Jordy Blog

Custom Communication Apps

My brother and business partner Gabe will be helping to lead a discussion on FreeSWITCH and Asterisk at the the Utah Open Source Conference tomorrow.

Gabe is the CTO of our small startup company (Izeni), and our team has built, and continues to build, some pretty cool projects based on these (and other) open source telephony technologies.

Some of the recent FreeSWITCH customization projects we’ve built for our clients include a custom call center that can handle up to 100 concurrent agents on commodity hardware, and a distributed SIP load tester that’s capable of pushing thousands of concurrent SIP calls (suitable for stress testing extremely large telephony infrastructures).

But those are just 2 examples of the many ways a company can customize a free software phone switch to enhance their current products or services with open source telephony. Whether you need a hosted IVR (Interactive Voice Response) solution, or just some method to bridge phone calls, record calls, make outbound calls, etc; FreeSWITCH and Asterisk are up to the task.

Anyway, if you’re in Utah and are interested in learning more about Open Source telephony, you should come by tomorrow to check out the discussion. You can also can review the (expansive) FreeSWITCH and Asterisk feature sets. And if you need some phone-related development done for your company, that kind of work is highly specialized, easy to outsource, and right up our alley. We’d love to help!

Along those same lines is something that’s been on my mind lately: I’d be interested in starting a Utah FreeSWITCH Users Group, originally meeting in only in Utah Valley, but hopefully spreading as the FreeSWITCH project comes into more common usage. If you’re local and would be interesting in participating (or leading), please let me know.

And if you think of some way you’d like to have your product interact with phones, text messages, even IM –that’s just what we do. We’d love to help you work through it –even if it’s just to help you see what’s possible.

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Transparency in Education Forum

I got this email from Parents for Choice in Education last night.

Transparency in Education Forum, Jan. 14th

On Wednesday January 14th, the Sutherland Institute is hosting a forum called Transparency in Education, featuring John Fund of the Wall Street Journal.  The forum will include a sneak peak at Utah’s new transparency website.

We encourage you to attend the forum, both because of the importance of transparency and because John Fund is a great speaker (He’s spoken at PCE events in the past).

From our perspective, financial transparency in education is crucial to empowering citizens and increasing accountability, especially in an education system with limited choice. Increasing transparency is one of the main reasons we created the website www.UtahEducationFacts.com.

As we mentioned in our latest email bulletin, transparency will be a key issue in the 2009 legislative session.  Last year, the Legislature passed a law requiring government agencies at the state level to post financial data online for public scrutiny.  Senator Niederhauser of Sandy is sponsoring a bill for 2009 that will extend the transparency requirements to local government, including school districts and charter schools.

The event costs $25 per person and is on Wednesday, January 14th from 2 to 4 pm in downtown Salt Lake City.  To reserve a seat, call (801) 355-1272 or visit www.sutherlandinstitute.org.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *
For more info about the event, see this flyer.

To learn more about financial transparency in education, go here.

Please consider becoming a member of Parents for Choice in Education if you haven’t yet. It’s free, and it’s a darn good way to stay abreast of movements in education reform (which I think we need now more than ever).

By the way, I’m putting events like this on a colaborative Utah Liberty Events Calendar. You should subscribe if you’re into that kind of stuff (and let me know if you’d like to contribute).

Places to Go, People to Meet

I’m pleased with how much opportunity for personal development and professional networking there is in Utah. Yes, I do want to see it grow even more, but it’s nice have more good options than I could possibly attend.

Tonight for example, the Utah Tech Events and Utah Business Events calendars show four events in which I have genuine interested, all occurring at the same time.  At 7:30 tonight I would be perfectly content to be at any of these four events:

1. Twelve Horses: Brand Evolution
2. Ignite Salt Lake
3. BYU Web Startup Group
4. Utah Python Users Group

Incidentally, I’d also enjoy being at home with my family, but this abundance of events centered around professional networking and personal development shows that Utah really does have a great (albeit budding) tech and business ecosystem. These mostly non-profit knowledge-sharing groups constitute, I believe, some crucial intangibles that are important underpinnings to a vibrant economy. I’m glad to see them, and I’d love to see them grow.

Anyway, there’s no excuse to not be developing your personal and professional skills at some of these events. Just don’t try to substitute them for hard and diligent work. :)

If you’d like to be a contributor to out local tech and business calendars, please ping me or any of the other calendar admins. Especially if you’ve got a utah-based business or tech group and would like a channel to attract more people, we’d love to hear from you.

BYU Web Startup Group

I just added the BYU Web Startup Group to my comprehensive list of Utah Tech Groups.

From their website:

The Web Startup group was founded to bring together people interested in creating new sites and services online. Group members include web developers (programmers and designers), marketing and business-minded individuals, creative idea people, and others with technology related skills. The group meets regularly to discuss and make Web Startups come to life. If you are interested in making a difference online then join us!

Their next meeting will be this Thursday and will cover Android and “Jump Starting your Website”.

I also added one of the founders, Adam Chavez, to Utah’s Business Blog Aggregator and invited him to contribute his events to the Utah Tech Events Calendar. If you or anyone you know should be added to these Utah business community sites, please contact me.

BTW, there’s also a Utah Business Events Calendar which hasn’t caught on nearly as much. Let me know if you’d like to contribute. Maybe I’ll merge the two calendars in the future; we’ll see.

Anyway, checkout the Web Startup Group. I think they could end up being a really valuable resource to the Utah business and technology communities.

Utah Mobile Developers First Meeting is Tonight

Don’t forget about the inaugural meeting of Utah Mobile Developers Group tonight.  They’ll be discussing both iPhone and Android development and handing out some O’Reilly iPhone books.

I have a feeling that this group is going to be awesome. At least it will be for me; it’s right up the alley of what my new business will be doing. Here’s UMDG’s mission statement:

The mission of the UMDG is provide development-level education and networking around mobile applications. This includes device-specific apps, client-server apps and web-only apps formatted for use on mobile devices. We will cover all mobile devices for which there is interest, including iPhone, Android, Blackberry, Windows Mobile, J2ME and more.

By the way, they’re looking for sponsors. I pledge to be one once we’re actually profitable.

Utah Mobile Developers Group

I’m way excited about the Utah Mobile Developers user group that is forming. Their first activity is on the schedule for Wednesday, October 29 and will discuss both iPhone and Android development. Here’s the agenda and RVSP:

6:00pm Doors open, pizza, networking
6:30 Opening, recognize sponsors, review agenda, review door prizes
6:40 Presentation 1 – iPhone Development
7:40 Presentation 2 – Android (Google Phone) Development
8:40 Door prizes
9:00 Meeting over
Afterward – trip to someplace local for pie, drinks, fries, whatever

Please rsvp by sending an email to glen@glenlewis.com.

I’ve already added it to the Utah Tech Events Calendar. If you’re a nerdy Utahn who loves mobile phones you should come. This is going to be an area of explosive growth and opportunity.

For those who didn’t know, I’m working on a tech business that’s very mobile-phone related, so I’m very excited to see this group forming in Utah.

UTOSC 2008 and Utah Business Search Trends

My brother Gabe wrote an interesting post highlighting how Google Trends searches show that Utah is a hotbed of Open Source. It reminded me that I haven’t plugged the Utah Open Source Conference that’s happening this week. This conference is something you don’t want to miss.  I think you can still get tickets.

If your business is still not leveraging open source, you need to stop by to meet some of the people that can help you make it happen.

Now, on a separate nerdy note, I wanted to echo Gabe’s post by pointing out some business terms in which Utahans have peculiar interest according to search data in Google Trends.  When it comes to industry related searches, we rank #1 for Multi Level Marketing, #2 in Outdoor Recreation, and #3 in Telemarketing.

Utah also does a disproportionate amount of searches for online business terms: we rank #1 for SEO, #2 for Internet Marketing, #1 for Web Analytics, and #2 for Internet Business.

Can you think of any other obvious top Utah searches?  I’m looking specifically for business terms; although searches for jello, meth, and vouchers are interesting in their own right.

Utah Open Source Conference Starts Tomorrow (Thursday)

My friend Clint Savage (aka Herlo) has lead a team of volunteers in planning the first ever Utah Open Source Conference, which has come together quite nicely (especially for the first year).

News and updates on the conference have been plastered all over Gabe’s excellent Utah Open Source Planet, but I thought I’d post a reminder here for my readers and the local business folk who catch me on ConnectBlogs since the conference boasts a rather appealing business track.

If you’re in business in Utah and would like to see how open source can save you thousands of dollars annually in IT expenses, you should check the Utah Open Source Conference out. You’ll be able to learn some open source basics, see what other Utah company’s are doing to harness open source, and (perhaps most importantly) network with some of the brightest technologists in the state –people who may be able to help you make your business run more smoothly for a fraction of the cost.

Here’s the registration page, which will remain open until the event sells out –but act fast since there aren’t a ton of spaces left. I should mention that there’s a steep discount if you’re a member of one of Utah’s fantastic open source user groups.

Event keynotes include legendary open source technocrat Bruce Perens, and the Open Source Initiative’s articulate Matt Asay. There will be numerous excellent local speakers as well.

Geni Is Sweet Viral Marketing

Today’s my little brother Aaron’s birthday, a point that had eluded me until Geni notified me via email:

Dear Jordan Gunderson,

Aaron Gunderson, your brother, has a birthday today.

Click the link below to enter a birthday greeting for Aaron and we’ll deliver it today.

- The Geni Team

Short, simple, useful, and driven by info that I didn’t enter myself.  It was effective: I went to the site (which I’ve been dragging my butt on for months), updated some data, check out some of the features, etc.  Through one simple 4-line email that was pertinent to me, I got involved in their product and will continue to play with it.  Contrast that to the page after page of useless drivel you receive from most marketers (read “spammers”) and you’ll see why permission marketing really is the way of the future.

BTW, I saw Seth Godin speak in SLC yesterday, and I was impressed.  Since it’s already been covered extensively in the Utah blogosphere I’ll refrain from to much comment, but I just wanted to thank Phil, Ash, and everyone else for making it happen.  You guys rule!

UtahInventor Wants You

I don’t really consider myself an inventor per se, but I was impressed by the Utah Inventors‘ inaugural meeting I mentioned earlier and have been wanting to report on it ever since.

The presenters (including Dr. Dinesh Patel) were stellar, and the meeting was well attended (especially for a first go); but I was surprised at the lack of Utah business presence. There were numerous inventors, IP lawyers, and representatives from local not-for-profits; but I didn’t really see anyone from the entrepreneurial, marketing, or finance communities –the very people these inventors need to take good ideas (or good products) and make them into good companies.

Anyway, it was obvious that Vaughn North and crew have put a lot of work into getting Utah Inventors off the ground, and I think they’re going to make it work. They have a solid (although small) management team, a reputable Board of Advisors, and they fill a niche that I’m convinced is important for Utah industry. They won’t be able to do alone though; UtahInventor also needs (and has specifically requested) active participation from motivated volunteers if they’re to become a long-term force for good in Utah economy. I hope that some of you will step up to the challenge. Working with inventors is a little like herding cats (everyone’s got a better way to do everything) but I think they’re a good bunch, and I’m certain that there will be legitimate business opportunities for anyone who cares to get involved.