Remember http://friendster.com – the popular networking site that got a buy offer from Goggle in 2003? I don’t …I just read about it. OK, this was a test question related to what an investor should do after his business reaches a certain level. It is the dilemma Mark Zuckenberg, founder of http://facebook.com faces right now. Should he sell the social-networking site to Google or should he keep on building?
The build-or-sell dilemma facing Zuckerberg is becoming more common among the precocious entrepreneurs immersed in the latest Internet craze, a communal concept of content sharing that has been dubbed Web 2.0. Besides Facebook, other Web 2.0 firms frequently mentioned as prime takeover targets include online video site Metacafe.com and Photobucket.com, which has emerged as one of the Internet's busiest destinations by hosting personal videos and photos that are routinely linked to top social-networking sites such as Myspace.com and Facebook.
If you are interested in social networking you can also try http://myjumps.tv a site where you can place videoblogs, have videconferences or use the mail and SMS tools.
And if you are here why not go for something more educational? The Foundry School offers training courses for PR practitioners, translators and computer engineers. It is a training, research and development center working on behalf of SigEx Inc. The revolutionary platform it uses for communication is based on the SuperPBX concept. The Foundry and Sigex Inc., are the creation of CEO Chris Cantell and COO Frederic Artru - two professionals in their field of activity. For more information please visit our website http://thefoundryschoo.tv
Diana Zotescu, student at SigEx Foundry (( http://sigexfoundry.info )
"Public Relations & Advertisement" project of The Foundry School ( http://thefoundryschoo.tv)
Monday 26 February 2007
Friday 23 February 2007
Our Favorite SigEx Foundry blogs by Silvia Baldin
Here is a list of our top ten blog sites. They all relate to SigEx Ventures, the Foundry School and the founders Chris Cantell and Frederic Artru. We invite you to visit them as well for news on other Sigex Ventures companies and SigEx Foundry projects.
1. http://frederic-artru.blogspot.com
2. http://sigexventures-sigexfoundry.blogspot.com
3. http://sigexventureseurofund.blogspot.com
4. http://silviasigexfoundry.blogspot.com
5. http://diana-sigex.livejournal.com
6. http://sigexventures-avenirdesmedias.blogspot.com
7. http://sigexventures-futureofmedia.blogspot.com
8. http://sigexventures-beapartofit.blogspot.com
9. http://sigexventures-nanodata.blogspot.com
10. http://sigextogo.blogspot.com
1. http://frederic-artru.blogspot.com
2. http://sigexventures-sigexfoundry.blogspot.com
3. http://sigexventureseurofund.blogspot.com
4. http://silviasigexfoundry.blogspot.com
5. http://diana-sigex.livejournal.com
6. http://sigexventures-avenirdesmedias.blogspot.com
7. http://sigexventures-futureofmedia.blogspot.com
8. http://sigexventures-beapartofit.blogspot.com
9. http://sigexventures-nanodata.blogspot.com
10. http://sigextogo.blogspot.com
Thursday 22 February 2007
Our Favorite SigEx Foundry blogs by Silvia Baldin
Here is a list of our top ten blog sites. They all relate to SigEx Ventures, the Foundry School and the founders Chris Cantell and Frederic Artru. We invite you to visit them as well for news on other Sigex Ventures companies and SigEx Foundry projects.
1. http://frederic-artru.blogspot.com
2. http://sigexventures-sigexfoundry.blogspot.com
3. http://sigexventureseurofund.blogspot.com
4. http://silviasigexfoundry.blogspot.com
5. http://diana-sigex.livejournal.com
6. http://sigexventures-avenirdesmedias.blogspot.com
7. http://sigexventures-futureofmedia.blogspot.com
8. http://sigexventures-beapartofit.blogspot.com
9. http://sigexventures-nanodata.blogspot.com
10. http://sigextogo.blogspot.com
by Silvia Baldin
1. http://frederic-artru.blogspot.com
2. http://sigexventures-sigexfoundry.blogspot.com
3. http://sigexventureseurofund.blogspot.com
4. http://silviasigexfoundry.blogspot.com
5. http://diana-sigex.livejournal.com
6. http://sigexventures-avenirdesmedias.blogspot.com
7. http://sigexventures-futureofmedia.blogspot.com
8. http://sigexventures-beapartofit.blogspot.com
9. http://sigexventures-nanodata.blogspot.com
10. http://sigextogo.blogspot.com
by Silvia Baldin
Wednesday 21 February 2007
Enhanced Communications by Silvia Baldin
The future of media is just around the corner, and it ain’t the Internet. It’s a completely new viewing diagram where you pay for the experience and control, and you see whatever you want, whenever you want, on whatever device you want, anywhere in the world.
Picture This
It’s 9:20 Sunday morning. You are sitting on your couch and turn on your TV to see what’s happening. You want to watch soccer, but your team is playing in Brazil and last night’s game won’t be shown for hours. You could watch the new Monsters Inc. movie, but your cable company isn’t willing to pay the royalties until next year, even though your friends in Germany saw it last night. You know you can pick it up off the web, but you will have to wait hours for it to download. Besides, you would have to watch the movie on your computer, in your office (no couch), by yourself, without your kids. After nearly half a century, the broadcasters are still controlling what you can see, and when and where you see it.
Look What’s Coming
TV, cable, telephone and cell phone technologies already let you see, hear and call from anywhere to anyplace, anytime at all. People think these technologies are already “good enough" as separate islands – now if only they could be “bridged" together...
Connecting this diverse group of products and services will be no small task, but it is inevitable with the convergence of technology, an over-supply of bandwidth (which has driven traffic load utilization down from 10-15% to 2% for most networks) and the new “bridge" technologies now being developed. As the convergence of cell phones, digital TV, cable distribution and the Internet become increasingly common, coupled with a “super" PBX, they will morph into Enhanced Communications where family get-togethers, with unlimited numbers of participants, can be broadcast to every family members’ TV; where Internet video games and music merge into one stream of digital content enhanced with participants communicating from any part of the world; and where you really can order any movie in any language at any time on any communications device (Watch your favorite movie on your cell phone while riding the train home, perhaps?). The new “new" media will be delivered with the “bridged" distribution channels for multiple transport pipes and can be viewed on your TV, your PC, or your cell phone in one continually-widening, broadband open-pipe to your home, office, and throughout your enterprise.
What’s missing is a commercial platform – the “SuperPBX" – for controlling the transport pipes and software that will let you receive the applications and digital content, interacting with, and displayed on, any device. Your cell phone, even with 3G, won’t be powerful enough, your powerful terabyte router from Juniper or Cisco will not be able to receive the necessary data from the cable network to deliver the enhanced media products. The solution delivered by a new SuperPBX “bridge" platform creates a massive opportunity for innovation. A new industry, composed of next generation start-ups, media giants and major carrier suppliers, is emerging to deliver high traffic, Enhanced Communications products and services for that “bridged" platform. The platform itself could be advanced PBX, multi-channel wireless, video recorder, display cell phones or a global enhanced game. And what of the new “bridge" – the SuperPBX platform? Once the SuperPBX arrives, will we need our computers, TV’s and cell phones?
Picture This
It’s 9:20 Sunday morning. You are sitting on your couch and turn on your TV to see what’s happening. You want to watch soccer, but your team is playing in Brazil and last night’s game won’t be shown for hours. You could watch the new Monsters Inc. movie, but your cable company isn’t willing to pay the royalties until next year, even though your friends in Germany saw it last night. You know you can pick it up off the web, but you will have to wait hours for it to download. Besides, you would have to watch the movie on your computer, in your office (no couch), by yourself, without your kids. After nearly half a century, the broadcasters are still controlling what you can see, and when and where you see it.
Look What’s Coming
TV, cable, telephone and cell phone technologies already let you see, hear and call from anywhere to anyplace, anytime at all. People think these technologies are already “good enough" as separate islands – now if only they could be “bridged" together...
Connecting this diverse group of products and services will be no small task, but it is inevitable with the convergence of technology, an over-supply of bandwidth (which has driven traffic load utilization down from 10-15% to 2% for most networks) and the new “bridge" technologies now being developed. As the convergence of cell phones, digital TV, cable distribution and the Internet become increasingly common, coupled with a “super" PBX, they will morph into Enhanced Communications where family get-togethers, with unlimited numbers of participants, can be broadcast to every family members’ TV; where Internet video games and music merge into one stream of digital content enhanced with participants communicating from any part of the world; and where you really can order any movie in any language at any time on any communications device (Watch your favorite movie on your cell phone while riding the train home, perhaps?). The new “new" media will be delivered with the “bridged" distribution channels for multiple transport pipes and can be viewed on your TV, your PC, or your cell phone in one continually-widening, broadband open-pipe to your home, office, and throughout your enterprise.
What’s missing is a commercial platform – the “SuperPBX" – for controlling the transport pipes and software that will let you receive the applications and digital content, interacting with, and displayed on, any device. Your cell phone, even with 3G, won’t be powerful enough, your powerful terabyte router from Juniper or Cisco will not be able to receive the necessary data from the cable network to deliver the enhanced media products. The solution delivered by a new SuperPBX “bridge" platform creates a massive opportunity for innovation. A new industry, composed of next generation start-ups, media giants and major carrier suppliers, is emerging to deliver high traffic, Enhanced Communications products and services for that “bridged" platform. The platform itself could be advanced PBX, multi-channel wireless, video recorder, display cell phones or a global enhanced game. And what of the new “bridge" – the SuperPBX platform? Once the SuperPBX arrives, will we need our computers, TV’s and cell phones?
The Foundry is an open book by Silvia Baldin
The Foundry’s proven process using three phases of validation provides a solid foundation for sustainability after projects are launched. A “win-by-design” approach with strategic customers enables products to be designed to meet customer needs while patents are secured. Monthly builds continue to validate products and services through the development stage, enabling them to be adapted to strategic customer needs and ensuring their value proposition.
Using this approach, SigEx builds companies in a sustainable way.
Using this approach, SigEx builds companies in a sustainable way.
Sustainable business by Silvia Baldin
The Foundry is a revolutionary training, research and development center that uses proven methodologies and management techniques to create successful companies based on advanced technology innovations. One of the requirements of development projects and companies launched by The Foundry is that they be sustainable businesses. Sustainability is about not depending on the market, and is a very strong asset in building technology companies today with excellent potential for creating value and personal wealth.
Tools used to create sustainability include use of our own investment fund, SigEx Ventures, combined with structures that provide value, distribution of equity and a controlled exit strategy. This approach creates a level of sustainability that allows our project companies to control their own destinies. Projects are pre-funded for 12 to 18 months of operation through SigEx Ventures, providing investors opportunities for a high return on investment based on micro investment funding (small structures grow faster), and providing Foundry graduates with stable opportunities for growth.
Tools used to create sustainability include use of our own investment fund, SigEx Ventures, combined with structures that provide value, distribution of equity and a controlled exit strategy. This approach creates a level of sustainability that allows our project companies to control their own destinies. Projects are pre-funded for 12 to 18 months of operation through SigEx Ventures, providing investors opportunities for a high return on investment based on micro investment funding (small structures grow faster), and providing Foundry graduates with stable opportunities for growth.
Tuesday 20 February 2007
Enhanced Communications by Silvia Baldin
The future of media is in the hands of Enhanced Communications and in the Leadership Training Program. Rarely is leadership something from birth. Most of the times you learn it. With the Leadership Training Program from The Foundry you get know the ups and downs of being in charge of a team. The Foundry is actively recruiting individuals and established technology project teams to participate in the emerging Enhanced Communications industry that promises to become “The Next Big Thing”. A paradigm shift is underway in the telecommunications industry, as an established, unprofitable business model gives way to new, parallel processing, multi-protocol solutions that can bridge previously incompatible networks and deliver digital content when and where it is needed. This paradigm shift provides excellent opportunities for individuals willing to participate in and build this new industry.
By Diana Zotescu
The Foundry is a revolutionary training, research and development center working on behalf of SigEx Inc. The revolutionary platform it uses for communication is based on the SuperPBX concept. The Foundry and Sigex Inc., are the creation of CEO Chris Cantell and COO Frederic Artru two professionals in their field of activity. For more information please visit our website thefoundryschool.tv.
By Diana Zotescu
The Foundry is a revolutionary training, research and development center working on behalf of SigEx Inc. The revolutionary platform it uses for communication is based on the SuperPBX concept. The Foundry and Sigex Inc., are the creation of CEO Chris Cantell and COO Frederic Artru two professionals in their field of activity. For more information please visit our website thefoundryschool.tv.
The Foundry and The Future of Media by Silvia Baldin
The Foundry around the World – in a world that moves towards globalization The Foundry follows just as well the multicultural pattern. With locations all over the world from Sarasota, Florida to Montreal, London, and Pau, France The Foundry stands for diversity and flexibility – a unique experience in all its aspects. However The Foundry started recently to look East that is to countries that need the support of foreign investors such as transition countries – Lithuania, Latvia, Hungary, The Czech Republic, Romania and Bulgaria. The Foundry assumed its role as a promoter of economic development in Eastern European countries following its vision of the future. In these counties The Foundry is more than just a company – it stands for new jobs, training programs and regional development.
By Diana Zotescu
The Foundry is a revolutionary training, research and development center working on behalf of SigEx Inc. The revolutionary platform it uses for communication is based on the SuperPBX concept. The Foundry and Sigex Inc., are the creation of CEO Chris Cantell and COO Frederic Artru two professionals in their field of activity. For more information please visit our website thefoundryschool.tv.
By Diana Zotescu
The Foundry is a revolutionary training, research and development center working on behalf of SigEx Inc. The revolutionary platform it uses for communication is based on the SuperPBX concept. The Foundry and Sigex Inc., are the creation of CEO Chris Cantell and COO Frederic Artru two professionals in their field of activity. For more information please visit our website thefoundryschool.tv.
Monday 19 February 2007
SigEx Ventures: Future of Media by Silvia Baldin
The future of media is just around the corner, and it ain’t the Internet. It’s a completely new viewing diagram where you pay for the experience and control, and you see whatever you want, whenever you want, on whatever device you want, anywhere in the world.
Picture This
It’s 9:20 Sunday morning. You are sitting on your couch and turn on your TV to see what’s happening. You want to watch soccer, but your team is playing in Brazil and last night’s game won’t be shown for hours. You could watch the new Monsters Inc. movie, but your cable company isn’t willing to pay the royalties until next year, even though your friends in Germany saw it last night. You know you can pick it up off the web, but you will have to wait hours for it to download. Besides, you would have to watch the movie on your computer, in your office (no couch), by yourself, without your kids. After nearly half a century, the broadcasters are still controlling what you can see, and when and where you see it.
Look What’s Coming
TV, cable, telephone and cell phone technologies already let you see, hear and call from anywhere to anyplace, anytime at all. People think these technologies are already “good enough” as separate islands – now if only they could be “bridged” together...
Connecting this diverse group of products and services will be no small task, but it is inevitable with the convergence of technology, an over-supply of bandwidth (which has driven traffic load utilization down from 10-15% to 2% for most networks) and the new “bridge” technologies now being developed. As the convergence of cell phones, digital TV, cable distribution and the Internet become increasingly common, coupled with a “super” PBX, they will morph into Enhanced Communications where family get-togethers, with unlimited numbers of participants, can be broadcast to every family members’ TV; where Internet video games and music merge into one stream of digital content enhanced with participants communicating from any part of the world; and where you really can order any movie in any language at any time on any communications device (Watch your favorite movie on your cell phone while riding the train home, perhaps?). The new “new” media will be delivered with the “bridged” distribution channels for multiple transport pipes and can be viewed on your TV, your PC, or your cell phone in one continually-widening, broadband open-pipe to your home, office, and throughout your enterprise.
What’s missing is a commercial platform – the “SuperPBX” – for controlling the transport pipes and software that will let you receive the applications and digital content, interacting with, and displayed on, any device. Your cell phone, even with 3G, won’t be powerful enough, your powerful terabyte router from Juniper or Cisco will not be able to receive the necessary data from the cable network to deliver the enhanced media products. The solution delivered by a new SuperPBX “bridge” platform creates a massive opportunity for innovation. A new industry, composed of next generation start-ups, media giants and major carrier suppliers, is emerging to deliver high traffic, Enhanced Communications products and services for that “bridged” platform. The platform itself could be advanced PBX, multi-channel wireless, video recorder, display cell phones or a global enhanced game. And what of the new “bridge” – the SuperPBX platform? Once the SuperPBX arrives, will we need our computers, TV’s and cell phones?
This is a Test... of the SuperPBX Broadcast System
The technology push for the SuperPBX services, nicely matches consumers for media. In the past, we bought our TV’s and PC’s to get free entertainment. Later, for enhanced entertainment experience and for overall “better viewing,” we bought cable services, VCR’s, DVD’s, and hi-speed broadband lines. We knew better and faster meant paid subscription. We weren’t willing to pay by the minute, but we would pay for the overall quality of the entertainment experience.
Today we have more devices and receive more “channels” than we can use. We have cable TV hookups with 250 channels, yet we have to wait months to view a new release movie or wait hours to download one from the Internet. We have to pick up the cell phone to make a call and use a separate remote device to change a channel.
What we really want is customized “enhanced” communications to view all of the media entertainment and other value-added services we want, whenever and wherever we want it, and in whatever form we choose. We’re moving from pay-by-the-minute and device-dependent models to a subscription usage model for global media.
Manufacturers tell us we need to buy just one more cell phone, digital TV, faster PBX or router – if we spend enough money we can have the future of media entertainment now. But will the next advanced new product pass the test, or will it give us just a slightly clearer telephone call or TV screen?
Do these new products deliver the football game now, online family reunions with unlimited callers at one flat rate – globally? They have impressive packaging, bigger screens, but do they deliver what we really crave – Enhanced Communications? Test failed.
Creating the Magic Bridge: the SuperPBX
Even if you had a 3G cell phone and a Digital TV, you would still be limited to the services and programming from your local service providers. Gaining access to every media channel all the time requires enhanced media and communications service technologies that would “bridge” all media – enabling you to access specific movies, TV shows, phone services and interactive services so that you could display what you want, appropriately, on any screen of your choice – TV, PC or cell phone.
The race to replace existing local communications services and to deliver enhanced products and services began in 1999 with the rapid decline of long distance services and the ever-accelerating de-utilization of system networks. The wireless services provided by cell phone operators have been unable to deliver the media to absorb existing bandwidth, yet the race is on to deliver 2.5G and 3G, which will dramatically increase supply at an astonishingly high network cost. Digital TV and WAP, though interesting, have not created media products with high enough demand to balance network supply or created a value proposition in the supply chain to maintain sustainable prices or profitable revenue models. TiVo and Replay TV have personal video recorders, which enable the viewer to watch the TV show of their choice at anytime, but not anywhere, only on your TV, and of course, only from a single distributor. Again creating demand, but not sufficiently shifting to other media channels to absorb bandwidth. Viewers crave the opportunity to watch an isolated, stored, football game from their cell phone or PDA and are willing to pay for the service. This increased traffic – through streamed video with enhanced phone services (make a call while you see your favorite player score or just store it on your PC) – could dramatically increase demand and absorb supply.
Take Me to the Bridge
Or, the bigger possibility exists that eventually you could bypass your local telephone or cable company completely. You could tell your local cable company to “bridge” your recorded TiVo shows or voicemail to your cell phone, or search “digital archives” (SONY, Time Warner, AOL or MSN). You could use your “bridge” SuperPBX supplier to search, maintain, download or broadcast all sorts of shows, phone calls, emails and enhanced products and services from a wide variety of broadcasters. The SuperPBX could function as a central controller directing security, telecommunications, cable TV, computers and remote wireless devices. SONY, Time Warner, AOL and Microsoft (MSN) as well as others, hold tremendous content and distribution networks.
All that is missing for Microsoft is a SuperPBX. Microsoft has started with FMSN to bring Internet services, such as instant messenger and email to the television, including on-screen program guides, which could provide part of the Enhanced Communications, but lack the “bridging” hardware.
SONY has plenty of entertaining content, including SONY music, SONY pictures as well as wireless hardware and software. SONY Entertainment has attempted to form strategic alliances to gain distribution over AOL/Time Warner. SONY has also, working closely with Cisco Systems, developed software to provide broadband Internet access to their Play stations as well as plans to provide uploading capabilities to video camera users where they could retrieve and watch them. SONY claims that you can even develop and broadcast your own live shows or create new video games online. SONY’s marketing (to provide Enhanced Communications and entertainment) moves the user to new products and services, such as games, music, movies and broadcasting, but questions regarding the bridging technology have not been answered. SONY has entertainment competency and exciting products but seems to be missing the links to provide multi-network Enhanced Communications.
The SuperPBX bridges distribution and integrates content with a platform, enabling the user to finally have custom access to TV shows, music, movies, gaming and voice providing a gateway to global communications. The bridge accepts broadband and narrow band for everything digital to the home and office controlling peripherals providing a central control, directing security systems, home appliances, heating and air conditioning, desktop computers and all sorts of wireless devices.
One of the first real world trials of such a system began in Sophia, France with the development of the Odisei advanced iPBX system. The iPBX networking platform made phones, computers, and other devices work together providing enhanced services to each other. Odisei won the battle – delivering not just bandwidth capacity, but custom broadband experiences we could enjoy from any device anywhere.
We Interrupt This Programming...
The latest development in the quest for Enhanced Communications’ “Holy Grail,” is the bridge being developed by SigEx with its SuperPBX project. SigEx is focused on bridging cell sites, hub sites, switching centers, digital TV and cable broadcasters and streaming data warehousing facilities to provide voice and data service connectivity and high traffic aggregation to deliver Enhanced Communications. This bridge will enable you to connect it to your wireless and wired business and home networks via your cell phone, PC, PDA, or other device of your choice. For maybe $25 a month, you may be able to tap into your business and home digital communication grids, enabling you to download your favorite show, email messages, or phone calls from any display device.
Now, it is 9:20 Sunday morning, you are comfortably watching the soccer game in Sao Paolo. During the commercials, you go to the kitchen to get a drink. You then “ask” your television to show you emails and order the latest release of Apocalypse Now as well as the latest Jewel album which you wish to listen to on your stereo. Since the game is not that exciting, you decide to pause it to view it later and resume your networked Doom game on your big screen TV, or on your cell phone while you are out walking the dog.
You may wonder, will anyone ever again want to use their TV only as a TV and their cell phone only as a cell phone, their PC as only a PC? Maybe, the Future ofMedia is Enhanced Communications, with exciting new global experiences.
About SigEx Ventures
SigEx Ventures, Inc. is a private investment fund focused exclusively on the emerging Enhanced Communications industry. Using funds raised from individual (angel) investors, SigEx Ventures funds projects for the Foundry’s development programs. Thus, SigEx Ventures, in conjunction with the Foundry, enables fully-funded, viable structures for business R&D to address alpha-beta development projects for strategic customers that include global telecommunications carriers, network equipment manufacturers, information technology companies, and digital content providers. The projects developed by the Foundry are all pre-funded by the SigEx Ventures investments fund for a period of 12 to 18 months. The most successful of these may become sustainable ventures.
About the Foundry
The Foundry is a revolutionary training, research and development center that uses proven methodologies and management techniques to create successful companies based on advanced technology innovations. Much more than a think tank where great ideas are tested and challenged, the Foundry provides the structure and guidance to assist its project companies with tasks such as recruiting and training staff; obtaining financing, research grants, and patents; and professional services.
The Foundry development programs provide fully funded viable structures for business R&D, drawing lessons from years of experience. Through the Foundry’s training program, CEO Christopher Cantell and President & COO Frédéric Artru unveil a new practical orientation for those serious about launching a new career in Enhanced Communications. The Foundry develops and launches successful new project-companies, while providing enough freedom to allow for innovation and enough structure to control risk. For more information: http://www.sigex.com/pdf/EU_Foundry.pdf
About the Founders
Christopher M. Cantell and Frédéric Artru have proven, throughout their careers, their ability to attract talented teams, technologies and capital around fundamental ideas. They have constantly shown their willingness to adapt to changes in their environment and most importantly their capacity to succeed. Chris and Frédéric have demonstrated expertise in the technology, marketing and financial subjects they are implementing, and their diverse experiences have allowed them to test, develop, evaluate and validate their methodologies and techniques. For more information: http://www.sigex.com/pdf/EU_Founders.pdf
By Diana Zotescu
Picture This
It’s 9:20 Sunday morning. You are sitting on your couch and turn on your TV to see what’s happening. You want to watch soccer, but your team is playing in Brazil and last night’s game won’t be shown for hours. You could watch the new Monsters Inc. movie, but your cable company isn’t willing to pay the royalties until next year, even though your friends in Germany saw it last night. You know you can pick it up off the web, but you will have to wait hours for it to download. Besides, you would have to watch the movie on your computer, in your office (no couch), by yourself, without your kids. After nearly half a century, the broadcasters are still controlling what you can see, and when and where you see it.
Look What’s Coming
TV, cable, telephone and cell phone technologies already let you see, hear and call from anywhere to anyplace, anytime at all. People think these technologies are already “good enough” as separate islands – now if only they could be “bridged” together...
Connecting this diverse group of products and services will be no small task, but it is inevitable with the convergence of technology, an over-supply of bandwidth (which has driven traffic load utilization down from 10-15% to 2% for most networks) and the new “bridge” technologies now being developed. As the convergence of cell phones, digital TV, cable distribution and the Internet become increasingly common, coupled with a “super” PBX, they will morph into Enhanced Communications where family get-togethers, with unlimited numbers of participants, can be broadcast to every family members’ TV; where Internet video games and music merge into one stream of digital content enhanced with participants communicating from any part of the world; and where you really can order any movie in any language at any time on any communications device (Watch your favorite movie on your cell phone while riding the train home, perhaps?). The new “new” media will be delivered with the “bridged” distribution channels for multiple transport pipes and can be viewed on your TV, your PC, or your cell phone in one continually-widening, broadband open-pipe to your home, office, and throughout your enterprise.
What’s missing is a commercial platform – the “SuperPBX” – for controlling the transport pipes and software that will let you receive the applications and digital content, interacting with, and displayed on, any device. Your cell phone, even with 3G, won’t be powerful enough, your powerful terabyte router from Juniper or Cisco will not be able to receive the necessary data from the cable network to deliver the enhanced media products. The solution delivered by a new SuperPBX “bridge” platform creates a massive opportunity for innovation. A new industry, composed of next generation start-ups, media giants and major carrier suppliers, is emerging to deliver high traffic, Enhanced Communications products and services for that “bridged” platform. The platform itself could be advanced PBX, multi-channel wireless, video recorder, display cell phones or a global enhanced game. And what of the new “bridge” – the SuperPBX platform? Once the SuperPBX arrives, will we need our computers, TV’s and cell phones?
This is a Test... of the SuperPBX Broadcast System
The technology push for the SuperPBX services, nicely matches consumers for media. In the past, we bought our TV’s and PC’s to get free entertainment. Later, for enhanced entertainment experience and for overall “better viewing,” we bought cable services, VCR’s, DVD’s, and hi-speed broadband lines. We knew better and faster meant paid subscription. We weren’t willing to pay by the minute, but we would pay for the overall quality of the entertainment experience.
Today we have more devices and receive more “channels” than we can use. We have cable TV hookups with 250 channels, yet we have to wait months to view a new release movie or wait hours to download one from the Internet. We have to pick up the cell phone to make a call and use a separate remote device to change a channel.
What we really want is customized “enhanced” communications to view all of the media entertainment and other value-added services we want, whenever and wherever we want it, and in whatever form we choose. We’re moving from pay-by-the-minute and device-dependent models to a subscription usage model for global media.
Manufacturers tell us we need to buy just one more cell phone, digital TV, faster PBX or router – if we spend enough money we can have the future of media entertainment now. But will the next advanced new product pass the test, or will it give us just a slightly clearer telephone call or TV screen?
Do these new products deliver the football game now, online family reunions with unlimited callers at one flat rate – globally? They have impressive packaging, bigger screens, but do they deliver what we really crave – Enhanced Communications? Test failed.
Creating the Magic Bridge: the SuperPBX
Even if you had a 3G cell phone and a Digital TV, you would still be limited to the services and programming from your local service providers. Gaining access to every media channel all the time requires enhanced media and communications service technologies that would “bridge” all media – enabling you to access specific movies, TV shows, phone services and interactive services so that you could display what you want, appropriately, on any screen of your choice – TV, PC or cell phone.
The race to replace existing local communications services and to deliver enhanced products and services began in 1999 with the rapid decline of long distance services and the ever-accelerating de-utilization of system networks. The wireless services provided by cell phone operators have been unable to deliver the media to absorb existing bandwidth, yet the race is on to deliver 2.5G and 3G, which will dramatically increase supply at an astonishingly high network cost. Digital TV and WAP, though interesting, have not created media products with high enough demand to balance network supply or created a value proposition in the supply chain to maintain sustainable prices or profitable revenue models. TiVo and Replay TV have personal video recorders, which enable the viewer to watch the TV show of their choice at anytime, but not anywhere, only on your TV, and of course, only from a single distributor. Again creating demand, but not sufficiently shifting to other media channels to absorb bandwidth. Viewers crave the opportunity to watch an isolated, stored, football game from their cell phone or PDA and are willing to pay for the service. This increased traffic – through streamed video with enhanced phone services (make a call while you see your favorite player score or just store it on your PC) – could dramatically increase demand and absorb supply.
Take Me to the Bridge
Or, the bigger possibility exists that eventually you could bypass your local telephone or cable company completely. You could tell your local cable company to “bridge” your recorded TiVo shows or voicemail to your cell phone, or search “digital archives” (SONY, Time Warner, AOL or MSN). You could use your “bridge” SuperPBX supplier to search, maintain, download or broadcast all sorts of shows, phone calls, emails and enhanced products and services from a wide variety of broadcasters. The SuperPBX could function as a central controller directing security, telecommunications, cable TV, computers and remote wireless devices. SONY, Time Warner, AOL and Microsoft (MSN) as well as others, hold tremendous content and distribution networks.
All that is missing for Microsoft is a SuperPBX. Microsoft has started with FMSN to bring Internet services, such as instant messenger and email to the television, including on-screen program guides, which could provide part of the Enhanced Communications, but lack the “bridging” hardware.
SONY has plenty of entertaining content, including SONY music, SONY pictures as well as wireless hardware and software. SONY Entertainment has attempted to form strategic alliances to gain distribution over AOL/Time Warner. SONY has also, working closely with Cisco Systems, developed software to provide broadband Internet access to their Play stations as well as plans to provide uploading capabilities to video camera users where they could retrieve and watch them. SONY claims that you can even develop and broadcast your own live shows or create new video games online. SONY’s marketing (to provide Enhanced Communications and entertainment) moves the user to new products and services, such as games, music, movies and broadcasting, but questions regarding the bridging technology have not been answered. SONY has entertainment competency and exciting products but seems to be missing the links to provide multi-network Enhanced Communications.
The SuperPBX bridges distribution and integrates content with a platform, enabling the user to finally have custom access to TV shows, music, movies, gaming and voice providing a gateway to global communications. The bridge accepts broadband and narrow band for everything digital to the home and office controlling peripherals providing a central control, directing security systems, home appliances, heating and air conditioning, desktop computers and all sorts of wireless devices.
One of the first real world trials of such a system began in Sophia, France with the development of the Odisei advanced iPBX system. The iPBX networking platform made phones, computers, and other devices work together providing enhanced services to each other. Odisei won the battle – delivering not just bandwidth capacity, but custom broadband experiences we could enjoy from any device anywhere.
We Interrupt This Programming...
The latest development in the quest for Enhanced Communications’ “Holy Grail,” is the bridge being developed by SigEx with its SuperPBX project. SigEx is focused on bridging cell sites, hub sites, switching centers, digital TV and cable broadcasters and streaming data warehousing facilities to provide voice and data service connectivity and high traffic aggregation to deliver Enhanced Communications. This bridge will enable you to connect it to your wireless and wired business and home networks via your cell phone, PC, PDA, or other device of your choice. For maybe $25 a month, you may be able to tap into your business and home digital communication grids, enabling you to download your favorite show, email messages, or phone calls from any display device.
Now, it is 9:20 Sunday morning, you are comfortably watching the soccer game in Sao Paolo. During the commercials, you go to the kitchen to get a drink. You then “ask” your television to show you emails and order the latest release of Apocalypse Now as well as the latest Jewel album which you wish to listen to on your stereo. Since the game is not that exciting, you decide to pause it to view it later and resume your networked Doom game on your big screen TV, or on your cell phone while you are out walking the dog.
You may wonder, will anyone ever again want to use their TV only as a TV and their cell phone only as a cell phone, their PC as only a PC? Maybe, the Future ofMedia is Enhanced Communications, with exciting new global experiences.
About SigEx Ventures
SigEx Ventures, Inc. is a private investment fund focused exclusively on the emerging Enhanced Communications industry. Using funds raised from individual (angel) investors, SigEx Ventures funds projects for the Foundry’s development programs. Thus, SigEx Ventures, in conjunction with the Foundry, enables fully-funded, viable structures for business R&D to address alpha-beta development projects for strategic customers that include global telecommunications carriers, network equipment manufacturers, information technology companies, and digital content providers. The projects developed by the Foundry are all pre-funded by the SigEx Ventures investments fund for a period of 12 to 18 months. The most successful of these may become sustainable ventures.
About the Foundry
The Foundry is a revolutionary training, research and development center that uses proven methodologies and management techniques to create successful companies based on advanced technology innovations. Much more than a think tank where great ideas are tested and challenged, the Foundry provides the structure and guidance to assist its project companies with tasks such as recruiting and training staff; obtaining financing, research grants, and patents; and professional services.
The Foundry development programs provide fully funded viable structures for business R&D, drawing lessons from years of experience. Through the Foundry’s training program, CEO Christopher Cantell and President & COO Frédéric Artru unveil a new practical orientation for those serious about launching a new career in Enhanced Communications. The Foundry develops and launches successful new project-companies, while providing enough freedom to allow for innovation and enough structure to control risk. For more information: http://www.sigex.com/pdf/EU_Foundry.pdf
About the Founders
Christopher M. Cantell and Frédéric Artru have proven, throughout their careers, their ability to attract talented teams, technologies and capital around fundamental ideas. They have constantly shown their willingness to adapt to changes in their environment and most importantly their capacity to succeed. Chris and Frédéric have demonstrated expertise in the technology, marketing and financial subjects they are implementing, and their diverse experiences have allowed them to test, develop, evaluate and validate their methodologies and techniques. For more information: http://www.sigex.com/pdf/EU_Founders.pdf
By Diana Zotescu
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