On Rad's Radar? - broadsoft Archives

Why Did ShoreTel Buy M5?

2012-02-10T15:48:57Z

Recently, M5 Communications was acquired for about $160 million by ShoreTel. The premise PBX vendor had a bad quarter and caved to the pressure of Hosted PBX. Avaya, Interactive Intelligence and MITEL have hosted offerings. At some point, ShoreTel had to jump on that bandwagon - due to the big opportunity (ask any analyst) and the threat that cloud comm places on premise only sellers.

I think some of that money - now $162 M based on the stock - was for Dan and his team to stay on and continue to run the machine. There are a couple of million in accelerators in the LOI (letter of intent), also. Plus what does Shoretel know about running a service or the proprietary softswitch that M5 switched to in 2010? The M5 team had to stay (for a while).

ShoreTel's C-level exes probably saw that the hole in their strategy by not having a CaaS strategy. After that, the decision comes down to build-or-buy. The advantage to buying is that - if done properly - you get revenue, a market proven service offering, and a sales channel. Building from scratch has a big learning curve, capital investment and little revenue.

By scooping up M5, ShoreTel gets a proven business model. At $48 million in revenue, M5 was one of the giants in the Hosted PBX space with a proven sales record that had grown 30% in the last year. Their indirect and direct sales teams were effectively selling the service. Not many VoIP providers are organically growing revenue. In 2010, M5 was doing about $32M in revenue when it acquired Gekkotech, a Chicago based VoIP provider that was utilizing M5's softswitch platform and bringing in about $8M.

M5 left the Broadsoft platform in 2010. This move increased the profit margin by eliminating the licensing fees to Broadsoft. This might have been another factor that made M5 attractive - margin. For the second quarter of fiscal year 2012, ShoreTel revenue was $58.0 million with a net loss of $1 million. Hardware alone is a difficult business to be in, ask Amazon or Dell.

Under the terms of the deal, M5 shareholders will receive approximately $84 million in cash and 9.5 million shares of ShoreTel stock, for a total of about $146 million on stock value at close of sale. Moreover, M5 shareholders have incentives that could realize up to $13.7 million, according to the company's press release.

M5 will be run as a separate division with CEO Dan Hoffman still managing things. This is a smart strategy; the same one that TelePacific took when it acquired Telekenex. The culture of CaaS is different than hardware / premise PBX. There is some rivalry there. Why break either corporate culture?

This transaction is just another example of how the legacy telecom world will have to jump into the new cloud world - mostly through buying since it will be cheaper and faster that building it from scratch.

Why can't the rest of the cloud comm space get this deal? One reason is that investors don't look at companies with less than $10M in revenue. You don't have a proven model at $4-5M. It's a different deal at that size. At over $20M, investors know that you can sell and you can scale. It's proven. Another reason was the average revenue per customer at almost $2000. As Q-Advisors told the crowd at Cloud Comm Expo in Austin in 2011, that number has to be north of a thousand to be attractive. Those are pretty good reasons for the 3x revenue number.

Educating the Channel with Certifications

2012-02-07T22:19:20Z

One of the panels last week at ITEXPO was titled Educating the Channel with Certifications. When you consider that as a founding board member and current VP of the Technology Channel Association, education is a primary objective, this topic was relevant. The panelists were Louis Haynor, CSO at Alteva, and Jim Riley of Apptix. I didn't know that Apptix was an agent of Alteva and had been through their certification program. Surprise! (The other surprise was the video cameras that Alteva had brought in to record the panel. No, I didn't sign a release. I am waiting on royalties.)

Alteva's cert program is really a sales program that consists of product training and the Sandler method of sales. Haynor did point out that agents need to know about the product but more importantly to sell Hosted UC, you have to re-think how you sell services. The certification helps with that. It is not a one-time program; it is continuing education.

The TCA has a certification called the Certified Telecom Professional. It is a baseline education program with a 100-question exam on a two hour timer. It is a challenge, daunting enough that many telecom veterans have anxiety about not passing it.

Haynor spoke about charging - $350 - for the training because otherwise it doesn't have value. It made me think that at $199 for the CTP, it is time to raise the price.

Riley spoke about the value of the cert being that there is economic impact on the Channel, the Carrier and the Customer. While there was agreement that education is vital to cloud and managed services adoption in the marketplace, I couldn't get any concrete examples out of the panel. It's a principle we can agree upon, but apparently can't quantify.

Since on-boarding is integral to a positive customer experience, I asked if that was touched on in the cert. It isn't because Alteva has a team for that. However, properly setting customer expectations is part of the on-boarding process. Many agents and VAR's want to be the conduit to the customer and want to be the one providing the timelines to the customer to manage and coordinate the deployment and on-boarding of the workforce. It seems to me that this should be a part of the training. Haynor said that at this stage, agents are more like referral partners or lead generation. Alteva sales people will close the deal. Smoothstone and other carriers have a similar take. I would suggest that if I paid $350 for training and spent the two days taking it that at the end I should be able to prospect, complete the sale and be involved with the on-boarding.

It is transferrable knowledge though. Alteva is Broadsoft based, so with that training, agents should be able to sell any Broadsoft Hosted PBX service via the Sandler sales process.

M5 Bought by Shoretel

2012-02-02T19:10:16Z

So news at ITEXPO is that Shoretel bought M5 Networks last night for $145M, which 3x revenue. Hope shines anew in the Cloud Comm Alliance.

UPDATE:

According to the WSJ, the value of the deal is up to $162M, including $84M in cash and the rest in stock. M5 has about 2000 customers and revenue at about $58M.

M5 Networks migrated off the Broadsoft M6 platform to its own softswitch in 2010. It is a good sign for the Industry that a premise PBX maker sees the light and buys a Hosted PBX provider.

Another Broadsoft Merger

2012-01-21T17:19:30Z

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. IP5280 has a dozen employees, all of whom were offered jobs with Megapath's 1,000 employees.

Megapath offers Hosted PBX service, but the Megapath portfolio has mainly been about transport and transit, including DSL, Ethernet and T1 in 4200 Central Offices. After the combo, Megapath did try to re-brand as a managed services provider. However, I think they are still mainly looked upon as a DSL shop. This merger will add some more voice cred and voice revenue.

A little speculation: There are way too many VoIP Providers. Most do wholesale and retail - anything to drive revenue. Most are barely eking out a living. Most deliver poor service because they don't stick to doing one thing really well. More consolidation is needed. I wonder how that consolidation helps Broadsoft. It has to mean less licenses being sold in the short term and in the long term less licensing due to volume discounts, but I may be wrong.

And So The New Year Starts

2012-01-02T20:39:02Z

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. Organic sales aren't coming fast enough to hit scale, so buy some customers and some revenue.

With 2012, the market will see the MSO Giants - Cox and Comcast - start crushing it in the Hosted VoIP space. They own the network to deliver QOS and to price beat any competitor.

IN data center news, the REIT (real estate investment trust) Gladstone purchased the 20K square foot data center at 810 Parish Street in Pittsburgh, home of Expedient Communications, for $4M.

Lots of News (I Can't Cover in Detail)

2011-12-05T21:30:14Z

Dag Peak explains the difference between BroadTouch and BroadCloud by BSFT.

That Carrier IQ key logging software has Sprint and AT&T caught in lawsuits. This privacy issue reminds me of the cigarette suits -- keep suing and when you win one, you crack the whole thing open and huge sweeping change must follow. So lawyers start your engines and get out those lawsuits! (Like I have to tell you to.)

Obama names new FCC nominees for Senate approval. Copps is term limited and Meredith Baker left for a lucrative job at Comcast! (No conflict of interest there, just part of the revolving door in DC.)

CenturyLink adds broadband caps to compete better with Cox, who does too.

I'm still working on my blog post about this: FCC Releases Connect America Fund Order, Reforms USF/ICC for Broadband

It's a week where SAP feels like Ron Paul, because its cloud acquisition got about 90 seconds of space. AT&T has to feel like Herman Cain, after the FCC released its report about why the cellular merger was a no-go. Is VZW like Romney for quietly scooping up the cableco spectrum AND getting them to sell VZW services?! T-Mobile is quietly in the corner like Bachmann trying to figure out the next move.

UPDATE: new Sprint MVNO coming from Tucows called Ting.

It's Monday So Lots Happened

2011-10-17T17:21:24Z

Polycom bought Vivu, a video collaboration company, to help Polycom push it's Presence gear. Video, video, video. Yet I never have video calls or video call requests. To me, I wish you would work on the phone part. Give me a great looking phone that is easy to use and where the voice quality is awesome. Can you do that? Not really.

All the companies in this space are running to the Video. Why? Deployment and usage are challenging enough without trying to hook up video and make myself presentable. Fax over IP and HD Voice are still just a promise - and video conferencing off platform doesn't work.

It's kind of like talking about Cloud or UC, you are hoping for a stock bump or a PR bump.

Folks are at the Broadsoft show today being introduced by a 3D presentation. Then they will be peppered with alcohol to dull their senses so they can listen to BSFT talk about Video Conferencing (iLinc acquisition) through BroadWorks (Don't get your own; Buy more licenses from us!). Then I'm sure it will be about Mobility and Integration from the vendors that ponied up big $$$ to pitch their wares.

The one thing that gets lost in all this: there are too many VoIP Providers in the marketplace (over 1100 in the US alone). All of them are still trying to figure out how to sell more seats! Sure, they can sell SIP trunks but that is low margin commodity business. Hosted PBX is a higher margin (if sold correctly) business that is about to heat up as the cable giants - Comcast and Cox - roll it out nationwide and give away access in the sale. How does a Hosted PBX provider who doesn't own a network compete then?

And selling UC&C (unified comm and collab) mixed with video is a specialized sale. First, you need a base of Hosted PBX clients and a set procedure for deployment and on-boarding customers. Then you can have a process to upsell or chase a specialized market.

Meanwhile, we are all waiting for the FCC to make some decision on both USF Reform and Inter-Carrier Compensation. ICC will actually change the VoIP market a little. Not that anyone noticed, but the TRA is now a requirement for Inter-Connected VoIP Providers. Why not utilize the video and collaboration components to solve TRA and Communications for Disabilities? Then at least you would have a hot button.

I was going to rant about USF Reform -- like how we should kill the whole program -- like that would ever happen -- because spending tax money to outfit rural areas with broadband is kind of crazy, in my opinion. And its only 15 million Americans. How many will actually buy broadband? Maybe 67%? So 10 million? At a cost of 15% of the bill every month? That's crazy.

Anyway, on to M2M. Sprint is big in Machine-to-Machine wireless solutions and "has targeted four high-growth segments as the umbrella focus of its M2M development activities and offerings: Connected Transportation; Connected Meters, Sensors & Alarms; Connected Machines, Screens & Things; and Connected Personal Devices." [pr] Meanwhile, Sprint is hoping the iPhone bouys up their subscribers.

VZ is getting into home energy monitoring and testing 3G/4G networks nationwide. I'm sure that it will be an unbiased study of the 3G/4G world (MetroPCS, AT&T, T-Mobile, Cricket, Sprint and VZW).

And in another blow to privacy, VZW "has made a change in its privacy policy that clears the nation's largest wireless carrier to track its subscribers' Web browsing, location and app usage habits," according to the LA Times.

Did you know there is such a thing as Hardware-as-a-Service? Chartec and Outreach offer it in a partnership.

NTS/XFONE grabbed 1800 cable customers in West Texas from Reach Broadband.

ABRY Partners bought data center company XAND, who is either a hosting company or a data center infrastructure company. To tell you the truth, the way these press releases describe the companies involved, I know two things: (1) the PR firm has no clue what they are talking about; (2) the marketing department or firm has no clue what they are talking about either. Keep It Simple!

The Latest in VoIP Updates

2011-09-19T22:00:37Z

There is just so many press releases. I'd say news but much of it is not new (that is to say innovative) or really news worthy other than as tidbits of info to keep up on the sector.

Metaswitch got into the SBC market, because their clients didn't want to buy the market leader, Acme Packet. Level3 jumped into the SBC market with a new service: Managed SBC.

Skype bought Groupme for a rumored $80M. Groupme was a contestant at the second Startup Camp, that also had the makers of the Android desktop phone, Glass.

Interesting thought: Inter-op is about user experience, so is device choice. Think about deployment from the user's experience.

Telesphere partnered with CosmoCom to add cloud-based contact center solutions. That's one more customer that won't be using BroadCloud. Oops! BSFT bought web conferencing company, iLinc, for just $2.4M. The hope is that clients will use BroadCloud instead of third party companies (like Citrix, MegaMeeting or CosmoCom) to fill in the UC components needed for the complete UC experience.

Sangoma acquired all the key assets of Vegastream.

InterCall announced that it will extend its Smoothstone VoiceMaxx IP-PBX services with the addition of VoiceMaxx CE, a suite of service packages based on the Cisco Hosted Collaboration Solution. Both Smoothstone and Intercall are owned by West Corp.

Here's something startling: a company debuted at ITEXPO with "a 100 percent turnkey white label product that will not only include provisioning, support, billing and telco services, but will also incorporate all of RealLinx products (VoiceLinx, SecurityLinx and BroadbandLinx)."

RingCentral got $10M more in funding. Aren't they self-sufficient yet?

8×8 recently acquired cloud-based call center provider Contactual Hosting.

"NetSapiens' SNAPsolution is utilized by One Source Networks to power a hybrid of cloud-based and premise-based solutions, integrating all of the necessary service delivery components critical to the OSN VoIP infrastructure, such as accounting, provisioning, and call switching to enable OSN's end-user applications such as unified communications, virtual PBX, conferencing, and enhanced call center solutions."

"Virtual PBX Complete with VoIP Anywhere allows customers to use their smart phones and computers as VoIP handsets with complete business phone system capabilities."

CounterPath added SMS, chat and presence to its Bria mobile app. Counterpath also launched the Client Configuration Server (CCS), a carrier grade server platform specifically designed to allow enterprises and service providers the ability to efficiently and consistently deploy, configure, update and upgrade softphone and UC Client end-points.

Zendesk adds some VoIP functionality via Twilio. Zendesk Voice is a cloud-based call center that integrates with the startup's popular help-desk platform.

Vocal IP Networx now offers a unified communications (UC) platform, dubbed Vocal UC, utilizing Microsoft Lync software.

A Couple of M&A Items

2011-09-09T15:48:25Z

It seems that Apple put in a bid for Dropbox for $800M (for $100M in revenue). But Dropbox decided to get another round of funds and think IPO instead. [BusinessInsider]

Cablevision will resell Sprint wireless service through its Optimum Business unit. Quad play for SMB.

WAN optimization is buzzing. That will be the next "big thing" companies will be begging the Channel to sell.

Ntelos spun off its wireline business, including the Fibertech asset it bought, into a new company called Lumos Networks. This is the same thing that Alltel and Sprint did. For sale?

Broadsoft decided to shore up its BroadCloud service by buying iLinc in an all-cash deal. (No figures found yet.) This deal means that the web conferencing and collaboration piece of BroadCloud will be an in-house offering instead of a third-party resale or add-on. This is an attempt by Broadsoft to get beyond just trunking and seat licensing. Add-on sales is where the gravy is. Otherwise Broadsoft customers would be incorporating other options like Microsoft, Citrix or Cisco (Linc, GoToMeeting, Webex).

And one last plug for the CMO SUmmit next Tuesday at ITEXPO with this link: CMO's To Increase Spending On Social Media But Integration Still Lacking

Why I Am Skipping Connections

2011-09-06T16:11:48Z

Next week I will be in Austin for ITEXPO from Sunday till Thursday. It starts the fall conference caravan. There are so many conferences in October it is crazy: TelcoTV, COMPTEL, WISPA, FISPA, MUMS, Broadsoft Connections, Metaswitch User Forum, STC and a cloud thingy or two. I can't wait for November!

I do more than 15 conferences a year. Many do not have an actual return on the investment dollars (show pass, hotel, airfare, expenses and meals). I have to consider them branding opportunities or important networking occasions. One show that many of my clients attend is the Broadsoft Connection show in Phoenix. I have been debating this for a while and I'm going to skip it this year.

One reason is the ROI. There has not been real ROI in the two years that I have attended. Many of my clients already bought their softwswitch - Broadsoft in most cases - and have gone to market with a Hosted PBX offering. Most of the big carriers have too, including XO, TDS, Comcast, Cox, Windstream and C-Link. Doesn't really leave anyone to consult with on go-to-market.

I have to attend as a Channel Partner (with a $2500 price tag), but the actual value for that investment is questionable. A logo on a member portal isn't exactly worth it. There hasn't been clear benefit for that money demonstrated or expressed. It seems very telco to call it "Channel Partner", when it seems the real meaning is "help us sell our stuff".

Another reason is the current state of my relationship with Broadsoft. The VP of Marketing has not been cordial since I broke the story of BSFT acquiring Casabi last year. In fact, she told me at CPExpo in Vegas that she doesn't like me. That's fine. There are people I don't like, too. I still do my job though. Pulling two consecutive no-shows for conference calls with clients that we share (that run Broadsoft) leads me again to wonder about the Channel Partnership that I paid for last year.

In addition, this conference will increase travel in October to 21 days on the road. It would be nice to cut that down.

Without clear expressed value for the Channel Partner ticket, I have no grounds to go other than to hang out with clients, which is a good reason until you factor in the $4K price tag. The alternative is to do what is so common today: just show up and hang around. (You can buy a lot of drinks for $2500!) Many vendors do it at conferences, including Broadsoft.

Want to have coffee? You can see me in Vegas the week before Connections or at ITEXPO next week or at other shows in October. Ping me to meet up.

Hosted VoIP Valuations

2011-07-25T21:58:02Z

NPRG Insights suggests that hosted VoIP valuations are rising. I don't think so. I privvy to some info that points me to the fact that many valuations are based on not revenue, but what the investors want to cash out. Sometimes that looks good. Sometimes it doesn't.

It's not all about revenue either. It takes a significant investment in capital and human resources to put together a reliable and resilient Hosted VoIP service. (Not everyone spends the money. Lots of duct tape and we'll figure it out as we go along.)

And sometimes that revenue barely covers costs. Many of the acquisitions were Broadsoft based companies. Those come with a few strings: You need a Broadsoft expert (or two) to keep that softswitch running all the time. You need someone that really understands packet networking and another person that has actually run a voice switch. There are gotchas in both the data side and the voice side. And then there is the licensing!

There's a hiccup there, where some early BSFT customers have bigger licensing rates than those that found a secondary route to the Broadworks platform. Either way: like Microsoft there are licensing rates that need to be factored in.

You also have to figure in origination and termination volume, E-911, CNAM, LNP, and the B/OSS that keeps the order.

A final look might go into to network design. Is the data center redundant? Is there more than one upstream for VoIP and Internet? Any peering arrangements?

As an Agent, you might want to ask some of these questions.

How do they handle Quality of Service? How do they manage porting numbers? Are they a licensed CLEC (except in Florida where there is no longer such a thing.) What taxes and fees are they collecting?

I keep seeing this on twitter: Telcos invested US$8B in first half of 2011, but generated pennies. They bought instead of building. They have to figure out how to integrate it; provision it; and sell it organization-wide. good luck!

There have been a number of Cloud Communications (or Hosted PBX if you rather) mergers and moves in the last year. Now were staggering.

Earthlink bought STS..
TelePacific bought Telekenex
Parallels partnered with 4spa
Intermedia.Net rolled out hosted then sold to private equity
Telovations did the deed with FeatureTel
CommX was picked up by Keyon
Cbeyond bought Aratta
CommPartners was bought by Momentum (a fellow BSFT customer) and Point1 got the minutes.
Smoothstone was scooped up by West, who owns Intercall (conferencing)
M5 grabbed Geckotech.
Windstream, TDS, Comcast, Cox and XO all offer Broadsoft based Hosted PBX/Cloud Comm on their network.

Another Hosted PBX Merger

2011-07-09T19:38:09Z

Tampa-based Telovations acquires North Carolina based FeatureTel, combining two Broadsoft providers. No financial details were released. Could this be a sign about the viability of the US Hosted PBX space?

Many of the Cloud Comm companies haven't grown as fast as their backers would like. Mainly it's a sales problem. As I mentioned yesterday, it's sold on price in many instances. There aren't that many ITSP's with a notable value statement or with a chief differentiator. This leads to a commoditization.

It's expensive to run a sales organization - paying sales people even when they aren't closing enough business to cover their expense. It's also expensive to brand your company nationally (as many have tried to do). Still others don't really do any marketing, marketing that might establish at least a regional reputation, which makes sales easier. Even better would be a marketing campaign that produced inbound sales calls, but let's not get crazy.

The funny thing is that the worst examples of VoIP IMO - MagicJack, SunRocket and Vonage - did spend on marketing and branding successfully. The marketing even overcame their customer service issues and quality.

Just as Unity Business was acquired by Telesphere and Geckotech was acquired by M5, there will have to be more consolidation of this type for a few reasons. The Broadsoft providers can merge almost seamlessly (at least on the customer side). The Broadsoft providers have huge amounts of cash invested in the softswitch, the complex licensing and their current customers - which doesn't leave a lot of cash for acquisitions and marketing campaigns.

And time is running out. Comcast, TDS, Windstream, and Cox have started rolling out Broadsoft-based Hosted PBX to the SMB market with two notable difference: each has a brand and each is a network operator, which means it controls the voice quality and has the price advantage.

We have seen what happens when the ILEC's enter a market late. DSL was brought to the nation by DLEC's - Covad & Co. Then dial-up ISP's got into the game. Then the ILEC's came in and grabbed it all up. The ILEC's were not just the vendor for the ISP's and DLEC's, but their chief competitor, who dropped retail pricing below wholesale rates (and caused the CLEC and ISP expensive challenges through its usual games of billing, install and repair problems). I fear that Hosted PBX will be the next DSL as the Duopoly marches in and takes the lion's share of the market.

Moving and Shaking the Industry

2011-06-21T02:53:44Z

Cbeyond opens up for business in Boston. Agents rejoice as they get to sell a booming brand to the SMB space in Boston.

AboveNet looks to have a private equity buyer.

Another fiber provider is getting an infusion of equity from a new private equity partner.

One of the original Broadsoft providers, CommX, was acquired by Keyon Holdings.

Lightyear Network Solutions has a new Sprint MVNO agreement that will allow it to offer its 60k current customers some new wireless products as well as its agent channel.

8×8 acquires a cloud company named Zerigo, which offers managed DNS, VPS and Cloud servers and monitoring. This move puts 8×8 on par with Cbeyond, Intermedia.Net and Parallels -- all companies that are truly treating Hosted VoIP as just another service in the cloud.

TWC is buying cable systems in KY and TN from NewWave for $260M [SOURCE: gulfnews.com ( http://bit.ly/m2Xeqv)]

Jobs

2011-06-14T19:01:06Z

I was lured in to watch some of the GOP Presidential candidates debate on CNN last night. (I'll keep any comments about how the Baker Act comes to mind while watching some of them.) Then I switched over to watch the Bruins just pound Vancouver again. (Sorry, Wig!) But the prevailing debate theme was JOBS.

I just noted that bankers are making pucks on M&S and debt, but there are jobs out there. Two were in my inbox today.

One CLEC needs a VoIP Account Exec.

One MSO needs some with Broadsoft experience.

A couple of months ago, a few CLEC's were hunting for Channel Managers.

If you are job hunting, is your LinkedIn profile up-to-date and complete?
Are you connected to me on LinkedIn?
Do you check the jobs section of LinkedIn?
Do you check the TMC Job Board?

On twitter, I get a lot of marketing jobs. So if that is your thing, follow me on twitter since I re-tweet all the marketing jobs that I see.

The time to build your network is BEFORE you need a job, so get out there and network - locally and within your industry. Our industry (telecom) has a boatload of conferences, including the awsomeness that is ITEXPO, which will be coming up in Austin on 9/13-15.

I'm glad to see our sector is doing some hiring despite all the M&A that has shed tens of thousands of jobs in the last 3 years. Here's an interesting article about the CEO's on Obama's Job Commission. (See fair play there.)

The State of VoIP

2011-05-24T21:06:16Z

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.

Web Hosting companies are in the game of VoIP now. Intermedia is now offering Hosted PBX as a stand alone product. Parallels, which is a web hosting platform company, has developed an automation and provisioning system that includes voice apps from the likes of Alteva and 4SPA.

MegaPath has put some Hosted PBX features into its Integrated Voice-Data solution, including Find-me/Follow-me. MegaPath leaves you with a great sales question: "What Hosted Voice features would be most advantageous for your employees?" It would be a good question to ask customers and prospects and a good one to ask during product development.

Momentum was already a Broadsoft shop doing white label for Tier 2 cablecos before it acquired the assets of CommPartners Hosted business. We'll see where that goes, because that might have been a Money Pit that Momentum got.

TelePacific just acquired a Hosted PBX shop that will become part of TelePacific's Managed Services subsidiary.

XO is knee deep in Broadsoft Cloud Communications fun. So much so, I wonder why they haven't joined the Cloud Communications Alliance yet. Who did join the CCA? GLOBALINX

Here's a letter from the Smoothstone President to clients and partners about the acquisition of Smoothstone by West Corp.

TouchTone rolled out an Unlimited Calling SIP Trunking service called BusinessFlex, which provides unlimited local and long distance calling anywhere in the Continental U.S., Puerto Rico, Canada, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. No contract term is required; and standard features include BTN with E-911 and Caller ID/Name, one DID per SIP trunk, and many other enterprise features.

Junction Networks launched a free VoIP Service named GetOnSIP. GetOnSIP is built upon the same SIP and XMPP foundation as Junction Networks' existing OnSIP hosted PBX service. However, GetOnSIP is a stripped down offering with a SIP URI. Once your SIP phone or soft phone is registered you can start making and receiving calls to any other SIP URIs.

In Rich Calling, Ringio partnered with InPhonex to create Televate.

Cbeyond's Virtual Receptionist was recognized for Outstanding Innovation.

SYNNEX rolled out CLOUDSolv UC as their hosted unified communications platform that works with both VoIP and desktop voice services. It's a private-label service sold through SYNNEX resellers that works with Microsoft and Broadsoft technology.

M5 Networks launched a cloud based call recording solution for SMB.

Packet8 decided to jump into the SOHO and solopreneur sector with a UC solution for even offices of One. Details of that offering are here. 8×8, which owns Packet8, "added 3,009 gross new business customers in the fiscal fourth quarter of 2011 and ended the period with 24,385 business customers in service," according to its press release. It did $18M for the quarter and $70M for year with churn at 2.3%.

Telcentris joined the white-label turn-key crowd with its "managed wholesale VoIP enablement solution [that] is ideal for interconnects, service providers, carriers, and entrepreneurs looking to offer Internet telephony services within weeks with minimal upfront investment."

I think that covers most of the "news". Now here's a sales link: Determining Whether Hosted VoIP is Right for Your Small Business.