I had to smile when I saw this post from Andy Abramson this morning.
The topic was about Yankee Group laying off 20 analysts, which is not a good news story, but Andy captured the essence of what it really means. I wasn't aware of the news as I don't have that much day-to-day contact with the U.S. analyst community. For the most part, indies like me are invisible to these firms, but at times like this, I'm happy to be in my shoes rather than theirs.
As Andy notes, the economics of traditional analyst firms are becoming undone by the very technology they make their money analyzing - in much the same way as traditional media such as newspapers. It's becoming increasingly difficult to place a value on information, especially when it has a shelf life of about a day, and I don't how you can make money these days purely being in the information business.
The real money is made turning that information into knowledege and insight, and that's what analysts get well-paid to do. However, the business model around selling big, printed reports that take 6 months to produce has become outmoded, and as the value of information shifts to how up-to-the-minute it is - as opposed to being more strategic and reflective, i.e. less time-sensitive - analysts are becoming expensive overhead rather than revenue generators and value creators.
In short, some of the most useful information/knowledge/insight comes for free and comes from blogs. Even though analyst firms have embraced blogs, you still have to sell something at the end of the day. It's a challenge we all face, but these tools allow indies like me to compete successfully against these big firms.
So, thanks very much Andy, for connecting the dots and turning a blip of a story about Yankee into a more interesting Web 2.0-style piece about analysts. Yup, I agree, he's talking about Analyst 2.0, and I'm very glad to see Andy include me in his list of indies at the vanguard who are personfying this new breed. And to return the favor, I will unabashedly say that Andy's agency, Comunicano (that's 1 "m" folks, not 2) is truly PR 2.0, and is great model for that space to be following.
Signing off for now - happy Labor/Labour Day!
Am tempted to post about Obamania after last night - too busy for now. Any good blogs/posts about this out there?
Technorati tags: Yankee Group, Andy Abramson, Jon Arnold, industry analyst
Friday, August 29, 2008
Thursday, August 28, 2008
BroadSoft Acquires VocalData
Interesting story from yesterday about BroadSoft acquiring what used to be known as VocalData. It's not huge news and hasn't received much attention, but for people like me who have followed these companies pretty much from the beginning, we notice.
You can tell I'm old school because I talk about VocalData. The more current explanation - which you can see in the press release - is that BroadSoft acquired "GENBAND's M6 Communication Applications Server" - formerly known as VocalData.
Genband - formerly General Bandwidth - is a story unto itself with a history of acquiring and divesting, and VocalData came along with their last big deal. I've never been able to figure out how all their moves really add up - and I'm not alone - but it's pretty clear they're steering now more towards the media gateway space and away from the applications space. Fair enough - it's very hard to be really good at both.
I haven't heard anything yet about how much the deal was worth, but I honestly can't imagine it was a lot, and very likely under $10 million. The important thing is that BroadSoft is consolidating what little is left among pureplay application server vendors. There was a time when the U.S. market had 3 major players - BroadSoft, Sylantro and VocalData, and I tracked them all when I covered this space at Frost & Sullivan. I always liked VocalData, but they couldn't keep pace, and in time, this became a two horse race.
I've long been friendly with both Sylantro and BroadSoft - and have attended their customer events - but most people would tell you that BroadSoft is the stronger player these days, and continues to innovate on many fronts. Adding VocalData pushes up their revenues and customer base - which the press release says now stands at 435. That's a pretty nice book of business, and I have a pretty good feeling that you'll be hearing about bigger and better deals from them before the year is out.
Before moving on, I should clarify that BroadSoft may be the #1 app server vendor for North America, but globally, Comverse/NetCentrex is bigger, mainly by virtue of some very large residential VoIP deployments in Europe.
Technorati tags: BroadSoft, Genband, Jon Arnold, VocalData, application servers
You can tell I'm old school because I talk about VocalData. The more current explanation - which you can see in the press release - is that BroadSoft acquired "GENBAND's M6 Communication Applications Server" - formerly known as VocalData.
Genband - formerly General Bandwidth - is a story unto itself with a history of acquiring and divesting, and VocalData came along with their last big deal. I've never been able to figure out how all their moves really add up - and I'm not alone - but it's pretty clear they're steering now more towards the media gateway space and away from the applications space. Fair enough - it's very hard to be really good at both.
I haven't heard anything yet about how much the deal was worth, but I honestly can't imagine it was a lot, and very likely under $10 million. The important thing is that BroadSoft is consolidating what little is left among pureplay application server vendors. There was a time when the U.S. market had 3 major players - BroadSoft, Sylantro and VocalData, and I tracked them all when I covered this space at Frost & Sullivan. I always liked VocalData, but they couldn't keep pace, and in time, this became a two horse race.
I've long been friendly with both Sylantro and BroadSoft - and have attended their customer events - but most people would tell you that BroadSoft is the stronger player these days, and continues to innovate on many fronts. Adding VocalData pushes up their revenues and customer base - which the press release says now stands at 435. That's a pretty nice book of business, and I have a pretty good feeling that you'll be hearing about bigger and better deals from them before the year is out.
Before moving on, I should clarify that BroadSoft may be the #1 app server vendor for North America, but globally, Comverse/NetCentrex is bigger, mainly by virtue of some very large residential VoIP deployments in Europe.
Technorati tags: BroadSoft, Genband, Jon Arnold, VocalData, application servers
Mobile Roundup Squawk Box Podcast
Just a quick note to say Alec Saunders has now posted the podcast of yesterday's Squawk Box session.
We had a mobile roundup session, and I was able to log in and participate. Mobile VoIP has been a hot topic lately - and I've been posting about it - so it was a lively forum for everyone to weigh in on.
So, if you're following things like mobile VoIP, the iPhone, Android, smartphones in general, and the latest N Series phones from Nokia - and want to hear what a lot of smart, connected people are thinking, the podcast will be worth a listen. It's about an hour long, though, and you can download it from the link on Alec's post - here.
Technorati tags: mobile VoIP, Alec Saunders, Jon Arnold, Squawk Box, Calliflower
We had a mobile roundup session, and I was able to log in and participate. Mobile VoIP has been a hot topic lately - and I've been posting about it - so it was a lively forum for everyone to weigh in on.
So, if you're following things like mobile VoIP, the iPhone, Android, smartphones in general, and the latest N Series phones from Nokia - and want to hear what a lot of smart, connected people are thinking, the podcast will be worth a listen. It's about an hour long, though, and you can download it from the link on Alec's post - here.
Technorati tags: mobile VoIP, Alec Saunders, Jon Arnold, Squawk Box, Calliflower
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Service Provider Views - Ribbit's Deal with BT
For my latest Service Provider Views column, I've continued the theme of platform plays from the last column - this time focusing totally on Ribbit.
The $105 million price tag paid by British Telecom raises all kinds of questions about the deal and what it means for Voice 2.0 in general. It's a great story, and I've tried to shed more light on it in this column. Last week I interviewed Ribbit's founders - Ted Griggs and Crick Waters, and from that I've written my column.
Basically, I've concluded that BT paid good money for Ribbit. It's a huge exit for Ribbit, but really not such a big deal for BT. In terms of valuation, it's very tricky to say whether overpaid or not. On paper, sure there's little in the way of revenues or customers, and developers can be a very fleeting "asset". This deal is all about promise and potential, and you'll just have to read the piece to see what this means to me.
Hope you like it, and I'd love to hear your take on this.
Technorati tags: Service Provider Views, Jon Arnold, J Arnold & Associates, TMCnet, British Telecom, Ribbit
The $105 million price tag paid by British Telecom raises all kinds of questions about the deal and what it means for Voice 2.0 in general. It's a great story, and I've tried to shed more light on it in this column. Last week I interviewed Ribbit's founders - Ted Griggs and Crick Waters, and from that I've written my column.
Basically, I've concluded that BT paid good money for Ribbit. It's a huge exit for Ribbit, but really not such a big deal for BT. In terms of valuation, it's very tricky to say whether overpaid or not. On paper, sure there's little in the way of revenues or customers, and developers can be a very fleeting "asset". This deal is all about promise and potential, and you'll just have to read the piece to see what this means to me.
Hope you like it, and I'd love to hear your take on this.
Technorati tags: Service Provider Views, Jon Arnold, J Arnold & Associates, TMCnet, British Telecom, Ribbit
Can Bell Canada Stay Competitive? Alec Says No.
Colleague Alec Saunders had an action-speaks-louder-than-words post yesterday that read my mind perfectly.
I had exactly the same reaction as Alec after reading Bell Canada's current position on infrastructure spending in the Globe & Mail.
Basically, the storyline is that Bell does not plan to pursue a FTTH - fiber to the home - strategy to deliver the high end speeds to stay on par or get ahead of the cablecos. They're taking the prudent approach in balancing the Capex required to upgrade their networks versus the fiscal realities that privatization is about to impose on them. It really is a rock and a hard place scenario, and Bell ultimately seems to be playing it safe.
Too safe for Alec's liking - mine too. So much so for Alec that his post was a public declaration that Bell will not be able to meet his needs, and he's making the switch from DSL to cable. I just had to share this with you as I think Alec speaks to an issue that may come to haunt Bell.
Their rationale is that Bell's plans for DSL and fiber will provide sufficient speeds - up to 10 Mbps - for what the market needs. Hmm. That may hold for the general population, but a few years from now, that number is going to sound like it's from a bygone era. Maybe this means that IPTV is not in their plans now and that they'll rely more on Expressvu for video. Or maybe they're going to surprise us or change their plans as market conditions dictate, but for now, this doesn't sound like the way to go for a company that more than ever needs to be on the leading edge.
Technorati tags: Bell Canada, Alec Saunders, Jon Arnold, DSL
I had exactly the same reaction as Alec after reading Bell Canada's current position on infrastructure spending in the Globe & Mail.
Basically, the storyline is that Bell does not plan to pursue a FTTH - fiber to the home - strategy to deliver the high end speeds to stay on par or get ahead of the cablecos. They're taking the prudent approach in balancing the Capex required to upgrade their networks versus the fiscal realities that privatization is about to impose on them. It really is a rock and a hard place scenario, and Bell ultimately seems to be playing it safe.
Too safe for Alec's liking - mine too. So much so for Alec that his post was a public declaration that Bell will not be able to meet his needs, and he's making the switch from DSL to cable. I just had to share this with you as I think Alec speaks to an issue that may come to haunt Bell.
Their rationale is that Bell's plans for DSL and fiber will provide sufficient speeds - up to 10 Mbps - for what the market needs. Hmm. That may hold for the general population, but a few years from now, that number is going to sound like it's from a bygone era. Maybe this means that IPTV is not in their plans now and that they'll rely more on Expressvu for video. Or maybe they're going to surprise us or change their plans as market conditions dictate, but for now, this doesn't sound like the way to go for a company that more than ever needs to be on the leading edge.
Technorati tags: Bell Canada, Alec Saunders, Jon Arnold, DSL
Inc Magazine - Top 5000 List/VoIP Companies
Colleague Garrett Smith had a post on Monday that I just saw and wanted to echo in case you missed it.
He cited Inc Magazine's current list of fastest growing companies. It covers the top 5000 in the U.S., which is a huge list, and it's something Garrett has been following for a while. His post cites the rising stars in the VoIP space, and it's worth reading to see where they stand in the rankings.
Of the top 10 in his list, I really only know 2 reasonably well - his own company, VoIP Supply, and Bandwidth.com. He also noted some familiar honorable mentions - M5, Grandstream and VoIP Logic.
I did an additional filter of my own, just on telecom companies, and have one more to add of note that has a strong VoIP focus - Genband.
I'm not familiar with many of the other companies here, so I could well be missing a few, but these are the ones that fall into my everyday purview. No doubt you'll find others of note if you care to wade through the lists.
Garrett has done most of the heavy lifting, though, and I trust his judgment enough to say this is a pretty good barometer of who's doing well in our space, at least in terms of what the mainstream business press is looking for.
If you want pick through the lists and shout out a few others we should know about, by all means, join the conversation.
Technorati tags: Inc Magazine, Garrett Smith, Jon Arnold, VoIP
He cited Inc Magazine's current list of fastest growing companies. It covers the top 5000 in the U.S., which is a huge list, and it's something Garrett has been following for a while. His post cites the rising stars in the VoIP space, and it's worth reading to see where they stand in the rankings.
Of the top 10 in his list, I really only know 2 reasonably well - his own company, VoIP Supply, and Bandwidth.com. He also noted some familiar honorable mentions - M5, Grandstream and VoIP Logic.
I did an additional filter of my own, just on telecom companies, and have one more to add of note that has a strong VoIP focus - Genband.
I'm not familiar with many of the other companies here, so I could well be missing a few, but these are the ones that fall into my everyday purview. No doubt you'll find others of note if you care to wade through the lists.
Garrett has done most of the heavy lifting, though, and I trust his judgment enough to say this is a pretty good barometer of who's doing well in our space, at least in terms of what the mainstream business press is looking for.
If you want pick through the lists and shout out a few others we should know about, by all means, join the conversation.
Technorati tags: Inc Magazine, Garrett Smith, Jon Arnold, VoIP
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Mobile VoIP - Update
Looks like I posted a touch too early on this topic yesterday.
Olga's Business Week article was posted right after midnight, and if I'd waited a bit longer I would have had all this in one post today.
Anyhow, she covers the ground nicely and talks about a new one I hadn't come across yet - Gorilla Mobile. My comments didn't make their way into the article, but most of what's there is familiar to what we talked about on Friday.
If you're interested in this topic, the BW article links to a post from yesterday by Dean Foust about making VoIP calls while flying. This is an important sub-story to the overall mobile VoIP theme and Dean cites Andy's post that I referenced yesterday. It's great to see Andy's stuff getting this kind of coverage, but I don't like seeing him simply being referred to as "a poster". Hopefully next time around Dean will have a better handle to use for Andy. :-)
Technorati tags: mobile VoIP, Business Week, Jon Arnold, Andy Abramson
Olga's Business Week article was posted right after midnight, and if I'd waited a bit longer I would have had all this in one post today.
Anyhow, she covers the ground nicely and talks about a new one I hadn't come across yet - Gorilla Mobile. My comments didn't make their way into the article, but most of what's there is familiar to what we talked about on Friday.
If you're interested in this topic, the BW article links to a post from yesterday by Dean Foust about making VoIP calls while flying. This is an important sub-story to the overall mobile VoIP theme and Dean cites Andy's post that I referenced yesterday. It's great to see Andy's stuff getting this kind of coverage, but I don't like seeing him simply being referred to as "a poster". Hopefully next time around Dean will have a better handle to use for Andy. :-)
Technorati tags: mobile VoIP, Business Week, Jon Arnold, Andy Abramson
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
RSS Feed
