The New England Nortel Users Group

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Fri Sep 05, 2008

Welcome to the New England Nortel User Group

Welcome to the New England Nortel User Group. Our Membership is totally comprised of telecommunications professionals who are end-users of NORTEL (Northern Telecom) PBX's and equipment. The NENUG is one of the original 'Northern Telecom User Groups', having been in existence for close to twenty years. The New England Chapter consists of members from Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island.

We are also proud to say that our chapter membership is one of the largest in the world. Our New England chapter is part of a regional chapter, NEARMUG (North East Area Regional Members Users Group), and also the International Group, INNUA (International Nortel Networks Users Association). An individual automatically becomes a member of NEARMUG and INNUA, by joining this local chapter.

Our meetings are generally held monthly and an invitation is always open to attend. For further information, contact any of our Board Members.

President's Message

I. Global Connect 2008 and INNUA Changes


Global Connect 2008 was a success. In addition to education, networking opportunities, and technology Nortel and its vendor community have to offer, there are some changes at the International level that are designed to keep this organization relevant to Nortel and the communications industry.


INNUA’s governance model is being modified. The changes are designed to allow INNUA the ability to make faster decisions, to better clarify roles, purposes, and accountability, and to continue to make INNUA influential and relevant to our members, Nortel, and the industry. The approved changes include:
• The size of the board will decrease to 13 members; 1 President,1 Vice president/Pres.Elect, 1 Secretary/Treasurer, 9 Directors and 1 Executive Director.
• A minimum of two Directors will be non-US based.
• The new terms of office for the incoming Board will align with the fiscal year, October 1 – September 30.
• Current Board members will remain in place until October 1, 2008 when the new officers begin their terms.


New term limits have been created. The President and Vice President have 1 year terms with no option for reelection. The Secretary/Treasurer will hold a two year term with one reelection term possible. Directors will hold 3 year terms. Initial director positions will be staggered initially with three serving 1 year terms, 3 serving 2 year terms, and 3 serving three year terms.


INNUA’s Nominations Committee is currently putting together a slate of qualified candidates to assume board positions. Their goals are to ensure that candidates possess the position-specific skills required to help drive INNUA’s strategic goals and objectives, and to include a slate reflective of INNUA membership highlighting geographical, cultural, industry, and market diversities. You’ll likely see more information on the realignment of the Board in the near future.


Regional Trustees will no longer be part of the board. Directors without regional requirements will work with Board officers for a common vision for INNUA. This does not preclude the removal of regions. Each region will determine whether or not it chooses to remain. In our case, the current intention is to have NEARMUG continue both as a region and as a regional conference, so you can expect to see information on NEARMUG 2009!


INNUA Membership has increased this year due to some added alignment with Nortel. In my view, the synergy between Nortel and INNUA is strong, and moving in the right direction. This has resulted in over 500 new members, an increased interest in INNUA directives, and an increased participation in conferences from Nortel and its vendor community. In addition, Nortel conducted a survey that showed INNUA members are 5 times more likely to purchase Nortel solutions than non-members. That statistic reverberated with the vendors showing the value of INNUA members!


INNUA received a clean audit on their financials, and is fiscally solvent. The conference had lots to offer from educational sessions, a complete trade show highlighting Nortel solutions and their partners along with a multitude of other vendors who can work with your Nortel solution, networking sessions, and general sessions with guests like Joel Hackney (President of Enterprise Solutions), Steven Bandrowczak (Nortel’s CIO) and Mike Zafirovski (Nortel CEO).


II. Nortel Press


Nortel recently announced a new program to work with their current certification process. It’s called Nortel Press. You can check it out online at http://www.nortel.com/corporate/news/publications/nortel_press/index.html , and it currently offers two textbooks designed to help get you certified. VoIP Technologies and BCM 50 are the current offerings with more topics planned for the future. This is a relatively inexpensive way to help you achieve certification. While this option is not intended to replace other training providers like Global Knowledge (still one of Nortel’s strong partners), it is an enhancement that will get you ready for certification. Check it out online!


III. Locally


We are getting ready for our own election process. A Nominations Committee has been created to prepare for our upcoming elections. As usual, all positions are currently open. The nominations process will be open; you can self-nominate or nominate a peer who you believe would be a great chapter leader. With the centralized efforts with INNUA, being a chapter leader requires less time than in the past. You’ll get to meet and network with people within Nortel and other businesses who you might not normally meet. As an example, Joel Hackney tapped me on the shoulder to introduce himself. I am fairly certain this occurred because of my role as your chapter President. I encourage you to consider becoming more involved in the chapter!


You’ll be seeing some plans for our Fall meeting as well as our elections process. In addition, NENUG is fiscally solvent and is still one of the stronger chapters within INNUA. Even though we will no longer have regional representation, our chapter will have a direct line to INNUA. I am confident that the direction and relevance of this organization are on the right path, and look forward to even greater achievements in 2009!


Take advantage of your membership. Book a Global Knowledge, Evotum or Innovatia training and get your discount. Subscribe to the online communities to get access to information. Take part of new programs like Nortel Press, and take advantage of the webinars! This membership easily pays for itself. When you run into fellow Nortel users, tell them about NENUG and INNUA, and do your part to make this organization strong!


Seann Jackson