I was recently asked by a reporter to comment on the pros and cons of municipal Wi-Fi networks (which could also extend to Wi-Fi networks based in libraries and public schools, not to mention your local Starbucks. Here's my response:
The premise behind most Municipal Wi-Fi proposals is that by having low-cost or free Wi-Fi networks available economic development will be facilitated, the 'digital divide' between haves and have-nots will be narrowed and that local business communities will grow up around the networks.
The downsides of such a municipal wi-fi plan are considerable as well, unfortunately.
One downside of such systems is that by providing network access for free, municipalities are undercutting the role of private enterprise in establishing and maintaining communication networks. This could have the negative effect of reducing returns from private investments, in turn reducing the incentives for further research and development in the Wi-Fi area. Companies that have invested in alternative networks, likewise, will see revenue streams cut off once wireless-for-free becomes widely available.
The richochet effects are likely to spill into other segments, such as telephony, in which voice over IP (VOIP) threatens the local phone companies' monopoly over access to the home.
Another downside of municipal wi-fi systems is that they provide open access to all kinds of nasty software. On standalone machines, the spread of viruses and spyware from one to another can be slowed with firewalls and preventive measures. On a network, the integrity of the network is as powerful as the weakest computer on it. With a municipal network, who is going to take responsibility for its functioning?
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- Posted Admin on October 05, 2005
I'm just back from a most amazing visit to Dubai, where I learned a thing or two about how strategic a government can be. Dubai's leaders have figured out how to make the place attractive for business, despite the fact that it's historical major industry was -- guess this -- pearl diving!
Among the things they got right were plans for their National airline, Emirates. I took Emirates to Dubai and it was fascinating. Emirates has figured out that it's about 8 hours from many major markets, and is making great progress connecting them - for instance, connecting Europe and parts of China.
Moreover, Dubai's brand new airport features 24/7 service, which among other things allows it to run its planes for 3 hours more per day than competing airlines, a huge advantage in a capital-intensive market. Beyond the airline, Dubai is studded with awe-inspiring office buildings and hotels, and I'm told that they are setting up their own stock exchange. Not bad for a place that not too long ago was in the middle of nowhere.
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- Posted Admin on September 27, 2005
Well, the computers arrived this past week. They got here when I was in Finland, so by the time I got home there was a smoking mound of packaging occupying the entire dining room, and puzzled consternation from the teens, who evidently had decided to forge on ahead and install everything themselves.
Well, I have to say that the looks of the devices were a big disappointment. Although the towers themselves were colored, as promised, all the peripherals are your standard computer silver and black, including the monitor. And the machines are HUGE.
I suppose to contain all that horsepower they perhaps have to be big. They do have very cool blue lights that go on when the machine is working, but they also have a massive exhaust array and run very hot. The set up also seems to have done something to our home network which will necessitate a call to the trusty computer guys to come and sort things out again. I am still wondering why I paid the kind of money I paid for these machines, given what we've now learned. At the same time, I think consumption exhaustion has set in - I'm thoroughly sick of talking about computers for the teens! And both say they are happy, so I guess we'll get the network up and running again and go with the flow.
Let this be a warning to those of you thinking of buying Alienware - the computers basically look like everybody else's, except for the towers.
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- Posted Admin on September 11, 2005
A fascinating article in Fortune (August 8 2005, p. 32) details the mass destruction of the telecommunications industry perpetrated by the fraud at WorldCom (now MCI). During its heyday it's (illegally) efficient cost structure drove competitors crazy - to the point that competitors such as AT&T fired tens of thousands of people and eventually went into a deadly competitive tailspin.
Not only that, but today's MCI, post-bankruptcy and with a nice clean balance sheet seems poised to do even more damage to its competitors, most of whom are bearing the burden of significant debt. Capitalism depends on everyone playing by the same rules. The MCI story is a disturbing lesson of the helplessness of those rules in an age of intangible assets and underpowered enforcement.
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- Posted Admin on August 25, 2005
A most interesting article in the Harvard Management Update (Lauren Keller Johnson - Stamp Out Budget Shenanigans, Harvard Management Update August 2005) outlines some good practices to help address common games people play at budget time. Citing Richard Steele, a partner in Marakon Associates, they recommend four practices that can help make the budgeting process more realistic and strategic. I thought these were quite interesting, and essential in an era in which it is really hard for more senior people to know what is going on at an operating level.
First practice: Create decision support units that can offer an alternative to proposed budgets. This means that someone other than the manager whose personal good fortune is linked to achieving the budget is looking at the numbers as well.
Second practice: Use the very common 360 degree feedback process to include peer questions about the managers' behavior at budget time. By asking peers what they think, the questions can reveal behavioral tendencies to under-promise, demand too much or be unrealistic.
Third practice: Include customers in budget reviews. This means asking questions such as how many customers have you lost this year? How many need to be acquired to replace them? How many to grow? This will get the debate beyond the numbers to the strategic issues.
Fourth practice: Establish consistent checklists and standards for budget-planning meetings - including questions about execution, strategy and investments.
Food for thought as we enter into the second half of the year.
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- Posted Admin on August 11, 2005
