Coordination through the Metaswitch press people (Engage PR) is suggested, but not required.

There’s also an invite-only event where to go out to Mike Tyson’s [...]]]>

I’ll be at Metaswitch Forum in Las Vegas from October 3 through October 6, so if you’re looking for an opportunity to brief face-to-face, this is it.

Coordination through the Metaswitch press people (Engage PR) is suggested, but not required.

There’s also an invite-only event where to go out to Mike Tyson’s house at 3:30 AM in the morning and try to see his tiger. 

SBC leader Acme Packet (www.acmepacket.com) used to have a very good PR firm.  I got regular briefings [...]]]>

Anyone who KNOWS me, really knows me, knows that I get annoyed at PR firms.  I thought I had mellowed in my old age and really hadn’t been set off.  Then I get an email today…

SBC leader Acme Packet (www.acmepacket.com) used to have a very good PR firm.  I got regular briefings at trade shows from the product manager(s) when I was writing for VON and the other publications I was associated with, occasionally got quality time with senior level executives who provided further insight into the thinking and personality of the company.

About a year ago, Acme switched PR firms. And suddenly everything just stopped.

No press releases, no regular briefings, na-da.

If memory serves, the last time I had a briefing with Acme was probably a year ago, at Metaswitch Forum.  I met with Acme’s new VP of Marketing, complained that 1) the new PR firm had sent out some generic pitch written by a just-out-of-college “associate” that made it sound like I didn’t know the first thing about Acme and 2) Then stopped sending me press releases at all.

Fast forward to today. I get an email from one of the execs of above-mentioned PR firm who wants to set up a briefing with Acme because a few weeks ago I wrote a story about Metaswitch’s (www.metaswitch.com) Permeta SBC and now wants to have a “conversation.”

And…“We know we haven’t had the opportunity to speak with you in awhile, apologies for that in advance.”

NO, you didn’t CREATE the opportunity, so now you’re starting cold after Acme has done a whole bunch of things to build up the company over the past year. Newsworthy things.  Things that would have been appropriate for at least two of the publications I contribute to.

Acme Packet is no slouch. I would wager they are paying anywhere between $5,000 to $10,000 (or more) per month for this PR firm to represent them. So let’s break this down–

1) When new PR first gets the account a year ago, it gets a rookie wage-slave to send out some lame-ass pitch in an email blast, rather than taking 5 minutes to make a list of people who have written about Acme over the past 24 months and then taking a more personal approach. 

I may not love Microsoft, but its PR firm does its homework in spades.  Never would have done a bush-league stunt in the first place.

2) After a month, it becomes clear I’m not getting press release in email. I complain. NOthing happens.

3) Today, I get an email that comes over/occurs because I’ve written a story about Metaswitch’s entry in to the SBC marketplace.

I start writing about potential competitors to Acme and suddenly the PR firm wants to offer a “conversation.”  After a year.

Hmm, in the time since Acme Packet’s PR firm has set up a briefing or sent out a press release NEARLY A YEAR, the company has–

a) Been named by Fortune among the world’s 100 fastest growing public traded companies

b) Added some executives, changed others (Congrats on the promotion Seamus! Your PR firm didn’t tell me…)

c) Racked up all kinds of record revenue and earnings over the past number of quarters

d) Expanded its headquarters

e) Enhanced its platforms to do hardware-based transcoding

f) Adding new high-end-carrier grade platforms…

g….

Seriously, do I have to go on? Acme Packet has obviously done a lot of things since October 2010.

Emailing press releases and making an occasional phone call/inquiry to writers is what PR firms are supposed to do. 

Showing up at my doorstep because I write something about a potential competitor’s entry into the marketplace after a year doesn’t win anyone any points.

*** UPDATE at 2:45 PM ET***

PR is as much about ongoing relationships as it is about news.   I’m not talking about fancy dinners or brown-nosing, I’m talking about a level of comfort and steady involvement/engagement between a PR firm and the media. 

Uh hmm.

Now I’m nothing but an uncivilized American, but even I know that when we talk about the power of “M,” we’re talking James Bond’s “M.”   Even Wikipedia has “M” listed as James Bond!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M_%28James_Bond%29

Take your [...]]]>

Theme for the upcoming Metaswitch Forum 2011 in Las Vegas is:  The Power of “M.” 

Uh hmm.

Now I’m nothing but an uncivilized American, but even I know that when we talk about the power of “M,” we’re talking James Bond’s “M.”   Even Wikipedia has “M” listed as James Bond!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M_%28James_Bond%29

Take your pick, either old-school Bernard Lee M or new school Dame Judi Dench. 

I prefer the new school M because she’s never taken any guff from Brosnan or Craig, but it’s a very, very narrow divide, since Bernard Lee is a tough act to follow.

August 8, Gigaset reseller/press event, Dallas, TX

A quick overnight trip, no chance for briefings other than with Gigaset.

IT EXPO West 2011, September 13-15, 2011, Austin, Texas. 

TMC is scheduling a press day on Monday, [...]]]>

Have just firmed up my travel schedule for the next three months–

August 8, Gigaset reseller/press event, Dallas, TX

A quick overnight trip, no chance for briefings other than with Gigaset.

IT EXPO West 2011, September 13-15, 2011, Austin, Texas. 

TMC is scheduling a press day on Monday, September 12, starting at noon.  I’m also moderating two (2) panels at the event–

“Why Video is a Must for Enterprise Communications” – Tuesday, September 13, 12:30 PM to 1:15 PM.

“Evolving Interconnection – From TDM to IP to IMS Peering” – Wednesday, September 14, 3:00 PM to 3:45 PM.

Metaswitch Forum 2011, October 3-6, 2011, Bellagio Hotel, Las Vegas

I’ll be in from Monday afternoon local time through Thursday morning, so there’s plenty of open time for briefings.

The company opened up a regional office in Singapore at the beginning of June, complementing its existing operations in [...]]]>

At the company’s annual user meeting, Metaswitch said it was going to expand around the globe.  Over June, the company made a series of announcements to underline its expanded role in the Asia Pacific region.

The company opened up a regional office in Singapore at the beginning of June, complementing its existing operations in Australia, Guam and Hong Kong, along with “partner activities” in several other countries in the regions.  Metaswitch says it has customers in eight countries in the area, so the regional office will service as a training center for partners and customers.

At CommunicAsia2011, Metaswitch announced Chunghwa Telecom would deploy the Metaswitch Service Broker to deliver services across both its legacy and IMS networks on a single platform.  Subscribers will get services on any network at the same time without compromising IMS capabilities.

In addition, Metaswitch announced customer wins in Australia and the Philippines.   CallStream Communications, a new Australian telecommunications company formed by Telco Consolidators Group, will launch Metaswitch Hosted Business Services to small and medium-sized businesses across the country. 

In partnership with Pastels Inc, Metaswitch now has four customers in the Philippines.  New additions announced are General Telephone and Irga Telephone, family-owned incumbent operators that are modernizing their networks and will offer next-generation services to their subscribers.

The SSR is a purpose-built platform built to scale and designed to support 10 million BHCA in stateless, transaction stateful and call stateful modes, allowing [...]]]>

Out at Mobile World Congress last month, Metaswitch Networks introduced the Metaswitch SIP Session Router (SSR). It will be available directly from Metaswitch and through an OEM agreement

The SSR is a purpose-built platform built to scale and designed to support 10 million BHCA in stateless, transaction stateful and call stateful modes, allowing operators to provide different levels of service across a SIP signaling network domain. 

Metaswitch is positioning the product to allow mobile operators and others to be able to scale up SIP traffic according with the coming all IP onslaught of LTE. The SSR is tightly integrated with Metaswitch’s service assurance server for all that good QoS and network monitoring goodness.

While the software won’t officially debut until early 2011, several CounterPath “partners” (i.e. customers) are already in the process of bringing [...]]]>

CounterPath (www.counterpath.com) has announced that the next release of its Messaging Convergence Gateway (MCG) 2.0 will give wireline operators the ability to extend VoIP and messaging services over the top of mobile networks.

While the software won’t officially debut until early 2011, several CounterPath “partners” (i.e. customers) are already in the process of bringing the solution to market.  The platform will provide single-number reachability for voice IM and SMS across an operator’s existing wireline VoIP network and on feature phones, smartphones or tablets from any mobile operator.

The laundry list of features includes (yes, I’m cribbing from the press release directly )–

• One-Number Accessibility
• Single-Number Communications – In addition to handling inbound communications, wireline mobility services lets users initiate conversations with their contacts using their new “single” number. Users can initiate voice, Instant Messaging, and SMS conversations using their feature phone, smartphone or SIP-enabled applications on their PC.
• Wireline SMS – Mobile workers and other business users now can use their main number to receive and send SMS messages.
• Fixed Mobile Convergence Savings and Convenience – When consumers are using their smartphone or PC at home or in a Wi-Fi hotspot, calls to their wireline VoIP number ring their VoIP client, minimizing phone tag.
• Network-Agnostic Flexibility – Wireline mobility services works with any mobile phone on any wireless network. This industry-exclusive feature gives consumers and business users more flexibility to switch devices and operators to get the best deal or new device, all without disrupting their reachability. No client software is required on the handset, allowing it to work even with entry-level feature phones and any mobile operating system.
• Fast, CapEx-Free Implementation – ITSPs and wireline VoIP operators can quickly and cost-effectively add wireline mobility services into their existing offerings because it integrates easily with their existing network equipment. eliminating the need for expensive forklift upgrades. Operators also can roll out service quickly because they don’t need to first establish a relationship with a mobile operator. Their customers enjoy the same fast, cost-free implementation because they don’t have to replace their PC, wired deskphone or mobile phone to begin using the new features that wireline mobility services enables.

I’ve been wondering how long it was going to take to see SMS “backfitted’ to the PSTN in a large-scale fashion.  Looks like a couple of carriers will show up with wireline SMS.

I also have to wonder if these sorts of features will “appear” next to MetaSwitch product offerings in the future, and if so, how so. Hmm… or Metaswitch will just up and buy/reverse merger with CounterPath down the road.  Maybe.

Yes, the Bellagio, I’m looking at the email now.  Originally, the week of September 9 had been floated along with the Cosmopolitan Las Vegas as the [...]]]>

Dates and a location for Metaswitch Forum 2011 have been announced.   The event will be October 3-6, 2011, at the Bellagio Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. 

Yes, the Bellagio, I’m looking at the email now.  Originally, the week of September 9 had been floated along with the Cosmopolitan Las Vegas as the location, but with the caveat that the “contract hadn’t been signed” yet.

Have no idea why the venue and dates were shifted, but suspect the Bellagio might have come up with a much better deal rather than the Cosmo’s over-the-top “Just the right amount of wrong” TV ad.  (Then again, I’m still trying to figure out why all the wildlife seem to be roaming the halls – you don’t find a deer in the middle of the desert.)

While Vegas’ recession “no-go” status has faded, the city’s hospitality industry is scraping for every dollar it can get.

I have corrected. Maybe you guys can do a PowerPoint slide at the end [...]]]>

I have received a note from the Meta-people that Metaswitch Forum will be the week of September 19th, not the week of the 9th.  And a remind the contract with the Vegas hotel is still pending, not yet signed.

I have corrected. Maybe you guys can do a PowerPoint slide at the end of the presentation with a big font for those of us absentminded that confuse the 9th and the 19th at the end of a long week.

Come to think of it, there’s a whole list of demands, er, suggestions I need to compile for next year.

I also need to compile the “Top 5 reasons not to f*** with the Scots” list and submit it for presentation next year.  So far, I’ve got William Wallace and Sir Sean Connery (http://www.seanconnery.com/biography/). 

You know, Sir Sean would make a great keynote…

Data point one comes from 8×8’s (www.8×8.com) annual shareholder meeting presentation on August 31, 2010.  Slide [...]]]>

While Wall Street and the mainstream media have become, well, bored of Voice over IP (yes, VoIP), two of the most financially successful companies in the space say that IP voice’s greatest potential has yet to come.

Data point one comes from 8×8’s (www.8×8.com) annual shareholder meeting presentation on August 31, 2010.  Slide 5 of the deck (data from 2008 Atlantic ACM) shows that Business VoIP is only a $1.6 billion business – with circuit-switched business voice at $40 billion.

8×8 reported that its last quarter (ending June 30, 2010) of $16.8 million was the largest quarterly revenue figure in the company’s 23 year history.  Further, 8×8 reports it has both generated net income in 10 of the last 11 quarters and increased cash and cash equivalents 11 of the last 12 quarters.

On June 30, 2010, the company had more than $18 million in cash and cash equivalents and no debit.  Topping it all off, the company repurchased nearly 500, 000 shares during the month of August and plans to buy back another $3 million shares.

Total business customers at the end of June was over 21,000; going back two year to June 2008, that number was a hair short of 12,000 – in two years through a down economy, 8×8 has nearly DOUBLED their business customer count.

Average revenue per business customer took a hit between September 2008 ($220) – when the economy went to hell – but is now currently on the upswing, between $205 and $210.

Data point two is from the “Define your Decade” folks: Metaswitch sees a big opportunity as carriers in many cases just start to migrate out of TDM to an all-IP world.    Over the next two years, the company’s expansion motto is “Going Global, going mobile.”

Metaswitch doesn’t need to rush into an IPO; it’s got enough cash and profitability to fund its expansion at a steady pace on a financially solid basis and its investors are in not in a dot.com hurry.  The company will ultimately go public, but it is not going to happen in the next 12 month is my bet.

When Metaswitch does go public, it will do so because it will need liquid stock to facilitate other mergers.  But there won’t be a lot of those, because of the company’s core values; Metaswitch will want the “right” fit in terms of supplementing/adding to its existing product lines.

Bottom line here is that there are two very financially successful companies in the VoIP space who are bullish on the IP voice future.  And their fortunes are likely to increase as 1) Businesses look for healthy firms for services and products 2) Everybody migrates to IP communications and 3) Other VoIP/IP communication firms start to lose customers due to financial woes and bad service.