Cbeyond Asks FCC for Mandatory Wholesale Optical Access

Cbeyond has the Federal Communications Commission to reverse its rules on wholesale obligations for fiber-to-customer networks. On copper access networks, competitors have rights to buy wholesale access. The FCC has ruled that on new fiber-to-customer networks, competitors have no similar rights.

Predictably, incumbents say the current rules should remain in place, which allow any voluntary wholesale deals, but do not require incumbents to offer wholesale access. The rules are consistent with rules that apply to U.S. cable companies, which likewise have no obligation to sell wholesale access to competitors.

The Telecommunications Industry Association  and the Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) Council have filed comments opposing the change.

The debate is an old one. Incumbents argue that the business case for FTTH is troublesome, and that they need the ability to profit from FTTH investments without being required to make those faciltities available to competitors who do not have to build expensive facilities of their own when they can simply lease capacity from others.

Though it is difficult to prove, one way or the other, the FCC has faced a dilemma. It can seek to spur competition by mandating robust wholesale access, or it can spur deployment of new optical access facilities, but might not be able to achieve both goals.

The reason is that incumbents can simply refust to upgrade their networks when they do not feel they will get an adequate financial return. There is some important evidence that incumbents are right about the ability to raise investment capital for FTTH.

Investors punished Verizon Communications for pushing ahead with its FTTH program, preferring AT&T's less-costly FTTN approach, for example. Calle and telco executives point out that all competitors are free to build their own facilities if they want, and most observers would note that in markets where there are three ubiquitous FTTH or FTTN networks, it has proven difficult to sustain business models allowing all three competitors to remain in business.

The calls for mandatory wholesale come at a time when everybody acknowledges that the business case for traditional cable TV and voice services is becoming more difficult, and that neither cable companies nor telcos can rely on their mainstay businesses (video and voice) for future growth. In fact, both types of companies are seeing steady shrinkage of those legacy businesses.

Under such circumstances, and given the shift to Internet-based applications, it might not make lots of sense to weakent he business case for robust optical access investments at a time when the financial returns for doing so are under pressure in any case.

Supporters of mandatory optical access obviously would benefit from a rule change, as they could offer optical access without incurring the expense of building new facilities. So the dilemma the FCC faces is an emphasis either on innovation or competition, in some clear sense.

Since virtually all applications now can be delivered over IP-based connections, it no longer makes as much sense as it once did to directly link "access" and "competitive" services. With or without broadband access, companies now can deliver virtually any service over the top, on any broadband connection.

Under such circumstances, robust competition occurs at the application level, not the access level. In fact, that is precisely the problem telcos face with VoIP, and that cable companies face with online video.

Google Voice Extension for Chrome Browser Now Live

Google Voice now is available as an extension for the Chrome browser. Adding the extension
adds click-to-ccall functionality to Web pages. If there is a phone number on a Web page, or your online address book, it will now have a hyperlink. Click it and Google will open a pop-up window asking which phone you want to use to set up the call, and does.

Google Voice, you will recall, is not an IP telephony or VoIP application n the sense that Skype or Vonage are. Basically, Google uses the Web to set up and complete calls using your existing mobile or fixed connections, adding some interesting call management features.

The extension also adds a small icon in the upper right of the browser. You can type in a name or phone number and call or send a text message from the browser, and read recent text messages and transcribed voicemails (Google automatically transcribes voicemails, usually not all that well).

Many observers think Google ultimately will add softphone functionality, allowing Google Voice to function as an VoIP client.

Geolocation's Downside

Don't get me wrong. Location services will be really useful. But as with everything else connected with the Internet, there are downsides. This is one of them. UYou may want to use location services. But you probably don't want to allow "broadcasting" of that location.

The Secret Service knows the location of POTUS on the second or third floor of the White House. The rest of us should not.

fring Upgraded for Android and Symbian Mobile Devices

Mobile VoIP provider fring has just released two new versions for Symbian and Android mobile device users, adding user-requested features.

The Symbian version, for Nokia users, lets users notify their friends know if they are online, offline, busy, or just stay invisible if they don’t want to be disturbed; all in the click of a button.

DTMF dialing now is supported as well. Now dialing “#” (“pound”) and “*” sign (“star”) is possible to use within a call through the new fring dialer.

Android users will find increased app stability as well as the ability to hide or show offline buddy presence, hide or show the address book, and manage privacy settings for IM signatures and "mood" messages.

The company also fixed some audio issues formerly experienced on Motorola Droid or Milestone devices and added better support for Google’s Nexus One device.

Improved battery consumption also is new.

The new apps can be downloaded at http://www.fring.com/default.asp.

U.S. is Key Android Market at the Moment

Worldwide mobile advertising requests from Android devices increased 97 percent from October to December 2009 and the big change since October is that Motorola devices have shown the greatest growth, undoubtedly because of Verizon's Droid launch late in the year.

AdMob says that in October, 98 percent of requests came from HTC devices.  In December, just 56 percent of requests were from HTC devices, 39 percent from Motorola devices, and five percent from Samsung units.

Increased device diversity: In December, seven devices generated more than three percent of requests each: the Motorola Droid, HTC Dream, HTC Magic, HTC Hero, Motorola CLIQ, HTC Droid Eris, and the Samsung Moment.

This is up from only three devices in October (HTC Dream, HTC Magic, and HTC Hero).

 The Motorola Droid is already the leading Android handset in the AdMob network and generated 30 percent of requests in December.

The U.S. market also, at least for the moment, the most-important global Android market. About 90 percent of Android traffic was generated in the United States in December, up from 84 percent  in October. The United Kingdom, Germany, France, and Canada were the other countries with some significant traffic.

Coopetition Model for Cloud App Providers and Telcos?

Discussing the future of apps in the cloud, IBM enterprise initiatives VP Mike Hill and Salesforce.com director platform research Peter Coffee said the line between competing and cooperating was becoming blurred, with "coopetition" the likely result.

“The only place we tend to have some level of friction with service providers is when you’re up in to the largest organisations,” says Hill. “We see service providers as a huge platform opportunity for us here, because we’re going to take the platforms that we build in IBM to deliver these services, and we’re going to pitch and sell it to service providers so they have the opportunity to white label services from us; or even white label to start with so they don’t have to invest capital up front.

Coffee says the Salesforce.com model provides one example of how application providers and Internet service providers can cooperate for mutual benefit.

“We have our services being re-sold by telecom providers who want to take advantage of the fact they already have more than their foot in the door, they’re already completely inside the door as a small business service-suite provider.”

"British Telecom packages and sells our CRM application as a service as part of BT’s small enterprise suite, and there’s absolutely no reason why we wouldn’t want to foster that because that means their skills, their knowledge of the local marketplace, local business customs, local regulations, becomes a leveraging factor for us to do what we do, which is to provide enterprise functionality, and then they make it relevant to the local market," Coffee says.

Recession Spurs SMB Shift to Conferencing, Away from Overseas Travel

The global recession seems to have spurred more thinking--and activity--by businesses large and small about the use of conferencing services and applications as a replacement for business travel.

A recent survey of U.K. users by Skype indicates that about a quarter of U.K. small and mid-sized businesses have started using conferencing and communications to displace international travel.

Although 24 percent of U.K. small business executives surveyed communicate with international colleagues on a daily basis, 54 percent say they have had to take unnecessary overseas trips when conferencing would work.

The emergence of more sophisticated technologies is having a clear impact on the way that businesses are opting to communicate and do business.

About 41 percent of respondents says they use instant messaging to avoid some travel. About 40 percent use Skype, while 34 percent use teleconferencing. About 28 percent say they use some form of video conferencing.

Video-based communication likely is the biggers winner as travel substitutes have been sought.

Significantly, almost half of SMEs in the United Kingdom (49 percent) are planning to increase the amount it is used for business and 59 percent indicate it will be a direct replacement for business travel.

That isn't to say other methods are ineffective. About 65 percent of respondents said email was effective. Voice was seen by 39 percent of respondents as effective. Video calls were seen by 36 percent of respondents as effective, compared with 29 percent citing Skype.

About 17 percent say instant messaging is effective. About nine percent say social networking is effective as well.

But 36 percent of respondents said they miss having a real picture of the person that they are dealing with. For videoconferencing as for entertainment television, the advantage of "realism," a greater sense of "being there," is what drives image or audio resolution, high-definition images and audio, bigger displays and ease of use.

“With the obvious cuts in business travel, companies need to find new ways to communicate, collaborate and compete,” says Stefan Oberg, Skype for Business VP.

“Without regular face to face meetings, tools that enable people to build and maintain trusted relationships are key," he says.

ComScore Hit for "Pay to Play" Plan

"Pay to play" business arrangements are unfortunately all too often a cost of doing business. Grocery retailers get stocking fees from suppliers who want better placement, or placement at all, on retail shelves.

Some industry awards essentially are sold. Firms win awards in some category of business excellence, but have to pay money to "announce" the awards. Other competitions require firms to pay money to apply to win.

Trade publishing often involves some explicit promise of coverage in return for advertising, or more commonly, just an implied obligation. Major conference sponsorships nearly always have some element of "taking care of sponsors."

You can make your own decision about whether this is simply a way of doing business, or something worse.

Now comScore is accused of promoting a version of pay-to-play with its Web traffic ratings by Henry Blodgett at Silicon Alley. He says the new policies are a form of blackmail.

http://www.businessinsider.com/henry-blodget-comscore-blackmail-pay-us-10000-or-well-keep-underreporting-your-traffic-numbers-2010-1?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+typepad/alleyinsider/silicon_alley_insider+(Silicon+Alley+Insider)&utm_content=Google+Reader

Android Downloads Explode, Apple Continues High Growth, BlackBerry Leads

Visits to Myxer’s mobile site from users on the Android operating system grew 350 percent in 2009, compared to iPhone, which grew 170 percent, Myxer says.. In total, Myxer delivered seven times more downloads to Android devices than iPhone devices in the fourth quarter of 2009.

Keep in mind that Android starts from zero share, so extremely-high rates of growth are not unexpected. The bigger news would have been Android downloads failing to gain traction.

The analysis was made on Myxer’s 30 million members and their behavior relating to mobile entertainment downloads.

In part, Android growth is driven by the increasing number of Android devices now available, as well as a huge marketing push by Verizon Wireless to support its Droid introduction.

In December 2008 only one handset, the HTC Dream/G1, was operating on Google’s open source Android operating system. By December 2009, Myxer had seen nine different handsets running the Android OS.

• The HTC Dream/G1 remained the leader throughout 2009 garnering 35 percent of the unique users completing downloads on Android handsets. That makes sense, as the Verizon Droid launch did not happen until December 2009. It would be shocking if the Droid did not appear at the top of lists by the end of 2010.

“While we’ve seen the Android OS emerge as a serious competitor in the operating system landscape, RIM’s operating system still dominates the smartphone market on Myxer’s mobile site, growing from 51 percent in 2008 to 67 percent in 2009,” saysMyk Willis, Myxer CEO.

According to research conducted in the fourth quarter of 2009, Android users download seven times as many ringtones, wallpapers, videos, applications, and games as iPhone users.

Still, Apple iPhone downloads also grew 170 percent.

On the other hand, it is worth noting that RIM’s Blackberry Curve remains the number one phone on Myxer’s mobile site for the second year in a row, garnering close to 10 percent of visits in both 2008 and 2009. The Blackberry Curve is just one of the 1,500 different handsets that Myxer delivered content to in 2009.

Windows Mobile and Palm both lost ground in 2009, combining to relinquish 24 percent of the smartphone traffic on Myxer’s mobile site and giving ground to the Android, iPhone, and RIM.

How Will Global Telecom Revenue Sources Change Over the Next Two Years?

Looking at global telecom revenue sources over the next couple of years, some basic trends can be seen (click image for larger view).

Fixed network services other than broadband continue to decline.

Wireless revenues continue to grow, as does broadband access revenue.
Dial-up access revenue continues to decline.

Keep in mind that these are global, aggregate numbers, buoyed by huge broadband and especially wireless growth in developing regions. The patterns can be quite distinct in specific national markets.

In the U.S. market, it is conceivable that video and content revenues could be a somewhat significant factor over a decade-long time frame. Wireless growth will be highly susceptible to broadband and data services growth, balanced by a certain amount of "harvesting" of mobile voice revenue, which will decline, relative to broadband, over the decade.

It is worth noting that voice revenue trends have been through two fundamental cycles, with a third on the way. At one time, international long distance was the highest-margin product, followed by domestic long distance. That changed fundamentally between 1997 and 2007. Over that 10-year period, long distance, which represented nearly half of all revenue, was displaced by mobile voice services.

Since about 2000, fixed voice lines and revenue have been steadily declining, at least in the telecom service provider segment, with the cable segment able to grow the role of voice in overall revenue.

In the third change, mobile voice will follow a trend similar to that of long distance.

In each of the shifts already occurring, several things happened. Prices and profit margins steadily were compressed. And new competitors picked up significant share of the remaining business. In each of the three periods, the product has changed.

Between about 1997 and 2007, "long distance" became loosely coupled with local calling and local access. Long distance increasingly could be consumed "over the top," using prepaid calling cards or separate providers for "long distance" on a local line, for example.

Between 2000 and 2009, it became possible to use mobile phones to similarly displace both local and long distance calling, as well as to substitute mobility for fixed voice, while both over-the-top and IP-based calling options became available.

Over the next 10 years, both voice itself and long distance calling in the mobile and fixed realms likewise will be increasingly disaggregated and amenable to "over the top" consumption.

At the same time, the number of settings where voice is used likewise will disaggregate. Voice will be used as an embedded feature of many types of applications and experiences, using many types of terminals and featuring multiple revenue models.

Cablevision and Scripps Networks; Fox and Time Warner Cable Deals Have Implications for Telcos and App Providers

Cablevision and Scripps Networks Interactive have reached an agreement that paves the way for the return of the Food Network and HGTV programming to the cable operator’s system. Inability to come to terms meant HGTV and Food Network disappeared from Cablevision after the old contract expired on Dec. 31, 2009 and the two sides could not agree on terms for a new contract.

Separately, News Corp and Time Warner Cable managed to agree on a new deal without a service interruption. That deal meant no service interruption for viewers of the Fox television stations, Fox, Fox Cable Networks and Fox’s Regional Sports Networks.

That deal also covers Bright House Networks sibscribers in Florida.

DirecTV and Versus have not come to terms and Versus has been dark on DirecTV since Nov. 11, 2009.

Contract disputes between programmers and cable operators are not new, and the precedent likely applies to telcos and their application providers and handset providers as well. Which is to say that although all the value chain or ecosystem partners rely on each other to create end user value, each participant has a specific role in the value chain and distinct financial interests that have to be accommodated.

The same sort of thing exists in the online video and music and e-book reader spaces as well. The point is that there is a temptation to see application providers and Internet access providers as enemies with little in common. In fact, applications make networks valuable, and without networks, the increasing number of valuable network-based services cannot work.

Of late there are signs some of the former tension between Google and some ISPs, for example, has melted. Google and Verizon are working together on creating applications and optimizing Android device operation on the Verizon network, for example.

That isn't to deny that some amount of tension always will exist between ISPs and application providers. As the cable, music (Apple and music companies) and online video examples illustrate, each participant always will seek to maximize their own value and revenue within the overall value chain and ecosystem.

Financial interests are distinct, not identical. Ultimately, though, a stable ecosystem producing end user value will benefit from some stable understanding that key value chain participants all must profit, if the widest use of new applications and maximum end user experience are to be supported.

It won't be easy. Skype is a contributor to the declining value of basic voice revenues, for example. App developers obviously want to secure a place in the revenue and value chains. ISPs want to continue restructuring their own revenue models away from voice and towards new services based on IP networks.

Over-the-top app providers often believe they "don't need the ISPs." But over time, as the cable example shows, and as music, video and print content value chain participants will have to continue to work out, the best outcome is a flourishing new value chain where the key participants all win. That's best for providers and best for end users. Though it certainly will not be easy, it is the best way forward.

More "Middle Mile" Projects Funded by NTIA

The Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration has announced grants totaling $63 million to expand broadband access and adoption in Massachusetts, Michigan and North Carolina.

Most of that money went to build new "middle mile" regional networks in Michigan and North Carolina.

In Michigan, Merit Network got a $33.3 million infrastructure grant with an additional $8.3 million in matching funds to build a 955-mile advanced fiber-optic network through 32 counties in Michigan’s Lower Peninsula.

In North Carolina, MCNC: $28.2 million infrastructure grant with an additional $11.7 million in matching funds and in-kind contributions to build a 494-mile middle-mile broadband network passing almost half the population of North Carolina in 37 counties.

Consumer Centric Communications

Live blog of Pacific Telecommunications Council panel on "consumer-centric communications"

Consumer Centric Communications: I was looking forward to this panel, and my expectations were met and exceeded. There’s a lot of great work being done in areas of e-health and remote communications that the title doesn’t accurately speak to. However, e-health is a good representative area illustrating ways and players addressing global human needs, and the technology that supports it.

David  Sawcer: Pfizer model and tele-health used to analyze questions like why mobile has such a potential benefit but not so great adoption? My experience show that all aspects of successful remote collaborative care, remote monitoring and senseing, and remote access to data and resources. Collaborative care: in military, servicemen would get posted to remote locations with limited health care, generally necessary to evacuate them. We set up a satellite link to joint services hospital, we were able to provide interactions to store-forward info, or interact with local care providers. Was possible to provide diagnosis or treatment questions but had limitations.

Access to data and services: using remote PDAs, drug formulary and interactions database, and online diagnosis (e.g., Up To Date and paid service through university) – didn’t exist until a few years ago, now widely adopted.

Remote sensing/monitoring: in Africa, rural health care, congesitive cardiac care (can be fatal) is common. Is simple question to monitor at local level with bathroom scales (weigh patients), then text in for medical advice (take certain amount of medicines). Unfortunately the program failed when someone stole the bathroom scales. Colleague Elizabeth: when there isn’t a good substitute, alternatives come about organically. On interface part of equation: on patient side, great willingness to use mobile phones or devices (if easy). David: Services most useful when regularly updated with reliable information and was given away free. Technology has to fit the way we work. Costs haven’t been well calculated re: efficiencies, investment; no studies in this area. We talk to the carriers a lot as they’re looking for new areas, but it’s not on their horizon. Pediatric study at UC Irvine and UC San Francisco: got to refer patients on web, by form interface, to appropriate providers. 400 referrals over 4 years shows disparity in usefulness.

Ravi Sharma: Modeling digital flows in the eHealth Eco-system: Strategic implications for players. Example of community center, relatively bandwidth intensive. This market is multi-sided, there is a critical role for telecom network operators (what’s in it for them?). Research questions: 1. identify key stakeholders in this space, model the digital info flows among them. 2. Analyze the values created vs values-captured… Is an ecosystem that encompasses all key players, allows interoperability among them by providing a common platform for interfaces and transactions. Business models: e-commerce based, centrism-based (hospital or provider centric), and platform based (Google; proprietary vs open). Shift in focus from provider-centric to patient-centric models. Time is right to look at electronic personal health records (PHRs). Value of this ecosystem is a function of many components. (Diagram of digital info flow). (Here’s the PDF paper.) Game theory/analysis questions: does value captured justify value created for every player? Does a player stand to lose by opting out of this system? Future work: is a player better off in-system? corresponding value in quantitative terms? what characterizes a win-win business model that makes for a fair, efficient, and stable (sustainable) value network?

Audience discussion: Many efforts on grassroots level to standardize and discover information sharing practices. Singapore doctors training includes steps for diagnosis, shared records with patients. Also generational change brings updated attitudes and technology practices.

Eunice Hsiao-Hui Wang: User acceptance of 3.5G mobile broadband services: the early adopters’ scenario. Early adopters focus of studying user behaviors of 3.5G (HSDPA). Study’s objective: availability: affordabilitiy and adoption (continued subscription). More people like to access the Internet by mobile devices. In Taiwan, several mobile networks (GSM, GPRS, 3G, 3.5G), also wireless (WiFi, WiMax). 23M cell phones, 100% penetration rate, 13M Internet broadband subscribers, penetration rate 66% (Jan 2009). Among Internet broadband subscribers, only 7.7% adopting mobile broadband services and growing fast. Small business user market (3.5G subscription bundling with smart phones like Blackberry, PDAs – slow user growth), potential critical mass market (3.5G bundling with free NetPC and affordable flat monthly fee ($27US).

Survey: web-based on 255 Taiwanese 3.5G mobile broadband subscribers, where is critical mass (behavioral pattern)? Technology Acceptance Model: belief – attitudes – behavioral intention, leads to belief: perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness and perceived playfulness. (graphic of reserch framework) Sample demographics: 53% female, 23.5% age 21-25 and 25.5% 26-30 years old, 55% university level, mostly lower income brackets. Conclusions: perceptions not significantly related to behavioral intention. Most significant factor is attitude: positive attitude leads to greater possibility of continued use. Suggestions: easy, simple and user-friendly service is essential, enhanced convenience-driven interface design encourages subscription (gets jobs done efficiently).

Live Blog of Voice 2.0 Panel at PTC

Jonathan Rosenberg, chief technology strategist at Skype; Rodrigue Ullens, Voxbone CEO; Frank Fawzi, IntelePeer CEO and Mke James, Metaswitch Networks director of systems engineering kick around "Voice 2.0."

Voice 2.0: Beyond the Hype: Lots of ways people are using voice today, let’s look at changes. Gary Kim moderating discussions from Rodrigue, Mike, Frank, and Jonathan.

Jonathan: Voice 2.0 (see yesterday’s talk): it’s not voice anymore, it’s video. Voice is becoming integrated with other media, part of a broader communications experience. As voice and video permeates the web, everything fits together as interactive content experience with seamless integration.

Frank: interactive video being woven into experience. We’ve seen significant interest by enterprise carriers to enrich end-user experience, trying to reach audience by any means possible (clicking links, sms, etc.). It’s critical that you deliver quality as part of business process. We’ve seen minutes double, 4.5B end of 2008 to about 10B annualized run rate now, coming from all kinds of customers, uses, and sources.

Mike: Traditional voice now dull and boring, now it’s about software and applications. Voice embedded in PC, more integration with TV. No one carrier is everything to everyone, need support for 3rd parties to develop.

Rodrigue: Internet-based company with Internet-based business model, voice as part of it. Not a fight between AT&T and Google, is an ecosystem of business models in global market. Enterprises are next opportunity (IT direct, management and apps), mentality of using certain apps is going to change. Telcos can afford their business model is by staff and host switching, engineers, need to embrace new opportunities.

Gary: What strikes me about this panel is that panelists will benefit from creative applications and capability. This is clearly a good thing. What advice would you offer others in the ecosystem? No way to fight this, many new ways to drive revenue. Frank: We talk with carriers about opportunities to reach their end users, deal with hundreds of millions of phone number in their registry. How do you think about creating opportunities to expand embedded voice, lower cost of communications, increase applicability of voice in new ways? Expansion and connectivity between voice and multimodal technologies? (15 times more likely to convert with human interaction).

Gary: Rich voice? Jonathan: what makes voice sales more effective is the real people. All this technology is about replicating face to face interactions. It’s not just the words, it’s the nuances, facial expression, the reasons we get on airplanes. Voice is lowest level, video is next step closer to experience of sitting next to each other. As quality gets higher, you get increasing value of return.

Gary: implications of infrastructure with regard to partners? Mike: Sometimes we need to get out of the way and allow the end points to negotiate.

Gary: voice has always been cloud-based, but now there’s more to the cloud. Frank: communications as a service, using (common) links to access cloud. Slight distinction: now all we need to do is enable an IP pipe. Jonathan: leveraging the IP model, worldwide network model. Allows new service providers to offer new services. Voice was regional, now you can reach anywhere in the world. Rodrigue: one of the ways of providing voice over other apps: use hardware, open source, infrastructure where costs are declining and redundancy is scalable. Mike: agreeing, legacy connectivity enables… Rodrigue: lots of affordable solutions available today. Jonathan: a lot of cloud service providers develop locally, value is in software.

Question: What drives this Voice 2.0 development? Suggested application stores, is there community and/or clearinghouse function, who is gatekeeper? Jonathan: There is no one answer. One interesting area is the web and different web apps, distribution channel is the browser. Other: mobile apps, e.g., iPhone and Apple App store. Frank: types of folks that we work with, we’re not opening an app store, working with communities of interest who may want to add voice as a feature to enrich their end user experience. Mike: many models of distribution including the web, branded carriers and app stores; other carriers distribute through their own channels.

Gary: regarding voice as an app: abilty of smartest guys to be surprised. For example, Apple may not have expected App Store to be as big as they are. Now others are building app stores. Rodrigue: takes several months or years to create new products, while on the web you can launch, analyze, relaunch. Innovation can be brought online on behalf of their users.

Gary: executives express concern about protecting their brand. How to make use of developer community? Jonathan: on the web, if you want to see how things work, try it, collect results, improve or add new features. That new model of massive “learn as you go” is a hallmark of success of the web. Voice 2.0 is about embracing the benefits of the web, contrast with traditional telecom models (long time to roll out new features, compared to adding IM to Facebook).

Gary: US telecom industry replaced 50% of their revenue model in the 1990s. I’m calling for them to replace 50% over next 10 years. (You’ve done it.) Jonathan: it comes down to embracing the developers, doesn’t give up value to user. Windows: huge group of 3rd party developers. Devices and networks open up, carriers become portals, to become operating system of voice 2.0. Frank: wireline revenue disappeared, new technologies can displace existing revenue models. Wireless can help, uses for voice increase abundance of opportunities (scalable networks).

Question: Future of mobile environment: Jonathan: hoping for open environment where providers like us can add value-added services. It’s one of the next frontiers: getting quality up is a big challenge and growth opportunity.

Gary: experience is limited where networks are not robust (really cooking). Jonathan: capacity changes the equation.

Question: how do you tackle voice 2.0, what are trends? Rodrigue: identifier (phone number) from voice calls enable new innovation. Jonathan: enterprises are seeing vast deployment in IP communications (video, presence, IM), but landlocked inside of enterprise. Need to create new generation of peering technologies, security, etc. Cisco just announced product that’s focused on this problem, using phone numbers as identifiers (VIPER), peering.

Joe Weinman: concern for stability, scalability and reliability (911 and safety-critical apps), what strategies for innovation of massive disruptions, dilemma of brand protection vs innovation? Frank: point where scalability, robustness and quality becomes critical, need to have a high quality services, how does that apply on telco level, how to you move a large organization into disruptive model without affecting customers, mission critical services, and existing revenue streams? It’s more challenging. Jonathan: questions that presumption: reliability can be obtained, available; data is more critical than voice link going down. IP pipe needs to be always up. Rodrigue: difference between telco and app provider: telco provides infrastructure, everything is redundant, critical lines. Have a different business, e.g. BT and Ribbit, play at another layer (other business units). Frank: you guys are providing the infrastructure, reliabilty from traditional means; disruption does not take away responsibility of network providers. Joe: Mixing apples and oranges. Access is a critical issue, but at application layer testing becomes a brand protection mechanism. Mike: in some places, telcos are tied by regulatory bodies, services like Skype do not replace 911. Frank: we’re all capable of creating opportunities for ourselves. Gary: would be interesting to do a study about when we think things will break, all critical apps are IP based. We rely on the connection, not our hardware or software that can be fixed by rebooting. Interesting what human beings are becoming accustomed to. Frank: we’re willing to accept certain things, like quality of wireless compared to wired.

Ifbyphone Buys Cloudvox to Support Development of New Apps

Ifbyphone, provider of Web-based  voice and phone applications especially for call center type applications, announced today that it has acquired Cloudvox to give its customers the tools they need to build their own open-source, customized phone applications to fit their business needs.

The deal gives Ifbyphone an open applictions programming interface it can use to provides Web developers (even less experienced ones) with all the pieces they need to build working Web-based telephony services.

At the same time, Ifbyphone will still equip them with the technology they need to deploy and scale their newly-built applications.

Developers can build web telephony services to work with any existing software, whether it uses Python, Ruby, PHP, Java, C# or HTTP. They can still build on all the features they need to control every phase of a call with only a few clicks of a mouse — and without adding any new equipment or infrastructure, Ifbyphone says.

The move is an example of the growing importance of end-user created and customer applications in the business and organization segment of the market.