Jon Arnold and I finally got it all together and are proud to announce the launch of our new portal, IP Communications Insights.

I'll let the announcement we sent over the wire this morning fill you in on the details:

Robins Consulting Group and J Arnold & Associates Announce the Launch of IP Communications Insights

New Web Site is Home to IP Communications Industry Newsletter, Blogs, Podcasts, Newsfeeds, and Market Research and Intelligence

NEW YORK & TORONTO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Robins Consulting Group (RCG) and J Arnold & Associates (JAA) – both prominent IP communications industry research, marketing and consulting firms – have proudly announced the launch of their new independent Web platform “IP Communications Insights”, located at http://www.ipcom-insights.com.

IP Communications Insights is the culmination of a partnership between the two firms that includes an array of marketing, communications, advisory, consulting and research services for IP communications technology vendors and service providers.

Designed to be an independent platform for industry thought leaders and market intelligence, the goal for IP Communications Insights is to offer valuable coverage, analysis and information not readily available elsewhere.

In addition, IP Communications Insights will publish an ongoing series of industry reports designed to be very topical, highly strategic, concise and affordably priced. One study in the works, “VoIP Mashups - Where's the Money?” is a critical evaluation and insider view of this rapidly evolving space. The possibilities for VoIP mashups are limitless, but the business case scenarios are not. This ground-breaking report will survey today's landscape and provide a strategic roadmap for making VoIP mashups a viable business.

Marc Robins, IP Communications Insights Co-Founder and Chief Technology Evangelism Officer of RCG, has been involved in the IP communications industry since its inception, and has served the industry as a reporter and analyst, conference producer and magazine publisher, and marketing executive and consultant. Mr. Robins also serves as the Managing Director of the SIP Forum, (http://www.sipforum.org), a prominent IP communications industry association that engages in numerous activities that advance and promote SIP technology, such as the development of industry recommendations, the SIPit interoperability and testing events, special interoperability workshops, and general promotion of SIP in the industry.

“I’m extremely proud – and excited -- to be going “live” with IP Communications Insights,” says Marc Robins. “I believe it accurately represents the vision that both Jon and I share, and creates a new environment for independent analysis and thought leadership that we feel is sorely missing in the marketplace of information. I look forward to working with Jon to continuously refine and add value to our platform, and to working with the many extremely talented individuals who have supported our efforts over the past year.”

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.

“For some time now, Marc and I have felt there is a void in the market for independent analysis, and together we believe we can address it,” says Jon Arnold. “More than ever, with so much disruption, innovation and competition, we see a need for this type of perspective, and our intention is for the Web portal to become a focal point of clarity.”

About IP Communications Insights

IP Communications Insights is a portal for independent thought leadership and market intelligence not readily available elsewhere. IP Communications Insights hosts an IP communications industry newsletter, blogs, podcasts, and newsfeeds. The portal is also a new source for industry reports that are independent, authoritative, strategic and affordable. For more information about IP Communications Insights, visit www.ipcom-insights.com.

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 intelligence.

Mr. Robins also serves as the Managing Director of the SIP Forum, a leading IP communications industry association. 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 contributor to trade, mainstream and business publications. 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.

I'm off to the VON show in San Jose, CA tomorrow morning, and I'm interested to see if there's any truth behind Thomas Howe's brave post today about why he's not attending the event. I'll be meeting with other technologists while I'm there, so I'm curious whether this position is shared by them.

For my part, I'm looking forward to shooting the breeze with my industry friends, making new friends, and (hopefully) discovering new innovative solutions and sussing out relevant industry trends.

Also, let me extend an invitation to those also attending the event to contact me if you're interested in meeting up.

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

---

         




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.

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.

Packet Island recently introduced a new software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solution designed to target the VoIP lifecycle management needs of VARs and SMBs deploying the open source-based Asterisk IP-PBX. The PacketSmart for Asterisk solution is based on Asterisk software agents and purpose-built micro-appliances that work with the highly scalable PacketSmart SaaS platform, hosted at a Tier-1 data center. The solution has three distinct functions, including network assessment for VoIP, VoIP troubleshooting, and ongoing VoIP SLA monitoring.

The Asterisk software agents perform continuous monitoring of all VoIP calls terminating at the PBX, while the micro-appliances are complementary to the software agents, and can be easily moved around the network to isolate and troubleshoot network issues affecting VoIP quality.

During the deployment planning phase, the micro-appliances can be used to simulate live VoIP traffic on an SMB's network, to identify and fix problems before the Asterisk VoIP deployment. After Asterisk deployment, the Packet Island software agent that is left installed on the Asterisk PBX continues to collect detailed quality metrics that can be used by the SME and VAR for SLA monitoring and to isolate and troubleshoot transient VoIP quality issues. For multi-site deployments with multiple Asterisk PBXs, the software agents can be employed to do periodic network assessments to ensure that the inter-Asterisk connectivity continues to support good VoIP quality.

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.

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.  

Some background on Roth Capital Partners:

Since 1984 Roth Capital Partners, LLC has been a leader and innovator in the small and micro cap markets.  Roth provides a full spectrum of investment banking services, including raising capital, research coverage, creating liquidity, trading and market making, merger and acquisition advisory services, sales support, and investor conferences.

Over the last ten years, Roth has raised over $8.7 billion for small and micro cap public companies and completed over 123 merger, acquisition and advisory assignments.  In 2005, Roth raised $1.7 billion for its clients, and the firm has been the leading placement agent in the U.S. over the last two years for the number of PIPE transactions, raising over a billion dollars.

Packet Island Inc., a provider of VoIP lifecycle management solutions for the SME VoIP market, received its first round of venture funding from a group of venture capital firms led by Startup Capital Ventures. The other VCs participating in the Series A round are Garage Technology Ventures and Rincon Ventures.

According to Andy Aczel and Preveen Kumar, co-founders of Packet Island, “We took two years to build a solid SaaS platform that had the architecture to support the deployment model and economic sensitivity of the SME market. By focusing our SaaS platform to solve the VoIP management needs of the IP Centrex market, we’ve been able to address a burning problem in a fast growing space, and gain industry recognition by means of key industry awards. We wanted investors who had the breadth and depth in the markets we were going after, and that’s exactly what we got with our VC syndicate led by Dr. John Davidson from Startup Capital Ventures.”

Dr. John Davidson, co-founder and CTO of LAN pioneer, Ungermann-Bass, and General Partner of Startup Capital Ventures, says  “As a long time participant in the networking industry, I have seen the remarkable scaling down of the price and size of enterprise networking gear without seeing an attendant reduction in complexity. Small companies can now cost-effectively deploy all the networking functionality of a large company, but typically must rely on a Managed Service Provider to insure its smooth operation. Service Providers in turn need a scalable solution to manage and control client networks from a distance. Packet Island has architected a remote network analysis platform which it deploys in a Software as a Service (SaaS) model to meet the needs of MSPs. The company has correctly aimed its first service modules at the Perfect Storm in which a total absence of management tools for Voice over IP systems is met by the ready availability of these mission critical systems for small and medium sized businesses. With more than 17 million traditional Centrex lines converting to VoIP in the next few years and with over 7 million SMEs in the US eligible to participate in this conversion, Packet Island has chosen a fertile space in which to make its initial product thrust.”

Founded in 2004, Packet Island Inc. is located in Silicon Valley. Since its founding, Packet Island has pioneered the development of SaaS-based solutions for the remote management of SME networks. Packet Island’s core technology is based on a highly scalable SaaS platform called PacketSmart, and small 4”x4” plug-and-play micro-appliances that are used for deep packet inspection. The PacketSmart platform consists of a scalable cluster of software application servers that have been built from the ground up to deliver remote network management services to hundreds of thousands of SMEs from a single hardware infrastructure. The first set of network management service modules that Packet Island has launched on PacketSmart is targeted at the fast growing IP Centrex market. These service modules enable VoIP service providers to offer VoIP network assessment, VoIP installation verification, VoIP troubleshooting, and VoIP SLA Management services to the SME market without any truck rolls.

Congrats are due to Steve Guthrie, all around good guy and a VoIP industry veteran, on his recent appointment as Director of Global Product Marketing for the IP telephony business unit at Integrated Research. Steve was formerly with Xelor Software as VP of Marketing.

In his new job, Steve will play a broad marketing role across the company’s Americas, Europe and PacAsia regions. One key initiative is to help lead the company from its Cisco-only focus to a multi-vendor strategy where the company's PROGNOSIS VoIP management solutions integrate into Cisco, Avaya, Nortel and Alcatel environments and provide a single view for these disparate systems that so many large enterprises have deployed across their global operations.

Since joining IR last month, Steve has already been in front of a half-dozen prospects and customers, on site with a customer where IR is managing 22,000 IPT nodes, and together with several MSPs that have end-users ranging from several hundred nodes to many thousand nodes.

Steve's new business contact details are below.


*****************

Steven Guthrie
Director, Global Product Marketing, IP Telephony
PROGNOSIS -- precise performance monitoring

(m) +781-248-6956
(f) +781-662-9166
(im) steven_Guthrie@hotmail.com
(e) steve.guthrie@prognosis.com
(w) www.prognosis.com