VoIP Blog - Tehrani.com

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Stopping McMansions

I was reading this article today about the proliferation of huge homes on small lots and since many of the cities mentioned in the article such as Westport, Greenwich and New Canaan are located a stones throw from TMC’s Norwalk headquarters, I thought it worth sharing. The gist is it is ok to have a monster mansion on lots of land but not on a puny parcel.

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VocalTec Receives Nasdaq Notification

Last night VocalTec reported they received a notice from the Nasdaq that they are not in compliance with marketplace rules that stipulate the minimum stockholder equity or market value of their shares. Nasdaq is reviewing the company's eligibility for continued listing on The Nasdaq SmallCap Market.

The Company has been requested to provide Nasdaq by August 26, 2005 the company's plan to achieve and sustain compliance with all Nasdaq SmallCap Market listing requirements. If following review of such plan Nasdaq determines that the company's plan is inadequate, Nasdaq will provide written notification that the company's securities will be delisted. The Company may appeal Nasdaq's decision to a Nasdaq Listing Qualifications Panel. The Company is considering its alternatives, including quotation on the OTC Bulletin Board.

This is more bad news from VocalTec, the company I wrote about this morning before I saw this latest announcement.

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New Call Center Blog

Steve Brubaker is one of the nicest people you will meet in the call center business and he knows his stuff, really well. This is why I was so excited to read his new blog where he talks about how important call centers are to the US economy and how important it is to provide good customer service.

With all the companies offshoring and thinking they have o have agents in third-world countries, he asks:

Why aren't companies "wowing" customers today in the USA?  What is the real cost of bringing on new customers only to have them flee to the competition because of poor customer service experiences?

Why do customers have to wait on hold for lengthy periods of time to reach call centers?  Could it be because the bean counters are determining the number of agents needed and "acceptable" hold times based on historical data showing when people tend to hang-up in queue?
 
Why are Agents being hired who do not speak understandable English?  Could it be because the "cost" of agents in third world countries is a fraction of wages here in the USA?

It is no secret that more customer service agents are being off shored by the day and invariably the quality of customer service keeps diminishing. Customers will ultimately tell corporate America that what they are doing is good or bad. Losing customers however is a painful way to find out you have made a mistake.

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EVDO Rev A

David Sims writes a great piece on CDMA2000 1xEV-DO Revision A technology and it is faster as you would expect that traditional EVDO. Verizon and Lucent are trialing this new technology and I can’t wait till it comes out. I can’t tell you how many times this network has saved me in the last year or so since I have had it.

Revision A enables users to receive data (forward link) at speeds of theoretically up to 3.1 Megabits per second, and send data (reverse link) at speeds of theoretically up to 1.8 Mbps. I suppose these terms are Lucent wireless speak for upload and download.

Now I was never able to reach theoretical speeds before the upgrade and I am sure I wont be able to with the upgrade. All I can ask for is that I get a proportional speed jump and I will be happy. I have probably saved a grand total of $50 over the past year by not using WiFi connections when EVDO is available. Certainly the technology didn’t pay for itself but when you factor in the arcane logons you need to do to get on various WiFi connections and the credit card verification, etc. EVDO sometimes can save your life just by being faster to sign on to than WiFi.

The great thing now is that we will be able to use the network for VoIP and video which makes it all the more useful. The question is when do we need to scrap our cable modems and DSL?

I don’t get wireless access at home at all but for millions of people this solution could do the trick for them. The question is, will we need new modems to access this new technology? We will have to wait till 2006 until it is rolled out. Until then, find your closest WiFi hotspot and logon.

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Rich Tehrani “Live” Next Week

One of my favorite things to do is to speak to a live audience and share my thoughts and opinions with them. I especially like the feedback I get from the audience when I am done. The questions, the dialogue, the networking, Q&A, etc. That is the best part of public speaking. When I can throw some humor into a talk, it’s even better. Yes, occasionally communications and especially VoIP can be very very funny.

When I write, I get the chance to edit and re-edit until I feel a piece is perfect. Speaking is so dynamic and that is what makes it so exciting. I never like to repeat a presentation twice. I like things to be different and that is where it gets fun and exciting.

Interestingly I am a victim of my own writing these days as if I speak now and ask the audience a question, it seems that many people in the audience have already read my writings and know the answers ahead of time. This means, I need to constantly mix things up which I love to do.

I plan on spending time this weekend writing some new material.

Drop me a line at rich(at)tmcnet.com if you have anything you want me to cover. Please specify which city you will be attending.

The next stop on my speaking tour is Orlando and I decided to put this nice graphic from Vonexus in my blog as they did a much better job of creating this than I could ever do.

I hope to see you in Orlando, Seattle, and/or Toronto. Here is the schedule for more information.

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Carrier Broadband Forecast

According to DITTBERNER's Worldwide Q2 2005 Broadband Access (DSL) Shipments Analysis, the worldwide market for DSL ports shipped increased by over 25% over last quarter to 17.38 million DSL ports. Of these, 22% were IP-DSLAMs, with Huawei Technologies, Alcatel and UTStarcom as the leading players in this market for the quarter.

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More on VocalTec

One of the more popular things I have written recently has got to be my brief history of VocalTec and judging by the responses I received, I struck a chord with a number of people. On the one hand there are e-mails such as the one below:

Dear Rich,

I read with interest your comments on VocalTec, and I also read the article you referenced.

I certainly remember when VocalTec launched their first off-the-shelf software VoIP product, and I remember them at the Computer Telephony Expos, too (back when Dialogic and Harry Newton held sway).  As an industry market analyst, I could never really figure out VocalTec's business model. Were they a software house, an equipment vendor, a turnkey systems house, or what?

When the Deutsche Telecom deal was announced, I thought I had their business model tied down, but a year or so later, their lead PR lady said, "We think of ourselves as a software house." But even then, I detected the arrogance you mentioned. For at least two Expos I had a difficult time arranging an interview with anyone of import at VocalTec. I was always shuffled off to some sales hack or PR person. In short, I gave up on trying to figure them out.

After the telecom nuclear winter reached its nadir about 2002, I stepped away from tracking the VoIP market and began to concentrate more on the wireless market. But now, the wireless world has finally realized that VoIP is its future, so I'm back again.

Regards,

Will

**********************************************************************
Will Strauss             wis(at)fwdconcepts.com     
Forward Concepts        Tel: +1-480-968-3759
1575 W. University Dr.#111  Fax: +1-480-968-7145
Tempe AZ 85281 U.S.A.    http://www.fwdconcepts.com
**********************************************************************  

Yes, we all miss Harry. If you don’t know who he is, don’t worry about it. If you met him or read his work, he usually makes a lasting impression. Here is a link to his site In Search of The Perfect Investment.

I also received a comment from someone in the marketing department at VocalTec right around the time I stated there were problems in marketing. This person was certainly not one of the people that contributed to the problems at VocalTec so I wanted to make sure that I didn’t lump everyone working for the company in the same category. As I seem to be writing more and more lately, a few bad apples…

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