IP Business Mag - Blogs

Metaswitch Networks names Kevin DeNuccio New CEO

Gary Kim — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 09:01:57 -0700

Metaswitch Networks has named Kevin DeNuccio CEO of the company, in a clear bid to take the company to the next level of its growth globally. Historically, Metaswitch Networks made its name as a supplier of IP communications features delivered using a softswitch, especially for independent telcos, much as Nortel originally did, in the U.S. market, with its earlier move into digital Class 5 switches. At the same time, Metaswitch is well aware of what happened to Nortel. But Metaswitch Networks now is expanding in Latin America, the Asia-Pacific region and Europe. That calls for a global profile much different from what the company has had in the past, when it focused on North America. "The opportunity is to navigate a global expansion, something that I have been through two times," says DeNuccio. DeNuccio, who has served on the Metaswitch board for two years, is known for building Redback Networks into a major player in the edge router business prior to its acquisition by Ericsson AB. DeNuccio earlier had been at Cisco Systems, in charge of service provider sales. Current CEO John Lazar becomes chairman, replacing Metaswitch founder Ian Ferguson, who remains on the board of directors. �We have three product threads today, softswitch being one, where we are an industry leader, and then the applications space and the protocol division,� DeNuccio says. �We think we can double that to six product threads.� Immediate areas of expansion are into the mobile arena, through expansion of existing products into that space, and into broader global sales. Another key effort will center on helping service providers capitalize on the information they already have to design and implement new services, DeNuccio says. �I think we are unique in that we understand the infrastructural issues really well," says Lazar. "We have a really good understanding of how you build scalable IP networks that migrate from legacy.� �We have also been innovative at the applications layer, being one of the players that understand that subscribers are now looking at things from a plethora of different devices," he notes. That likely is a message Metaswitch Networks will want to, and must, get across as it makes its next moves. At the same time, because of its own culture--and what it believes it has learned from Nortel's spectacular collapse--the company is unlikely to go on wild acquisition sprees. It always has preferred to grow deliberately and using internal resources, and that doesn't seem likely to change. In other words, Metaswitch wants to continue to be a financially sound provider of a greater range of products, but with no intention of becoming "the biggest" firm in the global space.

Text Rules, Even for Older Users

Gary Kim — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 11:03:27 -0700

Text Rules, Even for Older Users A survey by Tekelec shows that text messaging, once seen as the main communications tool for teenagers and young adults, has become prevalent among older generations. The 500-person survey shows that 60 percent of users older than 45 are just as likely to use SMS as they were to make voice calls from their mobile. That's perhaps not good news for voice usage but shows the value of text messagining plans. About 40 percent of female users say they "mainly text," rather than talk. About 30 percent of male respondents reported they are likely to text rather than call. Text messaging also is catching up to e-mail as the preferred means of daily international communication, with 32 percent of responses across all ages preferring SMS, compared to 33 percent who prefer to use email. So is the fact that text messaging is displacing some amount of voice a good thing for mobile service providers? Not entirely. More than 80 percent of mobile service provider revenue still is derived directly from voice, says Alan Pascoe, Tekelec senior manager. "Of the remaining data piece, SMS has the largest chunk of revenue and the highest profitability," he says. "Texting is particularly appealing for operators because nearly every subscriber can do it and networks have sufficient signaling bandwidth." "Still, profitability isn�t quite keeping up with usage, thanks to all-you-can-eat plans, but operators can reduce costs with a more efficient SMS network infrastructure," Pascoe says. Pascoe says Tekelec is not sure how much email volume is being displaced by texting. But as a general rule younger users are more comfortable with texting than older users and businesses still prefer email. "A key reason is that an SMS message implies an urgent request, whereas email is typically less urgent," he says. "Personal communication often revolves around an immediate need, like making plans, so texting is the more natural approach outside of the office." But email is also more conducive for business tasks like sending attachments, he adds. So will text messaging ultimately be as "archivable" as email? Certainly operators are looking at a number of ways to "add value and stickiness to SMS offerings, including archiving," Pascoe says. "The most common ideas we hear discussed are email-like functionalities: archiving, copying, forwarding, black and white lists and group distribution," says Pascoe. "The wild card for text message archiving demand is Google Voice, which allows subscribers to store SMS in Gmail instead of on their phones, keeping messages indefinitely." "With Google providing this for free, it may be difficult for operators to generate revenue from it," Pascoe notes. Person-to-person messages are the foundation of SMS, and will dominate for the foreseeable future, he thinks. "But the model is evolving so that growth is strongest for person-to-application, application-to-person and machine-to-machine communications."

New at&t iPhone rate plans

Scott Wharton — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 15:39:56 -0700

at&t announced a rate drop on their iPhone unlimited voice plans today, dropping the price from $99.99 to $69.99. The move, prompted by Verizon's price cuts (also today). Included data plans, the unlimited voice and data combo drops from $129.99 to $99.99 while non-iPhone users on both networks can now pay $89.99

Before you run out and try to change your service, you'll have to wait until Monday. I just tried to change my service and clearly at&t was caught flat footed by Verizon because their reps (and website) can't change the service yet.

This is yet another small but important victory for the consumer and the power of technology to not only create new value, but drive prices down for everyone.

Mobile Data Billing Solution?

Scott Wharton — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 16:32:34 -0700

Unlimited mobile data plans have succeeded in getting the masses to use (and pay for) mobile data. Finally. After years of voice-centric mobile carriers bemoaning the need to wean themselves from voice revenues, those times are here. I saw a recent stat that said more than 1/3rd of mobile operator revenue was from data. Of course, lots of it is driven by smart phone usage such - especially the iPhone.

This explosion in data has caused tension to flare out into the open between the mobile operators like at&t and the rest of us (users, phone makers like Apple). Us users want to use as much data as we want and also have a high quality experience (the audacity of customers!). The likes of at&t argue that they can't make any money because these data plans are too popular and people are actually using them! For an amusing take on this, topic, click here:

http://www.fakesteve.net/2009/12/a-not-so-brief-chat-with-randall-stephenson-of-att.html

Consumers, naturally, want to keep their popular unlimited plans. at&t, not surprisingly wants to jack up prices for variable pricing or defaults to their "take-your-crappy-service-and-like-it-because-it-costs-me-money-or-use-it-less" strategy. Not very bright.

One overlooked alternative is tiered pricing. You know it well from our currently fixed line cable and DSL plans.   It could look something like this:

Basic:      down 500k, up 100k; $19.95
Medium:   down 1mb, up 250k; $29.95
Fast:        down 2mb, up 500k; $39.95
Blazing:    down 4mb, up 1mb; $49.95

This approach has the benefit of being understandable by consumers and a direct correlation of bandwidth usage. The carriers make more money for heavier users and can focus on making quality better vs. dumbing down the network for everyone.

What do you think?

How Good is Your 3G Mobile Coverage (Really?)

Scott Wharton — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 09:15:31 -0700

You've seen the ad wars by now between the big mobile carriers if you live in the US ("my coverage is better than your coverage!"). And you've been living under a rock if you haven't heard the incessant complaints about dropped iPhone coverage by AT&T (could they have done anything more to possibly hurt their brand image?).

Moaning and conjecture aside, a new company called Root Wireless has come along to provide some impressive data to determine the real quality. Root can show you your expected quality by carrier down to the cell tower (http://reviews.cnet.com/coveragemap/). Matthew Finneran of dBrn Associates also posted a comparison of the networks by major city with updoad/download speeds and dropped call comparisons so you don't have to do the toggling back and forth on web pages (http://www.nojitter.com/blog/archives/2009/12/whos_got_the_be.html?cid=nl_nojitter_txt).

Bottom line: AT&T and Verizon are pretty comparable despite the mud slinging with Sprint doing horribly in the dropped call department and T-mobile having pretty weak 3G coverage in the US.

More Fiber For Africa

Hunter Newby — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 16:45:47 -0700

And the beat goes on... Aquiva in Zimbabwe has begun the process to build a new dark fiber network in the country.

Africa is making big, huge moves which will ultimately move the continent up the socio-economic ladder like a shot. Invesment in the region is increasing with the focus on long term communications infrastructure making the continent extremely viable for other types of investment as a result. In-country fiber networks now have the goal of building to and interconnecting with the new subsea fiber networks that are being built on both the east and west coasts.

Dark fiber builds with a purpose - for an entire continent! Massive and meaningful.

Fiber to Cuba? Absolutamente!

Hunter Newby — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 16:29:29 -0700

It is certainly worth noticing that as many network industry people in the US ignorantly believe that there is no need to build any new fiber routes for any reason in this country (new data centers, diversity, better fiber, lower latency, wireless backhaul, etc, etc) the US Treasury has just awarded a license to TeleCuba Communications to build a subsea link from Miami to Cuba.

Whoa, now that is mind-bending. The US doesn't have a plan to bring fiber to the rural parts of the US yet, but here goes a plan to build fiber to CUBA! Good for Cuba. Let's just hope that rural America can catch up to our Communist friends soon.

What ever your political position is on this one it really proves the point that new fiber builds (of all kinds) are critical, essential and fundemental to the future of civilization. All people should have access to fiber and the networks that ride above. To attempt to stop, or obscure the need for new fiber is self-serving and destructive to the greater-good.

M5 Networks Offers H1N1 Protection

Gary Kim — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 08:15:06 -0700

M5 Networks is offering its clients a range of free or low-cost "out-of-office" communications options intended to protect organizations from flu-related threats by allowing workers to do their jobs at home, instead of coming to the office. Among other things, M5 is offering its current clients softphones that allow a laptop to be used as a phone from any location.

The softphone is available for a one-time charge of $45, that can be used with a client's existing managed profiles at no additional cost.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control says infection rates for H1N1 and seasonal flu may rise to a range of 12 percent to 24 percent in communities where the viruses are present. The Brookings Institute, in its assessment, states that the United States could lose 10 percent of all work hours, based on the number of households in which at least one parent or guardian misses work to care for
their infected children.

Get Ready for Telecom 2.0, Tekelec Says

Gary Kim — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 13:26:22 -0700

Differentiated end user experience is how telecom service providers will have to compete in the coming world of next-generation services, says John Lenns, Tekelec AVP. That argument might seem most obvious in the case of mobile service providers, but wireline providers also have a role to play, especially in the area of fixed mobile convergence, an area of long-term advantage.

New packages and bundles featuring combinations of services are key in that regard, says Lenns. But the services are more complicated, in many ways, involving Web services integrated with communications, as well as applications, he says.

Advertising provides one example, especially text insertion of mobile advertising. "Our text insertion engine allows operator to establish third party relationships and allows them to launch messages to opt in subscribers," says Lenns. That's an example of central operator involvement in a new type of service whose revenue model is services provided to third parties, rather than services sold directly to an end user.

That sort of thing will be more prevalent in the future, says Lenns. Operators will combine what they are offering now with new apps and software, he says. And though not every operator is doing so, most are embracing the concept, and are watching other providers to see how the new business develops, he adds.

In other cases, service providers might leverage their customer relationships or billing systems to create new capabiltiies made available to third party partners as well.

The big change in perspective is that voice and communication capabilities increasingly will be a feature integrated into other IP-based or Web applications, rather than a stand-alone service.

Tellabs Buys WiChorus for Mobile Packet Core Capabilities

Gary Kim — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 12:33:42 -0700

Tellabs expects mobile data traffic to grow 30 percent to 50 percent a year for the foreseeable future. For that reason, Tellabs has acquired WiChorus, a provider of a mobile packet core platform purpose-built for 4G, LTE and WiMax, with support for 3G.

The transaction is partly seen as a move to reposition Tellabs as an IP technology company in the mobile space, says Robert W. Pullen, Tellabs CEO.

The acquisition enables offering of a full range of mobile IP products, from low entry price to highly scalable, for applications including GGSN, LTE and WiMax, plus new application enablement with superior DPI capability, Tellabs says.

The WiChorus technology offers eight times more throughput, four times more simultaneous Internet connections and active users, compared with competitive platforms in gateway applications, says Robert W. Pullen, Tellabs CEO.

WiChorus "uniquely combines world-class application analytics with a mobile core gateway for improved traffic engineering and network optimization," says Pullen.

'It enables customers to analyze and monetize more than 400 of the top mobile Internet applications," Pullen says.

It makes mobile networks content-aware and context-aware, with personalized application-awareness, he adds, without the 30 percent to 50 percent performance hit other gateways impose when DPI operations are conducted.

The "SmartCore" platform can offload as much as 70 percent of traffic at the network edge, increasing core network efficiency and improving user experiences. As a result, customers can save as much as 50 percent in capital expenses, compared with the present method of operation, Pullen says.

The acquisition also deepens Tellabs offerings in the network analytics area. Gateways for the mobile IP core is the new product area the acquisition allows, building on Tellabs mobile backhaul products.

The Internet offload opportunities are key as well, the company says. Most importantly, the DPI capabilities will help us help our customers to monetize their traffic, says Pullen. The initial applications have been for WiMAX customers, but second is business services delivery for femtocells and picocells. It is backwards compatible with 3G, though.

"We expect two types of customers, those that optimize 3G and then migrate to 4G, as well as carriers that start out with 4G," says Pullen. Furthermore, Tellabs believes the throughput is eight times the performance of Starent, being acquired by Cisco, for example.

"We believe we can help our customers monetize traffic that otherwise would not be visible to access providers," Pullen adds.