Viodi View - May17th, 2006 Issue

In this on-line publication, we share our analysis, opinions and direction on the interactive television news and views that we believe will be of interest and use to our friends associated directly or indirectly with independent telephone companies. For more information as to the various ways Viodi works with independent telephone companies, please go to http://www.viodi.com/alliance/

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The Viodi View [Viodi, LLC] and its associates used their best efforts in collecting and preparing the information published herein. However, the Viodi View [Viodi, LLC] does not assume, and hereby disclaims, any and all liability for any loss or damage caused by errors or omissions, whether such errors or omissions resulted from negligence, accident, or other causes.

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Viodi View Newsletter - May 17th, 2006

Click here to learn more about the C-COR Global IP Summit

By Ken Pyle, ken.pyle@viodi.com, Managing Editor, Viodi View

Solving World Hunger
A Bit of Background
Other Connections……Parks Associates Connections Conference
Serve Up Video or Images in a Different Way
Mobile IP Networks
Making Money from the Convergence of IPTV & Mobile
Midwest Content Update
Local Content Workshop Wrap-up – Minneapolis
Upcoming Summer Events
The Korner – It's All About Community

Probably the most common question posed to me is, "why the independent telcos." People who are unfamiliar with this segment cannot understand how someone who lives in the tenth largest berg in the America can have such a passion for independent telcos and the people that collectively make them a unique American institution. I could spend a whole newsletter on the reasons why this is the focus of Viodi, but, in a word it would have to be community. That is, independent telcos are the thread that ties their rural communities together and connects them to the rest of the world.

Solving World Hunger

Just what is community? A form of question has been asked for at least 2,000 years. In this Internet-connected world, the definition of community and neighbor extends beyond the physical proximity of a neighborhood or even town and literally reaches around the globe. And since humans have been around, poverty and hunger have, unfortunately, also been part of the condition. As mentioned in an earlier issue of the Viodi View, long-time telecommunications’ industry veteran, Kris Sowolla has moved on to a new career working for the Grameen Foundation.

The Grameen Foundation is a non-profit organization that is all about using microfinanceto help lift people out of poverty. A timely and very good article about this topic was provided in the 5/15 issue of the Wall Street Journal. The reason why microfinance works is that it is a grass-roots approach where money is loaned directly to people who invest in tools that generate income. The social fabric of the community pressures people to pay back the loans. As a result, defaults are less than 3%. The success of the program is measured by more than just monetary value, as other metrics, like the number of children going to school, has increased as a result of this program.

Kris has been applying his marketing and program management skills to an open source software package that will streamline the operations (e.g., recordkeeping, reporting, etc.) portion of the microfinance business. An open source solution was chosen, as it was felt that this would be the best way to localize the software. Kris is actively looking for open source programmers who want to make a difference. He produced a video that tells the message much better than I can, so click here to view this exciting program. .

A Bit of Background

Ironically, the background music used for this video was provided by the Mission to Youth & Students, New Life Band, a band located in Tanzania. The New Life Band has been working on a long-term vision to build a secondary school and a Youth Vocational Training Center to, “enable youth to be self-supporting.” The New Life Band will be touring the heartland of the United States again this fall and I highly recommend catching one of their shows.

Other Connections……Parks Associates Connections Conference

Kris serves as part of an informal Viodi View editorial sounding board. Tac Berry, another industry veteran with impeccable credentials, also helps in this role. Tac also was able to fill-in for me at Park’s Associates recent Connections event in San Jose. Tac reports that, “they [Parks Associates} do a good job.” Click here to read his comments and see the linkage between home automation and pest controllers.

Serve Up Video or Images in a Different Way

Tac is on to something when he suggests in his piece that most technology is too complicated. Complicated normally means the consumer has to invest a lot of time in order to achieve certain results. Pixpo just launched a new product that promises an easier and, maybe, different way for consumers to serve up videos and images. Pixpo’s software provides the interface that allows customers to easily organize and share video and images with friends or the connected world. It supports Really Simple Syndication (RSS) feeds and has a search engine that seems to work. To read the rest of my comments and to see the searchable video web site we put together using this software, please click here [Club Viodi members only].

Mobile IP Networks?

Another Viodi View contributor with a great deal of relevant Silicon Valley experience is Alan Weissberger. Weissberger listened to a webinar on May 16th produced by Cisco called, Evolution of Mobile Networks to IP NGN. He was able to generate a quick overview of this webinar, but there was a lot more information provided. If you would like a follow up article on this topic, please call or email him indicating what aspects you'd like him to cover. Alan is actively seeking funding for his broadband wireless technology research and analysis. Click here to read Alan’s article.

Making Money From the Convergence of IPTV & Mobile

While Alan was listening to a Cisco Webinar, yours truly was listening to a USTA webinar, titled Maximizing Returns on IPTV and Mobile TV. David Gross, Senior Telecom Analyst for BIA Financial, set the tone of the webinar by asking, “Will this be another $1 Billion sinkhole” [like the RBOC’s investments in video 10 years ago]. He gave a number of good reasons why telcos have no choice but to move forward with a video component to their business. His colleague, Christopher Versace, Senior Wireless Analyst, made an argument that video will also be an inevitable part of the mobile world as well.

Versace suggested that 2008 is probably the earliest that there will be widespread deployment of video via mobile. In both the IPTV and mobile worlds, there are a number of variables that could impact the business case including network bypass (e.g. content downloads direct from the content owner to consumer). It was suggested that instead of looking at futuristic applications, telcos would be wise to find some sort of hook; e.g., DirecTV’s NFL Sunday Ticket was given as an example of a successful way to get new customers.

Midwest Content Update

If you are looking for something to do this Friday night, I recommend checking out Roger Bindl’s Art Opening & Film Screening. This is going to be a true multimedia show featuring photos, pastels, pottery & film screening. Details of the show are as follows:

EVENT: Roger’s Art Opening & Film Screening – photos, pastels, pottery & film screening
LOCATION: Escape Java Joint 916 Williamson Street Madison, Wisconsin
DATE: May 19th, 2005 starting at 5:00pm. Screenings on the hour starting at 7 or 8:00pm.
Art work will be set up Thursday afternoon.

To some extent, Roger's Art Opening & Film Screening has become a bit of a mini-tribute to his long-time friend, Richard Johnson, who passed on last weekend. Although I never met Richard, I felt some connection to him if only through the videos produced by Roger. Richard starred as the character Bill in the video to Bill Fielding’s song, This Ain’t Beans.

On a more lighthearted note, Roger Bindl has brought Mike Simon’s latest version of PopCorn to electronic life. In this chapter, Popcorn obsesses over the love letter, while his little brother shoots off a rocket with thrilling results. This leads us to the conclusion in the next issue where confusion abounds and the gang is in for a new adventure. Check it out by clicking on the image to the right.

Regarding independent content production, Roger Bindl reports that the debut of the locally produced movie, Buckystein – a cross between Bucky the Badger and a horror movie – was well received. It was produced by a local producer at WYOU, where Roger sits on the board. Bindl indicated that they had problems promoting the event because the poster proved so popular that people were stealing it; they were even calling the station for copies. Despite that, it turned out to be a great fundraiser.

Local Content Workshop Wrap-up – Minneapolis

Local content was the topic of conversation in Minneapolis two weeks ago. It was great fun, as Adobe spoke about the prevalence of Flash as a tool for enabling Internet video. The highlight of this abbreviated workshop had to be the presentation made by the team of Adam Saltmarsh and Shalon Wilber of diversiCOM. It was a great interactive session with them discussing how independent telcos can move into local content production. The biggest take-away from our conversation was the need to find someone with a passion for creating content. The video clip of our presentation of the Producer’s Award to Adam and Shalon will be in the next issue.

In the meantime, thank you again to ADC for hosting the meeting. Steve Grady, Lu Johnson and Chuck Anderson went out of their way to make us feel welcome. They were very gracious hosts.

We are making plans to take the Local Content Workshop to South Carolina – probably the week of June 5th. If this is of interest, please send an email..

Upcoming Summer Events

Some of the events I will be involved with this summer. Please let me know if you are going to be attending one of these events.

Global IP Summit – June 27th/28th, Athens, Greece – A great place to meet with and hear from executives from leading telecommunications and entertainment companies.
OPASTCO’s Summer Convention, Hot Springs, VA – July 15th to 19th – A great place to learn about the independent telco market in an environment that is family friendly.
Digital Hollywood – Building Blocks 2006, San Jose, CA – August 15 to 17th – Victor Harwood’s Digital Hollywood conferences always bring together a variety of interesting speakers from a cutting edge technology companies; always well worth the time.

The Korner - It’s All About Community

Even though San Jose could be considered a poster child city for urban sprawl, it really consists of many sub-communities that quietly bind the citizens in a way that government or businesses cannot. These sub-communities aren’t necessarily contiguous, but consist of people who have a common reason to be together. The overlapping connections from things such as church groups, school activities, recreational events and kids’ sports weave together a fabric of communities that give a small town feel to this urban jungle.

The epiphany I had a few weeks ago during my son’s Little League opening day ceremonies is the thing we are missing from our “small town” is an independent telephone company. As can be seen in the few pictures I took, the opening day ceremony could have been right out of the heartland. The difference is that if we had been in Stevens Point, WI, an independent telco probably would have been involved with these opening ceremonies.

And an independent telco’s involvement would go beyond just sponsorship, as their people would probably be participating in the league in various leadership roles. The bottom line is that, thanks to their inherent make-up, independent telcos strengthen the communities they serve. This builds the kind of loyalty that gives independent telcos great reputations with their customers.

The other part of the epiphany was that the large telecommunication companies end up investing their dollars on high profile marketing and promotion initiatives. So, instead of investing in Little League, the large carriers will spend $50 million for naming rights to a professional sports stadium; effectively supporting high-priced, celebrity athletes at the expense of thousands of smaller communities and millions of citizens.

I have this glimmer of hope that maybe technology will change this equation and, even big telecom carriers will decide to spend more marketing dollars on a variety of community-based initiatives and less on global branding efforts. The related hope is that maybe we will soon start to move from a culture of celebrity to one where we celebrate our communities. Still, technology won’t be the panacea that gets us there, as evidenced by the independent telcos which have shown that real success at the community level requires a human touch.

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