I didn’t cook a lot this weekend as we decided to eat light on Friday and tried out a new restaurant on Saturday. Therefore, I knew that Sunday’s dish had to be spot on as it, by default, would be the recipe of the week. I thawed some chicken over night with an idea to do something with it, pasta and gorgonzola cheese. However, Sunday morning, I got an inspiration to make the dish using mustard, lemon juice and cream. I can’t recall having a mustard cream sauce with fettuccine but it turned out great. Now I did use broccoli florets instead of peas and I cooked the last of my homemade apple wood smoked honey bacon. But, I think if you follow the recipe as outlined, it will be delicious. Please enjoy Fettuccine with Mustard and Lemon Chicken.

All You Can Eat

As AT&T changes its wireless data plan for the new sophisticated multimedia phones, it is merely following a trend. Granted the move by AT&T may be an attempt to protect its iPhone market share, if the exclusivity deal with Apple ends this year. However, the idea of “all you can eat” services is becoming outdated. To support this new direction for wireless carriers, several companies are now offering network policy control products. These include Telcordia, Bridgewater Systems, Tekelec and others.

In fact, the wireless industry is simply acknowledging what ISPs have always known. Tiered levels of usage are positive when it comes to generating new revenue. Heavy users of video, gaming, music streaming, social media uploads and email are not going to change their habits due to minor price increases. The key here is minor. Increase the price too much and you will reduce usage and lose customers.

Moreover, businesses are used to seeing additional cost for most of the IP services that are offered today. By way of example, Broadvox and our competitors charge more for a virtual PBX hosted service if additional extensions, several auto attendants or lots of conference rooms are required. The same goes for web services products, if additional data storage is needed.

I will promote one new and useful tool developed by AT&T. Do check out their Data Calculator. It is very interesting as were the sizing examples upon which it is based:

·         Email (text only) – 20 KB

·         Email (with attachment) – 300-350 KB

·         Web page – 180 KB

·         Minute of streaming music – 500 KB

·         Minute of streaming video – 2 MB

·         An application, game or song – 4 MB

Find out if you are a true power user by inputting your personal and professional use.

With the recent Broadvox announcement of a virtual PBX offering, GO!Hosted, I have been contacted by a number of VARs and OEMs asking for clarification of our product strategy. I find this interesting because, Broadvox has always supported both premise based and hosted solutions. Previously, I shared the stage with Eric Thomas, CEO FreedomVoice, and discussed the decision process and benefits to both alternatives. You can read Hosted VoIP vs. Premise-Based VoIP: The Honest Truth and gain insights from both of us on the subject. There are a myriad of reasons for a company to select either of the technologies. However, the question most asked by our partners today is why did Broadvox decide to offer both?

First of all, we are not the only company offering both alternatives. In fact, if we look at the history of telecom, AT&T and the ILECs have always provided both. A virtual hosted PBX is sometimes referred to as IP Centrex. It probably violates some copyright to do so but it does tie current offerings to the original Class 5 Centrex product.

Second, a significant percentage of our partners were asking us to offer a hosted solution as the market is growing rapidly. It is no longer confined by the SMB space but is also being implemented by enterprises as part of a hybrid offering leveraging the features and benefits of the new IP PBXs for larger offices and hosted services for remote, branch and telecommuter's offices. This movement towards multi-platform selection is gaining in interest among IT and Telecom Directors. Furthermore, some SMBs are finding a hosted offering better fits their current needs.

Third, the hosted market needs to re-address the most effective way to sell user licenses and offer telecom services. The Broadvox hosted offering separates the price of the user license from that of the telecom usage. This is needed to evolve the market towards more effective pricing of little used extensions such as those in conference rooms, reception areas, warehousing, etc. When usage is more accurately priced, the overall cost of the hosted solution can drop as much as 60%.

Finally, as articulated by Digium during our recent Partner Conference, with an open source IP PBX, users can get closer to the hosted pricing quoted by Broadvox. We believe this is a win-win for the IP community. If price can be removed or reduced in importance, then the buyer can make the decision based upon what best fits the company's business requirements, infrastructure, CapEx, growth expectations and other considerations.

See you on Friday...

Often times I am asked to provide advice to our partners on how they can increase their sales. In addition to the basic blocking and tackling that must be done to develop a sales force and educate our prospects, we need to evolve our solution offering as well. So, if a VAR has trained his personnel, developed collateral, has a successful lead generation program and is protecting the integrity of his pricing, then he is blocking and tackling well. Given that, I have asked them about their web efforts. Do they have an effective website? Have they practiced either Search Engine Optimization (SEO) or Search Engine Marketing (SEM)? Normally, the VARs do not see improving these things as driving new revenue. I beg to differ but I understand their desire to perform a more concrete action to move a sale along. As I sat working at the Cleveland airport yesterday using my wireless 3G card, I considered the progress that I have seen in wireless over the last 25 years. I remember the early days of cellular when carrying a cell phone required a shoulder bag and the idea of connecting a computer to it was unimaginable. I stopped working to consider how many of our VARs now include a wireless strategy as part of their TDM to IP transition sales effort and I developed an actionable answer.

With the advent of nationwide 4G, Android, the iPhone and the ever-reliable BlackBerry, what wireless products and services are the natural complement to selling VoIP/SIP Trunking? How do we position the value proposition behind these products? By developing a wireless strategy to complement your current IP offering, I believe you will see an improvement in closing new business. Unified communications as a term does little to motivate SMBs to purchase new equipment or upgrade existing infrastructure. However, augmenting the cost savings of VoIP/SIP Trunking with the added mobility of phones that can move from the office, to the car, to the prospect's site delivers the productivity benefits to potential buyers.

As an industry, our focus has been on IADs, media gateways, IP PBXs and, of course, the service offering provided by Broadvox and other ITSPs. Now we need to evolve and understand that the emphasis on the technology of IP communications must change to the improvement in productivity. Mobility has been identified by AT&T, Verizon and Sprint as the cornerstone of their future business strategies. It is also viewed by Google, Apple and I assume RIM as a major revenue growth area. At Broadvox, we have tested several wireless implementations both in our R&D labs and in the field.

I'll discuss some of the potential equipment and application areas for leveraging wireless and IP communications in my next blog.

It was a bit chilly, this weekend and I thought a chicken potpie would hit the spot. I also noted that I have not given you my chicken potpie recipe. It seemed like a good idea. I took a bag of what looked like chicken potpie filling out of the freezer to thaw over night in the refrigerator. The next day when I poured the contents into a saucepot, I discovered it was clam chowder. Interestingly, neither of these recipes have I put into the blog. However, when I thought about adding one of them to the blog, there was one major problem. I've never measured the ingredients for either. It is a bad idea to guess at measurements for a recipe. So, while we had a wonderful bowl of clam chowder topped with a biscuit crust, it is not the recipe of the week. Instead, I created a quick version of my formal dinner salad using pear preserves. Normally, this salad would have either a blood orange or apple juice gastrique as the primary dressing component. However, it takes a bit of time to boil down the juice to make syrup to which you add vinegar and sugar. The Mixed Salad with Pear Dressing was done in just 15 minutes and was a great accompaniment to the clam chowder potpie. I used pear preserves yesterday but that required some chopping and such. Using pear jam or jelly will make a smoother dressing. Enjoy!

Pairing Up

The past week has seen several announcements where key players in the IP ecosystem have decided to pair up to offer new services. The Skype and Verizon announcement of having Skype's voice traffic go over the Verizon network was interesting. The rumored pairing of Skype and AT&T would also make for interesting move on the part of the ILECs. It is unclear to me what their ultimate VoIP/SIP Trunking strategies are.

The other pairing was Orange and T-Mobile. We have heard rumors that T-Mobile wants a partner for some time in the US. That remains elusive. However, in pairing with Orange, they will become part of the UK's largest mobile phone company. As mobility is the current wave for telecom, the IP community should keep a close eye on the new offerings this may present.

While not quite a new pairing, it was interesting to read where Dimension Data, a Broadvox partner,  believes that telepresence will be of interest to the SMB market sooner than expected. As a large Cisco VAR/Systems Integrator, Dimension Data has noted that falling costs and better features may allow them to position the new Cisco/Tandberg telepresence products to a broader market more quickly than expected.

Finally, there are those cities that want to pair up with Goggle as part of its gigabit to the home project. Where ever this project lands, it will become a showcase for what high-speed broadband can enable. The goals of the effort are simple; develop new ways to deploy a fiber network, test new applications, and promote open Internet access. It should be great fun for 500,000 households.

On Wednesday, we addressed the first three bullets...

·         Per line cost (save 60-70%)

·         Usage cost for local inbound/outbound calling (typically no charge)

·         Domestic long distance calling (save 42-68%)

Today, I want to address the savings for the following:

·         International calling

·         Toll-free inbound calling

·         Moving from dedicated PRIs to converged T1s

I selected four countries that are often called as part of any international business. I also looked at AT&T's plans for occasional use (Basic) and frequent calling (Premium). Using the Broadvox International rates for comparison, the cost savings was greater than I imagined. And, our rates are not the lowest available from an ITSP or alternative carrier.

Obviously, the TDM per minute rate for international calling is not competitive with VoIP. A range of 300% savings to a whopping 10400% demonstrates the value for immediate transition to VoIP/SIP Trunking if the business has a moderate to heavy need to communicate internationally.

AT&T fared much better when comparing Toll-free calling rates (Verizon pricing is more difficult to obtain). Their toll-free rate is the same as whatever calling plan to which the business subscribed. Therefore, the savings that an ITSP can produce will be in the 42-68%. Moreover, AT&T charges $12 per month for each toll-free number. Broadvox charges $3 per month. This becomes significant if the business has a large number of toll-free numbers.

When comparing the transition from dedicated PRIs to converged T1s, multiple factors determine the amount, if any, cost savings. A VAR should enquire as to the how full/packed are the PRIs. Generally, they are underutilized and often by 50%. Therefore, a company is paying for capacity that it does not need. This practice continues with some ITSPs that insist on selling a converged T1, when the business bandwidth requirement is less. Knowing the percentage of voice to data traffic is useful but knowing the maximum bandwidth requirement is best for sizing capacity. Providing a fixed percentage of savings for moving from PRIs to converged T1s is not feasible. The actual savings can only be determined on a case-by-case basis.

Enough... Have a wonderful weekend! See you on Monday with another great new recipe!