May 2006

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VoIP Institute

May 31, 2006

Peggy Gritt who worked for Interactive Intelligence and has spoken at a number of TMC events has gone off and founded VoIP Institute.

Here are some details from the new website which will be updated with new information frequently:

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The VoIP Institute is the first independent organization (not vendor-run) dedicated solely to the user experience. The purpose of the institute is to bring users together for sharing experiences, learning from each other, and advancing best practices.

Join the Voice over IP Institute to...

Meet - meet online and in person at local peer group meetings with other companies who are interested in or deploying voice over IP technology.

Advance - work with other users to develop best practices for implementation planning, system management, remote office deployments, and much more.

Learn - learn everything from the basics to advanced topics - from the technical to the business side of VoIP and SIP standards.

If you could easily find other users of voice over IP and SIP and learn how they are deploying it, applying it to their business, and managing their migrations - wouldn’t you jump at the chance to hear their best practices?

If you are struggling with advanced topics such as SIP standards for your IP-PBX and contact center don't you want to know if other users have saved money and how?

Whether you are looking at the technical aspects of specific devices or want to know how a business case is built - the VoIP Institute serves users and potential users, business and technical interests. Our regional peer groups serve as user groups for the SIP user and general VoIP user community.

Posted in VoIP

Tagged: interactive intelligence, peggy gritt, voip institute : Related Tags: advanced topics, users, institute, business, technical, learn

NexTone

May 31, 2006

I have recently met with the NexTone team and am impressed with many of the initiatives they are undertaking from their university to their extensive and ever-growing interoperability lab. In addition to these positive moves the company has recently appointed Larry Schessel – an ex-Cisco IP communications veteran to the helm of CTO office of CTO under Sridhar Ramachandran who remains CTO.

A bit on Larry… Prior to joining NexTone, he served as Senior Manager at Cisco Systems for both the Service Provider and Enterprise IP Communications Business Units, where he defined SIP and H.323 product roadmaps. Previously, he served in strategic and technical management roles at Siemens. In addition he was awarded several patents for his work in next generation call processing systems.

It is good to see so much positive news coming out of the SBC market and it is worth mentioning that NexTone’s products do so much more than session management.

Posted in Call Center, IMS, SIP, VoIP

Tagged: ims, nextone, sbc, sip : Related Tags: nextone

Om on Vonage

May 31, 2006

Om predicts bad things for Vonage – His readers agree. Does this make Vonage a good buying opportunity? After all, the company has so many seasoned Wall Street veterans in its ranks. Do they know something we don’t? Time will tell.

Posted in VoIP

Tagged: ipo, voip, vonage : Related Tags: vonage

Vonage Shares

May 31, 2006

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Vonage will repurchase shares from underwriters if some of their customers refuse to pay. This is very unusual and speaks volumes about how the NJ based broadband phone company is trying to do what is right by their customers. Of course in the end customers that decide to hold the stock are only going to be happy if the share price increases.

Posted in VoIP

Tagged: ipo, voip, vonage : Related Tags: customers

Quoted in National Post

May 30, 2006

I was recently quoted in this article along with Jon Arnold:

Rich Tehrani, president with Technology Marketing Corporation, said Vonage remains an interesting takeover play for a foreign company that wants to establish a foothold in the United States. "It could be anybody but names such as BT and Deutsche Telekom, and maybe even France Telecom come to my mind as potential buyers."

I would say this article is overly negative but it is still good to put all the cards on the table – good or bad.

Posted in VoIP

Tagged: ipo, voip, vonage : Related Tags:

Comments

Latest News May 30th, 2006

May 30, 2006

I am on the road again this morning so since I wont have time to blog I thought I would give you lots of fun stuff to read in my absence. For example here is a story about who is behind the Internet that has some pretty interesting points. Om has a story about Internet 2 worth reading. And it gets me thinking why if Internet 2 is so fast and was promised to be the future, why the talk of net neutrality an d having to get a second tier of internet service? Why can’t we all just have Internet 2? Andy talks about shadow numbers, Aswath discusses Skype competing with iTunes.

Posted in VoIP

Tagged: voip : Related Tags: story internet, internet, talks

Net Neutrality Politics

May 27, 2006

It is worth reading James Seng on net neutrality politics. It is also worth mentioning that the organization that has the best lobbying and the best lobbyists and the most money generally wins the debate – in our government that is. Think about why we haven’t outlawed the sale of tobacco products in this country. Think about why the government doesn’t force car makers to increase fuel economy standards as strictly as they used to. I could go on but James hints at this and points to a Chicago Sun Times article which contains more info.

Posted in VoIP

Tagged: net, net neutrality, neutrality : Related Tags: neutrality politics

Can You Sue Me Now

May 27, 2006

Apparently claiming you have the least dropped calls can get you the most legal papers from the lawyers of the competition. Sprint is suing (subscription required) Cingular over their new ad campaign regarding dropped calls.

This reminds me that the last time I was on the train from Connecticut to Manhattan my phone disconnected 3 or more times. I was using Verizon Wireless by the way. Someone sitting across from me was able to speak the entire way and he was using Cingular.

Perhaps the Cingular network is now better than Verizon. I would love to hear your feedback.

Posted in Wireless

Tagged: cingulatr, lawsuit, sprint : Related Tags: dropped calls, verizon wireless, verizon, cingular

Comments

Federal Excise Tax Ended

May 26, 2006

I am a bit late on the news here but am glad the federal excise tax is finally being ended. There has to be a better way to tax us than to micro tax everything different percentages. Hopefully ending this tax will start a chain reaction of ridiculous taxes being ended.

For example the gas guzzler tax is not one that makes sense. The tax is buying the gas and that is bad enough.

Posted in VoIP

Tagged: federal excise tax, spanish american war : Related Tags: serious explore, power serious, federal excise, being ended, power, explore

Comments

Verizon's Nancy Gofus

May 26, 2006

Here is a recent Executive Suite interview with Verizon's Nancy Gofus who is the Vice President of Product Management for Verizon Business. Generally these interviews don't break news but in this case it did. I hope you like it.

Posted in Broadband, Call Center, Conferencing, IMS, IPTV, SIP, Technology, Video, VoIP, Wireless

Tagged: verizon : Related Tags: nancy gofus, verizon

VoIP News This Week May 2006

May 26, 2006

There was a moderate amount of VoIP activity this week. AltiGen, Avaya (News - Alert), Verso, Yahoo! and Bell Canada are some of the notable companies.

Some specifics:

Avaya announced on Wednesday that it was selected to participate with nine other companies in a $4 billion U.S. Army project to upgrade voice and data communications infrastructures of the agency's bases worldwide.

Posted in VoIP

Tagged: altigen, army, avaya, nortel, verso, yahoo : Related Tags: infrastructure modernization, announced wednesday, messenger voice, yahoo messenger, yahoo, voice

Enron

May 26, 2006

I hope yesterday' verdict sends a powerful signal to those in a position of power in corporate America and elsewhere. We will no longer tolerate massive theft of shareholder value and the bilking of hundreds of millions from your employees.

Posted in Personal

Tagged: enron : Related Tags:

Sunset Pics

May 25, 2006

Here are some sunset pictures I took today. I hope you like them. I used the autocorrect and am not sure if I improved them or not.

Comments

Amtrak Back

May 25, 2006

For what it's worth my train is now running and was delayed by about 2.5 hours (so they say). It seems that they made an announcement about the problem but since my car apparently doesn’t have broadcast capability we didn’t hear it. Our announcements are now being made in person. My train is also the "default" train so lots of people from other trains have joined us. It isn't too noisy. Everyone seems very happy to be moving.

Posted in Personal

Tagged: amtrak, power outage : Related Tags: train

Andy on Vonage

May 25, 2006

Here are Andy's thoughts on Vonage and the IPO. He is not a believer in Vonage in the long term. I am.

He thinks Jeff Pulver could have steered the company in a better direction but since he was pushed out of Vonage he wasn't able to offer guidance. My question on this is what was wrong with Jeff Citron's guidance?

Posted in VoIP

Tagged: ipo, voip, vonage : Related Tags: vonage, company, services, perhaps, better, harry

Amtrak Service Interruption

May 25, 2006

Not the nest news to read when you are sitting idly on an Amtrak train. Apparently power lines are down in the entire area causing problems for all of us already on trains.

Posted in Personal

Comments

Off to Amtrak

May 25, 2006

I've got a few companies to see today and am traveling once again but for a change I get to take Amtrak and not a plane. I really wish Amtrak went to more places as I love the fact that I can work and travel simultaneously.

Posted in VoIP

Comments

Beyond VoIP

May 24, 2006

World famous writer and thought leader Marc Robins has joined the family of TMC bloggers with a blog titled Beyond VoIP. Marc has written for TMC publications including Communications Solutions and Internet Telephony for years and had an illustrious career working for Harry Newton (remember him) and was an analyst and the VP of marketing at a company that was in the DSP resource board space.

Now Marc, I thought VoIP was it… The end all, be all. What could possibly beyond VoIP? I guess I better check out the blog to find out!

Posted in Consumer Electronics, SIP, Speech Technologies, VoIP

Tagged: dsp, voip : Related Tags:

Telx Event

May 24, 2006

Check out the massive exhibitor list for the Telx Cbx peering event on June 14th 2006.

151Front Street
360 Networks
3U Telecom
AboveNet
Access Line Communications
ADVA Optical
AGL Networks
American Fiber Systems
American Telisis
A.M.S Voicecom
Ancotel (no cha)
Arbinet
Ascent Media
AT&T
Atlanta Inernet Exchange
ATT DG
ATTelecom
BCT
Bell Nexxia
Big Apple Peering Exchnage
BIG PIPE
Brasil Telecom / Globenet
Broadview
Broadwing
Cable & Wireless
Cablevision Lightpath
Calltrade
Cantata
Capanis
Capital Internet
Cat Communications
Cbeyond
Charter Communications, Inc.
Cogent Communications
COLT
Comfluent (no cha)
Comnet
COMPTEL
COMTek Communications
Con Edison Communications
connect.2.world
Covista Communications
Covaro Netowrks
Covista Communications
CRG West
CTC Communications
Cyber Wurx
Dain Communications
DaVinci Integration Inc.
Digital Realty Trust (no cha)
Digital Service Consultants
Direct Partner Telecom
DollarPhone
EasyNet
Eircom
Entel Chile
Epsilon Telecommunications
Epsilon USA
Exponential-e
Fiber Rail
Flex Data
Force 10
Gafachi
Gateway Communications
GDXC
Genesis Networks
Georgia Public Web
GigaBeam
Global Crossing
GLOBAL NAPS
Global Net Access
Global Telecom Exchange
Globix Corp
Go2Call
Great Access
GS Miami
Hibernia Atlantic
HITN
HKCOLO Limited (no cha)
I Flex Soultions
IBN
IceNet
ICG
IDT
Impsat USA
In Office Networks
InfiniRoute Networks
Instanet
Intermedia.Net
InterMetro Communications, Inc.
Internet Telephony
Interoute Communications
Interra Networks
Intra Global Comm., Inc.
Invision
inZon Corporation
ION
IP Retail
IPgrade
Jaina Systems Network
Kancharla Corporation
Kayote Networks, Inc.
KeySpan Communications
Keywest Communications
KPN INS
Last Mile Connections
Level (3) Metro Services, Southeast Region
Looking Glass Networks
MarNoel
Matrix Resources
MCI
Moruda
Movaz Networks
Nationsline
NEON Communications
Net Access
Net One International
NextCarrier
NextCarrier
NextGen
Nobel Communications
NuVox
NY6IX
Oak Ridge National Laboratory
One Ring Networks
OnFiber Communications
Open Access
Optical Communications Group
Orbitel
PAETEC Communications
Peer 1 Network
PPL Telecom
Primus Telecom
Qwest Communications
R&R Telecom
RADCOM,Inc.
Rainbow Broadband
RCN
Reynwood Communications
Rogers
RUSSTEL
sentitO Networks
Simple Network
Sirius Telecom
Stealth Communications
Storewiz
Swiftwill
TelCap
TelCove
Telecom Italia
Telecommunications Magazine
Telefonica USA
Telefyne
Telehouse America
Telemar
TeliaSonera
Telintel
Telstra Incorporated
Terremark
The Spoken Hub
The Voice Peering Fabric
Think IP
Time Warner Cable
Time Warner Telecom
Total Telecom International
Transaction Network Services
Triad Communications Group, Inc
TriMedia
T-Star Italy
T-Systems USA
TT Digital Communications
TuFone
Turin
TVI Connect
Unifi Communications
Universal Access
US Carrier
VeriSign
Verizon
Veroxity Technology Partners
VGM International
Viatel
VoEx
Voice.Sky
VoIP Corporation
VoIP Logic
VOIPME
Voxbone
VSNL International
Waveleap Communications, LLC
WBS Connect
Westin Building
WilTel Communications
WLexchange LLC
WV Fiber
XO Communications
Xspedius Communications
Xyrous Communications
Yipes

Posted in VoIP

Tagged: cbx, peering, telx : Related Tags: sister brother, fellow youths, youths, communications, fellow, fellowship

Comments

Internet Dark Ages

May 24, 2006

The web should remain neutral and resist attempts to fragment it into different services, web inventor Sir Tim Berners-Lee has said.

He warned that if the US decided to go ahead with a two-tier internet, the network would enter "a dark period".

Posted in VoIP

Tagged: net, net neutrality, neutrality : Related Tags:

Comments

Globalcomm Party

May 24, 2006

We have been seeing a nice amount of registrations for the Globalcomm IMS party being sponsored by TMC and the IMS forum. There are service providers, the industry and many analysts registered already. Hope to see you at the IMS Party which by the way is walking distance from the exhibit hall!

Posted in IMS

Tagged: globalcomm, ims : Related Tags: party

Vonage News Page

May 24, 2006

Check out the Vonage News site on TMCnet if you are interested in seeing what is being said about the company. You can not only see what we at TMC are saying about Vonage, you can get a taste of what others around the world are saying as well. There is also a Vonage stock chart so you can keep track of the companies ups and downs and even sideways.

Posted in VoIP

Tagged: ipo, vonage : Related Tags: vonage

Vonage Stock price Drops

May 24, 2006

I told a reporter yesterday that I wasn’t sure if I would invest in Vonage as it first goes public but I would if it dips a bit. I don’t know where the magic number is but I get the feeling this will be a volatile one.

If I am right and it is volatile then the question is what is the low and high point for the stock. I would likely invest if it drops to $12 because I get the feeling that they will soon exceed numbers. I don’t have inside info so consider this pure conjecture and put as much value in this as me telling you to bed on red in roulette.

Here is an article on the stock dropping on early trading.

Posted in VoIP

Tagged: ipo, vonage : Related Tags: stock

More On Inveneo

May 24, 2006

Over a year ago I wrote about a company called Inveneo – a nonprofit producing a bicycle/solar powered VoIP system that can be used in villages where electricity and cell phones are not available. The bike runs on Asterisk and I have had a chance since to pedal this bike.

About 13 months later, Time magazine has gotten into the game and has also written about Inveneo. Here is their excellent article.

Here is an excerpt:

Inveneo was launched in 2004 by three Silicon Valley veterans--Mark Summer, 36; Kristin Peterson, 45; and Bob Marsh, 59--who share a passion for high tech and an interest in the developing world. They had done enough volunteer work overseas to see how wireless communications might improve and save lives--through phone calls to health clinics, fast reporting of natural disasters, support for trading co-ops and better educational opportunities.

So they designed a solar-powered Internet network that is inexpensive, easy to install and nearly maintenance free.

Posted in Open Source, VoIP

Tagged: asterisk, bicycle, inveneo, non profit, open source, solar : Related Tags: relay stations, solar powered, inveneo, solar

Call Centers Changing Lives

May 24, 2006

I actually felt good writing this story. Like I was contributing to something bigger than anything I have written about previously. I hope you read it, it moves you and you find a way to have your corporation participate in this program.

Please enjoy my unedited High Priority column from the June, 2006 issue of Customer Interaction Solutions.

---

I grew up in the call center business and couldn’t be more proud. Call centers have been used for such admirable activities as coordinating live-saving organ transplants to fundraising for virtually all the top charities.

Posted in Call Center

Tagged: call center, military, purple heart, veterans : Related Tags: disabled veterans, veterans affairs, deemed unemployable, purple heart, order purple, veterans

Streaming

May 24, 2006

I normally don’t stream radio or TV at work but I want to keep track of the Vonage IPO so I am going to check out Bloomberg and see what is up.

Posted in Video

IMS Therefore I Am

May 23, 2006

Here is my IMS Publisher’s Outlook – unedited for the June 2006 issue of the publication. Enjoy! ------
"Cogito, ergo sum" (Latin: "I am thinking, therefore I exist", or traditionally "I think, therefore I am") is a philosophical statement by René Descartes, which became a foundational element of Western rationalism. "Cogito ergo sum" is a translation of Descartes' original French statement: "Je pense, donc je suis", which occurs in his Discourse on Method (1637).

The above entry is borrowed from Wikipedia and that smooth-looking European philosopher is responsible for helping define existence.

If we were to update this famous expression to the 21st century it would surely read IMS Therefore I am. In this case I am not arguing existence but perhaps more importantly identity.

Tagged: federation, identity management, ims, liberty alliance, lucent : Related Tags: service provider, service providers, identity management, federated identity, internet connection, service

BayPackets IMS News

May 23, 2006

Great news from BayPackets about what they are doing in IMS (expo, magazine) in association with Intel (community) using the ATCA standard. Intel has been gaining lots of traction in the world of ATCA and more and more vendors have decided it is better to use Intel-Based ATCA building blocks than designing it all from scratch.

Posted in IMS

Tagged: baypackets, ims, intel : Related Tags: intel

100 Million Mobile VoIP Users

May 23, 2006

How do you not take notice at such a number? On World says that by 2011 there will be one hundred million mobile VoIP users and Skype will have 25 percent of the world’s VoIP market and $1.2 billion in voice service revenues. These are very large numbers but considering current growth rates I wouldn’t be surprised if these numbers are exceeded.

Posted in VoIP

Tagged: mobile, voip : Related Tags: million mobile

CNBC on Vonage IPO

May 23, 2006

CNBC had a report on Vonage this morning and mentioned the shares should price tonight. There were a few people being interviewed fro the segment and both seemed bullish on the prospects. The anchor related Vonage’s strategy of losing money to gain share as something out of the dotcom days. One analyst said that Jeffrey Citron is a Wall Street veteran and you shouldn’t bet against him.

The background graphics for the segment were a combination of ads, repeating shots of the Vonage lobby and current Vonage CEO Mike Tribolet demonstrating a WiFi phone at his desk. Surprisingly Mike was being shot from over his right shoulder and not his front. Om's take.

Posted in VoIP

Tagged: cnbc, ipo, voip, vonage : Related Tags: vonage

Sonexis

May 22, 2006

The conferencing market is fascinating to me as it is an area of continuous high-growth. Many conferencing companies actually saw business conditions improve dramatically in the post-911 world where travel began to die off. Since 9/11 it seems companies are beginning to see more and more use for conferencing in their organizations. The conferencing growth charts I see are – off the charts. You just can't talk about this market enough because it is growing so fast and as it does the technology allows more and more people to collaborate more effectively.

Posted in Conferencing

Tagged: conferencing, sonexis, voip : Related Tags: conferencing market, audio conferencing, applications conferencing, communications standards, future conferencing, conferencing

Google Pages Update

May 22, 2006

I have been having some fun with Google Pages. I really like how simple it is to design pages with this service. It isn’t very sophisticated but then again it is as easy as humanly possible and it just works. I really like it. If you are creative and want to mess around with creating your own pages it is an easy way to get started. I just updated my VoIP Digest page a few hours ago and you are welcome to see how it looks.

I am no Picasso but then again I only spent a few minutes on this.

Posted in Google

Tagged: google, google pages, pages : Related Tags: google pages, pages, google

Comments

New Call Centers

May 22, 2006

Here is a new resource for people who are interested in tracking all of the new call centers that are opening in the world. This page will keep you up to date on the newest call centers, the location, number of seats, the expected number of seats, the date of the announcement and opening date. In addition there is information on the size of the center in square feet and the company name associated with the center.

Check out the New Call Center site for more information.

Posted in Call Center

Tagged: call, call center, center : Related Tags: number seats, center, opening, centers

Comments

Can Encrypted VoIP Be Bad For VoIP?

May 22, 2006

An article in the New York Times today titled Voice Encryption May Draw U.S. Scrutiny starts out with the following sentence:

Philip R. Zimmermann wants to protect online privacy. Who could object to that?

The answer of course is no one except law enforcement agents. While I admire what Phil Zimmerman is doing I hate the fact that he is associating VoIP with the ability to encrypt conversations.

Posted in VoIP

Tagged: pgp, sip, voip : Related Tags: privacy, article, encrypted, listening, while, immerman

Comments

Moby on Net Neutrality

May 20, 2006

I am a big Moby fan. Perhaps you are as well. I think he may even live in Darien, CT the next town over from TMC’s offices in Norwalk. If you aren’t aware, Moby produces primarily dance/techno music and at one point annoyed artist Eminem so much that Eminem decided to tell Moby that nobody listened to techno on one of his hit records.

Here is the Internet News story about net Neutrality and Moby.

Posted in Broadband

Tagged: moby, net neutrality : Related Tags:

Comments

VoIP URLs For May 2006

May 20, 2006

Here are some recent VoIP URLs that have been registered. My favorites are freeskypevoip.com (I wonder when they will get an e-mail from eBay’s lawyers), milliondollarvoipservice.com (Could this be Alex Tew?), voipcalll.com (nothing like a typo to get people to remember your URL), inflightvoip.com (nothing sarcastic to add, this is a very useful one) and last but not least voipvaluation.com (perhaps one day we can learn whether or not Vonage makes a good or bad investment!)

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3rdwavevoip.com
atl-voip.com
birminghambusinessvoip.com
birminghamvoipservice.com
bizvoips.com
broadvoicevoip.com
broadvoxdirectvoip.com
cheap-voip-phones.com
cheap-voip-products.com
dectvoip.com
developmentvoip.com
e-voip.info
freeskypevoip.com
globalvoipphones.net
inflightvoip.com
livescorevoipdiscount.com
milliondollarvoipservice.com
myvoipsaves.com
ofvoip.com
okanaganvoip.com
okanaganvoip.net
prodottivoip.com
productvoip.com
skypevoips.com
testingvoip.com
voiceglovoip.com
voip-de.net
voip-installations.com
voip-kostenlos-telefonieren.info
voip2006.info
voip2gether.com
voipcalll.com
voipcallss.com
voipcoupons.net
voipflyphone.com
voipforcheap.com
voipfyi.com
voiphow2.com
voipinalabama.com
voipinbirmingham.com
voipmarketdirect.com
voipmarketonline.com
voipmarketsite.com
voipmarketworld.com
voipmx.net
voiprecall.com
voipsptunt.com
voipure.biz
voipure.com
voipure.info
voipure.net
voipure.org
vst-voip.com
vvoipcall.com
vvoipcalls.com
worldvoipphones.com
wtnvoip.com
wwwvoipcall.com
wwwvoipcalls.com
yourvoipbusiness.com
cnbcvoip.com
creativevoip.com
goldentelecomvoip.com
lsuvoip.com
netflixvoip.com
offervoip.com
primetimevoip.com
providersolutionvoip.com
the-voip-store.com
unvoip.com
voip-solutions.us
voipblackberry.com
voipcreative.com
voiplogo.com
voipprimetime.com
voippvtltd.com
voipremier.com
voipremier.net
voipremium.com
voipremium.net
voipserver.info
voipthefuture.com
voipthestory.com
voiptrouble.com
voipvaluation.com
voipworldstore.com
ywvoip.net

Posted in VoIP

Tagged: skype, voip : Related Tags: softphone, comvoip, softswitch

Comments

Jimmy Hoffa

May 19, 2006

I am waiting to pick someone up at the train station and just found out that Jimmy Hoffa's remains may soon be found. Expect to see the news and tonight shows to milk this on for all its worth. Story: http://go.sosd.com/servlet/nrp?cmd=sty&cid=RIM&pgn=1&ino=360407&cat=National&lno=1

Posted in Personal, Personal

Comments

Cavaliers/Pistons Photos

May 19, 2006

Check out the new pictures of the Cleveland Cavaliers/Detroit Pistons game.

Tagged: cavaliers, pistons : Related Tags:

Verizon Convoy

May 19, 2006

Yesterday I was driving and saw a convoy of Verizon trucks. For some reason I thought this was funny and had to take a photo of it without killing myself or the other drivers. I wonder what a good caption for this picture would be.

Any Ideas?

Posted in Broadband, IMS, SIP, VoIP

Tagged: verizon : Related Tags: verizon convoy, convoy, verizon

Comments

Tekelecâs Frank Plastina

May 19, 2006

Service providers, session border controller makers as well as Broadsoft and Sylantro will likely be interested in the latest Executive Suite with Tekelec’s CEO Frank Plastina. In addition if you love or hate IMS you will be very interested in Frank's candid comments.

Posted in IMS, VoIP

Tagged: ims, tekelec, voip : Related Tags: frank plastina, frank

VoIP Tutorial

May 19, 2006

Check out this VoIP tutorial site. Pretty quick way to get lots of people up to speed on a specific product or service. Perfect for customers, salespeople and even support personnel.

Posted in VoIP

Comments

JOHN CLEESE'S LETTER TO AMERICA

May 19, 2006

A friend just sent me this. Not sure if John wrote this or not but it is funny. ----

To the citizens of the United States of America:

In light of your failure to elect a competent President of the USA and thus to govern yourselves, we hereby give notice of the revocation of your independence, effective immediately. Her Sovereign Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, will resume monarchical duties over all states, commonwealths and other territories (excepting Kansas, which she does not fancy).

Your new prime minister, Tony Blair, will appoint a governor for America without the need for further elections. Congress and the Senate will be disbanded.

Posted in Personal

Comments

MPLS

May 19, 2006

There is more and more talk of MPLS it seems it is the buzzword of the month. Irwin Lazar talks about this a bit in his blog. I am seeing a similar correlation between VoIP and MPLS btw.

Posted in VoIP

Tagged: mpls, voip : Related Tags: correlation between

Comments

Russell on Plantronics

May 19, 2006

Great job Russell on covering the new Plantronics headset that does everything. The Voyager 510-USB Bluetooth Headset System does bluetooth and VoIP and seems to connect with just about everything. I wonder if the next release will support WiMAX and GSM as well so we can get rid of our cell phones.

Posted in VoIP

Tagged: bluetooth, plantronics, voip : Related Tags:

Comments

AOL/Broadwing

May 19, 2006

Andy has some commentary here on why AOL would choose Broadwing over Level3. Here is an excerpt: One of the knocks I regularly hear about Level3, despite their quality is that they don't price out versus others, so with bandwidth becoming a commodity, their are deals to be had. But Broadwing, not to be confused with Verizon's VoiceWing, is one of the networks that can best Level3 on what the network can do, and now they have beaten them with a big win.

I wonder if Broadwing will be a serious challenger to Level3 going forward. There is likely enough business for both but until recently Broadwing was very quiet.

Posted in VoIP

Tagged: aol, broadwing, level3 : Related Tags: broadwing, level

Apple Store New York

May 19, 2006

What is more amazing? The fact that Apple is a runaway leader in the retail space or the fact that their latest store in New York is now open 24 hour hours a day, 7 days a week. The store will have more than 100 Macs and 200 iPods for customers to try before they buy. The store is located on 5th avenue.

This announcement begs the question – do we really need to have a store that sells electronics 24x7? I suppose in the city that never sleeps we need Apple salespeople that do the same.

Read all about it on Tom Keating’s blog.

Posted in Consumer Electronics

Tagged: 5th avenue, apple, ipod, new york : Related Tags: store, apple

Houston WiFi

May 19, 2006

Houston has released a draft for city-wide WiFi according to Save Muni Wireless. Here are some interesting details from the blog entry: The City's vision is to apply ubiquitous, low-cost wireless Internet access as a foundation for the City of Houston to become the most efficient, effective and responsive city government in the nation—while stimulating economic development and promoting digital inclusion for low-income and disadvantaged residents. One remarkable part of this proposal is that it explicitly embraces the concept of "net neutrality". The City will require that the operator open up the network to wholesale service, which would allow any ISP to participate. Chalk that up to another exciting innovation that's being driven by muni networks. It would seem that in the long run, service providers will see more and more competition from the cities.

Posted in Broadband, Wireless

Tagged: broadband, houston, net neutrality, wifi : Related Tags: houston

Comments

AMD in Dell Servers

May 19, 2006

Here are some of Om’s comments on the AMD/Dell deal. This story is major news. Om thinks that in the future Dell will not only use AMD chips in servers but in laptops as well. I tend to agree since AMD announced it will soon ship 64-bit dual-core processors designed for laptops. One interesting point here is that in the HMP space or host media processing where the CPU acts as a DSP, many of Intel’s rivals hope AMD does better and better. The reason is that Intel HMP solutions don’t work on AMD chips. Many other ones do.

Posted in Technology

Tagged: amd, dell, intel : Related Tags:

More Vonage IPO Analysis

May 18, 2006

Here is my June 2006 Publisher’s Outlook in Internet Telephony Magazine which is important because I discuss the Vonage IPO. Everyone from friends to relatives are asking me about what they should do. I hope this helps:

-----

Coming Soon: The VoIP IPO

Somewhere around 1998 or a stockbroker acquaintance called me to tell me about a great opportunity - and proceeded to tell me how it was a great time to purchase AT&T. I explained the whole concept of IP telephony to the broker.

Posted in VoIP

Tagged: france telecom, mitel, skype, voip, vonage : Related Tags: france telecom, early early, institutional investor, telephony magazine, service providers, vonage

Comments

What Happens Here Now Gets Out

May 18, 2006

Much to the horror of millions of carefree visitors to this Mecca in the dessert, apparently what happens here no longer stays here. VEGAS.com claimed a big win, increasing their sales by 85 percent with Interactive Intelligence (News - Alert)’s Customer Interaction Center (CIC).

Posted in CRM, Call Center, SIP, VoIP

Tagged: call center, interactive intelligence, vegas : Related Tags:

To Akron, Atlanta and Back

May 18, 2006

I had a fun but tiring trip from LaGuardia Airport to Akron, Ohio to Atlanta, GA and back home. I got to fly on AirTran to Ohio and was dreading flying on this airline. For some reason I associate the airline with budget crappy service. Big mistake.

Posted in Technology

Tagged: airport, akron, atlanta, buick, satellite, xm : Related Tags: satellite radio, atlanta airport, quaker oatmeal, radio, atlanta, people

AMD 64 Bit Laptop Chips

May 18, 2006

I really want a laptop with these new 64-bit dual-core processors. I can’t wait for them to come out in actual products. We just ordered a bunch of laptops with dual core Intel 32-bit processors and I hear they really scream. Also See: AMD ships the first 64-bit, dual-core mobile chip; Intel's answer won't be long in coming.

Posted in Technology

Tagged: 32 bit, 64 bit, amd, laptop : Related Tags: laptop, intel

Comments

EVDO in Akron Ohio

May 16, 2006

The one area Verizon Wireless might want to look into is Akron, OH where the EVDO speed rivals snail mail. The good news about my stay is that the University of Akron WiFi Access is ubiquitous throughout their campus. I spoke their today. The one challenge is how tight the WiFi security is.

Posted in Technology

Comments

IMS Magazine Issue 2

May 16, 2006

Issue # 2 of IMS Magazine (April 2006) is now live on TMCnet. Feel free to check it out.

Posted in IMS

Tagged: ims : Related Tags:

Cavaliers vs. Pistons

May 16, 2006

Last Night I had floor seats to the Cleveland Cavaliers/Detroit Pistons game. It was a great experience and the crowd was amazing. It was deafening but exciting. I got to see many of the players close up.

Posted in Personal

Tagged: cavaliers, pistons : Related Tags: cavaliers

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Test Blog

May 16, 2006

I am having blog difficulty today but since many of you will read this (assuming this gets posted), shouldn't we have deployed the National Guard to the Mexican border the week after 9/11? I happen to think a robust market of immigrants is healthy. We should change our legal immigration system to allow the correct people into our country quickly and efficiently.

Posted in Personal

Comments

President/CEO/Director of VoIP Company

May 15, 2006

Someone I know well who has run a public VoIP company is looking for a new opportunity. He is a seasoned VoIP executive and is dynamic, professional and has the rolodex of media contacts, etc. He will work in any Sunbelt state in a company around $20 million or so that may want to go public soon. Let me know if you need such a person.

Posted in VoIP

Comments

GIPS Enabled Speakerphone

May 15, 2006

I am in the airport now (what else is new). I am speaking at a direct marketing event tomorrow in Akron, Ohio. I will be addressing how to build a superior website. The show organizers thought I would be the right person to discuss this topic after learning about all the traffic TMCnet is generating each month. As many of you know w surpassed a million unique, filtered visitors (not to be confused with unfiltered that includes bots, spiders and junk). We also rank in the top 1,400 out of all sites in the world. After that I am in Atlanta speaking to more resellers about how to get into and profit from VoIP and IP communications. Anyway I recently learned about a new company called LifeSize which has a conference phone that is supposed to be of the highest quality.

Posted in VoIP

Tagged: gips, lifesize : Related Tags: traffic

Comments

Skype Goes Dialpad

May 15, 2006

Dialpad was the first company to allow free calling on landline phones in the US. This was a dotcom luxury we all thought. Almost immediately this unknown company acquired just under 20 million users worldwide keeping in touch with US-based relatives.

Now Skype has decided to make SkypeOut in the US and Canada also free meaning it will become a DialPad clone. By the way, Dialpad is now part of Yahoo! and no longer offers free service.

This news should result in even more users for Skype’s telephone service. This is very very big news.

Posted in VoIP

Tagged: dialpad, skype, voip, yahoo : Related Tags: dialpad, skype

Comments

MTV URGE

May 15, 2006

Now that MTV has decided it will compete with iTunes by offering downloads of music and eventually videos, one wonders how many potential competitors there will be in this space. How many can the market bear? Will content providers ever say enough is enough and stop new outlets from getting a hold of their songs and videos?

From where I stand this competition for the consumer will put content providers in a better and better position to negotiate lucrative deals. Then again do content providers even need a service like iTunes or Google?

Posted in Technology

Tagged: apple, itunes, mtv, urge, voip, vonage : Related Tags: content providers, studios content, content, google, providers, market

Instat on IMS

May 13, 2006

This is worth reading for you IMS enthusiasts. Instat warns of putting all your eggs in the IMS basket. Here is a salient quote: (IMS)-based applications have lots of potential uses, but chances are, none of them will result in a windfall in consumer spending.

My take? Instat may be right or wrong.

Posted in IMS

Tagged: ims, instat : Related Tags: consumer spending, instat, consumer, still, billions, carriers

Comments

Vonage IPO Views

May 12, 2006

I have had a few questions regarding the Vonage IPO recently. One question was at the Aculab Ace event and yet others are verbally or in an e-mail. I responded to one this morning and I believe it may be worth sharing. Again, I am not a certified investment planner but for what its worth, here are my views:

------

Hi Rich,

I found many of your articles and blog commentary helpful and enlightening.

Posted in VoIP

Tagged: ipo, voip, vonage : Related Tags: thoughts vonage, vonage customer, vonage, stock, service, think

Comments

NSA Recording

May 11, 2006

I am not at all surprised that the NSA is recording all calls. Many of my friends in the DSP business told me about the massive quantity of boards they sold to the government during the downturn -- after 9/11. The primary use for these boards is speech rec. The security agencies certainly weren’t building IVR systems or prepaid calling card apps. No one in telecom should be surprised by this news.

Posted in Speech Technologies

Tagged: nsa, speech : Related Tags:

Restaurants in San Francisco

May 11, 2006

After my speech today I had a conference call and then we were off to dinner. Now San Francisco can be surprisingly hilly -- especially China Town which was a stone's throw from the conference. The people here must be in great shape because you have so many sharp inclines to navigate. By the time we left to go eat we were all starved.

Posted in VoIP

Tagged: china, voip : Related Tags: floating sushi, counter clockwise, especially china, people, restaurant, china

Comments

Click Fraud

May 10, 2006

I was speaking with one of the most knowledgeable people I know in the call center and online advertising market. He has been spending tens of thousands of dollars advertising on Google. Recently he hired an analyst to go through where his clicks were coming from. They found a number of fraudulent "spam" sites sending traffic to them.

Posted in Google

Tagged: click fraud, google : Related Tags: click fraud, fraud, google, click, money, business

Comments

Triple Play Symposium

May 10, 2006

People keep asking me about the Triple Play Symposium. Here are the dates:

June 13 – Dallas, Texas - Omni Dallas Park West Hotel
June 15 – Boston, Massachusetts - Waltham Conference Center
June 21 – Paris, France - INSTITUT DE FRANCE, Hôtel et Bibliothèque Dosne – Thiers

And the answer is no, you can’t afford to miss it if you are serious about triple-play. You need to be there. Sign up now to ensure a spot.

Posted in Broadband, IPTV, Open Source, Technology, Video, VoIP, WiMAX, Wireless

Tagged: data, iptv, triple play, video, voice, voip : Related Tags: triple

Aculab Ace Progress

May 10, 2006

I have met lots of companies here. A good portion of the communications industry is in attendance from vendors such as Pronexus, Alliance Systems and Touchstone Technologies to companies in the prepaid business you may not be familiar with. There are people from all over the world here. It has been good to catch up with old friends this week. I think I have made a few new ones as well. Looking forward to speaking today.

Posted in Call Center, Conferencing, Open Source, SIP, Speech Technologies, VoIP

Tagged: ace, aculab, voip : Related Tags:

Mitel IPO

May 10, 2006

Big news for Mitel Networks. Many companies in communications are looking to make big moves now that the financial markets are more favorable. Mitel has always been a great technology company… I wonder how the public markets will perceive their offering.

Posted in VoIP

Starbucks

May 9, 2006

I have always been jealous of people that can walk to Starbucks. There is one across the street and I am in the need of some caffeine. There are no coffee makers here at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco so off I go. Will catch up with you later.

Posted in Personal

DSP Board Vendor Consolidation

May 9, 2006

I keep hearing the rumors of more DSP board consolidation. The word on the street is Excel Cantata may purchase a rather large DSP Resource board vendor. There is so much money out there that this would not surprise me. I saw a similar thing happen with Aspect Software in the call center space. Concerto purchased Melita, Rockwell Electronic Commerce and Aspect and renamed the company Aspect Software. There were other companies picked up as well but these are the ones that come to mind.

Posted in VoIP

Tagged: dsp, hmp, telephony : Related Tags: aspect software, board vendor, aspect, board

Vonage Shares For Customers

May 8, 2006

Many in the industry are telling me that Vonage is giving customers the option to buy stock early. I haven't had a chance to verify this yet but it seems legit.

Posted in VoIP

Tagged: voip, vonage : Related Tags: great opportunity, vonage, early

Comments

JFK Signage

May 8, 2006

I am at JFK and flying American. They have been working on the short term parking lot here for quite some time requiring you to park elsewhere. I parked at terminal 2 instead of 8 and had to take the monorail. The monorails need better signage. I don't take it often enough to know which direction to take. New York directional signs have much room for improvement. In general that is. I would take California signs any day as they are well thought out compared to many other cities.

Tagged: jfk, monorail : Related Tags:

Apple beats Apple

May 8, 2006

It looks like Apple Computer will be able to continue to sell music under the Apple brand in the UK. They just won a lawsuit brought on by the Beatle’s label Apple Corps. You know I figured the surviving Beatles would all be Mac fans and have iPods.

Posted in Consumer Electronics, Technology

Tagged: apple, lawsuit, music : Related Tags: apple

Aculab Ace

May 8, 2006

This week I am off to San Francisco for the Aculab ACE event. I can't wait to give my keynote address. On the plane I plan on adding lots of new material to my presentation. I also have to get through about 15 magazines.

Posted in VoIP

Tagged: ace, aculab, blackberry : Related Tags: hopefully

Side Effect of Blogging

May 5, 2006

The more you blog, the more e-mail you get. Of course my fellow bloggers know this. I find it amazing how many people find blog entries from the past few years and send me e-mails on various topics. I get many requests about investment opportunities to helping people fix their VoIP or broadband problems.

Posted in Technology

Tagged: alexa, tmcnet : Related Tags: always, tmcnet

Interop

May 4, 2006

I spent a full day at Interop and got to cover the whole show in less than a day which is always a plus. In addition I even got a chance to hit a few receptions and see two wedding parties casually strolling through the casino.

Who would have thought that a strip of desert would become one of the most popular destinations in the country based on gambling, weddings and bachelor parties. Of course there is more... Sports, great restaurants, shows, etc but it is tough to fathom how quickly this strip of sand has blossomed in the past 15 years alone.

But back to the show, there were a few booths towards the front of the hall that did well and some others had good traffic depending on the appeal of their offerings.

Posted in Conferencing, Personal, SIP, Technology, Wireless

Tagged: interop, linksys, netgear, skype : Related Tags: foundry networks, products, company, conferencing, wireless, devices

Worst Job Ever

May 4, 2006

Here is a video that many in telecom will appreciate. This video is potentially offensive so please do not look at it if you are easily offended or are a minor or in the presence of minors.

Click to see this video now.

Posted in VoIP

Back From Vegas

May 4, 2006

I just got back from Vegas and thankfully stayed on east coast time while I was out there so I am not feeling any jet-lag – yet anyway. I am still catching up on all the news I missed while away but was interested in the fact that the FCC has mandated CALEA compliance for VoIP. This makes good logical sense and I haven’t heard any grumbling from VoIP providers so I assume this will be relatively easy to implement for most carriers.

On a related security note, Fox News (why do they use that awful blue background on their stories?) reports that Moussaoui will receive life in prison instead of the death penalty. Apparently he yelled out “I won”, “I won” when the verdict was read.

Posted in Conferencing, Google, VoIP

Tagged: adcenter, microsoft, moussaoui, skype, skypecast, vegas, verizon, voicewing, voip : Related Tags: skype, search

Skype 2.5

May 2, 2006

Skype just released the new addition of its software. As part of the new software enhancements, registration is simplified for new Skype customers, and dialing traditional phone numbers is more intuitive, making calls to landlines or cell phones anywhere in the world, easy and affordable. Features such as improved conference calling offer better voice quality.

Simple prompts while Skyping allow users to adjust how they manage their internet connection to ensure they have the best possible call quality. Other new functionality includes built-in, localized payment options, in over 15 currencies.

Posted in VoIP

Tagged: skype, voice communities : Related Tags: phone number, mobile phone, addition software, improved conference, internet connection, skype

Comments

Asia Telecom M&A

May 2, 2006

I while back I wrote about the M&A market in telecom and I didn't factor in the Asian players into my analysis. So in order to be balanced, I decided to get a perspective from someone who is intimately involved in the telecom market and who works for UT Starcom, a major Chinese telecom equipment provider. Farshid Mohammadi is a VoIP and IMS industry icon and couldn't be better positioned to tell us where the Chinese/Asian telecom players fit into the overall mix.

Here are his comments:

An interesting phenomena is happening. The Asian vendors who have been the beneficiary of more cost effective labor and manufacturing are finding that to succeed in international markets in any significant way, they would have to staff up in their beachhead markets.

Posted in Broadband, Conferencing, Google, IMS, IPTV, Technology, Video, VoIP, WiMAX, Wireless

Tagged: alcatel, ims, lucent, m&a, merger, telecom, ut starcom, voip : Related Tags: telecom market, telecom players, telecom, market, players, markets

Joe Sanscrainte

May 2, 2006

For companies who have call centers and were in any way affected by the do not call list, you may be familiar with a company called Call Compliance and its former general counsel and director of regulatory affairs, Joe Sanscrainte. Joe is one of the true thought leaders in the do not call regulatory market.

Joe has now joined international law firm Bryan Cave LLP in its New York office and should be a tremendous asset. Aside from do not call, Joe is also expert in the inbound side of the call center business and is intimately familiar with the potentially new legislation that will affect call centers. For example there is talk that politicians will force call centers to connect callers to a live agent if they press one.

Posted in Call Center

Tagged: bryan cave, call center, do not call, privacy : Related Tags: jodie bernstein, sanscrainte, former, director, regulatory, teleservices

Comments

One Night in Alexandria

May 2, 2006

I went to an Avaya media/analyst reception last night which was held at The miX Lounge in THEHotel, Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino. As one of the people at the party said it, "We have to thank Avaya because they normally wouldn't let people as old as us in here."

It was really a nice bar/lounge and there were some amazing appetizers. I decided to stay on east coast time so I had dinner before the reception which meant I had no room for the appetizers that looked amazing. I did have one truffle appetizer and some champagne but other than that primarily imbibed H2O.

I had a chance to talk with Avaya CEO Don Peterson who was telling me a bit about their new announcement focusing on the hosted market.

Posted in VoIP

Tagged: avaya, immigration, peterson, strike : Related Tags: hosted market, night, people, avaya, strike, because

RIM Vs. Visto

May 1, 2006

Blackberry maker Research in Motion must have incorporated on Friday the 13th because they seem to continually be in the spotlight for patent infringement problems. This time it isn't NTP but Visto who wants (take a wild guess) an injunction and monetary damages.

Here is a quote from Tom Keating's blog.

"Friday's sweeping decision against Seven Networks validates our claims that Visto's intellectual property serves as the basis for this industry's birth," said Brian Bogosian, Visto's Chairman, President and CEO. "There was no ambiguity in the jury's decision. Likewise we believe that RIM's infringement of Visto's technology will be halted.

Posted in CRM, Technology, VoIP, Wireless

Tagged: blackberry, e-mail, infringement, injunction, ntp, patent, rim, voip, wireless : Related Tags: research motion, visto, motion, research

TMCnet breaks One Million Unique Visitors

May 1, 2006

I just landed and checked e-mail and one of the first messages I saw is that TMCnet broke one million filtered unique visitors in the month of April 2006.

I was really hoping April would be the month we reached this goal.

I have to thank you once again for visiting TMCnet and helping us achieve this goal. By the way the official number is 1,053,840.

We have two more goals. One is Alexa of 1,000 -- which would put TMCnet in the top 1,000 sites in the entire world. We are currently ranked 1,387 so we are close.

Posted in Broadband, CRM, Call Center, Conferencing, Consumer Electronics, Google, IMS, IPTV, ITEXPO, JITC, Open Source, Personal, Rates Technology, SIP, Speech Technologies, TMC Video, Technology, Video, VoIP, WiMAX, Wireless

Tagged: alexa, tehrani, tmc, tmcnet : Related Tags: unique visitors, million unique, tmcnet, million, unique, visitors

Flying Record

May 1, 2006

I recently contacted the Guinness Book of World Records as I am off yet again to another show. This time -- Vegas -- Interop. They told me not to get my hopes up. I did tell them that the last two flights I had were on time and they said if I have two more flights on time in a row I may place for an on time record.

I have a few important meetings at Interop and am surprised at how few calls I got for meetings as my name is on the press list.

Posted in Technology

Tagged: interop : Related Tags: interop

Triple-Play Symposium

May 1, 2006

Service providers from around the word are signing up for the second annual Triple-Play Symposium. TMC is a title sponsor of this event – The symposium is being hosted by Netcentrex and iPlay3. Light Reading and host of other media outlets are also sponsoring. Be sure to be there. The events take place in Dallas, Boston and Paris. Here is more information.

Posted in Broadband, IMS, IPTV, SIP, Video, VoIP, WiMAX, Wireless

Tagged: broadband, iptv, triple play, video, voip : Related Tags: symposium

Skype and Polycom

May 1, 2006

On the surface, it may not seem like big news... Polycom a leader in conferencing and Skype a leader in VoIP come together to make a new product -- a portable speakerphone that works with Skype. But, aside from allowing you to have conference calls with other Skype users the product is a harbinger of great things to come.

Initially this announcement will be a huge legitimizer for Skype in the enterprise. More enterprise customers will consider Skype since Polycom has indirectly put a seal of approval on its software.

Posted in VoIP

Tagged: hig fidelity, polycom, skype, stereo, voip : Related Tags: skype polycom, better quality, internet telephony, computer screen, polycom companies, skype

Comments

Communications and Technology Blog - Tehrani.com

May 2006