June Media Roundup

This is the first month in a very long time I wasn't cited in any articles. I spoke with the media a few times, but these ended up being for longer features which won't run until July or later. On the other hand, I was busier than ever producing original content in June, and on the whole I feel it was a pretty productive month in terms of keeping my profile out there and contributing my ideas to the industry.

I'll start with the most visible activity - my SIP Trunking webinar with Mitel. That took place on Tuesday, and just over 1,000 people registered. If you missed it, the archived version will be ready any day now, and will be accessible for 90 days. All registrants will receive a copy of the slides from Mitel, along with a companion white paper that I'm wrapping up just now.

- SIP Trunking - More Than Just Cost Savings


Next - TechTarget. I'm a regular contributor to their Ask The Expert feature, and they recently engaged me for some more extensive work. The outputs were published in late June, consisting of a white paper and a podcast. To access these you need to register on their site, but this just takes a minute.

- eGuide/white paper: Connecting and Leveraging VoIP Islands

- podcast: The Benefits of VoIP Islands


My regular bi-monthly Service Provider Views columns ran on TMCnet:

- Q&A with Telanetix - Why Hosted Services are Gaining Adoption

- What Service Providers and Auto Makers Can Learn From Each Other

June also marked my debut column on The Mark - Canada's answer to the Huffington Post:

- On the Future of the Automobile (and Telecom, Too)

Finally, I was cited in a press release about an Advisory role I've taken on with a U.K. consultancy, MeDe8 Group Ltd. You'll be hearing and seeing more about this over the next few months.

BroadSoft - New and Improved

Am pretty sure it was George Carlin who noted how much of an oxymoron "new and improved" is. It's classic American marketing-speak, and is right up there with another of his favorites, "jumbo shrimp". The two words just look dumb together, but they roll off the tongue so easily. Walk down any aisle of any grocery store, and it won't take long to find some product touting how "new and improved" it is. I sure miss George, and he was just as funny (among other things) mocking life as an old guy in his 70's as he was back in the 70's, teaching us how to relax with language and to notice the absurdities of everyday life.

So how do we get from comedy icon to BroadSoft? I dunno. Am definitely not poking fun, but after looking over their new website, that goofy term "new and improved" just popped into my head. But I really do mean it - as Dame Edna would say - in the nicest of ways. Enough comedy, let's talk about BroadSoft.

Am sure many of you got notice about their new website the other day. I really like it, so let's come back to "new and improved". You can't possibly be both at the same time, but the ideas sound great mashed together. However, if you parse the words out, and say new as well as improved, then you have something, and that brings us to BroadSoft.

Let's talk about what's new first. The biggest new is the look and feel of their main website. It's closely tied to the company's overall re-launch, so I guess we're looking at BroadSoft 2.0 here. The quickest way to get a sense of that is to watch an intro video on the home page by Leslie Ferry, their VP of Marketing. Her main message is that much like the way BroadSoft helps its customers become more effective communicators and users of new technologies, so are they now, and this new website will show you how.

The other important new feature is their corporate blog. It's called Broadband Ignite, and will feature regular posts from their key executives. There's nothing new about a corporate blog, and there a lot of caveats that come with this concept, but I do like how they're making this a key part of the new BroadSoft. Time will tell how regularly they post content, as well as the utility of that content, but I applaud the initiative. So far so good, as there's a nice post there from yesterday by CEO Mike Tessler about why the time is right for video - I couldn't agree more. On a personal note I can't complain, as my blog is on their blog roll, and I'll be returning the favor here.

I'm a long-time fan of BroadSoft, and if you've spent time on their previous website, I'm sure you'll agree that's what the biggest improvement is here. There was always a ton of good content there, but I found it too sprawling and not that tightly focused. The new site is much cleaner and crisper. The layout and groupings are more intuitive and it's easier to navigate. I really like how the customers are prominently featured - to me, that's the best way to show how established you've become in the market.

While much of the content is familiar, it's presented in a more interesting way, and organized more cleanly. The graphics are stronger, as are the colors. And keeping with the spirit of 2.0, there are lots of handy references/icons for RSS feeds, Twitter, Facebook and Linked In. As it should be, right? After all, their tagline is "Innovation calling", so you might as well use the tools too.

Note to self - I do like the tagline, but it's a bit telco-centric, don't you think? Web 2.0 - and certainly their Xtended community - they're not so much into "calling" as "communicating", right? We only use the telephone to call, everything else is about communicating - text, chat, video, etc. Telephony is still very central to communicating - no doubt - but I think that focus changes a bit as we edge closer to the world of 2.0.

Enough on that - let's focus on news at hand. I'd love to hear what others think about what BroadSoft is doing here. It's both new as well as improved - at least to me. Just don't say it's "new and improved" - unless you're channelling George Carlin really well!

eComm News - Ken Camp On Board

While this is really a news item, I'm glad to share this since it has a personal connection on a couple of levels. First is the news that colleague Ken Camp has taken on a formal role to help build and bring together the eComm community. Having been an Advisor to the eComm event earlier this year, I've been particularly close to growth challenges that lie ahead. Defining the eComm community is a fleeting task, so all the more reason to make it a bit more real - especially now that the conference is transitioning from a good idea into a viable business.

Yesterday it was announced that Ken is now the Director of Conversations and Marketing, and I think it's a great fit. Don't ask me what these Web 2.0-style job titles really mean - we're all directors of conversations, right? - but I think we understand the mission. It's much like Carl Ford's Community Developer role in his VON days - be a public advocate for the brand and engage people around the eComm vision. I think Ken is really well suited for this, as you really need to be grounded in the technologies and have a good contact network in the community. He's got these in spades, and of course Ken is a social guy, something you absolutely have to be for the role.

So, congrats to Ken on the posting, and hats off to Lee for formalizing this role for eComm and finding someone to take on the task. I'm sure we'll be hearing lots more from Ken as eComm ramps up for its first Euro event this fall. To learn more about the event, and to read more about Ken's news, check out the eComm blog. Also note that the post about Ken includes a link to a podcast that goes into his role and the broader eComm mission in greater length.

Last call for SIP Today's SIP Trunking Webinar - 1pm EST

One last reminder for today's SIP Trunking webinar that I'm doing with Mitel. It's not too late to register, and if you can't make it, there will be an archive available a day or so from now, and will remain on their site for 90 days. The archive link is the same as the one you'd use to register, so it's real easy to do. Either way, the link is here, and I hope you can join us - 1pm EST.

Q&A with Telanetix - a Different Kind of Service Provider

My latest Service Provider Views column is running now on TMCnet. This time my focus is on Telanetix, a pretty interesting hybrid that's doing just fine servicing SMBs with IP telephony and beyond.

The article is based on a Q&A I did with their CEO/Chairman, Doug Johnson, and has two main themes. First is the overall trend toward hosted services, and second is what makes Telanetix's approach different as well as effective.

In the spirit of my column, I'm focusing on Telanetix as an example of a new/different kind of service provider, and with today's technology, showing how they can compete very nicely against the incumbents. This is just one of many ways the status quo is changing in the service provider space, and to learn more, please give my article a read.

Updated Affiliation with Unified Communications Strategies

I've been an occasional contributor to the Unified Communications Strategies portal for quite some time, and there's definitely a great group of people behind it. This is mainly the product of Jim Burton, but it's grown well beyond that, and invariably my path crosses with at least one UCS consultant at industry events. My last event was Mitel, and I got to spend time there with Blair Pleasant, who works closely with Jim expanding UCS into a true destination portal for all things UC.

Since so much of my work these days touches on UC, it's a good time to get close to their group, and that has now taken the form of me being classed as a UC Expert. As the link will show you, this puts me in pretty good company, among people I see regularly and whose views I definitely trust.
As this relationship takes shape, expect to see some exclusive contributions from me on the portal, and I hope to participate in upcoming events such as webinars or podcasts, so stay tuned. And most important of all, if you follow UC, you should bookmark UCS now and make sure to visit often! Hopefully I've given you another reason to do so.

Reminder - SIP Trunking Webinar w/Mitel on June 30

Just a reminder that my SIP Trunking webinar with Mitel is next Tuesday at 1pm, EST. This is part of Mitel's Discovery Series, and registrations so far have been very, very strong. There's obviously a lot of interest in SIP Trunking, and we're looking forward to a very engaging session.

You can read more about the topic here, as well as register for the webinar. Hope you can join us.