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	<title>Houston Avaya IP Office Phone Systems</title>
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	<link>http://www.houston-avaya.com</link>
	<description>Houston&#039;s Affordable Avaya Dealer</description>
	<lastBuildDate>Tue, 19 Jul 2011 19:55:59 +0000</lastBuildDate>
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		<title>What is CAT 5 Cabling?</title>
		<link>http://www.houston-avaya.com/what-is-cat-5-cabling/</link>
		<comments>http://www.houston-avaya.com/what-is-cat-5-cabling/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 19 Jul 2011 19:51:18 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jill</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[News & Reviews]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.houston-avaya.com/?p=550</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[CAT 5 Cabling (along with CAT 5e and CAT 6 cabling) is a type of cable that carries signals.  This twisted cable is used with structured cabling, which is used in the installation of computer networks, ethernet wiring and other electronic cables.  In Houston, CAT 5 cabling is commonplace, as it is with many other [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img class="alignleft" title="cat 5 cabling" src="http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQLq_bvdPW845mZo3vKSNxlU09o9J0kv-fAR77OSxIO1AeaQE5U" alt="" width="229" height="220" />CAT 5 Cabling (along with CAT 5e and CAT 6 cabling) is a type of cable that carries signals.  This twisted cable is used with structured cabling, which is used in the installation of computer networks, ethernet wiring and other electronic cables.  In <a title="houston cat 5 cabling" href="http://www.ttechnologyinc.com/houstonphonesystem.asp" target="_blank">Houston, CAT 5 cabling</a> is commonplace, as it is with many other large cities.  CAT 5 cables rely on the twisted design (each half of the twisted wires counterpart has a differential signal which aids in noise reduction) because they are otherwise unshielded.     In addition to this, Category 5 cables are connected using punch down blocks and other modular connectors.</p>
<p>All of this might sound complicated to the average person.  All you really need to know is that CAT 5 cabling and structured cabling is a must for any new phone system.  If you are looking for a reputable company to install your wiring in Houston, then call Tele Technology at <strong><span style="font-size: large; color: #333399;">1-877-891-1911</span></strong>.  They will give you a fast FREE quote.  They will install your system with the correct equipment, wiring, and do the job right the first time.</p>
<p>Structured cabling is the way to go when building a new site.  It makes it so any piece of electronics you buy can simply be plugged in and ready to go without messy wire configuration.  Think of it this way:  the TV you buy today is made to be hooked up to any new device like a video game console, digital television, TiVo, ipod, etc&#8230;  You can’t hook any of these items up to a TV you bought 20 years ago.  Back then, it might have been called ‘cable-ready,’ but that is all that is ready for in today’s standards!  Structured cabling enables your house or office to be up-to-date for all the latest equipment for years to come.</p>
<h6 class="zemanta-related-title" style="font-size: 1em;">Related articles</h6>
<ul class="zemanta-article-ul">
<li class="zemanta-article-ul-li"><a href="http://phonesystems.wordpress.com/2011/07/18/is-structured-cabling-important/">Is Structured Cabling Important?</a> (phonesystems.wordpress.com)</li>
</ul>
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		<title>NEW Avaya Aura® Contact Center 6.2</title>
		<link>http://www.houston-avaya.com/new-avaya-aura-contact-center/</link>
		<comments>http://www.houston-avaya.com/new-avaya-aura-contact-center/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 16 Jul 2011 04:54:45 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jill</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[News & Reviews]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Avaya]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Business]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Call centre]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Contact centre (business)]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Customer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Customer service]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Nortel]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Social media]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.houston-avaya.com/?p=543</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[This week Avaya has announced a BRAND NEW suite of software tools geared specifically for businesses that have contact centers.  One of these new products in this new line is the Avaya Aura® Contact Center 6.2. Avaya is an award winning company for their collaborative and assisted care solutions.  The Avaya Aura® Contact Center 6.2 [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img class="alignleft" title="Avaya IP Office" src="http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRvlZldYCbUGOxkVRQ5TQuD5lxJNxTwWSsazrCkahbgKKOv0VgI" alt="" width="141" height="40" />This week <a title="Avaya IP Office" href="http://www.ttechnologyinc.com/" target="_blank">Avaya</a> has announced a <strong>BRAND NEW</strong> suite of software tools geared specifically for businesses that have contact centers.  One of these new products in this new line is the Avaya Aura® Contact Center 6.2.</p>
<p>Avaya is an award winning company for their collaborative and assisted care solutions.  The Avaya Aura® Contact Center 6.2 is the very latest in this family of products.  It offers vast multimedia collaboration abilities that give that context-rich customer experience.  The customer’s role in a business’ phone system is sometimes overlooked; it is very important.  The customer should be surrounded with information and resources of the company they calling.  The idea is to treat the caller/customer as if they are entering a first class concierge service, not a take-a-number and wait in line.  With Avaya Aura® Contact Center 6.2 your customers will feel like they matter and that feeling can turn any negative into a positive.</p>
<p>Call Centers have a unique position in the business world; they are one of the LAST entities  a customer will contact and be able to talk to a human being.  With that thought, it’s it easy to see why a customer’s calling experience should be the best possible?  Keep their frustrations down and the ease of use to reach their intended party high.  One of the most annoying parts of calling a business, in the customer’s point of view, is the endless prompts that don’t go anywhere.  The Avaya Aura® Contact Center 6.2 has taken strides to tackle this situation and make calling your business a lot more pleasant.    This includes integrating social networking technologies into the daily flow and keep the customer service agents -the human- an active role in the communications process.</p>
<p>With Avaya Aura® Contact Center 6.2 has a consolidated platform, including a unified agent desktop and a single comprehensive management interface which makes the need to have multiple user interfaces a thing of the past.</p>
<p>Avaya has always been on the cutting edge of technology.  Their goal is complete commitment to their customers.  They have products that will every possible different business situation, whether you are just in need of a simple legacy Nortel Enterprise upgrade or a whole new call center system installed.  Your investment with Avaya is protected; their systems are upgrade ready and there is much support for your system on Avaya’s website.  This is why businesses around the globe choose Avaya for their phone system.</p>
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		<title>Avaya IP Office 7.0 is now Available to Everyone (GA)</title>
		<link>http://www.houston-avaya.com/avaya-ip-office-7-0-is-now-available-to-everyone-ga/</link>
		<comments>http://www.houston-avaya.com/avaya-ip-office-7-0-is-now-available-to-everyone-ga/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 04 Apr 2011 16:50:34 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jill</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[News & Reviews]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Avaya]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Avaya IP Office]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Avaya IP Office 7.0]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[business phone system]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[business phones]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.houston-avaya.com/?p=540</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Great news!  In March 2011 Avaya IP Office 7.0 released to the general public.  This the absolute latest in Avaya’s highly acclaimed IP Office software.  The great thing about IP Office 7.0 is that is allows users of other manufacturers’ phones to come over to the Avaya family without having to buy new office phones.  [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Great news!  In March 2011 Avaya IP Office 7.0 released to the general public.  This the absolute latest in Avaya’s highly acclaimed IP Office software.  The great thing about IP Office 7.0 is that is allows users of other manufacturers’ phones to come over to the Avaya family without having to buy new office phones.  Specifically, users of Nortel BCM and Norstar will be able to keep hold of their IP desk phones and digital mobile phones.  Avaya feels that those who have not yet experienced IP Office will be hooked once they try it.  Allowing for other manufacturer products able to cross over to the Avaya family, is a cost-effective way to enhance your business communication system with one of the industry’s favorite brands.</p>
<p>Some more good news about those using legacy phones from Norstar and BCM sets; if the phones you are using are discontinued (Manufacturer Discontinued “MD” or End of Sale “EoS”) you are a perfect candidate for migrating over to Avaya IP Office 7.0.  This because part of the IP Office software, Data Migration Manager, has been preprogrammed to allow the data stored in your old phones to make the switch to Avaya.  That makes for an easy transfer and provides up to 60% investment protection from your legacy phones.</p>
<p>For those who want to completely come over to Avaya IP Office 7.0 with new phones, there is some more good news: support for models 9504 &amp; 9508 digital phones and 9621G &amp; 9641G (these are high end IP color sets) have been enhanced and have designed to work with the 1600 series IP Sets.  One of the new benefits is that it eliminated the paper key labels which helps with faster installation or key changes.</p>
<p>And finally, Avaya has acquired Konftel, Sweden’s premier maker of conference phones.  Now, Avaya can harness the technology of Konftel’s OmniSound and bring it to users of IP Office 7.0.  If you have never used a conference phone, get ready to be amazed.  Your IP Office 7.0 is going to have the latest in conferencing abilities.  This means, clear, loud voices, and zero background noise.  Group calling and number storage is now made easier.  Avaya has added B100 series of conference phones, which are entry level cost-effective conference phones, yet they perform like higher-end conference phones.</p>
<p>So there you have it.  Avaya IP Office 7.0 is available and ready to make its home in your place of business.  This is an excellent opportunity to upgrade your system and make your office an Avaya office.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
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		<title>Avaya Flare used to connect the Packers to home base.</title>
		<link>http://www.houston-avaya.com/avaya-flare-used-to-connect-the-packers-to-home-base/</link>
		<comments>http://www.houston-avaya.com/avaya-flare-used-to-connect-the-packers-to-home-base/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 08 Feb 2011 20:11:08 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[News & Reviews]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.houston-avaya.com/?p=534</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Here&#8217;s a fun and surprising tid bit story released from Avaya. Apparently the Green Bay Packers use 100% Avaya products for all of their communications. Just before the super bowl, they decided to implement a fast remote operation using the Avaya Flare products to keep all of the Green Bay Packers staff connected to one [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Here&#8217;s a fun and surprising tid bit story released from Avaya.   Apparently the Green Bay Packers use 100% Avaya products for all of their communications.  Just before the super bowl, they decided to implement a fast remote operation using the Avaya Flare products to keep all of the Green Bay Packers staff connected to one another and to home base in Wisconsin.</p>
<p>Behind the scenes, WBL Systems (who provides the packers with their hardware and services) set up the Packers remote voice and video platform for more than 150 staffers who were on the super bowl road trip.</p>
<p>The Omni Mandalay hotel at Las Colinas was transformed into a temporary headquarters.  Avaya&#8217;s mobile Unified Communications products made the move completely seamless and it went off without a hitch according to WBL Systems.</p>
<p>With the Avaya Flare experience, the Packers staff was able to use their same numbers, features and functions as they would at home base. With video coloboratoin and helpdesk kiosks, the Packers staff was immediatly in touch and avaialble to all press. These kiosks also had the press in touch with any technical assistance in an instant just by pressing on the support image on the video screen.</p>
<p>Not only is this an amazing feat to extend a total of 150 employees in remote deployment but the fact the entire system was brought up in a single 24 hour period makes it pretty incredible.</p>
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		<title>Special Resources</title>
		<link>http://www.houston-avaya.com/special-resources/</link>
		<comments>http://www.houston-avaya.com/special-resources/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 27 Oct 2010 19:56:58 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Resources]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.houston-avaya.com/?p=375</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[http://www.adamtelco.com Los Angeles Self Storage Pods &#8211; A new concept of Self Storage &#38; Moving Storage containers which is convenient, user-friendly, reliable &#38; low cost. In 3 simple steps &#38; your timetable store your valuable items in sturdy modular storage pods.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://www.adamtelco.com">http://www.adamtelco.com</a></p>
<p><a style="color: blue;" href="http://www.box-n-go.com"><strong>Los Angeles Self Storage Pods</strong></a> &#8211; A new concept of Self Storage &amp; Moving Storage containers which is convenient, user-friendly, reliable &amp; low cost. In 3 simple steps &amp; your timetable store your valuable items in sturdy modular storage pods.</p>
]]></content:encoded>
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		<title>Avaya FLARE Experience has Flair!</title>
		<link>http://www.houston-avaya.com/avaya-flare-experience-has-flair/</link>
		<comments>http://www.houston-avaya.com/avaya-flare-experience-has-flair/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 04 Oct 2010 21:53:02 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jill</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[News & Reviews]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Avaya]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[avaya flare]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[avaya flare experience]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[business solutions]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[conference call]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.houston-avaya.com/?p=369</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[If you want to streamline your entire business communications, then look no further than the Avaya Flare Experience!  Avaya is already known for making business phones with superior sounds quality.  Now, they have taken the lead and produced one of the most advanced systems in the field.  This device is a hand held unit (about [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>If you want to streamline your entire business communications, then look no further than the <a title="avaya business phone system" href="http://www.avayabusinessphonesystem.com/" target="_blank">Avaya </a>Flare Experience!  Avaya is already known for making business phones with superior sounds quality.  Now, they have taken the lead and produced one of the most advanced systems in the field.  This device is a hand held unit (about the size of magazine with the thickness of the average flatscreen PC monitor) that lets you access all of your communication devices in one place.  It has a touchscreen interface that lets you seamlessly work with all your contacts, documents, presentations, etc&#8230; just wait until you get  closer look!</p>
<p><strong>Access all Your Media</strong></p>
<p>The<a title="avayaphone.net" href="http://www.avayaphone.net/" target="_blank"> Avaya</a> Flare gives you instant access to your email, Instant Messaging, Voicemail, office phone, cell phone, Facebook, all in the same place.  You can get all your messages streamlined so you don&#8217;t have to switch back and forth from each device.  Make life simpler.</p>
<p><strong>Video Conference Calls for the 21st Century</strong></p>
<p>The<a title="adam telco" href="http://www.adamtelco.com/" target="_blank"> Avaya</a> Flare takes video conferencing and puts it on a whole new level.  To start a meeting all you need to do is drag and drop your contact&#8217;s icon into the session.  The device will then dial automatically.  You can add as many people as you need.  You can have several <a href="http://www.adamtelco.com/" target="_blank">conference call </a>sessions going at the same time and go back and forth between them.  You can show your team your presentation, documents, pitch, all right there from the Flare, in real time.</p>
<p><strong>Tools and Applications</strong></p>
<p>Not only does the<a href="http://www.teletechnology.net/" target="_blank"> Avaya</a> Flare have an integrated webcam, it can also be placed on your workspace how you need it.  Prop it up or lay it flat- it&#8217;s up to you.  You can use all your Android apps, and Microsoft Outlook.  It syncs all your contacts in one convenient location (from your email, cell phone, Facebook, etc&#8230;).  If you prefer, you can hook up a mouse or a keyboard to the system via a USB port.</p>
<p>The Avaya Flare Experience is a business tool like no other.  It will change the way people conduct business- the future is here and it is quite an experience!</p>
<p><br class="spacer_" /></p>
<p>
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		<title>The Avaya/Skype Strategic Agreement</title>
		<link>http://www.houston-avaya.com/the-avayaskype-strategic-agreement/</link>
		<comments>http://www.houston-avaya.com/the-avayaskype-strategic-agreement/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 30 Sep 2010 07:42:04 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[News & Reviews]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Agreement]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Avaya/Skype]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Strategic]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.houston-avaya.com/the-avayaskype-strategic-agreement/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Today, Avaya and Skype announced a strategic agreement for unified communications and collaboration. As part of Avaya&#8217;s DevConnect team, I&#8217;m always excited to see us expanding our ecosystem of partners and solutions, but this one is especially interesting. To boil it down to a very simple thought, this agreement&#8217;s goal is to enable enterprises in [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Today, Avaya and Skype announced a <a href="http://www.avaya.com/gcm/master-usa/en-us/corporate/pressroom/pressreleases/2010/pr-100929.htm"><strong>strategic agreement for unified communications and collaboration</strong></a>. As part of Avaya&#8217;s DevConnect team, I&#8217;m always excited to see us expanding our ecosystem of partners and solutions, but this one is especially interesting. </p>
<p>To boil it down to a very simple thought, this agreement&#8217;s goal is to enable enterprises in the U.S. market to <u>seamlessly</u> connect their corporate communication systems, including contact centers, with the global Skype community, be they customers, suppliers, partner or employees. This will start with voice, but will expand to full presence-aware video-enabled collaboration capabilities in mid-2011. </p>
<p>Now let me be clear on that last part. We aren&#8217;t suggesting that Enterprise end users will use Skype&trade; software on their desktop PCs.  With our existing Avaya one-X&reg; Communicator and other one-X tools, as well as with our newest <a href="http://www.avaya.com/usa/campaign/avaya-flare-experience-guided-tour/"><strong>Avaya Flare&trade; experience</strong></a>, we believe that we are already offering enterprises the best communication tools and user experiences possible.</p>
<p>Today, IT organizations face challenges. End-users install Skype on enterprise PCs, purchase Skype&#8217;s paid communication products, and maintain varying work patterns by communicating with internal contacts in a manner different than they might with external contacts (through Skype). </p>
<p>The objectives of the agreement are to actually deliver greater control to the IT organization, and increased flexibility to the enterprise end-user in several key ways. First, through an arbitrage model, IT organizations can save money by leveraging Skype Connect&trade; to enable enterprise users in the U.S. to make voice calls to landline and mobile numbers all over the world. And they can also save on in-bound call center toll-free services by enabling Skype-connected users to call directly in to the contact center. All of the back-end enterprise contact center capabilities, self service and intelligent routing to the right agents remain the same, but these incoming Skype calls no longer incur 800-number charges or International rates to support these customers</p>
<p>The capabilities already present in Avaya Aura&trade;, CS 1000, IP office and BCM allow telecom administrators to treat these Skype calls like any other inbound call, applying full control over routing, blocking and other call handling capabilities. Our strategic agreement with Skype is about expanding the <u>reach</u> and <u>convenience</u> of enterprise communications to the whole Skype community</p>
<p>But the bigger, long term benefits of the agreement come from the first-of-its-kind federation model, which will enable a Skype user to appear to the enterprise user as any other enterprise user would today. The rich presence information delivered for Avaya communication services will include Skype presence, so external Skype users can view presence for corporate contacts and vice versa. The multi-modal capabilities available for one-to-one and multi-party collaboration capabilities will include Skype video calling capabilities. </p>
<p>Returning to my earlier point&#8211;we are not suggesting that I&#8217;d use a Skype client in the office. Instead, it means that I will be able to add non-enterprise Skype users as a personal contact, see their Skype presence and availability through the Avaya Flare experience, and seamlessly create audio- and video-enabled communication sessions with them just as if they were one of my enterprise peers. </p>
<p>In his NoJitter editorial <a href="http://www.nojitter.com/feature/227500948?pgno=1"><strong><em>Avaya Dials Up Skype As A Partner</em></strong></a>, Zeus Kerravala of the Yankee Group also touched on an element that is very near and dear to me:</p>
<blockquote><p><em>Here&#8217;s another hidden benefit here to Avaya that at the time of writing had not been discussed by Avaya and that&#8217;s the impact this partnership could have on its developer community, DevConnect. If you&#8217;ve read what I&#8217;ve written in the past you&#8217;ll know that my belief is that the long term winners in this space will be determined by the vendor&#8217;s ability to leverage a software community to develop &#8220;UC enabled applications&#8221;. To date, Avaya has easily been the most aggressive UC vendor with respect to building a developer community. </em></p></blockquote>
<p>As we further deliver on the Avaya-Skype relationship, I certainly hope to see an expansion from both the Avaya and Skype developer communities. Even prior to this announcement, we&#8217;ve had DevConnect partners like <a href="http://www.empixevolve.com/avaya"><strong>Empix</strong></a>, whose <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hh7isqd2VJw"><strong>evolve</strong></a> platform offered Skype integration capabilities for Avaya IP Office. </p>
<p>I&#8217;m excited by the opportunities this new strategic alliance will open for our customers, our joint development community, and for both Avaya and Skype. </p>
<blockquote><p><em><small>Due to an error on the my part, an earlier draft was inadvertently published. This is the final version I meant to actually post. Apologies, Jon.</small></em></p></blockquote>
<p>View full post on <a href="http://www.avaya.com/blogs/archives/2010/09/the-skype-strategic-agreement.html">Avaya Connected Blog</a></p>
<h4>Incoming search terms:</h4><ul><li>avaya one x communicator call session error</li><li>Skype user in Houston</li></ul>]]></content:encoded>
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		<title>Skype and Avaya Sign Enterprise Deal</title>
		<link>http://www.houston-avaya.com/skype-and-avaya-sign-enterprise-deal/</link>
		<comments>http://www.houston-avaya.com/skype-and-avaya-sign-enterprise-deal/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 30 Sep 2010 02:47:44 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[News & Reviews]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Avaya]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Deal]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Enterprise]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sign]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Skype]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.houston-avaya.com/skype-and-avaya-sign-enterprise-deal/</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Skype and Avaya Sign Enterprise Deal Its taken about a year, but corporate phone equipment maker Avaya and consumer VoIP carrier Skype have finally inked their long-rumored partnership. Announced moments ago, the two phase deal will see Avaya customers first given access to Skype Connect, the companys play at the IP-enabled PBX and Unified Communications [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><b>Skype and Avaya Sign Enterprise Deal</b><br />
Its taken about a year, but corporate phone equipment maker Avaya and consumer VoIP carrier Skype have finally inked their long-rumored partnership. Announced moments ago, the two phase deal will see Avaya customers first given access to Skype Connect, the companys play at the IP-enabled PBX and Unified Communications market.</p>
<p>Read more on <a href="http://biz.yahoo.com/allthingsd/100929/skype_and_avaya_sign_enterprise_deal_id.html?.v=1">AllThingsD Online via Yahoo! Finance</a><br/><br/></p>
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		<title>Are you using multi-channel technologies to improve your collections results?</title>
		<link>http://www.houston-avaya.com/are-you-using-multi-channel-technologies-to-improve-your-collections-results/</link>
		<comments>http://www.houston-avaya.com/are-you-using-multi-channel-technologies-to-improve-your-collections-results/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 29 Sep 2010 03:51:57 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[News & Reviews]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[collections]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[improve]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[multichannel]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[results]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[technologies]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[using]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[Today, I&#8217;m happy to turn the blog over to my colleague Sandra Thomson. Sandra is a member of the Financial Services team at Avaya focused on finding new ways to improve business processes and services for the financial services industry. In this post, Sandra discusses how to improve collections operations. Please leave comments and enjoy [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Today, I&#8217;m happy to turn the blog over to my colleague Sandra Thomson.   Sandra is a member of the Financial Services team at Avaya focused on finding new ways to improve business processes and services for the financial services industry.  In this post, Sandra discusses how to improve collections operations. Please leave comments and enjoy the post!</p>
<p><strong>Are you using multi-channel technologies to improve your collections results?</strong><br />
<em>By, Sandra Thomson</em></p>
<p>If you work for a financial institution, it&#8217;s not news to you that your industry is suffering due to the troubles in the economy and credit markets and their rippling impact on consumer financing. Collection performance has been deteriorating with the number of delinquencies growing as a percentage of accounts. Consumer difficulties of making on-time payments manifest themselves in increasing roll rates &#8211; more accounts are rolling over from being current to late, to early stage collections to mid-stage and late stage collections. This means that financial institutions are finding it harder to collect payments. Regions of the United States under mortgage strain are also showing signs of spilling over into credit card and auto loan portfolios. As total dollars collected decreases, there is also a growth in bad debt write-offs. Finally, as institutions make more active efforts to recover their money, more frequent customer interactions are required and the cost of collections rises. As stretched collection resources are unable to keep up with customer interactions early in the collections cycle, more accounts are running into problems. In fact, delinquencies and charge offs have doubled in the last few years. </p>
<p>Initial efforts to improve collections by using traditional, comparatively aggressive approaches can undermine longer term efforts to win and retain customers with negative strategic impacts on customer satisfaction, loyalty and retention rates. As late payments turn into delinquencies, and then defaults, financial institutions are at risk of losing both investment dollars and their customer base. This has the potential to endanger a financial institution&#8217;s short and longer term profitability and survivability, and needs to be addressed. </p>
<p>What can you do about it to help your organization? You can recommend a strategy to proactively reach out to your customers using their touchpoint of choice.  Your strategy must enable your company to be &#8220;first in line&#8221; for payment while ensuring that your company does not alienate your key customers. We can help you with solve this problem by sharing our best practices that have helped 75% of the top 20 global banks solve their challenges. Join Avaya&#8217;s Global Managing Director for financial services, Kevin Reilly and <a href="http://www.americanbanker.com/webseminars/-1023180-1.html?st=Cust&#038;s=avayaemail1">register today</a> to attend the American Banker webinar on Improving Collections without losing customers to learn more.  
</p>
<p>View full post on <a href="http://www.avaya.com/blogs/archives/2010/09/improve-your-collections.html">Avaya Connected Blog</a></p>
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		<title>Even better Avatar conferencing (behind the scenes look)</title>
		<link>http://www.houston-avaya.com/even-better-avatar-conferencing-behind-the-scenes-look/</link>
		<comments>http://www.houston-avaya.com/even-better-avatar-conferencing-behind-the-scenes-look/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 29 Sep 2010 03:50:45 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[News & Reviews]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Avatar]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[behind]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[better]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[conferencing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Even]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[look]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[scenes]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[Avaya&#8217;s web.alive service is designed from the start to be used in enterprises, and the new release just announced takes it beyond any other offer out there. This project has been operating in a sort of business incubator for a couple of years, and with this announcement Avaya is making it available both as a [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img alt="webalive meet3.jpg" src="http://www.avaya.com/blogs/archives/katz/webalive%20meet3.jpg" width="226" height="78" class="mt-image-right" style="float: right; margin: 0 0 20px 20px;" /><br />
Avaya&#8217;s <a href="http://avayalive.com"><u>web.alive</u></a> service is designed from the start to be used in enterprises, and the <a href="http://www.avaya.com/gcm/master-usa/en-us/corporate/pressroom/pressreleases/2010/pr-100915.htm"><u>new release just announced </u></a>takes it beyond any other offer out there.  This project has been operating in a sort of business incubator for a couple of years, and with this announcement Avaya is making it available both as a service and as licensed software.  </p>
<p>As <a href="http://www.avaya.com/blogs/archives/2010/06/virtual-worlds-for-business-its-not-playing-its-work.html"><u>I pointed out back in June</u></a>, it takes considerable engineering design to make these &#8220;Virtual Space&#8221; tools trivially easy to use, particularly for demanding business users.   Walk around in <a href="http://avayalive.com"><u>http://avayalive.com</u> </a>and you&#8217;ll find it to feel natural.   They&#8217;ve added a lot of new features such as Desktop Sharing.   This is a new space for me, and I&#8217;m learning a lot about the technical underpinnings needed to make this feel easy.   This note digs a little below the surface on some of the new capabilities to give you a sense of the engineering required:</p>
<ul></p>
<li><strong>User Startup Experience: </strong> The application feels a lot faster now.  The team put a lot of focus on this.  For example, they adopted LZMA Compression which creates environment packages that were about 30% smaller.   And they&#8217;ve also adopted advanced multithreading for delivering, decompressing, and loading the application which takes advantage of network characteristics and also balances CPU cycles.  All of this together helps get users get immersed into the environment twice as fast as before.   And the neat trick is that while the previous setup caused users to wait until everything was done, much of the startup delay is now concealed by dynamic content presentation, and the user now perceives that they&#8217;re entering the environment now in about 1/10th the time.  </li>
<p></p>
<li><strong>Firewalls/Proxies:</strong>  The security tools and proxy mechanisms deployed by enterprises are, thankfully, always improving.  But this means applications need constant care to have it behave well in light of corporate firewalls.  For example, this release includes support for Proxy Auto Configuration (PAC) files and better handles the situation where users have several proxy configurations on their PC.   The team also added support for Single Sign-on in cases where a proxy uses Microsoft&#8217;s NTLM authentication as well as handling the latest browser methods for managing proxy settings. </li>
<p></p>
<li><strong>Voice Quality:</strong>  Because the audio mixer now leverages Stereo echo cancellation for every session, high quality wideband audio can be heard by any user &#8211; even those without a headset.   For those of us who don&#8217;t use a headset, the sound improvement is refreshing.  You can really hear the 3D spatial audio (<a href="http://www2.nortel.com/go/news_detail.jsp?cat_id=-8055&#038;oid=100245205&#038;locale=en-US"><u>technology purchased by Nortel in 2008</u></a>) that helps make it feel like you&#8217;re sitting inside of the space.  Also, they added a Quality meter showing how the network is impacting your voice.  The meter combines several indicators including: packet loss, jitter, voice engine responsiveness, as well as CPU overhead.  </li>
<p></p>
<li><strong>Effective Web Rendering:</strong>  They rebuilt the web rendering engine leveraging WebKit.  WebKit was built by Apple around 10 years ago and released as open source in 2005.   It&#8217;s great for building reliable applications to run within a browser and yielded many improvements including more reliable Adobe Flash viewing.  A nice benefit from this is that users can now interact with web applications in a separate window &#8211; yet remain tied to the web.alive experience.   </li>
<p></p>
<li><strong>Telephony Integration: </strong> Customers can now place a telephone in their virtual conference room for making calls, and you can use the phone to bridge in non-virtual participants.  Web.alive treats it as if it&#8217;s really in the space, so you hear 3D audio as if you were there.    (That is, people closer to the phone are heard louder than people further away.)  This telephony service is SIP-based and can leverage the native enterprise communications infrastructure for placing/receiving calls, call detail recording, etc. </li>
</ul>
<p>Avaya&#8217;s virtual conference center (<a href="http://avayalive.com"><u>http://avayalive.com</u></a>) is available for you to visit, and there are always folks from the web.alive team there to answer your questions.   I stop in to visit once in a while too.  Maybe I&#8217;ll see you there.</p>
<p>View full post on <a href="http://www.avaya.com/blogs/archives/2010/09/avayalive 2dot5.html">Avaya Connected Blog</a></p>
<h4>Incoming search terms:</h4><ul><li>avaya conference center houston</li></ul>]]></content:encoded>
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