PAETEC CEO: ‘We Need to Work Better Together’

Day 2

Show ShowDaily produced by COMPTEL Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2006 — Vol. 6, No. 2 Published by: PAETEC CEO: ‘We Need to Work Better Together’

”We need to work better together,” said Arunas Chesonis, CEO of PAETEC not to dampen renewed enthusiasm for competitive business models among the Communications Inc., in his keynote yesterday, addressing an audience of com- investment community. petitive providers. “The last mile is what’s going to prevent a lot of us from doing what we want “We are just a small part of the telecom universe,” he said. “We should do to. ... One thing that would help us is if we are going to ask incumbents for access, more work together. ...We are not each other’s real competition.” we need to provide that same unbundled access to them.” Chesonis, who has been in the spotlight lately because of PAETEC’s pending Earl Comstock, president and CEO of COMPTEL, said Chesonis’ com- merger with US LEC, said CLECs should sell ments in a high-profile forum reflected discus- networks to each other to help strengthen the sions at yesterday’s CEO Council meeting and competitive market as a whole. were a “tremendous help” to the association’s He also encouraged competitors to step “We are just a small part of the telecom efforts on behalf of the competitive industry. back and “look at the big picture.” He said this universe. We should do more work together. ... “It’s indicative of a conversation that’s going is particularly true of lobbying efforts. “We We are not each other’s real competition.” on among senior executives,” he said, noting need to focus at a macro level,” he said. “The that the “co-opetition” concept is beginning to only way it can happen is by being engaged as — PAETEC's Arunas Chesonis be put into practice as it becomes socialized officers” of the companies. more and more. “It’s a dialog that needs to He challenged competitors to educate and{ }take place.” mobilize customers and employees to help send a message to Congress that As reported earlier, Comstock has said one of the goals for COMPTEL is PAETEC’s Arunas Chesonis, chairman and CEO, shares his access to incumbent networks is key to long-term survival for competitors. to develop proactive messaging for the membership’s lobbying activities in the company’s recipe for success, in hopes competitive carriers will He said leaders must resist the urge to gloss over their challenges in trying coming years. work together more to provide alternatives for end users. COMPTEL Elects New Board Members Show Business ... COMPTEL members elected new representatives to its board of directors at its annual meeting yesterday. The association re-elected three directors in the small member category, including Homisco/VoiceNet, Remi Communications Inc. and Vox Communications Corp. Fones4All was elected to a first term representing the small member category, which includes companies of annual revenue of under $25 million. In the medium-sized member category, which includes companies of annual revenue of $25 million to $300 million, three board members were re-elected. They include Eschelon Telecom Inc., Pac-West Telecomm Inc. and TDS Metrocom. Two new board members were added, including FPL Fibernet and Globalcom Inc. In the large member category, which includes companies with annual revenue over $300 million, all four board seats remained with the incumbents. These included Broadwing Communications LLC, IDT Corp., ITC^DeltaCom Inc. and Nuvox Communications. Casino Night Rocks and Rolls

Earl Comstock, president and CEO of COMPTEL, cuts the ceremonial ribbon as COMPTEL Chairman Sherm Henderson of Samantha Ocampo of telx tries out the one-armed bandit Show attendees try their luck at one of the Lightyear Network Solutions welcomes attendees to the show. at Casino Night sponsored by Vanco. Vanco-sponsored Casino Night tables. (See story on Page 15) Midterm Elections Could Atlantic-ACM Delivers Change Regulatory Landscape Carrier Excellence Awards Washington is a tense place to be right now, said one panelist during COMPTEL’s legislative update session on Research firm Atlantic-ACM announced its first metro wholesale awards and its global wholesale awards Monday. With the midterm elections just a few weeks away, everyone in telecom is on tenterhooks, waiting to see who to carriers yesterday at the COMPTEL PLUS Convention. will lead House and Senate committees that guide communications law. If the Democrats win in November, the House The metro carrier awards are based on the company’s 2006 Metro Carrier Report Card, which evaluates and Senate Judiciary Committees, and the House and Senate Commerce Committees, all will have new leaders. That the performance of metro carriers by their wholesale and enterprise customers and is based on more than 5,000 likely would lead to a revamping of the rewrite that has waited for a Senate vote since this summer, or it could mean individual evaluations of carriers. throwing out the proposed bill altogether. Matters of contention include net neutrality and whether Congress should Winners included AT&T Inc. for impose a national video franchising system, a change the Bells have spent millions of dollars lobbying to achieve. best-in-class business SONET prod- Telecom further is not a Republican-versus-Democrat subject, said COMPTEL President and CEO Earl Comstock. ucts; XO Communications Inc. for “The idea that this is a partisan issue is a mistake,” he said. “Our biggest issue is the messaging,” he added, explaining wholesale VoIP products; Cbeyond the competitive industry needs to outline its agenda clearly and band together to fight for it. Communications for retail business In the meantime — as well as after the elections — competitive carriers should be talking to their representatives, said PRI products; BellSouth Corp. for Pete Leon, COMPTEL’s new vice president of legislative affairs (he replaced Robert McDowell, who now serves as an retail business local voice products; FCC commissioner). To prove that point, Leon scrolled through a slideshow of hot races around the country and showed Cox Communications for retail busi- which CLECs are based in those states. Politicians “should know who you are, and I don’t think they do,” he said. ness local access and direct Internet Fellow panelists Patrick Thompson, vice president of legislative affairs for Covad Communications Inc., and access; Time Warner Telecom for Comstock, added that CLEC execs should push for meetings with their state representatives, so they can impress upon retail business Ethernet products; and them the importance of a competitive industry. And, the panelists noted, even though there is an ever-dwindling chance a PAETEC Communications Inc. for telecom rewrite will become law this year, competitive carriers should take the time to present concise arguments to their best wholesale PRI products. Level 3 representatives. “Clear communication is very helpful,” said Thompson, who used to work on the Hill. He emphasized Communications Inc. won multiple staff members serve as gatekeepers for members of Congress and getting past those gatekeepers takes a well-constructed awards for best wholesale local access, message. “Tell your story,” Thompson said. “Let it be known you’re not a fly-by-night company.” Ethernet, direct Internet access, business transport and dark fiber products. Qwest Communications International From left to right, Fedor Smith, vice president, Atlantic-ACM; Inc. also was recognized in multiple Arunas Chesonis, chairman and CEO, PAETEC; Glenn Russo, group vice president, Level 3; David West, national account manager, Cox categories, including wholesale local Communications; Roland Thornton, executive vice president of voice, transport, SONET and direct wholesale markets, Qwest; Judy Reed Smith, CEO, Atlantic-ACM; Internet access. Atlantic-ACM also Earl Comstock, president and CEO, COMPTEL; Matt Petersen, recognized six best-in-class metro part- director of product marketing, BT; Mike Hurley, vice president of ners. BellSouth was named best ILEC/ sales and marketing, Fibertech Networks; Tom Marx, vice president RBOC metro service partner while of national accounts, Time Warner Telecom; John Irwin, vice presi- Cox Communications was named best dent of carrier sales, BellSouth; and Jeff George, vice president, MSO service partner and PAETEC AT&T Wholesale. best CLEC service partner. Progress Telecom (now Level 3) was named best regional-to-national fiber-based service partner. American Fiber Systems was best metro-specific, fiber-based wholesale service partner while Fibertech Networks was named best metro-specific, fiber-based retail business partner. Global wholesale awards went to BT for provisioning and customer interface; AT&T for billing, customer service, network performance and quality of voice products; and Verizon Communications Inc. for brand, sales reps and quality of data products. Competition Champion Succumbs From left to right, Earl Comstock, president and CEO of COMPTEL; Patrick Thompson, vice president of legislative affairs for Covad; and Pete Leon, COMPTEL’s new vice president of legislative affairs, talk about the issues on Capitol Hill that will influence the future of the competitive industry. to Lou Gehrig’s Disease George Vinall, a former executive vice president of business development for Talk America, died over the weekend from the neuromuscular disease ALS — or Lou Gehrig’s disease, with which he was diagnosed seven years ago. Despite complications from the illness, Vinall refused to retire or slow down. He continued Nextlink Offers Turnkey, to advocate for competitive telecom causes and was recognized in February of 2004 as one of COMPTEL’s Champions of Competition. Self-Serve Wireless Reseller Options Vinall had been in telecom for nearly 30 years, and the last few proved to be some of his most inspiring. His career began with work as a PacBell computer programmer and he moved into the competitive side of Nextlink Wireless Inc. (Booth 1102), one of the nation’s largest wireless spectrum holders, launched a new reseller the industry in 1979 with Southern Pacific Telecommunications, now Sprint. Vinall later worked for National program for their customers’ “middle-mile” and “last-mile” network connectivity requirements. Telephone Services and moved from there to become vice president of regulatory and government affairs for The launch of this program follows the recent announcement that its sister company, XO Communications Inc., has Cable & Wireless NA. Vinall then founded two ISPs for Cable & Wireless, and served as founder and general initiated sales of Nextlink’s offerings in nine major markets across the United States. manager Cable & Wireless Internet Exchange. After running his own consulting firm, International Protocol Now, the company has opened up the opportunity to other providers, enabling them to sell DS3 and OC3 broadband LLC, Vinall joined Talk America in January of 1999 as executive vice president of business development. Talk wireless access as well as metro Ethernet at speeds up to 100mbps. America is one of the largest residential CLECs in the United States. Nextlink will offer two options to resellers. The first is a turnkey plan, wherein the reseller partner focuses on mar- Vinall boasted a long list of professional achievements. But perhaps his most impressive accomplishment keting, sales and customer site acquisition while Nextlink takes care of everything else required to enable a customer to was that after being diagnosed with ALS, he continued his work. ALS is characterized by progressive muscle become operational, including site setup (encompassing line-of-site and structural analyses, zoning and permitting, and weakness that results in paralysis and death. Vinall said that in spite of his diagnosis, the crisis to the CLEC civil work); hardware and installation; system test and acceptance; and ongoing monitoring, repair and maintenance. industry caused by the Triennial Review NPRM was too critical to ignore, so he formed the Competitive A second option is the Self-Serve Plan, wherein Nextlink manages equipment sourcing, spectrum coordination and Working Group. In February 2004, he said the group — “greatly aided” by what was then CompTel/ASCENT engineering, while the reseller partner is responsible for all other sales, installation and service-related activities. — helped align the competitive industry for the compromises contained in the eventual order. “Nextlink’s reseller program makes it simple for partners to immediately begin offering broadband wireless service Vinall said of himself in early 2004: “Armed with little more than a rickety wheelchair and a big mouth, as a high-quality, economical and easy-to-deploy local access alternative,” said Nextlink CEO Bob Beran. “Carriers of all he tirelessly lobbied on the Hill and FCC. Although his work on the TRO helped prevent the elimination of types, as well as cable companies, ISPs and power companies, can extend their network and market reach using Nextlink UNE-P carriers, he failed in his crusade to fix the handicapped door on the eighth floor of the FCC, which broadband wireless services, eliminating the high cost and slow installation times typical of fiber-optic deployments.” remains broken to this day.” C-CAMS Opens New Office in Costa Rica C-CAMS Inc. (Booth 1004) has opened a new office in Costa Rica, which the company said is the first of several The platform can be integrated across LANs and WANs. It supports ILECs and CLECs by handling all moves to establish international offices that will broaden its range of insourcing and outsourcing back-office support aspects of PSTN, VoIP, TDMA, CDMA, GSM, CDPD, GPRS, SMS, HSCSD, NENA 2, CDR, IPDR and DDR to the telecommunications industry. rating, taxation interface, and LNP conversions. C-CAMS has been assessing various international office, joint venture and CCAMS originates all customer, account, service and workflow activity outsourcing opportunities to expand into new markets, improve service and aug- in billing — so every billable event is captured and reported as soon as a ment design capabilities. C-CAMS has been assessing various customer’s services are provisioned. The application’s automatic operation and “Given the nature of our products, Costa Rica provides us with a host of unique international office, joint venture and outsourcing reporting capabilities allow users to verify revenue flow from network activity expansion and support advantages,” said Rod Wilson, president of the Irvine, Calif.-based to the customer’s final invoice with nearly 100 percent accuracy. C-CAMS. “We are also focusing [on] a division of service offerings for emerging and mid- opportunities to expand into new markets, improve The browser-based GUI standardizes all processes and transactions, so sized telecommunications companies through our CCAM’S ASP/MSP offering.” service and augment design capabilities. users can view and execute telephone, cellular, data and Internet services simi- The company’s CCAMS product is a telecommunications billing, control and man-{ larly, without having to be trained in different programs for each media. agement software system for a range of applications including customer care, account } “Besides providing regional, stateside and international design and service sup- maintenance, service order processing, provisioning, client field service, workflow man- port, Costa Rica will provide us with a largely untapped market for our products agement, rating, commissioning, billing, point of sale and accounts receivable. — plus numerous other new joint venture opportunities,” said Wilson.

2 COMPTEL • TUESDAY, OCT. 10, 2006

COMPTEL Show Daily Climbing the Value Chain Produced by PHONE+, xchange and New Telephony While much has been said and written about how CLECs are struggling to reach customers due to a string of regulatory deci- GROUP PUBLISHER sions that have put them on the losing end of the access stick, we’re hearing a lot less about what CLECs can and should do with those connections and customers once they have them. MIKE SAXBY [email protected] As we’ve heard for some time now, service providers of all stripes need to figure out a way to offer at least service parity with, as well as differentiation from, other players in a market — a market in which incumbent service providers are casting an ever-larger shadow. EDITORIAL

From what I can tell, CLECs, as a group, have done a reasonably good job at differentiating based on the service — or cus- KHALI HENDERSON Group Editor tomer responsiveness — they deliver. Now CLECs need to maintain that positioning while at the same time building their service [email protected] portfolios both to compete with larger rivals and to squeeze the most value out of each customer they have. PAULA BERNIER Editor in Chief Key areas CLECs should consider expanding into, if they’re not already there, are Web hosting and related services, managed [email protected] services and applications hosting. MEGAN MCCOY Managing Editor While Web hosting generally is considered a low-margin business, particularly related to the small and medium business [email protected] space that CLECs tend to target, there are plenty of opportunities to upsell Web hosting customers. Web site creation services and CARA SIEVERS Assistant Managing Editor help with Web search results are two such examples. [email protected]

Managed services is another opportunity that many in the industry are looking to as the next big thing. TARA SEALS Associate Editor Tying into managed services is the software-as-a-service trend. This, of course, is just another way of describing the function [email protected] of what once was called an application service provider, a term that fell out of favor in the 1990s. That entails the service provider KELLY M. TEAL Business and Regulatory Editor offering network-based e-mail, video conferencing, business applications and more. [email protected] IDC estimates that application management services represented a $21.5 billion market worldwide and a $9 billion market in the United States in 2005, and expects both markets to continue to experience growth. In an indication that this is the wave of the future, AT&T Inc. last month announced plans to acquire privately held applications service provider USinternetworking Inc. ADVERTISING USi provides software management and outsourcing services for popular business software from companies like Ariba, IBM WebSphere, Microsoft Corp., Oracle Corp., PeopleSoft and Siebel. The company also develops, hosts and manages customized e-commerce solutions. BETSY CHANDLER Associate Publisher Offering such applications on a hosted basis makes them more affordable and manageable for businesses, particularly for SMBs — the CLEC sweet spot — that don’t [email protected] have large IT departments. TAMMY FELLOWS Account Executive Delivering personal care along with the specific applications SMBs need could be a winning combination for CLECs. [email protected] SUZY KELLEY Account Executive [email protected]

Paula Bernier Editor in Chief, xchange PRODUCTION CHRIS VERNAM Production Director

DOLLY AHLES Director of Art Agenda TAMARA ELLIOTT Art Director DANIELLE DUNLAP Group Traffic Manager Tuesday, Oct. 11 MIKE PALMER Traffic Manager TAMARA ELLIOTT Advertising Art Directors 8 - 9:30 a.m. 8:30 - 9:30 a.m. 9:45 - 10:45 a.m. ISRAEL LAVEAGA COMPTEL Board of Directors Meeting Voice Peering Track Carrier Track ANGELA WRIGHT Key West Voice Peering Hardware & Software Elements Ensuring QoS and Security in a Converged World KAREN WILLIAMS (Open to COMPTEL Board Members Only) Crystal K/L Presented by the VPF BRUCE BECK Classified Art Director Crystal G1 A successful migration to a converged network takes more than the 8 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. MAKEASA ROSEMOND Classified Traffic Coordinator To understand the voice peering fabric is to understand its underlying ability to create new services; it requires service providers’ networks Registration ROB JACKSON Web Ad Coordinator infrastructure. Discover how session controllers and media gateways be reliable and secure. Hear how service providers are dealing with 8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. are used to peer voice traffic. Understand the available options in ensuring that services work seamlessly across various technologies Deal Center Open technologies to fit your existing and future investments. and network platforms; developing a consistent set of provisioning, monitoring and troubleshooting tools; and addressing security in a Session Leader: converged world. CIRCULATION 8:30 - 9:30 a.m. Shrihari Pandit, President and CEO, Stealth Communications Technology Forum: The IP NGN Architecture Session Leader: Presenters: SIMONE KJOLSRUD Circulation Director Presented by Cisco Systems Inc. Dick Tomlinson, Executive Vice President, New Paradigm Dan Dearing, Vice President of Marketing, NexTone Communications [email protected] The Network Convergence Layer Resources Group William Kwan, Director of Strategic Planning, Lucent Technologies Inc. Crystal J1 Circulation Sales, ext.1285 Chris Lengyel, Market Development Manager, Cantata Technology Presenters: This session will explore the critical network convergence layer, Jim Majeski, Director of Systems Engineering, Sansay Mitch Ferro, Senior Director, Product Management IP & Enhanced Circulation List Rental, ext. 2081 which eliminates multiple layers or disparate networks and offers Services, Broadwing Communications those same existing and new services over a single network — 8:30 - 9:30 a.m. David Malfara, Sr., President and CEO, Remi Communications many services, one network — and helps to reduce a providers’ Scaling the Wireless CLEC: Systems and Automation for Mike O’Malley, Global Portfolio Marketing Manager, Tellabs total cost of ownership. Hear service providers’ strategies for REAL Growth TRADESHOW DIVISION successfully implementing the network convergence layer. Presented by CMP Media 9:45 - 10:45 a.m. Voice Peering Track DANA HICKS Trade Show Director Session Leader: Crystal G2 Vic Northrup, Vice President, Cisco Systems Inc. Transitioning SS7/TCAP and 411 Services to IP SARAH WASCHLER Trade Show Manager Wireless network operators need scale to survive in the long term Presented by the VPF Presenters: against entrenched competition from incumbent carriers. Systems and DANICA CULLINS Exhibitor Sales Coordinator Crystal G1 Paul Brittain, Director of Systems Engineering, MetaSwitch automation provide the key for sustaining a steep growth curve for DAWN CARTER-NOE Production Coordinator In today’s business environment, carriers constantly are looking Mike Koons, Senior Director, Systems Engineers, Cisco Systems Inc. wireless ISPs. This session profiles successful strategies to add scale, MARLO SNEDDON Education Coordinator including design parameters, subscriber acquisition and technology for ways to control operating costs and simplify their networks. 8:30 - 9:30 a.m. adoption plans that increase only when new customers are targeted. This session will cover how carriers can eliminate the complex SEAN EGAN Art Director and costly SS7/TDM connections and streamline access to Carrier Track Presenter: critical database and gateway services over IP. Changes, Challenges and Opportunities in Wholesale Vincent Jordan, President and CEO, RidgeviewTel LLC Crystal K/L Session Leader: VIRGO PUBLISHING Convergence, next-generation networks and industry consolidation 9:45 - 10:45 a.m. Gary Kim, Editor-in-Chief, VoIP Business Weekly are just some of the significant factors changing the wholesale Technology Forum: The IP NGN Architecture Presenters: JENNIFER L. BOLTON President/CEO landscape. To survive and be successful in this rapidly evolving The Service Convergence Layer Doug Hilmes, Director of Business Development, TERESA DUNAWAY CFO marketplace, wholesale providers must revisit and reinvent their Presented by Cisco Systems Inc. Syniverse Technologies business models. Hear from service providers and industry analysts Crystal J1 Nitin Krishna, Director of Product Development and Management, KELLY RIDLEY Controller as they discuss changes in U.S. wholesale markets, developing The service convergence layer permits service continuity across INFONXX LINDA MADDOX Director of Human Resources trends and expected opportunities. multiple forms of network access, while utilizing the most cost- Dan Lyman, Vice President Sales, Transaction Network Services Session Leader: effective and efficient access means possible. This session will 9:45 - 10:45 a.m. Judy Reed Smith, CEO, Atlantic-ACM discuss how service providers can successfully architect for The WiMAX Promise for Traditional and Non-Traditional service convergence. Presenters: Service Providers Michael Friloux, COO, Citynet Session Leader: Presented by CMP Media Ernest Ortega, President, Carrier Services, XO Communications Inc. Vic Northrup, Vice President, Cisco Systems Inc. Crystal G2 Ted Raffetto, CEO, Vanco Presenters: WiMAX has generated interest among traditional as well as Glenn Russo, Group Vice President, Level 3 Communications Inc. Chris Pond, President, Network Insight non-traditional service providers, such as retail, spectrum Mike Sonnier, Distinguished Systems Engineer, Cisco Systems Inc. 8:30 - 9:30 a.m. and search engine owners. Find out why WiMAX appeals to Business Track 9:45 - 10:45 a.m. both providers and will provide guidelines for both groups to The New Ecosystem: Strategic Considerations Business Track evaluate its prospects for providing wireless broadband access Crystal J2 The New Ecosystem: Unlocking the Margins in the and delivering QoS for next-generation IMS applications. The communications marketplace is evolving into an entirely Business Marketplace Presenter: Ashish Dayama, Chief WiMAX Solution Architect, new ecosystem — one where emerging players, old standby Crystal J2 Published by Virgo Publishing providers and everything in between must co-exist. What is the With convergence comes the promise of service providers Lucent Worldwide Services new communications ecosystem, and how can you participate? P.O. Box 40079 developing and offering new value-added applications to increase Phoenix, AZ 85067-0079 Learn about the players, the value chain, and how to partner with 11 a.m. - Noon product differentiation, improve customer retention and drive ARPU. +1 480 990 1101 FAX: +1 480 990 0819 appropriate vendors to deliver value in this new environment. Technology Forum: The IP NGN Architecture Is there one set of hot buttons for the millions of SMBs seeking The Application Convergence Layer E-mail: [email protected] Session Leader: Web: www.vpico.com communications services? Learn the trends, the similarities and the Presented by Cisco Systems Inc. Khali Henderson, Group Editor, Telecom Division, Virgo Publishing wealth of opportunities for players in the ecosystem. Crystal J1 Presenters: Session Leader: Next-generation services don’t stop at VoIP. Application John Guillaume, Vice President, Sales and Marketing, New Global Mike O’Neill, Vice President and Group Publisher, The Telecom convergence enables service providers to combine many different Telecom Intelligence Group services over the same connection to the same end device. With Jim Johnson, Director of Product Management, Pac-West Presenters: this capability, they also can offer innovative “all-media” services, Don MacNeil, Vice President, Carrier Services, XO Communications Inc. John Guillaume, Vice President, Sales and Marketing, including IPTV and video conferencing, as well as new services that Craig Schlagbaum, Vice President, Level 3 Communications Inc. New Global Telecom convergence enables cost effectively. Case studies will demonstrate John Macario, CEO, Savatar how to successfully engineer application-converged services. Chris Reese, President and CEO, i3 Networks Mark Richards, President and Founder, VoX Communications (Agenda cont. on Page 6)

4 COMPTEL • TUESDAY, OCT. 10, 2006

(Agenda cont. from Page 4) Roundtable Presents Wholesale Survival Tips Session Leader: Vic Northrup, Vice President, Cisco Systems Inc. Convergence and consolidation are among the factors wholesalers should not count on it, said Smith. “Time does Presenters: changing the carrier landscape, and urging wholesalers to funny things to business models,” she added. Glen Lang, CEO, Connexion Technologies CHANGES, CHALLENGES Brooks Robinson, CMO, Cbeyond Communications revisit and reinvent their business models. To discuss the & OPPORTUNITIES IN Another two-sided issue is the issue of consolidation, mak- Matthew Squire, CTO, Hatteras Networks changes in the market as well as trends and opportunities, WHOLESALE ing it more difficult for CLECs to match the massive footprints 11 a.m. - Noon COMPTEL has assembled a panel of wholesale executives for and the economies of scale of the mega telcos, Reed Smith Business Track an hour-long roundtable this morning. These include Michael Tuesday, Oct. 10 said. However, this reality creates an opportunity for CLECs The New Ecosystem: “Over-Delivering” the Customer Friloux, COO for Citynet; Ernest Ortega, president of carrier 8:30 - 9:30 a.m. to explore ways to share their networks to extend coverage Experience Crystal J2 services for XO Communications Inc.; Ted Raffetto, CEO of Crystal K/L and develop more profitable business models. Panelist Ortega Vanco; and Glenn Russo, group vice president for Level 3 recommends instead of buying from the larger players, com- In the new ecosystem, consolidation trends contrast directly with specialization trends. To deliver an exceptional service requires “over- Communications Inc. petitors find ways to work with each other whenever possible delivering” at all aspects of the customer experience — and in most Session leader Judy Reed Smith, CEO of research and consulting firm and fill each other’s networks first. cases, no one provider can do it all alone. Learn best practices for ATLANTIC-ACM, will kick off the session with new market-sizing numbers, Panelists also will discuss challenges such as downward price pressure and partnering with specialists who handle the details that make a difference and then the panelists each will discuss wholesalers’ three greatest challenges and declining revenue from voice services. in end-to-end service delivery. Session Leader: opportunities. On possible countering opportunity is the renewed requirement for bandwidth, Kelly Teal, Business and Regulatory Editor, Virgo Publishing “Sometimes in talking to those, they end up being the flipside of the same coin,” partly due to IP and now the emerging video and picture sending. “We think in the Presenters: said Reed Smith, citing the example of wholesale relationships with content provid- 2008-10 range, there will be more demand due to video,” she said. Geoffrey Drayton, Vice President of Sales, DecisionOne ers like Google. “They are a huge opportunity at this point in providing wholesale Of course, another opportunity is VoIP. Reed Smith said in her firm’s research, David Norman, CEO, Edgewater Networks Frank Peregrine, Chairman, CustomCall Data Systems services to them, but they are possibly, in the long term, a heavy competitor.” there are nine different products, ranging from hosted PBX to termination, that Ron Whaley, Vice President of Sales and Marketing, OSG Billing Services While Google has told its wholesalers it is not going to build its own network, wholesalers can offer to other services providers. 11 a.m. - Noon Carrier Track It’s A Small World: Trends in International Services Crystal K/L While the overall market for international bandwidth appears to be improving, challenges remain depending on the markets you wish to serve. How can U.S.-based service providers successfully operate internationally, either directly or through partnerships? Our panel of experts will highlight factors driving demand for international capacity and present case studies of recent business partnerships. Session Leader: Guillaume Boyer, Commercial Director, Capacity Magazine Presenters: Eric Gillenwater, Director of Service Providers, Telstra Andres Jordan, Vice President of Carrier Solutions, Deutsche Telekom Anthony Rossabi, Director, VSNL International Allen Timpany, CEO, Vanco PLC 11 a.m. - Noon Voice Peering Track Round-Table Discussion on ENUM & Least-Cost Routing Presented by the VPF Crystal G1 ENUM and least-cost routing have made it easier for both carriers and enterprise customers to utilize bilateral and multilateral peering arrangements to move IP-to-IP traffic without touching the public network. Come to this session to learn more about the business drivers and trends in bilateral and multilateral peering. Session Leader: Hunter Newby, Chief Strategy Officer, telx Presenters: Mark Fedor, CTO, SunRocket John Fitzpatrick, Senior Vice President, Software Solutions, Vero Systems Inc. Tom Kershaw, Vice President, Next Generation Services, VeriSign 11 a.m. - Noon Retail Pricing for the Broadband Wireless ISP Presented by CMP Media Crystal G2 As a company that has experienced first-hand the financial needs of building and growing a wireless ISP, The Final Mile will discuss the importance of planning your business from a financial as well as a technical standpoint to be successful. Presenter: Tim Sanders, President, The Final Mile 12:30 - 4:30 p.m. COMPTEL PLUS Trade Expo Wednesday, Oct. 12 8 - 11:45 a.m. Regulatory Workshop: New Landscape, New Challenges Presented by Dickstein Shapiro LLP Crystal J1 This workshop explores how shifts in the regulatory landscape will shape competitors’ business plans, creating both risks and opportunities. With recent FCC decisions having restricted dramatically the rights of competitors to reach their customers, what options remain? What impact will new technologies, such as wireless, play in the future landscape? How is the FCC going to regulate VoIP and other IP services? Attendees will come away with an understanding of the developments shaping their industry and new insights into how to survive and thrive. SESSION I Reaching the Customer and Hauling Traffic: The Future of Today’s market demands highly-customizable solutions. UNEs, Special Access and Alternative Access Methods Presenters: Dave Baker, Vice President, Law & Public Policy, EarthLink Edward Cadieux, Vice President, Senior Regulatory Counsel, NuVox Communications Dan Gonzalez, Chief of Staff to FCC Chairman Kevin Martin Chris McKee, Vice President and Assistant General Counsel, Covad Communications Joe Sandri, Senior Vice President, FiberTower Corp. SESSION II The Regulatory Triple Play: VoIP, Universal Service and Intercarrier The small and medium business world is no different. Our foundation is superior VoIP technology Compensation Presenters: integrating total program support with low cost-of-entry. Build your business on ﬂexible, customized Heather Gold, Senior Vice President, Government Relations, XO Communications Inc., solutions for your end-users. Technology is one thing; technology applied is quite another. Christopher Libertelli, Director of Regulatory and Government Affairs, Skype Dave Scott, CEO Ironhorse Telecom SESSION III Visit COMPTEL PLUS Booth 620 to explore what’s next in VoIP. www.Intelliverse.com/comptel Ray Potts, VP Sales 770.663.5053 Net Neutrality: The Competitive Perspective Presenter: Earl Comstock, President and CEO, COMPTEL 11:45 a.m. Conference Adjourns

6 COMPTEL • TUESDAY, OCT. 10, 2006 AFS Takes Over USCarrier’s Daily Vero Systems Announces Operations, Gets Board Seats International Expansion American Fiber Systems (AFS), a provider of data net- personnel and will continue to operate from its Atlanta OSS provider Vero Systems Inc. (Booth 806) announced it has expanded its works to carriers and large enterprises, has acquired equity headquarters. Acuité product suite to include more capabilities for the international market. interest in USCarrier Telecom LLC (Booth 709), a wholesale The deal bodes well for both companies, executives said. The Acuité suite now contains a new, dedicated module called AcuWorld. provider in the southeastern United States. The transaction “We have compatible corporate cultures, similar customers, The module is the next generation of advanced least-cost routing using dial code makes AFS the single largest shareholder in USCarrier, and and highly reliable engineering and customer service,” said and rate management, combined with easy-to-use routing screens. gives the company the ability to gain majority ownership Dave Rusin, president and CEO of AFS. “AFS provides AcuWorld, when combined with the CDRs from the AcuCDR International within a few years. metro solutions to both enterprise and carrier customers in the module, supplies near-real-time management data. This allows users to run AFS now manages the daily operators of USCarrier. It Atlanta market, and USC provides regional long-haul solu- standard and ad-hoc reports to make optimal routing decisions regarding costs, also, initially, holds two seats on USCarrier’s board of directions to carrier customers across the Southeast.” pricing, margins and QoS. tors; it will be able to make more appointments in the future. “This transaction positions the combined companies as “After running international voice businesses for many years, it is absolutely AFS senior managers Dave Rusin, president and CEO, and leading providers of metro and long-haul telecommunica- fantastic to apply all the valuable lessons learned in order to build a truly indus- Dave Danchak, vice president of business development, hold tion services,” said Teddy Solomon, chairman of the board try-leading set of software modules,” said Frank de Bloois, senior vice president the initial seats. of USCarrier. “Working together enables us to provide a of international operations at Vero Systems. “Responses to our software have Danchak will assume the role as president of USCarrier comprehensive solution to meet the growing demands of our been very, very positive and we’re rapidly reaching out to carriers of all sizes and Gita Ramachandran of AFS now is CFO. USCarrier customers and allows us to pursue significant new revenue around the world to show them how our solution can help them improve the will maintain its corporate identity, management team, and opportunities.” performance of their international voice businesses.” Cellular One, Equinox Ink Deal Equinox Information Systems (Booth 718) has announced that Cellular One of East Central Illinois has WE’RE DRIVEN BY licensed Equinox’s Collector and TeleLink products. The platforms will integrate with Cellular One’s Ericsson AXE10 and Nokia switches. Collector provides real-time SOLUTIONS THAT delivery of usage records to a carrier’s local area network, while TeleLink facilitates the delivery of usage records to downstream processes by filtering and converting usage data to compatible formats for OSS. CONNECT ANYTHING “This agreement reinforces our commitment to deliver the industry’s most competitive mediation platform and supports our goal of becoming a recognized leader in the TO EVERYTHING. integration of operational support systems for the communications industry.” { — Equinox's David West} “Equinox’s reputation in the communications industry Introducing ConnectStream Virtual LAN Service (VLS) from Windstream. VLS interconnects was a key factor in the decision-making process,” explained your company’s multiple LAN locations using fi ber backbone and transport facilities. It is a Ryan Shepherd of Cellular One. “Between these two soft- highly reliable, fl exible bandwidth solution that supports any network layer protocol between ware applications, Cellular One has greatly advanced in terms of simplifying our billing processes and improving business locations. A simple fi ber- or copper-based Ethernet user connection makes it easy to overall efficiency.” use and removes the need for costly staff to manage networking equipment and wide area TeleLink streamlines operations by automating the flow and ensuring the integrity of usage data as it travels from the connectivity. Call or log on to fi nd out more about our comprehensive business solutions. switching platform to billing and other downstream OSS processes. The application reduces the complexity of multi- switch networks by managing proactively the transmission Visit us at Comptel Booth #314. and transformation of usage records. “We are delighted with Cellular One’s decision to license Equinox mediation software,” said David West, Equinox executive vice president. “This agreement reinforces our commitment to deliver the industry’s most competitive mediation platform and supports our goal of becoming a recognized leader in the integration of operational support systems for the communications industry.” Covad Taps OSG for Direct Billing OSG Billing Services (Booth 215) will manage invoice presentment and distribution services for Covad Communications, a nationwide provider of integrated voice and data communications, located in San Jose, Calif. Covad has chosen OSG Billing Services to reduce costs associated with its invoice production and distribution, and to improve overall efficiency. The provider also is seeking to enhance its customer communications through the printed invoice by employing OSG Dynamic Messaging, a product that will allow Covad to add messages with graphics and photographs to the front of the invoice. Additionally, Covad now employs OSG View, a customer service tool that provides the customer service representative with an instant view of a PDF of the invoice, so they can expedite the resolution of customers’ billing concerns. “By selecting OSG Billing Services, we ensure that our customers receive accurate, timely and understandable invoices,” said Minda Cutcher, billing manager for Covad. “We also gain the ability to present customers with targeted 1.877.312.wind | WINDSTREAM.COM communications in a more efficient and cost-effective way, helping us grow our business and improve the customers’ experience.

COMPTEL • TUESDAY, OCT. 10, 2006 7 COMPTEL wishes to thank the following sponsors for their support of the Fall 2006 Convention & EXPO: Platinum Sponsors: Gold Sponsors: Silver Sponsors: Cisco Systems Edison Carrier Solutions Embarq Qwest InterMetro Communications GeoResults VANCO Sprint Verizon Additional Sponsors: Premier Media Sponsors: FatPipe Other Partners: AT&T Wholesale PHONE+ Pipeline IMS Forum Atlantic ACM xchange Telecommunications Magazine ISPCON CoStreet Communications TelecomWeb Stealth DCI Additional Media Sponsors: Telephony VPF Dickstein Shapiro America’s Network The Prepaid Press Looking Glass Networks Broadband Wireless VoIP Business News USCarrier Business News Americas XO Communications Capacity

Company Booth Company Booth Company Booth Company Booth

3PV - Third Party Verification...... 206 CustomCall Data Systems...... 406 Lightyear Network Solutions ...... 318 SRP Telecom ...... 515 Accedian Networks Inc...... 409 Dagda Mor Media ...... 1009 Martin Group...... 614 Stealth Communications Inc...... 101 Acme Packet...... 818 DCA Services Inc...... 401 MetaSwitch...... 1000 Switch and Data ...... 301 Actelis Networks ...... 1015 DCI Voice Solutions ...... 414 Metro One Telecommunications ...... 1018 Syniverse Technologies Inc...... 210 Adaption Technologies...... 608 DSET Corp...... 719 Mid Atlantic Broadband Cooperative ...... 205 Technologies Management Inc...... 307 Advanced Software Concepts (ASC) ...... 321 ECI Telecom...... 1308 MultiPoint International ...... 420 Tekelec ...... 501 Advantage Telcom...... 1100 Edison Carrier Solutions ...... 814 NCIC Operator Services...... 714 TelePacific Communications ...... 815 AITech ...... 921 Embarq Corp...... 203 New Paradigm Resources Group Inc...... 214 TeliaSonera International Carrier ...... 100 Alliance Group Services Inc...... 419 Emdeon Business Services ...... 208 Nextlink ...... 1102 Telispire...... 519 AT&T Wholesale ...... 809 Equinox Information Systems ...... 718 NexTone Communications...... 908 telW ...... 207 BellSouth Interconnection Services...... 609 Everyone.net ...... 507 Norlight Telecommunications ...... 801 Thermo Credit LLC ...... 1006 BeQuick Software Inc...... 306 Excell Services ...... 201 NTS Communications ...... 914 Thomson Tax and Accounting ...... 300 BillSoft Inc...... 720 FibroLAN ...... 618 OSG Billing Services ...... 215 Transaction Network Services Inc...... 509 Blackfoot - TeleSphere ...... 1021 FPL FiberNet ...... 220 Pac-West...... 808 TransNexus ...... 819 BlueTie ...... 308 GENBAND ...... 918 PacketFront Inc...... 1020 UDP...... 619 BridgeWave Communications ...... 1110 GigaBeam Corp...... 1101 PAETEC Communications ...... 407 USCarrier Telecom LLC ...... 709 Bright House Networks ...... 103 Global Crossing ...... 907 Performance Technologies ...... 1016 Vanco ...... 601 Broadview Networks Inc...... 518 GlobalTouch Telecom Inc...... 704 Phihong ...... 1106 Veraz Networks...... 418 Broadwing Communications ...... 901 Grande Communications...... 700 PHONE+ ...... 104 VeriSign Inc...... 417 BSG Clearing Solutions ...... 805 ILD Telecommunications Inc...... 520 Power & Telephone Supply Co...... 105 Vero Systems Inc...... 806 C-CAMS Inc...... 1004 IMS Forum ...... 110 PPL Telcom LLC ...... 820 Vertek Corp...... 320 Capacity Magazine ...... 219 INDATELgroup ...... 920 Profitec Billing Services...... 906 Virtual Back Office Software Inc...... 421 Carmel Solutions Inc...... 1011 Info Directions Inc...... 217 Pulse Voice Inc...... 218 VOEX Inc...... 107 Cavalier Telephone ...... 304 Intelliverse...... 620 Qwest Communications International Inc...... 701 VoiceLog LLC ...... 1007 Champion Optical Networking Engineering ...... 411 Interlink Global Corp...... 917 RCN Business Solutions ...... 315 Wayport Inc...... 521 Cisco Systems Inc...... 1001 InterMetro Communications ...... 408 RiverRock Systems ...... 102 Windstream...... 314 Citynet...... 821 Interstate FiberNet/ITC^DeltaCom...... 909 Sandy Beaches Software ...... 721 xchange ...... 104 ClearMesh Networks ...... 1108 Iowa Network Services ...... 211 sentitO Networks...... 309 XO Communications Inc...... 715 Compliance Solutions Inc...... 111 ITS Communications Inc...... 1019 Sirius Telecom...... 221 YFonGlobal ...... 319 Concretio...... 216 Level 3 Communications Inc...... 514 SkyPilot Networks...... 1111 Zhone Technologies Inc...... 1008 Conference Group, The ...... 919 LightCore, a CenturyTel Co...... 1310 smartBridges Pte. Ltd...... 1104 Consolidated Communications ...... 621 LightRiver Technologies Inc...... 415 Sonus Networks ...... 108 CopperCom ...... 209 LightSpeed Technologies...... 405 Sprint ...... 615 Bold = Broadband Wireless Pavilion Exhibitors

8 COMPTEL • TUESDAY, OCT. 10, 2006

BeQuick Software Offers IVR Citynet Takes Unconventional Service to QuickTel Users Approach to Service Delivery BeQuick Software Inc. (Booth 306) said it now offers IVR service that integrates with its hosted OSS By taking an unconventional approach to service delivery and network planning, where provisioners do more than just and billing product called QuickTel. provisioning and designers are not limited to network design, Citynet (Booth 821) executives said the company is reducing The IVR tool allows customers to check their balance, receive information on their last payment and standard service intervals. hear when their next payment is due. The IVR service also allows customers to make real-time payments Utilizing multiskilled professionals, Citynet offers wholesale customers one contact who provides the entire package via a credit card over the phone anytime of day. “This is an affordable way for our customers to manage of design, provisioning and testing services. Consolidating these operations optimizes service delivery and streamlines the their inbound service calls and take the pressure off customer care call volumes by handling all their com- customer experience, the company said. mon, non-complex customer service calls via the IVR,” said Steve McIntosh, vice president of operations “Being the customer’s problem-solving resource and providing comprehensive solutions is vital to success in this busi- for BeQuick Software. “The best part is that it can be easily integrated with our customers’ existing phone ness,” said Citynet Director of Sales and Marketing Tom Payne. “Each member of our service-delivery team can provide systems.” design, provisioning and testing services. As a result, we are able to step outside the box and combine these operations, which The next phase of the IVR service will allow customers to request payment extensions and check the are typically separated into three different departments within an organization.” status of a repair or order. Future phases will include features such as an agent-specific IVR system for Citynet provides its wholesale customers with a single contact who can answer all questions and understands all ele- accepting phone payments from the carrier’s agent base, a bilingual system for Spanish-speaking custom- ments of services they are requesting. This, in turn, speeds service deployments and facilitates proactive problem solving, the ers and outbound IVR calls for alerts such as bill due reminders, suspension notices, etc. company said. BeQuick Software provides its services under an ASP model to Tier 3 CLECs. BeQuick owns and Citynet Wholesale offers private lines, optical waves, Ethernet, colocation, and local access to secondary markets across manages all the necessary infrastructure required to deliver real-time order entry, provisioning, billing and the Midwestern and mid-Atlantic states, including Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, care operations systems. Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia. Profitec Announces New Support for Integrated VoIP/Telephony Resellers Profitec Billing Services (Booth 906) now offers a host of billing and support service enhancements specifically designed to meet the growing needs of resellers of integrated IP and telephony portfolio products. “Communications marketers selling from multiple product arenas face a number of interesting challenges,” said Randy Minervino, Profitec’s vice president of sales and marketing. “In addition to the normal telephony activation processes, which are batch or slow-transactional in nature, IP-based services usually require a more sophisticated approach. For example, a provider may require a real-time activation process directly into the switching equipment, which can then send back programming instructions for the IP phones or ATA devices. We have expanded the capabilities of both our master OSS and the associated Web-based e-commerce platforms that handle the initial orders.”

“In addition to the normal telephony activation processes, which are batch or slow- transactional in nature, IP-based services usually require a more sophisticated approach. We have expanded the capabilities of both our master OSS and the associated Web-based e-commerce platforms that handle the initial orders.” {}— Profitec's Randy Minervino

Profitec’s OmniBill.net, and the rest of the OmniSuite components, all have been enhanced to accommodate the billing, workflow and other OSS requirements for more than two dozen voice, data and IP-based services with indi- vidualized rating, taxation and service charge capabilities. Centralized reporting and account-level management are designed to make a complex convergence task a manageable administrative capability. Some of the traditional billing services also have been redesigned to accommodate the current environment such as advance or arrears billing for equipment leasing and other important revenue items. In addition, through the provision of .Net-developed Web applications, activation workflows and installation site-enabled system access allows the updating of work tickets and access to important information such as site survey results and other critical technical data which can reduce turn-up timeframes and implementation expenses. Profitec’s back-office division also has expanded to provide services including activations, site survey management, end-user bandwidth orders, third-party requests, fulfillment and other critical support services. “While our new billing sales remain strong, our menu of outsourced offerings grows in direct relationship to the customers we are fortunate enough to land,” said Matthew Sosnowski, Profitec’s customer service manager. “During the implementation process, we often find a specific set of needs required to support our client’s business plan which cannot be properly handled internally, at least at certain stages of our clients’ business cycle. That is where we can really provide value over and above the billing and support systems.”

10 COMPTEL • TUESDAY, OCT. 10, 2006 TECHNOLOGY FORUM: Cisco Focuses on Convergence THE IP NGN Imagine transferring a video-on-demand order from the television to a Sony PSP for an airplane builds customer loyalty and increases customer retention. ARCHITECTURE ride, or the ability to download music only once, but being able to stream it through a home theater, The third installment in the track will look at applica- Tuesday, Oct. 10 mobile device or PC at a whim. Compelling services like this are what service providers are banking tions convergence. Everyone knows about VoIP, but the on for future revenue — but enabling the anytime, anywhere, any-device world takes planning and an ability to mash up and blend other types of siloes, like Crystal J1 understanding of what “convergence” — that industry buzzword — really means. video and data (IPTV) or video, voice and wireless (por- THE NETWORK That’s the message behind the Cisco Systems Inc.-sponsored three-session forum on next- table video conferencing) translates into innovative service CONVERGENCE LAYER generation IP networking at the COMPTEL PLUS Fall Convention & EXPO. offerings with real end-user appeal. The trick is doing this Each of today’s three sessions will tackle an architectural layer: network, service or applications cost effectively and with the right engineering. Glen Lang, 8:30 - 9:30 a.m. convergence. Part education, part industry trending, the sessions will feature speakers from Cisco and CEO at Connexion Technologies; Brooks Robinson, CMO other market leaders to provide explanations, analysis and case studies of what service providers need at Cbeyond Communications; and Matthew Squire, CTO at THE SERVICE to do to successfully implement an IP next-generation convergence strategy. Hatteras Networks, will provide some guidelines. CONVERGENCE LAYER It’s time for service providers, particularly those competing against large incumbents in cable and “By converging on all these layers, providers can bring telecom, to begin strategizing, said track moderator Vic Northrup, vice president of U.S. service pro- Cisco’s Vic Northrup multiple applications to multiple access technologies at a 9:45 - 10:45 a.m. vider operations for Cisco. “Yes, you have to collapse your networks and offer innovative services,” he said. “But you low cost, and will have the flexibility to innovate faster as the market have to do it more nimbly and at a lower cost to challenge the incumbents and supercarriers out there. In the future, demands it,” said Northrup. “We look at the network as a platform, and THE APPLICATION providers will be defined not by access type, but by the services they offer.” providers need to map the NGN architecture to commercial enterprise CONVERGENCE LAYER and consumer needs. How will you deliver the right services, support According to Infonetics Research, competition will remain fierce as the industry as a whole looks to upgrade 11 a.m. - Noon networks and enable service flexibility — worldwide spending on equipment will grow 33 percent to $143.5 bil- them and interact with your customer? That will be the differentiator.” lion in 2009. The service provider next-gen voice and IMS market will double by 2009, driven by the move to IMS and by fixed-mobile convergence, while the IPTV equipment market will see a dramatic compound annual growth rate of 99 percent. That all means providers need to move quickly to gain the first-mover advantage. “Three major trends are driving the growth we’re seeing in the telecom and datacom market,” said Jeff Wilson, principal analyst at Infonetics. “People worldwide are com-

“Three major trends are driving the growth we’re seeing in the telecom and datacom market, People worldwide are communicating over networks and the Internet via broadband. Carriers are moving to a single converged data network incorporating voice and video along with traditional data. And mobile and fixed wireline networks of data, voice and video are converging.” {}— Infonetics Research's Jeff Wilson municating over networks and the Internet via broadband. Carriers are moving to a single converged data network incorporating voice and video along with traditional data. And mobile and fixed wireline networks of data, voice and video are converging.” The first step on the road map for service providers want- ing to stay in the game is network convergence: the focus of Cisco’s first session. By eliminating separate networks for voice/data, wired/wireless and TDM/IP, and instead running multiple types of traffic on one IP backbone, a provider can lower its total cost of ownership for the network as well as reduce opex. A single network also serves as the basis for the next-generation, any-to-any world. “It’s important to look past next year and into the next five,” said Northrup. “You have to be positioned for how customer demands change, and the network architecture will need to meet that.” Paul Brittain, director of systems engineering at MetaSwitch, and Mike Koons, senior director of systems engineers at Cisco, will discuss service provider strategies for implementing this layer. The second session will cover the service convergence layer, which enables end users to tap into applications regardless of access method (DSL, say, or 3G wireless). It also determines how endpoints should be treated, what kind of traffic is flowing, how that traffic should be billed based on retail and interconnect policies, and other tasks. Chris Pond, president at Network Insight, and Mike Sonnier, distinguished systems engineer at Cisco, will talk about how such service continuity across multiple networks can be achieved, and why it’s a differentiator in the market that Qwest Unleashes Qwest Local Service Platform Qwest Wholesale (Booth 701) has introduced Qwest Local Service Platform (QLSP), a “feature-rich” local exchange service that allows CLECs to offer businesses and consumers the TDM features end users have come to expect with standardized installation rates and extremely fast provisioning times. QLSP services are the functional equivalent of Qwest Platform Plus (QPP), and include aggressive growth and retention incentives that allow CLECs to modify rates based on their volume trajectories, according to the company.

COMPTEL • TUESDAY, OCT. 10, 2006 11 Discover Your Place in the New VoIP Ecosystem BUSINESS TRACK: THE Biology’s concept of the ecosystem is being applied to the emerging VoIP environment, which participants basis to help drive end-user adoption, said Craig Schlagbaum, vice NEW ECOSYSTEM say is hard-pressed to exist at all without a number of specialized providers working together to deliver service president of partner development for Level 3 Communications Inc., to an end customer and return to its contributors a “live-giving” profit. another panelist in The New Ecosystem discussion. Tuesday, Oct. 10 “Clearly, no single player has in any scale the key elements to do it on [his or her] own,” said Rich Grange, “At the end of the day, the end user gets a good experience with Crystal J2 rather plainly explaining the emergence of the new VoIP ecosystem. Grange is CEO of New Global Telecom Inc., VoIP,” said Schlagbaum, citing the ultimate purpose of the VoIP eco- a wholesale provider of VoIP services and a panelist in today’s discussion about The New Ecosystem. As part of system. “Without that, the whole thing falls apart.” STRATEGIC the conference’s Business Track today, The New Ecosystem comprises three sessions, beginning with “Strategic COMPTEL PLUS conference attendees can find out more about CONSIDERATIONS Considerations” at 8:30 a.m. and continuing with “Unlocking the Margins in the Business Marketplace” at The New Ecosystem, how they can participate, drive ARPU, reduce 8:30 - 9:30 a.m. 9:45 a.m. and “Over-Delivering the Customer Experience” at 11 a.m. attrition and provide end-to-end service delivery in today’s seminars, The “key elements” Grange refers to range from distribution channels and network infrastructure to back which also feature Jim Johnson, director of product management office, and customer care to applications to CPE installation. for Pac-West Telecomm Inc.; Don MacNeil, vice president of UNLOCKING THE Each service provider — which can be thought of as the integration point for these elements — comes to carrier services for XO Communications Inc., Mike O’Neill, vice MARGINS IN THE the table with various components in hand. Because there are a range of delivery models and disparate core president and group publisher of The Telecom Intelligence Group; BUSINESS MARKETPLACE competencies among companies at various stages of development, the VoIP environment is ripe for ecosystem John Guillaume, vice president of sales and marketing for New 9:45 - 10:45 a.m. dynamics, said Grange. Global Telecom; John Macario, CEO of Savatar; Mark Richards, This “sum is greater than the parts” approach is gaining momentum within the competitive community. president and founder of VoX Communications Corp.; Chris Reese, "OVER"-DELIVERING While market-driven and organically grown, the VoIP ecosystem also has its champions in vendors that are president and CEO of i3 Networks; Geoffrey Drayton, vice president THE CUSTOMER assembling complementary technology and service partnerships around their own offers. The idea here is to make of sales for DecisionOne Corp.; David Norman, CEO of Edgewater EXPERIENCE sure their systems can integrate or interoperate more or less out-of-the-box or that their business processes are Networks Inc.; Frank Peregrine, chairman of CustomCall Data compatible to shorten service providers’ go-to-market steps. Systems Inc.; and Ron Whaley, vice president of sales for OSG 11 a.m. - Noon By creating similar alliances, service providers are seeking to deliver a high-quality service on a repeatable Billing Services. International Capacity Panel to Examine DSET Launches Enhanced Opportunities for CLECs Gateway Product Suite While the overall market for interna- and enterprise customers with sophisticat- Building on its tional bandwidth appears to be improved requirements, and in order to service service bureau oper- ing, challenges remain depending on the IT'S A SMALL WORLD: their (customers’) international connec- ations and legacy markets being served. How can U.S.-based TRENDS IN INTERNA- tivity requirements, will need to enter gateway products service providers successfully operate TIONAL SERVICES into partnerships with global and regional for competitive internationally, either directly or through Tuesday, Oct. 10 (international) carriers,” he said. “This is service providers, partnerships? That’s just one of the ques- particularly important when you consider DSET Corp. (Booth tions panelists will explore during “It’s 11 a.m. - Noon end customers’ QoS expectations at the 719) has launched an A Small World: Trends in International Crystal K/L application level, for example.” enhanced gateway Services.” Meanwhile, carriers such as applications prod- The event will be moderated by Cogent Communications, Level 3 uct suite that elec- Guillaume Boyer, publisher of Capacity magazine in the Communications Inc. and Global Crossing are making their tronically bridges U.K., who noted traditional CLECs “can enjoy increased mark on the international side by acquiring metro provid- the CRM and order revenue opportunities if they are able to sell international ers and networks in Europe, Boyer pointed out. “These management systems services. To do this they need to partner with an international companies clearly have an international strategy from the of different trading The DSET gateway applications product suite carrier (or VNO) in the same way that they would partner perspective of acquiring new markets outside of the U.S.,” he partners. with a domestic carrier in order to provide services outside said. “AT&T wholesale is another example of a U.S.-based The applications are capable of handling access and local services, special services of the CLEC’s respective footprint.” company with a strong international strategy with local pres- that include E911, calling card, caller ID and long-distance, and number portability The slated participants — Eric Gillenwater, director of ence in every region. Also, by acquiring MCI, Verizon has solutions. They are based on databases from players such as Oracle Corp. and server service providers for Telstra; Andres Jordan, vice president been able to position itself as a global player.” platforms such as Solaris and Linux. The underlying architecture is a J2EE-compliant of carrier solutions for Deutsche Telekom; Anthony Rossabi, The opportunities are growing then, especially as more framework that has been in operation for more than seven years; the applications have director of VSNL International; and Allen Timpany, CEO of European and Asian carriers look to terminate traffic in the been designed for scalability and built using open-source industry standard tools such Vanco PLC — will discuss their views on the matter of inter- United States, said Boyer. “This is a major opportunity for as Weblogic and Eclipse. national capacity as well. U.S.-based carriers to partner with these carriers and terminate They also have several trading partner interfaces that handle specific deviations For his part, Boyer explained that CLECs, especially their traffic,” which also increases revenue, he said. and take care of change management. The applications have the ability to transact those that are small and serve specific ethnic markets, can Boyer said the panel likely will include a discussion on business using different protocols — CORBA, EDI, Mech Specs and SOAP/XML. provide international dialup services to customers by buying how to choose an international partner, as well as an over- A number of transport mechanisms are supported, including FTP/PFTP, NDM international switched minutes and/or entering into bilateral view of the different types of available partnerships, such and Interactive Agent. Most applications offer upstream interfaces to send and agreements with other carriers. “However, on the data/IP side, as outsourcing, acquisition and single, rather than multiple, receive data from CRM and order management systems, as well as a standard Web many larger carriers (e.g. RBOCs and IXCs) will have retail partners. services interface.

12 COMPTEL • TUESDAY, OCT. 10, 2006 REGULATORY Regulatory Workshop to Explore Weighty Issues WORKSHOP: Hazy VoIP oversight. Megamergers. No more UNE-P mandates. senior regulatory counsel for NuVox Communications Inc.; Chris McKee, mechanisms, but progress on NEW LANDSCAPE, Reclassification of the Bells’ DSL services. So much is happening in the vice president and assistant general counsel for Covad Communications those fronts has been slow. NEW CHALLENGES regulatory landscape it can be hard to keep up. Thursday’s regulatory work- Inc.; and Joe Sandri, senior vice president of FiberTower Corp. Finally, Earl Comstock, pres- Wednesday, Oct. 11 shop, “New Landscape, New Challenges,” sponsored by Dickstein Shapiro The second panel is titled “The Regulatory Triple Play: VoIP, Universal ident and CEO of COMPTEL, LLP, will help COMPTEL members learn more about the issues affecting Service and Intercarrier Compensation.” Scheduled participants are: Heather will sum up the morning’s events 8 - 11:45 a.m. them, as well as what looks to be on the horizon. All registered attendees Gold, senior vice president of government relations for XO Communications; with a discussion on net neutral- Crystal J1 automatically are enrolled in the classes. Christopher Libertelli, director of regulatory and government affairs for ity from the competitive perspec- Dickstein Shapiro bills the workshop as a series of panels that will Skype; and Dave Scott, CEO of Ironhorse Telecom. Gold, a familiar face tive. Julia Strow, vice president explore how shifts in the regulatory landscape will shape competitors’ busi- in the CLEC industry, said audience members need to realize “the lines of regulatory and legislative affairs for Cbeyond Communications, also is ness plans, creating both risks and opportunities. Questions to be addressed between so-called traditional POTS service and the Internet-based services set to weigh in on net neutrality. Comstock has been vocal on the Hill and at include: What options remain? What impact will new technologies, such as are totally disappearing and creating instability in the support mechanisms industry conferences over the past year-and-a-half about his support for net wireless, play in the future landscape? How is the FCC going to regulate as they exist today. Solutions can only be found if [CLECs] cease to permit neutrality, which he outlines as nondiscrimination among carriers, carriage VoIP and other IP services? arbitrage opportunities ... We cannot have one segment of the industry fund- upon reasonable request, interconnection rights and the right to resale. Jacob S. Farber, counsel in Dickstein Shapiro’s communications prac- ing the use of the network by another.” “Net neutrality means a lot of different things to a lot of different people, tice, said he hopes attendees understand that “what’s happening in regulatory Gold added the likelihood the FCC and Congress will reform the USF so I will articulate for the competitive industry — why is net neutrality helps shape business plans,” because FCC and Congressional decisions and intercarrier compensation rules any time soon increases as the amount important to you and how is it helpful to your cause?” Comstock said. affect more than just a company’s legal decisions. of instability increases. In other words, she explained, “large decreases in Dickstein Shapiro’s Farber said the law firm selected these topics pre- The first event in the half-day seminar will feature FCC Chairman Kevin access charge revenues and USF contributions as entities seek to avoid them cisely because they are so prescient and will determine how the competitive J. Martin’s chief of staff, Daniel Gonzalez. He will take part in the panel, through network reconfigurations will push reform more quickly. I think we industry moves forward. For example, if a competitor canít get access to the “Reaching the Customer and Hauling Traffic: The Future of UNEs, Special will see some USF reform in terms of contribution methodology within the network, it canít provide services, Farber pointed out. There are alternatives Access and Alternative Access Methods Including VoIP, Wireless Broadband next 12 months. Intercarrier compensation will take longer because of the to special access in the works; those infrastructure alternatives — including and BPL.” Other slated participants include Dave Baker, vice president of complexity and vast array of viewpoints as to what should be done.” BPL and wireless local loop — finally are becoming feasible after 10 yearsí law and public policy for EarthLink Inc.; Edward Cadieux, vice president, The FCC’s Martin has made no secret of his desire to reform both of discussion, said Farber. Thermo Credit Rolls Out Contract Consolidated Upgrades Network Financing, Funds CentricVoice With Cisco’s Gear Multi-Service Thermo Credit LLC (Booth 1006) is funding VoIP services provider CentricVoice Inc. with up to $1 million in receivables financing. And for the first time, Thermo Credit also is delving into contract financing. It is laying out an initial $500,000 in contract financing for CentricVoice. Transport Platform “We always look for A+ companies to work with whenever we roll out a new service offering,” said Consolidated Carrier Services (Booth 621) recently upgraded the infrastructure of its Texas-based network with Seth Block, executive vice president of external operations for Thermo Credit. “With its quality product and the deployment of the Cisco Systems Inc. Multi-Service Transport Platform (MSTP 15454) DWDM system with outstanding management team, CentricVoice fits that bill. ROADM capability. The carrier also completed new physical routes, geographic diversity and enhanced its PoP The $1 million replaces a credit facility CentricVoice had with Silicon Valley Bank. infrastructure. “Thermo Credit is unique in its understanding of the telecom space, particularly in our specialization of Consolidated serves the Texas metro areas of Austin, Dallas, Houston and San Antonio and it provides network business-class VoIP on a managed network,” said Porter Farrell, CentricVoice’s co-founder and executive vice connections to other key Texas cities, such as Bryan, Conroe, Katy, Longview, Lufkin, Nacogdoches and Tyler. president. “Their funding structures mesh ideally with our rapid growth, so the fit is perfect.” Carrier services include Optical SONET services from DS3 to OC48 as well as carrier Ethernet in all locations.

COMPTEL • TUESDAY, OCT. 10, 2006 13 Connecting QoS: The Key to Quality UDP Adds Customers to Roster UDP (Booth 619) has finalized billing service agreements with a number of communication companies: End-to-End Networking Valley Telephone Cooperative, an ILEC in Ramondville, Texas; ATX Communications, a provider of voice, data and network security services; OneEighty Networks, a provider of broadband Internet, private line and hosting Customers today expect a high level of net- medium- and large-scale enterprise customers. services out of Montana; and Tel West Network Services, a facilities-based Internet, data and voice communica- work performance and reliability, regardless of But the industry is defining QoS parameters tions provider. whether their services are offered by one or sev- at Layer 2 so companies like Remi can pro- UDP specializes in end-user billing, access billing and message processing for communications companies eral communications services providers.Yet the vide end-to-end service guarantees. That usu- throughout the United States. industry just now is defining quality of service ally involves employing Layer 2 MPLS, which COMET, UDP’s end-user platform, “will allow us to manage more than two companies -- it will enable us to relative to intercarrier connections, said David is VPLS service, and hierarchical VPLS, or bill video services, which are much more complex and demanding than basic telephone billing, and it will give Malfara Sr., president and CEO HVPLS. Malfara notes that the us ad-hoc reports at the user level, instead of having our IT people create and run reports,” said Valley Telephone of Remi Communications. IETF, MEF and VPLS.org are Cooperative’s general manager, Dave Osborn. During today’s Carrier among the industry organiza- ENSURING QoS Joel Daniels, UDP’s vice president and CIO, said the new customers all sought the same features. “[T]hese Track session, Malfara and tions working on such QoS & SECURITY IN A customers wanted powerful, full-bodied systems that have qualified experts standing behind them,” he said. “The Mitch Ferro, senior direc- challenges. CONVERGED WORLD platforms are only as good as the people who run them.” tor of product management Meanwhile, Remi is build- Osborn said Valley Telephone Cooperative liked COMET “because it’s browser-based, secure, and it can be IP & enhanced services at Tuesday, Oct. 10 ing a network from Layer 1 configured to accommodate its business partners who will also be entering orders into the system. With COMET, Broadwing Communications, with WDM all the way to the 9:40 - 10:45 a.m. this can be done without jeopardizing access to privileged data in other parts of the system. It makes sense.” along with moderator Dick IMS as the application layer, Tomlinson, executive vice Crystal K/L he said. “We just deployed a president of New Paradigm MetaSwitch IMS platform and Resources Group, will talk VoIP platform for enterprise, VoiceLog’s URU Validates Customer Info

VoiceLog LLC (Booth 1007) has added a new feature to its third-party verification platform. URU (pro- “Once intercarrier QoS is in place, that nounced You are You) validates, not just verifies, a customer’s information in real time. For example, during an online sales transaction, URU obtains the name, address, phone, date of birth and last four digits of the user’s social also sets the stage for the introduction of security number. An API then returns a notification to ensure the client is who they say they are. more real-time protocol-based services The merchant queries URU via an API, sending VoiceLog the consumer’s name, address, phone number, date like VoIP and video.” of birth and the last four digits of a social security number. The VoiceLog system authenticates the information and returns a response indicating whether the data match. {}— Remi Communications' The application also can determine whether someone is 18 or older. One of the fields entered is date of birth. David Malfara Sr. Once the data are authenticated, the merchant can determine age by comparing the date of birth entered to the current date. URU also can be used in phone sales and VoiceLog intends to roll it out to online retailers as well. Larry Leikin, general manager of VoiceLog, said URU is especially attractive for validating users in telecom, energy and about intercarrier QoS as well as other quality and Layer 2 and 3 technology from Riverstone financial services. “By asking for and validating information that is not available through public sources -- name and security issues, in the panel “Ensuring QoS [now Lucent Technologies Inc.] through their and address information is in the phone book for example -- merchants can have a much higher degree of certainty and Security in a Converged World.” 15800 product.” that the end user is who they say they are,” Leikin said. If a customer in Pennsylvania has a termi- And once intercarrier QoS is in place, that nating point in California, today there is no also sets the stage for the introduction of more way to QoS on that connection, said Malfara of real-time protocol-based services like VoIP and Intelliverse Program Helps Service Remi, a carrier providing advanced services to video, he added. Providers Bring VoIP to SMB Market Intelliverse (Booth 620) has enhanced its private-label program to enable service providers to bring their own private-label residential or SMB VoIP service to market in as little as 14 days, said the company. Intelliverse’s Talking Planet line of VoIP services now can be configured and sold to customers under a service provider’s own brand. With solutions designed for residential and SMB end users, the Talking Planet suite of services provides a platform and total customer support structured for rapid deployment as a private-label service. Talking Planet Business VoIP service also enables service providers to offer SMBs Class 5 and Centrex features as well as self-serve auto attendants, hunt groups, extension dialing, call transfer, faxing services, video calling, virtual PBX dashboard and softphones. Martin Group Enters Agreement With Harris Corp. Martin Group (Booth 614) has partnered with the NetBoss business unit of Harris Corp. to bundle and resell Martin Group’s OMNIA and OASIS integrated software solution with the NetBoss suite of network management and service assurance solutions. The bundled offering will provide telecommunications, utilities and government service providers with network and service management, plant management, provisioning, billing and customer care, and will expand market opportunities for both companies. “[T]he bundled offering gives us the opportunity to expand into government and international markets using Harris as the distribution channel. Martin Group provides an excellent channel opportunity into the North American ILECs for NetBoss,” said John Koenig, vice president of Harris NetBoss business unit. OMNIA provides billing, ordering, provisioning, marketing, sales automation, and customer care while allowing service providers to manage their revenue streams. OASIS is an OSS suite with a framework to automate provisioning processes in network assign- ment and activation. The NetBoss end-to-end service assurance solution for broadband, wireless and converged networks enables users to proactively manage and maintain their entire network from legacy to next generation, from a single Web-enabled view. ILD Announces Revenue Growth in Payment Processing Services Division for 2006 ILD achieved 67 percent growth in its payment processing services division this year. The increase is a result of growth in its core LEC billing base, expansion into alternate channels (direct and prepay) and the emergence of IETB. “The strong gains we’re experiencing in payment processing are largely due to success in new market penetration, large client acquisitions and our ability to quickly deliver settlement funds to our customers,” said CEO and Chairman Mike Lewis. Highlights of ILD’s payment processing include billing more than 7 million transactions each month, invoicing via 1,300 local phone companies across the United States and Canada and deploying IP technology to support its San Antonio customer care facility, resulting in improved redundancy, flexibility and efficiency for increased customer satisfaction.

14 COMPTEL • TUESDAY, OCT. 10, 2006 COMPTEL Exhibitors Adapt to New Competitive Environment Dozens of exhibitors and 2,200 attendees converged on the He said he is encouraged to see support coming back to the com- world’s largest Marriott Hotel this week to champion a new era in the petitive carrier industry. More than 110 CEOs attended yesterday’s competitive carrier community — an era of rebirth characterized by CEO Council meeting — another good indicator of an engaged mergers and acquisitions, and the introduction of new technologies. competitive industry, he noted. Up to 2,500 people were expected to participate in the Fall 2006 “The big question is who has the solution for the last mile,” he COMPTEL PLUS Convention & Expo by Wednesday. said, claiming there are some alternatives to cable and telco infrastruc- “There has been a lot of consolidation but we have a full show ture being offered on the show floor. floor nonetheless, which is a positive sign for the industry,” said Earl Indeed, a number of bypass landline providers are among the Comstock, COMPTEL’s president and CEO. “The industry is ener- exhibitors. In addition, there are fixed wireless service providers, getic and vibrant, and it really comes across in the show floor.” such as Nextlink Wireless Inc. (Booth 1102), that are providing Similarly, COMPTEL Chairman Sherm Henderson said in his wholesale access alternatives. Even Henderson’s own company, opening remarks yesterday that the competitive industry is adapting Lightyear Network Solutions (Booth 318), is exhibiting FirstSpeed, to a new environment, evidenced by the new and evolving busi- its new BPL offer, set to roll out to wholesale customers in select nesses on the COMPTEL PLUS exhibit floor. markets, such as Akron, Ohio, in November. As one example, Henderson cited Adaption Technologies (Booth Underscoring new energy in the competitive telecom world, activ- 608), a new exhibitor at the event and a new entrant in the competi- ity was rampant in the expo hall on Monday morning. “We only need tive market. The company, which boasts former founder and CEO to find one or two large customers to get a return on the show,” said of WilTel Roy Wilkens as its “honorary” chairman, is about four Keith Hopwood, vice president of marketing for Phihong USA Corp., months old and has developed a platform for delivering hosted PBX which makes equipment such as midspans and endspans. “If those pan services under private label to service providers, such as CLECs, COMPTEL Chairman Sherm Henderson praises members for their entrepreneurial spirit out, it will be a great show for us.” ISPs and cablecos, seeking to get into the VoIP business. during a time of regulatory uncertainty. Dan Lowden, vice president of business development and marketing “We are coming back,” Henderson said. “We are a changing, adapt- for Wayport, a Wi-Fi provider, said the show was “phenomenal” for his ing industry and association.” company. “We’re making a lot of great contacts. We see a strong need for He added the “entrepreneurial spirit” continues among the the services Wayport brings,” he said. COMPTEL members. “There are a lot more gray hairs, but there are a whole lot of young companies. ... Also, there Vertek, too, was “getting good traffic,” said Mauricio Rosales, director of engineering and provisioning. “It’s are a number of financial institutions here that we haven’t seen in a few years.” targeting the right audience — that makes it easier to deliver a message.”

On the Expo Show Floor ...

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1. Scott Likins (left) and William Ryan (right) of Interstate FiberNet. The company is promoting its new metro ring in Atlanta as well as professional services. 2. Jacquelyn Murray and Kerry Wright of Edison Carrier Solutions. The company is introducing dark fiber services in Southern California. 3. The group at AT&T Wholesale is on hand to talk about the carrier’s voice, data and IP products and services. 4. Lynne Jennings and Guy King of USCarrier. The carrier has a new investor, American Fiber Systems, and together the companies cover 4,000 route miles. 5. Michelle Machado, George Gehringer and Rich Levine of XO Communications. 6. Sandy Renne, David Ellis, Scott Macdonald and Maud Arend of Qwest Communications International Inc. The Bell company is working on its integration with OnFiber. 7. Chris Conant demos Vanco’s new NetDirect Web portal. 8. Mike Littley and Stan Seibert of Level 3 Communications Inc. The wholesaler is playing up its global IP backbone and VoIP technology. 9. The gang at InterMetro Communications. The company is using the show to promote its termination and origination services in the United States. 10. Jeff Flowers (far left) and Eric Tolbert (far right) of Alltel mingle with Scott Miller and Jeff Lynn of VeriSign. 11. Sal Cessor and Cassie Dains represent Embarq, this show marks the first time the company has exhibited since its spinoff from Sprint Nextel. 12. The Cisco team showcases the company’s IP NGN architecture and its new carrier routing system, CRS-1. 13. Brian Garrison of Lightyear Network Solutions uses the cyber café sponsored by GeoResults. 13

COMPTEL • TUESDAY, OCT. 10, 2006 15 A vision of where you could go. The tools to help you get there. AT&T offers a full spectrum of wholesale voice capabilities; flexible, reliable and scalable data applications; world-class IP networking; and a global network that extends your reach around the block or around the world. Now imagine where your business could go. Visit: att.com/wholesale.

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