Good venture capitalists invest in technology. Great ones invest in business models. It’s been clear for a while that VoIP is a winning technology. But one of the big questions in the VoIP industry is which business model was going to prevail in the consumer space: cablecos, independent VoIP providers or VoIM services. More and more, it’s looking the cable companies have won the day. It’s not just the withering of Vonage. It’s the inability of any of the other independents to gain much traction. A new JupiterResearch study says cablecos control 71 percent of the consumer VoIP market–and they’re positioned to cut prices and put even more money into promotion. The game’s not over for SunRocket, 8×8, Earthlink, Covad and everyone else. But now would be a good time to show some muscle.
For more about cablecos lapping the VoIP field:
- read this article from IT Business Edge
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Maybe Vodafone really doesn’t like Truphone after all. We wrote recently about Truphone’s getting hot about what it saw as Vodafone’s foot-dragging about interconnecting calls. Now Truphone–a wireless VoIP carrier–is all riled up about a new Vodafone data tariff that explicitly prohibits VoIP and IM. Truphone’s execs are making noises that include the word “laywers,” but apparently have yet to file suit. We’ll keep you posted.
For the latest on Truphone’s troubles with Vodafone:
- read this article from Red Herring
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There comes a time in most every successful venture when the founder/CEO needs to take a back seat and let someone else grow the company. It may look bad in a press release, but it’s usually a good thing. (Think about it: Are Jerry Yang and David Filo still running Yahoo? How about Google’s Sergey Brin and Larry Page?) At TalkPlus, founder Jeff Black has stepped back to be Chief Strategy Officer while keeping his chairman’s role, and the top sales guy, Michael Toepel, succeeds him as CEO. TalkPlus is a service that, put simply, lets customers put multiple phone numbers on a single cell phone.
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There’s not a lot sexy about SIP trunking, but it’s one of those things that enterprises and service providers need to do well or go out of business. Ingate Systems has been at the front of efforts to standardize SIP trunking and publicize interfaces and gotchas. Its latest step is to launch siptrunk.org, a multivendor educational resource for information about SIP trunking, including discussion forums, white papers, and educational center, and a resource list. Other participating vendors include 3Com, Acme Packet, Digium, NexTone, ShoreTel, BandTel, bandwidth.com and others.
For more information about SIP trunking:
- check out SIPtrunk.org
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We ordinarily wouldn’t make much about a service provider’s new chief marketing officer, except the service provider in question is Vonage, which needs new marketing ideas in the same way that a wildfire needs water. Jamie Haenggi joined Vonage in November from ADT, the alarm company. There she was head of marketing and started at Vonage as something called “vice president of company life.” In her new job, she’ll be in charge of marketing, retail sales, and corporate communications.
For more information about Vonage’s new CMO:
- read this article from TMCNet
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BT is defending its removal of the VoIP stack from the Nokia N95s that it will sell. An exec told an HP gathering in Shanghai that customers could either load their own software or buy the phone from an independent vendor. Article
> Wholesale VoIP provider Big River is using MetaSwitch infrastructure to provide turnkey service for regional cablecos. Article
> Project Goth, the Australian parent company of mobile VoIP startup mig33, has closed a $10 million Series A funding round led by Accel Partners and Redpoint Ventures. They say they’re in 200 countries already, and will be in the U.S. within months. Article
> Here’s a cheap set-top box that supports IPTV, VoIP and PVR functions, and includes a webcam and media streaming. We bet the remote is the size of a toaster. Article
> Converged Access has released a set of products designed to minimize the number of devices required to provide total data and voice communications to branch offices with 50 or fewer employees. Report
> New Skype for Salesforce.com. Report
And finally… Note to self: being asked to take a Breathalyzer test during a driving exam is probably a bad sign. Article
A major renovation to the Pentagon has taken a VoIP twist. The Department of Defense has awarded General Dynamics an $18.4 million contract to design and deploy a VoIP phone system as part of what’s called the Wedge 2-5 stage of the Pentagon’s modernization program. The 4 million square-foot project is intended to modernize building systems, increase security and upgrade technology in the world’s largest office building. The VoIP contract is meant to provide a building-wide multimedia phone system integrating voice, video and data communications-in both secure and non-secure channels. VoIP not secure? One hopes there will be an unclassified White Paper someday about how the Pentagon made IP telephony more secure than some thought possible.
For more about the Pentagon’s coming VoIP phone system:
- read this FCW.com article
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