| This week's sponsor is Verizon. |   | Verizon has the right technology to set you apart. We have the experience, the strategic alliances, and the network to help your business get ahead. Learn More. |
Today's Top Stories
1. TeliaSonera reverses plans to charge for VoIP services in Sweden
2. SIP Forum launches SIP trunking interoperability testing initiative
3. Infonetics: SAN equipment market grows, fueled by enterprise data needs
4. Major shareholder pressures Telecom Italia to spin off wireline network
5. Broadview Networks seeks $25 million more to exit bankruptcy Also Noted: ITEXPO
Spotlight On... Spotlight: Freevoice expands VoIP customer capacity to over 10,000 channels
Australia's Seven dumps VoIP network Engin; VoIP service considerations and much more...  Tying the data center and WAN worlds: Dennis Brouwer, Savvis
Dennis Brouwer, General Manager, Converged Cloud and Global Network Solutions for Savvis, admits he's still a relative newcomer to the cloud and hosted services game, having joined the company in May 2008. Following CenturyLink's acquisition of Savvis last year, Brouwer was tasked with tying together the data center world of Savvis with the WAN worlds that CenturyLink brings to bear from its own legacy operations and its acquisition of Qwest Communications. A key goal of Savvis is to move up the stack into managing applications for business customers. Sean Buckley, FierceTelecom's Senior Editor, caught up with Brouwer recently to talk about the integration of Savvis into CenturyLink's fold and the trends taking place in the data center and cloud services market segment. On the Hot Seat
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| This week's sponsor is EXFO. | 
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Wednesday, October 10, 11am ET / 8am PT / 3pm GMT
This webinar introduces a centralized Ethernet service activation and monitoring solution that enables network operators to deploy cost-effectively, accelerate time to revenue and boost operational efficiency, while optimizing subscriber experience. Register Today! |
Sponsor: Acme Packet FierceLive! Webinars > Telco-OTT: the Good, the Fast and the Nimble - Thursday, September 27, 11am ET / 8am PT
> Webinar: Beyond the Cable: The Move to Mobility by MSOs - October 9th, 11:00 am EST/ 8:00 am PST
> Carrier Ethernet woes? Here's an economical approach to improving operational efficiency and network visibility - Wednesday, October 10, 11am ET / 8am PT / 3pm GMT
> The 1000x challenge; Small cells everywhere! - Wednesday, October 17, 12pm ET / 9am PT Events > ITEXPO 2012 - October 2-5 - Austin, TX
> Cloud Communications Expo 2012 - October 2-5 - Austin, TX
> Cloud4SMB Expo 2012 - October 2-5 - Austin, TX
> Video World Conference & Expo 2012 - October 3-5 - Austin, TX Marketplace > Research: LTE: a real disruptive technology and business opportunity?
> Whitepaper: Online Video Publishing Buying Tips
> Whitepaper: How to Master the Art of Content Marketing
> Whitepaper: Leveraging Website Marketing: Top 10 Website Solution Capabilities
> Whitepaper: Improving Content Publishing Workflow Efficiency for Multi-Device Delivery
> Whitepaper: Case Study: 4G Operator Maximizes Revenue with Flexibile, and Discovery-driven Audit Capabilities
> EBook: The New Data Center
> Whitepaper: Save 30-50% on Telecom Costs ? Free IntelePeer White Paper Shows How
> Webinar: Save 30-50% on Telecom Costs - Free IntelePeer White Paper Shows How
> EBook: Finding New Gold in Copper
> Whitepaper: Kabel Deutschland Uses Lavastorm Analytics' Flexibility to Optimize Revenue Assurance and Fraud Management Processes
> Whitepaper: Whitepaper: 7 Key Customer Trends Driving Convergent Charging
> The Benefits of Moving from Open Source to WebSphere Application Server: Forrester Research Discusses its New Total Economic Im
> EBook: Dodd-Frank: The Key to Compliance Success Jobs > Public Safety DAS Engineer - Houston, TX - Connectivity Wireless Solutions
> Project Manager - Washington, D.C. – IT WORKS!
> Project Manager Job - Charlotte, NC, USA – Yoh
> Wireless Project Manager Job - Cerritos, CA, USA – Yoh
> Field Technicians (5) Job - Melbourne, FL, USA – Yoh
> Field Technician (CDMA and LTE experience preferred) Job - Plano, TX, USA – Yoh
> Need a job? Need to hire? Visit FierceWirelessJobs * Post a classified ad: Click here.
* General ad info: Click here | Today's Top News 1. TeliaSonera reverses plans to charge for VoIP services in Sweden
Feeling the heat from Swedish subscribers, TeliaSonera, a Stockholm-based telecom carrier, has reversed plans to charge for mobile VoIP services, MarketWatch is reporting. In February, the company announced plans to charge for VoIP calls in Sweden according to a pricing model it uses in Spain, where subscribers pay €6 ($7.7) a month for 100 megabytes of VoIP calls, or between five and 10 hours of talk time. But on Monday, the company backed off its plan to charge for VoIP, announcing instead a plan to increase data fees across the board, according to the report. Charging for VoIP services is one way for the carrier to lessen the impact on its revenues from a decline in traditional voice services. Another way is to throttle VoIP, but this can increase subscriber churn. UK-based research firm Visiongain said that 2012 marks a "turning point" for voice revenues, as VoIP services continue to chip away at traditional voice revenues. The firm predicts that VoIP services revenues will reach $65 billion this year, money made mostly at the expense of traditional telecom operators. Recent VoIP growth has been driven by the proliferation smartphones and tablets, and the increasing use of VoIP service by mobile device owners. As TeliaSonera found out, resisting this development by charging for mobile VoIP services can cause a subscriber backlash, while throttling VoIP can result in losing subscribers to operators that enable VoIP. The best approach for operators is to figure out a strategy to tap into the $65 billion VoIP market. For more:
- read the MarketWatch story
- check out the Visiongain data Related Articles
Voip-Pal.com to launch new VoIP patents, soft switch by year's end
VoIP quality standards can't wait Read more about: VoIP, Teliasonera
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| This week's sponsor is Acme Packet. | 
| Webinar: Telco-OTT: the Good, the Fast and the Nimble
Thursday, September 27, 11am ET / 8am PT
Service providers have been in a perennial battle with "over-the-top" internet vendors who leverage bandwidth but often do not play by the same regulatory or financial rules. Does it need to be a battle of us vs. them? Register Today! |
2. SIP Forum launches SIP trunking interoperability testing initiative
The SIP Forum has launched a new SIP trunking interoperability testing initiative intended to spur adoption of the SIPconnect 1.1 technical specification, which is a standards-based approach for SIP trunking between IP-PBXs and VoIP service provider networks. Interoperability is a key issue for SIP trunking deployment. The enterprise's IP-PBX, service provider and edge devices need to work together for a successful SIP trunk deployment. The SIP Forum was formed by IP communications companies to advance the adoption and interoperability of IP communications products and services based on SIP. It recently established the SIPconnect-Interoperability Certification Task Group to develop appropriate test plans and conformance tools for SIPconnect 1.1, to identify interoperability challenges and to develop a process for resolving industry disputes. The ultimate goal of the task force, which is chaired by Alan Johnston of Avaya and Robert Kinder of Cox Communications, is to speed adoption of the SIPconnect 1.1 technical specification and create a formal testing certification program for compliance. The task group has set up the SIPconnect-IT 2012 conference, which will bring together application developers, equipment vendors and service providers to test the SIPconnect 1.1 specification in a live network environment. The event will be held Dec. 3 through Dec. 7 at the University of New Hampshire Interoperability Laboratory. According to the SIP forum, there are a number of benefits to adoption of the SIPconnect 1.1 specification. For enterprises, SIPconnect reduces the need for a gateway at the end user's site and speeds the delivery of new features from the service provider or the IP-PBX vendor. For value-added resellers, the SIPconnect reduces the complexity associated with connecting the SIP trunk to the legacy TDM network. For equipment and software vendors, SIPconnect reduces the time and resources required to verify interoperability in the network. For SIP trunking service providers, SIPconnect enables network services to be rolled out more rapidly, reducing the time to revenue for new services and features. In order to ensure smooth SIP trunking migration, enterprises should ensure that the service providers, PBX vendors and edge device manufacturers they select use the SIPconnect standard. For more:
- see the SIP Forum release Related Articles
SIP Forum sets slate for SIPNOC U.S. 2012 conference
Avaya says SIP growth leads to new revenue strategy Read more about: Avaya, VoIP
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3. Infonetics: SAN equipment market grows, fueled by enterprise data needs
Storage area networks (SANs) are vital to managing an organization's data. They enable access to data stored in devices such as tape libraries, disk arrays and optical juke boxes. SAN equipment is essential to the functioning and maintenance of networks, and equipment demand has been steadily growing. According to the latest research by Infonetics Research, the global market for SAN switches and adapters grew 15 percent in the second quarter compared to the previous quarter. Market leader Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) posted a healthy 31 percent increase in SAN equipment revenue in the second quarter. Brocade (NASDAQ: BRCD) owns the 16G Fibre Channel segment, controlling an unchallenged 99 percent of the market, according to Infonetics stats. Fibre Channel, a gigabit-speed network technology, is the de facto standard for SAN architecture. Fueled by its success in the SAN equipment market, Brocade's stock has been on the rise, reaching a 52-week high a week ago, although the stock slipped 2 percent this week. The Motley Fool expects the company's stock to continue to rise, although increased competition from Cisco could dampen enthusiasm. In the SAN adapter market, revenue slipped slightly due to weakness in the Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) converged network adapter segment, which reported healthy revenue gains last quarter. FCoE is a storage protocol that enables Fibre Channel communication to run directly over the Ethernet. While sales of FCoE-capable switches are strong overall, adoption lags for FCoE for storage transport, the research found. Infonetics Directing Analyst for Data Center and Cloud Sam Barnett said the SAN equipment market passed $1.5 billion in revenues in the second quarter. Barnett boldly predicted that close to $42 billion would be spent on SAN switches and adapters over the next five years, spurred by demand for social networking and video sharing, as well as advances in cloud computing and the data center. TechNavio predicts similar healthy growth for the SAN equipment market, with a 16 percent compound annual growth rate through 2015. The market research firm expects the global market to reach $5.57 billion in revenues by 2014. TechNavio analysts said the need to reduce the intricacy of organizational SANs and the growing adoption of FCoE was likely to spur growth, but postponed purchases of equipment could delay it. In addition to Cisco and Brocade, TechNavio identified QLogic (NASDAQ: QLGC) and Emulex (NYSE: ELX) as key vendors in the SAN equipment space. Because data is the lifeblood of organizations, SANs will continue to be a vital part of most organizations' IT architecture, fueling demand for SAN equipment to keep the networks functioning and the data flowing. For more:
- see Infonetics release
- check out TechNavio's release Related Articles
ECB disk storage revenues surge 6.7% in the second quarter, says Gartner
Core switches to drive revenue growth in the Fibre Channel market Read more about: Brocade, switches and adapters
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4. Major shareholder pressures Telecom Italia to spin off wireline network
Italy's struggling national carrier Telecom Italia is being urged by a major shareholder to spin off its fixed-line access network. "The time is ripe to go ahead with the spinoff. This opportunity should not be wasted as the right conditions may be now, in the next two or three months, or never," said Marco Fossati, whose family's Findim Group SA owns about 5 percent of the carrier, in an interview with Bloomberg Businessweek. Fossati said the fixed-line access network could be worth between €13 billion ($16.8 billion) and €15 billion ($19.4 billion). The spinoff of its fixed-line network would help Telecom Italia with its debt, which totals more than €30 billion ($39 billion). The carrier wants to reduce its debt to €27.5 billion ($35.6 billion) by the end of the year. In addition to its debt troubles, the company has been facing declining earnings and revenues. Last month, the carrier reported first-half earnings declined 1.6 percent, domestic fixed-line revenue dropped 2.9 percent, and domestic mobile sales decreased 3.4 percent. But it's not all bad news for the Italian carrier. In a recent case study, Forrester noted that Telecom Italia launched a successful social intelligence command center for "collecting, analyzing, and acting on social media conversations." The carrier used the right employees to manage social media and focused on clear business purposes, according to study author Zach Hofer-Shall. In addition, the carrier signed an agreement this month with Fastweb SpA, which is controlled by Swisscom AG, to build a high-speed next-generation broadband network in Italy. The network will be based on a fiber-to-the-cabinet (FTTCab) architecture, which runs fiber cable to a street-level cabinet and then connects to the office or home via copper wire. What does the future hold for Telecom Italia? If the carrier can continue to reduce its debt while focusing on core telecom businesses, it should bounce back in the coming years. For more:
- see the Bloomberg Businessweek article
- see the Forrester case study Related Articles
Telecom Italia gives more thought to spinning off wireless network
FastWeb, Telecom Italia strike fiber network alliance Read more about: social media, debt
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5. Broadview Networks seeks $25 million more to exit bankruptcy
It's been a rough year for New York-based CLEC Broadview Networks. It has struggled for much of the year, burdened by substantial debt, and in August filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in U.S. bankruptcy court in Manhattan. Broadview provides voice services, data services, hosted and premises-based VoIP systems and high-speed Internet to small and medium-sized business in the Northeast and mid-Atlantic regions. Ever the optimist, Brian Crotty, the company's chief operating officer, announced this month enhancements to its cloud-based phone service OfficeSuite. These include business hour management, distinctive rings and automatic call distribution sign in and sign out. The company is hoping to woo back customers with the new offerings. The regional CLEC is also pushing ahead with its financial restructuring, asking the bankruptcy court on for another $25 million to fulfill cash payouts required by its reorganization plan and provide capital to restructure the company, Total Telecom reported. The company has already secured bankruptcy court approval for $25 million to fund it while it is in bankruptcy protection, and Broadview said in court documents that the additional $25 million from CIT Finance was a "key component" of its reorganization. The amount of the loan could be increased by $10 million if necessary. The plan, which has already been approved by senior secured note holders, would cut the company's debt in half and lower its interest payments by $18 million per year. The plan would pay senior secured note holders, which are owed $317 million, less than half of that amount in new notes and new stock. Note holders would own 97.5 percent of the reorganized company's equity. CIT Group, which is owed $13.9 million, will be paid in full. Broadview expects to complete its financial restructuring in the fourth quarter of 2012, subject to court and regulatory approvals. Whether the company can meet that aggressive timetable remains to be seen. For more:
- read the Businesswire release
- see the Total Telecom story
- check out the Broadview release Related Articles
Broadview Networks files for Chapter 11 protection Read more about: bankruptcy, United States Bankruptcy Court
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Also Noted | This week's sponsor is ITEXPO. |  | |
SPOTLIGHT ON... Spotlight: Freevoice expands VoIP customer capacity to over 10,000 channels With fresh cash from its latest funding round, Freevoice, a Brea, Calif.-based VoIP service provider, is expanding its customer capacity to over 10,000 channels. The company is also adding security features designed to minimize disruptions and expanding the number of markets in which it offers direct inward dialing. Freevoice said the addition of nonstandard location origination and continental-wide termination gives it one of the largest VoIP footprints of any U.S. carrier. Read more More news from around the World Wide Web… > Seven offloads VoIP network Engin for A$9m to Eftel Limited. Article > What to consider before trying VoIP phone service. Article > White paper released to address major shift toward cloud-based unified communications. Release > Yeastar announced the official release of MyPBX U300. Release > PIKA Technologies now accepting applications for their uWARP VoIP firewall field trials. Release And finally… Rasberry Crazy Ant: No, it's not a new RIM tablet. Article > Telco-OTT: the Good, the Fast and the Nimble - Thursday, September 27, 11am ET / 8am PT Service providers have been in a perennial battle with "over-the-top" internet vendors who leverage bandwidth but often do not play by the same regulatory or financial rules. Does it need to be a battle of us vs. them? Register Today! > Webinar: Beyond the Cable: The Move to Mobility by MSOs - October 9th, 11:00 am EST/ 8:00 am PST The best immediate prospects for MSOs may lie on using Wi-Fi to harvest data from mobile operators for backhaul over MSO HFC networks. Wi-Fi networks provide a huge differentiation and opportunities for cable operators. This webinar will explore how MSOs are integrating Wi-Fi into their existing network architectures and examine the economics behind Wi-Fi for cable operators. Register Now! > Carrier Ethernet woes? Here's an economical approach to improving operational efficiency and network visibility - Wednesday, October 10, 11am ET / 8am PT / 3pm GMT This webinar introduces a centralized Ethernet service activation and monitoring solution that enables network operators to deploy cost-effectively, accelerate time to revenue and boost operational efficiency, while optimizing subscriber experience. Register Today! > The 1000x challenge; Small cells everywhere! - Wednesday, October 17, 12pm ET / 9am PT To solve the 1000x mobile data challenge, we need more small cells, actually, much more, and everywhere - But, isn't interference a limiting factor? How dense can we deploy them? What are the future enhancements that takes HetNets to the next level? Find out the answers at this Qualcomm webinar. Register Today!
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