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Kintera Inc. once again proved to be a responsible older sibling to those very providers of such. Today, Kintera representatives announced the launch of a new national website for all extant client Big Brothers Big Sisters of America outlets and several pilot sites for local Big Brothers Big Sisters agencies. (It’s certainly nice. And colorful. See for yourself at www.bbbs.com.)

Kintera’s social CRM system on the Kintera Sphere technology platform was leveraged in the projets. Using a virtual account structure within Kintera Sphere, the new websites feature consistent branding across the organization and agencies, employing the Kintera social CRM system in seeking to enable and capture online donations, recruit volunteers, and enroll children in the mentoring program. Until now, each local Big Brothers Big Sisters agency had housed its own individual website.

The eight pilot sites are local agencies in San Francisco, San Diego, Cleveland, Charlotte, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Puget Sound, Wash., North Texas and southeastern Pennsylvania. Over 450 Big Brothers Big Sisters agencies operate in the United States, and the far majority are expected to join the Kintera Sphere technology platform following pilot phase completion. The project builds on a past relationship between the organization and the CRM providers, as Big Brothers Big Sisters of America also recently launched an organization-wide intranet known as Agency Connection, which uses the Kintera Sphere technology platform.

Big Brothers Big Sisters is the oldest and largest youth mentoring organization in the U.S. In 2005, Big Brothers Big Sisters served 234,000 children, ages 6 through 18. Kintera Inc. is an online solution provider for nonprofit organizations. Kintera’s trademarked innovations such as the Friends Asking Friends program and the software platform Kintera Sphere, and claims over 15,000 accounts. Kintera FundWare provides award-winning financial management software developed for nonprofit organizations and governments.

SER Solutions, Inc., a provider of call management and speech analytics solutions announced today the Customer Interaction Solutions magazine likes them! Really! Ahem … that is to say that SER has received a 2006 CRM excellence award from Customer Interaction Solutions magazine for its CPS Enterprise Edition product.

CPS E2 is a call management solution that assists businesses in personalized outreach campaigns and contact center performance. CPS Enterprise is pushed for its sophisticated call center data management, advanced predictive dialing and script development, and contact center business intelligence. The CRM Excellence Awards were created by Customer Interaction Solutions editorial in 1999 as a way of “commending the companies that have proven to be true CRM partners to their customers and clients.”

This is the fifth CRM Excellence nod given CPS E2 since the inception of the awards. In singling out SER in the announcement, TMC founder / chairman Nadji Tehrani said Customer Interaction Solutions “had substantially improved the processes of their clients’ businesses by streamlining and facilitating the flow of information needed for companies to retain their most precious asset…their customers.”

The 2006 CRM Excellence Award winners are published in the May and June 2006 issues. Customer Interaction Solutions has been the flagship publication of the Technology Marketing Corporation print house since 1982, and focuses on the customer relationship management, call center and teleservices industries. TMC publications include print magazines Customer Interaction Solutions, Internet Telephony, SIP Magazine and IMS Magazine, and digital publications Speech-World, WiFI Telephony Magazine, VoIP Developer, IPTV Magazine and WiMA.

SER Solutions, Inc. is a supplier of contact center management and speech analytics solutions to support business activities such as customer care, telemarketing, collections, fundraising, emergency notification, and political calling. The company is affiliated with The Gores Group, LLC, and is headquartered in Dulles, Va.

Representatives of web services marketplace provider StrikeIron Inc. and of c360, a leading provider of add-on products, industry solutions and development tools for the Microsoft Dynamics CRM platform, have announced their partnership.

In the first move to be undertaken by the pair, c360 will integrate the StrikeIron address verification web service with its Microsoft Dynamics productivity packs. The productivity pack combines multiple c360 products, sold exclusively through a network of authorized partners. c360 integrated StrikeIron’s address verification web service into the data quality center of the core productivity pack so that users may perform real-time address verification and standardization. An XML-based web service is to be employed.

Claimed director of c360 product management Arvind Raman: “This offering is a first for Microsoft Dynamics CRM users.” The address verification web service now takes a seat among the growing “StrikeIron Marketplace” now offering over 75 web services to ISVs such as c360. StrikeIron also offers an API for integration of commercial web services into an ISV application. c360 Solutions is a CDC Software company.

The c360 product network includes more than 500 authorized partners that have delivered c360 solutions to over 1,200 in nine languages. CDC Software is a provider of enterprise software applications designed to assist organizations in delivering a superior customer experience. The CDC Software product suite includes Pivotal CRM, c360 CRM, Microsoft Dynamics CRM platform development tools, Ross enterprise resource planning, Ross supply chain management, IMI warehouse management, order management, Platinum China human resource solutions, and business analytics.

CDC Software now boasts more than 5,000 customers worldwide in the manufacturing, financial services, health care, home building, real estate, and wholesale and retail distribution industries. StrikeIron touts itself as “the leader in the commercialization of web services. More specifically, Strikelron provides a library of externally available plug-and-play web services.

Core Strikelron technology seeks to provide self-service publishing and consumption of web services, micro-transactions and -billing, software infrastructure, multiple productivity tools, and integration for both individual customers and software technology partners. The Aurora Funds, Inc. and NC IDEA originally provided funding for StrikeIron.

Representatives of Centric have announced that its port of Centric CRM to IBM DB2 data server software has been completed. Centric promises that their CRM now provides fully optimized support for the entire portfolio of DB2 data server software, including DB2 Express-C and DB2 for z/OS. Centric CRM is therefore toutable as the first open source application vendor to earn IBM’s "Ready for IBM DB2 Data Server Software" designation.

Centric CRM is an open source application with the strategy of running on theoretically any computing stack. Its Java / J2EE, web-based, and object-oriented architecture should make Centric CRM capable of running on all standards-based platforms. “In keeping with the open source spirit,” reads press material, “Centric CRM will begin distributing IBM’s DB2 Express-C data server with its core CRM offering, giving customers the option to install DB2 as their CRM database.”

Centric CRM bills itself as “the developer of the world’s most advanced open source customer relationship management system.” Indeed, the seven-year-old Centric CRM now comprises over 2 million lines of code. Centric CRM specializes in capabilities such as website authoring, enterprise content management, project and document management, customer surveys, and advanced help desk functions. The program includes all common CRM modules.

Chalk up another contract for salesforce.com. The on-demand business services provider today announced that The New York Times Company has selected salesforce.com CRM for its New York Times Media Group and New York Times Regional Media Group. Under terms of the contract, the New York Times will deploy some 400 on-demand licenses of Salesforce Enterprise Edition, 400 of Salesforce Sandbox, and 225 licenses of AppExchange Mobile.

On-demand enterprise consulting company and salesforce.com partner Bluewolf will implement the solution with the New York Times’ legacy back-office applications and its SAP enterprise resource planning application. Customization will be made available via AppExchange. The New York Times Company is a leading media company with revenues of US $3.4 billion in 2005.

Under purveyance of the NYT are eighteen dailies (including biggies the New York Times, the International Herald Tribune, and the Boston Globe), nine network-affiliated television stations, two New York City radio stations and 35 web sites. Salesforce.com CRM reportedly now contains 43,000 customer-built custom objects and applications, employable by Salesforce subscribers in building new applications.

AppExchange now boasts some 280 available applications available, up from the 70 it launched with in October 2005. Salesforce.com is currently the market and technology leader in on-demand business services. Salesforce.com’s on-demand platform AppExchange allows the building of powerful new applications, customization and integration of the Salesforce suite.

Salesforce.com today manages customer information for approximately 22,700 customers and approximately 444,000 paying subscribers including Advanced Micro Devices, America Online, Cendant Rental Car Group, Dow Jones Newswires, Nokia, Polycom and SunTrust.

After a reported two years in production, Israel-based research and development firm Trans Con Mobile Ltd., has announced the development, construction and successful testing of a patent-pending “cellular-like” VoIP mobile system. Incorporating both network and handset, the technology is WiFi-based and operates in similar fashion to extant cellular-based GSM and CDMA systems.

Trans Con Mobile is touted the WiFi handset as “the first of its kind in the world.” The Trans Con Mobile handset is mobile and operates on a wide-scale WiFi network and limited area environments. And, argues company PR, since the Trans Con Mobile handset is a broadband-based unit, there is no need for a separate broadband subscription for access.

Trans Com plugs the gadget as a potential total communications center, with email, internet, SMS, MMS and voice services functions. In future will be an expansion to what Trans Com sees as the product’s possibilities as a direct marketing tool which would enable companies to send advertisements that appear on the handset screen, a la pop-ups.

Speaking of WiFi, that firm has just introduced a new deal, great for those who wish to access bizarre teevee programming from exotic locales. An annual subscription to Wi-Fi TV at www.wifitv.com has been set at US $24.95.

For your 25 dollars, the consumer gets 300 live TV channels and web feeds Aruba, Oman and the Vatican (“Only transmitting during some parts of the day when there is activity in the Vatican City,” hilariously reads the note for times available.) You can check out the traffic at 5th and 42nd in New York City, techno DJs from Italy, pop videos from Iceland, and coverage of Rotterdam’s international film festival. Classic stuff, i’m telling you.

WiFi also promises that, from “many locations,” unlimited local and long-distance VoIP phone calls with the Wi-Fi TV virtual dialer with subscription. Wi-Fi representatives also detailed some recent upgrades with the announcement, mostly to its Wi-Fi TV Live Chat feature, in order to work seamlessly while watching live broadcasts. Wi-Fi TV has also implemented a new digital sound quality online dialer from strategic VoIP partner AdCalls. Newport Beach, Calif.-headquartered Wi-Fi TV can be seen over the internet in most of the world. Viewers from 130 countries are tracked by NeoTracker.

Representatives of Ubiquity Software have announced their firm’s teaming with TMC to develop and deliver content as part of the 3rd Annual VoIP Developer Conference. The 3rd Annual VoIP Developer Conference invites SIP industry leaders to what is reportedly the world’s only IP Communications development conference. Ubiquity SIP experts will hold four sessions covering new, emerging SIP applications for development and new business opportunities on the program’s opening day.

The meeting runs August 8-10 in Santa Clara, California. The Ubiquity Net-Gen SIP program will feature sessions entitled “Applying SOA to Real-Time Communications Application Development,” “Integrating Voice Web Services into Applications,” “Understanding Media Server Development,” and “Business Opportunities for Developers in the Converged Services Economy.”

Also announced was the launched of the Ubiquity Developer Network, a community of developers, Ubiquity partners and customers with a mission statement of “exploring the commercial opportunities for new services based on the Session Initiation Protocol standard.”

The launch of the UDN follows up on the current Ubiquity’s developer strategy, chasing recent releases of Ubiquity’s Service Oriented Object Framework and the Appcelerator Service Oriented Architecture, developer tools for Ubiquity’s "open" SIP A/S platform.

Ubiquity Developer Studio, in conjunction with the Appcelerator product set, theoretically can provide a unified set of tools to enable modular application and services development. Founded in 1993, Ubiquity Software offers deployment platforms, applications, development tools and integration technology for converged voice, video and data services.

Ubiquity’s SIP Application Server (SIP A/S) is now the most popular services deployment platform standard among the world’s leading telecommunications carriers. Through the Ubiquity Developer Network (UDN), Ubiquity partners with network equipment vendors, system integrators, ISVs, and developers.

Ubiquity is headquartered in Cardiff, Wales with corporate offices in Ottawa, Canada and Redwood City, Calif., and sales offices in Japan and China. The Technology Marketing Corporation was established in 1972 and was first a publisher specializing in trade magazines for the chemical coatings industry. Nowadays, TMC is touted as a full-service media company specializing in high-technology marketplaces.

TMC also produces five solutions-focused technology conferences (including the VoIP Developer Conference) and trade shows. TMC publications include print magazines Customer Interaction Solutions, Internet Telephony, SIP Magazine and IMS Magazine, and digital publications Speech-World, WiFI Telephony Magazine, VoIP Developer, IPTV Magazine and WiMA.

Ouch. The VoIP industry has taken a severe hit in quality over the past year and a half. Indeed, “Internet Phone Quality Drops Significantly and Steadily over Last 18 Months” ran one headline running the story about Brix Networks’ latest study of the market. Brix reported that a whopping 19 percent-plus of VoIP test calls experienced unacceptable call quality over the last 18 months.

The data was collected on TestYourVoIP.com, a service provided by Brix that acts as a voice quality testing portal to enable consumers to independently measure the quality of their broadband internet phone connections. Reportedly nearly one million internet phone tests have been conducted by users from around the world since the launch of TestYourVoIP.com in March 2004.

From late 2004 through mid-2006, say Brix analysts, the test results generated by Test YourVoIP.com showed a consistent decrease in overall voice quality. A mark of 3.6 or better is typically regarded as satisfactory, and 81 percent of recorded calls achieved this score or better. "Over the last few years,” said Kaynam Hedayat, Brix vice president, engineering and chief technology officer, “the global market for consumer VoIP services has grown to nearly 20 million subscribers. … during this same period internet call quality has declined.”

Hedayat theorized that root causes to blame were late packet discards, lost packets, and round-trip voice latency. TestYourVoIP.com is powered by the Brix System, Brix Networks’ integrated hardware and software solutions that test and monitor IP service and application quality. To do analysis, an applet uses the Session Initiation Protocol call-signaling protocol.

Appliance-based Brix verifiers currently installed at test locations in Boston, Helsinki, London, Montreal, San Jose, Sydney, and Vienna measure the quality of the "conversation." Network operators use the Brix System in hopes of guaranteeing successful launch and profitable operation of various IP services, including VoIP, IPTV, and virtual private networks. A commercial version of TestYourVoIP.com is available that enables operators to proactively assess the quality of a potential subscriber’s internet connection to support VoIP services and to provide ongoing, self-help customer support.

An applet is available at TestYourVoIP.com to test the system. Certainly not coincidentally, Brix Networks also announced today that TestYourVoIP.com is now available as an interactive, mini-application users can download. The result is a "weather map" on Google Desktop which displays the internet’s current ability to support real-time services, such as VoIP and IPTV.

Malaysia-based CNI Holdings Bhd., a multilevel marketing firm, has invested RM 3.5 million in mySAP enterprise resource planning and logistics outsourcing. The ERP system involved enhancement of the CNI financial and management accounting system, treasury system, materials management, sales and distribution processes, production planning, plant maintenance, and quality management processes.

The mySAP ERP project was awarded to the ISS Consulting Group, a management and technology consulting firm specializing in implementation of SAP and SAP-related products. ISS Consulting launched the mySAP ERP project last year, and mySAP will be fully implemented in the third quarter of this year.

Also appointed to the project was SnT Global Sdn. Bhd., an e-fulfillment business process outsourcing solution provider in Asia, to provide outsourcing services in logistics management. SnT’s BPO delivery model for CNI seeks to enhance its supply chain. The service provisioning is provided through SnT-developed logistics management solution called Hosted e-Logistics Platform (cleverly acronymed HeLP). This solution assists in distribution planning and optimisation, warehouse storage planning, execution, freight management, order management and reporting functionalities.