Carl's Corner: The Opinions Expressed here Archives

February 26, 2008

Interoperability – May I have it wrong.

I am down here at VON Mexico today, but before I left for the airport the wife had the honey – do lists. On that list was the migration of a printer to the basement for later use for the college bound daughter.

So what does this have to do with interoperability?

Well the reason the daughter gets this new printer is because my wife still has cartridges for the old printer. In other words the lack of inter operable ink cartridges.

Now thanks to drivers almost all computers can talk to almost all printers. Shouldn’t that be enough?

This can be juxtaposed to the problems we have in SIP Standardization, where nearly everyone wants to make nearly everything standard that touches SIP.

So I ask the question…
Should a phone be like a printer’s ink cartridge? Or the printer?

I have been advocating for the use of DIAMETER to be the equivalent of a driver for configuration of almost any phone to almost any service.
If you want to help me make my phone like a printer, I need to hear from you.

Because right now most of my friends are making money developing ink cartridge software. Where is the software? Configuration tools, middleware and signaling tools are where you see this.

And of course CODECs. As we watch video over the Internet the diversity of the codec’s used to broadcast increases. As we make voice calls with a variety of VoIP clients the dream gets more remote.

I will make room in the basement.

Posted by carl at 08:17 AM | Comments (1)

February 05, 2008

YahWho??? Wall Street versus Silicon Valley

I am full of stories I try to use to extend analogies. Like the woman, in a town near me who was a whistleblower about Radon problems in her home town. After years of seeking out the press and claiming that the problem was pervasive in her community. She then complained when she sold her house that the price was depressed.

Silicon Valley is full of people that have stated that the Microsoft’s offer for Yahoo is problematic. Wall Street is listening and its not just depressing Microsoft’s stock price but Google’s as well.

If you look at OpenAds you can see that Silicon Valley knows how to eat its own young. Which is an adage that Intel’s Andy Grove lived by. I have a hard time believing that after all the acquistions made in the Valley, this is the albatros of the industry? Look at Cisco, HP, and Oracle. Now explain to me why this deal is more troublesome then any these folks have made.

Having watched Microsoft redesign themselves twice, (once for Office apps and once for the Internet) I don’t see why the industry believes it can’t swallow Yahoo!. For me, this deal works. And I think the more the nay sayers argue the less value YHOO can claim. And if this deal disappears entirely the price is going to be far less than 18.

Posted by carl at 04:27 PM | Comments (0)

January 30, 2008

- Yikes! Or Yahoo!

Note to all Readers: I am not an insider and no one of substance to my knowledge is listening to me.

For my unregular readers, I want to remind you that I am not a Google evangelist. And since the days of Brad Park managing to break the IM monopoly I have been a Yahoo! fan. So the Yahoo! earnings and layoff announcements does not make me happy.

So if I were Jerry Yang, here are the questions I would be thinking.

1) I am shucking everything with no growth, but are any of these something I should be sending to VC friends to help in my battle with Google. Afterall, the Internet’s major contribution is the death by a thousand cuts model. And anything that helps attack Google is a benefit to me at this point. Outsourcing competition is a good strategy.

2) Can I make my local market strategy with newspapers more valuable. They are my channel, but their websites are not as strong with Yahoo as they can be. Can the Job Listings, turn into a local advertising. Is it possible to make a Adwords /AdSense service that supports growth. Is there a Soccer Mom social network to be had in that channel?

3) If there is nothing there, should I run an Oracle strategy and acquire my growth. Yahoo’s market cap is strong enough that I could acquire some smokestacks that will make my content more valuable. Companies like McGraw Hill, Idearc, RR Donnelly are targets that would get a lot of respect from those of us who are not NetHeads.

4) My old friends at Softbank and their Ali Baba solution. Should I be working to create a US channel strategy for them. Microsoft and I have been talking for ages. Is their something there that makes a major shift in my strategy.

Finally, Wall Street is to distracted by larger factors, so a slow and steady strategy will be respected.

Posted by carl at 08:49 AM | Comments (0)

January 24, 2008

“DoublePlusUnGood” Guidance

Watching the stock market these days is a lot like being on a roller coaster, with a blindfold, and the distant sound of thumps. I chose the lingo of George Orwell’s 1984 to express the frustration with the “doublespeak” I feel happens when watching and reading about the market.

The funny thing is that I often see the same companies on the positive and negative side of the stock equation. Given the fact that the stock market is efficient. I can only believe one thing. They know something I don’t know. The market is probably reacting in the context of previous buying or selling decisions. I do not have the ability to pay attention that way. So I am not going to be a day trader anytime soon.

Still, I am thinking of turning my attention to stocks and writing about the industry. Particularly the VoIP industry has taken some hits. And my own take is that anyone that has survived at this point is fair game for a comeback.

One place where I am thinking of putting a small amount of money is Counterpath [COPA.OB]. This has also been an interesting company. On the one side, most of us have heard of them (perhaps as X.10 perhaps as NewHeights) and they have had a steady stream of our industry leaders working for them. But the company has not always been stable and there have been some interesting management / investor issues from time to time.

But Sir Terry and Owen are now at the helm. And I think its worth taking a look at. Given its history this is probably not a short term play and its not a sure thing. Danielle and Henry are polishing off their work on Adobe’s Pacifica project which may make softclients universal in your browser and wireless is going to make softclients less relevant in theory.

At .40 cents a share COPA.OB looks like a small risk in a strange environment. So how risk adverse are you given the fact we see titanic shifts at the top.

Posted by carl at 10:22 AM | Comments (1)

January 19, 2008

Capitalism protects Civil Liberties

I love irony. I don’t know if you have been watching the discussion in the news about the phone companies and the use of wiretaps. Many telco’s after 9/11 starting doing wiretaps for the government without the proper court documentation. Well now, they are cutting them off, because the government hasn’t been paying their bills for the service.

Posted by carl at 08:40 AM | Comments (0)

January 17, 2008

- SOA What’s new at the end of the day

Okay, this is going to take better minds than mine for the next year to get straight. My general rule for companies in merger acquistion mode is leave them alone for a year and then see where they stand. For Oracle, I have yet to find a timeline that works for the digestive process of companies. HotSip, TimesTen, PeopleSoft, Siebel, Telephony@work, Metasolv, etc - and now BEA. With Cisco, you always assumed IOS would eat the acquisiton and keep the developers. But with Oracle...nothing looks like a feature addition in Oracle DB. Its like the digestion of these companies is constipated. In theory, they should be the DB that does telecom best. In reality, I don’t see it.

Likewise, I am trying to get my thoughts gathered about MySQL being part of SUN. Is SUN going to better integrate JAVA into MySQL? Is Java going to compete for the P part of the acronym LAMP? Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP (LAMP) has beed driving a lot of the web 2.0 market for over a decade... Probably SUN digests MySQL better than Oracle does BEA, but that’s only the symptom not the trend.

The trend is that the stars are aligning for better integration of Web 2.0 services. Its time for the Service Oriented Architecture to be put to the test and for me personally, I am skeptical.

Here is why.

At 60,000 feet the web 2.0 guys are exciting as hell to watch and they can attract lots of people to play with their stuff. But nothing in the acquistion of trial users is as valuable as a usage statistic that shows real activity day after day. A discussion I was part of yesterday pointed out that 30% of the a specifically email strong companies customer’s had moved to Facebook because SPAM made email no longer valuable. In someways, I will make the case that many of the APPS on facebook are little more than mashup spam.

So what makes Web 2.0 valuable is the ability to control (and I mean regress) the trials to something more mobile. Network operators are looking for the API holy grail and Oracle and SUN are looking to be at the heart of giving it to them. This is where the story is in Telecom and the Internet today and VoIP is another set of initials that belong in the LAMP / SOA mix of tools.

Posted by carl at 05:52 AM | Comments (0)

January 09, 2008

A Little Fun at the 700 MHz expense

Office chatter,

User "I just realized why my cable companies recorder gets filled up. I am recording the HD stations"

Vidiot "So when its all HD in 400 days will you have enough storage?"

User "No, of course not"

Abuser "I guess you will just have to buy more storage"

Vidiot "Why do you have to pay for more anything?"

All "That's progress"

Posted by carl at 12:04 PM | Comments (0)

January 08, 2008

FMC is not a Carrier Play!

Internal to pulvermedia, I have had to contend with some friends who have their ears to the community like I do. They believe that Fixed Mobile Convergence is a discussion to have with carriers based on their contacts with various vendors.

I strongly disagree. Right now we are seeing the convergence occur at the management level. I have already talked about Verizon’s integration of their two lines of business, but at att (I like that visual text) the want to “own Orange”. By owning “Orange” they are not talking about France Telecom and its affiliates, they are talking about having the customers of Cingular (whose logo was orange) to see themselves as att subscribers. Unlike Verizon’s executive bios, which showed a return to the fixed LOB by wireless execs. The att exec bios read like a evolution took place, “we also had the the strategy of wireless in our plans and now it is complete” is a good paraphrase.

But even with the integration. The story is not going to be fixed vs wireless battlefront. No one was the munitions. The story is in serving the enterprise. This is where the battle will rage not internally but externally. Wireless has slammed around in the consumer market with little to be gained in the near future. Even with the use of femtocells in the home, little can be gained that can’t be done with just billing rules, and worse yet the set-top box is going to be the more important drive in the consumer triple play.

But for the Enterprise, a lot is to be gained in the meet point. The value proposition is not measured in cost savings. But in the work flow. I would submit that email fundamentally shortened the time line for projects to be completed. The ability to make that email mobile is going to have more than an incremental impact in the workflow. So if we just got office email in the hands of the employees that would be good.

However, normally the call to action involves more than email. It requires conference calls, inputs into systems and edits in websites, documents, presentations and spreadsheets. This is the opportunity that lies ahead.

My own personal bias is that the value that iPhone brought with a full browser is a teaser to the demand we will see for a fully integrated wireless Internet. And that is where the battlefront will be for FMC.

Posted by carl at 12:47 PM | Comments (1)

January 07, 2008

Need Help: Can't See (HD) Straight

With the announcement that Blu-Ray has won over Time Warner's Warner Bros for their format, my local radio was telling me HD was in trouble.

But I am old and this current generation of next generation technology sounds like the Beta vs. VHS battle. Now my brother was a vidiot and spent the equivalent of my salary on BetaMax and VideoDiscs.

Me... Most of the movies I want to see are in Black and White and Turner could deliver them in picturebooks with a cassette and I would not complain.

So here is the question. Is their a standard that lends itself to Over the Top Video? In theory IP does not care, but are some standards better at delivery over the Internet then others?

Any help would be appreciated.

Posted by carl at 01:32 PM | Comments (0)

January 01, 2008

How About a New Name for Social Networks

Had a long IM chat with a friend who loves Facebook.

I am of the belief that when you sell you do so on merit not on social elements.

When someone I don't know asks me about my personal life, they lose my initial good will.

But many people want to be treated like pals automatically.

Dale Carnegie taught me people want to be called by their name and understood to be more than their job.
I am particularly good with this at restaurants.

But on Social Networks, I am feeling privacy is being lost.
So I want to call the Ning Thing (as seen at www.pulvermediacommunity.net) something other than social
its a business network? A community network? and Industry Gathering (deliberately avoiding the term association)

What is it I want to be social about. I am not looking for the Virtual Water Cooler

What about you?

Posted by carl at 09:34 AM | Comments (0)

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 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 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)

October 16, 2007

Carl's Corner

Foreword - Carl’s Corner keeps growing smaller.

Thank you to the few of you that started reading my blog. I believe I am up to seven, but one of my relatives is ill, and may not be looking all the time ;<). Seriously, I am still posting at http: //carlscorner.pulver.com . Sorry about the bad link posted in the last issue. I am also posting to http: //pulcom.ning.com , but as you will read I think I am looking for a new social network strategy.

- NING is PINGING me off
- If I were dating Facebook
- More on the Verizon
- Standards and the Never Ending Story
- Five Interesting Aspects of VON.

- NING is PINGING me off

I have been preparing for Fall VON in Boston by setting up the templates for all the slides to be available to the delegates. I have made a commitment that almost of my time will be with the delegates in session breakouts. As the alumni know, I have been splitting my time between the exhibit floor, sales office and conference the last couple of years. We now have sufficient support in the company, I can hang out and get the immediate feedback of being with the delegates. It will be good to be in the midst of the networking again. But recognizing that I am only one person, I have been trying to set up a pulvermedia community site at http: //pulcom.ning.com . However, in the midst of setting up the templates the system gave another corrupted data error. And then Ning went to equivalent of a test pattern.

As you may have read last time, I get supported via email from these maniacs, and now that they are down as well as my site . . . I was not even sure I should waste my time e-mailing. To me an email blast saying, ”Yes we know we are down” should be basic.” I have looked at some other sites, but requirements for huge files being uploaded (e.g., powerpoint slides). If you want to join me there, you are welcome, if its not up look for information on my blog on the status and the potential relocation.

- If I were dating Facebook

I have gotten some grief in the past, for a gender bias in these types of discussions, so I am going to be gender neutral. If a gender neutral person went out to dinner with Facebook, what would be your impression. Well the conversation would be about people you know in common and there you could feel the discussion turn competitive. Do you know so and so, they were just here or there and they did this and that. You would get the sense that Facebook knew them. But then you would inevitably find a person or two in common. “Oh yes, I know them too.” But Facebook would show less interest in that specific person. Like an Attention Deficient Disorder victim, the conversation could not turn to focus on that person.

The result of the date would be an memorable experience, but would you want to have a permanent relationship. As I am discussing my troubles with Ning, the universal response is Facebook. But it’s not a real solution. IMHO, at the end of the day the group is not a location on Facebook, it’s a passing fancy for Facebook. I have joined several groups on facebook, and it’s a great way to meet people with common interest, but I don’t think the interest lasts.

- More on the Verizon

I mentioned that Verizon was going through a regime change, I just want to tell you about the new players. The Top Post under Ivan is no longer the fixed line side but Dennis F. Strigl
President and Chief Operating Officer Verizon Communications. Now remember Verizon is in the process of selling off a good chunk of northern portion of what was formerly known as New England Telephone.

Dennis F. Strigl “is responsible for the operations of Verizon's network businesses -- Verizon Wireless, Verizon Telecom and Verizon Business -- as well as Verizon Services Operations, which provides financial, real estate and other functional services to all of the corporation’s operations.” “Strigl is widely recognized as one of the most prominent architects of the wireless communications industry.”

And speaking of architects, Richard J. Lynch is now the Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer atVerizon Communications, who in “this role he is responsible for technology direction and network planning for [ALL] the Verizon business units.” He led the company in its move to Cellular Digital Packet Data [CDPD], Code Division Multiple Access [CDMA] and EV-DO; his profile goes on to say that “Under Lynch, the Verizon Wireless network attained the distinction of quality and reliability which has formed the basis for the very well known “Can you hear me now?” advertising campaign.

Which brings us to John G. Stratton, Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, who introduced [Verizon]’s well-known “Can You Hear Me Now?” campaign and established itself as the number-one brand among wireless consumers in the United States. These gentleman are leading the blending of the fixed and wireless companies, which has resulted in the first quad play offer. Its should be interesting to see what else they deliver in the next few years. These moves in place, convergence of management is happening.

PS Gentleman there is a free pass waiting for all of you to come to VON

- Standards and the Never Ending Story

The e-mail dialogue between some friends yielded this gem, thanks to Jiri Kuthan of Tekelec. The discussion was about the standards bodies collecting useless standards that take a serious turn for trivial. He suggested that what happens is analogous to the Nothing destroying the possibilities in the Never Ending Story. .

In, Michael Ende's "The Never Ending Story", the kingdom is destroyed by folks without fantasy, the main character michael is pressured to give up the fantasy and focus on nothing but process. Often is how the standards get thwarted since the focus goes to process and not to the merit of a concept.
If the Nothing had consciousness, you could see the move to the standards was genious. So many brilliant ideas materialize out of the "thin air", the Nothing looks to be conscious. Those who think the way to brilliance is to focus on thin air... See Nothing and declare it good.

- Five Interesting Aspects of VON.

Jeff and I had a discussion about the show and what is new, we talked about five specific areas that are interesting.

First was the Innovators track which has some new service demos, a live mashup and an unconference.
Can you embrace the pulver challenge being worked in a Mashup?
The second trend is the battle for the Internet is not over its just migrated to the wireless network. While Google is not speaking at the show; Google's efforts for a net neutral WiMax will be in the midst of the discussion by the IPs.. Including Anand Chandrasekher the SVP / GM of Intel; Tero Ojanpserä the CTO of Nokia, Ali Tabassi the WiMAX master of Sprint, and Adrian Scarse the 3GPP Secretariat from ETSI. These are not lightweight speakers and collectively represent half a trillion worth of investment strategy.

And speaking of Nokia, Tero is talking about the all the opportunities represented from an open socially mobile Internet. While the battle about Net Neutrality has calmed down the battle of the Titans: Cable vs Telco will be well represened by the ILECs Triple Play speakers. Note: Open invites for Cable Operators has been extended..

Which brings us to the fifth theme, the use of the home network to support a personal base station. These base stations which back haul on your broadband Internet access are called femtocells. Daniel Hesse, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Embarq Corporation may be sharing some of his thoughts about how they are integrating to this nascent technology. This technology is so recent we have a hidden sixth track you can find including its own tutorial preconference.

So at 60,000 feet VON is converging the cool applications folkd with the Mobile Internet transport that makes for a good future. Should be a great show.

- I thank you for the notes.

If you have a comment, engage with me on the websites. Some friends responded with links and notes to me. However, I would rather you post to the blog [http://carlscorner.pulver.com and / or the social network http://pulcom.ning.com .

I look forward to hearing / seeing from you.

Kind Regards,
carl

PS The VON Umbrella is extensive this Fall Here are all the shows

http://www.von.com/2007/boston/web/
http://www.digiumasteriskworld.com/2007/boston/web/
http://www.mobilesecuritycon.com/2007/boston/web/
http://www.unifiedcommunicationscon.com/2007/boston/web/
http://www.videoonthenet.com/2007/boston/web
http://www.vondex.net/2007/boston/web/

PPS Jeff is going out partying on Halloween if you are joining him go to this link http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=5865456793

Posted by carl at 11:24 PM | Comments (2)

October 15, 2007

Should we make the V in VON a W?

On the Cook report, my ears were burning. I talked to Gordon and this is the aftermath.

Gordon, again thank you for your kind words.

Just a point of clarity on these lines from Gordon.

I have the impression that carl is limited in the independence from von that he could achieve for an implementors track

it seems there is a branding problem

Here was point. We have built this year's conference around the issues associated with applications and the mobile subvergence (never mind covergence / FMC) of the Internet.

If you think IMS is evil, its because of the way the Internet is delivered on the platform. If you think we should be Web 2.0 all the way -vfine, but look how badly the Internet is delivered to most cell phones.

VON has made the transition to bring these issues into main confernence. Sprint and Intel on Wimax, ATT and Alcatel Lucent on 3 screen TV strategies, Nokia and Motorola on WiFi, Dual mode and everything else with the letters RF near it.

VON is now Wireless... But we cant call it WON. So VON is still VON... at least for today...

As for the Innovators, they get tired of listening to the Titans claim they control mortals. They are Promotheus playing with fire and daring to look in Pandora's box to see if Hope has gone. They will be content anywhere.. Hopefully, the innovators track fits there need.

Now the second part of the problem.

I ask everyone are you coming to VON. Some say Yes, Some say No...

I get a mixed answer... I then say have you looked at the schedule?

I never hear Yes. So I have a wireless show that everyone says VON is VoIP. But VoIP is not VoIP its everywhere now, and yet VON is being branded as only voice on fixed lines. SS7 ad nauseaum. Even with Jeff's recent activities in Video and Social Networking.

Brands constantly migrate up the food chain. VON should be allowed the same experience.

Posted by carl at 04:15 AM | Comments (2)

October 08, 2007

The Newsletter vol 2.

Foreword - Carl’s Corner keeps growing smaller.

- NING is PINGING me off
- If I were dating Facebook
- More on the Verizon
- Standards and the Never Ending Story
- Five Interesting Aspects of VON.

- NING is PINGING me off

- If I were dating Facebook

I have gotten some grief in the past, for a gender bias in these types of discussions, so I am going to be gender neutral. If a gender neutral person went out to dinner with Facebook, what would be your impression. Well the conversation would be about people you know in common and there you could feel the discussion turn competitive. Do you know so and so, they were just here or there and they did this and that. You would get the sense that Facebook knew them. But then you would inevitably find a person or two in common. “Oh yes, I know them too.” But Facebook would be show less interest in that specific person. Like an Attention Deficient Disorder victim, the conversation could not turn to focus on that person.

- More on the Verizon

PS Gentleman there is a free pass waiting for all of you to come to VON

- Standards and the Never Ending Story

- Five Interesting Aspects of VON.

Jeff and I had a discussion about the show and what is new, we talked about five specific areas that are interesgting.

So at 60,000 feet VON is converging the cool applications folkd with the Mobile Internet transport that makes for a good future. Should be a great show.

- I thank you for the notes.

I look forward to hearing / seeing from you.

Kind Regards,
carl

PS The VON Umbrella is extensive this Fall Here are all the shows

PPS Jeff is going out partying on Halloween if you are joining him go to this link http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=5865456793

Posted by carl at 12:35 AM | Comments (1)

October 01, 2007

The Enemy: He is Us

He is Us

Posted by carl at 07:08 AM | Comments (0)

September 26, 2007

Carls Corner as a Newsletter

Carl's Corner

The Foreword.

I am sending this email blast because I have the least read blog in creation. It may be deserved because I am not a blogger by nature, but in the hopes of increasing my readerships to tens. I am sending out this email to friends with the hopes that each of these topics will generate some dialogue at http://carlscorner.pulvermedia.com. I want to remind you that the opinions expressed are entirely my own.

Agenda

- The Disruption Moves Slowly (but not Verizon)
- Thought Leading Innovators Track (Now I'm excited)
- Feedback on FMC
- Apology for my punny (not funny) humor
- The VON "E" Ticket
- Conclusion

----

- The Disruption Moves Slowly (but not Verizon).

Verizon is going through a series of personnel changes where the Verizon Wireless side of the company (long living isolated in their own Shangri-La) is now in charge of the company in total. Ivan may have made the move based on this information.

MediaMark stated that 14 % of the US has a cell phone with no landline phone. While approx 13% of the US has a landline phone with no cell phone.

So the writing maybe on the wall for the role of the landline part of the company.

This is lead to a discussion between some of our friends that I have asked to express here with you all. Please remember the opinions expressed do represent any corporation's perspective.

Henry Sinnreich starts with the premise that all communication services are in effect the Internet.

From this perspective, I would contend that att, Cablevision, Vodafone, etc. are offering the same thing - Access

But this simple view point can get convoluted as some service providers ride on top of others.

Or as Willie Wimmreuter points out

The basic question to that answer is how to find some sweet-spots that will be honored and payed for by the "End-User" or the"final point of convergence", as Richard Stastny would say

Willie goes on to say... about end user choice

Just for the sake of usage freedom and global reach, the Internet of course will become the network of choice and here I'm with [Henry]

We just made the mistake way to often and sold the "Internet" but not the "advantages" to the user.

So why do we not stop selling the religion and sell the advantages, help or assistance instead. A user will go for it and even pay for if he can use it to his advantage

VoIP, P2P, etc. Instead, I try to help selling things; the user is willing to pay for and by that, the Internet, P2P or whatever will sell implicitly

Henry replied that

EU regulators seem to be enlightened about competition and avoiding such conspiracies like roaming charges.

They also have sympathy for Skype and Skype in mobile phones

Willie in a series of responses gave a good perspective.

Unless these incumbents see the "Internet as a service", they will not be able operate it in an open way and thus they will see providers from other countries and continents selling to their customers whilst they can only sell to customers of their own network

- What they make their living with?

* Voice- calls, SMS, Radio, Voice and Internet access
* Pipe rental
* Power consumption arbitrage
* Interconnect fees

- What will fade away?

* Voice-Call-Charges
* Billing Cost

According to an old study of [a PTT] Billing was nearly as expensive as their voice income. (Software, staffing, stamps etc.) of interconnect and freedom of service usage.

* Customers, since they are not open for user selection

So here is my question for you?

Pretend you are Verizon Wireless executives inheriting the assets previously considered the family jewels. Do you agree that Access to the Internet is the basic service for all communications going forward? If you are involved in building applications are you concerned that one day you will have to be partner? Do you see the widgets of Google and the hosting of Amazon as part of these strategic issues? How do you keep the profits from Wireless safely away from the bundling of the fixed side of the company?

----

- Thought Leading Innovators Track (Now I'm excited)

Sometimes we are not very good at tooting our own horn. Well at least I am not. We have a very cool conference going on at the VON which is a hybrid of the unconference and the innovators track. You can find it on this link...http://www.von.com/2007/boston/web/confSchedule_gsct1182269232_icci1189592511.html

Just comes of the tip of your tongue. But seriously we always say Voice is Just an application and this is the place we will prove it. Including an expect battle of the SIP apps on the iPhone. In the unconference Tom Howe is going to be push for the developers to live up the pulver challenge
(see http://pulverblog.pulver.com/archives/007256.html )

But the best part of this part of the conference will be the interaction. If you come into these sessions, be part of the discussion. Not just a spectator at the revolution, but a citizen of the community.

The Innovators track has sessions looking developers tools like Ajax and Ruby (on Rails), Enterprise / Telco 2.0, Social Networking, Tossable digits, and of course the iPhone work arounds for better services.

This should be a fun set of sessions for those people looking to develop the new, disrupt the old or just think about the phone network of the future.

- Feedback on FMC

At the last few VON's our FMC tracks were very well attended. In part this was thanks to the excellent help from Alan Duric of Telio and perhaps it was in keeping with the fact that VON is a destination event that attracts the world.

In organizing the event, we got a lot of feedback that FMC had a specific meaning associated only with European deployments.

Mind you this was from the folks selling FMC to Europe

One suggestion that was made is that FMC was a misnomer in the end everything will be wireless.

Another perspective given was that FMC is the migration of the infrastructure for Unified Communication

The event was a huge succession and featured a lot of excited business people. One new area that is becoming a hot topic is Femtocells.

Femtocells back haul wireless calls to your wireless provider. In the US T-Mobile is offering this alternative and Sprint has a trial going on as well.

To me this looks like an ATA for Wireless.

It also looks like a next generation of Jeff's CellSocket. [It's amazing how long it takes for some things to come into vogue.]

For those interested we are going to have a preconference on FemtoCells as Fall VON, plus it will the subject of the Tuesday General Session.

For those wishing to continue the dialogue on FMC I am experimenting with a social network on Ning that you can get to by the url http://pulcom.ning.com. Feel free to join us.

- Apology for my punny (not funny) humor

I was on conference calls with Friends who were at VoiceCon. And they voiced the opinion that my pun in the E-mail blast promoting our Unified Communications Conference was out of turn.

I often get asked to write something from scratch and the easiest way for my writing to start is with a pun. 80 % of the time my puns get edited - thank G-d. This time it did not.

I have a tendency to see jokes as heckles (at someone's expense) and insights as appreciative. I apologize for my error in not recognizing the pun was a heckle.

- The VON "E" Ticket

Speaking about my E-mail blasts, I went on a rant to several thousand linkedin friends about an e-mail blast I sent out regarding Amol Sarva.

On the weekend, I watch/listen to C SPAN often and in listening to Amol speak I heard a strong position that needed to be heard by the community

As a former exec of Virgin Mobile he represents an interesting view that works for an MVNO as well as the more portal like players looking to make a new future for the wireless Internet

So we invited him to the VON Conference, but he is speaking to the delegates of the conference.

Not as part of the Keynotes open to all attendees

I am not sure people have understood the benefit of being a delegate and since most of the content is for delegates I want to state the distinction.

A delegate at VON gets to go to anything and everything

A delegate at the new events gets the benefit of the conference and the VON exhibit floor.

These conferences include Digium Asterisk World, Mobile Security, Unified Communication, Video on the Net and VONDex.

Exhibits Only attendees have the benefit of the content on the floor which is also valuable

I personally will be spending most of my time in the breakout sessions at VON including the innovators track.

- Conclusion.

Thank you for taking the time to read this far.

I allowed this email to go out via our mail system in case anyone wants to unsubscribe.

I hope you join the dialogue either on http://carlscorner.pulvermedia.com or http://pulcom.ning.com

Kind Regards,

Carl Ford

VP Content and Community Development.

carl@pulver.com

631-961-8955

PS Just in case you need the links for all the shows they are as follows

http://www.von.com/2007/rome/web/confSchedule.php
http://www.von.com/2007/boston/web/confSchedule.htm
http://www.digiumasteriskworld.com/2007/boston/web/confSchedule.htm
http://www.mobilesecuritycon.com/2007/boston/web/confSchedule.htm
http://www.unifiedcommunicationscon.com/2007/boston/web/confSchedule.htm
http://www.videoonthenet.com/2007/boston/web/confSchedule.htm
http://www.vondex.net/2007/boston/web/confSchedule.htm

PPS my apologies to marketing but I am starting people on the content pages. ;<)

Posted by carl at 06:26 AM | Comments (0)

September 14, 2007

A Name You Can Trust?

I got this spam in my in box and I fell in love with the absurdity. If a name that you trust has to use 2 different web portals and no URL for itself, what good are they.

From: Joan Vera [mailto:rafaelalberto12@yahoo.com]
Sent: Friday, September 14, 2007 5:50 PM
To: Carl Ford
Subject: Looking for emaployees!

Hello,

We are a major international company E-Trust
According to the appearance of new vacancies, we are looking for the people who are ready to cooperate with us.
Our rules:
1. You need no more than one hour a day on the first stage of the work.
2. During the probation period (1 month) your salary will be $3800. Also you will get your interest from each deal.
3. In the 1st month after the probation period we will conclude the contract with
you and provide you with the opportunity for the career development.

Requirements:
1. People of 18-60 that live in the USA.
2. Home computer with e-mail
3. Responsibility, diligence

Apply for job at: E.TrustCompany@gmail.com

We will answer to all who is interested. Hurry, the number of vacancies is limited.
Yours respectfully,

E-Trust Company.

Posted by carl at 05:53 PM | Comments (0)

September 11, 2007

Google Groups vs Social Networks

Some ironies in putting the slides up for the FMC in the two different groups has left me laughing.

Google is Storage restrictive! From the same company that gave a free GB mailbox comes two restrictions on storage. The file can only be 10M, so some graphically intense presentations I had to break up into 2 or 3 parts.

NING is Pretty to look at and Ugly to Navigate! So I can all the slides uploaded on to Ning, and I have the former session content visiablly up there including pictures, bios, abstracts, but giving people a guide to find the speaker they want is harder than I would want.

I need to find a way to display a map and make it link

Posted by carl at 02:47 PM | Comments (0)

September 09, 2007

Google's Do No Evil

We just had a great show in Chicago and everyone wanted the slides.

I decided to put them into a google group for the participants and have sent to almost 300 registrants.

Well, guess what. Google has flagged my invitation and wants an explanation from me.

So in effect, they are supervising me.

Is that evil? Maybe maybe not. But it is judgemental as to who is evil and who is not.

Good Luck to them in their efforts to have the wisdom of Soloman.

Posted by carl at 02:11 AM | Comments (0)

September 01, 2007

Disruption Creeps Along

- The Disruption Moves Slowly (Part 1)
Note: I will publish part 2 just before VON Europe Autumn.
One Interesting result of these wireless ATAs is the service piggy-backs on the landline broadband service.
A Tipping point in the home was pointed out this week by MediaMark.
MediaMark stated that 14 % of the US has a cellphone with no landline phone.
While approx 13% of the US has a landline phone with no cellphone.
This is lead to a discussion between some of our friends that I have asked to express here with you all.
Henry Sinnreich starts with the premise that all communication services are in effect the Internet.
From this perspective, I would contend that att, Cablevision, Vodafone, etc. are offering the same thing - Access
But this simple view point can get convoluted as some service providers ride on top of others.
Or as Willie Wimmreuter points out

The basic question to that answer is how to find some sweet-spots that will be honored and payed for by the "End-User" or the"final point of convergence", as Richard Stastny would say
Willie goes on to say... about end user choice
Just for the sake of usage freedom and global reach, the Internet of course will become the network of choice and here I'm with [Henry]
We just made the mistake way to often and sold the "Internet" but not the "advantages" to the user.
So why do we not stop selling the religion and sell the advantages, help or assistance instead. A user will go for it and even pay for if he can use it to his advantage
VoIP, P2P, etc. Instead, I try to help selling things, the user is willing to pay for and by that, the Internet, P2P or whatever will sell implicitly
Henry replied that
EU regulators seem to be enlightened about competition and avoiding such conspiracies like roaming charges.
They also have sympathy for Skype and Skype in mobile phones
Willie in a series of responses gave a good perspective.
Unless these incumbents see the "Internet as a service", they will not be able operate it in an open way and thus they will see providers from other countries and continents selling to their customers whilst they can only sell to customers of their own network
- What they make their living with?
* Voice- calls, SMS, Radio, Voice and Internet access
* Pipe rental
* Power consumption arbitrage
* Interconnect fees
- What will fade away?
* Voice-Call-Charges
* Billing Cost
According to an old study of [a PTT] Billing was nearly as expensive
as their voice income. (Software, staffing, stamps etc.)
of interconnect and freedom of service usage.
* Customers, since they are not open for user selection

So here is my question for you? Do you agree that Access to the Internet is the basic service for all communications going forward? If you are involved in building applications are you concerned that one day you will have to be partner. Do you see the widgets of Google and the hosting of Amazon as part of these strategic issues?

Posted by carl at 02:13 AM | Comments (0)

August 31, 2007

An Apology

- Apology for my punny (not funny) humor
I was on conference calls with Friends who were at VoiceCon. And they voiced the opinion that my pun in the E-mail blast promoting our Unified Communications Conference was out of turn.
I often get asked to write something from scratch and the easiest way for my writing to start is with a pun. 80 % of the time my puns get edited - thank G-d. This time it did not.
I have a tendency to see jokes as heckles (at someone's expense) and insights as appreciative. I apologize for my error in not recognizing the pun was a heckle.

Posted by carl at 02:15 AM | Comments (0)

August 16, 2007

Observations found in a Bathtub

With apologies to Stanislav Lem and Jeff Pulver. This is what I got when leaving my hotel shower.

Thoughts on toiletries...Why is...

1) The bar of soap on the tub but the shampoo is by the sink?
2) The bar of soap is enough for a week, the shampoo enough for a day?
3) The more expensive the hotel, the more elaborate the display, but the same amount of stuff?
4) The shoe mitt included?
5) The hand lotion included?
6) The toilet paper taped shut?

Got any more to add?

Posted by carl at 10:34 AM | Comments (0)

August 13, 2007

Have Some Backbone! Show me your PLATs

Recently, the discussion between some select friends and myself centered around the Minneapolis bridge collapse. As too often happens the PSTN network performed poorly.

While my friends, were using this to discuss why end to end IP was our inevitable future. I was looking at it and wondering what the cables were like. Did the bridge cut any cables across the river? What is the real (physical not logical) routing between the local switches and the network tandems?

The reason I ask is that for all the redundancy we brought into the network with SONET, I believe we still have network tandems that are not paired. Nor are we using IP (or ATM) to move traffic as a distributed network should. I believe that for some bizarre reason (which probably translates to "billing"), we are letting the PSTN guide the routing of calls rather than putting IP to the test.

From my own experience, I was embarrassed when Hurricane Floyd flooded the tandem by me in Northerb New Jersey and no outbound calls could be made. If it had happened in the New Jersey LATAs the result would have been no 911 completion. IP could have solved this problem easily.

On the other side, the submarine fibers that broke due to an earthquake in January showed the corollary. No commitment to the Internet's backbone resulted in poor service locally. It was not a priority for many policy makers. All the PSTN circuits were restored in a timely manner while the Internet was a secondary goal.

So, here I am asking for the layout of your network. Proof to me I am wrong and the commitment to IP is there. Have some Backbone.

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

July 23, 2007

Virtual Identifiers

Okay, Some words of warnings.
1) My cable provider is anonymous because I have friends that work for them.
2) I am never sure whether my experiences are part of a trend or just my sad sack rotten luck in action.

Now.

I came home from my vacation and turned on the TV downstairs, and again my cable operator helped me by turning it off.

Why did they do that? Because, they dont believe my TV is in my house. They think it belongs to some one entirely different. This is the third time its happen and I am tired of it. What I really dont get is why that little credit card they have in my set top box seems to switch identities all the time.

Can anyone from Cablelabs explain how a constant becomes a variable remotely?

In the past we have order movies on this set top, been charged appropriately. My wife has wanted me to give them my voice services. And while the price appeals, I am afraid of them having control of my my entire home network. What is really strange is that when they do voice they insist on hardwiring the phone system to their stuff.

But if they screw this up this virtualization, imagine what they can do when i give them my phone number. And if memory serves me right, this fix requires a truck roll.

Imagine a problem done remotely requiring a physical fix. It sounds to me like a major OSS glitch.

Anyone got any ideas?

Posted by carl at 10:51 PM | Comments (0)

July 16, 2007

A Real Disconnect

I am having a horrible time, believing the social network myth.

Don't get me wrong, I find that I find interesting information from much of the social networks I belong to. And I use them as a resource. But much of my life is not on the Internet its around my local community. I have a major disconnect from the need for a plumber in my area. And a pretty cool reference by a brillant thinker in Canada or Europe.

I want to understand why the Social Networks which are self organizing will be better for me that a forced geographic relationship in the world.

However contributing to the experiment I will create a listing service on Facebook for skilled craft on Facebook.

Posted by carl at 11:44 AM | Comments (1)

July 09, 2007

Conference Calls

Is the general population now waking up to using VoIP?

Was there pent up demand for Conferening that has been waiting for the
price to be zero? Or is the demand there because ease of use has been
accomplished by ad hoc conferencing?

Is this something important?

Posted by carl at 07:34 PM | Comments (0)

June 26, 2007

Internet Radio

To Congress,
RIAA,
And anyone else who wants to listen.

I am joining in the protest about the new rules about Internet Radio.

I do this with the full knowledge that everything on my machine, I own. I bought legally and I keep to myself.

So what is my issue?

A couple of things.

First of all its about Word of Mouth (or is it Noise in Ear) like this blog and the blogosphere. The goal for most of the Internet radio people is not to find pirate but to connect.

Finding a community is what the Internet has done. And it is allowing people to do it a variety of multimedia ways.

I have decided that going forward my blogs will be based on mind maps. But for many people their expression is based on other peoples contributions such as music. So why penalize people for appreciating other peoples talent.

Secondly, Given that I listen to nothing other than what I own. I am amazed as to how much I have to listen to imposed on me by others. I will sign any RIAA petition about charging people with cars for playing there music so loud I can not hear my own radio.

I know it sounds like a joke right? Well stop a moment and ask yourself the following questions.

Are more people listening to Internet Radio or hearing other peoples music from cars?

Then follow the logic. If you can figure the nuisance charge, it should equate to a maximum number of listeners before you charge an Internet radio station. My take is the number should be in the thousands.

Posted by carl at 09:23 AM | Comments (0)

May 31, 2007

iTunes, iPhone, Return of the Living Dead

Okay, lets start by saying... I am not easily attracted by Apple.

But the repositioning of the DRM capability on the Apple iTunes website has given pause to like them more.

Additionally, I have discovered a friend working on the iPhone who has shared with me that the phone will be more open then I originally thought.

So I am seeing apple live up to the image of being able to do anything with them including not follow their restrictive interfaces.

Lets see where this leads.

As for the DRM side of the equation, it cost 30 cents more to gain access to an open copy. I think that price can be thought of as insurance / risk mitigation.

My expectation is that it will be adopted by 75% of the users.

As for the rest of us...I will look to do a webinar podcast on DRM in the near future.

Posted by carl at 07:37 AM | Comments (1)

May 21, 2007

IPR Issues Who GNU?

I am advising a friend about some software development he is working on.

The first issue, his developers left a company about six months ago and they claim to have most of what he wants already. I have warned him he could end up containment and face infringement from these developers former employer. Mind you I am not sure of the health of the former employing company, so who knows whether the IPR will be considered dead or bought by a larger more empowered company.

So I send them off to the Open Source world and now I need a lawyer to tell me which open source is valid for the task. If all they want to do is prototype everything works. If they want to monitize only a few do, but worse. If on the way from prototype to rewrite the code is not totally rewritten and encumberance has been created.

I have a few friend who have privately told me they are verifying their source through third parties.

This is becoming a huge business all to itself. But in the end should we all just find a license that moves us past this problem?

Posted by carl at 08:06 AM | Comments (0)

May 10, 2007

A reaction to Bob Frankston

I cant reveal the Cook Report message thread but the context is a discussion about Joost being great quality and Bob complaining about the cable operators being a monopoly

Whadya Talk Whadya Talk

Bob now you have gone too far… SP/P? Because of content? My recollection is that Cable paid to have HBO built, because they wanted content that added value to them. You do not begrudge them that; do you? If you do? Then certainly Google is on the wrong side of the equation as well.

For those who don’t know me, Let me tell you I am not a Vidiot. Not big on any of this stuff. Find it’s the diversion of the masses trying to invade my life. My wife is sending me you tube stuff and its all rehashed commercial TV. No interest. Now cable because they have a hungry beast for channels at least gives me something more diverse then broadcast.

My hope is that the Video on the Net stuff as Jeff calls it will give me further diversification. To the point where I get the SPEBSQSA Barbershop Singing channel. At that point, I will have something I want to watch. I also know that on this email thread, I will probably be the only one interested. That’s okay. Given the Internet, give me a portal and I will find the Community of Interest.

As for quality. I remind you of the final scenes in the Music Man when the kids play their instruments. IMHO. If its something I care about my need is for tolerable quality.

But you got to know the territory.

Posted by carl at 04:32 AM | Comments (0)

April 27, 2007

My Mi-Inter-Tel

The Inter-Tel acquistion by Mitel strikes me as a great move.

While normally my view of mergers is very negative. This one I understand. Mitel needs to expand its channel. Mitel has a strong product line that does well in the higher end of the middle market. Inter-Tel is good in small market.

For Mitel the services side of Inter-tel escalates them as well.

I expect good things here.

Posted by carl at 03:17 PM | Comments (0)

April 24, 2007

Four one one - security

I have a lot of friends in the industry who have me talking about security on a regular basis. Its not clear, that the industry has a handle on its requirements.

Listen to the advocates and you would think that telecom is big brother. And sometimes I am shocked to hear of the level of sophisticated spying we have enabled.

More often than not I am faced with my fathers' adage; Never assume malice when incompetence is viable.

When it comes to meeting the needs for secure authenticated names, I believe the neglect is less than benign, but more than incompetence.

I think carriers do not know how to sell the idea of identity, and the reason they do not know the value the value themselves.

People are more than numbers (and URIs are only a piece of it as well). Number 6 may have been off target when he said I am not a number I am a name.

I am a presentitity with lots of alias's and psuedo presentities.

Finding the way to sell me a secure authenticated identity is not going to be about how I present myself to world, but how I present myself to world.... follow that.

Its about self control its about knowing when call screening is valuable and when I need to override it. I want my identity to be known and I want the people that know it to see it the way I want.

I feel like this could be a whole conference on its own.

Everything from SAML to Stanford's ergonomics labs. Not to mention Rob Fulop explaining flirting.

Not that I would know about flirting.

Posted by carl at 02:22 AM | Comments (0)

April 19, 2007

Service Delivery [and, or, vs.] IMS

In the Marketplace right now are a lot of people who talk about service delivery and IMS. But are these the companies the anti-IMS group in disguise? I am working on a conference about IMS and Service Delivery and I am trying to comprehend where how they intersect.

I asked the basic question. I believe that service delivery will be the make or break for IMS as a strategy. What do you think.

Here is the reply from one friend in a large carrier.

Our company has deployed an IMS for the field test planning to roll out IMS based IM (instant messaging) service soon for subscribers which is mobile internet. We also plan to provide VoIP service through IMS anticipating repid VoIP market growth in near future.

Under the circumstances that the growth rate of communication market has been slowing or saturating in recent years, I don't think operators are willing to invest money to IMS unless there is no new business opportunity or new value that can be created by deploying IMS. Developing and deliverying services that can generate more revenue are essential parts in deploying IMS. So, in that sense I agree with you.

Posted by carl at 08:53 AM | Comments (0)

April 06, 2007

Retroactive Posting

My history is that I do not grok how incompatiable views such as Ayn Rand are to my Quaker consensus \ expectant silence.

I do however appreciate irony.

The bell system was built on the strict defense of patent 174445 (I believe).

It's ironic that the bell system may be a one trick pony.

Its ironic that the courts that tried to promote competition now block it.

Its ironic that vonage which has been a customer acquistion machine has to leave its sweet spot.

It will be ironic if returning the customers to the pstn and reversing the LNP process wins anyone happy customers.

Its ironic that the best work around for vonage is public ENUM. Something jeffery did not want to do.

its ironic that the cable companies have been so ostrich like in this court case.

Its ironic that the Internet, built on freely given IPR, is being tortured by the beneficiaries of this IPR.

Its ironic that the author of the 711 patent found his patent more broadlly interpreted than he "claimed" and only one claim survived.

Its ironic that jeffery citron who scared wall street with his alternate network (island) and did care about the opinions of analysts, now has to suffer listening to all of their opinions on his alternate network (vonage).

I am sure more can be found. I may have to go on ebay, but I intend to go back to vonage.

Posted by carl at 06:39 AM | Comments (0)

April 02, 2007

Retroactive Posting

Imho the IETF has punted and for good reason.

The IETF has given over the addressing and management to the ITU and the UN.

The result in the SIP space is peer to peer (free webinar today but that's not why I write) (see http://webinar.pulvermedia.com )

The Internet needs to be about the connection between end points. I say this as a bell head. As long as the IETF works in that direction the tension will always be there.

As long as I as a bell head need someone to use my network, they can bend my will. Of course I need to have competition. And from my perspective I do.

The minute the focus is away from the edge, as I think they have seen repeatedly problems arise. As long as the edge continues to innovate, my middleware models will constantly be behind. It maybe that one day the edge replaces the core entirely... It wont happen by being married to the core.

Posted by carl at 06:34 AM | 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 13, 2007

Runaway Court Order

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)

March 12, 2007

Verizon vs. Vonage

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.

236 patents mention DNS and VoIP

1,556 patents can be searched on DNS and Wireless

33,468 patents for the term Domain and Name

99,864 Internet patents

149,264 Telephone patents

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)

February 24, 2007

VON Japan 06 session ideas

Track 1: Age of Video: Rich Media in Instant Messaging
Video has been applied to instant messaging and has not only been associated with seeing each other but also is being displayed with innovative software. The Instant Messaging world is alive with millions of video users. This panel looks at the how, the when and the why of rich media on IM.
Track 2: Voice over Everything: 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.

14:15 PM - 14:45 PM Break
14:45 PM - 16:00 PM Breakout Sessions
Track 1: Age of Video: Standards Update
The good news about standards is that we have so many of them. What is the implication of the competing video standards on the delivery of new services. While the world talks about convergence is are the networks going to diverge when it comes to video. Are medial services going to have new trans-media functions to provide in this new age of Video.
Track 2: Voice over Everything: 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.

Posted by carl at 08:06 PM | Comments (0)

February 23, 2007

Anyone want to speak in these?

Track 1: Age of Video: TV over IP
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 TV services. What is the implication for HDTV and consumer equipment in the home?
Track 2: Voice over Everything: 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 allow the sales channel.

Posted by carl at 08:04 PM | Comments (0)

February 16, 2007

Looking for updates

Track 1: Age of Video: Video Collaboration
A picture is worth a thousand words which is good since it takes up more bandwidth! What is the impact of video when people collaborate. Are meetings more effective. Are points made easier? Are collaboration servers focusing on the same objects or do is the industry in motion? This panel looks at collaborative services and how they are being adopted.
Track 2: Voice over Everything: WiFi & WiMax
Voice over WiFi has impacted different implementations in the marketplace for both service providers and enterprises. 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. What will distinguish solutions in the future?

Posted by carl at 08:02 PM | Comments (0)

February 15, 2007

I love this General Session Idea

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. This discussion will bring together members of the Internet Engineering Task Force to discuss the current state of the Internet’s adoption.

Posted by carl at 08:00 PM | Comments (0)

February 09, 2007

Looking for feedback

Track 1: Age of Video: Camera Phone Updates
One of the most interesting things about consumers is how they adopt technology. What has the impact of camera phones meant for the service provider. Has adding pictures promised us an increasing demand for video, or will it be like Instant Messaging / Emails reduction in voice calls? Should we expect device specific solutions? What new services can be created to support the visual effects?
Track 2: Voice over Everything: Voice Inside Gaming
Voice is just an application has been the mantra of many in the voice community, but if truth is told its just a function. Need proof? Look at the use of Voice with gaming and glamour services. This panel talks about how voice is just a component of the services available to their communities and how they intend to expand the use of voice in the future.

Posted by carl at 07:59 PM | Comments (0)

February 08, 2007

Are these sessions of Interest

Track 1: Age of Video: 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? Is the effect of Video IPODs and Slingmedia the same as TiVo and stored media solutions or are we entering a new era of personal preferences? How does commercial based business models survive in a world with fast forwarding?
Track 2: Voice over Everything: 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?

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

January 19, 2007

Exposed to a bunch of Heroes

My wife is interested in us buying a Digital TV. To the point where I spent the money on Consumer Reports. For me I am not overly happy with HDTV. My status as a bell head luddite is assured.

I think that I get headaches from walking into the show room and looking at all these things next to each other. My wife assures me that I will not feel the same when we have one.

At the store all I see is Heros everywhere. Its a good show, but I am asking myself how was it chosen over every other show. Its not just in one franchise either.

Is this a ratings rationale? A demographic? What makes it the visual of choice? My head hurts thinking about this.

She has also been suffering from a rise in size. She started with 22" than 27" and now is talking about 47". And this is for our bedroom! I think its going to block my pathway to my side of the bed. But she says it's a Flat panel so it will not be a problem, (she has not asked for a wall mount yet).

I am going to take an aspirin and lay down. But I am not going to watch TV.

Posted by carl at 04:00 PM | Comments (0)

January 10, 2007

Apple iRony

Okay, this should be fun...

Apple is being sued by Cisco for the name Iphone, which I thought Vocaltec would be the original owner.

Another aspect of iRony is that Apple dropped the word Computers from its name. The reason is the iPhone is really a computer. It just play / acts as a phone for when you want to talk to someone.

Glenn Gaudet I think has it right that Steve Jobs at MacWorld trumped CES. But I have a rough time coping with the FierceVoip history see http://www.glenngaudet.com. Here is some history for those who remember QuarterDeck.

Posted by carl at 11:15 PM | Comments (0)

January 09, 2007

Can We Still call this the Digital Decade.

Bill Gates and company kicked off CES with their announcments about a wide variety of gaming capabilities in Vista, Media Server, Xbox and Zune.

...But, of course, Games for Windows, while it is our leading and largest gaming platform, it's not the only gaming platform Microsoft has. Our second is Xbox 360. And I'm very excited about the progress we've made to become the leader in this next generation of gaming. ...

The announcement about Xbox 360 becoming an IPTV interface caught quite a few eyes.

...when you network that PC with your Xbox 360 for high-definition TV, you can get all the experiences you want: music, movies, cable TV, high-definition content, from Media Center streamed to Xbox. We call it Media Center Extender on Xbox 360, and it's a very popular product. We're continuing to see that. It comes with Xbox built-in, and we continue to see that expand and roll out. You don't need an extra box, just connect it up and go....

So as the service providers bundle charges for services Xbox bundles services for the same price?

....We have sold through December 31st 10.4 million consoles across 37 countries around the world. That's a half a million units a head of our projection. (Cheers and applause.) In some ways the data that's more interesting is when we do the survey data, the majority of those owners of Xbox 360 are new to the Xbox platform. That tells you how we are expanding the market, that tells you how we're growing, and how we're becoming a leader. And when you look at games, and the attach rate of games, the number of games sold per console, and the number of peripherals sold per console, we are setting records on Xbox 360 every step along the way for a console at this stage in its lifecycle. So this ecosystem is alive, burgeoning and growing, and really setting the pace for what's going to happen in the future.

So the network now has a quintuple play.

Microsoft’s IPTV Edition can be a revenue source for cable providers and telecommunications companies. New digital TV services could include be developed by the service providers. Service providers that are committed to deploying this service include att in the U.S., BT Group PLC in the U.K., Deutsche Telekom in Germany and France, and Swisscom in Switzerland.

Posted by carl at 10:50 PM | Comments (0)

January 06, 2007

Saturday Nite is Date Night

My Wife and I went out with friends last nite and saw Dreamgirls. The experience was amazing on a number of levels.

First, The audience at the theatre was clapping and participating in the event. I never enjoy that unless it's deliberate like Rocky Horror Picture Show. However, what this movie showed me was the the musical as a genre was back. Chicago, Moulin Rouge all suffered blazing the trail, but this movie made it. Everyone was in there for the musical and it worked.

Secondly, Tom Eyen who wrote the books and the lyrics for this movie and for Broadway is the most likely person responsible for this experience. Every lyric supported the progression of the movie. If Oklahoma was the first musical to progress the plot with song, Dreamgirls was the epitome of musical plot progression.

Finally, I want to point out Eddie Murphy in particular. In someways this is a disservice to the movie, because this was an very much an ensemble cast. They did a great job and from beginning to end as did the team behind the scenes. I felt like care to every detail of costume (Sharen Davis) and style were played correctly. \

However, back to my point. Eddie Murphy has been part of my life for ages. Buckwheat on Saturday Nite Live, 24 hours, Eddie Murphy - Raw, Beverly Hills Cop, Bowfinger, Dr. Doolittle, etc. For him to pull off the role and to show the depth of the character was stellar. As we progress from aspects of Little Richard, the Fifth Dimension and James Brown, I saw the actor fill each role.

As I said I dont mean to a disservice to the rest of the cast Jamie Fox, Beyonce Knowles, Jennifer Hudson, Keith Robinson, Danny Glover and Hinton Battle all were fantastic. But Eddie played the part smaller than I would expect of him.

If you have not seen it. Go its worth it.

Posted by carl at 12:55 PM | Comments (0)