Jeff Pulver Announces the Founding of Min-X.com: 'The Minutes Exchange'
October 15, 1998 06:21
The Marketplace for IP Telephony Minutes Founded by Jeff Pulver, pulver.com
MELVILLE, N.Y., Oct. 15 - Internet Telephony pioneer Jeff Pulver, President/CEO of pulver.com announced today the founding of his new privately held venture, Min-X.com, "The Minutes Exchange" pulver.com, the marketplace for IP Telephony Minutes.
Over the past eighteen months, telecommunications entrepreneurs throughout the world, together with Incumbent Carriers and Internet Service Providers have taken advantage of the convergence between
telecommunication and Internet technologies to build a new class of telecommunication services. These Internet Telephony Service Providers "ITSPs" have developed significant capacity to inexpensively
terminate and originate IP based telephony calls.
Min-X.com has been established to assist ITSPs market their capacity on a global basis. ITSP's who join Min-X will list their termination capacities on a Web based system. Carriers and/or other ITSP's
may contact the listing ITSP via Min-X.com and negotiate a contract.
Only ITSP's who meet minimum technical, financial and capacity qualifications will be allowed to participate in the exchange.
The primary negotiations will take place in face-to-face "Deal Meetings" which will occur no less than four times a year. Jeff Pulver said, "At this stage of our nascent industry, there is no such thing as a 'standard contract' although we anticipate model contracts will evolve over time. As standards evolve, Min-X activity will transition from "real" meetings to a more virtual format. The first "Deal Meeting" is scheduled to take place on December 10-11, 1998 at the JFK Airport Hilton in the New York City area."
"Min-X will charge a small commission on the contracts negotiated between parties introduced via the exchange.
"Since Min-X.com does not provide routing, authorization, settlement, or call detail record processing services, we believe other vendors will benefit from the increased demand of these services.
"With the advent of Min-X.com, there is now a marketplace where companies who are looking to purchase and/or sell IP Telephony Minutes can participate in. My immediate goal is to help accelerate
the growth of the global IP Telephony minutes marketplace. Another positive effect of Min-X.com is that now vendors who sell IP Telephony Gateways can tell customers a marketplace exists where they
can sell their excess terminating capacity," said Pulver.
Min-X.com anticipates opening additional dealing desks to handle Minutes Brokerage opportunities in other Global Minutes Marketplaces such as GSM, Cable, Satellite and PSTN Spot rates.
The Minutes Exchange will maintain a listing of the active markets in a private section of the Min-X web site that is available only to members of the Minutes Exchange.
For details regarding the operations of Min-X.com, please visit the Min-X web site pulver.com or send email to: min-x@pulver.com.
Industry Comments regarding Min-X.com from Service Providers and Equipment Vendors:
"Jeff Pulver has brought the IP Telephony industry from birth to maturity. Establishing a marketplace for nex-gen phone companies like Delta Three is a sign that IP Telephony has moved from an R&D
effort to commercial services. We applaud Jeff and will take an active role in Min-X," said Jacob Davidson, Chairman of Delta Three, a subsidiary of RSL Communications Ltd. (Nasdaq: RSLCF).
David Greenblatt, Chief Operating Officer of Net2Phone, a division of IDT (Nasdaq: IDTC), said, "This is yet another wonderful Jeff Pulver concept. Since the inception of Internet Telephony, Jeff has
been at the forefront of the industry, bringing it the clout that it deserves. As a leader in carrier-to-carrier services, IDT has been using this model on the telecom side. Net2Phone is very
excited to participate in the Minutes Exchange and bring arbitrage to the IP telephony arena and drive even more minutes over our IP network."
Alex Mashinsky, CEO of Arbinet, a leader in the emerging global carrier market, stated: "Min-x.com is a great new initiative that will help ITSP's develop and penetrate faster than traditional PSTN markets. Arbinet is planning to participate in this initiative and bring over 60 of its carrier customers to the forum. Arbinet salutes Jeff for proving again his entrepreneurial spirit."
"We applaud Jeff Pulver as he continues to innovate and drive technology and services for the Voice over IP industry," said Alistair Woodman, Group Marketing Manager for the Telephony Internet
Services Unit at Cisco Systems (Nasdaq: CSCO). "With this initiative, Jeff is extending his track record of promoting Interoperability for voice over IP service providers and equipment vendors."
"Voice communication is universal. Successful voice communication networks allow people to call anyone they want, anywhere in the world," said Jerry Chang, CEO and President of Clarent Corporation. "Jeff Pulver's 'Minutes Exchange' program will help introduce carriers and ITSPs so that they can set up relationships that will make such global communication possible."
"Telecom as you know it is dead," said Ofer Gneezy, President & CEO of VIP Calling, Inc., "and Min-X.com is a prime example. Voice over I/P is breaking down all the barriers in telecommunications, not just the regulatory ones but also the business practices. With the launching of
Min-x.com, Jeff Pulver, the evangelist of VOIP, has also become a catalyst for traffic growth. Now the telecommunication industry can really move in 'Internet time.'"
Ivar Plahte, Director of Telecom over IP, of the Oslo, Norway-based Telenor Nextel stated: "With Min-X, The Minutes Exchange, Jeff Pulver once again demonstrates his pioneer spirit in the Internet
Telephony market by challenging and refining existing telecom and Internet business models with real commercial initiatives."
"There is an efficient and highly-competitive market today where PSTN traffic is exchanged," said Dr. Hong Chen, president and CEO of GRIC Communication, Inc. "There is a requirement for a similar
service in the VOIP market as well. Min-X.com is fulfilling this requirement, and will facilitate competitive rates worldwide."
"A dedicated exchange for IP minutes fills a real requirement and who better to run it than Jeff@Pulver.com himself," stated Marcus de Ferranti, co-founder of the London, UK-based Band-X, the world's first Bandwidth Exchange.
Background:
Since 1995, Jeff Pulver has engaged in activities to help develop the Internet Telephony Industry. His activities have included the moderation of Internet-based mailing lists, the creation of "Free World Dialup" (http://pulver.com/fwd), the founding of the Voice on the Net ("VON") Coalition (http://www.von.org), and publishing The Pulver Report (http://pulver.com/reports). He is also the
producer/director of the Voice on the Net ("VON") Conferences (http://pulver.com/von99) that are widely attended by the industry he represents. pulver.com was established in 1994 and is based in
Melville, NY USA.
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