February 2009 Archives

Did you notice who's taking over? I did on Newsweaver.co.uk site.

Check Wikipedia's definition and description of Universal Service Fund and Systems.

True... because of this Universal Service Fund my Dad who lives in a small country town in Florida, USA now has DSL for the first time.  

It's in Japan ...

"What is the Universal Service System?
This is a system that mandates telecommunications carriers including NTT Communications to bear part of the expenses required for ensuring that universal services such as the subscriber phones, etc. provided by NTT East and NTT West are made available fairly and stably throughout all of Japan. The burden is calculated based on part of the costs for subscriber lines (basic fees) in high-cost regions such as outlying islands and mountainous areas, and the deficit created by Type 1 public phones."

It's in the USA ...

"The goals of Universal Service, as mandated by the 1996 Act, are to:

• Promote the availability of quality services at just, reasonable and affordable rates for all consumers
• Increase nationwide access to advanced telecommunications services
• Advance the availability of such services to all consumers, including those in low income, rural, insular, and high cost areas at rates that are reasonably comparable to those charged in urban areas
• Increase access to telecommunications and advanced services in schools, libraries and rural health care facilities
• Provide equitable and non-discriminatory contributions from all providers of telecommunications services to the fund supporting universal service programs

 

 

As you may know, Inc.com is accepting applications for the 2009 Inc. 500|5000 fastest-
growing companies award. The deadline for applications is March 31, 2009. But the Inc.com network of elite private companies is alerted to a special "Inc. Insider" opportunity: Companies that apply to the Inc. 500|5000 before 11:59 pm, E.S.T., on February 28 will be entered in a drawing to win one FREE INC. 500|5000 CONFERENCE AND AWARDS PACKAGE, which includes airfare, admission, and hotel accommodations for the Inc. 500|5000 Conference and Awards Ceremony, which will be held September 23, 24, and 25 near Washington, D.C. The winner will be announced in the next IncBizNet newsletter.

Now, that's cool.

TO APPLY:
If you applied last year, or you are already a member of IncBizNet, log-in to IncBizNet
here: http://www.incbiznet.com/user/login.

Otherwise, please click here: http://www.apply5000.com/.

Take a look some of the list's winners in 2008 at http://www.inc.com/inc5000/.

What about the telecommunications industry? http://www.inc.com/inc5000/2008/lists/telecommunications-companies.html

Our company's DIDXchange is an Inc.com 5000 application partner, and I personally hope to see you on this year's Inc. 500|5000 list and among your fast-growing peers at the Inc. 500|5000 Conference!

Looking for an alternative to Paypal and other online banking services to receive payments from your customers? Any international customer can make a payment to your company.

The only countries that they do not support are: North Korea, Cuba, Sudan, Afghanistan, Iran,
Myanmar, Nigeria. (I thought they are international? Just asking...)

Please note that your US customers have to pay you through your Merchant Gateway because currently they do not accept new registrations from US residents. The reason for this, they say, is that they are currently improving their services and products for the US market.

While traveling the planet, I meet many wholesale companies who are involved in IP communications. Many are into adding video, mobile, DID/DDI, etc. The problem is... who to consult with when they can't afford to hire a full-time technical support staff to leverage these technologies.

For personal professional consulting and guidance to use DIDX.net through the seller or buyer API, completing interop and more, check out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQd82W5sr-4 where Max Glucksmann, DIDX integrator explains in Spanish. He is available to help out. Just ping him on any of the business networking tools GoogleTalk, Skype, Facebook, Linkedin and more.

 

En Español...

Para todos aquellos que esten interesados en vender telefonia de VoIP, DIDs o tarjetas prepagadas, Max Glucksmann tambien los puede asistir en:
- Numeros Telefonicos: Registro en http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http://didx.net
- Servicio VoIP: Registro en http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http://comtel-http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http://networks.com
- Construccion y desarrollo de website y GUI.
- Instalacion y desarrollo de PBX (Asterisk).
- Asistencia Legal en creacion de compania de telecomunicaciones registrada en PSC y FCC.

Comunicarse por medio de: maxglucksmann@http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http://comtel-http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http://networks.com

I'm always pleasantly surprised at the ability of TMC to bring together every piece of the puzzle of monetizing IP communications. There is less talk of VoIP is dead, where is the innovation, and mash-ups. Instead, it's all about reality and encouraging a variety of entities to meet each other and do business.

Example 1: Miami Herald is at ITEXPO East the past few years, and this year, the group informed me that they are buying from other exhibitors and their own sales of the paper online and offline subscriptions increase at each show. They will be back!

Example 2: I met IPiFony at a small WISP conference called ISPCON in San Jose, CA in November 2008 and was impressed with the level of knowledge of the history, current status, and future thinking of IP communications of the company Matthew Hardeman. I encouraged them to exhibit at ITEXPO East this year, and they did, and what a success. I think you'll be seeing Matthew give some new easy to understand insight in presentations at future conferences. I interviewed him a few times and have the videos on Youtube, here and on Viddler. I showed my Dad who from there started giving his own presentations in his little rural Northwest Florida town to other senior citizens about technology and VoIP.

Example 3: Listen to my short interview with Carrie Childs at

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8P49Pw1JMQ! She represents the South Florida Technology Alliance and Lindsay Group, Inc. based in Ft Lauderdale, Florida. SFTA is an organization, a forum, that brings to together technology professionals to learn and share best practices several times each month. The Lindsay Group, Inc. is a woman-owned business that provides national employment solutions specifically related to technology, accounting, finance, and marketing. They have 20 years experience. Their websites are http://www.southfloridatech.org/ and http://www.lindsaygroupinc.com.

The next ITEXPO is like Go West, young man for your gold, and it's scheduled for

October 27-29, 2009
Los Angeles Convention
Center in Los Angeles, CA

 

What have I seen? What have I heard in a few discussions both as part of and ... our favorite... eavesdropping.

Skype will come pre-installed on Nokia cell phones that start with an "N."

Complaints about the same things: mobile pricing needs to be easy and transparent to understand for the consumer. Batteries lose their charge too quickly. Most web pages are not easy to view. Even when they are easy to view, they are often exactly that... view only ... no ability to enter text or click on anything. The desktop/laptop view is definitely more interactive, i.e., Facebook, banks, Quickbooks, eBay, etc. 

Dialog Telekom will set up 10 solar and wind-powered base stations in Sri Lanka.

Paul, Brook and I discussed the green technology solutions with one of their competitors. He stated that they are targeting emerging countries. We asked him if they are working with any non-profit organizations. He said, "Not yet."

There was much talk on mobile banking and ... I still don't get it... video, watching it via the "net." What is the statistic? I'm talking about the number of people who can afford to watch video on mobile and who have service in an area that can offer it? 

(4G Wireless Evolution, a conference in collaboration with ITEXPO in Miami this past year was a great experience.)

We met several companies outside of GSMA conference hours at receptions, parties, Tweetups, and dinners. We liked these:

Bernard Wiegmann of http://www.wib-software.de who lives near CeBIT!

Vic Shroff of http://www.3cinteractive.com from Boca Raton, Fl.

Peter Lindgren of http://www.mobiledocuments.com from Stockholm. That's in RebTel territory.

Tomas Zeman of http://www.wirenode.com from Czech Republic.

Robin Puthli of http://www.itude.com from the Netherlands.

Carlos Tabaoada of http://www.webmob-ad.com from Miami, FL.

Rob and Ilene Adler of http://www.pr-vantage.com of California. I met this smart couple the first time at NXTCOMM 2008 and will see them again at now called SUPERCOMM 2009 in Chicago.

Alessandro Pace of http://www.biskero.com from Italy.

Teresa Ostman of http://www.wipconnector.com from British Columbia.

Milena Djuricic of http://www.google.com from Greece.

Georges de La Ville-Bauge of www.level134.com and TwitRSS.

Hasta luego. I'm heading off to Day 4 of GSMA Mobile World Congress 2009 in Barcelona, Spain.


 

Yes, you can! I was thinking about Omar Chohan of SACS International, a DIDX partner, who I recently interviewed on their smart use of Blackberry RIM with their IP PBX. 

I opened Quickbooks online because it is time to settle 2008. I see that you can use Quickbooks view only on a Blackberry. Might come in handy if you're in the middle of an elevator speech to an angel investor and want to impress them with your balance sheet.

How to get started
You can browse and agree the beta agreement at  https://sc.accounting.quickbooks.com/Update/index.cfm?id=40

Open your Blackberry browser.

Select Go To... from the browser menu and enter: https://accounting.quickbooks.com/m

What CAN you do with it?
View read-only versions of: 

• Accounts receivable and payable
• Vendor, customer and employee lists
• Bank account and credit card balances
• Balance sheet and Profit & Loss reports
• QuickBooks Online contact information, which works with your BlackBerry to make calls, create emails, and even look up addresses using Google^TM Maps

Some advice given includes...

• Enable style sheets in your browser settings
• Set your browser font to 6 or 7 points

Happy monetizing.

Listen on Qik to some of Jon's presentation on 2009 Technology Suvival Roadmap, SIP Trunking and Beyond during SIP Forum's sessions at ITEXPO East 2009.

I've been working in the lobby of Royal Palm Resort in Miami Beach since 5:30 AM. Love the free wifi and my trusty Starbuck's grande coffee of the day with 2 packets of natural sugar. A second person, a gentleman in a long-sleeved black t-shirt sits down to work on his laptop. I ask him, "You wouldn't happen to be here for a conference, would you?"

"Yes, ITEXPO," with a nice smile... it's Steven Johnson, president of inGate. 

You know who they are... the ones who are offering the powerful free SIP Trunking workshops Feb. 2-5, 2009 during ITEXPO.

Featured this season:

• Step-by-step, interactive sessions to
  illustrate the what, why and how of
  SIP trunking architecture
• Carrier-specific seminars; IP-PBX
  seminars as well
• Case studies to delve deeper into the issues
• ROI-focused sessions: the value proposition
  of SIP trunks
• SIP Trunking Boot Camp for "Basic Training"
  on SIP trunk installations

Security sessions with VOIPSA (think Dan York) will discuss VoIP and SIP trunk security.

Attendees can earn a SIP Trunking Professional Certificate by participating in the Professional Development Program on the first day of the Show.

It pays to get up early. I'm Suzanne Bowen from DIDX, a supporting organization sponsor, bowling party sponsor during ITEXPO, and exhibitor at ITEXPO. Sign up to participate in ITEXPO now at http://www.tmcnet.com/voip/conference/east-09/e-09-registration.aspx.