Author Archives: James Carlini

TOLERANCE – SO WE CAN ACHIEVE HIGHER GOALS

banner james carlini - Carlini's CornerBy James Carlini

Looking back about five years ago to 2013, I wrote about the betterment of mankind by trying make a New Year’s resolution to revisit tolerance and acceptance in our lives.  I guess we haven’t come too far? In fact, I would say we have regressed.

As I pointed out in the article in 2013, “The average person is being bombarded by self-appointed “culture experts” who are judging what can be said and what can’t be said. Last time I looked, this was the United States. There are many cultures, religions, and many different perspectives here. They are supposed to blend together in a melting pot and not stick out like ingredients in a salad. Your perspective can be presented because of the Constitution and Freedom of Speech, but don’t think it is automatically mainstream or that it should be immediately adopted by everyone.”

What has happened to us as a society?  Some people still have not accepted the results of the 2016 Election and are resistant to change, resistant to new ideas, resistant to a shift in policies, and resistant to working together to get things done.  We have become more polarized, but that polarization started long before the 2016 Election.

There is no word like “compromise” in any civil discourse anymore.  People are discouraging public discourse on ideas and concepts if the speaker does not fit their belief system or their perspective on issues. What happened to Freedom of Speech?

FREEDOM OF SPEECH IS OK – ONLY IF YOU AGREE WITH ME

“If you agree with me, I will let you speak, but if your ideas do not mesh exactly with mine, I will stop you from speaking.” This is the attitude shown and is what is happening on many college campuses, and it does not promote any type of broadening one’s perspective.

Funny how it is not just a group of students. Faculty and administrations on some of these campuses are just as intolerant as those radicals coming on campus to disrupt a presentation that they do not agree with.  I always thought higher learning was supposed to promote the ability to share different perspectives and develop a broader perspective by having in-depth discourse on ideas?

This intolerance is not only evident on some college campuses, it is evident in other parts of society, including Congress.  From our outside perspective, we hear,”We don’t want to discuss this endeavor.” by the opposition. And then, after it is voted on, we hear, “We didn’t have any input on this idea.  The opposition did this all by themselves. We don’t agree.”

It’s time to cut out the childish attitudes, the chronic intolerance, and start working together to forge ahead.

There should be some positive projects that everyone in Congress can work on AND have their constituents benefit from.  I have talked about an infrastructure project that can benefit many states, industries, companies, and even farmers.

MISSISSIPPI RIVER LOCKS PROJECT – MAYBE A PROJECT TO UNIFY MANY PEOPLE?

I have written several articles on the Trillion Dollar Infrastructure Project that Congress is starting to review.  What should they prioritize and what could benefit a huge amount of people across many states.

The Mississippi River has a series of locks that barges carrying all different types of products need to go through to get to the Port of New Orleans.  These locks that were built in the 1930s are totally obsolete and are holding up shipping from many states. The faster things can get shipped down the river, the cheaper their costs are. This benefits us as a nation, keeping our costs for products down..

We depend on the Mississippi River to ship over 600 Billion tons of products annually.  The products include agricultural products to aggregates to coal and oil.  From this article, I recently wrote, here are some observations:

Many industries across many states depend on the Mississippi to ship their products out to the rest of the world.  Farmers also depend on shipping products out for world export as well as domestic use.

“The agricultural products and the huge agri-business industry that has developed in the Mississippi basin produce 92% of the nation’s agricultural exports.”

With all the intolerance on so many issues and ideas, maybe we can get Congress to focus in on a project like this which transcends political parties and focuses on doing something good for a good, diverse portion of the United States.

If we can find common ground in supporting a large project like this, maybe we can find common ground on many other areas that just require some compromise and not be chronically blocked by hardcore opposition. (from either side)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

BIG DATA & THE NEW EDGE TECHNOLOGY (Smartphones and Tablets)

banner james carlini - Carlini's CornerBy James Carlini

A pragmatic, visionary perspective —–

Big Data Analytics is being discussed today as a new, multi-purpose solution to many 21st century  business challenges.  It is touted as a tool for creating and sustaining competitive advantage but like all tools, you need to know how to use it effectively in order to get maximum results with it.

In a traditional environment, you might have someone going to a convention center or stadium for an event within a municipality.  Once that event is over, the potential customer for other establishments in that area becomes a “lost customer” because they “go down the road” to some other bar or restaurant instead of sticking around and visiting other local businesses.

If we can employ several special apps to send complimentary passes or other enticements to the edge technology, we can effectively “capture the lost customer” and keep them within the one enterprise zone to spend their money there.

Just like on a resort, once you are there, the resort owners want you to stay on the property and spend all your money with them and not go “down the road.”  The same idea applies here only it is a “virtual resort” created by electronics.

Picture1

 CREATING A VIRTUAL RESORT EFFECT

The use of new analytics is critical in many business operations and more organizations are starting to look at what type of platforms they need to implement in order to take full advantage of this as the Internet of Things (IoT) evolves.

In today’s world economy, regional sustainability relies on several key factors:
• Jobs (and the re-circulation of salaries)
• Education (a well-trained workforce)
• The political/ commercial atmosphere (government and business working together to insure a solid economic environment)
• Natural/ Man-made resources
All of which, rely and are built upon infrastructure: the Platform for Commerce.

What needs to be understood in this complex economic engine is the impact of Intelligent Infrastructure.  It provides the platform for Big Data Analytics as well as the utilization of new edge technology (Smartphones & Tablets) in collecting demographic information, actively cross-marketing products and services to a local universe of Smartphone users, and the notifications of special promotions. (ePromotions)

There is a whole new framework to understand as well as implement when it comes to supporting Smartphones and their apps that provide new services to the end-user as well as new marketing services to those businesses that want to “capture the lost customer” in multi-venue environments.

A multi-venue environment might be an Intelligent Retail/ Entertainment/ Convention (IREC) center complex where the Smartphone user might be attending one event or venue, but can be drawn to another venue to spend more money and time by being sent eCoupons, eDiscounts, and other electronic offers which entice them to visit another venue within the umbrella of the “electronic resort”.

By tying the edge technology together with Big Data Analytics, a very sophisticated marketing approach can be implemented and used to fortify regional economic development and create economic zones that benefit the businesses as well as the municipalities.

The location becomes more valuable because the extra business that it generates through this “virtual resort effect” creates more revenues which is important to the local businesses as well as the municipality (which receives added sales tax revenues) also benefits.

CARLINI-ISM : “Creating a virtual resort that captures the Lost Customers and their spending power creates a more valuable enterprise zone for multiple merchants, business venues, and municipal governments.”

Carlini will present some of these proven concepts from his book regarding Big Data, cross-marketing apps, and the impact of creating a virtual “Electronic Resort” effect within a regional economic area at an upcoming monthly event, the Technology Leaders Association of Illinois in April.

Location location location james Carlini

His visionary and comprehensive book, LOCATION LOCATION CONNECTIVITY is available at AMAZON:

http://www.amazon.com/LOCATION-CONNECTIVITY-JAMES-CARLINI/dp/0990646041/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1427540979&sr=1-1&keywords=location+location+connectivity

and BARNES & NOBLE online:
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/location-location-connectivity-james-carlini/1120585793?ean=9780990646044

He will be speaking at several upcoming conferences across the country later this year including the Windy City Summit (a major conference on Treasury and Cash Management) at Chicago’s Navy Pier on May 20th-22nd.

Follow daily Carlini-isms at www.TWITTER.com/JAMESCARLINI

Copyright 2015 – James Carlini – ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

 

STRATEGIC INTELLIGENT INFRASTRUCTURE EXPOSED

banner james carlini - Carlini's CornerBy James Carlini

A pragmatic, visionary perspective —–

Infrastructure is critical to a nation’s success in the global marketplace today.  As the Platform for Commerce, it needs to be resilient and reliable because all businesses are built upon it.

WHAT IS HAPPENING IN ASIA?

Right now, countries in Asia are forming a new consortium called the AIIB.  AIIB stands for Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and it is headed up by China, but it is also being funded by several European countries including Great Britain, Germany, France and Italy.  So far, the United States has taken a pass on it and we can debate if that is a good strategic move or not.

There are many Asian member countries already signed up as members.  According to Wikipedia: China, India, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Brunei, Cambodia, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Laos, Myanmar, Mongolia, Nepal, Oman, Qatar, Sri Lanka, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam.  This does not include the list of European countries like Luxembourg, Spain, and others along with the “Big 4” of Europe: Great Britain, Germany, France, and Italy. Other interesting members include Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, and Qatar.

The United States is reluctant to join because they are afraid the banking regulations will not be as high a standard as other established institutions like the IMF (International Monetary Fund) but you have to think, if all these other countries are joining in, we should at least get in the mix just to monitor what is going on.

You would think this is a good thing and we should be in on this.  We aren’t.  We need to understand the ramifications of this type of consortium and where it is really headed. We need to understand what priorities other countries have for their new infrastructure projects and look internally into ours to see if we are ahead of others, about the same, or lagging behind in launching and finishing critical infrastructure projects.

This is where you can leapfrog other countries when you build out infrastructure that they currently do not have. South Korea is a good example. They were considered a third world country 30-35 years ago.  Today, they are very competitive and part of the reason is that their infrastructure is first-class.

 SO WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?

A friend of mine who has been a long-time executive in several multi-national companies looked at it from a different angle and made this observation:

The AIIB is part of a 25 year strategy by China that culminates in the Yuan replacing the dollar as the primary global currency.  The Chinese are brilliant.

This formation of AIIB is a prelude to the IMF and Global Bank becoming second rate capital sources for developing countries.

By 2020, the US greenback will join the same level of stature as the Euro and English Pound. 

If he is correct, we should NOT be taking a wait-and-see attitude. We should be taking action. If the AIIB replaces the IMF as the primary global lender in years to come, that changes the total global landscape as to who has the key financial power.  The dollar isn’t the “go-to currency” when it comes to international projects and related trade.

We also need to invest in our infrastructure and not lay back and say,”ours is already built”.  Many new technologies and approaches are critical in every layer of the Platform for Commerce.  We cannot utilize antiquated structures and concepts if we are to compete in global markets.

This is a critical area to keep aware of.  Those who watch “Dancing with the Stars” should be more aware of this new endeavor  and be more concerned with the marriage of all these countries in a new financial fund than concerned about the next marriage of a Kardashian.

CARLINI-ISM : “In our infrastructure, we cannot depend on 19th and 20th century solutions to solve 21st century global challenges.”

Location location location james Carlini

His visionary book, LOCATION LOCATION CONNECTIVITY is available at AMAZON:

http://www.amazon.com/LOCATION-CONNECTIVITY-JAMES-CARLINI/dp/0990646041/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1427540979&sr=1-1&keywords=location+location+connectivity

and BARNES & NOBLE online:
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/location-location-connectivity-james-carlini/1120585793?ean=9780990646044

He will be speaking at several upcoming conferences across the country later this year including the Windy City Summit (a major conference on Treasury and Cash Management) at Chicago’s Navy Pier on May 20th-22nd.

Follow daily Carlini-isms at www.TWITTER.com/JAMESCARLINI

Copyright 2015 – James Carlini – ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

 

 

ANALYTICS, BIG DATA – BIG DEAL

banner james carlini - Carlini's CornerBy James Carlini

Big Data and Analytics are the talk of many corporate organizations. What are some of the real applications and have they been fully thought out by the experts?

On September 4th, the Second Annual Conference on The Practice of Analytics will be presented at the University of Chicago’s Gleacher Center in downtown Chicago. There will be experts on Continue reading

WHY CHICAGO AND ILLINOIS ARE FAILING: THE SHERIFF OF NOTTINGHAM MENTALITY

banner james carlini - Carlini's CornerBy James Carlini

Chicago is not setting the pace for building a solid Platform for Commerce and regional economic innovation for job creation. Then again, neither is Illinois. They are both caught up in a Vortex of Declining Mediocrity.”

You know your state is really messed up when all your relatives start talking about moving to other states.  At a recent family gathering, one cousin and a brother-in-law are talking about moving to Florida, another one to Las Vegas and another one to Idaho. Even the waitress at breakfast at Denny’s was talking about moving to Las Vegas for better opportunities.  Is anyone staying in Illinois? Continue reading

BLACKBERRY: GAME OVER OR ADDED CREDIBILITY FOR ITS STRATEGY

banner james carlini - Carlini's Corner By James Carlini

With the announcement of the “partnership” of IBM (NYSE:IBM) and Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), some dumped BlackBerry (NASDAQ:BBRY) stock overnight. Evidently, some don’t know the industry as well as they thought.  Investors need to realize:

  •  Announcements are cheap. Deliverables aren’t.
  •  IBM/Apple partnership does demonstrate BlackBerry has right strategy and has identified a real niche.
  •  Competition is good. It moves the markets. Product development accelerates and consumers are the real winners.

Some BlackBerry investors got the message, “Game Over” when they should be looking at this announcement as, “Game On – this is a real market niche“. Take it one step further in analysis and you see major players saying, “We have to get into this game because it is critical for us”.

banner ibm plus apple equals blackberry

WEDDINGS ARE EASY. MARRIAGES TAKE TIME

An article stating that Apple and IBM are going to partner to provide a better enterprise-wide solution and better mobile security for business customers is a big announcement, but that’s all it is, an announcement.

IBM will provide services via Apple’s iOS including device management, security, analytics and mobile integration.  IBM will also create 100 exclusive business applications for the iPhone (and iPads) to be sold to its business customers.

Where are the deliverables of this marriage and did customers buy into the products?

It is too early to measure any success, just like it is too early to measure the success of BlackBerry’s initiatives.

Reading through so many investor comments, who are both short and long, I see criticisms that had questioned BlackBerry’s strategy. Now, it seems as though two major players, IBM and Apple, are blessing that strategy and saying, “Yes, there is validity to that strategy and we have to come up with some solutions.” “I understand the market and have a product that fits” is a statement which is much further along than “We agree that there is a market niche and we will be building some products in the future”.

Building products takes time. Making sure they work takes more time. What will the “marriage” of IBM and Apple produce? Only time will tell. Maybe everyone should take a deep breath and remember a good quote from Hal Geneen, the former CEO of ITT:

In business, words are words, Explanations are explanations, Promises are promises, but only Performance is reality.

John Chen (CEO of BlackBerry) did not die. His vision is still viable. He needs time to execute his strategy just as much as IBM and Apple now have to have time to deliver on their big announcement.

This reminds me of when Apple first introduced the iPhone and there was both skepticism that it would sell along with those who looked at all the other phones in the industry and said, “Game Over”.(see article – wtnnews.com/articles/3612

Real competitors did not sit around. Real competitors came out with products that matched and surpassed Apple. The ones who really benefited from that competition were the customers and the overall industry.

NO ONE HAS A CRYSTAL BALL

No one has a crystal ball, so no one can say, “Game Over”. If anything, this announcement lends credibility to BlackBerry having a real market niche and the “big players” need to get into that game.

The big question should be, will BlackBerry partner up with someone else or continue on its own path? No one knows that answer except John Chen.

CARLINI-ISM:         Just remember, you’re not an expert in the Smartphone industry because you bought one and now know how to play “Angry Birds” on it.

Disclosure:  Long BBRY. The author wrote this article himself, and it expresses his own opinion.  The author is not receiving compensation for it. The author has no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.

Carlini’s visionary book, “Location  Location  Connectivity” will be coming out later this year. BOOK_COVER He will be speaking at several upcoming conferences across the country later this year. Details are forthcoming.

Follow daily Carlini-isms at www.TWITTER.com/JAMESCARLINI Copyright 2014 – James Carlini – ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

SAN FRANCISCO: LIABLE FOR INFRASTRUCTURE NEGLIGENCE?

banner james carlini - Carlini's CornerBy James Carlini

This article is an excerpt from James Carlini’s upcoming book, Location Location Connectivity:

Smartphones are becoming a ubiquitous tool to solve everyday problems from where to buy gas to where to look for a parking space in urban areas. You would think that applications (apps) like this would be a positive impact on society. You would think local governments, which on a whole, are not that efficient or effective, would welcome something to alleviate real economic development and infrastructure shortcomings, like parking.

As Smartphone technology becomes more dominant in various parts of our lives, some municipal governments, which cannot accept or understand change want to fight innovation in order to keep traditional bottlenecks and problems alive and well. Why?

In San Francisco, they are currently embattled with a parking app that provides insight to where there are available parking spaces for those coming into the city. This application cuts into the wasted energy costs of automobiles, not to mention the real problem of Continue reading

GM LEADERSHIP: NOTHING BUT HOLLOW RHETORIC

banner james carlini - Carlini's CornerBy James Carlini

If you are old enough to remember the dominance of General Motors in the 1950s, 1960s, and even 1970s, you remember the saying, “As General Motors goes, so goes the Nation.”

That was a pretty gutsy observation of how important GM was.   A large, manufacturer with industry dominance and a huge dominance within the United States’ economy.

Today, you wonder what strategic direction they have set?  They certainly are not following Continue reading

TRUMP TOWER IN CHICAGO: STICKS AND STONES WILL BREAK MY BONES

banner james carlini - Carlini's CornerBy James Carlini

It looks like Donald Trump is the “go-to” guy when the Chicago Media wants to create a controversy to cover up other more important city issues.

The whole controversy of Trump putting his name on his building is so petty and such a waste of precious media time it scares me to think what are the real stories journalists are not putting the spotlight on?

Donald Trump went through complex channels to get the name approved and no one had an issue then.  He also “contributed” to the Alderman’s campaign fund as well as to Rahm Emanuel’s campaign fund, so why wasn’t that reported as well when they complain about the name on the building? Continue reading

5G NETWORKS: UNDERSTANDING THE FUTURE

banner james carlini - Carlini's CornerBy James Carlini

This article is an excerpt from James Carlini’s upcoming book, Location Location Connectivity:

5G Networks

5G Networks will be providing some very high speeds to the average user. This means building out the network to specifications which have to include Continue reading

NEW TECH BUILDING BLOCK : GRAPHENE

banner james carlini - Carlini's CornerBy James Carlini

Graphene is a new “semi-metal” material that is made out of carbon and has the characteristics of the hardness of a diamond, better electrical conductivity than Continue reading

COMCAST TIME-WARNER MERGER: NEEDS CORRECT LEADERSHIP

banner james carlini - Carlini's CornerBy James Carlini

The latest merger being questioned is the COMCAST Time-Warner merger which many experts are weighing in on. The problem is some are looking at the wrong end of the horse when they say it’s a bad merger.

In several articles and editorials that I have read, the authors and columnists look at the COMCAST/ Time-Warner (CTW) merger as a bad thing for cable. All the articles seem to focus on the cable industry and content, yet none are even making the argument about the new merged company, let’s just call it CTW, taking on AT&T and Verizon for the customers in the high-speed data markets. Broadband connectivity needs some Continue reading

Da VINCI TOWER: INTELLIGENT BUILDINGS MEET DYNAMIC ARCHITECTURE

banner james carlini - Carlini's CornerBy James Carlini

The latest in modern skyscrapers is not going up in New York City or Chicago. It is not going up in the Far East either. The DaVinci Tower, which boasts a whole new architectural concept called Dynamic Architecture, is going up in Dubai. David Fisher is the architect.

Dynamic Architecture opens up a whole new approach to constructing Intelligent Buildings in urban areas. The applications of new architecture, technology, and Continue reading

TERABIT SPEEDS. CHICAGO RFQ NOT EVEN CLOSE

banner james carlini - Carlini's CornerBy James Carlini

Terabit speeds are what we should be aiming for as a solid goal for any major metropolitan city’s backbone network infrastructure objective. If we really want them to be a leader in global broadband connectivity tomorrow, this is the bar to set today. If you set the bar that high, and only attain 50% of its goal, you still will be world-class.

Copyright 2014 - James Carlini - All rights reserved

Copyright 2014 – James Carlini – All rights reserved

Evidently, no one told that to those who developed and released the Chicago RFQ for “a gigabit or near-gigabit network”.

Chicago has just sent out an RFQ for Broadband Infrastructure Expansion (#122737) which asks for speeds that are obsolete.

Gigabit or near-gigabit? For a network that will not be operational for at least another 24 to 36 months?
This is obsolete before they send the first packet across.

An 800-acre business park in the Chicago suburbs that I discuss in my upcoming book and was an adviser to, installed 40 Gigabit per second (40Gbps) connectivity several years ago. It’s operational TODAY. Want to be competitive today? The going speed is 40Gbps moving to 100Gbps in a short timeframe.

In my book, I go around the world discussing examples of other next-generation business parks which offer 10Gbps, 20Gbps, or better network speeds serving their tenants.

Chicago’s statement, in its RFQ declaring

….to ensure that Chicago is prepared to meet the demands of a 21st century economy.

The City’s first step toward achieving affordable high-speed internet access for all Chicagoans will target seven Innovation Zones with gigabit-or near –gigabit -speed broadband and focus on providing immediate access to businesses, universities, and organizations located in these core industrial and commercial area

rings pretty hollow in comparison.

“Prepared to meet the demands of a 21st Century economy”?? With one gigabit OR LESS network speeds to end users? This is supposedly to get the city more competitive on the global economic stage?

Whoever is advising the city has no clue where the ‘state of the art” in network infrastructure is, or how fast it is going to the next plateau of network speeds.

Get me some Smartphones and I will show you how fast that bandwidth gets eaten up by those end-user devices which are quickly becoming the “device-of-choice” as the new edge technology.

Other parameters the Chicago RFQ highlights are laughable at best, and technologically unacceptable at worst. Here are some excerpts of it that I have a problem with:

Providing the resources necessary for Businesses, Universities and other organizations to succeed and thrive is necessary for Chicago to remain a global leader and pioneer. Availability of and access to an affordable high-speed broadband network is now a critical component of urban infrastructure, similar to electricity, water, and roadways.

The infrastructure must be capable of providing 99.9% availability, be resilient with low latency and jitter, and ensure that packets sent and received at the network edges are identical.

You ARE NOT going to “remain a global leader and pioneer” with reliability rates of only 99.9% availability.

Do you really believe large businesses like the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, Boeing, or any of the banks are going to trust their mission critical applications on networks that are running with only a 99.9% reliability?

Most businesses with mission critical applications want the insurance of 99.995% to 99.999% availability rates. With enterprise-wide mission critical applications currently at one-out-of-three and quickly growing to one-out-of-two applications, who is going to want to use a 99.9% reliable network?

Maybe if we relate it to snow storms, Chicago might “get it”. Don’t ask for one ton of salt when you really need 1,024 tons to get businesses moving and competitive.

Something more visual? You look absolutely foolish chanting “we’re going to be Number one” from your two horsepower horse-and-buggy parked on the NASCAR track amongst the other 1,200-horsepowered cars lining up for the race.

That’s the problem when political leaders and their advisers are technologically Amish. Understand the technology, know how to apply it, and get someone who is not a cheerleader to tell you how you are perceived on the world’s racetrack of economic viability and sustainability.

CARLINI-ISM: When it comes to network speeds, you need to be the fastest to say you’re world class.
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Carlini’s visionary upcoming book, Location Location Connectivity will be available later this year.

COPYRIGHT 2014 – James Carlini

COMCAST SHOULD BE VIEWED AS A NETWORK CARRIER

banner james carlini - Carlini's CornerBy James Carlini

COMCAST’s recent $45 Billion acquisition of Time-Warner Cable was big news in the Cable TV world, but it should be looked at from a different perspective. Instead of looking at COMCAST as a Cable TV provider, we should be looking at it as another alternative to the traditional network carriers like AT&T and Verizon for our data needs both at home and at the business location.

NEW COMPETITION OR NO COMPETITION?

Maybe the incumbent network carriers like AT&T and Verizon don’t look at COMCAST as being a real competitor because its focus is more on Cable TV but in reality, the network grid that COMCAST has could go head-to-head in markets where incumbents like AT&T provide U-Verse.

Did you know if you get U-Verse, you cannot get a second high-speed U-Verse line? I found that out recently and could not believe how short-sighted that is from a marketing strategy standpoint. It leaves AT&T wide open for someone like COMCAST to come in and provide a second line for work-at-home couples. This was our solution when AT&T could not ante up a second line.

This raises a huge question as to the available network resources AT&T has in the street. If their policy is to not provide a second line, it means it doesn’t have enough network capabilities in the street. The solution is to go with a second provider like COMCAST.

RE-THINKING THE CORPORATE STRATEGY

COMCAST should be re-evaluating what its business model is. When all the Cable TV providers started, their focus was that they were in the “entertainment business” and not in the network carrier business. In reality, they were building a network infrastructure.

Today, with that network infrastructure in place, they should be re-thinking on what they want to sell as services. They may need a shake-up of executives who are too tunnel-focused to the cable TV market.

Having a second line come in from a totally separate carrier and network topography, creates a strong resiliency for mission critical applications. You can get this at the household level in almost all cases.

99% of the commercial buildings are still in the horse-and-buggy days of having one main connection to one central office of the phone company for connectivity. Corporate tenants who have mission critical applications should be using more than one network access point for their core business applications.

It is time to move forward from the horse-and-buggy days and start adding redundancy to all networks that carry any applications that you consider mission critical. If you work from home, that connection to your customer base is mission critical. Do you have network redundancy in place? You should.

CARLINI-ISM: If you have mission critical applications, you should be connected to two separate network carriers to avoid a single point-of-failure.
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COPYRIGHT 2014 – <a href="http://www.carliniscomments.com/"

2014: A YEAR OF UNKNOWN CELEBRATIONS

banner james carlini - Carlini's CornerBy James Carlini

2014 is a year that commemorates a lot of historical breakthroughs and global events. It is unfortunate that many who are in their 20s and 30s are absolutely clueless to these major events. Why? Public education seems to have failed miserably.

SO WHAT BIG THINGS HAPPENED?

Ask someone under 40 what year “the Great War started? You might be surprised – and shocked – with the answers. It is the 100th anniversary of the beginning of World War Continue reading

TERABIT SPEEDS – NEW NETWORK INFRASTRUCTURE GOAL

banner james carlini - Carlini's CornerBy James Carlini

Since the United States is lagging behind in network infrastructure and broadband connectivity, it is time to raise the bar to terabit speeds when it comes to setting the standard for Continue reading

NET NEUTRALITY SOLUTION? NET COMPETITION

banner james carlini - Carlini's CornerBy James Carlini

The Internet should not be looked at as a tollway. Some want to change the Information Superhighway into a bureaucratic tollway which does nothing for increasing regional economic development, but does do a lot for impeding our overall global competitiveness.

The sad thing is that most people in government do not see this because they are blinded and dazzled by Continue reading

STRATEGIC SLOPPINESS? BETTER RE-THINK THAT EMAIL STRATEGY

banner james carlini - Carlini's CornerBy James Carlini

It is amazing the bad advice that is being pumped out by some writers who think they have a hip handle on “dealing with executives” today and they want to take a casually-written exception of an EMail and make it into a rule.

The latest article that tries to promote bad management form is one written by a writer, Kevin Roose, from New York Magazine.
See article:
http://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20140108153547-32124898-how-spelling-mistakes-and-bad-e-mail-etiquette-can-help-you-get-ahead?trk=eml-ced-b-art-M-1&ut=1BLJ6GXy-0jS41

WHAT YOU SEE ON JERRY SPRINGER IS THE EVERYDAY NORM OF SOCIETY

Yes, if you want to “fit in” to today’s society, just watch Jerry Springer for the most accepted ways to live your life.

Smoke crack, have sex with relatives, and forget going to the dentist when you break a front tooth. Come on, let’s get real. Those are rare exceptions, not the rule of today’s society.

I felt the same reaction when reading this article about “strategic sloppiness” and writing a casual response to a CEO. What might be considered a “hip response” by one generation is looked down upon by others as inappropriate.

The other observations in the article seem off-base as well:
“We’ve known for years that the higher you are on the food chain, the more license you’re allowed to take with the rules of professional communication…..”

Really? Most executives set a standard and that standard should be met or exceeded. Taking license and bending that standard may look “cool” to someone observing, but try to send a sloppy EMail to an organization and see if you even get a response.

As I observed after reading the article: Are there exceptions? Sure, but try to emulate someone who is real casual in their CEO position and you won’t be taken seriously by those they have put in charge of their organization as executive gate-keepers.

Another quote from the article: “As the boss, you can make as many mistakes as you want.”

Believe me, if you start making too many mistakes, you won’t be boss much longer. Either you will be replaced by the Board of Directors or your company will go out of business, so that observation and conclusion is a little weak. CEOs who make mistakes should be kicked out and should not be given any golden parachutes for poor performance. You don’t reward mediocrity and you certainly don’t celebrate failure with a bonus.

STRATEGY? THE TOTAL CORPORATE STRUCTURE IS SET FROM THE TOP

Malcolm Forbes had a couple of good quotes that I always like to throw out for those trying to understand executive management. One was, “He who has the wheel, sets the direction.”

The CEO sets the corporate direction and steers the enterprise to reach that goal. Whatever he or she decides, will make or break the company. The CEO is in a very powerful and demanding position, but sometimes is not really tested as to their real skills.

Forbes’ other quote is much more revealing and critical, “Any fool can handle the helm in calm seas.”

Some CEOs who were blessed to be in a CEO position when all the planets were aligned and their company had great success in the midst of no obstacles or real competition, may not be as good as they are portrayed. They get washed away quickly in the first storm.

THE MORAL OF THE STORY

Okay, you find someone that has some quirks in their management and leadership style. It may work for them, but you are not them. Don’t emulate their quirks, because you will not pull it off.

In music composition classes, there are many rules and chord progressions you must follow. These were all set years ago and if you are composing something, you follow the rules.

Have there been exceptions to this, where a great composer broke the rules? Yes, but that is a rare, rare exception.

The same goes for leadership and management skills and their application to conducting business. There are an accepted scope of actions that you should emulate. Good writing and speaking skills are key executive skills.

Taking liberty to be a non-conformist to that management framework is like playing “A flat” when you are in the key of “A” with the rest of the band.

Is there dissonance? Yes. Is there a great shock value? Yes. Will you be looked at as a great virtuoso who is so more magically skilled then the rest of the band?

99.999% of the time – NO, you’ll be looked at like some out-of-touch moron.

CARLINI-ISM: Executive skills should set a standard. Don’t play A flat in an A world. Stick to the music.

COPYRIGHT 2014 – James Carlini

AT&T MISSES THE MARK WITH U-VERSE

banner james carlini - Carlini's CornerBy James Carlini

It’s time for a total shake-up of AT&T executives who think they understand the market for high-speed services to residential customers. Take it from someone who worked at Bell Labs and got a ton of real network infrastructure training in the Bell System: Get rid of them because they do not understand what is needed in today’s work-at-home, telecommuter market.

Where is the strategy at AT&T when it comes to their flagship product, U-Verse? It certainly doesn’t address the realities of today’s Continue reading

TWO-WEEK NOTICE EXIT STRATEGIES ARE OBSOLETE

banner james carlini - Carlini's CornerBy James Carlini

When it comes to leaving companies, employees should re-think their exit strategy. As I have said in previous articles, two-week notices went out with nickel beers. Unless you have mutually signed an agreement which specifies that either party must give the other one sufficient notice (30-days, 90-days) before terminating their association, giving notice is an option – not a mandatory requirement.

Recently, I had the opportunity to observe this first-hand. Instead of a two-week notice, the executive assembled a Summary of Tasks and turned that in with a letter of resignation.

NO RECOGNITION THEN, NO RECOGNITION NOW

Some people think that if they give a two-week notice, it will reflect greatly on them after they leave. The reality is – it doesn’t. When you give two-weeks notice, your employer could say, “Fine, this is your last day.”

You don’t get any “credit” for the two weeks you offered up as a notice. Some people think that if they offer a two-week notice, this locks in two-weeks pay, regardless if the company gets rid of you that day or not. It doesn’t.

Some Human Resource (HR) professionals will tell you “don’t burn your bridges”. They are only covering the company so that the transition is less abrupt, they are not concerned about your career.

Do you really think that if you were not recognized for the work you did for the organization for the last three, five, ten years (pick a length), that you will be given some platinum recommendation after you leave?

If you were recognized for the work you did, chances are, you would not be leaving. If an employer did not recognize you when you were there working diligently, do you really think you are going to get a glowing reference of recognition when you are gone for a year. Or, ten years? Wake up.

In a very recent departure of an executive from a large organization, the intention was that the executive was going to give some notice, but some issues changed and she gave a one-day notice instead.

Her performance appraisal was very high, yet when it came time for the annual bonus, the amount was severely decimated. This was over a year ago.

She went through proper procedures and talked to her boss about it. He never answered her question and did not really do anything in the next bonus cycle to rectify the shorting of the amount.

Anyone who is expecting a bonus and gets a significantly lesser amount should at least get an explanation of why it was cut back.
In this case, that never happened. So the question of giving notice was tied back to meeting with the boss about the loss of compensation.

Not taking action on this type of employee issue is a clear sign of lack of leadership. I challenge any HR “professional”, before commenting about the “inappropriate action of the employee of not giving two-week notice”, to be as quick and as judgmental about the lack of leadership in the manager who did not follow up with any type of action or even an explanation of the cut in bonus for fourteen months.

In my perspective, the company did not earn any “special” consideration like a two-week notice, when it failed to address a reason for a reduced cialis bonus, let alone rectify a bad bonus situation.

BESIDES A LETTER OF RESIGNATION

Most Human Resource professionals will tell you to write a short Letter of Resignation in order to formalize your departure. That’s old news.

What you should also be turning in, is a Summary of Tasks for Transition or a list of responsibilities that you have which have to be taken over.

In order to have a smooth and orderly departure, you should give your supervisor a list of the job responsibilities that you have in order to make sure someone picks up all the tasks.

In essence, the Summary of Tasks for Transition should be a summary of all the responsibilities that you have on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis for someone to assume responsibility for after you leave.

It could be a list of things ranging from daily review of orders coming in to developing and summarizing the weekly sales report to coordinating the monthly regional report. Anything that you do, review, compile, design or assemble, should be in this Summary of Tasks. This gives your boss, as well as anyone else, a clear road-map to assume your responsibilities. You should meet with your boss to discuss the Summary of Tasks and any supporting information that goes along with each line item. That’s wrapping up your tenure there professionally.

If you are the boss of the person leaving, you should be asking for this Summary of Tasks for Transition document because the job description that you have for that person is probably out-of-date and does not reflect the full scope of responsibilities that they have. Chances are, you don’t know all the tasks that the person is performing and you’re better off getting a list of responsibilities from them, than trying to think you know what they are doing on an everyday basis.

The document should be complete and reviewed by the supervisor and the person leaving before they depart. Then, the supervisor needs to assign those tasks to those who are remaining.

Sounds simple, yet most companies are more worried about two-week notices. One-day notices are becoming more common as people do not feel they should be giving two-week notices to companies that are not giving two-week (or more) notices to people when they have a force reduction, layoff or any other “euphemism” for cutting back on the organization’s headcount.

Those HR professionals who warn not to leave without “proper” notice because you are leaving your co-workers in a lurch have no insight on real world office culture. Chances are, if you are leaving because the organization is bad, your co-workers probably have one foot out the door as well. They might be mad that you beat them to the punch as to getting out of the bad situation.

Usually, they are more concerned if you can find them a new job in the company that you are going to.

CARLINI-ISM: When it comes to leaving a company, you’re mind is made up and you should leave quickly in good graces by writing a short and concise Letter of Resignation and attaching a Summary of Tasks for Transition so that your job responsibilities can be easily picked up and re-assigned.

COPYRIGHT 2014 – James Carlini

NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTION: TOLERANCE

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Looking back at the year, I could have written about certain business milestones or technology advances, but I think we should reflect on the betterment of mankind by trying to revisit tolerance and acceptance in our lives. Going into 2014, we should Continue reading

SMARTPHONES, SMART CITIES, SMART STRATEGIES

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In a recent Forbes article, a book, Against the Smart City, was reviewed on its focus on the concept of Smart Cities. The article’s author discussed the perspective and the arguments made by the book. I tended to disagree with the Continue reading

NAZI STOLEN ART TREASURE – WHO OWES WHAT?

banner james carlini - Carlini's CornerBy James Carlini

By no means am I an art expert or have some extensive collection, but I do have an appreciation for fine art and also had many relatives fight in World War II. Some say the art that was recently found in Munich was priceless. That might be a fair assessment of it.

I was always shocked at the looting of Europe of all the art treasures and then the lack of finding so many of them. It was an intriguing story to hear how they took both modern and centuries-old art and antiquities back to Germany as spoils of war and empire building. Art from Beckmann, Chagall, Klee, Matisse,and others all went missing for decades. Now, some have been found in Continue reading

ACA HEALTHCARE WEBSITE? ANYBODY CAN DO REAL-TIME SYSTEMS

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Well, we just killed off that myth! Good mission critical systems come from good mission critical systems people – not political hacks or Continue reading

THE AFFORDABLE CARE ACT: BETTER RESULTS AS A SHOVEL-READY PROJECT?

banner james carlini - Carlini's CornerBy James Carlini

“We spent over $600,000,000 and got what for our money?”

That should be the top story on every news channel as well as in the minds of all taxpayers who were waiting for some type of better health plan than what they were paying for. It should also be the first question asked in Washington, DC on BOTH sides of the aisle.

What happened to quality in Continue reading

PRESERVING, CONSERVING, and OBSERVING AMERICA

banner james carlini - Carlini's CornerBy James Carlini

With all the issues going around today from divided politics to a weak economy, it is good to take a look at where we have come from, how we have built a strong foundation, and try to apply the good concepts in entrepreneurial efforts in business and infrastructure learned yesterday to today’s and tomorrow’s challenges. Sometimes it is good to take a break from Continue reading

CONDUCTING GLOBAL BUSINESS ON A WEAK FOUNDATION?

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Your company will fail. Your office space will be a major contributing factor.

More commercial buildings are becoming technologically obsolete because their owners and property management companies do not realize that the three most important words in real estate have become Continue reading

JUST BLINK AND YOUR CREDIT CARD CAN BE STOLEN

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More and more people are getting credit cards with a built-in RFID chip in them. That little RFID chip (Radio Frequency ID) can transmit your credit card info out several feet when it is scanned by any reader. Most people do not know this.

You can tell if your credit card has an RFID in it because most cards will be marked by one of several Continue reading

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT EQUALS BROADBAND CONNECTIVITY….

banner james carlini - Carlini's CornerBy James Carlini

And Broadband Connectivity equals jobs. That was a key point that I have been making in the last couple of years in keynote speeches addressing thousands in audiences across the country at various conferences.

At the AGL (Above Ground Level Magazine) Conference yesterday, I presented this key concept as well as Continue reading

DRESS FOR SUCCESS: CASUAL DOESN’T MEAN HOMELESS

banner james carlini - Carlini's CornerBy James Carlini

When you go to a business meeting today are you dressed for success or dressed casually? Do you look like you flew in on the corporate jet or were you one of the people washing it down before the flight?

7K0A0603Image consultants seem more concerned about social media tools today than they are real barometers of professionalism and success. Having a Smartphone with an obnoxious ring tone is not cool and won’t make any points unless you Continue reading

ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING NEEDS BROADBAND CONNECTIVITY

banner james carlini - Carlini's CornerBy James Carlini

There is a lot of promise from the growing industry of 3D printers and manufacturing products through their use as well as new 3D scanners. This technology is providing a second industrial revolution in the United States as well as globally.

Continue reading

HYPERLOOP: THE NEXT LAYER OF INFRASTRUCTURE

banner james carlini - Carlini's CornerBy James Carlini

Wake up America

Especially the politicians in California, Illinois, and anywhere else where they are considering implementing a high-speed train. High-speed trains are so “last century” and they are not cheap to build or maintain. If they are not used to their maximum capacities and there is only marginal ridership, they are a supreme waste of money and their residual value is just another money-wasting monument built to honor and perpetuate bureaucracy. Continue reading

LEARNING FROM LEADERS’ QUOTES

banner james carlini - Carlini's CornerBy James Carlini

How can you learn from proven leaders’ wisdom? One quick way is to get an insight to their thought process by reading up on their quotes.

Years ago, a business acquaintance I had met in San Francisco while consulting on a high-tech real estate project for Santa Fe Southern Pacific in Silicon Valley got me started on looking at quotes from different leaders in various industries. Continue reading

RE-TOOLING COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE CURRICULA

banner james carlini - Carlini's CornerBy James Carlini

Hear that huge shattering sound of multiple stories of glass crashing down to the ground? That is the shattering of decades’ worth of commercial real estate concepts that don’t Continue reading

A TSUNAMI HITS DETROIT

banner james carlini - Carlini's CornerBy James Carlini

Do you hear that? It’s a crumbling sound reverberating across the country.

It’s the great wall of over-bloated government pensions starting to crumble in Detroit. The unions think they will stop the crumbling? I don’t think so. Continue reading

CONDO BOARD PRESIDENT: YOU ARE NOT A LANDLORD

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By James Carlini

Views from a Condo Board President :

As more baby boomers retire and decide to go into condos or townhomes that have homeowner associations, they better realize that condo/ townhouse living is different than living in a single family home. Living within a set of rules after living on your own for several decades takes Continue reading

USING COPPER CABLING? BEWARE OF THIEVES

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By James Carlini

Copper cabling is still used in both electrical and telecommunications applications.  Both the power company as well as the telephone companies, still use a lot of it for distributing power as well as distributing communication signals for voice, data, and video.  Because of its value, many are thinking it is an Continue reading

BUILDING CONNECTIVITY: FIVE WAYS TO TELL IF YOUR BUILDING IS OBSOLETE

banner james carlini - Carlini's CornerBy James Carlini

EXCERPT from James Carlini’s upcoming book, Location, Location, Connectivity :

How receptive is your building to all the new connectivity technology exploding onto the market? Have your Smartphone with you? Does it work well in your building? What about your applications running on your enterprise network? Are you getting the speeds you need to compete in the 21st century? Or, are you stuck with 20th century connectivity because no one knows how to upgrade the building’s network infrastructure? Continue reading

PHONE CALL ANALYTICS? JIHAD, BENGHAZI, TEA PARTY – WE CAN FIND THEM ALL

banner james carlini - Carlini's CornerBy James Carlini

Who said Jihad? Who is talking about the Tea Party? Who said Benghazi or NSA? We can search ALL phone conversations down to the specific word and bring up ALL calls that have those keywords (or whatever we type in). We HAVE technology to do that. In fact, we can Continue reading