EARTHLINK COMPLETE HOSTED VOICE RECOGNIZED WITH PRODUCT OF THE YEAR AWARD FROM INTERNET TELEPHONY MAGAZINE

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ATLANTA, Feb. 26, 2013 /PRNewswire/ – EarthLink, Inc. (NASDAQ: ELNK), a leading IT services and communications provider, today announced thatTMC, a global, integrated media company, recently selected EarthLink Complete™ Hosted Voice as a recipient of its 2012 INTERNET TELEPHONYProduct of the Year Award.

“It is with pleasure that we recognize EarthLink with a Product of the Year Award. The editors of INTERNET TELEPHONY have verified that EarthLink Complete Hosted Voice displays quality and innovation while providing solutions to real business communications challenges,” stated Rich Tehrani, CEO, TMC. “I would like to congratulate the team at EarthLink for their commitment to advancing IP communication technologies.”

2012 Product of the Year winners are published on the TMC website. The editors sought IP communications solutions which demonstrated the vision, leadership and attention to detail that are the hallmarks of the award.

“Our team is pleased that TMC and INTERNET TELEPHONY magazine have again provided their vote of confidence by selecting EarthLink Complete Hosted Voice as a Product of the Year for the second time,” said Michael Toplisek, EarthLink Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing. “EarthLink Complete enables us to offer any size business with a single-source, full-featured Hosted IP PBX solution without the cost of purchasing a PBX. Fully scalable to grow as the customer evolves, EarthLink Complete delivers convenience and freedom so our clients can focus on their core business and spend less time managing their communications infrastructure.”

EarthLink Complete Hosted Voice is part of EarthLink’s Complete suite of business voice, data, and Internet solutions. EarthLink Complete integrates leading-edge hosted Voice over IP applications and private MPLS networks with equipment, mobile and security offerings to provide businesses with a fully customizable communications portfolio leveraging the company’s expansive network and state-of-the-art secure IP infrastructure.

Key EarthLink Complete differentiators include the flexibility to select a blend of access technologies for connectivity, including DSL, T1 and Ethernet, all of which provide Quality of Service (QoS) and the myLink™ customer control point, which empowers customers with easy web-based account management and customization. EarthLink’s online Hosted Voice demo is a convenient way to sample the solution’s features via any computer.

About EarthLink
EarthLink, Inc. (NASDAQ: ELNK) is a leading IT services and communications provider to more than 150,000 businesses and one million consumersnationwide. EarthLink empowers customers with managed services including cloud computing, managed and private cloud, and virtualization servicessuch as managed hosting and cloud workspace. EarthLink also offers a robust portfolio of IT security, application hosting, colocation and IT support services. The company operates an extensive network spanning 28,800 route fiber miles with 90 metro fiber rings and 4 secure data centers providing ubiquitous nationwide data and voice IP service coverage across more than 90 percent of the country. Founded in 1994, EarthLink’s award-winning reputation for outstanding service and product innovation is supported by an experienced team of professionals focused on best-in-class customer care.  For more information, visit EarthLink’s website at www.earthlink.net.

About INTERNET TELEPHONY magazine
INTERNET TELEPHONY has been the IP Communications Authority since 1998™. Beginning with the first issue, INTERNET TELEPHONY magazine has been providing unbiased views of the complicated converged communications space.  For more information, please visit www.itmag.com. FollowINTERNET TELEPHONY magazine on Twitter or join our Linked In group. Subscribe or visit www.itmag.com.

About TMC
TMC is a global, integrated media company that helps clients build communities in print, in person and online. TMC publishes multiple magazines including CUSTOMER, INTERNET TELEPHONY, M2M Evolution and Cloud Computing. TMCnet is read by as many as 1.5 million unique visitors each month, and is the leading source of news and articles for the communications and technology industries. TMC is also the producer of ITEXPO, the world’s leading B2B communications event, as well as industry events: M2M Evolution; Cloud4SMB Expo; DevCon5; HTML5 Summit; Super Wi-Fi Summit, CVx; AstriCon; StartupCamp; MSPWorld and more. Visit TMC Events for a complete listing and further information. For more information about TMC, visit www.tmcnet.com.

SOURCE EarthLink, Inc.

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Sprint to buy U.S. Cellular business to boost Midwest coverage

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(Reuters) – Sprint Nextel Corp agreed to buy United States Cellular Corp businesses in Chicago, St. Louis, central Illinois and three other markets to expand coverage as it upgrades its network.

The No. 3 mobile phone service provider said on Wednesday that it will buy personal communications service (PCS) spectrum, commonly used in mobile voice and data services, and about 585,000 customers, or about 10 percent of U.S. Cellular’s total customer base.

Sprint said in a statement that it was paying $480 million in cash and assuming certain liabilities. It will use the additional spectrum to supplement coverage in the U.S. Midwest and roll out high-speed 4G LTE wireless networks, the company said.

It said the transaction, subject to approval by the Department of Justice and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), is expected to close in mid-2013.

Sprint, which agreed last month to sell a controlling stake to Japan’s Softbank Corp for $20 billion, desperately needs a network upgrade as the increased use of devices such as smartphones and tablets require more high-speed bandwidth.

In October, Sprint said it would carry Apple Inc’s iPad mini and fourth-generation iPad on its 4G LTE network.

One mobile industry analyst, Jennifer Fritzsche of Wells Fargo, said the acquisition announced on Wednesday was a logical move for Sprint “and an intriguing move by U.S. Cellular as it seems to indicate an important change in strategic direction.”

She said U.S. Cellular “appears to be placing its focus on the rural markets where it is apparently much more profitable due to the higher penetration it has as well as the roaming revenue it generates from other carriers.”

Sprint, which lost more customers than expected last quarter, has struggled for years to turn around its business as it competes against larger rivals Verizon Wireless and AT&T Inc.

The markets included in the deal generated service revenue of about $340 million and incurred an operating loss, U.S. Cellular said.

U.S. Cellular also offers 3G coverage mainly in the Pacific Northwest, Midwest, parts of the East and New England and 4G LTE coverage in Iowa, Wisconsin, Maine, North Carolina, Texas and Oklahoma.

The company, which will retain direct and indirect ownership interests in about 560 towers and other spectrum, also said it will move its Bolingbrook Customer Care Center operations in Illinois to an existing vendor partner, effective January 1, 2013.

(Reporting by Sayantani Ghosh in Bangalore and Nicola Leske in New York; Editing by Joyjeet Das and Grant McCool)

Copyright © 2012, Reuters

Original story here: http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/sns-rt-us-sprint-spectrum-uscellularbre8a61dr-20121107,0,845000.story

Can the SoftBank-Sprint Deal Succeed?

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Sprint has been the US mobile industry’s foster child for nearly two decades. Will it find a home in Japan’s SoftBank?  

- By Laurence Capron, Strategy Professor, INSEAD & Will Mitchell, Strategy Professor, Toronto and Duke University -

SoftBank has generated headlines this month with its $20 billion offer for 70% of Sprint, the struggling #3 U.S. mobile carrier, marking the deal the largest-ever overseas acquisition by a Japanese company. Market reaction is clearly betting against the deal: SoftBank’s stock price plunged more than 20%  in the days following the announcement on 15th of October.

Sprint Nextel itself has lost more than $41 billion during the past five years, shunned by other reported potential buyers, such as SK Telecom from Korea and Carlos Slim from Mexico. So is the market right about the negative potential for this deal? Or does SoftBank and its CEO, Masayoshi Son, have a strategy we don’t yet realize?

On the face of it, the market’s negative view may well be correct. SoftBank has little acquisition experience in the U.S.  And we can all think of big American deals that have failed to deliver promised value, ranging from iconic cases such as Snapple-Quaker Oats and AOL–Time Warner, to Sprint itself’s more recent combination with Nextel in 2005. So, the smart money may be right to short sell SoftBank.

But there is a potential upside to the SoftBank-Sprint deal that is worth thinking through. In our recent book, “Build, Borrow, or Buy: Solving the Growth Dilemma”, we talk about the role of acquisitions in helping firms make major changes to their resource portfolio and in leading market transformation. Based on our research, we recommend using acquisitions only when other approaches – including internal development, basic contracts, and alliances – do not make sense, typically when the changes that a firm wants to make are too complicated for the simpler relationships to succeed.

Clearly, the changes that Sprint needs to become a profitable business will require deep transformation, almost certainly through a takeover. By providing Sprint with $8.0 billion USD of new capital for its mobile network, strategic investments and balance sheet, as well as leveraging its expertise in smartphones and mobile networks, SoftBank could establish an operating base as one of the largest mobile Internet companies in the world, and the combined mobile telecom service revenue will rank third amongst global operators.

Synergies are not Enough

But the synergy opportunities between SoftBank and Sprint are not enough – SoftBank needs to have the capabilities to undertake the turnaround and integration of Sprint after closing the deal. When digging deeper into SoftBank’s capabilities, there might be a silver line worth considering.

  • SoftBank actually does have rich domestic and international M&A experience and know-how to draw from, even if that experience has not been visible to the naysayers in the US. The most visible acquisition from the far side of the Pacific is SoftBank’s acquisition of Vodaphone Japan in 2006, which SoftBank turned into a successful player in that country. That is a good starting point. Of course, though, success with one deal in Japan does not immediately translate into success in the U.S. But, largely out of sight of Western notice, SoftBank has been highly active in deals throughout Asia, with more than 100 deals on its own during that past decade plus another 50 or so via its interest in Yahoo Japan. Indeed, a big part of Softbank’s success in Japan stems from its willingness to buy and transform targets, unlike many of its peers in that country, which has historically had among the lowest M&A rates in the world. And, quietly, SoftBank has made about a dozen small acquisitions of software and component firms in the U.S. during the past decade, typically for less than $100 million.
  • Beyond maneuvering a successful takeover, SoftBank will need to do more than extract operational efficiencies from Sprint if the deal is to succeed. First, Sprint Nextel also needs fundamental changes in its basic business model. Simply trying to out-compete Verizon and AT&T head on will be a recipe for disaster. For Sprint Nextel to succeed, it will need to find a new mix of mobile services and related products for the U.S. market and potentially beyond this country. Here is where there is some glimmer of potential for SoftBank to make a difference, by drawing on its experience with different services in Japan, Korea, and elsewhere in Asia.
    • Again, there is no guarantee and no crystal ball for SoftBank-Sprint. But if SoftBank has a clear vision for how to change Sprint and, in the process, hep reshape the mobile communications market in the U.S. That is a tall order. But, if it succeeds, it will create major value.

Laurence Capron is the Paul Desmarais Chaired Professor of Strategy at INSEAD and the Director of “M&As and Corporate Strategy” Executive Education Programme at INSEAD. Will Mitchell  holds the Anthony S. Fell Chair in New Technologies and Commercialization at the University of Toronto (Rotman School of Management) and is the J. Rex Fuqua Professor of International Management at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business. They are authors of “Build, Borrow or Buy: Solving the Growth Dilemma” (Harvard Business Press, 2012).

See the original article here:

EarthLink Recognized with Product of the Year and Leadership Awards

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Company credited with defining “New Class of Service Provider” PR Newswire

ATLANTA, Sept. 6, 2012 /PRNewswire/ – EarthLink, Inc. (NASDAQ: ELNK), a leading IT services and communications provider, today announced that TMC, a global, integrated media company, recently selected EarthLink Complete™ Hosted Voice and EarthLink Complete™ MPLS as recipients of its Communications Solutions Product of the Year Award. In addition, in July of this year TMC also selected EarthLink’s nationwide, private, blended-access MPLS network for a 2012 Next Generation Networks (NGN) Leadership Award, presented by INTERNET TELEPHONY and Next Gen Mobility magazines.

“EarthLink was chosen to receive two Product of the Year Awards for creating exceptional innovation in communications,” said Rich Tehrani, CEO, TMC. “EarthLink Complete Hosted Voice and EarthLink Complete MPLS offer proven benefits and ROI for the companies that use them. Congratulations to the entire EarthLink team. I look forward to more innovative solutions from them in the coming year.”

TMC chose the most innovative products and services brought to the market from March 2011 through March 2012 as winners of their Communications Solutions Product of the Year Award. Characteristics of award recipients include vision, leadership and thoroughness.

“The entire EarthLink team is very proud that TMC, Internet Telephony and Next Gen Mobility called attention to what we believe is a new breed of solution in the marketplace,” said Michael Toplisek, Executive Vice President of Products and Marketing. “EarthLink Complete enables us to offer any size business with a single-source, comprehensive communications solution. Coupled with our myLink™ customer control point, customers are empowered with a portal that delivers just the level of support they desire, whether it’s via phone, live chat or email. EarthLink Complete and myLink deliver convenience and freedom so our clients focus more time on their core business and less on managing their communications.”

EarthLink Complete Hosted Voice and EarthLink Complete MPLS are part of EarthLink’s Complete suite of business voice, data, and Internet solutions. EarthLink Complete integrates leading-edge hosted Voice over IP applications and private MPLS networks with equipment, mobile and security offerings to provide businesses with a fully customizable communications portfolio leveraging the company’s expansive network and state-of-the-art secure IP infrastructure.

Key EarthLink Complete differentiators include the flexibility to select a blend of access technologies for connectivity, including DSL, T1 and Ethernet, all of which provide Quality of Service (QoS). EarthLink can also customize a private multi-location network and prioritize network traffic utilizing multiple access technologies to meet a customer’s specific requirements and provide critical network performance.

EarthLink Complete Hosted Voice enables businesses to obtain a Hosted IP PBX solution without the cost of purchasing a PBX or key system. Customers can forward calls to multiple phones and use a simple web-based management tool to gain on-demand system management control and user customization. This fully scalable solution can grow as a business evolves, and helps to mitigate cost issues associated with equipment that can quickly become outdated. EarthLink’s online Hosted Voice demo is a convenient way to sample the solution’s features via any computer.

EarthLink Complete MPLS is ideal for companies that need to connect multiple locations to drive more efficient operations. EarthLink Complete MPLS service allows converged voice, video and data on one network to enable real time applications with up to six MPLS CoS levels. All EarthLink Complete MPLS networks provide an integrated router solution and basic managed service and are delivered on a blended access network, providing the ability to utilize multiple access methods on a private network with the benefits of QoS. EarthLink is the first provider to make Class of Service prioritization available over high-speed, low-cost DSL access. By filling the traditional service level and price gap between DSL and T1 connections, this breakthrough enables more businesses to step up to better application support and achieve the benefits of an MPLS network.

Winners are published on the INTERNET TELEPHONY and Customer Interaction Solutions websites.

About EarthLinkEarthLink, Inc. (NASDAQ: ELNK) is a leading IT services and communications provider to more than 150,000 businesses and one million consumers nationwide. EarthLink empowers customers with managed services including cloud computing, managed and private cloud, and virtualization services such as managed hosting and cloud workspace. EarthLink also offers a robust portfolio of IT security, application hosting, colocation and IT support services. The company operates an extensive network spanning 28,800 route fiber miles with 90 metro fiber rings and 4 secure data centers providing ubiquitous nationwide data and voice IP service coverage across more than 90 percent of the country. Founded in 1994, EarthLink’s award-winning reputation for outstanding service and product innovation is supported by an experienced team of professionals focused on best-in-class customer care.  For more information, visit EarthLink’s website at www.earthlink.net.

About INTERNET TELEPHONY MagazineINTERNET TELEPHONY has been an IP Communications authority since 1998. Beginning with the first issue in February of 1998, the magazine has provided unbiased views of the complicated converged communications space. For more information, visit www.itmag.com.

About TMCTMC is celebrating its 40th anniversary as a global, integrated media company that helps clients build communities in print, in person, and online. TMC publishes the TMC’s CUSTOMER Magazine (formerly Customer Interaction Solutions), INTERNET TELEPHONY, Next Gen Mobility, and Cloud Computing magazines. TMCnet.com, which is read by 1.5 million unique visitors each month, is the leading source of news and articles for the communications and technology industries. TMC is the producer of ITEXPO, the world’s leading B2B communications event. In addition, TMC runs multiple industry events:  Cloud Communications Expo; Cloud4SMB Expo; CVx (ChannelVision Expo); DevCon5; HTML5 Summit; LatinComm Conference & Expo; M2M Evolution Conference & Expo; Mobility Tech Conference & Expo; MSPAlliance MSPWorld; StartupCamp; Video World Conference & Expo and more For more information, visit www.tmcnet.com.

SOURCE EarthLink, Inc.

SPRINT, T-MOBILE MERGER ‘MAKES SENSE’

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**Editor’s Note: Please click here for a recap of the biggest channel-impacting mergers of Q2 2012 or here for the biggest M&A during that time in the service-provider and BSS/OSS spaces.**

The chance that Sprint will merge with T-Mobile still exists, at least according to one prominent ratings agency.

Although the companies continually have failed to follow through with merger talks in past years, Fitch Ratings has released a report saying the combination “makes sense,” according to an article by Wireless Week.

A merger between Sprint and T-Mobile is logical over the long term because both companies now struggle against competition from bigger rivals – Verizon Wireless and AT&T – the report said. That – combined with the fact that T-Mobile’s role as a low-cost provider “is not a recipe for longer term sustained revenue growth” – makes Fitch think now is the time for the pair to team up.

Of course, last year’s proposed AT&T-T-Mobile debacle raised some serious red flags about the future of mergers among the “Big Four.” The FCC and Justice Department blocked AT&T’s ill-fated takeover of T-Mobile. And the fact that Sprint and T-Mobile use disparate technology for 3G also raises problems.

Complete story here: http://www.channelpartnersonline.com/news/2012/09/sprint-t-mobile-merger-makes-sense.aspx

Sprint’s Nextel network gets its death date: June 30, 2013

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By David Goldman @CNNMoneyTech May 29, 2012: 4:02 PM ET

Sprint plans to shut down the Nextel Network next year.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — The Nextel chapter of Sprint’s disastrous 2005 merger is just a year away from coming to a close. Let’s call it a mercy killing.

Sprint Nextel (S, Fortune 500) said Tuesday that it plans to shut down the Nextel network as early as June 30, 2013. Sprint has long talked about its intention to wind down Nextel, but this is the first time it has offered up a precise end date.

The $36 billion “merger of equals” never came together as Sprint and Nextel planned. Nextel’s network ran on a different technology than Sprint’s, making it difficult for the combined company to optimize its wireless infrastructure assets. Sprint had to put its radios on all of Nextel’s towers, and vice versa.

Nextel’s push-to-talk technology grew less popular over the years, and customers have been fleeing the network in droves.

Though 5.4 million customers remained on Nextel’s network as of the end of March, Sprint has been transitioning them off it. The problem is that many aren’t sticking with Sprint when they leave. Last quarter, Nextel lost 455,000 contracted customers, and only 228,000 rejoined the Sprint-branded service.

Sprint wrote down $543 million of Nextel’s value last quarter. That’s just another drop in the bucket compared to the $29.7 billion writedown it took on the Nextel brand in 2008. Virtually all of the the merger’s value has now been written off.

Getting rid of the Nextel brand is part of the company’s “Network Vision” transition, a battle plan aimed at vastly simplifying Sprint’s network technology portfolio and freeing up precious wireless spectrum to keep pace with Verizon (VZ, Fortune 500) and AT&T’s (T, Fortune 500) 4G rollouts.

Sprint plans to use the freed-up spectrum from scrapping its “2G” Nextel network to launch a 4G-LTE network. It hopes former Nextel customers will begin to use Sprint’s new “Direct Connect” technology, which enables push-to-talk capabilities on Sprint’s network.

Though the company has already stopped selling Nextel phones for consumers, it will discontinue them across the board over the next few months.

Sprint plans to formally notify its business and government customers later this week that Nextel will be shut down. It will simultaneously advertise Direct Connect as a lure for them to stay with the company.

A company spokeswoman declined to comment on whether shutting down the Nextel network would end the Nextel brand altogether. Sprint Nextel could end up ditching the second half of its name — shedding one of the most prominent reminders of its failed $36 billion dream.

First Published: May 29, 2012: 2:50 PM ET

EarthLink Business Launches Cloud Workspace

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Businesses Control Secure Access to Applications Anytime, Anywhere

ATLANTA, May 15, 2012 /PRNewswire/ – EarthLink, Inc. (NASDAQ:ELNK), a leading IT services and communications provider, today announced the launch of its new EarthLink Business® IT Services Cloud Workspace™. Following the April announcement of three EarthLink IT Services packages, Cloud Workspace, a hosted desktop service, is the company’s latest virtualization service. This customized environment enables customers to control business applications and data with secure access for employees from anywhere, from any device and via any high-speedInternet or private MPLS connection. Cloud Workspace also helps to significantly reduce operating costs, eliminate capital expenditures, increase employee productivity with easy application access and reduce complex security challenges. With more than 250 applications already available, plus the ability for customers to add their own custom applications, Cloud Workspace functions as a virtual office, wherever employees work.

“With our new Cloud Workspace solution, we’ve taken the complexity out of application management and end-user accessibility while maximizing business benefits of the cloud,” said Mike Fuqua, Vice President of Managed Services Product Management. “As data and applications moved out of the data center and onto local PC-based environments, complexities arose around how to protect the data, assure backups occurred, and provide end-users the flexibility and ability to move application activity between their devices. Cloud Workspace simplifies manageability, increases protection and delivers data and applications securely from the cloud, allowing users the convenience of using any device to access and run applications and data as if local to them, even while moving between devices.”

The Cloud Workspace assists in solving many common business challenges, including a myriad of security and compliance issues, plus the need to provide access to corporate resources from smartphones, tablets and other consumer-owned devices. Its primary value lies in helping to significantly reduce operating costs and eliminate capital expenditures; increase employee productivity; and eliminate complex security challenges on EarthLink’s fully-managed, centralized IT infrastructure. IT teams can avoid the headache of managing onsite servers and storage.  Centralized data storage allows businesses to breathe easier knowing that their data is not resident on local devices and is no longer as vulnerable to device theft or employee turnover.

“Organizations first may be drawn to the economics and flexibility of the cloud, but business-class solutions like Cloud Workspace also give organizations access to some surprising benefits in terms of security and resiliency,” says Amy Larsen DeCarlo, Principal Analyst-Security and Data Center Services with Current Analysis. “EarthLink is able to provide the reliable infrastructure as well as the security protections and expertise that most businesses lack and the provider can do so at an attractive price.”

Easy to install and use, Cloud Workspace offers many features to enable organizations of any size to have an IT experience previously only available to Fortune 500 companies. The customizable Cloud Workspace supports a mobile and telecommuting workforce, with secure, instant access to files, applications and email from any Internet connection or private MPLS connection; operating in a highly secure infrastructure that is SSAE 16 compliant, with process controls and infrastructure and certified security experts on the job 24×7; and business continuity, featuring fully redundant data storage and routine back-up and disaster recovery protection.

The IT Services product suite is also available for customer management via the myLinkTM customer portal using a centralized IT Services Center dashboard.

More information on EarthLink Business IT Services is available by calling 1-800-957-4872 or visiting www.earthlinkbusiness.com.

About EarthLink
EarthLink, Inc. (NASDAQ:ELNK) is a leading IT services, network and communications provider to more than 150,000 businesses and over one million consumers nationwide. EarthLink empowers customers with managed IT services including cloud computing, data centers, virtualization, security, applications and support services, in addition to nationwide data and voice IP services. The company operates an extensive network including 28,800 route fiber miles, 90 metro fiber rings and 4 secure data centers providing ubiquitous IP coverage across more than 90 percent of the country. Founded in 1994, the company’s award-winning reputation for both outstanding service and product innovation is supported by an experienced team of professionals focused on best-in-class customer care.  For more information, visit EarthLink’s website www.earthlink.net.

Cloud Workspace™ is a trademark of MRK Networks, Inc. d/b/a independenceIT®

SOURCE EarthLink

Earthlink Business Earns Two Product of the Year Awards for Innovation

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ATLANTA, Feb. 29, 2012 /PRNewswire/ – EarthLink, Inc. (NASDAQ: ELNK), a leading IT services and communications provider, today announced thatTMC, a global, integrated media company, has selected EarthLink Complete™ Hosted Voice and EarthLink Complete™ SIP Trunking as recipients of its 2011 Internet Telephony Product of the Year Award for Innovation.

“I am happy to grant EarthLink two Product of the Year Awards. The editors of Internet Telephony independently verified that both EarthLink Complete Hosted Voice and EarthLink Complete SIP Trunking display quality and innovation, plus provide real solutions in the marketplace,” stated Rich Tehrani, CEO of TMC. “I would like to congratulate the entire EarthLink team for their commitment to advancing IP communication technologies.”

Launched nationwide in December of 2011, EarthLink Complete Hosted Voice and EarthLink Complete SIP Trunking are part of the new EarthLink Complete™ suite of business voice, data networking, and Internet access solutions. EarthLink Complete integrates leading-edge hosted Voice over IP applications and managed MPLS networks with equipment, mobile and security offerings to provide businesses with a fully customizable communications portfolio leveraging the company’s expansive network and state-of-the-art secure IP infrastructure.

Key EarthLink Complete differentiators include the flexibility to select a blend of access technologies for connectivity, including DSL, T1 and Ethernet, all of which provide Quality of Service (QoS). EarthLink can also customize a managed multi-location network and prioritize network traffic utilizing multiple access technologies to meet a customer’s specific requirements and provide critical application performance.

“Countless EarthLink employees worked diligently to bring these innovative products to market, and we sincerely thank Internet Telephony magazine and TMC for this recognition,” said Barbara Dondiego, EarthLink Chief Marketing Officer. “The entire EarthLink Complete suite of solutions dramatically expands our ability to offer businesses of all sizes a single-source, comprehensive solution and the scalability and features to keep pace with today’s dynamic environment. Paired with our personalized support, we believe that EarthLink Complete empowers our customers by delivering the freedom they need to focus on their core business.”

EarthLink Complete Hosted Voice enables businesses to obtain a Hosted IP PBX solution without the cost of purchasing a PBX or key system. Customers can forward calls to multiple phones and use a simple web-based management tool to gain on-demand system management control and user customization.

This fully scalable solution can grow as a business evolves, and helps to mitigate cost issues associated with equipment that might quickly become outdated. EarthLink’s online Hosted Voice demo offers the opportunity to conveniently demo and sample the solution’s features online via any computer.

EarthLink Complete SIP Trunking is ideal for businesses that want to use their existing SIP- enabled PBX equipment to take advantage of the latest Voice over IP networking technologies. EarthLink can simplify the network solution by using its data network to pass various combinations of voice and data traffic while seamlessly connecting to customer-owned Cisco, Avaya, NEC or Mitel equipment.  EarthLink’s SIP Trunking solution offers advantages for customers, as they can leverage a single connection for both voice and data while benefiting from a converged minutes plan that yields cost optimization. Because SIP Trunking can automatically connect to a secondary connection, it is a fall over option for business continuity that also provides dependable disaster recovery support.

2011 Product of the Year winners were published in the January/February 2012 issue of Internet Telephony magazine, a leader in IP communication since 1998.

About EarthLink
EarthLink, Inc. (NASDAQ: ELNK) is a leading IT services, network and communications provider to more than 150,000 businesses and over one million consumers nationwide. EarthLink empowers customers with managed IT services including cloud computing, data centers, virtualization, security, applications and support services, in addition to nationwide data and voice IP services. The company operates an extensive network including 28,000 route fiber miles, 90 metro fiber rings and 4 secure data centers providing ubiquitous IP coverage across more than 90 percent of the country. Founded in 1994, the company’s award-winning reputation for both outstanding service and product innovation is supported by an experienced team of professionals focused on best-in-class customer care.  For more information, visit EarthLink’s website www.earthlink.net.

About Internet Telephony Magazine
Internet Telephony has been an IP Communications authority since 1998. Beginning with the first issue in February of 1998, the magazine has provided unbiased views of the complicated converged communications space. For more information, visit www.itmag.com.

About TMC

TMC is a global, integrated media company that helps clients build communities in print, in person, and online.  TMC publishes the Customer Interaction Solutions, Internet Telephony, Next Gen Mobility and Cloud Computing (formerly InfoTECH Spotlight) magazines. TMCnet.com, which is read by two million unique visitors each month, is the leading source of news and articles for the communications and technology industries. TMC is the producer of ITEXPO, the world’s leading B2B communications event.  In addition, TMC runs multiple industry events: 4G Wireless Evolution; M2M Evolution; Cloud Communications Expo; SIP Tutorial 2.0:Bringing SIP to the Web; Business Video Expo; Regulatory 2.0 Workshop; DevCon5; HTML5 Summit; CVx; AstriCon; StartupCamp; MSPAlliance MSPWorld and more. Visit TMC Events for a complete listing or visit www.tmcnet.com.

SOURCE EarthLink, Inc.

News Provided by Acquire Media

Remember EarthLink? It’s Now in IT Services and Targeting Banks

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Reply
JAN 27, 2012 10:25am ET

When was the last time you emailed somebody @earthlink.net?

Once a venerable supplier of Internet connectivity, EarthLink Inc. has reinvented itself — as a vendor for banks, among other businesses.

“EarthLink has had its ups and downs, but it is the poster boy of a company that continuously reinvents itself,” says Phil Blank, a senior analyst with Javelin Strategy and Research.

In the decade since many industry experts wrote off EarthLink as yesterday’s ISP, it has been on an acquisitive tear, buying the abilities to offer private-cloud, data co-location, server-virtualization, disaster-recovery and other services. It has also improved the capacity and scope of its voice and data offerings.

Regions Financial Corp., of Birmingham, Ala., uses EarthLink’s myLink portal, a dashboard that allows banks to view and control telecommunications applications.

“If something happens in one call center, or an [interactive voice response] goes down, I can use my Blackberry and reroute traffic in real time,” says Ann H. Sears, an IT officer for Regions telecommunications.

That process, which might have taken the better part of the day before, can now be accomplished in a matter of minutes, and Sears says there’s no need for her to be in the office to facilitate any changes.

EarthLink counts 175,000 business customers and more than 3 million consumer customers. About 10% of its Business unit’s revenue comes from banking, roughly $27 million in the third quarter, the company says. The rest comes from construction, health care, government and retail. EarthLink’s total third-quarter revenue was $357 million.

“Our strategic intent is to position EarthLink as an IT services company for businesses who see the need for IT and network security as essential to their future success,” EarthLink’s chairman and chief executive officer Rolla Huff told investors during a third-quarter earnings call with analysts in October.

EarthLink’s reinvention as a banking and business service provider had the air of inevitability, experts say.

EarthLink built its capabilities not only through acquisitions of competing ISPs like MindSpring Enterprise in 2000, but through more recent purchases of telecommunications and data networking companies.

It acquired New Edge Networks, of Vancouver, Wash., in 2006. New Edge “was a leading provider of MPLS networks, a special highly secure method of transmitting IP traffic, and something you use to build a private cloud,” which is a private group of remotely networked servers, says Vikram Desai, president of advanced services for EarthLink.

That was followed in 2010 by the acquisition of regional telecom provider ITC DeltaCom Inc., of Huntsville, Ala., and last year of One Communications, a telecom provider based in Burlington, Mass.

The last two acquisitions brought with them 150,000 new customers, including some banks.

Among EarthLink’s benefits to banks is “a nationwide platform that’s highly secure and completely private, that helps financial services … in a secure and cost-effective manner,” Desai says.

EarthLink would not reveal how many banking customers it has, but it’s most likely fewer than a couple of dozen, experts say. Besides Regions, which was a former ITC DeltaCom customer, it also counts Suntrust Banks Inc., which uses its voice and data services, an EarthLink spokeswoman says.

EarthLink can potentially develop a solid niche with smaller banks and credit unions, which are eager to reduce IT costs and which often lack internal IT departments, experts say.

A big bank, by contrast, “is unlikely to take its data centers and give them to EarthLink,” says Alan Mattei, a partner at Novantas LLC of New York.

EarthLink is also likely to be fighting the perception that it is still a consumer company that lacks the necessary depth of services businesses require.

“Often with banks who feel their information is highly secure, they don’t want to deal with a consumer company,” says Zeus Kerravala, founder and principal analyst for ZK Research LLC of Boston. (Kerravala is a paid consultant for EarthLink.)

EarthLink is also competing with more established companies in the telecommunications and data storage industries, such as AT&T Inc. and Verizon Inc., as well as Level 3 Communications Inc. and Rackspace Hosting Inc.

Earthlink’s private-cloud offering intrigues experts most. Smaller banks that may currently be using the public internet to transfer portions of their information, say for their ATM networks, can do so using a private cloud, which would give a bank more security and reliability, Desai says.

As part of the service agreement, the private cloud would also help banks with compliance, because Earthlink’s facilities are compliant with SAS 70 and PCI standards, he says.

“EarthLink has a presence nationally as well as having a robust private infrastructure to move data within their own network, so they are well poised to move into this space,” Mattei says.

Movement of internal data using a private cloud is still controversial, he says. Smaller banks would likely begin by outsourcing functions and database capabilities that are not customer centric, such as purchase and order entry systems or the help desk, Mattei says.

Representatives from Regions said that even though they use EarthLink for some services, they are hesitant to try new offerings like EarthLink’s private cloud.

“We are generally not a company that puts our resources outside of our facilities, [but] it is certainly something we will continue to consider and see if there is value there,” says John Thomas Karney, manager of telecommunications for Regions.

From Mobile World Congress, attack of the super phones

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Faster than a desktop computer! Nimbler than an iPad! It’s not a phone, it’s not a tablet. It’s super phone!

Rather than getting smaller, smartphones are getting bigger — and more powerful. At the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona this week, the annual coming out party for new mobile handsets, the trend is clear — but are people ready for these brawny, Brobdingnagian beasts?

The first super phone to make a major debut in the U.S. is Samsung’s Galaxy Note, and it’s a risk taker. Introduced earlier this month on AT&T, the phone commands a premium price — $299.99 with a two-year contract — but it boasts a massive 5.3-inch screen (diagonal). Compare that to an iPhone’s now puny looking 3.5-inch screen.

Super phones are partly an acknowledgement of how people are using smart phones these days. They’re making fewer voice calls and making more Facebook posts and text messages. Most people use apps for finding a restaurant, uploading a picture or checking in to a coffee shop rather than calling home.

Phones are now cameras, video shooters, and portable TVs. But is a bigger screen — and consequently bulkier 6.5-ounce handset — the best way to cater to these uses?

After more than a week traveling with the Samsung Galaxy Note, I found my initial skepticism turned to appreciation.

The phone’s dual-core processor is zippy, and it uses AT&T’s faster 4G LTE network, which is now available in nearly 30 U.S. markets. I got a 4G connection in some surprising places, such as the ex-urbs around our nation’s capital.

The Galaxy Note also has 16 GB of storage, which is expandable using a microSD card to 32 GB. And there’s a rear-facing 8-megapixel camera that can shoot high-definition video, and a front-facing 2-megapixel camera for video calls.

The main attraction, however, is the screen. It’s a high-definition Super Amoled display that is not only big but also crisp and visible in direct sunlight (its technical resolution is 1,280 by 800 pixels). The display also doesn’t put an onerous burden on the battery. I was able to spend an entire day playing tourist, getting directions, checking out Google Goggles listings for popular attractions, checking e-mail, idling away empty minutes surfing the Web, and, yes, making phone calls without having to search for a charging outlet.

In toto, the experience was definitely favorable. The larger touch screen is a great for scanning Web sites: You don’t have to constantly pinch and expand pages to see them clearly. It’s also excellent for watching Netflix videos when you have to cure a bout of insomnia. And it’s a better size for reading ebooks in Google Books while commuting.

An editor sent me a PDF file to proofread, I was able to see it without constantly sliding the page from side to side. Moreover, middle-aged smartphone users will also find it easier to navigate and play games on the Galaxy Note without squinting.

The drawbacks of the larger phone were few. When making a phone call, the Galaxy Note can make you feel like Agent 86, holding his shoe phone up to his ear. Subtle, it ain’t. But most people use their phones for everything but making a phone call, and many also use wireless Bluetooth earpieces, obviating the need to hold it to your ear.

Some users I canvased, mostly women, complained that they couldn’t tap in codes and numbers with just one hand. I didn’t have the same problem, but I did find that the larger phone necessitated a jacket pocket, rather than fitting into a pants pocket.

Samsung is also trying an old trick on the new phone: It includes a stylus, that tucks neatly into the bottom of the device. Unlike the Palm Pilot pens of the past, however, Samsung’s version uses more sophisticated technology from Wacom, which makes it pressure sensitive. It also has a special function button on the side that can be used for invoking a note pad app for storing doodles or reminders (no more paper napkins). While the S pen, as Samsung calls it, opens up some interesting future possibilities, I found I mostly ignored it and just used the device like a normal touch screen phone.

Enlarged smartphones have been tried before. Dell’s ill-fated Streak 5 turned out to have no clothes, at least as far as most shoppers were concerned. But that device was chubby. The Samsung Galaxy Note is slim and sexy.

In the coming months, there will be a new wave of super phones. HTC is introducing the One X, with a 4.7-inch screen and a faster and sharper 8-megapixel camera that will be available on T-Mobile. And Nokia has shown what it calls a 41-megapixel camera phone in Barcelona (think of the data charges!).

Meanwhile, LG is pushing faster chips, announcing a quad-core processor phone, the Optimus 4X HD. It all continues a trend of mobile phones that put the power of a desktop computer in your pocket.

Certainly there are some people who will welcome a super phone like the Samsung Galaxy Note and consider it to be a Goldilocks device: Big enough to effectively surf the Web and read and write on, but small enough to fit in a jacket pocket or purse. The question is, will there be enough of those customers willing to pay $300?

Follow John R. Quain on Twitter @jqontech or find more tech coverage at J-Q.com.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2012/02/28/from-mobile-world-congress-attack-super-phones/#ixzz1nhnoE7y4