The Next Big Distraction? "The Internet of Things"

I've been in this technology industry longer than I would like to admit. Let's just say that I sold AT&TStarLAN back when it was talked about as the next leap forward from ARCNET. I have been blessed to have worked with industry giants who have shaped the ground that we all walk on. And as I think about the inventions that have had the most profound impact on us humans, high tech is in the top 10 of all time, right there with the wheel, electricity, combustion engine, telegraph, telephone, radio and television. I still find it nothing short of magical that we can hit “send” on our computer keyboard and instantaneously someone five thousand miles away gets a message. Or that we can hit a series of digits on our mobile phones and call someone and talk to them or see their image broadcasted in full motion video. Wow! We live in truly magical times.

My mother-in-law is a technology skeptic. Rightly so. She sees a generation of children and grandchildren obsessed with these hand held rectangular devices, distracting our presence, commanding our attention and infringing on our time together. I will say to you all what I say to my Mother-in-law. I think technology has brought us closer together as a species than ever before. Facebook has made it easier to connect with long lost friends and to keep them in your life in a manageable and meaningful way. Twitter has given a voice to an oppressed public in many countries that otherwise would not have had the wherewithal to rise up and bring the forces of change to oppressive regimes. Bloggers have given us more journalistic creativity than at anytime in the pre-technology past unencumbered by publishers and editors that wouldn't allow much of it to see the light of day.

So, here we are on the verge of 2015 and the Internet of Things is promising to bring another 50 billion more distractions into our lives. I think we are at a crossroads of sorts where technology is concerned. We need to decide if we are going to allow technology to consume us, or are we going to consume it for our own betterment. It is within our power as users of technology to put it to good use because in the end none of us will wish we had one more hour to spend with our gadgets.

So on this New Years Eve, I am eager to discover the new inventions that will undoubtably enter our lives in 2015. But I am also hoping that we as the governors of our own technology usage become more aware of the distraction creep and take time to be with those who truly matter in our lives.

Happy New Year!    

Cisco and King Kong, A Tale Of Two Gorillas

John Chambers has the whole technology industry buzzing. He predicts "Brutal times" ahead for the technology industry where by 2018, only two to three of the current "Big Five" (Cisco, HP, IBM, Oracle, Microsoft) will be left standing  . When the 900 pound gorilla of networking starts roaring and beating its chest from the top of the Empire State building something is up, but what is it?  Do we really believe that there is a biblical flood coming that will wipe out life as we know it in high tech leaving only the largest and slowest technical laggards to inherit the earth? This is clearly the world that John Chambers wants us to believe will be the 2018 reality. But why? 

Very simply John Chambers is playing the only hand he has left, SIZE. There are some I suppose who still believe that despite medical marvels and technology that it matters. But really what option does Cisco have to employ besides that? They are no longer the nimble technical innovator that they were two decades ago and their end to end story is rife with bullet holes as a result of advances in SDN and "Whitebox" switches that threaten the very foundation upon which their customer control and margin are built. Chambers calls for "Brutal" times ahead and he probably knows what he is talking about because he was the VP of North American Operations at Wang Laboratories when their proprietary end to end business was obliterated by a whole new generation of standards based computing and networking solutions from small innovative companies like Microsoft, Apple, Cisco Systems, 3Com Corporation, Synoptics Communications, Sun Microsystems, Novell Software and so many others.  And guess what, corporations started purchasing and building solutions from these little guys instead of the Big Boys. 

I would like to offer a very different picture of 2018. One where large single source suppliers are rendered obsolete because of a standards and open source based ecosystem. A world where corporations can choose the best tool for the job without fear of being trapped into expensive and proprietary solutions. An era where Corporate IT will be perfectly happy purchasing solutions from smaller technology specialists much the same way they did in 1990 - 1998 before there were any clear "end to end" solution providers. This is the beginning of a renaissance in network computing where true openness inter and intra switch will allow for massive cost savings for both CAPEX and OPEX budgets. This is the future that Chambers doesn't want you to see. And, if history is any judge, the "Big Five" will continue selling what they have until they have no alternative. For some this may mean, mergers or spinning off business units that are not profitable or nimble enough to survive and for others it will mean joining the party a few years late through acquisition or worse yet, arriving to the party a few years late and more than a few generations of features behind. 

So, here is Cisco the modern day King Kong, perched on top of the Empire State Building swatting away at the biplanes filling him with tiny bullet wounds, beating his chest and making as much noise as he can to scare his customers into continuing to purchase his expensive end to end solutions.  But just like the movie epic, this story will have a similar ending and it's just a matter of time. 

Watch out below!