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SD-WAN Mid-Month Overview

Rich Tehrani’s blog post about his interview with Talari Networks
is good info about SD-WAN.

What is the big deal about SD-WAN? Good question because you are going to be hearing a lot more about it. Smart carriers are already testing it.

Basically, SD-WAN is an orchestra layer on top of the network. In its best form, SD-WAN means that each location can BYOB (bring your own broadband). Instead of a MPLS-over-DSL at a remote office, it can be fixed wireless, 4G cellular data, DSL or cable modem – or better a combination of 2 or 3.

The SD-WAN appliance can act as anything – switch, router, firewall. The SD-WAN appliance helps monitor the circuits and the traffic. If latency or jitter increase, the appliance can route traffic over the better circuit. The analytics and monitoring mean that when the customer has SLA violations, the customer will have data to support it.

In the long run, this will mean that only network owners will be selling network — and they will have to run a very good network. A good example is the Netflix ISP Index. What if every SaaS provider, Google, Amazon and Apple starting an ISP index?

“What if a network could anticipate and address issues like a massive influx of traffic as it happened, adapt and expand in real time to handle the traffic and then, when the surge is over, revert back to routine operations?” [see TR article here] This is what SDN promises the carrier. SDN is the parent of SD-WAN. Without a software defined network architecture, you can’t deliver a software defined wide area network to customers.

Dynamic bandwidth is the simplest product delivered under the SDN umbrella. Client wants a 100MB pipe, carrier delivers 1 GB port and client can turn it up — burst if you will – and pay for usage.

Take that further to performance monitoring, analytics, routing, failover, application service delivery improvement and more – and THAT is the promise of SD-WAN.

With the average medium sized business utilizing Azure, AWS, Rackspace, Office365 or Google for Work, VoIP, Video, conferencing, Salesforce, other SaaS apps, it isn’t just about the size of the pipe. It is also about the quality and health of the pipe. Is the carrier directly connected to the clouds you utilize? Is the SaaS application performing well? If not, then your employees are frustrated, inefficient and wasting time and money.

Channel Partners should jump on to this early. Start with this podcast: The SD-WAN and Why You Should Care Podcast # 1.

Stay tuned for more this month on SD-WAN.

Tags: SAAS, SDN, WAN
Related tags: software defined, network, traffic, appliance, carrier

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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

Can You Say More M&A? – Apr 07, 2016

What Happens in Vegas – Mar 17, 2016

Telecom Tidbits #2429 – Feb 17, 2016

The Gist of ITEXPO – Jan 29, 2016

Competing in SaaS or VoIP – Jan 19, 2016

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April 14, 2016 , On Rad's Radar

The INCOMPAS Mission

INCOMPAS still has a mission in DC. At the east coast show in Washington, FCC Chairman Wheeler came to talk to the association and its members with a message that we still need Competition.

He says that as Charter is set to eat two cablecos to become almost as large as Comcast. After AT&T just bought DirecTV. After Level3 and Zayo have gobbled up most of the smaller players – and as Verizon is buying XO. Competition you say?!

AT&T, Verizon and Qwest had $235 billion in revenues at the end of 2008, up from $73.3 billion in 1984, when AT&T was broken up. As I have written before, all of the other carriers’ combined revenue doesn’t match a quarter of revenue for Ma and Pa Bell. Comcast is only one-third the size of either carrier.

If you talk consumer competition in broadband, well, the FCC’s Broadband Report says, “approximately 19 million Americans–6 percent of the population–still lack access to fixed broadband service at threshold speeds. In rural areas, nearly one-fourth of the population –14.5 million people–lack access to this service. In tribal areas, nearly one-third of the population lacks access. Even in areas where broadband is available, approximately 100 million Americans still do not subscribe.” Even “8 percent of urban Americans lack access to 25 Mbps/3 Mbps broadband.” And that is without talking about the price per MB of broadband or caps.

FYI… Cable television companies provided Internet access to 43 percent of households, although it was available to 88 percent of the population….DSL from telcos is available to about 89 percent of the population in 2013, according to Dept. of Commerce report.

In the B2B side, cable is winning this war. Comcast’s CLEC business is approaching $6 Billion (since just 2006). That dwarfs almost all of the competition except Level3, WIND and C-Link. Zayo only pulls in $1.2B in annual revenue. XO and EarthLink are around $1B.

Google Fiber has about 110K subscribers! So the competition makes a lot of noise, but isn’t winning the hearts and minds of customers.

The Special Access pricing docket is still alive and well. The real problem here is that cable and telco are regulated differently – and cable doesn’t have to wholesale. Also, the definition of wholesale needs to be explained, because wholesale pricing – like volume pricing – is lower than retail in every instance but telco.

After at least $1 Trillion in spending via BTOP, BIP, CAF, CAF II, USF, RUS and private investment, there still is fiber to every neighborhood. Best estimate on lit buildings is 50% have fiber. The other 50% are still on copper, which is fine if they are within 7000 feet of a CO or have clear line of site to a tower.

One problem is that the few larger CLECs, while visible via PR, do not make their voice heard at the FCC. The voice for lobbying is done by associations like Incompas, CCA, CTIA, NTCA, WISPA and NCTC — all up against USTelecom – and all with almost competing agendas.

Healthy competition is important for the Channel because without it, we may be squeezed out of a job.

The USTelecom and the Top 10 ISPs hold big sway in DC and at state capitols. They win big battles. They can sway legislation – and they have deep pockets to sue the FCC every chance they get. The rest of the pack: notsomuch.

How do you win?

Let’s look at the first game of the NHL Stanley Cup playoffs last night. They were calling a lot of penalties last night – 18 of them. Plus the cheap shots and the fights. The Lightning won? How? By scoring. Focus on winning. Protect yourself but have a plan, execute the play and go score some goals. Same for the Competition.

You can whine to the refs (the FCC). You can hope for penalties to be called so you have your competitor short handed, but even short-handed, you still have to score a goal.

Most people go to a show to meet customers, to make deals. More of that. Want to help your members? Bring in more prospects and customers.

We need competition. We need the smaller providers to be financially healthy. We all need to be closing business.

SIDE NOTE:

One problem the telcos have is mentality. CLECs are used to resale, not owning or operating anything.They sell on price not value or brand. The ILECs can’t comprehend competition. They think — but I am the ILEC!!!!! It make it difficult to shift away from network to sell cloud or managed services. And we have examples of how tough it can be.

The other mental issue is nostalgia. So many are hung up on how much better it was from 1995-2003. No kidding! But get over it and realize those days are gone, learn some lessons from then and apply them to today as you get back to the hustle!

Tags: clec, competition, comptel, FCC, incompas, strategy
Related tags: percent population, areas nearly, available percent, approximately million, million americans, competition

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Related Entries

A Skewed Look at the FCC from the Inside – Mar 12, 2015

4 Companies Own the Network – May 21, 2013

US Government Suing AT&T for Fraud – Apr 26, 2012

Access Reform. Now, Please. – Sep 12, 2011

Everyone Wants You to be an MSP – Nov 05, 2015

Telecom Transitions in Rural America – May 15, 2014

Are CLECs Capable of Cloud Services? – Jan 24, 2014

Why Agents Should Be Pro-Copper – Oct 11, 2013

No Need to Be a CLEC – Apr 19, 2013

Promises Broken and Unenforced – Nov 18, 2012

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Sponsored by Apex Technology Services, a leading IT Services company

April 13, 2016 , On Rad's Radar

Telecom Tidbits (Part 2432)

VoIP and QoS

Patton started embedding PacketSmart into its SmartNode VoIP CPE. Considering the quality issues on broadband, this is a good move.

Crappy call quality on cell phones lowered the bar enough that VoIP was able to take over on the wireline side. Edgewater Networks says that “VoIP Service Providers Must Focus on Call Quality as VoLTE Emerges”. If cell phones get HD Voice – and wireline or HPBX doesn’t, people will see less value in moving to an inferior phone system.

Even Vonage Business is working on call quality. “A big differentiator is SmartWAN – real-time packet optimization which is similar to those provided by standalone SD-WAN companies such as CloudGenix….Their cloud-level SmartWAN solution includes a customer premise device (CPE) which allows Vonage to track MOS scores as well as jitter,” writes TMC’s Rich Techrani.

Speaking of quality, Frontier’s take over of Verizon properties has once again been a huge cluster for the customers. Frontier is asking for patience as it enters week three of the transition.

The Channel

7 Predictions for the Channel [PDF] “Accenture says 80% of tech revenue is coming from the indirect channel.”

The forecast is for $70 Billion in channel discounts and incentives to be spent in 2016. [source]

Other:

“Birch Communications, Inc. has completed the Canada component of its purchase of select assets and customers of Primus Telecommunications Canada Inc. and its affiliates, the company said. Primus, Canada´s largest independent, full-service telecommunications and cloud service provider, serves more than 250,000 businesses and consumers throughout Canada.” [pr]

Google says that if you want Gigabit Broadband you have to take all the hurdles in dealing with your local government. There are already significant road blocks thrown up by the cable company, the ILEC and the electric company on right of way, access to conduit, access to poles (for aerial fiber). These are barriers to gigabit broadband. So are laws against muni networks.

On Salespeople:

Why are there so few great salespeople? Not everyone wants to work that hard, push that much, make those sacrifices to be the best. It takes a certain set of traits to be really successful – see this article on BI with Tony Robbins. Not everyone wants to work that hard. Their priorities may lie elsewhere.

Also, this goes against the notion that all salespeople are motivated by money. Think about that.

Communication: The Greatest Challenge for Sales and Marketing Alignment

Verizon, which owns AOL, is making a bid for Yahoo.

Tags: birch, broadband, channel partners, frontier, gigabit, google, qos, sales, voip
Related tags: gigabit broadband, everyone wants, quality, channel, canada, company

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Related Entries

The Google Hype Machine – Oct 29, 2015

What Do You Do When Gigabit is $70? – Jun 30, 2015

Phones and TV Are Disappearing – Jun 24, 2015

ITEXPO Update – Jan 30, 2014

VoIP in 2013 – Jan 17, 2013

What to Ask Your Prospective VoIP Provider – Sep 29, 2010

VoIP in the Channel: You Need a Complete System – May 04, 2009

Game Over: Comcast and Amazon! – Mar 21, 2016

Some M&A – Feb 10, 2016

By the Numbers – Feb 10, 2016

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April 11, 2016 , On Rad's Radar

The Channel Target Cycle

In 2006, the shift in targeting went from anyone to a master agent model, where smaller agents rolled up into a larger master agent. The resources were allocated to the masters (and their sub-agents).

In about 2008, the target became VARs. Agents just weren’t selling any of the new carriers or new services. Agents weren’t selling cloud. VARs were the answer.

That strategy wasn’t working as many programs canned their VAR support people and VAR recruiting people. Well, it was a thought anyway.

Next, the chasing of the VAD, the value added distributor [Ingram Micro, Tech Data, CDW, Synnex, Jenne]. Tech Data, despite owning TD Mobility, a cellular master agency, can’t seem to get behind the telecom or network, despite tries by Cbeyond, XO, Telovations and Microcorp. Lots of reasons for it.

Now, it is back to Master Agents (while also chasing VARs and VADs — or as I like to say, anyone who will sign an agreement)..

It is seems to always be about Quantity. As if, more feet equals more sales. How is that “strategy” working out for you?

That points me to a program that has (A) No Vision; (B) No Partner Profile; (C) No Success Plan; and (D) following a model that is borrowed, failed or flawed (not one designed for success for that company, its culture and its service portfolio.

Tags: channel partners, master agency, strategy, tech data, VAD, VAR
Related tags: agents weren, master agent, agents, master

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VADs, VARs and Cable: How Does That Work? – Apr 02, 2014

How Many VARs Are There Anyway – Jul 31, 2013

Everything is Changing, No One is Happy – Jan 25, 2013

The Telecom Ecosystem is Shifting Rapidly – Apr 02, 2012

Channel Strategy: A Quick Look – Mar 21, 2016

Everyone Wants You to be an MSP – Nov 05, 2015

Two Sides of the Street – Sep 10, 2014

Some Tampa Bay Telecom Tidbits – Aug 18, 2014

Vendor Buys Its Platinum Partner – Jun 09, 2014

The UC Install Opprtunity – May 19, 2014

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April 8, 2016 , On Rad's Radar

Why Do You Look at an iPhone That Way?

The promise of the iPhone wasn’t that you could make HD voice calls. Actually the original promise was a beautifully designed cellphone. Then it became more with iTunes and the app store and the ecosystem.

The ecosystem is the environment around software like Apple, Amazon, Google or Microsoft. It stretches pretty far and runs up and down the stack. It isn’t just horizontal; it is vertical too. It makes the company pervasive in your life.

The brand of the iPhone became a status symbol, ease of use, security, luxury, and becoming part of the clique – the Apple/Mac/iOS clique. (I am often told I don’t get it because I am an Android/PC guy).

The iPhone, and then the Samsung line of phones, is now the promise of a digital leash. Anyone can contact you, any number of ways at any time – voice (rarely); text; messaging on Kik, FB, whatsApp (encrypted); Snapped at; tweeted at; DM’ed; and on and on.

Due to ubiquitous cellular networks and not quite ubiquitous wi-fi, we can look anything up; research and buy; and even pay with this little device. This little device that people would not give up despite the growing expense – monetary, health, privacy.

Now … that same consumer is being asked to buy a desk phone to go along with your state of the art unified communications platform. How silly is that?

They have a phablet in their pocket that has more computing power and more applications that the IBM 3033 mainframe I used in college at RPI by a thousand-fold. Yet you want them to still use a desk phone like it was 1999? The whole idea behind cloud is flexibility, mobility, scale and productivity.

The beauty behind the iOS app is that it looks similar across devices – laptop, tablet, phone.

Users are not adopting UCaaS deep enough or broadly enough to be sticky. Partly because UCaaS means that they have to Change (and people hate change). Party they haven’t been trained. Partly the story they have been told sounds awful.

Along comes UC-One revision 21 on Broadsoft, now there is a softphone and mobile client that is similar across devices. Now you ease of use, elegant design, a Slack-like interface and functionality across devices. It has presence, chat, video and voice calling, click to call, drag to conference, integration with Office365, universal address book – all in the app.

There is no need for a desk phone. This will run on your PC, laptop, tablet and phone. Up and running as soon as we port the number.

As slick as it is, only DSCI, soon to be a TelePacific company, is running revision 21 in the USA. This isn’t BroadCloud; this runs on DSCI gear.

It has been awhile since I have seen UC-One. It looks like this could help make the desk phone obsolete.

The funny thing is that there is a PR firm emailing me press releases about new handset manufacturers entering the market (Yeastar being one of them). Polycom has likely peaked on the number of handsets that they will sell (or has one year left to peak), since Yeastar, Yealink, Grandstream, OBihai, snom and others are aiming to pick away at the desk phone and location phone market. Jabra is attacking at the speakerphone sector. The DECT and cordless phone sector needs help; it is limping along on dialysis because it needs an infusion of models that work with longer battery life.

For companies with employees who are mobile, virtual, in sales or knowledge workers, which is about 25% of them, a desk phone is a waste of money. Here in lies the softphone problem. ITSPs spend far too much time on the phone debate – how much, lease/buy, RMA. Why?

Probably for the 75% who still want a handset.

Mast Mobile combined an MVNO with a UC company. Cool idea, but the story and go-to-market are lagging. There is also the matter of most everyone has a cell phone right now.

Things are changing. We get caught in the trap of This is how things are done. We always sold it this way. Once we can learn to shift out of that comfortable rut, things will improve.

One reminder: you are not a handset distributor. You are not selling a phone system. You are providing a platform for communications in 2016 that allows for productivity and efficiency. If you don’t believe that just go sell bandwidth.

Tags: apple, broadsoft, hosted pbx, iphone, mobile, mvno, phone system, polycom, sellecom, strategy, telepacific, UC, voip
Related tags: similar devices, laptop tablet, little device, tablet phone, phone, iphone