David Byrd
Chief Marketing Officer for ANPI
CloudTC and N-Able Acquired
"Australian-owned IP PBX systems company, Vixtel, has completed the acquisition of Silicon Valley based glass phone developer, CloudTC, for an undisclosed figure,"...
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ProfitBricks: Where InfiniBand Meets Cloud 2.0
In a recent meeting with William Toll and Pete Johnson of ProfitBricks, the pair were ecstatic to explain how their company has...
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Proactive Care Puts Operators One Step Ahead
By Thomas Fuerst, Senior Director, Multimedia Solutions MarketingAlcatel-Lucent
Monitoring and analyzing network data proactively saves operators time, money, and customers.
When a network service fails, it makes headlines, ticks off customers, and costs that network operator money. When a failure is headed off in advance, on the other hand, there might not be praise-laden headlines, but it's newsworthy nonetheless.
The traditional approach to customer care has typically been: a disgruntled customer calls customer service and complains of a service interruption or problem; the rep, learning of it for the first time, sends out a technician the next day, and eventually finds a resolution. Often, customers are left feeling put out, and the operator has spent significant time and money resolving the problem. Even worse is the customer who doesn’t call and just feels this is ‘typical’ of their network experience. That is a customer at risk of leaving.
Proactive care flips this dynamic on its head by using predictive analytics to identify potential outages or errors in the network and stop them before they occur. It consists of three main parts: one, constantly monitoring and measuring data on the network; two, real-time analysis of the data; and three, the most important, acting on that analysis to fix the problem.
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10 Lessons from Volleyball
I've played volleyball for over 25 years. I have traveled around the US to watch the pros live - both indoor...
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Emerging Threats Combats a Million Plus Pieces of New Malware a Week
There are 250,000 plus new pieces of malware being produced each day equating to one piece per person in the US in...
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NFV-Based Software Telcos Need OSS/BSS Interoperability
One of the goals of ETSI NFV is to allow new entrants to provide solutions to carriers based on software instead of...
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SysAid's Lifshitz: The Cloud Will Dominate ITSM Market
Cloud computing has really become a household word with mainstream media outlets running stories on television about the growth in the space...
Full Story »Ham, Fettuccine and FiOS
October 25, 2010After being on the road for 11 of the last 12 days, I was looking forward to cooking again. However, I would be remiss if I did not describe our last meal in New York City. I was anxious to rest our last night and was planning on having an "acceptable" dinner. As I explained that to my wife a woman overheard me and commented that an "acceptable" meal seemed boring. I quietly agreed and sought out assistance over the web for a final Italian meal that was within walking distance of Times Square, not in Hell's Kitchen and not a tourist stop.
Porchetta and Interop 2010
October 20, 2010After a train trip to conduct business with TMC in Connecticut, I thought I may as well have pre-dinner appetizers at the Oyster Bar in Grand Central Station. After 16 oysters from all over North America and sea urchin, my appetizer kind of wiped out my desire for an entrée. Tuesday was better with two new locations found. Lunch was at a small takeout eatery called Porchetta.
Veal Valdostana and Traffic Pumping Update
October 19, 2010I didn't cook this weekend as we spent the time in New York City. It's an eating vacation. Walking and window shopping are interrupted by dining adventures both planned and serendipitous. Day one was at the Stage Deli across from Madison Square Garden. The Stage deli delivered a good and simple deli meal with a very good version of Manhattan clam chowder.
Making Lemonade or M&A
October 15, 2010For the months it took to reach a definitive agreement to merge between Broadvox and Cypress Communications, those of us in the know knew that silence was important. When one my direct reports figured out we were performing due diligence and engaging in merger and acquisition discussions, it became a question of making "lemonade". I thought the word fit the effort as our desire was to create something new from separate elements and it rhymed (somewhat) with M&A.
Merging Cypress and Broadvox make fantastic lemonade.
Risotto and Leadership
October 13, 2010Last weekend I cooked every day. This weekend, I only cooked on Sunday. My wife made a very nice pasta with tuna dish Friday. Saturday, we ate out and that left Sunday.
There is No I in Team
October 13, 2010We are in Cleveland holding our quarterly sales meeting. It's an exciting week as we celebrate nearly 40% growth year over year and a record number of turn ups. However, the question that I wanted to address this week was whether building a sales team was important. Selling is an individual sport more similar to golf than football.
Risotto with Asparagus and Artichoke Hearts
October 12, 2010Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 shallot, finely chopped
- 3 ounces asparagus, 1 inch dice
- 3 ounces artichoke hearts, ¼ inch slices (frozen is preferred over canned)
- 1 Serrano pepper, seeds removed, finely chopped
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- ½ teaspoon Kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 cup Arborio rice
- ½ cup dry white wine
- 3 cups chicken broth
- 2 ounces grated Parmesan cheese, approximately 1/2 cup
- ½ cup heavy cream
Directions
In a small pot heat chicken broth to simmering.
In a 3 quart saucepan over medium heat, add the olive oil and butter. Add the shallot, asparagus, artichoke hearts, Serrano pepper, garlic, salt and pepper.
Risotto and Leadership
October 12, 2010Last weekend I cooked every day. This weekend, I only cooked on Sunday. My wife made a very nice pasta with tuna dish Friday. Saturday, we ate out and that left Sunday.
The Legend of Telemarketing
October 6, 2010I arrived at IT EXPO Monday morning with a very busy schedule. I was on three panels on Monday along with a video interview. On Tuesday, I represented Broadvox on three additional panels, one solo presentation, press interview, new product interview, and best of show interview. The work was necessary because Broadvox had a number of announcements to make.
Pumping up Meatloaf and Traffic
October 4, 2010Every dish I made this weekend could have been the recipe of the week. However, on Friday, I decided that the winning dish would be something I have never made, usually did not like and never understood. My decision was based upon my wife's love for the dish, its perception of being one of those comfort foods and the challenge to update something so iconic. However, I needed back up dishes in case I failed.
