FierceVoIP

Cisco study finds BYOD has 'quantifiable benefits'

Jim O'Neill — Wed, 16 May 2012 23:00:44 -0400

Enterprise IT departments are finding that there may be more benefits than detriments to allowing employees to use their own mobile devices at work. A Cisco (Nasdaq: CSCO) study found "quantifiable benefits," as well as complexities associated with the "bring your own device" trend that has swept corporate America.

A whopping 95 percent of respondents to the Cisco IBSG Horizons Study said their organizations allowed employee-owned devices in the workplace, and 84 percent said they provided some level of support for the device.

The report also predicted that knowledge workers will own 3.3 connected devices-from laptops to tablets and smartphones--each by 2014, up from 2.8 in 2012.

The survey, which polled some 600 IT and business leaders, found pro-BYOD policies produced two major benefits, "improved employee productivity (more opportunities to collaborate) and greater job satisfaction."

Nevertheless, the trend can still be worrisome. IT departments are most concerned about security and privacy issues, and about the burden of supporting multiple mobile platforms.

From an employee standpoint, the survey suggests that workers want the flexibility to use their own applications at work for access to social networks, cloud-based email and instant messaging.

The report also said that Cisco workers spent an average of $600 out of pocket for devices that allowed them to improve their work experience.

For more:
- see this release

Survey: Hurdles to UC adoption remain despite wide interest

Jim O'Neill — Wed, 16 May 2012 20:03:16 -0400

A new survey shows that larger companies, and companies with a higher percentage of workers who telecommute, are most likely to see greater value in unified communications technologies.

The survey, from CompTIA, the nonprofit association for the IT industry, showed that 80 percent of companies are interested in UC.

click image to enlarge

Despite economic uncertainties, budgets for communications and collaboration solutions are increasing or keeping pace with other technology priorities, at 85 percent of companies surveyed, CompTIA said in its Second Annual Unified Communications Market Trends study.

Among benefits companies expect from unified communications: greater employee productivity, reduced costs and a means to improve customer engagement.

"But to get there, significant barriers must be overcome," said Seth Robinson, director, technology analysis, CompTIA.

Integrating new unified communications tools with existing technologies is one of several hurdles that needs to be cleared, CompTIA found.

Questions that also need to be answered include calculating return on investment, the challenge of making UC mobile, including social networking, collaboration and video conferencing.

Even when those issues are addressed, some companies still have concerns about the reliability of communications systems.

Cloud and managed systems can help organizations sidestep some of the technical issues they're most worried about, said CompTIA, and most, about 70 percent of the companies surveyed, said they'd consider a cloud system or managed services model for their unified communications needs.

"What we are most likely to see is a hybrid approach in many organizations, using the cloud for collaboration and web conferencing, and on-premise infrastructure for data, voice and video," Robinson said.

Videoconferencing was one of the more widely adopted and anticipated UC technologies. Some 71 percent of companies have some form of video conferencing in place, with another 16 percent planning to add it over the next year.

But the technology faces some formidable obstacles to full adoption: the users. Just 27 percent of employees are extremely comfortable with the format, and video accounts for less than 10 percent of communications in companies where it is installed.

For more:
- see this release

IntelePeer SIP trunking Avaya compliant

Jim O'Neill — Wed, 16 May 2012 19:25:12 -0400

Cloud-based communications company IntelePeer announced its IntelePeer CoreCloud SIP Trunking services are compliant with Avaya Session Border Controller for Enterprise R.4.0.5 and Avaya Aura Communication Manager 6.0.1.

The announcement means IntelePeer has expanded the number of Avaya UC products it supports, adding onto its compatibility with Avaya's IP Office that it announced in March. IntelePeer SIP trunking now supports a range of UC systems and products to ensure enterprises can choose between Avaya, Cisco (Nasdaq: CSCO), Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) and Siemens UC systems.

IntelePeer SIP Trunking services, combined with Avaya systems and software, enable customers to gain more value and functionality from their UC deployments.

IntelePeer is a Technology Partner in the Avaya DevConnect program--an initiative to develop, market and sell innovative third-party products that interoperate with Avaya technology and extend the value of a company's investment in its network.

For more:
- see this release

8x8 reports record revenues for year, as more businesses turn to cloud services

Jim O'Neill — Wed, 16 May 2012 18:46:13 -0400

8x8 Inc. (Nasdaq: EGHT) rode increased revenue from business customers to fourth-quarter 2012 earnings that topped analyst estimates for the quarter and closed out a solid year.

The Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company reported Q4 revenue of $24.2 million, up 33 percent from last year.

Much of that gain was driven by business customers whose spending increased to $22.8 million, or 44 percent, from a year ago, chief executive Bryan Martin said during an earnings call.

Many are looking to reduce capital and operating expenses by purchasing cloud services like those from 8x8, Martin said.

"In this market environment, with what companies are trying to do with their costs, it's really resonating," he said. "We're starting to see mid-market customers coming to us; it's very different from where we were just a few years ago."

Martin said a recent win with TMW was a good example. The transportation company was looking to replace a Cisco (Nasdaq: CSCO) hardware-based platform, in an effort to cut costs and reduce the load on IT staff internally.

"They viewed (an 8x8 system) as a way to free up that staff," he said.

"We just see the capex advantages really starting to resonate with these mid-market companies."

Martin said business customers made up 94 percent of 8x8's business in the fourth quarter, up slightly from 93 percent in Q3. Those customers, he said, are spending more. Average monthly revenue per business customer increased from $204 a year ago, to $244 in Q4. As the ARPU increased, so did the amount of services those customers bought.

Contactual, the call-center specialist 8x8 acquired last year, continued to be a lure for large business customers. Last quarter, Martin said the acquisition brought 8x8 some 250 business customers, including Jamba, HomeAway and General Electric (NYSE: GE).

Over the closing three months of the fiscal year, he said, it continued to perform well.

"We've seen success in cross selling to our customer base," he said. "Two to three companies have purchased significant contact center deployments."

The company also continued to modulate business customer churn, dropping it to 2 percent for the quarter compared to 2.3 percent a year ago. Revenue churn was 1.6 percent.

Martin attributed the improvement to Eric Goffney, VP of customer success and support.

"I have been very impressed with what Eric has been able to do in the short time he's been here," Martin said. "He brings an enterprise class approach to customer service... I see a lot of improvement to come in that area."

For the quarter, 8x8 reported non-GAAP net income was $3 million, or 4 cents per diluted share, compared with $2.3 million, or 3 cents per diluted share, in the same period last year. Analysts had expected 3 cents per share.

For the full fiscal year, 8x8 said total revenue was a record $85.8 million, 22 percent better than the $70.2 million for fiscal 2011. Revenue from business customers was $79 million, a 30 percent increase over revenue of $61 million in fiscal 2011.

Non-GAAP net income was $10.3 million, or 15 cents per diluted share, compared with $7.1 million, or 11 cents per diluted share, for fiscal 2011.

8x8 closed at $3.86 per share, down 1.5 percent on the day. After hours, it was up 30 cents to $4.16 a share, a 7.8 percent increase. The stock has traded between $2.83 and $5.44 over the past 52 weeks.

For more:
- see this release

Level 3 expands data centers in Latin America

Jim O'Neill — Mon, 14 May 2012 10:14:09 -0400

Level 3 Communications (NYSE: LVLT), which has been busily building out its presence in Latin America for the past several months, today said customer demand has prompted it to expand its data-center capabilities in the region.

The company has added capacity to its 14 data centers in the region, with substantial expansions in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia and Ecuador. It's also introduced new hosting and storage services, and increased its backup and storage capacity.

The moves, Level 3 said, are aimed at enhancing customers' efficiency, security and growth, at a time when enterprises increasingly are looking for third-party data center solutions as they move toward adopting cloud computing.

Research from IDC estimates the market for data center services and managed security services in Latin America will reach nearly $4 billion in market size by 2015, growing at a compound annual rate of 11.9 percent between 2011 and 2015.

"Data center service providers that can demonstrate the ability to integrate value-added services and guarantee high service levels will be strongly positioned to capitalize on the region's market growth opportunity, providing the data center and security solution capabilities demanded by customers," said Diego Anesini, telecom research and consulting manager for IDC in Latin America.

In April, Level 3 SVP Mark Taylor told FierceOnlineVideo that the company was "expanding rapidly into South America."
"It's a nice growth story for us," he said at the time, pointing out that Level 3's recent acquisition of Global Crossings "has made it easier to put our POPs in South America."

For more:
- see this release

Vitelity extends SIP trunking functionality to legacy phone systems

Jim O'Neill — Mon, 14 May 2012 09:40:34 -0400

VoIP technology provider Vitelity Communications, partnering with Patton Electronics, has launched a communications bundle, SIP Enable, that allows legacy phone systems without native SIP capabilities to use SIP trunk services from Vitelity.

The privately held company said the product can integrate the advanced technology into a system in order connect to the Internet and utilize additional features, such as SMS, vFax and global DID origination.

SIP Enable improves the functionality for the end-user, said CEO Chris Hall, and provides a cost-effective method to integrate newer technologies into older systems."

"It's exciting to be able bring our SIP trunking service to systems that it was never intended for," Hall said.

For more:
- see this release

Radvision Q1 revenue tops $17.4M, beats guidance

Jim O'Neill — Mon, 14 May 2012 08:57:17 -0400

Videoconferencing specialist Radvision (Nasdaq: RVSN) today reported revenues for the first quarter of 2012 were $17.4 million, down nearly 17 percent from $20.8 million in the first quarter of 2011.

Nonetheless, the Israeli company did outperform its own guidance issued in April, when it said it expected revenue of just $17 million.

Radvision, which is in the process of being acquired by Avaya, also beat its guidance on earnings. The company reported a net loss of $6.7 million, or 36 cents per share, compared to a net loss of $3.3 million, or 18 cents per share, a year ago. Radvision had expected to report a loss of $6.9 million for the quarter.

Radvision said first-quarter revenues consisted of $15.2 million for the Video Business Unit (VBU) and $2.2 million for the Technology Business Unit (TBU). This compares with $15.9 million for the VBU and $4.8 million for the TBU reported in the first quarter of 2011.

The company attributed its better-than-expected performance to higher sales of both its infrastructure and endpoint products, offsetting lower Technology Business Unit revenues.

"Over the past two years we have been successfully transforming Radvision into an end-to-end videoconferencing solution provider with leading technology," CEO Boaz Raviv said, pointing to the debut of its flagship SCOPIA XT5000 that targets the high-end telepresence market.

Radvision, in April, also expanded its next generation HD video conferencing room system portfolio with the SCOPIA XT4200.

"Since our founding in 1992, RADVISION has been a leading innovator in video communications technology," Raviv said. "We are excited to continue that tradition as part of Avaya, a leading global provider of business collaboration and communications solutions."

That deal is expected to close this quarter.

For more:
- see this release

Special Report: Enterprise Communications earnings in the first quarter of 2012

VoIP-Pal.com acquires patents from Digifonica Gibraltar

Jim O'Neill — Sun, 13 May 2012 22:15:21 -0400

VoIP-Pal.com has added five major VoIP patents to its intellectual property portfolio after reaching a deal to acquire Digifonica Gibraltar.

The patents for the proprietary digital voice technologies immediately advances Voip-Pal.com as a technical leader in the booming VoIP services market, which last year saw revenues estimated at $58 billion.

VoIP-Pal.com said the patent portfolio gives it a unique set of network-based technologies and processes that will enhance subscriber and carrier functionality, resulting in a substantial increase of average revenue per user.

The deal, terms of which were not disclosed, also should enhance shareholder value and immediately contribute to significant revenue growth for the company as the number of mobile VoIP subscribers is projected to reach 410 million by 2015.

The company said the technologies are predominantly software based, and capable of scaling over multiple network servers, in multiple countries worldwide, creating worldwide virtual network coverage.

"A conservative estimate shows that potential royalty income alone from the Digifonica Gibraltar patents may exceed $200 million per year for Voip-Pal," said Dennis Chang, president of Voip-Pal.com. "Full descriptions, advantages and revenue estimates for each newly acquired patent will be released as they are individually integrated into Voip-Pal.com's Cloud Server."

For more:
- see this release

Mitel introduces IaaS play AnyWare for UCC

Jim O'Neill — Sun, 13 May 2012 21:23:58 -0400

Unified communications specialist Mitel (Nasdaq: MITL) has rolled out an Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) play designed to extend its virtualized unified communications and collaboration (UCC) software.

The product, AnyWare, helps IT organizations deploy Mitel's Freedom Architecture to give them the option to host the virtualized UCC software in a virtual private data center.

The data center, provided by service provider division, Mitel NetSolutions, lets IT organizations implement a virtualized voice, unified communications and collaboration solutions without the capital necessary to deploy these virtual applications in their data center.

Organizations can deploy a private or hybrid cloud model that aims to streamline operations and reduce overall infrastructure costs.

"Mitel AnyWare IaaS provides a sophisticated, SAS70-certified virtual Private Data Center with the resources to support the deployment of Mitel's comprehensive UC applications," said Jon Brinton, president of Mitel NetSolutions.

AnyWare is is optimized for Mitel's purpose-built UCC applications and facilitates centralized UCaaS deployments which can reduce the lifecycle support costs associated with maintaining Enterprise communications infrastructure.

For more:
- see this release

Polycom sells handset unit for $110M, adds to stock buyback plan

Jim O'Neill — Fri, 11 May 2012 07:18:03 -0400

Videoconferencing vendor Polycom (Nasdaq: PLCM) is selling its wireless enterprise handset business to an affiliate of private equity firm Sun Capital Partners for $110 million in cash. It plans to use most of the cash to increase its stock-buyback program.

As a result of the sale, the business generated about $94 million in revenue last year, the company also lowered its second-quarter 2012 guidance to between 18 cents per share and 20 cents per share, from the 20-22 cents per share range it forecasted in April.

Polycom said the deal is expected to close in the third quarter.

Polycom said it would use about $104 million from the sale to increase the size of its share buyback program. Polycom had only $78 million worth of shares remaining to buy in its planned $800 million repurchase push. The new cash infusion means it will buy $182 million more.

"Polycom has evolved rapidly over the last 18-24 months, and taken actions designed to capture and lead the fast-growing video collaboration market through traditional and new delivery platforms including mobile, social and cloud," said chief executive Andy Miller. "The sale of our wireless handset business is a further step toward focusing our product and technology portfolio on our core unified communications and video collaboration solutions."

He said the divestiture of the enterprise wireless voice solutions business would allow Polycom "to focus on the stronger sales growth and higher gross margins" of its core unified communications business.

Polycom stock has been stuck in a trough of late, losing some 40 percent of its value since the end of February.

Last month, the company posted net income of $15 million, or 8 cents per share, down from $34 million, or 19 cents per share, last year, a 56 percent drop and its first decline since 2010.

The stock closed Thursday at $12.01, and was down 3.5 percent in after-hours trading. Over 52-weeks, it's traded in a range of $11.72 to $34.30.

For more:
- see this release

Government lawyers oppose California VoIP deregulation proposal

Chris Rizo — Thu, 10 May 2012 15:06:29 -0400

Industry-backed legislation that would bar California officials from regulating Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service in the Golden State drew opposition this week from lawyers at the California Public Utilities Commission.

The regulatory body's Legal Division is urging commissioners to oppose Senate Bill 1161, which seeks to preempt the CPUC and other state entities from regulating VoIP-enabled voice and data transmissions unless expressly authorized by federal law and state statute.

The CPUC, to date, has no regulatory activities regarding VoIP or other IP-enabled services.

The commission's Legal Division argues that S.B. 1161 is so broadly written that, if enacted, the legislation would impede the CPUC's regulation of non-IP wireline and wireless service.

What's more, they say, the law would deregulate carriers that are not, at present, considered VoIP providers.

In a May 8 memorandum to commissioners, CPUC Government Affairs Director Lynn Sadler reiterated the Legal Division's argument that if the bill were amended to make all of the exceptions needed to preserve the commission's ability to administer its existing programs, "the exceptions arguably would swallow the rule," Sadler wrote.

"Especially, Legal Division asserts the CPUC, as the constitutional agency with the expertise in telecommunications, should retain flexibility to determine whether and how to regulate VoIP and IP-enabled services," Sadler added.

The Legal Division also has argued that under S.B. 1161, the CPUC would be allowed to hear and address complaints from VoIP service carriers but not from consumers, "thereby inhibiting one of the CPUC's primary functions to protect ratepayers," Sadler wrote in the memo.

The bill was introduced by Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Los Angeles), chairman of the Senate Committee on Energy, Utilities and Communications, which April 17 voted unanimously to advance the bill.

Padilla has said the bill is aimed at encouraging broadband deployment by providing industry regulatory certainty.

Bipartisan-backed S.B. 1161 is sponsored by TechAmerica, TechNet and the Silicon Valley Leadership Group, and supported by such companies as AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T), Cisco Systems (Nasdaq: CSCO), Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT), Qualcomm (Nasdaq: QCOM) and Verizon Communications (NYSE: VZ).

Also supporting the measure are the California Chamber of Commerce and the California Manufacturers & Technology Association, both influential trade groups.

CalChamber Vice President of Government Affairs Marc Burgat called the bill a "job creator," in a letter of support.

"SB 1161 would ensure that California maintains its competitive edge and continues to provide a regulatory environment that promotes advancements in internet technology," Burgat wrote. "Such continued advancements would result in widespread access to communication technologies and would allow for solutions to challenges in healthcare, energy, education, public safety, and economic development."

Padilla's bill has drawn widespread opposition from consumer groups, including AARP California, Center for Media Justice, Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, The Greenlining Institute and the Utility Consumers' Action Network.

Critics say the bill would effectively strip the CPUC of its oversight authority over landline and cellular phone services.

"SB 1161 is a stealth vehicle for the gradual deregulation of telecommunications in California," the Consumer Federation of California declared on their website. "Consumers need the CPUC to have the power to investigate complaints of bad service or unfair charges on bills, regardless of the technology used to provide phone service."

S.B. 1161 is pending consideration by the Senate Appropriations Committee. The panel has set a May 14 hearing on the bill.

For more:
- see S.B. 1161 text
- see the CPUC memo

Service providers begin to experiment with PaaS offerings

Jim O'Neill — Wed, 09 May 2012 22:11:43 -0400

Services providers have begun to offer platform as a service (PaaS) as they look to expand their portfolios and respond to increasing customer demand for cloud-based development services. The latest example is Tier 3, which this week announced the rollout of PaaS and database as a service (DBaaS) offerings. The move into the PaaS market isn't going quickly, but there's been a steady trend by some providers into the space. Article

Fonality selects Sonus SBC platform to enhance network

Jim O'Neill — Wed, 09 May 2012 21:01:35 -0400

Hosted VoIP and unified communications provider Fonality said it will use a Session Border Controller solution from Sonus Networks (Nasdaq: SONS) to enhance the performance, reliability and capability of its cloud-hosted VoIP and Unified Communications (UC) network.

Sonus said its SBC 5200 session border controllers were selected for their ability to scale and enable all types of SIP traffic.

Fonality will also deploy Sonus NetScore, a network performance analyzer that enables service providers and enterprises to monitor and adjust operational efficiencies.

Fonality offers small and mid-size businesses across North America, Australia and Japan fully cloud-hosted VoIP, UC and contact center services as well as hybrid cloud-managed, premise-based IP-PBX, UC and contact center solutions.

The new customer deal is a big win for Sonus, which steadily has been increasing its share of the SBC market.

In April, Infonetics Research said Sonus' SBC business revenue grow at almost four times the pace of its competition, increasing 58.5 percent year-over-year. Infonetics said the company's share of the SBC service provider market grew to 19.6 percent in the fourth quarter.

For more:
- see this release

Cisco Q3 profit up 20%, but fears of downturn cause shares to slip

Jim O'Neill — Wed, 09 May 2012 20:41:06 -0400

Cisco (Nasdaq: CSCO) shares fell more than 8 percent in after-hours trading Wednesday, despite third quarter earnings that rose 20 percent and beat Wall Street expectations by a penny.

Blame it on Europe, or, on the cautious tone Cisco chief executive John Chambers sounded during a Q&A with analysts during the company's earnings call.

"We are still in an uncertain environment economically," Chambers said. He pointed to a stuttering economy in Europe, soft sales in Latin America and uncertainty in the spending intentions of service providers.

Chambers said that in his discussions with cable companies and telcos, they generally sounded an optimistic tone about spending in the second half of the year. But, they, too, cautioned that European turmoil could cause that to quickly change.

Enterprise IT spending had been going strong, but, he said, "that's gotten a little bit tougher."

"We sure don't like the trend in enterprise spending," he said.

So unsure of the situation is the San Jose, Calif.-based company, that it muted its guidance for this quarter-generally one of its strongest--and the rest of the year, suggesting revenue would rise between 2 and 5 percent, below analyst forecast of 7 percent. Cisco forecast earnings for the fourth quarter between 44-46 cents per share, below the 49 cents per share analysts floated.

For the third quarter, Cisco reported earnings of $2.6 billion, or 48 cents per share, excluding one-time charges. Analysts expected 47 cents per share. The company reported $11.6 billion in sales, in line with expectations.

Chambers also said the company has managed to fight off challenges from competitors in the past, and to survive difficult economic periods.

"We will muddle through this with a little bit of bumps on the road," he said.

The company was trading for $17.20 after hours, down $1.58. It's traded in a 52-week range of $13.30-$21.30.

For more:
- see the earnings release
- see this Reuters report

Special Report: Enterprise Communications earnings in the first quarter of 2012

Vu TelePresence, Vidtel partner on videoconferencing play

Jim O'Neill — Wed, 09 May 2012 18:31:08 -0400

Vu TelePresence is partnering with Vidtel to offer a multi-vendor videoconferencing service.

The deal will enable Vu, which specializes in providing services to SMBs, to connect its endpoints with other videoconferencing systems from vendors like Polycom (Nasdaq: PLCM), Cisco (Nasdaq: CSCO) and LifeSize, as well as to Google's (Nasdaq: GOOG) GoogleTalk and Skype users.

Vu users will be able to use Vidtel's MeetMe multi-party videoconferencing service to conference with up to 12 people, on devices ranging from room systems, to video phones, PCs/Macs, tablets and smartphones.

The service is available as a monthly subscription fee or on a per-minute basis.

IDC analyst Rich Costello recently said improvements in networking, videoconferencing and telepresence technologies have finally made videoconferencing a serious player in the enterprise space.

"Only recently have enterprise networks and videoconferencing technology, epitomized by HD and telepresence systems, been capable of delivering collaboration experiences worthy of initiating a video session, versus having a conference call or hopping on a plane," he said.

Those improvements have been significant enough to serve as a catalyst for growth in the market.

"IDC expects major revenue growth in this market to continue over the next five years, bolstered by a significant impact from unified communications, collaboration applications, telepresence systems, and desktop and mobile devices supporting video," Costello said.

Vidtel CEO Scott Wharton, meanwhile, said the partnership with Vu works for both companies, giving Vu an enterprise-grade conferencing solution and allowing Vidtel to take advantage of Vu's market penetration.

For more:
- see this release