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. 

Sipera says the E-SBC can deployed in as little as two hours for typical implementations and can scale from 10 to 10,000 concurrent sessions.  Features include [...]]]>

Siper Systems (www.sipera.com) has introduced an E-SBC (Enterprise Session Border Controller) appliance, designed for SIP trunk termination and including a VoIP integration module for rapid installation and implementation.

Sipera says the E-SBC can deployed in as little as two hours for typical implementations and can scale from 10 to 10,000 concurrent sessions.  Features include the SIP Trunk Integration Module (STIM), an interoperability framework to simplify the interface with enterprise UC servers and IP PBXes and a “simple” upgrade path to implement the full Sipera UC-Sec security appliance to get VoIP and UC firewalling, plus protection against VoIP toll fraud and UC intrusion.

The product is available today and the company says it’sas little as10 percent of the cost of “market-leading carrier-focused SBCs” (i.e. Acme Packet’s product).

The company says the new capabilities target a growing market for a range of IP-enabled services at the enterprise, including SIP trunking, Hosted IP-PBX, remote extension, and contact center and conferencing services.

AudioCodes says the solution addresses the [...]]]>

AudioCodes (www.audiocodes.com) has rolled out Enterprise Session Border Controller (SBC) capabilities for its Mediant platforms.

The company says the new capabilities target a growing market for a range of IP-enabled services at the enterprise, including SIP trunking, Hosted IP-PBX, remote extension, and contact center and conferencing services.

AudioCodes says the solution addresses the needs of users seeking a combination of media gateway with SBC, as well as users who want stand-alone SBCS.

Goodness is expected in seamless SIP [...]]]>

Among the news I’m catching up on from IT EXPO East 2010 is the team up between Dialogic and Ingate to build Ingate’s SIP Trunking software module into a new enterprise border element designed to connect “virtually any” (well, it is virtual…) SIP trunk with virtually any PBX.

Goodness is expected in seamless SIP trunk deployments in legacy TDM and hybrid PBX environments, as well as new SIP-based PBX systems. Ingate’s SIP trunking software module provides enterprise session border control (SBC) along with advanced routing capabilities for connecting SIP trunks to enterprise networks and branch offices by using Ingate’s proxy-based traversal and security technology. The software is also designed to resolve interop issues between service provider SIP services and the SIP-based systems being deployed inside corporate data networks.

Dialogic’s contribution is media gateway technologies to provide the protocols and interfaces necessary to connect to a wide variety of legacy phone and network equipment, both TDM and IP. The new enterprise border element from Dialogic will combine the functions normally found in a media gateway and an enterprise session border controller into a single product.

Dialogic plans to make a first set of enterprise border elements available later this year, with configurations offering SIP trunking, legacy PBX connectivity through the usual suspects (PRI/E1/T1 and ISDN BRI).