My Jazinga Review

I�ve been trialing Jazinga for a while now and have waited for the most recent updates to get this review done. I�m really enjoying using it, and it�s become my default telephony system. I use that word loosely, since I work solo, and am not exactly a typical PBX user. I don�t have anyone to transfer calls to, but there are many other features that make my life better and my work day more productive.

Before sharing my thoughts about Jazinga, I didn�t realize the most obvious thing about Jazinga until sitting down now to write about it. I�m a marketing guy at heart, so these things keep me up thinking more than most other people. Jazinga is a catchy name for a company, and it�s just hit me that the product itself doesn�t have a name, so by default I don�t know what else to call it. Maybe it�s time for a name-that-product contest???

I�ve gotten to know the Jazinga folks pretty well now, and in case you�re wondering, yes, they�re very typical of a tech startup � heavy on engineering and light on marketing. That�s ok by me � at this stage it�s much more important to get the technology right, and in my books, they�ve done a great job there. The marketing and branding will come, and along the way, I�m sure they�ll come up with a clever name for their offering. I hate to call it a product � seems so pedestrian � and it�s only partially correct, so giving this a name will be trickier than you might think. I�ll leave that hanging out there for now, and move on to my review.

I�ll start by saying that other beta users have reviewed Jazinga already, and they�re more techhy than me. You can find these posted on Jazinga�s website, and there�s some good commentary about what�s under the hood. I�ll focus more on what�s outside and my everyday experiences.

As others have noted, Jazinga is an interesting a hybrid � the box is a both a router and an IP telephony system. You basically get all the features of a PBX and QoS, as the system is able to prioritize voice over your broadband connection. Not only does that give you reliable service, but the audio quality is noticeably better than regular VoIP. For small businesses, this strikes me as a very important selling feature.

From a buyer�s point of view, Jazinga is a great value. They�ve used a lot of open source, which helps keeps the price down, and provides flexibility for adding new features and self-provisioning. It�s about as end-user centric as you can get, and ease of use is another hallmark of Jazinga. The earlier reviews have all picked up on the ease-of-use angle, and I can certainly vouch for that. Setting up the system takes little time, and is largely self-provisioning, so it�s ideal for SMBs, as they typically don�t have much in the way in-house IT support.

Not only does Jazinga come with all the telephony options you�d typically want to see, but they are continually adding new ones. It�s very easy to set up an auto attendant with greetings for each employee, and then customize how each person wants to receive their calls. For me, the conferencing feature has the most utility. It�s easy to set up, and very handy for initiating concalls on the fly. The only downside is that callers have to dial in to a toll number, but these days, most people don�t have a problem with that.

Another great thing about Jazinga is that it�s extensible. It�s built to keep taking new features, and end users don�t have to pay extra for these. The most recent releases - beta 1.11 and 1.12 � have some noteworthy additions:

- Status screens in the Administration UI to monitor your Internet connection and system configuration

- Forwarding of voice mail to email

- Addition of portals for individual users. Previously, only system administrators had portal access. This means end users can now access their voicemail via the portal and update their personalized settings.

- System configuration and backup settings can now be saved to the desktop, giving end users more control and access to their communications tools.

- Two new calling features to make the telephony service more valuable to SMBs:

1. Dial around � you can now call into and through Jazinga from any phone, anywhere and save on long distance charges.
2. Callback � another way to do this, and works like other mobile VoIP callback services.

To use Jazinga, you need an IP phone, and they support all the major brands � Cisco, Linksys, Aastra, Polycom and Snom, so it won�t be too hard to get this going. Once you see it up close, you may wonder why anyone would need a PBX. Aside from being easy to use, you feel empowered right away, as each end user can customize their greetings and call control preferences - and just as easily change them as their needs dictate. It�s also fun setting up the front door, which is where you record your IVR greeting prompts for each extension and conferencing options. Then you can add your own music on hold and really make it your own.

Being open source, Jazinga has made it easy to keep adding features without increasing your costs. That�s a pretty strong driver, as the system always stays current and keeps getting more powerful with each release. SMBs have never really had it this good before.

This would be enough for most IP telephony solutions, but Jazinga is thinking further out, and this is where it gets more interesting for me. For SOHOs and some SMBs, many, if not all end users will be home-based. Jazinga can very easily be used as the hub for both home and business communications. No reason why your landline � analog or VoIP � can�t be hooked up, giving you PBX features in the house. How about that? Think of the fun you can have with your greeting prompts � �for the kitchen, press 7�, or �for Mom, press 6�. How can you not want to do this?

Let�s take this a step further. Once you�ve got home and business all running off Jazinga, why stop at voice? Here�s where the magic of open source comes into the picture. With wireless IP running all over the house/office, you could provision all kinds of other services � remote printing, FMC handoffs, etc. Let�s not stop there. As we start broadband-enabling all kinds of devices and machines, the possibilities really open up, especially around smart home-type services. Think about starting the roast remotely, controlling the thermostat or monitoring your home security or surveillance systems.

I�m getting a bit ahead of the game, but the likes of Microsoft are well along that path, and Jazinga could become a perfect hub solution sooner than you think. You just have stop thinking about this as just an intelligent telephony router. When you do, you then need to start wondering why service providers aren�t running to partner with Jazinga. Not just telcos, but anyone with a wire into the home � ISPs, cablecos, utilities, etc. Lots of possibilities here for sure.

It�s a very important part of the puzzle, simply because Jazinga isn�t a service provider. You could certainly buy the box retail or through a distributor channel and just go with the BYOB model. That works, but then it�s just a sell-through box solution for Jazinga. That�s ok, but then it starts to sound too much like Ooma, who I�ve written about � and still use. It�s a great service, but like Jazinga, it�s just another box on my desk, and I really don�t give it a thought. That�s too passive a model for me.

I�ve been saying this about Ooma from the beginning � the service provider is their best friend and route to market. Let them brand Jazinga and roll it out to their subscribers as a total package. That makes so much more sense to me, and is a real win-win for both parties. Think about how effective that would be for any carrier trying to break through the clutter in the SMB space. I know Jazinga is thinking this way too, so give it some time, and I�m pretty confident this will be a much bigger story going into 2009.


Technorati tags: Jazinga, Jon Arnold, SMB VoIP

BroadSoft Connections - Day 2

Day 2 zoomed by, and I'm going to hit the high points with photos and some brief commentary. Things started with Show Me The Apps, which was a great showcase for how Web 2.0 style apps are being developed and integrated into the BroadWorks platform. Most of these were oriented to consumers and targeted at hot spaces such as Google Apps or the iPhone. This stuff sure is fun and sexy, but I'm not so sure carriers will make money there. Others like Tom Howe (the mashup competition winner)focus on business applications that solve specific problems and have identifiable value for subscribers. That's where I think carriers will want to look a bit more closely.

Regardless, I think this is a great direction for BroadSoft, and it shows the power and value of an open platform that can give any type of carrier a competitive advantage serving either business or residential subscribers. And that, of course, may be what really makes this work. As our home and work lives become increasingly blurred, carriers are going to need offerings that cater to our overall communications needs - not one thing for home and another for work.

After this session, I spent time at the Solutions Showcase, getting hands-on demos from both BroadSoft partners, and their own offerings. Otherwise, the day was taken up with meetings, and oh, blogging!

I should also add that I was briefed in advance on an announcement that BroadSoft released Tuesday morning about a partnership with Microsoft for an integrated hosted SMB Unified Communications solution. It's an interesting item in that it allows for a completely hosted offering with BroadWorks providing the hosted softswitch/UC solution, integrated with Microsoft's HMC offering - Hosted Messaging and Collaboration. The idea here is that this should be very attractive to SMBs who lack the infrastructure and/or resources to manage these pieces themselves. It gives them lots of flexibility in terms of scaling the services up or down, and adding features that will work seamlessly with their everyday Microsoft business applications.

So, here are some photos from both days, starting with Day 2...

Show Me The Apps












Now for some Day 1 photos....




Showing us how the Xtend platform can be used to build community - right in our midst...



Very slick video before the opening keynotes - fast-paced and highly visual - getting you in the mood for the new world of apps and their Xtend platform experience...



Mike Tessler (very tricky lighting - apologies for the poor photo - best I could get). Lots of good messages from Mike, with the driving theme for carriers being the need to open up your networks and see the value of what the Web developer community can bring.




Dr. James Canton (again, apologies for the poor photo quality). Interesting speaker - futurist - great look into how the mobile web will evolve and change not just communications, but the essence of business itself. Good food for thought about how important collaboration is in this new world, and how there is a great opportunity here for carriers to "lead their customers into the future".



Walt Mossberg - boy, what a treat. He talked mostly about how important the iPhone and Android are to the future of communications, and I couldn't agree with him more. I especially liked his take on the iPhone really being a mobile PC - the phone is just incidental. I've been of that view from Day 1 and as I don't hear many people talking this way about the iPhone, it was great to hear validation from someone like Mr. Mossberg. Plus, he's an avid Red Sox fan, so he's way up there on my list!



Solutions Showcase, including the 24 Hour Communications Experience. This was a guided tour walking us through how BroadWorks applications can touch our lives at every stage of our waking/working/walking day. I thought it was a great way to make all of this very real for carriers, who I believe need to see this big picture and how they are no longer in the business of just selling phone services.








Thanks, Tom...



Finally - what a great view - wish you were here...





Technorati tags: BroadSoft, Jon Arnold, Connections 2008

September Media Roundup

After a pretty quiet summer work-wise, new projects kept me busy last month, and will keep things going for a while yet. Project work aside, I managed to remain visible with the media, and turned up in a handful of stories.

Iristel's IP Mobility offering

Mitel/InterTel deal revisited

"Bell's Customers Left Wanting For Information"

VoIP market outlook

Note - soft copies available where online versions not accessible.


With conferences gearing up again, that means press releases and launches, and my comments were cited in a few places...

Jazinga's launch

Mobivox's PL launch

XConnect/Acme Packet SPIT solution

U4EA's wireless LAN launch for SMBs


I'm also a contributor to TechTarget.com, and had a few citings in their Ask The Expert column...

Using VoIP for overseas calls

Mobile VoIP on smartphones

Why bother with VoIP?

Using Skype for business


Finally, both of my September Service Provider Views columns on TMCnet were well received, so I know people are reading these things...

Is VoIP Dead?

Making Voice a Killer App




Technorati tags: Service Provider Views, Jon Arnold

BroadSoft Connections 2008 - Day 1

This is my third BroadSoft Connections event, from what I�ve seen during Day 1, it gets better every year. BroadSoft is ten years old, and this is their sixth Connections event (my third, including last year). The events keep getting larger, not just because their customer base keeps growing (and with that, their partner network), but they also have a growing sense of confidence as a market leader.

Ten years is a long time for companies in the IP communications world, and BroadSoft is, of course, way past being a startup. I say that because this has been my world for almost as long, and I�ve seen lots of comparable companies come and go � some very good and some not so good. Industry events too, for that matter � and we can all name most of those.

In my mind, BroadSoft is in unchartered waters, and I�m not sure what this means. Most companies that survive this long have gone public by now � such as Acme Packet, Aastra or AudioCodes � or are on a track to become acquired by a Tier 1 vendor. I don�t see either happening soon for BroadSoft, especially in today�s financial market. They�ve been primed to go public for a while, but I�m not inner circle enough to say any more than that.

So, what�s a company like BroadSoft to do, especially with so few peers in their position? I suppose they could take private equity money like MetaSwitch or become a mid-market consolidator and grow via acquisition. Very few companies have had success with the latter, and I�m not so sure there are that many attractive targets out there aside from niche technologies � where I do think they�ll look, especially to strengthen their BroadWorks platform and Web 2.0 focus.

They are obviously in a strong position market-wise, have a stable core of senior management, and have adopted a leadership role for innovation and moving the market forward. This is not an easy thing to do, but they�re showing the way for how carriers � and their customers � can integrate Web 2.0-style services into their value proposition. To support this, they have really built up and diversified their partner network, and this is a key part of their success. So, for me, it�s not the network stupid, it�s the partner network, stupid. This was a key part of CEO Mike Tessler�s opening comments. The theme of the conference is to �xtend� your network. They talk a lot about the importance of having open networks that can support rich Web 2.0-style applications.

With open networks, you can extend your network and offer a more powerful communications experience for end users. This is certainly the BroadSoft mantra, as they have about 70 partners in the Solutions Showcase. They�ve opened up BroadWorks to a large ecosystem, and that�s helping them drive innovation and separate themselves from the competition by pushing the definition of hosted services beyond plain vanilla IP PBX features.

So, back to the question � how do they grow? Well, nothing wrong with organic growth, right? As Mike Tessler noted, they have over 400 service provider customers now, and are in 61 countries. That�s a pretty good critical mass of international customers, and while many have been Tier 2/3 carriers, they are certainly winning business from larger carriers, and with their Web 2.0 focus, are in a pretty good position to keep this momentum going.

As BroadWorks scales to support more applications and more communications touch points in both our work and home lives, I think they have a good shot at becoming the platform of choice for carriers of all size, especially those that see the value and potential of the �xtend� vision on tap here. There�s also some news coming today about how they�re working with Microsoft that further validates this.

As a sidenote, with so much difficulty in the conference business these days, it�s hard not to see that Connections is rivalling the trade events in size now. There are over 700 attendees here, and Connections is as good as any Tier 1 customer/partner event I�ve been to. They�ve put a lot of thought and money into staging this event, and it�s very slick, right down to the lighting, the music and the opening video which was very Cisco-like in terms of selling a strong vision about the future of communications, and of course how BroadSoft is at the epicenter of innovation for voice and web services.

What I like about Connections so far is that I don�t feel like I�m being sold on this happy vision. Everything about being here feels very real, and that BroadSoft is very much in touch with its customers and partners. More than the technology itself, this is why I think they�ve been successful, and hopefully they won�t mess with that recipe.

On to Day 2 now, and will post about that later, along with some photos.


Technorati tags: BroadSoft, Jon Arnold, Connections 2008

New Article - Social Media in the Enterprise

I'm an occasional contributor to Business Trends Quarterly, and recently wrote an article for them on the impact social media is having in the enterprise. It's a sprawling topic, with no easy answers, and hopefully you'll find my article a good starting point for futher exploration. I'm hoping to continue this theme with BTQ in upcoming issues.

The article has now been posted to their website, and you can read it here. Let me know what you think.

Technorati tags: Business Trends Quarterly, Jon Arnold, social media

Loose Ends - Skype and the Great Firewall of China, VON/Virgo Deal, Oz/Nokia Deal

I don't get paid to blog, so when I'm busy with consulting work, I fall behind on the news. There is always interesting stuff going on, and before the week is out, I wanted to quickly draw attention to three stories of note. These are all of interest to me, but it's way too late to post about them. So, for the laggards out there, here are three items you might want to explore further.

1. Skype - China/censorship/privacy - you get the idea. Wow, this is an interesting - but not altogether unsurprising story. Barely a month after the Beijing Olympics, here we go again, with the dark side of state-run media rearing its ugly head.

You don't have to look far for coverage of this story, or think too hard about how insidious all this is, but it's another reminder of how the Internet is impacting our lives. Ultimately, it may be a borderless technology, but as they say, the "great firewall of China" isn't quite onside yet.

I'd start first with Phil Wolff's posting on Skype Journal, then Om Malik, and I'm sure you'll find many others from there. I should also add this is not a new problem, and Skype is not alone in this morass - other IM platforms have had similar issues. RIM too, by the way.

Aside from the coverage you've already seen on this, I wanted to add some local coverage that I thought was really great. It ran in today's Globe & Mail, and talks about how a lab researcher here at the University of Toronto - Nart Villeneuve - uncovered some online trails that led him to all kinds of censorship and monitoring in China with Skype traffic. It's a great read, and am pretty sure will add valuable first-hand insight for anyone following this story. I should add that local colleague Jim Courtney - a regular Skype Journal contributor - picked up on this today, as have others like Om Malik.

I'll end on that triumphant note, as it's great to see some homegrown investigative work getting to the bottom of a truly international issue.

2. Virgo acquires VON. This is a much smaller scale story, but still of interest to many of us in the space. Several of us got wind of this news at the IT Expo a few weeks back, but it's just becoming official now. Andy Abramson had a good wrap on this the other day, and there's not a whole lot more to say about it right now.

Well, there is, but it's end of the week, and I'm kind of done now. That said, I wanted to at least acknowledge the story because it's evident from my recent conversations that most people don't know this has happened. Now you do.

3. Nokia acquires Oz Communications. Yet an even smaller story, but also of interest to me. Everyone knows Nokia and how they're doing lots of cool things with Ovi and just launched their iPhone killer. But most of you don't know Oz - a bit like saying you don't know Jack.

I've followed them for a while, and it's another great Canadian success story. So, add a notch for our win column, which is a nice way to end the week as the weather gets colder and my Red Sox look to keep winning.




Technorati tags: Skype, Jon Arnold, Nart Villeneuve, VON, Oz Communications

Ooma No Go Booma

Well, this sure was interesting news on a few levels. I'm not going to rehash the history, but I've been following Ooma from the begining, and not long after, Tom Howe got into the mix and made a public wager they would not last a year.

Looks like Ooma has proven him wrong as they just raised $16 million, and not a day too soon with the markets being in meltdown mode now.

This has all unfolded in the past couple of days, and it's just bubbling up on my radar. It's newsworthy - not just because a company that most people I know are highly skeptical of in terms of staying power - but because fellow bloggers Alec Saunders and Tom have responded accordingly to make good on the wager.

And then you just have to wonder how Ooma can keep attracting capital while really cool startups like Iotum and Fonolo struggle to just get a few crumbs. Life doesn't seem fair, does it?

Anyhow, you can read all about it on Tom's post, and it will be one more thing for us to talk about next week at BroadSoft Connections.


Technorati tags: Ooma, Jon Arnold, Thomas Howe