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.

Hey folks. Many of us from the GIPS team are at the lovely San Francisco Airport Marriot this week for the Emerging Communication Conference (eComm). eComm is a great show not only because it brings together so many people from the communications industry, but also because the format allows speakers to present a variety of topics, and encourages dialog among participants. We are in a break between speakers, so I thought I would take this chance to give a brief overview from the morning.

I missed the first couple speakers because I arrived a little late due to Google Maps giving me an incorrect address for the hotel. I usually trust Google with my life, but this is the second time in 3 days that the company has messed up in a pretty major way for me (the previous being not being able to read an email after I replied to it on my phone. Shouldn’t Gmail run like butter on Android?). Anywho, the two talks I managed to see were pretty interesting. Carlos Kirjner from the FCC gave an overview of the National Broadband Plan. For me the takeaway was that, though broadband access is crucial for increased connectivity, it is meaningless without proper resource allocation and regulation which ensures competition and consumer choice. After that, JP Rangaswami from BT/ Ribbit spoke about the rise of the open network, and the need for cross platform and network openness in the face of vertical integration and control. He made two very interesting points. One is that sometimes technological followers are just as, if not more, important than followers, but obviously could not exist without the innovative companies first breaking into the market. He illustrated this point by claiming that Android couldn’t exist without iPhone, but that the open model Android espouses could prove to be more revolutionary in the long run. The second point he made was that, though people think of content as king, a lot of content is highly commoditized. For instance, the price of music indicates that people aren’t necessarily paying for content, but rather the convenience of being able to purchase and access music from anywhere.

The strange Pink Floyd/ reggae mashup that has been playing during intermission is dimming, which means we are about to start again. It’s been a fun morning. Expect another update shortly.

Early Afternoon Update

Ok, back at it.

Jonathan Rosenberg from Skype spoke about publishing and ecommerce. Though this seems like a surprising topic for them to discuss, his point was very relevant. He believed that the kind of rich interaction that real-time communication enables can drive more involvement with publishing and commerce. He displayed a slide which showed a correlation between call quality and call duration. Skype asked participants to rate the quality of their calls, and found that calls using HD voice lasted 50% longer than those using G.729. The same principle should apply throughout the Internet. If people can interact in a meaningful way, they should be more likely to stay longer on social networking sites and would be more likely to buy more content from an online publisher. 

Cullen Jennings from Cisco followed by introducing ViPR, which utilizes the PSTN, SIP and distributed hash tables to validated phone numbers in order to connect islands of similar technology. So, instead of relying on the PSTN for a phone call, users in different companies can now call each other over IP networks and get the benefits of HD voice and video.

Dawn Nafus from Intel then brought an anthropologist’s point of view to claim that the paradigm of emerging vs. emerged countries is no longer relevant, and that there are plenty of countries who are ready for new technology, but are not being targeted as consumers by technology producers.

Michael Zirngibl from Ringio announced the launch of Ringio’s rich calling service, which integrates CRM functionality with telephony. The idea is that by including social information with a call, the service will improve customer service and sales performance. I can definitely see this going a long way.

Counterpath also launched their Nomadic PBX which connects users through their mobile numbers to provide UC and FMC functionality across platforms.

Great morning, but I am hungry, so it is off to lunch.

Early Afternoon Update

With a full belly, here are some of the afternoon highlights:

Since I am a map geek, Assaf Binderman’s talk has to be my favorite so far. He showed how data can be used to make cities more efficient and deliver better service. For instance, he showed a map of Florence during rush hour, with an overlay of cell phone activity and bus routes. From the map, it became clear that there were hotbeds of pedestrian activity that were not adequately serviced by the bus system. His group at MIT has also worked on the super cool Copenhagen Wheel project, which not only provides regenerative braking power to a bike, but also collects and emits data based on a the activity of a city’s users. So users have a clean, fast mode of transportation, as well as receive maps and directions, and cities can get information about traffic patterns and pollution.

After the keynote from Ge Wang, which included many musical demos of apps from Smule, our very own Joyce Kim gave a kick ass presentation on the future of mobile video calling, and the differences between the Android and iPhone platforms. In short, H.264 SVC is going to open up a lot of possibilities, but it is still unclear how much demand there is for real time video on small devices, though tablets may change that. The iPhone has some advantages for developers (predictable hardware) but users may prefer the openness and variety that comes with Android. I think you can probably expect a more technical follow up post from one of our engineers on that topic.

Overall, it has been a very entertaining and informative day. Now off to the reception for a cocktail.

When VoIP applications like softphones started to use wideband codecs in 2003, they gave a major boost to the VoIP market.  The improvement from narrowband codecs that use 3.4 or 4 kHz, to wideband codecs that use 7 or 8 kHz, was a giant step in terms of perceived voice quality, and totally changed people’s views on VoIP’s legitimacy.

Today there is a lot of talk about HD audio (usually referred as wideband) and super wideband codecs that use 14 or 16 kHz bandwidth. I have been listening to different audio and music samples with 3.4, 7, 8, 14, 16, 22 kHz to get a better understanding of the quality differences. As anyone who has tried Skype or Google Talk can attest, there is obviously a big difference when going from narrowband (3.4 kHz sampled with 8 kHz) to wideband speech (7 or 8 kHz sampled with 16 kHz). The bigger question is, can people hear the difference when using 7, 8, 14, 16, or 22 kHz in a normal voice conversation?

In my opinion, there is an audible difference when moving from a 7.0 kHz sample to a codec that supports 8 kHz, such as iSAC and iPCM-wb. However, there is a much less obvious difference between 8 kHz and 14 kHz, which I can only detect after listening to a speech sample several times. I experimented with different headsets and speakers, and found that studio grade equipment can accentuate the quality of the super wideband samples, but not to an extent that the average user would be able to regularly appreciate.  Furthermore, super wideband codecs are more susceptible to background noise, to the point that my experience was actually much worse using 14kHz than 8kHz when I added even low levels of ambient noise. Once I went beyond 14 kHz, I was unable to hear any difference in quality at any range for speech or even music.

The basic conclusion of my simple tests is that quality differences between wideband and super wideband are not obvious above 8 kHz, but can be detected by using the right equipment.

There is obviously still more work to be done to provide the most robust speech quality for IP communications. Super wideband may end up pushing the market even further, but the jury is still out. Regardless of what transpires, GIPS will continue to support a wide range of codecs to provide the best user experience possible.

It was very interesting to read Michael Graves’ “Rant” on softphones. What I found intriguing was that it seemed to be all about the need for wideband audio (and G.722). Wideband audio is defined by 16 kHZ sampling frequency (compared to 8 kHz sampling for narrowband used in regular telephony), which also doubles to audio bandwidth and provides fidelity closer to CD quality than the clunky telephony quality we are used to.

Skype is to me a softphone, and I see them as the enabler of the softphone market providing the breakthrough for desktop VoIP. The 2 major reasons for Skype’s success were that their service actually worked, and their high audio quality. They were able to raise the bar on audio quality largely because they had robust wideband audio from the get go. Codec wise, Skype has always been proprietary (proprietary vs. standards is another long story) and I think G.722 is old circuit switched technology not very well suited for packet networks.

Google Talk is in my book an even higher quality “softphone” (it seems like Google is never happy with anything but the best) and of course also wideband audio (using the GIPS iSAC codec).