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AT THE CENTER
The electronic newsletter of the
Silicon Valley World Internet Center

Tuesday, October 29, 2003

 

The Silicon Valley World Internet Center thanks its Sponsors for their continuing support:

EXECUTIVE SPONSORS
• Amdocs, Inc. •• Cable & Wireless •• Deutsche Telekom •• Fujitsu •• IBM Corporation •• SAP •• Sun Microsystems •

KNOWLEDGE NETWORK PARTNERS
•• Halleck ••• IC Growth, Inc. ••• Market Wire ••• Incucomm ••• Xterprise ••

Past copies of Newsletters and Directions to the Center are available on the Web site.

All programs are held at the Center unless otherwise noted.

To join our community, click on this link: http://center.infopoint.com/join.php

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POWER PUB: THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2003
"BROADBAND WIRELESS: A CHANGING LANDSCAPE"
Pub Masters: Mr. George Sidman, President, Monterey Network Center
& Mr. Les Laky, Co-Founder, Fiber Internet Center
5:00 p.m.: Networking
5:30 p.m.: Pub Exchange
6:30 p.m.: Networking
7:00 p.m.: Pub Closes!
Open to the Public. Fee: $15 (cash or check, payable at the door).
Further information below.

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SPECIAL EVENT: eLEARNING FORUM: TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2003
"eLEARNING IN THE CRYSTAL BALL: PROBING THE FUTURE WITH THE eLEARNING FORUM"
3:00 p.m. Registration & Networking
3:20 p.m. Program
5:15 p.m. Reception
6:30 p.m. Program concludes
Open to the public. $30 fee. Registration and payment information below.

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SUMMARY: INTERACTIVE PANEL DISCUSSION: WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2003
"OPEN SOURCE AS THE FOUNDRY FOR AN ECOSYSTEM"
Summary below.

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POWER PUB: THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2003
"BROADBAND WIRELESS: A CHANGING LANDSCAPE"
Pub Masters: Mr. George Sidman, President, Monterey Network Center
& Mr. Les Laky, Co-Founder, Fiber Internet Center
5:00 p.m.: Networking
5:30 p.m.: Pub Exchange
6:30 p.m.: Networking
7:00 p.m.: Pub Closes!
Open to the Public. Fee: $15 (cash or check, payable at the door).

The market for wireless -- as an alternative to T1 and Fiber, and in many cases to DSL and Cable Modem -- is in for quite a boom. Wireless in the "last mile'" has the potential of rapidly and dramatically increasing bandwidth to office buildings, residences and hotspots by providing faster-than-copper wireless multi-point services. Broadband wireless subscriber revenues will reach around $17 billion in 2005 according IGI. According to Ovum, by 2008, there will be 16 million lines. The questions heard most often are about using licensed versus unlicensed frequencies:

  • Is security adequate?
  • Will wireless at hotspots be free?

Please join our Pub Masters, George Sidman and Les Laky, for a hot discussion. George Sidman is the President of Monterey Network Center (http://www.montereynet.net) and Les Laky is the Co-Founder of the Fiber Internet Center (http://www.fiberinternetcenter.com).

This Power Pub is aimed at the deployment of broadband wireless systems in both domestic and international markets and the reason wireless networks represent an attractive business model. The discussion will specifically address key issues of licensed versus unlicensed frequencies, the adequacy of wireless security, and whether hotspots will be free.

ABOUT GEORGE SIDMAN

George Sidman is a proven entrepreneur with a 20 year track record in launching and growing successful software companies in the information sciences. In 1984, he founded INLEX, Inc., which quickly became a leading provider of library automation systems worldwide. He is the Founder and President of Nousoft, Inc., (1994), a software company specializing in very large-scale object management technologies. Mr. Sidman also is the founder of Arista Systems, Inc., (1997), a venture capital funded distance-learning company.

Currently, he is Founder & President of Monterey Network Center, a regional web commerce provider. In this capacity, he provides leadership for company formation and growth, technology development, marketing, and sales. Mr. Sidman has conducted successful financings in public and private markets. Among his other accomplishments, he is a licensed architect and developer of award-winning sports facilities; and a consultant and public speaker to the information sciences community. In total, Mr. Sidman has started 7 companies over the last 25 years, all of which are operating successfully today.

ABOUT LES LAKY

Les Laky (http://www.leslaky.com) is the CTO of New Access International, a fixed broadband wireless service provider with operations in the United States and South America. He is Co-Founder of the Fiber Internet Center of Palo Alto, intent on reducing the cost of connecting to the fiber optic network and upgrading customers to the faster speeds.

Mr. Laky was also one of the founders of MediaCity, a successfully Palo Alto ISP acquired by SoftNet in 1996. He is a telecom and Nortel veteran, a pioneer in cable modem technology, and an active participant and advisor to several start-up ventures as a co-founder of Internet Inventions. In addition, Mr. Laky is the Keeper of DomainKeep, a private domain name registration service.

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SPECIAL EVENT: eLEARNING FORUM: TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2003
"eLEARNING IN THE CRYSTAL BALL: PROBING THE FUTURE WITH THE eLEARNING FORUM"
3:00 p.m. Registration & Networking
3:20 p.m. Program
5:15 p.m. Reception
6:30 p.m. Program concludes
Open to the public. $30 fee. Registration and payment information below.

Join us for a lively discussion of the future of eLearning in the next 18-months. The November meeting of the eLearning Forum is presented in conjunction with the Silicon Valley World Internet Center.

Thought leaders in the area of learning will discuss:

  • What trends are being seen in the eLearning space?
  • Where are they placing their bets?
  • Where are the opportunities for growth and what are the pitfalls?

Discussions will focus on the future of the eLearning Forum as a think-tank and clearinghouse for practical ideas in eLearning. Board Members will share their thoughts on strategic planning, calling on audience participants to voice their thoughts on how the eLearning Forum can remain in tune with the needs of its members as well as the rest of the world. The eLearning Forum invites attendees to become involved in making this an organization that continues to discuss pertinent issues and ideas.

The program discussion ends at 5:15 p.m., allowing for an additional 75 minutes for networking with Board Members and participants during the reception.

REGISTRATION INFORMATION

This session is open to the public. There is a $30 fee to attend, payable by credit card (in advance on the eLearning Forum's website), or by cash or check at the door. There is limited seating, so pre-registration is highly recommended.

  • To pre-register by credit card (using PayPal), visit http://www.elearningforum.com.
  • To register at the door (based upon seat availability), payment is only accepted using cash or check (payable to eLearning Forum).

ABOUT THE eLEARNING FORUM

The eLearning Forum (http://www.elearningforum.com) is a non-commercial, global community of people who make decisions at the intersection of learning, technology, business, and design. Its mission is to promote the understanding and use of eLearning in industry and government worldwide and to provide a forum for resolving issues impeding the progress of eLearning. Through the meetings and services offered, the eLearning community comprised of designers, training managers, consultants, product developers, academics, researchers, and business managers looks to identify and publicize new developments and emerging best practices.

Recent meeting topics include:

  • Workflow-based Learning
  • eLearning at U.C. Berkeley
  • eLearning at Stanford University
  • Knowledge Management & eLearning
  • Virtual Teams at Cisco
  • Informal Learning

eLearning Architectures eLearning Forum's monthly meetings are webcast live, drawing participants from around the world. Visit www.elearningforum.com for information. Membership, currently free, is open to anyone who supports the values and mission of the eLearning Forum.

"The best way to predict the future is to invent it." Alan Kay

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SUMMARY: INTERACTIVE PANEL DISCUSSION: WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2003
"OPEN SOURCE AS THE FOUNDRY FOR AN ECOSYSTEM"
Summary below.

On October 15, 2003, the World Internet Center welcomed back Mr. Mark Cathcart, IBM Distinguished Engineer & Member, IBM Academy of Technology, IBM On Demand Systems Environment Architecture and Design and Mr. Lawrence Rosen, General Counsel for the Open Source Initiative (OSI) and Attorney of Rosenlaw.com as key panelists for the session, "Open Source as the Foundry for an Ecosystem."

Mark Cathcart opened the session with a call to think beyond specific applications being programmed in open source code to consider the benefits of social computing which can solve significantly large problems (e.g., health and societal issues, etc.) Mr. Cathcart noted that because of the shared objectives between programmers in a social computing context supported by open source code, programmers go off and focus on their particular strengths, thus driving invention and new applications of common technologies across a broad range of problems and solutions. He was very much encouraged that he is seeing an emergence of social and welfare wave of computer applications coming from the very possibility of collaboration through open source code.

Lawrence Rosen's opening remarks focused on how the law affects an ecosystem around open source and called for us -- the ones that create that ecosystem -- to avoid "intellectual chaos." He expressed a concern that laws are being developed around the world that tend to protect certain players and prevent effective cooperation in the open source space.

An active discussion ensued covering several of the key themes and questions noted below:

  • Humanitarianism vs. Big Corporate use of Open Source: what is the driving force for companies like IBM to support Open Source?
  • Increased activity in the Open Source space by people simply looking for a job
  • Are the Big Companies paying into the "milk cow" of the Open Source community? Or will the "milk cow" soon be dead for lack of financial resources?
  • Are customers really clamoring for open source-developed apps?
  • Should the Government be feeding the Open Source Ecosystem?
  • Is Microsoft a false enemy to Open Source? If not, why do so many developers in the Valley still feel "hatred" in their hearts?
  • What is motivating developers to keep contributing to Open Source?
  • Who is liable for problems attributed to co-opted Open Source code?
  • Have Open Source licenses been too "floppy" to date?
  • Will the only Darwinian survivors be the ones who build proprietary apps on top of Open Sourced middleware?

To contact either of the panelists, please send your inquiry to the Center at info@worldinternetcenter.com.

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For further information on the Center's Sponsors and Knowledge Network Partners, visit their Websites:

EXECUTIVE SPONSORS
• Amdocs, Inc. http://www.amdocs.com
• Cable & Wireless http://www.cw.com
• Deutsche Telekom http://www.dtag.de/english/index.htm
• Fujitsu http://www.fujitsu.com
• IBM Corporation http://www.ibm.com
• SAP http://www.mysap.com
• Sun Microsystems http://www.sun.com

KNOWLEDGE NETWORK PARTNERS
• Halleck http://www.halleck.com
• IC Growth, Inc. http://www.icgrowth.com
• Market Wire http://www.marketwire.com
• Incucomm http://www.incucomm.com

Xterprise http://www.xterprise.com

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To join our community, click on this link: http://center.infopoint.com/join.php

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