I recently moved back to New York (after staying in the Netherlands for more than two years), and I had to catch up with a number of people. Some people realized that I have been raising $3.5 million (with an M), while they know I was planning a multi-billion dollar project (with a B). The obvious “curious” question is… “Neal, what’s going on?”

As previously announced, iUHBA has entered an agreement/MoU with Ontario County, New York, for a massive wireless- and FTTH/O pilot early next year, which will cost approximately $100M. Prior to the pilots, we plan to create a Proof of Working Concept (PoWC) that will be organized in a campus environment in Ontario County. The PoWC project will cost €2.5M ($3.35M); it will be paid by a group of investors through mUHBA Nederland Holding B.V., which is a FiberBroadband licensee of iUHBA Networks, Inc. in the Netherlands. The PoWC will be conducted over a two-month period.  

We present a new Technology White Paper as yet another piece of evidence of iUHBA’s ability to dominate the future fiber optic networking industry. Please note: this document solely describes the patented fiber optics technology segment of iUHBA’s FiberBroadband Strategy; the wireless segment is not discussed. To receive a copy you have to be a member of the Next Generation Development & Infrastructures Consortium on Linkedin groups.

Below is an introduction to the White Paper.

White Paper: iUHBA’s Technological Paradigm Shift & The Future of Fiber Optic Networking

We present this new Technology White Paper as yet another piece of evidence of iUHBA’s ability to dominate the future fiber optic networking industry. Please note: this document solely describes the patented wired technology segment of iUHBA’s FiberBroadband Strategy; the wireless segment is not discussed. To receive a copy send me a note at neal@iuhba.com or leave me your email add in the comment section below.

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Most players in the telecom industry are still talking about what possibly could be the “killer application” for 100 Mbps or even 1 Gbps services, therefore it does not surprise us that many industry players and observers find iUHBA’s plans extremely ambitious. In fact, Randall Stephenson, AT&T’s CEO, recently said in an interview that 50 Mbps should be enough. It should be understood that dinosaurs like AT&T will not be the dominant players of the future. Verizon will have invested approximately $30 billion in its FiOS project by 2010, but the highest speed they would be capable to provide may not exceed 100 Mbps. Companies like these incumbents will seldom be as innovative as companies like iUHBA, because they have to consider existing interests, especially because they own legacy systems. With this White Paper, we will prove that iUHBA is the only company in the world capable of building the most advanced fiber optic infrastructures in the most effective way (technologically and cost-, design-, and deployment- wise). Four major patents, developed by iUHBA’s Vice Chairman, a pioneering inventor in the fiber optics industry, Dr. Mahmoud El-Sherif, play a crucial role in iUHBA’s technology vision. For the first time in their decade-long effort, iUHBA’s principals lift the veil on their Fiber To The Home/Office vision and the patented Fiber Optics technologies behind iUHBA’s unique FiberBroadband Strategy.

Telecom industry terms and expectations that were commonly accepted by 2005-2006 are outdated today. The industry is being dominated by incumbents who set the overall, global agenda, but they are still stuck to their legacy systems. Even industry leaders such as Verizon, with its visionary FiOS project in the USA, are betting on the wrong horses, most likely because of their legacy infrastructure ownership. Thus, it is not a great surprise that yesteryears’ vision of 1 Gbps connectivity speeds is deemed fantastic and “futureproof”; industry decision makers, and politicians are stuck in their old telecom mud, while the world moves on, at an incredible speed. And this is where iUHBA enters the playing field.

We present our new Technology White Paper as yet another piece of evidence of iUHBA’s ability to dominate the future fiber optic networking industry. Please note: this document solely describes the patented wired technology segment of iUHBA’s FiberBroadband Strategy; the wireless segment is not discussed. To receive a copy you have to become a member of our Linkedin Group (1,000 members). Follow this link:  http://glassified.wordpress.com/group/ and then look for the announcement. An intro to the document follows below.

As we are slowly proceeding to our fundraising efforts, we needed to specify our project in more detail. We thought it would be interesting for our supporters and well wishers to see what those specifications are. Let me first start by stating that our $70 Billion (with a B) Ultra-High-Bandwidth Access rollout in the USA will be the largest privately developed project ever. Also, as you will see below, we have chosen for Next Generation 802.11 N technology for our wireless project, and we have chosen to go for Fiber To The Home/ Office at 10 Gbps per connection. The reasons as to why we chose these technologies, and how we will make it work better and be more successful than the competition will be explained in later posts, most likely in some form of a White Paper. For now, you will find below the general project specs, the wireless rollout specs, and the FTTH/O rollout specs.

ANNOUNCEMENT: iUHBA’s Journey of 30,000 fiber route miles starts in Ontario County, New York.

Today, August 14, 2009, I signed two important documents that marks the single-most important event in our company’s 9.5 years of planning and strategizing. A Memorandum of Understanding for cooperation on Information, Communication, and Technology matters  in Ontario County, New York, as well as a Master Agreement for Dark Fiber on Ontario County’s state-of-the-art Optical Fiber infrastructure was signed between iUHBA Networks, Inc. (iUHBA) and Ontario County’s Finger Lakes Regional Telecommunications Development Corporation (FLRTDC).

iUHBA and FLRTDC’s teams have been working on the strategy since January 2009. The agreements were signed on behalf of iUHBA by me, and on behalf of the FLRTDC by CEO Edward E. Hemminger, who is  also Ontario County’s Chief Technology Officer.

It became clear to us, at iUHBA, from the very beginning that Ed Hemminger shared our vision in terms of project specifications, planning and development, and even the business strategy. Both teams are excited about this opportunity as they understand that the signing of the agreements, in the words of Ed Hemminger, “signify the beginning of a great partnership”, and “this is an exciting day for Ontario County”. Ed Hemminger and the policy makers in Ontario County understood early on that the continued well being of Ontario County’s economy and society is integrally linked with the development and implementation of an advanced digital, ultra-high-speed wireless and wired communications infrastructure.

For iUHBA, this day is exciting too, as it allows us to work on a focused agenda now onwards. The total investment in Ontario County will be around $100M for the wireless network and higher level architecture. iUHBA’s First Phase investors will know exactly where their money will go, and the deliverables and milestones achieved in Ontario County will allow for raising the rest of the $2B investment required for iUHBA’s major rollout in the Grand Lakes Region and NorthEast Corridor, which will ultimately reach a population footprint of almost 90 million people, and passes 30+ million households. This costly project will have its roots in Ontario County.

Ontario County, New York, has basically been chosen for three main reasons: 1) its decision to invest in a state of the art county-wide fiber ring, 2) Ed Hemminger’s vision and agreement with our strategy, and 3) his amazing team of experts, including the likes of Joe Starks, President of ECC Technologies, who want to go the extra mile to make this grand project a reality.

iUHBA plans to

1. rollout a proprietary, commercial County-wide ultra-high-speed wireless network, to be realized between January 2010 and April 2010, with services of up to 100 Mbps per wireless subscriber;

2. rollout a proprietary, multi-media and multi-system pilot project for Fiber To The Home/Office, reaching 3,000 connections, to be realized between March 2010 and June 2010, with services ranging from 1 Gbps to 10 Gbps speeds per connection, in a yet to be determined neighborhood in one of the cities in Ontario County;

3. build a high-level multi-media and multi-system architecture, including a state-of-the-art Network Operating Center, to function as the core of the wireless and wired infrastructures that it will build in the County and its surrounding region

In the coming weeks and months, the iUHBA and FLRTDC teams will clarify responsibilities and areas of cooperation regarding telecom infrastructure issues in Ontario County, including development, projects initiated by the FLRTDC, and identify facilitating and supporting strategies for iUHBA in terms of gaining rights-of-way, access to public institutions, etc.

For more information, you can email me at NEAL [at] iUHBA [dot] COM or Ed Hemminger at ed.hemminger [AT] co.ontario.ny [DOT ] us.

ANNOUNCEMENT: iUHBA’s Journey of 30,000 fiber route miles starts in Ontario County, New York.

On August 14, 2009, I signed two important documents that mark the single-most important event in our company’s 9.5 years history of planning and developing the “FiberBroadband Strategy”. A Memorandum of Understanding for cooperation on Information, Communication, and Technology matters  in Ontario County, New York, as well as a Master Agreement for Dark Fiber on Ontario County’s state-of-the-art Optical Fiber infrastructure was signed between iUHBA Networks, Inc. (iUHBA) and Ontario County’s Finger Lakes Regional Telecommunications Development Corporation (FLRTDC).

The war? It’s just another battle!

by Neal Lachman   17 Mar 2006  12:37 PM

Consoles are today stand-alone devices, that are supplemented by software – games.

The war has just begun, this is just another battle in an ongoing war. The question should be what the future of gaming is.

I am convinced that all homes will have fiber optic lines terminated inside, within now and 15 years. It will be as common as copper and coax is today. Accompanied with this new wiring will come a very advanced set-top-box, which will have – among many other things – a superb gaming console function.

The really interesting battle to see fought out will be the one where the exisiting game console revolutionisers see the value of connecting as many homes as possible. This will drive the gaming console further into the market, and not just in the hands of gamers. This, in turn, will create impulse, on-demand, and on-the-spot gaming by – for example- teenagers who come visit their grandparents.

Thus, as Fiber-To-The-Home is soon becoming a reality with 1 Gbps (and greater) speeds, plus the advanced set-top-box in the home, the gamer market will change.

If Microsoft or Sony teams up, it will win the war most likely. But imagine what will happen if Nintendo is the only visionary and teams up instead. The push for FTTH into the United States alone calls for 100 million connections within now and ten years, the rest of the world will be connected parallel to this.

Just imagine how online gaming or multi-player real time gaming on a new kind of console (because it will be the Set-Top-Box, not a console) will change the gaming landscape.

Below is an integral copy of my response to the Financial Time’s question, “Who will win the next round of console wars?”, which I wrote on March 17, 2006. While it has been more than 3 years, I still am of the same opinion.

“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?