Convergence Conversation Info 24th October 2008

The Weekly Roundup: Friday 24th October

Friday’s crept around once again, and that means it’s time for the weekly round-up of the hottest topics on Convergence Conversations from the last 5 days.

The best blogs this week included Phillip Sheldrake’s analysis of international broadband one-up man-ship, Peter Shearman’s take on ‘Digital Britain’, a guest post from Simon Torrance regarding Mobile WiMAX, and Dave Birch searching for needles in haystacks.

And if you want to understand how the economic crisis will affect technology companies, make sure you sign up for the next Convergence Conversation on October 30th.

Government to undertake Digital Britain Report

by Peter Shearman of Broadband Stakeholder Group

On Friday last week the government announced it would be undertaking a Digital Britain Report, led by the new minister for technology, communications and broadcasting Stephen Carter. This represents an opportunity for Government to tackle a range of issues in a coordinated, strategic way. Hopwever, doing so requires that the report is not a stock-taking exercise of ongoing issues, but a proactive plan of action that provides strong government direction. The value of this report would be in bringing together the various activities going on in the area of convergence, across different departments, in a coordinated, strategic way. More...

Guest post - Mobile WiMAX: an answer to the network capacity crisis?

by Simon Torrance of STL partners

Technology evangelism can be a dangerous thing; new technologies rarely directly displace incumbent technologies. Each incumbent technology has a surrounding ecosystem that gives it network effect, cost and distribution advantages that the upstart initially cannot match. Rather, new technologies spread by finding new applications, and have properties that the older technologies see as unimportant. They can also acting as a complement to existing technologies. This process was famously documented by Clayton Christensen in The Innovator’s Dilemma. More...

Sputnik moment... call to action for national US broadband policy

by Philip Sheldrake of London

Ben Piper of Strategy Analytics has derided Internet connectivity in the US, describing it as "outpaced by other developed nations in terms of broadband deployment, penetration, availability and affordability". He appears to be gifted in framing his assertions by raising the spectre of the Russian Sputnik initiative in 1957 which spurred the US to engage proactively in the space race.

In his report's accompanying press release, Ben is quoted as saying: "Through inertia, complacency and false security, the United States was late out of the broadband starting gate, and has barely begun the game of catch up.... More...

We're looking for needles, so get more hay!

by Dave Birch of Consult Hyperion

That seems to be the government's "plan", as far as I can tell from the story in the newspapers.

Every call you make, every e-mail you send, every website you visit - I’ll be watching you. That is the hope of Sir David Pepper who, as the director of GCHQ, the government’s secret eavesdropping agency in Cheltenham, is plotting the biggest surveillance system ever created in Britain.
[From There’s no hiding place as spy HQ plans to see all - Times Online]

Remember also that More...