July 2005 Archives

A few years ago when my colleague Steve White and I were both working at Tailwind.com in Stamford, Conn., one of our co-workers asked him what was the first thing he would save if his house was on fire. "My TiVo," Steve promptly answered.

People love their digital video recorders (DVRs) for many reasons, but one of the most-loved features is the ability to buzz through loud irrelevant commercials. Naturally, television advertisers and networks hate and fear this capability of the technology. But experience shows that many technologies that have initially raised concerns for commercial interests have in the end fostered new business opportunities. Consider the impact of the VCR, the growing possibilities for online music sales and the increasing (legal) applications for P2P and file-sharing technologies.

A report on a study by Parks Associates indicates that users of DVRs are willing to accept targeted advertising in exchange for the ability to fast-forward through regular commercials. This trend promises to allow the world of television advertising to migrate from a mass-marketing to a target-marketing paradigm. Parks Associates' press release from yesterday outlines the results of their survey of 2,084 U.S. consumers.

Parks's release says that 46 percent of survey respondents "are comfortable with viewer tracking and targeted advertising services if offered in conjunction with ad-skipping capabilities." Kurt Scherf, vice president and principal analyst says that their finding "bodes well for TiVo and other PVR/DVR developers, who are hoping to balance viewers' desire to have fewer commercials with the needs of broadcasters and advertisers to better measure their audience and drive more value from advertising."

Parks's announcement caught my eye in view of TiVo's own announcement on July 18, 2005, of a new interactive advertising technology it is launching with General Motors and The WB Network. The new technology will involve the presentation of customized advertising tags giving users access to special promotional footage and allowing them to directly respond and request information from the advertiser.

Following is a list of features of the new technology quoted from TiVo Inc.'s release:

• Enabling advertisers to insert a customized call to action or branded "tag" in their commercial, replacing the generic ad tags previously used by TiVo's advertising clients;
• Ensuring advertisers' traditional TV spots will be more visible in TiVo homes, whether viewed in normal play or fast forward mode;
• Enhancing the TiVo customer's experience by allowing them to select the tag and "telescope" from the traditional 30-second ad while pausing their program to view long-form content, requests for information, or recording opportunities which will enhance the viewing experience;
• Providing advertisers with the ability to receive leads directly from their TV spots, with the viewer's consent, so advertisers can track leads to conversion and ensure a qualified return on investment;
• Additional data for advertisers to gain a better understanding of the effectiveness of TiVo's proprietary tagging feature, the strength of their creative executions, and the efficacy of their television media buying strategy.

My friend Steve once said that TiVo has 'changed the way he watches television.' Sounds as if it might also change the way he interacts with advertising.

AB -- 7/29/05

NewHeights Software is releasing two desktop clients for IP telephony today. Here is the full announcement released today:

NewHeights Delivers Next-Generation Software Clients to Simplify End-User Management of IP Telephony Services

NewHeights launches next-generation software clients for carriers and telephony network equipment vendors, addressing both residential and enterprise users.

Ottawa, Ont., Canada - July 28, 2005 -- NewHeights Software, a leading provider of next-gen soft-client solutions, brings to market Desktop Assistant 90 (DA-90) and Desktop Assistant 15 (DA-15). These clients provide users with a superior end-user interface at the desktop, enabling point-and-click management over their IP Telephony, presence and multimedia collaboration services. The Desktop Assistant® clients support both proprietary and open protocol signaling, including Session Initiation Protocol (SIP), and integrate seamlessly with offerings from carriers, CPE vendors and softswitch vendors. The Desktop Assistant clients offer default integration with applications such as Microsoft Office and Lotus Notes. Custom integration with other enterprise applications is available.

NewHeights DA-15 enables users to manage their call handling and routing features directly from their desktop, launch calls, emails and instant messages with one or two clicks, and access real-time presence information for corporate directory and buddy list contacts. Additionally, DA-15 enables solution providers to dynamically provision and market new IP services directly to customers. Using the client’s Web-window, an e-promotion tool that comes with every client, service providers can initiate upgrades, billing and new services.

With DA-90, the NewHeights flagship next-gen soft-client, users can escalate communications events from one-to-one voice, video or instant messaging to multiple party, multimedia conferencing and collaboration sessions. DA-90 also delivers a knowledge management capability that enables files and e-mails to be associated with contacts and presented in an automated and catalogued list during a call or when offline. In addition, DA-90 enables secure corporate messaging, call recording and annotation and third-party call control support for client-to-desktop phone slaving.

“Today’s IP Telephony users have a wide selection of telephony and collaboration services at their disposal through carrier and CPE networks,” said Owen Matthews, Chief Executive Officer, NewHeights. “We are simplifying the deployment and increasing the end-user adoption of those services. It all comes down to usability at the desktop. From placing a simple outgoing call to multimedia conferencing and collaboration, our solutions ensure that communications events are never more difficult for the end user than an obvious point and click.”

One of NewHeights partners is Ubiquity Software, a provider of IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) compliant SIP Application Servers.

“Carriers demand the highest level of reliability, quality, scalability and sophistication from the technologies that enable and support their IMS services,” said Ian McLaren, Chief Executive Officer of Ubiquity. “NewHeights Desktop Assistant was the perfect compliment to our IMS-Compliant SIP Application Server, seamlessly integrating with our offering while delivering unprecedented simplicity and usability at the IP Telephony desktop.”

“The promise of convergence not only consists of running voice over data networks – it also provides a wide array of new applications that can be accessed via intelligent endpoints at the desktop,” said Ronald Gruia, Program Leader for Emerging Communications Solutions, Frost and Sullivan. “Next-gen soft-clients, such as DA-90, are providing a rich communication management interface that interacts with the phone as well as several applications including telephony, messaging and collaboration technologies, making it faster and easier for end-users to communicate when and how they want.”

NewHeights Desktop Assistant clients are built with Microsoft .Net and best practices for development, test, deployment and maintenance. Desktop Assistant products ensure enterprises are able to use familiar IT Microsoft management systems, directory technology and network and client operating systems in client deployment, installation and maintenance.

Some of NewHeights customers include: Bell Canada, Mitel, and Marconi Corporation plc.

About DA-15

The NewHeights DA-15 client delivers intuitive personal communications management in the office, home or on the road, providing:

•  Point-and-click management of calling features, handling and routing
•  Initiation of voice, e-mail and instant messaging events with one or two clicks
•  Integration with Microsoft MSN Messenger, Microsoft Office, Microsoft Live Communications Server, Lotus Notes and other enterprise applications
•  Screen Pops with incoming caller information and call handling options
•  Call history logs, including calls missed, dialed and received
•  Client-based softphone
•  Peer-to-Peer and PSTN call capability
•  Personal information manager (PIM) and personal address book integration
•  Personalized client interface options
•  Client-based e-procurement of new IP services

DA-15 comes in 14 different languages and allows users to modify their communications settings quickly, and as frequently, as they would like. To view the DA-15 interface please visit www.newheights.com/press/DA15.jpg

About DA-90

The NewHeights DA-90 client delivers all the features of DA-15, while additionally providing:

•  Multimedia collaboration
•  Web, audio and video conferencing
•  Knowledge Management
•  Public and secure corporate instant messaging
•  Call recording, annotation and timing
•  Presence-enabled corporate directory
•  Third-party call control client slaving

To view the DA-90 interface please visit: www.newheights.com/press/DA90.jpg

About NewHeights Software

NewHeights Software Corporation provides the industry’s most evolved next-generation software client solutions for both the residential and enterprise markets. Our solutions offer a superior end-user interface to hosted IP Centrex telephony services and IP PBX customer premise equipment. The company’s sophisticated line of software clients are customizable, OEM communications management applications that integrate IP Telephony call control with collaboration and knowledge management applications to enhance real-time, ad hoc communication for the end user. Some of NewHeights customers and partners include: Mitel, Ubiquity Software and Marconi Corporation plc. NewHeights Software Corporation is a privately held company headquartered in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada with development offices in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada and sales offices in the United Kingdom and Australia. For additional information, please visit www.newheights.com .

-----

AB -- 7/28/05

In a communique released today, Bruce Cleveland, senior vice president for products at Siebel Systems, claims leadership in the hosted CRM space for Siebel's CRM OnDemand product and emphasizes the company's commitment to the space.

Evidently triggered by the release of Siebel's quarterly financial results, today's message says that in the second quarter CRM OnDemand achieved total contract value (TCV) of $20 million versus only $10.6 million in the first quarter with year-over-year growth of 249%. Total user count grew to an estimated 40,000.

Cleveland's message includes some comments about what makes for a successful CRM implementation:

"A successful CRM project requires great technology but technology alone is insufficient. Senior executives want to see measurable business value from their CRM solutions—to grow their existing customer base, to retain their best and most profitable customers, to target and acquire new customers and to provide unmatched customer service. A hosted, on-premise, or hybrid approach to CRM is simply the delivery model to reach these desired business outcomes and not the root cause of success. As such, we have seen large enterprises select our hosted CRM solutions, while we’ve seen mid-sized companies purchase our on-premise software."

Cleveland cites Siebel's in-progress implementation of CRM OnDemand for Pulte Homes, the largest U.S. homebuilder, as a prime example of the relevance of a hosted solution for even a large company. He quotes Pulte CIO Jerry Batt explaining the choice of CRM OnDemand for the project: "We selected Siebel CRM OnDemand based on Siebel Systems’ thought leadership in front-office applications and the company’s domain expertise in working with large companies to solve complex business problems. We also valued the breadth and depth of Siebel’s world-class toolset, its impressive R&D infrastructure, and its strong built-in analytics capabilities."

Cleveland's message also cites recent endorsements by analyst firms Forrester, Gartner, Nucleus and Yankee, as well as customer wins over rival Salesforce.com. He claims "a 58% overall win ratio" over Salesforce.com in the second quarter.

AB -- 7/27/05

I haven't seen this announcement anywhere else, so I thought I would take note of it:

New Universal Remote Control Software -- NoviiRemote Deluxe for PPC Will Be Available in August

The NoviiRemote Deluxe application turns your PocketPC into a universal remote control. It's customizable so you can create your own buttons and layout. Probably every gadget geek already knows this, but from what I gather your PDA can function as a remote through its infrared port. Older versions of NoviiRemote work with Palm OS, Windows Mobile and Treo devices.

Here's an illustration from their Web site to give you an idea what the possibilities are:

AB -- 7/26/05

For the most part, I've given up hope of ever having time to play computer games again. But I have to admit that an announcement like this gets my attention:

Her Interactive Transforms First Nancy Drew Novel into a Windows PC Game Honoring the Series' 75th Anniversary; Nancy Drew: Secret of the Old Clock Hits Store Shelves this Week

Maybe guys weren't supposed to feel this way, but I always enjoyed the old Nancy Drew novels as much as the Hardy Boys, Rick Blaine or Tom Swift. And I'm much more drawn to a computer game that involves solving a puzzle than to one that requires me to pretend I am destroying other life forms.

Today's news release gives some idea of the scenario of "The Secret of the Old Clock":

"The game opens with Nancy driving her classic blue roadster to the Lilac Inn in the sleepy town of Titusville. A mutual friend has suggested that Nancy look in on 17-year-old Emily Crandall who has inherited the inn from her recently deceased mother. After a mere month, Emily is straining to keep up with the management and financial demands of the inn. Nancy is determined to get to the bottom of the mystery.

"Players step into the shoes of Nancy Drew as they are challenged to figure out the root of Emily's problems. They can travel around town supporting themselves with part time jobs and casually chatting with Emily and her circle of acquaintances who provide clues. There's the friendly but stressed local banker, the ESP expert who lives near the inn and Emily's guardian, always distracted but constantly around to help.

"For the first time, players will be able to drive around town in Nancy's car with the aid of a map. They will also tie together clues from a myriad of puzzles. In addition, there's a mini-golf game within the game."

Mini-golf, no less! Well, I'm impressed!

User experience? The Web site of publisher Her Interactive does provide some screen shots. This one caught my eye -- a little reminiscent of Myst, perhaps:

And old Nancy Drew enthusiasts will no doubt be entertained by this rendering of Nancy's snappy blue roadster:

So now that I have lost all credibility as a technology blogger, I had better get busy looking for some hard science to report on next ....

AB -- 7/25/05

This news item from TMCnet's feeds caught my eye today:

Human Service Mission to the International Lunar Observatoriesp>

Like many press releases, as a stand-alone item it left me scratching my head. According to the release, a company named SpaceDev has received a small contract from Lunar Enterprise Corporation to "create a conceptual mission architecture and mission design for a human servicing mission to the Lunar south pole targeted for the period of 2010 to 2015."

Now as I understand it, a human servicing misson is a space mission to be performed by actual humans riding in a spacecraft, as opposed to a robotic mission controlled remotely. But what in the world is on the Lunar north pole that could need servicing, I wondered? Obviously, additional research was called for.

Investigation revealed that the funding organization for the just-announced project, Lunar Enterprise Corporation, is a group formed to advance the development of human projects on the moon. One of their proposed projects is the establishment of an observatory at the south pole of the moon. So if I understand correctly, the mission design project announced today would essentially help in the planning and budgeting for maintenance of this proposed observatory.

Is this a serious project? Yes. (Likely to happen? I don't know. Feel free to chime in.) Starting lunar development with an astronomy project certain sounds sensible. Space Age Publishing Company, the parent organization for Lunar Enterprise Corporation, has longer-range ideals, though. Consider this quote from the company's Web site:

"It is common knowledge in the scientific and space community that, in order to save humanity from an inevitable cataclysmic event, a better understanding of the universe and steps toward becoming a multi-planet species (each starting with the Moon) must be achieved."

Serious stuff, no?

In case you're wondering what it would look like, here is an artist's conception of the proposed lunar observatory:

AB -- 7/22/05

For a long time I've thought that click fraud in pay-per-click (PPC) advertising was a massive problem in the Web advertising business. So I was interested to see this announcement today on the TMCnet Web site, arriving via the BusinessWire feed:

Surging ''Click Fraud'' Imperils Internet Marketing; Click-fraud costs may hit $1 billion yearly

SPSS, a provider of predictive analytics software, issued this press release to promote its products as a solution for detecting click fraud. Predictive analytics, the company says, can "identify advertisements that exhibit irregular behavior patterns."

In my own Internet business (EmailResults.com), I have used PPC advertising to drive traffic, and I've noticed that some PPC services provide better-quality traffic, that is, a stream of qualified users who will respond to the offer at a reasonable rate. So for the most part I have stuck with Overture and Google Adwords and have stopped using About.com. Recently I decided to try Business.com but haven't yet come to any conclusions about the quality of the traffic they send to the site.

Here's how I imagine click fraud works: A PPC advertising network finds subcontractors who offer to provide a stream of users to the network to click on ads. The users who click on the ads are paid to do so. If you are living in Asia, Africa or South America, it could be a relatively well-paying job to sit at a computer and click on ads for a tenth of a cent per click or some such rate.

This is probably an over-simplified scenario, but I think that's basically how it works. It's probably done under-the-table and through shadow companies so it's not real easy to track down.

SPSS's news release gives five recommendations for overcoming click fraud (I quote):

1. Determine the policy for online search advertisements before signing any contracts.

2. Use Web analytics to better understand traffic to your Website.

3. Monitor Website activity closely through the entire lifespan of an online campaign.

4. Apply predictive analytics software to anticipate fraud.

5. Flag possible fraud cases with online search advertisers as soon as identified.

AB -- 7/18/05

BellSouth representatives are declining comment on today's rumors of a possible acquisition of VoIP provider Vonage. Late this afternoon, an inquiry sent from TMCnet to BellSouth generated a quick but definite refusal to comment on the question.

Today Rich Tehrani, president of TMC, posted the following on his VoIP Blog under the entry title "BellSouth to Buy Vonage":

"Rumor has it that Vonage is in talks with Bell South to sell their VoIP service company for about 3.5 billion dollars. At about 800,000 subscribers that values each Vonage subscriber at $4,375!"

Please continue to check the TMCnet Web site for any further developments in this possible breaking story. Obviously, such a story is tentative and speculative, but an acquisition of Vonage would be big news in the growing VoIP industry.

AB -- 7/13/05

I just received a report from the Economist Intelligence Unit that they have published the results of a survey showing that executives at large companies feel "unable to exploit large volumes of corporate information." Since the report was sponsored by Tata Consultancy Services, it is perhaps no surprise that the survey finds that "67% of companies cite knowledge management/business intelligence solutions as important to achieving their strategic goals" for the next three years. But in all fairness, one could certainly argue the value of KM and BI in their own rights.

The report is called "Know How: Managing Knowledge for Competitive Advantage," and is available on the Tata Web site from this page:

http://www.uk-tcs.com/news-130705.htm

See today's press release on TMCnet at this page:

Companies turn to knowledge management to solve information overload

As with CRM, I've always been annoyed at the characterization of knowledge management as primarily a technology problem. Knowledge resides in the living minds of people, and managing and sharing knowledge in an organization is at least as much about human processes and corporate culture as it is about technology.

According to today's announcement, Tata's CEO, S. Ramadorai, would evidently agree with me on that. It quotes him as saying that "knowledge management is about more than effective IT. It has three critical and complementary components: people and culture; infrastructure and technology; and processes and information flow. Without addressing corporate culture as well as IT, or using technology to make information actionable, knowledge management projects are likely to fail."

Today's press release includes some key findings that are worth noting -- I quote them below:

• Too much information impedes decision-making. Over half (55%) of executives say that IT’s failure to prioritise information is the main barrier to effective decision-making. Consolidating information and providing consistent performance indicators are regarded as the most important step firms can take to improve the speed and quality of decision-making.

• Good customer information remains elusive. Knowledge about customers, their preferences and their behaviour is the overwhelming focus for improving the quality of information in large organisations over the next three years. The focus of CRM initiatives is now shifting from automating processes and collecting data to enabling more sophisticated analysis of customer requirements and buying habits.

• For managers, relevant information is more important than “information anywhere”. When asked where IT needs to improve most to help managers make better decisions, the top two priorities are to make it easier to analyse and drill down into information (40%) and improve the quality of data (31%). Only 12% of executives see ensuring access to information anywhere as a priority for improvement.

• Corporate culture is as important as IT for effective knowledge management. The biggest obstacles to knowledge sharing in large organisations are organisational, rather than IT-related. Half of executives say that internal barriers between departments hamper information sharing. Ignorance of what knowledge exists, or of where to find it, is another major barrier according to 41% of respondents. In some cases, a simple solution such as keeping a regularly updated record of who knows what can be more effective than throwing IT at the problem, according to the report.

• Effective knowledge management pays. Executives increasingly see knowledge management as a vital tool for competitive advantage. One case study in the report shows how Schlumberger, an oil services company, achieved a return on investment of $200m in a single year from a recent knowledge management initiative.

AB -- 7/13/05

I have to confess that I'm not much attracted to the idea of watching a movie on the tiny screen of my cell phone. Why not just read a magazine or newspaper? Oh that's right, people don't read anymore. So maybe there is a market for mobile video after all.

This story from today makes the idea seem more feasible:

Kopin and MicroOptical Bring ''Big Screen'' Video to Cell Phone Users

Sometimes with partnership announcements like this it's a little hard to pick them apart to figure out who does what. But as I understand it, MicroOptical makes video-capable eyewear products and Kopin makes the display technology that is going to allow wide-screen video to be displayed via a wearable display. To add to the party, today's announcement says that this video service is going to be offered by France Telecom's Orange SA and delivered over Samsung phones.

Glad I was able to make that clear.

Reading this announcement, it sounds as if what the user will be able to do is put on a pair of eyeglasses (said to be "sleek" and "stylish"), plug them into their cell phone, and watch a hi-res movie (or TV and Internet content) in their field of vision. All this is supposed to be available in October 2005. Today's release says the eyewear will be able to play five hours of video on three AAA batteries.

One of my perpetual complaints about company Web sites is that they give huge volumes of product data, specs, comparison charts, and endless bulleted lists but fail to visually show you a user-view of the product. I want to know what the user experience is like, and often I get everything but that.

Same problem with the MicroOptical and Kopin Web sites. Here are some pictures showing what some of MicroOptical's eyewear products look like:

And here is a shot of one of Kopin's micro-displays:

How are we doing in terms of "sleekishness" and "stylishness"? So far I'm not feeling particularly reassured.

The best these companies seem to be able to provide in terms of portraying the user experience is this sort of conceptual icon:

(Again, the image of the eyewear here doesn't engender much confidence in the sense of style of this offering, does it?)

And I did manage to snap this shot from a demo video showing a video display within a user's field of vision:

Well, I'm poking fun, and I tend to be hyper-critical of technology marketing efforts. No doubt in the hands of France Telecom and Samsung, this offering will be marketed in a more compelling fashion. Today's press release gives this description -- read it and use your imagination:

"The sleek eyewear allows users to privately view large-size video or pictures equivalent to a 12-inch screen as seen from three feet away, yet simultaneously view their surroundings thanks to the small size of the frame and MicroOptical's patented optics which allow the user to see around the screen."

AB -- 7/7/05