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September 2005 Archive

Bell Bottom Blues - eBay Rising

eBay's ambitious grab at Skype heralds an apogee in telecom history, the point where a blue-chip public company has finally endorsed the new generation of Internet communication. This radical, Rule-Breaking shift has been slowly developing under the surface for years. Until recently, all of the giant incumbent phone companies had fought this macro trend. They lost. Now, companies such as SBC (NYSE: SBC) and Verizon (NYSE: VZ) have begun abandoning their legacy circuit-switched voice networks and branching out into flashier wireless and packet-switched data offerings in a frantic effort to stay relevant (and alive). In fifty years, we'll likely look back at this era as the evaporation of the Bell System and the birth of the broadband age.

The fear that eBay's purchase of Skype represents an unproductive and distracting foray into telecom, wholly unrelated to eBay's core Internet auction business, is a misplaced concern. Traditional telecom companies are a dying breed, and eBay isn't buying into one of them. Instead, it wants to be a new-fangled entity that allows people to communicate, connect, and transact business easily worldwide - a competency it's willing to pay billions for today.

eBay Today, eBell Tomorrow? This is perhaps the best analysis I've read on why eBay buying Skype is a big deal, maybe the biggest deal we've seen in Telecom in a long time. $2.6 Billion is, after all, not chicken feed. The rest of this blog is a vision exercise.

If you haven't tried Skype yet, I'd urge you to do so, just to get a better grip on the buzz surrounding this deal. First, you have to have a broadband connection for this to work. If your laptop lacks a built-in microphone and speaker, you'll want to buy a headset with a microphone attached for around $10. Othewise, that's all you need to turn your laptop into a free telephone. You download the free Skype software, and get a friend to do the same. Now you and your friend can talk to your hearts content over the Internet, NO MATTER WHERE THE TWO OF YOU ARE. And most of the time, its crystal clear wthout lags and skips, like with early VOIP. Move over Pin Drop Network.

And Good Bye Long Distance, Good Bye area codes, Good Bye dial tones and Good Bye monthly telephone bills (and Good Bye to all those additioinal charges and fees that are so many hidden taxes). Good Bye Moon. Voice is an IP application that will be subsidized by advertising and other services. This vision requires us to junk a lot of what we have known as standards our whole lives - telecom dogma - and it's hard work.

But it's a beautiful world, although it takes some time to get used to the idea. Who knows how long this fantasy will last, but it sure works for me. In the end, what I really like is that a broadband network is needed for this service to work; without broadband, you can't get to all these new neat applications. You're on the outside of the restaurant looking in at all this nice food, like that scene in Doctor Zhivago.... we're still early in this transition, but this is the kind of social pressure that will promote municipal wireless networks. The infrastructure is Step One. Let's get busy.

Posted on September 30, 2005 at 10:21 PM | Comments (0)

Ad Hoc means Flexible and Fast

As the discussion grows about communications alternatives for first responders, I would suggest that these ad hoc solutions that provide broadband data capabilties be given strong consideration. Most of our discussion on new technologies begins with the assumption that there is a source of power and a backhaul capability. In a disaster, you may well have neither, so these solutions bring that capability with them.

As we rebuild our networks, and as we prepare for the next disasters, we should not settle for solutions that provide narrowband or voice only capabilities, or proprietary solutions that limit communications to one provider's equipment. I first highlighted the potential of ad hoc networks while the Katrina disaster was still unfolding in Wireless Disaster Recovery a month ago.

I've learned of more ad hoc solutions since then. For instance, construction firm Hoss Equipment Company located here in Texas (with a name like that, it figures that it's in Texas, doesn't it?). Hoss developed a trailer for their clients and saw fit to create a new division to market it - Hoss Onsite Solutions. Learn more about this product at this link Hoss On Site Solutions - Video Surveillance.

Put some satelite gear on that trailer and complement it with some mobile access points like the Tropos Networks 4210 nodes in the trunks of first responder vehicles and you can have a broadband network capable of sending video in a matter of hours. It's incredible.

Posted on September 30, 2005 at 02:43 PM | Comments (0)

Minnesota: A Conversation with Brad Mayer on Chaska.net

I had the opportunity to get on the telephone recently to introduce a city IT network planner interested in learning more about municipal wireless networks to one of the experts in this new field, Bradley Mayer. Brad is on the city IT staff at Chaska, Minnesota, and was responsible for putting up their pioneer wireless mesh network last year (Chaska.net). I learned that Brad gets on a lot of calls like this - he's very experienced and pleasant to work with. Brad graciously allowed me to publish my interview notes for the benefit of UnwireMyCity.com readers (the questions came from the city network planner, not me). Access the interview by clicking HERE.

Brad's contact info: Bradley Mayer 952-227-7561, bmayer@chaskamn.com Thanks a million, Brad!

Posted on September 30, 2005 at 02:18 PM | Comments (0)

Iowa: Thumbs Up for Electric Utility Providing Communications

Beginning in 1998, MPW helped fund the development costs of the City of Muscatine's communications utility. So far, the electric utility has advanced $35,327,000 to the communications system for capital improvements and acquisition of a cable television system. MPW's goal is to improve the quality of local service and provide a wider range of communications services to customers in Muscatine. In implementing its communications plan, MPW experienced greater local cable competition than was initially expected. This pressured margins and hurt bottom-line performance. These issues appear to have been resolved, and MPW anticipates improved profitability through higher prices and better service.

Financial results at the electric system for 2004 were satisfactory.

Fitch Affirms Muscatine Power's 'A-' Rating Financial reports like this make for dry reading, but there is truth both in what they say in words, and in what is written between the lines. Here we have the largest municipally owned utility in Iowa, which serves about 11,000 customers. It took a signficant risk by financing efforts to bring better communication services to its ratepayers. And their project suffered greater competition than expected. And yet, they adjusted, and now are doing ... just fine would be a good way to put it. At least, that's what we call an A- in my house.

While I am more supportive of public private partnerships, and more scalable systems that don't put all the eggs in one financial basket, I wanted to highlight this success story. Governmental entity takes responsibility and takes a risk, government entity manages through risk, government entity improves the quality of life for its citizens. And the sky did not fall in when the public sector stepped in, as opponents of Muni broadband have claimed so loudly to date. So there.

Posted on September 30, 2005 at 10:02 AM | Comments (0)

And We're Off and Running

"In the days and weeks ahead, our nation must ask tough questions about the response to the national tragedy in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama," Stupak wrote. "One thing is clear: The inability of our first responders to communicate is one of the biggest factors hindering our relief efforts. As a former law-enforcement officer and founder of the Congressional Law Enforcement Caucus, I once again call on your Administration to finally make a commitment to the public-safety officials who are working so bravely and diligently in the devastated areas of the Gulf by making a meaningful investment in public-safety communications and interoperability."

After Katrina: Congressman Slams Comms Funding: TelecomWeb Congressman Bart Stupak of Michigan knows what he's talking about when he calls for a better approach to communication for first responders. He's a former law-enforcement officer and founded the Congressional Law Enforcement Caucus. Some facts and estimates he cites to make his case:

- 80 percent of local U.S. first responders are unable to communicate with their counterparts at other agencies
- 97 percent of cities are unprepared to communicate during a chemical plant disaster
- 94 percent are unprepared for a rail disaster
- 92 percent are unprepared for a seaport disaster

There's a common thread building here. See similar comments from an expert of a different sort, former FCC Chairman Reed Hundt, highlighted on these pages a few weeks ago. Let's Use Proven Tools to Fix What's Broken - Amen, Reed, Amen.

One of the perplexing things for those of us who don't live "inside the beltway" is the painstakingly slow pace of progress on what should be patently obvious. Hello, Washington leaders, in a disaster, you get help from wherever you can find it, and on-site responders need to talk to each other and coordinate their efforts, or its a mess (I could use stronger language here).

Yet, four full years after 9/11, we see a glaring problem that has not been solved, much less addressed. First responders can't talk to each other after a disaster. The problem is described very factually, in excruciating detail in the June 2004 The United States Conference of Mayors Interoperability Survey, wherein mayors from 192 cities make very plain the problem and its root causes.

Communication in a disaster would seem to be a fairly straightforward problem to address and one that would have a sense of urgency attached to it. And yet, people died in New Orleans because of such a poorly coordinated response to a national disaster. This is a national shame and an utter failure of our nation's political leaders to do the most basic of their jobs, to keep our nation safe.

Hopefully, the efforts of leaders like Congressman Stupak will start to bear fruit now that Katrina has caught the attention of our representatives in Washington. Hopefully, they will turn from a focus on the politics of staying in office to a focus on the governing tasks of stewardship of a body public. Hopefully, our nation's voters will replace those who fail to lead and govern.

Let's hold on to our hopes, but in the meantime, prepare at the local level with municipal wireless broadband. Its within our grasp, and while help from Washington would speed things along, mayors can do this now without the help of the federal government. Either way, here's a call for leadership on this vital issue. As the saying goes,

Lead, follow, or get out of the way.

Posted on September 30, 2005 at 09:03 AM | Comments (0)

Kentucky's Governor Provides Broadband Leadership

Kentucky ranks 44th in its proportion of high-tech companies; 45th in household computer use; and 43rd in citizen Internet use. Improving the first point requires addressing the latter two. ConnectKentucky addresses each of these challenges, by first identifying needs across the Commonwealth and then implementing community-specific plans. This initiative will expand broadband infrastructure, increase computer and Internet adoption, and ultimately increase the number of technology companies and workers in Kentucky.

Regional, state, and national organizations will play an increasingly important role in the spread of broadband throughout the US. Witness the Commonwealth of Kentucky - although his state ranks low on most lists of progressive states, Kentucky's Governor Ernie Fletcher has demonstrated political leadership, taking the bull by the horns and creating an initiative to support his cities in bringing in broadband with the Connect Kentucky program to support technology growth in Kentucky. And the process they follow, first identifying needs, then implementing community-specific plans is exactly the process advocated on these pages. It makes sense - first identify the problem, then develop the solution - a solution custom tailored for each city's needs.

Despite the name of my website, I'm interested not only in unwired, but also wired networks, as made apparent by includion of fiber and BPL references on this site. And also, despite the name of my website, I believe that counties and states, as well as large associations and electric utilities with large service territories have a vested interest and a significant role to play in making broadband access widely available. This is not just a story about what cities are doing. As the momentum of the municipal broadband movement grows, watch for larger groups to play an ever greater supporting role for cites, just like we see in Kentucky and other highly motivated states today.

Posted on September 30, 2005 at 08:45 AM | Comments (0)

On Broadband Policy - No, we don't have one, and Yes, we do need one

Does the United States have a broadband policy? I asked that question a month ago in our online survey and you responded - in a word (or two) - "Uh, duhhh, NO, as if!" Fully 3/4 of respondents had some variation of No - only a slim 3% stood with our government's claim to have a broadband policy in place that was working. A more charitable 23% said yes, we have one, but it needs improvement. Call those the Benefit of a Doubt-ers.

The overwhelming majority of survey respondents, however, two out of three, said not only do we not have a national broadband policy, but we also are in dire need of one. Readers of this website, by and large watchers of our nation's halting efforts at broadband infrastructure development, agree on one thing - we are a country In search of leadership when it comes to broadband. I'll limit my political commentary on leadership at that, but I could go on.....

In last months poll, I asked "Does the United States have a Broadband Policy?" You replied:

Yes, and it's working 3%
Yes, but it needs improvement 23%
No, and we need one soon 63%
No, but it doesn't really matter 10%

Posted on September 28, 2005 at 08:54 PM | Comments (0)

That's What I'm Saying....

Talking in the Dark This article from the NY Times Sunday Magazine makes the point I've been trying to make for three weeks on this page. Mesh Networks are waiting in the wings as a great, cheap, effective alternative for disaster recovery.

Some critics challenge whether wireless mesh would be sufficiently reliable in the wake of a disaster. My response - "when five 9's goes to six 0's after a disaster, any communication at all is an improvement." I think we need to collectively adjust our standards for communication and have a paradigm shift regarding how we defend against unplanned disasters. In addition to fortifying our exisitng dominant networks (which is inevitable with all the lobbyists in Washington), we should also build alternate networks that will be left standing when the dominant network is taken out. These would be overlay networks that would complement the dominant networks, not replace them. In that way, such networks should be judged by a different standard: their resilience, not their ability to deliver "carrier grade" telecommunications.

Just as highways are available for ambulances and police cars, whose sirens and lights communicate to regular users to pull over and cede the network to the first responders, mesh networks buiilt for disaster could be used during regular times for any public purpose, enjoyed by the community and enriching the public life, but when needed, they would be converted to an all-emergency responder network at the snap of an operator's fingers.

Insurance is something we buy so that we can spread the risk of a disaster, and have cash to rebuid and recover from the disaster. It's a wonderful invention of modern business, spreading the risk among the whole community and allowing buisnesses and individuals to maintain continuity in their lives. There is also the concept of self-insurance, where one sets aside enough resources to get by on one's own in the event of a disaster.

That is what mesh networks would become for a community. Self-insurance, which would ensure that the community could talk to each other after a disaster, and get itself back on its feet ASAP, regardless of the speed of outsiders' help. And such self insurance is within economic reach of every town in the US. If we can't predict where disaster will strike, or how we wil recover, we can at least ensure that we can talk to each other so we can help each other. Mesh networks are a ray of sunshine in these dark times. And FEMA, Homeland Security, Congress, and the White House could earn huge points wth a disenchanted public by helping communities to build such networks, addressing the Digital Divide, conquering the rural broadband deficit, and all the while, making the nation safer, more self-reliant, and more resilient. It could happen. Call your congressman today.

Posted on September 19, 2005 at 10:54 PM | Comments (0)

What's In Store for Community Broadband?

If I haven't posted in a while, it's probably because I've been travelling. Indeed, I'm not ready to repeat last week's performance anytime again soon - I hit all four corners of the US in five days, now I'm happy to be home again - and blogging again! I wanted to write about a highlight of all that travel. I attended the PTI Seminar on Community Broadband and gave the keynote address. The Public Technologies Institute had their seminar on Friday, September 16 in Charlotte, and some very smart people were in attendance. First, those who attended were smart enough to realize that Charlotte was well removed from the path of Hurricane Ophelia, so they showed up (those who didn't missed out). Second, these are some of the movers and shakers in metropolitan broadband networking. It was enjoyable and enlightening to spend time with them.

We received updates on the current state of community broadband, including a review of the draft Barton Dingell bill released the day before, and a shared discussion on their own projects. Updates included a discussion on Unwire Portland and comments from the authors of the Dayton, Ohio initiative and the Washtenaw County, Michigan wireless effort, Wireless Washtenaw. It was a very information-packed gathering and I encourage you readers in the future to check out what PTI has to offer regarding municipal networking.

I was asked to deliver the keynote address with the title "The Future of Community Broadband. Why? How?" I provided a review of what I consider the ten driving reasons why community broadband will happen, and the ten ways in which it is likely to come about. My conclusions?

Well, first I promoted a new book that I enjoyed on the various airplanes last week: Amazon.com: Books: The Forgotten Half of Change : Achieving Greater Creativity through Changes in Perception. This book by Luc de Brabandere was a refreshing read on the need for all of us to change to keep up with all the environmental change we experience, which has become a constant these days. And you need to not just change your reality, but also the way you look at things - your perspective impacts your perceptions. If you think change is a burden, this guy will lighten up that perspective as well. There truly is something wondrous happening every day, you just have to look for it. You will find what you expect to see, so look for what you want.

But I digress - on to the keynote.

From my perspective, community broadband is bound to happen because major environmental forces are pushing cities in that direction and they will prove to be irresistable forces. First, technology pressures favor solutions that are based on IP architecture, that leverage the Internet as a communication medium, that are wireless (mobile), and that empower the edge (individuals) over the core (large distribution companies). Second, economic (market) pressues force cities to compete with all cities worldwide, cities are committed to serving their citizens, and they must lower their costs even while raising service levels - broadband networks and the applications they carry will finally offer too much value to ignore. Finally, the disastrous performance of government at all levels in response to Hurricane Katrina puts an unprecedented focus on the role of government in a disaster, and improvements to communciation infrastructure are inevitable.

Pressure from the Technology Environment
1. Broadband has become a new utility.
2. The maturing Internet is realigning our economy.
3. Technology and innovation have become relentless forces for change.
4. Mobile technology is a better match.
5. Government must go digital to keep up.

Pressure from the Competitive Environment
6. One global marketplace makes every region compete with every other.
7. Cities are committed, for the long haul.
8. Cities are under cost reduction pressures, networks offer business
process improvement opportunities.
9. VOIP drives voice costs down, opens opportunity for dramatic cost
savings for cities.

Disaster Preparation Requires an Alternative Communication Solution
10. Cities must have better, more open and flexible disaster recovery
communication networks.

As for how community broadband will happen, these forces will meet the traditional resistance to change inherent in any institution, and the impacts of the changes will require political compromise. This will take time, and so the implementation of community broadband is likely to follow the penetration curve experienced by most new technologies. How long the pioneer stage lasts will depend on the clash of the forces of change (progress) and the forces of inertia (incumbents). I believe that sooner rather than later, the tipping point will be reached, large and powerful entities will pile on, and community broadband will take off like a rocket. When the community networks interconnect, in the final consolidation phase, we will begin to see the dramatic effects of interconnectivity, not unlike the impacts we see today from the Internet.

Pioneer Stage – Cities Experiment with Municipal Networks
1. Small cities pioneer and large cities follow.
2. All networks are custom, pioneer models become differentiated.
3. Increasing awareness drives adoption.
4. Cities will adopt Public Private Partnership model as most effective.
5. A Killer App will drive adoption of networks – VOIP is most likely
candidate.

Rapid Expansion Stage - Larger Organizations Adapt, Trend Explodes
6. Homeland Security will adopt guidelines for municipal networks.
7. Electric utilities will adopt municipal networks for improved outage
recovery.
8. Homeland Security will require cities to have redundant municipal
networks to be able to communicate in a disaster.
9. Incumbent Broadband Providers will adopt municipal networks to
reach territory that is too expensive for them to serve.

Consolidation Stage - Nodes Transform into a National Network
10. Municipal Networks will be knit together into a national CitiGrid™ for
National Defense.

Please download the PowerPoint slidesand the accompanying white paper by clicking on these links.

Posted on September 19, 2005 at 12:27 PM | Comments (0)

Let's Use Proven New Tools to Fix What's Broken - Amen, Reed, Amen

A Better Communications System for Emergency Workers - Center for American Progress Former FCC Chairman Reed Hundt has the perspecitve and background to speak with authority on communications issues. So when he weighs in here on the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and the chronic and unresolved communications problems experienced by first responders, we should perk up our ears and listen, shouldn't we? Let's hope some ears are open in Washington, DC, where open mouths and closed ears are the order of the day.

Reed's prognosis? We don't need to invent some new redundant, fault-tolerant, affordable emergency communications network to fix this long-held and unresolved problem. We don't even have to look as far as the nearest Starbucks, where today's version of the traveling salesperson has figured out how to get access no matter where she is. The solution is right under our noses, it's the Internet. And Wi Fi, based on standards and an open archtecture, extends the Internet to the field, where it can be accessed by first responders with mobile communication centers in their vehicles and affordable hand-held devices capable of the most basic communciation (simple text data and voice) to ensure that emergency workers are kept in communication with each other and the outside world in a disaster. Reed says such a solution needs the help of the FCC with spectrum adjustments and the help of grants to get handheld units widely distributed among the 3 million plus first responders nationwide.

The nature of mulit-node mesh networks makes them ideal for use in a disaster, where fixed hubs and central stations so vital to traditional telecommunications can be wiped out in a disaster, bringing down the communications network. The military, and Al Queda (and apparently, Katrina) know that the way to take down a network is to attack its hubs. Where legacy proprietary radio systems so prevalent today among police and fire departments prevent outsiders from injecting themselves into the local radio network, a Wi Fi based system would not. Multiple redundant communication paths ensure that peers can continue to talk to each other and use of IP over the Internet as the standard language means that an IP device can get on the network - just as English is the universal spoken language in a global disaster, IP over the wireless Internet should become the norm in a storm. So I would add one other element to Reed's prognosis.

Cities should be required to install such new disaster preparedness wireless networks in their vehicles and among their staffs as a matter of national security. And they should be encouraged to deploy wireless networks throughout their cities as a redundant fault-tolerant emergency network to butress the prevailing dominant networks, when they fail during the next disaster. And I'll be doing all I can to encourage the creation of a new CitiGrid to link these networked cities in the event of a disaster. Look for more in this space in coming days and weeks on what such a network could look like.

And when the Federal Telecom Act gets addressed by Congress (and that timetable should be hastened in light of the events of the past two weeks), Congress should ensure that highly networked cities become the new communciations backbone, not only to make our nation more competitive in the global market, but also to make sure that our Homeland Security plans can be implemented when they are needed. As we all learned these past two weeks, a plan without a communications infrastructure is the same as no plan, and chaos ensues. And, as they say, the road to Hell is paved with good intentions, so we must measure success on actions and solutions, not plans, bureaucratic reogranizations, or legislative wrangling. There is too much at stake to not take this flaw in our public protection more seriously than we have in the past.

Posted on September 10, 2005 at 08:11 AM | Comments (0)

With Broadband Internet, is Traditional Government Becoming Irrelevant?

At this moment, if we were to poll US citiizens and ask them "Just what is it that government is good for anyway?" we would likely get a response on the order of, "NOTHIN', ABSOLUTELY NOTHIN." But before we throw the baby out with the bathwater, I'd like to suggest that federal, state, and local government have large roles to play, but that the changing technology landscape means that their roles are undergoing a transformation.

Clearly, when it comes to rapid response, it may well be that local citizens and businesses are far better equipped to provide very rapid and flexible assistance, as this blog from CNET News.com Net beats Feds in hurricane response asserts and as comments to the blog drive the point home.

The blog demonstrates how order and solutions arose spontaneously from chaos in the aftermath of the flood, but not from the federal government (or state or local government either), which together and separate were spectacularly ineffiective in mitigating the disaster, or in providing what we have come to expect from our governments in first response public safety and disaster recovery. Instead, it was local individuals, as well as individuals out on the Internet, equipped with modern communications who began organizing on their own, without asking anyone's permission, well in advance of official authorities, to meet victims' needs.

If you have read a few of my favorite books, such as Linked: How Everything Is Connected to Everything Else and What It Means by Albert-Laszlo Barabasi and Emergence: The Connected Lives of Ants, Brains, Cities, and Software by Steven Johnson and finally, The Wisdom of the Crowds: Why the Many Are Smarter Than the Few and How Collective Wisdom Shapes Business, Economies, Societies and Nations by James Surowiecki all highlighted in the Books and Whitepapers section of this website, then this development should not come as a surprise to you.

So what pearls of wisdom do these sages offer up to us in these times of crisis? First, Barabasi shows how networks have come of age and have become the defining organizational construct - those who grasp this fundamental realignment and know how to put it to use have tremendous power, while those who don't, are left working with yesterday's tools and yesterday's paradigm (Homeland Security and FEMA, are you listening?). Second, Johnson compares decision making among ants (who are considerably less pensive than humans), with traditional hierarchical decision making as practiced by bureaucracies. When faced with an unexpected circumstance, emergent systems with a few simple rules can be more effective than traditional pre-programmed systems. With a few simple hormonal communication signals, for instance, ants can be highly effective at dealing with unplanned disturbances to their status quo, demonstrating the concept of emergence, or bottom-up decision making. Finally, Surowiecki shows that believe it or not, a roomful of fairly well informed average people make better decisions than your proverbial panel of experts, with statistically relevant consistency. And anyone with cable television was apparently better informed than the government "experts" were last week.

As I relate in the whitepaper I put together a few months back, On Structural Change, we have fallen through the Alice in Wonderland rabbit hole, and the Internet has launched us all on a new path, whether we like it or not, by moving power out to the edges and away from large central planners. Napster was no fluke, Peer to Peer has arrived. With broadband connectivity and digital information, smart actors out on the edges are empowered and can act quicker than can bureaucracies.

The idea of a centrally-planned disaster response may be seen in a few years as the wrong way to approach the idea of Homeland Security. It may be that government should instead provide monetary assistance after the fact as FEMA traditionally does, and facilitate a response with military resources and equipment via the National Guard, but that we should depend on each other for immediate response with a more distributed disaster recovery methodology.

We are at the very early stages of analyzing what worked (not much) and what didn't work last week in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Some will argue that government should have executed their responsibilities better (what an understatement that is!), and others will point to the failure of either the federal or local government branches. Let us hope that our policy makers and political leaders take a step back and reconsider the paradigms and assumptions they are using. We have more resources at our disposal than multi-billion dollar agencies and programs, and money does not solve all problems (although it does feel good to give it and to get it). Rather we should look at how we can harness all of our available resources for rapid response, including individuals with networked computers far from the disaster, to work more effectively together, like the ants do when I step on their anthill, as I am wont to do while mowing the yard.

Posted on September 07, 2005 at 02:11 PM | Comments (0)

On Community and Communications - We Need Both, Now More Than Ever

I feel a little like a broken record, but it has been hard for me to maintain a sense of normalcy in this blog, as I witness events unfolding in New Orleans, Louisiana, and MIssissippi over the past week. I know I will get back to blogging on more "normal" issues - I have queued up an article on video streaming and another one on VOIP. But for now, New Orleans and the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina keep pushing me back to this subject. The role of communications and community in our lives is being highlighted as never before, as we witness what is now being described as "the worst natural disaster in our nation's history."

Never before have we been eyewitnesses to the destruction of a major US city - for shock effect, you could count the outrageous NYC Twin Towers and Pentagon terrorist tragedy (9/11), the mind-numbing Shock and Awe bombing of Baghdad two years ago, or the terrible Tsunami, but this time it was somehow different, it was an entire US city populated with our relatives, friends, and fellow citizens, stretched out in agony, in front of our very eyes with first the awesome storm followed by the slow creep of an inevitable flooding of the bowl city of New Orleans, OUR community, with its French Quarter, its Mardi Gras, its Jazz Festival, its wonderful restaurants, and its marvelous diversity and multi-cultural traditions - we came together in this place, with a myriad of personal memories, mostly pleasant. Just two weeks ago, I wrote about how much we loved our cities, and included The Big Easy as one of those next in line to get a wireless network. These are our fellow Americans who are suffering (more than they should have to, which we will get to in a minute) and we all feel a horrible sense of loss and helplessness. As we work through this tragedy, as we are bound to do, that sense of loss will get refocused into outrage at what did not work as it was supposed, and where we feel we were let down as a nation - pick your public servant based on your perspective.

Nobody is alive today who was old enough to read about the destruction wrought by the great earthquake and fire in San Francisco one century ago, which has eery parallels in its destruction and death toll. But we saw this one coming in ways that we couldn't one hundred years ago. Since the video age began in the sixties, we have not seen the likes of this in the US. There is something personal at work here - and I believe that that visceral feeling is a reflection of community - which embodies our notions of empathy, togetheness, mutual responsibility, and caring. Feelings just run deeper when it is "your own" who are suffering. As we extend the notion of "our own" to strangers in a city far away, let us hope that we make that a permanent feeling, and nurture it to the point where we can extend that feeling beyond our nation's borders to tragedies abroad. But for now, let us simply hope that we will continue to act as a naitonal community, taking care of each other.

And what of the role of communications within our community?

While a hurricane may be an Act of God, communications and technolgy are seen as something we have some control over. We had warning aplenty with today's technologies. And if communications is vital for early warning, it is no surprise to observers that good communication is especially vital to recovery from a disaster like this. Modern communication tools like the Internet are being brought to bear on this tragedy, as covered in my last blog. The point is driven home in this article from Saturday The Desperate Cry Out for Loved Ones Still Lost - New York Times.

So desperate are people to communicate that when a T-Mobile office in Gulfport put out a sign that said "free calls," 1,500 people lined up over two days, the managers said. There was tearful call after tearful call, with one relieved mother even insisting that her daughter pass the phone to a T-Mobile employee so she could thank him. But by Friday, the office had run out of fuel for the generator that powered its signal tower.

So we witnessed the stages of communications in a disaster, something like this: evacuate, then get help to survivors, then call relatives, then look for relatives, then mobilize first responders for power recovery, then telecom recovery, then for rebuilding and allocating supplies,with the phases overlapping. And as normalcy returns in stages, the telecommunications tools employed can get more and more sophisticated.

Pre Disaster: Communicate with population to warn of the coming storm and issue evacuation recommendations and orders, use full array of modern communications to line up and pre-position resources
Disaster: TV crews show images of disaster up close and personal to those outside the area, first respoinders prepare using modern comunications infrastructure outside the disaster area
Post Disaster Day One: Those outside can see everything on extensive coverage on TV, but those inside are deaf, dumb, and blind. All the communications and power infrastructures are gone or disabled. Communications is largely in person at first.
Post Disaster Week One: Crews work to restore cell towers and power to the damaged area, and phones are provided for immediate communication with relatives. Computers and the Internet are brought in to refugee centers to help with the search for loved ones.
Post Disaster Month One: self-powered cell tower equipment is brought in to restore mobile phone service, and as power is restored, traditional tower and land line service is restored as well.

When Everything Falls Apart, Communication is the First Step on the Road Back

One observer at the Superdome said words to this effect: "Please don't send us National Guard troops with guns to restore order, send us a man with a bullhorn to tell us what is going on - that will help to calm people down." Information is ranked right up there with food and water. Communications are vital not only to help move evacuees out and restore calm, but also to coordinate the large rescue and recovery effort itself. Infrastructure, tools, and willingness to cooperate are vital to communication, which is one part technology and one part cooperative human behavior. Lack of either will stymie the best intentions for communication.

Mr. Chertoff said he recognized that the local government's capacity to respond to the disaster was severely compromised by the hurricane and flood. "What happened here was that essentially, the demolishment of that state and local infrastructure, and I think that really caused the cascading series of breakdowns," he said. But Mayor Nagin said the root of the breakdown was the failure of the federal government to deliver relief supplies and personnel quickly. "They kept promising and saying things would happen," he said. "I was getting excited and telling people that. They kept making promises and promises."

from After Failures, Government Officials Play Blame Game - New York Times

When the dust settles and everyone gets tired of pointing their fingers at everyone else, I believe that one of the major things that we will conclude went wrong this past week will be extremely poor communciation among responders, but more of the cooperative human behavior kind than the infrastructure kind. From what I can tell so far, it seems that the states and local governments expected FEMA to take charge as they have in the past, and FEMA was waiting on the states and local governments to tell them what to do, perhaps under new Homeland Security guidelines. Sheeesh, what a mess! Compounding such human shortcomings was a lack of infrastructure inside the disaster area and the horrible flooding. So while greater minds than my own tackle the thorny political issues and repercussions, I'd prefer to focus on the infrastructure.

This pulls me back to the potential of prepositioned wireless mesh equipment to provide immediate broadband communications infrastructure in the wake of a disaster, to foster better coordination of relief efforts. When mobile nodes are positioned on first responder and power utility vehicles, and are complemented with fixed mesh nodes and backhaul radios on self-powered trailers, as I wrote about last week, the Phase One infrastructure situation is entirely different than it is today one week after this disaster began to unfold. In the future, such a prepositioned network will enable first responders from the four corners of the world to come in and have a shared high-speed link that lets them communicate with each other and the outside world. The principal values of low cost, high bandwidth, and a universal language make Wi Fi networks potent new tools to empower those who would quickly save lives and restore public safety in the wake of a disaster. Look for Wi Fi networks to make a name for themselves in the coming weeks as the world is able to witness the utility they bring to disaster recovery.

As a national community, we must pull together to overcome this disaster and restore our local communities. We must take advantage of the best technology tools and communication options that are currently available, but we must also ensure that we are doing the best we can do to communicate with each other as human beings who are on the same team - Team USA. We should not lose sight of that fact as we work to mine lessons learned from this terrible tragedy. Otherwise, all the technology in the world will not save us from ourselves.

Posted on September 05, 2005 at 03:40 PM | Comments (0)

Internet Disaster Recovery

From the Advanced IP Pipeline e-Newsletter I received today, Editor Paul Kapustka highlights the fact that in a very real sense, we as Americans are all part of a single community. Disasters have a way of bringing us closer, as evidenced by the outpouring of support after 9/11 and now, for displaced New Orleans flood victims on sites like Craig's List, where people around the nation are offering to open their homes to provide shelter for those now homeless for the indeterminate future. How will the Internet work to help bring our national community together in the face of this monumental disaster? Paul has an interesting perspective.


Editor's Note: Katrina Help Needs Communications Help

If you need a story to warm your heart a bit after watching the now-redundant cable-news clips of looters in New Orleans, check out the number of Americans willing to open their homes to Katrina victims via the online community Craigslist. Now all that's needed is a way to connect these online Samaritans with the refugees, whose immediate needs for food and clean water may take priority over Internet access.

But what's clear from watching today's news coverage of the storm's aftermath is that this country is going to have to absorb a large number of displaced New Orleans-area residents, for a time yet to be determined. After basic needs (food, water, medicine) are taken care of, there are going to be a whole lot of people who will want somewhere more permanent to stay than Houston's Astrodome.

Let's hope some of the nation's biggest companies -- especially those getting rich off telecommunications -- move quickly to help pair victims with potential donors of living space, food, jobs and other aid. As many San Francisco residents know, the community of Craigslist uses the connecting power of the Internet to link real people for real transactions in the human world. With a little bit of connectivity help, maybe more Americans can participate in the massive rebuilding and relocation effort required to overcome Katrina's destruction.

Already, Cisco Systems is stepping to the plate with not just cash, but solutions that include voice mail for people without phones, and "mobile communication kits" that the company says can quickly provide IP-based telephone access in areas where traditional telephone infrastructure has collapsed.

That's a great start. If your company has unique skills or communications savvy that it is ready to donate, let me know and I'll pass it along in this forum.


Paul Kapustka
Editor, Advanced IP Pipeline
paul@kapustka.com
www.AdvancedIPPipeline.com

Posted on September 01, 2005 at 04:30 PM | Comments (0)

Wireless Disaster Recovery

Katrina Telecom Status Sam Churchill has a good post on the Hurricane Katrina disaster and wireless technologies on his website this morning. Like you all, I've been transfixed by the scope of the tragedy unfolding in New Orleans and along the Gulf Coast. It just seems to get worse each day, as news of deaths, property loss, misery, and destruction unfold. Compounding the general chaos that comes after a hurricane, with the loss of power and wired and wireless telecommunications, New Orleans is faced with a flood of biblical proportions that makes physical movement nearly impossible. What do first responders do when the infrastructures they depend upon have all but disappeared? They race to do what they can, which is what we are watching, but it inevitably seems to be too little too late in the face of such a massive disaster and tragedy.

The news coverage has highlighted the lack of communication options on the scene for first responders. To implement any plan and coordinate any recovery, teams need to communicate with each other. Voice radio is the traditional response tool, but like any narrowband technology, it has its limiations, whcih were well documented in the aftermath of 9/11.

I had an interesting conversation this morning with Tony Alardin at SiteWatch Systems, which is a professional systems integrator of IP-based access control and wireless systems. They offer an all-in-one system for setting up ad hoc broadband communication local area networks. This trailer comes with an extendable mast with preattached communication systems, and its own power source - generators, solar, and/or batteries.

SiteWatch Systems integrates metro-scale mesh systems and intelligent radios, with long-range telecom technology, and powers it with its own power source, providing a first responder organization the capability to set up an ad-hoc network anywhere very rapidly. SiteWatch units use two radios - one to bring in the signal, and another to create an instant Hot Spot. Such a fixed network is complemented with mobile Wi Fi nodes placed into the first responder vehicles, be they police cars, ambulances, power utility vehicles, etc. Because this system is broadband, it has the capability to use video cameras to provide live video feeds over the wireless networks.

This type solution is available and affordable for government agencies to take advantage of. If you know of other systems of this type, please let me know. Also, if you have connections within disaster recovery organizations, please make them aware that this solution is waiting in the wings.

Posted on September 01, 2005 at 02:34 PM | Comments (0)

Mu-Fi? Why Municipal Wireless Will Win

WSJ.com - Cross Country NOTE: If you have a subscription to WSJ, this link will work. Otherwise, I've included an in-depth synopsis in this posting, so don't worry.

This entertaining article does a good job of reviewing the situation in Phildelphia, and brings Verizon to task for a missed opportunity. "Why," (my paraphrasing here) author Andy Kessler asks, "did Verizon not install the city-wide wireless system, given that the estimated cost of less than $20 million would be a drop in the bucket for them? Was it because the city predicts that the network will lose $1 million/year? Why would Verizon miss out on the PR opportunity of bridging the digital divide?" Quite simply, they've done the math and determined that these networks are a big threat to their business.

Verizon fought the netowrk in Philadelphia at the state legislature because the city estimates that the network will result in $2 million in savings on Internet access expenses for its 24,000 offices each year (in Verizon's eyes, that's $2 million in lost revenue, annually). And that's just for the city business, not counting all the small and medium businesses who will have a dramatic reduction in their access and telecom costs.

Kessler concludes that wireless networks are a disaster for telecom companies, not because they don't want to conquer the digital divide. Rather, these networks provide the city a means to dramatically reduce its own telecom costs. Cities can take advantage of eminent domain and access to poles, etc., but also cities must seek the best most efficient way to serve their constituencies.

And new mesh technologies mean Philly can plug into the Internet just once, paying wholesale rates, unlike the folks who run Starbucks or hotel hotspots, who overpay (probably to Verizon) for the Internet connection their Wi Fi users share. It is, and it's not going to be pretty for Verizon. By rigging the city with wireless hotspots under the guise of helping the disadvantaged, Philadelphia may completely bypass Verizon. A T1 line from Verizon, which carries 1.5 megabits of data per second, runs anywhere from $400 to $1,300 a month. With Municipal Wi-Fi (Mu-Fi), that could drop to $300, heck, maybe even $20 a month. Consumers (read voters) are happy and small businesses will save tons of money. No wonder phone companies are circling the wagons. Think of it as a telco tax cut. Cheese steak sales are gonna boom.

Kessler goes on to suggest that San Francisco will seek to one-up Philly, providing access to all of its citizens. Next? Atlanta, Tempe, Ariz; Portland, Houston? As the Congress works to support innovation, the sentiment is that at some point, surely telecom companies will relax on lobbying and turn their focus to being more competititve. They have already reacted to competition for voice services by lowering their rates to as low as $15/month (granted, in an annual bundle that results in a higher average rate). Video and voice are coming for the vaunted "triple play," and wireless networks will seek to match this offer. What's more, when VoWFi gets going, cellular revenues will be threatened as well. And wireless technology is certainly not sitting still - it will contnue to advance.

New technologies exist that adapt Wi Fi signals as they bounce off walls and buildings, guaranteeing 15-megabit speeds, enough for one high-def or three regular TV channels. One of the hottest consumer electronics products in Japan is a flat panel Shower TV that displays Wi Fi video streams. So let's see - customers might shut off their home phones, their cellular phones and maybe even their cable connection. Ouch. Want to bet Comcast joins the fight against Mu-Fi?

While we wait for the Telecom Reform Act of 2021, cities will set these systems up and could radically change the economics of telco and cable. But do we really want city hall between us and our Google searches? Don't worry. You can bet that after being inundated with customer service calls - "Where do I stick my dongle?" - these Mu-Fi's will be sold off to the private sector. W.C. Fields supposedly proposed his own epitaph, "All things considered, I'd rather be in Philadelphia." Maybe this will be on Verizon's tombstone as well.

Kessler's conclusion underscores the message often conveyed on this site. Municpal wireless networks are disruptive because they transform the status quo. How long will it take Verizon to swallow hard and accept the new status quo? Why don't they run around and get in front of the parade? I hope they do soon, because their efforts to delay a very rational process in the interests of their shareholders leaves them on the wrong side of the issue, in my humble opinion, and hurts their shareholders more than it helps. They could do a lot of good using metropolitan mesh networking equipment, with all their expeirence and skills, to lead the creation of a new, more efficient telecommunications infrastructure.

Telecommunications is one of, if not THE biggest industries in our nation, and watching it go through this change will be dramatic indeed. It is in our nation's best interest to work together to create the telecom infrastructure for the 21st Century. Let's hope that others begin to take this view and find ways to collaborate, to match the best of the old that the incumbents have to offer(experience, skills, capital) with the best of the new that entrepreneurs and cities offer (innovation, initiative, risk taking, etc.).

Posted on September 01, 2005 at 09:42 AM | Comments (3)