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November 30, 2003
VoIP Forum: Live Broadcast tomorrow on C-SPAN
In addition to the live webcast, the FCC VoIP Forum will also be broadcast
live on C-SPAN channel 1 starting at: 10:30 AM EST.
Posted by jeff at 03:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
FCC VoIP Forum to be Webcast
The webcast of the FCC VoIP Forum starts at 10:30 AM EST tomorrow, December 1st.
The link for the FCC Webcast is:
http://www.fcc.gov/realaudio/.
I will post my entire testimony in my blog tomorrow.
Posted by jeff at 01:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Sunday Morning Guilty Pleasures...
...watching the VH1 Top 20 Video Countdown.
Posted by jeff at 10:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
November 29, 2003
From the NY Daily News: Winners turn into Turkeys
For those of you who are caught up in the current irrational exuberance associated with the IP Communications industry, you may want to take a quick look at the story in today's New York Daily News:, "Winners turn into Turkeys."
A bubble similar to what was first experienced in late June to mid-July 2003 is once again bubbling with some of the stocks of the public pure-play VoIP companies.
Posted by jeff at 10:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Best Site for Consumer Broadband Communications: DSL Reports
If you are new to consumer broadband communications and are interested in hearing what other consumers are saying / doing in the space, take a moment and drop by the VoIP Forum over at DSL Reports.
This is an active community which is a great place to go to if you have a question about broadband communications and want the check the buzz on the latest/greatest service offerings.
The active community in the VoIP Forum represent a good mixture of both industry lurkers and actual, real customers who never have trouble sharing an idea, dealing with an issue or otherwise finding a way to express themselves.
This is one of the websites I check almost as frequently as I check my own email and a place I would highly recommend for anyone who wants to keep up with where things may be in the world of broadband communications.
Posted by jeff at 10:15 AM | Permalink
November 28, 2003
Putting finishing touches on Dec 1st Testimony
Never before do I think I ever put so much work into what I would be saying for six minutes than the efforts this week in developing the testimony for panel 1 at the FCC VoIP Hearings on Monday.
Special thanks to Carl Ford for helping to shape the discussions and to Bruce Jacobs for helping us stay focused on the points to be made.
I'm looking forward to listening to how the other panelists take advantage of the six minutes they will have to present in the panels.
Posted by jeff at 10:16 PM | Permalink
VoIP in the Headlines Once Again...
With the page one story,
Voice-over-Internet service challenges traditional calling
in today's Baltimore Sun, as well as coverage in today's USA Today,
FCC starts hearings on rules, charges for Internet calls, one can feel the momentum
towards next week's FCC VoIP Forum accelerating.
Given the significance of the hearings, I fully expect the national media will
be paying close attention to the messages at the FCC VoIP Hearings and for the
event to be well covered.
This is the kind of event which, could have an effect and move Wall Street's near-term perception of the IP Communications market sector. Executives from: Cisco,(NASDAQ:CSCO), Level 3, (NASDAQ:LVLT)
ITXC (NASDAQ:ITXC) and Time Warner Cable (NYSE: TWX) will all be participating in the panels.
Posted by jeff at 11:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
November 27, 2003
Is the Tech Bubble Coming Back?
In the past few days news about funding into the IP Communications marketplace is starting to become an everyday occurrence. With the reported 58.5 million that Net2phone raised and the 35 million that Vonage raised it is clear that the investment community is starting once again to take a look at the IP Communications Industry.
But with this attention comes opportunities for what can be best characterized as "irrational exuberance." As I wrote recently, there is a sense that such a mindset is returning and with that is a warning to those who are not familiar with the marketplace that may learn a hard lesson in the near future.
It seems to me that only because of the words of Tobin Smith, editor of ChangeWave.com, which were published in the Forbes story, "Voice Broadband Breakout" yesterday by Forbes.com where Tobin Smith picked Packet8 over Vonage as his preferred Voice over Broadband Service Provider, yesterday the stock of 8x8 (NASDAQ:EGHT) jumped from what was under $4.00 when it closed on Nov 25th to a new 52-week high when it closed on Nov 26th in the after-market trading at $7.00!
The daily range on November 26th for EGHT was: 4.95 - 6.83. This is a stock whose 52 week low is 17 cents and whose new market cap is now north of $200 million.
If this isn't living proof of "irrational exuberance" I'm not quite sure what is.
Posted by jeff at 08:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
It's Thanksgiving...Time for "Alice's' Restaurant"
I'm not quite sure when the connection between the Arlo Guthrie song, "Alice's Restaurant" and the US Thanksgiving Holiday was first formed, but ever since I can remember, sometime in the morning of Thanksgiving, the local New York City Classic Rock (and other just plain Rock) radio stations take the time and place the song into their playlist.
While the song was written for a different generation back in 1966, the story of the song gets repeated from one rock generation to another and chances are it will be still be heard on some radio stations 30 years from now on Thanksgiving.
Posted by jeff at 08:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
November 26, 2003
FCC Posts VoIP Forum Schedule & Details
Earlier this week, the FCC posted the schedule for the December 1st VoIP Forum.
For those of you who are planning to attend, please try to get to the FCC by 10am as I understand seating will be limited and if you get there too late you will end up having to tune into the live webcast.
The schedule hasn't changed much since the preliminary schedule I saw last week.
The current schedule has the activities starting at 10:30AM and the first panel starting at 11:15 AM, running for just an hour. The second panel starts at 1:00pm and is scheduled to run 90 minutes and the entire event is scheduled to wrap up by 3:00pm.
I'm looking forward to being a part of the activities. Please listen to the words of each panelist very carefully as we all have been limited to six minutes worth of presentation time, so each word in our testimony has been selected very carefully.
Posted by jeff at 07:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
November 25, 2003
The Magic of 94.9 FM on Long Island
One of my part-time hobbies happens to be what is known as “FM Radio Dxing” which in non-geek terms translates into “being interested in listening to FM radio stations from outside of my local listening area.” This is an extension of a hobby I actively engaged in years ago when I used to listen to distant AM radio stations late at night from around the US.
During the past few months, using an ordinary car FM radio, I’ve enjoyed logging in stations from around 100 miles from where I was. On Eastern Long Island I can log on a regular basis FM stations from: Hartford, CT, Providence, RI and sometimes from Cape Cod and Springfield, MA. I just thought that was cool and something to do while I was driving in my car.
94.9 FM is an unassigned frequency on Long Island (it’s a real clear channel). On Sunday night around 6:30 pm I listened to 94.9 “The Point” from Virginia Beach, Virginia for a couple of hours. Last night on 94.9 at around the same time I heard “from Northern New England” 94.9, WHOM in Portland, Maine.
In all of my years of listening to FM radio, and not trying that hard to tune in distant FM radio stations, hearing stations from 300 and 400 miles away I still find to be a pretty cool experience.
Posted by jeff at 07:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
November 24, 2003
Still working on my Six Minute Presentation...
Next Monday, December 1st, sometime after 10:30 am, I will be amongst six other people participating in the first panel at the FCC's VoIP Forum which each of us will be addressing the following in SIX minutes:
" Panel I: The first panel will address technical and market issues surrounding VoIP service. Panelists will be asked to describe the technology and capabilities of VoIP, and how VoIP can be used to offer end users lower cost, innovative services with capabilities previously unavailable in voice communications. Panelists should address how the FCC might distinguish among the numerous services employing VoIP, and whether it could feasibly distinguish between VoIP and other IP-enabled applications facilitating communication (ranging from e-mail to instant messaging to videoconferencing to interactive online gaming)."
The presentation which I've been working on with the help of Carl Ford is one which I hope will leave a lasting positive impression on both the FCC Commissioners and those in attendance at the meeting.
The slides backing the testimony are due at the FCC tonight, so today I get to experience the same kind of feelings when a term paper was due execpt that in this case there are no extensions and we have to get it right the first time. ;-)
Posted by jeff at 08:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
November 23, 2003
"We want to see VoIP developed in an unregulated way": Verizon
In a story in today's issue of the New York Post, VON alumnis, David Young, Director of Technology Policy for Verizon, is quoted saying: "We want to see VoIP developed in an unregulated way. We're living with a regulatory environment for a world that no longer exists. Rules that were put in place for Ma Bell in the 1930s certainly don't apply now."
I agree.
Taken on the surface, a week before the December 1st FCC VoIP Hearings, these are words which hopefully will be heard loudly on the 8th floor at the FCC.
And I hope that these statements from Verizon are a setup for deregulation of the Communications Industry.
Posted by jeff at 08:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
November 22, 2003
Working on my Six Minute Presentation @ FCC for Dec 1st
I'm spending this weekend working on my six minute presentation for the FCC's VoIP Forum on why I feel VoIP should remain unregulated in the US which I will be giving in the morning of December 1st.
My presentation is due to the FCC by the close of business on Monday. If you would like to share your thoughts as to why VoIP should remain unregulated, please email me.
Posted by jeff at 09:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
November 21, 2003
2004 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony will be Great!
During the past few years I've been a supporter of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and have been fortunate to have a seat at the induction ceremonies at the annual Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremonies in New York City.
These events are totally surrealistic for most people who are not living inside of the music industry and one of the annual events I look forward to being a part of.
Congradulations go out to the artists, their families and the fans of the artists who will be inducted in the Class of 2004:
George Harrison, Prince, Traffic, ZZ Top, Jackson Browne, the Dells and Bob Seger.
Posted by jeff at 07:33 AM | Permalink
VoIP Covered in today's NY Post
Just another sign how mainstream IP Communications is becoming. In the past couple of days I've been interviewed by two different NY Post reporters, for stories in today's paper and on Sunday.
I suppose it will be just a matter of time before some of our peers start getting covered on their Page 6...
Posted by jeff at 07:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
November 20, 2003
SBC, Quest and Verizon plan to roll out VoIP Services (Big Yawn and a Yeah!)
In the past few days, there have been expected announcement / noise from Quest, Verizon and SBC in the US as well as Telus in Canada with regard to their plans to start to roll-out VoIP Services.
While on one level personally I think it is great that these companies are making it known that they are leveraging the use of VoIP, in the end, their customers will just care about the features, benefits and services that these companies are able to offer rather than the technology platform being used.
It is up to all of the service providers who are embracing IP Communications to start to deliver heteromorphic products and solutions which were never before possible in what was the homomorphic communications world.
Posted by jeff at 09:28 AM | Permalink
Spring 2004 VON Schedule: In Process
The schedule for Spring 2004 VON is in motion.
We are in the process of confirming the speakers we have invited to be a part of our breakout sessions as well as those who will be sharing their Industry Perspectives.
Those of you familar with our standard VON schedule will notice a difference this time around. Our
exhibit hall will be opening up on Monday night, and will be closing on Wednesday night. The conference party that I host will takes place on Tuesday night.
The turn-around of the IP Communications space will be evident when we gather in Santa Clara the week of March 28th, 2004.
Our Spring exhibit hall is already 80% sold-out and our special musical guest at my "All Conference" party will be Liz Phair!. :-)
Posted by jeff at 08:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Back to Stratego...It's been Years
I don't remember the last time I played Stratego but I do remember the fun I had as a kid playing it with my friends.
This morning I'm playing my first game in at least 25 years. Hopefully I won't give up my flag in the first five minutes. ;-)
Posted by jeff at 07:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
November 19, 2003
Draft Agenda for FCC VoIP Forum - December 1, 2003
I just received my official invitation confirmation to be a part of the FCC VoIP Forum on December 1, 2003 in Washington, DC.
I'm looking forward to being a part of this historic event for the VoIP industry and joining the distinguished group of people who will be at the event.
Draft agenda for the event: (as of November 19, 2003)
FCC VoIP Forum Agenda: December 1, 2003
· Welcome & opening statements by Commissioners
· Regulatory Overview: Wireline Competition Bureau
· Panel I: The first panel will address technical and market
issues surrounding VoIP service. Panelists will be asked to describe
the technology and capabilities of VoIP, and how VoIP can be used to
offer end users lower cost, innovative services with capabilities
previously unavailable in voice communications. Panelists should
address how the FCC might distinguish among the numerous services
employing VoIP, and whether it could feasibly distinguish between
VoIP and other IP-enabled applications facilitating communication
(ranging from e-mail to instant messaging to videoconferencing to
interactive online gaming).
o Kevin Werbach, Founder, Supernova Group
o Charles H. Giancarlo, SVP and General Manager, Cisco
Systems, Inc.
o Jeff Pulver, President and CEO, Pulver.com
o John Hodulik, Managing Director, Communications Group,
UBS
o John Billock, COO, Time Warner Cable
o Tom Evslin, CEO, ITXC
o Representative of interactive game company (TBD)
· Panel II: The second panel will address public policy questions
raised by VoIP. Panelists will be asked to address what, if any,
regulatory obligations currently imposed upon traditional
circuit-switched voice service providers should be placed upon VoIP
providers and whether from either legal or technical perspectives such
obligations are feasible. Panelists may focus on traditional utility
regulatory issues such as non-discrimination and price regulation as well
as social policies such as access by persons with disabilities, universal
service, CALEA, and E911.
o Michael Gallagher, Acting Assistant Secretary, Department of
Commerce
o Commissioner Charles Davidson, Florida PSC
o Commissioner Carl Wood, California PUC
o James Crowe, CEO, Level3
o Jeffrey Citron, CEO, Vonage
o Dr. Gregg Vanderheiden, Co-principal Investigator,
Rehabilitation Engineering Research Project on Telecommunications
Access
· Closing remarks by Commissioners
Posted by jeff at 08:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
WiFi'ing from the Delta Crown Club at Atlanta Airport...
Another week and another airport.
One sign of spending two much time on the road is when the people who work at the Starbucks at the airports start to look familiar. ;-)
I was pleasantly surprised to see that the Delta Crown Room at the Atlanta airport has a T-Mobile Hotspot.
While I've been spending the day working with my new Blackberry device, it is no replacement for a PC sitting on my lab with a full screen and high-speed internet access.
I've come to the conclusion that
having a Blackberry is a great choice when there are no other choices available, but I've become co-dependent on having a PC at my disposal and a growing need to be in areas which are WiFi enabled.
Posted by jeff at 02:23 PM | Permalink
T-Mobile, GPRS and my New Blackberry
I've been playing with a colorful new Blackberry for the past week and to date my user experience is mixed.
Access to my email is tied to my T-Mobile account.
A couple of years ago I had much more positive experience using an earlier RIM device I had from GoAmerica but after losing the device a couple of times, I eventually migrated off of it.
My motivation for giving mobile email another try has been that during the past month I'm been "in motion" more than at my desk and had many hours where I was away from my email at a time when more and more people whom I communicate with on a daily basis have are started to use their email as a replacement for Instant Messaging and I felt as if I needed to do something to catch up.
The GPRS service from T-Mobile is slow at best and makes me feel at home whenever I'm stuck with a 21.6k dialup connection and I have to Telnet/PINE to check my email from hotel rooms which don't offer broadband access.
The actual new RIM device has an easy-to-use interface and the one game which it comes with is good enough to help occupy my time and my kid’s time.
One area major which really is lacking is the BlackBerry Web Client. Every time I try to use it I suffer thru using it's painful interface and don't appreciate that more quality assurance testing wasn't done to test the application across multiple browsers.
One place where I planned on using their web client was at airport kiosks especially since I need to delete emails from my web inbox when my quota is met rather than directly from my RIM device which makes it almost impossible to rely on using this service if I'm on the road for a full 12 hours any given day.
While it is quite convenient to be able to check emails, not having the direct ability to manage my inbox limitations from my RIM is a problem. Add to that the general lack of security associated with the device and until the service matures, and the web client is improved, it's acceptance into the enterprise communications marketplace will be limited at best.
But the new colorful Blackberry device is a nice piece of engineering...
Posted by jeff at 07:08 AM | Permalink
In Atlanta for the NASUCA Annual Meeting
I arrived last night in Atlanta for the annual meeting of NASUCA, the National Association of State Utility Consumer Advocates.
This week in Atlanta there are quite a number of State Regulators from around the US attending the Fall NARUC meetings and the NASUCA meeting is co-located in the same town to take advantage of the fact that members of NASUCA would also be attending parts of the NARUC meeting. In the world of conferences this is known as a "classic parasite play." This does work and there is much to be said about taking advantage of the geography and the people who are here.
NARUC's current draft VoIP resolution is not very friendly towards the IP Communications Industry and it is just another sign that NARUC will continue to try to fight IP Communication Service Providers in 2004 on a State level.
I'm in town to be part of a panel discussion in the morning at the NASUCA meeting entitled: "Voice on Net: Too Good to be Regulated?" My hope is that this crowd will be a little more receptive than the USTA audience was (this was because they introduced me as a representative of Vonage rather than a Vongage co-founder) and hopefully we will be able to find common ground with some of the consumer advocates insomuch that the introduction of alternative local service providers more than likely will help reduce prices for local phone service which in turn should be viewed as a positive for the communities being served.
I first met up with someone from NASUCA at Fall 2003 VON and I'm looking forward to reaching out and extending the IP Communications Olive Branch to other members of NASUCA.
Posted by jeff at 01:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
November 18, 2003
FCC to "hear" the future of VoIP on Dec 1st
The FCC has scheduled a VoIP Hearing to take place on Monday, December 1st in Washington, D.C.
I have been looking forward to the hearing ever since I was one of the people invited to participate.
From what I'm told, I will be on the first panel and will, along with the other panelists, help the commission define what VoIP is.
I'm expecting an overflowing room full of industry advocates as well as the media. This event in Washington, D.C. may very well be the tipping point with regard to how VoIP is regulated or unregulated in the near future in both the United States and other countries around the world that take into consideration what the US policy is on a specific subject.
This hearing will also have a direct effect on the market sediment towards IP Communications as we approach 2004.
Posted by jeff at 08:03 AM | Permalink
November 17, 2003
Irrational Exuberance hits the VoIP Marketplace
"Irrational Exuberance" can best describe the year-long run ups in stocks in the public IP Communications sector.
I expect to see a market correction.
This was a trend first noticed back in mid-July and something which the market briefly corrected.
I have a hard time with the current P/E ratios. Some people don't realize that to the extent that IP Communications is the rage, this has the side effect of providing a reason to keep service provider CAP EX spending at a reduced level - mostly because these new platforms provide technology and functionality at a significantly reduced price point and tremendously increased efficiencies.
Posted by jeff at 08:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
November 16, 2003
Web Based Karaoke: Super Cool Website
"Let them sing it for you" is the promise on this Swedish website.
What happens is that you enter the lyrics of a song (or words) that you would like to hear, and then the system reaches into it's database of recorded music and creates a composite (sampled) voice where the words are sung to you in English using the words from other recorded songs.
(Just wait until the RIAA tries to stop this website / technique.)
Give the website a try while you can, and experience web-based Karaoke the way it was always intended to be - from the voices of real recording artists. :-)
p.s. One fun application might be to use this engine to create unique answering machine messages...
Posted by jeff at 08:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Advances in Biotech: Science Fiction is less Fiction Today
USA Today reported on a story that Scientists were able to create a virus that reproduces.
Moments ago this was just a technique which sci-fi writers and screenwriters would use as a story point. ;-)
Now this is also part of our everyday life...the creation of artificial life.
Now that researchers have the ability to create a synthetic genome of a virus, implant it into a cell, and watch the virus become "biologically active," there may be no real limit to where this goes or where this technology ends up.
Posted by jeff at 07:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
November 15, 2003
WiSIP Featured in NY Times Magazine
Our WiSIP phone is one of the featured devices in the the
November 16, 2003, Sunday New York Times Magazine story, "You've Got Mail...From the Microwave" and the phone is pictured on page 68.
The story which starts in the Style section looks at "The Way We Nest Now" and is a glance inside the evolution of the always-on home.
Posted by jeff at 07:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
November 14, 2003
Liz Phair Rocks!
Last night I caught the Liz Phair show at Cafe Campus in Montreal.
While Wheat did their best to warm-up the gathering crowd, it wasn't until Liz walked on stage that one could feel the energy in the air.
As Liz ran thru her setlist she did not seem to disappoint any of her long-time fans, or for that matter, any of her new fans who only recently discovered her talent with her recent top 40 hit
"Why Can't I?."
While she didn't speak that much to her fans in Montreal, she did deliver a pretty focused, high-energy concert.
I'm looking forward to seeing Liz Phair again in March as we have just signed her to be our special musical guest at Spring 2004 VON. She will be playing our "all conference" party on the night of: Tuesday, March 30th.
Posted by jeff at 10:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
US Regulation of VoIP is NOT a done deal
Yesterday I had the pleasure to be part of a panel discussion which was hosted by Warren Communications and included both Dr. Robert Pepper of the FCC and John Rego, CFO, Vonage.
The hour and a half roundtable discussion touched on a number of direct questions regarding the future regulation of VoIP and despite Reed Hundt's comments on Tuesday, it is my belief that while the FCC is going forward with their VoIP NPRM, this does not guarantee that the FCC in 2004 or 2005 will actually put in place new regulations in the VoIP sector. In fact, what may happen is the continuation of nothing much other than direct notice to the States not to regulate IP Communications.
While there are a number of issues which need to get addressed and which will get addressed by the IP Communications industry over time, I don't see any direct indications that the FCC is about to start regulating VoIP anytime soon.
Ideally I would like to see the advent of IP Communications become the reason for the introduction of de-regulation of the Communications sector in the US.
Posted by jeff at 11:18 AM | Permalink
November 13, 2003
VoIP Stocks: In the News Again.
In addition to the news generated today by the California PUC looking at the possiblity of imposing regulations on VoIP, "Redialing the Internet Frenzy" is the lead story in the "Money & Investing" section of today's Wall Street Journal.
While some of us had already noticed the huge run-up in VoIP related stocks, now it must be "real" because the WSJ covered it today.
While I'm long the industry in general, there exists today some pretty high P/E ratios which are hard to justify, even if one is bullish about the near-term future of the VoIP industry.
Despite this,
as long as the momentum continues to be positive, I expect to see the next batch of VoIP related IPOs to hit the Street in mid-late 2004 and be full in gear by mid 2005.
Posted by jeff at 08:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
The VoIP Industry will be looking towards California Today
Later today, the California Public Utility Commission (CPUC) will be voting on the near term future treatment of VoIP communication providers who provide services to the residents of the State of California.
While a 3:2 vote in favor of VoIP has been predicted and Commissioner Susan Kennedy has been a vocal supporter of the VoIP Industry, one thing which I learned a long time ago is that is there is no such thing as a sure thing, especially when it comes to California politics.
As a side note, the CPUC recently filed a petition at the FCC which if taken seriously would empower the State to remove the PRI lines from service providers who are offering California area codes to out-of-state residents. So no matter whatever the ruling is, I fully expect some people at the CPUC to continue to be hard at work to derail the California IP Communications revolution.
Posted by jeff at 07:40 AM | Permalink
November 12, 2003
Reed Between the Lines: Regulation is coming to the US VoIP Industry
Reed Hundt, former FCC Chairman, dropped by our Wi-Fi Internet Summit yesterday and shared his thoughts regarding the current state of pending VoIP regulation in the US and specifically suggested that we take a moment and read between the lines of the letter that FCC chairman Michael Powell wrote to Sen. Ron Wyden which is posted on the FCC Web site.
In effect Reed said that the FCC has already decided to regulate VoIP and that the December 1st hearing is only a formality.
My favorite quote from his talk is:
"I ran this agency, I know you should be suspicious."
Hopefully the Clash were right and that the Future is Unwritten! At least I still remain hopeful that many of the regulatory issues effecting the future of VoIP in the US can still be solved and that with the industry working together and creating "Common Ground" many of the players can get together and solve the issue at hand without the need for Gov't to put in place yet more regulations.
Posted by jeff at 05:30 PM | Permalink
Free World Dialup hits 75,000 subscribers after a year
This week marks the one year anniversary of the launch of Free World Dialup and we have hit our stated goal of getting to 75,000 subscribers within the course of one year.
FWD continues to grow on a daily basis and we are looking forward to announcing future toll-free / freephone dialing into: France, Sweden and Japan over the next few weeks as well as finally interconnecting with Vonage.
FWD also continues to be a platform for innovation and has become a global testing ground for developers of next-generation SIP User Agents.
If you haven't given FWD a chance yet, visit the website and try it out on your own.
Posted by jeff at 08:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
November 11, 2003
Back "on the air" from Oakland Airport...
The advent of Wi-Fi Hot Spots at airports and in coffee shops provide a portal for some to stay connected to the virtual world some of us are living in and in some cases, provides a great avenue to just catch up.
Since I've become a fan of JetBlue, I made it a point to route myself from Santa Clara to Oakland for my return flight to New York. While the flight leaves at 9:30 pm tonight, I made it a point to leave Santa Clara at 4:30 so that once we got to Oakland I would be able to be on-line and stay connected. (this is only because I heard that Wi-Fi was available in Terminal 1 when I was at my Wi-Fi Summit yesterday. If there wasn't Wi-Fi at the airport I would not have been in such a rush to get here...)
Of course, leaving so early meant that we got to the airport in less than an hour and while the others traveling with me are besides themselves trying to kill time waiting to board the plane, I'm sitting in the airport terminal tuned out from the people and environment around me and just having fun.
While still having 2 hours to wait before my flight may drag on a little, it does provide an opportunity to just catch up.
Posted by jeff at 09:50 PM | Permalink
November 10, 2003
pulver.com's 2003 Wi-Fi Summit starts in the morning...
Tomorrow morning's opening debate on: Policy - Licensed vs. Unlicensed Spectrum should help set the tone for the next couple of days.
I'm looking forward to hearing our panelists share their vision for the near term future of the wireless net.
Posted by jeff at 03:50 AM | Permalink
November 09, 2003
Going to California...
The past few days I've been watching Fall transition into Winter at least from the perspective of the leaves falling to the ground from what was a brilliant Fall foliage season on Long Island.
Now I'm in transit back to the land of the Endless Summer with the hope that the Wi-Fi Summit which I've been working on for months will provide an opportunity to discover new business adventures and validate a few older business models along the way.
I'm also looking forward to hosting our 2003 Silicon Valley Holiday Party tomorrow night.
Posted by jeff at 03:23 PM | Permalink
New Music for Spring 04 VON...
We have pinged both The Strokes and Liz Phair as possible musical guests for Spring 2004 VON.
Stay Tuned...
Posted by jeff at 08:57 AM | Permalink
The Anatomy of a Conference Blogged!
While Carl Ford and I have been blogging from time to time the work efforts related to our VON conferences and other events, I've recently stumbled across Alan Meckler's blog which has been tracking the anatomy of his new Computer Digital Expo event that is co-located in the same city and taking place at the same time that COMDEX is.
Being in the event / conference business myself, I find his blog to be a good read and appreciate his "me against the world" approach of taking on events like: COMDEX and CeBIT and others.
Posted by jeff at 07:28 AM | Permalink
Next Free World Dialup Meetup - November 19th
Since the time back in August when Meetup.com had agreed to add: "Free World Dialup" as a topic for a Meetup 499 people have signed up from 175 different cities. The next "International Free World Dialup Meetup Day" takes place on: Wednesday, November 19th @ 7:00 pm Local time. This is scheduled to repeat on the 3rd Wednesday of every month.
According to those who registered to be notified for FWD Meetups,
the top 20 cities for Free World Dialup Meetups are:
- Cairo, Egypt (28 members)
- Karachi, Pakistan (21)
- Mumbai, India (16)
- London, England (14)
- Toronto, ON (12)
- Jakarta, Indonesia (12)
- Islamabad, Pakistan (11)
- New York City (11)
- Stockholm, Sweden (11)
- Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (10)
- Saigon, Vietnam (9)
- Montréal, PQ (8)
- Beirut, Lebanon (8)
- Santa Clara County, CA (8)
- Amsterdam, Netherlands (8)
- Paris, France (8)
- Dallas-Plano, TX (7)
- Hyderabad, India (7)
- Copenhagen, Denmark (6)
- Monterrey, Mexico (6)
These demographics are an interesting real-time reflection of the
worldwide interest in Free World Dialup.
To signup for a FWD Meetup, please visit:
http://freeworlddialup.meetup.com.
Please use these meetings as a way to spread the word about Free World Dialup and
VoIP and introduce your friends to our community. We can leverage our free conference
bridges as a way to interconnect some of the Meetup meetings as they start to grow.
Posted by jeff at 07:09 AM | Permalink
November 08, 2003
Getting ready for California Trip
I've been looking forward to my trip tomorrow to California for quite some time since I haven't been back to Silicon Valley since the end of Spring 2003 VON at the end of March.
I'm also looking forward to flying on JetBlue and comparing notes of my last encounter with the VoIP friendly airline.
While I'm in town because of our Wi-Fi Summit, while I'm in town, I will be hosting our "2003 Silicon Valley Holiday Party" and have media interviews planned at: CNET, Business 2.0, KNTV, KFI and KGO-AM.
With the California Public Utility Commission planned November 13th meeting which will be focusing on VoIP Regulation and the FCC VoIP Hearings on December 1st, I expect the media attention for VoIP in the US to be continue to heat up over the next few days / couple of weeks.
Posted by jeff at 12:12 PM | Permalink
November 07, 2003
FCC VoIP Hearings scheduled for December 1st
Since the start of 2003, IP Communications has been in the news in the US and covered in both the business and consumer press as well as on Radio and TV.
It seems that a fitting end to this is to end the year in Washington, D.C. and to explore the impact of VoIP in the context of the future of the communications industry.
I'm of the mind set that IP Communications should be allowed to evolve as if the PSTN never existed (why be homomorphic when you can be heteromorphic?) and that we should provide an environment that protects nascent technologies and related industries.
As a direct result of all of the cumulative attention that VoIP has gotten in the US this year, as well as the direction some of the US State PUCs have taken with regard to IP Communication Services, the FCC has decided to hold their own VoIP hearings in Washington, DC on December 1st.
These hearing will help set the tone for the near term future of IP Communications in the US. Hopefully the FCC will realize that IP Communications is not the same thing as "Internet Telephony" and that we are all on the same page when it comes to proposing regulations.
We are at a time when what we need to see is less regulation, not more regulation.
I was invited to be a part of the hearing during it's planning stage and I'm looking forward to seeing the formal agenda and participating at this special 2003 event.
Posted by jeff at 07:47 AM | Permalink
November 06, 2003
$$$ Coming back into the VoIP Sector
With the advent of so much attention to the VoIP industry, the venture community has returned and over the coming days, weeks and months look for new funding announcments to be forthcoming.
You can also expect to start to hear more about industry roll-ups, mergers and acquisitions.
Posted by jeff at 02:49 PM | Permalink
November 05, 2003
ITXC - now to be a part of the “new” Teleglobe
Since 1997, ITXC grew to become the 7th largest international wholesale carrier in the world. With the rebound of the VoIP marketplace, it was just a matter of time before somebody (besides me) realized the tremendous value that ITXC brought to the table and that given their current position, it was much easier to acquire the company than to roll out a competitive service offering just to play catch up.
I've always been impressed with the work of Tom Evslin and his outward generosity in bringing the world of communications into the third world and helping to introduce communications to a generation of people who otherwise would most likely never have experienced it.
With Tom's stated plans to eventually retire from ITXC, his presence in our industry will be missed.
Posted by jeff at 07:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
November 04, 2003
The (Dis)Comfort of Spamm
Earlier this morning our mail server was down and the only way that I knew something was wrong was when I checked my morning email and my "normal" overnight inbound emails were less than 100 emails.
When the problem was fixed at around 8am today, I only knew that service was restored when my inbox started filling up with the unwanted junk emails.
So while I experience discomfort because of spamm, there is still a time when a little spamm provides the 'warm and fuzzy' that I need to be assured that everything is working...
Posted by jeff at 10:30 PM | Permalink
November 03, 2003
The making of a Conference: Spring 2004 VON
Our "Call for Speakers" for Spring 2004 VON ended last Friday and now we are in the middle of a multi-stage process which takes us thru the building of the conference sessions, which includes figuring out the themes, people and messages we would like to share at the end of March, 2004 when we gather in Santa Clara.
The process of building our conference content starts many months before the event when the pulver.com team creates our own "wish list" of people who we would like to have at the conference. Days after the prior conference commences we start working on the outline of the next conference and generally speaking within 2 weeks we publish a skeleton schedule which reflects our current thinking.
Now that we closed our formal "Call for Speakers" we now start the process of reviewing each proposal and figuring out when, where and if the proposed topic fits into our conference framework or if we should database the proposal for a future VON event.
During the month of November, I expect the content for our Spring 2004 VON Conference to come together and leave us in real good shape when we start the holiday season.
Posted by jeff at 08:47 AM | Permalink
November 02, 2003
+87810 is now a reality!
87810 is now part of e164.arpa. This is a significant step forward in the interconnection of the world of IP and the traditional communications networks.
Carl Ford shares his insights on a business opportunity, which he sees is immediately available: "Toll-Free" dialing using the Internet.
Posted by jeff at 08:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Highway Skype Revisted
While it is easy for many of us to get excited the early adoption of IP Communication technologies, (I've been watching this space for 8+ years), the fun will really start when/if we start to see signs of stickiness for the current wave of VoIP products and services.
It is one thing for a team to figure out the short-term tactical problems of home firewall NAT traversal and empower a generation of people to be able to freely engage in PC to PC community. But it will be up to the communities affected to decide how/when/where they choose to use these products and how often to rely on these products.
PC to PC communication isn't really new. But what is new is the level of penetration the Internet has, the immediate worldwide availability of high-speed broadband access and computer platforms, which support and encourage multimedia communication.
I don't believe this is about the advent of free communication. This is about something more and yet different.
The team at Skype has done a great job in helping a new generation become aware how easy it is to communicate using VoIP. But before any of us can talk about a true communications revolution, we need to take a hard look at the communication habits of this segment of the "always on" generation and see how much, if any, of their core communication needs is being replaced by the advent of services like Skype rather than depending upon their cell phones and/or other communication products & services.
The present signs are for the coming of a true "Consumer Communications Revolution" but it will be up to the people to decide what part of the next phase of this revolution they will be a part of.
And don't forgot that in the case of any revolution, you should expect to see those effected fighting back with the tools they are most effective in using - in this case it will be and is telecom regulations.
Posted by jeff at 07:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
November 01, 2003
SIPURA SPA-2000: Now available from pulverInnovations
During the past couple of months, pulverInnovations has been hard at work bringing some leading edge VoIP products to the marketplace (our Wi-Fi SIP phone the WiSIP as well as our Internet Phone Patch) and we have also signed on to become an authorized reseller of other third-party products which we believe are helping to accelerate the task of bringing VoIP to the worldwide consumer audience.
Starting immediately, Sipura's new next-generation "analog telephony adaptor", their SPA-2000 is available for sale for only US$ 105 + shipping. (Quantity discounts are available.)
Look for additional products to become available for sale in the coming weeks and months.
Posted by jeff at 12:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)
Plugging back in...with a Renewed Perspective
There seems to be some kind of connection between how busy I think I am and how often I felt compelled to check-in with my office...or at least I used to think this way.
Looking back, I don't remember a busier October than the one which I've just experienced in 2003 in all of the years running pulver.com and I never would have expected that I would be able to just unplug and relax but it seems that unplugging provides a perspective not available from other means.
In other words, when possible, taking a break from your normal routine and "chilling out" especially at times when you don’t feel as if you have the time or luxury to relax may in fact have the productive side-effect of providing insights and perspectives which are not regularly available under "normal" circumstances.
Only time will tell, but my hope from taking a little R&R this past week will better prepare me for the next 7+ weeks remaining in the work year.
Now back to our regularly scheduled programming…
Posted by jeff at 11:57 AM | Permalink