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

May 2014

You are browsing the archive for May 2014.

New President and CEO at Microcorp

May 29, 2014

On the heels of yesterday's email about buying up master agency bases, Microcorp announced today that Brad Miehl, founder of MicroCorp, will ne replaced as President by Microcorp's current Executive Vice President of Sales & Marketing, Phil Keenan, a 28-year industry veteran.

Karin Fields will take over reigns as both COO and CEO.

Big shift to one of the largest and older master agencies who, according to the email yesterday, is looking to grow through acquisition of other agencies.

The Master Agencies seem to be at the transition stage if you look at the number of management changes that have taken place in the last couple of years.

Basic Math on Sales Commissions

May 28, 2014

Yesterday when I wrote about what the channel is selling, it was mainly bigger deals. Obviously, there are many more transactions taking place.

When I work with VoIP providers, the thing that always gets said is that it is just as much work to get 150 seats as it is to get a 15 seat sale. Think about that.

Lessons from a Poet

May 28, 2014

The port, author and teacher Dr. Maya Angelou passed away this morning. My Facebook feed is full of her quotes this morning. I had heard her quotes, but didn't know who she was or that she originally wrote these quotes.

"I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel."

What The Channel is Selling

May 27, 2014

Finance is buying MPLS (or IP-VPN or VPLS - depending on what flavor of private networking that the carrier is using). Banks, credit unions, insurance and other financial companies have a unique set of regulations to follow, including ones that define storage.

Healthcare is also buying MPLS. Healthcare has a mandate for private networking, encryption and security, all driven by the HITECH Act and Rule-making.

A Look at ShoreTel Numbers

May 21, 2014

The WSJ posted revenue numbers from Shoretel. I am taking a guess that these would be industry average or demonstrate what all PBX vendors are seeing. ( could be wrong.)

"Recurring revenues, which consist of cloud monthly recurring revenues and support revenues, represented 40% of total revenue in the third quarter of fiscal 2014 and reached an annualized value of $130 million." So 30-35% of revenues are now coming from HPBX MRC.

More Big M&A Deals Announced

May 19, 2014

TWC is being bought by Comcast - with Charter taking some pieces of that $45 Billion deal. This would make Comcast - already the biggest ISP and TV provider - even bigger and more powerful. While TWC is not really a competitor to Comcast (in fact, the cable guys collude like no other business sector), it would concentrate a lot of power into one entity that also owns a lot of content under its NBC-Universal.

Before this deal was announced, FCC Chair Wheeler told Softbank that they would not look friendly to a T-Mobile acquisition by Sprint.

The UC Install Opprtunity

May 19, 2014

When I talk to UC provider (or Hosted VoIP providers) that sell nationally, the biggest challenge is the customer install. There are a couple of national installers including Endeavor. The feedback I hear is that the current choices are not good. just because you can spell ROUTER doesn't mean you can configure one or find one was just one anecdote.

The Cbeyond Story

May 19, 2014

Cbeyond started strong in Atlanta. At one point, they had a chunk of the small business T1 market in Atlanta. Being VC funded, growth was required. New cities would have to be added.

Telecom Transitions in Rural America

May 15, 2014

I notice that with the changes to the USF program (transition from paying for voice lines to broadband); the end of broadband stimulus dollars; the end of inter-carrier compensation; and the TDM-to-IP transition the IOC (independent telephone companies) community is in a huge state of flux. It's federal funding is dwindling while it has to make big shifts in tech and business models.

VARs, VADs, inter-connects, CLECs, even Agents have been in turmoil as business models have had to morph. The entire telecom ecosystem is shifting.

Notes from Metaswitch Forum

May 13, 2014

Day 2 for me at the Metaswitch Forum 2014 in New Orleans. Here are some of the notes and tips:

Bryan Grimm of Metaswitch says that NOW is the time for Hosted PBX sales. The Big Opportunity is now.

The Attack of the Sales Boob

May 9, 2014

So over at Mojo Marketing, Angela has been blogging about a couple of awful networking experiences (like this one and this one). I have been having my own issues with tele-marketers and execs at startups.

Twice last week, online video/collab/conferencing companies have asked for 90 minutes each for our first call. 90 minutes?

The Hosted VoIP Crowded Picture

May 8, 2014

Microcorp just signed up 8x8 as a vendor. By my count, that is the 20th service provider that offers Hosted VoIP of some kind. 20.

Some are Broadsoft based; some are Metaswitch based; and some are home brewed versions (Asterisk/Freeswitch/whatever).

The Net Neutrality Debacle

May 7, 2014

Many people have asked me about this. I don't have a rant about the FCC's Net Neutrality decision. We got screwed but I can't get worked up about it because that is what I expect to happen in DC these days.

No matter what ruling - McCutcheon v.

More Music Chairs in Telecom

May 7, 2014

There has been an awful lot of layoffs, let-go's, downsizing and right-sizing in our industry in the last couple of years. With the impending Comcast-TWC merger and the subsequent M&A from ATT (w/DirecTV) and Sprint (with T-Mobile), there will be about 50K more folks looking for a new position.

Garrett Smith left VoIP Supply to start his own company, Pitch + Pivot in Buffalo.

XO has named a new Channel head.

The Rather Silly But Sirius Sales Process

May 5, 2014

Pandora, SiriusXM, Rdio, Spotify, IHeartRadio, Deezer, Xbox Music, Google Play All Access, iTunes Match and so many more apps competing for the same audience. Even AT&T is in the game with Beats Music for $10 per month. It seems that $9.99 per month - or an annual rate under $39.99 - is the ideal price point. You can get more but it has to be a family plan or multi-device plan.

M&A Merger Rumors Abound

May 1, 2014

Sprint is getting set to offer a bid to buy T-Mobile, which is funny since the FCC already told Softbank Sprint that they would say no. But on the heals of the Comcast-TWC deal (that now involves Charter getting some TWC leftovers), Sprint thinks that it will be okay.

Then there is the AT&T buying DirecTV rumor. Never hear the rumor about DISH being bought, huh?

What's Missing in UC?

May 1, 2014

Why do people think UC is plug and play! Was Microsoft ever plug and play?

The biggest hurdle to Hosted UC installs is a competent technician on-site. Heck, even for telecom installs, a competent tech would be helpful to extend the demarc, run some cat5e or fiber runs, deploy the CPE, turn up the router (and plug it in), check for UPS, etc.

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