Greg Galitzine : Greg Galitzine's VoIP Authority Blog
Greg Galitzine

Communications Developer Conference Coming To Los Angeles

March 28, 2008

I just confirmed that Communications Developer Conference will be making a triumphant return to Los Angeles this September 16–18.   The event will be co-located with Internet Telephony Conference & EXPO at the Los Angeles Convention Center.   The final details are being ironed out as I write this and the event Web site will be up in the next couple of days, so stay tuned.   Also, since I tend to be involved in the conference planning portion of TMC’s events, please drop me a line if you are interested in participating in the conference program. 

Speaking proposals should be sent to [email protected] and mention Communications Developer in the subject line.   We’re looking for presentations on the following topics:
  • Application development
  • Enabling technologies
  • Open Source Design Considerations
  • Developing Wireless VoIP Solutions
  • Developing for Wireless, and more.
  A more detailed call for papers will be available in the next day or two.   It looks like our fall events are shaping up to be as successful as ever. Drop me a line if you want to be part of the industry’s fastest growing events.    

Many Views on Motorola News

March 26, 2008

    Motorola’s announcement that it would split itself into two companies — one focused on handsets and one focused on other broadband and mobile product lines, including wireless broadband and enterprise communications.   The news has spawned thousands of stories and even more opinions: Is this a good move? Is it a desperation play? Will it help Motorola regain the number 2 spot in the handset business? Currently Motorola trails number 1 Nokia as well as Samsung for global market share.   While it’s not yet clear what the proposed split will mean to investors, employees, and the market in general, Kevin Burden, Research Director, Mobile Devices at ABI Research believes the move should have been easy to see coming.   “What is clear is that a radical move needed to happen,” says Burden.

Xangati Helps Front Line Agents

March 25, 2008

Xangati has announced Virtual Task Manager solution, a rapid problem identification application that can be deployed right to the front line support groups in either enterprise or service provider settings.   Previously the ability to drill down to help solve a customer complaint was reserved for senior level agents and managers. The new solution enables the first tier of customer support — those who actually field the complaint calls — to have visibility into a customer’s network and what the subscribers are doing at any given time.   This enables them to rapidly get to the heart of the customer complaint, which has several benefits, including a reduction in the total number of customer service calls, less time spent on the phone with each caller, fewer truck rolls to resolve issues and reduced customer churn as a result of happier, more satisfied customers.   For more, check out this article, or visit Xangati online.

Xangati Helps Front Line Agents

March 25, 2008

Xangati has announced Virtual Task Manager solution, a rapid problem identification application that can be deployed right to the front line support groups in either enterprise or service provider settings.   Previously the ability to drill down to help solve a customer complaint was reserved for senior level agents and managers. The new solution enables the first tier of customer support — those who actually field the complaint calls — to have visibility into a customer’s network and what the subscribers are doing at any given time.   This enables them to rapidly get to the heart of the customer complaint, which has several benefits, including a reduction in the total number of customer service calls, less time spent on the phone with each caller, fewer truck rolls to resolve issues and reduced customer churn as a result of happier, more satisfied customers.   For more, check out this article, or visit Xangati online.

Russell Shaw, 1947-2008. Rest in Peace.

March 17, 2008

Russell Shaw has died at the age of 60, far too young by any standard. Opinionated, intelligent, prolific… Shaw still had much to say, whether writing about VoIP or Mobile devices for the team at ZDnet, or Regulations and Standards here at TMCnet, or posting his views on Politics and culture related issues for The Huffington Post.   I had known Shaw for a long time as simply someone on the other side of an e-mail trail. Somehow for all the years we circulated in the same universe I never got a chance to meet the man, until ITEXPO in Miami this past January. And I’m glad I did finally get the opportunity, for our meeting forever attached a real person to our correspondence.   A real person who is now gone.   Shaw was an avid writer, thrusting himself into his work with an energy and conviction I wish many of my younger colleagues in the space would emulate.

Super Specs Solve Search Stress

March 14, 2008

The UK’s Daily Mail has a report on intelligent glasses that help wearers locate frequently mislaid items like car keys, cell phones, and the like.   The specs — developed by Japanese researchers under the tutelage of Professor Kuniyoshi at the University of Tokyo — feature a built in camera, display screen and computer brain which aid in finding misplaced objects.   Professor Kuniyoshi thinks these glasses might revolutionize the lives of people who suffer from memory problems.   According to the Daily Mail:   The Smart Goggles contain a compact video camera which films everything the wearer looks at — and a viewfinder which fits snugly in front of the right lens.   The glasses are connected to a small, but smart computer processor worn on the back which can learn to recognize shapes extremely quickly.   To use the glasses, the wearer first wanders around a house or workplace for an hour or so, looking at the objects he or she may later want to find in a hurry.   Each time the camera focuses on a object — such as a set of keys, a mobile phone or a purse — the wearer says the name aloud.

Frost Chairman to CEOs: Carpe Diem

March 12, 2008

Google Reassures On Information Security

March 10, 2008

What’s tomorrow’s headline going to be?   Google had a post on their Official Google Blog today by Douglas Merrill, VP of Engineering. The post is titled How Google keeps your information secure, and is all about the effort Google puts into protecting your personal information.   According to Merrill, “…we take security very seriously, and that's why we have some of the best engineers in the world working here to secure information. Much of their work is confidential, but we do want to share some of the ways we're protecting your data.”   He goes on to discuss Google’s philosophy, the technology that they employ to ensure that information is protected, and the processes that the company employs to secure your private bits and bytes. Of course Merrill touts his co-workers as some of the “best and brightest security engineers in the world,” and points out that Google uses a lot of their own technology in-house, the old, “we eat our own dog food” pledge.   I wonder what happened that made Google go to the effort of explaining their security policy in their blog today, a blog entry replete with links to their already existing security policy.   I like to be assured that my private information will remain private.

Rich's Take: Aspect's Unified Communications Play

March 10, 2008

Water, Water Everywhere... And Drugs Too!

March 10, 2008

A new report from the Associated Press this morning might have millions of people rushing out to purchase water filtration gear.   According to a five-month AP investigation of drinking water supplies of 24 major metropolitan areas, it was discovered that the water supplies serving upwards of 40 million Americans contain a “vast array of pharmaceuticals.”   Trace amounts of antibiotics, anti-convulsants, mood stabilizers, sex hormones were identified over the course of the investigation.   To be fair, the trace amounts are well below any medical dose, but scientists are concerned about longer-term consequences of the presence of these drugs in our drinking water.   The AP report quotes Benjamin H. Grumbles, assistant administrator for water at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as saying, "We recognize it is a growing concern and we're taking it very seriously."   I sincerely hope someone is taking this seriously.
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