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| Peter Radizeski of RAD-INFO, Inc. talking telecom, Cloud, VoIP, CLEC, and The Channel.

May 2011

You are browsing the archive for May 2011.

Are VAR's the New Agent?

May 27, 2011

The Channel seems to be turning their back on the traditional telecom agent. All eyes are on the VAR space. Even Master Agents are out chasing the VAR's. (For example, Telephony Partners has a white paper out to explain why VAR's should work with a master agent like TP.)

From talks with cable execs, it appears that the traditional telecom agent scares the C-suite at the Duopoly.

Crazy News Tidbits

May 27, 2011

"The U.S. Postal Service continues to hemorrhage money, posting a net loss of $747 million in April, and an accumulated net loss of $3.3 billion in the first seven months of its fiscal year." [BtoB] That's crazy! It is time to privatize the USPS and maybe people have to go pickup their own mail.

This guy was so mad at TW Cable that he took out full page ads to yell at them!

The State of VoIP

May 24, 2011

Seems passe to be writing about VoIP, but that's the overarching theme of this post. What is happening in the VoIP world?

Microsoft bought Skype and announced today that Skype for Asterisk will be shuttered. Yep, looks like Skype will be for LINC, maybe a few select partners, and maybe a reborn Response Point program.

TDCloud Joins the Fray

May 19, 2011

We have seen the hardware distributors moving into the cloud space. We saw that SYNNEX launched Cloud SolvUC as a unified communications play. According to the PR, the first nationwide cloud UC product. Umm, just from that marketing spin alone, I would suspect that SYNNEX did not have its finger on the pulse of this space.

The ATT-T-Mobile Merger Rumors

May 19, 2011

Originally I had heard that the break-up fee was $3B, which meant (to me) that this deal was going to go through. Then there were reports it was $6B, which means there is no stopping it. (And let's not forget that AT&T cooperates nicely with the NSA and other government groups, who will put pressure on to allow this merger to go through.)

The Congressional hearings last week, where Stephenson basically said that although AT&T has a lot of spectrum, they have mismanaged that spectrum. Nice. So the whole industry pays for your mistakes?

Anyway rumor today is that AT&T will offer up wireline divestiture as a merger condition.



Quota Part Deux

May 18, 2011

Quota is a big deal. It's what salespeople and management sweat and stress over every month. There are a few pieces that can make this easier to handle, especially for the management.

One is Support.

Sales Quota Part 1

May 18, 2011

According to an article in INC magazine, "The report found that on average, only about 50 percent of sales reps made their quota, and more than 42 percent of companies reported that less than 50 percent of reps were meeting or exceeding their quota." Feedback I received on this is that the quota is too high. Well, if half the folks can meet quota, is it really too high?

One thing that few understand about quota is that it isn't about being an arbitrary number set by upper management to meet Wall Street numbers. Sales quota should be set during performance reviews via an agreement between the salesperson and management.

InterOp InterNAP Rumor (is False)

May 12, 2011

At InterOp in Vegas this morning, there is talk that InterNAP shut down its network. It has closed its peering points and going to focus on its cloud strategy of data centers and managed services.  I'll have to work on confirming it.

UPDATE: My clients - at least 3 - who use InterNAP say that it is up and running still - even the peering points. So the rumor is false.

UPDATE from email:  Internap, AS22212, will be leaving NOTA on May 6, 2011.  



Why Accurate Paperwork is Necessary

May 12, 2011

I have hired salespeople that just don't want to do paperwork. Someone else should handle that why they do the "important work" of sales. I would buy into that if that superstar was closing a lot of deals or had a full funnel with a fantastic close ratio, but that is hardly ever the case.

Many salespeople don't like using CRM either, but that's a different blog post.

Schools and Libraries are Off Limits

May 12, 2011

Saw this notice today: "AT&T corporate policy prohibits Alliance Channel Solution Providers from selling AT&T services to E-Rate eligible customers (which includes all K-12 schools and public libraries). Do not engage in sales activity of any kind with E-Rate eligible customers."

That's interesting because almost all schools and libraries are E-Rate eligible (if they do the paperwork). So if Agents want to sell to schools and libraries, Agents will need to bring in a different carrier.

InterOp 2011 in Vegas

May 11, 2011

Losses and Growth

May 10, 2011

The only thing really growing is debt.

Clearwire grew revenue but also its losses.

PAETEC finished swallowing CavTel to get to ~$2B in revenue but with losses. And with just 54,000 business customers. (Cbeyond has more than 58,000). Margins are 18.4% according to Rob Powell.

Centurylink is getting hit with a lot of access line loss which is adversely affecting its revenue.





Mobile Coupons With Haneke Design

May 6, 2011

Fax over IP

May 6, 2011

According to David Hiers (moderator of the VoiceOps list), "At SIPNOC I found out that SIP Forum has a pretty big project going to get FOIP/T.38 fixed once and for all. [See here]." Fax over IP like HD Voice needs travel along a compatible network from end-to-end to work. That's why HD Voice works great for internal calls but breaks when you call your family on a cell phone or a landline. (Off-net).

Tele-Pacific Buys into Hosted

May 6, 2011

Tele-Pacific is buying its way into Hosted PBX with its acquisition of Telekenex. TelePacific will gain approximately 1,000 business customers and 122 employees along with the hosted PBX platform. Tele-Pacific will run Telekenex as a separate channel, which is a good thing.

This is a good move for Tele-Pacific as it continues to dominate its region with more services plus another data center.

Who Got CommPartners?

May 6, 2011

So Clearwire is Still Doing Retail

May 6, 2011

Data Center Certs

May 6, 2011

I am working on a data center project for a client. Evaluating data centers is kind of funny, especially the certifications. SAS70, ISO, LEEDS and PCI Compliance.

I don't think people even understand that SAS70 means that a CPA has audited the procedures and processes to ensure that there are indeed written processes in place and that at least some of them are followed. Now some of you will argue you with me about this, but the reality is, my evaluation is pretty accurate.

The FCC is Reforming

May 2, 2011

The FCC is working on reforms.

Reply comments are due on Comprehensive USF and Inter-Carrier Compensation reform NPRM (notice of proposed rulemaking).

AT&T and T-Mobile Applications Have Been Filed (here) and the FCC Opens Docket for Proposed Transfer of Control of T-Mobile USA, Inc. to AT&T Inc.. Please comment.

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