Tim Howell’s Weblog

There has been lots of discussion and debate around our need for faster broadband, better network infrastructure and a more open and competitive market (not to mention who should make the required investments).

Many proponents are arguing that by having faster broadband, we New Zealanders will have improved access to overseas markets and be able to access, market and sell ourselves and our products to the world. 

Surely this is only one benefit of improved infrastructure?

Why not take a broader view, looking at what else would be possible by having a more robust and better performing network infrastructure. Such infrastructure is an enabler for more than online applications and services.

Quoting Paul Budde:

“These commentators are missing the point – that the need for new infrastructure has little to do with high-speed Internet access – that the major usage of this new infrastructure will be to deliver healthcare services such as video monitoring of patients at home, remote healthcare for aged people, education services, smart energy meters, allowing home owners to monitor and better manage their energy usages, e-government services and so on.

A mindshift is necessary in relation to the use of this infrastructure. It should be looked at from a social welfare and economic benefit viewpoint, rather than the present discussion about how fast our Internet access or video downloads need to be.”

These arguments don’t contradict what’s being sought by many people; rather, they provide further justification for what’s being discussed.

Avenue A | Razorfish has released their 2007 Digital Outlook report which “examines trends in the way consumers, publishers, and advertisers employ digital media to have a conversation with each other. In the 2007 edition, we examine issues such as how to measure the value of new media, and what’s on the minds of today’s “digital class” - the 18-to-24-year-olds who shape tomorrow’s consumer experience.”

There’s also an accompanying podcast. Very useful and nicely presented if this kind of information is of interest.

A few locals have blogged about Sam Morgan speaking at the elite TED Conference held last week. TED is a conference now run by Chris Anderson, a man I used to work for and with in the early 1990’s. Chris’ initial claim to fame was founding Future Publishing, a UK-based magazine publishing company that achieved great success during the 1990s and into the early part of this decade. You may have heard of some of their titles including PC Plus, PC Format, MacFormat, Future Music and many, many others.

Like many startups, Chris founded the company from a garage using a bank loan, and over several years the company grew into being one of the largest leisure magazine publishers in the UK. The company went public in the early part of the decade, and for a while Chris was on the Sunday Times rich list, worth hundreds of millions of pounds. Since the tech wreck, his fortune shrank, but he’s obviously mixing in the right circles at TED, his latest venture.

I’ve always found the Future Publishing story inspirational, especially given my early association with the company, and it’s great seeing how Chris is now giving so many others inspiration through TED.

(For Wired readers, it’s worth mentioning this is a different Chris Anderson than the one who is responsible for The Long Tail and who is editor in chief of this publication.)

Reports are coming through that New Zealand once again had a strong prescence at CeBIT, to the chagrin of the Australian exhibitors, it seems.

Putting national rivalries aside, we found CeBIT a useful exercise back in 2005, which also received strong support from NZTE. The takeaways for us, at our first international show were:

Use the event as a launchpad into Europe and, in particular, the German-speaking countries. What they require from you: German language versions of your software and, ideally, all associated documentation.

The event is also a useful one to research other companies and, in particular, competitors, who are most likely to be there. We set aside a couple of days for competitive research, and found it worthwhile understanding how our major competitors positioned themselves, promoted themselves, as well as observing the questions they were asked - assuming the questions were in English, of course.

Lastly, depending on what you want to get out of it, the event is also useful for partnering, with resellers, distributors and technology partner candidates all available.

Dealing with the volume of people is key, and taking good notes about any useful conversations will prove invaluable later on - this is the case at any tradeshow. During the busy periods, we were scrambling to write details on the backs of business cards - anything to keep track of who the person was and what they wanted, so that we could make meaningful contact later on.