VOIP News

If you didn’t think that wireless broadband was an important part of your business, you should know that the chairman of the FCC disagrees with you. Kevin Martin, visiting Microsoft’s Silicon Valley office, said that broadband access is now the FCC’s top priority (in case you thought it was Imus), and that wireless broadband in particular is a great way to get online. For VoIP vendors, that means it’s critically important that cellcos not have the option of banning IP voice from their data networks. It also means that the upcoming 700MHz spectrum auction may be a way to break the cellcos hold–if a truly net neutral player can piece together enough licenses.

For more about Commissioner Martin’s comments:

- read this article from Infoworld

Related Articles:

Cellcos respond to Skype’s FCC broadband petition. Report

FCC awards spectrum for airborne WiFi; VoIP to follow. Report

The natural affinity between small business, VoIP and salesforce.com has not gone unnoticed at Cisco. Starting later this week, Cisco’s Smart Business Communications architecture will allow VoIP integration with salesforce.com’s SaaS CRM architecture. That means calls coming in over a Cisco VoIP system can automatically populate salesforce.com’s CRM screens. Unified Call Connector, as the service is called, will be offered free by download to channel partners that specialize in VoIP, and is also free for salesforce.com’s direct customers.

For more about the Cisco/salesforce.com alliance:

- read this article from ChannelInsider

Related Articles:

Salesforce.com early adopters fans of hosted VoIP. Report

Siemens cuts a deal with salesforce.com. Report

Has Comcast replaced Vonage as the Number 1 VoIP carrier? Some back-of-the-envelope figuring by Network World thinks it might have happened. Comcast ended the first quarter of this year with 2.4 million VoIP customers–nearly 1.9 million more than it had a year ago and roughly 10 percent of the number of cable customers it serves. Vonage, in the fourth quarter of 2006, reported 2.2 million customers. And given its legal problems, financial drain and marketing distractions, it seems unlikely that Vonage’s growth would keep pace with Comcast’s explosive gains. We should know Vonage’s numbers pretty soon, but bragging rights may well have passed to Comcast.

For more about Comcast’s market penetration:

- read this Network World article

Related Articles:

Metrics: Vonage still #1, Comcast surges. Report

Comcast hits a million. Report

Comcast reports ‘Comcastic’ quarter. Report

When a transformational technology gets introduced into an enterprise, the changes don’t stop just with the technology. When VoIP was brand new, it was about being cheaper. Now that the costs savings turn out to be more ephemeral than the price warriors promised, CIOs are turning their thoughts to using VoIP to make business processes more efficient–which means investing in new applications that take advantage of converged communications. “More efficient,” of course, usually means busting up silos and fiefdoms, which means changing the way people work–and we all know how much people like changing the way they work. So what started out a decade ago as a kind of geek toy that let internet users chat with each other has evolved into boardroom game changer.

For more about VoIP as a transformational technology:

- read this article in eChannelLine

Nice try, Vonage. An appeals judge has tossed out Vonage’s request for a new trial in its patent loss to Verizon, even in light of what’s seen as a favorable Supreme Court ruling in an unrelated case last week. That means Vonage’s previously filed appeal will go forward, with the next hearing coming June 25. The judge says Vonage can bring up the Supreme Court case, KSR vs. Teleflex, then. Article

I want my J-TV! So say some wealthy investors, including CBS, Viacom, Li Ka-shing (through a charitable fund), Sequoia Capital, and Index Ventures. Joost — the Internet television service launched by Skype co-founders Janus Friis and Niklas Zennstrom — today announced that five selected parties have collectively invested approximately $45 million in the company. Each party invested in a minority percentage of the company. Unfortunately I feel I don’t have enough time to spend with the service, but I have to admit, I’m impressed with the quality when I do spend a few minutes watching (usually when I’m showing the service off to one of my colleagues). Joost recently announced it had landed content deals with some major players, including Viacom and Warner Bros (WBTV). Of note to most techies, one of the two WB channels that will appear on Joost is SCI-FI FIX. The channel will feature programs including Adventures of Briscoe County, Aquaman, Babylon 5, Crusade, Max Headroom, My Favorite Martian, and V.  

U.S. Senator John D. Rockefeller IV has introduced a resolution calling for the creation of a National Broadband Policy with the goal of becoming a “100 Megabit Nation” by 2015. Rockefeller believes that, “A national broadband policy is critical to the future of our country,” and, “would provide a tremendous social and economic benefit,” to all Americans. He cited popular video and social networking sites such as YouTube and MySpace and how they have become such integral parts of society. Rockefeller stressed that those popular sites are just scratching the surface when it comes to the transformational power of broadband. “Expanded connectivity,” he said, “would allow doctors to diagnose remotely medical conditions, music students to study with an instructor hundreds of miles away, and scientists to monitor ocean floor vents from their offices on shore. “As we all recognize,” he continued, “creating next generation broadband networks is crucial to our international competitiveness.” Rockefeller proposed a roadmap towards establishing a set of goals. “The first step in going somewhere is to know where you are going, and the same is true in public policy. By the end of 2007, we should establish a national goal and pass a series of policy actions designed to achieve our national goal. There will likely be multiple parts to the plan, and we will likely need to modify those parts over time. But if we do not have a plan, we cannot expect to accomplish our goal.” Rockefeller suggests policy actions such as tax incentives to spur the private sector to act more aggressively in pursuit of this goal. He believes that Government should offer low-interest loans, and he calls for reform of the Universal Service Fund to encourage broadband deployment. Rockefeller added, “We should free municipalities to deploy as they see fit, we should ensure the wise use of wireless spectrum, and the list goes on.” I, for one, applaud Senator Rockefeller for pushing the vision of the United States becoming a “100 Megabit Nation.” Joe Savage, president of the Fiber to the Home (FTTH) Council, agrees. “In calling for America to be a ‘100 Megabit Nation,’ Senator Rockefeller’s resolution helps put us on the right track toward policies that will help get America wired with next-generation broadband and thereby preserve American competitiveness in the Information Age,” he said. 

Charlie Reed at Atlantic ACM has written an interesting report on VoIP adoption and the growth of Cable companies w.r.t VoIP market share. Atlantic ACM’s analysis (se below; I’ve highlighted some key points in bold) suggests 23 million cable VoIP subscribers within five years.   Cablecos are logging rapid VoIP growth. The following is an update to our ongoing tracking of these providers: Cablevision, the first provider out the gate with a VoIP offering, continues to gain significant market traction, The company added 109,000 subscribers in the first quarter of this year from its small footprint of just 4.5 million homes around the Metro New York and Long Island areas. One key metric that ATLANITC-ACM focuses on in cable research and projections is the percentage of high-speed data (HSD) subscribers that have VoIP lines. Cablevision currently sits at 62 percent and rising. Given Cablevision’s significant penetration rate, it is not surprising that Comcast, which entered the market later and passes ten times as many homes as Cablevision, logged more than half a million subscribers in the first quarter. Hence, even though Comcast serves 2.4 million subscribers, its HSD penetration of 20 percent, when VoIP is available to 73 percent of its subscribers (85 percent by year-end), points to significant continued growth for the cable giant. If Comcast is able to match Cablevision’s current penetration rate, and continues growth in HSD subs, it could ultimately rack up more than 10 million VoIP subscribers. Time Warner Cable had a much earlier entry into VoIP than Comcast and has logged 30-percent penetration to date, with 234,000 additional subscribers in the first quarter. System upgrades are required in key areas in order to offer VoIP, as is the case with Comcast, but here again a simple matching of Cablevision’s penetration rates to date, if upgrades are completed and HSD subscriber growth continues, would equate to between six and seven million subscribers. Charter, Insight and others are laggards on the adoption front, with less than 20-percent HSD combined penetration, but network upgrades would allow them to move more toward the penetration rates of market leaders. The Bottom Line:Using HSD penetration as a forecasting metric does not reveal the entire picture. There are fundamental differences that could keep others from achieving Cablevision’s position, including the fact that the company began a few years earlier, when there was less competition from bring-your-own-broadband (BYOB) providers, wireless substitution was less prevalent, and it serves a more clustered market, which is better for marketing purposes. Nonetheless, the Cablevision model provides insight into the potential for cablecos on the VoIP front using the power of bundling, and it makes clear that significant growth is on the horizon for these providers even if they do not approach Cablevision’s extraordinary penetration rates. Considering VoIP penetration of cable modem subscribers, as well as a number of market and company-specific factors, ATLANTIC-ACM forecasts that US VoIP cable subscribers will reach nearly 23 million by 2012.  

I am an Omnivore. And, apparently I am among a group of technology users that make up just 8% of the American public. No wonder my friends look at me funny when I want to Google everything, mashup more than my potatoes, and take a perverse pride in having blogged some obscure technology related news before they heard about (usually weeks later) on the Evening news. (I believe that Walter Cronkite and/or Katie Couric have something to do with that source of information.) The Pew Internet and American Life Project have released the results of a survey entitled A Typology of Information and Communication Technology Users.  The survey was designed to classify Americans into different groups of technology users so as to determine which groups were most inclined to take advantage of information technology as might be presented under the umbrella of Web 2.0. The report authors position Web 2.0 as: “…the ability of people to use a range of information and communication technology as a platform to express themselves online and participate in the commons of cyberspace.”  The report breaks down respondents into several major “subspecies,” including Elite Tech Users (31% of adult population); Middle of the Road Tech Users (21%); and those classified as Few Tech Assets (49%). Perhaps most surprising to me was the fact that nearly half of the adult population does not seem to be in the throes of the technology that pervades our every day life. Even among the “Few Tech Assets,” fully 26% classify themselves as “indifferent” or “off the net” altogether. What are they all doing with their time?

 So getting back to my classification, Omnivore, here’s how the Pew folks describe me: Members of this group use their extensive suite of technology tools to do an enormous range of things online, on the go, and with their cell phones. Omnivores are highly engaged with video online and digital content. Between blogging, maintaining their Web pages, remixing digital content, or posting their creations to their websites, they are creative participants in cyberspace. Defining CharacteristicsYou might see them watching video on an iPod. They might talk about their video games or their participation in virtual worlds the way their parents talked about their favorite TV episode a generation ago. Much of this chatter will take place via instant messages, texting on a cell phone, or on personal blogs. Omnivores are particularly active in dealing with video content. Most have video or digital cameras, and most have tried watching TV on a non-television device, such as a laptop or a cell phone. Omnivores embrace all this connectivity, feeling confident in how they manage information and their many devices. This puts information technology at the center of how they express themselves, do their jobs, and connect to their friends. Who They AreThey are young, ethnically diverse, and mostly male (70%). The median age is 28; just more than half of them are under age 30, versus one in five in the general population. Over half are white (64%) and 11% are black (compared to 12% in the general population). English-speaking Hispanics make up 18% of this group. Perhaps unsurprisingly, many (42% versus the 13% average) of Omnivores are students.  Chances are, if you read my blog, you won’t find yourself listed anywhere near the bottom of this Web 2.0 hierarchy. But just to be sure — and to see how your friends and family might rate — check out the Pew Internet Quiz. It takes just a few minutes and it might shed some insight into your Web 2.0 character.  Note: Even among my “Omnivore peers” I admit I feel like a Luddite among the Technological daVincis I come in contact with daily. This is perhaps why even though I know where a lot of the “turn off the phone and unplug the e-mail” crowd is coming from, I can’t fathom that 49% of the adult population is on the cusp of entering a phase where they will have less in common with their children than any prior generation. I mean, this goes way beyond Elvis… What do you think? Feel free to leave a comment below and share your thoughts.

Network General is one of the leaders in the enterprise application and network performance analysis space. The company’s portfolio consists of software solutions and intelligent appliances that span the full spectrum of application performance management. Taking full advantage of the trend of using video sites such as YouTube to aid in their marketing efforts, Network General has released a series of new videos that provide general information about network management. The videos also are timed to coincide with the release of new product functionality being unveiled by Network General today. Below you’ll find some descriptions and a link to each of the new promotional videos. First off… The following video discusses how Network General’s Virtualization Forensics addresses these challenges by delivering real-time analysis and decision support capabilities to manage IT services that rely on virtual systems, and assures performance of virtualized resources based on the priorities of business services. Next up… Network and application managers are challenged with an overwhelming need to analyze massive amounts of traffic, while managing application components distributed across the IT infrastructure. As a result, IT managers struggle to quickly pinpoint application issues and address the causes of performance degradation. The following video discusses how IT managers can transform application performance data into detailed knowledge about the status of IT and business services. View Network General’s “Application Performance Analysis” video. Finally… The following video discusses how IT managers can leverage Network General’s Network Intelligence Suite to interpret NetFlow data and provide insights into application performance, providing a broad context for isolating and solving performance and capacity-related issues. View “Simplified Management of Cisco IOS NetFlow Data.”