About

Message from the CEO

The past few months have reminded us at Allied Telesis of what is truly important, beyond pure dollars and cents.

This was made evident as major earthquakes recently hit two of our primary office locations. First, a 6.3 earthquake struck near the center of Christchurch, New Zealand on February 22. Next, on March 11, a 9.0 earthquake hit off the East Coast of Northern Japan, followed by a devastating tsunami. Thankfully, none of our employees or their family members lost their lives in either our R&D lab in New Zealand or our numerous office locations throughout Japan. Also, we didn’t incur any major damage to our facilities, just a few loose tiles, etc.

Our local communities were impacted substantially as I’m sure you have seen in the media. Allied Telesis is actively involved in a number of initiatives to help the victims of these natural disasters. In Christchurch, office space is at a premium and many buildings were damaged. Allied Telesis contributed by opening up offices in our building to both the local government council and a few local businesses to help them focus on their recovery and repair operations. Some individual employees were involved through civil defense initiatives in the rescue operations. The local sales and marketing team is also leading a drive to collect surplus network equipment and distribute it to schools and businesses in need.

In Japan, we have committed to helping our customers, both government and private sector, get their network services back up and running as quickly as possible. Our Japan and U.S. offices have also matched employee donations to the Red Cross for its relief efforts in Japan. As detailed in the next article in this newsletter, our U.S. military base networks in Japan played a unique role in the early hours and days after the earthquake and tsunami.

We’d like to thank all of our customers and partners who have reached out to us in recent months to inquire about the well-being of our employees and our company operations.

Mr. Takayoshi Oshima
Chairman and CEO, Allied Telesis

Allied Telesis Maintains Essential Services During Japan Earthquake Crisis

Following the unprecedented March 11, 2011 magnitude 9.0 earthquake in Japan, emergency crews quickly responded but were confronted by the inability to effectively communicate. Damaged infrastructure and overloaded communications networks collapsed as friends and family began the frantic effort to reach out to one another.

Fortunately, the, voice, video and data services provided by Allied Telesis to Yokota Air Base and Camp Zama Army Post (both near Tokyo) remained intact. The Internet was available, telephone systems processed calls, and video networks streamed news and entertainment content as if it were just another day.

The U.S. Military Command, which typically relies on a cellular network to contact and recall service members, found they were unable to reach their troops. The cell-based network was bombarded with demand as voice systems were faced with call attempts that were four times the installed capacity—nearly a thousand calls per minute were attempted between the bases and the U.S.

Many, including the U.S. Military Command, turned to the Internet service provided by Allied Telesis to contact friends and family. Social networking sites were flooded with posts as service members updated their loved ones. At one point, Base Command utilized Facebook to issue instructions to their troops.

While the demand on the systems operated by Allied Telesis was enormous, they continued to operate flawlessly. Call traffic was processed up to the limit of the system’s installed capacity for calls that terminated off base in the U.S. or other destinations. The system has virtually unlimited capacity on the base, so all calls that terminated on base were processed unrestrained.

An important lesson is that the cellular network is not reliable as an emergency communications channel. The system inherently has limited capacity. In contrast, systems that are robust and resilient, such as the broadband network, are needed to keep essential services operational during times of crisis. As we just experienced in Japan, e-mail, VoIP services, instant messaging, and social networking were all vital channels for communication with friends and family.

Just weeks after the earthquake, operations are now at a somewhat normal, albeit higher, level of activity. While emergency backup power systems are being taxed to their limits, Allied Telesis staff is focused on responding to the needs of the hundreds of aid workers arriving to render assistance to the government and people of Japan. And, first and foremost those workers need Allied Telesis proven Internet access.

Healthcare Vertical Update

Allied Telesis continues to establish ourself in the healthcare sector as a valuable supplier of a broad range of products and services fitting critical IT networking needs in every area of healthcare. Our customers see an increasing need for video files and high bandwidth capabilities. Our experience delivering video, voice, and data to hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses globally over the past decade, directly correlates to healthcare institutions that require a network foundation capable of carrying their PACS, clinical data, patient bedside services, video surveillance, and even 3D video traffic in the future.

Allied Telesis exhibited at major healthcare shows in Japan, Chicago, Orlando, and Washington, DC in recent months.
In Hamamatsu, Japan, November 18-19, we demonstrated two different versions of 3D healthcare content running across a transmission network for what was arguably the first time in the world. Partnering with Swedish company, Sensavis (3D Engine technology and 3D educational content), Wizzcom (3D content), and Alioscopy (3D monitors), Allied Telesis showed both a stereoscopic (with 3D glasses) and autostereoscopic (without 3D glasses) demo. These two demos showed rendered and MRI/CT scan-generated images such as a human kidney, a fetus in the womb, and a human brain. The demos were the hit of the entire show and Allied Telesis generated numerous new hospital project leads.

Over the Thanksgiving break, our PACS technology partner, Intuitive Imaging, allowed Allied Telesis to demonstrate the autostereoscopic 3D content in their booth at the Radiological Society of North America annual convention from November 28 - December 2. Again, the demo drew huge amounts of interest from the radiologists and technicians. Intuitive Imaging CEO, Marty Pfaff, together with Allied Telesis chairman, Takayoshi Oshima, and Jakub-Ananda Duch of ATKK, were all featured in a video interview on the website Radiology Today: http://www.radiologytoday.net/RSNA2010/. Allied Telesis hosted a joint reception with Intuitive Imaging that was attended by approximately 25 customers, partners, and press at the W Hotel Lakeshore on November 30.

Under the message of “Delivering Next-Generation Healthcare Solutions,” Allied Telesis exhibited for the first time at the annual Healthcare Information Management Systems Society (HIMSS) National Convention in Orlando, Florida from February 20-24. Allied Telesis featured several healthcare solutions at distinct “stations” within our 20’ x 20’ booth. These included PACS together with Intuitive Imaging, 3D Video with Sensavis, point-of-care video and data services with Lincor Medivista, and IP surveillance and physical security with Axis and Milestone. The final station featured Allied Telesis network solutions and services, organized around our campus and data center network solutions for hospitals, remote branch solutions for clinics, referring physicians, and assisted living facilities, and customer premise equipment for telemedicine. The booth, coupled with the partners and demonstrations, generated a great deal of excitement and interest from the attendees, with steady traffic during the entire event.

Finally, Allied Telesis was pleased to be both a sponsor and panelist at the recent Federation of State Medical Boards Conference, “Balancing Access, Safety + Quality in a New Era of Telemedicine,” in Washington, DC on March 10. Vince Ricco, senior network consultant at Allied Telesis, was one of three panelists to discuss gaps that exist in the current technology environment that must be addressed to ensure access, safety and quality in telemedicine. Allied Telesis was privileged to have the opportunity to share its perspective from a communications vendor’s viewpoint (open standards in data communications, training requirements for physicians, nurses, administrators as well as patients).

IP Surveillance Technology Partnership Update

Founded on our deep history in delivering high-quality, IP-based video services over Ethernet networks, Allied Telesis advances the IP Surveillance market by bringing our rich expertise in IP Triple Play (voice, data, video) technology and engineering to a wide variety of sectors including healthcare, transportation, enterprise, and government.

Through our partnerships with other leading IP surveillance technology manufacturers, we work proactively to tailor products and services to meet each customer's complete IP-based security needs. Following are some of our most recent IP surveillance business updates.

Allied Telesis Partners with Axis
Allied Telesis recently joined the Axis Technology Partner Program (TPP). Founded in 1984, Axis develops and markets innovative network video products i.e. surveillance cameras for installations in schools, in retail, on buses and trains, and for public surveillance. The company is a global market leader in network video, driving the ongoing shift from analog to digital video surveillance.

This partnership formalizes a cooperative, multi-year relationship between the two companies. As a member of the TPP, Allied Telesis will work closely with Axis to improve product compatibility, which will drive value to both end users and integrators. As a key partner for our physical security business, we will also continue to cooperate with Axis on joint education and marketing activities.

Allied Telesis Joins Milestone Partner Program
Allied Telesis recently joined the Milestone Solution Partner (MSP) program. This aligns us with the leading global developer of open platform software for managing IP network-based video surveillance. One of our first MSP activities included participation in the 6th Annual Milestone Integration Platform Symposium (MIPS), which was held March 2-4 in San Antonio, Texas. MIPS is Milestone’s innovative educational and networking event for their IP video surveillance and integration partners.

The symposium is designed to share and exchange ideas about new business opportunities that Milestone’s open platform will provide and influence how Milestone can better serve customers in the future. At this event, we were able to connect with many of Milestone’s partners and customers. This is the first of many cooperative activities between the two companies as Allied Telesis continues our focus on the video surveillance market.

Chicago Executive Briefings Feb 14 and 15
Allied Telesis recently hosted a series of executive briefings in downtown Chicago with top security executives in the Greater Chicago Metropolitan Area together with technology partners Axis Communications and Commscope.

The purpose of the briefing was to showcase how Allied Telesis and our technology partners combine offerings to create best-of-breed IP security and safety solutions. We held a series of one-on-one meetings that allowed us to share our products, services and outlook with some of the top executives in Chicago as well as gain invaluable input from their extensive experience and perspectives into the future of IP security and safety requirements from technology providers.

ISC West Preview
Allied Telesis will be exhibiting at ISC West, the largest physical security show in North America, April 6-8, at the Sands Expo Center in Las Vegas. As security system components such as surveillance cameras, access control panels, door strikes, and others move to an IP network, the network becomes a crucial component of the modern physical security system. Stop by our booth (#7059) to enter to win an iPad 2 and see how we are working with leaders in the industry to deliver reliable and high performance physical security solutions. Learn more at alliedtelesis.com/iscwest.

Allied Telesis Selected for North Georgia Network Broadband Stimulus Project

Allied Telesis has been selected by the North Georgia Network Cooperative (NGN) to provide FTTx access equipment to deliver residential triple play along with Ethernet services to the communities connected by the NGN network in Northern Georgia.

Using a $33-million broadband stimulus grant, a 263-mile ultra-high speed network is being built from downtown Atlanta to North Carolina, providing new broadband services in the largely rural communities in Northern Georgia. The network is expected to boost the economy in the region and will serve as a cornerstone for the region’s economic development plans. The network will be owned and operated by the North Georgia Network Cooperative, which is partly owned by Habersham Electric Membership Corp. and Blue Ridge Electric Membership Corp. Both Habersham and Blue Ridge EMCs are long-time Allied Telesis customers, deploying Internet and triple play services to residential customers using Allied Telesis FTTH gear. The network will serve 42,000 residents in the region.

NGN will deploy Allied Telesis integrated Multiservice Access platforms (iMAPs) as well as integrated Multiservice Gateways (iMGs) to deliver fiber-based broadband services to residential and business customers, along with anchor institutions, in the communities served by the NGN network. NGN is offering gigabit Ethernet fiber for service delivery for residential and business applications, supported by 10 gigabit aggregation to its 100 gigabit backbone network.

Additionally, Allied Telesis has agreed to partner with NGN for the delivery of advanced broadband and Ethernet services to businesses and institutions in the region. As part of regional economic development initiatives, Allied Telesis and NGN will jointly market enhanced IP solutions for education, government, healthcare and businesses that will utilize the NGN network and Allied Telesis networking equipment. A total of 9209 businesses and 245 anchor institutions in the region will have access to the network that Allied Telesis and NGN is deploying. The partners will focus on creating broadband IP solutions that will enhance services, create more revenues, and provide access to information as well as growth for the region by leveraging the NGN network.

The broad Allied Telesis portfolio of switching, media conversion, NICs and secure routers enables a wide array of businesses and institutions to implement broadband networks connecting to the NGN network. Allied Telesis will work with our technology solutions partners to develop applications and solutions, adding value and capabilities that were before unavailable to businesses and institutions without NGN’s broadband infrastructure. The networking solutions will be a key enabler for IP physical security, healthcare, data centers and distance learning.

Economic Development Summit in Dahlonega, Georgia

On Wednesday, March 12, four Allied Telesis executives attended the 2011 Economic Development Summit held at North Georgia College and State University, featuring Georgia Governor, Nathan Deal, other local politicians and business leaders. The university will be a hub on the North Georgia Network, and speakers at the summit focused on the role the NGN will play in fostering economic development in the region.

"This is one of those additional tools that is important for attracting and expanding new and existing businesses in this region," Deal said. "This will help the community to compete in the global economy. Infrastructure of this sort is certainly one of the most critical tools."

Keith Southard, president of Allied Telesis Capital Corporation and chief information officer at Allied Telesis, joined speakers from Microsoft, Intel, and Infinera in presenting sessions at the full-day conference. Southard spoke about Allied Telesis experience in running and servicing broadband networks on military bases, at universities, and in rural areas and how these broadband networks have helped spur economic development.

Todd Trenasty, senior vice president of sales for Allied Telesis, commented, “We have a unique opportunity to work with NGN’s community anchor institutions (hospitals, K-12, colleges, business, utilities) and provide our solutions and services so as to connect them to the NGN network. There is a lot of upside beyond our grant award and win of $5 million. NGN views Allied Telesis as a strategic partner in their success.

In the photo: Todd Trenasty (third from left), Georgia Governor Nathan Deal (center).

Allied Telesis Exhibits at Tech Advantage 2011

Allied Telesis recently exhibited at Tech Advantage 2011 in Orlando, FL. It was our first time at the show, which is a national event for Electrical Membership Cooperatives (EMCs) and is sponsored by the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA). This year’s show was attended by nearly 1000 EMCs. Allied Telesis highlighted our FTTx solutions, already deployed.

Customer Win: TEMA Cements Allied Telesis Partnership

Todd Trenasty’s Allied Telesis sales team signed up Tarheel Electric Member Association (TEMA), a not-for-profit COOP distributor owned by 31 EMCs in North Carolina, Virginia and Maryland for selling into the North Carolina EMCs. The EMCs are a promising market in many regions across the United States for our switching and access gear and this marks a significant step in penetrating that market. The first order was received from TEMA for a PoE switch in December. Allied Telesis has also sold the SwitchBlade x3112 Access Edge Layer 2+ Chassis Switch, x600/POE Advanced Layer 3 Gigabit Stackable Edge Switch, 8000GS/POE Series Gigabit Ethernet Edge Switch, and media converters via TEMA.

Allied Telesis Offers Bundles for E-rate Customers

In response to the FCC Sixth Report and Order, Allied Telesis is offering special product part numbers that include software downloads, bug fixes, and access to a technical assistance center – all of which are eligible for FY2011.

In the FCC's Sixth Report and Order (FCC 10-175), the FCC included the following information on unbundled warranties and Basic Maintenance of Internal Connections (BMIC):

• We find that an unbundled warranty is an ineligible BMIC service because it is purchased as a type of retainer and not as an actual maintenance service. That is, BMIC contracts that require an upfront payment and that payment is required regardless of whether any service is actually performed are not eligible.
• ...if applicants are able to estimate a certain number of hours per year for maintenance, based on the current life of their equipment and a history of needed repairs and upkeep, they may seek E-rate funds for upfront costs on service contracts designed to cover this estimate of repairs and upkeep. Reimbursements will be paid on the actual work performed and hours used only. For example, if a school determines it will need 30 service hours in a given year to maintain its internal connections but uses only 20 hours, the school will be reimbursed for 20 hours even if they were approved for E-rate funds on 30 hours.

Please contact your Sales Representative for more information.

*content from the Schools and Libraries area of the USAC Website.

AFCEA Recap

Allied Telesis attended and exhibited at the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association’s AFCEA West 2011 conference, the largest communication and exposition conference on the West Coast. The conference drew more than 8,000 attendees and covered issues facing the military including defense budgets, unmanned systems and cyber warfare. Topics discussed in the booth included shipboard networking and cyber defense solutions. We received many solid leads, one of which has already led to a sale under the Consolidated Afloat Network and Enterprise Services (CANES) program of the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command (SPAWAR) Program Executive Office.

SPAWAR was seeking an integrated approach for afloat and subsurface shipboard LANs to reduce the equipment footprint and associated maintenance costs. The objective was to utilize common components to support multiple security classifications, also known as security enclaves, in use aboard ship to reduce the overall lifecycle cost of the afloat networks. Three Allied Telesis products have been chosen through this program.

Additionally, Allied Telesis personnel met with SPAWAR to further our support of navigation systems currently operational in all U.S. Navy destroyers and carriers, utilizing our switches and media converters, which have undergone stringent Navy afloat certifications for afloat networking systems.

We also engaged with the many Systems Integrators currently building cross-domain solutions that utilize our virtualization capable NICs. These solutions enable the Government to consolidate the equipment necessary to communicate across multi-levels of security into a single workstation as opposed to today’s requirement for multiple and separate systems.

Can 3D Technology Be a Potential Business Asset?

By Dan Stellick, Allied Telesis senior director, Solutions Engineering

Many people have seen and even experienced 3D where spatial depth is perceived in the foreground, such as when using online multiplayer gaming systems. A growing group of the population has experienced 3D with the third dimension in both the foreground and background. An example would be 3D movies, such as those in your local theaters and now, more and more, even at home…that is, if you are willing to put on a pair of glasses. 3D is powerful and Allied Telesis is exploring how it may have the potential to change the business world, where 3D use is no longer limited to only enhancing the entertainment experience and 3D no longer requires use of eyeglasses.

Continuous advancements in 3D and augmented reality technology, combined with increasing industry and consumer awareness, are driving cost improvements and efficiency. Investments are being made in centralized private or public hosted graphics processing unit (GPU) resources, like those recently launched by industry leaders such as Amazon.com. This activity is a key indicator of the growing interest, emerging potential and largely untapped use of networked 3D technology to drive business improvement and new services.

Allied Telesis continues to invest in joint project work within the 3D technology space. The project continues to be rewarding and show potential to Allied Telesis as well as our partners—Sensavis, Wizzcom, and Alioscopy. The initial results from the project have yielded an impressive leading-edge prototype with immense promise. The effort has shown again that a powerful and robust Allied Telesis network design stands the test of reliability when implemented in business environments that require high availability for mission-critical, converged applications. Both business leaders and technical staff alike can have confidence knowing that Allied Telesis, with our nearly 25 years of experience, can consult, design, and build reliable communications systems to stream information such as intense high definition interactive 3D environments and also do so in real time.

A single, live uncompressed 3D interactive environment stream is over 1.5Gbps. Routing the time-sensitive information required to create these 3D interactive environments from a centralized data center hosting a GPU server complex out to a remote campus location can be impressive to the mind, but not nearly as impressive as what the eye can see. Without requiring glasses, the experience is both informational as well as convenient. The powerful benefits of foreground and background depth enhance the visualization of complex structures like that of the human anatomy, using simple glassless 3D technology. The possibility of glassless (auto-stereoscopic) 3D technology for business use is yet untapped, but initial implementations are encouraging. Allied Telesis has, with our partners, created a managed network, ensuring low latency lossless routing of high bit rate sensitive IP 3D display streams. The potential to project the environment, as well as holograms, on a TV screen and distribute both fixed and interactive AS3D content simultaneously streamed to multiple locations in cost-effective 10Gig-enabled campus is a reality.

The customers and other interested parties who joined us at our booth at RSNA 2010 and HIMSS 2011 also experienced the great potential. Specifically, the highlighted areas of surgery preparation and planning, patient procedure consultation, doctor and nurse pre-med student education as well as continuing education were discussed as possibilities. Ideas for very impressive advanced digital signage offered for use in waiting rooms, lobbies, and entryways were also of interest.

AS3D (auto stereoscopic) educational value is enormous as it has the potential to enable faster absorption of information for visual learners and also longer retention—especially for complex subjects—not only in the medical/bio field, but also manufacturing (CAD), architecture review, and visualization, just to name a few.

To create the interactive 3D project solution required that Allied Telesis listen to our partners’ needs and design and implement high performance Ethernet host adapters capable of 40Gbps to connect the centralized NVidia GPU resources to the network. The GPU complex is used to process in real time the millions of graphics calculations required by the interactive 3D environment. The communications network can move the 3D display environment across the campus out to the clients in milliseconds and with no loss of information. The prototype 3D solution architected by Allied Telesis, with our partners, is on display in the new Solutions Center in the Allied Telesis San Jose office. Contact us for a demonstration and see how the solution, clearly, is the Allied Telesis network.

Worldwide IPv6 is Coming...One Day at a Time

By Michael Savory, Allied Telesis senior technical marketing manager

Many network managers are starting to plan their networks for dual-stack IPv4/IPv6, but before they gaze too far into the future, they should take time to check if any of their existing users are already at risk of having broken IPv6 connectivity.

There are many ways to examine and segment the complexity of the Internet. One way of dividing it is to consider it comprised of content creators and content consumers. Many people have recently described how IPv6 suffers from a proverbial chicken-and-egg challenge. The creators are waiting to deploy IPv6 until there is a “sufficient” number of IPv6 consumers; the ISPs (the consumer end of the business) are waiting to deploy until there is “sufficient” IPv6 content.

In reality, many large content providers already have IPv6 running on dedicated websites (usually with “v6” in the host name). Moreover, measurements performed on the Internet show while there are definitely active IPv6 consumers today, there are also a number of people who have broken IPv6 setups. Recent studies on various websites place this number as approximately 0.3 percent. While this sounds small, it isn’t. If a site has one million "viewers," then at least 3,000 viewers could have broken IPv6 connections. This conveys 3,000 good reasons to delay enabling IPv6 on one’s main website.

To quote Wikipedia,

In the field of IPv6 deployment, IPv6 brokenness is bad behavior seen in tunneled or dual stack IPv6 deployments where unreliable or bogus IPv6 connectivity is chosen in preference to working IPv4 connectivity. This often results in long delays in Web page loading, where the user has to wait for each attempted IPv6 connection to time out before the IPv4 connection will be tried.

On June 8, 2011, Google, Facebook and Yahoo! are slated to offer their main website content over IPv6 and IPv4 dual stack for a 24-hour test flight. One goal of this "World IPv6 Day" is so those 0.3 percent of the online population don't just think, "Wow, Google is slow today," but, rather, to realize, "Hey! My entire Internet experience is slow.”

Currently, as there is very limited IPv6 content, broken IPv6 connectivity for consumers doesn’t really cause a significant problem. But on World IPv6 Day, users will likely experience timeouts and unreachable sites. This is an opportunity for all of us to either fix their problem in IPv6 connectivity or disable broken IPv6 until the network is corrected (many enterprise users may deliberately be blocking IPv6 tunnels for security policy requirements, of course, in which case they should also be disabling IPv6 on all devices as well). Getting most of these broken IPv6 connections resolved will allow the content providers to move forward and get the IPv6 Internet out of its chicken and egg mode.

If a network manager runs an ISP or an enterprise IT system, he is probably already planning to respond to a number of extra help-desk calls on World IPv6 Day. Now is the time to research the various transitional technologies that may already be running on that network, making computers think they have an IPv6 connection when in fact they don't. A simple, effective site to promote to users in advance so they can check and compare their IPv6 and IPv4 connectivity is test-ipv6.com.

Also, it should be remembered that World IPv6 "Day" is based on global time, so the day actually begins at 8:00 pm on the East coast, 5:00 pm PDT. For further, general background on IPv6, the American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN) has a very informative website at getipv6.info.

April 2011

ISC West
Las Vegas, NV
April 6–8, 2011
Booth 7059, Sands Expo & Convention Center
http://www.iscwest.com

Allied Telesis Networked Solutions Roadshow
San Jose, CA
April 27, 2011
http://alliedtelesis.com/

May 2011

Allied Telesis Networked Solutions Roadshow
May 4, 2011
http://alliedtelesis.com/

Interop
Las Vegas, NV
May 10-12, 2011
Booth 1069
Mandalay Bay
http://www.interop.com/lasvegas/

Interop Sneak Preview
Allied Telesis is heading back to Las Vegas this year to exhibit at Interop 2011, May 10-12. Come see us at Booth #1069. We will highlight how the Allied Telesis network enables the successful performance of business solutions for healthcare, transportation, education, and physical security markets.

Unique Customer Experience Provided by Customer Support Technical Assistance Group

In this article, Monico Mallari, Allied Telesis director of customer support, describes a “Hacking un-done!” scenario. Customer Technical Assistance means making sure the network is the solution; and helping with the unexpected. The following is an example of what Allied Telesis does best: assure the network is truly the solution!

A customer calls in panic mode on a Saturday for after-hours support. Their system isn’t down; but somebody has hacked into their softswitch and was using it to make international long distance phone calls, which were costing this company a substantial sum of money. The customer wanted to use their layer 3 switch to implement some hardware filters in an attempt to block this malicious traffic.

After spending some time on the phone with the customer, senior support engineer, Mike Joyner, and L2 technical support engineer, Ryan Storey, examined the options and the possible impact of various solutions. The team determined that hardware filters would not be able to accomplish the customer’s goals. They further pointed out to the customer that his particular layer 3 switch had a firewall, which, if configured correctly, would be able to stop this hacker’s efforts. Mike and Ryan wrote up the various rules that the customer would need to add to the firewall to stop the attack, while leaving his internal customer traffic intact.

Mike and Ryan stayed on the line with the customer while they made the necessary configuration changes, and then verified that the changes had the impact that the customer expected. This customer was extremely satisfied with the support provided by Ryan and Mike and wrote a letter to that effect. Allied Telesis is proud of our superior technical assistance and customer support, and congratulates Mike and Ryan for a job well done.

Customer Satisfaction Surveys

We welcome and encourage our customers to provide feedback as to the quality of customer support. To ensure we are resolving customer support incidents in a timely and satisfactory manner, we have instituted a customer satisfaction survey program. Every resolved customer support incident is followed up with a customer satisfaction survey. The online survey results are forwarded to our customer support executive. The results provide a quick snapshot of our customer’s feedback that is then acted upon to execute any changes that allow us to improve our services.

The survey contains several key, focused areas that are targeted toward opportunities for improvement. Questions focus on the following:

• Ease of access to our support team
• Promptness of response to customer inquiries
• Overall time to support incident resolution
• Incident resolution accuracy

As of March 2011, 15 percent of our customers have participated in these surveys. On a 1- to 5-point rating scale, with 5 being the highest favorable rating, we have received a 4.5 overall rating. One example of an opportunity for improvement, as conveyed by our customers, is the need to enrich our current Knowledge Base (KB) public-facing content. As a result of our customers’ feedback, we are providing greater focus in this area by having subject matter experts scrutinize, review, and re-write, on a weekly basis, the content of our KB submissions.

Allied Telesis Training Certification Update

Due to strong customer demand and positive feedback, we have launched brand new certification programs in 2011 with extended class schedules in our Bothell, WA and Raleigh, NC offices. The program includes a main track of three technical classes focusing on our enterprise solution products as well as a secondary track focusing on our network service provider solutions with hands-on lab content. The first two-day course, directed to our security integration partners, will focus on the migration to video surveillance solutions.

Certification Class Schedule

* New Video Surveillance Solutions Class

Seats are filling up fast. Book now! For more information about our training classes and schedules, please visit alliedtelesis.com/training.

iMG726BD-ON

Leveraging the advanced software functionality and features of the popular iMG7x6-MOD outdoor fiber gateways, the iMG726BD-ON adds several design enhancements to meet today’s market needs. It is a single, bi-directional 1 G Multiservice fiber gateway, with 2 FXS voice ports, 4 10/100TX and 2 10/100/1000 ports in a compact, non-modular electronics unit. It fits into a new, smaller-sized enclosure than the iMG 726-MOD, but is designed to be retrofitted into the older enclosure.

GE24

The GE24 card for the iMAP is an enhanced and highly reliable BiDi optics 24-port card that is rate selectable at either 100 Mbps or 1 Gbps. The high-density card is designed for FTTH services where port density per shelf is a must. It has been in pre-release customer trials, with GA production commencing in April.

Coupled with the newly-released iMG 726BD-ON, the GE24 targets service provider applications for point-to-point 1G FTTH services, offering an economic combination of port density and per-port pricing that places it at the forefront of solutions for next generation FTTx services.

Join us at the Allied Telesis Roadshow

We are proud to announce our North American Roadshow. Following in the successful footsteps of our colleagues in Europe and South America, we are bringing the Allied Telesis Roadshow to the U.S. The schedule for the first two cities is included below. This is a great event for both partners and end users to learn more about our products, network with colleagues and potentially win a prize.

Star Partner Program Overview

If you’re not already one of our Star Partners, consider joining this free program. We offer three different levels, each with their own benefits. Some of the benefits include training, incentives, and being the first to know about upcoming products and events.

Visit http://partnerportal.alliedtelesis.com for more information and to sign up.

Video Surveillance Webinar

According to IMS Research senior analyst, Gary Wong, the world market for network video surveillance equipment is growing at over 25% year-on-year. Allied Telesis is already making significant traction in this area. As such, we will host two live webinars dedicated to analyzing this market and to explain why Allied Telesis is a go-to source for video surveillance networking solutions. Please try to attend one of two identical sessions on April 20th or 21st. Details and times will follow. Previous webinars may be accessed at http://partnerportal.alliedtelesis.com/.

Distribution Promotions for Resellers and Integrators

Allied Telesis offers resellers substantial instant rebates with quarterly promotions on select products. For the first time, in Q2, Allied Telesis will offer fifteen part numbers to be included in the Instant Rebate Promotion. Promotional pricing will be valid to those resellers who purchase through an Allied Telesis Distribution Partner between April 1 and June 30, 2011.

Allied Telesis continues to offer to resellers an aggressive 10% Government, Education, Medical and Not-For-Profit discount that does not require prior approval. Talk to your distribution sales representative for additional details. Just another way Allied Telesis makes selling easier.

For more information on any promotional offerings, please contact your Inside or Field Sales Account Manager.

Allied Telesis in Brazil

In mid-August, Adriano Luz, Brazil country manager, and Hugo Guiraud, vice president of sales for Latin America, spoke exclusively with CRN Brazil to explain the investment that is being made in the country and the details of the plan to expand our brand through the nation. Highlights of an article published in CRN Brazil are below:

In search of geographical expansion, Allied Telesis projects total revenue in Brazil should reach 50% of total sales in all of Latin America, and the operation in Brazil should see revenue double in 2011.

The design of the national operation will first include the delivery of switches and triple play solutions to the government and medium and large enterprises. Subsequent targets include areas such as construction and security.

Allied Telesis believes that the viability of IPTV in Brazil is expected to generate an investment boom. After studying the market, the Company decided to move closer to medium-sized operators, present in cities of up to 500,000 inhabitants. There already exists a group of 30 such providers, whose business Allied Telesis is targeting throughout 2011.

The Company decided to work with various distributors such as Horus Telecom in Brasília, Net Plus Teleinformática in Sao Paulo, and Plugmais in Cuiaba, Mato Grosso in order to conduct business in a more structured way. New partners based in Northeastern and Southern Brazil will be introduced later this year.

Allied Telesis Holds Annual European Partner Conference

Allied Telesis invited more than 70 European partners to participate in our Annual European Partner Conference in Paphos, Cyprus from February 17 - 19. Our guests enjoyed a warm welcome from the energetic Maori warriors – Manaia (all the way from New Zealand), who performed a very loud and rousing “Haka,” a traditional dance.

This introduction was followed by a series of presentations on our multimedia networking solutions, service and support offerings. “Think Multimedia – Think Allied Telesis” was the key theme.

The second half of the conference was projected in 3D and the grand finale gave our audience the chance to see some live streaming of 3D content over an Allied Telesis network – without the need for 3D glasses!

The event concluded with a gala dinner. Plans are now underway for the 2012 Partner Conference which will coincide with our 25th Anniversary.

Media Highlights

Allied Telesis continues to build momentum with press and industry analysts, providing perspective and insight about the evolving networking industry. From discussing IP surveillance and PON networks to implementing its game-changing technologies at key global customers, Allied Telesis is at the center of multiple stories featured in this media highlights review.

Healthcare Coverage

Insurancenewsnet
The MedZilla Report for March 2011 – Health Care Information Technology on the Rise
March 9, 2011
Allied Telesis was included in MedZilla’s roundup of this year’s advances in healthcare technology at HIMSS.

Bbpmag
Allied Telesis Demonstrates Next-Gen Broadband Health Solutions
February 21, 2011
Allied Telesis partners and solutions featured at HIMSS are discussed here.

Radiology Today
RadiologyToday@RSNA 2010 (video)
December 3, 2010
Video of Allied Telesis partner Intuitive Imaging’s booth at RSNA showcasing 3D imagery.

Government/Utilities Coverage

IPTV Magazine
Ways that Telecom Service Access Providers Can Develop New Revenue Streams
December 14, 2010
Steve Klein, Allied Telesis marketing consultant, is referenced on how access providers are leveraging existing systems to offer new services.

Government Video
Allied Telesis Unveils ‘SwitchBlade x3112 FTTx’
November 23, 2010
Article highlighting features of the SwitchBlade x3112 FTTx switch platform.

IPv6 Coverage

Connected Planet
Analysis: Does IPv6 Present Special Challenges to Smaller Service Providers?
February 9, 2011
Mike Savory, senior technical marketing engineer at Allied Telesis, discusses the challenges posed by IPv6 to small-size service providers.

EnterpriseFeatures.com
An Insider’s Perspective on the IPV4/IPV6 Crisis
February 9, 2011
Mike Savory, from Allied Telesis, discusses the current IPv4 shortage and IPv6 transition story.

ZDNet
Don’t Panic! It’s Only the Internet Running Out of Addresses
February 3, 2011
Allied Telesis was mentioned in an article on ZDNet as part of a group of networking vendors helping companies transition from IPv4 to IPv6.