From Cellular to Seedling; CompTIA Incubates Workforce

OVERHEARD

“The last time I checked, I didn’t see bandwidth demand decreasing.”

-- Brett Theiss, director of product management and channel programs for New Edge Networks, speaking to KeaneTel agents at the Telecom Training Triathlon regarding the opportunity to upsell DSL customers to higher bandwidth. Theiss will speak about MPLS over DSL at the upcoming Channel Partners Conference & Expo.

From Cellular to Seedling

Would you trade your used mobile phone for a tree? You now have that choice through Flipswap Inc.'s reLeaf initiative. Flipswap's Web-based application allows customers to determine the guaranteed trade-in value of a used mobile phone. The customer receives instant credit toward the purchase of a new mobile phone or accessory.

Flipswap then facilitates the reuse or recycling of the traded-in mobile phones, and 90 percent of the mobile phones collected are put back into use. The remaining 10 percent are recycled through Flipswap’s recycling partner, Sims Recycling Solutions, and a tree is planted for each recycled phone. Flipswap teamed with CarbonFund.org to plant these trees in two ongoing reforestation projects in Louisiana and Nicaragua, and estimates it will plant 25,000 trees through the reLeaf initiative in 2008.

CompTIA Incubates Workforce

A group of high school students is set to receive expert training and mentoring from Creating Futures, a [Computer Technology Industry Association initiative that provides career development opportunities for individuals who historically have been underrepresented in the IT workforce. The CompTIA Educational Foundation received a $25,000 grant from NEC Foundation of America, founded by NEC Corp. to help fund a training program for online IT training, mentoring, certification and job placement assistance for young people with disabilities. The goal is to offer these free services to 65 high school students over the next year. John Venator, president and CEO of CompTIA said that through this training effort, "we are reaching out to new groups of talented individuals who are ready, willing and able to contribute to the growth and success of our industry.”