Director of the Institute for Next Generation Internet
Impacts of Telecommunications on Quality of Life and the Economy
Where are we going in the future?
Globalization: Everything we do well in the Bay Area in terms of technology (e-anything) other countries think of as what they do in the global economy. How does that impact us, now? How does that impact the students we are training in these technologies?
In the Bay Area they are playing catch up in trying to bring together stakeholders around global economy and technology. Broadband Forum shows we are already on the road by bringing many of the stakeholders together in this room. (My comment: Of course, we need to keep the momentum going. I talked briefly to Rollin Richmond that RCRA should take the lead in forming multi-agency telecom committees).
What are the risks? Not just the opportunities. In California (forget the dichotomy of rural and urban) infrastructure (water, roads, power, telecommunications) are at risk of becoming sub-standard. Why are research centers investing in other countries? Why are they hedging their bets?
What is broadband? What are its uses?
We can’t be predictive about how the broadband will be used. Most experts were wrong about what has happened in the last 10 years. Trust that it will be used.
Every job is an ejob.
Think of all the different computational environments. Not just laptop computers: cell phones, gaming environments (world of warcraft).
We can’t do telemedicine unless you have reliable 50 Gigabit connection. Liability issues with diagnosis. Hi def imagery crucial.
Tokyo has 10 gb wireless.
Restrictive discussions on broadband are going to limit our ability to innovate.
AARP is trying to get people with gray hair to show up at the right places to say, ‘We need 10 GB to the home, now!”
Pacific rim countries, in spite of economic hard times, have invested in telecom infrastructure and that has begun to pay off. CA needs to focus on this to stay competitive.
Lots of questions:
What can we do in this state to leverage improved broadband? What are the killer apps? What could we do right now if we had an improved network? How can you connect supercharged urban cores with rural areas? Improved infrastructure is peanuts in cost in the overall scheme of things with a tremendous pay off.
Example Hi-Def teleconference between here and some education point in the Bay Area as a demo of what’s possible. Inexpensive to set up. Wow factor. Creating a vision of what’s possible.
‘World is Flat’ (Friedman book): Everything that is happening in that book is the result of infrastructure that was built 10 years ago. What is happening in CA now is what will shape the opportunities of the future.
Assume gigabit to the home.
Q&A
Are you involved in the wi-fi effort in SF.
A: Yes. What’s important? Can students in the Mission get access to the network? Not if Bif can check his email at Stonestown. (well Bif’s email could be very important too :-))
Google has changed the conversation by offering the wi-fi network for free. So, the telcos now have to scratch their head. Announcement of the network should happen soon.
In New Orleans a guy set up a wi-fi network at 400k down that became a lifeline. Bell South pushed through a bill that made it illegal to have anythinover 128k.
What do you know of Lifelong Learning Institute?
Working with A
Could there be a broadband initiative?
A: Yes. There is a bond on the boards. We need to have people show up and say we need 10gb pop in every community.
Missed the next queston.
What do you know of Google buying up dark fiber?
A: Prediction: If fiber to the home is (first mile) implemented, Google will provide the backbone for free.
Not sure of the question, but the answer was distributed computing for all kinds of apps because the computers are too slow, so using the distributed computing would allow faster rendering over the network while the computers catch up since the network is fast enough.
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