Enterprise IP Telephony Slows, In-Stat Says

The struggling economy will slow the growth of enterprise IP telephony adoption, In-Stat researchers suggest. Some 32 percent of enterprise-size businesses say the economic situation has slowed their VoIP deployment plans.

Broadband IP telephony remains the most common carrier-based business VoIP solution with revenues exceeding $1.1 billion in 2008, compared to $857 million for hosted IP Centrex service within the United States, In-Stat says. 

Adoption varies significantly by size of business, with enterprise-sized businesses preferring a partial deployment, while small office and home office users are more likely to go IP-only.

About 13 percent of U.S. businesses use both carrier-based and premises-based IP solutions. 

Slightly more than one in three US businesses that have deployed VoIP use it exclusively, In-Stat says.  Many more businesses use VoIP as a partial voice solution. U.S. businesses are also beginning to embrace voice-enabled IM capabilities, particularly among younger workers. 

Mobile Backhaul = 30% of Opex

Mobile backhaul now represents more than 30 percent of mobile service provider operating costs, says Juniper Networks. If one looks at opex and adds depreciation, backhaul can represent 70 percent of on-going costs.

Up to this point, most of the mobile backhaul has been provided by T-1 lines or DS-3 connections, in some cases.

But deployment of 2.5G and 3G technology has lead to an increased backhaul requirement, to say nothing of coming 4G requirements. So where base stations that previously required one or two T1/E1’s for backhaul now need four to six T1/E1’s. The result has been a 200 percent to 400 percent increase in required backhaul capacity and its associated increase in operating expense costs.

Mobile Backhaul Services $15 Billion in 2011

Telcordia analysts predict there will be a $15 billion wholesale transport revenue opportunity in the mobile tower backhaul market by 2011, based on new needs to get broadband backhaul to more than 200,000 wireless network cell sites in the United States. 

Satellite Pioneer Andy Werth Dies

Andrew (Andy) Werth, a satellite industry pioneer, died January 28.  He was 74 and lived in Washington, D.C. 

He co-founded a digital satellite communications company that eventually became Hughes Network Systems. Mr. Werth later became president of the company’s international division.

Andy was an avid cyclist, finishing one place short of qualifying for the U.S. cycling team in the 1952 Olympics, though he won numerous other events in his youth, including the New York State Junior Championship and the Tour of Somerville. A victory in a nine-day cycling event in Canada earned him enough prize money to pay for his first semester of college. He resumed cycling later in life, and won the Masters National Track Championship in 2000, 2003 and 2004. Until slowed by illness, he was an active member of DC Velo, a Washington-based cycling club.

Beyond that, what many of us always will remember is his mentoring and teaching, born, no doubt, of his genial and caring nature. Thanks, Andy. 

Mr. Werth was born in Saarbrucken, Germany on March 2, 1934, to a German father and a French mother. His family fled the Nazis, and by the time he was 10 years old, young Andrew had lived in four countries, learning a new language with each move. His fluency in many languages and ease with international clients helped him establish Hughes’ presence in 17 countries and build international sales to $1.4 billion by the time he retired in 2000. 

Mr. Werth, a graduate of Columbia University and an Air Force veteran, began his career at ITT Laboratories in New Jersey. Following the launch of Sputnik, he was assigned to do research in digital satellite communications in the late 1950s.

He left ITT for satellite operator COMSAT Corp. in 1964, and his first job was working on the Early Bird project team with the manufacturer, Hughes Aircraft Company. He soon transferred to COMSAT Laboratories, where he developed a series of high performance satellite modems and was awarded a number of patents in satellite communications applications. His work in the digital satellite communications was cited in 1982 when he was named a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, the profession’s highest award.

In 1972, Mr. Werth and a group of colleagues left COMSAT to form Digital Communications Corp. (DCC), a company that specialized in building sophisticated digital communications systems utilizing both terrestrial and satellite technology. 

The company prospered and was acquired in 1978 by Microwave Associates and became MA/COM Telecommunications, which was acquired by Hughes Electronics in October 1987, becoming Hughes Network Systems (HNS).

Mr. Werth was initially general manager of the satellite communications division. He later led international marketing and sales for a new satellite technology, very small aperture terminals (VSAT), that eventually became the backbone of the private satellite network industry, connecting millions of retail establishments, hotels, gas stations, and other users. 

Software-Based Telecom (Video in 5 Parts)

Voice has for decades been a "service" sold by the "the line" or as an "application" created by a premises switch. Now voice also is a feature of instant messaging, Web sites, enterprise applications and email. As a result, there now are multiple business models, revenue streams and applications that use the "voice" feature. This panel will examine some of the ways this is happening, and what it means for traditional providers of voice services.

Gary Kim, Editor-in-Chief, IP Business

Rodrigue Ullens, Co-founder & CEO, Voxbone

Trevor Baca, VP, Software Engineering, jaduka

Michael Veys, COO, JAJAH

Eric Reiher, Founder & CTO, Mobivox

Click on "Related Article" at the bottom of this post for the first of five parts. Click "Watch in HD" if you have the bandwidth. 

Voice Peering Drivers and Strategies: 7-Part Video

Gary Kim, Editor-in-Chief, IP Business
Carlos Da Silva, Americas Marketing Director, France Telecom
Paul A. Woelk, Sr Manager, Access Strategy, Sprint
Heather Olson, Regional Manager, Telecom Italia Sparkle
Rodrigue Ullens, Co-founder & CEO, Voxbone

click "Related Article" at the bottom of this post to launch the first video segment. Also, if you have the bandwidth, select "Watch in HD." It's better.

Mobile Broadband Supplemental, But High Risk of Substitution

A huge explosion in mobile broadband use in Europe over the next five years largely will be driven by consumers, and largely will complement, not supplant, wired broadband connections, predict researchers at Analysys Mason.

That said, a separate forecast by Informa Telecoms & Media suggests the potential for broadband substitution will remain high.

Analysys Mason projects148 million mobile broadband connections in Europe by 2014, when they will account for almost half of all broadband connections in the region.

The potential for fixed-line voice substitution also will remain high. About 40 percent of total mobile traffic was generated in the home environment in 2007, says Informa Telecoms & Media.

By 2013 it is expected to reach 58 percent, with about eight percent of total mobile traffic offloaded to fixed broadband. In 2008, the home environment likewise represented more than 43 percent of total mobile data traffic and will climb to 60 percent by 2013.

That's the danger for fixed services providers, particularly in single-person households, households of non-related persons and households where every person in the household above a certain age has a mobile.

Mobile use at home will represent about 40 percent of total mobile usage, while use at work will represent 30 percent of usage, with nine percent of calls initiated while users are moving. About 21 percent of calls will be generated from other public environments.

"In the same way that voice traffic has moved from old fixed line telephony service PSTN to mobile, there is reason to believe that a significant percentage of Internet traffic generation will move away from fixed personal computers to mobile devices including mobile handsets, mobile Internet devices (MIDs) and connected notebooks," says Malik Saadi, Informa principal analyst.

As more casual users adopt mobile broadband, they typically will do so as a complement to tethered broadband, usually opting for prepaid subscriptions rather than monthly contracts, Analysys Mason forecasts. Prepaid subscriptions will account for 59 percent of mobile broadband connections in 2014, up from eight percent in 2008.

New customers will tend to behave differently from early adopters and users who have substituted wireless for wired connections, many observers believe. Most significantly, use will be casual. So, at some point, continued growth of mobile broadband in the U.S. market likewise will require charging mechanisms better suited to casual users, who will not be inclined to add substantial fixed-fee subscriptions when their anticipated usage is relatively light.