I've lived in Austin for three years, and frankly I was surprised to discover that there's a lot of wireless networking research being done by UT, IBM and Intel. See my Telephony column
http://telephonyonline.com/ar/telecom_austin_texas _wireless/
With all this talent working on mobile networking and pervasive computing in town, it's really no wonder that the wireless freenet movement is so strong here.
I agree, MuniWireless.com is an excellent source of global insights on this very topic. In particular, this post tackles the thorny issue of "Who pays for wireless cities?"
http://www.muniwireless.com/archives/000452.html
Also, there is an existing U.S. precedent for government's role in financing the enabling infrastructure to proactively drive economic development. See this commentary entitled "Broadband Policy: Lessons Learned, The U.S. Interstate Highway System"
http://etf.webhop.net/comm5.html
VoIP predictions like these reminds me of all the media buzz about SMDS data services a few years ago. Lot's of hype, yet very weak market acceptance.
Where's the value proposition for a traditional carrier with a huge sunk investment in circuit switching infrastructure (i.e. most of the incumbents)? The majority of VoIP solutions to date just haven't had a viable business model. So, what's changed? It would appear, nothing.
Another case in point, more than a decade ago industry analysts predicted that ISDN BRI would quickly displace analogue phone lines, and that the modem industry would die a quick death.
Needless to say, it didn't happen. In fact, all preceeding telecom network technology appears to have experienced a useful life that's longer than most people ever imagined (ironically, with the exception of SMDS).
Telecom service ubiquity is dead. Long live service coexistance.
Slashdot Mirror
>as the saying goes, if you think training is expensive, try ignorance.
Exactly, my thought. BTW, several companies are providing support services in the open source arena -- such as...
SpikeSouce, SourceLabs, and OpenLogic
Also IT training companies are starting to offer some mainstream open source courses, like eclipse, hibernate, etc.
See http://www.inferdata.com
I've lived in Austin for three years, and frankly I was surprised to discover that there's a lot of wireless networking research being done by UT, IBM and Intel. See my Telephony column http://telephonyonline.com/ar/telecom_austin_texas _wireless/
With all this talent working on mobile networking and pervasive computing in town, it's really no wonder that the wireless freenet movement is so strong here.
I agree, MuniWireless.com is an excellent source of global insights on this very topic. In particular, this post tackles the thorny issue of "Who pays for wireless cities?" http://www.muniwireless.com/archives/000452.html Also, there is an existing U.S. precedent for government's role in financing the enabling infrastructure to proactively drive economic development. See this commentary entitled "Broadband Policy: Lessons Learned, The U.S. Interstate Highway System" http://etf.webhop.net/comm5.html
VoIP predictions like these reminds me of all the media buzz about SMDS data services a few years ago. Lot's of hype, yet very weak market acceptance. Where's the value proposition for a traditional carrier with a huge sunk investment in circuit switching infrastructure (i.e. most of the incumbents)? The majority of VoIP solutions to date just haven't had a viable business model. So, what's changed? It would appear, nothing. Another case in point, more than a decade ago industry analysts predicted that ISDN BRI would quickly displace analogue phone lines, and that the modem industry would die a quick death. Needless to say, it didn't happen. In fact, all preceeding telecom network technology appears to have experienced a useful life that's longer than most people ever imagined (ironically, with the exception of SMDS). Telecom service ubiquity is dead. Long live service coexistance.