August Media Roundup

August was a bit slower than July, but my focus was also shifted to Smart Grid as well as vacation time. All told, though, I managed a handful of citings for both IP comms and Smart Grid along with a few other things.

First, some Smart Grid citings. There were others, plus my own Smart Grid portal contributions, all of which you can peruse on the portal.

- "Smart Grid Consortium Ramps Up in New York"

- "Smart Grid Summit at ITEXPO to Address Telecom's Role in Expanding Smart Grid Space"

Then, some citings for IP comms:

- "Trouble Ahead for Microsoft Reponse Point?"

- "Three reasons you should consider the Twitter bandwagon. And one note of caution."

On TMCnet, I had my regular bi-monthly Service Provider Views columns:

- "4G Wireless Evolution - Fall 2009 4GWE Preview - Q&A with Carl Ford"

- "Smart Grid - What it Means for Service Providers"

For TechTarget, I did three Ask the Expert segments related to Unified Communications and VoIP (registration required - just takes a minute)

- "What is more cost efficient -- VoIP or an IP telephony system?"

- "What are some good ways to measure VoIP ROI?"

- "What are some best ways to save money on a VoIP deployment without losing too much quality?"

On the podcast front, I managed to participate in two segments run by UC Strategies:

- "UC Experts Discuss Google Voice"

- "UC Experts Discuss Cloud Computing and UC"

Finally, I did a White Paper for Tekelec on Telecom 2.0 that was published in August. It's available for download on their site, but if you can't get it, I have a soft copy.

- "Telecom 2.0: Guidelines for Service Provider Success"

New Tekelec White Paper on Telecom 2.0

I've been busy this summer on a few fronts, including writing White Papers for various clients. One of these was with Tekelec, and building on their dominance for signaling in legacy networks, they're well positioned for Telecom 2.0. That's the focus of this paper, and if you give it a read and get to know them better, you'll see that they get it with Telecom 2.0.

To download the paper, you need to register at their website - it just takes a minute - and the link is here. If for some reason this doesn't work, let me know, and I can get you a copy.

2008 Year in Photos - Part 2

This post rounds out my photo review for 2008. I posted about the first half of the year yesterday, and here's the rest.

That's it for me in 2008. Enjoy New Year's and I'll be back blogging in a few days.


Toronto Tech Week, Toronto, September




TMC IT Expo, Fall Show, Los Angeles, September

The Three Tenors... Amigos... whatever. How's that for an unlikely group shot? This would have been completely unimaginable a year ago, and it says a lot about how much the industy has changed in 2008.



Andy Abramson's wine dinner - always a highlight at conferences he attends.



BroadSoft Connections, Phoenix, October







Above: Walt Mossberg - what a treat! - and colleague Thomas Howe, winner of BroadSoft's mashup competition


Avaya Global Analyst Conference, Boston, October

Another interesting image you would have never imagined a year or so ago - Charlie Giancarlo leading the team at Avaya.




Ericsson Experience Center Roadshow, Toronto, October




CDN Channel Elite Awards Gala, Toronto, October




KOTRA Showcase - Korean Trade Association, Dallas, November



Just a few of the really interesting products on display - a Kindle-style reader, 3D television, and a mobile video cam that you can strap on pretty much anywhere...







My Dealey Plaza Pilgrimage, Dallas, November

Being in Dallas the day after Barack Obama's election win, how could I NOT do this? I thought it was a great alignment of history, with so many parallels and inspirations to be drawn from JFK. Here are a few highlights from my expedition, and to see/read more, please check out my more extensive photo essay.

Here's my favorite shot - not just for this trip, but for all of 2008. To me, it sums up the spirit of what I experienced that morning. It's bit hard to discern in this format, but the shot was taken in front of the JFK Memorial, with the inscription of his name showing in the cenotaph in the background. Of all the people who happened to be in Dallas on that historic day, I didn't see anybody making connections like this...



Here are a couple more - the infamous Grassy Knoll, and the view of JFK's motorcade route, including the "X" mark where he was shot, and the Book Depository building at the left...





Tekelec Analyst Day, Morrisville, NC, November

CEO Frank Plastina



Cisco C-Scape 2008, San Jose, December





Above: John Chambers holding court, Rick Moran's SMB breakout, Art Hair's presentation about how Disney is using Cisco's solutions - very interesting stuff!

Avaya Canada Analyst Day, Toronto, December

New Canadian GM, Gerard Baglieri