Groupe Intellex

Groupe Intellex readers respond

Editor — Wed, 23 May 2012 07:19:02 +0000

It's not the smartest of blogsites but for readers who have followed our editorial outputs it provides, at last, an opportunity for you to respond.

Most of the brief blog-notes cross-refer to substantial editorial content on this main site but today's entry, a short intro to the RSA's latest report 'Business, Society and Public Services', is a stand-alone piece.

Over time, more of our work will appear first on the blog and the main site will be redeveloped to give easier navigation of the Groupe Intellex archives.

Thanks for listening. Now we are learning to listen.

Finding NEmode

David Brunnen — Sat, 19 May 2012 17:21:41 +0000

‘Finding Nemo’ was a great Disney adventure. Finding NEMODE is something else.

In the search for New Economic Models the only thing in common with the film is creative imagination - and in the Digital Economy the only thing we can be sure about is an uncertain future.

More older people means more pressure on health and social care services. Will the economy generate enough jobs? Will we exhaust natural resources? Where will innovations come from? Simple questions for which no one knows the answers. What we do know is that the way we live (and work) now must change – we cannot cling to the past and hope that something will turn up.

The search for new economic models will be a long, probably never-ending, haul. Even this editorial overview (1600 words), readers should be warned, is 'a devil of a trot' - and along this journey there are many possibilities.

Among the interwoven components that might emerge in new ways of doing business are:

‘Outcome-Based Contracting’ (OBC) – the shift from selling tangible products (like jet engines) to selling their performance and support (a cost per mile achieved) over the longer term. This is easier to envisage with products that are either working or not working but is more difficult in services like education and health where many other factors affect outcomes and performance is subjective and difficult to assess.

The ‘Circular Economy’ – championed by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation this is a manufacturing design philosophy that makes deconstruction and reuse (‘made to made again’) a powerful tool in enabling a shift (like OBC) to selling, say, the use of a domestic washing machine for five years rather than outright purchase and eventual scrap.

Collaborative Advantage – as an antidote to the over-simplistic 1980’s pursuit of stand-alone competition, appreciation of ‘Collaborative Advantage’ is now more widely understood. The economic collapse in financial sectors illustrated the dangers and limitations of unconstrained market trading fuelled by greed - with negative impacts across all other sectors. Collaborative Advantage recognizes the importance of economic eco-systems - recently illustrated by headlines proclaiming 700 jobs created at Vauxhall’s Ellesmere Port car assembly plant but an additional 3000 jobs indirectly created in the wider parts industry.

New Economic Modelling stretches ecosystem thinking to embrace customers as we see more examples of product design reliance on the buyers’ inputs. Thousands of businesses and individuals happily give their time to creating and improving digital services and this globally connected collaborative spirit reduces risk and speeds up time to market.

The practical applications of these three basic concepts are aided by many other characteristics of our digitally-enabled economy.

Time Shifting – this flexibility, first recognized when video recording relieved viewing constraints, is now commonplace and enabled digitally – examples include TiVo boxes, BBC iPlayer and many others. Time shifting activities are also evident in global financial trading as teams on different continents hand off work throughout each day – and this non-stop effort is now being applied in many other sectors.

Location Independence – linked to the above but hugely facilitated by Cloud Computing, any small business can choose to have phone numbers in New York, Paris, London and Sydney but with offices in none of these places and an ability to answer the phone wherever the user is connected to good broadband. The use of Cloud Computing enables, for example, films to be made in Belfast and almost immediately edited in Hollywood – making vastly better use of facilities and talent.

Social Media - the remarkable popularity of Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube is a facet of the new collaborativeness but the sharing of opinions, graphics, events and attitudes does something more than create new communities - it has become a powerful tool for businesses and organisations needing to check the pulse of markets and stay in touch. These 'social' businesses may not in themselves be stable but they offer others the chance to respond quickly to flips in fashion.

Cost versus Value - the shift from simplistic cost accounting toward wider, better informed, value judgements has similarities with OBC but Erik Brynjolfssen's work in the 1990's has huge application in helping busineses, organisations and governments to think through the consequences of knee-jerk policy responses to events and incomplete analysis. This ability to take into account many indirect factors and qualitative judgements is in part down to 'mash-ups' - the digitally-enabled ease with which information from diverse sources can be brought together to yeild new insights.

Smart Integration - a combination of design excellence and global technical standards is enabling two things - products and services that are easier to use and are also more useful. This is distinct from the earlier pattern of 'vertical integration' where ownership or control of all components was seen as the ideal route to capturing value. In 'Smart Integration' the less-monopolistic business designer sees benefit in some components as a general utility (e.g. network access) with integration occuring at a higher and more valuable level. So, in the teasing apart of business structures such as banking (separation into utility/retail and investment banking) the opportunity arises to remeld the components into new, more vibrant, variants.

Poetry & Plumbers - the shorthand contrast between philosophers and utilitarians is no longer constrained by the limitations of the printed book - how many of you read Huxley's 'Brave New World'? The last-generation media world (particularly newspapers) shows every sign of adapting to online reader preferences and the old divisions between art and business are increasingly irrelevant. Improved accessibilty has boosted cultural interests in many ways, even if it's only apparent through better business writing, and customers' purchasing decisions are increasingly influenced by the quality, look and feel, as well as the functionality of a supplier's web site.

Impacts

These NEM factors have far-reaching impacts on many other aspects of the Digital Economy.

Sustainability.

The pressures on the use of finite resources (think for example of the use of gold in mobile phones) and the need to feed the world’s growing population, is likely to force a major rethink of business priorities. Next month’s Rio+20 summit will bring together world leaders seeking to achieve far more than the dismal progress of the last two decades.

Environmental Impact.

The challenge of global warming is leading to renewed efforts to develop non-polluting energy sources even as many communities have yet to enjoy the profligacy of developed countries. New economic models will be needed to deal with restrictions on transport and the cost of oil-based products.

Housing.

Another critical issue (especially in UK) requires massive construction programmes with many people migrating to new living areas and seeking work in unfamiliar ways. A big expansion in home-working, for example, is already evident in rural areas. In the commuter belt around London, it may be driven on by Olympic transport pressures. These initiatives are currently constrained by poor connectivity and the progress on super-connected cities has only recently emerged as a priority.

Health.

Around the world the prospects of ‘Connected Health’ are extremely attractive but currently constrained by existing systems and processes. The demographic shifts will demand that we transition from an institutionalised reactive system to a personally proactive approach with a focus on attaining ‘wellness’ instead of treating illness. Technology has much to offer but the constraints on implementation stem from culture, organisations and infrastructure deficits.

Education.

The way we learn, the entire process of knowledge transfer, gaining new skills and experience, is undergoing a rapid revolution.

In many countries the universities, colleges and schools are the best-connected hubs within local communities. Examples like a village in Hampshire UK, or the public sector network in northern Sweden, demonstrate how these centres of connectivity can be exploited for the benefit of local communities and local enterprise.

These initiatives are often driven by specific local conditions (e.g. extreme weather conditions) or maybe required to satisfy national standards and expectations – for example, citizens’ rights in Sweden for children to have language training in their mother tongue – a fairly tall order if there only 4 of you from, say, Japan, living within a 2,000 square mile region near the arctic circle!

Implications

The economic and societal implications of these digital enablements should not be underestimated. Progress may be inadvertently constrained by regulatory policies, a lack of visionary investment or a reluctance to engage in the hard grind of developing international standards and protocols.

Most of us understand the focus of politicians and economists on dealing with the current Economic Deficit. The notion that cost cutting may lead to greater competitiveness is part of the story – but we are unlikely to find real economic growth without massive infrastructure investment to enable both efficiencies and new opportunities.

Considering the many deficits across all sectors, it soon becomes obvious that corrective actions for nearly all of them need to be first enabled by better connectivity. Fortunately, in the UK, we do not have to look far to find useful clues in countries (like Sweden) that have travelled further and faster along the digital road.

In all of these areas we will (in the words of President Obama) be bound together and fuelled by investment in higher quality digital access.

Understanding and harnessing these digital opportunities is the role of the NEM theme, funded by the UK Research Council’s focus on the Digital Economy.

Will the UK’s track record of innovation sustain us – or will we still be regarded, 20 years hence, as a ‘developing (digital) economy’?

It is a research programme of vital interest to entrepreneurs, innovative business thinkers, policy developers, network investors, community leaders - and anyone hoping for a better future.

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Notes:

The NextGen West Country Roadshow (Bristol, 17^th July) will explore the development of New Economic Models with Prof. Roger Maull of Exeter University. Full details and registration can be found via NextGen.

To add comments/feedback and see additional notes please visit the Groupe Intellex blog-site.

Intune Networks appoints Chief Operating Officer

David Brunnen — Thu, 17 May 2012 01:00:00 +0000

Former Ciena COO brings his experience to Intune

Intune Networks will today announce the appointment of Arthur Smith as its Chief Operating Officer. This is Intune’s second high profile appointment this year and, for this highly innovative venture, it marks another significant step in the acceptance of its optical networking technology.

Before joining Intune, Arthur Smith served as a Senior Vice President with Ciena Corporation in Baltimore, MD, where he held the role of Chief Operating Officer.

Commenting on his appointment Dr. Smith said, “Intune have developed industry-leading technology in optical burst switching and I am delighted to be part of the company. The ability to switch packets all-optically over a distributed switching platform will revolutionise the way networks are built. I'm really looking forward to working with the fast-paced and innovative team here at Intune.”

The rapid pace of traffic growth in the networks used everyday by millions of businesses, governments and households shows no sign of slowing. As more and more applications become common-place and digital networking is recognized as the essential enabler of economic growth, major operators (fixed and mobile) are beginning to understand the need for a more complete switch-over to an all-optical backhaul infrastructure.

Ian Jenks, CEO of Intune Networks, added, "Having someone of Arthur’s stature join Intune will be a great complement to the existing team. Solving the combined challenges of traffic growth and greater connectivity promises to create a tremendous demand for our technology, and Arthur's skills and industry experience will be key in helping us through the next stage of our growth."

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Notes

Arthur Smith, Ph.D.

Arthur Smith joined Intune Networks in April, 2012 as the company’s Chief Operating Officer. Previously, Dr. Smith served as a Senior Vice President with Ciena Corporation and held the role of Chief Operating Officer. Dr. Smith also led the integration of Nortel’s Metro Ethernet group after Ciena acquired it in 2010. Prior to these appointments, he held a variety of roles in engineering, operations and customer service after joining Ciena in 1997.

From 1988 to 1997, Dr. Smith was employed by Bell Northern Research in Ottawa, Canada and Harlow, England as a research engineer in optoelectronics.

Dr. Smith holds both a B.Eng. and a Ph.D. in Electronic Engineering from the University of Glasgow, Scotland.

Intune Networks Limited (www.intunenetworks.com)

Intune Networks have developed a new networking technology, allowing telecoms operators to build networks that are far simpler to operate and with much greater connectivity than previously possible. They have created a new way of switching packets over long distances, with an optical Ethernet switch fabric that can operates in real-time across hundreds of kilometres.

Intune's technology uses tuneable LASERs to switch packets using the emerging OBS (Optical Burst Switching) standard. This reduces network complexity and the number of network components required, as well as making bandwidth instantly available to any point in the network.

Intune Networks is a venture-backed start-up headquartered in Dublin, Ireland. They have offices in the United States and further research and development facilities in Belfast in the UK.

On the Road to Rio: Legacy and Lateness

David Brunnen — Tue, 15 May 2012 11:46:37 +0000

Pausing for reflection, Groupe Intellex listens to readers’ feedback.

Your reaction to the Groupe Intellex leader on ‘Sustainability: the end game for the next generation’ has been vocal and viral – if that’s the correct term for the continually spreading attention fuelled by the ‘you really must read this’ tendency.

The editorial’s popularity may have been gratifying but we shouldn’t pretend that this is down to some new-found fascination with environmental issues or heightened interest in the forthcoming UN Summit, Rio+20. The reason is much more likely rooted in two other themes – legacies and lateness.

Regular readers of these columns will, of course, have clocked the use of the phrase ‘next generation’ outside of our normal context of digital access networks and Marit Hendrik’s NextGen productions. Focusing on our futures has appealed to a far wider audience than the narrowly drawn community of network enthusiasts.

Approached in this way (especially with a concern for younger and more adventurous souls) issues of digital infrastructure investment have shifted off the ‘ho hum’ maybe-one-day wish list and onto the ‘must do now’ priority pin-board – and written it in big letters, though perhaps not yet in Western capitals!

In this context ‘Sustainability’ means that if we want things to carry on we must make some changes around here – a hint of paradoxity that highlights the gap between ‘hanging on’ and ‘facing up to reality’.

The other hook for readers, ‘lateness’, also touched a widespread concern. Many comments expressed feelings of regret that we have wasted the opportunities, have frittered away the good times and are now paying the cost of those excesses. Regret is rarely recommended – analysts and counselors prefer that we should work in a ‘guilt-free zone’ – but as a motivator it works if linked with real hope for redemption and better times ahead. Served alone, austerity smacks of helplessness.

Whatever your hooks, legacy or lateness, they seem to have a stronger pull than any part of the UN’s mechanistic process with its certain but apparently inconsequential, delivery. Readers reckoned that success at Rio+20 was only a remote possibility. The script-writing follows a pre-determined pattern. As time goes on, the ‘developed’ world shrugs its shoulders and the ‘ho hum’ list grows longer. Supplicants from impoverished places turn up for photo-calls so that folks back home know that they tried, but the big powers struggle to get out of bed - for surely they will need their sleep after the diplomatic parties.

‘Not much hope’

Our readers’ feedback sounded a note of weary cynicism – disenchantment with political leadership and low expectations.

From this pessimistic position the Rio+20 briefings have been prepared, no doubt with scientific sincerity, and the ‘draft’ outcomes have been circulated in good time for objectors to run red highlighters through anything that might offend friends. Somewhere someone will be delegated to be a delegate and not put up with any nonsense. Media accreditation will be allocated to ensure compliant coverage. A surge of indifference will sweep the nations. Ministers will turn over and snooze for another 20 years.

Until the next global crisis we can all indulge in yet another round of ‘if only’ regrets and be told that the problems are, you must understand, ‘so much more complex, these days.’

In Rio the growing irrelevance of governmental grandstanding will be wound on by two and a half extra notches but you, the reader, will still be troubled – by the legacy and by the lateness of the hour.

And you are not alone.

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Readers of this editorial also followed the Groupe Intellex ‘Readying for Rio’ series summarised in our ‘full edition’.

Muddling through – managing our talents

David Brunnen — Tue, 08 May 2012 11:39:11 +0000

Our language is rich in the phraseology of ‘hanging on’ and hoping for better times. No matter how highly we regard our confidence, self-direction and motivation, most of the time we ‘muddle through’.

In this time of relative austerity we hear the haunting strains of Pink Floyd reminding us that ‘hanging on in quiet desperation is the English way’, and yet we rage against our inability to face up to realities, to address issues, to drive whole herds of elephants out of our rooms and offices.

Executive pay, bonuses and performance are once again under the spotlight and, across nations and worldwide, investors (shareholders and citizens) are moved to mutter ‘something must be done’. But what, exactly? In business and large organisations the full scale of the ‘talent management’ iceberg remains submerged, only to be discovered when crunch, crash or crisis forces issues to the surface.

So, in in the middle of the current muddle, as managements are intensely focused on steering their ships through economically troubled waters, it is perhaps not surprising that Prof. Colin Coulson-Thomas chooses, in his latest report ‘Talent Management 2’, to devote time to new navigational aids.

In his report he maps out the problems and one cannot help but feel that, for all his independent research, the personal experience of corporate life is the dominant driver. Readers will find themselves nodding in recognition of their own puzzling pathways through the corporate jungle. The journey towards finding something that you can do really well is massively influenced by whether you are allowed and encouraged to do it – and so often in business great achievements are made ‘in spite of the management’.

We each live in multi-faceted worlds and it is in the management mix of objectives and priorities that we all need a caring environment. But so often in the high-pressure world of business the brutal truth is that leadership behaviour loses sight of the need to nurture talent – not least because it has always seemed to be so darned difficult to keep track of anyone’s performance across multiple fronts.

Talent Management may, of course, seem more of an issue in big businesses and in large organisations. With executives ‘run ragged’ and expectations running high (especially when the agenda demands ‘transformation’) the misdirection of talent comes close to short-sighted abuses of power.

And it is, in the complexity of corporate caring, that we now, says the professor, have a choice. We can carry on reducing responsibilities to commoditized roles easily measured (and shouting at the natives) or we can harness the power of new systems to respect and nurture the talents that our businesses so clearly need. Even the so-called ‘high flyers’ – those recruited for their apparently gifted abilities – often disappoint because, trapped in some departmentalized silo, they find themselves without the support systems that allow their inputs to a bigger picture.

This is where corporate leaders need to understand the ‘critical success factors’ and the environments that have allowed those to flourish. There is no shortage of clues - it is remarkable how willing the achievers in this world are more than happy to share their experience.

To those who are getting in the way of knowledge transfer, ignoring the value of checking (maybe across different countries and sectors) how others have addressed the issues, the message is simply ‘get into the way of learning’ and seek out the tools and systems that can make better sense than boardroom bullying.

Talent Management 2 sets out these issues in ways that senior executives will recognize. Whether the tag, ‘Talent Management’, will go the way of other management fads, whether or not it attracts a bandwagon of instant experts to feed on corporate angst, the issues of how best to deploy scarce and creative resources is something that every large organisation (and those who aim to become larger) must address. The good news lies in the recognition of the problem and the resolve to find better ways of dealing with it – rather than ‘brushing it under carpet’.

Somewhere in the contemplation of this report, readers will make connections – connections well beyond the title’s patch of concern. It will underline how the powers of creative methodologies humanly applied are impacting on all our lives and all our struggles. That these new approaches are now available to manage our multi-tasking complexities is, in many ways one of the great bonuses of the digitization of almost everything.

The Professor may not entirely agree but in a world of deficits (Economic, Housing, Bank lending, Environmental, Energy, Transport, Education, Social Care, etc.) the mother of all deficits, the Digital, may (on affordability grounds) be less constraining for the biggest businesses and organisations. ‘High-flyers’ should know this, should not be delimited by management ignorance and should ensure that the injection of fresh thinking and realism cannot be ignored.

We are all investors. We all have a responsibility to see our investments properly managed – and that cannot simply be exclusively remaindered to the Human Resources Department.

Otherwise we will all end up singing along with Pink Floyd’s anthem to lost opportunities, ‘The time is gone, the song is over, I thought I’d something more to say’.

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Notes:

Readers of this editorial also viewed 'Managing Change and Changing the Management'

Prof. Coulson-Thomas is an international consultant who has helped over 100 boards to improve board and corporate performance. He can be contacted via http://www.coulson-thomas.com. Reports covering his investigations are available from http://www.policypublications.com

Talent Management 2 (a 184 page A4 size report) sets out a practical and affordable route to building high performance organisations and quickly achieving multiple objectives. The approach it recommends can avoid traditional trade-offs and benefits people and organisations.

Tricky times for Telco’s

David Brunnen — Fri, 04 May 2012 07:28:09 +0000

The latest analysis from the Arthur D Little consultancy paints a sobering picture for European telecommunications incumbents (fixed or mobile) and an urgent need for them to pull their socks up.

The report, "Let's Face it", highlights falling core revenues for Telco’s and failures by Mobile operators to capture new service opportunities. There may be off-setting revenue gains from diversification into adjacent markets – but these seem unlikely to be enough to counter other losses.

The report holds out some hope for massive cost reductions and looks at the main strategic choices that will most probably change the entire landscape or seal the fate of under-performers in the next 3 years.

Three years, of course, is now an entire lifetime in the digital world. Forget the glorious evolutionary history and great technological achievements of ‘the last generation’. What we are now seeing is the dawning realization that our national all-IP digital futures (and the economic growth this enables) require only a fit-for-purpose network infrastructure to unleash services innovation – and that precious innovation is no longer rationed by the sector incumbents.

The report estimates that core telco revenues will continue to decline by nearly 2% p.a. until 2015. The strategic value of investment in higher quality digital infrastructure (super-connectivity) lies, for the fixed line telco, in their opportunity to muscle in on ‘Over-The-Top’ services such as IPTV (and, here’s the catch) if they are big and bold enough to collaborate with a massive global ecosystem of small developers and providers. In that sort of power play the Googles, Apples and Amazons of this world would strike hard bargains reflecting their dominance in markets that most incumbents have yet to understand.

Conversely, that glimmer of hope for the fixed line brigade is seen by Mobile operators as sapping yet more opportunities as they face up to further rounds of infrastructure costs in an attempt to match performance standards of FTTH services. Sure, there are niches in the endemic convenience of mobility and the failures of national governments to properly grapple with adequate universal access, but these barely compensate for the cost strains of new network deployments and the as yet unknown costs of spectrum licenses. The best hope for mobile operators is to move quickly into ‘monetisation’ of services – not least in developing the sort of money transfer/payment services that have proven so popular in places (like parts of Africa) with low banking penetration.

In a strange process of realization, the operators may look at diversification into adjacent markets – a sort of ‘too little, too late’ understanding of the cross-sector case for national infrastructure investment – but these revenues (estimated at between 4-9% of large telco revenues) will not be enough to reverse declines elsewhere.

The best bet for independent survival would seem to rest in a determined focus on rapid infrastructure investment – at about four times the current rate - in order to gain the opportunity to develop partner agreements in services and distribution.

It is perhaps not surprising that calls to become more competitive are usually answered with expectations of massive cost cutting – ‘austerity’ is everywhere.

Economic growth, however, requires the opposite of cutting back. That needs faith and belief that the digital world will be better. Not much sign yet at corporate or national levels that dealing with the digital deficit is seen as way addressing all the other deficits.

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This editorial also appears at www.thecma.com for the benefit of members of the UK's Communications Managemnent Association - a part of the BCS, the chartered society for ICT professionals.

CMA members qualify for dicounted registration to NextGen roadshows and conferences. The next two events will be in Milton Keynes (30th May) and Edinburgh (7th June). The annual conference (NextGen 12) will be held in central London on 8th/9th October.

Lightly Touched – the Bank of England and Ofcom

David Brunnen — Thu, 03 May 2012 15:53:57 +0000

In the Today Programme lecture last night Sir Mervyn King, Governor of the Bank of England, said, “with the benefit of hindsight we should have shouted from the rooftops that a system had been built in which banks were too important to fail, that banks had grown too quickly and borrowed too much, and that so called ‘light-touch’ regulation hadn’t prevented any of this.”

So what, you may well ask, has this anything to do with Ofcom and their regulation of digital connectivity markets?

In a sense there are, in Mervyn’s ‘mea culpa’ moment, important clues for the whole of the regulatory industry – whether Energy, Water, Health, Financial Services, Education, Environment or Digital and the entire gamut of the UK’s arms length ‘independent’ supervisory bodies charged with the duty to protect citizen and consumer interests.

The Bank, apparently, didn’t grasp the scale of the looming financial crisis – and it still believes that there was ‘ no unsustainable boom’. Coming on a day when a Parliamentary Select Committee criticised a media baron for ‘willful blindness’, this expert opinion stands as a giant warning of the dangers of a silo mentality. The Punch and Judy show’s audience may holler ‘It’s behind you’ but the dedication to keeping the lid on things – or what big corporate interests call ‘a consistent and predictable regulatory environment’ – trumps all manner of disquietness.

Moreover, despite the semantics of Sir Mervyn’s ‘imbalances’, the Bank does not feel the need to take responsibility or say sorry for any failure. It seems they didn’t have the tools, the powers or the political clout to deal with anything even if it had seen the need. The best that his Bank could offer was in that ‘with the benefit of hindsight’ statement – and, let’s face it, is anyone in this regulatory industry recruited for their skill in shouting about anything?

Maybe this is where we can draw some sort of line between market regulation and political will-power. We give these regulatory bodies all manner of remits and, almost inevitably, they are captured by the big guns of those who by nature resist regulation. It is perhaps for the politicians to understand that they cannot absolve themselves from not giving their ‘arms length’ and enthusiastically light-touch regulators some clearer direction on national imperatives intelligently informed by the needs of citizens, communities and businesses.

So it is, with Ofcom, that the log-jam of spectrum licencing is standing in the way of better mobile services, that it doesn’t ‘shout from the roof-tops’ about the inadequacy of rural digital infrastructures, that it is perceived as being too close to those deemed ‘to big to fail’, that it confuses the needs of domestic consumers with those of enterprise and that it is not leading the way in reinforcing the message that dealing with the Digital Deficit is a vital pre-requisite for dealing with anything else.

In what other country would the need for smart electricity metering be interpreted as a need for another separate digital (wireless) infrastructure when any properly designed ‘fit for purpose’ connectivity utility could serve that purpose just as easily as the needs for personal health monitors and environmental controls. Or is that thought ‘out of bounds’?

In what other market are people expected to be content with a service (sold at a standard price) that is extremely variable in its performance – and often completely useless?

At least we can take comfort from Sir Mervyn King’s acceptance of the desirability of separating utility banking from the riskier investment banking. If only Ofcom could understand that digital connectivity utilities (mobile and fixed) properly separated from other ‘over the top’ competitive services would, in our increasingly digital world, better serve citizens, communities and enterprise and enable progress on a wide range of government policy objectives in all other sectors.

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This editorial was written for members of the UK’s Communications Management Association (CMA) – a part of the BCS, the chartered society for ICT professionals.

The editorial also appears at www.groupeintellex.com where feedback and comments are welcome.

Readers of this editorial have also viewed 'Slowly the penny drops'.

New blog-site for Groupe Intellex

David Brunnen — Wed, 02 May 2012 09:37:38 +0000

The new URL for the Groupe Intellex blog-site is http://groupeintellex.com/

The editorials published on our main website are not currently open to comments - but readers are welcome to add their views on the blog site.

In the build-up to Rio+20 the blog will carry more news on Sustainability topics and the linkages between plans to address Digital and Economic Deficits.

Broadband coverage – concerns raised over EU claims

GI Global — Wed, 02 May 2012 08:21:30 +0000

Concern has been raised over a recent European Commission claim regarding the achievement of Member States.

The EC report stated: "Eight Member States (Denmark, Finland, France, Luxembourg, Latvia, Malta, Netherlands and the United Kingdom) have already achieved full coverage for basic broadband services".

In a strongly worded letter to European Commissioner Neelie Kroes, the International Telecoms User Group (INTUG) wrote: ‘ Our UK Member, CMA, and the UK Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) met recently with OfCom and UK Government representatives at the UK Houses of Parliament to discuss broadband roll out.

It was clear from the discussion that full coverage for basic broadband is still far from being achieved in the UK. This misrepresentation of a reality has been a consistent concern of users in the UK since BT's often quoted claim of 99.6% coverage of broadband, which was similarly misleading.’

The INTUG letter prompts yet again issues of integrity in the presentation of data – concerns that governments, in their zeal to claim policy progress, may lose sight of the reality experienced everyday by millions of businesses and citizens and the negative impacts on economic growth and envionmental policy.

The Olympic track record for data dishonesty is, however, under dispute. Fresh contenders outside of the networking and environment sectors are seeking to qualify – the latest being denial of massive queues for passport clearance at UK airports.

Attempts at misrepresentation in whatever field do, however, carry useful clues for policy campaigners - whether for sustainability, for better broadband, or for economic growth. It reveals the policy sensitivities of administrations that are only reluctantly ‘open’ in their dealings with the public and their concerns to protect vested interests.

This ‘billboard poster’ approach to advertising a country’s status is however doomed to failure. Encouragingly, Internet-enabled services are steadily exposing the realities and leaving less room for institutionalized dishonesty.

Two great examples of this can be found. Firstly the work by ‘Sam Knows’ (for an EU-sponsored project) aims to capture the reality of broadband users’ experience through a large sample with data collection via specially-designed units to plug in to each user’s hub/router.

The second example can be found via the open data available via Google and Net-index. Currently this only has the flexibility to show upload and download network performance (as seen from the consumer end of the line) but you can see the possibilities. Before long we might even have real data on the shocking variability of some of these access services – particularly those claiming to provide higher performance.

We should all applaud the moves towards ‘open’ data. Those in government who have not yet fully understood the digital empowerment of people will soon find that there is less and less room to hide the realities – and maybe then we can hope for evidence-based policy development that is not subject to political or corporate wishful thinking.

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This editorial was written for members of the UK' Communication Management Association (CMA) - a part of the BCS, the chartered society for ICT professionals.

Readers of this page also viewed 'Slowly the penny drops' (GI Global) and 'Sustainability: the end game for the next generation' (Marit Hendriks)

Getting ready for Rio – Archbishop asks timely questions

David Brunnen — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 08:41:53 +0000

In the third of our ‘readying for Rio’ editorial series we look beyond the world’s fixation on economic growth or the need for universal digital access and ask delegates to consider more fundamental questions about the way we regard money and trade.

When Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury, wrote the reviews of two new books for the May issue of Prospect Magazine, timescales would have made RIO+20 and its sustainability agenda a distant consideration.

But time has moved on and Rowan’s gentle observations and thought-provoking questions can now serve as another primer for those committed to contribute to issues of governance – issues that have spent far too long languishing on the global ‘things we really should be doing’ list.

The Archbishop’s review brings together Michael Sandel’s ‘What money Can’t Buy’ published yesterday and the Skidelskys’ (father and son) ‘How Much is Enough’, scheduled to appear in June just prior to Rio+20.

The former provokes us into asking about the limits of packaging and commoditisation – how, for example, would you view the sale of your own kidney and is this any different from selling your blood?

It raises in Rowan’s mind the lack of intellectually rigorous opposition to ‘a philosophy that has radically distorted how we view public services and education for the last few decades’, and it reminds us that this notion of exchangeability (of anything) challenges us to work harder to counter the ‘skill and sophistication of apologists for the universal commodification of life’.

If we believe that some things should remain priceless we must, in this world of market efficiency and consumer choice maximization, argue against the corrosion of morality that reduces absolutely everything to an actuarial value.

In the second book, the Skidelskys write of a Faustian bargain that has thrived on the Keynesian assumption that eventually capitalism will deliver sufficiency and sustainability and will no longer be needed, but “capitalism, it is now clear, has no spontaneous tendency to evolve into something nobler. Left to itself, the machinery of the want-generation will carry on churning endless and pointlessly.”

With monetary accumulation as an absolute goal, Rowan argues, that we have lost sight of shared values, and the notion of a ‘good life’ (where we might have reason to be happy) has been turned into an endless quest for feeling happy, as measured, of course, by a government-sponsored index.

And so, reasons the Archbishop, we need to see how eccentric this all seems in the broad context of history and culture – and we must ask what are ‘the habits and processes that will educate our passions and allow us to shape a credible narrative of the self [that can be] understood against the backdrop of what the ‘excellence’ of human nature might consist.’

If all this seems somewhat ‘other worldly’ I commend to the reader a thorough and contemplative reading of what is clearly ‘a wake-up call to a desperate need to rediscover some intelligible way of talking about humanity . . ..’

Take it as a sermon from a gentle pastor,

take time, make space, to contemplate the poetry of his prose,

reflect on inequalities, when billions live on less than $1.25 a day,

and, in the stillness, question the priorities that take you to Rio.

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Readers of this editorial also read ‘Sustainability: the end game for the next generation’

The UN Conference in Rio (June) - Rio+20, so named because it falls 20 years on from the first 'Earth Summit' - will be reported for Groupe Intellex by Marit Hendriks, a Groupe Intellex Associate and director of Nextgen Events Ltd - the UK's premier platform for Next Generation Access development.

Getting ready for Rio – the circular economy

David Brunnen — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 11:43:38 +0000

In our Rio-readying editorial series we have already debated the policy pre-requisites of digital infrastructure investment with two contributions from Marit Hendriks and a commentary on the Royal Society’s report ‘People and the Planet’.

As an answer to the Royal Society’s plea for a reduction in consumption, the latest report from Ellen MacArthur’s Foundation, ‘Towards a Circular Economy’ deserves consideration beyond the bounds of its targeted audience in the European Commission.

The report addresses four basic questions:

How does the circular economy compare to the race to improve efficiency within today’s ‘take-make-dispose’ economy?
What are the benefits of a restorative model to businesses and the economy?
How can companies and policy makers carry the concept to its breakthrough at scale?
Can some of today’s fundamental shifts in technology and consumer behaviour be used to accelerate the transition?

The report starts by outlining ‘the limits of linear consumption’ – and tackles head on the current ‘take-make-dispose’ pattern that generates a vast waste of raw materials. The authors observe that, ‘Whilst major strides have been made in improving resource efficiency and exploring new forms of energy, less thought has been given to systematically designing out material leakage and disposal,’ and notes the inherent commercial risks in dependence on rising and volatile resource prices and supply disruption.

Attention then shifts to the challenge of how to accelerate the proven ‘circular’ concept where all manner of goods are designed to be ‘made-to-be-made again’ – where waste is designed out and things are optimized for a cycle of disassembly and reuse. The implications of this circular approach are that ‘consumers’ become ‘users’, there’s a greater emphasis on product performance and there’s a need to incentivize recycling.

The report illustrates the concepts with case studies of products and the processes for improving the recycling rate – potentially leading to 50% cost reductions in remanufacturing of mobile phones (if only they were designed to be easier to take apart) and a projected saving of $1.1bn of landfill costs in the UK.

This leads to an assessment of the scale of opportunity with, for the EU, a recurrent annual saving of up to 3.9% of GDP (or around US$ equivalent of 630bn per annum). The benefits are clearly greater in some sectors (like automotive manufacturing) but the report fairly points out that these projections are ‘aspirational’ this side of widespread endorsement and encouragement by policy makers.

But despite being in ‘a pioneering phase’ the report argues that the ‘the shift has begun’ – driven by resource scarcity, the enabling power of information technology and social media and the apparent willingness of consumers to prefer ‘access’ to ‘ownership’.

This EMF report should be listed as basic reading for all attendees at Rio+20 in June – not least because of its inherent humility and reasonableness. It does not prescribe a complete solution to economic sustainability but it will shift your mind ‘Towards a Circular Economy’.

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The UN Conference in Rio (June) - Rio+20 so named because it falls 20 years on from the first 'Earth Summit' - will be reported for Groupe Intellex by Marit Hendriks, a Groupe Intellex Associate and director of NextGen Events Ltd - the UK's premier platform for Next Generation Access development.

Getting ready for Rio

GI Global — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 12:38:11 +0000

Getting ready for Rio+20

Today’s timely publication from the Royal Society, ‘People and the Planet’, is as good a wake-up call to UK media as we are likely to get this side of the events in Rio+20 in June.

The Royal Society's report has three central themes - Inequality, Population and Consumption – and argues that these cannot be tackled separately.

The report has 10 worthy recommendations and the full version, as you might expect from such an august team of thinkers, carries an authority that other authorities will find difficult to deny. But recommendations are not always easily translated into policy – particularly when politicians, no matter how well-meaning, are prisoners of their current circumstances.

Electorates rarely vote for an escape plan – they most often vote against anyone with half an idea about how to change things around here. Recognising the problem may be a first good step but recognizing that we all have to do something about it is quite another matter – and quite often beyond the horizon of any political licence.

But, remarkably, something is changing that promises (or threatens) to resolve the ideological log jams. People, ordinary people, are finding a voice that does not depend on representative democracy, or deference, or even acceptance of corporate bullying that would be outlawed in the school playground.

For policy planners, for corporate chiefs, for people who like to be leaders, their authority stems from acceptance within their community, business or electorate. But, if they lose that acceptance, if they have to justify their actions against a tsunami of protest, they are no less trashable than the reputations of media moguls who forgot to ‘do as they would be done by’.

So this new force, the empowerment of people to be heard, is for some a double-edged sword. But it’s much more than giving air-time to protesters - more than 1.3 bn people are living on less than $1.25 a day. The reality is that progress on each and every one of the Royal Society’s recommendations depends on the infrastructure that also serves this new digital democracy.

This is, of course, apparent to the appointed commissioners of the UN’s Broadband Commission on Digital Development - and again, few would now deny the need for greater digital investment. But the focus of the West has been to prescribe treatments for the rest – not realizing that in this increasingly digital world every country is a developing economy.

Some countries, the few with inspired leaders and well-informed electorates, are now megastreets ahead of others – but even they feel the need to invest further, to invest in the digital infrastructures that will give them some chance of coping with population growth, reducing material consumption and addressing the gross societal and economic inequalities – those legacies of overdosing on deregulation and unconstrained free market fantasies.

In a BBC radio interview this morning a spokesman for the Royal Society said, ‘We should plan to flourish’ – and that is exactly the optimistic view that networked technology can now enable.

The voices of the people for progress must and will be heard rising above the calls for retrenchment and austerity. First we should all deal with our digital deficits. All other deficiencies can be far more easily resolved in an environment where ideas freely flow and people are enabled to apply themselves to making progress on every one of those 10 recommendations.

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The UN Conference in Rio (June) - Rio+20 so named because it falls 20 years on from the first 'Earth Summit' - will be reported for Groupe Intellex by Marit Hendriks, a Groupe Intellex Associate and director of Nextgen Events Ltd - the UK's premier platform for Next Generation Access development.

Hampshire CC presents case for using PSN to deliver better broadband

GI Global — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 17:14:57 +0000

Hampshire County Council Presents Case for Connecting “Not Spots” Using Public Service Networks at FTTx Council

Glyn Paton, who managed Hampshire County Council’s rural broadband project, which connected hundreds to superfast broadband where it was not previously possible, has set the case for using Public Service Networks (PSN) for residents in rural areas.

As the first county in the UK to connect all schools to a fibre network, Hampshire is in a great position to use this technique. Hampshire has now also become the first location to use its PSN to connect local residents that previously could only get a maximum 500 KB/s service.

“As a result of this project the residents of the village of Little London, Hampshire now have an improved broadband comparable to those in the City of London. Residents in the area now experience 40 MB per second. Considering they previously had no access to broadband, they cannot believe how fast their service now is,” said Mr Paton.

Mr Paton was involved with the project from the initial tender and procurement stage and said the winning bid was chosen because it allowed any service provider to use the network.

“We wanted this project to have extra credibility by being open and allowing any service provider to get involved. Where we are now, the residents of Little London, Hampshire have superfast broadband, with the choice of 30 different service providers. This would not have been possible without Netadmin and the other partners, Magdalene and Fluidata. These parties together enable a platform that allows residents to connect to a world of new services,” Mr Paton added.

Torbjorn Sandberg, CEO of Netadmin, commented that the potential for using this model in areas with a high quality PSN is massive.

He said: “I see many opportunities for other local authorities to use this model to solve their residents’ need for fast broadband. Using a PSN can be a very cost effective way of providing suitable connectivity. The residents in Hampshire now have a greater range of service providers than most.”

Take up of the pilot project has been very successful with 60 to 70 per cent of residents projected to utilise the PSN in Hampshire once previous broadband contracts have expired. Mr Paton understands that IFNL is now connected to the platform extending the reach to a further 40,000 properties.

Virgin Media was responsible for providing the infrastructure for the Hampshire PSN which provided backhaul.

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For further information about the project and to find out about Netadmin, visit www.netadminsystems.com.

Netadmin Systems develops and markets NETadmin, an end-to-end OSS/BSS system automating the service fulfilment and service assurance processes in Next Generation Networks - hardware vendor and access technology independent. Customer self activation and multi service provider support are key features.

Swedish-based Netadmin Systems is the market leader in the Nordics and is growing rapidly in international markets with more than 100 customers in 15 countries. In the UK the company supports the NextGen programme of Roadshows and conferences and will be taking part in the events in Milton Keynes on May 30th and in Edinburgh on June 7th. NextGen Events Ltd is directed by Andrew Macdonald and Marit Hendriks - a Groupe Intellex Associate.

Global Entrepreneurship and Development

David Brunnen — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 16:10:41 +0000

Today London’s Imperial College Business School hosted a seminar on entrepreneurship and explores GEDI - an index methodology for analysis of global relativities in venture innovation and development.

The results for their 2012 report are fascinating – placing Scandinavian countries high in the global league table (up there with Taiwan and Singapore) and raising countless questions about the roots of these successes.

The GEDI methodology attempts to weigh all manner of factors that might bear on entrepreneurial success. The index has 3 sub-indices: for Attitudes, Aspirations and Activities and, with the UK at 14^th in the global rankings, it highlights a number of bottlenecks that could have scope for policy initiatives.

Most of the UK’s strengths appear in the Activities index and our Aspirations and Attitude scores have suffered more than others from the financial crisis with below par scores in Risk Capital, Process innovation and a general lack of growth.

What is, however, intriguing is that 9 of the 13 countries ahead of the UK in the global rankings have significantly higher-performing digital access networks. The UK, US, Australia and Canada currently languish at less than half of the average Internet speeds experienced in the other leading countries but apart from the UK they have other factors which compensate for the digital infrastructure shortcomings.

It would, of course be mistaken to attribute the UK’s entrepreneurial deterioration entirely to digital infrastructural weakness and, in other recent reports, there is some credit given for the intensity with which UK citizens make good use of online facilities.

It would also be mistaken to make an assessment based only on headline download speeds. Upload speeds and responsiveness are also highly relevant to innovators and SMEs. And some allowance might perhaps be made for the lag in infrastructure investment – the GEDI outcome assessments are based on mid-2010 data and the network performance figures are current and real.

But, and it’s rapidly becoming a very big but, the route out of the economic deficit with a return to growth, increasingly seems to demand the pre-requisite of accelerated treatment of the digital deficit.

As European Commission vice-president Neelie Kroes said today in Copenhagen “My message is simple: to think about the future economy, you must take account of the digital revolution. In short, the Internet is changing our economy, changing our opportunities, and changing our world.”

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This editorial was written for members of the UK's Communications Management Association – a part of the BCS, the chartered society for ICT professionals.

Readers of this editorial also viewed: ‘Slowly the Penny Drops’ and 'Mega news - well used but a bit slow'

The quoted speech by Neelie Kroes was given to the COSAC Conference of National Parliaments 24^th April 2012.

What, on Earth Day?

David Brunnen — Sun, 22 Apr 2012 09:18:39 +0000

Today around the globe the celebrations of Earth Day have engaged far more than the usual crop of green enthusiasts.

This year it’s the pre-cursor to RIO+20, the UN Sustainability Summit in June that will bring together more than 120 Presidents and Prime Ministers and a Davolanche of corporate leaders and lobbyists.

The UN’s Environment Programme has produced a timely reminder – ‘Keeping track of our changing environment (from Rio to Rio+20 1992-2102)’ – that captures what has and, more importantly what hasn’t, happened since those promises and commitments were made.

In so many ways our world has moved on – most obviously in its digital connectedness. In so many other ways the squandering of natural resources and the protection of silos of vested interests has not.

The celebrations today will be many and various – and mostly driven by the more imaginative end of the green activist spectrum. It’s not just about tree hugging but the record for the largest diaper changing party must take some beating.

On the other hand the television audience (100 million or more world wide) will watch the F1 Grand Prix in Bahrain – a near perfect an example of a silo mentality and disconnectedness. The British Foreign Office advises citizens not to attend on account of civil unrest and yet the Formula 1 organizers say that the race has nothing to do with politics.

And not much to do with Earth Day.

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Readers of this editorial also viewed 'Sustainability: the end game for the next generation' and 'Slowly, slowly the penny drops'

Slowly, slowly, the penny drops

David Brunnen — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 15:25:24 +0000

Last week it was the cover leader in the Economist

The week before, the latest paper from the ITU – ‘First steps towards a manifesto for change’ – was added to the pile of global reports from impeccable sources.

In March it was the turn of Boston Consulting Group. Hardly any big brand in the consulting universe has still to pontificate on the digital drama that is unfolding in homes and businesses, governments and agencies, schools, universities and hospitals around the world.

Last month it was Sweden for Stockholm+40 – the international conference on sustainable living and innovative solutions.

Next month the cream of the world’s green brigade will hunker down in Rio de Janeiro for RIO+20 – reaffirming the commitments made 20 years ago at the Earth Summit – but still on the ‘things to do’ list.

Last year the UN Broadband Commission for Digital Development delivered its first but very weighty report.

Next year the FTTH Council Europe will hold its massive annual conference in London for the first time in its 10-year history.

And very very gradually the world is waking up to the reality of digital democratization – not just in the global political arena but in all aspects of commercial and everyday life.

Economics is about priorities. Success in economic deficit reduction hinges on the enabling pre-requisite of digital deficit reduction.

Even with this evidence of inevitability there are still a few digital deniers and many who hope that they can get by with a short-term fix. Some of those, the technically aware, should know better but still they succumb to last-generation commercial models - or wishful thinking.

But futurologists tell us again and again that we ignore obvious signs. Maybe those straws in the wind are just too scary. If we close our eyes maybe the big bad wolf will go away? Almost certainly global progress will be uneven – some countries are already megastreets ahead in digital infrastructure investment.

But, as song-writer Tom Paxton wrote over 40 years ago, ‘the thought stays free’. The empowerment that flows from digital connectivity unleashes ‘innovation without permission’.

And there’s the rub – world leaders in commerce and politics need to adjust to whole populations who have this new-found power to go where they want to go and do exactly what they want to do.

As governments and business leaders seek to manage their economies, as they appeal for an ‘ordered society’, as they yearn for a lost age of deference, the penny very slowly but inevitably is dropping and their best tactic for survival is to embrace change.

The digital day has dawned and today's essential infrastructure needs now to be future-proofed.

Any country that does not have as its topmost priority, a drastic reduction of its digital deficit is, alas, doomed to a long slow decline.

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This editorial was written for members of the UK's Communications Management Association, part of the BCS - the chartered society for ICT professionals.

Readers also viewed 'Sustainability: the end game for the next generation'

Thoughts from abroad

David Brunnen — Sun, 08 Apr 2012 17:01:24 +0000

(Groupe Intellex is on vacation)

There are many reasons for sailing offshore. Some may enjoy pitting their wits against the forces of nature. Others may take a more functional view, the convenience of getting from A to B. In my mind the principal reason is to leave land and much else besides, to live, if only for a short time, in another world.

This other world is detached, separate and distinct from the everyday. Being offshore and away from home and work may not be trouble-free but is not bound by the limitations that beset landed life. Leastways it was so until the temptations of mobile phones, Internet and Wi-Fi access allowed business callers to intrude even offshore, even when far away in the Med, even on Good Friday.

In any rational world I should have left that phone/pad/laptop at home and respected the intention to be apart. Out of touch, offline, switched off, gone away. The value of a retreat is often found in the advancement it brings – thinking things through, getting ideas and feelings into some sort of perspective.

I may be relaxed but I didn’t immediately switch off and, until this latter half of the voyage, I am yet to discover that sense of advancement. Excusing my snatched moments of connectedness as reassurance for those at home, or the modern equivalent of a picture postcard ‘wishing you were here’, is no good reason for clinging to the essence of on-shoreness, of missing the news, of pretending to be in two or three places at once. It is no doubt convenient that every shore-side taverna provides Wi-Fi, that every bay on every island now has a mobile signal but, until these threads are broken, that inner urge to be ‘Captain of my fate/Master of my soul’ is still qualified by an all-too-easy reference to digital weather forecasts, GPS position indicators and the auto-helm.

There is, I will admit, a line to be drawn between desire and safety. On-shore the former may too easily displace the latter and at sea the latter should always trump the former. It is not that I do not care. The fundamental reason I am here is in that desire to be in another world and, in this next week, there will be minimal reassuring calls, and no texts, or pictures, or emails, or tweets.

And for those still on-shore it will most probably be a blessed relief that I have, at last, ‘gone away’.

Vathi (Ithaca) 8^th April 2012

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Groupe Intellex returns on April 16th.

Groupe Intellex in Munich for FTTH Council 2012

Groupe Intellex Global — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 14:28:38 +0000

Editor David Brunnen will be in Munich for the annual FTTH Council conference from 14th to 16th February.

He will be reporting on the latest news from exhibitors and speakers and looking in detail at the latest research from the world of fibre networks.

He will also be discussing the UK's 2012 NextGen programme with exhibitors and giving more details on the Connected Causes digital outreach project for organisations outside of the mainstream telecoms sector.

To contact David Brunnen in Munich call +44 7714 325 657, visit the media office on the ground floor of the conference centre or email david.brunnen@groupe-intellex.com

Connected Causes

David Brunnen — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 14:07:02 +0000

How much easier would work/life be if . . . .

Many research reports publicised in 2011 confirmed what had been apparent in other countries for some time; economic growth is directly linked to the quality of local digital access networks. More significantly the impacts of digital investment across the entire economy are now better understood.

Our own studies of networks in Sweden and the research reports produced for the Swedish government have also emphasized the societal benefits that become apparent beyond the initial network investments motivated by the search for economic growth and enterprise productivity.

Industry analysts have historically regarded both the source and outcomes of ICT investment as a Technology Sector topic. It is now more widely understood that around 80% of the benefit of ICT investment is felt in other sectors and often far removed from the centres of technological expertise.

Meanwhile the focus of investment in the next generation of digital connectivity remains firmly rooted in the established telecom sector where it is generally regarded as an incremental upgrade of existing network services to deliver connectivity for households rather than businesses. This ‘upgrade’ stance contrasts with those who argue that we should be embarking on a totally fresh approach to digital network provision akin to the conversion of electricity from DC to AC completed in the mid-1900s.

In terms of future competitiveness it is instructive to contrast network performance in different European states. The graph shows that citizens in countries with very dominant incumbent Telcos are experiencing little more than average performances whereas, in countries with greater competition in that sector, network services are significantly more innovative.

Beyond a simple focus on headline download speeds there are many other factors that impact on the quality and effectiveness of local network services. Many businesses might wish for the freedom of ‘dark fibre’ in designing and operating their own private networks but other important factors include upload speeds, response times, packet loss, concurrent and secure VPN capacities, open access to competitive services, local community-specific service development and hosting, and the availability of meaningful ‘service level agreements’. Network technology could allow users to enjoy ‘dynamic bandwidth’ – massive extra short-term capacity when needed at the flick of a switch – but such flexibility needs high-quality network management systems.

In this digital world almost every country can be regarded as a ‘developing nation’ – and, like road and rail investment, the relevance of what happens in the technology sector is of vital importance to the success of enterprises across the entire economy. Large businesses may be able to afford custom-made solutions to offset local access difficulties but the deficiencies are of much greater concern for micro and small/medium sized enterprises – i.e. the vast majority (99.5%) all UK businesses, widely acknowledged as the main source of jobs, innovation, exports and potential economic growth.

What is missing from the current mix of cautious investment and management of network transformation is a strong demand-side steer from outside of the technology sector. With some urgency organisations of all persuasions need to ask how much easier their work and life would be if they had ubiquitous and dependable access to high quality digital networks that really were fit for purpose.

That is why NextGen supports ‘Connected Causes’ – a partnership programme to engage many diverse organisations from across the UK economy - and further afield - in demanding faster and better deployment of high-quality digital access utility networks.

With an expansion of conventional ‘contra-deals’ (reciprocal in-kind cross promotions) NextGen invites organisations from every non-tech sector (private or public) to engage their audiences in debate about digital network adequacy. To facilitate that engagement we provide free resources in the form of graphics, presentations, expert speakers, editorial materials and opportunities for partnering organisations to speak at NextGen events across the UK.

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For more information: David Brunnen +44 7714 325 657 david.brunnen@groupe-intellex.com or Marit Hendriks: marith@nextgenevents.co.uk

Looking to the future

GI Gobal — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 10:03:55 +0000

Chris Holden, President of the FTTH Council Europe, takes a positive view at NextGen 11.

At the recent NextGen 11 conference in Bristol – the UK’s premier platform for all those engaged in developing the UK’s broadband infrastructure – Chris Holden gave an upbeat assessment of developments across the wider Europe but expressed concern at the slower progress with some of the major Western European countries. Some countries that you would expect to see on the league table such as UK, Germany and Spain have still not reached the minimum target of 1% penetration by FTTH/B to enter the table.

From his EU-wide viewpoint he could point to a doubling of fibre connectivity to customers in the past year and slightly more in terms of homes and buildings passed. With the CIS countries (Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan) added in, the figures of subscribers nearly double again to lift the total to 9.2 million.

This rapid growth has accelerated the Ukraine, Turkey and Romania into the league table of countries with more than 1% penetration of access fibre to either homes or buildings. The top of the table is still headed by the Far Eastern economies and a bright spot in the United Arab Emirates, but Lithuania, Norway and Sweden are hard on their heels.

In terms of take-up rates the Scandinavian countries led the field and Norway achieved 62% - ahead of South Korea at 59%. Even given some countries where take-up rates have been below par, the overall achievement of 18.3% represents a significant step towards the 2020 EU target of 50% household connectivity to at least a 100Mbps utility infrastructure.

Chris Holden was a little critical of the lack of a clear ‘upload’ target for 2020 – particularly because it is obvious that user-generated content and cloud applications demanding near symmetry were becoming ever more popular. But, in a spirit of optimism, he pointed out that the flexibility and future-proofing provided by a fully fibred network could not be equaled by any lesser technology – ‘it was’, he said, ‘the end game’.

He was delighted to see a requirement set by the Commission for realistic national plans and sensibly linked-up government departments but in some cases the level of detail supporting the plans could be improved. He also looked at how incumbents might now be encouraged to move towards FTTH – the market share lost by incumbents to the 70% of metropolitan networks developed by new market entrants reflected a livelier investment scene driven by the need for economic growth.

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This and all presentations from the NextGen 11 conference can be found via the NextGen website.

Readers of this article also viewed 'FTTH Bridging the rural divide'

And the winners are

David Brunnen — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 09:01:20 +0000

The results of NextGen Challenge were announced last week.

The occasion, a dinner in Bristol as part of the NextGen 11 conference and exhibition, was reported as a great success.

There could of course only be a single winner in each of the competition’s three categories but in a broader sense there are many winners – not just the short-listed finalists or even all those who were emboldened to enter the fray.

The winners are the customers - all those businesses and public sector organisations and ordinary families where the everyday load of working and living is being transformed by the myriad attempts to deliver better online access.

You might say that this doesn’t add up to much – and in aggregate there’s no denying that the UK has far to go – but that is not how the customers and beneficiaries of these NextGen Challenge entrants see the world. For them the prospect of better broadband is making a world of difference.

Beyond this there is yet another layer of winners – those who have yet to benefit from the experience of ‘first-movers’, pioneers and the brave souls who are determined to innovate. These are the businesses created and sustained, the new jobs in unlikely places, the simplification of dealing with organisations, the prospects of innovative locally-relevant services and the general empowerment of people to get on with life.

This was just the first year of NextGen Challenge. No-one could be sure it would produce the great examples that have won through. The competition in 2012 will surely highlight more brilliant achievements – and, like the old ecommerce awards of the 1990’s, the growing pile of case studies will hold many lessons for those intent on studying the transformation of society through the growth of better broadband and the future realization that much is dependent on the quality of that access.

We are fortunate in the UK that we do not need to look far for vital clues on the sorts of demand for broadband access that we can expect. The 2011 Community Study Tours to Sweden were just one of many opportunities to explore and share the experiences amongst our European neighbours – and as that programme looks yet further afield there will be yet more discoveries to come.

The winners of NextGen Challenge 2011 deserve our congratulations. The more stones thrown into this pond the greater the ripples at the edges.

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Full results of NextGen Challenge can be viewed here.

Details of Community Study Tours are described in the editorial 'Growing Stronger Communities'.

Let's not be mealy mouthed about this

David Brunnen — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 15:39:52 +0000

It’s not every day in Belfast that someone offers you a bug-burger.

In Northern Ireland we are well used to being considered a minority – very much on the periphery of everything. Some say we cost the UK more, we do less, and we generally under-perform. But now some bright spark has suggested that we can at last join the majority – the 80% of countries that farm insects for food.

These countries have a problem of course – what to do with the crunchy bits. But it turns out that our clever scientists – one area where we excel – have got the answer. Apparently the crunchy bits – known as Chitin – show great promise as feedstock for the latest polymer to make all manner of products. Who could resist the prospect of ants, literally, in your pants?

But why should we in Belfast have any interest in all this? Surely we live well enough on beef and chickens? It turns out that in the efficiency of food production, maggots beat meat at every twist and turn. With every country looking for food security, the ability, in an ever-growing population, to feed us becomes a national imperative. But, surprise, there’s yet another NI-reason for action – one that may even cause Gulliver’s Giants Park to be renamed Gnats Park.

In amongst the myriad of really useful suggestions of what to do with Giants Park, the idea of setting up a new farming research campus seems centre stage. Somehow, it seems to be entirely appropriate for that methane-generating mountain of decomposing rubbish to have a new life in this world of tasty maggot munching mouthfuls.

Nothing of course is decided – we don’t go in for decisiveness in matters such as these. Anyway we’ve never been that keen on playing cricket – so why not steal a march on Britain and play with Crickets? It’s not just our place in the UK that is at stake here.

In the über-competitiveness of Europe, where spending on R&D is a leading indicator of economic success, we have been long been trailing behind – so much so that in NI we’ve even set up a dedicated committee to look at the problem!

Apparently we need to urge big business to at least match the enthusiasm of our continental cousins. Over in Holland they may have already taken a lead in understanding the new opportunities of insect ingestion – or ‘entomophagy’ as the experts say. But, it seems, leap-frogging is an entirely accurate way of describing maneuvers in this market. The scope for food processing and packaging expertise, for new types of farming, for new probes into protein and for new export markets is, apparently, just waiting in the wings for the good folks of NI to take a liking to the finger-licking flying things.

You may think this is pure fantasy. You may even have heard people say ‘over my dead bodies’. We may be happy with honey but surely, you might say, we don’t need to scoff the bees as well. The news however is that the world needs places like NI to hang up on our hang-ups.

Well, if not fantasy then maybe we should look for some other excuse to live up to our world-wide trailing-nation status? Previous studies have shown our national addiction to creative bribery so maybe we could complain about the lack of EU subsidies for insect farms?

Or maybe we should embrace innovation.

Maybe we really do have an appetite for new taste sensations? The park is a big place – maybe there is room for a bug campus?

Let’s not be mealy-mouthed about this.

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References:

Emeritus Professor Gene R. DeFoliart is at the Russell Laboratories of the Department of Entomology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI, USA. Article reprinted with permission from Elsevier Science.

Arnold van Huis, Personal Chair, Professor Tropical Entomology, Wageningen University, Netherlands.

Giant’s Park – GI sews some seeds – editorial.

Food for thought – GI editorial.

(This editorial written for publication in NI's Business First magazine)

Syndication terms and conditions apply

NextGen Challenge - finalists announced

David Brunnen — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 14:49:41 +0000

The short-listed Finalists for NextGen Challenge were announced today.

Their entries have now been sent to the independent judging panel and the results will be announced on November 15th during the NextGen conference dinner at Bordeaux Quays Bristol.

There will be three winners - one for each of the three honours categories; 'Rural leadership and Community Development', 'Innovative Funding solutions' and 'Collaborative Advantage'.

The diversity of entries shows that local communities are making a great effort to ensure that the national transformation of utility broadband infrastructures is being designed to deliver both economic growth and societal development.

Congratulations to all who entered. Details of the NextGen 11 conference and exhibition (15th & 16th November, Bristol) can be found here

Notes:

theNextGen Challenge Finalists are:

For rural leadership & community development

North Yorkshire

CPEND (North Dorset)

Lothian Broadband

Tegola Network (Edinburgh university)

Knowle West Media Centre

For Innovation in Funding

Derwenthorpe (Fibre Options)

ClacksMax (Clackmannanshire)

Cybermoor (Alston)

For Collaborative Advantage

E2BN (East of England)

Superfast Cornwall

Hampshire not-spots

Giant's Park - GI sows some seeds

GI Global — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 11:01:44 +0000

Our contribution to the debate about potential uses for Giant's Park, Belfast has been picked up by the Northern Ireland Science Park and is featured in CEO Norman Apsley's latest blog.

This vast area adjacent to the city and bordering Belfast Lough has served as a giant rubbish tip for decades and is at last ready for development - but what to make of it is an open question.

Our suggestions range from a production offshoot for the Queen's Island International Creative Media Campus to 'Belfast sur Mer' and a range of ecological and agricultural research ventures.

To read the full story click here.

Community Study Tour - delegate report

Marit Hendriks & David Brunnen — Sat, 17 Sep 2011 14:45:11 +0000

Our Community Study Tour at the end of August took delegates from the Forth Valley and Lomond area of Scotland to Sweden.

Over three intensive days - including travel to the far northern Norrbotten region - they studied the astonishing successes flowing from far-sighted investment in high-quality local digital access networks.

Do Swedes have broadband fit for purpose? - a delegate's view (MSWord Doc download, 39KB) gives a brief overview and the full detailed report (with video link) is available on request.

Presentations from our many hosts are also available on request to StudyTours@groupe-intellex.com

SSNf - The Swedish Urban Networks Association

Lunet - the municipal network in Luleå in Northern Sweden

IT Norbotten and Healthcare - our visit to a northern hospital

Utskit - the network in Linköping in the southern part of central Sweden

Municipal Enterprise - a presentation by the Mayor of Linköping

NETadmin - showing how well designed management systems play a critical role.

The Study Tour was part-funded by Forth Valley and Lomond LEADER with support from the EU, the Scottish government and HMG/DCMS

For background on Community Study Tours see 'Growing Stronger Communities'

(6th October) The full report on the Community Study Tour (PDF 9MB download) is available here.

Study Tour video also available >

NextGen Challenge - entry details

david brunnen — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 10:13:53 +0000

NextGen Challenge - entry process now open

NextGen Challenge is your chance to highlight achievements in developing and deploying better broadband.

Entry is simple (and free of charge) and the closing date for entries is 14th October 2011.

The competition is technology neutral and will be independently judged. The UK finalists and honours winners will be announced at the prestigious NextGen 11 Conference dinner in Bristol on 15th November 2011.

This is your opportunity to gain national recognition for your endeavours.

There are three entry categories:

1) Innovative Funding Solutions: examples of challenge and achievements in assembling and managing the financial resources needed to deploy advanced digital access networks.

2) Rural Leadership and Community Development: examples of individuals or teams working to bring communities togetherto deliver local access projects in 'hard to reach' areas.

3) Collaborative Advantage: a category for exceptional endeavour in developing multi-party public/private collaboration to plan, deliver, or manage locally sustainable deployment projects.

CLOSING DATE 14TH OCTOBER 2011

ENTER HERE

Further information

BroadwayPartners LLP - announced

GI Global — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 08:05:25 +0000

'The road to better broadband'

BroadwayPartners LLP launched today a new UK initiative aimed at securing long-term investment and management expertise for high quality broadband access utilities.

Groupe Intellex editor David Brunnen is supporting the new venture in the role of Policy Partner.

Commenting on the initiative he said, "Disparities in advanced broadband provision between urban and rural areas inhibit economic growth and societal development nationwide but this issue can only be tackled through long-term commitments to higher quality utility investment and that demands strong local leadership encouraged by smart policies and informed regulation. Today's announcement by HM Treasury that they propose to improve the Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) is a step in the right direction."

A statement issued by BroadwayPartners can be found here.

See also commentaries by Ian Grant and Adrian Wooster.

______________

McWiLL - Multi-channel Wireless Local Loop technology

GI Global — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 11:52:11 +0000

Innovative developments in mobile wireless technologies are not entirely the preserve of major providers - Manufacturers and Operators in Europe and North America have little insight into the fresh approaches to mobile wireless designs that are gaining ground in China and the Far East.

We are therefore pleased to report that Eoin Lambkin (Director, Groupe Intellex NI) is to lead the first European trials of McWiLL - a Multi-channel Wireless Local Loop system that came to prominence during the Bejing Olympic Games by providing coverage of the sailing events.

With high spectrum efficiency and very low base-station costs the system will be tested in a number of environments both in the Republic of Ireland and in Northern Ireland. The system lis particularly well suited to secure wide area Public Sector deployments and integration with advanced broadband deployments such as FTTH schemes.

Further details are available on request to Eoin.Lambkin@Groupe-Intellex.com.

_______________

NextGen TV

David Brunnen — Thu, 19 May 2011 08:34:45 +0000

Starting with the NextGen event in Edinburgh the programme of Roadshows leading up to a 2-day conference in November will feature short video interviews with the stars of the show.

The first of these NextGen TV interviews features Henrik Halvorsen of NETAdmin Systems - the Swedish company whose management software enables local networks to provide customers with easy services selection and Service Providers with low-cost integration of management interfaces with their own operational/admin systems. NETAdmin's capabilities are at the heart of 'Open Access' designs not only in Sweden but in many other countries.

NextGen Challenge

David Brunnen — Thu, 12 May 2011 11:03:56 +0000

SEE UPDATE - ENTRY PROCESS NOW OPEN - CLOSING DATE 14TH OCTOBER 2011

Launched at the first 2011 NextGen Roadshow in Edinburgh, the Challenge will be promoted at each of the subsequent Roadshows across the UK and culminate in an awards presentation at the NextGen Conference dinner in November.

NextGen Challenge provides opportunities for local digital access network leaders and suppliers to demonstrate their innovative approaches to the transformation of the UK’s local networks.

NextGen Challenge also provide sponsorship opportunities for commercial organisations who are not in the front line of deployment projects but have a significant strategic interest in their success. These may, for example include enterprises engaged in Financial Services, Creative and News Media, Systems Integration (particularly in public sector markets), Education and Health.

The four categories for the 2011 programme are:

Innovative funding solutions - examples of achievement in assembling the financial resources to deploy advanced digital access networks

Rural leadership and community development – examples of individuals or teams working to bring communities together to deliver local access network projects in ‘hard-to-reach’ areas.

Urban Network Enterprise - examples from larger communities and developments where the quality of network access is a significant factor in local economic growth.

Collaborative Advantage – an award for exceptional endeavour in developing multi- party public/private collaboration to plan and/or deliver locally sustainable FTTH deployments.

NextGen Challenge is the UK’s premier awards programme for Next Generation Access Infrastructure projects.

Full details of submission timescales will be available shortly via www.nextgenevents.co.uk

Sponsorship enquiries should be directed to: challenge@nextgenevents.co.uk

_______________

NextGen Challenge is a project managed by NG Events in association with Groupe Intellex.

NextGen 11 - Fujitsu joins DRAKA as platinum sponsor

David Brunnen — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 15:14:32 +0000

NextGen Events announced today that Fujitsu has agreed to join the NextGen 11 programme as a Platinum Sponsor.

Full details of the events programme - four roadshows around the UK followed by a 2-day conference and exhibition in November - can be found via the NextGen website.

See also NextGen media release announcing Edinburgh roadshow programme.

Fujitsu announced yesterday UK plan to deliver FTTH/P to 5 million rural homes and businesses in collaboration with Virgin Media, Talk Talk and Cisco.

Growing stronger communities

Marit Hendriks — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 16:55:08 +0000

As the UK’s central government backs away from centrally driven, top-down initiatives, all local communities are expected to take greater control of their destiny. Local solutions will need to be found to meet local challenges.

Local jobs, enterprise, education, health, the environment, transport and all manner of public services will, under the government’s ‘localism’ measures, be ‘freed from Whitehall control’ and left to local leadership.

Recovery from economic recession during a time of reduced public sector funding leads directly to hopes that private sector enterprise will take up the slack – in theory creating new local jobs and services and (maybe with greater voluntary effort) making good the societal shortfalls.

Expectations of successful outcomes for these radical changes are, frankly, not very high. Across the UK many communities lack the citizen-leader experience needed for this new era. Most communities also lack the essential utility infrastructure for 21^st century enterprise endeavour. Nor is there much evidence of direct citizen engagement in things that have for decades been managed by local/central government and major utility providers. And in long-suffering rural areas these challenges may now be even greater.

To seek solutions for whatever local priorities arise, in whatever type of rural, urban, or city environment, local people will need to work together and find, from somewhere, the insights and ideas to inform their own local solutions.

At Community Study Tours we believe that local problems are rarely unique. We identify places (at home or overseas) that match your local situation but where similar challenges have long-since been solved – and we then take small teams of ordinary people from your community to visit, to absorb that experience and adapt and share the knowledge back home.

Our first Study Tour project addresses that most basic of infrastructure needs. High quality local digital access networks are essential enablers for many other regeneration projects and economic growth - but the UK lacks any long-established examples.

We have already identified many communities outside of the UK (but within easy low-cost reach) where this basic infrastructure challenge was solved years ago – with the result that their experience of exploiting it for economic and societal development is now well established and easily shared.

Join us this year on a custom-made journey to understand the extent to which your community could take control and remedy the lack of utility services and enterprise growth.

A Marit Hendriks production in association with Groupe Intellex

For more information email studytours@groupe-intellex.com

Or see: ' Community Study Tours: digital infrastructure '

Penny-Dropping Moments

David Brunnen — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 06:02:41 +0000

From time to time Groupe Intellex is asked to help envisage scenarios that feed Strategic Reviews and other corporate management exercises.

To assist these processes we generate a series of potential 'penny-dropping moments' that can be debated, tested and discussed. From these 'thinking platforms' may flow many great ideas or new perspectives that can be adapted to the particular needs of the client organisation.

Number 94 is an example - 'Mobile Company bets on Fibre'. (PDF 155Kb)

For further information on how we might serve your organisation please contact the editorial team via info@groupe-intellex.com

Community Study Tours: Digital Infrastructure

Groupe Intellex Global — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 08:02:54 +0000

The switch-over from copper to optical infrastructure for local access networks is much more than a technological topic for communications experts.

Communities across continental Europe have discovered that fibre connections enable much more than just super-fast Internet. Their fibre networks are designed to enable new local services, provide far greater customer choice, encourage community cohesion and trigger local economic growth and employment.

But, above all, these local access networks are designed and managed to match the needs and nature of their local communities in terms of size, location and differences in population and employment patterns.

The needs and priorities of remote rural locations with an aging population may be very different from a family-focussed urban area – and these differences are often reflected in the provision of Public Sector services. Your community – the people, employers and public services – will have its own priorities.

To understand how an all-optical digital switch-over can benefit your community it helps to look at real examples that are reasonably well-matched to your own environment. But, for any study to be both relevant and have practical outcomes, the people engaged in the study need also to be drawn from across all aspects of your local community – for example, from commerce, health, education, family services, media, etc.

Community Study Tours are individually designed in discussion with local people. We start by understanding the make-up of your community and then match that to examples on the continent where the impact of a fibre switch-over can be explained by ordinary people living, working and serving that community.

In a country such as the UK, where there are no long-established examples of local access fibre networks, this means a short trip overseas (typically to Sweden or The Netherlands) but some communities may prefer to consider a research trip further afield – to Asia or the USA.

We do not, however, undertake Community Study Tours without first establishing a clear local plan for sharing the insights gained across your community together with a process for taking any worthwhile ideas forward.

All this activity – essential homework – is in advance and entirely independent of any particular solution or project that may emerge in your locality. Even if there is no case for independent local investment, the insights gained will help the community better understand their choices and opportunities when considering the plans of digital access providers.

Community Study Tours are not necessarily costly. Participants may give their time for free, sponsorship from industry is often available and host communities are often generous in enabling others to share in their success.

For more details please contact StudyTours@Groupe-Intellex.com or call 0207 55 88 707 to arrange an initial discussion.

______________________________________

See also - Fibre to the Home/Business - European leaders (PDF) - Table 2 from ADL report 'FTTH: Double Squeeze of Incumbents - Forced to Partner'

Community Study Tours

David Brunnen FRSA — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 06:21:17 +0000

The Groupe Intellex editorial ‘Communicating Communications’ (June 2010) makes the point that it is difficult for communities and their local leaders to envisage the transformational impacts of ‘next generation access networks’ because there are so few of them evident in the UK.

Across many continental countries there are many more examples – from large schemes in Amsterdam and Stockholm through to more modest but extraordinarily effective networks in smaller towns and rural locations. And many of these schemes have been around long enough to show their long-term contribution to economic growth and societal development.

As part of our ‘Race Online 2012’ commitment to raising the levels of on-line activity across the UK, particularly in Northern Ireland, we have designed a series of Study Tours to enable small groups of community leaders to visit overseas locations and discover for themselves the contribution that these ‘Open Access’ networks can provide for economic and social renewal.

The locations are primarily located in other parts of Europe but tours are also planned for North America and the Far East.

Groupe Intellex ‘Community Study Tours’ are designed to be customised to the needs of each community. They may vary from brief 2-day visits to more-extended multi-location in-depth studies including assessments of the economic and technical aspects of different deployments.

In all tours, however, your delegates will have direct contact with the local project leaders who made the schemes work, and with consumers/citizens, business people and public sector organisations, all of whom will have direct experience of the benefit of community investment.

We would strongly recommend that each Study Tour should include delegates representing different aspects of their community – health, education, volunteers, businesses, sport, local media etc.

ACTION:

To arrange a discussion on how a Study Tour might be of benefit to your community please contact StudyTours@groupe-intellex.com or call David Brunnen at 0207 55 88 707.

_____________________

IT Strategic Planning

Groupe Intellex Advisory Board — Mon, 08 Jan 2007 18:53:24 +0000

Our clients deploy the Groupe Intellex network of senior management expertise to assist with business development and both strategic planning and operational issues.

We specialise in projects that demand fresh thinking – where the opportunities arise from novel technologies that have yet to be widely recognised. These are often classified as ‘disruptive’ because conventional regulations, investor attitudes or incumbent market positions may feel threatened by innovative market entrants.

Our collective capabilities include:

IT Strategy

Our methodologies for identifying organisational needs and priorities and then matching these to IT capabilities (both in terms of technologies and management skills) have been deployed for public sector and commercial organisations. For the University sector we have a specialist team with strong strategic operational experience led by Angus Annan CEng. For major commercial organisations the experience of Dr Colin Coulson-Thomas (widely known from his many publications and presentations) and John O'Sullivan, Former Group IT Director for British Telecom.

Network Design

Under the direction of David Brunnen, CMA Forum Leader for Networked Services, our network design and project management skills have demonstrated our ability to introduce radical innovations. Our current reference client in this field is the Northern Ireland Science Park - the design for which won the CMA's Innovation Award.

All Groupe Intellex projects are undertaken within the terms of Confidentiality and Non-disclosure Agreements, our Partnership Code of Practice and the SCIP Code of Practice.

CMA Editorial

Groupe Intellex Editor — Thu, 04 Jan 2007 00:00:00 +0000

Leader columns wriiten for the Communications Management Association and published in UK telecoms trade press 2005-2012

Thinking Allowed - getting the message across

David Brunnen — Mon, 03 Jul 2006 00:00:00 +0000

From report preparation to syndicated business features, Brochures, Bids and Tenders - our experience even includes a fictional and light-hearted serialised business saga for product placement on behalf of clients.

Innovation Support

Groupe Intellex Advisory Board — Tue, 20 Jan 2004 00:00:00 +0000

Our clients deploy the Groupe Intellex network of senior management expertise to assist with business development and both strategic planning and operational issues.

Our collective capabilities include:

Publications, Professional Writing and Editorial Services
From report preparation to syndicated business features, Brochures, Bids and Tenders - our experience even includes a fictional and light-hearted serialised business saga for product placement on behalf of clients. Our writing and publications services provide a central feature of the Groupe Intellex website and includes the management commentaries created by Dr Colin Coulson-Thomas – a widely published and acclaimed speaker on strategic business issues. For selected clients we manage RSS Newsfeeds and provide many of the creative capabilities normally associated with PR and Advertising Agencies.

Interim Management
Interim Management skills for senior/board-level roles in IT, Telecoms, eBusiness, Marketing and Business Development. New ventures and fast-changing organisations often find it difficult to specify the skills they need until the business has evolved or the nature of challenges is more clearly understood. Groupe Intellex provides a level of flexibility and experience that reduces the risk of making premature permanent appointments.

Knowledge Management
Design and delivery of Market Research and Competitive Intelligence projects - including our ‘Market Watch’ programmes for targeted information delivery. Our capabilities include Associates in USA, The Netherlands, Ireland, South Africa, Singapore and Australia. Groupe Intellex supports the work and ethical position of the Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals – SCIP.

Channel Management
Design and management of sales & distribution channels, partner selection and e-channel development. Identifying, recruiting and managing relationships is a vital part of venture development - particularly where new technologies are being deployed. We have always asseted our strengths in Collaborative Advantage and the development of commercial eco-systems. Our track record in this area is founded on 10 years experience of managing the UK’s premier affiliate network for eBusiness and one of BT’s Major Partners.

Strategic Thinking
Design and delivery of workshop sessions and presentations together with chairmanship and keynote speakers for business conferences and seminars. Design and development of business tools and models with specialist expertise in market entry strategies. Much of our expertise in these fields is led by Dr Colin Coulson Thomas who has recently undertaken assignments in China and Russia.

Marketing Management
Our experience covers a range of marketing and promotional projects including long-term management of Awards programmes for innovative technologies. New venture projects are led by Eoin Lambkin.

All Groupe Intellex projects are undertaken within the terms of Confidentiality and Non-disclosure Agreements, our Partnership Code of Practice and the SCIP Code of Practice.

Feature Syndication Terms

David Brunnen — Thu, 18 Jan 2001 00:00:00 +0000

Groupe Intellex Features Syndication: Conditions of Use

Feature articles and other material in the Groupe Intellex library can be reproduced free of charge on a website, in an e-newsletter, print magazine, etc. subject to compliance with all of the following conditions.

1. Where individual bylines are given these must be left intact

2. Reproduction must be in full and with no additional editing unless by prior agreement.

3. Reproduction should carry source accrediation: 'first published at www.groupe-intellex.com' and include date, unless the article additionally carries alternative 'first published' information,

4. The copyright line must be included at the end of the article. (C) Groupe Intellex [YYYY]

5. Hyperlinks in the body of the text or in bylines and copyright notices must be retained in all web-based or emailed publications.

6. Confirmation of use must be sent to Groupe Intellex (david.brunnen@groupe-intellex.com) when the material is reproduced. This confirmation should include the web address where the feature appears or the medium / publication in which it is being used.

7. Copyright remains with Groupe Intellex (GINI Ltd)

Groupe Intellex is....

Groupe Intellex — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

Groupe Intellex is an international publication specialising in technology transfer, networked services and new venture incubation. We lead several innovative thought-leadership themes within three streams: Networked technologies, Creative Media and the Environment.

Our editorial and presentational skills support the process of bringing fresh ideas and new perspectives to the attention of investors, policy developers and potential innovators in their development of commercial eco-systems for business development.

This site includes the management archive of Prof. Colin Coulson-Thomas and editorials written for the UK's Communications Management Association - part of the BCS. The Editorials and Projects sections cover topics as diverse as FTTH, Connected Health and atmospheric CO2 remediation.

GINI Ltd is registered in Northern Ireland under the direction of Eoin Lambkin. Managing Editor, David Brunnen, is based in Hampshire, UK.