VoIP Developer Conference: Day 2 Keynotes

Day 2. This morning’s keynote presenters, Martin Steinmann and Anna Dorcey addressed the assembled crowd of conferees and discussed the topics of Open Source and the developer’s role in society.

Starting things off, Martin Steinmann, a member of the Board of Directors of SIPFoundry, spoke to the audience on the subject of SIP and Open Source, and the opportunity created by these two major factors as they drive change and growth in telecom.

Linux and Open Source have evolved from a cult-like philosophy or religion in the early 1990’s to enjoy status today as a successful alternative to Windows and other aspirants. Mr. Steinmann pointed to the success of Apache servers and the incredible market share they enjoy in IT organizations all across the world.

Combining VoIP and Open Source, he said, yields some positive results, namely: accelerated adoption, reduced cost, and increased interoperability. That spells opportunity. In summary, Mr. Steinmann commented that the Web took off courtesy of HTTP. VoIP will take off when standards-based SIP is ready for prime time. The mission of Mr. Steinmann’s organization is just that: to promote standards-based SIP. “Innovation,” said Steinmann, “will be based on open standards.”

Ms. Dorcey, the Director of Avaya's DeveloperConnection program spoke to the room full of developers about their role in society. Echoing the sentiment of Intel’s Michael Stanford who spoke yesterday, Dorcey made clear that developers need to think about the impact their applications will have on society and in real world scenarios. Technology is about solving real needs, and developers need to design apps with that in mind.

She cited Thomas Edison, and noted that the developers at this event were all following in his footsteps, as the inventors of the 21st century. Today’s crop of developers – certainly the audience at the VoIP Developer Conference – are creating applications that will change the way we communicate.

She summed up her presentation with a quote from IBM’s Rational Chief Scientist and IBM Fellow, Grady Booch. Of developers, Booch had this to say: “…software will touch every aspect of life and thusly developers will only grow in importance to society.”

With that said, Ms. Dorcey urged the conference attendees to take their mission seriously as their work will have a definite impact on our society in many ways.