FTTH Council Conference and Exposition

UTOPIA leaders Paul Morris and David Shaw were awarded the Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) Council 2004 STAR Award today for their leadership and efforts in bringing the ultimate broadband solution - fiber to the home - to 14 Utah cities. The Utah Telecommunication Open Infrastructure Agency (UTOPIA) is a consortium of 14 Utah cities engaged in deploying and operating a 100% fiber optic network to every business and household (about 170,000) within its footprint. Operating at the wholesale level, it supports open access and promotes competition in all telecommunications services.

Though, FTTx won’t replace copper overnight?!

CityNet Amsterdam Pre-selection

CityNet Amsterdam has made a pre-selection of parties for the role of Network Operator for the active layer of the Amsterdam fiber optic access network Citynet. Yesterday, they announced that the following parties have qualified themselved:
- BBned
- KPN
- Siemens/Optaxx
- Versatel
- Volker Stevin

This also means the the following parties didn't qualify:
- Colt
- CS SI (Fr)
- Via Europe

The only surprise is that Siemens/Optaxx did qualify. It's nice because the founders of Optaxx are former executives of Bredband Benelux bv. Bredband was the first company that had the guts to initiate a FTTH-project in the Netherlands. Unfortunately they failed to make a sustainable business. But who knows, Optaxx could be the first real threat for KPN and the other well known existing network operators.

Dead on arrival

After returning home from a short holiday, I was shocked to see that my weblog statistics dropped to around zero. I have to conclude from this fact, that blogging is more or less like publishing a daily newspaper. Our readers expect everday news. Otherwise, our readers will become disappointed very quickly and leave you behind and you're weblog is dead.

On a short holiday

Hope to see you after the break. The next couple of days I'm in Greece on Holiday

German VoIP Consultation

REGTP has noticed that telecommunications networks will largely convert to packet switched technologies. Businesses are increasingly using IP-based applications for their internal and external voice communication. In Germany VoIP service offers also has been targeted at the mass market. The strong growth in broadband connections is now making this look a distinct possibility. Securing the interoperability of services and networks is therefore likely to become more important than ever for the regulators.

Guess who is the biggest voice over IP service provider in the US?

You probably said Vonage, which has roughly 200,000 paying customers. Wrong. There's another company with more than four times the subscribers delivering voice capability over broadband. It's a company you've probably heard of, though not in this context.

Give up? It's Microsoft, with its XBox live online gaming service. Xbox Live has over one million paying customers for multi-player online games. And all of them have a headset that plugs into the game console, enabling real-time voice communications with other players (TCS, August 25th, Kevin Werbach).

With the aim of the German VoIP Consultation, REGTP is seeking for clarification on how VoIP services should be regulated and how they are to be classified under the EC directives and the German Telecommunications Act. The main subjects of the public consultation are:

1.Competitive developments of VoIP;
- Business models
- Regulatory classification of VoIP models
- Numbering
- Access/ Interconnection
- Market entry barriers
2. Consumer protection and public interest
- Universal service, obligations for providers
- Telecommunications privacy
- Data protection
- Emergency calls
- Technical safeguards
- Technical implementation of intercepts
- Directory enquiry procedures

REGTP, without being explicit about it, is trying to implement the harmonised approach of regulation of electronic communications of the European Community. This approach is characterised by a three stage process with respect to regulatory obligations:
1. Market definition: NRAs define markets susceptible to ex ante regulation, appropriate to national circumstances
2. Market analysis: NRAs analyse the degree of competition on the market in a manner consistent with SMP Guidelines
3. Remedies: NRAs match the competition problems and the remedies avaibable.

Much of the consultation of REGTP has to do with stage one, the market definition:
- Is the concept of publicly available telecommunications services relevant?
- Is the concept of publicly available telecommunications network operator relevant.

I’ll have my fingers crossed. Kevin Werbach in his article in TCS, makes it very clear, that VoIP isn’t the same thing as telephony. The headset of the Xbox, enabling real-time communications with other players, the online users of Playstation 2, AOL’s ICQ and AIM, MSN Messenger, and Yahoo! Messenger offering voice chat features, the extensive VoIP functionality of Microsoft Windows Longhorn, all these developments make clear that voice communication will become a standard feature of many applications! By the way, I checked Microsoft didn't hand in a Stellungnahme to REGTP.

Visit to Jan Smits

Monday I visited Jan Smits at home in Utrecht. Jan holds a chair in Law and Technology at the University of Eindhoven. We are working together in projects concerning digital radio, FTTH and telecom regulation.

We talked about the poor performance of DGTP of the Ministry of Economic Affairs in the Netherlands. First I assumed it had something to do with a lack of professionalism. But this is unfair to the staff members working in the Ministry. After studying several documents about the European regulatory framework, the real explanation should be sought in the weak position of DGTP and the Ministry of Economic Affairs in the policy making process of the European Community.

The starting point for policy making of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and DGTP in particular is formed by the common regulatory framework for electronic communications and services. The preceding policy process consists of reviews, public consultation and hearings, working documents and proposals. During this process, DGTP is just one of many contributors, like other Governments, Regulatory Authorities, Industry Associations, Consumer and user bodies, market players and other commercial organisations, research institutions and universities. Later, in the Netherlands, the directives of the European Community are implemented in the Dutch Telecommunication Act. OPTA and the other National Regulatory Authorities (NRA’s) increasingly work together to ensure a consistent and harmonised approach for the regulation of electronic communications.

The preceding makes clear that the European Directives are far more important then the Dutch Telecommunications Act and that the role of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and DGTP today is modest. I wonder which competences are realistic and necessary to establish a better performance of DGTP in the communication policy making process for the Netherlands.

FTTH: Amsterdam compared with Nuenen

In the Netherlands roll out of FTTH will happen at last. In Nuenen, according to the expectations, by the end of 2004 all households have been connected on the fiber optic network. Amsterdam has started with a public invitation to tender. Although the aim is the same, the approach by the municipalities is totally different.

Amsterdam is forging ahead with plans to connecting all 450,000 homes, businesses and organizations in the city with a fiber optic access-network. The Municipal Executive has declared that it strives for that open and universal infrastructure to reach every Amsterdam household, business and institution by 2010. The local authority will not be supplying those connections, but will entrust that task to an intended development company, Citynet Amsterdam (www.citynet.nl). This will be a communications network which is accessible to all service providers subject to the same favorable conditions, while ensuring that no vertical integration or undesirable monopolies emerge. With regard to the services, the underlying principle is that at least three basic types will be offered via this network: TV, telephone services and Internet data transmission(‘triple play’) plus services using low cost high bandwidth Intranet-type data transmission within the network.

Citynet Fiber Amsterdam will be the owner and financier of the passive infrastructure. The passive component of this infrastructure will then be let to a wholesale network operator for an agreed period of time (10 years) and the latter will operate the network subject to certain terms and conditions. This operator will be responsible for putting the network into service.

In Nuenen, 97% of the residents have signed a contract to connect their homes to the local fiber optic network. The residents, by their membership of the Nuenen Cooperative Telecom Association Our net, are joint owner and shareholder of the Network Exploitation Society (NEM). These NEM has given to Dutch company VolkerWessels the assignment to build broadband optic fibre network, with the guarantee that it must remain operational for at least 10 years. The construction of the fiber optic network will take place within the built-up area of the town of Nuenen. At the start, the services offered will be high-speed internet access and the opportunity to subscribe to a VoIP telephony service. The negotiations concerning radio - and television services are at an advanced stage.

In the short term, the approach of Nuenen offers many advantages above the approach in Amsterdam.

Marketing
The marketing in Nuenen is very successful. In a short periode one has reached 97% penetration. This success can be explained by the subsidy supplied by the Ministry of Economic Affairs. Every participating household acquires the right for complete compensation of the connection costs of 500 euro and the fee for subscription to high-speed Internet.

Project management
Nuenen realiseert de aansluitingen bijzonder snel. All houses of which become the eigenaren or tenants that have announced for 1 august next, to provide with a glass fibre connection for 31 December 2004. In Nuenen zijn initiatiefnemers, eigenaren, opdrachtgevers en contractonderhandeling namens de afnemers, allemaal bij één en dezelfde partij. Zowel de passieve als de actieve infrastructuur wordt door Volker Wessels geleverd. Dit maakt dat de slagvaardigheid groot is

Knowledge
In Nuenen there are a just a minor legal problems to solve. They don’n have to gain in-depth knowledge concerning all kinds of problems with NMa, OPTA and existing service providers. Also there are no complex organisational problems. VolkerWessels takes the responsibility for the design, construction, management and maintenance of the fiber optic network. Therefore, there are no uncertainties caused by lack of knowledge.

I belief the Amsterdam approach is more sustainable than Nuenen approach in the long run. There is more thorough knowledge of fiber optic networks and the organisation is much more robust. It seems history repeats itself. We'll still travel to Amsterdam go to the Van Gogh museum, although it was in Nuenen that Van Gogh painted most or his Dutch paintings. Amsterdam will draw a lot of attention, but Nuenen wil be the first Dutch town with a fiber optic network.

Next blog???

I accepted entirely Google Ad's are shown at the top of my weblog. A few days ago, Google decided it would be nice to show NavBar instead. What for? I already could search a web page by means of my browser. Therefore’s no added value in it. BlogThis! and Get your own blog seem nice. But I really am frustrated about the Next blog option. Choosing this option, several of my weblog readers visited the weblog of Jenny who had a very weird dream last night. This isn’t funny at all.

How easy is it to change from Blogger to Typepad? Or are there still better alternatives?

FTTx Knowledge update

Yesterday I wondered how I could brush up my knowledge about FTTx in a fast and effective manner. After some Google searches, I noticed an interesting conference. Particularly the track concerning Business Issues is promising a lot of state-of-the-art knowledge.

• Latest Developments in the Legal Issues surrounding Fiber Projects, Jim Baller
  Marketing FTTH Services to the Customer, the Things You Need to Know, Hilde Verhaegen
• Single-Service Cost Recovery for FTTP, Guy Swindell
• The Real Deal about the Fiber Thrill - Real World Case Study of Fiber Deployments, Eniola Campbell
• Why Stop at a "Triple" When You Can Have a Grand Slam?, Derrick Herbst
• If You Build It…Will They Come? FTTH Consumer Marketing and Take Rates, Michael Render
• An Approach to Securing Video Services Via Broadband IP Networks (IPTV), Bo Ferm
• Focused Solutions to Complex Wired Community Transactions Issues, Lawrence Freedman
• The Fiber Advantage for Delivering Advanced Video Services, Yvette Kanouff
• Pondering PON Deployment, Phillip Elliott
• FTTH from Three Perspectives, Allison Hift, Esq.
• Why Should I Deploy Fiber for my Development? The Basics for Real Estate Developers, Diane Kruse

Visit of Marcelino Kropman

Yesterday, Marcelino Kropman came to visit our office. Marcelino is a former manager of Interpolis and Univé, currently director of Euphyia. Euphia is his privately owned business consultancy firm. Marcelino wants to write a thorough report about the C2000 project in the Netherlands.

The C2000 project is a joint initiative of the Ministries of Interior and Kingdom Relations, of Justice, of Defence and of Public Health, Welfare and Sports. The intention is to replace the approximately 100 regional analogous radio networks, which are in use for the mobile communication at different regional police, ambulance fire centres and the royal military police, by one digital radio network on the basis of the Tetra-standard. This new network is named the C2000 radio network.

Marcelino wanders if this very costly C2000 project couldn’t have been organised in a different, more efficient way. I wish him all the luck of the world. It won't be an easy task to open up all the secret doors to unclosed information of this notorious complex project

Skype Business Strategy

We all wonder how Skype will make money and give their investors a attractive return on investment. Andy Abramson hopes some VC's helps him to resolve the mystery.

VC on Skype: A Wolf In Sheeps Clothing or A Rooster In The Hen House

I half thought about blogging the recent E-Commerce News item about Skype and what one of their VC's had to say but decided to wait for those more schooled in the VC world to comment. Malik's stint as an investment banker and VC makes him the perfect commentator on this story. Now I'm only waiting for Ted Shelton, another one of the insightful and rightful bloggers who have enough of what it takes to really get under the hood of the hype to tell, not sell, the story.

Andy Abramsom refers to VC Steve Jurvetson in eCommerce Times.

"One day, we will look back and wonder why we ever paid for phone service, in the same way that we now look back and wonder why we ever paid for e-mail," says Steve Jurvetson, a managing partner at venture-capital firm Draper Fisher Jurvetson. His firm was one of the early investors in both Hotmail and Skype. Jurvetson and other investors see Skype as a massive multibillion-dollar business ultimately and hope it will be the next big tech IPO after search-engine Google goes public this month (eCommerce Times, August 14, 2004)."

Of course Steve Jurvetson isn't telling you the complete story. Free phone service is just a small piece of the business strategy of Skype (see wednesday July, 28th of this weblog).

Here is maybe another piece of the profit pattern of Skype:
Soon Skype will develop some amazing new functionality, which is only available in a premium version, but will cost just a few extra euro’s … Another possiblity to make profit happen.

PURE Digital Bug Revisited

Concerning the FCC, I always thought they are among the first to signal new developments which need ajustments of current legislation. Somehow the RIAA missed the market launch of the PURE Digital Bug.

Radio broadcasters have begun rolling out a new digital radio technology, known as "HD Radio," which piggybacks digital signals onto traditional analog FM and AM frequencies. The new technology, developed by iBiquity, is meant to supplement, not replace, traditional analog radio.

The recording industry sees the introduction of this new radio technology as an opportunity to renew their decades long effort to take away your right to make personal recordings off the air. Taking a page from the movie business, the recording industry is asking the FCC to force technology companies to incorporate "content protection" technologies that would hobble home recording technologies for HD Radio. Led by the RIAA, the recording industry is particularly eager to make sure that there will never be a TiVo-like recorder for radio. (EFF, August 6th, 2004)

When visiting their website recently, I noticed PURE digital named their TiVo-like recorder ReVu. I think I should give FCC and RIAA a call. This will speed-up their communication processes a little bit more. By the way, the French verb revu is meaning Reconsider. Spread the word!

Major OFCOM report released

The European Parliament and the Council of the European Union released in 2002 Directive 2002/21/EC on a common regulatory framework for electronic communications networks and services in 2002. Anticipating on the convergence of the telecommunications, media and information technology sectors, networks and services are covered by a single regulatory framework. Since then, most country’s in Europe have released new Communication Acts.

Ofcom is the regulator for the UK communications industries, with responsibilities across television, radio, telecommunications and wireless communications services. Ofcom exists to further the interests of citizen-consumers as the communications industries enter the digital age.

This month, Ofcom released the first in a series of annual Communication Market reports, The Communications Market 2004. I strongly advise everybody who is interested in business and regulator affairs to read the Overview. Ofcom is by my knowledge, the first communication regulator in the world, which really has an interesting overview across the electronic communications sector, covering television, radio and telecoms. Today, I only summarize chapter 2 of the overview, concerning recent major developments:

1. Radio spearheads the move towards convergence,
2. Progress towards a digital UK continues,
3. Household usage of communications services increase,
4. Public service broadcasting continues to face challenges,
5. Increased competition in telecoms – consolidation in broadcasting,
6. International regulatory developments (not the most informative section, Hotze),
7. The balance of industry finance shifts

Of course, the report gives a wealth of facts and stories from across the communications industries. But that’s not what makes this report so important. The importance is that Ofcom leading the way by showing how a regulator can contribute to the rapid development of converging communications markets.

Visit to Prismant

Yesterday, I visited Herbert van Petersen, senior-consultant of Prismant, former director of BMLc, and a former colleague of mine. I had lunch with him, the canteen test was quite succesfull.

He started working for Prismant just a few weeks ago. Prismant is the consulting and research office for the Dutch health care. Their aim is to develop, assist and evaluate developments in the Dutch health care. They work for care institutions, government, and insurance company’s. The work area covers both the macro economic and the micro economic aspects of health care. Core issue’s are policy making, budgetting, care processes, organisational processes, information techniques and information products. Moreover Prismant organises topic-related education. Prismant is a not-for-profit organisation.

Prismant has always had a very strong position in the heathcare information market of the Netherlands. But it's position is weakening, because nowadays, most health care organisations have adapted a lot of knowlegde which used to be supplied by Prismant. So, although not for profit, they have to rase their Business IQ. Herbert is one of the new business people of Prismant.

We talked a bit about change management for organisations with a lot of highly qualified professionals. In a few years time, Prismant has to be an example of what David Maister calls The Professional Service Firm. As a former director of BMLc, I'm sure he will fix the transformation of Prismant. Not on his own. Maybe with a little bit help of his friends. But I know he is capable of doing a lot all by himself.

Business IQ and Regulator Affairs

Regulations of new electronic communications services like VoIP en digital radio are a hot topic in the U.S. A lot of opinion leaders follow closely the steps of the FCC.

Broadband providers and Internet phone services must comply with wiretapping requirements designed for the traditional phone network, the Federal Communications Commission said in a preliminary decision Wednesday.

The 5-0 vote by the FCC is a major step toward regulations designed to help police and spy agencies eavesdrop on all forms of high-speed Internet access, including cable modems, wireless, satellite and broadband over power lines (News.com, August 4th, 2004).

Skype CEO Niklas Zennstrom believes Skype has no legal obligation to provide any means for interception in his company's VoIP software. How will U.S. governemt force a company based in Luxembourg to insert backdoors in its software when it has no obligation to do so? (News.com, August 9th, 2004).

Responding to new technology and consumer demand, the telecom market surpasses whatever legislators could have envisioned in 1996, as telecommunication companies are implementing new business models. The legal distinctions maintained in telecom law don’t make any sense in light of the reality of the communications marketplace (LocalTechWire, August, 8th, 2004).

Telecommunications services in the EU are governed under the 2003 Regulatory Framework (the New Regulatory Framework (NRF). Some VoIP and associated convergent services do not fit within the NRF. The European Commission has issued a study which identifies and explains the important issues associated with the transition from the existing circuit-switched telephone network (PSTN) to IP packet-switched networks for the provision of voice and associated convergent services. These main issues are:
- Definition of Public Available Telephony Services and access to emergency services;
- Location independence and emergency access;
- Network availability in cases of disaster;
- Possible pressure on national numbering plans;
- Possible issues arising from extraterritorial service providers.

For instance, whether or not a VoIP service is a PATS (Public Available Telephony Service), has important implications for the provider of the service:
- having the ability to make international calls using the 00 prefix;
- to have a phone bill;
- to be able to prevent publication of the number in directories;
- to be able to block certain numbers from calling the number;
- to be able to withhold the number when making calls.

In my opinion there is a strong relation between Business IQ and Regulatory Affairs. The Business IQ of VoIP service providers all has to do with pricing, quality and strategic positions of the incumbent telco’s.
The former EU regulatory framework for telecommunications has been successful in creating the conditions for effective competition in the telecommunications sector during the transition from monopoly to full competition. The current framework is designed to establish open network provision. All transmission networks and services are covered by a single regulatory framework, which anticipates on the convergence of the telecommunications, media and information technology sectors.

The essential questions for the National Regulatory Authorities should be:
- What will be new relevant markets?
- What in these markets, is the dominant Business IQ?
- Which kind of behaviour of market players should be regulated?
- What do we need to effectively influence behaviour in the right directions?

These questions are just as essential for the incumbent. Existing regulation can have substantial negative effects on the pace of adaptation of IP technology! For instance, if Skype really is a disrupting innovation, the incumbent telco’s are going to study current regulations trying to slow down Skype’s business. From the point of view of the incumbent, it would be of great help if Skype might be obliged to supply something they are incapable of providing. But this is a defensive strategy which only will work temporarily. It would be much better for them, if telco’s would concentrate on the same essential questions as the EU and National Regulatory Authorities. This will surely give them better opportunities in new communication markets.

Two billion DAB euro's

Last week I received the The Catalyst in my e-mailbox. It is the e-zine of db Europe. Like always director Willem Toerink enthusiastically writes about its pursuit to play a role in the introduction of digital radio in the Netherlands.

db Europe solves the problem of the government.

db Europe communicates that it has submitted a business plan at the government that assumes an annual macro economic turnover of 2 billion euro per year! With macro economic it is meant that by introducing of T-DAB, local, regional and local broadcasting, completed with suppliers of date services, are able to generate 2 billion extra income flows. This pronounces an enormous business IQ. But the details still remain uncovered, for us as readers of the Catalyst. The business plan is, as it happens, secret. But 2 billion euro, I am nevertheless enormously curious!

DAB & innovation = no words but action

What is it all about? db Europe suggest innovative services become possibly with an economic value of 2 billion euro. Therefore, it concerns providing services! What are the innovative DAB services that create value in a magnitude which give such a huge extra income flow? It’s more than all current radio advertising expenditures. It’s even more than the turnover of the music retail business in the Netherlands. I will be waiting for some brilliant suggestions.

TRANSUMO

Yesterday and today I studied the plans of TRANSUMO, the Knowledge Investment Programme for sustainable mobility in the Netherlands. The main question is how the Netherlands remain at the same time mobile and livable. TRANSUMO wants to improve the sustainability of persons - and goods mobility. Transumo is subdivided in five research fields.

I have among other things taken notice of the proposal for the BSIK-programma, version January, 16th, 2004 and the Procedure Decision Making for Projects, version May, 25th, 2004. The first document describes the context, objectives, contents, organisation and finance of TRANSUMO. The second document gives a point by point enumeration of the procedure along which decisions will be taken concerning a project proposal. This second document also contains a standard format for a project plan.

There are a couple financial aspects which in attracted my attention:
- Research Field Management and Consortium Partners have a pre-emptive right if it concerns submitting projects. A tender will be written out just at a later stage;
- Research Field Management must pursue for projects with a budget of 1,000,000 euro or more;
- A maximum hour tariff of 65 euro (based on a cost model) applies for contracting additional reseach capacity.

Think big and act small? Penny wise, pound foolish? I'll have my fingers crossed. Let's hope the beautiful substantive striving isn't frustrated by accountants and bureaucrats.

Furthermore an interesting new abbreviation has been invented: K2P. This stands for Knowledge Institutes, Public Authorities and Private Companies. It won’t last long before this abbreviation also will be used outside TRANSUMO. It’s sounds great and reflects the nature of well-known existing forms of partnerships.

Weblogs and marketing strategy

Startup's should try to get attention from webloggers, as pointed out in a recent article of RedHerring, Next Wave: How to build buzz on the blogs. Let me contribute to the example they mentioned, so download Blinkx.

If I use weblogging as part of a corporate communication strategy:
- Can I use it to communicate directly with potential customers?
- What will they say about my company and my products?
- Why should someone else use my weblog as a publicity vehicle?

I’m interested in the do’s and don’ts if you want to add a corporate weblog to your communication strategy. Here is the result of my web research, starting with a few conclusions bases on RedHerring:
1. Mind your own business, so stick to talking about your company, products, customers, competences, employees.
2. Give provocative opinions. Don’t be shy to say what you really think about your company or its products and services. Don’t use it for press releases or public relations. Keep track of what bloggers are saying about your company and its products. Respond to their postings.
3. Allow your employee’s to become a blogger; the weblog can be the “holy grail” of the individual employee who can become a recognized expert almost overnight under the right circumstances.
4. Succesfull networking requires charisma above content. Website visitors want to talk to real people. Popularity is the key.
5. Wave your message into a mechanisme that people want to share. Bring in a few links; general search results for your weblog will improve.
6. Don’t start weblogging if you’re worrying about possible conflicts with your corporate communication and internet policies. Be honest, don’t be scared.
7. A good weblog is an interactive blogs allow the readership to participate by providing comments. Many readers will appreciate a representative of the company listening to their comments.
8. Don’t use fake weblog’s and fake authors to promote your products; Bloggers smell rats.

Time’s up. I would appreciate to receive further suggestions.

Business IQ

I visited the AlwaysOn meeting on wednesday July, 14th 2004 and listened to the presentation of Padmasree Warrior, CTO, Motorola. On one specific sheets she mentioned a couble of interesting balances for Motorola:

- Current approach and Disruptive technologies;
- Creativity and Execution;
- Near term value creation and Long term search;
- Technical IQ and Business IQ.

When I was a student, okay, that's 20 years ago now, the only interesting was Technical IQ. But why don't we teach our children Business IQ? It's not that difficult at all. Why bother about noisy management, if professional techy's claim knowlegde and competences in the field of Business IQ?

Visit to Eyefi Interactive in Amsterdam

Eyefi Interactive, digital architects in the Netherlands. Yesterday I had an appointment with Kasper Luursema and Thijs Muller, the Executive Board of Eyefi. We talked about their business. Eyefi Interactive is a Internet communication office that strategy and internet technology combines to realise an optimal result for its customers. On the basis of their technical, creative and conceptual experience, they advise how Internet can contribute to better business performance.

Heading in the right direction, unsure of what the internet and its technologies can do for your business, we can help.

I was interested in their future business perspective. They are planning a next step. This will change both their business model and business strategy, and introduce new ways for creating value and making profit. This month, I will be helping them with their business development. The main goal for Eyefi is to create a clear description for value creation, which emphasises the distinguishing activities and the approaches which will Eyefi enable to provide more profitable products and the services.

Research Evaluation OPTA

The management of Market and Organization of the Ministry of Economic Affairs (EZ) has put out to public tender the study into the efficiency and effectiveness of the functioning of OPTA. Parties have been invited to bring out a tender according with the project description, procedures and instructions as described in the document Research Evaluation OPTA, version July, 13th, 2004.

The legal basis of the OPTA lies in the Law Independent Post and Telecommunications Authority (law OPTA). This forms the legal framework for the position of the government as a regulator in a competitive market for telecommmunications and post. OPTA has been given dedicated supervisory and executive tasks in that framework.

Article 25 of the law OPTA stipulates that the Minister of Economic Affairs evaluates each four year the effectiveness and efficiency of the OPTA evaluates and sends a report to the parliament. The evaluation must produce insight in the way in which OPTA gives interpretation to its legal tasks and uses its instruments and competences. The evaluation period runs of 1 December 2000 up to 1 October 2004.

For the evaluation the following areas become distinguished for special attention:
- Implementation of legal tasks;
- The internal organisation and management of OPTA;
- The effective cooperation between EZ and OPTA;
- The relations with other institutions and organisation.

In the point of view of the government on the earlier Evaluation OPTA, July, 6th 2001, 2005 is called as a year on which the institutional design of the regulation can be evaluated within the framework of the law OPTA. Sectoral supervision of the telecommunications - and post market (the OPTA) is then possibly part of the NMA as a chamber. At this point it is unclear what the current point of view of the government is.

Directive 2002/21/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 7th March 2002 on a common regulatory framework for electronic communications networks and services, states in Article 3.2 that Member states shall guarantee the independence of national regulator authorities by ensuring that they are legally distinct from and functionally independent of all organisations providing electronic communications networks, equipment or services. Member States that retain ownership or control of undertakings providing electronic communications networks and/or services shall ensure effective structural separation of the regulatory function from activities associated with ownership or control. The Dutch government still is a shareholder of KPN. In 2002 the government has communicated that the OPTA will merge with the Netherlands Competition Authority. On 24th June, 2004, a Cooperation protocol was signed between the Commission of the Independent Post and Telecommunications Authority (OPTA) and the Director General of NMa on the method of cooperation in matters of mutual interest. What happened with the issue of the integration of OPTA into NMa? Why isn’t it anymore on the political agenda?

Skype Names Carrier Partners

Skype Technologies S.A., the Global Internet Telephony Company that offers consumers the ability to make free superior quality voice calls using their Internet connections, today announced agreements with COLT, iBasis, Level 3, and Teleglobe to provide call termination services worldwide. (Lightreading, Luxembourg, July, 23)

The competitive advantages of these partnerships are global reach, competitive pricing, trust, quality of service and reliability. These represent the business models for the incumbent telecommunication carriers.

On wednesday, July 28, I showed that Skype is a disrupting innovation because it delivers new important quality improvements. The above quotes show that due to the succesfull vertical disintegration of telecommunications in structure, Skype delivers the old quality characteristics of telephon communications through partnerships with telecommunications carriers. This will speed up the innovation process of Skype, because it can concentrate on service configuration and the possibilities for telecommunications service innovation.

Skype Product Recall

I'm one of the early adaptors of SkypeOut. SkypeOut was the only reason I instantly downloaded Skype and told my friends of this disrupting innovation. I don't feel like an early beta user who has already been rewarded by being there early. I didn't know prices where subject to change.

Skype Phone Beta testers were very disappointed with the public release of Skype 1.0 and swamped the public bulletin boards with complaints today and criticism on Skype users web blogs.

Many of these first Skype users also subscribed to SkypeOut, a service which also allows you to make calls from your PC Skype Phone to any telephone in the world, at greatly competitive prices - greatly that is - until today.

The bulletin boards on Skype are now swamped with complaints at a price hike with the release of the first official version yesterday, averaging around 40% increase in prices, some destinations being up 500%.

These testers, who are at present still almost the entire Skype community, are not upset only by the price increases but the manner in which it was done: no warning, no announcement, and no honouring of existing account balances. (Adam King, Mathaba.net, 07/28)

Skype should be ready for a recall of the public release of Skype 1.0. Nothing to worry about. Everything we always wanted to know about product recalls is already on the Internet. For instance, look at When Bad Things Happen to Good Companies or The Ready Recall Program. I believe Skype needs some lessons learned too. Why should it take the unnecesarry risk of a large recovery and rehabilitation effort?

SMS-Cell Broadcasting

SMS-Cell Broadcast (CB) is a non-intrusive, realtime service of distributing text messages to tuned-in mobile handsets, specific to their current location. Where SMS is a service of individual messages, CB is capable of broadcasting one single message to reach all mobile handsets in an area as small as one radio cell and as big as the entire country. Only handsets that have CB-channels activated will receive the messages. It’s fast and it’s real-time! Sending a message to millions of handsets is a matter of seconds.

Cell Broadcast is available in all GSM networks and almost all types of handsets support it. A telecom operator that has a Cell Broadcast Centre can make the service available. Entering messages is done through an automated application, or through a graphical user-interface. (LogicaCMG Factsheet Cell Broadcast System).

ICTU has done, on the order of the Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations (BZK) and the Ministry of Economic Affairs (EZ), exploring research to the feasibility of cell-broadcasting of government services (Novembre 2002 - March 2003). The first applications are sought in the improvement of crisis and disaster managemen. Sweeping measures must always be accompanied by communication with the citizens. Cell-broadcasting makes this possible, for specific area's.

Here also lies an interesting application for Digital Radio. Both regional and local broadcasting radiostations require a cell-infrastructure. In a crisis situation, warnings and other messages can be heard ànd it can be shown on the datadisplay.

Digital radio disturbs RTL4

Digital radio reception is largely immune to interference. Digital radio eliminates many imperfections relating to analog radio transmission and reception. Cable television isn't immune to interference. There has to be done some thorough investigation in these enexpected problems.

On July 19, in Haarlem started broadcasts of digital ether radio. This disturbs the receipts of RTL 4 via the cable. Cable company UPC has receive hundred complaints of citizens of Haarlem, similar protests of cable subscribers almost put out of order the callcenter of UPC.

Via the Vecai, the association of the cable business, yesterday noon UPC has demanded NOS immediately suspenden the broadcasts. According to UPC-spokesman Mark Zellenrath broadcasts of digital radio via the ether (T-DAB, terrestial digital audio broadcasting) uses a very strong signal that makes disturbance happen easily. Noise appears on the TV screen and a strengthen decreased qualitative receipts of RTL 4 (Haarlems Dagblad, July 30, 2004).

Though DAB is more resistant to interference than FM, reception can still be interrupted if the level of interference is high. If the interruptions are regular, bursts of interference from domestic equipment may be the cause. To confirm this, try listening to, say, Radio 3 on FM at the same time when the interference seems to be present. A distinct crackle indicates a burst of interference.

Most local interference is caused by central heating thermostats. To check whether this is the cause, try turning off the heating for a few minutes and see if the problem stops for the duration. You may find that a neighbour’s system is causing the problem rather than your own, in which case check next-door to see if they have problems with intermittent noise on FM, TV or even cordless telephones. Other sources of interference include fridge thermostats, faulty fluorescent lights and very occasionally even electricity street transformers and street lamps (BBC Reception Advice Digital Radio).

Disrupting Skype

In the Automatisering Gids of last week, an article was published, in which the writers underline my earlier statement that Skype is a disrupting technology. They invoke the following arguments:

1. Telephony communication is up to a point that on accessibility, quality of service and price, users need no more need further improvements;
2. To see who's online (the 'presence' of your social network) and to switch easily between text and speech are new important quality characteristics;
3. Skype offers still a lot of development possibilities. By nature, it concerns a software solution to which new functionalities can be added;
4. Skype use of a business model which anticipates on rapidly increasing ADSL-connections;
5. Skype still has the advantage of a pioneer, they lift on the extremely strong reputation of 'the people who brought you KaZaA';
6. The incumbent local phone companies cannot embracy VoIP-telephony quickly because doing so means admitting to their shareholders high voice revenues are going away.

What's the value proposition of Skype? How generates Skype on the basis ot this value proposition an attractive income flow? The writers of the article leave these questions unanswered.

The Skype business model is based on a technological innovation. Peer-to-peer technology allows Skype to apply a software businessmodel to an operator problem. Skype claims this is disrupting existing business models of both circuit switched telco's and VoIP providers. Skype's scaling costs remain the most efficient. 

It has become clear Skype started an income flow with SkypeOut. They charge for bridging to the PSTN. SkypeOut provides Skype users on a prepaid basis the ability to place calls to the public switched telephone network. As Ross Mayfield already stated in his weblog on September, 2003, this is nog that much of a challenge technically and they can create intermediate peers in different countries connected to a softswitch to avoid paying for transport. 

The strategic business design of Skype is wonderful, based on a product pyramid profit. Skype has a simple bit of software, easy to install. It’ll let you make free phone calls to your friends all over the world. And Skype doesn’t want any money for it. It’s free.

This will create a base of the pyramid, through millions of downloads. The base of the pyramid plays a critical strategic role in creating a "firewall" at the bottom. The firewall brand creates a barrier to competitors, and protects the profitability at the top of the structure. How does it work? Well, after a couple days you discover the biggest part of your social network isn't online. Then you decide to add credit to your Skype account. Money flows in, profit starts for Skype and the product pyramide starts working with SkypeOut, SkypeIn etc...

 

CityNet Amsterdam

Amsterdam is forging ahead with plans to connecting all 450,000 homes, businesses and organizations in the city with a fiberoptic access-network. The Municipal Executive has declared that it strives for that open and universal infrastructure to reach every Amsterdam household, business and institution by 2010. The local authority will not be supplying those connections, but will entrust that task to an intended development company, Citynet Amsterdam (www.citynet.nl).

Amsterdam City Council will establish a qualitatively superior, future-proof, fiber-optic, communications network in the municipality of Amsterdam. This will be a communications network which is accessible to all service providers subject to the same favorable conditions, while ensuring that no vertical integration or undesirable monopolies emerge. With regard to the services, the underlying principle is that at least three basic types will be offered via this network: TV, telephone services and Internet data transmission(‘triple play’) plus services using low cost high bandwidth Intranet-type data transmission (Citynet) within the network.

Cibernet Fiber Amsterdam will be the owner and financier of the passive infrastructure. The passive component of this infrastructure will then be let to a wholesale network operator for an agreed period of time (10 years) and the latter will operate the network subject to certain terms and conditions. This operator will be responsible for putting the network into service.

Last Thursday, I visited the Q&A meeting in Amsterdam to see which parties are interested in tendering. On every potential network operator there are at leat five suppliers. This underlines the statement of Dirk van der Woude (senior advisor City of Amsterdam) that large players don't make much rumour.

Network operator

• BT Global Services


• COLT Telecom


• MCI


• KPN


• UPC

Supplier

• Arcadis


• Broadband Solutions TKF


• Cisco


• Corning Cable Systems


• Draka Comteq


• Ericsson


• EuroFiber


• Fixed Access Networks


• Foundry Networks B.V.


• Genexis B.V.


• Getronics Nederland B.V.


• GTI Infra


• Imtech Telecom B.V.


• Isolectra bv


• Lucent Technologies


• Nacap Telecom UK


• Nijkerk Computer Solutions


• NKM Netwerken Veenendaal


• Optaxx


• Packetfront


• Schuuring Communicatie Netwerk


• Siemens Nederland N.V.


• Stam & Co Kommunikatie-Systemen BV


• Telindus


• UNET

Social Networking Tools and CRM

Social Networks are still in search of Business Models.

Despite skepticism that the buzz around social networking tools is fueled by venture capital-created hype, executives at some of these start-ups insist there's money to be made from software that connects friends to friends of friends.

Services like Friendster, Tribe Networks, LinkedIn and Google's Orkut may be growing in popularity but, as Tribe founder Mark Pincus admits, revenues are non-existent and profitability is not even in the equation today.
(www.internetnews.com, February 13, 2004).

Subscribtions, classifieds, targeted advertising, all reasonable idea's which have not come into reality. I strongly believe that a Social Network doesn't have a business value. It's what we do with the interconnectivity of social networks is what makes profit happen. In my opinion, current social networks miss a clear business perspective.

Business people looking to connect with each other is interesting from a profit perspective if they want to connect on the basis of a business propositions. When business development is happening easy and faster, then social networks creates value and revenues. But if I have a clear business proprosition, do I still need social networks like LinkedIn.

Your current customers are your friends and the friends of these friends you have to win as new customers. Your current customers have to give you teh referrals to their friends. That's what customer relationship management should do. So, are social networking tools the next answer to CRM.

New York-based Visible Path is taking a different approach to marketing the service, by targeting enterprises with social networking technology. Visible Path Chief Executive Antony Brydon believes the corporate customer is an easier sell for technology that offer relationship networks that connect them to prospective customers, partners, investors and employees (www.internetnews.com, February 13, 2004).

Visible Path has stated a mission which most social networks still do without. Visible Path states that our company's most valuable and least visible asset is relationship capital. Their objective is to accelerate deals using relationships in common to establish trust with new prospects. By means of social network analysis to intelligent mine and make sense of relationship data that exists in information systems. Finding the best path to a particular target is the mission of Visible Path.

Australian transition to digital radio

The Australian commercial radio industry is frustrated because it still has to wait for the Government to make a decision about the transition of analoque to digital technology. This sounds familiar in the Netherlands, where we had to wait for years about the same issue.

The industry's battle with the Government began last October when the Australian Broadcasting Authority announced plans for digital radio trials, which opened the spectrum to newcomers. The future of radio stations becomes uncertain if the transition doesn't meet the following conditions:
- existing operators gaining free access to the digital spectrum on the L-Band;
- a reasonable simulcast period (a 20-year period with reviews at 10 and 15 years);
- a ban on new entrants for at least 10 years.
DMG Radio chief executive Paul Thompson, whose group owns the Nova stations, said the industry was "surprised and seriously taken aback" that the Government had not made any commitment. "I think we expected a more supportive and enthusiastic response by the Government but it's simply not there," he said.
(The Australian, 22 July 2004)

These conditions aren't reasonable conditions. These are the conditions of an industry protecting their current position in broadcasting. But the existing radio stations can't demand there will be no options for new competitors. Digital radio began to take off in the UK, not because of the CD-quality, but because of the introduction of quite a lot ofnew digital-only radiostations. Simply replication of today's analoque radio formats on to digital doesn't make the public to buy digital radio sets.

You can't deny the fact that incumbent radio broadcasters have the right to protect their own interests. Therefore, the Australian Government should start negotiations instead of asking the industry what it wants. This will be far more productive than the current process of policy making, in which the Goverment thinks it only has to facility what the industry demands.

Site Swarming

In a recent blog I have told you that I visited Eyebees. After the meeting I directly made a download of their application Eyebees Swarm. Installation went very easy and producing Swarms also has succeeded. I must say, it is a brilliant idea, I certainly want to experiment with swarming. The technology looks splendid, but ... I don't understood anything at all of the functionality of their application. I called Marco Bunge and he visited me today.

Marco is an enthusiastic narrator, who wants to measure the group dynamics of the world-wide-web, real time, dynamic swarming. He speaks like a true believer. But I am just one of those stupid persons who need nevertheless more insight in the functionality. I keep on asking Marco. It appears Eyebees has two types of applications:
1. Site Swarming: visualisation of the current users of a site, think of making graphically visible the logging of a site;
2. Web Swarming: visualisation of the common surfing within a social network, think of graphics reflecting the sites visited by other surfers.

Eyebees is putting the first application in the market. I think they should follow a dual business strategy:
- a free version which every amature blogger can add to its own weblog, so you can see how much traffic there is;
- a commercial version with which owners of professional sites can offer extra functionality to their visitors, for example Instant Messaging between the current site visitors.

I am curious if there already happens more swarming on the Internet. What would you like to do, if you were offered the opportunity being able to communicate directly with other site visitors, as a type of interaction in an instant social network?

Intelligent agents

@Road, a leading provider of mobile resource management (MRM) services, today announced the availability of the company's newest mobile data integration application, @Road Mobile Enterprise Access (MEA). The @Road MEA service is designed to streamline customers' business processes by improving field force data communications with the enterprise. Developed for use on JAVA and GPS-enabled handsets, @Road MEA lets companies of all sizes access back-office applications from the field, such as customer relationship management (CRM), inventory control and scheduling databases, as well as integrate real-time location-based data directly into these same systems. (Business Wire, June 28, 2004).

This is really good news. At last location-based services become no longer exclusively used to trace the salesforce and their vehicles. These services will used to provide salesman with more business intelligence. It seems to me this kind of functionality has a much better ROI than all those supervisory and checking functionalities, which are perhaps cost-reducing, but will never generate extra income.

Pure Digital Bug

"The Bug was born of the award winning PURE Digital engineering pedigree and a great design from Wayne Hemmingway. Available in either cool white and chrome or sophisticated graphite-metallic and chrome finishes the mains powered Bug will look good in any situation. The Bug features a large blue backlit LCD display mounted on a flexible neck, stereo speakers, a telescopic DAB aerial and superb connectivity including USB connector, SD card slot, S/PDIF digital and analogue outputs and a headphone socket.

As well as bringing you superb quality audio and all of the other benefits of DAB digital radio broadcasting, the Bug brings life to radio by allowing you to pause, rewind and record live radio. Multiple alarms, record timers, the ability to play MP3s, station presets and equalisation settings are among the other clever features packed inside its compact but perfectly formed body. Check out the Bug's own website at www.thebug.com for further details, fun Bug stuff and the latest Bug news". (http://www.pure-digital.com)

In spring of 2004 we were on a visit at the BBC in United Kingdom. We talked about the successful introduction of DAB in United Kingdom. Of course we have also asked them which new functionality the new DAB receivers would have. They were informed about the Pure-Digital Bug, although they officially had to deny the existence of a “MP3-button”.

The endless ether

De eindeloze ether appears soon in our bookshops in the Netherlands. A concise book in which is put that the current restricted possibilities for radio and TV broadcasting will disappear. The report is a quick scan into the possibilities of mobile broadband data communication. The broadband data communication network  must be considered as an endless ether, on which radio, TV and other medium services can be offered not impeded by existing regulations!
 
How can you deserve money with radio on a broadband data communication network? What are the different business models? How influences this the position of the existing players such as makers of the radio programs, existing broadcasters, networks operators and the manufacturers of the reciever equipment and user software? 
 
Always-on internet has become important when then the tariff becam less than 35 euro per month. Speed is less important, but will increase, to reduce the fall of the prices for broadband connections. Everyone can select therefore by means of Internet its own station and listen to it.  Radiolocator helps to make a selection. The portable Internet radio of Reciva is wireless. The streaming radio of Philips isn’t. But both make the switch-over of the current analogue radio to digital internet radio much approachable.
 
Mobile telecommunication became possibly by the invention of cellular networks. The endless ether will become possible by a nation wide network with WiFi-hotspots. It is still lacking of roaming agreements. But these will come certainly. It’s only a matter of time until only a few competitors of WiFi-hotspots remain and combine there networks.
 
Dutch haven’t got used to pay for radio or television. Streaming audio will always be free on the Internet. The possibilities of the endless ether can be exploited, if suppliers specialise on target groups, nich-markets for special interest groups, of offer listeners possibilities to focus on information concerning their individual needs. But there’s no money in personalised information. That conflicts with the expectation of the user that information on the Internet is free.
 
Money will be deserved by the network operators and the suppliers of digital audio receivers. Advertising will be give some cashflow for het content providers. But the questions remains, who will make money by delivering content in times of an endless ether.

Standaard besturingsysteem voor DAB-receivers

In een eerdere bijdrage heb ik Bill Gates al een keer aangespoord om zich met DAB te bemoeien. Wat zou het toch mooi zijn als elke digitale radio voorzien wordt van Microsoft DAB Windows, zodat we zelf naar hartelust applicaties kunnen ontwikkelen en installeren.

"But while radio content and listenership is on the up, new, very high-quality radio hardware is in decline. Radio is mostly sold in sub £150, portable box products, and the wide variety of manufacturers taking advantage of the DAB digital radio market is mostly doing so with mass-market, chain-store devices, predominantly built around the same technology - the Frontier Silicon Chorus DAB module."

Leuk voor Digitale One en PURE dat ze deze technologie hebben ontwikkeld. Maar wel erg jammer dat we nu met een gesloten systeem zitten. Wat niet is kan nog komen, moeten we maar denken.

Stowe Boyd visited Eyebees in Amsterdam

Een eerste poging om deze blog in het Engels te schrijven

Yesterday, Stowe Boyd visited Eyebees in Amsterdam. I studied his weblog before attending to the meeting. Wearing a cap, he didn't look very much like the picture on his weblog, but he surely talks about the things he is writing about.

The meeting started with a short welcoming bij Marco Bunge, one of the owners of the start-up Eyebees. Then Stowe Boyd took off with his Powerpoint slide-show. A few words on the sheets, but interesting pictures illustrating what he is talking about.

Stowe Boyd is particulary interested in the phenomena of social networks and social tools. His motto is: your network is smarter than you. What a relief. My meetings with more than 6 people are not intelligent at all. But thanks to Stowe, there might be some hope out there. Although I am familiar with AlwaysOn, Blogger, Friendster, LinkedIn, Orkut and Slashdot, I still wonder when my memberships will pay off. Stowe thinks it has little to do with the social tools, but far more with a good limited set of grouprules.

Often life during Swarm Time on the internet gives you an empty street feeling. What we need is some kind of bottom-up, self-organizing phenomena. But we don't need a leader. We need a small set of rules which defines our social network on the internet. Social tools make it happen, they make sure you get connected. This will organise people arround you, the best source of information.

Social Network Applications are interesting for businesses too. Bateson once wrote that a business is a network of conversations. So stay online, all day long. It gives you better decisions more quickly. Exploiting your relationships.

It was great fun to listen to someone who really knows something about what he calls "social tools". Although he didn't make any direct references to complexity- and chaostheory, he must be highly influences by what has it's origins in the Sante Fe Institute. This stimulates me to go on with the work I'm doing with collegae's to apply complexitytheory to innovation and knowledge processes.

112

In Amerika en Europa worden location-based services gestimuleerd doordat de overheid van mobiele operators eist dat de afzenders van 112-berichten tot op een afstand van 15 meter nauwkeurig kunnen worden getraceerd. Het blijft toch vermakelijk om te zien dat voor het C2000-project de politie worstelt met het goed functioneren van een noodknop, terwijl parallel daaraan binnenkort elke willekeurige burger voorzien is van een mobiele noodknop.

Social Network Applications

Friendster, Orkut, LinkedIn, ... Het aantal applicaties waarmee een sociaal netwerk kan worden ondersteund is heel snel aan het groeien. Bij applicaties zoals Friendster en Orkut ligt de focus op het verzamelen van zoveel mogelijk contacten. Terwijl bij LinkedId de meerwaarde vooral zit in de kracht van de relatie, zodat efficiency kan worden geboekt bij het vinden van de meest waardevolle relaties.

AlwaysOn claimt dat het als eerste participatieve journalistiek (blogging) combineert met een social network. Ik weet het niet. Het lijkt tot verdacht veel op wat Google aan het doen is met Blogger en de mogelijk tot het aanmaken van een eigen profiel.

Switch-off in de UK

Als de overheid een datum voor de switch-off noemt voor het afsluiten van het gebruik van de huidige FM-frequenties, is dit een enorme stimulans voor de marktontwikkeling van digitale radio. Maar het is een politiek gevoelig punt. Wie durft haar kiezers voor te spiegelen dat de bestaande radio's allemaal moeten worden vervangen?

Het ziet er naar uit dat in Engeland de eerste stap heeft gezet. In een voorwoord van een te verschijnen rapport van het Digital Radio Development Bureau kondigt de overheid aan, nog dit jaar te gaan beoordelen wat een geschikte datum voor de switch-off zou kunnen zijn.

Location-based information voor 1 euro per gebruiker

De meest LBS-oplossingen gebruiken het op satelieten gebaseerde GPS of de Cell-ID apparatuur van netwerk-operators. In een persbericht van Directionsmag wordt een softwareoplossing besproken dat voor een prijsdoorbraak zal zorgen. De door CPS ontwikkelde Matrix-oplossing zorgt voor een snelle location-fix, werkt op een standaard GSM-toestel, zowel buiten- als binnenhuis. Het is leveranciersonafhankelijk en kan dus zeer snel worden uitgerold onder mobiele operators, die in een multi-vendor situatie zitten t.a.v. de handheld -leveranciers.

Polderen met fileproblemen

In de Automatisering Gids van deze week lezen we:

"Den Haag, 10.30 uur - De Rabobank presenteert samen met een groep van tientallen bedrijven een revolutionair plan genaamd kilometerbeloning om de fileproblematiek en de CO2-uitstoot te bestrijden.

ICT speelt een cruciale rol in het plan, bijvoorbeeld voor het registreren van de afgelegde kilometers. Maar de bedenkers willen de telematica in de auto ook inzetten om te bereiken dat automobilisten meer openbaarvervoer-kilometers gaan maken. (tdo)"

Het is altijd weer verbasingwekkend hoe dat polderen in Nederland tot creatieve, geldverslindende, onzinnige oplossingen leidt. Het consortium is blijkbaar even vergeten dat elke auto al uitgerust is met een kilometerteller. Maar als ik de overheid een rekening mag sturen voor elke minuut dat ik in de file sta, ben ik direct voor!

Opsporen en volgen van mobiele gebruikers

In Korea wordt binnenkort een wet aangenomen die mobiele operators verbiedt om zonder toestemming informatie te verzamelen over de locatie van gebruikers van mobiele telefoons. Dit is bedoeld om de privacy van mobiele telefoongebruikers te beschermen. Alleen met expliciete toestemming van gebruikers, mag hun positie worden getraceerd.

Een uitzondering wordt gemaakt voor (medische) hulpdiensten die in noodgevallen een gebruiker op basis van zijn mobiele telefoon mogen traceren. Dit laatste is overigens ook in Europa een issue. De EU wil mobiele operators verplichten om zeer nauwkeurig de locatie van mobiele 112-bellers te traceren, zodat in geval van nood snel assistentie kan worden verleend. Vooralsnog is de nauwkeurigheid beperkt tot buurt en wijk.

Visual Radio Applications

In Engeland groeit het enthousiasme over digitale radio. Deze week weer een enthousiast artikel in The Gardian. Het geloof in de toekomst is in dit artikel gebaseerd op nieuwe functionaliteiten:
- pause en rewind mogelijkheden,
- hard disks voor het opnemen van honderden uren radiouitzendingen,
- het kopen van muziek en video's;
- het lezen van een elektronisch tijdschrift;
- het bekijken van filenieuws;
- elektronische programmagidsen;
- interactiviteit door combinatie met een mobiele telefoon,
- het verzenden van visuele reclame.

Langzaam begint duidelijk te worden wat de voordelen van digital broadcasting zijn ten opzichte van UMTS. En dat er veel meer ontvangers voor digitale radio zijn zoals mobiele telefoons, PDA's etc. Misschien moet Bill Gates zo langzamerhand maar een claim leggen op een nieuwe tak van sport in de softwareindustrie: Visual Radio Applications.

Marktaandeel van digitale radio

In de UK luistert Joe Public inmiddels naar digitale radiostations. De BBC heeft een dominante positie in het analoge spectrum, maar maar dankzij digitale radio krijgt commerciële radio voor het eerste een level playing field.

Van de 20 miljoen huishoudens luisteren er elke week ongeveer 4,7 miljoen wekelijks naar digitale radio:
- 29% luistert via de digitale televisie;
- 13% luistert via internet.

Er zijn 550.000 digitale radio's verkocht. Adverteerders beginnen inmiddels digitale zendtijd te kopen, maar vaak nog tegen gereduceerde tarieven. Het wordt pas business als er meer dan een mijoen radio's zijn verkocht.

De typische DAB-luisteraar is 51 (!) jaar, terwijl radio in algemene zin een medium is voor 15 tot 30 jarigen.

HD Radio

iBiquity vermarkt digitale radio in Amerika onder de naam HD Radio. In een artikel van BizReport vindt de prijzen van de digitale recievers belachelijk hoog. Daar ben ik niet van onder de indruk. In de UK zijn consumente bereid om de relatieve hoge aanschafprijzen te betalen. Maar wat me wel verontrust is de volgende tekst uit het artikel:

"A station's digital broadcast seamlessly shares the same frequency as its analog signal, allowing a receiver, like a cell phone, to hop from one to the other as needed. This is unlike digital TV -- where a massively awkward transition from one set of analog frequencies to a new batch of digital channels is underway.".

We zijn toch wel goed bezig met T-DAB? Of kunnen we de FM-frequenties ook gebruiken voor HD-radio? We hebben toch wel een duidelijke universele standaard naar ik hoop?

VoIP profit pattern

Mercer Management Consultants heeft onderzocht of VoIP een serieuze bedreiging is voor de winstgevendheid van telco's. Onderzoek onder 1000 consumenten in Engeland en Amerika bevestigt dit inderdaad, voor een combinatie van uitstekende kwaliteit en redelijke prijs door partijen met een betrouwbare reputatie.

Eigenlijk wisten we het al. Ik heb geen behoefte aan Tele2 als mijn telefoontikken al behoorlijk zijn teruggelopen door gebruik van ADSL. En ik erger me steeds meer aan de teruglopende kwaliteit van mobiele telefoongesprekken. In die zin zoek ik inderdaad gesprekken met CD-kwaliteit tegen redelijke kosten.

Mercer stelt ook dat ik meer vertrouwen heb in Xs4all dan in nieuwkomers als Skype of Vonage. Dat betwijfel ik ten zeerste. De reputatie van p2p-technologie is groot, gezien het aantal downloads van eerst Kazaa en nu Skype.

Spekkoper is de VoIP leverancier die als eerste de bestaande KPN-lijn overbodig maakt, door nummer-portabiliteit mogelijk te maken! Misschien is dat waar, maar ik heb net als bij e-mail ook erg veel behoefte aan een universeel nummer (hotmail van Microsoft/ gmail van Google).

Mercer stelt voor dat telco's een pre-emptive strategy moeten volgen, d.w.z. een herpositionering die er toe leidt dat bij bestaande klanten een behoefte wordt gepercipieerd die geen ruimte laat voor nieuwe partijen. Wie weet wat dit concreet betekent?

Marktleiders betreden de T-DAB markt

Na Philips, heeft nu ook Sony haar plannen concreet gemaakt om een DAB reciever op de markt te brengen. Dit betekent dat men de tijd rijp acht om het baanbrekende werk van de innovators als PURE over te nemen. In eerste instantie probeert men nu met haar enorme marketingpower de concurrentie aan te gaan. Het is de vraag hoe sterk de reputatie van PURE en de EVOKE inmiddels is. In tweede instantie kan men natuurlijk PURE overnemen en is de markt weer geconsolideerd bij enkele grote organisaties. Waar is T-DAB het meeste bij gebaat?

SkypeOut Live!

Sinds gisteren werkt de premium service van Skype. Vanaf vandaag ben ik in staat om via mijn Skype-telefoon niet alleen gratis andere Skype-gebruikers te bellen, maar ook naar buiten te bellen via SkypeOut. Het enige wat ik hoefde te doen was 10 euro storten en het werkt!

In mijn eerste test natuurlijk gebeld naar mijn eigen KPN-nummer thuis. Toen hoorde ik een vervelende echo. Maar inmiddels ook een test gedaan naar mijn Kpn mobiele nummer. IK heb mijn voicemail ingesproken en afgeluisterd. Wat een verbluffende kwaliteit!!! Dit gaat het einde betekenen van de traditionele telefoontikken.

iTones via de radio

In Engeland is UBC Media in gesprek met PURE Digital, fabrikant van digitale radio's, om een speciale digitale radio te ontwerpen waarmee muziek kan worden gedownload, vergekijkbaar met iTunes van Apple. Luisteraars die zich inschrijven voor deze muzieksdienst kunnen, wanneer ze een liedje horen, door op een special knop te drukken, er voor zorgen dat het nummer op een memorycard wordt opgenomen. Tracks kunnen ook worden opgenomen op een MP3-speler.

In Amerika dringt de muziekindustrie er bij de overheid op aan om beleid te maken, die fabrikanten dwingt om een technologie toe te passen, die illegaal kopiëren van muziek tegen gaat. Het is de vraag of dit gaat lukken, omdat tot op heden het luisteraars niet is verboden om muziek te kopieëren voor eigen gebruik.

SkypeOut en SkypeIn

Skype is een mooi voorbeeld van een disruptive innovation maar wat is het businessmodel van Skype? SkypeOut wordt een pre-paid service. Daarmee kun je ook bellen maar gewone telefoontoestellen (PSTN gebruikers). Niklas Zennstrom zegt dat hiermee inkomsten zullen worden gegenereerd, maar dat dit niet de kern van hun commercie is. Wat dan wel? SkypeIn brengt veel interconnectivity-problemen met zich mee. Daarom wordt deze dienst pas geïntroduceerd als er voldoende gebruikers zijn die een dergelijke verbinding zoeken vanuit een ander VOIP-netwerk. Ook daar komt voorlopig niet voldoende business uit. De vraag blijkt dus waar mee Skype investeerders ervan heeft kunnen overtuigen dat tegenover hun investering van $18.8 miljoen voldoende toekomstige inkomstenstromen zullen staan, om een aantrekkelijk rendement te kunnen maken. Wie heeft de sleutel tot dit raadsel? Interconnectie!?

Hype?!

Zo denk je dat je een early adaptor bent als je via de Skype-site een telefoon bestelt, blijkt dat hij bij de Mediamarkt in de aanbieding is. Voor 99,- euro wordt een Skype VoIP Internet telefoon aangeboden. Deze internet telefoon maakt het mogelijk om gratis wereldwijd te bellen met andere Skype telefoongebruikers, werkt in combinatie met kabel of ADSL internet, werkt even gemakkelijk als een huistelefoon, perfecte geluidskwaliteit.

T-DAB

De introductie van digitale radio laat al langer op zich wachter. In de ons omringende landen heeft men de eerste stappen al gezet. In Engeland is men zelfs al voorbij het punt waarop de technologie zich nog moet bewijzen. Op dit moment zijn digital receivers de meest succesvolle consumentenproducten. Kijk maar in de schappen van de retailers.

Eén van de meest succesvolle digitale radiostations in Engeland is Sunrise radio, opgericht voor een specifieke doelgroep, de Indiërs. Managing director Tony Lit verwacht digitale radio de komende twee jaar veel impact zal hebben in de radiomarkt.

Skypeout!

De cash flow van telecombedrijven is nog steeds gebaseerd op telefoongesprekken. Voice-over-IP is nooit een serieuze bedreiging geweest voor deze betrouwbare inkomstenstroom. Maar dat gaat nu razendsnel veranderen. Dat heeft alles te maken met de recente aankondiging van Skypeout.

Skype is ontworpen door mensen achter Kazaa en werkt op basis van dezelfde technologie. Op dit moment kun je er telefoongesprekken mee voeren zoals we dat al jarenlang kunnen met vergelijkbare toepassingen, zij het dat de geluidskwaliteit aanmerkelijk verbeterd, encryptie is toegevoegd, etc... In de zomer delen de jongens van Skype de telecombedrijven een nekslag uit. Dan wordt het mogelijk om ook een verbinding te maken naar vaste en mobiele telefoons! Dit is geen vaag toekomstig plan, maar realiteit, omdat men contracten heeft weten af te sluiten met een tweetal telco's.