VoIP

Giancarlo Out at Cisco

December 21, 2007

Cisco CEO in waiting, Charles Giancarlo, has resigned. Giancarlo, whose last day is December 31, will reportedly join investment firm Silver Lake as a managing director. Silver Lake, as you may recall, is the investment firm that nabbed Avaya in a well publicized private equity deal last June. In a shift away from current business practices, Cisco Chairman and Chief Executive John Chambers announced that the company would appoint a group of executives to oversee acquisitions and other business deals, as opposed to the current “command and control” organization.

Posted in VoIP

Rumours of Google and Skype... Oh My!

November 21, 2007

There’s goes Rich again, spreading rumours. It’s rumours with a “u” because this particular speculation got its start in the UK, where Jemima Kiss — writing on The Guardian’s pda:thedigitalcontentblog — hypothesized about a Skype/Google marriage.

Posted in VoIP

Milestone! 300th Taqua 7000 Switch Deployed

November 13, 2007

Taqua, Inc., today announced that Clear Rate Communications has deployed the Taqua 7000 Switching System to provide advanced voice services to its growing business and residential customer base in Illinois, Michigan, and Ohio. “With the unique architecture of the T7000, competitive carriers like Clear Rate can deploy and turn up full Class 5 voice services easier and more cost-effectively than with any other competing solution ,” said Eric Pratt, Taqua’s president and CEO. “With 300 systems in service, the added benefit to Clear Rate is that they are deploying a field hardened product.”

Posted in VoIP

ITEXPO - What a Steal...err I Mean DEAL!

November 7, 2007

I’m no criminal, you know. I work hard and I’m as honest as the day is long. But I too have my moments of weakness. For example: I was walking past my VP of Marketing’s desk earlier today and I saw an opportunity.

Posted in VoIP

Covad Sold to Private Equity

October 29, 2007

The private equity trend keeps rolling on... Covad Communications Group Inc., announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to be acquired by an affiliate of Platinum Equity for $1.02 per share in cash. The company’s board has reportedly unanimously approved this transaction. The purchase price carries a 59% premium as compared to Friday’s closing price of $0.64. The deal is expected to close by the end of the Q208. Los Angeles, CA-based Platinum Equity is a global acquisition firm uniquely specialized in the operation of mission-critical solutions and services companies The majority of Platinum Equity’s client lineup is the result of acquisitions made with such companies as General Electric, Vivendi Universal, Hays, CompuCom, Alcatel, Kemper Services, Motorola, Lucent Technologies, Fujitsu, AT&T, and IBM. Platinum Equity was the firm behind the 2005 acquisition of USRobotics, the well known maker of broadband and analog modems and networking solutions.

Posted in VoIP

Merger Rumor

October 19, 2007

So I heard this rumor… and of course I have no way of substantiating it. But I’m real curious so I call one of the major actors in this would be drama, a VP of Marketing in fact, who tells me he’s in a meeting. I ask him to comment on the rumor. He repeats that he is in a meeting and he has to go. Now. Didn’t even say good bye. So I go online and quickly ascertain that the Executive Chairman of one of the companies involved in this rumor is also on the Board of Directors of both companies, who are said to be merging. The companies are said to be merging as equals. I wish I hadn’t slept through investigative journalism 101. I also wish it wasn’t Friday after 5pm, when no self-respecting rumor mill types are answering their phones. I did reach a former Board member of one of the companies, who “couldn’t really comment” but noted the same thing I did, the part about the common ownership across the two companies. So I can’t say who started this rumor, and I certainly can’t say for sure if it’s real, but if the rumor was that NexTone and ReefPoint were going to merge, and that David Walsh of One Equity Partners (the private equity investing arm of JP Morgan Chase) was on the Board of both companies as well as the acting Executive Chairman of NexTone, would that be too much of a stretch?

Posted in VoIP

Broadsoft Connections: Guy Kawasaki and Microsoftâs OCS?

October 15, 2007

I’m out at the Broadsoft Connections conference in Phoenix, AZ and I’m trying to stay as productive as possible while meeting with senior-level executives at a number of Broadsoft’s partner companies. The event kicked off with an introductory keynote by Broadsoft president and CEO Michael Tessler. The theme of this year’s conference, Scaling New Heights, was brought to life by a series of BMX bikers performing acrobatic feats — twists and turns and flips and jumps — on an indoor series of ramps set up for the event. Very exciting, and very fitting given Tessler’s subsequent comments. Tessler spoke about the growth of the market, as well as the growth of the opportunity. He broke the market down for the standing room only audience, and settled on three key areas which will bear watching over the next few years. He cited industry stats that show the potential size of the market as follows: Hosted Voice/Hosted Applications: Infotek said that by 2010 marketplace for hosted voice and services would be $37 Billion, and the hosted voice part of that would be approximately $10B. Business Trunking: Frost & Sullivan stated that connecting customer premise-based equipment to the network was an opportunity approaching $11B in 2006. Residential Opportunity: Back in February, Ovum announced its view that the 2010 worldwide voice/residential opportunity would be equal to about $40 billion. He summed up by telling the audience that the market is growing, and growing quickly.

Posted in Unified Communications, VoIP

Interactive Intelligence Releases v3.0

October 8, 2007

Back in April I had the good fortune to visit with Interactive Intelligence CEO Dr. Don Brown, senior vice president of worldwide marketing Joe Staples, and director of product management, Rachel Wentink. They shared with me their plans regarding a major upgrade to their flagship Customer Interaction Center (CIC) and Vonexus Enterprise Interaction Center (EIC) solutions. I wrote about it here. Well today Interactive Intelligence has announced the official launch of version 3.0 of both CIC and Vonexus EIC. The new version addresses four major customer concerns:

Increased security;
Broader integration;
Simplified deployment; and
Enhanced mobility.

The software’s new security features include support of the secure real-time transport protocol (SRTP) and transport layer security (TLS) standards, providing end-to-end call encryption. Other new security features include recording encryption, stricter password generation requirements, the use of public and private key certificates, and the ability to handle communications between secure and non-secure devices. Version 3.0 also includea new integration to Microsoft Office Communications Server and Microsoft Exchange 2007 Unified Messaging, designed to increase user productivity by embedding call control features into the Microsoft applications.

Posted in VoIP

Make MONEY Selling VoIP!

October 3, 2007

Next Wednesday, October 10, 2007, join TMC for a Webinar featuring speakers from Speakeasy and Polycom. The event will take place at 11:00am PT (2:00pm ET). The Webinar, entitled Making Money with VoIP — Selling to IT Decision Makers is shaping up to be lively and informative discussion of the future of Voice services and how selling VoIP can increase your bottom line. The discussion will also include why Hosted VoIP is uniquely suited to small businesses and the importance of selecting the right partner and controlling the customer experience. Let’s face it, an opportunity to listen to industry thought leaders from Speakeasy and Polycom discussing how you can make money by selling VoIP services doesn’t come along that often. Increasingly, small businesses are demanding the savings and productivity advantages of replacing traditional phone systems with Voice over IP. Gartner predicts the Hosted VoIP market will jump from 300,000 lines in 2005 to more than 6 million in 2009. This is a tremendous opportunity for knowledgeable, prepared IT professionals. Featured presenters scheduled for Wednesday’s Webinar include: Tom Scearce VP of Market Development, Speakeasy Jeff Dixon Worldwide Vice President – VoIP Products & Strategic Alliances, Polycom Erik Linask Associate Editor, Technology Marketing Corporation Mark your calendars: October 10, 2007 11:00am PT (2:00pm ET). Register now!

Posted in VoIP

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