After reading the recent TechCruch story: "Oy Vey! Israeli VCs Exceptionally Gloomy on 2009, I feel it is necessary to share another side of the Israeli Hi-Tech business scene. I am not suggesting that times are great at the moment, but they are not as bad as one might think after reading the Deloitte report.

In reality, regardless of the state of the economy, people continue to get inspired and technology innovation will continue to happen. This in turn leads to the launch of a new startup.

When times are great, there is usually money available to fund all sorts of Hi-Tech startups. And when things are not so great, raising money is much harder. The worldwide economic funk of 2008 is responsible for an emerging trend in the Hi-Tech startup world I first saw in Israel in 2008 which has resulted in what I can only describe as the birth of the "NEW Entrepreneur."

The NEW Entrepreneur is someone who has a decided to "do a startup" by partnering with one or more of their friends who understand the concept of bootstrapping from the very beginning. The startup team are people who watch each other's back, are aware of their individual strengths and weaknesses and in effect are there to provide a sense of balance for each other. These new Entrepreneurs understand that they can't rely on outside funding to get their company started so they need to do whatever is necessary to make their vision and dreams come true on their own.

The NEW Entrepreneurs know how to turn pennies into dollars and a dollar into a hundred dollars. For the record, such people exist and have been doing just this in the Israeli Hi-Tech scene. During 2008 I had a chance to meet up with quite a number of these NEW Entrepreneurs.

NEW Startups realize they can't start a business that will have a high burn rate or a strong dependency on outside money. They realize that whatever money they may be able to raise from their friends and immediate family members might be the only money they will be able to raise for the foreseeable future. So startups in 2009 may look a lot different than in previous years. What I am seeing starting to emerge are "lean and mean" startups from the very beginning. It turns out that while the economy may not be in everyone's favor, thanks to the continuing affects of Moore's Law and the sheer disruptive power of the Internet, it is possible to start companies these days with just raw talent, vision and the innate ability to deliver on the vision.

The typical kinds of startups which can thrive in this kind of setting are those who decide to focus in the Internet / Apps / Services space. Ideas that can leverage existing infrastructure and existing APIs. Some leverage open source projects and others are launching their own open platforms.

We are living in a time where so much really can be done with so little money. This reality may prove to be disruptive for the traditional VC investment model. As NEW Startups launch themselves in 2009 and gain traction in their sectors, the part of the venture community which traditionally invests in "Early Stage" startups is at risk of missing the opportunity to invest in these next-generation companies because the needs of capital will not be at the same levels as in past generations. One of the by-products of the Web 2.x generation is that these days companies can be started for Micro levels of money in 2009 as compared to similar startups of the recent past.

In mid 2007 I first discovered Israeli Hi-Tech Entrepreneur who knew how stretch pennies into dollars I started doing what I was described as "Micro Investing." Simply put, I provided the minimal amount of capital needed to help a company take their concept and complete their prototype /. proof-of-concept. I was not an Angel investor. I did not invest in a convertible note. No, I was there in the beginning and provided the capital to help start the business. Since then I have become a "Technology Scout" of sorts and spend my time in Tel Aviv meeting with young startups. This is work I am committed to continuing in the weeks and months ahead.

In a number of cases, my Micro Investment was followed by a successful Angel Round and/or venture round. The reason these companies were able to survive the economic downturn of 2008 was because they spent their year in bootstrap mode. The management team did not take any salaries and they took odd jobs along the way to pay their own bills and to keep their the dreams of the NEW Startup alive. (The few write-offs from my startup portfolio of 2008 were startups which failed to live by these rules.)

The successful startup in 2009 will be a humble startup. One where the burn rate will be kept to a minimum and where the people involved have a strong passion for the vision and have a "can do" attitude and for the most part in a position to do their technology development on their own. This approach for the NEW startup will not work in a traditional capital intensive business but will present new opportunities for inspired NEW Entrepreneur in the Internet / Software / Services space.

While there will continue to be people who believe startups need to have a burn rate together with an office in the best part of town, in a great building with a great looking office, those who survive will be there because they choose to be humble, smart, focused and because they understand how to bootstrap a business.

The other reality is that these startups have the added pressure that they may not be able to raise their next round of capital until a time frame that is much longer than they ever could have predicted. Again, those companies that were built from a bootstrapping model will have what it takes to survive. I'm not suggested one has to get to revenue any faster but rather needs people who are there for each other and are committed to being there for the long run. And if there are people who need to take on side projects to fund their lifestyle and pay their bills at home, such distractions are understood from the start and are done in the open rather than in the dark.

I believe the startups who are born in 2009 and who are focused on bootstrapping from the start and are built with the understanding that they will have very little access to outside capital will have a much stronger chance for success than the companies who were born in a time where the venture money was flowing much freer.

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If you are a NEW Entrepreneur and if your startup is a NEW Startup as described above, please feel free to take a moment and update me about your plans. I am always interested in meeting with interesting and smart startups.

Tags: Tel Aviv, startup, Entrepreneur, Jeff Pulver

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Posted by jeff at 06:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)

Note: On New Year’s Eve 2008 I felt compelled to respond to the stories being written about the Death of VoIP which lead to my recent blog post: VoIP is NOT Dead!. Since then, I’ve enjoyed many of the conversations that have continued to take place in the comment sections of a number of blogs, including this one. What follows is a continuation of the conversation.

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VoIP Still Isn’t Dead - Part II

My belief is the future is unwritten and if the conditions are right people will return to the space. But we need to embrace innovation and change and encourage people to be disruptive. What follows is a continuation of the conversation.

Since the birth of the VoIP industry, the millions (maybe Billions) of dollars of VoIP Telco infrastructure that has been purchased, and will continue to be purchased, has been meaningful for quite a number of companies. So in real life, VoIP really isn't dead.

For some people, VoIP has become a word associated with “network plumbing.” And in that perspective, I can appreciate why some of my friends no longer believe that VoIP is cool.

From my own perspective, I miss reading stories about startups prepared to leverage the concept that “Voice is just an Application” and empower a new generation to communication in ways which were not possible or practical in the past. Something more than Skype and something different than Vonage. What we are missing are the totally disruptive startups willing to challenge the status quo.

The VoIP industry in America was fortunate to have been born at a time when the FCC embraced disruptive technologies. People like Dr. Robert Pepper, Julius Genachowski, Blair Levin and Kevin Werbach under the leadership of FCC Chairman Reed Hundt did the right things necessary to embrace VoIP. Their embracing of VoIP and appreciation for disruptive technologies helped the VoIP industry grow. This growth continued under the leadership of FCC Chairman Bill Kennard.

Looking back, the VoIP Industry was most fortunate to have come of age a time when the FCC Chairman was Michael K. Powell. Chairman Powell embraced the nascent VoIP industry and made it a point to come out to the VON conferences and connect directly with our community. I enjoyed the opportunity to spend time with Chairman Powell at my VON Conferences and meeting with him in Washington, D.C. I most of all enjoyed being able to call Chairman Michael K. Powell, a friend.

Chairman Powell’s FCC embraced my VON Conferences and FCC staff members were an active part of the community. During the VON events we held a number of “Town Hall Meetings” with various members of the FCC staff. I will be forever grateful for all of the work that Dr. Robert Pepper did over the years to make sure the FCC had a presence at the VON events.

Chairman Powell’s FCC is one of the big reasons the VoIP industry grew in the United States and around the world. Chairman Powell recognized the need not to apply legacy rules and regulations to the VoIP industry. And I will be forever grateful to Chairman Powell and the FCC of 2003/04 for the fact that the “Pulver Order” was issued under his leadership.

Looking back, since Chairman Powell’s departure from the FCC, the VoIP industry in America has suffered.

One of the reasons I believe VoIP will find a new beginning in 2009 is because this is the year Kevin Martin will be replaced at the FCC. Since becoming Chairman of the FCC in 2005, Kevin Martin is the one person in America who has done more harm to the future of the VoIP industry than anyone else. If you take a look at his career as Chairman of the FCC, it was his public policy approach of taking the most burdensome rules and regulations of the wireline service and imposing it on the VoIP industry that sucked a lot of the air out of the VoIP revolution.

While the wireless industry in America had many more years to in effect “grow up”, Chairman Martin’s FCC forced the nascent VoIP industry quickly out of adolescence and into adulthood. An adulthood it wasn’t necessarily prepared to embrace at the time.

Under Chairman Martin’s rule, there was little need for a the Telcos to pay any lobbyists to convince the FCC Staffers to apply telecom laws developed for a different technology and throw such rules at the totally disruptive independent VoIP service providers. It seems as if this is something that freely happened on it’s own.

Ever since Chairman Martin held the open E911 hearings and used traumatic, heart wrenching stories as a way to make an example out of Vonage, I realized we were dealing with someone who was acting from their bully pulpit. In fact, when Chairman Martin used his platform to make it a requirement for all VoIP service providers comply with E911, it became clear to me that he was out to suck the air out of the VoIP industry rather than embrace it. Time after time Chairman Martin passed on the opportunity to leverage IP based platforms to deliver solutions better than what the PSTN could have offered. Instead he decided to focus a backward compliance rather than a forward looking one.

If anyone is wondering why the FCC was never seen at any of the VON events since Spring 2005 VON, it was because of Chairman Martin never accepted any of my invitations to speak at VON. In fact, there was a time when no one from the FCC was permitted to attend VON under the Martin leadership.

Beyond this, Chairman Martin’s FCC failed to act on two petitions which I filed during his tenure. One was the Pulver/ Evslin Petition on Post-Disaster Communications which is still relevant today as it was when it was filed on March 16, 2006. The second was the Network2 Petition for a Declaratory ruling that Interview Video is not subject to regulation under Title III or Title VI of the Communications Act. I believe both of these petitions are relevant and hopefully will be considered under the new FCC Chairman.

So why Chairman Martin has been focused on damaging the VoIP industry is beyond me. Maybe one day he will be public about it and tell all of us. I will be leading the cheer on behalf of the VoIP industry on the day that Chairman Martin leaves office.

In my opinion, the near future for VoIP in America to some extent rests on the decision of who is selected to become the New FCC Chairman and whether or not they will attempt to unwind the regulatory burden Chairman Martin’s FCC placed on the VoIP Industry. It would also matter how supportive the new Chairman will be toward communication innovation in America. With the right approach to public policy, the new FCC Chairman will be able to put a shot of adrenaline into the arm of the VoIP Industry and jump start a new generation of communication innovation.

When I look to the future, I believe we are just on the edge of the time when the true promise of VoIP can be realized. In order for these dreams to be realized, it will require a new group of people who believe in challenging the status quo, to stand up and be counted on.

While I am looking for others to join the NEW revolution, I am ready and prepared to do what it takes to continue to push for the promise of what IP Communications can offer.

So while some of my friends may declare that VoIP is Dead, I still don’t. And I won’t.

“VoIP is Dead, Long Live VoIP.” Jeff Pulver

Tags: voip, Kevin Martin, Presence, FCC, public policy, Internet TV, Michael Powell, IP Communications, Jeff Pulver

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Posted by jeff at 09:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tags: sunrise, Miami Beach, Jeff Pulver

(photo taken on January 3, 2009 with a Nikon D300 and a 70-200mm f/2.8 lens)

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Posted by jeff at 10:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Back in 2004 I started to track the buzz around VoIP based on the number of hits a search on the term “VoIP” had on Google. I have repeated this on January 1st each year since.

My results to date:

Jan 04 - 2.3 million
Jan 05 - 17.7 million
Jan 06 - 172 million
Jan 07 - 151 million
Jan 08 - 179 million
Jan 09 - 95.7 million

I am concerned seeing VoIP’s Google popularity down 46.5% compared to where it was just a year ago. This said, as I recently posted, VoIP is NOT Dead!.

I'm looking forward to a stronger year ahead for the world of VoIP and IP Communications. I believe during 2009 we will see the emergence of HD VoIP as a feature requirement for both Service Providers and Enterprises on future RFPs.

I believe we are just on the edge of the time when the true promise of VoIP will be realized.

So while some of my friends continue to declare that VoIP is Dead, I still don’t.

“VoIP is Dead, Long Live VoIP.” Jeff Pulver

Tags: voip, Google, IP Communications, Jeff Pulver, Jeff Keni Pulver

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Posted by jeff at 09:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Tags: sunrise, Miami Beach, Jeff Pulver

(photo taken on January 2, 2009 with a Nikon D300 and a 28-200mm lens)

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Posted by jeff at 07:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

“About two weeks ago, I had the privilege and pure luck of attending a “Breakfast with Jeff Pulver” in Jerusalem. What is it? It’s a networking event (note: no actual breakfast, just coffee) similar in feel to speed dating. Every attendee gets a “toolkit” with a name badge, tiny rectangular stickers for tagging (you can fit about one or two words on them), a pen, and some postage stamp sized post-it notes. On your name badge, you are supposed to write a tagline, and this is your introduction to people when you meet them. After no more than 5 minutes of conversation, you are to “tag” their body with the tiny stickers, and move on. If you’re naturally reserved, the name taglines break the ice. Additionally, once you’ve been “tagged,” those tags offer more discussion topics.

I was struck by how seamlessly we incorporated social media tools (tagging, blog bylines, favorites) into our real life meeting. I was also struck by the utility of these tools in “real time,” if also the total geekiness I felt using them! But let me say, I loved it. I met the people behind intriguing websites (The Big Felafel, Israel Innovation, Green Any Site) and others that offer interesting collaborative possibilities.

I left there wondering what other social networking tools or habits we can use that can bring us together in real time and pondering the implications for the non-profit sector.”

Click here to read the rest of the blog post.

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Tags: breakfast, Personal Social Media Toolkit, Jerusalem, social media, Debra Askanase, Social Media Breakfast, Jeff Pulver

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Posted by jeff at 06:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Today is December 31, 2008 and I find it real interesting some of my friends have declared 2008 as the year that VoIP died.

On the eve of 2009 the promise of VoIP is alive and well and living in the hearts of many people who believe in the future of innovation in communications. Ask many of my friends including: Vint Cert, Henry Sinnreich, Joe Rinde or Daniel Berninger and they would agree with me that one day the vision and the promise of end-to-end IP based communications WILL happen. The Internet communications revolution is STILL happening. In fact, we are living in an Internet Communications Continuum.

According to Wikipedia, Continuum Theory can be defined as: “anything that goes through a gradual transition from one condition, to a different condition, without any abrupt changes or "discontinuities."

And when I refer to the Internet Communications Continuum, I am referring to how I envision the continued evolution of the IP Communications Industry. In my case, this continuum represents all forms of IP Communications, including: VoIP, Instant Messaging, Presence, IP Signaling, Internet TV, Unified Communications, Social Media and more.

We are also living in an industrial revolution unlike anything our parents or grandparents ever experienced. Since 1993 the advent of the Internet has continued to challenge the status quo, directly and indirectly and has brought out great change in many parts of our lives. The fear, greed and disruption that the birth of the VoIP industry had on the traditional telecom industry is directly connected to this.

Back in 1996, because of the accounting rates regime in place at the FCC, consumers paid a high price just to place international phone call from the United States to the rest of the world. (Dollars, not pennies). Just a few years later all of this changed because of the threat of VoIP, back in the days of dialup and before broadband became the norm.

Today, there is accounting rate parity with many countries because of the promise of VoIP as an alternative communication channel. And while many people are crying that there are very thin profits these days in their revenues, I don’t hear many if any consumers complaining that it costs very little to place a call to just about anywhere in the world from the United States these days.

At the first VON conference which took place April 1-3, 1997 at the Ritz Carlton in San Francisco, it was a gathering of people from the worlds of: Computers, Data Networking and Telecom, as well as people from the investment community and people with dreams of what could be possible when all someone needed was some software to launch a communication service. All these years later, while we have accomplished a lot, I believe the best is yet to come.

I wonder how many of the people who actually believe VoIP is dead were involved in the VoIP industry at the time I introduced the concept of “Purple Minutes” back at Spring 2002 VON. I warned people as best as I could that we should use IP based communication platforms to do more than simply replace or substitute existing telecom infrastructure. To the extent that many of the people who were responsible for empowering the communication revolution eventually gave up on changing the world and ended up becoming part of the establishment rather than disrupting it, well maybe for them “VoIP is Dead” but then again, for these people VoIP died a long time ago.

When I look to the future, I believe we are just on the edge of the time when the true promise of VoIP will be realized. In order for these dreams to be realized, it will require a new group of people who believe in challenging the status quo, to stand up and be counted on.

While I am looking for others to join the NEW revolution, I am ready and prepared to do what it takes to continue to push for the promise of what IP Communications can offer.

So while some of my friends may declare that VoIP is Dead, I don’t.

“VoIP is Dead, Long Live VoIP.” Jeff Pulver

Tags: voip, Social Media, Presence, Internet Communications Continuum , instant messaging, Internet TV, VON, IP Communications, Jeff Pulver

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Posted by jeff at 03:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (11)

The following is my confirmed breakfast schedule for January 2009 and the first part of February. I have plans underway to host a number of breakfast events across the world in 2009.

I am currently looking for sponsors for my 2009 Breakfast Tour. If you are interested in sponsoring one or more of my breakfasts please feel free to contact me.

At each breakfast my guests will receive their own personal “Real-Time” social networking toolkit described in the video below.

I hope you can join me for a breakfast in one or more of the following cities. Please feel free to invite a few of your friends to meet you my breakfasts.

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The Jeff Pulver 2009 Breakfast Tour (Jan / Feb ) 2009
(as of: December 30, 2008)

Jan 11 - Vancouver
Jan 13 - Los Angeles
Jan 14 - San Francisco
Jan 21 - New York City
Jan 22 - Boston
Jan 28 - London
Feb 4 - Philadelphia
Feb 5 - Washington, D.C.

More dates will be added in the days and weeks ahead

Note: To RSVP for these breakfast events, you need to have an account on Facebook.

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Tags: breakfast, Personal Social Media Toolkit, San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York City, Boston, London, Philadelphia, Washington, D,C., social media, facebook, Social Media Breakfast, Jeff Pulver

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Posted by jeff at 07:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I am looking forward to being in Las Vegas on January 7th at CES to host “Social Media Jungle.” This event will address how social media is changing the way we work and live. A full day of program sessions includes state of the industry updates and a candid look at how companies can motivate consumers through social media to drive product sales without increasing costs.

This one day summit has unique format which I have developed based on my 13+ years experience producing events and conferences.

At Social Media Jungle, there are no “speakers” but rather Discussion Leaders. The discussion leaders have been told the event will be a “Powerpoint Free Zone.” These pretty amazing people were not invited to talk about their company, product, service or application, but rather the topic in the area of Social Media which they were the most passionate about. And from the proposals received, I acted as the “editor” and put together what I believe to be a great event.

At Social Media Jungle, our discussion leaders will be presenting their talk as if they were sharing a blog post. And the people in the room will be asked to provide immediate comments to the content being shared which in turn will start a conversation. In other words, our event will be filled with an engaged audience and a group of people who will have a great opportunity to explore a variety of related topics inside of the social media space.

This event costs $295 in advance and $395 on-site. If you are thinking about attending, please take a moment register for the event today by visiting: http://www.CESweb.org/register. Remember to choose the "Social Media Jungle" registration option.

You can also keep up with this event by joining the Social Media event on Facebook.

Hope you can join us at the Social Media Jungle @ CES and I would appreciate your help in sharing awareness of this event with your friends.

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Event Schedule (as of December 28th)

8:30 - 9:00: Real-Time Social Networking
9:00 - 9:20: Welcome to the Jungle, Jeff Pulver
9:20 - 9:40: Navigating the Social Media Seas, Chris Brogan
9:40 - 10:00 - Industry Perspective & Update, Jeremiah Owyang (via Skype Video)
10:00 - 10:20 - What to Look for in Social Media Platforms in 2009, Robert Scoble
10:20 - 10:40 - Social Media Reciprocity, Warren Whitlock
10:40 - 11:00 - Return on Social Media Investment, Ben Grossman
11:00 - 11:20 - [ break ]
11:20 - 11:40 - Learn, Baby, Learn: Turn Your Social Media Addiction Into An Asset!, Jeffrey Sass
11:40 - 12:00 - Social Media Principles, Chris Heuer
12:00 - 12:20 - Naked PR: What Marketers Need to Know in the Age of Social Media, Susan Etlinger
12:30 - 2:00 [Lunch Break]
2:00 - 2:30 - How Reporters Have to Think of Themselves as an Entrepreneur and a Publisher Using their Company as a Platform, Daniel Honigman, Kevin Sablan and Etan Horowitz.
2:30 - 3:00 - New Media Strategy in Challenging Times: Conquering the 3 Screen World: Dean Landsman and Howard Greenstein
3:00 - 3:20 - How Small Business can use Inbound Marketing/Social Media to Help Increase Their Business, Justin Levy
3:20 - 3:40 - The Convergence of CE and Social Media, Jeremy Toeman
3:40 - 4:00 - Managing Your Reputation While Being Genuine and Authentic Online, Dave Taylor
4:00 - 4:20 - How to Botch an Agency Briefing (No Matter How Cool You Think Your Product Is), David Berkowitz
4:20 - 4:40 [break]
4:40 - 5:00 - How Trust Drives Transactions During a Down Economy, Eric Weaver
5:00 - 5:20 - Transforming Unemployed BabyBoomers via Social Media, Carlos Hernandez
5:20 - 5:30 - Wrap up / Conclusions & Take Aways

(schedule is subject to change without notice)

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To register, visit the CES Registration page: http://www.CESweb.org/register and follow the registration process and select Social Media Jungle as the registration option.

Tags: social media, Social Media Jungle, CES, SMJCES,Jeff Pulver

Related Blog Posts:

Howard Greenstein: Pulver’s Social Media Jungle at CES 2009

Jeff Sass: Jungle Fever (Social Media Style)

Jeremy Toeman: Social Media meets Consumer Electronics at CES2009

Rebecca Bollwitt: CES 2009 and The Social Media JungleRegister TODAY for Social Media Jungle @ CES 2009

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Posted by jeff at 10:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Which I’m not a fan of getting spammed by anyone, especially on Facebook, I have to give credit to Barak I Ben-Ezer for being the first person to use a Facebook Event as a platform to promote a product or service. (He may not be the first person to ever do this, but this is the first time I took notice. - mostly because he used his “event” to send a message to everyone he invited.)

While I have been using Facebook Events to promote events, mainly my breakfast events, one of the benefits is that the creation of an event will go into your Facebook News Feed and will be seen by your Facebook friends. And one thing I learned about Facebook events in 2008 is how they can go viral. It all depends upon how your friends react to them.

What Barak did that was interesting to me was create the event: “Download iFog - the coolest application for my iPhone!” (http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=108139605301 ) which you can see is not for any “event” but rather is his attempt to leverage Facebook assets to market his new iPhone application - iFog (www.itunes.com/app/ifog).

Once you invite your friends to an event, unless they take the action to remove themselves from the event, you have a platform you can use to send messages to what could end up being thousands of people. And in the event any of your mutual friends decide to RSVP for this faux “event”, the marketing message will continue to be seen inside of your Facebook News Feed. And whether you are marketing an actual event or a product or service, as more people RSVP that they are “attending” the more benefit you will receive in building up the bottom up buzz for whatever it is you are trying to promote.

Right, wrong or indifferent, Barak used the Facebook event platform for something other than what it was intended for. And to me, this is a sign of innovation. How often do we take the products and tools designed for one thing and reuse them for something else? When we are reminded that the first airplanes were built with bicycle parts, I realized that for Barak, this was his bicycle parts.

So Barak, congrats on being a clever marketing person and maybe being the inspiration for other people to follow in your marketing approach. I just hope that my friends don’t use Facebook events to spam me. (Because friends don’t spam friends). But Barak, don’t be surprised if one day you find that you are somehow violating the Facebook terms of service and you will need to find another clever way to leverage social media platforms to market your products and/or services.

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Tags: Marketing, facebook, Social Media, Jeff Pulver

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Posted by jeff at 07:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (10)

During my recent trip to Israel, I had a chance to sit down and catch up with my friend, Shabtai Adlersberg, Chairman and CEO of Audiocodes.

I have known Shabtai for more than a decade and I appreciated the support Audiocodes gave the VON events over the years.

One of the things we spoke about was my list of trends / predictions for 2009 and we both agreed that high definition (HD) VoIP would be big in 2009. We believe the time has come for HD VoIP to become part of our everyday lives and we are both looking forward to this becoming our reality.

We believe the time has come to eliminate the limitations that the PSTN enforces on traditional analog and digital telephones and the “3.4 kHz sound barrier”. The adoption of VoIP and broadband networks have given us the opportunity to break through this barrier with a whole new range of wideband and high-quality voice coding algorithms that make communications more efficient, more effective and more natural. The adoption of HD VoIP will empower carriers to differentiate their services with a much improved audio experience, which will increase customer loyalty and affinity. After all these years, HD VoIP will change the communications infrastructure with a platform that supports presenting sound the way it was meant to be heard.

Shabtai wasn’t the first person I spoke to about the promise of HD VoIP. In fact, this is a conversation I’ve had with quite a number of number of people in the past. But speaking with Shabati was refreshing for me and reminded me of the the promise of VoIP to have a positive affect in our everyday lives.

With the advent of the broadband internet, I believe the time is NOW for HD VoIP to finally happen. I fully expect HD VoIP to become the default method of communication regardless of the device being used. The technology platforms exist today to support HD VoIP across mobile phones, consumer VoIP and enterprise VoIP platforms. 2009 is a great time for the VoIP industry to work together and support this. I believe the widespread adoption of HD VoIP will mark the start of a renaissance in the VoIP industry and this is one of the things on my to-do list for 2009.

I look forward to watching HD VoIP become BIG in 2009.

(Shabtai Adlersberg, Chairman and CEO of Audiocodes.)

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Tags: VoIP, Shabtai Adlersberg, HD VoIP, Audiocodes, Jeff Pulver

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Posted by jeff at 10:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (10)

During my recent trip to Israel, I had the pleasure of meeting Vicki Kolovou from Athens who was also visiting Israel. Vicki attended my breakfasts in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem and captured the following video from my Jerusalem breakfast:

Setup to the video - After I did a brief introduction and explained “real-time social tagging”, we went around the room and I asked everyone to state their name and their personal tag line.

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Tags: breakfast, Personal Social Media Toolkit, Jerusalem, social media, Vicki Kolovou, Social Media Breakfast, Jeff Pulver

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Posted by jeff at 08:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

On Wednesday, January 14th I will be in San Francisco and hosting my second Breakfast with Jeff Pulver (and Friends) in San Francisco from 8-10 AM. I am looking forward to catching up with my friends.

To RSVP, please visit this event on Facebook.

Everyone attending this breakfast will receive a "Personal Social Networking Toolkit." Friends can learn more about my “Personal Social Networking Toolkit” by watching the video below:

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Tags: breakfast, Personal Social Media Toolkit, San Francisco, social media, facebook, Social Media Breakfast, Jeff Pulver

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Posted by jeff at 01:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Tags: sunrise, Miami Beach, Jeff Pulver

(photo taken on December 26, 2008 with a Nikon D300 and a 50mm lens)

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Posted by jeff at 10:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Earlier today a friend asked me: “How does Someone Recognize a Need for a Change?”

I wasn’t sure how to answer the question. But I also didn’t want to ignore the question so this is what I wrote:

When you are working in a job which you know is limiting your abilities or where the stress is too much to handle or for a hundred other reasons, it will be obvious to you and everyone else around you that you are in need of a change of jobs and most likely a change of direction.

But sometimes recognizing it is time to change can also be real difficult. For me, I this something generally felt from the inside. Something I refer to my “gut.” There are times when we feel things from our gut, sometimes our heart and other times our head. And I’ve found that whenever I go against my gut, I am usually going to be on the wrong side of the decision.

I have found recognizing the time for a change presents itself as a strong feeling. And sometimes this is only something that YOU will realize and only something you can make happen. And while you may be feeling it, moving forward on the action is one of the hardest things you may end up doing in your life.

But what about YOU? How do YOU recognize a Need for Change? Please share your thoughts in the comments below.

Tags: Entrepreneurship, leadership, Entrepreneur, Jeff Pulver

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Posted by jeff at 09:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)