![\"Viodi](\"http:\/\/www.viodi.com\/images\/logo-145px.gif\"){kind=logo}
<\/p>\n\n
<\/p>\n
Viodi View Menu<\/strong><\/p>\n Current Issue<\/a>Tips from Independent Telcos <\/a><\/p>\n Intellectual Property – The Other IP<\/a><\/p>\n Previous Issue<\/a><\/p>\n Viodi View Subscribe<\/a> <\/p>\n Viodi Forums<\/strong>Club Viodi<\/a>Local Content<\/a><\/p>\n Multimedia Search <\/a><\/p>\n Viodi Workshops<\/strong>Local Content<\/a>Telco Video 101<\/a>Incremona Training<\/a><\/p>\n Industry<\/strong>Industry Calendar<\/a>Favorite Links<\/a><\/p>\n About Viodi<\/a>Contact<\/a>Biographies<\/a><\/p>\n Interested in Sponsoring the Viodi View? Send an email to: sponsor@viodi.com<\/strong><\/p>\n Please forward<\/strong> this free publication to anyone you know who is involved in some way with independent telephone companies. <\/p>\n Mission of the Viodi View:<\/strong><\/p>\n In this on-line publication, we share our analysis, opinions and direction on the interactive television news and views that we believe will be of interest and use to our friends associated directly or indirectly with independent telephone companies. For more information as to the various ways Viodi works with independent telephone companies, please go to http:\/\/www.viodi.com\/alliance\/<\/a><\/p>\n Disclaimer:<\/strong><\/p>\n The Viodi View [Viodi, LLC] and its associates used their best efforts in collecting and preparing the information published herein. However, the Viodi View [Viodi, LLC] does not assume, and hereby disclaims, any and all liability for any loss or damage caused by errors or omissions, whether such errors or omissions resulted from negligence, accident, or other causes.<\/p>\n All displayed trademarks, logos and service marks are the property of their respective owners. \u00a9 2005Viodi, LLC<\/a>. All Rights Reserved. Viodi View Newsletter – June 23rd, 2005 <\/strong> <\/p>\n Pet peeve<\/strong> is a term that seems to be slowly leaving the everyday lexicon.\u00a0 It seems like when I was younger I had way too many pet peeves.\u00a0 One pet peeve I had was \u201cglass in the road\u201d. Nothing was more frustrating than riding through shards of bike tire puncturing glass.\u00a0 I decided in the last week that my new pet peeve is the bad behavior exhibited by the hackers and malcontents who are throwing virtual glass on the Internet highway with their unrelenting, viruses, spyware, and spam.\u00a0<\/p>\n The breaking point for me was last Sunday when a friend of mine picked up some sort of virus by opening a bogus email<\/strong> from someone purporting to be webmaster@viodi.com.\u00a0 In the last month, I have been receiving at least a hundred emails per day of this sort.\u00a0 Since, I do not keep my email addresses on my computer (I use SBC Yahoo!\u2019s web-based client for email), the only thing I can think of is that some crawler or robot is out there automatically pulling email addresses off the Viodi web site.\u00a0<\/p>\n So, one step I can take is to remove all of the linked addresses off of past issues of the Viodi View to prevent these electronic vermin from debasing the Viodi domain.\u00a0 Even with this effort, it is not clear that it will solve the problem.\u00a0 I am not alone, as, the other day, I was talking to a friend whose much larger organization is facing similar problems.\u00a0 The point to my ranting and raving is that these hacker yahoos have to be stopped <\/strong>before they bring the Internet economy to its knees.\u00a0<\/p>\n IP Video @ Supercomm 2005 Interactive CD-ROM Complete:<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n With approximately 50% of the attendees<\/strong> ordering the CD-ROM of the proceedings, I have been under a pretty tight deadline to get something out the door.\u00a0 The master CD has been mailed to the duplication house, so, if everything proceeds to plan, CDs should be mailed early next week.\u00a0 I am really proud of this CD, as we have mixed together the audio, video and slides onto one disk.\u00a0 The user interface, along with the title slide for each of the more than 40 presenters can be found at:<\/p>\n http:\/\/www.viodi.com\/ipvideo05cd<\/a><\/p>\n To some extent, this CD is an example of how content can be repackaged into a different form, providing new value<\/strong>.\u00a0 Having the content indexed, together with rewind and fast forward capability has given me a chance to pick up subtle things that eluded me when I saw the conference live.\u00a0<\/p>\n Some IP Video @ Supercomm Tidbits:<\/strong><\/p>\n Both Bruce Swail from Motorola, as well Jeff Weber<\/strong> from SBC<\/strong> suggested that HDTV is now a must-have for operators\u2019 providing video services.\u00a0 Weber went on to explain that with their LightSpeed product, they are conservatively looking at rolling out with minimum bit rates of 20 to 25 megabits per second.\u00a0 Weber believes this is enough for four streams of video<\/strong>, one of which will be a high definition signal<\/strong>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Attendee, consultant and former cable TV executive, Richard Yelen<\/strong>, commented that, \u201cwith lower HDTV set prices forecasted for this fall, one HDTV channel may not be enough for the early IPTV adopters.\u201d\u00a0 Yelen continued to comment, \u201cthat inferior or \u2018me too\u2019 product will not win the conversion to IPTV.\u00a0 The new video entrants must differentiate in other ways<\/strong>, most notably service.\u201d\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n Weber<\/strong> and Dorothy Attwood<\/strong> of SBC emphasized that their plans are to serve all of their subscribers either via their Homezone<\/strong> or Lightspeed<\/strong> products.\u00a0 Weber said the Homezone product is the first step in their path to serve all of their subscribers [note, Homezone uses a combination of satellite television delivery in combination with on-demand via xDSL].\u00a0<\/p>\n Atwood and Weber used the argument that this two-prong approach will prevent the \u201cred-lining\u201d<\/strong> issue that is the concern of officials in some cities.\u00a0 Norma Reyes, Cable Commissioner for the city of Chicago, explained that it is important that providers build out to the entire franchise area and not just to the more affluent areas.\u00a0 She also made the point that, from an economic development standpoint, it is critical for operators to provide access to broadband to all of the businesses in a city.\u00a0 Milton Friedman would be proud as Reyes touted the power of competition<\/strong> to bring better service to consumers.\u00a0<\/p>\n It will be interesting to see if the legislation being worked up by Senator Ensign of Nevada addresses the issues discussed by the panelists at IP Video @ Supercomm.\u00a0<\/p>\n HITEC Conference Equals High Definition <\/strong><\/p>\n Brian Stevenson<\/strong> reports in from the HITEC<\/strong> conference that high definition television<\/strong> is all the rage at the HITEC conference in Southern California this week.\u00a0 Lodgenet, On-Command,\u00a0<\/strong>and nStreams<\/strong> have all announced deals and\/or products that will allow hotel operators to offer high definition and advanced interactive television portals.\u00a0 Integral to these solutions are Conditional Access Systems<\/strong> (CAS).\u00a0 Lodgenet announced that they are working with LG<\/strong> and their Pro:Idiom(TM) (CAS), while OnCommand announced that NDS<\/strong> created a special flavor their CAS for hotel application in the hospitality industry.\u00a0<\/p>\n Why should this be of interest to telcos<\/strong>?\u00a0 First, this is another indicator of the burgeoning growth in HDTV.\u00a0 Hotel guests are going to see the high definition quality and begin to have expectations that their residential service providers offer comparable service.\u00a0 Secondly, with a base of over 2.5 million rooms in the U.S. alone, this is a proven market and one that is upgraded on a continual basis.\u00a0 That there are conditional access systems being modified to work in relatively small, but widely dispersed, distribution systems is a good sign for independent telcos that have similar characteristics (granted, hotels loop lengths are much shorter than telcos).\u00a0<\/p>\n Network Personal Video Recorder Survey:<\/strong><\/p>\n The concept of a Network PVR has been around for quite awhile.\u00a0 We discussed this concept in the late 90s during my days at DemandVideo.\u00a0 Since then, the deployment of DVR has skyrocketed, while the deployment of Network PVRs is relatively miniscule.\u00a0 I am honored to be speaking on this subject next week in Barcelona, Spain at C-Cor’s Global IP Summit<\/strong>.\u00a0<\/p>\n My presentation is centered on a survey I sent last week to operators polling them about the challenges, opportunities, and timeframe for widespread Network PVR deployment.\u00a0 I greatly appreciate<\/strong> the number of surveys that have been returned.\u00a0 Combing through the data will be fascinating.\u00a0<\/p>\n If you have not already, it is not too late to complete the surveys.\u00a0 Email me if you need the link.<\/p>\n Tips From Independent Telcos<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Speaking of surveys, at the last Local Content Workshop<\/strong><\/a>, I picked up some interesting ideas on how to make customer surveys more effective.\u00a0 Click here<\/a><\/strong> to read this and some of the other things I learned from some of the telco folks that attended the last Local Content Workshop [must be Club Viodi members].<\/p>\n Intellectual Property \u2013 The Other IP<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n I am itching to do another Local Content Workshop.\u00a0 There has been interest in holding a workshop in the Carolinas\/Georgia area and in the Oklahoma\/Missouri area.\u00a0 I am looking at sometime in August, so email me if you have any suggestions as to where and when we hold the next workshop.\u00a0 Intellectual property questions were raised in the IP Video session, Grassroots Content \u2013 Growing It Locally<\/em><\/strong>.\u00a0 I did my best to recite attorney Thomas Crowell, who has spoken at the last couple of Local Content Workshops, but it is probably better to hear it directly from the source.\u00a0 Click here<\/strong><\/a> to hear some of Thomas Crowell\u2019s comments on the other IP.\u00a0 This is the second part of his discussion of what ‘fair-use’ means. \u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n Outsourcing \u2013 A Rural America Alternative?<\/strong><\/p>\n Midwest Data Center<\/a>, a subsidiary of Rockport Telephone, announced a deal with RSI, Rural Sourcing Incorporated, whereby they, \u201cwill jointly market their technology and telecommunications services to Fortune 500 businesses as well as small to mid-size regional companies.\u201d\u00a0 The Midwest Data Center operates an advanced, secure data hosting facility in rural Missouri.\u00a0 RSI utilizes lower cost rural areas to develop information service technology solutions, benefiting both the end users as well as providing economic development for rural areas.\u00a0 This announcement points to the importance of maintaining<\/strong> a robust rural telecommunications infrastructure <\/strong>in order for the U.S. to remain competitive in the worldwide marketplace.\u00a0<\/p>\n Olson Technology, Incorporated Networks With ATX<\/p>\n My first employer and the friend I have known longest in the industry, Tom Olson<\/strong>, reports that his company, Olson Technologies, Incorporated<\/strong>, is being integrated into ATX Networks<\/strong>, the sales and marketing division of ATX, Incorporated. It sounds like a perfect opportunity for Tom and his colleagues, as each entity within the ATX web are provided autonomy while being able to leverage the strength of being part of a larger entity. Tom is one of the great RF Engineers<\/strong> and an even better person<\/strong>. He has routinely designed and built optic and RF products for larger OEM customers that they could not build. Congratulations Tom and Sue on this new phase of your business.<\/p>\n Upcoming Conventions and Conferences:<\/strong><\/p>\n The Interactive Television Alliance<\/strong> is holding their Re-inventing Television Summit<\/strong><\/em> at the Queen Mary in Long Beach from July 20th to the 22nd.\u00a0 They have lined up a slate of pioneering executives, \u201cmentors\u201d from the early cable networks as well as five futurists.\u00a0 The ITA events are very interactive and very informative.\u00a0 To read the review of last year\u2019s event, please click here<\/strong><\/a>.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n You can then jet from Long Beach directly to Boston to OPASTCO\u2019s <\/strong>summer convention.\u00a0 It will be held from July 23rd \u2013 27th.\u00a0 OPASTCO announced that they have extended early bird pricing for their summer convention in Boston to July 1st.\u00a0 Get those tickets now, as this is always a good event.\u00a0 It is very family friendly, so think about that as you are planning your travel.\u00a0 To read the review from last year\u2019s event, please click here<\/strong><\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Korner \u2013 Maybe I Should Have Set Myself on Fire<\/strong><\/p>\n It has been said that any publicity is good publicity<\/strong>.\u00a0 Every time I hear this phrase, I think back to Supercomm 1995 when I had the opportunity to take a stand and generate some publicity for the start-up that was my employer.\u00a0 Being a start-up, we had a limited budget for a big show like Supercomm, but we leveraged ourselves by getting a number of cutting edge technology companies, such as Harmonic<\/strong>, Divicom<\/strong>, Stellar One<\/strong>, Tut Systems<\/strong> and FutureTel<\/strong>, to participate in our booth.\u00a0<\/p>\n The theme of the booth was \u2018Fiber to the Farm\u2019<\/strong>, as E\/O Networks access product was designed for rural applications and was fiber optics based.\u00a0 As such, the booth looked somewhat like a ranch, with fence posts, hay bails and other accoutraments one would expect on a ranch.\u00a0 The bad news we had not planned the cable management from all of the demo systems and, as a result, we had oodles of exposed cables.\u00a0<\/p>\n Tony Jamroz<\/strong> (a name many of you may recognize), the Chairman of E\/O Networks, volunteered to find a solution.\u00a0 Sure enough, he came back several hours later with several burlap bags.\u00a0 We all thought it was pretty humorous that the bags had \u2018100% Pure Hemp\u2019<\/strong> and a big hemp leaf emblazoned on one of their sides.\u00a0 We filled the bags with newspapers and covered our wires.\u00a0 At last, the booth was complete.\u00a0<\/p>\n The big day of the show comes and I am alone in the booth around 7:30 A.M.\u00a0 Up strolls an official from show management.\u00a0 He demanded<\/strong> that I remove<\/strong> the burlap bags because of their \u2018message\u2019.<\/strong>\u00a0 My explanation that the bags were integral to our booth fell on deaf ears.\u00a0 When I told him I would flip the bags so the hemp message was not visible, he reluctantly agreed.\u00a0 He insisted that they were to stay in this position.\u00a0 Sure enough, he came back after the show started to make sure the hemp message had not been exposed.<\/p>\n The point is I had a chance to create a real controversy <\/strong>and stir up some press.\u00a0 I could have refused to flip the bags.\u00a0 Granted, some of the press might have been bad (I could imagine headlines like \u201cDrug Dealers Infiltrate Supercomm\u201d), but it would have made our presence that much more memorable.<\/p>\n So, I saw Supercomm 2005 as the last opportunity to make up for my missed opportunity a decade ago. \u00a0Airship Viodi<\/strong> seemed to be the perfect vehicle for my cheap publicity stunt<\/strong>.\u00a0 The idea was to fly Airship Viodi into the tradeshow floor; essentially creating a flying booth.\u00a0 I even coordinated with Telephony<\/strong> magazine to have a photographer available to snap some pictures of me being tossed out of Supercomm.\u00a0<\/p>\n Well, the big day came and I was so anxious, I forgot the remote control in my hotel room.\u00a0 I could not find the Telephony magazine people, so I went ahead with my plans.\u00a0 Instead of looking like a heroic rebel<\/strong> effortlessly piloting Airship Viodi over the security people, I felt like I was a five year old <\/strong>carrying a big balloon.\u00a0<\/p>\n Amazingly, security did not notice or say anything about my 54 inch, helium filled, airship<\/strong>.\u00a0 In fact, I was able to peruse the entire floor with no issues from the authorities.\u00a0 It was a great conversation starter, however (add airships to dogs and kids as great conversation starters).\u00a0 \u00a0Just to prove I went through with my wild ploy, I stood for a picture at Telephony\u2019s booth.\u00a0 I sent the photo to Vince Vittore<\/strong> and he commented back that, \u201cyou got a weak thumbs-up from the crowd in the Calix booth. I suggest setting yourself on fire <\/strong>or perhaps streaking through the exhibits<\/strong> would have been more attention grabbing.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Anyone have a match? <\/p>\n [correction to June 8th Issue – Viodi incorrectly identified NCast’s product as the Telecaster, instead of the Telepresenter.] <\/p>\n Next Article<\/a><\/p>\n Back to Top<\/a><\/p>\n Previous Issue<\/a><\/p>\n Viodi View Subscribe<\/strong><\/p>\n ITA’s<\/strong><\/a> Re-Inventing Television Summit<\/em><\/strong><\/a>,<\/p>\n July 20-22nd, 2005<\/p>\n On the Historic Queen Mary<\/p>\n Viodi Job Board<\/p>\n Sales Manager<\/strong> Relationships Development<\/strong><\/p>\n Relationships, Timing and Technology, in that order, are the keys to success in IPTV. IPTV is a developmental phase in an immature market, a Relationships Development is my focus. <\/p>\n Click here<\/a><\/strong> to read how Scott Keeney<\/strong> can help your organization.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n
5255 Stevens Creek, #127 Santa Clara, CA 95051<\/p>\n![\"Click](\"http:\/\/www.viodi.com\/local\/images\/conferencelogo.gif\")
<\/a>
Viodi’s Local Content Workshop<\/a><\/p>\n\n
![](\"http:\/\/postsnet.com\/campaigner_images\/Images\/optinlistbuilder\/FM-1.gif\"\/)
<\/a>
Privacy Policy<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Click](\"http:\/\/www.viodi.com\/ipvideo05\/ipvideologo.jpg\"\/)
<\/a>
CD-ROM – Click Here to Learn More <\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n![](\"http:\/\/www.viodi.com\/newsletter\/040800\/queenMary1.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Motivated, hard working, self starter with a proven track record desired
for excellent growth potential within several product lines. Fax or Email resume to (541) 772-4805<\/strong> or jobs@coreds.net<\/strong><\/p>\n
progressive technological puzzle. There are so many moving pieces – all of them changing shape during play – that corporate relationships are vital to moving things along practically. In some industries this role
is called ‘Solutions Management’.<\/p>\n![\"Learn](\"http:\/\/www.viodi.com\/newsletter\/040301\/promo-2-27-audience.gif\"\/)
<\/a>
Independent Local Content<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Click](\"http:\/\/www.viodi.com\/newsletter\/040600\/ad.gif\")
<\/p>\n
![](\"http:\/\/www.viodi.com\/newsletter\/050600\/air-viodi.jpg\")
Click Here to See the Video and Hear the Sound Effects<\/a><\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.viodi.com\/newsletter\/050601\/ken_airship.jpg\")
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"