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October 31, 2004
The Incredibles.…One Pretty Cool Movie!
Earlier today I visited Disney Studios in Burbank, CA and attended a Diabeties Research Institute (DRI) fundraiser which included a preview screening of the new Pixar movie, “The Incredibles.”
I will be very surprised if the movie doesn’t do real well for Pixar. The story content starts off like many other animated kids movies and somewhere in the middle takes the feel of an old James Bond flick. Hard to explain what this means in between the super hero antics but if/when you see the movie you will know what I mean. This isn’t like many other animated kids movies that I have seen in the past. Both of my kids enjoyed the movie as well.
John Ratzenberger who attended our DRI Charity Poker event during VON in Boston a couple of weeks ago was in attendance and was one of the people who contributed to the success of DRI’s event today. After the film screening, during DRI’s “silent auction” I had my own “Quantum Leap” moment when I saw Scott Bakula bidding on some of the silent auction items.
It was great to see so many people turn out for DRI’s event in California.
Posted by jeff at 08:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)
Next stop...The Incredibles
Later this morning I will be leaving for a preview screening in Burbank CA of Pixar's "The Incredibles."
This was one of the reasons I ended up spending this weekend in LA.
Posted by jeff at 08:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
pulver.Communicator now does Video!
Last night I spent a little time testing the latest beta build of pulver.Communicator with Jim Toga which now supports H.263 video. I didn’t realize how cool this would be until I tried this myself. The tests I did were from my hotel room in LA to Jim’s home near Boston. I was using a new Sony Vaio which has a built-in “motion eye” video camera.
While there are some issues which our development team still needs to work out, I was impressed and thought it was real cool that in effect we now can empower members of our community with both voice instant messaging and video instant messaging across multiple networks. Over time, pulver.Communicator has been growing into a fully functional example of what IP Communications is all about by carefully blending together various IP communication elements.
There are quite a lot of additional new features (and bug fixes) which will be made available in beta build .94 of pulver.Communicator in early to mid November.
Posted by jeff at 08:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Happy Halloween!
Happy Halloween to all!
I find it hard to believe that it is almost already November.
For all the years I've heard the phrase, "Time flies when you are having fun", I now know first hand that it really does. 2004 has been that kind of year. :-)
Posted by jeff at 12:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
October 30, 2004
jetBlue - The Wi-Fi Airline?
Those who know me know that I'm a big fan of jetBlue.
Whenever I wait for a jetBlue flight at JFK or in Oakland I never usually mind the wait because of the high availability of Wi-Fi internet access.
During the flight, while my kids enjoy watching DirecTV on the flight and I am always try to find something to watch (like a re-run of the World Series of Poker), I look forward to the time when jetBlue can offer high speed internet access from the gate to the seat on *all* of their flights.
Now that would be a cool innovation. :-)
Posted by jeff at 10:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Another jetBlue Day!
Later this morning I will be on jetBlue enroute to Los Angeles via Long Beach.
After traveling into and out of LAX over the years, I look at being able to avoid LAX as a great improvement in the NY/LA commute.
Posted by jeff at 07:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
BT Broadband WAS NOT Blocking UDP Port 5060!
After searching for 36 hours, as best as I can tell, it was NOT and is NOT the current or past policy of BT Broadband to block SIP traffic on UDP port 5060.
While I was pinged by friends on Wednesday to share the story about BT Blocking port 5060, given the fact that today I help run what is the world's largest open IP Communications Network - Free World Dialup - I had thought that we would have been amongst the first people to hear about the situation.
We weren't.
After reaching out to our customers and customers of other SIP networks in the UK, all I could find were people who are using BT Broadband without any problems connecting to FWD.
It turns out that a few months ago a few (or more) BT Broadband customers may have been given end user equipment that was using default configurations which may have been misconfigured at the factory and when installed blocked local inbound traffic on UDP port 5060. The point here is that it is NOT the public policy of BT Broadband to block UDP port 5060 and this was just an isolated case of bad configuration(s) of end-user equipment.
In the future, should broadband ISPs decide to block port 5060 or some other ports and we have emails from their customers complaining about this, I will blog the complaint letters.
I hope that this never has to happen...but I'm certain one day it will...and we will be here to blog it.
Posted by jeff at 07:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Kevin Werbach and the 2004 VoIP Election
Kevin Werbach's latest piece on Tech Central Station: Hail to the VoIP?
Posted by jeff at 07:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
October 29, 2004
And now the :) Virus
Dealing with 1000-1200 emails a day is challenging enough. On days when a new virus appears, it makes using email even less productive.
So far I've received about 50 forged emails from people infected by the :) virus. It is hard to trace who the infected party is since this virus fakes the return address and sends an email out to someone's list of outlook contacts.
I've already received a few :) from some aliases we use at pulver.com. Hopefully this virus will disappear as fast as it has appeared.
Posted by jeff at 07:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Rare week for me...
This is one of the only weeks all year that I will end up being in the office each day (M-F).
Based on my current schedule, this is also the last week this will happen until some time in February, 2005.
While it is sometimes hard to get things done when I'm in the office, it is a lot easier than when I try to get things done from the road.
Posted by jeff at 06:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
E9-1-1 Critical Issues Forum (CIF) - San Jose: 30 Nov - 2 Dec
The E9-1-1 Critical Issues Forum (CIF) is coming to Santa Clara November 30-December 2, 2004.
IP is both a challenge and a unique opportunity for 9-1-1. IP-based emergency calling and non-verbal emergency messaging must have access to current and next-generation 9-1-1 systems. IP as a basis for updated E9-1-1 infrastructure is the opportunity.
Co-hosted by pulver.com and the National Emergency Number Association (NENA), the Critical Issues Forum will bring people up to date on NENA and IP industry work on current and future designs for 9-1-1 public safety communications systems. It also offers a forum for people to provide input into current and future system design.
If you are concerned about E9-1-1 and work in the VoIP industry, this is a meeting you may want to consider being a part of.
Posted by jeff at 04:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
So is BT DSL Blocking SIP Traffic?
Last night I posted a similar question on Broadband Reports and also posted to the Free World Dialup mailing list and so far, no one who uses BT's DSL service has come forward to say that they are finding UDP port 5060 blocked.
If this is still happening, please drop me a line.
Posted by jeff at 04:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
October 28, 2004
Is BT's DSL Service Blocking UDP Port 5060?
I was wondering if there are any members of Free World Dialup who subscribe to BT's DSL service that are having trouble getting access to the FWD Network and/or other SIP networks.
During the day today there have been a number of stories that mention that BT's DSL service is blocking inbound UDP traffic to port 5060 and I would like to find out whether or not there is anyone who reads my blog who has directly experienced this problem.
If this turns out to be true, I would have a hard time believing that Ofcom would tolerate this on an on-going basis.
Posted by jeff at 10:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Getting Ready for ISPCON
In a couple of days I will be leaving for a West Coast trip starting in LA and ending up in Santa Clara in time for ISPCON.
I've been looking forward to giving a keynote at Fall 2004 ISPCON event ever since I was invited months ago by Jon Price.
During this week I have been working with Carl on some new material to share. Carl and I are looking forward to meeting the ISPs who will be in Santa Clara for the event.
pulver.Communicator will be on display in the pulver Innovations booth.
Posted by jeff at 08:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
October 27, 2004
The Red Sox Win! The Red Sox Win!
Tonight for the first time in 86 years, the Boston Red Sox won the World Series!
Congrats to the Red Sox and their fans!
Posted by jeff at 11:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Skype Discovering Presence
According to several stories circulating on the web at the moment, Skype has discovered presence and will enpower their customers with an ability to leverge this.
This is a cool innovation.
Thing is, this isn't new. Members of Free World Dialup have been able to share a web based presence icon since early 2003.
Examples of these icons are posted to the FWD beta page. In the case of the FWD icons, presence is shared and a click thru will trigger the launching of the FWD Talk application. This is something I thought was very cool when Ed Guy gave me a demo of this in September, 2003.
Until now, these presence icons are not something that we promoted all that much, but they can be seen being used by our members on the pages of our support forums and above.
Thumbs up to Skype for doing what they can to educate consumers about presence. If they can do for presence what they have already done for VoIP, everyone involved in the presence space will benefit.
It seems to me that Skype has adopted the Microsoft Software Engineering principal of "...not always having to create something new, but rather doing whatever it takes to take what already exists and just make it work...better."
Posted by jeff at 07:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
How to Peer with Free World Dialup?
Just about every other day it seems I receive an email from someone who wants to establish a peering relationship with Free World Dialup.
Service providers and other entities wishing to establish a peering relationship with Free World Dialup are encouraged to visit: http://peering.fwdnet.net/.
Once the form is filled out a member of the Free World Dialup team will get back to you.
Posted by jeff at 12:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Now the Red Sox are up 3-0!
The Red Sox have now won seven games in a row and are up 3-0 in the World Series.
Unless the Cards come back against the odds and repeat what the Red Sox did to the Yankees, 2004 will be the year the Red Sox win the World Series.
Go Red Sox!
Posted by jeff at 12:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
October 26, 2004
Q&A with the LA Times
James Granelli from the LA Times spent time with me last week at Fall 2004 VON and just published a Q&A with me in today's edition of the LA Times.
Posted by jeff at 07:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Profile in Network Magazine
Back in August when I was attending the PFF Summit in Aspen, I sat down with Paul Kapustka of advancedIPpipeline. Somehow this resulted in being included as one of the innovators profiled in the current edition of Network Magazine in the The Future of IT: Innovators Speak Out story.
Paul, for what it's worth, I am trying to get jetBlue to be one of our 2005 event sponsors since they have become the official airline of pulver.com and as a company are a great example of an enterprise that is leveraging the use of VoIP in their distributed call centers.
Posted by jeff at 07:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
October 25, 2004
My focus now shifts to Spring 2005 VON...
Now that Fall 2004 VON is behind us, sometime today my focus will shift to Spring 2005 VON as it will be taking place March 7-10 in San Jose in a little more than four and a half months from now.
During this week the VON content team will be working on the draft of the Spring 2005 VON schedule which will once again include the co-location of Dave Burstein's Fast Net Futures event.
Building on the positive buzz and experiences from last week in Boston, Spring 2005 VON looks to be an even bigger event, with an even larger exhibit floor.
On paper, I feel as if we have a pretty good chance at seeing the size of our Spring 2005 VON community to be close to double the number of people we had in Santa Clara back in March. Back then having 3,300 people visit with us felt great. I can only imagine what it may feel like when that number becomes something close to 6,500!
If you would like to be a part of Spring 2005 VON, now would be a great time to share suggestions for sessions you would like to see and/or people you would to hear from in San Jose.
Please feel free to email suggestions to me directly by sending email to: jeffp@pulver.com.
Posted by jeff at 08:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
The Victoria Telecommunity Network: Making End-To-End IP A Reality
The Victoria Telecommunity Network in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, is an example of a community based communications network helping to drive end-to-end IP Communications.
In this case, the Victoria Telecommunity Network enpowers members of the Pacific Community Networks Association, PCNA and the South Island Community Access Network, SICAN to communicate.
This network is powered by Asterisk and is one of the larger public rollouts using Grandstream BudgeTone 100 phones that I am aware of.
Posted by jeff at 08:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
October 24, 2004
Andy Oram on The State of VoIP
Andy Oram attended Fall 2004 VON last week and published this report to the O'Reilly Network.
Posted by jeff at 10:38 PM | Permalink
The Best Week Ever!
Looking back, the week of October 17, 2004 was in my book “The Best Week Ever.”
Those of you who spent time with us in Boston last week at Fall 2004 VON know what I mean when I say this. It was something to experience and to be part of. And being in Boston when the Red Sox proved to the world that “Nothing is Impossible” just added to the experience.
For the first time in the history of our VON events, over 5,000 people joined our event community from over 1,800 different companies and 51 countries. Looking at the delegates who were just from Africa, there were people representing: Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Rwanda and South Africa.
We had a record number of Press, Analysts and Bloggers attend Fall 2004 VON and the stories that were published and continue to be published are a direct reflection of this.
Special thanks to everyone who contributed to the success of last week.
---
Go Red Sox!
Posted by jeff at 08:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
October 23, 2004
More Stories from Fall 2004 VON
Posted by jeff at 07:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Tom's Networking Report on Fall 2004 VON
Just read Tom Higgins Report on Fall 2004 VON.
Tom provides an interesting perspective of the event.
Posted by jeff at 06:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
October 22, 2004
Overheard @ VON: Cisco can now tag Skype Packets!
While walking in the hallways of Fall 2004 VON late in the day yesterday, I overheard a conversation that Cisco has been able to identify and in fact "tag" a Skype packet.
If this in fact turns out to be true, then it will be just a matter of time before corporations will be able to block Skype traffic by changing their firewall and network security policies in the event they want to better manage the real-time communication streams taking advantage of their sacred network resources.
I wonder if Linksys and others will eventually provide an option to block Skype traffic on home firewalls.
Until now, Skype has been able to navigate just about all NATs and Firewalls without the consent of anyone.
It will be interesting to see if the Cisco tagging of the Skype packet will in turn result in Skype changing their fingerprint in subsequent product releases.
Posted by jeff at 03:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Fall 2004 VON Party w/The Goo Goo Dolls
Posted by jeff at 02:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Pictures from Tuesday Oct 19th @ Fall VON
Special thanks to Kory Kessel who took all the following photos:
Press Conference
Jeff and FCC Chairman Powell
Posted by jeff at 07:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
A Great Week in Boston!
All in, this has been one great week in Boston for those of us involved in the worldwide IP Communications Industry.
Looking at our road ahead, our future is bright and while there will be some bumps in the road to be expected, things continue to look better.
2005 looks to be the year the breakout year we have all been looking for. I expect 2005 to be when we start to see the return of the wave of IPOs inside the IP Communications we haven’t seen since 2000/2001.
While I'm not sure if it we will be able to experience yet another doubling of our VON community size by the time Fall 2005 VON happens in Boston next September, we will be trying. :-)
Go Red Sox!
Posted by jeff at 07:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Photos from our Charity Poker Event - Sunday Oct 17th
Posted by jeff at 12:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
October 21, 2004
Stories from Fall 2004 VON
Some of the published stories regarding Fall 2004 VON include:
Posted by jeff at 11:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Andy: Thanks for all of the Kind Words!
Andy,
I've been offline most of the week and only started to read about your Fall 2004 VON experiences this morning.
Thank you for posting the very kind words this week in your blog.
Posted by jeff at 08:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Last Night: One Great Party!
Last night's VON Party with both the Goo Goo Dolls and Game 7 of the ACLS resulted in a fun time for all...except maybe for some of the Yankees fans.
DJ Jeff had a chance from time-to-time to spin some CDs and it was fun. From the DJ booth it was possible to observe the dynamic of people who spent their time focused on the baseball game, totally ignoring everyone else around them...and then there were the people on the dance floor who more or less ignored the proceedings of the game.
All-in Fall 2004 VON has been a VON of historic proportions and I have a strong positive feeling when I look to 2005 and where the industry will be in another twelve months.
Posted by jeff at 08:45 AM | Permalink
Nothing is Impossible!
The Red Sox beat the Yankees last night in game 7 of the ALCS and are now on their way to the 2005 World Series.
While no other team in 99 divisional series had been able to win four games in a row, after losing the first three, the Red Sox proved that in fact "Nothing is Impossible!"
Congrats to the Red Sox and to their fans. It was fun to be outside on the streets of Boston last night as the die-hard Red Sox Fans continued their celebrations into the night.
Posted by jeff at 08:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
October 20, 2004
Next Up: Fall 2004 VON Party!
When planning Fall 2004 VON, one consideration that I never did take into account was the possiblity of a baseball playoff game involving the Boston Red Sox on the night of our conference party or for that matter on the night of our charity poker event.
But following my theme from Spring 2004 VON that "...Nothing is Impossible" tonight is in fact when game 7 of the ALCS will be played between the Red Sox and the Yankees.
After watching the Red Sox come back and win the past three games in a row, it will be great to see if the Red Sox play their way into the World Series tonight or if the Yankees will be one step closer to winning their 27th World Series.
At our party, while the Goo Goo Dolls are the advertised headliners, they are actually playing backup for some of those attending the party to in fact the baseball game.
I'm told there will be TVs setup around the Roxy so tonight we should be able to not only watch the game but take in the great tunes from the Goo Goo Dolls.
:-)
Posted by jeff at 06:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Fall 2004 VON: Last Night's Lead Story on Marketplace
Last Night's Lead Story on Marketplace
"On this October 19, Sprint announced that its revenues from long-distance service plummeted in the third quarter by $1.8 billion. MCI says it's selling off a chunk of its landline and residential phone service. What gives?..."
Posted by jeff at 09:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Fall 2004 VON: Last Night's Lead Story on Marketplace
Last Night's Lead Story on Marketplace
"On this October 19, Sprint announced that its revenues from long-distance service plummeted in the third quarter by $1.8 billion. MCI says it's selling off a chunk of its landline and residential phone service. What gives?..."
Posted by jeff at 09:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Jeff in today's Boston Globe
Boston Globe: October 20, 2004 - Industry pioneer says rising hype may hurt growth
Posted by jeff at 09:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Fall 2004 VON: One Amazing Show!
While I could appreciate anyone who hears me touting how great Fall 2004 VON has been may feel that I'm just a little biased about things, this really has been a great show.
The buzz started in the weeks leading up to this event and came into full view when our exhibit floor opened up on Monday night.
There is a real positive electricity here in Boston at a level which I've never felt before in all the years which I've been producing VON.
Words can't describe my appreciation for everyone who has contributed to the success of this event ranging from our: speakers, delegates, exhibitors, sponsors and the members of the pulver.com VON team.
Yesterday for me was one giant blur which started early in the morning prior to my opening VON talk and lasted thru the press conference I attended with Chairman Powell and right thru the day as I participated in several meetings and tried my best to spend some quality time on our exhibit floor.
There have been and continue to be some key announcements made at this show which will have a direct influence on the future growth and direction of the worldwide IP Communications space.
The press is in attendance at Fall 2004 VON and there will be no shortage of people who will be sharing their accounts of this event.
The success of this event is something I hope everyone here will be able to grow from. I fully expect 2005 to be a very good year for the VoIP industry.
Posted by jeff at 07:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Broadband is Back Up at Sheraton Hotel...
Back in 1999, during Spring 1999 VON which took place at the Rio in Las Vegas, guests lost dial-up access to the net as the shear number of people attending VON managed to crash the hotel's PBX more than once.
Following a similar tradition, the shear number of guests attending Fall 2004 VON who took advantage of the broadband access in their hotel room managed to create an outage for everyone else yesterday.
It is hard to blog when there is no broadband access and you are using a computer not setup for dial-up...
Posted by jeff at 07:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
October 19, 2004
Fall 2004 VON Stories (part I)
PCWorld: Will Regulation Squash VoIP?
NetworkWorldFusion: VoIP future hangs on regulatory decisions
CommsDesign: IP telephony shows signs of going mainstream
Posted by jeff at 06:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Fall 2004 VON is Underway!
Fall 2004 VON is underway and I all day today I've been experiencing the effects of "VON Blur."
At the moment I am hopelessly behind in both email and voicemail...but I do hope to recover before the end of the week.
While watching the Red Sox defeat the Yankees for the second night in a row, I put the finishing touches on my opening remarks and industry perspective at Fall 2004 VON.
I am especially looking forward to introducing my friend, FCC Chairman Michael Powell to give his speech at our conference tomorrow morning.
Posted by jeff at 12:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
October 18, 2004
Sorry for being late to our Meeting...
I just took a look at the number of meetings that have been scheduled for me over the next four days and one thing is certain - I'm not going to be able to make all of them and some will be running late.
Such is the life of many people attending Fall 2004 VON, where all of us will be doing our best to take full advantage of the fact that so many people have made it Boston from all over the world.
Carpe Diem!
Sieze the Day!
Posted by jeff at 06:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Fall 2004 VON is Underway!
Last night Fall 2004 VON opened with the FCC Town Hall Meeting which was hosted by both: Bob Pepper and Jeff Carlisle of the FCC.
We held our first FCC Town Hall Meeting at a VON about three years ago and we have held similar town hall meetings the night before a VON event commences ever since.
During the past three years these meetings have taken on additional significance, given the developments of VoIP regulation in not only the US but around the world.
Special thanks to both Bob Pepper and Jeff Carlisle for hosting last night.
Posted by jeff at 06:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Poker @ VON – A New Tradition is Born!
Yesterday we held our first Charity Poker Tournament at a VON event which benefited both the Barton Center and the Diabetes Research Institute. As things turned out, I ended up coming in sixth place in the day event which qualified me to have a seat in Celebrity portion of the tournament which took place last night.
While the six hours of playing poker was intense, I can only imagine what it must feel like to play poker for six straight days in the World Series of Poker. Ofer Gneezy of iBasis will have the thrill of finding out, since he was the winner of the grand raffle price which included a seat in the $10,000 buy-in round of the 2005 World Series of Poker.
Phil Hellmuth was our host and did an amazing job in providing not only the commentary but also helped teach the art of playing Texas Hold’m to everyone in the room. The Celebrity Tournament opened with people playing on three tables and it felt real good to make it to the final table of the night. As best as I could tell, everyone who joined us to watch the tournament enjoyed themselves.
Plans are already underway to host a similar event at Spring 2005 VON in San Jose on March 6th
Special thanks to everyone who contributed to the success of the event last night including: Danny Askin, Jonathan Askin and Phil Hellmuth.
Posted by jeff at 06:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
October 17, 2004
In Boston for Fall 2004 VON
The VON team has arrived in Boston and we are ready for the commencement of Fall 2004 VON.
I am looking forward to playing in our charity poker event which will be starting tomorrow morning at 11.30 am at the Hynes.
Posted by jeff at 12:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
October 16, 2004
Getting Ready for Boston
By tonight most members of the VON team will be in Boston getting ready to produce what looks to be our largest VON Event, passing the numbers we experienced back at Spring 2000 VON.
Amongst everything else going on during Fall 2004 VON, I am especially looking forward to tomorrow's Charity Poker event...hopefully others are too.
Posted by jeff at 07:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
pulver.Communicator: 5,000 Downloads and Counting...
While the formal launch of pulver.Communicator does not happen until Monday, there have already been over 5,000 new downloads of pulver.Communicator.
Back when Free World Dialup first launched in November, 2002 it took us a good couple of months to get to 5,000 subscribers.
I think this new trend is kinda cool. :-)
Posted by jeff at 07:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Bloggers @ Fall 2004 VON
If you are planning to blog @ Fall 2004 VON - please drop by the Free World Dialup Pavilion on the Fall 2004 VON show floor between 6 and 7 pm on Monday night to say hello.
Posted by jeff at 06:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Fall 2004 Telecom Policy Summit @ Fall 2004 VON
VoIP Regulatory discussions have been a stable of our conferences since 1996. Our Fall 2004 Telecom Policy Summit has established a new high water mark for even pulver.com to strive to achieve at future VON events.
Special thanks to everyone who contributed to helping to make this special event possible.
Fall 2004 Telecom Policy Summit Schedule:
Opening Address: Ed Markey, Ranking Member, House Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet
What's going on in the World of VoIP Regulation:
• Bruce Jacobs, Partner, Shaw Pittman
• Eric Loeb, International Regulatory Law and Policy Director, AT&T
• Jose Otero, Founder and President, Signals Consulting
• Patricia Paoletta, Partner, Harris, Wiltshire & Grannis
• Walda Roseman, President and CEO, CompassRose International
The State of VoIP Regulation:
• Charles Davidson, Commissioner, Florida PSC Commissioner
• Susan Kennedy, Commissioner, California PUC
• Robert Mayer, Director, Office of Telecommunications, NYS Department of Public Service
• Glenn Richards, Partner, Shaw Pittman
• Greg Sopkin, Chairman, Colorado PUC
• Tom Welch, Chairman, Maine Public Utilities Commission
• Stan Wise, NARUC President, GA PSC Commissioner
Industry Perspective: Jim Geiger, CEO, CBeyond Communications
Looking at VoIP through the Portals (FCC):
• Matt Brill, Legal Advisor to Comm'r Abernathy, FCC
• Melissa Newman, Vice President, Qwest
• Jason Oxman, General Counsel, ALTS
• Staci Pies, VP, Governmental and Regulatory Affairs, Point One
• Jessica Rosenworcel, Legal Advisor, Office of Commissioner Micheal J. Coops, FCC
Industry Perspective: Larry Irving, Former Assistant Secretary of Commerce
A View From the Hill:
• James Assey, Minority Counsel, US Senate Commerce Committee
• Colin Crowell, Minority Counsel, House Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet
• Kyle Dixon, Senior Fellow and Director of FIRLE, PFF
• Howard Waltzman, Chief Counsel, Telecommunications, Committee on Energy and Commerce
Industry Perspective: Michael Gallagher, Assistant Secretary of Commerce, US Dept of Commerce
Keynote: Senator John Sununu, New Hampshire
Posted by jeff at 06:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
October 15, 2004
Poker for Late Arrivals on Sunday, October 17th at Fall 2004 VON
I've heard from several potential Poker players that they would like to play in the Charity Poker Tournament but might not be able to make the noon start time on Sunday. For those of you who cannot make it to the Poker Tournament by noon, we might be able add a second tournament beginning at 3pm. No promises, but please stop by Room 312 at the Hynes Convention Center if you are interested in playing. We will also allow people to buy-in directly (albeit at a premium) to the Celebrity Tournament, which begins at 7:30pm Sunday night.
(details at: www.pulver.com/poker)
In any event, late arrivals will certainly have opportunities to watch and play, schmooze and kibitz, not to mention opportunities to play against several celebrities and Phil Hellmuth (perhaps the best Tournament Hold 'em player in the World), and pretty decent odds at winning the pulver-donated $10,000 buy-in to the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas.
Also, if you have any friends or colleagues (inside or outside the VON Community) that might enjoy playing poker or want to support the charity, please feel free to invite them.
In addition to raising money for a worthy charity, what better way is there to meet so many industry leaders, colleagues and potential friends in a casual, collegial environment?
I hope to see you at the Poker Tables.
Posted by jeff at 08:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Countdown to Fall 2004 VON
The Buzz for Fall 2004 VON just continues to grow.
As I'm copied on each new delegate registration, I'm still amazed that many of the last-minute conference delegates have been signing up from places ranging from Brazil to Japan.
At the moment, the top five countries represented at Fall 2004 VON include:
1. USA
2. Canada
3. UK
4. Japan
5. Brazil
It looks as if a record number of different companies will be represented at Fall 2004 VON.
I am expecting a lot of VoIP News which will be attributed from Boston, MA next week.
In the meanwhile I continue to work on my Industry Perspective for Tuesday morning, October 19th.
Posted by jeff at 12:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
October 14, 2004
Investors Business Daily Story about Vonage
Investors Business Daily:Vonage Founder Aims To Double Subscriber Base By End Of 2005; Citron's Put In $70 Mil.
Includes a reference to the Vonage early days of Min-X.
Posted by jeff at 08:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Nice story about pulver.Communicator in eWeek
Ellen Muraskin's story about the launch of pulver.Communicator.
Posted by jeff at 04:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Sunrise at AOL
This morning I had a chance to meet with the CTO of AOL, John McKinley.
I left our meeting being quite impressed with his broadband enabled vision for IP Communications.
My hope is to have John as a speaker at one of our 2005 VON events. :-)
Posted by jeff at 10:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
The Broadband Holiday Inn…
I was surprised and happy to find out that the Dulles Airport Holiday Inn in Sterling, VA offers not only free Wi-Fi in the lobby but free broadband access from the guest rooms.
While this Holiday Inn may not have that many other amenities (like a working TV in my room), having access to broadband made for an o.k. stay.
Posted by jeff at 06:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Wake-up options...
Every once in a while I find myself away someplace with an early morning meeting to get to.
While the wake-up options usually are:
1. hotel wake-up call.
2. room alarm clock
3. cell phone alarm
It seems that option number (4) - body alarm clock is almost always the most reliable.
Posted by jeff at 05:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Jerryassic park @ MIT
Yesterday afternoon I was the guest lecturer at Prof. Jerry Hausman’s Competition in Telecommunications course at Sloan School of Management @ MIT. Overall it was an interesting experience.
It turns that Prof. Jerry is responsible for keeping the DNA of the "Bell Head" alive. This point was made loud and clear whenever he interrupted my presentation. He shared his expectation that until VoIP can deliver one hour of downtime in 40 years of operations, it wasn’t ready for prime time and would not happen in the enterprise...or anywhere else.
My overall approach to giving my lecture to the class was thrown into an immediate tailspin once the Prof. told Carl, "We don't share anecdotal experiences in this class."
At one point it felt as if I was the setup of some cruel joke and I was looking around for the “Surprise you are on candid camera” moment. Only thing was that there was no camera and that the entire experience was a setup. This became clearer only at the end of the lecture when the professor came forward and told me that I came across more balanced then he thought I would --- I could only imagine what the exchange would have otherwise been like.
After class one of the students told me that the way he spoke to me is that way he sometimes speaks to the students but I was the first guest speaker who he took issue with and who he treated in the way that he did.
Oh well.
Prior to speaking to the class, I invited the students from this to join us at VON next week to get a feeling of what the VoIP industry is all about. My hope is that some of the students will take me up on the offer, show up and see the IP driven innovations and vision which will be evident on our show floor.
Last year it the USTA '03 show that showcased some of the living dinosaurs. This year I had a chance to get up close and personal with another breed living at MIT.
Posted by jeff at 12:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
October 13, 2004
Buzz for Fall 2004 VON Continues to Grow!
Fall 2004 VON starts in just 4 days and the positive momentum for the event just continues to grow.
We continue to stay on track to producing what in the end will be known as the largest focused gathering of the IP Communications Industry under one roof...ever!
I am already starting to feel the effects of what is known as "VON Blur" and it is slowly taking its toll. As each day gets us closer to VON, I find it harder to focus on getting things done due to the whirlwind of activities within pulver.com leading up to VON.
I am confident Fall 2004 VON will live up to my expectations and will be the place where announcements are made, deals are done and where entrepreneurs become inspired to start new companies.
I'm trying my best to balance meeting requests with on-site operational responsibilities and leave enough time to walk around our exhibit floor and explore the innovations being introduced at Fall 2004 VON.
Register today for Fall 2004 VON to see: "Disruptive Communications in Motion."
Posted by jeff at 07:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Jeff on New England Cable News (NECN)
Tomorrow morning I will be flying up to Boston to give a guest lecture at MIT in the afternoon.
After MIT I was invited by New England Cable News for a live on-air interview to talk about VoIP and Fall 2004 VON taking place next week in Boston. I'm scheduled to be on the air sometime between 6.30 to 7.00 pm.
Tomorrow night I'm flying down to Dulles, VA for an early morning meeting on Thursday.
Posted by jeff at 12:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
October 12, 2004
2004 - The Year...
...Splenda happened. At least in the US.
...Wi-Fi happened in my neighborhood. These days I can drive around town and more likely than not park my car on a street, open my notebook PC and get on the net thanks to open Wi-Fi routers.
...Consumers learned how to spell V-o-I-P.
Posted by jeff at 08:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Fall 2005 VON Dates
Fall 2005 VON Conference & Expo will be taking place in Boston, September 19-22, 2005.
Posted by jeff at 07:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
VoIP Supplement in Today's New York Times
There is a special VoIP supplement running in today's New York Times and Boston Globe in support of Fall 2004 VON.
Posted by jeff at 06:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
October 11, 2004
SIP Spam covered in MIT Technology Review
A new story about SIP Spam (SPIT) and open SIP Networks including: Free World Dialup, Earthlink and SIPPhone.
Posted by jeff at 07:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
VoIP in Korea: Growing 41% Annually for Next Five Years
According to a story in The Korea Herald, Korea will continue to be a hot marketplace for VoIP services for the near future.
Last week Korea joined the growing number of countries to allocate a special area code for VoIP, when the Ministry of Information and Communication allocated the 070 prefix.
Over 4 million VoIP numbers are expected to be in use in Korea by 2007.
Posted by jeff at 06:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
The Launch of a New IP Communications Network: FWD Communications
Next week we will be formally launching FWD Communications which is a new IP Communications Network which offers: Instant Messaging, Voice Conferencing, Social Networking, Virtual Telephone Numbers, Voice over IP and a whole host of original and subtle features and functions which are unique onto itself. This platform is an evolving work-in-progress and I expect the feature set to continue to grow over time.
FWD Communication’s beta software client - pulver.Communicator is the first of our planned soft clients to become available which offers access to the FWD Communications network.
In a nutshell, pulver.Communicator leverages the FWD Network and adds a entire host of additional services unique to it.
Download pulver.Communicator today to get a preview of one of the killer applications of the Fall 2004 season.
Posted by jeff at 12:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
October 10, 2004
How to Call from FWD to Earthlink...
...dial **356 followed by the Earthlink number on the FWD Network.
Posted by jeff at 07:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Jeff @ MIT on Oct 13th
During this summer I was invited to be a guest lecturer at Jerry Hausman's Competition in Telecommunications class at MIT this semester.
While I've never done this before I figured it would be a fun opportunity so I accepted.
A discussion of the evolution of VoIP and of "The Pulver Order" is part of the syllabus of this class this week. I figured this was a topic I could provide some level of detail about. :-)
It has been about twenty years since I spent anytime inside a class on a college campus.
I am looking forward to visiting MIT.
Posted by jeff at 06:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Our Charity Poker Event is just a week away!
A week from today our charity poker event will be taking place at the Hynes Convention Center in Boston.
With all of the excitement leading up to Fall 2004 VON, my hope is that our poker room will be full of people playing Texas Hold'm to help raise money for Diabetes research. If you are planning on playing, please consider indicating your interest to join the game by placing your initial chip order today.
One thing I've learned about the Poker Table is that it is a great way to get to know people. Poker is a great ice-breaker and great way to build professional relationships in a comfortable setting. A tournament setting, in particular, allows you to meet many different people as you hop from table to table. I think the Tournament should prove to be a great way for members of the IP communications community to get to know one another and build lasting professional and personal relationships, while we raise money for a very worthy cause.
Posted by jeff at 06:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
October 09, 2004
Time to listen again to the Goo Goo Dolls
The countdown to Fall 2004 VON is already underway and in just another week the pulver.com team will be in Boston getting ready for our biggest event on record. In terms of numbers, Fall 2004 VON is expected to more more than double in total attendence than Fall 2003 VON just one year ago.
For the first time since 2000, there are quite a number of social gatherings planned, many of which are private, and I feel this is a great sign of how far the IP Communications Industry has recovered since January, 2003.
On the night of October 20th, I will be hosting a party which is open to all of our conference delegates, speakers, sponsors and exhibitors. This time around it will be the goo goo dolls who will be performing for us in a private concert.
I've been looking forward to seeing the goo goo dolls play VON ever since we booked them for our event.
I'm looking forward to what will be a great show.
Posted by jeff at 09:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Philadelphia Rock in Eastern Long Island
I just got back from a coffee run to a local bakery in Westhampton Beach and I when I was in my car I turned on my radio radio and found myself listening to two rock stations from Phili - WMMR on 99.3 FM and WYSP on 94.1 FM.
For me I found it kind of cool that I was able to tune in FM radio stations from 200+ miles from here.
Posted by jeff at 08:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Boston Buzz Grows with RedSox in ALCS!
It was great to see the Boston Red Sox make it to the American League Championship Series for the 2nd year in a row.
If getting a hotel room during Fall 2004 VON wasn't hard enough, now the delegates who didn't make their hotel reservations yet will also have to deal with the effects of the ALCS going on during VON.
The Hynes Convention Center is only a short walk from Fenway Park.
Hopefully this will be the year that the Red Sox not only make it into to the World Series, but win it as well.
Let's go Red Sox!
Posted by jeff at 08:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
October 08, 2004
pulver.Communicator: In the News
Earlier today, internetnews.com was one of the first news websites to run a story about pulver.Communicator.
In the three days that pulver.Communicator has been available for public download from: http://communicator.pulver.com/download,it has been downloaded by people in 58 countries.
If you are interested in Voice over IP and happen to use instant messaging, give pulver.Communicator a try and let me know how it works for you.
Please feel free to add me as a buddy. I am available as FWD # 10000.
Posted by jeff at 11:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
And now: VoIP Conspiracy Theory
When I saw the title given to a story running this morning on ZDNET, Incumbent telcos accused of plotting against VoIP, it brought to my mind images from the Mel Gibson movie: “Conspiracy Theory.”
The way the world of VoIP is going, as it becomes part of pop culture, it is just a matter of time before VoIP becomes a driving underlying theme in a major Hollywood blockbuster. Even sooner we will start to hear references to VoIP in pop song lyrics.
This can happen. It is just a matter of time..."Nothing Is Impossible."
Posted by jeff at 06:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Chief Architect at Earthlink responds
Robert Sanders, Chief Architect at Earthlink, in response to my recent blog about Earthlink wrote:
Jeff, the promise of IP telephony is certainly bigger than any one company can hope to fulfill. I think we all owe a debt of gratitude to those who came before us...including Net2Phone, Van Jacobsen, and the thousands of others who made this sort of thing possible. I mean, one might say "Voice and IM and presence...how original", but I'll bet pulver.Communicator will still make a lot of people happy.
This isn't our first VoIP service (not by some years) and it definitely won't be our last. We aren't pursuing heteromorphism for its own sake. But we are trying to build the right products for our customers. No doubt that will take us in a different direction.
For the sake of keeping the promise of IP Communications alive, my hope is that some people will decide to offer heteromporhic communication services. The promise of what pulver.Communicator offers is at least a start in this direction.
Posted by jeff at 05:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
October 07, 2004
VoIP News Week of the Year: Week of Oct 17th
Based on the briefings and emails which I've had over the past couple of weeks, I fully expect to see the Google VoIP News search results to be at an all-time high when Fall 2004 VON is taking place the week of October 17th.
For an idea of some of the companies which are planning announcements, just take a look at our event sponsors.
In addition to the news coming from the well known companies, there are quite a number of first time exhibitors at VON who also plan on doing what it takes to get noticed and stay noticed.
2004 seems to be the year of the private VON party - something we haven't seen since the glory days of 2000.
While available hotel space remains my own concern, as long as people from out-of-town remember to look at Priceline and/or Hotels.com, getting a room in or near Boston should not be a real problem.
Posted by jeff at 08:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
RedSox: 2-0 in AL Playoffs
While 2004 was not the year of the Mets or the Cubs, I stayed up late on the East Coast last night to watch the Red Sox pick up a 2-0 lead in their series.
My hope is for the Red Sox to make their way to the 2004 World Series.
At least we know the Red Sox can beat the Yankees...
Posted by jeff at 08:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Fall 2004 VON Keynote Updates
The schedule of the keynotes at the Fall 2004 VON Conference was updated yesterday.
Senator John Sununu, New Hampshire will now be speaking on Monday, October 18th from 4:30 PM to 5:00 PM.
In addition, Capt. Chris Christopher, Deputy Dir., Future Operations, Communications & Bus. Initiatives, Navy Marine Corps. Intranet and Mark Spencer, President, Digium/Asterisk will be giving keynotes on Thursday, October 21st.
Anoop Gupta, Corporate VP, Real-Time Collaboration Bus. Unit, Microsoft will be giving an Industry Perspective on Tueday, October 19th.
Posted by jeff at 12:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
October 06, 2004
Skype co-founder's quote about our VON Events...
"VON is the premier conference for all things related to Internet Telephony.
Pulver not only gathers the best of the industry, they craft a complete and
stimulating conference experience."
Niklas Zennström, Skype CEO and co-founder
Fall 2004 VON starts in just 11 days!
If you are having trouble finding a hotel room, please give Priceline and/or Hotels.com a try.
Posted by jeff at 06:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
October 05, 2004
62 Congressman Tell the FCC that VoIP should be considered Interstate...
...and that the FCC should have exclusive jurisdiction.
The following is a letter sent earlier today by members of the US House of Representatives to the FCC, including 33 members of the Energy and Commerce Committee and 29 non-committee members.
October 1, 2004
The Honorable Michael K. Powell
Chairman
Federal Communications Commission
445 12th Street, SW
Washington, DC 20554
Dear Chairman Powell:
As you know, there are several legislative proposals pending
in Congress addressing regulatory issues involving Voice over Internet
Protocol ("VoIP) services. These services allow voice communications
to be converted into "packets" and transported over an IP network, such
as the public Internet or a privately managed IP network, to the desired
location. Each of the pending legislative proposals incorporates a
fundamental provision that declares VoIP services to be inherently
interstate in nature. We strongly agree with this broadly-accepted
cornerstone of pending VoIP legislation. We believe that such an
important, but narrow, finding cannot wait for a more comprehensive VoIP
bill to work its way through the legislative process. Therefore, we are
writing to urge the Federal Communications Commission (the
"Commission") to immediately declare that it has exclusive jurisdiction
over VoIP services. However, in doing so, any Commission action should
recognize the legitimate role of state consumer protection and public
safety laws of general applicability.
On the merits, we believe the Commission is on very firm
ground to rule in such a manner. VoIP services enable consumers to make
calls within their communities, across the country, or anywhere in the
world. With some VoIP services, a consumer can use his or her phone even
when traveling. IP technology also allows VoIP providers to integrate
video conferencing, document sharing, the forwarding of voice messages to
electronic mail addresses, and other enhanced functionalities, all
without regard to state boundaries. Finally, a VoIP customer^Òs phone
number is not necessarily restricted by geographic boundaries: a
customer living in Seattle could have a Boston phone number. In light of
the foregoing, it simply makes no sense to impose a collage of 52
different regulatory regimes on a service that has an inseverable
interstate (and international) component.
The Commission has before it a Petition for Declaratory
Ruling filed by Vonage Holdings Corporation. This petition gives the
Commission an appropriate opportunity to immediately declare that VoIP
services, whether traversing the public Internet such as Vonage^Òs or
over privately managed IP networks, are interstate in nature and subject
to the Commission^Òs exclusive jurisdiction.
We therefore urge the Commission to expeditiously issue a declaratory
ruling that VoIP services are interstate and thereby subject to the
Commission^Òs exclusive jurisdiction. We also recognize that there are
other issues the Commission is considering in the context of its Notice
of Proposed Rulemaking regarding IP-enabled services. We hope the
Commission addresses these issues, such as inter-carrier compensation,
universal service support, public safety, and disability access, in a
timely manner as well. We thank you for your consideration, and we
appreciate your prompt attention to this matter.
Posted by jeff at 12:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Fall 2004 VON Ad in NY TImes today!
On my flight down to Washington, DC I picked up a copy of today's New York Times and on page C-4 in "Business Day" was an ad for Fall 2004 VON.
I actually forgot today was one of the days our VON ads were running so it was pretty cool to run across it by accident.
In a week, on October 12th there will be special VoIP supplement running in both the NY Times and Boston Globe.
Posted by jeff at 09:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
How Original...Earthlink will launch their own clone of FWD
Today's news announcement covered in the Wall Street Journal that Earthlink will be launching what appears to be their own version of Free World Dialup comes as no surprise to me.
Earlier this year I was approached by Earthlink regarding their interest in Free World Dialup and they wanted to work with us -- provided that we pick up all of the costs associated with scaling FWD to deal with the Earthlink customer base and oh by the way, the customers that we got would be Earthlink customers and not our own.
After careful consideration, this offer made no sense to us and we parted and went our separate ways.
They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery and so we were flattered last year with the Michael Robertson launch of SIPphone.com - after opening our doors to him at Spring 2003 VON.
Earthlink's move into the FWD space will be interesting and at the moment we do have a peering relationship already in place. Since Earthlink was also involved in the +87810 ENUM project, it will be interesting to watch how they approach the numbers business.
Hopefully Earthlink will follow a heteromorphic path in the evolution of their services.
Posted by jeff at 08:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Countdown to Fall 2004 VON: Only 12 Days Away!
The positive momentum leading up to Fall 2004 VON continues. I am expecting to see a significant number of VoIP related announcements to be happening during Fall 2004 VON.
AT&T choose Spring 2004 VON to launch CallAdvantage and it will be interesting to see which companies choose Fall 2004 VON as their launching pads.
In addition to all of the VoIP related news, our conference schedule has never been better and I'm especially looking forward to hosting the charity poker event prior to the formal commencement of VON with our Sunday night FCC Town Hall Meeting.
And oh yes, the Goo Goo Dolls will be performing a private concert for us on Wednesday, October 20th. The "All Conference Party" is only open to attending conference delegates, our speakers and members of our respective exhibitor teams.
All-in Fall 2004 VON is an event which will looked back on as a positive inflection point in the history of VoIP.
Posted by jeff at 05:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
October 04, 2004
Back from Boston, next stop D.C.
Earlier today I spoke at the Concord User Group Insight 2004 conference regarding IP Communications in the Enterprise. I used all new material in my presentation and overall it was an interesting experience.
While it may seem that VoIP has gone mainstream in both the consumer and enterprise space, in reality there are quite a number of Enterprises that are not using VoIP. At the Concord meeting earlier today I stood face to face with a group of people who for the most part had not yet made a commitment to using VoIP in their respective enterprises.
Tomorrow morning I'm taking an early morning flight to Washington, D.C. to catch up with some friends and make some new ones along the way. I hope to have some news to report in the near future.
Posted by jeff at 10:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Special Pre-VON Event on Sunday, Oct 17th
Last night I sent the following email to many of the people registered to attend Fall 2004 VON in my quest to raise awareness of our charity poker event that takes place right before the commencement of Fall 2004 VON.
With the advent of the widespread use of corporate spam filters, chances are pretty slim that this email made it to many of the delegates due to the references to the words: poker, charity and some others.
So, just in case some of the delegates attending will be checking my blog, the email is posted below:
I'm looking forward to Fall 2004 VON which will be starting in a
couple of weeks. In all the years of producing our VON events, Fall
2004 VON is looking to be our biggest and best event to date.
While you may know that I've been passionate about VoIP technologies
for about a decade, you might not know is that I have been supporter
of a cause I have also been passionate about for many years - the
fight against diabetes. Diabetes has been in my family my whole life
and I currently co-chair the Crystal Ball on Long Island which
benefits the Diabetes Research Institute, DRI.
Another life passion of mine has been poker and for the first time
ever, my three passions: VoIP, poker and doing something for Diabetes
-- collide in an event that will be taking place during the day on
Sunday, October 17th, prior to the commencement of Fall 2004 VON.
You are invited to join me for the Charity Poker Tournament I will be
hosting to kick off Fall VON on Sunday October 17, at the Hynes
Convention Center in Boston. The "Best Bet for the Cure" will benefit The Barton Center for Diabetes Education, a camp for children with
Diabetes. The Barton Center will donate a portion of its proceeds to
the Diabetes Research Institute Foundation.
Participants will include many telecom and political luminaries as
well other renowned celebrities committed to defeating diabetes. My
friend Phil Hellmuth, perhaps the finest tournament poker player in
the world and, undoubtedly, one of poker's most illustrious and
colorful personalities, will serve as Master of Ceremonies. Phil will
also be available for video-taped, heads-up play (with his winnings
also going to diabetes research), giving Phil's opponents bragging
rights (and a video) to say that they played head-to-head against the
best player in the world. Phil was the first person to give a
lunchtime keynote at a VON when he spoke back at Spring 99 VON in Las
Vegas.
While the list of celebrities will expand up until the day of the
tournament, those that have committed include John Ratzenberger,
Cheers' Cliff Clavin and currently host of the Travel Channel's "Made
in America"; CBS's Survivor All-Stars Boston Rob (Mariano) and Amber
Brkich; Playboy Playmate Nicole Wood; former Boston Bruin and WAAF
radio DJ Lyndon Byers; and New York Islanders Forward Shawn Bates. I
am also confident that a few other celebrities will be joining us,
including comedian/actor Denis Leary, Red Sox Legend Luis Tiant, and
hockey legends Cam Nealy and Ray Bourque. I'm also hopeful that
Boston's most celebrated poker enthusiasts, Ben Affleck and Matt
Damon, might join us.
Winners of the Charity Tournament will advance to the Celebrity
Tournament later in the evening. The last player sitting at each
event will win the coveted "Pulver Cup." In addition, all players and
only players, will have the opportunity to enter a raffle at the event
for a wide range of prizes, including a $10,000 buy-in to the World
Series of Poker Main Event in Las Vegas.
While I will personally underwrite the entire event, corporate
sponsorships are still available and include VIP passes to the
Celebrity Reception, private lessons with Phil and signage throughout
Celebrity Reception, private lessons with Phil and signage throughout
the tournament.
For further details and to register, please take a moment and visit:
($100) and sponsorships are all tax-deductible and will contribute to
the battle against diabetes.
It should be a great way to mix and mingle with others in the VON and
Boston communities and, in the process, help a worthy cause (and,
perhaps, claim the honor of winning the first VON Charity Poker
Tournament).
Whether you are coming out to Fall 2004 VON or live in the metro Boston area, I do hope I can count on your support.
Posted by jeff at 04:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
The Tourture of the Mets Season is Finally Over!
So much for my season tickets with the New York Mets this year.
For me and many Mets fans one of the few highlights of the season this year was the Mets three-game sweep of the Yankees at Shea Stadium. In the days following the sweep the Mets came very close to taking over first place in the National League East and for at least one New Yorker, baseball was fun again.
Then, without warning, the Mets season started to fall apart and with it, our dreams of making the playoffs and maybe something more.
While I was looking forward to going to a few Mets games at Shea in September, the last game I went to was back in July. The past six weeks were just too painful to go to see in person.
Hopefully the Mets will clean house during the offseason and figure out how to put a new lineup in place in their front office as well.
While I had hoped the Cubs would make the playoffs, that didn't happen either. At least the Red Sox will in the playoffs again. Hopefully they will be able to find a way to make it to the World Series this year.
Posted by jeff at 12:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
October 03, 2004
Enterprise VoIP Keynote Tomorrow...
Tomorrow morning I will be taking an early morning flight up to Boston to give a keynote talk at the Concord User Group Insight 2004 conference.
I've recently spent some time taking a hard look at the realities of Enterrprise VoIP in 2004 and I look forward to sharing these ideas/concepts with the delegates attending this event.
Posted by jeff at 03:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
My Return to Pallet Town
Five years ago I first explored the world of Pokemon and visited Pallet Town with my (at the time) five year old twin sons and in doing so had a refreshing life lesson on what makes an intuitive user interface. Five years later with the advent of the release of updated versions of what were known as Pokemon Blue and Red and now are known as Pokemon: FireRed and LeafGreen, my adventure continues.
Playing with a Gameboy has been my guilty pleasure during the past couple of weeks. Whether it is during downtime while traveling in airplanes or waiting for food in a restaurant, there have been times that I’ve been using my Gameboy as often as my kids.
In the five years since I took interest in the Gameboy and the Pokemon story, the game graphics have improved by several factors of Moore’s Law. And the storyline while not complicated goes a lot faster when you have one or two personal tour guides to explain the individual game challenges. ;-)
With my recent fascination of the Sony PSP and the Ninetindo DS, I also found it interesting that this time around up to eight people can communicate using the Gameboy’s own wireless technology. I don’t believe it would be much of a stretch to get a working IM chat application on the existing Gameboy platform.
While it may be true at times that “you can never go back” – at least in the virtual world of Pokemon, Pallet Town is one place that you can return to.
Posted by jeff at 08:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
October 02, 2004
Looking for Beta Testers for pulver.Communicator Mobile
We are getting ready for the formal launch of pulver.Communicator for Windows XP/2000.
In the meanwhile, we have started to alpha test versions of pulver.Communicator for: RIM, PalmOS and PocketPC.
If you are interested in joining the formal beta testing of pulver.Communicator Mobile, please visit: http://pulver.com/fwd/beta-signup.html.
Posted by jeff at 01:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
October 01, 2004
Zero Sum Game: The VoIP Price Wars
In the past day it was announced that both AT&T and Vonage have reduced their offering price for their respective VoIP service offerings. Others will follow.
Back in June I was thinking about the effects of what was to me were the warning signs of the near future "Telecom Price War" and posted these thoughts in my Zero Sum Game blog.
I refer to it again today as sometimes things don't get noticed the first time. ;-)
Posted by jeff at 07:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Fall 2004 VON: 40 countries Strong!
Last night I took a glimpse of the Fall 2004 VON delegate database and I was taken back by the fact that amongst the delegates joining us in Boston, there will be people from at least 40 countries!
It has been a while since we have had so many countries represented at one of our Stateside VON events.
Fall 2004 VON starts in just 16 days and this is one VON event that I have been looking forward to being at.
I've started to notice how some events position themselves as pure "educational" events, mostly because that is all they can offer. Our VON events have been known to be "deal central" and the place to be seen and to be if you are a player in the IP Communications industry.
While there is some content at VON which one can consider to be "educational", it is important to note that at our VON events, one can engage in what feels like "extreme social networking." Part of the pulver.com team mission at our VON event is to in fact help to entertain our guests by producing what we believe to be the best welcome receptions and conference parties within the industry. At pulver.com we take our party event planning very seriously.
I'm especially looking forward to be a part of our special charity Texas Hold'm Poker event and to be at the Roxy in Boston on October 20th when the Goo Goo Dolls take the stage and put on a private concert for the attending Fall 2004 VON conference delegates, our speakers and the exhibit booth staff from the show floor.
Fall 2004 VON with our expected total attendence to exceed 5,000 people is shaping up to be our best VON ever.
IP Communications Disruption Continues...
Posted by jeff at 12:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)