Same Judge to Preside Over Both Avaya Cases

Jan. 17, 2008 (Vol. 29, No. 2) 

Magistrate Judge John Hughes, the judge presiding over the court battle between Avaya and PBX maintenance company Continuant, will also preside over the lawsuit filed against Avaya by Black Box, another telecom service provider.
 
Garrett Brown, a chief judge in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey, on Jan. 14 approved the request made jointly by Avaya and Black Box, which argued that Hughes would be familiar with the common discovery issues in both cases.
 
Black Box filed suit against Avaya on Dec. 31, 2007, charging antitrust violations in relation to Avaya's maintenance policies [VR 1/3/08]. Avaya charges Telecom Labs Inc., an affiliate of Continuant, with software copyright violations in the suit it filed against the company in June 2006. Continuant countersued, charging antitrust violations, in August 2006 [VR 10/16/06]. (

ShoreTel Stocks Fall on Lower Sales Projection 

Jan. 17, 2008 (Vol. 29, No. 2) 

ShoreTel’s stocks fell 54.0% to $6.02 on Jan. 7 after the PBX manufacturer lowered its forecast for its sales in its most recent quarter, Forbes.com reports.

Sunnyvale, Calif.-based ShoreTel reportedly announced it expects sales between $29.7 million and $30.7 million for its second fiscal quarter, ended Dec. 31. That estimate is down from its earlier projection of $32 million to $35 million. The final results will be announced Jan. 29, Forbes.com reports.

Analysts quoted in Forbes blame a downturn in the U.S. economy for ShoreTel’s missed projection, but some question whether it might be losing the race for SMB installations to its competitors. (

AT&T Raises International, Interstate Rates 

Jan. 17, 2008 (Vol. 29, No. 2) 

Calling abroad just got more expensive for enterprises that subscribe to AT&T’s Business Network Services. The carrier raised its “international outbound” and “international outbound, mobile termination” rates by about 10% effective Jan. 1, according to its service guide.

It’ll cost you $0.174 per minute to call a landline in the United Kingdom, up from $0.156, for example.

Prices also rose for calls terminating on international cell phones. It’ll now cost you $1.176 to call a cell phone in Germany, for example, up from $1.068.

Reeves, La., Ditches 666 NXX

Jan. 17, 2008 (Vol. 29, No. 2) 

Residents in the southwest Louisiana village of Reeves now can change the first three digits of their phone numbers from 666 to 749, the Associated Press reports.

Residents reportedly were irked that their phone numbers included what the Bible’s book of Revelation refers to as “the number of the beast.”

“This boils down to, this is a very, very religious community,” the AP quotes Reeves Mayor Scott Walker as saying. Walker reportedly worked with CenturyTel and the state Public Service Commission to allow the phone numbers to be changed. (