October 2008 Archives

According to Alex Muse, DSLReports and GigaOm, Cogent and Sprint de-peered this morning in a tiff of some kind.  Cogent claimed this year that it was settlement free - coupled with its roots in the PSInet backbone network made it a Tier 1 provider. Cogent has had issues with other backbones including Level3 and Telia.

Cogent is incensed at the move,saying it violates a contractual obligation to exchange internet traffic on a settlement-free peering basis, and is taking legal action. It wants Sprint-Nextel to re-establish the link on the same basis.

So Cogent decided to make an offer:

Cogent is taking the moral high ground, and offering every Sprint-Nextel wireline customer that can't connect to Cogent's customers a free 100MBps internet connection until Sprint reconnects, though it says it can't do the same for wireless users. [IT examiner]

The Federal Communications Commission issued regulations this week for voice-over-IP service providers to offer Enhanced 911 emergency call services to all customers. The rules were required under the New and Emerging Technologies 911 Improvement Act of 2008, which was signed into law in July.

DUTIES.--It shall be the duty of each IP-enabled voice service provider to provide 9-1-1 service and enhanced 9-1-1 service to its subscribers in accordance with the requirements of the Federal Communications Commission, as in effect on the date of enactment of the New and Emerging Technologies 911 Improvement Act of 2008 and as such requirements may be modified by the Commission from time to time.

USA Today has an article about airfare for the holidays hitting $1000 for domestic coach (plus fees). As a frequent traveler, I can say that the airlines need to go under - no more bail out. We gave them billions after 9/11 and they ended up in BK court anyway. These companies do not understand business nor customer service.

Why don't they just charge what the seat costs? It's a basic math equation. Southwest can do it. Why can't the bailed out bloated legacy carriers? I thought only in CLEC-Land did people price underwater.

Almost 75% of my flights in the last year have been delayed. Some was weather; some mechanical; and others who knows. It's always something. Again, a lot like an installation date in telecom.

Then there are schedule changes. Three of my last six flights changed, including Delta changing a direct flight to LA to a 1-stop (with no chance to get a refund). AirTran and JetBlue changing my flight times as well.

The airlines have tacked on so many fees*. (You have no idea what the final cost of the flight will be until it is over and you add it up - curbside check-in, baggage fees, etc.). Why would you charge to check bags? You should be encouraging it so that you can turn the planes around faster.  However, you lose a lot of luggage and people can't risk that. Plus when you do lose the one in 138 bags, airlines just don't care -- and have no responsibility or liability.  We taxpayers have forked up billions to keep these dinosaurs alive without getting any improvements. Why? Every hear of RFID tagging? How about plain old logistics and tracking?

(*Again, telecom has a ton of fees. More and more clients are asking me what the total bill will be for a circuit including taxes and fees. I actually have no idea. there are thousands of rate centers and taxing bodies. Plus some of VoIP has taxes and fees; some doesn't. Some of Internet is taxed and some is not. No way to know.)

If I want to switch flights, but checked a bag, it's a no-go. So you can track that, but not my bag? Makes no sense.  Passengers rights? HA! Hardly. Look here and here.

The concept of customer service is so lost on these unionized employees that it galls me. But dare you say anything and they will call security. It was annoying at $400 per coach ticket; but at $500 or higher, they better re-think their attitude because they may be standing in line next to a lot of former financial or telecom  folks soon (in the unemployment line).  (In telecom, it doesn't matter which Duopoly you choose, many folks consider the customer service horrible. CS reps may not be able to be helpful, but they will try to upsell you.)

Like a monopoly, the airlines have you in a gotcha situation. But why more passengers don't plan ahead is beyond me. When you procrastinate, it costs more. If you go home to family at Thanksgiving, why wouldn't you have bought your ticket already? If you are going to ISPCON, why haven't you booked that ticket already?

Video conferencing will take a bite out of travel. Logitech just bought SightSpeed. Video conferencing will see an uptick.

Conferences are in trouble. How many small business owners are going to drop an additional $600 for the cost of a trip? Not many I know. The shows are going to have to adopt. There are way too many shows in telecommunications. It isn't just the show owners, but exhibitors. Companies that are going to exhibit need to become creative. Make product announcements. Do roll-outs. Add value. Make appointments ahead of the show. Double down at the show - maybe a sales meeting at the conference. There are a lot of ways to drive booth traffic and to showcase your company at a show, but most companies have not made the effort. A big, loud booth only goes so far. Don't hire former airline personnel to man your booth. You need excited, passionate people to engage the audience.

That's enough ranting for one morning.

Notice I didn't even mention the annoyance of the worthless security lines?

SightSpeed is a great video conferencing tool. No software to download. Just plug in your webcam and go. It is based on SIP and offers 30 frame-per-second video with an integrated IM service.

Logitech makes webcams. Apparently to sell more of them, they need people to actually use them. (To use them for more than amateur porn that is). So Logitech bought SightSpeed.

Logitech, a Swiss maker of computer peripherals has acquired video conferencing software maker SightSpeed of Berkeley, Calif. for approximately $30 million in cash. The deal is expected to close sometime in November. [NY Times]

Congrats to

from today's HARO:

"The Telecom Council of Silicon Valley is now accepting applications to present to their Investor Forum on December 5th, location in Silicon Valley (TBA).

 Over the past 6 years, 50% of presenters to our Service Provider and Investor Forums have started talks with our members and 20% of those lead to a deal.
This Quarterly Investor Forum meeting attendees include both the Service Provider and Investor members of the Telecom Council who gather for one purpose - to invest in new telecom technologies and companies. As a start-up in the telecom industry, there is no better room to be in, and no better audience to pitch to. In addition to providing high level networking and quality investment opportunities to our forum members, another one of the Telecom Councils goals is to help interesting start-ups kick start their business development cycles. For an idea of who to expect at our December meeting, past attendees include AT&T, Sprint, Orange, Vodafone and many more.

It is free to apply and applications to present to the 12/5 Investor Forum will be accepted until 11/8. Please submit requests at:
http://www.telecomcouncil.com/speakers.php
All applications are reviewed by the Investor Forum steering committee, and companies selected to present will be notified on November 10. Presenter registration is free for Telecom Council members, or $500 for non-members.
Feel free to contact Liz Kerton for more information on the forum, liz (at) telecomcouncil.com."

According to Businessweek, telecom could get squeezed by the credit crunch - and Sprint could get hurt the most."To start with, rising capital costs are likely to take a bite out of earnings. In addition, the softening economy will probably crimp demand for such telecom services as land lines, cell phones, and Internet connections."

AT&T sounded the first warning signal in late September, when CEO Randall Stephenson said the telecom giant was unable to sell commercial paper for terms longer than overnight. AT"T is the industry's biggest user of commercial paper, with about $8.5 billion in paper outstanding at the end of June.

Although Verizon is not a big player in the commercial paper market, it does have $7 billion of debt coming up for renewal in 2009. The company also needs to borrow another $22 billion to pay for its acquisition of wireless carrier Alltel Wireless....

Sprint is the most leveraged carrier. It holds a junk bond rating and its ratio of debt to earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (or EBITDA) is expected to reach 3.2, Bernstein's Moffett says.

And again, these companies building out 3G and 4G networks with massive backhauls at a huge cost while revenues are dipping. How does that math work?

There is a lot of activity in the International arena. Here are some highlights:

• Vodacom is acquiring Gateway Communications in West and Central Africa. 
• C&W is partnering with Vietnam Data Communications Company and BSNL in India.  
• France Telecom (Orange) acquired 51% of Telkom Kenya. 
• Telefonica now has a 9.9% stake in China Netcom. 
• XO reaches into China with China Netcom. 
• Google, Liberty Media and others are launching 03b, a satellite internet service that will consist of a cluster of 16 satellites delivering wholesale internet access to Asia, Africa, Mid-East, and Latin America.
• Verizon and Google are launching  Trans-Pacific cable (separately).

That's the round up in a nutshell (thanks to Capacity magazine).

Washington, D.C. - October 27, 2008 - Many Americans, especially those living in rural areas have never had affordable broadband Internet access.  In a letter filed with the FCC last week, WISPA, the Wireless Internet Service Providers Association (www.wispa.org), showed the FCC how it can make valuable TV White Space spectrum available for new services.  The FCC is scheduled to vote on November 4 on how this spectrum can be used after the DTV transition occurs in February 2009.

WISPA offered a detailed "licensed-lite" solution for unused TV channels.  Unlike expensive spectrum auctions and "noisy" unlicensed spectrum, the "licensed-lite" approach relies on a spectrum sharing system that enables all users to operate without interference.  It would benefit the public by allowing the development of new and innovative types of unlicensed broadband devices and services.  It would also benefit WISPs by improving the service range of their existing networks, thereby allowing WISPs to reach new customers.  WISPA's proposal also ensures that consumers will continue to receive over-the-air television signals without interference.

Rick Harnish, WISPA's President, said "We believe adoption of our "licensed-lite" proposal will stimulate rural economies around the nation by enabling low cost ubiquitous broadband service from local and regional operators.  Children growing up in small towns deserve the same opportunities created by broadband adoption as those children in metropolitan areas.  Small businesses and rural entrepreneurs are the lifeblood of a growing economy and we encourage the FCC Commissioners to do their part in reviving Rural America."

Jack Unger, WISPA Secretary and Chair of WISPA's FCC Committee, added, "We believe that there are enough White Space frequencies for all wireless users to share, without creating interference. Our "licensed-lite" proposal adopts a "common-ground" approach that benefits all users without relying on controversial "spectrum-sensing" techniques.  Our technical solution uses a geolocation database that makes frequency sharing work. We urge the FCC Commissioners to adopt our "licensed-lite" proposal at their November 4th meeting because we believe it truly represents a "win-win" solution for all parties."

Since 2004, over 30,000 comments have been filed with the FCC suggesting how the White Space frequencies should be used.  Broadcasters want to be sure that new White Space users will not create interference with television reception.  Silicon Valley firms favor unlicensed use for personal/portable devices that would rely on the controversial "sensing" technologies opposed by broadcasters.  WISPA's "licensed-lite" approach represents a middle-of-the road solution that accommodates all of these interests.

[The ex-parte  notice is here]

FOR MORE INFORMATION - CONTACT:

• Jack Unger, Chair WISPA FCC Committee  818-227-4220
• Stephen Coran, Principal, Rini Coran, PC  202-463-4310

More on the issue here.

Jack Welch was on This Week with George talking about the economic crisis. He said that by 3Q09 we will see the light at the end of the tunnel. There are many pieces of the bail-out that have yet to be put in place. Things will get worse in the next couple of quarters and then improve by 2010.

That means we will be hearing "I'll save you money" as the pitch for the next year - even more than we do now. I don't think it will work.  As I told the Adtran-XO Partner audience on Thursday, businesses will be looking more at productivity -- how to do more with less. An example would be that with IP-PBX or Hosted PBX, you may be able to let that admin go (or not re-fill the position).

It will require patience, persistence, and paying attention. Salespeople will need to do solution selling, using probing questions to get at the pain points before they will be successful.

It also means that salespeople will need to be speaking to the C-Level, since most other folks may see a technology upgrade (or change) as a threat to their job. Think about the IT Director and the Telecom Manager; when the networks converge one of them is redundant.

The sales cycle will get longer. Networking and referrals will be as key as persistent yet creative follow-up.  It is also a time when companies will need to shore up their top customers.  It's going to be a long year, but watch for the light in the tunnel. (And hope it isn't a train.)

The FCC is holding a meeting on Nov. 4. On the agenda: Inter-Carrier Compensation, Alltel-VZ merger, Clearwire-Sprint merger, and a vote of White Spaces. Lots of heavy lifting on this agenda. Martin wants to give his pals at VZ one more gift before he goes.

The VZ-Alltel merger is big, but the topic that can really rock telecom is the Inter-carrier Comp issue, which has been a stagnant FCC docket for years.

If companies can show high costs, they will continue to benefit from the subsidy program. Martin also wants to eliminate wireless providers' right to claim government subsidies for offering service in hard-to-reach areas. Martin wants all companies, wireless included, to show they have incurred losses in providing rural service before they can collect the subsidy. Without those changes, Martin worries that the subsidy fund will collapse of its own weight and rates will go up anyhow. [CNN]

It depends want the Compromise looks like -- and it will be a large compromise. Democrats want one thing. Republicans another. Cellcos versus Wireline. Rural versus Urban. Inter-Carrier Comp even bleeds into the USF issue. How? Because rural carriers count on both Universal Service Fund subsidies AND rather high call termination charges to keep afloat.

Why now? The ISP inter-carrier comp rule has been in court for six years. Earlier this year, the DC Court ruled that the FCC had to get off the pot:

The court set the deadline for an order from the FCC at November 5, 2008, six months from the date of oral argument, stated it will not grant an extension and warned that if an appropriate order is not timely issued, it will vacate the interim inter-carrier compensation rules.

Consumer groups are against another largess for the monopolies at the expense of the ratepayers.

The head of the Federal Communications Commission wants a massive overhaul of the fees that phone companies pay each other when they connect calls. Supporters say the reforms will help fund improved broadband Internet access for rural America, but consumer advocates question how much the plan will raise people's phone bills. "This could be potentially a billion-dollar giveaway to phone monopolies, paid for out of consumers' pocketbooks," said Chris Murray, an attorney with Consumers Union. [AP]

Intercarrier comp is how the various phone companies pay each other for traffic. VoIP providers and cellular carriers, especially Sprint, would like a fairer shake. The old RBOCs would like the Rural LEC's to stop getting so much money. (see Free Conference services not getting paid by RBOCs).

The National Telecommunications Cooperative Association, which represents small phone carriers, told FCC officials earlier this month that a new rate of $0.0007 per minute puts many of their members' livelihoods at risk.

And then there is the White Spaces issue. When broadcasters make the DTV transition in 1Q09, there will be unused spectrum that the Wireless World would like to use for its own bandwidth needs. However, due to bleed over (interference) with cordless microphones and other broadcasting devices, the NAB is opposed. [see dailywireless]

All of this is at one meeting while America votes.

Nuvox is out kicking tires to see who they can buy. Rumor has it that Greenville-based Nuvox is looking to buy One Communications in the Northeast to expand their footprint, especially their MPLS reach. (I didn't know Nuvox sold MPLS. I thought they were just a cheap Integrated T1 supplier).

Rumor also has it that One Comm. is having problems. Provisioning being one of them, which usually leads to sales declining. Customers don't like install issues and neither do agents, since it costs them time - time they need to be out selling to make up for the shrinking commissions. (The shrinking commissions correlate to the shrinking prices).

Nuvox is coming off its merger with FDN last year that created a good amount of internal strife as former Nuvox folks didn't relate well to FDN people. Maybe that has been straightened out. Here's hoping another merger will have better integration.

UPDATE: In another rumor, it's Nuvox will get bought by XO to increase its VoIP customer base. (And because privately held Nuvox has debt coming due end of 2008).

When I say that word - Differentiation - in a space like VoIP with 1100 providers, what does it mean?

Marketing is about stories. Not stories about your boring tech, but stories about what the consumer can do with your tech. For the most part, the technology works, but why would anyone use it?

Blackberries were the first prolific smartphone for business users. Execs thumbing away at the airport after listening to voicemails. A long comes Voicemail to email and Bingo no more typing, just forward the message with the attached wav file and delegate.

Tell me a story about how tele-workers or virtual offices can be managed remotely with call monitoring, call recording, and ACD stats with a Hosted PBX solution. Now I have a case study and I have something concrete to wrap my head around when talking to prospects. As a telecom sales agent, I need solutions not features. I need to know how any of the 130+ features of Broadsoft can result in productivity or TCO or ROI for a prospect. I need a case study. A story. Something specific. Like how you can monitor remote workers to see if they are making the calls and doing their job.

When you tell me that I can add a second business line to my cell phone for $5 a month, well, now I have a story to tell the small business owner. The light bulb has gone off in my head.

Taking a call on any phone I am standing near, being able to transfer my cell phone call to any landline, now that is a specific message I can carry to the marketplace. It's a cool tool for contractors who work for different employers. Now you have delivered a real follow-me number.

We are approaching the point when a phone number will call a person, not a location, desktop or home.  That's what Presence is all about, right?  Stop playing phone tag and get some work done.

This is differentiation. This is also marketing. Creating a story to spread. Designing a clear, concise message about the benefit of the tech feature. (By the way, this all came about from a call I was having with Eric Thomas, CEO of FreedomVoice and Newber.)

BarCamp Tampa Bay was held this weekend at USF College of Business. Over 350 people pre-registered for this Un-conference. (Don't know what a BarCamp is? See BarCamp.org.)

Ours was just one of 4 worldwide this weekend - South Africa, Houston, Little Rock and Tampa Bay.  The whole idea behind BarCamp is that everyone shares, learns, participates. It is engaging. There isn't an agenda - until the morning of, when the participants design it. We had 3 or more rooms going with over 60 people giving talks, some as short as my 7 minutes on the Triumvirate of the Consultant. The longest was 2 hours on Drupal. Adobe was there to talk about Flex both days, which resulted in a rant about Flex and Advertising issues and a suggestion to try Adobe Flex hosting with Influxis because you can do webinars from the platform too.

Other topics: Twitter (5-6 sessions, including metrics and research tools); Blogging; Podcasting; Python; RubyonRails; Second Life; iPhone development, and a voice app. Gavin Stark put the schedule on the mobile web AND wrapped it in an Asterisk app (with Ruby?) so that if you dialed the conference phone number, the schedule was read to you. How cool is that?

BarCampTampaBay was a huge success. How do I know this?

1. The main room was empty except for lunch and breaks -- everyone was in the session rooms. That means Engagement, which is the Holy Grail of event planning.
2. People were asking when the next one was - AND offering to help.

BTW, plenty of noise on twitter and pics/video around, just look for barcampatampa.

It's been all over the blogosphere this morning (GigaOm, Om again, Bear, Alley): Sequoia Capital is worried. They have given advice to all their portfolio companies. Here's some of it:

• The Good Times are Over!
• Cut spending. Cut fat. Preserve capital.
• Focus on quality.
• Reduce risk.
• Make sure you have one year's worth of cash.
• If you have a product, reduce expenses around it and boost sales. If the product is ready, cut the number of engineers.
• Be brutal when it comes to marketing -- anything that isn't working, cut it.
• Don't burn through your cash, for cash is king.
• Cut base salaries on sales people and leverage them with upside.
• Most importantly, be true to yourself.

It means that you have to be lean and focused to get through the next 2 years. Get started now!<

In a discussion on LinkedIn, it seems that IMS (IP Multimedia Subsystem) isn't killing it in terms of measuring up to the hype. According to Ericsson, an IMS proponent and vendor,

"IMS is defined by 3GPP/3GPP2 as a new core and service 'domain' that enables the convergence of data, speech and network technology over an IP-based infrastructure. It is the operator choice of control and service logic for primarily IP/packet-based person-to-person communication but also for person-to-content communication.

For users, IMS-based services will enable communications in a variety of modes - including voice, text, pictures and video, or any combination of these - in a highly personalized and secure way.

The most widely deployed application on IMS are: Instant Messaging, Presence, Push-To-Talk and Video Sharing. There is lackluster customer appeal so far.

IMS was supposed to help to be like cartilage between the legacy telecom architecture and IP-based next gen systems. It was supposed to reduce OPEX and enable new services quickly to the end users. Likely that has not all been worked out yet, although SKT and AT&T are working on it.

Informa's IMS Conference is next month. Here's one guy's preview.