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?

Since founding BroadSoft, Scott Hoffpauir and I have always been so proud of the excellence, the dedication and the professionalism of our BroadSoft team. The entire team helped achieve this milestone.

We had a little fun, ringing the closing bell at the NASDAQ last week.          Take a look.

 Everywhere you look, the barriers to revenue for developers are dropping.  Free developer sites, free tools, eCommerce ecosystems and willing, yet discriminating, end-users abound. This dramatic change has been brought about by three major drivers:  

1. Mobility and the new App economy led by Apple
2. Web 2.0 and its lasting principles of Web as Platform and the power of user-generated content which has evolved into the social networking revolution
3. Cloud computing and Software as a Service (SaaS), as well as the evolution of accessible, scalable infrastructure. 

So, where are the challenges?  Application developers face two in particular:  access to survival capital as they incubate their ideas and building the right “thing.”  These challenges are accentuated in the telecommunications industry with its proprietary APIs, high barriers to entry and lack of direct interaction between end-users and app creators, due to an almost opaque chain of vendors and carriers between them.

We decided to take these problems head on through our Xtended Program. Following on the heels of our BroadSoft Marketplace program that creates a new, frictionless, eCommerce distribution channel for all our developers, we have also announced the Xtended App Incubator (http://developer.broadsoft.com/xai) to motivate developers to start their application ideas  and more importantly:  build the right “thing. “

The Xtended App Incubator provides seed funding ranging from $3K-$10K for great teams creating great apps that our customers want. Yes, we went out and asked our customers to vote for their most wanted Apps. Developers with the right skills who apply to build a “wanted” app idea are being screened to make sure they are a good fit for developing the app and also understand our terms. Selected developers will be provided with funding immediately to start building the app.

A number of ecosystems currently exist that “talk the talk” about supporting developers and many more that preach “listening to the customer.” With the Xtended App Incubator, BroadSoft acts on both, while laying the foundation for an ecosystem that is more transparent, more symbiotic and we hope ultimately much more adept at addressing the industry challenges we collectively face.

The Global FMC service has both “top-line” and “bottom-line” benefits to Verizon’s customers.  On the top-line side, employees remain productive across Europe in any of the nine countries served by Global FMC; on the bottom-line, managers benefit from reduced costs for employees who use their mobile as an extension of their business handset.

According to Anthony Recine, vice president of network and communications solutions for Verizon Business, “With Global Fixed Mobile Convergence, companies no longer need to wrestle with productivity versus cost management to keep their business in full gear.  This innovative new service helps on-the-go workers remain in touch with customers and other business colleagues while reducing the cumulative roaming charges for hundreds or thousands of roving workers.”

What’s been less noted, I think, is the positive impact this will have on Verizon Business’s hosted business service – Hosted IP Centrex (HIPC).   Verizon already delivers a successful “cloud”/hosted business service that’s deployed across Europe and the Americas; the introduction of Global FMC extends this functionality to mobile handsets.  It’s well-demonstrated that the value of hosted applications increases dramatically when you add a mobile component.  For example, consider how many people update Facebook exclusively from mobile devices.   

So congratulations to Verizon – another service provider igniting progress and changing the game with Global FMC and expanding their hosted business solutions to mobile devices. 

This consortium is made up of a great group of companies. Alteva, Broadcore, Callis Communications, Consolidated Technologies, IPFone, SimpleSignal, Stage 2 Networks, and Telesphere have all been huge innovators in our space. And this Alliance shows that they’re just as innovative in business models as they are with technology and market offers.

What I like about this is that the Alliance isn’t just talking about hosted voice or hosted PBX – they’re changing the game in lots of different ways:

• End-to-End High Definition Voice for business-to-business HD (not just intra-company islands);
• End-to-End availability of video for business-to-business video;
• Mobile phone integration, including apps like IPFone’s iPhone applications;
• Nationwide disaster recovery and business continuity; and
• Business App mashups with Microsoft Office Communicator, Salesforce.com, and much more.

The Alliance has gotten tons of well deserved press on this already (Network World, TMCnet, VoIP Planet, Billing & OSS World and WirelessWeek).  This is great coverage, which brings a lot more visibility to the power and benefits of hosted business communications.

But the real news, I believe, is that what we’re seeing now is an adoption shift, not a development shift.  We’re at the point where the hosted/cloud UC solutions are real, proven and ready – and now the shift we’ll see is about adoption:  more customers becoming aware of and choosing to go with a hosted/cloud option.  I believe that the creation of the Alliance is a huge step forward in accelerating that adoption shift.

So cheers to the Cloud Communications Alliance, which has changed the game yet again.

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.

First up, from today’s VoiceCon eNews newsletter from VoiceCon super-chair Eric Krapf, on what he’s looking out for at next week’s show:

Are enterprises seriously considering cloud-based communications, to a more significant degree than they were a year ago? Can carriers/service providers deliver enterprise-grade services from the cloud?

Is video coming to a meaningful number of enterprise desktops in the next 12-18 months, and if so, why?

Is interoperability in Unified Communications even a remote prospect?

Now let’s shoot ten thousand miles away to Australia, where Telstra announced not only that their hosted communications service (TIPT) now supports video phones, but also that TIPT supports video calling and high-definition audio calling between enterprises on the Telstra network:

Following the launch of the first video telephony service from an Australian telco, Australians will now be able to communicate face-to-face using desktop video phones.

Telstra’s acting Executive Director, Data, IP & Enterprise Services, Carol White, said more than 300 organisations using Telstra’s hosted IP telephony product (TIPT) could take advantage of the high-quality business-to-business video telephony service simply by upgrading their desktop phones.

And remember – TIPT has already integrated enterprise OCS from Microsoft.  Telstra also supports SIP Trunking as a complement to its hosted offers, allowing it to serve ‘hybrid’ enterprises.

The killer app here, the theme that’s starting to come to the fore across large enterprises around the world – and the key competitive advantage for service providers like Telstra – is integration.   While Small Businesses and Midmarket companies are open to ‘greenfield’ unified communications solutions, large enterprises really aren’t.    Large Enterprises have made decisions and investments in IT and tools, and they don’t want those replaced – they want them complemented.    They want things like:

• Voice Integration – Integration of their premises-based communications systems (PBXs) and hosted communications,
• App Integration – Integration of their communications and the IT apps (Microsoft OCS, IBM Sametime) they have in-house, and
• Video Integration – Integration of their communications and video collaboration systems.

This is exactly what Telstra has done for their large enterprise customers – by integrating hosted/cloud communications, trunking to PBXs, video solutions and OCS integration, they’re delivering exactly what large enterprises need.    And this is where carriers and service providers have an opportunity to shine – because these large enterprises needs really aren’t well served by individual PBX vendors.

So going into Voicecon this year, it’s obvious to me that some old misconceptions are fading away.    Hosted communications is not a solution only for the SMB; as Telstra demonstrates, hosted is an ideal fit for large enterprises.     SIP Trunking is not about making connectivity cheaper –  it’s real value is more as an on-ramp to bring large enterprises into a hosted UC solution.

And for service providers – their opportunities to serve large enterprises, SMBs, and the midmarket – continue to grow.     See you at Voicecon!

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.

The benefits of LTE are obvious at this point and just about all of the providers now agree that a rapid move towards IMS standards is necessary. Many of the large providers are unveiling plans for roll-outs sooner rather than later. And Teliasonera and Ericsson have already launched the first 4G LTE network in Stockholm and Oslo. Verizon is working towards a commercial 4G LTE roll-out across 30 major markets by the end of 2010.

While this NYT piece reported from the MWC show floor suggests that carriers may only be committing to LTE in theory and holding back based on the extensive investment required for network upgrades, we think any carrier dragging their feet will be left in the dust. Consider that one of AOL’s tragic flaws in delaying high-speed service. As a result, subscribers dropped like flies.

Data volumes on mobile networks are surging, and this article from GigaOM points out that 3G networks aren’t keeping pace. If consumers don’t get a fast, quality experience they will abandon new applications and innovation will be stifled. Businesses and consumers are salivating for faster, more reliable access to multimedia communications that improve the quality of their professional and personal interactions.  We believe that LTE will deliver on this promise and there’s no time to waste in bringing it to market. Innovation is calling and carriers need to answer the call.