ITEXPO Blog
| The ITEXPO blog is where you can view the latest news and happenings at TMC's leading VoIP conference.

January 2011

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ITEXPO East 2011 Kickoff Video

January 31, 2011

ITEXPO East 2011 Night Video

January 31, 2011

ITEXPO East 2011 Behind The Scenes

January 31, 2011

ITEXPO East 2011 Jan 31 Show Daily

January 31, 2011

Here is the show daily from ITEXPO East 2011 in Miami, Monday, January 31st, 2011. We look forward to seeing you this week at the Miami Beach Convention center, Hall B.

  Exhibitors Dates & Times Keynotes Register To Attend Show Daily : 1/31/2011           Latest Features
» Majuda's VP of Operations to Speak during Call Recording Session at ITEXPO East 2011 By Juliana Kenny, TMCnet Web Editor ITEXPO East 2011 promises to host the leading providers of communications technology in one forum with over 13 collocated events next week from Feb. 2-4 in Miami. Joining the throngs of thought leaders will be Evan Kahan, VP of Operations at Majuda, a provider of enterprise call recording solutions and quality management services.
» snom's Storella to Talk IP Phones Next Week at ITEXPO By Stefanie Mosca, TMCnet Web Editor ITEXPO East 2011 is only days away. snom, provider of IP phones will be one of the many companies exhibiting at the tradeshow next week in Miami from Feb. 2-4.



VoIP Fulfillment Launched by VoIP Supply

January 31, 2011

VoIP Supply is planning to announce the launch of "VoIP Fulfillment" at ITEXPO next week, but they gave me a sneak peak at this new offering which technically was a two-year quiet beta they've been working on. Their VoIP Fulfillment offering covers quite a few things, however one of the biggest is they have opened their infrastructure to VoIP service providers, including an API that lets service providers follow the package through the fulfillment process all the way to the customer's door.

VoIP Fulfillment by VoIP Supply is a suite of services specifically designed for VoIP service providers that increase operational efficiency, decreases costs and bolster customer experience. I spoke with VoIP Supply's Garrett Smith - Chief Marketing Officer, Mike Russo - Executive Vice President, and Donald Stefanie - VoIP Service Provider Program Manager to learn more.

Updated ITEXPO East 2011 Schedule

January 30, 2011

Hi all, the latest pocket-sized ITEXPO schedule for those of you coming to ITEXPO and collocated events this week. Hope to welcome you soon.

Tuesday, February 1 Highlights

----------------------------------------------------------
REGISTRATION / KEYNOTES / EXHIBIT HALL HOURS

Wednesday, February 2

  • Registration: 7:00 – 5:00pm
  • Conference: 9:00 – 5:30pm
  • Keynotes: 3:30 – 5:30pm
    **Kevin Martin (Former Chairman of the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC), Board of Directors, AirWalk Communications) Keynote Added at 5:00pm! Don’t Miss It!
  • Keynote Giveaways: 5:30pm
  • Exhibit Hall Grand Opening: 5:30-7:30pm (NEW TIME)
  • Welcome Networking Reception: 5:30pm, Sponsored by Aculab (NEW TIME)

Thursday, February 3

  • Registration: 7:00 – 4:00pm
  • Conference: 9:00 – 5:00pm
  • Keynotes: 10:00 – 11:00am, 3:00 – 4:00pm
  • Keynote Giveaways: 11:00am
  • Exhibits Open: 11:00 – 4:00pm
  • International Networking Reception: 4:00pm, Sponsored by Rackspace Hosting
  • ITEXPO Conference Party on South Beach at Mango’s Tropical Café: 9:00pm Sponsored by AudioCodes, DIDx, Eaton, Lockheed Martin

Friday, Friday 4

  • Registration: 7:30 – 3:00pm
  • Conference: 9:00 – 12:45pm   
  • Exhibits Open: 11:00 – 3:00pm
  • WIN A JEEP! Jeep Giveaway at 2:45pm - Must Be Present to Win

Keynote Schedule: (Open to all attendees – Room B217/218)

Wednesday, February 2

  • 3:30pm: Danny Windham, CEO, Digium
  • 4:00pm: Charles D. Vogt, President & CEO, GENBAND
  • 4:30pm: Pritham Shetty, VP of Product Management and Engineering for Rich Media Solutions, Adobe Systems, Inc.
  • 5:00pm: Kevin Martin, Former Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), Board of Directors, AirWalk Communications
  • 5:30pm: Keynote Giveaways
    - (1) 32GB iPad with 3G
    - (1) Sony Dash

Thursday, February 3:

  • 10:00am: Alan Pound, Managing Director, Aculab
  • 10:30am: Aaron McCormack, CEO, BT Technologies
  • 11:00am: Keynote Giveaways
    - (1) 32GB iPad with 3G
    - (1) Kindle DX Wireless Reading Device

  • 3:00pm: Todd Rowley, VP of 4G, Sprint
  • 3:30pm: Jeff Ford, CEO, Apriva

WORKSHOPS at ITEXPO - Open to All Attendees



ITEXPO East 2011 Tues, Feb 1, SIP Trunking, Cloud Computing & More

January 30, 2011

Be sure to get to ITEXPO on Tuesday, February 1st to take advantage of what has shaped up to be a great pre-conference day of networking and learning about communications and technology.

First up us Ingate's SIP Trunking Workshop at 1:00pm. Here is the schedule for the day:

  • 1:00pm – The Case for SIP Trunking
  • 1:30pm – Delivering SIP to the Enterprise
  • 2:30pm – The Value of a Service Provider Demarcation Point
  • 3:30pm – Ensuring Interoperability: The Key to Service Revenue Growth
  • 4:30pm – Addressing Security Issues
  • 5:30pm – Generating Revenue from HD Video
  • 6:30pm – Wine Reception

Then at 2:00pm is Telecom One-on-One, a JS&A Power Networking Event. Bring lots of business cards and the sooner you start planning, the more meetings you can schedule and the more networking you can do.

Meet With Polycom's Stefan Karapetkov at ITEXPO

January 28, 2011

Stefan Karapetkov is the Emerging Technologies Director at Polycom and I've known him as a voice and video expert since I met him at a VON event over ten years ago. I believe he worked at Siemens at the time. I noticed Stefan just posted a page on his Video Networker blog with regards to all of the speaking engagements he has at the show and collocated events. He is very knowledgeable and worth listening to.

Meet Dan York at ITEXPO East 2011

January 28, 2011

ITEXPO Moves to Austin, Texas - The New Telecom Corridor

January 28, 2011

ITEXPO West moves from Los Angeles, California to Austin, Texas taking place September 13-15th 2011. This is a big move on TMC's part since ITEXPO has been in L.A. for many years.  Launched in 1999, ITEXPO is the world's largest and longest-running B-to-B communications and technology conference.

DIDX Reseller Podcast with Xorcom

January 28, 2011

ITEXPO East 2011 Schedule

January 27, 2011

Dear ITEXPO attendees - thanks again for registering and we look forward to hosting you next week. My team just sent out this email of schedules and happenings from the show and it is so detailed and explains so much that I decided to pass it along. I hope you find it worthy of keeping on hand at the event.

ITEXPO

February 2-4, 2011



Verizon Drives Stake Through Heart of Net Neutrality

January 27, 2011

My views have shifted on net neutrality over the years to the point where I firmly believe that carriers have the right to recoup investments they make in networks but at the same time I understand fully well that IP communications is dependent on traffic not being impeded by a carrier looking to promote an alternative service. Having said that, there are a number of peering points located around the US – only a few places where fiber exists in enough quantity to allow massive interconnections between hundreds of carriers, enterprises and web 2.0 companies such as Google and Facebook.

Terremark owns one facility – the NAP of the Americas in Miami, Telx owns another at 60 Hudson in New York and CoreSite at One Wilshire in Los Angeles are three of the more prominent locations in the US ”carrier hotel” market. At industry gatherings I have often asked about the possibility of Verizon or AT&T purchasing one or more companies in the space and the answer has always been that it would be bad news.

Austin, Texas Selected For ITEXPO West 2011

January 27, 2011

I have some very exciting news to share regarding ITEXPO. I alluded to it a few weeks back and now it’s here. ITEXPO West 2011 will be moving to the Austin Convention Center in Austin Texas, on September 13-15, 2011. ITEXPO was launched in San Diego, CA at the Hotel Del Coronado and moved to Long Beach and eventually Los Angeles.

If Super WiFi is A Dream, At Least I'm in Good Company

January 27, 2011

It’s no secret that both Microsoft and Google are looking at white spaces and Super WiFi as an area of growth allowing inexpensive broadband wireless signals to be transmitted over long distances.

But technology is difficult to predict – we didn’t know for sure tablets were going to cannibalize PC sales but they are and we didn’t know small, cheap hard drives were going to cut the legs out from the large, expensive hard drive market. You may know that in 1997 when I went to COMDEX and told the world TMC was going to launch a magazine called Internet Telephony – people laughed and told me it wasn’t an industry.

Ten years later after a few “overhype” phases, VoIP software maker Skype has devastated the long-distance market and is hiring by the hundred.

Sangoma Announces General Availability for NetBorder Express Gateway 4.0

January 27, 2011

Sangoma Technologies Corporation, a provider of hardware and software components that enable or enhance IP Communications Systems for both voice and data, today announced the general availability of  NetBorder Express Gateway 4.0, a major upgrade of its TDM-to-SIP Gateway software.  NetBorder Express 4.0 includes significant new functionality which extends the market reach of Sangoma channel partners in Europe, Latin America, Japan, Asia, and North America. Sangoma will be demonstrating the latest release of its NetBorder Express Gateway at ITEXPO East 2011, in Miami, Florida, February 2-4, 2011 in booth #401.

Enhancements that provide Sangoma partners with a greater coverage area for worldwide deployments include support for:

BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES) Adds Microsoft Lync Support

January 27, 2011

According to BlackBerry's BlackBerry Enterprise Server Add-on product website, support for Microsoft Lync is coming soon. In the footnotes it says "Support for Microsoft Lync Server will be available in an upcoming BlackBerry Enterprise Server Service Pack." It will be released as part of BES 5.0.3 which is still in beta. BES 5.0.3 was expected to be released in Q4 last year, so 5.0.3 should be released any day now. Notable new features include:

  • Support for Microsoft's Office Communications Server 2007 R2 and Lync Server 2010
  • Support for Microsoft Office 2010 file attachments
  • Support for Microsoft Hyper-V 2008 R2 virtualization platform
Microsoft is participating at ITEXPO next week and some Lync partners as well, so I'm sure there will be some Microsoft Lync-related announcements made at the show.

Google and SayNow, What it Means To Telecom

January 26, 2011

The search leader made the acquisition in part to gain social network traction as well as to become entrenched as a communications API and service provider

Many surmise that part of the reason Larry Page is taking over the CEO role at Google has to do with the need to compete more effectively against Facebook whose growth in page views is nothing short of staggering. In the pursuit to keep up and surpass the social networking juggernaut, the search leader is throwing as many ideas as it can against the wall hoping something will stick. There was the launch of Google Buzz in February 2010 which has strong integration into the Google Reader.

Silver Lake on Tech, Jobs and Growth

January 26, 2011

Silver Lake Partners has a portfolio of companies worth $30B including Skype, Avaya, IPC, Groupon, Zynga and Sunguard and in a recent interview with the WSJ's Alan Murray, CEO Glenn Hutchins discusses how well the US technology market is doing in terms of job growth. In addition he mentioned how much construction is being done to create data centers to support the dramatic growth in information technology in the US and abroad.



Next week at ITEXPO in Miami, you'll get to meet with the communications and tech community - many of the companies are part of the Silver Lake family in fact. I am really looking forward to being there and speaking with these companies myself and hope to see you there.



Getting to Know ITEXPO Participants

January 24, 2011

AT TMC, we painstakingly attempt to ensure you know as much about the participating companies at our events as possible before the conference so you can get a sense of who is there, where there expertise lies and if they may have something of value to offer you as you look to make purchasing decisions in the world of technology and communications. As a result we survey ITEXPO speakers and exhibitors before the event and ask questions which can help you connect with thought leaders you believe might be of assistance at the event.

Not everyone answers but we do send the questions to hundreds of companies and they seem to trickle in each day. Here is the list of people and companies who responded to my questions and links to their answers. I truly hope you find it useful.

Oh and one note you should know...



My Conversation With Chairman Kevin Martin Re: ITEXPO

January 24, 2011

As I got off the phone with former FCC Chairman Kevin Martin today after discussing his upcoming keynote, I couldn't help to feel great that ITEXPO will be one of the most exciting events of the year with respect to communications and technology. You see, when FCC Chairmen are no longer working in their government-appointed position, they are able to speak quite freely regarding the issues which have tremendous implications on virtually every aspect of tech and our lives. I say "our lives" because today connectivity has become an integral part of living in a modern, uber-connected world.

In a conversation I just had with the Chairman (the title is for life) we had a chance to touch on some of the issues he will discuss onstage, next week at ITEXPO in Miami, FL. Most likely this session will be in a Q&A format where I will be posing questions.

While the questions haven't been formalized, you can tentatively expect us to devote time to network neutrality, 4G/LTE, wireless spectrum allocation and usage, the small cell market (femto, pico, etc) and other important issues which govern our everyday usage of tech.

At ITEXPO, this one session is just one example of crucial perspective you cannot get from virtually anywhere else because, like I said, the Chairman has tremendous freedom to speak his mind.





-50F With Wind Chill. Escape to ITEXPO in Miami

January 24, 2011

You know I would never stoop to reminding you about the weather to persuade you to attend what I believe to the be the best tech and telecom conference in the world - OK, maybe I would.

So I was driving along this morning on the way to work and noticed I couldn't feel any of my fingers. I decided to check to make sure I was wearing gloves. I was. Then I realized I couldn't feel any of my toes and yes I had shoes on.



I then looked at the temperature reading and it said one degree.





ITEXPO Hashtag is #ITEXPO, Receptions and More

January 23, 2011

Good evening readers,

Just a note to let you know the hashtag for ITEXPO on Twitter will simply be #ITEXPO. You will see enhanced levels of twitter messaging at the show (Twitter stream at keynotes for example) allowing the ITEXPO and related technology and communications communities to stay connected.

A good way to keep track of news from the show is to set up a column with search terms ITEXPO and/or #ITEXPO in programs such as Hootsuite, Tweetdeck and/or your mobile Twitter app.

The show officially begins in nine days and here are some links you may find useful:

Agenda / Show Guide
Onsite Giveaways
ITEXPO Registration
Dates & Times
Hotel & Travel
Free Workshops
Exhibitor List
Keynotes (Former FCC Chairman Kevin Martin Recently Added)
Collocated Events

Speaker List
ITEXPO Floor Map
All Conference Party Feb 3rd at Mangos



In addition, I just turned on my out of office message (yes I'm early but I can't wait) to alert others to my participation. This is part of what I wrote if you want to utilize something similar.

---- 

Thank you for your message... Please be advised I will be out of the office Feb 2-4, 2011 attending TMC's ITEXPO in Miami.























ITEXPO 2011 East Speaker List Grows

January 21, 2011

TMC added some more speakers to the ITEXPO 2011 East lineup this week to add to an already impressive list. Check them out:

ITEXPO

Bob Locklear, Director of Business Development-Enterprise Networks Division, ADTRAN

  • E-03      Vendor Panel: Responding to Today’s and Tomorrow’s Enterprise Requirements
Charles Krogram, Regional Vice President, ShoreTel
  • UC-04   Integrating Mobility and UC
  • MW-03  What Can Presence Do For You? 
Greg Maudsley, Director of Product Marketing, Juniper Networks
  • MW-06  Securing Tablets and Smartphones in the Enterprise

Wendy Moore-Bayley, Solutions Marketing, UCaaS, Mitel

  • E-03 “Vendor Panel: Responding to Today’s and Tomorrow’s Enterprise Requirements”

Katie Butcher (Moderator), President, B-Lynk

  • C-04 “Everyday Business Conferencing - A New User Experience”

Morgan Krenson, Wholesale Channel Manager, InterCall

  • C-04 “Everyday Business Conferencing - A New User Experience”

Ari Rabban, CEO, Phone.com

  • SP-03 “Maintaining Service Quality while Introducing New Next Generation Services”

Wendy Moore-Bayley, Solutions Marketing, UCaaS, Mitel

  • V-03 “Hosted vs.


Digium's Danny Windham to Keynote ITEXPO East 2011

January 21, 2011

Digium Asterisk World Keynote at ITEXPO

January 21, 2011

We are very excited to have Danny Windham, the CEO of Digium - the company behind the open-source, Linux-based communications server/PBX speak at ITEXPO as a keynoter. His participation is officially part of the collocated Digium/Asterisk World event and Danny never fails to impress.

Who should participate in Digium/Asterisk World? Enterprise decision makers, SMBs, mid-size companies, resellers, carriers, distributors, resellers and communications developers. Keep in mind, you'll not only get to hear the latest updates on the market - you will leave the show with new contacts, partners and be able to get your questions answered by many people who are already practicing the solutions you are considering implementing.

My team released the information below just now and I thought it was worth sharing.




ITEXPO East begins in: 13 Days. REGISTER NOW!
Danny Windham, CEO of Digium to Keynote
at Digium|Asterisk World! Wednesday February 2, 2011 – 3:30pm to 4:00pm

Danny Windham, CEO, Digium Danny Windham currently serves as CEO of Digium, a privately held Huntsville, AL based supplier of open source communications products and technology.












ITEXPO East 2011 Show Directory Available

January 20, 2011

The show directory/guide for ITEXPO East 2011 in Miami is now available as is the agenda at a glance or schedule summary. The one point you should be aware of is that former FCC Chairman Kevin Martin was added after this guide was printed and the PDF has not been updated as of yet. Some times on the schedule have shifted as a result and at some point soon we update schedules online.

In addition, I want to point out that you can win a Jeep at the show as well as other great gadgets.

Finally - we added an all-conference party at Mango's Cafe - one of the most popular night spots on South Beach.

Hopefully you can make it down to the event... It's a can't miss.





Polycom Has Great Earnings

January 20, 2011

ITEXPO East 2011 speaker and exhibitor Polycom just announced earnings which were ahead of expectations. Fourth quarter net-income soared two and a half times to $33M or 37 center per share. Earnings were 49 cents per share beating analyst estimates of 43 cents.

Another ITEXPO participant Adtran announced amazing earnings this week and it is a very exciting time to be in the tech and communications spaces.

As always, there are winners and losers but it seems for companies who can execute and hedge their bets by playing in multiple markets, you can do very well - as evidenced by the positive earnings news from many players in the market.

See these and many other leading tech companies at ITEXPO in Miami in about two weeks.











ITEXPO East 2011 News Starts to Flow

January 20, 2011

The show dailies for ITEXPO are beginning to be published and the first one has news and information from companies making news at the show such as Aastra, Xorcom, D2 Technologies and more.


  Exhibitors Dates & Times Keynotes Register To Attend           Latest Features
» Xorcom to Present Updated PBX Hardware at ITEXPO East By Chris DiMarco, TMCnet Web Editor At this year's ITEXPO East PBX phone system manufacturer Xorcom will be revealing some of the feature rich new products it's developed recently. The company announced today that it will use the expo as a platform to show off new versions of its IP-PBX phones and will also be sponsoring a meeting with partners for its worldwide distribution channel on February 2nd and will be hosting a portion of the Reseller Workshop on February 3rd.
» Aastra VP Discusses Technology Trends of 2010, Looking towards New Year By Juliana Kenny, TMCnet Web Editor Recently acclaimed as one of the top 50 Fastest Growing Trade Shows by Trade Show Executive, ITEXPO East 2011 will have tons of new and innovative solutions on display from the world's leading technology developers. Aastra USA will be one of the distinguished exhibitors at the event, and Tim Whittington, executive VP and general manager for Aastra USA offered some insight into how he thinks the technology trends of 2010 will affect the ones to come in 2011 in a recent interview with Rich Tehrani, CEO of TMC
» D2 Technologies COO to Speak at ITEXPO East 2011 By Stefanie Mosca, TMCnet Web Editor It's that time again. ITEXPO East, the biggest IP communications show is only weeks away.





$25 Per MB for M2M Just Tip of Iceberg

January 20, 2011

Stacey Higginbotham points out $25/MB is a tremendous amount of revenue and a great reason for carriers to love M2M. Another reason carriers love it has to do with the fact that that the old models of ARPU, churn and device subsidies go out the window. Sprint's Wayne Ward explained this to me in October of 2009 and went on to say you don't even need to deal with customers regarding rates as the machines do all the talking.

Finally, he explained you can even use your older networks as M2M apps typically do not require tremendous speed or throughput.

Obviously these are some of the reasons why carriers are excited about the M2M market - not to mention market projections of 20 billion M2M connections in ten years. This is up from 61 million today.

Steve Hilton Principal Analyst at Analysis Mason says, "With a year-on-year growth rate of between 36% and 52%, M2M seeks to be one of the fastest-growing connectivity sectors in the next decade."

All this M2M talk reminds me of the upcoming M2M Evolution conference in Miami in two weeks.







ShoreTel Filling the Nortel Void?

January 20, 2011

Jeff Weiner at The Telecom Blog predicts 2011 will be a huge year for ShoreTel and as supporting evidence he cites distribution deals with Catalyst/Scansource and Westcon - traditional Avaya partners. He quotes ShoreTel's Kevin Gavin who says the company is looking to fill the void left at the table in the wake of Avaya's Nortel acquisition.

Indeed, ShoreTel has been seeing positive momentum in terms of perception - there is no question about that and I wouldn't be surprised to see them gaining market-share in the future.

Mitel could have certainly been the company to step up to the plate - they have always had great technology and the Inter-Tel acquisition of a few years back really broadened their product line and distribution. The challenge is the company's outward communications have been spotty - they promote themselves and then go dark. Mostly they're dark.



ITEXPO East 2011 Attendance Now Up 61%

January 19, 2011

Look, no one wants to be in a position where they under-deliver, least of all me but my expo team tells me the attendance numbers in aggregate for ITEXPO and the collocated events are now up 61% over last year while paid attendance is up 88% over last year.

And yes, the numbers are accelerating... Just six days ago the numbers were 52% ahead of last year.

The show is over ten years old and has matured so it would be quite an accomplishment to see 61% more people than last year's ITEXPO which was very-well attended.

I like to be conservative so I always look for alternative reasons for numbers being higher than previous years. For example, last year, there was tremendous economic uncertainty  and people really waited to sign up for shows until the last second.

So it is conceivable the increased attendance rate will normalize as we get closer. We'll have to wait and see if this is the case.







Arbinet to Feature Its Newest IP Exchange at ITEXPO East

January 19, 2011

Arbinet plans to feature its newest IP Exchange at ITEXPO East taking place February 2-4, 2011 in Miami Beach, Florida. 

Arbinet will participate in IP Communications Industry’s Leading Event at Miami Beach Convention Center in February. I'll be at the show covering the latest IP communications happenings. Just got my flight booked today, in fact.

ITEXPO Named Top 50 Fastest Growing Tradeshow

January 19, 2011

TMC's ITEXPO was named one of the fastest growing trade shows by Trade Show Executive in their Fastest 50 Awards. I've been with TMC since 1994 - right out of college and I've seen this company grow from 15 employees to over 65 employees. It's been an amazing ride. TMC's ITEXPO has had some stellar companies participate over the years, including Asterisk, Avaya, Cisco, Microsoft, Packet8, ShoreTel, and Skype.

TMC CEO Rich Tehrani said, "Much thanks goes to all of TMC's readers as well as our sponsors, attendees, partners, vendors who supply us decorating services, audio/visual, etc and of course the tireless TMC team who works around the clock to over-deliver for customers.

ITEXPO Names Top 50 Fastest Growing Tradeshow

January 19, 2011

TMC's ITEXPO was named one of the fastest growing trade shows by Trade Show Executive in their Fastest 50 Awards. I've been with TMC since 1994 - right out of college and I've seen this company grow from 15 employees to over 65 employees. It's been an amazing ride. TMC's ITEXPO has had some stellar companies participate over the years, including Asterisk, Avaya, Cisco, Microsoft, Packet8, ShoreTel, and Skype.

TMC CEO Rich Tehrani said, "Much thanks goes to all of TMC's readers as well as our sponsors, attendees, partners, vendors who supply us decorating services, audio/visual, etc and of course the tireless TMC team who works around the clock to over-deliver for customers.

ITEXPO Honored as One of Top 50 Fastest Growing

January 19, 2011

Adtran, IBM, Apple Blow Out Earnings

January 19, 2011

ITEXPO gold sponsor and TMC Global Online Community customer Adtran just announced blowout earnings – fourth quarter profit doubled and sales grew 33%. Net income was $35.96 million or $0.56 per share. Broadband growth was 75% over the previous year led by sales of the Total Access 5000 platform while internetworking grew 37% and optical grew 24%.

Some of this growth was likely due to the Government’s Broadband Stimulus rollout but the declaration of a 9 cent per share dividend shows there is strong confidence that the company sees a bright future even as the program has ended.

Big News Coming for ITEXPO West 2011

January 18, 2011

SIP Trunking and Unified Communications Summit Speakers Announced

January 18, 2011

For years, Ingate has run a very successful conference as part of ITEXPO the SIP Trunk-Unified Communications Summit and this year the evnt is bigger than ever according to the company. This highly popular educational series, free to all ITEXPO attendees and attendees will hear from Aastra, ShoreTel and Broadvox, as well as Bandwidth.com, Commetrex, EarthLink Business, FaxCore, Intertex Data AB, Qwest Business, SIP Forum, the Unified Communications Interoperability Forum (UCIF) and VOIPSA.

Additionally, Unwired Revolution will present a case study on SIP: Unifying the Distributed Workforce.  Service provider Telia and Intertex Data AB will discuss their SIP trunk implementation as a case study. 

Communications Expert Ricca Discusses the Future & ITEXPO Appearance

January 18, 2011

One of the great advantages of attending a live conference is the ability to network with some of the brightest minds in the industry such as analysts and other industry thought leaders who help give us a sense of where markets are heading. The tech space is not slowing down from an innovation perspective – and it certainly isn’t going to see less product introductions in the future. How do you determine how the latest products and solutions can help your business? Is the cloud right for you or is an on-premise system a smarter move based on your security and compliance needs?

gHome Improves Google Voice

January 18, 2011

Last week, TMCnet’s Charles West broke the news regarding TELTUB introducing gHome which links up with your Google Voice account as well as Facebook to allow $5/month calling after a free trial. Yesterday, TMCnet’s Tom Keating reviewed the gHome service with a SIP softphone from Ekiga and he was very happy with the fact that using iHome you can get all the Google Voice features and use any SIP device. And if you’ve seen how many SIP devices Tom has here at TMC HQ, you’d understand the reason for his happiness.

Tom’s review is extremely detailed and worth a read… In it for example, he explains how you can integrate the service with your iPhone.

Broadvox Reaches For the Cloud With Cypress Buy

January 17, 2011

20 things you need to know but didn’t have had time to ask

SIP Trunking leader Broadvox just completed their acquisition of Cypress Communications resulting in a nationwide VoIP and MPLS-enabled network blending the benefits of traditional telecommunications with the latest in IP trunking.

 

In a conversation with David Byrd, the company’s Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing I had a chance to ask a number of questions which shine light on this deal.

New Service Provider SIP Trunking Workshop at ITEXPO East 2011

January 14, 2011

GENBAND Completes Cedar Point Acquisition

January 14, 2011

Analysts liken Charlie Vogt the CEO of GENBAND (pictured) to John Chambers and his presentation style and confidence shined through at the company’s recent Perspectives event which I live blogged. It was at this conference where I realized Charlie would be someone the industry should hear more from. Under his leadership the company has assembled a mini Alcatel-Lucent or Cisco – depending on how you look at it.

Women in VoIP & Friends at ITEXPO Miami

January 14, 2011

New ITEXPO Speakers January 14, 2011

January 14, 2011

There are so many exciting new speakers worth sharing for the upcoming ITEXPO and related events Feb 2-4, 2011, Miami, FL – I try to share them all each day but time doesn’t permit. Here are some who signed on today who you can come and meet in person. Show/Name Title Company Session ITEXPO       Jon Doyle  Vice President  Communigate NGC-03 Trends and the Future of VoIP/Telco 2.0 - The Emergence of Cloud Telephony Flavio Gomes  CEO  LogiSense V-01     De-mystifying Hosted Communications Alyson Keenan  VoIP Product Manager  EarthLink Business SIP Trunk-UC Summit 4GWE       Ed Naef Vice President CSMG Global 4G-24    Supporting the Enterprise with 4G Wireless Broadband Alan Amrod CMO Xirrus 4G-06    Everybody Loves WiFI M2M       Stein Soelberg Director of Marketing KORE Telematics M2M-14 Top Considerations when Making an M2M Network Services Decision CVx       Mark Sondergaard Director of Sales World Telecom Group CVX-03 Moving Up-Market with Telecom Expense Management & Wireless Expense Management Trent McCracken President Spectrum President   CVX-03 Moving Up-Market with Telecom Expense Management & Wireless Expense Management Kevin Goodman Direct of Channel Marketing & Strategic Development Broadview Networks CVX-03 Moving Up-Market with Telecom Expense Management & Wireless Expense Management Gregg Smith Chairman & CEO Proximiti Communications CVX-03 Moving Up-Market with Telecom Expense Management & Wireless Expense Management Dan Vidal Owner & CEO Telecom Advisors CVX-06 Open Forum on Vendor/Distributor Contracts Emmet Tydings President AB&T Telecom CVX-06 Open Forum on Vendor/Distributor Contracts Smart Grid       Thomas Mazzone Principal Solution Architect Telcordia Technologies SG-07   Transmission and Distribution - Building a Strong Foundation

The Ultimate Social CRM Prank

January 14, 2011

While typical negative social CRM experiences are sent via Twitter and Facebook, occasionally companies get their reputation tarnished via Youtube. This is the case in one of the most elaborate pranks ever where a container was dropped in front of Mobistar’s headquarters in Belgium blocking all traffic. Security at this building with 2,000 employees called the phone number listed on the container only to be connected to the comedians inside the container who repeatedly put security on hold, played music and basically drove them crazy.

This may be one of the most sophisticated acts ever seen of people acting out against a company in response to poor customer service.

ITEXPO East 2011 Up 52% in Attendance

January 14, 2011

I mentioned a few days ago that ITEXPO features some impressive companies participating at the show. ITEXPO is one of the leading expos on VoIP, telecom, 4G wireless, and unified communications (among other things). Well, some more good news to share courtesy of Rich Tehrani:

For those of you who attended the ITEXPO and related events last year in Miami, you remember it was a very strong show with great attendance. The conference usually draws from all over the world – especially Latin America, the Caribbean, Europe, the Central and Eastern US and of course Canada.

ITEXPO East 2011 Attendance up 52%

January 13, 2011

For those of you who attended the ITEXPO and related events last year in Miami, you remember it was a very strong show with great attendance. The conference usually draws from all over the world – especially Latin America, the Caribbean, Europe, the Central and Eastern US and of course Canada.

The even better news about this upcoming event Feb 2-4, 2011 at the Miami Beach Convention center is the numbers are trending much better than last year. My marketing team just sent over the comparable stats and here they are:

  • Overall attendance up 52% over same time last year
  • Paid conference attendance up 54% over same time last year
  • Loews hotel block up 31% over last year

The event has certainly grown and there are currently 13 collocated events as follows.

ITEXPO East 2011 News Begins

January 13, 2011

The ITEXPO tsunami of news is beginning and one recent announcement which caught my eye was that snom will be showcasing  its all new snom ONE collection of IP PBXs. The product line includes three versions - from free with ten extensions to a blue version which supports up to 150 extensions with support for five different businesses. There will be lots more news coming and for an idea of all the excitement and information which be generated from the event, check out the videos from the last ITEXPO in Los Angeles last fall.

Remember, the show is Feb 2-4, 2011 at the Miami Beach Convention center - be sure to register now.

Dialogic's Jim Machi discusses his company with me and also touches on the history of the Los Angeles Convention Center where we met over a decade earlier at Computer Telephony Expo or CT EXPO - anyone else remember the flying pigs?


ShoreTel's Bernard Gutnick discusses his company's latest offerings








How Apple is Greasing the Wheels of Churn

January 13, 2011

It’s a pain to change mobile devices and carriers. Thankfully over the years many wireless providers have made the process go more smoothly by porting address books in their retail stores. But Apple has gone the extra mile allowing their devices to seamlessly work with most of the existing data from previous phones. In other words upgrading from an iPhone to an iPhone 3G to a 3GS and 4G has been a fairly straightforward task.

ITEXPO East Features Impressive Vendor Participation

January 11, 2011

ITEXPO East is just a few weeks away (February 2-4th) in sunny Miami, Florida. How is the show shaping up? Well, if ITEXPO West is any indication, ITEXPO East should be a great show. Vendor participation for ITEXPO West increased almost 50%, and 216 exhibitors issued almost 400 news announcements from the show floor, detailing new products, services and alliances that were announced at ITEXPO.

SIP and HTML5 Convergence: Are You Ready?

January 5, 2011

Carl Ford is the loveable guy in the IP communications space I used to compete with but we are now family. It is really a great partnership and his company, Crossfire Media has partnered with TMC on a number of events including SIP Tutorial which has been held three times and has educated companies of all sizes, major telcos and technical staffs working at prestigious Ivy League schools.

The next event will be collocated with ITEXPO East 2011 in Miami this February 2-4 and I asked Carl for a few reasons to attend and macro trends which will be discussed.

He mentioned recent SIP meetings in China which show the need to keep current on SIP standards and HTML5 in particular which will integrate with SIP in the future.

Business Video Expo Update

January 5, 2011

Social Networking 2.0 Brings Businesses Into the Fold

January 5, 2011

Social networking exploded in 2010 resulting in Facebook social networking traffic surpassing Google search traffic. What's the main difference between Facebook traffic and Google traffic? Facebook is about sharing content with groups - family, friends, and co-workers, while Google is a solo affair with individuals reading interesting stories and finding out information. People naturally want to build associations and connections with other people, which is why social networking has exploded.

Incredible New Content at ITEXPO East 2011 Next Month

January 5, 2011

If you haven’t checked out the ITEXPO home page in a while please do so because the show evolves as rapidly as the markets do with relevant quality content being added constantly. There is virtually no part of the tech market which will help you and your company that is not covered from multiple angles.

For example VI-Peering focuses on the IP peering space, the Business Video Expo focuses on the increased use of video by companies and Super WiFi Summit focuses on how white spaces could absolutely revolutionize the way broadband access is delivered via the disruptive use of radio frequency white spaces which are open and free.

Another addition is Telecom One-on-One powered by DealCenter and taking place Tuesday, Feb 1st, 2011 from 2-5 PM.