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Femtocells in the News

January 28, 2009 8:36 AM
The femtocell is indicative of much in the technology world these days.
 
Analysts are generally in agreement that the market opportunity is large, and yet fits and starts - typical of early days in any sector -- abound. Verizon's newly released Network Extender has met with mixed results. T-Mobile's HotSpot@Home service was well received, but ran into a bit of a patent issue late last year. And Ars Technica is reporting today that AT&T slipped up and released details of their offering into the space:
 
The new offering will be called 3G MicroCell, supports voice and 3G data, and allows 4 simultaneous calls or data sessions.
 
The product details reported on a new AT&T page, since pulled, were discovered by Engadget and SlipperyBrick.
 
Adding to the femtocell conversation, IntelliNet Technologies today announced the development of a new integrated femtocell gateway, which combines a femtocell access point controller with a carrier grade security gateway in an industry standard AdvancedTCA platform.
 
The idea behind this offering is to give service providers and wireless operators the ability to manage thousands of femtocells at once.
 
Anjan Ghosal, president and CEO of IntelliNet Technologies said:
 
Cellular phone service is now in line with traditional wireline as a subscriber's primary mode of communication. Our femtocell gateway offers carriers the means to heighten subscriber loyalty by drastically improving call coverage in the home or office building - areas notorious for poor service.

Digital TV Transition Put on Hold

January 26, 2009 9:55 PM
old school tv.jpg
Delays, Delays...
 
Looks like the pending transition to digital TV (DTV) will be pending a while longer.
 
Reports abound that the Senate has unanimously voted to delay the cutover to DTV from the original February 22nd date to mid June.
 
Now, consumers have until June 12 to decide whether they want to buy a converter box, a digital television, or switch to a cable or satellite service.
 
 

Analyst: Netbooks to Surge

January 26, 2009 11:03 AM
I bought a netbook, then I returned it without even opening it. It was a good deal, but even still the price was so close to the cost of a full-fledged laptop (with optical drive, bigger hard drive, bigger screen, etc...) that I thought I would either continue to live without or simply wait until the next generation of netbooks arrived.
 
I have always believed that the holidays are the worst time to buy technology as the stuff they announce at CES a month later is always more exciting. (I take buyer's remorse to extreme levels when it comes to gadgets and tech...)
 
Maybe waiting was a good thing.
 
ABI Research just released its forecast for a "market explosion" of netbooks, estimating that in 2009 we can expect to see 35 million netbooks shipped, growing to 139 million by 2013.
 
ABI Research Practice Director Kevin Burden describes the evolution of the portable computing tool, from the PDAs of "old" to the latest ultra-mobile PCs or UMPCs:
 
PDA's began our reliance on instant accessible data while traveling. When PDA functionality converged with cellular voice, smartphones became the new darling of mobile professional technology that many expected to evolve into the hub for all data and communication needs for travelling professionals. Today, with a better understanding for what a smartphone is, is not, and may never be, along with a reality check on the usefulness of UMPCs, the market remains open for new device types.
 
Smartphones did a lot to raise our comfort level with mobile technology as well our expectations for how connected we could be and how accessible information and data should be while on the road. Enter the netbook with its light-weight, medium-sized form factor and low-cost processors leading to moderate overall price points may finally have "right-sized" mobile technology for productive travels.
 
The jury is still out as far as I'm concerned. Netbooks offer a great space saving form factor and light weight, but most keyboards come in at 15-20% smaller than a traditional laptop. For a poor typist (read: fat fingers) like myself, is it worth that particular pain? Netbooks are the perfect device to leverage the wealth of Web-based apps and "from the cloud" computing tools, but why is it so hard to find one with built-in 3G wireless? What about battery life? When can I expect to get 6-8 hours from a single charge?
 
I know, I know, I've read the reports of HP's amazing 8-hour battery life and I've heard about Radio Shack's great deal ($99) that combines an Asus netbook with AT&T's 3G service. But that $99 turns into $1,500 bucks when you factor the cost of the service over the 2-year commitment.
 
Still I am intrigued by the form factor, and I believe that there is definitely a niche, whether it's for people who are extremely cost conscious, or simply looking for an alternate device fort raveling and so on.
 
Regardless of what I think, ABI believes we're on the verge of some serious netbook deployments. As they say, watch this space...

SIP Trunking Podcast: Avaya's Alan Klein

January 26, 2009 8:00 AM
With only one week to go before ITEXPO, it's an exciting time as we make the final preparations ahead of "The World's Communications Conference."
 
One of the elements of the show that has been very successful in the past is the SIP Trunking seminar, organized by Ingate Systems with sponsorship from the likes of Avaya, BandTel and others. The seminar is taking place at this year's ITEXPO as well.
 
Last week we ran a couple of interviews with BandTel's Joel Maloff, including a Q&A and a podcast.
 
We also published an interview with Avaya's Alan Klein.
 
Well we just posted the podcast interview with Alan. Give it a listen.
 
And when you're done, please cruise on over to the ITEXPO site and sign up for the SIP Trunking workshop. You'll be glad you did!
 
 
 

Rich on Microsoft's Response Point

January 23, 2009 2:24 PM
Rich has a nice post about the opportunity for Microsoft's Response Point phone system in the coming year.
 
Microsoft's John Frederiksen, General Manager of the Response Point group will be giving a keynote at the upcoming ITEXPO
 
Also there will be a 2-day Microsoft Response Point Solution Seminar at ITEXPO East 2009 Best part of this (aside from the education) is that it's free.
 
Check out Rich's post for the details.

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.
 
 

SIP Trunking Podcast: BandTel's Joel Maloff

January 23, 2009 10:28 AM
Last Friday I published an interview with Joel Maloff, Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing at BandTel, the SIP Trunking provider.
 
Working together with Ingate, BandTel is a Platinum Sponsor of the "SIP Trunking: Everything You Need to Know" seminars at ITEXPO East 2009, which take place February 2-4, 2009 in Miami Beach, Florida.
 
Well I just concluded a podcast interview with Joel, and so I invite you to listen to that audio interview as well, to get some more information ahead of the seminars.
 
The seminars have traditionally been a big draw at ITEXPO and all forecasts point to another successful installment at the show, which takes place in Miami Beach in just 9 days.
 
Sponsors of the SIP Trunking: Everything You Need to Know workshop include:
 
Platinum Sponsors: Avaya, BandTel
Gold Sponsor: Cbeyond
Sponsors: AireSpring, BBTelesys, Bandwidth.com, Digium, Iwatsu, J Arnold & Associates, ShoreTel, SIP Forum, and VOIPSA.
 
For more information, or to register for the show, please visit the ITEXPO home page.

Copps Named Acting FCC Chair

January 22, 2009 5:29 PM
President Obama has named FCC commissioner Michael J. Copps Acting Chairman of the FCC.

FCC Copps.jpg
 
In a written statement, Copps expressed his gratitude and pledged to serve:
 
I thank President Obama for his confidence in me and for this opportunity to serve. I know that I have a truly gifted and terrific team to work with. I pledge every effort I am capable of to help steer the Commission through its current transition to new leadership.
 
Copps, who has been on the Commission since 2001, previously served as Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Trade Development at the U.S. Department of Commerce from 1998 until January 2001.
 
His colleague, Commissioner Robert M. McDowell shared his thoughts in a statement as well. McDowell, a former FCC lobbyist was previously Senior Vice President and Assistant General Counsel of COMPTEL, an industry organization.
 
According to McDowell:
 
I am pleased that President Obama has announced that my friend and colleague, Mike Copps, will serve as acting chairman of the Commission. I appreciate the sacrifices Beth, Mike and the Copps family have made during his distinguished public service career. I look forward to continuing to work with him at this unique time.

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.
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