Brightbridge Wealth Management Headlines: Siemens Enterprise Communications introduces AudioPresence(TM) HD
July 31st, 2011 | 
Author: http://www.callcentreclinic.com/news/technology/siemens-enterprise-communications-introduces-audiopresencetm-hd-45588.htm
15th July 2011 – In a continuing effort to innovate and help customers maximize productivity, Siemens Enterprise Communications has introduced AudioPresenceTM HD, which ensures that all OpenStage IP phone users can experience the highest quality audio for voice calls and audio conferences, at no additional cost for the functionality. Unlike other major brands, the OpenStage range provides high-definition voice capabilities across the entire line of OpenStage IP phones, including the newly announced OpenStage 5 entry-level phone. With the introduction of AudioPresence HD, the OpenStage portfolio extends its legacy of reliability and quality acoustic engineering.
“Siemens Enterprise Communications’ efforts to extend HD voice across its entire IP portfolio with AudioPresence increases the overall value of its already high quality proven IP desktop phones, allowing customers to enjoy a natural voice experience with higher voice quality, superior clarity, better intelligibility and a richer sound experience,” said Mohamed Alaa Saayed, Senior Industry Analyst with Frost & Sullivan. “The overall result is higher degrees of customer satisfaction and increased productivity.”
This innovation is particularly applicable to a truly global audience. Research has shown that interactions among people with diverse native language backgrounds have increased dramatically and will continue to rise. For example, research from the Federal Institute of Research in Zurich, showed that official Globalization Indexes for information flows has increased more than 60% over the past two decades, and a global survey conducted by Associates for International Research, Inc. (AIRINC) showed that 42% of companies reported an increase in their expatriate populations in 2010, while 49% expect an increase in this number in 2011. Additionally, global research firm MZA Ltd. predicts the worldwide conferencing solutions market will grow to near $8 billion at a compound growth rate of over 13% due to the restrictions on business travel – demonstrating an ever increasing and high level of reliance on voice technologies to drive business communications, customer dialog and decision making.
Meanwhile, recent United Nations research indicates the global population of those over age 60 has grown by over 50% in the past two decades, while the number of U.S. workers over age 55 has increased by 53% over the past decade, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Further, The European Commission expects the employment rate of workers age 55 and older to reach 59% by 2025. With this aging workforce demographic comes age-related hearing loss, progressively impacting up to 50% of people by age 75. The AudioPresence HD enhanced user experience reduces frustration and helps ensure customer interactions and employee communications are well understood, avoiding errors and misunderstandings.
AudioPresence HD leverages the standards-based G.722 high-definition audio codec, best-in-class speaker, microphone and acoustic components, and advanced noise rejection and echo cancellation in all OpenStage IP phones. Also, with the upcoming release of OpenScape UC Version 6, multi-party audio conferences will support AudioPresence HD as well as an industry unique Automatic Gain Control feature which normalizes the distraction and frustration of loud and soft volume levels from various conference participants.
“While knowledge workers are becoming increasingly reliant on advanced communications tools, voice communication remains the engine of the knowledge economy in many respects,” says Jonathan Spira, president of NYC-based communications analyst firm Basex. “Missed information can lead to costly errors, muddled responses to questions require time-consuming repetition and clarification, and an unclear articulation results in frustration and stress for call participants as they strain to follow the conversation.”
According to new independent lab testing conducted by HEAD Acoustics, OpenStage IP handsets with AudioPresence consistently delivered strong balanced performance index scores across the entire range of OpenStage IP phones. For example, the entire range of OpenStage handsets tested all scored the maximum possible TMOS score of 4.2 for high definition audio sending, including the new OpenStage 5. This demonstrates that exceptional audio quality can be provided to customers seeking a cost-effective entry-level phone. Overall, the results support OpenStage portfolio’s legacy of superior acoustic engineering and component selection.
“Having deployed an Asterisk IP-PBX, we could have chosen any desk phone on the market. We chose 8,000 OpenStage 60 SIP phones, in a distributed branch office solution. Being in a customer-focused and service-oriented insurance business it is important for us to have reliable, high quality phones to interact with our customers,” says Alfred Isenbeck of LVM Versicherung. “We rely on the excellent audio quality of the OpenStage phones to ensure we provide excellent service to our customers.”
“We continue to believe in the importance of providing all of our customers with an excellent quality user experience, and superior audio quality does not have to be an expensive solution that is only available in high-end or ‘executive’ phones,” said Mark Straton, Senior Vice President Global Solutions Marketing at Siemens Enterprise Communications. “With AudioPresence HD available in every OpenStage IP model, it is our way of ensuring that regardless of how much a customer wants to invest in a phone, they are getting the best audio quality available.”
AudioPresence HD is available now on all OpenStage IP phones and can be enabled immediately by contacting your local Siemens Enterprise Communications representative or authorized partner.
15th July 2011 – In a continuing effort to innovate and help customers maximize productivity, Siemens Enterprise Communications has introduced AudioPresenceTM HD, which ensures that all OpenStage IP phone users can experience the highest quality audio for voice calls and audio conferences, at no additional cost for the functionality. Unlike other major brands, the OpenStage range provides high-definition voice capabilities across the entire line of OpenStage IP phones, including the newly announced OpenStage 5 entry-level phone. With the introduction of AudioPresence HD, the OpenStage portfolio extends its legacy of reliability and quality acoustic engineering.
“Siemens Enterprise Communications’ efforts to extend HD voice across its entire IP portfolio with AudioPresence increases the overall value of its already high quality proven IP desktop phones, allowing customers to enjoy a natural voice experience with higher voice quality, superior clarity, better intelligibility and a richer sound experience,” said Mohamed Alaa Saayed, Senior Industry Analyst with Frost & Sullivan. “The overall result is higher degrees of customer satisfaction and increased productivity.”
This innovation is particularly applicable to a truly global audience. Research has shown that interactions among people with diverse native language backgrounds have increased dramatically and will continue to rise. For example, research from the Federal Institute of Research in Zurich, showed that official Globalization Indexes for information flows has increased more than 60% over the past two decades, and a global survey conducted by Associates for International Research, Inc. (AIRINC) showed that 42% of companies reported an increase in their expatriate populations in 2010, while 49% expect an increase in this number in 2011. Additionally, global research firm MZA Ltd. predicts the worldwide conferencing solutions market will grow to near $8 billion at a compound growth rate of over 13% due to the restrictions on business travel – demonstrating an ever increasing and high level of reliance on voice technologies to drive business communications, customer dialog and decision making.
Meanwhile, recent United Nations research indicates the global population of those over age 60 has grown by over 50% in the past two decades, while the number of U.S. workers over age 55 has increased by 53% over the past decade, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Further, The European Commission expects the employment rate of workers age 55 and older to reach 59% by 2025. With this aging workforce demographic comes age-related hearing loss, progressively impacting up to 50% of people by age 75. The AudioPresence HD enhanced user experience reduces frustration and helps ensure customer interactions and employee communications are well understood, avoiding errors and misunderstandings.
AudioPresence HD leverages the standards-based G.722 high-definition audio codec, best-in-class speaker, microphone and acoustic components, and advanced noise rejection and echo cancellation in all OpenStage IP phones. Also, with the upcoming release of OpenScape UC Version 6, multi-party audio conferences will support AudioPresence HD as well as an industry unique Automatic Gain Control feature which normalizes the distraction and frustration of loud and soft volume levels from various conference participants.
“While knowledge workers are becoming increasingly reliant on advanced communications tools, voice communication remains the engine of the knowledge economy in many respects,” says Jonathan Spira, president of NYC-based communications analyst firm Basex. “Missed information can lead to costly errors, muddled responses to questions require time-consuming repetition and clarification, and an unclear articulation results in frustration and stress for call participants as they strain to follow the conversation.”
According to new independent lab testing conducted by HEAD Acoustics, OpenStage IP handsets with AudioPresence consistently delivered strong balanced performance index scores across the entire range of OpenStage IP phones. For example, the entire range of OpenStage handsets tested all scored the maximum possible TMOS score of 4.2 for high definition audio sending, including the new OpenStage 5. This demonstrates that exceptional audio quality can be provided to customers seeking a cost-effective entry-level phone. Overall, the results support OpenStage portfolio’s legacy of superior acoustic engineering and component selection.
“Having deployed an Asterisk IP-PBX, we could have chosen any desk phone on the market. We chose 8,000 OpenStage 60 SIP phones, in a distributed branch office solution. Being in a customer-focused and service-oriented insurance business it is important for us to have reliable, high quality phones to interact with our customers,” says Alfred Isenbeck of LVM Versicherung. “We rely on the excellent audio quality of the OpenStage phones to ensure we provide excellent service to our customers.”
“We continue to believe in the importance of providing all of our customers with an excellent quality user experience, and superior audio quality does not have to be an expensive solution that is only available in high-end or ‘executive’ phones,” said Mark Straton, Senior Vice President Global Solutions Marketing at Siemens Enterprise Communications. “With AudioPresence HD available in every OpenStage IP model, it is our way of ensuring that regardless of how much a customer wants to invest in a phone, they are getting the best audio quality available.”
AudioPresence HD is available now on all OpenStage IP phones and can be enabled immediately by contacting your local Siemens Enterprise Communications representative or authorized partner.
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Tags: Asset Management and Mutual Funds, Brightbridge Wealth Management and Financial Planning Updated News Articles, Brightbridge Wealth Management Financial and Investment Advice, Brightbridge Wealth Management Headlines:, Brightbridge Wealth Management Technology, Siemens Enterprise Communications introduces AudioPresence(TM) HD | 
No Comments »Brightbridge Wealth Management Headlines: Opinion: What costs trillions and kills the economy?
Nobel Laureate in Economics, F. A. Hayek, fought totalitarianism and communism, and from beyond the grave he is taking on a new foe – political bureaucracies.
Hayek – an economist whose theories inspired George Orwell to write his epic book 1984 and whom many credit for helping to bring down the Iron Curtain through his work as an economist — is now delivering a message from beyond the grave about the demise of the U.S. economy. In an interview that took place before Hayek’s death in 1992, he warns against how big government and the growth of the civil service have the potential to doom the American economy.
Kenneth J. Gerbino, CEO of an investment management company and founder and chairman of the 1980 reform advocacy group the American Economic Council, uncovered the interview that is the centerpiece of the new documentary film The Hayek Prophecies (www.thehayekprophecies.com). In it, Hayek decries the growth of the civil service as the poison pill that could put the country in a stagnant or slow growth mode with inefficiencies and waste.
“Hayek believed that the swelling of the civil service would grow government to such an unwieldy size that it would become an unsustainable beast, dragging down the government and the economy because of its endless hunger,” said Gerbino, also producer of the film.
There are currently 2,392 bills working their way through the House and 1,291 bills in the Senate. Besides the $20-30 billion in pork in these bills there will be more government agencies, bureaus and departments created to administer and regulate any new laws that are passed. They will then further complicate and slow down the real economy. More regulations and regulators are being added to the budget every year.
The government should be dismantling agencies and downsizing and allowing the people of this country to flourish by allowing them, not the government, to spend their money.
“Tax money going toward social security should not go toward hiring more people to inhabit more government jobs,” he said. “Taxes should be reduced giving elderly people money to buy food and pay rent. Because of the thousands of new regulations to various laws passed every year, the bureaucracy to administer these regulations and guidelines waste hundreds of billions per year.”
The Heritage Foundation reported the Government Accountability Office (GAO) says that current reports of wasteful duplication include 342 economic development programs; 130 programs serving the disabled; 130 programs serving at-risk youth; 90 early childhood development programs; 75 programs funding international education, cultural, and training exchange activities; and 72 safe water programs. Gerbino states that most of these agencies probably could be consolidated into three or four agencies eliminating overlapping work and reducing employed civil servants by 30-40%. Washington spends $25 billion annually maintaining unused or vacant federal properties all for the civil servants.
The civil service has created its own perpetual motion and continues to expand, costing taxpayers more money but in many ways costing private enterprise untold legal and accounting costs to comply with regulations many of which are not needed. These costs are then passed on to consumers. The civil service expansion defeats the purpose of actually shrinking government, which makes the political call for smaller government nothing more than a punch line to a bad joke. “If our leaders really want to reduce the size of government, they should listen to Hayek and start with the civil service.”
About Kenneth Gerbino
Kenneth Gerbino is head of Kenneth J. Gerbino & Company, an investment management firm now in its 37th year. The company manages private equity accounts and the Gerbino Gold Group, LLC, a private hedge fund that invests in precious metal mining stocks. Ken is advisor to the publicly traded Precious Capital Global Metals & Mining Fund traded on the Zurich Stock Exchange. Ken was the founder and Chairman of the American Economic Council (AEC), a nationwide economic reform group that was credited with the passage of the United States Gold Coin Act of 1984, which established the United States Gold Eagle coin. AEC seminars included participation by Alan Greenspan, Noble Laureate F. A. Hayek and Robert Bleiberg, ex-Editor-in-Chief of Barron’s.
Posted in Economy Update, Investment, Latest Events, Stock Market, USA Today, World News | Tags: Asset Management and Mutual Funds, Brightbridge Wealth Management and Financial Planning Updated News Articles, Brightbridge Wealth Management Financial and Investment Advice,Brightbridge Wealth Management Headlines:, Brightbridge Wealth Management Technology,Current headlines, Opinion: What costs trillions and kills the economy?, Sports and Financial World News | No Comments »Brightbridge Wealth Management Headlines: Twitter founders return to roots, relaunch Obvious
By Sarah McBride
ASPEN, Co. (Reuters) – Twitter co-founders Biz Stone and Evan Williams plan to revive Obvious, the company they conceived years ago as a technology project incubator that eventually spawned Twitter.
Stone and Williams will continue to advise Twitter on strategic matters, but devote the lions’ share of their time to The Obvious Corporation, Stone told the Aspen Ideas Conference at the ski resort on Tuesday.
The pair, along with others such as Jack Dorsey, who now runs payments service Square, created the four-year-old website that allows users to send 140-character messages across the Internet. It has grown into a microblogging phenomenon used by celebrities and heads of state alike, hailed at times as a crucial tool in promoting the free flow of information.
Neither Stone nor Williams told conference attendees explicitly what they intended with Obvious, apart from saying that they were excited about building projects that will improve people’s lives.
“All the biggest ideas are obvious in retrospect,” said Williams. “If we get as lucky as Twitter, that would be great.”
Dick Costolo replaced Williams as Twitter’s CEO in October, a move Silicon Valley sources have said re-focused the microblogging sensation on monetization, or translating its fast-growing pool of users into revenue.
“The Twitter crew and its leadership team have grown incredibly productive. I’ve decided that the most effective use of my time is to get out of the way until I’m called upon to be of some specific use,” Stone said in a blog post. here
“Our plan is to develop new projects and work on solving big problems aligned along a simple mission statement: The Obvious Corporation develops systems that help people work together to improve the world.”
“This is a dream come true!” Stone said.
DYNAMIC DUO
In a conversation with Walter Isaacson, the Aspen Institute’s chief executive, the duo skipped from topic to topic, flummoxing audience members hoping for clues on their new venture.
They discussed the advantages of closed versus open systems online; how the Internet was changing philanthropy through services such as Kickstarter that allow crowdsourced funding; and how the Internet has affected distribution of content much more than content itself.
“There are more fundamental things than how distribution evolves to change publishing,” Williams said.
The two charmed the audience, frequently drawing laughs with their deadpan wit. Stone described himself and Williams as “hallucinogenically optimistic”, while their Obvious partner Jason Goldman, formerly vice president for product at Twitter, “is always like, ‘here are the 10 ways we can get screwed’.”
Social networking services like Twitter and Facebook are increasingly challenging established online powers like Google Inc and Yahoo for Web surfers’ time and advertisers’ dollars.
Twitter, which began courting advertisers one year ago, is still in the early stages of building a business. The company is expected to bring in about $150 million in ad revenue this year, compared with Facebook’s roughly $4 billion in ad revenue, according to research firm eMarketer.
In December, Twitter was valued at $3.7 billion in a $200 million funding round led by venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. An auction of Twitter shares on the secondary market in March suggested investors were valuing the company at more than $7 billion.
One audience member asked if there was a bubble in technology.
“Maybe investor excitement is outpacing the development,” Williams allowed. But he was firm about his corporate progeny.
“I’m holding my Twitter stock long-term,” he said. “If there is a correction, these things always go in cycles. So that will be fine.”
Posted in Economy Update, Latest Events, USA Today, World News | Tags: Brightbridge Wealth Management and Financial Planning Updated News Articles, Brightbridge Wealth Management Headlines:, Brightbridge Wealth Management Online Magazine - collection of world news and current events articles, relaunch Obvious, Twitter founders return to roots | No Comments »Brightbridge Wealth Management Headlines: Bidding for Myspace comes down to two suitors
By Dawn C. Chmielewski
Orange County advertising network Specific Media and Bay Area private equity firm Golden Gate Capital are finalists in the bidding for struggling social network Myspace, people familiar with the matter confirmed.
News Corp. had hoped the once-dominant Myspace would fetch as much as $100 million, but bidding is in the range of $20 million to $30 million in cash and stock, said the people, who declined to be identified because talks are confidential. The media giant, which is controlled by Rupert Murdochand paid $580 million for Myspace in July 2005, would retain a minority stake in the site, a person familiar with the matter has said.
The pending acquisition, which could close as early as this week, is expected to result in another round of layoffs at Myspace — as many as half the Beverly Hills company’s remaining 500 employees. Myspace laid off 500 people in January.
Names of other potential bidders have recently surfaced, including Myspace co-founder Chris DeWolfe, and an investor group that was courting a personal investment from Activision Blizzard Inc.Chief Executive Bobby Kotick. But they have fallen to the background in discussions for now, as new front-runners emerged, said people with knowledge of the matter.
Specific Media of Irvine was founded in 1999 by Tim Vanderhook and his brothers, Chris and Russell. The company helps brands buy ads online, on mobile devices and on Internet-connected TVs. The online ad network has flown under the radar but counts among its senior executives a Myspace veteran, Jason Knapp. He previously worked for the Fox Audience Network, the online advertising unit of News Corp.
A spokeswoman for Specific Media declined to comment.
The private equity firm Golden Gate Capital, which is based in San Francisco, has about $9 billion under management and has been an active investor in the consumer sector. Over the last five years, it has invested in or acquired more than 20 brands, including Herbalife, Eddie Bauer and Romano’s Macaroni Grill.
A Golden Gate Capital spokesman also offered no comment.
It is unclear what Specific Media or Golden Gate Capital would do to turn around the struggling Myspace, which has hemorrhaged millions of users and, not coincidentally, advertising revenue.
After peaking at 76.3 million users in October 2008, Myspace’s monthly visitors fell to 35 million in May, according to ComScore Digital Analytix. Researcher EMarketer projects the site’s ad revenue at $184 million this year, down from $470 million in 2009.
On Tuesday, the website AllThingsDigital first reported the finalist bidders and the scope of the next wave of layoffs.
News Corp. had hoped the once-dominant Myspace would fetch as much as $100 million, but bidding is in the range of $20 million to $30 million in cash and stock, said the people, who declined to be identified because talks are confidential. The media giant, which is controlled by Rupert Murdochand paid $580 million for Myspace in July 2005, would retain a minority stake in the site, a person familiar with the matter has said.
The pending acquisition, which could close as early as this week, is expected to result in another round of layoffs at Myspace — as many as half the Beverly Hills company’s remaining 500 employees. Myspace laid off 500 people in January.
Names of other potential bidders have recently surfaced, including Myspace co-founder Chris DeWolfe, and an investor group that was courting a personal investment from Activision Blizzard Inc.Chief Executive Bobby Kotick. But they have fallen to the background in discussions for now, as new front-runners emerged, said people with knowledge of the matter.
Specific Media of Irvine was founded in 1999 by Tim Vanderhook and his brothers, Chris and Russell. The company helps brands buy ads online, on mobile devices and on Internet-connected TVs. The online ad network has flown under the radar but counts among its senior executives a Myspace veteran, Jason Knapp. He previously worked for the Fox Audience Network, the online advertising unit of News Corp.
A spokeswoman for Specific Media declined to comment.
The private equity firm Golden Gate Capital, which is based in San Francisco, has about $9 billion under management and has been an active investor in the consumer sector. Over the last five years, it has invested in or acquired more than 20 brands, including Herbalife, Eddie Bauer and Romano’s Macaroni Grill.
A Golden Gate Capital spokesman also offered no comment.
It is unclear what Specific Media or Golden Gate Capital would do to turn around the struggling Myspace, which has hemorrhaged millions of users and, not coincidentally, advertising revenue.
After peaking at 76.3 million users in October 2008, Myspace’s monthly visitors fell to 35 million in May, according to ComScore Digital Analytix. Researcher EMarketer projects the site’s ad revenue at $184 million this year, down from $470 million in 2009.
On Tuesday, the website AllThingsDigital first reported the finalist bidders and the scope of the next wave of layoffs.
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