How to Select an IP Telephony Vendor - Focus Brief

Anyone following me regularly knows that my writing sometimes comes in spurts, and today is a great example of that. I'm posting here about my latest Brief on Focus.com, with the topic being titled "Five Things You Should Look for With an IP Telephony Vendor".

In short, making buying decisions today around telephony is more complex than before, especially once you start thinking beyond voice and getting into the broader universe of IP communications. My Focus Brief isolates five factors you need to consider, and if you're in a buying mode for telephony, you might want to give this a read!

Will the Cloud Kill Telecom Vendors?

Am I the only one asking this question? It's been on my mind lately for good reason, and I think there's something to this. The cloud is a big topic, for sure, and on my latest Service Provider Views column for TMCnet, I take my first stab at what this ultimately could do to/for telecom vendors.

You can read my article here, and as always, your comments are welcome!

Mitel's Freedom Updates - our take on UCStrategies

Mitel announced some pretty interesting things today, and the analysts got their briefings last week. There is some news here, as well as some new market positioning messaging, and it all falls under the name Freedom. The tag line for this new stake in the ground is "Flexibility + Simplicity = Freedom". Ok, sounds good to me - but it's also fairly similar to the mantra another player in the space is hanging its hat on.

Well, these are just words, and at the end of the day its all about execution and meeting customer expectations. Mitel is definitely on the right track here, and I'd say they've taken the virtualization path far enough for it to become a nice differentiator. Time will tell, but there's a good story here for sure.

Instead of rehashing my thoughts, I'll steer you to UCStrategies, where you'll get everybody's take, and not just mine. Now that the embargo has passed, Friday's podcast has now been posted, along with a full transcript. If you want to understand what Mitel is doing with Freedom and where this could take them, checking out the podcast will be time well spent.

Avaya web.alive - will this be UC 2.0?

My November contribution to the UCStrategies portal focused on Avaya's web.alive, which they inherited from Nortel. I recently attended their Evolutions customer event here in Toronto, and after seeing their latest iteration of web.alive, it got me thinking about where this could fit in the UC space. I've distilled that into a posting for the portal, and it's running now. You can read it here, and I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Next Stop - Cisco Collaboration Summit, Phoenix

I've been home for a bit following way too much travel in October, and have just one trip for this month. This time it's Cisco - tomorrow, I'm off to their Collaboration Summit in Phoenix. They're holding it at the famous Biltmore Hotel (Frank Lloyd Wright), which was the site earlier this month for BroadSoft's Connections event. I couldn't go to that one, but did participate via streaming video, so in a sense this will be my second visit to the Biltmore this month. :-)

I was lucky enough to attend last year's Collaboration Summit in San Francisco, and am looking forward to hearing first hand how Cisco's vision becoming reality. I'll be posting and tweeting as time allows, so check back with me tomorrow for news.

Avaya Evolutions - Keeping Customers Happy

Yesterday, I attended a new Avaya customer event here in Toronto. It's called Evolutions, and it builds on the success of a similar event they recently had in Mexico. This one was for the Canadian market, with a nice mix of customers, prospects and sponsors. I couldn't make the morning sessions, but the afternoon presentations were quite good, and I'm sure the full day was worthwhile. Attendance was strong and the buzz seemed great, esp during the reception where we had time to chat up the various sponsors.

Am not sure if there were any other industry analysts there - I didn't see any - so this might be the only place you'll hear about it. The content mix was quite good, including their roadmap, customer deployments, and updates across the board - contact center, Web.Alive, mobility, UC, Flare, Aura, etc.

The highlight for me was the update on Web.Alive from Chris Hardy. This technology is new for most people, and it came over with their Nortel acquisition. I have a particularly long history with Web.Alive, going back prior to Nortel's acquisition of the underlying technology from DiamondWare. If that's of interest, you can read all about that here. Anyway, I think Avaya has a great opportunity with Web.Alive, as they truly have technology that nobody else has, especially Cisco. Stay tuned!

Before leaving you, as it turns out, I was interviewed by VoIP Planet about Avaya and Skype - two companies I follow closely, and who happen to have the same investor. The story ran yesterday, which is timely here, so I thought I'd include it to keep the Avaya theme going.

I'll just leave you with a few photos for the record...

Chris Hardy and Web.Alive


Ritchie Brothers case study with Unity Telecom

Microsoft Office 365 - UCStrategies Views

The recent launch of Microsoft Office 365 is big news on a few fronts. Google is certainly changing the game with the cloud, and the time has come now for Microsoft to counter. There's a lot at stake here, and we started to explore that on this week's UCStrategies podcast call.

The podcast has now been posted to the portal, along with a transcript if you just want to read along. We'll likely continue the thread on our next podcast, but this should get you going for now.

Mitel's Don Smith Retires - Nice Profile on CTV

I've followed Mitel for some time, and am especially interested since they're Canadian. In fact, I would argue that they've taken Nortel's spot as our top telecom player. No doubt RIM is tops for Canadian tech companies, but in the telecom space, Mitel is our best known story. There are other companies I could drag into the conversation, but let's leave that aside for now.

The story here is about Don Smith's retirement as CEO, which was recently announced in close proximity to his receiving Ottawa's Executive of the Year award. That's a nice way to go out, and I wanted to share some coverage that ran Sunday night on CTV's Ottawa-based affiliate.

There are two pieces to steer you to, both running on Paul Brent's weekly feature, Tech Now.

First is a short profile article about Don that I'm sure has run across various CTV sites by now.

Second is a video segment from his Sunday show - October 31. Mitel is the lead story, and it runs just a few minutes. There's some great archival footage of Mitel, along with various interviews with Mitel executives.

Paul was nice enough to include me in both pieces, so I'm cited in the article, and provided some comments towards the end of the video segment. I'm not sure how long the video clip will run, so check it out now while it's still there!

Focus Webinar with Panasonic - When it's Time for IP Telephony

Just another shout-out for this Wednesday's webinar - "Top 5 Signs an SMB is Ready for an IP Phone System". It's being sponsored by Panasonic, and hosted by Focus.com. I'll be the first presenter, examining various scenerios that lead businesses to adopt IP telephony.

I hope you can join us - just go to this page for more details and how to register.

BroadSoft Connections - Redefining Business Communications

The schedule didn't work for me to attend this year's BroadSoft Connections, but I was able to follow parts of the conference via streaming video. What I managed to see was very good, and this is one company that doesn't stand still. Of course, now that they're public, they definitely can't do that - way too many people are watching!

Anyhow, the innovation keeps coming, and with the launch of BroadCloud, they're keeping pace with this next evolution in communications - the shift to the cloud and hosted "infrastructure". They've come a long way from being an app server vendor, and made a great choice in having Toronto-based Don Tapscott do a keynote about the value of collaboration and how digital technologies are transforming virtually every type of industry and institution. He was his usual thought-provoking self, and gave the audience a lot to think about - and by association, how BroadSoft can help them stay on the right side of the innovation and value-creation curve.

I've distilled my thoughts into my latest Focus Brief, and it's running now on Focus.com. SMBs in particular can do well by BroadSoft, and your comments on the same are welcome - I'd especially like to hear from anyone attending Connections in person!

What Service Providers can learn from Newspapers, Part 2

Following up on last week's Service Provider Views column on TMCnet, this is Part 2 of my take on what service providers can learn from newspapers.

I find the parallels between these businesses really interesting, and given what Toronto's Globe & Mail has done with its latest re-design, I just wonder what's taking telcos so long to reinvent themselves. You can read Part 2 here, and as always, I'd love to hear your< thoughts.

Focus.com Webinar - When it's Time for IP Telephony

I'm presenting on another Focus.com webinar on November 3. This one is sponsored by Panasonic, and is titled "Top 5 Signs an SMB is Ready for an IP Phone System".

That's pretty self-explanatory, and I'm looking forward to sharing my perspectives on this webinar. I'm just doing a shout-out now for the webinar, and I hope you can join us. You can get all the details here, including how to register.

Interactive Intelligence - Making the Cloud Work

Followers of my blog will know that I was at the Partner Conference for Interactive Intelligence last week. I've already shared some thoughts about it there, as well as on the UCStrategies portal.

I have two updates for you - one about the IP comms market, and one for fun. On the market side, I've just published an analysis of Interactive Intelligence, with a focus on CaaS - their cloud-based offering - and why this puts them ahead of the curve. The writeup takes the form of a Focus Brief, which is my monthly research contribution as an Adviser with Focus.com. You can read it here, and I'd love to hear your thoughts.

On the fun side, you may know that our ad hoc group - Dead Circuits Revival - didn't win the Battle of the Bands last week. All things considered, though, I think we came off pretty well, and we've got a plan for how to win this thing next year. I just got some photos from our performance, and the video will be coming soon. Once I have that, I'll post these items for the record, and maybe you can judge for yourself!

GridWeek - Day 2 Photos

It's been a pretty full day here at GridWeek, starting with a 7am breakfast with SmartSynch and the top wireless operators in the market. The rest of the day featured sessions focused on the consumer, along with a number of meetings and briefings. I've summarized my thoughts about the first two days - and that will run tomorrow on our smart grid portal. I've also been tweeting as time allows, and hopefully you've been picking some of those up. I know a lot of people have done that, as I have a whole bunch of new people following my tweets now.

SmartSynch's Campbell McCool hosting the breakfast


Group shot of all the wireless players with SmartSynch. More detail about this on my recap artcle. Photo courtesy of Edelman's Joey Marquart (can you tell who has a better camera?).


Morning roundtable - Consumer Engagement


Afternoon consumer panel: Recipe for Success


Afternoon media roundtable - public vs. private networks - very lively discussion!

GridWeek - Day 1 Photos

Day 1 of GridWeek is wrapping up shortly, and before the reception, this is a good time to post some photos. I'll be writing up my thoughts in another post, but just wanted to say that the turnout here is strong, and the caliber of both speakers and attendees is very high. This is definitely an A-list crowd, with a very international scope, which is no surprise being located in Washington D.C.

I've attended about half the sessions, and spent most of my other time meeting various smart grid companies. There's been a pretty active Twitter board here, and they're posting that in real time everywhere here. If you want to follow this thread, the hashtag is #gridweek - what else could it be, really?

For now, I'll leave you with some photos, and I should have some more tomorrow.


GridWeek organizer Anto Budiardjo


Opening keynote from Hon. Gary Locke, U.S. Dept. of Commerce


Collaboration roundtable, moderated by Anto


Renewable energy grid integration panel


Got here early afternoon yesterday, and with the weather so perfect, I just had to do a walkabout. Turns out the Department of Energy is literally right around the corner from my hotel. Small world.


It didn't take long to come across this contrast that reminds you about the gap between the haves and have-nots in America. I couldn't resist the lure of the Washington Monument, and found myself simply walking towards it once it came into view. Well, lying in front of me was this homeless man sleeping on the grass, and it has to be worrisome to anyone seeing this steps away from the most powerful icons of what we all believe in as Americans. Ugh. Whatever you have folks, be thankful!

What Service Providers can Learn From Newspapers

I recently posted about the redesign of the Globe and Mail, and how it's a great example of a newspaper trying to reinvent itself in the Internet generation. Lots of parallels popped up for me with telcos, and it's the subject of my latest Service Provider Views column on TMCnet. It's running now, and I'll have a Part 2 follow up coming next week. Enjoy.

Interactive Intelligence - Recap/Takeaways on UCStrategies.com

If you follow my blog, you'll have seen my posts already about this week's Interactive Intelligence Partner Conference. There's a lot to like about where this company is going, and I'm probably the only Canadian analyst who can tell you about it first hand.

As many of you know, I contribute to the UCStrategies portal, and it really is the best resource out there for all things UC. Interactive isn't a typical UC play, but they're close enough in many ways to be of interest to all the UCS consultants, a number of whom were with me this week in San Antonio.

Aside from the photos I've posted here, I've put my thoughts together about the conference and they're posted now on the UCStrategies portal. You can read my take here, and I'm sure you'll soon be seeing thoughts from my UCS colleagues who were with me this week.

Next Stop - GridWeek, Washington, D.C.

On Sunday, I'm heading to Washington, D.C. for my first visit to GridWeek, which is one of the top events in the smart grid space. I'm quite excited about going, and it will be very interesting to see how this compares to our Smart Grid Summit, which took place two weeks ago.

I'll be there through Wednesday morning, and will post my thoughts as time allows on Twitter, as well as our Smart Grid Portal. I don't travel this often, and next week will be my third straight week for U.S. events, and fourth in five weeks. That's plenty for me, and I'm looking forward to staying put for a bit once I'm back.

Interactive Intelligence - More Photos

Interactive Intelligence's 2010 Partner Conference just wrapped up, and people sure have scattered in a hurry. Before flying out I wanted to quickly post a few more photos from the past 3 days. I'll be writing up a recap of the event for the UCStrategies portal, and hope to have that ready for tomorrow. Overall, the event was very worthwhile, and I hope to be back next year!

Day 1 - Knibbe Ranch dinner

A bit hokey, but very fun...




Hard to tell which is the real bull here...




Better her than me - most people lasted about 3 seconds on this thing.


Nice crescent moon peeking out above the trees.



Day 2 - Battle of the Bands

We didn't win, but it was fun. No chance to play or rehearse with instruments before hitting the stage, but we managed ok. Photos and video clips will be coming from ININ soon!

Here's the house band's guitar/amp that I got to play - very nice. It was a big room - pretty nervous, but it goes by in a flash once you're up there.





Day 3 - Don Brown's Road Ahead wrapup

Good session to finish up today with CEO Don Brown giving us more guidance as to where the company is going 2011. Their biggest news here was the release of CIC 4.0, and Don was telling us a bit about what's already in the works for 5.0. We also got more insight about how IPA is evolving, and the company's overall focus to boost its branding and expand into more global markets. This company seems very much on the ball, I definitely plan to follow them even more closely now.

Smart Grid Summit - Video Clips

Getting things done here, one at a time. Finally getting more content up online now from last week's Smart Grid Summit.

First off, I did some video interviews at TMC's booth during the summit - those are running now - with Aviat Networks, Celergy Networks and Carl Ford.

Next - in addition to my photos I've been posting, TMC's photos are now posted, and you can find are some shots there of the summit.

Finally, I've managed to get my video clips uploaded and am ready to share them here. They'll be posted to our portal shortly as well, but since you're here now, enjoy! These clips are nice and short - about 2 minutes each - just enough to give you a taste of what you missed, and hopefully get you thinking about coming to our next summit in Miami. :-)