With the meteoric rise of the smartphone, shoppers are using their cell phones more and more to do both their shopping and retail related online searches (m-commerce), a trend that could eventually overtake more traditional methods of Internet browsing on a laptop or home computer.

Opinion is clearly divided however. Whilst some shoppers actively participate within the realms of m-commerce, others are wary of mobile shopping; with the majority unnecessarily concerned with online security risks.

One statistic revealed that more than 50 percent of US shoppers are now using their cell phones for shopping, but not for items other than those only available on a smartphone, such as music, apps and games.  Yet, cell phones are impacting on the customers shopping behavior in ways beyond just purchasing goods.  More than 80 percent of consumers in the US now use their cell phones to locate their nearest store to purchase a particular good and 65 percent review a product using their phone before making a decision.

The Internet has already seen its rise to consumer preference and last year saw peak online sales,  now the NGR Committee believe that m-commerce could do the same and want to look at the best investment techniques to roll out a user friendly platform.

“As consumers look to their phone as a natural extension of their social network, retailers are leveraging the opportunity to realize new sales opportunities from the mobile channel. M-Commerce enables the customer to always be connected to the retailer – anywhere and at any time. Retailers leveraging mobility to connect with consumers can deliver a new sales stream (expected to reach $630 billion in value by 2014) and can also drive the consumer into existing sales channels (store, web, etc). Implementing effective M-commerce technology comes down to four primary pillars of value: convenience, scale, cost effectiveness, and access.”

The committee is made of representatives from Barnes & Noble – Terri Pucin, VP Customer Experience, Dick’s Sporting Goods – Paul Yater, VP Applications & Intergrated Services, Foot Locker – David Hartig, Director IT Operations, Macys.com – Mike Robinson, SVP Technology Walmart – Sean Coutts , GM of Commerce, Gucci Group – Rodney Woodruff, Chief eBusiness Architect among many others and they themselves will drive the mobile revolution

To ease the burden on consumers it is important for retailers to create a simple and concise plan for how m-commerce will work for their business and for their customers to take a slice of the ‘virtual pie’.

Contact : Emma Naylor

Tel : 0117 921 2764

Cell : +44 7885725 500

Email : emma@ngonlinenews.com

Allied Fiber’s Dark Fiber Community, an online resource for network operators, providing information and contact details for industry-leading vendors as well as the opportunity to plan one-on-one meetings, has extended its presence to LinkedIn and Facebook through the creation of a group and fan page. Members of the Dark Fiber Community can now log on to LinkedIn and Facebook to find out the latest news and member information.

The Dark Fiber Community was created by Allied Fiber in response to the rising demand for its products and services from network operators seeking to build new and extend existing networks. The Dark Fiber Community will facilitate the necessary relationships for growth and the evolution of the physical network layer in the United States with a focus on raising awareness of network-neutral, physical layer models that treat telecom fiber, colocation and tower infrastructure as real estate.

To join the Dark Fiber Community Facebook group click here, http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Dark-Fiber-Community/101656146567618#!/group.php?gid=166168820060666.

To become a fan of The Dark Fiber Community, click here http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Dark-Fiber-Community/101656146567618.

To join The Dark Fiber Community LinkedIn group, click here http://www.linkedin.com/groups?mostPopular=&gid=3548190.

For more information on the Dark Fiber Community, visit http://dark-fiber.tmcnet.com.

QT Talk, a leading prepaid international long distance provider for residential, business and mobile calling, attended the Eleventh Annual Mexican Day Parade on September 19^th.  With over 300,000 people in attendance, QT Talk easily spread their message of low cost international calling to the Mexican community. QT Talk spent the afternoon giving away $3 in free international calling to all new customers, allowing them to try out PUREMinutes.

PUREMinutes is an alternative to traditional calling cards, which often include hidden fees, service charges or deceptive advertising. Using PUREMinutes’ innovative recognition software, international prepaid calls can be made regardless of the carrier. With QT Talk, users of traditional calling cards can easily migrate over to the latest technology to complete high quality, international calls without the once needed pin code. QT Talk allows users to dial anywhere in the world from the U.S. at much lower rates than ever before.

“The Mexican community is especially important to QT Talk,” said Eric Ramos, President of QT Talk. “We know how difficult it is to live far from your friends and loved ones. That is why we are so excited to offer cost-effective calling programs for those who need a way to communicate around the world.”

The Mexican Day Parade featured vivid and colorful floats, folkloric dancers and Mariachis as well as a variety of different musical groups and traditional Mexican costumes.

To learn more about QT Talk and how you can sign up for its PUREMinutes international calling plan, please email questions@qttalk.com or call +1 212.461.3669.

Download this free White Paper to find out how the rapid growth of network-intensive applications such as video and smartphone devices are  driving the need for carriers to access reliable, global Ethernet network solutions.  It is this need for worldwide Ethernet reach that is driving carriers and service providers to interconnect with each other to extend beyond the boundaries of their own network footprints.  This is the key driver for the growth of Ethernet Exchange Networks and why this solution will provide cost savings and ubiquitous global connectivity.

Click here to download your free version of this White Paper today.

Recipient of ‘One of the Fastest Growing Private

Companies in America’ Award

GalaxyVisions does it again–won another industry award and recognized as one of  the Fastest Growing Private Companies in America.  This INC Magazine award is one of several awards won by the company – others include web hosting accolades such as: 2008 Best of Englewood Cliffs Award in the Web Site Design category; WebHost Directory award winner; HostReview’s Fastest Growing Company to name a a few.  See more details on INC. Magazine’s award below:

Brooklyn, NY, September 16, 2010 – GalaxyVisions, a managed web hosting, dedicated server, colocation, and shared web services provider is the recipient of one of Inc.com’s 2010 Fastest Growing Private Companies in America Award. Ranked number 1,784 on the prestigious Inc. 5000 List, GalaxyVisions, is recognized for its strong and continued company growth of 154% over a three year period. As a daily online resource for entrepreneurs, Inc.com ranked businesses according to percentage of growth from 2006-2009.

As a leader in the web hosting market, GalaxyVisions offers an extensive portfolio of cost-effective Managed Web Hosting, single and multiple Server Colocation, Managed Dedicated Servers, and Virtual Private Server (VPS) hosting plans. With over 15,000 square feet of secure data center space, GalaxyVisions can also accommodate any sized client or service provider by offering fully redundant colocation options in its New York City facility. Clients can also connect to multiple Tier-1 IP providers and carriers for secure, high-speed interconnections and peering within the data center facility.

“We are excited to be recognized as an Inc. 5000 leader in the private company sector,” states Ray Sidler, CEO of GalaxyVisions. “Our strong commitment to providing unmatched customer service and flexible, robust solutions is evident by our year over year continued growth.”

For more information about GalaxyVisions, please visit www.galaxyvisions.com

About GalaxyVisions

GalaxyVisions was founded in 2001. We are a privately held managed services provider located in the heart of Brooklyn, NY. We provide affordable managed hosting solutions for companies of all types. We supply all of the servers, software and bandwidth and management tools needed to run almost any web hosted application. From small to Enterprise server solutions, GalaxyVisions guarantees to meet or beat the price of any competitor. At GalaxyVisions we are committed to excellent quality service 24/7/365.

To join online discussions and receive news updates you can find GalaxyVisions on: Twitter. For more information, please visit www.galaxyvisions.com.

Voice Over IP (VoIP) services have grown exponentially in recent years and are slated to increase even more throughout the next decade. What is driving this growth? Mainly the inherent benefits to the technology itself:

• Dramatically decreases the cost of communications
• Flexibility to adapt with new technologies like WiFi and 3G
• Feature rich service sets that enhance the user’s experience

Still not convinced that VoIP is for you?  QT Talk’s PrePaid Calling Solution (without the card), PUREMinutes, is offering trials of its international VoIP network services – for free.  This service allows callers to use the service and see for themselves how the quality of VoIP is just as good as traditional telephony services.

By using the PUREMinutes service from companies like QT Talk, the retail division of QT Globe, users can also save money – up to 70% off traditional international carrier rates.

In today’s economy – free international calling PLUS savings of up to 70% – it’s certainly worth a try.  For a limited time only, and as part of the company’s promotion as they attend the International Telecoms Week (ITW) meetings May 24-26, 2010 in Washington DC,  QT Talk is offering $10 Free Calls – simply text QT to 64842  from you mobile phone – then call family, friends and clients – globally, today.

Check them out there or also www.qttalk.com and www.pureminutes.com.  For information email info@qttalk.com.

*QT Talk was Voted Best VoIP provider by Voip Review and  a 5 star rating by MyVoipProvider.com

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.

TELEHOUSE America held its Q’1 2010 Breakfast on Broadway (BoB) event on February 25^th.  Though there was a snow storm in New York City that day, attendance was terrific.   Three companies presented at the event, including TELEHOUSE America, AboveNet and Digital Edge – each company had strong messages and interesting data to ponder.

TELEHOUSE’s Fred Cannone, the company’s Director of Sales and Marketing, discussed how data center demand is outpacing supply.  There continues to be a limited number of multi-tenant data centers that can accommodate companies looking for cost-effective access to an eco-system of service providers that can offer high bandwidth solutions. 

In 2009, the company announced its interconnection solution through its Ethernet Private Line service, Global InterLink, a service that has the capability of connecting TELEHOUSE’s 37 global data centers while also providing access to other major data center hubs.  This solution provides companies a tremendous amount of benefits, including cloud computing.  TELEHOUSE calls this solution Data Center as a Cloud^TM.(DCaaC).  Their DCaaC solution provides companies with Total Managed Network Services through its data center and colocation footprint through their Internet exchanges in New York (NYIIX) and Los Angeles (LAIIX) as well as global Ethernet private line connectivity and a full suite of Manage-E solutions including on-site support, data back-up solutions, business continuity planning and more.

Key customer examples of the types of companies leveraging the DCaaC solution include Global Financial firms, Post Production houses and Law firms.  Each company requires a unique footprint, but all grounded on similar solutions; Dedicated Data Center Suites, Global Interlink – private line connectivity, Managed Services, IP Transit all in multiple locations across multiple continents.  This is TELEHOUSE’s specialty – a complete Total Solution Provider.

AboveNet’s Doug Turz presented next on high-bandwidth Ethernet trends and solutions.  AboveNet considers anything above 100 Mbps to be high-bandwidth (I say that’s certainly fair).  The company provides solutions to enterprise buildings and data centers serving companies that require bandwidth flexibility, convergence and low latency. 

The company is seeing a push toward more video, which of course uses more bandwidth.  Another trend that AboveNet sees, being a data center neutral provider, is there are more companies than just financial firms concerned with latency.  The healthcare industry is building out their network infrastructures with low latency bandwidth solutions.   Unlike the Financial industry that associates each millisecond with the loss of tens of thousands of dollars, it’s harder to put an actual figure associated with network latency when considering the healthcare industry, but it could certainly lead to a life or death situation.

The final presenting company was Digital Edge.  Digital Edge provided us with a special presentation, given by its client the March of Dimes.  Digital Edge provides consulting and virtualization implementation solutions.  For the March of Dimes, a company that relies on donations and fundraising programs that primarily uses the Internet it was important to be assured 100% uptime, since downtime equals lost donations – lost income and of course the company’s inability to aid the children they support. 

At any given moment the March of Dimes’ network could have up to 13,000 concurrent sessions – per second.   Digital Edge designed its network to ensure uptime – at the same time the company’s design did not fall prey to complete virtualization.  Scalability was a key driver for the design as the number of simultaneous virtual instances could be high – and had high processing requirements. 

As Digital Edge put it ‘you need a strategy.’  Companies need to know what to virtualize versus not and to understand the security associated with any network architecture.  When working with high performance solutions that require precise tuning, virtualization is not the answer.   In addition – if you require high security for your applications and services, virtualization will not suffice.

Digital Edge’s years of experience has indentified holes in a variety of software solutions developed by MicroSoft, Zen, VMware and more.  To have a company like Digital Edge consulting, designing and implementing your network solutions will certainly guarantee efficiency for the data you are transmitting.

For more information about these companies or to view their presentations, please click on these links.

TELEHOUSE America:  Data Center Market & TELEHOUSE Advantage

AboveNet: Low Latency Data Center Connectivity Bandwidth Flexibility

Digital Edge: The Intelligence Behind The Technology

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.

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