November 2008

You are browsing the archive for November 2008.

Christmas Shopping Up Over 7%

November 30, 2008

Shocking as it may seem, holiday shopping is up over 7% from a year ago. This is really great news but it is worth pointing out retailers did have excess inventory they had to clear out so this could just be an early spike in supply at great prices which was met with demand as products were just priced too low to say no. Here's more.

I am glad my early hunch from black Friday was right. To be honest, I was in a different mall today and it was slower than I expected.

Posted in E-Commerce

Tagged: black friday, christmas, ecommerce, holiday, shoping, xmas : Related Tags:

Guess Who's Back, Back Again... Redmond's Back. Tell Icahn

November 30, 2008

Carl Icahn is pushing hard to get a Microsoft Yahoo! deal done as he picks up more Yahoo shares and waits for something to happen between the two companies. The latest? Microsoft will potentially pick up the search business for $20 billion. Ballmer has said repeatedly that this is the only part of the company he is interested in.

This leaves Yahoo with only a portal and to be honest, Yahoo may be better off doing this deal so it can focus more on an area where it has a huge advantage. In addition, one wonders if it isn't more lucrative to let someone else worry about the search technology while you make money by showing the ads on your hundreds of millions of page views.

For Microsoft, it gets yet another search engine people don't really like using.

Posted in Google, Merger/Acquisition, Microsoft, Search, Technology, Yahoo

Tagged: acquisition, goog, google, m&a, merger, microsoft, msft, redmond, search, tmcnet, yahoo, yhoo : Related Tags: microsoft yahoo, yahoo, search, google, microsoft, think

Comments

Joost Beats Skype To iPhone

November 29, 2008

I find it ironic that Joost has beaten Skype to the iPhone. There are already a number of VoIP competitors on the iPhone and one would imagine with the resources availabble to eBay, Skype would be first.

Remember of course Niklas Zennstrom was involved in founding both Skype and Joost.

Still, for Joost, this move could have been one of survival which explains the relative speed in which they have unveiled their application. I can't wait to try it although I hear it has some challenges.

Update: I tried it out last night and was able to watch music videos and movies such as the Fifth Element without a single problem. Wow.

Posted in AT&T, Apple, Broadband, Consumer Electronics, Gadget, IP Communications, SIP, Skype, Technology, Video, VoIP

Tagged: apple, Chris Albrecht, gizmodo, iphone, joost, matt buchanan, newteevee, niklas zennstrom, video : Related Tags: skype iphone, skype, joost, iphone

Linux On The iPhone

November 29, 2008

Now that Linux is sort of up and running on the iPhone, what's next? Will we see Asterisk, MySQL and other open-source programs running in your pocket soon?

This is very interesting but remember that Apple devices are ultra-successful because of the user interface. It is unclear why we would want an iPhone or iPod touch which runs Linux -- other than for a variety of niche applications where useful software has already been written.

I know what you are thinking... Rich, the reason we want to run Linux on an iPhone is because Apple has such restrictions on the programs which are allowed to be part off the AppStore, we need choice. Well, I would agree but I don't believe a new OS is the answer to this dilemma.

Now if Linux on the iPod Touch and iPhone was the same user experience as the Apple-based OS, then maybe there would be a chance this project could go mainstream.

Posted in AT&T, Apple, Consumer Electronics, Gadget, IP Communications, Open Source, SIP, Technology, VoIP, Wireless

Tagged: apple, asterisk, Digium, iphone, ipod, Linux, mysql, open source, sun : Related Tags: linux iphone, iphone, linux, apple

Comments

Helping The Economy

November 29, 2008

Yesterday I was shopping/buying today and doing my part to help US retailers and the Chinese companies who supply them.

I noticed the mall was as packed as any Black Friday but the high-end retailers seemed slower than last year. Also, gadgets seem hotter than just about everything else based on the crowds.

There may be less bags in shopper's hands but it is tough to tell.

It is fair to say it would be difficult to know the economy is slow based on yesterday's shopping traffic.

Posted in IP Communications

Condolences To Families Of Indians and Others Killed In Attacks

November 28, 2008

I would like to extend my condolences to those people who lost loved ones and friends in the terrible Indian terror attacks of this past week. In addition, I would like to mention how horrible I feel for those who were injured or forced to hide in fear of their lives as gunmen stormed the country.

It is my sincere hope the world will come together to condemn such acts and we will collectively find a way to eradicate senseless violence and killing.

Posted in Personal

Tagged: attacks, india, terror : Related Tags:

Happy Thanksgiving and Enjoy The Fire

November 27, 2008

If you live somewhere warm or don't have a fireplace, I hope you enjoy
ours. Have a great holiday and/or weekend for my international readers.

Posted in IP Communications

Great CRM Ideas For A Down Economy

November 26, 2008

Recently, my wife ordered a few pairs of shoes from Zappos.com and they upgraded her shipping after the order was placed. She placed the order Monday evening and the shoes were received Tuesday afternoon. She was blown away and I think Zappos has a new loyal customer. In a slow economy, this is a smart thing you can do to ensure customer loyalty.

Another out of the box idea comes from BMW of Darien - the BMW dealer closest to TMC headquarters in Norwalk, CT.

Posted in CRM, E-Commerce

Tagged: bmw, bmw of darien, crm, Stamford mall, Stamford town center, valet parking, Zappos : Related Tags: deliver customers, think deliver, valuing customers, companies truly, truly valuing, customers

Comments

Google iPhone Mobile App With Voice Search Works Well

November 26, 2008

I have had a chance to test the new Google Mobile App for iPhone with voice search and remain impressed. What is great about the service is the fact that you can say a company name followed by city and state and then say "phone number" and you get this returned to you quickly. All this is done without typing and the application presents you with an easily clickable phone number if it finds what you are looking for.

I tested Google's speech recognition in noisy environments and found it works poorly. In more quiet environments it is fairly accurate and works very well.

Posted in 4G, AT&T, Blackberry, Google, IP Communications, Speech Technologies

Tagged: app store, apple, costco, Google, google mobile, iphone, search, speech technologies, tmc, voice recognition, voice search : Related Tags: phone number, google mobile, voice search, google, number, phone

Comments

Happy Thanksgiving 2008

November 26, 2008

Happy Thanksgiving and I hope you have a wonderful long weekend of eating, relaxing and spending time with your families. TMC officially closes at 4:00 PM EST today so if you need us, please keep his in mind. Normally we close officially at 5:30 BTW.

For my international readers, please have a great work week and weekend.

Like many of you, many of us work all weekend so we will be online as needed.

Again, have a healthy and happy holiday!

Posted in Personal, TMC Team

Tagged: thanksgiving, tmc : Related Tags: happy thanksgiving, weekend, happy

IntelePeer And Communications Opportunities

November 25, 2008

We can sit around for hours and discuss where the global economy is going. And while this is a fun discussion, the reality is no one knows. What we do know however is people will still be communicating in the future and they will do it more often and in many different ways.

We also know various methods of communications will continue to intersect and augment one another.

As communications markets evolve, organizations which provide services which allow such interconnections to take place are positioned very well. One such company is IntelePeer, they provide hosted voice 2.0 service which embodies the best of peering, open APIs and SaaS.

Web 2.0 technologies are not going away and voice will continue to evolve as well.

Posted in Broadband, Communications Developer, IP Communications, SaaS, Technology, Unified Communications, VoIP

Tagged: api, caas, funding, intelepeer, john hart, saas, voice 2.0, voip 2.0, web 2.0 : Related Tags: communications, intelepeer, continue

MetaSwitch Excels In Tough Market

November 25, 2008

According to Infonetics Research, MetaSwitch is doing quite well in what is a tough environment. The report recognizes MetaSwitch's market leadership with a commanding 44% of total subscriber licenses shipped in the North American Class Five softswitch category, as well as leading the overall North American softswitch market with a 33% share of licenses shipped.

Moreover, MetaSwitch has maintained consistent and profitable year-over-year growth, with more than 400 service provider customers. For the quarter, the company had more than two million subscribers worldwide.

What can I say other than congratulations to a company which has worked hard and had tremendous focus on its objectives. All of this effort is paying off now.

Posted in Broadband, Financial, IP Communications, Technology, VoIP

Tagged: carrier, infonetics, ip communications, metaswitch, softswitch, voip : Related Tags: licenses shipped, north american, metaswitch, market

SMS Comes To Contact Centers

November 25, 2008

When an entire generation uses their phones for nothing but social networking and sending text messages, smart contact center companies see an opportunity. Interactive Intelligence is one such company and recently added SMS as a channel as part of its multichannel contact center solutions.

Remember, kids today do not even check email. We could argue the reason for this... I personally think they don't mind paying for messaging when email is free -- because frankly, their parents are paying.

So if they use SMS only, then a bank needs a solution which allows checking account balances to be sent via SMS to customers.

Posted in CRM, Call Center, IP Communications, Microsoft

Tagged: call center, contact center, inin, interactive intelligence, sms, text message : Related Tags: contact centers, contact center, contact, center, email, company

Comments

History Is Made: Google Lets Go Of People

November 25, 2008

10,000 contract employees could be at risk at Google. The company does not plan to lay off its permanent positions but its temp/contract jobs could soon be all gone.

Google has done a good job of ignoring financial markets in the past and generally does what it thinks make the most sense for the long term. The problem the company faces today however is that many of its employees have stock options which are worthless and as a result the company may be feeling pressure to do something to convince Wall Street they are on the right track.

Then again, it could be the company sees a dramatic slowdown in revenue coming.

It is unclear which is the reason for the job cuts but it is becoming apparent to all companies that downsizing is something that needs to be done to prepare for a potentially lean 2009.

Posted in Google, Search

Tagged: google : Related Tags: company, google

TMC Pot Luck Lunch

November 25, 2008

Happy Thanksgiving!

If we don't answer the phones or email for the next hour or so it is because we are enjoying the TMC Thanksgiving Pot Luck Lunch here at TMC HQ. This is a many-year-old tradition and we wish you were here to enjoy it with us.

This is a TMC team-member driven event where each person brings in some sort of food. Cookies, cake, etc. At the end of the event, any remaining food is given to the local food bank to support the underprivileged in the community.

Posted in Personal, TMC Team

Tagged: pot luck, thanksgiving, TMC : Related Tags:

Spirent Doing Better Than Expected?

November 25, 2008

After my bearish testing comments, I was happy to learn Spirent is doing better than expected in a tough market. Where is the company looking for growth? Wireless, carrier Ethernet, data center developments, and the automation of lab-based testing processes. Of course things can change but the company seems to be focusing on helping its customers get the maximum productivity out of the systems it has.

In this economic climate of course, this makes a good deal of sense.

Posted in 4G, AT&T, Avaya, Broadband, Call Center, Cisco, Communications Developer, Conferencing, E-Commerce, FCC, Fax, Financial, Gadget, IMS, IP Communications, IPTV, ITEXPO, Merger/Acquisition, Microsoft, Nortel, Optical, Podcast, Science, Skype, Social Networking, Speech Technologies, TMC Team, Technology, Unified Communications, Verizon, Video, Virtual Worlds, VoIP, Vonage, Wireless, Yahoo

Tagged: light reading, spirent, testing : Related Tags: doing better, better expected, spirent doing

Cisco 4-Day Shut Down Spooks Market

November 25, 2008

Cisco is taking extraordinary measures to cut costs and has had its first ever 4-day shut down to conserve money. Generally this is a good thing to do but in this case, investors are nervous and not acting rationally and the stock is don almost 6% so far today. There is obviously continuing deterioration in world financial markets and Cisco's move is smart.

What is not mentioned in this report is the fact that this is the first time in my memory that Cisco is in a macro environment where little to no hiring is being done. So shuttering plants worldwide does not lead to mass defections to other sectors which are hiring.

This is perhaps one of the few silver linings in a dark cloud.

Om Malik has salient comments on the matter and points to a lack of 2009 visibility.

Posted in 4G, AT&T, Blackberry, Broadband, Call Center, Cisco, Communications Developer, Conference, Consumer Electronics, Financial, IP Communications, IPTV, Merger/Acquisition, Open Source, SIP, Skype, Speech Technologies, TMC Team, Technology, Unified Communications, Verizon, VoIP, Vonage, WiMAX, Wireless, Yahoo

Tagged: cisco, gigaom, om malik, shut down : Related Tags: cisco

Comments

Join The RPX Patent Protection Club

November 25, 2008

I have a job where I get paid to listen to many smart people and then use the vast amount of information I amass in my neurons and put it to good use (well, after I have had some coffee anyway) . Many times when speaking with many of my readers, I get good ideas and one of my more recent ones was to put together a company which amasses patents in the hopes of using them to defend against patent trolls and other companies.

Let's face it, the game is rigged. Large companies which are more established, own patents - either organically created or via acquisition. Some of these patents are solid and innovative but many are downright silly and overly broad.

Posted in AT&T, Apple, Avaya, Broadband, Cisco, Consumer Electronics, Fax, Google, IP Communications, Microsoft, Nortel, Patent, Speech Technologies, TMC Team, Technology, VoIP, Wireless

Tagged: intellectual property, ip, judge, lawsuit, lawyer, patent, patent protection club, patent troll, Rpx : Related Tags: patent protection, company, patents, companies, patent, protection

Yahoo E-Mail Problems

November 25, 2008

If you are having problems getting legitimate emails to get through Yahoo! email servers, Tom Keating's post is a must read -- along with the comments. Like so many other things in life, unscrupulous people -- in this case spammers, ruin it for the rest of us.

Posted in Yahoo

Tagged: email, spam, tmc, tom keating, yahoo : Related Tags: flowers sandals”, patent pending, product development, richard bronson, integrity loyalty, yahoo

Comments

Next Generation Communications Resource Launched

November 25, 2008

If there is one certainly it is that technology seems to evolve at a faster clip today than at any other time in our lifetimes. Moore's Law is part of this evolution but just as important is convergence. And by convergence I don't just mean voice and data. At this point it has become more than apparent that the every market is converging with one another.

Posted in 4G, AT&T, Apple, Broadband, Communications Developer, Consumer Electronics, FCC, Fax, Gadget, Google, IMS, IP Communications, IPTV, Open Source, Optical, SIP, SaaS, Security, Social Networking, Speech Technologies, TMC Team, Technology, Unified Communications, Verizon, Video, Virtual Worlds, VoIP, WiMAX, Wireless

Tagged: 3g, 4g, Alcatel-lucent, broadband, education, energy, Femtocell, finance, goc, hospitality, next generation communications, next-gen communications, picocell, social networking, wifi, wimax, wired, wireless : Related Tags: generation communications, alcatel lucent, thought provoking, communications, generation, alcatel

Blackberry Storm Only Category One

November 25, 2008

Few products get the pre-hype associated with the Blackberry Storm - the first touch screen smartphone from Canada's RIM. The phone is similar to the iPhone in many ways and is designed to keep customers from defecting to the competing Apple device dubbed Jesus phone by some. In my humble estimation, there are millions of people in the US who would buy the iPhone if it worked on the Verizon network.

With the advent of the Storm, RIM and Verizon came together to offer what they hope is the equivalent of the iPhone but with the benefit of the Verizon Wireless network.

To determine how good this device is in the real world, I spent a good deal of time in a Verizon store and made camp near the single Blackberry Storm which the company had on display in the corner of the store in Fairfield County, Connecticut.

My wife is due for a new phone and thought for sure she would pick up a Storm. In fact she went into the store ready to buy it.

Posted in 4G, AT&T, Apple, Blackberry, Broadband, Consumer Electronics, Gadget, IP Communications, Technology, Wireless

Tagged: 2.2 firmware, 3g, 4g, Apple, at&t, att, blackberry, gadget, iphone, jesus phone, rim, storm, techcrunch, Verizon, wireless : Related Tags: touch screen, blackberry storm, screen device, device myself, wireless network, storm

Comments

Zzzphone: The Second Google Android Phone

November 25, 2008

Big news out of China - it seems the world's second Android based phone will be from China and called the Zzzphone. A strike against the company is the name -- which virtually guarantees it will be listed last in any sort of alphabetical directory . On the bright side, it does have things going for it such as add-ons to support a full QWERTY keyboard, mini boom box, projector and more.

What is interesting is the thought that the Android OS and Google brand may be

strong enough to allow an army of companies to come out with Android phones.

Posted in 4G, AT&T, Apple, Communications Developer, FCC, Gadget, Google, IMS, IP Communications, Technology, Verizon, Wireless

Tagged: Android, apple, cellular, china, g1, gadget, google, iphone, oha, t-mobile, wireless, zzzphone : Related Tags: google android, phone, android, google, zzphone, china

Comments

East Texas: A Great Place To Get Sued

November 24, 2008

One lawyer thinks East Texas is a good place to be sued. If you are interested in knowing why Apple was just sued by a California man in East Texas, check out this article which explains how this particular court system is patent savvy and apparently liked by plaintiffs and defendants equally. Well depending on the year anyway.

Posted in Apple, Blackberry, FCC, Gadget, Patent, Technology, Wireless

Tagged: apple, consumer electronics, gadget, iphone, judge, lawsuit, lawyer, litigation, Patent, touch screen, wsj : Related Tags: texas

Backup iPhone Before 2.2 Upgrade

November 21, 2008

I am in the process of upgrading my iPhone 3G to the latest version -- 2.2. So far, the install gave an error and when I tried to restore fromt he backup it failed. After a reboot of my laptop it seems the iPhone is responding well to the restore process. Please backup your iPhone before attempting any backup. If not, you could lose everything.

Posted in AT&T, Apple, Consumer Electronics, Gadget

Tagged: 3g, 4g, apple.firmware, backuo, iphone, upgrade : Related Tags: backup iphone, backup, iphone

Top CRM News 11/21/08

November 21, 2008

Here are some article flagged by my editorial team as worth reading in the CRM/contact center space. There are some great nuggets on this list and I hope you find it useful:

Workforce Management Solutions Help Control Contact Center Attrition VanillaSoft Pushes the Envelope on Intuitive Call Routing Optaros Takes Open Source CRM In-House Local vs. Hosted CRM Solutions Getting Ready for CRM Software SugarCon 2009 to Celebrate SugarCRM Community Accomplishments MDSL Taking Control with Telecom Cost Management Workforce Management Software: More Valuable Than Meets the Eye Using CRM Software to Assign Tasks Five Steps to Successful CRM Software Implementation Five9 Hosted, On-Demand Solutions Provide Resolve in Troubling Economic Climate Loquendo Adds Danish Female Voice to TTS Family Homeshoring Continues to be Attractive Choice, Despite Economic Downturn NACR, CallCopy, to Promote VoIP, UC, Call Center Solutions Avaya Offers Proactive Outbound Self-Service Products Dynamics CRM Videos Available from Microsoft Vertex Taps Insight Now for Contact Center Tracking Survey: Singapore Consumers Happier with Contact Center Experiences Call Center or Contact Center: What's the Difference?Broadlook Announces Sales Contact List Optimization Product Language Line Services Unveils "Your World, Your Language"

Posted in CRM, Call Center, IP Communications

Tagged: call center, call routing, crm, five9, homeshoring, loquendo, mdsl, sugarcon, sugarcrm : Related Tags: contact center, solutions provide, center, contact, software, solutions

Heading Back From Jersey Trip

November 21, 2008

Had a great meeting -- sorry, all under NDA -- in NJ and am heading
home. What I can tell you is the company I met with has a cafateria
which makes world-class cookies. I need an hour on the treadmill but
mine is broken. Need to get it fixed soon. Will write more when I get
to a laptop.

Posted in IP Communications

Headed To NJ For A Meeting

November 21, 2008

Here is a shot as I head to New Jersey. And no, I won't tell you what
exit.

Posted in IP Communications

Kill A Killer Product

November 21, 2008

Thanks to April Dunford's tweet for pointing out this entry on her blog pertaining to how to kill a killer product. One thing she leaves out and I have been meaning to mention for a while is -- in the consumer space -- the importance of naming a product effectively.

For example Apple is a master at selecting simple, easy and trendy product names. iMac, iPod, iPhone. Sony is one of the companies that uses too many letters in its product names.

Posted in Apple, Consumer Electronics, Gadget, Technology

Tagged: apple, april dunford, blog, bose, htc, iphone, ipod, MDR-NC500D, Nortel, quietcomfort, sony, tweet, twitter, Ut starcom, ut starcom, xv6700, xv6800 : Related Tags: killer product, consumer space, product names, product, headphones, names

Comments

SalesForce.com Tops Q3 Forecast, Keeps Outlook

November 21, 2008

Hats off to Benioff and company at SalesForce.com for beating the quarterly estimates and also for keeping guidance for the year. Analysts are grappling with whether the SaaS model is immune from slowing in a down economy and the simple answer is while SaaS has the potential to reduce costs for a company and increase productivity, the challenge for SalesForce.com and other vendors is to grow as unemployment rises rapidly.

I feel unemployment will hit at least 12% and in this environment, SalesForce will have to expand by talking share from other companies to keep growing. Perhaps this is why the company added 700 new employees in the first three quarters of this year and plans on continuing this hiring spree.

Benioff remains optimistic about selling to customers of all sizes and the optimism is in stark contrast to most every other company exec. So congrats to SalesForce.com and the team for bucking the trend and the takeaway here is that SaaS is really performing well in a very difficult economic environment.

Posted in Avaya, CRM, Call Center, IP Communications, Speech Technologies, Technology

Tagged: asp, call center, contact center, crm, earnings, hosted, investment, marc benioff, on-demand, saas, Salesforce.com : Related Tags: environment salesforce, salesforce, company

Back From Huntsville

November 20, 2008

I am back from Huntsville and am now catching up on email, etc. It was a great trip and expect to read more from me soon as I digest a bunch of news I flagged in my RSS reader on the flight for later coverage.

Posted in IP Communications, Personal

Tagged: huntsville, tmc : Related Tags:

T-Mobile Cameo Photo Frame a Great Idea

November 19, 2008

Look, I know the economy is slow. I know the consumer has less money than they did last year. I also know that service providers should be looking for new ways to get as much of the consumer's money as possible by providing value. This is why I am 100% behind the new T-Mobile cameo electronic photo frame which comes with its own phone number.

Posted in AT&T, Apple, Blackberry, Broadband, Consumer Electronics, FCC, Gadget, IP Communications, Technology, Wireless

Tagged: cameo, mms, picture frame, sms, t-mobile, wireless : Related Tags: photo frame, mobile cameo, frame, mobile, photo, camera

Comments

Should People Out Of Work Get Free Wireless Service?

November 19, 2008

Gerry Purdy, a wireless expert and past speaker at TMC events put out an open letter yesterday detailing why wireless carriers should give away free service to people out of work. Some challenges with such a plan involve determining who is working. Is buying and selling on eBay defined as working? What about under the table work, etc?

Assuming you could nail down who is truly qualified for this plan, giving away service is probably not a good idea as it drives up usage of cell towers. This could lead to slower service for customers who pay the full amount.

Could the carriers implement service of lower quality for people who pay less - and make this discounted service available to the unemployed? Perhaps.

Posted in 4G, AT&T, Blackberry, Consumer Electronics, FCC, Financial, Gadget, Microsoft, Technology, Wireless

Tagged: carrier, economy, gary kim, Gerry purdy, recession, unemployed, wireless : Related Tags: carriers should, wireless carriers, service, wireless, people, should

Comments

Bad News For Ixia, Spirent and Agilent

November 19, 2008

Adtran has mentioned repeatedly just how expensive their test
equipment is from companies like Spirent, Ixia and Tektronix Agilent.

As an alternative they are using their own modified equipment to test
when possible.

Posted in IP Communications

Comments

PCMAG To Stop Printing

November 19, 2008

Too bad... This pub was an early inspiration to me. It will live online though.

My other inspiration was InfoWorld and sadly it is gone as well.

This is what Tom Keating had to say.

Posted in IP Communications

Tagged: pc magazine, pcmag, pcmag.com, tmc, tom keating, zd, ziff davis : Related Tags:

The Adtran Tour Continues

November 19, 2008

The campus is massive. We are in a new building seeing more testing equipment. There is voicemail testing, voice quality testing, compatabilty testing, etc.

Check out this massive phone bank used for interop and load tests.

Posted in IP Communications

Android Gets Flash, iPhone Doesn't

November 19, 2008

Good news for Google Phone buyers - they will get Adobe Flash support soon. iPhone users? Nope - you still have to wait. Flash support is an essential element of web browsing - especially with the host of proprietary Flash-based video players proliferating on the web.

Moreover, game sites employ Flash routinely and more and more consumers are using mobile devices for gaming.

There is obviously some tension between Adobe and Apple which needs to get resolved soon.

If the iPhone does not get Flash support, at some point it will definitely eat into sales.

Posted in 4G, AT&T, Apple, Broadband, Consumer Electronics, Gadget, IP Communications, Technology, Wireless

Tagged: Adobe, apple, browsing, flash, gaming, iphone : Related Tags: flash support, flash, iphone, support

Adtran Media Event: The Final Day

November 19, 2008

Today is the last day of the Adtran media event here in Huntsville. At the moment, a number of us from the industry media are listening to a panel of Adtran engineers as well as CTO Kevin Schneider. This panel allows us an opportunity to ask questions from the most technical people -- and those closest to product development, about Adtran's products and how they compete in the market.

One thing worth pointing out is the company says they rarely run into feature deficiencies and they are quick to react if they need to add a feature. The Huntsville, AL based company seems to thrive/focus on adding value to traditional products with better features and/or service levels.

One point worth noting is that as the economy has slowed, the incumbent router vendor (hint their name is taken from San Francisco) has been called into question due to the high prices.

Posted in AT&T, Broadband, Communications Developer, Financial, IP Communications, Open Source, SIP, Technology, VoIP, Wireless

Tagged: Adtran, cisco, CTO, economy, Huntsville, ip pbx, Kevin Schneider, media, recession, router, tco, value : Related Tags: media event, adtran media, adtran, company, media, product

Making More Resilient PCs

November 19, 2008

There is an article in the Wall Street Journal today discussing how Green Hills Software - a company making operating systems for medical equipment and the brakes in a car is looking to expand by developing technology to make PCs more resilient. An obvious application for this technology would be data centers and of course one of my favorites, telecom.

Posted in Technology

Tagged: brakes, Green Hills Software, medical equipment, PC, telecom, Wall Street Journal, wsj : Related Tags:

Twitter Allows Customers Immediate Response To Ads

November 19, 2008

For advertisers who haven't done a great job building focus groups to ensure the ads they run are received well by customers, you may want to check out this article about how Twitter users responded negatively to a Motrin ad and eventually got it pulled. In addition the Twitterers received an apology.

Consider Twitter just another Web 2.0 way for customers to express their feelings about corporate products.

Do your CRM systems manage your company's brand/image on blogs, social networks and Twitter? Perhaps they should.

Posted in CRM, Call Center, Consumer Electronics, FCC, Gadget, Technology, Wireless

Tagged: motrin, twitter, usa today : Related Tags: twitter, customers

Tame That Inbox Gone Wild

November 19, 2008

I have been struggling for years with an inbox gone wild. I receive over 1,000 emails each day and between deleting spam and reading newsletters, contracts, working with vendors in the space, distributing press releases and meeting requests, dealing with internal TMC newsletters, keeping up on tech, communications and financial news, my inbox has seen serious action.

If I could just get everyone who sent me an email this decade to send me a dollar, I could probably bail out Detroit on my own. About five years ago in San Jose, I had a few hours to kill between meetings and I remember feverishly deleting emails to get down to two thousand or so.

Posted in Personal, Technology

Tagged: cnbc, cnn, Email, internet, sendio, spam, tmc : Related Tags: massive amounts, inbox, email, years, amounts

Comments

IP Communications/VoIP and Tech To Do Well Under Obama

November 18, 2008

While many in the country - including most likely George W. Bush are counting the days until there is a change in leadership, those in communications and tech are likely wondering what the future will bring. According to some experts such as Andrew D. Lipman of Bingham McCutchen LLP, VoIP will enjoy greater protections and mergers will no longer be rubber stamped -- meaning a better competitive environment from a regulatory standpoint.

Posted in 4G, AT&T, Avaya, Blackberry, Broadband, Cisco, Communications Developer, Consumer Electronics, E-Commerce, FCC, Financial, Gadget, Google, IP Communications, Merger/Acquisition, Microsoft, Nortel, Open Source, Optical, SIP, Skype, Social Networking, Technology, VoIP, Vonage, WiMAX, Wireless

Tagged: Andrew D. Lipman, Bingham McCutchen LLP, broadbandtelepresence, cto, fcc, George bush, kevin martin, national cto, obama, president, video, wireless : Related Tags: sector, communications

Comments

Adtran Voice Quality Monitoring Demo

November 18, 2008

I am still at the Adtran media event here in Huntsville, Al.

As you can see, the media is being presented with Adtran's voice quality monitoring solutions which graphically represent voice quality at seven-second intervals by monitoring the RTP streams of MGCP and SIP calls.

Posted in AT&T, Broadband, IP Communications, SIP, Technology, Unified Communications, VoIP

Tagged: adtran, huntsville, mgcp, rtp, sip, voice quality monitoring, vqm : Related Tags: voice quality, quality monitoring, quality, voice, monitoring, adtran

Comments

Adtran Site Tour - Genuine US Manufacturing

November 18, 2008

The media is on a site tour here in Huntsville, Al. Low and behold
Adtran does small scale manufacturing right here in Alabama. This is
one of the few companies in tech which I have seen building in the US.

Adtran investors, worry not - the company builds in China too.

Afraid of lead paint? Adtran is quick to point out that quality
control in China is the same as in the US.

Maybe the toy industry can learn from them?

Posted in IP Communications

10 Million Life Mag Images Hosted By Google

November 18, 2008

Updated and corrected thanks to commenter Mark Whiting

Life Magazine has just announced its 10 million images will be available via Google Image Search.

Interestingly the photos reside on Google itself at this address: images.google.com/hosted/life.

Out of curiosity I typed in images.google.com/hosted to see what other hosted sites Google has. guess what? This entry redirected right to images.google.com/hosted/life, leading me to beleive this is the only hosted photo initiative Google has undertaken. So far anyway.

For Life, the revenue model is selling photos on Qoop and moreover, Life.com indicates these photos will also be available on this site -- or perhaps there will be a redirect to Google's hosted area. Here is the message I saw today:

Posted in Google, Search, Yahoo

Tagged: google, image search, life.life magazine, search, yahoo : Related Tags: google hosted, images google, google, hosted, images, photos

Comments

What the New Yahoo CEO Needs to Do

November 18, 2008

With financial markets in turmoil and Jerry Yang being responsible for more or less botching the Microsoft deal, it is obvious he needs to step down. The only question is why did it take so long? Here are thoughts on the new CEO Position and what has to happen:

1) She/He has to be from an entrepreneurial new media company

a. If you hire someone well-known from the go-go days of the nineties - with no small company experience, Yahoo! will continue to fail

b. Google is competitor #1 and acts like a small company

i. There is no other way to compete with them

c. Find a person who has seen business transform as a result of the web. Someone dynamic and able to change quickly

2) Speed: make this the number one imperative throughout the organization

a. Roll out new products and services as fast as possible

3) Mobile

a. There needs to be a renewed focus on mobile browsing and search

b. Ink deals with every carrier you can while you can

c. Be everywhere

4) Promote yourself

a. Mail, sports, news, finance - there are just so many areas where Yahoo is a leader

i. Why not promote this fact?

ii. Tell advertisers how great your company is

5) Brag

a. Yahoo is so understated I felt that #4 on its own would not do the trick

i. The company needs to be vociferous

ii. Remind us why we use and love Yahoo

iii. Throw traffic numbers around

6) Act like the underdog you are

a. Yahoo's culture is one of a market leader

b. While this is true in many sectors, customers and Wall Street don't see it this way

c. Become entrepreneurial

d. Hire new people as needed to make this happen

e. Get leaner

f. Get meaner

7) Push the toolbar

a. The Yahoo Toolbar has access to so much rich Yahoo content

b. Go on the offensive with the toolbar

c. Give the toolbar access to the best content from around the web - ESPN, CNN, etc

d. Make it difficult for users to ignore the toolbar and get them to adopt it and likewise build search volume

8) Copy Google

a. Obviously it is good to be innovative but on occasion it makes sense to "borrow" ideas

b. Give developers some free time to work on pet projects just Like Google

c. Yahoo has so much potential to push new services to an entrenched audience

d. They just need to roll out more and more of them at a faster clip

e. This could even cut development cost

f. Put relevant ads in Yahoo Mail. Why would you not do this?

There are just so many ways to maximize revenue at Yahoo and it is bewildering that this internet legend is still struggling.

Posted in Financial, Google, Merger/Acquisition, Microsoft, Yahoo

Tagged: google, m&a, merger, Microsoft, Yahoo : Related Tags: market leader, think yahoo, buying yahoo, microsoft products, yahoo should, yahoo

Comments

At Adtran Media Event

November 18, 2008

Today I am at an Adtran media event in Huntsville, Al. Here is a shot from
my hotel. Right now we are listening to Adtran CEO Tom Stanton. More to
come.

Posted in IP Communications

Sonus CTO Leaves for Tellabs

November 17, 2008

I have written about Vikram Saksena in the past - and as CTO of Sonus, I have had the chance to speak with him a few times and have always been impressed at how he has been able to discuss the intricacies of providing advanced communications services in a straightforward manner. This is one of the reasons I invited Saksena to keynote the latest ITEXPO - where he did a great job.

Saksena is moving on to Tellabs and I wish him well. The question is how will Sonus replace him and will this high level departure increase pressure on the company at a time where other execs have recently departed as well.

Posted in AT&T, Broadband, Call Center, Cisco, Communications Developer, FCC, Fax, IMS, IP Communications, IPTV, Technology, Video, Virtual Worlds, VoIP, WiMAX, Wireless

Tagged: class 4, class 5, enhanced services, ims, next gen networks, softswitch, sonus, tellabs, Vikram Saksena : Related Tags: sonus, saksena

Comments

My TMC Newsroom Hat

November 17, 2008

Today I am in Richardson, TX -- A truly wonderful place when you consider the people are nice and the temperature is about 30-40 degrees warmer than Connecticut. Why am I here? I am a TMC Newroom Anchor -- performing interviews of telecom execs in the local area. More to come soon.

Posted in 4G, AT&T, Apple, Blackberry, Broadband, Cisco, FCC, Fax, IP Communications, Merger/Acquisition, Nortel, Speech Technologies, TMC Video, Technology, Unified Communications, Verizon, Video, VoIP, WiMAX, Wireless

Tagged: newsroom, reporting, tmc, video : Related Tags:

Blog Aid Gains Interest

November 16, 2008

The announcement I just made about Blog Aid -- the program which allows people out of work to have a voice so as to help keep them in the spotlight until they find a new work opportunity, has been pretty successful so far. Over a dozen people have contacted Greg and I so far to ask for more information. I have also had a number of people tell me they think this is a great idea.

Hopefully it will be more helpful than my wildest dreams and at a minimum, it is an additional way to assist people who are looking to continue contributing to the communications and tech communities during the hopefully short period they are out of work.

Posted in 4G, AT&T, Apple, Avaya, Blackberry, CRM, Call Center, Communications Developer, Consumer Electronics, E-Commerce, IP Communications, Merger/Acquisition, Technology

Tagged: blog, blog aid, communications, laid off, lay offs, technology, tmcnet : Related Tags: people

TMC Launches Blog Aid for Communications and Technology Markets: Those Out of Work Get a Voice

November 14, 2008

Today, TMC launches its Blog Aid program to help people out of work stay in the public eye - in order to improve their hiring prospects in a tough economy. In the last few months, many good marketers, PR people, engineers and others who have been laid off. These potential Blog Aid bloggers have a good deal of quality commentary and information to share which could be very useful to the TMC community of online readers.

TMC is offering these new bloggers - especially those working in the communications and technology industries, a venue to voice their thoughts on the spaces where they have expertise so as to allow them access to the 2-3 million global visitors who come to TMCnet on a monthly basis. In this way, these people who need assistance will not be forgotten and moreover will potentially develop a following which will lead to new freelance or permanent positions.

Two points worth noting:

We do not want this program to be used as a venue for people to "get back" at companies who let them go. We also do welcome bloggers who are employed.

To become part of this program please email Greg Galitzine (ggalitzine (at) tmcnet.com).

Posted in AT&T, Broadband, CRM, Call Center, Conferencing, E-Commerce, Fax, Google, IP Communications, Microsoft, Nortel, TMCnet, Technology, Unified Communications, VoIP, Wireless

Tagged: blog, call center, communications, contact center, crm, greg galitzine, information technology, it, technology, Tmc, tmcnet : Related Tags: communications technology, people, bloggers, program

Nokia, Sun: Sales Down, Oracle Sells Hosted CRM, American Airlines Does Mobile Boarding Passes and Microsoft Offers Free Financing

November 14, 2008

Here are some of the news items which caught my eye recently with some commentary:

Nokia predicts the recession and a lack of credit will reduce cell phone sales. Nokia Siemens too says there will be a slowdown next year. The company further thinks the fourth quarter will see industry volumes fall by 20 million. This isn't too surprising.

Sun is laying off 6,000 workers and with the high-end server market in trouble, some are saying the future of the company is uncertain.

Posted in 4G, AT&T, Apple, Avaya, Blackberry, Broadband, CRM, Call Center, Cisco, Communications Developer, Consumer Electronics, E-Commerce, FCC, Fax, Financial, Gadget, IP Communications, IPTV, Merger/Acquisition, Microsoft, Musings, Open Source, Rates Technology, SIP, SaaS, Speech Technologies, Technology, Unified Communications, Verizon, Video, VoIP, Wireless

Tagged: airport, American airlines, bar code, crm, Microsoft, Nokia, nokia Siemens, Olympus, oracle, salesforce.com, sun : Related Tags: boarding passes, focus focus, american airlines, sales, companies, company

A Candid Interview With Greg Gianforte, CEO of RightNow

November 13, 2008

Is service the new sales? According to Greg Gianforte, CEO and founder of RightNow, not only is this a true statement but sales is the highest form of service. In a recent podcast interview with Yours Truly, Gianforte explained how companies are focusing more heavily on service and moreover how his company is providing CRM solutions to customers which lowers costs and increases productivity.

He further explained the details of his book titled Eight to Great which focuses on how to provide an exceptional customer experience. In addition the enthusiastic CEO explains how the hosted model his company espouses coupled with proprietary technology which makes a hosted application seem like it lives on a local computer is enabling his company to take share from traditional CRM software companies.

I almost forgot to mention the bit about the bull riding - but if you want to know what I am talking about, you will have to listen for yourself.

Finally, Gianforte explains what the future will look like - in terms of updates, what his customers are looking for and most importantly what we can expect to see from RightNow in the upcoming years. It was a great podcast and I hope you enjoy it.

Posted in Broadband, CRM, Call Center, IP Communications, Podcast, Speech Technologies, Technology

Tagged: call center, contact center, crm, customer service, Greg Gianforte, oracle, podcast, Rightnow, sales, salesforce.com, Siebel, tmcnet : Related Tags: gianforte, rightnow, podcast, service, company

Comments

TMCnet in Top 500 Sites in Blogosphere

November 13, 2008

Today I sent an email to the TMC team regarding how TMCnet ranks on URLFAN, a site which tracks rankings of websites in the blogosphere. The lower the URLFAN ranking the better and I am happy to say thank you to the blogosphere for allowing TMCnet to rank in the top 500 of all sites -- 479 to be precise.

These rankings are generated by the total number of links on blogs so the more links a site gets, the better/lower the score.

Here is the precise wording from the company's site:

Our system parses the millions of blog posts that are generated everyday, literally counting every mention of every website we come across. We filter out spam, broken links, and other various material to determine how many times your website was mentioned today. We reference this against every other website and determine where you rank among them.

Posted in 4G, AT&T, Apple, Avaya, Blackberry, Broadband, CRM, Call Center, Cisco, Communications Developer, Conference, Conferencing, Consumer Electronics, E-Commerce, FCC, Fax, Financial, Gadget, Google, Green, IP Communications, Merger/Acquisition, Microsoft, Nortel, Optical, Patent, Personal, SIP, Security, Skype, Social Networking, Speech Technologies, Technology, Unified Communications, VoIP, Vonage, Wireless, Yahoo

Tagged: blog, blogosphere, cnbc, espn, tmc, toyota, urlfan : Related Tags: tmcnet ranks, tmcnet, website, urlfan, sites, mention

ShoreTel's FlexGuard, A Great Idea

November 13, 2008

In an environment where leases and credit are becoming more difficult to come by, truly innovative companies who are able to do so, are coming up with new and innovative ways to extend credit to customers. Moreover, at least one company, ShoreTel has a new leasing system they call FlexGuard. What is it? Simply, a lease for ShoreTel unified communications solutions with a system replacement guarantee.

The company calls this a "fee for use" program which is similar to a SaaS solution in that you pay for the service you use. In addition, end of lease options are more flexible allowing customers upgrade on their terms.

In today's economy, coming up with innovative financing options is as important as producing great, money-saving UC solutions; so hats off to ShoreTel for coming up with new ways to satisfy customers demands.

Posted in Avaya, Cisco, Financial, IP Communications, Technology, Unified Communications, VoIP

Tagged: financing, flexguard, lease, saas, Shoretel : Related Tags: shoretel, customers, coming, innovative

Polycom HDX 9000 Demo

November 11, 2008

Here at the ScanSource IMPACT NOW 2009 conference in Orlando checking
out the HDX 9000 HD video demo. The quality is amazing and the price
maxes at $25k. You can start at $7k or so for a lower quality system.

Thanks to Polycom's Steve Hart and Sara Gonsher from ScanSource for
assistance on the demo.

Posted in IP Communications

ScanSource Communications Presents Optimistic Outlook

November 11, 2008

The future of IP communications seems very bright according to Buck Baker the President of ScanSource Communications. I had a chance to speak with him, Mary Ellen Grom, Mike Ferney and Yvette McKenzie today and they seemed quite upbeat about their opportunities. Of special note is their distribution of Polycom products such as videoconferencing. This area of their business is doing well as it offsets reduced travel budgets.

ScanSource plays a vital role in the distribution of products and services, shipping thousands of boxes daily from a 600,000 square foot warehouse outside of Memphis, TN where they help resellers with cash flow and even financing.

Posted in AT&T, Avaya, Blackberry, Broadband, CRM, Call Center, Cisco, E-Commerce, Fax, IP Communications, Merger/Acquisition, Microsoft, Nortel, Open Source, SIP, Speech Technologies, Technology, Unified Communications, Video, VoIP, Wireless

Tagged: Buck Baker, crm, ip communications, Mary Ellen Grom, mike bauer, Mike Ferney, Scansource, uc, unified communications, Yvette McKenzie : Related Tags: scansource communications, communications market, scansource plays, scansource, communications, resellers

Update From IMPACT NOW 2008 Orlando

November 11, 2008

I am still here at IMPACT NOW. The exhibit hall is open and doing quite well. This is a very successful event with a good deal of buzz in the exhibit hall (see photo). It is interesting to contrast the negativity of Wall Street and many US industries which are having tough times with how well this event is doing.

Posted in Avaya, Call Center, Cisco, Fax, IP Communications, Microsoft, Nortel, Technology, VoIP

Tagged: cisco, communications, impact now, nortel, Scansource, technology : Related Tags:

Getting To Know Prince and Cher

November 11, 2008

TMC's Anthony Graffeo gets to know Prince and Cher here at the IMPACT NOW 2008 show in Orlando. So far this is a great event made even better with some U2 playing in the background.

Posted in IP Communications

Tagged: anthony graffeo, impact now : Related Tags:

Networking at IMPACT NOW

November 10, 2008

There is a great networking reception here at the Hard Rock Cafe here
in Orlando, FL. This band is really good.

Posted in IP Communications

IMPACT NOW in Orlando

November 10, 2008

Some nice scenery at the conference.

Posted in IP Communications

Now in Orlando for IMPACT NOW

November 10, 2008

I just landed in Orlando and am very excited to get to the IMPACT NOW show. On the flight I learned that Circuit City is going bankrupt. Not a big surprise really when you consider they have to compete with Best Buy, Costco, Wal-Mart and the web. Anyone who has been in these stores know they don't look great and the service level has been poor for years.

Posted in IP Communications

Heading to IMPACT NOW 2008

November 9, 2008

Tomorrow I will be attending IMPACT NOW 2008 -- an event hosted by ScanSource and proudly sponsored by TMC. This event has some absolutely incredible speakers and I am looking forward to learning a great deal and most of all, networking with the reseller community who are always so insightful.

I hope to see you there.

Here is the agenda:

Disney's Coronado Spring's Resort Orlando, FL

DAY 1

Location: Coronado H 2:00pm - 3:30pm Powerful Disney Institute Workshop on Building Leadership Within Your Company 3:45pm - 5:15pm Powerful Disney Institute Workshop on Strengthening Customer Loyalty 6:30pm - 9:30pm Blow-out networking bash at the Hard Rock Live at Universal Studios DAY 2

7:00am - 8:30am Breakfast - Coronado Foyer 8:30am - 9:00am Kick-off and Welcome from ScanSource, Inc.
CEO Mike Baur - Coronado H
Perspectives on New Opportunities from Leading Vendor Executives Track 1
Location: Fiesta 5
POS/Barcoding/Security Track 2
Location: Fiesta 6
Communications 9:10am - 9:40am Epson Avaya 9:50am - 10:20am Zebra AudioCodes 10:30am - 11:00am Axis Aruba Networks 11:10am - 11:40am Motorola Dialogic 11:40am - 3:40pm EXPO & LUNCH - Veracruz B&C 3:45pm - 4:15pm Intermec Extreme Networks 4:25pm - 4:55pm Cisco Polycom 5:05pm - 5:35pm Honeywell Juniper Networks 5:45pm - 6:45pm Interactive Q&A with Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak
Location: Coronado H

Posted in 4G, AT&T, Blackberry, Call Center, Communications Developer, Consumer Electronics, E-Commerce, IMS, IP Communications, ITEXPO, Microsoft, TMC Team, Technology, Unified Communications, Verizon, Virtual Worlds, VoIP, Wireless

Tagged: aruba, audiocodes, avaya, axis, cisci, dialogic, epson, extreme networks, honeywell, impact now, intermec, juniper, mike baur, motorola, nortel, polycom, scansource, steve wozniak, tmc : Related Tags: track location, disney institute, powerful disney, institute workshop, location fiesta, coronado

My iPhone Application Update

November 9, 2008

Here is a state of my iPhone article which lets you know about some applications you may want to consider and some you may not.

Fring: This wonder-software allows the iPhone/iPod Touch to stay connected to people on various communications networks from Skype to MSN Messenger. In reality, as amazing as this software is, the voice quality on Skype calls is pretty poor on most every call I have tried. Perhaps this is just my phone but who knows. Still, the ability to send text messages on various networks is a useful addition to the Apple device.

Posted in 4G, AT&T, Apple, Avaya, Blackberry, Broadband, Call Center, Cisco, Communications Developer, Conference, Consumer Electronics, FCC, Fax, Gadget, Google, IMS, IP Communications, IPTV, Nortel, SIP, Security, Skype, Social Networking, Speech Technologies, Technology, Unified Communications, Verizon, Video, Virtual Worlds, VoIP, Vonage, Wireless

Tagged: AP Mobile News Networks, apple, Bloomberg, BubbleWrap, CD, Digg, DVD, Easy WiFi, Fring, FS5 Hockey, Google Earth, iPhone, Ipod, ipod touch, Lightsaber, MoMemory, NYTimes, Pandora, Scribble, SnapTell, Sticher Radio, TouchType : Related Tags: software allows, amazing software, apple device, spell check, great software, software

Comments

The State of Bionics

November 7, 2008

When I was a wee lad in high school and deciding what to be, I decided I wanted to be a biomedical engineer. The field fascinated me and I was thrilled to one day develop bionic limbs for people who needed them. The study of electric eels and how they work was another area of intense interest. I imagined coming up with systems which could perhaps power bionic limbs the way this amphibious creature (I think electric eels are amphibious anyway) does.

Then the unthinkable happened...

Posted in IP Communications, Technology

Tagged: biomedical engineer, bionic eye, bionic heart, bionic lung, Bionics : Related Tags: bionic limbs, bionic, limbs

Comments

The Latest Communications and Tech News Videos

November 7, 2008

Today we had a new anchor for the TMCnet News Room. You can check out Jessica Kostek's debut here. In addition, here are some videos of me analyzing and discussing the following topics:

Obama's win and its impact on tech FCC's sanctions white spaces
Holopresence, the use of holographic telepresence
AudioCodes and the coming HD phones
TMC launches Next Generation Networks (NGM) formerly IMS Magazine Also check out the daily news with Lorna Lyle: November 6th news November 5th news November 4th news November 3rd news

Want more? Here is the news of the day from Alan Urkawich (currently on vacation)

October 29 news October 28 news October 27 news Enjoy! Here is the whole list of recent videos:

TMC Newsroom With Jessica Kostek - 11/07/08Organization Thanks Veterans
Mobile Video Sees Growth
Colleges to Expand Wireless Network
Online Retailers See Hope11/07/2008 How Obama Leveraged Technology to WinTMCnet President Rich Tehrani and Erik Linask Talk about How Obama Leveraged Technology to Win11/07/2008 "Holo-presence": From Star Wars to CNNTMCnet President Rich Tehrani and Erik Linask Talk about "Holo-presence": From Star Wars to CNN11/06/2008 FCC Approves White Space for Broadband UseTMCnet President Rich Tehrani and Erik Linask Talk about FCC Approves White Space for Broadband Use11/06/2008 TMC Newsroom With Lorna Lyle - 11/06/08SMobile Unveils VirusGuard
Canalys Navigation Devices
FCC Globalstar WiMAX Rollout
Otterbox Protect Gadgets11/06/2008 AudioCodes Adds VoIP Phones to HD LineupPresident Rich Tehrani and Erik Linask Talk about AudioCodes Adds VoIP Phones to HD Lineup11/06/2008 Introducing NGN MagazinePresident Rich Tehrani and Erik Linask Talk about NGN Magazine11/06/2008 TMC Newsroom With Lorna Lyle - 11/05/08FCC Portio Research
BigMachines
Recruit and retain young talent
Barack Obama11/05/2008 TMC Newsroom With Lorna Lyle - 11/04/0811/04/2008 TMC Newsroom With Lorna Lyle - 11/03/08Force.com Sites Launched Services Automation
Church Uses Telepresence
Europeans See Better SMS Ads
Texting Enjoys Massive Growth11/04/2008 4G Wireless EvolutionGreg Galitzine and Carl Ford Talk about the 4G Wireless Evolution11/03/2008 Greg Galitzine and Carl Ford talk 4GInterview with Crossfire Vice President, Carl Ford about the collaboration with ITEXPO and the emerging 4G Wireless Evolution Conference in Miami10/31/2008 TMC Newsroom With Lorna Lyle - 10/30/08Study Finds Telework Can Save Companies Money
Vlingo 2.0 for Blackberry
Ooma Upgrades VoIP Service
Myvu Designs iPhone Viewer10/31/2008 TMC Newsroom With Alan Urkawich - 10/29/08MailPronto Offers Free Hosted..
Truphone Launches Blackberry Beta
Griffin's iTalk Turns iPhone Into..
Kodiak's New PTT Suite Available10/30/2008 TMC Newsroom With Alan Urkawich - 10/28/08Taxi Service Hails Fonality's..
Verint Records Win at Lane..
pbxnsip Turns to NEI
Synchronica Unveils Push..10/29/2008 TMC Newsroom With Alan Urkawich - 10/27/08CenturyTel to Acquire Embarq?
Cox Plans Wireless Service
Telenity in Pact with CIS Group
Axis Chooses Ericsson for Indonesian Expansion10/28/2008 TMC Newsroom With Alan Urkawich - 10/23/08Daily Headlines and happenings in communications10/23/2008 TMC Newsroom With Alan Urkawich - 10/22/08Daily Headlines and happenings in communications10/22/2008 TMC Newsroom With Alan Urkawich - 10/20/2008Daily Headlines and happenings in communications10/20/2008 TMC Newsroom With Alan Urkawich - 10/17/2008Daily Headlines and happenings in communications10/17/2008 TMC Newsroom With Alan Urkawich - 10/16/2008Daily Headlines and happenings in communications10/16/2008 TMC Newsroom With Alan Urkawich - 10/14/2008Daily Headlines and happenings in communications10/14/2008 TMC Newsroom With Alan Urkawich - 10/13/2008Daily Headlines and happenings in communications10/13/2008 TMC Newsroom With Alan Urkawich - 10/10/2008Daily Headlines and happenings in communications10/10/2008 TMC Newsroom with Alan Urkawich - 10/08/2008Daily Headlines and happenings in communications10/08/2008 TMC Newsroom With Alan Urkawich - 10/07/2008Daily Headlines and happenings in communications10/07/2008 TMC Newsroom With Alan Urkawich - 10/06/2008Daily Headlines and happenings in communications10/06/2008

Posted in Broadband, IP Communications, TMC Video, Technology, Unified Communications

Tagged: ip communications, Tmc, video, voip : Related Tags: headlines happenings, daily headlines, happenings communications, urkawich daily, newsroom lorna, newsroom

Comments

Microsoft Does Not Want Yahoo

November 7, 2008

Steve Ballmer is a master negotiator. C'mon - we know he wants Yahoo. We know Microsoft needs Yahoo! but still, he plays coy and says he is not interested. Very smart.

Posted in Merger/Acquisition, Microsoft, Yahoo

Tagged: acqusition, jetty yang, merger, Microsoft, steve ballmer, Yahoo : Related Tags: yahoo, microsoft

AT&T Wayport Acquisition Signals Importance of WiFi

November 6, 2008

Today, AT&T acquired Wayport giving millions of AT&T customers access to get free WiFi access at 20,000 US hotspots. Why is this important? Simply because AT&T's 3G network is having trouble keeping up with all the traffic the iPhone and other devices are generating. Wireless data is very lucrative and at the same time it gets very expensive to keep up with growing wireless broadband demand.

For AT&T, purchasing WiFi network is very smart as WiFi is generally cheaper than building 3G and/4G network capacity and more importantly, Wayport already has hotspots in prime areas throughout the country.

In all, this is a good move for AT&T and shows how important WiFi is as a competitive differentiator. For example, in the last few months I have noticed Optimum WiFi has hotspots all over Connecticut.

Posted in 4G, Broadband, Communications Developer, IP Communications, Technology, WiMAX, Wireless

Tagged: 3g, 4g, acquisition, AT&T, cablevision, edge, financial, m&a, merger, optimum, optimum wifi, wayport : Related Tags: hotspots, network, wayport

President Obama And The Coming Tech Revolution

November 6, 2008

I will admit it is difficult to put the words tech and revolution together less than 24 hours after John Chambers cratered confidence in technology with a conference call which mentioned that the next quarter will likely see revenues 5-10% lower than the same quarter last year.

But as we get past this hopefully-temporary negative news, I believe we are getting ready for another technological leap where companies of all sizes begin to embrace technology like never before.

It may be useful to go backwards before we progress and in so doing let's stop in the late nineties when Al Gore mentioned the term information superhighway in a speech on TV. Almost immediately the tech markets were abuzz and I remember the next Internet World expo saw traffic increase exponentially.

You see, government has always had a huge influence over tech. In decades past, government standardization on things like UNIX which gave great confidence to IT markets that UNIX was a safe bet.

During the Bush administration however, tech seemed to have been something that didn't mesh with the understanding of the President or Vice President. After all Bush did say he pulls up maps on "The Google." Need I go on?

So if we can surmise that when government casually endorses an operating system or mentions a term in a speech and this results in a revolution in tech usage, what happens when an administration truly embraces technology?

The Obama campaign used integrated marketing better than just about any corporation I have ever seen.

Posted in 4G, AT&T, Apple, Avaya, Blackberry, Broadband, CRM, Call Center, Cisco, Communications Developer, Conference, Conferencing, Consumer Electronics, E-Commerce, FCC, Fax, Gadget, Google, Green, IMS, IP Communications, IPTV, Microsoft, Nortel, Open Source, Optical, SIP, SaaS, Skype, Social Networking, Speech Technologies, Technology, Unified Communications, Verizon, Video, Virtual Worlds, VoIP, Vonage, WiMAX, Wireless, Yahoo

Tagged: al gore, barack obama, George Bush, information superhighway, internet, internet world, president obama, short message service, sms, Social networking, technology, text messaging, white house : Related Tags: president obama, white house, embrace technology, technology, obama, government

Comments

Last Chance To Get A Free Buyer's Guide Listing

November 6, 2008

Yesterday we had a flood of Internet Telephony Buyer's Guide listings come in and it occurs to me that my readers should know that if they are interested in getting a free listing in a magazine that has hundreds of thousands of international readers they have until 7 PM tomorrow -- November 6, 2008 to get in the magazine.

After that point listings will be online only. Here are the details.

Posted in Broadband, IP Communications, SIP, Unified Communications, Video, VoIP

Tagged: buyer's guide, internet telephony, ip communications, ip telephony, itmag : Related Tags: guide

Comments

White Spaces + Google/Yahoo Break Up = Great News

November 6, 2008

There has been a tremendous amount of news worth analyzing as of late and perhaps two of the most important items of note are the FCC's approval of vacant TV white spaces for the use of broadband data devices. I cannot emphasize how important this news could be to consumers as it is yet another broadband choice. Sure there are lots of details to work out but I am optimistic that consumers will see more inexpensive wireless broadband as a result. This will be fantastic for the tech industry as evidenced by positive comments from Google, Dell and Microsoft.

Posted in 4G, AT&T, Apple, Blackberry, Broadband, Cisco, Communications Developer, Consumer Electronics, E-Commerce, FCC, Fax, Financial, Gadget, Google, Green, IMS, IP Communications, Merger/Acquisition, Microsoft, Nortel, Open Source, Technology, Unified Communications, Verizon, VoIP, WiMAX, Wireless

Tagged: aol, doj, fcc, financial, Google, kevin martin, m&a, merger, Microsoft, search, tmcnet, white spaces, yahoo : Related Tags: white spaces, yahoo should, yahoo, consumers, google, microsoft

Comments

Telepresence Becomes Holopresence

November 5, 2008

Did you happen to catch CNN last night and see their new holographic technology? If not, feel free to click on the video to see it in action. Here is what they did - they used 35 HD cameras to simulate a holographic experience - similar to Star Wars. They didn't actually show the 3D image in the studio with Wolf Blitzer but it looked that way to those of us viewing at home.

See holographic image materialize

See holographic image materialized

Is there demand for this technology? Yes, absolutes. I saw 3D telepresence at ITEXPO this past September in LA and the attendees were blown away.

Posted in Broadband, IP Communications, ITEXPO, Technology, Unified Communications, Video, Virtual Worlds, VoIP

Tagged: 3d, 3d telepresence, cnn, conferencing, hologram, holographic, holopresence, itexpo, Telepresence : Related Tags: holographic image, holographic, sound, technology, image, camera

Comments

Keep Up On Election News

November 4, 2008

There is so much happening in this election and the the turnout seems to be greater than ever. If you are looking to keep up with what is happening, there are lots of options.

The first place to go is TMCnet's Election Technology site to keep on technology issues and challenges. The next is an article discussing how Google is helping people stay informed. Finally -- there is an iPhone app for those of you who can't stand to be disconnected from the political news of the day.

I hope your candidate(s) win(s) this year and you don't stay up too late this evening to learn who won.

Whoever does win, I am happy to get this all behind us.

Posted in Technology

Tagged: election : Related Tags: election

Get Out and Vote!

November 4, 2008

I just voted. I respectfully request you do the same. Have a great day. Here are some pictures of what I saw as I voted. By the way, the wait to vote was longer than ever and some people had to wait 45 monutes -- so please plan accordingly. Bring a copy of Internet Telephony Magazine to keep you occupied in line or browse to mobile.tmcnet.com on your phone. Enjoy.

Posted in IP Communications, Personal, Technology

Tagged: internet telephony, itmag, tmcnet mobile, vote : Related Tags:

AudioCodes Earnings up 15.3%, Adds HD Voice

November 3, 2008

In a tough market, AudioCodes did not disappoint. They beat their numbers by 2 cents per share as revenues rose 15.3% year-over-year to a record $46.6 million. GAAP net income rose to $3.1 million and non-GAAP net income rose 72.3% year-over-year to $4.8 million. In addition, this year the company has purchased over four million shares of its stock.

Moreover, the company has just announced support for HD Voice which in my opinion is fantastic news.

Posted in 4G, AT&T, Apple, Avaya, Blackberry, Broadband, Call Center, Cisco, Conferencing, Consumer Electronics, E-Commerce, Financial, IMS, IP Communications, Nortel, SIP, Speech Technologies, Technology, Unified Communications, Verizon, Virtual Worlds, VoIP, Wireless

Tagged: 3d, alan percy, audc, Audiocodes, earnings, hd voice, Mediant, Microsoft, pstn, Shabtai Adlersberg, stereo, VoIPerfectHD, vop : Related Tags: quality levels, better quality, voice quality, quality, voice, million

Touchless Gives Glimpse of GBUI

November 3, 2008

We have seen the futuristic user interfaces of movies like Minority Report and The Matrix Revolutions where people wave their hands in 3 dimensions and the computer understands what the user wants and shifts and sorts data with precision. Microsoft's XD Huang demonstrated how his company sees the future of the GUI at ITEXPO this past September in fact. But at the show, the example was in 2 dimensions, not 3.

The GBUI as seen in The Matrix

The GBUI as seen in Minority Report

I have also seen Microsoft's vision on the UI in their Redmond headquarters and it involves lots of gestures which allow you to take applications and forward them on to others with simple hand movements. The demos included the concept of software understanding business processes and helping you work.

Posted in Apple, Blackberry, Broadband, Consumer Electronics, Gadget, IP Communications, ITEXPO, Microsoft, Search, Technology

Tagged: 3d, api, apple, bui, camera, gbui, google, gui, iphone, itexpo, matrix, minority report, neo, Nintendo, patent, pong, Redmond, robert hashemian, searchme, tom cruise, tom keating, touchless, wii, windowshop, XD Huang : Related Tags: minority report, video, touchless, interface, markers, future

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Response Point Phone System Signals a Nimble New Microsoft

November 2, 2008

Microsoft had a whirlwind of announcements at ITEXPO West 2008 last September in Los Angeles, California and at the show I had a chance to meet with XD Huang , Microsoft General Manager and Richard Sprague, Senior Director about Response Point to discuss how the company envisions changing the communications landscape. The first thing worth pointing out is the Microsoft Response Point team considers themselves to be a nimble "startup" at the software behemoth. The thirty people working in this product group seem to be very hard working and as they tell me, they work 24x7. Evidence of this is the SP1 release which came out about six months after the product was initially released.

Interestingly the release is so significant -- adding a full-featured UC client and other features, it would have qualified for Version 2.0 designation.

Posted in 4G, AT&T, Call Center, Consumer Electronics, Gadget, IP Communications, Microsoft, Nortel, Speech Technologies, Technology, Unified Communications, VoIP

Tagged: Aastra, clear one, ip communications, ip pbx, itexpo, magic blue button, magic of software, net.com, pbx, quintum, response point, Richard Sprague, SIP, Smb, uc, voip, XD Huang : Related Tags: response point, phone system, speech recognition, communications space, pointing microsoft, response

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VoIP 1, Economy 0

November 2, 2008

What a fall season it's been. With the economy uncertain, world leaders actually discussing the word crisis on a regular basis and layoff levels not seen in years, you would expect every industry to lie in shambles. In fact, many a sector has been really hurt by the slow down. Thankfully, IP communications is not one of them.

Recently Dialogic and LifeSize came out with pretty good news in the IP communications market.

Posted in 4G, AT&T, Apple, Avaya, Blackberry, Broadband, Call Center, Cisco, Communications Developer, Conferencing, Consumer Electronics, FCC, Fax, Financial, IP Communications, Microsoft, Nortel, SIP, Technology, Unified Communications, Verizon, Video, VoIP, Vonage, Wireless, Yahoo

Tagged: analyst, at&t, cable, cablevision, cbeyond, charter, cnbc, comcast, cox, dialogic, dialogic one, earnings, finanacial, gary kim, great depression, growth, hd video, ip communications, jim cramer, mad money, Michael dinan, Nortel, press release, recession, revenue, share price, stock market, t&e, telepresence, time warner, travel expenses, Verizon, videoconferencing, Voip : Related Tags: video conferencing, conferencing telepresence, rough patch, going style, headed another, video

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Amazon WindowShop Does 3D

November 1, 2008

Amazon's new WindowShop 3D marketplace is a new spin on shopping. Instead of the traditional 2D way of searching and sorting, this new 3D interface is surprisingly iPhone like in how you navigate and select items for purchase. It also reminds me a bit of SearchMe -- but with this graphically inspired search engine you can only see items left to right as supposed to up and down.

With this new Amazon creation, you can scan books and albums but hopefully as it evolves, you will be able to see products as well. One other area for improvement is allowing you to search and see the results in this new interface.

Posted in E-Commerce, Technology, Virtual Worlds

Tagged: 3d, amazon, cnet, jewelry, windowshop, zdnet : Related Tags: searching sorting, amazon, interface, items

Interesting Mortgage Crisis Perspective

November 1, 2008

As a weekend diversion I thought I would share the following letter to Webster Bank by Bill Dunn (originally found in the Waterbury Republican American (Waterbury, CT) -- registration required). It is pretty funny and encapsulates what responsible mortgage payers are feeling right about now.

Here is an excerpt:

Dear Webster Bank: This letter is to inform you that my wife and I have decided to take advantage of the $700 billion Bailout Bill recently passed by Congress. As your records will indicate, we have been making mortgage payments each month for the past 22 years, which means we have eight years remaining on our 30-year mortgage.

However, my wife and I believe we have paid enough. We are very impressed with a provision in the Bailout Bill that allows the government to arbitrarily change the principal balances of existing mortgage contracts.

Posted in Financial

Tagged: bailout, bill dunn, congress, mortgage, republican american, webster bank : Related Tags: mortgage crisis, passed congress, credit repair, mortgage, bailout, government

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Communications and Technology Blog - Tehrani.com

November 2008