In March 1999 Scott Bradner from Harvard University and Jim McQuaid of NetScout got together and published RFC 2544 - "Benchmarking Methodology."  In the subsequent eleven years this informational RFC has been used to provide a baseline for testing many networking devices.  It is designed to provide consistency between vendors so an end-customer can make a more informed buying decision and have some idea of the performance and scalability characteristics of the products they are considering. For many years this RFC was applied by testing companies to provide comparisons and contrasts between different networking vendors.  Recently though, a company who usually takes an 'elder statesman' role in the networking indu

The announcement by Google that it would delve into the Broadband ISP arena in select markets is quite interesting in the fact that it looks to be marrying a public advocacy with a public initiative, and where it counts the most, in broadband infrastructure. To me it seems more of a logical move, putting your money into a venture which supports your core competency, Internet openness, proliferation, adoption, and access. In addition, Google seems to be promoting its core legislative agenda of having a free and open internet along with proposed high speeds that would be 100 times faster than most other ISPs. Does it matter that the initiative will not access every home in the United States, not particularly? The point remains tha

I am still a very proud alumnus of Cisco Systems, but am also not bashful about areas I think the networking behemoth can improve.  My primary recommendation would be to get the business units working together to consistently solve customer problems - be a big company, but act like one company, as opposed to the 20 or 50 or so initiatives, boards, councils, or work streams that they employ.  As a former commissioned combat arms officer I will state that some things are better run in a command and control environment if you want consistency and necessary if your customers want a consistent experience. The recent 'data center' announcement of 10GBASE-T products really served to illustrate this better than I could ever explain.

Recent hearings before the House on the proposed merger between Comcast and NBCU drew both accolades and skepticism for regulators on Feb 4, 2010. The skepticism seemed to come from what was perceived as inconsistencies in previous statements by CEO’s Roberts and Zucker from what was being purported in the public meeting. Robert’s Inconsistencies   Specifically, Senator Al Franken, (D-Minn.) called out Comcast’s Roberts for being inconsistent in his statements to Franken privately, regarding program access rules, while Comcast lawyers were challenging these rules in Federal Court. Zucker’s Inconsistencies Congressman Rick Boucher (D-VA) questioned NBU’s Zucker who seemed to contradict himself on the question of Hul

With some 1900 company name changes last year, one would think these re-branding efforts would pay dividends in market share, customer perception, and employee focus in forging a new direction, both in the short and long term.  Does XFINIITY, See (Comcast launches XFINITY), make relevant and pertinent business sense for all stakeholders involved, or can it be viewed as confusing and irrelevant? These are the questions Comcast (Nasdaq: CMCSA, CMCSK) must answer when making the investment in retraining customers to think in terms of their existing and new products under new brand name.  But there are inherent issues with re-branding which must be addressed to ensure the new name fits with an existing and future targeted customer c

Juniper Networks (JNPR) is announcing some product news around their high end product that delivers 250Gbps and up to 4 Tbps total capacity to release the pressure for providers experiencing rapid grow in their networks. Today, Juniper Networks is announcing a new generation of silicon that enables customers to quickly, efficiently and non-disruptively upgrade existing T Series Core Routers to a full duplex slot capacity of 250 Gbps without service interruption. The new chipset lays the foundation for a total capacity of 4 terabits per second (Tbps) in a single, half-rack system, ensuring that customers can continue to scale the T Series in line with rapidly accelerating service, subscriber and bandwidth growth. Why is This Important

After what some in Silicon Valley have been calling a " Cisco Lock Down" - term used to describe the rabid focus to reduce expenses, travel restrictions to visit customers, systematic layoff of employees, and countless of restructuring, Cisco is getting a bounce with their latest earnings report - thanks to good operations and sales. Cisco (CSCO) reported its second quarter results for the period ended January 23, 2010. Cisco reported second quarter net sales of $9.8 billion, net income on a generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) basis of $1.9 billion or $0.32 per share, and non-GAAP net income of $2.3 billion or $0.40 per share. This on the heals of a Juniper Networks (JNPR) who announced encouraging results for the QE Dec09.

Google is announcing new over the air updates to Google Nexus One phones (aka gPhone).   Engadget is reporting that Google is also providing multitouch capability - a much sought after feature of the iPhone and now tablets - iPad.  I've blogged about the 5 reasons why I think the iPad will be successful here.  This is where Google is going with Nexus One. According to Google starting today Nexus One users will begin to receive an over-the-air software update on their phones. This update provides some great new features, and fixes a few problems that some users might have experienced, including: Google Goggles: this mobile application will now be available directly on your device by launching it from your All Apps menu. Just use yo

Over the weekend the Wall Street Journal broke a story that Polycom was teaming up with Juniper Networks to deliver a different approach to video conferencing (aka teleprence) as compared with Cisco's highly touted and proprietary high end video conferencing solution dubbed Telepresence. Juniper and Polycom say the global market for visual communication managed services will grow from $83 million to $940 million between 2008 and 2015, a 162% compounded annual rate. Visual communications products and services is projected to reach $8.6 billion in 2013, they say, a CAGR of 17.8% from 2008. Here is what the Wall Street Journal wrote: The latest companies to do so are Polycom, which makes video-conferencing systems, and Juniper Networks

I spent this morning with Dan Borislow and Y.W. Sing, the CEO and Vice Chairman of MagicJack.  In mid-November, I met with Dr. Sing in his Silicon Valley office for a preview of what we discussed today, enabling me to noodle on applications and show up with a raft of questions.  Dan has been talking about the femtojack for nearly a year, but I can confirm based on today’s meeting that it’s real, and it’s spectacular. We started our discussion by revisiting some of the customer service issues MagicJack faced earlier in the company’s development.  I’d never used a MagicJack until I picked up a couple at the 2009 It Won’t Stay in Vegas party; in the year since, I’ve used mine from all over the world, providing me