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

The CPE Race is on ! Cisco, Avaya, Nortel, Mitel, NEC

Leading the way in the North American CPE’s race to see who the #1 Market Share company in the CPE sector is proving to be quite interesting.

At the halfway point it looks like Cisco has taken the lead, but there is a lot of year left, and some fantastic competitors.

These top 5 companies have gobbled up the lion’s share of the CPE sector, providing nearly 66% of all Customer Premise Equipment in North America. An amazing statistic, but it’s actually down from 70% in 2008. There are some strong competitors that are making up the rest of the market, but the top 5 are the companies to watch.

A bit about them and some explanations for their current success according to Allan Sulkin with nojitter blog:

- The “Marketing machine” that makes Cisco so ubiquitous has helped to establish the brand, while top-rated dealer support and training ensure that the support is there when the customer needs it. Being known as the safe choice doesn’t hurt, either.

- Consistent focus on aggressive pricing has enabled Avaya to stake it’s claim on the market behind Cisco. Bundling the UC All-in-One license fee with the Aura Communications Manager Enterprise Edition is unbeatable, and their licensing fee for the Standard Edition – only $50 – is one of the best deals around.

An aggressive pricing strategy combined with a strong product lineup allow Avaya to be a serious competitor, both at the Enterprise and especially the SMB level. As an Avaya dealer, I know that Avaya has some very aggressive (mostly Nortel targeted) discounts on right now.

A fiercely loyal customer base has allowed Nortel to hold onto the third place position. Though they may be losing some of their market share in the high end of the market, Nortel has been able to achieve stability in the lower risk/more economical market segment. The future of Nortel is certainly unpredictable at this point, but one thing is for sure – with a solid 12% of the market, there is still some value in Nortel.

Sulkin explains that NEC was able to slide into the 4^th place position over Mitel because of their recent improvements in the larger line size segment in the past quarter. Launching the UNIVERGE SV8500 system has allowed NEC to reclaim the customer base equipped with the NEAX2400 systems. In a welcomed change from the past, NEC is now using webinars to provide more company and product information to the consultants and analysts that can help spread the word about the changes in NEC.

Mitel has traditionally focused on the lower end of the enterprise market, but over the past few years they have been growing the capacity of their product lineup which has helped them gain more market share. Doubling the port capacity of their flagship 3300 and acquiring Inter-Tel has provided new direct sales/service opportunities as well as a solid team, skilled in selling managed services.

Well, in the top half of the year these five companies have shown solid and consistent performance. The competitors, many with less than 1% of the market but in total over 10%, are nibbling away at the leaders, hoping to break through the back of the pack and emerge as a real contender. With an estimated 5.5 million line stations in F2009 – this could make, or break, these companies.

Jeff www.digitcom.ca

Avaya-Nortel Merger: Why It’s Likely to Succeed

I’ve just read Eric Krapf’s post titled: Avaya-Nortel Merger, why it’s likely to fail. In it Eric sites many reasons why he believes, as the title suggests, that the MERGER take over between Avaya – Nortel will fail. Although well written, and arguments well presented, I believe Eric is way off base. 3 weeks ago I also questioned the take over, further research has now proven otherwise. Some of Krapf’s reasons include:

KRAPF:
Companies overpaid and have too much leverage–crushed by debt & then the bloodletting begins

THETELECOMBLOG.COM
I suppose the presumption here is that Avaya is going to overpay. Is $475 Million a reasonable offer, or a steal ? I suggest $475 Million is a steal. Although I believe that Avaya will ultimately be forced to pay more then $475 Million, and that Nortel Enterprise will end-up a bidding war selling for $800 Million, even at that rate, should Avaya decide to purchase, could make their money back in a very short time.

KRAPF:
Poor strategic and tactical planning–once the deal is done, the executives can’t decide what to do next (call it “the Iraq problem”)

THETELECOMBLOG.COM
I’m sure that there are some very smart people (many of whom I have met personally) sitting in a dark smoky room planning and strategizing how they will make this take over succeed. Krapf suggests poor strategic and tactical planning – conjecture really. Nothing backing this claim up !

KRAPF:
Cultural clashes–Geeks-Suits, Europeans-Americans, Data heads-Bell heads

THETELECOMBLOG.COM
Cultural clashes – this is a take over, not a merger. Zafirovski has left the building. BOD has been reduced from 9 to 3.
Geeks-Suits – A year ago maybe. Avaya’s got a new chief in town and he’s doing a fantastic job.

KRAPF:
Strategically ill-conceived–even when the entire industry doesn’t see the value, somehow the buyer knows something everyone else doesn’t

THETELECOMBLOG.COM
The industry does see the value. Nortel’s got some major market share. Customers have been buying that value for a LONG time. Nortel has a LOT of product in the market. Lots of maintenance contracts, government contracts, customers, channel partners … and that revenue will now goto … “principally” AVAYA !

KRAPF:
The buyer forgets it’s really acquiring people
The Avaya-Nortel deal is really about bringing together very talented people quickly (my worry is that many of the really good people may already be gone) to create something unique which offers genuine value to customers looking for communications technologies, services, and support. The deal and its ability to succeed is ultimately about employees, customers, channel partners, and suppliers. It is about making the deal happen with speed, minimal debt, and minimal impact to these key groups of people.

THETELECOMBLOG.COM
Yes, good point Eric. And, as I stated earlier, Avaya has some amazingly talented business folks running the show. Avaya 2009 is not the same as Avaya 2007. Avaya 2007 was a stodgy, slow moving organization. Avaya 2009, post the Silver Lakes, TPG acquisition, has morphed into an entrepreneurial well oiled machine. A year ago I might have been more inclined to agree with you Eric. Not today. When I met Charlie Giancarlo last June, and then Kevin Kennedy in January of this year they both preached the same message. “Avaya WILL become a dealer centric organization within 3 years.” And the changes in the last 6 months have been outstanding. Avaya has made some big commitments in the last year, and they have followed through. And this is a BIG ship to turn around – kudos to Kennedy and his team for what so far seems like a job very well done. Granted, there is still some work to do, but, given what I have witnessed in the last 6 months the NEW Avaya is completely different from the OLD Avaya.

Yes, Avaya has been promising channel changes for the last 8 years. They’re doing it. I see the difference. Digitcom is a channel partner. I just finished a full day’s Channel Summit meeting held at Avaya’s Canadian head office. This isn’t something they would have done a year ago. That’s because this is a NEW AVAYA. Their focus is channels.

KRAPF:
I have an idea of who should–without naming names, I can tell you the profile of the “company” that has the best chance of pulling it off. The acquiring firm needs to be a private equity group with leadership who knows the communications business, has an intimate understanding of Nortel Enterprise, genuinely knows the people side of technology, and can quickly convince customers that it makes good sense to once again buy Nortel products and services.

THETELECOMBLOG.COM
Eric, you just described Avaya !

More: You can read some more comments on AllAboutNortel.com regarding this post.

Shhh … Watch what you say. Your call might be recorded by Avaya IP Office Contact Store e7dz5sa2v6

Call Recording: If your business is in the customer service, order taking, delivery of product, financial services, or a myriad of other industries, the ability to record phone calls and play them back may come in handy some day.

Most phone systems support this basic functionality. There are two different types of silent call recordings:

Ad Hoc
A system that supports ad hoc silent call recording will allow users to press a button on their handset and record the call in progress. It should record for the entire duration of the call. Depending on the jurisdiction you are in, on occasion, you must announce that the call will be recorded. Therefore, when you press the RECORD button, the system will provide a beep, or tone, to inform the caller that the call is being recorded. However, almost all phone systems will allow the system administrator to remove the recording tones from the system, so if you wish to record the call, it will just silently record without playing any tones.

Once the call has been recorded, it will usually dump the recording into the user’s voicemail box. Again, most systems will send the recorded call not only to the user’s voicemail box, but will also send the recorded call out to the user’s e-mail address as an attached *.wav file. I use this feature on the Avaya IP Office from time to time.

Full Recording
Full recording will allow for all the company’s incoming and outgoing calls to get silently recorded. This can usually be activated on a set-by-set basis – in or out, by extension, or by ACD queue. Again, the Avaya IP Office system will send these recorded calls out to the user’s voicemail box, out to an e-mail address as a *.wav file, or to a program that will store all recorded calls for easy access later. For example, you wish to hear all recorded calls for X 221 for May 1 from 10 AM to 2 PM. The program will present all recorded calls recorded during those times.

Contact Store is an Avaya IP Office product that will archive, and catalog recordings and allow you to retrieve the calls in an easy to sort fashion for later retrieval. You can sort by phone number, extension dialed, date, time … So, imagine a scenario where something happens within your customer service department for example, let’s say an extra “0” is added to an order – well sometimes it helps to know just where that mistake was made.

Jeff

The Gloves Come Off – Nortel / Ericsson VS The Cdn Govt

No, this isn’t about international hockey, but it is about gold – specifically $1.13 billion of Nortel gold.

At first glance, it looks like a typical bankruptcy auction.

Sweden’s Ericsson has swooped in and made the winning bid for what remains of Nortel’s assets. One multinational company buying the carcass of another.

But it’s not really that simple.

Canada’s own telecommunications giant, RIM, is claiming that they were excluded from the auction, which is why they didn’t win. Their justification for not submitting a formal bid was because RIM wanted the long-term evolution (LTE) patents included in the sale of the wireless network. Sure, demanding more in a sale is the Canadian way, but if someone else is willing to take what’s on the table for the price you are asking, you can’t blame the court-approved auctioneers for trying to cash out quickly. Since the offer was almost double what Nokia Siemens Network had offered, this seems like a pretty good deal for Nortel.

But wait, there’s still more to it.
Had this just been a sale of one business to another, this might not be such a big story. The real concern is about the assets being sold to Ericsson; are Canadian tax-payer dollars being taken out of the country, bypassing a local option that would keep the technology, jobs, and tax dollars here in Canada? Or will this sale to Ericsson save Nortel, as well as some of the jobs and money there was invested in the struggling company?

Here is where the politicians get involved.

Ottawa has called an emergency hearing, to investigate the circumstances of the sale to Ericsson. At a time when Canada is actively trying to increase foreign investment, you can bet that this case will be heavily scrutinized by all parties. The opposition party wants to halt the sale (or at least take a really good look at it) claiming that it is possibly harmful to Canada. Some people feel that Nortel has the technical smarts, but lacks the business skills, to be a contender in the future of LTE; while others feel that selling Canadian technology to foreign investors while bypassing local options is unpatriotic.

Expect a lot of finger pointing and excuse making on Friday in the televised coverage of the investigation. The federal government will be grilling RIM as to why they didn’t bid; while the NDP will be focusing on why the current government wants to give away Canadian secrets. This will be must-see Canadian TV.

How many rounds will this one go ? What do you think?

Road Warriors Beware – you will never escape your office phone ! Is that good ?

One X Mobile

You will never escape your office phone. Is that good ? I guess that depends on when you ask me !

One of my favorite (and loathed at the same time) telecom features is mobile twinning. At Digitcom we sell and support a few different phone systems, and on my desk I happen to have an Avaya IP Office 5420 digital set. The phone, and phone system support a feature called Mobile Twinning, sometimes known as Extension to Cellular, One X Mobile, or a variation of sorts …

Essentially, when you call my desk set my cell phone rings at the same time. When I answer my cell phone my desk set stops ringing, and when I answer my desk set my cell phone stops ringing. If I answer my cell phone I can go back to my desk, press my “twinning” button, and pick the call back from my cell to my desk. AND, if I answer the call on my cell I can hit “**”, and enter another extension to transfer the caller to another extension in the office. I use this feature all the time – it’s essentially changed the way I work, both from within the office, and especially, out of the office. I bring this up because I’m just getting back from a short vacation and for the first few days I left my office desk set on TWIN mode. Much to my wife’s dismay I answered some work calls on my cell, and needless to say, I had to call into the office after the first few calls to “untwin” my desk / cell (by the boss’ orders).

It wasn’t that long ago that Digitcom sold in building mobile solutions. Although we still do sell in building IP Dect and mobile type solutions, we are selling much less now that twinning is available. Avaya’s in building solution is the IP Dect. This solution, for 5 base stations, 5 sets, could sell for $7,000 or more once you install, cable … Alternatively, you could purchase a license with Avaya (called One X Mobile) at $80 / user, press your mobile button on your desk phone, and MAGIC, they both ring simultaneously. No wiring, no base stations, no installation. The only downside though is that you are now using your cell air time.

Of course there are other ROAD WARRIOR options and these include: soft phones, remote desktop connectivity, IP desk sets, VPN phones … and I will review these in a separate BLOG at a later date. In the mean time, my cell is ringing and I gotta go !

More: Isabelle Guis, who leads the Avaya Product Marketing and Go-To-Market efforts in the Small & Medium Enterprise space, just wrote a really great blog titled: How small businesses can empower their teleworkers.

The dismantling of a Telecom Giant – Poof – Ericsson takes a slice out of Nortel

One more candle down. And Canada won’t be celebrating. A shame really. Nortel has been Canada’s Telecom’s gem for decades, and not that long ago, Canada’s business gem. Now they are almost gone; Quite the fall from glory. They had a market cap of $350 billion just 10 years ago, and now, POOF.

Well, business is business, and I don’t want to lament on the outcome. Nortel has unfortunately been a victim of their own demise, and now it looks like Ericsson will end up with Nortel’s crown jewel – the CDMA business, which they acquired through a court monitored auction on Friday for $1.13 Billion. There were 3 bidding firms: Nokia Siemens, Matlin Patterson, and Ericsson. $1.13 Billion was almost double the initial offer made by Nokia Siemens, which demonstrates that there is value in Nortel’s assets. It seems like Ericsson came out of left field – they weren’t even mentioned until very late in the auction process. Ericsson and Nortel were aggressive competitors with Nortel the predominant North American CDMA player. This will certainly help Ericsson solidify their position in the market.

The next candle to fall will be the Enterprise business. Avaya submitted their initial bid last Monday for $475 Million, and there will no doubt be more bids.

Avaya to Buy Nortel’s Enterprise Business: A Sad Day for Canada

It looks like Nortel’s fate is quickly coming to an end. The speculated rumour which has been going around for weeks is now confirmed with Avaya’s $475-million bid for Nortel’s enterprise business.

The $475-million offer is for Nortel’s European, Middle East, and African enterprise units. Nortel has also reached a “stalking horse” agreement with Avaya for the North American, Latin American, and Asian enterprise business units. With Nortel’s CDMA business going to Nokia Siemens, it looks like the end is coming near for Nortel.

As a Canadian, I am trying to view these announcements favorably but having a hard time with it. Nortel has been in Canada for decades, and been a pioneer in the telecom market since inception (or close to it anyway).

Nortel is telecom, and Nortel is Canada’s R&D leader. With assets now going to Nokia Siemens and Avaya, this will clearly diminish Canada’s dominance in the telecom and R&D space. Yes, there are other companies, and many small entrepreneurial shops that will get spun from the very talented engineers, but this certainly marks the end of a very long Canadian history.

As an Avaya reseller, I believe this ultimately will help Digitcom’s business.

First, one of our major competitors (we did at one time sell Nortel equipment, and still have many Nortel customers) will be gone from the market. There has been, and will continue to be, a large base of Nortel business that will over the next many years get transitioned to alternate products.

The challenge for Avaya at this point is to ensure the bulk of the current Nortel business transitions to Avaya equipment. As much as Avaya has been active over the past six months, their competitors will continue to prey on Nortel’s base.

The big difference is that Avaya is no longer the one preying, they are the bait. And when you are #1 in the market (which Avaya will be), there will be a lots of folks breathing down their backs.

While Avaya has given no guidance about its plans for Nortel’s enterprise business, Avaya is unlikely to continue with two competing products lines. I expect they will ultimately transition competing lines such as the Norstar, BCM and the CS1000 products to Avaya equipment with some large trade-in discounts.

Other then the Norstar and old Option 11 hardware (which are/were workhorses), the BCM and to a lesser extent, the CS1000, have been plagued with issues for many years. I’m sure the technology itself is worth much, although the product and dealer base certainly are.

Although the deal isn’t done yet – (Matlin Patterson is putting together a competing bid for the entire Nortel business unit), this is a sad day for telecom and a sad day for Canada.

What do you think about the deal? Do Nortel’s asset sales hurt the Canadian high-tech market?

More: Nortel has billions of dollars of tax-losses and R&D credits that a Canadian company could take advantage of. Any takers?

Microsoft’s Response Point phone system. Are they still in the game ?

Microsoft’s entry into the small phone system market a couple of years ago with the introduction of the Microsoft Response Point phone system was kicked off with much fanfare and anticipation of great technology. I’ve kept a close competitive eye on Microsoft’s developments over the last while with the expectation that their product would become more of a threat to the marketplace, and so I read some of the announcements on the Microsoft Reponse Point Blog site with interest, most specifically, this blog posting from early May.

This week we made some changes to the Response Point business. I am not expecting impact on current customers as we will maintain the current version of the product. We want to take a good look at the next version of Response Point and ensure it addresses the needs of Small Businesses. We are thankful for the support we have received from our partners to date. We will continue to support our current OEMs, Service Providers and resellers that are selling Response Point v1.0. We will also continue to promote the product and our partners on-line. We believe there is a plenty of room for delivering breakthrough products in the communication space and will continue to investigate the opportunity in the small business segment.

This somewhat cryptic message from Microsoft was certainly not the strong message their customers and dealers were hoping for.

The last posting on their blog site was posted June 26th with the announcement of a departure of a key executive of the RP team. It’s now been over 2 weeks since they posted an update, leaving many wondering what Microsoft is up to.

I suspect they’ve got their business focus very targeted on the larger cloud space, and Google more specifically with Google’s recent announcement of going into the OS market with Chrome some time next year.

I liked the first iteration of the RP product and was hoping to see more great things from the product. It’s rather disappointing to see them stepping (or if not stepping away then providing some strong assurances of continuing with the product moving forward). The market needs some healthy competition from the likes of Microsoft.