It’s not as though the Liquid Lens ever went away, it’s just that its inventor - Varioptic has re-engaged FIR to promote it, and we’re thrilled about this development.

Perhaps you’ve heard of the Liquid Lens, and Varioptic’s patented “electro-wetting” technology? It works much like the human eye, using electricity to alter the shape of two drops of liquid, to bend light, alter focus, and produce a miniature, but powerful (multi-megapixel) lens. It solves some problems that current optics cannot: it fits into tiny spaces: it doesn’t freeze, melt, crack, or wear out (because it has no moving parts); and it’s inexpensive to mass-produce, because the materials are just drops of oil and water (with some amazing intellectual property mixed in.) The Liquid Lens is actually based on somewhat simple technology, and that’s part of its brilliance. Today, and in the months ahead, the liquid lens is finding a variety of new uses, such as:
PDA’s, camera phones, miniature (high-end) camcorders, and embedded cameras in laptops
Industrial applications, such as scanners, barcode-readers, and security surveillance applications
Automotive applications, including embedded cameras for diagnostics
And a host of medical applications, such as endoscopes and cameras for ophthalmology

If you’d like to find out more about Varioptic, or about the Liquid lens, let me know.

The 2008 PRWeek agency rankings are in. Last year, despite our best efforts, FIR could not gain entry on the list. Either we were too small, or (perish the thought) we missed the deadline for submission. But with each new year, comes new opportunities, and I’m proud to report that not only did FIR make the list - but only 7 companies of the 195 listed had a higher growth rate than FIR in 2007.

With a 68% growth rate, FIR firmly ranked in the top-10 on PRWeek’s list in this category. We also fared well in the “Revenue-per-employee” category, ranking 44^th of 195. When I look at the staggering revenue numbers posted by some of the iconic agencies (remembering my days working for one), it’s no wonder that vendors in increasing numbers are turning to smaller, more focused, boutique shops to meet their needs.

Seeing your firm’s name in such a ranking gives perspective. It reminds us all to be thankful for our clients, for our partners, and for our colleagues in the media who have helped us, and our clients accomplish our objectives. Here’s to another great, albeit certainly different, year ahead.

After a slight layoff - the Town Hall Meetings are back at Spring VON.x. We can thank the return of Jonathan Askin to Pulvermedia for this development. Scheduled to take place on March 17th from 5:00-6:00 PM, the Spring VON.x Town Hall Meeting, entitled: “Back to the Future” will assemble respected advocates on all sides of the communications policy debate, who will kick off Spring VON.x, by discussing the intersection of technology, business and policy, and its ramifications on the industry.

Joining Askin in this meeting are: Rick Whitt, Washington Telecom and Media Counsel for Google; Kathy Brown, Senior Vice President of Public Policy Development and Corporate Responsibility for Verizon, Larry Irving, former Assistant Secretary of Commerce and Director of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, and others.

For information on how to attend, and for a free expo pass to Spring VON.x, visit www.pulvermedia.com, or contact me on todd@pulvermedia.com

Earlier this week, Nokia, and nine other companies invested €25m ($38m) in one of FIR’s clients - INSIDE Contactless: the makers of the Near Field Communication (NFC) chipsets, and the Single Wire Protocol (SWP) architecture, that is helping to bring NFC technology to market on a mass scale.

The funds will be used to help accelerate the worldwide adoption of NFC, which brings a new level of interactivity and services to mobile phones. NFC enables consumers to make secure, contactless purchases with their mobile phones – simply by swiping their NFC-enabled phone past a reader device, much like consumers do today with contactless credit cards. This funding – and the general interest in INSIDE Contactless across the industry can be attributed to the following key items:

• INSIDE has delivered more than 100 million chipsets and operating systems for contactless Visa and MasterCards, through dozens of issuers.
• This expertise (and undisputed leadership) has been leveraged to develop the industry’s most advanced NFC chipset for mobile phones. Currently, INSIDE holds more than 55 patents relating to contactless technology, and almost a dozen patents relating specifically to NFC.
• INSIDE’s Single Wire Protocol architecture has been recently adopted as a standard by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI), because it provides the most efficient connection between the NFC chip, and the SIM card in a mobile phone (which is essential, given the limited resources available in a handset). This standard now provides the next-step needed to get operators, handset manufacturers, issuers (and the many other players in the NFC ecosystem) on the same page, to implement NFC on a mass-market scale.

Today, there are dozens of NFC implementations deployed throughout Asia, and dozens more are in the trial-stages throughout Europe. In the year ahead, NFC will reach the US on a significant scale, and INSIDE will play a key role in making this happen.

INSIDE’s CEO Remy de Tonnac commented on this week’s funding: “This is more than a financial investment, this is about a strategic partnership with key players who are committed to building and driving the NFC ecosystem. Three years ago a similar strategic investment was made with Visa which brought the company to a leading position in the field of Contactless payment. We hope that this new development for INSIDE will lead to a similar success in the NFC market.” Other companies investing in INSIDE include Sofinnova Partners, Vertex Management, Vertex Ventures, Siparex, GIMV, EuroUS Venture, Granite Global Ventures and Visa Ventures.

INSIDE is exhibiting at CES, January 7-9, 2008, in the NFC Forum – in booth # 73825, in the Sands Convention Center. Interested parties are encouraged to stop by the booth, and can also set up a briefing by contacting any of us at FIR.

Additional information on INSIDE Contactless can be found at: http://www.insidecontactless.com/about/overview.php or http://www.firpr.com/InsideContactlessBG.pdf, and Additional information on NFC can be found at: http://www.insidecontactless.com/nfc/strategic_positioning.php

Near Field Communication (NFC) technology is an open standard that enables a mobile phone to behave as a reader, or as a sender of information to other readers, or other phones. Using NFC, Consumers can complete “contactless” transactions with NFC-enabled mobile phones, such as: paying for purchases; redeeming coupons; obtaining receipts; buying e-tickets, passing through gates in transit systems; and using their phone as a secure ID to enter buildings or log onto computers or networks.

Today, in Korea and Japan, more than three million contactless phones are being used for these transactions each day. The technology is not only convenient, but it is also highly secure. In Europe, a pilot program is now underway in Paris, which allows consumers to use their NFC-enabled phones as a contactless “ticket” to pass through entry gates in the Paris public transit system. HID, the worldwide leader in contactless access control systems, has launched a pilot program (using INSIDE’s NFC technology) that enables employees to use their mobile phones to unlock entry doors. And today, trials are now starting in the US that will help bring this technology to the mainstream in 2008. The world’s largest handset manufacturers – including Nokia, Samsung, Motorola, LG, Siemens and NEC - are currently integrating NFC technology into their mobile phones.

INSIDE’s NFC chip leverages a patented technology, called the Single Wire Protocol (SWP), which has recently been adopted as a standard by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI). The SWP provides the most efficient means of connecting the NFC chip with the SIM card in a mobile phone (which is essential, given the limited resources in a phone), and it also provides the platform that handset manufacturers, operators, and banks/issuers can agree on to bring NFC technology to consumers on a mass-scale. It is this vision and leadership that companies like Nokia, and many others are investing in. If you’d like to find out more, let me know.

Additional information on NFC can be found at: http://www.insidecontactless.com/nfc/strategic_positioning.php

Welcome to the first posting in the FIR report. We’ve waited until the start of Fall VON to roll out this new blog, and we’re looking forward to a great week ahead:

In addition to representing Pulvermedia, as official PR agency of record (this is our 18^th VON event), FIR also has four additional clients making news at Fall VON. Announcements you’ll be hearing more about this week include:

Endeavor, the Telecom Truck Roll Company (booth #1062) will be announcing a partnership with Polycom to extend its white label IT installation services to the entire Polycom channel.

Allworx, the Small Business VoIP and Network company, is unveiling a set of unified communications capabilities for its IP-PBX offerings. Allworx is exhibiting with PAETEC in booth # 911, who earlier this month acquired Allworx.

Challenger Mobile, the Mobile VoIP company (booth #764), is announcing a hosted VoIP service to support its Mobile VoIP Platform. This white label offering provides mobile operators with a fast, proven, and effective solution to extend mobile-VoIP services to their customers.

and TelcoBridges (booth #1261) is announcing a new media gateway; a new telecommunications hardware platform; and an intuitive API that makes it easier for developers to incorporate TelcoBridges’ technology into carrier-grade systems.

Throughout the week, FIR’s team will be meeting with more than 30 reporters and analysts at VON, as part of our scheduled client briefings. I’m also moderating a session on Thursday at 9:00 AM entitled: “Trend Spotting”, where our panel (Brough Turner from NMS Communications; Don Price from Avaya, Timothy Jasionowski from Nokia, and Ofer Gneezy from Ibasis) will discuss a number of items, including the latest advancements in unified communications. If you’re attending Fall VON this week, don’t miss this session.

Once again, we’re looking forward to a fantastic week at Fall VON, and thanks for taking a few minutes to read the FIR report.