Greg Galitzine : Greg Galitzine's VoIP Authority Blog
Greg Galitzine

March 2006

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Speaking With Equinix’s Lane Patterson

March 30, 2006

I had the chance recently to interview Lane Patterson, Director of Research and Development of Equinix. Equinix is a global provider of network-neutral data centers and Internet exchange services for global enterprises, content companies, and network service providers. The company offers co-location, traffic exchange, peering, and outsourced IT infrastructure services.

Equinix Internet Business Exchange (IBX) centers serve as core hubs for critical IP networks and Internet operations worldwide.

Voice Peering Forum Underway

March 30, 2006

The Voice Peering Forum Spring 2006 is underway. The Forum will be held today and tomorrow (March 30-31, 2006) at the Wyndham Miami Beach Resort, in Miami, Florida.

Our own Rich Tehrani is keynoting the event tomorrow morning at 8:30 am. I’m sure Rich will have some interesting comments in his blog over the course of the next two days.

Korea's Broadband Lead Is Slipping

March 29, 2006

Point Topic is reporting that Korea, the oft quoted “standard measure” of a country when it comes to successful broadband penetration, is in danger of slipping from the global top spot.

According to a release, “South Korea is close to losing its position as the world leader in broadband take-up. After several years when Korea was far ahead of other countries in number of broadband lines per 100 population, Denmark and the Netherlands are now very close to catching up.”

South Korea maintains slightly more than 25% penetration of broadband by population. But Denmark and The Netherlands are only a fraction of a percent behind.

IMS Market To Reach $4.5B by 2010

March 29, 2006

According to a just released report from Informa Telecoms & Media, the IMS market is expected to peak during 2010, when investments on IMS equipment are expected to reach US$4.5bn

According to IMS: Opportunities and Challenges, 39 million users will adopt IMS-based services in the fixed market, by 2011. This compares with the 188 million in the mobile sector. Key early services will include VoIP and IPTV in the fixed environment and Push over Cellular and Instant Messaging in the mobile market.

IMS: Opportunities and Challenges, posits that the next two years will be pivotal to the adoption of IMS worldwide.

Cloudmark for Anti Spam

March 28, 2006

As I was sifting through my Inbox this morning, cleaning up the spams and scams, I felt a severe sense of frustration. No matter what solutions we employ, the spammers and scammers are always one step ahead. They figure out how to bypass any filtering system.

I recently met with Vipul Ved Prakash, founder and chief scientist at Cloudmark, a provider of real-time anti-messaging abuse security solutions.

Genesys Releases IP Contact Center Study

March 24, 2006

Genesys has released a survey entitled Contact Center Outlook on IP Technology: A Detailed Report Examining the Deployment of Internet Protocol Telephony in Contact Centers.

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The report opens by stating that “…Internet Protocol Telephony — also known as Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) — has quickly become one of the most important technology considerations for contact centers…”

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Genesys’ vice president of IP business development Rob Winder told me that the company has been very interested in gaining greater insight into the market, and they saw some interest from the user community so they decided now was the right time to commission such a study.

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Genesys contacted 500 contact center technology managers from 20 industries and 53 countries.

Alcatel, Lucent In Talks

March 24, 2006

About 7 or 8 years ago, my colleagues and I created a spoof editorial calendar, comprised of topics such as CB Telephony: 10-4 Good Buddy, The Pros and Cons of Tin Can Telephony, and other such silly topics. One topic was a tongue-in-cheek jab at Lucent, called Why Lucent has No Suitors.

Well, it turns out Lucent did and now once again – does – have suitors after all.

Reports from Paris today indicate that Lucent and Alcatel are starting up talks that they last held in 2001 regarding the potential “merger of equals” between the two firms -- a merger that would result in a telecom gear maker with combined sales of over $25.3 billion.

Sonus: Big In Japan

March 23, 2006

Like the song says, things are easy when you're big in Japan. I wonder if that's as true today� for a Massachussets-based provider of VoIP and IMS equipment as it was for 1980's German synth pop outfit Alphaville...


Sonus Networks revealed yesterday that it has been named the leading provider of VoIP solutions for Japan by Synergy Research in a recent survey. In the survey, Sonus led the market with a 36.1% market share position, more than double any other equipment provider and (according to Synergy) also accounted for approximately 76% of the high-density gateway market and more than 61% of the total gateway market in Japan in 2005.

China Skype Hype: Doubtness & Fear

March 22, 2006

So one of the big stories currently gurgling up is the fact that VoIP — specifically Skype — is being banned in China. TMCnet’s Stefania Vescusi summarized that situation yesterday.

Interesting however that just one day earlier, on 3/20, our own David Sims wrote the following:

The Beijing News is reporting -- Page 1, no less -- that “it is said that a company from southern China obtained the first VoIP service operation license as a pilot.”

Telecom carriers and virtual network operators will be able to apply for the license by 2007 when the country will fully open the market, but “experts from China’s Ministry of Information Industry, the industry regulator, expressed their doubtness.”

It’s not specified what they expressed their doubtness about.

(Sims' full article can be found here.)

Well the doubtness seems pretty clear now. I can just picture a high-ranking Information Ministry official at a press conference on Monday:

Q: “Mr. Minister!

Microsoft, Minerva, Nortel... A Big Day for IPTV

March 21, 2006

Minerva Networks and Nortel announced the joint development and release of an Application Interface (API) that enables the integration of real-time IPTV services with Minerva's iTVManager software. Nortel is using this jointly developed interface as a first step to bring together Minerva's IPTV middleware platform with Nortel's IMS solution to make content available to users anywhere, anytime, on any device.

Using SIP, the new API gives developers and service providers the tools needed to enable real-time applications such as voice mail access and callback functionality over the television set.

Also, Deutsche Telekom Group announced it will launch IPTV services using the Microsoft TV IPTV Edition software platform.

Siemens Enhances IMS/FMC Portfolio

March 20, 2006

Siemens Communications today announced a new version of its IMS-based fixed mobile convergence (FMC) solution with a deployment model supporting the enterprise market, the consumer cable operator market as well as the fixed/mobile telephony market.

Siemens has trialed the solution in the United States as well as globally with a range of service providers over the last year.

According to the company news announcement, the Siemens IMS/FMC solution features transparent roaming and active handoffs across fixed and mobile networks. The solution includes personalized multimedia services and – for enterprises – presence-aware collaboration technologies that help improve workflow and business process efficiencies.

Verizon's Seidenberg Focuses on Future

March 20, 2006

Rich Tehrani pointed out an interesting NY Times article that profiles Ivan Seidenberg, the chief executive officer of Verizon. The piece does a good job of focusing on Mr. Seidenberg’s goals of turning Verizon into a forward-looking, fast-growing provider of next-generation enhanced services. Seidenberg shies away from the term Bell Company, as he believes that conjures up images of a slow-moving, heavily regulated behemoth.

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My Week in Review

March 16, 2006

What a week it’s been. New York, Orlando, Connecticut, Toronto, Dallas, San Jose… It’s almost time I learned the words to Johnny Cash’s “I’ve Been Everywhere…” Soon enough, I’ll be able to write my own version…

Well, we do what we need to do, and go where the news is, and this week there was� a steady flow of� VoIP news out of San Jose at the Voice on the net show.

D-Link launched a flip-phone style WiFi handset, which comes pre-loaded with a TelTel softphone application.

Brooktrout, Excel Harmonize on Cantata

March 16, 2006

My colleague Michelle Pasquerello put it so nicely that I feel compelled to repeat her words�  here: “Seven months after first announcing its intentions to combine forces, Excel Switching and Brooktrout Technology announced the two companies will be harmoniously renamed “Cantata Technology.”

The invitation to attend their launch party at the Villa Montalvo in Saratoga, CA this evening was indeed music to my ears. Together with my colleagues we attended the fete, and it was truly a� first-class affair. Thanks to all who endeavored to make sure we were included on the list, and kudos to those who put on such a fine event. The cheese was fantastic.

Savatar Study: VoIP & the SMB

March 14, 2006

I received the following interesting release from Savatar regarding their new� SMB market/VoIP analysis.

The timing couldn't be better. TMCnet, together with Covad, is launching VoIP for SMB, the� newest source� for small and medium-sized businesses looking for more information regarding� VoIP.� 

Here's a taste of the release.

Powerline Networking Group Completes Digital Home Specification

March 10, 2006

On Thursday March 9, 2006 the Universal Powerline Association (UPA), announced the completion of the first version of its “Digital Home Standard” (DHS) high-speed powerline networking specification. This specification is designed to be a robust field-proven industry specification upon which OEMs can build compatible products to enable the digital home. A final version of the DHS specification will be released later this year.

According to a UPA news release, the specification is the only one, which is available to enable the digital home for high-definition video streaming, online gaming, and audio distribution throughout the entire house for a competitive price and without having to install new cabling.

RIM Acquires Ascendent

March 10, 2006

I was spekaing with Heather Howland and Theron Dodson of Ascendent� this past Tusday and they told me to watch out for� some big news. Looks like this is it! RIM Acquires Ascendent Systems �  Acquisition Enables RIM to Deliver Enhanced Voice Solutions to Enterprise Customers �  Research In Motion� just announced it has acquired Ascendent Systems, a provider of solutions that simplify voice mobility implementations in the enterprise. Ascendent, a member of the BlackBerry ISV Alliance Program, makes the Ascendent Voice Mobility Suite, a standards-based software solution that augments existing PBX (Private Branch Exchange) and IP-PBX (Internet Protocol Private Branch Exchange) systems and supports heterogeneous telephony environments to "push" voice calls and extend corporate desk phone functionality to mobile users on their wireless handset or any wireline phone. Ascendent will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of RIM.

Liquid Water Discovered on Saturn Moon

March 9, 2006

"If we are right, we have significantly broadened the diversity of solar system environments where we might possibly have conditions suitable for living organisms."

So said Carolyn Porco, Cassini imaging team leader at the Space Science Institute.

Needless to say this is huge news.

Here's what Drudge has on the subject:

AT&T to Acquire BellSouth for $67Billion

March 5, 2006

AT&T on Sunday agreed to acquire BellSouth Corp. for about $67 billion, to expand its reach into the southeastern United States and acquire the rest of Cingular Wireless it does not already own. The companies issued a press release outlining what they see as the main benefits of merging:

  • Natural combination of two leading wireline providers and joint owners of Cingular speeds progress in integrated wireless/wireline services
  • Substantial financial benefits for stockholders of both companies; an expected net present value of $18 billion in synergies resulting from a more than $2 billion annual run rate in synergies expected in 2008, growing to $3 billion in 2010
  • Expect merger to be accretive to AT&T adjusted earnings per share in 2008, double-digit adjusted EPS growth in each of next three years (earnings adjusted for merger integration costs and amortization of intangibles) and significant growth in free cash flow after dividends in 2007 and 2008
  • AT&T's board authorizes share repurchase of 400 million shares by end of 2008; buy back of at least $10 billion in shares over next 22 months planned, with the majority in 2007
  • Merger will benefit customers and promote competition

According to the release, the merger will streamline the ownership and operations of Cingular Wireless, which is jointly owned by AT&T and BellSouth. The new company will be more innovative, nimble and efficient, providing benefits to customers by combining the Cingular, BellSouth and AT&T networks into a single fully integrated wireless and wireline Internet Protocol network offering a full range of advanced solutions.

Italy Trashes World Cup Hosts Germany

March 2, 2006

Let's hope this doesn't have any effect on my picks to emerge from Group E at the upcoming World Cup in Germany. Italy looked good yesterday in beating this year's tournament host.

Mamma Mia!!!

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