IN THIS ISSUE
Happy New Year eNews readers! Now that the holidays are behind us it's time to rev
up for what will undoubtedly be a successful new year.
2007 has already proven to be a fruitful (and busy!) year here at Metaswitch. We've
learned that we are at the top of the North American softswitch market by
selling the most subscriber licences in Q2/Q3 2006 and are also happy to
announce recent wins in Guam and Canada.
Due to our continuing success we have several notable plans on the horizon. We are
expanding our training capabilities in order to serve the
growing needs of our customers, our in-house professional services team has been
reinforced with new recruits so that they can continue to develop
comprehensive network solutions and our marketing team is also expanding
so that we can continue to frequent the tradeshow circuit and
help our customers develop successful marketing campaigns that highlight the services
offered by their Metaswitch.
Please read on to hear more about our plans for 2007 and as always please don't
hesitate to contact me if you should have any questions or comments about Metaswitch
eNews.
Cory
First Communications of Akron, Ohio contracted Metaswitch Professional Services
to undertake a comprehensive network migration solution from their existing two
Nortel DMS500s and UNE-P customer base to a Metaswitch next-generation network consisting
of a pair of geographically distributed Call Agents and three MG3510 Media Gateways.
The services provided included Network Design, Installation, Commissioning, Migration
Planning, Subscriber Migration Scripts and MOPs, Training and Project Management.
The kick-off meeting in February 2006 made one thing clear; the project was on a
tight schedule in order to cap the legacy costs. However, there were several other
key benefits; it enabled First Communications to collapse both of their DMS500 switches
onto a single next generation softswitch platform, reduced costs for space, power
and maintenance while enabling the capacity for rapid new service delivery and feature
upgrades. This new network architecture enabled First Communications to simultaneously
design and build a VoIP-based college campus solution using a Broadband-over-powerline
infrastructure, all over the same network infrastructure with a significantly reduced
cost compared to TDM networks.
So what did this Metaswitch solution actually entail?
Read more
John Macario
President, Savatar
A few weeks ago my company, Savatar, was hosting a dinner for some of our clients.
We decided that we would like to give our guests a gift with our logo on it to keep
our company at the top of their minds. Our office manager put together some options:
polo shirts, key chains, computer cases - the usual stuff. Despite differences in
quality and pricing for the products and companies we looked at, we found that each
company we contacted had several things in common.
- When we called a company or went to their website to research a product, we were
quickly able to obtain the information needed for evaluation and purchase.
- We were always able to get detailed price quotes that allowed us to understand our
total cost for each product including customization and shipping.
- The pricing we obtained for each product offered a lower per unit cost if we purchased
more of the item.
- Each company we contacted gave us a firm delivery date that would meet our business
need.
In my experience, companies peddling gift items are not the only ones who give this
kind of focused customer attention to the Small and Medium Business (SMB) market.
In the last year our small business bought everything from a terabyte of managed
storage space from EMC to office supplies from our local Staples. In each case,
the vendors we contacted provided service consistent with our gift buying experience.
In fact, over the course of last year there was only one group of companies who
miserably failed to meet our expectations for service to small business: VoIP providers.
Since 2003, Savatar has conducted regular market research studies into the SMB market
for VoIP. As part of that research, we work with an SMB client to help them evaluate
and purchase a new, converged voice and data solution. This gives us a first hand
look at how service providers manage their sales process, price and position their
products, and respond to SMB inquiries. Each time, we are shocked at the difficulty
of the sales process, the lack of focus on VoIP's key economic advantages and the
utter irrationality of the provider's pricing models.
Read more
By Elaine Perez
Marketing Manager
"Communities of Innovation" is the theme for the Metaswitch Forum 2007
- three information-packed days of presentations, discussions and networking.
The fourth and largest-ever Metaswitch Forum will be held at the Hyatt Regency Grand
Cypress in Orlando, Florida, April 18-20, 2007. Attendees will have a great opportunity
to network with their peers and Metaswitch executives as well as gain a wealth of
new information in a variety of sessions.
The Forum will kick-off with the enhanced Metaswitch U, a series of technical classes
taught by the Metaswitch training team. Metaswitch U picks up where our in-house
training leaves off, with classes covering a range of topics from CALEA to Unified
Messaging to VoIP Troubleshooting and more.
In addition to the general sessions such as the CEO Report, the Metaswitch Vision
and the Future of Telecom panel, attendees will also be able to choose from a wide
variety of breakout sessions covering engineering, operations, marketing and business
topics.
This year's roster of speakers includes Metaswitch executives, consulting engineers,
partners, and a variety of leading industry experts including:
- Bill Blessing, Senior Vice President, Embarq
- Gary Kim, Editor-in-Chief, FatPipe and IP Business News
- Rob Rich, Managing Director, Rich Media & Communications Research
- Paul Silverstein, Director, Equity Research, Credit Suisse, USA
- Teresa Mastrangelo, Principal Analyst and Director of Research, Broadband Trends
- Jon Arnold, Principal, J Arnold & Associates
New to the Forum this year is the partner-sponsored Metaswitch Expo. With more than
20 companies exhibiting, attendees will visit booths showcasing a variety of products
and services that interoperate with the Metaswitch, from access gear to IP phones.
In keeping with the Metaswitch tradition, fun is always part of the package! There
will be a poolside welcome reception, a night of dinner and partying at a special
Orlando hotspot, plus a choice of Friday afternoon activities including a round
of golf, riding Harley-Davidson motorcycles, an afternoon at Disney World, or horseback
riding. While our attendees are attending sessions, our spouse program will ensure
that the "better halves" also have a good time.
For more information about the Metaswitch Forum 2007, please contact Elaine Perez
at
or call 510-748-5385.
With Dave Brooks, Technical Instructor / Developer
The start of the New Year brings with it more Metaswitch features, more services,
and a continued focus on end-to-end next generation solutions. Through the fervor
of it all, we've managed to corner the Training team for a moment to answer some
common questions and give us an idea of what to expect in the year to come.
Question: I've noticed over the past several months that the Training team
has been very busy. Do you see this changing in 2007?
Answer: Definitely not! We have been successful as a company expanding our
customer base and the outlook is good. The complexity of our customers' networks
also continues to evolve to offer more and increasingly complex services to a wider
audience in less time. All this is to say that the demand for good skills-based
training will not likely diminish anytime soon!
Question: If that's the case, what is Metaswitch Training doing to meet that
demand?
Answer: We are aggressively pursuing a couple of avenues to make training
more readily available for our customers. We will of course, continue to offer courses
at our training center in Alameda, CA. Starting in April, we will also be delivering
regular training at a new venue just outside Boston, MA. By mid-year, we plan to
have a third location in the Boca Raton, FL area.
We will also continue to offer regional classes at locations such as Des Moines,
Iowa, our office in Reston, VA, and others, should we have the opportunity to do
so.
We are also adding additional Instructors to our Training team. In addition to John
Nevius, our Alameda-based Instructor, I have recently joined the team. I am based
out of Boston and am a long-time training professional. A third Instructor will
be joining us in the very near future. We continually monitor demand and "mean
time to get trained" and will recruit additional talent as needed.
By growing the team and adding more venues from which we can offer training, it
will be much easier in 2007 for our customers to get the training they need when
they need it.
Read more
Metaswitch Takes The Top Spot In North American Class 5 Softswitch Market By Selling
More Than 2.5 Million Subscriber Licenses In The Second And Third Quarter Of 2006
As the telecom industry looks forward to key trends for the coming year, one consistent
message from analysts is that carriers are migrating to Voice over IP faster than
ever, with the focus shifting from long distance (Class 4) applications to local
exchange (Class 5) services. According to a recent report from leading industry
analyst firm Infonetics Research, Metaswitch has emerged as the leading vendor in
the Class 5 softswitch category for North America, based on the number of subscriber
licenses sold - and is positioned for significant expansion into new markets during
2007.
Read more
Télébec and Metaswitch have joined forces to bring digital telephony
to Télébec's customers. This strategic multi-year partnership centers
around infrastructure deployment enabling the launch of new services based on Télébec's
IMS (IP Multimedia Subsystem) architecture.
"Télébec is committed to delivering highly innovative IP-based
services to our business and residential customers," said Sylvie Couture, Télébec's
chief technology officer. "MetaSwitch is at the heart of this transition of
our business. Thanks to their core technologies and deployment experience, we will
have the service options and flexibility we need to build customer loyalty and stay
ahead of potential competitors."
In addition to being the lead equipment provider, Metaswitch is providing a wide
range of professional services including systems integration and project management.
"Télébec's move to offer an innovative suite of IP services comes
at the right time as the market for advanced VoIP and other IP services heats up
in Canada," said Jon Arnold, an independent analyst and president of Toronto-based
J. Arnold and Associates. "MetaSwitch clearly understand how to help innovative
carriers successfully transition to an IP infrastructure and this partnership with
Télébec underscores their emergence as a Tier 1 vendor in the softswitch
and IMS space."
Read more
IT&E, an innovative wireless and internet service provider serving Guam and
the Northern Mariana Islands in the Pacific is deploying Metaswitch's advanced hosted
PBX services to grow and sustain its customer base.
The 27-year-old carrier serving the 210-square mile U.S. territory in the Marianas
island chain had several goals when it installed Metaswitch technology. The company
was seeking to build on its history as a successful provider of long distance, PCS
wireless and internet service by becoming a CLEC and offering advanced IP-based
services such as wireless Internet and unified communications to its residential
and business customers.
"IT&E is thinking beyond the traditional role of a telephone provider,"
said Andrew Randall, vice president of marketing at Metaswitch. "To meet the
expectations for next generation services in its market, IT&E is investing in
robust, flexible solutions from Metaswitch which enables it to differentiate by
delivering enhanced services such as fiber to the home, hosted PBX and fixed/mobile
convergence."
"The largest element in the economy of Guam is the tourist industry and most
of our visitors come from Japan, which is probably the most advanced country in
the world in terms of wireless technology and advanced telecommunications services,"
said IT&E President John Borlas. "We have targeted the needs of our tourist
hotels in this fiercely-competitive market and the Metaswitch technology gives us
the ability to roll out these services."
With its investment in the Metaswitch solution and the resulting new services, IT&E
intends to offer the broadest set of services of any carrier in Guam.
Read more
Technology Challenges For Next Generation CLECs
In an interview with PodTech.net at the World Center Marriott in Orlando, Florida,
Metaswitch's Chris Mairs, CTO, Carrier Division, and Andy Randall, vice president,
marketing, Carrier Division, discuss the partnership between Cisco and Metaswitch,
the definition of service in next generation networks, and the challenges CLECs
face in the 21st century IT climate.
A striking example of why incumbents need to offer state-of-the-art services to
their customers:
According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, about one in eight households
did not have a landline telephone in the first half of 2006. It was one in 20 just
three years ago.