Photo from Apparent Networks. PathView delivers metrics on performance characteristics such as jitter, latency and available bandwidth from any location to any IP-addressable target worldwide.

For any network manager, monitoring your network’s performance is a crucial part of the job. Eastern DataComm now offers PathView Cloud, a network performance-monitoring tool from Apparent Networks. This managed service gives our customers peace of mind knowing we are continually monitoring their networks.

EDC PathView differs from other tools in number of ways, most importantly, PathView does not rely on simple network management protocol (SNMP), but utilizes technology unique to PathView to perform active performance monitoring infrastructure.

PathView’s own technology goes above and beyond the basic information provided by SNMP and gives access and insight to valuable information that can lead to increased network efficiency.  The metrics collected by PathView are truly unique.

PathView gives detailed insight into whether or not data packets leaving a device encounter any problems reaching their destination. To truly determine circumstances application packets face across the WAN, it requires visibility to each device and the packets being distributed from each device. With PathView, this is accomplished with network analysis packets that are sent out from the MicroAppliance to the end point and report any deviation in the path or problems encountered along the way.

With PathView, network administrators can see beyond the health of each device and monitor the specific paths going out from each device to be certain data packets are sent and received successfully.

PathView’s simplistic management allows network administrators to continuously monitor networks, troubleshoot, test network readiness and provide reports on network performance.

Princeton Consulting, a management and IT consulting company, deployed EDC PathView in December 2010. Phil Sim, IT Systems Manager at Princeton said they had been experiencing drops in service from their Internet service provider in New York. PathView allowed Princeton to verify that the disruption in service they were experiencing was coming from their service provider, not from their own equipment. They are now using the information provided by PathView to resolve the issues in service disruption with their provider.

Princeton also uses PathView to monitor voice quality of their existing ShoreTel VoIP system. The visualization of voice calling PathView provides allows Princeton to continually monitor problems in the system and know exactly when and where they occur.

Sim said Princeton selected EDC PathView over other network performance monitors for two main reasons: low cost, and ability to have the service hosted off-site and managed by Eastern DataComm’s professionals. Being understaffed, the PathView solution was less work for Princeton employees, said Sim.

Wondering if our network performance monitoring solution is right for you? If you can answer ‘yes’ to five or more of the questions below, consider calling Eastern Datacomm to further discuss the possibilities.

• Would you like to know if your organization is getting the bandwidth you are paying for from the phone company?
• Would you like to know how much bandwidth your applications are using for peak times and average?
• Are your users response times degrading over time?
• Would you like to know if your special applications like VoIP performing within the prescribed guidelines?
• Would you like to run a VoIP assessment on your network before a VoIP site deployment?
• Would you like to monitor and report on web-based applications running in the Cloud before deploying them?
• Would you like to know the fundamental question of how well your network is doing connecting users with information?
• Would you like to see what happens when packets leave a device, traverse the network, go through another device, and so on?
• Do application’s packets face any problems reaching their destination on time?
• Do you want a network monitoring solution that can recommend possible solutions to known issues in the network?

For more information on EDC PathView, read our previous PathView article or contact us. We also have this PDF available for more information.

Click here to view a live demo of PathView.

If you’re looking to upgrade your phone system and switching to ShoreTel, but not sure it’s in the budget, ShoreTel Financial Solutions is making it easier. Get money back in your pocket when you select a new ShoreTel Unified Communications solution and finance it with a ShoreTel Financial Solutions program.

It’s like the “cash for clunkers” offered at your local car dealership. Now through June 29, ShoreTel is accepting trade-ins for businesses that select a new ShoreTel system. ShoreTel Financial Solutions will cut a check for any phone system that is traded in during this promotion!

Get $75 for each phone you trade in when you finance your new ShoreTel system with the ShoreTel FlexGuard program, and $60 per trade with a capital lease program.

For more information on the ShoreTel Trade-In Promotion, download this PDF.

If you’re considering ShoreTel, contact us and let us explain why ShoreTel makes sense for any business.

This article was originally published on BestinUC.com on Jan. 17, 2011.

By Wes Burkett, AVTEQ

It’s test time. Not for students, but for today’s education professionals. The test that educators are facing today is that of engaging Gen Y students. Grab your freshly sharpened #2 pencils and take notes.

Students gracing the classrooms of today will never have to dust off a volume of Encyclopedia Britannica to do research before they “write” the big essay. They’ll simply do a quick Google search and get pages and pages of information so up-to-date it makes Encyclopedia Britannica look as dated as the Nuremberg bible and then they’ll type the paper and email it to you by the due date. No more “my dog ate my paper” excuses for these students.

Today’s students are accustomed to lightning fast interactions and visually engaging with the world around them and educators are learning to plan their curriculum with this in mind.

So what role does technology play in this equation?

In a recent post on ProAVMagazine.com, Pete Putnam, senior contributing editor for ProAV and former InfoComm Educator of the Year, made an interesting discovery about the classrooms of today. In response to seeing a projector in a modern-day classroom, Putnam said:

“I did a double take when I spotted that relic of the 20th century. The transparency projector is a product that’s been both a staple of classrooms and the butt of industry jokes. Yet there it was, used by an enthusiastic teacher who looked like a member of Generation Y, a group that grew up hardwired to the Internet and fluent in a wide variety of handheld electronic gadgets. Where were all of the latest AV teaching tools?”

Putnam goes on in the piece to state the case for the tried and true products, like the projector, whose value has stood the test of time. This message is one that Putnam wants us to remember as we get ready for all of the new gadgetry 2011 has to offer. While CES showcased some very nifty tools this year, Putnam reminds us that “there will be some winners and losers.”

Putnam reveals that while Gen Y did grow up drastically different from previous generations, perhaps educating Gen Y doesn’t require the shiniest newest technologies, but rather a mix of old and new paired with an enthusiastic educator who engages them regardless of the tools available.

Integrating technology like videoconferencing into education is proving to engage students on a higher level.  With the integration of these technologies, students are able to experience virtual field trips, live demonstrations and interaction with experts without ever leaving the classroom.

AVTEQ is proud to provide products that assist teachers from grade school to collegiate level as they face the challenge of educating Gen Y. What other tools, technologies and techniques are being used to engage Gen Y? Tried and true or cutting edge? Share them in the comments below.

As seen on Best in UC. This article was originally published on the AVTEQ Blog on Jan. 12, 2011.

by Dave Casey, CEO Westron Communications

I recently discovered an interesting article on SmartPlanet.com that explores the possibility that worldwide travel has peaked, and may soon see decline.

The author, John Herrman, asserts the main factors driving this decline are: congestion, parking issues, and gas prices.

I agree with Herrman. All of these components do contribute to the aversion to travel we may experience, but there’s one crucial element to this mix that Herrman overlooked: technology.

With advanced video and audio technology now becoming mainstream, (LifeSize is a prime example of this), videoconferencing offers a strong case for people to forego firing up the Suburban for the trek into the office.

We are seeing a faster adoption rate of video technology overseas than in the US (65% of LifeSize revenues come from off-shore), and I believe that curve will steepen even more. Once executives and even middle management take advantage of videoconferencing as opposed to a burdensome trip either by car or mass transit, I expect we’ll see travel declining in double-digit percentages. International travel is one of the areas where the time it takes to see a return on investment for adopting video technology is the shortest, so often the first investment corporations make is in video.

And, you can expect the travel industry to take additional hits, as Unified Communication bleeds down into the Small and Medium Business (SMB) marketplace because of its simple user-friendly applications and cost savings.  Major hotel chains are already responding to this shift by strengthening their local marketing and investing in telepresence suites to attract corporate clients to their locations, where they might not sell as many rooms, but they capture the food and beverage dollars as well as rental fee for meeting room space that comes complete with sophisticated AV systems.

All that said, I still really want to see the Taj Mahal, not a video representation of it, no matter how lifelike!

This post was originally published on the Westron Communications blog on Jan. 6, 2011.

Education is one key industry we have targeted with the unified communications solutions we provide.  We are gaining ground in education, one school at a time. Currently, about 10 percent of our customers represent K-12 education.

In January, we will be participating in the New Jersey Association of School Administrators NJASA Techspo 2011 event, held at Bally’s in Atlantic City. We will be at booth #219 demoing the Shoretel Phone System product live. We will also have the Lifesize system on display.

Additionally, we will be hosting a one-hour seminar at the show in a separate room off the main exhibit hall discussing how a VoIP phone system can save schools money, improve communications and increase student safety.

NJASA Techspo is an annual gathering of technology firms (software and hardware) that provide solutions to New Jersey K-12 schools. The event includes opportunities for school technology department heads and business administrators to meet with vendors, seminars on special interests and keynote speakers. Techspo is an exciting event in the New Jersey education sector, and Eastern Datacomm has been an exhibitor at the event for the past 3 years.

Join us Jan. 27, 2011 from 10:15-11:15am for our Techspo Seminar:

Title: “Simply Put: How a VoIP Telephone system can save you money, improve communications within the district and with parents, and increase student safety”.

Session Description: Learn how telephone systems that were engineered to be simple to use and manage can have a dramatic cost savings impact year after year. Discover how other districts have created a simple dialing plan, district directory on every telephone, improved parent and teacher communication, and self-administer changes themselves.

Learn what is important in the decision process: Self Administration, Low Total Cost of Ownership, Reliability, Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity, 911 Alerts within the District, and more.

This session will include an interactive live demonstration and discussion.

To register for NJASA Techspo 2011, visit NJASA online.

by Alex Seber, Account Executive, Xtelesis

As the recession becomes more of a nightmare in the rearview mirror, and less of a present issue for small and medium-sized businesses, technology decisions that had been put on hold will be revisited in the coming months.

A report from AMI-Partners forecasts the growth of VoIP in the SMB market, stating that more than 30 percent of businesses in this market expect VoIP to become a critical component of their operations. The benefits of digital communications and VoIP phone systems are not newly recognized, but many company’s have been unable to make a move on technology over the last several years.

The time is ripe for both SMBs in need of new technology, and the channel partners and integrators ready to supply those technologies.

Karen Nielson, senior consultant with AMI suggests channel partners and integrators make necessary preparations to help SMBs migrate to VOIP in the future. It will be important for integrators to be able to demonstrate the true total cost of ownership (TCO) of a VoIP solution, with reduced ongoing costs.

For cost-conscious businesses looking to migrate to VoIP, a careful analysis of all potential solutions is necessary. A few things to consider are ease of use for the end user, total cost of ownership (not just initial purchase and setup), and simplicity of system management.

There are numerous VoIP solutions that will accomplish the same task, but when it comes to simplicity and ease of use, ShoreTel stands heads above the rest. Businesses using the ShoreTel solution can’t deny the benefits both from a cost perspective and a system management perspective.

ShoreTel has received high rankings by analysts firms Gartner and Nemertes, with Nemertes ranking ShoreTel highest among leading IP telephony providers for seven consecutive years. The ShoreTel architecture reduces reliance on WANs, creating a more reliable communications solution.

Checkout the Top 10 reasons to choose ShoreTel IP phone system in our post on Dec. 7.

This article originally appeared on the Xtelesis Blog on Jan. 6, 2011

by Alex Seber, Account Executive, Xtelesis

As the recession becomes more of a nightmare in the rearview mirror, and less of a present issue for small and medium-sized businesses, technology decisions that had been put on hold will be revisited in the coming months.

A report from AMI-Partners forecasts the grown of VoIP in the SMB market, stating that more than 30 percent of businesses in this market expect VoIP to become a critical component of their operations. The benefits of digital communications and VoIP are not newly recognized, but many company’s have been unable to make a move on technology over the last several years.

The time is ripe for both SMBs in need of new technology, and the channel partners and integrators ready to supply those technologies.

Karen Nielson, senior consultant with AMI suggests channel partners and integrators make necessary preparations to help SMBs migrate to VOIP in the future. It will be important for integrators to be able to demonstrate the true total cost of ownership (TCO) of a VoIP solution, with reduced ongoing costs.

For cost-conscious businesses looking to migrate to VoIP, a careful analysis of all potential solutions is necessary. A few things to consider are ease of use for the end user, total cost of ownership (not just initial purchase and setup), and simplicity of system management.

There are numerous VoIP solutions that will accomplish the same task, but when it comes to simplicity and ease of use, ShoreTel stands heads above the rest. Businesses using the ShoreTel solution can’t deny the benefits both from a cost perspective and a system management perspective.

ShoreTel has received high rankings by analysts firms Gartner and Nemertes, with Nemertes ranking ShoreTel highest among leading IP telephony providers for seven consecutive years. The ShoreTel architecture reduces reliance on WANs, creating a more reliable communications solution.

Checkout the Top 10 reasons to choose ShoreTel in our post on Dec. 7.

Considering a switch to VoIP? What about adding videoconferencing solutions to your business practices? In need of better performance monitoring for your data networking? Join us for our first seminars of 2011 as we explore the unified communications solutions that can add efficiency, productivity and cost-savings to any business.

On Jan. 25, at our offices in Hackensack, NJ, we will discuss ShoreTel VoIP Unified Communications Solutions, give a live demo of a LifeSize Videoconference Room in Action and introduce and demonstrate PathView Network Performance Monitoring.

The day will begin with a discussion of ShoreTel’s unified communications solutions from 9:30-noon.  Eastern DataComm engineers will give a live demo of ShoreTel and explain why ShoreTel is the best choice for a business communication system.

We’ll hit on LifeSize Videoconferencing solutions beginning at 1:00. Come hungry, lunch will be provided by Adtran. See firsthand how easy-to-use LifeSize video technology is.

We’ll finish the day with a session to introduce and demonstrate PathView Network Performance Monitoring. This session will begin at 2:15. In this 30-minute overview of PathView, we will view real network data from a live network and see how effective this solution can be.

Whether you are interested in one of these solutions, or all three, we hope you’ll join us on Jan. 25.

Click here to register for any of the upcoming seminars.

The future of videoconferencing and telepresence is in the ability for one video platform to easily integrate with multiple other platforms.  The long-term solution will be in standardization, but video companies are currently building software that will allow interaction across existing platforms.

Vivu has announced a partnership with AMD that we expect to be just one of many similar partnerships and new applications allowing telepresence technology to be compatible across a wide variety of platforms.

As more companies are realizing the benefits of videoconferencing and telepresence, the unified communications industry will continue to grow in 2011.  Compatibility of video-based technologies will be a key player in the growing acceptance of telepresence.

The ability for one video solution to talk to another will significantly increase the ROI in both cost-savings and usefulness of video solutions for small businesses.  If videoconferences can take place between multiple parties regardless of the platform each individual party is using, the use of videoconferencing technologies will increase.

According to the press release from Vivu, the partnership with AMD will enable Vivu to develop next-generation video software that will deliver the quality of telepresence video from laptops. What’s more is that Vivo’s product line, powered by Vivu’s own MXTP technology and AMD’s Fusion Accelerated Processing Units, will interact with other video endpoints, including Polycom, LifeSize, and even tablet PCs and DLNA-certified TVs.

Vivu produces a browser-based desktop videoconferencing and video webinar solutions. The company’s MXTP technology increases video intelligence on the desktop, allowing each endpoint to optimize video quality based on bandwidth, without affecting video quality of other endpoints. The new product line will be announced at the AMD booth (N231-N235) at CES 2011 in Las Vegas Jan 6 -9, 2011.

This article originally appeared on BestinUC.com on Jan. 3, 2011

Education may be one of the most promising markets for videoconferencing in 2011. Manufacturers and integrators are focusing their attention on K-12 schools and higher education institutions to get videoconferencing solutions into classrooms.

With videoconferencing, students are able to connect with instructors from outside the classroom.  Online classes take on a whole new meaning when students are no longer expected to essentially teach themselves by reading through lecture notes and taking online exams. With video technology, students taking online courses are able to see and hear their instructors, engaging them on a much higher level.

Schools in Idaho have certainly caught the drift.  According to a recent story on iAnalyst.com, Richard McKenna Charter High School in Mountain Home, Idaho is piloting a new system from Vidyo for the school’s online seminar program along with the Idaho Digital Learning Academy.

The Vidyo software uses the latest videocoding standard to enable video stream to be layered and to offer rangers of resolutions, quality levels and bit rates. The VidyoRouter eliminates the multipoint control unit and replaces it with a router, streaming layers of video without dismantling and reconstructing it like other videoconferencing products – all while cutting costs and saving energy. (more…)