Paula Musich

Nortel Networks is the contractor on a 10-year, $300 million project for the Social Security Administration, which is upgrading the telephone systems in its field offices to offer voice over IP. The project is one of the largest deployments to date, Nortel officials said March 18. The SSA intends to upgrade 1,600 field offices to […]

BMC Software’s proposed $800 million acquisition of BladeLogic will give enterprises looking to rein in data center operating costs two primary large-scale competitors to choose from, the other being Hewlett-Packard. BMC with BladeLogic creates a huge rival to HP, which acquired Opsware last fall, although the other two members of the Big Four enterprise management […]

BMC Software is looking to greatly expand its presence in the data center by buying data center automation provider BladeLogic for $800 million. BMC, a pioneer and market leader in the business service management space, announced its intentions March. 17. The company will compete even more fiercely with rival Hewlett-Packard, pitting BladeLogic against HP’s Opsware […]

More than three years after Juniper Networks acquired NetScreen, the company has finally integrated NetScreenOS security functions into its JUNOS network operating system. Juniper on March 17 will launch the first router products to integrate NetScreenOS security functions with the release of JUNOS 9.0 on its J-series branch office routers. Users can deploy the J-series […]

ORLANDO, Fla.-Polycom on March 17 will join the growing chorus of vendors integrating with Microsoft’s Office Communications Server 2007 with new high-definition video and audio conferencing links to OCS. Polycom high-definition audio and video as well as Telepresence endpoints and infrastructure will integrate with OCS 2007 to allow end uses to easily make voice and […]

Avaya on March 17 will outline its most comprehensive set of unified communications products and services to date when it introduces at VoiceCon in Orlando, Fla., a new presence server, a multiprotocol UC client, a series of UC consulting services and six vertical UC systems aimed at specific types of workers. Avaya’s new Intelligent Presence […]

Extreme Networks jumped out ahead of demand for VOIP-specific security on March 17 when it added new voice over IP protections in its Sentriant security appliances. Although the majority of issues faced by enterprises deploying VOIP are focused on traditional threats to data network such as denial-of-service attacks or worm outbreaks, Extreme Networks created a […]

Mitel Networks and Sun Microsystems at VoiceCon on March 17 will strengthen their OEM commitment when they launch a new unified communications client on the Sun Ray thin client. One week after launching the first implementation of its Communications Director call control software on Sun Linux-based servers, Mitel added the Sun Ray Unified IP Client […]

With CBS Sports heavily promoting its offer to stream all 63 of the March Madness college basketball games for free across the Internet, the potential for lost productivity and business is enormous for many enterprises. With the first round games slated to begin on March 20, network administrators across the country should be gearing up […]

NEC Unified Solutions, as part of its wide-ranging unified communications rollout on March 12, zeroed in on small and midsize businesses. At the heart of its new SMB offerings is a pair of new IP PBXes or communications servers that can operate in single-server mode or be networked to allow SMBs to scale their deployments. […]