Mobile VoIP is a hot commodity despite global economic woes, according to consultancy Research and Markets. This is because the Voice over IP technology reduces telecom costs for companies, even as they invest in their mobile workforce.
The researcher sites “improved technology solutions” as a major factor leading to “a robust VoIP market in recent years.” The researcher is also anticipating growth to continue throughout the year, despite the economic downturn of 2009.
Noting the cost-saving benefits offered by VoIP, Research and Market said, “… while security and reliability concerns still need to be resolved; consumers and business are turning to VoIP in an effort to save costs.”
Continuing, the company noted global market trends, saying, “Japan, China and the USA continue to be some of the world's hottest markets for IP telephony. Over the last couple years, Europe has also become a prime innovator in VoIP services, whether stand-alone, bundled as a triple play offer, or through fixed mobile convergence packages.”
DiVitas’ VoIP solution helps companies reduce their cellular costs by mobilizing the business number onto smartphones in order to make it easier and less expensive for colleagues to reach one another. Companies can leverage DiVitas’ seamless roaming (FMC) to allow VoIP calls to hand off seamlessly between WiFi and cellular networks, which results in substantially reduced cellular costs.
Posted Friday, September 25, 2009 by
Nancy Colwell
The more we communicate, the better off we are as a planet – words uttered earlier this week by an analyst that I respect very much.
He made the comment during a discussion about Enterprise Social Networking and how this new dynamic of communication stands to impact the world as we know it.
After all, consider the fact that the cell phone market only hit critical mass in the past ten to fifteen years. And yet today we live like we’ve always had them. Likewise, email took off during that same relatively recent timeframe, and now you simply must have an email address to be a functioning part of society.
In both of these cases, cell phones and email, the consumer has played a pivotal role in the market’s lift-off. The more accustomed we become to a certain behavior in our personal lives, the more the habit of using or needing it seeps into the other part of our world – the business part. Yes we use phones and email at our jobs, but it’s our personal use – those tasks that we do because we want to and not because we have to – that creates the hungry habit that must be fed.
For example, the projected popularity for iPhone's use among enterprises is not based on current sales. Rather it’s based on iPhone’s current market share among consumers, and the fact that people want to use the same mobile phone at work as they do in their personal lives.
We are in better communication as a planet because of mobile phones and email, but there is more to come. The latest frontier, Social Networking, is gunning toward the stratosphere, with Facebook claiming to have turned its first profit and Twitter taking a pivotal role in events such as the recent Iranian elections.
Social Networking’s Mobile Presence capability (i.e. Status update a la Facebook’s “What’s on your mind?” or Twitter’s “What are you doing?”) is proving to show tremendous value to businesses for enabling enterprise mobility.
And so the business counterpart to consumer apps, Enterprise Social Networking (enabled by the DiVitas Mobile UC solution), is now being used to provide that same Presence information on a mobile phone to improve reachability, productivity and collaboration in the workplace. By making Enterprise Social Networking available to you a smartphone, and tying it directly to your mobilized business number, DiVitas increases the probability of being reached on the first try to improve producivity and reduce telecom costs.
In your personal life, being able to quickly get in touch with somebody is nice to have. In the business world, it’s a must-have. Enterprise Social Networking is the next logical step for end-to-end global communications and worldwide connectivity.
Posted Thursday, August 27, 2009 by
Richard Watson
Being able to check my colleagues’ Mobile Presence and status message before contacting them is as habit-forming as checking online traffic conditions before getting in my car. Just as I would avoid highway 880 when the Sig Alert website shows congestion, I would choose IM (mobile Instant Messaging) over voice when my colleagues are unavailable for calls.
The common denominator in each of these scenarios – checking traffic online and checking my colleagues’ availability – is that knowledge of a situation breeds efficiency. In fact, I have grown so accustomed to tools that provide that critical prior knowledge, it feels like I can’t be a productive human being without them.
For example, let’s say I need to contact Vivek, my CEO. One glance at my Nokia screen and I’ll know if he’s available, how he’s available, where he is, what he’s doing, etc. While that level of knowledge may sound Big Brotheresque, sharing these details means we colleagues can connect with one another on the first try.
From a business perspective, I save myself the time and effort of roaming the building looking for people. If I’m offsite, I save my company the expense of wasted cell minutes on missed calls and help reduce cellular costs (and hence overall reduce telecom costs). I am more productive and the cost of supporting my business communications needs has become minimal due to these mobile VoIP capabilities.
Knowledge at a glance is a powerful thing because it helps me make informed decisions throughout the day. After finishing this blog I have to call my doctor’s office to make an appointment. If only I could view the appointment desk’s Presence ahead of time so that I’d know if it’s a good time to call to avoid waiting on hold.
The common denominator in each of these scenarios – checking traffic online and checking my colleagues’ availability – is that knowledge of a situation breeds efficiency. In fact, I have grown so accustomed to tools that provide that critical prior knowledge, it feels like I can’t be a productive human being without them.
For example, let’s say I need to contact Vivek, my CEO. One glance at my Nokia screen and I’ll know if he’s available, how he’s available, where he is, what he’s doing, etc. While that level of knowledge may sound Big Brotheresque, sharing these details means we colleagues can connect with one another on the first try.
- Looking at Vivek’s Mobile Presence, I see from the smiley face icon that he is available by voice or text, so I can either call or IM him. (I choose IM because I simply need to tell him that our 3pm meeting has been cancelled.)
- Reading his Status message, I see that he’s at the airport and catching a 5pm flight to New York – in other words I have a specific window of time when I can reach him before he is incommunicado for several hours. (Hence I know not to reschedule our 3pm meeting for today.)
From a business perspective, I save myself the time and effort of roaming the building looking for people. If I’m offsite, I save my company the expense of wasted cell minutes on missed calls and help reduce cellular costs (and hence overall reduce telecom costs). I am more productive and the cost of supporting my business communications needs has become minimal due to these mobile VoIP capabilities.
Knowledge at a glance is a powerful thing because it helps me make informed decisions throughout the day. After finishing this blog I have to call my doctor’s office to make an appointment. If only I could view the appointment desk’s Presence ahead of time so that I’d know if it’s a good time to call to avoid waiting on hold.
Posted Friday, July 17, 2009 by
Richard Watson
Deploying a Mobile Unified Communications (Mobile UC) solution is a very straightforward process. However, before you get started, you want to make sure your WLAN is up to spec in terms of being mobile VoIP-ready. Following are five survey questions to ask yourself first, and some answers to help fend off any potential problems.
1- Do you have an adequate number of WiFi Access Points (APs)?
Typically the answer to this question is “no.”
Organizations that have an existing WiFi infrastructure installed have most likely configured it for data. Because voice is a real-time application, a WLAN that is configured for data will not be adequate for VoIP (Voice over IP). Research suggests that businesses typically have as much as 20% fewer APs installed than what they really need for reliable VoIP coverage. This means there can be major coverage gaps in areas in between APs, which will cause WiFi calls to drop (similar to how cell calls drop when you roam in to gaps between tower coverage).
Be sure to create overlapping AP coverage in order to avoid WiFi signal gaps – and dropped calls.
2- Have you overlooked any high voice-traffic areas in placing your APs?
Businesses typically forget to include off-hand locations such as storage rooms, stairwells and elevator shafts in the AP plan. However, these are examples of quite popular areas where people tend to pass through during their busy day while on their phones. These places also offer weak or no cellular and may therefore benefit from WiFi for extended coverage in order to take advantage of seamless roaming and the benefits of reduced cellular costs (and hence reduced telecom costs).
Your voice over WiFi (VoWiFi) scheme needs to prepare for the idiosyncrasies of mobile VoIP – like the fact that mobile calls rarely happen at a predictable moment or location (like inside a storage room.) It is a common oversight because people typically think data first, and then plan around that need. These are key considerations when seeking to maximize enterprise mobility.
The lesson learned is: Watch traffic patterns among your own company’s mobile phone users when assessing your AP coverage. If your top sales people tend to use their phones in the stairwell, for example, or in front of the office building, you will want to put up some APs in those locations to make sure their calls don’t drop before closing a deal! Also, you want to give emlployees as much opportunity as possible to take advantage of free WiFi calls.
3- Is your WLAN future-proofed?
Choose a vendor that doesn’t require you to eventually replace your existing infrastructure. Some of the older WLANs required that businesses do a rip-and-replace in the event of a mobile VoIP-driven upgrade. Choosing a switched-based WLAN means you can extend your network very easily – a good thing because you want to be able to leverage your existing infrastructure.
4- Is your campus exactly like every other?
The answer is “absolutely not” because no two implementations are alike. Therefore, plan for the unexpected.
One installation I did in Hawaii, for example, dealt with an Army hospital that was built in the 40’s, and which therefore had walls so thick they had to put an access point in every room. (There was no hope for cellular penetration so WiFi was a wonderful mobile-communications alternative.)
Lesson learned: The older your building is, the harder it is to bring RF into it.
5- Make sure you are not trying to implement on the cheap.
The lowest cost AP from even a highly reputable vendor may not be suitable for VOIP. Read case studies and do other research to identify a proven solution first.
Voice over WiFi Lessons Learned
One of my favorite WiFi-coverage mystery stories of all times, and one which can easily provide a learning lesson for anybody preparing their WLAN for the VoIP onslaught, is this one …
There was one deployment –a popular chain of lingerie stores – that called us for support one day (I was working for a well-known WiFi-phone manufacturer at the time.) We got the “911” WiFi-emergency alert when calls suddenly started dropping like crazy at one of the lingerie store locations, after having worked perfectly for months. Guess what we found? They had put up a dressing room with mirrors in the middle of the store. This caused shadows of RF that weren’t originally there, and Voila, a rash of dropped calls.
The solution: Adding more APs completed their WiFi coverage. In general, the more complete your coverage, the better your mobile VoIP experience will be.
1- Do you have an adequate number of WiFi Access Points (APs)?
Typically the answer to this question is “no.”
Organizations that have an existing WiFi infrastructure installed have most likely configured it for data. Because voice is a real-time application, a WLAN that is configured for data will not be adequate for VoIP (Voice over IP). Research suggests that businesses typically have as much as 20% fewer APs installed than what they really need for reliable VoIP coverage. This means there can be major coverage gaps in areas in between APs, which will cause WiFi calls to drop (similar to how cell calls drop when you roam in to gaps between tower coverage).
Be sure to create overlapping AP coverage in order to avoid WiFi signal gaps – and dropped calls.
2- Have you overlooked any high voice-traffic areas in placing your APs?
Businesses typically forget to include off-hand locations such as storage rooms, stairwells and elevator shafts in the AP plan. However, these are examples of quite popular areas where people tend to pass through during their busy day while on their phones. These places also offer weak or no cellular and may therefore benefit from WiFi for extended coverage in order to take advantage of seamless roaming and the benefits of reduced cellular costs (and hence reduced telecom costs).
Your voice over WiFi (VoWiFi) scheme needs to prepare for the idiosyncrasies of mobile VoIP – like the fact that mobile calls rarely happen at a predictable moment or location (like inside a storage room.) It is a common oversight because people typically think data first, and then plan around that need. These are key considerations when seeking to maximize enterprise mobility.
The lesson learned is: Watch traffic patterns among your own company’s mobile phone users when assessing your AP coverage. If your top sales people tend to use their phones in the stairwell, for example, or in front of the office building, you will want to put up some APs in those locations to make sure their calls don’t drop before closing a deal! Also, you want to give emlployees as much opportunity as possible to take advantage of free WiFi calls.
3- Is your WLAN future-proofed?
Choose a vendor that doesn’t require you to eventually replace your existing infrastructure. Some of the older WLANs required that businesses do a rip-and-replace in the event of a mobile VoIP-driven upgrade. Choosing a switched-based WLAN means you can extend your network very easily – a good thing because you want to be able to leverage your existing infrastructure.
4- Is your campus exactly like every other?
The answer is “absolutely not” because no two implementations are alike. Therefore, plan for the unexpected.
One installation I did in Hawaii, for example, dealt with an Army hospital that was built in the 40’s, and which therefore had walls so thick they had to put an access point in every room. (There was no hope for cellular penetration so WiFi was a wonderful mobile-communications alternative.)
Lesson learned: The older your building is, the harder it is to bring RF into it.
5- Make sure you are not trying to implement on the cheap.
The lowest cost AP from even a highly reputable vendor may not be suitable for VOIP. Read case studies and do other research to identify a proven solution first.
Voice over WiFi Lessons Learned
One of my favorite WiFi-coverage mystery stories of all times, and one which can easily provide a learning lesson for anybody preparing their WLAN for the VoIP onslaught, is this one …
There was one deployment –a popular chain of lingerie stores – that called us for support one day (I was working for a well-known WiFi-phone manufacturer at the time.) We got the “911” WiFi-emergency alert when calls suddenly started dropping like crazy at one of the lingerie store locations, after having worked perfectly for months. Guess what we found? They had put up a dressing room with mirrors in the middle of the store. This caused shadows of RF that weren’t originally there, and Voila, a rash of dropped calls.
The solution: Adding more APs completed their WiFi coverage. In general, the more complete your coverage, the better your mobile VoIP experience will be.
Posted Thursday, July 2, 2009 by
Richard Watson
By Jenni Adair
Being able to check my phone to see another person’s Mobile Presence and Status message (part of Enterprise Social Networking) has become such a habit that I get kind of annoyed when I can’t.
See, my work phone, a Nokia E71 running DiVitas Mobile Unified Communications (Mobile UC), displays Mobile Presence and Status information, which means I can tell what my colleagues are doing at any given moment. And when you stop to consider that a large percentage of your waking hours are spent doing your job, you can see how habit-forming checking Presence can be.
Here’s what happens. I periodically scroll through the contact list on my DiVitas phone to see who’s doing what – even if I don’t necessarily need to talk to that person (and even if it’s the weekend and I’m not technically working. That’s the definition of a habit, right?). At the moment, for example, it’s 2:13 p.m. on a Tuesday and I can see that Amanda is busy writing (according to her microblog Status message) and not available to take my call (according to her Mobile Presence icon). Nancy is in a meeting – also not taking calls, but she’s available to chat by IM (mobile Instant Messaging). And Vivek is grabbing a coffee and free to talk or chat via IM. This information translates to:
From a personal perspective, I can’t wait for the day when my cell company offers a service like this on my personal phone. I have grown so accustomed to Presence and Status Messages that I want it in my everyday life.
Being able to check my phone to see another person’s Mobile Presence and Status message (part of Enterprise Social Networking) has become such a habit that I get kind of annoyed when I can’t.
See, my work phone, a Nokia E71 running DiVitas Mobile Unified Communications (Mobile UC), displays Mobile Presence and Status information, which means I can tell what my colleagues are doing at any given moment. And when you stop to consider that a large percentage of your waking hours are spent doing your job, you can see how habit-forming checking Presence can be.
Here’s what happens. I periodically scroll through the contact list on my DiVitas phone to see who’s doing what – even if I don’t necessarily need to talk to that person (and even if it’s the weekend and I’m not technically working. That’s the definition of a habit, right?). At the moment, for example, it’s 2:13 p.m. on a Tuesday and I can see that Amanda is busy writing (according to her microblog Status message) and not available to take my call (according to her Mobile Presence icon). Nancy is in a meeting – also not taking calls, but she’s available to chat by IM (mobile Instant Messaging). And Vivek is grabbing a coffee and free to talk or chat via IM. This information translates to:
- Don’t waste my time or cell minutes calling Amanda right now because she won’t answer.
- Don’t waste my time or cell minutes calling Nancy either, but send her a brief IM letting her know she can take her time in her meeting because our 2pm has cancelled.
- I can call Vivek or send him an IM – or even walk down the street and join him – because it’s one of those rare moments when he’s not busy.
From a personal perspective, I can’t wait for the day when my cell company offers a service like this on my personal phone. I have grown so accustomed to Presence and Status Messages that I want it in my everyday life.
Posted Wednesday, July 1, 2009 by
Nancy Colwell
Anybody second guessing the benefits of telecommuting is in for some enlightenment. Networking giant Cisco – and the $10 million annual savings it’s enjoying by letting employees work from home – is proof that telecommuting works as advertised. It helps reduce mobile telecom costs.
According to a recent NetworkWorld article, Cisco Sends Employees Home to Work, the networking giant has already realized productivity savings of $277 million thanks to its 18-month-old telework program. The company based its productivity savings on the “number of billed hours at an average of $91 per hour.”
Ironically, the original intent behind Cisco’ Telework program – a program requested by CEO John Chambers and which began with 20,000 employees – was to “… evaluate the social, economic and environmental impacts associated with telecommuting …”, according to NetworkWorld. The actual cost savings, says Cisco, are a bonus.
While Cisco’s productivity savings are significant, just imagine if you were to add DiVitas Mobile Unified Communications (Mobile UC), which runs seamlessly in a Cisco environment, to the telecommuting equation. You would begin to see hard cost savings from reduced cellular costs as well.
For example, because a DiVitas smartphone behaves just like a deskphone (carries the corporate phone number and performs call forward, extension dialing, etc.), telecommuters would be reachable by a single device – a mobile phone that runs over WiFi, which would result in several telecom cost reducing benefits:
Cisco’s telecommuting results are very promising in the argument for companies instituting telecommuting policies.
According to NetworkWorld, “91% of the nearly 2,000 respondents to a late 2008 survey [of Cisco] believed the ability to telecommute is “somewhat or very important” to their overall satisfaction on the job.”
Also, “69% of employees surveyed cited higher productivity when working from home and 75% said the timeliness of their work improved.”
Like Cisco, we at DiVitas practice what we preach – we use our own solution to the point that our company can share the news about productivity and cost-savings benefits.
According to a recent NetworkWorld article, Cisco Sends Employees Home to Work, the networking giant has already realized productivity savings of $277 million thanks to its 18-month-old telework program. The company based its productivity savings on the “number of billed hours at an average of $91 per hour.”
Ironically, the original intent behind Cisco’ Telework program – a program requested by CEO John Chambers and which began with 20,000 employees – was to “… evaluate the social, economic and environmental impacts associated with telecommuting …”, according to NetworkWorld. The actual cost savings, says Cisco, are a bonus.
While Cisco’s productivity savings are significant, just imagine if you were to add DiVitas Mobile Unified Communications (Mobile UC), which runs seamlessly in a Cisco environment, to the telecommuting equation. You would begin to see hard cost savings from reduced cellular costs as well.
For example, because a DiVitas smartphone behaves just like a deskphone (carries the corporate phone number and performs call forward, extension dialing, etc.), telecommuters would be reachable by a single device – a mobile phone that runs over WiFi, which would result in several telecom cost reducing benefits:
- Free WiFi phone calls - callers benefit from free international calls on WiFi and local calls on WiFi.
- Only one device (a smartphone) needs to be purchased and managed for each telecommuter.
- Companies can discontinue subsidizing home-phone service for telecommuters.
- Costly cellular data plans are only necessary for highly mobile telecommuters i.e. sales; telecommuters working strictly from a home office can place and receive voice calls strictly via WiFi.
- Single Number reach and Caller ID on the DiVitas handset shows the company direct dial number – nobody knows that the individual is working from home.
- Has integrated mobile social networking capabilities such as Mobile Presence and mobile Instant Messaging (IM) and Status message.
- Is integrated with the corporate directory, so placing a call or addressing an email or IM can be done directly from the smartphone interface.
- Supports Dual Persona, which allows personal calls to be routed through a native cellular number (Personal Persona) and business calls to be routed through a mobile phone (Business Persona ); highly mobile telecommuters need only carry one device.
- Supports Fixed Mobile Convergence (seamless roaming), allowing phones calls to hand off seamlessly between WiFi and cellular.
- Has landline-like voice quality over WiFi.
- Is under IT control and supports remote over the air (OTA) installation, configuration and update management.
- Supports Visual Voicemail and Single Voicemail Inbox, allowing individuals to retrieve messages directly from their smartphones and eyeball which messages have priority status.
Cisco’s telecommuting results are very promising in the argument for companies instituting telecommuting policies.
According to NetworkWorld, “91% of the nearly 2,000 respondents to a late 2008 survey [of Cisco] believed the ability to telecommute is “somewhat or very important” to their overall satisfaction on the job.”
Also, “69% of employees surveyed cited higher productivity when working from home and 75% said the timeliness of their work improved.”
Like Cisco, we at DiVitas practice what we preach – we use our own solution to the point that our company can share the news about productivity and cost-savings benefits.
Posted Sunday, April 26, 2009 by
Nancy Colwell
Given the confusion in this evolving market space, we wanted to provide clarity on what Mobile Unified Communications really means and why it is so important to companies worldwide. Some key analysts are presenting charts that show FMC, UC and Mobile UC products and vendors in the same chart.
This is not only misleading, it simply does not help organizations who are trying to make decisions today.
To this end, DiVitas has published a For Dummies® book called, Mobile Unified Communications for Dummies. Available now on the DiVitas website, the book is an “all you need to know” source for organizations considering a Mobile UC implementation.
Mobile Unified Communications for Dummies was written by Lawrence Miller and published by DiVitas. The book explains Mobile UC from both a business and technical perspective. Miller explains how a Mobile UC solution can help an organization save money, improve productivity, and make workers accessible, whether they’re in the office at their desk, away from their desk, or out of the office entirely. The book also takes a look at some of the technical elements necessary to ensure a successful Mobile UC deployment. The book is written for both nontechnical and technical readers, but a basic understanding of networking, telecommunications, and wireless networks is helpful.
Excerpt from the Foreward of the book: “Mobility has revolutionized personal communications, and the number of cell phones in the world now surpasses the number of wired lines by a wide margin,” said Michael Finneran, Principal at dBrn Associates, Inc. and author of Voice over Wireless LANs – The Complete Guide. “That type of instantaneous, anywhere, any type, anytime communications that has reshaped our personal lives will energize our business lives with Mobile UC. The world of business communications is changing and it’s changing for the better. Unified Communications will allow business people to work better and smarter, and mobilizing UC is the biggest boost we can deliver to business productivity,” Finneran concluded.
To request a free Dummies book, click here.
This is not only misleading, it simply does not help organizations who are trying to make decisions today.
To this end, DiVitas has published a For Dummies® book called, Mobile Unified Communications for Dummies. Available now on the DiVitas website, the book is an “all you need to know” source for organizations considering a Mobile UC implementation.
Mobile Unified Communications for Dummies was written by Lawrence Miller and published by DiVitas. The book explains Mobile UC from both a business and technical perspective. Miller explains how a Mobile UC solution can help an organization save money, improve productivity, and make workers accessible, whether they’re in the office at their desk, away from their desk, or out of the office entirely. The book also takes a look at some of the technical elements necessary to ensure a successful Mobile UC deployment. The book is written for both nontechnical and technical readers, but a basic understanding of networking, telecommunications, and wireless networks is helpful.
Excerpt from the Foreward of the book: “Mobility has revolutionized personal communications, and the number of cell phones in the world now surpasses the number of wired lines by a wide margin,” said Michael Finneran, Principal at dBrn Associates, Inc. and author of Voice over Wireless LANs – The Complete Guide. “That type of instantaneous, anywhere, any type, anytime communications that has reshaped our personal lives will energize our business lives with Mobile UC. The world of business communications is changing and it’s changing for the better. Unified Communications will allow business people to work better and smarter, and mobilizing UC is the biggest boost we can deliver to business productivity,” Finneran concluded.
To request a free Dummies book, click here.
Posted Thursday, March 19, 2009 by
Nancy Colwell
Earlier this month Avaya made a major announcement, naming DiVitas as its preferred dual-mode solution. This is exciting news for the Mobile Unified Communications space given Avaya’s size (number one in North America’s PBX market) – and given the fact that DiVitas is a startup company in an hot market.
And if that news wasn’t exciting enough, we already have a joint customer to talk about – a leading railroad company based in Jacksonville, Fla. – to demonstrate how the integrated Avaya-DiVitas solution can save companies $10,000+ dollars per month in cellular costs. Free WiFi phone calls go a long way toward reduced cellular costs and creating affordable telecommunications.
Freightrail-giant CSX has turned to Avaya and DiVitas to help reduce cellular calling costs and eliminate multiple handsets used by train operations personnel who roam the workplace and communicate frequently on urgent events.
For more than five years, Dori Meade, senior telecom architect for voice systems at CSX, sought a wireless dual-mode solution to reduce communications costs and eliminate the need for users to carry multiple mobile devices. One long-standing business need has been to enable rail operations employees at the Jacksonville train dispatch center to be instantly reachable to help resolve urgent problems that might slow on-time arrival or reduce safety margins. Routine duties in the dispatch center often cause key personnel to be away from their desks.
CSX supported these workers with both desk phone and cell phone, but cell coverage was spotty in the hardened facility. In the late 1990’s, CSX deployed a carrier-based in-building cellular antenna system to solve the problem. Then five years ago when the in-building cellular system was no longer supported, CSX began to explore the possibility of dual-mode capabilities. At the time, a stable dual-mode solution was not yet available and CSX adopted a 900-Mhz in-building only voice solution instead. Handling multiple devices and contact numbers remained a nuisance for the users.
From a cost-control perspective, users did not always use the lower-cost 900-Mhz handset and expensive cell minutes were still consumed in-building. Besides adding cost, the multiple systems did not provide a seamless mobile communications experience or the unified communications (UC) functionality that CSX was looking to adopt.
Last year, a solution meeting Meade’s goals became possible. As CSX standardized and began to deploy a popular wireless LAN offering, she also learned about the dual-mode telephony capability of DiVitas Networks’ Mobile Unified Communications (Mobile UC) solution. At the same time, upgrades to Avaya Communication Manager were underway, which will eventually support more than 5,000 Jacksonville employees.
They linked to the DiVitas Mobile UC solution via Avaya’s SIP Enablement Services and the result is that Avaya user extensions are transparently supported on a dual-mode mobile phone. The Mobile Unified Communications solution gives mobile users the ability to access corporate enterprise voice communications via WiFi on CSX premises with a single device via a single number. The solution further enables WiFi access from home or potentially from any WiFi hotspot and takes advantage of seamless roaming between WiFi and cellullar to avoid call interruption.
Today users at the dispatch center connect to the system through Nokia dual-mode E-51 and E-71 handsets loaded with the DiVitas Client. When dispatch managers are on the move, DiVitas automatically makes roaming decisions between WiFi and cellular networks to sustain the call, using the best voice quality and least-cost connection available. Meade identifies a potential rollout to hundreds of campus employees over the next two years as the Avaya Communication Manager upgrades are completed.
Savings from reduced cellular minutes: With dual-mode communications, cell plan minutes can be substantially reduced for on-campus mobile workers and even more so for field-workers. CSX calculates it has the potential to reduce cellular calling costs by ten to thirty percent, and foresees that a single user community within the company could alone generate savings of up to $10,000 per month.
Mobilized deskphone, Presence and Instant Messaging: The DiVitas Mobile UC solution gives access to Avaya Communication Manager features including call transfer and conferencing, as well as access to CSX’s low-cost long distance and international calling plan. The DiVitas solution also includes Unified Communications capabilities such as mobile Presence and mobile Instant Messaging (IM) to provide yet more options for improving reachability and productivity among mobile workers. Visual Voicemail is another feature users can take advantage of in their quest for affordable mobile telecommunications and a fast Fixed Mobile Convergence ROI.
One number for all your calls (single number reach): CSX professionals can manage their availability when away from the office and can receive their calls via their corporate number on their DiVitas dual-mode handset. Callers don’t need to know CSX workers’ cell numbers or home numbers, enhancing privacy, security and work-life balance. When calls are unanswered, the call is delivered to the corporate Avaya voicemail system, not the cell phone voicemail. This eliminates the wasteful (time and money) practice of missed calls and having to check multiple locations for business messages.
CSX is an innovator when it comes to being a green transportation company, and it makes it a priority to reduce its footprint on our planet. Now CSX is following this same green strategy with it's cost-reducing mobile-communications strategy.
And if that news wasn’t exciting enough, we already have a joint customer to talk about – a leading railroad company based in Jacksonville, Fla. – to demonstrate how the integrated Avaya-DiVitas solution can save companies $10,000+ dollars per month in cellular costs. Free WiFi phone calls go a long way toward reduced cellular costs and creating affordable telecommunications.
Freightrail-giant CSX has turned to Avaya and DiVitas to help reduce cellular calling costs and eliminate multiple handsets used by train operations personnel who roam the workplace and communicate frequently on urgent events.
For more than five years, Dori Meade, senior telecom architect for voice systems at CSX, sought a wireless dual-mode solution to reduce communications costs and eliminate the need for users to carry multiple mobile devices. One long-standing business need has been to enable rail operations employees at the Jacksonville train dispatch center to be instantly reachable to help resolve urgent problems that might slow on-time arrival or reduce safety margins. Routine duties in the dispatch center often cause key personnel to be away from their desks.
CSX supported these workers with both desk phone and cell phone, but cell coverage was spotty in the hardened facility. In the late 1990’s, CSX deployed a carrier-based in-building cellular antenna system to solve the problem. Then five years ago when the in-building cellular system was no longer supported, CSX began to explore the possibility of dual-mode capabilities. At the time, a stable dual-mode solution was not yet available and CSX adopted a 900-Mhz in-building only voice solution instead. Handling multiple devices and contact numbers remained a nuisance for the users.
From a cost-control perspective, users did not always use the lower-cost 900-Mhz handset and expensive cell minutes were still consumed in-building. Besides adding cost, the multiple systems did not provide a seamless mobile communications experience or the unified communications (UC) functionality that CSX was looking to adopt.
Last year, a solution meeting Meade’s goals became possible. As CSX standardized and began to deploy a popular wireless LAN offering, she also learned about the dual-mode telephony capability of DiVitas Networks’ Mobile Unified Communications (Mobile UC) solution. At the same time, upgrades to Avaya Communication Manager were underway, which will eventually support more than 5,000 Jacksonville employees.
They linked to the DiVitas Mobile UC solution via Avaya’s SIP Enablement Services and the result is that Avaya user extensions are transparently supported on a dual-mode mobile phone. The Mobile Unified Communications solution gives mobile users the ability to access corporate enterprise voice communications via WiFi on CSX premises with a single device via a single number. The solution further enables WiFi access from home or potentially from any WiFi hotspot and takes advantage of seamless roaming between WiFi and cellullar to avoid call interruption.
Today users at the dispatch center connect to the system through Nokia dual-mode E-51 and E-71 handsets loaded with the DiVitas Client. When dispatch managers are on the move, DiVitas automatically makes roaming decisions between WiFi and cellular networks to sustain the call, using the best voice quality and least-cost connection available. Meade identifies a potential rollout to hundreds of campus employees over the next two years as the Avaya Communication Manager upgrades are completed.
Savings from reduced cellular minutes: With dual-mode communications, cell plan minutes can be substantially reduced for on-campus mobile workers and even more so for field-workers. CSX calculates it has the potential to reduce cellular calling costs by ten to thirty percent, and foresees that a single user community within the company could alone generate savings of up to $10,000 per month.
Mobilized deskphone, Presence and Instant Messaging: The DiVitas Mobile UC solution gives access to Avaya Communication Manager features including call transfer and conferencing, as well as access to CSX’s low-cost long distance and international calling plan. The DiVitas solution also includes Unified Communications capabilities such as mobile Presence and mobile Instant Messaging (IM) to provide yet more options for improving reachability and productivity among mobile workers. Visual Voicemail is another feature users can take advantage of in their quest for affordable mobile telecommunications and a fast Fixed Mobile Convergence ROI.
One number for all your calls (single number reach): CSX professionals can manage their availability when away from the office and can receive their calls via their corporate number on their DiVitas dual-mode handset. Callers don’t need to know CSX workers’ cell numbers or home numbers, enhancing privacy, security and work-life balance. When calls are unanswered, the call is delivered to the corporate Avaya voicemail system, not the cell phone voicemail. This eliminates the wasteful (time and money) practice of missed calls and having to check multiple locations for business messages.
CSX is an innovator when it comes to being a green transportation company, and it makes it a priority to reduce its footprint on our planet. Now CSX is following this same green strategy with it's cost-reducing mobile-communications strategy.
Posted Thursday, February 26, 2009 by
Nancy Colwell
To: RIM co-CEO Jim Balsillie
From: DiVitas Networks
Dear Mr. Balsillie,
We are writing to you as a fellow player in the mobile communications market – not as a RIM competitor, but as your future Mobile UC partner.
After reading your recent interview with the Financial Times – and learning how RIM is responding to Blackberry competition from the likes of Apple’s iPhone - we feel compelled to extend an important message: Let’s unite Blackberry devices with DiVitas Mobile Unified Communications.
RIM is a proven winner in the market for enterprise smartphones. And DiVitas is the leader in Mobile Unified Communications. You stated the need to offer this technology to your customers in your interview with Financial Times' Ingrid Lunden. Why reinvent the wheel? Integration between DiVitas and Blackberry will enable you to quickly deliver a competitive edge in a cutthroat market.
We are convinced this would be a win-win for both parties. And judging by your comments about discussions with CIOs, you probably agree. “There is a “real urgency” around wanting more mobile unified communications … having the ability to integrate the BlackBerry devices with their existing PBXs,” you told Ms. Lunden.
Your perceived demand among your customers for Mobile UC/PBX integration makes perfect sense to us. We know CIOs want to reduce their mobile communications costs. At the same time, they want to make their employees more reachable. Mobile Unified Communications (Fixed Mobile Convergence technology combined with Unified Communications apps) lets companies reach these goals (cost cutting and increased mobility) by providing several capabilities:
1- WiFi calling to reduce monthly telecom bills (WiFi minutes don’t count against the cell plan):
2- Mobile workers carry a single device and a single number to make them consistently reachable:
3- Companies leverage their existing communications investment:
4- Taking advantage of productivity gains through Unified Communications applications:
Sincerely,
DiVitas Networks
From: DiVitas Networks
Dear Mr. Balsillie,
We are writing to you as a fellow player in the mobile communications market – not as a RIM competitor, but as your future Mobile UC partner.
After reading your recent interview with the Financial Times – and learning how RIM is responding to Blackberry competition from the likes of Apple’s iPhone - we feel compelled to extend an important message: Let’s unite Blackberry devices with DiVitas Mobile Unified Communications.
RIM is a proven winner in the market for enterprise smartphones. And DiVitas is the leader in Mobile Unified Communications. You stated the need to offer this technology to your customers in your interview with Financial Times' Ingrid Lunden. Why reinvent the wheel? Integration between DiVitas and Blackberry will enable you to quickly deliver a competitive edge in a cutthroat market.
We are convinced this would be a win-win for both parties. And judging by your comments about discussions with CIOs, you probably agree. “There is a “real urgency” around wanting more mobile unified communications … having the ability to integrate the BlackBerry devices with their existing PBXs,” you told Ms. Lunden.
Your perceived demand among your customers for Mobile UC/PBX integration makes perfect sense to us. We know CIOs want to reduce their mobile communications costs. At the same time, they want to make their employees more reachable. Mobile Unified Communications (Fixed Mobile Convergence technology combined with Unified Communications apps) lets companies reach these goals (cost cutting and increased mobility) by providing several capabilities:
1- WiFi calling to reduce monthly telecom bills (WiFi minutes don’t count against the cell plan):
- WiFi calls placed or received on-campus calls are free.
- International calls are free when placed or received over WiFi.
- WiFi calls placed or received from hotspots (home office, airport, coffee shop, hotel, etc.) are free.
- Mobile users can additionally create their own WiFi hotspot in any hotel room with WiFi – they can place free calls via WiFi and use their laptops simultaneously.
- Bridge vendors (who can charge thousands of dollars per month) can be eliminated by using DiVitas for free, in-house bridge lines for conference calling (international and local).
2- Mobile workers carry a single device and a single number to make them consistently reachable:
- Support for the Single-Number Reach capability makes a mobile device behave like a deskphone. This means mobile workers are available by a single phone number – the deskphone number – which results in fewer missed calls and helps eliminate the waste of expensive cell minutes
3- Companies leverage their existing communications investment:
- Deploying voice over the existing WLAN gives companies more bang for the WiFi buck.
- PBX integration provides support for existing deskphone features (call forward, extension dialing, call waiting, etc.).
- Mobile workers are available as if they were seated at their desks, regardless of where they are located (on-campus, in cellular mode or in a WiFi hotspot) when they place or receive calls.
4- Taking advantage of productivity gains through Unified Communications applications:
- Presence ensures that mobile workers are consistently reachable by allowing them to broadcast their availability and how best to be reached (phone, text, not available, etc.).
- Micro-blogging provides status details about where the mobile worker is and what they are doing (in a meeting, catching a flight, in the office, at the dentist, etc.).
- Instant Messaging (IM) can replace expensive text messaging for brief, discreet communication … but at no additional cost (provided there is a data plan).
- Visual Voicemail allows mobile users to eyeball messages sitting in their inbox, and decide which should be read first. This saves expensive cellular minutes and time.
- Single Voicemail Inbox Management means that mobile workers have only one voicemail inbox to manage -- the corporate mobile phone and corporate deskphone inboxes are one and the same.
Sincerely,
DiVitas Networks
Posted Monday, February 23, 2009 by
Richard Watson
By Prashant Chauhan
If you are one of the myriad organizations feeling the brunt of this economic downturn, it seems like you should be able to qualify for an Economic Stimulus Package. But you can’t qualify unless you are part of the elite: A cash-strapped bank who gave out bad loans, an automaker who totally took its eye off the ball, a local or state government whose tax revenues just dried up. Or you need to be in the business of creating a green revolution, in the business of curing the incurable...
But if you are just trying to run a decent enterprise that is forced to control costs and increase productivity to survive this downturn, sorry, you are on your own. There ain't no Economic Stimulus Package to bail you out. The average Joe-Enterprise has to bail itself out in order to survive and emerge out of this downturn.
If this describes your organization, it's very likely that you are making the tough choices of downsizing your workforce and of lowering your other operating costs. You know that you've got to live with this economic mess for some time to come. And amid all this, you have also come to realize that the only way you are going to maintain and grow your customers and revenues is by making the most of your surviving employees. In short, you must learn to use the double-edged sword of cutting the costs while maintaining, or increasing, productivity.
But things are not as impossible as they seem. At least not when it comes to controlling your telecommunications cost. There are some valuable tools out there to help you cut your enterprise communication cost while actually increasing your employee productivity in the process. And the Mobile Unified Communications solution from DiVitas Networks, for one, has the right ingredients to help make this happen. DiVitas provides an enterprise with several means for slashing costs while still unleashing employee productivity:
1- Free WiFi calling to reduce monthly telecom bills:
2- Taking advantage of productivity gains through Unified Communications applications:
3- Companies leverage their existing communications investment:
4- Mobile workers carry a single device and a single number to make them consistently reachable:
DiVitas doesn’t yet have President Obama’s ear, so we don’t have control over where the U.S. government’s economic-stimulus dollars are spent. But we do offer a bailout … Silicon-Valley style. Companies deploying the DiVitas Mobile Unified Communications solution can dramatically reduce their cell phone bills without sacrificing productivity. And they can realize ROI in a matter of months. Now that’s some stimulating news!
If you are one of the myriad organizations feeling the brunt of this economic downturn, it seems like you should be able to qualify for an Economic Stimulus Package. But you can’t qualify unless you are part of the elite: A cash-strapped bank who gave out bad loans, an automaker who totally took its eye off the ball, a local or state government whose tax revenues just dried up. Or you need to be in the business of creating a green revolution, in the business of curing the incurable...
But if you are just trying to run a decent enterprise that is forced to control costs and increase productivity to survive this downturn, sorry, you are on your own. There ain't no Economic Stimulus Package to bail you out. The average Joe-Enterprise has to bail itself out in order to survive and emerge out of this downturn.
If this describes your organization, it's very likely that you are making the tough choices of downsizing your workforce and of lowering your other operating costs. You know that you've got to live with this economic mess for some time to come. And amid all this, you have also come to realize that the only way you are going to maintain and grow your customers and revenues is by making the most of your surviving employees. In short, you must learn to use the double-edged sword of cutting the costs while maintaining, or increasing, productivity.
But things are not as impossible as they seem. At least not when it comes to controlling your telecommunications cost. There are some valuable tools out there to help you cut your enterprise communication cost while actually increasing your employee productivity in the process. And the Mobile Unified Communications solution from DiVitas Networks, for one, has the right ingredients to help make this happen. DiVitas provides an enterprise with several means for slashing costs while still unleashing employee productivity:
1- Free WiFi calling to reduce monthly telecom bills:
- WiFi calls placed or received on-campus calls are free.
- International calls are free when placed or received over WiFi.
- WiFi calls placed or received from hotspots (home office, airport, coffee shop, hotel, etc.) are free.
- Mobile users can additionally create their own WiFi hotspot in any hotel room with WiFi – they can place free calls via WiFi and use their laptops simultaneously.
- Bridge vendors (who can charge thousands of dollars per month) can be eliminated by using DiVitas for free, in-house bridge lines for conference calling (international and local).
2- Taking advantage of productivity gains through Unified Communications applications:
- Presence ensures that mobile workers are consistently reachable by allowing them to broadcast their availability and how best to be reached (phone, text, not available, etc.).
- Micro-blogging provides status details about where the mobile worker is and what they are doing (in a meeting, catching a flight, in the office, at the dentist, etc.).
- Instant Messaging (IM) can replace expensive text messaging for brief, discreet communication … but at no additional cost (provided there is a data plan).
- Visual Voicemail allows mobile users to eyeball messages sitting in their inbox, and decide which should be read first. This saves expensive cellular minutes and time.
- Single Inbox Management means that mobile workers have only one voicemail inbox to manage because the corporate mobile phone and corporate deskphone inboxes are one and the same.
3- Companies leverage their existing communications investment:
- Deploying voice over the existing WLAN gives companies more bang for the WiFi buck.
- PBX integration provides support for existing deskphone features (call forward, extension dialing, call waiting, etc.). Mobile workers are available as if they were seated at their desks, regardless of where they are located (on-campus, in cellular mode or in a WiFi hotspot) when they place or receive a call.
4- Mobile workers carry a single device and a single number to make them consistently reachable:
- Support for the Single-Number Reach capability makes a mobile device behave like a deskphone. This means mobile workers are available by a single phone number – the deskphone number – which results in fewer missed calls and helps eliminate the waste of expensive cell minutes.
DiVitas doesn’t yet have President Obama’s ear, so we don’t have control over where the U.S. government’s economic-stimulus dollars are spent. But we do offer a bailout … Silicon-Valley style. Companies deploying the DiVitas Mobile Unified Communications solution can dramatically reduce their cell phone bills without sacrificing productivity. And they can realize ROI in a matter of months. Now that’s some stimulating news!
Posted Friday, January 16, 2009 by
Nancy Colwell
Mobile phones are replacing corporate deskphones at such a rate that companies should consider Mobile Unified Communications (Mobile UC) a must-have solution. This is because Mobile UC will help them manage the rising tide of mobile devices and curb – rather than absorb – the associated costs.
According to a new Gartner report – Enterprise Mobile Phones Will Replace Desktop Phones in North America – the number of enterprise mobile phones in North America will overtake the number desktop phones by 2011. What does this mean to businesses? They need to manage this influx of phones in order to control cost and usage.
Among Gartner’s preparedness recommendations and where DiVitas Mobile Unified Communications (Mobile UC) should be deployed to resolve issues:
Gartner Recommendation: Enterprises should mitigate the higher costs of wireless services by looking at alternative in-building solutions, including mobile unified communications and zoned pricing.
DiVitas Solution: With DiVitas Mobile UC, companies can ROI in a matter of months because the solution immediately helps reduce mobile-communications costs through free WiFi calling. In contrast, a company can spend as much as $100,000 on a Distributed Antenna System (DAS) or picocell equipment and implementation alone. DiVitas (which includes Fixed Mobile Convergence technology for seamless roaming between WiFi and cellular) is a software solution that integrates with any vendor’s communications-infrastructure equipment (WLAN, PBX, handset, carrier etc.). It is a fraction of the DAS or picocell cost to deploy because, most often, the WiFi network has already been deployed by the hosting enterprise. And it is managed in-house by a company’s IT department as opposed to a carrier.
Gartner Recommendation: Enterprises should prepare for the onslaught of mobile devices by writing and extending mobile phone policies across the different areas of IT, not just telecommunications.
DiVitas Solution: IT departments both want and need to control mobile phone usage in a similar way they control desk phone usage. In doing so, they can take advantage of carriers’ pooled minute programs by having all mobile workers on the same cellular services vs. paying individually and submitting monthly expense reports. This will dramatically save on cell minute costs.
Gartner Recommendation: Enterprises should carefully plan who gets wireless service and how that service is managed.
DiVitas Solution: With DiVitas, mobile workers who spend all, or the majority of, their time on campus can be WiFi-only. This means all calls are free. They are also able to move about the campus freely and all the while they are taking advantage of the DiVitas feature set. No missed calls at no additional (celluar) cost. Their deskphone and DiVitas features go where they go.
Gartner Recommendation: Prepare to remove unused and unwanted desk phones to reduce support costs.
DiVitas Solution: Many workers today prefer to be accessible by one device. DiVitas makes this possible by making a mobile phone behave as a deskphone. The mobile device’s phone number is the same as the deskphone extension, they share the same visual voicemail inbox and all of the DiVitas UC features (i.e. IM, Presence and microblogging) are available, regardless of location.
If Gartner’s prediction is true – that that 23% of enterprise mobile
users will only have a mobile phone, compared with 4% today – then companies will want a solution that brings those phones into the fold for better manageability. DiVitas does this, and it significantly cuts costs in the process.
Posted Wednesday, January 7, 2009 by
Nancy Colwell
Industry analyst (and expert) Michael Finneran and DiVitas are like-minded when it comes to saving money during these tough economic times. If you read Finneran’s recent blog The FMC Payoff: Saving Money with Converged Networks, you’ll get my point.
According to Finneran, “… saving money will be a recurring theme for 2009, and in the mobility space the cellular budget will be the best place to start.” (We followed a similar line of reasoning in our recent blog, What’s Good for a Bad Economy? Mobile Unified Communications.)
The point is, just because budgets are getting tighter, it doesn’t mean that communication will come to a halt: Sales still need to happen, customers still need to be supported, co-workers still need to collaborate with one another …
In fact, the use of mobile phones in business is expected to go up, not down. Companies should therefore consider the DiVitas Mobile Unified Communications solution, which offers the least expensive way to enable communication, among the maximum amount of mobile workers.
As Finneran sees it: “Analysts estimate that cellular services now represent about 25% of the telecom budget, and that percentage is growing steadily with the increased use of mobile services coupled with the byzantine pricing plans offered by the cellular carriers.
As a large percentage of that cellular usage occurs while the user is in the office, migrating that traffic to a wireless LAN is an obvious alternative.”
Finneran points to a DiVitas customer as case-in-point illustration of his cost-savings logic. At VoiceCon San Francisco, Finneran hosted a panel titled User Case Studies: Mobility in the Enterprise.
“One of the participants, Greg Ireland, Executive Officer at the Thirteenth District Court in New Mexico had a great story to tell about his implementation of a fixed-mobile convergence solution from DiVitas Networks,” says Finneran.
The DiVitas deployment is not only helping the Court “provide better service and function more efficiently, it also saves money. As much of the calling has been shifted from the cellular network to the WLAN, Mr. Ireland has been able to scale back his cellular plan, cutting the cellular bill for those users by 60%.” Read the complete case study here.
As they say, the proof is in the pudding – or in this case, the customer’s testimonial. We’re not happy about the current state of the economy, but we are ecstatic that we have a solution that can help companies ease their pain.
Posted Monday, December 8, 2008 by
Nancy Colwell
I read an article last week by Carl Weinschenk that did an excellent job of rounding up facts about the Fixed Mobile Convergence market (FMC) – facts that reveal FMC is verging on success.
Here is some data offered up by FMC Continues to Impress in Concept, Gather Steam in the Field:
- It points to a case study about a company that deployed Fixed Mobile Convergence, and is now saving $50 per employee, per month.
- It points to a report by Infonetics Resarch, which estimates that sales of dual-mode phone reached $7.6 billion during the last quarter and will be up 16 percent for the year.
- It sites activity among telecom providers (DiVitas currently partners with carriers).
- It points to an eWeek article shedding light on the DiVitas solution and what it offers.
According to Weinschenk, “FMC is a planner’s dream: It promises to cut costs, reduce complexity and increase productivity. The better news is that the promise gradually is being realized in the field.”
We couldn’t agree more with Weinschenk.
- We are seeing steady gains in customer deployments – cost reduction through seamless roaming because cell minutes are replaced with free WiFi (especially important in today’s tough economic climate).
- Handset manufacturers are meeting demand for quality dual-mode handsets (Nokia’s E71 smartphone is currently a big hit).
- Carriers are finding a fit between FMC (and Mobile Unified Communications (Mobile UC) as a whole) and their subscribers. It’s more practical and economical to partner with a Mobile UC company like DiVitas than build a solution from scratch.
We are definitely seeing FMC “impress” and “gather steam in the field” as stated by Weinschenk.
Posted Wednesday, December 3, 2008 by
Nancy Colwell
We had one of those customer meetings yesterday that leaves you proud of your solution and the team you work with. Deploying DiVitas will help this customer, which has a cell phone bill upwards of $40,000 per month, cut down its hefty mobile-communications costs. Seamless roaming (Fixed Mobile Convergence technology) is responsible for this because it replaces cellular minutes with free WiFi.
The customer’s communications infrastructure includes several components, each from different manufacturers (PBX, WLAN, handsets, etc.). But they interfaced directly with DiVitas and their own team of engineers during the installation. It goes without saying that we are not a huge company, so it is fair to say that we do not have a fleet of engineers and support staff to dedicate to each customer site (and we have more than a few of those!). We work with the big guns, but we’re still growing. We rely on the quality of our support&engineering staff -- and the quality and simplicity of our solution, to make DiVitas painless to deploy. And that it did.
Here’s what this customer’s Senior Telecom Architect had to say: “DiVitas has been very helpful and supportive in working with us. We’ve had our fair share of issues along the way, but they were not related to DiVitas. Everyone from DiVitas has been accessible and responsive all along the way.”
The experience wasn’t A-Typical for DiVitas, in fact it’s common. However, since I was staring at my notes from yesterday’s meeting, I figured it was something to blog about. Kind of like when your straight-A kid brings home a perfect report card. You expect it, but you’re pleased nonetheless.
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