Category Archives: Enterprise Services

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 […]

PSTN SPAM and its impact on Enterprise Communications

PSTN SPAM is on the rise in the US. A simple survey of my US-based friends shows those with iPhones, that lack the filtering provided by Android, are suffering multiple calls per day. My Nexus 5X has some nice filtering tools, I’m seeing 3 or 4 per week. According to the Federal Trade Commission, Americans made […]

Shooting from the Hip

I thought I’d keep this article punchy as I’m full of a cold, so would rather just shoot from the hip than think too much on some of the topics I’ve discussed on my calls this week 🙂 There are some numbers in here, so its not just rambling opinion. Cisco bought market share, all 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 […]

On cPaaS, UCaaS, WebRTC

I’ll start with some definitions. cPaaS – communications platform as a service. Its a telecom app server running in the cloud and a bunch of carrier interconnects that enable telecoms (voice, video, messaging, identity, payments, etc.) over the internet / PSTN between people and things. Its generally accessed using an API, but SDKs, GUIs, and […]

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 […]

The Future of Programmable Telecoms

At Restconn 2017 in Prague 23-25 May I gave a presentation on the Future of Programmable Telecoms. As the first presentation of Day 2 at 8AM, I started gently as some listeners soothed their hangovers 😉 I thought it best to show most experts are wrong with most of their predictions, including me. With examples […]

Is the tide starting to turn on A2P SMS?

The robustness of the A2P SMS market has surprised me, granted many analysts have been predicting its decline for the past 3-5 years, however, its continues to grow. Over the past couple of weeks I’ve seen a number of things start to point towards the corner could be in sight. Personal experience (its always very […]