Chicago, IL (PRWEB) June 6, 2008 — Pathfinder, a leading software development and user experience design firm, announced the first in a series of articles by Pathfinder's Noel Rappin is now available at IBM developerWorks.

iPhone application

"Due to the iPhone's popularity, Mobile Safari has quickly become the most commonly used mobile web browser in the United States, and it's market share continues to increase," stated Noel Rappin, author of "Professional Ruby on Rails" and Pathfinder's Vice President of Rails Development. "Many developers are choosing to redesign their sites to take advantage of the unique features and user model provided by the iPhone and iPod touch."

The article is designed to help developers leverage Mobile Safari's new paradigm for web browsing that utilizes the iPhone's popular touch screen display along with new styles of interactions that include tap, pinch and zoom for bringing the content into view. Included are several examples, source code, and resources needed to build dynamic Ruby on Rails applications.

The series "Developing iPhone applications using Ruby on Rails and Eclipse" will explain how to build Ruby on Rails applications that dynamically recognize iPhone or iPod touch browsers and enable enhanced content options.

The first article in the series, "Serving content for iPhones" will focus on the server side structures needed to support, separate and serve specialized content. Subsequent articles will provide instruction for providing the iPhone look and feel to improve usability and enhance user experience.

IBM developerWorks is a premier technical resource for software developers, providing a wide range of tools, code, and education on a wide array of web-based technologies.

Noel Rappin is a Ruby on Rails expert and has authored "Professional Ruby on Rails". He builds Rails applications for a variety of Pathfinder clients and is a regular contributor to the Agile Ajax blog. Noel also participates in open source projects and has recently created the Rails-iUI plug-in which is a Rails wrapper that leverages the iUI toolkit for building iPhone enabled web applications.

"While developing my latest mobile web application with iUI, I realized I was building up a library, so I converted everything to a Rails plug-in," stated Rappin. "Open source is all about sharing what you have learned and making contributions to support the community."

Currently the plug-in focuses on automating common tasks and streamlining development. Future enhancements include improvements in documentation, testing and leveraging the Rails framework to enhance interactions, especially related to history and back behavior.

For more detailed information or to download the plug-in, visit: http://www.pathf.com/showcase/open-source-projects/rails-plug-in-for-the-iphone/

About Pathfinder Development
Pathfinder is a consulting firm specializing in software development and user experience design. Pathfinder delivers applications that are easy to use, providing clients with the technology to enable business breakthroughs and competitive advantage. Pathfinder's clients range from early stage start-ups to Fortune 5 companies across a wide array of industries, including energy, healthcare, insurance, financial services, media and publishing. For more information contact Eleanor Taylor at 312-372-1058 or visit http://www.pathf.com.

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[Via Telecom]

Seattle, WA (PRWEB) June 6, 2008 — Active Voice, a global leader in Unified Messaging, Unified Communications and speech-activated solutions, announced today that Technology Marketing Corporation's (TMC) Communications Solutions (www.tmcnet.com/comsol) has named Repartee® 10.0 a recipient of the 2007 Product of the Year Award.

Repartee 10.0 is a PC-based unified messaging solution designed for small and mid-sized businesses (SMB) that experience heavy telephone traffic. With Repartee, users can access and manage their voice, fax and e-mail messages over the telephone or from their PC regardless of their physical location, helping to increase productivity and improve customer service. Additionally, Active Voice's cutting-edge VideoMail technology built within Repartee enables users to create and deliver video messages and screen captures via e-mail.

"We are very excited that Active Voice's Repartee Unified Messaging System has been recognized by Communications Solutions for outstanding innovation," said Eyal Inbar, General Manager of Marketing and Product Management, Active Voice. "Receiving this award is further validation that Active Voice has built a superior unified messaging system for the specific and unique needs of the SMB market. We built Repartee to be the most advanced, affordable, and easy to use messaging system available — a system where users can better communicate with customers, partners and employees, regardless of their locations."

Furthermore, award-winning features in Repartee 10.0 include:

• Accessibility to voicemail via RSS Feeds
• Retrieval of voice mail, fax, e-mail and video from any communications device using Microsoft® Outlook, iGoogle or Apple® iTunes
• ActiveSuite client applications
• Smartphone PDA support
• Advanced Text-to-Speech capabilities

The eighth annual Communications Solutions Product of the Year Award recognizes the vision, leadership and attention to detail that are the hallmarks of the prestigious award. The most innovative products and services brought to market in 2007 were selected as recipients of this year's Communications Solutions Product of the Year Award for their groundbreaking achievement.

About Active Voice
Active Voice, LLC, a subsidiary of NEC Unified Solutions and a global leader in Unified Messaging, Unified Communications and speech-activated solutions, is powering the communications infrastructure of businesses worldwide. The Seattle-based company has offices in the United States, Australia and the Netherlands. Over 200,000 Active Voice systems have been installed in more than 60 countries. Active Voice's products are sold and supported through a network of independent telecommunications manufacturers, dealers, computer resellers and strategic partners. For more information, visit our Web site at www.activevoice.comor contact Active Voice's Sales Support at 1-800-284-3575 or by e-mail at sales@activevoice.com.

About TMC
Technology Marketing Corporation (TMC) is an integrated global media company helping our clients build communities in print, in-person and online. TMC publishes Customer Interaction Solutions, INTERNET TELEPHONY, Unified Communications, and IMS Magazine. TMC is also the first publisher to test new products in its own on-site laboratories, TMC Labs. TMCnet, TMC's Web site, is the leading source of news and articles for the communications and technology industries. TMCnet is read by nearly one million US visitors according to Quantcast* and by over three million unique visitors each month worldwide, according to Webtrends In addition, TMC produces INTERNET TELEPHONY Conference & EXPO, Call Center 2.0 Conference and Communications Developer Conference.

For more information about TMC, visit www.tmcnet.com.

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[Via Telecom]

Santa Clara, CA (Vocus/PRWEB ) June 6, 2008 — RHUB Communications, Inc. (RHUB), the provider of TurboMeeting Web conferencing solutions, today announced it has signed an agreement and is now certified as a Polycom ARENA partner program member. Polycom, a leader in unified collaborative communications, initiated the ARENA program to allow software application providers, hardware device manufacturers, and conferencing solution providers to integrate their products with Polycom’s industry leading unified collaboration platform to create new applications.

RHUB has integrated the TurboMeeting Web conferencing appliance with Polycom unified collaboration platform. The TurboMeeting solution provides for robust data collaboration and interactivity as an extension of Polycom conferencing solutions. TurboMeeting extends the meeting beyond the confines of the conference room. Attendees need only Internet access and a Web browser to participate in the meeting.

TurboMeeting is an ideal adjunct to the Polycom suite of products because it is appliance-based rather than hosted, easily integrates with Polycom hardware, provides for full interactivity of computer-based data for all users, and supports the revolutionary NO DOWNLOAD mode for universal attendance. With TurboMeeting, anyone with a browser can join a meeting regardless of platform. TurboMeeting is not competitive with any Polycom product, and fills a need in the Polycom suite of products by providing an integrated Web conference appliance with remote support and remote access to extend the capabilities for data collaboration.

TurboMeeting has also been awarded Polycom’s Gold Product Specialist Certification, which assures customers that they are working with an organization that has superior product knowledge, delivers outstanding and consistent technical support, and has a strong relationship with Polycom. The Gold Certificate is Polycom’s guarantee that RHUB has made the commitment and investment to deliver outstanding technology and support.

“Customers are investing in solutions that improve productivity, accelerate decision making, and lower costs,” said Larry Dorie, CEO of RHUB. “Through our involvement in the Polycom ARENA program, we are delivering integrated conferencing solutions that address these customer needs. We are pleased to provide customers with an integrated solution that combines Web, video, and audio conferencing in an easy-to-use application.”

“Polycom and its ARENA ecosystem partners such as RHUB are focused on proliferating new collaborative communications solutions that will benefit organizations worldwide,” said Mark Roberts, Vice President, Polycom ARENA program. “The TurboMeeting solution addresses data collaboration in all markets. We are pleased to welcome RHUB into the Polycom ARENA program, and look forward to working with them to deliver this important solution to customers.”

As part of the agreement, RHUB will leverage the Polycom platform, brand, and channels to bring this solution to market. Polycom ARENA ecosystem partners can develop, test, and certify interoperability between their solutions and the Polycom platform of voice, video, and content collaborative solutions. In addition to platform API’s provided to developers, the Polycom ARENA offers a number of marketing and sales tools for business development managers and marketing and sales professionals, via an online portal. These tools help partners speed time-to-market for their innovative unified collaborative solutions as well as broaden the reach to customers worldwide.

Pricing and Availability
TurboMeeting is generally available today. Pricing for TurboMeeting starts at US $995.00. For more information about the solution, visit the Polycom ARENA partner solution showcase at www.polycom.com/ARENA or http://www.rhubcom.com.

About Polycom ARENA
Polycom ARENA is an ecosystem program designed to expand new applications for Polycom’s collaboration technology and accelerate the delivery of new solutions for customers in a variety of industries by enabling software applications providers, hardware device manufacturers, and conferencing solution providers to integrate their products with Polycom’s industry leading unified collaboration platform. Polycom ARENA ecosystem partners can develop, test and certify interoperability between their solutions and the Polycom platform of voice, video, and content collaborative solutions. Customers benefit from the industry expertise of Polycom ARENA ecosystem partners who are building standards-based solutions that fully interoperate with the Polycom unified collaboration platform and installed base of video conferencing systems. Additional information is available at www.polycom.com/ARENA

About RHUB Communications
RHUB is a premier provider of on-premise Web conferencing, remote support and remote access appliances, based on the Company’s TurboMeeting software, that meet the needs of any organization. The Company’s end users total over 8,000 in a variety of market segments including services, manufacturing, and government. RHUB’s on-premise Web conferencing appliances focus on criteria of the highest importance to users: ease-of-use, affordability, security, control, and reliability. RHUB’s breakthrough View-Only technology enables users of any platform to join meetings by a browser, requiring no download. With a small footprint, and power draw of only 4.5 watts, RHUB’s on-premise Web conferencing appliances are the perfect choice for organizations seeking to improve their environmental credentials. RHUB is privately-owned and headquartered in Silicon Valley, California. For more information, visit www.rhubcom.com.

All trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

CONTACT:

Larry Dorie
RHUB Communications
(888) 633-8155
ldorie @ rhubcom.com

Judy Plummer
Liquid Communications Group
(831) 335-4937
judypr @ sbcglobal.net

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[Via Telecom]

London, UK (PRWEB) June 6, 2008 — Recent months have seen huge data tarriff cuts by mobile service providers combined with a rapid increase in advertised data rates. The arrival of a new generation of 3G modems capable of speeds up to 7.2 Mbps has demonstrated that Mobile broadband is capable of standing toe-to-toe with fixed line ADSL connections. The key obstacle which currently stands in the way of the mass adoption of 3G broadband is the inconsistent data rates that users experience due to network coverage gaps. The new T-CLIP2 range of combined 3G and 2G datacard antennas have been designed to ensure that users can benefit from improved signal strength and data transfer rates when using their 3G datacard modems.

The products have been designed to provide a single global solution in terms of frequency coverage and usability. The TCLIP2 is supplied with both a desk stand and a revolutionary screen clip which enables users to either mount the antenna on their desk or clip it to their laptop screen. This screen clip combined with the products low weight and discreet form makes it the ideal solution for those looking to maintain great datarates while travelling on business. Furthermore Panorama Antennas has researched the 3G data card market to ensure that the TCLIP2 range provides compatible connectors for all major datacards available today.

" We are very excited about the new TCLIP2. It's a truly consumer friendly product combining for the first time a screen clip and desk mount antenna giving users complete flexibility. In addition the multiband 3G and GPRS coverage offered by the TCLIP2 will provide truly global appeal. Cellular data coverage no longer has to be a limiting factor in doing business freely at home or abroad. " Christopher Jesman, Managing Director, Panorama Antennas Limited

For additional information on the new TCLIP2 or to order samples, call Panorama Antennas or visit http://www.panorama-antennas.com. The new TCLIP2 is available globally from 6 June 2008.

About Panorama Antennas Ltd:

Panorama Antennas, a family business now in its 3rd generation, is a leading design and manufacturer of antennas for radio communications. Established in London in 1947, Panorama started life as a company manufacturing consumer products. By 1952, buoyed by huge demand for TV's in the UK, Panorama moved into the manufacturing of components for televisions including antennas.
Today, Panorama is a major producer of antennas for telecommunications and electronics companies around the world, employs over 50 persons and has 8 overseas sales offices.

Contact:
Mark Jesman, Head of Marketing
Panorama Antennas Ltd

• (0)20 8877 4444

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[Via Telecom]

(PRWEB) June 6, 2008 — ABP Technology is hosting the 5th annual IP Sizzles in Dallas July 28-30, 2008 at the Sheraton Grand DFW Hotel and this one promises to be the best ever. In the ever-changing world of technology, IP Sizzles looks to maximize reseller's business opportunities by connecting industry leaders and resellers in VoIP, Wireless, IP Video, IP Surveillance, IP Infrastructure and IP service providers.

IP Sizzles

IP Surveillance is the newest and most exciting addition to the IP world. ABP Technology has always positioned itself as a leader in IP technology and in doing so is dedicating a portion of the 2008 IP Sizzles to IP Surveillance and Mobotix IP Surveillance cameras. IP Sizzle attendees will also be some of the first to see new products from AudioCodes, Mobotix and others. Speakers from different areas of the IP industry will speak on IP in general, their fields of expertise and with an overall theme on the importance of Resellers and maximizing the profit channel.

IP Sizzles 2008 integrates several key industry vendors' reseller meetings and product launches. Some of IP Sizzles 2008 key exhibitors and new sponsors are Aastra, Adaptec, AudioCodes, ClearOne, Digium, Linksys, Mobotix, pbxnsip, SMC Networks and snom. Other sponsors include Broadvox and XO.

Advance your business opportunities with the latest developments in IP Technology. We will feature the leading IP Telephony, IP Surveillance and IP Video solutions that are selling now. IP Sizzles has a general session conference track, a technology exhibit, plenty of social networking time and bonus training at the end. IP Sizzles and ABP are focused around reseller education and strategic planning to maximize profit streams. You will also add to your team's sales skills with a special session "Doubling your IP Sales in Six Months" focusing on -Solutions Selling and Closing Sales- by one of America's top sales trainers.

IP Sizzles 2008 is the "must attend" event of the year for Telecom, Data & Networking Resellers and Integrators growing their business with vendor independent, Open Standards based Solutions in IP Communications and IP Technology.

For additional information on ABP Technology please contact Jenny Ngo at (972) 831-1600 or visit http://www.abptech.com

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• XP Roadmap: From SP3 to Windows 7, to 2010
• Intel Nehalem CPU gets previewed
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[Via Telecom]

Sydney (PRWEB) June 6, 2008 — Macquarie Hosting, a division of Macquarie Telecom, today announced it has signed a three-year hosting deal with leading Australian automotive website, http://www.carsguide.com.au.

Under the deal Macquarie Hosting will provide a high-availability, data centre solution comprised of both dedicated and enterprise virtual servers at their data centre to host carsguide.com.au's recently upgraded website and mission critical applications.

The Macquarie Hosting data centre was chosen by carsguide.com.au for its proven experience with digital media companies as well as its specialization in the design and implementation of complex managed-virtualised hosting environments. Previously, carsguide.com.au's website and mission-critical applications were hosted partly in-house and partly with an external third-party on dedicated servers.

MACQUARIE HOSTING DATA CENTRE TURBO-CHARGES SEARCH WITH VIRTUALISATION
Carsguide.com.au carries more than 80,000 classified listings. New data indexing software was implemented in March to improve search functionality for customers and deliver more targeted opportunities for marketers. To support these upgrades carsguide.com.au needed to improve the scalability of its site to cope with increases in search volume and time on site.

"There is increasing pressure for digital media companies to deliver more relevant and innovative opportunities for marketers to communicate with their audiences. We also need to ensure a feature rich and highly responsive user experience with rapid scalability to cope with increased traffic," said Marcus Verrall, Head of Technology, carsguide.com.au, News Digital Media.

"Macquarie Hosting quickly understood our specific business needs and provided scalable data centre solutions with a rapid provisioning cycle. The data centre team's deep understanding of the challenges associated with enterprise virtualised servers was a key factor in our decision to partner with Macquarie Hosting. The clear engagement and provisioning process gave us confidence that they can meet our infrastructure needs both now and in the future."

Spread across multiple virtual hosts, carsguide.com.au's mission-critical applications and content will be housed in Macquarie Hosting's ISO and DSD Gateway certified data centre, the Intellicentre. The data centre provides a high-availability network infrastructure with redundant firewalls, load balancing, switches and Internet ports provide low latency and security. High-speed tape backup and SAN storage services provide added redundancy.

MACQUARIE HOSTING DATA CENTRE HITS TO ACCELERATOR ON IMPLEMENTATION
The carsguide.com.au virtualised environment in the Macquarie Hosting data centre was designed and implemented in less than six weeks, half the standard implementation time for virtualised environments. Fast delivery was essential to ensure the support and scalable infrastructure in the data centre was in place to manage increased traffic to carsguide.com.au following the launch of its improved search functionality.

"We are in the midst of a significant boom in the digital media industry as marketers, advertisers and corporations turn to key players in this space to provide an innovative and cost-effective medium to communicate with their audiences," said Aidan Tudehope, Managing Director, Hosting, Macquarie Telecom.

"These customers need specialised dedicated managed hosting and virtualisation data centre solutions delivered by business partners that understand and can meet the 24/7 demands that the Web dictates."

ABOUT carsguide.com.au
carsguide.com.au is News Digital Media's national digital automotive brand featuring comprehensive news and reviews from Australia's leading motoring experts. Additionally, carsguide.com.au provides road tests, motoring tools and a marketplace for online classifieds. The site carries more than 76,000 listings. carsguide.com.au is also available on mobile phone with carsguide.mobi.

ABOUT MACQUARIE HOSTING
Macquarie Hosting is a division of ASX-listed Macquarie Telecom, a leading Australian and Asia Pacific supplier of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) solutions — including voice, data, mobile and hosting — for the business and government markets.

Macquarie Hosting provides high-availability, fully managed hosting, SAN/NAS storage management, accredited security and comprehensive monitoring and management for organisations with mission critical website and online transaction requirements. Its customers include Fairfax Business Media, Haymarket Media, Showbiz.com.au and WebJet.

Its dedicated managed hosting and secure data centre facility, the Intellicentre, is certified to the highest local and international security standards including ISO 27001 and DSD Gateway. This helps organisations confidently address security concerns associated with corporate governance, privacy regulations and audit requirements such as Sarbanes-Oxley.

For more information see:
Macquarie Hosting data centre
Macquarie Telecom data centre hosting

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[Via Telecom]

Canberra, Australia (PRWEB) June 6, 2008 — NCH Software, specialists in video, audio, and business software applications, announce the release of a number of new applications for Linux, based on the very successful Windows versions.

Applications for Native Linux and Wine Emulator

"Over the past six months our Linux development team has been working steadily on porting a number of applications from our line up of over 70 Windows programs," said Stephanie Lee, marketing manager for the Australian company. "Although the Linux community is historically at the forefront of open source and freeware applications we have found that the response has been positive from clients who mainly use Linux for business based server applications."

Already released for native Linux download this year is the Axon Virtual IP PBx along with the related IVM 64 line call attendant, voice mail and IVR system, RecordPad Sound Recorder, BroadWave Streaming Audio Server, Verbose Text to Speech Reader and the FlexiServer Employee Management system.

Upcoming releases will include FlexiServer's related module FlexiStation, which runs on the employees workstation and allows staff to submit holiday leave requests, note when a colleague calls in sick as well as monitor their own working hours and accrue what is commonly known as "flex time".

Other releases set for June are the Express Dictate Professional computer based dictation recorder, Express Invoice and the VRS multi channel call recording application.

"We are always striving to provide quality applications to the different computer communities and at the same time expand our range," said Stephanie. "We always welcome constructive feedback and suggestions from each and we are slowly building a Linux following, which in turn will help us produce a better quality application. We are also always on the lookout for talented C++ programmers for all platforms and with the recent opening of an office in Denver we are hoping to build a US-based team."

NCH Software is a leader in business, audio and video technology. Since 1993 the software development team has released more than 70 Windows, Mac, Linux, Palm, Pocket PC and Smart Phone applications which are now leaders in their classes and have been awarded for software excellence.

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[Via Telecom]

Kharkiv, Ukraine (PRWEB) June 6, 2008 — QArea Group, a leading Ukrainian software testing and development company, announced the appointment of a new QA Director. Nikolay Semenov, who is assigned to this post, is a seasoned QA professional and manager with extensive experience in the IT industry.

QArea Group, a leading Ukrainian software testing and development company

This appointment and concurrent expansion of the level of QA Director's authority and responsibility are new steps of QArea Group aimed to strengthen its positioning as a Test-Driven software company.

Nikolay Semenov has strong QA professional skills and solid experience gained in senior engineering and quality control positions at multinational IT companies. He holds a Masters degree in Computer science from Kharkiv University of RadioElectronics and took a pre-graduation course at Wessex Institute of Technology.

Since April 2008, Nikolay Semenov has been working as a CTO at BugHuntress QA Lab, an independent software testing division of QArea Group, and showed his worth as a proactive and very efficient manager. In his new role Nikolay will be responsible for deployment of the newest approaches in the field of quality assurance and quality control in QArea Group in whole and stimulate the development of QArea Group as a Test-Driven company.

"In QArea any new software development project starts and finishes in the QA and testing division – BugHuntress QA Lab," explains Max Garkavtsev, Founder of QArea Group. "BugHuntress works with many clients, helping them to control the quality of onsite or outsourcing vendors' software development. In the same way it serves shareholders of QArea. BugHuntress QA Lab is completely independent from our software development teams. As a result, no dominance of a project manager’s opinion, no ungrounded optimism, just truth and facts (testing metrics) about every software development project - this is the idea of Test-Driven company in short."

Such an approach is not far-fetched. QArea own experience as well as the experience of its customers explicitly shows that independent software testing can be crucial for success of a software development project. But the Test-Driven company uses independent QA/QC control not only as services for customers but first of all as an internal procedure.

"Being a Test-Driven company requires the highest-level QA/QC processes in production and management," emphasizes Max Garkavtsev. "We believe that Nikolay Semenov can contribute significantly to providing this level at our company."

— About QArea Group —
QArea Group is a leading Ukrainian software testing and development company founded in 2001. QArea Group provides a wide range of testing services and software R&D services (Java, .NET, C++, PHP) with an uncompromising focus on software quality control. QArea Group builds its own software development processes according to the test-driven approach. QArea Group offers a set of QA/QC services which help companies to reduce risks of software development outsourcing to offshore / nearshore vendors. QArea Group includes an independent software testing company BugHuntress QA Lab.

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• More malware demands money to rescue files
• More malware demands money to rescue files
• News from around the web (06/05/08)

[Via Telecom]

Minneapolis, MN (PRWEB) June 5, 2008 — SotaComm LLC (www.sotacomm.com) today said it has begun providing communications and networking solutions to small and midsized businesses that are a radical improvement over anything previously available to these firms, based on open-source software and appliances from leading-edge technology vendors.

"We're a 'new age' kind of company that's packaging advanced, low-cost products and services from a set of new, fast-growing tech firms. We partner with them to help them reach the market their technology most benefits: small business," said Gary Doan, CEO and cofounder of SotaComm. "And we've started deploying these leading-edge solutions." A key advantage for the company's small business customers is they get advanced, value-added solutions with two levels of support from the commercial open source software vendor and SotaComm , which is especially critical if they do not have their own staff of IT professionals.

The Driving Trends
The adoption of open standards and the shift toward software-based appliance solutions are two major trends in enterprise IT that drove Doan and his partners to found SotaComm in early 2007. (Doan is a serial entrepreneur who has founded several other Minnesota-based technology firms. One of the company's other cofounders is Tim Andersen, founder of Bailiwick Data Systems, Chaska, MN.) SotaComm's state-of-the-art, certified offerings deliver enhanced features, ease of use, and reliability for small and midsized organizations. Appliance solutions are better options for these firms, said Doan, not only because they cost less to acquire and operate, but because they change the way smart businesses utilize their communication network and provide them with distinct productivity benefits.

Three Areas of Focus
SotaComm provides three categories of state-of-the-art, easy-to-use small business solutions: (1) phone systems, (2) security gateways, and (3) routers and firewalls. The VOIP (voice over Internet protocol) phone systems offered by the company have more features and innovations than traditional systems, and can save most businesses up to 60% of the cost of those proprietary systems, which until recently have been their only choice. A leading telecommunications research firm, ATLANTIC-ACM, has said the fastest growing demand segment for VOIP will be businesses with 11-100 employees, which will see a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) in revenues of 29.7% through 2012. According to a May 2008 report by WinterGreen Research, IP phone systems have "gained widespread acceptance in the marketplace…and demand is continuing to increase."

For IP phone systems, SotaComm partners with rapidly growing IP phone systems vendor Fonality. It resells that company's hardware/software solutions, including its "PBXtra" product line. SotaComm also offers a PBX appliance called the "TB Pro" that is sold and serviced by SotaComm locally. These IP phone system solutions allow small to midsized firms to compete on a level playing field with much larger companies by providing them with true enterprise-class PBX phone systems, at 40-80% of the cost of those systems.

SotaComm's TB Pro is a private-label version of Fonality's "Trixbox Pro," which incorporates PBXtra software and includes the very popular "Heads Up Display" (HUD), which is a powerful companion to the office phone that runs on each employee's personal computer. It's a highly visual operator panel that allows "drag-and-drop" calling and transferring, as well as conference calling and is also a call center application.

"Once employees start using the Heads Up Display inside a company, they can't do without it," said Doan. "It's simple to use and a great productivity booster." The HUD feature is also standard on SotaComm's TB Pro appliance. "We chose to partner with Fonality after evaluating several PBXs on the market and discovering they clearly had the best product out there," said Doan. "They're on a roll, having raised significant venture capital, and recent funding from Intel and Dell as well. Not only have they won IP Telephony Magazine's 'Best Product of the Year' award three years running, but dozens of other awards as well, all while developing a customer base of more than 6000 companies worldwide."

For security gateways, SotaComm has partnered with leading emerging vendor Untangle, which produces the world's first commercial-grade open source solution for "unified threat management" - that is, blocking spam, spyware, viruses, adware, and unwanted content on the network, and providing a better alternative to costly, inflexible proprietary appliances (from such firms as SonicWALL and WatchGuard). The company, based in Silicon Valley and backed by two leading VC firms, already has more than 20,000 users of its open-source solutions.

In its third major area of focus, SotaComm provides router solutions from Vyatta, a company that has changed the networking world by commoditizing advanced router, firewall, and VPN (virtual private network) deployment in the same way that Linux commoditized the operating system market. Each month, more than 15,000 users worldwide turn to Vyatta's open-source networking platform in their search for an alternative to over-priced, inflexible products from proprietary vendors. In independent tests, Vyatta appliances outperformed comparable Cisco products at a costs savings of up to 75%. Vyatta is based in Silicon Valley and backed by several leading venture capital firms.

"These three technology partners - Fonality, Untangle, and Vyatta - are really hitting stride and gaining critical mass in the marketplace," said SotaComm CEO Doan. "Their software and appliances have been tested hard and proven in the real world. Having formed partnerships with these best-of-breed vendors, we're enabling our small business customers to immediately take advantage of open source advances, and reap the very real financial benefits their big brethren are. And, best of all, we can provide true hands-on support and training for them."

Doan continued: "SotaComm's business is now about delivering appliances based on the platforms of leading vendors Fonality, Untangle, and Vyatta - all of which incorporate best-of-breed software. All our appliances are extremely easy-to-use, are rock solid and proven, and are backed by two levels of support."

Why Open Source?
SotaComm is showing its customers that open source is a better way to develop and deliver software. It's more transparent and holds vendors accountable to the community. Since it's heavily standards-based, it gives customers flexibility and protection from vendor lock-in. Further, it lets technology vendors leverage the expertise of the community to build better products, which can be more full-featured with open source software. Vendors can deliver an amazing amount of commercial-grade functionality for free, while also offering fully supported versions of these solutions at dramatically lower prices than can proprietary software vendors. And customers of SotaComm get the advantage of "dual-layer support" - not just the vendor's, but also support and training provided by SotaComm.

About SotaComm
SotaComm LLC, a name that derives from "State of the Art Communications," is bringing big-company benefits in open-source software and appliances to small and midsized businesses, initially in three key areas: (1) IP telephony systems, (2) unified threat management, including spam blocking and web filtering, and (3) router and firewall solutions. SotaComm, based in Chaska, MN, partners with leading vendors in open source solutions for small and midsized businesses (SMBs), including Fonality (VOIP phone systems), Untangle (security gateways), and Vyatta (open-source routers and firewalls), and develops its own line of appliances. SotaComm plans to extend its line of appliances beyond best-of-breed communication infrastructure solutions to include storage, data protection, and archiving solutions, because it believes its customers can benefit from having an open, easy-to-use, low-cost, and unified communications and storage network. For more information about SotaComm, please visit the company's web site at www.sotacomm.com, call (952) 479-4111 or toll free (866) 587-4111.

Press contact:
Gary Doan, CEO/Cofounder
SotaComm LLC
www.sotacomm.com
gdoan(at)sotacomm.com
(952) 479-4111

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[Via Telecom]

Rockville, MD (PRWEB) June 5, 2008 — A new ChangeWave survey reveals a still soft corporate IT spending environment, although Research In Motion (RIMM) remains a very big exception as it continues to dominate the smart phone market.

Corporate Market: RIM s. Palm vs. Apple Future Smart Phone Buyers

The May survey of 2,049 respondents involved with IT spending in their organization shows highly upbeat results for the Canadian BlackBerry maker, with the company expanding its already vast lead (76%; up 3-pts) in the corporate smart phone market. Second-place Palm (PALM); 17% - down 1-pt) shows no signs of halting its long-term decline.

Looking ahead at 3rd Quarter planned corporate purchases, RIM has overwhelming momentum, with 82% of respondents buying smart phones next quarter saying they'll purchase BlackBerries — a 5-pt jump since the previous survey in February.

"When you're hot, you're hot, and the latest results for RIM are scorching," said Tobin Smith, founder of ChangeWave and editor of ChangeWave Investing. "If every product had such market dominance, it would be easy to pick the winners in each space," added Smith.

There was also a solid move up for Apple (AAPL) and its iPhone (13%; up 2-pts), with the company now ranking second in terms of planned corporate purchases. However, Palm continues to languish going forward, with just 8% saying their company will purchase their smart phone devices.

(Detailed charts on corporate IT spending and smart phone trends, along with additional ChangeWave findings can be downloaded at changewave.com/corporate).

IT Spending Soft But Stabilizing

After a long and unsettling decline, there are signs that the corporate IT spending slowdown — while still soft — may be stabilizing.

When asked if their overall IT spending was on track thus far in the 2nd Quarter, 11% of respondents said their company had spent "More than Planned" — up 1-pt since February. Another 27% say they've spent "Less than Planned" — unchanged from previously.

Thus, current IT spending remains at virtually the same lowered level that it was in the previous quarter — although it's a positive sign that things haven't gotten any worse.

Looking ahead to the 3rd Quarter, nearly one-in-four respondents (24%) say their company's IT spending will decrease (or there'll be no spending at all). That's 1-pt worse than the previous survey. In addition, only 15% say spending will increase, unchanged from previously.

The continued softness in projected spending is occurring across companies of all sizes, although once again things have pretty much stopped getting worse — a sign of stabilizing in corporate IT spending.

"While the slowdown in overall spending may finally be stabilizing, this survey suggests that IT spending will remain anemic for the rest of the year," said Smith. "The one exception here is RIM, which just keeps on rolling."

To sign-up for real-time email alerts from ChangeWave on IT spending and smart phone trends, visit changewave.com/hotwire.

About ChangeWave:
ChangeWave runs a proprietary network of more than 15,000 highly qualified business, technology, and medical professionals in leading companies of select industries - credentialed experts who spend their everyday lives working on the frontline of technological change. ChangeWave surveys its members on a range of business and investment research topics, collects feedback from them electronically, and converts the information into quantitative and qualitative reports. For more information, visit changewave.com/corporate

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