On Rad's Radar Archives - Page 50 of 376

TelePacific Rolling Out SD-WAN

In this fourteen minute podcast with TelePacific’s SVP of Marketing, Dave Zahn, talks with me about SD-WAN and how TelePacific is rolling it out. SD-WAN isn’t a product. The deployment of SD-WAN by a carrier allows for service offerings around service delivery and managed services.

As SAAS and OTT (over-the-top) VoIP and video become ubiquitous in today’s business environment, quality of service will become an issue. It will cause frustration and a hurdle to productivity. Ever been on the phone with a customer service rep who says they are waiting on the computer? It has happened often. SD-WAN incorporated into the network. It is a way to get visibility to the entire WAN, even outside of a carrier’s network. It will be interesting to see how this plays out.

If you can’t see the flash mp3 player, you can go to SoundCloud to listen and download the podcast.

FYI… on Wed., April 27 at Noon Eastern join us live on Blab as we talk about SD-WAN for the Channel. Join via twitter or FB at blab.im/radinfo

Tags: managed services, podcast, SDN, telepacific, UX, WAN
Related tags: telepacific rolling, service, telepacific

Follow me:

Twitter Profile

Related Entries

Velocloud Talks SD-WAN – Apr 18, 2016

The SD-WAN and Why You Should Care Podcast # 1: Ecessa – Apr 06, 2016

SD-WAN Mid-Month Overview – Apr 14, 2016

SD-WAN Coming Soon! – Apr 01, 2016

On the DSCI Buy with TelePacific’s David Zahn – Mar 07, 2016

The Gist of ITEXPO – Jan 29, 2016

News Tidbits Part 2920 – Oct 15, 2015

As A Service – Oct 09, 2015

An SDN-WAN Primer for Channel Partners – Sep 01, 2015

Are You Frustrated With MPLS? – Jun 17, 2015

TrackBacks
| Comments | Tag with del.icio.us | On Rad’s Radar? Home | Permalink: TelePacific Rolling Out SD-WAN

Sponsored by Apex Technology Services, a leading IT Services company

April 18, 2016 , On Rad's Radar

Velocloud Talks SD-WAN

The next chapter in SD-WAN here at On RAD’s Radar is a podcast with Mike Wood, VP of Marketing at VeloCloud Networks, Inc..

From a press release when Velocloud was named a TMC 2016 Unified Communications Product of the Year Award winner: “VeloCloud Cloud-Delivered SD-WAN enables enterprises to support application growth, network agility and simplified branch implementations while delivering optimized access to cloud services, private data centers and enterprise applications. Global service providers are able to increase revenue, deliver advanced services and increase flexibility by delivering elastic transport, performance for cloud applications, and integrated advanced services all via a zero-touch deployment model.” We go into that during the eighteen and one-half minute podcast.

I don’t put stock in these predictions, but here they are: “SD-WAN market will hit $6B by 2020.” I will say that a number of carriers will be utilizing SD-WAN as a managed service offering and as a way to improve the customer experience.

If you can’t see the flash mp3 player, you can go to SoundCloud to listen and download the podcast.

FYI… on Wed., April 27 at Noon Eastern join us live on Blab as we talk about SD-WAN for the Channel. Join via twitter or FB at blab.im/radinfo

Tags: podcast, SDN, WAN
Related tags: advanced services, velocloud, podcast, services, cloud

Follow me:

Twitter Profile

SD-WAN Mid-Month Overview – Apr 14, 2016

SD-WAN Coming Soon! – Apr 01, 2016

As A Service – Oct 09, 2015

An SDN-WAN Primer for Channel Partners – Sep 01, 2015

Are You Frustrated With MPLS? – Jun 17, 2015

What Happens in Vegas – Mar 17, 2016

On the DSCI Buy with TelePacific’s David Zahn – Mar 07, 2016

Open Source Versus Commercial Software (Part 3) – Feb 16, 2016

The Gist of ITEXPO – Jan 29, 2016

TrackBacks
| Comments | Tag with del.icio.us | On Rad’s Radar? Home | Permalink: Velocloud Talks SD-WAN

April 18, 2016 , On Rad's Radar

Rural Acquisitions Happen Too

What if you were a company that long ago was created to be a volume buying group for RLECs and owned by a bunch of IOCs? Then time passes and long distance minutes are declining. The FCC mandates that even RLECs have to transition from TDM to IP for voice. Oh, and that RLEC funding through the Universal Service fund was going to transition from voice lines to broadband lines. RLECs would be in a panic and start to sell/merge.

And this has been happening. Pretty often actually. Shenandoah Telecom just finished acquiring NTELOS Holdings Corp. This is just one example.

But back to the holding company for LD volume buying (HoldingCo), it talks the Board into investing in Broadsoft infrastructure to start white-labeling Hosted PBX for its members in October of 2013. Sonus gear is used as well.

Now, two and on-half years later, it has churned through personnel, the C-Suite, business plans and cash. About 100 companies jumped on to be partners. Apparently, that wasn’t nearly enough to keep everyone happy.

A source confirmed that this company was acquired by Onvoy today. That seems weird except for the VoIP orig/Term business. What does Onvoy do with the Sonus and Broadsoft infrastructure? And the 100 partners? I would sell them to either CoreDial or VoIP Logic. Unless Onvoy is going to get into the Broadsoft white-label game — to compete against 620 global carriers offering Broadsoft, many of whom are clients of Onvoy now.

Onvoy already acquired Broadvox, Vitelity and Layered Comms to become the third largest CLEC in the US. And earlier this year, a PE firm bought out Onvoy. [GTCR also owned Zayo Group before it went public.] PE likes growth. Easiest path to growth is to buy.

GTCR also is invested in Rural Broadband Investments,which acquires and invests in rural-focused cable systems serving residential and commercial customers in small- to middle-sized markets and rural geographies. [website] There is a fit there.

HoldingCo still has minutes – and 100 partners – so there is some money to be made here, but not from the insignificant number of seats of hosted PBX. Also, there is something to be said for relationships in the RLEC/IOC community.

Waiting on confirmation or a link to the acquisition.

Just another Broadsoft acquisition.

And a source told me that GoDaddy is getting into the HPBX space with a small acquisition! A little like what Intermedia.Net did years ago.

Just a month after GoDaddy unveils a possible competitor to Amazon’s cloud computing business, its chief technology officer and executive vice president of its cloud computing business group, Elissa Murphy, has resigned – to go to Google!

Tags: broadsoft, mergers, rural, voip
Related tags: volume buying, cloud computing, computing business, broadsoft infrastructure, onvoy, broadsoft

Follow me:

Twitter Profile

Related Entries

Uh Oh, Microsoft is Closing the Gaps – Jan 15, 2016

CTI Group Acquired – Jan 06, 2016

Vonage Picks Up Another One – Aug 20, 2015

An Afternoon of VoIP News – Aug 05, 2015

Vonage Buys Simple Signal – Mar 17, 2015

Is Oracle Coming for Broadsoft? – Nov 21, 2013

And So The New Year Starts – Jan 02, 2012

The Latest in VoIP Updates – Sep 19, 2011

Hosted VoIP Valuations – Jul 25, 2011

Geckotech Acquired by M5 – Nov 04, 2010

TrackBacks
| Comments | Tag with del.icio.us | On Rad’s Radar? Home | Permalink: Rural Acquisitions Happen Too

Sponsored by Apex Technology Services, a leading IT Services company

April 18, 2016 , On Rad's Radar

This Might Be Big

As I mentioned after Vegas, MITEL is buying Polycom for almost $2B according to Reuters.

Polycom brand to be retained, but the execs at Polycom lost this battle. CEO and CFO of MITEL stay in roles and the combined org is headquartered in Canada, much to the delight of Canada and the tax burdens.

MITEL bought Aastra in 2014 for $400M. Aastra sold phones and PBX. Aastra even re-sold Broadsoft as an Enterprise PBX. MITEL acquired Mavenir to add some mobile messaging pieces last year. MITEL’s debt was $645M before this (on about $1.1B in annual non-GAAP revenue). The loan from BoAML will be for $1.1Billion.

Polycom had seen its peak in the handset market. A number of factors are pounding at it, including Yealink and a host of other handset manufacturers jumping in the market; end users are moving to softphones and mobile clients; and non-handset sales are going to Jabra, Plantronics and Sennheiser for headsets and speaker phones.

Polycom’s plans for video were delayed. There are reported problems with the chipset in the lower end VVX models. It is tough to be the leader for so long. Just ask Microsoft or Cisco.

Hard to believe that it comes to this. MITEL buys them. (Just shaking my head).

See the press release for the Global scale and strategic scope provide key customer benefits

It is funny that this happens right after one of their biggest distributors – NETXUSA – gets acquired.

In another merger, Zhone, a leading fiber optic equipment maker, is merging with Dasan. Zhone Technologies Inc says combined company will be called Dasan Zhone Solutions, Inc. and will have two Co-CEOs. (That always works.)

Imagine that you are so worried about the financial stability of your vendor and then you read this: “”The merger of Zhone and Dasan Network Solutions will immediately position our company as a leading provider of Broadband Access, Mobile Backhaul, Ethernet Switching and Passive Optical LAN solutions,” stated Jim Norrod, CEO of Zhone Technologies.” That many lines of business in a merged company that will have a workforce reduction for synergies? Yeah. Your troubles didn’t go away.

It is consolidation everywhere. Fiat Chrysler is looking to merge with one of these car makers: Toyota, Volkswagen and Ford. Merger-Mania.

Tags: fiber, mergers, polycom
Related tags: mitel, polycom, mobile, merger, company, aastra

Follow me:

Twitter Profile

Related Entries

Can You Say More M&A? – Apr 07, 2016

What is Verizon Doing? – Feb 22, 2016

Some M&A – Feb 10, 2016

Tidbits # 2428 – Feb 05, 2016

A Big Deal in the Works? – Feb 03, 2016

End of Year News Tidbits (Part 2425) – Dec 24, 2015

Host.Net CEO Retires – Dec 04, 2015

The Move Into Canada – Nov 24, 2015

Mergers, Acquisitions and Moves – Nov 09, 2015

FCC Moves on Frontier and the Internet – Sep 14, 2015

TrackBacks
| Comments | Tag with del.icio.us | On Rad’s Radar? Home | Permalink: This Might Be Big

April 15, 2016 , On Rad's Radar

Why Did Google Add Landline?

Google decided that they needed to add voice to offer a triple-play. So for $10 you can have a landline equivalent. I have a bunch of questions.

One, if you only have 120,000 subscribers*, do you think that not having triple-play was the problem?

Was it harder to rollout fiber to the home than you thought? This article suggests that government regulations, electric companies, ILECs, cable guys and franchise rules with fees, has a lot to do with cities getting FTTH or not.

“Laying down high-speed fiber is expensive. Digging trenches in the ground and stringing cables along utility poles is expensive. Getting permission to do all that is expensive. But it turns out that all of that is a fraction of the cost of offering TV programming, according to the head of Google Fiber, Milo Medin. And it’s a cost Google can’t avoid paying. Video “is the single biggest impediment” to Google Fiber’s deployment, Medin told an audience at the COMPTEL telecom conference in Dallas in 2014.” [source]

Also, Google Fiber had to raise rates for TV in Kansas City AND got rid of its free service there.

Lots of real world troubles for triple-play. (It’s why Telco TV will end up being a huge money suck.)

Back to the voice addition, Why choose landline and not Google Fi, the cellular service that Alphabet just opened up to anyone (invites no longer needed)? I often wonder why VZW didn’t offer quad play by adding cellular plans with its FiOS bundles, but it may have to do with sticker shock on the bill.

“As for Google Fiber’s new phone service, it is like a standard landline, with 911 support, caller ID, and voicemail–which is transcribed and emailed like Google Voice. The service also allows people to have calls automatically forwarded to a cell phone.” [time]

Another way to do it is to just do Cloud Phone – Google Voice basically – or to do simul ring or sequential ring. Add SMS to that number as well. The voicemail to text is nice.

Are they shipping an ATA? How will they connect to the cat3 wiring in the house so that the RJ11 phone jacks work? They could have re-invented the landline.

They are getting a boost from the FCC with the new order about to come down on set-top boxes. The smaller providers would be happy to not have to buy, install, RMA set-top boxes. However, it is big revenue for the big guys – $231 per year to rent a box.

Re-invention of this stuff should already be happening.

BTW,
Google Fiber, which started in 2012, has 27,000 video subscribers in Greater Kansas City according to this article. This article says “Google ended 2014 with 29,867 video subs ” combined. Wikipedia says about 120K broadband subscribers, whichis the same number that The Verge reported.

Tags: broadband, fiber, gigabit, google, landline, TV, tv
Related tags: google fiber, google voice, google, fiber, landline, voice