Neal Page

It is not surprising that somebody like me starts a blog and leaves it untouched for months together...the reasons are many- mostly that the day-to-day rigor of regular work gets insurmountable.

However, today I was shaken when I got an email about a industry veteran's death- Neal Page, the founder of Osprey Technologies and Inlet Technologies. I met Neal the first time in late 2006 at Telco TV, Dallas and have been covering Inlet Technologies in the encoders-transcoders space since then.

Neal was a recognized industry veteran and loved by his peers and several in the industry: as this obituary in Streamingmedia.com by Tim Siglin reflects. He was extremely passionate about the video industry and very committed to be part of the industry-wide effort in making efficient online video a reality. Be it through his blogs or through his conversations with the press or analyst community, his enthusiasm was at an all time high.

I was unaware about his illness and in fact had a couple of conversations with him early part of this year. I couldn't discern anything amiss. Every conversation- though several months apart- that I have had with Neal was fun and very insightful; an interesting exchange of thoughts and dialogue; and despite the fact that he was decades-old in this industry his respect and humility was touching. But over all, the honesty about his company and the market was striking.


I am sorry about his loss not just as one of strong advocates for the media industry, but also as the absolute gem of a person he was.


While tracking the online media and digital video industry, I get the opportunity to speak with many global executives who live really tough stressful lives across time zones to make the next-generation consumer experience fantastic. They tirelessly balance their production plans, their business operations, myriad trade shows, and still sometimes wake up at 7 am, or wait at the security check-up queue at the airport, or hold on to their phones in transit while talking to an analyst like me, as it is part of their job. I really appreciate that effort .

And despite the formality of this job, we strike relationshipships of mutual regard and respect that goes beyond the marketing and the business intelligence transactions; every conversation then is a brainstorming of ideas; of imbibing some of the sharpest engineering minds in the industry; and sometimes a skeptical reflection upon the success of an idea versus reality.
That makes long 14 hour days, numerous excel sheets and stuff alike worthwhile.


Cheers to you, Neal.