Communications and Technology Blog with the latest news in the IP communications, telecom, VoIP, call center and CRM space, with plenty of opinion & analysis...
I bet you never thought you would see the day when Greg Galitzine, TMC's Editorial Director would be on camera with Carl Ford -- Ex-Community Developer for VON but sure enough the pair are here for all to see, discussing the new 4G Wireless conference named 4GWE.
In his new role as VP of CrossFire Media, Ford explains how his backround has always been heavy on wireless and moreover he discusses how many people he expects at the event.
According to Ford, some areas of focus of the event are:
There was a time when Apple accused Microsoft of being the 800 pound gorilla of software and using its weight as an unfair weapon against the competition. Fast forward a decade or so and Microsoft is seeing competition from all directions and Apple is becoming the 800 pound gorilla of tech. When a company gets so big, there comes a point at which they start to get a reputation of being closed and an evil monster - keeping the competition from surviving.
That point may be this month as more and more companies are being refused from the Apple Application Store which you need to be in to legally have your applications downloaded onto iPhones and iPod Touch devices. Just five weeks ago I wrote about MailWrangler being refused access to the store by Apple and now the latest company to be rejected is Opera - their Mini browser is very good and I have used it successfully many times on my Windows Mobile XV6800 device. Apple's Safari is a great browser and I have nothing bad to say about it except that it does crash from time to time. Allowing users to legally install Opera Mini on the iPhone affords Apple customers the ability to browse sites which currently are not browsable - which is why they bought the device in the first place.
I realize Apple has a loyal following and I know I will get angry emails from Apple shareholders and other loyalists. Still, I really don't care about short term complaints as I can see far enough into the future to know that if Apple continues its dominance, it will eventually be dealing with antitrust lawsuits. Another possibility is that the really good developers will migrate to Windows Mobile, RIM and/or Android.
At this point though the plethora of iPhone applications is just so great that I find it hard to see how other phones can catch up to the breadth of available iPhone software. So I would imagine the antitrust issue could come up sooner than we think. This assumes of course the iPhone continues its breakneck speed of adoption, which it no doubt will.
This issue may not be so cut and dry. I did some more research and came across this entry which implies that nothing was submitted to Apple and thus nothing was rejected. Moreover, a specific version of the Opera browser may not comply with the Apple SDK. Details from Daring Fireball. Apologies to my readers and Apple on this matter. More details to come as they emerge.
In an economic slowdown, companies need to focus now, more than ever on their communications solutions. Today's technologies can make your company more efficient, save you money directly on communications costs as well as travel and even real estate.
Recently I had a chance to speak with Praful Shah, VP of Strategy from RingCentral, a company providing hosted communications services and he told me the last four weeks have seen business increase dramatically.
In a reaction to this increase, RingCentral surveyed its customers and found some very interesting trends. The company framed the survey as how Main Street is reacting to Wall Street - with a specific focus on the SMB.
Here are the results:
75% of small businesses have been negatively impacted by the economic downturn
72% of small businesses are reducing overhead costs due to the economic downturn
Nearly a quarter of small businesses are reducing overhead costs by eliminating cost of physical office space
Only 16% of small businesses have staff centralized in one physical office
72% work from a home office
29% have staff in multiple locations across the US
18% identify themselves as road warriors
What are the takeaways here? Small businesses are moving away from a centralized, physical office - working from home and on the road. They are also reacting rapidly to economic conditions as evidenced by the fact that almost three quarters are cutting overhead and a surprising 23% are cutting physical office space.
What is interesting is that in an environment where companies are looking to cut costs, they realize they can save money by being more productive and efficient. And the influx of new customers coming to RingCentral just show the world that today's communications services allow unprecedented levels of productivity and efficiency and ultimately pay for themselves quite rapidly.
Today the TMC team announced a new venture in partnership with Carl Ford, Scott Kargman, Joann Varello and others from the former VON team who currently work for Crossfire Media. The partnership includes web sites and events and will focus on the fourth generation or 4G wireless space.
It goes without saying that Carl and Scott are very well known for the strong relationships and community the built in the fledgling days of IP communications. We entered this partnership with Crossfire Media to leverage these relationships. Moreover, we believe when you combine the relationships of Ford and the Crossfire team with the ones Dave Rodriguez, Greg Galitzine, Tom Keating and others at TMC have developed, you get an unbeatable combination. We are confident this partnership will lead to some of the best products around catering to the 4G wireless world.
Our first online product is 4GWirelessEvolution and you can see it has the full resources of TMC's global editorial team of 75-100 international contributors behind it. In addition, we are thrilled to have the content of Carl Ford and a number of others from the former VON community living on this site. We are confident this portal will be the defacto location the world will turn to for its advanced wireless news.
Our first event is 4GWE and will take place February 2-4, 2009 in Miami, FL. This conference will be the place the global 4G wireless community will come together to learn about, network and do business. As you may have noticed, this event will be located at the same time and place as ITEXPO and as such attendees to either event can opt to have access to the other.
It seems to me the industry has taken a keen interest in this new partnership as evidenced by the chatter on the Internet today. Here are some of the entries which caught my eye so far:
Andy Abramson (Thanks to Andy to alerting the blogosphere about this new partnership)
Thoughts from Jon Arnold and a discussion regarding Nortel, Avaya and Cisco
How do companies navigate a slower economy? Well, you first need to show strength to ensure your potential customers are not scared off. As Jon Arnold points out today, this is a challenge companies like Vonage have struggled with. You also need to provide ROI. In a recent conversation with Joel Hackney (pictured below), President of Nortel's Enterprise Business, he tells me customers are now looking for ROI of a single year or even nine months!
As he puts it, "Projects must be self-funding." He also told me yesterday at an event the company hosted at the New York Stock Exchange that customers in the financial community are still spending as long as they see a one-year or better payback. This is perhaps the opposite of what you would think. Let's put it this way... The financial markets are so bad that when we entered the NYSE on our way to the sixth floor of the building, there was a gift shop which was closed. One of the people who was headed to the meeting entered the elevator with me and wondered aloud if the closed gift shop had to do with the state of the financial markets. It was a joke - but only sort of.
This is a brave new world for the communications market but you know what? As an industry, we are up for it. We can without a doubt sell solutions to our customers which will make them more productive, save communications costs, save travel costs and in many cases save energy!
I queried Hackney about his company's Cisco Energy Tax ad campaign where the company focuses on the savings of their equipment over comparable products from Cisco. I mentioned my thoughts on oil prices heading to $30 (just a hunch - no letters please if we don't get there). He asked if my utility bill increased proportionately with the price of oil on the way up. I said no. He then told me it likely won't come down proportionately either.
He went on to say that 40,000 people used the company's energy calculator in the first ten weeks it was available. Furthermore he discussed how his company is selling solutions designed to work on heterogeneous networks, while utilizing SOA and web services, allowing solutions from competitors to work cohesively with those provided by this Canadian telecom vendor. This by the way is a big part of why the company is able to provide increased ROI levels as forklifts are minimized.
I queried Hackney regarding the financial strength of the company and he told me Nortel is as focused on the enterprise as ever and to be honest this makes sense as this seems to be among the strongest groups in the company. Moreover, I believe the company's products and technology partnerships in the enterprise space position it better here than virtually any other market the the company plays in such as wireless or cable.
We would have had a more in-depth financial discussion but the company is reporting earnings soon and can't comment on these issues at the moment.
For Nortel and other communications companies looking to maximize sales and profits, the focus needs to be on ROI. It is all about how fast can you sell a product or service which will return real money in the pocket of the customer. Companies have not stopped spending and by all accounts they are spending more on solutions which pay back rapidly.
What this means for all companies is a renewed focus is needed to ensure products increase sales or boost productivity. Vendors also need to ensure they focus on the products which customers are most likely to purchase in this environment. Communications and technology companies can and will grow in the next 18 months if they project strength and focus on solutions which return investments to their customers rapidly.
As communications vendors rethink their business models for the future, the successful ones will keep these ideas in mind.
I am here at the Nortel Wall Street event at the New York Stock Exchange. I had an uneventful trip into the city and am now on the sixth floor of the New York Stock Exchange building waiting for the day to kick off. While my coleages in the office are busy writing up the latest Nortel News which was released on the wires early this morning, I am here live in New York awaiting the day's festivities.
The itinerary given to us mentions a welcome from Araldo Menegon, VP Northeast Region, Nortel's enterprise transformation vision by Joel Hackney, President Enterprise, and finally a keynote by Don Tapscott, author and enterprise 2.0 strategist and finally a roundtable discussion with Araldo, Joel and Don.
Nortel has had some financial troubles as of late and the company's stock is lower than at any point I can find via various stock charting programs I use which go back to 1982. Still, the enterprise has been a bright spot for the company and partnerships with Microsoft and IBM have helped. In addition, the company is forward-looking and has embraced web 2.0 -- ahead of others in the space.
I am looking forward to the day's discussions and will have more to report soon.
Tomorrow I head to the New York Stock Exchage for a media event Nortel
is hosting. It will certainly be a momentus trip with all the activity
on Wall Street.
As I write this entry, Asian markets are heading lower and it will be
interesting to see if the futures are way down yet again tomorrow.
I just came across some very interesting technology for marketers using print as a marketing vehicle. Powered Media Technologies or PMT just sent me a sample of their very cool technology which allows traditional printed paper document to light up. Basically it brings the digital world to the "old" paper world of magazines, newspapers, gift cards, magazine covers, etc.
The company is looking to use its LightEffects technology to change visual marketing the way electronic audio has changed the world of greeting cards.
Esquire Magazine Cover with E-Ink
This technology is similar to the recent Esquire Magazine cover which used E-Ink technology. Except PMT uses a a brighter technology which can be activated by a page turn, change of light, motion detection and/or pushing a button. The sample they sent me flashed a light when a button was pressed.
Obviously this is an interesting time to be augmenting the benefits of printed marketing vehicles as many companies are shifting more of their ad dollars to solutions which are easier to measure. In other words, online ad spending is relatively stable and even increasing for some companies in this economic environment while print promotion is being reduced.
LightEffects Before A Button Press
So the question is do companies pony up the extra money to use LightEffects in their print marketing in the hopes the resulting marketing will be more eye-catching? Certainly, the drawback to this technology versus E-Ink is the power draw is greater but then again, the extra power is used to provide a more eye-popping result.
LightEffects After A Button Press (Notice the window is lit)
Although I did not inquire about the cost of this technology I have to say that most companies should be able to find some use for this technology which should help capture customer attention and increase revenue.
Look out world, the triple-play is becoming the quadruple-play. In all likelihood we are already at the quadruple play in many cases and heading to quintuple. OK -- we will call it X-play.
Cutting to the chase, Cox is now resellingSprint service -- this is not a surprise to many of you I am sure but it will be very interesting to see how customers warm up to using a cable service provider for their wireless communications needs.
Based on my experience, customers are most satisfied with Verizon service but they like AT&T because it offers perhaps the best GSM network in the US -- allowing easy roaming out of the country.
Sprint has a network which while not terrible is not great either. In addition, they have been plagued with customer service issues. Allowing the cable companies to be the smiling face the customers deal with should provide a meaningful bump in service numbers.
Then again, there are so many people who will never switch to an iPhone because they won't leave the great Verizon network... Will people jump to Sprint because it saves them a few bucks and/or simplifies their billing options? Time will tell.
It is worth pointing the article referenced above "lives" on TMCnet's Cable News site, cable.tmcnet.com. In addition to this new site, be sure to check out these other new sites on TMCnet:
Over 100 registrars will sell the .tel domain name according to Telnic Limited. While it is too soon to know how successful .tel will be as a top level domain name, I am optimistic that it will make communicating easier.
Telnic unveiled the technology that powers .tel service at DEMOfall in San Diego in September. Since then, the domain name has been dubbed as "game-changing", "the white pages killer" and "the Google of online address books". A number of brand owners have already started the documentation process to apply for their trademarks with the registrars. The applications for trademarks will be accepted starting December 3rd 2008. According to VentureBeat, the service offers a secure way to allow you to navigate the conact information of people you want to track. In addition, the service should allow a simple way to for you to display contacts who are located near you.
I am looking forward to seeing what sort of traction the new domain gets and I also wonder if service providers will need to push us to get us to adopt our own .tel names. Whenever you have a change in technology as grand as this, we always have a lag in uptake as it takes time for people to geet comfortable with doing something new.
I am at an event this evening where Mayor Ed Koch is the keynote speaker. He is a great presenter, eloquent and funny. He has a radio show on Bloomberg Radio on Friday evenings if you want to listen to him. Here are his podcasts.
Recession got you down? Well if you run a company in an industry the US sees as important, you may just be able to get some of the billions the banks, AIG and other insurance companies are rumored to be receiving. Just dial your lobbyist to get the ball rolling.
Reports abound that the military is concerned about the use of Twitter, voice changing software and GPS by terrorists. Sadly, there are just so many services and technologies which are designed to help society that can be used in a negative way.
We know Cisco has a brand and reputation which companies will pay more for. They are a marketing machine in a market where most of the competition does not know how to market consistently. Even with such a solid reputation, when times are good, people will look at Cisco alternatives if the price is right.
When you get into a tougher economy, people might look to alternatives as well -- as long as they trust the company will be around.
This is why I am wondering with great interest if Arista Networks formerly known as Arasta can take on Cisco successfully with products which are one-tenth the cost of their larger competitor. The company makes high-performance 10 Gigabit Ethernet and Cloud Networking Solutions which self-heal and other interesting software enhancements.
Recently I discussed how buyers are more skittish than ever about buying from smaller companies that may not be around for the long-haul. I even offered advice to smaller companies which will help them navigate tougher financial conditions.
But Arista is differentiating themselves in another way, by hiring Jayshree Ullal as President and CEO and Andreas Bechtolsheim as CDO and Chairman.
Jayshree Ullal was previously Senior Vice President of Cisco Systems and responsible for the $10B Datacenter, Switching and Services Group while Andreas Bechtolsheim is a well-known Silicon Valley entrepreneur. He was also a Co-Founder of Sun Microsystems and a Senior Vice President and Chief Architect for the Systems Group at Sun. From 1996 to 2003, Andy was Vice President and General Manager of the Gigabit Systems Business Unit at Cisco Systems.
So can these guys pull it off? It is soon to tell but since the company is not well-known, they will have their work cut out for them. I do beleive Arista's price point affords them the potential to get trials in data centers. If they can come out swinging with follow-up branding to the positive press these hires has given them, they can potentially make a dent in a fast-growing market.
In the mean time, it is good to see companies looking for "cloud networking" solutions will have stronger choices than ever.
With all the gloom and doom talk, I thought it might be worth sharing some really good news. I just got back into the office this morning after traveling for a few days and heard the great news that Digium Asterisk World already has nine companies participating in it.
As you know, this event is being collocated with ITEXPO February 2-4 in Miami, FL. My team tells me they have been calling companies for about two weeks regarding this event and I can tell you from experience, nine booths in two weeks in a new collocated event is quite an accomplishment and more importantly tells you how much interest there is for open-source communications in the world. Even in a very strong economy, you don't see such high levels of interest.
The ITEXPO team thinks this part of the show will sell out very quickly and with the premium space the pavilion enjoys, it is not a surprise to see such strong interest.
Rich Tehrani tweeted, "Droid Won't Kill the iPhone But Google Guide Might: For the record, Google Guide is not a product or service develope... http://bit.ly/idsyt"
Rich Tehrani tweeted, "Droid Won't Kill the iPhone But Google Guide Might: For the record, Google Guide is not a product or service develope... http://bit.ly/idsyt"Rich Tehrani tweeted, "Droid Won't Kill the iPhone But Google Guide Might: For the record, Google Guide is not a product or service develope... http://bit.ly/idsyt"2009-11-08T18:56:30Z2009-11-08T18:56:30Z
![12210120911[1].jpg](http://blog.tmcnet.com/blog/rich-tehrani/assets_c/2008/10/12210120911[1]-thumb-384x512.jpg)
![digium-asterisk-world[1].jpg](http://blog.tmcnet.com/blog/rich-tehrani/uploads/digium-asterisk-world[1]-thumb-384x155.jpg)
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