The New Emerging Open Source "Mobile" Parade and Food for Thought on Thanksgiving

I can't believe it's been six months since I published a post here, I promise to do better. As I watch the Macy's Parade today, I started thinking about some market dynamics and disruptions we have been witnessing in recent months. Those who know me know I use an iPhone and am in my second year of loving this phone. Why? Applications - ease of use - the collaborative nature of this device - which is the leading market disruptor for mobile phones - and the way it has carved out an entire industry. Let's look at what I mean.

I talk on the phone maybe 5% of the time I use this device. Mobile devices used to be either 100% phones or 100% email. I am on email mostly, text, the web, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, taking pictures, checking weather, travel arrangements, and so on.  I am not an online game player but I have a couple of individual games I enjoy. It has become a collaboration tool. It is even an extension of my Digium Switchvox phone system - my calling rules set to find me/follow me to my mobile and if I don't recognize the number (yes, I see caller ID) or am tied up it bounces back to my office voicemail. Cool call screening method, eh? More importantly, I have improved my productivity with my iPhone. It's only going to get better. On business trips, I find I use my laptop less and less each trip.

Now, the more interesting 'technology disruption' is the coming force of - Google Android. That's right, Android. This open source OS is being used for mobile phones and desktop phones. The nature of open source lends itself to a broad community of developers. My Digium and Asterisk experience helps me understand the potential of the future Android AppStore - or maybe AppStores. It's not there yet, but eventually the community and commercial offspring will be the driving forces. Like the iPhone and Apple's iTunes AppStore the Android mobile phones and desktop phones will create nightmares for traditional players. This market is exciting. Just check the number of Android-based products appearing.

Note that these are mostly all consumer oriented.  Well, guess what? The features and capabilities of iPhones and Android-based mobile phones are so compelling, they have permeated their way into business enterprises of all sizes. RIM's Blackberry devices, although a  favorite of many, are under attack and IT executives are listening. More companies are allowing "user supplied" choice of mobile phones for a number of reasons: unbeatable features, cost - the individual owns the phone, and the collaborative nature of these phones does lend itself to increased productivity. The management of these devices is a huge new market opportunity but this disruption parade has begun! 

This is the tip of the iceberg. As more evolves I'll cover some of the more interesting developments here. In the meantime, watch Google's Android progress. Thanks for stopping by and now it's nearly time for "food to eat" rather than "food for thought!" And of course football! Happy Thanksgiving 2009!

Predictions for Last 3/4ths of 2009:

I started this blog in early January and have had to rename and rewrite it for the last 3/4 not for entire year. It has given me a little visibility into some 2009 trends. We will visit here some marketing trends for this year including trade shows, marketing chatter such as social media tools (but believe me, not a focus as there are literally hundreds of "experts" on Twitter telling you all about this) and some technology trends. Those who follow me on Twitter and Facebook know I have been researching desktop phones for business over the next 5 years and will follow this with a series on this topic. I have had some great input from folks not in the phone business which was my hope.

As we move along in Q2 for calendar year 2009, President Obama uses the web and social media and has appointed a CIO - what a concept - a technology-aware white house. We have seen the AIG fiasco where employment contracts thus far have won out over taxpayers dollars and a politically charged environment where laws will be changed for bailed out companies. The auto industry is the latest casualty. Wonder whose next? Wonder how it plays out?

We are watching many companies hang tough but they experience cut backs and reduced spending making it painful to proceed. Many friends and former colleagues are jobless. We have seen some industry trade shows and conferences aimed at "targeted" audiences grow through larger attendance while others not be as successful. We are experiencing a stock market that makes us not want to look at our portfolio statements most of the time. How will we emerge when the economy turns around?

But through these challenging times live silver linings - potentially lucrative ideas, new solutions, new ways to reduce costs and save money with select investments, and overall a cautious optimism that the recession will start to turn around. Some of the best companies emerged nicely during previous recessions. I believe open source software will be the foundation of the future enterprise for many reasons. Control, flexibility, personalization, and lower total cost of ownership are some of the driving factors.

Let's look at some downsides before we visit the upside trends.

Not so good late 2008/early 2009 trends:

- Layoffs
- Foreclosures
- Corruption (ie Maddoff, AIG, Citibank, and many others)
- Stock Market decline
- Unsure business, financials and cash can delay spending

Reasonably good trends:

- Social media in the mainstream in marketing, customer service, and the news
- Interest in Open Source-based business solutions rising
- Filly beats the Colts&Gelding in the Preakness triple crown race for 1st time in 85 years
- Excellent business class iPhone Applications

Promising trends for the remainder of 2009:

- Enterprises looking at saving money while leveraging newer technologies such as VoIP, Open Source VoIP, and applications
- Opportunity: dynamic market changes, consolidation, and lost jobs leads to new opportunities, new business and the beginning of new products, services, and innovative ideas

Many of these new opportunities will disrupt traditional leaders. Will it be automobiles? Fuel? Laptops? Phones? Internet? Video mail? Military? I could go on, but I will be looking for the most disruptive items as I can write about in the upcoming months.

My next blog series will be about business telephones - desktop phones, IP phones, Mobile phones, softphones and how applications are changing the way phones will be provisioned for use and how they are used over the next 5 years. All my information is personally gathered, it is not from customers of my commercial position or purchased from any analyst firms. Pure IMHO, 1st run primary Twitter and Facebook-based research and is all new material.

Hope to see you again soon! I commit to not waiting so long to publish a new blog post!

Closing 2008 on a High Note!

As I look back over the past year I can honestly say it has been a successful year for disruptors. So let's see what my top 5 things are that make up my perspectives.

1. Sun Microsystems acquires MySQL for $1B.

MySQL is truly a disruptor of the data base world using open source. Like Digium, they can't track everyone using the free open source versions, but each and every installation in a business has taken revenues from traditional players or certainly has disrupted their thinking and changed their marketing strategies.

2. 28 straight profitable growth quarters for Digium

The creator, owner, and corporate sponsor for the leading open source telephony systems on the planet - Asterisk - has experienced a consistent growth path for 6 years. Yes, I beat this drum frequently, but it's very telling of the trends and growth. Day by day, week by week, and month by month each and every installation takes market share, IP lines and revenues away from traditional players. Soon, you will read more about growing market shares of Asterisk asnd Digium's role as leader of this market.

3. The PR world looks different each and every day

Yes, we use a PR firm - world class company as well. However, we are at the beginning of the end for traditional "non-evolving" PR. The Internet started the sea change. Bloggers, out-of-print trade publications, new web sites that replace print, advertising methodologies, and now the economy will change most PR. It will take some time to see the entire overhaul, but PR firms that do not change with the times and take the lead using new business and social media outlets will die. Like the original VON died, like BCR magazine moved into a blog and web site, we are seeing the metamorphosis take place in real time. You've seen me write about Twitter, you may have seen or heard or use Facebook or LinkedIn - they have changed the world for recruiters (a.k.a headhunters), keeping in touch with ex-colleagues and business partners as well as school buddies. Face it, press releases, books, and budgets will look different in the future!

4. Using cell phones as a phone

This one will be debated by different folks, but I make and receive fewer calls with my iPhone than anytime over the past 10 years. My iPhone is used for email, twitter, Internet access, single key weather reports, single key market reports, google maps, texting - but phone calls? Ok, maybe 10% of the time. Will email be next? How many emails go to your SPAM filter?

5. Video, YouTube, Podcasts and Webinars

As bandwidth availability and broadband ubiquity has grown, video has become a total disruptor. Having developed multimedia capabilities using ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode) and various broadband technology, it's finally here. More will occur during 2009 from 10-20 second segments to 2 minute segments you'll see instructions and "how-to's", personal branding, general branding, video mail, and short subjects. Simply go to YouTube, type in virtually any subject, you can find something. From music videos, to education to self-promotion, it has become acceptable and used by a growing percentage.

Over the next 12 months, many technology based advancements will change the face of communications, personal and business relationships, and in this economic uncertainty more people will be home discovering these new tools, outlets and entertaining advancements all while saving money. perhaps nothing is new to you as a reader, and if this is true, you are on teh wagon alreaday. The average person is not there yet and perhaps has no clue about these emerging changes in how we live!

Every day new bloggers arrive, new podcasts arrive, new webinars using basic low-to-medium quality cameras appear and people watch and enjoy these events. Businesses looking for targeted lead generation will expand their use of these tools in new and innovative ways!

Stop by and chat on Twitter and let's see together how 2009 evolves!

Business Communications - How much change is welcomed?

Over the past few weeks I have attended and been panelists at both National Association of Realtors on Business VoIP and VoiceCon on The Role of Open Source Telephony in the Enterprise. Today's post will look at some trends from vendors I saw and customers I spoke with. Why is this a column for the "Open Disruptor"? The basic fact is because a large number of businesses are facing the same challenge: businesses must become more efficient and maintain or grow revenues with less budget or people. Basically, the network manager, IT Director, and small business owner's mantra has become a common theme, "I have to do more with less!"

How does one do this? There are many ways to explore, and depending on the individual, the priorities change but here are my top 10 "take aways" from these past few weeks:

1. "I need new tools that make me more efficient"

* IT departments need more efficient management tools to optimize performance and save costs
* SMBs or Small and medium sized businesses need to save costs and be more efficient
* Think Web 2.0 Services

2. "I can't afford to buy a new system even though I've been planning for it for some time! How can I get what I need accomplished now?"

* Oops. Delays, lost budgets, layoffs in larger companies and now it's "cap (spending) and grow" a different way (more efficient, less costly)
* SMBs have little or no money to spend as they need to survive the economic challenges
* Think open source and Web 2.0 Services

3. "All I see are large players delivering more features that are more expensive! They look great: video, integrated cell phone with office, web-based tools. But my system can't handle these capabilities without a rip-and-replace or very costly investment!"

* Many IT Directors have outdated legacy systems that can't be expanded thus new systems need to be purchased to get the benefits they need to solve today's problems.
* SMBs are more open to newer solutions that can make their businesses more effective.
* Real Estate offices are looking to be both more efficient and maintain control of their client base in spite of high agent turnover
* Think open source, VoIP and Web 2.0 Services

4. "Too much fluff!"

* A couple of end users I spoke with sat through one large vendor's presentation only to say, "Huh? What was that all about?" They did not tell me anything except I need to spend more money and get trained!"
* Think open source to reduce total cost of ownership

5. "I want to take advantage of the Internet but have tight money and not a senior IT team!"

* This is where I told users to look at disruptive companies. Some have open source software-based solutions lowering total cost of ownership; some have new business models offering special lease programs and tradein programs
* Think open source

6. "Twitter Twitter everywhere!"

* New PR and Marketing tools are being used around social media. At least one VoiceCon exhibitor and competitor went and followed competitors and pre-registration lists pre-show. When I caught up with the PR firm who did this, the person was a new-hire PR team addition to leverage new media and gt their message out.
* Digium has been using Twitter and created Digium, AsteriskPBX, Astricon, AsteriskNOW and Switchvox accounts on Twitter to inform people and build community goodwill since earlier this year. Others are following suit but this is a huge trend and will evolve more. We used Twitter at Astricon, an Asterisk community event in September, and placed large plasma screens around the show floor.
* Think young and growing fleet afoot companies

7. Less people are traveling even to the best events

* These two events are important for their respective industries. Both had down attendance
* Quality of attendees is higher because there is no "perk" trips, only serious buyers. we have had great leads from both events that will produce revenues
* Think the fact that smaller events with more serious buyers are good, not bad

8. There are some traditional companies and analysts that just don't get it

* Working at a young company where the average age is about 26ish, I have to learn how to work with millennials. What I saw in some sessions that I attended was some traditional companies and subject matter experts refuse to acknowledge evolving trends such as open source, Twitter and other social media, and that younger workers are savvy you just need to know how to work with them.

9. More on Twitter

* During keynotes, sessions and the VoiceCon event as a whole, Tweeters would talk to each other and their followers about goings on. During one keynote, there were some interesting discussions between Microsoft, Cisco, Siemens, Digium and IBM executives
* During the NAR event, there were more breakout sessions and meet-ups on social media and blogging and how to leverage in your business than any non-social media event I have seen yet!

10. Final word on social media and Twitter

* At least one cross-over occurred between the two events as I met up with a friend I met through Twitter. She helped myself and a colleague understand unique requirements of the real estate small and medium business segment when it comes to contact management, integration of cell phones and office phones and a variety of other topics related to our respective businesses. Years ago, this would never have occurred as we learn new ways to leverage Web 2.0 and new ways to network.

Find me on Twitter here

Find Digium on Twitter here

Find asterisk here

Find Digium here

New Name....Almost

Tonight I have added, "The Open Disruptor" to the front of "A Day in the Life of Digium!"

As I said before, I will add to the mix on this blog: (1) open source elements, (2) disruptive technologies, and (3) IP Telephony.

Watch here. Several items came out of IT Expo this past week and I will address log!

For the Asterisk Community

We have a new initiative that has been under way for a few weeks now. It will appear in more detail soon on both this and the Digium blog. The series of events will be a nice lift for the Asterisk Community. As in any project, we have to weigh priorities as we have so many items on our plates. A Digium day is like no other in my long career. Yes, I make typical decisions for products, features, roadmaps, people, etc. But, having a community that broadens Asterisk's reach - now that is both a challenge and a huge part of Digium heritage and culture.

Stay tuned.

Do CIOs Welcome Open Source?

I follow as many open source bloggers as I can find regardless of market, perspective, or message. Today I read Matt Assay's blog and thought I'd share it with my readers who follow Digium and Asterisk.

Check Matt's blog out at http://news.cnet.com/8301-13505_3-9968932-16.html

and check out the original Simon Phipps (Sun) referenced blog inside Matt's blog.

As our commercial business grows around Switchvox and Asterisk Business Edition, and as it grows around larger companies getting the message, Matt's message is true in many cases as people in the purchasing process have chosen to continue to embrace the larger company "wine and dine" sales process, corporate boxes at professional sports events (ah, been there, done that!), and choose to hire and/or train IT staff to administer and manage their proprietary systems.

Although I understand why this decision is made, CIOs and IT Executives should consider options and consider running a pilot or two with open source based solutions. Are you one of these IT executives who just laugh off Asterisk and other open source choices because of "support" issues? What are you thinking?

There will be a day we have corporate boxes and wine and dine you, but for today, we can help you get access to Astricon (www.astricon.net), the only open source telephony conference for business and developers, and more importantly could reduce your TCO for your business telephony solution.

The Math of Open Source

A few engineers were joking around today having some tongue in cheek fun talking about personalities of open source code "downloaders" of almost any open source project. Here are some fun comments. Note some are telephony related.

- - - - -

When Open Source is Free and you insist keeping it that way:

- You support yourself and ask the community for help which sometimes might work

- You have technical expertise with Linux and tools which makes you tick

- You tinker and it takes a long time typically because you need to know how it works

- You prefer command line or free GUIs, which may at times work just fine and dandy

- You refuse to pay for training because you have no life

- You won't pay for echo cancellation thus voice quality likely suffers or you are pure IP and have FIOS or high bandwidth solution; so lucky you with your SIP trunking provider who will probably change a SIP Invite message or something else tomorrow and your line won't work anymore! Tehe...have fun!

- You won't pay for any voice quality so the customer is unhappy - shame on you!

- You don't care about your customers, and if it costs 'anything' you refuse.....

- You are going broke as no customers return

- You buy cheap PSTN clone cards because you don't care to support the project who created the software you use for free


In Summary, you spend all your time on forums of the open source software projects you use. You pay for nothing. You want to make money but refuse to pay for anything or support your favorite project, and your customers are not coming back. Get real. It's just business!

Resellers A-plenty

Last year at this time we were just defining the authorized reseller program. We were gearing up for a whole new world coming from pure open source software with some commercial business to today where we have much more open source Asterisk and exponentially more commercial Asterisk business. This is all good as Digium continues to invest in open source and commercial development.

Well, this year we have implemented what we believe to be a pretty substantial program with solid benefits to the resellers and the best open source telephony products out there.

So being attacked by competition is the sincerest form of flattery - being called out by a competitor on a press release gives us free press. Marketing 101: get your facts straight. Marketing 102: Don't call out your competitors. Especially when the story is not really 100% accurate, at least by company records. Good thing we don't list all the resellers that have signed up with us who currently are selling and phasing out other telephony systems today - from open source competitors to tier one IP Telephony leaders. Good for us. In the past 3 months, we have signed up and qualified over 250 data and voice resellers and continue to work closely with our new distributors to recruit resellers. Revenues reflect the success.

Our goal is to be the most channel friendly company in our segment. Offering best margins, great support, and best-in-class products to enable successful growth.

We love the channel, we love our strategy and we are making huge inroads while we continue to set sales and growth records.

Check us out: www.digium.com

Who is Digium? What is Asterisk?

I get this question a lot!! At the tradeshows and events we always have a collateral piece that explains this. You can find this at: http://www.digium.com/en/company/. Look on the right side of the screen under "Working at Digium" and read this PDF.

Last week at VoiceCon and Digium Asterisk World at VON, Digium employees shared this information dozens of times as we had lots of interested visitors and meetings.

What is important is to answer some questions I get daily:
----------------------------------------------------------
{What Business is Digium in??}

Answers:

1. Digium is in the PCI and PCI express board business for TDM-VoIP gateway cards and voice processing cards. We have been since Q4 2001 and has been a key enabler for Asterisk installations globally. Digium has shipped over 3M TDM ports.

- Digium is heavily invested in this business.
- Digium has re-architected the cards in the past 12 months
- Digium has increased warranties for boards
- Digium as introduced the Exceptional Satisfaction Program that guarantees customer satisfaction - not just for boards, but across product lines including all commercial offerings

FACT: Digium is in the board business!

2. Digium offers the AA50 Asterisk Appliance worldwide. I am asked daily, if Digium is still offering this product. You bet we are. This product is OEM'd by 3Com as the 3Com Asterisk Appliance: http://www.3com.com/products/en_US/detail.jsp?tab=features&pathtype=purchase&sku=3CR10551A
It is also OEM'd by other companies that are not yet announced but shipments have begun. It's got the AsteriskGUI for configuration and fits small offices and branch offices with basic IP telephony requirements very nicely. Now in it's third release of software, we have a solid roadmap of both hardware improvements and software improvements and this product continues.

FACT: Digium sells the AA50 Asterisk Appliance to small businesses

3. Digium offers the Switchvox family of SOHO and SMB software as well as a complete line of hardware appliances including the newly announced AA60, and two other appliances that are rack mounted: www.digium.com/switchvox. There is a Switchvox Free version to download and try that gives you a glimpse into its advanced user interface. SMB provides the most advanced features including mashups for salesforce.com and SugarCRM as well as Googlemaps and user built URL panels that enhance the user experience.

FACT: Digium sells turnkey IP Telephony Solutions built on Switchvox

4. Digium offers the Asterisk Business Edition as a commercial offering toolkit that can be used for building IP PBXs, IVR systems, call canters, etc. Stay tuned for some new announcements around ABE soon! ABE has been around for a few years now and companies that build on ABE wants stable commercially built and tested Asterisk.

FACT: Asterisk Business Edition is a great toolkit choice for many users who build their own solutions and like either the AsteriskGUI or command line option.

5. Digium offers AsteriskNOW 1.0, a free download distribution including Asterisk, Linux and the AsteriskGUI at www.asterisknow.org. This is an open source toolkit that can be used by anyone to build solutions or try before buying. Many customers try this and upgrade to Asterisk Business Edition to purchase support and indemnification.

FACT: Digium offers the open source distribution of AsteriskNOW.

So In summary, a Day in the Life of Digium can be any of these! It might be ALL of these!