A Mobile Minute with Brian Dally

We decided to take some time this week to introduce one of the newest members of the Bandwidth team, Brian Dally. As our VP of Product Strategy and Mobile Solutions, Brian spends the majority of his time planning Bandwidth’s delivery of the next generation of services and solutions. Previously, he served communications in a variety of global product management and operational roles at high growth technology companies, including Motricity, Openwave and broadband pioneer Excite@Home. He holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a JD from Harvard Law School. With “Mobile Solutions” in this title, we decided to grill him about Bandwidth’s mobile aspirations.

Sean Rivers - Why would a business voice service provider like Bandwidth be interested in mobile phone service?

Brian Dally - Mobile phones have become critical productivity tools for owners and employees of the small- and medium-sized businesses that Bandwidth serves. We see significant opportunities to help these companies achieve gains in productivity combined with significant cost savings while minimizing the hassle. All of this while enabling businesses to communicate on-the-go.

SR - How do small and medium business take advantage of the mobile technology previously only available to larger corporations?

BD - Smartphones are rapidly becoming the exception that swallows the rule! Just look at the volume of phone calls, emails and web traffic flowing through mobile phones today versus our desktop phones and computers. Fortune 500 companies can afford to integrate solutions into their telecom and IT infrastructure, but for smaller companies, each mobile phone is an island unto itself.  Bandwidth wants to fix that.

SR - With your vast mobility experience, why Bandwidth.com?

BD - I started off my career in mobile by building early generations of embedded micro-web browsers for feature phones, such as Sprint’s LG5350. Back then, mobile was about voice, but as screen sizes and resolutions increased, input methods improved and phones became more powerful - the game changed. Now, it’s all about data - to the point that even voice service is moving that way! Bandwidth is perfectly positioned to create enormous customer value in this market.

SR - What is next for the business mobility industry?

BD - The past several years have yielded an incredible amount of mass adoption of core mobile data technologies. At the same time, some interesting new possibilities have developed for VoIP technology in the mobile context. Just as the [mobile] industry did with mobile email, web browsing and applications, it’s time to separate the mobile VoIP (voice over IP) science projects from the customer-relevant innovations.

SR - What is next for Bandwidth.com?

BD - Suffice to say, @Phonebooth has some really worthwhile mobile tricks up its sleeve.  Stay tuned!

Photo credit: Milica Sekulic

Tags: bandwidth, Bandwidth.com, Brian Dally, Interview, medium businesses, mobile, mobile solutions, Phonebooth, product strategy, small business, SMB, Telecom Advice

blog comments powered by

Capacity - Team Bandwidth’s Race Across America Story

After months of planning and intense training, Team Bandwidth took the country by two wheels this last June on their Race Across America (RAAM). Not only did the team finish the 3,004 mile event in 6 days and 3 hours, they also ended up winning the event (4 person team category).

I went along for the ride in the media vehicle and from the footage gathered, I put together an 8-part video series called “Capacity”. The movie is a mixture of story, scenery and intense cycling footage that outlines the highs and lows of crew and riders as they struggle to stay in the front of the pack.

We congratulate riders and crew on their amazing race from Oceanside, California to Annapolis, Maryland, and commemorate the experience through film and photography. See it for yourself….

Capacity - Team Bandwidth’s Race Across America (YouTube)

blog comments powered by

Elastix

This is an open source Unified Communications Server software that is offered with IP PBX, email, faxing and collaboration functionality. The Web interface includes capabilities such as Call Center software with predictive dialing. Elastix integrates several software packages each including their own set of features. Elastix adds new interface for controlling and reporting. Elsastix offers Call recording, Voicemail and Voicemail-to-Email functionality, flexible IVR configurable by web interface, voice synthesis support, extension batch tool to generate large number of extensions using CSV files, integrated Echo Canceller. Phone provisioner, configurable via a web interface. It allows configuration of a large number of IP phones in a short time for supported phones.   It features a web interface and includes capabilities such as call center software with predictive dialing. The Elastix functionality is based on open source projects and offers PBX, fax, instant messaging and email functions.

FreeSwitch

FreeSwitch is a scalable open source cross-platform telephony platform designed to route and interconnect popular communication protocols using audio, video, text or any other form of media.  FreeSWITCH offers support to various stable telephony platform on which many telephony applications can be developed using a wide range of free tools. It was originally designed and implemented by focus on several design goals including modularity, cross-platform support, scalability and stability. FreeSWITCH offers many advanced SIP features such as presence/BLF/SLA as well as TCP TLS and sRTP. It can also be used as a transparent proxy with and without media in the path to act as a SBC (session border controller) and proxy T.38 and other end to end protocols.

CallButler

This is a free Windows-based open source PBX, IVR and Auto-Attendant Phone System built on .NET. It is a commercially available product, but is now being put into Open Source. CallButler features Text to Speech, Find Me/Follow Me, Call Forwarding/Transfer, Call Recording, Conferencing, Call Personalization and Unified Messaging, CRM/SFA/ERP/Database Integration.

VoicePulse VoIP Service

VoicePulse for Business offers PBX installer and reseller channel for commercial businesses and wholesalers. The VoicePulse services are compatible with PBX clients like Digium's Asterisk, AsteriskNow, Switchvox, Fonality's PBXtra, trixbox, PBX-in-a-Flash, FreePBX, or FreeSwitch. It is a Asterisk-based systems that allow users to instantly activate new numbers, have active fail overs protection for numbers individually and view inventory of numbers.

CoreDial VoiceAxis 3.0

CoreDial's VoiceAxis 3.0 software platform offers Service Providers and Interconnects to sell, provision, manage and invoice hosted PBX, VoIP, SIP trunking and related services for business and residential customers. This turnkey package is a software package targeted to enterprise-level business and service providers. The open source PBX software has been designed for the  management, billing and provisioning of hosted PBX. It's a one stop management tool that Asterik users can take to, for its ease of use. VoiceAxis management software can be used by medium to large enterprises to implement a cost effective feature rich, scalable Asterisk PBX solution.

How to Follow Team Bandwidth as they Race Across America

Team Bandwidth.com is rocking the Race Across America course. They have already cleared the Rocky Mountains and have a little over 2,000 miles left to go. We know you want all the details you can get, so here are all the ways you can keep up with the cycling action:

Bandwidth.com Facebook Page - This is the hub for all things Team Bandwidth. From here you can see the team’s location via Spot GPS, see Sledge’s awesome camera shots and get updates from the RAAM Crew.Bandwidth on Twitter - You can learn about the adventure on @Bandwidth Twitter account, as well. The official hashtag for our team is #BandwidthRAAM. Also a quick search for #RAAM2010 will give you a live feed of everything people are saying about this year’s Race Across America.Bandwidth on Flickr - View all of Sledge’s camera handiwork. Here you can see all his great images that he shot to document the RAAM journey.Bandwidth.com over the Phone - That’s right, we called in a favor from @Phonebooth. Fans can call 919-442-8920 to hear updates from the riders as they peddle their way across the country towards the finish line in Maryland.Bandwidth.com’s RAAM Challenge - We are literaly racing our RAAM team across the country. On the Intranet, you can view the total miles accumulated by Bandwidth’s RAAM Team as compared to the Home Team. Also, Bandwidth Home Team, don’t forget to fill out your workouts. The first team to accumulate 3,004 miles gets Friday, July 2nd off!

Hooray for Small Businesses Driving the Economy

In honor of National Small Business Week (May 23-29, 2010), we would like to celebrate our 6,000-plus small business customers.

Small businesses drive the economy by spearheading innovation, creating jobs and setting up shop in the competitive marketplace. These entrepreneurs make business decisions to simplify their lives and others. As a whole, the small business community advances businesses of all sizes toward bigger and brighter fiscal years. It’s a great time for the estimated 27 million U.S. small businesses to be steering the wheel.

We, here at Bandwidth.com, would like to do our part to help make sure your needs are met. Please take a moment to participate in our short poll. As a small business, we want to know what you consider to be your biggest communication challenge.

A few interesting SXSW panel proposals from Bandwidth

If you’ve ever attended SXSW in Austin, TX… you know that there is a great amount of diversity in the panels submitted and presented. We felt like voice was an area that had been lacking and submitted a few panels this year. If any jump out to you, please follow the link and take a minute or two to submit a vote. Thanks for your support!

We Messed Up – Why Telecom Is All Wrong - click to vote

Users and carriers battling it out over dropped calls and bad service while networks explode all around us. What would the telecom world look like if everyone simply got along? In many ways we’ve moved backwards. All this technology should be better than it is, but why are there still such problems? It’s a strange thing because the technology is here now. What stands in its way is an archaic method of business that has everyone unhappy. Let’s move past today and into the future of all things phone. In this panel you’ll hear from leading innovators in the field of telecom where they’ll explore a world in which customers are happy with their carriers, telephony apps abound and networks are stable. They’ll describe what that looks like and why it’s still possible.

Endurance and Entrepreneurship - click to vote

Where does mental motivation meet physical motivation in the life of an entrepreneur? The qualities best suited for running a company are often the same as any physical fitness training – hard work, dedication, competitive spirit and an all-or-nothing attitude. How does living a healthy, proactive lifestyle make you a better founder, CEO and leader? In this panel we’ll speak with some of today’s most fit CEOs about how physical challenges to their mind and body translate into their company culture and workplace. And more importantly, how being physically and mentally fit is the best way to win out over the competition.

Speak to Me: Plugging Voice into Your Apps - click to vote

Voice apps are exploding and developing at a record pace. The world of tomorrow will mean you interacting with your phone more as a concierge than simply a way to communicate. With invention in areas such as telephony apps, dial tones and whisper technology, come hear what’s next. This panel of leading experts and innovators will take you behind the red curtain to explore the mind-boggling labs and phone projects in development today that you didn’t think were possible. Targeted at a more technical developer crowd, the panel will show examples of apps that are plugged-in to the latest in voice APIs.

You Can’t Do Dat! Innovating Under FCC Regulation - click to vote

Starting up is hard enough already, but what if you are setting up shop in a heavily regulated industry? These can be some of the most lucrative and the most tricky ventures. So, how can entrepreneurs and their technology-based innovation deal with a rulebook constantly getting in their way? In this panel, we’ll explore real-world stories about how startups and innovators succeeded in an environment that was heavily regulated by the FCC. Experts from the telecom and VoIP world will share their advice on how your startup and your technology can handle the red tape and even use it to your advantage. Are you under-innovating because of a fear of regulation? When it seems like all is against you, it may simply be the final hurdle before success.