The collocated events at ITEXPO Miami 2013 are doing great - here are some shots from Super WiFi Summit (below) and M2M Evolution. Hopefully the attendance at these events is indicative of the growth these markets will experience this year.
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at ITEXPO wondered why I didn’t mention former FCC Commissioner, Jonathan Adelstein is also speaking. I really didn’t have an answer except to say a post will be forthcoming on the matter. Here is that post.
Mr. Adelstein will deliver a keynote address on “Investing in America’s Wireless Future” at Super Wi-Fi Summit on Wednesday, January 30, at 9 a.m. EST.
Recently leaving government work for the private sector, Adelstein is now president and CEO of PCIA – The Wireless Infrastructure Association, the trade association for the telecommunications infrastructure industry. PCIA provides expertise and support in the areas of advocacy, communications, events and education to its members: the carriers, infrastructure providers and professional services firms that own and manage more than 130,000 telecommunications facilities throughout the world.
Adelstein previously served as Administrator of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Utilities Service, a position to which he was appointed to by President Barack Obama. Adelstein also previously served as a commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission from 2002 to 2009, a position to which he was appointed by President George W. Bush.
We hope to see you at the conference in Miami the after next to hear him speak. It should be a great talk.
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Cornet Technology, Inc. is a privately-held concern which designs, engineers, and manufactures a wide range of advanced command, control, communications, computer, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (C4ISR) solutions targeted at U.S. and international defense and aerospace agencies.
The deal covers part of an end-to-end two-way video streaming solution for vehicles that is currently under development.
For a company which so many predicted wouldn’t make it – the potential for $11M in sales in two days is pretty impressive. Still, while the news of this partnership is great for company backers and employees, it isn’t a done deal quite yet.
A few other points. If the company is successful selling to the government via this deal - it could do exceedingly well selling to other governments around the world and to more US agencies as well. Also, M2M could be a market which can benefit from the company's solutions.
On the negative side of the ledger is the potential for ubiquitous WiFi coverage and Super-WiFi technologies to make the company's solutions less valuable over time.
Bottom line was I saw a working demo and reported on it. Detractors argued the demo I saw was not scalable under any circumstances.
Now xG has just reported $6M in new orders from PMC Associates based in Hazlet, New Jersey, Communications Marketing Southeast based in Dallas, Georgia and Mobile-One Communications based in Venice, Florida.
This is quite a big win for a company that has been accused of selling bogus solutions by many people. To be fair when xG first launch the company made some claims about their technology which seemed so unbelievable that it turned out they weren’t correct.
In 2 weeks Super WiFi Summit will be held in Miami, FL, close to the company’s HQ. If I catch up with them there it will be interesting to learn if xG sees the opportunity to use white spaces as competitive or complimentary to what they provide.
See also my past posts on the company in chronological order
]]>The point is, unlicensed spectrum has truly revolutionized technology and productivity. Think this through – even the companies who sell “competitive to WiFi” 4G service are benefiting from WiFi. Consider carriers often wheel in large-scale WiFi equipment to sporting events and other venues because of cellular capacity issues. AT&T has over 30,000 WiFi hotspots thanks in-part to acquisitions like Wayport who added 20,000 hotspots and Superclick Networks.
My thoughts in Nov 2008 on the AT&T Wayport acquisition and Optimum WiFi analysis
Moreover, Verizon for its part allows on certain plans for its 4G devices to be used as wireless hotspots at no additional charge. They benefit from the increased 4G usage which must be paid for of course.
The challenge we have today as a technology industry is the government is essentially broke and borrowing almost 50 cents on every dollar it spends. There is obviously an incentive to maximize revenue during these fiscal cliff negotiations and an area to look for it is unlicensed spectrum in the white spaces world.
As a proponent of this spectrum affording the world an unlicenced “Super WiFi” of sorts, I obviously am concerned.
You should be too.
To learn more be sure to read Carl Ford’s comments and attend this virtual event (with top speakers from the FCC and more) on Incentive Auctions/actions and be at Super WiFi Summit January 30-February 1, 2013 - Miami, Florida.
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One of the companies helping carriers reduce bill shock for their customers is Volubill, the policy management and charging company has many innovative ideas to help carriers in an era of data caps and ballooning cell phone bills. In a recent conversation with Akil Chomoko Head of Product Marketing at the company he explained the company looks at the business side of things – enabling subscribers to be unrestricted and subsequently free to choose from various options which not only serve the needs of the customer better but potentially can generate more revenue for carriers.
The company’s Policy Manager integrates via Diameter (Gx) and Radius or SOAP/XML. It can also support an embeddable Subscriber Profile Repository (interface) to centralized SPRs such as HSS, CRM or SDPs. Moreover it integrates with the company’s own charging system “Convergent Charging” or a third-party solution.
But what differentiates the company perhaps most may not be the technology but the marketing ideas and experience helping carriers offer truly unique services. For example, as carriers in the US and elsewhere are adding bandwidth caps to their services, why not offer an opportunity to buy more data for a fixed amount of money?
The company has an app which can in fact help customers not only get a sense of how much data they are using but just as importantly it allows customers to purchase all sorts of optional plans you may want to offer. Before we go any further it is worth pointing out that the app demo I saw had a meter in the top left hand of the phone interface allowing users to see how much data they have used in their plan – just as they might see how much battery is left on the same device or how much credit they have on their credit cards.
The company has helped carriers provide, provision and bill for a bewildering array of services. Starting with the most ironic is a “happy hour” service provided by a Saudi carrier which allows a free hour of calling – which could free up the network for other parts of the day. Another service in the same country allows parents to prevent their kids cellphones from working during prayer time.
Moreover, carriers could use the platform to enable quota within a quota services where a low-cost plan may not only have a monthly cap but could also have a daily cap. Other options allow a customer to have a larger video viewing limit, a time based cap – let’s say $5 for one hour, a $5/day tethering price, tiered pricing based on QoS level or how about lower pricing for consumers who don’t use BitTorrent?
Other options could be a $10/month unlimited Facebook package or the same $10 could provide unlimited access to a few URLs of the user’s choice. The parental example above could be further enhanced to include homework and bedtime.
Other options include multi-SIM plans where consumers, families and businesses with multiple devices could share bandwidth across the devices in aggregate. A master account could top up the service and add a user cap if desired.
One comment of interest from Chomoko is the device-based app is a better solution for the consumer who wants a usage cap threshold notification in a timely manner. He pointed out that a user in Google Maps could rapidly exceed their bandwidth cap by the time a warning is received via SMS.
A recurring theme in our discussion was marketing-driven business – not technology driven. And this makes a lot of sense.
One of the most interesting applications worth sharing which shows how this would work is a carrier in Indonesia giving companies access to data between 9-5 with a separate prepaid plan for employees to use the phone during other times. Moreover, email is active at all times allowing the company to still provide a phone to workers for personal use but only pay for business communications.
It should also be evident that with such solutions we may be entering a new world of subsidized connectivity where a company like Google may subsidize a YouTube bundle where enhanced QoS is provided to consumers. Likewise for other large companies like Facebook.
The challenge of course will be small competitors may not have the deep pockets or advertising base to compete with app giants – but such are the facts of life I suppose.
Other facts are carriers are rapidly running out of wireless bandwidth and having the flexibility to manage networks on a more granular basis may yield more revenue for carriers and potentially more flexibility for consumers.
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Some of the hot topics to be discussed include not only general communications and technology but 4G wireless, mobility, Asterisk, open source, business video, the channel, cloud computing and communications, HTML5, Mobile Latin America communications, M2M, technology patents, the MSP market, Super WiFi/white spaces and much more.
The following is a list of important details you will need to help navigate ITEXPO East 2012 Miami. I warn you – this is a subset of what is happening. To keep you posted on not only these items but other important events at the show please follow @itexpo on Twitter and turn on mobile notifications – it is pretty simple – just follow the menu below. Twitter also allows you to turn off notifications at certain hours in its settings tab.
Also, please download the show directory/guide (PDF) and read through it before you get there to get the most out of the event.
ITEXPO East 2012
January 31 - February 3, 2012
Miami Beach Convention Center
If you are staying at the Loews in Miami or a hotel nearby the best route to walk is down 16th street making a right on Washington after a block. Most concierge personnel will tell you to walk down Collins which is longer and if the sun is strong may be a bit uncomfortable.
Registration counters are located in the Hall B Lobby. This is the section of the convention center on Washington Blvd., closest to the show hotels.
When you arrive, proceed to the registration counter to receive your badge. You will need a photo ID.
SHOW HOURS
Tuesday, January 31
Wednesday, February 1
Thursday, February 2
Friday, February 3
Updated schedule. Visit the show site for additional details
Keynotes and Special Sessions Schedule: (Open to all attendees)
Tuesday, January 31:
2:00 pm: Special Panel Session:
Post POTS Net Neutrality & the Cloud: From POTS to PANS
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Rumors of the death of POTS are not exaggerated. To build a new model for the future we have to determine the bottlenecks. Come discuss the impact of the cloud and the migration from end to end to any to any services; about supporting access and quality of service; about Net Neutrality and Privacy.
5:00: Avaya Tech on Tap Workshop and Networking Reception
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Kick off ITEXPO East with a special pre-conference seminar and evening networking event, hosted by the Avaya DevConnect Program. Join Avaya and our special keynote speaker Judith Hurwitz, co-author of "Cloud Computing for Dummies", as we tackle some of the most challenging technology transitions facing IT organizations today, namely cloud computing and collaboration enablement.
KEYNOTES Wednesday, February 1:
KEYNOTES Thursday, February 2:
WORKSHOPS at ITEXPO – Open to All Attendees
Cloud Business Development Workshop
Tuesday, January 31 - 9:00am
Larry Dillon and Michael Curry will co-host the first ever pre-show workshops focused towards new business development techniques for resellers, developers and cloud-based service providers.
Asterisk 123 Training
Tuesday, January 31 - 9:00am
Come get a well-rounded and informative introduction to the Asterisk Project. All are Welcome! Whether you are managing a team deploying an Asterisk implementation, evaluating potential replacements for a legacy telephony solution that's on its last leg, or just a general Asterisk "newbie" excited to learn what Asterisk is capable of, then this talk has something to offer you.
Sangoma Vega Training
Tuesday, January 31 - 9:00am
Sangoma Technologies will host a free full day hands-on training session teaching you how to configure and troubleshoot the Vega series gateways for use with IP-PBX and SIP trunking.
Blackberry HTML5 Hackathon
Tuesday, January 31 - 9:00am
Join us at the upcoming HTML5 Hackathon to discover how BlackBerry WebWorks takes HTML5 beyond the browser. We'll show you the power and simplicity of the new BlackBerry browser
Ingate’s SIP Trunking Workshop
Wednesday, February 1 – Friday, February 3
Attendees can earn a SIP Trunking Professional Certificate by participating in the Professional Development Program on February 1. Attendees can also earn a Unified Communications Professional Certificate on February 2.
Telecom Reseller Week Presentation Theatre
Wednesday, February 1 – Friday, February 3
Telecom Reseller Week provides you with a forum for you to learn about cutting edge new solutions you can represent, to meet with many new potential partners, and to study proven sales techniques to help improve your team's performance.
MPLS University
Tuesday, February 2 - 1:30pm
MPLS University is a forum for IT and business professionals to bring their questions about network reliability, always-on connectivity, voice, regulatory requirements, security, and cost control. Join us for two FREE live MPLS University sessions at ITEXPO to learn more about utilizing cloud-based solutions
StartupCamp5: Comms Edition
Tuesday, February 2 - 4:00pm
Featuring keynote address by Sir Terry Matthews
The incredibly popular StartupCamp networking event returns. This unique forum is for early-stage entrepreneurs to pitch their communications products or services to a discriminating audience of potential investors, media, bloggers and industry influencers. The event's fast-paced, "ready, set, pitch" format brings early-stage communications companies, developers, industry leaders and investors together to network and validate entrepreneurial pitches in real time.
4:00: StartupCamp5 Free Networking Reception
4:45: Introduction/Event Kickoff by Larry Lisser
5:00: Keynote Presentation by World-Renowned Entrepreneur Sir Terry Matthews
5:45: Startup Presentations and Judging
7:00: Networking and Voting
QUESTIONS?
Contact Frank Coppola (203.852.6800 x 131)
Thank you sponsors
Diamond Sponsor:
Platinum Sponsors:
Gold Sponsors:
I really look forward to seeing you all at the show – it will be fantastic.
Update: My marketing team has a fancier version of this document which they send in emails after you register. It has web links and may be easier on the eyes.
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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.
]]>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.
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You gotta love when a 30 year old band breaks out the Twitter wall!
On the way to the concert I put Siri through its paces. I asked it for restaurants near Madison Square Garden. It replied that it couldn’t search near businesses. So then I tried searching near the address. Again, it couldn’t help. I then went to my Zagat app and laughed out 
loud when one of the ways you could choose the price range of a restaurant was “My friends have a trust fund.” But before I got through the tedious, mind-bending process of using this app to find a restaurant on the lower west side, I thought the heck with it (censored – my kids are getting old enough to read my blog.), let’s try the Google app. On the first shot I got a list of restaurants near Madison Square garden and put an end to my embarrassment in front of my friends and wife.
This also by the way is probably a great explanation as to why Google bought Zagat – with an awesome voice-based search interface, Zagat data can be very useful. The current mobile app is painful to use.
Once we got to the Garden I realized the battery drain was significant on my device – perhaps because it was backing up to iCloud? I wasn’t sure but I was concerned. When we finished eating and went into the concert I realized I had no signal at all. My friend had an iPhone 4 also on AT&T and she had 2 bars – me nothing. And as typical in such cases my battery was draining very fast as it tried to communicate with a tower. I had to go into airplane mode and also turned off iCloud sync so I could have enough battery for the trip home.
Siri was a disappointment but later I have found it is OK at reading and sending text messages as well as emails in a pinch. The accuracy could be better – but I am sure it will improve. Surprisingly, this is an instance where Google has technology which is much better 
than Apple – aren’t we used to seeing Apple leapfrog others?
On the way back from the concert I encountered this sign on the train allowing for travelers to see the next few train departures via their phones – pretty amazing tech – simple but helpful. Just send a text to 266266 with the locations you are looking for. For example "GCS to Rye." No more paper schedules are needed to try to figure out when the next train is.
The other benefit of the 4S is the increased processor speed and there is indeed a slight increase in performance when you surf the web, download, etc. Nothing incredible mind you – I still find myself waiting for pages to load – even on super-fast WiFi.
Should you upgrade your 4 to a 4S – the answer is yes if you spend lots of time in a car and you think you will benefit from Siri being able to help you perform some tasks while you drive. Moreover, if you take lots of pictures, the camera is better and the quality of video is far better. Then there is the stability control which helps improve the quality of videos – and in my testing, photos as well.
But it isn’t a must have. On an AT&T network your speed will be dramatically improved according to the specs I have read but in reality, unless you are on a cell tower with lots of capacity and few other users, you may not ever see these download speeds.
The latest rumor is an iPhone which works on 4G will be out next year and it better or the company will fall further behind Android. For many, it may just be worth waiting.
Here are the Google results for the above search - got it on the first shot
Although Siri isn't perfect you can get interesting market info allowing you to compare market caps and see how the market is doing
You can even look at a Honda Accord if you like
If you are interested in what a water molecule looks like, you are out of luck
Duran Duran View to a Kill
Duran Duran Planet Earth
Duran Duran Is There Something I Should Know?
Duran Duran Hungry Like a Wolf
Duran Duran The Reflex
Nowadays with 3G, 4G and WiFi networks overlapping in much of the developed world we take instant communications for granted but this is not the case.
Moreover there are many applications where secure, low-power and virtually instant communications is required but infrastructure to facilitate such communications may not exist. Think of a market consisting of the needs of industrial communications, military comms, smart grid and machine-to-machine (M2M).
One of the companies playing in these spaces is FreeWave Technologies and in a recent conversation with CMO Ashish Sharma he told me about how his company provides long-range data communications solutions to a range of markets including oil and gas, agriculture, clean water, wind and solar.
In a typical application – let’s say in oil and gas, a radio can be connected to equipment which measures pressure, temperature and other levels and at a preset interval – let’s say 15 minutes and can report back to a NOC tens of miles away regarding the status of the equipment in the field. As a reminder, quite often drilling takes place where there isn’t much infrastructure around so cell towers are generally non-existent as is fiber, copper, etc. Solar power assists the FreeWave devices in running and lasting for years if necessary, providing readings and other important information.
The company is based in Boulder, Colorado where it makes all of its devices and to date and has placed about 700,000 radios in the field. Each radio by the way is tested and calibrated from -40 degrees F to 168 degrees which believe it or not is only slightly more extreme than the seasonal temperature variations in Boulder :-). Sharma reinforced the fact that his company’s radios are secure and transmit data reliably. He went on to say how crucial reliable information is as it could help determine whether or not a drill needs to be shut down preventing oil spills and gas leaks.
In the military space, the company’s radios are placed on many unmanned vehicles (UAVs) providing command and control 
communications.
The company’s radios run on a variety of frequencies from unlicensed, licensed and military such as 900MHz to 2.4 GHz, 869 MHz, 700 MHz, 1.4 GHz, 400 MHz and 1.3 GHz.
FreeWave makes many radios and perhaps my favorite is the embedded MM2 (pictured) because it looks like something small enough at 14 grams that I could probably put about 10 of them in my shirt pocket.
The company is pretty excited about their new LRS400 Series allowing for the first time radios which operate on licensed frequencies in the US. It operates on frequencies of 435 MHz-470 MHz, 1.427 GHz-1.432 GHz with up to 2W of output power.
The LRS455-EU (pictured) is global radio which operates in both FCC and ETSI modes meaning a single unit for use across the continents and less maintenance costs.
Where can the LRS455-EU be used and under what conditions?
One of the more interesting points made by Ashish is the fact that the radios communicate in a proprietary fashion means they are generally more secure than traditional communications systems where hackers can more easily figure out how to tap into the data stream. Generally this also means costs are higher but for many applications the importance of secure communications outweighs potential cost savings.
In the past 160 years, undersea cable investments have only increased as the Internet has propelled forward our need to not only communicate over distance but to communicate with more people and devices than ever. Likewise it seems the opportunity for secure, long-range wireless communications will not let up and Sharma thinks the market today is worth hundreds of millions if not a billion dollars.
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