Telecom Reseller / Technology Reseller News

“Define what it is you want to achieve,” says Brett Brosseau, the Vice President of Gaming Solutions, Noble Systems, with regard to implementing gamification.  In this podcast, Brosseau provides a definition of gamification and a general understanding of gamification’s role in driving employee productivity, customer satisfaction and even customer compliance. Gamification is not only a new type of technology it’s a new type of thinking about the relationships and transaction between customers and companies and employees and corporate management systems. In place of decrees and pronouncements, gamification nudges employees and customers towards outcomes that, optimally, favor everyone in the transaction. Brosseau carefully outlines how a gamification plan can be prepared, the role of workers and their respective generations and idea of systems that reward employee and customer interactions. We all=so learn how gamification depends on solid data outputs from across a company’s information systems and networks.

https://www.noblesys.com/solutions/call-center-gamification/

Pascal Menezes, Chief Technology Officer for MEF, reviews the MEF 3.0 framework with Don Witt of The Channel Daily News, a TR publication.

MEF 3.0 is composed of four parts:

Assured Orchestrated Services

Optical

IP

Virtualized SD-WAN

Automation around APIs

Certification Program

Community Eco system

MEF is actually delivering API development kits to help expedite the development process and allow venders to be more responsive and agile to their customer’s needs.

Software Defined – Wide Area Network (SD-WAN) is a transformational technology moving forward. MEF just released the first specification for SD-WAN prior to which there was no standardization, no common terminology or framework. Now there will be a vocabulary to help define the technology and allow consumers of it to communicate the specifics of SD-WAN which will have a common meaning to everyone. In addition, the operation of the technology will be clearly defined allowing an enterprise to take an application, define groups and then take performance measurements against it allowing the creation of objective measurements. When analyzing the results, jitter and packet loss will represent the same calibration across the industry.

SD-WAN is more than Wide Area Network Technology. It also includes the unification of all of the underlaying technologies including MPLS, dedicated internet access and broadband.

MEF is an industry association of 200+ member companies, MEF is the driving force enabling agile, assured, and orchestrated communication services that empower users with the dynamic performance and security required to thrive in the digital economy.

For more information, go to: https://www.mef.net/mef30/overview  or https://www.mef.net

Liam Hunt, Director of Global Business for Infonas, provides an overview of the company to Don Witt of The Channel Daily News, a TR publication. Infonas is a global carrier providing local and international telecommunication services throughout the Middle East. Established over a decade ago and based in Bahrain, Infonas has been continually expanding and enhancing their network with the goal of providing the most reliable, fastest network that can be expanded easily while managing network quality.

In an industry that is evolving daily, one needs to be able to rely on an organization that can provide the vision, engineering know-how and standards for companies to use as a template for technology and transition to the next generation. MEF is such an organization that continually ties to make advances in technology for the members they serve.

With presence in the Gulf States, Europe and the US, Infonas looks to expand in the far east.

Infonas is a leading global carrier providing local and international telecommunication services throughout the Middle East. Infonas has a proven track record designing first-rate telecommunications solutions for businesses large and small.

Their team has worked hard to successfully plan and deploy the world-class, fully redundant, state-of-the-art infrastructure which they use today. Infonas has invested in premium, top-grade equipment in order to ensure that their dedicated Account Managers are able to provide tailored solutions which are individually designed for the needs of our clients.

For more information, go to: http://www.infonas.com/

Mark Gibson, Director of Product management at AMDOCS and Application committee Co-Chair at the MEF Forum reviews key elements of the network with Don Witt of The Channel Daily News, a TR publication. Today, network expansion and contraction is happening at light speed. In order to keep up, the manual process of purchasing time and bandwidth from another carrier domestically or internationally cannot be tolerated any longer.  The process for all carriers must be the same for automation to take place. Sonata is a set of APIs based on the LSO Reference Architecture for:

Serviceability

Ordering

Quoting

Billing assurance

Testing

Change management

Address Validation

Working with carriers, MEF has helped many with double digit increases in their processes via the automated interface.

SD-WAN – it seems that everyone now delivers what they call SD-WAN.  But do they really have SD-WAN.  Are all SD-WAN implementations equal? How do you know what you are getting when people reference SD-WAN? Moving forward, it may be easier to understand. MEF is looking to define SD-WAN so consumers will have a reference point from which to make their judgements.

What is Intent based networking? As a part of MEF 3.0 application services intent based networking is defined as follows: Intent - To support a higher level of abstraction interaction between applications and networks, an Intent Work Area has started under the Applications Committee to collaboratively develop a common, multi-vendor, interoperable, intent-based set of APIs enabling networks to be treated as a programmable abstraction layer comprised of a closed-loop, black box model. Initial focus will be on an intent based edge proxy use case. Other use cases and work areas will be established as new work is contemplated and approved.  Listen in to Mark and get the full story first hand.

For more information, go to: http://www.amdocs.com or https://www.mef.net/services/application-services

Kevin Vachon, Chief Operating Officer at MEF, discusses MEF and the MEF 18 conference with Don Witt of the Channel Daily News, a TR publication.

After the carrier ethernet standards were established, MEF focused on new service provider needs to service multi-national business. Businesses want services on demand through a portal. Not that easy outside of the US for the multi-national companies when there are hundreds of carriers around the world and multiple carriers are involved in a network solution.

Lifecycle Services Orchestration (LSO) is the MEF cookbook for the inter-carrier automated solution. Now with APIs, the inter-carrier automation adaptation will accelerate to keep pace with the other communications advancements occurring in the industry.

MEF 3.0 provides a framework for the inter-carrier communications and how to bring the technology to market based on basic components:

Services

Optical

Ethernet

IP

SD-WAN

Orchestration

Certification program

The last mile presents a number of issues for carriers and there are a number of new solutions that are being introduced to address the issues. Listen in and learn how the last mile is addressed by MEF.

For more information, go to: https://www.mef.net/ or http://www.mef18event.com/

Bart Oskam, CTO of Eurofiber, and, Stefan Watraven PhD and CEO/Co-Founder of Inmanta discuss with Don Witt of The Channel Daily News, a TR publication the issues surrounding the interoperability of telco operators trying to expand geographically utilizing other operator’s networks. In the past it has been very difficult and manual in nature causing errors and delays in implementation.

At the MEF Conference in Los Angeles at the JW Marriott, Eurofiber and Inmanta constructed a proof of concept demonstration showing how the inter operator concept works. While Eurofiber is based in the Netherlands and Belgium, they are a gateway to Europe. As more and more operators are starting to access the European market, it has been increasingly complicated based on unique interfaces for each operator. Now, the problem is problem is finally solved.

Inmanta and Eurofiber showcased an innovative, end-to-end network orchestration solution at MEF18. The solution pays particular attention to automated delivery across multiple operators, leveraging the MEF LSO Interlude interface. It demonstrates how Eurofiber and its international partners can join forces in creating seamless and automated global connectivity.

Their vision is of an open network with infrastructure and IT services being offered separately, allowing everyone the freedom to choose their services and providers as their own needs evolve. The Eurofiber Group was founded on these principles in 2000, and these remain relevant today. Back then, their vision was at the cutting edge; today this model has proven itself to be a driving force behind innovation.

For more information, go to: https://eurofiber.com/ or https://inmanta.com/

As networks migrate into the cloud, many people might have been thinking that power related issues might be fading into the background as an on-prem era challenge. In this podcast we learn that the new cloud-based network opens up new challenges, including security issues. In October Eaton released the Gigabit Network Card (Network-M2). Mike Jackson, Eaton product line manager walks us through the features of the new product and discusses its application in the network. We also learn about a new generation of UL certifications and their importance in the modern networkd. Jackson discusses the need to plot a power strategy at security, cost and access.

Read the release

Learn more at www.eaton.com

“Secure real time communications is a big differentiator for us,” says Patrick Joggerst, Chief Marketing Officer and Executive Vice President of Business Development at Ribbon Communications. In this podcast, Joggerst joined by John Macario, Ribbon’s Senior Vice President of Channel Marketing, provide a big overview of the merger and what the combined company means for customers and the channel.  We learn about the complimentary nature of the merger and how the two firms, together, can offer more comprehensive solutions and enhanced opportunities for their respective channels. Joggerst and Macario describe the path for the company’s two customer bases and how together, the combined firm expects an even larger appeal.

Visit https://ribboncommunications.com/

“We’ve got some of the largest global wholesalers of IT and telecom equipment,” says Todd Bone, Chairman of the ASCDI-NATD. In this podcast, Bone updates us on the state of the ASCDI, an organization that consist of member companies what serve IT and telecom wholesale and enterprise markets, as well as firms offering a variety of vital services, such as maintenance and field services.

Bone discusses the centrality of the ASCDI’s ethics process as a core value of membership. Bone states that many company’s seek membership because they are seeking “higher quality vendors” and looking for reliable business partnerships and resources. Access to ethics information is available for free to current ASCDI members. The ASCDI also helps members with the fight against counterfeit products. As tariffs come into play, Bone note the ASCDI is offering information and advice.

Bone also walks us through the ASCDI’s legislative work in the “right to repair” movement, at moth the state and federal level. This work is vital to preserving asset value and preserving free market choices for customers on choosing repair resources. Bone preview upcoming ASCDI events, including the organization’s first event in South America in 2019. “We’re going to learn how to do business in South America,” says Bone of the conference set for Buenos Aires. “We have a very exciting year coming up.”

by Gary Audin

“Traditional network designs are trapped in a PC-centric world, putting intelligent systems at risk of significant cyber threats and poor environmental stewardship, as well as negatively impacting the company’s bottom line”.

Developed by Frost & Sullivan’s industry experts, the Modern LAN white paper provides consultants, resellers and the modern enterprise with a revolutionary set of new best practices to accommodate the impact of the Internet of Things on the local area network.

Download the Modern LAN white paper: https://go.frost.com/modernlan

John Croce, CEO of NVT Phybridge www.nvtphybridge.com and Gary Audin discuss how the Modern LAN principles address the traditional barriers impacting the modern enterprise as enterprises' attempt to take advantage of IoT efficiencies. John Croce reviews the six principles of the modern LAN and how organizations are using them to maximize their return on investment (ROI), minimize their impact on the environment and build a cyber secure network platform for their enhanced IP/IoT applications.

What you will learn in this EDUcast:

The traditional concerns and barriers for TDM customers planning a modernization to IP telephony - and how to overcome them using Modern LAN design

How to apply Modern LAN principles and use new PoE innovations to simplify and accelerate digital transformation

Efficiently modernize to full IP while significantly reducing infrastructure costs and security risks

Accelerate IP deployments to increase ROI and eliminate business disruptions

NVT Phybridge www.nvtphybridge.com is a global leader in Power over Long Reach Ethernet (PoLRE®); leveraging Modern LAN principles and SmartPathPoE™ technology to make IP connections simple, secure and cost-effective. The NVT Phybridge CHARIoT series of award-winning switches help customers modernize to an IP-based network, transforming their new or existing infrastructure into an IP path with power. NVT Phybridge is a North American-based technology company with global reach dedicated to practical innovation, producing innovative and affordable solutions for over 24 years, with technology that is currently supporting millions of IoT endpoints.