Achieving Connectivity from the Edge Bob Frankston

1. Achieving Connectivity from the EdgeBob Frankston

2. Changing the Horse you Rode in on

3. Dagnabit: 15 minute vs. “reality” • So many stakeholders in the status quo! • Silos are barriers to entry, you need it to be difficult! • Real opportunity comes from decoupling • You need to understand the technology to transcend it • The Post Office has mastered routing, why can’t we? • Yet we think the Internet is just another TV channel THE INTERNET IS ABOUT RELATIONSHIPS TELECOM IS ABOUT MAKING IT DIFFICULT

4. Preparing to understand • What is the value of a bit such as this one “1”? • What is the capacity of this piece of wire? • If you can answer these questions you don’t get it! • The value is in using the network, not the network itself. • Once you’ve defined a service you’ve locked in your assumptions. • Moore’s law: based on decoupling marketplaces • If we didn’t know better … • But we do – the Internet is a very effective demo!

5. It’s so darn easy to network☺☻☺☻! • Home Networks • They are not networks – just copper and radios (rarely fiber) • The devices use physical transports to facilitate networking • As a result: • The speed has gone from 2kbps  1Gbps, Gbps switch $50! • It costs very little to install and essentially nothing to operate • Caveat • It should be far easier and will be! • In 1995 home networking was never going happen. • We are supposed to be getting it via the STB n-tuple plays • I made sure home networks were not a profit center.

6. And it scales “I-90” routing • Interconnecting neighborhoods is trivial and V1’s been done • We already do it the hard way – home run connectivity • Without path dependence all access points add to coverage • Distance is easy • My House to Boston “peering” point (AKA I-90 entrance) • Thence Seattle (AKA I-90 exit) • That’s it folks. Done. More provisioning than routing. • And cheap • We already have the copper, fiber and radios! 300× in Newton! • The Post Office has been routing for thousands of years! • They don’t confuse naming with addressing!

7. Government vs. Userment • We must stakeholders, not indentured tenants. • Positive Sum Ownership (of the Bit Commons) • Nonexclusive! • Contribute and get even more in return (network effect) • Ownership at scale • Your home network is yours • Your community network is done by the community • Spanning connectivity may be national or global • Simplicity at scale • At the edge: Complex policy decisions about relationships • Avoid policy for spanning connection: Just provision

8. Key Idea 1: Networking not networks • Networking is something we do – Andy Lippmann (MIT) • We can use any means available • We can innovate in any way • The power of decoupling – assume relationships and paths • Telecom is now about little except creating billable events • Redundant broadband for containing bits • Phone companies do not create phone calls • Cable: 2Mbps HDTV over IP is better than over “cable”! • Makes promise it cannot keep – it doesn’t control the network! • Devices can do telephony but they aren’t telephones!

9. Key Idea 2: The Opportunity Dynamic • The Internet is about discovering what is possible • If you don’t rely on promises, you can’t be charged for them • Demand creates supply • If we aren’t constrained by the past perfect • Digital is a great facilitator • Telecom is about delivering only what we already have • Every bit has an pre-assigned value without context • Depends on the myth that bits and ideas are scarce! • We already know better!

10. Telecom is a Failed idea • Based on • The accidental properties of analog signaling • The notions that monopolies are smarter than markets • We keep it alive • The FCC’s Regulatorium fights reality • People still think phone calls come from a phone company • A myriad of stakeholders including many at this conference • Mostly ignorance • The idea that we can’t drive or do our own networking • A failure to understand the Internet beyond YouTube • Malthusian zero sum economics

11. Telecom is not sustainable • http://www.frankston.com/?name=AssuringScarcity • Routing is hard because it is about managing scarcity! • The bit commons has effectively unlimited abundance • The Internet is not a consumable, we create capacity • Network effect means commons is far greater than slivers • Abundance means you can’t tax services to fund transport • Incremental cost of email, VoIP etc is effectively zero. • End-to-End constraint means you can’t charge for better • Provider doesn’t control the path • It’s a canal across an ocean of bits – not a viable business!

12. Telecom Connectivity • Telecom as a Service isthe problem • If you fund the infrastructure out of service revenue • Abundance is a threat – More “Internet” less revenue • You have to monetize the network, not the use of the • Telecom defines and limits our ability to communicate! • It’s not about fiber, it’s about market structure • The service model is inherently dysfunctional. • Muni-bells are bells – it’s not about FTTH, it’s about opportunity! • Infrastructure funding aligns incentives and gives us abundance • Why are we fixated on speed and not connectivity?

13. The FCC can play a positive role • Remove legacy barriers to local ownership • Recognize that we don’t need to support carriers • Benign neglect – don’t extend the Regulatorium • Remove business restrictions such as “cable content” rules • Understand connectivity and fund research • Don’t accept “Stole it fair and square” • Don’t give us “broadband”, give us Internet Opportunity. • And benign Neglect: Most problems will solve themselves • “Spectrum” will not have value if we have connectivity • Complex routing and telco control is self-defeating • Monetizing bits is a failed idea

14. We have met the enemy … • And it is us – Pogo • Example: If you have copper you have DSL 24×7 • And 100% wireless coverage to boot • It’s not about speed – it’s about our lives & our ec • But instead we beg for more broadband • We mean “More of that there Internet Channel” • Carriers hear – more delivery pipes with a 1% tithe • Or they think they can monetize bits a la Genuity. • And we get more Bells & Muni-Bells • It’s not about just watching TV • It’s about mundane use of connectivity for our day to day lives!

15. The Biggest Problem • We have a perfect usable Internet yet • We think it’s about YouTube • Cities have multiple special infrastructures and private fiber • They pay for phone calls and all sorts of special services • They have toy cable TV stations and rather than video servers • They don’t expect to use the abundant gigabit connectivity • And we are disconnected everywhere but in our own homes!! • Something is very very wrong. • We have a perfectly good Internet but we ignore it! • We’ve paid for it and yet think we have to pay again and again • We think freedom is a faster broad band.

16. Let’s stop being stupid! • Telecom is not viable so why try so hard to preserve it • The infrastructure(V1) exists but is unused! Cost is <<$0 • It’s not just a TV channel, it’s infrastructure! • So let’s make a deal • We get infrastructure and can align incentives • The shareholders escape with their hides and some money • Like Divestiture 1 but done right. • Like Divestiture 1 – changes happens when it must • Or we can deny ourselves trillion dollars in value • But it’s also about our lives and safety (9/11 and 911)

17. And on with the show • Apologies for the interruption. • You may now resume monetizing Ptolemy's telecom. • Back to the past already in progress …

18. AneComm 2008presentation –http://eCommMedia.comfor more