December 2005 Archives

I've been reflecting on recent criticism the government has received for increased spying within the U.S. in connection with terrorism investigations (as well as other activities, such as secret prisons and rough interrogation tactics).

Here are some articles that appeared this week on TMCnet about web-based surveillance:

U.S. to Probe Contractor's Web Tracking

NSA Web Site Plants 'Cookies' on Computers

From a privacy perspective, I can understand why some observers are disturbed by these developments. But I was also thinking about the difficult position of those trying to govern and protect the populace in the face of brutal and merciless terrorist forces.

In the field of security, I've heard a metaphor that seems applicable to the fight against terrorism: When we build a higher wall, the bad guys make a taller ladder.

So in many situations, security involves a process of constant escalation.

Recently I attended a seminar about innovation in the era of homeland security. The main speaker was a former Bush-administration Department of Defense official who feels that the government is hampered by processes of planning and procurement that inhibit innovation.

As he spoke, I was reflecting that, in some ways, the terrorists have been in a better position to act as innovators. This idea rankles, because I like to think of innovation as a good thing and I hate to think of terrorists in any kind of positive light. But they have been able to "innovate" in some ways that are expensive and difficult to combat -- forming a worldwide insurgency embedded at low visibility in the population at large and causing great injury, death and economic loss, some would say at low cost to their own side.

I was also reflecting that it's hard to believe that real security can continue to be bought at the cost of building higher and higher walls. How does innovation enter in to homeland security efforts? Instead of continually building higher walls trying to stay ahead of those taller ladders, are there ways innovation can be applied, perhaps to create ladder-dissolvers or to disrupt the supply chain involved in ladder construction?

AB -- 12/30/05

David Smith, a futurist and technologist at Technology Futures Inc., today released a set of predictions for 2006:

TFI Provides Significant Technology Trends for 2006

Smith's predictions on VoIP will come as no surprise to users of TMCnet: "The impact of VoIP extends beyond the business users and will become common place in the new digital home. 2006 will see the first impact of mobile VoIP in connected devices."

Smith also includes predictions about the effects of broadband penetration, security and privacy, the digital home, the migration of PR and marketing to public networks, biotech, and globalization and outsourcing. All are interesting to read, although not what I would call mind-bending.

But Smith did include one area in his predictions which I thought was of particular interest, under the heading "The timeframe of the product life-cycle continues to decrease." Following are his comments on this trend, which have interesting implications for innovation:

"... by the time a product hits the market, its shelf life is half what it used to be. So, to remain competitive, science and research time will become more intensive and innovative earlier as product development time continues to compress at an unprecedented rate. Innovation and a future focus will be necessary to remain in the game. Technologies such as grid technology, mid-weight computer clients, and collaborative computing play large roles in making every device a server."

AB -- 12/29/05

An interesting article came through from Newsbytes today:

Homeland Security CIO needs more power, IG says

U.S. Inspector General Richard Skinner is saying that the chief information officer for the Homeland Security department needs to integrate the department's IT infrastructure for better communications and information exchange.

According to the article, Skinner believes the HSD CIO is "not well positioned to accomplish these IT integration objectives because the CIO is not a member of the senior management team with authority to strategically manage departmentwide technology assets." DHS officials apparently disagree, contending that the CIO doesn't need to be at a higher level to implement the current plan, which calls for "establishing an integrated enterprise network, common email and help desk; creating two data centers; and initiating a departmentwide video operations capability."

AB -- 12/29/05

I just learned from our development team here at TMCnet that our new Information Technology news portal has officially launched.

Up to now, TMCnet has primarily been known as a top source for news and analysis in the communications technology field, so many users have come to know us for our coverage of  telecommunications, VoIP, IP communications, call centers, CRM and related areas.

But all along we have covered the general IT space and have always felt that we had good potential to launch an IT-specific web site. The new IT site is only in its initial-launch stage and will continue to grow in coverage and functionality, but I was excited to see that it already has sections for these topics of particular interest:

• Security
• Networking
• Wireless
• Servers
• Business Intelligence, Knowledge Management, Open Source and On-Demand under the Software section
• Linux, Blades and Virtualization under the Servers section
• Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity under the Storage section
• Metro Ethernet under the Networking section
• Fixed-Mobile Convergence (FMC) and WiFi/WiMAX under the Wireless section
• and much more!

Knowing the energy and ambitions of the TMCnet development team -- and the trajectory of TMCnet's growth as a prime source for tech news and commentary, I know that this site is sure to provide more and more to users and to increase in visibility as time goes on!

AB -- 12/21/05

An announcement today from CommercialWare Inc. informs us that The Vermont Country Store has selected CommercialWare's cross-channel commerce solution to integrate its retail, catalog, web and contact center operations.

The Vermont Country Store is a unique 60-year-old business with two large rustic-themed retail stores in Rockingham and Weston, Vermont, and an extensive catalog business.

CommercialWare offers a suite of cross-channel commerce applications targeted at retail operations. Its customers include Abercrombie & Fitch, Ritz Camera, Jos. A. Bank and Patagonia. CommercialWare's release today is careful not to use the term "CRM" to describe the company's suite, but the release does say that the system sold to The Vermont Country Store:

1) Provides a user interface "that easily lets the customer service representative view all customer data, link to shipping information, track customer purchases, and in real-time check inventory of a specific item";

2) Allows the call center "to improve cross-sell and up-sell opportunities to the customer based on previous purchases and requests for items";

3) Enables the company to "track customer buying habits across all its channels."

And CommercialWare's boilerplate says that they develop:

"Cross-channel commerce infrastructure solutions that allow retailers and direct marketers to optimize transactions from all customer touch points. CommercialWare's comprehensive portfolio of products seamlessly links all aspects of the transaction lifecycle through point-of-sale, back-office, order management, fulfillment, customer service, collaboration, and analytics applications."

They do use the phrase "business intelligence" in connection with their products, but to steer away from the "CRM" term altogether seems odd to me -- at least they would have to be considered a near cousin. Oh well, not worth quibbling over -- it can be hard to second-guess somebody else's thinking about positioning.

If you're ever heading up to ski country, The Vermont Country Store's Rockingham store is not far off I-91 near Bellow Falls. Take exit 6 and go west on Route 103. The store is only about a mile away on the left. It's a fun place to visit (I used to live just up the road at Brockway Mills). You can order many unique products from their web site, but actually their paper catalog is more fun -- go here to request it.

AB -- 12/19/05

HP and DreamWorks Animation have introduced a distance collaboration system for realistically simulating face-to-face meetings remotely. Today this announcement crossed the TMCnet news feeds:

HP Unveils Halo Collaboration Studios: Life-like Communication Leaps Across Geographic Boundaries; Collaboration Studio Fosters Global Face-to-Face Communication, Decreases Need to Travel and Increases Productivity

According to today's release, the Halo technology was originally developed to help the DreamWorks team working on the Shrek 2 animated film. DreamWorks CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg is quoted describing the inception of the system:

"In 2002, while we were producing Shrek 2, we realized that DreamWorks needed face-to-face collaboration between key creative talent in different locations. We weren't satisfied with the available video conferencing systems, so we designed a collaboration solution that would fulfill our needs. HP took the system and turned it into Halo."

Halo is a broadcast studio designed specifically for business communication. To implement Halo, you'll need to shell out $550,000 each for two Halo rooms in separate locations, able to seat six people each. Each room uses three plasma displays able to produce life-size images of the collaborators on the other end. Video is transmitted via a dedicated high-bandwidth HP Halo Video Exchange Network.

Here's an image that gives you some idea of the user experience of HP Halo:

The system includes document- and data-sharing and high-magnification cameras capable of zooming in on any object in the other room for closer examination (we assume that participants will use this capability courteously and only for appropriate purposes).

Today's release says that HP itself has 13 Halo rooms. PepsiCo has rooms in its three main headquarters in Chicago, New York and Plano,Texas.

AB -- 12/12/05

This article from the TMCnet news feeds caught my eye this morning:

Physicists Show Quantum Storage Of Single Photons

This is a release from "Space Daily" announcing that physicists from the Georgia Institute of Technology have achieved "the storage and retrieval of single photons transmitted between remote quantum memories composed of rubidium atoms." The article is quick to point out that this achievement is rudimentary, but it does represent an important step toward the goal of quantum networking, that is, a sought-after technology that would allow computer networking and communications based on storage and processing of information using photons and atoms.

AB -- 12/12/05

I just had to call attention to this announcement from today:

United Online Donates NetZero VoIP Phone Service to Ronald McDonald House Charities Programs in the U.S.

You might not care much for McDonald's food, and you might think Ronald McDonald the clown is kind of stupid, and I wouldn't dispute you. But I have to say that the Ronald McDonald House program is one of the great things in a world that can be very difficult for families of sick children.

When our son Jeremy was 17, he contracted Hodgkins Disease, a virulent form of cancer that nearly killed him. We were living in Brattleboro, Vermont, at the time, and had to take frequent trips up to the University of Vermont Medical Center in Burlington for Jeremy's chemotherapy treatments. The Ronald McDonald House in Burlington was a life-saver for us, giving us a comfortable place to stay in a family atmosphere at no charge -- at a time when finances were very low, as we had to take a lot of time off work for the all-consuming trials of caring for a child with cancer (along with two other younger ones).

So I for one am grateful to United Online for providing free NetZero VoIP services for families staying in any of the 155 U.S.-based Ronald McDonald Houses -- and to any readers who have ever been thoughtful enough to drop a quarter or a dollar in the little box next to the cash register at the McDonald's counter.

As to Jeremy, in August my wife and I and his sister and two brothers were all together this past August to be with him at his wedding in the rain in a beautiful garden high on a hill in Guilford, Vermont.

AB -- 12/8/05

A report today from ABI Research says that the broadband video market worldwide saw "explosive growth" for 2005 and will grow to over $16 billion by the end of the decade.

A news release today from ABI says that "both pay and ad-supported broadband video markets" grew over 100% year-over-year  in 2005. For this aggressive growth, ABI cited as drivers:

• "consumers' continuing increase in broadband video usage"
• "content owners' demand for alternative outlets as existing channels (cable, broadcast and DVD) mature"
• advertisers' "pushing to increase their expenditure in this market because sought-after demographic groups such as young adults are spending more time online, instead of watching TV"

Mike Wolf, ABI's principal analyst for broadband, digital home and media, cited "Disney/ABC's announcement that it would sell episodes of ‘Desperate Housewives' for $1.99 per episode through iTunes" and "NBC's decision to push its flagship nightly news online through an ad-supported model" as indicative of content companies' strong desire for new distribution channels.

Wolf also mentions the "digital home" trend as important in the development of the broadband video market. Today's release says companies such as Microsoft, Sony and Apple have positioned themselves as "key gatekeepers for consumers with home technology platforms, giving them leverage with content owners looking to reach consumers with broadband video content."

Wolf says, "Consumer platforms, be they Xbox 360s, iPods or TiVos, have millions of loyal users who are hungry for content. The kingmakers in the broadband video market will be those who can offer not just online distribution of content, but can then extend the reach of this content to the consumer, by whatever method that consumer prefers."

AB -- 12/8/05

Today, Toshiba America Information Systems is announcing Release 4.0 for its Strata CIX IP PBX communications systems. Toshiba says the new release delivers "a more powerful processor an an expanded feature set."

Release 4.0 will now come standard in the CIX100, 200 and 670 systems and is available via processor upgrade in existing CIX100 and 670 systems and via software upgrade in existing CIX200 systems.

The new processors feature RISC technology; embedded DRAM with four times the memory, up from 16MB to 64MB; and a larger-capacity Secure Digital (SD) flash memory card (up from 64MB to 512MB). The new release offers improved remote upgrades and backups. New administration and maintenance features include enhanced traffic reporting and system alarms.

Of particular interest to call center operations, the new 4.0 release includes built-in Uniform Call Distribution (UCD) functionality, which, today's release says, "enables call flow to distribute more efficiently through a call center." The release adds the following details:

"UCD calls can be answered by the auto attendant, which prompts the caller to dial the correct UCD group number. Alternatively, UCD calls can ring directly to a UCD group. In either case, the call is then sent to the UCD agent or queue but never to a busy number.

"Calls sent to agents are managed by distributed hunt to find the next available agent. Callers in queue can receive music and announcements imbedded in one of the system's music-on-hold sources, and each UCD group can share or have a separate music source. Overflow timing is controlled by a unique overflow timer for each UCD group. Agent log-in and log-out buttons make it easy for agents to sign in and out of the system so that calls can be routed appropriately.

"The built-in UCD standard feature is ideal for basic call processing applications not requiring the more robust optional ACD and reporting capabilities available with Strata CIX systems."

According to today's announcement, Toshiba promises to "never leave a customer behind" -- thus the new Strata CIX Release 4.0 is compatible with the entire CIX family.

AB -- 12/6/05

An announcement today says that on Thursday, Dec. 8, 2005, the New Millennium Research Council will release a new report pointing to broadband deployment as a key to reducing U.S. healthcare costs and boosting the nation's economy.

The new report, "Great Expectations: Potential Economic Benefits From Accelerated Broadband Deployment to Older Americans and Americans With Disabilities," is authored by Bob Litan, described as a Kauffman Foundation and Brookings Institution scholar. Litan will present his findings at a luncheon in Washington, D.C. at 12 noon ET (see PDF invitation). The presentation will reportedly be available by audio feed and archive -- follow link for details.

According to today's announcement, Litan's report will point to cost savings and large economic benefits that could result from broadband deployment expediting telemedicine, independent living and telework. Litan intends to argue that "accelerated broadband should be made a much higher national priority than it is today" because of the potential benefits.

AB -- 12/6/05

I'm an enthusiastic consumer of market research. My eyes light up when I see a press release from IDC, In-Stat, Infonetics, Dell 'Oro, ABI and other providers of technology-market insight.

These organizations typically produce proprietary and syndicated reports that sell for thousands of dollars. But the research firms also provide glimpses into the results by issuing press releases, which prove useful for our news reporters and give interesting insights into technology trends.

Big companies also love these reports, especially when a report proves how successful the company is in gaining market share. In fact, in some reports there's something for everybody! It's a tribute to the flexibility of research that these two press releases can both come across the TMCnet news feeds within hours of each other, both referencing the same study by IDC about external disk storage systems market share:

EMC #1 in External Disk Storage Revenue for 7th Consecutive Quarter; Analyst Firm Reports EMC #1 in NAS for 6th Straight Quarter

HP Owns No. 1 Rank in Worldwide Total Disk Storage Systems Revenue for 14th Consecutive Quarter

IDC's big news in their release, "External Disk Storage Systems Achieves Record Growth in the Third Quarter of 2005, IDC Finds," is that factory revenue grew a record 12.5% year-over-year in Q3 2005 to $3.9 billion. But when it comes to the market positions of individual companies, evidently you can slice and dice the figures in a number of different ways to make the news sound good for everybody.

AB -- 12/2/05

This announcement came across the TMCnet news feeds today:

Lucent Technologies Builds New Agency Line Up to Lead Worldwide Advertising and Brand Communications; GlobalWorks Selected along with International Co-Production and Carat in 'True Convergence' Campaign Spotlighting Today's Digital Lifestyles

It looks as if this is a new campaign launched in conjunction with Lucent's hiring a new lead ad agency for its worldwide marketing efforts. The new agency is GlobalWorks Group, based in New York and known for its multicultural experience.

Today's release explained the 'True Convergence' theme in these terms:

Yuri Radzievsky, president of GlobalWorks: "Our mandate is to reinforce how Lucent is making true convergence a reality by enabling truly simple, truly seamless communications experiences for the end-user. We're all living and running around with four or five pieces of gear, which reflects today's digital lifestyle and work style, and the advertising will focus on how Lucent will bring real harmony to what until now has been an ever growing vortex of communications chaos."

John Giere, chief marketing officer for Lucent: "The overriding theme is to show how Lucent's solutions will simplify life, at work, at home and on the go across the entire horizon of personal communications media, and give end-users control of the experience."

The front page of the Lucent Web site is now highlighting a Flash presentation (developed by GlobalWorks or its partners, I assume) that does a good job presenting the position of the 'True Convergence' campaign. Here's one image that might give you an idea of the flavor of the campaign and the creative employed in it:

Lucent is sending speakers to the upcoming Internet Telephony Conference and Expo in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Jan. 24-27, 2006: Geeta Chaudhary, who works in IP video solutions; Tim Gore, working in WiFi development; and Tim Connelly from Lucent's professional consulting division.

AB -- 12/1/05