VoIP

Be a Better VoIP Partner

Dave Clark says that ISPs and WISPs make common mistakes during the VoIP startup phase, mistakes that can be easily avoided. Avoiding getting it wrong is easy; getting it right is quite complex, as he explains in detail.

by Alex Goldman ISP-Planet Managing Editor [July 1, 2005]

We spoke to Dave Clark, President and director of Las Vegas, N.V.-based CommPartners shortly after ISPCON, where he was a panelist for the session called Realities of VoIP Deployments.

He says ISPs need to realize that if you're providing voice service, you are no longer just providing bits. You're providing a service that brings you into your customers' offices. "We joke that the DMARC has moved to the desktop, though in fact it's not really there yet," says Clark. "On the other hand, my days in telecommunications where I provided service that stops at the DMARC are over. I can have the highest QoS to the customer, but if the internal data environment does not work, we cannot work."

CommPartners works through channels, and is accustomed to working with experienced consultants. "We work with IT and systems integrators who already control the data environment for their customers."

At ISPCON, Clark relates, he was asked a very intelligent question. "I was asked what are the three issues we encounter working with WISPs and ISPs."

Clark wants to work with companies that have a business strategy, and don't feel coerced to provide VoIP by hype or fear.

1. Clark says he has to have data concerning the performance of the ISP's broadband pipe. There are variants, particularly in wireless. If the ISP cannot control latency and jitter, this can be a problem. Pressed, he admits that some ISPs are unable to provide data on latency and jitter.
   
   
2. Clark says there's so much hype around VoIP that people are falling for the old "build it and they will come" dream. "Just adding a VoIP tab to a website isn't enough. You need to commit to a sales and marketing effort. People who have build their organizations as order takers have been disappointed in the take rates."
   
   
3. Clark wants to understand the ISP's goals. "We try to get folks to think through what they're trying to accomplish with VoIP," he says. "Some ISPs are just interested in reducing churn, not maximizing their revenues or margin. Others are looking to make as much money as possible right now, faced with deflationary internet pricing. We call our customer partners an try to assist their VoIP success by finding out a) what are your capabilities b) what is your network, and c) explaining what tools we can provide."

Clark notes that though small WISPs can be difficult to work with, there are some very well run operations. "NextWeb has a great network. It works very very well when the last mile works well."

But Clark's not just impressed with NextWeb's network. "Larger service providers are often more sales oriented. Their reputation is good, they directly monitor and control broadband delivery, they have very good networks, and they understand the value proposition to the customer. At the end of the day, larger companies have resources and smaller companies don't."

The CommPartners infrastructure
Clark is proud of his company's own network. The company uses a VoIP solution from Gaithersburg, Md.-based Broadsoft to manage the network. It has several POPs in strategic locations across the U.S., and is building out a CLEC network from those POPs.

A CLEC license will be very useful to the VoIP operations, but Clark says he doesn't need to control the last mile anymore. "In my world today, everything comes to be as broadband, so I don't have to have control of a local wire loop. However, I do want to terminate traffic into the PSTN as a CLEC because if you're not an ILEC, that's the most cost effective way to do it."

"If we look upstream from our POPs, we try to be best of breed. We have a meshed MPLS network and we are in the process of, from our POP locations, building out a CLEC access network."

We're confused, so he provides a specific example. "From Las Vegas to Seattle, I a put a TDM pipe between my POP here and a Qwest access tandem in Seattle. If a call comes to me from Atlanta, I move it as IP to Las Vegas, then convert it to TDM and move it to Seattle. From there, the RBOC is responsible for delivering the call to the end user. Others have different recipes, but that's ours."

The future of VoIP
VoIP may someday be a commodity, but right now it requires an experienced chef, and Clark is eager to tout CommPartners' expertise to those who might hire it for its skills. "If all you do in your VoIP business is send an ATA to a residential user, that's as easy as boiling water. When you move beyond that, it's a five course meal with wine pairing. There's a lot involved, and every VoIP provider has their own recipe."

CommPartners will work with anyone who can truly utilize the company's VoIP culinary skills. "My internal sales folks will work with WISPs, ISPs, ILECs, CLECs, whoever has that broadband last mile. When we get into the business arena, we focus more on IT and systems integrators because they have the skills right now, but the industry gets more intelligent every day."

VoIP will bring change, but not overnight. "The VoIP industry holds all the promise that we thought it did on day one, but it's not as easy as most pundits thought it would be early on."

The PSTN will still be around for some time, even as the VoIP amoeba surrounds it. "We believe the PSTN will be around as long as the people who built it want it to be around. We're building a network for control, for QoS, and for cost reduction, but we're not replacing the PSTN. I believe my working career will be over before the PSTN ends, but it must eventually end someday."

Clark concludes, "the PSTN must eventually end. We cannot have a world where voice is one protocol and everything else is IP. We need a migration path. I expect the migration path will be a long one, that the VoIP industry will have to raise money and stay focused."

—End