September 15, 2009, New World Stages, 340 West 50th Street, NY, NY
The second HD Communications Summit will explore ways to accelerate the conversion to high definition.
The schedule includes everyone that is anyone in the HD ecosystem.
Attendees receive a free HD IP Phone courtesy of Gigaset Communications USAand a coupon to download MailVision's HD capable iPico Mobile SIP Client for iPhone, iPod Touch, Nokia, and Windows Mobile.
Every technology on Earth from copy machines and computers to automobiles and expresso machines sells at a range of price points - except one - telephone service. The CEO of IBM can travel via Gulfstream GV and Mercedes limousine while listening to a high-end sound system from Bose, but Mr. Palmisano's deal making suffers the same mediocre telephone voice quality as two teens planning a party after school. It seems unlikely matching quality to the application and willingness to pay makes less sense in telecom than transportation and consumer electronics.
Alexander Graham Bell's invention set a relatively low bar for voice quality in 1876 that the industry improved on through 1937 - then nothing for the next 70 years. The telecom industry transformed the way voice services get delivered at least a half dozen times over the years (in order to reduce costs and increase margins), but end users in 2009 continue to suffer the same voice quality that was available in 1939.
The dynamic is precisely the same as the one that recently played out between dial-up and broadband Internet access. Broadband and HD expand productivity and the range of applications. Standard definition voice is headed to the same place as dial-up Internet access.
The exodus of voice customers to alternative forms of communication elimates ignoring voice quality as an option. Every sector of the telecom industry can benefit from HD. Wireless carriers can implement HD. Cable companies can implement HD. HD represents the last hope for stemming wireline declines.
The people driving this telecom turnaround will assemble September 15th at the HD Communications Summit at New World Stages in NYC.
The schedule for the first HD Communications Summit in May 2009 remains available.
Registration for the HD Communications Summit is now open. Seating is limited. Register today and join us as we explore HD Communications and together set the high definition agenda.
