In computing, a Parallel Sysplex is a cluster of IBM mainframes acting together as a single system image with z/OS. Used for disaster recovery, Parallel Sysplex combines data sharing and parallel computing to allow a cluster of up to 32 systems to share a workload for high performance and high availability.
via IBM Parallel Sysplex – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Of course NASA is just one of the latest high profile mainframe decommissionings. In 2009 The U.S. House of Representatives took its last mainframe offline. At the time Network World wrote: “The last mainframe supposedly enjoyed “quasi-celebrity status” within the House data center, having spent 12 years keeping the House’s inventory control records and financial management data, among other tasks. But it was time for a change, with the House spending $30,000 a year to power the mainframe and another $700,000 each year for maintenance and support.”
via Layer 8: NASA unplugs last mainframe.
Cue violins.
For the publication of unique telecommunications research and fresh insights into the business.
via Telecom Insights.
Lower demand for PBX systems is not driven from a macroeconomic business cycle or some other temporary event. Telecom VARs are experiencing a much more microeconomic shift in technology that could better be classified as permanent, structural impairment to forward demand. The majority of Telecom VARs will cease to exist in their present form 24 months from now.
We design and implement a vast array of communication products that allow businesses to operate in the most effective and efficient manner possible. From traditional telephone systems to VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) we strive to meet and exceed all technological expectations for business success.
via Sound Incorporated.
You can hardly make it out but I think the address of this place is 1550 Shore Road in Naperville. For a company in the telecommunications business I find it strange how they can’t put together a decent readable web site. They also serve up pdfs for invitations like those awful restaurant web site serving up menus as pdfs.
Multi Phone Hold
We have a number of locals that dial more than one set and, on our legacy Nortel Meridian, the users used to be able to place the call on hold on one set, and pick it up on another. When we switched to Asterisk, this was the most complained about missing feature, so I came up with the following trickery to make our Polycoms emulate the same functionality.
via Asterisk Key System Emulation – voip-info.org.
SLA=Shared Line Experience
SLA can also be confused with Service Level Agreement which is also a telecom acronym.
Upon reporting Q2 financial results last week, ShoreTel (SHOR) may have momentary roused some in a sleepy industry. While its overall business performance in the quarter was largely in-line with expectations, it was the announcement of its planned acquisition of M5 Networks, a hosted, business phone service provider that would have caused the awakening. The announced acquisition marks the first, focused entrance into the fast growing but fragmented hosted telecom services business by a major PBX manufacture and may well set the stage for others to follow. In an industry that has long eschewed the hosted-voice platform the way a king might a peasant, the announcement is sure to bring about a polarizing discussion.
via Can You Hear Me Now? ShoreTel Sends A Clear Message To The Competition – Seeking Alpha.
Hosted VOIP provider M5 Networks announced on Nov. 3 that it has acquired Chicago-based Geckotech for $8 million.The combined companies will handle what company officials describe as the “exploding demand” for business-grade hosted VOIP services.
Dated Nov. 3, 2010
With the poor economic climate and companies slashing IT budgets, demand has grown for hosted VOIP services. Organizations, whether they are large enterprises, midsized or small businesses, looked at hosted telephony to cut costs without giving up critical communications applications.
Geckotech offered customers a Cisco-powered hosted VOIP platform as well as additional services, including phone service installation, system management and in-house customer support. The company offered free maintenance, and unlimited system and feature upgrades.
Geckotech was evaluating ways to overhaul its technology to obtain an enhanced phone experience and robust applications “without the use of licensing arrangements,” said M5 Networks. Geckotech did not specify its reasons for not wanting to license the technology.
Geckotech selected M5 Networks’ Call Conductor platform and rolled it out to some existing customers, M5 Networks said. With the acquisition, the remaining Geckotech customers will be “seamlessly” integrated to M5 Networks’ systems throughout the next year, said M5 Networks.
Remote Authentication Dial In User Service (RADIUS) is a networking protocol that provides centralized Authentication, Authorization, and Accounting (AAA) management for computers to connect and use a network service. RADIUS was developed by Livingston Enterprises, Inc., in 1991 as an access server authentication and accounting protocol and later brought into the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) standards.[1]
CoovaChilli is an open-source software access controller, based on the popular (but now defunct) ChilliSpot project, and is actively maintained by an original ChilliSpot contributor. CoovaChilli is released under the GNU General Public License (GPL). Contact us for commercial support and licensing options.
via CoovaChilli | Coova :: Open Source Captive Portal Access Controller and RADIUS Software.
Afghanistan’s Amazing DIY Internet | Co.Exist: World changing ideas and innovation.
The Afghan city of Jalalabad has a high-speed Internet network whose main components are built out of trash found locally. Aid workers, mostly from the United States, are using the provincial city in Afghanistan’s far east as a pilot site for a project called FabFi.