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.

Google Fiber : How To Think Small With A Geek

 
On Friday, Google closed its call on its initiative on ultra-broadband open access networks. According to James Kelly, Google Fiber Product Manager (what a cool job title !), more than 1,100 communities and 194,000 individuals have submitted a response to the bid. James doesn't tell much about the applicants, giving just a couple of links to fancy stuff on YouTube or Facebook. We'll have to wait a little bit to get all the names, and, more importantly, the happy few cities who'll get the chance to experiment Google Fiber.

For the time being, we must dig the Net to find out some concrete data. As such, Martin of Zettaphile.com has put together an exhaustive list of those communities, which contains some well known cities, e.g. Anchorage, AK, Tempe, AZ, Berkeley, CA, etc. Also, Tim Poulus built his own list where we can see that Palo Alto has apparently decided to apply to Google Fiber as well.

The list of small communities in Rural America who applied to Google' s RFI is just impressive. Asheville, North Carolina, has launched a viral marketing campaign here, including a useful blog which tracks the news about the collectivities seeking for Google's help. Also in NC, Greensboro is looking for its House M.D. Their Googlegrensboro website is just gorgeous. 

Nevertheless, two elements in James's blog post are of concern to me. First, this sentence about the responses : "all with the goal of bringing ultra high-speed broadband to their communities": no word on open neutral access here. Then, the map at the end of the post : beside the fact that it's not an interactive one (ever heard of Google Maps, James ? ;-), there's something which rings a bell to me.  

When you look at this map, the evidence is that people don't want Google Fiber per se. They want Broadband, full stop. As everybody knows, the US Government has publicly announced it National Broadband Plan last week. See the official video here, and download the full document here (dear Wisconsin's readers, be patient : 11.50MB ;-). Just compare the actual maps listing the current pending or granted awards (thanks to Rob Powell of Telecoms Ramblings for the heads up) with the Google Fiber's one : it's almost the same. That means most of the people consider the Mountain View giant as another communications services provider, at the same level than a Verizon or an AT&T or a ComCast.

The problem is : Google doesn't position itself as a services provider. To better understand my point, let's read Google Fiber statement again - full text here :

Our goal is to experiment with new ways to help make Internet access better, and faster for everyone. Here are some specific things that we have in mind:

• Next generation apps: We want to see what developers and users can do with ultra high-speeds, whether it's creating new bandwidth-intensive "killer apps" and services, or other uses we can't yet imagine.
• New deployment techniques: We'll test new ways to build fiber networks; to help inform, and support deployments elsewhere, we'll share key lessons learned with the world.
• Openness and choice: We'll operate an "open access" network, giving users the choice of multiple service providers. And consistent with our past advocacy, we'll manage our network in an open, non-discriminatory, and transparent way.

Google will be a operators' s operator, of the same kind than what we already enjoy here in Europe with the Reggefibers type of Open Neutral Access providers. When you see this flash mob organized by some hungry guys in Columbia, Missouri, you doubt they've got it right.

My guess is that the majority of the individuals who have called on Google Fiber have done it for the very same reasons people here in France called on their local govs some years ago: they live in a Broadband deadzone, as those French peers were living in a DSL black hole ("ADSL White Zone" as we call it ). No matter who provides the service and how, people just want their broadband connection at home, to watch HDTV without glitches and upload their family's photos faster.

The best example of this quest comes from the city of Peoria, Illinois. Their call is all about speed. Nothing on the benefits on the local economy through the creation of new services thus new jobs, nothing on the benefits of Open Neutral Access at large.

"Think big with a gig" is Google Fiber's motto. I'm afraid 80% of the 1,100 communities actually think small thanks to their geeks. I sincerely wish James and his team good luck with the review of the responses, hoping they will come up with one or two truly groundbreaking projects.

post-scriptum : since Fibergeneration is well indexed by Google' s engines, I know this post is set to appear quickly on top of James' s alerts. So, here's my advice, dear James : you may want to investigate what a few furious guys have achieved somewhere in South-West of France with the Pau Broadband Country FTTH muni network. To get started, click here.

note : you can read my previous posts asking for a Google Fiber world here, here, and this last one, date Feb.7, 2010.

Coming Soon: Private Fiber Optics to the Home (but not from Google. Maybe.)

I got that video in my "Must-Share" list since months. Fact is, almost a year after this presentation, the situation has never been so accurately described by Derek Slater, Policy Analyst at Google.

When it's about Fiber-To-The-Home, the Last-Mile is still THE issue. Which can't be solved without the involvement of the customers into the loop : we must talk Fiber-FROM-The-Home, not "To".

The question is: who else, beside Google, could make such paradigm shift become a reality ? Maybe the answer will come from... France, later this year. Stay tuned.

THD92: Sarkozy' s First Step Into The All-Digital Economy

Brussels finally gave its "Go" to the THD92 project held by the department of Hauts de Seine, west of Paris. With 850,000 homes and enterprises to be connected to Fiber, THD92 is the largest FTTH Fiber-To-The-Home project in Europe to date.

It's also by far the most critical project for the whole Telecoms circle here in France: The Hauts de Seine department is the home of President Sarkozy, who will certainly keep an eye on the construction of the network until completion, and watch carefully the outcomes.

By 2012, the Hauts de Seine will offer ultra-broadband connectivity to all its citizens and businesses. Provided this territory is the richest of France, THD92 is to serve as THE Model for the rest of the country. Maybe the enormous reservoir of talents there will help developing the long-awaited Next-Generation Apps. Perhaps France will lead the Digital Economy then...

ps : for more info on THD92, read this post by Buddy Benoit Felten, and follow the links.

IRL @ Sustainable Development Workshop, Bordeaux, France

Right after the Pyretic conference in Pau, I will attend the 6th edition of the Sustainable Development Workshop "Ateliers du Développement Durable" in Bordeaux, October 20-21.

Unlike many of the seminars and conferences I've seen this year on the subject "Sustainable Development", this workshop is focusing on the Social aspects of things. In summary: how to get out of the current crisis by putting PEOPLE at the very center of the *new* Society' s model.

Quite a challenge, right ?...

Sustainable Development: A Green Presentation

Feedly: How To Develop A New Product The Collaborative Way

You probably have heard of Feedly, this fantastic Content aggregator which makes RSS feeds reading as appealing as on a real paper magazine - that is, on top, your own self-made magazine.

An early-adopter, I'm using Feedly since Day One. I'd better say "was using", since Feedly is a Firefox-only extension: as many of us Mac users, I switched back to Safari with the 4.0 beta version of the Apple' navigator. So, bye-bye Feedly and its amazing user-experience. Welcome back, Google Reader. 

Reader is powerful indeed, however it doesn't provide this special touch that makes Feedly so sexy to use all day long. It's like comparing a PC running Windows Seven with a Mac running Leopard, see what I mean ?

That's why lots of us were yelling at Edwin Khodabakchian, the smart guy behind Feedly: "Give us a Safari version, quick !". Ed listened to us. Feedly for iPhone is coming - most probably as a beta version together with the upcoming iPhone 3.0 software release. How does Edwin and his team work on this new product ? Simple: they leverage on existing tools to talk to the User.

Which tools ? Well, since Feedly is a typical Web 2.0 application, those are Web 2.0 tools. The blog obviously, Twitter, Google Docs - see the product roadmap here, just amazing - the outstanding Customer Support service GetSatisfaction, and FriendFeed, where everything is discussed.

You may want to have a look at the numerous posts and comments on FriendFeed: it's a marvelous example of the power of Web 2.0 to get and keep in touch with the end-users. Customers feedback, Power-Users suggestions, ideas sharing: everything a Product Marketing fellow dreams of is there, at your fingertips. The benefits for the company ? Countless. For instance, the speed of the development is dramatically increased, as people can instantly react to a new idea. The features set at the first release is the one people are expecting, because they've participated to the new product generation process. And, on top, the adoption rate can be quite fast, provided a) all the people who participate are de-facto beta-testers, and b) the product is theirs.

Web 2.0 hype is dead, because we already live in the Web 2.0 Age.

To contribute to Feedly For iPhone aka "Project Nitro", go here: http://friendfeed.com/feedly-iphone

It's About Team Building

I recently stumbled upon this video of a Southwest Airline flight Attendant doing his announcements the Rap way. Simply a refreshing moment of pure groove, as only Black people know how to spread joy and happiness just singing and/or dancing - I remember a nice saleswoman at a Duty-free store at Johannesburg' airport some years ago: she was dancing on the desk.

Actually, this moment reminds the one I enjoyed myself back in May 2000 during the first European Distributors Seminar I've organized at Agilent Technologies. A 3-days intensive workshop aimed a creating a tight bond between us the ONT Optical Network Test Division and our european reps, the outcomes of the event have proved being tremendous. From pure technical insights to creative ways to support our customers, this seminar has been a true milestone in the (unfortunately short) life of the Agilent ONT Division.

The "funny" thing is that on the last day of the seminar, I have had to let the people brainstorm without me: I had to work on a tender. A very last minute call from the regional Sales manager, who was unable to write the proposal himself. Of course, as usual, this was on Friday, for a hard deadline on the Monday. You can imagine how I felt: upset because this guy didn't follow my recommendations and suggestions, all made weeks before, and depressed because we were set to lose the tender anyway then.

Knowing me as a brother do, my friend Peter Schweiger came to my room to pick me up for the coffee break. It was almost 10:30AM, and I was almost shaking, as I was nervous as never before. As I entered the meeting room, all the distributors and my Agilent colleagues welcomed me like I was a Rock star (sort of ;-) : they knew I needed warm positive thoughts to get rid of my nervousness.

That's where this rap by the South West flight attendant comes in: deeply touched by their sincerity, I decided to ask all the participants to sing a french song with me. "Melissa", by Julien Clerc. I tell you: seeing 20 people clapping their hands in rhythm, and hearing them singing "Matez ma métisse" with the english, scottish, german, spanish, italian, danish, american (and french ;-) accents was a pure moment of joyce. They made me forget this bloody tender, and they made us a true, real team.

Almost 9 years after, when I meet some of my former reps, we always remember this very moment, when we all became part of the same group.

Keep in mind, the next time you have to create a team: let's sing together.

That's Why I'd Better Join Orange, Reason #1

French incumbent France Telecom-Orange is entering the age of Smart Moves, thanks to its CEO Didier Lombard. See this announcement.
Remember the late 90s ? France Telecom was leading the Global One consortium. Now they're going global, as one.

Thanks to Jean-Michel Planche for the heads-up. You can follow Jean-Michel on Twitter here.

It's About The Power Of Will, Chapter Two

Brian Solis of TechCrunch just published an outstanding article on entrepreneurship during a downturn time such as the one we are encountering today.
"Fear Kills Businesses, Dead" is a must-read for all of us who are in the Business.
We surely know it already, for most of us have been through the last crisis just a few years ago - remember the Dotcom ? However, some of us may be overhelmed by negative thoughts at the moment, generated by all the bad news we hear of all day long.

Therefore, here's our cure, folks:

"Building Your Business in a Recession

Obviously, capital preservation and cost cutting do not equate to sustenance or growth. The driving factors are poles apart when striving to merely stay alive vs. building a business.

If you’re sheltering cash to focus on development, then cut the services and expenses that will not impede your ability to cross the threshold to market success. If you’re conserving funds to prolong life, then realize that the only fountain of youth is cash itself. Focusing energies on generating revenue, increasing visibility, and enhancing customer loyalty are the most effective strategies for underwriting longevity, and hopefully growth, especially during an economic downturn.

The real question you have to ask yourself is, “How will my customers find me today and tomorrow?”

I’m not sure if this is a newsflash or not, but customers do not typically go out of their way to “discover” your products and companies. They have choices and it’s the job of any marketing and sales-centric business to reach their customers where they go for information—otherwise, they’re out of the decision making process by default. Marketing and sales are the conduits for connecting prospects to your business.

In a down economy, tomorrow’s leaders are born today. It takes vision, focus, and a hyper-connected sense of what customers are seeking, why, and where.

The reality is that there are hard costs tied to customer acquisition and retention. The key is to observe and listen to your customers to ascertain the most active and direct channels to reach and engage them.

Here are several, targeted and affordable suggestions:

1. SEO – Customers actively use search engines to find relevant solutions. Keyword and organic search optimization is an inexpensive and effective means for gaining strategic presence.

2. Blog Relations – It’s not just about news and pitching the A-List, creating a consistent and visible brand requires the inclusion of the authoritative, peer-to-peer blogs that your customers and influencers read for information, help and perspective. Oh, and be wise about using embargoes.

3. Media/Analysts – Reporters and analysts cover your space and by simply writing about your company or product, they can position you as an option among your customers; especially when they’re researching options to validate decisions.

4. Direct Sales – Some of the most successful companies right now are concentrating on direct outreach to the decision makers instead of hoping to influence them from the sidelines.

5. CRM – Building a customer-focused business saves money and increases revenue. Focusing on customers and empowering them improves business processes, product development, and also offsets marketing expenses as “involved and participatory” customers transform from a cost-center into an active surrogate sales force.

6. Participate – Social networks are much more than mere time killers. Participating across the social communities where you’re customers and prospects are active and vocal provides a looking glass into their thoughts, requests, opinions, dislikes, and recommendations. It also provides you with priceless opportunities to combat negative perceptions while also positioning your company as a resource.

7. Thought Leadership – One of the best ways to demonstrate thought leadership is to actively share your thoughts where they count. Contributing articles and posts to industry publications, forums, and blogs increases visibility and unobtrusively contributes to your sales strategy by helping customers find you.

8. Blog and Blog Comments – It may seem trite or perhaps even worthless, but I can guarantee that finding the time to host and contribute to a blog that demonstrates the expertise of you and your team is priceless. People are looking for information and direction, not just from your blog but others as well. Go where they are and offer counsel, contribute to the dialogue and establish trust and authority in the process. Why wouldn’t you position yourself as a resource for your customers or prospects? Too busy you say? Empower your staff. Contract outside experts to contribute to creating a one-stop-shop for insight and direction—just be transparent about their involvement. It costs less than you think to build a community around your product, or at least what it stands for.

9. Network in the real world – Participation isn’t solely relegated to online networks. Opportunities to meet and cultivate relationships in the real world are abundant. Meetups, industry events, groups, unofficial lobbycons associated with your favorite events are continuous and more valuable with your involvement.

10. Involve Your Community – Save money and time by involving your customers in the development process of your new and iterative products as well as your go to market strategy. Alpha customers are often ready to assist with the validation of your business model and also the honest feedback associated with your product benefits and features.

11. Websites are not Just Web Pages – Your Website must make an emotional connection with visitors, while also conveying stories and value propositions that specifically capture the attention of your customers – otherwise, all of your hard work and investment of time and money in sales and marketing campaigns will generate traffic, but lead to a dramatically reduced conversation ratios.

12. Innovate – Always learn and improve everything in order to stay relevant."

This and much more in Solis's post here.

Finally, France May Lead The Path To Broadband For Everyone

This morning at the Ultra-Broadband Summit at the Odebit Conference in Paris, Mr Eric Besson, Minister of State to the Prime Minister, with responsibility for Forward Planning, Assessment of Public Policies and Development of the Digital Economy, introduced the draft plan for Digital Economy by 2012 - read the full text here (link in french).

The one thing that will change the game : France is going aerial cabling. Mr Besson cited Japan and South Korea as the most advanced countries for FTTH, emphasizing on the fact that those countries are deploying mostly aerial fiber. Also, Mr Besson cited USA, where 60% of the fiber cables are aerial. Last, Mr Besson said that aerial cabling reduces the cost of deployment by a factor of 2.

That is the best news I've heard from a member of the French Government since years. Finally, we are to join the "smart club" : aerial cabling is faster, easier, and cheaper than any other solution - buried, ducts...

The french cable manufacturer Acome has developed a solution for fiber deployment along low-voltage power lines which do inverse the traditional ratio Civil Engineering vs. The Rest (i.e. cables, hardware, network equipments, install, etc.) : 20/80 against 80/20 traditionally. Let's work on the 80%, by reducing some costs, such as hardware and/or commissioning for instance, and we will reach an even more attractive solution.

We have now the opportunity to develop truly innovative ways to deploy fiber to everyone faster and cheaper. That is a challenge I hope we at the Pau Broadband Country will be able to help solving.

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.

Customer Service At The Web 2.0 Age

David Fisher of What Is Noise has a must-read article on Customer Service via Social Media : "How NOT to handle Customer Service via Social Media". Shall you use Twitter or any other Web 2.0 tool to keep in touch with your customers, or shall you be still running an Enterprise 1.0 type of company, the 12 points listed are the very key requirements for any efficient/successful/committed Customer Care/Support/Service center.

Thanks to my own experience with building a such a service within the Optical Network Test division at Agilent Technologies *** years ago (hey, 1999-2000, that was even before the SMS became mainstream ;-), I would add a 13th one : Apologize even when that's your customer who's faulty. Because you're the one who brought the product to the customer.

thanks to Jean-Luc Raymond for the heads-up.

*** personal note : my warmest greetings to my fellow El Nino Juan-Luis, and to my lovely twitter Sandra. Good to see you're doing well in the T&M business.

OMG, Mr. Barack Obama is following me !

On Twitter. Not a joke. See by yourself here. Now I've got to stand out of the crowd if I want to get my green card ready ;-)

The Web 2.0 Typical Disease, or How To Make Your Product Stand Out

I've just cleaned up my .Me (formerly know as .Mac) email inbox, reducing the infernal number of messages from 500+ down to a more affordable 100+.***

Among those hundreds of messages that I sorted, archived, or trashed, more than 20 were confirmations of registration at this or that Web 2.0 new service or new application. I tell you what : I couldn't remember 4 out of 5 of them. What the heck is this or that stuff about, I can't tell.

My first conclusions on this fact : either I start suffering Alzheimer's Disease (maybe I should call on Dr. House) or the service itself wasn't worth the try - which explains why I didn't remember even the names. About names : I'm not the first one nor the last one to say that many of the Web 2.0 start ups have obscure names or products names - that's a Web 2.0 game, actually : choose the most non-sensed name, and you'll get noticed. At least for a short while (see above).

Now, the lesson : if you want your Web 2.0 app to stand out the crowd, make it shine. Make it visible. Make it recognizable. Pick a handful of early adopters, wait a month or two after they've signed up, and then ask them what your product is about. If they're able to answer right on the spot, you won. If not, better think again your model.

*** I do use my inbox as a To-Do list - that doesn't mean I've got 100 to-do items (ever heard of threads ? ;-)

Tip of the day : for those of you don't have a Gmail account yet, create one. Then, use it as a backup for your regular email account(s). I personnaly set-up a special Gmail account just for this backup task a couple of months ago, and I can tell : it's very very convenient. You never sweat again when you delete an important message by mistake : it's still there, somewhere in the Cloud ;-)

ROTFL (Rolling On The Floor Laughing) Seriously ;-)

Here's an ATM machine' s screenshot, captured last night in downtown Pau. What a brilliant customer experience, is it ?!!!

For you geeks reading this blog, here's the MS Windows' s error message :

Question : Who the heck developed this mission-critical app ?

Next question : When the hell will the big guys (hey, you're seeing a large bank here) realize that Windows really sucks ?

When P.R. Brings You Joy & Faith (sort of)

For those of you who still have doubts on the bright future of Fiber To The Home, this press release will wipe them out right away.

ed. note : to read with a grain of salt, of course ;-)

Optical Network Test : The Sun Rise Again ?

Rumor is spreading around the Test & Measurement small world : some interesting news coming soon from Sunrise Telecom, San Jose, California, and its swiss subsidiary.

It seems that SRT' management finally realized that the R.O.I. of the former startup could have been way better.

Stay tuned for more, as I wait for one last confirmation before publishing the whole story.

Say Hello To FiberCamp

I've just opened FiberCamp, a discussion forum aimed at defining new ways to design, build, and operate Fiber-To-The-Home networks.
See the first post to get the flavor.

Dear Fiber Optics fellows, please feel free to bookmark and RSS FiberCamp, and more : feel free to participate. Once upon a time, Usenet was a wonderful place to discuss innovative ideas. Let's move on and leverage on the Web 2.0 to re-invent the way we do collaborate on such of mission-critical topics.

Note : FiberCamp is powered and hosted by Lefora. Hence the ads banner on the right sidebar, which is quite a trade-in when you know how easy it is to set up and operate a forum on this new platform.

Design For The World

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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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It's About Small Teams Within Large Companies Making Big Impact

[updated 10:06PM]
Reading Robert Scoble' s latest post, on how small teams can make a big difference within large companies, I thought about... the Agilent Mini-OTDR. This little box, which is not as sexy as the iPhone of course, was the GameBoy of his kind at its release back in 1996.

To make it short, this product was a breakthrough-paradigm shifting optical tester, inventing a brand new category - the so-called handhelds - for a brand new type of end-users : the fiber optics installers. Almost 12 years after its release, the Agilent Mini-OTDR is still the reference, as the two main competitors JDSU and EXFO (ever heard of those names ? ;-) even do copy & paste - including the naming system.
What's the link with Scoble' s post ? Small teams. The Mini-OTDR has been defined, designed, and engineered by a 6-people team, within the HP Optical Communications Division group (aka Agilent Photonic Test Division or something like that as of today). Take Scoble' s text, replace "Microsoft" by "HP", "Yahoo" by "EXFO" and you get the same picture.

Who said "Less Is More" ?...

post-scriptum : the hands carrying the Mini belong to my dear buddy Dieter *John* Gustedt, the guy who made the Agilent Modular Network Tester real.

JDSU vs. EXFO : Something Really Going On ?

Some Spanish folk has been googling for "exfo jdsu". Maybe for some competitive analysis purpose ? *

* in this case, dear FiberGeneration reader from Madrid : go to otdr.com, and buy Agilent gear. Still the best out there.

JDSU vs. EXFO : How 'bout This One, T&M Folks ?

Silicon Valley-based Sunrise Telecom seems to enter a heavy disturbance zone. That's what you get when you do Product Marketing the wrong way (shall I add that Product Marketing and Business Development - hence sales - are part of the same virtuous circle ?). IMHO, SRT will be gone by end 2009 the latest, except if they decide to change their strategy and restart from scratch. Means that's one (small) player less on the Communications Networks Test & Measurement battlefront.

Now, think of this one : what if Agilent Technologies decides to come back on this market, as they did back in late '99 ? My bet : they would go with a couple of M&A deals. Agilent should buy EXFO. Because : a) EXFO' s products portfolio is complementary to the actual Agilent' s one (which is 80% on R&D and Manufacturing, whilst EXFO is 80% Installation & Maintenance), and b) EXFO' s model is HP Test & Measurement, aka Agilent Technologies.

Such a deal would definitely position Agilent as the number one leader on the I&M Testing marketplace, whilst JDSU and Anritsu would be forced to fight hard (read: innovate) to survive in between Agilent and Fluke+Tektronix.

Dear FTTx Contractors, Say Hello To Customer-Facing Coaching

When you think about it, Fiber-To-The-Home is the ultimate experience for outside plant technicians. For the first time ever, those folks are working right in front of the end-user.
That implies a lot of new behavior for the OSP people, as they are kind of the front-desk of the service provider. To make it short : the guy who's installing the fiber at the subscriber' s place is also the ISP' s sales rep.
Hence the need for coaching the OSP technicians to customer-facing situations. Be the best sales rep. That's quite an interesting challenge, for both the trainers and the installers themselves. Have a look at this video, and you'll understand why.

JDSU vs. EXFO : Why It Doesn't Make Sense. And Why It Does.

Wow. This recent post is becoming such a hit that I'll have to update my top-ten most popular list (by the way, does it mean the shorter post the better hit ? ;-)

Here's the comment I left on NyquistCapital earlier today :

"I’m not convinced at all that it would make a lot of sense from a pure industrial perspective. Except a very few boxes in EXFO’ s product lineup, JDSU has it all. No need to add doublons to an already up & runing one-stop-shopping center. Maybe EXFO has some neat new technologies for emerging 40G or else, but JDSU has enough resources to do innovative R&D.

The only reason why JDSU should buy EXFO is to take over their North America installed base (plus a couple of key accounts here and there in EMEA).

Then, the acquisition makes sense. EXFO would be wipped out from the marketplace, full stop. Which would make the T&M landscape a bit more clear : three major players - Agilent, JDSU, Anritsu, plus an emerging one : Fluke/Tek.

The true Telecoms Test Powerhouse is this one : Danaher. Fluke + Tektronix. They cover the whole spectrum, with customer-friendly solutions.
My advice : if there is one single player to watch in the T&M field for the years to come, it’s Danaher."

Let's have a look at the actual financial situation of our two favorites gamble players of the day :

JDSU : $10.41, Market Cap: $ 2.28B (source : Yahoo!Finance)

EXFO : $4.35, Market Cap: $ 300.05M (source : Yahoo!Finance)

EXFO is small enough for JDSU to buy it without that much hurdles. Let's assume the objective of the deal is for JDSU to take over the north american positions (read : customer base - e.g. Verizon) of EXFO. $ 600M the NA marketplace is definitely not a big deal for JDSU's investors.

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.

It's About Finding A Job In Downturn Times

Robert Scoble has posted a very long article on how to find a job during recession. Worth reading, provided the current situation in the Global Economy.

Here are a couple of my favorites, based on my own experience back in 2003 when I had to leave Agilent Technologies - should TypePad and YouTube have exist at this time (I think TypePad was in its early stage online by then), I would have jumped on them to do exactly what Scoble suggests. Hey, I've got the job with the city of Pau thanks to the Blogosphere, and I've discovered the wonderful world of WebTV last year thanks to Usenet. Lesson : listen to what Scoble says.

Here we go, with my own comments/feedback.

6. Do a video everyday on YouTube that demonstrates something you know. Loic does a video everyday. If you’re laid off you have absolutely no excuses. Get a cheap Web cam and get over to YouTube or Seesmic.

Do it. It'll pay back quickly. That's the true aim of the so-called Web 2.0 : help people make connections faster.

10. Go to any job networking session you learn about. All of them were valuable to me, even though they didn’t necessarily bring me a job. Part of it is just feeling like you’re doing everything you can to get back on your feet. It’s an attitude thing. If you have an attitude that you’re going to work at this that will come across and will bring opportunities to you.

I'll never forget the workshop sessions at the outplacement consulting firm I've been to thanks to my severance package at Agilent. Outstanding outcomes. For instance : at the very first workshop I've attended, I was with C-level people, from many different areas; industry, computing, bank, consulting, even politics (the chief of staff of a very popular yet powerful mayor of a city nearby Paris). It helped me realize two things : a) I was definitely not the only forced to look for a new job, b) I am a C-level guy (well, of the free-electron type ;-)

16. Go to every business event you can attend. Can’t afford to get in? Me neither and I have a job! Hang out in the hallways. You never know who you might meet. At minimum you’ll get interesting interviews for your blog. Have your resumes ready.

My worst regret, when I look back at the 2003-2005 period. I didn't take enough time to attend those business events. I learned the hard way how proactive networking is mandatory (just because, before being laid off by Agilent, I never ever had to look for a new job : I always had the chance to meet the right persons at the right time).

Full post here.

Another Bubble In The Burst

Think the Facebook hype is too much (I do) ? Pump up the volume, get up, and watch this hilarious video. You'll get the real picture.

Visit The Richter Scales here.
YouTube video here.

Always Look Ahead, Buddy !

It's About Accountability

Christopher Harris, President of Inventure Global, an IT consulting firm based in San Diego, CA, tells the World about his own worst day in business. In brief : Inventure Global was supposed to provide a new startup with the alpha version  of their website, but missed the deadline, hence endangering the startup' successful launch. Here's the lesson :

“Some of our most avid customers here were customers that we totally screwed at some point.  We went to them and told them we knew that we screwed up, told them we were going to fix it, and told them that whatever it cost them we’d make it right as best we could.  We did that, and now they respect us more for it.  That’s the way you earn trust is by how you handle yourself when the situation goes against you.”

I've personnaly encountered such a disastrous situation more than once along my 15+ years-long career as an entrepreneur and business developer. Most often, it occured when someone in the team screwed up the whole thing because she simply didn't feel accountable. It was always a "not my fault", "not my business", or "not my whatever"... Hence the mandatory Musketeers' Spirit : "One for All, All for One", which should be the only motto of any team of any sort. Because it makes the people accountable and responsible for every single decision that they take under the team's umbrella (and by extension, the company itself)...

I screwed up a project myself. Back in '83, when I left a fiber optics cable installation work to go home - because my girlfriend was expecting me to be back before night. I did it once. That has been one of the best lessons I've ever got from real life : don't act for yourself, act for the team, no matter the consequences at home. Because at the end of the day, that's your customer who's paying you. Not your girlfriend (otherwise, you're a lucky guy ;-).

See Christopher's article on GoBig Network here . Inventure Global blog here.