How timely that this week we share our monthly SMB Voice newsletter covering all things UC, VoIP, voice and telecom in the SMB space. Why? Because our lead-off article summarizing the recent BlackBerry World conference in early May in Orlando is “followed” by the fact that BlackBerry is our platinum sponsor at the SMB 150 award dinner in LA tomorrow night (May 16^th). How fitting!

Did you know that the 10^th Annual SMB Nation Fall Conference site is now live?! We currently have a number of speakers and sponsors listed for this landmark event, taking place October 12-14 at the Rio Hotel in Las Vegas, NV. Check out the site here!

Cheers,

Harrybbb

Harry Brelsford | Founder | SMB Nation, Inc. | www.smbnation.com

Highlights of BlackBerry World 2012

By Chris Bangs, Account Executive at SMB Nation, Inc.

Yesterday at BlackBerry World, CEO Thorsten Heins confirmed a 4G playbook to be released by the end of 2012. (Pictured right, the showroom floor at BlackBerry World 2012, Photo: Jeremiah Ilges)

The new BlackBerry Playbook will have a dual-core 1.5Ghz processor and a Near Field Communication (NFC) chip built-in. It will be similar in appearance to the first-gen PlayBook but will probably have a larger screen. We were told by one source that there will be a 10-inch 4G PlayBook released this year, but this remains unconfirmed by corporate.

There is a lot of love out there for Blackberry, it just needs a home. It looks like it will get that later this year. BlackBerry is still firmly in the race. Besides M&A interest from a couple of big players, RIM is full steam ahead on innovation and research. With a nice loyalty base and new technology expect an exciting finish to 2012.

BlackBerry (RIM) has been a pioneer and major innovator in PDA and mobile technology since the dawn of time. If you think that they are going to roll over and play dead while the rest of the industry tramples them beneath their feet, think again.

Chris Bangs was joined at BlackBerry World 2012 by Jeremiah Ilges, Director of Business Development & Strategic Relationships at SMB Nation, Inc. Jeremiah, an accomplished photographer, captured the images below of BB10 Preview Stations (left) and the back of an Advanced Tech Police Vehicle (right), as well as the image of the showroom floor (the top of this article) at BlackBerry World 2012.

Updates!:

• Research In Motion® (RIM®) President and CEO Thorsten Heins unveiled details about the BlackBerry 10 mobile computing engine and provided his vision for the future of BlackBerry during the BlackBerry World keynote.
• RIM released the initial BlackBerry 10 Developer Toolkit for native and HTML5 application development.
• RIM revealed a number of key partners who have already confirmed their support for the upcoming launch of the BlackBerry 10 platform. These include Endomondo, Fishlabs, Wikitude, Gameloft, Mippin, Occipital, PixelMags, Poynt and Truphone

Polycom to Divest Enterprise Wireless Voice Solutions Biz for $110 Million

By Regina Ciardiello, Editor at SMB Nation, Inc.

Polycom said that it has decided to divest its enterprise wireless voice solutions business to an affiliate of Sun Capital Partners, Inc. for gross proceeds of approximately $110 million in cash, subject to certain adjustments set forth in the agreement. The sale is expected to close within the third quarter of 2012, following specific requirements and conditions.

According to Andy Miller, President and CEO, Polycom, the reason to divest the company’s wireless voice solutions business was due in part to the company growing over the last 2 years, and its desire to capture the video collaboration market. This includes traditional and new delivery platforms including mobile, social and cloud.

“The sale of our wireless handset business is a further step toward focusing our product and technology portfolio on our core unified communications and video collaboration solutions, including extending the reach of the Polycom RealPresence Platform,” Miller said. “The closing of this transaction will allow Polycom to concentrate on initiatives that support our vision of making video collaboration ubiquitous through open, standards-based software delivered to anyone, across any environment and device. Moreover, the divestiture of the enterprise wireless voice solutions business will allow us to focus on the stronger sales growth and higher gross margins of Polycom’s core unified communications business.”

This strategic decision to divest the wireless voice business reflects Polycom’s focus on initiatives that extend the company’s leadership in its unified communications business. Polycom’s enterprise wireless voice portfolio, which is part of the UC personal product category, includes Wi-Fi and DECT handsets, related infrastructure and accessories, and generated revenues of approximately $94 million in calendar year 2011.

“This is a good and not surprising move for Polycom, as it allows them to concentrate their energy and resources on the core, strategic components of their business in order to drive further innovation and adoption of video collaboration,” Rich Costello, IDC senior research analyst, said in a media statement.

Broadvox Appoints New CTO

Earlier this week, Broadvox, a leading VoIP provider, appointed Craig Eidem as their new Chief Technology Officer.

Mr. Eidem brings over 25 years of experience in the product delivery sector of the tech industry. He has worked for AT&T Wireless, Advanced Radio Telecom, Sundstrand, Speakeasy, and most recently, Meterocom, which is a joint-venture of railroad companies in the process of building a nationwide wireless network for traffic control.

“I am excited to join the Broadvox management team at this point in its history,” said Mr. Eidem in a press release¹ earlier this week. “Broadvox has a solid IP platform and skilled employees who have been in the business for over twenty years. I will build on this strength as Broadvox expands its services and reach.”

He holds a Bachelor’s in Science in Electrical Engineering Technology from DeVry University.

More Information about Broadvox

¹Broadvox Press Release, Broadvox names Craig Eidem as CTO, 8 May, 2012

ShoreTel Announces New Remote Monitoring Service Offering

Last week, ShoreTel, a leading provider of cloud-based and on-premise communications solutions, released news of a new Remote Monitoring service. This new service is in keeping with ShoreTel’s desire to bring simple, yet effective solutions to businesses.

Don Joos, VP of Global Services at Shoretel, is excited about the new offering: “The great thing about this service is that it moves support and problem response out in front of the end-user experience,”
he said in a press release today. “System events and notifications can provide information for action before an end user experiences any problem. With this service it is possible to fix issues before they are even noticed.”

ShoreTel’s Remote Monitoring solution is a 365-24-7 service that provides proactive monitoring for all on-premise ShoreTel IP PBX products. ShoreTel’s management system collects and interprets relevant data, then formats it for use by the ShoreTel Technical Assistance Center. In addition, the monitoring team assigned to a specific customer’s installation can be notified of any issues on short notice. This solution is scalable, and is designed for both existing and new ShoreTel customers. ShoreTel is predicting this solution to be available for ordering by the end of May 2012.

More Information about ShoreTel, Inc.

See the Press Release here

SMB Nation Fall 2012!

Join us October 12-14 at the Rio Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada for the 10^th Annual SMB Nation Fall Conference! See the event site here! We have a list of 12 speakers and sponsors already posted for this occasion, with many more to come!

Q2 2012 SMB Nation Magazine is HERE! Download NOW!

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