IT in Canada - 1 Year Anniversary

I want to do a happy birthday shout-out here for IT in Canada, which turns its first anniversary this week. This portal is the creation of Toronto-based colleague Michael O'Neil (a Boston expat like me), a veteran IT consultant/entrepreneur.

I'm an occasional contributor to this portal, along with one of the microsites, UCinCanada.

These initiatives have been a work in progress for Michael and his team, and as his communique explains, things are unfolding very nicely...

"When we launched IT in Canada, our vision was "to stimulate and support a national dialogue on IT issues that are important to Canadians." With the help of our network partners, this vision has progressed farther and more rapidly than even we had hoped!"

"We've made progress against our goal of providing a thoughtful and thought-provoking resource for Canada's IT community, and had the pleasure of engaging with a membership that now includes nearly 400 professionals from across Canada, and from all facets of our industry. In the year to come, you can expect to see more activity, and more expansion: two other "branded" sites are poised to join the public ITFX Network, and we are actively planning the rollout of at least two (and possibly as many as four) new microsites between now and the end of January."

For anyone trying get the pulse of Canada's IT market or engage with the community at large, ITinCanada is probably the best thing going. I'm not aware of any other forums or portals of this nature in Canada, and all I can say is that I hope to see you there at some point. So, congrats on your first year, Michael, and I promise to get a post done for you soon!

Technorati tags: IT in Canada, Jon Arnold, Michael O'Neil, Unified Communications

VoIP Software Developer Job Opening in Toronto - Interested?

Think of this as a bit of a public service post.

Lots of things come my way, including recruiters looking for job candidates. In situations where I'm comfortable, I use my blog to help them by putting the word out to my readers. You never know, right?

So, here's a job opening that should be of interest to local software developers. What I can tell you is that this is a Toronto-based company that's "heavily involved in VoIP/SIP". It's a full-time position, and the pay package seems pretty good. I'm not a developer, so I can't really gauge the money thing any more than that. Hey, work is work - it's tough out there.

If you're interested, please drop me a line, and I'll be happy to put you in touch with the recruiter for the full story. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Technorati tags: VoIP software developer, Toronto, Jon Arnold

Next Stop Boston - But Not What You Think

Early last night, with a full moon beaming out there, it looked like the stars were lining up nicely. I'm going to be in Boston next week for Avaya's global analyst conference, which is the news item in this post.

I last attended their global analyst event in 2006, but a lot has changed since then. Am not sure why I didn't go last year, but I did attend their Canadian Analyst Day last December here in Toronto.

I'm really looking forward to attending, with two reasons standing out in particular. First, they're a private company now, so these events become more important for staying informed and getting insights as to how they're doing as well as their strategic roadmap.

Second is seeing Charlie Giancarlo at the helm - which a year ago would seem about as improbable as seeing Carl Ford moderating at the IT Expo last month. That sure will be interesting - so will the flip side of things, when I attend Cisco C-Scape in December. Oh, and speaking of improbabilities...

Back to the stars lining up. Going into last night's game, there was reason to believe for the Red Sox. Wakefield would stymie the Rays, the bats would come alive, and they'd put the 9-1 embarrassment behind them. Clean slate - series tied 2-2, good momentum going into Game 5, and a chance to regain control over those "pesky Rays". Quick aside - I promise never to use that term any more. Johnny Pesky's number was just retired, but more troubling is the fact that it simply isnt' true any more. Ugh.

Well, that train of thought got derailed about 10 minutes into the game, and the beating was even worse than Game 3. Boy, do the Rays ever look good - just pick any "team of destiny" moniker from any major sport, and they fit the bill. Pretty hard to see them not going all the way. I love what the Phillies are doing, but how can they possibly match the Rays? They have dominated the Red Sox in every facet of the game, and they sure have youth on their side. In contrast, the Sox sure look tired and broken down. And awfully white. In this day and age, they really look like a throwback to the fifties, when there was hardly any racial diversity in the game. They sure could use a Carl Crawford or B.J. Upton. These guys are g-o-o-d.

I digress. Sure, they could eke out a 2-1 pitcher's duel with Dice-K tomorrow, and go to the Trop with a faint ray of hope. Sure, pull out another miracle like last year with Cleveland or the Yankees in 2004. Not gonna happen - even if Lester and Beckett pitch well. Last year they were clearly the best team in baseball from Day 1. They had home advantage and could win on the road. Gee, that sure sounds like the 2008 Rays to me.

This time the opposite is true. No way they can win 2 big ones on the road against the best team in baseball. Last year they had Manny and Lowell leading the offence. I don't care how good Bay is - he's not Manny. Unless Ortiz, Ellsbury, Drew, Kotsay and Lowrie wake up and take the weight off Youklis and Pedroia, it's over in 5, and Dice-K's luck will run out big time. Of course, you can still believe in miracles, but I think we're seeing a changing of the guard here.

So, had the stars lined up as I was hoping, the Avaya conference would have coincided with the beginning of the World Series. And should the Sox advance, they would open at home thanks to another AL All Star win this summer. Last year I was in Boston when they won the World Series, which was just great. This time around, it sure looks like I'm just going to be attending a conference, and casually watching the Patriots struggle to generate some offence against Denver Monday night. Oh, what could have been...

And just to tie this post up nicely, there are some notable parallels to Avaya and the Red Sox. Though not by design, Avaya's corporate color is a bold red, just like the Sox. They're also a long time team sponsor, and believe it or not, Avaya provides the telephony infrastructure to the Red Sox organization. Bet you didn't think there was a VoIP angle to this story, huh? How's that for convergence? There, I've covered all the bases now, and it's time to get my mind off of baseball...


Technorati tags: Avaya, Boston Red Sox, Jon Arnold

New Video Interviews on TMCnet

During TMC's IT Expo a couple of weeks back, I conducted a handful of video interviews. As with the Spring IT Expo earlier this year, these were done while wearing my Editor's hat for the IP Convergence TV portal.

These interviews are a co-production between TMC and IP Convergence TV, and they will be available for viewing on both websites. Updates for IPCTV have been a bit slow lately, but TMC's Alan Urkawich has done a great job getting these produced, and they're now running on TMC's video page. Ideally, they would run on IPCTV the same time, and I could cover these in one post, but since they're up on TMC now, I'm posting today while it's fresh.

I did 5 video interviews during the show, with each guest talking about various aspects of convergence technologies and their impact on service providers. We've kept them short this time around, and each runs about 5 minutes. So, in no particular order, here are the links...

Rich Tehrani, President, TMC - talking about some of the more interesting solutions he's seeing on the showfloor, esp mobile VoIP and immersive telepresence.

Dan York - Dir. Emerging Comm. Technologies, Voxeo - good insights from Dan about how voice-enabled communications is becoming integrated with Web services, and what this means for both service providers and enterprises.

Bob Emmerson - freelance telecom writer - Bob brings his deep industry experience to bear in talking about the importance of QoE for video, and how poorly understood it is in North America. He also shares his views on Unified Communications and the trend towards integrating VoIP with business processes.

Eric Burger - Chairman, SIP Forum - Eric updates us on the SIP Forum, especially the SIP Connect initiative, which is enabling plug-and-play solutions across multiple vendors. He also explains why service providers of all stripes - wireline, wireless and cable - are now actively involved with the SIP Forum, and helping drive its recent growth spurt.

David Yedwab - Partner, Marketing Strategy Analytics - always one of my favorite interviews. David knows the SMB space well, and has great insights about the issues/trends/challenges around their adoption of converged communications services. He cites the Microsoft Response Point solution as a good example, whose launch we both saw at the show.

That should give you a good fix of video content for now. I'd love to hear your thoughts, and let me know which one you liked the best!

To close out, I should also mention that video is a big part of TMC's thinking these days, and these interviews have been posted to a TMC microsite dedicated to video. I think it's a great idea, and it's especially helpful for anyone who couldn't get to the IT Expo last month.

There's loads of video content there, starting with a daily news update from Alan Urkawich - not a bad way to get a daily digest on what's new. Search the tabs, and you'll find video from recent events TMC has been involved with. For the IT Expo, in addition to my interviews, most of the keynotes are there, as well as many TMC interviews conducted with various exhibitors. There's similar content there for Astricon 2008 and NXTcomm.


Technorati tags: TMCnet, Jon Arnold, Rich Tehrani, Bob Emmerson, Dan York, Eric Burger, David Yedwab, IT Expo, IP Convergence TV

eComm 2009 - Call for Speakers

As things develop with eComm 2009, I'll be posting, as will others on the Advisory Board who blog. Last week was tough on blogging for me, and I didn't get a chance to get the word out about the Call for Speakers.

We've been steadily reviewing submissions throughout the week, and they continue to come in. A handful are quite good, some are pretty good, and some are off the mark. It all comes with the territory, and our job is to pick the best of the bunch and make them all fit into an overall program.

There's a lot of interest to present at eComm, both from previous speakers, and loads of people just coming around to it who want to be part of the conference. We'll do our best to give fair consideration to all entries, but the roster will likely be set in the next week or two. So, if you're interested, you'd better get a move on, and follow the procedure here.

And if you just want to stay up to date with eComm, visit the website, and check out the blog for news.


Technorati tags: eComm, Lee Dryburgh, Jon Arnold

Is Jeff Back? Call for Speakers - Social Media Event

Very interesting post from Jeff Pulver on Friday. I'm not alone wondering about what Jeff is planning next, especially now that the VON brand has officially changed hands.

It's also interesting that I've got two posts today about calls for speakers. No sure what to make of that.

Anyone following Jeff knows he moved on from VoIP some time ago, and even a casual read of his blog shows that his focus is mostly in social media and video. However, Friday's post is the first public statement I've seen about any type of conference and event beyond Jeff's ongoing series of social media breakfasts.

As you'll see from Jeff's post, this is a modest one-day event, but it's definitely got all the makings of a mini-conference - a call for speakers, registration for attendees, and yes, an appeal for sponsors - and helpers to organize it. Part of the event will be broadcast live from the PulverTV studio, which tells me that he'll be staging this from the Pulver.com office in Melville.

It's hard to know what to make of this, but I know Jeff is passionate about social media, and the topics he's addressing are important - and need community-building. And given all Jeff has been through this year, you have to tip your hat to him for getting back up and into something he knows how to do - build communities.

I'm not really connected to his circle these days, so it's hard to know how well this will be received. We'll just have to watch for news on his blog.

Interested? Jeff would love to hear from you!


Technorati tags: social media, Jeff Pulver, Jon Arnold

DNCL - Canada's Answer to the Scourge of Telemarketers

Been trying to get this out all day - just one thing after another.

This post is more of a public service announcement instead of the usual trail-blazing thought leadership you find here - but still of interest, at least to Canadians! :-)

So, we finally have DNCL - our Do Not Call List - to keep those pesky telemarketers away. This just came out about two weeks ago, but it really only popped into my mind yesterday.

It's funny how I spend most of my time with emerging technologies and following trends that may disrupt the world of telecom as we know it - but something as pedestrian as DNCL in my own backyard completely eludes me. Why is that???

I've seen this mentioned here and there in the news and the blogs, but never gave it a thought for what it means to me as a consumer. Yesterday, though, I happened to catch a tiny item in the paper about it, explaining DNCL and how to register. Duh - well, OF COURSE I SHOULD DO THIS. It may get lonely working from home, but it's not so bad that I look forward to hearing about the latest time-shares or home security deals or adult dating services, etc.

So, it took all of about 2 minutes to visit the National DNCL website and register our number. Done. Seems like a good use of taxpayer dollars to me.

They say it will take about a month for this notice to take effect, so I'm hoping these calls will tail off by then. Working from home, I have to tell you, we get about 3-4 of these every day. For those of you working in offices, you have no idea what you're missing, and what goes on during this quiet time at home. Thanks to the magic of call display, any time I see a toll free number calling, you just know it's from one of those people. I always let it ring through to VM - I wonder why they NEVER leave a message??? Hmm.

However - and here's the rub - the DNCL only protects us from Canadian telemarketers. No surprise there. Did you know --- that a lot of these stupid calls come from the US? You know, those area codes from places you barely recognize, like Colorado, Idaho or South Carolina. Nobody I know is calling our house from these places - ever - and the DNCL isn't going to catch them. Not much you can really do there, but DNCL is definitely a step in the right direction.

So, for those of you who didn't know - and need to know - now you know - and I'd encourage you to sign on ASAP. Happy Thanksgiving!


Technorati tags: National DNCL, Jon Arnold, telemarketers