Disruptive Tendencies

Homeland Insecurity Redux

So a Nigerian Islamist, named Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, who was on multiple Watch Lists, tries unsuccessfully to detonate an explosive on a plane. How do we react?

Three hour waits in order to pat down women, children, and business people. Carry-ons limited to one piece only. No peeing in the last hour of a flight. No blankets. Nothing in one’s lap.

Hysterical and absurd are but two adjectives that come to mind.

Over a year ago, I blogged about how ludicrous it is for the DHS (from a policy perspective) and the TSA (from an implementation perspective) to treat every traveler as equal risks to safety and security (Homeland Insecurity?).

“C’mon…When was the last time a 70 year old fat lady tried to hijack a plane? Or a 45 year old high tech executive father of two? Or a high school student?...We live in a world where it is somehow deemed more acceptable to humiliate old fat ladies than it is to say out loud what we all know: radical Islamists are the threat, not my 14 year old son or the old lady next door, or me.”

“We lack the resources to treat everyone as a potential risk.”

Let me see if I’ve got this right…As someone who took over 150 flights last year, who has been screened by DHS multiple times, and who clearly is not an Islamist, I now need to arrive 2-3 hours ahead of my flight. I need to check my roll aboard, which will require that I wait at the other end for at least an hour to get my luggage. Do you think the airlines and airports are staffing up to deal with a 100% increase in checked luggage? Do you think they’re staffing up on the Customer Service side to deal with the inevitable surge in lost luggage? Do you think they’re budgeting for compensation claims due to baggage delays? Not a chance.

The joy of traveling was already largely gone, but now, thanks to the over-reaction by the DHS and TSA, it has totally disappeared.

Why should I be subject to the inconveniences, delays and costs associated with these absurd new procedures? Am I deemed a threat?

Why should you be subject to the inconveniences, delays and costs associated with these absurd new procedures? Are you deemed a threat?

Put some wood behind the arrow, but aim it at the bullseye, not at me and not at you.

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab and his ilk are the ones who should be subject to the inconveniences, delays and costs, because they are the threat.

Not you or I.

That’s my .02!

Martin Suter

martin.suter at iplicensing.net

Tiger, Inc., A Failure in Corporate Governance

The near total implosion experienced by Tiger, Inc. these past 10 days, is almost unprecedented. "Almost", because, while not illegal, in many ways, it’s analogous to the collapse of Bernie Madoff’s empire. As with Bernie, people had “invested” in Tiger, cheering him on in his quest for greatness, paying him to represent their brand, only to find that all of the “equity” that had been carefully built up, was but a mirage.

Why does it matter? Of the ~$1 billion that Tiger is purported to have made since being launched into the public consciousness in 1996, less than 10% of it has been earned swinging a club and sinking putts. Ninety percent has been earned by Tiger, Inc., the sale and promotion of the man and the myth.

So what of it?

It’s hard to imagine that those in the inner circle of Tiger, Inc. weren’t aware of his high-risk behavior. Steve Williams, he who puts a smackdown on photographers, has been by Tiger’s side since 1999. I’m guessing that, during this time, he has spent at least 2000 nights on the road with his boss. Clearly, Steve has bought into the “What goes on in Vegas, stays in Vegas” mantra.

Mark Steinberg, Tiger’s agent and head of IMG’s Golf Division, is probably more responsible than anyone for 100% of Tiger, Inc. revenue. Is it possible that he wasn’t aware of Tiger’s behavior, or were he, Steve and others afraid to intervene and put their own livelihoods at risk? But if they were complicit, they would have contributed to the fraud, and must share responsibility for the fall of Tiger. As Solomon Burke sings in None of Us Are Free, “If you don’t say it’s wrong, then that says it’s right”.

I understand that Tiger must surround himself by people who he trusts implicitly, and clearly those near him can keep a confidence. But he also needs to surround himself with people whom he can trust to keep him grounded. People criticized Michael Vick for surrounding himself with his friends from the ‘hood, who shared with him a tendency towards illegal and high-risk behavior. People criticized Mike Tyson for surrounding himself with an entourage that fed his massive ego. Why are those in Tiger, Inc., if they were aware of his behavior, any different?

If I was Elin, I would feel betrayed, not only by my husband, but by those in the inner circle who attended the wedding, ate at my table, and played with my kids. Elin needs to assume the role of CEO of Tiger, Inc., although it’s not clear that she has any desire to do so. She should completely restructure Tiger, Inc., replacing everyone in the inner circle that has been part of the failure in governance and rebuilding both her personal relationship and the business anew.

“Sorry Steve, but somebody else needs to be on the bag next season.”

“Sorry IMG, we’ll take it from here.”

She and Tiger should work directly with sponsors that have been deceived and which, frankly, have now seen their brands tainted by association. Tiger needs to worry about being a husband, a father and winning majors and less about Tiger, Inc.

As much of a train wreck as John Daly appears to be, at least he doesn’t pretend otherwise. He parks his motor home out front of Hooters, chugs beer, poses for pictures and signs autographs. Seems that while he’s out front, Tiger’s sneaking his girl out the back door. Jack Nicklaus, a heavy smoker, refused to smoke on the golf course and hated seeing a picture of himself with a cigarette. While he would admit to human failings, he understood that he was a role model and adapted his behavior accordingly.

Why do we care about Tiger’s private life? I don’t, and frankly have read things that I had no desire to ever know.  This isn’t about Tiger’s private life, it’s about deception and a massive breach of the public, paternal and marital trust.

Tiger may end up being the winningest golfer and even surpass Nicklaus as the golfer with the most major championships, but Tiger can no longer ever become the “greatest” golfer. Great is who you are, not what you’ve accomplished. Great is how your friends and family describe you when you are gone, not how many trophies are on the mantle. As much as he would like it to be different, the narrative about his life is forever tarnished. Can you imagine reading a Tiger obit someday that fails to describe this past week in detail?

As the Accenture ad says with Tiger standing in the deep stuff, “It matters what you do next.”

Do right, Tiger.

That’s my .02!

Martin Suter

(martin.suter at iplicensing.net)

 

Spectrum is Like Beachfront

(Originally posted at http://www.von.com/blogs/guest/2009/12/spectrum-is-like-beachfront.aspx)

Plato is credited with having noted that, “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” This is certainly true in any discussion about spectrum. As with beachfront property, the thing about spectrum is that they’re not making any more of it. Recently, Blair Levin, who heads the FCC’s broadband program, acknowledged, “There’s not enough of it,” referring to spectrum. It was also noted that “several Tier I carriers are arguing for more licensed spectrum to keep pace with customers’ bandwidth demands, especially for mobile broadband.”

The FCC’s 700MHz auction raised $19.6 billion, with $16 billion coming from just 2 operators: Verizon and AT&T (National coverage maps). While I’m sure the FCC would love to run more multibillion-dollar spectrum auctions, is it really necessary to do so?

There are lots of moving parts in delivering a mobile broadband service, but it’s interesting to look at them holistically.

Different frequencies have very different propagation characteristics. It has been said that the best thing about 700MHz spectrum is its propagation characteristics. It has also been said that the worst thing about 700MHz spectrum is its propagation characteristics. It goes forever, has good in-building penetration, but these attributes present challenges from a frequency re-use perspective. Great for coverage. Not so great for capacity.

Conversely, the propagation characteristics in the 2GHz and 5GHz ranges are very different. These have limited range and poor in-building penetration, but these attributes are advantageous from a frequency re-use perspective. Poor for wide-area coverage. Great for capacity.

With the explosion in mobile broadband, the question today is whether the delivery of wireless broadband is a coverage play or a capacity play? And if capacity, what does the network look like?

Cell size and capacity have an inverse relationship. Macrocells, by design, are built to cover wide areas. However, the radios, spectrum and backhaul are all shared elements. The more users you have within a cell competing for these resources, the lower the throughput to each user. To increase capacity over an area, mobile operators pack in more, smaller cells (micro and picocells, and at the extreme low end of the spectrum, femtocells are being contemplated).

Andy Germano, vice chairman of the Femto Forum, said it very well recently when referring to the deployment of 4G networks: “Rather than go from big to small, they can go from small to big,” referring to cellular topology.

We know that, even today, it is challenging to keep up with the data capacity demands being driven by smart phones and other mobile devices. This is due to three factors: user demand for bandwidth, spectrum availability and cellular topology.

AT&T has been at the forefront of addressing the issue of adding data capacity to deliver a superior user experience for its iPhone subscribers by embracing Wi-Fi and unlicensed spectrum. Recently, at SUPERCOMM, John Stankey, president and CEO of AT&T Operations, stated:

“I don’t think a single macro wireless network is sustainable over time, given the pace of spectrum availability and what’s actually out there in terms of fixed spectrum. I think the reality is that there will be macro and micro networks. We’re starting down that path at AT&T, focusing on how we make Wi-Fi and licensed spectrum a more seamless experience for customers.”

So back to the beach.

There’s 80MHz of free, unlicensed spectrum, at 2.4GHz, being used today to augment data capacity by a leading licensed spectrum owner. Very interesting, but it’s still a small and pretty crowded stretch of beach. However, there’s 450MHz of spectrum, in the 5GHz bands, that is a beautiful stretch of beach – much less crowded, and ideal for small cells and frequency re-use, i.e. high-capacity locations.

Great stretch of beach, but how do I get there from here? Wi-Fi (802.11b/g) supports 2.4GHz and there are no 802.11a devices. The answer is 802.11n. Devices, such as the new Apple iPod Touch, are shipping with chipsets that support .11n and both frequency bands. Although the 5GHz radios are currently disabled, it is not unreasonable to expect that any upcoming versions of the iPhone, and other Wi-Fi enabled devices, will offer dual-band capabilities.

So, we will see 4G services rolled out at 700MHz, which will bring LTE to a big chunk of the country. But instead of waiting years (and paying billions) for more licensed spectrum to add capacity, I would say to Mr. Levin, “There’s a beautiful stretch of public beach up at this end, just waiting to be used.”

That’s my .02!

Martin Suter

Martin Suter is vice president of business development at BelAir Networks, the global market share leader in service provider Wi-Fi, enabling 3G data offload for wireless carriers, quad-play for cable operators, and managed WLAN business services. Previously, Martin was the CEO at Cohda Wireless, where he raised the company’s profile and negotiated a licensing deal with a Fortune 100 vendor in its core franchise. Prior to Cohda, he was vice president of business development at MeshNetworks Inc., a classic tech transfer/disruptive technology success story that achieved a major liquidity event for its investors in Q4/2004 with its acquisition by Motorola. Martin also was responsible for building several high profile alliances with and for leading technology companies, including Fujitsu, Microsoft, Netscape, Sun Microsystems, and Teradata. Additionally, Martin has successfully negotiated technology transfer, distribution and/or licensing deals with companies like 3Com, BioChem Pharma, Dow Chemical, Exodus, Fujitsu, IBM, Microsoft, Motorola, Netscape and Sun.