Attendance Records:

Last year, BroadSoft Connections 2010 attracted more than half of BroadSoft’s 450 global customers.  This year, the conference continued its track record of growth, with early statistics indicating over 935 attendees, from over 30 countries, service providers individuals, sponsors and partners, network equipment providers, web developers and IP device manufacturers.

The Agenda in Action:

Each year, BroadSoft has attempted to fit even more industry leaders, emerging technologies and ideas into roughly three days and one space.  How it played out this year:

• Educational Insight:  We believe BroadSoft Connections has earned a reputation for attracting the leading innovators in the industry.  Led by BroadSoft’s own thought-leaders, 2011’s session breakouts worked through strategies to crush key solution provisions, technical services, and go-to-market strategy.  Showcasing the expected all-star cast of entrepreneurs, the agenda also included insight from BroadSoft leadership, a keynote from Gary Hamel, author of The Ultimate Competitive Advantage, as well as a Locknote presented by Guy Kawasaki, entitled Enchantment: The Art of Changing Hearts, Minds and Actions. 
• Showcase Technologies:   Attendees had access to a dynamic Solution Showcase demonstrating the newest offerings from over 60 exhibitors.  Customers and partners released first-ever services and initiatives and reported them live via the Connection’s news room and through the 2011 Connections LinkedIn group (registered attendees only).  Events such as IP:Live and the Industry Experience Pavilion catered demonstrations to specific business needs on in-demand niche offerings.
• Fun & Networking:  BroadSoft Connections has become famous for sneaking memorable activities into the traditional conference agenda.  2011’s events included: a networking pool party, trap and skeet shooting, mountain bike riding, while also drawing inspiration from global cultures to offer attendees impressive social events, cuisine and entertainment.

How We Will Keep Crushing It!

BroadSoft leaves the event optimistic both our returning and new attendees have come away with a renewed and focused vision on the key trends and insight invaluable to sustaining momentum along with the platforms and services needed to do so.

Finally, thank you for all those who attended!  We look forward to seeing you again next year.

BroadSoft: As a renowned telecommunications strategist, you are known to help set the foundation on what’s next for the industry.  So, we have to ask – what’s next?

Eslambolchi: I have been pushing hard for the past 15 years that everything will be moving toward IP; and predicted by 2010 VoIP would be the primary source of all business communication and by 2015 would be the primary source of all consumer communications. We are not too far from it, as more and more businesses have transitioned to VoIP (due to cost, quality, scalability, flexibility, etc). And with FTTX & 4G – VoIP has started to reach out to consumers.

BroadSoft: You see a large market opportunity for VoIP and the end consumer?

Eslambolchi: VoIP is clearly a transformative, converged technology that offers significant benefits for corporation and consumers alike. By 2015 VoIP won’t be an option for voice telephony; it will be the standard – as ubiquitous as the copper wire has been in the past.

BroadSoft: You mention ubiquity.  How do you see IP, mobile, and the connected consumer moving forward?

Eslambolchi: Communications must be building around the user, instead of the user having to adapt to their devices.  IP convergence will allow you to plug one device into a broadband network to instantly meet all your communications needs.  We are reaching the era of the smart environment – smart homes and all of its appliances, smart cars which will integrate with all of our devices from GPS to ipad, iphone, Android, facebook, twitter, and of course smart offices.

Mobile phones will be able to move between VoIP networks, and wireless networks without the user ever noticing a change – a huge boost for reliability and range of use.  4G is the promise of the future for broadband as they fully and easily interconnect with wide range of individual devices, a capability that earlier wireless technologies lacked. It will support all sorts of converged services, including conferencing, training, entertainment, gaming, advertising, mobile banking, NFC, etc. SMS, MMS, pictures, gaming, video, and many other apps will be integrated with voice so that if you drop a call, or need to remain quite in a conference room or at home, you can continue your conversation and other apps.

BroadSoft: BroadSoft recently announced HD video conferencing service, BroadCloud Video.  What are your predictions for multimedia, video and IP?

Eslambolchi: Video will be the new voice.  IMS will be the springboard for seamless delivery of multimedia streams across mobile and wired devices. And IMS helps enable XoIP service and video services such as video conferencing, video training, video peering between multiple independent networks which will work similar to voice.

BroadSoft: What is the XoIP opportunity for video?

Eslambolchi: XoIP infrastructure allows the service to adjust and adapt to the access technologies the user has at his/her disposal. You record a video message, but the other party does not have access to the video device. The message will automatically covert to the service layer from audio-video format into an audio message or SMS.  These XoIP apps on all services will allow you to take your call at home, easily transfer to your car (hands-free), and once you are in the office to transfer it to a audio-video desk phone, and vice versa.

BroadSoft: Our service providers, partners, and end customers have played a critical role in the evolution of IP technology and services.  As such, how do you see this VoIP community evolving?

Eslambolchi: BroadSoft plays a key role in all of the above conversations; as they have been the pioneer of the XoIP feature and application services for past 12 years. While others had doubts about VoIP, IMS, FTTX, FMC, 4G; BroadSoft continued to push forward with their innovation.  The innovations from BroadSoft enabled so much for us during the past 12 years in wireline XoIP; that now we can take advantage of all of the experience, development, and applications as they all will be extended toward 4G.  These will also be the converged XB services of combined wired and wireless networks in a ubiquitous, always available, mobile broadband network.

I have personally invited many executives from our industry to stop by the BroadSoft booth in CTIA and encourage everyone to do the same.

Do’s (2011) versus Don’t (2010):

• The Connected Consumer vs. The Mobile Consumer

Tablets and smartphones were on everyone’s hot list this holiday season.  As we wind our way through 2011, we believe emerging devices will proliferate across the realm of operating systems- offering utilitarian technology benefits in speed and performance as mobile platforms battle.  Whether reading an e-book, listening to a family member’s music playlist, or getting directions, we expect trendy consumers will not only seek out these mobile devices –they will find a seamless connection between their connected devices a must-have for 2011.

• Business Applications vs. Consumer Applications

On average, the U.S. downloaded about 3 million of the top 300 apps per day in December.  In our view, 2011 will continue to be a year of mobile app craze; however, businesses will quickly become the new consumer. Already one of the fastest growing categories in the App Store, the business app category was up (+186%) in 2010, according to Distimo.  We expect to see “in” service providers catching onto the craze by offering value-added applications for every business’s both niche and universal needs, such as: Productivity apps, Communication & Collaboration, CRM, Mobility, Business Process Integration (Act!, Lotus Notes, etc), and more.

Watch how:

• HD Video Conferencing vs. The Traditional IP Deskphone

Did you just click through your in-box as you talked to your business partner over the phone?  That’s so 2010! Offering a cost-effective method to add value to your communications experience, we anticipate that truly trendy businesses and consumers will use HD video from the cloud in 2011.  Offering an always-on virtual bridge, trend setters connect to business prospects, partners, and peers in HD Video from the cloud — a must for 2011 for the rich communications experience everyone deserves.  Apart from this new staple, consumers have also caught wind of the trend and are using the up-and-coming technology to stay in touch with relatives and friends with family center.

2011’s Hit or Miss: UC from the Cloud

If you were on the fence in 2010, you’re already on the “miss” list as the New Year begins.  We see hip businesses – large and small –taking advantages of UC services from the cloud in 2011.  While even water-cooler dropouts are mostly likely “in” on the productivity and economic benefits of UC, we expect those service providers in-the-know to offer a continuation of UC perks for business offerings this year plus, now, the advantages of the new BroadCloud offerings.   These include HD video, web-based collaboration, integrated message & presence features, and VoIP management solutions for the forward-looking service provider who can offer always on, effective communication services.

Don’t be a victim of the trend police this year.  Follow the advice in this Trend Watch report and subscribe to this blog roll for continued in-the-know news, opinion, and advice on the latest in communication technology.  Have something to add to the list?  Disagree with a trend?  Let us know below.

We have over 425 telecommunications service providers world-wide managing communication clouds to deliver IP-based services to their business and consumers customers, ensuring the immediate availability of every possible communication option …texting, IM, voice, video, web collaboration,  the options go on and on.  Our telecom service provider customers are also empowering their customers by allowing individuals and professionals to personalize their communication services and manage all of their communication devices from a single, web-based account.

But what is still an area of focus is the “readiness” of a SMB’s network for IP-based communications services.  Gartner predicted over 50% of SMBs are not ready for a VoIP deployment.  In need of a network assessment for a successful deployment, 60% of SMBs experienced monthly disruptions in their voice-data networks as reported by the Computing Technology Industry Association (read the PacketSmart whitepaper for full details).  With such a heavy reliance on “the cloud”, ensuring any network, whether an enterprise LAN or a consumer home network, is configured to optimize IP connections for a superior communication experience is essential to our customers.

As many of you know, BroadSoft purchased PacketSmart, a deep-packet assessment and monitoring service, in late 2010.  Our customers have quickly recognized the value in BroadSoft PacketSmart as the solution has continued to ensure the end-user experience is never sub-par and paired with the highest-quality service.   Don’t take our word for it.  Hear for yourself:

• Industry analyst details the value of BroadSoft PacketSmart as an essential QoS UC tool (No Jitter): http://bit.ly/dwTHXz

“PacketSmart has proved itself as invaluable tool in isolating issues, and to ensuring we are providing the best quality of service possible.”

-          Steve Francesco, CEO Chairman and President, Cohere Communications

“PacketSmart enables us to easily perform remote analysis of a customer network to determine if the network is ready for applications such as VoIP and maintain optimum performance post-deployment.   Since it is an affordable, hosted solution, PacketSmart eliminates the need to purchase and manage expensive network monitoring software and allows us to provide these network performance services much more cost effectively than other solutions.”

-          Bill Tomlinson, IT Solutions Director, Stewart and Associates.

“PacketSmart allows us to make certain that the customer network is truly IP ready prior to implementation, both voice and increasingly video.  This saves us not only time but more importantly ensures that everything is 100% optimized in the eyes of the customer.  IPFone is dedicated to delivering the most advanced IP services with the highest level of service quality. Utilizing PacketSmart is another important way that we differentiate ourselves from our competitors.”

-          Jonathan Lieberman, President/CEO, IPFone

“Packet Island’s technology has given us line of sight into areas of the customer’s own network that was virtually impossible to monitor previously, and at a price point that made the decision to partner with Packet Island easy. ENA prides itself on world class customer service, and Packet Island is a key component in that support strategy”

-          Simon Weller, Director of Product Design, ENA

“One of the biggest challenges in delivering VoIP products to the SMB market is ensuring the call quality.  Since businesses rely on their phone service for day-to-day operation, customers will not tolerate poor quality, dropped calls or even service outages.  The best management of quality is to identify problems before they have an impact and if the quality is compromised, quick diagnosis and resolution.  Packet Island provides the solution to this with their monitoring device backed by a very responsive and knowledgeable team.  The solution allows for rapid identification and possible remedies without the need to devote resources and time. ”

-          Pete Llewelyn, CTO, Vinculum Communications

Read for more about BroadSoft PacketSmart.

Off the field, the World Cup is expected to generate more revenue through advertising and associated sponsorship than any other sporting event on the planet.  It’s also the first global sporting event that will truly capitalize on digital technology, with games being viewed across a wide range of platforms, from traditional broadcast television and radio, to Internet TV and mobile phones.  Football (soccer for us Americans) is a unifying force and people the world over are communicating seamlessly.

For football fans who can’t make the journey to South Africa, we all have more opportunities than ever before to watch, and interact, with the matches.  It’s possible to catch games, highlights and commentary on multiple platforms – from cell phones, laptops and computers – to the big screens. Moreover, supporters will have the chance interact with each other – regardless of location – using social networking platforms like Twitter.

As the World Cup is a quadrennial event, it offers a perfect benchmark against technology.  Putting things into technological perspective, the last World Cup, Germany 2006, coincided with the invention of Twitter and the general public launch of Facebook.  Technology is fast paced.  When viewers the world over are sitting down to contemplate matches at the World Cup 2014 in Brazil – imagine how we will all stay connected. 

Personally, I can’t guess at what the next communication sensations will be.  If I could, I’m pretty sure I’d be out securing venture capital funding to cash in! What I will say is that unified communications will be at the heart of those new social media communications channels.  Will you?

PCCW – one communications

Hong Kong’s largest service provider, PCCW, recently launched its’ significantly enhanced version of one communications that is tailor designed for the SME market sector. one communications seamlessly integrates fixed, mobile and broadband communications and offers businesses a simple way to improve productivity of their employees, without an upfront capital investment. one communications offers three simple user plans. Prior to making a purchase decision, the potential customer is presented with five business scenarios to ensure they select the plan that meets their communication needs, i.e., starting a business, expanding a business, etc. The comparable scenario selection is then teamed up with an equipment map to illustrate how the communication goals can be achieved. The BroadWorks® powered one communications service offers the capability to automatically route traditional voice, email and fax services for delivery through a fixed-line to a mobile phone. A mobile phone is transformed to include the functionality of a stationary office desk phone, providing access to all forms of communication messaging regardless of a user location. A user also has the ability to switch from a mobile phone to a desktop phone while engaged in a conversation without needing to forward the call. A user will never miss a call as all calls will be sent to the desktop and mobile phones simultaneously.

KPN – Zakelijk InternetPlusBellen (ZIPB).

Royal KPN N.V. is the leading telecommunications and ICT service provider in the Netherlands, offering fixed-line and mobile telephony, internet and television services to both business and consumers. KPN chose BroadSoft’s BroadWorks application solution to supply reliable, hosted communications services for their SOHO/SME markets. KPN’s BroadWorks powered solution, ZIPB, is a fixed-mobile offer that includes the toolbar in Outlook that allows the customer to be accessible anytime and anywhere. The BroadWorks solution allows KPN to offer new and innovative services to its customers.

Although they are separated by almost ten thousand kilometers, these service introductions reflect a new market reality. Hosted business communications are no longer a niche concept pushed by aggressive startups; it is a proven operational solution and a proven winning business case for both customers and service providers alike. A hosted business communications solution allows customers to focus on their core business (not their “chore” business) in a more cost-effective way. Additionally, service providers are able to offer a product with higher margins and revenues compared to reselling premises systems and delivering trunks.

BroadSoft continues to enhance its hosted business solutions portfolio by adding new functionality, operational and sales tools to increase productivity and profitability, and a large portfolio of third party partner solutions. For more information on BroadSoft hosted business solutions, please contact your account manager today.

While three years seems dramatically soon for desktop PCs to disappear, it’s clear that we have reached a tipping point of sorts for advanced communications technology tools and services. There is no denying the impact VoIP has had on this explosion and its role in providing seamless, hassle-free remote access. Many work places have implemented enhanced, formal telecommuting policies and are encouraging employees to take advantage of them. A central part of this equation is unified communications.

We’ve been singing the praises of UC for quite some time, drawing attention to the practical applications and ROI of its integration aspects. For BroadSoft employees, UC was a lifeline during the recent Snowmageddon of 2010, allowing us to maintain productivity and not skip a beat over several days in which none, or few, of us were able to commute into the “office.”

As the world gets flatter and the demand to work remotely increases, we can expect to see a number of trends on the rise (besides more workers going mobile and the end of dinosaur PC’s under cubicle desks), including more businesses turning to SIP Trunking and dramatic increases in hosted UC deployments. A CDW survey, reported by TMCnet supports this, showing that many companies have already experienced increased ROI from UC.

The bottom line to all of this is that in the not too distant future, we can expect almost all businesses to offer telecommuting options, often supported by hosted UC tools and services, just as today they provide employees computers and internet access.

BroadSoft unveiled today its newest mobile features for our BroadWorks Application Server, which we have appropriately named BroadWorks Mobility Suite . These new features bring a myriad of opportunities to wireless carriers, enabling them to expand their enterprise and consumer offerings and develop far deeper relationships with their customers.

For example, businesses today, with increasingly mobile and distributed workforces, are challenged by how to best manage their employees’ mobile devices. Our new mobile features overcome this challenge.  Mobile operators can now enable enterprises to manage their communication costs and meet company objectives, from tracking mobile phone use in real-time, to extending corporate policies to mobile devices.

Employees benefit from our latest features as well.  One great example is the improved “reach-a-bility” of employees, who can leverage a mobile operator’s ability to deliver any IP communication option to a single number, not just voice and SMS, but IM, presence and location-based applications.

For consumers, they are now in control.  They can manage all of their communication services and devices from a single account on a secured network.

But our new BroadWorks Mobility Suite isn’t just about enabling mobile operators to take new, innovative communications services to market today.  Our platform is designed to easily migrate these features when mobile operators move to LTE networks. And this is When with a capital W – not if. LTE is no doubt the future of wireless. Curtis outlined the numerous benefits of LTE, such as 10X the transmission speeds and lower costs per bit here. AT&T is planning field trials of its LTE roll-out later this year, according to a WSJ article last week. And China Mobile- the country’s largest wireless service — is rolling out its 4G service this May.

The core of our newest mobile features is a superior end-user experience – ensuring individuals can stay continuously connected, regardless of where they are and regardless of the way they want to communicate.  So whether you are stuck in the midst of a blizzard or working from a trade show in beautiful Barcelona, it really makes no difference, you are connected….

But our snowstorm of the century is no reason to stop commerce.  Those of us in corporate America have projects to complete, goals to accomplish and performance metrics to hit…..so even though most of us are snowed in, we are certainly not bored and looking for something to do.  As a matter-of-fact, I have been extremely productive the last 4 business days working from home.  I’ve gained an hour, and sometimes 2 depending on DC traffic, by not needing, or not being able, to commute to work each day.

Here is how a BroadSoft employee (me) has spent the last 4 business days…..and how I have leveraged our hosted communications solutions in order to keep moving our business forward (audience for that statement, my boss).

A couple of my days started at 7:00 am Eastern time, on conference calls with our European PR firm.  Okay, on the surface, that is not overly interesting, but when I say I was on a video conference call using my Bria for BroadWorks softphone, then interest is piqued.  It is not unusual for me to have video calls with my counterparts and partners at agencies around the world, but I typically use my Polycom VVX desk phone.  This week, I have used my softphone, and each call has been equally as productive as if I had been in the office.

And thanks to BroadWorks Anywhere, I have not missed a call, even though my email signature and business card do not list my cell phone number. I simply set my home phone as the primary way to reach me through our BroadWorks web-based portal, and all my calls have found me.     All my outbound calls show my BroadSoft office Calling Line ID, so my “office” has been extended to my home phone and my mobile phone.

Today was particularly great.   Each quarter, our sales executives provide an update on their accounts, so the entire organization is aware of how we can contribute to ensuring our customers are satisfied.  Our North American quarterly review was scheduled for today.  Even though no one was in the office, because it was officially closed, we all attended the meeting, remotely, and leveraged our Unified Communication services.  Many of us joined via video, we all used our collaboration tools to share documents online, and like any business person these days, most of us were multi-tasking, sending IM messages to get other work done.

So, we in the DC area are persevering and pushing on, but even with these great IP-based communication options, many BroadSoft faithful are actually looking forward to when we will be able to dig ourselves out and drive to the office, after so many days with the kids….

And for our service provider customers, we now have 110 personal case studies we can share on how hosted communications solutions are priceless to ensuring business continuity…..

Checkout our other real-life example by clicking here.

Reflecting on Fierce’s recent IT Expo post, Mike wrote about how the move to 4G will be the inflection point that brings VoIP and broadband to mobile and enabling video calls on the move  – now THAT would be revolutionary. The constricted 3G pipe, due primarily to continued problems with legacy T-1 lines providing backhaul to towers, is holding back exciting innovations in mobile communications. When 4G finally arrives in the form of LTE, every mobile voice call will become a VoIP call.  BroadSoft supports the One Voice consortium that will enable the migration of voice to 4G.

On the wired side, we were excited to see SIP Trunking called out as a critical catalyst for really cool stuff reaching mass adoption. SIP Trunking allows for IP conversion and the delivery of innovative communications services, not available with a PBX.   But, we believe if a carrier uses trunking only to replace switched voice with VoIP connectivity, they will see their revenues erode.  The big upside is using trunking to deliver new communications services in demand by the enterprise market. There are several market trends driving this move by enterprises. Over the next five years, it is believed:

• Enterprise workforces will become increasingly mobile

• Video calling will be widely adopted

• High-definition voice will be the new standard for voice communications

• PBXs will migrate to hosted unified communications

• Enterprises will continue demanding comprehensive business continuity capabilities

Finally, Mike notes that once our industry does migrate to the all-IP networks of the future, suddenly “best effort” isn’t a good enough effort at all, not by a long shot. What has also hindered innovation is the need to ensure the utmost reliability for these advanced services. That’s where BroadSoft’s PacketSmart line of business comes in. PacketSmart allows service providers to remotely manage the end-to-end delivery of VoIP-powered services. To go even a step farther, BroadSoft is working with customer premises equipment (CPE) manufacturers to embed VoIP management agents into devices designed for the SOHO and SMB markets.

So we’re excited to help move our industry through this next revolution of innovation.