 This is JSA TV, the newsroom for tech and telecom professionals and JSA radio, the voice for telecom on iHeart radio. I'm Dean Perrine vice president at JSA and your moderator here today. On behalf of our team here at JSA welcome to a very special virtual roundtable. Our topic today, the Cisco acquisition of broadsoft, perspectives from the other side. As the roundtable topic suggests today we're talking about the Cisco and broadsoft acquisition and its implications on the competitive landscape particularly as they relate to alternative UCAS providers in the space. Long-time competitors and partners of broadsoft will face new challenges as well as a host of new opportunities. These opportunities will directly impact the carriers and the large enterprise customers they serve and today's discussion will explore both the acquisition implications on the UCAS space generally and the impact and opportunities created for both alternative UCAS providers and their carrier customers. Our panelists today are Mr. Anand Bush. Anand is the CEO and co-founder of NetSapiens based in San Diego, California. NetSapiens offers service providers and large enterprise customers a suite of unified communication services and feature sets including voice over IP, hosted PBX, zip trunking, contact center services, device provisioning, multi-tenant user portals and much more. Also, we have Mr. John Carter. John is the CEO of Tier Zero. Tier Zero is a Los Angeles based internet provider offering a full suite of business phone and internet services to Los Angeles, Irvine, Orange County, Long Beach, Santa Ana, Pasadena, San Diego and all of Southern California. And last but certainly not least, Mr. Chuck Griffin. Chuck is the CEO of Impact Telecom based in Irving, Texas. Impact Telecom is a cloud communications company serving thousands of business customers with voice over IP solutions for over 11 years. Gentlemen, welcome to JSATV and let's go ahead and get started. Anand, I'm going to start with you. As a CEO of a company that has both competed and partnered with BroadSoft, why don't you give our viewers a quick overview of the acquisition and what you see as kind of the biggest challenges in the competitive U.K. space. Sure. Thanks, Dean. Thanks for having me on here. NetSapiens actually has been a long time admirer of what BroadSoft has done for the marketplace. And then we've actually seen them both obviously grow and push the tier one service providers. We obviously focus on tier two and smaller service providers. I think one of the things that they've done is actually set the bar for the level of quality, level of service, level of platform, feature functionality and the growth in the marketplace. I think what this does really from an M&A standpoint, it speaks to the validation of what cloud hosted UC is all about. We'll get to some of that a little bit later as well. I think you have some questions teed up for the clients of ours here at all. But I think one of the things that we've seen is that we've worked in addition with clients or service providers that have really been out evolved by BroadSoft, if you will, in terms of what BroadSoft provides. And so we've been fortunate enough to have clients that actually own and operate both the BroadSoft platform and NetSapiens platform, both in conjunction. So we've been able to see what they've done in the marketplace in terms of challenges in the UCAS space. I think the challenge is still continuing that there's still a big shortfall in the migration of work going from premise-based services. And so there's a lot of work to be done in that space. And so that continues to be the biggest challenge. How do you address so many, if you will, disparate needs in the marketplace for unified communications as a service, rather than what we considered, you know, plain old telephone service. And BroadSoft has kind of led the charge. The Cisco acquisition again validates that. I think the challenges that will exist is to try to, you know, help our clients understand what that all means. Excellent, Anand. A perfect primer for my next question. Chuck, this one's for you. As a former customer of BroadSoft, why don't you give our viewers some insights from an end-user or general carrier perspective. Tell us about your selection process and how other carriers might benefit from your experiences, particularly as they relate to UCAS. Thanks, Steve. Appreciate it. Appreciate the opportunity, obviously. We've been doing voice for IP for quite some time at a carrier level. So back to 2001, at ICG Communications, we had gone through a local data platform. Voicepipe for those that remember the name, we did a cilantro platform with the three-tone product out of level three. Moved on to the BroadSoft platform in early days in the early 2000s and spent a lot of time in that BroadSoft community. So when we switched platforms, and we kind of made some changes here recently with Impact Telecom, we had a couple of key ingredients that were really important to us, just having all of that background. Fast forward to today, we went through, you know, investigating MetaSwitch and GenBand and of course BroadSoft again, and we landed on the NetSafes platform. Really two big primary drivers of that. Number one, we wanted to own the technology, we're a carried-class environment with a carried-class network that's geo-redundant, very easy for us to integrate that to our network. So the servers, all of the software packages, the revisions that take place all sit on our network. So managing that technology was important to us. The second piece to that was that it be simple. So one of the BroadSoft issues that we at least ran into as we were part of that was just the complication of bifurcating pieces of the BroadSoft license in order to be able to accommodate the end users. And so for us it was critical that we had a software package that was easy and simple to use. So as we settle on that taping, those are the big drivers of why we did. So from a carrier perspective anyway, that's probably how we got through the selection process. Real important to have that longevity that's there. You know, you look at end of life on the cilantro, end of life on the vocal data platform. Those are things that, you know, we had to look at and feel very stable and comfortable that there was alternative solution to BroadSoft. Knowing that BroadSoft has probably 45 percent of the UCAS, at least the voice services market in that space today, I think it's it was pretty critical for us to have a solid background or, you know, performance piece in that space. So allowing us to be flexible for our customers, the NetSapiens platform gave us sort of an oversubscription capability where we can make every single end user happy based on the breadth of the feature set that we had sitting out there. So selection, and that's what I mean by simplistic is that we had access to everything we needed for simplicity sake to accommodate our end users. And the one thing we know about end users is that every single one of them is different. So as we put a business end user into place, they have completely different and separate needs than the one that we did just the day or two before. So I think if I relate it to the consolidation now, right, the BroadSoft versus and Cisco consolidation, I think it it does sort of fast track things in the UCAS marketplace. The credibility that Cisco brings to this certainly draws attention to it. And I think it may fast track, you know, sort of the adoption of the UCAS market, the cloud based markets. And it also brings a completely different distribution, right? That's probably the one thing that is very different between those two. So as they consolidate, I think you're going to see this change in the environment where MSPs and integration companies now become a little bit more equipped to be the installation and maybe even the end user referral or the end user sales for the UCAS marketplace. So I think it does change the landscape pretty dramatically. How that affects us probably we'll look at it and partner more deeply with NetSapiens in order to be able to manage to that. I think the endpoint providers probably become a little bit more, that's where they will find the difficulties. So your Polycoms and Yealink to the world who have integrated very in depth to the BroadSoft market will become, they'll see a tougher road because of the integration that Cisco now will be able to penetrate. So how that affects things on a go-for basis for them remains to be seen, that integration still has to take place. Clearly the merger acquisition has to happen in order for that to take place. But I think people are starting to prepare for that now. So for us, it's business as usual because we feel very comfortable with the application that we chose on a go-for basis. Brilliant insights. We totally appreciate that level of insight. But John, it's your turn now. Why don't you talk to our viewers a little bit about what the acquisition means to you and to companies like NetSapiens. What are the opportunities? What do the opportunities look like for folks like yourself? Thanks Dean for having me on also. I think I need to explain just a little bit about our history. We were an IP company only from 1997 to 2005. So when we decided to get into voice, we didn't have a lot of voice expertise on staff. So we chose BroadSoft because it was the best to break. We wanted to partner with the best and we really felt like that they were going to gobble up the market, which they did. And they were a great partner for us for 10 years. But going forward, their pricing model that they had, which is a license-based per-seat model. And then when the unified communication kind of heated up a little bit more. And you saw companies like Ring Central and these other countries, other companies that were a little like not as advanced as BroadSoft. Now they're starting to offer unified communications. And the bundles that people were getting that the customers were getting, and it was getting back to us was essentially that this was being bundled in for free. This is what, you know, whether they use it or not. People want unified communications. It's the buzzword today and our customers wanted it. So when we went to BroadSoft and said they were a little late to the game with unified communications for the BroadSoft product, their suggestion was to offer us something that was going to cost us twice as much as what we were paying for before. So that really wasn't a great business model for us anymore. And it was a really, really great run. And we were actually not happy to shop around at the time and do a whole migration of our whole customer base over to a new platform. But we went through quite a long selection process and we landed on NetSafiens for a number of reasons. One was their concurrent call model, the pricing model versus the per license model allowed us as a service provider to have more margin and more flexibility in what we are offering to our customers. And that was a big advantage. And also a big advantage for us was that NetSafiens was a little more poised as a smaller company like us, more flexible, more nimble, people that we could reach out onto the phone. BroadSoft had kind of become such a large company that, you know, it actually took them eight months to get back to us on the unified communications offer. And in the meantime, we had already moved on with NetSafien and very happy about it. But the challenges and the opportunities that we see, you know, for these kind of mergers always create opportunities in the marketplace for the tier two and tier three, the kind of markets that NetSafien is providing. They really have their eye on the tier one thing. So it creates a big opportunity for us. And then also, I think some of the challenges are going to be some of the kind of life products that they already have, like the Sparks and the WebEx and, you know, products like this. And like, how do you differentiate those with the BroadSoft, UC, and, you know, without confusing the marketplace and the customers. And it's just part of life in big mergers like that. You know, it can't be helped. You know, they've acquired a lot of different companies, a lot of different platforms and software, you know, and they have it out with different customers. So now this is another one. And without really knowing what all the strategy sessions are behind the scenes with Cisco, it's hard to know where they're going to go with that, how they're going to integrate all these different platforms together. But, you know, as we've seen with lots of these types of mergers, it's going to be a little bit confusing for people, which creates more opportunity for the smaller providers like us. So we're actually quite happy about it. Excellent, John. Thanks. And again, spectacular feedback there, but also that really truly does beg the question back to you, Anand. Do you foresee there being a trickle down effect? So perhaps former BroadSoft customers or customers who at least see that there is industry UCAS consolidation taking longer looks at Tier 2 and Tier 3 providers like Netsapiens? Actually, I think if you look at the analysts working with BroadSoft actually over the last couple of years, what we've found is that, you know, just last year, I believe, I think one of the public reports out that said, you know, we're kind of three to five years away from cloud UC offerings, really overtaking premise-based offerings. And so, you know, the trickle down in my mind is, you know, Cisco jumping in kind of validates, I think as Chuck was saying earlier, validates in a pretty significant way that, you know, this is a massive growth opportunity that exists. And I think the question to really ask is whether, you know, that migration to the cloud is going to happen faster, especially with, you know, with the deeper pockets and the wider channels that somebody like Cisco brings to the table. Now, that being said, John actually spoke to the added confusion that may actually exist in the market. And so, because of the variety of UC has and how will that interplay with UC1, you know, so on and so forth. But I think, you know, the, you know, the trickle down in the opportunities that are presented by the acquisition, I think allow the smaller, more agile companies, service providers, if you will, to really look at the gap, you know, like start defining the pending gaps that may exist because of all of the confusion in the marketplace. Start looking at developing your own value proposition. Look at, you know, a very few angles that right now you can outshine your local Cisco reseller because it will be a conjunction of Cisco bringing to the table now both whatever Cisco brings to the table to the enterprise or the small enterprise and then also whatever, whatever Brotshop brings to the table. Now, that being said, Cisco has done a fair bit of evolving themselves. And however, you know, gravity is pretty tough to fight against and M&As of this size really take a significant amount of time and effort before a steady state mode of operation is, is reached. And so until that point, it's a great opportunity for, for service providers to really educate their markets and to understand, right? First and foremost, really try to be crystal clear of where the differentiators are between what they provide today and what they can provide going forward, but then also take a look at really the opportunity to, to allow Cisco to help educate the market as well. So yeah, definitely there's going to be a trickle that for sure. Excellent. And I'm going to stick with you because you bring up some very, very good points because you all serve different, different customers. What would you say is the single biggest takeaway that your customer should see from this, this consolidation or specifically the Brotshop Cisco acquisition? What's, what's the big takeaway for your customers? So, so, so it's, so it's interesting, right? I think as a follow-up to what I had just mentioned, you know, our, our service writer clients, if you will, historically, if I step back a little bit and I speak to, you know, the general market, if you will, perception with Cisco as many, many could argue it's very much a love-hate relationship with Cisco. And in general, this may very quickly become a philosophical and a practical war between best degree versus homogeneous Cisco only implications for, for our providers. I think in essence it's a, it's a massive opportunity for the community to continue marching down that mission of providing specialized UCAS choice for the user, you know, for the end user that it provides business to. So I think that's probably the single biggest takeaway is certainly it's a, it's a threat, but I think we can leverage the threat because there's going to be an awful lot of noise created from it. And the opportunity is to be very crystal clear about what we can provide as a community of service providers that really the combination of this side. Excellent, thank you very much, Anand. Chuck, same question. Biggest takeaway for the customers you serve? Yeah, so I'll jump on top of the word that Anand used a couple of times there and that's opportunity for us. I think that it really does bring some credibility and some legitimacy to the cloud evolution that's taken place. And we overused the word cloud a lot, but to the end users who are lagging behind from a technology standpoint, the true end users of the services, they're just catching up to those buzzwords. You know, we've been living inside that cloud now for a few years now, whether it be data backup or 4G wireless or the video consumption or hosted voice over IP. All of that now is coming to fruition and guys like Cisco and Broads off coming together really do put a stamp of legitimacy to that voice. For us, it's now just the capitalizing on the fact that that evolution is taking place. So we got to get on our horse and get better at integrating things that we're not doing that are cloud based, because that wave is coming very quickly. That marketplace is growing very, very fast. And, you know, we're happy to be in the position we are with the solution that we have, because I think there's a needs of the end user, especially again, given that lag that takes place in their environment. But as that becomes a little bit more consolidated, we're going to we're going to be sitting right in a sweet spot to be able to service those needs. The only other thing I would add to that was going back to my foreign point, which is I think it brings larger distribution networks together in order to be able to accomplish that thing. So the opportunity for us is to reach out to areas of distribution that we necessarily haven't tapped prior, but we intend to do. Obviously, this calls attention to kind of that hardware and distribution network that is different than what we have today. So we're looking forward to that opportunity to capitalize on that opportunity. We can be flexible enough, I think, to get there. So for us, I think it just boils down to let's get on our horse and really create what we can out of that opportunity. Outstanding, Chuck. Thank you very much. John, you have the final word here. Biggest takeaway for your customers? Well, I think it's all about awareness. So, you know, this type of merger, is it, you know, if you look back when Vonage, you know, went to Vonage in business and there was just all these ads on TV all the time, you know, when we were trying to educate our customers about VoIP, for instance, you know, it was sometimes a challenge, but now they're starting to get, you know, these advertisements all the time they're seeing on TV, it's becoming kind of a normal kind of conversation instead of this new black box thing that we're talking about. So this Cisco broadsoft merger, you know, as they, you know, reach out and build more awareness in the business community and the enterprise community, it just helps us even more to be able to slide into their kind of wake. I get it, I get it. Gentlemen, that is really all the time we have. Unfortunately, I feel like we could have talked all afternoon, but that's going to be a wrap for today. Thank you very, very much for being with us today. I appreciate it. Thank you. And thank you viewers for watching JSATV. We'll see you soon.