Blog Vacation

October 03, 2006

I have been blogging for years and recently my posts have slowed to a crawl, due in no small part to my responsibilities at Shift. The work I am doing for Shift is very exciting and it requires my full attention. I have decided to take a vacation from blogging until I can get out from under.

 

The guys at TMC have been awesome in their support and I know they will continue to dominate the VoIP blogosphere and IP Communications space in general. Thanks Rich, for everything!

From time to time you will see me as a feature writer for various blogs and magazines and I will be posting some cool news pertaining to Shift at SIPthat.com, but I don’t see myself blogging fulltime again for a while. Feel free to read the TMC SIPthat archives and my old blog site archive where you will find many podcasts and posts from the months/years gone by.

Thanks for reading & listening everyone.

AOL Throws inTotalTalk Towel - make way for the softphones!

September 01, 2006

Aswath then Andy via Alec have uncovered what looks to be the first final word from AOL on their TotalTalk service. Aswath mentioned that he thinks it might be an html hi-jack but I doubt it. Of course, this all pure speculation considering AOL has not announced anything regarding the closure of TotalTalk.

In my honest opinion AOL ran screaming into this broadband telephony race with what would seem little or no pre-thought. Andy makes mention of Phone 2.0 being partially represented by AOL AIM Phoneline. I am not sure about Phone 2.0 but I do think they are on the right track and should stick with messaging. Hmm, didn’t Google just buy $1B worth of AOL? Yes, I would say the softphone + IM strategy is better for AOL and they should pour more resources at that initiative. Vonage seems to be on the same page who look to be throwing a lot of resources towards their new V-phone product (a launch party for a USB softphone?? <ugh>).

For SMBs email, fax and calendaring are equally as important as Voice something I call SMB 2.0 (tongue firmly planted in cheek). Presence is also gaining some height on the hit list for Small and Medium Businesses, useful for click-to-call address books and alike.

Top 30 VoIP Blogs

August 29, 2006Wow, this is a bit of a surprise. Garrett Smith who writes Smith on VoIP has released his 30 Top VoIP Blogs and somehow I made it onto his list. The blogging has been a bit slow for me recently with everything else that’s going on but it sure is nice to be recognized. Thanks Garrett!

VARs, Integrators - VoIP from Vonage not doing it for ya?

August 23, 2006

Shift is looking for established VAR partner organizations with a track record of direct sales success to resell Shift’s hosted VoIP business telephone and message services. Currently Shift services the Western Canadian market with offices in Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver and Victoria, expanding into Eastern markets this fall.

We’re looking for partners to share our vision for transforming the phone service and customer experience available to small and medium businesses.

To find out more about Shift’s hosted VoIP partner program, please contact:

Vancouver

Matthew Campbell

778-329-4952

Shift Happens to VoIP

August 16, 2006Ok, I have been seriously lacking in posting to this blog but I have excuses! Shift happens, as in shiftnetworks.com. The new website just launched and it looks great. We are putting the finishing touches on our latest and greatest network achievements at Shift and I can tell you all honestly, this new offering is going to kick some major ass! It’s been a long time since I have been this excited about anything in the VoIP space.

Keep you ear to the ground, Shift is about to happen… again.

Gizmo Calls Home - For Free!

July 21, 2006

Michael Robertson is at it again. From the creator of MP3.com came SIPphone.com and most recently Gizmo Project. FREE TELEPHONE CALLS to 60 countries via Gizmo is here.

We all knew this was going to happen, as it has happened in the past (Dial Pad of old for example) when VoIP made it’s first commercial appearance.

The closer we get to end to end IP we will see more free services like this, but Michael has delivered service over the last mile. This is historically where the telcos live, Gizmo is sure to get some attention for this move.

In some ways Michael is taking the Skype approach. By this I mean that if a user wants to access this free calling they will need to download and use Gizmo to make the call. A great way to build a user base past what they already have.

Many of us want to make calls from a cell phone but still use the Gizmo / SIPphone network. If they could find a way to do this without me having to dial toll free or local access numbers first I would use it daily.

The Press Release.

SMB 2.0 & VoIP

July 04, 2006

The latest edition of SIP Magazine is out along with my article on SMB desktop communications, here is an excerpt….

While building Xten (now Counterpath), I was exposed to many business plans and product strategies that were years in the making. Many of the carriers’ softphone plans were focused on the Enterprise. Near the end of my time there I saw a shift towards the SMB. Now some of the largest operators on the planet are integrating softphones, Outlook plug-ins, browser toolbars, and SDKs that enable rich IP Communications on SMB and Enterprise user’s desktops. We have come a long way since NetMeeting although it took a while before we actually saw the same features in SIP that H.323 applications could offer. If you think about it, NetMeeting was a pretty good app for its time, offering a fairly complete SDK and let’s not forget the “callto:” html tags which Skype, and others, have since used as their own.

Scoble leaves MS and goes to Podtech.net

June 14, 2006Robert Scoble got started in vlogging or video blogging when he began filming his co-workers at Microsoft (with their permission of course) and uploading that to his website which turned blog. He has just joined podtech.net, makes sense. Have fun Robert, do cool stuff!

Om points to the outfield

June 14, 2006Om Mailik, now formerly of Business 2.0 has busted out on his own. Good for you Om, and all the best!

Shift Closes $5.2M Equity Financing

June 14, 2006

Shift Announces Closing of $5.2 Million Equity Financing

Calgary, Canada, June 14, 2006 – Shift Networks Inc. (TSX-V:SHF), announced today that the Corporation closed a brokered private placement (“Private Placement”) of units (“Units”), subject to regulatory approval, which raised $5,200,000, an increase from the $5,000,000 previously announced.  The Corporation issued 34,666,667 Units at $0.15 per Unit.  Each Unit consisted of one common share and one-half of one common share purchase warrant.  Each common share purchase warrant is exercisable into one common share at a price of $0.18 until June 14, 2008.

Loewen, Ondaatje, McCutcheon Limited acted as lead agent for this Private Placement, and received a cash commission and Agent’s Warrants.  Each Agent’s Warrant is exercisable until June 14, 2006 into one Unit at a price of $0.15 per Unit.  Each Unit consists of one common share and one-half of one common share purchase warrant exercisable into one common share at a price of $0.18 until June 14, 2008.

The Units issued pursuant to the private placement are subject to a four month hold period.  Shift intends to use the proceeds of the Private Placement as follows:

-    accelerate expansion into Eastern Canada, specifically Toronto, and continue to fund growth in Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver;

-    deploy new network technology to increase margins, features and services; and

-    reduce demand barriers with lower priced telephone handsets bundled with monthly service.

Shift Networks is the leader in next generation Voice over IP services for small to medium-sized businesses. Shift Networks trades on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol “SHF”. Please visit our website at
www.shiftnetworks.com.

For information please contact:

Press & Media            Shift Networks Inc.                       

Christian Darbyshire        Trent Johnsen

(416) 419-9953            President and CEO   

tinepublic@shaw.ca        (403) 355-2703   

                                     trent.johnsen@shiftnetworks.com   

The TSX Venture Exchange does not accept responsibility for the adequacy and accuracy of this release.