Staying Connected

Protecting personal information is necessary to comply with California’s CCPA and various state and federal laws, but it goes much further.  Companies must protect the underpinnings of their businesses – their intellectual property, trade secrets, and highly sensitive communications – against unauthorized access, use, or disclosure.

Listen to this 12 minute podcast as Deb Boehling, a Partner at LB3, and TC2’s Joe Schmidt discuss how failing to address your company’s information security both internally and with your telecom and IT partners is a recipe for disaster.  They also provide some tips to help keep you protected.

For nearly 15 years, telecom industry pundits have declared the death of voice, or at least the death of the traditional PSTN network.  This claim that voice is dead is a bit overstated, but one could reasonably argue that it’s now on life support. 

Listen to this 10 minute podcast as LB3’s Laura McDonald and TC2’s Keith Cook and Joe Schmidt take a closer look at how alternative technologies have greatly reduced the demand for legacy voice services.  They also highlight some of the voice related details found in your contract that could be costing you dearly.

In this second episode of the two-part podcast series Catching the 5G Wave, TC2’s David Lee and Joe Schmidt continue their discussion on how 5G will impact the enterprise.  David and Joe explain why new devices are needed to take advantage of the faster speeds, lower latency, and guaranteed service levels 5G will deliver.  You’ll also discover how smartphone users will be sharing the network with upwards of 80 billion new connected “things.”

Listen to this 10 minute episode to find out how 5G will impact the enterprise and hear what steps you need to take in 2020.

5G is the newest wireless technology that promises to shake up how we use - and what we can do with - wireless services.  While 5G may not be widely available in 2020, at some point it will be and enterprises need to be ready for it.  In this two-part podcast series, TC2’s David Lee and Joe Schmidt explain the technical details of 5G and how it differs from previous wireless generations, why the US government is restricting the use of certain communications equipment companies, how 5G offers more than just faster speeds, and much more.

Listen to this 12 minute episode one as David and Joe describe why 5G is not a minor revision to existing wireless technology and how the US government is influencing its global roll out.

The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) took effect on January 1, 2019 and if you do business in California, you probably have some new obligations.  The intent of the CCPA is to give California residents information about and control over use of their personal information by businesses operating in California.  For businesses however, the law creates a number of new requirements.

Listen to this 10 minute podcast as LB3’s Deb Boehling discusses with TC2’s Joe Schmidt the basic conditions of CCPA, explains what businesses need to do to comply, and highlights a number of contractual provisions you’ll want to address with your IT and telecoms suppliers.

Companies face big challenges today making sure that their employees can access emergency services when they dial 911. On top of that, ensuring that accurate call-back and location information is transmitted with each 911 call is particularly difficult as companies deploy technologies like VoIP, which dramatically increases the mobility of their employees “behind the PBX.” 

Listen to this 9 minute podcast as LB3 Managing Partner Andrew Brown discusses with TC2’s Joe Schmidt what the new federal 911 regulations mean for enterprises and provide guidance on what companies need to do to comply.

It’s been nearly two years since the proposed merger between Sprint and T-Mobile was announced, and the deal is still pending.  Even though the Department of Justice and the FCC have granted approval, with stipulations, a lawsuit trying to stop the merger that pits Sprint and T-Mobile against a group of 14 state attorneys general, led by New York and California, is pending.

If the merger does get approved and implemented, the US wireless market may see three equally sized wireless providers in AT&T, Verizon, and the merged Sprint/T-Mobile, and Dish Network may become a viable national wireless provider.

In this final installment of our three-part podcast series on how to deal with the new challenges when negotiating a Microsoft Enterprise Agreement, we highlight a number of the bad terms that will likely be introduced into your new deal, such as limiting your affiliate’s participation in the agreement and Microsoft’s audit rights. 

In this podcast, LB3’s Marc Lindsey and TC2’s Joe Schmidt will also give you some tips on how to approach your next Microsoft negotiation so that you can achieve improved results.

In this second part of our three-part podcast series on how to deal with the new challenges when negotiating a Microsoft Enterprise Agreement, LB3’s Marc Lindsey and TC2’s Joe Schmidt discuss how things have changed when you engage your Microsoft account team in contract negotiations.  The contract structure may have been simplified but achieving deal flexibility is far from assured.

With a market cap of over $1 trillion, Microsoft is a huge and dominant provider of software and services.  Your company almost certainly buys something from Microsoft – productivity software, unified communications, cloud – and you’ve probably seen a shift in Microsoft’s rules of engagement.  This pivot by Microsoft is driving major contract changes and negotiation challenges for enterprises.

In part one of this three-part podcast series, LB3’s Marc Lindsey discusses with TC2’s Joe Schmidt what Microsoft is up to with its new contract structure.