Jaymie Scotto & Associates invites our fellow telecom community to join together and contribute to the relief efforts for the Haitian earthquake victims and families. On January 12, a massive earthquake struck Haiti near the capital of Port-au-Prince. Officials fear that there are over 100,00 dead and many more are injured and homeless. With so many people in need of help, we believe that as a united community, our industry can make a difference. 

The American Red Cross is asking for financial contributions to get the necessary resources to the devastated areas. To help those efforts, JS&A has created The Telecom Haiti Relief Fund to collect donations directly for the American Red Cross. Your gift will help the American Red Cross deliver supplies and water, as well as rescue and recovery efforts. 

With your donation of $10 or more, we will add your company logo to our participating company roster on our webpages, emails, blogs and and upcoming press release. 

Participating companies and individuals currently include: 

Hibernia Atlantic

Together we can make a difference.

To make a donation, please click here. 

Once the form has been completed, please email your transaction summary to pr@jaymiescotto.com. We will immediately include you as a participating company. 

We look forward to illustrating that when we act as one, united industry, we can truly make a difference. 

For more information please contact:pr@jaymiescotto.com

Original Blog post by Vanessa Eixman, Director Business Development for Jaymie Scotto & Associates.  The blog was posted on January 11, 2010 on Up to the Minute Tech, Vanessa’s blog:

What should you consider when choosing a quality Internet Provider?   High speed is key, but Grant Kirkwood, CTO of Mzima Networks suggests a few more important factors to consider – the provider’s access to content and the quickest route.  How close is your internet provider to the content you want to download?   Kirkwood in a recent article examines the differences between Tier 1 and Tier 2 Internet backbone providers to explain how an IP provider’s proximity to content and applications makes a huge difference in the overall user experience.

Essentially the more ‘hops’ there are between two points along a network, the higher the latency which affects overall performance. In his article Kirkwood reviews the factors that come into play for providers when routing Internet traffic. There are distinct differences in routing choices and flexibility for a Tier 1 provider versus a Tier 2 provider.

The provider that makes routing choices based on a variety of factors such as performance, flexibility, quality, and redundancy helps to ensure that IP traffic will be routed across the path with the fewest hops (most direct and closest path), which in turn makes for a better user experience.

So how do you know how a Tier 1 provider makes routing choices? Or which Tier 2 network providers route only on price versus quality? You must consider a variety of factors when choosing a provider including quantity and quality of the provider’s global peering relationships; the provider’s ability to provide quality end-to-end solutions; the companies the provider partners with; and you can’t forget the quality of its technical and customer service.

“Mzima Networks,” as stated by Kirkwood, “has focused its business model on creating more efficient peering connections among other Tier 2 providers in order to deliver content and streaming media more efficiently for and between its customers. The company’s goal is to connect to as many networks as it can, in as many locations as possible, in order to bypass the Tier 1 ‘inner circle’ as often as possible. This doesn’t mean that Tier 1 providers are not necessary, because indeed they are – but more often than not, Tier 1s are not the shortest or more efficient route to a destination from a cost and quality stand-point.”

To read the article in its entirety please go to: http://www.techistan.net/2010/01/05/mzimanetworkstier1or2/

Originally posted by Vanessa Eixman, Director Business Development for Jaymie Scotto & Associates on her blog ‘Up to the Minute Tech’

Bjarni Thorvardarson, CEO of Hibernia Atlantic

Recently Bjarni Thorvardarson, CEO of Hibernia Atlantic was interviewed by John Savageau offering his insights on global communications. By sharing his thoughts on where Hibernia Atlantic has been and where it is going you can get a glimpse at what drives this telecom visionary, as well as where technology is headed. With rapid company growth exceeding 80% in some recent years, Hibernia Atlantic is led by one of the industry greats.

By focusing on the big bandwidth sector, Hibernia Atlantic is poised for continued profitability and growth in years to come. As a capacity provider laser focused on the long-haul wholesale capacity market, a service provider offering ultra-low latency circuits to the financial sector, and now addressing the media sector with its recent acquisition of MediaXstream – Hibernia Atlantic is able to address the key communication areas needed in the globalization of business.

To read the interview in its entirety please go to: http://wireless.sys-con.com/node/1234792

For more ‘Up to the Minute Tech’ news go here: http://vanessaeixman.wordpress.com/

An interesting and educational read if you missed the original post on TMCNet.  I have included part of it here with a link back to the complete post.  This was written by Hunter Newby, CEO of Allied Fiber and was originally published on January 10, 2010:

AT&T declared the PSTN and POTS a relic of the past in this announcement and asked the FCC for a timeline to shut-down.

This is ironic for several reasons

1. In the 2003 Triennial Review the FCC gave the RBOC’s Broadband Relief in return for allowing the CLEC’s to still have access to UNE.

2. As FCC Chairman Martin stated

“This relief will enable AT&T to have the flexibility to further deploy its broadband services and fiber facilities without overly burdensome regulations,” FCC Chairman Kevin Martin said in a statement. “The relief afforded to AT&T is consistent with and similar to the relief provided in Commission decisions regarding broadband services, packet switching and fiber facilities.”

3. This allowed AT&T and the other ROBC’s to invest in fiber and not have to share it with thier competitors. They have all invested in fiber, fiber-to-the-home specifically, in the names of U-verse and FiOS.

4. A few months later the RBOC’s took away UNE anyway

Go here to read the rest of the post: http://blog.tmcnet.com/voip-peering/2010/01/att-declares-pstn-a-relic—it-already-was.html

TelServ NJ, an independent telecommunications consulting firm announced it has procured high quality voice and data network services for Kay Burger Management, a franchisee of Burger King.  Kay Burger owns and operates 13 Burger King Restaurants and three Dunkin Donuts shops across New Jersey and the New York Metro Area.  The company wanted a cost effective, streamlined communications solution to include daily credit card transactions across its 16 locations.  TelServ delivered! 

For the complete announcement continue to read here:

KAY BURGER MANAGEMENT SELECTS TELSERV TO PROCURE HIGH QUALITY VOICE AND DATA NETWORK SERVICES

 MONTVALE, NJ – January 11, 2009 – TelServ NJ, LLC, an independent, telecommunications consulting firm offering tailor-made solutions for business communication needs, and Kay Burger Management, LLC,a franchisee of Burger King Corporation, announce today that Kay Burger Management selects TelServ to manage its voice and data connectivity throughout the tri-state area. 

Headquartered in North Bergen, New Jersey, Kay Burger Management, LLC, owns and operates thirteen Burger King Restaurants and three Dunkin Donuts shops across the New Jersey and New York metro area.  Leveraging TelServ’s industry expertise in working with a wide variety of carriers and telecom providers, Kay Burger Management   selects TelServ to deploy and support a cost effective, streamlined communications solution.   This solution includes a Tier 1 DSL connectivity to handle the company’s daily credit card transactions as well as a comprehensive voice communications plan across all of its sixteen store locations. 

“As we are committed to serving our customers the highest quality food and beverages at affordable prices, it is important that we maintain cost-effective back-office operations,” states Robert Johnsen, Senior Partner for Kay Burger.  “We need a telecom package that delivers high performance services in an economical way.”

TelServ has a solid reputation for offering firms competitive and cost effective pricing by leveraging volume discounts across its carrier relationships.  As a one-stop resource for business communications, TelServ provides a comprehensive offering including local, long distance, data and Internet services at wholesale prices.

“TelServ is our go-to resource for reliable connectivity solutions, which is an essential component for each of our 16 stores, providing us with critical bandwidth to securely process daily credit card transactions,” continues Mr. Johnsen. “TelServ’s responsiveness and ease of doing business has further simplified our overall management of our communications infrastructure.”

“Our ability to source a wide variety of voice and data services across multiple carriers simplifies the entire procurement process for our clients,” states Michael Gallucci, CEO and Founder of TelServ.  “We are pleased to deliver secure connectivity to further drive Kay Burger’s retail business on a daily basis.”

From competitive pricing to assistance with implementation processes and facilitating diversity and redundancy plans, TelServ simplifies the procurement process to meet critical client deadlines and to stay within communication budgets.

For more information about TelServ, please email info@telservgroup.com, call 201-391-4800 or visit www.telservgroup.com.

Here’s the JS&A ‘Top 10 in 2010′ List of Hot Marketing Tips.  Take a look and let us know your thoughts, predictions and trends for marketing this year as well.

10.  Content is King: We are no longer in Kansas Toto.  You can’t just write around the topic anymore.  Say it precisely, say it again and get out.  Make sure it’s relevant or folks won’t read.  There’s a very low tolerance these days for anything but real.  BTW: this will drive your site retention, SEO, media pickup etc.  So really, keep it real.

9.  Marketing Means Experience: Think Apple, Amazon and Starbucks.  All these brands understand that users/viewers want an experience, not just a product.  Understand your buyers, including their emotional drivers, and make sure your product or service offers it.  In a trying economy, the experience you provide can be that key differentiator for why you succeed.

8. Customer Service: This point goes hand-in-hand with “experience.”  If you don’t do it well, don’t do it at all.  If that means only having 3 products vs. 5, then only have 3.  And customer service should be a top consideration of every member of your company, including your receptionists, technicians and A/P representatives.

7. Tell A Story: No one wants to hear a company ringing its own bell anymore.  Give us customer testimonials and case studies, preferably in video.  Give us the reasons why.  The days of just stating “we are the best” are over, thank goodness.

6. The Community Wins: With blog comments, facebook posts, and YouTube dumps, to name just a few, there are more ways than ever to hear from the buyer/community-at-large.   2010 will be the year companies have to listen and should respond… or risk having no control over messaging hitting the marketplace.

5. Not So Personal Anymore: As we are all jumping online for our latest tweets or LinkedIn posts, be careful of your “personal” posts– as personal is not so personal anymore, especially when your CEO and mother-in-law are your latest “followers” and “friends”.

4. The More Minds the Better: Sharing is a key word this decade.  Online Apps, such as Google Apps, YouSendIt, Skype and Webex, are helping companies, large and small, embrace collaboration.  Even QuickBooks is providing secure access for financial employees and external accounting services.  

3. Cell Phone Heaven: Yes, everyone has an iPhone or Android and smartphone apps are all the rage.  But with services like Foursquare hot on the market, it won’t be long before every restaurant you hit or store you step into has a rating and review site and coupons and discounts are being pushed to you.  GPS has never looked creepier.  From a marketing standpoint, yay.

2. Personal Touch: Having said all this, the personal touch still goes a long way.  A hand-written thank you note, a meeting in-person,  a handshake still speaks volumes, perhaps even moreso, in this high-tech crazy world.

1. Listen and Listen More: The last tip is an “oldie but goodie”.  My father used to tell me that the smartest person in the room is usually the quietest.  He might have been trying to keep me quiet for more than 2 seconds, but it always stuck with me.  Most interviews, prospect meetings and even blogs are better when you first listen to others, then speak/write.  It leads to a more productive, targeted conversation.  Ideally it answers a few questions that were on the table.

So without further adieu, please leave your top tip or trend.  Looking forward to reading your posts.

Jaymie Scotto Cutaia

Kaufman Brothers Technology Trends 2010 Conference, to be held in NYC on January 12, 2010 will include the participation of  Hunter Newby, CEO of Allied Fiber who will present on the panel titled: “Bandwidth: The Increasing Value of Fiber.” 

Kaufman Brothers (KBRO) conferences showcase industry thought leaders, and this event will be no different.  The ten different panels will highlight the latest trends in the Technology, Media, Telecom and Green Technology Sectors. 

With much talk about 2010 being the year of the ‘datacenter’ market – this event will no doubt help to set the tone for key investments in telecom and technology for the year.  

Please continue reading for the full press release:

NEW YORK, NY – January 07, 2010-  Allied Fiber, a carrier-neutral provider of dark fiber, wireless towers and colocation facilities across America, announces today that its  CEO, Hunter Newby, will be speaking at the Kaufman Brothers Technology Trends 2010 Conference to be held on January 12, 2010. Hunter Newby will address the topic of “Bandwidth: The Increasing Value of Fiber” as part of a panel of industry thought leaders. The conference will showcase ten different panels highlighting the latest trends in the Technology, Media, Telecom, and Green Technology Sectors.  The event will be held at InterContinental the Barclay in New York City.

Mr. Newby is a twelve year veteran of the telecommunications industry.  Prior to founding Allied Fiber, he was Chief Strategy Officer at Telx., one of the leading carrier neutral interconnection facility operators in the U.S.  Mr. Newby is well known throughout the network Interconnection and carrier hotel sector and is also a recognized authority on Ethernet Transport and Voice Peering.

“I am honored to participate at a Kaufman Brothers event,” states Hunter Newby. “As investment industry leaders, Kaufman Brothers continues to emphasize the importance and value of embracing and understanding technology trends and opportunities. The firm, with its research and relevant conference sessions, is actively educating the nation on the importance of dark fiber and America’s ever-growing capacity needs. It is a privilege to be on this panel with other forward-thinking professionals, especially during such a critical time in our nation’s communications growth.  Allied Fiber looks forward to participating in such a necessary and timely conversation.”

Allied Fiber is employing the most advanced fiber optic cables in its ducts to meet the ever increasing bandwidth demands for wireless, Video over IP and other advanced technologies. In its first phase, the Allied Fiber Network will include new routes covering New York, NY to Chicago, IL; New York, NY to Ashburn, VA; and Chicago, IL to Ashburn, VA. Upon completion of the first phase, Allied Fiber will continue building a nationwide multi-duct, long-haul and short-haul dark fiber network with intermediate access for wireless towers and rural networks throughout the United States.

For more information and to view Allied Fiber’s proposed routes, please click here.

Arbinet Names Brian Troesch as Senior Vice President for Product and Business Development

New York, NEW YORK USA– January 7, 2009– Arbinet Corporation [Nasdaq: ARBX], a leading provider of telecommunications services to fixed and mobile operators, announces today that it has named Brian Troesch as Senior Vice President for Product and Business Development.  Brian is responsible for guiding Arbinet’s Voice and Mobile product direction.  Arbinet offers three ways for carriers and service providers to originate and terminate voice traffic across its network:  thexchange™, the industry’s leading marketplace for buying and selling voice communications; Carrier Services, a traditional wholesale model; and Private Exchange^sm (PEX), an easy, low-risk outsourcing approach. All three services are supported by Arbinet’s intelligent routing and call query solutions.

Brian has more than fourteen years management experience in international telecommunications and mobile data services.  He most recently served as Vice President, Americas Region, for Belgacom ICS, S.A. where he was responsible for developing and implementing a market strategy that led to the four-fold growth of the region’s wholesale fixed and mobile voice business.  Brian previously served as Director of Business and Network Development for Edge2Net, Inc., a global VoIP and switched telephony service provider where he managed international business development and global VoIP network deployment.  He has also held various positions in sales and development at BellSouth Long Distance, Pacific Gateway Exchange and U.S. Long Distance.

“Brian brings to the Arbinet leadership team a history of providing innovative voice and data solutions to fixed, and mobile carriers and service providers,” states Shawn O’Donnell, President and CEO of Arbinet.   “He has a strong understanding of the telecommunications marketplace and of emerging technologies such as VoIP, IPX, Roaming Exchange and Signaling Services.  His experience will help Arbinet continue to evolve its product and service portfolio to meet the needs of the market.”

For more information about Arbinet visit www.arbinet.com

By Lauren Lemoi, Jaymie Scotto & Associates

GTT’s latest installation of its monthly newsletter brings new depth to the company’s forward thinking philosophy. This month, GTT annouced it is raffling off the not-yet released Mac Tablet.  As part of the company’s strategy to offer cutting edge service to clients, GTT is always keeping an eye on new technology. While the Mac Tablet is currently only rumored, GTT envisions the item as a necessity in the near future.

To be entered to win this Mac Tablet, companies can submit a case study on any GTT WAN solution. The winner will be the company with the most interesting and newsworthy case study.  

The newsletter showcases the end of a decade and the beginning of a new GTT.  With the completion of GTT’s acquisition of WBS Connect the company looks forward to a prosperous 2010 filled with continued growth.

To read the full newsletter, please go to: http://jaymiescotto.com/clients/GTT-WBS/gtt-newsletter2b.htm