Teacher: Johnny, use the words rug and Lamborgini in a sentence.
Crypto Student: I was rugged before I could buy a Lambo.
To outsiders (and probably some insiders) the cryptocurrency industry seems like a giant casino. As with the early days of the Internet, there are businesses based on hype, instead of substance. Still, the underlying blockchain technology will enable new ways of doing business, despite the excitement and occasional rug pulls.
As written earlier in the summer, the introduction of blockchain is already having a positive impact on LoRaWAN and is showing a different path forward for implementing CBRS and 5G. The third part of that three part-series on blockchain in telecom took an unexpected turn and will have to wait for a future issue.
Some Tweets and Short Thoughts
- While on the topic of blockchain and telecom, Helium and the City of San Jose made a surprise announcement. It looks like the latter is deploying Helium-enabled Hotspots, purchased via the California Emerging Technology Fund, CETF. These units will apparently be managed by volunteer residents and small businesses in San Jose. HNT earnings from these devices will flow back to the City of San Jose’s Digital Inclusion Fund. Note, San Jose is fairly well covered with LoRaWAN Hotspots, so it will be interesting to see how much revenue this generates.
- In other Helium 5G news, as predicted a few months ago, FreedomFi closed its first roaming agreement for its CBRS and Helium blockchain-based wireless data plan. GigSky is the roaming partner, while CalChip is the hardware vendor.
- Speaking of licensed by rule spectrum, Alan Weissberger writes about a new alliance led by Broadcom, Cisco, and Facebook within the Telecom Infra Project to develop a common reference for automatic frequency coordination in the 6 to 7 GHz band. There are some valid concerns about the potential for interference with incumbent carriers, such as those that using 6 GHz backhaul. NRECA has an article about a recent FCC filing citing interference on an existing microwave link.
From 0 to 22k Subscribers in 2 Years
Kayla Wade explains that OEC Fiber’s success in going from zero to 22,000 subscribers is directly related to following the Golden Rule. That is, first and foremost, OEC Fiber staff treats its customers the way they would want to be treated. This means their focus is on transparency, accountability, and accessibility.
ISP in a Box, Fiber Transport, & Beyond
“We are now in twenty-two states besides Ohio, helping cable providers, electrical co-ops, municipals, other telephone companies, communications companies, and broadband providers,” says Luke Burkhart, CNI Sales & Account Manager. Lukehart describes the combination of the services CNI provides as ISP in a box.
Strengthening Association-Industry-Academic Ties to Foster Innovation that Helps Everyone
As technologists literally reach for the stars with amazing new technologies, it is important that the fruits of their exciting breakthrough developments are available for everyone. As such, it was an honor to bring together the Mericli brothers and Tom Coughlin for a discussion on technology and its development. We also spoke of their transition from Carnegie-Melon professors to founders of Locomation, a leader in the automation of trucking.
The Korner – None of This Would Have Been Possible Without These IEEE Milestone Winners #
It isn’t often that the inventors of the microprocessor, a flash memory pioneer, and the first online search engine, are in the same place at the same time. Brian Berg, Region 6 History Chair organized an amazing session at the Computer History Museum honoring Larry Nagel, the designer of the SPICE circuit simulator. In addition to the aforementioned inventors, there were speakers reflecting on the development of the modern PC, the cloud, robotics, and the grandfather of autonomous vehicles.
Without the technology foundation created by the people behind the IEEE Milestones, none of the innovations seen today would be possible.
Watch this amazing event here.
