Subject: [NEXTEL-1] The Pulver Report - May 8, 2003 Issue

From: Marcel <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 08 May 2003 18:12:10 -0400

------------------------------------------------------------------------

  In this Issue:

  - Heard on the Net
  - VoIP Regulatory Battle moving to the US States
  - Dr. Robert C. Atkins - A Man of Vision who Dared to be Different
  - Not Your Father's Telephony: The future will be different than the past
  - Letting Go of the Old Scarcity Business Models
  - VON Europe 2003 Tradeshow & Expo: June 9-12 in London
  - SUPERNOVA 2003: July 8-9, Washington, DC area
  - Invitation to Participate at SIPop! 2003: September 23-25 in Boston
  - Free World Dialup User Group Meeting: June 9th in London
  - pulver.com 2003 Conference Calendar

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  Heard on the Net:

  - People on the Move:

  - Joe Rinde recently left AT&T and is now running a consulting service.

  - Chuck Wegrzyn recently left IPeria and is consulting in the
    SIP/VoiceXML market.

  - Lewis Foster recently left Catapult Communications and joined
    ipNetfusion as the North American Sales Manager.

  - Stowe Boyd left Ikimbo and joined "A Working Model" as Managing
    Director.

  - Brent Lorenz recently left Wind River and join Trinity Convergence as
    Director of Sales.

  To be listed in a future "People on the Move" column, please
  email:  [email-masked] to report a change in your position.
  Please refer to: "People on the Move" in the subject.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
  VoIP Regulatory Battle moving to the US States

Since the Winter 2003 NARUC meetings, the State Public Utility
Commissioners ("PUC") around the United States have increased their focus
of VoIP technologies and some States have in fact started taking specific
actions which the US VoIP Industry now needs to pay special attention to.

In some ways I find these actions ironic since the penetration of
broadband VoIP services in the United States in reality today is still
quite low (less than 150,000 consumers) and yet some lobbyists are hard at
work to build in barriers to the innovative technologies and next
generation services which only IP communications can offer.

Back in 1996 the VON Coalition was founded to help fight the regulation of
Internet Telephony in the United States. It seems to me that now would be
a great time for all companies in the VoIP industry to join (or re-join)
the VON Coalition so that we can have a stronger and more effective voice
not only in Washington, DC, but also on a State level. The VON Coalition
tries to be representative of the industry. It relies on relatively modest
dues from industry members and on the active participation of knowledgeable
people. Our toughest job is to educate policymakers about VoIP, so they
respond to it rationally. If we don't do that, then policymakers only hear
from those who are ignorant or have an incentive to saddle us with
regulations.

Three States which are my personal watch list include:

   Virginia: The Virginia State Corporation Commission has taken notice of
   Vonage and feels that it is subject to it's jurisdiction. Vonage doesn't
   seem to agree with the Virginia regulators. This will be an interesting
   proceeding to watch as it unfolds and it may set the stage for similar
   actions in other States.

   Ohio: State Public Utilities Commission started an inquiry on how
   telecommunications providers are using VoIP in Ohio to provide
   telecommunication services to Ohio consumers. This proceeding will look
   into how "telecommunications services with an Internet Protocol and/or
   voice over the Internet component" are being delivered in Ohio.
   The State PUC is looking for comments on whether or not a company that
   is providing VoIP services is "transmitting telephonic messages" as
   defined by Ohio law. It turns out that under Ohio law, companies that
   are in fact "transmitting telephonic messages" are a common carrier
   subject to the State PUC's laws. Comments for the Ohio proceeding need
   to be sent in by June 13th. Interesting side note, the State PUC is also
   asking that all existing VoIP service providers send in a questionnaire
   to the State PUC by May 16th. From what I heard, companies who decide to
   fill-in the questionnaire should be careful how they reply to it.

   Florida: The Florida Public Service Commission is waiting on answers to
   the pending AT&T petition at the FCC with regard to whether or not VoIP
   providers should be responsible for paying access charges to local phone
   companies when they offer similar services. There is a bill pending in
   Florida that will effect consumers living in Florida.
   According to recent story in the "Palm Beach Post" 'Under the proposed
   law, the PSC could decide to leave VoIP unregulated, but that decision
   would then allow BellSouth to immediately boost its rates by about $1
   billion, increases that would otherwise have been spread out over six
   years.'

   The Florida State Sentate's VoIP Bill is available for viewing by
   visiting:  ( http://tinyurl.com/b5nb )

Also, at the summer meeting of the Mid-Atlantic Conference of Regulatory
Utility Commissioners, there will be a panel called "Voice over IP, to
Regulate or Not to Regulate; Is this the Death Knell for POTS." The
brochure describes the panel as follows: History tells us that as new
innovations come along, regulations usually follow soon thereafter. This
panel will focus on one of the newer innovations - Voice over IP using
broadband. Current issues relative to the provisioning of local
telecommunications services over IP and the access charges relative
thereto will be debated. The panelists will address questions to include:
What is Voice over IP? Is it a telecommunications service? What authority
do regulators have over this, if any, and which regulators have the
authority? What authority should regulators have over this? What are the
ramifications/tax implications of Voice over IP?

The panel is scheduled for July 1 at the Homestead in Hot Springs, VA. The
panel is headed by Commissioner Clinton Miller from Virginia -- the
Commission that has raised questions about Vonage.

While those in the VoIP Industry can look to work with the VON Coalition
to have an impact, and keep internet telephony unregulated in the US, now
would also be a great time for individual US consumers and people who work
in the industry, to take the time to reach out to their respective State
Commissioners and have their voices heard as well. Regulations are able to
get passed on a State level too often just because too many people are
silent on the pending laws until after they become law. As a community we
have an opportunity today to stand up and be counted and start taking the
steps to email our State Public Utility Commissioners and let them all
know where we feel they should stand on supporting the use of VoIP in
their respective States.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
  Dr. Robert C. Atkins - A Man of Vision who Dared to be Different

The world lost a great man when Dr. Atkins passed away on April 17, 2003.

Dr Atktins was a man of vision who dared to be different and stood up to
the establishment. For the past 40 years he stood his ground and shared
his findings and his thoughts to a world which challenged his work, his
word and his findings.  Dr. Atkins is a role model for anyone who needs
inspiration for a reason to hold their ground, go up against the status quo,
share their ideas and try to make the world a better place.

Looking back over the years, Dr. Atkins took on the establishment
as well as conventional wisdom and at times took a lot of heat for what he
said and the information he shared with others. Dr. Atkins believed in
what he said and in turn his enthusiasm and dedication helped liberate
millions of people in their diets and approach to healthy living.

On a personal note, I've been on the Aktins diet myself for the past
6+ months and my loss of 55 lbs is living proof that not only
does the Aktins diet works but helps provide for healther living. When I
think of Dr. Atkins, he continues to encourage me to continue to focus in
things that I believe in and do things that I feel are the right things to
do even if when there is no immediate support.

For more information about the life of Dr.Atkins, please visit:
  ( http://atkinscenter.com/atkinslegacy/index.html )

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Not Your Father's Telephony: The future will be different than the past

Spring 2003 VON included a number of sessions revealing a VoIP future very
different from the telecom past.  In particular, presentations at "Deploying
802.11 Hot Spots" and "Open Source Telecom" sessions represented significant
departures from business as usual.  Most of the efforts described arose from
business models that obtained return on investment indirectly and leveraged
the computer and networking industry layered value chain.  Telecom veterans
accustomed to usage based charging and vertical integration might have
trouble suppressing skeptism, but it seems hard to argue with the dramatic
growth rates achieved.

Extremely low cost or free connectivity offered with "best effort"
reliability represents significant competition for highly reliable
connectivity offered by traditional telephone companies.  The Internet
introduced the best effort model along with email and web browsing and it
continues to expand rapidly.  The low cost allows one to procure several of
these best effort communication tools for less than a single offer from
traditional sources.  The 802.11 Hot Spots seem likely to make 3G obsolete
(or at least signiciantly challenged) by the time it gets deployed. This seems
obvious even without taking into consideration the companies demonstrating
WiFi and VoiP solutions using PDA that turn Hot Spots into Free Phone Call
Spots.

The hurdle for most folks seems to be the difficulty of relinquishing the
direct return on investment business models. Consider why Cisco supported
the open source telecom project Vovida.org.  Cisco benefits from the
expansion of the Internet, so a project that expands Internet applications
benefits Cisco although it might prove very difficult to show a direct
cause and effect. Similarly, Digium supports the open source project
Asterisk.org in hope that their implementers buy their hardware.  The cost
of customer acquisition separates the winners and losers in competitive
markets, and giving something away for free can prove an very efficient
way to acquire customers. (Remember, free IS viral.)

Many people have noted VoIP depends on a layered value chain similar to the
computing and networking industry, but it remains unproven whether one can
morph the vertical integration of old into one of horizontal integration.
Companies that launched over the last several years which on their own were
only software or chips or boxes of some kind tended to find it necessary to
assemble complete integrated solutions before finding customers.
The Hot Spot and Open Source trends reveal alternative ways of addressing this
challenge.  The Hot Spots become increasingly ubiquitous as either community
driven or as a perk for customers as in the case of the free WiFi connectivity
at Spring 2003 VON. Open Source telecom continues to develop under similar
community driven or marketing driven logic.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Letting Go of the Old Scarcity Business Models
  by: Daniel Berninger, [email-masked]

A truism in economics holds that only scarce things have value.
Telecommunications since the invention of the telephone revolves around the
scarcity of connectivity.  Service providers charged for connectivity based
on time (minutes of use - MoU) and the locations connected.  The application
obtained with the connectivity received little attention as resisting the
emergence of competitive connectivity proved the path of least resistance to
profits.  The Internet as a creature of the computer and networking industry
grows as a function of applications enabled by the connectivity.  Some
applications require more capacity and performance than others, but no one
pays as a function of time and locations connected.  The emergence of VoIP
put these two business models on a collision course.  No one thinks
connectivity can remain scarce, but those with the old scarcity business
models don't show much interest in laying down their weapons.

The computer and networking industry started out with a scarcity business
model regarding processing power (millions of instructions per second -
MIPS).  IBM pursued an anti-competitive path in the early days by resisting
third party applications, punch cards, maintenance, and resale.  An
antitrust complaint pursued by the United States Department of Justice in
1952 and settled in 1956 (http://www.cptech.org/at/ibm/ibm1956cd.html) made
it difficult for IBM to maintain its anti-competitive ways.  The subsequent
mini-computer and personal computer revolutions revolved around scarcity of
applications not processing power.  The pursuit of applications remains the
primary driving force of the computer and networking industry.  The
continually expanding abundance of MIPS and corollary improvements storage
and memory makes an expanding range of applications possible.

The continually expanding abundance of MoU's could similarly drive an
expanding range of communications applications, but the incumbents and
insurgents alike remain wed to the scarcity of MoU's.  The emerging flat
rate unlimited usage plans represent a step in the right direction, but
these still don't represent a shift in focus to communications applications.
We can expect considerable anti-competitive behavior to keep the price of
the plans from falling.  Free World Dialup represents a notable exception as
it extracts no value from simple connectivity or the baseline application of
voice.  It nonetheless can serve as the basis for an application centric
ecosystem.  It already represents a signficant force in the sale of Internet
compatible telephones.  The Free Wi-Fi hots spots movement represents
another example.  Ubiquitous free connectivity promises to enable terrific
communication applications that a ubiquitous paid hot spot (scarcity) model
does not.   Consider the difference between our present world and one where
every road charged a usage based toll, and you will understand why users
flock to FWD and the Free Wi-Fi hot spots.

Trading connectivity scarcity for the pursuit of communication applications
does not preclude profits as the applications create demand that rapidly
grow revenues.  The application centric computer and networking industry
grows at annual rates above 30% over decades.  The connectivity stingy
telecommunication industry grows little faster than the background GDP or 3%
per year.  Competition essential to drive innovation keeps profit margins
thin as compared to monopolization business plans, but consider that twenty
years of 35% annual revenue growth produces an industry 200 times the size
of one growing 3% per year.  This outcome characterizes the telecom and
computer industries.  At the time of the IBM Consent Decree in 1956, the
telecom industry vastly overshadowed the computer industry.  The present
computing and networking industry overshadows the telecom industry.  The
mainstream telecom industry still seems hopeful they can reshape the
Internet to conform with their connectivity scarcity business models, but we
should all hope they don't succeed.

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VON Europe 2003 Tradeshow & Expo: June 9-12 in London

As a reader of the Pulver Report, if you register for the VON Europe 2003
Tradeshow & Expo ( http://pulver.com/europe2003/register.html ) using the
special priority code: PULRPT, you can now visit the exhibit hall and
attend the special VON "Keynote" sessions for US$ 120 (+ 17.5% VAT)
from today until June 8th.

An updated exhibitor list is posted to:
( http://pulver.com/europe2003/exhibitors.html ).

Our updated conference schedule is posted to:
( http://pulver.com/europe2003/schedule.html ).

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  SUPERNOVA 2003: July 8-9, Washington, DC area

Kevin Werbach's Supernova Conference brings together cutting-edge executives
and companies to consider the distributed future of communications, software,
and media. It is the one place that assembles the people, companies,
investors, and trends that will lead the next wave of technology-
driven change.

Some of the insightful and provocative speakers at Supernova 2003
include former FCC Chairman Reed Hundt, Sun Microsystems EVP Jonathan
Schwartz, Nokia's Marko Ahtisaari, Vice Admiral Dennis McGinn, Neoteny
CEO Joichi Ito, Macromedia's Kevin Lynch, Assistant Secretary of Commerce
Bruce Mehlman, and commentator Clay Shirky.

Sign up now for the only conference focused on the business
implications of decentralizing technologies such as WiFi, Web
services, connected digital devices, weblogs, and broadband media!
Visit ( http://www.pulver.com/supernova ) for more information.

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  Invitation to Participate at SIPop! 2003: September 23-25 in Boston

SIPop! premiered at Fall 2001 VON and it will be happening again
in Boston September 23-25 on the show floor at the Fall 2003 VON
Tradeshow & Expo. Details regarding SIPop! 2003 is posted
to: ( http://pulver.com/sipop ). SIPop! is an open event and all members
of the VoIP Industry with commercial SIP implementations are encouraged to
participate with us in Boston.

SIPop! was the industry's first and only General Availability
Interoperability Event, coordinated by pulver.com. The event is designed to
help display entire working solutions by the SIP community. While other SIP
Interoperability events now exist, none offer solutions that are
available for sale and installation in a production network. SIPop! will
feature SIP, SIMPLE and various SIP extensions we look forward to demos
which include Presence and Instant Messaging applications, Enterprise and
Service Provider solutions.

When it premiered, SIPop! was found by all to be an ideal platform with
which to present complete, working solutions to both service providers and
enterprises looking to supplement or replace their existing PBXs and/or
traditional PSTN solutions. The strength of the event is its unique offering
of all possible product and company partnerships in a live working
environment right on the show floor. It is possible for a potential buyer
to request an on-demand demonstration of multiple vendors' products, and
see for themselves a working solution in moments. This is an unique
offering to both the potential buyer and to the demonstrating company.

The next of our scheduled planning meetings will be taking place in the
form of a conference call, scheduled for May 20th at 2PM EST.

If you are interested joining SIPop! 2003 and would like to receive the
call-in details as well as the information regarding the costs to
participate, please email: [email-masked].

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  Free World Dialup User Group Meeting: June 9th in London

Since the launch of Free World Dialup six months ago, Free World Dialup
has grown to a worldwide user base of over 22,500 people in over 100
countries. Free world Dialup has become one of the fast growing Voice over
Broadband Networks and we are currently growing by 200-300 people a day.

If you haven't signed up and given Free World Dialup a try yet, visit:
  ( http://pulver.com/fwd ) and join the FWD Community. You are also
invited to join the FWD Mailing List:
(http://listserv.pulver.com/archives/fwd.html )

The first of our planned FWD User Group Meeting for 2003 will be taking place
on June 9th in London at the Olympia Centre. This meeting is open to all
FWD members and is free.

This meeting will be a great chance for the FWD Community to get together
and for us to associate the name and FWD number with the voice and email
address. Together we can share our experience with being early adopters
and pave the way for more end-to-end IP Communication.

The meeting agenda which is posted to: ( http://pulver.com/fwdugm ) is
aimed at informing the users, what we use, what can be used, and what
opportunities there are for future services and solutions. The meeting
will feature talks from members of the FWD Team as well as key members of
the Free world Dialup Business Partner Program.

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pulver.com 2003/4 Conference Calendar
( http://pulver.com/conference )

  "Events for the Communications Industry" (tm)

  June 9-12    - VON Europe 2003 Tradeshow & Expo,
                 Olympia Conference Centre, London, UK
                 ( http://pulver.com/europe2003 )

  June 9        - FWD User Group Meeting
                 ( http://pulver.com/fwdugm )

  July 8-9   - Supernova 2003, Washington D.C.
                 ( http://pulver.com/supernova )

  September
  22-25        - Fall 2003 VON Tradeshow & Expo,
                 Hynes Convention Center, Boston, MA
                 ( http://pulver.com/von )

  September
  23-25        - SIPop! 2003,
                 Hynes Convention Center, Boston, MA
                 ( http://pulver.com/sipop )

  September 30
  - October 1  - RVC SoftEdge 2003
                 ( http://pulver.com/rvc2003 )

  November
    11-13      - SIP Summit 2003
                 Santa Clara, CA

  - 2004 -

March 29
- April 1     - Spring 2004 VON Tradeshow & Expo
                 Santa Clara, CA

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