When using the Avaya EC500 (Extension to Cellular) feature, there might come a time when you need to change the number that is programmed in the system but don't have access to system administrator to make the necessary changes. There is a feature that is available in the system called SAFE. 

• 1st Place - Danny Poull 
• 2nd Place - Kevin Barnett 
• 3rd Place - Kim Kiefer

We are thinking of starting "sweater vest Thursdays" as a regular event.

Our 1st place winner, Danny Poull, accepting his trophy from Jennifer Theesfeld.

  Kevin Barnett's sweater had a lovely rap rendition of "Jingle Bells."

Kim Kiefer (3rd place) and Danny Poull (1st place) discuss strategy for the contest next year.

Josh Rodriguez wishes YOU a Merry Christmas.

Jenny Theesfeld, Lynn Heid, and Tammy Faanes all showed their holiday spirit.

Mark Di Benedetto is watching you, coveting his White Elephant pick.

You just tried to call your friend overseas, but instead you accidentally got: "911 where's your emergency?"

One of the biggest problems that plague E 911 call takers and dispatchers are false or accidental 911 calls. Often they come from children playing with uninitialized cell phones, yes they can still dial 911, and we've all heard the humorous stories about youngsters needing help with their math homework, and some adults acting like children when they don't get their Western bacon cheeseburger at the drive-through.

Probably the biggest cause of 911 misdials is the proverbial "butt dial" where users accidentally hit the speed dial sequence for 911 on their mobile phone while in their pocket. Enterprise PBXs are also a common source of calls to 911 when the user didn't intentionally plan on making that call. The problem here is that in many cases the PBX doesn't report station level caller ID, or if it does, in many cases the carrier will overwrite that information with the main billing telephone number, especially on 911 calls. This can cause the source of the offending person or device to remain 'hidden' adding to the frustration level of those trying to help.

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Over the last few years there has been an increase in network usage in many companies, whether it is the implementation of cloud services for flexible data management or the trending BYOD (bring-your-own-device). With this added stress, more and more companies need to start thinking about hands-on measures to avoid network downtime. Gartner recently forecasted the top 10 Strategic Technology Trends for 2013 and listed Mobile Device Battles, Mobile Applications and HTML5, and Personal Cloud as the top three items - it is evident that network infrastructures will be taking a major hit with usage rapidly growing.  

Companies, small and large will begin to see a shift towards the needs of amplifying their network infrastructures to solutions that are not only cost effective but have a core focus on comprehensive network monitoring with proactive measures to immediately troubleshoot issues as they arise.

One thing that has become clear with modern cloud and data center technologies is the need for a different approach to security. An organization cannot rely on traditional infrastructure products to provide the level of security needed in the cloud or data center.  

Virtualization technology that forms the foundation of clouds and data centers requires special security safeguards to protect the data flowing through virtual machines.

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