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Top 2011 Posts from Pin Drop Soup

by Dave Michels

Most read stories this year. The blog really saw some traffic increases in 2011. Though moving to a new site – and new name (TalkingPointz) caused a disruption in traffic and messed up my annual stats. Thanks for bearing through the move. The new name is more reflective of my independent research and the new site (WordPress) is more versatile.

  • Cisco’s Laurent: Although the interview was actually posted in 2010, the top PinDropSoup post traffic in 2011 was to my interview with Laurent Philonenko. Cisco’s UC chief.
  • Bitter Lync Story: I reprinted a Lync tantrum on my blog after Networld pulled it. The piece is emotionally charged and shoots from the hip. At the time, the author was an employee of Avaya. (A Bitter-Lync Divorce).
  • Skype: Skype was a popular topic this year, I don’t expect that to be as true in 2012. Two Skype stories popped up high on readership, both obsolete now (Skype and Cisco and Skype and Avaya). Then it was all MS and Skype. I don’t like it emotionally, but I think it was a good move. Before the announcement, I posted Microsoft Should Buy Skype, then after it was official there were several other posts including MS Skype, Dial M for Skype, Skype: Interop is a waste of time) all in the top 10. I also wrote several features on MS and Skype including one at GigaOm Pro.
  • The Sale of ALU. It wasn’t industry consolidation, but a transfer of assets to a new home. Good, I think we need some new blood – it will be interesting to see what Permira does. (ALU’s Silent Auction and More Private Equity)
  • The Virtual Softphone: Virtualization is a big deal. It didn’t exist all in UC/Telecom a few years ago. Then Mitel was the first to announce (with VMware) a virtualized call director. Now virtualizing the call manager has become common – SEN, Microsoft, Aastra, Cisco NEC, all run on VMware. Avaya is on Citrix. Shoretel supports virutalization of its apps. This year, Mitel and VMware announced a virtual softphone. This is the first VMware VDI View softphone, and the first virtual phone solution that scales in the industry.  (Hold the Virtual Phone).
  • Avaya Makes Forbes List: It has been a tough year – recession, revolutions, technology shifts, currency fluctuations. Most vendors are doing a decent job of hiding the pressure they are under. You don’t see headlines about unpaid closures, loss of benefits, etc. Cisco got its share of bad news (and layoffs) as a public company, but UC was one of its bright spots. Most of the industry is not public, but for various reasons they have been reporting financials publicly. Avaya got some bad publicity with its inclusion in the worst performers list in Forbes. The company took on considerable debt with acquiring Nortel which should have an eventual positive ROI, but it will take a few years (as it should).  (Avaya Makes a Top 10 List).

May 2012 be a grand year – cheers to all.