News Pilothouse Communications, LLC

The Pilothouse Navigator

Your Guiding Light to Business Communications

January 2008 - Vol 2, Issue 1

In This Issue

Telephone Equitte Tip

SIP Trunking Is Here

Video Surveillance & more

Quick Links

Greetings!

Happy New Year! I hope 2008 is off to a great start for all of you.

We are very excited about 2008 after coming off a record year for us. We added 93 new customers in 2007! In 2008 we will be expanding our cabling operations. The market for Video Surveillance solutions is rapidly growing and we are in the process of completing a 37 camera project for the new Napoli Foods Warehouse in Cheshire. We see this as another growth area for us in 2008. We are also expanding our IT services with our recent upgrade to SonicWall Silver Reseller. We think the SonicWall product line offers every business size the protection and security that is so critical for all business data networks. CJ and I will be attending the SonicWall Dealer Meeting next month in Las Vegas, I'm sure I'll have a lot of good information to share when we come back.

We continue to look for ways to provide our customers with the BEST products, for the best VALUE, all the while keeping our focus on the EXCELLENT customer service you have come to know. We continue to work with our Business Coach, who has been invaluable to helping us grow personally and as a company-our primary focus remains on the Toshiba Product line but with convergence here -

IT/IP Video Surveillance/Access Control- just more IP end points on your network-seem to be a natural progression for us.

We THANK YOU: our loyal customers, our future customers, who give us the opportunity to show you what a trusted communications partner can bring to a business relationship and every day we thank our employees, as we know we could not do any of this without all of you.

Sincerely,

Sue Carlson

How to Handle Rude or Impatient Callers

1. Stay Calm!

2. Always show willingness to resolve issue

3. Try to think like the caller

4. Offer to have supervisor talk to caller (if supervisor-be willing to handle irate caller, speak slowly and calmly, be firm but understanding)

Customers are why we all are in business. phone etiq

Businesses Save Money with Toshiba's New SIP Trunking Feature

For business trying to save money on telecommunications tariffs, conventional technology requires separate services for data and voice. This can be inefficient because data isn't carried over the un-used voice service, and voice isn't carried over the available data service. Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) Trunking allows the two services to be combined onto a single more efficient service. Unlike gateway based solutions, Toshiba's MIPU card with SIP trunking costs less and allows SIP Trunking to be supported natively in the phone system along with remote IP phones, softphones, WiFi phones, IP based voicemail and IP based ACD applications.

SIP Trunking allows the CIX to get PRI like services from an Internet Telephony Service Provider using Session Initiation Protocol. This is not a Vonage like application but rather a true business grade product.

SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) is an application layer protocol used for establishing sessions in an IP network. SIP is a very rich and extensible protocol and, similar to HTTP and SMTP, SIP is a text-based protocol. The power of SIP lies in the fact that it allows a user on a SIP enabled device to communicate with other users on SIP enabled devices (IP PBX, SIP phone, SIP Softphone) regardless of geography. SIP Trunking harnesses the power of the SIP protocol to route a VoIP call over the carrier's IP backbone to any IP address worldwide.

Toshiba implements SIP trunking using our new MIPU card. The MIPU is designed from the ground up as a VoIP card able to support IP stations, Strata Net IP, and now SIP trunking. With the SIP Trunking capability of the new MIPU card, companies are no longer committed to having to purchase different types trunk cards and the bundles of physical wires to host analog, PRI and BRI trunks. With the MIPU implementation of SIP Trunking, companies are able to leverage their existing Toshiba CIX. Call for more information on this exciting new feature. 203-649-6405 or toll free- 866-887-5792.

Video Surveillance Security

As one of the first Panasonic i-PRO Certified Resellers in the country, we can design and implement a solution to help you protect your business investment.

Protect your physical location, your assets and your personnel. We are implementing only IP based camera solutions because of the flexibility and quality of the recordings. If you have ever seen the old analog cameras and how poor the quality is- that is not what we sell- You have to see the quality to believe it- even in pitch darkness or bright sunlight-

Call for a demonstration of the new IP quality cameras manufactured by the same people who make motion picture and television cameras. More and more we are seeing on the nightly news that victims of crime are able to provide video for police to help capture criminals.

Isn't your investment worth that protection?

Data Security Tips for Business

Are you a lawyer running an office with 6 computers?

Are you a doctor's office who has a nurse running our "IT Stuff?"

Are you a financial services company with highly regulated and sensitive information on a network "running itself?"

Are you a small to mid size business whose IT department is your unemployed cousin or teenage nephew?

Here are a few things to think about- a starting place- where we can help

Backup and Restore Solutions-

Theft, viruses, system crashes, and misplaced or stolen backup tapes are driving demand for reliable, disk-based backup solutions. We offer SonicWall CDP Solutions:

Real-Time /Continuous Data Backup
Tapeless, Enterprise-Level Data Protection
Offsite Protection for complete disaster protection
Instant Recovery and File Versions
Unlimited PCs
Compliance with HIPPA, Sarbanes-Oxley , Gramm-Leach-Biley
And more!

Firewalls-

Typically small businesses will have DSL or Cable for Internet access with almost all connections you will be provided with a small firewall provided by the carrier. While better than nothing they are not meant to protect a business network. You want to look for something that provides Unified Threat Management (UTM) which provides edge-of-your-network security features like anti-virus, anti-spyware, intrusion prevention, enforced desktop anti-virus, content filtering and more. SonicWall TZ Series Firewall/VPN/UTM uses true deep packet inspection along with dynamically updated protection to fully protect any size business.

OS Patching-

There is a good chance that your business is running some kind of Microsoft products-when was the last time you updated the OS on all of those machines? If you don't know what I'm talking about - call us right now!

Unpatched PCs and Servers leave you and your company's data vulnerable to hackers-that's why Microsoft releases security updates on a frequent basis. You need to make sure these updates don't cause conflicts and problems with other programs you might be running specific to your business.

There is a lot to know- you are the expect at running and knowing your business- let us help keep your data network working for you. We can be a back up to your current IT support or assist with more advanced applications that your current support does not have expertise in.

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There's just one call you make and we can take care of it all and you can be assured that you will be taken care of with the same commitment to service, technical expertise and concern for your business that you have come to expect from Pilothouse.

Call for information on these and other communications services we can provide as your communications business partner. 203-649-6405 or toll free 866-887-5792.

Thank you for your continued business. We look forward to servicing all of your communications needs in 2008.