IP Communications Heat Wave

Dallas in July. For a Northeastern boy — born and raised — the specter of traveling someplace that’s known in part for its inhospitable weather is not something I ever look forward to. But as luck would have it, Dallas wasn’t just hot when I traveled there at the end of July. It was record setting hot. 105-degrees in the shade hot. And yet, being the glass half full kind of guy that I am, I feel fortunate that I was not there the following week, when the temperatures reached 110 degrees.

Heat notwithstanding, the trip to Dallas was well worth the effort. Not only did I attend the ABP (News - Alert)-sponsored reseller focused event IP Sizzles, I also had the opportunity to stop in and call on a number of industry players in the greater Dallas area.

Fujitsu

Fujitsu Network Communications (News - Alert) recently announced that they would expand manufacturing capacity at their Richardson, Texas, headquarters. This stands in stark contrast to many other manufacturers, who continue to offshore their production capabilities to areas outside of the United States. Plans call for Fujitsu to shift the production of several important optical and electronic components from Europe and Japan to the U.S., creating nearly 70 new professional and production jobs in Richardson. The company believes this will improve their ability to respond to highly variable global demand, by improving operating efficiency.

My colleagues and I took a tour of the manufacturing facility. The tour, led by Fujitsu’s Danna Melcher provided a very interesting look at how the company produces its various network elements. Fujitsu’s senior manager of media and analyst relations Bob Laurent explained that the company is, “bucking the trend of outsourcing overseas.”

“If done correctly,” Laurent added, “manufacturing can be a very strong asset and key differentiator for a company, and we believe it’s a strategic advantage that we bring to the table.”

Aastra (News - Alert)

For those who may have missed it, Aastra acquired the Enterprise Communication Business of Ericsson this past spring. The acquisition allows Aastra to extend its presence in Western Europe as well as Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa, Asia Pacific (including Australia and New Zealand) and North and South America.

EVP & General Manager Dana Call says the acquisition will not only create opportunities in the installed base, but also generate new business from larger businesses wanting to deploy smaller solutions to remote offices.

“The key thing is evolution,” Call said. “A well thought out, well planned approach will offer customers investment protection. We plan to lay out a road map that will allow customers to utilize new technology and new products that they can use in a way that makes sense for them.” Call also stressed the importance of open standards as a key value for Aastra.

“Open standards are critical for enabling the company to compete,” she said. “We make one line of sip phones and we compete across the phone business. Likewise on the switch side — openness breeds confidence that the solution will work in a customer’s environment.”

Texas Instruments (News - Alert)

No visit to Texas would be complete without a visit to Texas Instruments (TI). I had the chance to meet with Kim Devlin Allen, who heads up business development for TI’s CPE VoIP Communications Infrastructure and Voice DSP systems.

Among other things, we discussed the company’s recent announcement of the Modular Open Voice Engine (MOVE) software, a voice solution ported to run on TI’s C64x DSP core. The offering is designed to allow IP phone manufacturers to customize high-quality voice, video, and multimedia capabilities for their customers. Devlin- Allen said that over time, as the C64x platform evolves, it “can be utilized to enable any voice IP-based endpoint to come in to play.”

She gave the example of emerging video phones, and pointed out that streaming video is another good early indicator of the adoption of video. “Our technology,” she said, referencing the C64x, “gives customers the flexibility to add in these features and allows them to be cutting edge as they bring video into play.” Devlin-Allen also referenced the recent news that Polycom (News - Alert) had selected TI DSP technology to power its new SoundPoint IP 670 desktop phone, explaining that the two companies together share a similar vision of improving and pushing HD and high-quality voice to the enterprise.

Nortel (News - Alert)

I also stopped by the Richardson offices of Nortel. It’s no secret Nortel maintains a strong focus on Enterprise, tied in with the company’s well-publicized unified communications (UC) initiatives, focusing on accelerating communications into business.

I asked David Murashige (News - Alert), Nortel’s Vice President for Global Enterprise Channels if customers knew enough about unified communications to determine if they have a need for it in their enterprise. According to Murashige, “people are aware that business processes can be positively impacted by communications and that latency in business process is surmountable by UC, but it is perhaps not commonplace,” which leads to a need for continued education of the marketplace.

Nortel is in an exciting place as the company transitions into new style of business, vastly different from what they were 30 years ago. The company is evolving, becoming more of a software business over time. Murashige pointed out that as opposed to a strict focus on “big boxes,” Nortel is becoming more of a software company, “offering prepackaged applications and solutions for people who want to streamline development to whatever business process functionality they wish to affect.” An example of this is the fact that Nortel is increasingly partnering with strategic integration companies, such as the IBM (News - Alert)’s of the world, and really opening the door by embracing SOA to really drive innovation at business process level.

All in all Dallas was hot — but more so than the outside temperature. My time in Texas showed me that innovation is continually taking place and that the future of IP communications is constantly evolving, driven by innovative people at some innovative companies. IT

– Greg Galitzine (News - Alert) is Editorial Director for TMC.

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