Recently in Verizon Category

Verizon recently rolled out IP-based speech recognition and in a conversation with company representatives Alla Reznik and Tom Smith who represent the speech services and IP communications areas for the company, I had a chance to hear about how the company is transitioning from a carrier selling phone service to one which is focusing on services such as IP-based hosted IVR, premise-based IVR and more.

Alla mentioned IP, automated speech and hosting is a winning proposition in IP space. This is especially true in this economy as companies are focusing on customer retention and providing better service is one way to make this happen. Based on Nuance 9, the company's IP-based speech service joins the IP-based IVR solutions Verizon has offered for a few years.

Tom Smith and Alla Reznik tout Verizon's move into IP-based hosted speech

In addition the pair made a point of emphasizing that some customers are taking advantage of their ability to use hybrid IP, PSTN call centers. Using this functionality you can have a call get transferred to a SIP-based call center agent and if the line is busy you can redirect the call to a PSTN call center if you like.

Another point the company made was that they can help customers with programming and can even sell and manage CPE equipment if you so choose.

The good news here is Verizon has embraced IP fully and although they will reduce transport revenue as a result they are looking to offset this revenue loss by adding new services which benefit customers.

We have been seeing a surge of registrations for TMC's ITEXPO, the hotel room block has been oversold for over a month and we feel the industry getting more excited than ever for ITEXPO - the ultimate event which brings global buyers and sellers together in the communications and tech spaces. Carriers (wired and wireless), enterprise decision-makers, resellers, developers and industry all will be at the show in numbers close to last year. It is virtually impossible to determine show attendance in advance but based on the numbers I saw in the registration database this morning, we could have a show at least as busy as least year if not even busier.

Remember that earlier this year TMC had a record show in Miami - ITEXPO East 2009. The event was up 15% in attendance thanks to you and it was the most qualified mix of visitors ever according to exhibitors.

This is the show's tenth anniversary and the 20^th show! Our goal is to make every one better than the last and it seems based on the numbers we have so far this ITEXPO will be as good as all the other ones which draw purchasing decision-makers from over 110 countries each year.

For more, here are comments (video) from Michael Genaro Executive Vice President of Operations at TMC and below is an email which I sent to TMC's readership earlier today.

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I Keep Finding More Reasons to Attend ITEXPO:
Smart Grid and M2M Conferences; Avaya Social Networking

One week out from ITEXPO West 2009 in L.A., and each time I visit the show Web site, I see more and more  compelling reasons to make a trip to LA for the show.

Here are three more collocated events where you can learn and network - all in an effort to expand your
business and take advantage of growing segments of the communications market.

1. Smart Grid Summit Conference

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Sponsored by Redline Communications - Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Just added to the program a few weeks ago, The Smart Grid Summit is the first event of its kind to address the unprecedented opportunity coming from the intersection of two core building blocks of our
economy - utilities and communications.

The Smart Grid Summit is devoted to a sector poised for the same fundamental transformation that telecom  experienced with the advent of IP communications.

Come understand the role that IP communications technologies will play in how the Smart Grid evolves - not  just for making utilities more efficient, but also for enabling the Smart Home and a new generation of  communications innovations.

2. M2M Evolution Conference

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Free one-day conference sponsored by MultiTech Systems - Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Telemetry has been changing to take advantage of the Internet, where WAN and LAN systems were points of aggregation in the past, today's machines benefit from the ability to connect worldwide. And as the machines continue to look to network, the wireless world represents a large growth opportunity for data communication.

Today, machine to machine solutions are driving data demand with tight vertical integration for specific industries like healthcare, refinery or transportation or supporting the general IT needs and cross industry requirements associated data centers, facilities and security.

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The Social Enterprise - Are you ready for it?

Free Workshop and Reception for all ITEXPO Attendees Monday, August 31, 2009, 7:00pm - 9:30pm - Westin Hotel

This is where you can learn how to integrate Facebook, Twitter and other platforms into your enterprise and customer communications.

You will have a chance to listen to and meet Paul Dunay, the author of "Facebook Marketing for Dummies", and get a chance to check out Avaya Labs innovations.

Social media is becoming a more important element in corporate marketing and communications and I really give  Avaya tremendous credit for choosing to educate companies on the topic.

As an added bonus the event will conclude with some handcrafted ales from the Bonaventure Brewing Company.

Here are more details and event registration.

OK, let's recap. Here is the complete list of Top Reasons to Attend ITEXPO that I've circulated over the past two weeks.

There is a great resource page on the ITEXPO site with links to the pages describing every event, workshop, session, keynote and reception at the show: What's Happening at ITEXPO

• INTERNET TELEPHONY is TELEPHONY; and IP Communications are Communications
• New! Sipera's UC Security Workshop
• TMC University Courses - Microsoft OCS and Network Security
• Free Reseller Solutions Day Workshop
• New! Avaya's Social Enterprise and Contact Center Workshop
• Free Keynotes: ShoreTel - Aspect - Paetec - Alvarion - Clearwire - Interactive Intelligence
• Ingate's Free SIP Trunking Workshop
• Meet More Than 250 Important Vendors
        Exhibitor List
        Speaker List
• NEW! Three Collocated Conferences - 4GWE, Smart Grid and M2M Evolution
• New Jeep Giveaway
• Sir Terry Matthews to Keynote ITEXPO & 4GWE Conference - Wednesday, September 2, 2009
• Asterisk Training
• Fonality trixbox Open Communication Certification (FtOCC)
• Wireless Broadband Training
• Smart Grid Summit
• M2M Evolution Conference
• Avaya's Social Networking Workshop

The complete conference brochure has just been updated to include all of the newest content.

Use this link to Register now.

While at ITEXPO, please visit our sponsors on the exhibit floor:

Platinum Sponsors: Applianx, AudioCodes, 8x8, Inc, Fonality, VoltDelta,

Gold Sponsors: NetSapiens, IntelePeer, Touchstone Technologies, Telco Bridges,

On a recent trip to Dallas, Texas I spent time with Raymond Kim the General Manager of Sales and Stacy Rupert the Senior Marketing Manager for ZTE USA and we spoke about the company's ambitious expansion plans in the US. They recently moved to new office space, are expanding in Texas and opening new offices in Atlanta, Seattle and Kansas City in order to be closer to existing and potential customers.

As you might expect from a company providing wireless infrastructure products in emerging and other markets, business is good and the staff is increasing in size. North America is an increasingly important space for the company and in order to generate better results in the area, the company recently restructured. Before the reorganization, the US, Canada and South America were one division but now the US has been pulled out and is in a new "advanced" division with Europe. This makes sense as wireless data growth has absolutely been off the charts in the US thanks to the iPhone and other smartphones and soon netbooks.

With this move, the company has an easier time coordinating resources and can have a uniformed strategy for R&D. Kim explained that 4G presents a huge opportunity for the company and he says the ZTE's technology is as good as any other player in the space. They hope to gain a foothold in the US infrastructure and terminal markets as time goes on.

To that end I had a chance to learn about a new product the AD3700 (pictured) which has subsequently been released by Verizon Wireless. The $130 ($80 after rebate) wireless world modem allows customers to take advantage of EVDO Rev. A in the US and 3G outside the country. As BusinessWeek's Olga Kharif points out, this is the first time Verizon has offered a ZTE product.

Most of the company's technology is developed in China and they will soon have a staggering 30,000 engineers developing products. And ZTE should have little to no problems financing future growth with a staggering 41.9% jump in profits in Q2 over last year as its global marketshare doubled to 8%.

One thing is for certain, ZTE seems to be a major force in wireless networks and with a new Verizon Wireless relationship and the potential to continue expanding in China and other developing markets, they are well-positioned for the future of wireless network expansion into 4G.

To keep up on the 4G wireless market be sure to come to the 4G Wireless Evolution Conference (4GWE) Sept. 1-3 in Los Angeles, CA where you will be able to network with the most important players in the 4G market and hear from 50 of the most knowledgeable speakers in the space.

According to the video below the new Blackberry Storm 2 will perform head and shoulders above the original Storm and the iPhone. With a multitouch screen and Piezo electronics allowing a smoother and faster text inputting system we can expect the sleeker looking Storm 2 to pose a bigger challenge to Apple, Nokia, Microsoft, Google and others. Expect the device to run on the Verizon and AT&T networks and of course WiFi support has been added as well which should allow the smartphone to be a much more worthy adversary to virtually every other competitor on the market which already supports this wireless standard.




My insticts tell me this phone should cause Apple some concern and make it more difficult for Nokia, Google and others to take smartphone share. I am looking forward to using it myself and sharing thoughts and analysis.

See also Gizmodo, Engadget.

Google today unveiled Listen, an application which allows users of the company's Android devices to search for content in podcasts based on keywords in the headline and description of the content. To me the incredible thing about this application is that it doesn't work with the iPhone, Windows Mobile or Nokia devices. No, this app is Android only at the moment. And while we may seem "Listen" on other platforms soon, for now Google has the potential to use the app to push sales of Android devices.

Google needs to walk a fine line between developing applications which have the ability to be used by the largest potential audience possible while at the same time they need to ensure Android is differentiated in the market with unique applications. What I like about this app in particular is that it leverages something Google does well, search and extends it nicely while users are on the go. And as it so happens, finding interesting podcasts is something many users grapple with so it will be interesting to see if the app gets extended out to the Pre and other gadgets and if this move marks a new trend of Android specific apps for Google.

Here is a new page dedicated to most of the features, benefits and events at ITEXPO West 2009 which takes place in Los Angeles in 13 days. We will update the page as new things happen or are worth sharing. In addition here is the first show daily from the event which is an electronic newsletter designed to keep you posted on the show. Be sure to register ASAP to get these delivered to you via e-mail.

Facebook and social networking in general are having challenges monetizing the tremendous volume of page views they generate but undeterred, social networking leader Facebook is expanding its potential to make money by selling virtual and physical goods in its gift shop. The company is running tests which allow users to purchase various goods for credits.

This may be a good time to address the fact that as of now this service is so entrenched that it has replaced telephone numbers as a primary form of communications for many. You could argue FaceBook already has a replaced most every phone company as the network of choice for communications. Skype and Twitter are other competitors in this regard but communicating in 140 byte increments seems crude to me - like using smoke signals. I still think Twitter is part fad.

But getting back to Facebook - what if the service is able to become a competitor to eBay and/or Amazon. Imagine Facebook emboldened by a model of revenue generation which works.

I would think the people in the company think massive profitability is around the corner as waiters in numerous Silicon Valley restaurants seemed to be happy to share stories about how much Facebook execs spends on wine and food in their restaurants. Whether the company has too much money, thinks they are entitled to work hard and play hard or feel they will be the next Google from a profitability perspective is unclear at this juncture but I am sure we will learn more soon.

What is crystal clear today however is that traditional carriers have lost their lock on their customers and every day they lose it a little more. It is the exact opposite of the grip of a hungry boa constrictor which tightens after each exhalation.

It is tough to know in advance if Facebook will be successful as a "baby" Amazon but so many people live within the application and it seems there is the potential for the company to come up with a way to benefit financially from all the clicks and eyeballs.

And if they do, carriers should be more concerned than they are now. After all, Google, Skype and Facebook are all gunning to be the primary keeper of the customer relationship and as they become more entrenched, carriers have the challenge of figuring out how best to integrate with applications from leading web vendors without becoming a simple commodity broadband provider.

Expect the conversation to continue at ITEXPO in Los Angeles September 1-3, 2009. It should be very exciting. The industry is at a crossroads.

With all the uncertainty in the world there are some things which we can agree upon. For example the demand for certain areas of technology has increased to grow even while global economies have not. We have seen that video, wireless and broadband are all segments of the market where new opportunities have presented themselves. Open-source too is another area where companies are looking to spend more. This is especially true in telecom where open-source intersects with SIP trunking to build new solutions which save money from a hardware and service perspective.

In order to help the world get the most out of open source communications we have a variety of open-source communications training courses in Los Angeles at ITEXPO Sept 1-3, 2009 which will help people receive certifications which will in-turn assist them in their career. Certifications in fast-growing areas such as this in fact have the ability to help people get jobs.

Two of particular interest are focusing on Switchvox and Asterisk - Switchvox training takes place September 1^st and Asterisk 123 training takes place Wednesday September 2^nd.

If you are a reseller, integrator, channel partner, enterprise/SMB IT/telecom worker, carrier operations manager or developer you can benefit from the Asterisk course and Switchvox training will appeal to anyone having anything to do with SMB phone systems. The certifications you achieve will be invaluable and I hope to see you at the show.

We have done our utmost to have ITEXPO be the most complete event it can be. There is literally enough information to keep you busy for all three days of the show (Sept 1-3) and you will likely need to bring others with you to keep up with all the opportunities once you are there. If you are trying to absorb it all you will likely want to follow this simple process.

Go to the conference home page at itexpo.com and click on the blue attendee link at the top of the page.

Click where the red arrow points

 

 

This is where much of the information you need is located. Be sure to register ASAP so you can get on the list for new events as they are added and of course the important show news and happenings. This conference promises to be one of our most exciting ever and I look forward to seeing you all there.

The goal of ITEXPO is not only to be the most complete educational experience in the communications and technology markets we also want to make the show fun and exciting. This is why we still give away a car after doing so for a decade at a variety of shows we have hosted. In addition, we will also be giving away the following gadgets at the keynote sessions.

• Sling Box
• Netbook
• iPhone 3Gs

Come to all of them in a few weeks in Los Angeles if you want a chance to win these shiny new toys.