Yahoo search for term Nortel

Do a Yahoo! search on Nortel and you see ads from Microsoft and Avaya which are quite friendly. Microsoft for example directs you to its People Ready Business site where it pushes its relationship with Nortel with messaging which emphasizes global solutions to empower the enterprise. Avaya's ad is pretty generic - and goes directly to the home page.

Microsoft Live search for term Nortel

If you use Microsoft Live as your search engine the results are similar to Yahoo with a Microsoft ad but the Avaya ad is replaced by one from Fonality going to their home page which touts their "New Deal" or a 20% discount on certain models.

Google search for term Nortel

The situation on Google gets much more competitive as Altigen goes after Nortel's customers with the statement, "Concerned about the future of your Nortel phone system?" The headline says "Customers and Partners," in an effort to go after the entire Nortel ecosystem.

Similarly, Avaya's ad direct and professional... It begins with "Upgrade Your Nortel" the ad then says "To New Avaya System." It finishes off with great marketing copy - "Free Information to Get You Started."

BTW - yes, I know, Avaya corporate has been very quiet. In response to the many questions you have sent us about more interviews with Avaya CXOs, my team has reached out and the interview ball is in the company's court. I will get back to you when the Avaya's CEO begins interviewing. I am looking forward to hearing what they have to say as much as you are.

But back to the matter at hand - yes, in a recession you need to capitalize on the weakness of the competition to grow or at least stay stable. All companies need to gain share and one way to do it is with search ads.

I have mentioned in the past that a number of companies have reached out to TMC as well to help them develop programs to target Nortel's customers. I can't disclose who or whether we took this business but it seems a common theme right now is to go after the low-hanging Nortel customer fruit.

On a related note it is unclear how current and future customers will view the Nortel sale of its application acceleration business to Radware. I don't expect the competition to let up due to this news but it does seem to be a positive sign for the company that it is able to sell anything in this tough economic and M&A climate.

Search engine ads change all the time so take this entry as a snapshot from a late Friday afternoon in February and nothing more. If I hear more details of other companies specifically targeting Nortel customers in the future I will be sure to share.

• Nortel Under Assault
• Nortel Puts Another Nail in WiMAX Coffin
• F5 Targets Nortel Customers

Here is a solid article on how CRM is recession-resistant. Now more than ever it is critical that companies realize they need to invest to keep their existing customers and to get new ones. Business in general is tougher to get which means you need better tools and CRM is exactly what the doctor ordered.

Thanks to all the editors and bloggers who covered ITEXPO East 2009 in Miami and/or posted photos. Also, thank you all for the nice comments about the show. Most can be found here and some are in this blog entry with photos. To keep this post manageable, I have not posted every entry I found, just most. I did try to get at least one post per writer and if I missed you, it was a sincere mistake and if you send me a link I promise to update this post to make it more accurate.

Garrett Smith	IT Expo proves VoIP industry is still going strong
Larry Hettick	Digium adds support for instant messaging; VoIP Logic integrates it iPhone
Andy Abramson	First Impressions Of IT Expo East 2009
Allen Miller	IT Expo - Two Weeks Later
	Photos
Erik Linask	Best of Show
	ITEXPO - It's On!
Harry Brelsford	Harry the Weekend Warrior Installs 'Microsoft Response Point SP2
Matthew Nickasch	ITExpo East Kicks Off With Big Switchvox News
	Significant Opportunities For ROI at ITEXPO
Tony Rybczynski	Dispatch from ITExpo
DIDx.net	Must Have Local Number Porting (ITEXPO and DIDX)
	The Macadars (DIDX members) Say Hello at ITEXPO East 2009
	VoipSwitch, voicserve, DIDX, and ITEXPO Bring out the Big Boys
	Chapcom Wireless Engineer Appeal to DIDX Sellers
Suzanne Bowen	VoIP Companies Know How to Score Strikes
	VoicePulse Makes you Famous at ITEXPO East 2009
Dan York	Flickr Photostream
Doug Mohney	From VON to the trinity/quad-play of events
	IT EXPO East 2009: Cbeyond adds mobile workforce management with SaaS offering
	ITEXPO East 2009 Wrap-up
	Looking toward IT Expo
	ITEXPO East attendance up 15 percent
	IT EXPO East 2009 - News in brief
	SLIDESHOW:The opening of ITEXPO East 2009, Feb. 2
	IT Expo vs. the ghost of VON (and everybody else)
	IT EXPO East 2009 - News in brief
	IT EXPO East 2009: 'Microsoft goes official with Response Point SP2
	SLIDESHOW: IT EXPO East 2009, Day 2
	SLIDESHOW: ITEXPO East 2009, Feb 2
Haim Argaman	My Experience at ITExpo East 2009: Improve IVR Software and Call Center Efficiency
Jon Arnold	ITEXPO So Far
	ITEXPO Follow-Ons and Other New of Note
Moshe Maeir	Is VoIP Recession Proof?
	Live from ITEXPO
	Is now a good time for trade shows?
Michael Dinan	Week in Review: VoIP Rallies with 15 Percent Rise at ITEXPO
Tom Keating	ITEXPO says "Slumping economy? What slumping economy?" - VoIP tradeshow thrives
	'Microsoft Response Point SP2 Launches + Review
	D2 Technologies Demos Reference Design for WiMAX Mobile Phones at ITEXPO
	Minuteman Aims for UPS Comeback in 2009
Joe Staples	Internet Telephony Expo East -- The Spies Come Out
Richard Martin	IT EXPO: PhoenixSoft Offers Hosted Softswitch
	In Miami, Integration Rules at IT EXPO
	IT EXPO: Grandstream Adds Keypad Extender
	IT EXPO: Digium Adds Web-Aware UC to Switchvox SMB 4.0
	IT EXPO: UC Part of Response Point Roadmap, GM Says
	IT EXPO: VoIP Logic Intros Mobile Apps for iPhone
	IT EXPO: Service Providers Craft Survival Strategies
	IT EXPO: 'Microsoft Releases Response Point Service Pack 2
Greg Galitzine	ITEXPO SIP Trunking Seminar Wrap-Up
	VoIP Is Alive and Well
	Sangoma Adds Analog Support to NetBorder Express 2.0 Gateway
Richard "Zippy" Grigonis	At ITEXPO East 2009, Allworx Debuts New IP Phone System 7.0 Features and the 9224 High-Fidelity Phone
Jessica Kostek	Dialogic: Fax over IP
	TelcoBridges Addresses Entry Level Media Gateway Requirements
Tim Gray	DIDX to Integrate Wholesale Customers to Skype
	RAD Data Communications Features SIP-Based VoIP Solution at ITEXPO East 2009
Me	School 2.0 at ITEXPO
Barkha Bathwal	Taqua's MobileWorks Solution Brings Voice Services to WiFi Networks
Susan J. Campbell	Sangoma and IndustryDynamics Deliver Value and Quality with Skype Solution

Is thriving too strong? Better than expected? Better than average. You choose the terms but you must admit things are better than many thought they would be.

In the toughest economy in my lifetime, IP communications including VoIP is doing well. First there was the blockbuster attendance at ITEXPO in Miami. Then there was Cbeyond getting named to the top 10 fastest growing tech companies by Forbes. Then there was a casual conversation last night with Ooma execs who tell me January sales were quite strong. Finally there is the 8x8/Packet8 news that they now have 15,000 SMB customers.

Again, I am cautiously optimistic about the future of communications and to some degree tech as the companies in our space are doing better than most. Yes we do have our casualties like Nortel and others who are saddled with huge debt loads. But as an industry, we can't be better positioned as long as we continue to focus on saving customers money while providing superior value through productivity and other improvements.

One surprise to me is the weakness being felt in the consumer electronics space. This was just such a strong area a year ago. To see IP communications growing while the CE market contracts is unexpected but still relatively good news for most companies in the communications market.

Expect SaaS, open source and segments of wireless to also be strong performers in this economy and once things turn (your guess is as good as mine as to when this happens) we will see the momentum behind SaaS, IP communications and open source continue for some time to come.

Forbes just released their list of fastest growing tech companies and there are a mix of companies on the list from semiconductor to biotech. Of special note is SalesForce.com who comes in at number 3 with EPS growth of 40%. Cbeyond ranks number 6 with 22% EPS growth. Other familiar communications companies include Neustar ranked 17 and j2 Global at 21.

Of note is Google at number 2, iRobot at number 4, Red Hat number 11 and Apple at number 14. Here is the complete list.

Thank you all so much for coming to Miami this week.

The numbers are in for ITEXPO East 2009 and the amount of people at the event increased 15% from the same one last year. We could not have done it without you.

We have been absolutely deluged with comments about the quality and quantity of attendance at the show and we are assembling them all in an easily digestible format. Check back soon for more.

Yes we bucked every trend in the economy. I am aware it is incredible to see any business growing in times like this but IP communications solutions are exactly what companies need in this economy. They make you more efficient and productive. To top it off, most IP communications solutions also save you money.

Like most every exhibitor I spoke with at the show... I am cautiously optimistic about the future of the communications space.

Here are the details... I hope you find them useful.

Total Attendance:

Paid Conference              211
VIPs                                  6,980
Exhibitors                         847
Speakers                           202
Press                                 69

Total:                                8,309

Demographics:

Service Providers:           33.3%
Reseller/Agent/VAR:      28.2%
Developers:                     6.2%
Manufacturer:                 4.2%
Enterprise/SMB:              28.1%

The TMC team never sleeps and as soon as yesterday had posted over a dozen interviews of some of the movers and shakers in the service provider and enterprise communications space. These interviews were from ITEXPO East 2009 which took place this week in Miami.

Durung these intervies it becomes evident why IP communications is doing well and moreover, where the greatest opportunities lie.

Some companies taking part in the interview process are Polycom, Dialogic, TransNexus, Fujitsu, Interactive Intelligence, Ingate, VoltDelta, Microsoft, TI, Digium, NET, Juniper, Broadvox, Sangoma, 8x8, Alcatel-Lucent, AudioCodes and more.
 

 

Andy Abramson has a brilliant entry supporting events and why you need to go to them. Here are some salient points:

That's the difference. I'm a player. Not a spectator. Even during my era in sports, I was in the business of sports, playing the business game to win everyday. While I wasn't on the ice or on the basketball court (though I did play junior box lacrosse for two years when working for a pro lacrosse team) I quickly realized that either you're a part of the game or your simply a spectator.

So if you're a real player in an industry, get off your butt and get to where the action is. It's sure not in the office. And to those of you who racked up frequent flier miles in the past, and hotel points on your companies dime, how about going to the travel manager and offering to use those points to make it to the show your new travel restrictions won't permit. Real players play through pain and injury. Wussies hide in the locker room and never get off the bench. Creative type professionals find a way to be where the action is, not cast far away glances and trash talk what they're missing.

Perhaps he has the influence to get people on planes quickly because ITEXPO is doing amazingly well. It has a ton of people and the quality is amazing from what I have seen so far. It also continues to attract people from virtually every continent. Historically about 115 countries are represented each year between the west and east events.

I can tell you the attendance and energy of this event is more like 1999 than what you would expect in 2009. I haven't felt this in a while. There is excitement, enthusiasm and passion. Let's face it - you can't sugar coat the economic environment and the reality is all companies are laying off or will do so soon. Some will have continuing layoffs.

But all this means is the remaining people have to do more work and get the job done. Because if they don't, bye bye company.

Today's communications tools are the best way to maximize productivity and efficiency and they are needed immediately in every company - and needed now.

This is likely why this show is so darn busy. See the photos for yourself. Hope to see you here soon.
 

 

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.

• Complete Brochure
  (Updated 1-13-09 pdf - 2.1MB)
• Conference Agenda
  (pdf - 227KB)
• Conference Details
• Registration
• Dates & Times
• Hotel & Travel
• ITEXPO Blog
• ITEXPO News

• ITEXPO: Car Giveaway
• ITEXPO: Keynotes
• ITEXPO: Reseller Workshop
• ITEXPO: General Sessions
• 4G Opportunities and
      and Challenges
• Open Source Education
• View All

Latest Features

 

» ITEXPO Speaker from Acision: Obama Must Focus on Education

By Rich Tehrani, President and Editor-in-Chief Andrew Harteveldt, a senior systems engineer at Acision, is delivering a presentation during the Internet Telephony Conference & Expo in Miami next week. At 2 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 2, Harteveldt will present "Developing Solutions with User Experience in Mind," in which he'll discuss metrics and ways to ensure high call quality in IP networks and the theoretical requirements as well as the practical realities of ensuring IPT performance stays within acceptable parameters.

» TMC's ITEXPO Spotlights Sorrento Networks

By Rich Tehrani, President and Editor-in-Chief Jim is a co-author of four U.S. patents pertaining to broadband architectures and deployments. He earned a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Washington and a master's degree in technology management from the University of Denver.

» VoIP: Definitely Not Dead Yet, the Sequel

By Jon Arnold, Principal, J Arnold & Associates In that regard, how you define VoIP has a lot to do with whether you think it's alive or not. On one level, I don't really care which side you're on, as I see value in simply getting people talking about VoIP, which hopefully helps us all understand it better. It's always been a poorly understood term, and for that reason, you don't see too many service providers calling their VoIP offerings VoIP.

» OpenSpan Opens Up About the Future of SOA

By Rich Tehrani, President and Editor-in-Chief OpenSpan is a leading provider of application integration and automation software for the enterprise. OpenSpan and its partners utilize the company's unique approach to integration to accelerate service-oriented architecture (SOA) deployments and increase enterprise desktop productivity.

» SIP Trunking at ITEXPO: Touching Base with BandTel

By Greg Galitzine, Group Editorial Director Educating end users, resellers, distributors and systems integrators about SIP Trunking is on the agenda as Ingate Systems partners with TMC, leading IP-PBX vendors, SIP Trunking service providers and industry thought-leaders to present the "SIP Trunking: Everything You Need to Know" seminars at ITEXPO East 2009, which take place February 2-4, 2009 in Miami Beach, Florida. BandTel, a platinum sponsor of the seminar, will be well represented in the conference program, participating in two sessions on Monday February 2: Introduction to SIP Trunking and The Service Provider Perspective. We asked Joel Maloff, Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing at BandTel LLC to share his thoughts ahead of the event.

» ITEXPO in a Week

 

Latest News

 

» Elastix Appliance Now Interoperable With Sangoma VoIP Cards

» Testing, Testing... Fanfare Exec Looks Ahead at 2009

» Lynda Starr, Member of Women in voIP on Facebook Speaks at ITEXPO

 

Latest Blogs

 

» Come Meet the Thought Leaders at ITEXPO Part 2

» Ready for ITEXPO?

» SIP Trunking Podcast: Avaya's Alan Klein

 

Featured Keynotes

 

John Frederiksen - General Manager -Microsoft Corp.

Danny Windham- Chief Executive Officer - Digium

 

FREE General Sessions

 

HD - What's the noise and are we ready?

Service Provider Roundtable

Unified Communications Shootout

 

Free Workshops:

Microsoft Response Point

Reseller Solutions

SIP Trunking

Telecom Agent Day

 

Other Important Links

 

Register for the Conference

Dates and Times

TMC University

 

Win Exhibitor Giveaway Prizes!

 

Win A New Jeep! YOU MUST BE PRESENT AT THE DRAWING ON WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 4th TO CLAIM YOUR PRIZE!

 

Free Resources

 

» Threats From Inside and Out: Best Practices For Information Security

» Managing Application Performance by Understanding Applications

 

Become a TMCnet columnist!

 

Become a TMCnet columnist! Want to contribute your expertise to a growing audience of IP Communications professionals? Become a writer, blogger or columnist for the TMCnet Web site and this newsletter. Contact TMCnet Editorial Director, Greg Galitzine, at ggalitzine@tmcnet.com for details.

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. Registration is now open.

On Monday, February 2^nd at 4:45 PM, representatives from Nortel, CommuniGate, Interactive Intelligence, Aspect Communications and Objectworld will present their Unified Communications solutions - and position their products against one another.

Each panelist will make the case for choosing their offerings by laying out the business case; explaining their differentiators; and providing a quick demonstration of their systems. The "shootout" format provides just seven (7) minutes for each to make their case, and the session provides a detailed Q&A for attendees to dig deeper into each vendors' claims. INTERNET TELEPHONY magazine Editorial Director Greg Galitzine will moderate.

On Tuesday,February 3^rd at 9:15 AM, executives from 8x8, Inc., Broadvox, MagicJack, Telefonica, TW Telecom, and Verizon will share their thoughts on the state of the market; today's economic climate; and they will discuss how anticipated changes in Washington will impact the telecom industry.

The session, moderated by respected communications industry blogger Andy Abramson, will also provide attendees with a glimpse into the future of mobility and next-generation wireless technologies. Attendees are encouraged to bring their questions for these industry leaders who are best suited to provide the answers.

On Tuesday, February 3^rd at 12:15 PM, TMC president Rich Tehrani leads a panel of experts discussing howIP Communications solutions have exceeded the fidelity and clarity of the PSTN - and they will discuss upcoming HD-Voice solutions that will take advantage of this new fidelity.  Participants in this session include: Alan Percy (AudioCodes), Tim Yankey (Polycom), Debbie Greenstreet (Texas Instruments), Bill Bumbernick (Alteva) and James Awad (Octasic).

"ITEXPO helps attendees understand the current landscape, and provides a glimpse into the future state of all aspects of the IP communications market; it showcases all of the latest technologies, and it provides the face-to-face networking opportunities that people need to conduct business," said Michael Genaro, vice president of marketing for TMC. "We're looking forward to a tremendous show next week in Miami. Conference pre-registrations are up 27% over 2008, the exhibit hall is filled with more than 150 vendors, and the conference program looks to be the strongest that we've ever offered"

General and media registration are open.

Technology Marketing Corporation (TMC) is an integrated global media company helping clients build communities in print, in person and online. TMC publishes Customer Interaction Solutions, INTERNET TELEPHONY, Unified Communications, and NGN magazines. TMC is also the first publisher to test new products in its own on-site laboratories, TMC Labs. TMCnet, TMC's Web site, is the leading source of news and articles for the communications and technology industries. TMCnet is read by two to three million unique visitors each month worldwide, according to Webtrends. For more information about TMC, visit www.tmcnet.com.

For Immediate Release PR (for ITEXPO)

(617) 262-1968 x 101