Promotion of VoIP Business Telephone Solutions by Toshiba America Information Systems

As it is described in the last press release, Toshiba America Information Systems Inc., Telecommunication System Division, and LEAF Financial Corporation (LEAF), the commercial finance subsidiary of Resource America Inc. have initiated a vendor finance program agreement to foster the customer financing and leasing requirements of the Authorized Toshiba Dealer Network.

The Program will be named as Toshiba Telecom Finance, in order to be the tool for authorized Toshiba Dealers to provide comprehensive lease finance offering, targeted to make Toshiba VoIP business telephone solutions more available to their small to medium business customer pool. "We are very excited to work with LEAF Financial to provide our customers with flexible financing solutions from an industry leader in the small and middle-market telephony leasing space,” said Larry Meyer, vice president of Sales and Marketing of Toshiba America Information Systems for the Telecommunication Systems Division. “We are committed to providing the Authorized Toshiba Dealer Network with innovative products and programs that will assist them in maximizing their telecom sales efforts." "We are pleased that Toshiba selected LEAF to provide financial services to Authorized Toshiba Dealers and their customers and to support Toshiba Telecom Finance," said Crit DeMent, CEO of LEAF, in a press release. "As companies invest in leading-edge communication solutions to stay competitive, Toshiba Telecom Finance will help them achieve those goals with affordable financing solutions. LEAF's highly responsive service and support capabilities will make it extremely convenient for the Authorized Toshiba Dealer Network to utilize lease financing as a powerful closing tool." LEAF Financial Corporation is headquartered in Philadelphia, Penn., being the commercial finance and asset management company. Its business model is designed to emit small to middle sized equipment leases and loans in a variety of asset ranging through specialized strategic business units. After origination of the leases, LEAF operates these leases for its own account, institutions, and individual investors by means of investment partnerships and other different forms of investment.

AMI Partners releases updated research on VoIP market for small business

Research Company AMI-Partners has released a report predicting growth in the VoIP market among small and medium businesses (SMBs). The research says that more than 30 percent of small businesses (1 – 99 employees) and 50 percent of medium businesses (100-999 employees) determines that VoIP will become basic form of voice communications in their business operations.

AMI’s 2010 report delivers an in-depth analysis of VoIP implementing by U.S. small and medium businesses. AMI considers that the market for IP-based voice communications, i.e. VoIP, IP PBX, will merge finally. However, last several years have been under the tensions of a tough recession and many small and medium sized companies put serious technology decisions on stand by mode. Nevertheless, the migration of voice and data will continue, the assets to leverage data networks with voice communications will get the boost, and the boarders for greater market penetration of IP solutions among the small business community remains wide open. Karen Nielsen, senior consultant with AMI, foresee that the facts and findings will be good news for the industry. “Most SMBs have limited IT resources; they will rely heavily on channel partners for VoIP installation and turnover, and to help with the crossover from analog to digital," Nielsen said. "The moment of conversion from analog to digital voice is the single biggest pain point for SMBs. Suppliers and channel partners should be prepared to make this switchover seamless. Partners should also understand and be able to prove that economic benefits stem not only from lower ongoing costs but also from a lower TCO." “From a supplier perspective, it is still early," AMI said in a prepared statement. The players are not fully known. The architectures are not completely defined. The markets are not structured. But AMI believes that down the road, the same things that are important to analog/TDM users will be important to digital/IP users: reliability, security, and quality. The winners will be those providers who can provide not only a reliable service, but an alternate back up, as well as the channel expertise to serve SMBs from soup to nuts if needed."

FeatureTel for business VoIP communications of pharmaceutical professionals

Company Stategic Pharma Solutions, a communications company managing pharmaceutical industry, has selected VoIP business phone services provider FeatureTel in order to provide communications services for Triangle-based business.

"When we opened our Raleigh office suite last year, we were starting from square one in selecting a phone service provider," says Theresa Moore, operations manager for Strategic Pharma Solutions. "We received referrals from an office furniture vendor we were working with, and they recommended FeatureTel for our telecom."  Moore notes that although they were scrutinizing huge amount of other providers, FeatureTel jumped up to the top of the list in a rapid way: "They were extremely responsive and went above and beyond to deliver what we needed in a timely manner."  She described all set of functionalities, such as phone calls that find and follow individuals from desk to mobile phones, were crucial for their office, where some staff are part-time and others travel quite a bit. Moore also said that the ease of expanding services was important, since they plan to add new staff in 2011, as was the built in disaster recovery and business continuity services.  FeatureTel was born in 2003 in Apex, N.C., and company offers hosted VoIP business telephone service over private networks for companies of all sizes across the Carolinas, providing a cost-effective, feature-rich alternative to traditional phone service. Removing the need for investment in a telephone system, FeatureTel customizes voice solutions delivered to a wide range of clients. FeatureTel was the first Hosted VoIP carrier in North Carolina to receive the Competitive Local Exchange Certification (CLEC) by the state's Utilities Commission and was named to the 2010 ranking of the USA fastest-growing private companies.

Asterisk PBX Text-to-Speech

Text-to-Speech for Business Telephony with Asterisk PBX

It is expensive and wasteful to hire humans to answer or guide callers. This is when the beauty of automated natural sounding text-to-speech software is realized. Text-to-speech conversion with high-quality, natural sounding voices for hand-held, desktop, and server applications adds a lot of value to business telephony with Asterisk PBX.

Text-to-Speech voices are available in 6 languages and 18 different characters including "Allison" the standard Asterisk voice. These voices are sizable and can range from 4 MB for embedded applications, to 100 MB for server-based installations. Text-to-Speech voices are tested on all major telephony platform operating systems including: Windows Server, Windows XP, Linux (32 & 64 bit), Solaris (Sparc and x86), and Mac (PowerPC and Intel).

The benefit of using text-to-speech voices with hosted Asterisk solution is that you can select a voice that fits your requirement, optimize it for your application, or even have voices built for a particular character or delivery. The voices run on the text-to-speech technology are petite and swift enough to run on handheld devices or distribute over the network.
The text-to-speech voice facility is not only limited to the telephony industry. In fact it is used across sectors such as health, navigation, mobile, toys & games, Government, industry, assistive, and many more. Now with Asterisk VOIP PBX, text-to speech functionality is available for really affordable prices to small and medium sized businesses. Also, don?t forget to enjoy the benefits of the best application hosting solutions, such as hosted VOIP PBX, Exchange, SharePoint, etc., which has become the preferred way for companies to implement business software.

Text-to-Speech for Business Telephony with Asterisk PBX

Timesheet Management in Microsoft Project Server

If you have to have a disciplined working environment, then managing and maintaining a record of time spent on each tasks is important, isn?t it? Timesheets help record the start and end time of tasks, or just the duration. It may contain a detailed breakdown of tasks accomplished throughout the project or program. This information may be used for payroll, client billing, and increasingly for project costing, estimation, tracking and management. Nonetheless, this is where Microsoft Project Server and its Timesheet Management feature has a role. This feature in MS Project Server helps you to create and keep a tab on the timesheet of your project, thus making it easier for you to manage the timesheet of your work smoothly. It enables you to easily track the time you spend on a project's tasks, and the progress of those tasks towards completion. You can also enter time spent on administrative tasks, like vacation, travel, training, and sick leave.

Timesheet Management Features of Microsoft Project Server Hosting

? Create and Edit Timesheet
? Surrogate Timesheet (create on behalf of someone)
? Import tasks (with actual values) from project or create your own task entries
? Mark timesheet rows as billable for your invoicing needs
? Forward to Timesheet Manager or others for review
? Approve/Reject Timesheets.
? Merge timesheets received from team members to easily create a team timesheet
? Lock timesheet to block further edits
? Link to other objects like tasks, issues etc.

How to set up time reporting in Project Server?

? Set up time reporting periods: Time reporting periods are used on both the My Tasks and the My Timesheets pages, and must be set up before either page can be used.

? Configure timesheet line classifications: Timesheet line classifications are used to provide detail about project tasks.

? Configure timesheet settings and defaults: Timesheets can be configured in a number of ways that apply business rules to how users are allowed to track time. This is where you can turn on single entry mode.

? Configure administrative time categories: By default, Project Web App provides three administrative time categories: Sick, Vacation, and Administrative. Your organization may have specific categories that meet your needs.

? Configure task settings and display: Task progress updates can be configured in several ways to meet your organization's needs.

So get hold of this timesheet management feature of Microsoft Office Project Server to lower costs and increase the productivity and health of the company! What more, grab the best Application hosting solutions, such as Microsoft Exchange Server, SharePoint from Apps4Rent that too at cheaper rates!

Windows VOIP Business Phone System

Windows based, ISDN and VOIP Ready. Suitable for companies with 1 to 200 employees.
Supports Traditional, USB, SIP Phones, Wireless Headsets, Wifi Phones and Softphones.

The features are comprehensive and includes:

VOIP Ready – Internet VoIP calls over SIP Carriers. ISDN Ready – Connect in existing ISDN lines. VOICEMAIL – by phone, or by email for every extension and service groups. AUTOMATED CALL ATTENDANTS (IVR) Voice/Music Greetings to Callers providing Optional Menus by Touch Tone Dialling. PRESENCE indicators for every extension showing extension on-call, free, away or offline. Outlook Integration – pop up relevant contact details and notes for incoming caller. Call Recording – Automatic or manual instant recording. WAN – Integrate branch offices and benefit from free inter office calls, and improve office communication efficiency. Centralised Phone Book – company wide telephone book showing names, numbers and business information. Fax Server – company wide fax server allowing employees to fax straight from desktop PCs, receive incoming faxes, and notifications of successful/unsuccessful messages. Call Pickup/Conferencing/Divert/hold/Forward Music on Hold – configurable, accepts any .wav file Short Text Messaging – short message any extension on same system or in another branch office. SIP Phones, USB Phones, Softphones and Traditional RJ11 Phones – wide ranging support of hard phones and softphones. Least Cost Routing – automatic routing with calls between VOIP and ISDN carriers to minimize outages and call charges. Day/Night/Holiday Modes – system programmable to offer different messages or call routes depending on day, time and holidays.

How to start a VOIP Business

Prepaid Cards VOIP consulting PBX sales and service Call Center Solutions Independent Sales/Service Agent for existing VOIP service providers VOIP Provider services etc. Retail prepaid cards from existing wholesale providers Start your own brand of prepaid cards using services from existing wholesale providers Start a new prepaid card provider company Create new software package for prepaid card services etc.
Pick an area that plays to your strengths. For example, if your strength is sales and marketing, pick an area where you can leverage those abilities Learn all you can about the maketplace Attend industry tradeshows Read industry magazines, blogs, forums, etc Read books Do market research - talk to your potential customers Ask questions Test the waters — to the extent possible try before you buy, test the waters before making large commitments of time or money If you want practical and free advice from someone who started a voip company from the ground up, feel free to send an email. If I have time i would be happy to spend 30 minutes going over basics.

Digium’s Charlie Wilson Recognized as Young Professional of the Year at Small Business Awards Ceremony

admin September 1st, 2010

In honor of the heroes of small business in the surrounding area, the Chamber of Commerce of Huntsville/Madison County held its annual tribute to the area’s small businesses on Aug. 31, while also honoring non-profit organizations, young professionals and outstanding local businesses.

Digium is proud to announce that Charlie Wilson was the recipient of the prestigious Young Professional of the Year award. Both Charlie and Timo Sandritter were nominated in this category, giving Digium the distinction of the only business with two nominees for the honor. This award recognizes those who have made outstanding achievements in both business and the community. Olly Orton, the winner of last year’s Young Professional award and the presenter for the 2010 recipient recognized many other young professionals in his opening remarks.  Notably, he highlighted the achievements of business leaders who have achieved great things at a young age, including Thomas Jefferson, who authored the Declaration of Independence at age 33, Wernher Von Braun who was in his 20s when he came to America and in his 30s when he led the rocket teams at Marshall Space Flight Center. Orton also noted the accomplishments of Digium’s Mark Spencer, who was only 22 when he created Asterisk.

Charlie was recognized for his leadership, business accomplishments, and commitment to family and community. In his acceptance remarks, he acknowledged the support of his wife and family, as well as his co-workers and fellow community leaders who have continued to encourage innovation and create opportunities for young professionals.

There were 98 contenders, a record, for awards in six categories; 18 were finalists.

“The success of small businesses in the community is the foundation for a healthy economy,” said Don Nalley, the Chamber’s board chair. “The vital signs of any community’s economic health are intrinsically tied to the overall success of our small business community. More than 95 percent of this Chamber’s member organizations employ 350 or less workers.”

Digium has been a past nominee for the Small Business of the Year award as well, joining other innovative technology companies in the Huntsville community.

The 2010 winners and finalists in other categories included:
Government Services: Winner – Sigmatech. Finalists – Aranea Solutions and Kaya Associates.
Professional Services: Winner – Appleton Learning Center. Finalists – Cyn Shea’s Complete Catering and Terrame Day Spa & Salon.
Technology Services: Winner – deciBel Research. Finalists – Bevilacqua Research Corporation and GATR Technologies.
Non-Profit: Winner – Huntsville Madison County Botanical Garden. Finalists – Choose Life of North Alabama and Junior Achievement of North Alabama.
Young Professional of the Year: Winner – Charlie Wilson of Digium. Finalists – Beth Martin of Worthington Federal Bank and Glenn Clayton of Appleton Learning.