ITEXPO Blog
| The ITEXPO blog is where you can view the latest news and happenings at TMC's leading VoIP conference.
October 2012
You are browsing the archive for October 2012.
IBM Mobility Keynote at ITEXPO
October 16, 2012Michael Tessler Broadsoft Keynote at ITEXPO
October 15, 2012Michael Tessler was one of the few entrepreneurs who was able to start and build an IP communications company from nothing to a billion dollar endeavor. He saw it all from multiple Iraq wars to the dotcom and telecom crash. How did he navigate the turbulent waters to become successful? The video below from StartUp Camp Comms Edition collocated with ITEXPO says it all.
ShoreTel CEO Keynote at ITEXPO 2012
October 15, 2012Peter Blackmore, CEO of ShoreTel had some great thoughts to share with the audience at the recent ITEXPO. Keep in mind ShoreTel is one of the first CPE PBX companies if not the first to make a cloud acquisition – this forward-looking company had great insight to share with the audience at the show.
Vsnap, the Video SMS Alternative Aims to Add Emotion & Video to Short Messages
October 4, 2012Vsnap pitched their short video messaging service, which is aimed as a more personal alternative than SMS, which carries no emotion.
Limited to 60s they offer mobile apps for Android and Apple and it works on PCs, smartphones and tablets. You can send Vsnaps to email addresses as well as directly to your Twitter feed. My front-runner to win my vote in about 10 minutes.
Zello.com touts their social radio at ITEXPO
October 4, 2012Zello describes themselves as social radio during their product pitch at StartupCamp6 at ITEXPO. During the live demo the F bomb was dropped. Reminds me of Chatroulette only it's only audio and no video. Guess the good news is you don't see random penises. Don't think I will vote for this company.
StartupCamp6 Comms Edition at ITEXPO West Kicks-Off
October 4, 2012Michael Tessler shares his experiences on how he became the leader of a billion dollar company as the kick-off to StartupCamp6 at ITEXPO. Here's a picture.
StartupCamp Comms Edition at ITEXPO West 2012 kicks off
October 4, 2012Michael Tessler of Broadsoft shares his experiences from entrepreneur to leader of a billion dollar plus company at StartupCamp 6 Comms edition at ITEXPO in Austin.
Microsoft Lync Pavillion at ITEXPO Features PlayStation 3?
October 4, 2012
I was passing by the huge Microsoft Lync Pavillion at ITEXPO, when my eyes spotted two large screens with a racing game being played in the Microsoft Lync Pavillion. The woman told me it's a timed competition with prizes being given. I fully expected to see a Microsoft Xbox 360 under the TV monitors when what do my eyes see? Two Sony PlayStation 3s - one under each TV. Oh the sweet irony.
See, now when you come to ITEXPO it's not all work and no play. Ok, now back to walking the show floor after I attempt to beat the best racing time!
See, now when you come to ITEXPO it's not all work and no play. Ok, now back to walking the show floor after I attempt to beat the best racing time!
ITEXPO West 2012 Videos
October 4, 2012
Rich Tehrani has some videos posted already. I'll share one below, but if you want to see the rest click here.
E911 on Mobile VoIP is Seriously Broken - Here's How to Fix It
October 3, 2012I moderated an interesting session at ITEXPO on E911 with a focus on cloud-based hosted IP-PBXs. Hosted PBX providers offer their customers significant cost savings and an advanced telephony features while eliminating the need for customers to procure and manage their own communications network infrastructures. However, the need – and regulatory mandate – for emergency services brings with it a host of challenges for these providers, including servicing nomadic users within and beyond the service provider coverage footprint, meeting FCC/CRTC, state and local E911 regulations, and efficiently provisioning and maintaining customer records in 911 databases.
One of the more fascinating discussions revolved around PBX vendors offering their own SIP softphones for mobile devices (iOS, Android, etc.) and it's impact on 911 emergency dialing.
ITEXPO West 2012 Austin Show Set Up Pics
October 3, 2012The ITEXPO exhibit hall will open in a matter of hours. Here are some interesting photos worth sharing so far.
DIGITALK, the One-Stop Shop for Wholesale Carriers & Service Providers
October 3, 2012
AT ITEXPO Paul Bassa, VP Product Marketing gave me an overview of U.K.-based DIGITALK, which offers platform and application products backed by full services support, that offers provisioning, prepaid charging, payments, and carrier routing to minimize operations overheads and maximize service margins. They offer pre-sales consultancy, through installation and commissioning, to worldwide 24x7 SLAs.
They offer a mobile VoIP app on consumer side and allow service providers to white label the app and they help with the Apple iTunes app submission process. The mobile VoIP app has prepaid capabilities built-in, allowing you to simply enter a PIN to activate.
They build all their own products, including their own session border controller (SBC) and can do carrier to carrier routing, management, SIP trunking, wholesale billing, and reporting. They also have a Web API to allow you to build your own portals.
They offer a mobile VoIP app on consumer side and allow service providers to white label the app and they help with the Apple iTunes app submission process. The mobile VoIP app has prepaid capabilities built-in, allowing you to simply enter a PIN to activate.
They build all their own products, including their own session border controller (SBC) and can do carrier to carrier routing, management, SIP trunking, wholesale billing, and reporting. They also have a Web API to allow you to build your own portals.
Two New ITEXPO Giveaways Announces for Wednesday AM
October 2, 2012
Big news for ITEXPO attendees - on top of the $40k+ worth of giveaways I mentioned recently and the media giveaway, there will be two new iPad giveaways at the keynotes on Wednesday morning. One will be given out after the ShoreTel keynote and another after IBM.
Just drop business cards at the door when you enter keynote in Ballroom A, be there by 8:45 am, Wed, Oct 3rd to get a decent seat and you need to be present to win.
Here are the details of the giveaway as well as the keynotes.
Just drop business cards at the door when you enter keynote in Ballroom A, be there by 8:45 am, Wed, Oct 3rd to get a decent seat and you need to be present to win.
Here are the details of the giveaway as well as the keynotes.
Toopher Two-Factor Authentication Leverages Mobile Phone Location
October 2, 2012I met with Toopher's Josh Alexander, Co-founder & CEO to discuss their two-factor authentication platform. He explained their their two-factor authentication is drop-dead simple leveraging your mobile phone's location - pulling location data from GPS, 3G/4G triangulation, and Wi-Fi, which usually grants accuracy of at least a couple hundred feet even when indoors.
Two-factor authentication is nothing new - Google for instance offers two-factor authentication by sending you a SMS to your mobile phone with a PIN to authenticate your device. Of course, I experienced an issue with Google's YouTube two-factor authentication because my house has poor cell signal and I didn't receive the SMS. Josh told me that's why there is a pretty low adoption rates of many competing two-part authentication methods.
Novus Distributes First Enhanced Media Gateway for Microsoft Lync Server 2013
October 2, 2012Novus, a boutique telecommunications and IP distributor serving value-added resellers throughout North America, announced today the distribution of Ferrari electronic’s OfficeMaster Gate media gateway featuring recently released firmware that supports the new features of the next generation Microsoft Lync Server 2013, including the IPv6 protocol. Novus is the official distributor of Ferrari electronic products for the North American market.
Ferrari electronic worked in close collaboration with the Microsoft Lync product team in Redmond, Washington to develop the new firmware for the OfficeMaster Gate media gateway and it has been rigorously tested at Microsoft over the last few months. The new firmware from Ferrari electronic was released to coincide with the availability of the Lync 2013 Preview on July 16, 2012.
“Ferrari electronic is currently the only European manufacturer of an enhanced gateway certified for Microsoft Lync Server 2010, and it’s the first manufacturer to integrate its gateway with Lync Server 2013,” said Novus Managing Partner Chris Meehan. “This creates a compelling value proposition for resellers because they can install software-based OfficeMaster Gate gateway cards now as proof of concepts and deliver a highly scalable gateway solution with a tremendous ROI to small and medium-sized businesses looking for Lync migration solutions.”
Novus offers the Ferrari electronic OfficeMaster Gate media gateway and OfficeMaster SBA survivable branch appliance to resellers in flexible configurations as either appliances or PCI boards.
“Resellers will find the licensing options particularly appealing, since they can optionally configure gateway and survivable branch appliance functionality on a single card to reduce power consumption, minimize rack space and further reduce costs while benefitting from ongoing improvements through firmware upgrades that are free of charge within the current revision,” added Meehan.
To further incentivize resellers to deploy the Lync Server 2013-ready OfficeMaster Gate media gateway, Novus is announcing a free comprehensive private training program for resellers who sign up to carry the Ferrari electronic products.
RCA Makes Android IP Phones? Who Knew?
October 2, 2012
I'm here at ITEXPO in Austin, Texas, a leading communications tradeshow, when what do my wondering eyes see? An email promotion from RCA promoting their new Android-based IP phones - the RCA IP150, RCA IP120 and the RCA IP110. Here's a screenshot of part of the email:
When I think of RCA my nostalgia kicks in and I think of two things, both of which are antiquated technologies.
One, I think of my grandparents huge TV inside a wooden frame that sat of the floor. Nowadays you hang up your flat-screen TV and the TV never touches the floor.
Two, I think back to my dad's Elvis Presley "Hound Dog" RCA record with the cool logo of dog with its mouth aimed inside the record player, similar to this Elvis vinyl record:
As a 6-year old kid I assumed the RCA dog was because the song on the record was "Hound Dog".
When I think of RCA my nostalgia kicks in and I think of two things, both of which are antiquated technologies.
One, I think of my grandparents huge TV inside a wooden frame that sat of the floor. Nowadays you hang up your flat-screen TV and the TV never touches the floor.
Two, I think back to my dad's Elvis Presley "Hound Dog" RCA record with the cool logo of dog with its mouth aimed inside the record player, similar to this Elvis vinyl record:
As a 6-year old kid I assumed the RCA dog was because the song on the record was "Hound Dog".
A Journalist Will Win a Kindle at ITEXPO in Austin This Week
October 1, 2012A note from the ITEXPO PR firm for all media and analysts I thought worth sharing:
We’re looking forward to having you join us at ITEXPO at the Austin Convention Center next week. Here are a few notes to ensure you have a great show:
- Tweet from ITEXPO and you could win a Kindle! The registered press/analyst with the most individual Tweets between October 2 and October 5 citing the hashtag #ITEXPO will win a Kindle!
More ITEXPO West 2012 Set Up
October 1, 2012
The entrance unit to the exhibit hall at ITEXPO
West 2012 in Austin is being set up and also, here is an important sign detailing tons of free communicatons and technology info at the conference.
ITEXPO West 2012 Austin Interview with TMC President
October 1, 2012
Dave Rodriguez who leads my team at TMC discusses some of the important areas worth knowing about at this week's ITEXPO here in Austin, TX.
ITEXPO West 2012 Austin Behind the Scenes
October 1, 2012
An admittedly boring behind the scenes look at how a trade show is set up. It takes days to set a big event like this up and thy can rip the whole thing down in a matter of hours.
ITEXPO West 2012 Austin Overview
October 1, 2012ITEXPO is kicking off this week - my team is diligently setting everything up at the Austin Convention Center here in Texas. Here is some important information about the show. Hope to see you here.
October 2-5, 2012
Austin Convention Center - Austin, Texas
www.itexpo.com
ITEXPO Kicks Off Tomorrow!
Asterisk 1-2-3 begins tomorrow at 9am, additional conference sessions begin at 12:30pm.
