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Understanding VoIP Peering: Arbinet

TMCnews Featured Article


January 24, 2011

Understanding VoIP Peering: Arbinet

By Susan J. Campbell, TMCnet Contributing Editor


Looking back to 2010, there is much to learn from technology trends that emerged in the past year. According to Ian Campbell, director of product management & development at Arbinet Corporation, the most significant technology trend of 2010 was Apple’s iPad and the growth of the mobile tablet format.


Campbell recently participated in a TMCnet interview with CEO Rich Tehrani (News - Alert) in anticipation of the upcoming ITEXPO East event. When asked about the impact of cloud computing on communications, Campbell noted that it will continue to provide outsourcing alternatives for enterprises with the use of hosted PBX and messaging solutions. As for the mobile winners in 2011, Campbell pointed to Apple as the company that will continue to enjoy the advantage of first mover in the mobile application space. And, the availability of the iPhone on the Verizon (News - Alert) network won’t hurt, either.

As for the impact of mobile technology on the tech space in 2011, Campbell pointed to the introduction of LTE and 4G networks. The best opportunities for Arbinet are in providing outsourced telecoms and infrastructure services to customers. Campbell does believe technology can change the world for the better when it increases social cohesion. When it comes to social media, Arbinet is very active on Twitter and LinkedIn and uses a lot of IM and chat for internal collaboration. When asked about net neutrality, Campbell believes there are two competing arguments that need to be balanced against each other in order to move the industry forward. As for the greatest technology development in 2011, Campbell expects to see the adoption of tablets and mobile applications in the enterprise.

ITEXPO East attendees should stop by his booth to understand VoIP Peering (News - Alert) and the benefits it brings to the enterprise. The market will see more products in outsourcing and interconnect relationships management from Arbinet this year and Campbell’s surprising prediction is that social networking will not be as hot an area as people anticipate. Their entire conversation follows:

1. What was the most significant technology trend in 2010 and what impact will it have in 2011?

It may be unoriginal to say, but Apple’s iPad and the growth of mobile tablet format, as well as the continuing growth of the application driven Smartphone format, was the most significant technology trend in 2010. These devices are delivering on the original promise of the global Internet as genuinely useful tool; something that previous attempts had failed to do. They will continue to find new applications in 2011 and beyond. For example, I think we’ll start to see more use of these devices by enterprises for internal or intranet applications for their employees, as well as providing extranet functionality to communicate with customers. The general purpose nature of this technology will make it attractive for this purpose; this will push out existing older proprietary systems.

2. What impact will the continued growth of cloud computing have on the communications industry in 2011?

The cloud computing space will continue to provide outsourcing alternatives for enterprises through the use of hosted PBX and messaging solutions. For communications companies themselves, the cloud provides new alternatives for reducing costs. Finally, the entire industry should benefit from the traffic growth and new technologies required to deliver on the full vision of cloud computing.

3. Who will be the mobile winners in 2011 out of Google Android (News - Alert), Apple, Microsoft, Nokia and RIM?

Apple will continue to enjoy the advantage as first mover in the mobile application space; they have the most mature and fully featured product offering that appeals to developers as well as users. The appearance of an iPhone (News - Alert) on Verizon in the US will not hurt either. The question the others will face is whether they can really generate significant excitement in their product and its differentiating features to catch up and overtake. This is a particular problem for Nokia and RIM, companies that have to overcome some inertia to extend a successful product to meet the demands of the new market.

4. What impact will mobile technology have on the tech space in 2011?

There are exciting new mobile technologies coming in 2011. Clearly there is the introduction of LTE and 4G networks, though beyond speed improvements and perhaps video, it is hard to see at this point what the new applications will be, though there will be some. A very interesting area of mobile technology is the introduction of Embedded Mobile technologies into the device market. This will have a huge impact, I believe, on all kinds of industries; particularly on the healthcare, automotive and utility industries.

5. Where are the best opportunities in the tech space this year?

For Arbinet, there are excellent opportunities in providing outsourced telecom and infrastructure services to our customers. Generally within communications I would say that cloud computing, i.e. infrastructure as a service is a big opportunity, along with enabling technologies such as a carrier Ethernet. In the mobile area 4G, Embedded Mobile and increasing Enterprise use of mobile applications are excellent opportunities.

6. How can technology change the world for the better?

A huge benefit of communications technologies is that they increase social cohesion, both nationally and internationally. As communications technology advances, this process accelerates.

7. What impact has social media had on how you interact with your customers?  How do you measure its effectiveness?

We use social media to communicate and work with our customers, as well as market to them; Arbinet is very active on Twitter and LinkedIn. We measure success by the degree of feedback we receive as well as the usual business metrics.

8. How have you leveraged social networking as an internal collaboration tool?

Like most other companies in our sector, Arbinet uses a lot of IM and chat for internal collaboration as well as communication with customers. This has become an essential tool for most involved in our industry.

9. The FCC has recently voted to support net neutrality.  Is net neutrality necessary, or will it present more challenges than it will solve?

There are two important arguments in the net neutrality debate: the first is open structures that allow third parties to be involved are required if you wish to encourage the continuation of the wave of innovation that has characterized the development of the Internet. The second point is that underlying network providers, both fixed and mobile, need to be able to have good businesses in order to be able to invest in new technology and move forward. They cannot have the same ROI cycles as utilities, for example. These are two competing arguments that need to be balanced against each other in order for the industry to move forward; whether the FCC is best to do that is an open question. Clearly this will create challenges for all involved in the industry, but this is nothing new I think.

10. What will be the greatest technological development in 2011?  Why?

I think the adoption of tablets and mobile applications in the enterprise will be the most significant technological development of 2011. Why? Well, though we may see activity in some of the other exciting areas, some of those may take longer to have significant effect on the market.

11. Why is your session a must-attend at ITEXPO?

VoIP Peering is an excellent opportunity, which will allow providers and other organizations to lower their costs of termination and increase the quality of service delivered to customers, as well as internal users. My session will provide background information on how this process is going to be conducted and, in particular, how it might be integrated into the current environment.

12. What other topics should be at the top of attendees’ lists?

Generally, there are good presentations on Cloud Communications & Mobile Workforce, which are two areas that I have mentioned above as being interesting topics this year.

13. What new and exciting products/solutions can we expect to see from your company in 2011?

You can expect more products in the direction of outsourcing and management of interconnect relationships from us this year.

14. Please make one surprising prediction for 2011.

Social networking will not be as hot an area as people think it is!


Susan J. Campbell is a contributing editor for TMCnet and has also written for eastbiz.com. To read more of Susan’s articles, please visit her columnist page.

Edited by Janice McDuffee







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