Integration of EngageIP Billing and OSS with EZTax offers a ready made billing and taxing system that enables Telesphere to accurately and efficiently rate, tax and manage their core Hosted VoIP service, according to the companies.

“We’ve been in partnership with Flavio and his team at LogiSense for a number of years and we’re exceptionally pleased at how our relationship has benefited a number of mutual customers,” says Vicki Klein, president of BillSoft. “The recent addition of Telesphere, an award winning and fast growing provider of IP telephony and internet services, reinforces the value of our partnership.”

Flavio Gomes, President of LogiSense adds, “Our mutual customers now have the ability to have a complete rating, billing and tax platform that is fully integrated and which removes the pain associated with complex billing and taxing environments.  We’re extremely pleased to have been selected by the Telesphere team and to realize a successful live deployment.”

The combined EngageIP and EZTax platform is being used to service catalogue, rate, bill and tax Teleshphere’s VoIP and Broadband Internet services assuring accurate revenue and fast go-to-market capability.

The demand for web conferencing services continues to increase as travel budgets decrease. To help meet the needs of organizations around the globe, ACT and its resellers now can offer flat-rate billing for unlimited web conferencing, available on a monthly or annual basis. This new billing structure enables resellers to pass along even more savings and convenience to their web conferencing customers. 

In conjunction with this new fee structure, ACT has upgraded its on-demand webinar service, ReadyConnect Web Meeting, to include Internet Explorer 8.0, Firefox 3.5 and Safari 4 support, audiocasting, recording, enhanced security features and user experience improvements. With these enhancements, ACT resellers can compete with any web conferencing provider around the globe by offering the highest quality services at a convenient price point, according to the company.

“ACT works closely with our partners around the world to ensure we are continuously providing the products and support they need to generate revenue quickly and help them grow their businesses,” says Marina Bogard, chief sales and marketing officer, ACT Conferencing. “Service assurance is top priority for ACT.”

Bogard adds that the company's partner revenue has increased by 57 percent in 2009. The most recent partners to join ACT are Advoda Communications, Vimenture and idea! Communications Group.

“Improved bookings combined with increasing customer demand afford us the opportunity to accelerate our investments for growth,” says Keith Olsen, CEO and president of Switch and Data. “Network-centric companies are rolling out multiple new service offerings which continue to demand more infrastructure and interconnection capacities across more local, regional and global markets. Our company’s broad footprint of data centers and interconnection services play a crucial role in supporting the growth of these customers’ network based services.”

The $100 million is in the form of delayed draw term loans, governed by an amendment to the company’s existing credit agreement. Royal Bank of Canada will act as administrative agent and collateral agent, and RBC Capital Markets acted as lead arranger and bookrunner for the new debt financing.

The joint venture will offer a carrier Ethernet solution for mobile backhaul, business and residential broadband networks. Incorporated in Amsterdam under the name “Carrier Ethernet Solutions B.V.,” the joint venture company will be owned 60 percent by Juniper Networks and 40 percent by Nokia Siemens Networks. 

John Stewart, previously a vice president and general manager of the Mobility and Circuit Emulation Business Unit at Juniper Networks, will lead the joint venture company as chief executive officer. Ton van den Boom, previously senior manager in finance and control from Nokia Siemens Networks, will take on the role of chief financial officer. The company will also have a supervisory board chaired by Manoj Leelanivas, senior vice president and general manager of the Edge and Aggregation Business Unit at Juniper Networks, while Bernd Schumacher, head of Broadband Connectivity Solutions at Nokia Siemens Networks, will serve as vice chairman.

“The Juniper-Nokia Siemens Networks joint venture will offer the industry’s best unified Carrier Ethernet solution from metro access to aggregation, fully interoperable with IP/MPLS core and managed by Nokia Siemens Networks ‘point and click’ network management system,” says incoming CEO John Stewart. “Our customers will be able to leverage the solution to offer new revenue-generating services while lowering transport costs and total cost of ownership. We look forward to offering this powerful solution to new and existing service provider customers.”

The solution will consist of Juniper Networks MX Series Ethernet Services Routers and Nokia Siemens Networks’ A-series carrier Ethernet switches and end-to-end network management system including “point-and-click” provisioning. The joint venture will integrate these components into a seamless and fully-tested end-to-end solution.

The plans call for the new solutions to be sold by both companies with a targeted introduction date of the first calendar quarter of 2010.

“XCast offered us the best combination of price and quality," says Jim George, president of American Cable Services. "We tested their service in some poorly served, out-of-the-way areas, and it worked flawlessly every time. This allows us to effectively compete against AT&T’s triple-play offering.”

Suite Solutions Technologies’ Chief Executive Officer and President, Tom Hamway, offers a similar sentiment. “We chose XCast Labs because its products include things like video phones and because they are willing to work with us to meet our specific needs. We feel that XCast Labs will help us stay ahead of the technology curve as Voice-over-IP (VoIP) evolves, while keeping our costs at a level that makes the phone business profitable for us.”

ACS, based in Ocala, Fla., is a whole-house "structured wiring" provider, serving customers in many Florida communities. The company offers VoIP, Internet, computer networking, intercom, security, Cable TV, and other services.  In addition, ACS helps its partners, project coordinators and construction crews design homes and buildings to meet the communications, data and security needs of both builders and residents.

Suite Solutions Technologies provides high-speed Internet, Cable TV and Digital Satellite Services to residential apartment and condominium communities. The Company is headquartered in Toledo, Ohio, and has nearly 10,000 customers in multiple markets throughout six states.

Cliff Rees, XCast Labs CEO and founder, notes that, “In all candor, XCast stands apart. Unlike more expensive offerings from other wholesale service providers, XCast, through its proprietary, hosted Digital Voice and Video (DV&V) platform, supports customers with an integrated back office system, 99.995 percent uptime and significantly more features. Also, we are able to activate service within 10to 15 days, compared to other service providers that need several months.

“The ADVA FSP 150 will play a key role in the success of Openreach’s EAD services,” states Bill Jones, general manager, Connectivity Services Product Management at Openreach. “ADVA Optical Networking has a proven track record of helping us to meet our customer and regulatory demands, delivering innovative and effective network solutions that answer real industry needs. The ADVA FSP 150 provides our customers with previously unattainable levels of network intelligence and management.”

Designed to supersede Openreach’s current Ethernet offerings, EAD will deliver point-to-point fixed symmetrical Ethernet bandwidth services ranging from 10Mbit/s to 1,000Mbit/s. Stretching across distances of 35km radial and up to a maximum of 66km route fiber, these new cost-effective services will form the foundation of Openreach’s next-generation service roll out and will complement Openreach’s Ethernet Backhaul Direct (EBD) and Bulk Transport Link (BTL) products.