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First Coffee for October 24, 2005

October 24, 2005

By David Sims
[email protected]


The news as of the first coffee this morning, and the music is Mahalia Jackson’s 1991 Gospels, Spirituals and Hymns boxed set. The only time First CoffeeSM has ever agreed with anything noted shakedown artist Jesse Jackson’s uttered is when he said that a voice like hers comes along not once in a lifetime, but once in a millennium:

As a Washington Redskins fan, First CoffeeSM is in a particularly good mood this morning. Our thoughts and prayers of sympathy to all you San Francisco 49ers fans out there, that’s as poorly as First CoffeeSM has ever seen a supposedly professional football team play – and First CoffeeSM watched Super Bowl XX.



Aruba Networks is announcing new access points and a software update to its ArubaOS Mobility Software, designed to enable the deployment of the company’s newly announced Mobile Edge architecture.

In an unrelated announcement Aruba says it has closed a series D round of funding, securing an additional $25 million in equity financing. The latest round brings the total equity investment in the company to $84 million.

The new round of financing was led by Artis Capital Management, LLC, with additional participation from all existing equity investors, including Matrix Partners, Sequoia Capital, Trinity Ventures, and WK Technology Fund.

The Mobile Edge architecture connects mobile workers to enterprise VoIP and data networks from any location.

First Coffee for October 21, 2005

October 21, 2005

By David Sims
[email protected]


The news as of the first coffee this morning, and the music is Tom Waits’s raggedly majestic Mule Variations:

In this week’s Terrible Horrible Awful Weather Disaster Which Is Going To Cause A Lot of Damage And Trouble As Terrible Horrible Awful Weather Disasters Have Done Since God Created Water But Which The MSM And Other Assorted Moonbats Are Going To Blame On President Bush (Instead Of Completely Incompetent Blithering-Blathering Idiots Like Ray Nagin), Hurricane Wilma is going to see what damage it can do to southwest Florida.

If there’s anywhere in America which should know what to do when a hurricane hits it’s Florida, just as if there was one unorganized, incapable, corrupt, fat, lazy indolent city incapable of taking responsibility for its own safety in the face of a disaster it was New Orleans; as First CoffeeSM explained to friends here on the Mediterranean coast there was no worse, more incompetently administered city in the United States for a hurricane to hit than New Orleans.

Florida, however, by now should be as adept at handling hurricanes as Disney World is of handling kids who throw up corn dogs on the rides. Wireless providers have learned a thing or two from Hurricane Charley, as well as Katrina and Rita. Verizon Wireless is already “mobilizing efforts throughout the entire southern peninsula to ensure reliable wireless phone coverage to residents and emergency agencies across the state before, during and after the storm.”

One thing they’re doing is arranging fuel delivery to the company’s network switching facilities in Southwest Florida and other key areas, and to generators at permanent cell sites to keep the network operating at full strength even if power is lost for an extended period of time.

Nearly 80 percent of the individual transmission sites operated by Verizon Wireless have their own on-site generators. This capability is critical when power goes out and if roads are impassable.

They’re also positioning mobile generators, with ready access to roof-top cell sites along the state’s Southwestern and Eastern coasts. In Florida, for some reason known only to God and Carl Hiaasen permanent generators are not allowed on roof-top cell sites.

Verizon Wireless also has dozens of Cells on Wheels (love that acronym) on standby statewide, including many at the company’s Fort Lauderdale and Jupiter network switching facilities.

First Coffee for October 20, 2005

October 20, 2005

By David Sims
[email protected]


The news as of the first coffee this morning, and the music is Sticky Fingers, the Rolling Stones’ second-greatest album. We’ll have no argument about that objective fact:

Guess you’ve heard by now, but in case you haven’t Motorola, Inc. has filed a lawsuit in the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois against Mike Zafirovski (“Zafirovsky” in Reuters reporting) who was recently appointed as president and chief executive officer of Nortel effective November 15, 2005.

The lawsuit alleges, among other things, that Zafirovski (Nortel’s spelling), who resigned earlier this year as Motorola’s president and chief operating officer, has breached various agreements with Motorola by accepting a position with Nortel, since it will “inevitably” result in the use or disclosure of Motorola’s trade secrets.

The lawsuit seeks, among other relief, an injunction to enjoin Zafirovski from rendering services to Nortel for two years, from soliciting or hiring Motorola employees, and from using or disclosing Motorola’s confidential information.

The lawsuit does not name Nortel as a defendant, but the injunctive relief requested is against Zafirovski and his employers, among others.

Basically Motorola’s accusing Zafirovski of violating noncompete agreements he signed before starting work at Motorola. Zafirovski left Motorola at the beginning of the year after being passed over for promotion to the top job there, according to Reuters reports.

Zafirovski was given millions of dollars in cash, stock and stock options to agree not to work for a Motorola competitor for two years after leaving the company, the lawsuit says, putting the total compensation for spending the next two years trout fishing and doing crossword puzzles at $30 million.

First CoffeeSM hereby wishes it to be known that he will promise in iron-clad writing involving children and bodily parts not to work for a Motorola competitor for the next two – heck, make it ten – years in exchange for similar terms.



In other lawyer-enrichment news Synopsys Inc.

First Coffee for October 19, 2005

October 19, 2005

By David Sims
[email protected]


The news as of the first coffee this morning, and the music is Ol’ Blue Eyes’s 1960 album Nice ‘n’ Easy, towards the end of his Golden Era:

Why can’t all press releases be this much fun?

First CoffeeSM’s as much a fan of good advertising writing as anyone else – whoever wrote those Volkswagen magazine ads back in the ‘60s deserved the Pulitzer Prize more than 75% of the now-forgottens who won it – and a fan of Nokia as well, love their phones, which is why the latest news from Espoo, Finland rates first mention.

Witness their new product line, the “L’Amour Collection.” Instead of frustrated music critics writing business technology articles, as is the case with First CoffeeSM, we have frustrated fashion correspondents writing telecommunications press releases:

“Continuing to push the boundaries of mobile phone design, Nokia has introduced a collection of three trend-inspired mobile phones, the Nokia 7360, Nokia 7370 and Nokia 7380. Each model in the L’Amour Collection offers a beautiful mix of contrasts – infusing cultural and ethnic influences with luxurious touches of the unexpected. Hints of vintage and craftsmanship [sic], are fused with natural materials, colors and patterns, all carefully crafted and layered with a passion for detail.”

With a strapless white tulle bodice and lovely flowing skirt. Press releases like this are so more enjoyable than the vast swamp of sludge we slog through to Bring The News To You!TM, keep ‘em coming, just remember we’re talking about pretty good cell phones here, guys, and not Versace handbags.

“For many consumers, the mobile phone has truly become an extension of their personal style – it is a fashion statement as well as an advanced communications device,” maintains Alastair Curtis, Vice President of Design at Nokia’s Mobile Phones division. “Every detail of these products, from the nature-inspired graphics to the velvet-lined pouches [!], has been carefully considered with the style-conscious individual in mind.

First Coffee for October 18, 2005

October 18, 2005

By David Sims
[email protected]


The news as of the first coffee this morning, and the music is something First CoffeeSM finally got around to ordering off iTunes and burning onto disc – the Rolling Stones’ 1969 album Let It Bleed, the midpoint of their five-album 1968-1972 run, Beggar’s Banquet to Exile On Main Street, the greatest five consecutive album string any band’s ever had:

Agilent Technologies Inc. has announced that King Yuan Electronics Corp., an integrated back-end service provider in Taiwan, has purchased an Agilent 93000 Pin Scale system to add to its Agilent 93000 installed base. The system will be used for testing complex systems-on-a-chip for applications such as PCI Express, Serial ATA and HyperTransport – all commonly found in personal computers.

The 93000 Pin Scale system, according to KYEC officials, was bought for its flexibility to meet cost and performance demands, including support for up to 2,048 pins – enough for multisite test or high-pin-count devices.

First Coffee for October 17, 2005

October 17, 2005

By David Sims
[email protected]


The news as of the first coffee this morning, and the music is still that Traffic live CD, Welcome To The Canteen. First CoffeeSM had forgotten what a good work CD it is:

Got another comment on Caiman.com’s terrible customer service, this one from “Anthony:”

I think they have their people put false positive feedback on amazon.com. I have been cheated by them I wish I had tried harder to find a local copy of Xenogears.

First CoffeeSM’s heard from a lot of people who’ve been let down by Caiman.com – either not getting what they ordered, having it arrive grossly late or not at all, and being sent rude e-mails by a company completely uninterested in providing good customer service.

Someday soon, we hope, Amazon.com is going to do the right thing by their customers in the choice of vendors they allow to sell items on their site.



A tip of the coffee pot to Akshay Sharma, formerly Siemens’ Chief Architect Mobile Enterprise Solutions Calypso Wireless, Inc., who’s been appointed Calypso’s Chief Technology Officer. Company officials say Sharma will be tasked with spearheading implementation of Calypso’s technology on the C1250i WiFi-GSM-GPRS VoIP smart cellular phone.

“One of Mr. Sharma’s principal tasks will be to coordinate the activities of all three Calypso Research & Development centers in Miami Florida, Milan Italy and Hong Kong,” said Mike Pizzi, Executive Vice President & General Counsel of Calypso Wireless.



It’s always nice when someone takes customer satisfaction seriously enough to spend money on it.

First Coffee for October 14, 2005

October 14, 2005

By David Sims
[email protected]


The news as of the first coffee this morning, and the music is Bob Dylan’s Highway 61 Revisited:

Passing this along, FYI: Sistema, which is probably correct when it claims to be the largest private sector consumer services company in Russia and the CIS, has announced that, according to press reports, Open Joint Stock Company ASVT has filed a lawsuit against Sistema in a Russian court for approximately 50 billion rubles, or $1.75 billion.

Whew. What got ASVT’s knickers in a twist, according to Sistema officials – you writea da press release, you spinna da story – was Sistema’s investment in Mobile TeleSystems OJSC made over ten years ago. There is also a second related lawsuit against Limited Liability Partnership VAST, “in which ASVT seeks to be named as its sole owner. Sistema and its subsidiary MGTS are named as third parties in the second lawsuit.”

Sistema and ASVT own 51% and 49%, respectively, of VAST, which owns approximately 3% of MTS. Sistema’s current majority ownership in MTS includes its beneficial ownership of 1.5% of the shares of MTS through VAST.

While Sistema has not yet received official notice of the lawsuits, according to company officials “the company believes there is no legal basis for the claims and intends to vigorously defend itself.”

If that affects your morning eTrade activity any.



Not every day you get a story datelined Kourou, French Guiana, but that’s where PanAmSat has announced that its Galaxy 15 satellite was launched into space.

Harold Pinter? Ugh.

October 13, 2005

So Orhan Pamuk didn’t win the irrelevant Nobel Prize for Literature, according to “observers of the Nobel process” cited in The Guardian who say that, “given that the European Union has decided to engage talks on Turkey’s entry without condemning the Pamuk trial, some members of the Swedish Academy, which chooses the literature laureate, feel politically exposed.”

“‘If the Pamuk row is real, the academy’s reluctance is not based on a fear of being political, or controversial,’ said Svante Weyler of Nordstedts publishers, ‘but on concern that literature must not be overshadowed by politics.’”

Literature must not be overshadowed by politics in Nobel considerations. Leaving aside the completely political nature of that consideration in the first place, that’s like saying looks must not overshadow personality in Miss America. The Nobel Prize is so hopelessly wedded to trendy international academic left-wing politics as to be a fairly accurate barometer of that year’s political fads.

Consider this year’s winner, yet somebody else the intelligent reading man in the street’s never heard of, British playwright Harold Pinter. Pinter’s written exactly two plays which First CoffeeSM, who was a literature major who took courses in Modern Drama, has heard of, “The Caretaker” and “The Birthday Party” – and who still has no idea what the hell they mean.

Why Pinter, why now?

First Coffee for October 13, 2005

October 13, 2005

By David Sims
[email protected]


The news as of the first coffee this morning, and the music is Traffic’s 1971 contractual obligation live album Welcome To The Canteen – the legal issues were so convoluted the band name “Traffic” doesn’t even appear on the album, just the musicians’ names. One wonders what Dave Mason’s interpersonal issues were, as six performances into the tour this album was taken from he was fired as Traffic’s guitarist – for the third time. George Steinbrenner and Billy Martin had a more stable working relationship than Traffic and Dave Mason did.

Level 3 Communications, Inc. has announced its European operating subsidiaries are now providing Internet Protocol services in Warsaw, Poland.

First Coffee for October 12, 2005

October 12, 2005

By David Sims
[email protected]


The news as of the first coffee this morning, and the music is solid ol’ classic rock, Stephen Stills’ 1972 Manassas, released in the last year of the Great Era for rock’n’roll, and which can stand in the same company as the year’s other redwoods, such as Exile On Main Street, St. Dominic’s Preview, The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and Eat A Peach:

Salesboom.com, the provider of on demand customer relationship management software who aspires to play in the salesforce.com, NetSuite and RightNow league for SMB hosted CRM, has announced an enhanced administrative upgrade feature for Salesboom users.

Dubbed the Salesboom “SmartUpgrade,” the new feature will allow Salesboom administrators to select which updates they wish to use and when to introduce them to their users.

Salesboom has been releasing new updates to their hosted CRM, with an update at least every 4 weeks. The new “SmartUpgrade” feature will allow system administrators more control and flexibility over which updates they would like to see launched. The new “SmartUpgrade” system will be available to all Salesboom users with the upcoming release of Salesboom v7.0.

The Halifax, Nova Scotia-based Salesboom.com touts their frequent updates as their competitive advantage of the trio of established players in the space: “Yet even with the versatility of the Software-as-a-Service model, the biggest online CRM providers [see above] continue to hold that functionality over their customers’ heads,” company officials say, adding, with the not-completely-accurate insinuation that others don’t release patches and feature updates ahead of scheduled version updates, that “with Salesboom’s SaaS model, customers don’t have to worry about waiting months for promised features and patches, as they are released in a system of scheduled and transparent updates, occurring at least every 4 weeks.”



Fargo, North Dakota-based Vtrenz, Inc. has announced product enhancements for its marketing automation platform. Vtrenz iMarketing Automation is engineered to give marketers tools to plan, build, manage, execute and measure both online and offline marketing activities, designed to help companies “generate, qualify and nurture leads as well as retain and win-back customers,” according to company officials.

Adding behavior-based segmentation capabilities, a new integrated campaign management tool, and multi-track rules-based campaign automation, iMarketing Automation has improved its offerings for running automate marketing campaigns triggered at the time most appropriate for the contact instead of the time most convenient for the sender.

It’s billed as “built for non-IT users; marketers, sales representatives, or other business professionals.”



When SAP’s VP of CRM application solution management, Siegfried Leiner, said in an interview last week with ComputerWire that hosted CRM is “commodity CRM,” dissing it in favor of componentized, platform-based CRM where CRM functionality is integral to the application infrastructure, it was up to someone from the hosted community to swing back.

Kudos to founder and CEO of hosted CRM supplier RightNow Technologies Inc, Greg Gianforte, for picking up the gauntlet, pointing out that SAPs approach is just an attempt to save an outmoded way of operating, according to ComputerWire.

“Chopping its application up into bite-sized pieces is not going to save SAPs bacon because they still insist that all elements have to be used with its costly and impractical NetWeaver platform, negating the flexibility of choosing which applications to run,” he said.

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