FiberGeneration

Born To Be A Fiberman !

 
 Back in the late 80's, I decided to name the Fiber Optics Network team at the Telecoms Department of SNCF French Railroads after the initials of its members. The good news : we were only three guys. That made it easy : "Duchesne, Bernard, Millorit" gives "dBm". Unfortunately, I was so naive that I didn't protect this name...

Today, I'm deeply involved in Fiber-To-The-Home, helping french CableTV operator Numericable to build THD Seine, the world-largest public FTTH network to date. My trigram at Numericable : MDU.

I'm hungrily waiting for the next one. As I'm doing Fiber test & measurement since the very beginning, I guess I'll end up my career with something like "OTDR" : "Oh, Time for Duchesne to Retire" !

FiberGeneration Facelift

FiberGeneration The Blog will soon celebrate its third anniversary. The right time to give it a little refresh, touch by touch.

After those beautiful (yes) buttons on the left sidebar which I installed a couple of weeks ago, today I replaced the 18 months old banner by a more accurate one : I'm doing more "green" stuff than being in Pau at the moment, so goodbye Boulevard des Pyrenees, and welcome to the Green Wave.

Also, I replaced the standard Category Cloud by this amazing widget, on the right sidebar. It's powered by Microsoft Silverlight, so it may not display on your browser, sorry for that. I couldn't find a dynamic tag cloud coded in Flash.

By the way, I wanted to implement a new Comment and Interaction system:  Echo by JS-Kit: although I'm quite an advanced Typepad user, I didn't find a way to easily enable this feature without switching to Advanced Design. As I don't have the time to do it today, please wait for the next revision to enjoy this wonderful tool, which you can see in action here.

Speaking of interaction, I put my Twitter back. Let's talk : @mduchesn.

Of course, the facelift will continue over the next few weeks - I want to clean up a little bit the page, and... add pages. Stay tuned!

Oh, by the way: FiberGeneration has 95 subscribers according to Feedburner as of today. Thank you All. I'm honored, and will do my best to publish more interesting stuff for you during this coming 4th year of existence.

[Teaser] California Dream Tour 2010

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Monday: No More My Blogging Day

Paul Boutin of Wired gives a pretty accurate look on the Blogosphere 2008. To make it short, amateurs' s weblogs are thing of the past, being replaced by Twitter, Flickr, and Facebook.

I'm 100% on the same page. Blogging requires so much time that either you do it the Seth Godin' short-form, either you keep your blog for the long-form *in-depth* articles.
Since a couple of months now, I'm part of the trend : moving to micro-blogging, thanks to Twitter, keeping FiberGeneration for the "long" stuff.

Actually, I do have plenty of material to publish here, with my different jobs within the Telecoms/Fiber/FTTH world : the many projects open on the Pau Broadband Country, the training & education with eXperide, etc. Unfortunately, Code of Conducts and Confidentiality agreements there hinder me to write about what makes most of my days since a year now. Finding ways to eventually post a couple of news here and there is fun, yet time-consuming : how to avoid legal issues when I want to publish a photo of a field-trial or a short note on a check-point meeting.

Plus, as many of us, I spend lot of time commenting and contributing to discussions on others' s blogs. That's the good-old-Usenet made modern.

Now, the funny part. Almost two years ago, I wrote a post titled "The Asymptotic Twitter Curve", which I started with those words : "Monday is going to be my ' blogging day '." The subject : a newly launched Web 2.0 service so-called Twitter. The post ended with this (really interesting ;-) question : "Today, I wonder if the Web 2.0 thing as a whole is not turning out to be a new Bubble : who cares about what I am doing right now, but myself or my wife ?..." I was then far away of thinking that one day, I would rather tweet than blog. To my defense, I was also far away of thinking that one day, I would have a tiny Internet device in my pocket, 24/7. The iPhone and its myriad of Twitter's clients
: the perfect fit for (micro)bloggers.

By the way : you can tweet me @mduchesn .

The Myth Of Multi-Tasking (Or why I miss Germany)

I'm no guru any longer (people called me *the fiber optics guru* back in the 90's-early 2k's - even at HP/Agilent, that says a lot ;-), however it seems that I do currently share the same trouble than Presentation Design guru Garr Reynolds. Actually, Garr's words in his recent post could be mine - I was to write something on that : " I find myself making more little mistakes and being less satisfied with my work overall unless I can take the time everyday to be alone and focus on one thing at a time. " 

Is it aging ? I don't think so : at 48 in 2 months, my brain is still in better shape than most of the Generation Y (just kidding, Facebook readers ;-). My take is - such is Garr's too - that we are overhelmed by this Always-Urgent mode we live in since years. Less and less time to achieve more and more fragmented tasks. This is no new discovery, of course. Yet it's quite disturbing.

Yesterday afternoon, back from a meeting in Paris with young entrepreneur Mathieu Husson and his team, I was hit by a strange thought : "maybe I do too much". I suddenly realized that I may be currently too much immersed in too many open projects.

Then, last night whilst watching French Champion Tsonga fighting hard against Electric Roddick, I took a brief look on Twitter with my iPhone. My wife went sarcastic : "hey, can't you get off the grid for once ?".

So, I remembered the days at Agilent Boeblingen, Germany. We were working hard and fast - 3 years looking like 3 months, that's the one thing that's comes to our mind when we talk about this period. Yet things were organized, the German way. Process, process, process. At the end of the day, it gives you the VW Golf : attention to the details. When I moved from HP/Agilent headquarters in Paris to Boeblingen, I was used to work on 30 different projects at a time. Friends were used to say that I was "Mister 100-ideas a day". After 3 years in Germany, I was doing just a handful of things at a time, and I was doing those quite well, according to our customers and the management.

That was just 6 years ago. What has changed, since then ? Maybe people like Garr and myself and millions of other guys are just too curious and hungry to learn and share. Maybe we're just workoholic. Maybe we're just tech geeks, relying too much on the Internet and the iPhone. Working on our regular job, reading our RSS feeds, blogging, commenting, twitting : we're always "online", and... disrupted.

I have no answer so far, however I have the solution - at least for myself. From now on, I'm going back to the German mode. Check email and reply from 8:00AM to 9:00AM, then leave the incoming messages for the next day. Read and comment the news from 9 till 10. Then work on the priority #1 project until lunchtime (and keep this one at fixed hour). Take a short rest, off the grid. Go back to work at 1:30PM, and work on priority #2 project until tea break. Then get back and work on #3 project until everybody leaves the factory - ooops, until the kids come back home.

There is definitely no new method here. Just basic, time-proven common sense. That's why this post is the very last one I'll write and publish over a week-end !

Thanks to Garr for the reminder, and for the video. Follow the link here for more.

Presentation Zen here.

FiberGeneration The Company : D-52

 There's no better time to launch a startup than a big crisis such as the one we're heading to. Actually, I recently remembered that I've launched XWinG right after the downturn in 1993. Within the next 2 years, we were number one on the market. The key is : Bootstrapping. Less is more. Customer-centric.

Okay, fast forward to tomorrow : I'm happy to announce that FiberGeneration will be become a company on December 1 (this year ;-). Headquarter : Helioparc technoparc, Pau, France. Business : help people to better understand and use Web 2.0 apps & tools.

Of course, Fiber-To-The-Home and Sustainable Development will be part of the game...

Stay tuned for more soon !

It's about Life

I've just learned that french fiber optics expert Alain Oudet passed away last sunday. Alain was well-known and highly respected in the french optical communications industry. Together with Regis Trouart and Patrick Desprez, Alain started TDO (Trouart Desprez Oudet), the very first fiber optics training company in the country, back in 1986. In the early 90's, TDO, AMP (now Tyco) and Alcatel (now AlcatelLucent) launched Le Club Optique, a counter-initiative to the famous CREDO created by the cable manufacturer Acome and hardware maker Pouyet (now 3M Telecoms).

Alain and myself never been real "buddies". First of all, I wasn't part of his "inner-circle". Then, we've been pure rivals when I run my own firm, XWinG. Provided that in 1995, after 2 years of operation only, XWinG was taking over the installed base of TDO, thanks to a nice WOM marketing. Last, Regis Trouart joined me as associate in 1994 : it didn't help improving our relationships at all...

In 1997, we were #1 on the market. That pushed TDO to move to another business : fiber networks expertise. Alain quickly became a master of OTDR and dispersions measurements, gaining a pretty strong reputation on the fiber characterization services business in France and other parts of Europe.

As I joined HP/Agilent as a regular employee mid '98, I lost contact with Alain and TDO. When I came back to the french marketplace two years ago, Alain was still the same : smiling, engaging, and... smoking.

I don't know what TDO is going to become now that its leader is gone. Not my business, after all (actually, not exactly true : I'm in the fiber optics training business too. But I don't consider TDO as a rival any longer : we're not on the same page, simple as that). I just know why I haven't met Alain in the alleys of Odebit or the Telecoms Forum in Paris last week.

Carpe Diem.

Note to the FiberGeneration Readers

Since quite a while, I'm moving my "online sharing" activities to more comments on others' s blogs and more twitts than ever before. Hence the relative silence here on FiberGeneration.
Actually, I'm investigating several ways to post those comments and twitts on this blog, should they be relevant with FiberGeneration' s *editorial line*. An interesting yet difficult job ;-)

In the meantime, Andrew keeps posting his short notes as often as his own job allows it. Also, my friends Georges and Handy should publish their first posts within the next couple of weeks (I know, I said that 2 months ago about Georges ;-)

Keep going, Namaste, and Peace Out (I think we all need it at the moment...).

The Green Fiber Evangelist Dilemna

On the fourth week of September, I'm going to attend three different events in three days. ECOC'08 to start with, then Odebit'08, and finally the Cisco's CUD conference. That is Monday in Brussels, Tuesday in Paris, and Wednesday in Amsterdam.

Provided that I'll be either an exhibitor (ECOC), or a pro-active participant (Odebit), I have to be there for the opening - means way before the doors open. Also, I expect to leave the places not before 7:00PM each. So the question is : which travel mode is the best, for me to be on time in the morning in Brussels, then in Paris, then in Amsterdam ?

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As I do my very best to be an honest Global Warming fighter, the first choice that comes to mind is the Thalys high-speed-train, obviously. At least for the first segment : home - Brussels - Paris, the Thalys seems to be the right solution.

Problem : I must travel low-cost to ECOC. Hence for me driving is cheaper and simplier. Just because I'm "only" 3-hours drive away from Brussels, all on motorways, whilst going by train would force me to 1) drive to the Disneyland Paris high-speed-train station 60 minutes away from home, 2) leave my car at the parking lot there, and pay for it, 3) jump in the train to Lille-Europe, and switch for the next one to Brussels-Midi, 4) grab a taxi to the hotel, and pay for it, 5) on the morning next day, pay the hotel room - a one-night stay in Brussels is not cheap, even in a 2-stars hotel - and 6) grab a taxi to the Exhibition center, and pay the guy. And the reverse in the evening on the way back to home : call a cab, catch the train, switch in Lille-Europe, drive home.

The train option : a 2-days trip, approximatively 350 euros all included but the meals. The car option : a 1-day trip, approx. 100 euros, gasoline & toll included. Therefore, the choice is easy. Car wins, unfortunately for the planet.

Now the trip to Amsterdam. Driving is not an option, so the question is : train or airplane ? Train : the last Thalys to Amsterdam departs from Paris at 6:25PM, meaning that I would have to leave the Broadband Summit at Odebit at something like 5:00PM. No way, since the wrap-up session will be held by a key member of the French Government. Therefore, option B wins : I'll fly from Paris to Amsterdam. I am so sorry, again, Mother Earth.

The conclusion is, you may be the most proactive proponent of the fight against climate changes (which I'm not. This guy is, for sure ;-), your agenda sometimes forces you to break the rules.

The lesson for me : it's time to compensate my carbon emissions. See my total CO2 footprint to date here on Dopplr. How much is yours ?

Hey, Apple : Could You Please Mobile Me ?

Using a Mac since 24 years, living the all-Apple digital lifestyle at home, and the as-much-Apple-as-I-can at work, I consider myself as a pretty loyal customer to the Cupertino' s folks - to be honest, I'm a so-called "Mac-maniac", which is sometimes annoying for my co-workers and customers.

I'm also a very loyal admirer of Steve Jobs - some would say, I'm a "fan" of Master Steve. For instance, I moved to the NeXT Cube as soon as the black jewel was available here in France, just because it was "made by Steve".

I bought the iPhone the (second) day of its release in France, and I will get the iPhone 3G on Monday (thanks to Orange).

3 Macs at home, 3 iPods, and 2 iPhones soon : that's quite a nice package, I think.

Of course, I'm was a .Mac subscriber since Day One, and I moved to MobileMe (and iPhone 2.0) as millions of others last June.

That's the problem. Since the switch from the old .Mac services to the modern/state-of-the-art/Web2.0-style MobileMe, and the upgrade to the iPhone 2.0 platform that includes the AppStore, the whole setup sucks. My 6-months old MacBook often goes as slow as my 5-years old PowerBook, thanks to the Sync mechanism. Sending an email from the iPhone takes hours, due to a mismatch between the MobileMe stuff and the Orange network. Sending a photo from the iPhone to MobileMe ? forget it : the system don't find any shared album, although I've setup and used a couple of them on .Mac months ago. Since the very first app that I've downloaded on the iPhone, I get to reboot it at least three times a week.

Dear Apple, that is not fair. I never asked for all those troubles. I never wanted to think that you start doing wrong things.I don't want to think someday that you look like the guys in Redmond.

When I had to reboot my Duo once a day back in the mid 90's, that was no problem. It was even worst with a PC. When I had to reboot my iMac once a month in the late 90's, it was no problem neither : I was still a "paper" guy. Today, mid 2008, when I have to reboot my iPhone, it makes me crazy. Because I'm an All-Digital guy now, doing Web 2.0 and Cloud Computing all day long, thanks to the Googles and to... you.

So, Cupertino People : when are you going to make my life as simple as it was two months ago ?

[The Year Of The People] Say Welcome To My Friend Andrew

Do you know Andrew Luzgin ? I'm a friend of him. He's a friend of mine. Not the Facebook style of "friends", see what I mean ? A true friend.

Andrew and I have met years ago, before the Bubble. Virtually. On Usenet. We were discussing Fiber Optics stuff thru the sci.optics.fiber newsgroup.

A few years later, when I was with HP/Agilent, I got to test a fiber documentation software developed by Andrew and his peers at the IIT Institute of Information Technology of Minsk, Belarus. We Agilent didn't go further with this software, but Jim Hayes of Fotec (at this time) did.

Fast forward to November 2005 : working with Sunrise Telecom who were outsourcing its optical handhelds to IIT, I visited Minsk for the first and only time to date. Thanks to a missed connection flight in Vienna, a lost envelop containing 150 USD cash, and a Mickey Mouse type of manager, I did land in Belarus at night and ganz alone. Right into the deep cold winter of... the former USSR. To make it short, I almost had was to spend the night in the airport to go home the next morning, should Andrew not show up with enough american money to set me free of the Belarus' customs.

Thanks to Andrew, I had one of the most enjoyable evenings in a foreign country in my life.

Since then, we kept in touch. Virtually. Thru Skype. Among other business-related things, I've coached Andrew on the "Western World Way Of Life". Until I convinced him to look for a new job outside of Belarus. Hey, this guy was able to design one of the most technically advanced optical tester... out of nothing. The equipments in the IIT' labs ? Dated 1980 or so, see what I mean ? My take was : if Andrew is able to create little jewels in Belarus, he'll be able to create big marvels in the Western World.

I've worked on that for a year or more, helping Andrew to feel comfortable with the idea of leaving Minsk for the Unknown Regions.

Since last month, Andrew lives in Vilnius, Lithuania. He's working at FOD Fiber Optic Devices, a Test equipment maker supplying the big guys in the Test & Measurement industry with components and OEM/ODM products.

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Vilnius is only 130 miles away from Minsk, but it's a totally new World for my friend.
That's why I've asked Andrew to share his Once-In-A-Lifetime experience with you. Stay tuned for Andrew Luzgin' diary here on FiberGeneration. The first posts are ready, we just have to... tune Andrew's english a little bit ;-)

post-scriptum : have you noticed how the Belarus map is empty ?...

Cosmetic Changes For A (Big) Move

I've changed the FiberGeneration' banner. Say goodbye to the Golden Gate, and say hello to the Pyrenees.
This picture * is the landscape I enjoy each and every day when I go to "my" office in Pau.
Beautiful, isn' t it ?

I also changed the version number of this blog, from the usual "2.0" to the more advanced yet fuzzy "3.0". The reason : FiberGeneration will soon no longer be a "one-man show". My friends Andrew, Handy, and Georges have joined me as authors, each of them with their own topics of interests - it's going to be about the real life in this fast changing digital world... Stay tuned for their first posts !

* note : the photo is not mine, unfortunately. It's a postcard, edited by the Editions Gypoete under the ref M46. Titled " Boulevard des Pyrenees", photo by Dominique Julien.

The Blackberry Tale Of The Day

In the aircraft bringing me back home last friday, I was sitting next to a Finance guy. You know, the kind of big-head/stripped-suit/heavy-smoker/VIP trader.

To give you an idea, the guy was still on the phone whilst we were ready for take off, discussing about a client of his willing to leverage on the fiscal package that Sarkozy offered to the richest French citizens on Day One of his Presidency.

Why post on that poor little anecdote ? This : during the flight, I've watched Al Gore' speech at the recent TED conference, on my iPhone. When the guy saw me, he took his Blackberry out of a pocket, and started to... play some kid's brick game.

Definitely, we are not on the same planet ;-)

My "About Me" Page Sucks

Luckily enough, more and more people go to the "About Me" section of this blog. Unfortunately, the more I read it myself, the more I think it's not appealing enough. Too much of a light resume.
The fact is, the people who go to the "About Me" page of a blog want to know who's the author, his background for sure, but mainly his current activities, hobbies, passion, or whatever make him write this blog.
Nothing people get when reading my own stuff. At least not in a proper "elevator-pitch" manner...
That's why I'm to rewrite this section sometime over the week-end. Easter is supposed to be a new start, isn't it ?

Warm Thanks To The OFCNFOEC'08 Team

I got a "Press" badge at OFC this year, thanks to FiberGeneration. I'm honored being the first blogger registered as a Press member in the whole OFC' history. My warmest thanks to the PR team in San Diego, especially to Keira Shein of WilkinsonShein Communications.

From San Francisco to San Diego

I'm heading for the OFC'08 tradeshow, going first to San Francisco to do some business with a couple of french friends of mine who have the very chance to have both a french and a US passport.
I'll do my best to do live blogging on Tuesday next week, for the OFC Keynote - Bob Metcalfe will be there.
CU soon ;-)

Say Hello To eXperide

Since October 1st 2007, I'm working with the french group "R&D", who owns the french largest fiber optics distributor ICTL. My job: help the company to create and launch a new subsidiary aimed at consulting & training services for the Optical Communications industry.

Please welcome eXperide, your new fiber optics companion.

What we do : bring fiber optics skills to everyone.
Why we do exist : to help telcos and al. to build, operate, and maintain state-of-the-art networks faster and better.

Here's the eXperide' flyer intro :
" in this ever-changing world, where the survival and development of your business relies on a fast and constant adaptation, knowing markets and technics is mandatory for your success. eXperide has been designed to address your needs of advice and training in all parts of installation & maintenance of optical communications networks.
We do exist to go alongside with you at every stage of your growth, from qualifying existing installations up to helping you to setup new structures aimed at networks' s construction & maintenance and certifying your outside plant technicians for jobs at service providers and system integrators.
Our only objective : to enable you to go to market faster, better, and safer. "

To better understand the core idea behind eXperide, have a look on the presentation I've created back in late October to get the whole team engaged - and focused. Of course, you won't see the most interesting part of of it : our strategy ;-) My favorite quote : "Entrepreneurship is the last refuge of the trouble making individual".

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The Area 51, please ?

E.T. iPhone home ;-)

My name is Mr Incredible

I swear, I didn't take enhancement drugs ;-)

Here's My Best Profile On The Web

No wonder why I get so many hot calls !

Say Hello To MacBook (and iMac ;-)

Just a side note : I've bought a MacBook this afternoon, as my good 5-years-old-400°C-fire-resistant PowerBook G4 just went off (seems the graphic card needs some repair). Not the Air (as the latest Apple marvel is a bit too expensive for me at the moment), but a nice white 2.2GHz CoreDuo.
My new companion was up and running in less than 3 minutes, including online registration at Apple.com. I created a partition for Windows, of course; it took a couple of clicks, and boom, the thing was okay - live, of course. I set up my printer : less than 30 seconds for MacOS to a) find it, b) find its driver, c) select it as default. Then I got all my files back, thanks to TimeMachine.
Now, you would like me to work with a PC again ?...

post-scriptum : today is a great Mac day, as I also got my iMac DV SE back - from a friend of mine who don't need it any longer. Guess what : this jewel is 10 years old, and it runs like just out of the box.
That's why I don't like PCs and Windows...

JDSU vs. EXFO : Rumor Or Not Rumor ?

Holy cow ! Seems that the small-world Test & Measurement industry' s engine is whirling fast after my recent post on the Google search for "JDSU announcement EXFO" thing. I can't stop looking at the stats : lots of visitors come to Fibergeneration to read this previous post, and much more.
First, to all of you I'd like to say that I'm honored being read by you dear T&M fellows.
Second, I'd like to highlight the fact that I'm definitely not responsible for the supposedly rumored announcement between your companies *.
Last, I'd like to confirm that I'll be attending OFC this year. And I hope I won't be banned from your booths ;-)

It's all about having fun for a change, Folks. I know, I should stop reading FSJ Fake Steve Jobs.

* ed. note : in a next post, I'll explain why I personally don't believe in a M&A kind of deal between the two firms. It simply doesn't make sense from an industrial point of view : the respective product portfolios are quite similar. I mean, JDSU already does what EXFO do, so, where's the benefit, if not for simply wipping out a rival (which is a very small one from a market cap perspective, see my next post, to be published later today) from the industry landscape.

post-scriptum : this whole stuff reminds me the good old days of the Bubble, when I was working at Agilent Technologies. Some day in 2000 or so, I was flying to France from Italy, back from a business meeting somewhere. Two rows behind me in the aircraft, two guys in dark suit & tie typical businessman battledress were talking loud about one of our rivals : GN NetTest. I couldn't stop listening for the whole flight, as they were discussing potential investors and buyers and blahblahblah. I quickly realized those fools were analysts, probably working for some big consulting and/or banking firm. At the arrival in Paris, I even had the name of the future owner of NetTest (i.e. Axcel, a danish investment firm). Let me tell you something : when you work for Agilent Technologies, you know what confidential information means. In the Business of Conducts policy, there's a lot of Do's and Don't s. For instance, this one : never discuss about business in a plane.

Ah, this anecdote recalls another short one in my memory bank. A few years later, once again in an airliner somewhere in the european sky. The guy the next row on my right hand side was reading a powerpoint presentation on his laptop PC. Guess what : he was with our biggest rival, based in Germany too, and was reviewing a new product introduction presentation. I got the premiere, for free...

Scoble And I.

So, World' s famous blogger Robert Scoble is born on January 18 too. Until today, my references were Montesquieu, Cary Grant, or Kevin Costner. Now I have to add Mr. Scoblezeir. That's the Web 2.0 Age, Folks ;-)

Just This (02-08)

Today is my birthday. This is where I would like to enjoy it now : Benchen Karma Kamtzang Lamastery in the Kham region, Tibet.

See this post's geographical context.
Ed. note : Tibet being a Chinese province, it seems that GoogleMaps can't deliver accurate images for the Kham region. Hence this link to the capitale Lhasa.

Photo Credit : Hubert Wysznski

2007 : The Year Of Learning People

Before kicking-off the new year with a traditional round of Top-Ten stuff, I'd like to wrap up 2007 with the mandatory yet often forgotten WWW session. Every business developer, marketeer, and sales man must do the WWW after each and every meeting with her customers, prospects, or teammates. Hence a blogger, who should do the same with his readership.

What does 'WWW' mean ? If you think " World Wide Web ", think again. It stands for : " what went Wrong, what went Well, what we Will do better next time." I've learned about the WWW session for the first time back in early 2000, with my Forever-Coach Hal Stitt at Agilent Technologies. Seven years (not in Tibet) after, I can testify how the WWW session is the most powerful tool to get you improve your product, your behavior, your business.

The WWW rules are simple : the meeting facilitator captures every input from each participant, including herself, in each of the three categories, on a round-robin basis (important : names are not recorded). I tell you : the first time you do a WWW session with a channel partner or a customer, the guy looks at you as if you were an Alien coming straight from Planet Mars, but he quickly realizes how important he's for you. That's how you'll prove you listen to your customers. Same with your teammates and colleagues. Conclusion : the WWW session helps you demonstrate that you care of the people.

That's why I'll do the first WWW stuff here on Fibergeneration. As I'm also the 'facilitator', I'll kindly ask you Dear Readers to fill in your own feedback about the blog. Feel free to drop me a line or two or even more in Comments.

The "Fibergeneration 2007 WWW (online) session"
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What Went Wrong :
- couldn't stick with the Fibergeneration' s marcom plan, as previously defined at the end of 2006 (e.g. the 10 "Top-Ten").
- too many unpublished posts (ed. note : I will do a "Top-Ten" on it ;-).
- not so many in-depth articles (ed. note : sometimes, I wonder if I shouldn't start a fake blog so I can publish all the confidential stuff I learn thru my jobs ;-).
- didn't get paid of my job at Kazados.tv, although this post is a hit in the search engines.
- couldn't deliver articles for a new Dubai-based online news magazine so far.
- achieved less than 1,000-km cycling in 2007.

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What Went Well :
- got unexpected messages from unexpected people (see here for instance).
- learned the WebTV business. At the age of 47 (soon, unfortunately ;-), I might be one of the few guys in France able to set-up and launch a television channel on the Web those days.
- Fibergeneration well positionned in the Search engines. With surprising results sometimes. See here as an example.
- Fibergeneration spotted by an amazing Amazon probe.
- Fibergeneration in the Blogosphere at large. See the comments (and the related posts) here and here for instance.
- made a lot of contacts through blogging. Amazing encounters, thanks to the powers of the Web 2.0.

- in a more broader/general point of view, 2007 has been the year of learnings to me. The most important one : People. Learning new people, read and hear people's learnings, learn how to share with other people, etc. Learnings and People, those two words are my own keywords to summarize 2007. (ed. note : as a WWW' record shouldn't include personal in-depth comments, you may jump to the note at the end of this post to... learn more about my learnings).

- Friendship, not the Facebook style. The true meaning of Friendship. See the note below as well.

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What We (I) Will Do Better Next Time (This Year) :
- Stick to the plan.
- Deliver on time.
- Share. Share, share, share. Experiences, customers feedback, business stories, as much as official contracts and NDAs allow me to go.
- Emphasize on the people' side of things.

Note : Personal Acknowledgements :
All along the year 2007, I have had the chance to meet, either online or face-to-face, a tremendous bunch of extraordinary people. From good old friends who suddenly came back into my life to my new boss who hired me thru a discussion on Skype, it has been quite an amazing journey...

Here's the list of people I'd like to thank before the whole Blogosphere, because they're worth being recognized :

To Armelle, thank you for the fast-track training on the WebTV business.

To Olivier Hamon, thank you for your entrepreneur's spirit.

To Laurent F. and Philippe C., thank you for helping me rediscovering the true meaning of The Force.

To André Relandeau, aka "Dédé" with the whole Optical Communications industry in France, thank you for your kind-always accurate advices. You deserve a better career' s ending, Buddy.

To Andrew Luzgin of Belarus, thank you for trusting me.

To Richard Stephen, thank you for believing me since all those years.

To Jean-Michel Planche, thank you for helping me feel younger than ever despite my 25-years long career in the Telecoms business.

To Benoit Felten, thank you for being one of your favorite blogs' s authors.

To Jean-Michel Billaut, thank you for making me meet both my new boss and my new teammate.

To Jean-Pierre Jambes, thank you for being my new boss.

To Jean Hughes Lauret, thank you for being my new teammate.

To Georges Pantanelli, thank you for thinking at the speed of light. Also, thank you for showing me the way to the Bay Area. And thank you for proving that there is no age limit for the true entrepreneurs.

To Bruce Bonini and Jim Gelose, thank you for supporting the idea that we old T&M Fellows can reinvent the Test & Measurement industry.

To Robert Jahn, thank you for taking care.

To Hal Stitt, thank you for always being there when I call you.

To Peter Schweiger, thank you for being everywhere.

To Gülper, thank you for being there still, somewhere.

To Handy Phelper, thank you for cycling and skiing. 2008 will be The Goofy Year.

To François Piccin, thank you for all.

To Bernard Millorit, Charles Raduszinski, Christian "Cricri" Bernard, and Didier Boucher, merci d'être là, aussi, et surtout, toujours.

To all of you, I'd like to say 'thank you'. I hope to see you (again) soon, somewhere sometime in 2008.

Photo credit : Cafe-Ole.

En Route To A New Adventure

Now I can tell you. I'm happy - er, I'm delighted to announce you that I'll be working at the french city of Pau for the next year. Together with fellow entrepreneur Jean-Hughes Lauret (link in french), I will be heading the business development team of Pau Broadband Country (link in french). As my new boss Jean-Pierre Jambes (link in french) says, our mission is to attract researchers, entrepreneurs, investors and users to invent the lifestyle that comes with ultra-broadband.

When I started my career almost 25 years ago (6th of January, 1983) at the French Railways, the very first thing I've heard about Fiber Optics was : "FIber To The Home is tomorrow". Today, I'm pleased to say : "The Future is now".

post-scriptum : I'll come back later on the whole story, however I'd like to highlight the following point : I've got this absolutely once-in-a-lifetime type of job thanks to... blogging. More precisely, by reading and commenting Mr. Jean-Michel Billaut's blog. Quite an interesting experience to me, provided that I've got my other job (this training & consulting firm I'm creating for a french group) thru traditional networking. Lesson : there is no absolute rule in today's business. Maybe just this one : be yourself, and stand for it. And maybe this one too : One For All, All For One.

Change The World

Over the last few days, I've been dealing with people who should learn the true meaning of "teamworking". For those guys, "sharing" and "collaboration" are obscur concepts promoted by some psychologists. Don't talk about the Web 2.0, whilst they even don't use email to communicate with their so-called team mates.

In the meantime, I also discussed with those team mates. I realized one thing : give people a smile, and they'll give you the World. It works both ways : when I play the Pierre Cardin salesman at this menswear store, I always welcome the visitors (not yet customers, see the difference ;-) with a large smile and big "hello, how are you today ?" kind of greeting. Outcome : 80% of those visitors become customers, most of them loyal. When I go shopping myself, the same large smile on my face will bring me a better service 80% of the time.

Conclusion : smile, and you'll make the World a better place.

Explanations To Readers

Dear Fibergeneration Readers :

As I wrote a couple of weeks ago, my blogging rate is slowing down dramatically since quite a while now.
Explanation is simple : I'm currently involved in the creation of a new company, which is both fun and time consuming. Actually, I haven't stopped surfing the Web and reading the news and learning new things all day long. I simply don't have enough time to write stuff down for you.
Sure, I could post lots of information : for instance, the resources I'm using for this new business, or the way we've defined the strategy, the business model, and the action plan, or the reasons why I've chosen only 3 customers to start with in 2008, etc. Fact is : it's all confidential, Baby ;-)
I promiss : as soon as we go off the stealth mode, I'll share everything with you, including the above AND the daily life in this new venture.
On top, I've also been involved with an exciting mission at a French city willing to promote its FTTH network outside the local borders. Another couple of days to wait, and I'll be able to disclose the whole thing, as it's going to be an exciting 1-year long journey (maybe I'll have the chance to be hired for the Season 2 and Season 3 ;-) in the Ultra-Broadband World...
I even totally forgot to use Twitter as a micro-blogging tool. On this one, you can count on me to post daily stuff, from my (lovely) iPhone.

Think Different, Enjoy The Ride, and Carpe Diem.
_Marc

Just This (29.07)

That's me in the corner, after a 5-days long Agilent Musketeers workshop in Keystone, Colorado, back in July 2000.

Doesn't look like, but I promiss : this workshop has had tremendous outcomes for me and the team two years later.

Warm thanks (and much more) to my very friend (and much more ;-) Handy of Boulder, CO.

See this post's geographical context.

geo:tool=blockrocker.com geotagged geo:lat=40.2782161 geo:lon=-106.8516541

The Silent Blogger (Me ;-)

Dear FiberGeneration Readers : I must apologize for the poor blogging over the last couple of weeks. Frankly speaking, should I  find a blog like mine today, I would not click on the 'subscribe' button ! I haven't even post a twitt since seven days.

The reason for such a (relative) silence is simple : I'm building up a new company. Not mine, not for me, but still a pretty fun job. My employer : a french group, currently involved in the Optical Networks business. That's the only thing I'm allowed to disclose publicly at the moment. We're working in stealth mode, as the market we want to penetrate is quite a competitive one.

There are so many things I'd like to share with you Dear Readers on this new (ad)venture that I even thought lauching another blog under a nickname. You know, something like 'Fake Nicolas Sarkozy'. Too late. Gonna find another one.

Because there's so much good material for this blog : working in a 50-people SMB french firm, bringing them to the Web 2.0 level (you know, RSS feeds, collaborative apps, sharing, etc...), and of course, creating a new business from scratch by considering the holding company as the VCs so that I have to pitch the business plan and all that sort of startup things which are so fun to do live...

For instance, how to show your boss (read : your investors) that you can easily reach break-even by developping only three customers and doing business as unusual with them instead of going out there with a traditional cold calls approach and try to grab some clients here and there.

I'll be able to share all that exciting yet fruitful experience with you Dear Readers as soon as the new co(mpany) goes live, somewhere in Q1 2008.

In the meantime, maybe I'll find a way to post a couple of things without breaking up the cover shield. I gonna call on Fake Nicolas Sarkozy ;-)

 

Me Too

Ten years after leaving my own firm to do something else, I'm back in the Fiber Optics Training & Consulting business. Since Monday this week, I'm in charge of the creation of a ad-hoc subsidiary at a 20-yrs old / 50-people / fast-growing company here in France.

It's a little bit strange to me : I'm paid to do what I haven't had the chance to achieve with my own firm ten years ago.
The good news is : today, the market is there (thanks to YouTube, Facebook, and MSN), the customers are there, and the tools are there (thanks to the Internet and the Web 2.0).

And thanks to those ten years out of this particular business, I've learned so many different things myself in so many different domains that I'm more capable to run this business successfully than in the 90's.
For instance, this : today, I've been working at Production, assembling and testing fiber patchcords. For the first time since 1983 when I first put my fingers around an optical fiber, I've been shaking. I was afraid of breaking the fiber whilst stripping it. Now I understand my attendees fifteen or ten years ago, when they were shaking and I was saying "come on guy, look at me, am I shaking ?"...

Over the last ten years, I've learned a lot of things, for sure. Maybe the most important one is humility.

 

It's About The About Me

Just updated changed the About Me page. As I'm entering a new (product) life cycle myself, it's time to move on and stop referring to the past too much ! 

It's About Me (version 5.0, Feb 9, 2009)

Let's make it short : I am a French man with the soul sitting somewhere in San Francisco and the heart nearby Pau, the feet on the beautiful ground of Champagne and the head in the never-ending roller coaster of High-Tech.

Working since 26 years now, I enjoy being a so-called Fiber Optics pioneer and a Telecoms veteran (not to say a survivor of the Dotcom' crash ;-) at the age of 48 today. The best is still to come !

I'm also proud to be a self-made-man, who got his B.S. at the age of 21 and was responsible for the biggest new product launch in Hewlett-Packard Test & Measurement Organization (aka Agilent Technologies)' history at the age of 41.

My biggest achievement so far : working on the Pau Broadband Country, helping to develop the true lifestyle that goes with ultra-broadband. Putting together optical pipes is one thing. Finding out what truly innovative services to deliver on those is way more challenging and exciting. From creating jobs for disabled people to providing education on virtual worlds, the scope is pretty large. And it makes my days every day.