VON: SBC outlines VoIP strategy

SAN JOSE--Mark Fishler may not have felt like "one of the gang" when he showed up for his first keynote speech at the Voice on the Net conference in San Jose Monday.

For one thing, confusion over the start time of his speech left SBC Communications' vice president of product management for voice & data business services facing a very large, very empty speaking hall at the appointed hour. A half-hour later, conference attendees were trickling in as Fishler launched his address with a few self-deprecating jokes.

But there is little self-deprecation at the heart of SBC's VoIP strategy, which Fishler outlined in detail for the smallish crowd. In fact, even before it adds AT&T's CallVantage service to its portfolio, SBC is aggressively pursuing business VoIP services through a package of offerings that includes Hosted VoIP Communication Service, its premiere service in which SBC can manage and operate local area networks, wide area network (WAN) connections and applications.

"With WANs, we're the new guys on the block," Fishler said later in an interview. "Our competitors have the embedded base of frame relay and ATM services. We have a single-digit market share, and our product is all IP."

The strategy is not complex even if some of the customer solutions may be. SBC "listens to our customers," Fishler maintained. "The day zero piece is really critical. We do a full LAN/WAN assessment, to make sure they will have what they need. We want the customer to succeed."

The LAN assessment is done for free and SBC advises customers if there are wiring or bandwidth issues that will make it hard or impossible to combine voice onto the existing data infrastructure, said Aron K. Talwar, associate director of core services, product marketing, for SBC.

"The assessment is free and we hand them the report," he says. "They will upgrade and manage the LAN if they want us to, but they don't have to use us."

SBC's sales force talks total cost of ownership with its business customers, not a per-minute cost savings, added Fishler.

SBC is selling VoIP within its current region and in 30 out-of-region cities, and will sell directly through Value-Added Resellers and systems integrators such as EDS and IBM.

Unified communications is a key compelling application but Fishler knows there will be more.

"Tomorrow, I get to be a guest here," he said with obvious gusto at attacking a show floor bursting with VoIP apps.