What the HP/EDS Deal Means

When you look around the tech market you see factors which suck the profit out of every nook and cranny. In hardware there is a trend towards standards-based hardware which is not slowing down. As this trend continues, prices shrink... continue reading...

Cablevision's WiFi Network in New York City

WiFi is not new and providing WiFi to a city is not new. What is new and worth noodling on is the fact Cablevision will soon have a WiFi network in New York City -- well over the next... continue reading...

Vonage Record Quarter: Jeff Citron Interview

Vonage has done a great job this last quarter --  posting growth numbers in a slower economy. I just had a podcast interview with Jeffrey Citron where he talked about the company's growth rate and the number of new initiatives... continue reading...

SkyFire: The Cure for iPhone Envy

Do you have iPhone envy? I do. In fact, just this past Sunday I walked into the AT&T store and I browsed TMCnet on the iPhone and was blown away at how easy it was to surf on this phone... continue reading...

Google Pushes Verizon on 700 MHz Open Access

Many of us thought the open access provisions of the 700 MHz auction were taken care of and this was the reason Google got involved in the auction in the first place. It seems now that Verizon is saying that... continue reading...

Hosted Application Demand Fuels SalesForce.com

Hosted applications continue to get more press as time goes on. Similar to the e-commerce space, this market saw a slew of new entrants during the bubble times and many of these companies subsequently crashed and burned. Obviously having ASPs... continue reading...

Avtech Software Protects Data Centers

Companies spend incredible sums of money on their communications and technology infrastructure but all too often they do not focus enough attention on protecting the investment in such equipment. As telepresence, unified communications, handheld devices, mobility and IP communications turbocharge... continue reading...

Microsoft Withdraws Yahoo Proposal

In a surprise move, Microsoft announced it has withdrawn its offer for Yahoo. Boy this thing is taking a long time. If this is just posturing, it seems like it is taking focus off the big picture for both firms.... continue reading...

Nortel's Joel Hackney Discusses Earnings

Nortel announced earnings today and to get more detail on the news I had a chance to speak with Joel Hackney, President of the Enterprise Solutions Group at Nortel. Some details worth sharing... The company's net loss widened but revenue... continue reading...

Half a Million Hacked Websites

I don't mean to sound alarmist but half a million hacked websites? is that how many there are? In other words if users hit any of 500,000 sites using IE they will likely be infected? Talk about an electronic pandemic.... continue reading...

Blackberry Voice Search

TellMe just launched a new application which allows people to use their Blackberry for voice search. utilizing the TellMe speech recognition engine and Microsoft Live Search, you can have search results automatically localized if you happen to have a GPS-enabled... continue reading...

Too Late to Register Googlepoo

Many companies register domain names for new businesses they may launch and to protect them from others who may launch sites with their brand followed by the word "sucks," etc. So you shouldn't be surprised that Google is like many... continue reading...

Google Quote Finder Launched

Picture this... You say something and you really didn't mean it. Perhaps it was that you can see see US troops in Iraq for 100 years or that snipers were attacking you in some far away country. In the past,... continue reading...

SMS Saves Lives

The only thing better than seeing the world interconnecting with technologies such as SMS, is seeing health care providers taking advantage of the latest gadgets and technology to help curb disease outbreaks and improve prescription compliance. Case in point is... continue reading...

EsnaTech Grows the Google Ecosystem

One of the latest trends I have noticed is integrating disparate solutions into Google's suite of applications. Just this month in fact, two companies in the communications and CRM spaces have decided working with Google more closely makes a great... continue reading...

Why Skype Should be Sold to Google

There are now rumors circulating that Google will buy Skype. These rumors are not new -- I wrote about this as recently as November 20 of 2007. But they did die down for a while and have been renewed. I... continue reading...

Callwave Fuze, Unified Communications Plus

In the race to provide the best Unified Communications solution, there are just so many approaches. The various ways to achieve UC are staggering in fact. Companies like Microsoft have partnered with many companies to achieve seamless UC - with... continue reading...

New TMCnet Record and New Writer

Thanks to our readers -- once again, TMCnet has hit a new record. In this case, we built a Global Online Community in conjunction with Interactive Intelligence and this community generated just under 600,000 page views in one month according... continue reading...

Google and SalesForce Enhance Relationship

It was over a year and a half ago when I had a chance to listen to Marc Benioff talk about how his company's software would be integrating with Google to provide a mashup allowing companies to better track their... continue reading...

GrandCentral Outage

Today was apparently a bad one for GrandCentral customers as many report the service was out for hours. As mentioned by TechCrunch, if you want to be phone company you can't go dead.... continue reading...

Dragnet 2.0

In a social network connected world, it seems auto theft will be a thing of the past. A car dealer had a relatively rare Nissan Skyline GT-R stolen recently and posted this information with pictures on the internet. The... continue reading...

Google Android Running

Here is the good news. You can get Google's Android running on current hardware. In fact the AT&T Tilt is the Guinea Pig of choice for this particular endeavor in the following example. It is a bit early to jump... continue reading...

Communications Developer Call for Papers

Be sure to submit your call for papers entries for the Communications Developer show which will be collocated with ITEXPO later this year in the Los Angeles, California Convention Center. The specific dates of the event will be September 16-18,... continue reading...

Bob Emmerson: TMC's European Editor

Bob Emmerson joins TMC as out European Editor. We are truly proud to have Bob join the team as he is a communications and technology veteran. Previously, Emmerson was a designer of digital control systems, a journalist, and a copywriter.... continue reading...

TMCnet Podcast Library

Sure you have an iPhone or iPod or even a PC where you like to listen to your music. But have you had a chance to listen to TMCnet's high quality podcasts as of yet? ;-) I know many... continue reading...

TMCnet Gets a Redesign

I am very happy to be the first to tell you TMCnet is in the midst of one of its largest graphical overhauls. We are very proud of our new look which emphasizes softer blue colors and shades. There are... continue reading...

Google Becoming Evil?

Google's rumored ploy to get the service providers to pony up extra dollars for the 700 MHz auction seems to be more fact than fiction. I was just reading an article on TMCnet from Susan Campbell that outlines how Google... continue reading...

Sprint Pays Klausner

Sprint recently signed a deal with Klausner Technologies to enable them to use visual voicemail without the fear of being sued. This news is interesting as Sprint is one of the companies coming after VoIP providers who the company claims... continue reading...

EU Authorizes Fist Fights on Planes

OK I may be a bit over the top with this headline but allowing a plane full of passengers the ability to talk on the phone -- all in different languages... What is the EU thinking? According to TMCnet's Mae... continue reading...

TMCnet Hits 100 Sponsored Community Milestone

All I can say is thank you to our loyal readers who visit TMCnet frequently and our sponsors who have launched communities and channels in partnership with TMC on TMCnet. Furthermore, thanks for your loyalty and the nice testimonials many... continue reading...

Yahoo's Voice Search Ambitions

Yahoo has just invested $20 million in vlingo a voice recognition company specializing in the mobile market. Yahoo!, leveraging this relationship, announced the launch of a voice-enabled version of Yahoo! oneSearch, a new mobile search client that supports unstructured, open-ended... continue reading...

The Coming Mobile WiMAX Revolution

Over the past fifteen years the world has become smaller as a result of the internet and more recently broadband connectivity allowing IP communications consisting of voice and video to flourish. As connectivity has improved, entire industries were transformed. For... continue reading...

Google Docs Gets Gears

For all the benefits of cloud computing otherwise known as ASP-based service, on-demand, hosted and software as a service or SaaS there is a major drawback. Some applications are needed on the go... And the cloud doesn't follow you everywhere... continue reading...

VPF Winter 2007 Video Interviews

Although the temperature near TMC's Norwalk, CT headquarters is below freezing, I am told we are actually in spring. And I am admittedly late in sharing this information with you, frequent readers of these pages know I believe it is... continue reading...

Google's Government Wins

Google is slowly but surely racking up government wins and has some pretty big names under its belt so far. For example, the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, the U.S. Coast Guard, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the... continue reading...

TMC Growth Update

Congratulations to TMC's Kevin Kiley who was just promoted to VP of Finance. Great job Kevin. In addition I would like to thank TMC readers and our partners who have allowed us to continue our wave of growth. In the... continue reading...

Plantronics .Audio 480

I just had a chance to test drive the Plantronics .Audio 480 USB Headset also known as the Virtual Phone Booth. While I generally have problems with all in-the-ear headphones, these felt better in my ears than many others I... continue reading...

Organizing the World's Meteorites

Google's tagline of organizing the world's information is all I could think of when I learned that Geologist Arthur Hickman accidentally found a meteorite crater while scanning Google Earth in a search for iron ore. The crater is between 10,000... continue reading...

700 MHz Auction Concludes

The FCC 700 MHz auction concluded recently and the major winners were Verizon and AT&T. While this may seem like bad news to those who would have preferred more competition as a result of this auction, FCC Chairman Martin explains... continue reading...

Dan Miller New TMCnet Columnist

As I mentioned a while back, TMC is experiencing record growth and I promised we would maintain our high levels of quality as we grow. TMCnet currently has just under 50 worldwide columnists and most of them write daily or... continue reading...

Spectrum Auction Concludes

In case you missed it, the bidding is now over for the 700 MHz spectrum. The US governemnt racked up just under a cool 20 billion dollars as a result. I guess we can thank the telecommunications industry for those... continue reading...

SearchMe Analysis

I finally got a password for the SearchMe beta and had a chance to play with this relatively new search engine. Simply stated, this search service is what Apple might design. You put in your search term and when the... continue reading...

Where is the TMC Team?

This week, we have a total of nine TMC team members traveling to industry events. Dave Rodriguez, Erik Linask and I are headed to VoiceCon while Greg Galitzine will be at VON. I am looking forward to an information packed... continue reading...

Avaya's Huge Unified Communications Push

Avaya has certainly made unified communications history today with a suite of announcements that will certainly rattle the competitive landscape. UC will never be the same in my opinion. The New Jersey-based company's biggest news had to do with affordable... continue reading...

IBM's Big Unified Communications News

Recently I spent a good number of hours at the sprawling Somers, NY campus of IBM where the company announced to the media their intention to spend a billion dollars in unified communications development over the next three years. IBM... continue reading...

Hot News: Ixia, VPI, Wyde Voice, Google, Spirent, Sangoma, LifeSize, Aculab and more

I try not to play favorites with the news and instead of giving you my picks of the week, I defer to TMC editors who picked the following stories as some of the week's best. This week, we have a... continue reading...

Addicted to Optical Speed

Isn't there a saying, you can never be too rich or too thin? Well in my case I obviously have given up on the "thin" part and replaced it with broadband connectivity. So I say, you can never be too... continue reading...

Google's Application Upgrade Feed

Google applications have been upgraded these past years and many times these updates are done quietly as they are software as a service SaaS applications and as such it wasn't obvious that people needed to know about these upgrades. At... continue reading...

Bebo Bought

Boy was I glad I blogged about Bebo being purchased a few months back. The rumored acquirer was supposed to be Google or MySpace but it seems like AOL is getting serious about being a web player once again and... continue reading...

SearchMe Enters Beta

I just learned of SearchMe a search engine which differentiates itself by being more graphical than others. When you search, you are presented with category tabs as well as a graphical representation of what the results pages look like.... continue reading...

Ken Camp is Available

Regular readers of my blog and attendees of TMC expos no doubt know Ken Camp. Ken is very knowledgeable in the field of information technology with special expertise in communications and security. He has written books, articles, spoken at shows... continue reading...

Service Providers Get Into Home Security

How do you get the triple-play to expand into the quintuple-play, etc? Easy... You add a brand new service -- home security to the mix. Quest is the first carrier to publicly promote the idea of service providers getting... continue reading...

Peter Radizeski Joins TMCnet

TMCnet's latest blogger is Peter Radizeski. Peter is knowledgeable and not afraid to say what he thinks. He is direct and has a long history in telecom. He will will write things that ruffle feathers. His views many not always... continue reading...

Rumor: Deutsche Telecom to Acquire Sprint

I don't want to predict a disaster but having Deutsche Telecom acquire Sprint doesn't make sense from the perspective of all the different network types these companies use. Sprint uses CDMA, Deutsche Telecom's T-Mobile uses GSM and Nextel uses iDEN.... continue reading...

Communications News March 7, 2008

My editorial team has selected the following stories as some of the most important ones of the week. Hopefully some or all of these news items will be useful to my readers. Some of my favorite ones are how green... continue reading...

Google TV Ads for Adwords

The latest industry where Google hopes to compete and subsequently keep executives at other corporations up at night is TV advertising. I came a cross a great article discussing Google's latest services in this space. In addition there is some... continue reading...

NEC, Microsoft, HP Labs and Comcast News

I was traveling yesterday and I didn't get a chance to communicate with my blog readers in the detail I would normally like to give. This morning I decided to share all the news that caught my eye from last... continue reading...

Hunter Newby Leaves Telx

For those of you who know Hunter Newby, you are aware is one of the more knowledgeable people in our industry. Hunter is especially well-versed in areas like net neutrality, fiber deployment and not surprisingly carrier hotels. I know many... continue reading...

Google API for Calendar and Contacts

In case you missed it, Google is opening up a great deal allowing other applications to sync with their calendar and contacts applications. This means it will be that much easier for people to seamlessly try the suite of Google... continue reading...

Fred Goldstein on Net Neutrality

Just when you thought you knew everything you need to know about the net neutrality debate and the controversy involving the FCC, Comcast and BitTorrent... There is more. A fantastic article from Fred Goldstein of ionary Consulting sums up what... continue reading...

Ask.com Run Out of Search

In a sign that competing with Google in search is very difficult to do, Ask.com recently announced that they will leave the general search business and focus on helping married women manage their lives. Ask.com has an Alexa ranking... continue reading...

AT&T's Bullish Investment

AT&T is making a major telecom investment in many areas of its business. The telecom giant cites the explosion of high-speed networks, data consuming devices and the move to IP as the reason for this investment. The money is... continue reading...

TMCnet's New Vertical Communities

Over the past decade, TMCnet has become the accepted resource for news, product research and analysis in communications and technology markets - including telecom, VoIP, and contact centers. Moreover, the site has become the defacto location online where companies build... continue reading...

Google Gears for Mobile

It is here... Finally here. Google Gears is a middleware program with tremendous potential as it allows web based applications to run, even when there is no web connectivity. Currently, using Google Gears is a bit clunky meaning you have... continue reading...

TMCnet Services

In an effort to allow TMCnet readers easy access to the breadth of TMCnet services such as the personalized MyTMCnet and TMCnet Mobile, TMCnet has launched a new TMCnet Services page which will allow you to instantly access the... continue reading...

AT&T U-verse Improves

Today I was perusing a press release from AT&T touting the new HD channels they will be offering in Fairfield County, Connecticut as part of their U-verse offering. This release was of special interest since this county is where... continue reading...

Microsoft's SaaS Push

There are rumors suggesting Microsoft will soon unveil its hosted/on demand/Software as a Service strategy where many of its applications will be provided via the Internet. If Google is the strongest competitor in this space -- and they are... The... continue reading...

Building IMS Applications

TMC's Erik Linask If you are interested in learning the latest information regarding how you can build IMS or IP multimedia subsystem applications, I suggest you check out this article by Erik Linask which discusses a webinar regarding this... continue reading...

Why ComScore owes Google $15 Billion

Google's stock got slammed recently due to numbers from ComScore. Here is a post on why ComScore should be writing Google a huge check and another showing how ComScore's original numbers didn't tell the whole story. It is interesting to... continue reading...

Tellme Just a Small Yahoo?

If you want to get an idea of what Yahoo could possibly look like after a Microsoft acquisition, it may be useful to look at Tellme, a company Microsoft acquired last year. It is worth pointing out that Tellme was... continue reading...

David Yedwab Live on TMCnet

You may know David Yedwab as one of the leading analysts in telecom. If you aren't aware of him, then I am glad to let you know that David is now writing for TMCnet and his columns can be found... continue reading...

When Acquiring, Look to Cisco, not Oracle

I am so fed up with the synergies CEO think they have when they acquire. In many cases CEOs and other powerful executives are on ego trips and buy companies and immediately change the acquired company's name to their... continue reading...

Google Gives Away Voicemail to Homeless

For those of you who were in telecom back in the day, you may recall that the Computer Telephony show in Los Angeles, CA had a press event where they got together with exhibitors to give away free voicemail to... continue reading...