January 2007 Archives

I had to chuckle -- and scratch my head -- when I heard about the "glum" news regarding the financial performance of Ebay's VoIP operation, a.k.a. Skype. According to Ebay CEO Meg Whitman, "The monetization efforts we outlined at the time of the acquisition are not developing as quickly as we had hoped." During 2006, Skype generated $195 million in revenue -- after Ebay laid out $2.6 billion for the company in 2005.

Am I missing something here? A lackluster "monetization" result was basically guaranteed given the decision to give away free Skype Out calls for the entire 2006 calendar year for North American subscribers. But what this announcement implies is that Meg or the Ebay staff in charge of overseeing Skype's bottom line either were not included in the initial decision to provide free calling (which I have a hard time believing), weren't exactly completely in agreement with the strategy (a distinct possibility given the recent management shake ups at the company), or were completely clueless about the net results of such a strategy (which I also have a hard time believing.)

I always believed that the Free Year was a shrewd strategy to boost Skype's subscriber count, and based on the disclosure that Skype managed to triple the number of registered users to 171 million over the course of the year, it seemed to work as planned. I also believed that Ebay was willing to forgo short-term profits in order to grow market share (given Ebay's deep pockets, not an unreasonable strategy.)

Now that Skype has announced a variety of new plans -- most notably a $29.95 all you can eat annual package for U.S and Canadian customers -- revenues are picking up. Apparently, Skype generated $66 million in the fourth quarter of 2006 -- up a whopping 164% from the year-ago -- so it seems as if Skype has some opportunity to mine its installed and growing base of customers to generate some good revenue numbers in the near future.
 
In fact, I expect the company will accelerate the introduction of new "for pay" features, functions and associated plans to goose cash flow in the months ahead.

I just returned from travels south, to Fort Lauderdale and Internet Telephony EXPO -- and arrived in Winter in New York. It was bound to arrive at some point (although I thankfully missed the deep freeze, eight-degree temperatures of a couple of days ago).


The show was great -- well-attended and full of good content in the conferences.  Jon Arnold and I spent some time together basking in the glow of our recent announcement.  See Jon's post about show highlights.

And yes, I did spend a little time in the sun -- and barely escaped serious harm. I keep forgetting that the Florida sun can burn you alive -- even in the dead of winter...
  

Here are a few takeaways from the show  -- a mix of events, observations, and the like:




Peering is Hot:

Apparently the VoIP Peering Fabric sessions had to be relocated to larger quarters due to the overflow turnout.  Greg Galitzine has more on this and other happenings in his show recap.


SIP Trunking Adoption Gaining Momentum

The other standing-room-only crowds I saw were soaking up as much as they could about SIP Trunking. A number of sessions, including the SIP Trunking Series hosted by Ingate with presenters from BandTel, Cbeyond, Sphere, Ericsson, Objectworld, Level 3, pingtel, and Shoretel, covered everything from a basic introduction to SIP and SIP trunking, to deep dives into the service provider and enterprise networks, a look at SIP trunking in Latin America, and case studies showing SIP trunking actually at work -- delivering real-world benefits.

I've been covering the SIP trunking movement for a while -- here's a link to a whitepaper I authored a ways back -- so, I'm glad to see the excitement over it -- and the adoption rate -- is building nicely.


VoIP Security Issues Finally Getting Respect

Some really good education came out of the sessions covering VoIP Security. It's an area I've covered before in blog posts and columns, and I'm glad that not only is information about current VoIP vulnerabilities coming into the light, but awareness is also growing about the ways to effectively deal with them. Greg also wrote up a nice review of the issues that were presented by Mark Collier, CTO of VoIP security specialist SecureLogix and VoIP security blogger.


Billing Takes Front and Center

I had the pleasure to moderate the session, "VoIP and NGN Billing: A Primer" last Thursday at the show, and was very impressed by each and everyone on the panel, which included  Bruce Trvalik, Director, Product Management at Sonus Networks; Joe Hogan, CTO and Founder of Openet Telecom; Jim Dalton, CEO, TransNexus, Inc.; and David McNierney, VP of Market Development at Highdeal Inc.

The discussion was lively and insightful, and I found it very interesting to hear that billing and other "back office" functions are starting to migrate to the "front office" of providers -- all the way into the executive suite -- as they start to play a bigger and bigger strategic role and become integral in various marketing, cross-selling, and promotional activities. 

For more about current billing trends, you should check out Rich Grigonis' terrific article in the January issue of Internet Telephony magazine.


Great Drawings

I was sure the Harley was mine. Then the next day I was sure I was driving the Toyota TJ Cruiser home. But alas, this did not come to pass...

The bike and SUV were in close approximation to Internet Telephony yellow -- and were definite crowd-pleasers -- and great choices for grand giveaways.

Jon Arnold and I figured that since most everyone else was making some sort of announcement, issuing press releases and generally making noise  -- especially to pull in the crowds at Internet Telephony Conference & EXPO East going on right now -- that it was OK to make some noise of our own.

Hopefully it will be music to your ears

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NEW YORK, TORONTO, and FORT LAUDERDALE, January 23, 2007-- Robins Consulting Group (RCG) and J Arnold & Associates (JAA) – both leading IP Communications industry research, marketing and consulting firms – have proudly announced a new partnership that includes the two firms joining forces to provide an array of marketing, communications, strategy consulting and market research services to their growing roster of IP communications technology vendors and service providers.

In addition, RCG and JAA will be jointly developing new information resources, including an electronic newsletter and related Web site, which will offer unique industry analysis, a healthy dose of opinion, provide a new platform for other industry thought leaders, and offer valuable coverage and information not readily available elsewhere about the rapidly evolving IP communications industry.

Veteran industry thought leader Marc Robins, RCG's founder and Chief Evangelism Officer, has been involved in the IP communications industry since its inception, and has served the industry as a leading reporter and analyst, conference producer and magazine publisher, and marketing executive and consultant.

“I’ve known Jon for several years, and have come to consider him one of the best minds in the industry,” says Marc Robins. “I’m thrilled to be forging this new partnership with Jon and JAA, as I believe the unique combination of our highly complementary capabilities will allow us to deliver even more value to our clients and to the industry at large. I also look forward to working with Jon to create exciting and compelling new resources of industry intelligence to help industry professionals navigate the constantly shifting sands of this dynamic, fast-moving industry.”

J Arnold & Associates, founded by Jon Arnold, one of the IP communications industry’s most highly regarded analysts, is closely associated with VoIP, for both consumer and business applications. His marketing and strategy advice on the broader IP communications market is widely sought from vendors, carriers, the investment community, PR agencies and many facets of the media community.

“Marc brings a rich perspective to this space, and is an independent voice that is widely followed,” says Jon Arnold. “Together, I think can we offer a valuable resource that can benefit anyone involved in the IP communications market. In a nutshell, I’d like to think of us as the go-to-guys for all things IP.”

About RCG (Robins Consulting Group)

RCG, founded in 2003 by Marc Robins, is one of the leading consulting firms for companies in the IP Communications industry, offering market intelligence, high-value strategic planning and communications, messaging and branding expertise, and a variety of marketing consulting services including awareness and demand creation, distribution channel strategies and development, public relations support, and market research and analysis. Prior to founding RCG, Marc served as Vice President of Publications and Trade Shows, Associate Group Publisher and Group Editorial Director at TMC (Technology Marketing Corporation.)

Over the course of his career, Marc has authored hundreds of articles and columns for leading industry magazines, and he continues to evangelize new IP communications trends and technologies as a regular contributor to trade, mainstream and business publications, and as the author of his popular column “Mind Share 2.0” for Internet Telephony® magazine and blog “Beyond VoIP”. Marc is also a frequent moderator and speaker at leading industry events. For more information about RCG, visit www.robinsconsult.com.

About JAA

Jon Arnold is Principal of J Arnold & Associates, an independent analyst and marketing consultancy with a focus on IP communications. JAA works with a wide variety of clients in this sector, with expertise in VoIP, cable telephony, IPTV, Triple Play, enterprise IP, WiFi/WiMax, Peer-to-Peer, Web 2.0 and Open Source. His views are frequently cited in the business and trade press, and he regularly speaks at leading industry events. He also maintains an active profile through his widely followed blog and podcasts. Previously, he was the VoIP Program Leader at Frost & Sullivan, where he was responsible for managing their subscription service for Global VoIP Equipment Markets. The consultancy was launched in March 2005. For more information about JAA, visit www.jarnoldassociates.com.

For those of you who are frustrated by the sky high prices of new HD-DVD or Blue Ray players (running @$600 to $900, respectively,) there's a novel solution to getting your HD-DVD on your PC or TV on the cheap.

Apparently there's a way to "hack" the Xbox 360 HD DVD player -- officially designed to be exclusively connected to the Xbox 360 console -- that lets you watch high def movies on your PC or TV, without the need for the 360 console.




At about $200 , this currently qualifies as the cheapest  HD DVD drive around.

According to the folks at HDDVDFreak: "The hack seems to be as simple as finding a generic HD-DVD drive driver, then getting PowerDVD or WinDVD with the HD-DVD upgrade on, then plugging in the drive over USB and sticking a disc in. Presumably, you could even remove the drive from the casing and plug it directly into your PC over SATA, mounting it in a spare drive bay and earning some serious kudos."

For a full description of the procedure, the guys at uneasysilence also provide links to drivers and other related information, and provide snapshots of the surgery to free the drive for PC insertion.

Just heard from Andy Mercker, one of the VoIP industry's best and brightest marketing professionals, on his new gig -- he's moved on from Sphere Communications, where he was director of marketing, and has joined VoIP call recording and monitoring specialist Telrex, as its new director of marketing.

I fully expect Andy to raise Telrex's industry profile up a few notches, and to contribute significantly to its success, just as he did at Sphere.

In addition to his move, Andy gave me an advance peek at an announcement regarding the CallRex™ Professional 3.5,  a new release that provides a bunch of enhancements to Telrex's flagship product, including greater scalability, enhanced multi-site support and a distributed-services software architecture, streamlined storage and archiving, and additional security.

CallRex was the first VoIP call recording solution verified to record encrypted VoIP calls for Cisco CallManager 5.0, and CallRex version 3.5 now provides additional security to ensure that call recording files cannot be secretly altered.

The market for VoIP call recording and monitoring seems to be heating up significantly, and there are a few companies starting to launch major marketing initiatives looking to win business, including Telrex and Teleformix.

According to Andy, VoIP call recording and monitoring refers to the process of recording and monitoring business-class IP telephony systems, and this market segment is poised for rapid growth due to the fact that:

· IP telephony obsoletes legacy call recording and monitoring technologies, creating a new market opportunity for VoIP-based solutions.

· Call recording and monitoring is becoming a standard business application used for regulatory compliance, dispute resolution, customer service, training, security and more.

Today, I received an email from Moshe Maeir, Chief Flattening Officer at The Flat Planet Phone Company. I hadn't heard of this company before, or such an unusual title, so suffice it to say I was a bit curious to check them out.

From what I could gather, Flat Planet offers hosted IP-PBX services, mobile to VoIP connectivity (the company is a member of the iotum Relevance Enabled Channel Partner Program), disposable numbers , virtual IVR and other hot communications services, geared for individuals and small businesses that aspire to become instant phone companies. Flat Planet offers to help you "Start Your Own Phone Company in an Hour", and is charging an extremely low annual fee of $199 to become a Flat Planet partner (i.e., reseller.)

According to the company's Web site, the Flat Planet Phone system includes a complete hosted softswitch, as well as a billing and customer management system -- and the pitch is that no additional investment, equipment or manpower is needed to get set up and running.

The benefits of becoming a Flat Planet partner includes a custom-branded Web site, and tools to market the Flat Planet services under their own brand name. There's a free beta program in effect for qualified resellers (although I'm not sure what makes a prospect "qualified"), and is open to resellers all over the world. According to the company, participants have applied from Australia, North America, Europe and the Middle East.

Resellers that are accepted to the program will have full access to the system for at least 6 months for free. After the beta period is over, services will be offered at a special discounted rate. Interested parties should contact The Flat Planet Beta Program at beta@flatplanetphone.com.

I'm looking forward to a little travel now, just as the weather is starting to behave wintery (pretty soon NYC will look like this).

Thankfully, upcoming travel will take me south to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, for Internet Telephony Conference and EXPO East.

I'll be moderating, checking out the latest technology on the show floor and sussing out the latest trends, holding meetings in the press room and elsewhere in the convention center (maybe out on a sun-drenched  patio) and generally enjoying catching up with folk and putting new faces to new names.

I'll be attending from midday Wednesday, January 24th till the show's end on Friday afternoon. If you're also attending the show and would like to meet up, please let me know.

Pandora Networks, fresh off a new round of funding, just announced that it and D-Link will jointly sell D-Link hardware with Pandora's hosted communication solutions for small and medium-sized businesses. The partnership is designed to permit SMBs to purchase “off-the-shelf” bundled solutions that include hardware and services that deliver a hosted IP-PBX along with unified communications applications.

Pandora's Worksmart UCX, or Unified Communications Exchange, delivers a complete IP communications service that includes voice, video, messaging, and collaboration services. “D-Link has pre-configured several bundled options designed for a variety of office environments. Included in the bundles will be IP phones, switches, routers, and VoIP acceleration hardware to ensure a high quality VoIP connection to Pandora Networks' Worksmart hosted service.
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“Both organizations will be selling the bundled packages through their respective distribution channels.

Windows Registry optimizer software seems to be in growing demand today. Junk Windows registry entries and a host of other registry errors appear to plague every Wintel-based PC --even brand new ones -- and if you clean them up, your machine will supposedly run faster, smoother, and more reliably -- i.e, with fewer crashes. (Yeh, I've already heard the  "Get a Mac, dummy" refrain -- multiple times)

Rich Tehrani recently wrote about his experience with Registry Mechanic, and how it helped speed up a crawling laptop. I've also given Registry Mechanic a try, and really like it's elegant interface and appreciate the rapid speed of the scan it performs. One relatively minor issue with the demo version of the program is that although it'll reveal all kinds of errors, it will only repair a subset of them (how they determine which ones to repair and which to leave alone is a mystery to me.) Anyway, you need to register and payup to be able to clean all the problems the program finds.

I used Registry Mechanic on a couple of old Windows 98 machines (I keep some old but functioning machines around to use as servers and special purpose units -- and to serve as emergency backups just in case.) The software found 896 errors on one desktop, and 643 on an old laptop -- and cleaned up about a third of what it found.

The laptop did behave a bit better afterwards -- a bit faster on bootup and a little more responsive with Web surfing -- but only slightly. The desktop fared worse: it now keeps running the Windows Registry Rebuild application before it'll boot -- adding a good ten minutes to its boot up time. Once it completes the rebuild, it loads fine and runs a bit better. But still, it's now basically junk if I can't find a way to fix this new problem -- aside from restoring the old, uncleaned registry file.

On the Windows XP machines I've tried it on, I couldn't really detect any noticeable improvements, although running it didn't create any new problems. Bottom line -- Registry Optimizer software can deliver some benefits, but it can also cause new problems, so before you jump in and start using them, first spend a little time learning how they work and how to distinguish between the different types of errors the programs find -- there may be some fixes you should in fact pass on.

BTW, there's another registry  optimizer product I was told about called WinASO that apparently performs similar scanning and removal functions as Registry Mechanic, but also includes a more comprehensive "System Mechanic" feature set that helps you delete temp files, clean caches, and perform housekeeping chores all from a single check-box screen. The program looks a little rough around the edges -- there are a bunch of typos throughout probably due to an "English as a Second Language" programming staff -- but the product still seems solid and capable.

Also, it's worth checking out as an alternative to Registry Mechanic since the eval copy will remove everything it finds (although in 10-error increments.) In order to have the program clean everything in one fell swoop, you have to register your copy.)

Mobile Internet telephony start-up Truphone has announded that it has received a funding round of $24.5 million, making it the European technology sector’s largest Series A venture funding of 2006. The funding was led by Wellington Partners, a leading pan-European VC, with Independent News & Media (a global media group) and Burda Digital Ventures (a global media group) joining existing investors Eden Ventures and various angel investors.

In 2006, Truphone introduced VoIP to mass market mobile phones, enabling users to make free calls from their handsets to other Truphone users and low Internet-rate calls to any telephone worldwide. In late 2006, this was extended to free phone calls to a range of VoIP services.

Truphone’s true mobile VoIP service enables calls to be made between mobile devices entirely free of charge. Since calls are carried via Wi-Fi over the Internet, and not over a regular phone network, there are no operator charges to make or receive such calls.

As a result, using a Truphone-enabled handset to make an international call from a Wi-Fi hotspot abroad cuts out the usual, expensive, roaming charges, threatening one of the major sources of revenue for the existing cellular network operators. In addition to lowering call costs, Truphone uses Wi-Fi to provide
complementary pseudo-cellular coverage in blindspots. It is estimated that 26% of the population in the major European countries have poor/no cellular reception at home.

The new funding will provide Truphone with resources to execute its vision of fundamentally changing the economics of mobile communications and providing revolutionary new services to mobiles, increasing the base of handsets it supports and launching the Truphone service across the globe. The plan is to create a worldwide Mobile Internet Network Operator providing a free/low-cost alternative to conventional cellular network service providers.

According to Joerg Ueberla of Wellington,  “We led this round of investment because we have followed the rapid rise of VoIP on the fixed-line network and believe that VoIP will now move to mobile devices. Other players offering free/low-cost VoIP-based telephone calls require the use of a PC or a fixed-line phone. Truphone is the only player that offers truly free mobile-to-mobile calls across the world – a veritable disruption. This value proposition has been proven by thousands of users who are spread around the globe and were acquired by word of mouth within weeks of the launch of the beta version.”

Over the last couple of weeks, most of my neighbors and fellow New Yorkers have scratched their heads a few times when it came to the weather -- with temperatures sometimes 20 degrees or more above normal (it almost hit 60 today), it seems as if this is the "Year of the Winter That Wasn't". By this time, this far into the season, we've usually had a few snowstorms and a bunch of sub-freezing days.

Unseasonally warm temperatures are present all across the Eastern seaboard, and Mother Nature appears to be genuinely confused. I've heard stories about crocus buds popping up in gardens in New Jersey, and cherry trees sprouting buds in Washington, DC. In fact, there is a growing concern that this premature growth will seriously diminish cherry blossom production in May and June -- the normal season for the trees to be budding. If this keeps up, I'm sure we'll be hearing about animals doing some strange things as a result of their winter cycles being interrupted.

Amazingly, most of the scientific commentary about our weird weather points the finger not at global warming, but normal shifts in annual weather patterns, such as a north/eastward shift of the El Nino effect.

Hmmmmmmm...

Word from Vizio headquarters is that the company is getting ready to announce a bunch of new HDTV flat panels at the upcoming CES show. One new model that I'm quite excited about is a new 60" Plasma, with full 1080p resolution, and even better --  a couple of new HDMI 1.3 inputs. (this is the 50" model to the left).

Vizio has rapidly become one the biggest sellers of LCD and Plasma HDTV sets in the market, due to its low pricing and decent build quality -- very much a "one-two punch" in today's HDTV marketplace.

Word is the unit will be available in late March-early April -- and although pricing hasn't been set, I expect the company to stay true to its low-cost ways and break new pricing ground with this set. If the company also keeps up the quality, this just might be the set I've been looking for.

Cablevision has made it a strategic imperative to develop leading-edge, interactive iTV and broadband services that leverage it's advanced digital network and interactive platform, and the company is looking to fill in the blanks in its iTV executive suite.
 
The company is currently on the hunt for a new VP, iTV and Broadband Development, Interactive Advertising & Development.


Here are the job particulars:

Job Location: Bethpage, Long Island

Background: 
With more than 1.7 million interactive customers, Cablevision has the highest digital penetration in the nation and offers access to more than 200 channels, including 50 premium movie channels, 45 channels of commercial-free digital music, more than 1,200 titles available on demand at all times, an interactive programming guide, 18 high-definition programming services and groundbreaking interactive television applications including subscription games packages. Cablevision Systems Corporation is one of the nation's leading entertainment and telecommunications companies and its cable television operations serve 3 million households in the New York metropolitan area.

Description:
The VP, iTV and Broadband Development will work with the organization to coordinate the design, development and delivery of new interactive products and features on television and broadband leveraging Cablevision’s advanced digital network and interactive platform.

Additionally the VP will:
· Work with key stakeholders and executives in assembling a vision for TV and PC user Interface design and development.
· Combine technology, content and user interface to create seamless experiences that support interactive revenue opportunities and goals.
· Identify and evaluate new technology in the market for relevance, feasibility, and scale.
· Champion the organization’s adoption of suitable and innovative ideas.
· Oversee and manage the capital development budget process
· Oversee external vendor relationships.
· Coordinate with internal operational groups to ensure optimal customer experiences for existing products and timely delivery and launch of new products and features.

Qualifications:
· 5+ years experience successfully managing high profile cross-functional projects.
· 10+ years managing interactive product development including experience in interactive user interface design and interactive television.
· 5+ years of budget analysis and optimization.
· Ability to relate and prioritize technical/design accomplishments with revenue goals.
· Ability to problem-solve practical problems in technical areas without extensive technical knowledge; a quick study.
· Internet knowledge and experience in technical product management, advertising operations, basic understanding of web technologies, and processes.
· Must be comfortable working in a start-up business environment and must be able to excel in high-pressure under tight deadlines, working with a wide array of internal and external advertising and content clients, while responding appropriately to their needs and input.
· High level of energy and commitment; must be proactive leader able to influence and motivate others as well as grow and manage teams.
· Must have excellent verbal and written communication skills - comfortable with exposure to senior management.

Qualified candidates can send resumes to: execrec@cablevision.com