Recently in Presence-Powered Communications Category

The folks at blog VoIP Lowdown have come up with a great list of ten leading-edge VoIP, VoIM, IP and mobile applications we should all be keeping our eyes on -- apps that go WAY BEYOND plain vanilla VoIP calls. The writer -- the mysterious "ewriter" -- is definitely a person after my own heart.

Tomorrow, November 28, I'm honored to be the opening presenter at the 4th Annual Industry Conference on Broadband Communications and VoIP, hosted by the New York Society of Security Analysts (NYSSA). The event is a half-day investor conference attended by institutional investors and analysts, and features companies that want to get more exposure on Wall Street, and includes CTI Group, mPhase, and VoIP Inc.

The New York Society of Securities Analysts (NYSSA) is the premier membership organization on Wall Street for portfolio managers and security analysts, and the largest society of its kind in the world. Founded in 1937, it is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to educating investors and advancing the competence of investment professionals. Founders included Benjamin Graham, considered to be the father of security analysis.
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In an effort to serve up information about new gizmos entering the rapidly expanding Skype product ecosystem, the company has created a new blog called Skype Gear, dedicated exclusively to the world of Skype-related hardware.

A cursory look at the site reveals some useful news, comments, reviews and behind-the-scenes information related to some of the more interesting Skype gadgets, including the new Belkin WiFi Skype Phone, the cordless Philips VOIP841, and NetGear's SPH101 WiFi phone.

According to a new study from Insight Research entitled “IP-Based Application Services Market 2006-2011" a wide array of new Internet-enabled communications services geared to the needs of consumers is expected to generate nearly $265 billion for phone companies and other telecommunications carriers worldwide over the next five years.

These new Internet-enabled services include residential video telephony; fixed-mobile convergence; file sharing services; streaming services; location-based services; and presence-based services.

What's more, the study notes that wireless and mobile telecommunications carriers seem to be making the most headway when it comes to offering these new services, mainly because they tend to have greatest amount of control over the content in their networks as well as more flexible billing platforms. Wireline carriers expect operational and infrastructure savings by deploying the new IP-based services, and are initially choosing to rollout the new services as an overlay on their existing network.

For more info, including an excerpt, table of contents, and ordering information, go to: http://www.insight-corp.com/reports/ipapps06.asp.
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This past Tuesday and Wednesday, I had the pleasure to moderate and speak on a number of panels with a number of well-regarded and incredibly knowledgeable individuals, including Jon Arnold, principal of J. Arnold and Associates; Ron Gruia, Principal Analyst and Program Leader Information and Communications Technology at market research firm Frost & Sullivan; Richard Grigonis, Executive Editor of the IP Communications Group at TMC; Andy Mercker, Director of Marketing at Sphere Communications; Ray Hernandez, Managing Partner at VC firm ROTH Capital Partners LLC; and Ken Camp, speaker, writer and consultant who also blogs about IP communications technology at IPadventures.com.

I want to thank all the above profusely for their time, invaluable insights and for making the Summit a truly enjoyable experience.

For a great review of the first session on "The State of Industry: Focus on the Corporate and Government Enterprise Marketplace", check out Richard Grigonis' article ITEXPO West 2006 Powers Up, State of the Industry Discussed. Continue Reading...

Readers of this blog know I'm a big fan of EQO, based in Vancouver, BC.

EQO made waves early on due to its innovative service/software that basically Skype-enabled a host of mobile phones so that users of these phones can access their Skype buddy list, and make and receive Skype calls.

Recent news from the folks up North is notable -- EQO has released the latest version of EQO Mobile, a product/service that delivers online communities to mobile phones, enabling users of social networks such as MySpace, Friendster, Tagworld, Hi5, Xanga and Multiply to exchange web-to-phone, phone-to-web and phone-to-phone text and picture messages with their online buddies. In addition, EQO Mobile now enable users to use AOL Instant Messenger, ICQ, MSN Messenger, Yahoo! IM, GoogleTalk, Jabber, as well as Skype on any one of more than 300 mobile handset models from vendors including Nokia, Motorola, Palm, and Sony-Ericsson.

EQO Mobile incorporates rich new community features enabling users to add friends and see what they've posted from their mobile phone. It also allows users to include a call back phone number or IM screen name as part of an EQO message, enabling the recipient to start a conversation using a simple click-to-call or click-to-IM feature.

The new version of EQO Mobile is available for free at www.eqo.com.

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By now I hope all of you have heard about the IP Communications Business Summit, a new workshop that's been added to the agenda at the upcoming Internet Telephony Conference and EXPO in San Diego.

In case you missed the email blasts, TMC and yours truly (RCG) are presenting this unique workshop to help educate the investment community -- including venture capitalists,
investment bankers, financial industry analysts, M&A specialists, angel investors and any other interested parties -- about the leading industry trends and market drivers in the hopes of ultimately identifying attractive IP communications companies.

The discussion will be feisty, informal, and hopefully fun and illuminating for everyone.

And since admission is free with any registration plan, you have one less reason to not check it out!

Summit Speaker Update:

We recently added notable industry analysts and bloggers to the panels, including Jon Arnold of J Arnold Associates, Ronald Gruia of Frost and Sullivan, and Ken Camp of IPadventures.com.

In addition, Ray J. Hernandez, Managing Director, Investment Banking at VC firm ROTH Capital Partners, LLC, has agreed to present a session described below:

Valuing Voice over IP Services:  A Public Market Perspective
October 10, 2006, 2:15 pm -- 3:00 pm

Certainly one of the most exciting things about the IP communications market is the growth of new businesses offering Voice over IP services.  Indeed, there is still a vast amount of untapped market potential in the industry, and the dramatic rebound of the economy together with renewed confidence in the industry’s prospects has helped the growth of Voice over IP services across all market sectors. As Voice over IP services providers build their businesses, they will want to know how much their businesses are worth.  In this session, you’ll learn about how Voice over IP is being valued in the public markets and what adds to and detracts from building value in a Voice over IP business.  

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Apparently, the word hasn't spread as far and wide as I had hoped, as a number of people I've spoken with recently weren't aware that the upcoming VoIP Demo and IP Communications Business Summit events have been rescheduled and moved venues.

Originally slated for this week in Santa Clara, the events are now proudly co-located with the Internet Telephony Conference and EXPO West, at the San Diego Convention Center in San Diego, CA, October 10-13, 2006.

This is exciting on a number of levels, including the fact that the October timeframe is far better from a show schedule perspective than mid-summer, and also the events will be in a prime position to serve an even greater attendee base, as upwards of 9,000 IP communications-interested attendees are expected to converge on the convention center.

For more information about the agenda, visit the VoIP Demo show site here. Continue Reading...