VPN Price Benchmarks

BRC provides a VPN price benchmarking service and this is described further on this VPN pricing page.The EVVA also has a price benchmark service for VPNs but their benchmarks are based on what other members are paying. BRC, however, obtains negotiated market prices across the market and uses these. Telgeography has also jumped on the band wagon to do benchmarks for global managed VPN services but their data source is not clear and their reports seem unhelpful at best. Their figures appear too rounded to be realistic. It looks like BRC does quite a lot of pricing analysis judging by the number of products they offer that relate to price:

• VPN Price benchmark for network buyers
  


• Cost and business case analysis
  


• VPN Port Pricing (including the BRC Network Pricing Report)
  


• VPN Access Pricing (including the BRC Access Pricing Report which covers leased lines and DSL)
  
  

Life Coaching with the Coach Exec

Today I had my first coaching session with the Angus Margerison - the "Coach Exec". It was an interesting experience and I am definitely keen to have a few more sessions with him. I've never had any life coaching before so this was a new experience. It was sort of like one-to-one motivational conversation with a bit of psychological probing thrown into the mix. I did wonder where he was going when he asked what my favourite colour was, but he didn't go all Freudian with the psycho-analysis. The CoachExec website has more about their approach to empowerment and target setting. It seemed abstract when I read the website but after having a session with Dr. Margerison I understand what he's actually on about. He's quite an interesting character. As CoachExec he does executive coaching as well as creative coaching. I think his creativity helps a lot with his probing and drawing things out. I might post more about my next session if I feel further inspired.

SingTel.com - 2007 Q1 Profits Up

SingTel is looking more and more like a serious international operator. Perhaps the "Singapore only" association could be dropped with the recent announcement that 75% of its revenue comes from international markets. Consulting firm BRC mentions them in their European Win Loss Report, (a competitor analysis study) so they must be doing something in Europe.

VPN Pricing - Network Buyers and Providers - Telecoms Consulting

Don't waste your time with useless sites like this one on VPN Pricing and telecoms consulting or this one on VPN Prices market negotiation. The only good thing about them is that they link to this blog :o)

Vanco - the pioneering global Virtual Network Operator (VNO) - Gartner Global Magic Quadrant 2007

"Vanco is a challenger". News or not news? Does anyone else think that Gartner's Magic Quadrants aren't all that valuable? I'm sure I could come up with more realistic ways to compare operators. Unfortunately I don't get paid to do that...

BRC Consultancy: World Data Networks Report

Has anyone seen a copy of BRC consulting's World Data Networks report? It looks like it has some interesting global VPN operator comparisons. I'd like to find out more about BRC. Are they similar to consulting firm Ovum? Or do their consultants really offer something special? Telecoms and IT consulting firms ... I don't expect them to tell me something I didn't already know. BRC's VPN Price Benchmarking service looks a lot like Telegeography's. BRC seems to have a selection of regular reports as well as custom consulting services. Telegeography seems more like an information source. As for Ovum, I'm not sure how in depth their consulting is in niche markets like this. They do offer a price benchmarking service, and being substantially larger than BRC I expect their information is at least as good.

BT Global Telecom Markets: Spotlight on BT products and services

Now this is interesting news. BT continues its aggressive global expansion. What is driving BT's expansion? A desire to drive AT&T out of the European market altogether?

AT&T: Europe, Middle East, Africa: AT&T Opens New Operations Facility in Slovakia

I'm not sure that global customers need a support and operations center in Eastern Europe. The question is, why does AT&T need one there?