FiberGeneration

JDSU vs. EXFO : Rumor Or Not Rumor ?

Holy cow ! Seems that the small-world Test & Measurement industry' s engine is whirling fast after my recent post on the Google search for "JDSU announcement EXFO" thing. I can't stop looking at the stats : lots of visitors come to Fibergeneration to read this previous post, and much more.
First, to all of you I'd like to say that I'm honored being read by you dear T&M fellows.
Second, I'd like to highlight the fact that I'm definitely not responsible for the supposedly rumored announcement between your companies *.
Last, I'd like to confirm that I'll be attending OFC this year. And I hope I won't be banned from your booths ;-)

It's all about having fun for a change, Folks. I know, I should stop reading FSJ Fake Steve Jobs.

* ed. note : in a next post, I'll explain why I personally don't believe in a M&A kind of deal between the two firms. It simply doesn't make sense from an industrial point of view : the respective product portfolios are quite similar. I mean, JDSU already does what EXFO do, so, where's the benefit, if not for simply wipping out a rival (which is a very small one from a market cap perspective, see my next post, to be published later today) from the industry landscape.

post-scriptum : this whole stuff reminds me the good old days of the Bubble, when I was working at Agilent Technologies. Some day in 2000 or so, I was flying to France from Italy, back from a business meeting somewhere. Two rows behind me in the aircraft, two guys in dark suit & tie typical businessman battledress were talking loud about one of our rivals : GN NetTest. I couldn't stop listening for the whole flight, as they were discussing potential investors and buyers and blahblahblah. I quickly realized those fools were analysts, probably working for some big consulting and/or banking firm. At the arrival in Paris, I even had the name of the future owner of NetTest (i.e. Axcel, a danish investment firm). Let me tell you something : when you work for Agilent Technologies, you know what confidential information means. In the Business of Conducts policy, there's a lot of Do's and Don't s. For instance, this one : never discuss about business in a plane.

Ah, this anecdote recalls another short one in my memory bank. A few years later, once again in an airliner somewhere in the european sky. The guy the next row on my right hand side was reading a powerpoint presentation on his laptop PC. Guess what : he was with our biggest rival, based in Germany too, and was reviewing a new product introduction presentation. I got the premiere, for free...

JDSU vs. EXFO : Rumor Confirmed (?)

Digging into the FiberGeneration' s stats of the day, it appears that more than one guy from Quebec, Canada, searched Google for JDSU + EXFO. Hum. Something in the air there, isn't it ?

T&M Industry : How To Get The Rumor Mill Started

Earlier today, someone from Canada googled "jdsu announcement exfo". Surprinsigly (well, not that much, indeed ;-), FiberGeneration went out as number one result on the first page (see here).

The interesting stuff is : JDSU and EXFO are two key players of the Telecoms Test & Measurement industry, EXFO being the #1 vendor on Optical Test gear. Guess what : EXFO is a canadian company.
Means that something is going on between the two rivals. Which wouldn't be surprising to me, provided that EXFO seems a bit isolated in the T&M field. Until now, we've got four major players : Agilent Technologies, JDSU, Anritsu, and Fluke+Tektronix, and a smaller yet leading one : EXFO. Not a sustainable position for the Quebec-based firm, as the market is booming again, thanks to massive FTTx rollouts all over the planet.

JDSU buying EXFO ? Quite an option for the earlier, who is made of a succession of M&As over the last 15 years or so : in the mid 90's Schlumberger T&M was sold to Wavetek, which merged a few years later with Wandel & Goltermann to form WWG, which got acquired by TTC/Dynatech to form Acterna back in 2000. Last, JDS-Uniphase bought Acterna in 2005, to form JDSU. The actual M&A' rythm of the T&M giant seems to beat on a 3 to 4-years timeframe : we are just in the right timing for the next one !

The I-Take-Some-Time-For-Blogging On Fiber-To-The-Home Edition [01-30-08]

Buddy Blogger Benoit Felten has published an outstanding interactive map on the actual situation of FTTH Fiber-To-The-Home networks worldwide. Worth the look (and bookmark) for all of us working in the FTTx field.

FYI, here's the comment I just left :

"About Pau : the 6,000 active subscribers milestone will be achieved within the next couple of weeks.

Based on the map, which is pretty accurate thanks to Benoit's outstanding work, one can note that Pau is the ONLY european city south of the Loire river (means, where weather conditions are wonderful for most of us ;-) that offers up to 100Mbps connectivity to enterprise & residential customers."

Go to the map here.

The No-Time For Blogging Edition [01-29-08]

Buddy Blogger Benoit Felten has published two must-read briefs on two must-read reports : "CES'08", by Olivier Ezratti, and "Free's FTTH services testing", by the french newsletter Journal du Freenaute. Great readings for learnings.

By The Way...

... the iPhone makes really crisp & clear photos, don't you think ?

Just This (05-08) and a few more bits

Approaching the lovely city of Pau, Pyrénées, France, is a true WYSIWIG experience : what you see (thru the airliner's window) is what you get (once on the ground). An outstanding place to live in, offering an all-in-one package for Nature' s lovers : the countryside at your doorstep, the mountains just a few miles away, and the ocean less than one hour drive.
Add the first and largest FTTH Fiber-To-The-Home network in France to date, and you get a unique place to build the Life of the 21st Century.

Just This (04-08)

Ed. note : I'm a regular/loyal iTunes user ;-)

It's About Finding A Job In Downturn Times

Robert Scoble has posted a very long article on how to find a job during recession. Worth reading, provided the current situation in the Global Economy.

Here are a couple of my favorites, based on my own experience back in 2003 when I had to leave Agilent Technologies - should TypePad and YouTube have exist at this time (I think TypePad was in its early stage online by then), I would have jumped on them to do exactly what Scoble suggests. Hey, I've got the job with the city of Pau thanks to the Blogosphere, and I've discovered the wonderful world of WebTV last year thanks to Usenet. Lesson : listen to what Scoble says.

Here we go, with my own comments/feedback.

6. Do a video everyday on YouTube that demonstrates something you know. Loic does a video everyday. If you’re laid off you have absolutely no excuses. Get a cheap Web cam and get over to YouTube or Seesmic.

Do it. It'll pay back quickly. That's the true aim of the so-called Web 2.0 : help people make connections faster.

10. Go to any job networking session you learn about. All of them were valuable to me, even though they didn’t necessarily bring me a job. Part of it is just feeling like you’re doing everything you can to get back on your feet. It’s an attitude thing. If you have an attitude that you’re going to work at this that will come across and will bring opportunities to you.

I'll never forget the workshop sessions at the outplacement consulting firm I've been to thanks to my severance package at Agilent. Outstanding outcomes. For instance : at the very first workshop I've attended, I was with C-level people, from many different areas; industry, computing, bank, consulting, even politics (the chief of staff of a very popular yet powerful mayor of a city nearby Paris). It helped me realize two things : a) I was definitely not the only forced to look for a new job, b) I am a C-level guy (well, of the free-electron type ;-)

16. Go to every business event you can attend. Can’t afford to get in? Me neither and I have a job! Hang out in the hallways. You never know who you might meet. At minimum you’ll get interesting interviews for your blog. Have your resumes ready.

My worst regret, when I look back at the 2003-2005 period. I didn't take enough time to attend those business events. I learned the hard way how proactive networking is mandatory (just because, before being laid off by Agilent, I never ever had to look for a new job : I always had the chance to meet the right persons at the right time).

Full post here.

I'm Happy Not Being This New Product Launch Manager

I wish good luck to my friends at the company who are to introduce this new box on their respective markets.
Compared to such a challenge, the Agilent Modular Network Tester launch was a no-brainer !

DailyMotion Goes Soccer 2.0

French video sharing site DailyMotion is bidding for the French Soccer Premier League TV broadcast rights (actually, the VOD online magazine part) for seasons 2008 to 2012. The startup competes against medias giants Canal+, TF1 and France Télévisions, TV channels M6, Eurosport, and Direct8, but also against telcos Orange and SFR.
No matter the final decision by the League, the fact that a WebTV platform is offering its services shows how things are moving fast. Industry shake-up, you said ?...

See here for more details (link in french).

France 2.0 ?

Buddy Blogger Benoit Felten has posted a very interesting article on the recent report from the French business owners/managers' Union MEDEF : "How to make of France a leader in the Digital Economy." (link and pdf document in french).

Just This (03-08)

Photo sent from my iPhone this morning.

Scoble And I.

So, World' s famous blogger Robert Scoble is born on January 18 too. Until today, my references were Montesquieu, Cary Grant, or Kevin Costner. Now I have to add Mr. Scoblezeir. That's the Web 2.0 Age, Folks ;-)

Thumb Up, 37Signals !

Web services firm 37Signals faced a severe network outage earlier today, which lead to a 2-hours long interruption of service. Read here the explanations and apologies of the company to its end-users. This is customer care per the book. Such of quick reaction is the sign of a truly customer-focused enterprise. Thumb up, 37Signals !

I've been Trailfired !

See here. Amazing. I really love those Web 2.0 things. Really.

More on Trailfire here and here.

Post-scriptum to the Trailfire folks : congrats for the GUI design, absolutely superb !

Radionomy : The WebRadio Is Born

Belgian startup Radionomy has been officialy launched yesterday night in Paris, from the Eiffel Tower (where the very first TV signal has been broadcasted some decades ago).
According to the Radionomy folks, the concept is pretty simple :

With Radionomy, everyone is finally going to be able to create their own radio station on the Internet!

It’s easy.
By tapping into the contents of vast music libraries.

By integrating their own musical creations.
By adding their own audio content, sequences, reports and podcasts.

It’s free.
Radionomy will broadcast these radio stations around the world and take care of all costs, including royalties. Radionomy even shares its revenue with radio station creators, based on the size of their audience.

Pretty cool, huh ?

So, we're going to see - er., hear - tons of "Pirate" radio channels, just like in the good old days of Radio Caroline.
Will be interesting to watch the outcomes. How this concept will find users, and how those ones will use it.
What's quite funny to me is the fact that the WebRadio concept emerges AFTER the WebTV stuff, whilst the original technologies were on reverse order : Radio first, then Television.
Also funny to me, the fact that Radionomy launches whilst traditional radios start doing live TV webcasting of their shows and programs.

Conclusion : Convergence is coming fast. Within the next couple of years, we're going to have a brand new "Web" space, where everyone will be able to create, share, and use any kind of content that will be available one way or another on the Net. Exciting.

To subscribe to the Radionomy Beta Testers Waiting List, follow the link here.

Ed. note : thanks Jean-Michel for the heads up.

Doing Product Marketing The Web 2.0 Way

Remember Zattoo ? The beta is available since a couple of days only, and people start googling for "zattoo for iphone". See here.
Would I be part of the Product Marketing team at the startup, I would immediately digg a little bit further : someone searching something so specific is a potential user. Or a potential rival. Actually, it doesn't matter, because IMHO the equation is simple : search = opportunity.
That's what most of the french businesses don't understand with the Web 2.0 : it helps you developping new products faster and better, for specific needs and/or applications and/or end-users.

Just This (02-08)

Today is my birthday. This is where I would like to enjoy it now : Benchen Karma Kamtzang Lamastery in the Kham region, Tibet.

See this post's geographical context.
Ed. note : Tibet being a Chinese province, it seems that GoogleMaps can't deliver accurate images for the Kham region. Hence this link to the capitale Lhasa.

Photo Credit : Hubert Wysznski

That's Web 2.0 At Its Best

Here's a modern, innovative way to do the exec summary of an event.
See Mahalo Daily' s Veronica Belmont funny video : Steve Jobs' MacWorld Keynote in 60 seconds. Boom. Gorgious. Incredible.

The Man Did It Again

I'm not talking of Master Steve nor his clone, but of Mr Greenspan.
In his recent interview by the Wall Street Journal, Master Of Disasters and former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said that the United States are probably about to enter recession : "The symptoms are clearly there. Recessions don't happen smoothly. They are usually signaled by a discontinuity in the market place, and the data of recent weeks could very well be characterized in that manner."
Shall I be american today, I'd better get everything ready to relocate somewhere in Europe quickly. Because what Mr Greenspan says always come true half a year later (I'll never forget that I've lost my job at Agilent Technologies because of him ;-)

Zattoo : Say Hello To The TV Of The 21st Century

I'm currently testing the new Zattoo Beta application. Just blazingly simple.
Says the US startup' website homepage : "Zattoo is live TV on your PC - it's the football game as you chat, the news as you email, and your favorite soap as you pay your bills. Zattoo is also TV when you don't have a TV - it's the channels you want, when you want, where you want.".

Thanks to Zattoo, I'm relieved now : I'll be able to watch Roland Garros and The Tour de France whilst "working" at the office next summer. Pretty cool, huh ?

Seriously speaking, Zattoo is the application lots of us were waiting for since a while : an easy way to watch free TV live channels on our computers.
Now, the question is : how will Zattoo make money, provided that the software is supposed to be free of charge ? The answer may be in the Partners page :

Partners

Zattoo's customers are end users: people who appreciate high-quality, quick-start, long-play video from multiple channels available on one browser. Broadcasters and advertisers are our business partners.
Broadcasters

The ability of broadcasters to reach large audiences via the Internet has until now been limited by the unfavorable economics of Unicast, whereby for each additional audience member a broadcaster has had to incur additional cost. Zattoo solves this problem with our peer-to-peer distribution architecture, which allows broadcasters to reach ten times the audience with no additional infrastructure investment. For the cost of serving 10,000 users with Unicast, broadcasters can now serve 100,000 users with Zattoo.
Zattoo provides broadcasters with compelling competitive advantages beyond reducing operating cost. Zattoo gives broadcasters the technology to deliver streaming with vastly increased quality, reliability and unmatched video smoothness. Furthermore, Zattoo enriches the user experience by integrating compelling multimedia elements, thus making the Zattoo experience stickier than traditional TV.

Contact: Niklas Brambring, Content Acquisition Manager ([email protected])
Advertisers

Zattoo enables advertisers to leverage the most successful web-based advertising methods in combination with the best attributes of broadcast television "spots" by supporting banner ads, targeted text ads and video clips. Advertisers understand the inherent strengths and value propositions of each method and can make an educated investment to reach specific audiences. Furthermore, advertisements can be sourced from ad specialists and integrated without modification, leveraging de facto industry standards.

So, correct me if I'm wrong : Zattoo gets (or will get) revenues from both the channels broadcasters and the advertisers. I understand the earlier, but don't get the later one yet : does that mean we will experience complementary ads during the live program ? Such as embedded contextual advertising, for instance.
Think about the combination of a live transcription system (used in live captionning) together with customized/localized advertising content : you're watching the latest '24' episode (well, once the writers' s strike will be over ;-), Jack Bauer is driving the brand new Ford SUV, and boom, you see a beautiful ad banner urging you to call your local Ford dealer... That is the power of TV thru Internet : UCC "User Customized Content", as opposed to the UGC User Generated Content.

The question is : could Zattoo be the Next Big Thing ? When it's about watching live TV on a PC, probably yes. Is that what the people want (watching live TV on a PC), I don't know. On the one hand, some want a PC on their TV, on the other hand some want TV on their PC. The right answer is called something like "convergence", isn't ?
So, what do I Average Joe want ? I want Zattoo on the iPhone. I have VOD already (iTunes, YouTube), now I'd like to get live streaming too. Because I'd like to be able to watch Roland Garros live whilst Im' sitting in a High-Speed Train.

Last thing on Zattoo before a more deeper review some time later : the folks there seem to care about their users. As an example, I've received the invitation to download the beta in french, although the company is based in the US (as far as I understood on the 'About' page). The set-up is quite fast and simple too. Pretty neat stuff, Folks ! Keep going ;-)

To visit Zattoo : here.

That's Why I Don't Like Windows *

Look at this snapshot, which I captured this morning on "my" laptop PC (you know, this brand new Dell Latitude sporting a CoreDuo but no built-in WiFi ;-).
Translation, for those of you who don't read french in the XP texts : " the folder 'Emploi' contains items with names too long to be contained by the trash."
Reminder : this is Windows XP, licensed in 2007. The folks in Redmond will never stop surprising me.

* ed. note : I replaced the word "hate" by "don't like". Because a computing stuff is not worth the hate, even if it's MS-branded. Actually, there are much more critical fights than this one those days, don't you think ?...

The Magic Is Back, or : Marketing That Serves The End-User

Back in 2000, I titled the brief report of the OFC Optical Fiber Communications exhibition to my management at Agilent Technologies : "The Magic is gone." The whole Telecoms industry was ruled by marketeers, and Fiber was no different. The Lucents, the Cornings, the Pirellis : they were all selling wonderful shiny proprietary solutions to hungry customers (the new telcos which were popping up like hell everywhere on the Planet), totally forgetting that what made the Optical Communications industry in the past was Innovation.
Fact is, until 1998 the fibers were sporting strange names, such as "ITU-T G652". Everything changed in '98, when Corning came out with its Leaf, Lucent with its TrueWave, or Nec with its Lucyna. Since then, marketeers took over the business, leaving inventors and researchers in their labs. The best example : the Pirelli Telecoms booth at OFC'99, with an... italian motorcycle as the only product on stage.
For people like myself, whith a technical background, a marketing position and a customer-focused mindset, the outcome was obvious : a total lack of real customers' s needs, leading to what happened to be a violent downturn.

Today, almost 8 years later, my feeling is that the Magic is back. Reaserchers and innovators can talk to end-users again. See this product presentation video by... Corning : for the very first time since a decade, a new product is a true solution to a real customer problem.

" Looking for IPTV? Then move to France. "

This article, by Ray Le Maistre, International News Editor at the mandatory Light Reading, demonstrates once again that my country (France. You know, the little old piece of european land ruled by a superb showman) is truly leading the Telecoms World. But nobody here knows it, including our Emperor, ooops sorry, er. President, unfortunately.

Just This (01-08)

Ed. note : I took this photo just before New Year, a few miles away from home, in a lovely Champagne' s valley. Brand new oil field, at the verge of beautiful vineyards.

That's why I keep thinking the iPhone IS Testing 2.0, 2d edition

See here. And apply the same concepts (i.e. remote control, keyless, etc.) to testing devices or networks. You'll get the idea. Granted.

Welcome To The New French President Era

Want to know why my home-country is going mad those days ? Read this true story on our "new" President, who just made it on TechCrunch, by the way. Jaw-dropping. When the journalists at your top-5 medias are unable to double-check an information, you're in big trouble.

post-scriptum : Congrats anyway, Mister President ! ;-)

This Is What WebTV Is All About

The CES big circus has just started. If you can't make it to Las Vegas, you can still attend the show and get the whole flavor of it... on the Web.
See here, here, and here. Lesson : WebTV is the future. And the present, too, should you have a broadband access.

Ed. note : for a full coverage of CES'08, Robert Scoble has the list.

Post-Scriptum : I wonder if the folks at the Optical Society Of America are going to offer the live coverage of the forthcoming OFC-NFOEC exhibition in San Diego next month.

Even Asia

See here. Amazing.

Never Lost In Translation

When I go to San Fran, I love having a lunch break at the Cafe Zoetrope of Mr. Francis Ford Coppola. Of course, "The Godfather" is one of my favorite movies, as Sofia Coppola' s "Lost in Translation". Nicolas Cage ? Simply the best.
What about the Coppola family then ? Well, this : my wife and I have got a Season' s greetings card from one of its members. I tell you : reading a letter signed "[ ] Coppola" is just a pure wonder.
And it's another proof that human relationships is the most important matter those days.

Your Best Marketing Friend : Google

To those of you who still think you need to pay hundreds of bucks to a PR agency for ensuring your visibility on the Web, you may think again. See this : somebody somewhere was searching Google for "optical networks contracting"; outcome : Fibergeneration came number one in the list, with this post.

Lesson : Seth Godin is right. First thing to do this year : Google yourself.

Say Ouch To 2008. Repeat After Me : "Ouch !"

According to Yahoo! a few minutes ago : Oil Futures Rise to $100 a Barrel. Read here. Better consider swapping your 4x4 truck for an hybrid.

2007 : The Year Of Learning People

Before kicking-off the new year with a traditional round of Top-Ten stuff, I'd like to wrap up 2007 with the mandatory yet often forgotten WWW session. Every business developer, marketeer, and sales man must do the WWW after each and every meeting with her customers, prospects, or teammates. Hence a blogger, who should do the same with his readership.

What does 'WWW' mean ? If you think " World Wide Web ", think again. It stands for : " what went Wrong, what went Well, what we Will do better next time." I've learned about the WWW session for the first time back in early 2000, with my Forever-Coach Hal Stitt at Agilent Technologies. Seven years (not in Tibet) after, I can testify how the WWW session is the most powerful tool to get you improve your product, your behavior, your business.

The WWW rules are simple : the meeting facilitator captures every input from each participant, including herself, in each of the three categories, on a round-robin basis (important : names are not recorded). I tell you : the first time you do a WWW session with a channel partner or a customer, the guy looks at you as if you were an Alien coming straight from Planet Mars, but he quickly realizes how important he's for you. That's how you'll prove you listen to your customers. Same with your teammates and colleagues. Conclusion : the WWW session helps you demonstrate that you care of the people.

That's why I'll do the first WWW stuff here on Fibergeneration. As I'm also the 'facilitator', I'll kindly ask you Dear Readers to fill in your own feedback about the blog. Feel free to drop me a line or two or even more in Comments.

The "Fibergeneration 2007 WWW (online) session"
----------------
What Went Wrong :
- couldn't stick with the Fibergeneration' s marcom plan, as previously defined at the end of 2006 (e.g. the 10 "Top-Ten").
- too many unpublished posts (ed. note : I will do a "Top-Ten" on it ;-).
- not so many in-depth articles (ed. note : sometimes, I wonder if I shouldn't start a fake blog so I can publish all the confidential stuff I learn thru my jobs ;-).
- didn't get paid of my job at Kazados.tv, although this post is a hit in the search engines.
- couldn't deliver articles for a new Dubai-based online news magazine so far.
- achieved less than 1,000-km cycling in 2007.

----------------
What Went Well :
- got unexpected messages from unexpected people (see here for instance).
- learned the WebTV business. At the age of 47 (soon, unfortunately ;-), I might be one of the few guys in France able to set-up and launch a television channel on the Web those days.
- Fibergeneration well positionned in the Search engines. With surprising results sometimes. See here as an example.
- Fibergeneration spotted by an amazing Amazon probe.
- Fibergeneration in the Blogosphere at large. See the comments (and the related posts) here and here for instance.
- made a lot of contacts through blogging. Amazing encounters, thanks to the powers of the Web 2.0.

- in a more broader/general point of view, 2007 has been the year of learnings to me. The most important one : People. Learning new people, read and hear people's learnings, learn how to share with other people, etc. Learnings and People, those two words are my own keywords to summarize 2007. (ed. note : as a WWW' record shouldn't include personal in-depth comments, you may jump to the note at the end of this post to... learn more about my learnings).

- Friendship, not the Facebook style. The true meaning of Friendship. See the note below as well.

----------------
What We (I) Will Do Better Next Time (This Year) :
- Stick to the plan.
- Deliver on time.
- Share. Share, share, share. Experiences, customers feedback, business stories, as much as official contracts and NDAs allow me to go.
- Emphasize on the people' side of things.

Note : Personal Acknowledgements :
All along the year 2007, I have had the chance to meet, either online or face-to-face, a tremendous bunch of extraordinary people. From good old friends who suddenly came back into my life to my new boss who hired me thru a discussion on Skype, it has been quite an amazing journey...

Here's the list of people I'd like to thank before the whole Blogosphere, because they're worth being recognized :

To Armelle, thank you for the fast-track training on the WebTV business.

To Olivier Hamon, thank you for your entrepreneur's spirit.

To Laurent F. and Philippe C., thank you for helping me rediscovering the true meaning of The Force.

To André Relandeau, aka "Dédé" with the whole Optical Communications industry in France, thank you for your kind-always accurate advices. You deserve a better career' s ending, Buddy.

To Andrew Luzgin of Belarus, thank you for trusting me.

To Richard Stephen, thank you for believing me since all those years.

To Jean-Michel Planche, thank you for helping me feel younger than ever despite my 25-years long career in the Telecoms business.

To Benoit Felten, thank you for being one of your favorite blogs' s authors.

To Jean-Michel Billaut, thank you for making me meet both my new boss and my new teammate.

To Jean-Pierre Jambes, thank you for being my new boss.

To Jean Hughes Lauret, thank you for being my new teammate.

To Georges Pantanelli, thank you for thinking at the speed of light. Also, thank you for showing me the way to the Bay Area. And thank you for proving that there is no age limit for the true entrepreneurs.

To Bruce Bonini and Jim Gelose, thank you for supporting the idea that we old T&M Fellows can reinvent the Test & Measurement industry.

To Robert Jahn, thank you for taking care.

To Hal Stitt, thank you for always being there when I call you.

To Peter Schweiger, thank you for being everywhere.

To Gülper, thank you for being there still, somewhere.

To Handy Phelper, thank you for cycling and skiing. 2008 will be The Goofy Year.

To François Piccin, thank you for all.

To Bernard Millorit, Charles Raduszinski, Christian "Cricri" Bernard, and Didier Boucher, merci d'être là, aussi, et surtout, toujours.

To all of you, I'd like to say 'thank you'. I hope to see you (again) soon, somewhere sometime in 2008.

Photo credit : Cafe-Ole.