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Loading ...Bell Canada may disconnect Cybersurf, affecting thousands of Calgary-area customers
According to a CBC News report by Peter Novak, Bell Canada served Calgary-based independent ISP Cybersurf with “a notice to disconnect for failing to pay for rented network access” earlier today.
Cybersurf provides dial-up Internet, high speed DSL and phone services under its own brand by renting parts of Bell’s network, says Novak. “A disconnection would render Cybersurf incapable of delivering many of its services to customers.”
“Cybersurf claims Bell and other suppliers have overcharged the company, and it is in the middle of negotiating what is owed,” he states.
If the situation is not resolved, Cybersurf will take legal action against Bell, said Cybersurf’s chief operating officer Marcel Mercia.
“Bell spokeswoman Jacqueline Michelis declined to comment specifically on the matter, saying only the company does not disclose customer account information,” states Novak.
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(Rate This Article) Loading ...Mediatrix gateways work with Objectworld UC server
Sherbrooke, QUEBEC, August 28, 2008 – Mediatrix Telecom, a maker of Voice over Internet Protocol access devices and gateways, says its 1204 and 3000 Series VoIP gateways have achieved interoperability with Objectworld’s Unified Communications (UC) Server.
Designed specifically for the SMB marketplace, the companys said customers will benefit from having integrated VoIP gateway and UC Server solutions that enable businesses to implement unified communications, simplifying business processes and increasing productivity for their end users.
“Mediatrix is a well-known market leader for VoIP access devices, gateways and routers. We’re very excited to tell customers that we’ve certified them as an Objectworld Connect Interoperability Program partner,” David Levy, chief executive officer for Objectworld, said in a news release.
Objectworld Unified Communications (UC) Server software features SIP telephony, Microsoft Active Directory integration and interoperability with legacy telephony systems. Capabilities include call-flow management, unified messaging, unified communications, interactive voice response, fax server, text-to-speech, and more.
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(Rate This Article) Loading ...Fluke updates Visual Performance Manager
Fluke Networks today announced global availability of Visual Performance Manager 4.0, the latest version of its performance management system. Visual Performance Manager 4.0 improves delivery of business services by pinpointing the root cause of networked application performance issues with a new high-end Application Performance Solution and a patented software analytics engine.
Benefits of the new version are said to be easy identification of which applications are performing poorly with quick drill down ability to pinpoint why, elimination of finger pointing between groups through individual client/application response metrics, and simplified troubleshooting and reduced mean-time-to-repair (MTTR) of multi-tier applications by visibly time-correlating the transactions of the multiple tiers.
In addition to providing faster analysis through the new Application Performance Appliance, Fluke said Visual Performance Manager 4.0 also offers a new intelligent alarm view which “learns” based on real-world data. The alarm information is presented as a single, unified view from data sources such as Visual Performance Manager Analysis Service Elements (ASEs) and the Application Performance Appliance.
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(Rate This Article) Loading ...Cisco to buy PostPath
“The acquisition of PostPath complements our strategy to develop an integrated collaboration platform designed for how we work today and into the future, providing real productivity gains and a more satisfying user experience,” Doug Dennerline, senior vice-president of Cisco’s collaboration software group, said in a press release. “Our ‘cloud-based’ delivery model offers our customers rapid deployment and compelling economics.”
PostPath’s Linux-based e-mail, calendaring and collaboration solution is interoperable with many other e-mail solutions and provides a browser-independent AJAX Web client. In addition, PostPath’s software is compatible with a number of mobile clients.
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(Rate This Article) Loading ...DMTI joins BlackBerry alliance
DMTI Spatial Inc. has entered into a new partnership with Research In Motion (RIM) Ltd. that it says will help bring enterprise location intelligence capabilities to BlackBerry smartphones.
The Markham, Ont.-based company joined the BlackBerry Independent Software Vendor Alliance program this week. As part of the alliance, DMTI will gain access to RIM’s business and marketing resources. The company also plans to develop advanced mobility solutions for RIM’s flagship smartphone using DMTI’s Location Hub technology platform.
“Many of our customers use BlackBerry smartphones in their operations, so it’s a logical step for DMTI to develop applications for this leading mobile platform,” Michael Byalik, senior vice-president and general manager of enterprise solutions at DMTI, said in a release. “Becoming a part of the BlackBerry ISV Alliance Program will enable us to expand our mobile strategy, strengthen our market presence, and continue to provide our customers with strategic location intelligence solutions to solve their most critical business challenges.”
As a result of the partnership, DMTI said BlackBerry users will be able to take advantage of features such as real-time geographic information to track vehicles, conduct field assessments, and manage sales territories.
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(Rate This Article) Loading ...Celerra NX4 supports virtualized storage
EMC Corp. is shipping the Celerra NX4, which supports up to 60 Terabytes of storage in the form of SATA disk drives and is targeted at small to mid-sized businesses.
The product includes virtualized storage, with the SnapSure data protection software, which allows for read-only and read-writable logical point-in-time copies of data.
EMC says it can be used with network-attached storage iSCSI and Fiber Channel storage-area networks.
The Celerra NX4 works on Windows, Linux and Unix, plus VMWare’s ESX Server. It also works with applications like Microsoft Exchange, SQL Server, Oracle, WMWare Virtual Desktop Infrastructure and VMWare Site Recovery Manager.
It lets administrators tier storage, taking into account availability, cost and energy efficiency.
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(Rate This Article) Loading ...Competition Bureau eyes Google-Yahoo deal
Canada’s Competition Bureau is concerned that a new deal between Google Inc. and Yahoo Inc. will result in rising costs for Canadian companies looking to buy ads online.
The world’s two biggest search engines plan to partner, in a deal which would see ads from Google appear on Yahoo’s search results pages. The Competition Bureau announced it is launching an investigation into the matter.
Spokespeople for the Competition Bureau said that combining Yahoo with market leader Google could create a near monopoly on Canada’s search market. Industry observers have speculated that an agreement would leave Canada without competition in online search and allow Google to charge exorbitant prices for its ad space.
Google and Yahoo plan to finalize the partnership later this year.
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(Rate This Article) Loading ...Q9 Networks spends $50M on third Calgary data centre
If you’re running out of capacity at your current data centre and looking to build a new one in-house, you may want to think twice, according to Q9 Networks Inc.
To meet the demand from more and more Canadian enterprises choosing to outsource their data centres, the Toronto-based data centre infrastructure provider has begun a $50 million project to create a third Calgary-based data centre facility. CEO Osama Arafat said that where most Canadian data centre projects fail is in the company’s inability to think to the future.
“People are realizing that building and operating a data centre is not part of their core competency,” he said. “The best way to be future proofed is by outsourcing your data centre. If the service provider doesn’t keep up with your demands, you can always move to another data centre. But if you build your own, you’re at the risk of making a mistake as your business continues to grow.”
For IT managers that want to avoid doing it themselves advice and go with a hosted provider, Arafat advised companies to keep on the lookout for a few things. Features such as outside air cooling capabilities, Heating Ventilating Air Conditioning (HVAC) and fire suppression systems, and redundant power systems, Arafat said, top the list of must haves for a service provider.
“Cooling wise – specifically if the building permits – we try to use outside air to save on energy costs,” he said. “Anytime the temperature outside is cool enough, we’ll switch to that versus mechanical cooling. Especially in Canada, you need take advantage of the cold climate.”
Having redundant power, Arafat added, means that you’ll never have a single point-of-failure in your facility. “So, you’ll want to make sure you have more diesel generators then you need, for example. That way, if a single component breaks down, it doesn’t impact your power, HPAC, or network.”
And in addition to having reliable technology running your data centre, Arafat stressed the need for air tight security as well. At Q9’s Calgary facilities, the company has implemented biometric security systems, in addition to a 24 hour a day security team.
“In our data centres, access is controlled through biometric security,” he said “Employee’s can only authenticate themselves through their finger prints.”
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(Rate This Article) Loading ...OnX grabs partners up with MIC Partner
Enterprise applications partner OnX Enterprise Solutions announced today its acquisition of the Toronto-based business software partner MIC Partner.
OnX, a recent HP Canada Partner of the Year, will use the company’s business technology optimization expertise to round out its HP consulting offerings.
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(Rate This Article) Loading ...Majority shareholder backs down from Corel deal
Corel Corp.’s majority shareholder, San Francisco-based Vector Capital Corp., has pulled out of its $87 million to buy the rest of the Ottawa-based software company.
Vector Capital said Monday it has removed its bid “in the interest of facilitating Corel’s pursuit of these third-party strategic alternatives.”
The private-equity currently owns approximately 69 per cent of the outstanding shares of Corel, and had offered $11 a share in cash to purchase the remaining shares in the company. Speculation suggests that Corel’s tumbling stock price, which traded at $9.44 on Friday, might have caused Vector to back down from the offer.
The deal would have allowed Vector to assume complete ownership of Corel for the first time since it initially privatized the software vendor back in 2003. At that time, Vector paid $98 million for ownership of Corel, but then returned the company to public trading after its 2006 stock sale.
