Martin, Here are just some of my opinions re: competition. Long Post
To many of us this may seem like preaching to the choir but here goes:
How many VIOP competitors have their own network and if they even have it is it OC 24? Do they already have two NOC's in place? Do they have 500 Pops? Do they have network redundancy via satellite and/or terrestrial?
Do they have any longterm commitments such as FTEL's five year contract with the Boeing, Ceridien, and Hubbard Broadcasting Joint Venture known as DigitalXpress? Since I believe Stanley Hubbard invented underlying technology of Direct TV and I believe is the Chairman of Nasdaq Symbol USSB, do you think he knows any other big corporate types? What about Boeing do you think they might know anybody? What about Ceridien? Relative to other possible recent committments do you believe the people at WebTV may have any good connections?
How many VOIP vendors also manufacture certain other components, or are they simply a one product area company? I believe Franklin offers more than simply a VOIP gateway referred to as the DVG.
It appears to me that a customer who may be looking for possibly a complete network solution could much more easily find one by calling FTEL.
Think about this. A big corporation for example may start out looking for something specific like a DVG or another VOIP solution but may also need:
broadcasting
cad or large file transfers
remote connectivity
internet commerce
satellite service
vpn
extranet
smartcard
various other desirable components
Now, do you think the IT professionals inside of any major company and /or any small local ISP would rather order hardware for their complete solutions needs from a company who would also have a stake in the outside national networks backbone reliablity? Or do you really believe that with all thing considered they might rather piecemeal their own network and take their chances on everything fitting and having outside network reliability plus all the different companies to deal with?
Many people believe the wave of the networking future will likely be end to end reliability and end to end solutions. It appears FTEL is very early to that thinking plus has gone one step beyond it by having a marriage with FNET.
In the course of my research I have yet to find any hardware or software solution for voice that offers all that FTEL has to offer the end user or the customer. I mean could FTEL supply each desired component for such a customer?
This post is really just my attempt to just barely scratch the surface of what may make FTEL completely different than others in the VOIP arena.
FTEL is far from being a one pony show. FTEL's Ceo, Frank Peters in my opinion may be FTEL's true Ace in the Hole. The competition has sat back and likely ignored Franklin. They may even believe Franklin is late. I am somewhat happy to let them think whatever they want.
Over the last couple of years I have looked over more Voice on the Net companies than I care to even think about. Yes, Franklin may have some competition in the VOIP arena but as far as I can see at this point the only close competition to Franklin is IDTC and that I have no problem with either. Currently Franklin is offerring POT to POT solutions. So, it may be wise to generally keep my eyes on the compeition but I always look to see what it is they are offering and the majority of the VOIP competition are still on PC to POT or PC to PC. I beleve anybody who checked with the so called experts would advise that the VOIP market is still in it's infancy. Many of us came to invest in FTEL when the VOIP market was maybe still an embryo.
You may want to take a look at the customer list for Franklin. I would believe that those customers are indicative of a relationship. Now, since Frank didn't get into this business two or three years ago then it might be a fair assumption that the customer relationships may be longer in nature than most of us realize. In other words we have no idea how those relationships could possibly evolve as Franklin continues to grow and evolve. Think of the reputation Frank enjoys among his shareholders? Could it be Frank is also well thought of by the customers on FTEL's list? I would believe so.
One other thing relative to possible competitors do they have a CEO who is in IBM's hall of fame? Do they have a CEO who is somewhat remembered for being one of the creators of store and forward type(s) of technology back in the seventies?
If I wanted to compare FTEL in it's whole with any competition I feel I would have a hard time doing so as frankly, I cannot find any competition that really stacks up in all areas. So, here I sit continuing my research and grinning ear to ear and waiting for the
world to figure out that Franklin may have a "one call can do it all"
corporate and/or ISP networking solution. It may take even more time being patient but I am hopeful that the DVG may be a hook to possibly reel in some even greater things for the future of Franklin.
I feel I have been a patient investor up to this point and I personally feel I can be patient a while longer. The things I try to focus my research on are FTEL in total and FTEL as a sum in parts and so far I believed it has served me well. I guess time will tell about the future.
In closing, I would like to add that I believe that researching and attempting to understand Franklin is not easy and it most likely can't be done overnight but I still believe an individual's own research can possibly be their own best friend. Generally, that is one reason why I rarely take posts either good, bad, or even indifferent on the internet at true face value unless I feel I know and can somewhat trust the person posting. I may expound on that last statement at a later date up the road.
IMHO ... FTEL is not late, in fact they may be right on time and further all of these other VOIP companies ??? Well, I believe it is possible they may get some serious network solution competition from FTEL in the future.
Of course, I could be completely wrong and not understand my investment and/or the competition but generally I feel pretty confident about the future.
Time I guess will tell.......
Sincerely,
Debra
PS: According to the FTEL Web Site it took FTEL in the neighborhood of two (2) years to get the OC-24. VBG. |
