By Steven Shepard, Contributing Columnist

I have always loved trains. Never knew why, but I think I just discovered the reason. They’re part of the industry I work in – or at least played a founding role here in the United States. And, they gave us much of the terminology that infuses our telecom vocabulary: switches routers, hubs, trunks, lines, etc.

But one railroad in particular played a fundamental role in the development of the industry and, more importantly, in the development of a truly competitive U.S. telecommunications industry.

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Tags: fiber, investment, network infrastructure, Service Provider, telecommunications

You could say that I’m an early-adopter of new tech gadgets. That being said, I also continue to use older devices until I find a very good reason to upgrade to something more current.

Maybe that’s why I don’t own a mobile smartphone, because I’ve previously not had a compelling reason to retire my basic feature-phone. That is, until now.

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Tags: applications, Cisco GIST, Mobile Apps, usability, use case, video communication

By Jason Kohn, Contributing Columnist

In my last post, I talked about how companion screens are changing the TV landscape. It’s easy to see how our ever-present smartphones and iPads can alter the TV viewing experience. (“I’m sorry dear, could you repeat that? I was checking my Twitter feed and responding to this IM, and I couldn’t hear you over the intro to Mad Men.”)

But what are people really doing on those companion devices? According to a white paper published last year by Yahoo! and the The Nielsen Company, nearly a quarter of them are looking up something related to what they’re watching on TV.

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Tags: mobile, Pay TV, Service Provider, smartphone, tablet, user experience, videoscape

We are one year on from the announcement by Prime Minister David Cameron and Cisco CEO John Chambers of the Cisco-led British Innovation Gateway (BIG) programme.

Since then we’ve been busy setting the foundations for our five year commitment to supporting innovation and economic growth in the UK.  We now have this new website and BIG is beginning to come to fruition.

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Tags: British Innovation Gateway, economic development, National Virtual Incubator, UK

The desire to interpret people’s body language during in-person meetings has been studied by psychologists and marketing focus group researchers for many years.  In contrast, the notion of observing your customer’s virtual online body language is a relatively new concept.

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Tags: collaboration, Digital Britain, Social Business, social commerce, social media

By Howard Baldwin, Contributing Columnist

Wireless bandwidth has been on my mind a lot recently. Computerworld recently published my article, Wireless Bandwidth: Are We Running Out of Room?, which led to a stint on NPR’s “To The Point” on the topic. But until I tuned into one of the latest Broadband Breakfast presentations, The Wired Home and Wireless Policy – Convergence Legislation and Consumer Adoption, I didn’t realize that I’d been thinking about wireless in a way that technology people are supposed to avoid: in a silo.

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Tags: broadband, fiber, policy, Service Provider, wireless network, wireline network

So we are finally on the verge of launching the BIG Awards after months of hard work by the BIG team and partners. Powered by Cisco i-Prize, this competition will be crucial to discovering and nurturing technology-based startup businesses in the UK.

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Tags: BIG Awards, Business Innovation Gateway, Entrepreneur, i-Prize, UK

Cisco UKI Chief Technology Officer (CTO) Ian Foddering interview before and after a Cisco Twitter Chat.

Focused on technology innovation in the workplace and how these breeds a new kind of business/entrepreneur and London 2012.

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Tags: Business Innovation Gateway, Entrepreneur, infrastructure, London Olympics, UK

I said in the first post of this series that I’ll start to share more about my productivity lessons-learned. But first, let’s get one thing out of the way — I believe that online collaboration tools really don’t matter. In contrast, how you apply them for purposeful engagement matters a lot, regarding the anticipated productivity gains.

Moreover, the most substantial gains in online productivity will likely come from fully understanding all the people, process and technology issues that define the environment you’re working within. So, situational context is important.

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Tags: cloud services, collaboration, productivity, TelePresence, unified communications, video chat

I arrived at a recent networking event in London, known as “Digital Sizzle,” which was buzzing with activity.  I looked around and wondered how this group came to fruition.  Seriously, how do you get 300+ people — most who do not know each other — into a room together on a promise of free beer and BBQ? Read More »

Tags: Digital Britain, digital sizzle, networking, Recruitment, Silicon Drinkabout, twitter

By Jason Kohn, Contributing Columnist

Pop quiz: How many screens does it take to watch television programming? For a growing number of people, the answer is two — a TV, plus a media tablet or mobile smartphone. That may seem counterintuitive, but for many of us (present company included) a mobile “companion” device has become an essential part of the living room TV experience.

According to a Nielsen survey of 12,000 connected device owners, 70 percent of tablet owners and 68 percent of smartphone owners use their devices while watching TV. Tablet owners in particular seem unable to put down the iPad while flipping channels, with respondents saying that nearly a third of the time they spend using their device is in front of the TV.

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Tags: customer experience, entertainment, innovation, smartphone, tablet, television

By Howard Baldwin, Contributing Columnist

While the European and United States economies struggle with mounting debt, there’s an encouraging success story south of the equator; one that combines infrastructure improvement, broadband deployment, and thriving commerce.

According to the findings in a white paper entitled Latin American Economic Outlook 2012 — jointly produced by the Economic Commission for Latin America and The Caribbean (ECLAC) and the Development Centre of the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) — between 2000 and 2007, public debt in Latin America

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Tags: broadband, economic development, global networked economy, latin america

By Steven Shepard, Contributing Columnist

Telecommunications infrastructure is so pervasive that we sometimes don’t even see it — one of those blind spots that fade from consciousness due to overexposure. Cables run from pole-to-pole; cell towers spring up; utility boxes on sidewalks, sometimes painted to match the wooden fence behind them — hidden within plain sight.

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Tags: fiber, infrastructure, internet, Service Provider, sewer, superfast broadband

When does a new business relationship need to move from being a virtual (online) experience to a physical (in-person) experience?  That question was a topic of discussion with a couple of friends, over a beer after a recent TechHub event.  Moreover, I have been pondering this issue since I participated in the pilot of an International Investment Forum.

How much of our business conversations need to be face-to-face? With all the electronic communication options that are at our disposal today, does it really matter?

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Tags: collaboration, communication, HCS, relationship economy, TelePresence, WebEX

By Howard Baldwin, Contributing Columnist

Energy policy is a topic that is on the minds of government and business leaders the world over. According to The Climate Group, an independent not-for-profit organization, our global economy is still driven by energy needs, and the vast majority of that energy comes from a finite supply of fossil fuels. According to their assessment, unless we rethink the way we produce and consume energy, eventually there won’t be enough to go around.

They believe that we need to cut our emissions by two thirds by 2050. But we need to do it in a way that protects our livelihoods, creates jobs and supports economic growth around the globe.

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Tags: broadband, Energy Management, Green Technology, Intelligence, jobs, Smart Grid