Twitter is alive with talks of AT&T and how they are restructuring their cellular data plans. The new tiers are priced lower than what is offered today (200MB cap starting at $15/mo and 2GB cap starting at $25/mo, with a tethering plan TBA). There are changes to how overages will be handled, eliminating overage charges and instead tacking on an overflow plan (i.e. going over 2GB automatically adds a 1GB overflow for an additional $10).

The underlying message is clear. No more unlimited data plans. It is no secret that cellular voice is becoming a commodity and cell data usage is increasing at a record pace (some reported a 1400% increase in 3G due to the iPhone alone). Operators are looking to cash in on the shift from feature phones to smartphones (even my mom is ready for the iPhone, which is amazing to me), and this requires metered data usage.

I get it. You get it. We both know that while we probably use less than 2GB/mo today, that won’t last long, especially with video and more data hungry apps on the way. That $25/mo plan will be a distant memory.

You can keep these costs in check with WiFi. WiFi and WLANs are and will continue to be a major means to offload from the operator network. Even AT&T extols the virtues of WiFi in their press release:

“Wi-Fi will generally provide consistently fast speeds and does not count against a customer’s monthly data plan usage total.”

Smartphone users use their devices in-building about 66% of the time.  Take this as the opportunity to make your WiFi networks ready for the smartphone onslaught. Ensure they can support VoWLAN, and make it easier for smartphones to securely connect to the network (e.g. it is time to dispel with One Time Passwords and VPN over WLAN as the primary mode of security).

Smartphones today, be it Android, iPhone, or BlackBerry, support WiFi, WPA2-Enterprise, WPA2-Personal, and WMM QoS, so they can connect to almost any network securely and ensure both voice and data apps perform well.

Leading WLAN vendors have published design guides for dense WiFi deployment, and a few are linked here:

Cisco Design Guide

Aruba Design Guide

Meru Design Guide

Of course, I am compelled to plug Agito. Agito’s RoamAnywhere solution automatically and seamlessly moves VoIP and UC data (i.e. presence and IM) between WiFi, cellular, and 3G for all major smartphones. More information on our website.

Always interested in your thoughts and comments,

Pej

AT&T Press Release: READ

In the USA Today dated May 15th, 2008, there was a snapshot of a statistic on the front page that caught my eye. It read:

“Nearly 90% of US adults are cellphone users, up from 77% at the end of 2006. Phones used at home: 89% Cellphone and 79% Land line.”
Source: Harris Interactive survey of 9,132 adults conducted online between October 2007 and January 2008

What I’ve observing as a trend in communications is now clearly validated by this survey. In my own personal kith and kin, my parents no longer have a land-line telephone and use their mobile phone as their primary mode of communication. While my wife and I have a land-line telephone at home, we find ourselves using the mobile phone the vast majority of the time. And based on this survey, we’re not alone.

There are a suite of reasons why we are seeing a greater dependency on the mobile phone for our lives. It really comes to increased accessibility: We are constantly on the move, and getting a call on my land-line telephone would largely lead to the caller being dropped into voicemail, and we all know how much we hate to hear that automated greeting ourselves when we call others. The mobile phone has become the device that each of us carry wherever we go, making us easier to reach, and hence making it the primary phone for many of us. While I can call-forward my land-line phone to my mobile, this technique essentially minimizes the value of that land-line telephone, underscoring the importance of the cellular phone.

There are times, however, when the mobile phone presents challenges. Coverage issues (I have a tough time at home), controlling costs, and dealing with multiple numbers – one for work, one for home, and for my mobile), are issues that I didn’t have to deal with before.

Cell phones make me more mobile, and being mobile lets me get more “things” done in the same span of time. Somehow, having more spare time continues to elude me…

Sandeep

“I was struck by the relative silence from one group that, you’d think, would be playing a critical role in UC’s evolution–the carriers and service providers.”

“The question, however, is whether the carriers intend to become more active participants in the UC process. So far, there’s no evidence that they intend to do so.”

These statements came from a recent post by Eric Krapf, lead blogger for the new CMP site No Jitter.

He validated a couple of very key points for me:

• Carriers are focused on selling to consumers, not enterprises
• Enterprises need to look to in-house solutions for UC, and in particular mobility.

As highlighted in this article, enterprises have gone so long with IP Telephony that the carriers are falling far behind. IP Centrex, as referenced in the article, is really being positioned within enterprises as an SMB solution for limited deployment in the enterprise branch. This paradigm remains as the next evolution of mobile communications has arrived and users are increasingly mobile inside and outside the workplace. Enterprises are facing challenges dealing with user mobility, especially as users increasingly depend on their mobile phones for getting their jobs done.

To deal with some of these challenges, the requirements for UC, especially mobile UC are evolving and maturing. UC now allows the enterprise user to have a single, integrated identity for their IP phone line, their web and audio conferencing sessions, and their instant messaging and presence software. Without involving the carrier, this user identity is now centrally managed within the enterprise, tying in enterprise e-mail, enterprise voice mail, and UC systems to expose valuable features like Click2Call.

As far as enterprise-based UC solutions have evolved, enterprises did have some dependency on the carriers for a core part of their communications infrastructure, namely their enterprise mobile phones. But now these devices are available, and unlocked, from a variety of alternate distribution sources – as an example, I bought my phone, an unlocked dual mode phone from Nokia, from Dell. And it cost less than a similar model from a carrier that would require me to purchase a 2 year contract commitment.
I agree with Eric that the leaders within the UC space are still emerging and there is no one player that is ahead of the pack. But if you were a betting man, you’d move your money away from the carriers on this one. Momentum has shifted in the favor of enterprise-based UC systems, designed to easily mobilize mission critical enterprise applications like Business Voice.

But before innovative technologies introduced by upstart Agito Networks, enterprises were not fully able to realize the value of Mobile Unified Communications. Enterprises faced challenges with in-building coverage, disjointed mobility due to lack of integration of their mobile phone and the enterprise desk phone, lack of visibility and control with mobile usage, and mounting cellular costs. Agito Networks now brings patented technology to allow enterprises to maximize their value of their enterprise UC infrastructure. Here are the benefits Agito delivers with the RoamAnywhere Mobility Router:

1. Increased in-building wireless coverage by using enterprise WiFi for business voice when inside the building and cellular when outside the building, with fast, sub-100ms automatic handover as users move between WiFi and cellular. With Agito’s technology deployed in a large university on the East Coast, I was able to make and receive calls with superior call quality while down in the basement of their Engineering building with “zero” cellular coverage, on my Nokia E-90 dual-mode phone.
2. Complete integration of the enterprise desk phone with the user’s mobile phone, providing the user with one number (their enterprise number) for all communication. Agito has abstracted the mobile phone identity from the user, such that when calls come into the enterprise, the communications infrastructure, led by Agito’s Mobility Router, has the intelligence to route the calls over the best interface based on the user’s location.
3. Full control of their mobile phone infrastructure, which up till now was owned purely by the carrier. Enterprises now have the visibility of exactly how the mobile phone is being used anywhere using Agito’s robust policy and reporting suite, allowing them to modify cellular plans, and define better controls around usage.

In short, the gloves are off. Enterprises are taking control of their communications infrastructure and rolling out solutions that are highly integrated into existing enterprise services. Leading UC initiatives are being led out of enterprise equipment vendors such as (Agito partners) Cisco, Microsoft, Avaya, and carriers have taken a back seat. While it is true that the leadership around UC is up for grabs, all paths point towards the destination being an enterprise equipment vendor winning this race.

Sandeep

Ok, so there is technically no one gPhone, not yet anyway. But while many openly pan the Android announcement, I thought this is definitely a “game changing” event.

The nut of it is that the Open Handset Alliance (OHA) has announced Android, a linux-based, open platform for mobile phones. While details are slim today (the SDK is supposed to be available on the OHA website on 11/12/2007), it seems Android is as open as can be:

“The platform is every piece of software you need to build a cell phone,” added Andy Rubin, Google’s director of mobile platforms.

Excited? You should be.

An open platform will enable solution providers to continue to innovate with significantly more freedom. Today, feature phones (phones with closed operating systems) and smartphones (phones with an extensible operating system, like Windows Mobile or Symbian) have hardware and software access either

• intentionally crippled
• access blocked altogether

by the carriers. What is interesting is this is as frustrating to mobile phone manufacterers as it is to mobile phone users (consumers and enterprises alike). Just ask Ed Zander, CEO of Motorola:

“I hate my customers,” Zander recently huffed in reference to the carriers, according to The Wall Street Journal. (InformationWeek)

Android has the potential to end this type of arbitrary carrier blocking and tackling. As the Android folks will tell you, Android opens the door of possibilities, providing developers the capability to create new, innovative applications.

This is key to enterprises, large and small. Without a doubt more and more enterprises are mobilizing. I hear about it almost everyday from the many enterprises I speak with.

So is Android the enterprise mobility panacea? At this point, who knows? But it has the potential to make some very tough problems become very solvable. If the OHA can execute well, if its members can deliver in each of their areas, (namely handset vendors that deliver a variety of robust, aesthetically-pleasing, and ergonomic handsets) and if the carriers can resist the urge to lock down the OS (yes, it seems despite being an open platform, carriers may be able to close it), then the OHA has a real shot at not only delivering, but pushing other platforms, carriers, and handset manufacturers to do the same.

As Rob Markovich, our CEO, says, this is mile one in the marathon. I would like to think that with Android we are off to a solid 6-minute mile. Let’s see how the remaining 25 go.

Pej

It has been a while since I have had the chance to post. We have been working hard through launch, and speaking with loads of customer, press folks, and analysts over the last month. It has been fun, if not hectic.

As one of the founders of Agito, I was so excited to see our first trade show, the Mobile Business Expo at Interop New York, a few weeks back. Below are a few pictures (click the pictures for a larger image):

We were also honored to be selected as one of the “10 Head-Turning Products From Interop NY” by CRN. If you get a chance, you should take a look at our press coverage. The press, analysts, and much of the industry were eager to finally hear about what we were up, so the traction has been great.

What I learned:

• There is a lot of educating left to do. There was [is] a healthy chunk of enterprises that didn’t know it was possible to extend VoWLAN to dual mode phones, and have it operate seamlessly with any carrier network, all without needing to go through the carriers. The good news is that we are getting the word out, and enterprises are receptive to the message!
• Enterprises are willing to [further] invest in WiFi. I get asked quite a bit about why more enterprises have not deployed voice-ready WiFi networks, and how that impacts Agito’s solution. The answer is easy:
  

  Without an application that requires a voice-ready WLAN, like the Agito RoamAnywhere Mobility Router, enterprises don’t have a compelling reason to deploy one.

  The application drives the infrastructure, right? Every customer we met with at the Interop (and this carries across most every customer we have spoken with) was willing to augment their WLAN to make it voice-ready. They acknowledged WiFi is a low cost alternative to in-building cellular

• The carriers are “missing in action”. I was on a panel called “Strategies for Convergence” along with a major carrier (names intentionally left out to protect the, [dubiously] innocent) as well as a few carrier solution vendors. There was much debate around security, usability, cost savings, etc. but just before the session was over, an audience member asked each panelist to discuss pricing and availability of their solutions. When it came to the carrier to respond, he simply stated that he had no offering at present, and no offering planned for the near future. Most of us started chuckling, as did some of the audience, acknowledging the fact that carriers are more than happy to voice their opinions, but just aren’t able to get a solution for enterprise mobility designed and deployed.

From my perspective, it has been an exciting 18 months, from getting Agito started to the launch last month. There are real mobility challenges that enterprises need to address quickly, and we have developed groundbreaking, innovative technology to solve them. The excitement will be even greater in these next 18 months.

Pej

I have a rule when picking out a greeting card in the Hallmark isle – if I read a card and it makes me laugh out loud, I buy it. Something similar can be said about tech articles and blogs – if it makes me laugh out loud, why not blog about it?

I found myself in that situation last week reading Richard Martin’s InformationWeek Over the Air blog (see Carriers Still Not Jumping On Convergence Caravan). He was commenting on Infonetics Research’s findings that carriers claim to be jumping on the FMC bandwagon at a tune of 80% of them offering services over the next eight months. That wasn’t the funny part, although it did raise my eyebrows. What cracked me up was Mr. Martin’s editorialization:
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Upon returning from vacation, I read Business Communication Review Editor Eric Krapf’s post in earnest, and agree with his many insightful points about the cost savings of offloading business cellular calls to a voice over WLAN implementation. In addition, he cites data from Nokia on the percentage of workers using their cell phone for work, and the difficulties enterprises have in nailing down just how many cell phone users they have.
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