[RT] Recently I had the opportunity to speak with Jim Dalton, CEO of TransNexus. Our conversation went something like this:
[RT] Are you generally optimistic, Pessimistic or realistic?
[JD] I am optimistic about VoIP and pessimistic about the overall economy. VoIP as a technology is losing its excitement as it matures, but in reality we are still very early in the process of replacing the PSTN with a global VoIP infrastructure. We think VoIP has at least 10 years of healthy growth ahead. As for the overall economy, we believe 2009 will be worse than the expectations we read in the press or the stock prices we see in the market. However, we think a very bad economy can be a positive for VoIP. VoIP technology is much more cost effective than traditional TDM telco technology. The cost advantages and flexibility of VoIP are more compelling in a bad economy.
[RT] How many frequent flyer miles have you amassed?
[JD] Same amount as last year.
[RT] How surprised are you at the global financial situation?
[JD] Our business has been good and the business of our customers appears good. So I was very surprised by the financial crash last October.
[RT] How is your company changing the way it does business as a result?
[JD] So far our strategy and plans for the last three years have worked and will continue unchanged in 2009. This is not because we are smarter than other folks, we are just fortunate to be in the VoIP business that is not suffering the problems of the overall economy.
[RT] How have customers reacted to the slowing global markets?
[JD] We see some caution and some customer’s reports longer time to collect receivables, but overall no significant changes.
[RT] Do you see this time as an opportunity or a rough spot to get through quickly?
[JD] We think this is a long term opportunity. We have already seen competing vendors who offer solutions for PTSN networks hit by financial troubles. We think this downturn is a good opportunity for vendors focused on VoIP solutions that are cost effective.
[RT] What will companies need to do to survive this downturn?
[JD] Manage their business so they can lower their prices and still generate positive cash flow.
[RT] How do your company’s’ products help customers in a slow market?
[JD] The simplest and most powerful value proposition we offer is Least Cost Routing. Service providers can increase their gross profit margins by 20% or more with least cost routing. It is a simple concept, but not trivial to implement. We make the implementation easy. We offer a free 90 day trial period complete with technical support and remote training. Some of our customers save more money from least cost routing during the free 90 trial than it costs to buy our software. This means that our software has a zero payback period for the customer. This is an easy business case for CFOs to understand.
[RT] What do you feel is the strongest segment of the communications space? Technology?
[JD] The RBOC and the Cable Companies enjoy a market duopoly for services to the residential market. A duopoly is every business operator's dream, limited competition but unregulated pricing. The RBOCs and Cable Companies do a great job telling the FCC that they face daunting challenges, but in reality they enjoy a fantastic business model. RBOCs and Cable Companies are the strongest segment in the communications space by far.
Having said that, however, I also think that open source VoIP will become much more important segment in the communications space. I do not foresee open source as a strong segment financially, but very powerful in moving the direction of the communications space. The success and impact ofAsterisk is well known, but we also see OpenSIPS and FreeSWITCH continuing to increase their market penetration.
[RT] Which would you rather be president of and why? Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, Cisco, the United States.
[JD] Google's management is shrewd, but more importantly they are very effective at what they do. They are great operators.
[RT] What does President Bush need to accomplish before he leaves office?
[JD] Making a gracious and cooperative transition to the new administration has been one of President Bush's best accomplishments.
[RT] What does an Obama administration need to do to help communications and technology become more pervasive?
[JD] Enable more competition for broadband services. The duopoly market structure of the RBOCs and the Cable Companies does not encourage innovation.
[RT] Will this slowdown present an opportunity to reinvest in your company/market? If so, where will you invest?
[JD] We see the slowdown as an opportunity for vendors of VoIP solutions. We plan to increase our investment in software development in 2009.
[RT] Which country will present the largest opportunity for your company in 2009/10?
[JD] We have customers in five continents, but we are a US company and the US is our best opportunity in 2009/10.
[RT] If Nokia, RIM, Google and Apple devices are stranded together on an island, who survives and why?
[JD] Apple. No one can beat Steve Jobs for usability and elegance. Apple is the obvious winner of any user device competition.
[RT] I understand you are exhibiting at ITEXPO which takes place Feb 2-4 2009 in Miami. What will you be showing there?
[JD] We are releasing a new software server named OSPrey. It is a VoIP Routing and CDR Collection server. It is not a sexy product, but OSPrey is very effective, scalable and reliable for routing VoIP calls and collecting CDRs. Traditionally, our target market has been the service provider market. But this new product targets enterprises that operate a VoIP network with multiple branch offices. It provides a central application for authenticating and routing inter-office and off-net VoIP calls. It also collects CDRs so enterprises can allocate VoIP charges back to specific branch offices. Our target market is enterprises that use Asterisk and the software is free - not open source, but cost free. We will be exhibiting in theDigium-Asterisk World. We are excited about being part of the Digium-Asterisk World because we think Digium has the right cost structure and value proposition to benefit from the tough economy in 2009.
[RT] What sorts of companies/people should come to your exhibit?
[JD] Enterprise Telecom Managers that manage multi-office PBX networks. The free OSPrey server is designed to work with Asterisk or OpenSER. But we also have a commercial version of the software that is optimized for Cisco VoIP networks (H.323 or SIP).
[RT] Why should customers choose your company’s solutions – and how do they justify the expense to management?
[JD] The cost savings from simplifying network operation and least cost routing makes a very powerful return on investment business case. As I said earlier, we have had customers save more than enough money using our software during the free trial period to pay for the product before the trial ended.
[RT] I am a purchasing decision-maker, why do I need to speak with you before I buy?
[JD] We are the price leader in our niche. Even if you do not purchase the TransNexus solution, the possibility of buying the TransNexus solution will enable you to negotiate a better deal with your vendor. Our mission is to help folks lower the cost of their VoIP network. So even if you do not buy our solution, but we help you save some money by getting a better price from your vendor, then we feel some satisfaction.
[RT] What is your favorite part of your job?
[JD] Getting positive feedback from our customers.
[RT] What do you look forward to in the future and why?
[JD] Continued growth in the VoIP market.
Rich Tehrani is President and Group Editor-in-Chief of TMC
No comments:
Post a Comment