Next-Gen Telecom, UK Edition September 26, 2007
Posted by ianmartinez in : Trends, Networking , add a commentFrom Cisco’s policy blog, good news on next-generation access in England.
Richard Allan says:
The difficulties remain but the call is now for all stakeholders collectively to work out how to address them. This is being led by Stephen Timms MP, a Minister well known for both his expertise in and passion for ICT, who is to organise a Summit on Next Generation Access.
It’s always good when a dormant debate erupts, if what you’re trying to do is push the envelope. Hopefully vendors and regulators there won’t find themselves at cross purposes.
Meanwhile, over O’Reilly, Raj Singh lambastes Vodafone UK’s decision to remove the User-Agent field from the mobile browser headers, calling it “walled garden” at its worst. It’s always interesting to me when the barriers to better, more accessible communications aren’t coming from regulators, they’re from the companies themselves.
We’ll see how both issues play out — while neither has direct implications for the U.S. market, they’re both worth watching in a global context.
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Tech President? September 19, 2007
Posted by ianmartinez in : General, Trends, What's New?, Policy , add a commentAn article in this week’s BusinessWeek Online raises a question I hear more and more in meetings and conversations: Who will be the tech president? While most major candidates at least have tech and telecom platforms, there seems to be an opening for whichever candidates can enunciate a platform that sounds different, one that recognizes the growing importance of our sector to the U.S. economy.
What I find especially surprising is that while I’ve never really heard presidential-horse-race conversations going on in policy meetings, or in on-hours conversation between tech and telecom people, this time around it’s going on all over the place.
Who steps up and takes the tech throne? There’s probably a lot of support to be had.
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Plugging In… September 13, 2007
Posted by Grant Seiffert in : General, Trends, What's New? , add a commentEditor’s Note: TIA President Grant Seiffert writes a weekly President’s Message to members in the Network, TIA’s newsletter. The following is from the September 10th weekly issue.
This November, electronics and technology association leaders from around the world will meet at the 13th annual World Electronics Forum (WEF) in Tel Aviv, Israel. Like last year’s gathering in Hong Kong, the WEF aims to give association directors, presidents and CEOs globally the chance to “discuss major topics of common interest.” It’s where myself and my counterparts from dozens of groups whose aim is to further high tech can network, strengthen business ties for their member companies and kick the tires on nascent international products and services that might otherwise go under the radar.
It’s also a chance to put our industries’ innovativeness and economic strength to good use.
WEF, especially this year, is about so much more than business. It’s about our role as technologists in a new world, and our role as citizens in an old one. Because Israel is such a major hub for religious and cultural pilgrims alike, and because an understanding of Israel means the potential for understanding the world’s greatest political questions, the WEF has decided to include a special tour of the country’s important sites for association leaders in its agenda this year. This means Golan Heights, the Sea of Gallillee, Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, Haifa, and the Dead Sea among others — all sites where innoavtion and the right regulatory environment are leading to major developments in the electronics community.
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Falling Apple September 6, 2007
Posted by ianmartinez in : General, Trends, What's New? , 1 comment so farSteve Jobs has probably never been so direct, unspun and utterly un-mysterious as in his open letter to iPhone consumers, in which he defends his company’s pricing scheme for its high-profile smartphone while caving on a $100-worth of credit to those who bought the phone when it $599.
At one level, the decision was a major concession:
…even though we are making the right decision to lower the price of iPhone, and even though the technology road is bumpy, we need to do a better job taking care of our early iPhone customers as we aggressively go after new ones with a lower price. Our early customers trusted us, and we must live up to that trust with our actions in moments like these.
There must have been some negative blowback over the price cut, but I sure missed it. I think most of the blogosphere was right there with me in defending Apple’s business decision.
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Trading Up
Posted by Grant Seiffert in : General, Trends, Policy , add a commentEditor’s Note: TIA President Grant Seiffert writes a weekly President’s Message to members in the Network, TIA’s newsletter. The following is from the September 2nd weekly issue.
There’s always a charged atmosphere around the approval process for free trade agreements (FTAs), because so many different parties have so much at stake. What makes the FTAs currently before Congress unique is the overwhelming support for them across all facets of U.S. industry.
It’s no secret that the Korea FTA, in particular, would present major benefits to the U.S. high tech economy. The FTA would reduce Korea’s domestic preference programs, especially for wireless technologies, where U.S. suppliers have marked advantages, while putting not a single U.S. job at risk because of the high cost of labor in Korea. Other terms negotiated with significant feedback from TIA and its members include the elimination of onerous licensing requirements and burdensome customs procedures. Opening a new market to U.S. products with no ill effects back home is an opportunity too good to let pass, and TIA is working actively to educate Congress on its benefits.
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Muni Wi-Fi Redux September 4, 2007
Posted by ianmartinez in : Trends, What's New?, Networking, Policy , add a commentMaybe if I keep pointing links at Salon’s Machinist, I’ll get Farhad Manjoo’s autograph.
I cannot say how many times I’ve found myself reading Machinist, completely disagreeing with Manjoo’s main point, and completely captivated by his argument. Not a single other tech or telecom blogger does that for me. Manjoo is not only a spectacular writer, but he sees so far past the conventional wisdom on the space in which tech, telecom, policy and culture interact (we agree a lot, too, by the way).
Late last week, we saw a flurry of stories on Municipal Wi-Fi, driven mostly by the languishing network in San Francisco. The New York Times Bits blog joined Machinist in pointing to hiccups in the project. Several major cities have now had noteworthy setbacks in deploying their wireless networks.
This wave of municipal setbacks (remembering that such networks in small rural communities have done fairly well) is food for thought. The San Francisco network stumbled in large part due to Earthlink’s business struggles and general job cutbacks. A renewed questioning of municipal Wi-Fi’s efficacy from a business perspective is interesting no matter what your politics on the matter.
Earthlink’s problems aren’t limited to Seattle, according to the Houston Chronicle:
EarthLink last week agreed to pay the city a $5 million penalty, giving it nine months to find an investment partner for the project and an option to walk away from the deal if it can’t. It doesn’t mean the deal is dead, but it’s definitely on life support.
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