Sonus Takes Center Stage: Day One @ Connexions2011’s Leadership Conference
Posted on Thu, Oct 20, 2011 @ 07:46 AM
By Dave Connolly, Marketing Communications at Sonus Networks
Outside the stately Biltmore Hotel, the rain came down in buckets. Inside, however, optimism reigned as leaders from around the world gathered to talk about the future of communications. They talked of Disruption. Of Transformation. Of Innovation.
The Sonus Leadership Conference brought a message of inspiration and determination from a newly energized Sonus and its fresh leadership team, many of whom are appearing at their first Connexions event. One of those key arrivals, Todd Abbott, Senior VP of Worldwide Sales and Marketing at Sonus Networks, kicked off the day with a warning and a challenge: SIP is a disruptive technology that could change communications much as the Internet before it. In his leadership roles with IBM, Cisco and Avaya, Todd has held a clear vantage point from which to witness the IP revolution. His opinion that communications would move from circuit/line-based to session/user-based resonated with many in the audience and signaled that Sonus has fundamentally shifted its market strategy and focus.
Sonus CEO Ray Dolan, who arrived at last year’s Connexions on only his second day on the job, clearly relished addressing the audience on his 367th day on the job. Ray described the profound transformation at Sonus over the last 12 months, which he characterized as People, Products and Process. “People” referred to the new (and, in some cases, returning talent) that have joined Sonus under his watch, including a hand-selected executive team that brings a wealth of enterprise and wireless experience to Sonus’ core skill set. “Products” referred to the new products being developed by Sonus Networks. Lastly, Ray talked about the new “Processes” in place to make Sonus a more responsive and quality-focused company.
The day’s third speaker, acclaimed author and co-founder of Fast Company magazine, Bill Taylor, dared the audience to innovate by being different. Using examples from across the business world, Taylor showed how innovation and passion create opportunities in any market and any economy. When Bill pointed out that “the only way to win big is to change the game,” it brought full circle the message of change that Todd and Ray delivered in their presentations. Drawing from case studies that appeared in his best-selling books “Practically Radical” and “Mavericks At Work,” Taylor showed how every industry—from airlines to gold mines—benefits by challenging preconceived notions of industry best practices and focusing instead on being indispensable and unique.
Sonus then introduced an all-star analyst panel featuring respected analysts from Gartner, Current Analysis, Heavy Reading and Infonetics. Gartner’s Debbie Kish discussed the drivers for SBCs (#1 driver? SIP trunking) and its key requirements (scalability/session capacity came out on top). Infonetics’ Diane Meyers provided the audience with a sneak-peek at new research on Enterprise communications (sorry, we’re sworn to secrecy), while Heavy Reading’s Jim Hodges discussed the drivers behind TDM replacement. Current Analysis’ Joe McGarvey added his perspective on the factors driving the IMS market (which, predictably, generated a lively debate among the Panel members) and Gartner’s Akshay Sharma rounded out the discussion with his insight into the burgeoning DIAMETER market.
After a lunch break with the analysts (where the table topics ranged from H.323 to Area 51), the Connexions audience was treated to presentations from Disruptive Analysis founder Dean Bubley and customer presentations from TW Telecom and Societe Francais Radio (SFR) that showed how Sonus technology is helping them explore new markets like cloud-based service brokering and quadruple-play (voice, Internet, video and music) packages.
The last speaker of the day, Scott Corson, who recently joined Sonus from Qualcomm to head up the Network Architecture team, gave a forward-looking presentation on the growth of mobile video and the need for a close-looped, core-based policy solution to manage network congestion. Scott’s unique view into the challenges facing the mobile industry and the need for “proximal” solutions like femtocells to deliver bandwidth in the physical proximity of the user are definitely “food for thought” in today’s bandwidth-starved mobile networks.
Speaking of starving, it’s time for a snack at the open sake bar before another great dinner. Cheers!