In my session at FISPA live I used some data from a study that Parallels did. Parallels own CPanel and is middleware for hosting companies to sell cloud services from third party vendors. They do a global study on cloud for SMB. You can get the data here.

Parallels has a YouTube video that is an animated 2 minute summary of the study. There is also a PDF summary of the results in graphic form here.

Lots of interesting data that I included in my session on Bundling for Sticky Profit.

The top verticals in the US via Parallels blog:

“The first post will feature the Retail vertical, representing more than 1 million SMBs in the United States. We’ll dig into the juicy details in the retail post. And we also will be covering five other key verticals, including:

Professional, Scientific, and Technical Sciences (850,000 US SMBs)
Healthcare and Social Assistance (816,000)
Construction (647,000)
Hospitality, Food and Leisure (648,000)
Finance, Banking, Insurance and Accounting (467,000)

In my session at FISPA live I used some data from a study that Parallels did. Parallels own CPanel and is middleware for hosting companies to sell cloud services from third party vendors. They do a global study on cloud for SMB. You can get the data here.

Parallels has a YouTube video that is an animated 2 minute summary of the study. There is also a PDF summary of the results in graphic form here.

Lots of interesting data that I included in my session on Bundling for Sticky Profit.

The top verticals in the US via Parallels blog:

“The first post will feature the Retail vertical, representing more than 1 million SMBs in the United States. We’ll dig into the juicy details in the retail post. And we also will be covering five other key verticals, including:

Professional, Scientific, and Technical Sciences (850,000 US SMBs)
Healthcare and Social Assistance (816,000)
Construction (647,000)
Hospitality, Food and Leisure (648,000)
Finance, Banking, Insurance and Accounting (467,000)

I am heading (in this downpour) to the airport to go to the FISPA Live show in NOLA. I will be speaking about Managing Salespeople and Bundling. There are no notes on the Bundling session. It is really about examples – and hopefully some interaction. Sales Management though; you can get the workbook and some stats here.

“AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile and Dish Network were the big winners in the AWS-3 auction that closed this week,” reports Telecompetitor.

How startups are changing telecom by Moshe Maier of Flat Planet Phone Co. and Fone.do.

A VC talks about Sunk Costs. “The important thing about sunk costs is when it comes time to make a decision about the project or investment, you should NOT factor in the sunk costs in that decision. You should treat them as gone already and make the decision based on what is in front of you in terms of costs and opportunities.” Another look at sunk costs is The Dip by Seth Godin.

You know how I write about needing only 1000 or 2000 profitable customers? You don’t need millions. Seth does the math on that in a post called Almost No One. “The chances that everyone is going to applaud you, never mind even become aware you exist, are virtually nil. Most brands and organizations and individuals that fail fall into the chasm of trying to be all things in order to please everyone, and end up reaching no one.” It’s why I talk about niches and verticals.

Things you missed at ITEXPO East in Miami Beach last week.

I am heading (in this downpour) to the airport to go to the FISPA Live show in NOLA. I will be speaking about Managing Salespeople and Bundling. There are no notes on the Bundling session. It is really about examples – and hopefully some interaction. Sales Management though; you can get the workbook and some stats here.

“AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile and Dish Network were the big winners in the AWS-3 auction that closed this week,” reports Telecompetitor.

How startups are changing telecom by Moshe Maier of Flat Planet Phone Co. and Fone.do.

A VC talks about Sunk Costs. “The important thing about sunk costs is when it comes time to make a decision about the project or investment, you should NOT factor in the sunk costs in that decision. You should treat them as gone already and make the decision based on what is in front of you in terms of costs and opportunities.” Another look at sunk costs is The Dip by Seth Godin.

You know how I write about needing only 1000 or 2000 profitable customers? You don’t need millions. Seth does the math on that in a post called Almost No One. “The chances that everyone is going to applaud you, never mind even become aware you exist, are virtually nil. Most brands and organizations and individuals that fail fall into the chasm of trying to be all things in order to please everyone, and end up reaching no one.” It’s why I talk about niches and verticals.

Things you missed at ITEXPO East in Miami Beach last week.

According to this article, a Report Finds Strong Link Between Broadband and Population Growth. DUH! There have been a number of studies that demonstrate a correlation between fiber broadband, tax base, jobs and home values (mainly written about in Broadband Properties mag). “Counties with the highest broadband availability levels are seeing the greatest population growth, researchers said.”

One point that might be missed: The correlation may be that denser population gets network CAPEX.

Meanwhile, the FCC raises the definition of broadband from 4 Mbps to 25 Mbps, which means fiber or cable. “The benchmark broadband data rate was 25 Mbps. “Access to 25 Mbps service is a realistic indicator that a household or business can use most available broadband applications,” researchers said.”

DSL isn’t cutting it. ILECs are not building out enough FTTH. Google Fiber is more marketing to light a fire under the Duopoly than to actually build out. VZ has stopped spending on DSL and FiOS.

“Nearly forty percent of American households either cannot purchase a fixed 10 Mbps connection […] or they must buy it from a single provider,” it says. “And three out of four Americans do not have a choice between providers for Internet at 25 Mbps.” Even less competition. Even worse service. Even less than we pay for.

Faced with that situation, if a city or county can build its own fast broadband for its taxpayers, why shouldn’t it?

Broward County in Florida built its own fiber ring to replace carrier services. Both the City of Tampa and Hillsborough County (Tampa, Florida) have their own fiber rings — so does the county transportation service.

Opportunity is there for FTTx systems for independent carriers. WOW! is the largest over-builder of cable systems in the US. Ting by Tucows bought an ISP in WV and is running a city owned fiber system in Maryland. There is opportunity — but probably not equal or fair in all places.

A good write up about Obama’s community broadband plan.