: Denphone Digest :: December 2009 :: Volume 1, Number 9 :

December Issue

Seasons Greetings from the team at Denphone.

The year is rapidly drawing to a close as we finish off a number of interesting projects and start to gear up for the new year. This year we released a hosted fax solution which allows significant cost savings by eliminating the need for paper and printing – emails with attachments are converted to fax on the outbound side and faxes to email on the inbound. We also upgraded the capacity of our voice blast service tailor-made for investment house analysts who need to reach large numbers of their clients simply and easily with voice messages. We support Emergency messaging on the same platform. Finally, this month we successfully completed the upgrade of our Tokyo data center infrastructure.

In this issue we have an interview with Lookmedia Japan's Managing Director Mark Long where he talks about cutting edge advertising strategies in Japan. We also look at the newly released Polycom SoundPoint IP 321, 331 and 335 office phones and check out some of what is hot on the internet.

As ever, if you would like to see something featured in Denphone Digest, feel free to contact us and we will see what we can do for you.

If you are having trouble reading this email version, click to read the web version: http://www.denphone.com/denphone-digest-December-2009.

In this issue:

• Presidents Corner - Huw Williams
• Denphone News: Denphone's first trade show report
• It's a bird! It's a plane! No, It's Lookmedia! New Approaches to Advertising with Lookmedia's Mark Long
• Featured products: Polycom SoundPoint IP 321/331 and SoundPoint IP 335 Entry level IP Phones
• Around the internet

Presidents Corner

We have had a hectic time over the past two months upgrading our voice infrastructure, more than tripling our capacity. We can now offer high throughput IP phone trunking (SIP and IAX2) for clients who need dozens, or even hundreds of channels. Combined with our expanding capabilities including fax services, call forwarding, voice blast, Osaka and (from January) Yokohama phone service, we can offer our clients a comprehensive set of office telecom services.

Finally, from everyone here at Denphone, we wish all of our readers a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Huw R. Williams

President

Denphone K.K.

Denphone News: Call Center/CRM Demo & Conference Tokyo Phone Winners

Denphone exhibited at this years Call Center/CRM Demo & Conference Tokyo, held November 12th and 13th at Sunshine City in Ikebukuro, Tokyo. This was Denphone's first time to exhibit at a tradeshow and marks a small but important step in the growth of the company.

The Call Center/CRM Demo & Conference Tokyo is Japan's leading tradeshow for Call Center and CRM solutions with vendors exhibiting a wide range of hardware, software and services for the call center and customer center industries. Denphone focused the booth on their SIP and IAX2 trunking solutions, as well as managed voice services. It was a good chance for prospective clients to find out how telephony related technology is moving forward and what new solutions there are now available to both reduce expenditure and increase employee effectiveness.

Pictured left to right the Denphone Team: Denphone Director Hidehiko Hiwada, President Huw Williams, and System Engineer Simon Gibson.

Denphone is also proud to congratulate the winners of the Office IP Phone draw held following the trade show. The lucky winners will be contacted soon by email (for privacy reasons we wont announce their names here):

• First Prize - Polycom SoundPoint IP 320 office phone
• Second Prize - snom 300 IP Phone

Denphone would like to thank KVH (especially Daisuke Goh), Digium and Lookmedia for their hard work and co-operation that made Denphone's first trade show possible.

It's a bird! It's a plane! No, It's Lookmedia!

Simon Gibson - 27th Nov 2009

Bombarded by a cacophony of media, consumers today are becoming harder and harder to reach, requiring companies to look at new and innovative ideas to get their messages across. Lookmedia is a leading vendor of creative and cutting edge outdoor advertising solutions that helps companies target the people they need to reach. Denphone's Simon Gibson caught up with Lookmedia Japan's Managing Director Mark Long recently for a chat about just what it is that makes Lookmedia special.

Simon: So Mark, first of all can you give us some background about how Lookmedia got started?

Mark: Lookmedia was born when a couple of surfers in Australia had the idea of towing signboards around the beach. So they bought a couple of scooters with custom built trailers. The idea took off and although they initially thought it would be a bit of a fad, the novelty never really wore off. The idea then spread through friends and now there are branches around the world in Asia, North and South America, Europe, as well as throughout Australia. As time went on, realizing they needed to grow their company, they started new products and one of those products was the LookWalker [shown above, ed.]. The LookWalker is the product we launched with in Japan.

Simon: So how did you get involved in Lookmedia?

Mark: I personally got involved while I was living in Korea and a friend started the Lookmedia office in Korea. At that time, I wanted to come to Japan and saw Japan as a good market, so I came to Japan with the same business model. I came to Japan in early 2007 and did 6 months of research - meeting potential clients, and sorting out things like company registration, finding office space and employees and getting a feel for the place. We registered the company in February 2008 - coming up on 2 years now and things have gone from strength to strength.

We first started out approaching the big advertising companies here in Japan like Dentsu to gauge their interest for our solution. It was a bit of a catch 22 situation though as they wanted to see a track record before using our services, and we couldn't show a track record without doing some work for them. And from our side, we wanted to get a sale before launching the company.

Luckily we got a good contract with Avex Entertainment promoting the launch of an album by the Japanese musician BoA and then at the same time another contract with Study Abroad Australia. The Australian Embassy rents out a building in Shinjuku for a weekend to promote study abroad and provide information for potential students, and our role was to get out on the street and build up interest for that. So for a month leading up to that we were out on the street. We had our walkers trained up and they were ready to answer questions about the campaign. Our campaigns are good for that - both eye catching and informative.

Simon: Any advice for companies looking to setup shop here in Japan?

Mark: The trick for me for setting up here in Japan was that, before we went ahead and registered the company we did our ground work. That 6 months spent approaching customers, doing presentations and really listening to what people wanted, and then getting the sales before kicking off was really important. We didn't want to have to pay rent or staff before getting a sale, except for a part timer who went round the offices with me.

That's a good tip for setting up effectively here. And also, it is all about connections here, keeping in contact with the people you meet and getting introductions from them.

Simon: And how did things develop from there?

Mark: Then we got some large contracts. One of our biggest selling points is that we are very eco-friendly. One of the bigger projects we did was for SnoLa, a natural frozen yoghurt chain entering the Japanese market; everthing to do with their business is eco-friendly. They didn't want to use trucks or buses so we picked that one up. Volvo were another company who took us on at that point and we helped with the release of the Volvo C30. The campaigning was very targeted, and that was the main reason they went with us, because we could directly target the 20-30 year old market that they were after. We sent the walkers out to the fashionable parts of Tokyo such as Harajuku, Shibuya, Shinjuku, Roppongi and Ginza.

From there we took the idea down to Osaka, Kobe and the Kansai region. That is now our second largest market and keeps us very busy. We also picked up Tower Records, with the reason being that we could be very targeted and could combine giveaways and samples along with the visual element. It was just what they were looking for. We picked up numerous other clients ranging from real estate companies, fashion houses (especially for opening events) and companies such as Bandai. Bandai are Japans largest toy manufacturer and third in the world. They used us to target Akihabara and Harajuku giving away samples.

Simon: You mentioned that your walkers can also answer questions. Can you tell us about how you prepare them for a job?

Mark: We sit down with the client and create a campaign manual which goes into a lot of detail looking at the number of people required, where to walk, what times to target, whether uniforms are required and if so how they should be tailored, what samples are required. We also have a question and answer section that we go through with the client and think about what questions the public will ask and then we train the walkers to answer those questions.

For example, this year Japanese TV stations have become our biggest customers, particularly for the release of TV dramas and sports events, so we will sit down with the clients and work out when the drama is on, who it is starring, how long it will run for, who did the music and so on. It means that our walkers are not just mobile billboards but also sources of information.

Simon: One thing I am always curious about when thinking about advertising and marketing, is how to judge the effectiveness of campaigns. Could you tell us about the metrics of your campaigns? How do they work out for the client?

Mark: Metrics are hard, but I can tell you one about a couple of campaigns we did where we saw very satisfying results. We were contracted by Nagoya City to help raise participation in the Nagoya local government election. We had to compete with numerous different companies to get the contract but we won the contract especially because of our mobility.

Over the last 10 years there has been a large decline in voting in Nagoya especially among young people. So we pitched the idea of targeting universities, shopping areas and train stations to directly focus on younger voters. For 10 days leading up to the election we had 8 walkers out from 7am to 9pm at different times of the day at specific locations - for example, the train stations early in the morning, at the universities during lunch time and then at shopping malls in the evenings so that we could best target these younger voters. This campaign was probably the most successful we have taken part in with a significant change in the turnout of voters.

Another job we did in Nagoya also had very positive results. NTT Flets TV do a campaign every March to increase sign ups for their service. We had 26 boards out for 4 days and the campaign doubled the number of sign ups. Now, it was part of a larger campaign, so we can't say we were solely responsible for that. But we do get repeat customers, and if our campaigns weren't working we wouldn't get those repeats. So our customers are satisfied.

Simon: What is the best way for clients to use your services?

Mark: Think about the Hachiko statue in Shibuya. Now if someone went out and booked us for a year, every Saturday and Sunday, to stand on the corner in Omote Sando for example, then that would be something people are going to be talking about. It would build something iconic. You can do a campaign for one weekend, but you have to look at the bigger picture and build up the brand - and for that continued exposure is the key. If you had the walkers out every weekend, you would have people saying "Meet me at the XXXX walkers in Omote Sando" and that would be gold.

Simon: Now for the Denphone section! Can you tell us why you went with out telephone solution for your business here in Japan?

Mark: It was the perfect solution to the problem I had. I was moving office and didn't want to lose the number I currently have, and that got me thinking long term. In Japan telephone numbers are not normally portable, so I wanted to find a solution where I could keep a universal number - even if I move again in the future I can keep the same phone and fax numbers. The pricing is reasonable - most of my phone costs come from mobile phone charges anyway and it was costing more with NTT because of the cost of forwarding to a cell phone. It is cheaper especially with the 2 lines I have now. We used to have the fax on the same line as the phone which was a pain - people had to call up to say I am going to send a fax, please don't answer the phone, and then we couldn't use the phone.

Also, with 40% of our business in Osaka and the Kansai region, options such as being able to add an Osaka number, or even connecting offshore employees to numbers in Japan cheaply is really appealing.

Simon: Thanks for that - glad you are happy with our service. Before we wrap up, what can you do to help companies here in Japan?

The main thing that Lookmedia can help with is product launches, brand building and long term advertising. We are really good at creating buzz for product launches, especially for small companies. Most small companies could never afford to rent a billboard in Roppongi or Shinjuku, or take out an advertisement in one of the major Japanese newspapers - the numbers just don't add up. For a small company, we can offer something just as effective that will get the same exposure and at a price that people can afford. We also interact really well with the public - something a newspaper advertisement or a billboard cannot do. We can convey your message and answer questions and give out goods. For example we recently did a promotion for a watch company - it was a very technical watch, something gadget freaks would be interested in. So we stood outside of the Sony Building here in Tokyo and handed out 4000 fliers. You can guarantee that everyone in the building was talking about the watch over lunch, and building that kind of word of mouth advertising is invaluable. It's unique and gets a buzz going.

Featured products: Polycom SoundPoint IP 321/331 and SoundPoint IP 335 Entry level IP Phones

We are pleased to announce that Polycom have released 3 new models in their entry level IP phone range. The Polycom Soundpoint IP 321 and 331 replace the 320 and 330 models respectively, while the 335 brings the best of Polycom's revolutionary HD Voice Technology to the Polycom range of entry level IP phones.

The Polycom SoundPoint IP 320 has for a long time been Denphone's number 1 seller, with its high quality and reliability finding many happy end users. The difference between the 320 and the 330 is the same as with the 321 and the 331 - the 320/321 offer one ethernet port while the 330/331 offer two ethernet port switching. With 2 ethernet ports, it is possible to daisy chain the phones thus reducing the need for 2 ethernet cables per seat.

A big plus for Japanese users is that these phones now support UTF-8 and thus using Japanese characters on the displays is now a possibility where before that feature was only available on the higher end phones.

Polycom SoundPoint IP 321/331

Excellent sound quality and an enterprise-grade feature set:

• Two-line entry-level phones
• Superb sound quality and full-duplex speakerphone performance with Clarity by Polycom™ acoustic technology
• Enterprise-grade feature set
• Easy to configure and use
• Integrated Power over Ethernet (PoE) support
• Interoperability with Denphone PBX and other leading IP PBX and Softswitch platforms
• SIP features

Features and Benefits:

• Two lines
• Full-duplex IEEE 1329 Type 1-compliant speakerphone with Clarity by Polycom™ acoustic technology
• 102 x 33-pixel graphical LCD
• Integrated 802.3af PoE support
• Two-port 10/100 Ethernet –switch – SoundPoint IP 331 (Single 10/100 Ethernet port - SoundPoint IP 321)
• Small footprint

We have been trialling this phone in the office and found it easy to set up and use.

Polycom SoundPoint IP 335

Entry level IP phone with Polycom HD Voice™ technology:

• Revolutionary voice quality delivered through Polycom HD Voice technology
• High-resolution backlit, graphical display
• Two-line entry-level phone
• Easy to configure and use
• Integrated Power over Ethernet (PoE) support (Class 2)
• Interoperability with Denphone PBX and other leading IP PBX and Softswitch platforms

Features and Benefits:

• Polycom HD Voice technology, including support of G.722 wideband codec, Polycom Acoustic Clarity™ Technology 2, and systems design optimized for Polycom HD Voice technology
• Advanced functionality, including shared lines, busy lamp field, three-way conferencing, and XML microbrowser
• Backlit 102 x 33-pixel, grayscale graphical LCD
• Integrated IEEE 802.3af Power over Ethernet (PoE) support (Class 2)
• Two port 10/100 Ethernet Switch
• Dedicated RJ-9 headset port

Around the Internet

5 Important Tips for Successful Web Meetings

As companies looked to cut costs in the post Lehman age, one of the simplest solutions was to increase the number of virtual meetings reducing the need for costly travel and expenses such as hotel rooms. While sometimes lacking the personal touch that face to face (IRL) meetings obviously offer, virtual meetings, whether they are teleconferences, video conferences or telepresence meetings are a large part of the working lives of people in the corporate world. To run a successful meeting IRL can be tricky, but in the virtual world even more so. Fuze Box's Patrick Moran details five tips for making such meetings a success.

5 Important Tips for Successful Web Meetings

November 24th, 2009 | by Patrick Moran

Companies of all sizes and in all sectors regularly use virtual meetings to connect with colleagues, partners, clients, and prospective customers. In fact, some 87% of companies worldwide already use web conferencing or are considering implementing it soon. However, getting virtual meetings right takes a bit of skill. They differ from in-person get-togethers in many critical ways - and to succeed with web-based collaboration, meeting leaders and participants should follow a few simple tips.

There are of course many things that make for successful meetings, and his tips work as much for meetings in real life as for the virtual sphere. I would add though that effective followup that leads to the timely execution of decisions made in the meeting is another important point to add to his list.

You can read the original article on the Mashable website here:5 Important Tips for Successful Web Meetings.

5 open source VoIP softphones to watch

Australia's CIO.com.au has an informative article introducing 5 open source softphones. A softphone is a piece of software that acts as a normal phone, allowing users to make calls from their PC's. Usually used with a headset, this is an inexpensive way to replace desk phones, or to provide telephony services to mobile workers. The DenphonePBX system works with a wide range of softphones including those featured in the CIO article. We also use and recommend 2 softphones not mentioned in the article Zoiper (http://www.zoiper.com/) and Twinkle (http://www.twinklephone.com/). Zoiper is not open source, but Twinkle is, and it is both powerful and yet easy to use. Most of these softphones offer a large number of useful features such as instant messaging and presence.

5 open source VoIP softphones to watch

20 November 2009 | by Rodney Gedda

The steady rise in people using IP telephony to communicate -- for personal and business reasons -- has led to the development of a number of different VoIP “softphones” that can be used on a PC or notebook.

Softphones offer the flexibility of making a call without the need for a dedicated device. If you're a Skype user you're probably used to the benefits of free and cheap international calls while you’re on Facebook.

In this edition of "5 Open Source things to Watch" we take a look at VoIP softphones. Unlike their proprietary counterparts, open source softphones can be deployed on as many devices as required throughout the enterprise.

The article goes on to look at the following softphones: Qute.com, SIP Communicator, SFLphone, Empathy, and Ekiga. We would note that despite the article saying that these softphones do not require licenses, most PBX vendors have licensing requirements for connecting softphones to an office phone system and/or the PSTN.

Click on the following link to read the rest of the article: 5 open source VoIP softphones to watch.

VoIP Sales Top $20 Billion in First Half, More Growth to Come

At Denphone, one of the more specialized services we offer is that of SIP / IAX2 trunking. SIP trunking allows multiple channels of SIP traffic to be terminated onto the Japanese PSTN. Our largest client uses 200 channels of SIP trunking through our purpose built systems. And judging by the growth we have seen in this area, the following news item is not far off the mark.

VoIP Sales Top $20 Billion in First Half, More Growth to Come

Maybe there is something to this idea that, in a recession, Voice over IP service is an affordable alternative to traditional telephone service.

In the first half of 2009, VoIP services brought in nearly $21 billion in revenue, with both residential and business services looking healthy and poised for even more growth for the second half of the year, according to a report by market research firm Infonetics Research.

Residential voice services still brings in the majority of revenue, with the number of subscribers growing 14 percent from the end of 2008 through the first half of ‘09. On the business side, the research firm said it expected IP Centrex and hosted unified communications service revenue to grow 26 percent year-over-year.

But the current sweet spot, at least in North America, is small businesses with fewer than 100 employees. In the first half of the year, roughly two-thirds of all IP Centrex seats sold went to small businesses.

Click on the following link to read the rest of the article: VoIP Sales Top $20 Billion in First Half, More Growth to Come.

Just in case you are curious as to where our cute Santa came from you can find him here.

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About Denphone

Denphone K.K. is Japan's leading provider of open PC based VOIP Telephone PBX systems. Denphone supplies Digium / Asterisk solutions, Cisco, Polycom, Nortel, snom and Grandstream phone and video systems as well as our own bespoke solutions.

Contact Denphone

Denphone is centrally located in Tokyo's Minato Ward in Azabujuban. We can be contacted by telephone on 03-4550-1405, via this contact page or by reply to the address this magazine was sent from.

Our postal address is: #402 Azabu Nagasaka Bd, 1-4-8 Azabujuban, Minato-ku, Tokyo 106-0045 Japan.

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