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I just came across this web page with some important details on ITEXPO. I mentioned the keynoters in a recent post and I still think they are one of the best combinations of thought leaders in our space. Google Voice, Sprint, Digium, Polycom, Skype and Verizon Wireless are some of the companies you will hear from at the show.

In addition there are a full eight conference tracks you cannot find anywhere else:

• Business Communications Delivery Options
• Call Center
• Developer
• Enterprise
• HD Voice
• Service Provider
• Unified Communications
• Video Communications
• TMC University Microsoft OCS

As always, we poll the collective minds of the entire TMCeditorial team and industry when we put together the conference program for TMC events and I believe this is a major differentiator. It seems like just yesterday when TMC launched our first telecom event in Atlanta, GA but it was really 1986!

What I have learned in running communications and tech conferences for 20 years is that if you continue to give your customers unsurpassed value, they come back again and again for more conferences and bring others with them.

To all of you who have attended TMC events over the years - thanks.

I really think this next show in Miami - ITEXPO East 2010 will be our best to date and I am looking forward to welcoming you personally.

Here are more details on this can't miss conference.

First it was free WiFi on Virgin America courtesy of Google... Now it seems there is a mad rush to give WiFi away in lots of places such as airports and even Times Square. It seemed to first start with Mountain View, California - Google's hometown, where the search giant hung radios to "light up" the city with wireless internet. Then of course it was Virgin America and more recently, Google will be giving away WiFi at 47 airports for the holidays. Some of the larger airports included are Houston, Las Vegas, Miami, San Jose (no surprise), San Diego and Orlando. Sadly there are no New York airports on the list.

Not to be outdone, Yahoo! has announced that as of today it will provide free WiFi throughout Times Square for the holidays.

The trend is clear... Internet advertising giants are looking to extend their reach and they realize that the next frontier for growth is the mobile web. The best way to reach mobile web users of course is by providing something users really want. And free wireless broadband is likely at the top of the list.

For the record, Google Guide is not a product or service developed by Google. To learn what I believe this service can become, please keep reading.

I spent some time with the new Motorola Droid this weekend and I interviewed customers and employees of the store and came away fairly impressed with what I heard and saw. Certainly my outing at the Verizon store was better than my recent experience checking out the Blackberry Storm 2. The Droid is about the same size and weight of an iPhone but has a full keyboard which slides out from the side of the device. Typing on it was a satisfying experience and although some have complained it is thin and does not provide adequate tactile response, I believe the compromise between size and feedback to be good.

In terms of device speed, the iPhone 3G S and the Droid render web pages about exactly as fast as one another. I tested both using the native 3G networks each device utilizes by browsing numerous Global Online Communities on TMCnet and other websites which are graphically rich. Although the Droid boasts double the number of pixels as the iPhone, in typical web browsing it is difficult if not impossible to see the difference. Perhaps a photo editing program or advanced game would be better able to take advantage of these pixels.

The benefits of Motorola's Droid over the iPhone are that it allows for multitasking, has free turn-by-turn navigation, a full keyboard, has tight integration with Google services and works on the Verizon Wireless network. The downside to the device is it still not as slick or as charming as the iPhone and doesn't sync with iTunes. Its software is more Microsoft-like than Apple. I did however notice that each Android update seems to imitate the iPhone more closely and aside from software patent issues, it seems Google knows it needs to basically duplicate the iPhone experience to make the phone as desirable as Apple's device.

The challenge for Google is the ecosystem issue and whether it can get developers (currently Android has one tenth the number of applications - meaning 10,000 to Apple's 100,000) to take its products seriously enough to program for them. Verizon Wireless staff members told me sales for this device were strong and prospective customers I spoke with seemed very happy. Ironically, I walked to the nearby Apple store and saw less people there than at any time in the past few years. I asked a salesperson if this was normal and he said no, it is light. Certainly my mall visit does not make a trend but nonetheless it is ironic to see light traffic at the Apple store on the day Droids are selling briskly.

Another Android phone came out this past Friday as well, the HTC Droid Eris and it is a pure touchscreen device (no keyboard) with hardware which is inferior to the Motorola device. Sales of this phone were slower than that of its more powerful sibling I was told.

A number of people in the telecom industry who played with the Motorola Droid these past few days told me they weren't so impressed with the device and from a UI perspective this is understandable. The challenge for Google now is to rapidly improve this phone to the point where it is enjoyable to use. Yes, you read that right. People like to pick up the iPhone and they expect to like the way phones work. Even though the Droid hardware is not as slick as the iPhone, we can forgive this transgression because at least it gets the Verizon network. Users however won't forgive a substandard UI and poor hardware. If this thing is supposed to kill the iPhone, it needs to get users to say "wow" when they pick it up. Until I start hearing "wows" I am not declaring it an iPhone killer by any means.

But let's not leave it there as Google has done a masterful job of changing the rules of the game by giving away turn-by-turn GPS and other services such as Gmail. You see, Google is a machine of doling out free services which customers once had to pay for. We can expect Google to compete viciously by providing free service after service which is optimized for mobile devices. Unified communications, Google Wave, Google Voice, etc. The company is uniquely positioned in fact to provide you with a service which uses your browsing habits to determine your local interests. Meaning if you often search for the phone number of a local sushi restaurant, Google can use that information to let you know when you are near other sushi restaurants in unfamiliar areas. Let's call this forthcoming service which for now is imaginary, Google Guide.

Is this a service which may make users switch cell phones? Perhaps, but not immediately. In the mean time, Google will devote its significant resources to filling application holes with its own services in the hopes of developing killer apps which can't easily be duplicated on the iPhone or anywhere else.

We are thrilled to announce a slew of top notch keynoters for the upcoming ITEXPO which takes place in Miami, FL Jan 20-22, 2010. I will share them with you by first explaining why they were invited:

A keynote picture from ITEXPO East 2009 in Miami

Open Source

One of the biggest trends in tech this last decade has been open source and while you may not know this, I was a UNIX (the Linux precursor) system admin at TMC back in 1982 or so and I am a big fan of this OS which is reliable, stable and the strong basis for cost-effective solutions in a number of fields. Without a doubt, Asterisk is the major force in the open-source communications space and as such, Digium's CEO Danny Windham (the company behind Asterisk) was the perfect choice to address the audience of businesses, carriers and resellers. By the way, Digium Asterisk World (DAW) is collocated at this show and I hear it just sold out of exhibit spaces and my team is looking for ways to get the waiting list
of companies into an expanded DAW pavilion on the exhibit hall floor.

Digium Asterisk World Photos from ITEXPO East 2009 this year

Google Voice vs. AT&T

Google Voice has been one of the most disruptive influences in telecom these past years and this service has single-handedly become a point of public argument between the search leader and Apple and AT&T - with the FCC acting as referee of sorts. The argument revolves around net neutrality - the concept that carriers will apply discrimination to traffic on their networks based upon traffic, application type or source. Google obviously wants their services to run on any network in an unencumbered fashion while AT&T has said since 1995 when they were SBC that they want to charge for their pipes. AT&T actually then pointed out to the FCC that Google Voice does not terminate all calls on its free Google Voice service meaning it is not adhering to the principles of net neutrality. The reason of course as Google points out is traffic pumping and bizarre intercarrier compensation rules which allow some rural carriers to charge exorbitant rates for calls terminating in their areas. Craig Walker founded Grand Central, the company purchased by Google and the basis for Google Voice and as the Group Product Manager for the Real Time Communications Group at Google, he was a natural person to invite to speak with us at the show. It seems his accomplishments have unleashed a firestorm of controversy which should hopefully clean up some of the ugly mess that is telecom policy and regulation.

Exhibit hall pictures from ITEXPO East 2009 in Miami

HD Voice/SIP and Video

Another major trend in our markets is that of HD voice, video adoption and of course SIP endpoints. AT ITEXPO last year, we had the first panel in the world focusing on HD voice (video) and since then I am excited to see other conference organizers throwing their hat in the HD ring. A major player in all of the above spaces is Polycom and they have done an amazing job of working with disparate vendors on interoperability issues which has moved the market forward by reducing the friction caused by proprietary endpoints. In the world of video, the company has been a major player - developing telepresence systems all the way down to video phones. To get a bead on where this market is heading we invited Polycom Co-Founder, and the CTO of the Voice Communications Group Jeff Rodman to join us as a keynoter.

HD Voice Panel I moderated from ITEXPO East 2009 in Miami

Skype

No matter how you break out the IP communications market, Skype is likely a factor in changing the market in a pro-consumer manner. By giving away global voice calling with quality which far exceeds the PSTN, they have disrupted while getting users used to better voice quality. On top of that, they give away video calling as well, making them a company which excites consumers and scares carriers and anyone else who dares compete with their network of hundreds of millions of subscribers.

Interview I had with Skype's Ian Robin

Skype has been making a major push into the enterprise and is working on enhancing relationships with carriers as well. They are even looking for channel partners who can share in the newly created revenue streams from a number of products like Skye for SIP. When you take all of this into account, it does make great sense to invite Skype Chief Strategy Officer Christopher Dean to speak, doesn't it?

Smartphones, Wireless and Smart Ecosystems

One of the biggest trends in the world of communications is smart devices and ecosystems. What is an ecosystem you ask? Well it is a group of companies who develop products which work with a product or service offered by a host company or companies. The iTunes App Store may be the best example but certainly Avaya's DevConnect or Cisco's Partner Programs are good examples as well. You may know that TMC has focused a tremendous amount of resources on educating the world on smart ecosystems via our new SPEC site. I truly believe ecosystems have a bright future.

In order to bring attendees up to speed on all these topics we invited two top keynoters to present on the matter. Sprint's Mathew Oommen is the vice president of device and technology development at the company and uniquely positioned to share with us his company's view on the future of wireless technology. Oh and by the way, be sure to check out my recent interview with Sprint's Wayne Ward who heads up the company's M2M activities (did I mention there is a collocated M2M conference at ITEXPO?).

To get a handle on wireless devices as they pertain to ecosystems we invited Brian Higgins the Executive Director for Ecosystem Development within Verizon Wireless to join us so we can learn where the company thinks the market is headed. Verizon has been very ambitious in its goal to develop an ecosystem of products and applications which interoperate in the hope of one-upping the iTunes App Store.

We continue to work to add fantastic new speakers to our roster and you can expect this ITEXPO to be the most comprehensive and educational ever and a must-attend. I personally hope to see you there.

Oh and by the way, we have secured great rates this year at the Loews Miami Beach Hotel - you can save $150/night if you book now - the rate is $249 vs. what is typically a $399 rate at prime season. There are many advantages to staying at the show hotel such as networking, etc - and I have always been a fan of the Loews. In fact I was a guest the first day the hotel opened about ten years ago or so.

Just a kid, that's all I was in the early eighties in high school as I took a class in BASIC. I was always fascinated by all things electronic and whether it was video games or advanced scientific calculators, I couldn't get enough. At Westhill high School, they had a Prime minicomputer and it was on this machine where I was instructed how to program. I also had a Commodore 64 at home and with it I wrote my own video games at night and on weekends.

In the early eighties, Route. 128 in Boston was the stuff of legend... It is where all the minicomputer companies lived - Wang, Prime Computer, DEC and many others. Prime was my link to this area and it seems like it was yesterday when I wrote a math quiz program on the schools's minicomputer which I used to better prepare me for the math portion of the SAT. Today, Rt. 128 is a distant second to Silicon Valley in terms of technology and of course all the minicomputer companies missed the PC altogether and are gone.

If you are wondering why Silicon Valley took the lead over Boston, you may want to refer to this article from Vivek Wadhwa which discusses how the Valley follows a more open model where innovation is more readily shared with small companies and moreover spread through job hopping. In addition, he points out a book from AnnaLee Saxenian (which was published in 1994 predicting that Boston would be the loser in the tech race

Here is an excerpt from the article:

She noted that Silicon Valley had an amazing dynamism about it. There were extensive professional networks, job hopping was the norm, information was exchanged openly, and the culture encouraged risk taking. The Silicon Valley ecosystem supported entrepreneurial experimentation and collective learning. In other words, Silicon Valley was a very open network--a giant social networking site working in analog before the concept of such a thing even existed.

This organizational mechanism was in sharp contrast to that of Route 128. Dominated by large, vertically integrated, and secretive minicomputer producers such as DEC, Wang, Prime, and Data General. Technology, skill, and know-how were trapped within the boundaries of the large corporations.

The differences were evident at many levels: venture capitalists in Silicon Valley had deep roots in local networks and were far more nimble than their east coast counterparts; educational institutions and research labs in the West partnered with local startups as well as more established firms, while those in the East worked only with the largest corporations; and the meritocratic openness of Silicon Valley made it a magnet for non-traditional talent and immigrants.

By the mid-1990s the east had missed the shift from minicomputers to personal computers as the flexible Silicon Valley ecosystem sped ahead with innovation across a diversifying range of components and systems going from chips, routers, and application software to ecommerce and search engines. Today Silicon Valley is the leading location for cleantech venture activity, an area widely considered to be the next big value creation engine for the U.S. and the world.

Boston, however, is no slouch. The Route 128 community remains the second biggest in the U.S. in terms of venture funds committed. Boston has powerful research institutions, still, and lots of very strong companies. In some areas, such as biotech, Boston may even rival Silicon Valley. But overall, its pretty clear that the Valley has not only won but is racing further ahead.

Most entrepreneurs and engineers that come to Silicon Valley, come to experience this network and to embrace the culture it has created. That's why I came, too. Network effects don't just work for fax machines. But then again, most of them knew that intrinsically. University guys like me need to do a bunch of surveys to figure it out. They voted with their hearts and feet.

At this point the game is even tougher to win if you aren't in Silicon Valley due to the propensity for exit strategies to present themselves more readily where the acquirers are. Yahoo, Google, Cisco and Oracle are just a few of the companies responsible for billions of dollars worth of M&A dollars. And as this these companies have grown, they  have made so many millionaires that they in turn go out and launch new companies and/or invest in others which are nearby.

If you are looking for a lesson here it is that a company which mirrors Silicon Valley and is more open, flexible and shares information more readily will likely always beat the company which is inflexible and contains many silos.

As Om Malik points out, turn-by-turn GPS navigation with voice guidance has come to Google Maps and carriers can't be happy about it. Who is even less happy? TomTom and Garmin. According to Google, less than 1% of navigation devices are connected to the cloud and ironically my TomTom Go 740 Live with Google local integration is one of these devices and it is limited - it really only allows you to query Google for local establishments and it does receive real-time traffic data.

As the video above explains, Google Maps navigation was built from the ground up to be internet connected meaning you can get the latest maps and business data automatically over the net without having to download new maps manually. Google touts lots of features which they say most GPS units don't have such as voice recognition, the ability fix spelling errors and of course infinite points of interest. Other benefits touted include the ability to navigate via search meaning you can ask your device to navigate to a museum with a specific exhibit.

Other benefits include real-time traffic data and the ability to choose alternate routes. The software also allows you to search for POIs on your route and you can also leverage satellite and street view as you navigate. By the way, I bet you didn't know some Google Street View data comes from a tricycle (pictured and courtesy of AP/MSNBC)

The video above also references the new Droid phone which has an available car dock which when connected goes into car mode which makes it easier to access features you need while driving.

Om is right that carriers are likely not happy about this new and free service from Google but I wonder if at the moment carriers aren't just more frenzied about not having the iPhone which includes tens of thousands of applications in its device ecosystem.

From Verizon's point of view, this new relationship with Google is a defensive land grab and will slow down the onslaught of the iPhone by making their devices more attractive and simultaneously cutting the legs off of Garmin and TomTom. It should be noted that TomTom does have a $99 iPhone GPS app which is pretty slick but can they keep this price point when the competition has a lot more features and is free?

Google's challenge remains, do they ignore the iPhone when they come out with leading edge applications like this one so they can artificially boost their Android OS sales or do they try to get all apps they produce to work on as many devices as possible so they can boost ad revenue? It has to be a constant debate for the search leader and for now, if you have an Android 2.0 device you can get a real nifty GPS app for free. What's not to like about that?

Oh, and one other point. If we have known mobile search is coming and will be he and Microsoft and Yahoo! are trying to take on Google in this space and finally have an opportunity to become a leader in at least one niche of search, why haven't either of these companies jumped on this opportunity? Why is it that Google is the only company to take advantage of an opportunity we all saw coming. I realize Yahoo is trying and so is Microsoft but Google seems to be in a position to have even greater marketshare in mobile search than they do in PC search. And it seems unacceptable that the competition just let them take it so easily.

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.

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.

Software as a Service or SaaS has become an established way of working where instead of buying servers, operating systems and software, you lease software over the web on a monthly basis allowing you to scale up or down as you need. It took time for corporate IT departments to embrace the concept but thankfully champions like Marc Benioff the CEO of Salesforce.com perservered during numerous economic downturns to allow the concept to gain traction.

The idea of SaaS is simple - you share infrastructure but gain all the benefits of having secure and reliable computing in a more cost-effective fashion.

In a recent conversation with Iridium's Greg Ewert, the Executive Vice President of Global Distribution and Business Development for the company, He explained that Iridium is beginning to roll out the idea of Satellite as a Service where government bodies can work with his company to purchase portions of a satellite, share the rockets, etc.

The value proposition is the same as it is in the software world and you can expect applications where security is not as much of an issue such as weather to be the first to migrate to this new idea. Of course national security projects will likely not go the hosted route in the foreseeable future but imagine now how many more applications will get rolled out now that the cost has come down via this approach.

Iridium also sees itself as a major force in the M2M space as only 10% of the world's land mass is covered by cellular. They are already having success helping with the information flow in supply chains, sending data from remote windmills in the ocean and numerous other applications.  Greg seems confident the company has great potential to expand based upon their price/performance, latency and packet performance.

I left the meeting impressed and you can check out the video for yourself to learn more.

GlobeCast is a division of France Telecom and is a broadbast service provider handling content management and delivery for broadcasters and other companies. According to Mathew Rosenstein, the company has an extensive satellite and fiber network and they are expanding their fiber footprint quickly into Latin America to handle the burgeoning sporting events market in the area. Speaking of sports, they are also upgrading their network to ensure the best HD possible.

The company looks at content management as a burgeoning area and recently made an acquisition of NETIA which means they can now help broadcasters organize their libraries as well as distribute their content.

One final bit of worthy information is their work with Inmarsat to allow it to interwork with their Content Exchange network allowing content from the field to be sent back to stations. Check out the video for more about how the company looks to add value to media asset management solutions and HD optimization.