| |
If you are having trouble viewing this email,
please click here to view it in your browser. |
|
 |
 |
|
|
 |
Expansion
of NexTone Partnership and Announcement of Co-marketing
Agreement
 Earlier
this year, General Telecom’s parent New
Global Telecom announced a partnership with NexTone
to deliver the IPartition services suite. Last
month, NGT also selected NexTone’s iVMS
management system to complement the company's
Multiprotocol Session Controller (MSC) and increase
the functionality of the new IPartition service.
Following close collaboration between NexTone
and New Global Telecom, from identifying business
requirements through development, NGT will benefit
from newly developed iVMS functionality. As a
result, the popular IPartition service will include
expanded customer web-interfaces and front-end
capabilities, powered by NexTone's software solution.
NexTone and New Global Telecom have also entered
into a co-marketing agreement to embark on joint
marketing efforts. This includes collaborative
product development to enhance NGT's monitoring
and surveillance services on the NexTone platform,
and joint sales initiatives to promote our managed
service offerings.
"We are pleased to collaborate with NGT on
product, sales and marketing fronts," said
Hank Firey, chief executive officer of NexTone.
"The outsourced services model offered by
New Global Telecom demonstrates our ability to
tailor our products for each customer, and to
make them readily available and economical for
smaller and mid-size carriers."
For more information about IPartition,
please see a Phone+ article, "VoIP
Enters the Neutral Zone: Interconnection Providers
Launch More Carrier-Agnostic Peering Options",
or contact Brian
Holburn or Randy
Weinberger.
Back to top
|
|
|
General
Telecom Grows VoIP Services — Virtual Number
NX & VoIP NOC Services
General Telecom has been rapidly
evolving its full range of TDM and IP services
to continue to meet the needs of the marketplace.
General Telecom recently introduced Virtual Number
NX as a service that enables international VoIP
telephony service providers &/or IP carriers
to provision U.S. phone numbers over the public
internet.
VoIP telephony service providers want to offer
virtual U.S. phone numbers and the ability to
place U.S. intra-country calls from a SIP or H.323
device anywhere in the world. Virtual Number NX
delivers simple, rapid access to over 300 U.S.
markets and optional competitive U.S. domestic
termination rates. By utilizing Virtual Number
NX, IP carriers eliminate the requirement for
capital investment in U.S.-based infrastructure.
In addition, General Telecom recently developed
VoIP NOC services to assist IP carriers seeking
24x7 NOC support for their IP network elements.
The low-cost, 24x7 live monitoring enables you
to maintain disparate IP network elements –
without hiring additional expert staff. Included
with the service is comprehensive trend reporting
to help you identify potential problems before
they impact your traffic and revenue streams.
Last, but not least, General Telecom recently
implemented Switch Management’s WebCDR as
a front-end solution for invoicing and billing.
Adam Nathanson, Switch Management’s CEO,
explains, “With WebCDR Private Label, resellers
like General Telecom can differentiate themselves
in the marketplace by offering a complete, company-branded
billing service to their customers. By adopting
WebCDR Private Label, partitioners and hardware
vendors can offer a turn-key switching solution,
thereby avoiding protracted sales cycles that
invariably result when clients must procure their
own billing system.”
For more information about any of these new services,
please contact sales@gentel.net
.
Back to Top
|
|
|
New
Customers — Across General Telecom's TDM
and IP Product Suite
 Stratos
Global Corporation, headquartered in Bethesda,
MD, recently purchased General Telecom’s
traditional network management services. As one
of the world's leading remote communication solutions
providers, Stratos specializes in mobile and fixed
remote communications solutions for government,
enterprise, and individual customers operating
beyond the reach of traditional terrestrial telecommunications.
The company is a vertically integrated satellite
and microwave global service provider that owns
and operates its own telecommunications facilities,
shares infrastructure with other carriers, or
distributes the services of other network operators.
“We chose the General Telecom solution for
its ability to meet a wide array of network management
services including co-location, TDM infrastructure
and diverse signaling needs,” stated John
Mackey, Senior Vice President and Chief Technology
Officer. “The services enable us to focus
on our customers in remote areas, and transport
their calls anywhere in the world across traditional
and next-generation networks.” For more
information about Stratos please visit www.stratosglobal.com.
 SethComm
is the Pay-per-call provider for the state of
New York and bills services nationwide. SethComm
is also a new switch partitioning and network
management services customer. Recently formed
to fill a need in the pay-per-call industry, SethComm
was founded by industry veterans and is already
on track to invoice in excess of $30 million this
year – all through General Telecom’s
switches. “I could have used any switching
company but I chose General Telecom for their
reputation,” stated David Kaiser, President/CEO
of SethComm. “The General Telecom team has
been exceptional, especially in customizing our
CDR formats so that we can provide direct-LEC
billing. Across the board, the GT customer service,
NOC, billing and sales teams are truly invaluable.”
For more information about SethComm, please call
610-974-8076 or email sethcomm@aol.com.
 Mendquest
Telecom is a recent IPartition customer from Florida.
“We needed a quick solution for switching,
and General Telecom came recommended from an associate,”
stated Julian Ospina, President of Mendquest.
“The IPartition service has some great functionality
– we like the masking capabilities so that
our customers/vendors signal to one IP address,
and we look forward to some of the developments
underway to expand the product suite.” Mendquest
is an international wholesale telecommunications
services provider to carriers in the United States.
For more information about Mendquest, please contact
carriers@mendquest.com.
 ZivVa,
headquartered in Atlanta, GA, is another new IPartition
service customer. Founded in 2003, ZivVa uses
VoIP technology to provide international virtual
numbers as a high-quality, cost-effective alternative
to traditional phone services. “General
Telecom’s IPartition service enables us
to extend our product reach by peering with other
IP providers,” stated Robert Bedell, Senior
System Architect. “Our goal is to bring
people closer together, regardless of where they
live in the world – and we do that by having
a robust set of quality services that reach international
communities of interest.” For more information
on ZivVa’s services, please contact sales@zivVa.com
or visit www.zivVa.com.
Back to Top
|
|
|
Carriers
& Cocktails — New York Networking
Fifteen companies attended a spontaneous
networking event on Thursday, November 18th. The
event, dubbed “Carriers & Cocktails”,
was organized by General Telecom and took place
at Rumors – a mid-town Manhattan Pub &
Eatery. “It’s always great to get
together in a casual setting with colleagues in
the industry,” stated Randy Weinberger,
General Telecom’s Director of Sales. “We
were thrilled with the number of carriers that
were able to attend, so much so that we plan to
do this again.” If you are interested in
attending the next Carriers & Cocktails, please
contact Randy
Weinberger or Brian
Holburn, or email sales@gentel.net.
Back to Top
|
|
|
|
 |
Leveraging
the Shifting Paradigm for International Wholesale
The Wholesale Carrier market has been a very dynamic
place since inception. Deregulation, new transport
capacity availability on both fiber and satellite,
high density multiplexing equipment, arbitrage
opportunities, and “Gray Market” international
gateways created a new class of “Carriers’
Carriers”. The intense competition for a
limited pool of international minutes led to enormous
drops in the price per minute to almost every
international destination. In the last two to
three years, the wide adoptation of Voice Over
Internet Protocol (VoIP) equipment has accelerated
these market forces and is driving a host of changes-
inefficiency is being driven out of the supply
chain; gross margins on minutes are getting smaller;
and large European Carriers are pulling out of
the International Wholesale business. The fundamental
question has now become: Can you make money
in this environment? The answer is yes, if
you adapt to the new realities of the marketplace.
Not only is there money to be made, but there
is consistent year-after-year increases in the
number of terminated international voice minutes.
Here’s General Telecom’s tips for
maximizing margin:
- Move Quickly
Today’s wholesale market is more dynamic
than ever. Five years ago, a direct route could
take 90 days to build out. Today with VoIP,
a direct route can come online in a few days.
In the past, a carrier typically had exclusive
access to a remote direct route. Today, a terminator
can open up a route to multiple carriers. The
key to succeeding in this fluid marketplace
is the ability to react quicker than your competition.
A carrier that can quickly provision, test and
send traffic to a new route will be in a better
position to have exclusive access to that route.
If a far end terminator is satisfied with the
amount of traffic he is receiving, there is
no need for him to look elsewhere. A VoIP switching
infrastructure that adapts to most signaling
protocols and codecs will allow you to quickly
bring up routes quickly and change route priority
in real time.
- Keep Fixed Costs
as Low as Possible
Local Loops, Signaling Links, Long Term Leases,
Power, Environmentals, and Head Count all add-up.
Moving to a VoIP-centric network will help to
eliminate local loops and out-of-band signaling
costs. Outsourcing your operations will minimize
or eliminate the rest. Many outsource network
providers have adapted a success-based pricing
model which will help you get started with low
upfront costs that scale with your business’
growth.
- Take Advantage of
Traditional TDM Carriers
While many of the major carriers in the U.S.
have announced a move to VoIP, many have still
not implemented a true VoIP solution. This leaves
them at a distinct disadvantage in terms of
price competitiveness and flexibility compared
to a VoIP-centric carrier. Take advantage of
this opportunity. By having the ability to offer
a traditional TDM (T1-SS7) interconnect to traditional
carriers a wholesaler can have access to a tremendous
amount of minutes that many of its 100% VoIP
competitors do not. Often times these minutes
can be sold at a premium rate while at the same
time offering predictable levels of organic
or retail traffic.
- Quality Still Counts
It is important to remember that customer demand,
while price driven, is very sensitive to quality.
No matter how competitive your prices are, you
will not keep a customer for very long if your
routes do not work with a high degree of reliability.
If you are building an in-house network, make
certain that you build it with a high degree
of reliability. Use only licensed equipment
with the latest software loads. Make sure you
have spare equipment on hand in case you have
a hardware failure. It is also critical to have
the ability to reach out to your hardware and
software vendor’s customer service. If
you outsource, make sure your outsource partner
has the capabilities & experience to run
a carrier class network. Speak to their existing
customers and if possible, visit their facilities
- remember you will be trusting them with your
business. It is important to remember that wholesale
voice is a 24-7 service. In fact most Tier 2
and prepaid calling card traffic is generated
on nights and weekends. It will be important
to have customer service coverage at these times
as well as trained technicians available to
troubleshoot and proactively address more serious
issues.
For more information, or to discuss
this topic further, please contact Randy Weinberger
at 646-328-5835 or rweinberger@gentel.net.
Back to Top
|
|
|
 |
Upcoming Tradeshows
The busy fall tradeshow season is
wrapping up - Rich Grange, Pres/CEO and the sales
teams of both General Telecom and parent NGT have
been on the road non-stop! To view Rich Grange’s
presentations from recent shows (Comptel/Ascent,
Internet Telephony, USTA, BroadSoft Connections,
etc…) please click here.
To catch the team at upcoming shows, see the items
listed below.
PTC '05 Broadband and Content: From Wires
to Wireless
Dates: January 16-19, 2005
www.ptc.org/PTC05/program/index.html
Hilton Hawaiian Village in Honolulu, HI.
Service Providers, ISPs, competitive carriers
and long-distance service providers are faced
with the challenge of growing revenues and attracting
new customers while working within tight budgets
and ensuring continuous, solid delivery of existing
services to their current customer base. This
is a difficult balancing act! Rich Grange, Pres/CEO
will be addressing the topic “Exploiting
VoIP Markets — The Art of Balance”
during the always well-attended show in Hawaii
.
 Comptel/Ascent
Spring 2005
Dates: February 14-17, 2005
Morial Convention Center
New Orleans, LA.
The market for VoIP services is growing at a terrific
pace, by any measure – and yet we are only
at the leading edge of the market adoption curve.
Service Providers correctly regard VoIP as a powerful
mechanism for acquiring new customers and creating
stickiness to retain existing customers longer.
At the same time, however, VoIP is not
traditional telephony service in many important
respects, so profitable entry into this marketplace
should be preceded by consideration of a number
of factors that may not all be obvious at the
outset. Rich Grange will lead a workshop on Monday,
February 14th to address the issues every service
provider should consider when launching VoIP Services.
If you'd like to meet with General Telecom at
any of these shows, please send an email to sales@gentel.net
or call 303-239-1025.
Back to Top
|
|
|
|
 |
Sources for VoIP News
VoIP is evolving rapidly with new services, new
partnerships, and new opportunities hitting the
market each day. With so much information out
there, how can you stay on top of the areas important
to you? We find that subscribing to relevant newsletters
and visiting news-sources can be valuable for
staying abreast of the changes in your markets.
With this in mind, here's a partial list of VoIP
sources that we find valuable.
This list covers various markets,
and is by no means all-inclusive, but is a helpful
guide for various sources of information. If you
have comments about the list, please let us know
by emailing solutions@ngt.com.
Back to Top
|
| |
|
|
You are subscribed
to General Telecom's and New Global Telecom's
newsletter list, and will receive approximately
one email a month as part of this subscription
-- including the In the Loop Newsletter focused
on carrier issues and 6DegreesIP News focused
on VoIP. If this newsletter has been forwarded
to you and you would like to subscribe, please
click here: subscribe@gentel.net.
If you wish to unsubscribe, please click unsubscribe@gentel.net.
If you prefer to speak with General Telecom directly
please call 303-239-1025. General Telecom, 600
12th St, Suite 200, Golden, CO 80401.
www.gentel.net |
|
|
|
|
|
|
