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November 30, 2007
futuretext: The story behind the name ..
I always wanted to do this blog .. so here goes ..
A marketing / branding person once asked me: Who did your PR and branding?
At first I thought that she was after some work from our company .. and since I had done the futuretext branding and logo myselves, I thought .. maybe she is criticising how it looks ..
But no ..
She went on to say .. It was fantastic name for a publishing company focussed on emerging technologies ..
This made me happy ofcourse ..
But should I have been happy?
The real story is far less flattering .. and here it is ..
I started with mobile messaging applications around 2000. SMS was the rage .. but MMS was emerging ..
So, originally .. I wanted to start a company based on messaging .. and beliveved .. and hold your breath for this .. ‘The future of ‘text’ is MMS’
So, that was the idea behind ‘futuretext’
Real marketing people like my good friend Russell Buckley(Now MD Europe of Admob) were wiser .. and warned that MMS was (is!) a dog .. It is never going anywhere ..
But I was convinced otherwise .. and bet my business on it so to speak!
(In fairness, I thought MMS may become a transport mechanism – like WAP .. and that’s why I thought it may always have a future)
Anyway .. the rest as they say is history ..
I entered publishing .. and futuretext was an ideal name for a publishing company by happy coincidence ...
So, what does this all tell you?
a) I am no branding / marketing person
b) Sometimes you can f**k up badly .. but still get lucky
c) And the future of text is ‘futuretext’ :)
And its years before I dared to make another prediction - this one with a lot more success if I may add with some modesty .. Mobile web 2.0: AJAX for mobile devices – why mobile AJAX will replace both J2ME and XHTML as the preferred platform for mobile applications development - Part two
Posted by ajit at 11:50 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
The anti portfolio: When VCs screw up ....
This is very inspiring .. especially for people like me who never managed to raise any money in the dot com era when everyone else seemed to be .. but yet went on to set up a web based business post dot com - enjoy .. the antiportfolio ..
The ones I liked best are
Federal Express
Incredibly, BVP passed on Federal Express seven times.
Google
Cowan’s college friend rented her garage to Sergey and Larry for their first year. In 1999 and 2000 she tried to introduce Cowan to “these two really smart Stanford students writing a search engine”. Students? A new search engine? In the most important moment ever for Bessemer’s anti-portfolio, Cowan asked her, “How can I get out of this house without going anywhere near your garage?”
Posted by ajit at 11:03 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
P2P may be Google’s biggest weakness and an Operator’s biggest asset
Notes: Let me say at the outset that I am a big fan of Google. This blog uses Google as an illustration in answer to the question Operators often ask; What can we do to differentiate against the Web (an euphemism for Google). Similarly, I have used Motorola’s Seamless mobility ideas since they are closest to what I am trying to illustrate on the network side. I am also reasonably familiar with the ideas of Seamless Mobility from the time I was on Motorola CTO Padmasree Warrior keynote panel at Javaone
Today I spoke at the Mobile Wimax conference in Cannes. The venue was one of the best known places in Cannes Palais des Festivals et des Congrès(location of the Cannes film festival)
I have historically had an interest in Wimax and believe in its disruptive potential. One of the themes of the conference was : ‘Operator strategies for mobile broadband’. So, I discussed the following idea in my talk
P2P may be the killer application for the mobile networks because P2P is the biggest weakness of Google(and other web based services)
To illustrate this, I used the example of ‘Seamless mobility’ from Motorola - because in it’s ultimate incarnation; Seamless mobility is a very disruptive idea if deployed by visionary Operators.
Firstly, seamless mobility, as I understand it is: A user should be able to go from one network to another without any disruption to their experience. In an IP world, intelligence will always shift to the edge of the network. Hence, to devices and services. Thus a service layer that spans different network types will be a needed in more complex scenarios.
I have been speaking of a the need for a new type of value chain in my blog Isn’t it time we put the customer at the centre of the mobile data value chain:A new value chain for the Mobile data industry
What would be needed in such a scenario from a network standpoint?
The device should be able to choose the optimal connection type from a range of connections possible. The connection /session should be managed across heterogeneous networks. Physically , that means a seamless integration between network types like Wimax and IMS/NGN.
If this scenario is realised(even partially), the next question is: How will it be used?
We can extrapolate existing business cases (for example corporate users etc ) and those are all well and good ..
However, the ubiquitous and plentiful availability of broadband connectivity may trigger a fundamental change in user behaviour and applications - the likes of which we don't see at all currently.
Specifically, we may see true Peer to Peer applications.
To recap from wikipedia ..
A peer-to-peer (or "P2P", or, rarely, "PtP") computer network exploits diverse connectivity between participants in a network and the cumulative bandwidth of network participants rather than conventional centralized resources where a relatively low number of servers provide the core value to a service or application. Peer-to-peer networks are typically used for connecting nodes via largely ad hoc connections.
Sadly, operators and many in the industry don't think in this way - if you say 'P2P' people think Napster ..
That's sad because the telecoms industry has an identity crisis between content and contact .. i.e. many in telecoms forget that the industry is all about connecting people and not about playing second fiddle to the content industry (and all the baggage that comes with it – such as DRM)
A true P2P ecosystem triggered by the idea of seamless mobility and plentiful bandwidth can be very disruptive indeed …
And what has this got to do with the Web and Google?
Think server farms ..
Google is client server .. It has to be .. if it needs to store, manage and index the Web. Indexing the Web, as we know it, has to be centralised ..
Consequently, if a decentralised – P2P architecture takes off - then Google cannot match it because it is not in Google’s DNA to do so(just as the Web was never in Micosoft's DNA) .. And furthermore .. it will be a service which people will want(Doubt that? - My Skype account shows 8,663,106 online at the moment!)
This is classic Sun Tzu ..
Unfortunately, more strategies are driven by Mickey Mouse than by Sun Tzu ..
And I mean that quite literally .. in the sense that it is driven by the content industry aka the Disney’s and the Warners of the world.
The telecoms industry sadly does not realise that it is in the communication business – and not the content business.
That should however not detract us from the vision of P2P triggered by the concept of Seamless mobility .. which, in my view, is perfectly valid and highly disruptive .. especially since it is a unique advantage which the network can foster ..
Which was the original question I was addressing: What can Operators do that is unique and different in a Web world and still add value?
Thoughts and feedback welcome ..
Image source: http://www.anticlockwise.com/farm2.jpg
Update on comments ..
Many thanks for the great feedback
I agree with Tope in the comments (and which was my point) i.e. we can't look at the future with the ecosystem of the present. P2P is highly disruptive and no one really knows(and I dont claim to make any predictions either) how users will use all this bandwith and connectivity in a P2P mode.
I am however a BIG believer in the power of grassroots and in the belief that empowered,connected individuals can drive grassroots change(much the same optimistic view I take for Africa and mobile technology - of which I am a big advocate) i.e. the more links you can create between people, the more the emergence of an ecosystem which will be truly vibrant - and whose ultimate form we cannot see based on the views of today .. Thanks all - appretiate the feedback
Posted by ajit at 9:17 PM | Comments (10) | TrackBack
Many thanks for your comments - Gillian Gibbons - teddy bear teacher ..
Many thanks for your comments on the blog Gillian Gibbons - teddy bear teacher ...
As a technology blog, there is always the question if one should blog about something like this ..
However, I feel strongly about the issue and felt that in a small way(and especially as a British national) and an advocate for human rights - I could help by highlighting it.
Many thanks again. kind rgds Ajit
Posted by ajit at 6:42 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Gillian Gibbons - teddy bear teacher ..
Like many others on blogosphere, I wish to express my disgust at the treatment of Gillian Gibbons in Sudan.
Apparantly, the Sudanese government now wants to create 'workshops' to orient foreigners about local cultures .. I wonder if they will include the bit about 40 lashes in those workshops ..
Posted by ajit at 1:52 AM | Comments (10) | TrackBack
Android fragmentation ..
Richard Monson Haefel writes an interesting blog about Android fragmentation. The issue is accurate ofcourse and Richard has spotted it well. However, it’s not as bad as JVM fragmentation.
What is needed is a kind of ‘handset capability exchange’ – a means to exchange capabilities of handsets dynamically between two devices (or between a device and an Operator/application). This may be easily built into the OHA stack and would be able to indicate to others the exact APIs supported by the device
Posted by ajit at 1:49 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
November 28, 2007
Leopard, spots change – Verizon ..
Verizon has opened up! What do we say? At this rate, my blog ‘OpenGardens’ will become redundant
:)
But seriously .. Like Om Malik, I am sceptical a bit .. But .. I am also an optimist ..
This is clearly a significant move ..
However, it should be looked at in context of the broader market .. iPhone, Google, Android, 700 Mhz auction etc etc ..
The walled gardens model is truly dead and a mixture of regulatory, competitive and customer led changes are the winners here ..
In many ways, such moves should be encouraged – like I blogged about Three’s about turn ..(Three was one of the closest operators in Europe at one time and now goes to the other end of the spectrum)
The bottom line is: Operators have little choice .. The customers are driving this change and history has always dictated this change(for instance in the case of AOL)
The real question we have to ask is: Is the phone a creation device(Web 2.0/Mobile Web 2.0) or is it a consumption device? That’s the difference between OpenGardens and Walled Gardens ..
As we go into an era of creation, openness is inevitable
Posted by ajit at 8:03 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
The first phone books ..
The first phone book contained no numbers and callers were put through by the operator.
The first person listed in that book was J.W. Alt at 14 Queen Victoria Street, East Central - a building no longer around after the remains of a Roman Temple found nearby were moved to the site and renamed Temple Court.
source: BBC
Fascinating .. we have come a long way!
Posted by ajit at 7:35 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
November 26, 2007
Every application on Android is a Web 2.0 citizen.
My good friend Andreas has been Androiding again .. and following his last post which I also blogged about - he writes more on the significance of Google's Android and says that Every application on Android is a Web 2.0 citizen. This is another very insigntful blog - and one I very much agree to .. Android is keeping Andreas busy .. and also me .. much more to come here!
Posted by ajit at 12:00 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
November 25, 2007
Tony Fish rated Top 10 for science and innovation by the Observer ..
The observer rates Tony Fish Top 10 for science and innovation / heading for the top
The entry reads as below
Congarts Tony for this!
Tony Fish, author and founder, AMF Ventures, London Fish is involved in technology, media and telecoms industries, building hi-tech companies since 1994. He is the founder of AMF Ventures, a strategic consultancy focused on the move to 2.0. He sits as a non-executive director at Chronos Technology, Hartwood, dotnet and C2G, chairman at Dot Mobile, and partner at MashUp Events LLP, a formal gathering of professionals who meet to discuss the digital world. Mobile Web 2.0, Fish's second book, focuses on the changing relationships between mobile, TV, web and print, and the uniqueness of mobile metadata.
Posted by ajit at 1:34 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
November 23, 2007
Tilefile: Interesting application ..
tilefile is an interesting application. Motorola invested in tilefie and their site says ..
“Motorola’s investment will enable us to continue to strengthen the Tilefile vision and meet the needs of our rapidly-growing user base,” said David Bolliger, chief executive officer, Tilefile Limited. "A Tilefile is a piece of media wrapped in people. For this we had to build the foundations for an entire new platform. The Tilefile .com web application is just the beginning. We intend to see the Tilefile format make its way to at least three types of screens."
The Tilefile platform wraps videos, photos and audio into a single content-neutral format called a “Tile.” Social activity gathers around each Tile. The “front” of a Tile is the media; the “back” of a Tile is the community. This clear distinction results in a less fractured media experience. Rather than navigating through Internet pages, users have a non-linear view of multiple “social media packages” suitable for both phone and web. Tiles can be joined with others to form combinations that can be easily shared or launched to other locations on the Internet. The social activity centered around the Tiles “travels with” them. Through their centralized principle for organizing experiences, Tilefile aims to link people and their communities in an endless play of messaging, sharing and publishing.
I can see some interesting potential especially for mobile .. and it spans the Web and the Mobile Web worlds well.
Posted by ajit at 6:14 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Oxford university coures: user generated content, web 2.0, IMS ..
Another reminder .. and also to say that you get a certificate from Oxford for attendance!
I am conducting my courses at Oxford university in December.
The urls and dates are as below
If you are interested, please register for them through the Oxford university site
Dec 13 User Generated Content and Web 2.0
Dec 14 Mobile Web 2.0 and IMS:
Posted by ajit at 3:47 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
November 20, 2007
Pink Floyd : 40 years on ..
Pink Floyd : 40 years on .. rock on!
Posted by ajit at 8:07 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Blog Friends v1 Public Beta is now live
Blog Blog Friends v1 Public Beta is now live. Well done Luke and team :)
Posted by ajit at 7:57 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
The 100th edition of the Carnival of the mobilists is at Abhishek Tiwari's blog
The 100th edition of the Carnival of the mobilists is at Abhishek Tiwari's blog.
Its great as usual
As a long term carnival contributor, let me take this opportunity to congratulate Russell and Carlo for this fantastic idea which they started back in Oct 2005. Also, many thanks to Rudy, Judy and Troy for keeping this going ..
Posted by ajit at 3:45 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
November 18, 2007
Android ..
Like me (No SIP/IMS stack for Android?) , my friend Andreas has been following Android ..(Andreas .. Android .. has a certain feel to it ..) – but anyway .. he posts an insightful post called Google’s Android: boring, exciting or breakthrough ? – which is a great read as usual ..
He says ..
>>>
The Android brings you your entire connected world of services onto your mobile - in the same way that Facebook brings it onto your ’me-portal’ on the web.
<<<
Yes, very much so ..
Posted by ajit at 11:42 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Stanford University: Event and report - Why Mobile? Why India? Why Now?” at Stanford University on December 5th
It is always a pleasure to be invited to speak at Stanford .. and the last time when I spoke at the Digital Visions Program, I made many great friends.
Since then, I have kept in touch with Stanford’s programs and here is another interesting event .. although this time I cant make it it looks very interesting including a free report on the topic - which I am contributing to as well. My friend Chetan Sharma is speaking as well.
Stanford University graduate student Mohit Gundecha and Prof. Tom Kosnik along with BDA are organizing an event on December 5th, 6:00 PM,
"Why Mobile? Why India? Why now?" at Stanford University .
It promises to be an evening to discuss how Silicon Valley entrepreneurs can participate in the explosively growing Indian Mobile market which is adding India 7-8 million mobile subscribers every month.
Speakers include who’s who of the Mobile industry including,
Jeffrey Belk – Senior Vice President, Strategy & Market Development, QUALCOMM
Ashok Narasimhan – CEO, July Systems
Ojas Rege – Vice President, Global Mobile Products, Yahoo! Inc.
Vin Dham -- Executive Managing Director -- NEA-IndoUS Ventures
Chetan Sharma – President, Chetan Sharma Consulting
Niren Shah – Managing Director – India, Norwest Venture Partners
The event is the culmination of a research project on "Future of Mobile Value Added services(VAS) in India" done by Mohit Gundecha and Prof. Tom Kosnik in association with BDA, a leading telecom consulting and research firm in India. The study is targeted at entrepreneurs/ VC's /angel investors/ students and will encompass different components of the Indian Mobile VAS Value chain. The study evaluates the competitive landscape and offer detailed profiles of established as well as emerging players across the value chain. This event will bring together a variety of leaders in the industry from both India and North America, along with budding entrepreneurs, aspiring students and prominent authors and bloggers. The output of the project would be a report available in the public domain and I will post it here as well.
To attend the event: Please RSVP: mohitgundecha@gmail.com Limited entries!
To see more details: http://stanford.edu/~mohitsg/IndiaMobileVAS/
Posted by ajit at 11:02 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Tim Wu's thinking - The intellectual foundation behind Android
It's nice to see Mr Wu's thinking being acknowledged by business week. Nice article.
I also follow Tim's thinking and he has commented on my articles on the OpenGardens blog -
OpenGardens, Walled Gardens, Tim Wu, Net Neutrality, Carterfone and IMS
From businessweek
>>>
Google's brain trust was again trying to change the rules of the game. Behind the scenes, they owe a sizable debt to a man nearly unknown outside the geeky confines of cyberlaw. He is Tim Wu, a Columbia Law School professor who provided the intellectual framework that inspired Google's mobile phone strategy. One of the school's edgier profs, Wu attends the artfest Burning Man, and admits to having hacked his iPhone to make it work on the T-Mobile (DT) network.
<<<
Posted by ajit at 8:43 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
IMS = Internet Monetization service ..
In response to my thread: No SIP/IMS stack for Android?, Dean Bubley of Disruptive wireless comes up with this very insightful analysis at forumoxford - which I have reproduced exactly as is.
Very insightful!
>>>
I reckon that the entire Internet & IT community is negative towards IMS - Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, Skype et al.
IMS = walled-garden SIP, or perhaps more amusingly an "Internet Monetisation System".
The problem is that IMS views everything as a billable 'service' - it doesn't seem to accept that certain applications are based on the customer owning or operating their own software. In the real world, customers want certain capabilities delivered as ongoing sbillable ervices (opex) and certain things bought, owned & used outright (capex)
The current setup of the Internet is that centrally-controlled QoS and charging is anathema. IMS harks back to the legacy days of bundling access & service. That's fine for certain things, but totally inappropriate for the Internet, as that control adds latency & friction to development & innovation. I've heard IMS vendors talk about developers and "2 men & a dog in a garage", when what they actually meant was "2 men, a dog & a 30-person legal department".
As a simple example - could you imagine that anything as mindbogglingly useful as PDF would have evolved had the Internet been based on IMS principles? Download the client for free & then use it in perpetuity as a browser plug-in? No, we would all have been charged for a usage-based 'document viewing service', and it would never have got the traction.
The one thing that could change the situation is if one of the vendors - perhaps Cisco or Avaya - invented a private IMS architecture, that enterprises or large Internet firms could own. It would be deeply amusing if Merrill Lynch or GlaxoSmithKline deployed their own IMS's, and started charging interconnect fees to the telcos.
<<<
Posted by ajit at 7:37 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Power of user generated content and mashups : David Gray – Sail away ..
I found this interesting .. And it’s an insight for all those who try to control media .. and shows the creativity unleashed from liberating media ..
One of David Gray’s best songs in my view is ‘Sail Away’
Benjoli(apparently 16 years of age) created this video on youtube created from scenes from X files.
Benjoli says ..
FOX, 1013, and CC all own the X-Files, I don't. This is just for fun
x-files vid to sail away with me by david gray. I love both of them but wasnt sure if they would work together. Still, i tried it - let me know what you think =) x
Please dont sue me - this is just for fun =)
The result is a beautiful video .. I have not seen the official video so can’t compare – but I definitely liked this version.
Posted by ajit at 1:02 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
November 17, 2007
Saudi Arabia ..
Astonising and depressing .. the legal system in Saudi Arabia and its treatment of human rights ..
Posted by ajit at 11:56 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Web 20 inside: Response to Tim o Reilly’s comment on my blog
Firstly, let me indicate that it’s nice to have Tim commenting on the opengardens blog and many thanks to Tim for his comments. You can see the original blog Is the world moving too fast for Web 2.0 and comment from Tim.
To confirm: Yes Tim gave other examples in his talk and not just last.fm
However, the point of my blog was bigger than the examples in Tim's keynote
It pertains to the rate of change
I have been fascinated by the rate of change since reading Alvin Toffler’s future shock as a teenager(Not normal reading for a teenager - I know :)
So, what I am arguing is: In 2003/2004 etc, it was possible to attend conferences and pick up the latest developments of Web 2.0. Today, the meme is expanding at a much faster rate. And I had a feeling when I was at the keynote – that the most interesting developments were happening outside the conference – than inside(specifically Android announcements)
Using the Web 2.0 paradigms .. I see the future more as a ‘Web 2.0 inside’ i.e. the O Reilly organization becomes a collection / showcase of thinkers who are extending the Web 2.0 meme along different dimensions.
So, I am saying that Web 2.0 should look to ‘harness intelligence’ on a wider scale and also dissipate that intelligence more easily(conferences seem to be a rather Web 1.0 way of doing this ..). There are many many more thinkers of whom we know little – specifically people from countries like Korea, Japan, India, Brazil and maybe even .. Iraq and Afghanistan ..
So, ironically - this observation arises from the success of Web 2.0 thinking .. And thus the future of Web 2.0 may well be a more decentralised approach ('Web 2.0 Inside' or some such link to the O Reilly site ) – keeping in mind the Toffleresque rate of change.
Indeed, I believe that this needs to happen to keep the idea of Web 2.0 relevent in the context of a faster rate of change
Posted by ajit at 8:53 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
FTP to a SIM card? Open source IMS
Following my previous blog on the Fraunhofer FOKUS IMS event, here are some more insights from that event which you will find useful ..
Roberto Minerva of TIM Research asked the question – Why don’t we think of ftp to a SIM card? And indeed .. Why not? Applications like these are truly innovative. However, most Operators approach IMS and IP with the ‘hammer’ they are most familiar with – on the principle that “If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.'' Hence we see a proliferation of voice IMS applications(where the ‘hammer’ is the voice) when we should see data
Malcolm Wardlaw(Director converged services BT 21CN ) said that many services can be implemented at a Web 2.0 layer(and strictly an IMS layer is not necessary). However, not all services can be implemented only from a Web stack. Hence, there will be always some need for telephony services – where IMS wins. This may be especially true of services that combine voice and data. Also, Identity will be a key area and a key plus point for IMS. Thus, while many services may not need the IMS stack .. But there will be some services which can’t be developed without the IMS stack and in addition, some services will command a premium by being able to provide a better class of service than the others.
The emphasis on Identity has always been the domain of Jörg Heuer Deutsche Telekom Laboratories – whose work I follow with interest and who was also a speaker at this event.
Speaking of IMS stack, Stefan Holtel. Vodafone Group R&D - D Munich raised the question of an Open IMS. He also questioned why IMS is not a part of the LAMP stack i.e. if we want to attract internet developers, then presumably we should be a part of the LAMP stack and open? The unfortunate situation today is: we see IMS developers almost exclusively confined to the vendor community .. Which is sad .. And which defeats the purpose.
Finally, there is the question of end to end IMS and SDP. End to End IMS is not an easy proposition since both Operators need to have IMS .. However, ironically many applications need end to end IMS(video calling). Hence, SDP may provide some elements of end to end working for IMS ..
More on all this soon ..
Any questions/comments welcome
Posted by ajit at 8:35 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
leaving facebook is not easy ..
It turns out that you can delete your account permanently. But first, you need to undo everything you've ever done on the site.
This means taking down every picture you've uploaded, leaving every group you've joined and deleting every comment you've made on peoples profile pages.
Source Channel 4 ..
and thats why opensocial is a step in the right direction ..
Posted by ajit at 7:49 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
November 16, 2007
No SIP/IMS stack for Android?
I spent a great two days at the Fraunhofer FOKUS IMS 2007 IMS workshop. My company (futuretext) is a partner of Fraunhofer FOKUS – so I am a part of the FOKUS family as Dr Thomas Magedanz (Director of Fraunhofer FOKUS) calls it.
It's rare to see so many people, very high level of participation and also great Operator participation at events nowadays - and this event had all three ..
Hence, Fraunhofer FOKUS IMS 2007 IMS workshop was one of the best events I attended this year. Very much recommended! .
I was a part of the workshop on Mobile Web 2.0 and IMS(along with Dr Thomas Magedanz and Niklas Blum – Deputy Director of Fraunhofer FOKUS)
Here is an example why I loved this event .. It's the quality of the discussion ..
One of the questions I asked was: Android has no SIP stack. It also has no IMS stack/interface to speak of either. What are the implications of that?
This is interesting .. It may be a gap for a start-up. Or .. It may be irrelevant – here is why ..
Basically IMS is a secure mobile connection and / or a guaranteed (QOS) mobile connection. By working at the service layer, Google overcomes some of the issues that hamper IMS type applications. In doing so, it foregoes certain applications(potentially things requiring some form of higher QOS.).
However, if the bearer is WiFi(as it is starting to be increasingly) then this does not matter because many network /telephony applications can be run over WiFi. Downside is low QOS.
In any case, the lack of IMS/SIP support is interesting and one to watch
I will have many more blogs on this event since there was a lot to learn and I am still getting to grips with it all ..
Among the people who contributed to the above discussion were Malcolm Wardlaw - Director converged services - BT group, Roberta Minerva - Long term research TIM, Thomas, Niklas and many more
And the evening social event was great .. Pasta Opera is a unique event! Even for one who has no understanding of classical music
Posted by ajit at 8:01 PM | Comments (6) | TrackBack
November 15, 2007
IBM’s institute for business value
There are two publications from IBM that I follow regularly. The first is one well known; it is Irving Wladawsky-Berger’s blog
The second, relatively less known publication I have followed for some time is IBM institute for business value (which I recommend for its excellent content - all of which is free)
I first started reading IBM’s institute for business value when I read articles from Jeanette Carlsson (Communications Sector Leader, Value Creation IBM Europe)
I have blogged about Jeanette Carlsson before .. and since the last time I heard her speak, I have followed her writings especially at the IBM institute for business value.
So, it was good to catch up with Jeanette at another Visiongain event which I chaired in London recently
The presentation contained many stats – many of which I have found at the Institute of business value. I can’t post the whole presentation; however, a synopsis is as follows
a) Telcos are going from Traditional Media Business (Model relies on professional, content within a “walled” access environment; incumbents have legacy position) to New Platform Aggregation (Model relies on UGC and open distribution platforms)
b) Telcos today treat communication and content as two separate worlds. Traditional business of telcos is to enable connections between people. Traditional content business pushes one-to-many content to the market
c) However, the generation growing up sees all communications as part of a single conversation which has multiple modes: voice, SMS, IM, blog, email*
d) Thus, Overall, telco opportunity is to bridge the virtual and real worlds through role as multi-media communications provider
With a six point advice plan as follows
- Embrace Web 2.0 and Bridge Virtual and Real Worlds
- Invest in NGN, IMS & Delivery Platforms
- Deliver a 1st Class User Experience – not just Services/Content
- Innovate Business & Revenue Models – Partnering is key
- Upgrade Existing Advertising Capabilities
- Move to Open Standards and Platforms
If you want a copy of this presentation, please comment here and I can see if we can email it
Posted by ajit at 12:52 AM | Comments (6) | TrackBack
November 14, 2007
Blogtalk 2008 - Call for proposals ..
I am a part of the program committee for Blogtalk 2008 in Cork Ireland. Blogtalk is a premier social software event. Please have a look at the conference proposals and call for proposals. The deadline has been extended by one week – so if you are interested in submitting a proposal, please have a look at the Blogtalk2008 call for proposals section
Many thanks to Dr John Breslin for inviting me on the program committee. With other program members like Stowe Boyd , Dan Brickley , Jyri Engeström , Jeremy Ruston , Rashmi Sinha , David Weinberger and others ... I am sure there will be a lot to learn!
Posted by ajit at 11:28 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Oxford university coures: user generated content, web 2.0, IMS ..
I am conducting my courses at Oxford university in December.
The urls and dates are as below
If you are interested, please register for them through the Oxford university site
Dec 13 User Generated Content and Web 2.0
Dec 14 Mobile Web 2.0 and IMS:
Posted by ajit at 11:14 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
November 13, 2007
In Berlin again later this week ..
Futuretext is a partner of Frauenhofer FOKUS and I I am speaking/moderating sessions at the 3rd International FOKUS IMS Workshop 2007
This event is awesome .. and completely sold out with very significant Operator participation ..
If you are in Berlin happy to meet
Abstracts below
Abstracts of the 3rd International FOKUS IMS Workshop 2007 Presentations
Tutorial 1:
"IMS Basics, Standards Update and Future Challenges in Face of Web2.0"
Prof. Dr. T. Magedanz, N. Blum – TU Berlin / Fraunhofer FOKUS, Germany
Telecommunications is at crossroads. The ongoing network convergence and the associated idea of providing seamless multimedia information and communication services demands for a structured and globally standardized all-IP service provisioning architecture. This is today represented by the IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS), which is standardized by 3GPP, 3GPP2, ETSI TISPAN, and CableLabs. Although all these standards are closely aligned, there small differences due to the different targeted access networks (i.e. mobile, fixed, cable, etc.). However, one of the main questions to day is what are the IMS killer applications justifying the deployment of IMS infrastructures and how do IMS-based multimedia services distinguish from the new generation of Web2.0 services. Closely linked to this question is also the question about how IMS as a platform architecture link into Service Delivery Platforms (SDPs) and the corresponding notion of Service Oriented Architectures (SOA). In this tutorial we want to introduce IMS and discuss the above mentioned issues to provide the necessary base for the subsequent workshops and conference sessions. We will also introduce briefly the Open IMS Playground, as well as the related new Open SOA Telco Playground and the Media Interoperability Lab. Thus newcomers to the subject will obtain a sound introduction and experts can gain an update about the key IMS deployment issues.
Topics covered in this tutorial:
1. Network Convergence, NGN and SDPs
- Service Drivers: VoIP, FMC, Triple Play
- Core Network Evolution towards NGN
- Service Delivery Platforms for NGN / All IP networks
- IMS Motivation: IN + Internet
- NGN Standards Bodies: IETF, 3GPP, 3GPP2, ETSI, ITU-T, ATIS, A-IMA, OMA
2. 3GPP IMS Core Layer
- Understanding IMS as Overlay Architecture
- IMS Core components and interactions (P-CSCF, I-CSCSF, S-CSCF, Client, HSS, MRF, MG)
- IMS Session Control, QoS, Charging, and Security
3. IMS Application Layer
- IMS AL components and interactions (HSS, AS, MRF, IMS enablers,
Clients)
- Application Server operation modes and example call flows
- Service provisioning within IMS
- AS Options (CAMEL, OSA, SIP Servlets)
- IMS Enablers: Presence, XDMS, Devise Management, Messaging, etc.
4. IMS Services in face of Web2.0 and emerging SOA Technologies
- IMS vs. SDP aspects (creation, provisioning, execution, management)
- SOA on top of IMS
- Understanding Web2.0 Basics
- Web2.0 Case Studies
- Linking Web2.0 with IMS: Principles and case study
5. IMS Introduction Options
- IMS Market Figures
- IMS Business Models and key challenges
- Introducing the related FOKUS Labs
- Open IMS Playground and the Open Source IMS Core
- Open SOA Telco Playground
- Media Interoperability Lab
6. Summary and Q&A
Tutorial 2:
"Getting Started with the Open Source IMS Core (OSIMS)"
P. Weik, D. Vingarzan - Fraunhofer FOKUS, Germany
In November 2006, the Open IMS Core project (www.openimscore.org) was launched at the 2nd IMS Workshop of the Fraunhofer Institute FOKUS. Almost one year later, it can already be stated that the project itself became a big success since it is well accepted for the establishment of open test environments in the NGN context worldwide. This tutorial will again highlight the essential functions and implemented features of the four IMS components that form the Open IMS Core and will show how to install and configure them. In detail the tutorial will cover:
* Motivation for using Open Source Software in IMS
* The Open IMS Core
o The Proxy-CSCF
o The Interrogating-CSCF
o The Serving-CSCF
o The Home Subscriber Server
* The Project: Licensing, Links, Structure, Documentation
* Live Demonstration and Configuration Options of the Open IMS Core
Workshop 1:
"IMS and Web2.0/SOA"
Led by N. Blum, T. Magedanz – Fraunhofer FOKUS, Germany and A. Jaokar, Futuretext, UK
Today Service Oriented Architectures (SOA) are considered as the state-of-the-art for service delivery platforms. Nevertheless, Service Oriented Architectures have been present in the last years in telecommunications but gaining currently a new momentum. IMS enabler platforms are developed that need new mechanisms in regard of service design, creation, deployment, provisioning and management of seamless services across different access networks and supporting various business models. Furthermore, the WWW has developed new APIs and functionalities that are currently referred to as Web2.0 and service mashups.
This workshop will address current topics in regard of the integration of telco services into Web2.0 mashups and vice versa using Service Oriented Architectures.
14:00
Introduction of the Open SOA Telco Playground (Niklas Blum, Fraunhofer FOKUS)
* Mission statement
* Components and Services
14:30
Presentations and Discussions - SOA
* Thomas Magedanz, FOKUS: "Evolution of SOA concepts in Telecommunications - a Déjà Vu?"
* Johan Östman, Oracle: "Case Study: End2end SOA"
* Arie Gofer, Unipier: "Service Level Policy Enforcement and Management"
* Tiziana Margaria, University Potsdam: "Towards SOA/Web2.0 Telco Creation Toolkits"
15:30
Coffee Break
15:50
Presentations and Discussions - SOA and Web2.0
* Ajit Jaokar, Futuretext: "Mobile Web2.0"
* Jörg Heuer, T-Labs: "Case Study: Web X.0 Enablers for Telecommunications"
* Stefan Holtel, Vodafone R&D: "Merging Web2.0 mashups with Telco Service Enablers"
* Wolfgang Weigend, BEA: "Enterprise Social Computing, Web2.0 mashups and Telco Services"
16:50
Panel Discussion (led by Ajit Jaokar)
"Web2.0 - just a marketing buzz, a threat for telcos or the Chance for Telcos everybody has waited for?"
Participants:
* Nick Huslak, AT&T
* Jörg Heuer, T-Labs
* Stefan Holtel, Vodafone R&D
* Roberto Minerva - Telecom Italia
* Niklas Blum, Fraunhofer FOKUS
17:20
Open SOA Playground Demo
* Web2.0 / Telco mashups
18:00
End of Workshop 1
Workshop 2:
"IMS and IPTV: A way forward to standardized IPTV environments"
Led by S. Arbanowski – Fraunhofer FOKUS, Germany
In the last couple of years, first triple play offerings have gained considerable attention worldwide. Together with increasing penetration of Voice over IP and other disruptive technologies such as P2P or community based applications, driven by Web2.0 concepts, they foster the convergence between Internet, media industry, and (mobile) telecommunications.
In this workshop experts will discuss how to overcome the restrictions of existing triple play infrastructures and what role IMS can play for future media ecosystems. As possible answer to all those questions, FOKUS’ Media Interoperability Lab will be introduced during the workshop. It’s a feature rich IPTV environment empowered by the well known FOKUS Open IMS Playground.
14:00
Introduction of FOKUS’ Media Interoperability Lab (Dr. S. Arbanowski - Fraunhofer FOKUS)
- mission & opportunities, architecture and ecosystem
- main components & concepts, services and applications
14:30 Partner Presentations I
- Orange FT Group: IMS based IPTV
- Philips: IMS enabled Consumer Electronics
- Vodafone: IMS based Service Provisioning
15:30 Coffee Break
15:50 Partner Presentations II
- Microsoft: IPTV – a Black-Box Solution?
- NSN - DE/Berlin: Converged TV Services
- RTV/TVI: Broadband Content Guides
- RBB: Interactive TV
17:00 Media Interoperability Lab -> Technical Insights (O. Friedrich, A. Al-Hezmi - Fraunhofer FOKUS)
- (IMS-based) IPTV – must have features & killer use-cases
- Components of an IMS-based IPTV infrastructure (standardization review)
- Signaling Flows for IPTV Sessions (VoD / Live)
- IPTV session management, Media Function architecture and protocols
- Client issues and features (incl. live demo)
18:00 End of Workshop 2 – Media Interoperability Lab Tour (R. Seeliger - Fraunhofer FOKUS)
Workshop 3:
"Open Source IMS Core – Applications of the Software in the Industry & Academia and what to target next"
Led by P. Weik & D. Vingarzan – Fraunhofer FOKUS, Germany
The workshop shows the various applications of the Open Source IMS Core and gives user experiences on what has been achieved with it. As the core elements of an IMS can be applied in many setups, the workshop shows interested developers and engineers in what context it was used for application creation or IMS software validation. There will be a detailed discussion on where to go next wrt. to desired features and extensions.
A tentative outline and speaker can be found here.
Workshop 4:
"IMS Testing: Conformance, Interoperability and Performance"
Led by I. Schieferdecker – Fraunhofer FOKUS, Germany
It is essential to explore the possibilities of IMS to implement mobile, fixed, Internet and IPTV converged multivendor environments and upcoming Quad-Play services. Most of the operators are currently experimenting in laboratories with IMS and evaluating possibilities for new services. There is clear need for close to reality IMS environments for validation of operator expectations, preparing demonstrations or trials for specific services based on IMS to show advantages of IMS to management and customers. IMS coformance, intra- and inter-domain IMS interoperability and IMS performance and scalability are important topics that need to be addressed. This workshop will discuss selected aspects on how different test approaches can help evaluate the status and potentials of IMS infrastructures and servces.
Presentations:
14:00 Welcome (Ina Schieferdecker)
14:10 Introduction to IMS Testing (G. Din - Fraunhofer FOKUS)
14:40
IMS Interoperability Testing: Strategies, Tools and Lessons Learned (O. Kyas, Tektronix Inc.)
15:20 Coffee Break
15:40 IMS Benchmarking (L. Provoost, Intel and A. Hoffmann, Fraunhofer FOKUS)
16:20 IMS Interoperability Evaluation (M. Bordes, Telecom Italia)
17:00 Discussion: Where does IMS Testing go?
17:30 IMS Benchmarking Demonstration (in room 3007!)
18:00 End of Workshop 4
Abstracts:
* Othmar Kyas, Tektronix Inc.: "IMS Interoperability Testing: Strategies, Tools and Lessons Learned"
With IMS next generation converged telecommunications core network become modular, allowing operators to combine solutions and infrastructure components from difference vendors in a plug-and-play manner, minimizing integration efforts and deployment costs. This is the theory. In order to arrive with the above vision in the real world, intensive interoperability and conformance testing needs to take place. Industry forums such as the Multi Service Forum (MSF) and the IMS Forum have invited for plug-fests and interoperability event to systematically tackle these challenges. This presentation discusses strategies, tools, challenges and lessons learned from IMS conformance testing projects around the world.
o Validation and test of interoperability is key for the success of IMS
o The complexity of the tests requires standardized, automated test procedures
o Learnings from IMS test campaigns around the world show that the road from SIP to IMS is longer and more difficult that many vendors anticipated
Conference - Session 1
IMS Market and Challenges
S. Krems - Detecon GmbH, Germany
Since years the telco sector faces revenue declines on its traditional services. With the introduction of all IP networks and the fragmentation of the value chain this development is even boosted. The Holy Grail to overcome the dilemma has not yet been found. NGN’s are implemented to reduce cost and gain service independence. Service delivery has to follow that paradigm. Moving a Telco towards an all IP based provider is not an item by item task. It has to be understood as a holistic approach changing nearly everything in the organization and operation. Since IMS was announced in the market as open and powerful tool to simplify service creation and delivery it went through the typical hype cycle. The presentation will give an overview of the market situation of IMS today and its realistic perspectives and challenges. An approach is introduced to support the exploitation of the full potential of an all IP migration and the optimal way to an open IP based service control plane.
Roles of NGN applications for potential IMS deployments
E. Mikoczy - T-Com, Slovak Telekom A.S. Slovakia
Short abstract:
- NGN application aspects driving IMS deployments
- Application migration to IMS and related issues
- Service interoperability and standards compatibility
- Converged services based on IMS
- ST experience with IMS testbed
Extended abstract:
Several factors have a direct impact to the operator's plans for future IMS deployments and feasible NGN migration scenarios. We would like to focus in our presentation on NGN application aspects and their role as drivers for future IMS deployments but also provide overview about related issues and open questions. Operator need to take into account several aspects in case of decision to deploy IMS as unified service control platform for NGN applications (migration of existing applications, user and service profile concepts, introduction of new converged services, interoperability and standards compatibility of early stage IMS platforms etc.). We would like present also ST experience with IMS testbed and some demo concepts.
IMS for NGN – Triple Play and FMC
T. Murakami - NTT, Japan
The NGN to be built by a telecommunications carrier is a converged network that will provide a wide variety of services. The capabilities that are common to and characterize the IMS, and are expected to play a central role in the construction of the NGN are its ability to:
1. simulate the PSTN,
2. provide FMC functions,
3. provide broadband services, and
4. support a variety of applications.
This presentation will introduce NTT’s concept of and plans for the construction of the NGN, and describe how the IMS will be used to achieve the objectives for the NGN set by NTT
Telkom South Africa T-IMS/SDP Playground Project Experiences
P. Inglesby - Telkom SA Limited, South Africa
* Telkom South Africa introduction
* T-IMS/T-SDP RFI/RFP project
* T-IMS/SDP playground project
* Current status and plans for the future
IMS at Swisscom
F. Hartwig - Swisscom, Switzerland
In this presentation Frank Hartwig will provide his inside on the IMS Core development at Swisscom. We will briefly look back on the reasons why Swisscom had made the decision to implement the IMS technology as well as explore the challenges encountered during the development of the Swisscom IMS core. The presentation will further discuss the main characteristics of the Swisscom IMS Core and give an outlook on the next steps planned. The presentation will discuss how Swisscom plans to integrate the Access Resource and Admission Control Function (A-RACF), the Connectivity Session Location and Repository Function (CLF), geographic redundancy and the presence application into the IMS Core network.
Conference - Session 2
IMS Standards Status Check and the Path ahead
D. Boswarthick - ETSI/TISPAN, France
- Drivers for Convergence
- Common IMS, the platform for convergence
- Access agnostic IMS requirement capture in 3GPP
- TISPAN NGN and 3GPP LTE roadmap and future developments
IMS Management Issues: OSS challenges in a NGN environment
A. Zehl - Deutsche Telekom AG, T-Online, Germany
- Customer Expectations and Industry Trends
- From stovepipes to layers - NGN IMS
- Challenges to manage the NGN IMS infrastructures
- The role of standards in management
- Processes, data & systems: areas for improvement in NG OSS
- Conclusion - Next Generation Service & Systems Management
Service Brokering: Opportunities and Challenges
N. Huslak - AT&T, USA
A key to providing relevant, compelling, functional, and seamless end-user experiences is the ability to deliver seamless combinations of IMS and web services. This involves managing feature interactions among combinations of currently independent services, orchestrating web and IMS/SIP applications to build complex services from constituent parts, and providing the ability to define, provision, and support customer offers involving such converged applications. A general term for all of these functions is service brokering. In this presentation, we will walk through various types of service brokering, discuss the shortcomings of the Service Capability Interaction Management (SCIM) concept as currently defined and being worked in 3GPP, address some fundamental requirements for a cross domain Service Broker which spans IMS and web services, and outline essential steps in making the cross domain Service Broker concept a reality.
The role of NGN Testbed Federations
T. Gavras - EURESCOM, Germany
Next Generation Networks (NGN) are inherently heterogeneous and the NGN stakeholders have developed and elaborated on a suitable control framework for enabling services across this heterogeneity. NGN testbeds are providing today the mechanisms, through which we are able to integrate and test new technologies, systems and services, as they become available, in existing infrastructures. NGN testbeds mirror the future landscape of deployed infrastructures and have to provide forward looking solutions for:
* enabling testing scenarios across administrative domains
* describing available testing resources
* locating testing resources
* supporting the separation of the provisioning platform from the underlying infrastructure as a means to accommodate clean slate approaches
* further developing the control framework, also to accommodate clean slate approaches
* provisioning of testing services in a network agnostic manner
Conference - Session 3
Requirements of an Open Voice Service Platform at Telefónica Germany
D. Rebholz - Telefónica Deutschland GmbH, Germany
* Positioning of Telefónica Germany at the German market as wholesaler
* chances and risks of this positioning as background for the further company's performance
* actual product portfolio
* the concentration on infrastructure and technological competence
* demands on future voice architectures
* strategy and technological requirements
* conclusion and outlook
Next Generation IPTV - A view from the BBC
S. Broad - BBC Strategy Group, UK
There is a view that using IPTV to deliver traditional linear TV is about as sensible as reading written letters down the telephone. We now need to develop new content and services for emerging platforms, or they will not flourish. What does device convergence mean? And what are the new content forms? What role UGC? And which platforms do I prioritise? A contribution to the debate from the BBC.
Towards Next-Generation Media Ecosystems
Dr. J. Novak - University of Zurich, Institute for Informatics/European Institute for Participatory Media, Berlin
Instead of passive consumers of pre-produced, centrally packaged and distributed content, large audience segments have become active co-creators, aggregators and mediators of digital content – their production, exchange and social interaction creates new forms of digital lifestyle and shared social experiences. At the same time the convergence of different media channels (triple play), protocols and services (e.g. IMS, SIP, SOA) in integrated next-generation media networks is creating infrastructures that allow ubiquitous access to digital media across heterogeneous networks, services and end-user devices.
The intersection of these two trends points to the emergence of new kinds of media ecosystems with new roles, actors and technologies, and dynamic configurations of relationships between them. Developing successful next-generation media applications and services requires us to understand how to leverage social (user-centric), economical (e.g. mass market vs. long tail niche audiences) and technological enablers (e.g. IMS vs. P2P).
This presentation examines the critical challenges and opportunities on the road to understanding the main drivers, critical success factors and the role of IMS for building next generation media ecosystems. This includes: 1) strategies and models for integrating and leveraging bottom-up user-generated and top-down professionally managed content production and delivery, 2) enabling tools and technologies for user-driven content aggregation and personalization and 3) user and application level requirements on services integrating different media channels (e.g. IPTV/Voice/IM/Mobile) into new kinds of highly interactive, personalized and shared user experiences.
C-Mobile - Multicast and IMS
T. Mota - Portugal Telecom Inovação, Portugal
Mobile communications are gradually evolving from the basic model of offering point-to-point voice centric services into more complex service provision platforms. Mobile operators have rolled-out their networks: service and content differentiation is now their major driver to attract new customers. Content portals offering multimedia services are one part of this strategy, bringing multimedia streaming content to the mobile costumer. An analysis of recently launched mobile business offers unveils a trend towards services based on the channel delivery model: content is aggregated into a few channels and pushed to many subscribed users. Examples are content-to-person MMS goal notification (one club = one channel) and mobile TV.
The strategic objective of C-MOBILE is to foster the evolution of the mobile broadcast business by providing enhancements to the 3GPP MBMS for systems beyond 3G. It addresses both resource efficiency and service flexibility, by close coupling of broadcast and communication capabilities on all layers, covering the radio access, core network and the service enablers, providing IMS-MBMS convergence and a smooth migration for MBMS evolution, which will be in line with the vision of a federated global multicast broadcast transport as well as emerging beyond 3G standards.
More specifically, part of C-Mobile's research focuses on how a service oriented core-network can control and manage different types of sessions being provided as part of a service; issues related to session control such as multicast/unicast switching at the core-network level, broadcast system selection and media processing control for multimedia sessions must be provided as part of a MBMS service.
Conference - Session 4
SDP as an Enabler of Convergence, Quad-play and new value added Services
E. Solbes - Hewlett Packard Espanola, Spain
This talk explores the journey from a typical stove-pipe services architecture towards an IMS based Service Delivery Platform under architectural, commercial and governance aspects. After giving an overview on current industry trends and the relationship between IMS and SDP from HP's perspective, critical factors for a successful deployment of IMS and SDP are being investigated. Two concrete customer cases are used to illustrate how operators can move towards an agile service architecture with shared enabler components that supports new integrated services with reduced time to market and cost.
Google: Friend or Foe?
R. Minerva - Telecom Italia, Italy
* The basic Google technology: an analysis of the technology component of the engine: the PageRank Algorithm, the Software Structure, Google Data Centers, Advertising Machine
* The Google Service Layer: the many Google Services, Google as a representative of the Web 2.0 Service Architecture
* The Role of Google as a Service Broker
* Impacts of Google on other Business and Telecomms and a comparison of Google's and other Service Architecture
SPICE - Beyond IMS Service Delivery Environment
C. Cordier - Orange Labs, France
In this presentation the challenges of Beyond 3G Service Delivery Platforms, as addressed in the IST FP6 SPICE project, will be introduced. The main architectural concepts of SPICE will be presented and it will be explained how the SPICE architecture relates to IMS:
* What can be reused from IMS?
* What level of integration with IMS should be targeted?
* How to ensure inter-working with IMS?
In a second part of talk, we will share some views on possible evolutions of IMS in the context of Telco/Web convergence.
MAMS SCE over IMS
R. Schwaiger - T-Labs, Germany
In MAMS the development and provision of services are integrated so that an SME can develop and operate custom services without any operating resources of their own. MAMS is based on standardized ICT systems (e.g. IP multimedia subsystems) so compatibility with a variety of differing telecommunications providers' solutions is high.
The core innovation with MAMS is the provision of a graphic user interface and associated development tools. These permit even non-experts in information and communications technology to develop communications and multimedia services and to operate them for their customers. MAMS enables a whole range of ICT service components (e.g. open source developments) to be made available, thus avoiding high license fees for the production environment.
MAMS is being developed within a research project by several partners: Deutsche Telekom, Infineon, Alcatel-Lucent, the institutes FIRST, FOKUS, SIT from the Fraunhofer Gesellschaft and the Technical University in Berlin. This project is also supported by the German Federal Ministry for Education and Research.
Leveraging IMS for a Web 2.0 Economy
S. Holtel - Vodafone Group R&D, Germany
Mashups are one key factor driving innovation within Web 2.0. But to open IMS for mashups will challenge the hithero mind-set of mobile operators. IMS could play a central role in encouraging new business opportunities. They have to accept and play according to the rules driving the future Internet economy.
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November 12, 2007
Cool Android SDK videos ..
This is great!! And dont miss the 10 million dollars!
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November 11, 2007
Of Jesus lizards and King Kong: If the customer is King .. then metadata is King Kong ..
This is a synopsis of my talk in Berlin at the Web 2.0 expo. I spoke about the
impact of Mobile Web 2.0 on the Telecoms industry
Thanks to all who attended and for the feedback it is already receiving on blogosphere
.
The synopsis of the talk was
• Social networks are becoming very important and will span the Web and the Mobile web often becoming the primary point of contact with people i.e. the social network becomes the primary experience of the Web for most people(and that idea overarches the Web and the Mobile experience)
• The rise of social networks is relevant because the same kids who are on the facebook are also ‘not downloading ringtones’. Hence, the idea of ‘Mobile Youth’ is a fallacy. Our youth are no longer ‘mobile’. They are reading a book .. unfortunately it is called ‘facebook’ :)
• The telecoms network has to join the party. At the moment, it seems that there is a party going on .. and we are not talking ..
Not amongst ourselves(aka walled gardens) but also to the wider world which is interacting and forming new relationships – for instance this T-shirt which I saw on Google images(whatever you can make of the phrase .. I facebooked your mom .. )
• The Impact of social networks on business models – our business models will change – like it or not .. At the moment the Web companies(especially Google and Apple) are driving the innovation. What can the telecoms industry do?
• Mobile Web 2.0 and the deep blue sea problem – as below
A new dawn has arisen .. and it is caused by the shifting in tectonic plates between three industries : The Web, Telecoms and media
Hence, we should look at Social networking, the Web and the Mobile Web in totality(and not in isolation)
The Web companies are driving innovation (Don’t forget the Web in Mobile Web 2.0)
Think of Mobile Web 2.0 as Mobile WEB 2.0
If you doubt this: consider the impact of the Apple announcement
“If sharing revenue brings a bigger (APPLE?) pie to the table, then we’ll be happy to share that pie . . . The revenue-sharing model will play an increasingly important role in the future of converged communications.” Peter Erskine, the O2 chief executive !
In this shifting of tectonic plates, the customer is the winner ..
But the key to remember is: If the customer is King then Metadata is King Kong ..
The critical observation (relating directly to the significance of Mobile Web 2.0) .. is to consider the ‘flip side of free’ i.e. you are giving something for free but on the other hand, you are expecting the customer to ‘do some work’ for you(and that work is for web 2.0 to provide the semantics in the semantic web as I have mentioned before).
Consequently, a web 2.0 service must involve a database that gets richer as more people use it. (and I use the word database loosely as a body of data).
This can only happen if the service is designed to implicitly capture metadata.
Hence, the belief that if the customer is King, then metadata is King Kong. Aka the entity who can acquire, manage, grow and dominate a class of data is the King Kong.
(The converse of this is: If you don’t capture any metadata .. then all you have is ‘talk’ i.e. a community .. Communities(as opposed to Web 2.0) have existed since millennia .. but no metadata .. means that all you have is talk .. Communities are not Web 2.0 because talk is cheap!)
The impact of social networking on the Web and the Telecoms industry is immense.
Suddenly, we have a new class of player(which I call the Web aggregator aka facebook/Myspace etc)
Worse still, they have interjected themselves directly in front of the customer.
(everyone wants to get in bed with the customer!)
The value chain now becomes as below
This is a wider, more sweeping change affecting everyone – not just telecoms. (for instance CNN). Dis-tributors are having to face the prospect of being Dis-intermediated from the value chain!
Now, how does all this play out in the Mobile world? And how will it impact business models?
Let us forget what we have been doing in the past: Walled gardens, Mobile Youth focus, content based mindset(selling ringtones) etc ..
What does that leave us with?
The key lies in embracing the ethos of the Web(open standards and open systems and the Web) but at the same time .. in providing something unique possible only through mobile devices ..
Now, If we extend the concept of harnessing collective intelligence to mobile devices, then we have to consider – what type of intelligence can be captured from mobile devices?
The obvious one is ‘Location’
In addition, since the mobile device is always available at the point of inspiration – then it is ideally poised to capture content at the point of inspiration
The problem with this picture is the ‘Deep blue sea’ problem – i.e. if the mobile device merely ends up chucking content on the ‘Deep blue sea’ of the Web, then mobile devices lose their unique ability
So, the solution to overcome the deep blue sea problem is to ‘walk on water’ like the Jesus lizard(so called for it’s ability to walk on water).
To recap, as an industry – we can’t ignore the ethos of the web(open systems, open standards etc) – but the trick is to add something special from mobile devices and at the same time keep the ethos of the Web.
How to do this?
One example is from TIM(Telecom Italia Mobile) with a block diagram as shown below
Note that we are able to connect to any social network. But TIM adds something special in the interim stage(in this case context aware tags)
What is the benefit to customer? Think of this - how many times do you want to ‘tag’ photos taken from a phone but it is a pain to type these tags on a phone? Hence, if an operator could intelligently suggest these tags, then it would be great. It will be a service which people may pay for because everyone values their pictures. For instance, if I am at Web 2.0 Berlin; My operator knows that I am in Berlin. So, they can intelligently suggest a tag for ‘Messe Berlin’or Web 2.0 expo Berlin etc etc.
Others like Orange(Pikeo) are doing the same thing
Nokia (Ovi), Opera widgets, On device portals accessed from the first screen etc are examples of the same concept.
So, don’t forget the Gorilla (King Kong) and the Lizard(Jesus Lizard).
Treat the customer like a king – but don’t forget King Kong(metadata)!
The slides can be found on slideshare .. http://www.slideshare.net/group/web-20-summit-2007
If you want to discuss these ideas, please comment here or email me at ajit.jaokar at futuretext.com
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Happy Diwali!
A bit belated .. but Happy Diwali!
Image source : Kurmigroup
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Remembrance Sunday
Lets not forget .. Remembrance Sunday
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Web 2.0 – Is the world moving too fast for Web 2.0?
Good morning all
Apologies for the radio silence. I have been travelling and hence a delay. Among other things, I was in Berlin speaking at the Web 2.0 expo.
My impressions of this event were mixed. It was nice to meet everyone - and considering the work I am doing in German speaking counties with Web 2.0 and Enterprise social software/Enterprise 2.0; this was a useful event to attend due to it’s location.
However, my overwhelming impression was: The world is moving much more faster than Web 2.0 and the idea of Web 2.0 cannot keep up fast enough ..
Let me explain ..
Even during Tim O Reilly’s keynote on November 5 – I found myselves scanning my Blackberry for the Google phone announcement. Tim’s keynote was the same one he had given at a number of Web 2.0 events(by his own admission). Much of it was familiar to me. When it came to ‘latest developments’ with respect to Web 2.0 – Tim mentioned ‘Sensor networks’. This was interesting until I realised that he meant services like last.fm(in the sense that a network like last.fm ‘senses’ your music requirements and then suggests options to you based on what it has sensed)
Last.fm is all well and good but it is a relatively mature development.
My thoughts were on my Blackberry .. scanning the Google announcements ..
Maybe it was no coincidence that Web 2.0 arose in the 2002/2003 timeframe.
Web 2.0 was proposed in the post dot com era .. and the principles underlying Web 2.0 were created in the immediate aftermath of the dot com bust by Tim (2002 – 2003) when he asked the hypothetical question: what do the successful companies in the dot com era had in common?
The unsuccessful ones made the news from terms like ‘cash burn’ .. but what about the ones who had emerged as market leaders?
From that arose the whole idea of Web 2.0
However, my point is: In 2002/2003 we had the luxury of looking back because the market itself was stagnant. We no longer have that luxury in 2007 leading up to 2008.
My own talk on the impact of Mobile Web 2.0 on the Telecoms industry was focussed more on Social networking – and the idea of umbrella social networks i.e. social networks that span the Web and the Mobile Web.
So, as 2007 nears an end .. we have to ask ourselves .. is the world moving too fast for Web 2.0?
Should we look at last year(last.fm) or to the future?
Do we have the time to retrospectively abstract principles of successful companies when the Googles of the world are moving at a fantastic pace to dominate the web and the social networking arena?
Indeed Web 2.0 principles are still only now making headway in the Mobile and the Enterprise space .. but rate of change has increased dramatically for new principles to be abstracted by looking at the past ..
Thoughts?
I wonder if anyone else had similar thoughts? Or is it that I am too familair with Web 2.0?
see synopsis of my talk in berlin :
Of Jesus lizards and King Kong: If the customer is King .. then metadata is King Kong ..
Posted by ajit at 8:05 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
November 1, 2007
Kathy Sierra at Berlin Web 2.0 expo
It's nice to see Kathy Sierra speaking at the O'Reilly Web 2.0 expo in Berlin .
The topic is interesting and I look forward to knowing more about creating passionate users ..
I am also speaking at this event on the impact of Mobile Web 2.0 on the Telco industry. If you are in Berlin next week, happy to meet. Please contact me at ajit.jaokar at futuretext.com
Outline of Kathy's topic as below
What do game designers, neurobiologists, and filmmakers know about creating passionate users? How can we take better advantage of how the brain works to reach our users at a deep emotional level that inspires their enthusiasm and participation? The latest research in cognitive science, brain chemistry, and psychology can help you figure out how to get attention and keep it. We'll look at how to work around the brain's natural filters that keep your message from getting in. We'll explore the techniques game developers use to keep users engaged and wanting more, and how these techniques can be applied to virtually any kind of communication. Most importantly, we'll look at the lessons learned from the organizations and individuals who've succeeded at turning on the hearts and brains of their users. Whether you're looking to drive up the hits on your web site, increase membership and involvement, or build a passionate "fan" base around your product, service, or cause, the answer lies in reverse engineering the things for which people are passionate, and finding ways to implement those same attributes in what we offer.
Speaker - Kathy Sierra
Posted by ajit at 4:44 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
The power of blogosphere ..
Its interesting that the Google OpenSocial story was broken by two bloggers(Arrington and Om Malik) and even the BBC coverage is largely composed of statements from bloggers (again Arrington and Malik).. As a blogger, that makes me happy
Posted by ajit at 3:23 AM | Comments (0) | T