Carl's Corner

February 19, 2008

- Danger Danger Steve Balmer

Normally I quote the robot from Lost in Space when I see bad things coming. In this case, I am seeing something formindable in a positive sense. I am becoming a Balmer fan big time. We will ignore my MSFT stock is getting depressed as Wall Street and Silicon Valley continue to dicker over the value of a faded flower. As Blue Bulbs go, Yahoo is quite beautiful and I will probably be a user of their’s regardless of what they do to next.

But in these days of economic slow downs, I am not looking for 11th hour heroics. Mr. Ballmer is driving towards goals that make sense to me and the acquistion of Danger, the developers of my Sidekick is another great move.

In the end Navigating software is the key to success for any product in the future. And my full expectation is that we are going to see a revolution in our hands over the next three years. I have no idea if Danger has some patents on flexible screens (hmmmn, where is Radius’s Pivot screen these days), but I would be looking at their IPR.

What do I like about my sidekick? The trackball, the IM connectivity, browsing. Imho, Its better than the iPhone for IM. Its also more rugged. So its needs to be energized to get the wow effect again. But Microsoft should be able to do that in the near future.

Posted by carl at 11:26 AM | Comments (0)

January 26, 2008

Never on a Sunday emails

At pulvermedia we don't normally send out emails on the weekend.

Yet strangely enough it appears to me, the most likely time for execs to email each other.

Interesting

Posted by carl at 06:10 PM | Comments (0)

January 10, 2008

The Disconnect of Connectivity

Yesterday, I sent a note to the community that is a summary of this blog. I had about 1500 out of office replies.

For some work I am doing outside of pulver, I have been looking at how many of us have cell phones that are not authorized by our corporation.

But in watching the out of office replies, I think it is safe to say that some of us are subsidizing our employers with the use of our cell phone on our Out of Office notice.

Now the reason I think this is interesting is because the cooler phone selection is becoming a personal decision, not a corporate one.

So where do these worlds collide?

I would love to hear your thoughts.

Posted by carl at 07:24 AM | 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)

October 05, 2007

Thought for the Day

Equality is never about balance
Its about change and adoption.

Posted by carl at 10:36 AM | Comments (0)

October 04, 2007

Nice Write UP from a Friend on Wireless

Posted by carl at 07:25 AM | Comments (0)

October 02, 2007

Facebook Falling Star

Okay here is an interesting feature dysfunction.

I am playing a scrabble-like game with a friend and while I can get to the game from her facebook profile, my account does not work. Obviously, its a feature ;<)

Just one more of the mounting frays in the facebook tapestry.

Some of my coworkers are complaining about the annoyance of Facebook sending email. Double the work for often marginal messages.

Bad apps and sad signalling.

I think we can do better.

Posted by carl at 10:25 PM | Comments (0)

June 16, 2007

Wireless Internet

Interesting stuff watch Amol Sarva, Wireless Founders Coalition for Innovation at the senate committee.

Looking for support

Looks worthwhile to follow the company Textable

For more about Amol Sarva please look at here

Posted by carl at 07:40 PM | Comments (0)

April 16, 2007

Future IETF Meeting Schedule

Clash List
http://www.ietf.org/meetings/clash_list.html

Spring 2008 - 71st IETF
March 9-14, 2008
Host: Comcast
Location: Philadelphia, PA, USA

Summer 2008 - 72nd IETF
July 27 - August 1, 2008
Host: TBD
Location: Asia (Provisional)

Fall 2008 - 73rd IETF
November 16-21, 2008
Host: TBD
Location: Minneapolis, MN, USA

Spring 2009 - 74th IETF
March 22-27, 2009
Host: TBD
Location: Europe (Provisional)

Summer 2009 - 75th IETF
July 26-31, 2009
Host: TBD
Location: Asia (Provisional)

Fall 2009 - 76th IETF
November 8-13, 2009
Host: TBD
Location: North America (Provisional)

Spring 2010 - 77th IETF
March 21-26, 2010
Host: TBD
Location: North America (Provisional)

Summer 2010 - 78th IETF
July 25-30, 2010
Host: TBD
Location: Europe (Provisional)

Fall 2010 - 79th IETF
November 7-12, 2010
Host: TBD
Location: North America (Provisional)

Posted by carl at 06:36 PM | Comments (0)

April 03, 2007

Retroactive Blog Posting

Does it have adverse impact on people's RSS feeds?

Let me know.

carl.ford@pulvermedia.com

Posted by carl at 06:25 AM | Comments (0)

Retroactive Blog Posting

Does it have adverse impact on people's RSS feeds?

Let me know.

carl.ford@pulvermedia.com

Posted by carl at 06:25 AM | 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 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)

February 02, 2007

Early Media: Ringtones, Dialtones, etc.

I was reading some of the SIP Forums discussion of the use of Early media.

The question is how often will it be used and how will it be used.

In my opinion the real story will be in Speech Recognition. We should be thinking about ways make speak to talk the preferred method of communication.

That would give us a number of new services includng variations on security, asynchronous voice mail and other clever introductory services.

I would love to hear of other ideas.

If you are a developer I recommend joining the discussions.

Posted by carl at 03:39 PM | Comments (0)

September 19, 2006

In Response to the comment VoIP is Dead

Another thing to remember is that VoIP is now at the edge. Broadband gives us pipes. So what do we do with these pipes. SMS is still active in the world and it uses a fraction of voice's bandwidth requirements. Likewise voice can be a fraction of the broadband pipe.

The point Jeff has come away with is that VoIP is not the only beneficiary of the pipe and like VoIP the power has left the hands of the status quo and now is in the hand of the interested consumer or would - be new business.

VON on the Voice side had lots of interesting stories and maintained its own buzz, but in the general public's world, "a picture is worth a thousand words". So its no surprise that VoIP was not the star for most people.

I do not feel left behind, in fact I feel that the VoIP community is more focused than ever. We took over landline, we are taking over wireless. VoIP is moving.

Posted by carl at 10:24 AM | Comments (0)

June 02, 2006

Feature Interaction

A few years ago we had a great deal of controversy in the pulver report when we were discussing the threat of feature interaction when managing call control. A noted IETF friend was of the opinion, that the world wide web model was an accurate portrayal of the future. That call control would find its way to the appropriate application server (by proxy ;<) ) . From there features and functions would be available.

In the interview with Aswath Rao http://pulvervblog.pulver.com/ , we discussed the misleading statements that VoIP and IMS had changed the rules and may it so that anyone can control the call. When looking at the world wide web. The web servers are incredibly good at getting the information processed locally, importing external resources and pushing to the end point features that are desired. So the question is, “Can call control work on the same model as the web?”

I am sure that many are saying yes, right now but look at some basic issues. Call Transfer has been a problem for SIP, and a sticking point for Skype’s API. For all the talk about new features, all too often truth is the phone gets the sizzle from bells and whistles and less from actually call processing. Don’t believe me? Consider Phone “Pimping” Ringtones! I rest my case.

Long ago I suggested that Intelligent Networks had some nice breakpoints for feature interactions to be managed effectively. It was a starting point that they call (0.0) which also was the market acceptance of the idea. It would be nice if the circuit world and the internet world could meet at these points and do some features that truly take us by surprise. Like forking “find me - follow me” features. Or making call transfer a network catch and release feature. Best yet Disaster Recovery features that enabled redirection in case of an emergency.

Like Instant Messaging, we maybe heading for a Skype network, and a world of SIP networks that maintain their island status. If someone told me ten years ago, we would be still using the PSTN for interoperability in 2006 I would have laughed in their face. Yet Peer is not a term I would associate yet with interoperability, only self discovery within a given network. We may be heading to the equivalent of an Internet full of closed networks. The traffic indicates this is our future. It will be sad to say that I remember when I could reach anyone, anywhere on the PSTN and did not have to belong to their network to find them in a directory and call them.

I expect some flames and would love to hear from everyone. But don’t expect a quick response. I will be available for a group lunch at Fall VON on Wednesday to listen to the community.

Posted by carl at 07:58 AM | Comments (0)

April 12, 2006

the age of VON? Not so fast

As we get near to the IPO of Vonage, a question that needs to be asked is what is the competitive concerns of having a service that forces the ILEC or Cable company to just be an ISP.

I believe that the Internet inherently wins, so that makes Vonage a good choice. However, the customers are reluctant to see phone service as anything other than what already exists. This makes the issue not net neutrality but communication bias.

So ask your friends who are not phone folks if they use VoIP? The answer probably is "No". So when the answer starts to become "Yes" Vonage will have to morph like every other "Phone" company. Unlike most however the first question wont be, what do i do with this network?

Posted by carl at 10:57 PM | Comments (0)

Revestiture the Walmart of our times

When at&t bought BellSouth it had completed the cycle. Not a single Divestiture entity had not been changed. When divestiture occurred we were in a million. We thought we were the Walmart of our times.

Now the combined assets represent have about 1/2 the number of employees they did at divestiture, but probably have represented new market opportunities for so many more people as a result of divestiture. Fundamentally, the world is much more interesting with the market being competitive. I have been told that AT&T had become so bloated before divestiture that in truth it was a something they should have been seeking.

So I am willing to go along with the fact that the world was better off with forcing the Bells to breakup. So why is today any different than all the rest? Why should the revestiture of the parent and child be welcome?

I can think of a couple of good reasons.

1) The arbitrary distinction between local and long distance was an anomaly that had to die. Since Divestiture the cost of long distance delivery has made the profit margin disappear. So IXCs had to die.

2) The country has shrunk in its social distinctions. State oriented divisions are no longer appropriate. When I first came to work for the Bell System, I was a New Jersey Bell employee. My logo and work were totally oriented to the state. Divestiture gave me a regional leader that turned me into Bell Atlantic of New Jersey. These days I think the company only has state titles in the title of employees.

So the disruption of divestiture allowed the break up to rejoin the companies in new ways. The ads I see in California are the same ones I see in New York and Florida. The marketing is more price driven. So perhaps now the companies are more Walmart like then they were predivestiture.

IMHO the goal of choice was not obtained if we expected to see something new. Only if we wanted something cheaper.

Next time - the age of VON? Not so fast.

Posted by carl at 09:36 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack