FiberGeneration

Google #Fiber : For The Record.

Almost everybody in the IT/Telecoms medias/blogosphere/social networks space seems to be excited by the recent unveiling of Google's commercial plan in Kansas City.

To me, this plan is a simple bait to lure customers on the forthcoming (?) Google TV' offering. It misses to address a couple of fundamental points : Open Neutral Access (meaning the possibility for any operator to come on the platform and deliver its own services to its own customers), and Usages (how about non-telecommunications apps, such as Energy Management, Personal Care, etc. ?).

Since the very begining of the Kansas City project 2 years ago, I keep saying that Google doesn't have a clue about the real stuff re. Fiber-To-The-Home, and is doing this only to test some subtle ways to make money on Search-related things through a closed-environment disguised as a open infrastructure.

Ryan Lawler has posted an extensive, accurate, and undisputable description of the actual capabilities of Google in the FTTH space. I strongly recommend you to read Ryan's article here.

I agree 100% with everything Ryan says, including of course the lack of real, "physical" presence of Google at the customer. 

Also, I'm extremely satisfied to read from someone else the fact that Google hasn't connected a single strand of fiber to a house as of today.

 

Now, guess what : back in late 2008, I invited Google to discuss with us here in France, to set up a lab on the Pau Broadband Country ultrafast, open, neutral, muni network. Four years later, I keep thinking it would have saved the company time & money. Knowing what's happening (or better, not happening) in Kansas City, I'm convinced it would have also saved Google from an inevitable failure.

Here is the transcript of my email to the Google Exec here in France, sent on Jan. 14, 2009. Of course, we never got a reply.

Google Lab @ Pau Broadband Country ?

Hello X.,

First of all, I wish you and your loved ones a happy and peaceful new year. I sincerely hope 2009 will see lots of your dreams come true.

It is time for me to follow-up on our short discussion at the XYZ' breakfast last december in Paris. I would like to discuss with you and the Google France management team the opportunity for you Google to set up an R&D Lab in Pau-Pyrénées: it is a given that Google could leverage on the capabilities of the Pau Broadband Country' FTTH network...

I have shared a couple of documents with you, for your to get a better picture of what we are doing in Pau. That includes the "Campus THD3" Training & Demo Center, which could be a fantastic opportunity for Google to demonstrate and implement its numerous solutions in a true "open neutral" environment.

Let's discuss all those possibilities, at your convenience. You can reach me anytime anywhere, on my cell: +33 681 xxx xxx (no Android-powered, sorry ;-) and email: [email protected]

Looking forward hearing from you soon,

All the best,

_Marc

 

Now, if a Google Exec wants to talk with me on that, feel free : you know how to reach me Guys !

IRL @ Pyretic 2009

Pyretic, the first pan-pyrenean conference on ICT, will be held in Pau, France, on the 20th of October. An event created by two professional associations on each side of the border, Pyretic has been imagined as a nice way to boost research and business cooperation between the regions of Aquitaine in France and Navarra in Spain.

I will be moderating a couple of workshops there. Shall you be in town or nearby at this time, feel free to stop by!

For more information on Pyretic 2009, go here (french and spanish only)

FTTH Business Model, Or How Illegal Download Leads To New Jobs Creation

The Pau Broadband Country Fiber-To-The-Home network is truly *the* model for Muni FTTH. Here's one example, which I like to share with people in the Governmental sphere those days, in regards of the famous Hadopi law.

Just a few months after the launch of the network back in 2005, the 2.5Gbit/s high-speed links between Pau and Paris' Telehouse hubs became almost overloaded. In the upstream direction. Traffic analysis demonstrated that Gen Y fellows and geeks of all sorts were uploading gigabytes of more or less legal stuff: music, video, software, everything that makes Vuze and the likes so fun to use...

With the remarkable increase of fiber subscribers since begin 2008, an upgrade of these Pau-Paris links was mandatory. 10Gbit/s is now on its way. That makes the distance between the two cities totally transparent, allowing ultra-high speed communications for businesses who run operations in Pau, Paris, and elsewhere in the World, for instance... San Francisco and the Silicon Valley.

Guess what: since empty space is a scarce resource in Paris, new datacenters are popping up outside the capital city. One the very few towns out there able to host Green datacenters: Pau. Pau has all the know-how, skills and legitimacy to offer such high-tech facilities. Here's the beauty of the story: It is because of a band of young guys are playing with the law that Pau can host new businesses in a booming sector. If you are looking for a business model which works, here's one: let the Gen Y play at will.

Pau Broadband Country: Muni Fiber To Everyone At Ten Euros A Year

Pau Broadband Country FTTH by the numbers:

• more than 600 new jobs created since 2005 
• for a 140,000 inhabitants area
• with 10,000 active subscribers to date
• on 50,000 households passed
• out of 57,000 planned 
• over a 15-years leasing contract
• representing an investment of 35 Million euros
• including 15 Millions euro financed by the network infrastructure operator
• and 20 Millions financed by the Pau Greater Area collectivity

Which means a total investment by each and every citizen of the Pau Greater Area of 143.00 EUR over 15 years.

In other words: less than 10 euros per year over 15 years, to get the most advanced Fiber-To-The-Home network in Southern Europe (which starts south of Frankfurt ;-) and help the creation of hundreds of new jobs in new industries. Who said FTTH has to be expensive ?...

post-scriptum: The PBC Pau Broadband Country is the mother of all Muni FTTH network on the planet. Everyone interested or involved in this topic should study PBC carefully, and in depth. Learnings are just amazingly surprising. Positively surprising.

Mummy, I'm in Wikipedia

See the References at the end of this entry.

Now I have to write my bio (just kidding ;-)

Pau Broadband Country: Prime Time On Broadband Prime (Teaser ;-)

Just to let you know: I've recently been interviewed by Costas Troulos of Broadband Prime, on the Pau Broaband Country' case.
The interview will be available online within the next couple of weeks or so.
FYI, I've met Costas on... Twitter. You can follow him here.

Muni FTTH: Not An Easy Path To Go (or why Pau Broadband Country is a model)

John St. Julien of Lafayette, LA, has published an article titled "LUS Fiber delays start" on the LafayetteProFiber blog. Says John in his introduction : "LUS has missed its deadline to serve the first customers in January of this year. They point to uncompleted contracts for cable channels as the reason for the delay—contracts LUS has signed but the folks that control the channel packages have not returned."

For those of you who are not familiar with the LUS Fiber project, you may find relevant informations on the LUS Lafayette Utilities System website here. In summary, the city of Lafayette is building its own FTTH Fiber-To-The-Home network. Get all details and interactive maps here on the LUS Fiber website.

The first customers were supposed to be served "by early 2009", meaning now. Unfortunately, it seems that some issues with the services providers have lead to delay the network' turn up (hey dear readers of Gonfreville-l'Orcher, France: does it sound familiar to you ?...).

What is surprising to me, as someone who's deeply involved into FTTH' matters since 18 months now, is the fact that missing contracts for TV services do screw up the whole thing. How about Voice and Internet ? Or other services, outside of the TriplePlay arena ? Such as Tele-Medicine, Tele-Education, Tele-whatever-that-is-not-Vision...

According to the LUS Fiber FAQ' page, Voice and Internet are part of the package offered to subscribers. Hence the confirmation: in people's mind, FTTH means HDTV, full-stop. That's why it goes wry everywhere but in Asia. See in France, for instance : why would people ask for fiber, when they can get hundreds of TV channels in high-def with DSL ?...

Here comes the PBC Pau Broadband Country. Decided in 2002, right in the middle of the Dotcom crash' s long-tail effects. Signed up in 2003, when NO standard or recommendations even exist on Active Ethernet P2P FTTH networks. Opened in 2005, when VoIP and IPTV were just crossing the chasm toward mainstream. Today, PBC is a model. The mother of all Muni Fiber networks. It works, it attracts businesses, it helps creating the lifestyle that goes with ultra-broadband.

It's time to share the Pau Broadband Country' s experience(s). First workshop by the end of March. Stay tuned.

Just This [17-08]

Isn't she lovely ? Welcome to the Pau Broadband Country, folks !

Just This [14-08]

Ed. note : BlockRocker seems to be closed down.
GoogleMap here.

Here's Where You Can Invent The Life That Goes With Fiber Broadband

 

You're a young entrepreneur. You have a fantastic idea for a new Cloud Computing business. You need ultra-broadband. Bootstrap your ski shoes, grab your single-speed bike, put your surf board in the pick-up, and come to the Pau Broadband Country.

Pau Broadband Country : Ahead Of The Rest Of France

See this ? A fiber contractor working on some FTTH install, today around noon.
If you're looking for 100Mbps upstream/downstream connection, feel free to come.
Not sure you can enjoy the same environment in Amsterdam ;-)

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 !

Ultra-Broadband Fans, Forget Amsterdam : Come To Pau, It's Warmer ;-)

[updated 10/7/08 4:36PM CET] See this 1Gbit/s trial in Amsterdam ? Imagine the same type of apps (3D-HDTV for instance), right at the size of your district. A true field trial. That's what the Pau Greater Area and its Pau Broadband Country FTTH platform can offer to you Next Gen Apps vendors and to you Heavy Bandwidth Consumers.
Plus, Pau is a bit south of Amsterdam, which makes it a slightly better place for work and fun - as long as you prefer sports & nature lifestyle rather than nightlife in a city that never sleeps ;-)
If I were a NGA vendor, I would do the testing in Pau and the implementation in Amsterdam...

Odebit 2008 : the Day of Broadband For Everyone (or ?)

On Tuesday, the Grenelle du Très Haut Débit will be held in Paris, during the fast-growing Odebit tradeshow & conference event. 

I'll attend, on behalf of my boss Jean-Pierre Jambes of the Pau Greater Area. Being a rep of the Pau Broadband Country is a fantastic honor to me, since I've started my career 25 years ago hearing people claiming that Fiber To The Home was the Future. The Future is now, and it takes place as well in Pau.

If you're looking for a city where you can help changing the World thanks to Broadband, don't hesitate to stop by. 

The Man

Mister JMB * himself, at the Pau-Pyrénées airport.

* [update 09/20] Jean-Michel Billaut, the man who is at the origin of the PBC Pau Broadband Country network.
Born in 2003 and operational since 2005, PBC is still the largest FTTH Fiber-To-The-Home network here in France, with 42,000+ houses passed (15,000 under construction over the next 30 months) and 8,000 active subscribers to date.
The adoption cycle seems to be accelerating with a growth rate of 22 new subscribers a day - that is 30 more per week than last spring. The only limitation factor : there's not enough OSP technicians to make the job (hence the need for a "local" training facility, by the way...).

iPhone, Broadband Fiber, Web 2.0, and me

[updated 09/17/08, from a Mac ;-) ]

I'm typing this post on my iPhone 3G, whilst enjoying a delicious tartare at the "Berry", one of my favorite restaurants here in Pau. Connected to the Net via 3G, of course. The last couple of days have been quite busy, as my boss Jean-Pierre Jambes and I are preparing a series of strategic events over the next two weeks. Among those events, there's the presentation on Thursday of the "FTTH School" project that we've been working on since last winter. Shall the Gods of Broadband here us, it's going to be a sort of World Premiere, with a pretty intensive use of ultra-broadband to deliver training courses and stuff. The other event we're preparing : the Odebit'08 conference, to be held in Paris next week. I've been spending the afternoon creating and editing the Pau Broadband Country' presentation. A slideshow made with Keynote of course, made of photos and a video. And designed for... the iPhone : we won't use a laptop to run the slideshow on the booth, but an iPhone connected to the larger display with the wonderful Apple-made AV cable. There's many more than one thing to share with you : how I recently boosted my network and started some really intersting experience sharing thanks to Linkedin' a Discussions feature; or how I know twitt more than ever, thanks to the iPhone 3G and Twitterific. But I have to stop writing, as the tartare is getting cold (joke ;-).

The First FiberCamp Is Born, And It's Not In France

Whilst the french community is busy preparing the Grenelle du Très Haut Débit, where some members of the French Government will (hopefully) unveil its plans for fibering (hopefully) the country, others are working hard to make things real.

See the folks at Lafayette, who are calling for the very first BarCamp for the Fiber Community : it's called CampFiber, and it will be held in Lafayette, LA, on the 4th of October this year.

Congratulations and all the best to Geoff Daily, the organizer of this fantastic event for all of us evangelists of broadband, open neutral networks.

I've embedded the interview of Terry Huval, director of LUS Lafayette Utility Systems, by Geoff, for you to get a flavor of what's going on in the US those days.

Ed. note : I can't stop thinking about the situation if Napoleon didn't sold Louisiana to the US two hundred years ago. Maybe France would have been the true leader of the Broadband communities movement...

I personally have been calling for a FiberCamp since more than a year or so. Unfortunately, this country doesn't seem ready for the kind of * Community thinking * that's required for such a workshop.

Just This And More (on Pau Broadband Country)

A startup' s cafeteria somewhere along El Camino ? A new building in Dubai Media City ? Not at all. That's the Helioparc business park in Pau, where some of the coolest things are developed in town.

Cycling At The Fiber Age

Le Tour de France will make its annual stop here in Pau next week. The city is readying for the big show, with signs, ads, and welcome events popping up everywhere. In the meantime, the new release of the blockbuster "Pro Cycling Manager" game is on the shelves.

Among the key features of this 2008 version, there's one which rings a bell to me :

" Play in single and/or multi-player mode (allows up to 20 players over the Internet or via LAN). "

Imagine the benefits of FTTH Fiber-To-The-Home for such a game : no more players number' s limitation, so that you could be part of a *real* 200+ racers' peloton, even better graphics, and a faster speed of reaction for you to counterattack your rivals...

FTTH does offer many other possibilities to practice sports like Cycling or Skiing. For instance, imagine home-trainers connected to the Internet, simulating a real competition between cyclists for their  indoor training during winter...

Shall you be a game developer loving Sports (e.g. Cycling, Tennis, Ski, Rafting, etc.), please feel free to drop me a line : Pau is the place you should be.

Just This [10-08]

geo:tool=blockrocker.com geotagged geo:lat=43.2948058 geo:lon=-0.3752518

"Fete du Tres Haut Debit" Running Notes

Yesterday in Mortain, a beautiful small town a few miles away from the Mont St Michel,was the 3d Ultra-Broadband Conference, held by the french optical cable manufacturer ACOME.

Here are my running notes, as is - means no re-writing * ( my personal comments under brackets ) :

Regis Paumier, CEO, ACOME. keynote speech :

- CETHD Center of Expertise for Ultra Broadband : 1,000+ visitors to date (note : opened mid 2007)

- there are many issues with Quality and Maintenance (on optical networks, FTTx)

- key issue in France (on FTTH) : rural environment.

Ms. Agnes Huet, President, Comptoir des Signaux. market survey by the FTTH Council Europe :

- FTTx networks Business Model :

a) OpenAccess is mandatory

b) Operator vs. End-User : capacity becomes commodity; extends potential services; puts the End-User at the center of the market.

- User-oriented solutions : puts the End-User at the epicenter of the system : dynamic bandwidth allocation, dynamic services allocation.

- Open Access / Open Networks not widely adopted in France : very few existing networks allow such services.

- xPON infrastructures limit Open Access systems.

- Collectivities want to : investigate all potential solutions; model contribution and ROI.

- Collectivities claim they don't have visibility on those solutions (hence the need for permanent live show-rooms).

Yves Le Mouel, President, French Federation of Telecoms (i.e. : Operators) :

- FTTH in France : need 100k new subscribers per month to be considered "mainstream";

- Investments : estimation = 10 Billions euros over 10 years (see recent announcement by SFR - link in french);

- New Business models must be invented, because based on abundance of bandwidth and services;

- the key question is : how to deploy a complex infrastructure to deliver services the simplest way (note : hence the need for a complete paradigm shift. Think Different);

- how FTTH will win by 2012 : the Killer App.

- the Killer App : images, video, online gaming, music, unlimited storage (read : Cloud Computing);

- services : teleworking, telemedicine, teleassistance, telemonitoring, online shopping;

- QoS : PnP, Easy2Go, AlwaysOn.

- avoid the Digital Divide : think Geography, Social, residential customers vs. enterprises...

- issues to be fixed : evangelisation, training & education of networks' deployment professionals (comment : good to hear that from the operators themselves);

- this represents more than 100,000 jobs (comment : good to hear that one too. I personally claim FTTH is a unique opportunity for new jobs and businesses creation, since months);

- target FTTH France 2012 : 3-Mo new subscribers per year. Same as ADSL. (comment : on this one, I slightly disagree : ADSL is easy to deploy, because it uses an existing infrastructure. FTTH : you need to install at least the last mile).

Thierry Houdart, Deployment Director, Axione (ETDE groupe Bouygues). an innovative solution for optical cable deployment :

- install the optical cable along the low-voltage power distribution network;

- speed : up to 1-km per day, by 2 technicians;

- no traffic disruption (road, power, telecom, etc.);

- capillarity : the fiber cable can go right to the end-user;

- infrastructure' cost : divided by a factor of 2 to 3 compared to existing traditional solutions, e.g. buried cables;

- green deployment : lower the CO2 emissions by 50%.

My personal take (this time w/o brackets, because it's a pretty crucial point ;-) : I assume the cost of deployment with this new solution is less than 30€ per meter, all together - site survey, components, installation, etc. Let say we can achieve 15€/m : a fantastic quantum leap for FTTH. 

This solution is a true paradigm shifting one anyway : the split of the cost of deployment is no longer 80% civil work and 20% components + instal; it is now 20% civil work and 80% components + installation. On top, it's an eco-friendly solution. Fiber finally goes Green. Brilliant.

* I wish I could capture notes this way ;-)

The True Broadband Country

At NXTcomm'08 yesterday, Verizon Communications Inc. announced its plan to offer 50-Mbit/s FiOS service to its FTTH Fiber To The Home customers (approx. 10 million households).
Read LightReading article by Raymond McConville for more details.

According to LightReading, " the 50-Mbit/s FiOS package will be offered for $90 per month in New York and Virginia, and at $140 per month in all other markets. The 50-Mbit/s downstream speeds will be coupled with the 20-Mbit/s upstream speeds Verizon began offering in October 2007."

Writes McConville, " Verizon’s ultimate goal is to enable 100-Mbit/s downstream to each FiOS subscriber. The carrier says it has successfully conducted 100-Mbit/s field trials with employees, but hasn't yet set a timetable for a commercial launch.".

Bokay. That's a truly compelling offer for the lucky FiOS' subscribers. But this is still an annoucement. For people - read Online Gamers, developers, entrepreneurs - looking for ultra-broadband access today, there's a place on Earth where they'll find 50Mbit/s upstream & downstream, immediately : Pau, France.

For less than $53 per month, installation and first month for free*.

Since decades, Australian and Californian surfers move to Biarritz for its beautiful spots. Why wouldn't the young *Net* generation, online gamers first, move to Pau for its blazzingly fast broadband access (and its wonderful landscapes in the meantime) ?

ps : 100Mbit/s is also commercially available, since a couple of years...

* by NeufCegetel, until June 30th.

Broadband Washroom

The lovely city of Pau is truly The Broadband Country. See this hand dryer in the restrooms at the Pau airport. The Dyson Airblade™. It wipes your hands dry in a matter of seconds, the time for you to realize that it's done. When hygiene and fun meet. That's innovation, Folks !

For more details on the Airblade™, go here.

You may read the whole "Why Airblade" section : it's a pretty nice lesson of product marketing.

Also, the Customer Service part is a model. I never thought hands drying could be so interesting.

Freak This

Seen in Pau yesterday, this banner at a perfume shop. Just curious to learn what a "Nail bar" consists of.

Pau Broadband Country : The Quick Start Info Pack

For those of you who would like to learn more about the fantastic Pau Broadband Country environment, here's a quick start URL links - I'll put them on the right sidebar ASAP.
Note that some of them are in french only.

[updated Feb.20 6:22PM CET - with actual URL links for SnapShot to display the right pages]

Google "Pau Broadband Country"
Wikipedia "Pau Broadband Country"
PauBC Info
Agglomération Pau-Pyrénées Economie
WebTV Pau Pyrénées

Ed. note : if you still wonder if you should make the jump from the Bay Area to the Bearn (nice confusion when pronounced with a typical french accent ;-), have a look at the weather forecast for San Francisco and Pau.

See what I mean now ?

The I-Take-Some-Time-For-Blogging On Fiber-To-The-Home Edition [01-30-08]

Buddy Blogger Benoit Felten has published an outstanding interactive map on the actual situation of FTTH Fiber-To-The-Home networks worldwide. Worth the look (and bookmark) for all of us working in the FTTx field.

FYI, here's the comment I just left :

"About Pau : the 6,000 active subscribers milestone will be achieved within the next couple of weeks.

Based on the map, which is pretty accurate thanks to Benoit's outstanding work, one can note that Pau is the ONLY european city south of the Loire river (means, where weather conditions are wonderful for most of us ;-) that offers up to 100Mbps connectivity to enterprise & residential customers."

Go to the map here.

Just This (05-08) and a few more bits

Approaching the lovely city of Pau, Pyrénées, France, is a true WYSIWIG experience : what you see (thru the airliner's window) is what you get (once on the ground). An outstanding place to live in, offering an all-in-one package for Nature' s lovers : the countryside at your doorstep, the mountains just a few miles away, and the ocean less than one hour drive.
Add the first and largest FTTH Fiber-To-The-Home network in France to date, and you get a unique place to build the Life of the 21st Century.

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.