Mitel Mobile - Shape of Things to Come?

This posting seems fitting in the wake of Canada'a post-Olympic glow. Ottawa-based Mitel recently added an interesting twist to their expanding portfolio of advanced communications offerings.

Just when you thought the UC umbrella was wide enough, they launched Mitel Mobile in late January. I've written about this before, and when vendors start competing with carriers, you know the status quo is a thing of the past.

I'm just adding another perspective in the form of my latest Service Provider Views column on TMCnet. It's based on an interview with Laith Zalzalah of Mitel NetSolutions, and you can read about it here. I'm sure I won't be alone in tracking their progress, and it will be interesting to see if this is a one-off variation, or a new model for other vendors to emulate.

Meet the Canadians at IT Expo in Miami

Over the next few days, I'll be posting about the upcoming TMC ITExpo in Miami, running from January 20-22. It's coming up quickly now, and my hands have been very full with the Smart Grid Summit, which is co-located there. More about that on another post.

Right now I want to update you on the networking breakfast that's happening Friday morning. For those of you attending the ITExpo, I'm hosting this get-together sponsored by the governments of Ontario and Canada. I've been part of these breakfasts before, and it's a great way to network with up and coming Canadian tech startups in a relaxed environment.

I've posted about this before, and as of today, about half the available spots are taken for guests. If you'd like to attend, or review the agenda, drop me a line, and I'll send you the invite, which includes how to RSVP.

Aastra - Another Canadian Bright Light

Following my post the other day about MTS Allstream, I wanted to highlight another Canadian company that's on a roll these days. That company is Aastra, and I've blogged about them in the past. This is a company that has slowly built up a strong position in the IP telephony market, via both organic growth and a series of acquisitions, particularly in Europe. Aastra is one of a handful of Canadian telecom players that is publicly-traded and truly has a global reach. I know, this sounds a lot like another Canadian company that used to be a stock market darling, and if the truth be known, among Canadian telecom equipment vendors, I think Aastra is now poised to be what Nortel used to be.

Furthermore, their stock has held up well relative to other tech stocks, with a strong bounceback that has shares trading higher now than before the markets crashed last year. Much of this rides on their Q1 results which came out about 2 weeks ago. Sales took a big hit - down 16% - compared to Q4 2008, but more importantly, they're 56% higher than Q1 a year ago. Add to that rising gross margins, a sustained commitment to R&D, very little debt, and manageable operational expenses, and you have the making of a good growth story.

On the product front, they continue to innovate, and I think that has a lot to do with their success. It's hard to compete directly with the Polycoms, Avayas and Ciscos of the world, but they keep finding ways to add value to their lineup of SIP-based phones. One example is AastraLink RP, which integrates with Microsoft's Response Point, and won a 2008 TMC Product of the Year Award. Another would be ViPr, their touch screen videoconferencing solution which works with most any existing PBX. These are recent examples of how they're attacking specific niches and applications, and have many others in the mix, including Unified Communications, mobility and contact centers.

All told, there's a lot to like about Aastra, and in true Canadian style, they're doing it quietly but effectively. They should be familiar to many of my readers, but maybe not familiar enough, and with the flag-waving I'm doing this week, hopefully that will change now for the better.

Mobivox Makes Red Herring Final Cut for North America 100

Some great news for Mobivox, a Canadian company I've been following for ages, and recently did some client work for.

Their CEO, Peter Diedrich, posted on their blog late last week about Mobivox making the cut for the Red Herring 100 North America.

This is one of their industry awards events, and starts with a field of 1,200 entries. As Peter's post explains, this was reduced to the top 200, all of whom will present at their event next week, and from this will emerge the final list of the top 100.

I'm happy to share the news that Mobivox made the cut, not just because I know what they're up to, but also because they're Canadian. Too bad they didn't make the Branham 300, which spotlights Canadian up-and-comers, but somehow I think that's about to change.

I won't be attending the Red Herring event, but I wish Mobivox the best of luck. The final 200 list doesn't seem to have been published yet, so I don't know who they're up against, but to learn more about the event as well as a list of last year's winner, check out their site here.

CATA Innovation Awards - Vote Now For Canada's Best!

CATA - the Canadian Advanced Technology Alliance - is one of Canada's better-known industry groups advocating our tech sector, and they're putting their 2009 Innovation and Leadership Awards together now.

There are 9 categories, and you're all welcome to vote for best-in-class for each. Two categories are of particular interest to me - Emerging Technology and Mobile Communications. The latter is called the Ericsson MoCo Award, and I have some familiarity with all 3 companies nominated. I'm not going to tell you who I voted for, but they're all worthy choices - how's that for a balanced, analyst-like response?

Anyhow, you can review the categories and nominees here, as well as cast your vote. It's a great way to support Canada's tech sector, and the winners will be announced about a month from now, so check back with me then if you're dying to find out how your choices did.

Project GhostNet - Canada (and Google) Saves the World From Cyber-Spying - Again!

Wow, what a story. While most people I know are at either VoiceCon or CTIA this week, this one is worth staying home for. Also, I'm sure all the Skype followers are focused today on the news about working with the iPhone - and that IS a big story. However - for very different reasons - I'm sure you'll find this one of interest too.

This was a front page story in today's Globe and Mail, and no doubt many other Canadian dailies. I don't particularly follow cyber-crime, but this story is pretty incredible, and for the VoIP crowd there's an important Skype tangent. This will make a great thriller movie some day (maybe I should write it!) with all kinds of angles that normally don't have much to do with one another - China/Tibet, cyber-spying Toronto, Canada, Google and Skype. Are you intrigued? Read on, please.

In short, a team of academics/tech researchers based at the University of Toronto's Munk Centre for International Studies, discovered a Dr. Evil-like cyber-spying network with global implications. The threat is largely around how data that is sensitive to Tibet's security is being poached and monitored from PC's all over the world, and how many of the links point to servers located in China. I'll stop there - am sure you can imagine for yourself just how charged these issues and allegations are. Phew!

I'll leave the politics aside, but as the reports describe, it's a story that took a life of its own with one small discovery leading to many others, and finally to the news that went public today. I'm no hacker, but can appreciate how complex these things are, and how you have to think like a hacker to reveal the Rosetta Stone that gets you on the trail to the source.

Incredibly, the breakthrough that cracked the code was not an ingenious repeat of what went into Colossus (the famous Bletchley Park-developed computer that solved the code of Nazi messages - arguably saving Britain from defeat in WWII) - but a simple Google search!!! Amazing, Mr. Smart, as Harry Hoo would have said to Agent 86 in his slow, incredulous manner.

If that doesn't get you going, I don't know what else will. There's a lot to this story, and I'll steer you straight to the article from today's paper. I love citing the online edition of stories because you also get the reader comments. At last count there was well of over 500 comments, so if cyber-spying is your thing, you could be reading for a while.

This story should be of huge interest to anyone working in PC/Internet security, as it highlights just how vulnerable we can be. As smart as we think we are, the bad guys are often smarter, but in the end - and here's the scary part - nobody is smarter than Google! What does it say about cyberspace when an operation this sophisticated can ultimately be exposed by searching on Google? Sure makes you wonder what else about our personal/private lives is just a few clicks away from those don't have the best of intentions.

So many implications to consider here, but I want to just touch on a couple here - and perhaps this will lead to some interesting dialog about other things...

First, waving the flag, it's great to say that this discovery/expose came from Canada, primarily Toronto, and some from Ottawa. The article provides quite a bit of detail about them, but the key players are Nart Villeneuve, Greg Walton and Ron Deibert from the lab at U of T, and the Ottawa-based SecDev Group.

Second - here's where the Skype connection comes in. This isn't the first time China has been associated with compromised data security. Last fall, just after the Beijing Olympics, there was an unsettling discovery about how Skype traffic was being monitored in China. Ugh. I posted about it, and the story was widely covered in the media and blogosphere.

So why am I dragging Skype back into this messy place again? Well - the same team at U of T that just exposed this cyber-spy operation also discovered what was happening to Skype in China. I know what you're thinking --- if they're smart enough to do GhostNet, when you've got a cyber-spy problem, who ya gonna call?

He's Heeeere...Obama Comes to Ottawa

Just a quick public service announcement to let you know Canada rocks - at least until mid-afternoon.

Canada is the first foreign visit for President Obama, and he touched down as scheduled at 10:30 this morning - just a few minutes ago. If you don't RSS my blog, he may be gone by the time you read this, but that's ok!

He's just here for a few hours, and everyone I've talked to in Ottawa is ga-ga about the visit. There probably hasn't been this level of excitement over a visit like this since JFK came in 1961. Nixon coming up to meet Trudeau was big news too, but Nixon was no rock star like Obama. Should be quite a morning here, and great day to celebrate Canada-U.S. relations.

If you're keeping score, there are lots of touchy issues that I'm sure will get short shrift, such as what to do with Khadr post-Gitmo, how long should Canada stay in Afghanistan, how to justify buying tarsand oil. Lots of important things they could be talking about, but for now, I'm sure the focus will be on getting our economies in order.

And if you want to follow up to the minute coverage, there's CBC's live blog, and if you want to add your two cents to Obamania, check out WelcomeObama.ca.

CBC TV Interview on Wireless Substitution in Canada

I was recently interviewed for a story on wireless substitution in Canada that aired nationally on CBC TV. It's quite short, but an interesting segment overall, and features a Calgary-based company that's come up with a device that allows you to route mobile calls on to your wired phones inside the home. Not a bad idea, and it can be pretty practical, especially for people who get poor - or no cellular reception inside their home.

I don't normally post about things like this, but as I'm learning more about the new blogging platform, it looks like this is the only way I can share the interview so you can see it for yourself. You can view the segment here - it runs about 2.5 minutes.

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

BCE Deal - How Do You Value a Telco?

The BCE privatization saga continues, and now the ball is back in BCE's court as they try to defend their valuation and trump KPMG's solvency opinion. There's a lot at stake here, and both sides are pulling out all the stops to get things to go their way. It's a bit like watching Detroit's auto execs going hat in hand to Washington for a bailout. If the deal falls apart, there are big time winners and losers, and a whole new environment for Canadian service providers.

I'm not following the minutiae of the story, but you can get a good taste of it here. It's high stakes accounting, banking and legalese, with lots of complexities around things like the criteria for determining solvency, the benchmark dates for making valuations, potential conflicts of interest for KPMG between BCE and the bankers, avoidance of paying break fees if the solvency test is the deal-killer, the impact of Canada's suddenly weak dollar, etc.

There are many angles and sub-stories here, and some will only be of local interest. In some ways BCE is better off remaining a public company, and long-standing shareholders will be happy because the huge drop in valuation this week only remains a paper loss. By staying public, BCE avoids taking on the $30+ billion in debt, which would severely restrict its ability to invest in network upgrades to remain competitive. If the deal dies, all bets are off, and BCE's competitors will have to expect a more aggressive posture from them. That in turn should keep the playing field a bit more level since BCE will be jumping back into the pool with both feet.

Not everyone out there will find the BCE story of interest, and that's fine. My main reason for posting about this is to draw attention to the challenges of valuing a telco, especially in tough economic times. I'm not an expert in business valuations, but it sure must be difficult to assess the value of the two primary assets of any telco - its subscribers and the network. BCE is a great case study since it's so public, and if I was a telco, I'd be watching this one closely. I wouldn't be at all surprised to see one or two major telcos/cablecos to falter in 2009, and they'll have the same issues to deal with. In today's world of IP communications it's much harder to place a value on the subscriber, and at some point, revenues from advertisers will be part of the mix, just like they are with the portal players like Google and Yahoo. I'm sure BCE will be a real test to determine just how well auditors can do their job in valuing service providers, and I guess we'll know once the final rulings are decided. Stay tuned.


Technorati tags: KPMG, Jon Arnold, BCE

Microsoft Canada Analyst Day

I spent most of today attending Microsoft Canada's analyst day here in Toronto. It was led by Sean Seaton and his team, and they sure covered a lot of ground. Sean is the Director of their Communications Sector, and just about everything they talked about was of interest to me.

Today Microsoft touches every facet of communications, and the opening vision statement sums it up pretty well: "to create experiences that combine the magic of software with the power of Internet services across a world of devices."

That covers pretty much everything, and Microsoft is working very hard to straddle the worlds of software and the Web - while at the same time, steering very clear of anything to do with hardware.

We saw a series of presentations covering desktop applications, Windows Live 3, mobility, the workplace, entertainment, and Mediaroom. On its own, each of these is very interesting, but together you have tip your hat to Microsoft for being so strong in so many places.

To me, though, the strongest story was the service provider market, where they really are becoming an important player. I'd say that was the core focus for most of us in the room, so we were a pretty attentive audience. I've seen much of this before in their Telco 2.0 presentations, and written about it in some of my Service Provider Views columns.

I'm going to leave it at that for now, but will touch on many of their service provider themes in my next column, which should run on Friday. So, you'll have to come back to hear the rest of the story.

Oh - kudos also to High Road Communications for pulling this event together and hosting it at their downtown offices. They always do a good job and I'd say Microsoft is being well served by them.

Aside from this, we had a recurring distraction running all day wondering if the BCE privatization deal was going to fall apart. It was a very ugly day, as the stock fell 34% in value, driven by concerns over a negative opinion by KPMG regarding BCE's ability to meet the solvency requirements for the deal. Canada's financial sector hasn't been shaken to it core like the U.S., but the magnitude of this deal is enough to undermine confidence in our entire telecom sector. That's another post in itself, but I'll hold off until the dust settles around BCE. Phew.


Technorati tags: Microsoft Canada, Jon Arnold, BCE

Calliflower Premium Launched

Regular readers will know that I've followed Ottawa-based Iotum for a long time, and have some news to pass on for their latest incarnation, Calliflower. This is a Web 2.0-style platform that's trying to bring more intelligence and value to audio conferencing.

At the recent Under the Radar event, Calliflower had two announcements of note. First is their integration with the iPhone. This is good news for two reasons. First, it exposes Calliflower to a huge market of tech-savvy consumers, some of whom will no doubt find this service of great value. Second, since Calliflower is mainly a business application, it makes the iPhone more relevant to the enterprise market - SMBs as well - and that's a big market that Apple very much wants to crack.

Secondly, Calliflower launched its Premium service, which comes with a modest monthly fee that will be attractive to power users, especially those doing international conference calls. I believe that companies like Calliflower/Iotum need fee-based offerings to survive long term, and it's great to them do this. The introductory pricing is $50 per month for two organizers, and with this you get file sharing, and local inbound dialing for North America and 4 other countries, plus the use of Voxbone's iNum global area code (883). You can read more about it in the press release here.

There's a lot of Web 2.0 here, and you can imagine how much more engaging these calls can be, layering file sharing and IM on top of the audio service. Plus, with the flat monthly fee, the per minute dialing charges are eliminated, making conferencing much more affordable for regular users - as well as attractive to everyone else who thinks that conference calling is expensive.

Oh - if you're keen, and are among the first 400 to sign up before November 30, Calliflower will add a 3rd organizer at no extra cost.

Technorati tags: Calliflower, Jon Arnold, Iotum

Deloitte Fast 500 Results Posted

It's late, but I wanted to get this post done before the week is out. With so much bad news out there, it's important to take notice of the good things, and I've got one here.

Deloitte compiles its annual Technology Fast 500 of high growth North American companies, and the 2008 list was just announced this week.

I haven't posted about this listing recently, but did post about their companion ranking - the Canadian Fast 50 - last year. I missed the Fast 50 this time around, and wanted to be sure I caught the 2008 Fast 500.

This listing covers many segments of the tech sector, and only a few are related to telecom or communications. 500 companies is a lot of ground to cover, and I can only comment on these sub-sectors, and within that, the companies that I follow or have some familiarity with. The only thing I'd like to say about the overall universe is that Canada accounted for 8% of the Fast 500 companies, which is probably about right.

With that said, all I'd like to do is draw attention to the companies I know something about. There's plenty else you can mine for yourself, and the detail is all there on their site.

First, waving the Canadian flag, I'd like to cite seven companies that made the list. I especially want to mention MyThumb Interactive, the highest rated Canadian company that I follow. Not only did they do very well here, but they made the Canadian Fast 50 last year. So, hats off to these companies, with three of them cracking the top 100:

MyThumb Interactive (#44), Sandvine (71), Impact Mobile (89), RIM (142), Vizible Corp. (171), Bridgewater Systems (423), and Redline Communications (462)

From the U.S., here are eight familiar companies you can feel good about:

GENBAND (63), Grandstream (109), BroadSoft (185), ShoreTel (215), Occam Networks (217), Cbeyond (406), Neustar (451), and Sonus Networks (493)

Some of you will have broader coverage than me, so if I missed any of note from this list, by all means, let me know. When it comes to recognizing growth stories, the more the better.


Technorati tags: Deloitte, Jon Arnold, Fast 500, Canada

Mitel's News - Managing in Tough Times

In a sign of the times, Mitel held an analyst roundup call this afternoon to update us on some important and timely developments. It was organized on short notice - today - and I guess they felt it necessary to get some clarity out there in advance of VoiceCon next week.

The call was quite short - about 15 minutes, and I couldn't make it, but got a debrief right after from Mitel's Kevin Johnson. I don't often do newsy items like this, but I think it's telling about the precarious state of the telecom market, and of course, the economy in general.

In short, Mitel is reducing headcount, although the number was not disclosed. This is a private company, after all, so they are not as obliged as public companies to elaborate. What they did say was that two senior, high profile management members were effected, and they're well known to the analyst community. It's not clear if the names should be public at this time, so I'll just leave it at that.

It's never good news to hear about cuts, especially with people you know. One of my long time colleagues at BroadSoft was part of their recent cutback, and many companies are rightfully seeing the need to cut costs now in anticipation of a slowdown in new business.

Mitel was clear about this, and emphasized how this is particularly true for the SMB market, which is core to their business. SMBs are by nature cost-conscious, and in tough times will stop spending pretty quickly.

While Mitel isn't the only vendor cutting back, they're a pretty big player in the SMB market, and if you're looking for a canary in a coal mine signal, this is a pretty good one. Don't be surprised if you start hearing similar stories pretty soon from their competitors. Signals have been pretty strong about cuts at Nortel, and everyone is facing similar challenges right now.

That said, the call was not all gloom and doom. This is nothing like the implosion happening in the auto sector right now. That's downright scary. The good news was that Mitel will be launching their UC solution at VoiceCon next week, and this is probably the best and most public showcase for how well things have gone with the Inter-Tel acquisition.

I won't be at VoiceCon I'm afraid, but you won't have to look far to hear how the launch is received from those who will see it first hand. For the overall sake of the IP telephony space, I sure hope it's a hit.


Technorati tags: Mitel, Jon Arnold, Unified Communications, VoiceCon

We Won't Get Fooled Again....Canadian-style - VOTE!!!

Well, you know how that song goes - meet the new boss....

I'm not much of a political pundit, but as the U.S. election looms, I just had to share this goodie today. Canadians are well thought of for being so damned polite - we don't win many wars being this way, but we don't start any, either.

Anyhow, if you can't get enough poking fun at Sarah Palin, you'll just love this piece of satire, Canadian-style. It's big news up here, but for those of you outside Canada, this may not have crossed your transom yet.

Here's the story. A couple of popular Montreal DJs managed to convince Sarah Palin to call them on Saturday, under the guise she would be speaking with Nicolas Sarkozy, the President of France. The premise was that he wanted to wish her well on the election, and she took the bait. These guys are infamous for pulling stunts like this - aka the Masked Avengers - and it worked like a charm.

This is too funny, and if you're having second thoughts about jumping on the McCain bandwagon, you might want to check this out. Tina Fey couldn't have done it better, and if a couple of Canadians can fool the VP-to-be, let's not think what could happen if the real bad guys tried this. No moose on the loose would be safe....

Anyhow, here's the article from today's Globe & Mail about the interview. Embedded in the writeup are links to the audio version of the interview, along with some associated video clips.

All kidding aside, this post is a great excuse to encourage people to get out and VOTE!!! It's one of the few things left that matter in a democracy, and we all know how much is at stake this time around. I'm pretty certain the new boss on Wednesday won't be the same as the old boss, and that should tell you whose side I'm on.

And just to show you how clever I am, if you saw the front page of today's Globe & Mail you'll be all smiles. There's a nice big photo of Barack and his wife shaking hands with The Boss himself, Bruuuuuuuuce and his wife. Too bad he's not the VP - how cool would that be?

As a coda, I just have to say that for all you techies out there, this election is going to be really special given all the real-time tools we're using now. Hardly any of this stuff was around in previous elections - YouTube, IM, Twitter, Facebook, etc. As a society, we've never been so connected, and this has all kinds of implications for the media, the democratic process and the role of privacy in our lives. That's good news for people like me who make a living trying to understand these things, but more importantly, these are the tools of the Net generation, and if this gets them engaged in the real world, and brings them to the polling booth, then I'm the first to say technology is helping make the world a better place.



Technorati tags: Sarah Palin, Jon Arnold, Barack Obama, Masked Avengers, Canada, Bruce Springsteen

CDN Channel Elite Awards

Last night I attended the Channel Elite Awards here in Toronto. It was a nice gala to honor the winners from the annual awards organized by Computer Dealer News.

I was recently invited to be a judge for these awards and reviewed about 70 submissions along the way. It was a good experience, and part of the payoff was attending the gala.

Paolo Del Nibletto was nice enough to involve me in the event, so a big thank you there. To learn more about the highlights and winners, here's his wrapup piece.












When taking our seats for the awards, I spotted a table at the front and took a seat that would give me a good vantage point for photos. Not until I sat down did I realize I was totally blocked out by "the camera guy". Ugh. He got great shots and video, but my spot was useless, and I had to get up and get beside him every time I needed a shot. Nothing is easy...



Technorati tags: ITBusiness.ca, Jon Arnold, Channel Elite Awards

Videotron's Wireless Network Plans Announced

This is mostly a news item, and I don't do many of those. For many, it's an old news item by now, but not for everyone. I've been out of pocket almost all week, and this is the best I can do here, and didn't want this to pass unmentioned.

On Tuesday, Videotron announced their wireless network plans, and they're pretty ambitious. I was hoping to participate on the briefing call that day, but was too tied up at the Avaya analyst conference.

In the current economic climate, it's a huge deal to hear about spending like this. After spending $554 million to acquire spectrum during the AWS auction (which I've been following) - table stakes to get into the wireless game - they're now commmitting around $250-$300 million more to build an HSPA network. Videotron has said they were serious about wireless from the beginning and now they're putting their money on the table.

I can't help but think there's got to be a bit of political hubris at work here, as this is a Quebec story, not a Canada story. That message comes out loud and clear in the press release, especially with the proud claim how this investment will create 1,000 jobs for Quebecers. I'd be remiss to mention that the Bloc - their separatist party - fared well in the recent federal election, largely at the expense of the fading Liberals. I digress.

I should also note that Videotron is one of the biggest and best Quebec-based companies, and they are only in the wireless business to serve Quebec. Their population is a bit under 8 million, and I don't know if their Capex plans on a per-capita basis would be high or low relative to other markets. Regardless, it's happening, and that's the story here.

Anyhow, like Rogers, Videotron is a multimedia conglomerate, and have a lot of content at their disposal, so their plans extend well beyond voice. Bell diversified into content a few years back, but could never make it all work. However, networks are faster today, and we have smartphones now, so things will be much different for Videotron this time around. What also makes this interesting is that Videotron has a track record of being disruptive, most recently with their push into VoIP, which has been costly for Bell.

So, I'd expect similar things this time around with wireless. Actually, Videotron does offer wireless today, but over the Rogers network, which really limits what they'd like to do. Once they come to market on their own, Rogers will lose their traffic of course, but more importantly, they'll now be competing directly against each other.

Aside from this being a bold statement of investment in Quebec's communications infrastructure, it's great news for Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN), who were announced as the prime vendor for their network buildout. NSN is on a roll in Canada, having also just been awarded the business to build a jointly-funded HSPA wireless network for Bell and Telus. Wow. Hard to believe how these two competitors are now working together, but it's a necessity. Rogers already has GSM, and once Videotron comes with HSPA, they would be at a huge disadvantage if they sat tight with their CDMA networks.

If you can't beat 'em, join 'em, I guess. It's clear that the economics for each to build separate HSPA networks just don't work, and it sure will be interesting to see how they manage to share things once it's done and they go back to competing against each other. Or maybe - just maybe - they'll join forces to compete against the cablecos. How interesting would that be?

And just to complete the picture, today Shaw announced they were putting aside plans to build their wireless network. They're in a much smaller market than Quebec, but still spent $190 million to acquire spectrum licenses. Maybe they'll sell it to the highest bidder - if that's allowed - or maybe they'll jump back in the game if the market changes. Who knows?

With Videotron's news, the focus now shifts to what the other new wireless players plan to do - namely Globalive, Bragg/EastLink and DAVE Wireless. It's not easy raising money today for anything, let alone yet another wireless network. This sure sets the stage for an interesting 2009 in Canada's wireless marketplace, and I'll be back on this soapbox again soon.


Technorati tags: Videotron, Jon Arnold, AWS auction

The Ericsson Experience Center Comes to Town

It's not quite the circus coming to town, but the Ericsson Experience Center isn't too far off when it comes to a very cool road show that only analysts and the media could love.

I was one of those analysts invited to attend the Toronto stop on their travelling roadshow today, and as vendor experiences go, this one was right up there. I've seen these types of roadshows before, and you really have to see it to appreciate how sophisticated the inside of a trailer can get.

It's a great way to showcase all the cool things Ericsson is doing with both wireless and wireline technologies. We started first with wireless, and got a look at some of the equipment they're using to support HSPA and LTE, both for in-home and backhaul. I'm not an expert in wireless infrastructure, but this has long been a strong suit for Ericsson. They made it clear that these technologies have utility in both emerging markets with little existing telecom infrastructure as well as urban markets that need higher speeds than what their wireline broadband connections can deliver.

On the wireline side, we saw some really neat demos of IPTV, some of which is in the market today, and some just in the lab. They did a nice job showing how well integrated video and wireless services can be. One example was demonstrating how live streaming video from a cell phone can be uploaded to television to report a robbery in progress. Citizen jouralism 2.0 at its best. Other examples included a more interactive experience for watching sports, and using all the multimedia tools while watching TV - voice, chat, email, ordering concert tickets, etc. If the IMS vision ever truly comes to fruition, it sure looks like we'll never, ever have to get up from the couch except to replace the batteries in the converter.

All told, it was a great way to get an up-close look at what Ericsson is doing. Since most of this happens under the hood, I can't think of a better way to understand and experience all the technology they bring to enable these cool services. Am sure glad they came to town, and even gladder they invited me.

Ericsson Canada CEO/President Mark Henderson









Amit Kaminer of Seaboard Group - thanks for modelling this to scale! He was at Avaya this week too, so we've seen a lot of each other the past few days.




Technorati tags: Ericsson, Jon Arnold, Canada

IT in Canada - 1 Year Anniversary

I want to do a happy birthday shout-out here for IT in Canada, which turns its first anniversary this week. This portal is the creation of Toronto-based colleague Michael O'Neil (a Boston expat like me), a veteran IT consultant/entrepreneur.

I'm an occasional contributor to this portal, along with one of the microsites, UCinCanada.

These initiatives have been a work in progress for Michael and his team, and as his communique explains, things are unfolding very nicely...

"When we launched IT in Canada, our vision was "to stimulate and support a national dialogue on IT issues that are important to Canadians." With the help of our network partners, this vision has progressed farther and more rapidly than even we had hoped!"

"We've made progress against our goal of providing a thoughtful and thought-provoking resource for Canada's IT community, and had the pleasure of engaging with a membership that now includes nearly 400 professionals from across Canada, and from all facets of our industry. In the year to come, you can expect to see more activity, and more expansion: two other "branded" sites are poised to join the public ITFX Network, and we are actively planning the rollout of at least two (and possibly as many as four) new microsites between now and the end of January."

For anyone trying get the pulse of Canada's IT market or engage with the community at large, ITinCanada is probably the best thing going. I'm not aware of any other forums or portals of this nature in Canada, and all I can say is that I hope to see you there at some point. So, congrats on your first year, Michael, and I promise to get a post done for you soon!

Technorati tags: IT in Canada, Jon Arnold, Michael O'Neil, Unified Communications

VoIP Software Developer Job Opening in Toronto - Interested?

Think of this as a bit of a public service post.

Lots of things come my way, including recruiters looking for job candidates. In situations where I'm comfortable, I use my blog to help them by putting the word out to my readers. You never know, right?

So, here's a job opening that should be of interest to local software developers. What I can tell you is that this is a Toronto-based company that's "heavily involved in VoIP/SIP". It's a full-time position, and the pay package seems pretty good. I'm not a developer, so I can't really gauge the money thing any more than that. Hey, work is work - it's tough out there.

If you're interested, please drop me a line, and I'll be happy to put you in touch with the recruiter for the full story. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Technorati tags: VoIP software developer, Toronto, Jon Arnold

DNCL - Canada's Answer to the Scourge of Telemarketers

Been trying to get this out all day - just one thing after another.

This post is more of a public service announcement instead of the usual trail-blazing thought leadership you find here - but still of interest, at least to Canadians! :-)

So, we finally have DNCL - our Do Not Call List - to keep those pesky telemarketers away. This just came out about two weeks ago, but it really only popped into my mind yesterday.

It's funny how I spend most of my time with emerging technologies and following trends that may disrupt the world of telecom as we know it - but something as pedestrian as DNCL in my own backyard completely eludes me. Why is that???

I've seen this mentioned here and there in the news and the blogs, but never gave it a thought for what it means to me as a consumer. Yesterday, though, I happened to catch a tiny item in the paper about it, explaining DNCL and how to register. Duh - well, OF COURSE I SHOULD DO THIS. It may get lonely working from home, but it's not so bad that I look forward to hearing about the latest time-shares or home security deals or adult dating services, etc.

So, it took all of about 2 minutes to visit the National DNCL website and register our number. Done. Seems like a good use of taxpayer dollars to me.

They say it will take about a month for this notice to take effect, so I'm hoping these calls will tail off by then. Working from home, I have to tell you, we get about 3-4 of these every day. For those of you working in offices, you have no idea what you're missing, and what goes on during this quiet time at home. Thanks to the magic of call display, any time I see a toll free number calling, you just know it's from one of those people. I always let it ring through to VM - I wonder why they NEVER leave a message??? Hmm.

However - and here's the rub - the DNCL only protects us from Canadian telemarketers. No surprise there. Did you know --- that a lot of these stupid calls come from the US? You know, those area codes from places you barely recognize, like Colorado, Idaho or South Carolina. Nobody I know is calling our house from these places - ever - and the DNCL isn't going to catch them. Not much you can really do there, but DNCL is definitely a step in the right direction.

So, for those of you who didn't know - and need to know - now you know - and I'd encourage you to sign on ASAP. Happy Thanksgiving!


Technorati tags: National DNCL, Jon Arnold, telemarketers

My Jazinga Review

I?ve been trialing Jazinga for a while now and have waited for the most recent updates to get this review done. I?m really enjoying using it, and it?s become my default telephony system. I use that word loosely, since I work solo, and am not exactly a typical PBX user. I don?t have anyone to transfer calls to, but there are many other features that make my life better and my work day more productive.

Before sharing my thoughts about Jazinga, I didn?t realize the most obvious thing about Jazinga until sitting down now to write about it. I?m a marketing guy at heart, so these things keep me up thinking more than most other people. Jazinga is a catchy name for a company, and it?s just hit me that the product itself doesn?t have a name, so by default I don?t know what else to call it. Maybe it?s time for a name-that-product contest???

I?ve gotten to know the Jazinga folks pretty well now, and in case you?re wondering, yes, they?re very typical of a tech startup ? heavy on engineering and light on marketing. That?s ok by me ? at this stage it?s much more important to get the technology right, and in my books, they?ve done a great job there. The marketing and branding will come, and along the way, I?m sure they?ll come up with a clever name for their offering. I hate to call it a product ? seems so pedestrian ? and it?s only partially correct, so giving this a name will be trickier than you might think. I?ll leave that hanging out there for now, and move on to my review.

I?ll start by saying that other beta users have reviewed Jazinga already, and they?re more techhy than me. You can find these posted on Jazinga?s website, and there?s some good commentary about what?s under the hood. I?ll focus more on what?s outside and my everyday experiences.

As others have noted, Jazinga is an interesting a hybrid ? the box is a both a router and an IP telephony system. You basically get all the features of a PBX and QoS, as the system is able to prioritize voice over your broadband connection. Not only does that give you reliable service, but the audio quality is noticeably better than regular VoIP. For small businesses, this strikes me as a very important selling feature.

From a buyer?s point of view, Jazinga is a great value. They?ve used a lot of open source, which helps keeps the price down, and provides flexibility for adding new features and self-provisioning. It?s about as end-user centric as you can get, and ease of use is another hallmark of Jazinga. The earlier reviews have all picked up on the ease-of-use angle, and I can certainly vouch for that. Setting up the system takes little time, and is largely self-provisioning, so it?s ideal for SMBs, as they typically don?t have much in the way in-house IT support.

Not only does Jazinga come with all the telephony options you?d typically want to see, but they are continually adding new ones. It?s very easy to set up an auto attendant with greetings for each employee, and then customize how each person wants to receive their calls. For me, the conferencing feature has the most utility. It?s easy to set up, and very handy for initiating concalls on the fly. The only downside is that callers have to dial in to a toll number, but these days, most people don?t have a problem with that.

Another great thing about Jazinga is that it?s extensible. It?s built to keep taking new features, and end users don?t have to pay extra for these. The most recent releases - beta 1.11 and 1.12 ? have some noteworthy additions:

- Status screens in the Administration UI to monitor your Internet connection and system configuration

- Forwarding of voice mail to email

- Addition of portals for individual users. Previously, only system administrators had portal access. This means end users can now access their voicemail via the portal and update their personalized settings.

- System configuration and backup settings can now be saved to the desktop, giving end users more control and access to their communications tools.

- Two new calling features to make the telephony service more valuable to SMBs:

1. Dial around ? you can now call into and through Jazinga from any phone, anywhere and save on long distance charges.
2. Callback ? another way to do this, and works like other mobile VoIP callback services.

To use Jazinga, you need an IP phone, and they support all the major brands ? Cisco, Linksys, Aastra, Polycom and Snom, so it won?t be too hard to get this going. Once you see it up close, you may wonder why anyone would need a PBX. Aside from being easy to use, you feel empowered right away, as each end user can customize their greetings and call control preferences - and just as easily change them as their needs dictate. It?s also fun setting up the front door, which is where you record your IVR greeting prompts for each extension and conferencing options. Then you can add your own music on hold and really make it your own.

Being open source, Jazinga has made it easy to keep adding features without increasing your costs. That?s a pretty strong driver, as the system always stays current and keeps getting more powerful with each release. SMBs have never really had it this good before.

This would be enough for most IP telephony solutions, but Jazinga is thinking further out, and this is where it gets more interesting for me. For SOHOs and some SMBs, many, if not all end users will be home-based. Jazinga can very easily be used as the hub for both home and business communications. No reason why your landline ? analog or VoIP ? can?t be hooked up, giving you PBX features in the house. How about that? Think of the fun you can have with your greeting prompts ? ?for the kitchen, press 7?, or ?for Mom, press 6?. How can you not want to do this?

Let?s take this a step further. Once you?ve got home and business all running off Jazinga, why stop at voice? Here?s where the magic of open source comes into the picture. With wireless IP running all over the house/office, you could provision all kinds of other services ? remote printing, FMC handoffs, etc. Let?s not stop there. As we start broadband-enabling all kinds of devices and machines, the possibilities really open up, especially around smart home-type services. Think about starting the roast remotely, controlling the thermostat or monitoring your home security or surveillance systems.

I?m getting a bit ahead of the game, but the likes of Microsoft are well along that path, and Jazinga could become a perfect hub solution sooner than you think. You just have stop thinking about this as just an intelligent telephony router. When you do, you then need to start wondering why service providers aren?t running to partner with Jazinga. Not just telcos, but anyone with a wire into the home ? ISPs, cablecos, utilities, etc. Lots of possibilities here for sure.

It?s a very important part of the puzzle, simply because Jazinga isn?t a service provider. You could certainly buy the box retail or through a distributor channel and just go with the BYOB model. That works, but then it?s just a sell-through box solution for Jazinga. That?s ok, but then it starts to sound too much like Ooma, who I?ve written about ? and still use. It?s a great service, but like Jazinga, it?s just another box on my desk, and I really don?t give it a thought. That?s too passive a model for me.

I?ve been saying this about Ooma from the beginning ? the service provider is their best friend and route to market. Let them brand Jazinga and roll it out to their subscribers as a total package. That makes so much more sense to me, and is a real win-win for both parties. Think about how effective that would be for any carrier trying to break through the clutter in the SMB space. I know Jazinga is thinking this way too, so give it some time, and I?m pretty confident this will be a much bigger story going into 2009.


Technorati tags: Jazinga, Jon Arnold, SMB VoIP

Loose Ends - Skype and the Great Firewall of China, VON/Virgo Deal, Oz/Nokia Deal

I don't get paid to blog, so when I'm busy with consulting work, I fall behind on the news. There is always interesting stuff going on, and before the week is out, I wanted to quickly draw attention to three stories of note. These are all of interest to me, but it's way too late to post about them. So, for the laggards out there, here are three items you might want to explore further.

1. Skype - China/censorship/privacy - you get the idea. Wow, this is an interesting - but not altogether unsurprising story. Barely a month after the Beijing Olympics, here we go again, with the dark side of state-run media rearing its ugly head.

You don't have to look far for coverage of this story, or think too hard about how insidious all this is, but it's another reminder of how the Internet is impacting our lives. Ultimately, it may be a borderless technology, but as they say, the "great firewall of China" isn't quite onside yet.

I'd start first with Phil Wolff's posting on Skype Journal, then Om Malik, and I'm sure you'll find many others from there. I should also add this is not a new problem, and Skype is not alone in this morass - other IM platforms have had similar issues. RIM too, by the way.

Aside from the coverage you've already seen on this, I wanted to add some local coverage that I thought was really great. It ran in today's Globe & Mail, and talks about how a lab researcher here at the University of Toronto - Nart Villeneuve - uncovered some online trails that led him to all kinds of censorship and monitoring in China with Skype traffic. It's a great read, and am pretty sure will add valuable first-hand insight for anyone following this story. I should add that local colleague Jim Courtney - a regular Skype Journal contributor - picked up on this today, as have others like Om Malik.

I'll end on that triumphant note, as it's great to see some homegrown investigative work getting to the bottom of a truly international issue.

2. Virgo acquires VON. This is a much smaller scale story, but still of interest to many of us in the space. Several of us got wind of this news at the IT Expo a few weeks back, but it's just becoming official now. Andy Abramson had a good wrap on this the other day, and there's not a whole lot more to say about it right now.

Well, there is, but it's end of the week, and I'm kind of done now. That said, I wanted to at least acknowledge the story because it's evident from my recent conversations that most people don't know this has happened. Now you do.

3. Nokia acquires Oz Communications. Yet an even smaller story, but also of interest to me. Everyone knows Nokia and how they're doing lots of cool things with Ovi and just launched their iPhone killer. But most of you don't know Oz - a bit like saying you don't know Jack.

I've followed them for a while, and it's another great Canadian success story. So, add a notch for our win column, which is a nice way to end the week as the weather gets colder and my Red Sox look to keep winning.




Technorati tags: Skype, Jon Arnold, Nart Villeneuve, VON, Oz Communications

Judging for the Channel Elite Awards

IT Business is one of the major tech trade publishers here in Canada, and they run a large stable of vertical titles. One of the publications, Computer Dealer News has an annual industry program called the Channel Elite Awards.

These awards are focused on IT solution providers, and they have 9 distinct categories covering the gamut, including managed services, collaboration, enteprise, SMB, etc. The Editorial team has asked me to be one of the judges, which involves reviewing submissions from dozens of IT services companies.

I'm in the midst of that process now, and it sure is interesting to learn about so many successful IT deployments. Am not sure if it's because so many companies use really outdated systems, or if they just haven't caught up yet to the latest technologies, but it's clear that a lot of IT companies are making a positive difference.

If you're thinking of submitting an entry, it's too late, but there's always next year. You can learn more about the program at the CEA website, and come back towards the end of October to see who the winners were. I don't know when the winners will be announced, but I'll meet them in person at the Awards Gala on October 28.

Technorati tags: ITBusiness.ca, Jon Arnold, Channel Elite Awards

Jazinga Launches

Somehow, in the midst of everything else that kept me busy last week, I neglected to post about Jazinga's launch. Being Toronto-based, I'm always keen to support a local startup, especially one that shows this much promise. I've been beta testing their service for a while, and will be posting a review fairly soon. I've been waiting for the latest upgrades, which came just before my last conference. I hope to get this done before the week is out.

Back to the news. For those who don't know Jazinga, they have a premises-based IP telephony solution that's great for SMBs and SOHOs like myself. We all know about IP PBXs and open source-style solutions. Jazinga is a very practical, affordable alternative that's built around ease-of-use and a rich feature set. While most solutions are totally hosted or web-based, this has all the intelligence in the box, which doubles as a WiFi router/ATA.

I'll let the links tell the rest of the story, but if you want to hear more about it, I'll steer you to a podcast I did recently with their CTO, Shidan Gouran when I guest-hosted on Squawk Box.

So, a belated congrats to Jazinga on the launch, and here is some of the better coverage that I recommend you read - Telco 2.0,Garrett Smith, Andy Abramson, and PhonePlus Magazine.



Technorati tags: Jazinga, Jon Arnold, SMB VoIP

Toronto Tech Week - Highlights

Toronto Tech Week has been running all week, but yesterday was my only chance to attend. From what I saw, the content was quite good, and there's certainly no shortage of people here in Toronto who know what's going on with Web 2.0 and digital media trends.

Nothing much here on communications technologies, but that's to be expected. The closest was the session I moderated - mobile marketing. We had a pretty full room, and an engaged audience, which is my litmus test for a good session. The panelists did a great job touching on a lot of issues and I think everyone went away happy.

Overall, most of the sessions were oriented around Web 2.0 and social networking, with a lot of focus on what this means for marketers and advertisers. Pretty fascinating stuff, and while a bit removed from my everyday focus, it definitely has implications for my work.

Hats off to Dave Forde and his team for putting this together, and it sounds like TTW will become a regular event now, which is great news. I'm looking forward to coming back next time around.




Internet 2010 session...




Mobile gaming session - Dave Forde, far right...




Technorati tags: J Arnold & Associates, Jon Arnold, Toronto Tech Week, Dave Forde

Fonolo - Top Pick by Judges at Mobilize

Here's another very good news story from another colleague, and this one is closer to home. Fellow Torontonian Shai Berger, and his company Fonolo made it to the list of companies presenting at GigaOm's Mobilize event this week in San Francisco.

It's ok if you're doing a double take here. Turns out that Mobilize and the IT Expo are the same week, and a number of people split their time at both shows. I saw Shai several times during the Expo, and wished him good luck when he left for SF on Wednesday.

So, it's been a good week for people I try to keep close to - Shai and Tom Howe, whose good news I just posted about earlier this morning.

Back to Fonolo. Twelve companies were selected to present their story at Om's Launchpad, with each being reviewed by a panel of 4 judges. I wasn't at the event, and am just getting this off the GigaOm post, which I strongly recommend you read to see how everyone did. Each company is summarized in the post, and goes on to show that Fonolo was the top pick overall among the judges, and rated third overall by the audience.

I don't know about you, but it's great news, and another in a growing list of accolades that Fonolo is compiling in its very short history.

Even though I'm an Advisor to Fonolo, I think it's pretty fair to say this is a company to watch, and I have no reservations about waving the flag too. We've got a lot of great companies in Canada, and it's especially nice to see one in my own back yard of Toronto doing so well on a big stage like Mobilize.


Technorati tags: Jon Arnold, Fonolo, Shai Berger, GigaOm, Mobilize

Toronto Tech Week - September 22-26

For a change, I get to talk about a local event!

Last year saw the debut of Toronto Tech Week, which is a great initiative to create some community here, something I have long found lacking, at least in my line of work.

This year's event is coming up, running from September 22 - 26. The program has something for everyone, including a focus on startups, career options for tech, and competing priorities facing IT. There is also quite a bit of technology-oriented content, with three strong tracks - Web 2.0, software as a service, and new media/social media.

Colleague Dave Forde of Profectio has been the driving force behind this event, and in Year 2 it's scaled nicely, most due to the hard work and vision of Dave and his team. He was nice enough to invite me to participate, and I'll be moderating the Mobile Marketing 2.0 session on Thursday at 1 pm. We'll be exploring the role of mobility in marketing campaigns, and we have speakers lined up from Yahoo!, Silverback Wireless and Canoe.ca.

Should be a good session, and if you're attending the event, I'd love to see you there.


Technorati tags: J Arnold & Associates, Jon Arnold, Toronto Tech Week, Dave Forde

Fonolo Gets Some Airtime

For regular readers of my blog, you probably know I'm a fan of Fonolo. I'll be upfront and say I'm an Advisor, but that aside, you have to admit they've got a pretty cool application.

I don't do their PR, but feel obliged to share some great mainstream exposure the company got yesterday. As you may know, Fonolo is based here in Toronto, and CBC is our major national broadcaster. They do great work and have a wonderful radio program called Spark. It's got a solid following and they are a great showcase for how technology is impacting modern life.

The CBC produces first-rate public programming, and I have to say it's one of the nice things about Canada. The media is more democratized here and it's more open to varying points of view. NPR is the closest I can think of for a comparable service in the U.S., but I suspect CBC has a more mainstream and very loyal following. If I'm sounding a bit too pro-radio, I'm showing my true colors. Radio has always been my favorite medium - nothing beats it for immediacy and intimacy - and it's sooo low tech - and it's free!

With that little op-ed out of the way, let's get back to Fonolo. Their CEO - Shai Berger (who is on his honeymoon right now - congrats!) got a great feature spot to open up yesterday's program. I missed the broadcast, but you can listen to the podcast here. Fortunately it's the first segment of the show, and runs about 5 minutes. So just click and enjoy - and then go check out the video demo that Shai talks about during the interview.

And if this doesn't explain why Fonolo has got a good idea, let me know and I'll do it myself.


Technorati tags: Fonolo, CBC Spark, Jon Arnold, Shai Berger, Canada

Can Bell Canada Stay Competitive? Alec Says No.

Colleague Alec Saunders had an action-speaks-louder-than-words post yesterday that read my mind perfectly.

I had exactly the same reaction as Alec after reading Bell Canada's current position on infrastructure spending in the Globe & Mail.

Basically, the storyline is that Bell does not plan to pursue a FTTH - fiber to the home - strategy to deliver the high end speeds to stay on par or get ahead of the cablecos. They're taking the prudent approach in balancing the Capex required to upgrade their networks versus the fiscal realities that privatization is about to impose on them. It really is a rock and a hard place scenario, and Bell ultimately seems to be playing it safe.

Too safe for Alec's liking - mine too. So much so for Alec that his post was a public declaration that Bell will not be able to meet his needs, and he's making the switch from DSL to cable. I just had to share this with you as I think Alec speaks to an issue that may come to haunt Bell.

Their rationale is that Bell's plans for DSL and fiber will provide sufficient speeds - up to 10 Mbps - for what the market needs. Hmm. That may hold for the general population, but a few years from now, that number is going to sound like it's from a bygone era. Maybe this means that IPTV is not in their plans now and that they'll rely more on Expressvu for video. Or maybe they're going to surprise us or change their plans as market conditions dictate, but for now, this doesn't sound like the way to go for a company that more than ever needs to be on the leading edge.

Technorati tags: Bell Canada, Alec Saunders, Jon Arnold, DSL

Blackberry Bold - Rogers is First to Market

Just wanted to briefly share some news that will be of interest to any RIM watcher.

The much-hyped Blackberry Bold was launched yesterday here in Toronto by Rogers, and is worth citing for a few reasons. I'm not much of gadget guy, but the Bold is a big deal, and I'll just wave the flag a bit here to say that Rogers is the first operator in North America to offer it. We're not winning a lot of medals in Beijing (although it's been a very good week!), and it's nice to talk about being first in something.

I wasn't at the launch, but local colleague Jim Courtney was, so I'll leave it to him to tell you about it first-hand. Jim knows RIM very well and had a great writeup about the launch that was posted last night.

Aside from the fact that Jim's post is a good read on the launch event and what the Bold means for Rogers (more than you might think), it was published as a guest post on GigaOm. That was really great to see in terms of giving Jim's post tremendous visibility and letting the world know that Canada does get its share of firsts.

An interesting subtext to this launch is the ever-evolving battle between Rogers and Bell for supremacy in Ontario, as well as nationally on the wireless front. Rogers has a killer one-two punch with the iPhone and now the Bold that keeps them top of mind in both the consumer and business markets.

Bell, of course, is trying to re-invent itself in the wake of privatization, and a big part of that has been their very new and very different branding campaign that's re-positioning them as a leading edge provider. And if you're local, you'll know why I said "providER". Lots to talk about there, but another time - this post is about steering you to Jim's review. Enjoy.


Technorati tags: RIM, Blackberry Bold, Jon Arnold, Jim Courtney, Rogers, GigaOm

Wireless Spectrum Auction Completed ? Status Quo or Real Competition?

Canada?s AWS auction finally finished yesterday, and there should be no doubt about the perceived value of wireless spectrum. The final take was $4.25 billion ? that?s a lot of free money for the federal government, and that raises an issue unto itself. How those proceeds are spent ? or invested ? will say a lot about what kind of a country Canada wants to be.

To me, it?s a philosophical issue as much as economic ? these windfalls don?t come along often. It?s like getting a one-off giant tax refund that sets your head spinning about what to do with it. Pay off the credit card, take a family vacation, pay down the mortgage, fix up the house, top up the college fund? It?s not enough to retire on, but enough to make a significant dent in any of these noble causes. Any of these will improve your quality of life, so it?s a matter of figuring out what?s the highest priority.

It?s no different for the proceeds from this auction. If Canada wants to do the practical thing that no voter would oppose, they?ll just pay down the federal debt. If there?s some vision behind this, they?ll see this as an infrastructure issue to help Canada become more competitive and connected in the information economy. Of course, that?s what the auction is all about, as the winners will now get busy spending even more money building new networks or expanding/upgrading the ones they have already.

Fair enough, but what about people in remote or poor communities who cannot afford wireless and/or Internet services? This may not be a core issues for voters, but it sure represents a prime opportunity to take some leadership in terms of having some form of a national broadband policy. Countries like Korea and Sweden have gone down that road and the benefits are as clear as day. This is a rich topic that warrants more focus, and for that, I?m going to steer you to fellow local blogger Mark Goldberg, who is well versed, vocal and worth following. Mark also had a very insightful post this morning that puts a lot of this in perspective. Spend some time there - he'll be glad you did!

Back to the auction results. I posted about this recently and am not going to get into a long discussion ? just wanted to touch on a few things that stood out.

- Not surprisingly, the incumbents ? Bell, Rogers and Telus ? did about 2/3 of the spending. This is pretty much in line with the amount of spectrum that was available for them to bid on. In the spirit of defending their turf, that?s to be expected, and validates how important any form of wireless spectrum is to them once it?s up for grabs.

- Globalive and Videotron were the next biggest spenders, but these two are on very different paths. Globalive has national ambitions, and I see them emerging as the fourth Canada-wide competitor ? which is about all I think Canada can really support long-term. They have coverage pretty much everywhere but Quebec, and to address that, they?ll likely have to make a deal with Videotron, who is solely focused on Quebec. That will be an interesting scenario to watch.

- Notably absent was MTS/Allstream and the U.S. operators. MTS has had opportunities to become a national wireless player before, and however you want to spin that, it just doesn?t seem to be in the cards for them. I don't see this as a plus for their future.


More importantly ? and to the question posed in the title of this post ? what?s the score? Will this really give Canadians more choice, better services and lower prices? I think the status quo has largely been maintained, and that will hold if the new players ? whether national or regional ? simply play to the mass market and just focus on price or tweaking the everyday services ? you know, voice 1.0. I could be glib and say that?s the Canadian way, but I?ve got to look for the silver lining here. As I?ve said before, there?s a great opportunity for new players to be disruptive and come to market straight out of the gate with voice 2.0 services.

Even better if it?s telco 2.0 or wireless 2.0 or web 2.0 or communications 2.0 ? you get the idea. How about 3.0 ? whatever that means? The main idea here is that they?re starting with a clean slate and can build the kind of networks to support market needs for the next 10 years. In my view, the incumbents are more motivated to acquire spectrum for defensive reasons. I think they will be as innovative as they need to be to keep this a 3 horse race - and no more than that.

Globalive can certainly make it a 4 horse race if they really take it to them, and that would help make this a more interesting market. Same goes for the regional players, especially Videotron. They have been very successful with VoIP in Quebec because they were disruptive, not just on price, but with faster speeds and creative bundling packages. I fully expect more of the same with them for wireless, so this will be another market to follow closely.

So, is it a brand new day for wireless in Canada? It?s too early to tell, but if it?s the same-old with both the operators and the federal government ? we?ll just be getting Canada 1.0, and that?s a step backwards, not forward. Let?s hope not, and as subscribers, we have to vote with our wallets.

Consumer activism paid off around the recent iPhone launch here, and that?s a sign of hope that we have a say in this too. And believe me, the last thing the government wants to see after going through this exercise is the status quo. They?ll have a lot of ?splainin? to do if that?s the end result, so their job is far from done.

While I'm not wanting to end on a down note, I can't help but ask the bigger question that's driving all this spending in the first place. If you build it, will they come? What if... what if the market actually is in equilibrium right now? The gold rush mentality today is based on the premise that wireless adoption lags other modern economies, so there's lots of upside to go yet.

Hmm. I'm not so sure. Adoption is lower here, no doubt - largely because prices are high, and the value just isn't there for everyone else. Sure, there are pockets where wireless service isn't available or good enough. By and large, however, I would argue that anyone who wants a cell phone these days in Canada has got one by now. Basic economics would dictate that if prices fall, demand will rise - so sure, new entrants will be fighting for the scraps, and they'll have to do it on price.

How on earth are these guys going to turn a profit after spending so much money to get into the game? I just don't get that. What if the mass market doesn't want 2.0 services? Then they all become Vonages, and the incumbents will cut prices until they all go away and we're back to square one again. Ugh. Let's hope not. All I can say is the faster the new players can bring 2.0 to the market, the better - it's our only hope for true competition.

Technorati tags: Jon Arnold, AWS auction, Canadian wireless, Mark Goldberg

IT in Canada Portal - New UC Post

Toronto colleague Michael O'Neil has been honing his IT in Canada portal for a few months now, and it's coming along nicely.

The portal covers a lot of ground and there's some very good content, focused primarily on IT-related issues. I've been recently added to the "Expert Ring" of contributors to the IT Forum Exchange, which is some nice local recognition. The Forum has several threads, which really are microsites covering a whole range of topics, and my most recent post is up there now, under the Unified Communications banner.

It's titled "Unified Communications - What's the Focus?", and I'm spelling this out to make it easier to find. Unfortunately, the portal only provides links to the home page - the design is still clunky, but the content is worth putting up with for a bit of extra work to find it.

I hope you enjoy the post, and I'll be contributing there on a fairly regular basis. I'm just one of many contributors, however, so what I really want you to do is discover the portal and see for yourself. And then, please tell me what you think, as Michael is always open for new ideas.



Technorati tags: IT in Canada, Jon Arnold, Michael O'Neil, Unified Communications

Consumers Speak - Rogers Listens

Wow - chalk one up for free speech and the power of the Internet! Just before the official launch of the iPhone in Canada, Rogers has caved to the mounting consumer backlash and revamped their price plans.

I think it's a great story showing how well people can rally about something they really care about. The iPhone is such a must-have gadget, especially here in Canada where we've been watching our U.S. neighbors lap it up in no time. Clearly Rogers realized it has mis-judged market sentiment and is making some concessions to avoid losing face altogether. Today's Globe & Mail has a good piece about this, and refers to other well-known Rogers gaffes - such as their "negative billing option" - which they had to go back on once they realized how strongly the market felt about it. As I've said before, they behave like this because they can, but when consumers speak with a strong unified voice, they simply had to do something. Once again, the online versions of articles in the Globe are the best barometers of Main Street - with almost 200 reader comments, this is a pretty strong validation that Rogers came half-way in a nick of time.

I say half-way, of course, because while the rate plans are more competitive, they still won't follow the U.S. model of unlimited usage pricing plans. And you still have to take out a 3 year contract to get the phone, so why lock them in from the start with the best possible plan?

I'm sure unlimited usage is the last straw for them, and I can see why they're holding back. No doubt, once we have new competitors following the spectrum auction, all the mobile operators will have to be more price competitive. I'm sure Rogers is holding unlimited as their trump card for when that time comes. For now, though, the plans are atractive enough that the iPhone will have a healthy debut, but probably not as strong as it could have been.

While we're on the topic of pricing plans, I'll point you to a nice post that Mark Evans wrote yesterday comparing pricing plans in various countries. There's a great comparison chart showing just how out of line Canada's pricing plans are for the iPhone.

Finally, I can't help but mention one other factor that may be at work here. Just after Rogers first announced its pricing plans last week, Bell countered with much more attractive pricing to go with its upcoming launch of the very hot Samsung Instinct smartphone. This is the closest Bell can come to the iPhone, and for people looking an alternative, this is a pretty good choice. Not only is the phone comparable feature-wise, with better pricing options, but they also offer 2 year, 1 year and no contract deals. I didn't see any takeup on this news, and Rogers cannot afford to ignore the competitors in its own back yard. Bell may still be in lame duck mode until the privatization deal closes, but Bell Mobility is the #2 mobile provider and is in a great position to offer something more interesting to counter Rogers. In mind view, this had to have played a role in Rogers's thinking around today's news.

Sure will be interesting to see how busy the Rogers stores will be tomorrow.


Technorati tags: Rogers Wireless, Jon Arnold, iPhone, Canada

Globalive Set to Enter Canadian Wireless Market - It's the Network, Stupid!

I'm not following the AWS auction blow-by-blow, but it's pretty clear at this point that Globalive is set to emerge as the big winner - so to speak. The federal government stands to earn a huge windfall - over $4 billion - for auctioning off the spectrum licenses - and I have no idea what they're going to do with all this loot.

Anyhow, once the dust settles, it looks like Canada will get a few new regional wireless operators, such as Shaw in the West, Videotron in Quebec and Bragg in the Maritimes. I don't think the market can support much more than that, as Manitoba and Saskatchewan already have local wireless operators of their own.

Aside from Globalive, there's one other bidder who will have quasi-national coverage - DAVE- Data, Audio Visual Enterprises. It's a venture between John Bitove (satellite radio) and Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen. To me, they're a real wild card since they don't have any operating experience in this space, and it's a new, unproven venture.

So, that leaves us with Globalive, which is a pretty interesting company. They are poised to come out of this with spectrum to cover all of Canada except Quebec, which about as close as anyone is going to get up here. For sake of transparency, I will say that I have done work on and off for Globalive, but nothing connected to wireless, so there's no hidden agenda here.

I can't think of anything like Globalive up here, but telecom is definitely their business. For a variety of reasons, they are well positioned - and financed - for becoming a wireless player, and that's what matters. If you want to delve more into the details, you'll get some of it from their website, but today's wireless story in the Globe & Mail is a better place to get yourself up to speed.

For a variety of other reasons, I've also been skeptical that the Canadian market can support another national provider. We used to have four players, and now we're down to three. The costs of entry, of course are huge, and it's hard to see how anyone can hang in long enough to recoup their investment for spectrum and network buildout. Sure, wireless penetration is on the low side here compared to other developed country, and margins remain high. However, by the time new players come to market - which could be as long as two years - we'll pretty much all be mobile users, so the new business is going to have to come at someone else's expense.

So, why on earth would anybody want to do this? As the title of this post says --- it's the network, stupid. Here's what I think. I really can't see how anybody can make money long term up here being a new entry by just providing service in the mobile space. There just aren't enough subscribers to go around. However...

There are a few factors that make Globalive's situation unique, and may give them enough of an edge that will make this viable. Consider the following:

- They're building a network from scratch, and yes, this will be very costly. However, they'll be building it for today's market, which is all about video and data - not voice. It's a bit like fiber vs. DSL. Presumably, Globalive will be building a network around the applications that make money and sell smartphones. As good as the existing wireless networks are in Canada, they were not built this way, and will likely have to do some upgrading to keep pace once Globalive comes to market. The way I see it, whenever they are ready, Globalive should have the most advanced network, which should give them a nice window to capture their first round of subscribers.

- Globalive's backers have a LOT of experience with large scale mobile operations on an international scale. That means they have experience with spectrum auctions and they must have leverage with vendors that Canadian operators probably don't have - such as Alcatel-Lucent. In other words, they will likely be able to build their network cheaper than other new entrants, which will mean a faster payback on their investment. Because they have so much global expertise, they may very well be able to partner with major vendors and get financing or preferable terms. In other words, they may not have to lay out so much money, which would put them in a very good position to enter the market. Oh - and by extension, the same goes for handset vendors, which means they should be very competitive against the other operators in terms of both device selection and pricing.

- Globalive already has an established telecom operator in its stable - Yak. So there is some brand presence already, and ramping this up into a mobile carrier would really be a matter of scale.

- They also have several other telecom companies in their stable, so there's a built-in pool from which to draw for both talent and developers. Because they'll be coming to market with a state of the art network, Globalive will have a clean slate to truly become a 2.0 type of provider. This is not really a made-in-Canada business model, and Globalive brings an international mindset which I think will give them an edge for bringing innovative services to market. I'd be very surprised to see them simply copying what the incumbents are offering.

- Last but not least, as I say in the title of this post - it's the network, stupid. I'm thinking differently now about Globalive, and believe it's the network that's going to make them successful - not the services. We all know why the Vonages of the world are doomed - it's almost impossible to make a go when you don't have the network. Aside from all the advantages discussed already, another factor in Globalive's favor is that networks are cheaper to build today than in the cellular world. This is still the biggest barrier to entry, but it's not as high as it used to be, and Globalive has deep pockets. Once you get past that hurdle, you will be on an equal playing field with the incumbents. At that point, all bets are off as far as I'm concerned. Sure, the incumbents will have the subscribers and established brands, but the pressure will really be on them to defend their territory. Globalive won't be coming to market to compete on price - they'll be doing it with cool services that make smartphones worth every penny. If they hit the market with really innovative services, I think they'll give the incumbents a good run for their money. Looking at it this way, it really is about the network. Once that big barrier falls away, we'll see how well the incumbents will be able to compete with some real competition. In my mind, it's a bit like calling your bluff. If Globalive comes to market with the best network around, things could get very interesting.

- Oh - here's another reason why I think the network is the key to making Globalive a potential winner. I'm pretty sure they will end up being the only real rival to the 3 incumbents in terms of market coverage. They may choose to stay out of Quebec, or simply partner with someone like Videotron there, which would give them Canada-wide service. Either way, Globalive will be a natural magnet for regional carriers looking to expand coverage or MVNOs seeking to capture some niche markets.It's hard imagine anyone else having the means or motivation to build yet another national network once all the licenses are spoken for. MVNOs have had a hard time succeeding anywhere, but hey - if Globalive has a really great network, they will be able to support a much more interesting range of services than what MVNOs are offering today. So, if they were thinking along these lines, they will overengineer their network to provide enough capacity to accommodate over the top providers. This will generate more revenues, with hardly any additional expense, which in turn will accelerate their ROI. Nothing wrong with that.

I still have a lot of reservations about how successful any new entries will be to our wireless market. Now that I look at where Globalive stands today, I'm a lot more optimistic about their chances. The odds are still long, but Globalive brings a lot to the table, and I really don't see how anybody else comes close.

The big question now becomes how will the incumbents respond? If they still feel this will remain a cozy club of three and stand pat, I think they will be in trouble if my view of Globalive is on target. What if they don't upgrade their networks? What if they don't innovate with new services and just try to compete on price? Just look at the way Rogers is coming to market with the iPhone. No way this tactic is going to work once Globalive comes to town, especially if they're GSM.

Pretty interesting scenarios to say the least. Y'know, this Globalive thing might just work. Thoughts???

Technorati tags: Globalive, Jon Arnold, AWS auction, Canadian wireless