Disruptive Telephony

R.I.P., Russell Shaw, VoIP blogger for ZDnet

A little bit ago, Andy completely surprised me with a call via Skype (it was 8pm-ish on a Saturday night and I just happened to be at my computer printing out boarding passes for tomorrow's flights) with some terrible news.

As Andy relays in his blog post, fellow VoIP blogger Russell Shaw passed away suddenly in his hotel room in San Jose sometime over the past couple of days. Russell was out there to attend eComm 2008 and Andy said that several folks were wondering where he was as he never made it to the actual show.

I've enjoyed Russell's writing on his IP Telephony blog at ZDNet and while I never really worked with him in any way, I would often run into him at the various VoIP conferences (and often at Andy's famous dinners). He was "one of us"... those who choose for whatever reason to write about VoIP/IP Telephony/Unified Communications/whatever... and so it is definitely sad to learn of his passing.

My thoughts right now are certainly with his family, wherever they may be, as they come to grips with this very sudden change.

Rest In Peace, Russell... you will definitely be missed!

P.S. ZDNet's Editor, Dan Farber, also has a nice post up about Russell.

Technorati Tags: russell shaw, voip, zdnet, voip bloggers, bloggers, life, death

My thoughts are certainly with Om Malik as he recovers from a heart attack!

I was rather shocked today to learn that Om Malik is recovering from a heart attack! The good news, based on his post, is that he is recovering!

My thoughts are certainly with Om. Ever since I started paying attention to the VoIP blogosphere a good number of years ago, Om was one of the folks to whom I always paid attention. I wish him well and hope for his speedy recovery!

And yes, as he notes, it's a good reminder that we all need to watch our health. (Something I've been thinking a lot about lately.)

Technorati Tags: om malik

Another print pub bites the dust... say goodbye to "Business Communications Review" / BCR

In learning about the new "NoJitter.com" blog recently, I also learned from Eric Krapf that Business Communications Review, commonly known simply as "BCR", was joining the ongoing exodus from the print publication business. Effective January 1, it will no longer be published in print form and, in fact, the name will retired for publishing purposes. They will continue to use the name for their training business, which is apparently going very well. The publishing focus for the BCR team will apparently be this new NoJitter blog, which I mentioned in my last post.

Personally, I'm sorry to see them go. I definitely do understand that the economics of print publishing today are quite difficult, but I did value the work that BCR did, particularly in their comparisons of products and services. It will be interesting to see, too, how well their current readership makes the switch with them. I know personally that once InfoWorld folded its print edition, I know longer paid as much attention to their writing as I once did... except when it randomly came up in searches. I'm not currently a BCR subscriber, so if anything this move may mean that I see more of their writing.

In any event, I wish them all the best with moving to the online world with NoJitter.com and look forward to seeing how that site evolves.

Technorati Tags: magazines, business communications review, bcr

Welcome to "NoJitter.com", a new VoIP blog by the editors of Business Communications Review...

Back in mid December when I received the latest copy of the "VoiceCon ENews" email newsletter, I noticed that Eric Krapf had a new signature to his post:

Eric H. Krapf
Editor & Lead Blogger, NoJitter.com
VoiceCon Program Chair

Naturally, I had to see what NoJitter.com was about...

It turns out that NoJitter.com is a new site launched by CMP to provide a focus on IP Communications/IP Telephony/Unified Communications/VoIP/whatever-we-are-calling-this-space-today. Eric, will, in fact, be the "lead blogger". I've had the opportunity to work with Eric in a few small ways (such as a VoIP security panel at Interop/VoiceCon New York in October) and look forward to seeing what he and the others there will be doing with this new site. (Hey, he already gets a "+1" from me for having "VoIP Security" as one of the navigation categories in his navbar!)

Welcome, Eric and the NoJitter team, to the VoIP part of the blogosphere!

Technorati Tags: blogs, IP communications, puppy, puppy, puppy, unifiedcommunications, voip

Richard Zhao's new blog URL - sbin.con/blog - telecom and voip with a Chinese view...

I've long enjoyed Richard Zhao's posts at "Telecom, Security and P2P" because, living in Beijing and working for Lenovo, he brings a distinctly different view into the global conversation.  For instance, earlier this year he posted about Chinese security standards, something that few of us outside the country would probably have noticed or commented on.  However, as he mentions over on his Chinese language blog (in English), access to Wordpress.com, where he previously had the blog, is apparently being blocked or degraded in China.  So he has now moved his blog to:

http://sbin.cn/blog/

As the title states, he covers primarily telecom and security.  Do check him out...

Technorati tags: voip, security, voip security, telecommunications, china, lenovo

Mark Collier's "VoIP Security Blog" gets a new makeover...

As I noted in my Voice of VOIPSA post today, Mark Collier (of hackingvoip.com fame) took some time in December to give www.voipsecurityblog.com a graphical makeover. He's got a cute new header image and an updated picture of himself. Although, Mark, I really have to say... you are violating the security "code of dress"! Don't you know that all good security people are supposed to wear black? Preferably a black turtleneck? Come on, now, you're going against the motif!

Ah, well... in any event, if you haven't checked out Mark's blog, it's a good one... even if he is wearing white. :-)

Technorati Tags: security, mark collier, voip, voip security, voipsa, voipsecurity