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December 2008 | Volume 11/ Number 12
Publishers Outlook

Dialogic: Video is the New Voice

One of the more exciting conferences I attended lately was the Dialogic One Event at the Hotel Del Coronado in San Diego, CA (News - Alert). Rob Martinez, VP Sales Americas kicked off the event, speaking to global partners from over 125 companies who were in attendance at the kickoff session. Martinez thanked the enthusiastic crowd and sponsors and explained what we would see over the next few days. After a short intro, Martinez handed the microphone and stage over to Nick Jensen (News - Alert), the President and CEO of Dialogic.

Jensen was right at home on the stage and as always, was full of passion and enthusiasm. He explained we should watch our costs but keep our long-term vision. Now is a good time to reevaluate business models and think about things like adding video to your solutions. Jensen said video is the future for his company and as an industry we need to focus on it. He said, “If you are in the voice or fax business, I urge you to consider video as it will be crucial at some point soon.” He believes video will hit 3G handsets before the enterprise deploys it en masse.

He also discussed how as they progress in this space, Dialogic (News - Alert) may acquire and/or build products organically. He said that when you produce video applications, you need to create demand. “Most people don’t know why they need video,” he exclaimed. He went on to discuss how caller ring back tones are an example of an application which we could not foresee. “Teenagers are now driving this six billion dollar market today,” he explained. Jensen then brought up video caller ring back tones. Do we want to see this? He says most people will not, but family members just might.




Jensen explained his company plays in the edge network space — where customers buy the media and signaling components from Dialogic. He says that the edge will grow and call centers will soon upgrade as well to add video capability, adding emphatically, “Video is the new voice and a will be a huge platform going forward.”

Video is incremental — it doesn’t replace voice or fax or cannibalize it, said Jensen, who explained how a 3G video-enabled phone could be used to video record a problem and send it to a call center. At this point a video call can be initiated and the customer can have their problem solved in real time — while looking a call center agent in the virtual “eye.” He envisions global mass contact center upgrades as the movement to video proceeds. Similarly – in talking about how 3G gaming allows multiplayer functionality and the future is HD gaming and video – he said you will be able to look someone in a gaming room “in the eye” on an iPhone (News - Alert) or Blackberry Bold. He alluded to strategy games such as poker where seeing the opponent’s face makes the experience better for all involved.

In the future, Jensen sees P2P video conferencing/collaboration being a huge opportunity. Virtual tours of hotels (I would add real estate) are a great example. He also thinks social and dating applications are a natural and he reiterated that people may not know they need it but once they try it, they want it.

Dialogic is betting a great deal on video. In less than a year the company expects to be a major player in the space. Applications discussed and profiles built into the Dialogic platforms include mobile video streaming, desktop video conferencing and IPTV (News - Alert). The audience witnessed mobile video demonstrations based on Dialogic technology and the competition. The company’s solutions seem to really excel when network conditions are less than perfect.

I get the feeling the video market is hitting critical mass. With standards in place, powerful devices with bigger screens and 3G and 4G networks springing up around the globe, there is no reason to think there won’t be a slew of new multibillion dollar applications we can’t even conceive of yet.

If Jensen is right and (mobile) video is the new voice, then we will see the IP communications market enjoy massive resurgence once again. After all, the market for conferencing, video and collaboration is already exploding with growth. When you add in mobility the potential seems to grow exponentially. IT

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