Continue reading »]]> If you have comments on F2C09, you may post them to F2C09@elist.isen.com. To see previous posts to F2C09, you can see the archives here.

It’s a moderated list. Here are my thoughts on that:

I’d like to encourage contributors to this list to understand that there’s 225 people here, not all of whom wish to spend the bulk of their day monitoring posts.  Most of these 225 **do** care about the critical issues we’re discussing, but if we want our community to be large and expand, we need to make it easy for all of its members to follow the discussion.

Dave Farber’s list is widely read because it is heavily edited. I’m going to do the same with F2C09. [Note: Dave F. rejects most of my posts.]

Henceforth, I’ll tend to reject posts that depend on the reader’s knowledge of previous posts. I’ll tend to reject posts that are cryptic, obvious, or poorly written. I’ll discourage posts in the form of in-line comments. I’ll filter for emotional inflammation and unsound argumentation.

I’ll tend to accept well-written, well-thought-through posts that stand on their own, that are easy to read and understand. I’ll accept posts that make sound arguments. I’ll accept posts that charm me and make me laugh, and that teach me new things patiently.

Please, from now on do at least one self-critical read-through before hitting “send.”

Continue reading »]]> Several of our speakers gave presentations during their talk. Many of them are available online:

• Session 3: What we can learn from muni networking failures
  • Ken Biba, Novarum,
  • Aaron Kaplan from Vienna, Austria
• Session 4: The Politics of Regulation
  • Chris Savage, Davis Wright Tremaine
  • Jon Peha, CTO, FCC
• Session 5: Muni Fiber Super-session II
  • Tim Denton, Commissioner, CRTC
  • James Salter, Atlantic Engineering (coming)
  • Terry Huval, Lafayette LA
• Session 6: Networks here and there
  • Herman Wagter, Citynet
  • Benoît Felten, Yankee Group
• Session 7: The Internet and the Planet we call Home
  • Bill St. Arnaud, CANARIE

Continue reading »]]> Reporter Lynn Stanton, who covered F2C: Freedom to Connect for Telecommunications Reports earlier this week, has arranged TR’s permission for me to publish her coverage here. The six stories below are all . . .

Copyright 2009, Telecommunications Reports. Reproduced with permission of Telecommunications Reports.

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MARCH 30, 2009
MUNI BROADBAND AGREEMENT
SPARKS WIRELINE-WIRELESS DEBATE

SILVER SPRING, Md. – The question of the relative advantages of wireless and wireline broadband for unserved and underserved areas sparked heated debate during the Freedom to Connect (F2C) conference here this morning.

“Muni supersession” moderator Joanne Hovis, president of Columbia Telecommunications Corp., kicked off the debate by noting that unlike many conference panels, the panelists all agreed that municipal broadband networks were a good idea, and asked whether networks should be wired or wireless.

Dirk van der Woude, program manager-municipal broadband policy for Amsterdam, said that wireless broadband is convenient but slow. “And you need fiber for back haul,” he said.

Tim Nulty, president of ValleyFiber, Inc., a nonprofit telecom company in Vermont, discounted arguments that it is too expensive to bring fiber-to-the-home to rural America. “Every single home in America has a telephone. Why should it be harder to replace copper with fiber than it was [to put the copper in] in the first place? It’s not; it’s easier. The poles are already there,” and the cost of fiber is relatively less now than the price of copper when the copper network was being extended into rural America, he added.

From the audience, Mark Cooper, director-research at the Consumer Federation of America, said, “We’ve been advocating a combination of middle-mile fiber . . . [and] first-mile, cutting-edge wireless.” Using wireless at the network edge “enables you to get farther” for the same amount of money, and it provides a “two-fer” of mobility and connectivity that meets most needs, Mr. Cooper said.

Mr. Nulty responded, “I know the price I have to charge on wireless is twice what I have to charge on fiber.” He added that “giving away money is a bad idea” and that “rural fiber can pay its own way,” while rural wireless cannot. He said that covering 1,000 square miles with a shared 3.6 gigabits per second capacity wireless network would require “at least 200 installations, and 500 miles of fiber for backhaul – we’d only need 1,400 miles to get [fiber] to everybody” living in that 1,000 square miles.

Another panelist, Lev Gonick, chief information officer at Case Western Reserve University and founder of Cleveland’s One Community connectivity project, attempted to smooth over the disagreement. “This is a debate inside the family,” he said, adding, “We’re missing the opportunity of a lifetime” if proponents of ubiquitous broadband allow disagreements over technology to derail current momentum.
Bill Schrier, chief technology officer of the city of Seattle, also tried to smooth over the dispute, saying that wired and wireless broadband are “really symbiotic.”

Mr. Nulty said, “We absolutely intend to put a wireless cloud on top of our fiber network.”

In a separate session, Larry Keyes, a principal with Microdesign Consulting, Inc., demonstrated Telecare for Rural Home Health, a joint undertaking with the University of Vermont funded by the National Institute on Aging, in which senior patients who have fallen or who are at risk for falling receive interactive tai chi instruction over a broadband connection, although only 384 kilobits per second is required, he said. The project uses a set-top box – or DocBox – and participants were provided with broadband connections if they didn’t already have it. The video is shown on patients’ television sets, because “they already know how to use it, and it’s in the largest room in the house,” allowing space to perform the tai chi movements. – Lynn Stanton, lynn.stanton@wolterskluwer.com

****************************************************
MARCH 30, 2009
FCC’s CHIEF TECHNOLOGIST SEES ‘MYTHS’
IN COMMON BROADBAND ARGUMENTS

SILVER SPRING, Md. – FCC chief technologist Jon Peha – expressing only his own opinions – said today that many of the frequently heard arguments about broadband “seem to me to be based on myths,” including the idea that there is less interest in broadband in rural areas and that the lack of broadband service doesn’t harm communities and those living there.

Speaking at the Freedom to Connect (F2C) conference produced by Isen.com and MuniWireless.com, Mr. Peha, who is also a professor of engineering and public policy at Carnegie Mellon University, said, “There is fascinating speculation about why a third less households in rural areas would want broadband. . . . [However] if you look at the percentage of households with Internet of any flavor, rural is only slightly behind,” because a larger percentage of subscribers use dial-up connections. “Maybe this means people in rural areas want access to the Internet, but they like it sl-o-o-o-w,” he joked. He noted that “roughly one-third of rural households do not have access to terrestrial broadband at any price, so maybe it’s not surprising that one-third fewer rural households subscribe.”

He also discounted the idea that if the market has produced fewer broadband subscribers in rural communities, the market must be right. He noted that market-based decisions don’t take into account benefits to those other than the purchaser. Communities without broadband miss out on the “spill-over effects,” or positive externalities, of broadband, such as small business creation, job creation, and increased property values, he said. Internet users outside the community also miss out on the ability to communicate via broadband with those in the unserved community.

Mr. Peha said another myth is that “unserved communities may not gain from broadband, but they aren’t harmed by the lack of broadband.” Applications were once optimized for dial-up users, but as broadband becomes more widespread, that changes, so that every year dial-up Internet access becomes less valuable to those without broadband. – Lynn Stanton, lynn.stanton@wolterskluwer.com

****************************************************
MARCH 30, 2009
MUNI NETWORKING ‘FAILURES’ DISPUTED

SILVER SPRING, Md. – A member of a panel on “muni networking failures” at the Freedom to Connect (F2C) conference here today disagreed with the premise of the session, saying that media reports of such failures have created a widely believed falsehood.

“Earthlink’s model [for a muni network] in Philadelphia failed; Philadelphia hasn’t failed,” said Esme Vos, founder of MuniWireless.com, which along with Isen.com produced F2C. “As of December they had 137,000 users,” she said.

Ms. Vos also said that Philadelphia is moving to use the technology to operate wireless parking meters. “Cities aren’t just setting up wireless networks to provide free broadband but because of all these other things you can do,” she added. She cited “smart” water meters in other cities. She said that once people hear that the city broadband technology is going to save them money on their water bills, argument from a private-sector provider about the government competing with the private sector is “going to fall on deaf ears.”

However, Ken Biba, co-founder and chief technology officer of wireless data network advisory firm Novarum, said that the first generation of these municipal networks had failed because of “the impracticality of a free lunch” and “impossible expectations.” He added, “Free is not a sustainable business model.”

Mr. Biba also said, “Wired will always be faster and cheaper than wireless, but it ends where it ends. Wireless is the extension. They cooperate together.”

From the audience, David Young, Verizon Communications, Inc.’s vice president-federal regulatory affairs, asked why cities don’t just use commercially available wireless broad service. Mr. Biba said, “It’s too expensive. You can’t spend $60 a month per police car, and you don’t get uplink video.” – Lynn Stanton, lynn.stanton@wolterskluwer.com

****************************************************
MARCH 31, 2009
F2C SPEAKERS TACKLE ARRA, TRANSITION

SILVER SPRING, Md. – Speakers at the Freedom to Connect (F2C) conference here today addressed a range of issues, including traffic management, broadband grants and loans, and the changes at the FCC with the new presidential administration.

Kevin Werbach, a professor of legal studies at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School who was also a co-leader of the Obama FCC transition team, said that former FCC Chairman Kevin J. Martin “accentuated the siloing of the agency” and that during his tenure “there was a hostility to new ideas coming up from the bottom. . . . He tended to have a very top-down approach.”

Under FCC Chairman-designate Julius Genachowski, “I think there’s going to be a willingness to explore” long-term ideas such as spectrum allocation that would serve future needs, Mr. Werbach offered.

Mr. Werbach said, “There really was a great sense of mission from people I worked with on the transition [such as his transition team co-leader Susan Crawford, who is rumored to be under consideration for a White House technology advisory position, as well as Mr. Genachowski]. Hold them to it. It’s hard to see beyond the fog of the Beltway.” He continued, “We’re going to need the whole country, and not just 52% of the country [to solve these issues].”

Another speaker, Terry Huval, director of Lafayette Utilities System in Lafayette, La., said in response to an audience question that the LUS broadband network, which only recently began offering service, is not prioritizing traffic. Responding to concern that providing cable TV service will lead LUS to behave like a private-sector provider and try to block or interfere with Internet-based video services, he said it was fine with LUS “if everybody in town buys Internet and gets all the video they want that way.”

Also in response to a question, Mr. Huval said LUS pays $50 to $60 per month per megabit per second.

Regarding implementation of the broadband provisions of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, Joanne Hovis, president of Columbia Telecommunications Corp., speaking in her role as a member of the board of directors of the National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors, warned against playing into the hands of those who don’t want to see broadband competition by turning the funding application process into a battle between “metro” and rural interests.

Ms. Hovis also said, “We are a little bit concerned that there is a little bit of a conflict between [the states’] role as an adviser to [the National Telecommunications and Information Administration] and their role as potential applicants and we hope that NTIA will keep that in mind.”

From the audience, Mary Beth Henry of Portland, Ore., said her city hopes to win broadband funding under the ARRA to expand its telehealth application of remote monitoring, which allows the elderly to stay in their homes, to lower-income residents, and to fund a demand-side economic development program that helps small businesses see the benefits of using the Internet, as well as a video connection program on the education side that, among other things, would allow parents to participate in Parent Teacher Association meetings without leaving home.

The issue of wired versus wireless broadband continued to be raised, albeit with less heat than during yesterday’s discussions. Mr. Salter said, “I’m a proponent for fiber because I think you need big bandwidth for all this [demand-side management and other smart grid applications].” However, he acknowledged that the smart grid doesn’t require fiber, and that most companies rolling the technology out are using “hybrid systems, with fiber to a collection point and wireless to the meter.” He added, “I think the applications are going to require more and more bandwidth and that’s why I’m an advocate for fiber.”

The F2C conference was produced by Isen.com and MuniWireless.com. – Lynn Stanton, lynn.stanton@wolterskluwer.com

****************************************************
MARCH 31, 2009
ENERGY ISSUES OFFER BROADBAND OPPORTUNITIES,
F2C SPEAKERS SAY

SILVER SPRING, Md. – Energy sector issues such as smarter networks, cleaner fuel sources, and demand management present opportunities to extend and boost broadband networks, according to speakers at the Freedom to Connect conference here today.

James Salter, founder of Atlantic Engineering, who spoke about electric utility “smart grids” and flattening peak demand, said, “When you’ve wired up all these houses for smart grid, you’ve wired up every house in America” for broadband Internet access, which has the added benefit of potentially reducing commuting and other transportation.

Billy Ray, chief executive officer of the Glasgow (Ky.) Electric Plant Board, said that a house’s “load shape” (over time) is determined by “the dumbest devices” in the house – thermostats on heaters, water heaters, refrigerators, and freezers, and that the sine wave load shape forces coal-powered plants to power up and power down, rather than operate most efficiently with a constant output.

Mr. Ray said that Glasgow has been putting IP (Internet protocol) addresses on all the thermostats to control them, but has discovered that neither it nor its power supplier – TVA (the Tennessee Valley Authority) – know “what to talk to the thermostats about.” Although he could not reveal the details, he said that Google, Inc., TVA, and Glasgow are working together on software to control the thermostats. “Some of you smart people need to write some software,” he told the audience.

Bill St. Arnaud, of CANARIE, Inc., said that the move to reduce carbon emissions is “an opportunity for our industry, because anything that reduces carbon emissions is eligible” to win some of the money that would be created by a requirement for offset payments, since producers of carbon emissions would pay for solutions to reduce emissions, rather than pay the government for producing emissions. Although there is $7.2 billion for broadband grants and loans in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, “there’s $645 billion if cap-and-trade goes through – that’s the market you want to tap,” he said.

Mr. St. Arnaud suggested that broadband could be used to “reward consumers with free video for reducing their carbon footprints,” noting that consumers are responsible for 65% of carbon emissions. He described a business model in which resellers of electrical and gas power could provide free high-speed Internet and fiber to the home as in incentive to reduce usage, with the added benefit that “the utility does all the billing and collection for you.”

However, Mr. St. Arnaud said, the information and communications technology industry must first “clean up our own act,” since it, too, is a producer of carbon emissions. – Lynn Stanton, lynn.stanton@wolterskluwer.com

****************************************************
MARCH 31, 2009
WHOLESALE ACCESS GOOD FOR INCUMBENTS,
F2C PANELISTS SAYS

SILVER SPRING, Md. – Some speakers at the Freedom to Connect (F2C) conference here this morning argued that opening broadband networks for use by competitors is a good idea for the network owners, although even in this pro-access venue there was some resistance to the idea.

Herman Wagter, chief executive officer of Citynet Amersterdam, said that sharing basic network infrastructure with competitors makes business sense and attracts investments.

Benoit Felten, a principal analyst at Yankee Group, said that, based on a theoretical greenfield business model, it would be virtually impossible to earn back a broadband network investment in less than 10 years unless you reach 30% penetration, or “more reasonably” 40%. Under those circumstances, competition on the incumbents’ network – open access – actually increases penetration because there are multiple sales forces working in the market. “And at 100% you can turn off your copper network, and that’s what really costs you,” he added.

Mr. Felten said that Dutch incumbent telco KPN said recently that it was “stupid in opposing open access 10 years ago” and that open access was actually in its interest.

In response to an audience question, Terry Huval, director of Lafayette Utilities System in Lafayette, La., well-known for its successful battle against private-sector broadband providers to be allowed to build and operate its own broadband network, said, “Until we get all our bonds paid off, our business model is our business model . . . . We’re not going to allow another cable TV provider or switched telephone provider [to operate] on our system.” The questioner, who said he was from UTOPIA (the Utah Telecommunication Open Infrastructure Agency ), said that the wholesale model works for Utopia. – Lynn Stanton, lynn.stanton@wolterskluwer.com

Continue reading »]]> Some of our attendees are blogging the conference:

• David W: http://www.johotheblog.com

Photos from the conference are at:

• http://www.flickr.com/photos/akma/tags/f2c09/ (AKMA)
• http://www.flickr.com/photos/docsearls/sets/72157616205843715/ (Doc Searls)

We will be reviewing the speaker presentations and video streams to see if we can post that shortly.

Conference Notes from Philip M. Neches

From: Philip M Neches
Subject: F2C Conference, part 1

Municipal Fiber Panel

Tim Nulty, CEO East-Central Vermont Fiber:

• ~38 going full service municipal fiber utilities
• “wholesale only” business model doesn’t work, those doing it are in financial trouble
• ~45 million Americans in rural areas, conventional wisdom says will never have broadband
• cheaper to run fiber than copper was 80 years ago, inflation adjusted
• no fundamental reason that rural fiber broadband can’t work
• fiber is cheaper and more economic than wireless — if you intend to offer universal service
• wireless works economically if it is an add-on to fiber — but “sucks” if it’s done first
• his area: $70M for fiber; $35M for wireless first, but 1/4 the revenue and poor service; $10M for wireless as an add on to fiber and much better service (billing, back-haul, etc., already in place)
• financing with tax-exempt municipal debt is a key advantage — much cheaper than equity, cheapest debt
  • Any attempt to get private equity into the picture loses advantage of tax exempt muni bonds
  • (This is what Gil Williamson, former CEO of NCR, used to call a “one ton point”)
• non-profit corporation organized to develop and operate network, but municipalities finance and own network
• rural fiber can pay its own way — rural wireless can’t
• his example: 1,000 square miles, 16,000 miles of road; 200 wireless access points, 400 miles of fiber for wireless back-haul, 1,400 miles to bring fiber to all

Dick van der Woude, City of Amsterdam fiber project

• used municipal program to spur major incumbents to do open fiber
• in the blunt, confrontational way that is so very Dutch
• fiber needed as back-haul for wireless
• need access within building — to get to customer on top floor, need to get to all floors

Lev Gonick, CIO Case Western Reserve University

• 1M end users, 1,800 facilities, health care facilities, schools, libraries, museums, governments
• 501c(3) not-for-profit corp.
• 5,000 wireless access points
• layered solution: fiber as base layer, WiFi as overlay
• poor urban areas equivalent to rural areas in lack of broadband access
• governance entrepreneurial, not big company or government, light-weight organization
• partner with incumbents for last-mile service (but not residential)

Bill Schrier, CTO City of Seattle

• Municipal WiFi doesn’t work economically, fiber does (City commission report)
• $500 M, comparable to sports stadium, small compared to major highway project
• Electric utility is a key partner (they have the poles!)
• HDTV videoconferencing is the killer app! (not possible on wireless; also needs symmetrical bandwidth)

Panel on Net Politics

Tim Karr, organizer, blogger

• critical juncture in media world: mainstream media -social media
• align: media reform, free culture, open government
• old media, particularly television, still the dominant experience for most people

Nathaniel Jones, Media and Democracy Outreach Foundation

• Politicians need same media to reach public, regardless of party

Ellen Miller, Sunlight Foundation

• Looking for connections between campaign contributions and earmarks
• Use the Internet for “scavenger hunts” for information
• 15M searches on USASpending.gov in 2 years
  • rapid launch because OMB licensed Sunlight Foundation’s database
• “Outed”: Dennis Hastert, Ted Stevens, Charles Rangel
• Executive branch now responsive to openness; legislative branch lagging
• Real-time (e.g. daily) reporting of political contributions would be helpful

From: Philip M Neches
Subject: F2C Conference, part 3

Experiences from Burlington, VT, fiber network

Larry Keyes, IT guy for project described in talk

• tele-class for seniors who have had — or fear having — a fall
• 3X week for 15 weeks on-line Tai Chi Chuan class
• TV STB — living room — need large area for exercise
  • use any broadband network: DSL, cable, muni fiber
• patients see instructor full screen; instructor sees up to 12 patients in windows
• controller manages bandwidth, audio, video
• problems:
  • cable installers — sub-sub-sub-contractors don’t care if it works
  • DSL — distance
  • echo cancellation
• it works — trying to expand to group treatment for other conditions

Eva Sollberger, Seven Days, local weekly newspaper in Burlington VT

• does video journalism for Seven Days web site
• bring new audience from UTube postings
• 122 5-minute videos over 2 years; highly edited
  • 20 – 30 hours of editing per 5 minute video
• many focused on non-profits, who embed video on their own sites

From: Philip M Neches
Subject: F2C Conference, part 4

Muni Network Failures Panel

Esme Vos, MuniWireless

• hot zones (big cities) and small towns looking for broadband (no incumbent)
• believes muni wireless private efforts failed because companies did not get city support — financial or anchor tenant
• 50% of devices are Apple OS — think mostly iPhones (Philadelphia experience)
• wireless meter reading

Sascha Meinrath, New America Foundation

• providers didn’t meet community needs
• who will control local connectivity?
• Post Office was 75% of federal employees — de Tocqueville
• history of telecom, told from the very far left
• connectivity should be a benefit from living in a civil society

Ken Biba, Novarum

• measuring wireless: WiMax, muni WiFi, 2G/3G cellular
• problems with “muni wireless 1.0″
  • no free lunch
  • indoor access not feasible
  • free is not a sustainable business model
  • EarthLink under-covered: about 40% of needed coverage
  • 50 nodes/square mile needed
• what went right?
  • video surveillance, public safety, parking meters, internal municipal communications: have good business cases
  • hybrid fiber/WiFi networks outperform WiMax — 802.11n has 5:1 cap cost advantage over WiMax with more RF capacity
• Cell data performance doubled vs. 2 years ago
  • best muni WiFi about 2-3x better than cellular; 802.11n better still
• Mobile 802.11n is a WiMax killer [my conclusion]
  • 5 GHz 802.11n adds 500 MHz for 802.11bg with no new regulation
  • Good that it doesn’t penetrate walls — outdoor and indoor networks unlicensed and don’t interfere with each other
• Applications with business cases drive deployments
• Why police going WiFi vs. 3G/4G?
  • price $60/police car too much (for budgets)
  • can’t do uplink video
• Unlicensed bands have bigger chunks of bandwidth than licensed — creates advantage for unlicensed
  • all heading for 3 bits/hertz due to semiconductor technology

L. Aaron Kaplan, Vienna Community Mesh Network

• failure resistance should be better
• started with remains of failed commercial wireless ISP

Dewayne Hendricks, Tetherless Access

• “The tools make the rules”: technology is better now
• Remember MetroComm? $1B investment, 150 kb, gone and forgotten
• Radios on light poles — run into problems with local permits — happens every time!
• Bottom line: play the regulatory game better this time
• “Welcome back to the fight. This time, I know our side will win.”
  • Shades of Paul Henreid in the AFI Silver Theater!

From: Philip M Neches
Subject: F2C Conference, part 5

Session on Regulation

Chris Savage, attorney

• Intelligent Regulation and the Death of the Chicago School
• market forces — like gravity, indisputably there, but not inherently good or bad
• revealed preference theory: actually wrong (behavioral economics shows)
• post-Chicago school: if competition (market) doesn’t always maximize benefit, what does?
• 6 – 18 month window of opportunity starting now
• Comment from audience: government should write the rules so that private enterprise makes the most money doing the right things.
• Regulators learn faster than courts

Derek Slater, Google

• broadband policy analyst, works in Mountain View with Google engineers
• how to sustain health, open, innovative Internet
• MLAB — Google operation to test Internet measurement tools
  • Distributed servers to help researchers deploy tools widely enough to get useful data: MLAB
  • 36 by end of April — want to recruit more to work with them.
• Why are you not getting the speed you expect?
• Infrastructure is special — we are reawakening to this notion

John Peha, CTO, FCC

• The Mythology of Rural Broadband
• Less demand? No, less availability, so less penetration
  • 1/3 of rural households do not have access to terrestrial broadband at any price
• Broadband deployment has externalities: small business creation, job creation, property values
  • not accounted for by a market-only approach
• Reverse-network effect: reducing the size of a network (dial-up) reduces the network benefit to remaining members
  • as broadband becomes the norm, dial-up users are harmed
  • also non-Internet services: newspapers, airline reservations, tax forms, etc.
• Government solutions, especially one-size-fits-all, can have more cost than benefit

Thomas Friedman, New York Times

• Hot, Flat, and Crowded is about America, not energy, how we lost our groove and can get it back
• America is exploding with innovation from the ground up — experience from last 6 months of book tour
• There are too many “Americans” in the world today — we have to re-define that lifestyle for the rest of the world
  • 2.5 “Americums” 300 million people living like America to ~9 today, and growing
• Petro-states: inverse relationship of oil prices and freedom
• Not global warming, but global “weirding”: extremes get more extreme
  • don’t know the difference between an act of man and an act of God
• Energy poverty: 25% of world population do not have electricity
  • will fall behind exponentially
• Loss of bio-diversity — Age of Noah, save/see last of species
  • the word “later” will disappear from the dictionary
• Incredible opportunities masquerading as unsolvable problems
  • Common solution: cheap clean electricity (energy)
  • ET – next big industry – country that dominates ET will dominate world — has to be USA
• To name as issue is to own an issue: “green” is owned by the opponents, not the advocates
  • green is geopolitical, patriotic, entrepreneurial, etc.
  • green is the new red, white and blue
• Green is really a revolution when someone gets hurt.
  • Change or die
  • Make “green” disappear because it becomes the norm
  • ecosystem for innovation
  • need correct price signals
• IT was a greenfield, ET is not
  • every innovation has to compete with cheaper, dirtier, established technology
  • oil, coal — commodities: as demand goes up, price goes up
  • solar, wind, etc: technologies: as demand goes up, price goes down
  • e.g.: carbon pricing is a must
• Change your leaders, not your light bulbs

From: Philip M Neches
Subject: F2C Conference, part 6

Muni Fiber Session II

Geoff Daily, app-rising.com

• creating new organization: Rural Fiber Alliance
  • fiber to every building; wireless everywhere
  • we’re Americans – we can do it

James Salter, Atlantic Engineering

• Smart Grid and Fiber to the Home
• motivating reasons: environment, economics
• per-household electricity usage 3x in 50 years; more peaked 47% to 39%
• smart meters 2007: 6% of meters, 4% demand reduction, out of 902GW
• capital/customer: $12.5K/customer: 7.5K generation, 4K distribution
  • telecom is about $2K/customer
• experiment: $0.30/kwh peak $0.03/kwh off-peak, results
  • 30% peak reduction, 20% bill reduction, 5% total kwh reduction
• smart meter in every home — less than AIG bailout
  • at $2500/home, includes fiber-to-the-home at $1000
• 10% peak reduction in demand would cut enough coal usage to make a significant impact on CO2 emissions
• obstacles: standards, policies, pricing, disjointed industry (3,200 different utilities)

Terry Hurval, LUS (Lafayette Utility System)

• City established electricity & water utility in 1896; first fiber for utility use 1998; started selling fiber bandwidth wholesale & government customers 2000; added fiber as a utility in 2004
• cable, telco tried to block; using negotiations and lawsuits; LUS spent $3.7M on lawyers and elections; prevailed; ratepayers saved that much or more since cable co. restrained rate increases; positive press for city
• Fiber runs parallel to electrical power lines, use substations for minihubs; 3 rings of 96 fibers each (Lucent-Alcatel passive optical system; in-home box at demark converts fiber to coax, POTS, ethernet, IPTV, etc.
• Bonds issued 7/2007; construction started 8/2007; first customers 2/2009; full deployment 2011
• Typical residential package video, Internet, phone $85/$137/$199/month depending on bandwidth (10/30/50 Mbps symmetrical), premium channels, phone features, etc.; all service includes 100Mbps peer-peer; business packages up to 100Mbps for $199/month
• 70% residential + 80% of businesses want service, per survey
• $110M tax exempt bonds
• businesses cite benefits to community: keep jobs, people in town
• Q: will you allow open access (e.g. just connectivity, w/o phone, cable, etc, services)? A: not until bonds are paid off.
• Q: where does LUS get backbone? A: AT&T and Qwest, $50/mbps

Tim Denton, Commissioner, Canadian Radio & Television Commission (CRTC)

• equivalent of US FCC:
• 3 legal regimes:
  • Broadcast Act (licensed, regulated)
  • Telecommunications Act(unlicensed, regulated)
  • Commerce Act (unlicensed, unregulated)
• pushed through access to underlying infrastructure over objections of large carriers (different from US), carriers still contesting at cabinet level
• broadcasting over Internet: pushing through notion of exemption — claim jurisdiction but choose; not to use it
  • issue is taxing Internet broadcasting to fund Canadian content
• business community against it — don’t interfere
• artistic community for it
• not a single comment on freedom of speech (unlike US)
  • Net Neutrality next topic for CRTC

From: Philip M Neches
Subject: F2C Conference, part 7

Networks Here and There

Herman Wagter, CEO Citynet (Amsterdam)

• Schopenhauer: stages of truth
  • Ridiculed
  • Violently opposed
  • Accepted as self-evident
• High connectivity, within Amsterdam, within Netherlands, 660Gbps recent switching peak
• Natural desire for connectivity can be obstructed by social convention, laws
• No poles, high density, wires underground (lots of mud): how to avoid digging again in less than 30 years?
• passive fiber, star topology
  • 10,000 home-run connections per POP
  • much easier than with a Cu plant
  • multiple technologies/protocols/services over same fiber plant
  • ~$1,200 capex, fiber 10% labor 70% in cities: in suburbs more for fiber less for labor, result same
• regulatory regime: unbundled local fiber loop, central office access, back-haul access for competitors
• killer app: can I play cards with 4 friends? [e.g. HDTV video conferencing]
  • people want bandwidth to achieve low latency
• Q: pay for like streets, not by usage? A: regulators not ready for that notion
  Kevin Werbach, Obama FCC Transition Team
• Quasi-hostile takeover of a $14T corporation (US government) with minimum staff in 77 days
• What are the issues, what are the challenges, what are the options going forward?
• Agency was run by Chairman Martin in a closed, politicized way, not trusting of staff, silo, hostile to new ideas, top-down management style
• Titanic change happening in industries of concern; agency was established in a previous era
  • (so were most of the companies!)
• Get the FCC ahead of the curve:
  • spectrum as a pool of capacity rather than as discrete small allocations
  • was very creative under Chairman Powell, shut down under Chairman Martin, look at re-opening under new Chairman
• Embarrassment of riches in new administration: more care about technology issues vs. prior administration
• Q: direction with federal spectrum, NTIA? A: step 1 – inventory usage, federal, other; step 2 – develop plans, coordinate white-space database;
• Q: AT&T/Bush administration re-monopolized, re-verticalized industry, now what? A: change in last 2 years to more open access, not all the way, FCC can shine a light on the business dynamics & policy issues
• Q: should US have [cabinet-level] agency to roll up all spectrum issues from FCC, DoD, etc? A: could waste political capital w/o accomplishing much; use Internet for co-ordination with leadership from White House & agency heads
• Q: standards for smart grids? A: regulators need to think of themselves as standards bodies — push, delegate, advocate
• role for FCC as think tank, communications starter

Benoit Felton, Yankee Group

• perspective on fiber in Europe
• Sweden leading in fiber: 900k homes passed, 400k subscribers, 200 municipal utilities, 450 registered service providers (expect consolidation); also Norway, Finland
• Denmark: deployment driven by energy utility, not comm utility, low subscription rate, no coherent offering
• France: cable companies deploying fiber, poor uptake due to fight on in-home standards, history of poor service by cable providers
• Germany, UK, Ireland lagging
• Europe as a whole lagging US, Asia — but diverse results
• A couple of cases the operator voluntarily announced open access on passive and active fiber layers
  • regulator reacts by negotiating, rather than imposing rules
• Need 40% penetration to get less than 10 year payback (assumes EUR 1000 capex 45% GM)
  • best way to get take up is competition on services
  • open access actually in incumbent operator’s best interest, because it drives faster adoption, which drives faster break-even and sooner decommissioning of copper network
• Forms of open access
  • open ducts: second deployer only in very dense areas (Spain, France)
  • open dark fiber:
  • open lit fiber: US, Netherlands
  • open services: Sweden — maybe net neutrality is adequate, maybe not
• Applicability of experience to US? Arguments that US is unique don’t hold up under examination.
• Conclusions:
  • open access makes economic sense for private players everywhere in the world
  • vertically integrated NGA deployment doesn’t make investment sense, can’t achieve 3-5 year payback
  • profitable wholesale model crucial to NGA deployment
  • net neutrality is first step to service competition

From: Philip M Neches
Subject: F2C Conference, part 8

Internet and Planet Earth

Jim Baller, attorney

• introduced next speaker as “father of municipal broadband”
• 15 years ago, talked about link between energy and communications
• most popular program on Glasgow KY municipal cable system: small claims court

Billy Ray, Glasgow, KY

• 14,000 people in south-central KY
• 1986 initiated city-owned cable system to support electrical grid
• treated infrastructure as part of the electrical grid, cable tv rented from electrical utility
• folksy history of utility moving into cable, phone, Internet, fiber, etc.
• cable company followed utility street-by-street lowering price
  • publicity from this put city utility on the map!
• load shape determined by thermostats: control the thermostats =control demand
• key element that needs to be created: software to reflect generating profile to distributed thermostats
• less capital to build broadband to every customer than new generating capacity
• Q: what could make more towns do this? A: carbon tax would induce innovation

Andrew Revkin, New York Times

• moderated panel
• implementation of cap/trade: could be just trade and not have much climate impact

Bill St. Arnaud, Canarie

• reducing carbon is a business opportunity
• carbon tax: difficult political sell
• cap and trade: hidden tax on supply side only
• carbon neutrality: by mandate, in
• another approach: carbon rewards rather than carbon taxes — akin to loyalty programs
• virtualization: replace physical product, transportation, with networking
  • US is the leader in virtualization: Hollywood, Silicon Valley applications, university innovation, culture of early adoption/Internet
• consumers responsible for 60% of CO2 emissions, 40% direct, 20% indirect
• examples:
  • free WiFi on busses
  • free broadband in home, bundled with energy (gas, electricity)
• network operator gets revenue based on energy reduction

PMN Note: nobody talked about using cold storage to time shift electrical demand for air conditioning to off hours. Also, nobody talked (much) about distributed generation. I think these are big deals.

From: Philip M Neches
Subject: F2C Conference, part 9

Spending on Infrastructure: American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (a.k.a. stimulus bill)

Sharon Gillett, State of MA, Commissioner, Telecom & Cable

• MIT researcher, economic impact of broadband
• recruited to commission in 2006 by new governor’s administration
• 351 towns, 32 with no commercial broadband, ~50 more with partial service (MA map)
• RFI for public/private broadband initiatives — just before economic meltdown
• stimulus bill: $4.7B through Dept. of Commerce – NTIA, $2.5B through Agriculture (Rural Utility Service – RUS) — $3.9B for infrastructure — $10M for IG to insure rules follow, no waste/fraud — obligate 1/2 of money by September
• BTOP: broadband technology opportunity program, comments due 4/13, then issue rules, then solicit first proposals; NTIA retains all decision making
• Q: where did map come from? A: survey of town administrators
• other issues: business (fat pipe) services, back-haul (middle mile)

Thomas Cohen, Attorney, Fiber-to-the-home Council

• firm filed proposed rules to BTOP and RUS on behalf of clients, including FTTH Council
• Agencies under tremendous pressure — first oversight hearings this week
• driving forces: get people to work, create infrastructure, do it quickly
• first $ out the door in the fall?
• looking for projects that meet purposes of the act, are pre-packaged, will work, applicants have experience
• Rural Utility Service: 100X their regular budget; 75% rural with insufficient access to high-speed broadband
• BTOP: bring access to unserved areas, under-served areas, public awareness, public service, training/education
• Q: were filings technology neutral? A: yes
• think of application as a full blown business plan, packaged from beginning, make the granting agency look good, show that the project can really be accomplished
• success will encourage Congress to fund more programs in the future
• look at what CA has funded already for examples

Jim Baller, Attorney, Broadband Coalition

• discuss funding opportunities in other parts of stimulus bill
• $48B transportation funds, $4B for smart grids, $8B public safety, etc.
• bill intended to be first inning in a 9 inning game
• bill requires FCC to develop a national broadband plan by Feb 2010
• puts many things in play years before it might happen otherwise, encourages cooperation among groups
• dialog stimulated on longer term broadband policy, stimulus bill does not set policy, more work in years to come
• mood in the country is challenging, but it encourages innovation: very optimistic

Harold Feld, Attorney, Public Knowledge

• blogger Tales from the Sausage Factory
• shift in how people are thinking about the role of government
• reaffirmed values from original Communications Act: universal access, community institutions (libraries, etc,), data driven policies (vs. ideologically driven)
• parts of government working with each other: NTIA, RUS, FCC, etc.
• broadband ecology: value it for what it does for people’s lives
• message to carriers: it’s not all about you!
• private entities can apply, but must show that grant is in public interest
• network neutrality, value of competition, interconnection
• new way of doing business in Washington: conventional wisdom didn’t work (against the bill)
• enormous opportunity, don’t get complacent

Joanne Hovis, CTC Communications

• broadband must serve local concerns
• areas of concern: rural vs. metro debate — a fight along these lines would not serve either rural or urban interests, but would help entrench incumbents
• central government involvement (in broadband): US now getting involved, Europe/Asia have done this for years, reason why they got ahead of US; stimulus bill implementation sets example
• definition of broadband: 50 to 100 Mbps scaling to 1 to 10 Gbps — incumbents talking in terms of 1 – 5 Mbps — need to keep pressure on keeping definition aspirational and forward looking, not backward looking (result in falling further behind world)
• role of states: concern for conflict-of-interest as advisor to communities and potentially competitive applicant for funds; potential for private interest influence (15 states bar localities from broadband service)

Continue reading »]]> Guest post by Lynn Hughes (Thanks!)

Welcome to all of you coming to the Silver Spring area for F2C. I’ve put together some suggestions on places to eat and/or hang-out while in town. I hope you all find this helpful and take no responsibility if your taste buds don’t agree with mine!

Downtown Silver Spring is an eclectic mix of chain and local owned stores. At first glance it might look a little typical corporate layout, but don’t let that fool you. There is a broad range of food choices that reflect the rich diversity of our community. I’ll try and give some suggestions for most of the International flavors. I’m only mentioning restaurants that are walkable from AFI and the nearby hotels.

March Madness?

For me, the most critical thing happening on Sunday is the Elegant 8. I know if I were out of town, I’d be looking for a good spot to watch (I’m not a hotel sitter) — best options are:

1) Galaxy Billiards (across from the Border’s on Ellsworth — immediately BEHIND the AFI theatre): I personally think there TVs are the best set-up for watching a game. They have plenty of screens and reasonable bar food while you watch (you can even play a round of pool if you’d like).

2) Across the Street Cafe (across the street from AFI): http://www.acrossthestreetcafe.com/about.html a new restaurant in town. The owner is very nice, the food is good and not too pricey and he has free wi-fi. He’s got one plasma screen that I noticed, rather than the many at Galaxy. But the crowds are light on Sunday and I’ll bet he’ll help make your watching enjoyable.

3) Austin Grill (on Ellsworth near the fountain): They’ve got screens around the bar and pretty good Tex-Mex. But it’s usually loud in there and the focus certainly won’t be on the games. You’ll be competing with the dinner crowd.

Best Coffee/Gelato

Kefa Cafe
963 Bonifant St

I know there’s a great breakfast planned for each day of F2C, but if you find yourself looking for a great cuppa joe on Sunday or Wednesday, skip the chains (Panera and Starbuck’s) and walk a couple blocks to Kefa Cafe. It’s just two blocks down from the AFI and a real local favorite. Owners Lene and Abeba Tsegaye are as nice as can be. I always leave that place with a smile.

The coffee at Kefa is first rate, and the two sisters have done a splendid job of turning Kefa into a true community gathering place, a setting where groups come to meet about projects, display art, and discuss civic matters. Sometimes the owners even stay open past closing to accommodate residents’ needs (review poached from Yelp). They also have the best homemade gelato ever.

American/standard fare

1) Jackie’s
8081 Georgia (it’s actually on Sligo Ave)

http://www.jackiesrestaurant.com/

It’s a bit of a hike, but well worth it for the mini-Elvis burgers and best martini’s in town. A very funky place indeed.

2) Ray’s the Classics
corner of Georgia and Colesville (across from AFI)
Great steaks and solid meat and potatoes cooking. Always ends up on the Washingtonian Best of lists…

3) Quarry House Tavern
Georgia and Bonifant (take the steps down…)

http://www.quarryhousetavern.com/

Run by Jackie (of Jackie’s above). Best burgers in town and homemade tater tots. Enuf said.

4) Red Rock Grill
Georgia towards Wayne (next to Marimekko)
Yeah, it’s a chain and there’s always a crowd, but it’s solid food. I do admit that I eat there fairly often.

Asian/Chinese/Japanese/Thai/Vietnamese/Malaysian

1) Asian Bistro
next to Panera on Georgia at Colesville

http://www.asianbistrocafe.com/

I personally think that Asian Bistro has the best sushi in town (meaning our little neck of MD, not all of DC). Their specialty rolls are amazing. They also have a full Chinese and Japanese dinner menu. (I know others in town like the sushi on Fenton, but I’m just not sold).

2) Oriental Garden
East-West Highway in Blair Plaza (just past the metro, hang a left)
The dim sum at Oriental Garden is legendary. If you come on a Sunday the line literally goes round the block. They also have some of the best Peking Duck I’ve ever had, but if you’re trekking over, I’d suggest trying the dim sum. Also, make sure they give you the full menu. They have one for the novices and one with all the good stuff.

3) Thai Derm
Bonifant, in the middle of the block (two blocks down from AFI)
Small restaurant in what seems should be a townhouse (and if you go to the bathroom, you’ll usually walk by some family member prepping food). Great food and nice owners. I prefer it to the Thai restaurant over the fountain at Ellsworth, although that one’s not too bad.

4) Mandalay
Bonifant, towards Fenton (about 3 blocks from AFI)
Burmese food that’s solid and a nice wine selection. My friend who grew up in Burma loves it. I don’t know enough to tell whether it’s authentic, but it certainly is tasty.

5) Lotus Cafe
Georgia and Sligo (about 8 blocks)
It’s next door to Jackie’s, so be prepared to walk. They’ve only been open a couple months, but it’s already a favorite with the neighbors. I’m a fan. Had a great meal there recently. They also have a sweet little deck if the weather is nice.

Ordering Chinese in — Spring Garden
I’d strongly suggest one of the restaurants above, but if you’re in your hotel room and want to order in, choose Spring Garden. Most consistent and fresh of the groups that deliver (Oriental Garden won’t).

Ethiopian
We’ve got a really vibrant Ethiopian community here in the area. If you are a fan of the food, you should definitely try Addis Ababa. It’s on Fenton just past Thayer. There is the main restaurant and a roof garden (which is heated and used year round). Always a crowd there.

Middle Eastern

We’ve got some great spots in the area, none of which are big chains (Lebanese Taverna by the fountain is kind of a chain, they’ve got a handful of restaurants in the area).

1) Taste of Jerusalem
8123 Georgia (at Silver Spring Ave next to the old Firehouse)
A bit of a walk, but well worth it. Haven’t heard a bad word about this place ever.

2) Ghar-E-Kabab
Wayne between Georgia and Fenton (next to the Crescent building)
It’s Nepalase and quite good. I’m a fan of the seafood kababs. Easy walk from the AFI.

3) Lebanese Taverna
by the fountain on Ellsworth
Don’t let the cafeteria style service fool you. Great food, very fresh, atmosphere be damned.

Tex Mex/Latin

Most people just wander over to Austin Grill, but if you are willing to walk about two blocks farther, you’ll find two of the best places around.

1) Mi Rancho
8701 Ramsey Avenue
Family owned, great home style Mexican food (well good for the East Coast). They’ve also got the best margarita’s in town and a good house sangria. There’s a tortilla maker in the lobby and a really cool patio that’s heated so it can be used year round.

and across the street
2) Cubano’s
1201 Fidler Lane
Real Cuban food. Seriously the best I’ve had outside my grandmother’s kitchen. They have great Yucca fries and black beans and on weekend only offer a homestyle Arroz Con Pollo.

Upscale

1) Nicaro
8229 Georgia Avenue (just past Thayer)
Pedro Matamoros’ newest venture (he has Tabard Inn downtown). Good food, nice atmosphere, a little pricey.

2) Olazzo
8235 Georgia (couple doors down from Nicaro)
I haven’t been here, but have heard it’s very good. Understand they have a martini bar that rocks.

For other entertainment

1) McGinty’s Pub (on Ellsworth next to PotBelly’s) is a great old style Irish Pub. http://www.mcgintyspublichouse.com/silverspring/ They’ve got dancing on Sunday night for those who aren’t into b-ball and a pub quiz on Monday night. They also have great comfort food.

2) The Pirate Bar (on Georgia at Bonifant). The name says it all. I’m not a frequenter so can’t attest to the food, but it’s certainly entertaining.

Post by Lynn Hughes

Continue reading »]]> F2C speaker/moderator Geoff Daily has an informative and exciting article NTIA/RUS/FCC To Public On Broadband Stimulus: “Help Us Help You” in App-Rising.com. He attended a meeting with several government agencies to talk about the future of broadband in America.

The joint NTIA/RUS/FCC meeting yesterday was a historic moment for our country: it marks the moment when America started getting serious about broadband.

It set the stage for what will hopefully be the most open, collaborative rule-making process in the history of government. And it portends to a future where if we can spend this initial $7 billion down payment properly we’ll have put in place a framework to spur the deployment of next-generation broadband to every last corner of our great nation.

That conversation helps to set the stage for our follow-up at Freedom to Connect 2009. We have a fun and fact-filled agenda for F2C. We look forward to you joining us in the conversation!

Continue reading »]]> F2C speaker Sascha Meinrath gave a Keynote talk at the recently-held eComm conference. From the transcript on the Emerging Communications (eComm) Blog:

Unfortunately, media creation and the documentation and telling of our stories without the information dissemination component are entirely impotent. When Malcolm Matson asked the question, “Who will control local connectivity,” he exposed the fundamental question facing civil society at the dawn of the twenty-first century. Because what I learned quite quickly is that even when we created media, and documented local injustices, we had no means in our local community to disseminate this vital information to the rest of our local community. In essence, we were locked out of a public discourse. We were locked out, systematically disenfranchised from the media.

The solution that we came up with, and the reason why I ended up in Washington, D.C., consulting with power brokers and forward thinking decision makers was that we needed to not only create alternative media dissemination systems, but we needed to implement fundamental changes to civil society, before it collapsed under the weight of its own ignorance and inequity.

Come explore the creative alternatives to media dissemination, distributed communications, and other fundamental changes with Meinrath and other participants at F2C this month.

Continue reading »]]> Transforming Global Information and Communication Markets, by Peter Cowhey and Jonathan Aronson, “discusses why we are on the brink of a third transformation of global information and communication markets that requires innovative global governance.” This book is now available through MIT Press or via download!

From the Introduction:

As 2009 nears, the world is in a time of gloom and panic. Will global governance and the global economic order survive? In retrospect, some saw the collapse of the dot com bubble as a portent of the fi nancial meltdown and the collapse of confidence in the future. In the United States there is a dour bipartisan consensus that escalating special interest politics, budget deficits, economic insecurity in the midst of more consumption, environmental and energy policy gridlock, and deep uncertainties about national-security strategy point to intractable problems in the design and conduct of public policy. In other countries the specifi c bill of complaints may differ, but a similar uneasiness is widespread.

Although we can gripe as well as anyone about the world’s follies, this book is more upbeat. Since World War II, a planet-straddling information and communications technology (ICT) infrastructure has created a global information economy at an ever-accelerating pace. A radically different model for competition and public policy for this infrastructure was introduced that is far sounder than its predecessor. More remarkably, countries agreed to rewrite the basic international agreements governing commerce for the communications and information infrastructure in a way that makes more sense than the consensus that was forged immediately after 1945.

For once, the transformation in governance and technology is not just a tale of the prosperous states doing better. These changes boosted the economic takeoff of India and China and other emerging powers …

Continue reading »]]> Isabel and I put out a press release on MarketWire the other day. In part, it read:

SILVER SPRING, MD–(Marketwire – March 4, 2009) – New networks that are models for projects the broadband stimulus package could fund will be front and center at F2C: Freedom to Connect, here on March 30 & 31. The American Reinvestment and Recovery Act of 2009 (ARRA) sets out $7.2 billion for building networks that increase end-user choice and serve under-served areas. F2C: Freedom to Connect, March 30 & 31, features builders of municipal networks in Lafayette, LA, Glasgow, KY, northeast Ohio and rural Vermont.

Now in its fifth year, F2C: Freedom to Connect has established itself as the premier venue for tomorrow’s technology policy news, featuring speakers such as Susan Crawford and Kevin Werbach, who co-led the Obama FCC transition, long before they rose to national prominence.

You can read the whole thing here.

Iz reports that the press release has traveled far and wide. Here are a few of the places it’s been already:

• MSNBC Business
• ScottTrade
• Yahoo Finance
• TD Ameritrade
• be.sys-con
• News Blaze
• Wall St. Journal’s Marketwatch
• Empire Relations Group
• E-Media World
• Street Insider
• Keegy
• TMCnews
• Individual.com
• The Earth Times

etc.  It goes on and on…