Ludovic Copéré

No more copy-control for Sony

As the Nikkei Shimbun relates today, Sony Music Group (meaning Sony, BMG and a galaxy of smaller labels) will stop producing copy-controlled CDs after November 17th this year and revert back to the good, old-fashion Compact Disc standard, no strings attached, citing increased consumers' awareness. Well, seeing the bad publicity those crippled CDs have had since their initial release on the market a couple of years ago, no wonder why consumers have rapidly learnt about them...

You see, I told you Sony was back on tracks!

Via Engadget

Information Technology in Africa?

In my last post I wrote about the development of broadband infrastructure in Sweden. The same day, I also listened to a government representative from Rwanda, which is not necessarily the country you usually associate with Information Technology (ICT). Although it is definitely still on the bad side of the digital divide, it might also hold some opportunities for substantial ICT-related opportunities in the long run.

Indeed, the almost absent penetration of ICT in sub-Saharan Africa can be an interesting test-bed market for large corporations, like Nokia, Microsoft and Ericsson, who have been operating there for several years and are able to respond to an actual local need through adapted products, support and business models: the Return On Investment (ROI) is of course bound to be very different from what to be expected in a "traditional" OECD environment.

As Ericsson wrote in their 2003 annual report, [o]perators in emerging markets make very different
demands from those in developed markets, so in order to reach the second billion mobile users, companies must look towards emerging markets and adapt their operating conditions, marketing strategy and overall vision radically to meet those markets' needs and capabilities.

On the backbone infrastructure side, there are existing coastline connections from western and north Africa (Sat-3 / SAFE WASC and SEA ME WE-3). For the most part, Eastern Africa is today absent of the major Internet backbone and is the missing link towards connecting the whole Africa to the world. Even with that solved, the major challenge of landline distribution would still remain - and even accentuated by the scattered and rural living of the vast majority of the people. Out there, WiMAX (broadband, long-distance wireless connection) could do wonder: 250 WiMAX base stations would be enough to cover all Rwanda.

Considering the political and economic conditions in this region, ICT cannot be viewed as having the same direct impact on the short term as it has in industrialized countries. However, it does contribute indirectly to the benefit of everyone through a long-time spill-over effect - for instance as being re-injected to poorer areas through governmental policies and international aid (Sweden is very active in this field, thanks to the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, which has among other things funded broadband infrastructure projects in Tanzania, Mozambique and Rwanda).

Opening up the last mile in Sweden

I attended yesterday an inspiring talk given by Lars Hedberg, Secretary General of the Swedish Urban Network Association (SSNf - Svenska StadsNätsföreningen): a non-profit organization, founded in 1998 and headquartered in Eskiltuna, a small city about 100km west of Stockholm. The association was founded by companies involved in fiber optics installation in urban areas as well as metropolitan networks in the greater Stockholm. Today, it is composed of more than 300 members - companies, organization (KTH is a member along with other Swedish universities), more than 150 metropolitan networks represented connected and lots of infrastructure providers (such as Ericsson, Alcatel and Cisco).

The goal is to create a whole new digital infrastructure all over Sweden, based on the principle that healthy competition is necessary and promotes growth through ICT development: it is shifting the paradigm from the traditionally state-owned or former state-owned "last mile" (i.e. the final run of cable that connects the end-user to the first active gateway). France Telecom, Deutsche Telekom, British Telecom are good example of painful and slow transition to unbundle the local loop. Sweden, with the former state monopoly of TeliaSonera, has somewhat better managed to open itself up to the competition. However, with 4.5 million households ultimately freed to choose their providers, it becomes critical to create a new technical and business model and framework, not necessarily controlled by the state, but monitored and regulated by the state.

Of course, Sweden itself brings specific challenges to this vision, most notably the geographical consideration (In northern Sweden, there are fewer people living there than in the entire Sahara desert!). To counterbalance the economic considerations with such a scattered country, the 290 municipalities in Sweden have to cooperate and bring in common their expertise and existing municipal network (as they represent a lot of spare capacity that can be offered to companies, residents and public agencies). As a result, the mission of SSNf is to encourage it through the following actions:
- Give the city and society an open infrastructure, controlled by the city and open for everyone (same terms and price).
- Stimulate the market to use the infrastructure, to share it, instead of having each player re-building everything again from the ground up.
- Make possible a fair pay-back of the invested money (self cost).
- Reduce digging in the street (e.g. in Stockholm there are 70 operators: just imagine if everyone of them was allowed to dig... ).
- Document and rationalize the process: SSNf works closely with with documentation projects and organization, to leverage and standardize on common standards and best practices.

And it actually seems that Sweden has the power to concretize this ambitious vision. Stockholm, through Stokab has one of the largest dark fiber network in the world. It is also quickly becoming a major Internet eXchange point (IX), especially towards the Nordic and Baltic countries (cf. the BalticOpen.net project with a fully functional fiber connection between Sweden and Latvia), Eastern Europe, and even Asia (projected connection of China to the western backbone through Russia, Riga and then Stockholm).

Lars then presented the actual topology for deploying this Open network in Stockholm, as an interlaced double ring:
- A red ring, as the network running in the community of Stockholm (180 schools, libraries, offices, City Hall...). This network powers 46000 employers and 80000+ students.
- A blue ring, as the network for healthcare (30 hospitals and healthcare centers amounting to 26000 patients/week).
These two rings are connected to one logical point, which holds the firewalls, communication equipment, and service distribution, meaning that service providers offer services to 100000+ users from a single point, making it quite simple to distribute the services.

The vision is that such model can be successfully deployed all over Sweden, even at a smaller scale: SSNf helps its members connect their respective city networks ‘islets” to each other and collaborate, cooperate to be more effective overall. In 5 years (+/- 2 years), the objective is to have a nation-wide mesh of local and regional nodes, throughout Sweden.

This will in turn empower the next step - the Broadband connected Household (as we can already witness to some extent in Japan): nation-wide Fiber To The Home (FTTH) makes it possible for advanced Triple Play services: High-Definition TV (HDTV) needs at least 20Mbit/s per channel, rich-service (gaming, telemedicine, e-learning) are also bandwidth-guzzling. Of course it means heavy upfront investment, but on a longer term it could save 300000 SEK (~33000€) / person / year!

Great outlooks indeed, and as the price of fiber and related equipment continues to drop, it will soon reach a comparable price to using copper or DSL for the last mile, with the added advantage of offering more than ten times the bandwidth. The real challenge is to craft the proper business models so that broadcasters come in and take advantage of this virtually unlimited digital distribution channel, without having tens of incompatible equipment to buy or competing standards for running services. The nation-wide switch to digital TV in 2008 is therefore a tremendous opportunity for a massive adoption of the faster, bigger and better digital world.

A wiser and bolder Sony

It seems that Sony is finally shaking the tree to emerge from the slump in which it has been during the last couple of years. Indeed, building almost only the Walkman and Trinitron brands actually turned out to be a devastating strategy starting in 2000 for the once King in electronics: for the first time, convergence was not a visionary fantasy anymore, but was rapidly becoming a reality. Products like the Flash and hard-disk mp3 players from Singaporean star Creative and others like iRiver and Archos (wrongly regarded as "cheap", me-too manufacturers) were starting to earn their name in the market.

How did Sony then react? Well possibly the worst way they could - making a Betamax-like mistake again (who said history repeats?): instead on joining the flow of companies adopting the de facto MP3 standard, Sony desperately sticked to its ATRAC3 format (the same one that MiniDisc uses). One could also extend the criticism to its Memory Stick format, but it's at least adopted by others and ubiquituous along Sony's product line (VAIO PCs, digital cameras, smartphones...).

Therefore, what a pleasant surprise it was when Sony announced that starting from now, their audio players would natively read MP3. Not only that, but their soon to be released Playstation Portable (PSP) will also have built-in MP3 support! Speaking of the PSP, Sony Computer Entertainment has also released official videos and trailers of the PSP in action, which was premiered at the Tokyo Game Show 2004.

Uncrippled audio and video players. Sleeker laptops than ever. A serious contender to the Game Boy Advance. Advanced HDTV sets. Looks as Sony still has nifty things up in their sleeves, 25 years after the first Walkman...

MySQL, a toy Database?

I was fortunate enough to listen today to Mårten Mickos, the CEO of MySQL, the biggest name in Database (DB) software for web-based and other IT applications. And, for the remaining few who don't know it, one of the most extraordinary success of open source development (alongside Linux, Apache and Mozilla).

As he explained, contributing to their success has been their ability to both give away the product freely in an open source license (GPL) and commercialize it. The twist is that non-paying customers (i.e. the 35000 persons each day who download MySQL) constitute a unique test-base for quality assurance (QA) as well as bug-tracking, with the added advantage for MySQL of costing zero to manage and organize - call it the anti-Microsoft way of dealing with QA.

Adding that MySQL totally owns the source code, as the MySQL code is entirely written in-house, it somewhat protects the company from ugly SCO vs. IBM-related law suits and several other patent disputes. Therefore, the company combines the power of open source, while still maintaining the steering control of the project, thereby limiting the risks for corporate customers (that is, to make sure it is as good as it looks and to prove that it is possible for them to sell at such low prices - 595$ for the commercial version).

No, it's not too good to be true. MySQL is a bit like the IKEA of the digital era (yet another Swedish company!): high quality, despite low prices, thanks to streamlined development processes and rational delivery models. When you shop at IKEA, not a single screw is missing nor is in excess, and the manual is just as detailed as needed. The same goes there in the DB world: MySQL aims at being practical, not bloated. It just works, as to spoof another well-known IT company's former motto. Performance, Reliability, Ease of Use are prioritized over the bell and whistles that have forcedly put the DB offers from the Big Three (Oracle, IBM, Microsoft) out of reach (who said useless?) for most SMEs and even large corporations: did you know that MySQL powers (parts of) large audience sites like Google, Yahoo, Slashdot, Craigslist, Friendster, Feedster...?

I really see it as a perfect illustration of the theories given in The Innovator's Dilemma: in the late 90s, large DB mammoths were laughing at MySQL, this scandinavian toy coming from nowhere. Yet, it found a solid niche (reliable storage for web sites) and grew through it towards being a serious contender in large DB's realms: if SAP has choosen MySQL as the back-end DB for the next version of its ERP software, it's precisely because it sees past the risks of open source and acknowledges its qualities in such strategic move.

The real question is therefore: Where will the next competition between open and closed software take place? Will it be Linux vs. Windows, JBoss vs. Websphere, PHP vs. .NET ...? Will it be waged in the desktop, mobile, home environment(s)?

Unmet customer needs fuel piracy

I have recently read and had debates on whether the piracy is stoppable or not. For most people, piracy represents the "ultimate competitor", the unbeatable force in the media and digital content industry, and it's true that in many countries (think Eastern Europe, Russia, and most of Asia), it is simply not viable to set up local distribution, with such a rampant, on-the-street digital forgery.

My view is that there will always be, no matter what technological, legal barriers to piracy nor commercial incentives to buy, a percentage of people who will prefer to pirate and illegally consume digital content, which then, through the magic of group dynamics and mimicking, convince a larger, less die-hard share of people to join in those activities.. The crux is: how does one control and, when possible, reduce such percentage to a negligible one?

If we take the music distribution industry, they are now suffering from the series of mistakes they made in the 90s and early 00s - that is to consider the CD medium as the sacred and unique way of distributing music. That and their late concern for fairer prices (both towards the end-customers and the artists) have indeed contributed to the overall decrease of music sales.

However, just look at what Apple has been doing for a year with its iTunes Music Store: by shifting the paradigm of how to distribute music, they have created a new wave in which tens of competitors (Sony, Real, Walmart, Microsoft...) are now trying to get their marketshare. Such a new delivery channel is far closer to actual customers' habits and demands. Of course you will not stop all the downloads on the P2P networks, but for most people, having a perfectly encoded and labeled song in one click for 0.99$ overcomes the long searching, waiting and disappointments occurring in the illegal download channels.

The same can now be seen with videogames, as some companies (like French start-up Boonty) now offers instant paid download and online renting of games. Just as will be doing Valve with their Half Life 2 game (well, when it is eventually released!).

The only (but substantial) downside is that each content provider is fighting for its own Digital Right Management (DRM) techniques and thus create a customer lock-in that is not always desirable: as of today, I can't play a song bought on Sony Connect on my iPod. And Real's attempt has actually backfired to them, creating more flame and criticisim than actual praise over their Harmony technology, which enables crossovers between digital players and different protection techniques (like Apple's).

As a natural optimistic, I see that as a natural pre-chasm crossing phenomenon (to borrow Geoff Moore's terminology), and we'll hopefully see some consolidation and unification in the coming years (or months), as more and more consumers and content providers jump on the (digital) bandwagon.

PS: could Apple make the next generation of iPods in color, like the mini? I mean, 40GB in your palm is cool, but 40GB in blue (or pink, if it's your inclination) is cooler :-)

Modern computer design? Well, not really...

In the past few days, I was exposed to this quite striking photo of what claims to be RAND Corporation's vision of the contemporary computer in 2004, looking back 50 years ago from 1954. Intrigued by the eerie presence of a massive steering wheel as part of the massive hardware footprint (although it might have very well been a very physical way of scrolling through pages) I made some quick research. Unfortunately, I have to conclude that the said picture is a hoax, a digital composition made out of the control panel from a nuclear submarine alongside an old printer, as explained by a fellow blogger.

Too bad actually, a steering wheel desktop would definitely be an innovative design! Who knows, maybe Apple will include its iPod click wheel in the next iMac revision?

Information Technology in Sweden and Japan

On Monday I was invited to an extremely interesting seminar on the uses and implactions of Information Technology (IT) both in Sweden and Japan. Organized by ITPS (Institutet för tillväxtpolitiska studier, i.e. Swedish Institute for Growth Policy Studies) , in cooperation with VINNOVA (the Swedish Agency for Innovation Systems), NUTEK (the Swedish Business Development Agency) and STEM (the Swedish Energy Agency), it gave a broad overview of the innovations and challenges in the two regions.

First were several presentations hilighting the state of the art in Japan in respect to IT:
- JEITA (the Japan Electronics and Information Technology Industries Association) shed some light on the sucessful business models in the Japanese IT industry over the next 10 years : building on Japan's exceptional hardware, industrial and Intellectual Property assets, the country should strive towards an ubiquitous IT environment (From e-Life to u-Life - from electronics to ubiquity), as a part of the governmental policy of e-Japan. Through the convergence of sectors in which Japan has a strong presence (such as digital home appliances and mobile terminals) can the country grow as a leader in user-targeted IT innovations and uses.
- Representatives from Total Life and ALICE Forum explained the developments on the newest housing network equipments in Japan and the processes for standardizing and spreading its use. In comparison to what is being done in Sweden (for instance Svenska Bostäder's fiber-to-the-home city network in Vällingby), Japan seems more inclined towards smart house innovations, such as remote and centralized control, monitoring and surveillance. To illustrate this, we were shown an example of a wall socket featuring power, ethernet, TV and sensor access alltogether (pictured here).
- Speaking of sensors, the presentation from IPSquare underlined the impressive innovations occuring in Japan: they have developped a single-chip solution for processing information from versatile physical sensors (temperature, humidity, CO2 level...) and sending it over an IP network using standard protocols. thereby opening the way towards swarms of sensor-based intelligent agents.
- Showing that IT is diffusing itself into every economic sector in Japan, the presentation from SHIMIZU, a 200-year old construction group, underlined the influence of IT throughout the engineering process, with examples such as Mobile Phone Positioning System, Structural Health Monitoring System (important in earthquake-prone Japan), and Biotope Monitoring System.

After that, the seminar shifted towards IT in Sweden, with a special focus on governmental policy and social issues:
- Aiming for An Information Society for All, the Ministry of Industry, Employment and Communication explained Sweden's e-Government strategy, consisting of a specific structure and activity plan focusing on five prioritized areas: education, healthcare, broadband infrastructure, economic growth, and IT culture.
- Very logically, the focus was then put on the issue the ability to create a democratic information society for everyone, with a reflection on going from thinking IT as a tool for Democracy to Democracy in the Information Society. This would entail deep structural changes in the way democracy runs and is perceived by the citizens, but this is a far-reaching and long-term view that could position the Information Society as the founder for a renewed and updated democracy, just like the Industrial Revolution crafted the values and systems in which we are currently evolving.

As a perfect synthesis to bridge the views, assets and issues in Sweden and Japan, the seminar was concluded by an insightful reflection on what makes Sweden an Japan simultanesouly similar and different in the IT world. Both strong R&D and innovcation clusters with a strong home market, the two countries yet subtly differ in their respective strengths and weaknesses: international outlook, conceptual thinking and multidisciplinary thinking in Sweden, quicker Time To Market, playfulness of the domestic market and market push in Japan, to higlight a few.

All in all, this even was a great occasion to get a more global vision on what is driving IT in terms of innovation, markets and policies, thanks to the inspiring people present that day.

Japan vs. Korea (or the other way around)

No, this is not about an hypothetical football match between the two asian countries, but rather a short post on a geopolitical issue making waves back and forth between Japan and Korea: the naming of the sea on the eastern coast of the Eurasian continent (hey, I'm being careful here, it's precisely the name that's at stake). So, to summarize, Japan has been advocating that this piece of water should be named Sea of Japan (as it is de facto in most western maps today), while Korea pushes for the East Sea denomination. Scholar battles ensue.

I was aware of that already, but during my course on Japan and the International Political Economy given by the European Institute for Japanese Studies, much diplomatic and official attention was said to be focused on the naming dispute. After some googling, I managed to find the two eminently official versions and arguments, on each side of the Sea:
- Japan has a dedicated page on its Ministry of Foreign Affairs site. There, several documents and pamphlets try to make their point in convincing of the rightfullness of Japan's claim.
- This is however nothing compared to the heavy artillery Korea has decided to use: quite proeminently placed in the starting page of the country's official portal, a 27' video transforms the claim into an almost-Hollywoodian attempt: american-sounding off voice, dramatic music, and a lot of cheap picture effects (while not forgetting some deliciously diplomatic rounding such as [the Sea's name] was intentionally erased by an outside force).

Anyhow, time to get back to a few more pages of 日本語初歩...

I'm on Gmail (at last!)

I know I probably lag by a couple of months over the geekier and/or luckier out there, but I just got my Gmail account a few minutes ago (thanks Saskia!). A very googlish evening on my blog indeed...