2003: International Collaboration

With apparent stability among Shane Robison, Frank Cloutier and other senior HP CTOs, 2003 was a year to drive international collaboration and form working relationships with senior technology leaders from a variety of companies. I'll summarize some monthly notes for 2003.

January 2003
Denver - Microsoft-HP meeting to talk about printing and imaging plans for the future Longhorn release of Windows - working to implement our Internet Imaging Model
Bay Area - Shane's OS&T Staff offsite at Chaminade near Santa Cruz - kick-off for some cross-HP initiatives - picked up technology leadership for Handset Mobility
Palo Alto - Tech Con '03 Program Committee - selected the final program of 130 from over 1400 submitted
Tokyo - Turned 50 en route but had a shortened birthday due to the International Dateline (already January 20 when we crossed over) - work on open data interoperability standards with Sony, Nikon, Canon, Olympus and Fuji - including MPV (Music Photos Video) for CDs/DVDs in DVD players - trying to agree on open media formats rather than the proprietary approach being promoted by Microsoft and Matsushita.

February 2003
Tokyo - Meeting with Sony's President of group that makes cameras, camcorders, DVD players, Discman, ... to promote open interoperability, MPV, etc. He pitched an idea to me to form an international organization to promote interoperability among all consumer devices and home networks. There are ongoing talks now with Sony, HP, Intel and Microsoft - not sure about Microsoft's willingness to endorse open media standards given their investment in proprietary Windows Media formats
Barcelona - HP meetings to launch HP Color Advantage program to make color management simple for graphic arts and commercial printing - basing everything on open standards

March 2003
San Diego - Meeting with Canon to work on how make cameras and printers work together without relying on a PC
Bay Area - Intel CTO Forum - hosted by Intel - meeting of various company CTOs to plan joint development and inititives - gained support for the idea pitched by Sony in Tokyo last month
Bay Area - Another meeting with Microsoft about plans for the Longhorn version of Windows

April 2003
San Jose - Formation meeting of the Digital Home Working Group (DHWG) Board of Directors - Sony, Intel, HP, Philips, and Samsung agree to form a consortium to endorse interoperability of home networks and media devices - will have mandatory formats that are based on open international standards - Sony, Intel, Philips, and Samsung want Panasonic to join - Intel wants to include Microsoft - I want to cover mobile devices and include Nokia - all will eventually join to form the BoD - HP cares about this primarily to drive more home printing and to open the door for more HP digital entertainment devices (an emerging new area for HP)
Keystone, CO - HP Tech Con '03 - outstanding event that included about 500 of the top technologists at HP - began working with Dick Hackborn and some other HP "oldtimers" on a recommendation for an IEEE award for HP for inkjet technology

May 2003
Scottsdale - Technology presentation at IMI Inkjet Conference
Eindhoven - Philips Consumer Research Exposition - also private meeting about strategy for DHWG BoD
San Francisco - DHWG BoD - finalize launch plans for this new organization

June 2003
San Diego - International Imaging Industry Association meeting
Palo Alto - Home networking and DHWG BoD strategy meeting with Sony
Deauville, France - HP meeting for European technology journalists

July 2003
Tokyo & Osaka - DHWG strategy and MPV adoption
Bay Area - Technology presentation to US Postal Service and HP meeting about joining the CE Linux Forum Board of Directors to promote a new and open operating system for digital entertainment devices
Palo Alto - Host a DHWG BoD meeting

August 2003
Bay Area - Meetings with Intel and Intertrust about DRM (digital rights management) possibilities for the DHWG technology stack - Intertrust owns fundamental intellectual property (patents) on DRM, and we need to find a way to create open interoperability so that professional content protected by DRM can flow through DHWG devices and networks

September 2003
Amsterdam - Make HP pitch to join the CE Linux Forum BoD (successful)
Helsinki - Nokia meetings about DHWG BoD strategy and printing directly from mobile phones

October 2003

Château de Chillon on Lac Léman

Bay Area - Philips meeting about DHWG BoD strategy and home entertainment future technology
Tokyo - DHWG BoD and Promoters meeting - launching official working groups to create specifications - still stuck on the DRM requirements issue
Geneva - ITU Telecom World speech to promote DHWG and HP's commitment to open international standards across many technology domains - took this self-portrait photo that is still the one I use for online profiles.
Helsinki - Nokia meeting about mobile devices, printing, and other business incubations
Nice - Nokia Mobile Internet Conference

November 2003
Monterrey - Mobile Imaging Summit
New York City - DHWG BoD meeting hosted by Sony

December 2003
Tokyo - CE Linux Forum BoD
Bay Area - Intel CTO Forum

Whew!! It was a busy and productive year with great international collaboration established on several fronts. My own career moved in a very interesting direction as I took important leadership positions in these international consortia.

Travel was intense in 2003 - 92 flights for 145,000 HP miles.

Next: 2004-a: Digital Entertainment and the Mobile Web