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Airline Travel in New York Improves

If you commute into New York this week you are likely doing lots of walking. In fact commute is a word you really shouldn't use as you are going to be more walking than anything else. The transit strike has made life tough on a city that is already experiencing low temperatures and record numbers of people wanting to come into the city to shop.

If there is any good news in terms of New York transit it's that the airports will soon become less congested. Thanks to GPS and a new navigation system, JFK and La Guardia airports are about to become more efficient and La Guardia airport which is notorious for delayed flights will be able to accept more planes in inclement weather. Take a look at the article for details.

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Reserve Your Room At ITEXPO

Please please please reserve your room at Internet Telephony Conference & Expo immediately if you plan on coming down to the show. The show hotel is about to be sold out as are all the other hotels in the area. We cannot guarantee that rooms will be available for you. Please do not delay.

Remember next month is peak season in Florida. The prices for flights will increase as will the cost of rooms as we get closer to the show. please don’t pay more than you have to.

I hope to see you at the show in 33 days!

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VoIP Central Round Up

Check Out VoIP Central’s round-up for the year. There are some good stories being linked to from this site.

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Information Technology

Today TMC announced an information technology portal. We have been working on this site for months and it is expected to improve even more over time. To access the site just go to tmcnet.com/it. Please send me your comments on what you would like and what you want approved.

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Newest JibJab

Check it out. The new JibJab video is here.

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Blogfession

There is just something about blogs that make people loosen up and admit to things they may never say verbally. I don’t understand it actually. There is a certain anonymity to blogging. I now write for four print magazines, Internet Telephony, Customer Interaction Solutions, SIP and IMS but when I blog I am still startled on occasion.

Usually what happens is I am attending a trade show and it is late at night in my hotel room and I am sitting at a desk writing. The next morning I see many people who have read my blog already. Two things always make we weird out a bit. The first is how fast people read what I wrote and have formed an opinion about it and second just the fact that when I am alone in a hotel room blogging it just seems unbelievable that I am writing something the entire world has access to. Sometimes I feel like I am writing in a private journal since I am alone when I write.

This sentiment was echoed recently in a court case where a person admitted to committing DUI manslaughter on his blog. This happened after telling police he had no recollection of what happened in a car crash he was involved in. He apparently pulled the steering wheel of a car a as a prank and caused it to roll over repeatedly. His blood alcohol content after the crash measured 0.185, more than double the legal limit. Here is the full story.

Perhaps we need a new term – blogfession to describe these sorts of incidents.

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Airborne

A coworker told me about Airborne and how it helps kill a cold quickly. I have taken these effervescent tablets a few times over the past year and they seem to work very well. I have even had great success with the generic CVS brand as the CVS by my house doesn’t carry adult Airborne.

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AT&T Rumors

I’ve heard a lot of AT&T rumors lately. First of all some within the AT&T organization see the merger with SBC as an acquisition and feel that AT&T is being fit into the SBC culture. One person mentioned in passing that this is not the merger of equals it is being billed as. The differences between the two companies as they were described to me is that SBC is much more military-like or the way AT&T used to be.

Another person told me that they are thrilled with how SBC is handling the acquisition and they think the kinks will soon be worked out and the resulting company will be very strong. In fact they hope to see increased marketing spending beyond what AT&T was able to do.

Yet another person I know is taking the golden parachute and seemed happy. I certainly wish the company luck and hope all my friends at SBC and AT&T benefit from the transaction.

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Cognio

I was recently introduced to Cognio, a company that is able to help companies looking to deploy WiFi telephony or VoWiFi in their organizations. The company has something called Spectrum Expert that monitors your WiFi network for interference from devices on the network. It then sounds an alarm when there is a problem and locates the offending device. Amazingly it can detect interference from cordless phones that don’t operate on WiFi.

As WiFi telephony becomes a larger market it is without question that such a device will be needed to ensure smooth WiFi operation.

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Netcordia

The network monitoring market will be huge as when you install VoIP you also have to ensure your network is tuned for optimal VoIP transmission at all times. You really can’t deploy VoIP on a busy network without also being able to monitor the network effectively. Enter Netcordia and their NetMRI tools. They graphically display the health of your network in a concise and easy to read way. Recently the NetMRI software was upgraded to version 1.5 meaning the software is more flexible and works with ore vendors than ever before.

From an investment standpoint the network monitoring space should be a fantastic area because all networks need this tool. In reality there are about a dozen companies who all think they are leaders in the space yet no one has heard of any of them. Netcordia is one of the better known companies in the space and they do a good job of promoting themselves.

Still by now there should be a clear market leader in this space and a company with real resources could own the market quite rapidly. VCs are you listening?

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Setting Video Game Limits

I don’t laugh out loud too often when reading technology blogs but this entry about controlling your kid’s video game usage is an exception. Thanks Tom!

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Skype Fear

By now you may have heard about how Skype uses a proprietary protocol and as such can be dangerous on your network as you aren't exactly sure what its doing. Recently a more pressing fear has popped onto the scene. Skype's developer program allows anyone to develop applications that piggyback on the Skype network. On the surface this is wonderful but when you peel the onion back one layer you see why this may not be so good.

Skype is an incredible program because it can punch though any firewall and send traffic. When you couple this feature with open APIs you have the ultimate virus/Trojan horse/worm propagation tool.

Is this a bad thing? Well it depends on your perspective. Skype could come up with a management tool that allows an enterprise to manage all of the Skype users on the network and thus ensure security and compliance with corporate policies. How many enterprises have Skype users and aren't even aware of it? If you can't measure the traffic how do you monitor it? Simple, you buy a $100/month site license from Skype to manage all Skype usage.

Imagine 5 million companies around the world paying $100/month.

Let that sink in for a minute.

Ahh now go back to the 2+ billion dollar price eBay paid for Skype. Does it make sense now?

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AGN Networks

Take a look at AGN Networks if you are looking for SIP trunking. What does that mean? Well if you are looking to put in an IP PBX or you already have one be sure to also consider connecting your PBX to the outside world via a SIP trunk so you can leverage the lower costs of termination via VoIP on all your calls.

AGN works with Cisco, Avaya and a bunch of other IP PBX companies. The partners behind AGN have been in the VoIP services business for many years and furthermore one of the partners owns an interconnect business with over 20,000 PBX installs! Based on the above so I am pretty confident their network should be pretty solid. As always, don't take anyone's word for it, do your own investigation before you buy but I would certainly check this company out.

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BlueNote Networks

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VoIP Analysis From Forbes

Some good VoIP financial analysis from Forbes. A summary of Merrill Lynch comments and more can be fount in this article which I pretty much agree with. Excerpt:

After an "eventful week" in Voice over Internet Protocol, Merrill Lynch analyst Glen Campbell concluded "we continue to believe that VoIP, particularly with the portals and Skype now competing for leadership, will separate the access and applications businesses over time."

EBay completed the acquisition of Skype in October.

Last week, "Google launched its mobile e-mail service in the U.S. and entered exclusive negotiations with Time Warner for a 5% stake in AOL," the analyst said in a report.

"While there are many reasons for Google to court AOL, an important implication is that Google might pull AOL, with its huge instant-message user base, out of the Microsoft Yahoo! orbit in favor of its open-standards approach," said Campbell. "Communications applications (instant messaging in particular) have enormous network effects. The established portals and Skype use proprietary protocols for voice communications and have an important head start; Google is playing catch-up very aggressively, it appears," he said.

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AOL and Google

Google will buy a 5% stake in AOL the two companies will work more closely together as follows:

AOL
● Gets to sell Google search ads adding to the portfolio of advertising offerings the media giant has to sell
● Will make their IM software work with Google
● Will work with Google to digitize and search through Time Warner’s massive video archives

Google
● Will ensure AOL appears in appropriate search results (should we be concerned?)
● Gives AOL a $300 million advertising credit

The loser here is Microsoft as the company first started courting AOL and Google swooped in at the last second and stole the deal. Google has a great deal to offer and AOL is already making a bundle by displaying Google ads on its site. Google too attributes 10% of its revenue to AOL this year. We are talking about huge numbers here and this partnership is good for consumers in my opinion as it strengthens Google and AOL/Time Warner and keeps Microsoft one step behind.

I would imagine that AOL and Google’s VoIP offerings will soon interoperate as well. This is good new for VoIP users and perhaps bad for eBay/Skype.

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Tom Ridge to Speak at ITEXPO

I am looking forward to hearing Tom Ridge’s comments at the upcoming Internet Telephony Conference & Expo this month in Ft. Lauderdale Florida (January 24–27). Secretary Ridge will present his thoughts on a number of issues ranging from security to how we can effectively improve the state of 9-1-1 service in this country. The event will also feature an E-911/Regulation Summit, which is a must-attend for anyone interested in learning more about the pertinent regulatory issues facing VoIP companies today.

Some of the session titles that will be featured in Ft. Lauderdale include:

· VoIP’s Role in Military & First-Responder Communications;
· VoIP Regulatory Update; and
· E-911 Technical Session

These sessions will serve as an update on VoIP regulatory and compliance issues. Attendees can get up to speed on the latest situation regarding the support of CALEA, E-911, and taxation issues. Recent FCC rulings will be explored and the ramifications for the industry will be addressed. Some topics covered will include where carriers stand in their ability to support 9-1-1, wiretapping, and the touchy issue of taxing the regulated providers to pay to support these initiatives.

Topics will also range to discuss the technological advantages of using a VoIP-based solution in times of crisis such as the recent hurricane strikes that damaged traditional telecommunications networks. If you need to know how today’s solutions work, and how they might work in your network, you need to attend this Summit. If you are at all affected by our emergency response system - and I imagine that’s pretty much everyone who reads this column - you will likely want to be at the show to hear what Mr. Ridge has to say. I look forward to seeing you there.

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