January 2008 Archives

'Moto Out Of Handset Biz' Gets Legs

January 31, 2008 5:17 PM | 0 Comments
Rich — who is technically on vacation this week — has caught wind of the fact that Motorola is exploring the possibility of spinning off its mobile handset business.
 
In a press release, Motorola announced:
 
…it is exploring the structural and strategic realignment of its businesses to better equip its Mobile Devices business to recapture global market leadership and to enhance shareholder value. The company's alternatives may include the separation of Mobile Devices from its other businesses in order to permit each business to grow and better serve its customers.
 
Rich also wonders aloud who might be interested in potentially acquiring the business from Motorola.
 
Some have even speculated that a Chinese concern might want to acquire the business, much like Lenovo acquired IBM’s ThinkPad business.
 
But as I wrote earlier this week:
 
…if Motorola can’t fix what’s ailing the company why would the Chinese fare any better?
 
 
 

Sims on the Stones

January 31, 2008 8:37 AM | 0 Comments
Fellow blogger David Sims’s First Coffee post this morning is a good one, replete with cricket references and his opinion on what the second best Rolling Stones song is.
 
I have to agree with him on his choice for number 2. It’s the number one choice I can’t agree with. I myself am torn between Jumping Jack Flash and Wild Horses.
 
But then again, are there really any “bad” Stones’ tunes?  Are there?

Interactive Intelligence Posts Record Numbers

January 31, 2008 8:08 AM | 0 Comments
Interactive Intelligence Inc., has reported record financial results for its fourth quarter and fiscal year ended Dec. 31, 2007. Revenues for the 2007 fiscal year totaled $109.9 million, up 32 percent from $83.0 million in 2006. Fourth quarter revenues were $29.3 million, a 23 percent increase from $23.9 million in the same quarter last year.
 
“Our growth was largely driven by the significant value proposition offered by our unique all-in-one communications software suite for contact centers and enterprises,” said Interactive Intelligence CEO, Dr. Donald E. Brown.
 
Among the highlights:
* Interactive Intelligence posted:
  • 32 percent annual revenue growth
  • 61 percent increase in operating income
  • Over $20 million of operating cash flow
* Interactive Intelligence added 93 new customers in the fourth quarter
* Interactive Intelligence added 325 new customers for the year.
* The company was positioned in the “Leaders Quadrant” of Gartner’s 2007 Contact Center Infrastructure report.”
 
“We believe migration to VoIP continues to fuel our company’s strong and steady growth,” Brown said.

Study: Nations Need to Better Utilize Communications Tech

January 30, 2008 8:08 AM | 1 Comment
A new study, commissioned by Nokia Siemens Networks is being billed as the first index to examine quality as well as quantity of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) usage and infrastructure.
 
The Connectivity Scorecard was created by Professor Leonard Waverman, of the London Business School. The Scorecard is designed to measure the extent to which technologies that make up connectivity and the way that people use these technologies enhance social and economic prosperity around the world.
 
According to Waverman, “businesses and governments must make better use of their communications and computing infrastructure if they are to benefit from the full economic and social benefits of ICT.”
 
According to a release announcing the results of the survey:
 
The Connectivity Scorecard ranks the United States first in a group of 16 innovation driven economies [as defined by the World Economic Forum], although its score is only 6.97 out of a possible 10.0. The differentiated nature of the Scorecard compared to other rankings is illustrated by the fact that Korea, typically a high scorer on other indexes, is ranked 10th on the list, with a rating of just 4.78.
 
Russia placed first among the nine nations that are classified in the study as resource or efficiency driven economies. The country’s high literacy rate, along with solid scores on several measures of usage and infrastructure, especially mobile usage, resulted in a rating of 6.11. Malaysia finished second, while India and Nigeria placed at the bottom of the rankings, with scores of 1.68 and 1.10 respectively. (The scores of the innovation-driven economies and the efficiency and resource driven economies are not comparable, as different sets of criteria, taking account of different circumstances in the two sets of countries, have been used to determine scores.)
 
According to Ilkka Lakaniemi, head of global political dialogues and initiatives at Nokia Siemens Networks, “This study is a call to arms for government and businesses. In a period of great economic uncertainty there are great benefits to be gained from the effective use of communications infrastructure. And as we move toward the vision of five billion people connected by 2015, policy makers and business leaders must simultaneously encourage the deployment of infrastructure and invest in the complementary assets – people – that will enable this infrastructure to be used to its maximum potential.”
 
For more information, check out the Connectivity Scorecard Web site.

Android Developer Deadline Extended

January 29, 2008 9:17 AM | 0 Comments
 Writing on the Android Developers Blog, Developer Advocate Quang Nguyen announced the extension of the submission deadline for the first Android Developers Challenge to April 14 2008.
 
The folks at Android have apparently taken feedback to heart and have made updates to the SDK that will be released within several weeks. Furthermore, a significant number of developers have also asked for more time to refine their applications.
 
Here is the revised schedule:
 
  • April 14, 2008: Deadline to submit applications for judging
  • May 5, 2008: Announcement of the 50 first round winners, who will be eligible for the final round
  • June 30, 2008: Deadline for the 50 winners of the first round to submit for the final round
  • July 21, 2008: Announcement of the grand prize winner and runner-up
 
For additional details on the Android Developer Challenge, please visit the Web site.
 
 

Is Motorola Finished With Handsets?

January 29, 2008 7:28 AM | 0 Comments
Goodbye Moto?
There are early reports that Motorola might be getting out of the handset business to concentrate on serving their enterprise and government customers. Speculation is based on a single analyst’s report to clients. Richard Windsor, an analyst with Nomura International, professed that while the possibility exists of Chinese vendors buying the company, any imminent deal is unlikely.
 
And let’s be honest, if Motorola can’t fix what’s ailing the company (market share down to less than 25%, compared to Nokia’s 40% share) why would the Chinese fare any better?
 
It’s hard to imagine that the maker of the market-changing StarTac and Razr phones would fall so far so fast. And, does anyone remember the DynaTac?

Qtrax Stumbles out of the Gate

January 29, 2008 7:12 AM | 0 Comments
Qtrax: Dud. ‘nuff said!
 
Note to those who would offer music downloads for free: Make sure you have the labels signed to contracts (preferably in ink) next time before proclaiming that you have arrived and brought with you over 30 million freely downloadable songs from major artists.
 
Once the dust settles, and the damage is surveyed, perhaps there will be something left to salvage Qtrax’ big dreams of advertising supported music for the masses. But I wouldn’t hold my breath. Rock and Roll never forgets.

FiOS TV Hits Million Mark

January 28, 2008 1:30 PM | 0 Comments
They say that in times of financial distress a nation turns to the movies for entertainment. But with movie theaters charging 9, 10, 11 bucks a head to watch the latest Hollywood offerings, a night out for a family of 4, when coupled with popcorn by the bushel, soda by the gallon and a King-size pack of Twizzlers is easily going to approach the dreaded $100 mark….
 
For a night at the movies!
 
Maybe that’s why Verizon is enjoying such a successful deployment of its FiOS TV service, announcing today that it has surpassed the 1 million customer threshold.
 
At $42.99/month for the basic TV service there would still be enough left over from a single visit to the local multiplex to throw in a movie channel package featuring over 40 movie channels ($12.99), a Sports package ($7.99) and what the heck… since American Idol is only on so often, throw in a Karaoke package for another $7.99.
 
 

File Sharing Moves Into The Light

January 28, 2008 8:33 AM | 0 Comments
Qtrax, a digital music download service that bills itself as the first Internet file-swapping service to be “fully embraced by the music industry,” announced it would carry up to 30 million tracks from “all the major labels.”
 
Warner Music, EMI, and Universal immediately repudiated that claim, saying that they in fact had not yet agreed to allow their content to be offered on Qtrax.
 
In any event, it appears like some sort of solution is on the horizon that will allow people to download music without feeling like criminals, and would enable musicians to get paid, based on an advertising supported system.
 
According to the Times Online:
 
Qtrax files contain Digital Rights Management software, allowing the company to see how many times a song has been downloaded and played. Artists, record companies and publishers will be paid in proportion to the popularity of their music, while also taking a cut of advertising revenues.
Qtrax, a subsidiary of Brilliant Technologies Corporation, has raised $30 million to date.
 
Ford, McDonald’s and Microsoft are reportedly among the advertisers signed up so far.
 
 

Nortel Keynote at ITEXPO

January 25, 2008 10:09 AM | 0 Comments
Tony Rybczynski, director of strategic enterprise technologies at Nortel, delivered a keynote at ITEXPO yesterday stressing a converging world and a tectonic shift occurring in the market.
 
Tony began by suggesting the show change the meaning of the acronym ITEXPO to “In-transition Technology EXPO, to better reflect the current state of the shift currently happening in the IP communications industry.
 
As Rybczynski noted, “The industry is moving to software and we are in the midst of a fundamental transformation.”
 
Regarding most enterprise workers, “they will only buy one more phone. Your next phone is your last one,” Rybczynski said.
 
He spoke about the concept of “Hyperconectivity,” the idea that anything that can be connected and would benefit from being connected will be connected.
 
He cited examples of various types of connectivity (person to person; person to machine; machine to machine) and in support of the last type, he said that 98% of CPUs are going into things other than PCs. To illustrate that point Rybczynski pointed out certain examples such as rodent raps that can send a signal when they’ve caught a mouse, wireless beacons on children’s backpacks for safety, and RFID tags that contain additional consumer information.
 
Rybczynski addressed the challenges and opportunities that hyperconnectivity brings:
 
Challenge
Opportunity
Decreased personal and group productivity
Rich collaboration across devices, networks, and modes of operations
Human delays in business processes
Accelerated business processes
Poor asset utilization
Energy efficiencies; Real time asset tracking; Enhanced security and compliance
10–100x more endpoints and more real time applications
Simplified networking with real time reliability and performance
 
Perhaps the key takeaway from the keynote was this: There is a need to simplify and scale networks, while increasing reliability in order to accommodate more connected users and devices more rich media traffic and more real time demands.
 
“Worlds are converging,” Rybczynski said. “Synergy matters.”
 
 
 

SIP Trunking Sessions Strike a Chord at ITEXPO

January 24, 2008 9:26 AM | 0 Comments
SIP trunking is proving itself as a way to reduce communications costs – fast. SIP trunks are currently being used by banks, hospitals and most every type of business, across every industry, to leverage the benefits of SIP and lower communications expenses.
 
Ingate Systems produces SIP-capable enterprise firewalls and SIParators (a piece of hardware that SIP-enables existing firewalls) for enterprises of all sizes. The company has been at the forefront of educating Internet Telephony Conference & EXPO attendees on how they can maximize the ROI from their IP PBX investments through a series of SIP Trunking Seminars since the Fall of 2006.
 
I had the chance to speak with Olle Westerberg CEO, Ingate, Steve Johnson, president of Ingate, Anne Coulombe, who handles SIP product marketing for Avaya’s Solutions Marketing Division, Sean Rivers, channel account manager at Bandwidth.com, and Joel Maloff, the newly installed director of marketing at Bandtel.
 
I asked Westerberg to describe a bit about the seminar series.
 
“We're running our fourth set of SIP trunking seminars,” Westerberg said. “Originally we started this because we found that people were not adopting SIP trunking and to a large extent we found it was because they didn’t know enough about it. ‘What is it?’ ‘Why should I do it?’ ‘What is the benefit?’”
 
Westerberg continued, “So it was started as an educational initiative, and we asked ourselves, what can we do to stimulate the market and we felt that this kind of seminar would be helpful.”
 
The seminars have been instrumental in educating the market about SIP trunking over the past two years, but work remains.
 
“We feel that knowledge about SIP trunking is better than it was in the Fall of '06,” said Westerberg, “but on the other hand people are still struggling with implementation and interoperability.”
 
The SIP trunking seminar is broken into three sessions per day for two days. The first day serves as a basic educational package with an overview of the service provider perspective and an enterprise equipment perspective.
 
The subsequent sessions will focus on a more in-depth program, featuring a theme, which is MythBusters, where the organizers try to dispel several myths surrounding the technology. The last day is dedicated to training and information regarding the SIPconnect standard and compliance.
 
Part I: SIP Trunking Professional Development Program
  • Introduction to SIP Trunking
  • SIP Trunking — The Service Provider Perspective
  • SIP Trunking — The Enterprise Infrastructure
 
Part II: Shattering the Myths of SIP Communications
  • Myth 1: VoIP is Not Secure
  • Myth 2: Enterprise VoIP is Difficult to Deploy
  • Myth 3: SIP Trunking is a Dead End
 
SIPconnect Compliance Workshop
 
SIP trunking is enjoying a fair amount of success these days, and many consider it to be the “hot technology” of the day.
 
Avaya’s Coulombe, too is seeing an increase in SIP trunking adoption.
 
“We’re seeing a net uptake in the industry from a SIP trunking perspective, in terms of customer installations. Nemertes Research shows us that close to 65 percent of CEOs are now either influencing SIP trunking or looking to implement SIP trunking within the next two years, which is a huge jump compared to what we had seen in previous years.
 
Rivers said that he’s seeing the same thing.
 
“From the bandwidth.com perspective we've seen a huge uptake in SIP trunking sales. And it seems to be going from the small end up.”
 
Rivers struck upon a thread that I have found to be central to the discussion of SIP trunking: Education. Especially education of the reseller channel.
 
“The more we educate, then more we can make it so that the first time the VAR does an install for a customer is not their first time ever. The key is trying to make the experience that the VAR has when they go out and do an implementation a positive one.”
 
Bandtel’s Maloff agrees. “We see it similarly but slightly different since our only business is SIP Trunking. Not only are we educating the VARs but we also need to bring them all the materials, and all the training and all the understanding for the end user, because this is not their core business. Just handing it off to a VAR and saying 'here's a great service, at a great product, a great price, great technology, now go sell it…’ does not work.
 
I asked the group to discuss what they would be speaking about during the seminar.
 
Coulombe said she would cover the communications systems manufacturer perspective. “It's no longer just the idea of VoIP; it's multiprotocol and it's definitely VoIP and video these days, with links to all kinds of clients, such as hard phones, softphones, multimodal devices — we're talking about the whole gamut.”
 
The whole group nodded their agreement.
 
Maloff said he would discuss the architecture that would be found in a SIP trunking deployment. “Bandtel has created a very distributed, N+ architecture that uses DNS functionality and redundancy to create a distributed structure that would allow organizations that have multiple offices to interact with one another without having to create islands of connectivity, that are then somehow interconnected.”
 
Rivers will offer the perspective of a company that has evolved into a SIP trunking player. “We didn’t start out as a SIP trunking company, we started out as a national Internet service provider, which gave us the ability to go back to our existing customer base and offer them more services,” Rivers said. “I'll also discuss the need for a standard demarcation point and a standard deployment that would enable VARs to be well trained and to increase the probability of a successful customer implementation.”
 
As the conversation wound down, I asked Ingate’s Johnson to sum up his thoughts regarding the SIP Trunking Seminar. According to Johnson, “we are still trying to continually educate the market. We've learned from every one of these seminars — something about the market, and something about people's concerns about SIP trunking. And, we're trying to address them.
 
“We really appreciate the partners’ participation in this because thy each bring a different perspective and yet together we bring a very complementary product and service offering to the marketplace.
 
“We believe that this gives us an opportunity to address that market in a very thorough, complete, robust way and to provide to them what we hope to be very valuable information about SIP Trunking and SIP installations.”
 
“Our hopes are to educate, inform, encourage the audience towards SIP trunking and to strengthen our relationship with our partners,” Johnson concluded.
 
Westerberg added one thought, regarding what happens after the sessions come to a close. “These seminars are done twice a year,” he said.” In between, we've formed a SIP Trunking network around the Web site (www.siptrunk.org) and we encourage anyone — partner or non-partner — to contribute in that forum.
 
 

VoIPLogic News at ITEXPO

January 24, 2008 7:50 AM | 0 Comments
I had the pleasure of meeting with Michael Wimpfheimer, vice president of sales at VoIPLogic this morning at ITEXPO.
 
Wimpfheimer shared the details of the company’s latest news, the announcement of a new Web services API (application programming interface), accessible to service providers via the company’s Cortex System Management portal (version 2.1).
 
The API is designed to enable service providers to integrate with the provisioning and management of their end-user feature sets, phone services, emergency services, messaging and billing.
 
Wimpfheimer is also speaking on the Service Provider Industry Round Table at 2:l5 this afternoon in the service provider track at ITEXPO.

Broadvox VP David Byrd Kicks Off ITEXPO Keynote Schedule

January 23, 2008 5:50 PM | 0 Comments
David Byrd, vice president of marketing and product management at Broadvox kicked off the Internet Telephony Conference and EXPO Keynote schedule here in Miami Beach Wednesday evening with a presentation entitled Assessing SIP Trunking.
 
Byrd, who was the CEO of Planet Hollywood.com at one point in his career, started by telling a story of how different some of the major investors were. Jackie Chan was a good guy, Byrd said, and was always willing to give an autograph to a fan. Sylvester Stallone on the other hand, was not so keen on giving his autograph, and managed to upset a fan and investor in the company. As CEO, Byrd went to Stallone and convinced him to sign several autographs for the fan so she could give them out to her friends.
 
Byrd also mentioned that it was his 23rd wedding anniversary. So I for one am left wondering if Byrd was on safer ground as someone who was able to sway Rocky/Rambo to cave on an autograph or as a husband who had to leave his home at 4am to deliver a trade show keynote in Miami on the day of his anniversary.
 
Byrd began the presentation by giving some background on his company Broadvox, a nationwide provider that has been in business since 2001. He explained to the audience that his company’s customers are made up of wholesale SIP origination and termination carriers, as well as ITSPs.
 
In 2007 Broadvox made the conscious decision to add an SMB offering to their suite of products, recognizing a trend in the market as SMBs appeared keen on consuming these types of services.
 
Rounding into the core of the keynote, Byrd began the discussion of how users should assess their decision process in selecting SIP trunking and the decisions that would need to be made.
 
In evaluating the assessment criteria, Byrd mentioned that the time has already come when SIP and VoIP lines are what people want to buy. In fact he referenced research stating that last year, nearly 80% of lines sold were VoIP lines.
 
Among the reasons that are driving the uptake of VoIP lines, Byrd mentioned the following:
 
  • SIP’s ability to change the cost structure with regard to communications strategy within a company;
  • The ability to become more mobile, meaning the ability to change locations in times of growth, and physical expansion;
  • The potential to increase employees’ productivity, by improving the ability to interact with customers and suppliers;
  • And also, what Byrd referred to as “any device” capability, which allows users to set their preferences to have home/office/cell phones and even their PC ring at the same time.
 
“It’s the connectivity,” said Byrd, “that makes your life easier once you deploy SIP.”
 
The five criteria Byrd talked about were:
  • Cost
  • Quality
  • Solution offering
  • Support
  • Standard compliance
 
Cost
Price is often first element that users are keen to address, but there’s so much more that goes into that equation than what appears at first blush. What kind of service are we talking about? And, what about the need to consider migration strategies (slow and steady upgrade versus wholesale forklift changes), and of course the ramifications of potential business interruption.
 
As Byrd told the ITEXPO audience, total cost of ownership and return on investment (TCO and ROI) as companies decide to transition from legacy switches to modern IP PBXs is not necessarily cheap. Customers need to weigh the long-term cost of disruption and costs of moving versus the benefits when making that decision.
 
Quality
As far as quality, Byrd recommended to the attendees that they must become familiar with the carrier who would be offering them their services. Will the carrier offering the service actually be able to back up that service offering? Do they offer a service level agreement (SLA)? This of course speaks to the subject of service reliability and who owns the network and who manages the quality?
 
Byrd said that voice quality needs to be as close as possible to — or better than — traditional POTS quality in order to be a worthwhile consideration. And in fact, the news is good on that front as 88% of businesses who made the transition from legacy services to IP communications would recommend the switch when asked.
 
Solution Offer
The keynote then ranged to include discussion of Business Process Integration and how technology for technology’s sake is no longer the key consideration. In fact we need to move beyond the simple technology conversation to include what implementation of this technology means to the business.
 
Also what’s the best way to get a hold of this technology? Byrd quoted a recent report that stated that SIP trunking has a level of complexity in it that is best served by using a third-party resource who understands the local needs of the customer. Who or what is that third-party resource? The VAR or value added reseller. And that reseller needs to be backed by a legitimate service provider who can assist by providing:
 
  • Support Services;
  • 24x7 operations center; and
  • Expert engineering support.
 
It is critical to have a well trained group of experts supporting this technology at this time, Byrd said. SIP is not yet fully plug-and-play. Engineering support is still need to understand the environment of a particular business. The standard exists but people still interpret it differently.
 
And the technology needs to be further supported by high-quality personal customer care, thorough VAR/distributor training and subsequently, customer training.
 
Standards Compliance
As Byrd steered toward the end of his presentation, he made the following observation. Nearly 30% of SMB customers are using VoIP and SIP, yet we still call them early adopters. Why is that? Primarily, because SIP, while it’s considered a standard, still needs to be tweaked to ensure full interoperability among the various elements (IP Phones, IP PBXs, SBCs, etc…) of a complete solution.
 
And what of the new and exciting applications that SIP promises? Applications such as collaboration, rich media conferencing, presence, live video from a mobile phone, VoIP with speech recognition, mobile voice conferencing, and so on?
 
As we think about these new applications, especially in a remote or distributed setting we need to take advantage of new IP-based solutions. Compliance will help us get there.
 
And lastly, certifications are important.
 
“Check the list,” Byrd urged the audience, “See what equipment is certified. It will help you drive the best possible business decision.”
 
 

Taqua Announces New Customer - COI

January 23, 2008 1:50 PM | 0 Comments
Taqua has announced that Communications Options, Inc. (COI), has purchased two Taqua 7000s to support its growing voice services in Ohio. I got word of this news at ITEXPO in Miami Beach, which kicked off this morning.
 
Communications Options, Inc. (COI) is a 17-year old Westerville, Ohio-based service provider that provides a bundle of local, long distance, and Internet services to approximately 6,000 business and residential subscribers throughout Ohio. They purchased and deployed the first T7000 as a full-featured next-generation Class 5, operating with centralized call control at the edge of COI’s access network. The second T7000 is being used as an intelligent gateway at a different location within the COI network. The advanced features and call control are managed by a remote softswitch and the T7000 provides the PSTN interconnection.
 
 

Skype 's PSP Plans Hit Speedbump

January 23, 2008 7:27 AM | 0 Comments
 
Gizmodo is reporting that plans to deploy Skype on Sony’s PSP have stalled.
 
According to the site:
 
We brought you the fantastic news that Skype would be coming to a PSP carrying pocket near you soon, but it seems the plans have been disrupted. Sony Japan has just released information detailing an indefinite delay, as they screwed up on the headsets that were required—Sony's microphone/speaker units failed to meet Skype certification standards. Don't be surprised when this announcement is replicated the world over.
 
Some time ago I remember a company named Innomedia that planned to deploy its VoIP technology to gamers through Sega and their Dreamcall product. Actually it was back in 2000. I remember thinking how cool it would be to connect gamers all over the world and allow them to talk to each other using VoIP. Then the economy tanked.
 
With today’s proliferation of broadband, and the advances in VoIP technology, it’s no surprise to see successful deployments of VoIP in gaming scenarios. But it’s interesting to see Skype hitting a bit of a hurdle with regard to Sony’s PSP, and it brings to mind some earlier VoIP experiences.
 
 
 
 

More Open Source Action at ITEXPO

January 23, 2008 7:12 AM | 0 Comments
Dell has selected Fonality as a go-to-market partner for offering VoIP phone systems to SMB customers.
 
According to the Fonality “CEO/Janitor’s Blog”
 
Dell spent 2007 scouring the market for telephony partners to serve its customer base. They were looking for two different types: an enterprise-focused solution for their larger customers and a low-cost / high performance solution for their SMB customers — one that could be self-managed. Dell has selected Fonality for the latter.
 
This news serves to validate the legitimacy of Open Source solutions and Asterisk-based IP telephony solutions in particular.
 
Fonality is exhibiting at ITEXPO, which starts today. So come on down to the show at the Miami Beach Convention Center and see the latest and greatest IP Communications solutions on display.
 
I look forward to seeing you here!
 
 

Early Open Source Action at ITEXPO!

January 22, 2008 8:30 PM | 0 Comments
PIKA Technologies Inc., announced that its PIKA for Asterisk family of analog and digital boards is now compatible with Fonality’s trixbox CE.
 
This announcement comes in advance of PIKA’s participation in Internet Telephony Conference & EXPO’s Open Source Pavilion in Miami, Florida, which begins tomorrow.
 
The PIKA for Asterisk suite comprises a range of hardware and software designed to support applications built on the open-source Asterisk platform. These building blocks are designed to provide cost-effective, reliable network connectivity to bridge between legacy networks and Asterisk-based IP telephony applications.
 
So come on down to ITEXPO’s exhibit hall, which is set to open at 6pm tomorrow evening (that’s Wednesday January 23rd) and check out the Open Source Pavilion, located at the front end of aisles 700–900.
 
I look forward to seeing you there!
 

ITEXPO: Anticipation Building

January 22, 2008 4:42 PM | 0 Comments
As I sit here in the show office, overlooking the work in progress that exhibit hall floor of ITEXPO, I am amazed at how well and how fast the show is coming together.
 
My perch above the floor gives an interesting perspective. When I walked into the building this morning the hall was a giant cavernous space, and I’ve been watching as the show decorator has transformed the space into what is quickly becoming a trade show floor complete with booths, carpeting, signs and the rest.
 
By the time tomorrow evening’s Grand Opening Welcome Reception sponsored by Aculab kicks off in the exhibit hall, the empty space will be just a memory and the exciting buzz of networking will fill the air.
 
This is the part I love most about trade shows… the anticipation, the build up, the “blur”...
 
I can’t wait for the conference to start.
 
And I can’t wait to see you in Miami Beach!
 

Death of the All You Can Eat Internet (continued)

January 22, 2008 3:20 PM | 0 Comments
Last week I posted an entry about Time Warner’s plans to implement a usage-based billing model with a test run set for Beaumont TX.
 
Well, here’s some more information on that subject.
 
Kudos to Slashdot for pointing out an An Ars Technica article that says that:
 
“…after many years of stagnation, the U.S. broadband landscape is finally 'primed for change.’”
 
The article argues that cable and DSL — while they currently enjoy near monopoly status — are not going to be the only game in town for long, with widespread WiMAX deployments imminent and the so called white-space broadband that can be offered by whoever wins the 700 MHz auction. This doesn’t take into account Verizon’s FiOS offering as well as AT&T’s U-Verse.
 
The Ars Technica piece states that if these
 
“…solutions are able to deliver on their promises of high speeds with no usage limits, capped cable broadband service like Time Warner has planned is likely to be unattractive, to say the least.
 
It’s a sobering reminder to the Cable and DSL providers that they should be investing in new technologies and new methods of capturing new customers and serving existing ones.
 
Stay tuned, I’m sure this story has legs…

Quantcast Secures $20Million Investment Round

January 22, 2008 8:59 AM | 0 Comments
I heard this morning that Quantcast has closed $20 million Series B investment funding from the likes of Founders Fund and Polaris Venture Partners.
 
Regular readers of TMCnet blogs will remember that Rich Tehrani recently shared the TMCnet Quantcast numbers positioning the site well ahead of the nearest competitors when considering site traffic.
 
The investment is excellent news for Quantcast and shows the importance of accurate Web metrics and measurement.

Destination Miami Beach: I Have Arrived

January 21, 2008 3:49 PM | 0 Comments
Just hit the ground in Miami Beach FL. Boy, is this a welcome change of pace from the weather back in NY when I got up thismorning and made my way to the airport! It was 11 degrees when I left. Low 70’s when I landed. Touchy landing, but like they say, any landing you can walk away from is ultimately a good one.
 
Of course I’m most excited by the fact that ITEXPO is less than 48 hours from kicking off.  (That, and the landing.)
 
For those of you who will not be joining the estimated 7,000 attendees at the Miami Beach Convention Center at this week’s event, I feel for you. Not only will you be missing the year’s first and foremost IP Communications conference, you’ll be passing the time in some frigid clime…
 
As for those of you who are making their way down to Miami Beach, I look forward to seeing you and welcoming you to the show.
 
And here’s a couple of links for you to click on, and download or print out for reading or your way down. See you in Miami Beach!
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

EXPO Time Again!

January 18, 2008 5:30 PM | 0 Comments
I can’t believe how fast the time has flown by. It seems like just yesterday we began work on the conference program for Internet Telephony Conference & EXPO. And yet, somehow it’s time to pack up my travel gear, toss the coffee mug into the sink (it’s about time) and head off to the airport.
 
Well, ok maybe not exactly yet, but soon. I fly down Monday to Miami Beach to set up shop for the 17th Internet Telephony Conference & EXPO, with doors open to the public next Wednesday –Friday, January 23–25.
 
For a full schedule of events, click here.
 
I’m looking forward to a week chock full of activity. I’m moderating a session, doing some interviews, meeting with a ton of companies and speakers, and most of all, I’ll be blogging and posting articles from the event, in order to keep the folks in the home office abreast of what’s happening at ITEXPO.
 
So if you’re a poor unfortunate soul who will be someplace cold next week, fear not! Just check back in throughout the week for the latest updates emanating from the center of the IP Communications universe.
 
If you are traveling down to Miami Beach next week, I wish you safe travels.
 
See you in sunny Miami Beach!

Rich on Skype, Apple TV Hack

January 18, 2008 8:11 AM | 0 Comments
I was just about to blog the fact that Engadget had a story this morning of a hacker that’s experimenting with using Skype over Apple TV, but lo and behold, Rich beat me to it.
 
Doesn’t he ever sleep? Well, maybe not.
 
Check out Rich’s Skype/AppleTV hack post.

Is The All You Can Eat Internet Over?

January 18, 2008 7:52 AM | 0 Comments
Earlier this week, Time Warner Cable Inc. announced plans to trial a new billing methodology, one based on usage rather than the current flat-rate pricing that is the norm throughout the U.S.
 
The cable giant will roll out the new tiered pricing scheme in Beaumont, Texas (everything’s bigger in Texas) later this year and says the shift in tactics is designed to underpin a strategy to help reduce network congestion.
 
Apparently, according to Time Warner Cable, the change will affect but a minority of its users — about 5% — who reportedly use about 50% of total network bandwidth.
 
Time Warner is concerned that downloading of large files, including video is slowing the network, and they believe that with increasing video usage the problems will worsen.
 
The company recognizes the need for clear marketing of this initiative to consumers, as a spokesman for Time Warner admitted, “We don’t want customers to feel they’re getting less for more.”
 
I expect some backlash from consumers who believe the increased pricing will extend beyond just the small percentage of “heavy” users. I also believe that as video and other high-bandwidth applications (Scrabulous HD with full voice and video conferencing, anyone?) become the norm, bandwidth providers will leap at the opportunity to label an increasing number of consumers as “heavy users.” Expect other providers to follow suit.
 
Note: I realize Cablevision has a sort of tiered pricing too, with the option of paying more for increased bandwidth (one price for 15MB, another for 30MB), but for some reason it doesn’t feel like a penalty. It’s positioned as a bonus. Maybe it’s just good marketing.
 
We’ll see how this plays out. Time Warner says the Texas trial (Texas is bigger than France, you know) will begin later this year.
 
 

Microsoft Wants to Know How You Feel

January 17, 2008 7:55 AM | 0 Comments
 
Bill gates is getting out just in time.
 
The TimesOnline (UK) is reporting that Microsoft has applied for a patent that might have privacy experts feeling a little nauseated. (Of course the new software would know that.)
 
The Times refers to the Microsoft software as
 
…Big Brother-style software capable of remotely monitoring a worker’s productivity, physical wellbeing and competence.
 
Apparently the patent application describes a system that wirelessly links users to their PCs via sensors that measure their metabolism as well as heart rate, body temperature, movement, facial expression, and blood pressure.
 
Such technology is already used on firefighters, airline pilots and astronauts.
 
According to the Times story,
 
The system could also “automatically detect frustration or stress in the user” and “offer and provide assistance accordingly”. Physical changes to an employee would be matched to an individual psychological profile based on a worker’s weight, age and health. If the system picked up an increase in heart rate or facial expressions suggestive of stress or frustration, it would tell management that he needed help.
 
So if the software were in use today, it would pick up the increased heart rates of civil liberties lawyers who are furiously drafting all the reasons such software should not be allowed, employers who are giddy at the prospect of monitoring their employees that much more closely, and employees who are sweating the fact that they’ll have to start working harder now. 
Imagine Bill Gates biometric roller-coaster when he's being denied by Bono, Spielberg, Clooney et al...
 
For more check out the TimesOnline story.

TMC University SIP: Interview With Dialogic's Jeff Dworkin

January 16, 2008 2:47 PM | 0 Comments
With the ITEXPO pre-show activities reaching a fever pitch here at TMC headquarters, I took some time to speak with Jeff Dworkin of Dialogic, who will be heading up the TMC University Certification Course SIP: The Foundation For Building Enhanced Services to find out a bit more about the initiative.
 
Dworkin explained the goal of the certification as well as how Dialogic fits in to the whole SIP subject matter.
 
Please feel free to check out the short interview I did with Dworkin here. And thanks again to Dialogic for sponsoring this valuable content offering at ITEXPO.

Course Overview
Wednesday January 23, 2008 9:00am - 4:00pm
Introduction: SIP as the Foundation
  • Overview of a SIP call set up
  • SIP Elements in a Network to Deliver Enhanced Services
Signaling: SIP, SS7 & Integrating your Network with the
Legacy Infrastructure
  • Understand how a class 4/5 evolves into a SIP Network
  • How SIP can be used for IP Backhaul-Class 4 Replacement
  • Meeting E911 Needs via SIP and Gateways
  • Example: Pre and Post Paid Services Using SIP
Media: Voice and Video in your SIP Environment
  • Common Audio and Video Codecs
  • Media/Codec Negotiations
  • Tuning Your Network for Voice and Video
  • QoS issues, metrics and user quality expectations
Transitioning to IMS via your SIP Based NetworkFollowing this session you will be able to describe:
  • Understand the high-level IMS architecture and its benefits
  • Learn the important factors in considering interop testing
  • Describe the main goals and objectives in setting up an interop lab
Case Study
Review and discuss a carrier’s plans to expand their SIP-based service offerings. Following this session you will be able to describe:
  • The migration from stove-piped applications to centralized media resources and the benefits
  • Factors to keep in mind when deploying services with centralized resources
  • The types of services that lend themselves to centralized resources.
SIP Trunking
  • Definition of SIP Trunking
  • Understand the Evolution of SIP Trunking
  • Benefits of SIP Trunking
  • Key Challenges in a SIP Trunking Deployment
  • What is SIPconnect and the SIPconnect
    Compliant Certification Program
TMC University Exam
At the conclusion of the program, you will sit for an exam covering the course topics. Those who receive a passing grade on the