Dane DeValcourt

Major changes occurring in data center networking and storage.  Networking in the virtualization arena .

Unified Communications, particularly mobility.  SIP, Phone Proxy and more and more video conferencing.

Internal business collaboration, fostering ideas and innovations, getting ideas out from and to everyone and allowing others to feel they are truly contributing and appreciated as well as credited.  Too often things have to filter up through layers of mgmt and red tape, anywhere along the way one manager could simply not have the vision or foresight and have a great idea come to a stand still.  Or how often are great ideas actually credited to those who came up with them?

Slate Computers.  Yes I like and have adopted the term for that form factor of computer.  Slates are going to have a huge impact I think.  iPhone started the touch revolution IMHO because they got it right.  To this day, nearly 3 years now, there has not been one touch device that comes close to the accuracy and responsiveness of the iPhones screen.

For most people these days our PC needs are pretty simple.  Web and email are primary.  Most of what people are doing is social media stuff which is all web based.  Actual applications are becoming a thing of the past for many.

Laptops got people away from the desk and fixed locations.  People want information at their finger tips right?  Started sitting at Starbucks or on their couch with laptops, often looking up information as it strikes them.  Thoughts that pop up, news they read, conversations they over heard, something on TV, all of these things made people want that ability to Google or Wiki something anytime from anyplace.

Phones / Smartphones started helping us satisfy that need.  But none of them were as good as we hoped or wanted.  Needed something between a Laptop and Smartphone.  Thus emerges the netbook.

Netbooks have been a huge hit.  Great for the coffee shop or couch.  Cheap.

eReaders came along for many reasons I’m sure.  Print world is hurting, particularly news papers and mags.  Desire by some to make the print world head in the direction of the music world after finally recognizing how digital music is changing things.  iTunes showed the world what was possible for music, so its easy to see how Amazon could want to apply that same model to the book and print world.

I suspect the “Green” iniative also helped the eReader world.  The form factor of most eReaders is great and handles book very well.  eInk is easier on the eyes and form factor is smaller than the Netbooks but larger than say the iPhone.

However we find we are getting ourselves back into a problem that I think many of us hoped would be solves one day and thought was solved recently by the iPhone.  Gadget creep.  Too many specific devices are being needed again to solve specific needs.

I can remember almost 10 years ago sitting down with a good friend and boss in Denver for lunch one day and having to place gadget after gadget on the table so I could sit comfortably.  Pager, PDA, Cell and MP3 player.  I recall the conversation we had about hoping that in the near future we would have one device that did it all.

The iPhone did solve the gadget problem in my life for the last few years.  However I find myself really want an eReader these days for all the PDF’s I go through constantly.  There have also been moments I wished the iPhone was bigger when doing some web browsing and thought about getting a Netbook.

So yes I have my eyes on Slates.  I think they might be able to help replace the netbooks / ereaders in the very near future.

PC’s and Gaming.  There has been some debate lately about the future of PC gaming and well 5 years ago I would have considered anyone questioning the future of PC gaming as one who probably needs a pysch eval.   Today however I think PC gaming is dying.  Yup I said it.

What the Xbox360 and PS3 are capable of and still pushing out today despite being a few years old now is amazing.  I know the quality on the PC for most games is superior due to the resolutions.  However with todays large HDTV’s and the constant improvement in consoles I really think PC gaming is dying.  I use to hate consoles.  The weird controllers and small TV’s just didn’t cut it for me.  However, I broke down and bought a 360 after getting an HDTV a few years ago and have been thrilled.  Funny thing is it’s not for any reason I have mentioned so far.  My main reason for enjoying consoles now is that I never have to wonder if my console can handle this new game.  No more upgrading a home PC to play a game.  And this is from the guy who lived for doing PC upgrades early on.  Now I just want to have fun with as little hassle as possible.  Time is valuable.

Finally, yes I am still thinking a lot about the service provider industry and particularly that of the cable industry.  I have seen some positive articles and things lately that at least tells me others are concerned with and thinking about some of the same things.  I still think something major has to happen soon within the industry and there needs to be an expedited shift or transition from what the industry was to what it could and should become.  I still read and see too much discussion on transitioning old to new and talk of improvements to older technology.  To much energy, money and talent is being focused in the wrong areas in my personal opinion.  Time to rip that bandaid off and start over.  Otherwise the same thing is going to happen to the cable industry that happened to the phone industry.

Sure there is more I would love to say but will have to try getting to it later.

What does the future hold for cable providers?  I don’t know, but I do have some ideas.  I don’t claim to be an expert on any thing related to cable companies and I am not speaking for any one provider in particular.

I am personally very new to the cable industry, especially compared to just about everyone I have met since going to work for a provider.  However I am not new to technology and keeping up with the latest and greatest in tech trends.  One thing I have noticed over the years is the often we ‘geeks’ are lucky in that we often get a glimpse into the future without always knowing it.

What do I mean by that?  Well basically we tend to get our hands on or read about the latest technologies before they ever go mainstream.  And during this time its sort of like a glimpse into the future when you consider how few overall know about or have experience with these things.

Cable providers in general have sort of had it made in the past.  Competition was weak at best and cable for the longest time was the future.  So much has been done and so much remains to be done over that single piece of coax, but I think everyone can agree that its future is limited in the traditional sense.  How far out is a question that is highly debateable and I surely don’t want to get into.

Locally people are going to associate what I am saying with fiber, but thats not at all where I want to go with this.   Nope I am thinking a little broader in scope to be honest.  Why?  Because I am not concerned with the physical layer of things.  I know the physical layer can and will likely change over time.   And regardless of the physical layer cable providers still have to some how differentiate themselves and the services they offer.

The physical layer is not where one makes money.  Anyone can provide that.  Where you make money is in how you use that physical layer and what services are offered over it.

I think everyone can agree that the future boils down to two letters.  IP

Everything you can do over the traditional cable plant can be done over any type of physical layer as long as IP is involved.

What I find to be the most significant point about all of this is the fact that you can do this technically with no regard to whose providing the physical layer which also means you can provide your service to those outside of the typical cable providers physical plant.

The cable industry is always looking for ways to reach more homes, and always talk about “homes passed” and “RGU – revenue generating unit”. 

I am very surprised that the cable providers aren’t pushing themselves a little harder to become more of a “service provider” rather then just a “cable provider”.  Seems the focus should be on transitioning their services to be more IP based with the goal of providing the service to anyone who wishes to subscribe regardless of where or with whom the customer gets their physical connectivity with.

The cable industry more so then any other should be able to do this quickly and effectively.  Most have the backbone and pipes to provide this sort of service.  They already have the headends and MTC’s for obtaining the content from the content providers.  They have been working with and dealing with the hassle of negotiating contracts for content for years.  They typically have data engineers and experience on that side of things, including knowledge of switched digital or IPTV.  They have all these building blocks or pieces of the puzzle but they just don’t seem to be putting it together with the same end goal.

They seem to focus on doing all of this but stuck on doing it over their physical plant.  I personally think this might have a lot to do with the fact the industry is aging, including all of the experts and leadership.  What I love the most about the industry (the fact that their are so many people who have been in it longer than I have been alive) I fear is also what holds it back often.

A couple of years ago I shared with some friends my idea that I eventually blogged about as well regarding the creation of a media device that was easily configured to the individual users IP services (VoIP, Video and so on) that would not care about who provide the data pipe.  I liken it to a cross between your current cable box, Xbox or Apple TV, SIP phone and so on.  You can read a little about that here:  http://bit.ly/19WjKZ

This idea falls right into line with what I am talking about now and where I think the cable providers need to focus on heading to sooner then later. 

Here is a quick recap and what I personally think should be happening:

1. Become an IPTV provider.  Example is to partner with someone like Microsoft where users can subscribe to an IPTV service through their XBox or PC.
2. Become a VoIP provider.  Look at Vonage as example.  Offer a SIP service offering where anyone can signup to get a local phone number and VoIP service which could be tied to a SIP phone of SIP softphone client.
3. Keep improving your customers data side.  DOCSIS 3 sooner than later.  Realize that this (big bandwidth) is the future and the foundation for which all things will be based on including your own service offerings (see items #1 and #2 above).
4. Let go of these “walled gardens”.  Mr. Cable Provider, tear down this wall!  Seriously, its time to let go.  You have the potential to be so much more and your “homes passed” can become anyone with high speed internet and not just those directly connected to your plant.
5. Push the device manufactures and the CableLabs to start working on that dream device I mentioned.  It needs to be something based on a standard (like SIP).  See my post here for more details:  http://bit.ly/19WjKZ

Sorry for the long dissertation.  I write too much I know in my poor attempt at trying to get these ideas out of my head in a way for anyone to understand.  I am not talking about anything new here or revolutionary, but as many would say this is all evolutionary.

I hope in a few years I can look back on this and know that others in the industry were way ahead of what I give them credit for and already were working on all these things.