Cisco C-Scape 2008 - Day 2

Well, Day 2 is done, and so is C-Scape 2008. I really enjoyed attending, and feel lucky to be part of the scaled down group that was there in person. The overall content was quite good, and Cisco really seems to be trying hard to stay close to the analysts and listen to our thoughts on their direction.

As mentioned yesterday, a lot of the focus was on how Cisco is transforming itself into a "next generation" company (am still not sure what that term means any more) rather than how they're going to change the world around them. That said, their new tag line makes it pretty clear that's the end game - "Cisco - Best in the world. Best for the world." Got that? A bit of a throwback to GM in the 1950's, but you get the idea. If all this technology carries the day, it will be Cisco's world, and we'll just be living in it. Hey, they've got $27 billion in the bank and a lot of desperate companies at their feet, so anything is possible, right?

Am being a bit facetious here, and Cisco is being every bit as careful and pragamatic as the rest of us. I found many of the sessions down to earth, and Cisco seems very conscious of getting their house in order and focused on helping their customers leverage IT to get themselves through both good times and bad. Day 2 continued the mix of sunny keynotes and hands-on breakouts about their various business lines.

What strikes me overall is the breadth of their market coverage. Having recently been at Avaya's analyst event, it was interesting to see them talk about scaling down their business focus from some 27 lines of business to 3. Cisco was talking about managing 26 priorities - i.e. growth opportunities - so they're certainly not putting all their eggs in one basket. I highly doubt many analysts in the room - if any - can possibly be up to speed on all 26 priorities, which makes Cisco a difficult company to fully understand. Maybe it's that way by design, but listening to their top execs, you come away thinking there really is a grand plan here, and it's all under control. Sure hope so.





I'll leave you with a few photos from today...

Rob Lloyd talking about Cisco 3.0 and what this means for how they will transform the relationships they have with their customers. Pretty forward-thinking ideas here, and if executed well, will serve as best practices for others to follow.




Art Hair, CTO of Disney - very interesting presentation about the realities of making movies in the digital age and how important networks are to the process. Never thought about film-making this way, and Disney really is a great showcase for Cisco in the sense that film is the most collaborative of all art forms, and collaboration is Cisco's driving mantra now.




Charles Stucki updating us during the Telepresence breakout. Did you know that Cisco is doing over 4,000 meetings a week using Telepresence? That's got to be adding up to some serious savings in travel costs.




The best for last - final session was an open-ended Q&A/fireside chat with John Chambers. I think he enjoyed this as much as we did.





Technorati tags: Cisco C-Scape 2008, Jon Arnold

Next Stop - Cisco C-Scape, San Jose

On Monday I'm on my way to San Jose for Cisco's 2008 C-Scape analyst conference. This will probably be my last trip for the year, and as it gets colder here by the day, San Jose isn't such a bad place to be.

I was there last year, and given the current economic climate, I suspect things will be more scaled-back next week. Cisco is being very practical and encouraging analysts to participate virtually, and we all know they have the tools to make that a viable option. The gods must like me, and I feel lucky to be going in person, and will do my best to share the highlights via my blog.

If you happen to be in San Jose next week and want to meet for a drink, I won't be hard to find!


Technorati tags: Cisco C-Scape 2008, Jon Arnold

Avaya Canada Analyst Day

Yesterday I attended Avaya Canada's analyst day here in Toronto. I participated last year, and it was good to gauge their progress since then. The local analyst community is pretty small, so it was a very friendly session.

For most of us, the main attraction was meeeting the new head of Avaya Canada, Gerard Baglieri. For what it's worth, he goes by the title VP/GM, so I really can't say CEO. Maybe Avaya's culture is more egalitarian than most, and maybe it's just a Canadian thing. Anyhow, Gerard is from NY, and during my 1:1 session, he strikes me as being very capable and focused, so don't let his title fool you.

I attended Avaya's global analyst event a few back in Boston, and for those of us who were there, most of yesterday was familiar territory. As such, I don't have much news to report, other than the fact that Avaya Canada seems very well aligned with the corporate storyline.

They did address some of the structural differences and dynamics of the domestic market, and how their plans to expand the channels up here will be more challenging. The difficulty with Canada is that the SMB market is more heavily skewed towards the very low end of the scale, and these businesses are often not a good fit for Avaya's offerings. Of course all vendors face that problem here, but it's fair to say Avaya will have to be more aggressive in Canada than the U.S. to achieve their stated target of driving 85% of their sales through channels within the next 3 years. Gerard has a tall order ahead, and time will tell.

We saw a variety of presentations throughout the day, and they all reinforced the core themes we saw in Boston - namely, Avaya feels they are ready now to become the #1 player, the company is now very focused on two main markets - Unified Communications and Contact Centers, and the overall business strategy is to become more channel-centric.

I elaborated on this further in my Boston post and elsewhere, and will say again that there's a good story here. Yesterday's session had both analysts and media, so there was some public coverage in the trades. I can steer you to one of these if you care to read more.

To wrap up, here are a few photos from yesterday...

Gerard Baglieri



Todd Abbott - he presented in Boston - was nice to see him come up to Toronto for this



Amir Hameed talking about contact centers



Colleague Ronald Gruia from Frost checking out the bat-phone, with a bit of a halo around him. He's special, but not that special! :-) He just happened to be standing close to the overhead light, although it sure looks like he's radiating brilliance....





Technorati tags: Avaya Canada, Jon Arnold

Microsoft Canada Analyst Day

I spent most of today attending Microsoft Canada's analyst day here in Toronto. It was led by Sean Seaton and his team, and they sure covered a lot of ground. Sean is the Director of their Communications Sector, and just about everything they talked about was of interest to me.

Today Microsoft touches every facet of communications, and the opening vision statement sums it up pretty well: "to create experiences that combine the magic of software with the power of Internet services across a world of devices."

That covers pretty much everything, and Microsoft is working very hard to straddle the worlds of software and the Web - while at the same time, steering very clear of anything to do with hardware.

We saw a series of presentations covering desktop applications, Windows Live 3, mobility, the workplace, entertainment, and Mediaroom. On its own, each of these is very interesting, but together you have tip your hat to Microsoft for being so strong in so many places.

To me, though, the strongest story was the service provider market, where they really are becoming an important player. I'd say that was the core focus for most of us in the room, so we were a pretty attentive audience. I've seen much of this before in their Telco 2.0 presentations, and written about it in some of my Service Provider Views columns.

I'm going to leave it at that for now, but will touch on many of their service provider themes in my next column, which should run on Friday. So, you'll have to come back to hear the rest of the story.

Oh - kudos also to High Road Communications for pulling this event together and hosting it at their downtown offices. They always do a good job and I'd say Microsoft is being well served by them.

Aside from this, we had a recurring distraction running all day wondering if the BCE privatization deal was going to fall apart. It was a very ugly day, as the stock fell 34% in value, driven by concerns over a negative opinion by KPMG regarding BCE's ability to meet the solvency requirements for the deal. Canada's financial sector hasn't been shaken to it core like the U.S., but the magnitude of this deal is enough to undermine confidence in our entire telecom sector. That's another post in itself, but I'll hold off until the dust settles around BCE. Phew.


Technorati tags: Microsoft Canada, Jon Arnold, BCE

Calliflower Premium Launched

Regular readers will know that I've followed Ottawa-based Iotum for a long time, and have some news to pass on for their latest incarnation, Calliflower. This is a Web 2.0-style platform that's trying to bring more intelligence and value to audio conferencing.

At the recent Under the Radar event, Calliflower had two announcements of note. First is their integration with the iPhone. This is good news for two reasons. First, it exposes Calliflower to a huge market of tech-savvy consumers, some of whom will no doubt find this service of great value. Second, since Calliflower is mainly a business application, it makes the iPhone more relevant to the enterprise market - SMBs as well - and that's a big market that Apple very much wants to crack.

Secondly, Calliflower launched its Premium service, which comes with a modest monthly fee that will be attractive to power users, especially those doing international conference calls. I believe that companies like Calliflower/Iotum need fee-based offerings to survive long term, and it's great to them do this. The introductory pricing is $50 per month for two organizers, and with this you get file sharing, and local inbound dialing for North America and 4 other countries, plus the use of Voxbone's iNum global area code (883). You can read more about it in the press release here.

There's a lot of Web 2.0 here, and you can imagine how much more engaging these calls can be, layering file sharing and IM on top of the audio service. Plus, with the flat monthly fee, the per minute dialing charges are eliminated, making conferencing much more affordable for regular users - as well as attractive to everyone else who thinks that conference calling is expensive.

Oh - if you're keen, and are among the first 400 to sign up before November 30, Calliflower will add a 3rd organizer at no extra cost.

Technorati tags: Calliflower, Jon Arnold, Iotum

Tekelec Industry Analyst Day

Yesterday I attended Tekelec's industry analyst day, which was held at their headquarters in Morrisville, N.C. That was a new stop for me, but very much worth the time, and should add this was their first such event. I really like this format ' it's small in scale and doesn't take much time out of your week. Maybe 15 industry analysts ' very friendly and approachable. All of us sitting around a table with their senior management team, hearing about their roadmap for both business focus and technologies.

Being a public company, Tekelec does other things with the investment analyst community, and I'm sure for them, this is a more enjoyable meeting of the minds than talking about EPS and return on capital. Every analyst covers vendors in their own way, but I think I was the only analyst in the room who blogs, so this may be the first update you're seeing on our day.

I'm not an expert on signaling, which is their forte, but I've followed Tekelec for several years, and can say this is a great example of where sticking to your focus really pays off. CEO Frank Plastina set the tone by first saying one of their challenges was being better understood as a company. Of course, that's one reason for doing these analyst events, and I definitely came away with a clear idea of their focus.

The engineers in the room had lots to talk about, but I'm in the minority here, and didn't have much to say. Signaling gets pretty technical, and I'll just say that Tekelec is very good at a lot of the heavy lifting that goes on in carrier networks to make sure your calls go through without missing a beat. However, on a business level, there's a pretty clear story here, and it's a good one that I'm happy to talk about.

Tekelec is one of those rare companies that's a market leader among much bigger competitors, and that says a lot about what they're doing right. They hold a 39% market share for global SS7 STP shipments and have over 300 customers in 68 countries. This includes 6 of the 10 largest wireline carriers, and 8 of the 10 largest wireless carriers. For wireless, they're actually hitting 100% of the available market within the top 10. The two they don't serve ' China Telecom and DoCoMo ' have proprietary networks and are closed to outsiders.

This global footprint gives them valuable insight into all the nuances of carrier networks, which is a key element to their success. As Frank says, this gives them a 'seat at the table' for major carriers looking to better understand and manage their traffic. They've seen all the scenarios, and know how to work across all the variants as carriers switch between circuit and IP traffic, as well as within all flavors of signalling protocols like SIP.

Tekelec is hardly alone in terms of having a global perspective on carrier networks, but you have to admire their operating success, and this is where they stand out from the crowd. Lots of impressive performance metrics to consider, and they all paint a picture of a stable company that's profitable, growing, and debt free. Tekelec's stock may be down a few dollars, but there was a great slide showing how this performance compares to their peers, and it's head and shoulders ahead of the meltdowns most other vendors are seeing in the market.

After seeing all the various presentations, I came away with a few conclusions:

First, the market for what Tekelec does isn't going away any time soon. As Frank explained, traffic volumes are growing faster than revenues, and carriers need to keep spending money to upgrade their networks. This is a core business issue for carriers as networks seem to be in a permanent state of transition. Tekelec helps make networks run more efficiently, and their routing algorithms seem to be their secret sauce. They know their business, and there's plenty of evidence on display around here for all their patents and intellectual property.

This is a classic engineering-driven company, and I say that in a good way. Tekelec invests 20% of operating revenue in R&D, which is well above industry norms. The payoff comes in the form of high gross margins which do not appear to be suffering in today's difficult market. When R&D translates into profits, it truly becomes a form of competitive advantage, and in this case it looks to be sustainable.

Tekelec has maintained a clear focus around which this competitive advantage can be based. They have exited non-core businesses like switching (sold to Genband) and do not appear interested in going in new directions. You might say this is a bit boring, but if it's not broken, don't fix it. I'm a big fan of this strategy, and so long as they have to hold their own against bigger competitors, it's the best way survive ' and thrive.

By extension, this focus has translated into a strong balance sheet and money in the bank - $300 million, plus a $50 million revolving line ready and waiting. They explained that Tekelec has been looking for acquisitions for over a year, but are being very selective. In this market, they're in a great position to further consolidate their space, and I'm sure they're closely following some choice targets. Startups aren't thinking IPO right now, and for companies like Tekelec, it's a buyer's market. Lucky them.

All told, I came away with a greater appreciation for what Tekelec does, and I'd be hard pressed to think of another public company in our space of comparable size in this good a shape and with such promising growth prospects.




Frank Plastina's opening session




Wolrad Claudy, SVP Global Sales






I can get used to this. Very nice hospitality - thanks Tekelec.




Technorati tags: Tekelec, Jon Arnold

Next Stop - Tekelec

Got a short trip this week, and one that I'm looking forward to. I've been invited to attend Tekelec's Industry Analyst Day at their offices in Morrisville, N.C. Aside from having followed Tekelec for many years, I've never been to Morrisville (near RTP), so it's a new travel destination for me.

Tekelec has a long history with SS7 and today have a strong focus on IMS and SIP-based solutions. Most of what they do isn't terribly sexy - routing, ENUM, signaling, messaging and traffic management - but it's core for any nextgen network. They have a lot going on with mobile messaging, and that's an area I'm particularly keen to learn more about.

Perhaps more importantly, this is a company that's doing quite well in a down market. Their stock price is off - no surprise there - but not nearly to the extent that most telecom vendors are seeing. They just had their Q3 results, which were quite strong, and the company is on track for $500 million in revenues next year. They're definitely doing a lot of things right, and that's reflected in a couple of recent news items. First, they were just named to the Forbes list of 200 Best Small Companies, and second, they were recently added to the Standard & Poors SmallCap 600 list.


Technorati tags: Tekelec, Jon Arnold

Deloitte Fast 500 Results Posted

It's late, but I wanted to get this post done before the week is out. With so much bad news out there, it's important to take notice of the good things, and I've got one here.

Deloitte compiles its annual Technology Fast 500 of high growth North American companies, and the 2008 list was just announced this week.

I haven't posted about this listing recently, but did post about their companion ranking - the Canadian Fast 50 - last year. I missed the Fast 50 this time around, and wanted to be sure I caught the 2008 Fast 500.

This listing covers many segments of the tech sector, and only a few are related to telecom or communications. 500 companies is a lot of ground to cover, and I can only comment on these sub-sectors, and within that, the companies that I follow or have some familiarity with. The only thing I'd like to say about the overall universe is that Canada accounted for 8% of the Fast 500 companies, which is probably about right.

With that said, all I'd like to do is draw attention to the companies I know something about. There's plenty else you can mine for yourself, and the detail is all there on their site.

First, waving the Canadian flag, I'd like to cite seven companies that made the list. I especially want to mention MyThumb Interactive, the highest rated Canadian company that I follow. Not only did they do very well here, but they made the Canadian Fast 50 last year. So, hats off to these companies, with three of them cracking the top 100:

MyThumb Interactive (#44), Sandvine (71), Impact Mobile (89), RIM (142), Vizible Corp. (171), Bridgewater Systems (423), and Redline Communications (462)

From the U.S., here are eight familiar companies you can feel good about:

GENBAND (63), Grandstream (109), BroadSoft (185), ShoreTel (215), Occam Networks (217), Cbeyond (406), Neustar (451), and Sonus Networks (493)

Some of you will have broader coverage than me, so if I missed any of note from this list, by all means, let me know. When it comes to recognizing growth stories, the more the better.


Technorati tags: Deloitte, Jon Arnold, Fast 500, Canada

Signs of Life - SightSpeed, iSkoot, Intelepeer, BCE

Busy, busy - no time for a thoughtful post, but a quick one will do. With so much bad news out there - and more coming no doubt - it's good to remember that good things are happening too.

I've got my hands full with work right now, but wanted to make sure you knew that it's not all gloom and doom. In no particular order, these should give you cause for hope. It's Remembrance Day/Veterans Day, after all, so a pause to appreciate the positives is not such a bad idea.

Intelepeer - today announced a raise of $18 million.

iSkoot - a few days back, they raised $19 million.

SightSpeed - long a favorite of mine - was acquired about 2 weeks ago by Logitech for $30 million.

BCE - up here in Canada, despite difficult capital markets, it looks like the financing needed for their privatization deal is falling into place.



Technorati tags: Intelepeer, Jon Arnold, iSkoot, BCE, SightSpeed

Mitel's News - Managing in Tough Times

In a sign of the times, Mitel held an analyst roundup call this afternoon to update us on some important and timely developments. It was organized on short notice - today - and I guess they felt it necessary to get some clarity out there in advance of VoiceCon next week.

The call was quite short - about 15 minutes, and I couldn't make it, but got a debrief right after from Mitel's Kevin Johnson. I don't often do newsy items like this, but I think it's telling about the precarious state of the telecom market, and of course, the economy in general.

In short, Mitel is reducing headcount, although the number was not disclosed. This is a private company, after all, so they are not as obliged as public companies to elaborate. What they did say was that two senior, high profile management members were effected, and they're well known to the analyst community. It's not clear if the names should be public at this time, so I'll just leave it at that.

It's never good news to hear about cuts, especially with people you know. One of my long time colleagues at BroadSoft was part of their recent cutback, and many companies are rightfully seeing the need to cut costs now in anticipation of a slowdown in new business.

Mitel was clear about this, and emphasized how this is particularly true for the SMB market, which is core to their business. SMBs are by nature cost-conscious, and in tough times will stop spending pretty quickly.

While Mitel isn't the only vendor cutting back, they're a pretty big player in the SMB market, and if you're looking for a canary in a coal mine signal, this is a pretty good one. Don't be surprised if you start hearing similar stories pretty soon from their competitors. Signals have been pretty strong about cuts at Nortel, and everyone is facing similar challenges right now.

That said, the call was not all gloom and doom. This is nothing like the implosion happening in the auto sector right now. That's downright scary. The good news was that Mitel will be launching their UC solution at VoiceCon next week, and this is probably the best and most public showcase for how well things have gone with the Inter-Tel acquisition.

I won't be at VoiceCon I'm afraid, but you won't have to look far to hear how the launch is received from those who will see it first hand. For the overall sake of the IP telephony space, I sure hope it's a hit.


Technorati tags: Mitel, Jon Arnold, Unified Communications, VoiceCon

Korea Tech Preview � Day 2

Day 2 was every bit as good as Day 1, and on the whole I found this excursion very worthwhile. Not a whole lot of IP communications on display here, but where else are you going to come across so many intriguing technologies, innovations, gadgets, etc.? I met quite a few interesting companies and will definitely be following up with some of them.

Here�s a quick recap with some photo highlights, and don�t be surprised to see some of these at your local electronics retailer in 2009.

Lunchtime keytnotes � Burrill & Co. (VC) and LG Electronics



Neolux � e-reader � like Kindle. I thought this was really cool and since it�s read-only, it�s a great way to distribute copyrighted content safely. I can see lots of possibilities here.




Commax � residential video surveillance/greeting systems. All kinds of applications - not only can you watch and talk to that stranger knocking on your door, as well as let him in, but you can monitor anywhere in/around your home where you can put a camera. I can�t help but think of all the Monty Python and the Holy Grail fun scenarios you can have with this --- �WHAT is your favorite color?�....




Pavonine � do not adjust your set. It�s a blurry image because it�s 3D! Hah. When you put on the 3D glasses, the TV experience sure changes big time. Not just for watching TV but for gaming. Seems corny, but pretty cool.




Adscalator � strange word, but that�s what they do. Yup. It�s a digital ad display panel at the entry/exit point of an escalator. Not only that � see where I�ve drawn a circle? That�s where Adscalator disinfects the moving handguard we all rest our hands on. How�s that for being virtuous and commercial at the same time?




PlayGuard � my favorite. Ready for this? A round webcam that goes almost anywhere. It�s �smaller than a golf ball�, so you hardly even notice it. The exhibitor was a good sport and modelled one way to use it. For those of us who feel compelled to video everything we do, here�s the solution. It�s brilliant � what extreme sports enthusiast wouldn�t want this and try to become the next star of America�s Funniest Home Videos? Just strap it on your head � or your baby, or your pet, and away you go. I guess. How about a waterproof model for scuba diving? Or a car-mounted cam which becomes your black box in the event of an accident? Tons of possibilities � how could you not want one of these?




Bo Shin � my gracious host. A big thanks to Bo and all the others at KOTRA who provided great hospitality, and more importantly, translation help during my meetings! Without them, my meetings would not have lasted very long. Remember the Seinfeld episode with Frank Costanza when the Koreans were trash talking him? Unlike Frank, I don�t know Korean, so I can only hope they were nice to me during our meetings. :-)




Technorati tags: Korea Tech Preview 2008, Jon Arnold, J Arnold & Associates

A Good Day to be in the USA

Call it luck of the draw, but I got to be in the U.S. today. I'm not that politically inclined, but the election was pretty special, and everyone senses we're living important history right now. It's a good day to be an American, it's a good day for America, it's a good day in the eyes of most people outside America, and it's a good day to be in the USA. Smiles all around for me.

Obama is in the House now, and hopefully the honeymoon will be a long one. If you remember JFK and MLK, it's a good feeling to see so many dreams finally realized, and it's a great reminder of how special democracy can be.

I kind of thought I'd see or sense a noticeable mood of joy here, but I really haven't - strange. The airports - both Toronto and Dallas were unusually quiet, and there hasn't been any visible sign to say today is different from any other day. To be fair, I'm deep in the heart of Texas - GWB country - and their GOP stripes didn't change in 2008.

With today being such a special time, and being in Dallas, I just figured out what to do about this. This is a short trip for me, but the hotel is not far from Dealey Plaza. I've never been there, and I couldn't imagine a more appropriate time to make a quick pilgrimage to see it.

In many ways, Barack Obama's journey started there. The dreams of equality didn't die with JFK, and they didn't die with MLK. Clinton was a good JFK wannabe, but Barack may end up a better successor to his spirit of hope, change and youth. Like JFK, he is a true breakthrough in his own right. Time will tell if he's the real deal or if he'll just be learning on the job, but it's pretty clear that the world hasn't felt this good about the USA in a long time. Things are much easier to accomplish when people like you, and we have nowhere to go but up now that the Bush era is over.

I'll get off that soapbox now - photos coming tomorrow. Back to work. I'm in Dallas to attend the Korean Tech Showcase, and so far, it's been just great. I'm virtually certain I'm the only analyst here, so I'm getting to see stuff most of my peers won't likely see for some time yet if at all. Lucky me.

I've had meetings with companies with really interesting technologies, and am looking forward to more of the same tomorrow. It's too early to blog about the details, but as I get to know some of them better, I'll bring you up to date.

Nice tie-in at the airport. CNN's 24/7 election coverage, and a TV display stand by Samsung, Korea's most famous tech company.



Sidebar... I had one of those only-in-America moments here at the airport. While waiting for my ride, I heard this announcement over the PA system: "the post-election noon day prayer will be held in the chapel in Terminal 1". Praise the Lord and God Bless America... who said Church and State were separate? :-)






Couldn't resist. Remember pay phones? They sure are becoming an extinct species in the U.S., and I see this scene at almost every hotel/conference center I travel to. Ugly. Virtually everyone seems to have a cell phone here, and there is simply no rhyme or reason to use a pay phone these days.




Technorati tags: Korea Tech Preview 2008, Jon Arnold, Barack Obama, Dealey Plaza

Next Stop - Dallas and the Korean Tech Showcase

Got a short trip coming up tomorrow - am flying to Dallas - a place I've only been to once before.

I've been invited by KOTRA - the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency - to attend a showcase of Korean companies looking for partnerships, advice, investment, etc. to help them become established in North America.

This should be a really interesting event, and a great opportunity to learn about some cool, up and coming companies. There will be over 50 companies to meet, and they cover the gamut, including PCs, wireless, telephony, video, RFID, IPTV, GPS and esoteric stuff like home automation, robotics and biometrics. Not a bad way to spend two days, and who knows, I just might get an early glimpse of the next Samsung or LG to come from this hotbed of innovation and gadgetry.

Wearing my Monty Python hat, I have to be a bit tongue-in-cheek here, and would be remiss if I didn't bring up Chindogu before signing off.

What is this, you may ask? Well, it really is something completely different. If you haven't heard of Kenji Kawakami, then check this out. He's the author of a number of books that have become a mini-franchise over the years about Chindogu, which loosely translated, means "useless inventions". His books are built around the theme of 101 unuseless Japanense inventions, and you just have to see these to believe them. Life doesn't get any funnier than this, and if you're a fan of MXC on Spike TV - Most Extreme Elimination Challenge - then you'll just love this.

I'd better stop now! I never expected this post would take so many twists, but it all sticks together if you follow my offbeat logic. Anyhow, I'm quite certain that the products I'll be seeing in Dallas will be very useful indeed, so stay tuned over the next day or so.



Technorati tags: Korea Tech Preview 2008, Jon Arnold, J Arnold & Associates, Chindogu

Videoconferencing News - GIPS and SightSpeed

Two companies I have some history with in the videoconferencing space had some news yesterday - GIPS and SightSpeed. I was set to post this yesterday, but we had a power outage at an inopportune time. After that, one thing led to another, and it just didn't happen as intended. Defeated by technology, again...

I'll start with GIPS - Global IP Solutions - since I have more history there. They've just published a white paper along with a video to demonstrate how far desktop videoconferencing solutions have come. I won't say any more than that since I'm the author of the white paper, and I'm not in the PR business. However, I am pleased to see how much attention this has been getting, so if you haven't come across this yet, you can find it in a few places - Fierce VoIP, Conferencing News, and an in-depth review/analysis from Jim Courtney on Skype Journal.

For more detail, you can read the press release here, and download the paper as well as view the demo video here.

SightSpeed had some very exciting news of their own on the same day, so there must be a trend happening. In short, they were acquired by Logitech for $30 million.

Aside from being a great exit for Peter Csathy's company (his third), I see this as nice validation for the good work GIPS is doing. I've got some nice history with SightSpeed as well - and have been a happy user - so it's personally satisfying to see a company I've been following for a while get a buyout like this, especially in such a difficult economy.

Finally, to tie things up nicely, colleague Alec Saunders featured both companies on yesterday's Squawk Box podcast. Guess I'm not the only one seeing a trend here!

Technorati tags: GIPS, Jon Arnold, SightSpeed, videoconferencing

The Ericsson Experience Center Comes to Town

It's not quite the circus coming to town, but the Ericsson Experience Center isn't too far off when it comes to a very cool road show that only analysts and the media could love.

I was one of those analysts invited to attend the Toronto stop on their travelling roadshow today, and as vendor experiences go, this one was right up there. I've seen these types of roadshows before, and you really have to see it to appreciate how sophisticated the inside of a trailer can get.

It's a great way to showcase all the cool things Ericsson is doing with both wireless and wireline technologies. We started first with wireless, and got a look at some of the equipment they're using to support HSPA and LTE, both for in-home and backhaul. I'm not an expert in wireless infrastructure, but this has long been a strong suit for Ericsson. They made it clear that these technologies have utility in both emerging markets with little existing telecom infrastructure as well as urban markets that need higher speeds than what their wireline broadband connections can deliver.

On the wireline side, we saw some really neat demos of IPTV, some of which is in the market today, and some just in the lab. They did a nice job showing how well integrated video and wireless services can be. One example was demonstrating how live streaming video from a cell phone can be uploaded to television to report a robbery in progress. Citizen jouralism 2.0 at its best. Other examples included a more interactive experience for watching sports, and using all the multimedia tools while watching TV - voice, chat, email, ordering concert tickets, etc. If the IMS vision ever truly comes to fruition, it sure looks like we'll never, ever have to get up from the couch except to replace the batteries in the converter.

All told, it was a great way to get an up-close look at what Ericsson is doing. Since most of this happens under the hood, I can't think of a better way to understand and experience all the technology they bring to enable these cool services. Am sure glad they came to town, and even gladder they invited me.

Ericsson Canada CEO/President Mark Henderson









Amit Kaminer of Seaboard Group - thanks for modelling this to scale! He was at Avaya this week too, so we've seen a lot of each other the past few days.




Technorati tags: Ericsson, Jon Arnold, Canada

Avaya Global Analyst Conference - My Take

There was a lot to look forward to at this year's Avaya global analyst event, and on the whole, I'd say they lived up to expectations quite well. Yesterday I had a chance to post some photos, and now I'm set to share my overall impressions.

The big change is that being a private company now, there is less transparency in how they're doing. I'm not a financial analyst, so this is a bit less important for me, but still, this is a great opportunity to get an inside look as to how Avaya is faring since going private. The other development is in their leadership, with Charlie Giancarlo moving in from Cisco to serve as interim CEO. Lots of history there, but basically, Cisco's loss is Avaya's gain.

As with all analyst events, attendees are under NDA, either explicitly or implicitly. So, I'm not going to cite performance data, even though we did get a few glimpses. There was a lot of interesting messaging, and I'm just going to hit the high points here.

Charlie Giancarlo set the tone right away by stating Avaya's goal is to be 'the #1 global supplier of enterprise communications systems'. Take that, (enter any Avaya competitor here). While the definition of 'communications systems' is open for debate, the aim of being number one is not, so it's clear Avaya is intent on making the most of being private.

In terms of the grand plan, he shared Avaya's roadmap through 2010, by which time all the moves to refocus/reinvigorate the company should bear fruit. He didn't rule out going public again, and cited Seagate as a successful model to follow. They were taken private for $6 billion, and a few years later had doubled in value and went public again.

Some of the big initiatives underway to duplicate this feat include stronger regional alignment with corporate objectives to make Avaya more of a global organization, and a more channel-centric go-to-market model for driving sales. Another key Cisco hire was Todd Abbott, and I was very impressed with his vision for building the kind of sales organization to support these initiatives. It's all about sales at the end of the day, and he brought a lot of 'his people' over to Avaya, and this may well have as much bearing on Avaya's ultimate success as having Charlie Giancarlo on board.

It's clear that Avaya has worked hard to get the right management/leadership team in place, and it was really interesting to hear them say that this was easier to do as a private company. I never really thought about things this way, but when the stock equity of your employer gets weaker by the day, the harder it becomes to stay motivated. In today's market, the prospects of moving over to a company with a great brand that's just gone private and is in rebuilding mode become very attractive for all kinds of reasons. I get that, and now we're looking at a company with a top tier team, big money behind them, and free of the pressures of meeting quarterly earnings calls. That's a pretty good recipe for success, especially since the markets are not going to turn around any time soon.

Another interesting view from Charlie was the classic 'flight to quality' angle that will help drive growth. He took pains to point out that Avaya is one of only two financially stable vendors now ' the other one remaining nameless, but not hard to figure out. The financial mess we're all in has yet to take its toll, and sure, there will be casualties, and logic dictates that Avaya will be seen as a friendly haven for nervous customers and will get their share of business.

Fair enough, but he made another point that is probably more telling about the current market environment. That is, meaningful market share shifts happen in bad times, not good times. I've been out of MBA school too long to remember such things, so I don't have any empirical evidence to validate this, but it does make sense. If that holds true, and if Avaya executes well, then, sure, they are poised to capture market share. Whether it comes from above ' the other stable vendor ' or below ' everyone else, many of whom are in a weaker state ' I'm sure they're just happy to be growing.

There was a strong, recurring theme about focusing on channel support and moving away from the conflicts caused between direct sales efforts competing with the channels for business. In Avaya-speak, they call this being 'fulfillment neutral'. Okey dokey. More importantly, the new mantra is to become 'high touch, channel centric'. Let the channels do the selling, and provide more touch points to support them with things like training, certification, better order fulfillment and more marketing programs. This also means new compensation models to better incent them. Details weren't provided, but it was explained how some types of sales did not generate income for some channel partners, and they're moving now to address things like this. Sometimes it pays to build on best practices, and in this area, I'd say there's a lot of Cisco thinking here, which is not a bad thing. Todd Abbott summed this up best by saying this new focus on channels is 'a corporate strategy, not a sales strategy'.

Aside from being channel-centric, there was a lot of talk about becoming customer-centric. Really focusing on the needs of end users and getting beyond voice solutions. Karyn Mishima touched on how the consumer experience is now driving change and expectations around what Avaya has to deliver today in the enterprise. Not just new ways to communicate ' Facebook, Second Life, etc., but in new contexts such as retail kiosks in banks and telemedicine. There wasn't the Web 2.0 focus I saw at BroadSoft Connections earlier this month, but Avaya is playing in a different league, and are bringing elements of 2.0 in their own way. I saw some pretty interesting Web/voice mashups in their Demo display, but these are still in the lab. They won't be coming to market until next year, and what I saw looked very much like what's running today on BroadWorks Xtended.

I'm not an IT guy, and given Avaya's Bell Labs pedigree, there were a lot of technical presentations that I could only follow to a degree. However, it's clear to me that they're leveraging their Ubiquity acquisition pretty heavily, especially for their Unified Communications Solution. It was often mentioned how the majority of the installed base out there is still TDM, and to bring customers along into IP, they need to seamlessly support H.323 and SIP.

Other updates of note include One-X Mobile, which extends the PBX feature set to the mobile phone, with support for all the major handsets (and not just smartphones) and operating systems. For the broader Unified Communications solution, Jorge Blanco provided an extensive progress report, talking about how they've established a reference architecture to support enhancements across all touchpoints and applications ' the desktop, mobile phones, Web access, messaging and conferencing. Other developments of note include their Intelligent Presence Server which aggregates presence across multiple communication modes, and Session Manager, which among other things provides better interoperability for third party application developers. That said, there was not much about videoconferencing or social media/collaboration solutions, but there's plenty here for most enterprise uses.

SME is another key focus, and while Cisco has made similar proclamations, this space seems like a better sweet spot for Avaya. Geoffrey Baird runs this unit and pointed out how fragmented this market is. Nothing new there, but going into a down economy, this matters for both vendors and buyers alike. Avaya is profitable and well-capitalized, and not many of their competitors can say yes to both of these. Vendors with a focused offering who execute well and develop strong channel programs will do well, and that's the story we were being told/sold. I came away feeling pretty good about Avaya's chances here with IP Office, and Geoffrey cited some solid proof points to back this up (but I can't share those).

To get SMEs buying IP communications solutions in today's market, they really need to see attractive ROI metrics. I think there's a real opportunity here for vendors to tailor their ROI stories in the context of a business slowdown. SMEs will be looking to cut costs wherever possible, and while I didn't see any Avaya ROI scenarios, it sounds like they understand its importance for nervous business owners. SMEs also need manageable financing or leasing programs, and this is an area where Avaya's financial strength gives them a competitive edge. All else being equal, this can be the deal maker for SMEs deciding among comparable solutions from multiple vendors, and it looks like Avaya is playing that card pretty well.

I could go on, but will leave it at that. They packed a lot into a day and a half, but it felt about right, and it certainly was time well spent. Overall, I'd say Avaya is about as well positioned as one could expect, and I sure like their chances. The overall mood seems upbeat and energized, and based on my impressions from talking to people there, the move to privatization was the best medicine. It will be interesting to see who fills the full time CEO role, but the team in place today looks pretty solid to me, and next year should give us some strong clues as to how well this translates into growth.



Technorati tags: Avaya, Jon Arnold

Avaya Global Analyst Conference - Photo Highlights

Am attending the global analyst conference for Avaya in Boston this week, and it sure has been great. Got lots of impressions to share with you, but that will have to wait another day or so. Just been too much going on, and for now, all I can do is post some photos from today's keynotes. I'll have some commentary and overall impressions once I have time to gather my thoughts.




Interim CEO Charlie Giancarlo




Strategy/Tech SVP Karyn Mashima




Sales SVP/President, Field Operations, Todd Abbott



Executive Q&A




Technorati tags: Avaya, Charlie Giancarlo, Jon Arnold

Service Provider Views - BroadSoft as a Platform Play

My latest Service Provider Views column is running now on TMCnet. It's another variation on the platform play theme, and my focus this time is on BroadSoft.

This may not be what comes to mind right away for most of you, but you might just think otherwise after reading my article.

I've followed BroadSoft for ages, and after spending time with them last week at Connections 2008, I'm sure seeing a lot of Web 2.0 and mashups, and that says platform play to me. What do you think?


Technorati tags: Service Provider Views, Jon Arnold, J Arnold & Associates, TMCnet, BroadSoft

My Jazinga Review

I�ve been trialing Jazinga for a while now and have waited for the most recent updates to get this review done. I�m really enjoying using it, and it�s become my default telephony system. I use that word loosely, since I work solo, and am not exactly a typical PBX user. I don�t have anyone to transfer calls to, but there are many other features that make my life better and my work day more productive.

Before sharing my thoughts about Jazinga, I didn�t realize the most obvious thing about Jazinga until sitting down now to write about it. I�m a marketing guy at heart, so these things keep me up thinking more than most other people. Jazinga is a catchy name for a company, and it�s just hit me that the product itself doesn�t have a name, so by default I don�t know what else to call it. Maybe it�s time for a name-that-product contest???

I�ve gotten to know the Jazinga folks pretty well now, and in case you�re wondering, yes, they�re very typical of a tech startup � heavy on engineering and light on marketing. That�s ok by me � at this stage it�s much more important to get the technology right, and in my books, they�ve done a great job there. The marketing and branding will come, and along the way, I�m sure they�ll come up with a clever name for their offering. I hate to call it a product � seems so pedestrian � and it�s only partially correct, so giving this a name will be trickier than you might think. I�ll leave that hanging out there for now, and move on to my review.

I�ll start by saying that other beta users have reviewed Jazinga already, and they�re more techhy than me. You can find these posted on Jazinga�s website, and there�s some good commentary about what�s under the hood. I�ll focus more on what�s outside and my everyday experiences.

As others have noted, Jazinga is an interesting a hybrid � the box is a both a router and an IP telephony system. You basically get all the features of a PBX and QoS, as the system is able to prioritize voice over your broadband connection. Not only does that give you reliable service, but the audio quality is noticeably better than regular VoIP. For small businesses, this strikes me as a very important selling feature.

From a buyer�s point of view, Jazinga is a great value. They�ve used a lot of open source, which helps keeps the price down, and provides flexibility for adding new features and self-provisioning. It�s about as end-user centric as you can get, and ease of use is another hallmark of Jazinga. The earlier reviews have all picked up on the ease-of-use angle, and I can certainly vouch for that. Setting up the system takes little time, and is largely self-provisioning, so it�s ideal for SMBs, as they typically don�t have much in the way in-house IT support.

Not only does Jazinga come with all the telephony options you�d typically want to see, but they are continually adding new ones. It�s very easy to set up an auto attendant with greetings for each employee, and then customize how each person wants to receive their calls. For me, the conferencing feature has the most utility. It�s easy to set up, and very handy for initiating concalls on the fly. The only downside is that callers have to dial in to a toll number, but these days, most people don�t have a problem with that.

Another great thing about Jazinga is that it�s extensible. It�s built to keep taking new features, and end users don�t have to pay extra for these. The most recent releases - beta 1.11 and 1.12 � have some noteworthy additions:

- Status screens in the Administration UI to monitor your Internet connection and system configuration

- Forwarding of voice mail to email

- Addition of portals for individual users. Previously, only system administrators had portal access. This means end users can now access their voicemail via the portal and update their personalized settings.

- System configuration and backup settings can now be saved to the desktop, giving end users more control and access to their communications tools.

- Two new calling features to make the telephony service more valuable to SMBs:

1. Dial around � you can now call into and through Jazinga from any phone, anywhere and save on long distance charges.
2. Callback � another way to do this, and works like other mobile VoIP callback services.

To use Jazinga, you need an IP phone, and they support all the major brands � Cisco, Linksys, Aastra, Polycom and Snom, so it won�t be too hard to get this going. Once you see it up close, you may wonder why anyone would need a PBX. Aside from being easy to use, you feel empowered right away, as each end user can customize their greetings and call control preferences - and just as easily change them as their needs dictate. It�s also fun setting up the front door, which is where you record your IVR greeting prompts for each extension and conferencing options. Then you can add your own music on hold and really make it your own.

Being open source, Jazinga has made it easy to keep adding features without increasing your costs. That�s a pretty strong driver, as the system always stays current and keeps getting more powerful with each release. SMBs have never really had it this good before.

This would be enough for most IP telephony solutions, but Jazinga is thinking further out, and this is where it gets more interesting for me. For SOHOs and some SMBs, many, if not all end users will be home-based. Jazinga can very easily be used as the hub for both home and business communications. No reason why your landline � analog or VoIP � can�t be hooked up, giving you PBX features in the house. How about that? Think of the fun you can have with your greeting prompts � �for the kitchen, press 7�, or �for Mom, press 6�. How can you not want to do this?

Let�s take this a step further. Once you�ve got home and business all running off Jazinga, why stop at voice? Here�s where the magic of open source comes into the picture. With wireless IP running all over the house/office, you could provision all kinds of other services � remote printing, FMC handoffs, etc. Let�s not stop there. As we start broadband-enabling all kinds of devices and machines, the possibilities really open up, especially around smart home-type services. Think about starting the roast remotely, controlling the thermostat or monitoring your home security or surveillance systems.

I�m getting a bit ahead of the game, but the likes of Microsoft are well along that path, and Jazinga could become a perfect hub solution sooner than you think. You just have stop thinking about this as just an intelligent telephony router. When you do, you then need to start wondering why service providers aren�t running to partner with Jazinga. Not just telcos, but anyone with a wire into the home � ISPs, cablecos, utilities, etc. Lots of possibilities here for sure.

It�s a very important part of the puzzle, simply because Jazinga isn�t a service provider. You could certainly buy the box retail or through a distributor channel and just go with the BYOB model. That works, but then it�s just a sell-through box solution for Jazinga. That�s ok, but then it starts to sound too much like Ooma, who I�ve written about � and still use. It�s a great service, but like Jazinga, it�s just another box on my desk, and I really don�t give it a thought. That�s too passive a model for me.

I�ve been saying this about Ooma from the beginning � the service provider is their best friend and route to market. Let them brand Jazinga and roll it out to their subscribers as a total package. That makes so much more sense to me, and is a real win-win for both parties. Think about how effective that would be for any carrier trying to break through the clutter in the SMB space. I know Jazinga is thinking this way too, so give it some time, and I�m pretty confident this will be a much bigger story going into 2009.


Technorati tags: Jazinga, Jon Arnold, SMB VoIP

Loose Ends - Skype and the Great Firewall of China, VON/Virgo Deal, Oz/Nokia Deal

I don't get paid to blog, so when I'm busy with consulting work, I fall behind on the news. There is always interesting stuff going on, and before the week is out, I wanted to quickly draw attention to three stories of note. These are all of interest to me, but it's way too late to post about them. So, for the laggards out there, here are three items you might want to explore further.

1. Skype - China/censorship/privacy - you get the idea. Wow, this is an interesting - but not altogether unsurprising story. Barely a month after the Beijing Olympics, here we go again, with the dark side of state-run media rearing its ugly head.

You don't have to look far for coverage of this story, or think too hard about how insidious all this is, but it's another reminder of how the Internet is impacting our lives. Ultimately, it may be a borderless technology, but as they say, the "great firewall of China" isn't quite onside yet.

I'd start first with Phil Wolff's posting on Skype Journal, then Om Malik, and I'm sure you'll find many others from there. I should also add this is not a new problem, and Skype is not alone in this morass - other IM platforms have had similar issues. RIM too, by the way.

Aside from the coverage you've already seen on this, I wanted to add some local coverage that I thought was really great. It ran in today's Globe & Mail, and talks about how a lab researcher here at the University of Toronto - Nart Villeneuve - uncovered some online trails that led him to all kinds of censorship and monitoring in China with Skype traffic. It's a great read, and am pretty sure will add valuable first-hand insight for anyone following this story. I should add that local colleague Jim Courtney - a regular Skype Journal contributor - picked up on this today, as have others like Om Malik.

I'll end on that triumphant note, as it's great to see some homegrown investigative work getting to the bottom of a truly international issue.

2. Virgo acquires VON. This is a much smaller scale story, but still of interest to many of us in the space. Several of us got wind of this news at the IT Expo a few weeks back, but it's just becoming official now. Andy Abramson had a good wrap on this the other day, and there's not a whole lot more to say about it right now.

Well, there is, but it's end of the week, and I'm kind of done now. That said, I wanted to at least acknowledge the story because it's evident from my recent conversations that most people don't know this has happened. Now you do.

3. Nokia acquires Oz Communications. Yet an even smaller story, but also of interest to me. Everyone knows Nokia and how they're doing lots of cool things with Ovi and just launched their iPhone killer. But most of you don't know Oz - a bit like saying you don't know Jack.

I've followed them for a while, and it's another great Canadian success story. So, add a notch for our win column, which is a nice way to end the week as the weather gets colder and my Red Sox look to keep winning.




Technorati tags: Skype, Jon Arnold, Nart Villeneuve, VON, Oz Communications