Recently in Technology Category

Be sure to check out all of the exciting news happening at ITEXPO. In order to get up to date news be sure to bookmark the show news page and check out the three show dailies which have already been produced. Check this page often to stay up to date.

August 20 show daily: SIP security, next gen IMS, VoIP boosts small biz, smart grid progress, Brightcom, Octasic, SIP trunking seminar, Digium open source Asterisk workshop, Terry Matthews keynote, cash for phone system clunkers etc.

August 25 show daily: Smart grid as global trend, mobile communications, Amdocs, 4G, mobile devices, consumer unified communications, Cbeyond and pretzels, Spanlink, wholesale and enterprise VoIP.

August 27 show daily: home energy management/smarthome, networking alternatives, open-source communications in Europe, Multi-Tech, WiMAX dead again, telepresence worth $4.7 billion, fax over IP survivability, SIP trunks

Last night in a post about Gmortgage I discussed how Google is helping to kill off the newspaper business with the help of others in the space such as eBay and Craigslist. Today I learned of an antitrust investigation against Google in Italy which was brought on by FIEG or the Italian federation of newspaper editors who are troubled because they feel they have no control over how Google presents their news on its site. Their only options are to block Google or give them full access.

Other than reading this article from the Wall Street Journal I haven't done investigation or read the complaint but on the face of it seems like a weak argument against Google. It is unclear what the search company is doing wrong - after all if you want traffic from Google you need to play by their rules.

Virtually all companies with websites know they need to work on their search engine strategies and improve them which basically means playing by the rules of Google, Bing, Yahoo! and others.

If Google loses this suit does that open up the door for all Italian companies to sue Google because they aren't happy with the lack of transparency in PageRank and where their results are? How about the rest of the world? Imagine a free-for-all of lawsuits claiming websites and specific pages should rank differently.

A colleague of mine here at TMC made an excellent point recently. He said the web is democratic and in the end, if a search engine doesn't present the most relevant content in the way a searcher wants it, they will switch search engines. In other words Google is forced in general to offer the most important and relevant content to searchers and news viewers.

Having said that, it is obvious the Google Adwords model is killing off newspaper revenue but this doesn't seem to be related directly to the suit.

In an effort to keep you up to date on the conversations online regarding ITEXPO, here are some of the latest items on the web I have been tracking.

Over at the DIDX blog there is a discussion of a broadband stimulus workshop at ITEXPO.

On Sys-Con there is a release about ITEXPO - specifically content targeting resellers and a panel I am hosting called "creatively" Reseller Day Workshop.

On TMCnet there is an article which describes an interview between me and Sipera's Adam Boone discussing his participating in ITEXPO, thoughts on the economy and SIP security.

I also ran across an article containing an interview with Columbia University professor Henning Schulzrinne regarding his thoughts on the smart grid which ties into the Smart Grid Conference taking place at the same time as ITEXPO in the LA Convention Center - Specifically Tuesday, September 1^st.

One final bit of news is that MultiTech is a sponsor of the collocated Machine to Machine or M2M conference and this is interesting to me as I have seen MultiTech evolve over the decades from a company which was a strong player in modems, then VoIP then broadband wireless products and they are now playing in the rapidly expanding M2M market. The M2M conference begins September 1, 2009 in Los Angeles as well.

Be sure to come to the most important communications and tech event of the year and bring colleagues -- there is so much to keep up with and I want to make sure you and your organization are able to absorb as much useful information as possible.

When online mortgage titans battle, who wins?

In the last few decades fear was struck into heart of investors and entrepreneurs whenever Microsoft decided to invade a new market. After all Microsoft has such a big name and was considered to dominate every space it went into. Microsoft is still looking to maximize shareholder value by launching in space after space (more recently though they have been regrouping, trying to maximize sales in the spaces they are in already).

But for companies in a number of industries they not only have to worry about Microsoft but now Google. The latest concern is the search powerhouse getting into mortgages and one company not happy about the idea is LendingTree who is filing a lawsuit against technology provider MorTech for helping the search leader in a new business it may get in which will provide conditional mortgage information to searchers.

Google has done an excellent job destroying business models as it extends its vast empire. For users, what Google is doing is beneficial as it makes it easier to find information which is sought after. But in many cases, as the company grows, it helps to destroy entire industries and hundreds of thousands of jobs in the process.

In the past I have praised the company for being a job creator but the company has also cost tens of thousands of jobs in the newspaper industry alone. Having said that I should point out that eBay and Craigslist helped destroy newspaper profitability as well.

I should also mention the company is disruptive and in a way IP communications is doing to communications companies what Google seems to be doing to so many other companies (including those in communications)  - forcing them to evolve or die.

In the end, Google provides valuable services and when I look up flight information and weather on the site, I now bypass the old web favorites I used to go to. For users this is great but for industries where Google wants to extend its presence, it can be a kiss of death.

In my decades in business the one thing I have learned is that there are few monopolies which can be defended indefinitely (look at postage meters, film, brick and mortar retail) and that scale and technology can drastically change your business model in ways which are impossible to predict. Only by being immersed in your industry and working harder and smarter can you keep up in this brave new world of tech innovation and scale (referring to Wal-Mart, StarBucks and others).

If you happen to play in the tech space though it seems that you have to not only worry about Microsoft but Google could be an even bigger potential threat if you find your industry in their crosshairs.

I ran into Dan York the Director of Conversations at Voxeo and had a chance to talk with him about his company's Prophecy 10 software which was running 2,000 calls on 20 netbooks at the recent SpeechTek 2009 in NYC. As Dan explains, a combination of better software and Moore's Law allow these small netbooks to really become efficient multichannel IVR processors. As he points out, imagine what they can do on more powerful computers. Here is the video below for more and an article with details. You can see Dan at ITEXPO next week in Los Angeles if you want to learn more.
 

The photo below may or may not accurately depict the following event

I just received this email which I thought I would pass along to my readers and attendees. Just so you know, if you want me to promote your event at the show you can just drop me a line ASAP. Thanks.

RingPlus, Inc. (Booth 321) is having their Exclusive Launch Party on Sept. 2nd after closing day of the ITEXPO Conference. We are currently one of the exhibitors for this year's conference and wanted to first invite you to attend and also invite the attendees of the conference to attend as well. 

The event is free and would love to share it with fellow conference attendees.

TMC blogger Peter Radizeski has some brief but important comments about the comparison between a gym membership and hosted unified communications. Get the full scoop here and also learn why Peter correctly (you knew I was going to say that ) advises you on the importance of attending ITEXPO next week in Los Angeles.


Sure, UC might not help with your waist line but it will definately help your bottom line

The cash for clunkers program sponsored by the US federal government is now over but you can still benefit from the cash for phone systems clunkers idea I mentioned a few weeks back. As a reminder, using services like SIP trunking, VoIP and IP communications you can save tens of thousands if not millions of dollars (euros, yen, etc) on phone and conference calls. There is an official cash for phone system clunkers web page now with links to important references such as ITEXPO which is the global gathering place for all things IP communications.  

As a reminder ITEXPO is next week (Sept 1-3 in Los Angeles) and it is the equivalent of an automotive supermarket (yes, communications in this case) where you can meet with all the vendors who save you money by replacing your old equipment. In many cases they can replace the "clunker" with something which is hosted meaning zero CAPEX costs.

I should mention others in the communications space have their own "cash for clunkers" programs. Case in point is Grandstream's Cash for PSTN clunker program that they implemented with Megapath. Megapath is running a promo in which they will offer a $250 dollar credit for VARS or End users who purchase Grandstream's PBX. 

Both companies are exhibiting in ITEXPO so be there to connect and learn more. In the auto industry you get a "cash for clunkers" offer once in a lifetime. In the telecom space we do it every day.

It's official - the much rumored Apple tablet seems to be alive and well and apparently Steve Jobs is scrutinizing every detail of the project. It seems to be getting to the point in fact where Apple employees are uncomfortable with his level of micromanaging. There are obviously many talented engineers and designers at Apple but at the end of the day Steve Jobs has the magic touch and for investors and the Apple faithful, this level of attention from Jobs is a great sign.

It is almost here - one of the largest global events in communications - ITEXPO West 2009 taking place in Los Angeles September 1-3 2009 at the LA Convention Center. Networking is one of the best reasons to come to any event and in order to properly figure out who you should meet with at the show and which sessions and booths you should visit, we have conducted interviews with many of the companies coming to the show so you can get an idea what people are thinking and moreover help align the expertise of others with your needs. The goal of course is to help all attendees make good use of their time at the show.

With that I posted links to interviews one and two and now here is the third installment. I hope you find them useful.