New Tricks at the Old Dog Park

They say you cannot teach an old dog new tricks… but I’m getting to learn some new tricks at my old dog park.   My day job at Premier Retail Networks (PRN) is changing a bit.  For the last 5 years I’ve been managing teams there to build and operate digital signage networks.  My claim to fame and major accomplishment with PRN is designing and building the ‘Smart Network’ for Wal-Mart.  This retail video advertising system is based on IPTV technology, supports targeting media to individual screens,  supports up to 1080p HDTV media and interactivity, and is self-healing of most faults (meaning it detects a lot of faults) and more.  And the monitoring, control, provisioning and media programming systems are vastly scalable – tens of thousands of screens is the starting point for this system.   I’m very proud if it, and of the incredible team that built it with me – including the great partners we have whose Engineering teams contributed equally to the solution.   It’s now operating in over a thousand stores around the world pitching holiday advertising with many more hundreds of stores  on the installation schedule once we’re past the holidays.  In software terms, it SHIPPED.

But businesses mature and adapt and PRN is no different.  The only constant is change, rolling stones gather no moss, and those who stand still die… and all that.  So my role changes.  My incredibly capable team managers are now going to step up and take on the long-term challenge of taking the core PRN video platform to the next level.  And I get to move on to what I love to do, what I think I’m really good at:  sniffing out the next thing, the next set of technologies, the next advances, the next partners with solid technology that we can leverage to build value for our customers and stock holders.  It’s time to build something new – using parts of the old if it makes sense, or inventing it from whole cloth if not.  It’s my comfort zone.  I’m incredibly energized by the prospects.

I’ll be writing about some of the ideas and technologies here.  Stay tuned.  You never know what I’ll get interested in.  Some of the things on my horizon:  3D technology, wireless, mobile devices, noSQL.  It should be fun!