Yesterday a most unusual thing happened. A customer complained by sending an email to our CEO. Most companies expect to see emails or phone calls to upper management regarding service or billing issues regularly. However, in the case of Broadvox, it seldom happens. In fact, I can’t remember when it happened previously because this was the first for this year. You might also think I would get more customer complaints. I personally receive perhaps one call a quarter.

A couple of months ago I answered such a call and the caller was amazed that I answered my own phone. To let the secret out, every executive at Broadvox answers his or her own phone. And that got me thinking about two things; Broadvox is managing its growth fairly well and customer satisfaction is pretty darn good.

It is important to the IP community that ITSPs grow into larger and stronger entities. As a community, it must be able to compete with the larger ILECs and CLECs, not just in providing more innovative products but also maintaining its ability to be responsive to customers and sales channels. When Broadvox turned up its first retail SIP customer in late 2007, it was easy to offer hands on service and support. As we now handled hundreds of requests per month, it is just as important that we offer a personalized service. When I get a call from either a channel partner or customer, I do my best to address the reason for the call as quickly as possible and I always give out my direct number to the caller for follow up. Interestingly, only once in three years has someone needed to call again to get things moving and never have I received a “thank you” call for setting things right (no mercy calls are needed, thank you). But the point of this is, as we get bigger and the demand on our time increases, we can still be a different type of phone company. We can deliver a personalized service to a business community.

Finally, I must thank the overall IP ecosystem for high levels of customer satisfaction. Sure, Broadvox has a role to play but the real reason that customer satisfaction remains high is the continued positive evolution of the technology (VoIP, SIP, SIP Trunking), the VARs, (experience, knowledge, commitment), the OEMs (IP PBXs, IADs, SBCs) and the service providers. All of us working together deliver a positive and rewarding experience for those making the switch from TDM to IP, from POTS to VoIP/SIP Trunking.

So thanks to all of you, and after a few pats on the back, it’s time to get back to work. I do have to address that email from yesterday.

Few times do I enter a weekend knowing the recipe of the week. Last week was such a weekend. I made two fabulous grilled dishes last week, blackened New York strip steak and spicy Asian chops. I had never prepared blacked steaks before but given the result, I will do them again. I coated them with a rub I cobbled together, let them sit for an hour or so and then seared them in a very hot pan about 4 minutes per side. The result was a wonderful mixture of charred saltiness and savory sweetness. Alas, I don’t know what was in the rub, so no recipe. The chops on the other hand come from a rib recipe I saw in the paper last week. I decided to modify both the marinade and the cooking process towards chops with incredible success. I may work on the recipe and convert it to my style of ribs later this fall but in the meantime, please try these Spicy Asian Pork Chops. They are not too hot but just right.

Is Huawei Too Hot?

Huawei has been a questionable network provider for years. Early on in their business growth it was suspected, but not proven, that they had stolen intellectual property from Cisco. More recently, troubling questions on intellectual property have risen again via a lawsuit filed by Motorola. However, that pales to what may lie ahead for Huawei.

Apparently, Sprint is examining whether to purchase network equipment from Huawei and that has drawn the attention of two US senators, Christopher Bond (R-MO) and Jon Kyl (R-AZ). Citing security concerns, other customer relationships and questions regarding ownership of the company, Bond and Kyl have asked Sprint to reconsider making any Huawei purchases.

Huawei is growing too fast as an IP communications equipment provider to be ignored by US carriers. Their product works well, the pricing is very competitive and they have the business and product development infrastructure to maintain state-of-art products. However, Huawei need to work on its image. The refusal to do business with them because they have sold to Iran and the Taliban are not justifiable or worth any attention. However, it is fair to question their respect for intellectual property and whether they have an ownership/partnership arrangement with the People’s Liberation Army of China.

Sprint needs to look at the recent negotiations between Huawei and the Indian government for guidance in establishing a business relationship that is beneficial for the company and protects national interest. Kyl and Bond need to be careful of their rhetoric and stay focused on issues that really matter (hard for politicians to do).

If the real issues cannot be resolved, then we will know Huawei is too Hot.

The immediate barrage of comments related to the net neutrality proposal from Google and Verizon gave me pause. While looking to such major players to devise a net neutrality plan that would truly address the concerns of consumer activists and Internet entrepreneurs would be foolish. I needed time to consume the proposal to understand was it really that bad for the industry and Broadvox. In some ways, the proposal begins to address my change in position regarding net neutrality.

My original stance on net neutrality was that we needed to maintain an open Internet and avoid tiered pricing for usage. The idea of charging gamers more than grandmothers are charged appeared to be a threat to innovation. Tying the consumption of high bandwidth applications to one’s ability to pay would make remove the truly public and mass accessibility of the Internet. I changed my position because as I analyzed the actual penetration and speeds of broadband in the US, it became clear that we are lagging the industrialized nations and losing our advantage over the developing nations. The US needs a dramatic increase in broadband infrastructure investment in our urban and populated areas now. Such an investment will not take place unless the investors and service providers can see additional revenue source, growth and profits.

However, the Verizon/Google proposal goes further in suggesting that there be separate Internet distribution environments, one for pay and another for public usage. That endangers the current concept of the Internet as a public place, open for anyone to develop websites, businesses or free apps. I have often stated that an open Internet is like the wild, wild, west, a place filled with both risk and rewards. However, separate transport for higher valued applications and services will jeopardize the usefulness and broader innovation that should be available to all. Additionally, adding a carve out where mobile networks and applications could avoid the tenants of net neutrality, also undermines the process that the Internet went through to become the communication and service environment it is today.

Finally, the proposal attempts to weaken the oversight responsibility of the FCC. The FCC is not a perfect organization and given the nature of its structure and political appointments, it seldom does the perfect thing. Decisions by the FCC come in two flavors, starkly partisan and over compromised. However, removing it from the regulatory and monitoring process would be a mistake. Capitalism and democracy make interesting bedfellows. They work together because they each gain in the process. As we discovered during the recent banking crisis, self-regulation fails when the potential and real rewards are so great.

The IP communications industry and ecosystem should support of the Third Way as proposed by the FCC months ago. It is unwise to put the wild wild Internet at risk while it is still so young.

See you on Monday with another original recipe. You are going to love this one!

Last week I missed posting my Friday blog. I was working on a response to a proposal for a large multi-national enterprise. It was different from most RFPs we receive in that pricing and traffic were not the primary concern. Instead, the primary concern was business continuity or survivability.

Broadvox has noted its capability to support business continuity for a number of circumstances. If the client has multiple IP PBXs, then we are able to design the SIP Trunks to load balance traffic, failover to the functioning IP PBX, home them off different network elements, attach them to different network rings, and provide broadband connectivity from separate and distinct backbones. Normally, those answers would resolve questions related to business continuity.

However, this case other questions were posed. A catastrophic failure was the ultimate point of the RFP. And, it was here where I realized that Broadvox had not addressed true disaster recovery in prior responses. How should a carrier respond when the customer cannot access his offices but communications must be available even if in a degraded fashion?

The solution requires hardware that is not at the customer premise, providing network access to non-IP capable phones from anywhere at any time, and making the necessary account changes quickly to provide an alternative service.

Although, Broadvox had not answered the question before, it was interesting to see that we do have the physical facilities, network infrastructure and support personnel to provide for full disaster recovery. We may not win the RFP but I know we will not lose because of issues regarding survivability.

I had my older grandson, Jake, for the weekend, so cooking took an interesting turn. Friday was burgers with Belgian fries. Since Jake loves sushi, Saturday, we took him to an Asian buffet for dinner called Tokyo One. Although, only thirteen he attacked the variety of food with zest. He ate the traditional tuna, eel and salmon but challenged himself with snail, octopus and clam sashimi.  Sunday, we were rather full so chicken and beef fajitas closed out the day. None of this was worth a recipe of the week but please do not be disappointed. Today, is International Pot Luck in the Dallas Broadvox office and for that, I made Thai Green Curry Chicken. This is truly one of my favorite Asian dishes. When I used to travel to Bangkok, Thailand, it was always the first thing I ordered either from room service (we always arrived around 1:00 AM and starving) or during my first lunch. In Thailand, the dish can be very hot but the flavors are incredible. I was actually quite surprised that I had not shared this recipe with you earlier. As usual, it contains a couple of my original twists. If you can’t find all of the ingredients, you can always add a tablespoon or two of green curry paste, which is available at most markets. Eating Thai Green Curry Chicken always puts me on Cloud Nine. Enjoy!

Will Cloud Computing Eliminate Premise –Based PBXs?

During a recent webinar hosted by Internet Telephony, OnState Communications, a cloud communications vendor and Light and Electric, a management consulting firm made the bold statement that cloud computing would replace the traditional and IP PBX as the preferred method for office communications. They reach this conclusion by noting the need for the office communications platform/technology to support so much more than simple phone calls.

While it is clearly true that Unified Communications will push the limits of a PBX, it is not such a simple thing to say that such a tried and true infrastructure element will be eliminated. Integrating voice, video, text, text messaging, mobility, IVRs and telepresence will be an extraordinary task. It will require company own resources LANs, WANs, IP Phones, wireless infrastructure and more. Various communications features, services and applications may be best supported by cloud computing. It seems like an ever-repeating mantra. Whenever a new technology or method comes over the horizon, it will eliminate the previous technology. Often the latest new thing can replace the need the previous technology, but seldom can it eliminate the new technology.

As Broadvox enters the arena that is could computing with our hosted offering, we position the products as offering a hosted PBX and SIP Trunking. We can provide a solution to address green field opportunities or companies ready to transition from premise to hosted. We can also provide the SIP Trunking services required for those businesses whose investment in infrastructure prevents them from making a radical change. Finally, some larger companies want to maintain their own infrastructure. It is frequently view as a strategic decision not a necessary evil.

Cloud computing may, for many, be Cloud Nine but not for all.

See you on Wednesday.