September 09, 2004
Chris Shipley's Keynote Address
Here's the text of the opening remarks I made this morning at the opening of DEMOmobile 2004. (sorry for the all-caps...it made it easier to read on the teleprompter)
THIS IS THE MOMENT WHEN IT ALL COMES TOGETHER – MONTHS OF SEEKING OUT GREAT PRODUCTS TO BRING TO THE EVENT, AND THE WEEKS OF HARD WORK GETTING THE SELECTED COMPANIES READY TO PRESENT. THE MANY CONVERSATIONS WITH SPEAKERS AND MODERATORS, AS WE PREPARED THIS PROGRAM. THE EMAILS FROM FRIENDS AND COLLEAGUES AS THEY MAKE THEIR PLANS TO ATTEND. THE INTERACTIONS WITH OUR GREAT SPONSOR COMPANIES:
LINKSYS,
QUALCOMM,
ARUBA,
EVERYPATH,
BLACKBERRY,
GOOD TECHNOLOGY,
INTELLISYNC,
PALMONE,
MIRRA,
PORTER NOVELLI,
NOKIA,
SIX APART,
SPECTRALINK,
PLANTRONICS,
VIRTUSA,
AND A HALF DOZEN MORE PARTNER ORGANIZATIONS
YOU CAN TELL THE TECHNOLOGY INDUSTRY IS BACK ON ITS FEET WHEN SO MANY TERRIFIC COMPANIES STEP UP TO SUPPORT AND EVENT SUCH AS THIS.
NOW, AFTER THE SET UP, THE REHEARSALS, IN THESE MOMENTS NOW, AND IN THE 36 HOURS TO FOLLOW, IT ALL COMES TOGETHER. THERE IS PALPABLE ENERGY, EXCITEMENT, AND FOR THE DEMONSTRATORS LAUNCHING PRODUCTS, TREMENDOUS NERVOUSENESSS.
SO WELCOME TO OUR SIXTH ANNUAL DEMOMOBILE CONFERENCE.
AND ESPECIALLY, WELCOME BACK TO SO MANY OF YOU WHO WHERE HERE LAST YEAR. FOR YOU, I HAVE A SPECIAL MESSAGE. ACTUALLY, IT’S MORE OF A CONFESSION.
YOU SEE, I WAS WRONG. A YEAR AGO, I CONFIDENTLY PRONOUNCED THE DAWN OF A NEW ERA OF COMPUTING. WE HAD BECOME A GENERATION OF ALWAYS-CONNECTED, ALWAYS ON PEOPLE, DEMANDING ACCESS TO COMMUNICATIONS AND COMPUTING ANYTIME AND ANYWHERE. WE WOULDN’T DREAM OF LEAVING THE HOUSE WITHOUT OUR CELL PHONES. PDAS HAD REPLACED DAYTIMERS. IN THE MONTHS BEFORE DEMOMOBILE LAST FALL, LAPTOP SALES HAD EXCEEDED DESKTOP SALES CONSISTENTLY FOR THE FIRST TIME..
STITCHING ALL THIS EVIDENCE TOGETHER, I DECLARED THAT WE HAD ENTERED THE AGE OF DEVICE COMPUTING.
AND I WAS WRONG .
I WAS WRONG TO FOCUS ON THE DEVICE ALONE.
NOW, THE MISTAKE IS UNDERSTANDABLE. AFTER ALL, SOME 300 MILLION CELL PHONES WERE SOLD IN THE FIRST HALF OF THIS YEAR ALONE. THE NOKIA NGAGE AND TAPWAVE, WHO YOU REMEMBER INTRODUCED ITS ZODIAC MOBILE GAME GEAR HERE LAST YEAR, IGNITED AN ORGANIC AND RAPIDLY GROWING GLOBAL COMMUNITY OF DEVELOPERS AND GAME PLAYERS FOR THIS NEW CLASS OF MOBILE DEVICE. WE’VE SEEN THE RE-EMERGENCE – AND ACCEPTANCE¬ – OF TABLET PCS IN HORIZONTAL MARKETS. IN THE PAST 18 MONTHS, MORE AND MORE CAPABLE DEVICES HAVE RESHAPED THE WAY WE COMMUNICATE AND INTERACT WITH DATA.
SO, ON THE SURFACE, THIS IDEA OF DEVICE COMPUTING MAKES SENSE. THE LOCUS OF OUR COMPUTING AND COMMUNICATIONS ACTIVITIES HAS MOVED FROM DESKTOP PCS TO MOBILE DEVICES. OVER FORTY YEARS, COMPUTATIONAL POWER HAS MIGRATED FROM LARGE MAINFRAMES TO MINI-COMPUTERS, TO WORKSTATIONS, TO PCS, TO LAPTOPS, TO HANDHELD DEVICES.
AND WITH EACH PROGRESSION, SOME PUNDIT STOOD UP AT AN EVENT LIKE THIS AND DECLARED THAT THE COMPUTING PARADIGM HAD MADE THE SHIFT TO THE NEW PLATFORM. MAINFRAME COMPUTING. MINI COMPUTING. DESKTOP COMPUTING. MOBILE COMPUTING.
WITH THAT HISTORY AND CONTEXT, DEVICE COMPUTING SEEMED THE LOGICAL NEXT STEP.
BUT, IT’S NOT.
QUITE FRANKLY, WHILE ALL THESE DEVICES ARE AMAZING IN THEIR CAPABILITY AND POWER, THEY ARE VIRTUALLY NOTHING ON THEIR OWN. JUST PLASTIC, LCD, SILICON AND SOLDER, BUTTONS AND JOG DIALS THAT DELIVER VERY LITTLE VALUE IF THEY AREN’T CONNECTED TO SOME OTHER COMPUTER OR SERVICE. FOR THE MOST PART, MOBILE DEVICES – WHETHER A CELL PHONE OR A PDA, GAME GEAR OR THE CUSTOM SLATE THE UPS DRIVER CARRIES – THESE MOBILE DEVICES ARE LITTLE MORE THAN BEAUTIFULLY DESIGNED, COMPUTATIONALLY RICH INPUT/OUTPUT AND STORAGE DEVICES.
IT’S NOT UNTIL YOU ADD A CONNECTION – A RADIO, IR, CABLE, OR DOCKING STATION – THAT MOBILE DEVICES BECOME TRULY USEFUL AND VERY EXCITING.
SO, TO SAY THAT WE’D ENTERED THE AGE OF DEVICE COMPUTING WAS TO MISS THE POINT.
CERTAINLY, WE ARE MOVING TO A NEW PARADIGM IN COMPUTING. OF COURSE, MOBILE DEVICES PLAY A KEY ROLE IN THE NEW DEFINITION. AND, IT’S EASY TO SEE HOW THE DEVICES THEMSELVES MIGHT GET ALL THE ATTENTION. SOME OF YOU WEAR CELL PHONES AND EMAIL DEVICES ON YOUR BELTS LIKE THE GUNMAN OF THE NEW DIGITAL FRONTIER. WE AGONIZE OVER WHICH CELL PHONE TO BUY, WHICH DEVICE IS BEST FOR REMOTE EMAIL. WE TALK LIKE PROUD PARENTS ABOUT OUR LATEST LAPTOP PURCHASE AND WILL DEMO AT THE DROP OF A HAT THE FEATURES AND FUNCTIONS OF OUR FAVORITE HANDHELD.
THE DEVICE IS THE VISIBLE, PHYSICAL INSTANTIATION OF WHAT IS TRULY GOING ON HERE. THE DEVICE IS THE END NODE OF A CONNECTED SYSTEM OF COMPUTING. A SYSTEM THAT IS LARGER THAN MOBILE DEVICES, OR EVEN WIRELESS NETWORKS. A SYSTEM THAT FUNDAMENTALLY CHANGES THE WAY APPLICATIONS AND DATA ARE DELIVERED TO THE POINT OF INTERACTION. A SYSTEM THAT PROFOUNDLY AFFECTS THE ARCHITECTURES AND OPPORTUNITIES OF COMPUTING FROM THE ENTERPRISE TO THE HOME.
A SYSTEM THAT I CALL SERVICE-BASED COMPUTING.
SERVICE-BASED COMPUTING DELIVERS APPLICATIONS AND DATA FROM A MANAGED COMPUTING PLATFORM TO A RELATIVELY SIMPLE END DEVICE – THE POINT OF INTERACTION WITH THE DATA. SERVICE-BASED COMPUTING PUTS THE ONUS OF MANAGING THE COMPUTING ENVIRONMENT ON THE SERVICE PROVIDER, AND LIBERATES THE END-USER TO ENGAGE WITH THE INFORMATION. SERVICE-BASED COMPUTING WILL DRIVE ELEGANCE INTO APPLICATION AND DEVICE DESIGN. SERVICE-BASED COMPUTING NOT ONLY ENABLES, BUT REQUIRES, SIMPLICITY AND RELIABILITY IN END-POINT DEVICES, NO MATTER IF THEY ARE A CELL PHONE OR A DESKTOP PC.
INDEED, SERVICE-BASED COMPUTING IS BIGGER THAN TODAY’S MOBILE AND WIRELESS MARKET. IT IS BROADLY ENCOMPASSING OF MOST ENTERPRISE, SMALL BUSINESS, INDIVIDUAL, AND CONVERGENT CONSUMER COMPUTING. SERVICE-BASED COMPUTING IS THE FUTURE MODEL FOR NEARLY-ALL COMPUTING AND COMMUNICATIONS.
YOU CAN SEE THE HERITAGE OF SERVICE-BASED COMPUTING ACROSS THE LAST EIGHT YEARS’ OF DEMO CONFERENCES. IN 1997, A SMALL COMPANY POSITED FOR THE FIRST TIME THE WEB-BASED DELIVERY OF WORD PROCESSING AND SPREADSHEET APPLICATIONS. IN THE YEARS THAT FOLLOWED, DOZENS OF COMPANIES – FROM SALESFORCE.COM TO INTUIT -- LAUNCHED WHAT WE NOW KNOW TO BE ASP-BASED APPLICATIONS. IN THE PREVIOUS FIVE YEARS OF THIS WIRELESS FOCUSED CONFERENCE, WE’VE SEEN A RANGE OF PRODUCTS THAT EXTEND ENTERPRISE COMPUTING TO MOBILE WORKERS USING A RANGE OF DEVICES. WE’VE SEEN BLACKBERRY HAVE ITS ADDICTIVE AFFECT ON CONSUMER EMAIL USERS. AND THEN, AT DEMO IN FEBRUARY, WE SAW THE INTRODUCTION OF THE ALLENPORT PC, THE FIRST CONTEMPORARY SERVICE-MANAGED PC AND APPLICATION ENVIRONMENT.
THIS WEEK, IN SO MANY DIFFERENT WAYS, YOU’LL SEE THE EVIDENCE THAT SERVICE-BASED COMPUTING IS UPON US.
YOU’LL SEE IT IN THE FIRST TWO DEMONSTRATIONS THIS MORNING – PEPPER COMPUTING AND ROUTE 1 BOTH OFFERING ELEGANT END-POINT DEVICES THAT DELIVER THE COMPUTING EXPERIENCE FROM A REMOTE COMPUTER. EACH TAKES A DIFFERENT APPROACH, BUT THE END RESULT IS THE SAME: THE USER GETS A COMPLETE COMPUTING EXPERIENCE WITHOUT HAVING TO ENDURE THE HICCUPS OF HARDWARE AND STUTTERS OF SOFTWARE. THESE ARE SYSTEMS THAT SIMPLY WORK, AND WORK SIMPLY.
YOU’LL SEE THIS EVIDENCED IN DATA SERVICES THAT DELIVER THE INFORMATION YOU NEED TO WHATEVER HANDSET OR HANDHELD YOU CHOOSE.
PRODUCTS LIKE THAT FROM ORATIVE DELIVER ENTERPRISE-CLASS COMMUNICATIONS FEATURES AND FUNCTIONS TO MOBILE PHONES. THE SERVICE MANAGEMENT TAKES PLACE IN THE ENTERPRISE AND THE MOBILE USER ENJOYS THE ADDED BENEFITS.
AND THERE ARE MORE DATA POINTS:.
ENTERPRISE APPLICATIONS INCLUDE MOBILITY AS A MATTER OF COURSE, AND THE PLATFORMS AND PRODUCTS YOU’LL SEE LATER TODAY DEMONSTRATE THE ADAPTABLE SERVICES THAT A STRONG ENTERPRISE PLATFORM CAN DELIVER TO A SIMPLE MOBILE DEVICE. CONSUMER APPLICATIONS – FROM MOBILE GAMES TO PHOTO MANAGEMENT – RELY ON THE SERVICE-BASED COMPUTING MODEL. AND EVEN THE CORE COMPONENTS THAT WILL DRIVE NEXT-GENERATION MOBILE DEVICES DEMONSTRATE THAT THESE DEVICES MUST MEET A NEW STANDARD OF USABILITY AND ROBUSTNESS.
THE SATURATION OF MOBILE DEVICES IN TODAY’S MARKET HAS CHANGED USER EXPECTATION, AND PERHAPS THIS AS MUCH AS ANY ADVANCEMENT IN THE STATE OF THE ART OF TECHNOLOGY, IS DRIVING US INEXORABLY TOWARD THE SERVICE-BASED COMPUTING MODEL. EVEN THE MOST TECH SAVVY FOLKS DON’T HAVE THE TIME, INCLINATION, EVEN THE PATIENCE TO WRESTLE WITH CONFIGURATIONS, ENDURE SERVICE GAPS, OR PUT UP WITH LONG LEARNING CURVES.
AS SERVICE-BASED COMPUTING TAKES HOLD, IT MUST FULFILL A PROMISE OF SIMPLER, MORE RELIABLE, EVEN MORE ENJOYABLE END USER EXPERIENCE. THIS, IN TURN, PUTS TREMENDOUS PRESSURE ON THE TECHNOLOGY INDUSTRY: TO DELIVER FAST AND STABLE OPERATING ENVIRONMENTS, TO FOCUS DEVELOPMENT RESOURCES ON USABILITY, TO BUILD COVERAGE AND RELIABILITY INTO WIRED AND WIRELESS NETWORKS.
THIS WEEK, YOU WILL SEE THE FIRST BIG STEPS TOWARD THIS REALITY.
AND SO LET’S BEGIN THE JOURNEY, BY TAKING A LOOK AT TWO COMPANIES WHO DIRECTLY ADDRESS THIS NEW SERVICE-BASED MODEL WITH THE PRODUCTS THEY ARE INTRODUCING TODAY.
