July 21st, 2004 – Viodi View – Go to Viodi.com and Viodi.tv for current posts

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Quick Jump Menu to this Issue’s ArticlesJuly 21st, 2004 OverviewOPASTCO’s Calgary RoundupPlenty of Cowboys, How About a ChiefEntertainment in the Networked Home

THE VIODI VIEW

by Ken Pyle ([email protected]), Viodi, LLC

In this Issue: OPASTCO Roundup, Chief, Shocking & more…….

About Viodi, LLC

July 21st, 2004 Issue

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It is always interesting to look back through the years and see how the twists and turns of life stitch a tapestry of experience that is unique and probably not what was envisioned when the past was still the future. A throw-away comment from a mentor here, a chance meeting there, impacts our lives and the lives of others in ways we could never imagine. Sometimes those comments set an expectation for one direction, but then you find yourself looking back from somewhere else a few years later.

I recently had one of these experiences where I thought things would be going in one direction, but for some reason my path was redirected. It is too soon to suggest the long-term implications, but the experience has reaffirmed the goal of Viodi to be:

“the bridge between the Heartland and Hollywood”

Of course, the term “heartland” refers to the nation’s independent telcos, while “Hollywood” refers to the content owners and creative community, regardless of physical location. This newsletter is one of the ways Viodi attempts to be the aforementioned bridge. In publishing this newsletter, I have found that the interests of independent telcos are often shared by other telecom carriers and their suppliers.

And one of the things that should be of great interest to everyone is last week’s OPASTCO’s summer convention in Calgary.

OPASTCO’s Calgary Roundup:

OPASTCO’s selection of Calgary as the home to this year’s summer convention proved to be quite popular. Held during the famous Calgary stampede, just about everyone came away with a cowboy hat and a fuller appreciation for the changes affecting all OPASTCO members. And one of the major changes discussed was the need for telcos to “diversify their revenues.” Click here for a partial roundup of the week’s events.

Plenty of Cowboys, How About a Chief

During the 10 day long stampede, everyone in Calgary seems to turn into a cowboy or cowgirl. So, it was only appropriate that a Chief show up for OPASTCO’s summer convention in Calgary. No, this wasn’t a Native Canadian or American Chief, but instead it was William Maher, the FCC Wireline Competition Bureau Chief (not to be confused with the political comedian). Maher spoke for almost an hour on many of the concerns facing independent telcos. Click here to learn more.

Entertainment in the Networked Home

On the heels of the OPASTCO fun fest was a one-day, tightly focused workshop from Parks Associates titled, “Digital Entertainment in the Networked Home.” Kurt Scherf, Vice President and Principal Analyst, and Michael Cai, Senior Analyst, shared their extensive research regarding the trends associated with the digital home. The networked home is becoming a significant reality, due to a number of factors, probably the biggest of which is the competition that has resulted from having multiple broadband providers to the home. Click here for some more detail.

Broadband Over Powerline – Something Shocking:

The idea of using broadband over regular electrical lines certainly has a great deal of appeal. The infrastructure exists to almost every house in the U.S and Canada. The fact that this technology is progressing is evidenced by an announcement from the IEEE that of they are creating a new standard, IEEE P1675 “Standard for Broadband over Power Line Hardware.”

This reason for this standard is to deal with the operational and safety considerations of deploying this technology. Apparently, repeaters need to be placed every half to one mile. Additionally, some sort of “repeater-router” device will be needed to extract signals off the medium voltage wires to the low voltage house wiring. From dealing with potential union issues to reliability of daisy-chained repeaters to the safety of personnel, it is apparent that the technology part of Broadband Over Power Line will probably be the easiest part for a power utility to master.

Peer-to-Peer Is Not Just for Kids

Peer-to-peer or distributed computing can be used for a number of professional applications that are just beginning to be take root. Some of these applications may very well make sense for independent telcos. The Distributed Computing Industry Association, DCIA, is a Washington, D.C. based group that has a goal of, “proliferating legitimate commercial [peer-to-peer or distributed computing] services to displace unauthorized media file sharing.”

As such, the DCIA is working with Congress to ensure that laws are not written that would stifle this nascent technology. To learn more about their efforts, please go to their web site at http://www.dcia.info. Marty Lafferty, their CEO, will be speaking at the IP Video track at Telecom ’04.

IP Video @ Telecom ‘04

Regarding Telecom ’04, Viodi is co-producing the IP Video Conference. There will be a host of speakers from various companies discussing topics ranging from peer-to-peer applications to VoIP to Video on Demand. To get an idea of the agenda, please click here.

The Korner – No Craziness, Just Good Works

One of the special things about the OPASTCO summer convention is the FRED (Foundation for Rural Education and Development) award for teacher of the year. This year’s recipient was Margaret Ellmer of St. Joe, FL. GT Com is the service provider for her community. Ellmer uses technology to help disabled kids communicate and gives them “a sense of accomplishment”, through her teaching techniques. A $5,000 stipend was given to St. Joe Elementary to improve upon the work she has begun.

Unfortunately, Everette Kneece, the founding father of FRED, could not attend this year’s award ceremony because of health issues. Fittingly, he was presented with a lifetime achievement award for his dedication to OPASTCO and its members. Everette and his wife Martha’s latest challenge is for OPASTCO members to raise one million dollars by January 2005. They have pledged a 10% match of all funds contributed to FRED of up to $100,000. To help FRED reach this goal, click here.

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