VoIPWatch

Want to Tango? Say Hello to the EVNO

We've all heard of the MVNO, the acronym for a mobile virtual network operator. They took a while to take off, and have had their ups and downs all over the globe. In some markets they have done well, in others not so well, and in the end, any have either shut down or simply been acquired as alternative brands for the established mobile network operators (MNO's).

Others like former client Truphone have morphed into a Global Mobile Network Operator (GMNO), combining core network access with global roaming and local numbers. GoogleFi operates similarly, but because it is so tightly woven to the Google core network and services it is really more of a single connectivity plane to all that is Google and the Internet. Nowhere is this more evident than on Google's own Android based Pixel smartphones. But, when you take a broader look at what both Google Fi and Truphone have done so far, they really have set the stage for the rise of a new category, the EVNO-the enterprise virtual network operator.

Recently Tango Networks announced their Kinetic Cloud Mobile X, something the company describes as the "first communications service that creates a private mobile network exclusively controlled by an enterprise for maximizing the productivity of its distributed workforce." If that doesn't have all the makings of an EVNO, I don't know what does.

Tango Networks is providing the enterprise market with total control from mobile and WiFi access to policy and full UCaaS functions, something pal Dean Bubley, the London based futurist and analyst says is "an early example of a wider trend." Beyond Tango, Bubley is expecting to see "continued convergence of MVNOs with enterprise comms and UCaaS, enabled by technologies such as eSIM and cloud-based mobile core networks."

From an enterprise perspective the mobility manager, or IT mobile lead, can now define the mobile experience for their entire staff, and even others who need to be connected to their core communications system using Tango's Kinetic Communications Platform. This goes well beyond simply providing calling, connectivity and access, as what  is doing is more akin to concepts like federation by allowing those who actually need access, even third parties related to the enterprise to have access, and even then, only permitting them do what they are permitted to do. That's a lot like sharing a file from Google G Suite inside and outside the company, as the platform makes voice, text, video and more accessible across the entire enterprise and just as reachable by their ecosystem partners.

While Truphone and Fi, start first with the SIM, Tango ends with that. The SIM, or eSIM at some point, is merely the key to the network lock, including over any form of mobile wireless or Wi-Fi for authentication. What makes this so very interesting is what Tango has done with the core UCaaS system, making the SBC the real traffic cop, and the softswitch more than just a glorified call director by moving the call control functionality from the mobile operator inside, to the enterprise itself.

Taken on face, this may seem immaterial, but have you ever tried to transfer a call from one mobile phone to another? It's almost impossible unless you're running the call over a data connection and have a UCaaS provider in the middle. That's a lot like what GoogleVoice does, and it's really basic stuff.

But in the Tango environment, they've made it is as easy as it is on a desk phone because the call control is inside the enterprise network's UCaaS system, making the mobile wireless network (or WiFi) no different than a cord or cable does for the handset on the office network.

This change to how Tango handles calls means even when a user is on a legacy 1XRTT network like Verizon's or Sprint's in the USA, the functions still work as if they were in their offica as Tango's native mobile network policy enforcement tools that have been embedded inside the Tier 1 carriers for going on a decade allow the phone to be a true extension to the UCaaS system. Granted, there may be some differences in how the service behaves depending on user device configurations and support for SIM connectivity, but the Mobile UC and policy enforcement tools work everywhere, with more fuctionality on 3G and 4G/LTE, all based upon the patented Tango technology.

In essence, each enterprise customer becomes their own mobile operator. This happens because Tango keeps the Kinetic Cloud Mobile-X radio and device agnostic, and operates just like Google Fi or Truphone, serving as a global MVNO with multiple carrier connectivity. This gives the enterprise the ability to route calls, messaging and data as well as apply local country numbering using the UCaaS switch and SBC by using the rules that have been established within the enterprise call control platform.

That's all why I'm calling Tango's Kinetic Cloud the first of its kind EVNO!!!

The Duck Text (Test) and How Banks Fail

A long time ago, in a land called Vonage, a customer's babysitter tried to call 911 and the call didn't reach the police. That and other incidents like that are from an era the growing business communications company would like to forget.

But just like Skype In and Out are as much like a real phone line to many, and as more cable companies have migrated from POTS lines to VoIP service,  we always said during the hey day era of VoIP that the "duck test" is the dividing line. For those who don't know what the duck test is, the old adage goes "if it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it's a duck."

Well in today's communications environment if it looks like a call it is a call. So why isn't a text, that is sent like a text and arrives like a text,  a text? You would think it was. Well that's not exactly true, especially if you're a IT person at a bank. 

I first discovered this a few years ago when Chase, one of the USA's leading banks wouldn't send a verification text to my Google Voice number which is tied back to Bandwidth, one of the larger providers of telephone numbers to the telecom community. Over time, other banks including Citibank and Wells Fargo have also followed suit, under the (ir)rationale belief that Bandwidth or Voxbone supply numbers that are all VoIP numbers, and that all VoIP numbers are used by fraudsters.

This is a disturbing trend, when a telephone number, that is linked to a paid account (in my case GSuite) vs. a free disposable account (i.e. Gmail only) is not considered a verifiable number.

From a consumer's perspective, a number is a number, or as in the Vonage case, the FCC eventually ruled that all VoIP providers needed to be compliant with reaching the Public Service Access Points (PSAPs). Today almost all of them are. For texting, companies like Bandwidth are far ahead of the banks when it comes to fraud detection, as are almost all of the VoIP providers as they are the first inch of telco fraud and for years have been putting in place ways to prevent it.

Things like Stir/Shaken are the first step, but as time goes on, we're going to need smarter banks, not dumber approaches to not harm the customer who is smarter. 

Side note-in many ways the banks "tone deafness" towards modern day SMS reminds me of their insistances of using Internet Explorer for online banking on a Mac-after it stopped working on the Apple computer or 12 years ago when asked about Vishing and their replies -- "oh what's that?" or " we don't want to discuss that" type of answers. Sometime customers do know more than them, as do the companies like Voxbone and Bandwidth that are on the front lines.

More on this after IT Expo!!

 

Why I Love My $79 Amazon Fire HD Tablet

I don't usually buy cheap. As a matter of fact, that's about as far from my behavior in tech gear as people who have known me will tell you. I've always bought (or overbought) the latest and greatest Apple gear. I would dive in and buy whatever was newest in Android, usually from Samsung, then OnePlus (I still do buy their gear for Android). I would almost always buy a Pixel from Google.

The rationale was simple, those brands build the best of the best, so paying more for it, meant I had the best. But when it comes to tablets, I haven't rushed out to buy a new iPad, as my iPad Pro 9.6 does all that I need. It's still is as fast as any iPad on the market, runs the apps I use, and can be my companion at dinner or when on the plane. But it's got one problem. Even at 10" with the case, it's just too big for me sometimes to tote around.

The iPad Mini is a better device for that, but price and performance wise, it's not justifiable anymore. It doesn't have the fastest processor, and it's not really a phone, even if I can add all the VoIP and Conferencing apps I use.  Even at $399 for a Wi-Fi only iPad Mini 4, it's over 4 times the cost of a tricked out; case carried, keyboard enhanced Amazon Fire HD 8.

But there's something else that has had me fall in love with the Amazon Fire HD 8. It's the audio and video quality when I cast to any Chromecast HD in the house.  It's fuller, richer and more robust than my iPad. Hands down. That and the facts that it's also so small and light and if it's damaged or stolen, I've lost all of $100 (case, keyboard included).

It's become my go-to jukebox to send music to my 4-year-old Samsung 43" SmartTV, and my two less than a year old TCL Roku 65" or 55" Toshiba Amazon Fire TV's that dot the house in different rooms. Each has Google Chromecast's or Android TVs, and even some have built-in Chromecast themselves. Video streams flawlessly. Audio hits the highs and lows, and by choosing the best quality, it's delivering the audio as good as any mobile device can.

When I take it with me on the go, I can tether to either my OnePlus 6T or iPhone 7. It connects quickly to Wi-Fi, and when I need to, I can always latch on to a Boingo powered hotspot.

Amazon's private label program for hardware doesn't end with the HD Fire for me. I also needed a soundbar to connect to my TV. While it's not the best on the market, it sure is good enough to do what I need, and priced at under $75.00 it sure fills the living room, enhancing the audio enough to keep me happy.

Here's the bottom line. Amazon's line of gear is value priced. Yes, you have trade-offs, but for where we've gone tech wise we don't need to buy only Apple to have what we need.

 

 

What's Ahead in 2019-AI, More Video, Better Customer Experiences

There is no question that AI and video are going to be more widely deployed in 2019, and beyond. You don't need to be a Gartner Analyst to be seeing and hearing what's ahead. As a matter of fact, as direct to customer approaches are more and more en vogue in every industry, not just in consumer products, all you need to be is on the mailing list of brands with a history of anticipating the future to know what they're focusing on next. 

Take Twilio. I'm on their mailing list as I have an account. I don't make much use of it, more to "play" and experiment with simple "consumer" level integrations with Zapier and IFTTT. However, what that gets me is their developer and marketing newsletters, and allows me to know "what's possible." That's why today when I received their post-Christmas drip campaign email from Twilio,  I took a look to see what they were up to.

Today's newsletter took the form of a series of short, well-penned announcements about a few new functions which over the past month the CPaaS (communications platform as a service) company has been rolling out. The marketer in me liked the breezy, as it was designed to have the reader click through for me. I liked the way it was presented and the topics, so I bit and clicked.

First is the network video quality API.

This is a function that anyone building group video calling or video conferencing would be interested in, as too often the network connectivity isn't up to carrying a solid video call. While the API today is built for the video calling supplier, the plan is to roll out an SDK to build the reporting into iOS and Android apps. That way the end user can see how good or how bad their connection is, and how well the conversation session will be.

 

The second item in the drip campaign was Twilio's approach to building Facebook Messenger's Chat bot via Autopilot, Twilio's beta AI platform offers what they say is a "declarative API" that also offers "NLU and ML to parse data, intent, and tasks from customer interactions out of the box." In a nutshell Twilio is connecting Messenger Chatbots to other services, starting with SMS, but there's no reason they can't interconnect to Slack or other messaging based services too.

Here's my take:

1. Twilio is using Facebook's universe of connected people to gain as much knowledge as fast as they can about people. The level of interactions, the size of the addressable audience using Messenger and the already text first nature of the participants, is a massive number. This experimental stage deployment helps Twilio build up an extensive lexicon, understand behavior and go from testbed to commercialization with data.
   
   
2. The Video Network Quality API is a trojan horse. What service provider doesn't want to be able to know how good or bad their delivery is to the person on the other end of the line, and be able to not take ownership of the problem by being able to say "oh it's not us, it's your _________" to the customer. Twilio will then be able to forge alliances and offer better solutions to those providers.

Given that I'm predicting that in 2019 we'll see many more brands embrace the idea of in-app AI, voice and video all as standard functions enabled by using WebRTC (ala what Uber is already doing) Twilo's message was well timed as it hit on all of those AI, Voice and Video.

With LTE becoming more ubiquitous and less congested, especially as 5G comes along, in the session path, voice and video in-app will no longer be a nice to have. Those features will be a must, as AI, location services and data science all take center stage with the idea of better customer service, product design (UI/UX) and customer experience (CX).

This likely adoption direction by companies large and small means Twilio's service, and that from the competition, will drive app enterprise decision makers and app developers to build a better service both for the deskbound, as well as the mobile-first worker. To do that means smarter tools, and these two are all about intelligence, not simply connecting the call.

Clearly Twilio won't be alone in offering tools like these even if they are just today in beta stage. Companies like Nexmo, Telesign (owned by Belgian giant BICS), client SignalWire and others will all be in the mix, carving out their own areas of specialty in the AI and video markets next year.

Look for apps like food delivery, medical, counseling, consulting, all to begin to go in-app vs. out of app as the tools to build and to manage, as well as to be more automated come on stream as we have only scratched the surface so far. Most of all, look for the contact centers and call centers to brace AI and Video, as calls move from chat, to voice to a face to face session, all within the app and the call.

The Rise and Fall of A Cloud Leader

Diane Greene at Google wasn't doing a bad job at all. As a matter of fact, she was leading the massive business, Google Cloud, and taking it in the right direction. But being second fiddle to Google Ad sales and then having to navigate around something new from Google every month is no easy task. The Google Graveyard is full of other so called failures, some of which were good ideas but not successful.

However, it was made harder by the internal competition between divisions and personal agendas of each divisional CEO. So when Google became Alphabet, and each company had to start to account for their usage of Google services and infrastructure vs. it all coming out of a shared pool, internecine rivalry and priorities had to take hold.

Google Cloud is every bit as good, or better than Azure or AWS. However, the difference is that at both Microsoft and Amazon their clouds are a priority, and a core part of their marketing and sales efforts. They don't fight against their cloud sales effort, they embrace it and make it something that everyone is aware of and actively supporting. For both companies, the route to the Enterprise starts now with the cloud as evidenced by MSFT's push of Office365 before they mounted a big drive for channel partners to sell Azure.

Google has a built-in Cloud customer base. It's every user of anything Google, and that starts with GSuite, YouTube and YouTubeTV. Those categories present a variety of sales and marketing opportunities to sell Cloud and cross-sell other Google services, and that includes using Ads as a loss leader. So while reports are that some of that was starting to happen, it couldn't happen soon enough.

At the start of the year, I presented concepts like that to the rep selling Google Next to me for a client. I proposed a series of cross-collateralized marketing promotion ideas that would have been of value to Google and my client. So while viewed by the rep as what was needed to make the event great, Google's Cloud team came back with basically a vanilla proposal, not for lack of interest but due to a lack of internal capacity to make things happen.

That's what's likely did in Diane Greene. Not what she and her team wanted to do, but what the company prevents from happening due to the way the business is structured, and how the corporaticians can win out over the bold and the brave.

Kill The Deskphone

The Wall Street Journal has a great story about the decline or if you believer, the continuation of the use of the deskphone. As someone who has not had a home or office phone for so many years the story is mostly old hat.

Given how voice over IP use and acceptance has steadily grown, there's less and less need for the old-school deskphone, especially in what is rapidly becoming a mobile first society. Apps, and cloud services, simply work better in software based endpoints like a smartphone or tablet vs. an endpoint which now have so many buttons and hard to program screens that they become almost useless.

As the story points out, without saying it directly, the digital generation that has grown up with mobile phones. That group are not really comfortable with the old desk phone. Despite attempts to market Android OS based , or bases and speakers for iPads and iPhones, the idea of the desk phone is really a thing of the past.

Part of the rationale is functionality. Pioneers in softphone Counterpath pretty much defined the softphone space, allowing for advanced services being as simply as sliding a button. Skype came along and got millions of people comfortable with using their computer to make and receive calls. Then the iPhone arrived, and with the debut of the app store, so much changed in how we use and consume telephony services. The app from Truphone in 2008 was very forward in approach, while Vonage, 8x8 and others were initially nothing more than just a substitution for the deskphone, so while they were starts, none of them were what we see today. In the ten years that the App store has been around, we've seen so many advance between API's and cloud microservices, the debut of Apple's Callkit and similar efforts on Android, that mobile devices have become the endpoint of choice because they simply do more.

Take the long stalled GoogleVoice. This year's most recent updates adding long wanted VoIP calling, plus the ability to now take calls via the Web browser have made the service an easy way to totally eliminate deskphones. You get a number, and it can terminate anywhere. If you still want the number to ring the old fashioned landline, it can. In many ways GoogleVoice has caught up with 8x8, Vonage, RingCentral, Dialpad, Telzio  and all the rest.  Older, more legacy focused plays like Mitel are quickly moving to catch up to the cloud based solution providers with their own version of cloud, which is one of the main reasons they acquired Shortel.

That said, there remains a healthy market for deskphones largely for the desk only worker, but for the Anywhere Worker who moves around, the deskphone may be like the Model T. A think of the past.

Influencers and Analysts - Is There Any Difference?

Online, nothing is really what it appears to be, especially when it comes to business, and the spectacle that surrounds "the business." Today, the term, "influencer" has become a blanket euphemism for everyone who has influence, and is getting paid for it. So while it is easy for FTC to identify the online influencers, the rules don't seem to apply to the analyst community.

As blogging took hold, and as we some of us attracted clients, or patrons, the FTC stepped in to make sure we all revealed our business relationships. In my case, I started to use the word "client" in my posts. But when it comes to analyst firms or the independent analysts, there seems to be a double standard, as you never see the same type of transparency that you now see from bloggers when the reports come out, or for example, the Gartner's Magic Quadrant get announced. It seems we have different rules for different people. A double standard per se. And that's not right.

Over the past 15 years, or since the early days of blogging, it hasn't gotten better. It's only gotten worse. With consolidation in the analyst world there are fewer "big voices" to shill for the vendors. With fewer media outlets, and less reporters, there's less neutral commentary. This all means the pay for play content is trumping the independent voices. Add in domain authority to SEO and the truth further gets pushed down and less seen. 

Large analysts and research firms like IDC, Forrester, Gartner, 451 are all paid for subscriptions to their reports. But vendors are really their clients. These same client companies also offered and pay for research, advisory and writing services. The analysts in turn offer guidance on product and services launches. Some offer feedback on "go to market" planning, or serve as sounding boards for presentations to the industry or public market analysts and media. But even so, the FTC Guidelines don't apply to them. There's no disclosure. No transparency. Well it's time.

The solution is simple. If you're paid by a company, reveal it. Be radically transparent. That way, the audience can decide if it's like wrestling (fake) or like the MLB. A real game, where the outcome is based on who is best, not simply the richest.

 

 

Mobile Service on The Metro Impressively Fast

I've been a long time visitor to Paris for many years and remember my first experience on the #14 line, also known as the Meteor and how I was able to receive email on my Nokia 9000 Communicator. It was back in the 00's and the iPhone was not even in existence. Back then email and some web browsing at really slow speeds were the norm, but we were connected at least.

Today, I rode the #1 Metro and as I looked around there were people talking, texting and of course using many apps on their smartphones. I had forgotten that the Metro had improved its mobile connectivity across all of the lines that make getting around Paris such a snap.

Unlike London and New York City, where mobile phone service is relegated to just the stations, on the Metro you have full coverage. A fast speed check showed speeds at about 15 megs as the subway car moved towards Palais Royale from the Champs Elysee.

To say my experience was great is an understatement. Just watching so many people connected and getting things done while on the go underground was more than great. It made me realize that back home in the USA the operators talk about 5G but ignore opportunities in cities like Philadelphia and Washington DC. Yes BART in the Bay Area has connectivity, but it's nothing like what I just experienced here in Paris.

Collaborating Better

Long time peer and friend in the collaboration sector, David Coleman, best known for his Collaborative Strategies consultancy, has launched a new website, CollaboratingBetter.com.

David is filling a few gaps in the collaboration sector with both news and insight, but it'z his testing platform that has me excited. With it he will help buyers understand which service is better and why, as well as assist companies in validating their claims.

Two big hits are the real time Collaboration Tools database is a dynamite resource and not found elsewhere all in one place. Think of it as Product Hunt for Collaboration services. So is the Collaborative Calendaring-Scheduling Tools database.

As with any new website, it's clearly a work in progress, but in a sector that is so much a part of everyday business these days, but only thinly covered with any depth on a regular basis, David's new site, and his own personal perspective, is one to keep on your daily reading list.

The COMUNICANO for Thursday February 23 2017

FEBRUARY 23 - ISSUE #29     Getting Quoted…and getting quoted regularly are two different things. So far this year I’ve been quoted three times. Last year over 40. Like the number of exits Comunicano has been involved in, now 42, this isn’t luck, chance or accidental. It’s all about having insight, perspective and opinion on subjects, and having the ability to articulate the answer so it’s reporter educational and friendly.  So the first story about the fastest way through some airports, CLEAR, has my quote, but the background provided to the reporter is there too…that’s how you GET QUOTED…There’s also news about Amazon getting in some hot water, Facebook trying to play nice, faster mobile in the USA, Twitter getting more “personal”, Lyft adding more cities and more news you need to know, so now onto the news in today’s COMUNICANO. Travel Watch Now you can go through MSP airport security with a fingerprint or iris scan WWW.TWINCITIES.COM – Share New biometric technology at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport lets fliers go through security with a fingerprint or iris scan. Norwegian Air steps up transatlantic pressure with $65 fares| Reuters WWW.REUTERS.COM – Share Norwegian Air Shuttle ASA on Thursday announced plans to offer transatlantic flights on 10 new routes between the United States and Europe starting at $65, ramping up pressure on U.S. and European rivals. Media Watch Facebook Is Trying To Smooth Over Relationships With The Media WWW.BUZZFEED.COM – Share Facebook’s new head of news partnerships, Campbell Brown, is hosting off-the-record events at her Manhattan home with big-name media people… Amazon Watch What 'Chime' is it? Amazon sued over name of its new online conferencing technology WWW.GEEKWIRE.COM – Share A New York-based tech company has filed a federal trademark suit against Amazon Web Services over the name of the cloud giant's newly launched Chime online Amazon resists US demands to hand over Echo audio in murder case WWW.ZDNET.COM – Share Prosecutors want the audio recordings for evidence, but are they protected by free speech laws? Ridesharing Watch Google’s Waze Plans Expansion of Ride-Sharing Service WWW.WSJ.COM – Share Google is planning to dramatically expand a carpool service on its popular navigation app Waze, setting the tech giant on a collision course with the ride-sharing industry. Lyft launches in 54 new cities, while Uber does damage control MONEY.CNN.COM – Share Lyft has launched 94 new cities total since the beginning of the year, on the heels of trouble at Uber. Wireless Watch T-Mobile Continues to Boost Capacity for Customers with LTE-U Launching in Spring 2017 NEWSROOM.T-MOBILE.COM – Share   GE, Intel, AT&T team up to put cameras, mics in San Diego WWW.REUTERS.COM – Share General Electric will put cameras, microphones and sensors on 3,200 street lights in San Diego this year, marking the first large-scale use of “smart city” tools GE says can help monitor traffic and pinpoint crime, but raising potential privacy concerns. Why I am not going to buy a cellphone AEON.CO – Share It is mildly subversive and perhaps a little quaint when someone clings to their flip phone and refuses a smartphone.  Odds & Ends Google's Perspective API Opens Up Its Troll-Fighting AI WWW.WIRED.COM – Share Google subsidiary Jigsaw is now offering developers access to an API for its AI-based detector for abusive comments. Twitter tweaks direct messages for brands so they sound more human VENTUREBEAT.COM – Share Twitter is once again tinkering with direct messages, this time to let brands show customers that they’re communicating with a human, not an automated bot.  How Peter Thiel’s Palantir Helped the NSA Spy on the Whole World THEINTERCEPT.COM – Share   How leaders of 9 billion-dollar companies stay productive MASHABLE.COM – Share A little thought can go a long way Do you enjoy receiving this? Please share it:     Tweet     Share   Carefully curated by Andy Abramson with Revue If you were forwarded this newsletter and you like it, you can subscribe here.