Mobile JaJAH for your cell phone
May 19th, 2007Femtocells and enterprise?
May 18th, 2007I’ve just seen some marketing from another research company that suggests that enterprises will use femtocells quite widely, in the context of FMC.
I’m unconvinced that this is likely until at least 2010, if not 2012 or beyond.
Experience with picocells suggests that enterprises are wary of having operators’ equipment installed on their office LAN, especially if it has to tunnel its traffic out through a firewall. Operators are equally unhappy to have their base stations beyond their control on someone else’s network. There may be regulatory issues here too. In theory, they could be installed on a virtual LAN using the building’s spare cabling - but this still has the problem of manageability and ownership for the operator, as certain components like patch panels and fibre risers will be shared-use.
Instead, picos are often installed on completely physically separate cabling & infrastructure. Which is not inexpensive. Given that femtos cover fewer users / less range than picos, it seems to make the problem worse, not better. Distributed antenna systems may be easier, especially as they can be used for multiple operators’ networks, while picos/femtos can only be used for one carrier, and are therefore useless for visitors, or where enterprises do not want to be locked into longterm deals with a specific single operator.
Also a bunch of other issues emerge:
- Channels - integrating femtos with PBX channels & system integrators will need years of recruitment, training & certification
- Value chain - lots of new “moving parts” will need to be brought into the ecosystem, such as RF design houses capable of dealing with cellular inbuilding coverage
- Software will be needed that can recognise a group of femtos as being part of the same “zone” - perhaps 30 on one site, 20 on another, and 2 in each of 100 branch office sites. Not that difficult, but to my knowledge nobody’s done it yet
- Integration with IP-PBXs, and ways of dealing with legacy systems and migration. Another huge task.
And then of course there’s the small fact that even simple, single-femto consumer deployments have yet to be developed fully, let alone rolled out.
Of course, dual-mode enterprise WiFi/cellular isn’t that easy either. But it is “here and now” (albeit belatedly), and by the time all the issues above get fixed, it should be pretty mature. So in other words femto-based solutions will have to work well with that, as well.
The ultimate solution is some sort of mega-hybrid, embracing cellular, dual-mode, WiFi-only, DECT, IP centrex, outsourcing where appropriate, mobile PBX extensions, fixed hard phones, PC softphones, indoor cellular coverage with picos/femtos and DAS…. and having customers that understand it, enterprise applications that integrate nicely with all the devices, and channels that can sell the right solution. Now I think about it, maybe 5 years is optimistic…..
The new Era of Everything
May 18th, 2007“What it really represents, I say, is not just the further collapse of newspapers’ hold on classifieds but the crumbling of classifieds as a form of advertising itself. The monsters are huddling together for warmth. With better search, we’ll be able to find each other, buyer and seller, without having to go to a centralized marketplace.
It won’t be long before we see classifieds coming up in Google searches. In some ways, we do now. Search for new homes in Tampa and you’ll see ads next to that map. “
Finally they are beginning to discover the full potential of the Internet, better, they are beginning to use it.
What does social networking really mean?
It means you are there, in this big network, as you probably were yesterday too.
The new fact is that they are beginning to find you, better, they are beginning to find new ways to display you or, if you like they are beginning to discover new ways so that you can easily display yourself, if you want, if you are able to, if you invest what you have to.
And that means money or talent or time.
In this way it is much more democratic than the usual printed way.
There either you had money enough or you were out.
Here you need money or brain.
And sometimes brain is better than money…
I very much like that!
http://www.2rss.com/atom2rss.php?atom=http%3A//woip.blogspot.com/atom.xml
They will talk a lot about this in the near future
May 18th, 2007Today’s announcement that Google is changing its search to integrate video, photos, text, and news with results that used to list just text on web pages is, I think, more significant than it at first seems.
Now you have to figure out how to put some Google helium into your videos and photos and news headlines — all of which can now appear on the blessed search-result page.
And you also have to figure out what people get when they click on those things: where are your brand, your ads, your links? If you distribute your stuff onto more sites out there — if your video becomes a hit on YouTube and on bloggers’ embeds — does that get it higher on Google? What does this do to destination and portal strategies?
Big media people should be reaching for the gin tonight.
Jeff Jarvis
What’s the near future of websites and blogs?
If you want to still be there beware: you must have Videos and use YouTube and work a lot more or invest a lot more.
That is the fight going on.
Do you want to be upthere? Well just begin the competiton and let the best win!
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How Much Bandwidth Is Chewed Up By VoIP??
May 18th, 2007Let’s talk turkey for a moment (or Vonage if you want to throw a pun into the discussion ha ha.).
The age old question (OK recent topic of concern) among VoIP users and those whose bandwidth is used to make those calls is……how much bandwidth does VoIP use?
Well Virginia….that’s an interesting question. Any discussion may illicit potentially tense reactions. So let’s try and shed some light on the subject….in a practical fashion.
Bandwidth isn’t measured like it was a garden hose of water. ON and OFF, measuring it’s usage. It can be read that way, but it isn’t actually looked at that way. Not by most providers anyway. (Unless of course they are trying to rationalize prices to the FCC).
For instance; as a business you may have numerous DS3/OC circuits that you pay for each month. A DS3 for instance rounded off is 45mb of pipe. Now, you pay the same thing for that circuit each month whether you put 1 voip line on it, or an entire network with hundreds of computers and such.
Same with your VoIP. You pay the same amount on an unlimited calling plan whether you make 1 phone call or 1000 calls. To try and measure actual Mega or Terabytes of data as a means of determining cost is pure rationalization.
Ma’Bell, Level 3, or any other backbone has “X” amount of bandwidth that they can use simultaneously. Some of that bandwidth is dedicated, some isn’t. Some are using ATM so it can better utilize the bandwidth among inconsistant users, while there are also other flavors like Frame and TDM.
The point is, while some providers and backbone and backhaul carriers might charge a metered circuit, most sell fixed amounts of bandwidth. That’s why your ISP has little statements like; “UP TO 1.5MB” or “Speeds may Vary”. Just because voip has started making a presence, doesn’t mean that ISP’s have had to automatically start buying more bandwidth from the backbone.
If they tell you that, they are full of ……it. When DSL and cable broadband are sold to you, the max bandwidth that you are buying is formulated into their pricing and bandwidth demands.
For what it’s worth, more bandwidth was probably used, until recently, on streaming audio/video, torrent, MP3 downloads, distributed computing, etc. If your service provider gets too saturated, they will offer more bandwidth at a higher price, which is what they will use to buy from the backbone/backhaul providers.
However when you have 10 people that are using the bandwidth (for VoIP) that would supply 50-100 average (internet using) joes….. not only is that causing more congestion at that junction box, but you are also causing the provider to buy more bandwidth.
You know as well as I do they will not make another tier! They will just raise the prices on the ones already established. How many average people max out their connections on a regular basis?
Anyway, the VoIP companies for the longest time have been getting pretty much a free ride on the PSTN and the ISPs…. plus were not subject to the same taxes MaBell is. So…. you can see why there is so much tension about bandwidth?
If you’d like help find just the right VoIP based solution….covering all the bandwidth in’s and out’s…..I suggest you take advantage of the free consulting services offered at: Business VoIP
What a web page should look like
May 17th, 2007What should a webpage look like?
I hate flash since the early days in which it appeared on the Internet.
Those were the days when most people had lousy connections and the ADSL was something belonging to the future.
Now the ADSL is something widespread (in the big cities) and broadband a word whose meaning everybody knows, and flash is something most webmasters have abandoned, at least for the “useful” websites, the sites where you go to look and buy something.
I like websites that follow a certain pattern: the pattern I am used to.
It makes it easier to find at once what I am looking for.
And this is something too many webmasters ignore.
People like easy and fast and usual websites.
People dislike waiting and having to look for and search for and ask for.
People are getting lazy because they are spoiled, and they are spoiled because sellers want to sell and one of the ways to easily sell is pleasing the buyer.
As simple as that.
You’re busy trying to sell a service or a product or an idea to lazy people in a hurry.
Lazy as in not willing to read the instructions, follow the manual, do all the steps, invest the time in the research. Lazy as in willing to buy the first choice that’s ‘good enough’ as opposed to finding the best choice.
Lazy, in a hurry, and in search of better are often contradictory ideas. Doesn’t matter. We don’t have to like it, we just have to acknowledge it.
So, what kind of miracle do the customers expect from a webmaster?
That he makes a website where you can search in a hurry and find the best.
So, they do not want flash, they do not like too many pictures or too many choices.
They like few clear buttons and a clear presentation.
This is what we have.
This is what it costs and this is where you can buy and pay and this is when you will receive it.
Do you need something special?
Well, there is a search window (and the search window is usually on the top of the page), just write what you are looking for and I will bring you there.
The colors must be nice and not disturbing.
Blue or beige or pale gray and the written words in black or dark grey, on a white backgroung please, so that my eyes will read it in an easier way…
PMC Telecom has just redisigned their website where they list BT Phones.
I guess it reflects what I am talking about.
First: the page is not too crowded.
Second: It is easy to navigate and displays all the informations a customer is looking for, in a fast and clear way.
Third: the search window is where I expect it to be, as the menu on the left.
I immeditely know what they have and I do not have to read for hours about things I am not interested in.
Fourth: there are all the required informations, including how to pay…
There is even a free telephone number on the Top.
Of course in every market, there’s a subset of geeks and nerds that are neither lazy nor in a hurry. Well this website is ALSO for them.
Yes this is a sponsored post , but I really mean what I said.
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voipniche is multiplying!
May 17th, 2007Will mobile social networking drive churn rates up?
May 17th, 2007There’s a huge amount of interest in mobilising the various social networking services - MySpace, Facebook, Flickr and so on. Operators are partnering left, right and centre.
But I wonder…. do people have more loyalty to their mobile operator, or to their preferred social networking brands? I think it’s the latter, because of the impact of the rest of the user’s social group. I can make a unilateral, personal, decision to switch from O2 to Vodafone. But I’m not going to be able to convince my entire social network to switch from Facebook to MySpace.
So, I’m more likely to switch operators to get my choice of Web 2.0 brand. Which sounds good on the face of it, but ignores an important factor:
Social networks’ coolness varies over time. People switch allegiance from Bebo to MySpace or whatever is more “exclusive”. People belong to multiple networks. It’s a bit like real-life social scenes - the bars & restaurants that are ultrahot this month, are full of Z-list celebrities next month, and full of clueless tourists the month after that. The A-list has moved on. And from an online mobile/social networking point of view, these A-listers are the ‘hubs’, the most popular people. Their friends follow them.
So just because MySpace is popular right now, doesn’t mean it will be next year when a mobile operator’s contracts come up for renewal. People may desert their current operator in droves if their coolest friends are now using a service which partners with another carrier. In other words, the risk of mobile social networking is that it might induce “group churn”.
(Caveat: this is a very metropolitan/London-centric view of socialising, where there is sufficient fluidity in networks of friends - or openings of cool new bars & restaurants - to make us fickle. In smaller towns people have more fixed friendships, and go to the same local pub all their life, so for these cases loyalty may be more easily achieved)
