|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted by Phil
Jul 13, 2009
In the last installment of the series on the dimensions of communications the topic was sensory interfaces, focusing on visual and dimmers environments. In this installment we move up to the tools level, focusing on informational tools. 
Informational tools are used to augment the basics of sensory communications to convey more information. When the first caveman picked up a piece of charcoal and drew a mammoth on the wall of the cave and showed how a group could attack it and bring it down he was using a communications tool. The phrase "a picture is worth a thousand words" refers to the value of information tools in the communications process.
Posted by Phil
Jun 9, 2009
In an exciting announcement todayhttp://www2.nortel.com/go/news_detail.jsp?cat_id=-8055&oid=100257409&locale=en-U S, Nortel has extended a LIFETIME WARRANTY to all 2500, 4500 and 5000 series Ethernet Routing Switches. The new lifetime warranty is the best in the industry including: Lifetime next business day replacement of failed Hardware. Rapid replacement in the event of malfunction minimizes downtime and service interruption for your mission critical operations. Lifetime Level 1 Software support. Up to Level 3 for the first 90 days after purchase, ensuring seamless integration and business continuity.
Posted by Phil
Jun 1, 2009
In the last installment of the series on the dimensions of communications the topic was sensory interfaces, but we focused on video as a Visual medium. In this post we will continue focus on the visual aspects, specifically Immersive environments. 
Posted by Phil
May 6, 2009
In the last installment of the series on the dimensions of communications the topic was sensory interfaces, but we focused on audio. In this post we will focus on the visual aspects, specifically real time video. 
Posted by Phil
May 1, 2009
I wanted to put in a quick post to let everyone who follows this blog know that the Nortel Technical Journalfor for thefirst half 2009 has been released and is on-line. That is right, it is ON-LINE only...with the Nortel focus to being a green supplier and a investing in protecting the environment we made the decision to transform the NTJ into an on-line magazine that we will update every 6 months or so. This issue has articles about the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Network, Innovation both inside the company and with the custoemr, and critical wireless technology. Please chech out the 1st Half 2009 Nortel Technical Journal HERE
Posted by Phil
Apr 24, 2009
In the last installment of the series on the dimensions of communications the topic was the control plane. This post is focused to the Sensory Interfaces that can be used by people when communicating. Sensory interfaces are the mechanisms that we can use for communicating. Essentially, as human beings, we have 5 sensory inputs mechanisms; hearing, seeing, touch, smell, and taste. While smell and taste may have some value in certain social forms of communications I will argue they are of minimal value in business oriented communications and the need to replicate them over distance is not justifiable to the cost. Therefore, we have essentially 3 primary forms for business; audio, visual and physical. 
Posted by Phil
Apr 16, 2009
In the last installment of the series on the dimensions of communications the topic was the transport. In this post the topic is the control plane level. The control plane is the dimension responsible for managing the establishment of connections between communicating entities. It started as call control in the PBX arena where it maintained the call state of devices and instructed the TDM switching plane to connect two devices (or a device and a trunk) together. 
Posted by Phil
Mar 25, 2009
In the previous postI introduced the concept of a layer (or partitioned model)of the functions of communications. in this and the next few posts I intended to discuss the different areas in more detail. The model is shown below, in this post I will focus on the transport level. In each subsequent post I will take a single level and discuss the transformations in that area that are coming in the future. 
The transport dimension has obviously been the place where the large transformation has occurred over the last 5 years as the transport migrated from traditional TDM infrastructure to an IP based infrastructure. This transformation, while having significant potential cost impact, has had little if any real impact on the function of communications.
Posted by Phil
Nov 20, 2008
I had an opportunity to present a view of the transformation in networking that are coming to the technical conference at National Semiconductor this week. It was an interesting opportunity and led to a number of discussions. Obviously power consumption and the need for reducing the power use of the network became a critical discussion. Both National Semiconductor and Nortel have been focused in this area and we covered both today and tomorrow. The other critical area we discussed is how wireless will transform the enterprise. As the next generation of wireless capability rolls out, the value of having a wireless campus/building will become significant. The ability to eliminate the current structure of an office by having an organic mobile work environment will change the office landscape.
Posted by Phil
Oct 20, 2008
I saw this article titled "Dangerous Fakes" in Business Week that I thought was interesting as it reminded me of some discussions I have had with IT teams about the value of multi-vendor solutions for dependability. In the article there are many references to fake components, but the reference to fake Cisco routers is particularly challenging. In discussion with customers about having dual core network switches from separate vendors and a mix of edge switches, the concept of a specific attack only affecting half the network is perceived by some as a valuable capability. In discussions with a major European airport, they indicated their discomfort with having a single vendor solution if a worm or other attack could bring the network down, essentially closing the airport. By having separate core redundancy and a mix at the edge, a worm or software bug would only impact half of the ports, the remaining half of the network would still be operational.
Posted by Phil
Sep 29, 2008
I find the longevity of technology to be an interesting topic. While there are some technologies and implementations that seem to have longevity, it appears that increasingly, new technologies have significantly reduced longevity. This seems to dramatically increase the cost of ownership over time. In communications, the continued bandwidth revolution and the demand created by Moore's Law and the changes in the human I/O have continued to make regular technology obsolescence a tradition. We can argue that we are reaching a peak in bandwidth demands 9see some of my previous posts on this topic), but until you get to that point, the replacements will continue. And for both Nomadic and Wireless the trend appears to continue much longer.
Posted by Phil
Jul 15, 2008
The first UC market is for collaboration. It is about how we converge the desktop productivity environment that supports our Informal Personal Business processes (calendaring, email, etc.) with easy to use tools that combine communications, information, and business process.  The key is the value that comes from having interactions happen sooner with the right tools. UC for Collaboration is primarily about people interacting with other people based on their agendas and personal work requirements. The value accrues to the company in enhancing the way people work, rather than changing the underlying formal business processes. In most business decisions, 70-90% of the time to make a decision is wait time with messages sitting on message queues. The opportunity is to reduce that time by 50-90% by assuring that the right people are available when they need to be to make the right decisions. This can translate into significant both productivity as well as revenue opportunities.
Posted by Phil
Jul 7, 2008
Over the past month I have been working on directions in UC and have come to a few key conclusions about this transformation. I thought a series of blog entires around this subject would be interesting. I will probably do three or four fairly quickly, starting with definitions, moving into market opportunity, and closing with how Nortel sees it's role moving forward. First, UC is not just about communications, but rather is focused to how communications integrates with applications. While we have been talking about this, I think we should stop talking about "unifying" different communications modalities and rather focus on the application integration component. The key reason is that this is the next big evolutions in the value of technology to business, not just having my desk and cell phone ring together (something I have had for 4 years), but how integrating communications into applications will enable us to change business processes. Much as the integration of technology enabled business to change processes in teh 90's, integrating information and interaction together will allow another fundamental shift. Bob Hafner has indicated he believes this to be true, and some analysis indicates it really can transform businesses.
Posted by Phil
Jun 19, 2008
This is abit of a belated post as I have been out of pocket for a week or so. I will try hard not to let that happen again. Global Connect was a great event with attendance up about 38% and it was a dynamic environment.FOr those of you I saw there, it is always great to meet agian (or for the first time). I did two sessions that I thought were interesting; one as a panel moderator with CIOs for a group of industry pres and the second a joint presentation panel with Bob Hafner of Gartner. The CIO panel was interesting as it focused on how the results of the IDC Hyperconnectivity survey were seen in the eyes of CIOs. While all of the CIOs saw some evidence of Hyperconnected individuals, almost uniformly they saw it as less of a corporate issue than an individual issue. The discussion was lively and I think Rich Tehrani did a great job in his blog discussing this event and I would suggest taking the time to read it.
Posted by Phil
Mar 11, 2008
Doug Gourlay of Cisco recently responded to my post on "Merchant "silicon by putting a post on the Cisco site on his blog. Thanks to Brad Reese for pointing out the reply on his blog on the NetworkWorld site. While Brad felt Doug's response was a "stinging rebuke", I believe that most will agree with me that it was a lame and poorly thought through analogy. While I replied on Brad's site, I thought it would be appropriate to respond here as well........as Doug was really responding to my assertion that using proprietary silicon for packet processing is antiquated and the future is building value while leveraging the power of "merchant" silicon.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Enterprise Technology Categories
