. Gartner also weighs in, predicting that 30% of enterprises will actually deploy SD-WAN technology in their branch o ces by the end of 2019.
Read more here on the SD-WAN approach and its bene ts, particularly as these relate
to cloud-delivered telephony and uni ed communications.
THE NEW OFFICE DESK PHONE
e o ce desk phone is not obsolete – not yet. ough market statistics continue to show the
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steady decline in TDM (analog and digital) desk telephone shipments, IP desktop phones seem to be holding their own for now. According to the Q2 2016 statistics from market research rm MZA Telecom & IT Analysts, IP extensions/ licenses grew a modest 4% year-over-year, while TDM extensions fell by 8%.
Business communications vendors are closely monitoring the market and the growing preference for so phones and mobile devices; and thus, directing more of their research
and development dollars into so ware and applications.
But, at the same time, there is general agreement that hard-wired endpoints still have the advantage over a mobile device when it comes to high quality audio, recording and speakerphone capabilities and
Telecom Reseller 5 remain an important requirement in today’s
conference rooms and during critical business conversations.
e dilemma – or downside – for users is that while the o ce desk phone excels at audio quality, it typically lacks the convenience, intuitiveness and ease-of-use of a mobile smartphone which has become our preferred device for quick and easy management of communications.
e solution? Combine the best of the mobile smartphone experience with the high quality audio of an o ce telephone, creating a more contemporary desktop device. A number of business communications manufacturers are doing just that – developing and rolling out “next-generation” IP-based and SIP-based phones that better meet today’s expectations. Read more here (http://www.gbusinessvoip. com/NewsLetter/insider1116.htm#4) about some of the latest market entries. l
Marco Technologies Selects IntelePeer as Primary Voice Services Provider
needs. Atmosphere® Voice Services can
be delivered to any PBX or SBC, allowing customers to keep their existing equipment and infrastructure.
“We are proud to o er our partners a product that removes restrictions in terms of providers and equipment and that is backed by our fast-turn ups, proven expertise, and redundant IP-based network,” concluded Jones.
ABOUT MARCO
Marco is one of the largest technology providers in the country with 31,000 clients nationwide and 46 locations throughout
the Midwest. Our technology experts break down complex solutions into simple terms to position your business for success. Whether it’s Business IT, Managed IT, Cloud IT, Cloud Voice or Managed Print, Marco’s 1,100 employees and 700 certi ed systems engineers are here to help.
ABOUT INTELEPEER
IntelePeer has been a leading provider of Voice Services since 2003. We deliver complete business communications solutions including full-service cloud calling directly integrated with Cisco Spark uni ed communications, complete Cloud Contact Center, Enterprise Voice Services and SIP Trunking, and Uni ed Communications (UC) Enablement for Carriers and Hosters. Visit www.intelepeer. com to learn more. l
radio signal to reach the user.”
5G technologies in both the radio and
the core network will enable operators to provide new services to their customers due to higher bandwidth and lower latency. e fully virtualized core enables network slicing, with xed being the rst slice of many for the next generation core network.
Verizon’s pre-commercial customer pilot will span multiple deployment scenarios, geographies and RF morphologies. New techniques are being developed in order
to meet the constraints associated with massive 5G small cell deployments. e learnings from the pilot are vital to a scalable deployment.
LEADING THE WAY IN 5G
According to the Ericsson Mobility Report, there will be 550 million 5G subscriptions globally in 2022. North America is projected to lead the way with 25 percent of all mobile subscriptions forecast to be 5G by 2022, representing the highest market penetration in the world. l
Atmosphere® Voice Services enables voice communications for Marco UCaaS and SIP Trunking
SAN MATEO, CA - IntelePeer, a leading provider of business communications including cloud-based communications, cloud contact center, enterprise voice services, and SIP trunking, has announced it has been selected as the primary voice services provider for Marco, a technology services provider. Marco will deliver IntelePeer’s Atmosphere® Voice Services to its customers through the company’s UCaaS (Uni ed Communications as a Service) and SIP Trunking o erings.
“IntelePeer is honored to partner with
an industry leader such as Marco to deliver Atmosphere® Voice Services to its customers,” said Jeremy Jones, Vice President, Channel Sales at IntelePeer. “Marco shares our vision of transforming the way businesses communicate and we look forward to growing our partnership.”
Marco’s UCaaS product allows small and medium sized businesses to enjoy all the bene ts of Voice over IP (VoIP) without the capital investment of buying and maintaining
Verizon and Ericsson trial 5G across the US
• Customer pilot using Ericsson’s 5G solution moves Verizon closer to deployment
• End-to-end 5G deployed within Verizon’s network
• Field results demonstrate viability of 5G xed wireless access
Verizon and Ericsson (NASDAQ:ERIC) are taking 5G from technology trials to pre-commercial pilots in the eld in multiple cities across the United States. e xed wireless, pre-commercial customer pilots, scheduled to begin in the 1st half of 2017, will enable the re ning of an end-to-end 5G network using a mixture of new technology and existing Verizon infrastructure.
By working closely with Verizon, Ericsson has been able to identify deployment challenges and develop the
their own equipment. With Atmosphere® Voice Services and Marco UCaaS, customers receive high-quality cloud-based telephony service, advanced PBX features, and mobility options. rough the voice services web portal, customers are able to manage their own communications services and easily scale service based on changing business needs.
“At Marco we are committed to connecting our customers with the right technology that meets their needs and improves their business communications,” said Matt Kanaskie, Product Manager, at Marco.
“ is partnership with IntelePeer allows
us to create a comprehensive UCaaS o ering with secure and reliable voice services with the added bene ts of exibility and self- service management for our support desk and customers.”
Atmosphere® Voice Services enables global voice connectivity over an all-IP network for enterprises and platform providers. Multiple options for calling plans, connectivity, and deployment provide IntelePeer’s partners
and customers the ability to integrate and customize services to meet their speci c
techniques required for a quick and scalable deployment.
Ed Chan, Senior VP, Technology Strategy and Planning at Verizon, says: “Verizon is driving the commercial deployment of 5G with the collaboration and innovation of the Verizon 5G Technology Forum, including partners like Ericsson. is partnership keeps us on-track to be rst to bring 5G to Verizon customers.”
e end-to-end 5G pre-commercial customer pilot begins in the subscriber location. Fixed wireless subscribers will use a variety of applications, many of them centered on video, bi-directional and/or low-latency. Ericsson has been eld testing various applications across the 5G network to evaluate the application behavior.
Arun Bansal, Head of Business Unit Network Products at Ericsson, says: “Ericsson 5G Radios have been providing multi-gigabit speeds into subscriber locations by using advanced radio techniques. For example, beamforming can be used to nd the best path for the 28GHz
Research rm IDC is watching this market