FiberGeneration

The Groupon for Broadband looks nationwide

A startup offering Groupon-style group discounts for Broadband open neutral connections is now looking to connect with potential Broadband customers nationwide. On Monday Ulix 361 plans to expand access to its group Broadband discounts, installer recommendations and Broadband information services to another set of almost two dozen regions across France.

Ulix 361 works by using the power of the group to leverage a low-cost Broadband deal in certain areas. Similar to Groupon, Ulix 361 collects a critical mass of interested Broadband customers in a given area and uses the volume of people to make deals with Telecom operators. Think of the service as a way for entire neighborhoods to go Broadband in one fell swoop.

CEO and founder Olivier Zablocki explained to me in an interview that the idea of the service is to use the power of the group to shield consumers from lack of interest of the Telcos and to connect customers with reputable Broadband service providers. Broadband open neutral connections are a relatively new market in France, and prices, quality and delivery can vary wildly.

However, the bulk of Ulix 361’s deals have been delivered in regions with strong Broadband subsidies like Auvergne and Aquitaine. Ulix 361 has led to about 1,500 Broadband connections being installed since its first pilot projects were done in the summer of 2009.

The new nationwide plan launched this week provides a software tool for customers in regions that don’t necessarily have Open Access Broadband-friendly incentives to attempt to organize group deals and to see approved local Broadband services providers. But the catch is that customers in regions with weak Broadband subsidies probably won’t be able to finagle a group deal as low as ones in Broadband-friendly regions. In those instances, the software tool alerts the potential customers to how much they would have been able to save in a Broadband-friendly region and educates the potential customers about how they can connect with local legislators to ask for Broadband subsidies in their area.

It’s a smart bit of marketing, and it enables Ulix 361 to get involved with changing the unfortunate situation that the bulk of Broadband connections are done in a select number of regions. Ulix 361 says 20 out of 27 regions don’t have adequate Broadband subsidies that can generate economic connections deals. Ulix 361 generates revenue by charging Telecom operators a referral fee of 25 cents per megabit/second of contracted subscription.

Broadband and big data

The nationwide Broadband program is the latest example of an innovative startup turning to web analytics, big-data tools and smart algorithms to try to deliver more Broadband installations in France. The company has launched a Facebook app that shows how much savings a home Broadband connection is producing. Ulix 361, though, uses a monitoring device called the Spoutnik that a Broadband installer deploys at the home and that can track the current status of all the connected devices, their individual and overall power consumption, as well as the electricity eventually generated by renewable energy systems, e.g. photovoltaic solar panels.

Ulix 361 isn’t just using an idea that’s similar to Groupon; Ulix 361 also shares Groupon’s will to stay independent of the Big Guys. Recently, Olivier and his shareholders turned down an offer from Google, who is definitely seeking for field-proven, customer-focused, expertise in the Broadband area.

 

Editor Note : original article here.

It's a Google Google World, part 2

Folks at french consulting firm FaberNovel have released a pretty extensive study on Google' s key success factors.
For all of us who use Google' s stuff all day long at the office, at home, or on the road (iPhone 3G' Maps, anyone ?), this is a must read. As TechCrunch' Ouriel Ohayon stated : "It is hard to realize the real nature of this just 10 years old giant given the number of services it has continuously released, updated (and sometimes shut down) or acquired."

Like millions of others on the Planet, I'm using lots of the products that come out Mountain View. Search, GMail, Docs, Maps, YouTube, Picasa, you name it : all apps everybody working in a pure paperless/collaborative/open environment can't miss.

Like a bit less of other 'Telecoms' folks down there, I'm also convinced that Google is the only company able to massively invest into the Ultra-Broadband industry in order to build the open neutral access networks that are the true foundation of the Information Age. FaberNovel's white paper gives an accurate perspective on that :

"Internet infrastructures are a free provider for Google: the search engine indirectly benefits from Wifi providers, cable and satellite operators or backbone manufacturers who all subsidy the access of users to the Internet. On a macroeconomic scale, Google is becoming dependent on this value chain and must secure its providers.

Google is consequently driving towards infrastructure investing. This trend is aiming
at a multiple goal: 
-Ensuring long-lasting existing infrastructures
-Giving access to the Internet for non-connected populations and countries
-Offering high-speed and permanent access to the World Wide Web."

Why ? Simply because the more people on Earth will be connected to the Internet spending their whole life online, the more revenues will flow to Google. That's why we see all those lobbying efforts by the G'Mens on Broadband matters. IMHO, the R&D spendings on new optical communication gear, such as new fibers, new systems, new install methods, etc, are worth the money: as far as the unique rule at Google: "change the rules" is concerned, the ROI return on investment promise to be quite fast anyway.

Is this a good or bad thing, for having such a giant involved in almost every aspect of our online activities ? Maybe Google is the true Evil of the James Bond' franchise. Maybe not. Let's give it a try anyway...

Download the white-paper and/or the slides set here.

Contact FaberNovel here (link in french).

The Chinese Watch Out Call

The 2008 Olympics Opening Ceremonies have been the most stunning/impressive/jaw dropping I and probably billions of other people in the Galaxy today ever saw. The final fireworks said it all : China is ready.

With this absolutely unique event, China just has demonstrated its power to the entire planet. They master the Technology, they know the true means of Innovation, and they know how to execute a Life or Death strategic plan.

Maybe a few (thousands) people outside of Asia knew it already - have you ever dealt with a Chinese businessman ? Good luck, Dude ! Now, starting today 08/08/08, the whole World is aware.

One could not expect something else from the nation who counts Sun Tzu among her children.

How To Grab Market's Attention During The Holidays Season, Lesson Number One, By Fake Steve Jobs

Forbes' s senior editor Dan Lyons, aka Fake Steve Jobs, is currently offering one of the best yet impressive lesson of viral marketing to the Blogosphere.

A masterpiece of buzz, FSJ' s latest posts about Apple willing to sue him - read : the author, aka Dan Lyons - because of some confidential infos' leakage are just generating a tremendous traffic on the Fake Steve Jobs blog.

For those of you who didn't realize, it's Christmas' time. Holidays season means low traffic on the Internet superhighways. Except for people who know how to grab attention of the press and the masses.

Post-scriptum : reading the comments and the comments on the comments is just plain fun, with lots of people who really seem to believe the whole story to those who think FSJ is going to retire.

Now, it may be appropriate to highlight a couple of basic rules :

- rule #1 : never ever take what you read on a blog for granted.

- rule #2 : consequence : always verify the information you've just found before using it.

- rule #3 : never ever take what you read on a fake blog for granted.

- rule #4 : consequence : always cross-check the information you've just read before believing it.

- rule #5 : never ever take what you read on Fake Steve Jobs' blog for true.

- rule #6 : consequence : always make fun out of it.

bonus rule, #7 : when Dan Lyons meets Guy Kawasaki, expect the outcomes to be outstanding unusual marketing.

Leveraging On A Waste Of Time

Formula One champion Fernando Alonso just signed up a 2-years contract with the french team Renault Sports, which he left at the end of 2006 to join the Brits of McLaren.

The 2007 season was kind of a disaster for Alonso, who couldn't become F1 World Champion for the third time in a row because of some conflict with his own teammate, the young Lewis Hamilton.
The question is : did Alonso lost a year at McLaren ? Did Renault lost a year too, not being in the top-3 teams this year ? Answer is : not at all. Fernando Alonso has had the unique chance to learn a lot about another team, another philosophy, another strategy. Renault Sports has had the opportunity to test different technical solutions to overcome its interim misfortune. Combining both experiences will bring both of them to the next level.

What's the point ? This : change the names for whoever you want in your own business, and you'll understand why sometimes companies let their best people go to the competition for a while and then bring them back home.

The Art of ‘Ware, version 2.0

Bruce Webster recently updated his " The Art of ‘Ware " originally published by M&T Books in 1995. As the title suggests, this interpretation of Sun Tzu's Art Of War is about creating and marketing IT products & services.
Since the Art of War can be applied to numerous if not countless domains, Bruce also invites people of other industries to send him their own insights and observations. Go here if you want to participate.

Thanks to Guy Kawasaki for the heads up.


post-scriptum #1 : you may want to look who's the smart reader on the photo. In the meantime, you can visit sonshi.com for everything Sun Tzu.


post-scriptum #2 : here is the comment I left on Guy's blog.

Back in late 1999, Agilent Technologies, the T&M Test & Measurement spin-off of HP Hewlett-Packard, decided to become a key player in the Telecoms Networks I&M Installation & Maintenance market segment. #1 T&M vendor, leader in the Lab & Production testing business, Agilent was still a small challenger in the I&M field : no brand recognition, no significant marketshare, no visibility at all except with some loyal HP customers here and there.

In less than 3 years, Agilent became #1 Fiber Optics Test Equipment vendor, according to a Frost & Sullivan' s report published in 2002. Even better, a product which was of interest for a very small portion of the Telecoms industry at this time - remember the Bubble ? - got a tremendous press coverage for its launch in March 2002 (by the way, in our case PR worked pretty well ;-). In parallel, Agilent's I&M test markeshare almost doubled in the US by the end of 2002.

How did Agilent achieved such outstanding results ? Sun Tzu. We simply applied the Art Of War.

As a challenger, we acted as a challenger - which was quite interesting in the context of Agilent, provided that the whole company was (is still) set to act as a leader (you know what I mean...). For instance, we overcomed our rivals by applying the strategy described by Bruce in the Chapter 3: "Sizing up the Competition".

Since I left Agilent back in 2003, I've got to learn many other markets outside telecoms, working with several companies in different areas : the only ones who win are the ones who apply the Art of War. That might seem dumb, but it's the very truth.