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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/
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Viodi View Newsletter – August 1st, 2007
Click here to learn about Viodi’s Local Content Workshops
By Ken Pyle, ken.pyle at viodi.com, Managing Editor, Viodi View
- The Father of IPTV
- Rural Telco Deploys 700 MHz Wireless Network – The Videos
- Is Google the New 800 Pound Wireless Gorilla?
- Landline, Mobility or Both….
- T-Mobile’s Hotspot @ Home – A Landline Alternative?
- Some Other Recent Club Viodi Postings
- Encoding Everywhere
- An Integrated Web, Mobile & Television Encoding/Server Approach
- Supporting Local Charities Can Be Part of a Good Local Content Strategy
- The Korner – A Living Memorial to the Father of IPTV – Antonio Atwater
“The Father of IPTV,” is probably the way Tony would like us to remember him. It was only two weeks ago that many of us saw Antonio Atwater for the last time. It was great to see him get back into the swing of the independent telco world at OPASTCO’s Summer 2007 Convention, as he was very enthusiastic about his new opportunity with CCI Engineering. At the end of today’s Viodi View is a hastily written and unplanned memorial to Tony, who died unexpectedly on Monday night in Reno, Nevada.
Rural Telco Deploys 700 MHz Wireless Network – The Videos
The big game these past few weeks has been trying to guess what the FCC will do about the 700 MHz spectrum and the rules it will impose. It is easy to forget that there already were 700 MHz auctions a few years ago, as the build-outs have been few and many have been out of sight in rural areas served by independent telcos.
In this exclusive series of interview segments, Gerald Gallimore discusses the challenges of clearing spectrum, the possibility of new mobile applications and the importance of robust and redundant rural architectures for public safety and homeland security. I was very honored to interview Gerald, as he literally had just received OPASTCO’s Lifetime Achievement Award just a few minutes before we spoke.
ViodiTV @ OPASTCO Brought to You By Innovative Systems – Thanks!
Is Google the New 800 Pound Wireless Gorilla? by Alan J. Weissberger
Last week there were two very important announcements from Google regarding the 700 MHz spectrum auctions and a partnership with Sprint. These announcements re-enforce their commitment to broadband wireless networks (they are already the WiFi provider for the Mt. View Municipal Wireless Network and are collaborating with Earthlink for the S.F. Muni WiFi Project, if approved by the city). This article puts these two announcements in perspective and speculates on what they could mean for Google and WiMAX. It also looks at an investment Google just made in a technology to improve indoor coverage for 3G cell phones. Click here to read more.
T-Mobile’s recent launch of nationwide availability of their Hotspot at Home service has been somewhat overshadowed by the hype surrounding Apple’s iPhone. This service points to future of Fixed Mobile Convergence offerings from other wireless carriers and could be a threat to incumbent landline providers. Click on this video to see an overview of their combined VoIP/GSM offering. 
T-Mobile’s Hotspot @ Home – A Landline Alternative?
At first glance, T-Mobile’s Hotspot @ Home service looks like a formidable competitor to providers of landline telephony as it combines the potential of low cost VoIP calling with the mobility of GSM and WiFi. As the T-Mobile spokesperson says in this brief video, HotSpot @ Home could be a replacement for a landline phone. Club Viodi members, log-in and click here to read the my analysis on whether this will be the case with this new service.
Some Other Recent Club Viodi Postings:
These articles and content are exclusive to independent telcos that are members of Club Viodi.
- Headline News and Local Content
- Fair Use or Infringement?????
- The Trojan Horse Revisited – A Telco Opportunity?
- Western Film Library
- Beware of This Product
Maybe I am supersensitive to stories about encoding companies right now, as I have a project where I am editing and encoding about 12 hours of content. Any of the codec solutions described below would be nirvana for my challenge.
Kulabyte just released Version 1.0 of their professional encoder. They claim it is the fastest encoder available, as it takes advantage of multi-core processors to be able to encode faster than real-time to Flash Video using the VP6 codec.
Meanwhile, Enivivo will introduce their 4caster C4 encoder at IBC, which can simultaneously encode in AVC / H.264 as well as in the Windows Media and QuickTime formats. The 4Caster C4 is available today.
An Integrated Web, Mobile & Television Encoding/Server Approach
David Price of Harmonic talks at the Web Video Summit in San Jose on June 29th, 2007 of Harmonic’s strategy to bring together web and television encoding and traditional Video on Demand servers. This approach allows one server to provide on-demand streams for multiple applications including web, mobile and television. He discusses Harmonic’s relationship with Rhozet, which just turned into an ownership relationship. Click here to see the video. 
Supporting Local Charities Can Be Part of a Good Local Content Strategy
Supporting local charities is a great part of a local content strategy and that is why I found it very interesting when Kris Sowolla of Tech Soup reported to me that AT&T was the number one provider of cash donations to San Francisco Bay Area charities in 2006. He learned this at the July 27th, 2007 Corporate Philanthropic Awards produced by the San Francisco Business Times. With $19,983,683 provided in cash to local charities in 2006, AT&T trounced second place Wells Fargo, which also was the 2004 and 2005 champion.
It is important to note that approximately $14 million of their contributions went to San Francisco-based non-profits (CTF and CETF) which distribute their cash throughout the State of California and not just the 9-County Bay Area. Further, AT&T’s giving to these charities was part of the California Public Utilities Commission’s conditions for SBC’s mergers with Pacific Bell and AT&T. It will be interesting to see what happens to the charitable giving when the CPUC conditions begin to expire in 2008.
The reason Kris was at the San Francisco Times event was to support Tech Soup’s Recycle Computer Initiative. They are seeking large companies that will contract to make multiple, bulk donations of used computers that their refurbishing partner will clean and upgrade with new software (from the Microsoft Authorized Refurbisher program), which Tech Soup will distribute to nonprofits for their use and to reach needy families.
The Korner -A Living Memorial to the Father of IPTV – Antonio Atwater
Tony Atwater epitomized the American entrepreneur. With roots in technology and interactive television that dated back to SGI and their 1990s early interactive television efforts in conjunction with Time-Warner, Atwater jumped from the security of an established company to the uncharted path of being a pioneering Internet Service Provider. His vision went further than most and he saw the potential for delivering video, along with Internet over existing copper pairs.
I first ran into Tony, or really the evidence of Tony, at Churchill Communications (now CC Communications) in the rural town of Fallon, Nevada in 1997. Vic Slaughter demonstrated a video delivery service over copper-pairs that Churchill was evaluating. I was shocked, having known about the Bell Atlantic trials of that sort of technology, which they had subsequently shut down. Slaughter would press a button and a movie would stream from a server in Reno. The company behind this magic was Atwater’s SourceNet of Reno.
I met up with Tony and Vic a few months later at a Pacific Bell conference regarding the interference effects of DSL on binder groups. This was an issue close to Atwater’s heart as he would lease unbundled pairs from Pacific Bell and he needed the pairs to be pristine in order to provide the 6 to 8 Mb/s to ensure video delivery. He explained his vision over lunch and it was clear that he had big plans.
Tony saw that the real trick to television over copper was putting together the entire ecosystem that included technology, content, distribution partners and interoperability. Literally, strapping things together, he was able to build the first independent telco video over copper systems. Always a fan of an open approach, he tried to involve as many players as possible. He did a great job of assembling all of the pieces that, through investment, became Myrio (which Siemens eventually purchased).
Probably the pinnacle of his involvement in the independent telco industry was when he was both the open and closing keynote speaker at the first TelcoTV conference in 2002.
Tony always had the entrepreneurial drive and he moved into the Wireless ISP space after Myrio. For the past few years, he focused on that business and we did not see him too much at the independent telco tradeshows. That changed this year, when he decided, as he told me earlier this year, “to pursue something in business development with a well-respected and established company.” As reported in the previous issue of the Viodi View, he landed at CCI. When I saw him two weeks ago at the OPASTCO 2007 Summer Convention, he appeared very upbeat and looking forward to bridging the HFC and IPTV worlds.
Tony leaves behind a young son and a 20-year old daughter. The police have apparently suggested accidental drowning as the cause of Tony’s death. I will keep readers informed as to any memorials to Tony or trust funds that may be set up for his children. His daughter could use support, so contact me at ken dot pyle at viodi.com to learn how you can help. To pass along your condolences directly to his daughter, email her at elizabeth at viodi.com.
In the meantime, please click here to read others’ comments, add your comments or fill-in detail about Tony. I hope this post can be a sort of living memorial to the Father of IPTV.
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The Video Business Case for Independent Telcos – The Report
Viodi’s report, Video Business Case provides results to a survey of independent telcos and their business case for video. Most of the telcos that responded to the survey have figured out a way to deploy video services. This survey provides insight from the independent telcos as well as several of their Engineering firms.
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