« February 2007 | Main | April 2007 »
March 30, 2007
Good Moderators
I sent this note out to a friends and past speakers at the pulvermedia events.
I am looking to change the moderator role for our shows in the future. We want to have press and/or analysts moderate. If you have a few minutes could you please introduce me to your recommended moderators?
The responses are interesting. Because often it points out to me how the people see moderators.
Some like very structured sessions and some like very loose ones.
I am a very loose moderator.
Perhaps I need to enable more structure.
Posted by carl at 05:26 AM | Comments (0)
March 29, 2007
Boothmanship
I have been talking to some friends about the show and a friend in the "specify and recommend" part of one of the larger telcos made this observation...
One note about the vendor booths - the majority of the time, I had to approach someone in the booth to talk with them. Several times, I stood looking around the booth, but no one from the company approached me to ask about my interest. They just stood off and talked to themselves. That is not a good situation, nor does it give a favorable impression of the company. Interesting is the fact that the smaller vendors were more eager to engage me than the larger ones.
Our own Glenn Gaudet teaches at our shows and runs a marketing summit. I personally recommend it.
Posted by carl at 08:44 AM | Comments (1)
I could have told you it was coming - Sprint Nextel
I feel for Gary Forsee who is the subject of scrutiny according to the WSJ Article. The marriage of Nextel and Sprint has never been easy for me to understand given my limited knowledge of Nextel's network. Also the structure they operated was very distributed and made it hard to grasp how Sprint was going to integrate them.
Ray Smith made Bell Atlantic a cohesive whole by taking the budget and making it impossible for the locals to spend a dime. I hated it.
Being a local, I had customer's miffed that I could not deliver new services because the capital budget was unavailable. But in the long run the company ran smoother.
Mr. Forsee when he accepted the resignation of my former Bell Atlantic boss Len Lauer had to find a new COO. I wish him luck.
I would volunteer, but I don't think the stock market would believe my value.
Posted by carl at 07:32 AM | Comments (0)
March 28, 2007
Just an observation
Reading Barron's article on the thirty best CEO's. Five we could liberally associate with our space. None specifically as telecom.
Makes for an interesting perspective on upper management.
Here the folks from our space in corporate alphabetical order.
Steve Jobs of Apple comes first which is only fitting since he stole the thunder of CEA singlehandedly making his show the show. Still not sure how to take the freedom of Mac's and reconcile them to restriction of the iPhone. But greater minds than mine.... They certainly know how to spell GUI over there.
Echostar's Charlie Ergen gets credit for being right in the hunt of services and is partnered with att. If applications are independent of transport and ultimately you are a wireless customer, why not forget the legacy and move to a more mobile model. Most importantly, pay close attention to how Dish Network pays attention to the Video on the Net content.
Rupert Murdoch at Newscorp has made the entertainment industry more entertaining. And with his ebb and flow of Myspace and Brightstar, a separate category of watching should be made on Newscorp alone.
Satoru Iwata from Nintendohas an interesting presentation about how they see games being the basis. Hard to fight with success, particularly when the have the Wii thing going. Pay close attention to the software side of things.
Samsung's Jong-Yong Yun is an MIT graduate. When you look at the capital that the company has you realize that its a force that needs to be watched.
Posted by carl at 12:29 PM | Comments (0)
March 27, 2007
Verizon vs. Vonage Indemnification
Unfortunately, I can't give you more because I am only being spoken to as deep background. But if you have an attorney who can review the rocketdocket what they should be able to tell you is that ENUM was considered as not germaine to the Verizon patent (because of prior art).
The patent looks at calling VoIP to PSTN and the Name Server involved giving back IP addresses and other details (numbers and time of day).
Since ENUM matches to this criteria (in part), imho it would be possible to indemnify private ENUM.
This applies to 711 and not the VoWiFi discussion.
Posted by carl at 03:16 PM | Comments (0)
March 26, 2007
Where are the other Nine?
I gave my lecture and felt I did best on Saturday.
I offered to help people find jobs, and give advice to all of the students. So far only one has decided to join my community.
However, the professor also joined me on Linkedin.
Where are the other students? Hopefully they will connect up with me in the future.
Posted by carl at 12:24 PM | Comments (0)
March 23, 2007
Friends of Stevens
Here are my slides for Stevens Institute class on Broadband Services.
Not sure I am hitting the mark, but I am certainly giving my experience, strength and hope.
If anyone wants to see the slides please email for a copy.
Posted by carl at 12:11 PM | Comments (0)
March 22, 2007
Cisco names Micheal Powell to Board
Just in Case you are a Cisco tracker.
SAN JOSE, Calif., March 22, 2007 - Cisco today announced the appointment of Michael K. Powell to its board of directors, effective March 22, 2007.
"We are extremely pleased to welcome Michael Powell to Cisco's board of directors," said John Chambers, Chairman and CEO, Cisco. "Michael's broad experience with the communications sector - from his support of affordable, widespread broadband deployment in the United States while FCC Chairman, to his understanding of the enormous possibilities created by the convergence of data, voice and video - makes him an invaluable addition to the Board."
Powell, 43, is currently a Senior Advisor of Providence Equity Partners and Chairman of the MK Powell Group. He was nominated by President William J. Clinton to a Republican seat on the Federal Communications Commission in 1997. He was designated Chairman by President George W. Bush in 2001 and served until 2005. Previously, Powell served as the Chief of Staff of the Antitrust Division in the Department of Justice. Before joining the Antitrust Division, Mr. Powell was an associate in the Washington, D.C. office of the law firm of O'Melveny & Myers LLP, and just prior to joining the firm clerked for the Honorable Harry T. Edwards, Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Before starting his legal career, Powell served as a policy advisor to Secretary of Defense, Richard B. Cheney. Additionally, Powell's experience includes military service as an armored cavalry officer in the United States Army. Powell earned a bachelor's degree in Government from the College of William and Mary and a Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree from the Georgetown University Law Center.
Powell is a member of the Board of Trustees of the RAND Corporation and the Aspen Institute. Additionally, he serves on the Boards of ObjectVideo and CMWare, Inc. He also currently serves as Rector of the Board of Visitors of the College of William and Mary.
With the appointment of Powell, Cisco's board now consists of 12 members, including Carol A. Bartz, Executive Chairman, Autodesk, Inc.; M. Michele Burns, Chair and CEO, Mercer Human Resource Consulting LLC; Michael D. Capellas, Senior Advisor, Silver Lake Partners; Larry R. Carter, Senior Vice President, Office of the President, Cisco Systems, Inc.; John T. Chambers, Chairman and CEO, Cisco Systems, Inc.; Brian L. Halla, Chairman and CEO, National Semiconductor Corporation; John L. Hennessy, Ph.D., President, Stanford University; Richard M. Kovacevich, Chairman and CEO, Wells Fargo & Company; Roderick C. McGeary, Chairman, BearingPoint, Inc.; Steven M. West, Founder and Partner, Emerging Company Partners; and Jerry Yang, Co-founder, Chief Yahoo! and Director, Yahoo! Inc.
Posted by carl at 10:03 AM | Comments (0)
March 21, 2007
Warning I am not Here
You can find my discussion of Spring VON at San Jose via the podcasts Mikey and I are doing.
http://podcasts.pulvermedia.com/blog/archives/carl_ford/
The show is busy and so am I.
Posted by carl at 12:03 PM | Comments (0)
March 20, 2007
Spring VON Preconference Wrap Up
The show kicked off with a good crowd minus alot of the engineers who are in Prague. The IPTV and TV/IP (A.K.A. New Media)sessions were well attended as was the FMC sessions. I had several meetings with companies taking a long view on the industry which is good news.
Most interesting question I had was who would you want to be acquired by these days? Obviously for different companies it would mean different companies, but the real issue no big boys look stable enough to swallow a small guy and keep the execution track going.
What that means to me is that we should start seeing some of the mid size marketcaps become more powerful in the next few years. These companies have the issue of wanting to execute their own vision so understanding there plans is essential.
One strategy, I hate hearing is going to the big portals and expecting them to be telecom oriented all of a sudden. Google, Oracle, Yahoo! are here in the industry to stay, but getting into the plumbing of Telecom is not on their agenda.
Better choices are companies that make strategic partners in telecom already.
What companies would you choose? I am thinking players like Contata, Dialogic and Ditech to name just a few are going to be pressured to become more strategic to the partners.
Posted by carl at 09:52 AM | Comments (0)
March 19, 2007
Preconference
Yesterday I sat with six friends representing a variety of ideas.
Its been good to hear innovators thinking. What is really interesting is that some of the discussion was at a general level that would impact everyone. While alot of it was about niche opportunities, where the ideas i felt were of limited value. The spectrum went from Global presense and better search tools to job opps for standards wonks and
Caller ID problems.
One thing I can say is that my friends are ecclectic.
I am looking forward to seeing friends today.
Posted by carl at 08:45 AM | Comments (0)
March 18, 2007
Tellme Why?
Holy cow!
Microsoft has a major coop!
I thought Tellme would stay a standalone as a result. Now the question is what will Microsoft do with them. It should be interesting. Here is the Wall Street Journal Article
Posted by carl at 09:18 AM
| Comments (0)
When people ask me about the community I would say that we have Developers, Network Operators, Marketing / Business Development, Telecom Managers. Analysts / VCs, and Press. In general the categories have a cross section regarding Consumer Services and Products, Enterprise Products, Service Providers and Technology to support the infrastructure. Last but not least i can segment us by topics. Network Management / QoS Regulatory Policy New Service Development / Delivery Consumer / Edge Devices Service Provider Devices FMC IMS SIP and Standards IPTV TV/IP Voice Quality / Transcoding
Posted by carl at 08:43 AM
| Comments (0)
I was invited to Radvision's offices today and sat with Jacob Bridger and Anatoli Levine. Radvision has been a member of the VON community from the very beginning and like Jeff has followed the wave of Video. In fact like Jeff they now own the CU/SEEme assets that got jeff started. Zohar Zisapel, the Founder of Radvision (and several other companies) is speaking at Spring VON. Radvision has three lines of business. The Technical Business Unit is still the home of stacks and developer solutions. The Enterprise Business Unit is supporting Video Conferencing from the Multichannel Unit basis. In this area they have expanded to include HDTV and I saw some to the work the partners have done. The quality was impressive. But it was the new Mobile Services Business Unit that they wanted me to see the new Demo. Here they had developed 3G video that they can use for point to point and with the MCU. Because we were in the US we had to use WiFi but I have seen the 3G demo'd in lands that had advance phone networks. After this demo we looked at a camera maanagement and mapping tool that could be used for surveillience. At the end of the meeting, I felt that if I was a wall street analyst, I would be on the Buy side for RVSN. Since I am not, I will remind you all that the opinions expressed here are entirely my own.
Posted by carl at 01:19 PM
| Comments (0)
Our Greatest Success Todate. Over 900 register and 450+ online. Title: Verizon vs. Vonage: Where does VoIP stand? http://www.iian.ibeam.com/events/mult001/21928/ What is the scope of the patents at issue and what was decided? Jonathan Askin, Chairman VON Coalition http://www.iian.ibeam.com/events/mult001/21928/
Posted by carl at 01:13 PM
| Comments (0)
We are having unbelievable success in reaching customers. This session for Pactolus had over 250 listeners and over 700 hundred registrations. Please join us on March 14th for a brief & informative Webinar on the latest SIP/IMS open source technologies for simplifying, creating and scaling feature-rich VoIP and other multi-media rich IP communication services. If you're with an enterprise, service provider or system integrator considering development of an IP communications service, don't miss this review of the latest open source technologies. This Webinar will compare popular development platforms based on their ease-of-use, what if any advanced protocol expertise they require, and their respective capabilities to help you ensure the performance, reliability and scalability of your service. Speaker: David Horton, Founder, President and CTO, Pactolus Communications and a developer and contributor to SIPdev.org Moderator: Carl Ford, Community Developer and VP Content, pulvermedia Please join us for this exciting and informative event!
Posted by carl at 12:29 PM
| Comments (0)
Sometimes situations can only create certain outcomes. If you drop an egg it is bound to break. When first hearing about this order in the press I was of the opinion that this was a one sided Verizon friendly decision. In truth, having talked with friends and friends of these friends on both sides, I now believe Verizon got the best possible outcome it could. Here is why I believe this. The judge in the case gave the jury Claim instructions that impacted the outcome. Talking on deep background, friends shared that the interpretation given to the jury by the judge forced a view point that prior art was not a relevant concern. The lawyers for Verizon dismissed Vonage's expert witnesses as high paid guns, while some of them were respected members of the Internet community that could teach us all about the history of Internet/PSTN gateways. In some cases Verizon's own witnesses explained that the scope of their patent was meant to be applied specifically to a narrower interpretation than was being claimed in the trial. In an internal document Vonage points out that 4 out of the 7 patents were not applicable according to the jury and willful infringement did not apply at all. Also the request for an immediate injunction was denied by the judge. On March 23rd the injunction hearing will be held. Whatever that outcome the verdict will be appealed. If I am understanding the situation correctly, Verizon should not expect better than this in the courts, and may find this a rallying point for legislative attacks. I have a friend who taught that the history of divestiture started when AT&T ignored President Nixon's wage price freeze and asked for a large tariff increase. President Nixon called the justice department which started the antitrust and the Modified Final Judgement. For AT&T, it was the first rated increase they had asked for in decades. For President Nixon, it was a disregard for his efforts on the public's behalf. If Verizon gets an injunction on Vonage for the 2.5 million Vonage subscribers, how long do you think it will take to restore their phone service (particularly given the horrors of LNP). In the end this will be about the consumer, hopefully that will be remembered.
Posted by carl at 02:48 PM
| Comments (0)
This is a sample of the Spring VON company names. Please note that 8 of the 9 top carriers are represented at VON.
Posted by carl at 01:30 AM
| Comments (0)
At the present time, Verizon has won a court decision regarding its patents around Voice over IP. In a few weeks, Verizon and Vonage will appear before a judge to decide if an injunction should be enacted to have Vonage either develop work arounds or provide compensation for the use of these patents. The patents themselves look like they could be applied to many other service providers. It is unclear that Vonage had time to manage a strong defense and fully investigate the issues of prior art. In theory, the interpretation of these patents is broad enough as to impact the cable operators who are offering triple play services and a variety of product companies including Cisco, F5 and Neustar. Speaking to potential expert witnesses, the concern about patent protection has rendered even the most vocal proponents of VoIP silent. The silence has highlighted the injunction hearing and seems to indicate that Vonage is not finding many allies. Testifying in their series of mergers, Verizon and at&t both promised to support the development of a competitive environment. The BellSouth & at&t merger specifically promised to use VoIP to compete outside of its territory. This promise maybe in jeopardy given this decision, and it maybe that they would use their cellular network as the alternative service. However, IP Multimedia Subsystems maybe subject to Verizon’s patent as well. But perhaps the lack of allies indicates the bigger problem. Going on the US Patent and Trademark Office website a variety of searches revealed the following.Looking over the delegates
Any thing Else?March 16, 2007
Radvision Visit
March 15, 2007
Verizon vs. Vonage Webinar
Amazing.
Date: March 15, 2007
Time: 1:00 EDT (14:00 GMT)
Cost: FREE
Pulvermedia is having a special webinar to discuss the recent court decision about VoIP. This discussion will provide the backdrop for the pending injunction hearing. Who stands to benefit and what happens next for the VoIP industry. The discussion that will last about 40 minutes will discuss the following topics.
What is the impact if any on other VoIP providers?
What are the implications for regulators and legislatures?
Discussants
Jim Kohlenberger, Executive Director, VON Coalition
Ed Pennington Esq -- Bingham McCutchen LLP.
Rob Bertin Esq - Bingham McCutchen LLP.
This discussion is a precursor to the meeting that will be held at Spring VON in San Jose on March 19th at the end of the Spring VON Policy Summit. And all who register for this webinar are welcome to join us at this meeting and the VON Expo as our guests. With all that's happening in the marketplace it's important to be at VON with the industry leaders to get your bearings and stay on course.
March 14, 2007
Pactolus Webinar
Title: SIP/IMS Open Source Technologies
Date: Wednesday, March 14th
Time: 11:00 AM ET (New York)
Cost: FREE
Link: http://www.iian.ibeam.com/events/mult001/21799/
David has guided Pactolus' growth and development of open, flexible, scalable and easy-to-use IP communication service development & delivery solutions. He has helped advance the adoption of IP communication services among Tier 1, 2, and 3 service providers, and was integral to the development of the recently launched SIPdev.org open systems developer wiki and community forum. He was recently named one of the "Top 100 Voices of IP Communications" by Internet Telephony Magazine.
Dave first envisioned open, modular, scalable SIP-based services architecture over a decade ago, while building complex TDM-based services at ODC and AT&T Wireless (then McCaw Cellular), and has helped ensured the success of more than 100 service providers, enterprises and systems integrators.
Carl Ford is a Community Developer, looking to enable business development and customer contact between companies. He also develops the content for pulvermedia conferences. As a pulverite he serves as an advisor to several companies in various degrees. His professional career includes 20 years at telecommunications companies such as Telcordia Technologies and Verizon. He has worked in positions including Costs, Operations, Marketing, Regulatory, and Product Management. His accomplishments include architecting and product-managing a carrier-grade billing mediation device for softswitches that was compatible for ILEC billing systems; and moderating the development of the pulver.com CDR for Internet Telephony, enabling VOIP gateways to be used with carrier billing systems.
March 13, 2007
Runaway Court Order
Over $1T USD in buying power
8x8 Carrier
Alaska Communications Systems Inc. Carrier
Alestra | AT&T Carrier
Alianza Carrier
AmeriMex Communications Corp. Carrier
Amernet Carrier
AOL ITSP
Arbinet wholesale
at&t wireless Wireless
ATT Carrier
BandTel Carrier
BBN Technologies ITSP
Bechtel Carrier
Belgacom ICS Carrier
BeVocal Inc. Carrier
BigBand Networks Carrier
Boingo Wireless Wireless
Bonus Calls Wireless
Broadvox ITSP
Broadwing Communications Carrier
BT Carrier
Buffalo Communications Carrier
Cablevision cable
CallWave Carrier
Caltelco Carrier
Cbeyond Carrier
Cengatel LLC Carrier
Charter Communications cable
Chunghwa Telecom Global Inc. Carrier
Clearwire WISP
Cogent Communications cable
Cogent Systems and Services Inc cable
Comcast cable
Concent Telecom Carrier
Connect 2 Communications Carrier
ConnectByNet Carrier
ConnectNet Solutions Carrier
Covad ITSP
Cox Communications cable
Deutsche Telekom T-Mobile Wireless
Dialek Telecom Carrier
DID World Wide wholesale
EarthLink, Inc. ITSP
EKC Telecom Carrier
EMBARQ Carrier
Eser Telekom Carrier
Global Crossing Carrier
Global Link Group LLC. Carrier
Globalive Communications Inc Carrier
GlobalTouch Telecom Carrier
Goldfield Telecom Carrier
Helio Wireless
HELLOOSFT Wireless
IDT Carrier
KDDI Corporation Carrier
KT Carrier
LANCK Telecom Carrier
Level3 Communications Carrier
LignUp ITSP
McLeodUSA Carrier
Mobidia, Inc. Carrier
NACT Carrier
Nationwide Telecom Carrier
Net2Phone Carrier
Neutral Tandem wholesale
New Global Telecom Carrier
NoNameTel itsp
NTT Communications Carrier
One Communications Carrier
Onemailbox Carrier
openpop.com, inc Carrier
Orange wireless
Orion Telecom Carrier
Packet8 Carrier
Pac-West Telecomm, Inc. Carrier
PalTalk ITSP
PBX.NET Corporation ITSP
PCCW Global Carrier
PointOne Carrier
Primal Solutions Carrier
Qwest Corp. Carrier
Rebtel Carrier
Rostelecom Carrier
Ruckus Wireless Wireless
Rural Telephone Carrier
Ruralfone, Inc. Carrier
SaskTel Carrier
SAVVIS Carrier
Skype ITSP
Skype | Joost ITSP
Speakeasy carrier
Sprint-Nextel Wireless
StarVox Communications, Inc. carrier
SunRocket Carrier
SureWest Communications Carrier
SVB Alliant Carrier
Swisscom Carrier
TalkPlus ITSP
TDS Telecom Carrier
TELEFONICA Carrier
Telekom Austria AG Carrier
TeliaSonera Carrier
Telio Carrier
Tellme Carrier
TELUS Communications Company Carrier
Time Warner Cable cable
Time Warner Telecom carrier
Total Call International, Inc. wholesale
Touch Tell Inc wholesale
Truphone wireless
US LEC Carrier
Verizon Carrier
Verizon Wireless wireless
VirtualPBX.Com, Inc. Carrier
Vivox ITSP
VoEX Carrier
Vonage Carrier
Vox Systems, LLC Carrier
VSNL International Carrier
Wayport WISP
WEB2PH COMMUNICATIONS, INC. Carrier
Webex ITSP
Windstream Communications Carrier
World Wide Connections, Inc. Carrier
WorldMinute Carrier
WorldOne Communications, LLC Carrier
Worldwide Communications Network LLC Carrier
XConnect Global Networks Carrier
XO Communications Carrier
March 12, 2007
Verizon vs. Vonage
Alcatel - Lucent, at&t, Telcordia Technologies, Qwest and Verizon probably represent over 20,000 patents, while Cisco, IBM, Microsoft and Sun Microsystems represent over 200,000 patents. The convergence of data, voice and video may ultimately put verizon on the wrong side of this argument. As the terminology between these worlds converge, it maybe that the computing industry is the ultimate winner.
For the near term, the injunction hearing is the critical path, but Verizon’s claim that it is to early to determine what will they will do will not be acceptable if the injunction forces competition out of the market. In the past, Verizon had subcontracted VoIP Service Providers to provide white label services on their behalf. I would speculate that no documentation exists assigning patent use to those companies. In licensing the technology to Vonage, a competitive catch 22 problem occurs. The price is raised to support the legacy provider, who had R&D specifically to lower prices for the public. As Verizon said in it’s press release, “"Patents encourage and protect innovations that benefit consumers, create jobs and keep the economy growing.” At the injunction hearing that should be the goal.
Posted by carl at 06:43 PM | Comments (0)
March 11, 2007
Hey David Isenberg
So my clocks are all not set for the the Daylight Savings Time, but my computer and cable box are...
Oh that's right I need to the intelligent end point.
Posted by carl at 07:51 PM | Comments (0)
March 09, 2007
Raising my Ostrich Head
I really did not want to pay attention to the Verizon vs. Vonage debate. But I kept getting asked about it by friends. As someone who has worked for both companies, I maybe unique.
As someone with friends with in both companies, I am not sure I can find a position that makes sense to me.
However, I am looking to set up a webinar for next thursday about this issue and I will let you know how it goes.
PS I am amazed as to how few people want to speak on the record.
Posted by carl at 05:47 PM | Comments (0)
March 08, 2007
Telco Billions and Billions
This is $1.3T in buying power manifested into less the ten companies. Think of this as being the Pareto principle on steriods. Get married to anyone of these companies or all of them and you are in a good position to be an industry leader.
All of them have a free pass to VON if they ask me.
At&T Inc.,
Verizon Communications Inc.,
Vodafone Group Plc,
Telefonica S.A.,
France Telecom,
Deutsche Telekom Ag,
Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Corp..
Telecom Italia S.P.A.,
Total Access Communication Pcl
Posted by carl at 10:57 AM | Comments (0)
March 07, 2007
Texas Instruments Developers Conference
I am in Dallas at the TIDC which is a very well run event (damn it :<))
The session I am moderating features Mark Spencer and a discussion about Asterisk in relation to DSPs. Given that Digium makes its money this way it should be interesting.
In the prediscussion we talked about the Video and if it is coming of age?
The general view is that 40 per port vs 2 per port made it hard to find a convergence point.
however we all had video apps we wanted.
Should be a good discussion.
Posted by carl at 10:15 AM | Comments (0)
March 06, 2007
Viva VON Mexico
"I expect a good flow of revenue from the 1,500 + leads we generated."
Michael Alvarez
Alianza Global Communication Services, Marketing Director
Posted by carl at 06:55 PM | Comments (0)
Alltel for Sale
I read the story about Alltel being in the market in the Alltel. The sale is currently projected to be $22B which I dont happen to have. But Why the usual suspects? I doubt Vonage can be the minnow that swallows a whale.
So many other choices seem to me to be better than the roll ups.
Wouldn't Qwest, Comcast or other cable companies be better choices?
What about the Yahoo! and Googles of the world? How about Sinclair?
Would an infusion from an investor be a better choice? How about Skype or MediaFlo?
Cousin Scott. call me anytime. I will be happy to help.
Posted by carl at 12:26 AM | Comments (1)
March 05, 2007
Draft Schedule
VON Japan
Introduction: Japan continues to be leader not only in the export of technology but in the adoption of new services based on these technologies. Benefiting from the advancements in communication, VON is coming to Japan to celebrate the Japanese drive for constant and never ending improvement.
VON Japan 2007 will be focused on the drivers for IP Communication today and in the future. Fixed Mobile Convergence and IP Multimedia Subsystems are being implemented, but are they complimentary or competitive? The market trend is for the smart devices to be the place where services will exist, but the deployment plans of most carriers look to enable network based new services.
VON Japan 2007 has two tracks. The First is on Business Decisions, and the second is on Technology.
Business Decisions is about more than regulation. This track focuses on the strategic implications of decisions made. Often the difference between small market trials and widespread adoption are subtle marketing strategies. On the other hand regulators can often make difficult implementations impossible. These sessions are for the product managers and senior decision makers.
Technology is a track that focuses on the current issues and trends in the industry. For planners and operators many of these panels are designed to give added insight as to what solutions are possible, what are probable and how to discern the right opportunities. Come talk to your colleagues and gain the benefit of others experience.
----
Preconference SIP Tutorial
9:00 AM - 10:15 AM Introduction to SIP
10:15 AM - 10:45 AM Break
10:45 AM - 12:00 PM SIP for VoIP
12:00 PM - 13:00 PM Lunch
Note: Alan Johnston and Henry will be available for book signings
1:00 PM - 14:15 PM Context Aware Communication Based on SIP
14:15 PM - 14:45 PM Break
14:45 PM - 16:00 PM SIP Beyond VoIP
16:00 PM - 16:30 Break
16:30 PM - 18:00 Roundtable on Peer 2 Peer SIP
-----
Main Conference Day One
9:00 AM - 9:30 AM Industry Perspectives NTT
9:30 AM - 10:00 AM Industry Perspectives Sony
10:00 AM - 10:30 AM Industry Perspectives KDD
10:30 AM - 10:45 AM Break
10:45 AM - 11:15 AM Industry Perspectives Yahoo!BB
11:15 AM - 11:45 AM Industry Perspectives NEC
11:45 AM - 12:15 PM Industry Perspectives Jo Ito
12:15 PM - 13:30 PM Lunch
13:30 PM - 14:45 PM Breakout Sessions
Track 1: Business Issues DoCoMo Lessons
NTT is the most successful company at rolling out new services and making money at it. For years the industry has claimed that NTT’s experience was unique, but now the IP Multimedia Subsystems seem to offer the opportunity for all carriers to replicate NTT’s success. Is the walled garden of services a reality, or will third parties be the ultimate benefactors of fixed mobile convergence.
Track 2: Technology: Dual Mode Reality
Where do we stand on the implementation of dual mode phones. Do we have solutions that are completed and deployed? Are they being driven by carriers, enterprises or the vendor community? Are new standards needed to make the solutions viable for general use or should we assume that islands of services are available.
14:45 PM - 15:15 PM Break
15:15 PM - 16:30 PM Breakout Sessions
Track 1: Business Issues: Standards Update
The good news about standards is that we have so many of them. What is the implication of the competing of the different standards bodies dominating specific sections of FMC? Is the Generic Access Network a myth and not a reality? Can the standards be complete when ETSI, IEEE, IETF, and ITU all contribute parts to the puzzle?. While the world talks about convergence are the networks going to diverge because of the dominant standards? Most importantly can we be assured that services can be ubiquitous over any platform?
Track 2: Technology: IMS: Fertile Ground for Killer Apps
IP Multimedia Subsystems are not just about Wireless technology, they promise a new age of service delivery for fixed mobile convergence. Pundits have said that carriers need to offer twelve new services a month. How can new services go from development to delivery in such a short time? What will be the criteria for continuing the innovation and how will it be experienced in multiple environments? Will Wireless continue to outshine in innovation, or will rich media benefit the wireline world?
16:30 - 17:00 Roundtable: The Cathedral vs. the Bazaar
Is the Internet an open network riding on what used to be the Telephone network, or has is the Internet a series of networks that will limit the technology and services available to the end user. In the IETF the Peer to Peer working group is looking to again support an open Internet. The Internet is no longer an open network for many applications and locations. This discussion will bring together members of the Internet Engineering Task Force and other standards bodies to discuss the current state of the Internet’s adoption.
----
Main Conference Day Two
9:00 AM - 10:15 AM Breakout Sessions
Track 1: Business Issues: Regulatory Convergence
It’s hard to know what the implication is of FMC when it comes to the guidelines associated with new service offerings. Does the use of Dual Mode devices have a demarcation in regulation at the start of a user’s network? Will the rules for wireless and wireline have to be normalized or face implementations based on regulated rate anomalies rather than technological costs?
Track 2: Technology: WiFi & WiMax
Voice over WiFi has impacted different implementations in the marketplace for both service providers and enterprises. And WiMax will may have the same adoption path, depending on licensing rules. This panel looks at the implications for both vertical markets and for general service offerings. Is WiMax an alternative to 3GPP or complementary to solutions being deployed for IMS? What will distinguish solutions in the future?
10:15 AM - 10:45 AM Break
10:45 AM - 12:00 PM Breakout Sessions
Track 1: Business Decisions: Triple or Quadruple?
Triple Plays are normally a count of the outs, so is the “Quadruple” excessive. With so many people giving up their landlines to just have mobile phones, what makes the triple play appealling? Are the services being offered by Yahoo!BB being adopted because of the pricing bundles or are the features and functions more compelling? Are we about to see a next generation of technology for mobile TV services?
Track 2: Technology: Voice in the Enterprise
iPBXs and Hosted Voice services are competing for the enterprises customer. Japan is the home of many of the most innovative ipbx manufacturers. Should we expect the edge to be totally owned by the equipment manufacturers, or does the Internet make distribution easier for hosting, and managing services. What FMC integration is being offered to the Enterprise?
12:00 AM - 13:00 PM Lunch
13:00 PM - 14:15 PM Breakout Sessions
Track 1: Business Decisions: GPS and Privacy can the Balance be Found?
When is information a convenience and when is it a violation of the consumer’s rights? Is this a regulatory issue or a market driven guideline? Will the consumer be aware of the rules associated with their personal information? The combination of presence and positioning can deliver some very powerful solutions, but will it require the consumers to all agree to the same level of privacy to work?
Track 2: Technology: Unified Communications a Personal Responsibility
Are Unified Communication solutions about finding a common denominator, or enabling end points to be safe? What is the impact of video when people collaborate. Are meetings more effective because they are multimedia? This panel looks at Unified Communication and collaborative services and how they are being adopted.
14:15 PM - 14:45 PM Break
14:45 PM - 16:00 PM Breakout Sessions
Track 1 Business Decisions: Disruptive Broadcasting
With over half the Internet being used to support Video peer to peer traffic, obvious questions about how the future of broadcasting come to mind. Are we going to see the age of specific video devices for specific events? Are we entering a new era of personal preferences? How will commercial based business models survive in a world with fast forwarding?
Track 2: Technology: Where to Implement New Services?
With the smart devices, SIP, XML, IMS, how developers will deliver services remains mysterious. Smart devices themselves often have specific interfaces making a common denominator impossible. In theory, SIP and XML should be able to mask these differences all too often they are implemented in a way that thwarts their ubiquity. IMS implies that middleware and long quality assurance testing maybe required. This panel will explore where we are today and what the possibilities are for new ubiquitous services in the future.
Posted by carl at 06:27 AM | Comments (0)
March 02, 2007
Private Conversations TelMex and IMS
Had lunch at VON Mexico with a few of the engineers attending our SIP tutorial. They were not particularly ready to implement SIP, but they are less ready to implement IMS.
The discussion was centered around the lack of real gains in services being demonstrated by their IMS vendors. It is also obvious that they prefer to keep with the big companies. I went through a discussion about the usual suspects and it was clear the preference was for Nokia-Siemens, Alcatel-Lucent and not for upstarts like Sonim and Mavenir.
I found this a little ironic since both of the smaller companies have been partnered with Ericsson.
Back in the days when TelMex was a government company many of the execs spoke fluent Swedish thanks to the Ericsson connection.
I did not get the impression that Ericsson or Nortel were on the current radar screen.
We also talked about the number of IMS systems probably deployed in a company that can bundle quadruple play services. I got the impression that they want to see one working and Telmex has that charge.
In many companies the number of IMS platforms seems to be based on the LOB looking to sell new services.
Posted by carl at 06:41 AM | Comments (0)
March 01, 2007
What would you do with a great hispanic app?
Had breakfast with a friend who feels that its time to sell his company. He has customers and he has assets and I always think that its good to stay and milk the cow as long as possible. But that's my bell head :).
The question is who would you sell a service company to?
Telmex is not particularly oriented into looking for new apps. Telefonica is more focused on getting O2 right in Europe than Latin America.
So that puts you up with us gringos in the US. If you can adapt the app for wireless, MetroPCS and Sprint are probably the best to chase.
att is so well connected to Telmex, they could probably swap pointcodes on a switch.
Verizon wireline maybe, but Verizon Wireless is more interested in Vcast.
So that starts you thinking about the cables. Comcast, Cablevision and Cox are the easiest to think about. All have strong latino markets. But are they ready to move beyond competing for local service?
Or do you have to package the application so that it looks like an excellator of Latino adoption?
Not sure I know the right answer, but I am looking for people who can help.
Posted by carl at 06:52 AM | Comments (0)