I was reading Rich Tehrani's blog and came across some interesting insights on Comdial, its recent purchase by Vertical, and some historical perspectives put forth by Rich that really got me thinking about the history of telephony and how TMC has been there since virtually the beginning...

I should point out that Rich Tehrani has been covering the telecom market longer than anyone else - bar none. In 1982 when TMC's Telemarketing Magazine was launched (now called Customer Interaction Solutions Magazine), Rich Tehrani worked for his father Nadji Tehrani. I believe Rich started in the mail room stuffing envelopes and then moved into programming TMC's database, then sales and then finally into the publisher and President roles.

Through his humble beginnings working within TMC, Rich has garnered years of experience and hundreds of contacts and relationships throughout the call center and VoIP industries. Rich's motto has always been "Never burn any bridges and always have friendly competition since you never know when your competition will leave and then become your friend." This motto has served Rich well over the years as he has indeed made friends with former competitors, many of which later joined companies that paid TMC for advertising or exhibits. Rich has never let ego or pride stand in the way of trying to make his company (technically his father, Nadji's company) the best it can be and that includes not stooping to underhanded tactics to try and 'best' the competition. He has always let TMC's products and services do the talking and that is what I admire most about Rich. You will never hear him bad mouth the competition, he'll just point out TMC's strengths.

Rich Tehrani has been faithfully covering the telecom, call center, and customer service arenas for many many years. I don't know the exact year Rich started covering these genres, but I'd say it is since at least 1992. In fact, Telemarketing Magazine covered the biggest user of telecom equipment - namely the call center market, which uses such important telecom technology as the ACD, the IVRs, and CTI technology. I say this because Telemarketing Magazine spun off CTI Magazine (later Communications Solutions), and which later spun off Internet Telephony Magazine.

All of these publications have one important thing in common - communications. That is why TMC has the #1 communications portal (TMCnet) on the Web today as well as the #1 magazine covering call center technology (Customer Interaction Solutions), and the #1 magazine covering VoIP (Internet Telephony Magazine). This is the perfect trifecta that makes TMC unique in the industry.

Add to the fact that TMC was first to launch a call center magazine and the first to launch a VoIP magazine and it becomes a no-brainer why TMC has always been a step ahead in breaking important news stories and educating readers with the most informative articles. It's also why TMC's tradeshow events, including VoIP Developer and Internet Telephony Conference & Expo are so successful.

I am extremely proud to be a part of this organization for 11.5 years and I look forward to many years to come.