Recently in IMS Category

I wanted to alert my readers to some exciting news happening at TMC. As you likely know TMC is among a handful of media companies growing at a time when the media landscape is in dramatic decline. As you might imagine this growth is primarily online. Over the last decade and especially in the last few years we have focused on building online communities (Channels and GOCs) for customers who sponsor these areas as they rapidly attract focused decision-makers from around the world.

The visitors who come to these communities benefit from a massive amount of free content which helps them make informed purchasing decisions. For example people looking for products in Call Recording, Smart Data Centers, IP communications, HD Voice, Fixed Mobile Convergence or Next Generation Communications can come to the respective communities focused on these topics and have access to hundreds and in most cases thousands of TMC written articles detailing the news in their specific area of interest. Our business model is straightforward; aggregate massive amounts of focused and quality content using custom-built content targeting technology - make it relevant and pertinent so as to attract the right readers who need this information as they research the products and services they are looking to buy.

For our sponsors, these communities allow them to rank high organically on search engines to get their message out to a focused audience while simultaneously being able to measure the traffic to ensure they can justify their spend to the sales and executive management teams.

Basically, this suite of communities replicates the trade show model online and just like a trade show that attracts more attendees as the exhibitor base grows; the 120 monthly sponsored communities on TMCnet attract a massive audience which in turn attracts more sponsors.

In short, I am very confident we can continue to provide free quality content in all the areas we enter. Meaning while other media companies are beginning to charge for their once free content and many others are reducing their editorial teams, TMC is adding to its editorial, sales and marketing teams as we have a model which works exceptionally well for our readers and sponsors.

We are growing our team as we enter a slew of new markets with our business model of providing laser-focused content - backed by over a decade of proprietary content targeting technology; essentially building targeted online communities which rank high on search engines as they attract large amounts of focused traffic.

Here is my quote from a press release we put out today mentioning the hire of a brand new position - VP of Business Development. Matt Weiner is filling this position and his background of working for Penton and Yahoo! make him a good fit for the position."Over the last decade, TMC has invested in the technology and people necessary to build a next-generation media company which creates communities online, in-print and in-person," Tehrani continued. "By providing our audience with top quality news, training and information, we have attracted global purchasing decision-makers to our communities. As TMC's global communities have increased in size and quality, they have attracted hundreds of advertisers and sponsors who receive regular measurable results for their marketing and SEO budgets. Our future strategy involves continuing to build communities which draw large amounts of targeted traffic as we continue to connect buyers and sellers -- and adding Matt to the team is an integral element of that strategy."

Aside from Matt, we have added a number of other positions and just as importantly we continue to ink partnership after new partnership as we enter new spaces where we leverage our community building engine in combination with the thought leadership of individuals and/or corporations in new markets.

Thank you for continuing to support our rapid growth - thanks to our readers and existing and news sponsors - we look forward to helping all of your companies grow with ours.

Here is an extremely informative overview of the challenges facing NSN from Caroline Gabriel. It leads off discussing the fact that Siemens is thinking of pulling out of the joint venture. The article points out where the company has been successful and where it has not. One area which is worth delving into is a mention of NSN pulling out of WiMAX without having significant LTE business. While the two areas are obviously related, pulling out of WiMAX was likely a decision based on the potential revenue available in the market based on current analyst estimates. In other words, would it make sense to keep spending millions on WiMAX R&D until the LTE business takes off? Probably not - it makes sense to put your best and brightest on the product area with the most potential.

Having said that, I am a huge fan of Rethink and their analysis is always thought provoking. I look forward to reading it each weekday. If I get a moment I have to remember to have someone on my team reach out to them to see if they want to blog or write articles on TMCnet.

I am here in Chicago for Supercomm 2009 where I have numerous video interviews and meetings set up. I will be attending a few receptions and the first one is this evening in celebration of Genband's 10-year anniversary. We have a booth at the show where we will be filming live interviews with industry executives and thought leaders and we are excited that TMC's Paula Bernier will be participating in the conference portion of the event. Genband is participating on the panel she will be moderating and will be sending out a press release which I feel objectively describes the session. Hopefully you will get a chance to stop by and see Paula in action.

Here is a photo of Supercomm 2009 Chicago exhibit hall and the release:

GENBAND to Participate in Transcoding Panel with Verizon, Nokia Siemens Networks at SUPERCOMM 2009

Conference session explores transcoding requirements, challenges, insight for voice and multimedia interplay

Plano, TX, October 19, 2009 - GENBAND Inc., a market-leading developer of next-generation IP infrastructure solutions, today announced it will join with Verizon Communications Inc., and Nokia Siemens Networks for SUPERCOMM 2009's programming session: The Transcoding Path to IP Network Interoperability. Taking place on Wednesday, Oct. 21 from 3:10 p.m. - 3:55 p.m. in room W183b, the panel will discuss interworking complexities at network borders and how the industry is addressing these challenges through transcoding.

"As challenges arise from managing and routing VoIP and multimedia sessions, service providers are increasingly using transcoding to address interconnections at network borders," said Paula Bernier, Executive Editor at TMC and moderator of the session. "I look forward to discussing this timely topic, including both the service provider and equipment manufacturer perspectives as they supply and deploy transcoding solutions across IP networks. We will discuss successes and challenges of implementation as well as the roadmap for transcoding and its relationship to trends such as IMS and FMC."

Ms. Bernier will moderate a panel comprised of Tim Dwight, Principal Member of Technical Staff in Verizon's Core Network Technology organization; Al Young, Account Director at Nokia Siemens Networks; and Andrew Bender, Vice President of Technology at GENBAND.

SUPERCOMM 2009's conference program focuses on broadband solutions, in the form of real-world examples and case studies that feature the users of technologies and services as presenters, along with the service providers implementing the technologies in their networks and deploying the applications those technologies enable.

The Transcoding Path to IP Network Interoperability session will explore the requirements for transcoding and the strategies to resolve challenges that arise from combining networks with varying voice and multimedia traffic types.

Carrier consolidation, the convergence of fixed and mobile networks, and the prevalence of all-IP network architectures are all driving a growing need for transcoding in today's communications networks.

The traditional approach to connecting IP networks uses gateways to convert traffic to a common TDM format, which resolves media compatibility but increases cost and can impair voice quality. GENBAND offers a unique solution that avoids these issues by enabling direct IP-IP transcoding with support for fixed, mobile, and satellite codecs.

The Wall Street Journal has an interesting article today talking about Dallas-based venture funds which flopped by investing in telecom and networking companies. It explains that funds in Silicon Valley and Boston are doing better than those in Texas, Washington state or New York.

Coincidentally, today there is also news that online video company Ooyala has now raised $20 million and online video conferencing company ViVu raised $3 million. Both as you guessed it are based in Silicon Valley. Most importantly of course is the fact that wireless equipment maker Mass-based Starent Networks just got sold to Cisco for $2.9 billion.

If history is any guide and this trend continues, we can expect Mass and Silicon Valley to be parts of the country which recover more quickly from the economic downturn than the rest.

Where is my Mobile Data?

An overwhelming amount of wireless, communications and tech news is the best way to describe the last few weeks. Perhaps one of the most important nuggets is a catastrophic loss of T-Mobile USA Sidekick customer data and if you have one of these nifty little gadgets, be aware the wireless carrier asks that you not reset it. This issue highlights the problems with SaaS and cloud-based services. Google, thought to be the gold standard of hosted data companies has suffered outages and so have Amazon and Salesforce.com. The one constant here is cloud-based services seem to be as error-prone as CPE equipment which makes sense. If it can better, it will gain a larger share of the data center pie.

Android is Everywhere

But for Google, cloud computing is just one of many projects they have their hands in. Last week at the CTIA show in San Diego I witnessed Google Android everywhere... Android has even caused Verizon to start getting along with the search leader. And you wondered why that Nobel Peace Prize was awarded. At the same time, Microsoft rolled out Windows Mobile 6.5 and this platform is just not cutting it as it is tired and old. Once upon a time I marveled at this OS but then again I did the same with my Commodore 64 back in 1982. Yes it's getting better, but I used it myself and wasn't too impressed. One thing for sure is the web browsing on an iPhone 3GS seems to be far superior to either competitive mobile OS.

Will a Mobile Search for "Microsoft" Show Results?

The scary part of this equation for Microsoft has to be that they are in danger of losing the mobile device OS race altogether. And this is where Google and Microsoft will tell you the future of search is. In fact, Google is looking to tightly couple search with mobility in a way which will offset their inability to effectively compete with the sheer slickness and elegance of the iPhone.

AT&T Hates Google and Apple Learns From Decades of Defeat

Two points worth mentioning are that AT&T may be distancing itself from Google (hint, they aren't friends) and moreover, Android has some challenges ahead of it - primarily figuring out what Android really means in a world where open source platforms are able to grow in various and competing directions quite rapidly. The problem of course is for users and developers looking to easily roll out apps across a broad range of platforms which are all supposed to be equivalent. In reality they aren't and developers have to deal with individual phone models when programming for Android. The process is not as easy as it should be. Finally the concept of Apple owning the hardware shows how this can be superior to the open hardware scenario. Sure, it can cost more for non-open hardware which is controlled by a single provider but Apple seems to have learned from its experience of getting kicked in their rear by Microsoft in the eighties. They have realized it makes sense to price mobile devices reasonably (or have the carrier chip in as needed) so they can profit from software and music. Back in the eighties when we were all listening to Journey, Apple didn't get a cut of every piece of software on their platform. Now (what do we listen to nowadays?) they do. So for Apple, they have to be price competitive with their phones as they make it up on the backend.

Microsoft's Acquire or Die Mobile Strategy?

Going forward, Microsoft has its work cut out for it if it wants to be a major player in mobile search. After all, they are losing share and quickly in the mobile world. It seems they need to try and pick up Nokia and/or RIM and tell those pesky regulators this is the only way they can compete effectively with Google Android.

Why Develop a Revenue Strategy, We are having too much fun Prematurely Aging Ballmer?

Then again, some will point to the fact that Google hasn't figured out their mobile search strategy - and to some degree they are right. But to me the model is pretty obvious. Dominate the apps and service market by giving it away and then experiment endlessly by showing ads in various formats until you find a way to make money without upsetting (too many) users or advertisers. This is not rocket science as Adwords was born in this manner and YouTube is the latest Guinea pig. Just recently in fact, the company started to insert ads in the Google Maps application of the iPhone. Of course this is likely the reason Apple decided to buy a mapping company - they either don't like the idea of the company behind Android profiting from their platform or they are interested in getting a piece of the advertising pie for themselves. Maybe both - stay tuned.

Spare some Change? Here's a Decade's Worth

The one constant in communications is change and more change. We have ourselves an industry where new paradigms are invented constantly and new competitors emerge from unlikely areas. All the while, existing players have to learn how to navigate alliances and competitive sets to emerge as credible and profitable players in a mobile, broadband and fixed-line ecosystem of dizzying complexity.

From where I stand, fewer things can be more exciting. But for the companies making the products and those looking to partner and purchase, try not to blink or you could miss major and ground-breaking news. This is not Internet time, we have gone to the next level - things are happening at optical or photonic speed. Boy is it exciting. I'll have more to discuss soon but for now I need to brew a fresh pot.

As you may know, I am traveling today in Southern California. Here are some things which have come up. IMS is growing in popularity again driven by LTE and other factors. I have heard this quite often and this is positive news for the market.

On a sort of unrelated note, AT&T Mobility voice quality in this area of the country is atrocious. While the wireless company has done wonders with improving its data speeds, local AT&T customers here tell me the voice service is getting worse. Just wait till the VoIP traffic hits.

Speaking of AT&T allowing VoIP calls on the iPhone over 3G, I have spoken to a number of developers who are furious with Apple over their app store policies. They submit apps, then get denied for no apparent reason and spend a day to reapply. The cycle repeats. They ask Apple for updates and don't hear back. I would imagine Apple has an overwhelming amount of requests for information about application rejections but this has got to be frustrating.

I wonder if Apple will loosen up their approval process as a result of what AT&T has just done. Does the company really want to have their reputation tarnished by playing Big Brother forever?

Overall, there is more cautious optimism in the communications and technology spaces. I saw this in Canada as well. Many people think tech spending will increase dramatically next year.

Before I forget, testing leader Ixia tells me they are shipping their K2 40/100 Gb testing equipment in large numbers. This tells us we can expect a slew of this type of equipment to hit the market soon - probably Q1 of next year IMHO.

With so much riding on Windows Mobile 6.5, you figured Microsoft would get it right. A tremendous headstart in the mobile OS game has been squandered as RIM, Apple and now Google eat marketshare like famished termites in a mostly foreclosed subprime neighborhood. I haven't had a chance to test Windows 6.5 yet but at least one reviewer says it sucks. This is not a good start for an OS many were hoping would be a serious competitor to the new entrants in the market.

Wonder what this news means for Windows 7.

On a recent trip to Canada I sat down with Mitel CEO Don Smith and President and COO Paul Butcher to discuss the company, industry and future. The dynamic duo is exactly that, mixing copious amounts of humor and friendly verbal jabs (this time at each other and not me ;) ) with frank talk about technology and marketshare.

Avaya Purchasing Nortel

The issue of greatest importance was the demise of Nortel and sale to Avaya, since both are Canadian companies with a similar tradition of great engineering.

Don and Paul explained off the bat that they are excited to see two of their biggest competitors Nortel and Avaya merge as they have 100% channel/geographic/product overlap (may be a slight exaggeration but at least 85% is probably a "safer" estimate) and the two companies hated each other for 100 years. They say they are getting calls from not only the Avaya channel but the Nortel channel as the combined channel from the newly combined company will make it more difficult for these resellers to compete for business.

Software, the Strategic Direction

I must say, Siemens was probably the first large PBX company to sit me down years and explain that they believe the future of the business is software. Of course this idea has been the holy grail of startups and small companies alike. Altigen, Comdial and Televantage were just some of the pioneers in this space from a decade ago.

But Mitel has always been a strong engineering company and they took the PBX-as-software concept a step further by integrating tightly with VMware. What's that you say? VMware doesn't support real-time applications. Well, it seems Mitel worked closely with VMware engineers to get real-time working on a virtualized system. Specifically Mitel Communications Director software and Mitel real-time voice applications can run on the VMware vSphere™ 4 platform.

From there Don explained how more and more meetings with CIOs include discussions regarding how an increasing number of data center applications have to live in a virtualized world.

A Bigger Shift Than IP

What the execs said next was perhaps the most important... They explained that the shift from TDM to IP while dramatic is really a lot easier than the shift from hardware to virtualized systems. This explains why in 2001 the company spent 60% of its R&D on software but today it is over 90%. The question I have is when will other companies catch up and will lack of virtualization support be a deal-breaker for CIOs??

Avaya Going Down Wrong Path?

From there Paul explained the model Avaya is using of increasing the price of hardware while reducing the price of software is unsustainable and it will be difficult for Avaya to shift back. While I did not have time to independently verify Avaya raising hardware prices, the New Jersey-based enterprise communications market-share leader has been lowering prices on software-based UC solutions in the hopes of greater adoption. Interestingly Iwatsu, a smaller player in the PBX space has been giving away some software features such as UC in the past year or so.

The Power of Virtualization

The incredible power of virtualization reveals itself when you realize you can have a single server running different instances of your communications software. Imagine that one division can have one version of the software while another division uses a completely different version. In addition, each division has autonomy while data center functions such as backups etc can be centralized.

Smith said at this point, "Multiple Instance Communications Director, it doesn't roll off the tongue but that is what it is." And with that, a new a new telecom acronym, MICD opened its eyes for the very first time. ;)

Vonage Not a VoIP IPO Killer?

It was widely believed that the Mitel IPO of a few years back as squashed because Vonage tanked so badly and the stigma would be associated with Mitel. To this the company replied the reason the IPO was pulled was that they were able to raise the money quickly without an IPO and moreover they had a short window in which to acquire Inter-Tel as the company's founder Steve Mihaylo was in competition for the Arizona-based enterprise communications company.

What's next for the Mitel? Well for the short-term it is trying to figure out the optimum way to sell VMware-based telephony. In a business where resellers used to distinguish themselves by running wires neatly, we have seen a shift in the skillset necessary to be successful. First there was CTI, then VoIP, IP communications (including video) and now virtualization is the latest frontier. Expect more interconnects/resellers to hang up their hats as the complexity level eclipses their skills. Filling this void is the new opportunity for the channel.

After my meeting, I spent some time in Sir Terry Matthews incubator-land (Wesley Clover is a Terry Matthews company which also owns Mitel) where a slew of communications startups compete for time, attention and resources. My wife tells me I have an obsession With Sir Terry but I would call it a fascination with a person who can launch and invest in so many companies and maintain such a successful track record. At this point, the man is a legend and companies he starts have a head-start in the world. But when I compare sir Terry to different legends in tech I realize while others merge and slash jobs, Matthews keeps launching new companies, creating new equity and incentivizing new generations to build new companies which hire the engineers, marketers and salespeople of the future.

Here are some videos of my experience. I am still not as smooth as Larry King - but I am working on it.

I had a meeting with Jiri Kuthan AVP Engineering of Tekelec regarding some of the challenges his company sees in the communications and technology markets. The first is security which he says is an underappreciated topic. One point he made was that operators are beginning to think more systematically about SBCs. They aren't just throwing boxes at their problems anymore as he says but instead they are beginning to focus on systematically improving their security policies and procedures.

He is not discounting the importance of the SBC, just explaining there is more to it than adding equipment to handle the problem.

Another point he made was that identity or lack of it is a problem online. Jiri said, "How many calls did I receive which were anonymous which were of use to me." He continued, "Anonymity is a perfect vehicle for annoyance, spam, fraud, security attacks."

He went on to explain that there are numerous political and technical issues which come up - specifically, privacy protection vs. identity exposure.

We didn't go into much detail beyond these concerns but I hope to have my team work even more closely with Tekelec going forward so we can share solutions to some of the problems outlined above.