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February, 2005. “While it is gratifying to be named chairman and CEO of this longstanding organization, I am very aware of the operational and financial concerns surrounding the company,” commented Hauser. “My primary focus will be to address these concerns in quick succession and empower our team to seek and implement solutions. There is a lot of work to be done, and I am looking forward to getting started.” Certainly, it’s difficult for any new CEO to step in during a time of financial crisis and Hauser definitely has a full plate ahead of him. Let’s hope, for the sake of FairPoint, that he has a huge appetite.

In the world of awards, Frost and Sullivan has awarded Verizon Business the 2009 North American Enterprise Telephony Equipment Implementation and Management Customer Value Enhancement Award. The company was measured for its market growth and customer satisfaction success. Our research clearly shows that Verizon Business is taking an industry-leadership role in the development and delivery of managed IP telephony services," said Imran Khan, research analyst, Frost & Sullivan. "Verizon Business' commitment to innovation and customer satisfaction - underpinned by relationships with leading technology providers, strong technical acumen and its own robust professional services capabilities - position the company well for future gains, especially as enterprise customers look to deploy advanced collaboration solutions."

In the world of mobile phone apps, Nimbuzz, a social messaging aggregator with VoIP capabilities, is growing in popularity and forcing wireless carriers to consider alternate options for making money. The application, which can be used on your mobile phone or desktop, compiles popular social networking services like AIM, Facebook, Yahoo! Messenger, Skype, and others and allows users to take advantage of all the services from one neat and tidy place. The service also allows users to place calls through their handsets to other Nimbuzz users who are also using Nimbuzz on their mobiles, or to users who are sitting behindtheir computers. Anyone with a VoIP account on Skype, Gizmo5, or other VoIP providers can also use that account to place calls through Nimbuzz to landline and mobile phones directly.

Tobias Kemper, head of communications at Nimbuzz, says that that is, in fact, not the case. “We encourage all of our users to get an unlimited data plan from their carrier so they can use [Nimbuzz] 24/7 without any further thoughts,” said Kemper. He went on to explain that wireless carriers are realizing that there is money to be made in data services and value-adding applications that come pre-installed on new mobile devices. “Handsets are no longer about the bigger megapixels and the camera or more colors on the screen, but about the software. That is what’s becoming the key differentiator… It’s all about the software to enrich your experience and keep people hooked,” said Kemper. Nimbuzz has several partnerships in the works, including one with RIM, where Nimbuzz would be integrated with the traditional Blackberry software. Toshiba is also coming out with the TG01, which will launch shortly in Germany with Nimbuzz preinstalled. And what profits are Nimbuzz collecting from this? At present, just about none. They’ve run, up until recently, on private funding, but hope to begin collecting revenues from the above mentioned partnerships and possibly from advertising. So what does Nimbuzz cost the end user? Again, nothing. When asked if they’ll begin charging for their services in the future,  Kemper said, “Never. Nimbuzz is completely free to download, and will remain that way. It’s a product for everyone.”