UK people who are looking to purchase a new home that they should not “let poor broadband coverage stop them.

Buying their dream house” because Satellite based solutions, some of which can offer download speeds of up to 10Mbps, are already available to everybody.

The comments were made in reaction to our February 2011 survey (here),

Which reported that 73.9% of respondents viewed broadband as being “Critically Important” to their home life.

The ISPs press release mistakenly states the figure as 93.9% and almost half (49.5%) would pay more for a house with faster broadband than they currently have.

Satellite is now significantly more affordable and faster than it was just five years ago.

Although as a value proposition it’s nowhere near being the cheapest or most flexible (small usage allowances, high latency etc.).

Naturally these are serious considerations, especially for lower income groups and people in urban areas whereSatellite services often play second fiddle to superior fixed line solutions.

It should be remembered that slow speeds are by no means isolated to rural areas.

Hunt makes a perfectly valid point about broadband speeds and availability, although consumers do tend to select their ISP based on other factors too, affordability, flexibility and service quality are often also cited as key considerations.

With ITW 2010 just two weeks away, Jaymie Scotto & Associates is sure you are scheduling meetings with the fierce veracity of the business you will be doing at this leading global event for the wholesale telecom industry.  The Marriott Wardman Park will be a flurry with men and women in suits doing deals.  But in order to do deals – you need to know the companies that you can do business with.  Here are six companies that  Jaymie Scotto and Associates say you may want to consider meeting:

Allied Fiber -spearheading the US Nation’s first long-haul dark fiber network system in over 10 years, this company is building a next-generation dark fiber network that will circumvent the United States providing access to all types of communication companies including carriers, service provides, mobile operators, microwave operators and more.  Allied Fiber is changing the way that networks are built in the US.  It is ‘America’s All Access Network’ bridging the communications gap between the middle mile and local mile together with International submarine cable systems – coast-to-coast.  Simply search for ‘Allied Fiber’ in the DealCenter to request a meeting.

Arbinet- No longer just the voice exchange that was launched in the late ’90’s – in the past year+ the company has transformed itself into a leading service provider and partner enabling companies, large and small, to leverage its world class infrastructure to achieve greater ROI on global termination of international voice minutes.  Connecting customers now companies have the control they require, with the intelligence to support them – without the traditionally heavy operating expenses.  You will want to find out about their premium voice services, carrier services, private exchange, mobile routes and developing products that will help you get the most out of your minute margins.  Oh – and their Data Exchange and IP solutions are cool too.  Simply search for ‘Arbinet’ in the DealCenter to request a meeting.

Hibernia Atlantic- The company has transformed substantially in the past year.  It’s Project Kelvin – submarine cable system connecting Northern Ireland to North America and Europe is now live.  The company also acquired MediaXstream in December 2009 bringing them into the media space.  The company has re-branded this group to Hibernia Media.  With services ideal for the financial industry - Hibernia’s Global Financial Network, for the streaming media/content industry – Hibernia Media and its wholesale carrier services via its leading transatlantic network, this is a company you will want to get to know – again.  Simply search for ‘Hibernia’ in the DealCenter to request a meeting.

Lexent Metro Connect- want to provide custom services and solutions in the New York Metro market?  Then this is the company you need to know.  Lexent Metro Connect constructs and operates its own dark fiber network throughout the NY Metro market.  It has the ability to build and design custom solutions ensuring the lowest latency through the shortest path.  Simply search for ‘Lexent’ in the DealCenter to request a meeting.

PacketExchange - This company has been quietly building an enhanced value global IP and Ethernet network based on its vast peering relationships and solutions.  In February 2010 the company acquired Mzima Networks, a provider of layer-2 Ethernet solutions throughout the US with reach to Asia and Europe.  With PacketExchange’s roots in Europe, the combined company has the ability to provide end-to-end bandwidth solutions to meet any growing network demand.  Simply search for ‘PacketExchange’ in the DealCenter to request a meeting.

Tinet Tinet, formerly the carrier arm of Tiscali Group, is the only global carrier exclusively committed to the IP and Ethernet wholesale market. With network presence and customers in EMEA, Americas and APAC, Tinet provides global IP Transit and Ethernet connectivity to Carriers, Service and Content Providers worldwide, within 7 working days. The carrier guarantees customers proactive management of SLAs and protection from dDoS attacks.  Simply search for ‘Tinet’ in the DealCenter to request a meeting.-

Of course these are Jaymie Scotto & Associates’ recommendations – there are many others to meet with as well.  You can download a list of all companies and attendees through the DealCenter – this way you can plan your meetings more effectively and ensure you get deals done.   And if you’re not going to ITW (a. you will be missed, b. still time to plan) you can request a meeting with these companies directly by visiting their websites.  Hope to see you in DC – May 24-26, 2010!  

Need help?  Want more information about ITW or these companies?  email: support@deal-center.com

DIDXchange will be at ITW at bilateral table A378, Hall A. See the complete list of exhibitors and sponsors at http://www.internationaltelecomsweek.com. Connect with the ITW Facebook business networking group now.

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I started recording this section with John Todd’s slide Multi-Dimensional Niche: Mobile! Open BTS for example is a GSM bay station. This was available to cell phones at Burning Man via the IP side. Calls went out over Asterisk and then to a WIFI trunk and then to a SIP termination provider. Check out more information on telephony at Burning Man on Brad Templeton’s website at http://www.templetons.com/pq/.

Stand-Alone Niches

1. Analog to SIP

2. Failover as core or edge

3. SBC-ish tasks

4. Multi-tenant aggregator

5. Semi-intelligent edge router (E911)

6. H323 to SIP

7. SIP/ISDN to SS7

An asterisk machine goes for $500 with 24 channels… session border controller-ish tasks, hide topology, protocol conversion …

You’ve got to listen to his description of a customer of SIP and ISDN and their success using the latest version of Asterisk with 8.6 million calls in 10 weeks with no down time. Who are the Asterisk-based providers serving? Call centers, calling card platforms overseas, alternative to traditional PBX, They are often a part of the Asterisk developing community. They have hired many of the original developer hackers of the Asterisk community.

Find out why Asterisk is more relevant than ever. Watch the four clips I recorded at ISPCON in San Jose, CA in November 2008.

(My colleagues Anne Tredway and Bryan Coburn and I recorded 50 or so videos of ISPCON participants. ISPCON holds a secret stash of telecommunications intelligentsia. This was the first time we attended, and we look forward to next year.)

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ohn starts his presentation with something like … instead of fearing PBX vendors who offer an alternative to traditional PBX, go the easy route and make them your ally. Resell IP PBX from an outsourced vendor and ensure quality of service since you control the network as an ISP.

On the other hand, John says, “Mobile phones fail on service and flexibility.”

(I was wondering if he has tried the Nokia e61i? I have one since May 2008 and find it a very useful and flexible tool. But then again, it is very difficult to find one. They are more popular in Europe and Asia and more easily available there from the local mobile companies. See my blog posts on mobile voip at http://suzanne.supertec.com/search?q=mobile+voip.)

Todd believes the mobile phone has not replaced the landline as the top choice of telephony. He mentions the IPhone as an example of inflexibility for business use.

(Check out the article that compares a Blackberry Storm to an IPhone at http://www.newsoxy.com/blackberry/article11516.html.)

Asterisk assists you to provide more interesting services more quickly. No matter where you use Asterisk whether at the customer premise or in your switching center, Asterisk can make your company clearly a better choice unless your competition also uses Asterisk.

John Todd states, “In which case, you’ve got to rely on that fundamental that you’ve got which is the network.”

And I guess he means here that the better quality your network and because of the control that ISPs have to manage their network, the better they can compete with other ISPs who use Asterisk who may not manage as well. But I personally think that customer service and company leadership matter just as much.

Most ISPs in the audience at ISPCON are selling PBX services and POTS and really SIP trunking which displaces existing vendors is basically what John added. He shared a chart with us

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John usually talks to audiences who are very unhappy because they don’t own the network nor have control over QoS, but WISPs and other ISPs attending ISPCON are in control and do own the network. The voice they sell can be as good or bad as they are willing to enable with the power they have.

Asterisk is a viable tool to provide voIP. Often used as a telephony toolkit, as voie application, set of APIs, and PBX. Decide to make the call go over SIP or PRI or SS7 link. The APIs give call control over other interfaces for web 2.0 apps, pre-existing database to make calls out… The PBX is very popular worldwide.

“You’re using Asterisk. You just don’t know it.”

Asterisk experienced more than a million downloads in 2008. Watch the video for more info and stats. This video was recorded by me Suzanne during ISPcon 2008.

If you the ISP or WISP is not using and selling Asterisk-based product, who is? That’s a question Todd posed. I would say, “Someone is. No, many are.”