Have you considered moving your communications to the cloud? This is exactly the move CIOs will have to start to make. And, while it can seem like unknown territory with specific risks, cloud communications offers a number of benefits to the enterprise, including rapid expansion capability so you can scale as needed, flexibility to move and change with you, control over costs and a reduction in your overall expenses.

Often referred to as Communications as a Service (CaaS), cloud communications is a way for the enterprise to move its communications costs and platform outside of the company. By itself, this concept doesn't appear to make sense. But, when you consider the fact that you can greatly reduce your cost and the need to maintain your equipment, while still enjoying all of the features and functionality you have now, it is worth investigating cloud communications.

There are a full range of services available in cloud communications, including voice services, unified messaging, IP telephony, call center and unified communications services.

Cloud communications can also provide support backup and recovery so that remote offices and mobile workers can enjoy the same communications continuity they have come to expect. When moving to a cloud communications platform, you can also reduce your costs involved in acquisition and support of services, while also improving the support you receive.

Aside from the benefits listed above, cloud communications presents an attractive proposition to the enterprise in that it allows users to access the service through the Internet or an IP managed network service. Through such portals, the enterprise gains access to managed technology services to drive efficiency.

There is no hardware to buy - although end points and some internal network infrastructure is needed - and no software to purchase and install. The enterprise relies on a group of servers in the cloud that can either be dedicated or shared, depending upon your needs. This virtualization provides you with great control, capability and efficient communications.

When you leverage cloud communications, you receive a common set of features and functions, yet you only have to subscribe to - and pay for - those features and functions that you will actually use. You will only be charged according to what you use and that can be by seat, phone, feature, usage or a plan that allows for unlimited usage.

Overall, the promise of lower costs, streamlined communications and great flexibility present a strong value proposition in cloud communications.

On Tuesday FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski gave AT&T a decision that was gift-wrapped for the holiday season. By a 3-to-2 vote, the FCC passed a rule that, in the chairman's words, "protects Internet freedom."

If only that were true.

After a year of promises to deliver on President Obama's pledge to protect Net Neutrality, this chairman has pushed through a rule that favors the very industry his FCC is supposed to regulate, leaving Internet users with few protections and putting the future of the open Internet in peril.

The chairman chose to ignore the voices of more than 2 million people who have urged Washington to support real and lasting Net Neutrality protections. His rule, for the first time in history, allows discrimination over the mobile Internet, paving the way for widespread industry abuses.

Now, the chairman is trying to spin the media that this toothless decision is a win for Obama and for Internet users. Free Press and our allies are not going to let him get away with that.

The FCC rule doesn't do enough to stop the phone and cable companies from dividing the Internet into fast and slow lanes. It doesn't stop them from splitting the Internet into two -- one Internet for those who can pay to access special sites and services, and another neglected network for the rest of us.

The rule fails miserably to protect wireless users from discrimination, a prospect that's especially troubling for African American and Latino communities who increasingly access the Internet via mobile devices.

Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) underscored this point. "Although the new rules bar fixed broadband Internet providers from 'unreasonable discrimination' against Web traffic," she said on Wednesday. "They exempt mobile broadband providers -- leaving millions without critical consumer protections and leading to a fractured Internet."

The FCC vote is a textbook example of industry capture of a federal agency. Chairman Genachowski gave AT&T veto power over this rule. What he's now characterizing as a "reasonable compromise" looks, to anyone who compares his order to his earlier promises, as a near total capitulation to industry.

By failing to protect the open Internet, Genachowski has put at risk one of the essential needs of any healthy democracy: our right to freely access information, engage in political discourse and govern ourselves.

We'd be lying if we didn't tell you that this vote was a major setback. But this bad rule is not the end of the story. Free Press and our many allies are going to keep fighting to secure your right to an Internet without gatekeepers.

By Tim Karr, December 22, 2010

S-NET gives you the freedom to run your business from anywhere, whether that be through a fully integrated home office, or when traveling away from the office. You are always connected to your business just like you  were in your main office.

HOW DO WE DO IT?

We unify you communications by tying all your relevant numbers into one device, so when calls come into the office and you're not there, you will never miss them. No matter what device you call from, our network will always show that you are calling from one number.We can do this by utilizing a number of

proven, industry-leading  tools to give you piece of mind when you are working home or on the road.