Recently in Cisco Category

Bandwidth Tsunami, have you heard of it? I received an email which said this recently from a close relative. Heard of it I answered, sure - telepresence, YouTube, video conferencing HD video streaming, p2p sharing networks, 3D TV, yep, one of the brightest spots in tech is finding ways to monetize this trend. The Backhaul market is just one example. It is apparent that this trend is not going to slow down anytime soon and equipment providers are tripping over each other to provide solutions which in turn deliver more bandwidth. Even companies supplying chemical coatings for fiber optic cables are optimizing their products to serve the insatiable global bandwidth appetite.

One company, DSM Desotech, a leading supplier of UV-curable optical fiber coatings has even focused on ensuring the frequencies which transmit video are optimized on optical cables which carry their coatings.  Wondering what UV curing is? Well I am glad you asked. You see, my father started TMC back in 1972 as he saw an opportunity to educate the world on chemical coatings by launching the first magazines in the world in this space. You see there was an energy crisis and the world was switching from coatings which were cured (dryed) in huge money-wasting heat ovens to coatings which contained chemicals which would react to ultra violet light and dry rapidly without the need for wasted heat. TMC was likely the first publisher in the green technology space.

In 1982 he launched the first magazine in the world on the contact center and from there the company gradually shifted to communications and technology and we left our chemistry roots behind as we grew to be the world's leading media company focusing on communications and technology.

So it was with fond memories I got to discuss how DSM Desotech has a UV coating they call DesoLite which maximizes signal reliability and performance from -60 degrees to 85 degrees Celsius.

Of special importance is the coating's resistance to microbending which is best described as random bends in the cable which cause small deformations in the cable axis which results in signal degradation. Microbending can take place when there is a non-uniform external force on a cable such as fiber being forced on cabling materials or pressed on a rough surface.

Some of the benefits of DesoLite are power and money savings associated with purchasing less repeaters as well as decreased repair costs.

To further the market, DSM Desotech recently partnered with Telcordia to drive standardization for the characterization of microbending performance in optical fiber and cable products. Some of my contacts in the optical industry think this is a smart move as it allows the company to effectively combat competition from Asian manufacturers. I tend to agree.

To learn more, watch this video which contains an interview with Robert Crowell, VP of Fiber Optic Materials and Steven Schmid, Research and Development Director, Fiber Optic Materials.

I really excited to speak at the Illinois Institute of Technology Rice Campus for the VoIP Conference and Expo 2009. This will be my first time to this event and interestingly the third time in recent weeks in which I am in Chicago instead of Vegas for a show. Maybe the city didn't get the Olympics but they certainly seem to have gotten all the shows - WiMAX World, Supercomm and now this event.

Getting back to my talk - I am moderating a Keynote Panel titled: Are the "Bells" ringing for Carrier VoIP? And my panelists include Carl Ford, Crossfire Media; Anne Lee, ALU; Gaston Ormazabal, Verizon and Henning Schulzrinne, Columbia University at 4:00 pm this Thursday 10/29/2009. I hope to see you there. Here is the schedule with my panel in yellow at the bottom.

Here is the website for details.

Yesterday I discussed TMC's evolution to a company growing rapidly by building communities in a number of new topical areas. One such space is the smart ecosystem market which focused on the rich relationships between partners in various markets. For example the iPhone app store is a huge ecosystem as is Avaya's DevConnect program. I also mentioned yesterday that TMC is partnering with experts in other areas to combine our community building technology and infrastructure with the absolute best content available.

Our smart ecosystem industry site is called SPEC and this stands for Smart Products Ecosystem Connections and our partners on this initiative are Mary Cronin, professor of Boston College and Crossfire Media. Mary is a well-respected authority on the subject of intelligent ecosystems and we are thrilled to be working with her and her team.

There is some incredible and thought provoking content coming from Mary and others and you will want to visit the Smart Products or SPEC page on a regular basis to stay informed. One of the most interesting recent articles I came across discusses Neustar and NeoMedia and their relationship in the 2D barcode space which has the potential to link print and product codes to rich media and consumer engagement.

Here are where all of Mary's articles live - I hope you find her writing as excellent and useful as I do.

Here are a few more articles of interest from the site:

• Local Nets Are Sprouting Smart Connections
• Memo to Michael Dell: Strategy for Winning Smartphone Wars
• Smart Mobile Health Connections for Better Patient Care
• T-Mobile Gets Clean Power from Medis

I conducted dozens of videos this week at Supercomm and many were done in the TMC newsroom. I posted a few of them below for you to see. Feel free to check out the complete list of Supercomm video interviews performed by the TMC news team and others. Expect them all to be posted by October 30, 2009.

I wanted to alert my readers to some exciting news happening at TMC. As you likely know TMC is among a handful of media companies growing at a time when the media landscape is in dramatic decline. As you might imagine this growth is primarily online. Over the last decade and especially in the last few years we have focused on building online communities (Channels and GOCs) for customers who sponsor these areas as they rapidly attract focused decision-makers from around the world.

The visitors who come to these communities benefit from a massive amount of free content which helps them make informed purchasing decisions. For example people looking for products in Call Recording, Smart Data Centers, IP communications, HD Voice, Fixed Mobile Convergence or Next Generation Communications can come to the respective communities focused on these topics and have access to hundreds and in most cases thousands of TMC written articles detailing the news in their specific area of interest. Our business model is straightforward; aggregate massive amounts of focused and quality content using custom-built content targeting technology - make it relevant and pertinent so as to attract the right readers who need this information as they research the products and services they are looking to buy.

For our sponsors, these communities allow them to rank high organically on search engines to get their message out to a focused audience while simultaneously being able to measure the traffic to ensure they can justify their spend to the sales and executive management teams.

Basically, this suite of communities replicates the trade show model online and just like a trade show that attracts more attendees as the exhibitor base grows; the 120 monthly sponsored communities on TMCnet attract a massive audience which in turn attracts more sponsors.

In short, I am very confident we can continue to provide free quality content in all the areas we enter. Meaning while other media companies are beginning to charge for their once free content and many others are reducing their editorial teams, TMC is adding to its editorial, sales and marketing teams as we have a model which works exceptionally well for our readers and sponsors.

We are growing our team as we enter a slew of new markets with our business model of providing laser-focused content - backed by over a decade of proprietary content targeting technology; essentially building targeted online communities which rank high on search engines as they attract large amounts of focused traffic.

Here is my quote from a press release we put out today mentioning the hire of a brand new position - VP of Business Development. Matt Weiner is filling this position and his background of working for Penton and Yahoo! make him a good fit for the position."Over the last decade, TMC has invested in the technology and people necessary to build a next-generation media company which creates communities online, in-print and in-person," Tehrani continued. "By providing our audience with top quality news, training and information, we have attracted global purchasing decision-makers to our communities. As TMC's global communities have increased in size and quality, they have attracted hundreds of advertisers and sponsors who receive regular measurable results for their marketing and SEO budgets. Our future strategy involves continuing to build communities which draw large amounts of targeted traffic as we continue to connect buyers and sellers -- and adding Matt to the team is an integral element of that strategy."

Aside from Matt, we have added a number of other positions and just as importantly we continue to ink partnership after new partnership as we enter new spaces where we leverage our community building engine in combination with the thought leadership of individuals and/or corporations in new markets.

Thank you for continuing to support our rapid growth - thanks to our readers and existing and news sponsors - we look forward to helping all of your companies grow with ours.

I am here in Chicago for Supercomm 2009 where I have numerous video interviews and meetings set up. I will be attending a few receptions and the first one is this evening in celebration of Genband's 10-year anniversary. We have a booth at the show where we will be filming live interviews with industry executives and thought leaders and we are excited that TMC's Paula Bernier will be participating in the conference portion of the event. Genband is participating on the panel she will be moderating and will be sending out a press release which I feel objectively describes the session. Hopefully you will get a chance to stop by and see Paula in action.

Here is a photo of Supercomm 2009 Chicago exhibit hall and the release:

GENBAND to Participate in Transcoding Panel with Verizon, Nokia Siemens Networks at SUPERCOMM 2009

Conference session explores transcoding requirements, challenges, insight for voice and multimedia interplay

Plano, TX, October 19, 2009 - GENBAND Inc., a market-leading developer of next-generation IP infrastructure solutions, today announced it will join with Verizon Communications Inc., and Nokia Siemens Networks for SUPERCOMM 2009's programming session: The Transcoding Path to IP Network Interoperability. Taking place on Wednesday, Oct. 21 from 3:10 p.m. - 3:55 p.m. in room W183b, the panel will discuss interworking complexities at network borders and how the industry is addressing these challenges through transcoding.

"As challenges arise from managing and routing VoIP and multimedia sessions, service providers are increasingly using transcoding to address interconnections at network borders," said Paula Bernier, Executive Editor at TMC and moderator of the session. "I look forward to discussing this timely topic, including both the service provider and equipment manufacturer perspectives as they supply and deploy transcoding solutions across IP networks. We will discuss successes and challenges of implementation as well as the roadmap for transcoding and its relationship to trends such as IMS and FMC."

Ms. Bernier will moderate a panel comprised of Tim Dwight, Principal Member of Technical Staff in Verizon's Core Network Technology organization; Al Young, Account Director at Nokia Siemens Networks; and Andrew Bender, Vice President of Technology at GENBAND.

SUPERCOMM 2009's conference program focuses on broadband solutions, in the form of real-world examples and case studies that feature the users of technologies and services as presenters, along with the service providers implementing the technologies in their networks and deploying the applications those technologies enable.

The Transcoding Path to IP Network Interoperability session will explore the requirements for transcoding and the strategies to resolve challenges that arise from combining networks with varying voice and multimedia traffic types.

Carrier consolidation, the convergence of fixed and mobile networks, and the prevalence of all-IP network architectures are all driving a growing need for transcoding in today's communications networks.

The traditional approach to connecting IP networks uses gateways to convert traffic to a common TDM format, which resolves media compatibility but increases cost and can impair voice quality. GENBAND offers a unique solution that avoids these issues by enabling direct IP-IP transcoding with support for fixed, mobile, and satellite codecs.

A fascinating bit of reporting from the Wall Street Journal confirms some things that many in the communications industry already knew and some things we didn't.

1. eBay doesn't get Skype - this is as obvious as it gets.
2. The current Skype Management and investors don't want to deal with Niklas Zennstrom or Janus Friis
3. Mike Volpi, past Joost CEO wanted to change Skype's underlying technology to SIP - knowing this would upset Skype's founders Zennstrom and Friis - Coincidentally about five years ago at ITEXPO Niklas Zennstrom was giving a keynote and at the end of the presentation Andy Voss, founder of Session Border Conrol company Sansay asked why Skype doesn't support SIP. Zennstrom replied accurately that there are far more Skype endpoints than SIP endpoints.

What amazes me the most about this situation is that to all the people who understand Skype, there is a tremendous amount of value in the company and it is worth fighting over tooth and nail. To those who don't understand it - eBay for example, there is limited value.

This story keeps getting more interesting.

In the last two weeks I drove (well I was in the car anyway) for more than 1,500 miles meeting with tech companies in Montreal, Ontario, Massachusetts, Rochester, NY, Los Angeles and San Diego. The last stop on my latest trip was at CTIA where I saw dozens of companies from around the globe.

Most of my travels involve learning about companies in the communications and technology space and often advising them on how they can be more successful. Sometimes I get to see some very innovative solutions which I can't share at the time for a multitude of reasons (embargos, etc) and other times I get a firsthand look at things which I share as soon as I can. In many cases, companies ask me about TMC's experience in helping companies with their thought leadership, branding and lead generation activities.

As CEO of a media company which builds online, in-person and print communities for millions of global purchasing decision-makers each month, I have an unusual role of also writing about many of the companies, products and services I see. What is fun for me is finding new ways to bring buyers and sellers together. Buyers want to quickly learn about which products they should consider before purchasing and sellers are looking to sell as much as they can while spending the least amount in doing so.

It is an amazing place to sit because extremely often I see industry-changing technology which languishes because an engineer sets the marketing budget and has the corporate communications skills of sheetrock. Remember, I have an engineering degree so I feel I am uniquely qualified to beat up my brethren. Then there are the companies I visit where their products shouldn't be accepted for free, yet they sell in volume and make massive margins because they are able to communicate the benefits properly.

Then there are a slew of "Hail Mary" companies which have really cool products but no business model to speak of. Sometimes I can convince the founder of such a company to modify their offerings to actually make money but other times the companies die on the vine because they think they know best - after all, I just meet a thousand companies plus like them a year - what do I know?. Sometimes though the amazing happens and they  get purchased by a Google, Cisco or Oracle and thus the "Hail Mary" designation.

I am thrilled to act as a trusted advisor on PR and marketing issues and I figured it is unfair for me to only share information with people I choose to visit and subsequently I spoke on a webinar a month or so ago about hosted SEO which was well-attended and generated lot buzz in the industry. So many companies wonder about search engine optimization and what the trick is to ranking high. While there are lots of factors to consider, the basic premise is to write lots of content which people want to read and share with others.

SEO consultants get paid to help companies rank higher and in some cases they can boost a company's search rank for a while. But in the end, steady and relatively large amounts of content are what companies need to generate to rank high on various terms.

I could go on about building communities and improving SEO for hours - I am truly passionate about figuring out how to instantly bring a group of people with similar interests together on a single web portal. Coming from the world of magazines, it used to take TMC six months to build a mailing list and in many cases you really needed 18 months to do it right. Oh and did I mention you had to mail at least half a million subscription offers and it would cost you about $400,000 at a minimum to rent lists, print and mail your subscription forms? To show you how much things have changed, TMC has been involved in projects in the past few months where we built communities on new topics which are up and running and attracting hundreds of thousands of people in a matter of a few weeks. It is truly amazing to see how media has evolved through the use of news-generated, laser focused community building.

Again, these topics are a major passion of mine and something my team at TMC has gotten great at focusing on. The next webinar I will speak on takes place Thursday of this week, October 15^th at 12:00 PST and on it I will discuss how you can partner to boost your search engine marketing. I look forward to seeing you there. Be sure to register now so you don't miss it. As a reminder, you can view the archive if you aren't around at this exact time. Just be sure to register. Also, be sure to bring any questions you have. I look forward to answering them this week.

The Wall Street Journal has an interesting article today talking about Dallas-based venture funds which flopped by investing in telecom and networking companies. It explains that funds in Silicon Valley and Boston are doing better than those in Texas, Washington state or New York.

Coincidentally, today there is also news that online video company Ooyala has now raised $20 million and online video conferencing company ViVu raised $3 million. Both as you guessed it are based in Silicon Valley. Most importantly of course is the fact that wireless equipment maker Mass-based Starent Networks just got sold to Cisco for $2.9 billion.

If history is any guide and this trend continues, we can expect Mass and Silicon Valley to be parts of the country which recover more quickly from the economic downturn than the rest.