Image via WikipediaFirst we dove into the Net Neutrality debate. It looks as if three of five FCC commissioners will vote to sanction Comcast this Friday for throttling bit-torrent traffic. Dissenter Bob McDowell wrote an op-ed for yesterday’s Washington Post arguing that engineers should figure a way out of this mess, not politicians.
I don’t think there’s any doubt that Comcast was throttling traffic. We talked about McDowell’s argument for a hands-off approach by the FCC, the issues around bandwidth shortages, and what’s happening outside North America.
We also talked about Vonage. It’s been a while since they’ve really been in the news, but they’ve been quietly cranking out announcements. They’ve announced a partial refinancing of their debt. Up to $215 million of their $253 million can be refinanced under an agreement they’ve just struck, and $125 million has been committed. They have to do this because the existing convertible notes expire Dec 12.
They’ve also announced their first patent — on virtual phone numbers.
Revenues are growing. Losses are narrowing — last quarter they lost just $8 million.
And, they’re set to announce a new CEO.
We talked about what it would take to make Vonage a success and whether or not they might really make it.
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Alec Saunders is the Vice President of Developer Relations for BlackBerry make Research in Motion. This is his personal blog, with his personal viewpoints. Prior to this Alec was the CEO and co-founder of Calliflower — the easiest way to hold a meeting, online, on a conference call, or on the go. A double-decade veteran of product management and marketing, he spent nine years at Microsoft where he helped launch Windows 95, the first two versions of Internet Explorer, the Universal Plug and Play initiative, the push into home markets, opt-in email marketing and what might well go down in history as the very first direct email list ever.
