“When a biased person gets to review your business plan, be prepared to get pissed on! ”

Last week, I took a novel approach in businessplanning. Since there are thousands – nay, hundreds of thousands- calling themselves an expert or even visionary in the field of telecom, I thought it would be nice to select 2 or 4 of them to “peer review” our UHBA NL 130+ page business plan.  I ended selecting 11 independent people, some of them who still have to deliver their piece of work. However, some did a great job of reviewing, and being reservedly enthusiastic about the opportunites ahead, complimenting us with the groundbreaking strategies proposed.

Last week we made an offer to Hollywood actor Rutger Hauer (known from movies like Blade Runner, Nighhawks, Lady Hawk, Sin City and Batman Begins) to become our corporate Anchor Man. He would be the international face of our company for the next 5 years. I don’t see why he wouldn’t agree.

It is a known fact: with the arrival of a new promising technology comes a horde of doomsday prophets that predict the demise of the then prevalent technology. The TV would bring a deathblow to radio, and the Video and DVD player would be the death of cinema.  We all know that the technology industry is not as black and white as some would like us to believe. It is also dawning on us that the internet is a real threat to the newspaper industry, but we thought the entertainment/content industry would not be too much affected. However, the increasing availability of broadband connections is making rich media transfer and downloads a popular timepass. Media execs: times are a’changing.

While the telephone infrastructure was the first widely deployed network and easily available service, and because people came to realize the advantages of telephone communications, it became a must-have rather than a luxury service. The uniqueness of the telephone infrastructure became an immense problem for the industry later on. The same goes for the cable operators, which had one unique proposition: selling TV channel packages. These so-called legacy system operators had no choice but to upgrade their systems.

When cable infrastructures were first built, subscribers could only get one service: TV channels. There were no additional services available through these cable systems and thus the attractiveness of cable was quite limited. That all changed in the late 1990s when the cable operators started upgrading their systems and started providing digital services. The cable industry’s major investment efforts to upgrade their analogue infrastructures to digital resulted in the availability of telephone (especially through Voice over Internet Protocol technology) and Internet access services. This meant that the cable operators started to thread the domain of telecommunication companies. Today’s cable infrastructures are upgraded to Hybrid Fiber Coax systems.

In order to compete, a similar upgrade strategy was chosen by the telecommunication companies. Their legacy systems were analogue, and while they were the first communications infrastructure to be extended all the way to homes and offices, the only service available on it was telephony. After having “digitized” their infrastructures and systems, the Telcos were able to offer Internet access; first through dial-up technology and nowadays through broadband technologies. KPN has joined the race to also deliver TV services over its DSL infrastructure under the brand KPN Interactive TV.

Now that the bundle of services, better known as “triple-play”, are available nationwide through both the Cable operators and Telcos, and because the quality of service is almost similar, the competitive edge will be much sharper. There is nothing “unique” that the Cable operators and the Telcos can offer to each others’ subscribers; thus, “stealing” each other’s customers must be done on price: i.e., lower monthly subscription fees.

Despite the Telcos and Cable Operators’ upgrades of their old systems, they cannot keep up with growing demand for bandwidth, the “need for speed”, and improved services. The upgrade from analogue to digital was a necessary step, and allowed the legacy systems operators to squeeze more revenues from their existing infrastructures thanks to technological advances.

New efforts by the KPN/Reggefiber combination and the likes of Ziggo and UPC will definitely bring fiber closer to the customers, but it is a fact that their technologies are nothing more than temporary solutions.

While the telephone infrastructure was the first widely deployed network with easily available service, and because people came to realize the advantages of telephone communications, it became a must-have rather than a luxury service. The uniqueness of the telephone infrastructure became an immense problem for the industry later on. The same goes for the cable operators, which had one unique proposition: selling TV channel packages. These legacy system operators had no choice but to upgrade their aging one-service systems.

Tuesday, May 12, 2009, Philadelphia, USA –. GigaSpeed International, Inc., a Delaware corporation (soon to be replaced by iUHBA Networks, a Delaware corporation (“Holding”), and UHBA USA (“Merger Sub”), and Photonics, Inc. (the “Company”) agreed to effect a full merger of Merger Sub with and into the Company by means of the Company becoming the USA holding entity with full ownership of Holding’s present and future USA operations and activities of any and all matters related to the USA market (the “Merger”).

Photonics, Inc. (Company) and UHBA USA (Merger Sub) shall merge into a fully INDEPENDENT holding company; the separate existence of Company and Merger Sub shall thereupon cease, and Company, as the surviving entity in the Merger (the “Surviving Company”), shall by virtue of the Merger continue its existence under Delaware, USA law.

Because of the uniqueness and brand value of the Company names, Photonics, Inc., the Surviving Company will remain named Photonics, Inc. The Surviving Company will primarily do business as “Ultra-High-Bandwidth-Access Networks USA – UHBA Networks USA (or UHBA USA).

GigaSpeed/iUHBA was represented by CEO Neal Lachman, and Photonic, Inc. was represented by Dr. Mahmoud El-Sherif.

The Surviving Company will execute the rollout of nationwide fiber to the home/office and broadband wireless/mobile networks in the USA. The Surviving Company’s management team includes former undersecretary of Homeland Security, Michael D. Brown, and former Chief technologist of Hewlett-Packard, David Croslin. The team, including Dr. El-Sherif and under leadership of Mr. Lachman, and COO, Dr. Farooq Malik, MBA, is collectively responsible to raise $1.5 billion ($1,500,000,000) over the course of 24 months in order to finance rollouts in the USA, primarily in the NorthEast and Great Lakes region.

More detailed information about the Surviving Company’s strategies, assets and upcoming acquisitions and joint ventures will be frequently announced.

Website: http://iuhba.com

Email: info @ iuhba com

Phone: T +1 (215) 291-4410

Tuesday, May 12, 2009, Philadelphia, USA –. GigaSpeed International, Inc., a Delaware corporation (soon to be replaced by iUHBA Networks (“Holding”), and UHBA USA (“Merger Sub”), and Photonics, Inc. (the “Company”) agreed to effect a full merger of Merger Sub with and into the Company by means of the Company becoming the USA holding entity with full ownership of Holding’s present and future USA operations and activities of any and all matters related to the USA market (the “Merger”).

This industry not being an easy game is what we have been saying since years. That’s why we pride ourselves in the development of the FiberBroadband Strategy.

Of course I understand that everybody wants to see steak with the sizzle, but what we have learned from our nine years in this industry is something crucial and money-saving: being the first mover (or even among the first ones) is not a good thing. We learn from everyone’s mistakes, we benefit from technological advances, we see the competition bleed dry of money. The only thing I want to do is something big. We are not interested in launching for the sake of launching. There is no historical feat when you want/are able to roll out a network to a few thousand units or to a dozen cities.

However, this being 2009, and this era being of a major economic crisis, we feel that most likely the serious ones are left. The competition (including the threat of new entrants) is much less than say 1.5 years ago. Also, the fact that Reggefiber and others are getting into this market is a blessing for us, not a curse. Them opening the networks/systems is a boon for our business model beyond anything we imagined previously.

I received feedback from a Dutch analyst who stated the following about our plans:

Being a start-up, all I want to see is the project actually launching. There are incumbents… which are learning that this is no easy game.

This analyst makes a mistake that many observers do. UHBA USA is not a start-up. We have been making headway in this industry since more than 9 years now.

We have finalized our 80-slide presentation wherein we provide specific data, showing where our company plans to rollout in the USA. Since making it available yesterday, more than 140 people have requested and received it. Surprisingly, this presentation has been requested not only by USA-based people, but also by people from China to Columbia.

A few days ago, the Financial Times headed “Nokia Dismisses WiMAX Prospects“. (Thanks for the tip to Vladimir Prodanovic).  It is not nice to say it, but let me do it anyway…. See, I told you so?!

Today, Rob van Esch, Executive Director of NLKabel (the Dutch equivalent of the American National Cable &  Telecom Association), published an elaborate April’s fools joke. It is, however, a mix of copied jokes.

For the time being, UHBA Netherlands’ FTTH/O & FWMA Executive Summary is available to Linkedin group members only: http://tr.im/hMtd (Online forum for the Next Generation Development & Infrastructures Consortium).

On Friday, March 20th, 2009,  it was agreed to cancel our agreement with iSence B.V.

Besides building and operating its own FTTH/O systems, UHBA Netherlands will lease capacity on Reggefiber’s FTTH systems in order to become a Virtual System Operator. KPN, the Dutch incumbent that owns 41% of Reggefiber, also plans to operate on these systems. But since the Dutch regulator has forced Reggefiber to provide “open access” to its systems, everyone can provide services over those systems under the right T&C.

As you read this you can see my picture off to the side of this posting. You might see me as a healthy, white, male American business man. But am I really? Perhaps I am blind and I used an audio interface to create this posting. Or maybe I am a convicted felon trying to start a new life even before my release.

During a recent teleconference among iUHBA and UHBA executives, the following decisions have been made:

My friend and colleague, Dave Croslin (CTO, iUHBA Networks), has developed an amazing “theory”. I insisted on attaching his name to the theory, because he deserves the credits. I sincerely believe (at least hope) that this theory will become something MBA students will be required to study and learn inside out. Croslin’s Theory Of Disruptive Lifecycles makes the adrenaline rush through my veins like hell! I used to like Michael Porter’s 5 Forces Model and have used it all throughout my career, but Croslin’s Theory of Disruptive Lifecycles (CTDL) is so much more powerful; it goes way beyond the SWOT analysis and MP’s 5 forces model.

We will start using our new name and structure from now on. Whenever you read GigaSpeed International read, “iUHBA Networks“, and whenever you read GigaSpeed USA, read “UHBA Networks USA” (obviously, without the i at the beginning). This will be our new company structure, which is briefly described below.

The following three overviews speak volumes. We have listed various transfer activities of consumers, businesses and “others”. The speeds compared are dial-up 56 Kbps, ISDN (128 Kbps), 1 Mbps, 4 Mbps, 9 Mbps, 10 Mbps (symmetric), 100 Mbps (symmetric) and 1 Gbps (symmetric).  

On the new blog of the Next generation Development & Infrastructures Consortium, we posted some text of an upcoming Strategy Paper. We believe now is the time to launch this document, especially because there is so much hope pinned on President Obama’s broadband stimulus. This 100+page Strategy Paper will be presented to President Obama, his administration, US politicians, and business leaders.

 

I was a hippie. I guess that I still am one, deep down. I am proud to admit it. I had hair down to the middle of my back, listened to some very weird music and sat around talking about ‘the guru’ and ‘peace’ and ‘the war’. Sadly, at least to my teenage mind, the sexual revolution had already been overthrown.

 

I have  a lot of kids in my house. Some are young, some older. So, I can’t watch ‘adult’ content on TV or even my computer without having some little eyes and ears snooping around behind me. We watched a German movie last night called Run, Lola, Run and we watched it in German instead of English knowing that we would have to read the subtitles. But, at least our kids wouldn’t hear the bad language.

 

If you were born after 1978, you are part of the Generation Y, also known as the Millennials. I, unfortunately, am a little older than you. But, I do have a handful of kids that fall in that range, and I love watching how they communicate.

What an interesting idea: “Calling on a Customer”. How about: “My sales territory”. Or: “Our regional reach”.

 

If these sound familiar to you, OK. If they sound right to you then stand up, turn toward the wall and bang your head soundly into the sheetrock until you are crying. Why? Because, if you are still thinking in any way other than globally, you are missing out on your company’s true potential, and you SHOULD be crying.

We all have thought about it when watching one of those weird nature documentaries where one strange plant is completely dependent on some bizarre activity of a specific animal species and the animal needs the plant in order to survive. And you think “How could that happen? How did it get started?” Kind of like the Chicken or the Egg. Which came first?

Let’s face it: we all like to think that we work at innovative companies that are destined to conquer their current industry and eventually rule the world. But, the reality is far different.

If you have never read the breakthrough research on innovation by Dr. Clayton Christensen of Harvard Business School, then you need to stop reading this and come back after you have read his works. His book, The Innovator’s Dilemma, explains clearly why huge, highly successful companies who literally OWN their industry fail to continue to be successful.

Recently, Dave Croslin joined us from HP, where he worked as Chief Technologist in the company’s $9 billion Communications, Media & Entertainment vertical. In the very near future, Dave and others at the company, and consortium members will also start writing articles for this blog .

Because of the size of our projects and thus the massive investments in the infrastructure (including technology hardware, equipment, and peripherals), we have always deemed it wiser to design and develop what we need rather than buying it from vendors.

New York City, NY – January 9, 2009–  GigaSpeed International, Inc. today announced the appointment of world-renowned communications and technology visionary David Croslin as Chief Technology Officer (CTO). Croslin comes to GigaSpeed from Hewlett-Packard, where he served as Chief Technologist, Communications, Media and Entertainment. Croslin brings more than 15 years of telecom and technology experience to the company.  

On Monday, January 5th, 2009, we confirmed with the Dutch Ministery of Economic Affairs (Ministerie van Economische Zaken) that we will make a bid for 40 MHz in the 2.6 GHz spectrum in the country’s upcoming auction.

 The following is taken from our Strategy, Business Development, Marketing & Position Plan, which we plan to release next week. PLEASE NOTE: this section of the document only concerns a  2007  (slightly updated) feasibility analysis and commentary by GigaSpeed on the FTTH & BWA market dynamics and uncertainties on a political level. The rest of the document is not yet released. I uploaded this piece because of the dialogue going on at Om Malik’s GigaOm blog. 

Dear readers, 

My team and I are finalizing an updated version (and modeled for The Netherlands) of GigaSpeed’s Strategy, Business Development, Marketing & Positioning Paper. While this paper is entirely GigaSpeed based, it gives the reader an excellent insiders perspective on our BWA and FTTH/O plans in general and for the Netherlands in specific.