TechWiseTV

Federating Presence

One of the topics we will be discussing in Episode 39: ‘Pushing the Boundaries of Collaboration’ is Presence. Specifically the status and challenges around federated presence which holds the alluring promise of extending these advanced productivity tools out to interoperate with associates not on our same network or domain. Dave Lizotte is an extremely gracious and knowledgeable guest to have with us and was willing to share more of the detail he will be discussing on the show.

Please enjoy!

Robb

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Working for Cisco Advanced Services under the collaboration services umbrella I have been deeply  focused on UC architecture, Cisco-Microsoft interoperability, federation, SIP, and presence. The more I see this umbrella of UC solutions transform the customers usage models, the more I see customers requesting additional capabilities for social networking. People want information real time and they want it to cross all boundaries seamlessly, regardless if it is on a private or public network, fixed or mobile device. I see a transition occurring where basic IM and presence technology is becoming a critical service that must integrate deeper into the application space to enhance customer business value. Are we listening to our customers? What business problems can we solve for them? The control and selection options of how customers want to be communicated with is really placed in the end users hands. Users are requesting the ability to define their own business presence states, and integrate this information into applications and all kinds of endpoints. To accomplish this goal open standards, presence federation and protocols will play a very critical and important role. First of all what does it mean to get two disparate presence networks to talk to each other? Federation is the Key.

THE BASICS

Federation is basically the ability to get two different networks to share and exchange information as transparent to the end users as possible. In order to federate, the two networks will need to agree on how they are going to communicate with each other. They may need to speak the same language using a standard protocol or having some form of translator between them such as a gateway or transport agent device. You speak English and I speak French, well my friend speaks both languages so let him translate for us. The networks must have some form of solution in mind so they must have a level of trust and security. They must be able to listen and agree upon what informational messages are being sent to them so they can be understood and have value. The information shared can be messages, user account information user, presentity status and informational messages and many other into the work flow and application space. Most federation types do have some form of security like TLS. Other components can also be required if trying to pass information through firewalls or once through the firewall to route users to proper cluster locations like Cisco does for their presence architecture. Cisco’s approach to presence is to collect, aggregate and share presence status information over the network. Federation can be from a business to another business or from a business to a public entity. Federation is quick and can be accomplished in a very short time frame vs.. a costly deployment for a whole new system between enterprise businesses or public entities. So why do we hear different federation terms such as inter and intra-Domain federation.

DOMAINS

Inter-Domain Federation is defined as to separate enterprise network domains to exchange information and communicate. A good example of this would be A@cisco.com <mailto:A@cisco.com> and B@Microsoft.com <mailto:B@Microsoft.com> . Intra-Domain Federation is defined as two or more different presence solutions within the same enterprise domain to exchange information and communicate. This type of federation is harder to accomplish due to the level of complexity with numerous different systems in the environment They do not speak to each other natively and more then one system is going to try to act as the lead system with the most up to date and accurate information on user presentity and other account and informational messages. It even gets more complex since it is all now being tied into the email,telephony and other solutions like workflow applications and mobile devices. Routing and addressing to multiple user accounts for the same person will be extremely difficult. Can all of these systems understand all the different translations for messages? Real-time Presence out of synch will not be acceptable to users or business processes that affect Book, Bill, Ship and Close decisions for customers or vendors. So what are the main protocols being used in the industry for IM and Presence? The key to this comment is what protocols are leading the industry, not what protocols are standards in the industry.

PRESENCE PROTOCOLS: SIP/SIMPLE & XMPP

Cisco’s approach to presence is to collect, aggregate and share presence status information over the network. The two main leading or standard industry protocols used for presence are SIMPLE SIP Instant Messaging and Presence Leveraging Extensions, and XMPP Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol. XMPP is a protocol that routes XML messages between entities, in our case Presence and IM. SIMPLE is also XML based as an event package mechanism and rides on SIP. After reviewing a few other blogs and articles it is clear that SIMPLE became more popular with businesses and their VOIP solutions to utilize the SIP feature sets that can be accomplished. Even Service Providers are using SIP in their fixed and mobile networks. Most Businesses are using SIMPLE like Cisco. Although Jabber which is now owned by Cisco uses XMPP, as well as most public internet companies like Google and Yahoo. There are a few other protocols that are proprietary. This separation of protocol direction has created immature IM and presence standards an industry where open standards is very much required to deliver strong integrated and federated solutions to our customers.

STANDARDS?

Lack of Standards: The lack of standards also causes presence states, status and information exchanges to vary, thus limiting what information messages can be shared and understood between systems. Users are wanting the ability to create their own presence states to match their business requirements. Customers are demanding presence and status be placed into their business applications. Once again, our Collaboration technology must enhance customer business value. Companies are not ripping out their systems every time they need an new solution. The solutions must integrate and I believe that most integration is not that difficult technically. The key again is open standards and stronger vendor partnerships. It is one thing to have an agreed upon standard to communicate, but it a completely another issue to get two vendors or companies to agree upon what level and type of information they are willing to open up and share within their solutions. A clear example of this is with Cisco and Microsoft Interoperability. A good example for a lack of standards is Microsoft with their integration between Cisco and Microsoft. Even though we have inter-domain federation with some presence states available MSFT’s OCS does not follow the RFC 3261 description of how to perform a register request. This is why a MOC client can not register with another SIP proxy or B2BUA like Cisco Unified Communications Manager and this is also why compliant RFC SIP devices can not register with OCS.

Dave Lizotte

Solutions Architect

RSA 2008

Well RSA is over. I am fixin' to pack up and get ready to head back to the tundra. Robb and I got to work with are old friend Greg Freeman from Freeman Productions. Greg is the best. He is great with the camera for sure, but he also knows a ton about cars, fine food/wine and just a fun Dude. RSA was certainly focused alot on DLP (Data Loss Prevention) which is interesting when you think about it. All that really means is protecting our data from the biggest threat out there, wetware, or users. Ah yes... the user battle. Old arguement, new  terms. There were some cool stuff demo'ed out there for sure. I am looking forward to building out a DLP show. But truthfully, the interesting part of RSA was the old school feel. And by that I mean flash and free stuff!

The booths were creative and flashy. They had rock climbing walls, arcade games, guitar heros and t-shirts to the max. We also meet Omarosa Manigault Stallworth. She is the nicest person and has a PhD in Telecommunications. I was very impressed on her knowledge and positive attitude. It was a lot of fun and certainly different then VoiceCon. Maybe it is just me, but voice folks sure seem uptight. I just want to grab 'um and say lighten up, it is only 911... Long days of shooting and grabbing content, but the food in San Fran was of course awesome and the beer was always cold.

Of course we had the torch thingy going on here as well, hoggin our RSA headlines. Come on man, who does not want to read about DLP sensitive content protection? What is this world coming to?? Robb is flying out on American or so he thinks...as you may have read, American has canceled thousands of flights. Hey Robb, you can just come on back to Milwaukee with me. I think my mother in law is coming up on Saturday...

Big thanks to all the folks that stopped by to say hey to Robb and I. We are always grateful and humbled by the incredibly smart folks that tune in to our show/podcast. Keep the questions and suggestions coming. By the way...Robb converted me to Facebook (jimmy Ray Purser)and Twitter (jimmyray_purser) Friend me/Follow me! Hey also sign up for the TechWiseTV Fan page on Facebook as well. Robb will send you a free t-shirt...anyway, I really do like both of those apps and see a huge value for them in this more connected universe we are all in.

Jimmy Ray

Voice Con

Well...it's over. Voice Con 2008 Orlando. This was my first voice show I have been to. Truthfully, I have never been much of a voice Dude. My interest have been in Networking and Security. I have to admit that the folks at Voice Con really did a nice job running and setting up this show. Robb and I did a ton of interviews and the Cisco booth was really rocking. Not sucking up to kissing the company butt, Cisco really went all out. Contact Center was hot all over the show floor. Which was good for me, because I am not really captivated by Contact Center. I learned a lot and this field is really going to be hot especially, with enabling it SIP and Presence. I was impressed and that takes a lot, because Voice is not the interesting to me. Voice security is really taking a front and center. I tried to hack into a few voice systems (after the show floor closed) with permission from the vendors of course and I was impressed with the advancements in just a year.

Robb and I stayed at the Gaylord Hotel that I though was average. The food was mediocre and very expensive. Robb's room was next to a block group of Jr. High Cheerleaders that cheered all night and kept him awake. I might have been also, but I can sleep thru a hurricane and bunch of kids banging o pots-n-pans. Although we all (Robb, I, our Producer; Rick, Executive Producer; Brad and Production Coordinator; Terry went out and ate a good meal and smoked some seriously good cigars at the biggest cigar store I have ever seen in my life.

We also talked with the legendary Colin "Fluffy" Jennings the premier SIP geek at Cisco. Man that Dude is really tuned into the future of SIP and the future really something else. Robb and I had a great time. We both thank all of the folks that talked to us at Voice Con about TechWiseTV and recommendations moving forward. We are a customer facing show and we ALWAYS want to be about the customer.  Next up is RSA on the Spring/Summer show circuit in San Fran. I hope y'all stop by and say Hey to us.

Jimmy Ray

Web 2.0 Show Taped!

What a cool week it has been...capped by our taping yesterday for our first Web 2.0 show (TechWiseTV Special Edition) "Applying Web 2.0 to your Business."  (AIR DATE: APRIL 3, 2008)  Right off the bat that does not sound like a typical TechWiseTV show.  So what are the differences?  First and foremost: No Jimmy Ray.  ;-( 

It was raining and cold when I arrived in San Jose on Tuesday morning...the weather reminding me that I was in studio without my trusty geek sidekick with the funny accent, JR.  I called him and felt a little better. He has a cold this week anyway...imagine that...catching a cold in Wisconsin!  Another visual difference to this show - our host would be Valerie St John from our BizWise show instead of our lovable geek wannabe Jonas.  (He's actually more geek than you might guess however).  But enough tears...what is exciting about this show?  The topic and the guest line up by far! 

Our marquee line up included:

The always outspoken Robert Scoble who is now Managing Director of FastCompany.TV, & author of Naked Conversations sounding off regularly on his Scobleizer Blog in the same segment as Jeremiah Owyang, who used to work with Robert at PodTech and is now a Senior Research Analyst at Forrester and prolific blogger about his area of expertise: Social Computing at his Web Strategy Blog.

We had to warm up to that kind of starpower however so we kick off the top of the show with a very cool package we created using clips of a Don Tapscott briefing we did earlier with customers via telepresence.  Don is the author of Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything. An excellent read on the revolution that we are now experiencing as driven by Web 2.0 and the young kids he calls 'the Net Generation.' 

The last segment of the show is an incredible interview and demo with David Knight, Senior Director of WebEX Connect.  Everyone that gets to look at or play with WebEx connect is simply BLOWN AWAY.  We were demo'ing a pre-release beta as I think the product will not come out officially until April (this show will air April 3) and quite simply..this is the product that brings Web 2.0 and Social Networking into something a BUSINESS CAN USE.  WebEx is well known for their ease of collaboration but this goes so much further (although you still get easy collaboration)....imagine a 'platform' that allows you to take any project or process and create your own custom 'workspace' (get used to these new terms).  By using widgets, you bring everything you need into this workspace: people both internal and external to your employer (reality of almost any project...especially in this age of contractors) and any resource!  Your CRM system, ERP, external web resources, company directory...you name it. NO MORE SILOS of tools that  force the knowledge worker to become the human middleware!  This platform will revolutionize how you do business and it makes so much sense that you will wonder how you ever worked without it.  David Knight an incredible visionary and well spoken evangelist for the product walks us through it and answers all our questions.

More information on this  as we continue to build out the show notes on our wiki.  The show will air on April 3.  The wiki page will have the registration and viewing details as we get closer! 

The NAC Design Show taped this week

This show will be great! We taped Wednesday this week and it will air on March 6.  I echo Jimmy Ray's comments on Alok but geez...lets not make it a love fest here...but seriously...we don't usually keep a single guest on the show for an entire hour but it was the right thing to do this time.  We covered some great design detail - you can get more info on the episode 30 show notes.

We also brought David Anderson, a TME from the NAC team, on to the show via Telepresence (a first for TechWiseTV remote guests...).  That seemed to work quite well.   

Alsom thank you to Jamie Sanbower for giving us a good question  to have Alok address on set.  (Jamie pens a Cisco Nac Blog).  Be sure and watch out for your semi-appearance Jamie...we did do a little name drop. 

Before I forget - Jimmy Ray was a little over the top on this but he just had to have Alok sign his book.  Alok co-authored a great NAC book: Cisco NAC Appliance: Enforcing Host Security with Clean Access be sure and check it out.

New Show - Thursday, Feb 7

Check out the spotlight clip for a preview:

Wiki vs. Blog

Jimmy Ray and I are trying to figure out the right model for getting involved with what we hope is a growing audience.  TechWiseTV has been tremendously successful and as we are now approaching episode 30 (the NAC Show) we are probably long overdue. We started with the wiki (mytechwisetv) just recently as a way to try and open up our shownotes from being such a static document that you simply download and read.  We are now interactively writing and of course instantly posting them.  This is allowing our guests to get more involved with writing their own notes and then allowing discussion threads to spawn following the content on each show. This is a work in progress of course but we do hope to hear more comments on the usefulness here...we need to update the historical show stuff..that is way behind but that will come over time. (you can get them at Cisco however)

I am most excited as we experiment with posting our UPCOMING show ideas and allow you to weigh in on the content.  You will see on the wiki that we are posting the taping date. The idea here is that content can really only be influenced PRIOR to the taping date...after that point it is all in stone of course. 

Thank you to Jamie Sanbower of the Cisco NAC Blog for being the first to link to a show and post ideas for how we can make the content valuable for him.  We hope to get much more input. 

-Robb