« November 2004 | Main | January 2005 »

December 31, 2004

Another Twist on the Calif PUC Vonage Appeal

This is starting to feel like a chapter from the Henry James book "The Turn of the Screw."

Advanced IP Pipline: Calif. PUC Files Appeal To FCC's Vonage Decision -- Maybe

Posted by jeff at 10:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (9)

December 30, 2004

internetnews.com on California VoIP Appeal

internetnews.com: Vonage Says It's Ready for Fight Over VoIP

...another example of my blog being used a source for a news story.

Posted by jeff at 03:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Year-end Broadband News Recap from an Irish Perspective:

Electric News: ENN Year in Review 2004: let's talk broadband

"...We are in the midst of a VoIP communications revolution," said Jeff Pulver, chairman of Pulver.com Enterprises and pioneer in the VoIP business. "The buzz surrounding the international VoIP industry continues to grow, and it's important for everyone to understand and take advantage of the changes taking place. IP communications are 'disruptive' communications in the most positive sense, and it will dramatically enhance the ways in which we communicate...."

Posted by jeff at 11:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (8)

eWeek on Vonage Appeal

eWeek: 29-Dec-04: California Mounts Appeal of FCC's VOIP Order

Posted by jeff at 01:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)

December 29, 2004

Another Look at the Vonage Appeal

It is interesting to put the Ninth Circuit Appeal in perspective with the timely release of the 8th Circuit's Vonage Decision upholding the District Court ruling that prohibits the state of Minnesota from regulating Internet-based phone calling as if it were a traditional telecommunications service. That 8th Circuit case comes closer to addressing the more controversial issue over the service category ("telcom service" or "information service") of IP-PSTN connected VoIP services. This issue has proven to be the tougher cut for the FCC, which will likely address this question in the pending IP-Enabled Services NPRM. That is the issue that more squarely touches on the issues that the Ninth Circuit considered in dicta in the Brand X decision -- whether a broadband Internet access service is a telecom service, an information service, or has both a telecom service and information service.

Posted by jeff at 02:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (15)

Eighth Circuit Vonage Decision

The Eighth Circuit yesterday upheld the District Court ruling that prohibits the state of Minnesota from regulating Internet-based phone calling as if it were a traditional telecommunications service.

Story in the New York Times.

Posted by jeff at 10:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (13)

And the Legal Uncertainty Continues: California Appeals the Vonage Order

The State of California and the California PUC filed an appeal on Dec. 22nd with the Ninth Circuit of the FCC's Vonage Order. I doubt that Vonage Order will be reversed but it does put a little crimp in the VoIP industry's logical desire to go about business without the lingering threat of a court reversal. The one thing I think we need more than anything else is regulatory and legal certainty. Once the rules of the road are set, the IP-based communications industry will go out and deploy new products and services, but this incessant legal overhangs are really debilitating, both in our ability to deploy products and services with assurance and in our ability to obtain necessary funding from the investment community.

I find it interesting that the appeal has been filed with the Ninth Circuit.

I would have thought that the states would naturally shoot for the Eighth Circuit, which has the storied history of reversing the FCC when it leaves little opportunity for a state regulatory role (Iowa Utils. Bd. v. FCC). Better legal strategists than I might disagree, but I think this is probably a pretty good venue for most members of the VoIP industry. First of all it's a rather tech-savvy bench, which has to play to the benefit of tech innovators. Second, this is the Court that, in the Brand X case, reversed the FCC on its categorization of cable modem service as exclusively an information service. The Ninth Circuit, applying essentially a layered regulatory approach, concluded that cable modem service included both a telecom service component and an information service component. Members of the VoIP industry will disagree as to whether the FCC or the Ninth Circuit was correct. Those VoIP providers with their own last-mile access facilities would logically prefer that any broadband Internet access service be categorized as only an information service, thereby freeing the entire service offering from any telecom common carrier regulation. Unaffiliated VoIP providers, without their own last-mile access facilities, would logically prefer a layered model, where the applications are unregulated, but where some semblance of common carriage principles exists to ensure reasonable access to consumers.

It is possible that the appellants (and their allies) determined that the Ninth Circuit was a good choice because it did reverse the FCC on the cable modem decision -- it was comfortable reversing an administrative decision by the expert agency and it recognized that cable modem service include a telecom service. I guess the logic would be that the Court would also find that broadband voice services, like Vonage's, are also telecom services and therefore subject to telecom common carrier regulation (at least with regard to the underlying telecom transmission service). But, let's not forget that the FCC only ruled on the jurisdictional issues in the Vonage Order and did not rule on the service categorization question of whether VoIP services like Vonage's are telecom or information services. In fact, it is only our Free World Dialup service that is specifically designated an information service exempt, pursuant to the FCC's Pulver Order from telecom regulation. Thus, that issue over the service category of Vonage-like connected bring-your-own broadband VoIP service is presumable not ripe for appeal. That indeed would have been the interesting question for the Ninth Circuit -- and one which I think the Ninth Circuit's precedent in Brand X (subject to Supreme Court review) would have suggested that the voice application provided by Vonage would not be a telecom service, but the underlying transmission, provided by an ILEC, a CLEC, a cable company, would have been subject to telecom regulation. Perhaps the current appeal by California might have, intentionally or not, laid the groundwork, for the Ninth Circuit to ultimately hear this controversy upon the inevitable appeal of the FCC's IP-Enabled Services NPRM. I suspect some unaffiliated VoIP ASP will attempt to argue that it should be the Ninth Circuit that hears that case. I also suspect that an ILEC or a cable company will attempt to keep the Ninth Circuit from hearing that controversy. Of course, this might all become moot next Summer, depending on how the Supreme Court rules in the Brand X appeal.

We are living in interesting regulatory times.

Posted by jeff at 12:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (24)

December 28, 2004

pulver.Communicator: Bridging Skype Instant Messaging with: AOL | MSN | Yahoo! | ICQ

One week from now, at the 2005 Consumer Electronics Show, the FWD Communications team will be on the CES Show floor at the pulver.com VoIP Tech Zone, demonstrating what I believe to be the first commercial application that offers people who use instant messaging on the Skype Network with the ability to simultaneous have access to IM services on: AOL, MSN, Yahoo! and ICQ.

This is a new feature available with pulver.Communicator beta build .94.3

People who use pulver.Communicator will also have the added ability to host multi-party, multi-network text chats with friends across: AOL, MSN, Yahoo!, ICQ and Skype.

Posted by jeff at 10:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (14)

Vonage appeal filed by California PUC

I just received a copy of the Petition for Review of the FCC's Vonage decision, filed on December 22, 2004 by the State of California and the California Public Utilities Commission, in the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

Stay tuned...

Posted by jeff at 01:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (9)

A new Face for my Blog

The Jeff Pulver Blog now has a new face to it...or at least some eyes. :-)

I've also upgraded to a much newer version of Moveable Type which in theory should help reduce the amount of Blog spam which I've been recently subject to.

Posted by jeff at 10:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (12)

December 27, 2004

Asterisk: The TOFU of IP Communications

From my perspective, Asterisk represents the "Tofu" of IP Communications.

Much like Tofu itself which will take on the flavors of the foods it is combined with, Asterisk offers something similar for people developing IP Communication networks.

These days there are quite a number of people who are using Asterisk for what it seemed to be originally designed for: a telephone system for a small office or a home.

Then again, there are the startup service providers who are using Asterisk as the technology to drive their competitive telecom service offerings, whether it is to offer hosted Voice over IP services which are positioned to be competitive to Centrex to those using Asterisk to offer their own Vonage-like services.

While Asterisk now supports SIP, the Asterisk protocol, IAX2 has demonstrated to the marketplace its ability to effortlessly traverse NATs and Firewalls with Skype-like zest.

Within the Free World Dialup network, we have been using Asterisk combined with SER as a media server as well as for our own "home grown" voice mail solution as well as one of our supported methods to traverse NATs and Firewalls.

I am not aware of many other communication applications which are freely available which offer this Tofu like quality.

If you haven't given Tofu, er, Asterisk a taste yet, take a chance and you may find yourself with another ingredient to consider in your recipe when you create your next communications network.

Posted by jeff at 09:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (83)

December 26, 2004

Leaving Montecito, CA…Hello LA!

Just visited Tom's Montecito Coffee Shop for one more breakfast and sitting right behind me this morning was Jonathan Winters having breakfast with a friend.

It is amazing who you might run into at the Montecito Coffee Shop on any given morning...

Posted by jeff at 12:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (12)

2005 Promises to be a BIG year for Open Source Communications

Once Open Source Communication solutions like Asterisk overcome the stigma of being free, the opportunity exists for the advent of open source communications solutions to introduce a major seed change within the established world-wide PBX Industry. I expect the commercial acceptance of applications like Asterisk to gain significant momentum during 2005.

At the moment, every day there are a growing number of communication enthusiasts/hobbyists who run Asterisk in their homes, in their small offices and who are starting to deploy Asterisk in place of brand name Key Systems. I should know, as during this year I quietly founded a company called: Blue Lava Software which offers “Asterisk in a Box.” During the past few months we have started to make inroads in selling our solutions to a wide range of companies, from the Fortune 500 to small home offices.

While I don’t expect: Avaya, Cisco or Nortel to be worried about the immediate success of Open Source Communications, they are amongst the group of companies most likely to be disrupted by the success of Asterisk and it’s successors.

Posted by jeff at 01:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (186)

December 25, 2004

Looking for People who use Skype and pulver.Communicator

I'm looking for some Skype users who also are using pulver.Communicator.

The next planned release of pulver.Communicator - build .94.3 supports multi-party, multi-network instant messaging across: AOL/MSN/Yahoo!/ICQ and Skype!

I'm looking for people who use both pulver.Communicator and Skype for Instant Messaging and who would have the time to dedicate over the next week to help us with the testing of some of our new features.

Those interested (and available) should send email to: jeffp@pulver.com and
include both your FWD Number and Skype ID.

Posted by jeff at 09:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Exploring Montecito, CA.

I've been on the West Coast in Santa Barbara, CA since late Monday.

So far I've discovered two restaurants in Montecito that I've already been to twice and would recommend to anyone who plans to visit the Santa Barbara / Montecito area.

for Breakfast: Tom's Montecito Coffee Shop - a local watering hole that offers a home cooked breakfast that tastes just great. Yesterday while I was there having breakfast, Kathy Ireland was at the table right next to mine taking her three kids and a friend out for breakfast. It's amazing who you might run into at the Montecito Coffee Shop on any given morning.

for Dinner: Lucky's - Overall the food was better than "The Palm."

Posted by jeff at 01:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

December 24, 2004

Free Holiday Calling on the FWD Network: Sponsored by LibreTel

Members of Free World Dialup are now able to place for free, calls into: Canada, Israel and the USA for the remainder of the holiday season.

The call requests are being routed from the FWD Network to our peering partner LibreTel for completion. Members who place a call will hear a short audio advertisement for LibreTel at the start of each call.

To place a call, dial: * [country code] number on the Free World Dialup network. Calls can not be place to mobile numbers outside of the USA and Canada.

My hope is that our promotion will help some families and friends stay in closer touch during this holiday season.

This promotion will be ending on January 2nd.

Posted by jeff at 09:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

December 23, 2004

Kind Words from Andy re: VoIP/pulver.com @ CES

I just read some very kind words from Andy regarding our activity at CES in a couple of weeks.

We are looking forward to welcoming: 8x8, Broadvoice, Dialpad Communications, ENF Technology Solutions, Intoto, Level (3), Motorola, Rapport, RTX, Sysgration, VoIPVoice, ZippyTalk and the family of pulver.com companies to the first VoIP TechZone on the CES show floor.

Please drop me a note if you are planning to attend CES 2005.

Posted by jeff at 05:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Mark Evans on VoIP IPOs in 2005

Mark Evans: VOIP IPOs.

Posted by jeff at 05:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (61)

Consumer VoIP Story from The Florida Times-Union

Telephony's Future Gets Much Simpler

"...VoIP appears to be crossing over into the mainstream this year," said Jeff Pulver...By the end of next year, it will simply become part of a digital lifestyle..."

Posted by jeff at 09:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Municipal and State Governments to VoIP Industry: "Deploy VoIP ... but Give Us All your Money" -- Zen Koan or Catch 22?

A Wall Street Journal editorial yesterday (12/22) shined the spotlight on those politicians and policymakers who have been sending mixed messages lately to the VoIP industry. These politicians have been saying on the one hand that consumers should be allowed to avail themselves of the benefits of IP technology, and, at the same time, they have been threatening to extract usurious fees from VoIP service providers. These mixed signals have made it difficult for us would-be innovators and entrepreneurs to know whether or not to deliver IP-based technologies and services to American consumers. Every legislator, governor, and regulator allegedly wants to promote, and allow its constituents to benefit from, new IP-based technologies and services. At the same time, many politicians see VoIP as an easy revenue generator and have blood in their eye for the nascent VoIP industry.

Recent FCC and Congressional action indicates a general desire to ensure that the VoIP innovators may continue to bring new technologies and services to consumers with some assurance that government will not stifle its growth through unnecessary fees, taxes, or administrative hassles. Most recently, the FCC indicated that VoIP services must not be subjected to 50 state and countless local rules that would make it impossible for any would-be VoIP provider to deploy a national or global product.

Within the past two weeks, however, we have heard rumblings from both state and local authorities that they intend to extract as much blood as possible from the nascent industry. The WSJ properly noted recent efforts by the National Governors Association and by some in Congress who would attempt to impose taxes upwards of 20% on VoIP services.

The WSJ editorial did not take note of similar efforts by municipalities, such as Santa Monica, to impose a utility use tax on VoIP services. At least the city of Santa Monica had the nerve to confront the industry directly without having to hide behind a mob of municipalities.

Unlike Santa Monica, members of the National Governors Association are attempting to shield themselves within the mob. No individual governor could be accused of thwarting VoIP if all the other governors endorse a nationwide effort. I guess no one wants to be the only governor imposing usurious fees on new IP-based technologies and services. Instead, the governors have joined forces in the hope that if everyone imposes similar fees, they do not individually take the heat for being the only tax-imposing luddite driving away the VoIP industry.

If it were only Santa Monica imposing a municipal tax, the VoIP providers could simply take their services elsewhere and the only losers would be the Santa Monica consumers who might not benefit from the promise of IP-based communications. If every state imposes a similar tax, so the logic goes, no haven would exist for tax-dodging VoIP providers. This logic fails to recognize that VoIP is a global phenomenon. The municipalities, states, and countries that embrace the new technology and foster the growth of IP communications will become havens for IP communications entrepreneurs and allow their residents to avail themselves of the benefits of IP communications. The municipalities, states, and countries that choose to impose unnecessary burdens on IP communications will find that they have become pariahs to the would-be entrepreneurs who will take their business, money and ideas to more inviting locations. The residents of those backward looking governments will become disenfranchised wallflowers at the communications revolution.

As revealed by the WSJ editorial, what seems most disturbing about the National Governors Association's recent push is that it is spearheaded by Gov. Mark Warner of Virginia. Those of us from high tech/telecom backgrounds recognized Gov. Warner as a former champion of new technology and believed his goal was to create a haven for new technology within Virginia. Gov. Warner, of all government officials, should know better. As a former leader of the Virginia high tech and telecom explosion in the nineties, Gov. Warner knows the fragile nature of new technology and what it takes to nurture it. This certainly cannot be the same Mark Warner who wanted to make Virginia a hub of new technology and innovation.

IP-based communications has the power to transform the way we live and work. In order to realize this potential, it is essential for the policymakers to lead the way and ensure that government does no harm and ensure the growth and viability of IP-based communications. Imposing taxes equivalent or greater than the taxes imposed on such "sins" as alcohol, tobacco, and firearms does not seem to be the best way to encourage deployment of a new technology. Since when did communication innovation become a sin?

Posted by jeff at 12:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (44)

December 22, 2004

Telephony and Music: More than just an "On-Hold" Relationship

For the longest time I thought that the only convergence between the Telecom industry and the Music industry was: Music On-Hold. A strong illustration of their basic differences is seen in the way these two industries have handled disruption: Music has generally been quick to sue (and sue and sue), while Telecom has tended to turn towards regulatory relief.

As it turns out, though, these seemingly divergent industries have found a way to make great music - and great telecom -- together. I mean, who would have thought that ringtones would grow into over a (US$) 3 billion worldwide dollar business? And today the term "ringtone" yields over 61 million website hits on Google! Yes, Music has become the new content king for Telecom.

One new twist on ringtones that is now being offered by service providers that I find quite interesting is custom ringback tones. With this new service you can specify the sound that a specific caller will hear when they call your phone. For instance, I can now program my phone service so that each time my friend Danny calls he is presented with a ringback tone of Elton John's "Daniel" (assuming I own that ringtone, of course) instead of the ubiquitous phone-ringing sound. Now I have no idea how popular the ringback tone feature will be or how many people will find it worth paying for, but who is to say that it won't grow into another $3 billion dollar space?

Looking ahead, I expect to see an ever-increasing growing synergy between the Music industry and the Communications industry, and not just due to the continued evolution of ringtones technology. Many of today's cell phones and phone-service-enabled PDAs are coming equipped with much greater file storage capacity, memory and media-playing software, which is likely to result in a significant penetration into the on-demand portable music space by Telecom operators.

The future is happening! Sometimes you just need to take a moment and listen. :-)

Posted by jeff at 08:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (8)

pulver.com Consumer VoIP Summit at CES 2005

In a couple of weeks, I will be in Las Vegas attending and speaking at our first Consumer VoIP Summit at CES.

In addition to producing our Consumer VoIP Summit, pulver.com is hosting the VoIP Tech Zone on the CES show floor.

The buzz for our Consumer VoIP Summit continues to grow.

There are a just a limited number of seats still available for our summit. Register today to ensure yourself a seat at this event.

Posted by jeff at 12:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)

December 21, 2004

Bezeq fighting Israeli Broadband Parasites

From Haaretz: Bezeq cries foul over new phone firms

Posted by jeff at 09:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (71)

Happy Birthday to pulver.com – 10 Years and Counting…

It was ten years ago today – December 21, 1994 that the pulver.com domain was issued.

Back then I remember trying to get the pulver.fam domain as in pulver.family but that wasn’t an option. Since I wasn’t a ‘.edu’ or a ‘.org’ I ended up going for .com, even though at the time I wasn’t really a ‘dot com’ either.

The first pulver.com home page launched in early January, 1995 and within a couple of months became the home for the nascent Internet Telephony Industry.

Looking back, I have to thank Josh Quittner who is now editor of Business 2.0 magazine but who in 1994 had a weekly Thursday column in Newsday who through his column introduced me to CuSeeMe. It was from my interest in CuSeeMe I discovered the launch of VocalTec's iPhone on February 15, 1995.

The rest, as they say, is history. :-)

Posted by jeff at 12:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

December 20, 2004

With Wi-Fi at Airports, even Delays are O.K….

@jetBlue terminal 6 @JFK

Posted by jeff at 09:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Spring 2005 VON “Early Bird” Registration Ends in 30 Days!

Spring 2005 VON Conference & Expo will be taking place March 7-10 at the San Jose Convention Center in San Jose, CA.

I have been producing VON, THE industry tradeshow for Voice over IP since 1997, after producing the first conference on Internet Telephony in the US back in 1996. It has been a fun and interesting eight plus years and 2005 looks to be our best year ever. I am especially looking forward to producing VON in San Jose at a time when VoIP is “hot!”

Our conference schedule continues to evolve and gets updated daily. Over 300 people will be speaking at the event.

If you are planning on attending Spring 2005 VON, now would be a great time to take a moment and register…and if you are not from the greater San Jose area, if you will need a hotel room, now would be a great time to make your reservation, since there are only a limited number of hotel rooms still available in our room blocks.

Our exhibit floor is just about sold-out with only two booths still available. This will translate into a packed show floor with over 215 exhibitors collectively representing the “IP Communications Industry Food Chain.”
Based on feedback from past delegates, we know that one of the key benefits of attending the VON Conference is to put our delegates into a position where they can best take advantage of the business networking and development opportunities available only at our VON events. It’s a unique opportunity to quickly get up to speed with the state of the IP communications industry and enable oneself to best take advantage of related opportunities in 2005.
Register today and join the Spring 2005 VON community.

Posted by jeff at 07:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Another jetBlue Day!

Later this morning I will be flying on jetBlue for another West Coast adventure.

jetBlue has made flying into the Los Angeles area fun again with their service from JFK to Long Beach. “Hassle free access” is how I would describe it. Just minutes south of LAX, Long Beach airport makes some Caribbean airports look big. Fifteen minutes after landing it is possible to have your luggage, a cup of Kona coffee in hand and be walking over to pick up a rental car.

Next time you hear of someone flying from JFK to LAX, suggest to them that they give jetBlue into Long Beach a try. :-)

Posted by jeff at 06:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

December 19, 2004

pulver.Communicator: Multi-Party IM Chat Across Multiple IM Networks

I just read that Skype has introduced multi-party IM chat for Skype users.

This reminded me about a feature Jim Toga and I worked into the current build of pulver.Communicator. pulver.Communicator has the ability to host client-side multi-party IM chat sessions across multiple IM Networks (AOL/MSN/Yahoo!/ICQ).

I thought this was a cool feature to have, and as far as I know, pulver.Communicator is the only instant messaging client to offer this unique feature. Jim and I have been describing this as ‘heterogeneous IM conferencing’ but maybe that wasn’t descriptive enough. ;-)

If you know someone who spends a lot of time chatting using instant messaging, please suggest they give pulver.Communicator a try.

Since the launch at Fall 2004 VON, there have been more 45,000 downloads of pulver.Communicator and to date we have seen a steady daily growth in the online pulver.Communicator community.

Posted by jeff at 11:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

AOL looking for VoIP Engineers!

I just noticed that AOL posted a job on the pulver.com Jobs website. “This is a hands-on, Senior Network Engineer position that focuses on VoIP access...”

I have been waiting for AOL to launch their own “Vonage-like” service for quite some time – mostly because they just can. Looks like AOL is gearing up to launch something VoIP related of their own in 2005.

Posted by jeff at 08:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (29)

80’s Movie Squeals that were Never Made…

During what turned into a lazy day channel surfing on DirecTV and playing on-line poker, I couldn’t help but notice that a few of the movies that I first saw in the 80's which in some ways helped define a piece of the decade including: Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club and St. Elmo’s Fire were playing yet again.

Twenty years later I thought (if only for a moment) it would be interesting to explore where the protagonists from those movies may have ended up. Chances are that if those movies were written and produced in 2003, there would already be a sequel in the works. Back in the 80’s, the storylines just ended.

Given the growth of the channels on Cable TV, I would be surprised that treatments for a similar movie idea were not at one point already considered. If not, maybe 2005 will be the year to pitch the 20 year reunion of The Breakfast Club or whatever happened to the characters of St. Elmo’s Fire or a movie renamed: Forty Candles.

Posted by jeff at 08:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (23)

December 18, 2004

The end of Pedro Martinez's Career!

The Boston Red Sox 'curse' may have been the most famous curse to be recently broken, but one that also exists which is rarely discussed outside of New York is the curse placed on just about any free agent player who is signed by the New York Mets and/or traded to the Mets during their career.

In almost every situation, whenever a high profile person moved to the Mets, this was a foreshowing of the end of the person's career...and in almost every case the person's performance in New York never lived up to the expectations.

There are cases where once the person left the Mets their career resumed, but that is mostly the exception and not the rule.

This New York Mets Curse started back in the 1960's but in my mind it was the signing of George Foster in the 1970s who ended up introducing himself as: George "I don't play day games after night games" Foster and continued on in the infamous signing of giving up Lenny Dykstra for: Juan "I hate New York" Samuel. Over the years these kinds of trades and circumstances have continued on.

In the last 20 years, Keith Hernandez is the only player of memory who really seemed to get by this rule.

In addition, if one were to list the number of young players who came up over the years thru the Mets farm system and were let go prior to reaching their peak, the Mets could almost field an All-Star team, starting with names like: Amos Otis and Nolan Ryan.

I thought that Pedro offered a lot to the Red Sox and I for one was sorry to see him go.

My hopes are with him and his family that he can find a way out of the Mets contract and get back to Boston where he can resume his playing career ASAP.

Posted by jeff at 07:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (151)

December 17, 2004

Last day in the office for 2004!

Today will be my last day in the office for 2004.

Of all the years in recent memory, 2004 seems to have gone by the fastest with quite a few highlights along the way, the most recent being our 10th Anniversary party on Tuesday night that I'm only now feeling fully recovered from. ;-)

I will be on the West Coast with my family for the last two weeks of the year, trying to recharge my personal batteries.

Once I get back to New York on January 1st, the '2005 pulver.com World Tour' kicks into high gear with gigs in Las Vegas, Honolulu, Sophia Antipolis, France and Oslo, Norway already booked in January.

Guess this means I should try to relax a little while I'm away.

I do hope to get one of the books I've been working on to get published in 2005.

Posted by jeff at 08:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Another Sign of the Times...

...both Business Week and the New York Times are media sponsors for our 2005 VON Events!

In the history of our VON events, this is a pretty significant sign of how mainstream VoIP has become in 2004 and is a demonstration of the real-time morphing of the target demographic of our VON Events to include a segment of the mainstream business audience.

The fact that both Business Week and the New York Times agreed with this vision and approach say a lot on its own.

We look forward to working with both Business Week and the New York Times in 2005 together with our growing list of telecom industry trade magazines media sponsors in promoting the growth of the VoIP industry and our VON events in 2005 and beyond.

Posted by jeff at 08:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)

December 16, 2004

Bloggers: Watch out for Traceback Spam

During 2004 I have had to deal with blog comment spam from time to time. I’ve learned that this comes with the territory and I’ve learned how to best deal with this.

In the blogsphere I always thought tracebacks were a cool concept – at least as a means to keep track of others who are commenting on a specific posting.

This week I have had to deal with a different kind of spam – traceback spam.

While the easiest way to fight traceback spam is to disable traceback pings, it also takes a little fun out from maintaining a blog in the process.

Posted by jeff at 05:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (15)

Spring 2005 VON Conference Schedule Update

"Early Bird" registration for Spring 2005 VON Conference, the tradeshow for the VoIP Industry, is open.

Our exhibit floor is just about sold out, with just four 10x20 and three 20x30 booths remaining.

Below is a current snapshot of our confirmed speakers for Spring 2005 VON. Additional speakers are being confirmed daily, so please be sure to visit our schedule page to review the updated conference schedule. We are expecting a roster of over 300 speakers by the time Spring 2005 VON commences on March 7th.

---

Current Spring 2005 VON Speaker Roster

Hassan Ahmed, CEO & Chairman, Sonus Networks
Stewart Alsop, General Partner, New Enterprise Associates
Akif Arsoy, Product Manager, VoIP, VeriSign
Peter Badovinatz, Sr. Technical Staff Member, IBM Linux Technology Center
Steve Baechle, Director, Product Marketing, Newport Networks
Katherine Bagin, IP Telephony, Vice President, AT&T
Dennis Baron, Director, M.I.T.
Ed Basart, CTO, ShoreTel, Inc.
Stephan Beckert, Director of Research, TeleGeography
Steve Blumenthal, Sr. VP of Engineering, BridgePort Networks
Piotr Boni, Distinguished MTS, Verizon
Peter Brockmann, VP, Enterprise, Voice Solutions Marketing, 3Com
Jeff Carlisle, Chief, Wireline Competition Bureau, FCC
Jonathan Christensen, CTO and VP of Products, FaceTime Communications
Jeff Citron, CEO, Vonage
Alan Clark, President and CEO, Telchemy, Inc.
Dan Coole, VP, Strategic Development, OZ
Jim Crowe, CEO, Level 3 Communications
Ron Dobes, VP Product Mgmt. - Network Services, Savvis Communications
Laurie Donahue, Director of VoIP Offers, Lucent Technologies
Jim Dondero, VP, Wireline/Optical Marketing, Nortel Networks
John Egli, Carrier VoIP Marketing, Nortel Networks
Hossein Eslambolchi, President, Global Networking Tech. Svc. / CTO & CIO, AT&T
Jan Fandrianto, CEO, Sipura Technology
Christopher Fine, Vice President, Goldman Sachs
Mathew Frazer, VP, Business Development, Genesys/Alcatel
Dan Freedman, CEO, Jasomi Networks
Lynn Garrick, Director of Systems Engineering, Nortel Networks
Jeremy George, Director, Yale University
Chris Gilbert, CEO, IPWireless
Rubin Gruber, Founder & Chairman Emerritus, Sonus Networks
Ronald Gruia, Program Leader, Enterprise Solutions, Frost & Sullivan
Samuel Guenette, CTO, M5T
Teresa Hastings, Director, Product Engineering, MCI
Matt Holdrege, Director of Business Development for Europe, Middle East and Africa, Strix Systems
Jim Hourihan, VP, Marketing & Product Management, Acme Packet
Tom Howe, CTO, Versatel Networks
David Illing, Senior Vice President, Sylantro Systems
David Irwin, President, Irwin, Campbell & Tannenwald, PC
Jack Jachner, Senior Director, Alcatel
William Jahsman, Principal, Park City Consulting Group
Niraj Jain, Director, Business Development, Vocera Communications
Dave Jarzemsky, Rural Market Product Management, Nortel Networks
Timothy Jasionowski, CTO, Streamdoor
Ben Jenkins, Sr. Product Manager, Avaya
Opher Kahane, Co Founder and CEO, Kagoor Networks
Deepak Kamra, General Partner, Canaan Partners
Jason Katz, Founder and CEO, PalTalk.com
Phil Keenan, SVP & General Manager, Network Systems, Polycom
Susan Kennedy, Commissioner, California PUC
Tom Kershaw, Vice President, VoIP Services, VeriSign
Nancy Lambros, Principal MTS, SBC Laboratories Inc.
David Leach, Presence Solutions Evangelist, Siemens Communications
Peter Linder, Technical Director Wireline Networks, Ericsson
Walt Magnussen, Associate Director for Telecommunications, Texas A&M University
Robert Maher, Founder & CTO, Netrake
Doug Morrissey, CTO, Octasic
Alain Mouttham, CEO, SIPquest
Dick Notebaert, Chairman & CEO, Qwest Communications International
Alan Nunn, Chief Voice Architect, BT
John Oconnell, President & CEO, Kineto Wireless
Michael Pacifico, Director of Marketing, Cox Communications
Jeff Paine, Vice President, Strategic Marketing, UTStarcom
Itzik Parnafes, Co-Founder & VP, Products, Kagoor Networks
Robert Pepper, Chief of Policy Development, FCC
Jeff Phillips, Vice President, Virtela Communications
Don Price, CTO, Technical Director, Avaya
Jeff Pulver, CEO, pulver.com
Steven Raab, Director, DellOro Group
Andrew Randall, VP, Marketing, North America, MetaSwitch
Bill Rich, Co-Founder, SIP Foundry
Eugene Roman, Group President, Bell Canada
Brian Rosen, President, Emergicom
Gary Rubinoff, President & Managing Director, BCE Capital Inc.
Tony Rybczynski, Director- Strategic Enterprise Technologies, Nortel Networks
John Sculley, Venture Partner, Rho Capital Partners
Raj Sharma, President, NexTone Communications
Ingrid Simunic, Marketing Director, VocalTec Communications
Craig Southeren, Managing Director, Post Increment
Mark Spencer, President, Digium/Asterisk
Kelly Still, Product Mgr., ClientCare Contact Center Solution, Lucent Technologies
Gary Tauss, President & CEO, LongBoard
Ben Teitelbaum, Program Mgr, Voice & Integrated Communications, Internet2
Micky Tsui, VP & GM, Communication Systems Division, Avaya
Brough Turner, SVP & CTO, NMS Communications
Les Vadasz
Stef Van Aarle, VP Strategy and Marketing - Worldwide Services, Lucent Technologies
Douglas Van Houweling, President and CEO, Internet2
Scott Wharton, Vice President, Marketing, BroadSoft
Tom White, VP, Marketing, Voice Services, Comcast

Posted by jeff at 07:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (10)

December 15, 2004

Images from the pulver.com Party

Posted by jeff at 06:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

One Amazing Night: pulver.com 10th Anniversary Holiday Party!

Special thanks to the 300+ people who came out to help celebrate the 10th Anniversary of pulver.com with us last night at our gala black-tie gathering at the West Side Loft in New York City. Friends, Family and Alumni of past VON events were all in attendance and it truly was a night to remember.

Quite a number of the stars from the worldwide IP Communications industry joined us last night and it was an honor to share their company. I especially enjoyed the opportunity of sharing the feeling of a VON party with friends and family who never quite knew or understood what I’ve been doing during the past 10 years.

The Herding Cats from Seattle provided the entertainment and gave one of their best performances of recent memory. Thanks again to everyone who came out and celebrated with us last night.

Posted by jeff at 09:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

December 14, 2004

U2 joins the Class of 2005 in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

The 20th Annual Induction Ceremony at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame will be taking place on March 14th, 2005. Members of the class of 2005 include: U2, The Pretenders, Buddy Guy, The O’Jays and Percy Sledge.

Congratulations to the artists, to their families, to everyone in the music industry associated with these artists and to their fans.

As a patron of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, I look forward to attending the 2005 induction ceremony in New York City at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel.

Posted by jeff at 09:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Another Chapter in Jeff's Book on the Evolution of IP Communications Policy in the United States

Battle lines being drawn; nobody's right, if everybody's wrong . . .

Some ruminations on how competition might evolve in a broadband and
IP-enabled world:

This seems to be the year that issues are joined at the FCC, in Congress and
in the Courts -- issues that might have dramatic consequences on the future
of IP-based communications.

I've blogged a bit recently about such issues as the Supreme Court's review
of the Brand X cable modem controversy, the next iteration of the UNE rules,
and the recent Bell efforts to undo, or otherwise forbear from, the Computer
II and other Title II common carrier obligations. Each permutation of
conclusions in these proceedings could send us down dramatically distinct
paths with dramatically different consequences for carriers, ISPs, vendors,
ASPs and consumers. I cannot claim to "pre-cog" all the parallel universes,
but I would like to add some immediate fodder to further the discussion.
Perhaps, as Heisenberg postulated, my thoughts might, for better or worse,
affect the future. I believe I have only the best intentions to advance
IP-based communications, but, then again, Einstein's goal was to explore the
power of the atom, not to trigger the nuclear arms race.

But I diverge . . .

Now that UNE-P is no longer the cause du jour and now that the unbundling
rules are, perhaps, closer to final, I have little doubt that the FCC,
Congress, and other policymakers will, more vigorously, turn their attention
to what I view as the more forward-looking IP-based communications issues,
with an eye towards coming up with the right regulatory/deregulatory
structure that will best promote broadband deployment and maximize the power
of the Internet and IP technology.

Up until now, many members of the industry - be they Bells, cablecos, ISPs,
CLECs, ASPs, or forward-looking consumer advocates - have been speaking off
the same cheat sheet - the mantra being generally "Don't hamstring VoIP;
don't impose archaic legacy regulations on the nascent technology and
industry." I believe this is the year that the message becomes
significantly more nuanced, alliances splinter, and new battle-lines emerge.
This will be the year when we get a glimpse at whether we advance the
promise of IP-based communications and whether consumers will truly be able
to control their own communications experience.

On Wednesday, the FCC will adopt new rules establishing the unbundling
obligations of ILECs to CLECs. Intelligence indicates that these rules
(implementing the DC Circuit's mandated interpretation of the Telecom Act)
will curtail some CLEC access to ILEC network elements, although I suspect
reports of the death of the CLECs and the unbundling regime (at least as
applied to essential, loop facilities) are somewhat overstated. As I've
indicated in previous blogs, it seems to have been helpful for the emerging
VoIP industry to have a multitude of access options to reach end-users, and
there is little doubt that the CLECs have provided the most innovative and
cost-effective access, and might have propelled the Bells and cablecos to
deploy wholesale and retail IP-based products and services. To the extent
that the CLECs cannot continue to provide the VoIP industry with
cost-effective, quality access, this certainly won't promote CLEC-powered
VoIP deployment. Eliminating relatively cost-effective access to ILEC
network elements by CLECs could be a net loss to VoIP providers who lose
their innovative partners and intermediaries who have built the products and
services necessary to reach consumers. Conversely, eliminating the UNE
regime could be a net gain for VoIP ASPs, if regulators acknowledge that
without the aid of CLECs, VoIP ASPs and consumers will need a meaningful,
alternate guarantee that consumers can reach the Internet and avail
themselves of all it might offer, including innovative IP-based applications
such as VoIP, IM, presence, etc. On the third hand, to the extent that the
Bells truly view retraction of unbundling rules as marching orders to build
more robust, IP-capable, broadband networks, this could help increase the
ubiquity and robustness of broadband networks and IP-based communications.
You do your own math to determine whether the unbundling rules are a net
gain or loss to IP-based communications. I respect advocates on both sides
of this seemingly endless, irreconcilable debate.

Among the biggest problems confronting those who would promote a competitive
telecom environment is the "parity" issue. The Bells have (I would say
generally justifiably) argued that they should not be subjected to a more
onerous access regime than the cablecos, when competing for potential
broadband customers. For this reason, several potential proceedings if
resolved consistently, could have a net positive benefit on broadband
deployment and VoIP. If resolved inconsistently (or without some
recognition of a minimally-intrusive, access principle that could apply
uniformly across platforms), we could remain mired in an inequitable,
chaotic regulatory structure that would further delay or stifle broadband
and IP-based communications.

If the Supreme Court reverses the Ninth Circuit's Brand X decision that
cable modem service includes both a telecom and information service, then
the FCC might be free to conclude that both cable modem service and ILEC
broadband access services are simply information services not subject to
Title II telecom regulation. This would allow for consistent application
across platforms, but I would argue this is not necessarily the best result
for consumers or ASPs, particularly in the absence of an alternate Net
Freedom rule to supplant the current Computer II obligations. It seems to
me, the better consistent approach would be to acknowledge that broadband
Internet services, regardless of delivery platform, include a telecom
transmission component, which may be subject to a light regulatory touch,
while the applications riding the network are free of regulation.

I, for one, was a little confused when the FCC pushed the Solicitor General
and the Supreme Court to reverse the Ninth Circuit in Brand X. It seemed
much more logical for the FCC to accept the Ninth Circuit's decision that
cable modem (and by analogy ILEC provided broadband access services) include
both a telecom and information service (essentially tracking a layered
regulatory model - with some Title II regulation of the telecom transmission
layer and no telecom regulation of the application layer). To the extent
that the FCC felt it didn't need to regulate these broadband access
platforms, it could rely on Section 10 forbearance and decline to apply
Title II regulation where unnecessary or otherwise appropriate to promote
broadband deployment or advance the public good. Recent Bell petitions
demonstrate that this is probably a legally supportable process. Such an
approach would have seemed logical, if the FCC were committed to ensuring
that a thousand flowers could bloom on the Internet, while ensuring that no
one could exploit its control over telecom transmission bottlenecks.
Remember, we are not talking about a full-blown Section 251-type unbundling
regime, but general application of Section 201/202 telecom regulation that
would ensure nondiscrimination and curb monopolistic behavior.

If the Supreme Court upholds the Ninth Circuit's opinion in Brand X, and the
FCC rejects the Bell petitions to forbear from Computer II as applied to
broadband access services, we could be living in the Bizarro World where
Title II telecom regulations apply to cablecos when they provide broadband
Internet access services, but not to the ILECs when they provide Internet
access services. That would, ironically, flip the sides in the "parity"
debate.

Personally, I don't see what the big deal is in calling cable modem services
telecom services and imposing some light Title II regulation on all Internet
access services, regardless of platform. This does seem consistent with the
40-year history of the FCC's Computer Inquiry analysis, in which the FCC
attempted to ensure that there need not be regulation of computers and
computer applications, while ensuring that common carriers behaved fairly
and couldn't parlay their control over facilities and consumer into
dominance over computer applications. This would not compel regulation of
the IP-based applications that ride the telecom transmission, but could be a
valuable tool to ensure that consumers and companies harnessing the power of
the Internet might reach one another. Without this hook, I'm not exactly
sure how the FCC thinks it could guarantee such consumer access.

Obviously, many potential scenarios could play out over the next couple of
years depending on the interplay of so many proceedings.

I would like to point out that what is good for the CLECs, is not
necessarily what is good for the ISPs, and what is good for the ISPs is not
necessarily what is good for the ASPs and consumers. Obviously, these
communities have had historic alliances. But, as I have suggested above,
alliances are evolving, battle-lines are being redrawn, former allies might
emerge as adversaries and former adversaries might find overlapping goals
and new alliances. If the ISPs lose Brand X, isn't that conceivably good
news for the CLECs, who then become perhaps the only guarantor of open
access to consumers? If the CLECs lose the unbundling battles, couldn't
that conceivably be good for the ISPs or ASPs (at least if it encourages
Bell broadband deployment and if elimination of the unbundling regime
preserves the Computer II rules or are, otherwise replaced by rules that
ensure consumer access to the Internet? The bottom-line is that I don't
think anyone cannot honestly claim to see the future and determine that what
seems like an early victory for one segment of the industry might not
ultimately backfire and be its undoing. The CLECs had great orders from the
FCC on unbundling, which were ultimately reversed and remanded, resulting in
worse orders. Perhaps if the industry had not overreached, they might have
had a set of stable rules that were (perhaps not perfect), but were good
enough and could have withstood judicial scrutiny or not so severely
antagonized their reluctant wholesale providers such that a viable wholesale
model could have emerged that made both the ILECs and CLECs happy to
maximize the Bell network.

My inclination is not to choose sides in many of the battles that don't
directly affect the VoIP industry, although I would like a scenario that
produces the greatest amount of broadband deployment and choice.

But another part of me is forced to recall the moral obligation to support
those who have powerful forces attempting to do them in. One hypothetical
scenario for a competitive communications future plays out as follows:

First they came for the CLECs, but I wasn't a CLEC so I didn't care;
Then they came for the ISPs, but I wasn't an ISP, so I didn't care;
Then they came for the unaffiliated VoIP providers, and there was no one
left to care.

or:

First they got rid of the unbundling rules, but I didn't rely on UNEs, so I
didn't care;
Then they got rid of the Computer II rules, but I wasn't an ISP, so I didn't
care;
But then there was no rule in place to ensure fair, unfettered access to the
Internet, because there was no need to hide behind "Net Neutrality" and
consumer empowerment as the vehicle to abandon telecom regulation.

... and there were no companies left to fight the battle, and no rules in
place to ensure Net freedom, ... and consumers were none the wiser, because
they never saw what the future could have been.

It might be that IP technology changes the rules by which competition and
innovation might thrive in communications market. It might also be,
however, that once all the rules are stripped away, no one will care about
preserving even the most minimal of access principles that might ensure that
consumers may control their own communications experience. I think the idea
is to let a thousand flowers bloom at the application layer. For this to
occur, something -- not necessarily unbundling, not necessarily Computer II,
not necessarily ONA or CEI rules, but something must exist to ensure Net
Freedom.

The above are some of my initial impressions. I cannot claim at the moment
to state with certainty how the future will shape up under with so many
legal and regulatory issues still in play. All of our thinking will
undoubtedly evolve dramatically over the next months.

We all want ubiquitous broadband where every consumer gets great, affordable
service, and where our respective companies obtain triple-digit profits.
Frankly, we don't care much if our adversaries also obtain significant
profits. The problem is that some of these goals seem to be mutually
exclusive, particular given a limited revenue pool. We all, have different
conceptions, however, as to how to get as close as possible to this
unobtainable goal. And sometimes, a loss for an ally could be a gain for
us; by the same token, a gain for a former adversary, could also result in a
gain for us. My hope is that we develop a strategy that generally raises
the water level and allows as many boats as possible to rise with the tide.

I, at least, thought it was important to throw out a few of these ideas, if
only to fuel the debate. I welcome your thoughts...we are living in some
very interesting times.

Posted by jeff at 07:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

pulver.com 10th Anniverary Celebration Tonight!

Tonight in New York City around 300 friends of pulver.com from around the United States and from around the world (including: Austria, Canada, France, Germany, UK) are expected to join us in our celebration of the tenth year anniversary of the founding of pulver.com. The pulver.com domain was created on December 21, 1994 back at a time when I still worked on Wall Street at Cantor Fitzgerald Securities and when pulver.com was one of the first 'dot com' companies.

A lot has changed in the world of IP Communications during the past ten years and the next ten years ahead looks to be even more exciting.

I am looking forward to being the co-host of tonight's event.

Posted by jeff at 12:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

December 13, 2004

Internet2's SIP.edu now reachable to over 140,000 users worldwide!

Internet2 SIP.edu program now reaches over 140,000 users who can now receive VoIP calls at their university email address. Spanning campuses across the world, SIP.edu has been adopted by leading institutions including Yale University, University of Pennsylvania, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Columbia University, University of Hawaii, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Colorado State University and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zurich. Begun in March 2003, SIP.edu seeks to promote the convergence of email and voice identities, the rapid growth of SIP accessibility, and the widespread deployment of enterprise SIP servers to serve as learning platforms for schools and research institutions looking to experiment with new enterprise SIP services.

pulver.com is a proud member of Internet2 and applauds their SIP.edu initiative and Dennis Baron (it's fearless leader)!

Posted by jeff at 11:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Federal 9-1-1 Legislation Passage

During the course of 2004, pulver.com has worked closely with NENA regarding 9-1-1 and international enhanced emergency services access.

The positive image that has been presented to the world (industry leaders and 9-1-1 professionals working together to resolve issues) has and will continue to contribute to positive results.

One of those positive milestones was the passage last week of Federal E9-1-1 legislation, literally in the last minutes of the last Senate session of 2004. (An amazing 72 hours of drama leading to a successful conclusion in the final countdown.)

While most of the publicity about it will focus on its wireless E9-1-1 benefits, there will hopefully be major benefits for VoIP and E9-1-1 as we go forward.

While there is a need to immediately begin the process to seek actual appropriations in 2005 and to provide assistance in creating the new federal 9-1-1 policy office, this victory has shown that more is possible than most thought.

Congratulations to NENA for helping to make this happen!

Posted by jeff at 12:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

December 12, 2004

CQ Australia CQ Australia

In 2005 our international VON Events will be expanding into Australia with the launch of VON Australia 2005 which will be taking place in Sydney, Australia August 15-17, 2005.

At VON Australia we will be taking a hard look at the state of IP Communications in Australia and how these technologies are effecting communications services across: wireless, wireline and broadband communications from the perspectives of both service providers and enterprises.

At pulver.com we welcome the opportunity to get to know the Australian VoIP industry better and would appreciate community input as we start to work on the conference programe.

If you are interesting in having a voice at VON Australia, please feel free to email: jeffp@pulver.com.

Posted by jeff at 12:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Watching Vision become Reality: Kista, Sweden is THE Wi-Fi City with LBS Services!

About two and a half years ago, I first started to describe the concept of a Wi-Fi enabled city, which also offered Located Based Services (LBS) to its residents. It turns out that such a place really does exists and it happens to be: Kista, Sweden...just minutes away from Stockholm!

I spoke about the concept of a city like this in detail with some of the delegates at our 2002 Location Based Services Summit back in Seattle. I find it real interesting whenever a concept becomes a reality. :-)

On December 9th Kista Science City and Appear Networks announced the launch of an interactive city-wide context-aware wireless showcase located in Kista Science City, Stockholm.

I first visited Kista Science City in June, 1998 right after VON Europe '98. I look forward to visiting again during my next trip Stockholm and rediscover Kista Science City.

The Kista Mobile Showcase promotes mobile applications, solutions and services found in the Swedish high tech region, home to over 700 companies and more than 27,000 employees. The wireless deployment consists of 110 Wi-Fi access points distributed through out Kista Science City points of interest, including the Kista Gallerian (a shopping mall with adjoining subway station), IT University Campus, research buildings of Electrum and Wireless@KTH, and Kista Science Tower.

Their showcase features an interactive tour, which enables visitors to personally experience next generation mobile solutions and applications while discovering Kista Science City. Showcase visitors are provided a Wi-Fi enabled handheld device and the user's location is recognized and dynamically updated upon entering various Wi-Fi enabled zones located through out Kista, achieving indoor location detection accuracy not possible with GPS. Personalized location-based services automatically appear and disappear from the visitor's mobile device, according to his precise location. For example, as the user approaches the bank, stock quotes appear on his mobile device. Walking by the lunch court triggers a list of menus available from nearby restaurants. Upon entering the subway station an updated timetable becomes available.

Personally, I believe it is the demonstration of context-aware wireless services that is the key part of the technology the city is showcasing.

Other cities looking into deploying citywide Wi-Fi services should add a trip to Sweden as part of their project planning process.

Visit Kista Science City: where you can visit the future from the present past.

Posted by jeff at 09:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

LibreTel: Getting Noticed by CNET (and Leonardo and Andy)

Living on the road this week I didn't notice the CNET story about
LibreTel until first readings Leonardo's and Andy's blogs about the story.

In the story, Ben Charny from CNET explains the port-of-call
service by referring to 800 numbers. When looking at what Port-of-Call offers a consumer in a broadband enabled world, I can appreciate how that association could be made. The concept is similar but the reality is different.

Port-of-Call offers consumers with the ability to have a virtual telephone number from a number of cities around the world associated with an IP phone. The idea behind Port-of-Call was to help someone provide what appears to be a 'local presence' in a certain city, when in reality the IP phone that the number rings on can be anywhere in the world where there is broadband internet access. In telecom speak, this is an IP based foreign-exchange service.

One aspect of this service which was not explored was the fact that with the introduction of Port-of-Call, LibreTel is in effect disintermediating telephony communication services by separating inbound services from outbound services.
This of itself is pretty unique in the world of communications.

It was great to see CNET cover the LibreTel story. Hopefully other business writers will also discover Port-of-Call in the near future.

Posted by jeff at 12:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

December 11, 2004

My Recent DC Bar Talk - Recorded by Stig Hammond

Using just his Treo, Stig Hammond recorded my presentation and the follow-up Q&A from my talk at the DC Bar on Thursday, December 9th.

Posted by jeff at 03:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Future of IP Communications in the US will be decided in Washington D.C.

My take away from my recent visit to Washington, D.C. was that there are not enough of the “right people” whose company’s future is affected by tech policy currently engaged in Washington D.C.

While ignorance may be bliss, ignorance of the law (and related issues) is no excuse.

Many of the smaller companies involved in the IP Communications Industry do not have people in D.C. who lobby on their behalf. The time has come for this to change, or just suffer the effects.

For example, a bad decision on Brand X can and will have a ripple effect across the entire communications industry which will only be able to be fixed by a very significant lobbying effort and an Act of Congress. Amongst the possible casualties include the widespread growth of WiMAX.

Posted by jeff at 02:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Heart will be playing Spring 2005 VON!

Ann and Nancy Wilson, Heart will be performing at Spring 2005 VON on the night of Wednesday, March 9th in San Jose.

Heart was one of the bands I enjoyed listening to in the 80s, although I always enjoyed their rock songs over their other songs. I particularly really enjoyed listening to their cover of Led Zeppelin's Rock and Roll on Essential Heart when I picked it up a few weeks ago.

Those who know me may know that I happen to also be a pretty big fan of the husband of Nancy Wilson, Cameron Crowe and in my life of playing connect-the-dots, having Heart play VON gets me to one degree of separation. :-)

I do hope to find a connection to one day invite Cameron to give a keynote at a future VON conference...maybe talking about the effects of IP Communications in movie production.

Cameron Crowe and Nancy Wilson

I briefly met Nancy Wilson and Cameron Crowe at the 2004 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremonies and I am now looking forward to seeing the Wilson sisters perform at our private concert. :-)

This should be a real fun event!

Posted by jeff at 10:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

December 10, 2004

New look for pulver.Communicator

The home page for pulver.Communicator has a new look.

My hope is that we have simplified the messaging in the process.

Posted by jeff at 03:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

DC Bar: A CTLS Evening Gathering And Keynote with Jeff Pulver

Yesterday evening I had the honor of being the invited guest of the DC Bar for
a reception that their Computer and Telecommunications Law Section had. There were some really interesting people who attended the event last night, including some friends of pulver.com. During my talk I spoke about the blurring of communications and computing and the effects of Moore's Law on the Telecommunications Industry.

Below are some pictures from the event:

Julie Veach
Jonathan Frankel




Tom Richardson, "Attorney to the stars"

Posted by jeff at 07:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

December 09, 2004

Leaving for DC later today...

Tonight the DC Bar will be hosting: "A CTLS Evening Gathering And Keynote with Jeff Pulver."

I greatly appreciate the honor and look forward being in Washington, D.C. tonight for this event.

Posted by jeff at 07:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

LibreTel expands into: Brazil, Italy, Russia, Spain and adds Conferencing service

This week, LibreTel announced that they have expanded the coverage area for their "Virtual Number" PortofCall service and have added telephone numbers from: Brazil, Italy, Russia and Spain.

In addition, LibreTel also has just launched their innovative Libré-ation Conferencing service.

Posted by jeff at 07:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Emergency Calling in Europe: 112 Update

Back on November 8th NEENA (The European Emergency Number Association) announced that it has issued a complaint to the European Ombudsman against the European Commission for misadministration concerning the implementation of the European emergency call number 112. This is in response to what EENA considers unacceptable answer from the European Commission to its concerns.

Olivier Paul-Morandini, founder of the European Emergency Number Association (EENA) just send me an email containing the conclusions from the 2nd European 112 conference and exhibition which concluded last week.

"Conclusions of the 2nd European 112 Conference and Exhibition

Issues pertaining to the 112 service chain. The 112 should ensure for all European Citizens the fundamental right to the same high quality service in case of emergency. This should be a political objective of the European Union the achievement of which should be judged on the basis of results obtained and not on the basis of available means and resources. To this respect it is very encouraging the fact that already the EU co-finances projects submitted on the initiative of several Member States in view of establishing integrated systems. However, the total response time of emergency services in case of intervention should become a European standard as soon as possible. Furthermore caller location and multilingual response should also become standard services offered to citizens throughout the EU.

Technological issues. Most of the technologies already exist to support location enhanced 112 services (E112), both in the network and the control room. To implement them only the political will is missing. There are a range of network based solutions to wireless location that can provide alternative solutions and complement each other. Activities towards the implementation of advanced technological solutions should be facilitated or coordinated at a European level, BUT the drive and desire must come from each of the Member States. Furthermore for 112 to be adopted throughout Europe greater direction from the EU is required. Of course technology should not be the driver but the consumers should get what they want. There is a requirement for European training and standards on call handling. Again it is clear that accurate location information is required but implementation of this will create additional pressures on emergency services.

Issues pertaining to emergency services. The 112 constitutes an essential element regarding the management of big crises like the Madrid bombing. However the cornerstone for a better coordination is the interoperability between the emergency services. Given the presence of 12 different nationalities amongst the victims, the following are very important elements to ensure proper and timely response: existence of a common number to call, establishment of a European system of health cards, and the possibility for the multilingual response to emergency calls.

The main elements of the EENA's work program for 2005. EENA underlines the leadership vacuum which exists in the field of emergency communications, mainly because emergency services have not been organized at European level in such a way as to express their common requirements vis-à-vis the industry. EENA is ready to face the challenge and fill in this gap by becoming a central (final and professional) user platform for emergency communications. EENA will thus undertake during 2005 actions towards the accomplishment of this objective. Furthermore EENA will continue and reinforce activities related with the information of citizens by continuing the operation of the existing communications tools as well as by promoting its action for multipliers (namely the e-mergency project). EENA will also continue playing its role as a discussion platform for citizens, emergency services and the industry via its website and online discussion groups, its 112 Newsletter and by organizing the Third European 112 Conference & Exhibition in 2005. The Association will further intervene with all available means to the national and European Authorities (European Commission, European Parliament, Ombudsman, etc) by requesting firm action to be undertaken.

On the basis of the above the following priorities will be considered in EENA's strategic planning for 2005: the education of political authorities and of the public, the establishment of a non-partisan scientific committee (which will undertake the drafting of at least two «Best Practices Guides») and the establishment of a strategic alliance / partnership with professional user organizations."

Posted by jeff at 07:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Developments in the US ILEC-CLEC Front:

As expected, the FCC put the "Order on Remand" of the UNE Rules on "Sunshine Notice" late today, and will likely adopt the Remand Order next Wednesday. For those of you who are keeping score, this is the FCC's third (?) attempt to satisfy the DC Circuit's interpretation of the market-opening obligations of the '96 Telecom Act and to set forth the ILECs' obligations to make elements of their networks available on an unbundled basis to CLECs.

Coincidentally, early this week, CompTel/Ascent and ALTS announced that they have entered into an MoU with intentions of merging their two organizations. "Alternative Consent" is not one of the names in the running; We have suggested that the new organization be called "Competitive AsALTS." In any event, it looks like the "traditional" competitive telecom industry has decided to consolidate and try to fight on a united front. Personally, I will miss the independent voice of the facilities-based CLECs (although I will not miss watching many of them clinging on to an archaic access charge regime that has tended to hamper VoIP deployment). I think there is overwhelming recognition among the CLECs that UNE-P might not present a viable competitive strategy going forward, at least in the eyes of most regulators and the DC Circuit). As I have argued in the past, I believe the power of IP technology opens the door to more viable, sustainable and differentiated competition (see my prior blogs on "broadband parasites") as long as consumers can control their own access to the Internet and their own communications experience. I'm obviously pleased to see many of the competitive carriers offering IP-based services. To me this makes a lot more sense, then just offering rebranded ILEC POTS services at a 5% discount.

I guess we will see next week, or soon thereafter, what the wholesale competitive telecom landscape will look like over the next couple of years (or at least until the next challenge, vacation, remand, or stay of the unbundling rules). I truly wish there was a way that the ILECs and CLECs could get together to develop a viable wholesale relationship that could maximize the value of the telecom network, without incessant resorting to legal and regulatory infighting. We've got broadband networks to build and capitalize on and I think we could all use the combined resources and ingenuity of the ILECs and the CLECs, without wasting any more time in court and at the FCC, which should next return its attention to our regularly scheduled program, the subject of which is to empower consumers and enable innovators to develop the IP-based applications of the future.

Maybe in 2005?

Posted by jeff at 12:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

December 08, 2004

2005 Predications: Coffee Talk with Jeff Pulver

It seems to be that time of year again; the time for people to share their predictions for the year ahead. After reviewing the results from my foggy crystal ball, the following are my predictions for 2005.

1) 2005 will be the year VoIP in the USA crosses the “early-adopter chasm”.

2) Broadband penetration will begin to snowball in the US, but not at a pace fast enough to raise America’s mediocre global standing in broadband penetration.

3) While we will see the restart of VoIP IPOs, we will also see some VoIP startups burning-out due to lack of marketing funds and customer base … and vision.

4) 2005 will be the year of still more major carrier VoIP announcements, as well as very significant product announcements from major non-carriers (including software and Internet giants).

5) As the debate grows over the meaning and application of “Net Neutrality” and consumer empowerment, new battle lines and tangling alliances will form between and among carriers, vendors, application providers. Debate will grow over the continuing role for unaffiliated, non-carrier VoIP providers.

6) (a) The FCC will not establish an IP-Communications Bureau.
(b) The FCC will release an Order in the IP-Enabled Services Proceeding setting forth a broad hands-off approach for VoIP.
(c) The industry will spend several years sorting out what it all means.

7) Governments around the world will take a closer look towards regulating VoIP. VoIP providers will respond by stepping up efforts at industry-based solutions for many of the social issues confronting the industry (e.g., emergency response, lawful intercept).

8) Carriers that have not adopted a VoIP strategy by 2005 might not be around in 2007.

9) Wireless will continue to replace wireline at a faster pace.

10) ENUM continues to happen around the world and the US will continue to lag.

11) Open Source communications continues to gain momentum. The effects will be felt in 12-18 months

12) IM and incidental communications and applications (such as “presence”) continues to grow unregulated.

13) Universal Service will move to a connections-based system.

14) Access rates and inter-carrier compensation will trend down, although we will not yet see the long-anticipated unified intercarrier comp reform in '05.

15) Sides are further drawn as Congressional debate grows over the likely rewrite of the Communications Act of 20xx. We find out who our friends are and who was just giving lip-service.

16) If 2004 was the year of WiFi, then 2005 might be the year of Bluetooth. 2005 will see the emergence of the first dual, or multi-mode, phones capable of switching from WiFi to mobile wireless (and perhaps to landline).

Posted by jeff at 07:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

December 07, 2004

Happy Holidays from LGA Airport!

I took this picture at LaGuardia Airport last night.

Posted by jeff at 10:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

My Letter from the Finance Dept: Santa Monica, CA: The City is trying to Tax VoIP!

I’ve been away from the office for a couple of days and this morning, waiting for me on my desk in the office was a letter from the Finance Department of the City of Santa Monica, CA.

The subject: “re: Application of Utility Users Tax to Voice Using Internet Protocol (VoIP)”

The letter starts off:

“Dear VoIP Service Provider:

The City of Santa Monica is aware that an increasing number of communication and CATV companies are now providing, or are about to provide, telephone services through the use of voice using internet protocol (VoIP). The purpose of this letter is to provide your firm with general tax application information regarding the application of the City’s Utility Users Tax (UUT) to such services:

Taxability of VoIP Service

General Rule of Taxation. Sec. 6.72.020(a) of the City of Santa Monica Municipal Code requires telephone service providers to collect and remit a UUT to the City from all customers using telephone communication services with a billing or service address in the City. The current rate is ten (10)% and applies to all charges made, unless those charges are exempted or excepted from the federal excise tax (26 U.S.C. 4252.3)

Application to VoIP. We understand that VoIP service may come in different forms. Some VoIP services involve “private communication services”, which are typically “computer to computer”, and incapable of communicating with the general telephone public, and especially those phones on the public switches telephone network (PSTN). Most other VoIP service providers, however, offer their customers the ability to communicate with the general telephone public via the PSN and other networks. Since the federal excise tax (FET) specifically exempts “private communication services” [26 U.S.C. 4252(d)], the City’s UUT, like the federal excise tax, only applies to charges for VoIP services that permit communications with the general telephone public (which typically includes access to the PSTN). We understand that a number of VoIP service providers are already applying the FET to such services. This letter is formal notice that the City’s UUT should be applied to these services or well.

…
…

We understand that the VoIP service is a relatively new service, and that there may be many variations in the nature and billing of this service as it evolves over time. We also understand that the above information is general in nature, and may not answer a specific question you may have. You are encouraged to write us a letter describing the nature of the service and how it is proposed to be billed (e.g., a sample bill is very helpful) so that we may advise you.

If you provide any VoIP services, they are subject to the City’s UUT, and the tax must be remitted in accordance with the City’s UUT ordinance (copy attached). Also, to assist your company, you may with to refer to the tax remittance information on the following website: www.uuinfo.org. If you have any questions regarding this matter, please call David Carr at: (310) 458-8775.

Sincerely,

STEVE STARK
Director of Finance”

I find it pretty ironic that in the year that the FCC issued both the Pulver Order and the recent Vonage Order, that it would be a City and not “The States” that would be trying to in effect Tax (and regulate) the VoIP Industry!

I’m not exactly sure how or why the City of Santa Monica thinks they should tax Free World Dialup, but I welcome the dialog.

Posted by jeff at 09:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

pulver.Communicator User Base Continues to Grow…

Since the launch of pulver.Communicator in mid-October, we have seen the number of weekly downloads continue to grow. To date there have been over 40,000 downloads of pulver.Communicator which in turn has translated for us into a signficant growth of the number of people who are now part of our ‘always on’ community.

Posted by jeff at 07:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

December 06, 2004

Leaving Toronto for NY...

I just discovered that at the Toronto Airport that there is free Wi-Fi at the moment- at least in terminal 2 at Gate K.

As I result, I am leaving Toronto having caught up on an entire day's worth of email.

This will make my trip home a lot less stressful as I am no longer suffering at the moment from email anxiety. :-)

Posted by jeff at 07:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

An Unlimited “For Life” Calling Plan...

I've heard of lifetime memberships in clubs, but this is the first I've heard of a 'phone for life' prepaid calling plan. According to a story in the Boston Globe, for US$ 999, RNK Telecom is offering people an unlimited number of calls for their lifetime.

Given that RNK is a start-up, my question is whose lifetime this new pricing plan will be measured against: their customer's or the company's?

Posted by jeff at 06:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Dick Notebaert, CEO, Qwest Communications, will be at Spring 2005 VON!

Dick Notebaert, Chairman and CEO, Qwest Communications, has joined the growing list of confirmed speakers at Spring 2005 VON. Dick will be sharing his Industry Perspective on Tuesday, March 8th.

I am looking forward to hearing Dick share the Qwest VoIP strategy at Spring 2005 VON.

Posted by jeff at 06:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Worldwide VoIP Buzz Continues to Grow!

Recent stories in the business and consumer press have continued to help increase the worldwide VoIP Buzz.

At the moment, Google shows: 15,300,000 web hits and 4,620 News hits on the term VoIP.

This represents an amazing incremental increase of over 9,000,000 web hits since I last checked on October 17th.

Given this leap in the numbers, I believe that Google has changed the way they are accounting for the hits on the term 'VoIP' since I can not otherwise account for the growth in the number of hits in the weeks since Fall 2004 VON.

Posted by jeff at 06:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

December 05, 2004

Another week on the road…

Tomorrow morning I’m leaving early for a day trip to Toronto and on Thursday I will once again be in Washington, D.C., this time to attend: A CTLS Evening Gathering And Keynote with Jeff Pulver.

I’ve been looking forward to the December 9th event ever since I first learned the DC Bar is hosting a reception in my honor. Friends of pulver.com who would like to attend as our guests should email: Jonathan Askin.

This week the VON team is working on finalizing the Spring 2005 VON schedule. We are in the process of confirming the 300+ speakers who will be a part of our event.

Posted by jeff at 06:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Supreme Court Review of Cable Modem Classification Could Have Sweeping Effect over All Flavors of Broadband Internet Access Services and Platforms in the US:

On Friday, the Supreme Court granted cert. in the Brand X Case, and, this Spring Term, will likely review the regulatory classification of cable modem service. The Supreme Court's conclusions in this case could dramatically affect the course of the Internet and communications policy and competition, including some incidental effects on the US VoIP industry.

The Supreme Court's opinion will likely determine whether, and to what extent, unaffiliated Internet service providers are entitled to use the cable companies' networks to reach their subscribers. The Ninth Circuit had upheld a District Court decision reversing an FCC Order that had concluded that cable modem service was an "information service". Under the rejected FCC rule, cable modem service would not have been subject to telecom regulation, and therefore limited obligations would have been imposed on cable operators to make the cable plant available to competitive Internet access providers. The Ninth Circuit rejected the FCC's conclusions. The Ninth Circuit essentially acknowledged a "layered" regulatory model: the cable modem service includes both a regulated telecom transmission service upon which the unregulated Internet information service rides. The underlying telecom service would be subject to telecom regulation, while the information service riding the telecom transmission would not. Under this conception of cable modem service, it would seem that the current state of the law should be that unaffiliated ISPs should have access to end-users via cable modem. The reality, to date, however, seems to be that independent ISPs still don't have much access to cable customers except to the extent that the ISPs have negotiated access or the FCC or FTC have, otherwise, compelled access pursuant to merger agreements such as the conditions set forth in the AOL-Time Warner deal. I suspect that the Supreme Court granted the Brand X appeal with an eye towards reversing the Ninth Circuit, which would mean that cable companies would likely have few(er) obligations to provide access to unaffiliated ISPs.

An initial question, however, in the case under review is whether, regardless of the merits of the dispute, the lower court should have given greater deference to the views of the FCC. If the Court only reaches this threshold question, the Supreme Court might simply send the case back to the Ninth Circuit for reconsideration under a more deferential standard of review. That would postpone judicial resolution of the regulatory classification of cable modem service and its ripple effect on other flavors of Internet access.

I believe that the Supreme Court decision is likely to trigger heavy activity at the FCC beginning the Summer of 2005. The FCC has been waiting (and waiting) for final resolution of the Brand X decision before it tackles the regulatory classification of all varieties of high-speed Internet access services. Once the Supreme Court releases an Opinion (most likely June '05), the Commission will attempt (again) to categorize and reconcile conflicting approaches to Internet access across multiple platforms. Most obviously, the FCC will attempt to develop a unified regime governing Internet access for cable modem service and for Bell-provided DSL and other broadband pipes.

In the United States, the Bell companies are still regulated as common carriers in their provision of DSL service and are required to offer their transmission capacity to unaffiliated Internet service providers. If the cable companies are determined, by a final ruling of the Supreme Court, that their cable modem services are not subject to telecom "fair access" regulations, then the Bells will have a much stronger "parity" argument that their facilities also should not be subject to competitive access when offering broadband Internet access services.

Thus, this decision will likely affect the course the FCC takes in several pending proceedings regarding the regulatory treatment of Internet access services provided by the Bell companies, most recently raised in BellSouth and Qwest petition for forbearance from Computer II obligations and the deregulation of DSL and other broadband services. The FCC has also been holding in abeyance a couple other broadband proceedings pending a Supreme Court decision in the Brand X case.

This pending court case could become the 'red herring' for the continued funding of the many independent IP Communication Service providers that are playing the role of a 'broadband parasite' in the US.

From the perspective of an unaffiliated VoIP provider, I believe it will be most important for the FCC to keep in mind the "Net Neutrality" principles that both FCC Chairman Powell and FCC Commissioner Copps have been touting over the past year. If and when the FCC strips away some of the current safeguards ensuring competitive access to end-user customers who can only be accessed through a Bell company or cable last-mile bottlenecks, I think there had better be firm rules in place that would ensure consumers continued fair access to the Internet. If the Supreme Court determines that the cable companies do not have to provide access to competitive ISPs, we will see whether the regulators truly believe in net neutrality or whether they were just giving it lip service and using the concepts of "consumer empowerment" and "net freedom" in order to promote an unregulated free-for-all.

Posted by jeff at 08:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Cover Story in December 2004 Issue of Giving Magazine

pulver.com’s recent “Best Bet for the Cure” Charity Poker Tournament is the cover story in the December issue of Giving Magazine.

Special thanks go to both Danny Askin and Jonathan Askin for their contributions to the success of our first charity poker event.

I was glad to see that the Diabeties Research Institute was referenced prominently in the story.

Posted by jeff at 12:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

December 04, 2004

NARUC Looking for Common Ground with Jeff Pulver

One of the meetings I had while I was in Washington, D.C. this week was with NARUC, National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners. The meeting took place the day after they praised the recent progress the VoIP industry has been making in their 9-1-1 efforts

Given the recent FCC Vonage order coupled with Minnesota backing off this week, one could understand why NARUC would be interested in finding a common ground to work with the VoIP industry. I would like to believe that in 2005 this will be possible, if politics don’t get in the way.

I believe we can find a ‘common ground’, a place where everyone can agree to agree on some basic points and principals. However, given the diverse backgrounds on where the various NARUC State Regulators would be coming from, it may be easier to agree on which things we don’t agree about, but that would be in some ways progress too.

I left the meeting with NARUC believing this was possible. Nothing is Impossible.
I hope to explore this further at the Winter NARUC meetings, if not before.

Posted by jeff at 09:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Meet Roscoe Pulver

On the Internet, one does not know whether you are a dog or a person.

To help reinforce this point, last week I ordered Roscoe his own $25 holiday gift VISA debit card so that he could do a little holiday shopping. When I ordered the card, I didn’t see any fine print which asked whether or not the recipient of the card was a human or not.

Roscoe looks forward to shopping with his new card. :-)

Happy Holiday Shopping!

Posted by jeff at 09:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

December 03, 2004

Next Trip to DC - December 9th

After spending 24+ hrs in Washington, D.C., I am once again back home in New York, in need of a 'weekend battery recharge.'

I will be making my last planned trip of the year to Washington, D.C. next week to attend the DC Bar Association's "A CTLS Evening Gathering And Keynote With Jeff Pulver" on December 9th.

Friends of pulver.com who would like to attend the DC Bar event as our guest should contact Jonathan Askin to be put on to our guest list.

Posted by jeff at 05:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

December 9th Reception Program: A CTLS EVENING GATHERING AND KEYNOTE WITH JEFF PULVER

District of Columbia Bar
Computer and Telecommunications Law Section
Presents a Reception Program

A CTLS EVENING GATHERING AND KEYNOTE WITH JEFF PULVER

Please join your friends and colleagues for an after-work social event. Enjoy light refreshments, renew your acquaintences and meet new members of the Section, and hear a keynote address by Jeff Pulver. Jeff is the founder of pulver.com – a collection of communications and computing enterprises including the VON conferences, Free World Dialup Internet communications services, and VON magazine.

Date: Thursday, December 9, 2004

Time: 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm

Location: 21 Hundred Restaurant, Westin Embassy Row, 2100 Massachusetts Avenue, NW (DuPont Circle)

Cost: $25.00 Section Members and Subscribers

$40.00 Non-Section Members

$25.00 Government and Nonprofit Employees

District of Columbia Bar

REGISTRATION FORM

Reservations are held for 20 minutes after the slated event start time.

No phone reservations will be accepted. Payment must accompany registration to be processed. *

Fax to:

December 9 Reception
202-824-1877

D.C. Bar Sections Office
Credit card payments only

Mail to:
1250 H Street NW, 6th Floor
Washington, DC 20005-5937

Must be received at least 24 hrs prior to event.

A CTLS EVENING GATHERING AND KEYNOTE WITH JEFF PULVER

Cost: $25.00 Section Members and Subscribers

$40.00 Non-Section Members

$25.00 Government and Nonprofit Employees

Please reserve _________ space(s). Enclosed is my payment of $_________________.

Method of payment (no purchase orders please):

[ ] Check made payable to the D.C. Bar. Check No. ___________________________

[ ] MC [ ] VISA Credit Card Acct. No. __________________________________ Exp. ________

Name ________________________________________________ D.C. Bar No.______________________

Address __________________________________________ City/State/Zip _________________________

Phone No. _______________________________ Fax No. _______________________________________

If you require a physical accommodation, please contact the Sections Office at 202-626-3463 or e-mail sections@dcbar.org.

*For complete registration policies, please visit www.dcbar.org/inside_the_bar/departments/sections/policy.cfm.

19-00-48/$25/$40/$25

Posted by jeff at 09:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

James Seng visits pulver.com

A few days ago, blogger James Seng who lives in Singapore visited the
pulver.com offices in Melville New York as a stop enroute to attending the ICANN meeting this week in South Africa.

I enjoyed meeting with James and catching up on some of his activities.

I look forward to seeing him again in the near future.

James Seng and Jeff

Posted by jeff at 08:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A Fun time at the FCC Chairman’s Dinner

Last night pulver.com hosted our first table at the 18th annual FCC Chairman’s Dinner.

The dinner represented a who’s who amongst Washington D.C. Telecom Lawyers and it was great to catch up with some of the people I have met in my trips to DC over the past couple of years.

Having never attended one of these dinners in the past I didn’t know what to expect and I ended up enjoying the experience of just being there. I particularly enjoyed the Chairman’s parody interview with James Lipton, host of Bravo’s “Inside the Actors Studio.”

Below are some pictures from last night’s event:

Posted by jeff at 03:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

December 02, 2004

Trying again to get to Washington, D.C.

Later this morning I will once again take the Delta Shuttle to Washington, D.C. with the hope of actually landing in Washington. ;-)

This afternoon I will be catching up with some of the trade associations I've become more friendly with during the year and tonight pulver.com will be present at the FCC Chairman's Dinner.

Posted by jeff at 08:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

New Era of VoIP Regulation in Israel

I reviewed the recent decision declared by the Ministry Of Communication (MOC) in Israel.

Israel has adopted new rules governing the provisioning of VoIP services.

These new rules mean that in Israel, "Broadband Parasites" will be free to continue to take advantage of Israeli broadband connectivity to provide VoIP services. There will be no "access charges" for delivering VoIP services over third party broadband lines.

I am pleased to see, first off, that Israel has determined not to require licensing or other social and economic obligations on P2P VoIP networks. I assume this means that Free World Dialup is free to continue service in Israel without any fear of regulation. However, it seems Israel has decided to regulate "connected" VoIP services (those that connect to Israel's public switched telephone network.) The MOC will issue special local and international licenses for VoIP to any operators that meet basic demands.

I have some concerns about the licensing obligations for foreign VoIP providers. If these administrative hurdles are in ANY way onerous, VoIP providers might tend to forsake Israel for more fertile, more inviting regulatory environments. If, however, the Israeli certification procedures are more ministerial and relatively burden-free, Israel might prove, once again, the lead the way in advancing and promoting new technologies and services. But, as my antipathy for being subjected to 50 US state jurisdictions should suggest, I can only hope that one day in the future the VoIP industry should not have to be subjected to 200+ national certifications.

Posted by jeff at 07:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

December 01, 2004

Phil Hellmuth now doing Reality TV!

My friend Phil Hellmuth sold his Reality TV show to the Game Show Network this week.

Phil is an "Executive Producer" and creator of the show among with Bob Soderstrom and Andy Bellin.

Phil will star in it along with a top female poker player. While it is not Fox or MTV/VH1, I think it is very cool that it is going to air.

Congratulations Phil!

Posted by jeff at 09:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

My Interview with The Broadband Daily

Andy Abramson recently interviewed me and during the interview we explored the present future of the VoIP Industry.

The interview was published today in The Broadband Daily: Is Jeff Pulver really Mr. VoIP

Posted by jeff at 02:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Back from the flight to nowhere…

Earlier today I tried to take the Delta Shuttle from LGA to Washington DC so that I could attend the 2004 ALTS Conference where I was scheduled to be a speaker this afternoon.

The flight took off almost on time but after 20 minutes into the flight the pilot announced that we were turning around and after 35 more minutes we landed back at LGA. Turns out that the cross winds at Regan Airport in DC were just too much to deal with.

At the moment I’m just glad to be home…

Tomorrow I will try once again to get to Washington, D.C.

Posted by jeff at 02:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Leaving for Washington, D.C.

Later this morning I will be leaving for Washington, D.C., and I will be speaking at Dec 1 - ALTS 2004 Business and Policy Conference. Tomorrow I will be a guest at the Chairman's Dinner.

I'm looking forward to this trip to D.C.

Posted by jeff at 09:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

VoIP Leaders Announce Significant Progress on 9-1-1

Marking the one year anniversary of the original VON Coalition-NENA agreement on 9-1-1, the VON Coalition released their survey responses from 14 leading VoIP providers who either signed the initial VON/NENA agreement or are VON Coalition members and who are providing a VoIP replacement phone service for residential customers.

Summary of Key Findings:

- 100% of respondents are offering a 9-1-1 service that ensures
that when a customer dials 9-1-1, it will get routed to a designated
PSAP.

- 60% are currently offering a VoIP service that provides E9-1-1
access today with automatic call back number and location information to
emergency call centers like traditional fixed wireline service -- with
the remainder expecting to either implement this type service within a
year (30%), or roll out new services as the next generation (I2) service
is developed (10%.)

- 56% provide the capability to route calls to the 10 digit number
for the PSAP (Note: Several companies provide both a 10 digit solution
for nomadic users, and an E-911 service for fixed users).

- 63% provide 9-1-1 as a standard feature with their service (50%
for fixed users, 13% for fixed and nomadic users.)

- Of agreement signators, 75% of retail providers already collect
and remit state and local 9-1-1 fees for VoIP customers, while 25%
indicate they will when/if they are provided access to incumbent trunking
and other databases.

- 100% will adopt new more advanced 9-1-1 solutions (I2) within a
year after standards and solutions are developed -- 63% immediately, and
38% within 6 to 12 months.

- 100% inform customers about the level of 9-1-1 service provided,
and 75% also inform the emergency response centers (either directly or
indirectly) about their approach to 9-1-1 service.

- More than a thousand user 9-1-1 calls have been successfully
delivered to emergency personnel since December 1st 2003 when the
agreement was signed.

- 100% believe that when fully implemented, IP based 9-1-1
solutions can be more robust than the solutions provided by today's
network and can provide more advanced emergency solutions that can make
our country even safer.

Posted by jeff at 01:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Looks like Israel may try to Regulate VoIP...

Yesterday I received the following email from a friend:

"...the local Minister of Communications announced today that only companies with a license will be able to offer intl VoIP services in Israel. Not only that - you can not offer only VoIP you have to offer full service to all the population. That is why the local reseller for Vonage offers USA unlimited for $45!

On local service - he was more liberal and will allow companies to offer limited service. This is definitely a big step back for us!"

If this turns out to be true, I would have to agree.

Posted by jeff at 12:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)