January 2008 Archives

Charlotte Wolter Joins TMCnet

January 31, 2008 10:12 PM | 0 Comments

I am proud to announce that Charlotte Wolter is joining our roster of TMCnet contributors and she  will be writing about the service provider space. I have been a huge fan of Charlotte -- her insight and writing and am thrilled to have her join us.

Earlier this week, we announced Gary Kim is joining the TMCnet team and just about a week earlier it was Jon Arnold joining us. The TMC team keeps growing and it is thanks to all of our loyal readers like you as well as our sponsors and advertisers.

We will never forget that your loyalty provides us with unheard of readership and we pledge to continue to hire the best talent and cultivate our current team of writers to provide you with the ultimate and most complete communications and technology news, opinion and analysis.

Here is some background information on Charlotte:

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Charlotte Wolter has been a technology journalist and analyst for 20 years, managing publications, writing articles and reports, and providing consultation about market trends.

She is a principal in The IP Voice, a consulting firm working with businesses and industry organizations to develop and execute business and communication plans and materials. She assists companies with a wide variety of business issues including the development of business plans, and provide strategic guidance about market trends, funding and business structure.

She founded and was editor-in-chief of New Telephony, a weekly newsletter about voice over IP. Since 2002 New Telephony has been an authoritative voice about the new developments and trends in multimedia IP communication.

In the past, she has been editor-in-chief of Sounding Board, a monthly magazine about next-generation communication, editor-in-chief of New Media Strategist, a newsletter about the convergence of multimedia and entertainment, and TeleTechnology newsletter, a biweekly newsletter about cutting-edge technology in telecommunications for Baskerville Communications. Before that, she was editor-in-chief of Video Technology News, a technology report on new digital technologies in video.

Ms. Wolter also has produced numerous reports video and telecommunications technologies and business trends, including a quarterly report on new technologies in the satellite industry, titled “The Digital Revolution.”

Charlotte Wolter has been a member of several industry organizations, including the SIP Forum, an industry organization for the development of the dominant technology in Internet communication. She is a frequent contributor to industry forums and conferences as both as a speaker and moderator of panels and seminars.

Miami Beach Apple Store Packed

January 31, 2008 8:45 PM | 1 Comment

It's 8:40 pm on a Thursday night and the Apple store has about 100 people in it. This is truly amazing. Do these stores ever empty out?

Get this... A salesperson told me this is a slow night. Incredible.

Blogged via wireless handheld

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Garmin and Dell in Cells

January 31, 2008 5:29 PM | 0 Comments
As I just mentioned moments ago... Everyone seems to think the cell phone business is a great one to be in. Apple, Google and now Garmin and Dell. A strange time indeed for Motorola to be getting out.

Then again, if they haven't been able to make it so far, perhaps another company will do a better job with their team of employees.
Word is according to CNBC is that Motorola is looking for strategic alternatives for its mobile phone business. I wonder if this move makes sense for the company as this product line is where everyone seems to want to be. Apple, Google, Microsoft and others.

It seems the company just needs to figure out how do get their mobile house in order. It will be interesting to see who wants this business and if it can return to its former glory with other leadership.

At a time when consumer electronics products are literally on fire it is still surprising to me that Motorola has not been able to grow this business and make it the leader in mobile phones that it really should be.

Let's see what the next chapter holds.

See also Greg Galitzine's blog, Is Motorola Finished with Handsets?

Obsolete Wireless Outlets

January 31, 2008 9:54 AM | 1 Comment
Is the era of the wireless retailer dedicated to a single brand coming to an end? Is the recent news that Sprint is closing stores something unique to the troubled phone company or is it a sign of things to come? Should wireless companies embrace the rental car model in airports where costs are lower due to shared overhead?

Tom Wheeler has some fascinating points about this issue.

ITEXPO East 2008 Recap

January 30, 2008 5:10 PM | 2 Comments
You definitely want to check out Tom Keating's writeup of ITEXPO East 2008 where he talks about the great products he saw. Tom got to see more than I did at the show but one point I agree on is MobileMax is an awesome product. Thankfully I had a chance to stop by the company's booth at the show and install the software on my Windows Mobile device.

The company's software resides on a smartphone and intercepts international calls which are subsequently rerouted onto a VoIP network. I am trying this software via Packet8's MobileTalk product.

I can tell you from personal experience that this software works amazingly well and allows you to easily call international numbers from a cellphone without the need for calling card PIN codes, etc.

The best thing about this product is that it requires zero change in user behavior.

There is also a JAVA-based solution coming which will work on Motorola and other handsets which are not technically "smart." Users with such handsets will need to select an icon on the home page to dial an international number. After you click on th icon, you are presented with your name directory and then you just make a call as you normally would.

Mobile VoIP is certainly an area of excitement and opportunity. While there are so many people saying there is little innovation/opportunity left in communications, I keep seeing more and more at each ITEXPO and elsewhere.

What's your take?

The iTunes PIA

January 29, 2008 10:35 PM | 0 Comments
So a while back... I don't even know when, I somehow downloaded Quicktime. It was back in the days when Apple was the company we all felt sorry for. Perhaps a decade or so ago. Once the software was installed, you didn't have to update Quicktime that often as even the hackers it seemed felt sorry for Apple and didn't bother writing malicious exploits to take advantage of the software.

Subsequently there seemed little reason to update it.

Then somewhere along the way as Steve Jobs turned Apple around and the computer company became the cool consumer electronics company and subsequently Apple started to push (or to be more politically correct -- bundle) iTunes with Quicktime.

Consumers didn't have a say in the matter as the two software packages worked in unison... Like peanut butter and chocolate or a bad fever and aches and pains. Of course I say this because I am not an iTunes user but somehow this software is on all my computers. I am not sure how this product invaded hundreds of megabytes of space on my various hard drives but it did.

I may have even inadvertidly clicked on something in the past that installed iTunes -- the hard disk absorbing monstrocity on my system.

Worse than the install itself is the constant updating of the software which I don't even use. I have thought about removing it but I worry about the repercussions. I don't have an iPhone but my mother does. Would they shut her iPhone service down if I uninstall the software?  After all, I got her the phone. Worse yet, will angry pro-Apple hackers take down my blog server because they now know I am not an iTunes user. To set the record straight... I have 2-3 iPods that people have gotten me as gifts. I don't use them but I do have them.

But still, the software keeps updating. And as I sit here on a wireless connection that is painfully slow to begin with I wonder -- boy do I ever, wonder why I pressed the button to start the download of 65 megabytes of software update I will never take advantage of.

Florida Animal Shots

January 29, 2008 11:26 AM | 1 Comment
Here are some shots of Florida attractions I took recently and I thought you might enjoy. Credit to Parrot Jungle which is now Jungle Island and the Miami Seaquarium for providing the animals, etc.









TMC Welcomes Gary Kim

January 29, 2008 9:56 AM | 0 Comments
Please join me in welcoming Gary Kim to the TMC editorial team. As you no doubt have realized by now, TMC is doing its absolute best to provide the industry with the world's best writers and thought leaders.

This news follows the announcement from just a few weeks back that Jon Arnold has also joined the TMC team. With these two additions, there is no doubt TMC is in an excellent position to provide the world's best communications content. Both Arnold and Kim will focus primarily on service provider topics.

Here are the details.

SIP Trunking Interview

January 28, 2008 10:33 AM | 0 Comments
Recently TMC and Ingate teamed up to provide the fourth SIP Trunking educational sessions at an Internet Telephony Conference & Expo. I just saw that Greg Galitzine had a chance to interview Olle Westerberg the CEO of Ingate regarding his thoughts on these sessions. Here is the resulting article and it is worth a read.

700 MHz Auction Update

January 26, 2008 9:30 AM | 2 Comments
So far in the 700 MHz auction there have been bids totaling more that 2.4 billion and in about a month we should know who won. There were just under two thousand bids for this precious spectrum which could become a viable competitor to DSL and cable.

Five spectrum “blocks” are on the table: A (698-704 MHz and 728-234 MHz), B (704-710 MHz and 734-740 MHz), E (722-728 MHz), C (746-757 MHz and 776-787 MHz), and D (758-763 MHz and 788-793 MHz). Collectively, the entire 700 MHz spectrum covers the analog TV channel range 52-69.

It seems to me that Google absolutely needs to ensure some of this spectrum falls into friendly hands -- even if it has to purchase frequencies and lease them out to other companies.

Of course it isn't just Google who is in this position... Microsoft, Yahoo!, Amazon and others are similarly challenged.

Google's need to acquire some of this spectrum is in exact contrast to the incumbent providers who have to do their best to ensure the spectrum does not fall into the hands of companies which would reduce their negotiating power in generating more revenue from their existing broadband connections.

We should know who the winners and losers are in about a month and this TMCnet article has more on the topic.

ITEXPO: Mustang Winner

January 25, 2008 2:45 PM | 0 Comments

This man just won the Mustang Convertible here at ITEXPO in Miami... Thanks everyone for making this show so successful. The winner's name is Luis Navia, President of Ofinet a local systems integrator.

Blogged via wireless handheld

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ITEXPO: Invisosoft Launches

January 25, 2008 12:10 PM | 0 Comments

Florida-based Invisosoft launched a great suite of products at ITEXPO East 2008 here in Miami.

Think of the company's products as WebEx on IP steroids.

The ASP.NET-based IP communications system allows you to do desktop sharing, remote access and conferencing with 16 video participants and 30 audio.

There is complete document integration, annotation and secure communications between subgroups on a conference. There are alerts, presence and lots more.

You can purchase a P2P retail, hosted and enterprise versions of this software as well as a classroom package.

Blogged via wireless handheld

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ITEXPO: SIP Forum Session

January 25, 2008 10:55 AM | 0 Comments

The SIP Forum is having a smash up and overflowing session here at ITEXPO East 2008 this Friday morning in Miami.

Blogged via wireless handheld

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ITEXPO: FMC Enterprise Roundtable

January 25, 2008 10:00 AM | 0 Comments

Here some shots of the Friday morning FMC ITEXPO session where panelists discussed enterprise phone choices such as Microsoft Windows Mobile and other topics.

Blogged via wireless handheld

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