Communications and Technology Blog - Tehrani.com - Conference Archives

HTML5 Continues to Be Big Tech News

2012-05-22T21:28:22Z

HTML5 is being embraced by virtually every company as it a cross-platform solution to getting your content in front of users without the need for app stores or developing customized solutions for each device and OS you would like to have your content displayed upon. The good news is companies like Adobe have jumped on the bandwagon – ColdFusion 10 will support HTML5 based on news released this week in fact.

Then there is the “dark side” of HTML5 – basically some believe mobile devices and browsers aren’t ready for this new development language. This problem becomes an issue for video where 30-60 frame per second viewing is needed for optimal viewing quality.

It seems every company has decided that HTML5 is in their future. For example recent news about 3D-based modeling in your browser is possible thanks to a new company called Sunglass and LG showed off a new secure HTML5 viewer cable operators can use with their TVs this week at the Cable show in Boston, Mass.

In short, the future of development on the web looks like it will center on HTML5 and while it may seem logical that HTML – something which all sites employ will still be in use, this newest iteration is far more sophisticated and powerful than previous versions. There are new security, programming and design implications and for that reason it is worth taking a course or attending a conference on the topic to be sure you maximize your programming and design results.

As a disclosure TMC where I am CEO is a partner in DevCon5 perhaps the most well-established HTML5 design and development show in the world. Our sixth event takes place in New York July 23-24^th, 2012 and the conference program is now available for your viewing pleasure.

I hope to see you there.

The Adaptive Computing Ace Band

2012-04-10T02:07:49Z

I am here at the Adaptive Computing Moabcon conference in Park City, UT and the band playing at the opening reception is made up of company employees - mostly techies and one marketer. Pretty impressive. The company had an audition process to pick the best talent and then the band was formed.

YouTube Video

No word on whether the group will be quitting their day jobs. :-)

Off to MWC 2012 Next Week

2012-02-23T19:34:46Z

I've got lots on my plate this week before I take off to Barcelona to attend Mobile World Congress (MWC) - which was once called 3GSM. I've got great meetings lined up and I am very interested in seeing what is happening in the world of 4G, white spaces, M2M, tablets and smartphones. Apple won't be there - formerly anyway so I consider this event to be kind of like the anti-Apple confab. Interestingly, all the major events I attend these days are devoid of the iconic Cupertino brand as well. It doesn't seem to be hurting them does it?

Yet face-to-face events like this one are crucial to get the word out and generate buzz around brands which don't have the Apple halo. Companies that will really need to shine this week include Microsoft, Nokia, RIM, Samsung, Google and HTC.

I will be sure to keep you posted as I travel to the show (www.tehrani.com)- you can also follow me on Twitter at @rtehrani. In addition the TMCnet Mobile World Congress news page will give you access to articles written by 100+ TMCnet contributors.

These are some of the MWC stories produced so far today:

Will Nimble 2.0 take Social CRM Mainstream?

2012-02-14T17:01:00Z

Recently consumer products manufacturer P&G – one of the largest advertising spenders at over $9B announced it will cut its marketing headcount in-part because advertising on Facebook and Google is more efficient. The maker of Gillette and Pantene products is not alone; in-fact the business world is focusing heavily on social media including Google+ and Twitter.

But while it is understood by many web-savvy companies that social is important – how many of them are embracing social CRM? My informal analysis shows the numbers are very low meaning there could be huge room for growth.

That is of course if you don’t ascribe to the idea that it is important for companies to help shape the dialogue about themselves online. More importantly, you don’t believe that tying social media into CRM systems can boost sales and service levels and perhaps even increase productivity.

One person who believes in the power of social CRM is Nimble founder and CEO Jon Ferrara. Around 1991 or so he told me at a dinner that his new company contact management/CRM company Goldmine has lots of potential because, “There is no Lotus in the market.” Ironically, Goldmine did in fact become a major player in the space while Lotus faded from the scene.

Last year Nimble rolled out its initial cloud-based social CRM solution and there are now 30,000 users and 3,000 of them spend almost half their day on the platform. The newly released Nimble 2.0 aims to increase the first if not both of these numbers. In Ferrara’s own words, “Nimble is an integration of social listening and engagement platform, internal collaboration with sales and marketing capabilities of traditional CRM and elegance and simplicity of contact manager rolled into one easy to use system.”

He contrasts the look of Nimble – which is similar to a Facebook page to Salesforce which he says looks like a mainframe screen. Additionally, he believes that while Hootsuite is useful it’s limited because it doesn’t allow you to drill down on specific contacts.

Successful salespeople have always known that information related to a certain prospect could help increase the chance of a sale. In other words, if you know where a potential customer went to college, that information could be helpful in relationship-building which in turn could give you the edge in a competitive sales situation. Although people like to believe they purchase based on objective facts, likeability and/or trust of a salesperson is a major factor in pulling the purchasing trigger.

And one of Nimble’s objectives is to boost relationships by enabling companies to get a better overall picture of their prospective customers.

Ferrara likens Nimble 2.0 to fishing in the social river where salespeople can find a needle in a haystack. By tying in traditional CRM data, a company can ascertain which people on social networks have also downloaded documents from the corporate website. Moreover, companies can also determine who in the social stream is interested in which products.

For a few years now I have swept all my Twitter follow emails into a special folder and I’m frankly amazed at the quality of the follows on this network. Not only do I find numerous related companies I never heard of and are worthy of coverage. Often these follows turn into prospects and sometimes become new customers of TMC.

Tying these follows into a CRM system makes infinite sense if for no other reason than to justify the spend companies are making on social media.

In other words if you are to put aside the passion that Jon and I share for the future of commerce being closely aligned with social CRM, then at least you should be onboard with using an integrated Social CRM tool to evaluate the ROI of the effort your company is putting into social networks.

In using the platform I am happy to report it has proper hooks into a number of social networks including Google+. A number of other social aggregation platforms don’t yet connect to Google+ for some reason. Moreover, although I am a Nimble dabbler, not a frequent user, I find its daily email digest of job changes from my social networks very useful.

Jon also feels his company’s integrated solution is better suited to the world of social-CRM than a CRM system with social bolted on. While this is a logical statement, I wouldn’t count out Oracle, Salesforce or any other CRM vendors as social integration should be straightforward. Sure, some will always do it better and Nimble is a pioneer but that doesn’t mean the CRM world won’t be watching like a hawk and emulating like a cheetah.

Nimble is free for standalone personal users and business and multi-users can sign up for $15 per user per month. At that price it is certainly worth trying.

Need a New Car? Win a Mustang at ITEXPO in Miami Next Week

2012-01-27T15:48:11Z

I think I may have one of the best jobs in the world. I admit it is a bit ADHD-inducing as I get involved in lots of areas from new media to the latest technologies in the market as I run this major media company which is TMC. Not only do I get help influence tens of millions of people online I also get to host live events where I meet many of the readers who frequent my blog and TMCnet - the main web portal of TMC where I am CEO.

But the most exciting part of my job comes twice a year when I give away a car to an unsuspecting attendee at ITEXPO. Next week - Friday Feb 3rd at 1:45 pm at the Miami Beach Convention Center, I get to give the next car away and it will be a Ford Mustang. In order to be eligible to win you need to pick up a card at registration and get it stamped by all the sponsors of the car giveaway.

Thank you sponsors for making these giveaways possible. If I were an attendee at a show I would want a mix of solid education, a chance to network with peers, see the leading exhibitors in the space but also to have some fun and that is what events like our various receptions and giveaways are supposed to provide.

The TMC team and I look forward to hosting you next week. Thank you all in advance for coming to our event and hats off to the TMC team who is managing not only ITEXPO but a host of collocated and unparallelled events such as Super WiFi Summit, MSP World, our SUITS technology patents event, M2M Evolution, Mobile LATAM, HTML5 Summit, Cloud Communications Expo, The Channel Vision Expo (CVx), Business Video, Asterisk 123, 4GWE, StartupCamp5, Avaya Tech on Tap, the Blackberry Hackathon, SIP trunking workshop, business development workshop, telecom reseller week, to name a few.

http://itexpo.tmcnet.com/sip-trunking-workshop/miami/

ITEXPO East 2012 Miami Out of Office Message

2012-01-24T22:15:59Z

While I digest the super-strong, mind-numbing Apple growth numbers which propelled the stock to a high of $460 per share after hours I have just set my out of office message for next week when I will be at ITEXPO. The message is below in case you want to use something similar. And for your convenience here is the first show daily from the event – which covers news from Sprint, AT&T, Whitespace Alliance, Panasonic, Accedian Networks, Cycle30, FaxSIPit, Phone.com and Polar Media.

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Thank you for your message. Starting Jan 30th I will be at ITEXPO (www.itexpo.com) in Miami.

This is the global tech and communications conference - covering cloud, MSP, super WiFi, 4G, M2M, Patents, SIP, VoIP, HTML5 and featuring keynotes from Google, Sprint, Samsung, The FCC and Sir Terry Matthews.

On Friday, Feb 3rd @ 1:45 pm I give away a new Mustang - You must be present to win so I hope to see you there. (http://goo.gl/vkqrd)

Have a wonderful week and enjoy the New Year.

Google Keynote at ITEXPO Feb 1st, 2012 in Miami

2012-01-03T19:03:02Z

I am really thrilled to let my readers know that Rick Whitt, Washington Telecom and Media Counsel at Google will be the keynote presenter at Super WiFi Summit which is a collocated event at ITEXPO. ITEXPO kicks off this January 31^st and continues until February 3^rd and we expect this show to be very well-attended and one of the best places in the technology world for networking and choosing products and services for purchase.

Now getting back to Super WiFi – it is the concept of using white spaces – radio spectrum which for the most part isn’t in use to allow a super high-speed network to be developed. Think of it as WiFi but with far greater range and consider what happens when equipment can routinely communicate with other devices many miles away without the need for wireless service provider or 4G network.

TMC’s partner in Super WiFi Summit is Crossfire Media and Carl Ford from the company had this to say about this news:

The unused portions of the UHF white space spectrum can drive down the costs of consumer broadband access and provide a range of new opportunities for service providers and device manufacturers – and we’re all looking forward to hearing Google’s perspective on this topic.

In Whitt’s first keynote (he has two), which is scheduled to take place at 9:00 AM on Wednesday, February 1st, he will discuss how the use of White Spaces, is fostering innovation and providing new mobile broadband alternatives for local providers. Here are the details and a bit more on Whitt's background:

Whitt is Director and Managing Counsel for Telecom and Media Policy for Google Inc. He is responsible for Google's strategy and advocacy on all wireline, wireless, and media matters before the Federal Communications Commission, other Federal agencies and the U.S. Congress. Whitt represents the company's interests on a variety of broadband and spectrum policy issues, as well as the “un-regulation” of VoIP and other Web-based applications.

Will Microsoft Departure Kill CES?

2011-12-22T20:12:48Z

Can one major defector kill a trade show institution?

It happened with COMDEX – the show got so big that it exerted tremendous pressure on companies to spend more and more money to keep their coveted locations on the show floor. Location – being in the North Hall of Las Vegas was so important in fact that companies acquired others so they could improve their location! And as the desire to be in an important location increased, show organizers decided to increase the sizes of the booths exhibitors had to take in order to remain in important halls. They even had an auction process pitting companies against each other to see who would bid the most for important spots.

And this adversarial relationship resulted in increased pressure in the relationship between the largest US trade show and its partners/exhibitors. As soon as a few big names pulled out, the show more or less imploded.

But poof, just like that it was over. And too bad... I personally had a great relationship with Bill Sell on the management team and as in the nineties when I got my start in publishing, COMDEX was good enough to work with TMC and include us at the event.

Want to know how important the show was? One year a company from Asia came to us and offered us I believe $7,000 in cash to be able to have a table in our booth.

And now that Microsoft has announced it is pulling out of CES, some are wondering if the same thing will happen to this show. The answer is that the show organizers will now be under a lot of pressure from other major sponsors to get more for their dollar. Items requested will likely be more speaking slots, low-priced sponsorships and other sweeteners to keep one major vendor defection from turning into 3, 5, 7, 15, 50.

Yes it is true that the momentum of CES is tough to kill but the big names are a major reason many attendees go to this show and if they are gone then there will be an associated traffic decrease which will mean the remaining players may take smaller booths which will translate into the sense the show is losing traction.

What probably happened in my opinion is CES was under pressure to give less exposure to Microsoft from some of the other players who were vying for the same sponsorships, speaking slots, etc. Microsoft most likely didn’t take too kindly to not being treated as if they were the most important player at the show – they spend a fortune there and the relationship headed south.

Apple pulled out of Macworld the story goes it did so in order for it to have more control over its destiny and Microsoft is making a similar argument. The difference is of course that Apple had retail stores which allowed it to have direct connections with its customers. Microsoft can use virtual communications such as social networks to approximate the same end-user relationship but it isn’t the same.

From my perspective however with the advent of IT becoming consumerized, now is not a good time to leave the Consumer Electronics show. Moreover, with Apple rumored to have a new TV next year which approximates much of what the Xbox Kinect does today, do you want to have a void at this event where most of the media and forward-looking tech enthusiasts will and want to be?

Microsoft for its part can always reverse course – we’ll have to see if they begin to miss CES or if the CE Association makes them an offer (including an apology) they can’t refuse.

Avaya's Top Communication Trends in 2012

2011-12-16T20:22:04Z

Recently I had a chance to have an in-depth conversation with Avaya about the trends they see for 2012 in the communications space. In particular I spoke with George Humphrey a Director and Line of Business Owner at Avaya and Diane Royer, Senior Marketing Services Manager.

The trends below are at times augmented or enhanced with my thoughts.

1) Mobility raises the expectation of availability

Voice is morphing in the enterprise and becoming more consumer-driven and as a result everyone is connected at all times and moreover everyone wants immediate action. Consumers want to know right away if that widget on the website is compatible with European power or if the red color of the lamp online is closer to burgundy, beet or pomegranate.

Consumers are walking around with smartphones today that are the computing equivalent of supercomputers of a few decades back. This means we not only can do anything anywhere from a voice and data perspective, we will need to in order to maintain our customers and jobs. This is certainly not a new trend – a huge jump in being able to work around the clock took place in the nineties when voicemail allowed executives, salespeople and others to check messages without being in the office. BlackBerrys continued this trend and the web and e-mail turbocharged it and today’s powerful devices, WiFi and 3G/4G networks have supercharged the trend.

2) Contact centers test the value of voice

More companies will calculate where voice communications fit into their value stream, from pure cost to revenue generation. This is straight from Avaya - I didn’t get into this one as I thought some of the other bullets were more interesting.

3) Contextual data spans the last mile of personal productivity

For those of you were around during the 1980s in the call center space, you may recall the call centers who could invest millions of dollars were able to connect their Rockwell ACDs to their IBM mainframes to allow a database dip when the phone call information appeared via ANI and this in turn allowed a screen pop on the agents desk when they answered a phone call. What could be “popped” depended upon what was in the database but the idea here is we can do “screen pops squared” today because a call can come in and we can leverage CRM repositories, enterprise search tools, social networks, blogs, wikis and you name it. It is really just a matter of organizing it all. The idea is the more information agents have, the better they can serve their customers and in turn the more loyal the customers will be, resulting in higher ARPU and stickiness to borrow some terms from the wireless space.

4) Businesses advance from social media to social business

The idea here is we are about to cross the chasm of social adoption in companies – the social company or social enterprise is around the corner which in tech adoption turns will likely take 5-10 years. Interestingly at a recent conference I attended one vendor told me about a financial company which installed a state-of-the-art social platform for their company to use. Problem was the majority of the company was made up stock brokers who were – let me put this delicately, closer to retirement than college. Basically the old folks couldn’t figure out the newfangled pokes, circles and the like. Who says I have to be diplomatic all the time? :-)

Point being once again, this will be a journey, not a destination we reach in the next few years. Are we there yet? No. Quit your whining and be patient. :-)

5) Social media and customer care enter into an arranged marriage

My family came to this country from one in which arranged marriages were the norm. Let’s just say you didn’t necessarily fall in love you were I suppose “told” to love. Keep that in mind when you integrate your contact center and social strategies as customers have to feel like the two are seamless and agents need to be able to navigate the Venus of the Contact center and the Mars of social with aplomb. Just keep in mind, you really need to get it right the first time as there is no prenup I am aware of.

The rest of these are straight from Avaya – stay tuned for more comments from me after number 12:

6) The SIP is raised again

early adopters have completed implementation of, and captured initial ROI from, SIP-enabled infrastructure; now they’ll begin deploying SIP-enabled applications to gain the next level of value.

7) Social interactions expose customer care’s flaws

Businesses can’t fake who they are in a “social” setting, because social interactions ultimately expose “the real you.” Some businesses will discover they aren’t portraying an image they prefer, so they’ll be compelled to reinvent what customer centricity is all about.

8) IT support staffs converge, part two

In many companies, voice and data support teams converged with the advent of Internet Protocol (IP) telephony; with the deployment of unified communications applications, more companies will blend their applications teams as well.

9) Continuous connectivity drives communications support services

Communications support services increasingly will involve proactive problem resolution via secure access links and live interaction when necessary via innovative Web environments.

10) “True” UC apps proliferate

IT departments will be compelled by business units and enterprise users to adopt more user-centric applications and devices.

11) UC managed services/outsourcing facilitates alignment between IT and business units

As business unit demands increase at an even faster clip, more IT departments will adopt managed services/outsourcing business models to keep pace. IT groups that resist will continue to struggle.

12) Clients take control of managed services

As IT departments better understand industry best practices around infrastructure management, they will become more discriminating about the services they purchase, their expectations for transparency into those services, and how they hold service providers accountable.

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A few important points - on number eight, the company believes there also needs to be an evolution in IT meaning the director of infotech for the call center needs to understand data, UC, UC apps and be more savvy about MSP-based solutions. And on number ten, the concept here isn’t CEBP or Communications Enabled Business Processes it is more about BYOD – so think mobility.

I also asked the company how these trends are or aren’t manifesting themselves into sales and the response was more clients are seeing true value in UC and app-centric communications. Moreover, they are looking to more creative ways to procure solutions meaning the manufacturer becomes the systems integrator and moreover they are looking for more MSP-based delivery models.

I also asked about Avaya’s Flare collaboration environment which the company rolled out a short while back and they said it is available on the iPad – I downloaded it and it is pretty slick. In the future we can expect it to become video-enabled on this platform and Flare for Android and PC are coming in the spring of 2012.

I also asked about the company’s A175 tablet and didn’t get the sense this device is lighting the world on fire. Let’s put it this way – I knew it was tough to compete with the iPad at $500 when the A175 costs about $2,000. Now there is an Amazon Kindle Fire priced at $200. Believe me there is no comparison between the capabilities of the A175 and these other devices as it is multimedia-enabled and is really a super-powerful device for road warriors. It’s just that Avaya doesn’t have the appeal or consumer electronics name of an Apple or Amazon and this presents a challenge.

Another interesting point is that customers have seen cloud advertised so often they are interested in these types of solutions but they don’t necessarily need their system to be in the cloud. In other words it can be a solution which is MSP-based and OPEX oriented. In other words Avaya is trying to listen to customer needs and cut through the catchy cloud computing and cloud communications buzzwords to determine how they can solve their customer’s needs.

You can also see Avaya’s original thoughts on these trends if you are interested in seeing them without my added perspective.

You can see Avaya live as part of TMC’s ITEXPO where they have consistently been running their Technology on Tap events. It will take place Tuesday, January 31, 2012 from 5-10 pm EST in Miami Florida at the Miami Beach Convention Center (not the typical hotel setting you may be used to). Moreover the keynote will be given by the Author of Cloud Computing for Dummies, Judith Hurwitz. The company kindly requests you register in advance, thank you.

Plantronics Headset Line Exudes UC Dominance

2011-11-03T16:38:54Z

Recently I received a care package from Plantronics with a number of their headsets and other products and when I opened the box it served as a not so subtle reminder of just how dominant the company is. Back in 1982 when my company TMC (I am CEO) launched the first magazine in the call center space, Plantronics was one of the few companies in the market and almost 30 years later they have evolved into an organization delivering unified communications endpoints for virtually every segment of the market.

Blackwire C435

Case in point is the Blackwire C435, a small, lightweight corded stereo headset with microphone which comes with a travel pouch. The sound drivers are relatively large yet fit in the ear comfortably due to a clever design. Moreover they deliver crisp sound and the microphone extends to your mouth allowing you to be heard clearly. In my testing, I used Skype to call an iPhone 4S on the AT&T network which sounded great and I played a variety of music from pop to the Theme from Jurassic Park from John Williams and the 1812 Overture from Tchaikovsky. On these last two pieces the midrange really shined and the cannons in the overture played without any distortion. The DSPs and audio programming Plantronics uses on its USB headsets have always been superior in my past testing and this device was no exception.

Included is a clip for your shirt which takes the weight off since a pack-of-gum size plastic in-wire device is included to house the DSP, control volume, allow muting and answer phone calls.

Room for improvement is pretty basic – the headset is made in-part of translucent plastic and it doesn’t really bend to fit. It was comfortable on my ears but I could see them getting uncomfortable after many hours of use.

Price is about $100 and for a lightweight travel headset which reproduces music well and also allows you to make high-quality voice calls the Blackwire C435 is priced about right.

Calisto 825

The Calisto 825 is a hybrid device which connects to UC systems such as Cisco and Microsoft Lync while providing a speakerphone for a small group. The desktop gadget is incredibly flexible as it allows you to also connect via Bluetooth to a cell phone and offers a Bluetooth microphone attachment the PA50 for crystal clear voice clarity. In addition you can opt to pair a Bluetooth headset.

The 825 allows a user to make UC, Skype and mobile calls speakerphone calls from its keypad or you can use a corded (via two jacks) or bluetooth headset. I tested the wireless microphone 20 feet away, through a few walls and it still was able to transmit my voice clearly to the caller on the other end of my test Skype call.

Moroever, you can also make UC and Skype calls via a Bluetooth headset. At $259 list it’s a good value – it costs more than a low-end IP phone but offers good quality sound and lots of connectivity options.

In the improvement category I would like to see it become a SIP device you could hang off a PBX using Ethernet – instead of needing a USB connection. Moreover, when I tried to connect the Sound ID SIX headset to the 825 it just wouldn’t connect. Although the 825 acknowledged it was paired with the headset they wouldn’t communicate. I did get it to work with a Plantronics Discovery 650E headset – a great device with a vibrating base to alert you to calls when your phone isn’t nearby.

I would also request better Skype integration – when an incoming call appeared on my screen I wasn’t able to answer it with the Calisto 825 – I needed to click answer on the computer screen.

One other point is I would like to see an oil-phobic screen like on a smartphone – either that or I have to stop eating lunch at my desk.

Other than that, this is the device to solve most every communications connectivity issue you can think of and it’s easy on the eyes.

MDA200 Switcher

The MDA200 switcher is a simple device which switches between PC and PBX/PSTN based communications. Two large buttons allow you to effortlessly switch between the two modes. Moreover, it can accept input for a USB headset or even a wireless one like the Plantronics H-series headset with a DA series USB adapter which plugs into the front of the unit.

I tested it with the Blackwire C435 headset and was surprised to find that the computer didn’t recognize the MDA200 but it did recognize the C435. Not that this is a problem, I was just expecting to see the MDA pop up in the Plantronics Spokes Control Panel software.

The list price at $129 is high but I have seen it around $70 online which is a good price for a device which will integrate wireless headset capability to computer-driven and traditional telephony.

Savi 440

The Savi 440 is sleek, uses DECT wireless and works with UC solutions from the major players such as Cisco, Avaya and IBM. You plug the included D100 adapter into your computer, make sure it is the default device, make a VoIP call, press the headset’s on button and you are done. It was as pain free as possible and just worked – I love this headset.

It also comes with an array of ear buds and over the ear loops as well as a full over the head padded assembly for maximum comfort. When I noticed the simple over the ear loops were made of the same plastic as the Blackwire C435, I was a bit concerned. But thankfully there were three different sized loops which maximized comfort depending on ear size. Still, I wished for a different material and noticed there was a foam tube sock in the box which slides on the plastic and not only makes the headset more comfortable, it reduces slippage.

The company says this is the lightest DECT headset on the market – I haven’t tested the claim but it is really comfortable and I barely realize it’s there. Also the range is very good – I walked about 100 feet away through steel, concrete and much sheetrock and still was able to be heard and hear clearly. It definitely has better range than any other office cordless phone or headsets I have tried. Its range is even superior to some of the most specialized long-range WiFi access points on the market.

As a plus, you can stream audio to this headset although the music sound quality won’t impress you. Its a good solution however for news or talk radio.

I don’t have room for improvement. The street price is about $200 which some may consider high compared to what a typical DEC handset might cost but you are paying for the UC connectivity and all the comfort options and miniaturization which allow you to wear this device comfortably for hours at a time.

Savi W740

This headset is really the top of the line when it comes to UC and productivity. It is an upgrade from the W01 Savi Office headset system I have used for years and is similar to the Savi 440 in terms of fit, comfort and weight. The W01 has been a reliable companion – comfortable, supporting long-range wireless calls with a lightweight headset design and the ability to switch between VoIP and office PBX calls without a hitch. Two buttons on top of the device allow you to seamlessly switch as I needed between phone and computer depending on the mode of communications I was using.

The W740 works similarly and adds Bluetooth so now my cell phone is paired with it. What this stops is fumbling to switch headsets throughout the day. Quite often I used to find myself with a different headset in each ear so I could easily talk regardless of which phone rang. I finally figured out an easy way eliminate this annoyance.

Another improvement over the W01 is the 740 has a removable battery for people who spend many hours on the phone. The W01 headset was able to be charged with the typical round style last generation Plantronics power adapter while the 740 does not allow charging except via the base. This is actually a good money-saving move by the California-based company because I can’t think of why you would need to charge the headset without using the base.

The other changes are the earpiece is now selectable from 4 options in an enclosed kit and you have the same plastic ear loop with the foam sock combo mentioned in the review of the SAVI 440. When I slid the sock on the plastic, I accidentally ripped it – leading me to suggest a few more socks be added with such an expensive headset.

The 740 also sports a Bluetooth symbol/button which shines blue when connected to your mobile device. In my testing, it was very easy to get the headset to communicate with an iPhone - even if you use many bluetooth devices. If the blue light isn't lit all you need do is press the button and it connects in a few seconds either during or before a phone call.

You have to wonder just how many ear bud and ear loop adapters the company has to keep track of. I use a Plantronics stereo Bluetooth headset in the gym and another Bluetooth headset to answer phone calls and they both fit into the ear differently than the headsets I just reviewed. One wonders if it isn’t time to drastically reduce all the combinations to a handful of very manageable options. Moreover, Plantronics was one company which led the way in adoption of Micro USB as a standard way to charge its devices – perhaps there needs to be some standards with regards to how its headset fits comfortably in an ear.

Like I stated at the beginning of this post, Plantronics has been making bulletproof headsets which TMC has been evaluating since the eighties and moreover the company’s history goes back to the early sixties. Neil Armstrong even used a Plantronics headset on the moon.

And since that time the company has continued to innovate with the goal being to make more and more useful communications endpoints which boost productivity and efficiency. It’s a testament to the company’s sound business strategy that commoditization hasn’t forced it to go head-to-head with no-name Asian imports. By focusing on quality, durability, good design and offering a breadth of solutions which solve almost any communications endpoint need, they have proven they are a great corporate partner when choosing headsets.

ITEXPO West 2011 Austin Highlights

2011-08-23T19:09:30Z

Before all ITEXPO events I do a final proofread of the show directory and this one may be the biggest ever at 132 pages with tabs (just doing our part to support the economy). We will post a PDF version soon so you can see what’s in it but until then, here are some highlights that caught my eye:

Keynotes & Exhibits Tuesday, September 13^th at 9:15 AM we have Ian Pennell from Cisco and at 4:30 PM-5:30 PM we have keynotes from Siemens and IBM followed by a Grand Opening Networking Reception sponsored by Interact from 5:30-7:30.

Wednesday, September 14^th at 10:00 AM – 11:00 AM we have keynotes from Polycom and DHL followed by exhibits from 11:00 AM- 4:00 PM. Then at 4:00 PM there is a Cocktail reception sponsored by Rackspace Hosting and at 4:45 you could win a pair of mountain bikes from Mellow Johnny's Bike Shop - an Austin Institution ( I am told). Then at 5:00 PM Bob Metcalfe kicks off StartupCamp4 Comms Edition with a keynote and this event continues until 8:00 PM and is free to attend.

Thursday, September 15^th Exhibits open at 11:00 AM and the Jeep giveaway begins at 2:45 PM (see below). Thanks to Jeep sponsors AireSpring, AudioCodes, Windstream Communications, Panasonic, Sotel Systems, Taqua, WildPackets and VocalTec.

ITEXPO West voted #3 fastest growing trade show by Trade Show Magazine – thanks to the fine editors of this publication and to all our loyal attendees who have allowed this conference to honored. We really appreciate your support.

You can win a Jeep – TMC has given away dozens of cars over the years and we will be giving away yet another on Thursday, September 15^th at 2:45 PM. And YES, you have to be present to win.

Free WiFi, as long as less than 5,800 devices are trying to connect at once, I am told the Austin Convention Center will have fast WiFi access for everyone who wants it. Like many of you, I know from painful experience that tech crowds like ITEXPO attendees can bring just about any WiFi network to its knees so I am looking forward to seeing how this network does under heavy load.

Super WiFi & white spaces Speaking WiFi, Tuesday morning 9/13 Super WiFi Summit kicks off and this paid conference will teach you about how white space technology could be as disruptive to 4G/wireless as VoIP was to the PSTN. Imagine if you knew what you know about VoIP today – but in 1998. What investment and career decisions would you have made as a result? And now you see the Super WiFi opportunity. It all takes place in room 5C on the 3^rd floor – learn more here and check out the agenda or register.

HTML5 Revolution In room 6B, Sept 13-15^th you will find the most authoritative conference on HTML5 anywhere and if you are interested in learning how HTML5 will disrupt app stores and allow developers to create broad-reaching apps without having to develop for multiple architectures, this conference is for you. Sessions will allow designers, entrepreneurs, programmers and investors to learn everything they need to know about the future of cross-platform and mobile development. Here is the link to the HTML5 Summit, a Devcon5 Event. Here are some of the latest developments on the show.

MPLS University MegaPath is sponsoring MPLS University on Wednesday, Sept 14th in room 7 between 2:00 and 4:00 PM and it is free to all attendees. Please contact the company with questions and pregister here.

Regulations change everything: Regulatory 2.0 Workshop takes place in room 4A for a half-day on Thursday, September 15^th. The federal government, FCC and other governmental agencies have changed the fortunes of entire industries with the simple passing of a bill. And with the massive disruption in the market taking place with the PSTN potentially being eliminated, OTT set-top boxes eliminating the need for cable operators and wireless eliminating the need for fixed lines and countless USF issues, you need to get a sense of what the feds and state regulators are planning for your future.

Voice peering continues to grow The VIPeering conference takes place in room 5A Tuesday, September 13^th and focuses on crucial factors in the voice peering market like the role of the SBC, number portability and more.

SIP Trunking on a tear Let’s face it, virtually all SMB and enterprise telephony on a global scale will be replaced by SIP trunks and this massive opportunity is why the Ingate SIP Trunking Summit has been such a success at ITEXPO for many years. ITEXPO was the first show in the world with a SIP trunking workshop and we continue to have the most knowledgeable speakers and curriculum designers anywhere. Learn more about this free 3-day event.

Asterisk and open source telephony You know who you are – you prefer to have your telephony be open-source either because you enjoy the added flexibility, want full-control or perhaps you like the cost-savings that comes with this more open form of telecom. Whatever the reasons for your interest, you have to be at Asterisk 1-2-3 training hosted by Digium in meeting room 2 on the first floor on Monday September 12^th where you can learn how to connect SIP phones to Asterisk, how to add logic and even how to compile Asterisk from source code. This is a good fit if you are relatively new to the topic or are exploring your options.

What, more SIP? You know you need to know as much about SIP as possible to ensure you can effectively interconnect your organization’s telecom systems. This is especially true in light of the fact that SIP systems aren’t always interoperable out of the box. And just for you we have assembled some of the best speakers anywhere to teach you at the SIP Tutorial which takes place Thursday, September 15^th in room 5A.

Need talent or a job? We are thrilled that the people from Dice will be hosting a high tech job fair at ITEXPO September 15^th, between 11:00 AM -3:00PM. For more information email Bob Westerkamp or call 800-695-1939.

Dialogic Solution Showcase? On page 53 of the directory there is an ad from Dialogic touting a Solution Showcase. I am not sure what this is but is certainly reminds me of the nineties when Dialogic used to feature its solution partners at shows around the US and world. Anyone else remember the Computer Telephony shows in LA? I’ll be stopping by their booth #407 to learn more.

Send your marketing team Marketing departments have never had to deal with the level of technology and complexity that exists today. SEO, social, deal sites, print, TV, radio, online ads, online communities, resource centers, lead generation, CRM management, analytics and so on. To help, we have launched a CMO Summit on Tuesday, Sept 13, 7:30-9:30 at Fogo de Chao. This event requires an application be filled out and approved so thanks for your understanding.

When a cloudy future is good You mean you haven’t thought about moving your communications in the cloud like millions of others? Well even if you are sure you don’t want to move all your comms to the cloud you should explore moving some of it or at least be educated enough to defend your position in the next meeting with your boss. The best place to learn about cloud communications of course is at Cloud Communications Expo on the level one ballroom C Tuesday, September 13^th and Wednesday, September 14^th.

Some highlights from the above expo are:

International Hour on Tuesday
MidMarket Session on Tuesday
M&A Social Networking Lunch/Track
Analyst Keynote on Wednesday

A 4G future it should come as no surprise that your wireless future will be 4G but how does a company leverage all the opportunities this new standard allows? Well of course by participating in the 4GWE conference where you can learn how to solve picocell issues, deal with backhaul challenges and more. Be sure to come to room 4A and 4BC where this conference will take place and learn more. As part of this event you will also get to hear two awesome keynoters – Cameron Coursey of AT&T as well as Charles Jolley the CEO of Strobe. Here is a link to part of a past keynote Jolly did at the TMC DevCon5 event in Manhattan a few weeks back. It was one of the best presentations we had at the show.

Billions of M2M devices Yes, as amazing as it sounds there will be billions of machine-to-machine devices from tablets to sensors to appliances. Yes, your refrigerator and washing machine will be connected to the network allowing them to utilize power when it costs less and moreover making the world a more efficient place. Opportunity in M2M abounds – witness my recent pieces on Sprint and OnAsset. Life often imitates musical chairs – and if you aren’t quick, you lose. Come to M2M Evolution Tuesday September 13^th through Thursday, September 15^th in room 5B to learn more about the industry.

MSPs are the cloud Recently a managed service provider I was speaking with said his company was the cloud. Of course this sounds a bit silly but he had a point – and that is, without a network of cloud-based providers supplying backup services, payroll, email, collaboration and other apps – the cloud would not only be boring but not as profitable. Leave it to MSPs to act as the glue that makes all the really cool cloud-based apps stick. Come learn more at MSP World Tues-Wed, Sept 13-14^th.

Without the channel, where are we? Starting up companies which make great products is sometimes the easy part of the equation. The tough part is finding a channel to market – a set of resellers who can hold the hands of your customers and walk them though a more complex sale. There is no better place for the channel to gather than at Channel Vision Expo or CVx Wed-Thurs Sept 14-15^th, located on the show floor.

Customers are tweeting and facebooking, are you listening? Social CRM Expo is an event I decided the world needed because to be honest there are so many ways customers can complain and comment regarding your company that if you aren’t engaging prospects and customers in near real-time you risk major reputational and potentially financial damage. Social CRM is the discipline which brings together the art of listening to what customers are saying and engaging them to ensure problems are resolved quickly and your company’s reputation is as good as it can be. Social CRM Expo is the place to be to learn all about it Tues-Wed Sept 13-14^th in room 8A.

Be sure to check TMCnet for the latest on Telecom reseller week – an event all resellers should be particicpating in and of course Avaya has a great event on Monday, Sept 12 at 7:00 PM called Technology on Tap which will explore how the workplace needs to evolve to handle the millennial generation. Oh great, now we need to tweet these kids to get them to do something we want. :)

It should be really great – like all the past Avaya events they have always included great drinks, food and course objective information.

I really can’t wait to see you all at the show – it should be the best one ever. Please register now if you haven’t – and keep in mind you may need to register for multiple conferences if you have interest in their sessions.

Cisco's Ian Pennell to Keynote ITEXPO in Austin

2011-08-22T20:49:09Z

We are thrilled to announce that Cisco's Ian Pennell The Senior Vice President, Small Business Technology Group will be keynoting ITEXPO in Austin, TX, Tuesday, September 13, 2011 between 9:15 AM and 9:45 AM. One reason I am excited to announce his participation is Pennell handles much of the carrier and VAR/channel partner relationships and these are integral parts of the ITEXPO experience.

It should be a great event and Cisco's participation joins a roster of truly crucial tech companies keynoting such as Mike McCarthy the VP of Cloud Computing Services at IBM, Mark Straton, Senior Vice President Solution Marketing Voice and Applications at Siemens, John Antanaitis, VP of Marketing at Polycom and Matt Groppe, Director of Global Business Development, DHL Same Day.

Update: Another event which takes place the same week at the same convention center as ITEXPO is StartupCamp4 Comms Edition and the keynoter for this event will be Bob Metcalfe, the inventor of Ethernet, VC, professor, cofounder of 3COM and author of the world-famous Metcalfe's Law.

By the way, speaking of DHL - if you doubt a shipping company is really in the tech space - check out this editorial from Marc Andreesen in the Wall Street Journal this past weekend which explains why software is eating the world. Here is an excerpt as a subscription my be required to view. Italics added by me:

Software is also eating much of the value chain of industries that are widely viewed as primarily existing in the physical world. In today's cars, software runs the engines, controls safety features, entertains passengers, guides drivers to destinations and connects each car to mobile, satellite and GPS networks. The days when a car aficionado could repair his or her own car are long past, due primarily to the high software content. The trend toward hybrid and electric vehicles will only accelerate the software shift—electric cars are completely computer controlled. And the creation of software-powered driverless cars is already under way at Google and the major car companies.

Today's leading real-world retailer, Wal-Mart, uses software to power its logistics and distribution capabilities, which it has used to crush its competition. Likewise for FedEx, which is best thought of as a software network that happens to have trucks, planes and distribution hubs attached. And the success or failure of airlines today and in the future hinges on their ability to price tickets and optimize routes and yields correctly—with software.

We look forward to welcoming you at the show - be sure to register now.

Latest Trends in Speech Technology, CRM, IVR, Collaboration and Cloud Computing

2011-08-14T23:45:22Z

Speech analytics in greater demand

At the recent SpeechTek 2011 conference in New York I gained some great insight into the state of speech technology. For example, Jeff Schlueter of Nexidia told me his company’s speech analytics solutions have been in greater demand in this current economy as the desire to control costs has led to increased adoption of speech analytics. In addition, the company has released version 9.0 of its Enterprise Speech Intelligence product suite which cuts the TCO in half and allowing for customers to handle even larger amounts of data.

Voxeo goes big

The idea of handling larger systems was echoed by Dan York of Voxeo who told me the latest version of the company’s new VoiceObjects 11 solution has scaled for a mix of global carrier and enterprise customers to handle 20k ports. More importantly the ports are all linked into a private cloud of sorts allowing central reporting across the VPN, a central console, full resiliency, redundant failover and one-click roll back in case there is a problem which quickly needs to be undone. York explained the company has also rolled out Prophecy 11 which adds HD voice, IPv6 and fax support. One good bit of news is wideband audio makes it easier to recognize voice because as York explains, “There is a lot more data to analyze.”

New player Novauris intrigues

Competing against established players like Nuance, Microsoft and Loquendo isn’t easy but Novauris, a newcomer to the speech technology space has already inked some deals with tier one OEMs and carriers and they have a specific niche where they think their performance is best in class. Specifically, accessing very large sets of databases such as addresses, names of people, product catalogues, IPTV and electronic programming guides, local search and directory assistance. The company works with Angel and SpeechCycle in the call center space as well – doing name and address recognition in the cloud and passing back the data via XML in real-time.

Industrial speech apps boost productivity

Wavelink Corp has been in the mobile device management space for many years and its Avalanche software has been upgraded to 5.2 providing increased capabilities in terms of reporting, organizing devices, security, location-based services and two-way messaging between administrator and user devices. Moreover, in a conversation with Jay Cichosz, he tells me the company has been enjoying success in the industrial market where the company’s terminal emulation solutions help workers more efficiently manage packing and shipping logistics via handheld devices. Moreover, by speech enabling these apps – his customers have seen productivity gains as floor workers no longer have to glance at a watch or PDA to see what they need to do next – they can now just listen and respond with voice as well. The company’s Speakeasy voice solution was upgraded this past March and differentiates itself by being priced very competitively and doing the speech processing on the mobile device in order to save precious bandwidth on factory-floor networks which typically aren’t designed to handle bursts of multimedia traffic.

Microsoft to abstract devices for more seamless experiences

Last year, Microsoft introduced me to their Xbox Kinect gaming system with built-in speech recognition and I was very impressed. To date though the gaming system has been better known for its motion detection – allowing the body to be the controller than its speech technology. This will potentially change soon as speech has now been put into the SDK.

In my meeting with Grant Shirk, I also had a chance to use Windows Phone 7 Mango and as Shirk explained some areas of speech integration are apps, search and address book. By the way, the new Mango OS supports 500+ new features 4 of the top 15 requests for improvements included speech.

I asked Shirk about his thoughts regarding HTML5 and he believes there is a lot of opportunity for speech to be integrated into HTML5 and moreover, he said companies HTML5 investments generally start with customer interactions and he said, “Speech is a natural interface.” When queried about where Microsoft sees itself in these spaces, he replied, “We are in a great position to provide services to help companies build cross-channel experiences independent of device.” To me that makes the company sort of a super-middleware provider of the future and in some ways, Adobe’s new Edge tool I just covered will be competitive with this vision.

SAP feeds customers feeds

SAP is best known for a suite of software solutions used to help companies get products from manufacturing to the customer, allowing them to collect money and pay taxes – and just about everything in-between. In a conversation with Anthony Leaper and Dr. Volker Hildebrand, they told me how the company sells their solutions in bite-sized chunks and also makes rapid-deployment solutions available for delivery in 6-8 weeks. Sales, service and marketing are just some of the areas where such packages are available.

One of their latest announcements is Sales onDemand – a feed-based system which brings structured and unstructured data together in a collaborative, Facebook like way. Similar to Salesforce Chatter or Cisco Quad, the company is targeting very large companies and will also release Service onDemand. These two products will work together allowing salespeople to see a feed of customer late payments or service requests. Leaper believes SAP has an advantage over Salesforce because his system is more integrated allowing all objects in the CRM database to be seen while he sees Chatter as a bolt-on solution.

The challenge for SAP is they are late to the game but they may see these new releases as a way to protect and cross-sell to their installed base and speed-to-market has to be balanced with interoperability across the company’s ever-expanding software suite.

Turning Oscar Madison communications into Felix Unger

The Odd Couple was a favorite TV show of mine as a kid featuring a very Messy Oscar Madison who was roommates with a very neat Felix Unger. I couldn’t help thinking about these two when I met with Alok Kulkarni of Cyara Solutions and his customer Sam Jackel from Westpac, Australia’s largest bank with 6-7 million customers. Cyara provides next-generation premise and cloud-based solutions for simulating, testing and monitoring IVRs, voice biometrics, outbound dialers, voice callback and other contact center systems and applications.

And what they did for the bank was to help them take disparate solutions handling IVR, speech, complex routing algorithms, Websphere, java apps and more and integrate them more efficiently to dramatically improve customer satisfaction. A three-year project resulted in customers being able to get to the information they want via phone in only 14 seconds. This is down from 90 seconds – a significant improvement. To get an idea of what challenges the company had, every time there was a customer interaction, messaging needed to traverse a number of different firewall hops and pipes between Telstra, IBM and Westpac networks causing potential packet loss, latency and jitter.

In addition, by using automation, the need for human testing has been reduced by 50% - allowing these testers to be deployed for more sophisticated testing.

The bank is thrilled and says they view Cyara as a key plank in their strategy around quality and efficiency and use the company for end-to-end regression, systems integration, functional, stress, performance and load testing and real-time monitoring of the customer experience in the production environment. You generally don’t get such a large company to give such a glowing testimonial to a relatively new company so I thought it worth sharing.

Zoho’s Appleization

In a conversation with Sridar Vembu and Raju Vegesna of Zoho they explained to me their take on the future of computing. Sit down before continuing because this is a really big deal. The software market is going through a gut-wrenching change. Consider, even the most complex apps can be put out in a few weeks because of the maturity of the latest development tools which can be constructed atop existing frameworks. And once released, distribution of these solutions has been commoditized through app stores. Basically, software is on the verge of being commoditized and if we learned anything in the PC Vs. Apple war it is that a slick, simple-to-use interface is worth far more than a commoditized solution.

Subsequently, Zoho, a company with a suite of 30+ cloud-based solutions is working on making their interfaces even simpler to use. I got an early glimpse of their new CRM software and was very excited about the new and much-cleaner interface which loses no functionality in its pursuit of Apple-like simplicity.

What I like best is the ability to tie together email, office apps, CRM and everything else so users don’t have to bounce around between a myriad of apps on the desktop to get their work done. An early pioneer in the cloud space, Zoho is now up to 1,500 people and is profitable and experiencing 100% YoY growth.

In two weeks you can expect a new solution, Contact Manager which the company bills as CRM for the beginner. For more on Zoho, check out this video interview TMC’s Erik Linask conducted with the company late last month in San Jose.

So there you have it – if you made it this far, thanks and be sure to catch up on other articles from Speechtek from TMC’s Tammy Wolf:

TMC Dallas Video Interviews 2011

2011-07-25T15:57:02Z

Recently I spent some time in Dallas doing video interviews with companies in the Dallas, Texas area and during the course of the discussions I was able to get a sense of where the markets have been and are going. The vast range of different opinions really comes together into a few themes.

They are simply that wages and turnover rates in India are skyrocketing meaning some jobs may be headed back to the US. This is offset by an interview with King White of the Site Selection Group - an organization which helps companies decide which countries and states they should locate in. He tells us that states with higher taxes are less attractive and subsequently deter companies from opening there. Simply stated, voters electing candidates who consider raising taxes are likely killing the future job prospects of their state.

This is also the case in elections of congressmen, senators and obviously presidential elections.

On the tech side, there is an increased push towards video, wireless, small cells, mobility and the call center space is enjoying renewed growth and energy.

For more details, browse the descriptions below, view the videos and read the articles.

COMPANY			Description
Site Selection Group	Video	Article	Learn how higher taxes kills jobs
Varaha Systems	Video	Article	Mobile solutions - voice, data and video
Airband Communications	Video	Article	Fixed wireless for business
Vanillasoft	Video	Article	Inside sales automation
Airwalk Communications	Video	Article	Small cells and the future of mobile & wireless
Sipera	Video	Article	Unified communications security, simpler SBCs
ABP	Video	Article	Death of value chain PBX distribution
Mavenir	Video	Article	Mobile 2.0 discussion
Working Solutions	Video	Article	Home agents, social, call center technology
Alepo	Video	Article	IT solutions for wireless carriers
Conexion One	Video	Article	Hispanic outsourcing services
ViewCast	Video	Article	Coding formats for video delivery
Doublehorn Communications	Video	Article	SMB broadband communications, SIP trunking
Samsung	Video	Article	Mobile phones, devices, content, smartphones
Reallinx	Video	Article	Better broadband, security, VoIP service & support
Spectrum Corpo	Video	Article	Contact center monitoring, data analysis
ICON Voice Networks	Video	Article	Was Iwatsu America. Now more strategic US focus
Epygi	Video	Article	More scaleable phone & video solutions
Artisan	Video	Article	Infrastructure as a service - wholesale, pure-play
MinuteMan UPS	Video	Article	Extended run-time UPS systems
Facetcorp	Video	Article	Flexible, customized PBX systems
Fonality	Video	Article	The move to cloud communications
Telstrat	Video	Article	Workforce optimization, coaching, analytics
Novo 1 Contact Centers	Video	Article	Call center agents coming back to the US
Telstrat 2	Video	Article	Evolution of the call center, recording 2.0

Quad: The Death of E-mail and Cisco's Social Enterprise Ambitions

2011-06-20T21:42:20Z

Quad moves to the cloud, has native Cius tablet support and offers better interoperability

Last week I took a train into the city from TMC’s Connecticut HQ to spend time with the Cisco Quad collaboration team – using Cisco telepresence technology and it was a fascinating look into the company’s foray into a post-email, collaborative enterprise world. First things first, I wrote about Quad and spoke with Murali Sitaram VP/GM of Cisco's Enterprise Platforms unit last September and since then Quad has not been talked about much in the media and has limited buzz in the market. Moreover, Cisco is repositioning itself – lightening up on consumer products meaning much of the company’s messaging has been in other areas of the market including launching consumer telepresence product UMI – something which should never should have gotten the green light.

So I was skeptical at this point and went into the meeting trying to figure out if Quad has a future. Bottom line is Quad is enterprise Facebook with real-time collaboration built in and the idea is it allows easy searching of repositories of information – meaning the knowledge a corporation gains transcends the brains of the few people involved in information creation and it can be intelligently woven into training programs or called upon to more easily answer questions at a later date.

Imagine you are an auto manufacturer working on a green car initiative which flops. A few years later, a new manager reintroduces the idea – you can now go back and analyze the WebEx conference calls, telepresence and other video, presentations and knowledge bases associated with building a green car the first time around. You should be able to learn from your mistakes more easily because there is a record of what went wrong.

More importantly, if we live in a world where Congressmen are comfortable enough sharing photos of their private parts on Twitter, certainly it is time for the typical enterprise worker to start utilizing enterprise social networks as well to become more productive. Although one would hope the worker will deploy a bit more discretion before hitting send.

Quad goes cloudborne and targets smaller enterprises

The meeting didn’t blow me away but it is definitely worth sharing what I learned as Quad could become very important if e-mail does become less utilized and social networking does become the defacto standard for communications within organizations.

Probably the biggest news is Quad now will support enterprises as small as 1,000 users (down from 3,500) and be supported by cloud-based vendors allowing an organization to use Quad in a SaaS configuration. Moreover, the new 2.5 release will allow integration of activity streams and watch list functionality to enable users to better define and filter the content they consume.

Quad: See us on the Cius

I have yet to test the Cisco Cius tablet (ironically Cisco just invited me to a Cius event next week as I write this) but Quad will work on it natively which could make people who buy these tablets happier that they integrate natively with Cisco collaboration tools. Then again, Quad will work on a variety of mobile devices including iOS so this may not be such an important point. We will have to wait and see how it works.

Extending the Quad across campuses

Cisco has extended interoperability within Quad allowing it to work with enterprise IM clients Microsoft OCS 2007, IBM Sametime, and Cisco Jabber. This means a Quad user will be able to initiate and conduct an IM conversation with users of these other collaboration systems. It’s worth pointing out Quad also works with EMC Documentum and Microsoft SharePoint 2007.

Microblogging and template support

There is now support for hashtags, multimedia and other file attachments and of course messages beyond 140 characters. There is also template support allowing an admin to assign them to a community or a team.

Who are the hosting partners?

Depending on your geographic area, you can work with Capgemini, ACS a Xerox company or Infosys.

Suggestions and recommendations – enables semantic components to shine

One area of interest to me is the suggestion and recommendation functionality which comes in handy when using consumer social networks and even LinkedIn. Cisco’s solution works in a similar fashion by doing things like suggesting connections of other people within your company who have similar expertise. This could come in handy not only in a company like Google where people spend so much time working on secondary projects but since suppliers and partners could be on Quad together. It allows you to gain better visibility into your counterpart(s) with your partner or customer company.

Quad to become more visible

I asked Murali about why Quad hasn’t been visible with regards to marketing and PR and he told me it will be more visible going forward as it knits all the Cisco products and services together. I got to thinking though – this was also the case a year ago yet I’ve spent months looking at millions of dollars worth of TV ads for enterprise and consumer telepresence – much of it turned out to be wasted. And I am left still wondering – if Quad is as good as Cisco says it is then why aren’t we seeing it more? Generally when a disconnect like this exists between a vendor’s actions and words, we learn later of an underlying conflict. Perhaps I am wrong but I remain skeptically optimistic we will see Cisco start to promote Quad and more importantly we will start to see my fellow journalists start to write more enthusiastic pieces regarding its growth and future potential.

Quad SMB & Fremium?

I also asked about whether Quad needs to go SMB and have a free model to get smaller companies excited and hooked. Sitaram mentioned he didn’t think this made sense at the moment and utilized Yammer as an example of a company who does this but isn’t very financially successful as a result. I was thinking more Salesforce.com Chatter but I didn’t get a chance to ask about it.

Final thoughts

I am an advocate of using technology to boost productivity and make companies more productive and the research tells us the future will be one where email is less important and enterprise social is more important. And for Cisco the move from hardware to software makes sense as it is potentially more profitable (unless you’re Apple) and if you own the social collaboration platform you have a greater chance of selling the components which work with it. Routers, IP telephony systems, telepresence, videoconferencing are just a few of these and going forward, Cisco will be able to offer more software solutions which will have higher adoption rates because they work seamlessly with their collaboration solutions. IF this strategy is successful, over time, Cisco will become a threat to Microsoft and potentially Google, Oracle, SAP and others.

But of course this is the best-case scenario – Cisco isn’t batting that well lately and there are challenges the company faces as it decides which businesses to keep and which ones to get rid of. Moreover, Cisco is not known as a software company and quite frankly, Chatter is a lot easier to start using and deploying as it is in the cloud and free. Sure it doesn’t have the built-in IP communications and video bells and whistles but a Salesforce.com partnership with Polycom or Avaya could easily rectify this situation.

Another challenge Quad faces is Facebook or LinkedIn deciding they want to own enterprise collaboration and rolling out a product which competes head-on. Then there is Skype. Now that Microsoft owns them and the Internet telephony software is integrating more closely with Facebook, perhaps the stage is being set for a SharePoint/Lync/Facebook/Skype combo which will one-up solutions like Quad, Chatter, Twitter and others.

It is worth mentioning another challenge with enterprise social solutions in general. With infinite repositories of corporate intelligence you face potential legal issues where discovery could create volumes of information which could be used against you.

The one constant is change – and I am reminded by Warren Buffet’s famous statement which I am paraphrasing – where he said he doesn’t understand technology. What he meant is he could look at a market leader like Coke and know 20 years from now they will still be the market leader. In tech, he said, this is much tougher to do. And boy is he right. The analysts tell us the next generation of worker will demand social tools and in order to attract the best talent you will have to have a social enterprise. The question is how does the enterprise make a social enterprise decision today which will be the right one in the long run? For Cisco’s part, they are saying the right things – but for my readers, I would wait to see Quad become a more common story and gain more momentum before plunging in with both feet.