Coghead, which provides a platform for authoring applications that are "mashups" added to other existing business apps, now is selling its services on a usage-based basis, in addition to a per-user basis, Clint Boulton, eWeek staff writer, notes. That change allowsCoghead to price in a way more attractive for lighter users, and using a model similar to Salesforce.com, the popular application sold as a service.
Coghead CEO Paul McNamara saysCoghead, to date, has charged per user—$49 per month for five users as a base plan—regardless of how much users were using its applications. That worked well for active users but not so well for infrequent users.
Coghead will continue to offer per-user pricing plans for full access to Coghead applications.
Coghead hopes the new pricing will help keep its current customers from jumping ship to Salesforce.com, Bungee Labs or Google App Engine, while luring new users with the flexibility options.
The changes illustrate the growing importance of business-oriented software sold as a service and the simultaneous use of utility computing "in the cloud" to create and deliver the services.
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
More Evidence of Cloud Computing, SaaS Trends
Gary Kim has been a digital infra analyst and journalist for more than 30 years, covering the business impact of technology, pre- and post-internet. He sees a similar evolution coming with AI. General-purpose technologies do not come along very often, but when they do, they change life, economies and industries.
Monday, July 21, 2008
Packet8 Launches IP Key System Service
8x8 has introduced new Packet8 hosted Internet Protocol telephony services designed to replace traditional premise-based telephone "key systems" typically used by companies whose size or structure dictates the sharing of multiple, common phone lines among employees, regardless of where the employees are located.
Note the key phrase "shared line appearance." Since one of the issues hosted IP telephony providers have faced is a bit of confusion about why to adopt, the new Packet 8 service goes about as far as one can to position a feature other than "saving money" as the reason for a particular buyer segment to dive in.
Driven by the new Packet8 675xi series of IP desktop phones and the addition of shared line appearance services to the Packet8 Virtual Office platform, the new hosted key system solution provides businesses an opportunity to migrate to VoIP without altering the features, functionality and user behavior they have traditionally relied upon.Packet8 Virtual Office hosted iPBX solution," said 8x8 Vice President of Sales & Marketing Huw Rees.
The system is said to be ideal for offices where multiple users require the ability to view and answer more than one shared phone line at their desk or anywhere in the business
The SIP busy line appearance function apparently is quite difficult to do, but is essential for customers that require the ability for somebody else to pick up an inbound call without parking, says Rees. "It seems like a small function but it is actually quite complicated to do."
Note the key phrase "shared line appearance." Since one of the issues hosted IP telephony providers have faced is a bit of confusion about why to adopt, the new Packet 8 service goes about as far as one can to position a feature other than "saving money" as the reason for a particular buyer segment to dive in.
Driven by the new Packet8 675xi series of IP desktop phones and the addition of shared line appearance services to the Packet8 Virtual Office platform, the new hosted key system solution provides businesses an opportunity to migrate to VoIP without altering the features, functionality and user behavior they have traditionally relied upon.Packet8 Virtual Office hosted iPBX solution," said 8x8 Vice President of Sales & Marketing Huw Rees.
The system is said to be ideal for offices where multiple users require the ability to view and answer more than one shared phone line at their desk or anywhere in the business
The SIP busy line appearance function apparently is quite difficult to do, but is essential for customers that require the ability for somebody else to pick up an inbound call without parking, says Rees. "It seems like a small function but it is actually quite complicated to do."
Gary Kim has been a digital infra analyst and journalist for more than 30 years, covering the business impact of technology, pre- and post-internet. He sees a similar evolution coming with AI. General-purpose technologies do not come along very often, but when they do, they change life, economies and industries.
Verizon Launches Wireless, Broadband Wholesale
The Verizon Wholesale Mobility Solutions suite of services is now part of the portfolio of products offered by Verizon Partner Solutions, a leading wholesale provider of networks and network services to competitive local exchange carriers (CLECs) and other telecommunications providers based in the United States.
The move is important because mobility solutions are a more-important part of consumer and business communications spending. And if that is so, competitors will need to bundle wireless solutions.
The introduction of Verizon Wholesale Mobility Solutions means wholesale clients have the opportunity to bundle their full-service Verizon wholesale wireline services with wireless voice, text messaging and mobile broadband services to offer their retail end-users a single source for both fixed and mobile voice and broadband services.
Lightyear Network Solutions LLC is the first VPS client.
The Verizon Wholesale Mobility Solutions suite is comprised of two wireless service offerings: Verizon Wholesale Mobile Voice and Verizon Wholesale Mobile Broadband.
Verizon Wholesale Mobile Voice offers wireless calling plans with a choice of designated minutes of use allowances per month. Each plan includes Call Waiting, Call Forwarding, Three-Way Calling, No Answer/Busy Transfer, Caller ID and Basic Voice Mail at no additional monthly fee. Premium features, like Enhanced Voice Mail, monthly mobile-to-mobile minutes and directory assistance, are each available at an additional monthly charge.
In addition to voice plans, wholesale clients can offer text-messaging plans with a choice of designated message allowances per month to end-users that have also purchased wireless voice service. Optional international messaging and premium messaging packages are each available at an additional monthly charge.
Verizon Wholesale Mobile Broadband offers high-speed wireless Internet access via laptop computers with a choice of designated packet data transport MB allowances per month. This product can be sold as either a stand-alone service or as an addition to a voice calling plan. In addition to wireless network services, Verizon Wholesale Mobility Solutions provides wholesale clients with tools that enable them to become one-stop wireline and wireless services providers.
The move is important because mobility solutions are a more-important part of consumer and business communications spending. And if that is so, competitors will need to bundle wireless solutions.
The introduction of Verizon Wholesale Mobility Solutions means wholesale clients have the opportunity to bundle their full-service Verizon wholesale wireline services with wireless voice, text messaging and mobile broadband services to offer their retail end-users a single source for both fixed and mobile voice and broadband services.
Lightyear Network Solutions LLC is the first VPS client.
The Verizon Wholesale Mobility Solutions suite is comprised of two wireless service offerings: Verizon Wholesale Mobile Voice and Verizon Wholesale Mobile Broadband.
Verizon Wholesale Mobile Voice offers wireless calling plans with a choice of designated minutes of use allowances per month. Each plan includes Call Waiting, Call Forwarding, Three-Way Calling, No Answer/Busy Transfer, Caller ID and Basic Voice Mail at no additional monthly fee. Premium features, like Enhanced Voice Mail, monthly mobile-to-mobile minutes and directory assistance, are each available at an additional monthly charge.
In addition to voice plans, wholesale clients can offer text-messaging plans with a choice of designated message allowances per month to end-users that have also purchased wireless voice service. Optional international messaging and premium messaging packages are each available at an additional monthly charge.
Verizon Wholesale Mobile Broadband offers high-speed wireless Internet access via laptop computers with a choice of designated packet data transport MB allowances per month. This product can be sold as either a stand-alone service or as an addition to a voice calling plan. In addition to wireless network services, Verizon Wholesale Mobility Solutions provides wholesale clients with tools that enable them to become one-stop wireline and wireless services providers.
Gary Kim has been a digital infra analyst and journalist for more than 30 years, covering the business impact of technology, pre- and post-internet. He sees a similar evolution coming with AI. General-purpose technologies do not come along very often, but when they do, they change life, economies and industries.
Friday, July 18, 2008
Jajah Adds Hosted PBX Functionality
Jajah has expanded its SMB Solution Suite to incorporate a managed service IP telephony solution, including a fully functional 'soft' PBX. The suite of services gives every small and medium business the ability to IP-enable their existing telephony systems and make VoIP calls to over 200 countries without any additional investment.
The Jajah SMB Solution Suite allows all devices: make or receive calls via mobile, landline and even softphone (PC-based telephone), with specific plug-ins for Blackberry and Windows Mobile phones available. Pre-paid and analog-only phones will also be supported.
Also included:are a suite of productivity tools providing the ability to embed telephony within Google Enterprise Apps and Microsoft Office. Features also include centralized address book, database and directory lookup services.
Presence features allow users to choose which phone to use to answer a call, whether on a mobile, landline or softphone, or even to divert the call to a voice mail, which will be converted to text and delivered as an email into the employee's inbox.
Employees can specify their location and availability, while the network will also make intelligent routing decisions based on last-call and office hours.
The system fully supports number portability. The Jajah SMB Suite also offers sophisticated dial-plans, call monitoring and limit-setting amongst other budget management tools.
The service also supports visual Voicemail (where voicemail is converted to text), universal messaging, SMS, conference calls, scheduled calls, call logging, and address book synchronization.
The SMB Solution Suite will be available directly at www.jajahSMB.com, with a global indirect channel partner to be announced in the third quarter of 2008.
The Jajah SMB Solution Suite allows all devices: make or receive calls via mobile, landline and even softphone (PC-based telephone), with specific plug-ins for Blackberry and Windows Mobile phones available. Pre-paid and analog-only phones will also be supported.
Also included:are a suite of productivity tools providing the ability to embed telephony within Google Enterprise Apps and Microsoft Office. Features also include centralized address book, database and directory lookup services.
Presence features allow users to choose which phone to use to answer a call, whether on a mobile, landline or softphone, or even to divert the call to a voice mail, which will be converted to text and delivered as an email into the employee's inbox.
Employees can specify their location and availability, while the network will also make intelligent routing decisions based on last-call and office hours.
The system fully supports number portability. The Jajah SMB Suite also offers sophisticated dial-plans, call monitoring and limit-setting amongst other budget management tools.
The service also supports visual Voicemail (where voicemail is converted to text), universal messaging, SMS, conference calls, scheduled calls, call logging, and address book synchronization.
The SMB Solution Suite will be available directly at www.jajahSMB.com, with a global indirect channel partner to be announced in the third quarter of 2008.
Gary Kim has been a digital infra analyst and journalist for more than 30 years, covering the business impact of technology, pre- and post-internet. He sees a similar evolution coming with AI. General-purpose technologies do not come along very often, but when they do, they change life, economies and industries.
Not Good Enough, Netherlands Regulators Say
The largest Dutch cable operator Ziggo has said it now reaches one million digital homes and is claiming to be the number one digital provider in the country. The figures means around 30% of all 3.3 million homes served is now digital.
Not good enough, Netherlands regulators believe. Coming: new rules giving alternate video providers access rights to cable plant. One wonders: will anybody want to do so?
Gary Kim has been a digital infra analyst and journalist for more than 30 years, covering the business impact of technology, pre- and post-internet. He sees a similar evolution coming with AI. General-purpose technologies do not come along very often, but when they do, they change life, economies and industries.
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Consumer Satellite Broadband to Overtake Commercial Revenue
Northern Sky Research Now Projects that HughesNet and WildBlue each will have about 50 percent share of the consumer satellite broadband market by the end of 2008.In fact, aggregate industry revenue from consumer broadband will surpass commercial revenues by about 2013.
Gary Kim has been a digital infra analyst and journalist for more than 30 years, covering the business impact of technology, pre- and post-internet. He sees a similar evolution coming with AI. General-purpose technologies do not come along very often, but when they do, they change life, economies and industries.
YouTube: Complete Dominance of UGC
TubeMogul allows content creators to post video clips to multiple sites at once and track aggregate views for the clip across sites.So in a recent survey of over 200,000 clips and traffic over a 90 day period, YouTube blew every body else away.
The average clip got more views on YouTube in three months (3,092) than on the next eight video sites combined (2,092).
In principle such dominance should translate into meaningful positioning as an ad medium at some point, with one important caveat. Most user generated content is hard, if not impossible, to monetize in that way. Google executives themselves seem to think something on the order of four percent of YouTube's inventory is the primary inventory against which to sell advertising.
Good content is hard to create on a sustained basis.
Gary Kim has been a digital infra analyst and journalist for more than 30 years, covering the business impact of technology, pre- and post-internet. He sees a similar evolution coming with AI. General-purpose technologies do not come along very often, but when they do, they change life, economies and industries.
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