Daily Archives: February 17, 2012

News for February 17th, 2012.

Citel Announces Distribution Agreement for its IAX2 Compatible IP Phone in Iberian Peninsula

Citel Signs Distribution Agreement with Avanzada 7 for the Sales and Marketing of its IP phone in Spain and Portugal

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PRLog (Press Release) - Feb 16, 2012 -
AMHERST. NY — Citel Technologies, Inc., is pleased to announce the signing of an Authorized Distributor Agreement with Avanzada 7, S.L., headquartered in Malaga, Spain  for the sales and marketing of its C-4110 IP phone in Spain and Portugal and regional Spanish language countries. Having recently upgraded the firmware on its phone to facilitate the use of the Spanish language on the telephone’s display for the Central and South American marketplace, Citel was looking for a partner to target the Spanish marketplace directly and will be now be working with Avanzada 7 to incorporate the Portuguese language into the firmware as demand requires.

The Citel 4110 is an advanced, fully featured two-line IP Telephone that takes full advantage of VoIP technology by offering a flexible, interoperable solution at an affordable price. It delivers the SIP & IAX2 standards to provide advanced calling, conferencing, and messaging features. The IAX2 standard is of particular interest to the Asterisk market as it requires reduced bandwidth and provides firewall friendly service.

“Our expertise in providing technical pre and post sales technical support to VoIP devices in telephony environments will provide considerable advantage to dealers selling Citel products,” said Nacho Cabrera, Avanzada 7 CEO. “We are particularly excited to be representing Citel in Spain and Portugal, as well as to specific customers in the north of Africa region. We are definitely covering an empty product range which has been demanded by the market for months”

Ian Gomm, VP, Sales & Marketing at Citel, stated that Avanzada placed the C-4110 some rigourous testing before moving forward and is looking forward to increasing the product’s presence in the European marketplace.

About Avanzada 7

Avanzada 7 is a leading value-added distributor of voice, video and data solutions. Founded in 2002, the company has grown its portfolio around telephony in general and VoIP in particular. Avanzada 7 represents high-profile brands including Digium, Cisco, Aastra, Grandstream, Technicolor, Redfone and Konftel. Its comprehensive range of leading edge collaboration solutions includes conferencing, telecommunications, recording solutions, IP phones, Asterisk & 3CX hardware, high availability solutions, networking, WLAN and call center solutions.

Avanzada 7 aims to provide an unrivalled support to its Business Partner network in Iberia region, drawing on a dedicated team of certified and accredited staff to offer industry-leading technical, sales and marketing support. For more information, visit www.avanzada7.com.

About Citel Technologies, Inc.

Citel enables SMBs, large enterprises and service providers to realize the cost and productivity benefits of IP telephony while at the same time leveraging their existing PBX infrastructure. Businesses with single or distributed locations and PBX vendors can now deploy next-generation IP applications and services at their own pace, with minimal business disruption. Service providers can deploy Hosted IP telephony services quickly, without having to “rip and replace” existing enterprise PBX handsets and LAN cabling. With its expertise in VoIP migration it has been developing its own line of price competitive, well-built IP phones. Citel is based in Amherst, New York with offices in Loughborough, England (UK) and Toronto, Canada.

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Citel Technologies, Inc. enables SMBs, large enterprises and service providers to realize the cost and productivity benefits of IP telephony while at the same time leveraging their existing cabling infrastructure.

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Raising Astoria – A New Maternity and Baby Boutique to Open in Astoria, Queens, New York.

Two mothers take advantage of small business support organizations to launch Astoria’s only consignment shop selling baby and maternity items in the family saturated neighborhood -a necessity in this budget-conscious economy.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PRLog (Press Release) - Feb 16, 2012 -
Astoria, NY February 16, 2012:  Astorian mothers, Laurie Nicholson and Kimberly Rossignol have collaborated in opening a maternity and baby boutique, called Raising Astoria, selling new and slightly used items on consignment. The store offers a variety of classes for parents and their children as well.  Raising Astoria is slated to open March 1st, 2012 and the grand opening party is on March 3rd, 2012 from 4:00 PM to 7:00 PM when complimentary wine and appetizers will be served.

In the fall of 2010, Rossignol and Nicholson were both in the third trimester of their pregnancies. They met through an Astoria Parents Group, and bonded over the fact that neither of them could fit into their winter coats any longer, and neither wanted to shell out the big bucks for a maternity coat. Months later, an idea was born. Rossignol and Nicholson realized there is an untapped market, not only for maternity goods, but also for secondhand children’s clothing and toys, as Astoria has become an increasingly family-saturated neighborhood.

After working diligently with the Small Business Development Center and taking advantage of the many helpful resources available to women-owned small businesses, less than a year after both women gave birth to daughters, Raising Astoria was also born. The store offers an unmatched selection of quality, gently used maternity and children’s items. In addition, the store hosts an array of children’s music and art classes, parent support groups, and topical seminars for new and expecting parents. “We hope our daughters see us as strong, independent business women who opened this store to provide them a better future,” says Rossignol. Further, says Nicholson “We wanted to create a sense of community for Astoria parents, something both Kim and I found incredibly important, even pivotal, to our ability to be the best mothers we could.” For a full listing of their events offerings, as well as more information on how to consign your maternity or children’s items, visit their website at www.raisingastoria.com.

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Raising Astoria is a one-stop-shop where expecting and new parents can purchase new and slightly used maternity and baby clothing and accessories in the baby-booming neighborhood of Astoria, Queens, New York.

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Texas Education Agency Approves Children’s Progress Academic Assessment for Commissioner’s List

The award-winning Children’s Progress Academic Assessment (CPAA) has been added to the Texas Commissioner’s List of Approved Reading Instruments for Kindergarten through 3rd grade.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PRLog (Press Release) - Feb 17, 2012 -
Children’s Progress today announced that its award-winning early childhood assessment solution, the Children’s Progress Academic Assessment (CPAA), has been approved by the Texas Education Agency (TEA) as a reading instrument for use in K-3 instruction in Texas public and charter schools. The CPAA’s selection highlights its research-based approach to evaluating individual students’ reading development and comprehension.

The inclusion of the CPAA on the TEA’s 2011-2012 Commissioner’s List of Approved Reading Instruments is coupled with Children’s Progress’ continued growth in Texas. A growing number of districts, independent schools and early childhood centers state-wide are using this quick, child-friendly assessment to evaluate strengths and weaknesses, monitor progress and differentiate instruction in the earliest grades.

“I’m excited to hear that the CPAA is on the Commissioner’s list. Since 2009 this program has helped us use our performance and progress information to set goals, differentiate instruction and meet the academic needs of our early childhood students,” said Hilda Franks, Early Childhood Coordinator at Georgetown ISD. “It is a great tool that facilitates our ability to understand which topics to focus on with each student to make sure that everyone succeeds.”

“We are honored by TEA’s recognition of the CPAA as an approved instrument for Texas schools. We look forward to continuing to work closely with Texas educators to help tailor instruction to individual student needs,” said Kevin Greaney, CEO of Children’s Progress.

Texas schools have experienced reductions in Special Education referrals of up to 60%+ in the first year of CPAA use, as well as savings of more than $10,000 in annual assessment costs. Moreover, research shows that students screened with the CPAA throughout the year receive significantly higher scores on their third grade state achievement tests, compared to students who are not exposed to the CPAA.

Available in English and Spanish, the CPAA is appropriate for both native English speakers and English Language Learners. Franks says that for Georgetown ISD, “CPAA data greatly assists us in identifying the academic and language needs of our Spanish-speaking Bilingual Pre-K students. This allows us to make data-driven academic recommendations to help ensure school success for these students.”

In addition to reading, the CPAA covers other core early literacy and mathematics concepts. As a computer adaptive assessment aligned to TEKS standards and Pre-K Guidelines, it adjusts to individual learning needs and generates instant web-based reports to help educators inform instruction, facilitate interventions, and meet the needs of all students in line with a Response to Intervention (RTI) approach.

The TEA’s 2011-2012 Commissioner’s List of Approved Reading Instruments is available on the TEA website: http://www.tea.state.tx.us/index4.aspx?id=4434.

To learn more about Children’s Progress or request an assessment demo, go tohttp://www.childrensprogress.com or call             866-427-4787      .

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Children’s Progress (http://www.childrensprogress.com) is an educational technology company that specializes in developing engaging, adaptive assessments for the earliest grades. Selected as a Top 100 Product by District Administration magazine, the Children’s Progress Academic Assessment (CPAA) is an award-winning program grounded in decades of research at Columbia University and MIT. It helps educators pinpoint how to challenge and support each child through diagnostic adaptive assessments, web-based reports and instructional recommendations. Children’s Progress works with state agencies, districts, schools and early learning centers nationwide to support the ongoing formative assessment process, inform Response to Intervention (RTI) implementations and drive decision-making.

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