On Rad's Radar? - im/chat Archives

Microsoft Lync in my Opinion

2012-11-28T14:48:12Z

Have you been hearing buzz about Microsoft Lync? Microsoft is spending millions on marketing it - and I hear that the Fortune 100 have deployed it but in limited roles.

My brother works for a Microsoft integrator who has 135K seats deployed. I'm not even sure what that means, because Lync isn't being used exclusively as a landline or PBX replacement. It has many uses and not all of them are apparent. For example, it is can be deployed just for Presence and IM/chat. It can also be used for a conference bridge (like in the Office 365 bundle - does that constitute a seat?).

Sure, it CAN be deployed as a voice replacement BUT you still have to have SIP trunking from a voice provider. (Lync is not a dialtone provider; that will come from the SIP Provider.) Lync will act like a PBX in this setting.

Remember that Lync is the 3rd edition of Microsoft's Office Communicator Server. IMO, MS has not decided what they want from it yet.

Skype, mobile apps, messenger, Presence, PBX, conferencing -- it is all very cludgy. By that I mean, it isn't straightforward; it isn't user friendly.

My fears lie in the fact that Microsoft can't make a product that doesn't have to be patched every day due to too much bloated code and too many unnecessary features. And Lync has a lot of features. (Adobe is giving it a run for its money in patching Flash though.) Then by the time the user has a stable operating system (like XP SP3), Microsoft rolls out a new one - and we start all over again (from unstable and what many would call beta!)

My brother likens Lync to Sharepoint. Once people know what it can do... Well, more like, once it is thrust upon the users.

When you try to be something to everyone, you end up lost.

Yet Another Video Conf Start-up

2012-03-23T18:01:15Z

Garrett Smith from VoIP Supply wrote, "This service isn't all that new or different from the half dozen or so that already exists. There's either going to be a lot of M&A in video communications OR a lot of companies not making it." Garrett was referring to this TechCrunch article, Blue Jeans CEO Looks To Beat His Two-Time Acquirer Cisco With Low-Cost Video Conferencing. Krish Ramakrishnan says, "It's only a $700 million market." Yet he received $23.5 million in funding already. Why?

When you look at what Skype (and of course all the copycats) have done to the international long distance market, you have to wonder how the video conferencing market survives. I say that because it is rare that I ever participate in a video conference. In the last year there have been three video calls - one on Skype and two on G+ Hangout.

The low cost folks like Skype, Google, Vidyo, Apple's Facetime, even Webex is going to dilute that market. As more employees work remotely and mobile, some video chat will increase, but not likely through Cisco, Lifesize, or Avaya gear. More likely through the low-cost consumer services that make it easy for people to use.

In my experience, G+ Hangout was much easier to use than Skype or Webex due to no software download needed. Any gmail account or Gchat account means I can invite you and lets go. How does it get easier than that, Krish?

The Future of Media

2011-09-30T15:29:16Z

The buzz is that email is dead. Oh, voice is dying also. And if you believe all the hype, sell your airline stocks since video conferencing and tele-presence will replace travel.

"A company's corporate website is the top source of new sales leads--second only to personal connections and referrals, and more than seven times more effective than social media, according to a 2011 Demandbase National Marketing and Sales Study released today by marketing technology company Demandbase and online business network Focus, according to an article in the Tech Journal South. Yet the buzz says it's all social media.

Voice isn't dead either. If it was the contact center space would be folding up tents. Granted robo-calling is annoying, but it still won't end any time soon. (It just may get more challenging to reach humans instead of voicemail.)

Email is still my number one communication platform. Project management, clients, prospecting and more all happen via email. Notifications end up in email. When companies talk about unified messaging, it's about one inbox - the email tray.

Everyone has their preferred method of communicating: email, voice, text, chat, FB, twitter, and more. It is getting more baffling for people to keep track of conversation threads as they bounce from one medium to another - text to email to FB. But it all comes back to email - maybe mainly due to the inbox and inbox organization that we are used to. Texts, chats, notifications and more can all come back to an email inbox to be stored, organized and searched. That's why email will be around a while longer. Longer than you think anyway.

The future of media will be fractious at best.

Want an interesting look at new media?

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.

TDCloud Joins the Fray

2011-05-19T19:37:48Z

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.

Like voice agents moving to IP and hardware VAR's struggling to become MSP's, distributors moving to cloud services is heavy on hype and thin on details.

Ingram Micro has gone cloud and today Tech Data announced TDCloud. The interesting thing about the TDCloud is how closely it resembles IBM's cloud strategy. Could be because they are a partner.

Ingram, TD and SYNNEX are used to managing gear and licenses. Now they have to take on monthly billing, which will include lots of accounts receivable and probably billing issues.

Also, how does a warehouse and logistics company deliver on cloud computing services, especially something like UC? There is probably a third-party behind the curtain, much the way Broadsoft's BroadCloud services are mainly resells of a video conferencing service and the like. (By the way, how do you profit in this scenario? UC-company+Distributor+VAR-or-ITSP-or-MSP+customer? Seems like a lot of middle men.)

For VAR's or Agents to start selling Cloud, we need more transparency. We need to know what's under the hood. We also need a Value Proposition, because without a Brand in the marketplace (like Amazon, Rackspace or Google), how do you get the customer's trust on an unknown brand and service? UC is convoluted and no two companies define it the same way. The on-boarding of a UC customer is a challenge. If the UC Provider goes up in smoke -- and some will because there are just too many of them -- what happens to the VAR/MSP/Agent's customer? And his business reputation?

We need details to feel comfortable selling it. Time and again I have discussed the UC components that can be used to provide that solution - email, collab, VoIP, chat, presence, video, conferencing, text and now social media elements. You will need a provider who understands that and let's you configure and sell it the way each customer wants to buy it or needs it configured. XO distribute through TD, offers the UC components and wasn't even mentioned. Ah, pay-for-play models.

Let's look at one more element. Most VAR's stop at the Router. Most Agents stop at the router - just from opposite sides. Cloud services requires LAN, WAN, IT and telephony to all be on the same page. It requires Internet Access to get to the various apps in the cloud.

It will be interesting to see how this shakes out, but remember that Cisco didn't set any sales records for Webex and that's the perfect analogy: how does a hardware company and its Channel suddenly sell services? We aren't all IBM and they took years to get to the services business.

IBM's New(er) Strategies

2011-03-29T04:17:56Z

Image via Wikipedia

At IBM's Lotusphere this year (Feb. 1), IBM rolled out strategies for Cloud and Social Media.

IBM identified 5 ways that partners could benefit from the Cloud. They are as follows:

Cloud Application Providers - deliver business apps via a subscription model through the cloud such as SAAS
Cloud Builders - design, build and manage clients’ cloud needs, typically integrating with existing infrastructure.
Cloud Infrastructure Providers - provide a public cloud infrastructure or Platform as a Service (PaaS) on which app can be hosted.
Cloud Services Solution Providers - resell multiple public cloud services and offer complementary services such as training and integration.
Cloud Technology Providers - provide the tools, services, and technologies, such as cloud management, billing metering and monitoring — that help clients use the cloud more effectively.

These are ways for VAR's to stay in the business of providing applications and associated services.

According to some PR sent my way, " IBM is the largest consumer of social technologies. As a company, IBM takes social networking seriously - to develop products and services, to enable sellers to find and stay connected with clients, to train the next generation of leaders, and to build awareness of Smarter Planet among clients, influencers and other communities. IBM will showcase how it is poised to help clients exploit this transformation of a social business delivering new software, services and skills resources to help organizations adopt best practices, policies and software to transform their businesses, including: (1) New Cloud software and services that delivers a cloud-based office productivity suite; (2) New software to help companies and governments socially enable their business processes using the most successful mobile devices, including tablets, such as the iPad, iPhone, Google Android, RIM's Blackberry and Nokia devices."

See how they worked Cloud and social networking into that press release? Google Juice!

"IBM intends to offer a cloud-based version of LotusLive Symphony, an office productivity suite that will give organizations a social platform that enables them to simultaneously collaborate on documents in the cloud. LotusLive Symphony in the cloud complements IBM's on-premise, free of charge, office productivity suite, IBM Lotus Symphony." I didn't know IBM offered free office software.

In its collab suite, IBM will turn the inbox into the Activity Stream that feeds in twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and SAP through the Social Business toolkit. (Yeah, it says SAP in the release.)

Meetrix is an IBM Partner that offers IBM's enterprise-class Sametime Server in the Cloud. "Combining Meetrix with Broadworks Connector provides unique capability for Broadworks operators to deliver a full featured, over the top Unified Communications and Collaboration (UC 2) offering to business-class customers." Simple Signal is using this service. Meetrix is the only partner for Hosted Lotus Sametime presently, which allows Meetrix to offer "businesses access to enterprise-class UCC features such as instant messaging, chat, presence, awareness, document and presentation storage and sharing, audio and video, web conferencing and e-signature capabilities through SAAS." Note: digital e-Signature. [pr]

I'm guessing that this will compete against Microsoft Linc. I'm also guessing that the marketing and branding of this will take some time, which they don't have. The key may be the Activity Box and the digital e-Signature capabilities. At least, that's what I would be featuring in my marketing. It should be interesting to see, especially if other Broadsoft CLEC's jump on that wagon.

Super Charging the SIP Trunk

2011-03-17T16:37:10Z

I was on a panel about Supercharging the SIP Trunk Sales by Broadvox. It sounded similar to the panel I did at CVX West 2010 on Upselling the SIP Trunk sale.

This one had to go a little more basic to What is SIP? SIP Trunking is how carriers power dial-tone to an IP-PBX. Beyond the definition of the term, there is the concept that this specification for a voice packet to provide dial-tone is the foundation of the Next-Gen Communication platform. Start with the SIP trunk as the basic circuit needed for communications. Then other applications that utilize SIP sessions can be integrated into the platform. (In many cases, the platform is the PBX or the softswitch.)

One point that I made: All voice will soon be Voice over IP. Cellular is. Long Distance is. Dynamic T1 is. Cableco digital voice is. AT&T is turning off the PSTN with the approval of the FCC in less than 10 years. SIP has become the de facto protocol for Voice over IP - beating H.323, MGCP and others. Agents (and customers) have to get on-board with this fact. SIP is here to stay.

Yes there are issues. Most notably Fax-over-IP (which many companies are working on, T.38 not withstanding); HD Voice; alarms, elevators, credit card processing machines; and inter-operability between the SIP provider and the gear attached to the Trunk. Since SIP is a specification of about 30 RFC's, it is interpreted differently by manufacturers and providers. Hence, inter-operability is extremely important. It is not like a PRI, which is a standard, with just 2 configurations available in any class 4 or 5 switch or any PBX system. That makes inter-op easy. Today. Maybe not so much in 1988.

Our panel then went a little crazy talking about Unified Communication and all the possible UC components that could be mounted on that SIP trunk - like SMS/text, IM/chat, Video, Presence, conferencing, ACD, IVR, etc. Unfortunately, it's not that easy and most of the integration is with the gear (PBX, IAD, softswitch, SBC).

During Q&A, some asked how to explain SIP to a customer. I said, Don't. Would you explain how the engine works in a car? Focus on the benefits, the reliability, the way it will help the business and you won't have to worry about saying VoIP or SIP.

The panel had to explain that SIP trunks mean different things to different carriers. In some cases, a SIP trunk is just a call path. In other cases, a SIP Trunk is a circuit containing many call paths. It's confusing for the agent and the customer.

There are two ways to deliver SIP Trunking: over an IP circuit and over the Internet. Big difference. SIP sessions over the Internet lack quality of service. Jitter and latency will affect the voice quality. SIP Trunks that ride private line, virtual circuit or MPLS circuit have not only the best call quality but enhanced security.

Many ITSP's started out as ISP's (or at least with an ISP infrastructure). At the NOC, the ITSP has aggregation circuits for DSL, MPLS, private line from ILEC's and CLEC's. Some even have aggregation with a cableco. This means that the ITSP - in its network footprint - is delivering VoIP service to you on a private network with QOS of some level. The customer is receiving Internet over the same circuit but the egress to The Web is AFTER the aggregation point and separate from the softswitch.

Major MSO's deliver their Enterprise VoIP product as a physically separate VLAN. That offers QOS and security as well.

At XO, Pete Davis and I have collaborated on a concept called The UC Sandbox. XO has all the components for UC available for sale. Hosted MS Exchange, Blackberry server, Hosting, Collocation, IM/chat, Hosted PBX, SIP Trunking, Contact center application, web & audio conferencing, video conferencing, data storage, Anywhere service, and more can be provisioned for the customer as a single individual service or as a bundle of components. The bonus for VAR's is that if they have a business selling email, security, what-have-you, they can mix-and-match components from XO or from a variety of providers to put the best solution together for the customer. That is the true value of VoIP, SIP and the future of Cloud.

UC is on the Rise: No Kidding

2011-01-04T22:25:42Z

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All the trends, lists, predictions are out now. Of course, UC is will see record growth and Cloud Computing too. No kidding! They are both in infancy (relatively speaking), so there is nowhere to go but up. Any halfwit that "predicted" that is just blowing hot air into his blog, tweet and press release to get some SEO juice with the trendy marketing buzz words.

XO tweeted this: "about 75% of specs drawn up by companies looking 2 upgrade communications have some form of #UC on their lists"

UC is a garbage can term that some marketing team came up with. Unified Communications encompasses VoIP, video, conferencing, presence, IM/chat, SMS/text, and now SocialCRM. That's the whole comm bucket, folks. So that should be 100% of companies are looking to upgrade to some form of UC.

During my chat with XO's Pete Davis today, we were talking about XO's UC value proposition. It's about having the various components for communications available to inter-operate together.

Having a bundle or a package for Hosted UC is great IF it will inter-op with company processes and other applications like CRM, databases, PBX, firewall, etc.

It's more like UC is a sandbox. Can the vendors play in that sandbox together in order for the customer to realize the true benefits of unified messaging, seamless telecom, mobility? We'll see but my bet is on not yet. For those wondering if UC will grow in 2011-2014: Probably. As this blog points out, successful case studies do not abound. If it turns out that UC is vaporware in terms of true benefits to the corporate bottom line, growth will stagnate. Or if it becomes a technological hurdle for small businesses to integrate.

Day 1 Observations from Phoenix

2010-10-26T04:01:23Z

I'm at the Broadsoft Connections 2010 user conference in Phoenix. The theme is Ignite Passion (for Hosted UC). These are some of my notes:

Broadsoft is pushing not just Hosted PBX but services they are calling CAAS (Communications-as-a-Service). Broadsoft released BroadCloud - video conferencing, web collaboration and IM/Presence, sold as a hosted service to the Broadsoft service provider, who then sells it to the end user. Um, there might not be enough margin there for that many hands in the chain.

The Service Provider needs

"Cisco phones are not as spectacular as you would think

I met a Technology Efficiency Specialist from Hula.

it has been a long month on the road for me. Sitting through presentation where the presenter is kind of bored, plowing through slides of stats and graphs. We all get that Hosted PBX is growing. It has no where to go but up, so the chart should be a hockey stick. What the industry needs to hear is as follows:

What are the sales triggers? How do we duplicate the successes that are out there? What are the hurdles?

These questions were answered in the 10 UC Go-to-Market Strategies breakout session. Some attendees said that it was common sense, but:

"UC is best served Hosted."

Keys to selling Hosted UC is Execution.

Basic VoIP revenue erosion is coming. Service Providers will need to sell value adds to increase ARPU. (It's all about total telecom spend.)

Agents, VAR's, and the rest of the Indirect Channel will have a difficult time selling Hosted UC, unless they drink the kool-aid and using Hosted UC. Anyone selling this stuff has to know it to sell it.

The keynote from Don Tapscott was about the Age of networked intelligience. We are in the middle of a Digital Revolution - go profit from it!

Some sponsors have some new gear to show off. (Aastra has some stuff to show me). And a familiar face showed up at OneAccess Networks: Dennis Gatens formerly with ADTRAN.

Making Money in IP Communications

2010-01-20T19:55:52Z

In a room filled with VAR's, inter-connects and VoIP resellers (and one investor), our ITEXPO panel this morning discussed making money from IP communications.

How does the indirect channel make money from IP? It is SO different from TDM. This isn't really plug-and-play services. There are so many factors that will affect a deployment, like LAN assessment and DID mapping. And as Kevin Kelleher, EVP at Iwatsu Voice Networks, remarked, it is valuable to know How NOT to Lose money with VoIP deployment.

All the panelists agreed that it is mainly about saving money. The conversation has to be around what would you like to happen with not just your phone calls but your email, your IM/chat, your conversations. It's about how do you want to interact and communicate with your customers, vendors, etc.

Robert Messer, President & CEO, ABP Technology, Inc. (a ditsributor), noted that phones aren't ringing as much any more. But email, chat, web inquiries are increasing. How is the sales team handling that activity? How is it being tracked for sales and compensation? Then David Byrd, VP at Broadvox, mentioned that FMC is device free, meaning that as we move more and more communication activity - voice, text, IM, Facebook, twitter - to smartphones, the applications that deliver on the promise of UC (unified communications) will be just that: applications, maybe in The Cloud, but riding over a SIP Trunk. So the SIP Trunk should be the baseline base for communications, but the sale shouldn't end there.

What About AOL?

2009-04-30T03:29:47Z

Tonight, Steve Case was on twitter tweeting, "Sad AOL went from being Internet pioneer/leader to also-ran. But still more there then most understand; hopeful can return to greatness." My replies were as follows: what they need are some young, hungry start-up execs, but what they will get is a stodgy exec that wants to cost cut and ride it out.

Why do I say that? Look at Embarq. Hesse had a couple months to pick a team and formulate a plan for the soon-to-be spun off Embarq. What did he do? Let's go with DSL and cost cutting. Blah! They needed that at Sprint not at Embarq. The next guy, Gerke, who took over last March, has been trying to be innovative with the eGo home phone. But EMBQ was already up for sale just trying to find a match.

Then you have EarthLink. Under Barry, it was trying everything: Muni Wi-Fi, BPL, MVNO, etc. He dies. The balls drop to the ground. The Board hires Rolla Hoff to come in, cost cut and try to find a buyer. No go. Just ride it out.

AOL has a wealth of brand recognition and content. It has active email accounts and IM users. My thoughts: go mobile with mobile IM app, definitely make the website and its content WAP based. Create MyAOL for the smartphone for $9.95 per month.

Also, I would have a premium email service that has extra value like saved address book, calendar and mobile access.

AOL has an advertising platform that I am not certain would spin-off, but if it did, there's cash and potential there, just like with the dial-up silo. And ADN, which it the AOL backbone is also something that could be leveraged.

I would even partner with ISP's to be the portal and content partner. Maybe the cable guys would like a deal like Yahoo has with AT&T.

Anyway, there's plenty there to be worked (a social network too I think), but it wouldn't be that hard to find someone creative and passionate enough to run it. (Hey, Steve, my CV is on LinkedIn!)

The Ultimate Hosted VoIP Service

2009-04-29T14:39:48Z

What's the perfect VoIP Service?

I have seen so many VoIP Providers, I can't keep track. But that also means that the VoIP providers are not doing a very good job of Messaging, Positioning and Differentiating their offerings.

The only VoIP provider I know that has married Hosted Exchange with Broadsoft is Simple Signal. It makes sense to me because what is UM (unified messaging) but voicemail to email - everything in one box.

Google Voice does it as well. One inbox for Gmail and Google Voice. And GV has some nice features like a transcript of your voicemail; recording calls; and more.

Recently, I read that a company had instituted a who-is-calling-please response into every call before th ephone rings. I love this! No more dumb dialers. No more UNKNOWN or OUT OF AREA on the Caller ID.

Quick rant: I pay Verizon $22.35 for Worksmart which includes Caller ID, but most of the time it is Unknown. WTH? How does it not even known when AT&T calls me? Or almost any other CLEC? Lazy. That's why you are losing customers.

Presence (not to be confused with tele-presence) was supposed to integrate IM/chat, email, mobile and desktop phone. I haven't seen much of that in real world implementation. (I understand why, but I'm just pointing it out). Skype does a decent job of video, voice or chat - plus recording, but it isn't a phone line replacement service.

Broadsoft has allowed many ITSP's to hook to SalesForce.com. Why not offer a hosted CRM software that is married to your PBX and email offering? VoIP is just one application.

HD Voice
conference-on-demand (web and video)
call blocking
Portal as easy as AT&T CallVantage
call logs that can match up caller ID

Obvously, the usual features are still a must-have, including:

simultaneous ring
find-me-follow-me
3-way calling
caller ID
voicemail
vm-to-email
call forwarding
Do Not Disturb

Chime in. I would love to hear from you:

what you are doing
who has the best message
are you a cutting edge ITSP

UPDATE:
M5 announced that the marriage of the M5 Genband-based Hosted PBX with SalesForce.com and Call Metrics has been a hit.

Working By Committee

2008-12-22T19:01:52Z

I am on quite a few committees that meet mainly by email and the occasional conference call. Neither email nor conference call are highly effective collaboration tools for an ongoing committee. So I have been looking at other ways to work.

One idea that comes up is Yahoo Groups (and Google Groups). It's basically email but with the message archive. It also has a file upload area; polling; and who's online. But you have to register (using a Y! account).

I have had a cursory look at Stixy. It has notes and to-do lists, which makes it like a wiki only better. (Most committees I work with don't like wikis and have tried to use Google docs instead). We may try this one.

Another one that looks good is Genius Room. It has a good review here.

If you have other ideas, please let me know. Thanks!

IT Folks Chatting About Communications

2008-12-09T15:33:39Z

During a discussion online, some interesting items popped up.

Companies ban Instant Message. One IT Security Consultant looks at the irony of it here. Tele-Presence is all about improved efficiency in communicating -- no more phone tag, less voicemail, that kind of thing -- but how will that be implemented in a corporate environment that locks it down?

Social networking like LinkedIn and Twitter are becoming commonplace among the marketing set. Maybe instead of banning these things in a corporate environment, you embrace it and set policy. Here's an article from CIO.com on LinkedIn etiquette.

It boils down to tools. Will you give people the tools that they can use to be effective at their position? If you are that worried about security, do an audit and train your people. Manage by walking around. Most theft is internal or social engineered. You can train against the social engineering, but if someone wants something bad enough they will figure out how to get it. It's just a shame that can't get that passionate and creative about the job.

Best VoIP Commercial Ever

2008-11-10T14:25:21Z

Saw this commercial on TV yesterday for oovoo, which is a Skype replacement.

Why did I like it? Because it demonstrated what it does while doing what Ma Bell used to do in the old days with its Reach Out and Touch Somebody ads.

It makes a connection with the audience. The connection is an emotional bond. No talk of features or benefits. Perfect.

Luca says that there isn't room for any more players. To an extent that is true because the market is full and it will be a zero-sum game of take-away. But with marketing like this, I can see how oovoo could take market share -- but how do they make money?