Agero supports nearly half of passenger vehicles on the road with Oracle SD-WAN

Agero is using Oracle enterprise communications technologies to safeguard drivers in more than 115 million vehicles in the U.S. When a driver is stranded roadside, time is of the essence. With Oracle, the company has achieved continuous contact center uptime, so customers can get the assistance they need and are back on the road as quickly as possible.

For 45 years, Agero has provided smart solutions for its clients and their drivers. Currently, Agero’s  roadside assistance, accident management and consumer affairs services are leveraged in the U.S. by drivers in two-thirds of new passenger vehicles, policyholders from nine of the top 15 auto insurance carriers and customers of a variety of other diversified clients. 

Oracle SD-WAN was created to solve the ongoing IT challenges network managers face every day—from expensive, sluggish, inflexible WANs to difficulties deploying new office WAN links and accessing cloud services. 

With Oracle SD-WAN, enterprises can benefit from internet economics, leverage high-bandwidth and inexpensive Internet connections, and safely migrate applications to the public cloud and SaaS at their own pace – without sacrificing the high availability and predictable application performance they expect from their MPLS-only WANs..

To maximize the quality of its customers’ experiences and to eliminate communication failures or downtime, Agero needed predictable enterprise communications performance and real-time application support. Agero selected Oracle for the failsafe reliability, security and interoperability.

“When drivers are stranded on the road in the winter, creating not only an uncomfortable situation but also a health and safety issue, it is crucial for our customers to get directly in contact with an agent,” said Robert Sullivan, vice president, technology and shared services, Agero. “Oracle has the best of breed technology in the Oracle SD-WAN and Enterprise Session Border Controllers, which have helped us to deliver high availability, reliability and quality of experience for our customers.”

Since working with Oracle and Presidio to implement the Oracle SD-WAN solution, Agero has reduced downtime and created special routing situations for sites without substantial circuit diversity. This advanced, “always-on performance” is invaluable to Agero as the company processes more than 12 million roadside and emergency support requests per year.

“Agero is reinventing how driver assistance is delivered, while elevating the consumer experience in often dire scenarios,” said Andrew Morawski, senior vice president and general manager, Oracle Communications - Networks. “As enterprises demand flexible WAN solutions supporting shifting business requirements, Oracle is increasing and leveraging bandwidth for affordable and trusted WAN connectivity, anywhere and whenever it’s needed.”

In addition to the Oracle SD-WAN, Agero deployed Oracle 1100 Enterprise Session Border Controller (E-SBC) Oracle 3900 E-SBC and the Oracle Communications Converged Application Server (OCCAS) to protect its network and contact center from external threats.

Quantela works with Cisco to introduce Outcome-based Project Financing for smart city projects

Quantela Inc. and Cisco have developed a unique, market disruptive Outcome-based Project Financing Model that will be launched at the Smart City Expo World Congress. The model can help cities get started on their Smart City projects by converting the upfront CapEx investment to an Outcome-based payment, that is tied to achieving solution SLAs and project KPIs.

Cities globally are in a state of transition that is impacting them in multiple ways. Budgetary pressures of having to deliver more with less; Capacity pressures due to rapid urbanization. 

Some of the key concerns on the minds of City Mayors are: How can they find new opportunities for revenue maximization and cost optimization? How can they attract investments into the city and create vibrant public-private partnerships? How do they derive value with the data being collected by the city from various sources? How can they provide a good quality of life for the residents?

With such radical forces in action, it is imperative for cities and Municipal Corporations globally to adopt different financial structures that would help them acquire new technology to deliver more efficient and cost-effective urban infrastructure services like reducing energy consumption for public street lighting, reducing traffic congestion and improving revenues from city parking, improving efficiencies related to waste collection and bridging the digital divide using City Wi-Fi Services.

One of the first cities in North America that has embraced the outcome-based Project Financing Model is the City of Erie, PA to launch the second phase of its Secure Smart City project that will be implemented in the Opportunity Zones of Erie. The project scope will involve the operations of Cisco Kinetic for Cities (CKC) Platform combined with Quantela's Atlantis Intelligence Solution to launch smart city services.

“Cities worldwide are harnessing the power of technology to reduce traffic congestion, bridge the digital divide, enhance connectivity, promote economic development, fight crime and make local governments more sustainable and resilient,” said Mayor Schember. “We are excited to partner with Cisco Systems and Quantela to execute this ambitious project and what it can mean for Erie's growth as a center of innovation.”

Carousel joins RingCentral’s Platinum Partner program; delivers cloud contact center and UC&C engineering capabilities

Carousel Industries announced on Wednesday that it has been named a Platinum Partner by RingCentral Inc.. A designation held by RingCentral’s partners, Carousel’s Platinum Partner status is a testament to the company’s engineering talent, services capabilities, and commitment to customer success.

Carousel customers will benefit deeply from this elevated status. The company will receive operational and technical resources and executive-level RingCentral support only made available through this Platinum Partner status. Combined with Carousel’s Net Promoter Score of 70 and unwavering pursuit of success, customers can now take advantage of an entire portfolio of solutions with the best in high touch services and support. 

Additionally, with a rich history of partnership with Avaya as a Diamond Partner, and now a RingCentral Platinum Partner, Carousel is well positioned to support all possible paths to cloud migration, and is well versed in cultivating migration strategies tailored to the individual and changing needs of the customer.

“Serving as a RingCentral Platinum Partner is evidence of Carousel’s rigorous customer success standards and technical expertise,” said Rick Houlihan, VP of Cloud Services, Carousel. “It is our honor to continue being a RingCentral preferred partner and bring cloud UC&C and contact center technology to our more than 6,000 enterprise customers who benefit from our services each and every day.”

“We’ve consistently looked at Carousel as a strong leader in delivering cloud technology solutions thanks in part to its engineering expertise and ability to exceed customer needs,” said Zane Long, SVP of Global Channel Sales, RingCentral. “On behalf of all of us at RingCentral, I am ecstatic to continue partnering with Carousel to help enterprises benefit from the power of the cloud to deliver true impact to their businesses.”

“Due to the newly formed strategic partnership between RingCentral and Avaya, Carousel is in a truly unique position to serve businesses,” continued Houlihan. “As Avaya’s U.S. Partner of the Year and now as a Platinum Partner in RingCentral’s Program, Carousel can help businesses navigate and gain incredible value from two of the leading cloud communications solutions providers in the world.”