The ABCs of Community Broadband

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The new cover - I edited ALL weekend, but I'm glad I did. I finally received my first proof back from the publisher and had at it with red pen, slash and burn time - ha! and to think I thought I was almost through this process!

Seriously, one more proof round, and I hope to have it ready for public release no later than mid-August (fingers firmly crossed).

You'll be able to buy it through Amazon, of course, but I'd urge you also to keep an eye on the MetroNetIQ eStore, link posted on this site on the lower right column, just scroll down until you see it...it'll be a few bucks cheaper over there...

See the excerpt available in this previous post...

Posted on July 29, 2008 at 04:44 PM | Comments (0)

Rest In Peace, Randy Pausch

A day or two behind, I'm listening this morning to yesterday's NPR Saturday Morning Edition radio show, where I just heard that Carnegie Mellon professor Dr. Randy Pausch has succumbed to the pancreatic cancer that overtook him, passing away on Friday, July 25.

Dr. Pausch offered a wonderful gift to his kids, and to the world, in his Last Lecture, recorded for posterity and memorialized in a book, The Last Lecture, which is currently on the NYT Best Seller List for Hardcover Advice Books.

I covered this topic in a post on January 12 of this year titled Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams, which provides access to video clips.

Do yourself a favor and spend a little time on this video. Buy the book and give some thought to what you are doing in your life and why you are doing it. Kiss and hug the ones you love.

Thank You Most Sincerely and May God Bless You and Your Family, Randy Pausch.

Posted on July 27, 2008 at 06:29 AM | Comments (0)

From Space and Cold War to Broadband and Climate Change: Facing Challenges Requires Commitment

On May 25, 1961, President John F. Kennedy, just 4 months in office, addressed a joint session of Congress. After detailing several threatening developments in SE Asia and the march of communism around the world (here comes Vietnam!), Pres. Kennedy concluded his speech by issuing a challenge to Congress and the American People. So stirring was the response - today is the 39th anniversary of that famous walk on the moon's surface - that no doubt to the surprise of the many doubters, it worked! And it provided scientific momentum for decades.

It's time to get busy again, it's time for bold leadership, again. This is what real leadership is like, challenging followers to a noble task related to a noteworthy vision, a task that will cause them pain but will make them more fully human, will lead them to a greater place. Here is the text of that speech, the money parts, near the end, quoted directly below.

Finally, if we are to win the battle that is now going on around the world between freedom and tyranny, the dramatic achievements in space which occurred in recent weeks should have made clear to us all, as did the Sputnik in 1957, the impact of this adventure on the minds of men everywhere, who are attempting to make a determination of which road they should take. Since early in my term, our efforts in space have been under review. With the advice of the Vice President, who is Chairman of the National Space Council, we have examined where we are strong and where we are not, where we may succeed and where we may not. Now it is time to take longer strides--time for a great new American enterprise--time for this nation to take a clearly leading role in space achievement, which in many ways may hold the key to our future on earth.

I believe we possess all the resources and talents necessary. But the facts of the matter are that we have never made the national decisions or marshaled the national resources required for such leadership. We have never specified long-range goals on an urgent time schedule, or managed our resources and our time so as to insure their fulfillment.

Recognizing the head start obtained by the Soviets with their large rocket engines, which gives them many months of lead time, and recognizing the likelihood that they will exploit this lead for some time to come in still more impressive successes, we nevertheless are required to make new efforts on our own. For while we cannot guarantee that we shall one day be first, we can guarantee that any failure to make this effort will make us last. We take an additional risk by making it in full view of the world, but as shown by the feat of astronaut Shepard, this very risk enhances our stature when we are successful. But this is not merely a race. Space is open to us now; and our eagerness to share its meaning is not governed by the efforts of others. We go into space because whatever mankind must undertake, free men must fully share.

I therefore ask the Congress, above and beyond the increases I have earlier requested for space activities, to provide the funds which are needed to meet the following national goals:

First, I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth. No single space project in this period will be more impressive to mankind, or more important for the long-range exploration of space; and none will be so difficult or expensive to accomplish. We propose to accelerate the development of the appropriate lunar space craft. We propose to develop alternate liquid and solid fuel boosters, much larger than any now being developed, until certain which is superior. We propose additional funds for other engine development and for unmanned explorations--explorations which are particularly important for one purpose which this nation will never overlook: the survival of the man who first makes this daring flight. But in a very real sense, it will not be one man going to the moon--if we make this judgment affirmatively, it will be an entire nation. For all of us must work to put him there.

Secondly, an additional 23 million dollars, together with 7 million dollars already available, will accelerate development of the Rover nuclear rocket. This gives promise of some day providing a means for even more exciting and ambitious exploration of space, perhaps beyond the moon, perhaps to the very end of the solar system itself.

Third, an additional 50 million dollars will make the most of our present leadership, by accelerating the use of space satellites for world-wide communications.

Fourth, an additional 75 million dollars--of which 53 million dollars is for the Weather Bureau--will help give us at the earliest possible time a satellite system for world-wide weather observation.

Let it be clear - and this is a judgment which the Members of the Congress must finally make - let it be clear that I am asking the Congress and the country to accept a firm commitment to a new course of action, a course which will last for many years and carry very heavy costs: 531 million dollars in fiscal '62 - an estimated seven to nine billion dollars additional over the next five years. If we are to go only half way, or reduce our sights in the face of difficulty, in my judgment it would be better not to go at all.

Now this is a choice which this country must make, and I am confident that under the leadership of the Space Committees of the Congress, and the Appropriating Committees, that you will consider the matter carefully.

It is a most important decision that we make as a nation. But all of you have lived through the last four years and have seen the significance of space and the adventures in space, and no one can predict with certainty what the ultimate meaning will be of mastery of space.

I believe we should go to the moon. But I think every citizen of this country as well as the Members of the Congress should consider the matter carefully in making their judgment, to which we have given attention over many weeks and months, because it is a heavy burden, and there is no sense in agreeing or desiring that the United States take an affirmative position in outer space, unless we are prepared to do the work and bear the burdens to make it successful. If we are not, we should decide today and this year.

This decision demands a major national commitment of scientific and technical manpower, material and facilities, and the possibility of their diversion from other important activities where they are already thinly spread. It means a degree of dedication, organization and discipline which have not always characterized our research and development efforts. It means we cannot afford undue work stoppages, inflated costs of material or talent, wasteful interagency rivalries, or a high turnover of key personnel.

New objectives and new money cannot solve these problems. They could in fact, aggravate them further--unless every scientist, every engineer, every serviceman, every technician, contractor, and civil servant gives his personal pledge that this nation will move forward, with the full speed of freedom, in the exciting adventure of space.

I've included a call for local Broadband Leadership that I made on this website 17 months ago, after the jump. Yesterday, I made a similar call for local leadership regarding climate change (see A Time to Be Bold). We need leadership to move our nation away from burning carbon fuels - talking about our compelling need as a a society to change the way we make electricity, highlighting Al Gore's recent speech echoing JFK's challenge to the nation with a new one - 100% carbon-free electricity in 10 years. The problem is carbon fuels, the challenge is real, the response awaits.

Continue reading "From Space and Cold War to Broadband and Climate Change: Facing Challenges Requires Commitment"

Posted on July 20, 2008 at 06:01 AM | Comments (0)

A Time To Be Bold, Not to Do As You're Told

39 years and 3 days ago ... the United States met a challenge laid out to it, indeed, they beat the 10-year challenge, putting two men on the moon and bringing them back alive, with nearly 2 years to spare. Oh, those were the days. Were we giants, or did we just have more spine? The irony struck me as I sat watching this video of the dramatic blastoff of the Saturn V rocket, with massive flames spewing out the bottom of the rocket. It was really the controlled explosion of a huge cannister of fuel, a mixture of liquid oxygen and rocket petroleum fuel. This may turn out to be the epitome of the use of carbon-based fuels, the most dramatic example of what we were able to do with fire and sequestered carbon-based fuels.

Now it's representative of a grand success, meeting a bold challenge laid out to the nation. The challenge - to quit using carbon-based fuels to heat water to make steam to run turbines that power our electric grid. It's not as clean a story, but it's an important challenge.

Al Gore made a surprise visit to my hometown today, to address a gathering of on-line progressives - that inspired me to track down the text of the speech he gave this week. I've read enough articles about it, but I hadn't had time to read the actual text.

Thinking you might be in the same boat, I'm posting this link to the speech text, and I've copied it below, if you just want to read it here.

If you want the bottom line, here it is.

Al Gore observes that times are bad (no kidding!) and claims that all our solutions these days tend to be tepid and our problems are out of control, way out of control. It's time to be bold. And many of those problems tend to have a common element - an over-reliance on old approaches, even as they grow less and less effective, including a big reliance on carbon-based fuels.

With great timing, Al Gore highlights the great opportunity we have with the upcoming change in national leadership and an international conference on climate change. He borrows from JFK by issuing a challenge to our nation - to go 100% renewable in our production of electricity in the US in 10 years, eliminating carbon from power plant fuels. It's not as sexy as putting a man on the moon, but it is a helluva challenge, and in fact, the stakes are far, far higher, notwithstanding the many benefits the space program gave our society. We're talking about turning our nation around, perhaps even about saving the planet!

Many people deny it can be done, but isn't that the definition of a Bold Challenge?

I've always thought that this great nation can do whatever it sets its mind to, and I think that goes double for our nation's communities. With all the technological advantages we have, we can do this too. But, there's that little thing about setting our mind to the task. This task will take an effort on the part of every community in America. The timid need not apply. It's a time to be bold.

For too long we've said No to challenges, No to anything that lay beyond a six-month horizon, No to anything that had any political risk attached.

Are we ready to start saying Yes to Hope and Change? Are we up to it? Is your community up to it?

Here's the picture from 39 years ago tomorrow, on July 20, 1969, we had our own Columbus moment, sending human beings where human beings had never gone before, indeed, accomplishing a task and meeting an objective that never even in their wildest imaginations had they even dreamed that such a thing could be done.

Continue reading "A Time To Be Bold, Not to Do As You're Told"

Posted on July 19, 2008 at 10:48 PM | Comments (0)

The 25 Word Challenge, 2 for the Road

"Be the change you seek," said Gandhi;
how few heed him, how much we need them;
"lead, follow, or get out the way," I say.

The 25 Words of Work / Life Wisdom Writing Project asked for this post by July 19, I glanced at the calendar to confirm that today was indeed the 19th, and then looked at the clock and saw I had less than 3 hours. But I do love a challenge! Here's one more:

The Internet has community on the rise -
we easily form groups,
a world of information at our fingertips;
good thing, we have lots of problems.

Continue reading "The 25 Word Challenge, 2 for the Road"

Posted on July 19, 2008 at 09:26 PM | Comments (0)

A Broadband "Amuse Bouche"

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Ever been to one of those fancy restaurants where the waiter brings out a little morsel - something that you didn't even order and that you don't have to pay for!!!??? It is intended to be a delightful surprise, and it generally is. If on the rare occasion it isn't, well then, what the hell, you didn't pay for it, after all!

It's called an Amuse Bouche (ah-mooz boosh), which is French for "make the mouth happy."

Here is a sample excerpt from my new book, my own little Amuse Bouche for you all my readers to start the weekend. Enjoy. Download file

Stay tuned for the release date for the book, The ABCs of Community Broadband: How Digital Transitions will Transform America's Communities, One at a Time, which should become available for purchase around the end of the month.

Posted on July 18, 2008 at 02:59 PM | Comments (0)

MetroNetIQ's First Book Hits the Presses

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Posted on July 16, 2008 at 06:34 PM | Comments (0)

Innovation for Savings - Focus on Field Digital Transition as a Way to Get Started

Five Ways to Innovate During Budget Cuts - Government Technology

This article caught my eye and I bookmarked it a few weeks back. I've been busy finishing a book that I'll talk about in the next post, so I haven't been putting much up on the site lately.

I'm intrigued because this article suggests that there's something positive and constructive IT managers can do, even in the face of budget cuts. These hard economic times can be depressing, certainly, but worse, they risk being compounded by bad morale when we feel disempowered by events beyond our control.

Author David Raths highlights five things CIOs are implementing today, even as bad times seem to get worse and worse. Details after the jump.

Continue reading "Innovation for Savings - Focus on Field Digital Transition as a Way to Get Started"

Posted on July 16, 2008 at 07:39 AM | Comments (0)

The Young and the Restless

Spoiler Alert - despite this video clip above of a famous soap opera, this post has nothing to do with soap operas! Sorry! Go back to surfing if you came here looking for soap opera coverage!

No, the "Young and the Restless" does not refer to the sex-filled soap opera, but to those who chomp at the bit for a more digital society. The attached brief explores the developing Generation Gap brought on by the rapid changes in digital technology.

Continue reading "The Young and the Restless"

Posted on July 07, 2008 at 06:12 PM | Comments (0)

NEST, the Creative Class, and Economic Development

As both individuals and communities made up of individuals, we start with Talent, we develop Skills, we gain Experience, and we create Social Networks. When we put these four elements together, we get what I call NEST: A Model for Enhancement of Potential.

While all have tremendous potential to grow along these various lines, most of us fall far short, both as individuals and as communities, when we fail to plan for such growth in a deliberate fashion. Communities that do plan in deliberate fashion compete to attract creative talent, what some call the Creative Class. Attracting such talent to a community with technology infrastructure like a Metropolitan Broadband Network is a key element in a region's Economic Development strategy.

Such are the themes explored below in the attached issue brief.

Continue reading "NEST, the Creative Class, and Economic Development"

Posted on July 06, 2008 at 11:10 AM | Comments (0)

The Coming ExaFlood

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This is the ... Internet ... I know, it looks like an internal view of the eye, or something. But this is what the internet is - a conglomeration of various local networks of different sizes.

Some say there's a flood a' comin'... I'm not sure about that, but I know that the internet is an ever bigger part of our lives, and we're in a very dynamic situation where what we considered "a whole lot" two years ago is "not that much" two years from now...

This brief addresses the growing need for internet bandwidth - communications infrastructure capacity at the backbone and last mile, being driven by a multitude of factors.

Continue reading "The Coming ExaFlood"

Posted on June 30, 2008 at 06:26 AM | Comments (0)

The World Wide Web: W3, Web 2.0 and Beyond

(Amazing video on Web 2.0 - check it out before reading on - you'll want to watch it a couple of times, it's so chock full of images.)

There follows a brief on all things World Wide Web. Lots and lots of links. Be sure to watch both of the YouTube videos on this post, you won't regret it!

Continue reading "The World Wide Web: W3, Web 2.0 and Beyond"

Posted on June 28, 2008 at 04:04 PM | Comments (0)

Quick, Cheap, and Good (Enough)

Especially notable in the public sector are the wasted cycles spent trying to please all parties, trying to reach that perfect solution that will meet all the requirements of a project. But as we know living in the real world, its extremely rare to find that perfect solution.

This brief outlines the issues associated with seeking the perfect instead of the best solution, and suggests an alternate pathway to get to the destination incrementally rather than in one fell swoop.

Continue reading "Quick, Cheap, and Good (Enough)"

Posted on June 23, 2008 at 11:48 AM | Comments (1)

Digital Video and Voice - Forget About It!

VOIP and VoD are two killer apps that are bringing enormous pressure to bear on two very large industries. And broadband internet is driving adoption of both of these applications. For those without broadband access - Forget About It.

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Posted on June 22, 2008 at 04:35 PM | Comments (0)

Time for a Second Look at Public Private Partnerships

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So far, "Public Private Partnerships" mean that the public sector entity supports a private sector network operator/investor by agreeing to act as an "anchor tenant" by signing up for a long-term service contract, thereby lowering the risk of the project, ensuring project financing, and wooing over a reluctant private sector partner.

So far.

Things are changing, and I would suggest it's time to take a second look at what such partnerships might entail. Fact is, there are many successful network operators out there that do not consider the public sector to be within their tightly focused field of vision. They have achieved success with wireless broadband precisely by avoiding the mess that Muni Wireless has become. So they eschew any involvement at all with "government."

But consider what would be possible if these successful network operators opened themselves up to the possibility of supporting a field digital transition project in a neighboring community. They already have a network in operation, servicing private sector clients. They have already made the required investments. Odds are, they have slack capacity in backhaul bandwidth and local area coverage...they could help, if they chose to.

This brief argues for a second look at how we define a Public Private Partnership, on both sides. Let's open our minds to the possibilities presented by this time of change.

Continue reading "Time for a Second Look at Public Private Partnerships"

Posted on June 17, 2008 at 08:50 AM | Comments (0)

Communities & Communications

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We human beings really have it rough.

We can't live without each other, but being in a society can be such a pain in the ass!

So many of our problems stem from either the inability or unwillingness to communicate effectively with each other, or the difficulties we find in making our communities work equitably and functionally.

The key to both age-old problems is improved communication and more effective communities by way of a digital transition and broadband communications networks.

We need to all try to understand each other and get along better, because We Are Family...

Continue reading "Communities & Communications"

Posted on June 15, 2008 at 10:52 PM | Comments (0)

March to Mobility

At the TAGITM conference last week, a thought occurred to me.

Cities spend so much time and money and energy focused on the IT shop inside their city buildings. They have desktops, servers, networks, telephones, storage, software - it's their Enterprise function, and the IT support crew was out in force to make sure their needs are met. Most of the vendors were there to address the needs of the cities as it pertains to their enterprise IT functions, inside the house.

Yet we know by experience that about half of any municipal workforce spends at least some of their time on a regular basis out in the field, and many, most especially the public safety folks, spend most of their time in the field. Their needs are assumed to be met by radios and cell phones, perhaps some air cards.

So the mission of Field Digital Transition is to take the Enterprise functionality out of the office and into the field, to make employees more functional and efficient when they are away from their office. IT departments spend most of their time and money trying to get more efficient inside the buildings, tweaking what are no doubt already pretty efficient operations.

Here is the magic of this space: IT departments could start spending some of that money on their field applications to make their field employees more effective. And given the current rudimentary state of field mobile data access, it is likely that the first waves of investment would produce significant savings in the first couple of rounds.

And that is because, as we know, we are increasingly mobile in our lives and on the job. We have come to expect to stay connected by voice wherever we are. I call it the March to Mobility, and its a relatively recent phenomenon when it comes to data communication (as in broadband).

Continue reading "March to Mobility"

Posted on June 14, 2008 at 08:05 PM | Comments (0)

The New Three Rs: Risk, Reward, and Resources

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Sometimes I'm reminded of my days back in Jr. High, when the boys would stand on one side of the dance hall, checking out the girls on the other side of the dance hall, checking out them. Who would be first to take on the risk of rejection by asking another to dance?

These days, city staff and officials, that is, those in the know, eye each other on their side of the public/private dance hall, checking out the vendors and their solutions, wondering who will go first to move into the 21st Century with a program of digital applications running on a broadband network, who will launch a digital transition. You can hear the thoughts, "It already looked risky before, when municipal wireless was brand new, then some cities jumped in and their networks failed. Now, it's not just perceived risk, but proven risk. Why even go down that path. Who needs it?"

Problem is, over here on the private side, we feel like we've learned from the failures of the past, rejected the business models that led to failure in the first place, and devised an approach that has in fact, very low risk. But we will need some innovative cities to hear the message and get out there on the dance floor, or else we'll continue this stalemate and sit and tap our feet to the music, wondering what it would be like to be out there dancing.

Perhaps this analysis of Risk, Reward, and Resources will help some city leaders to look at risk more analytically.

Continue reading "The New Three Rs: Risk, Reward, and Resources"

Posted on June 14, 2008 at 10:26 AM | Comments (0)

Wi Fi Mesh Economics: Costs

A key conclusion I draw from last weeks activities is that the complexities in Wireless Broadband challenge the decision making process for city staff and elected officials.

Four ways of dealing with overwhelming complexity (not an exhaustive list, but a sample)

1. Break the problem and solution set down into smaller pieces so that one may move forward - call this one the Chew On It strategy - Break Down into Bite Size Pieces.

2. Present the rational but complex story to the decision makers and appeal to their rational right brains for a decision "on the numbers," call this one the Let the Numbers Sell Themselves

3. Stress the wonderful developments in technology - call this one the Wow 'Em with Wonder

4. Kick the problem down the road for someone else to deal with - call this one the Throw Up Your Arms strategy - "It's too complex - I can't deal with it."

Unfortunately, too many product-oriented types have promoted wireless broadband projects based on #2 or #3, and way too many decision makers are opting for #4 in the face of the complexities presented by a strategic decision regarding wireless broadband, using recent bad news of pioneer project failures as an excuse not to go forward.

I recommend #1, and here's why. With a little effort to get educated, the benefits become understandable and they truly are immense, if broken down into bite size pieces for understanding and decision-making and ultimately, for project management. To steer clear of a network-based solution and maintain the status quo of point solutions is to settle for the short-term easy and mundane, and to pass up the longer-term somewhat more challenging but compelling alternative.

That's why I do what I do on this website, which can be described as chewing on things to make them make sense.

As for Wi Fi Mesh Economics, a topic that bedevils so many, I've taken a stab at breaking a Mesh Network Project down into its key cost components to provide a better understanding of a potential project, and provided a rough estimating tool at the conclusion. The intent is to inject some reality into discussions. Check it out.

Continue reading "Wi Fi Mesh Economics: Costs"

Posted on June 14, 2008 at 06:37 AM | Comments (0)

The Lowest Risk Publicly-Owned Network: The Case for Public Ownership

In San Antonio, most people I talked with assumed that Municipal Wireless was dead. RIP. It's amazing how the brand had faded.

So, I thought, why argue. In fact, my credo is more regional (Metropolitan) and independent of technology (Broadband), so it gives me a little liberty to agree and then stress the things you can do with the new technologies. It's about applications, and I got no argument in San Antonio this week. The clear focus is on two principal areas: Public Safety (Police Department) and Utilities (Automatic Meter Infrastructure or AMI).

One thing that is compelling is that when one focuses on applications like Public Safety and Utilities, one quickly totes up a list of benefits that more than compensates for the price of the supporting network and applications. Thus, we get to the next in our series of executive briefs, this one focused on Publicly Owned Networks.

More after you click through!

Continue reading "The Lowest Risk Publicly-Owned Network: The Case for Public Ownership"

Posted on June 13, 2008 at 09:51 PM | Comments (0)

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