There is a new museum and Visitor Center at Pearl Harbor, if you get the chance, you should spend a day learning and exploring!
Marc
Welcome to Marc's Blog. - From time to time you will find comments, opinions, and discussions related to various topics of interest to me, and some of them may even be relative to the Wireless Industry. Let us hear from you! - Marc
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
USS Arizona Memorial, Pearl Harbor
I have had the privilege of talking to one of the divers who performs these interments for the families. The diver I talked to told me this is considered to be the most solemn and sacred duties they do in their service to the US and for our veterans to be able re-united the former survivor with his shipmates. I have not attended one of these ceremonies but can only imagine the emotion and feelings involved.
Thursday, April 5, 2012
United Airlines - Creating a Really Big, Really Bad, Poorly Operated Airline
On February 20th of this year I wrote a post entitled, What do you get When you Mate Elephants, pontificating on the merger of Continental and United. My comment was : . . . the new United took the worst features of both airlines and created a really bad airline. But maybe things will get better over time!"
Since that post Sue Ann and I have made a trip to London in March and today I am absolutely livid about my experience trying to book a business trip to San Diego in mid-April. What have I learned about the new United from these experiences?
First, the mating of United and Continental didn't even produce an elephant, it produced a Mastodon, bound for extinction! Service quality on United has become marginally acceptable unless you are used to traveling in a cattle car. Schedule options have gotten worse as they integrate the schedules of both airlines into one. Prices have increased significantly. The rewards program has gotten worse, not better. Seats in the exit rows or "premier" areas where you get a whole 2 inches more of leg room, that used to be available to gold level frequent flyers at no additional cost, now cost $50 to $75 per flight segment more than the new higher priced fares. The United Clubs are more congested than the general seating area at the gate.
So if you like lower service quality with limited options, combined with higher prices you are going to love the new United. But the good news is it will condition you for ObamaCare!
Since that post Sue Ann and I have made a trip to London in March and today I am absolutely livid about my experience trying to book a business trip to San Diego in mid-April. What have I learned about the new United from these experiences?
First, the mating of United and Continental didn't even produce an elephant, it produced a Mastodon, bound for extinction! Service quality on United has become marginally acceptable unless you are used to traveling in a cattle car. Schedule options have gotten worse as they integrate the schedules of both airlines into one. Prices have increased significantly. The rewards program has gotten worse, not better. Seats in the exit rows or "premier" areas where you get a whole 2 inches more of leg room, that used to be available to gold level frequent flyers at no additional cost, now cost $50 to $75 per flight segment more than the new higher priced fares. The United Clubs are more congested than the general seating area at the gate.
So if you like lower service quality with limited options, combined with higher prices you are going to love the new United. But the good news is it will condition you for ObamaCare!
Friday, March 30, 2012
Where is Smart Grid Deployment headed?
I just read an article by Jesse Berst in Smart Grid News.Com who provides what I believe to be a very good "road map" for the evolution for the Smart Grid.
Instrument & Interconnect
The industry is clearly in the instrument & interconnect phase of deployment and has been in various spits and spurts since 2008. We have seen an increased focus starting in early 2011. We believe this is being driven by two factors, first many of the Smart Grid Grants received in 2009 have build out commitments that must be met of for the utilities to retain their grant funds. Second, progressive utilities have come to realize that there is not going to be any spectrum allocated by the FCC for smart grid and have made the decision to think creatively and realistically about their real bandwidth and throughput requirements.
What has been deployed so far are millions of Smart Meters operating primarily on networks consisting of mesh like protocols operating in the unlicensed spectrum space in the ISM band, talking to collector points strategically located throughout their operating territories. Today, the stubble is how to aggregate the data from the collector points and feed the data securely into the Utilities data center. We have managed in the last three years to go from reading meters once a month to reading millions of meter an average of 3000 times per month, literally creating an avalanche of data that shows up every 15 minutes at the utility billing and operations centers. This data, in such granularity, will provide huge insight into the utility networks load and has the potential, properly managed, to transform the utility industry. But for now, the industry is basically just reading a lot of meters more accurately than ever, more frequently than ever, and beginning to "mine" this data. The full potential value of the automated meter data will evolve as the industry entera into the automate and transact phase.
While the initial deployment of the Smart Grid has been dominated by the deployment of Smart Meters, the industry is continuing to Instrument and Interconnect with the planning and implementation of Distribution Automation (DA) and Demand Response (DR) technologies. These technologies while not complex are not yet being deployed as rapidly as the Smart Meters. DA/DR technologies are rapidly evolving and when fully deployed will provide utilities with the ability to pro-actively monitor and manage their distribution networks and the result will be more reliable, more efficiently operated networks.
In an upcoming post I will talk about the networks and the spectrum available, that are being used to deploy the evolving DA/DR devices.
Marc
Instrument & Interconnect
The industry is clearly in the instrument & interconnect phase of deployment and has been in various spits and spurts since 2008. We have seen an increased focus starting in early 2011. We believe this is being driven by two factors, first many of the Smart Grid Grants received in 2009 have build out commitments that must be met of for the utilities to retain their grant funds. Second, progressive utilities have come to realize that there is not going to be any spectrum allocated by the FCC for smart grid and have made the decision to think creatively and realistically about their real bandwidth and throughput requirements.
What has been deployed so far are millions of Smart Meters operating primarily on networks consisting of mesh like protocols operating in the unlicensed spectrum space in the ISM band, talking to collector points strategically located throughout their operating territories. Today, the stubble is how to aggregate the data from the collector points and feed the data securely into the Utilities data center. We have managed in the last three years to go from reading meters once a month to reading millions of meter an average of 3000 times per month, literally creating an avalanche of data that shows up every 15 minutes at the utility billing and operations centers. This data, in such granularity, will provide huge insight into the utility networks load and has the potential, properly managed, to transform the utility industry. But for now, the industry is basically just reading a lot of meters more accurately than ever, more frequently than ever, and beginning to "mine" this data. The full potential value of the automated meter data will evolve as the industry entera into the automate and transact phase.
While the initial deployment of the Smart Grid has been dominated by the deployment of Smart Meters, the industry is continuing to Instrument and Interconnect with the planning and implementation of Distribution Automation (DA) and Demand Response (DR) technologies. These technologies while not complex are not yet being deployed as rapidly as the Smart Meters. DA/DR technologies are rapidly evolving and when fully deployed will provide utilities with the ability to pro-actively monitor and manage their distribution networks and the result will be more reliable, more efficiently operated networks.
In an upcoming post I will talk about the networks and the spectrum available, that are being used to deploy the evolving DA/DR devices.
Marc
Carriers are warning that there simply isn't enough spectrum
There is no doubt that wireless networks are growing exponentially and in fact the rapid adoption of SmartPhones and Tablets are driving more and more demand for streaming video services. Verizon is proposing to solve it's spectrum crunch by buying spectrum from cable companies such as Comcast, Cox and Time Warner. This is an interesting play, Verizon is willing to fork over $3.9 billion for spectrum from the cable industry (acquired in various auctions over the years) and trying to sweeten the deal by offering to drive revenue to its network and Verizon's cable partners by delivering content in real time to their subscribers. And it eliminates wireless carrier competition at the same time.
While the business idea is intriguing, if there is a spectrum crunch as the carriers are saying, then won't this plan of driving more useless video drivel to be delivered in real time on the already overtaxed wireless networks just add to the spectrum problem? Seems to me that it would indeed!
Makes me wonder if carriers really are experience any spectrum shortage!
Marc
While the business idea is intriguing, if there is a spectrum crunch as the carriers are saying, then won't this plan of driving more useless video drivel to be delivered in real time on the already overtaxed wireless networks just add to the spectrum problem? Seems to me that it would indeed!
Makes me wonder if carriers really are experience any spectrum shortage!
Marc
NTIA Finds 95 MHz of Spectrum for wireless proposes shaing!
The headline above appeared this week in Fierce Wireless. On the surface this is great news for wireless users, particularly for carriers who need more spectrum to expand networks, and especially for LightSquared. You all remember LightSquared, backed by Obama support Phillip Falcone and who is threading to sue the pants off the taxpayers to recover Mr. Falcone's $3 billion investment. Do not be surprised to hear in coming months, that LightSquared has been . . . "awarded access to 30 MHz nationwide, of the 95 MHz freed up at taxpayer expense, by NTIA"! Of course that will make Mr. Falcone's invest worth $30 billion again and position him to funnel even more campaign contributions to the re-election campaigns of politicians who, "understand the value of bringing broadband service to more American's thus taking a step closer to closing the ever growing "broadband divide".
Of course, as I sometimes do, I digress. It really is good news for all users that NTIA is at least "mining" some spectrum. But I caution all non-carrier, non-public safety users, DO NOT GET EXCITED about this press release by NTIA because as NTIA points out, "One of the issues the NTIA identified in moving federal users out of the spectrum is that, given the growing demand for spectrum by both industry and the federal agencies, it is increasingly tough to find spectrum to move from and into.
So our council is to go forward keeping an eye on the spectrum, which L&W will do for our clients, and be ready to move quickly if and when there is something more than press release about spectrum put forth by NTIA.
Marc
Of course, as I sometimes do, I digress. It really is good news for all users that NTIA is at least "mining" some spectrum. But I caution all non-carrier, non-public safety users, DO NOT GET EXCITED about this press release by NTIA because as NTIA points out, "One of the issues the NTIA identified in moving federal users out of the spectrum is that, given the growing demand for spectrum by both industry and the federal agencies, it is increasingly tough to find spectrum to move from and into.
So our council is to go forward keeping an eye on the spectrum, which L&W will do for our clients, and be ready to move quickly if and when there is something more than press release about spectrum put forth by NTIA.
Marc
Thursday, March 29, 2012
Virginia to Install first US Offshore Wind Turbine
Looks as if Virginia is venturing into the deep (literally) with an offshore Wind Turbine. No doubt that this will generate considerable power but at what cost? Imagine the maintenance and initial expense of installing these babies. And just wait until the environmental wacko's launch their attack.
Gamesa Energy USA LLC is the company who has received approval, the article, if you read it is pretty much a "puff" piece. There is no immediate information available on Gamesa Energy, who knows maybe they are a Solyndra subsidiary and are hoarding all the taxpayer cash!
Marc
Gamesa Energy USA LLC is the company who has received approval, the article, if you read it is pretty much a "puff" piece. There is no immediate information available on Gamesa Energy, who knows maybe they are a Solyndra subsidiary and are hoarding all the taxpayer cash!
Marc
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Bin Ladin is dead but did he die on May 1, 2011
I have seriously doubted that Bin Ladin was killed on May 1, 2011 as claimed by the President as he was trying to look strong and Presidential. I have been telling anyone who will listen that I didn't believe for a second that the "kill" went down as reported by the Media and the President. My feeling was based purely on my "gut", but I recently found an article by Patrick Robinson, an excellent author who is "connected" with the Special Ops Community and he has a similar take. You should ignore my gut on this but you should listen to, and give some credence to, Mr. Robinson expressed in his article, written May 2, 20ll entitled Bin Ladin is Dead but he didn't die Last Night!
If you like this article, pick up some of Mr. Robinson's books and continue to be enlightened and entertained.
Marc
If you like this article, pick up some of Mr. Robinson's books and continue to be enlightened and entertained.
Marc
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