Recently in VoIP Category

Word on the street is that two of the country's largest cable companies, Time Warner Cable and Comcast, are gearing up to introduce new SMB VoIP packages in the next few months.

After winning large numbers of residential customers in their respective markets (Comcast has signed up over 2 million and Time Warner over 1.9 million), they're now setting their sights on the "commercial" VoIP market.

Comcast will be upgrading its network to the tune of $250 million this year to ready it for business class services, and estimates that there are 3-5 million prospect companies throughout the region it serves -- a legion of SMBs with 20 employees or less that represents a $12-15 billion revenue opportunity.

The cable MSOs have been formidable competitors in the markets they play in, and the plans by these two players follow in the footsteps by Cox Communications, Cablevision Systems, Charter Communications and Videotron Telecom -- all of which have started to dip their toes into the SMB space.

I expect the going will be slow throughout the year, as these companies get the wrinkles ironed out of their offerings. But the handwriting is on the wall: look out all ye incumbents -- the cable cos are a' comin to take your customers away...

Managed VoIP service provider (MSP) Whaleback Systems has added Dave Zwicker as its VP of Marketing, responsible for market planning, branding, product marketing, marketing programs and press and analyst relations.

For those of you who don't meticulously track the comings and goings of industry folk (honestly, who can keep up?), Zwicker joins Whaleback from VoIP network management solutions vendor Viola Networks, where he also served as VP of Marketing.

Other stints have included serving as VP of Marketing for Adlex, an IT service delivery management software supplier, and VP of Product and Segment Marketing at 3Com Corporation, VP of Solutions Marketing at Enterasys Networks and VP of Marketing for Indus River Networks, a Virtual Private Networking start-up company.

While VoIP services continue to gain traction around the globe, it's easy to forget that in some backward parts of the world, it is still considered a major criminal offense to engage in the VoIP business.

Recently, I was tipped off to one of the latest reports of VoIP perp raids in Bangladesh, thanks to Moshe Maeir of Flat Planet Phone Company.

The report, which Moshe posted to his company's blog, first appeared on the New Nation web site -- and to save you some surfing, I've copied the details of the report below:

RAB busts Tk 2.5 crore VoIP devices
By bdnews24.com, Dhaka
Sun, 28 Jan 2007, 09:21:00

The Rapid Action Battalion raided areas in Tongi early Sunday and seized about Tk 2.5 crore of voice over internet protocol devices.

The VoIP devices are used for creating telecommunication networks to make overseas calls. RAB officers arrested Arifur Rahman, 30, Ali, 17, Sayed, 17, and Jahangir Hossain (age unknown).

RAB detective branch's senior assistant director Khondokar Al Moin who led the raid told bdnews24.com that his team raided two houses in a shanty near the Tongi College Gate area shortly before 1 am on a tip-off.

The devices were found packed in cartons, he said.
The RAB team initially caught Arifur Rahman and chased down his two assistants Ali and Sayed in the Bonmala rail-crossing slum after the officers interrogated Arif.

The RAB officer said Arif was operating the business for many years with the help of his brother Sharif who lives in Kuwait. A case was filed with Tongi Police Station.

As Moshe says, I thank my lucky stars I don't live in a place like Bangladesh -- a place where I would surely be considered a telecom terrorist for my support and championing of the VoIP industry.

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

---

         




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.

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.

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.

The evolution of IP communications technology has wrought profound changes in the way communications networks and systems are architected and designed -- and is surely well on its way towards completely replacing our legacy, TDM infrastructure.

But aside from the disruption this technology is creating within the global telecommunications industry, and the wealth of new features and capabilities being delivered to users, little is being written or said about some of the profound changes occuring in user behavior and expectations as a result of these new capabilities.

For example, I'm sure many Skype users (and I expect members of other competing Web telephony cum "voice community" services) have received calls from complete and total strangers -- even without the "Skype Me" status selected that invites such serendipitous communications.
Recently, I received a surprise call from a student from Moldova looking to make some new friends in America and an opportunity to practice her English speaking skills, which turned out to be fairly decent. (I was surprised since my Skype status was set to "away", and as a result I was not expecting to receive any calls.)

At first, I was sort of taken aback, uncertain how to respond. OK, l'll admit it -- I was suspicious -- deeply suspicious. I wondered if this was some scammer, looking to perpetrate some nefarious crime. After a while, though, I started to realize that my hesistation to engage in conversation with a complete stranger was firmly tied to the old TDM telecom world, where you would NEVER, EVER dialup a stranger, except of course when misdialing a number. You'd certainly never try to engage a stranger in conversation -- they'd surely think you were some kind of kook, making a phony phone call, or worse, and just hang up.

And in addition to the social incorrectness of it all, the prospect of significant toll charges are a great inhibitor to making International TDM calls -- especially from somewhere like Moldova to the U.S.

It turned out she was quite fun and pleasant, and we had a great conversation. After spending a few minutes with her, I realized that she was a new Skype user and was simply enjoying her newfound Skypeness.  She was doing what is a normal -- and indeed encouraged -- practice in terms of the Skype culture. And it didn't hurt that the call was completely free.

Her excitement reminded me of the excitement I felt, when many years ago, I made a telephone ring in Moscow the day International circuits went live between the US and the Soviet Union (I'm sure I made it onto some government watch list as a result

So, it's clear that the open, opt-in communications culture of Skype and it's ilk is changing  social practices and people's behavior with respect to engaging in live, voice communications. There is a grand experiment occuring before our very eyes (and ears), and it's going to be quite interesting to see how it all plays out in the years ahead. And it raises some interesting questions -- especially about protecting our privacy -- in this brave new world.

What do you think? Have you had any amusing, interesting (or even scary) Skype moments you'd like to share?