The Telecoms Cool Wall
Written by dean on Sep 03, 2008 - 09:35 AM
Those of you familiar with the UK Top Gear program will already know the concept. Those that don't, it's a subjective criteria based ranking system for cars whereby cars which are trying too hard to be cool (or their owners are buying them for such reasons) are deemed uncool, and the cool down to sub-zero cars are those that are a little unusual, different or just plain sexy without effort.
Via James Enck comes a blog which I hadn't seen before and in which the cool wall concept has been cross-bred with telecoms:-
http://internetthought.blogspot.com/200 ... -wall.html
A worthy and fun read. Dean Bubley has some additional comments and throws a couple of VoIP outfits into the mix.
I can see why this rang an immediate bell with James Enck - it reminded me straight away of his "Ten Things I Hate About You" presentation/post. In fact, I would propose that any telco which addressed those 10 points would automatically gain entry to the sub-zero section.
My thoughts and additions in the VoIP software space:-
1. Asterisk - definitely sub-zero. Taking the Red Hat model (open-source it then make your money on hardware and commercial support) and then transposing it to the PBX has lowered the barrier to entry of VoIP for SME's.
2. openSER (or whichever branch you now want to take) - moving from sub-zero to cool due to ripples in the organisation that built it meaning another split and general confusion (I'm hoping those involved, after some water under the bridge, get something together again). Still cool because it is open-source, and it lowered the barrier to entry for all manner of startups. Also, even though they're not talking to each other at the moment, those involved are wonderful individuals and extremely talented people.
3. Freeswitch - sub zero. Anthony Minessale's early branch and re-write of Asterisk which turned it into a true softswitch and not just a PBX.
4. Ribbit - moved from the sub-zero/cool borders into luke warm following aquisition by BT. Good for the founders on the sale (exit of the year in this space so far), but gut-feeling is BT will slowly destroy the product.
5. Pacifica - still warm because they're already 12 months behind their proposed launch date. But when it comes, it will change the face of web-based communications and likely to move into a cooler spot.
Via James Enck comes a blog which I hadn't seen before and in which the cool wall concept has been cross-bred with telecoms:-
http://internetthought.blogspot.com/200 ... -wall.html
A worthy and fun read. Dean Bubley has some additional comments and throws a couple of VoIP outfits into the mix.
I can see why this rang an immediate bell with James Enck - it reminded me straight away of his "Ten Things I Hate About You" presentation/post. In fact, I would propose that any telco which addressed those 10 points would automatically gain entry to the sub-zero section.
My thoughts and additions in the VoIP software space:-
1. Asterisk - definitely sub-zero. Taking the Red Hat model (open-source it then make your money on hardware and commercial support) and then transposing it to the PBX has lowered the barrier to entry of VoIP for SME's.
2. openSER (or whichever branch you now want to take) - moving from sub-zero to cool due to ripples in the organisation that built it meaning another split and general confusion (I'm hoping those involved, after some water under the bridge, get something together again). Still cool because it is open-source, and it lowered the barrier to entry for all manner of startups. Also, even though they're not talking to each other at the moment, those involved are wonderful individuals and extremely talented people.
3. Freeswitch - sub zero. Anthony Minessale's early branch and re-write of Asterisk which turned it into a true softswitch and not just a PBX.
4. Ribbit - moved from the sub-zero/cool borders into luke warm following aquisition by BT. Good for the founders on the sale (exit of the year in this space so far), but gut-feeling is BT will slowly destroy the product.
5. Pacifica - still warm because they're already 12 months behind their proposed launch date. But when it comes, it will change the face of web-based communications and likely to move into a cooler spot.
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