Cisco C-Scape 2008 - Day 2

Well, Day 2 is done, and so is C-Scape 2008. I really enjoyed attending, and feel lucky to be part of the scaled down group that was there in person. The overall content was quite good, and Cisco really seems to be trying hard to stay close to the analysts and listen to our thoughts on their direction.

As mentioned yesterday, a lot of the focus was on how Cisco is transforming itself into a "next generation" company (am still not sure what that term means any more) rather than how they're going to change the world around them. That said, their new tag line makes it pretty clear that's the end game - "Cisco - Best in the world. Best for the world." Got that? A bit of a throwback to GM in the 1950's, but you get the idea. If all this technology carries the day, it will be Cisco's world, and we'll just be living in it. Hey, they've got $27 billion in the bank and a lot of desperate companies at their feet, so anything is possible, right?

Am being a bit facetious here, and Cisco is being every bit as careful and pragamatic as the rest of us. I found many of the sessions down to earth, and Cisco seems very conscious of getting their house in order and focused on helping their customers leverage IT to get themselves through both good times and bad. Day 2 continued the mix of sunny keynotes and hands-on breakouts about their various business lines.

What strikes me overall is the breadth of their market coverage. Having recently been at Avaya's analyst event, it was interesting to see them talk about scaling down their business focus from some 27 lines of business to 3. Cisco was talking about managing 26 priorities - i.e. growth opportunities - so they're certainly not putting all their eggs in one basket. I highly doubt many analysts in the room - if any - can possibly be up to speed on all 26 priorities, which makes Cisco a difficult company to fully understand. Maybe it's that way by design, but listening to their top execs, you come away thinking there really is a grand plan here, and it's all under control. Sure hope so.





I'll leave you with a few photos from today...

Rob Lloyd talking about Cisco 3.0 and what this means for how they will transform the relationships they have with their customers. Pretty forward-thinking ideas here, and if executed well, will serve as best practices for others to follow.




Art Hair, CTO of Disney - very interesting presentation about the realities of making movies in the digital age and how important networks are to the process. Never thought about film-making this way, and Disney really is a great showcase for Cisco in the sense that film is the most collaborative of all art forms, and collaboration is Cisco's driving mantra now.




Charles Stucki updating us during the Telepresence breakout. Did you know that Cisco is doing over 4,000 meetings a week using Telepresence? That's got to be adding up to some serious savings in travel costs.




The best for last - final session was an open-ended Q&A/fireside chat with John Chambers. I think he enjoyed this as much as we did.





Technorati tags: Cisco C-Scape 2008, Jon Arnold

Cisco C-Scape 2008 - Day 1

It's Day 1 at Cisco's C-Scape analyst conference in San Jose. Keeping in step with the overall economy, C-Scape is scaled down this year, but still a pretty big event.

Most of the morning was taken up with keynotes from John Chambers and new CTO, Padmasree Warrior. On the CTO front, it's quite a change from Charlie Giancarlo, who I just saw at Avaya's conference a few weeks back. I want to keep the focus on today, but feel free to search my blog for earlier entries about these changes.

Over the course of the day, there have been two types of sessions. The keynotes have generally focused on Cisco itself and how the company is evolving to be more productive in a weak economy, as well as to be driven by the Web 2.0 mantra of collaboration. On the other hand, the breakouts had more to do with their various lines of business and how they're serving customers and entering new markets.

Compared to last year, the messaging was more nuanced and less grand. The vision is not as ambitious in terms of leading the world to the promised land of seamless communications experiences, and there was not much hype about new technologies. Last year, we heard and saw a lot about Second Life, video, Telepresence, digital media and Cisco Field. There were bits and pieces about some of these, but more toned down. To me, that was a good thing.

It's a tough market for everyone, and 2008's theme for analysts seems more about how Cisco is striving to become a model company for how these technologies can be adopted. There were lots of examples of Web 2.0 applications being used internally for collaborating and knowledge management, which I thought was great. Even John Chambers is doing video blogging now.

He talked a lot about finding a balance between innovation and operational excellence. For Cisco, the latter is the priority, and when you have a well-run organization, innovation will follow. Getting this balance right is at the core of his vision for Cisco 3.0. He sees this vision not just as a strategy for Cisco itself, but also to create an environment that lets Cisco get closer to its customers. And by extension, if it works for Cisco, it will work for Cisco's customers. Good strategy.

Another big theme for Cisco's roadmap was related to "Phase II of the Internet". Sounds like Web 2.0 to me - personalization, collaboration, multimedia, social networking, etc. John Chambers talked about this being their next iteration from the "network as the platform" mantra they have been following most recently. This is a big shift for a company that still makes most of its money from routers and switches, and speaks to the transition that he and the other execs talked about to stay ahead of the market. Virtualization and cloud computing are now big topics, and Padmasree in particular connected these themes to Cisco's vision for helping customers better leverage IT for growth and productivity gains in a global marketplace.

That's it for today - will post tomorrow about Day 2. Here are a few photos of the day.


Well, this is one way to creatively trim costs. A simple bit of branding to let you know you're in the right place. This is the Cisco event - uh, Adobe's conference is down the hall. Nothing fancy, but it works. And with some clever rearranging, it could make a nice menorah. Blinded by the light...




John Chambers leads off with his keynote





Not much new being presented so far - at least compared to last year. Here's a cool twist, though. John Chambers talked a lot about the globalization of communications, and this Telepresence demo with Jim Grubb was done with a Cisco employee in Madrid. He was asked to reply in Spanish, and as you can see in the second photo, his comment was translated on the fly into English in the caption at the bottom of the screen. It's bit like watching closed captioning on TV - same idea, but more profound. Reminds me of Jajah's Babel service, and speaks to the huge opportunity that IP-based technologies has to break down the natural barrier of language for communicating.





New CTO Padmasree Warrior




Cisco customer Q&A session - HSBC, Verizon, Disney




SMB session, moderated by Rick Moran




Randy Pond - Cisco 3.0 and creating transformation through leadership





Technorati tags: Cisco C-Scape 2008, Jon Arnold

Avaya Canada Analyst Day

Yesterday I attended Avaya Canada's analyst day here in Toronto. I participated last year, and it was good to gauge their progress since then. The local analyst community is pretty small, so it was a very friendly session.

For most of us, the main attraction was meeeting the new head of Avaya Canada, Gerard Baglieri. For what it's worth, he goes by the title VP/GM, so I really can't say CEO. Maybe Avaya's culture is more egalitarian than most, and maybe it's just a Canadian thing. Anyhow, Gerard is from NY, and during my 1:1 session, he strikes me as being very capable and focused, so don't let his title fool you.

I attended Avaya's global analyst event a few back in Boston, and for those of us who were there, most of yesterday was familiar territory. As such, I don't have much news to report, other than the fact that Avaya Canada seems very well aligned with the corporate storyline.

They did address some of the structural differences and dynamics of the domestic market, and how their plans to expand the channels up here will be more challenging. The difficulty with Canada is that the SMB market is more heavily skewed towards the very low end of the scale, and these businesses are often not a good fit for Avaya's offerings. Of course all vendors face that problem here, but it's fair to say Avaya will have to be more aggressive in Canada than the U.S. to achieve their stated target of driving 85% of their sales through channels within the next 3 years. Gerard has a tall order ahead, and time will tell.

We saw a variety of presentations throughout the day, and they all reinforced the core themes we saw in Boston - namely, Avaya feels they are ready now to become the #1 player, the company is now very focused on two main markets - Unified Communications and Contact Centers, and the overall business strategy is to become more channel-centric.

I elaborated on this further in my Boston post and elsewhere, and will say again that there's a good story here. Yesterday's session had both analysts and media, so there was some public coverage in the trades. I can steer you to one of these if you care to read more.

To wrap up, here are a few photos from yesterday...

Gerard Baglieri



Todd Abbott - he presented in Boston - was nice to see him come up to Toronto for this



Amir Hameed talking about contact centers



Colleague Ronald Gruia from Frost checking out the bat-phone, with a bit of a halo around him. He's special, but not that special! :-) He just happened to be standing close to the overhead light, although it sure looks like he's radiating brilliance....





Technorati tags: Avaya Canada, Jon Arnold

eComm 2009 - Registation Now Open - Early Bird Discount

Without sounding too much like a carnival barker, I want to share this basic info with you about eComm 2009.

The registration page just went live yesterday, so you can order your tickets now. It's a good time, since you save $600 if registering before December 22. Just click here to access the form and away you go.

But wait, there's more! Lucky readers of my blog can get an additional 20% discount by using my promotion code. So, if you take the above Super Early Bird rate, you'll save a further 20%, bringing the cost down to $952. Not bad!

Furthermore, if you miss the Early Bird rate, you can still get the 20% discount using my code up til February 17. The rates will be higher then, but at least you can get this discount.

To get this discount, just drop me a line, and I'll send you the code. Fair?

While you're on the site, you should check out the Schedule page to see the latest roster of speakers. That's probably the best validation you'll need to see why eComm will be a worthwhile experience.


Technorati tags: eComm 2009, Jon Arnold, J Arnold & Associates

SocComm2009 - Jeff 3.0?

Can you say SocComm 3 times fast? I can barely say it once, but that's the name of Jeff Pulver's latest event. The full name will give you more of a clue as what it's about - the Social Communications Summit, and Jeff posted about this again on Friday. It's being held in his backyard of NYC, and takes place from February 10-11.

Am not quite sure what social communications means, but anyone following Jeff's blog will know that's more or less where his energies are focused these days. With the Pulvermedia VON era officially over, you know it's not going to be about VoIP. In those days my world very much overlapped with Jeff's, but not so much now.

Still, we all have at least some focus on social communications today, whether that means voice, IM, presence, video, mashups, digital collaboration, etc. All forms of communication are social, and from there you can span out in a variety of directions to become an innovator, and eventually - hopefully - a real business.

So, if this is your passion, then you need to pay heed to Jeff's post, as he's reminding his readers that the Call for Speakers deadline is December 5. And for those of us who blog, Jeff is simply asking for support to get the word out.

Now you know, and for reference, there's a website running for the event. Is this the Jeff 3.0 we've all been wondering about? The venue hasn't been announced, but it sounds like this will be his first event in a public venue since the last VON, so we'll just have to wait and see. I'll certainly be following with interest.


Technorati tags: SocComm2009, Jon Arnold, Jeff Pulver

eComm2009 - Updated Roster

Agenda planning for eComm2009 has been in full swing lately, and it's been a blur of submissions followed by ongoing commentary by email among the Advisory Board. We're all busy, and with my recent travels, I've been doing my best to contribute feedback.

Anyhow, the rosted was updated the other day, and I wanted to get the word out that the program is shaping up nicely. The eComm format is different from most events, and it's all about volume, really. Most speaking slots are only 10 or 15 minutes long, so attendees will certainly get their money's worth in terms of hearing from lots and lots of smart people.

How much of this you retain is another conversation, but eComm is really about community building. There won't be any snap quizzes at the end to test if you were paying attention. You're really there to soak up as much innovative and disruptive thinking as possible, and hopefully you'll go away with at least one game-changing idea.

So, to see who's speaking so far, please visit the Conference Schedule page of the eComm website. It's a good mix of household names and unknowns, so you can expect to get perspectives that are both reality-based and not-yet-mainstream-but-will-be-soon.

I should also add that it's a tough market for conferences, but sponsors are stepping up nicely to support eComm, so a solid base of financial support is forming. Most recently, Voxeo and Skype have signed on, and join other notables sponsors, such as GIPS, Voxbone, MetaSwitch and Jaduka.

Lots more additions to come, and aside from reading posts like mine, you can get a direct pipeline to the latest news by subscribing to alerts on the eComm homepage, as well as following the eComm blog, and signing up with the eComm Facebook Group.



Technorati tags: eComm2009, Jon Arnold

Korea Tech Preview ? Day 2

Day 2 was every bit as good as Day 1, and on the whole I found this excursion very worthwhile. Not a whole lot of IP communications on display here, but where else are you going to come across so many intriguing technologies, innovations, gadgets, etc.? I met quite a few interesting companies and will definitely be following up with some of them.

Here?s a quick recap with some photo highlights, and don?t be surprised to see some of these at your local electronics retailer in 2009.

Lunchtime keytnotes ? Burrill & Co. (VC) and LG Electronics



Neolux ? e-reader ? like Kindle. I thought this was really cool and since it?s read-only, it?s a great way to distribute copyrighted content safely. I can see lots of possibilities here.




Commax ? residential video surveillance/greeting systems. All kinds of applications - not only can you watch and talk to that stranger knocking on your door, as well as let him in, but you can monitor anywhere in/around your home where you can put a camera. I can?t help but think of all the Monty Python and the Holy Grail fun scenarios you can have with this --- ?WHAT is your favorite color??....




Pavonine ? do not adjust your set. It?s a blurry image because it?s 3D! Hah. When you put on the 3D glasses, the TV experience sure changes big time. Not just for watching TV but for gaming. Seems corny, but pretty cool.




Adscalator ? strange word, but that?s what they do. Yup. It?s a digital ad display panel at the entry/exit point of an escalator. Not only that ? see where I?ve drawn a circle? That?s where Adscalator disinfects the moving handguard we all rest our hands on. How?s that for being virtuous and commercial at the same time?




PlayGuard ? my favorite. Ready for this? A round webcam that goes almost anywhere. It?s ?smaller than a golf ball?, so you hardly even notice it. The exhibitor was a good sport and modelled one way to use it. For those of us who feel compelled to video everything we do, here?s the solution. It?s brilliant ? what extreme sports enthusiast wouldn?t want this and try to become the next star of America?s Funniest Home Videos? Just strap it on your head ? or your baby, or your pet, and away you go. I guess. How about a waterproof model for scuba diving? Or a car-mounted cam which becomes your black box in the event of an accident? Tons of possibilities ? how could you not want one of these?




Bo Shin ? my gracious host. A big thanks to Bo and all the others at KOTRA who provided great hospitality, and more importantly, translation help during my meetings! Without them, my meetings would not have lasted very long. Remember the Seinfeld episode with Frank Costanza when the Koreans were trash talking him? Unlike Frank, I don?t know Korean, so I can only hope they were nice to me during our meetings. :-)




Technorati tags: Korea Tech Preview 2008, Jon Arnold, J Arnold & Associates

A Good Day to be in the USA

Call it luck of the draw, but I got to be in the U.S. today. I'm not that politically inclined, but the election was pretty special, and everyone senses we're living important history right now. It's a good day to be an American, it's a good day for America, it's a good day in the eyes of most people outside America, and it's a good day to be in the USA. Smiles all around for me.

Obama is in the House now, and hopefully the honeymoon will be a long one. If you remember JFK and MLK, it's a good feeling to see so many dreams finally realized, and it's a great reminder of how special democracy can be.

I kind of thought I'd see or sense a noticeable mood of joy here, but I really haven't - strange. The airports - both Toronto and Dallas were unusually quiet, and there hasn't been any visible sign to say today is different from any other day. To be fair, I'm deep in the heart of Texas - GWB country - and their GOP stripes didn't change in 2008.

With today being such a special time, and being in Dallas, I just figured out what to do about this. This is a short trip for me, but the hotel is not far from Dealey Plaza. I've never been there, and I couldn't imagine a more appropriate time to make a quick pilgrimage to see it.

In many ways, Barack Obama's journey started there. The dreams of equality didn't die with JFK, and they didn't die with MLK. Clinton was a good JFK wannabe, but Barack may end up a better successor to his spirit of hope, change and youth. Like JFK, he is a true breakthrough in his own right. Time will tell if he's the real deal or if he'll just be learning on the job, but it's pretty clear that the world hasn't felt this good about the USA in a long time. Things are much easier to accomplish when people like you, and we have nowhere to go but up now that the Bush era is over.

I'll get off that soapbox now - photos coming tomorrow. Back to work. I'm in Dallas to attend the Korean Tech Showcase, and so far, it's been just great. I'm virtually certain I'm the only analyst here, so I'm getting to see stuff most of my peers won't likely see for some time yet if at all. Lucky me.

I've had meetings with companies with really interesting technologies, and am looking forward to more of the same tomorrow. It's too early to blog about the details, but as I get to know some of them better, I'll bring you up to date.

Nice tie-in at the airport. CNN's 24/7 election coverage, and a TV display stand by Samsung, Korea's most famous tech company.



Sidebar... I had one of those only-in-America moments here at the airport. While waiting for my ride, I heard this announcement over the PA system: "the post-election noon day prayer will be held in the chapel in Terminal 1". Praise the Lord and God Bless America... who said Church and State were separate? :-)






Couldn't resist. Remember pay phones? They sure are becoming an extinct species in the U.S., and I see this scene at almost every hotel/conference center I travel to. Ugly. Virtually everyone seems to have a cell phone here, and there is simply no rhyme or reason to use a pay phone these days.




Technorati tags: Korea Tech Preview 2008, Jon Arnold, Barack Obama, Dealey Plaza

Next Stop - Dallas and the Korean Tech Showcase

Got a short trip coming up tomorrow - am flying to Dallas - a place I've only been to once before.

I've been invited by KOTRA - the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency - to attend a showcase of Korean companies looking for partnerships, advice, investment, etc. to help them become established in North America.

This should be a really interesting event, and a great opportunity to learn about some cool, up and coming companies. There will be over 50 companies to meet, and they cover the gamut, including PCs, wireless, telephony, video, RFID, IPTV, GPS and esoteric stuff like home automation, robotics and biometrics. Not a bad way to spend two days, and who knows, I just might get an early glimpse of the next Samsung or LG to come from this hotbed of innovation and gadgetry.

Wearing my Monty Python hat, I have to be a bit tongue-in-cheek here, and would be remiss if I didn't bring up Chindogu before signing off.

What is this, you may ask? Well, it really is something completely different. If you haven't heard of Kenji Kawakami, then check this out. He's the author of a number of books that have become a mini-franchise over the years about Chindogu, which loosely translated, means "useless inventions". His books are built around the theme of 101 unuseless Japanense inventions, and you just have to see these to believe them. Life doesn't get any funnier than this, and if you're a fan of MXC on Spike TV - Most Extreme Elimination Challenge - then you'll just love this.

I'd better stop now! I never expected this post would take so many twists, but it all sticks together if you follow my offbeat logic. Anyhow, I'm quite certain that the products I'll be seeing in Dallas will be very useful indeed, so stay tuned over the next day or so.



Technorati tags: Korea Tech Preview 2008, Jon Arnold, J Arnold & Associates, Chindogu

New 4G Conference Coming - TMC and ???

How's this for a how-could-this-be??? scenario?

TMC is partnering with some very familiar VON faces to produce a 4G conference in February. It's not clear how much partnering is actually going on, and at face value, this 4G event is just co-locating with the Winter 2009 IT Expo, which returns again to Miami.

I got wind of this Wednesday night, and shortly after, Andy Abramson went public with the news on his blog, so he's got the scoop, no doubt. For the official news, the press release is here, and Greg Galitzine adds some flavor on his blog. Rich Tehrani also has some thoughts, as well as a list of other places this item was picked up.

I'm just getting around to this now, and if this is still news to you, then you're in the right place.

It's always great to hear about new conferences, especially for something as important as 4G, but the real story here is how previous competitors are now working together. TMC and VON have always had a strong rivalry, and each show has its strengths. With VON's demise (although Virgo is now trying to change that - which is another story for another time), a lot of smart, experienced people need to find other gigs.

With the 4G event, we're talking specifically about Carl Ford and Scott Kargman. Readers of my blog may recall that Carl has been publicly forging his own path for the past few months, and has already crossed the floor, so to speak, and was welcomed as a moderator at the IT Expo last month. I haven't kept up with Scott, but the two are working together on this event, and now that the word is out, you can see for yourself what they're doing. As noted on Andy's post, the website for 4G Wireless Revolution is running now, so that should be your next stop.

Bottom line - work is work, and it's great to see Carl and Scott engaged with something they know an awful lot about. I won't be alone in following their progress, and I'll post updates as things progress.


Technorati tags: 4G Wireless Revolution, Jon Arnold, Carl Ford, TMC, Scott Kargman, Andy Abramson, Greg Galitzine, Rich Tehrani

Avaya Global Analyst Conference - My Take

There was a lot to look forward to at this year's Avaya global analyst event, and on the whole, I'd say they lived up to expectations quite well. Yesterday I had a chance to post some photos, and now I'm set to share my overall impressions.

The big change is that being a private company now, there is less transparency in how they're doing. I'm not a financial analyst, so this is a bit less important for me, but still, this is a great opportunity to get an inside look as to how Avaya is faring since going private. The other development is in their leadership, with Charlie Giancarlo moving in from Cisco to serve as interim CEO. Lots of history there, but basically, Cisco's loss is Avaya's gain.

As with all analyst events, attendees are under NDA, either explicitly or implicitly. So, I'm not going to cite performance data, even though we did get a few glimpses. There was a lot of interesting messaging, and I'm just going to hit the high points here.

Charlie Giancarlo set the tone right away by stating Avaya's goal is to be 'the #1 global supplier of enterprise communications systems'. Take that, (enter any Avaya competitor here). While the definition of 'communications systems' is open for debate, the aim of being number one is not, so it's clear Avaya is intent on making the most of being private.

In terms of the grand plan, he shared Avaya's roadmap through 2010, by which time all the moves to refocus/reinvigorate the company should bear fruit. He didn't rule out going public again, and cited Seagate as a successful model to follow. They were taken private for $6 billion, and a few years later had doubled in value and went public again.

Some of the big initiatives underway to duplicate this feat include stronger regional alignment with corporate objectives to make Avaya more of a global organization, and a more channel-centric go-to-market model for driving sales. Another key Cisco hire was Todd Abbott, and I was very impressed with his vision for building the kind of sales organization to support these initiatives. It's all about sales at the end of the day, and he brought a lot of 'his people' over to Avaya, and this may well have as much bearing on Avaya's ultimate success as having Charlie Giancarlo on board.

It's clear that Avaya has worked hard to get the right management/leadership team in place, and it was really interesting to hear them say that this was easier to do as a private company. I never really thought about things this way, but when the stock equity of your employer gets weaker by the day, the harder it becomes to stay motivated. In today's market, the prospects of moving over to a company with a great brand that's just gone private and is in rebuilding mode become very attractive for all kinds of reasons. I get that, and now we're looking at a company with a top tier team, big money behind them, and free of the pressures of meeting quarterly earnings calls. That's a pretty good recipe for success, especially since the markets are not going to turn around any time soon.

Another interesting view from Charlie was the classic 'flight to quality' angle that will help drive growth. He took pains to point out that Avaya is one of only two financially stable vendors now ' the other one remaining nameless, but not hard to figure out. The financial mess we're all in has yet to take its toll, and sure, there will be casualties, and logic dictates that Avaya will be seen as a friendly haven for nervous customers and will get their share of business.

Fair enough, but he made another point that is probably more telling about the current market environment. That is, meaningful market share shifts happen in bad times, not good times. I've been out of MBA school too long to remember such things, so I don't have any empirical evidence to validate this, but it does make sense. If that holds true, and if Avaya executes well, then, sure, they are poised to capture market share. Whether it comes from above ' the other stable vendor ' or below ' everyone else, many of whom are in a weaker state ' I'm sure they're just happy to be growing.

There was a strong, recurring theme about focusing on channel support and moving away from the conflicts caused between direct sales efforts competing with the channels for business. In Avaya-speak, they call this being 'fulfillment neutral'. Okey dokey. More importantly, the new mantra is to become 'high touch, channel centric'. Let the channels do the selling, and provide more touch points to support them with things like training, certification, better order fulfillment and more marketing programs. This also means new compensation models to better incent them. Details weren't provided, but it was explained how some types of sales did not generate income for some channel partners, and they're moving now to address things like this. Sometimes it pays to build on best practices, and in this area, I'd say there's a lot of Cisco thinking here, which is not a bad thing. Todd Abbott summed this up best by saying this new focus on channels is 'a corporate strategy, not a sales strategy'.

Aside from being channel-centric, there was a lot of talk about becoming customer-centric. Really focusing on the needs of end users and getting beyond voice solutions. Karyn Mishima touched on how the consumer experience is now driving change and expectations around what Avaya has to deliver today in the enterprise. Not just new ways to communicate ' Facebook, Second Life, etc., but in new contexts such as retail kiosks in banks and telemedicine. There wasn't the Web 2.0 focus I saw at BroadSoft Connections earlier this month, but Avaya is playing in a different league, and are bringing elements of 2.0 in their own way. I saw some pretty interesting Web/voice mashups in their Demo display, but these are still in the lab. They won't be coming to market until next year, and what I saw looked very much like what's running today on BroadWorks Xtended.

I'm not an IT guy, and given Avaya's Bell Labs pedigree, there were a lot of technical presentations that I could only follow to a degree. However, it's clear to me that they're leveraging their Ubiquity acquisition pretty heavily, especially for their Unified Communications Solution. It was often mentioned how the majority of the installed base out there is still TDM, and to bring customers along into IP, they need to seamlessly support H.323 and SIP.

Other updates of note include One-X Mobile, which extends the PBX feature set to the mobile phone, with support for all the major handsets (and not just smartphones) and operating systems. For the broader Unified Communications solution, Jorge Blanco provided an extensive progress report, talking about how they've established a reference architecture to support enhancements across all touchpoints and applications ' the desktop, mobile phones, Web access, messaging and conferencing. Other developments of note include their Intelligent Presence Server which aggregates presence across multiple communication modes, and Session Manager, which among other things provides better interoperability for third party application developers. That said, there was not much about videoconferencing or social media/collaboration solutions, but there's plenty here for most enterprise uses.

SME is another key focus, and while Cisco has made similar proclamations, this space seems like a better sweet spot for Avaya. Geoffrey Baird runs this unit and pointed out how fragmented this market is. Nothing new there, but going into a down economy, this matters for both vendors and buyers alike. Avaya is profitable and well-capitalized, and not many of their competitors can say yes to both of these. Vendors with a focused offering who execute well and develop strong channel programs will do well, and that's the story we were being told/sold. I came away feeling pretty good about Avaya's chances here with IP Office, and Geoffrey cited some solid proof points to back this up (but I can't share those).

To get SMEs buying IP communications solutions in today's market, they really need to see attractive ROI metrics. I think there's a real opportunity here for vendors to tailor their ROI stories in the context of a business slowdown. SMEs will be looking to cut costs wherever possible, and while I didn't see any Avaya ROI scenarios, it sounds like they understand its importance for nervous business owners. SMEs also need manageable financing or leasing programs, and this is an area where Avaya's financial strength gives them a competitive edge. All else being equal, this can be the deal maker for SMEs deciding among comparable solutions from multiple vendors, and it looks like Avaya is playing that card pretty well.

I could go on, but will leave it at that. They packed a lot into a day and a half, but it felt about right, and it certainly was time well spent. Overall, I'd say Avaya is about as well positioned as one could expect, and I sure like their chances. The overall mood seems upbeat and energized, and based on my impressions from talking to people there, the move to privatization was the best medicine. It will be interesting to see who fills the full time CEO role, but the team in place today looks pretty solid to me, and next year should give us some strong clues as to how well this translates into growth.



Technorati tags: Avaya, Jon Arnold

Avaya Global Analyst Conference - Photo Highlights

Am attending the global analyst conference for Avaya in Boston this week, and it sure has been great. Got lots of impressions to share with you, but that will have to wait another day or so. Just been too much going on, and for now, all I can do is post some photos from today's keynotes. I'll have some commentary and overall impressions once I have time to gather my thoughts.




Interim CEO Charlie Giancarlo




Strategy/Tech SVP Karyn Mashima




Sales SVP/President, Field Operations, Todd Abbott



Executive Q&A




Technorati tags: Avaya, Charlie Giancarlo, Jon Arnold

Next Stop Boston - But Not What You Think

Early last night, with a full moon beaming out there, it looked like the stars were lining up nicely. I'm going to be in Boston next week for Avaya's global analyst conference, which is the news item in this post.

I last attended their global analyst event in 2006, but a lot has changed since then. Am not sure why I didn't go last year, but I did attend their Canadian Analyst Day last December here in Toronto.

I'm really looking forward to attending, with two reasons standing out in particular. First, they're a private company now, so these events become more important for staying informed and getting insights as to how they're doing as well as their strategic roadmap.

Second is seeing Charlie Giancarlo at the helm - which a year ago would seem about as improbable as seeing Carl Ford moderating at the IT Expo last month. That sure will be interesting - so will the flip side of things, when I attend Cisco C-Scape in December. Oh, and speaking of improbabilities...

Back to the stars lining up. Going into last night's game, there was reason to believe for the Red Sox. Wakefield would stymie the Rays, the bats would come alive, and they'd put the 9-1 embarrassment behind them. Clean slate - series tied 2-2, good momentum going into Game 5, and a chance to regain control over those "pesky Rays". Quick aside - I promise never to use that term any more. Johnny Pesky's number was just retired, but more troubling is the fact that it simply isnt' true any more. Ugh.

Well, that train of thought got derailed about 10 minutes into the game, and the beating was even worse than Game 3. Boy, do the Rays ever look good - just pick any "team of destiny" moniker from any major sport, and they fit the bill. Pretty hard to see them not going all the way. I love what the Phillies are doing, but how can they possibly match the Rays? They have dominated the Red Sox in every facet of the game, and they sure have youth on their side. In contrast, the Sox sure look tired and broken down. And awfully white. In this day and age, they really look like a throwback to the fifties, when there was hardly any racial diversity in the game. They sure could use a Carl Crawford or B.J. Upton. These guys are g-o-o-d.

I digress. Sure, they could eke out a 2-1 pitcher's duel with Dice-K tomorrow, and go to the Trop with a faint ray of hope. Sure, pull out another miracle like last year with Cleveland or the Yankees in 2004. Not gonna happen - even if Lester and Beckett pitch well. Last year they were clearly the best team in baseball from Day 1. They had home advantage and could win on the road. Gee, that sure sounds like the 2008 Rays to me.

This time the opposite is true. No way they can win 2 big ones on the road against the best team in baseball. Last year they had Manny and Lowell leading the offence. I don't care how good Bay is - he's not Manny. Unless Ortiz, Ellsbury, Drew, Kotsay and Lowrie wake up and take the weight off Youklis and Pedroia, it's over in 5, and Dice-K's luck will run out big time. Of course, you can still believe in miracles, but I think we're seeing a changing of the guard here.

So, had the stars lined up as I was hoping, the Avaya conference would have coincided with the beginning of the World Series. And should the Sox advance, they would open at home thanks to another AL All Star win this summer. Last year I was in Boston when they won the World Series, which was just great. This time around, it sure looks like I'm just going to be attending a conference, and casually watching the Patriots struggle to generate some offence against Denver Monday night. Oh, what could have been...

And just to tie this post up nicely, there are some notable parallels to Avaya and the Red Sox. Though not by design, Avaya's corporate color is a bold red, just like the Sox. They're also a long time team sponsor, and believe it or not, Avaya provides the telephony infrastructure to the Red Sox organization. Bet you didn't think there was a VoIP angle to this story, huh? How's that for convergence? There, I've covered all the bases now, and it's time to get my mind off of baseball...


Technorati tags: Avaya, Boston Red Sox, Jon Arnold

New Video Interviews on TMCnet

During TMC's IT Expo a couple of weeks back, I conducted a handful of video interviews. As with the Spring IT Expo earlier this year, these were done while wearing my Editor's hat for the IP Convergence TV portal.

These interviews are a co-production between TMC and IP Convergence TV, and they will be available for viewing on both websites. Updates for IPCTV have been a bit slow lately, but TMC's Alan Urkawich has done a great job getting these produced, and they're now running on TMC's video page. Ideally, they would run on IPCTV the same time, and I could cover these in one post, but since they're up on TMC now, I'm posting today while it's fresh.

I did 5 video interviews during the show, with each guest talking about various aspects of convergence technologies and their impact on service providers. We've kept them short this time around, and each runs about 5 minutes. So, in no particular order, here are the links...

Rich Tehrani, President, TMC - talking about some of the more interesting solutions he's seeing on the showfloor, esp mobile VoIP and immersive telepresence.

Dan York - Dir. Emerging Comm. Technologies, Voxeo - good insights from Dan about how voice-enabled communications is becoming integrated with Web services, and what this means for both service providers and enterprises.

Bob Emmerson - freelance telecom writer - Bob brings his deep industry experience to bear in talking about the importance of QoE for video, and how poorly understood it is in North America. He also shares his views on Unified Communications and the trend towards integrating VoIP with business processes.

Eric Burger - Chairman, SIP Forum - Eric updates us on the SIP Forum, especially the SIP Connect initiative, which is enabling plug-and-play solutions across multiple vendors. He also explains why service providers of all stripes - wireline, wireless and cable - are now actively involved with the SIP Forum, and helping drive its recent growth spurt.

David Yedwab - Partner, Marketing Strategy Analytics - always one of my favorite interviews. David knows the SMB space well, and has great insights about the issues/trends/challenges around their adoption of converged communications services. He cites the Microsoft Response Point solution as a good example, whose launch we both saw at the show.

That should give you a good fix of video content for now. I'd love to hear your thoughts, and let me know which one you liked the best!

To close out, I should also mention that video is a big part of TMC's thinking these days, and these interviews have been posted to a TMC microsite dedicated to video. I think it's a great idea, and it's especially helpful for anyone who couldn't get to the IT Expo last month.

There's loads of video content there, starting with a daily news update from Alan Urkawich - not a bad way to get a daily digest on what's new. Search the tabs, and you'll find video from recent events TMC has been involved with. For the IT Expo, in addition to my interviews, most of the keynotes are there, as well as many TMC interviews conducted with various exhibitors. There's similar content there for Astricon 2008 and NXTcomm.


Technorati tags: TMCnet, Jon Arnold, Rich Tehrani, Bob Emmerson, Dan York, Eric Burger, David Yedwab, IT Expo, IP Convergence TV

eComm 2009 - Call for Speakers

As things develop with eComm 2009, I'll be posting, as will others on the Advisory Board who blog. Last week was tough on blogging for me, and I didn't get a chance to get the word out about the Call for Speakers.

We've been steadily reviewing submissions throughout the week, and they continue to come in. A handful are quite good, some are pretty good, and some are off the mark. It all comes with the territory, and our job is to pick the best of the bunch and make them all fit into an overall program.

There's a lot of interest to present at eComm, both from previous speakers, and loads of people just coming around to it who want to be part of the conference. We'll do our best to give fair consideration to all entries, but the roster will likely be set in the next week or two. So, if you're interested, you'd better get a move on, and follow the procedure here.

And if you just want to stay up to date with eComm, visit the website, and check out the blog for news.


Technorati tags: eComm, Lee Dryburgh, Jon Arnold

Is Jeff Back? Call for Speakers - Social Media Event

Very interesting post from Jeff Pulver on Friday. I'm not alone wondering about what Jeff is planning next, especially now that the VON brand has officially changed hands.

It's also interesting that I've got two posts today about calls for speakers. No sure what to make of that.

Anyone following Jeff knows he moved on from VoIP some time ago, and even a casual read of his blog shows that his focus is mostly in social media and video. However, Friday's post is the first public statement I've seen about any type of conference and event beyond Jeff's ongoing series of social media breakfasts.

As you'll see from Jeff's post, this is a modest one-day event, but it's definitely got all the makings of a mini-conference - a call for speakers, registration for attendees, and yes, an appeal for sponsors - and helpers to organize it. Part of the event will be broadcast live from the PulverTV studio, which tells me that he'll be staging this from the Pulver.com office in Melville.

It's hard to know what to make of this, but I know Jeff is passionate about social media, and the topics he's addressing are important - and need community-building. And given all Jeff has been through this year, you have to tip your hat to him for getting back up and into something he knows how to do - build communities.

I'm not really connected to his circle these days, so it's hard to know how well this will be received. We'll just have to watch for news on his blog.

Interested? Jeff would love to hear from you!


Technorati tags: social media, Jeff Pulver, Jon Arnold

BroadSoft Connections - Day 2

Day 2 zoomed by, and I'm going to hit the high points with photos and some brief commentary. Things started with Show Me The Apps, which was a great showcase for how Web 2.0 style apps are being developed and integrated into the BroadWorks platform. Most of these were oriented to consumers and targeted at hot spaces such as Google Apps or the iPhone. This stuff sure is fun and sexy, but I'm not so sure carriers will make money there. Others like Tom Howe (the mashup competition winner)focus on business applications that solve specific problems and have identifiable value for subscribers. That's where I think carriers will want to look a bit more closely.

Regardless, I think this is a great direction for BroadSoft, and it shows the power and value of an open platform that can give any type of carrier a competitive advantage serving either business or residential subscribers. And that, of course, may be what really makes this work. As our home and work lives become increasingly blurred, carriers are going to need offerings that cater to our overall communications needs - not one thing for home and another for work.

After this session, I spent time at the Solutions Showcase, getting hands-on demos from both BroadSoft partners, and their own offerings. Otherwise, the day was taken up with meetings, and oh, blogging!

I should also add that I was briefed in advance on an announcement that BroadSoft released Tuesday morning about a partnership with Microsoft for an integrated hosted SMB Unified Communications solution. It's an interesting item in that it allows for a completely hosted offering with BroadWorks providing the hosted softswitch/UC solution, integrated with Microsoft's HMC offering - Hosted Messaging and Collaboration. The idea here is that this should be very attractive to SMBs who lack the infrastructure and/or resources to manage these pieces themselves. It gives them lots of flexibility in terms of scaling the services up or down, and adding features that will work seamlessly with their everyday Microsoft business applications.

So, here are some photos from both days, starting with Day 2...

Show Me The Apps












Now for some Day 1 photos....




Showing us how the Xtend platform can be used to build community - right in our midst...



Very slick video before the opening keynotes - fast-paced and highly visual - getting you in the mood for the new world of apps and their Xtend platform experience...



Mike Tessler (very tricky lighting - apologies for the poor photo - best I could get). Lots of good messages from Mike, with the driving theme for carriers being the need to open up your networks and see the value of what the Web developer community can bring.




Dr. James Canton (again, apologies for the poor photo quality). Interesting speaker - futurist - great look into how the mobile web will evolve and change not just communications, but the essence of business itself. Good food for thought about how important collaboration is in this new world, and how there is a great opportunity here for carriers to "lead their customers into the future".



Walt Mossberg - boy, what a treat. He talked mostly about how important the iPhone and Android are to the future of communications, and I couldn't agree with him more. I especially liked his take on the iPhone really being a mobile PC - the phone is just incidental. I've been of that view from Day 1 and as I don't hear many people talking this way about the iPhone, it was great to hear validation from someone like Mr. Mossberg. Plus, he's an avid Red Sox fan, so he's way up there on my list!



Solutions Showcase, including the 24 Hour Communications Experience. This was a guided tour walking us through how BroadWorks applications can touch our lives at every stage of our waking/working/walking day. I thought it was a great way to make all of this very real for carriers, who I believe need to see this big picture and how they are no longer in the business of just selling phone services.








Thanks, Tom...



Finally - what a great view - wish you were here...





Technorati tags: BroadSoft, Jon Arnold, Connections 2008