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TMC Blogs: The Week in Review

January 23, 2009 11:51 AM
What was the big story this week? No doubt it was the inauguration of Barack Obama, as the 44th President of the United States and the first African-American to hold that post. Truly a historic day for our nation: a day when many people put politics aside to welcome our newest leader to his job, and judging by the crowds in Washington, D.C. this past Tuesday it was quite a welcome indeed.
 
Rich is excited. Not so much from any overtly political stance, but he's psyched that the Obama Administration appears to be well versed in technology and will likely raise the tech-level of the White House and the U.S. government in general to new heights.
 
In his recent post, Tech Change is Here, Rich notes that technology is not just a "nice to have" but a necessity that drives an organization's ability to compete.
 
Of course, with ITEXPO just 9 days away, Rich has been hard at work writing about some of the big elements of the show that will take place Feb 2-4, in Miami Beach, FL.
 
Among many other things, Rich blogged about the open source educational opportunities (Asterisk Training Details; Asterisk, Trixbox, and Switchvox Training), and the temperature differential, and he also posted an entry highlighting the series of interviews he conducted with the thought leaders who will be participating at the event (Come Meet the Thought Leaders at ITEXPO).
 
Back on the political thread... Tom posted his thoughts regarding the reported $40 Billion Broadband stimulus that the Obama Administration was proposing: President-Elect Barack Obama's $40 billion Handout Bailout to Internet Providers
 
While that was technically last week, this week saw a tremendous amount of activity in the comments section of his blog. There was some really interesting back and forth, and if you have any thoughts on our government spending $40 Billion on broadband, it's worth a look.
 
Peter Radizeski weighs in with details on the Broadband Stimulus Bill.
 
Tom also was busy doing what he does best, and that's writing about and reviewing gadgets, such as the Verizon Hub (a Web browsing, VoIP phone gadget...), the TechCrunch Touchpad, the AT&T tl7610 headset, and the HTC Touch Cruise.
 
Tony Rybczynski opened the week with a simple message: Nortel is Open for Business, underscoring the message that "Nortel plans to emerge more focused, financially sound and competitive."
 
On his SIP and Serve by a Foodie blog, Broadvox' David Byrd spoke of developments at his firm and some partnerships they announced this week ahead of their participation at ITEXPO.
 
In today's installment, Byrd also discusses the latest adventures of IP Man:
 
This week we announced interoperability with Panasonic's new NCP IP PBX and we released the new IP MAN Adventure featuring AudioCodes, episode 5. The new villainess, Echo, is scheduled for launch during the week of IT Expo. It's a fun story with an exciting storyline featuring Panasonic. Like the duck paddling on a pond, our calm exterior hides the furious effort below the water line.
 
In what's fast becoming one of my favorite features in the TMCnet blogosphere, every Monday, Byrd dishes on what he's been up to in the kitchen over the preceding weekend, in addition to providing insightful commentary on what's happening in the market. This week it was beef short ribs. Yummy.
 
Over in the Convergence Corner, Erik Linask discussed the significance of Interactive Intelligence integrating with IBM for enterprise-wide unified communications.
 
Brendan Read offered a Readerboard post on Genesys' double acquisition; Jessica Kostek covered Apple's first quarter financials as well as the "Fall of Kennedy" -- her take on Caroline Kennedy's withdrawal from consideration for the open Senate seat in NY; and Scott Bouchard vented his frustration at being unable to watch the inauguration live on CNN.
 
Hunter Newby had a pair of interesting posts this week on Skype and Internet-based VoIP Peering as well as the effects of broadband development on the economy.
 
Tsahi Levent-Levi has some great post-CES follow-up on the video solutions on display at that event, and perhaps the funniest blog post of the week, entitled The Naked Truth About Video Conferencing.
 
 

Even Microsoft Gets the Blues

January 22, 2009 2:11 PM
Add Microsoft to the ranks of companies forced to cut jobs due to the state of the economy.
 
According to a story by our own Michael Dinan, the software maker today announced major year-over-year earnings dips and a plan to cut 5,000 jobs.
 
Microsoft reportedly saw a net income decline of 11 percent, to $4.17 billion, for the quarter ended Dec. 31, as well as a 6 percent drop in earnings per share, to 47 cents.
 
About 1,400 of the 5,000 job cuts -- across R&D, marketing, sales, finance, legal, HR and IT -- will occur today, with the rest coming over the next 18 months. The layoffs are expected to help reduce operating expenses by about $1.5 billion.
 
Ever the optimist, Steve Ballmer commented:
 
While we are not immune to the effects of the economy, I am confident in the strength of our product portfolio and soundness of our approach. We will continue to manage expenses and invest in long-term opportunities to deliver value to customers and shareholders, and we will emerge an even stronger industry leader than we are today.
 
Investors apparently need some time to digest the news.
 
Microsoft's shares fell in the wake of the announcement, (down 10.5% at 2pm EST).
 
I had hoped I was mistaken when I blogged here about industry job losses.
 
In addition to Microsoft, Ericsson this week announced plans to expand its restructuring, cutting about 5,000 jobs. This is on top of an announcement last year that the firm would eliminate 4,000 positions.
 
 

Genesys Acquires Conseros, SDE

January 22, 2009 1:41 PM
Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories, an Alcatel-Lucent company today announced two acquisitions. The company has acquired German firm SDE Software Development Engineering GmbH ("SDE") as well as New Brunswick, Canada-based Conseros.
 
SDE's primary product, called Genesys Customer Interaction Portal, is a Web-based thin client software solution designed to enable service providers deliver hosted contact center capabilities, such as self-service and agent-assisted service, to enterprise customers. The portal is a key component of Genesys' hosted contact center solution strategy.
 
Conseros provides a key business application that enables enterprises to manage and distribute high volumes of work items virtually anywhere in the enterprise.

Open Source Education at ITEXPO/Digium|Asterisk World

January 22, 2009 1:31 PM
Earlier today I noted that Camrivox' CEO was presenting at ITEXPO on February 3rd.
 
But the open source education doesn't stop there.
 
At the upcoming ITEXPO/Digium|Asterisk World Conference (is it really only 10 days away?), Digium will host a pair of new Asterisk training courses.
 
The collocated events take place at the Miami Beach Convention Center in beautiful Miami Beach, FL.
 
On Tuesday, February 3, 2009 they will present a one-day introduction/training seminar on their Switchvox system.
 
This course serves to: explain the role of a Switchvox system within a corporate IT/telephony infrastructure; familiarize the student with the initial setup and configuration of their Switchvox system; and more.
 
And, on Wednesday, February 4, 2009, Digium will present their newest educational offering, the Asterisk 123 course.
 
Asterisk 123 is a "gentle introduction" to the Asterisk Open Source PBX, introducing the student to the many roles that Asterisk can play and walks them through setting up Asterisk for the first time.
 
For both classes, participants receive a student kit, which includes:
 
·         Digium TDM411B Analog card (1 FXO port + 1 FXS port)
·         Polycom SoundPoint IP 330 SIP Phone
·         Asterisk Tote Bag
·         Asterisk T-shirt
·         Asterisk SWAG Kit
·         Calculator, pen, mouse pad, etc.
 
If you are interested in either or both of these training courses, feel free to register online at the Digium|Asterisk World Web site.
 

Ifbyphone Offers Service Guarantee

January 21, 2009 9:18 AM
Ifbyphone announced a new service guarantee today, saying that they will deliver their customers' voice broadcast calls on time otherwise those calls will be free.
 
According to CEO Irv Shapiro:
 
Our guarantee helps our business customers understand how important the delivery of their voice broadcast calls is to us. Moreover, our guarantee helps differentiate Ifbyphone's services because we are the first and only provider that stands 100 percent behind the delivery of voice broadcast calls.
 
The guarantee is simple: if any scheduled broadcast call to a U.S. or Canadian phone number is delayed by more than five minutes, Ifbyphone will reimburse customers for the call.
 
Shapiro is also on the schedule at the upcoming ITEXPO, which will take place in Miami Beach, FL, February 2-4, 2009.
 
On Wednesday February 4th, from 1:30-2:15pm Shapiro will be part of a panel discussion entitled: Contact Centers in a Web 2.0 World.
 
For more information on the show, or to register, visit www.itexpo.com
 
Just for the record, as I write this, it's 16 degrees in Connecticut where my office is located.
 
Florida sounds like a good idea.

Hard Times as Nortel Bankruptcy Looms

January 14, 2009 8:04 AM
Rich is reporting in his blog that Nortel will file for bankruptcy today, ending the run for one of Canada's biggest corporations and one of telecom's storied companies.
 
This marks quite the fall from grace for a company that was once one of the highest-fliers of the tech boom.
 
According to a story in today's Globe and Mail:
 
Nortel easily qualified as the country's largest company at the peak of the tech boom in 2000, with a $366-billion (Canadian) market capitalization and 95,000 employees.
 
While still North America's largest telecom equipment maker, Nortel's shares were worth a total of just $192-million yesterday, and the company has 26,000 staff after a bruising series of layoffs over the past eight years.
 
Nortel stock that soared to $1,231 at the peak of the tech bubble - reflecting a recent consolidation in shares - closed yesterday at 38.5 cents on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
 
You can expect the vultures will all be out today, slamming the company's management, pointing to the series of accounting scandals that ultimately doomed this company. You'll hear all about the acquisition of Bay Networks and how that never really turned into the perfect fit that had been hoped for. Yes folks, all the news will be bad, and the blame game will be blown out of proportion.
 
Nortel still has some great technology, and a customer base and service contracts that will have the scavengers salivating.
 
Unfortunately for the many great employees of the company the end of Nortel as we know it spells something far worse.
 
The news reports today speak of breaking up the company and selling off the pieces to competitors. In such cases, some employees will be fortunate enough to stay on, but for too many others it's a time of great uncertainty and worry.
 
I have been fortunate to work with many wonderful people who represented Nortel over the past 12 years, and I hope that they fare well in the wake of whatever goes down.

OrecX Taps Sangoma's Wanpipe Driver

December 31, 2008 8:36 AM
OrecX, a provider of low-cost open source VoIP call recording, announced a new option for low-cost TDM and call recording, and said they would be using Sangoma Technologies' new Wanpipe driver that supports RTP tapping.
 
Bruce Kaskey, CEO of OrecX, offered the following in a statement:
 
Overall, Sangoma's RTP tapping solution gives more choice for situations where TDM and VoIP are blended. The Wanpipe driver with the RTP tap mode enabled converts a TDM signal to VoIP seamlessly for scalable recording.
 
The details can be found in this news item.
 
Ultimately, as Kaskey explained, the solution enables customers to tap TDM and or VoIP using their existing Sangoma equipment.
 
OrecX will also be participating at the upcoming Digium|Asterisk World, which is being collocated with ITEXPO in Miami Beach this February. The company's co-Founder and CTO, Bruno Haas will be speaking in the presentation theater during the event.
 
For a complete list of sponsors and exhibitors, please visit the Digium|Asterisk World site.
 

Alcatel-Lucent to Trim Workforce, Tighten R&D Focus

December 12, 2008 8:23 AM
Alcatel-Lucent CEO Ben Verwaayen spoke to media and analysts at a press conference today, announcing the company's strategic plan for 2009 and beyond. To read a full description of the company's plans, please read this article.
 
The company will undergo a strategic reduction in workforce, eliminating approximately 1,000 management positions and lowering the number of contractor headcount by approximately 5,000.
 
Plans call for reducing the company's break-even point by 1 Billion Euros a year in 2009 and 2010.
 
Company officials also spoke of a renewed focus on research and development activities, targeting four key segments (Optical, IP, broadband and Applications enablement).

It's That Time of Year...

December 8, 2008 5:11 PM
As the year comes to a close, it's time again to feature that publishing staple -- the year end interview.

end of year.jpg
 
I'm fortunate enough to work in an industry where people not only have a lot of interesting things to say, they're not shy about sharing their thoughts and insights with our audience.
               
Below you'll find links to several interviews I've posted with some of the companies that operate in our space.
 
Among the threads that are tying these together (so far) is the belief that mobility holds the key to our industry's future. Mobile VoIP, mobile video, mobile UC... you get the picture.
 
I invite you to take a look at this first batch of interviews. There's more on tap, so check back often.
 
 
Jon R. Doyle, CommuniGate's vice president of business development talks about mobility...
 
Xorcom CEO Eran Gal discusses open source and the opportunity ahead...
 
Vivek Khuller, President and CEO of DiVitas Networks remains cautiously optimistic for 2009...
 
Mike Goodman, Product Marketing Manager of PROGNOSIS gives an Australian perspective...
 
 
GIPS vice president of engineering, Jan Linden previews his sessions at ITEXPO and touts mobility...

Podcast: Interactive Intelligence & Business Process Automation

November 25, 2008 3:18 PM
I recently recorded a podcast with Joe Staples, senior vice president of worldwide marketing for Interactive Intelligence, where we spoke about a new approach to business process automation. Ironically, what prompted this conversation was a white paper written by Interactive Intelligence CEO Dr. Don Brown entitled -- you guessed it -- A New Approach To Business Process Automation. The white paper is available for download here.
 
Staples gives several examples of business processes and how enterprises can really benefit by leveraging some sort of process automation strategy. In his opinion, the current trends of UC and CEBP (unified communications and communications enabled business processes, respectively) are fine as far as they go, but a new approach, one he dubs CBPA or communications-based process automation takes things to another level, offering enterprises a more efficient solution to their business needs.
 
I urge you to give the podcast a listen. It may change the way you view unified communications. If nothing else, it will prompt you to ask more questions of the vendors you plan to do business with.
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