We are very happy to have scooped a top VoIP industry accolade for the fourth year in a row.
Gradwell were highly commended in the Best Business ITSP (SME) category for Multi User VoIP at the 2012 Internet Telephony Service Provider Association (ITSPA) industry awards.
The awards, with a glittering ceremony at the House of Commons last night,), reflect the different services provided by the VoIP industry. This year saw the highest number of award applications over the eight award categories.
We were highly commended for our services to SMEs across the UK and overseas in the Best Business ITSP (SME) category, after the reliability, value for money and customer service of our Multi User VoIP service was fiercely inspected by the ITSPA judging panel.
Our Gradwell One service, which offers VoIP services to micro businesses of less than 10 seats/ employees.
Dr Peter Gradwell, Managing Director of Gradwell said:
“We’re thrilled with the results of tonight’s awards, with one commendation and reaching the final for another award – as well as it being our fourth straight ITSPA awards we’ve been successful at.
It is great to see the ITSPA awards growing in applications, interest, attendance and award categories; this is a great reflection on the VoIP industry which is going from strength to strength”
For more information visit the ITSPA Awards website at www.itspaawards.org.uk.
The Internet Telephony Service Providers Association (ITSPA) has released new best practise tips to help shield VoIP users from the threat of fraud.
In 2010, the industry body formed a security committee to discuss and publish best practice for its members, as well as customers of business VoIP services. The result is the ‘Recommendations for secure deployment of an IP-PBX‘ document.
ITSPA collected the best practical advice from a wide range of service providers, security experts and hardware vendors to create the document, available as a PDF here.
But why do people need to shield their system from attack? What damage can it do? ITSPA say:
“In general, people attack voice systems because they represent a source of money. This is nothing new and hackers have been attacking company telephone systems for decades, even before VoIP came along.
“An attacker may just be trying to get some free long distance calls for himself, but there are also organised criminals who want to subvert your telephone system to route international calls at your cost. Some may route calls to premium rate numbers (which they have set-up) in order to generate some phone revenue.
“In any case, the result is the same: your phone bill is increased, and the money is in their pocket.”
The document highlights current security issues, such as phone hacking and Denial-of-Service (DoS) attacks. It also recommends the key steps VoIP PBX users, whether hosted or onsite, can take to secure their systems. Top tips including using virtual private networks (VPN) and up-to-date patches, before moving on to more advanced steps like SIP security gateways and protecting ports.
ITSPA rightly highlight that “there is always a trade-off between security and convenience”, with businesses having to strike a balance between creating a flexible system for employees and protecting revenue.
With the steps contained within the document, ITSPA hopes that many businesses will find it easier to find that balance.
(Image by Rev Stan)
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Gradwell were awarded Most Innovative VoIP product for Gradwell Mobile and were also highly commended in the Best Business ITSP (SME) category at this year’s Internet Telephony industry awards
The awards, hosted by the Internet Telephony Service Providers Association, reflect the different services provided by the VoIP industry.
Gradwell Mobile, launched in September last year, offers businesses a landline on the move. The service beat off competition from the likes of Vonage and Digium to claim the Most Innovative VoIP Product prize, with ITSPA commenting on its reliability, user-friendly approach and groundbreaking features.
Gradwell was also highly commended in the Best Business ITSP (SME) category, which evaluated the reliability, value for money and customer service of the VoIP service on offer.
Dr Peter Gradwell, Managing Director of Gradwell said, “We’re delighted the results of tonight, with one award and one commendation. We have now been listed as one of the UK’s top VoIP providers for three consecutive years now, and having the most innovative VoIP product in our portfolio really cements our place as a market leader.
To have been recognised by the ITSPA awards over the last three years reflects our consistent hard work to build on our past successes and continue providing a communications backbone for UK small businesses.”
For more information visit the ITSPA Awards website at www.itspaawards.org.uk.
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Gradwell has been named as one of the UK’s best VoIP providers for the third year running, after the finalists for this year’s Internet Telephony industry awards were announced.
The ITSPA Awards, run by the Internet Telephony Service Provider’s Association (ITSPA), are in their third year and reflect the different services provided by the VoIP industry.
Gradwell have been listed as a finalist, for the third consecutive year, in the Best Business ITSP (SME) category, while the new Gradwell Mobile service was nominated as Most Innovative VoIP Product.
The award winners will be announced at a reception in the BT Tower on Monday 7th March 2011. Speakers will include Julian Huppert MP and Steve Unger (Partner – Strategy, Chief Economist and Technology) from Ofcom.
The awards will kick off a busy week for the telecommunications industry, with the Unified Communications Expo taking place at Olympia during March 8th and 9th.
All entrants had to complete a written self-assessment form, while the Best Consumer VoIP and Best Business ITSP (SME) categories also underwent a period of rigorous technical testing, untaken by Malden Electronics.
Malden, speech quality measurement specialists to the telecommunications industry, made a regular series of test calls on all relevant entrant services during December 2010 and January 2011. This measured a number of metrics including voice quality, background noise, packet loss, round trip delays and jitter.
Eli Katz, Chair of ITSPA Council said, “It is very pleasing to receive another healthy number of entries from all sections of the industry. I look forward to the reception, held at such an iconic venue, at the beginning of an important week for the industry. I would like to congratulate all the finalists and best of luck for the 7th March.”
Dr Peter Gradwell, Managing Director of Gradwell said, “To be nominated for any award by industry representatives is great, but two is just fantastic. We have now been listed as one of the UK’s top VoIP providers for three consecutive years, reflecting our consistent hard work to build on our past success and continue providing a communications backbone for UK small businesses.
We are also very proud that, as well as the quality of our service, we’re being recognised for innovation. Since launching the new Gradwell Mobile service, our customers have been very impressed with the functionality and cost-saving features of a landline on the move – and it is good to see that the industry agrees.”
For more information please visit the ITSPA Awards website at www.itspaawards.org.uk.
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Last month over 200 delegates attended the fifth Parliament and Internet Conference to discuss specific issues to the UK’s communications sector and hear speeches from well-known figures.
CEO of Ofcom Ed Richards, a longstanding supporter of the conference, began the series of speeches at Portcullis House, opposite the houses of Parliament. He began by summarising current trends found by the Ofcom Consumer Market Report, such as the recession not having an impact on digital technology.
Our very own Peter Gradwell was in attendance for the conference, taking a leading role in the “Retaining your phone number in an IP World” workshop discussion about current number portability legislation.
Others in attendance were members of the Internet Telephony Providers Association and VoIP community, such as Jim Reilly from the OTA (Office of the Telecommunications Adjudicator).
Peter kicked off that session with an update on the problems and the mechanics currently facing consumers who wish to switch their phone numbers to Business VoIP.
A Gradwell customer, who also attended the workshop, provided a perfect example of the problems consumers experience. Trying to port his numbers from his previous telephony provider to Gradwell, his business lost the use of their number range for 45 days, at a cost of around £10,000 – a considerable amount for a small business.
The panel noted major problems in the number portability process such as “bigger players” determining the pace and the UK being viewed as an example of “how not to do number portability” to the rest of the world.
There was an appetite amongst the panellists to solve the problems currently facing providers and refocus support for the groups currently looking into this.
Chairman for the workshop, ITSPA Council Member Trefor Davies, concluded the discussion by saying that after hearing the industry-wide problems number portability was going to rise up the agenda and that “Ofcom and MPs were going to start receiving a lot of letters through their mailbox”.
(Image by Samantha Celera)
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