2004 VoIPossibilities advertisement
THE VIODI VIEW
by Ken Pyle
In this Issue: VoIP or VOD?, Cable Modem vs. DSL and More...........
January 5th, 2004 Issue
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I don’t know about you, but it is sure tough to get going again after a long break. The break was a great pause from the every day grind of a routine, if there is such a thing as a daily routine. It was a delight to see friends and family that I had not seen in a long time. The long holiday proved a good time to recharge the batteries and get primed for 2004.
Not that it was all fun and games during those two weeks. The break gave me time to look at some things that I had been intending on reviewing for awhile. The break also gave me some time to reflect on 2003 and to plan some of the activities for 2004. Two themes I think will be recurring in this year’s Viodi View will be local content creation and retail.
Speaking of local, the date for the local content workshop shown on the adjacent side bar panel has been deferred. Viodi is currently negotiating with a major supplier to independent telcos to, in effect, co-sponsor this event. This promises to make the workshop more convenient and an even better value for independent telcos. Details will be provided in subsequent issues of the Viodi View.
VoIP or VOD - Which Is the Killer Application?
This scope of the Viodi View is normally all things video from the perspective of the independent telephone company. So, why bring up VoIP? Well, an article I read recently suggested that it may be the “killer application”, a term often used in the past to describe Video on Demand. Maybe, this shows the maturity of Video on Demand, as, at least by the cable companies, it is being accepted as a must-have feature.
Cable companies and some of the larger telcos are beginning to make some big noises about VoIP, as evidenced by announcements from AT&T and Time-Warner. For independent telcos, competition is coming from all quarters, but who would have dreamed a company in Southern California could provide an entire VoIP solution to compete with any telco? Click here to see more details on this service that already counts 630,000 subscribers.
Book Review: The Computer Videomaker Handbook:
One of the advantages of a three week break is the chance to catch up on beach side reading. So, move over Oprah and be prepared for the Viodi View’s first book review; The Computer Videomaker Handbook – a Comprehensive Guide to Making Video, from Focal Press www.focalpress.com. I recommend this book to anyone involved with engineering, marketing or product planning within an independent telephone company that is currently providing or is considering the addition of video services. Written in bite size pieces, each chapter covers an aspect of what is required for the creation of original video content. To see the full review, please click here.
Cable Modem vs. DSL – From the San Francisco Bay to Tampa Bay
In the last month, I have had the rare chance to order and install both DSL and cable modem service. Just before the Christmas break, I helped my mom by ordering, online, the SBC Yahoo! service. The Saturday after Christmas, I went the retail route to get my in-laws hooked up to Comcast’s cable modem service. Both of these services turned up surprisingly fast. Click here to read some of my impressions of the current state of high speed access in this tale of two bays.
Finally:
Viodi will be recording NTCA’s TechNet Brief 2004, ISP Summit in Orlando this week. Their TechNet briefings are always very educational for me. If you miss this one, it will be available on CD-ROM.
Finally, Peter Lowten and Doug Mielke’s presentations on the current state of HDTV are still online at http://www.viodi.com/hdtv/. I highly recommend a listen to this interactive presentation. Also, I am interested in any feedback from those who have already given it a listen.
The scene was the week before Thanksgiving and we had several houseguest's from Tanzania arriving [more on that in a future issue]. This event finally convinced me to attempt to fix the back bathroom’s plumbing problem. The person at the local “big box retailer” home improvement store suggested I clean the plumbing with a snake.
After spending several hours down that dead end path, I finally went to the Internet to solve my problem (no, not to find a plumber). I stumbled upon a site, http://www.toiletology.com/ that gave me the clues to diagnose and fix my problem. Seems my toilet had a case of “Lazy Flush”. A bottle of muriatic acid, three feet of wire rope and a little bit of elbow grease later, the problem was solved.
I am still not certain what this has to do with independent telephone companies and video, but somehow there is a tie. I think it has to do with the concept of content being king. In this case, the toiletology content saved the king’s throne.
Please forward this free publication to anyone you know who is involved in some way with independent telephone companies.
Mission of the Viodi View:
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 on Viodi's efforts to unite the independent telephone company's interactive television efforts, please send an email to vodalliance@viodi.com.
Disclaimer:
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.
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