Category Archives: Startups to Watch

2021 Review from the CXTech Newsletters

This weblog provides a round-up of the main programmable communications headlines through 2021. It’s been another busy year. Identity verification keeps getting hotter and could enter a phase of industry convergence in 2022 between enterprise / web and programmable communications industries. We’re already seeing similar convergence from the cloud infrastructure providers like AWS, Microsoft and […]

The Enterprise Telecoms Revolution. A Potted History of Programmable Telecoms.

Before we start, do not worry about all the acronyms in this potted history of Programmable Telecoms, there is an irreverent acronym list at the end of this weblog to help you through them. And yes, this is a long weblog, at 4k words it should take about 20 minutes to read, but its easy […]

What is it that you do?

I’m asked this question surprisingly often, “Alan, what is it that you do?” My stock answer is, “I wander the world helping people.” Which generally results in a wry smile from those who know me; else a questioning or annoyed look from someone who was expecting a straightforward answer to a straightforward question. When I […]

UCaaS is a subset of CPaaS

Its always before Enterprise Connect the confusion on CPaaS (Communications Platform as a Service) and UCaaS (Unified Communications as a Service) rises. Here are two simple definitions: UCaaS is a PBX in the cloud, its a telecom application (granted a complex one, but a telecom app nonetheless). CPaaS is a telecom application server in the […]

The Rainbow of Programmable Telecoms

Its been a busy summer across preparations for TADHack Global, TADSummit and the day job of helping people around the world build new businesses and services in programmable telecoms. Plus here in the US with the long summer holidays a succession of camps and baby sitters to keep the kids occupied and not watching TV or […]

Restconn 2017

I attended Restconn 2017, this weblog provides quick review and some context on what it means to the industry. I’ve known Ivelin, Jean and Amit since 2004/5; they are the core team behind Mobicents (the open source project now called Restcomm) and they founded Telestax which leads Restcomm. Back in 2004/5 there were lots of open […]

Summer Madness. Beware those heralding digital transformation and API business models

It must be the additional heat from global warming bringing the summer madness out early. This is just a selection of the silliness I see pass through my inbox today on the way to the deleted folder. Digital Transformation still keeps being used as if it means something. Digital was cool in the ’70s, just […]

The Joy of Telecom Democratization

Amara’s Law states, “We tend to overestimate the effect of a technology in the short run and underestimate the effect in the long run.” Another way of looking at this law is the cognitive biases of attention-bias, confirmation-bias and herd-instinct; which tend to make new ideas overly popular with fanciful claims believed on when benefits can be […]

Next Generation Service Platforms Review

Shortly after TADHack Global the Next Generation Service Platforms (NGSP) event took place on the 17/18 June in Munich.  Below are 2 sets of slides, the first reviews some of the key presentations given at the NGSP event, and the second is my presentation that provides some background on TADHack and a brief review of […]

The Growing Importance of the Phone Number Beyond the Call

The phone number is quite a useful identity, most internet-based communication services like Whatsapp use the telephone number identity today because it also provides a handy multi factor authentication capability. Put simply, you possess something (e.g. a mobile phone #), you know something (e.g. a password), and the emerging one of inherence (unique things of […]