Viodi View Newsletter - October 10th, 2007

Click here to learn how Viodi can help your organization with Local Content

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

• A Key Conference
• Social Networking - The New Dialtone
• HP On Demand
• Walmart - Satellite Broadband Now, WiMAX Next
• Wireless Rules - 2007 SVC Wireless Annual Conference (pdf)
• Calendar Events of Interest – Click Here
• Rick’s Roundabout Route to RICA - Part 4
• Advertising, Internet Video and Traditional CATV Distribution
• 2 Years later - Still Dishing on AT&T
• Recent Club Viodi Postings
• People on the Move
• The Korner -Wiring Basics 101

Tidbits and gems from seminars; unfortunately my computer is filled with more than I can remember or translate into readable prose. John Reddish of Advent Management International suggests that active note taking and seminar participation helps in the learning process. I just hope that the things that do seep into my consciousness are not just trivia, but are the insight that will help take Viodi to its next level.

A Key Conference

Social Networking - The New Dialtone

Drinking from a firehose; that is the feeling I get after attending a Parks Associates conference, particularly one of their focused seminars like the Digital Lifestyle seminar held on October 3 in Santa Clara. Click here to learn more about conference that covered everything from IPTV to home networking in the U.S, as well as Europe and Asia.

HP on Demand

One of the significant tidbits from the Parks Associates Digital Lifestyle seminar was the factoid that the DVD is not dead. The announcement by the DVD Copy Control Association that they have developed a process for retailers and consumer electronic manufacturers to create copy-protected DVDs at the store or at home will breathe new life into the DVD.

HP has been working in the background on both the content side of the business and the hardware side of the business and is set to supply equipment that will allow retailers to set-up their own kiosks to burn DVDs on demand that have been transferred electronically, reducing inventory while expanding a retailers offering to more niche products. HP has agreements with over 30 content providers, including First Look Studios, Nelvana and Cinequest, representing over 4,000 titles and HP's press release indicates that this is just the start.

Walmart – Satellite Broadband Now, WiMAX Next?

Eric Mantion, formerly of InStat/MDR, suggested a couple of years ago, somewhat in jest, that Walmart had the potential to be a formidable competitor in the telecom business. Their deal with Hughes to resell HughesNet satellite broadband service is an indication that he may have been onto something. In addition, Walmart customers of who purchase the Hughes Net service will receive a Walmart gift card worth $100.

One lesson from the HP and Walmart announcements is that independent telcos must beware of the unforeseen competitors.

Wireless Rules - 2007 SVC Wireless Annual Conference (pdf)

Alan Weissberger reports on the 2007 SVC Wireless conference in this article. He hones in on the keynote speech by Arun Bhikshesvaran, Vice President Strategy & CTO North America, Ericsson Inc, who spoke about Global Competition and Collaboration in the Mobile/Wireless Ecosystem. Weissberger’s report provides some good insight into how many people are using wireless, how they are using it and where it is going. Click here for more info.

Calendar Events of Interest – Click Here

Bookmark http://www.viodi.com/calendar.htm for the events that Viodi will either be participating in or covering. Two events not on this calendar are:

• Telcos in the Northwest - we are looking at the week of December 3rd for our next Local Content Workshop - it will be held in the State of Washington.
• There is a good chance we will have a no-cost local content reception in a few weeks in conjunction with the TelcoTV extravaganza.

Independent Telcos, contact us at ken dot pyle at viodi. dot com for more information on either of these events.

Rick’s Roundabout Route to RICA - Part 4 Watch Rick Vergin (or at least his animated avatar) make the trek from Wisconsin dairyland to the orange groves of Florida and the sunshine of Jacksonville and find out why he is making his way to the RICA/RTG conference in Jacksonville, November 14th and 15th.
To see all of the videos in this series, click on this link. ViodiTV @ RICA sponsorships are still available � Click here for more info

Advertising, Internet Video and Traditional CATV Distribution

Advertising is a huge element to making video viable for both online and television. In this brief video with Erik Smith (he has left Metacafe since this interview), we discuss the importance of advertisers and matching advertisers to content. Smith also briefly touches upon how Metacafe is looking for cable and telco distribution partners to bring their content beyond on the Internet and to the television. It is interesting how the related videos that pop up after our interview do not seem too related to the content of our interview. Check it out here.

2 Years later - Still Dishing on AT&T

Big rumor last week, but not much of a peep this week regarding an AT&T purchase of Echostar. Click here to read my two cents on this topic.

Recent Club Viodi Postings:

Here are some recent Club Viodi postings:

• TelcoTV & Local Content.....
• Broadband and High Def - Next Questions
• Independent Telco V-Commerce Example

People on the Move

Viodi friend and sometime contributor Tac Berry just joined Engage, Inc. as Vice President of Business Development. Engage has an interesting product line that enables legacy equipment to work over IP networks to do things such as cellular backhaul, PBX-T1 interconnections and encryption of T1/E1 data.

OK, this isn’t really people on the move, but thanks again to NeoNova for producing and mailing the ViodiTV DVDs from the OPASTCO Summer conference. We did get some feedback. For those who watched the DVD, please let us know what you thought by clicking here.

The Korner - Wiring Basics 101

As a native of the golden state of California it is difficult for me to comprehend that the ground can freeze, making it impossible to dig. A comment made at NTCA’s Key Employee Conference, reminded me of the challenge frozen ground presents to service providers that need to repair a buried drop. It is common for a service provider to leave a temporary drop on the ground, until they can come back after the spring thaw and bury a new cable.

Coincidentally, Roger Bindl created a video several months ago showing how one telco (not an independent telco) that serves his mother fixed her drop in this manner. Roger filmed this "repair" to document a spot where aerial drop has laid on the ground for several years. The house repair was cleaned up within a couple days, but the pole-to-pole wire on the ground is still there. He is surprised how aerial drop wire, on the ground, can survive the blades of the lawn mowers and snow plows.

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