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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Reflecting back over 2008 I've tried to think of the things that we real highlights among close friends and colleagues in the industry. I've come up with two highlights. Let me tell you what they are first, then I'll explain why they're highlights.

First from my friends Pat Phelan and Florian Seroussi, we saw TwitterFone. It's an interesting little integration between Twitter and the telephone network that let's you call a number and post a "tweet" from your phone. Speach to text in a nice little integration package.

From other friends Stuart Henshall and David Beckmeyer we saw Phweet. It's a different sort of integration between the telephone and Twitter that lets you set up a conference call via Twitter.

Side Note: Read Stuart's great story about Phweet and his year end wrap post My Year End Review and Thanks).

Why are these two apps important you ask. Let me explain.

I believe the interface to computerized resources is changing in the months ahead. I believe the old fashioned GUI is going to give way to a new VUI (Voice User Interface) as speech-to-text and text-to-speech conversion engines get faster, more efficient and cheaper. TwitterFone exemplifies the prototype of how the next generation of Communications Enhanced Business Processes will operate. While this app might seem silly to people who aren't Twitterholids, it demonstrates how users will be able to interact with voice to corporate systems for placing orders, supply chain management and any number of business activities in the future. As the work force becomes increasingly mobile and requires new tools to be productive, this technology shines a real light on that road to the future.

Phweet does something else that's new. For telephony geeks, we remember that before SS7 signaling was implemented to take phone network signals out of band to a separate network, signaling frequency (SF at 2600 Hz) was carried within the voice badn. SS7 took signaling out of band to a separate packet network. Phweet also moves signaling out of band, but to the Internet. And not just PSTN signaling. It's an example of using IP-based Internet technologies not just as a collaboration tool for ad hoc conference calling, but for using IP as a command and control channel for network resources in a new way.

These are two new solutions we saw in 2008 that excite me still because they demonstrate where we are headed in communications technologies rather than hang on to the past. They don't make any effort to prove VoIP is something new (it isn't). They don't cling to the past. They simply integrate pieces of the past and present in simple elegant ways that demonstrate how we'll be using communications systems and resources in the future.

That's a big deal. Kudos to Pat, Florian, Stuart and David for showing the gloabl communications community what can be built when you simply have a rock solid idea and a thought leadership mindset on how the future will evolve.

Posted by Ken Camp | Permalink | Comments (0) |

I've been seeing a lot about Truphone lately, but have been a bit reluctant to comment. Reluctant because the folks at Truphone are friends. But, I feel compelled to be honest, and my friends know me for speaking my mind.

First some links to the current conversation:

Truphone Looks Forward to an Exciting 2009
By Greg Galitzine, Group Editorial Director
Truphone (News - Alert) is a free application that's designed to allow users to inexpensively make international mobile calls from their own phone over the Internet. Earlier this year the company announced a native VoIP client for the iPhone developed with Apple's (News - Alert) own SDK, available via the online iPhone App Store. The solution routes calls over WiFi, so if the user finds themselves near a hotspot and needs to make a call, they can simply call up the Truphone application on theiriPhone ( News - Alert) and place the call.
[Read Greg's Full Post]

Greg's very up on Truphone, and his interview questions with Matt Rowntree reflect that. There wasn't anything but fat pitches in there - not one hard question.

Truphone is a finalist in the 2008 Crunchies.

And they've gotten lots of praise in the traditional press. Check the bottom of their home page.

So why am I not jumping up and down? I've been a Truphone user for a while - a long while, and yet I rarely find it useful or usable. I don't think I'm the anomaly either.

I used Truphone a bit on my N95, but I move my AT&T SIM from phone to phone. I've been haggling with the Truphone gang for ages to put up a Blackberry version. Recently they did. And if it worked, I might say good things about it. But it seized control of the BB without noting it would in the nonexistent documentation (FAQs and docs are very thin). Then, naturally, it wouldn't work. I could close my account and open a new one. It's tied to the SIM so moving it is impossible without support involvement that is interesting when we're across the pond.

So why is a service that's tied to my phone number on my SIM set up in a way that I can't actually use it when I move the SIM without closing the account, losing the credit, dealing with admin overhead of readding the credit. And if I move my SIM daily(and I do)? Ahh, so Truphone doesn't fit. And to my testing, the Blackberry version may work. I've heard a couple of reports that it does. Non glowing from people I know. I've seen a lot of "my friends at Truphone tell me..."

Then we got the iPod Touch release. Sheryl installed it and we managed to make one call successfully. One success to Gizmo SIP URL only, and that after two hours of putzing with it. So I installed it on my iPod, and my account can't work with it. I need yet another Truphone account apparently. Excuse me?

So in the interest of fairness, I went digging for info and found Sorry to our iPhone App users. We don't have an iPhone, but to be honest, two for two failure doesn't engender the kind of assurance that would send me rushing to install Truphone on one anyway at this point.

I want to own up to something. The gang at Truphone are friends. Yes, I could spend time on the phone working with them, helping them see the problems and rectify them. As a good friend, I should do that. As a consumer, if I have to do that, where does that leave all the people who are loading this stuff and having problems who don't actually have the Truphone gang as friends?

I'm disappointed in what I've seen from Truphone. And I'm disappointed to see a product at this level up for a Crunchie. It speaks ill of our industry, devalues awards and recognition, and doesn't serve the public well.

I'm very disappointed.

Technorati Tags: Truphone, Blackberry, iPod Touch, iPhone, Crunchies

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My good friend Jon Arnold wrote a great piece this morning on VoIP. Great because of the discussion it opens up. My comments are below the snip.

VoIP in 2008 - "I'm Not Dead"

I've been writing my Service Provider Views column for just about a year now, and VoIP has been a constant theme. Mainstream service providers and VoIP have for the most part never gotten along very well, even though at one point VoIP seemed to be the Holy Grail of telephony.

Technorati Tags: Jon Arnold, VoIP, unified communications

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This being the Christmas holiday week, news has really been fairly light. Many companies across all business sectors have been shut down and quietly celebrating family time.

There have been a few stories that caught my eye in between shoveling snow (and yes, it's still snowing in Spokane. We got another 3-4 inches here last night).

Another $100 Million for Palm From Bono & Pals

It must be Christmas, as the guys at Elevation Partners are feeling generous enough to invest another $100 million into beleaguered smartphone maker Palm, which has been slip-sliding away for a very long time. Elevation Partners, a Menlo Park, Calif.-based private equity firm headed by Roger McNamee, previously invested $325 million in Palm (for about 25 percent of the company) and brought in new management -- many of them former Apple executives -- to save what was once an iconic brand and chief instigator of the smartphone revolution.
[Read Om's full post]

Om and I have long been Palm fans and friends, but we swapped a couple of notes about this. While we both think it would be very cool to see Palm remain in the market, this seems. at leastw to me, a foolhardy investment. Palm has demonstrated complete inability to compete over the past 2+ years, and an infusion of cash isn't going to help the weary, tired lack of leadership and innovation.

On a sad note, we've been following this story across a number of sources. Here's Rich Tehrani's post:

A Tale of Bribery, Cockroaches and Raid

One of the most fascinating articles I have read in a long while is about the Siemens global bribery scandal where the company spent $1.4 billion on bribes from 2001 to 2007. Of that, get this - telecom accounted for $800 million or 57%! Consider the company also had divisions in industrial, transportation, control systems, healthcare and other areas and you see just how out of whack the telecom bribery spending was.

This leads one to wonder a few things... What would have happened if $800 million in telecom bribes weren't paid during this time period? Would Nortel, Alcatel-Lucent, Avaya and others have done better? One would imagine they would have.

Would the terms of the Alcatel-Lucent deal have been different? How about Avaya being taken private - would the valuation had been higher if the bribery by Siemens didn't take place?

Then there is product development. Did it suffer over the past decade? Did Siemens need to innovate if it was selling more product than it should have? Is its innovation behind others?

Furthermore, if other companies were selling less, did they in turn have less money to put back into their own R&D?

Did Siemens in fact cause innovation in global telecom to slow?
[Read Rich's full post]

This story saddens me because I've been a strong voice supporting Siemen's leadership. Rich asks the big question - Did Siemens in fact cause innovation in global telecom to slow?. Time will tell, but it's an interesting problem as to whether Siemens action hurt the entire industry. They certainly hurt countless smaller players in the space, but is that simply part of free market competition? Or are there deeper ethical issues, given that in many parts of the world bribery is simply how business gets done?

For an upbeat note, there's a look at 2009 and what's ahead by Emerick Woods, CEO at Global IP Solutions.

Focus is Everything

As 2008 comes to a close and I look forward to 2009, I am reminded of golf pro Harvey Penick. He once said, "Golf tips are like aspirin. One may do you good, but if you swallow the whole bottle you will be lucky to survive." I think the same principle applies to IP communications and business in general. Focus is everything.

Over the past few years, we saw some great technological advances. The iPhone phenomenon, for instance, is an incredibly promising development for advanced mobile communications. The openness of the iPhone platform and the support for seamless multimedia capabilities is driving a host of innovative applications. The past year also represented a big step forward for Unified Communications, as established players like Microsoft, Cisco, and IBM gained significant traction in the enterprise communications space. Buy-in and competition from such heavy hitters can only mean that we can expect to see greater convergence among applications and devices. Finally, 2008 was a year in which video conferencing became legitimate. From full-fledged telepresence, to more flexible and accessible desktop video conferencing applications, vendors have overcome a host of technical and business issues to offer a wide range of video communications solutions.
[Read the full post]

And our good friend Jeff Pulver, posted 12 ways ti use VoIP to improve the holidays, but these are generally great ideas the whole year through.

Top 12 Clever Things Ways to Use VoIP to Improve Your Holidays This Year:

The following list was compiled by Jim Kohlenberger and the VON Coalition

• Need to pay for presents in a down economy?
• Late on your holiday cards? Send a personalized video holiday card.
• Can't think of anything creative? Sing with the King.
• Forgot to give Santa your wish list?
• Need to Connect for Hanukkah?
• Want a fun way to wake up the kids?
• Want ring in the New Year the right way?
• Have someone who doesn't believe in Santa?
• Need a clever way to send a message?
• Need a half mile of wrapping paper?
• Can't afford to travel this year?
• Want to do something for those serving overseas?

[Read Jeff's post for the full details]

Posted by Ken Camp | Permalink | Comments (0) |

Network World has published their Top 10 predictions for VoIP and convergence in 2009. It's very focused on SMB and Enterprise space, which I'd expect given the state of consumer offerings. Steve Taylor and Larry Hettick have been active in the convergence space for many years now and generally have a great handle on things.

You'll have to read their column for yourself. I'm not going to quote the whole thing. It would do them justice as respected colleagues.

I think they may even underplay #2, the user experience. I think that QoE over QoS is going to be a major focus of 2009, and become the strong message from the market leaders.

I'm really happy to see they agree with me on #4, video. I think video and mobility will be the hottest communications areas next year.
I'm extermely happy about their #5. IMS has been a stalled mess and I think it will stay that way. It's time to quit talking about it in those terms and get on with service delivery. Let's abandon talking about IMS in 2009.

Read #10 for yourself, but I agree with them more on that one than any of the others.


Technorati Tags: Network World, 2009 predictions, VoIP, video, unified communications

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Voxbone is announcing a customer win in the VoIP service provider and PBX host Phone.com, and here's the user scenario:

Say you run a small translation bureau, specializing in Portuguese to English. You have a web site that gets many hits from Brazil. If you use the hosted PBX service of phone.com, you can pay an extra $12.88 a month to have (and post) a phone number in Brazil that rings any of your business phone extensions in the USA.

Phone.com is reselling the DID (direct-inward-dial) numbering and international VoIP network services of Voxbone to make this possible, letting even one-person businesses grab access to foreign markets in 46 countries around the world.

In an economy that can be global even to one-man shops, this is news.

PHONE.COM TAPS VOXBONE
TO GIVE SMALL BUSINESSES IN U.S. ACCESS TO CUSTOMERS ABROAD

With a Voxbone phone number from any of 5,000 cities in 46 countries, users of Phone.com's Virtual Office hosted phone system can be called by Parisians/Londoners/Singaporeans as readily as any business physically there

BRUSSELS, Belgium - 16 December, 2008--Voxbone today announced that it has been chosen by Phone.com, a hosted IP PBX provider for small businesses, to supply DID (direct-inward-dial) numbers abroad. Phone.com users who work in the U.S. but have clients in other countries can choose telephone numbers in those countries that when dialed will ring to their Phone.com "Virtual Office." The Virtual Office's customized auto attendant (automated receptionist) then can ask for the called person's extension number and complete the call.

Such calls are local to the caller; Voxbone carries them over its managed IP network to Phone.com, which routes them to its end customer with no perceptible delay. Phone.com customers pay a flat monthly rate for each DID. The numbers can also be directed to ring home phones or cell phones, and to change routing by time-of-day rules. DIDs can be ordered for all included cities and countries through Phone.com's self-service web site, and paid for, like all of the provider's services, with a credit card.

"Phone.com's Virtual Office helps our small business customers look big by running big-company voice applications like automated attendant and conferencing," said Ari Rabban, CEO of Phone.com. "Voxbone's DIDs in foreign markets help our customers look international, and even transact internationally. We chose Voxbone for its long record of reliability, and its ability to aggregate and send us traffic collected from several points overseas. They also have the SIP adherence we needed to operate interactively with touch-tone response, so that callers in foreign markets can dial for extensions."

"The Phone.com agreement shows how Voxbone brings remote marketplaces within the buying reach of small businesses and even SOHOs," said Sebastien d' Ursel, Voxbone COO. "Through our on-demand DID number services and real-time platform, service providers can offer a seamless, reliable, and easy-to-use solution for the cost of one short PSTN overseas phone call."

Voxbone leases international DID numbers and toll-free numbers via VoIP to organizations in North and South America, Europe and Asia/Pacific regions. Using these numbers, Voxbone customers may receive inexpensive, locally dialed phone calls from 46 countries (Argentina, Australia, Bahrain, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Chile, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, El Salvador, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Pakistan, Panama, Peru, Poland, Puerto Rico, Romania, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom and United States).

Voxbone services, which include DID (direct inward dialing) and toll-free numbers, are deployed by mobile operators, PSTN carriers, VoIP providers, call center operators and NGN (Next Generation Network) service providers worldwide. Voxbone is a recognized member of the International Telecommunication Union and part of the study group that is responsible for numbering standardization around the world.

# # #

About Voxbone
Headquartered in Brussels, Belgium, Voxbone provides worldwide DID numbers and toll-free phone numbers over its own private intercontinental VoIP network. The all-IP architecture of the Voxbone core network enables customers to rapidly deploy new communications services with local presence, while simultaneously reducing costs. It delivers high-quality call origination from 46 countries and 5,000 cities, as well as "iNum" numbers that are billed as local calls when dialed through participating carriers anywhere in the world. Through its number inventory, network, self-administered provisioning and comprehensive SIP adherence, Voxbone's global infrastructure enables its customers to expand to international markets quickly and efficiently. Founded in 2002 and privately held, Voxbone is licensed by the EU in 27 countries. For more information, visit www.voxbone.com.

About Phone.com
Phone.com is a one-stop portal and phone company offering a suite of innovative, economical phone services designed for entrepreneurs and households. Powered by VoIP and SaaS technologies, the company currently offers its first two Internet-based communications products, Virtual Office for small businesses and Home Phone for consumers, with monthly plans starting at as low as $9.88. Phone.com's mission is to leverage its memorable domain name, its competitive telecommunications capabilities and its outstanding 24/7 customer support to service a significant market share of SOHO (small office/home office) businesses and households. Founded in 2007, Phone.com is headquartered in Boston. For more information, visit www.phone.com

Technorati Tags: phone.com, Voxbone, VoIP, unified communications

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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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There's something new coming to the 2009 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) called the Social Media Jungle. It's scheduled for January 7, 2009 in Las Vegas. Put together by our great socially promiscuous friend Jeff Pulver, this event will explore how social media is changing the way we work and live. It's a topic Sheryl and I are passionate about. The Jungle is a full day of sessions that explore how companies can motivate consumers through social media to drive product sales without increasing costs.

There are no "speakers" but rather Discussion Leaders. The discussion leaders have been told the event will be a Powerpoint Free Zone. These incredible people were not invited to talk about their company, product, service or application, but rather the topic in the area of Social Media which they're most passionate about.  They'll present their talks as if they were sharing a blog post. And the people in the room will be asked to provide immediate comments to the content being shared which in turn will start a conversation. It will be and active and animated day!

This event costs $295 in advance and $395 on-site. Space is limited and if you are thinking about attending, please take a moment register for the event today by visiting: http://www.CESweb.org/register. Remember to choose the "Social Media Jungle" registration option.

Visit: : http://www.cesweb.org/sessions/search/trackDetail.asp?ID_track=SMJ_CES09 to see the event website.

You can also keep up with this event by joining the Social Media event on Facebook.

Event Schedule (as of December 10th)
8:30 - 9:00: Real-Time Social Networking
9:00 - 9:20: Welcome to the Jungle, Jeff Pulver
9:20 - 9:40: Navigating the Social Media Seas, Chris Brogan
9:40 - 10:00 - Industry Perspective & Update, Jeremiah Owyang
10:00 - 10:20 - Industry Perspective & Update
10:20 - 10:40 - What to Look for in Social Media Platforms in 2009, Robert Scoble
10:40 - 11:00 - Return on Social Media Investment, Ben Grossman
11:00 - 11:20 - [ break ]
11:20 - 11:40 - Learn, Baby, Learn: Turn Your Social Media Addiction Into An Asset!, Jeffrey Sass
11:40 - 12:00 - Social Media Principles, Chris Heuer
12:00 - 12:20 - Naked PR: What Marketers Need to Know in the Age of Social Media, Susan Etlinger
12:30 - 2:00 [Lunch Break]
2:00 - 2:30 - How Reporters Have to Think of Themselves as an Entrepreneur and a Publisher Using their Company as a Platform, Daniel Honigman
2:30 - 2:50 - New Media Strategy in Challenging Times: Conquering the 3 Screen World: Dean Landsman and Howard Greenstein
2:50 - 3:10 - How Small Business can use Inbound Marketing/Social Media to Help Increase Their Business, Justin Levy
3:10 - 3:30 - The Convergence of CE and Social Media, Jeremy Toeman
3:30 - 3:50 - Managing Your Reputation While Being Genuine and Authentic Online, Dave Taylor
3:50 - 4:10 - How to Botch an Agency Briefing (No Matter How Cool You Think Your Product Is), David Berkowitz
4:10 - 4:20 [break]
4:20 - 4:40 - How Trust Drives Transactions During a Down Economy, Eric Weaver
4:40 - 5:00 - Leveraging Social Media for the Social Good, Rebecca Bollwitt
5:00 - 5:20 - How New Media is Changing the World, Brian Reich
5:20 - 5:40 - Transforming Unemployed BabyBoomers via Social Media, Carlos Hernandez
5:40 - 5:45 - Wrap up
(schedule is subject to change without notice)

Hope to see you at the Social Media Jungle @ CES.

Posted by Ken Camp | Permalink | Comments (0) |

We got email from our friend Lee Dryburgh this evening listing out the speakers and session titles for the eComm Conference. Curious why you should be there? Check this out.

• "Slow Communication", Stefan Agamanolis
• Interval of Interest and the Mobile Experience, Ed Fontana
• Mobile Phone Internet Connectivity Reinvented, Örjan Johansson
• Digital Democracy or Plutocracy: Open Technology and the Future of Wireless Communications, Sascha Meinrath
• Extending VoIP to the GSM Air Interface, David A. Burgess
• Non-Obvious Challenges and Opportunities for VoIP and Video on the iPhone, Jan Linden
• Mobile Phones Reveal the Behavior of Places and People, Tony Jebara
• Where's the money in Voice 2.0?, Martin Geddes
• A White Box. A Vision of Our Evolving Mobile World, Mark Rolston
• Voice Applications: The Wheel Has Already Been Invented, Martyn Davies
• Eight Centers of Gravity: The New Rules of Mobile, Andreas Constantinou
• iPhone in Action: Web Development or SDK?, Christopher Allen
• Tinkering without Tampering: Wrestling with Convergence and Communications Policy, Richard Whitt
• The Future of Content & Telecoms: Flat Rate Content Bundles and Social Media - the Next Big Thing?, Gerd Leonhard

Where will you be when eComm takes place?

Technorati Tags: eComm, emerging communications, Lee Dryburgh, unified communications, conference

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