Ever visit a rural town where few tourists tread and then, coincidentally, the name of the town seems to appear in your news headlines, over and over again?

It was literally one year today that Hibernia Atlantic, JS&A and members of the local media gathered in Portrush, one of the most northern towns on the tip of Northern Ireland. We were there to welcome Hibernia Atlantic’s next-generation, high capacity TransAtlantic cable that was literally being pulled ashore at Portrush to connect Northern Ireland to North America.

As per the telecom headlines, this new, modern cable network is indeed news worthy – as it adds additional and much needed capacity to support local and global companies. The transAtlantic pipe will connect 13 local towns and connect through to Dublin and Europe as well.

This weekend, Portrush got another spotlight cast upon the town as Graeme McDowell, a 30-year old pro golfer from Portrush, won the 110th US Open in Pebble Beach.

A Northern Islander has never won this golf championship and in fact, McDowell is the first European in 40 years to capture the U.S. Open title.

And as per WorldGolf.com, this recent exposure is calling the town of Portrush “a can’t-miss stop on your next Northern Ireland golf vacation.”

So congrats to Mr. McDowell and all the folks in the lovely town of Portrush. Here’s to a town that continues to make global headlines- and continues to serve as a connection point for North America and Europe.

Catch the latest industry news from the Customer Business Exchange (CBX) event! CBX is being hosted by Telx today in NYC at the Marriott Marquis. As an invitation only networking event, the CBX is designed to help grow and drive new business with hundreds of companies participating.

Over 15 companies also participated in special news announcements this morning including:
Lexent Metro Connect, Logicworks, FiberLight, Rainbow Broadband, Tinet, Hosting.com, Global Telecom & Technology, Optimum Lightpath, EKU Solutions, EDPNET, IDC Global, GCS, and Rubicon Professional Services.

With the CBX Press Room moderated by Jaymie Scotto & Associates and sponsored by Marketwire, on-site media included:  GlobalVision, Data Center Knowledge, TMCNet, Dow Jones, NewTeeVee, Tier 1 Research, The 451 Group, The TABB Group, and NJ Biz. There were also Virtual Media participants including: Telecom Ramblings, Light Reading, Atlantic ACM, and A-Team Group.

Headlines from the day…….

Optimum Lightpath Connects To Key Telx Facilities To Meet Increasing Low Latency Demands Of Financial Services Sector - Extends Advanced, Ethernet-Based Communication Services To Telx’s Clifton, New Jersey Colocation and Interconnection Facility To Meet Need For Speed And Route Diversity In New York City and Northern New Jersey

TELX PLANS TO JOIN WITH NEUTRAL TANDEM TO EXPAND NEW ETHERNET EXCHANGE NETWORK SERVICES TO 21 KEY U.S. LOCATIONS -Carrier Neutral Interconnection Leaders Will Connect Key Ethernet Exchange Sites to Help Service Providers Extend Their Networks

TELX ETHERNET EXCHANGE ENABLES FASTER SPEED TO MARKET AND EXTENDS NETWORK REACH FOR SERVICE PROVIDERS -Telx Utilizes Its Industry-Leading Service Provider Ecosystem and Collaboration with Cisco to Deliver Ethernet Virtual Interconnections in Key U.S. Markets

GCS launches Dynamic On-Demand – A SaaS Version of its market leading Route & Rate Management Solution

RUBICON PROFESSIONAL SERVICES DELIVERS ENERGY MANAGEMENT SOLUTIONS FOR CRITICAL FACILITIES - Rubicon Enables Telx to Identify Demand Response Revenue While Reducing Costs Across all Phases of the Critical Facility Deployment

LEXENT METRO CONNECT PLANS EXPANSION OF ITS DARK FIBER NETWORK INTO TELX’S CLIFTON, NJ COLOCATION FACILITY – A BOON FOR FINANCIAL NETWORKS, ALSO COLOCATED IN CLIFTON, WHO REQUIRE LOWEST LATENCY CONNECTIONS FOR HIGH CAPACITY TRADING IN AND AROUND CITY

RAINBOW BROADBAND AND BUSINESS ONLY BROADBAND FORM PARTNERSHIP -Strategic Partnership Will Greatly Enhance Companies’ Wireless Broadband Network Offerings to Enterprise and Government Customers in NYC and Chicago Markets

EKU Solutions, LLC Selects Global Telecom & Technology to Expand Its U.S. Network

EDPnet – Building bridges between the USA, Europe and Russia

Pacific Controls Energy Services Command Control Centre Serves Clients Globally - enabling the monitoring and management of their assets, carrying out continuous Commissioning, Measurement & Verification of their Carbon Footprint and converting them into Carbon Financial Instruments, in real time.

Hosting.com Selects Tinet’s VPLS Solutions to Provide Disaster Recovery and Redundancy for its Cloud Computing Solutions

IDC Global Announces MPLS + Dedicated DSL Broadband Network Service -MPLS + DSL = Low Cost Private Network with QoS

Logicworks Launches “The Compliant Cloud” - The First Cloud-Computing Service Capable of Enterprise-Level Security and Compliance

With ITW 2010 just two weeks away, I’m sure you are scheduling meetings with the fierce veracity of the business you will be doing at this leading global event for the wholesale telecom industry.  The Marriott Wardman Park will be a flurry with men and women in suits doing deals.  But in order to do deals – you need to know the companies that you can do business with.  Here are six companies that you may want to consider meeting:

Allied Fiber -spearheading the US Nation’s first long-haul dark fiber network system in over 10 years, this company is building a next-generation dark fiber network that will circumvent the United States providing access to all types of communication companies including carriers, service provides, mobile operators, microwave operators and more.  Allied Fiber is changing the way that networks are built in the US.  It is ‘America’s All Access Network’ bridging the communications gap between the middle mile and local mile together with International submarine cable systems – coast-to-coast.  Simply search for ‘Allied Fiber’ in the DealCenter to request a meeting.

Arbinet- No longer just the voice exchange that was launched in the late ’90’s – in the past year+ the company has transformed itself into a leading service provider and partner enabling companies, large and small, to leverage its world class infrastructure to achieve greater ROI on global termination of international voice minutes.  Connecting customers now companies have the control they require, with the intelligence to support them – without the traditionally heavy operating expenses.  You will want to find out about their premium voice services, carrier services, private exchange, mobile routes and developing products that will help you get the most out of your minute margins.  Oh – and their Data Exchange and IP solutions are cool too.  Simply search for ‘Arbinet’ in the DealCenter to request a meeting.

Hibernia Atlantic- The company has transformed substantially in the past year.  It’s Project Kelvin – submarine cable system connecting Northern Ireland to North America and Europe is now live.  The company also acquired MediaXstream in December 2009 bringing them into the media space.  The company has re-branded this group to Hibernia Media.  With services ideal for the financial industry - Hibernia’s Global Financial Network, for the streaming media/content industry – Hibernia Media and its wholesale carrier services via its leading transatlantic network, this is a company you will want to get to know – again.  Simply search for ‘Hibernia’ in the DealCenter to request a meeting.

Lexent Metro Connect- want to provide custom services and solutions in the New York Metro market?  Then this is the company you need to know.  Lexent Metro Connect constructs and operates its own dark fiber network throughout the NY Metro market.  It has the ability to build and design custom solutions ensuring the lowest latency through the shortest path.  Simply search for ‘Lexent’ in the DealCenter to request a meeting.

PacketExchange - This company has been quietly building an enhanced value global IP and Ethernet network based on its vast peering relationships and solutions.  In February 2010 the company acquired Mzima Networks, a provider of layer-2 Ethernet solutions throughout the US with reach to Asia and Europe.  With PacketExchange’s roots in Europe, the combined company has the ability to provide end-to-end bandwidth solutions to meet any growing network demand.  Simply search for ‘PacketExchange’ in the DealCenter to request a meeting.

Tinet Tinet, formerly the carrier arm of Tiscali Group, is the only global carrier exclusively committed to the IP and Ethernet wholesale market. With network presence and customers in EMEA, Americas and APAC, Tinet provides global IP Transit and Ethernet connectivity to Carriers, Service and Content Providers worldwide, within 7 working days. The carrier guarantees customers proactive management of SLAs and protection from dDoS attacks.  Simply search for ‘Tinet’ in the DealCenter to request a meeting.-

Of course these are my recommendations – there are many others to meet with as well.  You can download a list of all companies and attendees through the DealCenter – this way you can plan your meetings more effectively and ensure you get deals done.   And if you’re not going to ITW (a. you will be missed, b. still time to plan) you can request a meeting with these companies directly by visiting their websites.  Hope to see you in DC – May 24-26, 2010!  

Need help?  Want more information about ITW or these companies?  email: support@deal-center.com

We are just two weeks away from the wholesale International telecom industries largest and most attended annual event – International Telecoms Week – held annually in Washington D.C.  The anticipation of convening with over 4,000 attendees to meet, greet and do deals, is now in top planning mode.  Each day more and more attendees register, more meetings are planned in the ITW DealCenter and orders for catering, restaurant reservations, evening functions are in full swing. 

To make ITW 2010 an efficient event for you and your company, you must plan ahead extensively.    Companies liked Allied Fiber have secured a meeting room at the host hotel -the Marriott Wardman Park - in order to meet and greet potential customers and partners to educate them about their dark fiber network that is currently under construction.  Other companies like Hibernia Atlantic are ensuring they have all of their company attendees registered, catering services ordered, cups in for their coffee hour – which they will be hosting outside of the exhibit hall on Tuesday, May 25th starting at 10am. 

Other companies have been communicating and planning internally for months to ensure their sales and executive teams have all of the necessary information they need to make this years event even better than last year.    Some companies prepare profiles of all of the companies they are meeting with to ensure they know what they do, how they do it and plan efficiently for productive meetings.  Other companies communicate policies and procedures to ensure sales people have relevant meetings planned, either through the DealCenter - an online system to request meetings with other event attendees, or directly with contacts that they have been wooing… maybe for years.

Sponsors of the event host meetings, round tables, cocktail parties and luncheons.  This year – NEW FOR 2010 – there is an official opening reception that is scheduled for Sunday, May 23 with a special VIP speaker – a not to miss event indeed.  This event, for instance is sponsored by Rogers.  Arbinet, another sponsor of the event, will again be hosting companies meetings in its meeting room, Wilson A, located on the Mezzanine Level. 

There is no doubt ITW2010 will generate an extraordinary amount of business for attending companies.    For more information about ITW 2010, please visit:  www.internationaltelecomsweek.com or email clarie.russell@capacitymedia.com.

A special thanks to all ITW 2010 Sponsors!

Jaymie Scotto & Associates (JS&A) launches Telecom One-on-One, a JS&A Power Networking Event Series that provides telecom executives with time-efficient networking opportunities to further expand their business. Our first event will be held in New York City on April 29 at Battery Gardens.

Power Networking is similar to “speed dating” but for industry professionals. The events provide JS&A clients and other telecom decision makers with a well-managed setting through which to conduct targeted prospect and customer meetings. Immediately after registering, all attendees can schedule meetings through an online meeting planning system, the DealCenter. All meetings will occur in 20-minute intervals throughout the 3-hour power event.

“Telecom One-on-One is an innovative approach to networking, bringing industry thought leaders together to conduct business,” states Lauren Sauer, Manager of Events & Webinars for JS&A. “Scheduling meetings prior to the event increases business objectives and goals, ultimately making networking more efficient and focused.”

For more event info, click here. To register for Telecom One-on-One, click here.

Jaymie Scotto & Associates (JS&A), a full-service public relations and marketing firm with proven experience in delivering strategic branding, design and communications for the telecommunications industry, today announces the launch of Telecom One-on-One, a JS&A Power Networking Event that provides telecommunications executives with time-efficient networking opportunities to further expand their business. The first event will be held on April 29th in New York City.

Similar to “speed dating” for telecom business, JS&A has developed the Power Networking concept to provide JS&A clients and industry professionals with a well-managed setting through which to conduct targeted prospect and customer meetings. Attendees can begin scheduling meetings immediately after registering through an online meeting planning system, the DealCenter. All meetings will occur on-site, in 20-minute intervals, throughout the 3-hour event.

“Telecom One-on-One is an innovative approach to networking, bringing industry thought leaders together to conduct business,” states Lauren Sauer, Manager of Events & Webinars for JS&A. “Scheduling meetings prior to the event increases business objectives and goals, ultimately making networking more efficient and focused.”

“Additionally, JS&A clients will have the opportunity to participate in a media match-up before the event, to meet with industry press and analysts to share their latest news and company developments,” continues Jaymie Scotto Cutaia, CEO of Jaymie Scotto & Associates and DealCenter. “Telecom One-on-One is another way in which we help our clients and the telecom community develop new business relationships and expand their market reach. We anticipate a successful event packed with effective networking.”

For more information about Jaymie Scotto & Associates, please click here.

To register for Telecom One-on-One, click here.

Arbinet Corporation [Nasdaq: ARBX] has deployed Customer Based Routing in its network, providing Arbinet Carrier Service (ACS) customers the ability to select multiple levels of quality on one trunk group. 

This solution provides customers the ability, through one interconnection to Arbinet, to choose differenet levels of quality for their global voice termination traffic to better suit its specific customer requirements.  By offering multiple grades of service over one trunk group, Arbinet’s customers can select premium mobile termination solutions, which offer guaranteed CLI as well as its premium service which provides global quality voice termination solutions.    This provides customers the flexiblity to choose from the highest quality of services for specific routes as well as route traffic across more aggressively priced routes all on a single trunk group. 

This service comes on the heels of the company’s announcement launching its Mobile CLI Premium service – which provides the highest quality mobile voice termination solutions with guaranteed Customer Line Identification (CLI).  Today, Arbinet provides its customers with access to a multitude of voice termination routes from its more than 1,100 suppliers. 

To read the release in its entirety, please continue to read below:

Arbinet Deploys Customer Based Routing in Network

Arbinet Carrier Service Customer can Select Multiple Levels of Quality on One Trunk Group

Nashville, TN, USA – March  15, 2010– Arbinet Corporation [Nasdaq: ARBX], announces today at Comptel’s Spring 2010 Conference and Exposition that it has introduced into its network a new level of routing flexibility for its Arbinet Carrier Services (ACS) customers.  Customer Based Routing^sm enables a service provider or carrier customer to select from multiple grades of service for each destination over a single trunk group.  A carrier can select routes with guaranteed CLI delivery and Mobile Subscriber Roaming Number (MSRN) support from Arbinet’s Premium Mobile routing table for destinations where its customers need the highest quality of service with advanced features.  On the same trunk group, it can choose more aggressively priced routes from Arbinet Quality or Value routing tables for destinations where cost is the most important attribute in route selection.  And if it needs CLI delivery, but not MSRN support, it can select routes from Arbinet’s Premium table. 

 “We set as a goal for ourselves in 2009, to leverage the technology at the core of our voice network and increase the flexibility with which we work with the marketplace,” said Dan Powdermaker, Senior Vice President, Sales & Marketing.  “We launched Carrier Services, a traditional wholesale way of working with customers and suppliers.  Utilizing supply from the more than 1,100 service providers and network operators that are connected to Arbinet’s network, ACS offers a number of grades of service ranging from an aggressively priced wholesale table to a recently announced Premium Mobile table with direct termination to more than 250 fixed and mobile network operators and guaranteed Caller Line Identity (CLI) transmission and delivery to terminating network suppliers.  Customer Based Routing is the latest innovation to be deployed in our network.  It enables our sales team to customize routing for each customer based on the customer’s unique needs.”

Arbinet offers three ways for carriers and service providers to originate and terminate international voice traffic.  Arbinet Carrier Services is a standard wholesale trading product with no fees, a single invoice and rate lock. It uses supplier codes in its wholesale routing plans.  thexchange™ is the industry’s leading marketplace for buying and selling voice communications where customers and suppliers use sophisticated tools to view market data and trade traffic.  PrivateExchange^sm, is an easy to use, low-risk outsourcing approach that enables service providers to create virtual direct routes and aggregate existing interconnects.

For more information about Arbinet please visit www.arbinet.com or e-mail sales@arbinet.com. 

About Arbinet

Arbinet is a leading provider of international voice and IP solutions to carriers and service providers globally. With more than 1,100 carriers across the world connected to the Arbinet network, Arbinet combines global scale with sophisticated platform intelligence, call routing and industry leading credit management and settlement capabilities. Customers and suppliers include many leading fixed line, mobile, wholesale and VoIP carriers as well as calling card, ISPs and content providers around the world who buy and sell voice and IP telecommunications capacity and content.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release may contain forward-looking statements, including forward-looking statements regarding anticipated future revenues, growth, capital expenditures, management’s future expansion plans, expected product and service developments or enhancements, discussions of strategy, and future operating results. Such forward-looking statements may be identified by, among other things, the use of forward-looking terminology such as: “believes,” expects,” “intends,” “may,” “will,” “should”” “confident,” “work to,” “seeks,” or “anticipates,” or the negative thereof or other variations thereon or comparable terminology, or by discussions of strategy. Various risks and uncertainties may cause Arbinet’s actual results to differ materially from those express or implied in such forward-looking statements. Please refer to Part I, Item 1A of the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 16, 2009, and other filings that have been filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission for a description of the risks and uncertainties that Arbinet faces. Arbinet assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise and such statements are current only as of the date they are made.

Excerpt posted by Vanessa Eixman:

If you want to find the best-of-the-best in Twitter check out Listorious which publishes Twitter Lists featuring the top people and their posts on any given topic. So whether you are looking for the Top 50 Funny Twitterers or Twitter’s Top Travel gurus you can find it quickly on Listorious. Today we are zeroing in on the Tops in Technology with a special mention for Ilissa Miller, Managing Partner at Jaymie Scotto & Associates. Ilissa recently made Listorious’ Women in Telecom Twitter list. To check out Ilissa’s tweets follow her on Twitter!

Ilissa is tops in social media, as well. She and Jaymie Scotto Cutaia, CEO of Jaymie Scotto & Associates were recently interviewed for a Web 2.0 Expo webinar titled Social Media for Event Exhibitors where their ideas on effective uses of Facebook, Twitter, and blogging were incorporated into the presentation. Social media efforts, public relations initiatives, and events are greatly enhanced by the ideas shared.

Find out the latest on telecom public relations, technology, and social media on the JS&A website and its award winning JSA Telecom News Now Blog.

Esat Sezer, the CIO of Coca-Cola Enterprises was recently interviewed by Meet The Boss TV.  More than just a ’shelf replenishment company,’ the company has over 70,000 employees of which over 50% are mobile.  Esat had quite a few challenges to overcome in order to transition the business and implement technology to support the company’s mobility and transportation leveraging Software-as-a-Service (SaaS). 

Coca-Cola is one of the largest global companies, and with more than 50% of its workforce mobile the company had quite a few challenges to overcome.  Imagine tracking employees, locations, equipment, deliveries, replenishment, and more.  It is this day and age that enables a global company of this nature know what they have and how they can deliver it.  Technology, communications, telecommunications, IP solutions, applications and more are the embodiment of a successful business enablement strategy.

To watch the complete interview, please click here or on the photo capture below.

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/