Happy New Year!

UPDATE: Good News! The Marriott has extended our room block one week. Attendees can reserve studio suites until Wednesday, January 11, at 5pm CST.

If you can join us for the TFI Conference later this month and would like to stay at the conference hotel book your room today!

Rooms in downtown Austin are very scarce the week of the conference. Our special rate for studio suites at the conference hotel is $249 per night plus tax. Rooms can be booked online or call the Marriott at 512-236-8008 or 800-321-2211 and mention you are with the “TFI Asset Valuation” group.

The Courtyard Marriott Downtown is in easy walking distance to Austin’s best live music venues and restaurants and near the Texas State Capitol, the University of Texas, and other popular Austin sites. (Photo source: Marriott)

And if you haven’t already, be sure to register now for the TFI Communications Technology & Asset Valuation Conference, January 26-27, 2017 in Austin Texas.

We look forward to seeing everyone later this month.

We hope you will be as excited as we are about the VR/AR session for the TFI Communications Technology & Asset Valuation Conference:

“Virtual and Augmented Reality: Games, Shows, and Apps”
A Short Film by TFI

We know this season is super busy, so we are happy to extend our Early Bird Rates for the TFI Communications Technology & Asset Valuation Conference until Friday, December 16! Please register now.

Be sure to check out the TFI Conference website for a complete list of our distinguished keynotes, guest speakers, and panelists, as well as the full schedule!

Also, please make your hotel reservations ASAP! We still have a limited number of nice studio suites available for $249 per night (cut off is January 4 or when block is full).

We hope to see you in Austin in January!

Warm regards,
Larry Vanston and the TFI Team

The top conference in the country for sharing the latest trends, developments, and opportunities impacting communications and asset valuation just keeps getting better! Please see below for Guest Speakers, Panelists, and Agenda. Don’t miss our early bird rates! Register now for the 12th Annual TFI Communications Technology & Asset Valuation Conference Jan. 26-27, 2017 in downtown Austin.

AGENDA with Keynotes, Speakers, and Panelists: 

TRANSFORMATIVE TECHNOLOGIES

“The New Transformative Technologies”
– Lawrence Vanston, Conference Director, President, TFI

“SDN/NFV, A Transformed Network for a Transformed World”
– Speaker TBA

“IoT Security or Lack Thereof – Constraint or Showstopper?”
– Dub Dublin, CEO, Dublinvention LLC

THOUGHTLEADER: “An Interview with Byron Reese, Publisher of Gigaom”

– Byron Reese, Author, Futurist, Entrepreneur, Technologist
CEO/Publisher, Gigaom; CEO, Knowingly
– Carrie Vanston, Lead, Corporate Cultures that Rock (Interviewer)

WIRELESS

KEYNOTE: “From Here to 5G”
– Iain Gillott, President & Founder, iGR (iGillottResearch, Inc.)

Wireless Industry Panel
– Gary Wiggins, Executive Director, Property Tax, AT&T
– Jim Dombrowski, Manager Property Tax, Verizon
– David Schneider, Ernst & Young Contractor for Sprint
– Stephen Yergeau, Director, Property Taxes, T-Mobile

TFI Wireless Forecast Update
– Ray Hodges, Senior Consultant, TFI

TRANSFORMATIVE TECHNOLOGIES (Continued from morning)

KEYNOTE: “Computer Vision – Welcome Our Newest Consumer of
Video and Bandwidth”
– Kristen Grauman, Associate Professor, Dept. of Computer Science, University of Texas at Austin

BROADBAND & VIDEO

“TFI Broadband/Video Forecast Update”
– Lawrence Vanston, Conference Director, President, TFI

“Communication Technology Update”
– August (Augie) Grant, Professor, School of Journalism and Mass Communications, University of South Carolina; Co-Editor, Communications Technology Update and Fundamentals

“The Post Millennials and their Impact on Communications”
– Anne Boysen, President & Founder, After the Millennials

“Virtual and Augmented Reality: Games, Shows, and Apps”
– Speaker TBA

Broadband Industry Panel
– Christian Altenburger, Manager, Property Tax, Comcast
– Joel Rubensohn, Senior Tax Manager, Cox Enterprises
– Robert Strong, Tax Director, AT&T
– Jim Dombrowski, Manager, Property Tax, Verizon
– Steven Ingram, Manager, Property Tax, CenturyLink

“Communicating about Technology Change: Five Keys for Success”
– Carrie Vanston, Lead, Corporate Cultures that Rock

Don’t miss out! Take advantage of our Early-Bird Rate for General Admission and Assessors/Government/Academia for this Outstanding Event!

Great News! Award-winning Author, Futurist, Entrepreneur, Technologist, and Publisher of Gigaom, Byron Reese will join us for our 12th Annual TFI Communications Technology & Asset Valuation Conference, Jan. 26-27, 2017 in downtown Austin. Our own Carrie Vanston will interview Byron in an hour-long session devoted to the revolutionary technologies that will help shape communications as well as our lives.

Byron has an especially broad view of technology change, having just wrapped up Gigaom Change, a major conference covering seven disruptive technologies including Artificial Intelligence, Virtual & Augmented Reality, Robotics, Cybersecurity, and Human-Machine Interfaces.

Special bonus: All attendees will get a free copy of Byron’s book Infinite Progress which provides an optimistic view of our future. Nice!

We are very fortunate and pleased indeed that Byron has agreed to participate!

Shout-Out for Questions: Please let us know if you have any questions you’d like us to ask Byron.

Take advantage of our Early-Bird Rate for General Admission and Assessors/Government/Academia for this Outstanding Event!

We welcome back Iain Gillott, founder and president of iGR,  as Wireless Keynote for the TFI Communications Technology & Asset Valuation Conference scheduled Jan. 26-27, 2017, in Austin.

After his fantastic talk in 2015, many attendees asked to have him back back soon, so here he is!

In his talk, “Wireless: From Here to 5G”, Iain will discuss the near-term deployment of cellular technologies and future 5G deployment to meet the skyrocketing demand for wireless bandwidth. He will also present research results on Netflix on multiple devices and his thoughts on the future of IoT and wireless.

Iain and his team at iGR are highly-respected, frontline providers of in-depth wireless research and analysis. Iain speaks at all the big wireless trade shows, so we are very lucky to get him again!
Also, Augie Grant is returning to provide his report from CES 2017 and highlights from the recently completed 15th edition of Communications Technology Update & Fundamentals. Augie is Professor, School of Journalism and Mass Communications, at the University of South Carolina. Augie is also emceeing the Video/Broadband section of our program. (He promises to use his deep radio voice!)

Stay tuned for more announcements of thought-provoking speakers and panelists sharing their knowledge in the following areas:

• Wireless Communications
• Broadband & Video Communications
• Valuation Issues
• Cutting Edge Technologies driving communications such as IoT, SDN/NFV, Cognitive Computing, Fast Data, and Vehicular Automation

Register now and take advantage of our Early-Bird Rate! 

If you have a strong interest in future of the communications network, this conference is for you. Join us in beautiful Downtown Austin as we gather once again to connect with each other and share the latest trends and developments impacting communications and asset valuation.

Don’t miss out! Take advantage of our Early-Bird Rate for General Admission and Assessors/Government/Academia!

• Thank you to everyone who made the 11th Annual TFI Technology Communications for Asset Valuation Conference in January 2016 such a roaring success! The slides, videos, and pictures are posted!!

A special thank you to our panelists, speakers, and keynotes. And we couldn’t have done it without our generous sponsors, AUS, CostQuest and Deloitte!

We are looking forward to our 12th Annual TFI Technology Communications & Asset Valuation Conference in January 26-27, 2017 at the Courtyard Marriott Downtown Hotel in Austin.

We also have conference videos and slides from 2015 and 2014 available, and photos from 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2015.

And if you haven’t already used the research resources on this site documenting trends and developments impacting technology assets of the communications industry, be sure to look around.

Thanks and we hope to work with you in 2016!