On Rad's Radar?

Emerging Threats Combats a Million Plus Pieces of New Malware a Week

By Rich Tehrani on Friday, May 17

There are 250,000 plus new pieces of malware being produced each day equating to one piece per person in the US in...

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Tagged emerging threats, interop, malware, security

NFV-Based Software Telcos Need OSS/BSS Interoperability

By Rich Tehrani on Friday, May 17

One of the goals of ETSI NFV is to allow new entrants to provide solutions to carriers based on software instead of...

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Tagged bss, carrier, ericsson, huawei, interoperability, nfv, nokia siemens networks, nsn, oss, sdn, software telco

SysAid's Lifshitz: The Cloud Will Dominate ITSM Market

By Rich Tehrani on Thursday, May 16

Cloud computing has really become a household word with mainstream media outlets running stories on television about the growth in the space...

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Tagged help desk, itsm, mdm, sysaid

Avaya Takes Networking Lead in SPB

By Rich Tehrani on Wednesday, May 15

At Interop Las Vegas 2013 Avaya was demonstrating their real-world Shortest Path Bridging (SPB) solutions and while interoperating with Spirent, HP and...

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Tagged alcatel-lucent, avaya, hp, interop, lucent, mpls, networking, spb, spirent, zeus kerravala

Alianza Wants to Host Your Software Telco

By Rich Tehrani on Tuesday, May 14

The software telco(r)evolution representing the move from hardware to software is perhaps the biggest trend in the world of carrier telecom this...

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Tagged acme packet, alianza, etsi, hosted ims, nfv, oracle, software telco, software telco congress, virtualization

WebRTC Screen Sharing Using Openfire

By Tom Keating on Tuesday, May 14

I've written about WebRTC screen sharing, but today I came across another WebRTC screen sharing solution leveraging Openfire and using WebSockets and...

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Tagged chrome, desktop sharing, firefox, jabber, screen sharing, unified communications, webrtc, xmpp

LTE Network Interactions

By Jim Machi on Tuesday, May 14

According to a recently released GSMA Wireless Intelligence infographic, there are 163 live LTE networks today, and that figure is expected...

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Tagged 3G, 3GPP Long Term Evolution, Broadforward, Dialogic, Diameter, LTE, Radius, Wi-Fi | Responses

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After spending much of 2H09 campaigning for ILEC Forbearance because he claims that the CLEC model has failed in the US, American Fiber Systems' Dave Rusin is interviewed by TMC's Rich Tehrani (video).

My problem with Dave is that he acts like he is CEO of a major telecom company. But according to Inc., AFS is only a $40M company with about 150 employees. It's a fiber only company.

Posted in TMC, fiber, telecommunications

Tagged: fiber, forbearance, strategy, TMC : Related Tags: fiber optic, metropolitan fiber, fiber, network, company, buildings

VoIP: Dead or Alive?

January 12, 2009

I'm coming late to this discussion (here and here and here), but I'll still offer my opinion. VoIP isn't Dead; it got lazy.

We have been talking VOIP and Converged for a while. We have zoomed past the point where VoIP will save you a lot of money.

Posted in Marketing, apps, voip

Tagged: voip : Related Tags: marketing message, phone, voice, calls, international

Subsidized 3G Netbooks

January 12, 2009

AT&T and Dell and ASUS have brought you the subsidized 3G networks. According to DSLReports.com, Dell is offering the Inspiron Mini 9 for $99 With 2 Year Ma Bell Contract.

"Acer is offering an Aspire One for $99 (normally $500) to users willing to sign a two year contract for any AT&T data plan of $60/month or higher. Now, rather unsurprisingly, Dell is also offering their new Inspiron Mini 9 netbook for $99 (after $350 mail in rebate) if you sign up for the same AT&T plan

Will mini PC's replace Smart phones? Why didn't PC makers add a 3G chipset to laptops so a similar subsidy? Why isn't Sprint all over this?

Posted in Marketing, cellular

Tagged: cellular, marketing, mobile : Related Tags: offering

Effect of Broadband on the Economy

January 12, 2009

Many pundits and pols are pushing the National Broadband Strategy to stimulate the economy. Let's look at the effects of Broadband on the Economy:

First, there is the Lake County Florida case: "Our econometric model shows that Lake County has experienced approximately 100% greater growth in economic activity - a doubling - relative to comparable Florida counties since making its municipal broadband network generally available to businesses and municipal institutions in the county. ...

Posted in broadband, economy

Tagged: broadband, economy : Related Tags: effects broadband, broadband economy, broadband california, growth employment, california counties, broadband

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Customer Retention is Job 1 for Agents

January 12, 2009

I blogged to my clients this morning that they need to be spending their time on customer retention as much as on acquisition. Then I got my Monday morning email that stated:

CUSTOMER RETENTION - If you aren't talking to your customers about renewing their contracts - trust me the Direct Sales force of Qwest, Verizon and AT&T ARE. All three carriers are using their Direct Teams to mine Agent accounts. - It cost more to get a new customer versus maintaining and growing your existing base.

HOW TO UPSELL IN A DOWN ECONOMY - Agent Quote - " If I'm not helping my customers with all their telecom needs, then someone else will." With it being the start of a new year now is the time to set up appointment with your top 25 customers and discuss their business and how you can help them. Don't assume they don't do conference calling because almost every business does these days. If you aren't talking to them about it, someone else will. Same holds true with wireless, disaster recover, data back up and collocation. Yearly audits are essential.

Posted in agents, sales and selling

Tagged: agents, selling : Related Tags: customer retention, customer, customers, retention

The Road Ahead: Telecom Agent Keynote

January 9, 2009

I was lucky enough to be chosen to give the keynote for TMC's Telecom Agent Day at the Internet Telephony East Expo in Miami Beach on Feb. 3.

The Road Ahead: So you want to know what tomorrow has in store? Come to this session to hear all about the opportunities that are waiting just ahead. The speaker will address the trends and the recent activity in the market and come away with a plan for addressing the challenges ahead.

So I would like to know what YOU think is coming down the pike. I spoke with Dan Goodwin at ATC this morning who expressed that agents need to be experts and on top of their game to be able to handle the constant change in this industry.

Posted in TMC, agents, conferences, expo, telecommunications

Tagged: agents, expo, TMC, trends : Related Tags: telecom agent, ahead, telecom, agent

Bell-Head versus Net-Head

January 7, 2009

Discussing the economy on telecom sales today in some parts of the South, I was led to the following: Bell-Head versus Net-Head. What, you ask. Another way to ask it is Why can some folks sell TDM/POTS/PRI and why can some people sell VoIP?

VoIP is just an application, like UC, voicemail, and conferencing. That's Net-Head thinking. It's just eye pee!

VoIP is an unreliable step-sister to POTS.

Posted in agents, sales and selling, voip

Tagged: centrex, sales, tdm, telecommunications, voip : Related Tags: phone system, system, people

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Aastra's New Line of Phones

January 5, 2009

Aastra has a new line of SIP phones out. They sent me one to test. The Aastra 9480i CT (35i CT) offers advanced features, mobility and security in
a standards-based, carrier-grade IP screen telephone. Utilizing the very popular
Aastra 480i CT design, this powerful includes an integrated WDCT cordless mobility handset.

Posted in technology, voip

Tagged: aastra, sip phone : Related Tags: aastra, advanced, screen, mobility, features, phone

Asset Management for Money

January 5, 2009

There has been buzz around TEM since 2006. In an economic downturn (kind of like we are experiencing now), telecom expense management can play a real role. Hand-in-hand with auditing, TEM is a way to get the attention of the prospective buyer. Personally, I have a distaste for the "I'll save you money pitch", but its what resonates with most people.

Today, businesses have to do more with less - including less people.

Posted in TEM, agents

Tagged: telecom asset management, tem : Related Tags: companies, company

Level3 Financial Update

December 31, 2008

Following this story and my own, a couple of master agents called me to get an opinion on the viability of Level3 and if I thought that they would file BK. My response was that I didn't think it was likely and that L3 has been leaning on the Channel to bring in more revenue every year. But I pinged some people I know and this showed up in my inbox: A press release from Standard & Poor's.

Standard & Poor's Ratings Service said today it lowered its issue rating on Broomfield Colo.-based Level 3 Communications Inc.'s 6% convertible subordinated notes due 2009 to 'D' from 'C'.

Posted in agents, economy

Tagged: BK, financials, level3 : Related Tags: level communications, corporate credit, tender offers, credit rating, completion tender, level

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