Work's been especially intense but rewarding the past couple of weeks.  And hence the blogging remains light both here as well as at Sepia Mutiny.   Even my usual low level of chatter on various email lists has subsided...  Oh well... Real Life requires priority calls from time to time...

Last week was the biggest wireless industry trade show in the US - CTIA Wireless 2006 in Las Vegas.   I shipped out to Sin City with about 10 of my coworkers to demo our warez, conduct meetings, do press / analyst briefings and check out competitive offerings....  Although I'm generally not a fan of Vegas, this trip was interesting on a couple of levels.

My company was involved with 5 press releases over the course of the show -

• Our $15M Series B Round
• Launch of our Product Suite
• Demonstration of Datacast Applications over the MediaFLO USA network
• Collaboration with Gemstar/TV Guide for a Mobile Broadcast ESG
• Joining the Mobile DTV Alliance & Demonstrating a DVBH System

Now a good chunk of this won't make much sense to most people and admittedly, we're sorta in our own little arcane corner of the tech universe.  But rest assured, it was a big deal for us and represented quite a bit of work by some very skilled & dedicated folks throughout the company.   And hopefully, within this mix of technologies & relationships, we've acquire a pole position of sorts & an critical foundation for the company moving forward.

We didn't have a booth per se but rather a meeting room off the show floor.  Nevertheless, our room was subject to constant traffic and the engineering team was being pulled in for demos every 20-30 min over the course of the show.   One piece of tradeshow rumor fodder was that our "datacast" apps were demo'ed by Qualcomm CEO Paul Jacobs to none other than Alan Greenspan. 

Tradeshows like CTIA are infamous for big corporate shindigs that try to outdo each other by providing entertainment for select attendees (no, not that type of entertainment although it probably does take place...).   Usually this means renting out a hot bar / restaurant and wining & dining each other's execs to build up a sort of good will.   The best of the best of these gigs are usually hosted by companies that are big, rich, hungry and eager to show off - a collection of attributes which often describes emerging E. Asian players...

Thus, perhaps the highlight of the trip for me... Front row at an LL Cool J concert sponsored by Samsung Wireless.

A couple camera phone picts from my new A900 -

 

Lickin' his lips like... LL Cool J -- "oooh, now that one moves me"

Mama Said Knock You Out

The man is 40something and still rocks hard.   Probably one of the best concerts I'd ever been to in my life. 

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