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

January 2012

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AT&T Archive Video

January 30, 2012

4 Examples of PR for PR Sake

January 30, 2012

Here are 4 examples of press releases just for the sake of press releases. That is, just to fill the online PR machine with your name and keywords to help your

EarthLink releases software to help retailers focus on core business. Nice headline but the rest of release doesn't really say how EarthLink's one-source solution for telecom helps retailers do that (specifically).

It's a Mobile Monday

January 30, 2012

It's a mobile Monday as I get set to pack up to head to ITEXPO East 2012 in Miami Beach.

Yahoo was being Yahoo! this morning as it announced - in the same breath - that it has launched a "Mobile First" mindset, then shut down 10 mobile apps. Granted, some of them were not doing well (like Yahoo itself), but it's schizophrenic to do it on the same day.

Patent house Klausner Technologies sues MetroPCS for Visual Voicemail Infringement.

Look for me in Miami Beach Next Week

January 26, 2012

Next week is ITEXPO East 2012 in Miami Beach at the convention center. I arrive around 11 AM on Tuesday for Editor's Day. There are a number of all-day events going on Tuesday like InsightPRM's Sales Management training and the Avaya seminar.

Not surprisingly, most of the buzz around the show is on Startup Camp Comms, which is Thursday at 4 PM with keynote from Sir terry Matthews, founder of MITEL. Four start-ups will be pitching as well.

I have 5 slots this time.

Privacy versus Security

January 25, 2012

"Concerned about privacy? Maybe you should be concerned about the economy instead. That was the subtext of a keynote speech by Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook’s chief operating officer, at a technology conference in the heart of Europe." [Benton]

Not to get political, but privacy is a ship that has sailed.

The Trouble with UC Sales

January 23, 2012

In a recent study, titled IDC MarketScape: Worldwide Unified Communications Voice Infrastructure 2011-2012 Vendor Analysis, IDC analyst Rich Costell wrote that "Customers still struggle to justify the deployment of UC and calculate its overall ROI." The conclusion: "educating potential customers is critical" to UC sales.



"If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough." - Albert Einstein.

The transition to selling UC will need to be done with first educating the sales channels. I still hear cost savings as the first reason to sell VoIP.





VoIP Branding at its Best

January 23, 2012

I was reading an article that began "specializing in telephone and network VoIP solutions for Fortune 1000 companies, government agencies, educational institutions and small and large businesses around the world." How exactly is that SPECIALIZING? That's Everyone.

Just so you understand: Avaya and Cisco are multi-billion dollar companies that still can not be all things to every business. It's is just not possible.

There was this little book by Chris Anderson called The Long Tail.



Another Broadsoft Merger

January 21, 2012

In a surprise move (to me anyway), Megapath acquired IP5280 Communications, a Colorado ITSP. Both Megapath and IP5280 utilize Broadsoft, so that will make some of the transition easy. (And likely was a factor in the acquisition decision.) IP5280 had 1000 customers. Megapath, a combination of Speakeasy, Covad and Megapath, has 62,000.

End Caps

January 21, 2012

This was the week that we learned that online protesting can work -- if enough people get involved and if you get the support of some powerhouse websites like Google and Wikipedia. It looks like SOPA was dropped and the vote on PIPA was delayed. (It is still alive due to Democrat lawmakers who are beholden to Hollywood like Florida Senator Bill Nelson. If he knew how to turn on his laptop by himself I could understand it, but come on!)

We don't really need any more copyright laws.

Woes: AT&T, Spectrum, Yahoo, RIM

January 17, 2012

How badly does AT&T need spectrum now that the T-Mobile deal is dead? According to analysts (who are likely just trying to get press and pump up some stocks so they can make short term gains), AT&T has to make a move soon.  T-Mobile does too.

I find this interesting because AT&T and T-Mobile are sitting on spectrum that they have not deployed. If you needed it that bad, you would use what you have - at least for now.

Let's look at Clearwire as a 4G wholesaler.



What is it with Agents and the Web?

January 16, 2012

When I skim through telecom websites, it is pretty obvious that most telecom companies - agents, masters, VAR's, carriers, ITSP's, ISP's - don't really give the web any love.

The websites are rudimentary - many without an update in the last two years. A majority are filled with marketing buzz speak that does not clearly (and concisely) tell the audience what they do or sell. Why? You have 8 seconds to load a page and tell your story before people bounce.

Thought of the Day

January 13, 2012

In what other business industry would make it so flaming difficult to give revenue to?

CenturyLink just issued Channel Rules of Engagement (part II): "CenturyLink Channel Alliance, in conjunction with the Savvis Alliances partner program, has developed Phase II of the Savvis-CenturyLink Rules of Engagement (ROE). The attached Phase II ROE document identifies six unique customer types and outlines business rules for each selling scenario." Don't ask because I am still scratching my head to understand it.

AT&T has made it incredibly difficult to sell services in the former RBOC areas - SBC, Ameritech, BellSouth, etc.

Trouble at Vu

January 12, 2012

Got an email that VU dumped their entire sales force this week! The email went on "They are in dire financial trouble and their CEO is facing prison for insider trading for his sale of his stock as CEO of Zenith Infotech prior to their sale to Summit Partners."

Not sure how accurate it is but Vu TelePresence is part of the Zenith World Group of companies. Summit Partners put some of their capital into Zenith Infotech spinoff, Zenith RMM, a remote monitoring service.

Savvis Changes Comp Plan

January 10, 2012

I just received confirmation that channel compensation for hosting under CenturyLink will no longer be residual. Savvis, which is owned by CenturyLink, took over management of the Qwest Cyber Centers.

At a time when cloud providers want agents selling, data center companies - Equinix/Switch&Data, InterNAP, now Savvis - has changed up the game on agents at a time when agents are trying to adjust to the whole cloud ecosystem. It just doesn't make sense.

The Whole Content System

January 9, 2012

Yes the whole content system is a mess. Newspapers, magazines, book publishing, music, movies and now TV - all are old school content business models that are in a state of upheaval. Unfortunately, the people in charge of these content systems are fighting the change that is happening - happening in large part because of the Internet - instead of trying to start making changes NOW.

The Lightsquared Predicament

January 9, 2012

Lightsquared is facing numerous obstacles on its way to launching a nationwide (*cough*cough*) 4G network with its spectrum.

One obstacle: MONEY!  Sprint gave them until next month to start or lose the Sprint investment (which Sprint needs to continue to fund Clearwire).

2nd obstacle: GPS! Studies show that the spectrum - which abuts the GPS spectrum - interferes with GPS about 70% of the time.

3rd obstacle: Congress. A new Defense bill in Congress will make it harder for Lightsquared to use the spectrum.





Level3 2012 Channel Strategy

January 6, 2012

So here is the new strategy for the Channel for Level3.

"Late 2011 was a busy time for the Level 3 Indirect Channel. Our first priority after the acquisition closed was to determine a partner program structure that best supports our partner bases followed by the immediate need to create an organization which can provide greater resources to further enable your success.< br/>"After gathering feedback and careful consideration, we are instituting a model that will provide support at a national level for our Master Agents and a regionally focused Channel Manager strategy for our Direct and Sub Agents.< br/>"Our newly created National Partner Sales team will focus on the Level 3 Master Agents, facilitating the strategic relationship with the Master Agent as well as their sub agent base. The team will work closely with our Master Agents to reignite the sub agent community with targeted recruitment and joint sales activities.

2 Data Center Deals and some links

January 3, 2012

Yesterday I mentioned that Gladstone is the new landlord for one of Expedient's data centers. Today, zColo (of the Zayo Group) "acquired MarquisNet's data-center business in Las Vegas, Nevada. The 28,000 square foot data center, located at 7185 Pollock Drive, will be the twelfth zColo Colocation facility," according to the release.

And the Channel dumping InterNAP buys Voxel for $30M.

And So The New Year Starts

January 2, 2012

NY's Broadsoft based Hosted VoIP Provider, Stage 2 Networks, started the new year with the acquisition of the Hosted VoIP Division of Consolidated Technologies, Inc., a New York City area Avaya partner. Stage 2 needed the growth is my take from the PR comments from CEO Joe Gillette. There will be more of this in 2012, because there are too many VoIP Providers and most have very little growth. This transaction is similar to Telovations grabbing FeatureTel. It costs money to run a Broadsoft.

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