Inside DiVitas

DiVitas weighs in on RIM/Blackberry comparison

I'm taking the opportunity to respond to a recent comment to our blog. (Thanks for your comment Gary, and for raising this comparison between RIM/BlackBerry and DiVitas)

We at DiVitas are great admirers of RIM’s business model for mobilizing business users with its BlackBerry devices. RIM is able to charge a premium for its technology because it solved the major productivity problem of letting road warriors access their email when away from their offices. You’ve gotta give credit where credit is due, and RIM with its BlackBerry success is definitely due some credit.

At DiVitas, our approach is more comprehensive than RIM’s with its BlackBerry. DiVitas brings the critical voice-and-messaging component of mobile communications into the equation. Specifically, DiVitas mobilizes “business voice” in a similar way that BlackBerry mobilizes “business email.”

This is where the similarities and differences break down:

* Business email vs. Business voice, email, IM and Presence:

RIM’s BlackBerry only mobilizes email and supports carrier wireless phone services. DiVitas mobilizes the business phone (including corporate deskphone functions i.e. 4-digit dialing,  caller ID, call transfer, etc.). DiVitas also mobilizes Unified Communications (UC) applications such  as Instant Messaging (IM) and Presence.

* Cellular only vs. dual mode (WiFi and cellular):

RIM’s Blackberry runs only on a cellular network. DiVitas runs on cellular, WiFi or both (dual-mode).

* Proprietary vs. Open standards:

RIM relies on a propriety model of using its own handsets (BlackBerrys). DiVitas works with commercially available Symbian and Windows Mobile smart phones. Since today’s smart phones offer email, DiVitas customers get mobile email and voice along with mobile business phone, IM and presence in a single wireless device.

The fact is that today, a mere 5 percent of the workforce uses mobile email (according to Yankee Group and other leading research firms). These are the road warriors whose jobs require continuous communications and availability.

Another 20 percent uses mobile voice (no email), which means that a whopping 75 percent of the workforce (corridor warriors) have yet to be mobilized. We see this as a major opportunity for businesses wanting to increase availability and productivity across the board.

DiVitas can mobilize these corridor warriors, and at the least amount of cost, because they can primarily use free WiFi vs. cellular when placing and receiving calls, or sending and receiving messages. Mobilized corridor warriors will also be more available, which relates directly to increased productivity. Some of our customers have experienced ROI in less than 30 days.

It pleases us to be compared to a successful pioneer in the mobile-communications space. We are even more pleased to have the opportunity to shed some light on the differences between our two companies’ business models and technology approaches.

Rich Watson Director of Technical Marketing DiVitas Networks

FMC, Mobile Unified Communications & DiVitas

By Vivek Khuller Founder and CEO, DiVitas Networks

During the two-plus years that DiVitas Networks has been in business, there has been a tremendous amount of congestion and confusion in the FMC market. Like fans swarming for NFL quarterback Eli Manning’s autograph, literally dozens of companies have flocked into the FMC space, driven by hopes of cashing in on what was once a hot trend. The trend evolved, but a lot of vendors haven’t caught on to this fact just yet.

While DiVitas has some common ground with FMC technology, we’ve comfortably pursued a much more dynamic market. One designated by analysts as a space especially appropriate for companies that possess a balance of mobility and unified communications components.

This market space is called Mobile Unified Communications (Mobile UC). It blends mobility with key communications-applications by unifying them on a dual-mode phone, which can run on any network (cellular or WiFi).

The DiVitas Mobile UC solution allows a mobile phone to behave like a deskphone. What does this mean to DiVitas end users? They are equipped with just one phone and business number, and they are just as reachable when roaming as when seated at a desk.

True to the Unified Communications (UC) mantra used by Microsoft and other UC players, DiVitas end users are reachable by more ways than just voice. In addition to voice, the DiVitas solution unifies Instant Messaging (IM), text messaging, Presence and PBX deskphone functions (such as 4-digit dialing, call-forward and call-waiting). And it delivers these applications on a dual-mode mobile phone that can be used anywhere in the world, on any type of network.

In short, DiVitas end users have all of these Unified Communications capabilities available to him, but with the added bonus of being mobile. They can roam from the office, to a car, to a WiFi hotspot and back to the office again, and this can all be done with confidence that the DiVitas end user is reachable by the entire bevy of UC tools. Most important, the way DiVitas delivers Mobile UC is automatic and totally transparent to end users (end users most challenging task is probably remembering to keep the phone charged).

Some companies offer mobile email via cellular. Other companies offer roaming over WiFi and cellular – but it’s not seamless because you have to push a button to make it happen. These are some examples of the incomplete band-aid fixes available today, which fall short of helping businesses make their workers more mobile, reachable and productive. These vendors buzzed in with hopes of cashing in on a popular trend, only to find out that mobilizing business voice & messaging applications requires a far more comprehensive strategy.

In contrast, FMC mobility combined with UC tools, like what DiVitas offers, lets companies reach their mobile-communications Nirvana.

FMC Travel Recap: Interop New York

By Vivek Khuller

I traveled recently for several months, solidly. I expect to be on the road a lot this year as well, but in the meantime, I’m giving a recap of my recent journeys to London, Lisbon and New York.

Jenni and I went to New York to spend some time at Interop. Although we did not have a booth at this show (we had one in Las Vegas 2007), we attended the show because, in part, I was invited to sit on an FMC panel. While on this panel, the key message I put forth was how carriers can benefit from our solution.

There is a major incentive for carriers to embrace mobile convergence. What is the first thing an enterprise will do once it adopts mobile convergence? It will buy data plans for all of its end users. This translates to a lot of money going straight into carrier pockets. It also gives carriers the opportunity to lock in their customers for a longer period of time, with no threat of losing their business when plans expire. Who wants to go back to a more expensive solution? Deploying a mobile unified convergence system takes the burden off of renewing cell phone plans and enables more architectural wins. What’s not to love about that?

Mobile-convergence technology has arrived. What we need now is for dual-mode phones to catch up and let us finish the job. Dual-mode phone users expect an experience equal to what they get with their personal cell phones today. Given the upside to being a mobile-convergence proponent, carriers should encourage handset manufacturers to innovate in technology areas such as improving battery life and WiFi performance.

Mobile convergence is a win-win for DiVitas and carriers. Hopefully carriers will see the light very soon.

Stay tuned for my next travels and my reflections on DiVitas and our market.

Travel Recap: Lisbon

By Vivek Khuller

I traveled recently for several months, solidly. I expect to be on the road a lot this year as well, but in the meantime, I’m giving a recap of my recent journeys to London, Lisbon and New York.

After visiting London to attend our first channel summit, I made a stop in Lisbon.

Nokia’s annual worldwide channel conference was our next big adventure. The event was held in Lisbon and more than 200 of Nokia’s channel partners were invited. We had the honor and privilege of being the only small company included in this exclusive event.

Attending this conference gave us a chance to better understand Nokia as a company, build relationships with Nokia folks and build relationships with Nokia’s top partners.

Once again, with formal work stuff out of the way, it was time to have fun DiVitas-style.

We did some sight-seeing and got a fantastic education about Portugal. One big thing I learned was how similar Lisbon is to San Francisco as far as its culture and environment (not to mention its bridge- which looks much like the Golden Gate Bridge). For example, its neighborhoods are built around hills and they are all connected by an extremely good network of trams.

Travel Recap: London

By Vivek Khuller

Like most CEOs, I travel a lot, and the past few months have been no exception to that. Although I accomplish a lot while on the road, most of my computer time is spent answering e-mail, and unfortunately I haven’t had time to blog for the past few months. The good news is things have settled down and I’ll be posting monthly (alongside some other DiVitians who like to get their thoughts on “paper”).

No matter the destination or the mission, I try to make the most of my time when I travel. The highlights of my most recent travels were London, Lisbon and New York.

My first stop on my latest journey started in London.

We recently held our first channel sales conference and it was done DiVitas-style (we have fun but we are cost-effective at the same time). The conference was in London and so in keeping with the locale, we started early morning (despite terrible rain and foggy weather) with a traditional English breakfast. We allowed 30 minutes for networking and getting to know each other, and then we jumped in. Gordon, our VP of sales, gave the opening speech and then I made a presentation in which I talked about the company: philosophy, marketing strategy, channel marketing strategy and a technology roadmap.

Right. With all of the formal stuff out of the way, it was time to have fun.

We rented a Mercedes race track and allowed two attendees to drive a Mercedes of their choice, as fast as they could for thirty minutes. The lucky drivers were rewarded for answering the most questions about the lecture based on a pop quiz, which they were given at the end of the presentations. The rest of us watched the “racers” while eating lunch by the track. I’m sure some folks were kicking themselves for not paying closer attention.

We recruited new partners and everybody had fun, so I consider the day to have been a total success. Joanne (part of the UK sales and marketing team) did an awesome job organizing the event.

Later that evening, the DiVitas folks went to a typical English pub and did some US/UK bonding over warm beer and bangers.

While in London, we also took time to brief the European press about what’s been happening at DiVitas over the past six months. The last time we met with the Euro-press was at NetEvents in February, and a lot has happened since then. Europe has been a great market for us. Look for us at NetEvents again this Feb.

Building the mobile convergence Dream Team

by Vivek Khuller

It’s no coincidence that the DiVitas workplace is continuously buzzing. It’s an exciting place to work, and it was designed to be that way.

A year and a half ago, when I set out to launch this company, I knew my employees well. I didn’t know their names yet, but I knew exactly who they’d be. That’s because my team has been hand-picked for each person’s ability to fulfill the Five E’s that I think are important attributes to have in life: Edge, Energy, Energize, Execution, and Ethics. As a start-up we spend a lot of time together and synergy is everything. You need to like the people who you work with!

Creating this formula, and sticking to it without exception, has allowed me to build a team of people who think outside of the box, who come up with unique ideas, who work to resolve problems, who have a personality that simultaneously lets them laugh at a joke and work overtime to fix a bug.  The DiVitas MMC solution, the first converged system to reach the mobile-communications market, is as unique as the team that engineers, markets and sells it. Our human resources manager (whose job isn’t to engineer, market or sell our product) wears his DiVitas polo shirt every day – to work, to the gym, wine tasting … as he says, “ya know, I represent.”

My best “five-minute” meetings take place on Castro Street when I grab one (or a few people) and we go for a stroll and knock around ideas and issues.

One day that distills the unique DiVitas environment is our ’06 Christmas party. We arranged a 7-hour hike in Muir woods, followed by pizza and beer at a trendy San Francisco pizzeria. Families included. Ties were not an option. The hike would be more challenging for some than for others, but we had a great turnout – not unexpected considering DiVitians thrive on a good challenge (and free food).

Yes, we are a team of 50+ individuals spread among three different countries. But we each have at least five things in common, and that’s what maintains harmony in the workplace.