With SIP-based VoIP call recording provider, SIP Print, reporting a strong, but slightly difficult 2009 due to the current economic recession, it seems as if the SMB market may experience a shift in adapting more diverse applications in order to migrate to the mainstream market.
And, SIP Print’s Chief Technology Officer Jonathan Fuld told TMCnet’s CEO Rich Tehrani (News - Alert) in a recent interview that wideband audio and HD VoIP are already in the market, and have hit the mainstream with some systems already running VoIP using the HD codec.
However, Fuld said that the issue for SMB’s is determining when the recession will end, and how the company’s will hopefully expand and grow as a business. And, when this happens,
“They are the early adopters of new technologies in the business market place,” Fuld said. “Three months after the recession ends and the manufacturers deplete their inventories of current VoIP, HD will be standard and replace the G.711 codec.”
While the plans for the recession lift seem promising, the current economic state continues to weigh heavy on the company’s shoulders in terms of the here and now. In response to the seemingly stagnant economic state for now, SIP Print is doing its best to accommodate and maintain its relationships with its customers.
“We have reduced the cost of call recording for SIP based phone systems by a factor of 10 over the traditional TDM phone call loggers,” Fuld said.
Their full exchange is below.
Rich Tehrani: Smartphones continue to rise, find their ways into offices and homes alike. Who will dominate that market and why?
Jonathan Fuld: Smartphones are in increasing use, watching the Motorola Droid come up fast behind the Apple (News - Alert) iPhone. The issue surrounding widespread use of the smart phone is the application set, dependent upon the iPhone OS. The issue of screen size and processing speed of the smartphone prevents the dominance of the smart phone in the one size fits all category.
Some have adopted the netbook, light, but slow and not a phone, nobody has yet to use a soft phone on the netbook connected to a blue tooth earpiece. Still too many folks are unwilling to use the smartphone for all their needs. It is a tool that enables telephonic transmission and tweeting and texting. It enables quick review of stock quotes and variances; it is in an entertainment tool. The need for a word processor or spreadsheet application exposes the smartphone weakness. The small screen footprint limits its use for those over 40 no matter how large the font size you create.
Market domination will arrive with the smart application set on different hardware. Smartphone footprint and technologies are changing every six months. The biggest question to answer is what a smartphone is. Is it a palm sized device about the size of a half a stack of 3 by 5 cards that makes phone calls and enables you to Bing TMC, or is it a 17 inch heavy laptop with eight hour’s battery time, Wi-Fi card with an attached cellular air card, blue tooth capability running x-lite beta?
You have to step back for a minute before you focus on the value of market dominance of a smart phone and ask about the delivery of the application set and the continuous interchange of functionality and accessibility of the application set and data. The footprint: smartphone, netbook, laptop, desktop, or kiosk is the delivery infrastructure.
Who will dominate, for now? It won't matter, because people will tire of their particular system 6 months after and no later than 12 months after initial use.
With all that said, the Motorola Smartphone running the Google Droid operating systems under Verizon is giving the Apple iPhone under AT&T (News - Alert) the run for the money.
RT: We hear more and more about high-definition voice features in IP communications products and services. What is going to drive wideband audio and HD VoIP into the mainstream market? How long will it take?
JF: Wide Band audio is here (pun intended). And many systems are all ready running VoIP using the HD codec. It is mainstream. For now the only issue when will the Great Recession end that is feeding the fear for small and medium businesses to grow. They are the early adopters of new technologies in the business market place. Three months after the recession ends and the manufacturers deplete their inventories of current VoIP, HD will be standard and replace the G.711 codec. It won't go away, it will become the fall back codec.
There is a problem in that all the major carriers use VoIP at some point to carry voice across their network. In the case of Verizon, they use VoIP all across their network. Nothing is old analog.
And they use the codec G.729, which is a high compression algorithm, but not yet “good enough” for high-definition.
You and I can talk on our company phones within the company network using High Definition. What we can't do right now is talk to each other across the public network using High Definition unless we have our own private network and are encoding under G.722. I expect this problem to go away within 18 months as at that point, the major carriers will realize the need for high compression and high definition. Maybe the ITU, or maybe the carriers or maybe both working together create a “new” GPL codec that accomplishes both. As for me and my network, there is no reason now not to use High Definition Voice.
RT: What’s the most innovative product that’s going to hit the market in 2010, from a company other than your own?
JF: Everybody is mobile now with iPhone, Droids, Smart Books, netbooks, Laptops, Desktops, and for the kids coming home for college, the Xbox's. There are several innovative products that will hit the market. It cannot be limited to just one. So here are my predictions for 2010:
1) Commoditization of medical centers so that blood tests costs without doctor approval around $25 for a full panel, with results available via the web, or pda apps.
2) Drastic price reduction in solar panel technology and manufacturing from China to actually give a run for the money against traditional low cost energy sources (oil, coal, natural gas.)
3) The commoditization of the production and delivery of nutraceuticals/pharmacological substantially reducing health costs – paradigm shift against traditional pharma IP ownership, drug discovery, manufacturing and delivery
4) Pet brainwave interpreter applications blue toothing from the pet transmitter to the pda – knowing what your pet thinks
5) Micro banks/credit union lending facilities for small and medium businesses in the US
6) Regional Accredited learning centers post high school that compete with and beat major universities at one 50th the cost
7) Decoupling of the transmitter/receiver device – Wi-Fi, cellular, land line – from the application device. So you wear a wrist watch size device that transmits and receives data from your cell phone, smart book, netbook, laptop or desktop or television. It is always on and always you.
8) Micro-nuclear plants (powering cities) using recyclable/recycled fuel.
9) The financial failure of several cloud companies so that they are merged into 2 or 3 large conglomerates
10) Micro-manufacturing sites using “Lego” robots
11) Home Theater 3D
12) On the fly Video Webinars for the SMB
13) The mobilization of business. No longer will business or their employees have to be in one place or any place.
RT: We entered 2009 in a recession and now we’re seeing signs of the economy picking up. How did the slow economy affect demand for your products and services and what are you anticipating in 2010?
JF: The demand for our products continued to increase and we are seeing the increase for 2010 as well. We have reduced the cost of call recording for SIP based phone systems by a factor of 10 over the traditional TDM phone call loggers. We have a surprise announcement at the show regarding two new products that fit in line with the market focus of SIP Print. We expect high demand for these products and our others.
RT: President Barack Obama has been in office for nearly a year. What has surprised you, whether a pleasant surprise or disappointment, about his presidency, policies and administration?
JF: Nothing done by Barack Hussein Obama or the majorities in the House and Senate have surprised me. They have done exactly as they have said.
RT: If you were president of the United States, what tech-friendly policies would you enact?
JF: Eliminate the capital gains tax; Change GAAP so that all capital purchases for businesses with gross revenues under $995 million would be treated as expense. Eliminate the death tax. Reduce the federal tax rate for all earned income to 7 percent. Eliminate double taxation, such as eliminating taxes on bond interest, stock dividends and all forms of security appreciation.
RT: What are some of the areas of market growth in the next few years?
JF: You will see market growth in devices that shrink usage of bandwidth, that provider greater battery power, in cloud computing, in robotic advances in automobiles, in high speed rail, in traditional energy sources reducing cost to obtain and deliver.
RT: I understand you are speaking during ITEXPO East 2010 in Miami, to be held Jan. 20 to 22. Talk to us about your session or sessions. Who should attend and why?
JF: I will be talking about Voice Recording under SIP Telephony and the benefits to the end user. Those who are interested in reducing costs and improving customer service and other soft benefits should attend to learn how SIP-based recording enables businesses to improve those benefits.
RT: Please give me one outrageous prediction pertaining to our markets for 2010.
JF:
1) Verizon will buy a majority in Apple, and Google.
2) Avaya (News - Alert) will buy a majority of Motorola
3) Cisco will make a play for Oracle or perhaps the other way around
To find out more about Jonathan Fuld and SIP Print, visit the company at ITEXPO East 2010. To be held Jan. 20 to 22 in Miami, ITEXPO (News - Alert) is the world’s premier IP communications event. Fuld is speaking during “Reducing IT Costs with VoIP Recording Strategies.” Don’t wait. Register now.
Kelly McGuire is a TMCnet Web editor, covering CRM and workforce technologies, and anchor of its daily TMC Newsroom video broadcast. Kelly also writes about eco-friendly 'green' technologies and smart grids, compiling TMCnet's weekly e-Newsletters on those topics, as well as the cable industry. To read more of Kelly's articles, please visit her columnist page.
Edited by Kelly McGuire