Rich Tehrani

CEO

Communications and Technology Blog - Tehrani.com

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January 2009

You are browsing the archive for January 2009.

RIM Milestones

January 31, 2009

Congratulations to RIM... A very special company responsible for helping transform the way the world works. I give the company tremendous credit for improving global productivity on a scale never seen before.

RIM's creation of the email on the go market shows how technology can change the world for the better. Concepts like the fax machine, voicemail, IVR, ACDs, IP PBXs, etc have made the world a more productive place and in the process increased the standard of living of the entire world.

The Canadian company recently sent me some milestones they have reached.

Posted in 4G, AT&T, Apple, Blackberry, Broadband, Consumer Electronics, Fax, Financial, Gadget, Google, IP Communications, Microsoft, Technology, Unified Communications, Verizon, Wireless

Tagged: acd, apple, bold, consumer electronics, email, fax, gadget, microsoft, pbx, pearl, productivity, rim, storm, voicemail, wireless : Related Tags: standard living, blackberry, world, technology, mobile, company

The Importance of Brand Marketing in a Recession

January 31, 2009

I have discussed the need to keep your image as strong as possible in the face of a down market. Invariably the companies who do not waver from PR and marketing as the economy softens do better than those who reduce or cease these activities.

The ones who increase marketing in a slowdown do even better because most CEOs and CFOs do not understand how important brand perception is and moreover how it can be measured and correlated directly to increased and decreased sales.

You have heard my thoughts on the matter... Another excellent article on the topic by Peter A. Prestipino can be found here.

Posted in Financial

Tagged: financial, marketing, Peter Prestipino, recession, website magazine : Related Tags: marketing

Comments

Red Herring Gone Again?

January 31, 2009

Red Herring was a high-flying dotcom era pub which many execs in telecom used to read in the late nineties. I used to hear about it all the time from those people starting companies during the booming VoIP years.

It stopped publishing after the bubble burst -- not the housing/financial bubble but the dotcom/telecom bubble. Then it started up again and is now reportedly gone again.

Sad news but far from surprising.

Posted in Financial, IP Communications

Tagged: financial, publishing, red herring : Related Tags: again, bubble

ITEXPO Super Bowl Gathering

January 31, 2009

If you are in Miami tomorrow, feel free to stop by our Super Bowl party and visit. We have a suite reserved.

The food and drink will start around 6:00 P.M. on Sunday February 1st, 2009 in room 1510 at the Royal Palm Hotel.

Posted in ITEXPO

Tagged: itexpo, super bowl : Related Tags:

WiMAX vs. LTE Fight Gets Nasty

January 30, 2009

The news flow regarding WiMAX these past months has been like a Rocky movie with Rocky getting pummeled and not fighting back until the last round. Rocky never even bothered to put up his hands to block in the first four movies. I never understood how Mickey could teach the guy to catch a chicken but forgot to tell him to raise his hands to protect his face. But digressions aside (and just don't get me started about Rocky movies - I can recite many of them by heart - well except for the last one...

Posted in 4G, AT&T, Broadband, IP Communications, ITEXPO, Nortel, Technology, Verizon, WiMAX, Wireless

Tagged: 4g, 4gwe, boxing, carl ford, conference, fight, itexpo, lte, rocky, Scenna Tabesh, tmcnet, Wimax, WiMAX Forum, wireless, wwe : Related Tags: rocky movies, wimax, rocky, fight, round, still

Comments

ITEXPO Covered in South Florida Business Journal

January 30, 2009

I just had a great conversation about ITEXPO with Bill Frogameni at the South Florida Business Journal. To me it is always amazing to see how various reporters find different parts of the same news important.

For example, in the article there is a big focus on the thousands of hotel rooms ITEXPO attendees, speakers and memebers of the media occupy. There is also some discussion of the technology and productivity benefits of VoIP and IP communications.

I hope you enjoy the article.

Posted in Avaya, Broadband, Call Center, IP Communications, ITEXPO, Technology, Unified Communications, VoIP

Tagged: Bill Frogameni, conference, expo, Florida Business Journal, ip communications, ITEXPO, miami, newspaper, voip : Related Tags: florida business, business journal, south florida, itexpo

Alvarion Strikes Back

January 30, 2009

Was I too quick to dismiss the WiMAX market yesterday because Nortel decided to discontinue a JV with Alvarion? Perhaps. Alvarion came out swinging today explaining that the company is still financially sound, beating competitors of all sizes, has a sizable amount of cash on its balance sheet and a positive outlook for the future.

While WiMAX may not currently be a big enough market for multibillion dollar Nortel to make money from today, for a smaller player like Alvarion it can still be a huge growth engine. Moreover, since some companies are pulling out of the market, Alvarion could emerge stronger when all is said and done.

And when the market picks up again, perhaps we will look back at this time as a pivotal moment when Alvarion became a major WiMAX player.

I just can't help thinking about 2001-2003 when companies like Yahoo! and many others left the search engine space because they decided it wasn't important. Then a few years later they realized - whoops, search is where the opportunity is.

Posted in 4G, AT&T, Broadband, FCC, Financial, IP Communications, Nortel, Technology, Verizon, WiMAX, Wireless

Tagged: 4g, 4gwe, Alvarion, base station, carl ford, carrier, greg galitzine, lte, Nortel, tmcnet, wifi, wimax, wireless : Related Tags: alvarion, market, wimax, today

Comments

How Dell Helped Destroy the PDA Market

January 30, 2009

Eight years ago I was the chairman of a conference titled Planet PDA where I got to see the early innovation in the market which later became widely deployed in a slew of consumer electronics devices. Back then, Palm and Treo were separate companies and Microsoft was coming on strong with what became Windows Mobile.

My gadget of choice at the time was a Palm 7, a wonder of a PDA which allowed data access via an integrated wireless chipset. A number of websites designed Palm 7 versions and the device was very useful and far ahead of its time.

Later the iPaq was launched by Compaq and a slew of other devices were made from companies like Toshiba and NEC.

A confluence of events took place to severely injure the PDA market. The first was the emergence of smartphones which did what the PDA did but even more.

Posted in 4G, AT&T, Apple, Blackberry, Broadband, Consumer Electronics, FCC, Gadget, Google, IP Communications, Merger/Acquisition, Microsoft, SIP, Technology, Unified Communications, VoIP, Wireless

Tagged: axim, Compaq, Dell, hp, ipaq, palm<, smartphone : Related Tags: smartphone space, smartphone market, market, devices, smartphone, companies

Comments

Borg Beetle Portends the Future of Communications

January 30, 2009

Those Star Trek fans out there remember the Borg to be a species of humanoids who merged the best of the computational and organic worlds together allowing the perfect synergy between life, computing, artificial intelligence and networking.

If you are wondering how the real world compares to that of science fiction it may help to look at a simple experiment funded by DARPA which shows a microprocessor strapped to the back of a giant beetle can allow scientists to more or less control a beetle's flight the way any mini helicopter is controlled by your kids.

The beetle responds to simple messages to take off, land, turn left and right. Electrodes planted in wing muscles and optic lobes convert the electrical signals from the microprocessor implanted on the beetle's back to "commands" which the beetle follows.

Experiments such as this and others which have been done with mammals such as monkeys pave the way for the future of communications where some of us will likely connect our brains directly to computer systems. Early adopters will likely be the military.

And in my opinion there is certainly a need to connect brains directly to electronic systems so people can work even more efficiently. The downside of course is to make the connection happen today requires brain surgery which isn't something many of us would volunteer for.

But when you think about it, we live in a world where we shoot our bodies with lasers to correct our vision and remove our hair.

Posted in Science, Technology, Wireless

Tagged: ai, Beetle, borg, brain, computer, star trek, surgery, tmcnet : Related Tags: future communications, brains directly, beetle, future, brains, likely

Amazon Net Grows 9% in Latest Quarter

January 29, 2009

Amazon continues to perform and the company has shown it is dominant in the world of ecommerce. For the year, net sales grew 28 percent over 2007, to $19.17 billion. This includes a 9% increase last quarter -- a quarter many thought would be poor because the company mentioned casually that it had a one-day sales surge which many interpreted to mean the rest of the quarter was in the toilet.

It seems the promise of ecommerce which many hoped would be distributed over thousands if not hundreds of thousands of companies is being realized in a massive way by Amazon.

Remember the ups and downs of the bubble and post-bubble dotcom days. Actually the internet bubble burst is something people probably long for when compared to the current banking debacle we live through on a daily basis.

Posted in Consumer Electronics, E-Commerce, Google, Technology

Tagged: altavista, amazon, ebay, google, lycos, tmcnet, yahoo : Related Tags: amazon, quarter, bubble, thought

Nortel Puts Another Nail in WiMAX Coffin

January 29, 2009

Nortel just announced it is discontinuing its WiMAX offering which was supplied by Israeli company Alvarion. The company says these moves will allow it to focus more effectively while better positioning itself in other areas where it is stronger.

This news comes as a further blow to WiMAX and follows up on earlier analysis today about the difficulty WiMAX is having in a slow global economy. The question worth asking is when will WiMAX make money for vendors/carriers if so many companies are pulling away from the standard?

After all, will new wireless carriers migrate to WiMAX while equipment providers are visibly pulling out? All the signs point to LTE becoming a strong standard with WiMAX becoming a niche play.

Moreover, in today's device-happy world with touch-screen devices allowing consumers and business people to surf on the go, who wants a fast network which doesn't have broad device support?

I don't think it over for WiMAX yet though... If RIM or Apple adds WiMAX support to a popular device, we could see the market momentum shift.

Posted in 4G, Apple, Blackberry, Broadband, Nortel, Technology, WiMAX, Wireless

Tagged: 4g, 4gwe, apple, ari zoldan, nortal, rim, tmcnet, Wimax, wireless : Related Tags: nortel wimax, portland oregon, wimax, nortel, momentum, service

Comments

The Need for Face-to-Face Meetings

January 29, 2009

I would obviously agree wholeheartedly with Alan Percy that face-to-face meetings are essential for business to get done. Yes, there are more tools than ever like blogs, twitter and social networking which allow people to keep in touch electronically and I have found these tools are great for keeping in touch when I am not meeting with my colleagues in a live environment.

They also help me in setting up efficient meetings at live events.

Moreover, I have found companies are much more receptive to becoming a customer after a face-to-face meeting.

So if your competition is not going to be at a show where your potential customers will be - take it as an opportunity to be there and outsell them.

Posted in Broadband, Call Center, Communications Developer, Fax, IP Communications, Microsoft, Speech Technologies, Technology, Unified Communications, VoIP

Tagged: Alan percy, audiocodes, conference, dsp, ip communications, itexpo, sip, voip : Related Tags: meetings

iPhone Apps For Developers

January 29, 2009

I came across this overview of developer tools for the iPhone and it well written and informative. Some of these are very useful including FTP, shell access, telnet, file transfer, network troubleshooting and more.

Frankly, I don't program much or at all anymore so none of these are worth my time to try. I am sad that Backgrounder however only works with jailbroken phones. I really want my phone to multitask -- oh and cut and paste wouldn't be a bad addition either.

Posted in AT&T, Apple, Communications Developer, Consumer Electronics, E-Commerce, Google

Tagged: apple, development, file transfer, FTP, Iphone, network troubleshooting, shell access, telnet : Related Tags:

Recessions and WiMAX

January 29, 2009

Ari Zoldan has an interesting perspective on the future of WiMAX and how it will hold up in a slowing economy.

Posted in Broadband, IP Communications, Technology, WiMAX, Wireless

Tagged: ari zoldan, quantum Networks, Wimax : Related Tags:

iPhone photo test 2

January 29, 2009

Macro optimization test.

Posted in IP Communications

The Downward Spiral of Snail Mail

January 28, 2009

As snail mail volume drops off due to the growth of email and perhaps fax, the post office has responded by increasing the postage rates of companies which mail catalogs and magazines. And this in turn continues to help kill off both of these industries which in turn are competing with the web.

I think it has come to realize you can only get so many eggs out of the goose and if it you squeeze too hard, you kill it.

So now the backup strategy is to cut down the number of days in which mail is delivered. This is likely what we will see happening.

And if companies feel this hurts their cash flow, expect them to focus more on automated payment systems which in turn will reduce the number of checks being sent in the mail.

This in turn will lead to more catastrophe for the post office.

Don't say I didn't warn you.

Posted in E-Commerce, Personal

Tagged: delivery cuts, ecommerce, post office, web : Related Tags:

iPhone Update Unfriendly to The Unlocked

January 28, 2009

While I sit here waiting for the other 55% of the iPhones 2.21 firmware upgrade to download I am reading this article which explains it is nothing special but unfriendly to unlocked phones.

Furthermore it seems to basically improve Safari -- making it faster and more stable. Sorry, still no cut and paste and/or push. Keep waiting.

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

Tagged: iphone, safari, update : Related Tags: unfriendly unlocked

Some Important ITEXPO East 2009 News

January 28, 2009

Here are some links from a recent ITEXPO Show Daily sent to ITEXPO attendees. It doesn't live online yet so I can't post a link. (Show daily 1, 2) Instead I cut and pasted some of the more important parts with the important links and videos borrowed from the ITEXPO home page.

Keep reading to the end and be sure you are at the show to potentially win the Jeep (you must be present to win). In this economy I am not aware of too many places you can win a car -- just because you showed up.

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, IMS, IP Communications, IPTV, ITEXPO, Merger/Acquisition, Microsoft, Nortel, Open Source, Optical, Patent, Personal, Podcast, SIP, SaaS, Science, Search, Security, Skype, Social Networking, Speech Technologies, Technology, Unified Communications, Verizon, Video, Virtual Worlds, VoIP, Vonage, Wireless, Yahoo

Tagged: 4g, asterisk, conference, developer, digium, ip communications, itexpo, open source, reseller, voip : Related Tags: editor chief, important links, president editor, tehrani president, thought leaders, itexpo

In This Recession, Would You Buy From Your Company?

January 28, 2009

Keep Your Company from Being Cut in a Recession

Every person around the world is looking to cut costs it seems. In turn, every business needs to ensure their current and existing customers don't cut them.

So remember, in this environment, the people who make purchasing decisions will look to purchase from companies they deem stable. How do they determine stability? Through outward appearance.

Small companies and those who have reported negative earnings are at greatest risk. Remember, customers know small companies are not generally well-capitalized.

In response, all companies need to oversaturate the markets they serve with the best news they can create.

Posted in Apple, Broadband, Financial, IP Communications, Nortel, Search, Technology

Tagged: bank of America, bofa, cost cutting, Economy, ge, general electric, goldman sachs, ip communications, marketing, Merrill lynch, Nortel, recession : Related Tags: goldman sachs, market share, product launches, potential customers, start marketing, companies

For Better Or Worse - Planes to Get More Rafts

January 28, 2009

Who thought you could walk/swim away from a water landing? Well, now that we know you can, American Airlines has determined its planes don't have enough life rafts. The good news is they will limit passengers on flights until they get enough rafts on their planes.

So all those years when I thought the flight attendants were full of sh*^t when they went on and on about what to do in the case of a water landing -- apparently management was in agreement.

I suppose if Wall Street didn't learn from the Great Depression, why should the airlines learn from the Titanic?

Posted in Personal

Tagged: American airlines, Life rafts, plane, us airways, water landing : Related Tags: water landing, rafts, planes

Last Photo Test I Hope

January 28, 2009

Last test I think - quality still off.

Posted in IP Communications

Is Eric Schmidt Protecting a Google Monopoly?

January 28, 2009

Photo courtesy of NY Times

Eric Schmidt seems to be everywhere but most often attached to the hip of President Obama. I have a simple question to ask. Many of us know Google is more or less a monopoly - Microsoft and Yahoo! have thrown everything they have at search and come up losers. Other countries have tried to compete and nothing but net.

Posted in Google, Search

Tagged: antitrust, baidu, eric Schmidt, Google, Microsoft, monopoly, obama, president, search, tmcnet, yahoo : Related Tags: monopoly position, better mouse, called monopoly, microsoft yahoo, google monopoly, google

Comments

Photo Quality Test

January 28, 2009

For some reason photo quality is less than optimal using Multi-Photo on iPhone. Am trying a counter-intuitive lower quality setting.

Posted in IP Communications

Michael Arrington Takes Leave

January 28, 2009

TechCrunch has become one of the most influential tech sites on the web getting many scoops and doing a great job analyzing the tech space. But what some call an influential style has led to a string of death threats and founder Michael Arrington being spat on in public.

For now he plans to take time off... Aaway from the hustle and bustle of blogging which generally involves forsaking sleep so you can get scoops.

Michael, enjoy the time off and I agree that it makes no sense to have to pay $2k a day for security and receive death threats because people may not agree with what you write. It is a sick and scary world we live in.

Read Zippy's take

Posted in Technology

Tagged: Blog, blog, Michael Arrington, techcrunch : Related Tags: michael arrington, death threats, michael, arrington

Comments

Multi-Photo Email Test

January 28, 2009

Thanks to iJustine I downloaded Multi-Photo email which allows multiple photos to be emailed from an iPhone. I am now testing it with the email to blog macro we run at TMC.

If this is successful I will use it at itexpo next week.

Posted in IP Communications

ITEXPO East 2009 Miami Panel Info

January 28, 2009

Hi all, thought it made sense to pass along this press release TMC is about to put out so you know what is happening at ITEXPO this Monday-Wednesday in Miami. Hope to see you there soon.

Oh -- and I used the highlighter pretty liberally because i was in one of those moods. Hope you don't mind.

--

HD-Voice, Unified Communications, and Service Provider Panel Discussions Top the Agenda for Next Week's ITEXPO Conference in Miami

Norwalk, CT - January 28, 2009 - Technology Marketing Corporation (TMC®) today announced details - including the complete lists of panelists - for three General Sessions that are attracting significant interest at Next Week's INTERNET TELEPHONY Conference & EXPO (ITEXPO) in Miami.

Each session is free for all attendees.

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, IMS, IP Communications, IPTV, ITEXPO, JITC, Merger/Acquisition, Microsoft, Nortel, Open Source, Optical, Patent, Podcast, Rates Technology, SIP, SaaS, Science, Search, Security, Skype, Social Networking, Speech Technologies, TMC Team, TMC Video, Technology, Unified Communications, Verizon, Video, Virtual Worlds, VoIP, Vonage, WiMAX, Wireless, Yahoo

Tagged: 8x8, Alan Percy, Alteva, Andy Abramson, Aspect Communications, AudioCodes, Bill Bumbernick, Broadvox, CommuniGate, conference, Debbie Greenstreet, Greg Galitzine, hd, Interactive Intelligence, ip communications, itexpo, James Awad, MagicJack, mike genaro, Nortel, Objectworld, Octasic, packet8, Polycom, rich tehrani, Telefonica, Texas Instruments, Tim Yankey, tmc, TW Telecom, Verizon, voip, voip watch : Related Tags: unified communications, internet telephony, technology marketing, marketing corporation, clients build, communications

Comments

Record Low VC Optimism

January 28, 2009

The Wall Street Journal reports that VC optimism has plummeted to an all-time low of 2.77 out of 5. In my opinion this is generally the best time to invest as valuations are low. It seems a number of these venture capitalists think we will start to rebound at the end of this year or next.

Personally I think this last year has been so financially tumultuous that exit strategies need to be reevaluated. It will take a long while for the IPO market to come back and investor confidence may ensure the stock market stays lower than historical averages for some time.

This means companies they invest in will have to make actual (heaven forbid) profit.

Posted in Financial, Technology

Tagged: investor, optimism, VC, wsj : Related Tags:

Plantronics Looks to Unified Communications for Future Growth

January 28, 2009

Plantronics recently reported earnings for its third quarter ending 12/31/08 and from the call there is a good amount you can learn about what is happening in communications. It should be noted that entire markets cannot be judged by a single company but since they play in so many markets, it is worth analyzing what they see happening to their business.

On the call, the company mentioned net revenues were down year over year for the quarter at $182.8 million compared with $232.8. The company says office, audio/entertainment and contact center sales were at the low end of expectations.

The company sees unified communications as a bright spot and they expect softphone growth to drive demand for more headsets.

Here is an important quote from Ken Kannappan, President and CEO:

We expect that the current environment will delay widespread implementations, with virtually all communication infrastructure players committed to UC, we believe that most IT organizations have embraced UC in their long-term planning.

Our headsets play a critical role in the successful deployment of UC, as the PC has no effective audio I/O. The built-in microphone and speaker are not private in an open plan office in the notebook for an office environment and don't offer good audio quality.

Posted in 4G, AT&T, Apple, Avaya, Blackberry, Broadband, CRM, Call Center, Cisco, Communications Developer, Conference, Conferencing, Consumer Electronics, E-Commerce, FCC, Financial, Gadget, IP Communications, Microsoft, Nortel, SIP, Skype, Social Networking, Speech Technologies, Technology, Unified Communications, Verizon, Video, Virtual Worlds, VoIP, Vonage, Wireless

Tagged: Avondale Partners, Barbara Scherer, earnings, financial, Greg Klaben, John Bright, JPMorgan, Kaufman Brothers, Ken Kannappan, Manuel Recarey, Morgan Keegan, Paul Coster, Plantronics, Reik Read, Robert Baird & Company, Rohit Chopra, Tavis McCourt, tmcnet, Wedbush Morgan Securities : Related Tags: contact center, plantronics looks, future growth, wireless products, productivity efficiency, headset

Comments

All Future Cameras to Sound When in Use?

January 27, 2009

Sometimes my kids don't like to be photographed so I have disabled all sound made from my camera because I am sick and tired of having shots of the back or tops of their heads as they duck for cover from the lens. It will be interesting to see if the new Camera Phone Predator Alert Act passes because it does, it will become illegal for me to mute my camera to take pictures of my kids.

Posted in Consumer Electronics, Gadget

Tagged: camera phone : Related Tags: camera

Rumors of Google Buying Skype

January 27, 2009

eBay is doing nothing with Skype -- they say there is no synergy but there are ways to show ads for products the company sells to people making video and audio calls. I have yet to see the two companies try to integrate their products and services.

The rumors point to Google purchasing the internet telephony leader but Skype doesn't need Google... It has a huge network already and Google won't help to grow what is growing so quickly already.

Sadly, eBay needs Skype more than it realizes. I am not sure how they will replace a product which is growing like Skype.

Posted in Broadband, E-Commerce, Google, IP Communications, Skype, Technology, VoIP

Tagged: advertising, auctions, ebay, ecommerce, google, sales, skype, tmcnet : Related Tags: think synergy, skype, google, company, worlds, email

Comments

Verizon Doing Well for Multiple Reasons

January 27, 2009

Verizon posted a 15% increase in fourth-quarter profit because of wireless growth but as you can imagine, landline spending by businesses slowed. Of note is the fact one million Blackberry Storms have been sold so far.

In addition, broadband and phone revenue for businesses was reduced by 2.2% which the company says is due to delayed purchases and layoffs.

One would imagine SIP trunking would be a small part of the reason as well.

FiOS subs were up just over 300k and the fact consumers are staying home and watching more TV is a reason for FiOS to do well into the future. I mention this as Netflix just had record earnings because people are staying home more often and Netflix is cheap entertainment.

See Also:

Wall Street Journal TMC

Posted in AT&T, Broadband, Consumer Electronics, IP Communications, IPTV, Technology, Unified Communications, Verizon, Video, VoIP, Wireless

Tagged: fios, netflix, verizon, wireless : Related Tags:

Article on Advertising Now

January 27, 2009

I came across an article worth sharing on advertising.

Hope it is useful to you.

Posted in Personal

Tagged: advertising, Entrepreneur.com, Kim T. Gordon, thestreet.com : Related Tags:

Must Read: iPhone Keyboard Better Than G1?

January 27, 2009

My two mobile devices are the HTC XV6800 and iPhone. I use the iPhone for data and the XV6800 as my voice phone. This works out well as Verizon has a much better network and I have few dropped calls if any. In a situation where I need data access and AT&T doesn't work, I use the Skyfire browser on the XV6800.

I also use the XV6800 to download email before my flight takes off because unlike the iPhone I can delete email when not connected to a network.

I also use the XV6800 when I need to cut and paste from an email into another app.

Posted in 4G, AT&T, Apple, Blackberry, Broadband, Consumer Electronics, FCC, Gadget, Google, IP Communications, Microsoft, Technology, Unified Communications, Verizon, VoIP, Wireless

Tagged: android, apple, g1, gadget, iphone, Jason D. O'Grady, keyboard, steve jobs, t-mobile, Zdnet : Related Tags: iphone keyboard, keyboard better, iphone, keyboard, better, email

Comments

Come Meet the Thought Leaders at ITEXPO Part 2

January 27, 2009

Last week I posted some links to interviews which I did with various thought leaders who will be participating at ITEXPO next week in Miami. Since the last post I had a chance to conduct a few more which are worth sharing.

I find interviews are a useful way to get a feel for the people I will run into at events. In addition, by reading through them you get a sense for where people think things are going in the market. Those who follow closely will spot trends which they may be able to use to launch a new business or product.

Or you may just be able to determine something simple like SIP trunking is a logical service for your SMB to consider - or perhaps you may learn you need a security device such as an SBC for your wireless service provider business as you migrate to IP.

Whatever you learn from these links I hope it is useful and I look forward to discussing the state of the industry with you next week in Miami at ITEXPO.

NAME COMPANY

Ravi Varanasi

Sipera Systems Frank Stinson Intellicom Analytics Francis Carden Openspan Ruben Maury Ryla Inc Jim Nevelle Sorrento Andrew Harteveldt Acision

Posted in 4G, AT&T, Apple, Avaya, Blackberry, Broadband, CRM, Call Center, Cisco, Communications Developer, Consumer Electronics, E-Commerce, FCC, Fax, Financial, Gadget, Google, IP Communications, ITEXPO, Microsoft, Nortel, SIP, SaaS, Security, Skype, Social Networking, Technology, Unified Communications, Verizon, Video, VoIP, Vonage, Wireless, Yahoo

Tagged: Acision, analyst, Andrew Harteveldt, conference, Francis Carden, Frank Stinson, im, Intellicom Analytics, ip communications, itexpo, Jim Nevelle, Openspan, Ravi Varanasi, Ruben Maury, Ryla, security, sip, Sipera Systems, sms, Sorrento, thought leader, tmc, trade show, voip, wireless : Related Tags: thought leaders, itexpo

President Obama, Forget the Shovels, Fix the Patent System Mess

January 26, 2009

Although it is too early to know for sure, the RPX Defensive Patent Aggregation Service has just signed Epson and added it to other big names like Cisco and IBM. As you may recall this organization is like a mega patent aggregation club for companies looking to protect themselves from frivolous claims.

While our government is hard at work trying to figure out how to dole out billions of dollars to get people hired for jobs which seem to primarily require manual labor, I wonder if there aren't better opportunities for these very same workers that could be created by just reforming the patent system.

Until that point, I hope RPX and/or companies like them help to level the playing field and afford some protection to companies who have (or are likely to) become frivolous patent litigation victims.

See Also Law.com

Posted in Cisco, Patent, Technology

Tagged: cisco, court, Epson, ibm, obama, Patent, patent troll : Related Tags: patent system, patent aggregation, patent, companies

F5 Targets Nortel Customers

January 26, 2009

The parallels between nature and business are seen most often when species or companies need to adapt to change. In this case the change in the economic climate has made it a financial imperative for many companies to do whatever it takes to prosper. And one of the easiest ways to grow in a down market is by taking marketshare - generally at the expense of weaker competitors - especially those that may be sick, old or injured.

With this preamble, it comes as no surprise that F5 joins Veraz, Juniper Enterasys and Extreme Networks in somewhat publically going after Nortel customers with a replacement program.

Posted in Avaya, Broadband, Cisco, Financial, IP Communications, Nortel, Open Source, SIP, Technology, Unified Communications, Video, Virtual Worlds, VoIP, Wireless

Tagged: class 4, class 5, Enterasys, Extreme Networks, f5, information technology, ip communications, networking, Nortel, router, switch, Veraz, voip : Related Tags: nortel customers

Omg, 2mro's Kybrd 2dy

January 26, 2009

Oh My God, Tomorrow's Keyboard Today!

Without a doubt many of us wear different hats when we communicate. For example many in business do not use SMS abbreviations but kids do. When texting with businesspeople, SMS abbreviations seem to be acceptable at times but of course this depends on your situation.

I was reminded of this schizophrenic communications many of us deal with when I came across a new keyboard which can switch between QWERTY and SMS modes - where function keys become SMS abbreviations. There is also a configuration which allows the keyboard to work in alphabetical mode - the company says this is good for hunt and peckers.

For those texting monsters out there - it may be worth a look.

Fast Finger Keyboards via GeekAlerts

Posted in 4G, AT&T, Apple, Blackberry, Consumer Electronics, FCC, Gadget, IP Communications, SIP, Skype, Social Networking, Technology, Unified Communications, Verizon, Virtual Worlds, Wireless

Tagged: communications, geekalerts, keyboard, qwerty, Sms, texting, typing, Wikipedia : Related Tags: abbreviations, keyboard

Thousands More ATAs Get Landfilled

January 26, 2009

Verizon is about to shut down its VoiceWing service and in the process leave thousands of orphaned and locked ATAs, Most of these devices are probably old by consumer electronics standards but as Tom Keating points out it is too bad they have to end up in landfills now as there is no way to unlock them.

Although not great news, I for one will accept the drawbacks of this announcement when contrasted against the positive news of the new Hub product coming to a store near you around the time of ITEXPO.

Posted in Broadband, Consumer Electronics, FCC, Gadget, IP Communications, SIP, Skype, Technology, Unified Communications, Verizon, VoIP, Vonage

Tagged: ata, consumer electronics, Ed Hardy, gadget, hub, ip communications, Jon Arnold, landfill, Michael Dinan, Thomas Ricker, tom keating, Verizon, voip : Related Tags:

ITEXPO East 2009 Blog Roundup

January 24, 2009

Yesterday, a number of people blogged about ITEXPO and discussed what they will be doing at the show. It seemed like a good weekend project to assemble some of these posts in one place so you can join in the conversation or just keep track of some of the happenings from various points of view.

Dan York mentions on his Disruptive Telephony blog that he is looking to connect with people at the show. Here is what he has to say:

I'll be arriving Monday afternoon and then on Tuesday, February 3rd, I'll be donning my VOIPSA VoIP Security hat to participate in a SIP Trunking Workshop sponsored by Ingate Systems on "SIP Trunking And Security". These workshops are always fun to do and as they are free to anyone attending ITEXPO (even just with an exhibit pass), they are usually well-attended.

Posted in 4G, AT&T, Apple, Avaya, Blackberry, Broadband, CRM, Call Center, Cisco, Communications Developer, Conference, Conferencing, E-Commerce, FCC, Fax, IP Communications, IPTV, ITEXPO, Open Source, SIP, Social Networking, Speech Technologies, Technology, Unified Communications, Verizon, Video, VoIP, Wireless

Tagged: allen miller, audiocodes, Broadvox, conference, dan york, david byrd, disruptive telephony, echo, enterprise, h.323, ingate, ip communications, ip man, Itexpo, jon arnold, me too, Microsoft, Panasonic, Richard Sprague, sip, sip trunking, smb, tdm, telco, trade show, voip, voipsa : Related Tags: service provider, miami itexpo, allen miller, itexpo, doing, trunking

Using Gadgets to Sell Service

January 23, 2009

For years you have heard me rant about how the future of telecom is in CE or consumer electronics. Specifically I told VoIP providers we need to integrate SMS and other cool services we have in our cell phones so our home phones can be as desirable as our mobile devices.

Here are my exact comments from a post titled VoIP 2.0 in 2004:

The Device Sells The Service

There are at last count over 100 VoIP service providers out there and counting. How will they differentiate themselves? Some will have the best user interface, price, quality of service, etc., but is that enough differentiation for hundreds of competitors that are effectively able to compete with one another globally? Carrier's carriers like Level 3 (how times have changed) and other new entrants to this market are going to be the backbone of the next generation of service provider making it easier than ever to compete in this market. The answer is simple.

Posted in 4G, AT&T, Apple, Blackberry, Broadband, Consumer Electronics, E-Commerce, Gadget, IP Communications, Microsoft, SIP, Technology, Verizon, VoIP, Vonage, Wireless

Tagged: consumer electronics, femtocell, foleo, gadget, Hub, jeffry nelson, mms, mobile, music, palm, sms, tmc, tom kating, tv, Verizon, Verizon wireless, voip, vonage, vzw, wireless : Related Tags: verizon wireless, wireless phone, service provider, mobile phones, device, service

Comments

IBM, Microsoft, Apple, Google and Intel, The Real Earnings Story

January 23, 2009

You may have heard Intel and Microsoft missed their numbers but Google, Apple and IBM did well. Most people are trying to make sense of what is happening here. After all, to most financial analysts, these are all tech companies and subsequently they should all do the same.

Here is the real story.

If you remember the last downturn, in 2001-2002 a great deal of tech people started to experiment with free Linux solutions when budgets were slashed. The move to Linux had started years earlier but the accelerant was a lack of budgets.

In the last 12 months we have seen the slowing economy act as an accelerant as well but in this case it increased adoption rates of virtualization and SaaS/cloud computing.

Posted in AT&T, Apple, Blackberry, Broadband, CRM, Consumer Electronics, FCC, Gadget, Google, IP Communications, Microsoft, Open Source, SIP, SaaS, Search, Security, Technology, Unified Communications, Verizon, VoIP, Wireless

Tagged: admob, advertising, Apple, google, ibm, inte, Microsoft, netbook, operating system, os, processor, professional services, software publishers association, spa : Related Tags: intel microsoft, microsoft intel, cloud computing, microsoft, people, intel

The Response Point Communications Opportunity in 2009

January 23, 2009

While there are many segments of the communications market which will do better than the overall economy in 2009, there is an important trend worth noting of you are trying to invest your money or resources in the space. The very large segment of the market is in severe stress do to the economic environment and the sad state of the global banking system.

Specifically, activities which require millions or billions of dollars to finance are being slowed or stopped until the economic climate becomes better and/or more capital becomes available.

This means the segments of the communications market which do not require massive investments are less affected by the credit crunch.

Subsequently, we can expect the SMB and Enterprise market to be somewhat resilient to the slowdown which is currently affecting companies who rely primarily on carriers for their livelihood.

This is not to say that the enterprise/ SMB space does not need capital. They do. It is just that the financing is easier to get on a $15,000 phone system than a million dollar softswitch upgrade.

With this in mind, TMC has really done its best to present ITEXPO attendees with a broad range of SMB solutions to choose from - whether you are a VAR or are coming to the event to supply your own company with enterprise/branch/SMB solutions.

As we all know Microsoft has made a huge splash in the unified communications space these past years but what is lesser known is the Response Point product is equally good and targeted at smaller companies and resellers.

At the upcoming ITEXPO you will find limitless Response Point solutions you can't find anywhere else.

For example, John Frederiksen is the new General Manager of Response Point and he will be giving a keynote at the show.

In addition there is a Response Point seminar at the show which is free.

The details are below and you can register here.

I hope to see you there. --

Microsoft Response Point Solution FREE Seminar at ITEXPO East 2009

Tuesday, February 3rd & Wednesday, February 4th

This is a 2 day Microsoft sponsored seminar geared towards ITEXPO East VARs and Agents.

Posted in Broadband, Call Center, Conference, IP Communications, ITEXPO, Microsoft, Nortel, Technology, Unified Communications, Verizon, VoIP

Tagged: Aastra Telecom, Bandwidth.com, Brian Nickel, Cbeyond, Clear One, conference Jeff Uphues, Covista, D-Link, Erik Lagerway, Greg Rothman, itexpo, John Drolet, John Frederiksen, Karen Hong, Kent Terpe, Luis Esparragoza, Mark Child, Marta Barillas, Matt Wilson, Microsoft, Microsoft Response Point, NGT, Packet8, Peter Nelson, Quintum, response point, Richard Sprague, Sangoma, SIPconnect, smb, SMB Phone, softswitch, Syspine, Tom Burgess, TotalTel, uc : Related Tags: response point, microsoft response, development engineer, engineer microsoft, members response, response

The New Mobile VoIP business Opportunity

January 23, 2009

A simple test to determine who is a true telecom veteran is to ask them simply have you heard of Harry Newton. Harry was the ultimate character and the most polarizing figure I knew in telecom. The man was responsible for launching the magazines Teleconnect, Call Center, Computer Telephony and others. He was an incredible businessman/competitor to TMC and we became a better company because f him.

The largest product Newton's company owned was the Computer Telephony Expo which took place in LA and attracted tens of thousands of people worldwide.

Posted in 4G, Broadband, Conference, E-Commerce, FCC, Gadget, IP Communications, SIP, Skype, Technology, Verizon, Wireless

Tagged: business opportunity, call center, Chief Flattening Officer, cmp, Computer Telephony, ip communications, miller freeman, Mobile VoIP, mobile voip, MobileTalk, Moshe Maeir, Packet8, Skype Mobile, Teleconnect, The Flat Planet Phone Company, Truphone, voip : Related Tags: computer telephony, harry newton, mobile carriers, phone company, business opportunities, newton

Comments

(Tech) Change is Here

January 22, 2009

If you had to rank the technological savvy of the White House you would probably put them at a three out of ten at best. If you ever read my post about the White House email controversy you might rank the world's most powerful "house" at a one. You remember - they were archiving emails in PST files 10 times greater than the recommended average. Nuts.

The situation was highlighted as the Obama administration took office and found Windows XP computers, phone lines which didn't work, a lack of laptops and who even knows if there was any WiFi.

"It is kind of like going from an Xbox to an Atari," Obama spokesman Bill Burton said of his new office.

Part of the reason for a lack of technology has to do with security but I am not sure I am comfortable knowing the nation's biggest corporations and government agencies use technology to conduct their daily business activity but it isn't secure enough for the White House.

An article on the matter mentions officials in the press office were prepared by having cell phones and Gmail accounts so they could communicate effectively.

So here is the question.

Posted in 4G, AT&T, Apple, E-Commerce, FCC, IP Communications, Security, Technology, Wireless

Tagged: amail, ataru, bill burton, efficiency, gmail, ip communications, mobile phone, Obama, president, productivity, pst, social networking, sony, technology, tmcnet, white house, xbox : Related Tags: white house, house, government, business, technology, office

Don't Buy That Palm Stock Just Yet

January 22, 2009

Just when you thought it was safe to buy a Palm device or some of their near eight-dollar stock, along comes a threat from Apple's new (acting) CEO Tim Cook who tells others who rip off the company's IP (intellectual property in this case) "look out."

I did wonder about the Palm Pre when I read these statements as it uses a similar multi-touch interface to the iPhone and to be honest, once you have used it... It is really tough to not have it.

It seems Pre stands for the time at which Palm will receive the legal papers from Apple... Pre-product launch.

Posted in AT&T, Apple, Consumer Electronics, Gadget, Technology, Verizon, Wireless

Tagged: Apple, chrunchgear, intellectual property, ip, iphone, lawsuit, multi-touch, patent, steve jobs, tim cook : Related Tags:

Asterisk Training Details

January 22, 2009

Asterisk training has received a tremendous amount of attention at ITEXPO these past weeks and today TMC put out a press release with details. I thought it made sense to pass this info along to my readers who may be looking for the details.
---
Digium to Host Two New Asterisk Training Courses at Digium|Asterisk World Conference in Miami

One-Day Courses Added to Program at Open Source Conference Collocated with ITEXPO, World's Leading IP Communications Conference

Norwalk, CT - January 21, 2009 - Technology Marketing Corporation (TMC®) and Digium®, Inc., the Asterisk® Company, announced today that they have teamed up to host two new training courses at Digium|Asterisk World, February 2-4, 2009 in Miami, Florida.

Digium|Asterisk World is collocated with TMC's popular INTERNET TELEPHONY Conference & EXPO East 2009 (ITEXPO) at the Miami Beach Convention Center.

The two new training courses offered by Digium are as follows:

Tuesday, February 3, 2009: Switchvox Training

This course serves as a one-day introduction to the Switchvox system. The goals and objectives of this class are to:

Explain the role of a Switchvox system within a corporate IT/telephony infrastructure Familiarize the student with the initial setup and configuration of their Switchvox system Describe the telephony connections which Switchvox supports and identify the hardware needed to effect this connectivity Identify the basic characteristics of analog and digital PSTN connections and how VoIP compares and contrasts with these Configure Switchvox to deliver basic PBX functionality including basic call routing, voicemail and directory services Connect Switchvox to a Voice-over-IP service provider Show how to use the Switchboard application to give users a rich interface with which to interact with the telephone system l Wednesday, February 4, 2009: Asterisk 123

The Asterisk 123 course is a gentle introduction to the Asterisk Open Source PBX.

Posted in Call Center, IP Communications, Open Source, SIP, Technology, Unified Communications, VoIP

Skype's Growth Staggering, Challenges Ahead

January 22, 2009

Om Malik does a great job analyzing the Skype earnings numbers hidden within eBay's quarterly results. Here are some of the numbers/details worth sharing.

$145 million in sales for the quarter26% greater sales than prior yearSkypeOut minutes go to 2.6 billion from 2.2 billion in the third quarter of 2008.Superioor Growth in Asia is noted by the companySkype-to-Skype minutes go to 20.5 billion from 16.5 billion in the third quarter of 2008.35 million new users were added this past quarter

Om also points out in an intelligent fashion that the growth at Skype is slowing. He focuses on paid growth of course - the free user growth is staggering.

The problem as you might imagine is Skype-to-Skype minutes are growing much faster than SkypeOut and this only makes sense when you consider broadband is spreading and computers are getting much cheaper. In fact you can potentially justify a netbook from your telephone savings of a month or less in some countries/situations.

Then there is the paradox of all paradoxes.

Posted in Broadband, Consumer Electronics, Gadget, IP Communications, Skype, Technology, Video, VoIP

Tagged: earnings, ebay, gigaom, internet telephony, ip communications, ip telephony, om malik, revenue, Skype, video, voip : Related Tags: billion billion, skype minutes, growth staggering, growth skype, third quarter, skype

Zultys MXmeeting

January 21, 2009

In what seems to be an important trend for the IP PBX market, Zultys is now offering a new product called MXmeeting, a scalable web conferencing and collaboration solution. The system scales from as few as two users to as many as 2,000 and supports web conferencing for sales presentations, demos, training, etc.

In addition, there is remote support, remote access, web seminar functionality, Outlook integration MXIE integration, recording and more. Oh and by the way, MXIE is the Zultys UC client.

How do you get MXmeeting? You add an appliance to the MX250 or MX30.

How do I interpret the news? Simple... The future of voice communications is truly going unified meaning we will see more seamless connectivity between traditional phone systems and web conferencing and collaboration systems.

Ceck out how MXmeeting compares to Citrix and WebEx.

Posted in Avaya, Broadband, Call Center, Cisco, Google, IP Communications, Nortel, Social Networking, Technology, Unified Communications, VoIP

Tagged: collaboration, conferencing, ip communications, ip pbx, mx250, mx30, mxie, mxmeeting, outlook, voip, Zultys : Related Tags: conferencing collaboration, mxmeeting, ultys, conferencing

Come Meet the Thought Leaders at ITEXPO

January 21, 2009

One of the most important parts of any conference is the networking... The potential to meet and speak with thought leaders in numerous markets at one time in one place. This year's ITEXPO has more thought leaders than any prior TMC event I can remember.

Although I cannot duplicate the actual conversations you might want to have with people at the show, I did try to come up with a way for you to get a feel for many of the speakers and exhibitors at the show by asking them questions I think are of interest.

It is my hope you will find the people you want to interact with, read these interviews and then take the conversation from there when you are live.

There are numerous networking events at the show as well as meals, etc. I hope you use these times productively and make this ITEXPO an extremely productive one.

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, ITEXPO, Merger/Acquisition, Microsoft, Nortel, Optical, Patent, SIP, Security, Skype, Speech Technologies, Technology, Unified Communications, Verizon, Video, VoIP, Vonage, Wireless, Yahoo

Tagged: ACCESS, Aculab, AireSpring, Alan Percy, Albert Chu, Alexandre Hebra, Allegiance, Altitude Software, Andrea McKnight, Andy Abramson, Assurant, AudioCodes, BandTel, Brian Spencer, Brita Dagmar Strandberg, Bryan M. Johns, Cameron E. Hurst, Cbeyond, Charles (Chi) Spann, Chris Gravett, ClearOne, Commlogik, CommuniGate, Comunicano, Connected Nation, Crimsonet technologies, Dan Beckman, David Gehringer, David Yedwab, Diane McKee, DIDX, Don Palmer, Fanfare, Fonolo, Geoffrey Shepstone, Global Crossing, Grandstream, GreenfieldTech, Haim Araman, Harris, Ingate, IpiFony, Ipitomy, Jim Dalton, Jim Greenway, Joel Maloff, John C. Kelly, John Epeneter, Jon Arnold, Jon Arnold Associates, Jon Doyle, Kenneth Osowski, Khris Kendrick, LLP, Mark Child, Market Strategy Analytics, Matthew Nickasch, Michael Bibelman, Michelle Chu, Michelle Trank, Microsoft, Mike Storella, Nick Branica, Nir Simionovich, OAISYS, openLine networks LLC, Pactolus, Perry Ismangil, Presence Technology, Rex Backman, Richgels/Schaefer Insurance, Sandra Valencia, Scott Charter, Shai Berger, Shelton | Johns / Private Peering Point, SIP Print, Smart Network Solutions, snom, Soundwin Network, Stephanie Anderson, Steve Safley, Steven Johnson, Suzanne Bowen, TECHtionary, Telecom Brokerage, Teluu, Todd Regan, Tom Cross, Tony Mazzullo, TransNexus, U4EA, Veramark, Voiceserve, VoIPConsultants.biz, WBS Connect, Wiltshire & Grannis : Related Tags: thought leaders, thought, people, leaders, think, itexpo

Comments

Why Are Orders up 25% at ECI Telecom?

January 21, 2009

During the presidential inauguration yesterday, I was on a call with Laura Howard the CMO of ECI Telecom where I learned her company grew 25% on order intake growth from last year. This may surprise you as the company competes with Nortel on a few fronts. I asked Howard about where the growth was - what regions of the world and how the company changed its business model to make this happen. Hint - managed services didn't hurt.

We further discussed what is happening with spending among CLECs, cable companies and tier one service providers.

Posted in 4G, AT&T, Broadband, Cisco, FCC, IMS, IP Communications, Optical, Podcast, Technology, Verizon, Video, Wireless

Tagged: 9000, Alvarion, b-focus, carrier, carrier Ethernet, Ceragon, cesr, communications, Eci, emerging markets, fiber, ftth, gpon, laura howard, lightsoft, metroethernet, msan, mso, mspp, ngn, ops, optical, optical packet, roadm, sdh, service provider, services, social networking, software, sonet, st series, stms, telecom, xfm : Related Tags: wells fargo, family friends, breast cancer, i’ve learned, brothers sisters, allen

Comments

Truphone Does it Again

January 21, 2009

One of the hottest companies in communications is Truphone. With a super-passionate CEO named Geraldine Wilson, they are taking the world by storm while offering truly useful software-based VoIP on virtually any and all platforms from Nokia to iPhone and now Google Android G1. I remain impressed not only with the company's products but the incredible speed at which they release news and new products.

See Also: VoIP: Definitely Not Dead Yet, the Sequel Truphone Adds Skype Features, Twitter, MSN Messenger, and moreTruphone Now Makes Skype Calls Using iPhone and iPod Touch Truphone Looks Forward to an Exciting 2009

Posted in 4G, AT&T, Apple, Broadband, Consumer Electronics, FCC, Gadget, IP Communications, SIP, Skype, Technology, Verizon, VoIP, Wireless

Tagged: android, apple, Geraldine Wilson, google, ip communications, iphone, nokia, t-mobile, Truphone, voip : Related Tags:

Learn From IBM: Add Services

January 21, 2009

IBM has shown us that services are a great way to keep your revenue stable or even growing in a slowdown. When companies slash jobs they still need to get work done and this is where companies with strong service arms come in.

I believe we will see a few classes of tech and communications companies this year and next. Those companies with services revenue will outperform and those without may struggle.

Here is an excerpt from an article on IBM's earnings in a Hudson Valley newspaper:

In 2008, 40 percent of IBM's profit came from software, 42 percent from services and just 9 percent from hardware.

In the fourth quarter, IBM's consulting arms reported new services signings of $17.2 billion, with 24 deals greater than $100 million. IBM's services backlog at Dec.

Posted in Call Center, IP Communications, Technology

Tagged: communications, consulting, earnings, Ibm, services, technology : Related Tags: billion billion, percent billion, services revenue, services percent, services, billion

Pandora Adds Ads

January 21, 2009

It had to happen eventually -- Pandora -- the web-based music service which allows you to play the music you like to listen to, has recently started adding 15-second advertisements .

But wait a second I run a media company -- and that means I know advertisers pay the bills.

Gizmodo says users get 15 seconds of advertisements for every two hours of music. This seems like a great ratio to me.

I must say this news seems coincidental as it comes at the the same time Clear Channel, the nation's largest radio company is laying off nearly two thousand workers.

According to sources familiar with the matter, many of the layoffs will be in ad sales meaning Pandora should have a large number of salespeople to choose from.

Personally, I think Pandora and similar services are the future of music -- consider it Radio over IP or RoIP.

Posted in Consumer Electronics, FCC, Financial, Gadget

Tagged: clear channel, internet radio, lay offs, pandora, radio, roip, sirius, web radio, xm : Related Tags: pandora, music, radio

Comments

12 Days to ITEXPO in Sunny Miami

January 21, 2009

It was 7 degrees as I got on my car but now a balmy 8 degrees.
What was the reason you were going to miss this show again?

See you in Miami.

Posted in IP Communications

Comments

Asterisk, Trixbox and Switchvox Training

January 20, 2009

It is a foregone conclusion that the open source market will benefit as companies look to take advantage of the lower costs and productivity benefits of IP communications and collaboration while holding the line on costs. If you are a reseller, VAR, interconnect, etc and you aren't looking to sell these systems you are at a tremendous disadvantage.

If I am a VAR, I walk into a customer and say here is what IP can do for you and here are low cost solutions which can help you while saving you a boatload of cash. In this economic climate, this pitch resonates - does yours?

It is for this reason the interest in open source and more specifically open source certifications continues to grow. After all, being certified in a hot and emerging area of communications means you are more likely to get hired by a company as an employee or as an installer of their phone system.

In response to the needs of the market TMC is proud to have a collocated Asterisk World event at ITEXPO in 13 days in Miami.

Posted in CRM, Call Center, Communications Developer, Conferencing, IP Communications, Open Source, SIP, Technology, Unified Communications, VoIP

Tagged: asterisk, communications, conference, education, expo, fonality, ip pbx, itexpo, linux, open source, pbx, sip, smb, switchvox, Trixbox, voip, wireless : Related Tags: source, communications, training, while, asterisk

Sound Off on Obama Broadband Stimulus

January 19, 2009

Tom Keating is dead set against the broadband stimulus plan proposed by President-Elect Obama. He believes in government getting out of the way of people and generally I agree with him. I do however believe that broadband is like air, water, highways, bridges and other core infrastructure and the government should aid in ensuring the US is a leader in internet access.

Yes, industry is getting broadband to the masses but that is not enough. Broadband is strategic and allows workers to work for companies anywhere in the world. I for one believe the ingenuity and inventiveness of Americans is something we have which differentiates us from workers in many other countries.

This means a new wave of entrepreneurs could start companies like Google and Yahoo! given access to better and faster broadband connections.

Tom is simply wrong on this matter.

Posted in 4G, AT&T, Avaya, Broadband, Cisco, FCC, Google, IMS, IP Communications, Microsoft, Nortel, Optical, Technology, Unified Communications, Verizon, VoIP, Vonage, WiMAX, Wireless, Yahoo

Tagged: barak obama, blog<, broadband, did I mention your taxes will go up in the future to pay this money back?

tom keating, have an opinion now? Oh, president, rich tehrani, snapvoip, stimulous, There, tmc : Related Tags: broadband stimulus, simply wrong, toxic assets, stimulus, really, broadband

Comments

Gadgets to Shape More Telecom Decisions

January 19, 2009

It seems both of the major US cellular carriers have decided femtocells are a good idea. First AT&T and now Verizon. What this obviously means for customers is better service at home or in offices with poor coverage. The obvious losers here are pure-play VoIP companies as well as cabecos.

Let's face it - wireless devices are the cool hip gadgets we carry and using even the hippest home phone makes us feel like we are walking around in bell bottoms and one-piece bathing suits from the turn of the century.

When it comes to fashion and pizzazz, it is really tough for anything to compete with today's cell phones.

The telecom battle has really become the consumer electronics battle.

Posted in 4G, AT&T, Conference, Consumer Electronics, FCC, Gadget, SIP, Skype, Technology, Verizon, VoIP, Vonage, WiMAX, Wireless

Tagged: at&t, ces, comdex, consumer electronics, femtocell, gadget, mobile, Verizon, wireless : Related Tags:

Amazing Video of US Air Flight Landing in Hudson

January 17, 2009

WOW

Posted in Personal

Tagged: airplane, hudson, us airways, water landing : Related Tags:

Comments

A Moment of Pride

January 17, 2009

I must say I watched with amazement this past week as rescuers saved the passengers and crew of the US Airways flight which landed in the Hudson River. While watching, I was proud, very proud of my fellow countrymen.

These past years have seen a severe blow to the confidence of the world and especially Americans. As the financial leader of the world, we watched in horror as our banking system brought the world to its knees. AIG, the largest insurer in the world based right here in NYC had to get bailed out by the government.

Posted in Personal

Tagged: Hudson, New York, recession, rescue, river, Us Airways : Related Tags: water landing, people, world, positive, water, something

Call Centers Are Hiring

January 16, 2009

Throughout past recessions, call centers picked up the slack and hired what amounted to millions of Americans to make and take calls. In 1990 and onward economic development agencies worldwide began to court contact centers to help them solve their job loss problems.

Now 20 years later, the call center climate has changed dramatically. IP communications allows agents to be located anywhere - even outside our borders. In addition the internet (email, etc) is a viable marketing alternative to speaking on the phone.

In addition, outbound telemarketing which employed millions has been wiped out and with it billions in commerce and millions of jobs.

Remember - there will always be the need to speak over the phone when buying products - regardless of whether these calls are going over IP or not.

Moreover the inbound side of the contact center industry continues to grow and although there are obviously layoffs in the contact center space, I have seen precious little hiring anywhere besides this recent announcement that IBM will hire 1,300 support center agents in Iowa.

Economic development agencies - it is time to start looking at contact centers again as a growth area in your regions.

Posted in CRM, Call Center, Financial, IP Communications

Tagged: call center, do not call, Economic development, Site selection, telemarketing : Related Tags: contact centers, contact center, economic development, development agencies, centers, contact

Comments

FCC, Genachowski, Bartz, Nortel, Verizon and More

January 16, 2009

The FCC gets a new head. Kevin Martin steps down. Wall Street hates the new Yahoo! CEO. Nortel enters Chapter 11 reorganization; Verizon says they like VoIP but love POTs. What a week. Oh yeah and I almost forgot the post on VoIP not being Internet telephony From Hunter Newby. Check out Greg's blog summary of the week for more.

Posted in Broadband, FCC, Financial, IP Communications, Nortel, Technology, Unified Communications, Verizon, VoIP

Tagged: Bartz, FCC, Genachowski, greg galitzine, hunter newby, Nortel, Verizon : Related Tags:

The Weather Outside is Frightful

January 16, 2009

Seriously - near-single digit temps with chills in the sub-zero range? I had to pry my hands off the frozen steering wheel when coming to work. Ouch. It's enough to make you want to retire to Florida tomorrow. But we all know this cold spell much of the country is suffering through will be over in a few months. While we wait, I just can't think of a better place to conduct serious communications business than Miami while at ITEXPO in a few weeks. Hope to see you there.

Bring your shorts.

Posted in 4G, AT&T, Avaya, Blackberry, Broadband, Call Center, Communications Developer, Conferencing, FCC, Fax, IP Communications, ITEXPO, Microsoft, Nortel, Open Source, SIP, Technology, VoIP, Wireless

Tagged: communications, conference, itexpo : Related Tags:

Keating Against Obama on Broadband

January 16, 2009

Tom Keating is furious at the Obama broadband plan which will put $40 billion of US resources in the direction of the companies who provide broadband to consumers. I say great idea and bring it on. Tom really disagrees. Check out his thoughts and my comments.

Posted in 4G, AT&T, Broadband, Cisco, Communications Developer, FCC, IP Communications, Nortel, Optical, Technology, Verizon, WiMAX, Wireless

Tagged: broadband, Obama, tom keating : Related Tags: obama broadband, broadband

4G to Increase Carrier Data Revenue

January 15, 2009

Are mobile carriers leaving a tremendous amount of money on the table because their 3G networks are not truly open? Will the move to 4G generate much more data revenue? If the recent proliferation of smartphones is any indication, there is a thirst for more data and consumers want a DSL-like experience on their mobile devices. By this I mean a truly open environment where they are able to surf the web with any device and listen to a specific radio station on any gadget.

In other words, the closed, proprietary nature of 3G networks is likely limiting carrier revenue and as 4G proliferates the opportunity exists for carriers to sell even more data plans.

All of this is great news for carriers and the case for 4G is made nicely by Jeff Orr, the latest TMCnet columnist. His article is worth a read.

Posted in 4G, AT&T, Broadband, Technology, Verizon, Video, Wireless

Tagged: 3g, 4g, apple, iphone, Jeff orr : Related Tags: revenue, carriers

US Air Jet Crashed in Hudson River

January 15, 2009

146 passengers or less and 5 crew are onboard from what I am told. The FBI says this is not terror related, instead it seems birds may have gotten into both engines and shut them down. It seems at this moment, all passengers got off the plane safely and the pilot seems to have done an outstanding job saving everyone.

Posted in IP Communications

Good Article on Jobs and His Health

January 15, 2009

I thought I would be skewered when I said a few weeks back that Apple PR could not be trusted on matters regarding the health of jobs. now it seems everyone agrees. Here is an excerpt of a great New York Times article on the matter.

Enough is enough. If Apple refuses to talk more openly about Mr.

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

Tagged: apple, cancer, health, Joe Nocera, new york times, nytimes, steve jobs : Related Tags: health, apple

Kevin Martin Leaves FCC

January 15, 2009

In five days Kevin Martin will leave the FCC paving the way for Julius Genachowski who many hope will be more pro-competition and a much better consumer advocate. Items for the new FCC chair to deal with include net neutrality, free wireless internet and the competitive broadband landscape.

Martin will join the Aspen Institute, a nonpartisan think tank.

Posted in 4G, AT&T, Broadband, FCC, Google, IMS, IP Communications, IPTV, SIP, Technology, Verizon, VoIP, WiMAX, Wireless

Tagged: broadband, Fcc, Julius Genachowski, kevin martin, net neutrality : Related Tags: kevin martin, martin

Dr. Dobbs Journal Goes Away

January 15, 2009

In full disclosure TMC competes with the company formerly known as CMP (now Techweb) but I am still very sad the company stopped printing Dr. Dobbs Journal. Although I run a global integrated media company today my background is engineering and programming and Dr. Dobbs Journal taught me a great deal over the years.

I haven't read it in an in-depth fashion in the last decade but I would always check it out when it hit my "non-virtual" inbox.

I told my developers Techweb would stop printing the magazine a number of months back and they debated me telling me they don't want to read it online.

Posted in Communications Developer, IP Communications, Microsoft, Technology

Tagged: Business 2.0, cmp, dr dobbs, information week, Information World, PC Magazine, techweb : Related Tags: dobbs journal, journal, dobbs, company, printing, magazine

Communications Must Go HD

January 15, 2009

Circuit switched telephony technology is now half a century old or so and it is the predominant way much of the world communicates. It is the lowest common denominator for all digitized communications. While consumers would never accept 1960s technology from auto or computer companies (please don't mention the airlines) corporations should look to the PSTN as antiquated and legacy. This is exactly what it is and it needs to be upgraded.

Large carriers still make a tremendous amount of money from the PSTN and are in no rush to see us leave it behind but the reality is the transformation has already begun and companies like Microsoft, Polycom, AudioCodes, TI, Skype and others are leading us forward.

As it continues, a huge area of focus needs to be on the endpoints as without proper HD endpoints we will not be able to increase the quality of digitized human speech or hear the higher quality audio.

Posted in AT&T, Broadband, Call Center, Communications Developer, IP Communications, Microsoft, Nortel, SIP, Technology, Unified Communications, VoIP

Tagged: 4g, Alan Percy, Alteva, asterisk, AudioCodes, Bill Bumbernick, communications, conference, Debbie Greenstreet, Digium, expo, gateway, gipsspirit dsp, Hd voice, hd voip, ip communications, itexpo, legacy, Microsoft, Nortel, Polycom, pstn, rich Tehrani, skype, Texas Instruments, Tim Yankey, trade show : Related Tags: communications solutions, polycom audiocodes, communications, technology, quality, companies

Sendio Fixes TMC AntiSpam Appliance

January 15, 2009

Yesterday I was more than frustrated with the Sendio antispam appliance. Today I could not be more happy. Read the whole story.

Posted in Technology

Tagged: antispam, sendio, spam filter : Related Tags: antispam appliance

Despite Reports, Nortel Operates as Usual

January 14, 2009

Reports are circulating that Nortel has declared bankruptcy and pieces will be sold off to foreign firms. Company sources say this is untrue. Here is the complete story.

In the past 24 months, global financial markets have gone from encouraging companies and individuals to take on as much debt as they can to abruptly stopping all financing and debt renegotiation. During the dotcom/telecom bubble, VCs poured money into companies, forced them to spend it rapidly and then evaporated, leaving the companies dead on the vine.

Posted in 4G, Avaya, Broadband, CRM, Call Center, Cisco, Communications Developer, Conferencing, Financial, IMS, IP Communications, IPTV, Merger/Acquisition, Nortel, Open Source, Optical, SIP, SaaS, Security, Speech Technologies, TMC Video, Technology, Unified Communications, Verizon, Video, Virtual Worlds, VoIP, WiMAX, Wireless

Tagged: bankruptcy, Bloomberg, CCAA, chapter 11, Frank Dunn, joel hackney, Nortel : Related Tags: creditors shareholders, class creditors, creditors class, proof claim, capital structure, company

Steve Jobs Takes Medical Leave Until June

January 14, 2009

After twelve years, Steve Jobs will step down temporarily as CEO of Apple on what he calls a medical leave. Tim Cook will take over for now. Jobs plans on being part of the strategic direction the company takes while he is away and this further reiterates my statement that you can't trust Apple PR on matters of the health of the company's CEO. Again, I wish Jobs well and a speedy recovery but it seems obvious there is a major problem and investors will be worried.

Without Jobs, Apple will be a different company.

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

Tagged: apple, steve jobs, tmcnet : Related Tags: medical leave, company, apple, steve

Comments

ITEXPO Registrations up over 20%

January 14, 2009

I know we are in an economic slowdown - so I really didn't ask how attendance was tracking at this year's ITEXPO which take place in less than three weeks in Miami. Thankfully, Mike Genaro, VP of Marketing at TMC is proactive and just let us know registration is tracking 20.4% ahead of last year.

Two things worth pointing out are I know firsthand that some people who have registered have been recently laid off. Some are still coming to get trained and certified to help them with their job search. Some are not.

Also, we are seeing solid conference registration and I would be pleasantly surprised to see more paid conferees year-over-year.

Posted in IP Communications, ITEXPO, Unified Communications

Tagged: 4g, asterisk, communications, conference, datacom, digium<, expo, ims, Itexpo, ngn, telecom, voip : Related Tags: attendees, itexpo

Good Posts on Nortel and Bankruptcy

January 14, 2009

I reported on the Nortel bankruptcy early today and just came across a good article on the matter. I say there is a good chance than Microsoft buys up the enterprise division of the company. At least Ballmer knows unlike Yahoo! there won't be much negotiation.

To get more of an idea of what is happening also see:

Nortel Under Assault Hard Times as Nortel Bankruptcy LoomsWe're No Shrinking Violet Says Nortel's Carrier Chief Nortel's Web.Alive Brings Virtual Worlds to Business Learn From Nortel's Woes Nortel files for bankruptcy Report: Canada's Nortel to seek protection Nortel board considers future; reports say it could seek bankruptcy protection UPDATE 2-Nortel shares plunge ahead of interest payment

Posted in Financial, Microsoft, Nortel

Tagged: acquisition, bankruptcy, merger, microsoft, Nortel : Related Tags: nortel bankruptcy, nortel, bankruptcy

Yahoo Action Plan

January 14, 2009

What should Yahoo! do now with new CEO Carol Bartz? Here is one man's opinion and some of these ideas are quite good. I especially like the concept of buying twitter but what would it be worth? Could it be used as leverage for service provider kick-backs if it were optimized for one provider over another somehow?

Lots of possibilities to mull over from these ideas.

Posted in Social Networking, Technology, Wireless, Yahoo

Tagged: carol bartz, colin gills, jerry yang, thestreet.com, Yahoo : Related Tags:

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Nortel to File for Bankruptcy Today?

January 14, 2009

I have a call set up with Nortel later today and will give you more details but for now the latest news is company will file for bankruptcy as soon as today. Nortel's assets will be divided up and sold off to competitors. As soon as I know more, expect an update.

Posted in Avaya, Broadband, CRM, Call Center, Cisco, Financial, IP Communications, IPTV, ITEXPO, Merger/Acquisition, Nortel, Open Source, Optical, SIP, Speech Technologies, Technology, Unified Communications, Video, Virtual Worlds, VoIP, WiMAX, Wireless

Tagged: bankruptcy, communications, financial, nortel, optical : Related Tags: nortel, today

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Sendio AntiSpam Box: Good, Bad - Ugly

January 14, 2009

Sendio has done something amazing for TMC - they provided us with a review unit of an anti-spam box which slowly migrated throughout TMC and now many of us use it to send challenge-response messages to people who send us email. You know, the recipient of this email values your message but wants to make sure you are a living, breathing human and not a slimy spammer who continues to destroy the productivity of people like me.

The box works great. When you connect it to your email account, BAM - spam dies. It goes into a secret place in the Sendio Linux-based box and you use the web to access it.

Posted in Technology

Tagged: antispam, appliance, email, flash, iphone, productivity, smb, Spam, tmc labs, tom keating : Related Tags: database corruption, flash based, market launched, amount messages, launched cheaper, messages

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Blackberry Bold .219 Upgrade Frees Memory

January 14, 2009

Prolific blogger and Twitterer Luca Filigheddu just upgraded his Blackberry Bold to .219 and says it took 20 minutes and he now has more free memory. I asked if surfing is faster and/or if there are other benefits. Waiting to hear back.

Update from Luca via Twitter:

good morning.. I see it much faster, more memory and I still need time to check battery life... browsing looks faster, too

Luca Filigheddu / filos

Posted in Blackberry, Consumer Electronics, Gadget, IP Communications, Verizon

Tagged: Blackberry Bold, blog, memory, twitter : Related Tags: faster, memory

Avocent's Solutions Help Companies Save

January 13, 2009

Avocent headquarters in Huntsville, Al

As budgets tighten, companies are looking for ways to do more with less. They are cutting heads and spending, and as a result they have fewer people to get the job done. In this environment we should be thankful that technology exists to boost productivity while cutting costs.

I have talked about IP communications solutions in the past, such as video and other collaboration tools. Today I would like to talk about data center management solutions, which can help companies increase productivity, adhere to compliance issues and maintain security in an environment where headcounts are shrinking at a greater rate than workloads.

Avocent management team -- Ed Blankenship CFO, Kay Kienast CMO and Dan Tice, CIO

One company focused on this space is Huntsville, AL-based Avocent, a company worth, as of this writing, about $800 million.

Posted in Financial, IP Communications, Microsoft, Technology

Tagged: Avocent, Dan Tice, data center, economy, idc, Integrated Systems Management, ism, Kay Kienast, software : Related Tags: center management, boost productivity, center company, solutions allow, solutions, avocent

Verizon Goes 100% VoIP in 7 years

January 13, 2009

While many in the VoIP blogging space worry about the future of VoIP and discuss its death, major telcos announce they will shed all copper and go 100% VoIP in seven years. Ironic and some may want to reread my post titled Obviously VoIP is Alive and Well.

Posted in AT&T, Broadband, FCC, IP Communications, SIP, Technology, Verizon, VoIP, Vonage, Yahoo

Tagged: blog, copper, greg galitzine, Verizon, Voip : Related Tags:

Glowpoint's Aspiring Global Video Community

January 13, 2009

Recently Glowpoint put out the news they had record call volumes and I thought it made sense to learn more so I interviewed the company's CEO Michael Brandofino. The company plays in spaces which have been resistant to the slowing economy - namely videoconferencing, telepresence and contact centers.

I should mention Glowpoint has a market cap of just under $15 million as I write this article but in the last year, its performance has been down 33% which is better than down 36% for Cisco.

Why do you think your company had record call volumes?

There is a combination of factors that are driving increased video call volumes for the overall industry - and for Glowpoint in particular. There is a perfect storm that has developed and points to video communications as the solution for many of the concerns facing businesses today. Concerns such as the global economic recession, global warming, terrorism, erratic fuel prices, and the desire for corporations to be global in order to be competitive.

Posted in AT&T, Broadband, Cisco, Conferencing, Green, IP Communications, Musings, SIP, Skype, Technology, Unified Communications, Video, VoIP, Vonage

Tagged: Telepresence inter-Exchange Network, call center, cisco, Glowpoint, hd video, Michael Brandofino, telepresence, TEN, video, videoconferencing : Related Tags: video communications, global video, video community, recurring revenue, monthly recurring, video

SIP Trunking For All
January 13, 2009

According to Jon Arnold an analyst who gets paid handsomely to share his thoughts on the future of communications, SIP trunking is a must for companies not only looking to save money but for those looking to reevaluate their processes to ensure they are as efficient as possible.

To read more about what Arnold thinks, check out this interview with Greg Galitzine and be at ITEXPO to check out the session SIP Trunking: Everything You Need to Know which Jon will moderate.

Posted in 4G, AT&T, Avaya, Blackberry, Broadband, Call Center, Cisco, Conference, Conferencing, E-Commerce, FCC, Fax, Gadget, IP Communications, Microsoft, Open Source, SIP, Speech Technologies, Technology, Unified Communications, VoIP, Vonage, Wireless

Tagged: conference, greg galitzine, ingate, ip communications, itexpo, Jon arnold, presence, sip trunking, voip : Related Tags: trunking

Yahoo's CEO Gamble
January 13, 2009

Yahoo just replaced Jerry Yang with Carol Bartz the former Autodesk CEO and I am impressed and concerned. Bartz has an excellent resume with honors and awards as long as anyone:
50 Most Powerful Women in Business, Fortune, 2005 50 Women to Watch, Wall Street Journal, 2005 The World's 30 Most Respected CEOs, Barron's, 2005 World's 100 Most Powerful Women, Forbes, 2005 & 2004 Exemplary Community Leadership Award, National Conference for Community & Justice, 2004 Women in Technology List, Business Week, 2004 100 Most Influential Women in Business, San Francisco Business Times, 2004 Spirit of Life Award, City of Hope, 2004 Entered into the Congressional Record by Congresswoman Anna Eshoo, 2003 Avatar Award for Women of Excellence, National Association of Female Executives, 2003 Ada Lovelace Award, Association for Women in Computing, 2003 Ernst & Young's Northern California Master Entrepreneur of the Year, 2001 Horatio Alger Award, 2000 Women in Technology International (WITI) Hall of Fame, 1997 Recognized by the Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME), 1994
She is also known to be able to tame "eccentric" corporate cultures and moreover is good at managing young companies as they grow. She tells it like it is and comes across harsh at times. All of this perfect but what concerns me is that Google is running like a start-up on fire with infinite investment resources and ideas and products coming out of every part of the company.

Yahoo is launching new products and wins as well but hasn't figured out how to monetize its massive traffic effectively.

What the company really needs is someone who has effectively led a small to medium media company in the last 18 months and understands the needs of advertisers and more importantly how to get them to spend more money with Yahoo.

Posted in Financial, Google, Microsoft, Technology, Yahoo

Tagged: 3m, advertising, carol bartz, google, intel, search, sun, Yahoo, yang : Related Tags: women technology, powerful women, women business, award women, women, award

11 More reasons to Attend Digium Asterisk World
January 13, 2009

Bill Miller recently blogged 5 reasons to attend Digium Asterisk World in Miami in just under three weeks - Feb 2-4 to be specific. Tom Keating - the consummate competitor had to add one more reason but Bill and Tom don't know I have a secret competitive streak as well.

So I am going to add a few more... Sorry guys.

7) One of you who is present at 2:20pm on Wednesday Feb 4th is winning a new Jeep.

8) There is a conference guarantee.

9) You get to sample collocated events ITEXPO and 4GWE.

10) You get to come to an event where Carl Ford and the TMC team have come together to educate the market (this doesn't happen every day mind you )

11) You get to see the entire communications market in one place - you meet people from around the world.

Posted in 4G, AT&T, Avaya, Blackberry, Broadband, CRM, Call Center, Cisco, Communications Developer, Conference, Consumer Electronics, E-Commerce, FCC, Fax, Financial, IP Communications, Microsoft, Nortel, Open Source, SIP, Technology, Unified Communications, VoIP, Wireless

Tagged: 4gwe, asterisk, Bill miller, blog, carl ford, Digium, ip communications, itexpo, mark spencer, open source, tom keating, twitter, voip : Related Tags: reasons attend, digium asterisk, attend digium, asterisk world, market, world

Tribold, ADC Get Investment
January 13, 2009

It is definitely worth pointing out that even in the toughest economic environments; some companies believe the telecom space makes a great investment. Witness the recent ADC investment of $33 million by Citadel (which some call daring) and today's news that Intel Corporation's strategic investment group, Intel Capital, as well as DFJ Esprit and Eden Ventures will put $11 million into Tribold to help company's position in the enterprise product management space as it relates to carriers.

The company offers their SOA-based Tribold Integration Services Framework which provides the necessary product data management infrastructure to interface product and service data to BSS and OSS applications. Examples include CRM, billing, order management, SDP, provisioning and online portals. The company further focuses on making carriers more efficient and in this economic climate they seem to have the right product at the right time.

The money will be used to bolster sales and marketing as well as product development.

From my vantage point the service provider market has never been at a better and worse point.

Posted in 4G, AT&T, Apple, Avaya, Blackberry, Broadband, CRM, Call Center, Cisco, Communications Developer, Conferencing, Consumer Electronics, E-Commerce, FCC, Fax, Financial, IMS, IP Communications, IPTV, Merger/Acquisition, Nortel, SIP, Technology, Verizon, VoIP, WiMAX, Wireless

Tagged: 36, 4g, Adc, bss, citadel, crm, DFJ Esprit, Eden Ventures, intel, Intel Capital, ip backhaul, online portals, oss, Paul Kapustka, provisioning, sdp, soa, tribold, wimax, wireless, wireless backhaul : Related Tags: economic climate, product, investment, wireless, service, economic

TV Evolves With Yahoo, Samsung, Neulion
January 13, 2009

Some of the latest television news of interest is that Yahoo! widgets will appear on Samsung TV sets. This is a big development as it shows the companies in the web and TV camps are coming closer together. As you might imagine, the Samsung TVs have built-in Ethernet which means these screens will certainly have much greater capability than ever before.

Imagine, you will now be able to upgrade your TV with new firmware - and yes this also means you have to worry about hackers taking over your programming. There is always something, I tell you.

In other TV news, Neulion has improved their TV over IP (TVoIP) box I have covered before.

Posted in AT&T, Broadband, Cisco, Communications Developer, Consumer Electronics, IP Communications, IPTV, Social Networking, Technology, Verizon, Video, VoIP, Vonage, Yahoo

Tagged: consumer electronics, device, gadget, hd, neulion, Samsung, set top box, telecision, Tv, tvoip, vonage, web, widget, yahoo, yhoo : Related Tags: built ethernet, neulion, samsung

Lenovo Dual-Screen Breakthrough
January 13, 2009

From what I can tell, I am in the minority when it comes to my laptop desires. I like the biggest screen with the largest resolution I can get while being practical which means being aware of weight and whether my computing machine can be used in-flight. I like to have many applications open simultaneously and particularly enjoy being able to look at my notes while writing an article and not having to the Alt-Tab to view two windows during a single task.

It is for this reason I applaud Lenovo for coming out with the new W700ds - a dual screen wonder of a laptop which offers a 17-inch primary screen and a second 10.6-inch display. We know multiple screens increase productivity and this is especially true for knowledge workers who multitask.

At over 10 pounds, this is not exactly an ultra-portable device but it is one I would seriously consider as a power user.

My sense is this laptop is too much of an oddity to do well and at a starting price of $3,663.

Posted in Consumer Electronics, Gadget, Microsoft, Technology

Tagged: Microsoft Office, artist, blu-ray, camera, ces, consumer electronics, Core 2 Quad Core Extreme, desktop replacement, dual screen, gadget, gaming, graphics, laptop, Lenovo, netbook, notebook, power user, QX9300, ssd, ultraportable, W700ds, wacom, wifi, wimax, Windows Vista : Related Tags: laptop, screen, price, power, being, second

Julius Genachowski to Head FCC?
January 12, 2009

TMCnet's Michael Dinan reports Julius Genachowski will head up the FCC as part of the incoming Obama administration. Genachowski is a former Harvard law classmate of Obama, chief counsel to former FCC Chairman Reed Hundt, a VC and led the development of the president-elect's technology and innovation agenda.

Genachowski was the Chief Business Officer and a member of Barry Diller's Office of the Chairman at IAC/InterActiveCorp. He had previously served on the Boards of Directors of Expedia, Hotels.com and Ticketmaster.

He is a co-founder of LaunchBox Digital and Rock Creek Ventures. [2] He is also a special advisor at General Atlantic and a member of the Boards of Directors at The Motley Fool, Website Pros, Mark Ecko Enterprises, and Beliefnet.

Genachowski serves as a board member of Common Sense Media, a leading organization seeking to improve the media lives of children and families; and as an advisory board member of Environmental Entrepreneurs (E2).

Posted in 4G, AT&T, Broadband, Cisco, Consumer Electronics, FCC, Fax, Financial, IMS, IP Communications, SIP, Skype, Technology, Unified Communications, Verizon, Video, VoIP, Vonage, WiMAX, Wireless, Yahoo

Tagged: Barry Diller, Beliefnet, Common Sense Media, E2 New Resource Bank, Environmental Entrepreneurs, Expedia, facebook, Fcc, General Atlantic, green bank, Hotels.com, IAC, InterActiveCorp, Julius Genachowski, kevin martin, LaunchBox Digital, linkedin, Mark Ecko Enterprises, Motley Fool, obama, Reed Hundt, Rock Creek Ventures, The Washington Post, Ticketmaster, Website Pros : Related Tags: julius genachowski, launchbox digital, years months, general atlantic, boards directors, genachowski

Wireless Devices, Less is More
January 12, 2009

If you don't understand where Apple is going and shift, you are dead in the water

Finally, someone gets it. This morning I was speaking to Carl Ford about how there was a wireless phone company who spoke condescendingly about the iPhone because as they said it (albeit a while back) - they make thousands of devices while the iPhone is yet a single device.

As I have said before, having a single device really allows Apple to lower the price of their devices as volumes are higher. And the single device enlists more passion from the audience/buying community than having hundreds or thousands. Imagine what happens at 500 million iPhones.

Thankfully, Microsoft gets it and Todd Peters, the vice president of marketing for the Windows Mobile division just said "I'd rather have fewer devices and be more focused," he said.

Posted in 4G, AT&T, Apple, Blackberry, Consumer Electronics, Gadget, Microsoft, Technology, Verizon, VoIP, Wireless

Tagged: apple, iphone, Microsoft, mobile, nokia, single device, todd peters, windows mobile, wireless : Related Tags: single device, devices, device, single

Windows 7 Beta Review
January 12, 2009

One of the only reviews I have seen of Windows 7 Beta which is geared towards the telephony world comes from Alec Saunders. According to Alec, "7" missed some drivers but he was able to work through the problems or use Vista drivers.

He further says Google Chrome doesn't work.

Another interesting incompatibility:

Browsing to Google Analytics with the IE 8 beta included in Windows 7 caused IE 8 to crash. The black bar in the image below is IE 8's attempt to render the performance graph. The same page was easily rendered in Firefox and Safari however.

The list of what did work is quite extensive... Office 2007, Windows Live Sync, Live Mesh, Skype, Tweetdeck (plus Adobe Air), iTunes, Safari, and Firefox.

He says the performance is not great but potentially attributes this to the fact the code is in Beta - he thinks it will improve. He says Windows 7 is worth downloading if you are technical and further explains that Windows 7 is the dot release to Vista which basically means it is the stable, improved version of a new Microsoft OS.

There are some great screen shots and more analysis worth reading.

Via Luca Filigheddu on Facebook.

Posted in Broadband, IP Communications, Microsoft, SIP, Skype, Technology, Unified Communications, Video, VoIP

Tagged: Adobe Air, alec saunders, chrome, Firefox, google, google analytics, ie, internet explorer, iTunes, Live Mesh, Luca Filigheddu, microsoft, Office 2007, review, Safari, Skype, Tweetdeck, vista, windows 7, Windows Live Sync : Related Tags: windows, vista, release, review

Comments

The Trillion Dollar Question. Is WiMAX Dying?
January 9, 2009

About 3-6 months before the iPhone debuted I received a Nokia N800 web tablet as part of the company's blogger relations program. I loved the device. It was one of the most powerful gadgets per pound and square inch I had ever used. I marveled at it.

Nokia N800

It wasn't the easiest device in the world to use but it had an internal camera which rotated allowing you to use the tablet to videoconference or take photos of your surroundings.

Posted in 4G, AT&T, Apple, Blackberry, Broadband, Conference, Consumer Electronics, FCC, IP Communications, SIP, Technology, Unified Communications, Verizon, Video, VoIP, WiMAX, Wireless

Tagged: 2g, 3g, 4g, 4gwe, carl ford, crossfire media, edge, Even Koblentz, greg galitzine, itexpo, lte, Michelle Robert, n800, n810, nokia, Nortel, Richard Lowe, tmc, TMC labs, wifi, wimax, WirelessWeek : Related Tags: noticed receive, cellphone connection, create distortion, phone frequency, interfering phone, wimax

Comments

The Digium/Asterisk Community Grows
January 9, 2009

I just got word that just one booth in the Digium Asterisk World (DAW) event collocated with ITEXPO is available. As a reminder, the show takes place in just 23 days - Feb 2-4, 2009.

I understand there are a few people looking to take this last booth for the first open source communications event of the new year.

This is the exact economic environment where open source flourishes and I expect all partners of Digium/Asterisk to do relatively well.

Posted in Broadband, Call Center, Fax, IP Communications, Open Source, SIP, Technology, Unified Communications, VoIP

Tagged: asterisk, booth, call your sales representative ASAP.

Digium, communications, daw, Expect to meet real buyers at ITEXPO/DAW. So exhibitors - if you are interested, itexpo, open source, pbx, voip : Related Tags: digium asterisk, digium, asterisk

TMC's Biggest Loser 2009 Week One
January 9, 2009

Congratulations to the TMC team on losing 66 pounds in the first four days of the TMC biggest loser weight loss contest. The 14 people who are in the competition lost an average of 4.7 pounds in four days!

Keep up the great work.

Posted in Personal, TMC Team

Tagged: biggest loser, tmc, weight loss : Related Tags: biggest loser

Market/Sell US Residency
January 9, 2009

The solution to our nation's financial problems is quite simple - sell the most valuable thing we have - permanent residency/US citizenship. People risk their lives to come to the US illegally - people would pay top dollar (and currently do) to get into the US legally.
Recently in Philadelphia, the Convention Center Authority approved a resolution that enables the center's expansion to be partly financed with a $100 million loan that is backed by 200 wealthy investors from China, and elsewhere, who want to move to the United States.

As long as we aren't letting criminals into this country, I think mass marketing of such a program makes sense to help pay off US debt. The alternative is raising the taxes of current citizens which I am rarely in favor of.

Posted in Financial

Tagged: citizenship, Convention Center Authority, green card, Immigration, investment, Philadelphia, united states : Related Tags:

Is There a Need for Telco 2.0?
January 9, 2009

Recently good friend and PR 2.0 guru Andy Abramson commented on which people would be the ideal heads of a Telco 2.0 companies. I thought the post was quite intriguing as it got me thinking about the various people I know with disparate telecom and web 2.0 experience. One of the comments I made about Andy's post is as follows:

It is an interesting premise as the typical service provider exec is focused on building a closed monopoly which excels through the use of lawyers and deft knowledge of the legal/justice system. Of course a working background in lobbying is quite a help in such organizations.

The typical "2.0" executive thrives on open APIs, co-opetition and other concepts which are typically foreign to organizations who thrive in industries where they are part of something that ends in opoly.

Ken Camp - another good friend is one of the brightest minds in the communications blogging world having experience at AT&T, Lucent and a number of other pertinent areas.

Posted in 4G, AT&T, Apple, Blackberry, Broadband, Consumer Electronics, FCC, Gadget, IP Communications, Skype, Social Networking, Technology, Unified Communications, Virtual Worlds, Wireless

Tagged: Internet Communications Continuum, andy Abramson, at&t, blog, blogger, Community, Connectedness, Conversation, facebook, ip communications, Jeff Pulver, Ken Camp, lawyer, lobbying, lucent, monopoly, multi-modal, Openness, Participation, social media, social networking, stardust global ventures, telco 2.0.pr 2.0, twitter, web 2.0 : Related Tags: social media, community building, community connectedness, conversation community, openness conversation, telco

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Palm Pre, Game Changer or Dud?
January 8, 2009

We owe a great deal to Palm as it started a handheld computing revolution which eventually was eclipsed by smartphones. Years back at a TMC event one of the important comments I heard was that Palm saw RIM as the most important competitor and not Treo (this comment was made prior to the Treo acquisition by Palm) or Microsoft.

How right the company was but now it is not only Blackberry stealing the handheld computing company's thunder but Apple as well.

In response to the threat from RIM, Apple, Nokia, Microsoft, Google and others, the company launched the Pre, a fantastic looking device which seems to have the functionality of an iPhone with a slide-out keyboard.

The hardware is not very different from other devices - you get WiFi, stereo bluetooth, a replaceable battery, accelerometer, GPS and other things you would find on a high-end Nokia. The one hardware differentiator is the ability to charge the Pre without plugging it in - you just place it on an inductive pad.

The magic is in the software and the company's new webOS which as the name suggests is a web-based application environment where typical web designers and programmers who know CSS, HTML and javascript can get programs up and running on the Pre quite quickly.

In addition there is a conscious decision to integrate address books from multiple services/directories such as Outlook, Google and FaceBook. These are the sorts of concepts which made the Mac worth buying in the eighties but are lost in the iPhone - a device which seems to not acknowledge that cutting and pasting between disparate apps is even necessary.

Posted in 4G, AT&T, Apple, Blackberry, Consumer Electronics, Gadget, IP Communications, Microsoft, SIP, Technology, Unified Communications, VoIP, Wireless

Tagged: apple, application integration, ces, conference, cut and paste, iphone, ipod, Microsoft, nokia, Palm, pda, planet pda, pre, tmcnet : Related Tags: slide keyboard, handheld computing, larger screen, iphone, screen, keyboard

Comments

Prediction: No More Hard Drives - Summer 2010
January 8, 2009

I question whether mainstream computers and laptops/netbooks will use hard disks by the summer of 2010. Sandisk has made dramatic improvements to solid-state drives they sell and their new G3 SSDs are more than five time faster than 7,200 RPM traditional drives. The price points (60GB - $149, 120GB - $249 and 240GB - $499) for memory based technology storage devices are still high but I think 18-24 months from now will be the turning point where the slight price premium will be worth the increased durability, faster performance and lower power consumption of solid-state hard drive technology.

Posted in Consumer Electronics, Technology

Tagged: ces, hard disk, sandisk, Ssd, tom keating : Related Tags: solid state, drives

Blogger/Analyst/Media Invitation to ITEXPO
January 8, 2009

Attention bloggers, analysts, editors, reporters, industry gurus, etc - ITEXPO registration is open for you and we are looking forward to a few days of important dialogue with you regarding where our markets are headed. ITEXPO continues to be a show which not only focuses on the important future of communications but more importantly, is a place where you can come and meet with the companies who have business plans and are selling products and services today.

In other words the companies which have a higher likelihood of being around in 18 months. I welcome your participation in what is shaping up to be the most important communications industry gathering of the year.

Important links:
Exhibitors Speakers Floor Plan Conference Agenda Travel Info Collocated Events: Digium Asterisk World 4G Wireless Evolution

Posted in 4G, AT&T, Apple, Blackberry, Broadband, CRM, Call Center, Cisco, Communications Developer, Conference, Conferencing, FCC, Fax, Gadget, IP Communications, ITEXPO, Microsoft, SIP, Speech Technologies, Technology, Unified Communications, Verizon, Video, Virtual Worlds, VoIP

Tagged: 4g, analyst, asterisk, blogger, Digium, Itexpo, media, open source, press : Related Tags: important, itexpo

FlyCast Adds Streaming to PCs and Google Android
January 8, 2009

While on vacation in the Cayman Islands last week I was lucky enough to have
DSL where I was staying and brought an AP and lit up the beach. I fired up Pandora to listen to music and after about a minute received a message that Pandora was not authorized to run in the country I was in.

I found it interesting that this island was a haven for Cuban cigar smokers as the cigars were sold like candy but I couldn't listen to internet-based radio. Ah - for those outside the US - we aren't allowed to purchase products from Cuba here.

So instead of listening to Pandora I was forced to check my iPhone for other applications I could use for radio listening. For some reason the DSL connection supplied by Cable & Wireless did not allow me to download apps from the iTunes App Store.

I found that I had downloaded FlyCast and it turned out to be great - a real gem, allowing access to lots of different types of internet music with some stations that even allow skipping.

Posted in 4G, AT&T, Apple, Blackberry, Consumer Electronics, E-Commerce, Financial, Gadget, Microsoft, Technology, Verizon, Wireless

Tagged: adobe, air, android, apple, Bill O'Reilly, Colin Cowherd, Cromwell Radio Groups, Entercom, flycast, FOX News, g1, gadget, google, internet radio, iphone, ipod, ipod touch, Jim Rome, Laura Ingram, Mike & Mike in the Morning, mobile, Pandora, Rush Limbaugh, Sandusky, satellite, Sean Hannity, Sirius, streaming, t-mobile, The Herd, Tirico & Van Pelt, tmcnet, Tmcnet, wireless, xm : Related Tags: google android, flycast, radio, interesting, pandora, island

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How to Make/Save Money With Communications Today
January 8, 2009

In my conversations with many in the telecom industry they tell me they are very excited about coming to ITEXPO next month in Miami. They explain, now is the best time to be at a communications show which not only addresses the entire telecom space but focuses on business - or making money.

They tell me this year, more than ever, they need to focus on generating earnings. Sure, the future, visionary aspects of communications are great (and will be disussed at the event) but I can tell you from personal experience, the companies in communications that haven't been focusing on sustainable business models can't pay their bills and many have already quietly closed their doors.

I sincerely believe as an industry we need to come together and focus on the meat and potatoes... How do we make the money we need to make in the toughest economic environment of our lifetimes? How do we help ensure our jobs and companies will be here in 2010?

If making money or saving it is important to you, you need to come to ITEXPO where we will focus on how to benefit from the future of communications.

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

Tagged: 4g, 8x8, Acme Packet, Aculab, Adtran, AllWorx, Applianx, Aspect, asterisk, AudioCodes, Bandwidth.com, Broadsoft, Broadvox, Cbeyond, ClearOne, Communicano, communications, conference, D-Link, Dash Carrier Services, Deloitte Financial Advisory Services, Dialogic, DIDX, Digium, Empirix, expo, Faxcore, Fonolo, Fujitsu Network Communications, Gigaom, GIPs<, Global Crossing, Grandstream, I2Telecom, Intelepeer, Interactive Intelligence, Itexpo, Microsoft, Quintum, Sangoma, Sansay, TelcoBridges, voip, VoltDelta, wireless : Related Tags: making money, communications, money, telecom, itexpo, future

Improving TMCnet Blogs
January 8, 2009

Tom Keating and our tech/design team have been spending a good deal of time improving TMCnet's main site and blogs so they can become more social network savvy as well as more graphically appealing. Tom has done so much work on the leading edge of our Movable Type Blog Server that he has received kudos from the Blog Herald.

Here is an excerpt from the post:

Over at TMCnet, Tom Keating out does himself, writing a tutorial that offers several things one can do with MT assets. He starts with listing recent image assets linked to entries, then creates a related entries widget that includes images, and finally shows how to add images to the FastSearch plugin. Thanks, Tom!

We are always looking to improve the look, feel and content of TMCnet and are always open to your suggestions on how we can improve further.

Thanks, as always for your support.

Posted in Broadband, IP Communications, Skype, Social Networking, Technology, Unified Communications, VoIP, Vonage

Tagged: blog, blog herald, fastsearch, movable type, mt, Tmc, tom keating : Related Tags: improving tmcnet, tmcnet, always

Nortel Under Assault
January 8, 2009

In a number of my meetings with companies in the tech and telecom space over the last few years, they have told me they are aggressively targeting Nortel customers. This was before the talk of bankruptcy which will likely make it easier for customers to be poached.

Ittai Kidron at Oppenheimer believes Juniper will benefit most from marketshare loss Nortel will see. Cisco and F5 will benefit as well according to this analyst but the revenue increase to Cisco as a result of marketshare gains will be minor when compared against Cisco's total revenue.

"We calculate that just a 6% slice of the addressable enterprise business from Nortel -- $754 million in annual revenue -- would represent 16% of our 2009 revenue growth forecast for Juniper," Kidron states in his report.

Virtually all of Nortel's enterprise businesses -- switching, routing, security and VoIP -- are "up for grabs," according to Oppenheimer. Nortel has seen its marketshare deteriorate over the past two to three years in these areas, although it still retains a "solid, credible position" in VoIP, the firm asserts.

What Nortel needs to do ASAP is to come out with a strong branding campaign to assure potential and existing customers that they will be around for the long term.

In business, perception is reality and by not being more proactive, the company risks a tremendous amount. All the engineering prowess in the world may not be enough to convince a CIO to put his faith in a company who is linked with the term bankruptcy in the general media.

Nortel needs to act immediately or competitors will have an easy time of scaring customers away from the Canadian communications vendor.

The competition is certainly not waiting, why is Nortel?

Posted in 4G, AT&T, Broadband, CRM, Call Center, Cisco, Conference, Consumer Electronics, E-Commerce, Fax, Financial, IMS, IP Communications, IPTV, Microsoft, Nortel, Open Source, SIP, Search, Security, Social Networking, Speech Technologies, Technology, Unified Communications, Verizon, Video, Virtual Worlds, VoIP, WiMAX, Wireless

Tagged: analyst, avaya, bankruptcy, call center, cisco, f5, financial, ip communications, Ittai Kidron, m&a, Microsoft, networkworld, Nortel, ocs, Oppenheimer, voip : Related Tags: nortel needs, nortel, customers, revenue, cisco, marketshare

AT&T Inching Forward With Femtocells
January 8, 2009

With the massive hit carriers are taking by providing all you can eat data plans, is it any wonder AT&T is getting more serious about rolling out femtocells? No surprise here -- in fact I wonder why the company hasn't rolled them out sooner.

See Also:
ABI Releases New Report on Super Femtocells Parks Associates Forecasts Mobile Broadband to Exceed 140 Million
Reflections on 2008, A Look Ahead With Acme Packet
2Wire Launches New HomePortal GEM Multi-Service Platform

Posted in 4G, AT&T, Apple, Blackberry, Broadband, Consumer Electronics, FCC, Gadget, IP Communications, SIP, Technology, Unified Communications, Verizon, VoIP, WiMAX, Wireless

Tagged: ars technica, at&t, broadband, consumer electronics, femtocell, gadget, wireless : Related Tags:

Aspect Makes Performance Management Acquisition
January 7, 2009

Combined entity to provide enhanced performance management, coaching, employee review and workflow functionality

Aspect has done a great job rolling up a number of call center companies and even in a slow economy is not letting up. In fact, the company just acquired AIM Technology, a company which streamlines the contact center process allowing organizations to more easily motivate, measure and manage employees. The San Francisco-based group was purchased for an undisclosed sum and the resulting product line will be called PerformanceEdge Performance Management.

This acquisition is a natural part of building out the PerformanceEdge business according to the company.

In a conversation by phone with the Aspect Management team it became apparent that the icing on this acquisition cake is the fact that Aim Technology's solutions are based on Microsoft SQL Server. I am told the enhanced relationship between Aspect and Microsoft including a cash infusion by the operating system giant is a reason for increased business.

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

Tagged: acquisition, aim technology, aspect, avaya, call center, cisco, contact center, database, dialer, m&a, merger, Microsoft, ocs, Performance edge, sql server, telemarketing, uc, unified communications : Related Tags: contact center, performance management, aspect still, center market, customer service, aspect

Why CRM is More Important Now Than Ever
January 7, 2009

It is no wonder that in a slowing economy there is an increased focus on customers, CRM technology and practices. Many companies are cutting in these areas and they are sure to suffer in comparison to companies who put the customer first.

In a slow economy you need to fight to gain and keep every customer you can.

If you aren't keeping up with the latest on CRM tips, tricks, news and analysis - you are doing your company and shareholders a huge disservice. And most importantly you will likely be out of a job before you realize it.

Many companies are looking to cut cost and every person in an organization needs to work harder, smarter, better and faster or they will find themselves looking for work.

Fortunately, Inside CRM just put together their list of top CRM blogs which should keep you up to date on just about all you need to know in the space.

TMC's David Sims made the list with his First Coffee blog which as the article points out is the only CRM blog to my knowledge to disclose the musical ambience during the time of blog composition.

Here are a few others who made this list. I didn't list them all so as to not steal the thunder of the author Chris Bucholz:
PGreenblog Brent's Social CRM Blog Beagle Research Group CRM Outsiders The CRM Consultant Destination CRM Blog Michael Maoz's Gartner Blog 1 to 1 Media Blog
In addition, I am sure my writing is not nearly as good as anyone else on this list but my CRM thoughts can be found under the CRM category tag in my blog.

Posted in CRM, Call Center, Microsoft, Social Networking, Technology

Tagged: 1 to 1 media, call center, Chris Bucholtz, contact center, Crm, david sims, destination crm, gartner, inside crm, tmc, tmcnet : Related Tags: companies

Comments

ITEXPO Miami Show Hotel Sold Out
January 7, 2009

A photo taken via iPhone just before the car giveaway at ITEXPO Los Angeles in September 2008

I just received this email that Natasha in TMC Expo operations sent to exhibitors. It obviously applies to anyone and everyone who is coming to ITEXPO Feb 2-4, 2009 in Miami. We are very excited to have sold out our first expo room block and I encourage you to book your room now at the new hotel and I look forward to seeing you in about a month at ITEXPO in south Florida
---
Happy New Year Exhibitors!

Due to fantastic activity the show hotel the Royal Palm is SOLD OUT. Show Management has secured a room block at a second show Hotel, DoubleTree Surfcomber, which is a few blocks walking distance to the convention center! Please book your room today so you don't miss out on this great rate of $199.00.

DoubleTree Surfcomber's discounted $199.00 rate is available on a first-come first-served basis.

DoubleTree Surfcomber
1717 Collins Ave
Miami Beach, FL 33139
Phone: 800.853.0264
Code - one Be sure to mention the code: one to receive the special rate!
Book your rooms today before they all go!
Cheers Natasha

Posted in 4G, Broadband, Call Center, Conference, Conferencing, E-Commerce, FCC, Fax, IP Communications, Microsoft, Open Source, SIP, Speech Technologies, Technology, Unified Communications, VoIP, WiMAX, Wireless

Tagged: 4gwe, asterisk, asterisk world, call center, carl ford, communications, conference, digium, dual mode, expo, fmc, ims, itexpo, ngn, open source, trade show, voip, wireless : Related Tags: itexpo miami, doubletree surfcomber, hotel, itexpo, miami, great

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Delta Adds WiFi in Northeast Corridor
January 7, 2009

As a person who commutes semi-regularly between Connecticut and Boston and DC, I never fly. I either drive or take the train so I can work while commuting. One of the challenges the airlines have is the productivity loss of security, shoe removal, etc. Then there is the typical wait when flights are delayed, the cramped seats, etc.

But really the loss of connectivity is one of the biggest challenges for passengers like me who depend on constant broadband access.

Now Delta will be offering WiFi access between Boston, New York and DC.

Posted in 4G, AT&T, Apple, Blackberry, Consumer Electronics, Gadget, Technology, Verizon, WiMAX, Wireless

Tagged: Amtrak, broadband, Delta, tmcnet, train, wifi, wimax, wireless : Related Tags: delta, flights

Pandora on iPhone Goes 2.0
January 7, 2009

One of the best iPhone applications has to be Pandora, the customizable Internet-based radio station. Today, it goes 2.0 and adds a host of new features and functions.

You can tap album art to see a song progress bar - so you have an idea how much longer you have to enjoy y the current selection. When the bar comes up, you are presented with a list icon on the left which allows you to instantly create a new station from the artist or song playing. There is also a prominent envelope icon which allows you to email a radio station to a friend.

Posted in 4G, AT&T, Apple, Blackberry, Communications Developer, Gadget, Technology, Wireless

Tagged: apple, internet radio, iphone, ipod, Pandora, Sirius, xm : Related Tags: radio station, bookmarked songs, dance, station, iphone, songs

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Free ITEXPO Conference Passes For Those Out of Work
January 6, 2009

This past week has been tough for me personally as I learned that more than a few of my good friends and colleagues in the industry have been laid off. More than one of these people out of work has reached out to me recently asking if they would be able to attend ITEXPO Feb 2-4, Miami conferences free in order to network with others, keep up to date and hopefully make the contacts needed to help them secure future employment.

Rather than be reactive, It thought it made sense to open this up to anyone in the communications and tech space who is out of work - been recently laid off, etc.

Basically someone going through a jobless period.

This offer is the equivalent of a Platinum Pass but will not include meals.

I hope this small token is helpful to many of you looking for new opportunities in a very tough market.

In order to learn more please contact Mike Genaro with your full contact info and circumstances mgenaro (at) tmcnet.com.

Posted in 4G, Broadband, Call Center, Communications Developer, IP Communications, ITEXPO, Microsoft, Nortel, SIP, Technology, Unified Communications, Verizon, Wireless

Tagged: 4g, asterisk, conference, ip communications, Itexpo, paid off, platinum pass, voip : Related Tags:

Steve Jobs Had Whipple Procedure?
January 5, 2009

As much respect as you can have for Apple you have to understand they are in a difficult place as their CEO is irreplaceable and probably does not want the details of his health spread to the mainstream media. Unfortunately this combination of factors makes it clear that you may not be able to trust the Apple PR machine when it comes to decisions surrounding the company's participation in trade shows and really anything to do with the health of Jobs.

For weeks we were lead to believe that the company's decision to pull out of MacWorld had nothing to do with the health of Jobs. Now the about face.

It is little wonder than journalists are taking matters into their own hands and speculating Jobs had Whipple Procedure, a rare surgery performed to treat cancer. To give you an idea of the frequency, about 100 of these surgeries happen to be performed at the Mayo Clinic annually.

Posted in 4G, AT&T, Apple, Blackberry, Broadband, Consumer Electronics, E-Commerce, FCC, Technology, Video

Tagged: Apple, bloomberg, health, pancreatoduodenectomy, steve jobs, tmcnet, Whipple Procedure : Related Tags: whipple procedure, procedure, health, apple, better, steve

Look Out Google, Here Comes MSE360
January 5, 2009

Recently I came across a search engine which was new to me called MSE360. I tried it out and was impressed that a search engine I have never heard of could be so accurate. It is not perfect mind you but it isn't bad for a newcomer to the scene.

When you search, you are presented with a lot of information. You get typical search engine results and the top Wikipedia and blog entries on the left.

Posted in Google, Microsoft, Search, Technology, Yahoo

Tagged: advertising, cuil, google, live, microsoft, mse360, search, searchme, sem, seo, technology, yahoo : Related Tags: search engine, search engines, image search, internet marketing, search tools, search

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Obviously VoIP is Alive and Well
January 3, 2009

A Phoenix rising from the ashes -- not sure this is the appropriate image but it sure is colorful

A few people have asked me recently to throw my hat in the ring about the health of VoIP. Many bloggers have been eulogizing the technology while I was on vacation - ironically using more VoIP than I ever have.

It is worth mentioning that bloggers are so far ahead of the curve they sometimes don't realize that businesses need to catch up to where they were years ago.

SMBs are just now slowly learning about SIP trunking for example and they are beginning to use it. Enterprises are just beginning to deploy UC, CEBP, telepresence, HD voice, FMC and so many other technologies which are intertwined with VoIP that it is incredible this morbid topic would even come up.

But getting back to VoIP - the transformation which began before IP telephony - namely CTI started opening up communications in ways we never imagined. Concepts like unified messaging for example were dreams over a decade and a half ago.

Posted in 4G, AT&T, Apple, Avaya, Broadband, Call Center, Conference, Conferencing, E-Commerce, Fax, Financial, IMS, IP Communications, ITEXPO, Nortel, Open Source, SIP, Skype, Technology, Unified Communications, Verizon, VoIP, Vonage, WiMAX, Wireless, Yahoo

Tagged: alec saunders, andy abramson, apple, avaya, blogger, cebp, cisco, fmc, hd voice, iotum, ip communications, iphone, itexpo, jon arnold, om malik, pulvermedia, sip, sip trunking, smb, ted wallingford, telepresence, tmcnet, voip, von : Related Tags: companies, perhaps

Telco 2.0 Draft List
January 3, 2009

Andy Abramson just laid out his top 10 picks of people to run a telco 2.0 company. It is an interesting premise as the typical service provider exec is focused on building a closed monopoly which excels through the use of lawyers and deft knowledge of the legal/justice system. Of course a working background in lobbying is quite a help in such organizations.

The typical "2.0" executive thrives on open APIs, co-opetition and other concepts which are typically foreign to organizations who thrive in industries where they are part of something that ends in opoly.

Here is his list Martin Geddes, Thomas Howe, Lee Dryburgh, David Beckemeyer, Alex Kurganov, Alec Saunders, Carl Ford, Stuart Henshall, Alan Duric, Will Stofega and honorable mentions James Enck, Jamie Siminoff, Jay Phillips and Erik Lagerway.

One wonders what role politics and turf protection would play in building a proper telco 2.0. On technical merits, I think Andy has done a fine job here.

Posted in AT&T, Broadband, Communications Developer, IP Communications, IPTV, Technology, Verizon, VoIP, Vonage, Wireless

Tagged: Alan Duric, Alec Saunders, Alex Kurganov, andy Abramson, Carl Ford, David Beckemeyer, Erik Lagerway, ip communications, James Enck, Jamie Siminoff, Jay Phillips, Lee Dryburgh, Martin Geddes, Stuart Henshall, telco 2.0, Thomas Howe, voip, Will Stofega : Related Tags: telco

Best Parts of the US
January 3, 2009

It is nice to know that some of the best parts of the US follow you
everywhere. Like even in the Cayman Islands?

Did I mention TMC's biggest loser competition starts next week? Last
year I came in last place.

Let's see what happens this year.

Posted in IP Communications

Ted Wallingford Adds me to Top Blog List
January 1, 2009

Ted Wallingford just posted his top 10 bloggers of the year and I am humbled to be on the list. Ted, I too should be adding more comments to all of these blogs... Yours too.

Here are the other people on Ted's list:

Andy Abramson, Darla Mack, Alec Saunders, Om Malik, Ken Camp and Sheryl Breuker, Esme Vos, Phone Boy, Jeff Pulver, Martin Geddes

Be sure to read his post which mentions why he believes these blogs are worth your time and effort.

Everyone have a Happy New Year!

Posted in IP Communications, VoIP

Tagged: Alec Saunders, Andy Abramson, blog, blogger, Darla Mack, Esme Vos, ip communications, Jeff Pulver, Ken Camp and Sheryl Breuker, Martin Geddes, Om Malik, Phone Boy, rich tehrani, ted wallingford, top bloggers, voip : Related Tags:

Blackberry Storm Gets Dedicated YouTuble Client
January 1, 2009

Why did Google need to hire those tens of thousands of people over these past years? Well apparently so they can turn on a dime and develop applications like the new YouTube client for the Blackberry Storm.

What does this tell us? That Google will continue to develop applications for multiple platforms and it considers the Storm an important phone. With blazing fast Verizon Wireless download speeds, the experience should be pretty good.

Read all about it.

Posted in Blackberry, Consumer Electronics, FCC, Gadget, Google, Technology, Verizon, Video, Wireless

Tagged: blackberry, google, rim, storm, youtube : Related Tags: blackberry storm, develop applications, blackberry, storm

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