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Understanding consumers are always on-the-go, Vonage
Mobile for Apple Watch is one of the first wearable commu-
nications apps on the market that allows users to set per-
sonal reminders to return a phone call or message at a later
time, says the company. This can be done directly from the
watch’s incoming call screen or by accessing recent calls/
messages from the watch.
Vonage Mobile users also can easily reject a call and
send a pre-set “Can’t talk right now” message to the caller
from the watch. In addition, they can respond to text mes-
sages with voice-to-text functionality or one of five preset
responses. Other Vonage Mobile features for Apple Watch
include integration with the phone’s native contact list, call
waiting and mirroring the iPhone’s notifications.
Vonage Mobile for Apple Watch is available from the
App Store for Apple Watch.
Vocal IP Networx Signs
CarrierSales as Master Agent
Vocal IP Networx has formed a strategic partnership
with master agency CarrierSales. This partnership en-
ables CarrierSales partners across the country to lever-
age and present Vocal IP Networx VoIP and carrier ser-
vices to their customers.
Vocal IP Networx is a national facilities-based carrier
and IP telephony services provider headquartered in New
York City. Vocal IP Networx operates two super-POPs in
Newark, N.J. and Las Vegas, with two smaller access POPs
in Chicago and Dallas.
According to Austin Holverson, vice president of market-
ing for CarrierSales, Vocal IP Networx will fill a strategic
niche in the portfolio for the master agency’s partners sell-
ing hosted PBX and SIP services.
ShoreTel, Ingram Micro, HP
Teams Up on UC Solutions
ShoreTel, Ingram Micro and HP are jointly bringing
to market unified communications offerings for small- to
medium-sized businesses to be sold through Ingram Micro’s
channel partner network. The program will include ShoreTel
cloud services and HP routers and POE switches.
Ingram Micro has been selling the ShoreTel on-premis-
es solution for four years and is now certified to offer
ShoreTel Sky. With this joint solution, named HP Networking
for ShoreTel Solutions, customers purchase the ShoreTel
cloud offering and can choose from an HP switch or both
an HP switch and an HP router, depending on their needs.
The offers will be available via joint HP and ShoreTel channel
partners that work with Ingram Micro.
“Unified communications-as-a-service is a growing sales
and ongoing service opportunity for channel partners
who specialize in the IT needs and business outcomes of
SMBs,” said Eric Kohl, executive director of Ingram Micro
Advanced Solutions. “By working closely with HP and
ShoreTel, we’re able to bring to market a tightly integrat-
ed, seamless, end-to-end hosted IP telephony and UC solu-
tion that is built for SMBs and easy for channel partners
to market, sell and support.”
“Our SMB customers are looking to reap the benefits of
a hosted solution, and this solution complements the exist-
ing on-prem HP-ShoreTel offering and provides the network
backbone for ShoreTel’s complete UC&C solution,” said Bob
Johnson, vice president of HP Networking Americas. “This
is HP’s first offering for the ShoreTel Sky cloud solution and
will help SMB customers realize benefits including ease of
management, increased efficiency and lower costs.”
HP Networking for ShoreTel Solutions will be available
in calendar Q3 2015.
Equinix, Global Capacity
Collaborate on Cloud Access
Global interconnection and data center company Equinix
and Global Capacity announced a collaboration to provide
enterprise customers with direct access to the many cloud
service providers available on the Equinix Cloud Exchange via
Global Capacity’s One Marketplace. Through a direct Ethernet
connection from One Marketplace to the Equinix Cloud Ex-
change, enterprises gain high-performance access to multiple
cloud services from the eight Equinix International Business
Exchange (IBX) data centers in which Global Capacity resides.
And, because Global Capacity provides network access
to 9.6 million commercial addresses, cloud service provid-
ers have the ability to extend their market reach to a larger
enterprise audience.
Leveraging One Marketplace, enterprise customers can
bypass the public Internet with secure, private Ethernet
services, connecting their headquarters, data centers and
remote locations to cloud providers available on the Equinix
Cloud Exchange, says the company. With these services, en-
terprises can now access cloud service providers from addi-
tional IBX data centers. For example, if an enterprise requires
access to Amazon Web Services (AWS), but is not in one of
the eight markets offering AWS on the Cloud Exchange, by
using One Marketplace they are able to gain access to this
service without being physically inside that location.
“The secure, high-performance connectivity provided by One
Marketplace to the Equinix Cloud Exchange allows enterprises
to access the services needed to build sophisticated hybrid
cloud solutions capable of supporting their business-critical op-
erations and applications,” said Jim Poole, vice president, global
service providers, Equinix. “With this solution, cloud providers
such as AWS in Washington, D.C., are now easily accessible
from nearby metropolitan centers such as New York.”
Global Capacity and Equinix have been working together
since 2013. Global Capacity is currently interconnected in
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May - June 2015