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January 16, 2002
The Pulver Report - January 16, 2002
THE PULVER REPORT(TM)
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In this Issue:
- Heard on the Net
- People on the Move
- Companies on the Move
- IP Telephony Jobs
- The Tyranny of Distance: Telephony Pricing in 2002
- VoIP Technology companies repositioned as Wireless plays
- Opportunities continue for VoIP in the Enterprise
- pulverRadio at 2
- Spring 2002 VON: Early Bird prices end February 22nd
- VoIP is happening: Billions of Minutes Served
- Keeping up with the Kids...
- pulver.com 2002 Conference Calendar
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Heard on the Net
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Companies on the Move:
- Company repositioning has become big. Start ups which survived 2001
are now facing pressure from their VCs to become something they are not.
This is not a pretty site. I believe this may be where the phase
"I see dead people" originated. Stay tuned...
- Telica recently raised $60 million of additional funding.
- CITEL Technologies recently raised $11 million of additional funding.
- Gluon recently raised $50 million in additional funding.
- LEAD IP Systems emerged from Stealth Mode.
People on the Move:
- Surya Panditi joined Convergent Networks as President and CEO.
- Mike Dagenais joined Convergent Networks as VP of Engineering.
- Ken Rokoff joined Broadsoft as Vice President of Business Development.
- Brian White joined IP Unity as Vice President of Sales.
- Lori Craven joined Tekelec as VP and GM, Network Systems Division.
- Dennis Young joined Siemens ICN-US as Chief Operating Officer.
- Michael Lovett joined Voyant Technologies as Chief Operating Officer.
- Richard Moscioni joined Integral Access as Vice President of Sales.
- Oded Ilan has become President of RAD Data Communications.
- Shane Unfred joined KMC Telecom as Director, Finance and Technology
- Joel Fisher left Clarent and joined Indigo Software
as Head of US Business Development.
- Rolf Lindstrom joined Intertex.
(Please email: people@pulver.com to report a change in your
position. Please put: "People on the Move" in the subject)
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IP Telephony Jobs from: ( http://pulver.com/jobs )
Now that 2002 is upon us, we are looking for continued recovery
inside the IP Communications Industry. As your company has job
openings during 2002, please consider posting them with pulver.com.
please email: jobs@pulver.com for job posting information.
Recent job postings (as of January 15, 2002):
- Sales Engineer for VoIP Network, Telverse Communications
- Senior Network Technical Support Engineer
for VoIP Network, Telverse Communications
- Vice President of Sales Next Generation
Telecommunications Software, aTelo, Inc.
If you are interested in pursuing any of these positions, please visit
( http://pulver.com/jobs ) for full details.
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The Tyranny of Distance: Telephony Pricing in 2002
While looking at the continuing evolution of the communications services,
one thing which still gets to me is that in 2002 in the US we still
suffer from the tyranny of distance when it comes to the pricing of
consumer telephone services.
The legacy consumer marketing concepts behind the RBOC terms
like "local" and "long distance" really only exist as definitions
of LATA boundaries in the world of the PSTN. I question why
we as consumers have allowed ourselves to follow this pricing
reign and have passively accepted the practices of telecommunication
companies which market voice services in "other" non-PSTN networks
such as: Cable, Wireless and the world of IP Communication.
I question this because as far as I'm concerned the PSTN pricing concepts
are outdated and only exist really due to legacy of regulations. So does
our thinking. This legacy enables the marketing departments of cellular
companies to perpetuate the talk about "free local calls", "free long
distance". What really determines 'distance' in a non-PSTN world if a call
never traverses another network - or even if it does? Where do the
boundaries really lie?
While I was on vacation I saw billboard advertisements for both broadband
telephony and cellular services where the consumer was being pitched
"free long distance" as a reason to switch to a different service
provider. One of the unspoken realities of running voice networks
is that calls which originate and terminate on the same network are
effectively free calls for the operator (increased network utilization).
I was taken back a little when Voicestream started offering the first 1000
minutes of in-Network calls "free" as a perk to switch everybody at
pulver.com to Voicestream. It just brought to the surface that most of the
calls I made using Voicestream are effectively free calls to VoiceStream
for which I am paying using PSTN based pricing.
One driver of the accepted minutes mentality has to do with a
usage based pricing mentality. Those who grew up with a PSTN mindset
like to use price to shape usage as it makes it easier to engineer a
network. If a service provider charges more, people generally use the
service less. If as a service provider you have excess capacity
(non peak hours) you would offer discounts and expect your customers to
use it more. If a service provide doesn't charge based on usage,
they generally have little to no clue how their customers will behave
(and can't control their customers behavior).
The Internet works on a very different model. No distance sensitivity
changes (for the better) the flexibility and user behavior. Companies
have been successful following this model. Just over build the capacity
and offer flat rate pricing.
Sometimes an industry will create their own legacy, as it is right now
with the cell phone operators in the US (except Nextel) where the called
party pays. In Europe and many countries outside of the US, it is the
calling party who pays for the call.
While regular PSTN pricing has become a commodity, I think that as minutes
move from being "black and white" minutes to what would be looked at as
enhanced services minutes or "purple" minutes, a minute may not always be
counted as a minute, at least in the future. For now, it looks as if
there will continue to be arbitrage opportunities between the pricing
plans of different operators across various voice networks.
The resurgence of dominant telephone companies in provisioning data
connectivity means the introduction of the per minute per usage charging
models. Most of the cable operators and Bell companies have started to
install "access managers" that can filter and charge by data stream type
as well as bandwidth. This obtains PSTN type control in the world of the
Internet, so it remains an open question what billing model will own the
future.
Maybe one day consumers will realize how much extra they have been
paying all these years and do something about it. I'm not suggesting
that all calls should be free, but I believe we are now in an age
where "long distance" no longer really exists, even if our culture
hasn't acknowledged it yet. One day soon, I hope, we will no longer
continue to suffer from the tyranny of distance.
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VoIP Technology companies repositioned as Wireless plays
During the past few months, I've watched as a few of our friends
in the VoIP space have tried their best to repositioned themselves
as Wireless plays.
It seems that just because the 3G (and 4G) world takes advantage
of packet voice, companies who find themselves struggling for revenue
(and an identity) have decided to try to become players in an already
very crowed and competitive space...and here's why:
Our friend Frank Yeary at Solomon recently released a grouping of telecoms
into three categories: Heaven; Purgatory; and Hell.
All wireless companies made it into Heaven. All wired telecos ended up in
Purgatory or Hell.
Profits does not account for wireless companies making it into heaven.
The ability to raise money does. Consider that the wireless players have
ALL operated absent profits for since inception - 18 years! The so called
"bubble" arose because companies ignored profits, but here we have an entire
category that remains relatively hot absent profits for nearly two decades.
Those who are successful in making the transition into being a true
wireless player can avoid having to show their short-term path to
profitability.
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Opportunities continue for IP Communications in the Enterprise
As we move forward into 2002, look for more Enterprises to make
commitments to IP Communications in the Enterprise. Some companies
have make their decision actively with the deployment of IP solutions
for their enterprise, others have been passive by allowing their
employees to use IM technologies inside the workplace.
Back in 1997 and 1998 I was a big believer that corporations which
supported a mobile workforce would be the first adaptors of these
technologies. Four plus years later many of the products envisioned
in slide ware have become a reality and it is just a matter of time
before these products and services are seen everywhere.
(I've enjoyed watching the IP Phone product placements in a few of
the 2000/2001 movies.)
One issue which still has to be solved is the channel issue. Companies
with products for Enterprise users don't always have access to the
best channels needed to sell their product.
Whether all next generation enhanced IP services will be hosted by an
Enterprise's Telecom/Datacom department or by their service provider
has not been really answered yet. Seems we are stuck trying to
solve the age old riddle of Centrex vs. non-Centrex services. Both
have their own pros/con.
I'm confident this puzzle will eventually be solved. We just need
to give it more time.
In the meanwhile, I still believe that companies which make
call center technologies and only pitch them to companies which
have existing call centers are missing out of 80% of their potential
marketplace. Today, any company which gives their employees
access to the internet from their desktop like it or not are
an "Agent". As such, each employee has the opportunity to
touch their customers when they are visited on their corporate
websites, or during the course of the day using a variety of
IP Communication technology.
As the vision of the Mobile worker evolves, the first benefit
companies see when they adopt IP Communications is that no longer
does anyone really call a location - they are a calling a person
and that person can physically be anywhere - and the person
calling them will not know or care about the difference.
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pulverRadio at 2
pulverRadio ( http://pulverradio.com ) was launched in February, 2000
and was in development a few months before that. During the past
couple of years I've enjoyed watching as the commercial music industry
became disrupted by emerging digital technologies.
Meanwhile back on the home front, the number of daily listeners of
pulverradio has been slowly and steadily increasing. While having 450+
listeners on any given day may not be a great feat for commercial radio,
in our world of digital shortwave, it's been a great ride so far.
Over time we have focused on providing technology based content together
with our own blend of music. These days we provide "live" programming
at least 5 days a week, 4 hours a day (from 12:00 to 16:00 EST) and operate
with play lists during all other others.
When you have a chance, please take a listen at pulverradio and let me
know what you think of our blend of music, technology and
digital culture.
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Spring 2002 VON: "Early Bird" prices end February 22nd
Registration for Spring 2002 VON taking place April 8-11 at the
Washington State Convention and Trade Center in Seattle is now open.
Now would be a good time to make your hotel reservations as we have
just a limited number of hotel rooms available. If you would like to
take advantage of our "early bird" prices, please remember to register
by February 22nd.
At Spring VON there will be over 275 speakers and over 125 exhibitors.
Some of the confirmed Spring 2002 VON industry perspectives include:
- Hossein Eslambolchi, CTO, AT&T
- Michael Tessler, CEO, BroadSoft
- Alistar Woodman, Cisco Systems
- Steve Blumenthal, CTO, Genuity
- Tom Evslin, CEO, ITXC
- Brian Rosen, Office of CTO, Marconi
- David Gurle, Microsoft
- Terry Matthews, Chairman, Mitel Networks
- John Yoakum, Sr Manager, Emerging Business, Nortel Networks
- Timothy Jasionowski, Director, Qwest
- Joel Hughes, CEO, SnowShore Networks
- David Friend, CEO, Sonexis
- Hassan Ahmed, CEO, Sonus Networks
- Fred Harris, VP Design, Applications & Services, Sprint
- Douglas Tait, Senior Network Architect, Sun Microsystems
- Elon Ganor, CEO, VocalTec Communications
- Henry Sinnreich, WorldCom
and myself.
At Spring 2002 VON I will be taking a hard look at VoIP in the
Enterprise, both from the perspective of the vendors supporting the
marketplace as well from the eyes of the enterprise customers who have
made the commitment to implement these technologies.
For more information about the conference, including hotel information
please visit: ( http://pulver.com/von )
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VoIP is happening: Billions of Minutes Served
During the past few months, I've noticed a few companies inside
the IP Communications Industry have been promoting the fact
that "billions of minutes" have been generated using VoIP
technologies and their products specifically. These "Billions of
minutes" have been served in both the Enterprise as well as
the International VoIP Carrier space.
Being able to state that as an industry we have served "Billions of
Minutes" is a good sign of life. Given the environment we are now living
in, this is a relative indication of real success.
In fact, as an industry, being able to catch up to the number of McDonald
hamburgers sold is a good start, and I look forward to the day when
the cumulative number of minutes served using IP technologies grows
beyond all our expectations.
The better news from these declarations is that this really is
just the beginning of the IP Communications revolution. I look forward to
the acceleration and continued daily growth of the number of IP
minutes served.
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Keeping up with the Kids...
In March, 2002 my twin sons will have their 8th birthday. This will
mark their 5th year as active members of the net community. It's been an
amazing five years and while my kids don't know it, they have better
web surfing than most of their relatives and family friends...
While I enjoy spending my spare time visiting my kids favorite
websites with them, these past few weeks I found myself spending time
off the net at night playing with my kid's XBox and got "Amped".
These days I need to train at night to be able to compete with my
sons on the weekends.
Our home jury is still out as to which game system is the best.
While I've chosen XBox, my kids still seem to favor their Gamecube
and the dust continues to grow on the Playstation 2, each product
seems to cater to a different strength. Personally I'm looking forward
to see how each gaming system takes advantage of multiplayer gaming
over IP networks.
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pulver.com 2002 Conference Calendar
( http://pulver.com/conference )
"Events for the IP Communications Industry" (tm)
- 2002 -
January 21-24 - Winter 2002 VON Developers Conference,
Burlingame, CA
( http://pulver.com/developers )
January 21-23 - Java in Communications 2002
Burlingame, CA
( http://pulver.com/javaincommunications )
February 5-7 - 5th Annual IP Communications Industry Executive Summit,
Ritz-Carlton Kapalua, Maui, Hawaii
( http://pulver.com/execsummit )
March 19-21 - Spring 2002 PIM Summit, Sophia Antipolis, France
( http://pulver.com/pim )
April 8-11 - Spring 2002 VON, Seattle, WA
( http://pulver.com/von )
April 8-10 - Spring 2002 Location Based Services Summit, Seattle, WA
( http://pulver.com/lbs )
May 7-9 - Spring 2002 SIP Summit, Las Vegas, NV
May 21-23 - Connectivity 2002 - Boston, MA
May 29-31 - EAT'M 2002, Las Vegas, NV
( http://www.eat-m.com )
June 10-13 - VON Europe 2002, Helsinki, Finland
( http://pulver.com/europe2002 )
October 7-10 - Fall 2002 VON, Atlanta, GA
October 7-9 - Fall 2002 Location Based Services Summit, Atlanta, GA
October 8-10 - Fall 2002 PIM, Atlanta, GA
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The Pulver Report to: jeff@pulver.com.
Jeff Pulver Tel. +1.631.547.0800
The Pulver Report Fax. +1.631.396.3996
January 16, 2002 http://pulver.com/reports
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(c) 2002 pulver.com, Inc., All Rights Reserved
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