March 2009 Archives

I have previously highlighted the application of Nortel innovation in the form of web.alive in e-commerce applications, specifically as used by Lenovo in their e-Lounge virtual storefront.

But the applications of web.alive go well beyond e-comm environments.

We recently announced our first customer application in an e-learning environment, specifically with Virtual Heroes.

Virtual Heroes is best known for creating the US Army Game training platform and HumanSim, a medical training world (check out this ABC News video - it's a great example).

My last speaking engagement was a keynote at ITExpo in Miami.

At VoiceCon in Orlando next week, I'll be speaking in three sessions:
Monday, March 30, 2009 from 1:30 to 4:30 in a tutorial on UC vendors run by Marty Parker
Tuesday, 2:30 to 3:45 on a panel called Presence: Dial Tone of the Future?
Wednesday, 12:45PM to 1:15 in a Nortel session on our Open UC solutions.

At other times, I will be at the Nortel booth (#808) demonstrating web.alive, of which I have spoken often. Cool stuff.

Maybe we'll see you there. Please drop by.

I'm behind in my podcasts, but here's an interesting one I just listened to including an interview with Geoffrey Moore, of Crossing the Chasm fame. It comes from OCRIRadio and is over a year old, but still insightful.

Some interesting quotes (my paraphrasing):

His top 3 venture capital opportunities:

#1: "Clean technologies.... Green is no longer a cause, it's a market".

A recent IDC study sponsored by Nortel found that the percent of respondents willing to send business text messages on vacation varied from 52% in China and 67% in the United Arab Emirates to 11% in Canada and 17% in Japan.

Another survey of city workers in the U.K. by CREDANT Technologies found that 83% plan to take their mobile phone or BlackBerry with them on vacation, while 65% plan to make contact with the office.

This may be just fine for you, but if you feel that you are suffering from cellphonitis, help is at hand.

Greenroots is Nortel's new blog devoted to all things green!

Back in August, I highlighted the walkstation. Now a potential competitor has emerged.

All you need is pedals to turn this slick ergonomic PC chair into a green-friendly workstation!

This is the title of an article by Tara Seals of Xchange, based on an interview she did with yours truly.

Thought you might be interested. If you're wondering about our partnership with Intel, this was in error in the article.

Previously, I highlighted three problems with Cisco's EnergyWise:
1) security vulnerabilities,
2) it's should be an app, and
3) it doesn't make Cisco switches any more efficient.

Now Art Wittmann has raised the very valid concern that it's proprietary to Cisco and its few partners. He observes "So if you happen to be a Cisco, Schneider, SolarWinds, or Verdiem shop--lucky you!" But if you're one of these and want to change, you have just been locked in. And if you're not one of these, you have just been locked out.

Centralization of IT resources has been the path to lowest TCO, whether we are talking about application processing, or data storage. Centralization provides higher utilization of servers and reduces server costs, reduces operations costs including power, staffing and management and provides increased agility to accommodate network changes (e.g. new sites, unexpected growth, site decommissioning).

But obviously both centralized and distributed IP Telephony are viable options.