Technology Futures

I wrote this paper to help clarify what local open access networks actually do.

I have found that people continually confuse the local open access network with “service provider,” and thought that coming up with a new term might help.

Design Nine and WideOpen Networks will be at the Broadband Communities Annual Summit in Austin, Texas in April. Be sure to stop by our booth and say hello.

Best regards,
Andrew

Someone has come out with a Bluetooth-enabled baby bottle. As someone who has spent plenty of time feeding babies, I never thought even once, "I wish this baby bottle sent alerts to my phone." In concept, I kind of understand the notion that a "smart bottle" can help train a new parent about issues like letting the child suck too much air (bottle held at wrong angle), or lumps in the milk (did not mix powdered formula enough), but these are things you figure out very quickly on your own. I wonder how on earth you sterilize the "smart" part of the cap. For me, this falls in the same category as most other kitchen and household gadgets that seem interesting but end up stuffed in the back of the utensil drawer. Someone once gave me a long-handled barbecue fork for the grill with a built in meat thermometer. I left it outside by the grill once, it rained, the batteries leaked and corroded the battery contacts, and that was the end of that. I suspect this will do well for a while, as people are always looking for baby shower gifts, and this fits the bill perfectly. But most new parents are likely to end up using "old fashioned" glass baby bottles or the bottles that use the one use plastic inserts (which pretty much solve the sucking air problem).

The Blandin Foundation has a must-read letter from a relatively small business that illustrates very clearly the problem that "not enough broadband" has on economic development.

The whole letter lays out numerous problems, but this is one of the most striking:

"I find many candidates that are excited to raise a family in a rural community, but they do not want to live in the digital equivalence of the 1980’s."

This is the challenge rural communities face in a single sentence. How do you continue to attract and retain young workers as your broadband capacity falls farther and farther behind? Read the whole thing.

The local transport provider has several important roles and responsibilities in providing a high-quality experience for both providers and their customers. The LTP provides professional day-to-day management of the network, offloading that work from the service providers. Typical work activities include

• Monitoring and supporting the network.
• Managing and repairing the outside plant.
• Managing switches and routers.
• Tracking and managing assets.
• Adding, changing and removing circuits.
• Setting up new customers.
• Supporting trouble and service tickets.
• Provisioning new services.
• Installing and configuring equipment.
• Tracking customers and providing billing information to service providers.
• Attracting and managing service providers.
• Producing reports on customers, revenues and network performance.