Greg Galitzine's VoIP Authority Blog

More on Broadband, Jobs, Stimulus

February 1, 2009

In case you followed the recent blog chatter about the proposed $40 billion that would go toward improving broadband availability and speeds as part of broader economic stimulus, here's some more information. According to a Reuters article, Robert Crandall, a Brookings Institution economist said of a study he co-authored that the numbers that are being widely cited in newspaper reports are grossly overstated. He is referring to a forecast that nearly 300,000 U.S. jobs would be created for every percentage point rise in high-speed Internet use According to the Reuters report, Crandall said, "the Brookings Institution study, published in July 2007, is not particularly relevant now because of differing employment and related migration trends at the time of the study. Attempting to extrapolate it nationwide at this time is a "gross overstatement." The article goes on to quote Chris King, an investment analyst at Stifel Nicolaus who believes that the section of the stimulus plan that call for targeting unserved rural areas would not really incentivize rural providers to invest. Said King, "We believe the current plans are unlikely to stimulate private sector investment in unserved areas." King is among a group of Wall Street analysts who maintain that tax credits for ultra-fast Internet speeds for underserved areas would likely only benefit Verizon Communications and perhaps some cable companies.

Posted in Research

Tagged: broadband, jobs, stimulus : Related Tags: brookings institution, study, stimulus, areas

Digium|Asterisk World Set to Shine in Miami

February 1, 2009

Open source is really all the rage these days in IP Communications. In fact, a recent report from Eastern Management Group puts the Open Source PBX market share at 18% - not bad when you consider the incumbent companies and technologies that are being displaced. Companies such as Digum, Fonality, Sangoma, and others are considered to be the leaders in the open source space, and all these companies will be in attendance at ITEXPO, which starts tomorrow. In addition to educational seminars and training sessions on how to use, deploy, manage, etc... an open source PBX, one of the key open source attractions at the event will be Digium|Asterisk World. The first ever Asterisk event focused purely on Asterisk for business, Digium|Asterisk World is "Everything Asterisk" for the business user, reseller, and executive decision maker. The following partners will be exhibiting alongside Digium in the Digium|Asterisk World pavilion: · AG Projects · Asteria Solutions Group · Camrivox · ContactQ (Braxtel Communications) · FreeSide · High Powered Help · Infradapt · Interlink Communication Systems · Net2phone · openLINE Networks · Orecx · Presence Technology · Transnexus · VoicePulse · Xorcom Digium|Asterisk World promises to be one of the highlights of the overall ITEXPO event taking place at the Miami Beach Convention Center tomorrow through Wednesday. For details on attending the show, check out the ITEXPO home page. For an overview of the available open source related training sessions, check out Rich's blog on the subject.

Posted in Development tools, ITEXPO, Open Source

Tagged: Asterisk, digium, ITEXPO : Related Tags: digium asterisk, asterisk world, training sessions, asterisk business, asterisk, source

Early ITEXPO Shots

February 1, 2009

I'm in Miami with the team ahead of ITEXPO, and things are progressing beautifully. Preparations are being completed, and we're looking forward to the opening of the show tomorrow.

For those of you who have never been to a trade show before the official opening, I thought you might like to see what the exhibit hall looks like in the days leading up to the show.

Here's a couple of shots showing the work in progress.

It'll be a different story tomorrow at 5:45pm in the Miami Beach Convention Center when the crowds of exhibitors and attendees start their business of meeting and seeking out the latest IP communications solutions.

ITEXPO is in town through Wednesday February 4, so come on down to the Miami Beach Convention Center and be a part of the action.

Posted in IP Communications, ITEXPO

Tagged: ITEXPO, Miami : Related Tags: beach convention, convention center, miami beach, itexpo, miami

The Bell Has NOT Rung on WiMAX

January 30, 2009

So there's been quite a bit of buzz this past few weeks about the potential demise of WiMAX. First Nokia stopped production of their WiMAX device, then there was some news about Intel writing off their entire investment in the venture with Clearwire... It was covered all over TMCnet, but Rich summed it up nicely in his post: The Trillion Dollar Question - Is WiMAX Dying? Now, LTE has its proponents and WiMAX has its detractors, but Carl Ford, writing on the 4GWE blog points out the following: While many want me to point to LTE as the clear winner, I don't think this would be a sign of WiMAX's apocalypse. I instead see this as a prudent move on Nortel's part to emphasize the pieces of the solutions they own. Partnerships in Telecom are pretty easily forced by the carriers, and the real story is that no carrier is forcing Nortel to support WiMAX. This maybe proof that WiMAX is in trouble, but it's more likely proof that the legacy Nortel customers are not looking for Nortel to go into new areas with them. So I asked Scenna Tabesh, director of marketing communications for the WiMAX Forum, for some insight into the Nortel situation as well as the future co-existence of the two 4G approaches, LTE and WiMAX.

Posted in 4G, ITEXPO, LTE, Mobility, Service Provider, Technology, WiMAX, Wireless

Tagged: Carl Ford, LTE, rich tehrani, WiMAX, WiMAX Forum : Related Tags: wimax forum, wimax industry, competing technologies, miami beach, wimax already, wimax

Alvarion Responds to Nortel Change of Heart

January 30, 2009

Alvarion -- playing the role of jilted lover -- is justifiably perturbed by the announcement yesterday that Nortel is "refining" their carrier focus.

By refining, Nortel is saying that the company "...has decided to discontinue its mobile WiMAX business and end its joint agreement with Alvarion Ltd." Breaking up is never fun. And so, in response to being jilted, Alvarion is reportedly "analyzing the details of actions it will take to mitigate the impact on its business, and expects to provide more information about these actions during its fourth quarter 2008 financial results conference call on Wednesday, February 4, 2009." According to a release issued by Alvarion, the strategic agreement, entered into in June of last year calls for: ...among other things, the resale by Nortel of the Alvarion platform of WiMAX access products and Nortel's contribution of resources and funding to accelerate Alvarion's development of its portfolio of WiMAX base stations. Under the terms of the agreement, Nortel is obligated to pay Alvarion for certain research and development services beyond Q4; however, collection of these payments is uncertain and subject to Nortel's creditor protection proceedings. Alvarion is figuring out what the next steps will be, but in the meantime, President and CEO Tzvika Friedman is sounding all the right notes: We are obviously disappointed in the direction this has taken; however, Alvarion's industry position has never been stronger. In Q4, our WiMAX shipments, excluding Nortel, reached a record $54.4 million and WiMAX revenues were $42.3 million. Our book-to-bill remained well above 1, and we ended the year with over $140 million in cash on our balance sheet. During 2008, we won numerous major WiMAX deals, both directly and with various partners.

Posted in Service Provider, WiMAX, Wireless

Tagged: Alvarion, Nortel, WiMAX : Related Tags: mitigate impact, provide information, alvarion, nortel, wimax, million

ABI Research: Netbooks to Play Secondary Role

January 30, 2009

Looks like ABI has been spending a lot of time researching the netbook market. A November 2008 study targeting 1,000 North American adults found that only 11% would use a netbook as their primary computer while 79% would purchase a netbook for use in concert with a laptop or desktop computer. According to ABI Research principal analyst Philip Solis, "While their low price does cause some consumers to view netbooks as a replacement for a laptop given the current economic conditions, the majority view a netbook as being a secondary device." "Even as a device that is secondary to the PC, this has to cut into the laptop market somewhat. When considering another laptop as an additional device mostly for browsing the web and using other Internet-based communications applications, consumers will find netbooks to be an appropriate alternative."

Posted in Home Networking, IP Communications, Mobility, Research

Tagged: ABI Research, netbook : Related Tags: laptop, netbook, secondary, device, netbooks

Dell to Enter Smartphone Fray?

January 30, 2009

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Dell is planning to release two new SMARTPHONES at the upcoming Mobile World Congress event in Barcelona. To say it's a tall order to break into this market would be an understatement. Just ask Motorola how tough it could be. And Nokia... And Ericsson... Blackberry is hot with their Storm smartphone, and of course Apple keeps moving iPhone after iPhone.

Posted in Business, Mobility, Wireless

Tagged: apple, Blackberry, dell, ericsson, Motorola, nokia, smartphone, wall street journal : Related Tags: mobile

Beatles Final Gig - 40 Years On

January 30, 2009

On this day in 1969, I was but a wee lad with not a care in the world. Across the pond from where I was busy forming my first words, a group of four famous Liverpudlians were making their final public appearance.

It struck me in a way that so many things these days tend to, with a growing realization that the numbers associated with my life keep getting bigger.

13 years at TMC... 16 years married...my kids are how old?

Posted in Personal

Tagged: The Beatles : Related Tags: years

Skype to Verizon? Just Sayin'...

January 29, 2009

First Verizon said: No more Copper by 2016. Then word came down that Verizon was not going to stop offering voice over copper lines after all. Next we heard speculation that eBay was going to offload Skype. Recently we're hearing how Verizon is clipping its VoiceWing VoIP business. It's becoming "crystal clear" to me that Verizon is going to buy Skype and offer the VoIP service to their FiOS customers as a value add. You know, "...those cable guys are making you pay for voice... we'll give you voice for free. Oh and check out our new devices, our diverse lineup of over 100 HD channels, and for a nominal fee, please take advantage of the seamless integration with our wireless service." With everyone else speculating that Skype might go to Google, or Microsoft, or BT or France Telecom or Cisco...

Posted in IP Communications, Service Provider, VoIP