Zeugma Wins TelcoTV Vision Award for Innovation in Broadband Access

Engage PR client Zeugma Systems won the TelcoTV Vision Award for the Innovation in Broadband Access category last month at the TelcoTV Conference and Expo in Orlando, Florida. Zeugma's SmartBoost application, which gives service providers the ability to let subscribers quickly, easily and inexpensively self-provision temporary bandwidth increases, received the honor from Light Reading senior vice president and group director Joe Braue.

"We are thrilled to have received the TelcoTV Vision Award and believe it further validates Zeugma's approach that gives subscribers more control over their broadband services," said Kevin Walsh, vice president of marketing at Zeugma Systems. "Engage PR was a key partner throughout the award process and really helped secure the honor for Zeugma."

Click here to see Zeugma CEO Andrew Harries accept the award from Braue.

Cool Tools from 2009

Engage PR prides itself on always being in the forefront of using the latest online tools. Our monthly "Cool Tools Blog" takes a look at new sites that offer valuable services that could be used by PR professionals or their clients. Here's a look at some of the "Cool Tools" from the second half of 2009:

downforeveryoneorjustme.com - This site allows you to find out whether that website you can't load is really down or whether there is something wrong on your end. We're all for avoiding the annoyance of not being able to tell why a site won't load!

BubbleTweet - With the rapid growth of Twitter, it was only a matter of time before video became integrated into the site. We expect BubbleTweet and other video applications for social media sites to become important business tools.

Evernote - Evernote provides a new way to keep track of your notes online and more importantly, a way to make them searchable. This site has obvious uses for the law students of the world, but could also be used by reporters working on stories or anyone who needs a more organized note system than their spiral notebook.

We look forward to discovering more "Cool Tools" in the new year and sharing them with you at the EngagePR blog.

Industry Views: What's Hot for 2010

2010 is expected to be an exciting year in the enterprise and telecom networking markets. As we look to the new year, Engage PR spoke with some of the industry's top editors and analysts to get their take on what will be hot in 2010.

"In 2010, IDC expects to see continued growth in areas of device and mobility management and mobile applications. Popular devices like the Android and iPhone will continue to drive the demand for business and personal applications while companies will increasingly look at mobile SaaS-based offerings as a method for rolling out new business services to mobile workers." — Stephen Drake, IDC

"Even though mobile backhaul has always been an issue for service providers, 2010 will see the area become a top priority with the large increases of mobile data and video on service provider's networks. They need more options for mobile backhaul, like fiber-fed towers and LTE-ready equipment, than ever before." — Sean Buckley, FierceTelecom

"Cloud computing has been talked about for some time but we are at the point where the cost savings and the agility of these solutions is just too compelling to ignore. IT's role has always been to stay in control and cloud computing is all about giving up some of that control. The key for implementation will be to implement lost-cost tools that give IT more management and control over the cloud environment." — Dr. Jim Metzler, Ashton-Metzler and Associates and Network World

"2010 is going to be a big year for the next wide-area broadband standard, LTE. What's particularly interesting is its global appeal, which presents us with the possibility (eventually, anyway) of a single world-wide broadband wireless standard and mobile devices that work identically, essentially everywhere." — Craig Mathias, Farpoint Group

"There will be more discussion of providing 'integrated services,' i.e., services delivered to any medium the customer happens to be using - mobile, cable, TV, whatever. Discussing it as a great concept and actually doing it are different and we might see some actual attempts to deliver on the idea." — Kate Gerwig, SearchTelecom

"We believe IP video growth will significantly outperform current industry expectations of 25 - 35 percent annual growth. While forecasting the future in a period of economic turmoil is more art than science, we are confident that IP video will gain the upper hand in general commercial deployments during this period." — John Honovich, IP Video Market Info

How to Craft an Effective RFP: An interview with Francis Hopkins

Heading into 2010, many technology companies will look to re-focus their public relations efforts. Whether messaging or markets have changed, the marketing team has been re-organized or the company is launching a PR plan for the first time, there are many questions to be answered. Often as a part of this process, companies will evaluate bringing in a PR agency. Constructing and reviewing agency RFPs can seem like a daunting task, but there are many ways to ease the burden of this process on a company's marketing team.

Francis Hopkins, director of corporate communications at Sigma Systems, recently conducted an RFP process to select a new PR agency for Sigma. Now an Engage PR client, Francis sat down with InsidEPR to discuss best practices for working through this process and share tips for others who may be embarking down this path.

Francis provided insight into how to best construct an RFP by discussing the following:

• What information should be obtained before launching into the RFP?
• What is the appropriate length?
• What types of questions should be included?

In addition, Francis explained the top qualities he looks for in a new agency. His priorities ranked in order of:

• Expertise in the company's specific market
• Relationships with the media and analyst community
• Providing candid feedback and challenge messaging when it is needed
• Embracing social media and marketing the agency

View highlights of the video interview with Francis Hopkins on Engage PR's blog and on the agency's YouTube channel

Extreme Networks Taps Engage PR for Marketing Communications Services

With the dynamic nature of business today, companies need to be able to scale up staffing for strategic programs and special projects without incurring the cost and complexity involved with hiring on-staff resources.

When Extreme Networks needed project management assistance to launch the BlackDiamond® 20804 Ethernet Transport Switch, the company tapped into Engage PR's marketing communications services. Engage PR worked with Extreme to drive the launch process and manage the development of product collateral, sales training and web content. In a compressed six week time frame, Engage PR helped the Marketing team at Extreme to launch the latest addition to the BlackDiamond series of Ethernet Transport Switches into the market.

As part of the program, Engage PR assisted Extreme with launch planning, message alignment, reporting and the project management of launch deliverables.

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