« January 29, 2006 - February 4, 2006 | Main | February 12, 2006 - February 18, 2006 »
A hat trick reader told me about a new Los Angeles based MVNO about to come out of stealth mode named XeroMobile.
My source tells me they raised about 300 million dollars, mostly from Europe. They are a likely contender to Helio in the newcomer space and will more than likely want to be in the 3G/VoIP/WiFi space that Google, FON and Boingo are all playing in.
I expect to see lots of news about VoIP Over WiFi and 3G handoff to the IP networks out of 3GSMWorld next week. Wish I was there.
I'm also hearing that my pals at BridgePort Networks have lots to say on the subject. I've been spending lots of time with their co-founder Tom Carter. Hearing what they
have been up to is enough to give me a headache..it's that big.
Yesterday I was briefed by their superstar VP Sanjay Jhawar under embargo of what they plan to introduce at 3GSM. It's downright impressive given what they have assembled since I helped moderate Mobile Ignite in January 2005. If anything they have been way ahead of the curve in the Mobile to VoIP space compared to everyone else, so while other companies seem to want to jump into that world, BPN is really the one company people should be following as they attack the problem of device enablement in an IP always connected world that WiFi brings to us all now, and that WiMax brings in a few years. On a macro scale the changes are here now, but in different relams. Someone needs to bring this together and BridgePort Networks seems to be attacking that the right way. Time will tell.
Last week I was fortunate to also spend some quality time with their Senior VP of Engineering, Steve Blumenthal, and realized what his background has been with the development of the Internet, BridgePort has in their braintrust one of the true builders of the Internet and IP networks as we know it. What's more their team has such a strong knowledge of how the 3G, GSM and CDMA worlds work, both technically and politically, it's downright impressive.
I found Christine online when she was covering the eTel conference last month in San Francisco and I was in Fort Lauderdale.
Impressed with her broadbased view on emerging technology and how it applies to society, I asked her to join the Spring VON Bloggers Panel, which I will again moderate. She agreed, and now we will move Jeff Pulver into the audience to be a discussant along with a few other shy, reclusive types :-)
If you're not reading Christine, you're missing out on one of the most articulate, well thought out and absolutely insightful bloggers to hit the scene in some time. Like pal James Enck in the UK, Christine brings a different set of viewpoints and skill sets to the blogosphere. Not only a VoIP blogger, she's amassing a wide range of knowledge on a wide range of subjects.
As we morph the VON Blogger Panel into how VoIP impacts more than each other in the VoIP world, and expand our views into the value VoIP brings to the world at large, viewpoints from Christine and others like her will be so needed.
Join us in San Jose in March and see who Jeff sits with in the crowd!
Chris Wood is one of the bright lights on the subject of VoIP has authored the Voice Long Tail, sort of a view back and a look ahead. I've known about this for some time as Chris has bounced ideas and thoughts off me like he has with Alec Saunders.
Thank God.....Paul Kapustka has quietly relaunched his blog. The former dean of Advanced IP Pipeline has started up a very concise blog...The telecom world will once again be a better place...
Jeff Pulver talks about VON Blur. Well I don't think it compares to DEMO. VON is a walk in the park for demonstrators compared to DEMO. The avalanche of work and the deluge of inquiries one gets as a result of being a DEMO GOD winner is incredible.
iotum is hot, make no bones about it. Howard and Alec are onto something very big and candidly, while I try not to blog too much about clients, these guys are the real deal.
Check out Alec's cool, calculated and almost perfect DEMO, and then read Oliver Star's effusive and very accurate write up over on MobileCrunch.
I'll be back to blogging tomorrow...
Vonage got put under the Omscope and it's not pretty...not at all. He's being kinder than I would be.
I don't "buy" the numbers and have to figure out where the "intermediate" accounting work was done. Lucky for Vonage I never got past Accounting 101, choosing to shift gears and major in Journalism.
May I gloat? Well I shall.
Client, friends and timely Web 2.0 platform iotum company captured a DemoGod award and I couldn't be happier.
This was a team effort that is a shining example of planning your work and working your plan. Demo Coach Shel Israel, Messaging Guru Bill Ryan, Account Associate Brooke Davidson and even my fiance Dr. Helene Malabed, plus members of the iotum team back in Ottawa all participated in the march that led Howard Thaw and Alec Saunders to the award ceremony, but while we all played supporting roles, it was Alec and Howard who scored the points.
Alec was brilliant on stage this morning, giving one of the best presentations at DEMO. He hit all the talking points, and avoided all the DEMO faux-pas shortcomings. Howard, always the master of relationships, kept things moving, giving Alec the room to manuever.
The night before the presentationas we were all about to go to bed, I told Alec a slightly modified version of what one of my idols, the late Fred Shero, coach of the 1974 Stanley Cup Winning Philadelphia Flyers had written on the black board the day before the Flyers went on to win their first Cup. "Win tomorrow, and we will walk together forever." Saunders, being the hockey fan that he is, knew he had heard it before so I told him where it came from, and how like yesterday, I had been in the crowd on May 19th, when the Orange and Black captured Lord Stanley.
For iotum, and for me, the victory yesterday tasted just as sweet as the bubbly that ran from Lord Stanley's Cup that spring afternoon.
Congrats my friends....for a job done exceptionally well.!
Jon Arnold has a nice wrap up post of all the comments and more!
According to a Dow Jones report, Vonage has filed their IPO and S-1.
Here's the filing via the SEC.
This is for a lot less than the money people were originally expecting VONAGE to raise, and given their last two rounds, one has to wonder what the valuation is for the entire company.
Also, Jeffery Citron steps down as CEO Michael Snyder takes over. Snyder signed an agreement and will join the Vonage board of directors and become its Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Snyder was the President of ADT Security Services, Inc., a subsidiary of Tyco International Ltd., from 1997 to 2006. He is expected to assume his duties with Vonage on February 27, 2006.
Citron takes a global role for Strategy as Chairman.
They are also claiming that in 2005 that it cost a $213.77 per customer for customer acquisition, and is a lot lower than many, including I have suggested. I'm not saying any of us are wrong, but its likely how Vonage accounts for acquisition. I'm also factoring in the shipping, cost of the TA and more.
Still this is a interesting, sober move and will help set the market for VoIP companies going forward.
P.S. May I gloat? If you recall I advised readers of this back on January 19th. Here's the link to the post.
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