The Near Future of VoIP – Steve Wong, VP of Marketing ClearSight Networks

If you know anything about VoIP, you know that your networks performance is paramount to a quality calling experience.

This is where our next interview in the series is coming from. Steve Wong is the VP of Marketing for ClearSight Networks. ClearSight Networks an analysis and monitoring solutions provider who is in the business of ensuring VoIP Quality of Service (QoS) on networks.

Steve has over 10 years of test and measurement experience – that when coupled with his knowledge of the VoIP space – makes for an interesting point of view on where the future of the VoIP industry lies. Hopefully he tells us there is better call quality coming. Let’s see what he has to say…

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The Near Future of VoIP – David Schenkel, CTO Objectworld

We have heard from folks in the hosted, the mobile voice and the emerging voice as a service spaces, but now let’s hear from someone in the highly criticized, yet ever so promising space of Unified Communications. David Schenkel is the CTO of Objectworld, a company that provides unified communications software solutions that enable small- to medium-sized businesses with Microsoft® Windows® platforms to drive workforce productivity and improve organizational responsiveness.

As CTO, David is tasked with the overall technical direction of the company and its product development plan so obviously he is at the forefront of what’s happening in both the Unified Communications and VoIP spaces. Couple that with over 25 years of experience in the area of technology convergence and you can bet that David has a good idea of where the industry is heading.

Let’s see what he has to say…

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The Near Future of VoIP – Dan Hoffman, CEO M5 Networks

I could tell from just spending a little time on the phone with him, that Dan Hoffman was someone that needed to be included in this series. Dan, the CEO of Voice as a Service provider M5 Networks in New York City is one of those visionaries that is changing the way mid-sized businesses view their voice communications.

Dan’s company, M5 Networks, has been blazing a trail within the IP communications space as two time INC 5,000 company and also in the way they approach business voice communications. Rather then tout the “cheap minutes” that come with VoIP, M5 looks to show businesses how IP communications gives them better visibility into their entire business, allowing them to increase profitability at a global level.

Let’s take a look at what this software-as-a-service proponent has to say about the near future of VoIP.

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The Near Future of VoIP – Peter Diedrich, CEO Mobivox

The next interview brings Peter Diedrich. Peter is the CEO of Voice Services platform provider Mobivox. If that description of Mobivox strikes you as odd, that’s because Mobivox recently announced a change in their strategy – moving from a direct to consumer Mobile VoIP play, to a value added services platform for carriers play.

It should come then, as no surprise, that I had to get Peter’s thought on what he sees as the near future of the VoIP industry. A guy who just changed his company’s direction doesn’t do it for no reason. He must know somethings up.

Let’s take a look at just what that may be…

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The Near Future of VoIP – Mike Oeth, CEO Junction Networks

One of the VoIP services that I use quite often is Junction Network’s OnSIP VoIP service (especially good when using with Rf.com on the Apple iPhone), so it is only natural to have their CEO, Mike Oeth tell me a little bit more about what he’s sees as the near future of VoIP. Mike is an industry veteran, having held number senior level positions in at a variety of software, telecommunications, managed services and Internet companies. Prior to Junction Networks, Mike was with AboveNet, Inc, formerly Metromedia Fiber Network, Inc., a facilities-based provider of end-to-end optical solutions for communications carriers, corporate and government customers in the United States and Europe. He has also served as the CTO of LivePerson, Inc., the award-winning industry leader in live chat customer service over the Web.

If you can’t tell, Mike is a “what’s next” kind of guy. Let’s see what he has to say.

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The Near Future of VoIP – Irv Shapiro, CEO IfByPhone

For the latest in this series, I present Irv Shapiro. Irv is the CEO of one of my favorite companies, IfByPhone and he really knows his stuff. He has started three technology companies in last 30 years.  His first, Metamor Technologies, was a two-time Inc 500 award-winning consultancy, and his second, Edventions, was an elementary school infrastructure company.  Both were successfully sold to larger acquirers.

Now Irv is back at it again with his third company, Ifbyphone, in 2005 to provide small and medium businesses with telephony tools previously only available to enterprise companies. This is a good one folks…read on.

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The Near Future of VoIP – Ari Rabban, CEO Phone.com

For the first interview in the series, I looked to Phone.com CEO Ari Rabban.

Ari is an IP communications industry veteran, with specific expertise in the start-up environment, moving companies from concept to operation. Ari joined Phone.com from Pulver Ventures, an incubator for new IT companies. Previously, Ari served as vice president of corporate development and marketing for VocalTec Communications, the VoIP market pioneer and developer of the first internet phone. During his tenure at VocalTec he served as president of two subsidiaries that were ultimately spun out: Surf&Call Solutions, one of the initial voice-enhanced e-commerce solutions companies, and Truly Global Inc., a web based communications service. Ari joined VocalTec from Lucent Technologies.

Now that you know a little more about Ari, let’s take a look at what he sees coming in the near future.

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