Internet Innovation Alliance (IIA) Blog

Universal Service

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 11:31:19 -0500

Yesterday the House Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet held a hearing on Universal Service. The hearing focused on the current state of the USF and whether or not is is appropriate for the 21st century. There was concenus from the Members of Congress and the panelists that USF needs to be reformed and utilized to support broadband into rural and unserved America.

Panelists included Rey Ramsey of One Economy who was focused on providing internet access to low income families, George Lucas who raised the issue of providing broadband to schools and libraries and Jane Patterson of E-NC who believes that we need to make providing service to rural America a priority.

It is good to know that our policy makers are aware of the importance of broadband access in currently and to hear about some of the successful programs that are making progress towards closing the gap.

Happy Trails

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 11:08:31 -0500

The news for summer travelers has been grim this year. Astronomical gas prices have some of us altering or even cancelling summer travel plans - the conversation heard all over the country is: "do we drive or fly - which one is less outrageously expensive?" And those of us who are brave enough to step up to the plate and plan a flying vacation, we were then hit with the news that airlines are now going to start charging us up to $50 each per checked bag.

What? No more meals, dwindling legroom, and now, baggage fees? Well, its broadband to the rescue for the airlines. American Airlines announced their plans to begin a trial of in-flight broadband service tomorrow. That's what I call a step in the right direction for the airline industry.

The first flights to test this service will be the NYC-LAX routes with plans for quick expansion to other transcontinental flights to San Francisco and Miami. Aircell LLC has been conducting test service of its technology with American Airlines for the past three months, and now they are ready to go live. On Wednesday, the service will be complimentary, but American will charge $12.95 per flight on all future flights for those of us who want to email, chat or google on our trips.

I've talked a lot on this blog about the hardcore economic benefits of broadband that come from applications like telecommuting and eMedicine. And while surfing the net in air may not be a critical application, it may be the boost customers need to enjoy their flight, as well as the boost airlines need to continue to attract customers.
And with that, I'm off to an extended summer vacation myself. This will be my last entry on this blog. I've enjoyed chatting with many of you and having the opportunity to extol the virtues of broadband. I wish you all fast download speeds, free wireless and happy trails.

Life in the Fast Lane...for once.

Fri, 20 Jun 2008 09:58:53 -0500

Living in Washington for the past 15 years, it's all too obvious to me how slow moving this government town can be. We've long been teased for being behind the times in all sorts of arenas from fashion and nightlife to technology adoption. But recently, the House of Representatives put the government in the role of potential trend setter on an issue near and dear to my heart.

The House recently passed the Telework Bill which enables qualified government employees to work from home two days every two weeks. Now, on its' way to becoming a law, its' next stop is at the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs. (If you want to know more about this process you can click here to check out The school house rock version of How a Bill Becomes a Law).

This is an amazing bill not only because the merits of telecommuting are many and far reaching, but should this bill become law, it will go a long way to help reshape the reputation of telecommuting from something that is reserved for a few select professions, to something that really can be implemented widely and successfully. Of course, since it's the government, many checks and balances are built in to ensure this is the case. I'm looking forward to those annual reports.

Cutting the Commute

Mon, 09 Jun 2008 15:09:39 -0500

A story ran on the AP wire yesterday about high gas prices are causing employees and employers a like to consider telecommtuing as a good option to save on gas. For Brent Cranfield that means a savings of more than $25/week. Given all of the new developments in communications, instant messaging, video conferencing and a host of broadband applications, for some teleworking means that much more productivity.

Preparing for the Exaflood

Thu, 05 Jun 2008 15:43:33 -0500

Those of us who have tirelessly promoted the message that broadband Internet access is critical to our economy, our competitiveness, our environment and our infrastructure continue to be vindicated in the media. News stories about with reports of the cost savings and productivity gains that will be achieved if more Americans have broadband Internet access. One of my favorites is a report from The American Consumer Institute that describes all the ways that wide adoption of broadband Internet access will be good for the environment. One of the highlights of this reports is a simple fact that states that reductions in first-class mail, as well as the plastics saved, by downloading music and video, could reduce emissions by 67.2 million tons over the next 10 years. In addition, the report points out that increased telecommuting could save another 588 million tons over the next ten years.

While there are clearly countless ways to calculate the positive impact that reduced emissions resulting from deeper broadband penetration across the US, the bottom line is that under any scenario, all of us would benefit. The Exaflood is coming and we need everyone to be prepared for it and ready to particpate in it. This fundamental truth underscores IIA's core objective to advocate for increased broadband access across the US and support the work and solutions developed by groups like Connect Kentucky and One-Economy, which have successfully created mechanisms to bridge public-private programs and increase penetration in their targeted areas.

Where's the Ad

Mon, 02 Jun 2008 14:11:52 -0500

If TV networks have been a bit slow in figuring out how to attract eyeballs to their sites, the impetus to speed up that process might just be the marketers on whom the networks rely for ad revenue. Major media buyers are now negotiating packages that are increasingly including an online component reports the Wall Street Journal.

At this year's upfronts, the network TV dog and pony shows that promote fall line ups, and also where most of the ad buys for the next year are made, digital ad buys made a noticeable splash in overall ad buys for the first time. For marketers, it's a easy addition - for the most part companies run the same ads that are shown on TV. And it's a smart step. According to research, people actually pay more attention to online ads than to those on regular TV.

But for a few networks, even this news is yesterday's. At the ABC Family network, the next steps is the blurring of the line between ads and shows, with the network using product placements in story shorts during commercial breaks. The network announced a new creative short, "Nikki in the City," this month that is not only the network's answer to Sex in the City complete with a single, stylish, working and dating, woman. But more importantly, it's a vehicle ready made for advertisers with product placement opportunities galore in each short. Are feature length ads next?

Recap of IIA Symposium The Exaflood: Finding Solutions, Part II

Fri, 30 May 2008 13:06:44 -0500

The first panel of this Exaflood Symposium examined the pace of new content creation and traffic growth. Most agreed that content is exponentially exploding. Progress & Freedom Foundation senior fellow Bret Swanson anticipates 50-fold traffic growth between 2006 and 2015, driven by new video services, cloud computing and other high bandwidth applications. University of Minnesota professor Andrew Odlyzko generally concurred with such growth projections, but did not see the exaflood as cause for particular concern, since he expects that networks will be able to scale to handle the increased traffic. Alcatel-Lucent CTO Paul Mankiewich believes that network operators will need to manage network traffic much more aggressively, to cut back on spam and prioritize latency-sensitive packets (such as real time video). Nick Rockwell, CTO of MTV Networks' Digital Business, observed that an abundance of bandwidth has always preceded innovations on the network, and that "if we don't build it, they cannot come." Odlyzko suggested that the South Koreans are "5 years ahead" of America, and that governments have greater ability to impose broadband market rules in other countries: "In other countries, when government says 'jump,' industry says 'how high.' In the U.S. they say 'see you in court!'"

The second panel looked at "financing the exaflood," with Sanford Bernstein analyst Craig Moffett leading off with the observation that there is a steep uphill business case for increased investments in broadband deployment, let alone market justifications for the existing investments. Internet users expect "free" content, making it very difficult for carriers to recoup infrastructure investments. Ciena Corporation CEO Gary Smith generally concurred, observing that the flat fee model will face increasing pressure as "bandwidth hogs" will need to pay more for their greater usage of shared resources. "All is not well in the ecosystem" since the infrastructure was fundamentally built for voice, and markets are moving much faster than the cycle times of infrastructure investment. Johna Till Johnson, CEO of Nemertes Research, agreed and suggested that "not a single provider makes money selling access." She questioned where the investments will come from to meet the needs her firm identified in their landmark 2007 research paper. UCSD professor and entrepreneur Michael Kleeman worried that we are becoming a "nation of digital haves and have-nots," with carriers gaming each other over payment settlements and peering arrangements. Kleeman saw a need for greater government intervention, while Smith urged policy makers to "trust the market" and Moffett recommended they "first do no harm."

The entire conference and conversation can be watched via web cast here.

Recap of IIA Symposium The Exaflood: Finding Solutions, Part I

Thu, 29 May 2008 15:42:20 -0500

On May 22, the Internet Innovation Alliance convened some of the brightest minds in broadband to discuss the exaflood -the overload of digital data that threatens to swamp the Internet's infrastructure, resulting in congestion and lost innovation for consumers and businesses. We also addressed how the quickly and probable it would be for attaining the goal of getting truly high speed broadband to all Americans. And of course, who pays. By way of summary, these convened experts agreed that there was indeed an exaflood, fueled by the large and growing amount of data flowing over the Internet as a result of video and other applications that were not conceived a few years ago. The panelists also agreed that there was a huge and promising future for broadband applications and services, but that the financing and business models are not yet clear for infrastructure providers. All agree that policy makers can have significant impact on the market place and how it responds to the coming explosion of internet traffic.

Telecosum 2008

Wed, 28 May 2008 19:34:35 -0500

I have the great pleasure to be writing today from Lake George , NY where the annual Telecosum event is taking place. It is an event sponsored by George Gilder and Steve Forbes to bring together big thinkers in technology and telecommunications. Earlier today I sat in on a panel discussion, The Exaflood: Managing the coming digital deluge. Panelist Andrew Odlyzko spoke about his perspective on internet traffic growth disputing other assertions that traffic is growing at as much as 100% year-over-year. He believes that while yes, traffic is growing, the rate of growth is slowing. Bob Metcalfe raised the idea that, "if you build it, they will come" pointing out that we didn't know what applications would develop in building the initial version of the internet, why would we wait to find the application before upgrading. Johna Til Johnson pointed to her study that looks at supply and demand independently and determines that by 2010, demand for internet traffic will outpace supply in 2010. Lane Patterson split the difference in estimating traffic growth. He believes we will see a growth rate of more like 75%. All said, the entire panel agrees the Exaflood is coming, the question that remains open for debate is how the telcos and cable companies will manage it.

Online Learning; made possible by broadband

Mon, 19 May 2008 13:12:57 -0500

One of the most rewarding things about working in the Internet industry is seeing all the ways improved connectivity improves lives. It's easy to look at high-tech innovation as something that changes consumer behavior, but the technologies that really take off often succeed because the old model just isn't working well anymore.
Take education. Last week The Boston Globe wrote about the growing popularity of online learning that was enabling thousands of people to earn diplomas without ever setting food on a college campus. The report cited many of the most cliché reasons that a student might want to earn a degree this way, such as being able to attend a morning lecture in pajamas rather than shuffling bleary eyed across campus. But it did not delve so much into what I suspect are the real reasons, such as the soaring costs of higher education that are growing faster than inflation.
Most colleges do not offer a discount for their online classes, but just by giving students some flexibility in when they will "attend" class, they expand their options significantly, making it more possible to hold down a part-time, or even a full-time job while taking courses, and, like the Boston Globe noted, earn a degree without paying hefty room and board costs.
This same month, career counselor Marty Nemko published a controversial piece for The Chronicle of Higher Education that called the Bachelor's Degree America's most overrated product. Nemko argued that the costs - and too often the debt - incurred in pursuit of a college degree had gotten so exorbitant that students could no longer expect to get back all those costs in higher-paying jobs.
This blog is not the forum to debate his startling assertion that a lot of people would be better off not going to college. But it's fair to say that the combination of poor academic preparation and limited financial resources does make college a risky proposal for many students. If online learning can alleviate some of the financial strain associated with the traditional on-campus model, it will make it more likely that students will see a real return on their investment, rather than just a mountain of debt.

Washington awakens to the Web

Wed, 14 May 2008 11:24:34 -0500

The Federal Government is finally making use of the social networking and outreach tools the Web provides. The General Service Administration recently hosted a conference to help government IT managers begin to use Web technologies to reach out to and communicate with the American public. That can only be a good thing... Better and more informed use of technology by government agencies will bring government closer to the public it serves and may well drive increased use of and demand for digital technologies by the public. The conference is a good first step. Let's hope Congress and the Cabinet Level leadership provide the support that will be necessary for this cross governmental effort to be successful.

Take Note

Tue, 13 May 2008 09:19:49 -0500

All too often on this blog, I point out problems that may arrive with the coming Exaflood, or I take time to acknowledge the many stakeholders that have not prepared adequately for the future. I've even directed you to a video or two that mock how absolutely crippled we would be if the Internet were ever to crash. But today I need to ask you to check out a video of a different sort.

Connected Nation's, Computers 4 Kids program, recently released a video that features Lotez Holloway, a beneficiary of the program, and a foster care child who tells us that he has been in six homes and four high schools in five years. Through the program, Lotez now has a computer of his own, and in having that computer, has finally found some calm, stability and hope in his life. By having access to the same tools and technology as more fortunate children, Lotez is achieving in school and has big dreams for his future.

We in the corporate world tend to spout statistics and carefully crafted messages about how important computers and broadband are to the future of our economy, and to our quality of life. But what I love about this testimony is when Lotez, completely unscripted, says it so simply and perfectly. When describing why having a computer is so essential now, he says, "it's like your pencil now."

It's like your pencil now. What else is there to say? Kudos to Connected Nation, and their Computers 4 Kids programs, for having an impact on kids like Lotez. I look forward to sharing more of this kind of video with you.

ITIF Report

Thu, 01 May 2008 14:59:09 -0500

Earlier today, the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) released a new study. The study examines broadband performance and policies in the United States and other OECD countries. While it concludes that the U.S. is behind in broadband, it also reports that about three-quarters of the difference in broadband performance from country-to-country is due to non-policy factors such as population density and market structure. It observes that policy approaches that work effectively in one country, such as direct government subsidies for deployment, may not be suitable for another country. It urges an end to the "either-or" shouting match in the U.S. and urges a combination of demand side and supply side polices to enhance U.S. broadband and spur adoption.

eGovernment

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 15:03:47 -0500

Last Friday, Connected Nation released a report about how Kentuckinans are using their internet connections to connect with eGOvernment Services. Highlights of the study include:

47% of Kentuckians use eGovernment Services
74% of Kentuckians with Broadband to their homes use eGovernment services.

I know for myself having Broadband at home allows me to do everything from ordering a replacement recycling bin to stating in touch with my kid's school. eGOvernmernt is definatley a good thing.