Interview With A VampireInterview With A Vampire

The title should conjure images of blood, as in the case of blood sucking in the cloak of darkness. For many remembering- that pretty much describes those toiling away at the monumental task of bullet-proofing the telephone system. The question is, which telephone system?

The title should conjure images of blood, as in the case of blood sucking in the cloak of darkness. For many remembering- that pretty much describes those toiling away at the monumental task of bullet-proofing the telephone system.

The question is, which telephone system?The interview was informal and I wouldn't call it an interview since I wore my shield of garlic to prevent any bites. Really, the discussion was pretty mundane with the technology person that works in stealth, even today. We were discussing SIP and a number of possibilities of running a Beta gig for a Large Enterprise.

All that aside, the key remarks that my friend made didn't chill my bones but they did further my investment and entrenchment into what I believe is true. "Matt, when we run Beta, we're running products that are already proven to work. We're not doing Lab experiments with customers, but gathering information and insight into what the customer wants and how they respond to the tools we design."

I gladly referred to what I thought was a great prospect to Beta these SIP telephony wares. My friend went on to say, "What we put out must work for the guy in the middle ground- the SMB that lives and dies by customers and can't afford to have any downtime or requiring some CCNE sitting around on payroll."

As we talked more about the industry, perceptions and what people buy into, it became pretty clear that this bloodsucker wasn't going to change his position nor would I attempt to change his thinking, since I too am in agreement, even though we do see things differently from our positions. Not to worry, I'm still wearing my shield of garlic to prevent him from doing that mind thing.

On another point, people have this belief that TAPI is an industry standard- ah, no, it's a Microsoft thing. Herein again lies another difference in guys with that telephony juice running through their veins. Why would I want to offer my customers the "reboot" option to telephony?

Am I talking about VoIP, or IPT in general? Well, stick it where it applies. Yes, that's the phrase befitting of the kings over at Cisco and Microsoft. Both still are, in spite of themselves, vendors. Both have huge marketing engines that drive huge volumes of green stuff into their vaults, and while both aren't perfect or at times even likeable, they still are contenders in the game of sucking blood. They want to dominate telecommunications, as do the many ranks of IT people. No kidding.

Just ask the TDM bloodsucker I interviewed.