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Yankee Group says convergence hype fading

By Leanne Tucker
Johannesburg, 13 Sept 2007

Yankee Group says convergence hype fading

Yankee Group has revealed that fixed-mobile convergence (FMC) has strong potential to shake up the communications market for enterprise voice and mobility, according to a BusinessWire release.

However, focus must shift from cost-savings to productivity in order for adoption to take-off. FMC is sold with a focus on reducing cost for the enterprise, but with the subtext of productivity benefits for the end-user.

A consequence of this feature-focused approach is that FMC will not be the growth driver many carriers expect. Instead, it will be a necessary feature in carrier portfolios.

Natural Convergence enhances key system solution

Natural Convergence has launched Dynamic Site Support that enables small businesses to support off-site teleworkers, reports TMC Net.

The company says that by extending the benefits of silhouette, its hosted key system solution, it continues to expand the solution to small business. This is expected to improve its service-provider customers' ease and ability to sell hosted VOIP services to this market.

According to Sanjay M Patel, VP of technology, Broadview Networks, companies are increasingly interested in enabling their staff to work off-site with the goal of enhancing productivity, boosting job satisfaction and improving the bottom line.

Neuf Cegetel targets 20% growth

Alternative telecommunications provider Neuf Cegetel said it aims to achieve revenue growth of over 20% next year for the mass-market division, driven by the momentum of the Neuf brand in broadband, and the success of its new services and continuation of the fixed-mobile convergence strategy, reports Forbes.

The mass-market division should achieve a commercial margin of 30% in 2008, it said, defining the commercial margin as gross margin on production costs less selling expenses.

The enterprises division is expected to achieve further revenue growth of 5% to 10% in 2008 in a still declining market, due to the growing contribution from VOIP services, the emergence of telephony over IP services, based on the convergence of data and voice networks and the growth of the SME market, Neuf Cegetel said.