Stormy Weather - The Open Cloud Manifesto
March 31, 2009
Over the past year or so, a lot of words have been written about “Cloud computing.” And while the growth of the cloud as a service has been big, many companies still haven’t taken the time to figure it out. The bad economy may be forcing some companies into giving it some thought sooner rather than later, as hosting in the cloud can significantly lower overhead back at the office. Almost every company is in the hunt to lower costs these days, and for some, hosting applications and services in the cloud means less expense and fewer people back at the office.
A few weeks ago, I began hearing rumblings of an “Open Cloud” work group. The group was gathering support for a manifesto for how to ensure openness of the cloud. Sounded like a great idea (if not a pipe dream). Then the storm hit . . . Read more
Rewarding Failure The Sprint Nextel Way?
March 31, 2009
There seems to be a lack of fiscal responsibility among many large companies in these trying economic times. In spite of huge losses, some companies continue to reward those who have led them astray - all the while providing less for customers, employees, and shareholders.
Sprint Nextel has had a rough couple of years. 2008 alone saw losses of 2.8 BILLION dollars, an 11.2 % fall in revenue, and 4.6 million subscribers who walked out the door.
Some companies might take all of this as a sign that there was something fundamentally wrong with their business plan. They might do more than just lay off thousands of their valuable employees and perhaps, just perhaps, reorganize their operations and cut off the head of the beast responsible for their problems.
But that’s not what Sprint decided to do. Rather, they rewarded CEO, Dan Hesse, with a compensation package worth 14.2 million dollars. That’s a base salary of 1.2 million, performance bonus (or lack of performance bonus) of 2.7 million, 10.1 million in stock options (which are currently below their exercise price), a $173,801 contribution to his 401(k), and over $30,000 in security and personal expenses along with other perks.
Perhaps Mr. Hesse could use some of those millions to set up homeless shelters for the 8,000 or more Sprint Nextel employees who have (or will be) laid off due to his inability to keep Sprint’s products relevant to consumers.
Yes, something is rotten in corporate compensation these days. it is one thing to richly reward your leaders when they bring in oodles of cash, but very wrong when employees and shareholders are left holding the bag of sorrow while the CEO walks away with bags of gold.
Skype Surging Forward
March 30, 2009
After a long slow period for everyone’s favorite VoIP company, Skype is finally announcing some news items which might just help push the service into more users hands. 
Skype is one of those cool companies that people really want to love. However, their lack of evolution lately has made that a difficult task for some of us. Addicted to Skype chat or not, there are many other options.
Last week, Skype launched a Beta of its new SIP Trunking service “Skype for SIP” and a new desktop client which promises better sound and “Big screen video.” This week, they have launched a new iPhone app on the iTunes store (now available for free). None of these services are groundbreaking, rather making it easier for users to connect with the Skype network in new ways.
SIP Trunking allows companies to connect their phone systems directly to IP phone networks and generally achieve lower cost call connections. Skype’s posted rates aren’t cheap by SIP standards, but that may change by the time Skype for SIP comes out of Beta. The real advantage of Skype’s new SIP product is the ability to call Skype users for free. Which would be a big benefit if you have a lot of Skype customers.
Similarly, Skype for iPhone won’t rock your world, but it does put your Skype account literally in the palm of your hand. Make and receive Skype calls, chat with your friends, all for free to other Skype users. There is a caveat, you can’t place a Skype call over AT&T’s network, you must be on a WiFi connection. However, Skype chat does work on the AT&T network. No doubt, AT&T was worried about loss of revenue - they should be!
It is hard to compete with FREE.
Google Voice Too Cool For Comfort
March 20, 2009
How would you like to make calls and SMS for free? Would giving out a single phone number for all your landlines and cell phones make your life easier? Would having your voicemail automatically transcribed and emailed to you be a nice perk? And if all of the above were available for free, would the price be right? Google is banking on it.
A few years ago, I signed up for “GrandCentral” which offered a unique web based telecom service. They gave me a telephone number which would help me consolidate all of my various landlines, cell phones, and work phones. The service was so unique that Google ended up buying the company in 2007. But from there, everything seemed to be just treading water. Until last week when I noticed a message at the top of my GrandCentral account letting me know that it was ready to be converted to Google Voice. Of course I upgraded right away. And after just a minute or too, I was able to place some calls, send some texts, and figure out all the neat new features. I even placed some international calls just to hear the call quality. While the interface is drab and looks just like a Gmail page, the service otherwise exceeded all of my expectations. There is little doubt, Google Voice is going to be a huge hit some day.
Google voice keeps the general idea of GrandCentral and adds new features such as SMS, conferencing, and automatic transcription of voice mail - all for free. Read more
The Great Broadband Cash Giveaway
March 20, 2009
Money is in the air and the big cash sharks are circling. Last month President Obama signed into law a $787 billion economic stimulus package which contained $7.2 billion worth of broadband grants and loan programs.
Advocates of universal broadband access are interpreting the large allocation of funds toward broadband development as a clear indication that Congress is committed to connecting the country and maintaining an open Internet. In particular, The American Cable Association, which represents more than 900 smaller and medium-size independent cable companies, praised the legislation’s emphasis on providing rural areas with broadband. That and the possibility that they may be able to take a bite out of the multi-billion dollar feeding frenzy.
The bill mandates that the grants “accelerate broadband deployment in unserved and underserved areas and to strategic institutions that are likely to create jobs or provide significant public benefits”. In this ambiguity the money may also go to any recipient that best serves an area’s needs, including wireless providers, wireline providers, or any provider offering to construct last-mile, middle-mile, or long-haul facilities.
There is no doubt that this is a great opportunity for carriers who might provide high speed Internet and WiFi in rural and urban areas. Whether or not this translates into affordable Internet access for consumers is another matter all together.
You can read the bill in its entirety at http://www.recovery.gov/ and view a detailed explanation of the plan at www.recovery.com.
iPhone 3.0 Wishes Granted
March 20, 2009
It will be a long wait, but sometime this summer Apple intends to roll out a huge update to the iPhone software. For developers, the fun starts now, with over 1,000 new API’s in the updated developers kit. But it is the 100 new features announced at the Apple developers conference, which created the most buzz and applause. And most of that excitement reserved for a basic, but missing, feature.
Drum roll please! The iPhone is getting . . . . Cut and paste! Users have been crying for this feature since the launch of the very first iPhone nearly two years ago. While elegant in many ways, the iPhone was missing some critical features, many of which have been preventing the iPhone from gaining a strong foothold among business users. Cut and paste was one of the biggies and should have arguably been included in the very first version of the iPhone. Still we are thrilled to hear that it will finally be available, and users Will easily be able to cut and paste information between applications.
The other big gripe that most heavy iPhone users (myself included) have been screaming about is the lack of MMS (the ability to send pictures via the SMS app). With texting and photo swapping becoming as common place as phone calls (or more so for some age groups), the lack of MMS on the iPhone was really inexcusable. That will all be resolved this summer.
There were many other big announcements. Full support for Bluetooth (including stereo), push updates (but still no multitasking), voice memos, Google maps for apps, and search within apps.
The new “Spotlight” search feature will allow a user to search for information contained in any app on your iPhone, from mail and apps to music.
For developers and content producers, the big news is iTunes support for subscriptions and micro payments. Newspapers, magazines, serial content providers, will all be able to charge recurring fees for content. Developers will also be able to charge fees for upgrades within the app itself. With 800 million apps already downloaded, the iTunes App store is a phenomenon and a cash cow. These changes will allow developers to create even more apps and generate revenue in new ways. Some even see this as a way that some newspapers may save themselves. That remains to be seen, but is an interesting thought none the less.
But there are still two main features which are still missing from the iPhone lineup. Although many simple phones now offer the ability to take video (low resolution or otherwise) the iPhone still doesn’t support this. The phone also doesn’t support Flash. The lack of Flash support does impact the ability to view many web pages and it remains a sore spot for many iPhone fans.
For the most part, this is the iPhone update that many of us have been waiting for. The iPhone keeps its lead, but still needs a few critical features, and perhaps a few hardware upgrades, before we jump for joy.
Loading The Future - The Journey From 3G to 4G
March 12, 2009
We’ve only just begun to use our new “Faster” 3G wireless networks and already the attention has moved to the next big thing . . . 4G. So what’s the rush and all the hype about? Speed! The runaway success of smart phones and their data consuming applications, video, streaming, downloads, etc has consumer advocates and hardware manufactures all pushing for something bigger, faster, and stronger than the current 3G network infrastructure can reliability offer. We want pages to pop and apps to fly. And somehow, 3G just doesn’t live up to the hype. Users have grown tired of waiting for their apps and pages to load . . .
The next generation wireless data network is widely referred to as “4G” but there is more than one technology competing to be the wireless network of the future. For the most part, the battle is between LTE (Long Term Evolution) favored by Sprint/Clearwire and WiMax (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access) championed by Verizon. Which technology wins out isn’t really that important to consumers. What is important is that 4G become a standard that multiple carriers will adopt, making it easier for equipment manufacturers to produce devices which operate on multiple carrier networks.
If all goes well, we’ll have wireless networks which blaze at speeds of up to 100Mbps. But we would honestly be happy with just a fraction of the promised rate if networks could simply deliver consistent and reliable speeds.
LTE in particular shows promise in being easily embedded into nearly any device which is Internet capable - phones, laptops, netbooks, consumer appliances. Many see 4G as the start of a connected revolution where everything from your car to your tennis shoes are constantly connected and passing data. It is all likely to boil down to cost, capacity, and speed. If it isn’t fast and cheap, it will just end up as another fancy feature for a new iPhone. But if carriers can manage to pull out a cost effective alternative to current broadband solutions, our entire communications environment (and what gets connected) could literally be transformed.
Clearwire and Sprint plan to launch WiMax service in Las Vegas and Atlanta as early as this summer and have an ambitious roll-out plan. Verizon intends to catch up with its own deployments of LTE later this year. WiMax may have the early edge, but a flotilla of carriers and equipment manufacturers are lining up behind LTE as well.
Widespread deployment is still years away, and will be slowed by the need to create dual mode products capable of accessing both 3G and 4G networks until 4G is fully deployed nationwide. But, for once, a new technology actually seems to be gaining traction early and will likely meet or exceed its projected market acceptance.
The future is on the way, but still loading . . . loading . . . loading . . .
What the FoIP?
March 9, 2009
Am I the only one muttering expletives as yet another fax fails to transmit via Fax Over Internet Protocol? Is anyone else out there in techno-geek-land perplexed as to why we are STILL living in a world of imperfect IP faxing in 2009?
The fact of the matter is that although much improvement has been made in SIP trunking and User Agent configuration, the reliability of fax transmissions via FoIP has stagnated. For approximately every 10 pages faxed via FoIP, 2 pages will likely fail to transmit.
This isn’t just annoying, it is actually preventing some companies from taking the IP plunge. Time for the industry to put a bit more effort into standardizing fax over IP. After all these years, some might think that the carriers are purposely sabatoging FoIP, and thereby slowing the adoption of SIP and other forms of VoIP.
While plenty of companies offer robust IP faxing solutions, there is still a hole in the industry where IP Faxing should be. Whatever the excuse, the time for reliable faxing should have come long ago.
So, what the FoIP?
Broadcasters Fighting Mad Over White Space
March 5, 2009
For something with a name that indicates nothing, “White space” sure does have a few folks upset.
The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) and the Association for Maximum Service Television (AMST) have initiated action in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia in hopes of overturning the November 2008 FCC ruling allowing Google and others to use white space for commercial purposes.
White space is a chunk of unused airwaves which resides between broadcast TV spectrums. It was created nearly 50 years ago when TV was first invented in order to provide a buffer zone from stray signals and other interference.
White space has been the subject of intense debate for many years but in particular over the past 6 years its usage has been argued for and against with fierce passion. Advocates of making white space available (such as Google, Microsoft and Motorola) claim that its unlicensed use would stimulate an evolution in WiFi systems which have greater scope than what is available today. Opponents (broadcasters, wireless microphone companies, sports teams and many telecoms) claim its usage will create harmful interference with TV signals.
Despite tests and conditions placed on white-space usage by the FCC, the NAB and the AMST continue to insist that use of white space spectrum would cause extreme complications by interfering with TV signals and furthermore claim that the FCC decision was “arbitrary, capricious and otherwise not in accordance with law.” However, they did not elaborate on what specifically makes the FCC decision illegal.
For some, change is never a good thing. If used as mandated, white space poses very little threat to digital television broadcasts. One thing is for sure, the FCC has a fight on its hands from litigious broadcasters. Perhaps the new White House will need to weigh in on the dispute over white space.
Julius Genachowski nominated to chair FCC
March 5, 2009
Julius Genachowski, 46 year old former Harvard Law School classmate of Barak Obama, has been nominated for the top post at the Federal Communication Commission. During the presidential campaign, he served as top technology adviser for then candidate Obama.
Genachowski was responsible for putting together a detailed technology and innovation plan for the Obama campaign which expressed support for open Internet or “net neutrality” protections. Net neutrality, a principle which insists that ISPs not discriminate against traffic on their networks, is a primary concern of Mr. Genachowski. Key lawmakers have already signaled their intent to reintroduce legislation to make an open Internet the gold standard. Creating a national broadband policy is also likely to be a major focus for Genachowski as the U.S. has slipped to 15th place in worldwide broadband penetration (from 4th place in 2001) while maintaining one of the highest costs for these services.
Serving on the FCC committee during the Clinton administration, Genachowski is no stranger to this line of work. He was a co-founder of LaunchBox Digital, a Washington, D.C.-based technology venture capital firm, and has many years of experience in various technology ventures with Internet mogul, Barry Diller.
One of the FCC’s initial challenges will be handling the nationwide conversion to digital television (DTV) signals (which, after being delayed in order to give viewers more time to prepare for the change, is now set for June). They are also expected to move quickly to encourage a broader diversity in the controlling interests of the nations broadcast and media companies (after many years of consolidation in the industry). Read more
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