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Volume 9, Issue 1 |
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Advance Pay Pending Patent
Info Directions is pleased to announce it has submitted its application for a business process patent for its Advance Pay billing application to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Advance Pay is a new CostGuard XG module that gives service providers a hybrid post-paid/pre-paid application with the flexibility to serve new markets while greatly reducing the high costs associated with a pre-paid platform.
Created by leveraging the technology benefits of an integrated OSS/BSS/POS solution, Info Directions provides its Advance Pay product to help service providers with GSM and CDMA/TDMA platforms expand their business into new markets without investing in a completely new platform. Mobile clients can leverage Advance Pay to open up new market opportunities for customers who elect to secure wireless service without being tied to a contract or who may not qualify for traditional post-paid service.
"Innovation is one of the primary tenets of our corporate mission. The development of Advance Pay represents both the extraordinary vision of the inventors who conceived it and the exceptional commitment they demonstrated in bringing it to fruition," said Donald Culeton, president of Info Directions. "Info Directions serves a highly competitive industry, so we are always mindful of ways we can help our clients open up new market opportunities. Advance Pay offers service providers a cost-effective way to expand their business model and enhance their bottom line."
The inventors of the Advance Pay application from Info Directions include Senior Software Engineer Jason Ingalsbe, Vice President, Engineering Stephen Kosarko, POS Product Manager Kenneth Pierce, Software Engineer Mark Rissberger, and Manager, Product Applications Development Darren Smith.
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SAVE THE DATE for First West Coast User Group!
September 15-17
Info Directions is pleased to announce that its Annual User Group will be held this year in beautiful Portland, Ore. This year's event will provide an opportunity to discuss future technologies and initiatives for Info Directions and within the industry at large.
The event will also feature several industry speakers and some great networking opportunities with mobile, wireline and convergent service providers across Info Directions' diverse client base.
Please mark these dates on your calendar.
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Partner Update
By Greg Heimburg, Director of Business Development
Founded in 1988, Vertek Corporation is a leading provider of business process outsourcing and business consulting for the telecommunications industry, specializing in Financial Assurance, Network Migration, Complex Order Management and Provisioning, and Process Design & Optimization. As an independent professional services firm whose only business is telecommunications, Vertek offers a unique combination of technical expertise, business acumen, program management skills, and highly relevant industry experience.
Info Directions and Vertek work together to give service providers the tools they need to identify operational gaps and improve the ongoing reconciliation of system- and human-centric processes between partnering companies.
Vertek's Financial Assurance (VFA) application is a hosted data management service offering state-of-the-art analytical tools specifically engineered to acquire, validate and reconcile the accuracy of communications service providers' monthly operating costs and billing, all at a low fixed monthly fee, without CAPEX or integration expenses. VFA finds the source of discrepancies that cause unnecessary costs, record fallout, pervasive data integrity issues, missing accounts and uncollected revenues. With a unique, high-performance data management platform and team of skilled managed service professionals, Vertek captures, discovers, and automates existing business rules, and streamlines data management routines so that employees and systems operate more efficiently.
Vertek provides communications service providers with provisioning models that are significantly less expensive and more focused on customer service than many clients are able to provide with their own resources. Vertek's services are offered in a variety of delivery options including on-site professional services, project-based engagements and robust managed service offerings.
For more information on Vertek, please visit www.Vertek.com.
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Info Directions Sponsors
Info Directions will be a Supporting-level sponsor for the Innovation + Creativity Festival at Rochester Institute of Technology. The inaugural festival will expose thousands of people to hundreds of examples of student, faculty and staff creativity and innovation. The event will showcase new ideas for products and services, creative arts and crafts, engineering design projects and products from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, May 3.
Info Directions will also award a prize during the event.
According to Rochester Institute of Technology president Bill Drestler, the festival's mission will travel well beyond the Rochester Institute of Technology campus.
"We see it as a call to national service. Innovation is one of our country's last competitive advantages," said Drestler. "Young Americans want to walk to the beat of their own drummer, and their desire to be different is an innate American characteristic. Channeling that passion in constructive ways will foster the United States' leadership in technical innovation and creative ideas for new products and services."
"We try to cultivate an environment that supports creativity and innovation, so we can adapt to meet the current and future needs of the telecommunications world," said Donald Culeton, president of Info Directions. "As a leading developer of software solutions, Info Directions recognizes the value of creativity and innovation for our industry, for our business and for the local community."
Info Directions maintains a strong partnership with Rochester Institute of Technology in the form of recruitment, internships and a scholarship program that has been in place for nine years. More than a dozen Info Directions' personnel are also alumni of the university.
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It's Show Time
By James Lazeroff, Director of Marketing
Info Directions is hitting the road for the spring trade show season with visits to the CTIA Wireless, RCA Annual Convention, and Billing & OSS World shows. We would welcome the opportunity to show off some of CostGuard.NET/XG's newest capabilities. Please contact your Info Directions regional sales director to set up an appointment to visit us for a demo at any one of the following events:
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Nikia Speed
Implementation Manager
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Years at Info Directions:
May 5th will be 2 years.
Best part about working in project management:
I really enjoy working on implementations because they are fast paced and I am never working on one task for too long. I also get the opportunity to cross-train in different areas of the product. I am constantly learning no matter how many implementations I participate in and help launch.
Most satisfying part of my work at IDI:
The most satisfying part of my work at IDI is working with a very cohesive department. I think that allows us to have that flexibility and opens the door for us to expand our business knowledge by stepping out of our expected roles.
My favorite celebrity is:
Tim McGraw has consistently been one of my favorite musicians so I'll give him the title of favorite celebrity. But the British singer James Morrison has recently become a favorite, too.
If I could travel anywhere in the world, I would go to:
I think I'd have to start with a Caribbean destination. Anywhere in the Caribbean would be an awesome adventure.
My favorite restaurant is:
I have two favorites: Fujiya, where I get awesome Sushi rolls, and The King and I, which is a Thai restaurant.
In my spare time I like to:
I play women's professional tackle football. I spend most of the year either playing football or training to get in shape to play football. I also travel a lot with friends. We decide to go on new adventures from time to time, like sky diving and last-second road trips.
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Tax Changes and Updates
By John Brind'Amour, Product Manager – Tax Research and Planning
STATE TAX LEGISLATIVE HIGHLIGHTS
Colorado Proposes 911 Funding Obligations on VOIP and Prepaid Wireless
Colorado has introduced legislation (HB 1249) that would require prepaid wireless and interconnected VOIP service providers to collect 911 surcharges from their end users. Following the lead of other states, Colorado has placed the burden of 911 funding for prepaid wireless service on the carrier. However, there are provisions in the bill to allow the provider to recover the charge from subscribers. The legislation also clarifies that prepaid service is only that service which provides a finite amount of service or number of minutes that terminate upon use of the service, or a set expiration date.
Governing bodies must impose the charge uniformly across all services. However, prepaid wireless providers may elect to pay the surcharge by dividing total monthly revenue from prepaid wireless service by 50, and multiplying the quotient by the applicable monthly surcharge amount. Prepaid wireless providers may collect the surcharge in advance at the point of sale, or may deduct the charge from the prepaid balance remaining on the service, if the service has been used during the month and there is sufficient remaining balance on the last day of the month to deduct the fee. The legislation charges the PUC with circulating rules to determine proper remittance of fees for prepaid wireless service based on point of sale, area of primary usage, customer address, or other relevant method. State and local government entities remain exempt from 911 fees.
The notification requirement for local government authorities regarding a change in the 911 surcharge rate is reduced from ninety days to sixty days under the legislation. The bill passed the House in late February, and is currently being considered by the Senate. If passed, the new law is expected to go into effect in early August, ninety days after the current legislative session has expired.
Iowa Legislation Would Replace School Taxes with Increased State Sales Tax
A bill currently under consideration by the Iowa legislature would repeal the school infrastructure local option sales (SILO) taxes, and increase the state sales and use tax from 5.0% to 6.0%. The increase in the state tax would be designated for school infrastructure purposes or property tax relief. The Committee on Education recommended passage of the legislation which is currently being reviewed by the Ways and Means Committee.
Kansas Corporation Commission Requires VOIP Providers Contribute to USF
On January 9, 2008, the Commission entered an interim order outlining its authority under federal and state law to require Interconnected VOIP providers to contribute to the KUSF. The Commission scheduled an implementation workshop for March 13th to review allocation of revenues, introduction to worksheets, overview of the remittance process, and other implementation matters. The State plans to model its requirements after New Mexico, which has authorized carriers to use the Federal Safe Harbor percentage (35.1%), actual revenues, or a traffic study to determine intrastate minutes. Commission staff will file a report regarding the workshop and include recommendation concerning further Commission action, if necessary, by March 27, 2008. No date has yet been set for when contributions will commence, or when VOIP providers may begin recovering contributions from customers.
Nebraska Legislation Would Impose Sales Tax on Digital Downloads
A new bill introduced in the Nebraska Legislature would impose sales tax on products delivered electronically, if the products are taxable when delivered on tangible storage media. Under this bill, products delivered electronically include, but are not limited to, digital audio works, digital audiovisual works, and digital books. Digital audio works refers to works that result from the fixation of a series of musical, spoken, or other sounds, including ring tones. The legislation was introduced in mid-January and is currently being reviewed by the legislature.
South Dakota Poised to Impose 911 Funding Obligations on VOIP & Prepaid Wireless
Legislation which would extend 911 funding obligations to interconnected VOIP service and prepaid wireless service has passed both legislative houses in South Dakota, and is currently awaiting the Governor’s signature. Under the new law, the fee on prepaid wireless service will be two percent of the retail purchase price of the service. Prepaid wireless providers may seek reimbursement from subscribers through whatever means are available to the provider. Prepaid fees are to be remitted to the South Dakota 911 Coordination Fund.
Fees for Interconnected VOIP providers and traditional land line services are to be remitted to the local governing authority. Governing bodies may assess a monthly uniform charge in an amount not to exceed seventy-five cents per service user line. “Service user line" is the means by which a service user may place a call to a public safety answering point using a telecommunications service, wireless telecommunications service, prepaid wireless telecommunications service, or Interconnected Voice over Internet Protocol service. For multi-station network systems, service user lines shall be equal to the number of calls that can simultaneously be made from such system to the public switched telephone network.
At least once every calendar year, prior to Sept. 1, each governing body imposing a surcharge must review the current charge and establish a rate of charge to be effective on the next January first, not to exceed the amount authorized. Service providers must be notified by registered mail at least ninety days prior to the effective date of a rate change.
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