IP Convergence: Beyond VoIP, Beyond Cost Savings - Unplugged

Google's Mobile Phone Alliance

Mon, 05 Nov 2007 20:15:41 +0000

A number of bloggers have been blogging about on Google's mobile plans for the better part of the year.

Recently I blogged as to how Google may be able to take their may ad revenue business model into the mobile space.

Well today, Google made it very clear with their mobile alliance announcements .

The interesting part of the discussion revolves around Verizon. Specifically, Verizon may be in talks with google in joining Sprint and T-Mobile as part of Google's plans.

But is this the same Verizon that sued the FCC after the FCC adopted Google's open access motions?

Yes it is the same Verizon.

It may be that Verizon needs to be involved and not get blindsided as they did when they choose not to support Apple's iPhone, and lost a tremendous branding opportunity.

Or, it may be that Verizon needs to be involved to make sure it's part of the disruption as mobile business models change.

Another score for the open source business model and for the public as we should see innovation at as faster velocity.

Time will tell!

Virtualization – Part 2 - The Abstraction of the Computer

Thu, 04 Oct 2007 16:16:06 +0000

Here's the second part of our Virtualization series and a continuation of Virtualization - Part 1 – The Abstraction of the Internet.

A computer consists of several key elements that along with software (and firmware) provide useful applications like the browser you are using to read this blog from our web servers.

Here are some of the items that are noteworthy:

Central Processing Unit (CPU) – aka Pentium for you wintel folks, is the heart of the computer and executes instructions (software or firmware) that are programmed by a software engineer.

Input/Output Devices – Provides a method to enter , display or share information from the computer, for example: Display, keyboard, mouse.

Random Access Memory (RAM) – Is memory that is accessed by the CPU which losses its contents when you remove power. RAM (Typically) is the fastest memory that a CPU and “read” or “write”.

Disk Drive – Is memory that is also accessed by the CPU which doesn’t lose its contents when you remove power. Disks are slower than RAM.

Flash Memory – Is like RAM but has the characteristics of a disk drive.

Data Bus – Depending on the CPU (8 bit, 16 bit, 32 bit or 64 bits wide) is where the CPU can read or write data from or to the various memory devices, Input/Output devices. Each bit is a “1” or “0”.

Address Bus – Also dependent on the CPU , this is where the CPU (using bits) selects the location in memory to read or write data.

Firmware – aka BIOS for wintel folks, is software that is used to “boot” (restart from a known state) the computer that resides in Flash memory or a Programmable Read Only Memory (PROM).

Software – eg Office.

Operating System – eg Windows, is a layer of software that abstracts the hardware and controls the overall operation of the computer.

Networks – Are communication systems that allow computers to share information.

Programming Languages – A CPU can only understand binary (“1” or “0” s) for the instructions it executes. There are various instructions to read , write, add, multiply, subtract , divide and move data. However, Humans need to abstract the instructions into words to make it easier. These languages define the way words are used forming a grammer (just like English or Spanish) . The first form of languages are assembler languages which are specific to a CPU and not portable, the subsequent languages like C, C++, FORTRAN, Pascal provided more functionality with Database languages like 3GL, 4GL etc..

A computer can be a main frame, a desktop or your laptop which were confined to a area (room, your desk or your lap).

Advances in networking have provided efficient methods of distributing the CPU from Disks, Input/Output devices.

Storage Area Networks are clusters of disk drives that are no longer directly connected to the computer using the various buss’s described above. This is a key level of abstraction which has allowed distributed computing to evolve into GRID computing where the software is one place, the CPUs in another and memory in yet another. Distributed computing provides more efficient use of computing at unparalleled level of disaster recovery.

Why is this important?

Computing has and will continue to be the mother of invention for advances not only in the hardware or software but also in the networks that connect everything together like the Internet or also an Enterprise VPN.

More later :

Virtualization – Part 3 - The Abstraction of Applications
Concepts of a Application Programmers Interface (API), examples and pitfalls for APIs and the abstraction of Web Services.

Apple Newton - back from the dead?

Wed, 26 Sep 2007 20:35:14 +0000

Could it be possible? Now here's a rumor that's worth spreading. Apple is thinking about reviving the Newton brand. Russell Shaw, over at ZD-Net is reporting that there might be some truth to this rumor.

Here is part of the article...
Apple Insider’s take in part:

Externally, the multi-touch PDA has been described by sources as an ultra-thin “slate” akin to the iPhone, about 1.5 times the size and sporting an approximate 720×480 high-resolution display that comprises almost the entire surface of the unit. The device is further believed to leverage multi-touch concepts which have yet to gain widespread adoption in Apple’s existing multi-touch products — the iPhone and iPod touch — like drag-and-drop and copy-and-paste."

Stay tuned for more on this one. All I can say is that Apple might be pushing this limits of what their brand can handle if this is true.

Adam "voiploser" Uzelac

DISCLAIMER: The comments here are mine only. They don't necessarily reflect intelligence, refined thoughts, or anything that the reader should take too seriously. Should the reader expect a polished thought process in the content addressed here, then a strong dose of medication should be prescribed to address that misconception.

7 easy ways to use VoIP

Tue, 25 Sep 2007 20:23:32 +0000

7 easy ways to use VoIP

1) Setup a Skype account and get Skype-in/Skype-out.

2) Setup a Gizmo account at SIPphone.

3) Get a Google account

4) Setup yourself with a Grand Central Account(owned by Google)

5) Get a Dual-mode wireless phone.

6) Install Fring on the dual-mode phone.

7) Associate all numbers from Skype, Gizmo, Wireless phone, deskphone, etc to your Grand Central number, and publish your Grand Central Number.

This is what you get from all this:

INBOUND CALLING: When someone dials your Grand Central number, all the associated numbers in your Grand Central profile will ring simultaneously. You have your choice which phone to answer with. You also have the ability to "move" the call or "switch" the call from one device to another associated device. It's the coolest thing - all you do is press the '*' key and all the phones start ringing again. You just pick up another phone and hang up on the phone you are moving from. There are also loads of other features with Grand Central. It's just great!!!

OUTBOUND CALLING: The selection device when placing a call to someone else is normally dictated by your location at the time you are making the call. If you are in a car, then wireless is really all you get due to availability. If you are in an area that has wifi service that works with your dual-mode phone (like an airport or coffee shop), then Fring is your friend because you can use numerous options. If you are in the office with your choice, then use the phone or network of your choice. If I know that I am about to leave the office, I might take the call on my cell. If I am about to settle in to a marathon of conference calls, then it's desk phone with speaker or head-phones on.

VoIP works and VoIP is mainstream nowadays.

Adam "voiploser" Uzelac

DISCLAIMER: The comments here are mine only. They don't necessarily reflect intelligence, refined thoughts, or anything that the reader should take too seriously. Should the reader expect a polished thought process in the content addressed here, then a strong dose of medication should be prescribed to address that misconception.

Google Phone + TellMe Services = Google 2.0

Tue, 20 Mar 2007 14:19:30 +0000

Just posted a comment on a fellow blogger's post on the Google mobile phone.

In that Google's announcement is not a position against the iphone, but more importantly against Microsoft with their latest announcement of their acquisition of Tell Me.

Do you know what Tell Me does?

Well, Tell Me provides a highly scalable Speech Recognition Interactive Voice Response platform for the Fortune 100. For example, if you call United Airlines you'll experience Tell Me and can tell (no pun intended) that it's Tell me when you hear the gears between you speaking and that platform deciding what you may have said and the next menu prompt that may be associated with your input.

Back to google, Google is google not only to their brilliant search engine , but more importantly how it makes money. Google has created a totally automated advertising market between marketers and their markets

Totally automated in the sense that a marketer selects words that are important to their offer and bid against click thoroughs (not purchases). Have a hot word in a hot market, pay a lot

They limit their bad collections by requiring marketers to pay upfront where google can deduct the click thorough in real-time. Don't have enough money in your account, that's ok, google will offer the next higher bidder to the search request.

Brilliant technology working in a brilliant business model. No people , no bad collections and all to the highest bidder.

Back to Google 2.0, if you take the Google cell phone that is to be mass marketed and to a market that doesn't use a PC and add the best of google and tell me and you have their next market disrupter.

Google 2.0 = Google Cell Phone + Tell Me like services + Google Adwords will result in game changing play as to how traditional telephone directory services (yellow pages and directory assistance) make their money.

I expect to blog more of this reality in 18 months

Om Malik is reporting that "Web Giants Team Up for Wireless Spectrum Auctions".

Fri, 09 Mar 2007 15:00:45 +0000

Take note as Om Malik is reporting that "Web Giants Team Up for Wireless Spectrum Auctions".

The item to take note is where in the Radio Spectrum the web giants are watching. 700Mhz could be a the space where higher bit rate , non-line-of-sight solutions may develop.

As a general rule of thumb, the available bit-rate increases as you move higher in the Radio Specturm. The 2.4Ghz range provides less available bit rate than say 5.3Ghz. However achieving higher bit rates at 5.3Ghz requires line-of-sight and is more suspectible to packet loss with sources of mositure (rain, snow, leaves, etc...).

The definition of line-of-sight is that the premise radio attenna must have a clear shot at the radio tower, any obstruction in-line will decrease the available bit rate and any trees that are in-line (depending on where you sit in the Radio Specturm) may cause packet loss due to the mositure they carry.

Lower rates of the Radio Specturm offer bit rates that don't require line-of-sight however don't have the bit rates available at higher frequencies.

Let's watch this play out as I'm sure there will be innovation that utilizes past technologies like 'spread sprectrum" that will harness the bit rate at lower frequencies taking full advantage of non-line-of-sight.

Mobile Phone Industry Marketing Wins and Losses

Thu, 08 Mar 2007 19:42:22 +0000

Here is a Win

Sometime ago, I blogged on the topic that mobile phones are no longer limited to Voice and have become multi-media marketing machines.

The concept of text messaging, ring tones, photos , music and video represent a very large revenue opportunity. Clearly targeting youths and their disposable income.

I was talking to a good friend today about his experience in purchasing a new mobile phone at the Verizon store down the street, within 1 square mile there 4 Verizon stores each targeting different segments: 1). Circuit City, 2) Verizon, 3) BJ Warehouse and 4) Mall Kiosk.

Here’s a Loser (at least for now)

My new AudioVox 6700 ultimate converged windows mobile phone with: 1) One number follow me services (Fixed Mobile Convergence), 2) email , 3) WiFi, 4) GPRS and 5). Bluetooth. What a disappointment.

I am participating in Global Crossing’s internal FMC trial lead by my peer Gary Miller. The software doesn’t play well together within Windows and CDMA devices, problems that require me to reset the device a few times a day I can’t get thru an 8 hour workday while traveling due to poor battery consumption in CDMA mode, the phone client trying to attach to WiFi access points decreasing battery life to less than 2 hours.

What was I thinking? It’s a windows device and in less than 3 weeks I’ve already seen the blue screen of death on a couple of occasions.

I’m sure that both the hardware and software vendors will get things straightened out , but it will take time to become as solid as my Motorola RAZR V3.

Here’s the thing about new technology and marketing, the marketing folks will tell you that it can do 10 things, reality is can only do 6, 3 things are somewhat working and there’s one thing that doesn’t work at all.

In our trial we are still trying to get the 6 things working reliably.

Universal VoIP Peering Faces a Known Road

Wed, 15 Nov 2006 03:05:09 +0000

I read an interesting article tonite entitled “Universal VoIP Peering Faces a Rough Road “

VoIP peering is not a flip of the switch. Look back at history as to how the PSTN was built – over time and by market forces.

Bell’s initial success was in local operations, and over time these local operation islands were connected as part of “ATT long lines”. In the US , Bell didn’t have a lock on all local operating markets, there were numerous independents: GTE, United, SNET, Rochester Telephone, etc.... The success of the early PSTN required an ability to terminate calls outside of a LEC footprint, and even required diplomatic functions for international termination.

The move behind VoIP peering is a uni-lateral move by all providers to be free of PSTN regulations, tariffs and government. The benefit for providers is lower cost and competitive freedoms; the benefit to consumers is greater options.

Let’s look at a more recent example of technology based islands, ISDN. ISDN early promises of adoption were plagued by a lack of national (and international) standards, both ATT (now Lucent) and Northern Telecom (now Nortel Networks) had competing technology implementations, both fought within the standard bodies to have a lock on the accepted standard that bonded LEC ISDN islands. And in the US National ISDN2 became the standard bodies that provided a pathway to ISDN connectivity, add ETSI and the ITU international interoperability became a reality.

It took a fragmented ISDN standard to become a ubiquitous service almost 10 years.

VoIP, SIP, IP are interoperable today and had become a pathway for VoIP peering.

The road to VoIP peering is not a rough road but a known road. The early pioneers who provide that vehicle will be part of the new VoIP based “long lines”.

Introducing The Google Phone?

Tue, 14 Nov 2006 15:49:39 +0000

I had earlier posted a blog on how your mobile phone is no longer a phone but a marketing device.

Yesterday CNN money posted an interesting article quoting Google Inc.'s chief executive Eric Schmidt, [Users]“would get the device without cost - provided they accept targeted advertising.”

Have you ever looked under the hood to see how Google makes their money? Google adwords provides an online market where people and businesses bid on key words that their search engine processes. More demand on a key word (like “ISP”), higher costs to get your ad promoted to the top of the list. The higher an ad is on a list , the more likely a surfer will click on the link. All automated and a great example of demand side economics – Brilliant.

Now let’s apply the adword model to a mobile phone. I can envision an offer where Google Adwords are presented to a user based on the number you dialed.

Let’s say you dialed a local plumber, based on number dialed adwords would present the mobile user ads that are sponsored by other local plumbers.

Another great example as to how VoIP and the PSTN co-exist with new exciting offers being developed.

Advanced Solutions are an Art (Part 2)

Thu, 26 Oct 2006 14:07:18 +0000

I’d like to expand on my thought process from my last blog on Advanced Solutions are an Art (Part 1).

When I closed the blog , and I quote:
“Advanced solutions are an art, anyone can propose a solution, not everyone can deliver one that meets customer needs while still being economically feasible.”

I wanted to continue the discussion and start a dialogue as to what a service provider actually provides on a day to day basis?

A service provider provides a service, a service is defined by the technologies, the processes, the systems and most of all the people within the service providers environment.

All of these define something I like to call the “Service Layer”.

A service layer in this context addresses 4 key capabilities within a service provider:
- Sales
- Service Delivery
- Maintenance
- Billing

Lets take a moment to peel the onion on each of the capabilities:
- Sales includes the following functions: sales engineering, account management, customer support, pricing, marketing, proposal development that all lead to an order.

- Service Delivery in the process of orchestrating the delivery of individual components that together provide a complex service, the capability is completed when the customer accepts the service and the service provider can start billing.

- Maintenance is by far the most important capability, like I said, anyone can sell a service, anyone can delivery a service, not everyone can support the service when a customer calls at 3am!

- Billing from a providers perspective is the really important, after all providers are meant to provide a return on investment, and just as important to enterprises as provider costs are typically a cost center and accuracy and support are key.

Maintenance is so important, we’ll do a deep dive in Part 3.

Apple's I-Phone coming?

Tue, 17 Oct 2006 21:05:49 +0000

It appears that news is starting to leak that Apple is going to be coming out with 2 versions of an I-Phone in early 2007. Now would they start thinking about becoming an MVNO as well? Probably not, but then who's going to be the network operator? I can't wait to see what the sleek designers at Apple have in-store for phones!!!

Adam "voiploser" Uzelac

Advanced Solutions are an Art (Part 1)

Tue, 17 Oct 2006 15:28:57 +0000

I have always felt that Software engineering is an art. Anyone can write some code, but not everyone can develop a system that is flexible and maintainable .

Flexibility is important, as requirements tend to change and grow with use of a system and subsequent learning.

Maintenance is even more important in that you need have a cost effective way of achieving Flexibility , and not throwing parts of the system away and building upon proven parts of the system.

That is the art of Software on a hardware platform, and together they solve a problem and form a complex system onto itself. Expand this thinking into the definition of a Service Provider.

A service provider is a collection of complex systems - switches, routers, service provisioning , trouble ticketing, monitoring , billing as well as the people and centers that complete the service layer.

Service providers - like software engineering is an art - anyone can deploy a switch, anyone can expedite an order on the new switch. Not everyone can operationalize an offer that is both flexible and maintainable.

Flexibility is important as customer always want more and equipment vendors always deliver more features.

Maintenance is really important when it comes to a service fault that occurs at 3am during a long weekend.

A service is not something you can touch, it's the experience and customer satisfaction is its metric.

Advanced solutions are an art, anyone can propose a solution, not everyone can deliver one that meets customer needs while still being economically feasible.

The Progression of the B2BUA for IP Services

Tue, 25 Jul 2006 07:07:46 +0000

Well, I'm back after a few-week hiatus on the blog circuit....thanks for your patience! I'll be more diligent about posting content on a regular basis moving forward. This time I wanted to talk a bit about advanced services implementations.

The SIP Back to Back User Agent is rapidly becoming the utility device for real time IP Services. The most common implementation of the B2BUA is to act as a Session Border Controller to secure the edge of the network for VoIP peering. And while the SBC is a fundamental necessisity for carrier class VoIP services, very soon service providers will have implemented the B2BUA for specialty services; acting as "intelligent" boxes which can provide a variety of functions not simply relegated to protecting the border.

At the IMS Evolution Summit in June, I spoke at a panel on IMS architecture integration. Stephane Teral, an IMS analyst from the Infonetics posed the question about the increasing role of the SBC in IP services.

This is a particularly interesting topic in the context of IP services. In many cases, the B2BUA can be implemented as a SIP application proxy, say for example in a hosted centrex deployment. In this role, voice services are triggered to an application server such as a Sylantro or Broadsoft, where various features are applied to the call, and the call is then sent to either the destination endpoint, or to a media server for IVR functionality, etc.

The most recent implementation of B2BUA functionality is in an FMC application. The 3GPP Voice Call Continuity Standard (VCC), which standardizes the active transition of a call between WiFi IP networks and Circuit Switched Cellular networks utilizes a B2BUA functionality to anchor a voice call on the egress call leg so that the ingress call leg can transition between IP and Cellular call states.

Further, B2BUA's can be daisy-chained together in a single call flow to apply specific treatment to the call. For example, in an IMS-based FMC implementation, an SBC would be invoked to provide security at the edge of the service provider network (for a WiFi/SIP call). The next leg of the call would be an IMS trigger to forward the call to the FMC application server to anchor the voice session, next there could be yet another IMS trigger to forward the call to a hosted centrex application server to provide PBX treatment. This is an example of a feature-rich call flow that utilizes multiple call legs using B2BUA functionality.

The plus side is that the B2BUA can enable a rich set of features and call treatment for modern IP services. The negative side is that implementing these multiple call segments for a single voice service can be extremely complex from an operational perspective, as these flows take multiple paths as features are applied, and session logging and problem identification can be difficult. However, the Net-Net is that the B2BUA will become increasingly more important as the next generation of service offerings takes shape.

FMC Competition in the UK

Fri, 16 Jun 2006 19:15:54 +0000

Not sure if you've seen the press release yesterday on silicon.com regarding Orange's dive into converged services. The release of the Business Everywhere application essentially is a tip-toe into FMC, by bundling mobile data services, and converged voice and data using integrated billing and a client software which improves the data services experience over 3G, 2.5G EDGE and WiFi networks.

I spoke with Jason Ellis; Orange's Head of Convergence about their plans at the IMS World Forum, and he noted that Orange is specifically competing with BT's Fusion service in the UK, where the service is initially launched. BT needs a swift kick in the backside on the competitive side in this space, and I will personally enjoy the mud slinging on both sides for converged services. Orange has had some challenges with the politics of combining the operations and networks of France Telecom, Equant, Orange Wireless, and Wanadoo and it will be interesting to see how this plays out on the product development side.

The interesting thing to note about the release is the relative caution being noted by Jason Ellis about the lack of seamless management on the network side, and the lack of QoS with their VoIP offering. What? Is this a Vonage for the Enterprise? Sprint ION? Whoa...this is surprising.

My perspective is that launching a business service without providing the requisite QoS is dangerous...However, from an enterprise FMC perspective it will be difficult to tackle WiFi QoS in the near term to ensure voice quality from WiFi handsets and such. However, mobile users are accustomed to crummy voice quality anyhow. How bad could WiFi VoIP be? Well, I guess this depends on how bad the Enterprise network is engineered. I will be interested to hear some customer feedback as FMC services pick up customers.