As the industry evolves and changes, the Web 2.0 world shifts and moves in parallel. This is my last post here on the Realtime Unified Communications Community.

In late 2004 Realtimepublishers.com and I joined forces to create what began as the Realtime VoIP Community. That community grew quickly, with discussion forums and participation from around the globe. In early 2006 we shifted to this blog as the central hub of activity and broadened our focus with the Realtime Unified Communications Community. Our posts and articles broadened to embrace mobility, wireless and later social networking technologies, all as part of the great field of unified communications.

The Realtime Nexus, a fantastic resource and incredible wealth of information, is going to be growing and taking new shape in the coming months. If you haven't used this resource already, please click the link, register and see all the depth of information available to you.


Sheryl and I treasure our great working relationship and fabulous friends at Realtime. We're looking forward to a variety of books, Essentials Series and other projects together as those opportunities arise. You can expect to see us around here and working with Realtime for a long time to come.

Thank you for all your participation, support and comments here over the past several years. You have been a marvelous group of readers to talk with, and Sheryl and I both look forward to continuing the conversation.

Technorati Tags: Ken Camp, Sheryl Breuker, Realtimepublishers.com, Realtime Unified Communications Community

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Cisco made a couple of announcements recently and one that stood out was their open commitment to the consumer electronics niche.

Talk about hollow words echoing from the past. Yet they have to do something with LinkSys.

Om said it well in his post linked below:

There have been several occasions when Cisco spoke about their commitment to consumers, but it's all been hollow talk. And this is just more of the same. Cisco isn't a consumer company and doesn't have the DNA to become one. They're a powerhouse in networking, albeit one that's completely lost a taste for real innovation in my view. They aren't and won't be a consumer electronics company and they don't stand a chance of penetrating that market without a 70% shakeup in leadership. That's my two cents worth.

Cisco is everywhere. Cisco is big. But Cisco is simply vanilla ice cream in networking.
Related posts
Rich Tehrani - Can Cisco Become a Consumer Electronics Company?
Om Malik - Cisco's Misguided Foray Into the Living Room

Technorati Tags: Cisco, consumer electronics vanilla ice cream

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Guy Kawasaki has been working feverishly for a while now to make Alltop, just that, all the top news. For those who don't know Guy, he's an active blogger, a Twitter addict (like so many of us) and the author of nine books including Reality Check, The Art of the Start, Rules for Revolutionaries, How to Drive Your Competition Crazy, Selling the Dream, and The Macintosh Way. Sheryl and I both interact with Guy on a regular basis on Twitter. He's quite "touchable" and loves to engage in idea exchange.

I'm pretty proud of this because my lovely partner Sheryl is finally gaining a bit of recognition for all the value she adds in the unified communications industry. A few days back Sheryl asked Guy why there wasn't a section for Unified Communications. Guy covers a lot of ground, and honestly didn't really understand what ths industry was. With a little explanation from Sheryl, he went to work, and just a bit ago I spotted this on Twitter.

Here's a portion of the Alltop screen for Unified Communications. It's especially gratifying to see that our work here at the Realtime Unified Communications Community and the work Sheryl and I do at Stardust Global Ventures made the very top entries. It was also nice to see if you mouse over the Adknowledgements on the Alltop page that Sheryl is the only person listed. Thanks to my beautiful partner for raising visibility for our industry! And thanks Guy for that vote of confidence in our work!


Technorati Tags: Alltop, Guy Kawasaki, Sheryl Breuker, unified communications

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It's nearly the end of another year , and that means all of us who write online will being sharing our year in review thoughts. I'm going to take a slightly different approach and just talk a bit about the state of the unified communications industry as a whole. In this post I'll just begin the conversation, and I'll be writing about some of these in a bit more detail over the next two or three weeks as we head into the holiday madness and the new year.

First, and important to me, is identifying what the unified communications industry really is. It's a broad term that's never been well-defined. Yet used by pretty much every vendor in the space. To me, unified communications has become something of an overworn phrase, because it's more simply just communications across every technology and avenue we have available. If we look at that segment we call unifide3d communications, here's what it includes for me:

• Voice services of all kinds. It doesn't matter whether it's legacy PSTN voice using TDM, or some new-fangled VoIP solution. They're just foundation architecture. The protocols and bits don't excite me frankly. The services do.
• Video of every kind. It doesn't matter whether it's how IP-based video services are killing the old-world broadcast media (and they are ringing the death toll for the old media), collaboration teleconferencing, or simple personal video calling. Video is one of the most exciting and vibrant areas in the entire communications industry.
• Mobility and casual computing are the areas where I see the greatest potential for advances. More on this below.
• Social media isn't simply a web site. It isn't networks. It's how we as humans communicate. I think social media encompasses a broader set of tools that we typically give credence. Naturally there are the social networks, but I think IM and text messaging fall into the social media side of unified communications. I maintain that unified communications and social media coexist in a symbiotic relationship that overlaps even more tightly coupled than the Internet and PSTN are joined. I don't believe one can exist and thrive without the other.
• Connectivity is key. I remember "back in the day" when connectivity was carriers talking about ATM and how efficient a 53 byte cell was going to be at carrying multimedia. What a load of poppycock that was. It isn't about the bits and protocols, it's about the services. Wireless broadband, WiFi and WiMAX services are going to remain crucial. In the old world of the legacy telecommuncations carriers (remember the dinosaurs), the last mile was the all-important piece. While it's till important, I don't think a mile is the right measure any longer. I'd say it's the last hop that matters. That hop can take any technology, but the wireless last hop is where we're going to see growth and energy. Sure enterprise business is going to be tied to a wired technology for the campus setting, but wireless is absolutely the king of connectivity technology moving foward.

There are great things happening in all these areas. There are also some pretty absurd and stupid things happening as well. This is that perfect time of year to give a nod of appreciation to some of the good things, and rant about some of the stupid things we've seen this year.

High on the list of dismal actions is the whole Yahoo debacle. I recall Stuart Henshall and I talking about how foolhardy Jerry Yang's 100 Days of Quiet Thought about Yahoo was. I felt like Jerry rang a bell that said he was going to try to kill Yahoo, and in many ways he did just that. Yang's gone now, and should be headed for richly deserved obscurity. Doubtless with a pocekt full of money for setting Yahoo back five years through inaction and foolhardy leadership. I expect to see Yahoo dissected and continuing to crumble as pieces get sold off. A sorry fate for a company that once led the way to the future.

There's a trend I've been watching recently that seems to be on the rise. A trend and a variation; both are troubling. I've seen a number of small innovators, people I sometimes know, but most often people who truly are innovators doing some very nice work. Yet, they're releasing solutions that simply don't work. They're unleashing crap in the name of early release beta products. To further compound the problem, I've been noticing a high degree of what sales people call smoke and mirrors in the early advertising and documentation of a growing number of products.

Troubling to me because at a high level, I see a growing number of creative innovators with tremendous potential opertaing under what I think is a flawed business plan. I see what appears to be a plan of taking an idea or concept and half baking it into something that can be hyed to that mass of free beta testers known as the Internet in hopes that they'll either catch some good buzz, or get enough ideas to turn the half-baked idea into a product. I don't know whether it's a bad thing or a good thing. Clearly end users get lots of options, but is the value in return for those solutions that never materialize worth the investment? I don't think about it often, but I when I do I frequently think it is not.

There are highlights too. In 2008 we saw video services begin to really make progress toward critical mass for widespread adoption. Skype High Density Video has changed the way people use Skype. The rise in video calls there is tremendous. SightSpeed finally got some well deserved recognition through a major partnership with Dell followed by Logitech's acquisition for a nice $30M. And most recently we've seen what Sheryl and I think is a pretty successful luanch beginning for Vidtel. I think they're going to be very successful and worth watching.

That's enough for now. This wasn't intended to be a comprehensive post, but rather a framework for things to write and think about in the next few weeks as we approach the end of 2008. There are things coming I can't quite share just yet, but every year brings new challenges and suprises. 2009 is no different, with lots on the horizon.

Technorati Tags: unified communications, VoIP, video, SightSpeed, Vidtel, Yahoo, 2008 in review

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Lots of speculation this morning about impending layoffs at Google. This article gives the most substance to reality behind it that I've seen so far.

I know I've written a lot about Yahoo's slide and the devastating impact of Jerry Yang's legacy there. And I've watched Nortel slide over nearly ten years now in a slow downward spiral. I hope both companies pull out. Yahoo's likely to be acquired as a life-saving effort, and I expect that will work. This time around they'll be much more receptive to doing something smart. Nortel keep reorganizing trying to find their identity. It's a shame that so many people outside Nortel see the strength and power that they seem to struggle embracing and making part of their corporate culture.

Google's another story entirely. Tons of talent. More smart people than you can shake a stick at. But some really deplorable integration of acquistions that could have kept them growing. I see Google as growing staff faster than growin real business - revenue generating business. Success so wild it hurt. Anyone who's been around the tech sector for any length of time has seen small startups implode through their own success. Google's big enouhg to survive that, but I expect it's going to be painful for some folks over there who survive the cuts too. They're going to be expected to produce far more than a pretty holiday logo.

A word of advice to Google - Don't pull Jerry Yang in to help. He's available, but he can't pull you through this situation.

Google Layoffs - 10,000 Workers Affected
By Daya Baran
Google has been quietly laying off staff and up to 10,000 jobs could be on the chopping block according to sources. Since August, hundreds of employees have been laid off and there are reports that about 500 of them were recruiters for Google.

By law, Google is required to report layoffs publicly and with the SEC however, Google has managed to get around the legal requirement. In fact, one of the ways Google was able to meet Wall Street's Q3 earnings expectations was by trimming "operational" expenses.

Google reports to the SEC that it has 20,123 employees but in reality it has 30,000. Why the discrepancy? Google classifies 10,000 of the employees as temporary operational expenses or "workers". Google co-founder Sergey Brin said, "There is no question that the number (of workers) is too high".
[Read full post]

Technorati Tags: Google, layoffs, Yahoo, Nortel, Jerry Yang

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Beleaguered telecom leader Nortel has had so many problems over the past few years that posting yet another story about impending layoffs feels like rubbing salt in the wound. Nortel really needs to get a handle on the problems and reset a course for success. They've got so many excellent products and services, but the ongoing sream of negative news like this can't do anything but raise skepticism about the company as a whole.

Nortel May Cut 10% of Its Workforce

UBS Research analyst Nikos Theodosopoulos in a note to his clients says that Nortel, the Ottawa-based telecom equipment maker will make steep cuts to its workforce -- "possibly amounting to 10% or more of its total workforce, or at least 3,000 employees." Nortel has some liquidity concerns and  needs to make cuts & sell its Metro Ethernet Networks (MEN)  business in order to stabilize itself.

[Read Om's full post]

Technorati Tags: Nortel, layoffs, unified communications

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I've said several times lately that during the tough economic times, all around there are companies making great strides, success and yes...profit. Business is booming for competitors who are putting it on the line to win and do smart things.

It's a really exciting time and Sheryl and I are thrilled to be part of it. Next week we're going to a private dinner with about 50 unified communications thought leaders. Several of the people involved are close personal friends, so we not only get to meet with some of our friends, we get to spend personal time some of the sharpest minds in the industry.

It's a huge week in the Bay area overall, with multiple events underway.

VoiceCon



We hadn't planned on attending VoiceCon due to scheduling. It's one of the best events during the course of any year, so making it to town unexpectedly is a real treat and a chance to catch up with another set of industry movers and shakers.

Under the Radar


400 Attendees. 32 Mobile Startups. 1 Day.

Under the Radar is simply one of the hottest peeks at 32 of the hottest mobility solutions anywhere. Here's a blurb that's accurate with no understatement involved -

Under the Radar: Mobility is a one-day conference uncovering 32 vetted, test-driven startups that have launched within the year in categories such as iPhone apps, location-based services, gaming, social networking, enabling technologies, and marketing/advertising.

Want to land deals with Verizon, T-Mobile, Comcast, Sprint, iFund, Nokia, Microsoft, Motorola, and more?

And we've already gotten some early scoop on some of the announcements coming. We can't talk about them yet, but we're getting some firsthand, up close and personal looks at some of the great stuff coming from this jam-packed day.

And no, that's not all.

New TeeVee Live

For those of us who watch the broad set of video solutions, beyond collaboration and video conferencing, there's the world of new media entertainment. On the 13th there's also this event. Just take a look at the speakers list.

We've got a couple of meetings set that we can't really talk about yet, but lots if stuff ahead. We'll keep you posted.

Technorati Tags: inified communications, video, VoIP, VoiceCon, Under the Radar, New TeeVee Live, Ken Camp, Sheryl Breuker, Stardust Global Ventures

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As the conference season and year end starts drawing near, we're working on a range of new sponsorship opportunities here at the Realtime Unified Communications Community. Realtimepublishers offers a huge array of service related to technology publications. We do everything from comprehensive eBooks, to short books, white papers, Essential Series document and podcasts or videos.

We're actively searching right now for some key thought leaders who are looking for innovative ways to let our offerings help engage your potential client base. We bring a variety of authors, a number of notable experts, and a long history of technology to your arsenal of weapons in the competitive marketplace.

If you're looking for more information on how we can deliver the right perspective on your message to a large audience, bringing you qualified business leads for increased revenue, either leave a comment of click the email link on the sidebar and drop me a line.

I'll be expanding on this special effort over the next few days and weeks as we refine our focused client list to the set of companies we collaborate with to deliver a highly focused message of communications innovations to the global market. It doesn't matter how small or large your business is. We can help.

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Thanks to friends keeping posts updated during a crazy week in my schedule, I learned today that the assetts from the VON component of Pulvermedia were acquired by Virgo Publishing. It sounds like the plan to continue work they've been doing in the conference/expo world, so we may see a revitalization of what began as the fabulous VON conferences come back in a new life one day. I've missed writing for VON Magazine, and I haven't heard any whispers of a return in print media, but that's an area that's sorely suffered across all industries.

Virgo Publishing Acquires Certain Assets of Pulvermedia, Plans IP Communications Product Launch

PHOENIX -- October 1, 2008 -- Virgo Publishing, a business-to-business information services company, announced it has acquired certain media assets formerly owned by Pulvermedia through a foreclosure by TICC, Pulvermedia's secured creditor. DeSilva+Phillips, LLC, the New York-based investment bank specializing in media and digital media, provided financial advisory services in this transaction.

With the assets -- primarily databases and trademarks -- Virgo Publishing plans to launch new industry-leading products as part of its Telecom Division.

"Virgo Publishing has a substantial presence in the telecommunications space. With the acquisition of these assets, Virgo has an opportunity to expand its leadership role in this dynamic industry sector," said Mike Saxby, group publisher -- Telecom Division for Virgo Publishing. "The benefit for our audience and our customers will be tremendous as we are able to leverage these assets into new online, print and event resources."

Virgo Publishing produces business-to-business magazines and conferences across four verticals. Virgo Publishing's Telecom Division includes four titles: xchange, PHONE+, Billing & OSS World and New Telephony. It also includes two trade shows: Channel Partners Conference & Expo and Billing & OSS World Conference & Expo.

The company has a track record of success in the telecom industry. PHONE+ marked its 20th anniversary in 2007, and xchange and the Channel Partners Expo each are enjoying their 12th year of success. Billing & OSS World magazine has been a segment leader for 13 years, and Virgo will host the 17th Billing & OSS World event in April 2009.

Virgo Publishing acquired Billing World and OSS Today Magazine and the Billing & OSS World conference and exhibition from TeleStrategies Inc. in September 2007.

"On the anniversary of our successful acquisition of the Billing & OSS World properties, we are confident that our seasoned team can produce results in yet another growing area of the telecommunications business -- IP communications," said Saxby.

Virgo's telecommunications editorial team has more than 100 years of experience combined.

Virgo's new products, which will expand on the VON brand, will be focused on IP communications technologies and business strategies for service providers and enterprises worldwide. A beta launch of a new Web site is scheduled for late October. An e-mail newsletter will follow in November. A new bimonthly print magazine will debut with a January/February cover date. In addition, a conference and expo is being planned for 2009; dates and locations will be announced soon.

"The IP communications marketplace has unlimited potential, an industry we have just begun to tap. Service providers need to avail themselves of every opportunity and resource to drive their IP communications businesses forward. Currently there's a major void in the media marketplace targeting ITSPs. I applaud Virgo's ambition to create such a resource for the service provider community and support their efforts. Their depth and synergies within the telecommunications markets provide them a platform from which to create industry-leading products in this growing arena," said David Byrd, vice president of marketing and sales for Broadvox LLC, a provider of integrated managed VoIP services to SMB, enterprise and carrier customers.

"Virgo Publishing has a long track record of success in publishing and events for the telecommunications marketplace. Taqua has worked with the company for a decade and found a receptive audience among the readers of xchange. We are looking forward to the potential opportunities afforded by the new launch," said Frederick Reynolds, vice president of marketing for Taqua LLC, a supplier of next-generation switching systems and applications.

Additionally, the database assets Virgo acquired related to the distribution community will be added to the company's existing channel-related brands, PHONE+ and the Channel Partners Conference & Expo.

Technorati Tags: VON, Pulvermedia, Virgo Publishing, media

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There's a lot going on the the world of entrepreneurial startups this week, with both TechCrunch50 and DEMO providing a launching pad for many of these new innovators.

Last year our friend Pat Phelan was on stage at TechCrunch showcasing MAXroam. This year he's there cheering on all the competitors. But Pat's not one to let the grass grow under his feet either.

MAXRoam just launched v2. So what's new?
Firstly and most importantly
Data roaming - from 0.005/kb
USA Roaming - from €0.39 per minute
These are two huge milestones for us, USA as it the most visited country by global cellular customers and Data as its the last frontier for the rip-off operators.

• New, more user friendly design
• Improved online store allowing you to buy more than one SIM per order
• New videos guides to help you use MAXroam better
• New blog
• More options for airtime amounts with 3DSecure and Verify By Visa I don't see any issues
• Improved Call Billing
• Auto Top Up - Never run out of credit, set a minimum level of credit and top up by a specified amount
• Data - from 0.005/kb
• USA Roaming - from €0.39 per minute
• Coverage now in 175 countries with over 450 partner carriers

Big congrats to Pat and crew for a new release that's already buzzing around the globe. Here's the complete press release.

MAXroam V2 further pummels telcos with new voice and data roaming

Bigger and bolder MAXroam hurts the feelings and pockets of telcos even more than before 100,000 customers, $1Million in savings in 10 months Up to 90% discount on USA roaming rates Data roaming in 75 countries and much lower than carrier prices Coverage now in 175 countries with over 450 partner carriers

On the event of the anniversary of their debut at Silicon Valley event TechCrunch 40, telecoms rebels MAXroam today launched new voice and data services to bring even more savings to businesses and consumers when they travel with their mobiles. The new services drastically cut the cost of voice roaming costs in the USA but now also bring data roaming for as little as 0.005c/kb. A new website also allows even more granular control of a customer's roaming preferences.

Pat Phelan, MAXroam president, said: "It's been a year since TechCrunch 40 and in that year we've signed up 100,000 customers and saved people over $1Million in roaming fees. We've promised our customers that we're going to keep fighting for lower charges and pass the savings on to them. In this release we've secured an even bigger win for customers on voice roaming with exceptional savings. And in a move unprecedented in the telecoms industry, is now bringing a robust challenge to the data roaming prices of telcos."

Phelan outlined that when MAXroam and other Telco 2.0 companies made life tough for the telcos and their voice charges, the telcos themselves shifted their focus to data roaming to as their new cash cow. But MAXroam V2 means this cash cow is due for slaughter.

Added Phelan: "Everyone now accepts that more and more of our telecoms usage will be data, and that eventually everything - including voice - will be sent over data streams. While the telcos are slowly reducing voice charges, they're still excessively charging on data. Until now, there wasn't much we could do about it. What MAXroam previously did for roaming monopolies with voice, we're now doing with data. "

* Contact Details *
Pat Phelan President
Cell: +353-87-2049-121
USA (1) 714-820-3583
Email: pat.phelan@cubictelecom.com

What is MAXroam?

• With MAXroam, your callers won't even know you're traveling. Simply forward your regular mobile number to your selected MAXroam number and start roaming.
• Seamlessly forward your existing number to your MAXroam number - contacts from home call you exactly as they normally do.
• Optionally give local callers your new local MAXroam number - they get easier calling and savings, too.
• Add up to 50 numbers to one SIM from 52 countries around the globe - your international contacts can now call a local number to reach you wherever you are in the world.

Technorati Tags: MAXroam, Pat Phelan, mobility

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