What on earth is social networking, and should you care ?

Why should you care ? Because your customers do.

Do you know what social networking is ?

If not, then why don’t you come join Avaya for this FREE social networking workshop being hosted on October 20th AM (time to be announced) at Seneca College.

This workshop will provide small businesses with the knowledge and practical skills required to excel in the social networking world. The session is a three hour crash course in social networking tools and application, and attendees will be led through an effective and efficient process for activating a social networking strategy for their small business. The seminar will be hosted by Richard Brasser, an acclaimed speaker, author and leading expert in social media and on-line marketing.

Each attendee will participate in a fast paced, hands-on workshop that takes them from start to finish in the use of LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter, the three mediums that are regarded as the most effective for business to business networking. Strategies and tactics are highly focused on ways to use social networking to drive measurable impact on sales, marketing and communications in small to medium businesses.

The series of social networking exercises are designed to help small and medium businesses effectively use the best tools to grow and increase communication with their target customers. Each exercise includes an overview of the approach, the opportunity, tips for getting started, examples of best practices and relevant case studies. These exercises help take the mystery out of social media and networking and also spark conversation and idea sharing.

Interested ? Your competitors are ! Space is limited, and will be done on a first sign-up, first serve basis.

Send an email to sales@digitcom.ca. Include your name, company name, and phone number in your email and someone from Avaya will be in touch with more details.

Cisco acquires Tandberg for $3 Billion

Cisco announced earlier this week that they acquired Tandberg for $3 Billion. Tandberg is a world wide leader in video conference equipment, and puts Cisco into a very dominant position in this market.

Cisco’s acquision gives them a bigger install base for their Telepresence product including a whole new line-up in the lower end of the market. This now also puts them in an excellent competitive position against Polycom, the other dominant market player in the video / voice market.

BTW – Polycom is now an excellent market play. I’m wondering who might decide to pick-up Polycom and gain a very quick foot hold in the voice / video market to better compete in the converged world. HP perhaps ? Silver Lakes, one of the private investors that owns Avaya ? Microsoft ?

On another note, I find it rather interesting that Cisco overpaid for Tandberg, although couldn’t see any value in acquiring the Enterprise division of Nortel which was acquired a few weeks ago by Avaya for $900 Million. A Cisco / Nortel marriage would have created a Telecom powerhouse. True, there’s a lot of product overlap, and as I speculated a few weeks ago, Cisco decided to let Avaya take control over Nortel and wait for Avaya to mess it up. That’s the only reason I can think of for them not being at the Nortel bargaining table.

Written by: Jeff Wiener. www.digitcom.ca. Follow TheTelecomBlog.com by: RSS, Twitter, Identi.ca, or Friendfeed

TheTelecomBlog.com is looking for feedback

I started this blog about 3 months ago, initially with the intention of keeping Digitcom’s customers up to date with product notices, updates, features, and releases. I wrote a few posts on the Avaya IP Office and Cisco’s UCME (Unified Communications Manager Express) products, and quickly graduated to more Telecom related news, initially centered around Nortel, and then gradually Telecom and VoIP in general. Although I still cover, and have an active interest in the Nortel saga, my general interest in that particular subject matter has waned a bit as the company winds down operations.

I have a passion for Telecom 2.0, and have written extensively about the next generation of where the market is headed. I enjoy reading and writing about the Canadian cellular market, and generally give Bell, Telus, and Rogers a hard time. I’m a champion of the underdog, and want to see the new carriers take a bite out of the incumbents market share (I am writing this post while waiting on hold for a Rogers technical support rep – our home internet connection is down and I have been on hold for almost 20 minutes).

I have never lacked content – the Telecom market is filled with amazing news. Google Android, RIM, Apple’s iPhone, Cisco, NEC, Mitel, ShoreTel, Avaya, and yes, of course, Nortel ! Many people ask how I find the time to write Telecom blog posts on a daily basis. It’s a hobby, not a job. Jason Finnerty also writes two blog posts per week. I should add that if I were keeping this blog as a profit venture I would be out of a job, and certainly wouldn’t feed the family. The only means of profit comes from those small little Google ads that you see at the right hand corner of the screen, and the last I checked I think there’s enough in the account to purchase a birthday cake for my daughter’s upcoming birthday party (she wants a white, rectangular, with purple swirls around the side b-day cake).

I have met and had conversations with some very dynamic and interesting people as a result of them finding me through this blog. I have been apprised on numerous occasions of some very confidential non disclosure “say nothing to nobody” kind of news, and have heard from some “industry insiders” with regards to stuff I definitely shouldn’t be told. That has certainly been a positive unexpected end result. I have bumped into, and have been approached by quite a few people that have introduced themselves and expressed how much they like reading these posts. That’s certainly encouraging as I sometimes wonder whether I’m writing into a vacuum !

Why am I writing this ?

Well, I know I’m not writing into a vacuum based on the positive trajectory of the Google Analytics for this blog – the stats are growing. BUT, I’m looking for some feedback. Probably not posted as comments (although you can if you wish), but, instead feedback through a personal email (which you can send to jw@digitcom.ca). I’m now in the process of doing a minor re-design of the web site itself, and am working on the scope of content moving forward.

Am I headed in the right direction ?

What would you like to read more of ?

What would you like me to cover – more news ? more technical, cellular ?? I’m looking for some feedback people – so, please drop me a personal email with your thoughts.

More: As an aside, I am still on hold waiting for a Rogers technical support rep. Their service stinks – it’s been 40 minutes and holding.

Looking forward to your feedback.

Written by: Jeff Wiener. www.digitcom.ca. Follow TheTelecomBlog.com by: RSS, Twitter, Identi.ca, or Friendfeed

The sad life of an old Nortel phone system

They are brought into our office and thrown onto the floor like garbage. Our technicians certainly don’t have the time to sort through, label, and re-package the old Nortel phones, so, they pile them up, stuff all of them into big boxes, and bring them back to the office. Many times they leave the common equipment (phone system cabinet, and voice mail system) at the customer’s office for them to dispose. Unfortunately, the old Nortel Meridian phone isn’t given the respect it deserves.

What respect is it due ?

20 years of solid, hard work, thousands of hours of phone calls, a slightly cracked display, a reliable voice mail light that still works, and – it now finds itself stacked like garbage waiting to find a new home (don’t worry, we don’t throw them in the garbage). More on that in a moment.

But, I am having fun reminiscing in the mean time.

I started in the Telecom business in 1990. 19 years ago. Way before I got married, and way way before I had my first kid (Jordan, who is now 11, Jessica who is now 9). At the time the Norstar was THE phone system in the market. Nortel had the number one market share in the phone system business with their Meridian Norstar and Option 11 (and previously SL-1) phone system. They maintained that number ONE market position for many years.

And quite the fall from glory.

One of the folks in my office pointed out the irony of the picture. The old garbage Nortel phone is sitting in an Avaya box (take a close look at the picture) – looks like the Nortel phone has been taken over by the box.

And where do we send those old Nortel phones ?

Avaya gives us some amazing credits for the old Nortel hardware. We pack it up, call Fedex, and say good-bye to our old faithful friend who finds it’s way to an e-waste processing plant.

Written by: Jeff Wiener. www.digitcom.ca. Follow TheTelecomBlog.com by: RSS, Twitter, Identi.ca, or Friendfeed

Avaya is giving away FREE Avaya IP Office phone systems

Well sort of ! Don’t get too excited just yet. But, read on …

This fall, Avaya will be visiting 20 small businesses—organizations with 10 to 50 employees—and giving them FREE communications makeovers. They will help design and install solutions specially tailored to each company’s specific needs. Actually, the installation, if the winner happens to be in a city serviced by Digitcom.ca, might be done by one of our own technicians.

How it works:
It’s simple: You will need to explain the “disconnects” (no pun intended of course) that are hurting your business, and if you win, Avaya will help you fix them (by donating a FREE Avaya IP Office phone system).

The disconnect could be technical—like an outdated phone system, or a patched-together “system” that’s unreliable. Or it could be a human problem—like frustrated customers or a key employee who no one can get a hold of. Or it could be a combination of both.

Whatever the problem is, you will need to explain this in a short video or written essay. You can be funny. You can be serious. You can be desperate. But however you do it, be sure to submit it by October 15, 2009.

Interested in finding out more – check this out …

Interested in speaking with Digitcom.ca about a new phone system (that’s not FREE) – then visit our web site or give us a call – 866-667-8357

P.S. I have been in the Telecom business for 20 years. I’ve seen some real horror stories out there, so if you are looking for some good ideas then give me a shout !!

Written by: Jeff Wiener. www.digitcom.ca. Follow TheTelecomBlog.com by: RSS, Twitter, Identi.ca, or Friendfeed

Twitter: Tweet to Talk – Telecom 2.0 here we come ! Introducing JaJah@call

Now here’s a neat technology.

A couple of weeks ago I wrote a post about Telecom 2.0. I also wrote a post about my “ah-ha” moment with Twitter. I called it – Twitter – the light bulb moment. Over the last couple of weeks I started using Twitter more often (and my wife is now calling me a Twit). I won’t tell you what I have started calling her !!

Now, let’s combine Telecom 2.0 and Twitter. What do you get ?

First, let me recap my Twitter post from a couple of weeks ago: (and I quote from that post):

Just as Google has stretched their dominance into so many different elements of the web, Twitter has the same potential to be a technology game changer. The chatter that happens on Twitter is text driven, but, it could be voice, video, or any other form of multi-media driven.

And then, from a customer service perspective, there are so many touch points that hit a service based organization. Phone, email, fax, and new media (like Twitter). Integrating Twitter and other forms of social media into an organization’s operations. For example, someone needing live help could activate a real time command and voice or text into a service organizations help desk.

I was really just speculating, but, expected that in the not to distant future we would see some form of “Tweet to Talk” app get developed for Twitter.

I also did a post on Telecom 2.0 and mentioned the following:

What does Telecom 2.0 look like ?

Speaking along the lines of paradigm shift, the next generation of phone systems will be a highly intelligent server, much as they are now. The talk/communicate medium will not necessarily be the bulky phone on your desk, but rather a variety of end point devices.

Skype, Google, Facebook, Twitter, iPhone, Blackberry – these all-in-one appliances will be the talk/communicate path, and the server at the back end will bridge these technologies together. And with the recent news of Silver Lakes (Avaya’s parent company) being part of an investment group buying a 65% stake in Skype, it will now bring together the old and newer emerging technologies.

OK. Enough of the background – I have set the stage for a new app from a company called Jajah@call. I have pulled this description from their web site:

JAJAH gives short messages a voice. With the new JAJAH application, Twitter users can make free phone calls on their favorite microblogging service. Now in Beta, JAJAH@Call allows you to make a free two minute call (the verbal equivalent of a tweet) to other JAJAH@Call users. It’s free, it’s easy and works no matter how you use Twitter, whether it’s on your cellphone, via Seesmic, TweetDeck, or any other way.

TELECOM 2.0. This is what it’s all about.

Written by: Jeff Wiener. www.digitcom.ca. Follow TheTelecomBlog.com by: RSS, Twitter, Identi.ca, or Friendfeed

Time is not on Nortel’s side: An appeal to the US, EU, and Cdn Govt’s to expedite the process

The future of Nortel is now in the hands of the Canadian and EU governments, as well as the US Department of Justice.

The objections from Verizon have been rejected, but the fate of Nortel is still in limbo waiting for regulatory approval, and it’s important for the regulators to realize that the waiting will only hurt the sale process. If any individuals reading this blog have a say in the regulatory process, please step in now to help ensure the sale of this potentially diminishing asset.

The DoJ needs to determine how to measure the marketing power that this integration creates. If they look at the whole North American market, including small and mid-sized products, the impact isn’t as severe. But if you “slice and dice” (a term used by Gruia) up the market into the various segments, and examine it on a product-by-product basis, Avaya, Nortel, and Cisco are clearly the dominant players in the large enterprise arena. And with the Avaya/Nortel combination resulting in over 42% of the contact centre product’s market, dangerously close to the key threshold level of 43%, some analysts feel that the antitrust regulators will require Avaya to sell off assets to gain approval.

“The key issue is the DoJ rubber stamp,” according to Ronald Gruia (analyst for Frost & Sullivan). And the longer it takes to get the approval, the bigger the chance there is that the existing Nortel customers will seek other vendors through RFP’s. Gruia explains that Avaya can walk away from the entire deal if they don’t meet the regulatory requirements.

“The more pain for the customers the more likely it is they will take it to an RFP” said Gruia.

This issue could prove problematic moving forward. The channel, customers, employees need some certainty with regards to direction, and the “dark cloud” hanging over the deal’s head and uncertainty it brings will make it difficult for Nortel to continue the sales momentum moving forward. It looks like Nortel’s asset will rapidly decline in the next 6 months as their current customer base erodes and the dealer channel awaits a final seal of approval.

Avaya has set aside US$15 million for employee retention, which should provide some comfort to the 3100+ employees that are waiting for the sale to go through, but neither Avaya nor Nortel have released how many of the jobs will be kept after the sale. But if the sale doesn’t go through soon, or if the regulations are too prohibitive, Avaya will win, and Canada loses.

Some good news, the Canadian government has declared that they will not be blocking the sale of Nortel’s wireless division to LM Ericsson of Sweden, claiming that the agreement will be beneficial to Canada. Since the Liberal government has announced that they have the same position on the Avaya deal as they did on the Ericsson acquisition, another roadblock might be soon removed.

The US and Canadian governments have approved the bankruptcy sale, but there are still a lot of “If’s” in this development: If Avaya is forced to sell off the Nortel Symposium products, and If the DoJ looks at the market in individual segments, and If the Canadian government decides to block the sale – but It’s hard to say what will happen because no one really knows. And the waiting game will only make it more difficult.

The combination of an indecisive Canadian government and an unrealistic, overly protective American government might delay this process unnecessarily. So, hurry up the process and get this approved !

More:

Written by: Jason Finnerty. www.digitcom.ca. Follow TheTelecomBlog.com by: RSS, Twitter, Identi.ca, or Friendfeed

Avaya wins Nortel’s Enterprise business for $900 Million

I did this post as a guest post for AllAboutNortel.com and am cross posting this on TheTelecomBlog.com.

It’s been a long downhill battle for the last many years. Nortel has been languishing in the business sector, their prized business hampered by years of poor management and financial crisis. It’s a rather unfortunate end for Nortel, the staff, customers, dealers, and the Telecom market in general.

But, every cloud has a silver lining.

The Silver Lining: Every industry needs healthy competition, and Nortel brought that in spades for many years. Healthy competition spurs innovation, lower prices, and a spirit to win. At this point Avaya’s purchasing Nortel is a reflection of the consolidation happening in the marketplace, making way for Telecom 2.0 and the changes to come. On one side, competition is healthy, and one the other, so is consolidation; It will make way for stronger players in the CPE space. That’s the silver lining.

Nortel was a Canadian Telecom institution. Actually, Nortel was a Telecom powerhouse. And there isn’t much more Nortel left to go around, especially with today’s announcement that Nortel’s Enterprise business unit has been sold to Avaya for US$900 million in cash, with an additional pool of US$15 million reserved for an employee retention program.

The Nortel business units left are Metro Ethernet Networks (MEN), the carrier business (including VoIP), the stake in the Nortel-LG joint venture, and the LTE patents, which weren’t part of the Ericsson deal.

Some of the main highlights of this deal include:
– Nortel will sell the assets of the Enterprise Solutions Business, and shares of Nortel Government Solutions and DiamondWare to Avaya
– Avaya to Pay US$900 Million in Cash to Nortel, with an Additional Pool of US$15 Million Reserved for an Employee Retention Program
– Canadian and U.S. Court Approvals of Sale will be Sought at a Joint Hearing on September 15

It’s hard not to be somewhat nostalgic about the sale of the Enterprise division, especially given it’s business history. Nortel’s origins date back to 1882 as a manufacturing arm for the Bell Telephone Company of Canada, and they were incorporated as a separate company in 1895 known at the time as Northern Electric.

Unfortunately, both Nortel, and their technology has been lagging in the market for some time – quite a difference from only a decade ago when Nortel was the largest company by market CAP in Canada, their shares making up over 25% of the Toronto Stock Exchange’s main composite index.

The last few years Nortel began losing market share, and now Avaya needs to stem that tide, consolidate business operations, and hopefully for Avaya, remain profitable. In the best of times this is a huge task. Under these circumstances, GARGANTUAN.

Avaya is a large Telecom player and certainly has the resources and brains to make this a success – it won’t be an easy task though.

Something about this auction process that has me somewhat surprised is Cisco’s lack of presence or mention at the bargaining table. Cisco is the undisputed worldwide leader in voice and data technology. At one time Nortel was their biggest competitor. And it seems that Cisco has almost ceded their fate into someone else’s hands. With the addition of Nortel, Avaya is now the number #1 voice player, by far, and now has control over Nortel’s switches and routers, clearly stepping into Cisco’s sandbox. Clearly the folks at Cisco were aware of this. I suspect they decided to let Avaya take control over this asset, mess it up, and then clean up the mess. I can’t think of any other reason why they weren’t at the table.

Either way, today marks the end of a Telecom dynasty, and the beginning of a new one.

What are your thoughts ? Is this a good move for Avaya ?

Written by: Jeff Wiener. www.digitcom.ca. Follow TheTelecomBlog.com by: RSS, Twitter, Identi.ca, or Friendfeed

Will it be Avaya ? Siemens ? Either way, it’s good bye to Nortel, Canada’s Telecom giant.

It’s almost like watching a really long sports game, but in this case, the game is played behind closed doors, the fans awaiting news of the outcome.

The news of the fate of Nortel’s Enterprise business unit should have been determined on Friday, and, for some as yet unreported reason, there have been delays. The speculation is that the bidding is still on going, however, there could of course be other related complications, the Verizon issue being one.

There certainly is an energy that has surrounded the news, the unfortunate end result is the dismantling of Canada’s Telecom giant.

For continued updates on the news as it progresses, Twitter seems to be the best spot.

P.S. For those looking to pass some Sunday morning time, I wrote a post on Twitter and how I, just recently, realized it’s importance.

P.P.S. It seems the best spot to follow updates is through Bo Gowan’s Twitter account.

Will it be Avaya ? Siemens ? What do you think ?

Written by: Jeff Wiener. www.digitcom.ca. Follow TheTelecomBlog.com by: RSS, Twitter, Identi.ca, or Friendfeed

And the reason for the delay in the Nortel auction is …

AllAboutNortel.com is reporting that there will be a court hearing on Monday at 1PM in New York to deal with Verizon’s opposing Avaya’s acquisition of Nortel’s Enterprise business unless provisions are provided for continued support of Nortel’s equipment. Looks like we will have to wait until Monday.

P.S. I am wondering if this is the final step in the process. Perhaps Avaya won the bid with a caveat of dealing with the Verizon claim. If Siemens had won the bid then this wouldn’t be an issue – right ?

Jeff