Bader’s Bits

At long last, the decision has been made. MetroFi has been chosen to build out Portland’s wireless network. Check out Portland based dailywireless.org for in-depth coverage.

We are totally jazzed about this new network. The RFP required that the network be “open access”, meaning that service providers like us will be able to deliver services on it. While there’s still lots of design work and contracts to sort out, we’re looking forward to being there early on. We expect to be delivering WiFi based services before year end, and WiMax class services early next year.

The SAO is sponsoring a wireless applications panel at Innotech. Come and learn more about Unwire Portland and some of the applications that the network will enable. See you there.

I promise that I won’t blog all the machinations of the various Congressional committees and subcommittees regarding Net Neutrality. There’s no guarantee that any proposal will actually make out of committee for a vote this session. But the battle lines are being drawn and the skirmishes are fast and furious.

Here’s a good article on the state of affairs from Consumer Affairs. The bottom line is the telcos are gaining momentum in burying the issue with “promises” everything will be OK. Frankly, I don’t trust them on this issue. We’ve got to get Net Neutrality legislated. Even that is no assurance, but it’s better than nothing.

Tis the season for local industry events. Innotech is shaping up as the premier innovation and high tech event in Portland.

EasyStreet is pulling out all the stops in support of the conference. I’ll be on so many panels that my handlers are worried about overexposure. Our booth theme is: EasyStreet 2.0–Bigger, better, faster, and more. Make sure you stop by to find out why. Need another reason? We’ve got the Starbucks coffee wagon in our booth first thing in the morning. Getcha free latte’s here! And we won’t bug you while you’re trying to wake up.

Sean Lowery, Innotech’s director, tells us registation is running 2x over where the conference was a year ago. All your buds are going be there. You should too. And you can get in for free. Click here and enter the magic discount code: ESP305

See you there!

Highlighting the tectonic shifts underway in the U.S. telecomm industry, the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) announced that U.S. Wireless Subscriber Level Reaches 194.5 Million in 2005 and are expected to Grow to 270 Million by 2009. Geez, according to census.gov, there’s only 298.476,130 folks in the U.S. at the moment. Sounds like market saturation is approaching, no?

On the flip side, the number of access lines in use continues its five year decline, as the cool kids eschew them, and the cablecos and VoIP provide other alternatives. Market research firm eMarketer reports another TIA statistic not included in their press release, that landlines fell to 172 million lines. They predict consumer VoIP usage to increase to over 30 million users by 2010.

These trends will wreak havoc on the telcos business models. There is still real competition in the wireless space, while the landline business is more of an oligopoly with the cablecos. That’s why they’re fighting so hard for regulatory advantage. But the writing’s on the wall. That’s why net neutrality and a healthy relatively deregulated VoIP market are so crucial to moving the nation’s telecommunications services forward.

While on vacation this week in North Carolina, I had the pleasure of joining my son Derek (he’s on the right) in one of his classes taught by the legendary Fred Brooks, author of The Mythical Man Month. So many stories, so little time. Fred has made many contributions to computing, including defining a byte with eight bits (up until then, a word was six bits). Both he and Gene Amdahl argued the issue, and each quit IBM once over the matter, only to rejoin the next day and remain lifelong friends.

The session was great trip down memory lane, as the next generation of computer scientists gleamed insights from us codgers about how to manage their upcoming careers. The best part: I not only don’t embarrass Derek much anymore, but he was willing to trot me out in public. It only took 35 years. I guess there’s still hope for my sixteen year old daughter and me. Just 19 more years to go!

OTBC, OEF, and the SAO are hosting a day-long, intensive workshop, Building the Business Case for Open Source, designed for CEOs and executive teams of startups considering whether to incorporate open source into their product plans or go-to-market strategy. Saturday, April 8 at OTBC.

Event is limited; for more details and to register, click here.

Scott Kveton is one of Oregon’s best connected guys in the world of Open Source projects. This guy seems to know everyone, the the Open Source Lab he runs at Oregon State University is doing some great work at supporting and hosting open source projects.

We’ve been talking about the challenges of scaling up the hosting of of projects that become hits, and the challenges of creating open source “Software as a Service” offerings. Scott takes the problems on with some interesting observations and suggestions on his blog. Check out: Kveton Blog » LAMP Stack Standard? to learn more.

Here’s the presentation I delivered at Interface ‘06 in Portland at the Convention Center:

Top Five Technology Trends You Can’t Ignore

Let’s see some comments about other trends that you think are worthy of inclusion.

Qwest CEO Dick Notebaert joined his telco CEO colleagues by advocating for tiered Intenet service as a way for his customers to differentiate their service over Qwest’s network, according to a report on News.com.

“Would this give some content providers an advantage over others?” Mr. Notebaert asked the crowd rhetorically. “Well, yeah. We’re all trying to provide a little bit of differentiation for a competitive edge. That’s what business is about.”

Unfortunately, the comparison neglects the notion that Qwest is expected to become more of a content provider itself, and therefore may be preparing to provide that advantage to itself, as we’ve seen other telcos do with their ISP businesses.

Jeff Pulver, CEO of Pulver.com and producer of the VON show at which Mr. Notebaert spoke, commented: “I think it’s probably true that companies are coming to Qwest willing to pay for better treatment on their network [as Mr. Notebaert remarked],” he said. “But I think they’re doing it out of fear. It’s legalized extortion.”

The VON (Voice Over the Network) conference was the latest venue for for positioning and discussion about Net Neutrality. There’s still confusion over exactly what it means, but that didn’t stop folks from staking out a position. I’m disappointed that Cisco is siding with the telcos; perhaps that’s because they are significant Cisco customers, and Cisco is marketing new technology to them that will help them discriminate traffic.

Read ZDnet’s report from the show.