By Arlyn Wall, Phenomenal Networks

We all know that good communication in emergency situations is key to minimizing the impact to lives and property. The 911 findings highlighted the problems of emergency responders not being able to talk to each other due to conflicting standards– now at least this situation is being improved

In our travels around schools in MN, one of the recurring themes seems to be aging paging systems. Often not working at all but, at best, they are of poor quality and not integrated with other systems in the school. These days, most emergency communication systems are computer network based and often incorporate connections to phones, computers, tablets and smart phones but still not integrated with the PA system. The good news is that there are relatively low cost ways of tying the PA network into the system using the existing IP infrastructure. In this way paging, bell and emergency systems can all be controlled and managed easily and centrally and also be tied into the VoIP phone system – plus be connected direct to other external emergency response agencies.

It seems a shame that a simple upgrade is stopping one of the simplest means of communication from being used to save lives.

By Dave Shepherdson, COO Phenomenal Networks

I have been working in a high volume retail environment for fun over the last four months – a very conservative figure of 8 minutes per hour is Dead Time – Not reading Steven King, but, spending unnecessary time obtaining information relevant to close a potential sale. The number of people on a shift is normally 8 and each shift is eight hours – so taking those figures and reducing to round numbers an average of 1 hour per day is unnecessarily lost. That lost hour could be used to close two deals, each worth an average of $400.00 dollars.
Let us be conservative again and say that only one additional deal is closed and that only 50% of the staff are able to make one additional sale in the hour gained per day.
Do the math – with 32 stores Nationwide, the money really racks up – wonder if I would get 10% of the money I could save the company.

by Dave Shepherdson – COO, Phenomenal Networks

Steve Jobs can be credited for creating consumer devices that transitioned into the corporate workspace at light speed.

The capabilities of Smart phones and tablets which were initially adopted en mass by consumers, driven by both content and applications, have forced business corporations to adopt both the capabilities enabled by these devices. IT departments are scrambling to retain some control over the usage of these devices by people who enter their enterprises on a daily basis.

Employees are not longer satisfied by the experience delivered by current IT infrastructure, when they can access what they want, when required and at speeds far exceeding that delivered over the corporate Lan/Wan

Employees are also questioning why they have to wait for the IT department’s approval to roll out a productivity tool when it can be readily purchased on-line and implemented by the users themselves.

The magnitude of the challenge faced by IT Departments, is that the Smart Phone and Tablet is now ubiquitous and regardless if it is an employee or a visitor they are walking a tightrope of managing user expectations and addressing real security concerns – more to follow

By Dave Shepherdson, COO, Phenomenal Networks

74 million to a high of 152 million are the number of shoppers out over the Black Friday week-end.

A statistic worth noting “60 million Estimated number of Smartphone’s that’ll be used by shoppers over Black Friday weekend; some 21 million of those consumers plan on making purchases via Smartphone’s over the weekend.

Read more:

http://moneyland.time.com/2011/11/24/black-friday-2011-by-the-numbers/#ixzz1henCfA2Q

I was one of the many shoppers out looking for a deal – this time I was looking for the best deal on a phone, but the very last requirement was that it needed to be able to make a call and receive e-mail, that was a taken.

What I really wanted was a Tablet experience, so I could read a book, watch a rerun of “The Closer”, use a GPS app in the Northern Woods – Content and applications was driving my purchasing decision.

As I work in IT it would be really useful to have Telnet, FTP capabilities without booting a laptop every time.

I no longer make a decision about servicing my car solely based on price – the dealership that offers me Wi-Fi while I wait will get my business, as will the coffee shop.

The sheer numbers of people with Smart Devices means that not everyone is a good guy.

Next time you see me in your waiting room I am either watching a movie, reading the news or port scanning your network and breaking into your network.

read more -

Smartphones are becoming the go-to device for many consumers

https://www.npd.com/wps/portal/npd/us/news/pressreleases/pr_111222

By Alan Ainsworth, Marketing Director, Phenomenal Networks

Is your organization still using pagers (often also called a beeper) to connect with critical staff for “Code” calls and other critical messaging needs? This is old, outdated technology that will soon be regulated away by the FCC!

Phenomenal has just added a new AMC modulewhich is now an integral part of the Phenomenal Emergency Communications System (PECS). This module and other elements of the solution helps organizations to consolidate the devices that staff and mobile workforce need to carry with them and step into the 21st century. They can use today’s current technology (Smartphones, tablets and wireless IP Phones) to not only replace pagers (beepers) but also add important features for message delivery, response time reporting and compliance.  

Key functions of the AMC Module of PECS:

• Separating critical message delivery from less important emails and SMS message delivery (give your priority and critical messages a unique “ring tone” and “inbox” so the user knows that they have gotten a message they need to take action on and not have it lost or mixed with non-critical “texts” from friends and family).

• Automatic delivery and read receipts for critical messages

• Audit Trail and Full Traceability for Closed-Loop Communications

• Active acknowledgement of message and free-form text response

• Supports a variety of devices to accommodate user preference (BlackBerry, iPhone, Android, Cisco)

• Messages encrypted via SSL/BES connection

• Helps meet HIPAA and HITECH Act guidelines

• Supports Wi-Fi and Cellular Networks (using BES BIS SMS Apple Android)

• Flexible Message delivery can be initiated from:

                          -Operator console/Web directory

                          -Emergency notification

                          -Speech recognition

                         -3rd-party message and alerting systems

                         -Web portal

                        -Other systems supporting XML, SCCP, SIP, TAPI, HTTP, HTTPS, CTIOS, TAP, SMTP, HL7, SNPP, WCTP