NEWS BRIEFS

Posted: 1/2004

NEWS BRIEFS

PHONE+ magazine
has announced the spring Channel Partners Conference & Expo will be
March 22-24, 2004, at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas. About
1,800 people are expected to attend the conference and expo that will feature
about 115 booths.

The sessions are planned to spotlight business models, partner opportunities,
trends in contracts and RBOC programs, and explore cellular, Wi-Fi, local number
portability, remote access and customer profiling for WAN technologies. The
conference is scheduled to close with a look at the FCCs recent rulings and
how those decisions affect channel business.

PlanetOne Communications Inc. agents
will market InfoHighway Communications Corp. services, including its flagship local service based on UNE-P, in 14 East
Coast states. Agents can earn an upfront, per-line bonus and a residual
commission while offering business customers local phone service. Agents can market, provision and convert Centrex, POTS, DIDs, PRI circuits
and more while having full online access to key their own orders and to check
the status of their accounts.

Network Enhanced Telecom LLC (NetworkIP)
is offering its prepaid voice conferencing product, e.Conferencing, to channel
partners and distributors for resale and private labeling. e.Conferencing is on the same platform as NetworkIPs other prepaid phone
offerings. e.Conferencing can be used from any phone, without a reservation, and it is
rechargeable by credit card.

ICG Communications Inc. has
added four executive positions to its sales organization, including Carolyn
Ryder Crawford, vice president of corporate development and sales operations,
who will oversee the Partners First business partner program.

McGraw Communications,
a New York City-based switchless CLEC, has installed Logicware Inc.s partner
relationship management solution to give agents access to new order and change
order information, and trouble ticket tracking. The real-time, Web-based system,
Logic 3.0, sets target dates for completion of every step in every order,
prioritizing supervisory action for on-time completion.

ACC Business has
launched Multi-Service Access (MSA), an integrated digital network offer that
delivers Internet and voice services on one T1 circuit. It is available via ACC
agents. MSA targets small and medium-sized businesses. The carrier says that by
uniting voice and Internet access on a single circuit, these businesses can
maximize existing bandwidth investments. Customers can get Internet access at up
to 768kbps on 12 T1 channels, leaving the remaining 12 channels available for
dedicated local and long-distance services. MSA also includes customer premises
equipment: router, multiplexing CSU/DSU and diagnostic modem. ACC manages and
monitors the CPE on a round-the-clock basis.

Airespring Inc. has
released an instant proposal generator tool enabling its agents to choose the
rates they want to offer from a drop-down menu. The tool automatically fills in
the rates and local loop prices. Separate proposals can be generated for each of
Airesprings underlying carriers: Qwest Communications International Inc., Global Crossing Ltd. and eMeritus
Communications Corp. The system, which also generates all order forms and paperwork necessary for
the customer to sign, supports dedicated voice long-distance quotes; however, Airespring is working to include quotes for switched and data
services.