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It seems that many of the market watchers were surprised with yesterday's announcement that the US Justice department filed suit to block the planned merger of t-Mobile and AT&T.  Honestly, I was not surprised that the merger is going to court. 

With the US down to four national mobile carriers (Verizon, AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile), competition is at risk.  Outside the major metro areas, not all four carriers are ubiquitous, meaning that choice often falls between two or three carriers.  It's easy to envision a situation with Sprint falling to a distant third-place and a duopoly of AT&T and Verizon resulting.

For those fuming over "big brother" sticking it's nose into private businesses - the huricane this last weekend has reminded us that our mobile telephone infrastructure is a critical resource for commerce and emergency communications.  Letting something so important as mobile communications fall into the hands of a duopoly would put far too much control in the hands of a small number of executives with unclear motives.

Also, consider the number of every-day businesses that depend on mobile communications (both voice and data) to operate their businesses.   From cab drivers to UPS, many need mobility to effectively operate their businesses.  If coverage, congestion and pricing get fouled up as the result of a non-competitive duopoly, what happens to them?

So, what happens next to T-Mobile?   Most likely they will continue to play the role of smaller, but more innovative carrier.   With their international flair and product ideas often coming from Europe, expect them to play an important role in pre-paid and and cost effective data services.  AT&T isn't known for their innovation - with the exception of signing a deal with Apple for exclusivity on the iPhone. 

In my mind, four national carriers is good for the country and good for business.

Related articles

• U.S. Government Sues to Block AT&T Merger (forbes.com)
• AT&T, T-Mobile Merger Blocked by Justice Department (abcnews.go.com)

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Being close partners with both Skype and Microsoft, I’ve been living in a dual UC environment for over two years, using Microsoft Lync and Skype at the same time.  Depending on who I needed to communicate with, I had to choose either the Lync or Skype client to initiate the conversation.  Frequently swapping from one client to the other between conversations (fortunately, I can use the same headset). Things get real interesting when I need to pull in both Skype and other non-Skype capable co-workers into the same conversation.  

Besides juggling the two clients, I must maintain two presence statuses, two directories and two profiles.  Sometimes I feel like I live two parallel lives in two parallel universes. 

 With today’s announcement that Microsoft has reached an agreement to purchase Skype, it appears my two worlds are soon converging.  But I don’t expect dramatic changes overnight, there are many technical differences between Microsoft Lync and Skype that I suspect will make the integration a slow, but steady evolution.

 For starters, Microsoft and Skype both have proprietary high-definition media coders (RTA from Microsoft and SILK from Skype).  In both cases, they’ve made huge investments in the development of the coders and both have significant market penetration. RTA is built into Lync and fantastic at adapting to enterprise network conditions, but Skype’s SILK coder works much better over the open internet where network conditions change minute-to-minute.  If you have to choose one, which do you choose?

 Beyond the media, directory management tools, status and presence will all need to be integrated.  As Skype is an “over the top” service, using the customer’s existing broadband internet service, security has some special challenges too.

Fortunately, you can integrate Skype Connect with Microsoft Lync for calling features today.  Using an Enterprise Session Border Controller (E-SBC) in a Back-to-Back User Agent (B2BUA) mode, Skype Connect low-cost calling and inbound Skype Client access can be integrated to Microsoft Lync.  The E-SBC also provides that added security needed to protect the enterprise against external attack or abuse.

Using an E-SBC to integrate Skype Connect with Microsoft Lync allows businesses to offer Skype-IDs to the public, enabling “call me” buttons on web sites, replacing toll-free 800 services with free Skype calling.  To me, this seems like an obvious initial investment to reduce operating costs while improving customer access to the increasingly mobile consumer and business markets.

I am looking forward to further integration, but see the immediate opportunities for voice integration as a valuable first step.

Like the Ghostbuster characters, sometimes you need to cross the streams to shake things up (let’s just hope we get more than a giant marshmallow man to show for the investment)

For more information on this topic, visit the Microsoft Lync and Skype Connect Integration resource page.
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I've been a Skype account holder for years and it sure has come in handy for communicating back to the office and home from my far-flung travels.  It was real useful communicating with my older son while he was studying abroad and our travels to Europe this last spring.  But other than client-to-client communications, I was having trouble envisioning how businesses would adopt Skype.
 
That all changes with today's announcement of Skype Connect.  With Skype Connect, businesses can now integrate Skype inbound and outbound calling into their existing infrastructure, avoiding the "wait, I have to switch headsets" issue of having both a phone and Skype client on every-one's desktop.  

Beyond PBXs, I can see contact centers benefiting from Skype Connect, allowing callers to "Skype" into the contact center, instead of tying up the mobile or landline telephone.

Think of this as the ultimate "Toll Free" calling to reach your business.

So how does this work?  Skype Connect is essentially a SIP portal into the Skype network, allowing Skype Client and PSTN access.    If you have one of the select IP-PBXs that are Skype-ready, the Skype service can be provisioned to connect directly to your IP-PBX.  However, if you are like most businesses that have either a TDM PBX or a non-Skype-ready IP-PBX, you'll need a media gateway or E-SBC to terminate the Skype session.  

• TDM PBXs would use a media gateway with the TDM side facing the PBX - in most cases emulating the network side of a PRI circuit.  
• For IP-PBXs, an E-SBC would be used in a Back-to-Back User Agent (B2BUA) mode that terminates the Skype session, performs security checks and then re-initiates the call into your IP-PBX in a format that it understands.

Fortunately, we here at AudioCodes have validated our Mediant gateways for use with Skype Connect and they make a great fit for the configurations mentioned above.

It should be noted that Skype Connect is not free - like any business product that has value, there are subscription fees associated with it. 

Here's an excellent case study that shows just one example of what businesses are doing with Skype Connect. Continue Reading...

I'm seeing an ever-growing cross section of SME and Enterprise buyers listening and learning about SIP Trunking with the cost savings and flexibility piquing their interest.

However, many of the security, interoperability and survivability issues of SIP I have pointed out in previous posts have to-date stymied some of the growth and adoption of SIP Trunking.

As a result of these issues and the need to integrate SIP-based communications systems with a wide range of SIP Trunking service providers, a whole new category of customer premise equipment has recently evolved--the Enterprise Session Border Controller (E-SBC). The E-SBC is designed to be located on the customer premise and sit between the Local Area Network and the external Wide Area Network. Unlike the larger and more complex carrier-oriented Session Border Controller (SBC), the E-SBC is "right-sized" for a range of medium and large enterprises.

Unique functions of an E-SBC include:

Security: Often the first attribute to get mentioned about any SBC. Continue Reading...

Wireless Internet - with the increasing use of handheld smart phones, wireless Internet usage will soar and with it will come increased congestion, reliability issues and eventually usage fees.  The "all you can use" wireless Internet is going to get expensive.

Apple will end exclusive arrangement with AT&T - with competition from Google Android (the operating software for the "Droid") and ever increasing network congestion and performance issues on the AT&T network (see above), Apple will be forced to finally end their exclusive relationship and expand to other carriers.  At first to other GSM carriers (T-Mobile) and then CDMA carriers (like Verizon and Sprint).  However, an iPhone for CDMA networks requires a different radio in the iPhone which means there will end up being two different phones and users will never be able to jump from GSM to CDMA carriers without buying a new phone.

Google will aggressively exploit Apple / AT&Ts performance issues (see above) and become a strong competitor in the mobile device market with both GSM and CDMA carriers (still with different devices).

HD Voip - the pieces are all there, and the first few carriers are readying their product launches.  Your wireline telephone is about to become obsolete.  Once you hear it - you will understand.

Fiber-to-the-home - will grow as fast as they can bury the conduit.  Whether it comes from Verizon with their FiOS offering or your local cable operator, coax and twisted pair copper wires are dead.  Blazing speed Internet, HDTV and video on demand over IP will drive a wooden stake in the heart of the old copper infrastructure.  Long live FTTH!

Video over IP - I've seen the future and it's unbundled video over IP services like Netflix, Blockbuster, and Amazon.com with their streaming or digital downloads to your DVR.  They completely obsolete video on demand with it's limited choices and start times.  Also, why would anyone go into a video rental store ever again?

Blu-Ray - with the HD-DVD / Blu-ray battle ending two years ago and sufficient HDTVs in people's homes, it's time for Blu-ray to take off.  But, only if Blu-ray disks also include a DVD or digital copy for the kids room/car/portable player.  We've got too many other DVD-only devices around the house to limit playback.  But, Blu-ray will have to compete with Video over IP services and will never be as ubiquitous as DVD rentals were 10 years ago.

Twitter is in Twouble - it's 15 minutes of fame are over and it will basically settle in as a replacement for PR news wire services with content by the people and for the people.  Much like web pages, email, YouTube and blogging, social media in general will find a home in the suite of communications tools.  The bottom line is that talented people will always be needed to create interesting/funny/insightful content to keep your attention - otherwise it's just noise.

Morse Code - sorry to see you go, but when the ARRL and FCC dropped it from the Amateur Radio operating requirements, now there is absolutely no reason to keep it around.  --. --- --- -.. -... -.-- .

Jobs recovery - Green energy, Biotechnology and security are the growth areas for the next decade.  Kids - make sure you prepare yourselves for these industries / careers. 

Energy/Fuel prices - with our sputtering economy taking a long slow recovery, I suspect we will enjoy relatively low fuel prices at least for the first six months.  This will give time for the auto manufacturers to figure out how to make a plug-in-hybrid for the masses.  Hopefully it will be ready when the prices of fuel take off again.

And with that, I wish you all a very Happy New Year and see you soon!

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Over the last few weeks, I've spent quite a bit of time talking with a variety of partners about leveraging SIP in large enterprise deployments and specifically the architectures used to support branch offices.  When I first starting working on this problem, my original reaction was "Simple, just put in a softswitch and connect all the sites together via SIP - Done".  

It turns out it's not that easy.  From listening to our partners and their customers, I have learned there are a few real challenges they deal with when deploying communications systems into distributed branch office situations:

First you need to get good quality broadband to every one of your branch offices, which is hard to do once you leave the urban/suburban rings of most cities.  Getting voice-grade  broadband to remote offices in rural America can be very expensive and wipe out any potential cost savings.  Consumer grade broadband is easier to get, but even then not predictable enough for commercial applications.

Second is the question of reliability, which was recently demonstrated by the massive Internet outage in San Jose. What will happen to your business if the broadband connection to the site is cut?  Do you just close for the day and kiss off the revenue?

Third is network traffic optimization - does every call really need tie up your broadband service?  Is there a more efficient way to leverage the expensive and shared broadband that services the branch offices?

The solutions seems to be in an architecture that fits somewhere between the two extremes of fully centralized and fully distributed, but exactly where depends on the individual business.

To discuss these challenges and some potential solutions, I've invited Bruce Mazza, Director of Branch Office Solutions for Avaya to join me in a live webinar on Tuesday, April 14th at 2 PM.  I encourage you to Click here to register for the live event or listen to an on-demand recording of the event. Continue Reading...

I'm very much looking forward to the upcoming Solutions Theater and iPod Give-away we are hosting at VoiceCon later this month.  As part of this series of presentations on SIP applications, we'll be joined by Bill Miller, Vice President of Product Management for Digium.  Bill brings a wealth of experience and knowledge on both IP-PBX solutions and open source to the stage.  Bill was kind enough to share with me some thoughts on his upcoming session: 

AP: Thanks again for presenting in the upcoming Solutions Theater at VoiceCon.  Can you give us a sneak peek at the topic of your presentation?

BM: My session is titled "Open Source Alternatives in a down economy"

AP: Please share with us how Digium|Asterisk and open source solutions help enterprises in this difficult economy?

BM: The business case for open source and open source based solutions is compelling for both business and technical reasons. We will explore why the momentum is not just building daily, but there are proven solutions, case studies and growing list of enterprise class solutions.

AP: How can Value Added Resellers (VARS) best leverage Digium|Asterisk?

BM: VARs are adopting alternatives to traditional telecom solutions at alarming rates. The ability to leverage experience already gained from traditional telephony solutions, the new emerging models provides new channels of revenues, new pipelines of opportunities and many alternatives to build custom telephony solutions to grow faster than the market. price conscious users want to kick the tires and understand open source today.

AP: Who would get the most out of listening to your presentation?

BM: Resellers and enterprises or all sizes

AP: Bill, where would someone learn more about your Digium Open Source solutions?

BM: The Digium booth is #1328 here at VoiceCon and our web site is www.digium.com. Continue Reading...

 As noted in yesterday's post about VoiceCon, our opening speaker in the AudioCodes / ScanSource Solutions Theater will be Joel Maloff, Vice President of Marketing for BandTel.  BandTel is a pure SIP Trunking service provider that utilizes AudioCodes gateways to connect their services to end-customer TDM PBXs or other equipment.  Joel was kind enough to spend a few minutes with me yesterday, providing a preview of what to expect in his presentation at VoiceCon.

AP: Can you share with us the title and topic of your presentation?

JM: Sure, the title is 'SIP Trunking - Ready for Prime Time '

AP: How does SIP Trunking help enterprises in this difficult economy?

JM: SIP trunking has two immediate benefits for enterprises, especially in light of economic conditions. The first is the ability to broaden an enterprise's reach via the use of remote local telephone numbers. For example, an enterprise that is forced to consolidate and close down physical locations can retain those telephone numbers and have them ring into one or more centralized facilities. In this way, local identification is retained, operations are consolidated, and costs can be dramatically reduced. Continue Reading...

Want a really good shot at winning a free iPod Touch?  If you are headed to VoiceCon in Orlando later this month, you should definitely read on...

AudioCodes has joined forces with ScanSource Communications at this upcoming VoiceCon in Orlando and as part of the exhibition, we are hosting a "Solutions Theater and Pavilion" in our expanded booth #931.  We are thrilled to have pulled together 14 industry leaders that will deliver a series of presentations that focus on SIP-based applications that help end users and VARs deal with this difficult economy.  

Now for the really cool part: After each presentation, AudioCodes and ScanSource Communications is giving away an iPod Touch to one of the lucky audience members.  (Rules for the drawing will be posted in the booth)

Time	Presenter	Topic
4:00 PM	BandTel Joel Maloff Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing	SIP Trunking
4:30 PM	CTI2 Erez Marom	Unified Communications

Time	Presenter	Topic
1:30 PM	AudioCodes Alan Percy Director, Market Development	IP Communications - An Opportunity in a Down Economy?
2:00 PM	Avaya Bruce Mazza	Branch Office Solutions
2:30 PM	The VIA Group Jeff Stillings	Microsoft Office Communicator 2007
3:00 PM	Genesys Charles Lee      Sr. Product Marketing Manager	Empowering enterprise-wide customer service
3:30 PM	Atlantic Communications Michael Light	Hosted Solutions (Cosmocom)
4:00 PM	Digium Bill Miller VP Product Management	Asterisk Open Source Solutions

Time	Presenter	Topic
1:30 PM	Brian Cuppett ScanSource Comm.	ScanSource Communications
2:00 PM	Strategic Products and Services (SPS) Mike Taylor, CTO	Avaya Branch Office Solutions
2:30 PM	Interactive Intelligence Rick Q. Chin Manager, Solutions Marketing	Improving the Customer Experience with CIC
3:00 PM	EUS Networks Robert Campozano CEO	Asterisk Solutions on Mediant 1000 OSN
3:30 PM	Sagem-Interstar TBA	Enterprise Fax Solutions
4:00 PM	Enabling Technology Steve Bruno	Deploying Microsoft Office Communicator

See you in Orlando! Continue Reading...

This week here at AudioCodes has been very busy.  You may have seen the post on Monday, announcing our HD VoIP strategy  which will dramatically improve the clarity and quality of voice communications.

Yesterday, we announced our new line of IP Phones, all of which will support HD VoIP.  As far as I can tell, we will be the only manufacturer that will have a 100% HD VoIP capable phones (even the low-cost entry model).

The market analysts seem to agree:

• The 310HD IP Phone is positioned as an entry level IP-Phone and includes a basic display and user interface. 
• The 320HD Premium model includes a large Monochrome LCD screen. 
• The 350HD Executive model has a large Color LCD.

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