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November 28, 2006
Jon Arnold / John Cunningham - TalkSwitch and SMB VoIP
On this week's podcast, Jon spoke with John Cunningham about VoIP solutions for SMBs. John is the VP of Business Development for TalkSwitch, an Ottawa-based company that has been serving the small business sector since 1990.
John spoke about how companies like TalkSwitch have developed IP-based systems that provide PBX-like functionality and address the key needs of SMBs, namely affordability and ease of use. He shared his perspective on the features of most interest to SMBs as well as the importance of channels in serving this market.
Although based in Ottawa, the majority of their business is in the U.S., and John voiced his thoughts as to why there has been greater takeup of IP among U.S. SMBs than in Canada.
As Vice President of Business Development, John Cunningham is tasked with identifying and negotiating new business opportunities for TalkSwitch within North America. His duties include evaluating and establishing revenue-producing partnerships through Service Provider relationships and alternative channel distribution arrangements.
John has established himself as a keen industry observer and a builder of lasting business relationships in the telecommunications industry. As Senior Consultant for Telecom Italia, he was responsible for the successful launch of the company’s data products into the United Kingdom and Nordic markets, and helped that company sign contracts worth more than $29M.
Prior to that, he served as Director of Global Data Sales, and as Regional Manager (UK, and Americas) for Sprint. In these roles, he negotiated and signed deals that secured annual revenues of more than $140M. His expertise will help TalkSwitch establish itself as key player in the industry, and open up new opportunities and revenue streams.
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November 22, 2006
Jon Arnold / Cisco and Unis Lumin - Channel Partnerships
On this week's podcast, Jon had a pair of guests for the first time. Unis Lumin is one of Canada's leading systems integrators as well as one of Cisco Canada's premier channel partners. Both companies joined Jon to talk more about the recently announced Cisco Master Specialization Channel Partners Program.
This program focuses on Cisco's Unified Communications platform, and Jon's guests talked about why the market is ready for this platform now, and the types of situations where they are seeing early adoption.
Glenn Mowat is the President/COO of Unis Lumin, and he was joined by Richard McLeod, who is Cisco's Director of Unified Communications Solutions for Worldwide Channels. Glenn provided the Canadian experience from an SI perspective, while Richard added the vendor perspective as well as the broader global picture.
Richard McLeod, Director of Unified Communications Solutions for Worldwide Channels, Cisco Systems
Richard McLeod is Director of Unified Communications Solutions for Worldwide Channels at Cisco Systems, the worldwide leader of networking for the Internet. In this role, McLeod is responsible for Cisco’s global channel strategy and partner development programs in the IP Telephony and related Communications Applications Solutions markets (contact center, unified messaging, rich media collaboration XML and vertical applications, etc.). His primary focus is identifying new partners and preparing existing partners to successfully sell, deploy and support innovative, business-enabling IP Communications Solutions in line with a strategy and ecosystem that supports the partners' growth and success.
Glenn Mowat, President/COO, Unis Lumin
Glenn is the President and Chief Operating Officer of UNIS LUMIN and has over 23 years of industry experience in the global high-technology industry in sales, marketing and management positions.
Prior to joining UNIS LUMIN, Glenn held a number of senior management roles. He was Director of Enterprise Channels for Cisco Canada founding Cisco’s Canadian channel and building it into a $600 million business in less then eight years.
As a result of this success, Glenn was a major contributor and architect of Cisco’s award winning global channel program.
From 1991 to 1994 he was Vice President of Sales for Anixter, a global supplier and value added reseller of communications and computer electronics. While at Anixter he was responsible for the Canadian market and portions of the U.S. market representing $200 million in sales on a per annum basis.
Glenn joined UNIS LUMIN in 2004 and became President and COO in 2005. His mandate is to guide the company's business strategy leading the operations, sales, and technology groups to even higher levels of performance and success.
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CosmoCom - Exhibiting at VON Enterprise 2006
CosmoCom, the global leader in Unified Customer Communications, is revolutionizing customer interactions across the whole enterprise. One all-IP, multi-channel platform supporting many independent virtual contact centers can be internally deployed or hosted by a network service provider. CosmoCom is the most-selected platform for hosted contact centers by top-tier telcos globally.
Bob Emmerson, European Editor of VON Magazine, spoke with Steve Kowarsky, the Executive Vice President and one of the founders of CosmoCom.
Stephen R. Kowarsky is the Executive Vice President and one of the founders of CosmoCom. He came to CosmoCom from Comverse Technology, which he joined in early 1985 as its second U.S. employee after a distinguished career in software development and IT management. At both Comverse and CosmoCom, Mr. Kowarsky has played a key role in major account selling, key relationship management, product strategy and positioning, mergers and acquisitions, and intellectual property. He now has primary responsibility for CosmoCom's marketing communication activities. He is an industry authority and thought leader on the subjects of Contact Center On-Demand and Contact-Center-in-a-Box.
Look for CosmoCom at booth #19.
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November 16, 2006
Linda Gottfried, Graffitiwall.com, with Carl Ford and Mike McClenathan
Carl and Mike had a candid conversation with Linda Gottfried of Graffitiwall.com when she stopped by the pulver.com offices to visit.
Listen in to get a good idea of what Graffiti Wall is capable of, and for some light discourse on the future of collaborative media.
Keep your eye on the Pulver Video Vault for more!
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November 15, 2006
Applied Global Technologies - Exhibiting at VON Enterprise 2006
AGT is an award winning innovator of communication technologies and solutions that dramatically improve your daily workplace conferencing and collaboration processes. As IP experts, AGT offers conference ready managed video services, mobile and fixed emergency communication systems and on-demand collaboration applications.
Bob Emmerson, European Editor of VON Magazine, spoke with Mike Tilley the Vice President of Marketing at Applied Global Technologies (AGT).
Michael Tilley provides more than 15 years of marketing, communications and management experience in the telecommunications industry. The former satellite and cable television executive's career has included marketing responsibilities at DIRECTV, High Speed Access Corporation, Primestar and Time Warner. He has worked closely in the development and launch of innovative products and services during his career. Tilley is also a former television sports anchor and reporter (ESPN, ABC Affiliate, FOX SportsSouth) and currently resides in north Atlanta.
Look for Applied Global Technologies at booth #3.
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Jon Arnold / Mark Evans - Transitioning from Newspaper to Startup
On this podcast, Jon spoke with Mark Evans, who recently joined Toronto-based startup b5media as VP Operations. Mark has done previous podcasts with Jon during his tenure covering tech for the National Post. This time around Jon talked with Mark about making the shift from traditional publishing to a startup, something which Mark has done before. Having lived through both, Mark compared the realities of today's startup market with the bubble days. Mark and Jon also talked about the joys of blogging, as both were just included in the "Top 50 Most Influential People in VoIP" list, published by VoIP News. Related to this, Mark told the b5media story and how they're having success building a business around blogging based in Canada , but primarily serving the US market.
Mark Evans is vice-president, operations with b5media Inc., which operates the world's third-largest blog network with more than two million unique visitors a month. b5media recently raised $2-million in venture capital from J.L. Albright and Brightspark. Before joining b5, Mark was a senior technology reporter with the National Post where he covered the Internet and telecom sectors. Mark was recently named as one of the VoIP industry's top 50 influencers by VoIP News. He writes three blogs - Mark Evans; All Nortel, All the Time; and Maple Leaf 2.0.
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November 13, 2006
Psytechnics - Exhibiting at VON Enterprise 2006
![18[1].jpg](http://podcasts.pulvermedia.com/blog/archives/18%5B1%5D.jpg)
Psytechnics, the global leader in voice and video quality assessment, delivers solutions that accurately measure Quality of Experience for voice and video. Psytechnics has inspired 5 ITU standards and is helping hundreds of service providers and enterprises around the world improve their users' experiences.
Bob Emmerson, European Editor of VON Magazine, had previously interviewed Benjamin Ellis, the Vice President of Marketing at Psytechnics Ltd. and now they continue their discussion after meeting at VON Europe.
Benjamin joined Psytechnics in June 2006. Prior to joining Psytechnics he was the Director of Strategic Marketing and Communications at Juniper Networks, and previously Head of Product and Solutions Marketing for EMEA. He started his career in academia, lecturing in Computing and Information Technology, while building early campus-wide IP Networks. He has been involved in IP technologies for nearly twenty years and his industry experience ranges from managing IT operations for blue chip organizations through to work in developing new IP services and products globally.
He was involved in the early commercialization of the Internet whilst working at Silicon Valley companies including Cisco Systems, and has held roles in engineering, product management and strategic marketing. He has contributed to the development of IP networking in standards bodies and industry forums in the areas of Voice and Video over IP, Security, network management and Broadband networking.
Look for Psytechnics Ltd. at booth #8.
(To hear other podcasts in Bob Emmerson's Quality Concerns series click here.)
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November 08, 2006
Jon Arnold / Mark Goldberg - Canada's Income Trust Decision - Impact on the Telcos
This week, Jon spoke with Mark Goldberg, a fellow industry consultant and blogger based in Toronto. Mark is Principal of Mark H. Goldberg & Associates, and has a long history working for and consulting to the Canadian telecom sector. On Halloween, Canada's Income Trust Decision was rendered, and has been front page news ever since. While this is primarily a finance story, it had significant implications for Canada's major telcos. Mark and Jon have both commented about this on their blogs, and on this podcast, they discussed the issues and ramifications in more detail.
Mark H. Goldberg, Principal, Mark H. Goldberg & Associates, Inc.
Mark Goldberg is head of Mark H. Goldberg & Associates Inc., a telecommunications industry consulting practice that specializes in assisting its clients to understand the implications of changes in competitive markets. Drawing on 26 years of global industry experience, for 10 years the firm has assisted clients in Canada and around the world in all sectors of the industry: new entrants and incumbents, end users, manufacturers and software suppliers, government regulators and industry associations. In the course of his corporate careers, he gained the perspective and led changes from many perspectives of telecommunications: communications service providers, regulation, research and development, equipment architectures and large customer networks.
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November 01, 2006
Jon Arnold / John Ruffolo
On this week's Canadian IP Thought Leaders podcast, Jon spoke with John Ruffolo, who heads Deloitte's Telecom, Media and Technology practice in Toronto. This is John's second podcast with Jon, and the current focus was on the recently announced Deloitte Fast 50, which recognizes Canada's rising stars in the tech sector.
For this podcast, John spoke about what's behind the Fast 50, as well as two other Deloitte initiatives, the Fast 500, and Companies to Watch. Each has different criteria, but all include a number of companies from the IP communications space, several of which will be familiar to readers of Jon's blog.
John talked about the general trends Deloitte is seeing in these companies, with one being the rise of companies focused on the mobile sector. He also noted some interesting comparisons between Canadian and US companies, both of which are part of the Deloitte Fast 500. Finally, John explained the process for next years rankings, and interested companies should start checking Deloitte's website next March for details.
John is a Taxation partner and is the Technology, Media and Telecommunications Global Tax Leader. John is also the Technology, Media and Telecommunications industry practice leader for the Greater Toronto Area and is a member of the Firm’s Technology, Media and Telecommunications Leadership Team.
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Adax Europe Ltd. - Exhibiting at VON Europe Autumn 2006
Specialising in signaling infrastructure, Adax offers a complete set of protocol controllers, integrated software and signaling gateway configurations that provide solutions for today’s evolving and converging telecommunications networks. Adax’ high performance products are available for SS7, ATM, IP, and Interworking in fixed and mobile networks.
Michael McClenathan spoke with Robin Kent the Director of European Operations for Adax Europe Ltd.
Robin Kent joined Adax in 1994 to lead the development of the Adax business in Europe. The challenge has been to turn a technology led company selling on features, into a market driven business building success on its benefits and developing customers ‘for life’.
He has successfully overseen the establishment of the company in Europe and its transition from an OEM technology supplier to a customer focused provider of high quality, high performance telecommunications signalling products to network equipment providers and integrators in the European market. Adax Europe is now responsible for business development and service throughout Europe, Middle-East, Africa, and India.
Responsible to the President of Adax Inc. for all aspects of Adax performance in Europe including sales, marketing and technical support in the European market Robin is also a member of the Adax Inc. management team and has responsibility for international marketing.
Look for Adax Europe Ltd. at booth #415.
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Alliance Systems, Ltd. - Exhibiting at VON Europe Autumn 2006
Alliance Systems, Ltd. designs, builds, ships, and supports communications and computing equipment providing the infrastructure for VoIP, wireless, security, and other applications. Through its engineering, manufacturing, and value-added services, Alliance helps customers optimize their businesses by enhancing profitability and reducing time to market. With its head office in Plano, Texas, USA, an office in Germany, and warehouses in The Netherlands, South Africa, Germany, and the Philippines, Alliance delivers solutions to OEMs, ISVs, and service providers throughout the world. Alliance Systems EMEA is head-quartered in Bad Homburg, Germany.
Mike spoke with David Duffett - Sales Executive, Northern Europe, Alliance Systems EMEA GmbH.
David is a Chartered Engineer and has been in the telecoms sector for more than 15 years, with experience that spans air traffic control communications, wireless local loop, mobile networks, computer telephony and VoIP. A long time advocate of Asterisk, he currently represents Alliance Systems in the UK, Ireland and the Nordic region.
David’s conference speeches and presentations (covering telecoms and training-related subjects) are known for being ‘creative’ in a positive and practical way. By building fun into the agenda he encourages both participation and enthusiasm in audiences around the world.
Look for Alliance Systems, Ltd. at booth #514.
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SIEMENS Communications - Exhibiting at VON Europe Autumn 2006
Siemens Networks* engages in a dialog with its customers to create trendsetting communications solutions that help network operators and service providers achieve their business goals. Siemens Networks contributes its innovative strength, worldwide experience and unsurpassed implementation expertise in all areas of voice and data communications. As an innovation leader, Siemens Networks delivers customer value today and prepares customers for tomorrow with trendsetting solutions. Siemens Networks is a fully-owned subsidiary of Siemens AG and operates in about 100 countries.
Bob Emmerson spoke to Tim Miller, Vice President SURPASS VoIP Strategy and Business Development.
Tim Miller is responsible for defining the product and market focus for the fixed VoIP products at Siemens Networks. Driving a tight coupling to the market, he also owns the planning for new channels and alliances in this market segment.
Miller joined Siemens in 1997 as a systems engineer in Chicago; he has held a variety of management positions in the US and globally, involving carrier applications, business development, and sales. Throughout his career at Siemens, Miller has played a consistent leadership role in defining the applications environment for products in both the carrier and enterprise divisions.
* Siemens Networks will merge into a 50-50 joint venture with the Nokia Networks Business Group, creating a telecommunications powerhouse that will be called Nokia Siemens Networks. The new company will be a global communications leader with strong positions in important growth segments of the fixed and mobile network infrastructure and services, featuring a world-class fixed-mobile convergence capability. The new company Nokia Siemens Networks is expected to start operations by January 1, 2007, subject to customary regulatory approvals, the completion of standard closing conditions, and the agreement of a number of detailed implementation steps.
You can find Siemens at booth # 608.
Posted at 10:22 AM • Comments (0)
