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Greg Galitzine

October 2008

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Avaya Announces Changes at the Top

October 30, 2008



Avaya is announcing that Kevin Kennedy - currently CEO of JDS Uniphase Corporation - will join the company as president and CEO in January 2009. Avaya also said that Charles Giancarlo will become Chairman of the Board when Kennedy assumes the CEO position.

Kennedy is a member of the board of directors of Polycom, Inc. and KLA-Tencor Corporation and a member of the Board of Regents of Loyola Marymount University. He holds a B.S. in engineering from Lehigh University in Pennsylvania, as well as M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in engineering from Rutgers University.


 

TMC, Ex-VON Team Join Up for 4G Event, Web Site

October 30, 2008

TMC and Crossfire Media announced they were working together to produce 4G Wireless Evolution, comprising a Web site, an event, and other media to address a growing need for information regarding the next generation of wireless.   4G is the fourth generation of wireless communications, which is expected to be implemented globally in the next 2-5 years, and which will offer significantly faster speeds and broader applications than current wireless networks can allow. The result will be an influx of new technologies and a significant increase in the number of customers using wireless communications for a wide variety of uses.   The 4G Wireless Evolution Conference is the first event dedicated to 4G technologies, and will take place February 2-4, 2009 at the Miami Beach Convention Center.   Industry watchers will note that this collaboration brings together some familiar faces, working together for the first time. In fact, over the past several weeks, the TMC team of Dave Rodriguez, Michael Genaro and I have been meeting with our counterparts at Crossfire Media: Scott Kargman, Joann Varello and Carl Ford to hash out the details of the partnership and to build the conference program and the Web sites. It's amazing to see all that hard work come to fruition today with the official launch.   Of course, now the work truly begins to make 4G Wireless Evolution the industry's #1 resource for all things 4G.

Ifbyphone Launches iPhone Conferencing App

October 30, 2008

Ifbyphone today announced a new conference call application for Apple's iPhone.

Available immediately on the iTunes App Store, the Conference Call App enables users to set up ad hoc conference calls from their iPhones or iPod touch devices, or to arrange conference calls in advance.

 It's as easy as choosing a group of recipients the contacts in the iPhone address book and tapping on "schedule conference." This is the second Ifbyphone application available on the iTunes App Store following up on Ifbyphone's popular Voice Broadcast app. The Conference Call App is free to download, and includes 100 free minutes of conference calling per month, with an option to upgrade for additional minutes. 

Logitech Dials Up SightSpeed

October 29, 2008

Logitech International has announced that it will acquire SightSpeed Inc. for approximately $30 million in cash. SightSpeed offers consumers and businesses high-quality, SIP-based Internet video communications services, including video conferencing, video chat, video voicemail, collaboration tools, and more.   According to the announcement:   The acquisition of SightSpeed will provide Logitech with video calling technology and a software and services development team that can be focused on future video calling initiatives that can enable cross-platform video communications with an intuitive, lifelike experience, for people sitting in front of a personal computer or with their family in a living room.   I've used the service before and I must admit the quality was very good in my experience. The software got a recent boost by being featured on CBS' morning news program.   Congratulations to Peter Csathy and the rest of the SightSpeed team.   The acquisition is expected to close in early November.  

Rich Does Wall Street; Nortel Does Hospitality

October 28, 2008

Rich is down at the NY Stock Exchange this morning attending an event sponsored by Nortel and featuring Nortel executives Araldo Menegon, VP Northeast Region, and Joel Hackney, President of Nortel's Enterprise group, as well as a keynote by Don Tapscott, author and enterprise 2.0 strategist. In his blog, Rich mentions some Nortel news that was released this morning: One item was an announcement that Nortel's Unified Communications solution was deployed at Miraval Resort and Spa in Tucson turning it into an "all-IP resort." Nortel apparently hit the hospitality market hard today, announcing hotel/spa deployments in Dubai, Vancouver, and Las Vegas as well.

Truphone for Blackberry Now in Beta

October 28, 2008

Blackberry users rejoice! Truphone today announced the launch of a beta of Truphone Anywhere, for BlackBerry. Earlier this year the application was made available for iPhone users. According to the announcement: Truphone works with the user to save them money. Instead of requiring the user to remember what to do, Truphone Anywhere simply asks whether he/she wants to make a Truphone call whenever an international number is dialed. The user simply accepts, and Truphone connects the call. Users can download the application for free from www.truphone.com/blackberry and Handango users can download Truphone from www.handango.com

FT: CenturyTel to Acquire Embarq?

October 27, 2008

The Financial Times is reporting this morning that it appears that CenturyTel will make an offer to purchase Embarq for $5 billion in stock.   Embarq, which was spun off from Sprint in 2006 following Sprint's takeover of Nextel, has reportedly been exploring options and talking to potential suitors for several months now.   According to their Web site, CenturyTel is the seventh largest US LEC in United States based on 2,077,100 access lines in service and over 600,000 high-speed Internet connections deployed.   If it comes to fruition, this deal that may presage further consolidation among regional US service providers.   CenturyTel currently has operations in 25 states. Embarq, which is headquartered in Overland Park, KS, has 18,000 employees and services customers in 18 states.

Tom Reviews Aastra Phones

October 17, 2008

Tom offers an in-depth review of Aastra's new 57-series phones -- the 57i and 57i CT.               As usual the denizen of TMC Labs gives his thorough overview. Now, how do I get one of these on my desk?

Continued Growth for Residential VoIP

October 15, 2008


According to a new report out from Pike and Fischer, residential VoIP is set to enjoy continued growth through the end of the decade. The data suggest that approximately 8.5 million U.S. households will start using VoIP for their home phone service by 2010, which would bring the total number of VoIP connected households to about 30 million. The Pike and Fischer report estimates this would translate to over $11 billion in revenue for VoIP providers.   According to the announcement hailing the new report:   Although top telephone companies such as Verizon and AT&T will see their overall residential lines continue to decline, they will see their VoIP customers increase steadily as they attract more customers to their fiber-optic service packages (Verizon's FiOS and AT&T's U-verse), according to the analysis.

TelcoBridges at WiMAX World

October 3, 2008

I know Rich already mentioned earlier that he stopped by to speak with Gaetan Campeau and the rest of the TelcoBridges team at WiMAX World, but I too had the pleasure of sitting down to hear what they were doing at this event.   Building on the high-availability Toolpack announced at ITEXPO, I learned that the company sees a great opportunity in WiMAX.   "We see very few voice solutions in WiMAX," Campeau told me.   "In WiMAX, since most deployments are by new service providers, they need a platform that can grow along with them," he added.   It's true that most WiMAX deployments are starting small, be it citywide, or covering small regions. Not too many nationwide deployments yet....   So for these carriers, they either offload voice to a competitor and not realize revenue, or they can deploy a voice solution like TelcoBridges and keep the revenue.   Campeau explained that increasing the ARPU is key for these operators. With the usual data ARPU running at around $45, adding voice can generate an increase of up to $23 on average. Per user.   That's good math, especially in the light of today's economic news.

Nokia: Out of UC, In with Touch-Screen Phone

October 3, 2008

So, I received a note from Ovum Research with their take on the fact that Nokia is leaving the enterprise solution business, namely their IntelliSync unified communications play.   According to Senior Analyst, Claudio Castelli of Ovum:   Mobile unified communications involves high complexity and vendors should concentrate on their strengths instead of trying to provide end-to-end solutions. Nokia will no longer develop software solutions for enterprises. The company has recognized that it is unable to advance into the enterprise market as a standalone mobility solutions provider. Nokia will now concentrate its efforts on developing powerful user interfaces for its devices, which will be supported by its UC partners on their platforms- they include companies such as Microsoft, IBM, Cisco and Alcatel-Lucent.

Off to WiMAX World

October 1, 2008

I'm heading out on my way to WiMAX World, in Chicago and I'm looking forward to the series of meetings at the event.   As I mentioned in yesterday's blog entry, the wireless sector holds some promise, even in the face of the current economic ... "condition."     Take for example yesterday's long awaited launch of Sprint's XOHM next-generation 4G wireless network based on mobile WiMAX technology in Baltimore.   Said Barry West, president of Sprint's XOHM business unit, "This is truly an historic day with the birth of a completely new Internet-based business model that alters the dynamics of the traditional telecom industry. Wireless consumers will experience WiMAX device and XOHM service innovation on multiple levels as the computer, Internet, telecom and consumer electronics industries converge to redefine wireless mobility."   I'm looking forward to learning about more exciting news coming from the wireless sector.   Time to board...        
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