‘Bout that Fierce15 VoIP list

I'm doing some thinking about this Fierce15 VoIP thing and I am tempted to just get a list of vendors and some dice and unilaterally randomly pick 15 and be done with it.

Back in April, I hadn't even gotten the office seat warm when I received an email from someone asking me how they could get onto the Fierce15 VoIP list.

Lists and awards are a sore subject for me, as they should be for any disconcerting readers.  Having recently gone through the exercise of creating and executing an award process, I am all too familiar with the logistics involved.

And then there are all the unhappy people involved. People who didn't follow directions for applying or people who didn't get what they wanted and complained and threatened because they needed an award to make the PR agency look good.  

If I go with the randomly generated list, I don't have to really get into post-list "discussions" with firms on why they didn't make it. Or have to think twice about accepting a box of cookies or other high-caloric bribes.

Instead, I have decided to decide. On or about the first week of September 2008, I will announce my criteria and process used to determine the Fierce15 VoIP companies for 2008. Sometime this fall, but no later than Oct. 30, I will announce the Fierce15 VoIP companies. 

If you have suggestions for criteria and/or process, please feel free to do so at this time, I'm all ears.

- Doug

P.S. - This is not an invitation to submit or apply or lobby for a spot on the Fierce15 list. High-caloric bribes will be left in the lunch room here for general consumption.