2600Hz Blog

How quickly could your business pivot its roadmap if your customers' needs changed all of a sudden? If you’re like most businesses, the answer would be: not very quickly, if at all. Even in today’s world of market volatility, many organizations don’t have agility built in to their business model, which is what’s necessary to quickly shift priorities and change course when needed, and to do so...

SMS has come a long way since December 3rd, 1992 when Engineer Neil Papworth sent the first ever text message. While adoption started off slow, by the time SMS turned 20 back in 2012, CNN reported that 8.6 trillion SMS were sent worldwide each year. Today, only 8 years later, it’s reported that 8 trillion SMS are sent worldwide each day. 

As coronavirus continues to spread around the world and across the US, more and more companies are asking their employees to work remotely. While there are obvious advantages to implementing a remote working strategy as a means to help mitigate further spread of the virus, it is easier said than done for many businesses.

E911 compliances changes were signed into law on February 16th, 2018 that require companies to be compliant with E911 revisions. These changes, otherwise known as Kari's Law, are going into effect on February 16th, 2020 and it is imperative that companies be compliant with the revisions. The changes are named after Kari Dunn Hunt who was killed by her estranged husband in a hotel room after her...

Our team is always out and about at different industry event and we recently attended the Cloud Comms Summit in Leesburg, VA hosted by the Cloud Communications Alliance and Cavell Group. There was a lot of talk at the Cloud Comms Summit about the future of new platforms entering the market, so we wanted to share some of the insights we think you will find extremely valuable and that are pertinent...

Perhaps the biggest hot topic in business communications today is the integration of communication capabilities into applications, business processes, and workflows using APIs and CPaaS (communication platform as a service). Thanks to CPaaS, which provides cloud-based APIs to developers on an “as a service” basis, communications can be added to the core applications that businesses run on,...

According to IDC, enterprise spend on CPaaS is forecast to grow from $2 billion in 2017 to $10.9 billion by 2022. When you consider the ease of deployment, custom solutions, and cost-savings, it’s easy to understand why so many companies are looking at CPaaS to improve their business communications.

If you’ve ever struggled with onboarding or finding your position in a competitive market, you are definitely not alone. There are many common challenges and limitations resellers face in their day to day when trying to close more business and get new customers up and running. We recently hosted a Go-To-Market Success Panel: How to Sell and Onboard in a Competitive Space, where we addressed...

With more and more companies looking to expand and grow their business, you may be wondering how to keep up and what strategy is best to go with. To help you make an educated decision I wanted to share a few key benefits that business are realizing when implementing a cap and grow strategy that can help you expand your market in 2019 and beyond.

Here at 2600Hz, we value transparency and communication especially when it comes to important topics that are critical to our Partners and their businesses. As a member of the 2600Hz team, I’m always curious to know what’s going on, what people here are thinking about, and how they feel about consequential topics in telecom. So, I recently sat down with Patrick Sullivan, our COO, to get inside...

There are some very exciting Erlang events coming up in March and we want to make sure you don’t miss them! It’s no secret that Erlang is near and dear to our heart here at 2600Hz. Why? Because, like the battery in an Energizer bunny, it keeps KAZOO (our open core platform) going and going and...you get the idea. Erlang is not only the foundation of KAZOO, but it ensures that KAZOO is a truly...

For a first pass, I wanted to talk about some of the high-level reasons Erlang was chosen for KAZOO back in 2010. Even if you aren't technical I hope you'll find some value in reading this.

Redundancy is arguably one of the hottest topics in the telecom world today. Recently, there have been a plethora of network outages that have many UCaaS and CPaaS resellers questioning the redundancy setups and protocols of the solution they’re selling, and for good reason. If your customers are left in the dark when a data center goes down or when routine maintenance is performed, your...

(And here’s what 2600Hz is doing about it)

If you have ever dealt with phones, chances are you hate provisioning. If you do it manually, it is exceedingly tedious. If you do it automatically, it can be disastrous. Many organizations opt for a homogeneous equipment mix, supporting only one manufacturer with a proprietary provisioning solution because it works and that’s good enough.

As summer came to a close, so did a major open source acquisition. There’s been a lot of activity disrupting the industry, so in case you missed it, here’s a roundup of the top headlines that have been making waves and changing the unified communications landscape.

MVNOs (Mobile Virtual Network Operators) have enjoyed a well-developed industry for some time in European markets. However, for those in the U.S., the landscape has historically been different. The Big 4 MNOs have been the default go-to for many customers and businesses. 

"Protecting Your Business by Controlling Telecom Fraud " Is an educational blog that covers several best practices to help you protect your business from fraudulent activity. Over a series of blogs and webinars, we’ll dive into the fundamentals of VoIP fraud, identify typical fraud activities, and discuss essential prevention methodologies you can use to protect your platform, your customers, and...

KAZOOCon 2018 is disrupting the telecom landscape and the future of communications. This year we've invited several fascinating speakers to join our program to offer a once in a lifetime conference experience.

Ever wonder why 2600Hz  seems to be hidden in the shadows?  Learn about how  KAZOO infrastructure is powering some major players in the UCaaS space, and why KAZOO is telecom's best kept secret. Plus a shout out to KAZOOcon!

Telecom conferences are a dime a dozen, but not anymore. KAZOOCon 2018 is disrupting the telecom landscape and the future of communications. But to gain insight on why this conference is so valuable, you have to understand the story. So let's go back to where it began, how it evolved and why this year's event is going above and beyond all the rest. 

"Protecting Your Business by Controlling Telecom Fraud " Is an educational blog that covers several best practices to help you protect your business from fraudulent activity. Over a series of blogs and webinars, we’ll dive into the fundamentals of VoIP fraud, identify typical fraud activities, and discuss essential prevention methodologies you can use to protect your platform, your customers,...

On Monday, Cisco announced that it is acquiring BroadSoft for $1.9 billion, in an effort to move away from routing and switching and to boost its collaboration tools. The acquisition gives Cisco UCaaS capabilities via BroadSoft’s BroadWorks and BroadCloud services, which Cisco will likely tie into their own communications solution, Spark.  

Since the news broke on the Meltdown and Spectre security vulnerabilities, there have been many questions surrounding the risks and how to protect yourself. As a telecom software company, we have many years of experience dealing with security threats but have never witnessed one quite like this. Fortunately, because of our unique architecture, these vulnerabilities have minimal impact on our...

Author: Mark Diaz - Founder ofVinix Global.Twitter-Facebook-LinkedIn  

The year was 2005. Vonage, an innovative communications pioneer, had introduced a little analog to digital box that allowed residential customers the ability to connect their home phones and call over the internet for significantly lower rates than the local telecom providers. They had just closed a $40M funding round to...

This year we are proud and excited to announce that we are sponsoring the Telecom Infra Project (TIP) Summit in Santa Clara! But you may ask yourself, what the heck is TIP anyways. So we figured we’d dive into how the Telecom Infra Project is making waves and why those within the communications industry should pay attention.

Another day, another telco merger! Last weekCisco announced it bought BroadSoftfor $1.9 billion dollars, this week Genband and Sonus have announced the completion of their merger into a new company called Ribbon Communications. Former Sonus and Genband shareholders each own approximately 50% of the parent company, which had approximately 102 million shares outstanding post close. Genband’s...

Across the communications industry, it’s fairly common to hear or read about “distributed systems”. Yet, more often than not, as you dive deeper under the hood, the term doesn’t accurately describe the architecture/capabilities. In reality, most offer what is known as a “Hot Standby”. To better understand the differences of the two strategies, let’s first dive into how and why carriers build...

In case you missed it, we recently announced our new Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) offering. 2600Hz has utilized one of the nation’s top cellular networks to offer voice and data services. Given how fragmented the telecom landscape is, this is a revolutionary accomplishment.

In light of Uber’s recent decision to refocus their messaging services from Twilio to internal tools, Twilio’s shares have dropped by 30%. This does not come as a surprise considering Uber is their largest client. 

Twilio’s business model is built on a small number of reusable APIs that initially took the communications and developer communities by storm. This was due to qualities such as ease of...

Once upon a time, there was a venturesome, open communications company that dreamed of pioneering a new kind of mobile solution. A solution, that would enable service providers to sell mobile business services, which could seamlessly integrate across multiple PBX platforms and provide an unparallelled business communications experience. However, as the venture unfolded, the reality became clear:...

Open source has long been considered a launchpad for developers and innovators. With a stable foundation in place, programmers could build out their own applications. The resulting products deliver all the desired functionality without a high degree of concern for reliability. It’s a way for businesses to fit into a niche and better serve their customers.

Now that 2600Hz has entered the CPaaS market via KAZOO and PIVOT, we were wondering - has anyone ever done a side-by-side comparison of the biggest CPaaS players? Who’s got an edge in the market? Do their platforms vary based on functionality, or does the big differentiator come from customer support?

The business customer today has different challenges, motivations, and needs than those who needed simple Plain Old Telephone Service (POTS) back in the day. Luckily, voice resellers have a wide array of products that can help them meet those needs. Cloud-based VoIP and unified communications technology comes packed with diverse features, new levels of scalability, and meets world-class...

When most call center managers set performance benchmarks, they’re focused on a set of broader goals. For example, picking up a customer call after twenty seconds versus ten probably won’t affect the ultimate outcome of the call. Examine those measurements at scale, however, and you could find some serious implications for productivity. Call center quality management is key to delivering better...

As Communications Platform as a Service (CPaaS) powers its way to the front line of the telecom market, it’s undoubtedly picking up attention from both telecom providers and the businesses they serve. While telecom giants have made moves to acquire CPaaS vendors and other providers, like Twilio, have filed IPOs, professionals familiar with the industry can discern the value between the choices....

What News?

Since the last reports around the end of November of this year, major telecom player Avaya stands with approximately $600M in debt, repayment of which is due in October 2017. While Avaya is still an undisputed giant in the industry, they have reported losses over several quarters since a high point of about $1 billion back in 2015. A highly trending article from the Wall Street Journal

When you’re dealing with technology, and more specifically, with cloud-based telephony, you’re going to come across a fair number of acronyms. An important one to pay attention to is CPaaS: Communications Platform as a Service. A number of providers, like Twilio, Nexmo, Plivo, and others offer CPaaS products to help businesses get more from their communications infrastructure. 2600Hz users even...

Women Who Code Portland (WWCPDX) is the local chapter Women Who Code (WWC) - a global nonprofit dedicated to helping women to not only excel in their tech careers, but to provide paths into leadership opportunities. WWCPDX is a very active chapter and supports multiple events each month.There are lunches, study groups, networking events, and plenty of opportunities to give back to our...

When introducing customers to any new technology, there are bound to be doubts about its benefits. In the case of unified communications technology, resellers will often hit an objection or two on the first pass. The most common objections, however, can usually be countered with a little customer education. Here are five of the most common objections sales people will come across and some tips...

Earlier this month PDXWIT (Portland Women in Tech) hosted a workshop by our very own lead software architect - James Aimonetti titled, "Demystifying Telecom". James has been a member of the 2600Hz team since 2010, and as the lead software architect of KAZOO, James has quite a bit of telecom development expertise to share.

"Demystifying Telecom" was a talk that focused on providing an entry point...

There are many options on the market for enterprise communications. It’s easy to get distracted by nice-to-have features and easier still to get bogged down in competitive pricing. The problem for VoIP resellers is that they need to be confident in their service offering right from the first pitch. To determine if your offering is a modern and capable voice system that’s reliable and flexible...

There’s always an opportunity for a business to expand its offerings. Voice over IP (VoIP) telephony is unique in that it can be added to nearly any technology reseller’s repertoire. The training required to understand the fundamentals of VoIP is relatively low compared to other technologies, and wholesale vendors are usually there to support their reseller network with any troubleshooting,...

We had a great time sharing news and ideas with others at KazooCon this year in San Francisco. It’s possible, however, that we may have thrown too much information at you, so we wanted to take an opportunity and break down some of the highlights of the event. For our beloved attendees and the friends who couldn’t make it, here’s the inside scoop:

Since Kazoo 4.0 is currently being polished for release, we thought it was a good time to discuss some of the new features that will be available when your system is upgraded.

There’s a slew of new updates to come in the neatly wrapped package that is Kazoo 4.0.

Enterprise businesses are too big to rely on copper-wire telephone service anymore, so they use the cloud as a platform for their voice systems. Cloud, however, seems to still be regarded as an amorphous term in 2016, so let’s provide some simplified definitions around key terms regarding cloud communications and clear the air.