Mobile messaging and mobile payments specialists Dialogue Communications has appointed Alex Crisp, formerly Investigations Executive at PhonepayPlus (the agent appointed by Ofcom to regulate paid-for telecoms services in the UK) to be its new Compliance Manager.

In what could be the first appointment of a former regulatory official by an aggregator such as Dialogue, Alex has been brought on board to take responsibility for internal regulatory matters as required. He will provide full support and guidance to Dialogue and its customers worldwide whilst endeavouring to build on the commitment made by Dialogue to its adherence to global and domestic regulatory requirements.

"Moving from the regulatory side of the industry fence and working with Dialogue will provide me with the opportunity to look at the regulatory scene from a global perspective; the move should throw up some interesting and exciting challenges for me," said Alex.

"I see my appointment as a significant commitment by Dialogue, both to regulatory matters and to giving its customers the sort of world class service and support that has seen the company grow so successfully in recent years".

While with PhonepayPlus, Alex was instrumental in introducing and leading on strategic changes which impacted on significant falls in consumer complaints. These changes also aided in developing an increased intelligence-led approach to investigations. As well as becoming knowledgeable on legal and regulatory issues effecting mobile messaging in the UK he gained valuable experience in planning and carrying out investigations and in making representations in front of internal tribunals.

Alex has built useful relationships with other regulatory bodies including the ASA, the OFT, the SFO and HMRC as well as with UK mobile network operators and other industry stakeholders.

Alex (38) will be based in Dialogue's London office. Keen on travel Alex spent a number of years working as a teacher in the Far East. He is also an enthusiastic cyclist and climber. Alex has a BA (Hons) in Journalism from Middlesex University and a Post Graduate Diploma in Law (CPE) from the College of Law.

ENDS

About Dialogue Communications
Dialogue was established in 1994 and has its headquarters in Sheffield, UK and offices in London, Sydney, Australia, and Cape Town, South Africa.

Dialogue Communications is a world leader in mobile messaging, mobile billing and specialises in the development and operation of value added mobile solutions for an international market. For more information please visit www.dialogue.net

For further information please contact Kirsty Roberts at BCS Public Relations on 0115 948 6901 or kirsty@bcspr.co.uk.

Barracuda Labs Launches New Security Information Portal, Reveals Only 21 Percent of Twitter Users are 'True Twitter Users'

Barracuda Networks Inc., a leading provider of security, storage and networking solutions, today released its Barracuda Labs 2009 Annual Report, revealing data from three areas: Twitter trends and tracking, Web threats and trends, and email spam and viruses. The report is available at the company's newly launched security research portal at http://barracudalabs.com.

The report drills down into 2009's fastest growing social networking application Twitter, and reviews growth drivers, usage trends and the overall Twitter crime rate. Barracuda Labs analyzed more than 19 million Twitter accounts, both legitimate and malicious, for frequency and content of tweets, user-to-user interactions, and each account's overall activity level.

Key highlights from Twitter's Red Carpet Era - Celebrities and Criminals include:

• Only 21 percent of Twitter users are actual True Twitter Users[1].
• Overall, users are becoming more active on Twitter.
• 49 percent of Twitter users, and 48 of the top 100 most followed Twitter users, joined during the Twitter Red Carpet Era[2], indicating the significant impact celebrities have on the social networking landscape as they bring their real-world fans over to Twitter.
• The Twitter growth rate spiked at 21.17 percent in April 2009 due to the Twitter Red Carpet Era.
• During the Twitter Red Carpet Era, the Twitter Crime Rate[3] increased 66 percent, and continued to escalate reaching 12 percent in October 2009, indicating one in eight accounts created was deemed to be malicious, suspicious or otherwise misused and subsequently suspended.

"In this report, we highlight some of the shifts in user behavior and the resulting attacker trends across messaging and Web," said Dr. Paul Judge, chief research officer at Barracuda Networks. "As social networking, and specifically Twitter, becomes more ingrained in everyday business, it is crucial to understand the nature of attacks happening on these sites, as well as how users and networks can be compromised."

To review the complete Barracuda Labs 2009 Annual Threat Report and the company's newly launched security portal, please visit http://barracudalabs.com.

About Barracuda Networks Inc.
Barracuda Networks Inc. combines premise-based gateways and software, cloud services, and sophisticated remote support to deliver comprehensive security, networking and storage solutions. The company's expansive product portfolio includes offerings for protection against email, Web and IM threats as well as products that improve application delivery and network access, message archiving, backup and data protection. Coca-Cola, FedEx, Harvard University, IBM, L'Oreal, and Europcar are among the more than 100,000 organizations protecting their IT infrastructures with Barracuda Networks' range of affordable, easy-to-deploy and manage solutions. Barracuda Networks is privately held with its International headquarters in Campbell, Calif. For more information, please visit www.barracudanetworks.com.

Resources:
• Download the Barracuda Labs 2009 Annual Report at http://barracudalabs.com/downloads/BarracudaLabs2009AnnualReport-FINAL.pdf
• View the Barracuda Labs security research portal at http://BarracudaLabs.com
• Access the Twitter's Red Carpet Era blog post at http://blog.barracuda.com
• Follow Barracuda Labs on Twitter at @barracudalabs

Footnotes:
1 - 'True Twitter User' is defined as a user that has at least (≥) 10 followers, follows at least (≥) 10 people, and has tweeted at least (≥) 10 times.

2 - 'Twitter Red Carpet Era' occurred from November 2008 to April 2009, when many "celebrities" - from actors and athletes to musicians and politicians - started Twitter accounts and began promoting the service on a daily basis.

3 - 'Twitter Crime Rate' is defined as the percentage of accounts created per month that were eventually suspended for malicious or suspicious activity, or otherwise misused.

# # #

Press Contact:
Richard Merrin / Jared Foley
Spreckley Partners Ltd.
Tel: +44 207 388 9988
Email: merrin@spreckley.co.uk / foley@spreckley.co.uk

Failure to offer bespoke inbound call solutions could lead to failure in the market, claims Kcom (part of the KCOM Group), which also claims that the ability to develop tailored solutions is now a key differentiator.

The company also noted a growing dependence on flexible application programming interfaces (APIs) as a means to achieve stand-out through the provision of bespoke inbound solutions.

Iain Shearman, Sales Director, Partner Services at Kcom, cited Kcom's API interface and Windsor Telecom as an example of how API's can help to build solutions that match the needs of Windsor and its customers.

He said: "We believe that if a company requires a specific service, they should have the freedom and capability to develop it. This is what will make them stand out from their competitors and win new customers."

Under Kcom's API model, each partner can integrate their own portal platform directly into the Kcom network so that they can build services to their own specific needs.

Neil Sherring, CEO & Marketing Director at Windsor Telecom, commented: "Our competitive advantage comes from our flexibility and commitment to meeting the needs of our customers."

Avaya and Polycom are expanding their existing relationship in a joint initiative to develop and market integrated video, voice and collaboration solutions.

The companies plan to deliver fully integrated, end-to-end unified communications (UC) solutions that use the Avaya Aura Session Initiation Protocol (SIP)-based platform and the Polycom Open Collaboration Network strategy.

The planned joint solutions will provide Polycom's full range of voice and video systems integrated with Avaya Aura delivering real-time collaboration to customers.

Avaya Aura will enable companies to administer, schedule and manage the joint solutions in a single, consistent manner, and control bandwidth to support a superior user experience and optimal deployment of network resources.

"Companies are the real winners in the unified communications market because UC can save time, money and other valuable resources," said Roopam Jain, principal analyst, Frost & Sullivan. "As more and more companies flesh out and execute on their UC strategies, interoperability and standards such as SIP are critical.

"Because every UC deployment has unique requirements, standards-based solutions are key. It's encouraging to see Avaya and Polycom team to enable this type of open collaboration and feature-rich, purpose-built solutions."

Alan Baratz, senior vice president and president, Global Communications Solutions, Avaya, added: "The Avaya Aura platform enables our customers to integrate, manage and use communications in new ways to improve business performance. Together we'll offer customers a choice of collaboration solutions with the flexibility and functionality they require."

Andy Miller, Polycom executive vice president of Global Field Operations, added: "We continue to deliver on the Polycom Open Collaboration Network strategy. Avaya is a significant global presence across multiple industries. These existing relationships give us an excellent opportunity to introduce customers to our new UC solutions."