Live From eComm- Day 2
Day 2 of eComm promises to be quite engaging, with a focus on voice and mobile. Perhaps one of the most interesting turn of events has been how people have dealt with the travel problems that the Icelandic volcano has presented. Quite a few presentations have been cancelled because the speakers were not able to make it to the show. However, a couple have gone forward by presenting remotely via Skype. Martin Geddes is currently discussing cloud communications from his living room in London. The calls have been dropped a couple times, but overall the presentations have been very effective, and provided a good argument for video conferencing in lieu of in person meetings, as well as the value video can bring to a call. Martin’s video dropped out about 5 minutes into his presentation, and it became much less engaging and more difficult to follow the talk with only the audio. But I find it interesting that it took an act of god to get a conference about emerging communication technology to embrace video conferencing as a presentation vehicle.
More after the morning break.
Afternoon Update
The main theme of the late morning/ early afternoon talks was telecom policy, culminating in a panel on the National Broadband Plan. There seemed to be a consensus that it was a good move for the plan to focus on allocating more spectrum (500 MHz worth), as the future of the Internet will be mobile. However, there was quite a bit of disagreement, and spirited discussion, on how to ensure equal access to content, and how that might be regulated. Panelists seemed to be split on if there are adequate tools to measure service, with Richard Bennet from ITIF indicating that websites like Speedtest.net were adequate, while Susan Estrada from FirstMile maintained that there is a lack of standards for service measurement, and that it is difficult to ascertain where in the series of networks which comprise the Internet possible bottlenecks and disruptions of service may occur.
Perhaps the most contentious issue (no surprise) was net neutrality. There were a lot of great points made, some of which I had never considered. Tracy Rosenberg from Media Alliance was a strong advocate for structural separation and protection for independent voices. Susan countered that the topic of net neutrality is premature and confuses the discussion, which should really focus on internet access, and not content. Richard agreed, pointing out that a third of Americans do not have access to the Internet, and furthermore many Americans do not want to pay for a high speed connection. My first reaction was to also agree with Susan and Richard. It made sense that we should try to get everyone Internet before we worry about regulating it. However, the more I thought about it, the more I wondered why the issues had to be tackled sequentially. If we wait too long to figure out net neutrality, won’t it be harder to enact some sort of reform once we establish an acceptable level of broadband penetration? And aren’t the issues somewhat related anyway? Paul Brigner from Verizon asserted, to no one’s surprise, that Verizon has no interest in blocking service to its subscribers. But, as the panel began to discuss right before they were cut off, access in rural areas is one of the biggest issues in the Broadband Plan. So while Verizon may claim they have no interest in limiting service, they may not have an incentive to provide service to some consumers if the cost of doing so is too high. At that point there needs to be either regulation to mandate coverage, or a way to subsidize network expansion. Basically, there need to be rules for how service gets provided, and who is responsible for management, which evokes net neutrality in my mind.
There was also a good open discussion around many issues, including the video conferencing ecosystem. From the attendees, it seems like there are still some concerns about quality. But the main issue remains interoperability. I claimed that consumer networks will probably continue to be separate, but enterprises will have to be able to connect. H.264 SVC should hopefully accelerate that.
My favorite talk was again something that was a little off the beaten path. Marc Smith evoked my inner social science nerd by introducing us to NodeXL’s analytic abilities for social networks. Really cool stuff.
Time for some coffee.
Late Afternoon Update
The afternoon sessions seem like they are leading up to tomorrow’s sessions pretty nicely. Tomorrow is all about augmented reality, and we have been getting a taste of what is possible with that. For instance, Jason Kolb from Cisco discussed how Google Wave and XMPP can enable social communication apps that help people interact with other folks in their immediate environment, in a very elegant, user-friendly way.
Now, before yesterday, I had no idea what augmented reality was. But over the last 24 hours I have been able to get a bit of a handle on it. Similar to virtual reality, augmented reality uses information from outside one’s current physical environment to enhance their experience. When I first heard this, I thought of people running around with clunky helmets in a lame sci-fi version of the future. But the more I learn about it, the more I can see a practical purpose for AR apps.
One of the most promising areas is mobile communications. If you are already using GPS or navigation services on your phone, wouldn’t you also like to hold the phone up to get even more information in real time about your surroundings, such as when landmarks were founded, or sales at stores in the neighborhood? AR apps give you that by overlaying additional information on top of a more traditional cell phone or camera view.
I am sure I am just scratching the surface, but John G. should be able to dive a little deeper tomorrow.















