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BroadSoft nabs VocalData

Posted August 27, 2008 by Scott Wharton - Comments (0)
My former employer, BroadSoft announced today that they will be acquiring the application server assets of Genband (fomerly known as VocalData, formerly owned by Tekelec). 

This is a win for BroadSoft in that it removes a weak competitor from the market (a distant number 4 behind Sylantro, and Comverse) and adds the VocalData installed base to farm some revenue from.  It also provides owner Genband with an out:  Getting cash for their struggling unit, stop the development bleeding, and allow them to focus on their core business of gateways.

This also reinforces the trend in next-gen telecom where the dominant player continues to increase their market share as the expense of weaker rivals.  BroadSoft, Acme Packet, Sonus, and Polycom are all examples in application servers, session border controllers, media gateways, and IP phones respectively.

This move is going to put some pressure on remaining players Sylantro and Comverse (aquired NetCentrex) to either up their investment in the space, stake out a niche of the applications market, or watch their market share and position continue to decline over time.

99% Retention Over 7 Years

Posted August 22, 2008 by Gary Kim - Comments (1)
Now here is something one doesn't hear every day: over seven years in business, Smoothstone has had 99 percent customer retention, losing "about five" enterprise accounts, including those that might have gone out of business. In fact, I am hard pressed to think of any other company I've ever encountered that can boast of retention that high.

Of course, Smoothstone has some advantages. It doesn't serve consumer accounts, which typically have churn rates in 1.5 to three percent a month range. Smoothstone has no clients with less than 50 users. Its sweet spot is customers with 100 to 2,000 seats, but the company focuses on 50 to 5,000 seats.

Smoothstone credits "overstaffing" for the retention performance, as much as anything. All customers have a four-digit number for support, and those calls go directly to one of Smoothstone's network operations centers, staffed by Cisco-certified engineers. "About 85 percent of calls are resolved by the first call," says Piazza.

"We will provide access and WAN services, professional services, systems integrator and software developer for CRM and Microsoft unified messaging software and fully managed networks," says Smoothstone SVP Chuck Piazza. "We do surveys of each client's applications environment as it affects collaboration, voice and data communications."

Embarq Launches Hosted IP Using MetaSwitch

Posted August 20, 2008 by Gary Kim - Comments (0)
Embarq is basing its new Smart IP Enterprise service on the MetaSwitch softswitch, media gateway and MetaSphere application suite. The Smart IP Enterprise service will provide business customers with a bundled package of dedicated Internet access, local and long distance voice services and IP-enabled call features, including click-to-dial features and Microsoft Outlook integration.

The move gets Embarq into the hosted IP communications business that now represents about 25 percent of all new IP phone services solutions being bought by business customers.

Portal control of features and settings, rules-based call forwarding, auto attendant, music on hold,  simultaneous or sequential ring also are features Embarq will be able to provide. Embarq also will be using the MetaSwitch’s SIP Provisioning Server to help ease the deployment of its SIP phones.

Embarq's move is illustrative of moves by major service providers with a telco legacy to get into the managed IP services business in a bigger way. Cable companies for the most part have yet to do so, but such services are on their roadmaps.



XO Communications Offers More-Granular Ethernet Access

Posted August 18, 2008 by Gary Kim - Comments (0)
XO Communications now offers customers Ethernet services at additional speed ranges, including 20 Mbps, 30 Mbps, 40 Mbps, 50 Mbps, 60 Mbps, 70 Mbps, 200 Mbps, 300 Mbps, 400 Mbps  500 Mbps at on-net fiber locations, and speeds of 15 or 20 Mbps at locations served by last mile copper where XO has deployed Ethernet over copper technology.   

These speeds are currently available in Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, New York, San Jose, Seattle, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C.  XO expects to roll out the speed options to all of its markets across the country early next year.

SEACOM Shows the Way

Posted August 17, 2008 by Hunter Newby - Comments (0)

SEACOM recently announced that they are on schedule to bring a new undersea cable to South Africa by June 2009.

http://www.seacom.mu/news/news_details.asp?iID=53

This is major news for a few reasons.

1. Any new cable system to points in Africa is a big step in the right direction no matter what - the current fiber cable / transport capability to that part of the world is no where near that of other areas.

2. It builds the foundation for a future global Meet -Me point in South Africa which will link not only East Africa with West Africa, but also provide the critical mass and justification for other such underdsea projects to link South America with Asia and the Middle East via South Africa. This is incredibly important given the current reliance on New York and London for this route. A true ring around the world is a good thing.

3. The driving force behind the SEACOM build is rooted in the need for fiber to transport HD video for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Without this fiber there would have been no practical way for the broadcasters to access the HD feeds coming from South Africa. The days of satellite and SD are ending and will be over by 2010 for major live sporting events. This announcement and entire project underscore that reality.

There is much that is not known about what would have become of the FIFA World Cup if the SEACOM cable was not being built. Would the games have been brought to a place where there is ample fiber to carry the HD? A political mess for sure, but apparently that will be averted. Obviously this is a substantial revenue opportunity for the fiber-based transport providers. One thing is certain - it is an interesting time in networking history when we can directly link a new undersea cable build to South Africa with the specific intention of meeting video broadcasters broadband requirements. Supply is built to meet demand and the business case is made that simple.

 

 


IBM Lotus Sametime and Microsoft OCS Interop on a Subscription Basis

Posted August 13, 2008 by Gary Kim - Comments (0)
So far, the jury appears still to be out for many large enterprises weighing their unified communications options. IBM Lotus Sametime is considered to have the largest installed base and Microsoft Office Communications Server seems to be high on just about every enterprise list of providers. But it probably is fair to note that few enterprises have made a firm decision about a single provider for the whole enterprise.

In many cases, a bridge between the Sametime and OCS environments is likely to be necessary. So Covergence has unveiled its Covergence Collaboration Gateway, which supports interoperability between Microsoft OCS/LCS and IBM Sametime version 6.5, 7.0, 7.5, and 8.0 and also features new pricing, with subscriptions as low as $1 per user, per month. That price is available on three-year subsciptions with about 8,000 user seats. One-year and two-year plans also are available.

The subscription plan, in particular, gives enterprises the ability to interoperate between Sametime and OCS environments without making a final and complete commitment to either Sametime or OCS, and to continue unifying communications where both environments exist.

“Converting to an enterprise-wide, single-vendor UC solution can be an expensive, lengthy and sometimes impractical proposition,” says Jim Moran, president and CEO of Covergence. “By offering interoperability on a subscription pricing model, our customers are in control of their migration path and timeline.”

CCG delivers controlled, secure connectivity between disparate UC platforms, allowing users from different organizations – even different companies – to work together as if they were served by the same UC platform, enjoying shared presence information, instant messaging and other features.

For organizations committed to an eventual corporate UC standard, CCG’s subscription pricing enables a faster return on their UC investments by allowing them to implement the solution immediately and maintain their subscription for as long as it is needed.

SIPX Shows ENUM, hiQ Signaling Capability

Posted August 7, 2008 by Gary Kim - Comments (0)
The Dutch Cable SIP Exchange project (SIPX), an initiative of the Dutch cable industry, successfully tested interoperability between its peering system, which is provided by XConnect Global Networks, Ltd., and the Nokia Siemens Networks hiQ VoIP platform used in many of its participant networks.

The advantage is signaling redundancy and the ability to use legacy signaling to support delivery of IP traffic. As envisioned, cable operators first will route calls on an ENUM query. If the number is found in the ENUM Registry then that is the basis for routing the IP call.

If the number is not found in the ENUM Registry, then the calls are still passed IP between NSN hiQs, and the receiving hiQ uses SS7/C7 to handle the final termination leg of the call. 

The SIPX is the world’s first cable telephony peering federation project, and is developed by XConnect Global Networks, Ltd. and Kayote Networks. The SIPX will provide its members with an all IP interconnect so that calls from one network to another by-pass the PSTN and associated toll charges. An additional benefit to maintaining an uninterrupted IP path is the ability for the participating cable telephony providers to offer hi-fidelity codecs and video telephony on a cross-network basis. 

Reducing Network Disconnects

Posted August 7, 2008 by Hunter Newby - Comments (1)

Recently I was introduced to a new website with a somewhat old idea. www.buysellbandwidth.com seeks to reduce and, or eliminate the disparity and inefficiencies in sourcing available capacity on different networks through a "members-only" access view to what is in demand and also available for global networks. The thought is to bring the information forward to the real principals in order to  facilitate a meaningful solution. A worthwhile and even noble cause indeed.

This has of couse been attempted before in various fashions dating back to the "bandwidth trading" days and beyond. We probably all remember ENRON Broadband, Reliance (not the Indian company), Dynegy Connect, El Paso Global Networks and many others. Most of the attempts at this were made as pure broker models, but some realized that as a broker in the middle you typically had no control and in the end got burned. In other words, if your business model relied on revenues from commissions you would be chasing your own tail in to the ground. There was (and is) no standard interconnection platform for bandwidth - unlike natural gas, oil and power.

Those that discovered this reality tried to actually own the network facilities in the middle so that they could control the process, but this lead them to the new reality that they had to actually run a network. Something most of them had no knowledge of, or experience with. The two shining examples of actual telecom-based attempts at this that come to mind are Universal Access and Last Mile Connections. I experienced all of this first-hand as most of these companies were my customers in 60 Hudson Street, NYC at one point. Interesting times.

There is something about buysellbandwidth.com that is differnet though - the Founder, Neil Tagare, has real experience with network provisioning issues. When someone looks at an opportunity from the perspective of solving a problem there is hope that it will succeed.

From his bio and other sources I gathered the following:

- He was involved with FLAG which, from a construction and operations perspective, worked and it was global

- One of the motivations for this site was the middle east undersea cable cuts of this year, something that intentionally doesn't get any coverage, but exposes THE major weakness/vulnerability in the civilized world - reliance on networks

- He mentions diversity as being essential and that it can be achieved (with what's in the ground now) by having visibility to others that possess routes/network/assets. More information and knowledge is a good thing

- He is actually using this platform to "pre-sell" other projects to his members. A good way to determine where the demand is, or better yet create demand for where assets currently are not, but should be.

These are all great points and in his favor. Also it that matter that the business is being based on trust. It is good to be upfont about that. Establishing it with everyone and then getting it back in return is the trick.

All in all these types of businesses have failed in the past because they always boil down to relationships, trust, setting the right expectations and the underlying revenue model itself. All you need is a few deals to go bad, or someone to represent they have something that they don't, or can't deliver and then trust in the system is broken. No one wants to waste their time so they usually stick to doing deals with their friends and people they know. Those are usually safe, small circles. This is not to say that buysellbandwidth.com won't work, but it needs constant daily attention.

Also, if buysellbandwidth.com is getting involved in deals from a project development standpoint it may become perceived as being non-neutral and steering things the way they want them to go for their own gain. (Since buysellbandwidth doesn't own a "neutral" interconnection facility they can't inherently benefit from everyone transacting in their space - although Neil seems to know a few things about the benefits of Carrier Neutral Landing Stations). This can also lead to another fundemental issue that plagues the comms business - provisioning. Leaving the carriers, etc to actually sort how they are going to get connected has proven to be quite challenging. Layering the buysellbandwidth.com concept on top of known, established physical layer interconnection facilities around the world would probably do much to help drive the greater good and benefit all parties involved.

Check it out www.buysellbandwidth.com - what do you think?


Enough with the Ads!

Posted August 5, 2008 by Scott Wharton - Comments (0)
It's been over a month since I've moved to Silicon Valley and life is very good although busy unpacking.  My company, Vidtel, has raised a seed angel funding round, hired out our core initial management team, and we are off and running building our product.  Hence the long delay in writing.

One observation about working in Silicon Valley is the over-reliance on advertising for new business models.  Almost everyone you speak with has some Web 2.0 startup with a "free" service and the promise of success based on ads. 

Vidtel's office space is in a start-up facility called PlugandPlay which houses 118 small promising young start-up ventures.  The energy is incredible and it is something out of a movie and perhaps only something you would find in Silicon Valley.

As much as I love the energy, I suspect most of these companies will fail.  Not because of the economy or because they are not smart people but because of this reliance on advertising.

First, there is only so many ads in the world that people will be able to watch.  Yes I know online ads are more efficient and targeted but there is a limit to how many can be sold.  Second, the same people pushing the advertising model are the same ones with TiVOs for skipping ads and if they are honest with you, will admit they they themselves don't look at the online ads nor like watching them (and in fact avoid them like the plague).  Third, in many cases the cost of the service way outstrips the amount of advertising one would need the end user to see, making the business hopeless (they will never make it up on volume).  Fourth, advertising is by definition an interruption and by implementation usually annoying.  When people had only 4 TV channels and they had to watch the ads, they put up with it.  Now people have hundreds or thousands of choices to spend their time so the users will naturally gravitate to activities that are less annoying (for example, ubiquitous ads on MySpace got annoying and drove users to Facebook - how long before annoying ads on Facebook drive users to the next ad-free experience).

I know that getting millions of users is the model du jour but there are just so many businesses where ads will work.  If a service has merit, try to charge them for it.  If not, go back to the drawing board but please don't bet your life and success of your business on your ability to annoy your customers.  This is one trend I predict that will run out of steam soon.

VPNs: Lots of Drivers

Posted August 2, 2008 by Gary Kim - Comments (1)
It might be hard to single out one reason why virtual private networks continue to gain in popularity, but distributed work forces and IP technology itself are huge factors.

A significant and growing percentage of the work force is based someplace other than the headquarters office. But remote workers need access to the same enterprise applications as workers at headquarters sites, so VPNs are used to enable that access on a secure basis.

Another driver is Internet Protocol itself. Where in the past organizations might have bought "nailed up" private lines, they now can tunnel through broadband Internet connections. That is one reason there is a shift to Secure Socket Layer VPNs rather than private lines. When virtually everybody has Internet access, SSL can be used to create a virtual and secure network.

And since, by some estimates, 80 percent of enterprise workers are not equipped with notebook PCs, but sometimes must travel, encrypted tunnels made possible by VPNs make it possible for employees to work from virtually any Internet connected PC.