July 2006 Archives

Kazaa Pays $100 Million

July 27, 2006 9:22 AM | 1 Comment
Kazaa will be paying record companies $100 million dollars in damages. "Kazaa was an international engine of copyright theft which damaged the whole music sector and hampered our industry's efforts to grow a legitimate digital business," said John Kennedy, head of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), in a statement.

As those of us in the communications space know, Kazaa was developed by Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis, the creators of Skype. These guys have to be some of the most press worthy people around -- everything they do seems to turn to gold -- and generate tons of free press.

They have recently set out to revolutionize the world of video distribution as well and one wonders what sort of empire they will build this time around.

Q-6000

July 26, 2006 5:53 PM | 0 Comments
Take a look at this monster platform from Alliance Systems, the Q-6000 has quad dual core processors in a fault resilient chassis.

The system leverages the highest performing Intel E8500 chipset that supports four-way, EM64T 64-bit operation and dual-core Intel Xeon processors with a 667 MHz front side bus, hyper-threading technology, and 64 GB dual-channel DDR2 memory. Several new memory features are quite interesting such as 4-way interleaved, hot-add, memory mirroring, and memory RAID.

Using PCI-Express, the system drives throughput to the storage subsystem at a substantially higher rate than previously recognized with PCI technology. This performance is realized primarily during data transfers in storage intensive applications. Storage capabilities include up to ten Ultra320 SCSI drives using the dual-channel SCSI controller.

SugarForge

July 26, 2006 5:46 PM | 0 Comments
SugarForge – take a look at how the CRM market is opening up its APIs.
 
 
 

VoIP Applications Advance

July 26, 2006 5:37 PM | 0 Comments

The next generation of IP communications applications and devices will be better than what we have seen to date. Integration is something we will see more and more of as IP allows voice, once and for all, to be integrated into the fabric of communications as well as the infrastructure of organizations, operating systems, and myriad computing environments.
 
It is the ubiquity of IP that makes it possible for VoIP to integrate so well with its “peers,” instant messaging and video.
 
In two weeks, the world’s IP communications developers will converge in Santa Clara California for the annual VoIP Developer conference, known to many as VoIP Devcon.
 
This particular event is exciting for the industry, as numerous key companies will be making major developer announcements and holding developer events in conjunction with the show. Avaya, for example, will hold its Developer Day on Monday, August 7th, and Ubiquity will host a solution day focusing on topics such as SOA, media server applications, and business opportunities for developers.
 
AOL also will have a slew of developer sessions regarding AIM Phoneline that will be worth attending - but I am under NDA, so I can’t tell you more… You will have to come to the show to learn the details.
 
SIP Foundry, too, will have a conference track at this show, with a total of five sessions focusing on topics from SIP user agents to SIP security and more.
 
Other notable event participants include AudioCodes, Cantata, Aculab, Data Connection, LignUp, Eicon, Trinity Convergence, Texas Instruments, Sangoma, Intel, and Digium. In addition, there will be networking events sponsored by Global IP Sound and Avaya. For a complete list, check out the Web site.
 
As IP PBX features become more and more similar, the differentiating factor in the PBX space becomes the development environment provided by the IP PBX vendors. Similar to the PC space in the 1980s and the OS space since the dawn of time, whichever company has the most partners developing custom applications will win the war.
 
While many PBX companies have developer programs, not all companies are focusing enough attention on attracting developers to these programs - some companies are half-heartedly looking for developers to join their programs. In contrast, Avaya and Inter-Tel are two of the companies that seem to really be focused on attracting more resellers to their platforms.
 
This concept is not lost on many in the IP communications industry, as more and more companies are launching developer programs. Expect to see a number of high profile announcements in the upcoming weeks regarding development programs in the communications area.

If you think there are any holes in this logic, just look to Skype to see how its developer program is reaping tremendous benefits. Look to Intel, which also sees an ecosystem of communications partners using its components and ACTA platforms to build products.
 
Developer programs have become such an integral part of the success of so many tech companies that it makes sense to consider one. Remember, no company can do everything itself, and even Google, a company with seemingly unlimited resources, has opened up some of its APIs for others to take advantage of.

Zultys Out of Business

July 26, 2006 2:59 PM | 0 Comments
Zultys Out of Business
I just
read that e-mails from Zultys are being returned saying the company is out of business. I hear there was a problem with the financing. Investors decided not to back the company further. I imagine it is too soon for the poor Avaya quarter to have had an impact on Zultys funding but who knows. I am going to reach out to the company and see what I can uncover. By the way, TMC’s Greg Galitzine broke the story.

Update:

I just spoke with Iain Milnes the founder of the company and he said they are ceasing operations and terminating employees temporarily -- until they get financing. They feel they have a great product portfolio and a great channel – I agree. They are looking for investors who see this value. Contact
iain.milnes@zultys.com for details.

Further Update: The company was purchased and is doing well. I have had numerous meetings with the company's management. Here is the latest news on Zultys.
Expect a new Quintum Tenor VoIP product that is fault resilient. The product ensures operability even if an IP network, or the IP PBX that controls IP phones, goes down. The phones in remote locations register with Quintum's Tenor, allowing calls to still be made over the PSTN, thus facilitating the notion of survivability.
I recently received this e-mail regarding my 23 rules of public speaking. I went back and reread it and it seems a bit strong but certainly I still believe all of the points I made.

What are your thoughts?

----------------------------------------

To: Rich Tehrani
Subject: The 23 Rules To Becoming An Excellent Public Speaker

Back in 2004 you wrote this article. It is as topical today as it was then.
I follow your words, faithfully.

As chapter president for a national organization I often send people to your article on the web site and make sure they have read it, before I will entertain them coming to speak to our group.

Thanks again.

Howard Pierpont CBM CBCP
DEG Security, Compliance and Continuity Program Office - Manager
Intel Corporation

Mitel and Proximiti

July 25, 2006 11:30 AM | 0 Comments
The hosted SMB space is not being ignored by Proximiti Communications and Mitel who will be jointly targeting the market with Proximiti service and Mitel equipment.

Avaya Replaces Don Peterson

July 25, 2006 9:23 AM | 0 Comments
Avaya announced a profit decrease and replaced Don Peterson as CEO on the same day. Louis D’Ambrosio is the new CEO. I liked Don – he was a great guy. Unfortunately on Wall Street how nice you are rarely matters – it is all about the bottom line. Avaya’s biggest competition comes from Cisco and then possibly open source communications such as Asterisk. Admittedly the Asterisk threat is a way off but it should be on the radar.

If I were Avaya I would focus immediately on getting the peer to peer technology acquired by Nimcat Networks into the hands of small resellers around the world. One of the fastest growing areas of business will be the SMB market and Avaya really doesn’t play there. This is the golden opportunity for D’Ambrosio.

Other areas I would think about would be a focus on the service provider market. Yes I know the point of spinning off Avaya was to have it focus on the enterprise but in the history of telecom when enterprise spending softened, service provider spending usually did the opposite. So to diversify it makes sense to target service providers. They should likely make an acquisition or two to make this happen. Perhaps a session border controller company and possibly Sonus.

Finally the company should focus more on consulting and integrating. These are still high-margin businesses and can yield plenty of hidden profit. I would also get more involved in CRM integration.

Finally, the company should focus more on what it can do for customers – case studies, examples of how it has helped companies become more profitable and provide better service. Their marketing campaign should focus on how they can make you more money. Decreased time to decision, increased productivity from the warehouse to the boardroom. 100% of the focus needs to be on the customer.

Then they should tie this in with a campaign on helping customers from the smallest to the largest. They should be size agnostic.

If they implement these ideas they will do very well. Cisco’s massive mindshare in the IT department still makes the San Jose-based company a serious threat but Avaya has a sterling reputation and brand and I believe solid execution will turn their fortunes around immediately.

VoIP Peering Web Summit

July 24, 2006 4:17 PM | 0 Comments
You all know what a fan of VoIP peering I am and to make sure you know how serious I am about this topic we decided our new Web Summits will feature VoIP peering as the first topic. Here is some information on this summit and how you can register to learn more about this exciting opportunity.

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On Thursday, July 27, TMC presents its first Web Summit in partnership with J Arnold & Associates. Covering VoIP Peering opportunities for service provider, this live Web event is the first in a series of Web Summits targeted at service providers. Each will focus on thought leadership from the industry's leading companies and the host, Jon Arnold, one of the IP sector's most highly-regarded analysts.

Thursday's Web Summit - "VoIP Peering - Why The Time Is Now" - features three companies who are at the vanguard of this emerging space - XConnect, Kayote Networks and NexTone Communications. These companies have an intense focus on peering and will provide an invaluable perspective on the state of VoIP peering and what the opportunities are for service providers. In addition to providing their individual perspectives, Jon will engage them in a roundtable discussion to explore the issues in greater depth, following which, participants will ask questions of their own.

Interest has been very strong for this Web Summit, which promises to be highly interactive and informative. To ensure your participation, register now.

Date: July 27
Time: 2:00PM EST

Sponsored By: Xconnect, Kayote, NexTone, J Arnold & Associates, & TMCnet

On-Demand Call Center

July 21, 2006 1:39 PM | 1 Comment
As more and more call center decision makers are faced with the ability to try hosting their software, I thought it made sense to point out the fact that TMC recently unveiled a new On-Demand Call Center channel filled with information on this exciting and certainly dynamic space.

I know the CRM market is how a huge proponent of hosting and call centers aren’t that far behind. In fact the fact that Oracle/Siebel recently purchased Telephony@Work shows how important this market is to Oracle.

Larry Ellison really doesn’t miss too many trends – remember he has been a supporter of hosted CRM solutions for years.

What is an Animation Worth?

July 21, 2006 1:19 PM | 0 Comments
What is an animation really worth? 100,000 words? Now that’s a lot of words. The point is it may be possible to get your customers buying VoIp products more quickly by allowing them access to animations that explain complex ideas in easy to understand graphics. Here is a recent release from Techtionary for more information:

Cut Sales Prospecting Time, Delay & Confusion
Try Our Exclusive TECHtionary.com Sales Presentations for iPod or PC... Starting at $200
If a picture is worth 10,000 words, an animated online presentation is worth 10 times 10,000.
 
“We cut confusion regarding VoIP and complex technology.  This shortens prospecting sales time, buyer review time, help sales staff understand what they sell, lower customer support costs resulting in increased customer satisfaction.  That is, you can’t sell what you don’t know,” noted Tom Cross, TECHtionary CEO.  “We produce online presentations that are also visually-engaging, fast-paced and fun,” he added.
 
TECHtionary.com is widely acknowledged to be a leading producer of “virtual or animated” product/service web or iPod/PC format online presentations.  These online or iPod/PC presentations are designed for users and dealers of Broadsoft, Sylantro, NEC, Avaya and other VoIP and softswitch providers.
 
Online, iPod or PC presentations are available beginning for as little at $200 each customized with a dealer logo. Samples are available at http://www.techtionary.com (See VoIP Business Issues or How VoIP Works)
 
To get going today, call Tom Cross at 303-594-1694 or email cross@gocross.com.
 
------------------------------
Still not convinced, read on.
           
In evaluating these new online presentations, Chuck Griffin, iPath CEO, noted its three immediate benefits.  First, when TECHtionary’s VoIP online presentations are shown to prospective customers, complex concepts such as multi-office dialing, integrated access, outlook integration, SIP, and many other operations are reduced to an easy-to-understand format.  He also noted that a “pictionary” presentation reduces the days customers require to evaluate the process.
           
Second, “When it comes to the costs associated with customer support, they can ‘break-the-bank.’  It isn’t the first or second phone call that causes support costs to skyrocket.  These are the result of customer staff turnover and new-hires,” Griffin added.  “The TECHtionary.com Phoneset installation animation on Broadsoft, Sylantro, Cisco, ShoreTel, NEC, Polycomm and other platforms are known to save substantial amounts of time because support calls don’t come in one-at-a-time.  Normally, dealers receive large bursts of support calls, forcing many callers to give up their efforts to obtain explanations for their queries. TECHtionary.com Phoneset animations provide a pictorial approach that greatly reduces the number and length of such phone calls, thus saving thousands of dollars while at the same time providing cost-efficiency and insuring increased customer satisfaction.”
           
Third, Griffin added, “When it comes to client satisfaction, customers seek a relationship with a vendor who will respond during the after-sale period. They want to be sure that new features can be added or changed as new services emerge.  TECHtionary’s online presentations easily meet these and other business challenges.”
           
A user who is thrilled by such new online presentations is Cindy Johnson, Director of Technology, Lee County Schools, Sanford, North Carolina.  “TECHtionary.com animated web online presentations virtually eliminate users’ training problems.  They reduce the hours of classroom time and problems with scheduling. They simplify how and when to provide classes for those who missed a training session.  To sum it up, these presentations have a nice, clean look.”
           
Other sample online presentations can be found at: http://www.techtionary.com/voip
 
Still not convinced.  Look at what people are saying:
 
“TECHtionary's 90-second VoIP web online presentations are an exciting new way to get a quick handle on this often misunderstood new technology.  TECHtionary.com's online presentations provide concise definitions, illustrated by excellent graphics for a huge variety of terms of art from the converged worlds of virtually all communications mediums.  It is a basic and essential learning tool both for the newly initiated and long-time professionals working or planning to work in the industry."  Gary B. Witt - Executive Vice President – Colorado Telecommunications Association
 
“In regard to the new 90-second web online presentations on VoIP, TECHtionary leads the way.  In fact, TECHtionary is as often as good as any sales person as it’s available to customers 7x24 and, most importantly, to the real decision-makers in the organization. TECHtionary also opens up all kinds of new concepts and allows viewers to explore complex issues over and over again until they get it."  Justin Chris-Tensen Vice President & General Manager, Channel Sales
 
“TECHtionary may have finally made VoIP understandable.  These new 90-second web online presentations show "how it works" in terms even my mom would understand.  The "business benefits" make me want to buy today.  As a comprehensive tool, TECHtionary has demonstrated the ability to eliminate confusion, reduce errors, improve self-confidence, and, most of all, avoid the need for representatives to delay their sales activity while awaiting explanations from the home office.”  Peter Meyer - Call Centre Director
 
"How VoIP Works in 90 Seconds" and "Business Benefits of VoIP in 90 Seconds" are great online presentations for anyone who is evaluating VoIP.  I often make presentations to the School Board and these presentations certainly help key decision-makers understand the technology and their benefits faster and easier.  These presentations reduce confusion, are short and to the point and are far more exciting than your typical boring PowerPoint presentation.  In addition, it saves me a considerable amount of time preparing a presentation.  I would encourage any VoIP vendor to get TECHtionary's help in building these online presentations on all their Products and applications.” Cindy Johnson, Director of Technology, Lee County Schools, Sanford, North Carolina.
 
As a consultant and expert witness, I am frequently faced with technology which can be confusing for clients and therefore requires translation into useable information for these clients.  The 90-second online presentations on VoIP produced by TECHtionary.com, for example, can reduce confusion considerably.  In addition, very often, clients have many people involved in various facets of the decision making process.  These online presentations
can help considerably to reduce the evaluation period “wait time” since they are concise, visual and detailed enough for just about anyone.  Paul C. Daubitz – President – ATI-Telemanagement - http://www.ati-telemgt.com/
 
ABOUT
TECHtionary.com produces online presentation including iPod and PC formats sales brochures, virtual installation manuals and animated online presentations.  The company has more than 2,810+ free online presentations on data, internet, wireless, Voice over Internet Protocol, PBX Systems, central office switching, protocols, telephony, telecommunications, networking, routing, IPTV, WiMax, power systems, broadband, WiFi-wireless fidelity and other related technologies available at http://www.techtionary.com.  Thomas Cross is a magazine columnist with many key technology publications and a member of the Technical Board of Advisors for the VoIP-Security Alliance.
He can be reached at 303-594-1694, or cross@gocross.com

IP Unity News

July 21, 2006 11:23 AM | 0 Comments
I was recently in Minnesota and when I was there I didn’t get a chance to check out the massive unified messaging deployment by IP Unity. In my recent tour of the country IP Unity kept coming up again and again as a partner to a number of companies in the service provider space. You figure communications is very important in a place like Minnesota where a few months a year it is too cold to go outside. While I was there I learned that it gets so cold they golf on a frozen lake with colored golf balls. They also build little houses on the lake for ice fishing. Sounds like lots of fun but you’ll wanted some heated gloves if you aren’t accustomed to extreme weather.

ACLU

July 21, 2006 11:14 AM | 0 Comments
The ACLU is not too happy with the AT&T/Bellsouth merger.

Buy Music With no DRM

July 21, 2006 11:03 AM | 0 Comments
DRM or digital rights management can save you a dollar every time you download a song. At least this seems to be the case as Yahoo! and Sony are offering music downloads that are DRM free but are charging $1.99 per song instead of the standard iTunes price of $.99. I think DRM is a great concept but inhibits use of content to some extent. The reason is that every user is different and some want to listen to music in multiple places on multiple devices and DRM is not as flexible as it could be.

So DRM keeps people from truly maximizing their use of the music and other content they pay for.

Here is the article that clued me into this news.
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