SUBSCRIBE TO TMCnet
TMCnet - World's Largest Communications and Technology Community

CHANNEL BY TOPICS


QUICK LINKS




Share
January 18, 2011

Managed Service Programs to Launch at ITEXPO East

By Susan J. Campbell, TMCnet Contributing Editor

Technology trends shape much of what we do in our everyday lives, whether in business or personal endeavors. To determine what trends will emerge in 2011, it is necessary to revisit 2010 and learn from the past. According to Carl KS Teo, president and CEO of Ecocarrier (News - Alert), Inc., the significant technology trends in 2010 were enterprise social networking, public and private cloud computing, 360 security, the mobilization of the workforce, and more.




Teo recently participated in a TMCnet interview in anticipation of the upcoming ITEXPO East event. When asked about the impact of cloud computing on communications, Teo noted that it is a great leveler of the playing field for individuals and companies on the Internet throughout the world. As for the mobile winners in 2011, Teo believes the iPhone (News - Alert) will win in North America, while Android will lead globally.

When he was asked what format he reads his news, Teo noted he consumes his news digitally. He also believes tablets have great appeal for certain applications, yet he does not believe the usefulness will allow for a broad future. As for app stores and cloud computing, Teo believes they make the smartphone smarter and more useful. When asked about the impact of social media, Teo noted that customers are very much in charge and openness is important to success. His company has been using social networking internally with Eco123, which it also markets to customers. When asked about net neutrality, Teo highlighted that he agrees with the concept.

Teo was also asked about the greatest technological development in 2011, and he noted that he expects to see mobile broadband on demand made available to the user public at prices that are affordable in a number of countries. As for his upcoming appearance at ITEXPO (News - Alert), Teo participates because of the innovations in technologies, solutions, products and services. He also likes to meet with providers to identify partnering opportunities. Attendees should visit his booth to discover the comprehensive managed services that Ecocarrier delivers to resellers for peace of mind and additional revenue. Attendees will be presented with three managed service programs including a MasterAgent Service Program, MultiSuperSIM and Mobile Roaming Services Packages. More information on each is listed below.The entire conversation follows:

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

As far as business in the ICT space is concerned, the major significant technology trends in 2010 were enterprise social networking, public and private cloud computing, 360 security, mobilization of work force – from telework to telepresence, borderless business… the enterprise extended over the Internet, smart networks fueling smart economy, focus on green ob products, services, supply chain, etc., visual communication (seeing is believing) and machine-to-machine apps for use in wireless and mobile networks.

The overall impact or effect of these trends in 2011 and beyond will be in the generation of a greener, smarter, safer, friendlier, and more efficient global economy and a fairer, happier or less unhappy global community.

If I have to pick just one, it should be cloud computing, especially the public variety. This is, in fact, the nature of the business operation of the managed services that provide in service provision for voice, text and data communication.

Cloud computing is a general term for anything that involves the delivery of hosted services over the Internet. By and large, there are three categories of services: Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS), Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS).

A cloud service has three distinct characteristics that differentiate it from traditional hosting. It is sold on demand, typically by the minute or the hour; it is elastic -- a user can have as much or as little of a service as they want at any given time; and the service is fully managed by the provider. The consumer needs nothing but a personal computer and Internet access.

We do Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS).

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

Cloud computing in the form of Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) and Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) is a great leveler of the playing field for individuals and companies on the Internet in practically any country that want to be a service provider of services for voice, text, data communication and Web Conferencing in the telecom space.  The globalization effect or impact of cloud computing in this regard is enormous.

The barrier to entry into the service provision business is now made very low by cloud computing. Already it has enabled many new entrants in the business and it will continue to foster more participants and greater sophistication in the kinds of service features being offered in various spheres of applications.

In 2011, there will be more proponents in service provision business resulting in greater competition and great value proposition to the public user of the services.

All these developments will be very good for the consumer.

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

In 2011, in North America, the winner will be iPhone; globally, the winner will be smartphones that are compliant with Android OS.

In what format do you read your news and magazines (i.e., hard copy or digital)?  Why?

Digital, mainly due to time constraints. I read the news as I scan my inbox for e-mail messages.

Are tablets really the future?

Tablets have great appeals for certain applications in business, education and personal recreation activity. But I think its application usefulness is not broad enough to make it the future. 

Smartphone complemented with the increasingly large volume of apps trumps tablet even at tablet’s own game.

How will app stores change the future of computing?

Apps in app stores, especially the ones that work with cloud computing-based managed services, make smartphone smarter and more useful and make on-demand computing available to the user virtually anywhere.

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

Customers are now very much in charge. They can be heard around the globe and have an impact on a company, an institution or an organization in an instant.

People can find each other anywhere through social media and coalesce around you or against you.

“Markets are conversations." It is not marketing that we have to focus on. It is conversing that is important. Openness is important to the key to success.

Our efforts in implementation of marketing and business development and the measurement of their effectiveness with respect to social media are guided by the notions above stated.

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

For internal collaboration tool we use a Web Conferencing, webinar, collaboration tool that is based on a service platform that has been voted the best solution/service of its kind.

We resell the service under our own label Eco123 – a name specially chosen to highlight the fact that the service is ecologically friendly and easy to use as 123.

The use of Eco123 visual communications services reduces business travel across town, state, country or time zones and eliminates the carbon foot-print relative to the travels made unnecessary by the use of Eco123 service. 

The FCC (News - Alert) recently voted to support net neutrality. Is net neutrality necessary, or will it present more challenges than it will solve?

The principle net neutrality states that if a given user pays for a certain level of Internet access, and another user pays for the same level of access, then the two users should be able to connect to each other at the subscribed level of access and I agree with it. The network service provider will have to figure out how to implement such principle and yet remain competitive in the marketplace.

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

As far as Ecocarrier’s business and value proposition are concerned, we expect to see Mobile Broadband on Demand service to be made available to the user public at prices that are affordable in many more countries. This will be provided by 3G and 4G mobile network operators, not just the ones in the developed industrialized countries but also countries with emerging economy in Africa and Latin America. This will create an environment and ecosystem to speed up the adoption and propagation of the services for mobile commerce including mobile advertising, mobile payment and mobile conferencing services.

Users will increasingly demand that all communications – wireless, mobile, IP, TDM – must be implemented with acceptable level of security against intrusion of any kind in the wake of the recent publications by Wiki Leaks.

Why have you chosen to exhibit at ITEXPO East in Miami? 

We have exhibited at ITEXPO East for many years now. It is a tradeshow where one would go to find innovations of technologies, solutions, products and services and meet with providers to talk business of becoming reseller for them. Visitors may be people from any country.

We hope to find/meet new prospects to be strategic partners or resellers for our various managed services that all have been proven good business propositions that have become successful business endeavors for many of our customers.

Today we have a network of resellers in some 85 countries.

What is the most important reason attendees should visit your booth at ITEXPO?

We offer truly comprehensive managed services, based on Platform-as-a-Service Cloud Computing, that delivers to the resellers:

Peace of Mind with our reliable, high quality services at competitive rates (prices) and excellent Network Operation Center (NOC) support services

Additional revenue steam that is derived from reselling services provided by us (Ecocarrier) for voice, text, and data communication and Web Conferencing that are in high demand in all countries.

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

At ITEXPO East 2011, we will present three outstanding managed service programs that, we are sure, will be great revenue generators for the resellers:

a) MasterAgents Service Program for Prepaid PIN-less Telephone Service 

Ecocarrier’s MasterAgents Service Program for prepaid PIN-less telephone service allows a reseller to set up a network of Agents to offer telephone service provision to end users with ease and optimum operation and management efficiency. All operation and management activities are carried out in the MasterAgents Service Website. The master is the reseller; the agent may be an individual of a small retail outlet.

The outstanding features are:

  • Important and useful to the Reseller and Agents
  • Complete facility for on-line secured control and management for the provision of Agent accounts by the Reseller; an Agent account can be created in a matter of minutes
  • Complete facility for on-line secured control and management for the opening PIN-less accounts for end user customers by the Agent – Agent can act within certain framework of financial control, that is configured in the MasterAgents Service Website by the Reseller, to create a PIN-less account and sell credit to cover the usage by the account for/to an end user customer without having to consult the Reseller; the Agent can do the transaction in a matter of minutes;

Note that there is no need to have any physical inventory of telephone cards

Versatile billing software capability of the MasterAgents Service Program enables the Reseller to create a billing regime, that is required in their business competitive environment, so as to present to the end users the appearance of the best deal for calling certain destination countries or dial-codes; possible configurations include:

(i) Setting end user rates for certain dial-codes, in a granular fashion, that are the lowest in the market place, (ii) setting of the minimum number of seconds/minutes per call for purpose of minimum billing (iii) setting of the number of seconds per increment after the initial minimum billing (iv) setting of connection fee (v) setting of daily maintenance fee (vi) defining the minute in terms of seconds and (vii) inflated announcement of available call duration

Note that such billing regime configuration must be solely the decision and discretion of the Reseller who is solely responsible for such action.

An end user who has opened an account with one Agent may afterwards purchase additional credit amount for topping the credit amount in the account from another Agent; in such a scenario both the Agents are rewarded for the sales of the credit top-up in the form of a sales commission at percentages that the Reseller can configure in the MasterAgents Service Website.

Note that an end user account, when it is opened, belongs to the Master (i.e. the Reseller).

This is important to the end-user because:

  • Reliable, high-quality service at competitive per minute rates for making local, national and international calls;
  • No need to remember a 12-digit PIN or carry a prepaid telephone card with a PIN
  • No risk of losing the PIN or the prepaid calling card with the PIN and losing the remaining credit in the account
  • End user/subscriber can register up to five telephone numbers – fixed line or mobile – from which he/she can make telephone calls without having to enter PIN. Note: the Agent can register the five telephone numbers for the end user at the time of setting up the account;
  • Hot-line Calling Function that can be configured on-line by Agent for the subscriber for calling a Hotline Number at the time of account set up. Whenever the subscriber call from any of the 5 pre-registered telephone numbers to the access number, the call is automatically connected to the Hotline Number.

This facility enables the reseller to propagate their business worldwide effectively and efficiently in managed service model.

(b) MultiSuperSIM (labeled variously as SuperSIM, ShuttleSIM and RoamSIM)

MultiSuperSIM is a multiple-personality SIM. It has multiple International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI). It can be loaded/programmed with up to 256 IMSI, if necessary. Each IMSI is for a special purpose.

In its basic form MultiSuperSIM has 3 IMSI: one for it to do mobile roaming worldwide with the roaming support of some 560 Mobile Network Operators (MNO) of some 200 countries. It comes with a UK (+44) mobile telephone number and offers a host of cost-saving advantages (savings of 55 to 90 percent and great convenience features.

Another is for it to assume the profile of a local MNO in the USA which allows it to make international calls at extremely low cost rates while roaming in the USA. It comes with a USA (+1) mobile telephone number.

Yet another is for it to use data service at exceptionally low cost rates while mobile roaming in some 130 countries.

Special versions of the MultiSuperSIM have additional IMSI for it to assume the profile of MNOs of various other countries thus giving the users some added advantages for achieving even greater savings in making international calls when mobile roaming in certain countries.

Ecocarrier has a strategic alliance program that offers cooperation with MNOs of various countries to incorporate their IMSI in MultiSuperSIM for use by customers of MultiSuperSIM in joint marketing program that generates a great deal of additional revenues and profits to the cooperating MNOs.

(c) Mobile Roaming Service Packages

Ecocarrier’s mobile roaming SIMs and the relative services are designed for use by people who are mobile roaming – meaning they are away from or outside the mobile network of the Mobile Network Operator whose service they subscribe to normally. These people are therefore travelers or visitors to a foreign land or country for a short stay that ranges from a few days to a few months.

They can be grouped in various categories, namely:

  • Outbound travelers who go abroad to travel for business or for leisure as tourists;
  • Inbound travelers who arrive in a country from a foreign land/country to travel or tour the country of visit;
  • Students who go abroad to another country to attend schools, training or learning classes for education or edification;
  • Personnel of corporation as Road Warriors who are on an assignment or mission to do certain tasks in a foreign land/country.

Ecocarrier has designed service packages that cater to the above-mentioned kinds of target users of the mobile roaming service to meet their need for voice, text and data communication while traveling or mobile roaming.

The value proposition that Ecocarrier offers to them are the consistently high quality service at low prices that represent savings of 55 to 90 percent and useful enhanced service features that include:

  • On-demand on-line viewing of usage data and billing information;
  • On-line credit charge up, credit top-up scratch cards;
  • Alias personal telephone numbers available in/of some 550 cities of 65 countries worldwide – a great convenience feature that they can use to offer to the persons important to them or their business to call them by simply dialing a local telephone number.

(d) MData Service

MData is a Mobile Broadband on Demand prepaid service. It is available to the end user either as a standalone product or as part of Ecocarrier’s X-Dialer service package.

This unique plug and play data card product with over-the-air activation is very simple to use and is an ideal product/service package that any reseller in the ICT space can carry as part of their product/service line.

MData Service provides an easy way for individuals to access the Sprint mobile broadband network at their convenience. The solution is ideal for those who have infrequent or sporadic need for internet access when mobile.

It is complete with the following flexible, convenience features. The end user can:

  • Buy MData service off the shelf of a reseller
  • Activate that data card over-the-air
  • Select a specific data plan/Change their data plan
  • Buy additional MB when needed
  • Pay with credit card through Paypal on-line payment processing service
  • MData offers users an easy, economical way to access the Sprint 3G network in the USA when they need it, for as long as they need it.

(e) Eco123 Web Conferencing Service

Eco123 is an excellent Web Conferencing tool provided as managed service that possesses the following attributes on:

Security

ECO123 utilizes full AES 128-bit encryption combined with 1024 Bit AES Encryption to ensure all voice, video, and data are 100% secure. ECO123 is the only web based video conferencing tool to be fully certified to meet the Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) 140-2, Level 1. During the product conception phase, the developers were determined to make the security architecture the basis for the entire implementation. By building the security into the product from the beginning,we avoided the compromises necessary when trying to add security to an existing product. ECO123 is easily enhanced by adding new features, which will then sit atop the security architecture. ECO123 is designed to operate as either a service running off of our corporate servers or as an On Premises solution installed on the client’s servers. 

Audio and Video Quality - If members cannot be seen or heard...what is the point?

ECO123 offers clear CD quality sound and crisp high definition video imaging. Highly intuitive tools are built in to the product to allow all users to test and fine-tune both the audio and the video to meet their individual needs

(iii)  Ease of Installation and Use - How much time and money is wasted when a Web Conferencing                product takes longer to install and learn how to operate than conducting an actual meeting?

ECO123 is a single download solution for the entire suite of features.  Many other products require multiple downloads of different modules and network add-ons to achieve the same full featured delivery of ECO123's all-inclusive software.  ECO123 encourages potential clients to review our installation guide and training guides. We actually utilize these materials as a large part of our marketing materials.  One of our most successful installations consists of 500 users, all with disparate technical skills….installed and trained by a single individual, in conjunction with our client support staff!

(iv) Customer Support Services – Where is the support when you need it?

ECO123 offers support through numerous ways. Not only are we fully staffed in the United States, our customer support staff can be reached by phone, email, and even instantaneously through our secure instant messaging feature…. built right into the ECO123 product. There is no monthly or annual support fee. From product demonstration to installation and beyond, all support services are fully available at no additional charge.

(v) Depth of Features – What is the true cost of more features?

Since ECO123 includes everything in a single download, one never has to worry about the scalability of the product.  If you do not need a feature, you simply do not use it.  However, if ever you need a feature (e.g., Instant Messaging or Workspaces for real-time sharing of secure files) it is there.  Again, this is all included by default, at a single price, whereas other products require extra downloads and configurations to expand the product features to meet an organization’s ever changing needs.   

Price

At $29.95/month for the Professional user, $5.95/month for the Standard User and $0/month for Temporary users….for unlimited meetings.…ECO123 is the most affordable, feature rich, and secure web conferencing product available today!  It is as easy as adding a simple web camera to your existing laptop or desktop. All features, including unlimited playback and recording are included at one low monthly price.

Product Utilization

ECO123 allows you to conduct meetings from anywhere in the world, with anyone in the world…at anytime.  With ECO123, users can conduct virtual meetings while in a car, a train, or even on a flight – while still maintaining the FIPS 140-2, Level 1 security!

To find out more about Ecocarrier, visit the company at ITEXPO East 2011. To be held Feb. 2-4 in Miami, ITEXPO is the world’s premier IP communications event. Visit Ecocarrier in booth #616. Don’t wait. Register now.


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 Tammy Wolf

(source: http://hosted-voip.tmcnet.com/topics/hosted-voip/articles/135746-managed-service-programs-launch-itexpo-east.htm)








Technology Marketing Corporation

2 Trap Falls Road Suite 106, Shelton, CT 06484 USA
Ph: +1-203-852-6800, 800-243-6002

General comments: [email protected].
Comments about this site: [email protected].

STAY CURRENT YOUR WAY

© 2023 Technology Marketing Corporation. All rights reserved | Privacy Policy