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December 31, 2007
My Business New Years Resolutions
Besides Losing Wait
Stop Playing the Lottery
Give Up Diet Soda
Spend more time at home
My Business New Year's Resolutions are 3 fold
1) Continue to make VON and pulvermedia the home of Internet Communication regardless of how its used aka Wireline, Wireless, Video, etc.
- Track the FMC including the 700 MHz auction
- Highlight the divide between UC vendors and Enterprise Requirements
- Inform about LTE vs. WiMax as an evolutionary strategy
- Showcase customer experiences that will drive adoption
- Deliver value to network operators be they Business or Carrier
2) Work to add value to networks
- Advocate for the Internet as the defacto location for End Users
- Support the forums to establish a baseline of Interoperability
- Work to improve the definition the Generic User Profile
- Advocate for a Network API that increases the value of federation
- Enhance the value of our own community network
3) Improve my ability as a Community Developer
Posted by carl at 09:12 AM | Comments (0)
December 27, 2007
Looking for Volunteers to Track the Bid
I am thinking a mob blog on the 700 MHz auction would be good.
Let me know if you want to participate... I need people to track the major players but also the transition, the muni use etc.
Its going to be a great '08
Posted by carl at 12:33 PM | Comments (1)
December 26, 2007
The Year of User Interfaces
I love Jeff, but I often disagree with him. And Facebook is one of those places. As he sings its praises, I look for the meta message. Besides Facebook, we have Ebay/Skype looming on the edge of innovation, Google’s Android and perhaps the best marketed - Apple with their continuing array of devices.
What is this all about? Web 2.0? I don’t think so. Talking to the widget wonks is like only watching the boys half of the beauty and the geek series.
However, if you only spend time on the app side, you will only be looking at the pretty face and not the underlying genius that makes it valuable.
And the value is in the understanding of how people use things. And trust me this deserves a museum of its own. The ability to make something visual appealing while you use it is art and science blended together. The Sidekick’s flip of the screen above the keyboard. The iPhone’s web browser going from horizontal to vertical based on position. These are subtle design strategies that needed advocates.
Everyone one of these companies have design decisions looming that will either make them “kewl” or will cool the market hype. Lets talk about what looms for them all.
Apple - has the “kewl” factor and good will in spades right now. But it’s got pressure to open up and let others play in its carefully controlled experience. And frankly not many of us are Apple like in our design skills. So they have the most to lose.
Ebay/Skype - probably has the best situation. After the battering its been taking from so many sides small wins will have great celebration. Their big headache is keeping the power of their presence engine and heavy stack working on wireless devices that are not particularly friendly. Additionally, a reworking of the strategic thinking they started almost 3 years ago is in order now that Apple and Google have changed the game at the edge.
Google, probably has the hardest navigating to do. Being the search mavens are expected to make the world safe for an open environment. Its hard to imagine making it easy to navigate an environment where every app wants to be listed first. My expectation is that the Google phone when delivered will be more screen than phone. And these days that may not be a bad thing.
As for Facebook first my warning... As Dr. Frank-N-furter said to Janet in Rocky Horror Picture Show “ I did not make him for you ”. So here is my view of the issues for facebook. Navigation. Not only the Navigation of all the people adding to the mix with apps and asynchronous broadcast messages Navigating good will into real value. My friend who loves the fact that 75,000 subscribers have joined his service needs to see that volume translate into real value.
It’s going to be a fun year for spectators like me.
Posted by carl at 04:39 PM | Comments (0)
December 25, 2007
Shameless plugging of the NING thing.
In a previous post, I shared my thoughts on what a date with Facebook would be like. (see http://carlscorner.pulver.com/archives/2007/10/the_newsletter.html )
So after dinner with Facebook, I decide we would just be friends. However, Facebook looked at the check and wrote some notes about me in a book. I don’t know if the information will be shared, but I decided to never invite Facebook into my house.
My understanding is other people who took facebook out have complained enough that Facebook no longer does this, but G-d only knows what other tactless acts are possbile.
Here is my commitment to you if you join me at pulvermediacommunity.net. Pulvermedia will use it for only industry specific self promotion. The benefit to you is that you will not be bothered by a lot of periphereal stuff, but will a good place to keep in touch and see the latest presentations.
Posted by carl at 05:59 PM | Comments (1)
December 24, 2007
A Present with Presence...
If you are looking for something under the tree here are some gift ideas - literally. On the other hand if you want to give me a gift, if you use this idea, that’s fine too.
Nothing is more enabling then presence. You can change the way a call is managed (bypassing the old find me follow me models), support asynchronous communication (which has Jeff is pointed out is driving most of the communication these days), and provide a level of context that adds value before you even talk.
Presence and the IVR. If you can insert the status message into the ringback tone of a phone call that adds value. “Hi, I’ve been idle for a while, but lets see if I am here,” Or “Hi it’s [insert name here], my status says
- am “away”
- am “busy”
- will “be right back”
Combine this with a call screening ability using an auto answer speaker phone, and now you can have the further choice of people looking to see if you are there.
I am sure many of you don’t believe me, but storage is optional. Having watched enough people blow out their voice mail box with barely listening to the messages, I know that leaving details are overrated. On the other hand storing calling party ID is a plus.
And another gift, make a configuration so any dialing plans like dialing 9 to get out, country code (including perhaps the swapping of + for 011 depending on device), or inserting a 1 can be done automatically for ring back.
All of these make IP better than POTS, but at the same time could be implemented to support POTS with IP. So enjoy the gift and implement it any way you want. Send me a note and I will tell you where to send the check. Or better yet.... give me the service for free.
Posted by carl at 01:41 PM | Comments (0)
December 23, 2007
A Bell System Joke
This Page Intentionally Left Blank
Posted by carl at 10:37 AM | Comments (0)
December 22, 2007
FunWall is Anything but
It's Saturday, and I do not want to talk shop, but I do want to engage you. As a person who reads my blog it occurs to me that I have a responsibility to be on topic. I hope I succeed and thank you for taking the time to read.
Here is my promise. I will not litter on this blog or on your funwall.
As a matter of fact, I would like to kill funwall from my profile on facebook.
Why, Because I am getting fed up with the spray can mentality that says oh here is a blank wall lets throw some crap on it.
If you are a fun wall poster? What criteria are you using to send stuff?
Posted by carl at 06:39 AM | Comments (0)
December 21, 2007
Watching the Future in your Hands
Anand Chandrasekher, Sr Vice President & GM, Ultra Mobility Group, Intel Corporation speaks at 9 AM on March 18 at Spring VON
The truth is we are on the verge of a new era of communication. For the moment ignore the social network, unified communication and wireless mobility infrastructure discussion. Let us just talk about the future that will be in your hands. The iPhone has shown us that the Internet with a full browser is the best story to tell the consumer.
Some of our industry leaders get this. Currently we have Intel and Nokia being challenged by Apple and soon Google. All of these companies are trying to bring the Internet to the end user with the minimal modification. The question is what size is right for your mobility in the future?
It might be the size of the book you take notes is an indication, but the battle field seems to be clearly marked by a DMZ Debated Maximum siZe. Apple has played the small side with the iPhone and the large size with the powerbooks. Look for them to push to the middle with a powerbook with a nine inch screen.
Nokia on the other hand has a nice small device. I love called the N95 and the N800/810 series. And Intel wowed us at Fall VON with a bunch of prototypes from their partners that were in the four to nine inch range.
Quanta Smartphone
We are definitely on the brink of a revolution in IP Communications and you are going to choose the future but first you will hear it at Spring VON.
Background
http://www.nseries.com/index.html#l=products,n95_us,demo
http://www.apple.com/iphone/
http://event.asus.com/eeepc/microsites/en/index.htm
http://www.vontv.net/default.cfm?vid=9081&clip=2
Posted by carl at 02:06 AM | Comments (0)
December 20, 2007
Electronic Discovery Obligations and Unified Communications
I hate to break it to us VoIP fans, but the story associated with Microsoft’s OCS is not about rich media it’s the continuing revolution of txt. For all of us with history with a technology called videotexting please forgive me for what I am about to say.
But up and down wall street right now the text of Instant messaging is the driver for implementations. Now here is a two edge sword. Cheaper faster conversations that unfortunately are discoverable at the edge and not necessarily at the core. Companies like Akonix, Facetime and Symantec are appropriate support for the IT team looking to deploy. But an important thing to remember is that its more than Sarbanes Oxley. Please see the slides on http://www.pulvermediacommunity.net by Melissa Klipp of Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP.
( See http://pulcom.ning.com/forum/topic/show?id=897424%3ATopic%3A8847 )
Posted by carl at 10:00 AM | Comments (0)
December 19, 2007
iXMAS leaves me somewhat concerned.
I do not normally tell about my personal life, but I have an estranged daughter. So sending her a christmas present is complicated. In the past I have sent her gift cards, but feel that the monies are not very clearly defined for a specific goal. Given that she is estranged I do not get any information. On the other hand the right gift gets a thank you phone call that keeps me smiling for a while. It’s not bribery its prayer.
Another key aspect is my exwife tightly controls my daughters viewing. So what is the right gift TiVo or an iPod. I thought about iTV but I can’t image that getting installed. I thought TiVo was the right choice because the set top is already controlled by the ex. The iPod on the other hand (a Nano) is closer to the IPTV. However, I know that my ex is music friendly and tolerant. So if the Nano does not get used for Video its no big deal.
Of course we could make a case that I am already yesterday’s news. A Wii, an iTouch or something else would be a better choice. Anyone want to chime in?
Posted by carl at 10:00 AM | Comments (2)
December 18, 2007
Dan Hesse is now the CEO of Sprint
Congrats to Dan Hesse, now CEO of Sprint. Dan led off Fall VON showing how Embarq was doing the quadruple play. To me the significant point was the landline company that was divested was still looking like a fully integrated service.
Per the Wall Street Journal “Mr. Hesse, who has served as CEO of Embarq Corp., a local phone company that spun out of Sprint last year, is a telecom veteran who is well known to Sprint's board and has strong wireless experience.”
The WSJ continues “Now it will fall to Mr. Hesse to finally wring synergies out of the 2005 merger of Sprint and Nextel – a deal that has proved a huge disappointment thus far – and lift the company out of the industry's doldrums.”
At Spring VON Ali Tabassi will be speaking regarding the WiMax roll out. While the WSJ in previous reports declared the WiMax business dead but the truth is Sprint sees it as a strategic asset they are still looking to deploy.
Hesse, may be charged with finding the monies buy consolidating the less than perfect merger of Sprint Nextel into a cohesive company.
Dan Hesse
http://www.vontv.net/default.cfm?vid=9083&clip=2
http://pulcom.ning.com/group/fallvonIPS/forum/topic/show?id=897424%3ATopic%3A4145
Ali Tabassi
http://www.tvworldwide.com/showclip.cfm?id=9173&clip=2
http://pulcom.ning.com/group/fallvonIPS/forum/topic/show?id=897424%3ATopic%3A4169
Posted by carl at 02:55 PM | Comments (0)
December 17, 2007
You have to Fight for your Right to be Auto Discovered.
One of the pleasures of working at pulvermedia for the last ten years is the ability to make contacts with a variety of people. The variety includes the brillantly technical and the solidly sales oriented people. So, when I suggested that I could blend these worlds on the issue of DIAMETER configuration, I got a yawn from both sides.
But I feel I am right to want to focus on this and I want to tell you why.
If you buy a POTS phone, it is generic and you plug it into any carriers service. Event the VoBB players support your use of POTS phones with Analog Telephone Adapters [ATA]. But if you want to buy a VoIP phone. You rapidly discover you have entered a no mans land of configuration woes. I think this hurts us. And I can think of a few strategies that would change this, but at a base level I think we need the ability to have a dialogue between the End Users SIP phone and some registry capability in the network.
My carrier friends are not in total agreement with this. Some of my cable buddies like the truck roll to splice out the ILECs network connection. It gives them a feeling of security. Other folks recognize the pricing power of an ATA vs a SIP phone.
But to me, this is a cause celib. If I want to chose my phone, I want to any old RJ41 to work like any old RJ11 does. Its that simple. I am starting us off with DIAMETER for fear that to much legacy exists to reach any consensus on other strategies.
So if you are into configuration management I am interested in talking with you and having you join this discussion.
Posted by carl at 08:02 AM | Comments (0)