Communications and Technology Blog - Tehrani.com - Optical Archives

Avaya Takes Networking Lead in SPB

2013-05-15T22:19:19Z

At Interop Las Vegas 2013 Avaya was demonstrating their real-world Shortest Path Bridging (SPB) solutions and while interoperating with Spirent, HP and Alcatel-Lucent. Many of you will remember when Avaya was actually the enterprise division of Lucent before the company spun off just over twelve years ago. Randy Cross the company’s director of PLM discussed how there is a rapid move to software in the networking market and SPB is an evolution of MPLS allowing services to be created dynamically on the server where the applications reside or on the switches nearest the users.

This is one of the main benefits of SPB in-fact… It allows customers to simplify network creation and management by requiring service provisioning only at the edge of the network. Avaya thinks the new protocol has a bright future as it saves time, effort, and reduces human error by dynamically building and maintaining the network topology between nodes using intermediate system to intermediate system (IS-IS), a carrier-grade link state protocol. Another benefit lies in its ability to establish a multi-path fabric for traffic distribution and subsequently maximize bandwidth utilization on all paths while being able to execute seamless, sub-second network changes.

The company showed multicast over SPB utilizing its VSP 4000 multiservice edge switch and later demonstrated a sub 200 millisecond failover to me in their booth. I can’t vouch for the actual speed of the failover recovery as I didn’t have a stopwatch but it seemed quite rapid.

Cross told me using this technology and the VSP4000, you can extend the service enabling fabric to the edges of the network supporting a distributed enterprise.

He further explained that they deployed this technology with video surveillance company Pelco and were able to show that SPB provided three times better performance than IP multicast (PDF) without needing to reset the IP cameras frequently.

Another big benefit of this technology is building metro area networks (pictured) where a data center can have VSP 7000s or VSP 9000s while the VSP 4000 can sit in the basement of a building providing all the benefits of MPLS with security and isolation at a lower cost. This can be as simple as having a few engineers lighting up the metros quickly with fiber to the building and a truck roll to deploy the box he explained.

Other benefits of this solution include simple commands of a few words to allow services to come up quickly between nodes as well as the ability to transfer virtual machines rapidly between the gear of various equipment vendors.

Zeus Kerravala, Principal Analyst, ZK Research had this to say about the news, "These four vendors coming together to showcase SPB interoperability in a public forum such as Interop is significant. In comparison to alternative fabric technologies, SPB offers more vendor support, offers greater scaling and has implementations which are closer to the actual standards – facilitating this type of interoperability testing. Companies that are looking to virtualize data centers and reduce network complexity need to consider an approach based on Shortest Path Bridging."

Ciena Launches New Services Play

2013-02-25T23:53:23Z

Ciena has some exciting news when it comes to the world of service provider networks. We know the company as an equipment provider which has had years in the business but now they have branched out from not only upgrading networks but businesses. Chuck Kaplan VP Industry Marketing (pictured above) spent some time with me at Mobile World Congress 2013 explaining how his company has spent years helping customers not just spend money on their solutions but make it as well through a new consulting initiative.

The first step in the process is to redefine carrier services for a new world where data usage has tremendous spikes which are caused by things like cloud service utilization. They started down this path by helping a European provider by writing a 125 page SLA and from there they made it generic allowing it to apply to other carriers as well.

The company then started assisting its customer in selling to vertical markets like healthcare, wholesale and financial. They handle sales training which includes teaching the sales team about the specific vocabulary for each market.

The final piece is geoanalytics or identifying customers near a fiber plant. They refer to this concept as a profitability mapping and when you consider building a mile of fiber can take six months and cost $100k, finding customers who can be quickly served makes a lot of economic sense (so does the term they chose to describe it.) Of course this doesn't preclude the customer from serving a cluster of new customers who can be easily served with a wireless solution which connects to nearby fiber.

Kaplan tells me the company's differentiator in this new market is a solid handle on selling to verticals and helping carriers offer new cloud services. Moreover Ciena touts its aggregate experience in helping carriers throughout the world - something which gives them unique perspective on helping new carrier customers.

For now the company has focused on fixed-line carriers but may expand to wireless over time.

Thoughts on Alcatel-Lucent

2013-02-08T19:42:16Z

One of the greatest challenges incumbent companies face is the ambivalence and corporate politics incumbency breeds and it only gets worse in what we call the age of acceleration where competitors arise faster and technologies shift more quickly than ever. Nortel, NSN and Alcatel-Lucent are all companies who enjoyed decades of leadership in the carrier market and in the process decided to provide generous benefits for their workers which would eventually help make them uncompetitive.

There is more to it - in the late nineties, Lucent acquired companies so quickly that its workers didn't know exactly who did what. Nortel too made a great deal of acquisitions. The challenge for both companies was they didn't integrate their new assets into their companies effectively.

Cisco on the other hand was a master of buying companies with good technology and rapidly rolling the products out to its global salesforce allowing sales of the acquired companys' products to accelerate rapidly. To some degree they play an arbitrage game of taking a good local technology and providing it globally with a solid salesforce.

Few other companies have mastered the art of the acquisition like Cisco.

When Alcatel decided to Merge with Lucent Technologies the competition told me privately that the merger would take a few years to integrate well and then the new entity would be a force to reckon with. There was certainly much to look forward to - the merger of the best of US and french technology. In reality - the way things have been going lately, some have said the Franco-American company with power bases in New Jersey and France resembles the offspring of Snooki and Pepe Le Pew.

Of course this is why Alcatel-Lucent recently announced that CEO Ben Verwaayen will be stepping down.

On the financial front, ALU just reported a net loss of $1.85 billion for 2012. The explanation was that it has been suffering from lower than expected sales in Europe and China and it took a write-down in its wireless and optics businesses.

Highlights from the earnings release:

Sales fell 5.7 percent to $19.3 billion in 2012.
Adjusted operating profit was $156.6 million.
Margin of 2.9 percent was below the 5-9 percent Verwaayen had promised.
Cash was depleted $908.6 million in 2012.
Fourth quarter sales fell 1.3 percent from a year earlier as only the U.S. market was strong

The net loss stemmed largely from a write-down of $1.9 billion, which the company said was "related to the depreciation of goodwill and fixed assets, and the corresponding impact on deferred tax," which CFO Paul Tufano said was linked to the lower value of ALU's wireless and optical assets.

Like Nortel, Lucent had a number of problems this past decade and also had to deal with numerous acquisitions made at inflated telecom and dotcom bubble valuations. Moreover, Asian competitors have been ferocious and are taking the company on in ways it frankly can't compete with.

Last week at ITEXPO in Miami I had a chance to speak with Payam Maveddat of Taqua about telecom competition from Asia - this is before the Alcatel-Lucent news even broke. I reached out to him to get his precise words:

As I travel internationally to promote our US-based technology overseas, it has become evident to me that the holistic approach of the Chinese government of combining infrastructure financing and development, including roads, railroads, refineries, power generation, farming, and telecom does not allow for other companies to be able to compete on the same playing field in these developing markets and I am not surprised that Alcatel-Lucent is struggling to survive in this environment.

Of course there is more to it - Alcatel-Lucent is losing business in its own backyard as it hasn't innovated fast enough, some say it didn't cut deeply enough and its R&D investments are smaller than those of Huawei, a company with a smaller product line and access to cheaper labor.

Moreover, the company has (or had anyway) a strong enterprise PBX line of products but they are hardly heard about anymore - at least in the US. Of course the spin-off of Genesys makes little sense if you truly value your enterprise business. But the company has decided the carrier space will get the majority of its attention based on its outbound comunications with media and analysts.

Another area for expansion is the cloud where the company could have come up with many more services for resale by carriers, VARs and MSPs.

Having said that - the company's expansive line of business is bewildering and Oracle's acquisition of Acme Packet could signal yet another ferocius competitor - Oracle knows how to integrate and grow acquired businesses and if they pick up GENBAND things get a lot more interesting in the market as they can compete across a much broader product line.

TMC's Peter Bernstein had this to say about this news:

I’m on record as saying that the next 12-18 months will be a tipping point in the ICT industries, and what happens in this time period will dictate industry structure for years to come. This includes the telecom equipment sector, service provider as well as enterprise, where the accommodation of change and moving quickly are not historic attributes. In that respect, Verwaayen may turn out to be prescient about his successor needing to be focused like a laser on execution.

And he is right. So much can happen over the course of the next few years which will determine the future for years to come in the telecom and datacom markets.

Finally, we can't expect European and American leaders to get their act together in a manner which allows them to compete with China Inc. in developing markets. This means players like Alcatel-Lucent will have to have better products at better prices to become more competitive than Huawei, ZTE and a host of ther new entrants. Sadly this isn't likely but the positive news is the company is still a leader in advanced technologies like optical and wireless as evidenced by its announcement of a 400G/s optical connection spanning 275 miles in France.

See Payam Maveddat of Taqua's keynote from ITEXPO Miami last week - "Federation as a Service"

See GENBAND President and CEO Charlie Vogt be interviewed by me at ITEXPO Miami last week

A Trip to the Corning Museum of Glass

2013-01-21T19:34:48Z

Over the past five years or so, glass has evolved from being just a display for our technology to the interface itself. If you dismiss all prior and unsuccessful attempts where a stylus was used, the iPhone began this trend. Now the terms smartphone and tablet are virtually synonymous with a touch-based interface which relies on glass. Corning, the company behind Gorilla Glass proudly counts just about every company in tech as its customer and says it has its glass installed on over a billion devices including products from Samsung, HP, Dell, Lenovo and Sony.

In order to find out more about Corning, I made the trek this past weekend with the family to the Corning Museum of Glass in Corning, NY to learn more about the company’s history. It was a fascinating trip – worth the 4.5 hours’ drive in each direction. You can walk around a seamlessly endless variety of works-of-art based on glass and related materials. In addition you can see 15 minute shows on topics like hot glass where a glass design is made in front of your eyes. In addition there is a flameworking demo where you can see more glass made – but in this case the flame is handheld – not from an oven. The glass breaking demo was fascinating as well – you learn about why glass breaks and how it can be made more safely.

In 15 minutes you can see how glass works of art are made

Finally the optical fiber demo did an amazing job of explaining in plain English the technology which is responsible for letting you see these words.

One of the interesting quotes from the museum wall

Of all I saw, most fascinating was Colladon’s Experiment (below) where you witness that light stays trapped in a stream of water due to internal reflection. The light escapes and becomes visible only when you break the surface tension of the water by doing something like letting a drop of water hit the stream. Once this happens, you can instantaneously see the hidden light. This is the same principle behind the fiber optics market and this discovery is one of the many which made the high-speed internet possible.

Vince Desparrois works full-time at the museum and I can't imagine anyone explaining fiber optic technology in plain English better than him

Throughout the facility are videos and signs giving you a sneak peak into how glass became an essential part of WWII and also is used in telescopes, periscopes, microscopes and fiberglass insulation. You also get insight into how glass had to be developed for each of these applications and what became possible as a result. Most interesting of all were two common themes. Many of the inventions made by Corning scientists happened as a result of experiments but turned out to be accidental. I’m not taking anything away from these scientists mind you – just reiterating what they explained themselves.

Of course there are also lots of example such as the CRT-based TV where innovation came through sheer persistence. For example, allowing the development of rectangular glass which many said was impossible to make.

Moreover, many of the innovations the company created like optical fiber were invented before the market was really ready to embrace them.

The museum is great for techies and non-techies, adults and children. For an additional fee you can make your own glass work of art.

Sadly Gorilla Glass was what I hoped to see as part of the day but it was conspicuously absent. Thankfully I brought a smartphone and tablet with me to the museum so it really wasn’t missed.

News from TeliaSonera, Stage2 Networks, Sidera Networks and More

2012-09-13T17:49:57Z

There's been lots of activity in the TMC newsroom with many new guests coming to our Norwalk, CT studio to tell us what is new and exciting at their companies.

At around 170 million mobile subscribers, TeliaSonera is a major mobile carrier supplying much of Eastern Europe and Russia. Ivo Pascucci of TeliaSonera discussed how his area of the company company differentiates itself in the wholesale carrier market. Services include wave services, collocation and wholesale IP transit for carriers, content providers and gaming companies.

From there Joe Gillette from cloud communications provider and NY-based Stage2 Networks told me about the company’s thoughts on hosted voice services. Joe explains that customers now understand the technology and no longer need the explanation of why they should go to the cloud and moreover that CPE providers are losing their foothold in the market.

Michael Bucheit of data center services company FiberMedia told me about how his organization is a redundant digital warehouse where companies can host their computer systems.

Bill Doyle told me about how Dexter helps carriers and other companies manage their backoffice operations with custom applications as well as expert systems technology.

Vincenzo Clemente – President & CEO of Cross River Fiber told me about his NJ-based dark fiber CLEC serving healthcare, education, government and financial customers. One area of differentiation is the company's customization potential as well as its ability to anticipate customer needs ahead of time.

Joe Cumello - VP Marketing of Sidera Networks tells me about how his company provides low-latency broadband to a number of markets in the northeast.

Ilissa Miller of Ilissa Miller Public Relations tells me about how the company helps its clients with PR, marketing, social media and more.

The Need for More Fiber is Very Real

2012-04-03T22:29:18Z

As the mobile revolution has grown, the one constant has been the need for faster connections and/or fiber to cell towers. For years TMC has interviewed Hunter Newby and Jason Cohen of Allied Fiber about the need for fiber throughout the US. Their company is building a network of ducted fiber through a wide swath of the US and is selling it unlit meaning that whoever decides to purchase the fiber has the rights to improve the equipment on the fiber allowing for faster interconnections as technology improves.

TMC’s Paula Bernier Interviews Jason Cohen of Allied Fiber

But there have been many skeptics along the way remembering that the fiber glut from the late nineties is still with us. Anton Troianovski wrote an article in the Wall Street Journal today about the need for new fiber to be laid and mentioned that one reason there are skeptics is regulation of high frequency trading could in fact reduce demand for fiber.

Hunter Newby the Founder of Allied Fiber is quoted in the piece and I reached out to him because I didn’t see the article mention one of the reasons for new fiber is that the old fiber is well, old. In fact Newby explains that new fiber is like a new car or new cell phone – basically more efficient and subsequently better.

Moreover, much of the fiber glut is aerial cable which is OK for short runs but not for long runs where ducted fiber is preferable. And much of the old fiber doesn’t have physical intermediate access points – he points out his company has them every 3,000 feet. The reason he explains is that old fiber didn’t have these access points because the need from schools, hospitals, towers and everything along the way didn’t exist over a decade ago.

Finally he points it that his company provides neutral colos every 60 miles – similar to the meet me room at the Telx facility at 60 Hudson or 56 Marietta. The reason this is important is most of the “glut fiber” is owned by telcos who compete with other telcos meaning they may or may not play nice with one another.

While the potential for HFC regulation could have major impact on the need for fiber and the prices paid for it, it is unknown how the government could even regulate such a market. Will they propose some mechanism which slows the speed of trades and if so won’t this make the US uncompetitive with other parts of the world meaning capital could potentially flee our shores? Moreover, what about unintended consequences? New York City, Connecticut and other states desperately need the state income taxes generated on trader salaries – would super restrictive HFC regulation make states less solvent?

Admittedly I am far afield from my starting point which is that the need for more bandwidth spurred by every faster devices and desire to watch more and higher-quality video as well as cloud-based applications will drive the need for more bandwidth and subsequently more fiber, for years to come.

Why Windstream Bought PAETEC

2011-08-01T14:35:08Z

Broadband and communications provider Windstream Corp just agreed to purchase communications conglomerate PAETEC for $2.3 billion in order to add scale and drive growth. PAETEC is an interesting company as it not only provides broadband and IP communications services; it also has data center services, is a large telecom reseller/interconnect, provider of telecom expense management (TEM) solutions and more.

Earlier this year I reported that PAETEC CEO Arunis Chesonis was looking for potential acquisition targets in India and elsewhere and in fact the company did just pick up XETA Technologies to boost its cloud-based service offerings. Interestingly his own company may have been in play while PAETEC itself was exploring more acquisition targets. Keep reading to learn more about other potential acquirers.

Large companies getting larger

Carriers are getting larger – and not just the largest, AT&T and T-Mobile (if it closes), Verizon purchased Terremark and CenturyLink recently picked up Savvis. In order to compete in commoditized business like broadband and voice, scale matters. Peter Radizeski has important comments about this very issue worth reading on his TMCnet blog. Here is an excerpt:

All that unused fiber. The owners of the VAR's - of Quagga, XETA and USEP - who now have to feel slighted. Are probably asking themselves the same thing that I am: WTH???

But if you look at the acquisitions being all over the map - and that Arunas was in India recently where he was rumored to be trying to sell to Tata - then you have to figure the runway ran out on Wall Street for PAETEC. Meaning that organic growth just was not happening.

With everything that is going on in the economy an out industry, sustaining growth is almost impossible. Revenues can not go up when prices are dropping. (This is why the cellcos are going metered -- it's the only way to bring in much needed revenue in a flat market.)

Strong stock prices low interest rate environment

Tech and telecom companies are trading at fair to optimistic valuations and relative to other spaces, these areas are generally good places for investors to be. Moreover, borrowing costs are low, making it a good time for sellers and buyers to be exploring options.

Cloud, cloud and more cloud

A big part of the growth strategies of virtually all telecom companies is data centers and the cloud and PAETEC has been investing in this space making this an important reason for the company to be acquired.

Fiber is in strong demand

With the massive need for bandwidth for things like wireless backhaul, the combined company with 100,000 fiber route miles is in a great position to cash in on the future need for broadband speed.

This deal positions Windstream as a major force in the communications space and it will be worth watching what it decides to do with the various businesses PAETEC is in. Will it choose to invest and growth them – selling TEM services to its current customers or will it make sense to focus just on cloud-based services for the future and divest some businesses which may be considered non-core.

Will AT&T, T-Mobile Merger Slow Wireless Innovation?

2011-07-25T18:46:59Z

AT&T has done an incredible job of getting special interest group after group to endorse its merger with T-Mobile, saying it will provide better broadband access for minorities, rural subscribers and just about any group of people you can think of. The broader gay community too has endorsed the merger - apparently transgender-Americans have been hoping for the day when there was one less GSM provider to choose from.

Here is how the system works - AT&T has hundreds of thousands of workers and inevitably large numbers of them in myriad groups. This in turn coupled with large contributions to various organizations and associations is rewarded with the reciprocal endorsing of anything AT&T requests.

To help grease the wheels even further, AT&T has further upped its lobbying budget by 58% according to PC Magazine.

AT&T is doing the smart thing by getting rid of its sole GSM provider allowing it better negotiating leverage in its roaming agreements with foreign carriers and gaining the ability to raise rates with one less major competitor to depress market pricing. It will also gain more leverage when negotiating with hardware and software companies.

An anti-merger video by the Free Press Action Fund

If the US government blocks the deal it will be because the remaining major companies AT&T and Verizon will have so much share that they are effectively a duopoly at about 80% - allowing them to raise prices at will.

Again, if you are an AT&T or Verizon shareholder, you likely want this merger to happen and AT&T is serving its short-term shareholders well by seeking this transaction.

But the challenge I see is that with one less major telecom carrier in the US it becomes that much more difficult for innovative start-ups to launch, get funding and hold their breath long enough for a carrier to buy from them. Sprint and T-Mobile have been fairly aggressive working with smaller companies that provide FMC solutions for example and because of this, funding has flowed into a bunch of companies serving the needs of the telcos. To make matters worse, Alcatel-Lucent has struggled for years to make money in this new landscape of shrinking carriers and NSN is really having problems making profit. Moreover, Nortel well bankrupt largely because of a single wireless contract it missed out on so obviously the challenge here is for the telecom hardware and software ecosystem as a whole.

So with less competition there will be less need to innovate and subsequently telecom equipment providers will have more trouble making money, getting funded and spending on R&D. This in-turn will cause a negative feedback loop where there are less companies innovating and Verizon, AT&T and a host of other carriers have less advanced services to offer. This in turn will eventually reduce revenues for carriers.

But this outcome will take a while to happen because investors aren't thinking about these issues, they are still licking their lips trying to take part in a telecom deal like the one where Skype sold to Microsoft for $8.5B.

AT&T should know these dangers and they probably do - but it is possible they are giving up on services. After all, IMS was supposed to unleash a wave of new applications and the carriers were going to share in the profit. Well the the app store quickly brought an end to that hope.

But then again, Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam is set on bringing what he calls the innovation from wireless, into the wireline side of the business. But if Verizon really wants an environemnt where there is lots of innovation, one would imagine it would be very vocal in opposing the AT&T, T-Mobile deal. To date they haven't said much.

So for AT&T, Verizon and a host of other larger carriers in the global market, this merger could make it more difficult for them to find the next killer service like SMS. But then again, if you own one of the two major wireless superhighways, you may not have to offer anything in exchange for increasing your toll prices.

PSTN Death is Near

2011-07-07T14:13:04Z

I vividly remember driving my car in 1999 – two years after the company where I am CEO, TMC decided to launch Internet Telephony Magazine and thinking VoIP was going to change the way communications works and eventually kill the PSTN. It seemed to me that within five years most of the world would make the transition as the cost disparity at the time was quite large between the PSTN and VoIP connections. Moreover, there were a myriad of free calling services using VoIP such as Dialpad which were ad supported, putting even more pressure on traditional telecom networks.

Within a few years the dotcom and telecom bubbles burst (we collectively said goodbye (details) to Dialpad and its competitors) and the cost for using the PSTN dropped substantially in order to better compete with IP communications alternatives. So my internal projections which I am not sure I ever wrote about before turned out to be too optimistic.

The period between 2001-2004 could easily be referred to us the nuclear winter of VoIP – well communications in general is more like it – not to mention tech. But the last six years has seen continuing evolution in IP communications with VoIP peering and SIP trunking just some of the latest solutions to make a cost savings and productivity–boosting technology even better.

And from the consumer standpoint – they all know about Vonage, Skype – have cell phones and use IM and social networking to communicate. So it will come as little surprise to you that according to an article from TMCnet’s Peter Bernstein:

As of May 2010, 23% of respondents lived in a mobile-only household
37% of adults in the 18-24 and 30-34 age groups lived in a mobile-only household
Only 6% of the US population will still be served by the public switched telephone network (which is defined as TDM access line service) by the end of 2018

Simply stated, the PSTN is dying.

Industry leader and past TMC conference speaker Tom Evslin a person who I couldn’t respect more, even suggests the government needs to get involved to ensure there is universal access as we enter a transitionary period. Specifically he explains that USF dollars help maintain the network and as more high-value customers leave it, there are fewer dollars to maintain service in areas which are expensive/hard to reach and potentially devoid of alternatives.

Specifically he says:

Although it offends my free market sensibilities, I think government also must be involved in assuring that everyone who now has PSTN service has access to either a broadband or cellular communication alternative.

BTW – it is always tough to argue with free-market sensibilities – my confidence in the government doing anything right beyond putting out fires, enforcing contracts, and keeping us safe through the military and police force is pretty low. Of course this is in part because I see the law of unintended consequences rearing its ugly head virtually every time the government acts. See Net Neutrality: More Unintended Consequences and Dear Government, Please Stop "Helping" Us for details. Want more? Google effectiveness of Obama stimulus.

But getting back to the discussion on the PSTN – Bernstein suggests a separation between the pipe and service business. But are we to rely on the government or a separate monopoly to upgrade these pipes for us or is it better to allow a combined service/pipes company provide both? In the latter situation, the combined entity has increased incentive to upgrade the pipes quickly so as to provide value-added services over the connection.

Of course in my example I assume that one company will be responsible for maintaining both a copper and fiber network – would it make sense to have multiple companies maintain networks which are unprofitable for one company to maintain?

Moreover, would it be better to wait for Congress, the Senate and White House to come to an agreement on which fiber pairs should be run to our homes? Or will a separate company manage these networks and if so, who runs that? Will the FCC decide? By the way, is the new company regulated? Will it be forced to dig up and replace the technology from time to time? And finally, who pays for it?

Of course this situation is far from simple to solve and I wonder if satellite providers may not be a missing puzzle piece requiring more study. Then there are new technologies such as white spaces/super WiFi which could theoretically work in a meshed capacity to solve some of the remote access issues we now face.

I’d love to hear from you if you have some thoughts on how to resolve the situation and bridge the gap.

Be sure to check out TMC’s Super WiFi Summit, September 13-15 in Austin, Texas to learn more about this promising technology and how it could could be part of the solution to sunsetting the PSTN.

Ericsson Telcordia Acquisition Analysis

2011-06-14T21:38:04Z

TMCnet's latest addition to our writing team is Peter Bernstein and he has some excellent analysis of the acquisition of Telcordia by Ericsson. He believes in general the deal is a good move for Ericsson but as always, there are potential pitfalls which he details.

His intimate knowledge of the companies and space mean he mentions a number of points the financial analysts missed.

A Future Made of Glass?

2011-03-17T22:30:56Z

I don't often write about glass, but this is the second post in a row (here is the first) on the topic. Obviously this must be pretty good for me to be so repetitive. Corning has a new video about the future of glass and technology in our lives and it is awesome. It has received over nine million views in a few weeks and when people ask me what the future of tech will look like I should just point them to this post.

Electronic Warfare is the Future. Are You Ready?

2011-02-14T15:16:46Z

Stuxnet is Victory at Entebbe 2.0

The Stuxnet worm alleged to be the work of Israel and the US was designed to target and disable Iranian centrifuges by increasing their speeds to dangerous levels while reporting to operators that all was well. The latest report from the New York Times shows this worm has also hit five industrial sites in the land of Ahmadinejad.

It’s no secret most of the world does not want Iran to get nuclear weapons and the best weapon being used to deter the country’s nuclear program was sanctions and if they are working it would be tough to know it as the country are prospering greatly as the price of oil is much higher than what Iran has budgeted.

So electronic warfare is a nice and neat way to disable a portion of the country’s operations without the need to go to war, risk lives, etc.

Because of the nature of this attack some predict the Iranian nuclear program has been set back by two years, making this attack historic in its ingenuity. It is really Victory at Entebbe 2.0. As you may recall, Operation Entebbe was a daring hostage rescue mission pulled off by the Israel Defense Forces in 1976.

Cyberattacks are not new by any means but the level of sophistication and damage created by this attack make it something bad guys everywhere will be trying to emulate. And this means as we interconnect more systems from smart grids to smart homes… From automobiles to transit systems and full cities, we need to understand the stakes are higher than ever. Rogue countries and terrorist organizations have a new standard to try to beat and it is not out of the question to see countries engaging in more frequent cyberwars in the future. This could be in conjunction with conventional wars like when Russia and Georgia had their recent conflict or full out cyberwars like Stuxnet or when Russia targeted Estonian web servers with DDoS attacks.

For the tech industry this means massive new budgets will be allocated to not only defending against such attacks but developing ingenious new ways of disabling enemies.

And while cyberwar sounds less ominous than having bombs dropped on your head, there is no telling what sorts of damage citizens of the future will be facing if cyberterrorism and cyberwar escalates.

ITEXPO East 2011 Schedule

2011-01-28T02:04:24Z

Dear ITEXPO attendees - thanks again for registering and we look forward to hosting you next week. My team just sent out this email of schedules and happenings from the show and it is so detailed and explains so much that I decided to pass it along. I hope you find it worthy of keeping on hand at the event.

ITEXPO

February 2-4, 2011

Miami Beach Convention Center

As you know, ITEXPO is next week at the Miami Beach Convention Center, February 2-4. Save time and money by sourcing products and services from hundreds of companies and gain industry knowledge through the conference program in one convenient location.

Below are some details and information that make your experience at ITEXPO great. As always, if you have any questions, please check the event site or contact Frank Coppola or 203.852.6800 x131 to register.

----------------------------------------------------------

REGISTRATION INFO

When you arrive at the Miami Beach Convention Center, please go to the Hall B Lobby and proceed to the registration counter to register and/or receive your badge. (You will need a photo ID.) Stop by the registration counter to pick up a badge and your conference bag, and you're ready to go.

REGISTRATION / KEYNOTES / EXHIBIT HALL HOURS

Wednesday, February 2

Registration: 7:00 - 5:00pm
Conference: 9:00 - 5:30pm
Keynotes: 3:30 - 5:30pm

**Kevin Martin (Former Chairman of the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC), Board of Directors, AirWalk Communications) Keynote Added at 5:00pm! Don't Miss It!

Keynote Giveaways: 5:30pm

**Exhibit Hall Grand Opening: 5:30-7:30pm (**NEW TIME) **Welcome Networking Reception: 5:30pm, Sponsored by Aculab (**NEW TIME)

Thursday, February 3

Registration: 7:00 - 4:00pm
Conference: 9:00 - 5:00pm
Keynotes: 10:00 - 11:00am
Keynote Giveaways: 11:00am
Exhibits Open: 11:00 - 4:00pm

International Networking Reception: 4:00pm, Sponsored by Rackspace Hosting ITEXPO Conference Party on South Beach at Mango's Tropical Café: 9:00pm (Visit Website for complete details) Sponsored by AudioCodes, DIDx, Eaton, Lockheed Martin

Friday, Friday 4

Registration: 7:30 - 3:00pm
Conference: 9:00 - 12:45pm
Exhibits Open: 11:00 - 3:00pm

WIN A JEEP! Jeep Giveaway at 2:45pm - Must Be Present to Win

See below for a complete, updated schedule or visit www.itexpo.com

Keynote Schedule: (Open to all attendees - Room B217/218)

Wednesday, February 2

3:30pm: Danny Windham, CEO, Digium
4:00pm: Charles D. Vogt, President & CEO, GENBAND
4:30pm: Pritham Shetty, VP of Product Management and Engineering for Rich Media Solutions, Adobe Systems, Inc.
5:00pm: Kevin Martin, Former Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), Board of Directors, AirWalk Communications

5:30pm: Keynote Giveaways

(1) 32GB iPad with 3G
(1) Sony Dash

Thursday, February 3:

10:00am: Alan Pound, Managing Director, Aculab
10:30am: Aaron McCormack, CEO, BT Technologies

11:00am: Keynote Giveaways

(1) 32GB iPad with 3G
(1) Kindle DX Wireless Reading Device

WORKSHOPS at ITEXPO - Open to All Attendees

Ingate's SIP Trunking Workshop-Begins One Day Prior to ITEXPO-Free Workshop Tuesday, February 1 - Friday, February 4

Learn how SIP trunking can expand your marketshare at the free pre-conference workshop, "The Case for SIP Trunking," a half-day seminar series at ITEXPO tailored specifically to service providers - focusing on the issues you need to address now.

Presented by Ingate Systems and their partners, this workshop will be held on February 1, 2011 - one day before the ITEXPO opens - to give you in-depth information and one-on-one access to the experts.

Reseller Week-Free Workshop

Wednesday, February 2 - Thursday, February 3 - 2-day Workshop open to all Resellers and Agents

This two-day seminar teaches attendees how to effectively sell IP Communications equipment & services, with proven tips and best practices for addressing the challenges resellers face in today's economy.

Reseller Week provides you with a forum for you to learn about cutting edge new solutions you can represent, to meet with many new potential partners, and to study proven sales techniques to help improve your team's performance.

StartupCamp 3: Comms Edition-Free Reception and Networking Event Thursday, February 3

StartupCamp 3: Comms Edition spotlights early-stage entrepreneurs and innovators in communication technology. Industry leaders, investors, developers and media to network and validate entrepreneur pitches in this energetic, unique setting.

MPLS University Session-Free Workshop

Thursday, February 3

Sessions at MPLS University are targeted to IT and business professionals to learn more about secure networking including connectivity and managed security options, regulatory requirements, and security standards.

Join us for two FREE training sessions--Learn how to improve the utilization and security of your network.

IMPORTANT LINKS

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OFFICIAL SHOW HOTEL - The Doubletree Surfcomber Hotel has been added, with a special rate for ITEXPO attendees until the room block is filled

SHOW LOCATION

Miami Beach Convention Center

1901 Convention Center Drive

Miami Beach, FL 33139

305.673.7311

QUESTIONS?

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I look forward to seeing you in Miami at ITEXPO and know you will have a great experience. Thanks!

Rich Tehrani

Conference Chairman

ITEXPO

ITEXPO EVENT AGENDA-PRINT THIS OUT AND BRING WITH YOU!

Tuesday, February 1

1:00pm - Ingate's SIP Trunking Workshop
2:00pm - Telecom One-on-One, a JS&A Power Networking Event
4:45pm - Interactive Intelligence presents Cloud-Based Communications, an interactive event at the Gansevoort Hotel (registration)

Wednesday, February 2

7:00am - Registration Opens
8:00am - Conference Breakfast (Paid Attendees - Room B214/215)
9:00am - Enterprise
9:00am - The Mobile Workforce
9:00am - Digium|Asterisk World
9:00am - 4G Wireless Evolution Conference
9:00am - Smart Grid Summit
9:00am - Business Video Expo
9:00am - M2M Evolution Conference
9:00am - VIPeering Conference
9:00am - Super WiFi Summit
9:00am - Ingate's SIP Trunking Workshop
12:00pm - Conference Luncheon (Paid Attendees - Pickup Ticket at ITEXPO Business Office in Exhibit)
3:30pm - KEYNOTE: Danny Windham, CEO, Digium (Open to all attendees - Room B217/218)
4:00pm - KEYNOTE: Charles D. Vogt, President & CEO, GENBAND (Open to all attendees - Room B217/218)
4:30pm - KEYNOTE: Pritham Shetty, VP of Product Management and Engineering for Rich Media Solutions, Adobe Systems, Inc. (Open to all attendees - Room B217/218)
5:00pm - KEYNOTE: Kevin Martin, Former Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), Board of Directors, AirWalk Communications (Open to all attendees - Room B217/218)
5:30pm - Keynote Giveaways: (1) 32GB iPad with 3G & (1) Sony Dash
5:30pm - Exhibit Hall Grand Opening
5:30pm - Welcome Networking Reception, Sponsored by Aculab
5:45pm - Reseller Week: Part 1: Reseller Sales Sessions

Thursday, February 3:

7:00am - Registration Opens
8:00am - Continental Breakfast Served (Paid Attendees - Room B214/215)
9:00am - Unified Communications
9:00am - Conferencing / Collaboration
9:00am - Service Provider
9:00am - Digium|Asterisk World
9:00am - 4G Wireless Evolution Conference
9:00am - Smart Grid Summit
9:00am - Cloud Communications Summit
9:00am - Business Video Expo
9:00am - M2M Evolution Conference
9:00am - Super WiFi Summit
9:00am - Ingate's SIP Trunking Workshop
10:00am - KEYNOTE: Alan Pound, Managing Director, Aculab (Open to all attendees - Room B217/218)
10:30am - KEYNOTE: Aaron McCormack, CEO, BT Technologies (Open to all attendees - Room B217/218)
11:00am - Keynote Giveaways: (1) 32GB iPad with 3G / (1) Kindle DX Wireless Reading Device
11:00am - Exhibit Hall Opens
11:00am - Reseller Week: Part 2: Reseller Focused Presentations
11:15am - ChannelVision Expo (CVx)
12:45pm - Conference Luncheon (Paid Attendees - Room B214/215)
2:00pm - MPLS University Workshop
4:00pm - International Networking Reception, Sponsored by Rackspace Hosting
4:00pm - EEVA Awards Reception
4:45pm - StartupCamp 3: Comms Edition Reception & Networking Event
9:00pm - ITEXPO Conference Party on South Beach at Mango's Tropical Cafe (Visit Website for complete details) Sponsored by AudioCodes, DIDx, Eaton, Lockheed Martin

Friday, February 4:

7:30am - Registration Opens
8:00am - Conference Breakfast (Paid Attendees - Room B214/215)
9:00am - VoIP Essentials
9:00am - Call Center
9:00am - Service Provider
9:00am - Digium|Asterisk World
9:00am - 4G Wireless Evolution Conference
9:00am - Smart Grid Summit
9:00am - Cloud Communications Summit
9:00am - Ingate's SIP Trunking Workshop
9:00am - Regulatory 2.0 Workshop
9:00am - SIP Tutorial 2.0: Bringing SIP to the Web
9:00am - Aculab to host AMS Server 'test drive' for application developers (registration)
11:00am - Exhibit Hall Opens (Hall closes at 3:00 pm)
11:15am - ChannelVision Expo (CVx)
1:30pm - How To Sellecom Hosted PBX session?
2:45pm - WIN A JEEP! Jeep Giveaway-Must Be Present to Win

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Visit ITEXPO Sponsors in the Exhibit Hall!

Diamond Sponsors

Aculab: Booth 617
Digium The Asterisk Company: Booth 901

Platinum Sponsors

Interactive Intelligence: Booth 607
AudioCodes: Booth 507
Ditech Networks: Booth 501
Sansay: Booth 516
BridgeWave Communications: Booth 211
Commilogik: Booth 801
Dialogic: Booth 806
Sonus Networks: Booth 634
NEXTUSA: Booth 534
Applianx by Aculab: Booth 617

Gold Sponsors

MegaPath: Booth 706
888VOIP STORE: Booth 701
Speedflow: Booth 422
ADTRAN: Booth 300
ABP Tech: Booth 322
Sangoma: Booth 401
tw telecom: Booth 328
Kutenda: Booth 716

Complete Sponsor Listing

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Getting to Know ITEXPO Participants

2011-01-25T01:33:48Z

AT TMC, we painstakingly attempt to ensure you know as much about the participating companies at our events as possible before the conference so you can get a sense of who is there, where there expertise lies and if they may have something of value to offer you as you look to make purchasing decisions in the world of technology and communications. As a result we survey ITEXPO speakers and exhibitors before the event and ask questions which can help you connect with thought leaders you believe might be of assistance at the event.

Not everyone answers but we do send the questions to hundreds of companies and they seem to trickle in each day. Here is the list of people and companies who responded to my questions and links to their answers. I truly hope you find it useful.

Oh and one note you should know... Many of these interviews are with speakers and/or exhibitors from the 13 collated events with ITEXPO such as Smart Grid Summit, Etc.

NAME	COMPANY
Mike Ross	4PSA
SANDRA XIMENA DIAZ HOYOS	SMART NETWORK SOLUTIONS
Mark Armentrout	Texas Institute
Alon Cohen	Phone.com
Jim Machi	Dialogic
Nathan McNeill	Bomgar
Mike Coffee	Commetrex
Jonathan Fuld	SIP Print
Alex Ferdman	Telinta
Ian Colville	Aculab
Christine Holley	ININ
Dina Vance	Ulysses
Matt Larsen	WISPA
Shawn Tsetsilas	Cellular Specialties
Ryan Lynn	Qwest Communications
Carl KS Teo	Ecocarrier Inc.
Bill Prout	Astaro
Tim Titus	PathSolutions
Aidan Connolly	Idiro
Andy Huckridge	VSS Monitoring, Inc.
Mark Ricca	IntelliCom Analytics
Michael Oeth	Junction Networks, Inc.
Michael Wheeler	NTT America
Tim Whittington	Aastra USA
Toby Holmes	WORKTANK
Doug Mohney	HD Voice News
Greg Maudsley	Juniper Networks
Steve Johnson	Ingate

-50F With Wind Chill. Escape to ITEXPO in Miami

2011-01-24T20:01:54Z

You know I would never stoop to reminding you about the weather to persuade you to attend what I believe to the be the best tech and telecom conference in the world - OK, maybe I would.

So I was driving along this morning on the way to work and noticed I couldn't feel any of my fingers. I decided to check to make sure I was wearing gloves. I was. Then I realized I couldn't feel any of my toes and yes I had shoes on.

I then looked at the temperature reading and it said one degree. I decided to risk my life to take the picture above while driving - I could have pulled over but hey, I was late for my first meeting and I would do just about anything for you, my faithful reader. Attention law enforcement professionals - some elements of this blog post may have been overly sensationalized in order to provide dramatic effect.

But getting back to Connecticut where TMC is based - one coworker who lives in Danbury, CT said it was -11 degrees when she left her house this morning. And that's nothing. If you can believe it... CBS News reports temperatures with wind chill hit as cold as -50 degrees F!

BTW, in AP biology back in high school we learned that -40F is the same temperature as -40C - this little bit of trivia courtesy of Mrs. Beers my 11th grade teacher. Hope I spelled her name right.

Oh, but back to the point of this meandering post... It is freezing out. There is one show in Miami next week where you can go to network with those who matter in the world of tech and telecom. Almost forgot to mention it is called ITEXPO East 2011. Every important topic is to be discussed from super WiFi to SIP to open source to virtualization and cloud computing. It is all there - in Miami under a single roof where you will also get to hear keynotes from former FCC Chairman Kevin Martin as well as executives from BT, Adobe, Aculab, GENBAND and Digium - the creators of Asterisk. Its the only industry event with a networking party at Mangos, one of the hottest spots on South Beach. Yes, there are other places to network as well.

So I hope to see you there and I look forward to greeting you in person.

Here is the ITEXPO show site, collocated events, free workshops, exhibitor list and giveaways you can win such as a new Jeep.