Recently in Merger/Acquisition Category

Dear blog readers, your assistance is appreciated. We are looking for talented sales people - entry level and sales management. We have many resumes already but I thought it made sense to reach out to my readers in case they know someone really good who is looking. The job involves working in Norwalk, CT.

TMC is an extremely driven, financially stable media company which has seen it's online and event business flourish in the last five years. Hundreds of companies in the communications and technology space rely on TMC to provide them with exposure to our laser-targeted community each month.

For more, drop me a line and I will forward your info to the right department. Thanks.

He laid the foundation for IPTV delivery and assembled a major force in the cellular industry via AT&T Wireless.

His masterful ability to manage a company which grew through acquisition is unparalleled. Before changing the name to AT&T, SBC was a major lobbying force and by taking out AT&T through acquisition they actually removed the competitive lobbyists from pushing regulation which would have hurt CLECs such as SBC. The move was genius.

The man has passion. I have never interviewed him but in a Businessweek article he gave an emotion-packed explanation of what he feels about Google and how they won't be allowed to use his pipes for free. I admire the passion and enthusiasm. I don' think the comments he made were in the consumer's best interest but as a man managing a publicly traded company he did right by shareholders with these comments.

If we look to GM we have a company that like AT&T was part of a duopoly. The difference is as soon as competition emerged the company folded like a poker player with a bad hand.

For too many years GM had lousy management and created cars that for lack of a better word sucked. Americans ran away from Detroit automobiles like AT&T ran away from VoIP in the nineties.

What GM needs is a leader who can make a company run lean and mean while remaining nimble. Somehow this is not what I think of when I hear AT&T. This doesn't mean Whitacre can't do the job it just means whoever chose Whitacre apparently has no idea what skills the new lader needs.

We are in an age where speed in business is becoming the differentiator between success and failure. It took decades for GM to launch the Japanese fighting Saturn brand and it had the potential to change the Detroit vs. Japan fight if executed correctly. Now Saturn is being sold off like scrap metal.

I have to admit I don't know Whitacre but admire what he has built. But what I have read about the man leads me to believe he is destined for colossal failure if for no other reason than he seems computer illiterate. According to BusinessWeek he doesn't use a computer. Here is a direct quote from the man:

''I'm not computer illiterate, but I'm close. If two people are sitting 20 feet from each other and sending each other E-mails, I think that's ridiculous.''

Uh, hello - and you ran a company which allowed the world to use email and text messaging to dramatically increase their productivity?

GM needs better car designers. They need someone to stand up to the unions and restructure compensation so that it is not on par with the Japanese - but far lower because the Chinese are coming.

The things GM needs are speed, quality, public relations and lower costs. Whitacre will bring an amazing ability to do deals and manage M&A as well as the skills to convince the government to do whatever he wants.

But do we need an M&A guru to turn GM around? I don't think so. What should scare you to death is that our government seems to be writing blank checks to GM already. Wait till there are even more skillful lobbyists in place.. We can all expect to sign a few paychecks a year over the "Government Motors."

This move I fear will be terrible for US taxpayers because I can't see how Whitacre will be able to dig GM out of the hole they've already created for themselves.

Having said that the task is monumental and I hope I am wrong.

In one of the more memorable product launches of recent times Sprint CEO Dan Hesse took the stage to speak to a packed room about the launch of the new Palm Pre and how he expects it to help Sprint grow its sales. Hesse appeared after a brief introduction from Paget Alves President Business Markets Group and once onstage he proceeded to tell the audience he has used the Pre for six weeks after using Blackberrys and Windows Mobile devices in the past. He said it is a far superior device and is great with music, multitasking, has a great touch screen and an innovate way to charge without requiring a cord called Touchstone.

It was apparent there were many comparisons being made the iPhone which wasn't specifically mentioned as some of the benefits Hesse touted of the Pre are missing only from that smartphone.  

Hesse talked about the strength of Sprint in the business space and spent a great deal of time discussing how the company's 4G network and hotspot enabling devices are extremely useful and the company's 4G network ensures you won't need a second connection like WiFi.

Hesse spent some time discussing how his company is a major player in unified communications and further pledged to have ten 4G markets up by year-end before circling back to refocus on the Palm Pre benefits while emphasizing the savings of $1,200 a year in network costs when compared to AT&T Wireless and Verizon Wireless.

This event didn't have the flashiness of some of the other media/customer events I have attended but this didn't lessen the quality of information shared  or the take away from what seemed to be an upbeat and positive mood in the room. Later today I expect to spend some time using the Pre and will give you my feedback.

For nearly 13 years, Greg Galitzine has been a tremendously valuable part of the TMC team. His career started as an editor for CTI Magazine in 1996. Where he reported on the collision of the computer and communications spaces including what we called IP telephony back in the day. In 1997 we convened a meeting with Greg to explore whether it made sense to launch a publication in the IP telephony space. The outcome of the meeting was to launch what we hoped would become a cornerstone of what we hoped would be a new industry - Internet Telephony Magazine.

Greg became the editor of this publication and had the vision to see this is where the industry was going. Many companies in the communications space told us we were nuts for launching this publication as at the time there was no industry, just a few nerds calling each other on softphones.

Lo and behold, over the past decade this nerdy, niche technology revolutionized telecom to the point where business models have changed, new entrants have come into the telecom market and entire industries were transformed through international outsourcing made possible by inexpensive VoIP-based telephony.

In the last few years, Greg did a great job helping transform TMCnet into a major web force in communications and technology news. We are grateful to him for the years he has put in.

I am very happy for Greg as recently he has been given a great opportunity which involves a move to a new industry altogether. Galitzine has accepted a position with ISA, Inc., a prime contractor to the National Nuclear Security Administration and working in about 18 countries through Central and Eastern Europe to identify and interdict the illegal movement of materials for weapons of mass destruction. Greg will be taking his analytical and editorial skills to a higher level, contributing to national-level policy and operational support analysis for these major international nonproliferation undertakings.

While we all selfishly wish Greg wouldn't move on, we are happy for him and are sure he will make a tremendous impact in his new position.

It looks like Nortel could be gone as a standalone company in the next few weeks according to published reports. The news is sad but true. It looks like Avaya or Siemens could pick up the enterprise pieces. The optical division could go to Fujitsu, Huaweii, Alcatel-Lucent or potentially a private equity firm. The wireless unit could go to NSN.

What is terrible about the situation from my perspective is the communications and tech spaces are doing well relative to most other markets. In other words, this downturn for these markets has not been terrible. And there is a chance we could see these spaces bounce back faster than other industries.

This IMHO makes the Nortel assets very valuable as they are going for bargain-basement prices and their upside potential is probably good.

I should mention that some of the companies on the list above are not known for their customer facing marketing... If you are one of those companies you will likely not see the value from the assets you pick up.

The real value here is to put a better sales and marketing engine in front of some of the best engineering around. If that is done it will be the best possible outcome for employees, customers and the acquirers.

If you look at TMC from the outside and find yourself asking how you can get a job as an intern at this global integrated media company which builds communities online, in print and in person while gaining marketshare regardless of economic climate, I have some great news to share. We are looking for a small army of interns who want to learn what it's like to take on major multibillion dollar media companies with infinite resources and consistently win.

We will teach you how to sell collaboratively - how to listen and to be loved by your customers (well most of them anyway).

We will teach you integrated marketing and online marketing - not theory but ever-evolving practice.

If you love media and want to work at the company that is light years ahead online, contact us ASAP. We are very picky so if you aren't a super-hard worker and collaboration and hat-wearing are not your middle names, let's end our relationship now as friends (it's not you it's me).

One last thought about TMC - our culture is unusual - we have the financial stability of a 37 year-old company with the energy and enthusiasm of a start-up.

Let's just say if you're thinking of contacting us, please don't delay


Here's more:

The Sales & Marketing internship position at TMC is designed to provide hands-on experience that will be mutually beneficial for both the intern and the organization. The internship position is designed to challenge students and provide them with practical experience in the advertising and media industry.

TMC is looking for a dynamic, creative, enthusiastic, high energy professional to support the Sales organization, to help build advertising and marketing presentations for prospects and clients.

• Work with sales & marketing team to assist in the implementation of various campaigns
• Contribute to the creative input in building campaigns and support the campaigns
• Copyediting and proofreading
• Communicate with customers and peers
• Minimum Qualifications:
• Working towards completion of a college degree program in business, marketing or communication
• Excellent communication skills verbal and written
• Proficient in Microsoft Office suite, specifically PowerPoint and Excel
• Excellent communication skills
• Detail Oriented
• Initiative and proactive thinking
• Team player
• Ability to multi-task and work in a fast paced environment meeting deadlines

Who is the best potential acquirer of Joost, the web-based TV service which was launched by Skype founders Janus Friis and Niklas Zennstrom? The cable companies of course and although you would imagine the cablecos would be all over this deal, so far they have opted out of buying the company that is supposedly shopping itself. As this article points out, Joost lost momentum and does not have a great deal of traffic. A cable company however could certainly boost the traffic with content deals and promotion through its various vehicles.

The question is, why not start from scratch if you are a cable company and are doing so much of the work?

I guess if no cable companies come to the table there is always eBay.

In tech, one of the best punch lines around was "the year of videoconferencing." Since 1990 we heard the year of videoconferencing was coming soon and dozens if not hundreds of video companies have disappeared while waiting to take advantage of this new age of visual communications. I have been meeting with videoconferencing companies for many years and over the last few it has become evident that video is here to stay and it will become a bigger and bigger part of our lives.

The most recent conversation which drove this home was with Tandberg where I spoke with Tony Cook VP Marketing Americas and Rick Snyder President Tandberg Americas. The pair went on to explain how their business is doing well and that market research shows they are taking share of market from others. While spending has slowed in many segments of the market including tech, the communications market has proven more resilient. But it is evident that when you lose more than 1.5 million US jobs per quarter (not to mention elsewhere) for a prolonged period, the need for endpoints decreases.

In the face of this endpoint pressure it is worth pointing out that Polycom recently saw its telepresence services grow 45% in the most recent quarter. The reason of course has to do with travel budgets being slashed and the need to communicate more effectively over distance.

Tandberg credits the quality level of their solutions as the reason for their growth in video market share as well as a focus on interoperability with a variety of solutions. They also happened to mention their acquisition of Codian which brought them a variety of high quality solutions such as an HD multipoint bridge. I discussed the company back in June of 2007.

Another point the execs made was that in the last few recessions video just wasn't where it is today. They went on to point out their 1700 MXP personal telepresence solution (pictured) costs around $10 thousand and can be paid for with the savings of two international trips. I was told a typical ROI for the company's customers is 6-9 months with one seeing a savings of 11 million euros over three years.

But for Tandberg, typical enterprise videoconferencing is only one of the solutions they provide as they offer cameras which integrate with a company's supply chain to allow more efficient and in many cases real-time problem solving. Other clients use the Tandberg solutions to monitor oil rigs. Yet other companies utilize their solutions to save money while becoming more carbon neutral.

The key Tandberg catchphrase from the meeting was definitely, "We call this the new way of working. This will replace a lot of other means of communications."

The company as you might expect uses its own solutions and they tell me once you get used to using video it is difficult to go back to audio - video allows you to sense people's passion they explain. It is tough to get the true story without it they say. In addition, more tangible benefits include acceleration of the decision-making process; the ability to bring together globally distributed work teams, the scaling of knowledge, work life balance improvements and an increase in productivity while lowering costs.

Another concept the pair discussed was the ability to perform training sessions over video which can be recorded and used in the future to train others. In this case your video solution basically becomes a training DVR.

Another topic of discussion was their HD video desk phone the E20 (pictured) which is a sleek device with an impressive 10.6" screen, resolution of up to 1280x780 and a $1,500 list price tag. They see this phone as a conduit allowing them into more applications and vertical markets such as healthcare, government, education, etc. While I have to say the E20 is one of the nicest videophones I have seen if not the nicest, one has to wonder if we aren't at a point where netbooks can be turned into desk phones. Why not? Isn't a high-powered videophone more or less a laptop with a few functions added and a bunch of functions removed?

Although our conversation didn't mention it explicitly, it seems that the year of video has come and gone without the mention from the press I thought it would receive. Then again in retrospect which year was it? 2008? It might have happened so slowly that we didn't notice but the trend is in place and more and more calls are going to utilize video and while doing so, increase productivity and provide a better user experience while reducing carbon emissions. Am I am the first to notice? Probably not. But I am still happy to be sharing the good news.

Other than solving a breath quality issue, I am not sure what the benefits of the videoconference in this Tandberg supplied photo are.

As TMCnet has expanded I have to admit it is tough to keep track of all the sites we have which can help you in your job. To that end I decided to take a moment and list some of them which you may not be aware of. I thought this entry made sense as I have received some comments about how TMC should launch some of the sites listed below. This shows me there are just so many things we do that our 2-3 million unique visitors each month may not be aware of. I hope you find these sites of use:

• Europe
• Asia
• Africa
• Latin America
• Middle East
• Australia

• Mobile site
• iPhone site
• iphone news site

• Information technology
• Cable technology
• Robotics
• Satellite
• Green Solutions

• Jobs Site