Vonage

Show Me the Opportunities!

July 19, 2008

This past week has had me thinking a great deal about telecom and how it is evolving. I have come to some conclusions worth sharing. The first is that customers could care less about walled gardens. Sure, we hear complaints from some about how walled gardens are bad - but consumers don't care.

Posted in AT&T, Apple, Avaya, Blackberry, Broadband, CRM, Call Center, Cisco, Communications Developer, Conferencing, Consumer Electronics, E-Commerce, FCC, Gadget, IMS, IP Communications, ITEXPO, Merger/Acquisition, Microsoft, Nortel, SIP, Skype, Social Networking, Speech Technologies, Technology, Unified Communications, Verizon, Video, Virtual Worlds, VoIP, Vonage, Wireless, Yahoo

The Local Starbucks is Closed

July 19, 2008

If you were wondering whether your favorite Starbucks will be one of the 600 stores the company is about to close, the entire list (PDF) of stores to be closed has been made available.

California will see just under 90 stores shut down while Florida and Texas just under 60. TMC's home state of Connecticut will lose five stores -- the closest is about ten miles away from TMC and a store I have never visited. Digium will lose one store in its home city of Huntsville, Al (Madison Square Mall), Manhattan will lose six and Southhampton is the only location in the prestigious Hamtons to be whacked. Expect stores to close early next year.

There have been petitions circulaing to save specific locations and government officials are trying to persuade the company not to shut certain stores.

What I find amazing about these incidents is that many used to complian that Starbucks killed off the local coffee shop and made coffeee a chain-like experience.

Posted in AT&T, Apple, Avaya, Blackberry, Broadband, CRM, Call Center, Cisco, Communications Developer, Conference, Conferencing, Consumer Electronics, E-Commerce, FCC, Gadget, Google, Green, IP Communications, IPTV, Microsoft, Musings, Nortel, Open Source, Personal, SIP, Search, Security, Skype, Social Networking, Speech Technologies, TMC Team, Technology, Unified Communications, Verizon, Video, VoIP, Vonage, Wireless, Yahoo

Contact Center and Service Provider Similarities

July 17, 2008

I have been seeing an interesting trend in the communications space. In the last 2-3 years, more and more companies who used to focus on service providers have expanded their focus into the call center space. Acme Packet and NextPoint are a few examples of such companies. This is not so surprising mind you when you realize how remote agents resemble service provider customers and the theing they have in common is the need for an SBC.

In addition there has been growth in the hosted contact center market and as more service providers have become interested in providing such services worldwide they need to work with call center vendors who can supply them with the solutions they need.

Posted in AT&T, Avaya, Broadband, CRM, Call Center, Cisco, Communications Developer, Conference, Conferencing, Consumer Electronics, E-Commerce, Google, Green, IP Communications, IPTV, ITEXPO, Microsoft, Nortel, Open Source, SIP, Skype, Speech Technologies, TMC Team, Unified Communications, VoIP, Vonage, Wireless, Yahoo

VON Shows Over

July 16, 2008

A Community Service Message

I have been pretty silent about what has happened with Pulvermedia and the VON events because frankly, everyone else seemed to be covering the fact that the events are no longer taking place.

Also, TMC used to compete head to head with thee VON events so I thought it poor taste to discuss their demise. Having said that, I was at a recent event where I heard horror stories of people showing up for VON Amsterdam -- only to find out there was no VON Amsterdam. Commenters in the blogosphere have echoed the same sentiments.

So I wanted to make sure I went on record letting people in the communications industry know that Pulvermedia is shut down.

Posted in AT&T, Apple, Avaya, Blackberry, Broadband, Call Center, Cisco, Communications Developer, Conference, Conferencing, Consumer Electronics, E-Commerce, FCC, Google, IMS, IP Communications, IPTV, Merger/Acquisition, Microsoft, Nortel, Open Source, Patent, Personal, SIP, SaaS, Security, Skype, Social Networking, Speech Technologies, Technology, Unified Communications, Verizon, Video, Virtual Worlds, VoIP, Vonage, WiMAX, Wireless, Yahoo

Sun, Intel Have Positive News

July 15, 2008

While there was a run on one bank and United States financial institutions seem to be having some big problems, Intel (25% second quarter increase) and Sun are doing quite well thank you very much. While Sun is not such a major tech player anymore, I have to be honest that good tech news is good tech news and if these two companies can do well, one imagines others can do well also.

I have heard a number of financial analysts say that tech will get into trouble because of issues with US financial institutions and it is good to see that so far they are wrong -- at least today.

Posted in AT&T, Apple, Avaya, Blackberry, Broadband, CRM, Call Center, Cisco, Communications Developer, Conference, Conferencing, Consumer Electronics, E-Commerce, FCC, Google, IMS, IP Communications, IPTV, ITEXPO, Microsoft, Nortel, Open Source, SIP, Skype, Speech Technologies, Technology, Verizon, Video, Virtual Worlds, VoIP, Vonage, Wireless, Yahoo

Korean VoIP, 911 and LNP

July 4, 2008

While we all know VoIP calls allow tremendous flexibility in allowing callers to access their communications wherever there is an internet connection, we also know the new technology doesn't integrate with 911 services in exactly the same manner as the PSTN. Is this the reason that Korean regulators are hesitant to allow LNP to VoIP numbers or is it that the incumbent KT who handles 90% of fixed-line calls doesn't want to lose market share and is exerting its influence?

Check out this article which points out 90% of the country uses mobile phones and decide for yourself.

Posted in Broadband, FCC, IMS, IP Communications, SIP, Skype, Technology, VoIP, Vonage, WiMAX, Wireless, Yahoo

CallVantage Service to End?

July 3, 2008

I wouldn't be surprised to see AT&T CallVantage service come to an end. Tom Keating has more on what is speculation at the moment. UVerse is obviously a competitive product to CallVantage but you need AT&T DSL to get it. Here is the reason that CallVantage service probably needs to be phased out.

AT&T is no a network neutrality advocate and in order for CallVantage to have acceptable QoS levels, they would need other carriers to adhere to Net Neutrality.

Posted in AT&T, Broadband, Consumer Electronics, E-Commerce, FCC, IMS, IP Communications, IPTV, Patent, SIP, Technology, Video, VoIP, Vonage

Todd Keefe to Promote ITEXPO West 2008

July 1, 2008

Todd Keefe always did a great job managing the press room, etc at the VON events and now that the VON events are gone, we thought it made sense to have Todd join TMC in promoting ITEXPO, the World's Communications Event. Officially, it is Keefe's company, For Immediate Release who will handle the PR and we are happy to have him onboard and we look forward to hosting you all at ITEXPO September 16-18, 2008 in Los Angeles.

Posted in AT&T, Apple, Avaya, Blackberry, Broadband, CRM, Call Center, Cisco, Communications Developer, Conference, Conferencing, Consumer Electronics, E-Commerce, FCC, Google, Green, IMS, IP Communications, IPTV, ITEXPO, JITC, Merger/Acquisition, Microsoft, Musings, Nortel, Open Source, Patent, Personal, Podcast, Rates Technology, SIP, Science, Search, Security, Skype, Social Networking, Speech Technologies, TMC Team, TMC Video, TMCnet, Technology, Unified Communications, Verizon, Video, Virtual Worlds, VoIP, Vonage, WiMAX, Wireless, Yahoo

Allied Security Trust -- Let The Patent Wars Begin

June 30, 2008

You may remember a while back I wrote about Vocaltec selling some of its patents to what appears to be a firm that will become a patent troll. This scenario is becoming more and more common... Companies are now launching businesses based on buying patents and using them to sue others.

In order to combat such companies, Verizon, Cisco, Google, Telefon AB L.M., Ericssson, HP and other companies have joined together to launch Allied Security Trust -- an organization which will acquire patents and subsequently grant member companies nonexclusive rights to use them.

A quarter million dollars or so will grant you access to this exclusive patent club and another $5 million is required to be placed in escrow to help fund future patent purchases.

There are two interesting points here. One is the fact that there are a number of telecom companies in this group and second is the fact that Verizon sued Vonage recently for patent infringement.

Posted in AT&T, Apple, Blackberry, Broadband, Communications Developer, Consumer Electronics, E-Commerce, FCC, IP Communications, IPTV, Microsoft, Nortel, Patent, SIP, Science, Technology, Unified Communications, Verizon, Video, VoIP, Vonage, Wireless, Yahoo

Goodbye Bill Gates

June 27, 2008

Dear Mr. Gates -- I feel I know you well enough to call you Bill. You see, although we have never met, I feel like I owe you a huge debt of gratitude. I started loving technology while playing Pong and Space Invaders and shortly thereafter I became a BASIC programmer. First of all, thanks for ensuring this language was around and simple enough for a person to easily pick up on his own.

It is unclear what the computing industry would be like if it weren't for you and your company. You seem to have had an uncanny way of beating virtually every competitor your company ever had while you were in charge.

Posted in AT&T, Apple, Avaya, Blackberry, Broadband, CRM, Call Center, Cisco, Communications Developer, Conference, Conferencing, Consumer Electronics, E-Commerce, FCC, Google, Green, IMS, IP Communications, IPTV, ITEXPO, JITC, Merger/Acquisition, Microsoft, Nortel, Open Source, Patent, Rates Technology, SIP, Science, Search, Security, Skype, Social Networking, Speech Technologies, TMC Team, Technology, Unified Communications, Verizon, Video, Virtual Worlds, VoIP, Vonage, WiMAX, Wireless, Yahoo

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