Verizon to Go All VoIP

Call it a seven year itch, or call it concession, but the company that tried to bring you VoiceWing is going to be all VoIP by 2016 . At least that's the promise from the current Chief Marketing Officer at Verizon, John Stratton. We all know they are rolling out FiOS with VoIP as fast as they can, but the idea of being all VoIP has to have Commissioner Martin wondering how to say he caused that one. Verizon has been the most concentrated territories of the three major USA Bells, and also the luxury of the MCI acquisition to have one of the netter IP infrastructures. They also have a huge international data and VoIP business and of course their half interest in Verizon Wireless which is also seeming to open up the flood gates for data plays of late in a way we haven't seen. This means that developers and system integrators now have a target to rach out towards. For VoIP 2.0 companies like ifByPhone, Voxeo, Mobivox and Jaduka this means more opportunity as an all IP Verizon means more need to sell more new to keep their numbers up. IP costs less (or should) so to keep those earnings up the idea of apps and platform integration means more moolah........ch-ching.

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The Death of Trade Shows and Conferences is Wildly Overstated

I'm tired when people say things like "I'm not going to this conference or that trade show because it's going to suck." Another person said "well I only go to meet with CEO's and they're not going to be there..." when asked if he was going to CES or MacWorld. Get over it. I was at both CES and MacWorld and walked away exhausted, as my clients kept me so busy I didn't have time to even see much of what was on the floors. Sure I did a walk by at both, but the action in our client's booths was what I expected. Steady and the right people. At media events like ShowStoppers and Lunch @ Pieros the press, bloggers and analysts kept everyone on their toes until the events ended. Other sideline events did well too, though I question how many of them we really need. In the end, business happened at the events. Media were briefed, and bloggers got to tell what's new to those that didn't attend. My guess is blog traffic was way up this year due to the "stay behind" crowd. Going in, I was a bit skeptical, I'll admit. But I went to support the industry and I'm glad I did.

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