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Multicore Processors in 3G

As 3G applications and services become more complex, it becomes essential that service providers address the challenge by ensuring they user the proper processors to take advantage of increased device load. One way to tackle the problems of power and performance vs. battery life and heat dissipation is to use multicore processors.

If there is one truth in the future it is that devices will need to do more and consumers will demand more from them. I will be looking forward to learning more on a TMCnet/TI webinar which will take place Tuesday, February 26, 2008 at 2:00 pm EST/ 11:00 PST.

You can register on this page.

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Good Bye Jeff Raikes

Good bye Jeff Raikes.

Raikes did a great job at Microsoft and in the unified communications space he should be commended for rolling out a slew of strong products and doing a fantastic PR and marketing job promoting them. He will be retiring from Microsoft soon.

Microsoft is an interesting animal in that they are so large that sometimes I think they are too big to get things accomplished quickly but at the same time they surprised me by rolling out good products in the unified communications space in a relatively short amount of time. They also got a large group of partners to buy in and simultaneously promoted these products very well via extremely effective marketing and public relations campaigns.

Unlike many companies in the communications space who change marketing strategies virtually every quarter, Microsoft has stayed consistent with message. They really understand marketing better than the typical communications or tech company.

Stephen Elop the former COO of Juniper Networks will be replacing Raikes and there is much speculation about why Microsoft did not look internally to fill this position. There are ideas floating around that the bench at Microsoft is not deep. When I read this stuff I wonder if these writers have actually been to Microsoft's campus and whether they have met the people that work there.

There is a very deep bench at Microsoft and there are a number of people who could lead Microsoft's Enterprise Software division effectively.

I would say the biggest reason the company reached outside for new blood is because there needs to be someone who can take on Cisco more effectively. Let's face it... Unified Communications is set to be a huge growth area for Microsoft over the next five years and who better to lead this push than someone who slugs it out with the networking leader on a daily basis?

In Elop, Microsoft has found someone who knows how to run a company successfully but more importantly has spent a good amount of time competing against a company that is larger and with deeper pockets. Microsoft has hired an executive who can hopefully bring a new culture to Redmond as the world's largest software company has to fight a war with a slew of social networking, web 2.0 and of course, SaaS companies.

The battle Microsoft faces these days in the enterprise space has to consider both hardware and software vendors and Cisco and Google are at the top of the list. Who better than someone from Juniper to help them win this battle?

Of course the downside to this move is morale issues associated with not reaching inside the company. Still, if Elop is successful, hopefully an increasing stock price will keep all at Microsoft happy.

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T-Mobile's Massive Spend

I thought it worth mentioning the absolutely staggering amount of money T-Mobile will be spending to upgrade their 2G and 3G networks. A total of $10.3 billion will be spent between now and 2009 in fact. This could be an absolute windfall for telecom equipment providers and I am sure Alcatel-Lucent, Ericsson and others are all over T-Mobile, looking for a piece of these contracts.

See this TMCnet story for details.

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Bose Bluetooth

I have a pair of Bose QuietComfort 3 noise-canceling headphones and for the longest time I have wondered why -- just why, I have to have a separate bluetooth stereo headset. After all for $300, Bose should not only have bluetooth in their top of the line headphones they should send you a gift basket.

It seems engadget has the details on how Bose will be upgrading or retrofitting the QuietComfort 3 headphones allowing us to reduce the number of headphones and headsets we need to carry with us. I for one just can't wait for this to happen but i must say, this blog post lack a good deal of detail about what a future product may look like and when it will come out.

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Nuance Communications Podcast

A few months back, industry veteran Wes Hayden made the jump from President & CEO of Genesys to the President of the Enterprise Division of Nuance Communications. I took the opportunity to ask Hayden some questions about his move to Nuance, what the future of the company holds and where we will see the speech market evolve to over time.

The interview is in the form of a podcast.

Wes was able to handle the questions with aplomb and gives insight on where Nuance Communications is headed and even how he will help increase the company's share price.

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Sad, Very Sad

Now I am not one to nitpick but it would make sense to fix this phone -- right?



Photo credit: DinSide.no and I have no idea where this photo was taken.

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WMWifiRouter

One of the most incredible software packages I have come across in quite some time is WMWifiRouter which enables Windows Mobile devices to become WiFi access points, sharing the EVDO connection with a number of others. Although the software allows ad hoc connections instead of infrastructure I found no negative effects from this minor oddity.

As Tom Keating wrote recently, I did install this software on my phone for a number of reasons. One of the main ones is because I would like to use the Nokia N800 tablet computer away from areas that have WiFi. You have no doubt read me go on and on about how useful the N800 is... The main problem with the device continues to be the lack of cellular access.

Now, I can easily run the WMWifiRouter software on my XV6800 and an instant access point is created for the N800 and other devices to share.

In addition, during trade show set up (before internet is running in the convention center) at ITEXPO, TMC can now use our Windows Mobile devices to create instant access points for others to share.

As you might imagine, Verizon is not happy about this because they have their own "tether" service which allows you to pair a Windows Mobile device with a single other computer via bluetooth. This service requires you to pay a monthly fee and in addition limits your data connection to a single device.

If there is a downside to the WiFi sharing service it is that when you receive a phone call the data connection is killed and the one time this happened to me I had to reboot the phone to allow it to start sharing the wireless connection.

In addition, there is obviously a tremendous battery drain involved when using the service so have spare batteries and/or a power cord nearby. In addition your device will get fairly hot after a few minutes. I have noticed when using WiFi on the XV6800 before getting this software that sometimes the phone also runs hot.

One other issue... Verizon has eliminated any internet connection sharing in this device so you need to add other software to allow WMWifiRouter to work. I downloaded ICSInstall.zip from XDA-Developers (registration required).

I then followed these instructions:

1. Extract the files from the attached ZIP to your computer
2. Copy ICSInstall.exe, ICSInstall.bin and cf.cab to your device
3. Install cf.cab on your device
4. Soft-reset
5. Run ICSInstall.exe
6. Click Patch
7. Wait 'til it says Done
8. Soft-reset
9. Test ICS ( \Windows\IntShrui.exe )
10. Delete ICSInstall.exe, ICSInstall.bin and cf.cab

Once installed I was sharing like a champ and surprised at just how amazing this software is. As this is a shareware program I urge my readers who find this program useful (and others as well) to donate to the company's developer Jorrit Jongma.

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Service Provider Opportunities

Service providers are being extremely creative in using technology and ingenuity to launch new and enhanced services and products to keep customers and attract new ones. Some of the better ideas I have seen lately are the consumer electronics DECT phone from Comcast which allows internet browsing and address synchronization via the in-home cordless phone.

I also think the Alltel/AAA collaboration is a great move allowing consumers access to over 100,000 locations which give AAA discounts. In addition the GPS-enabled devices allow instant transmission of location to AAA when you have a car problem.

Another great idea is the transmission of Pandora radio to certain AT&T Wireless handsets. I really like Pandora as the service allows you to customize your own radio stations without listening to commercials. I even said that Pandora could be one of the biggest threats to satellite radio.

If we have to try to determine what other areas service providers will be able to capitalize on in the future we should look to the PC as a guide. In the PC world, instant messaging, video and social networking are some of the hottest trends around.

It is a fairly logical leap to assume these trends will be very lucrative for service providers who find ways to generate revenue from them. For example, providing presence on cell phones as well as the passing of presence information from cell phone to the web/PC are natural revenue generators. Presence is an essential part of bringing the social networking and IM paradigm to the mobile device.

In addition, the sharing of video and the integration of video with social networking and messaging is a natural extension of phone service to mobile devices.

As service providers do not have unlimited funding but at this point it does seem like they have unlimited opportunity, the question they need to ask is how to tap into the opportunity at the lowest possible cost. One way to do this is to transition your networks as fast as possible to session initiation protocol or SIP and learn as much about SIP as possible.

In addition, if presence is indeed the future of providing telephone service then SIP is an essential protocol to become expert on.

Deploying services rapidly becomes easy via SIP. In fact rolling out services which are not SIP-based is time-consuming and very expensive.

It is for this reason TMC University has partnered with Dialogic to provide SIP training and certification for service providers. Although I must apologize for the promotion of a TMC product in this piece, I simply haven't found any other conference which offers such a certification and I think every service provider should send their SIP delegation to this class to get certified and to network with their peers.

For more information on this session which takes place in a week and a half in Miami, FL -- check out the the syllabus for TMC University SIP: The Foundation for Building Enhanced Services.

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Death of the Road Warrior

One of the more respected names in the video/telepresence space is Casey King, CTO of LifeSize. I recently had a chance to interview King and you may be interested in reading his views on how telepresence is changing the world of business travel. According to King, business is doing very well over at LifeSize and they expect the future to be even brighter. King makes one prediction at the end of his interview which at first I didn't agree with but over a few minutes I started to think he may be correct. Check it out for details.

King will be speaking at ITEXPO in two weeks so if you want to learn more about telepresence be sure to register for the conference and I'll see you in Miami.

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IP Fax Reliability

If you are concerned about the challenges with fax over G.711, you may be interested in a webinar which focuses on such topics and also focuses on how SIP and T.38 can improve the reliability of fax over IP.

This particular webinar is fifth in a series consisting of the following webinars which are archived for your viewing pleasure:

"Break Free" - Leveraging SIP in Developing Enhanced Applications
Building Applications with SIP - the IP Contact Center
Building Applications with SIP - Conferencing/Collaboration Solutions
Call Recording - Evolving from TDM to VoIP by Transitioning Challenges into Opportunities!

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