Viodi View – The Wireless Option – Go to Viodi.com and Viodi.tv for current posts

Viodi View Menu

Interested in Sponsoring the Viodi View? Send an email to: [email protected]

Please forward this free publication to anyone you know who is involved in some way with independent telephone companies.

Mission of the Viodi View:

In this on-line publication, we share our analysis, opinions and direction on the interactive television news and views that we believe will be of interest and use to our friends associated directly or indirectly with independent telephone companies. For more information as to the various ways Viodi works with independent telephone companies, please go to http://www.viodi.com/alliance/

Disclaimer:

The Viodi View [Viodi, LLC] and its associates used their best efforts in collecting and preparing the information published herein. However, the Viodi View [Viodi, LLC] does not assume, and hereby disclaims, any and all liability for any loss or damage caused by errors or omissions, whether such errors or omissions resulted from negligence, accident, or other causes.

All displayed trademarks, logos and service marks are the property of their respective owners. © 2005Viodi, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
5255 Stevens Creek, #127 Santa Clara, CA 95051

Viodi View Newsletter – August 3rd, 2005

Local Content Workshop

The Wireless Option

By Ken Pyle, Viodi, LLC

In the last issue of the Viodi View, I mentioned Vonage’s partnership with Alarm.com. Alarm.com uses wireless to communicate alarm information back to their monitoring system. There is definitely a scenario where Vonage and Alarm.com could cozy up a little closer and use wireless as a transport mechanism for voice and alarm data, as well as other bundled communications services. SoHo Wireless is a service provider that is already offering integrated communications services via 802.11. What is notable about this interview is that one of the links connecting our Packet8 video phones was a via a six mile WiFi connection.

Soho Wireless is a company that has been successfully offering integrated services over wireless for a number of years. I recently had a chance to catch up with Ed Moura, President of Silicon Valley-based ISP, SoHo Wireless. Ed is the prototypical Silicon Valley entrepreneur, having founded cable modem pioneer, Hybrid Networks in the early 1990s. Even way back in those days, Ed saw the potential for wireless as a means of providing broadband and the architecture espoused by Hybrid Networks was largely incorporated in Sprint’s Broadband wireless network, which utilize the 2.5 GHz BRS/EBS band (formerly known as MMDS/ITFS).

His latest venture, which survived the dot-com bubble, is taking a different approach to the Internet; SoHo Wireless views the Internet as a utility, like water or sewage. Ed has taken a bit of different tact with SoHo Wireless, as compared to Hybrid Networks. He and his partners have shunned venture capital and, instead, have grown the company based on the ability to generate business. Just like his earlier venture, SoHo Wireless is allowing Ed to continue to participate in some leading edge commercial projects.

This video of Ed was captured using a Packet8 Video over IP phone. The video of Ed was transmitted through from his home office via a six mile WiFi link that terminated at a SoHo Wireless access point in downtown San Jose. The video was then sent through the Internet, eventually terminating into a Packet8 phone in my office. The shots of me and the titling were pre-produced and edited together with Ed’s responses.

Thanks to Packet8 for powering this video.