01/14/97
RMIUG Meeting Minutes - Colorado in the
Information Age
The January 14th meeting featured Al Kolwicz
who discussed how Colorado would compete
in the Information Age. Dan Murray MC'ed
the meeting and Alek Komarnitsky was the
minuteman. Approximately 60 were attending.
Dan started the meeting at 7:00 sharp
(as usual! ;-) and thanked BBN Planet for
their sponsorship. He passed out an RMIUG
T-shirt to the person who came the farthest
(from Dillon). He asked some questions about
trends on the Internet. A few people were
from Education, most from Commercial, and
some from Government. About 25% of folks
had seen Web-TV ... but only one/two are
actually using it and/or have bought it.
Usage of Push Technology was as follows:
Point Cast: 40%, Net Delivery: 10%, Marimba:
1 person, Back-Web: a few, a few folks are
using HTML Email readers/senders, Intermind:
nobody, Arrive: nobody. There were a few
people who subscribe to American Airlines
NetSAAvers (or others) for last minute Email
travel-deals, but most people have used
the Web for travel stuff. There was some
excitement about United's announcement about
Email service in March/1997, since they
are the big player in Denver/DIA. Dan joked
that Push technology is when you get fed
up with your PC and push it off the desk!
;-)
Art Smoot stood up for Caroll Blend (RMIUG
Librarian) and mentioned our library of
books available for checkout ... and also
passed on a quote "Outside of a dog, a book
is a man's best friend, inside a dog, it
is very dark" Dan made some announcements
about changes in RMIUG itself that will
have expanded upon in another announcement,
but in summary, we will be going to meetings
every other month, our Email lists are becoming
semi-automated in terms of dropping people
who bounce Email, and Tom Bresnahan has
replaced Randy Holt (who just had a daughter)
on the rmiug-comm. We also plan to have
an RMIUG Ski day on Saturday, March 15th
... stay tuned for details on this or send
Email to alek@rmiug.org.
There were some misc. announcements from
the floor:
- Michael Rabb, President of Colorado
ISDN Interest Group, a non-profit user
group, announced that the group meets
the second Wednesday of each month. The
next meeting will be February 12th at
the Mountain Bell Center, 1801 California
Room 150, Downtown Denver at 7:00p. The
topic for the meeting will be "Ordering
and Installing ISDN for the Small Office/Home
Office -- a round table discussion for
users". For information check the CIIG
web page at ciig.org or call Michael Rabb
at 303-530-5100.
- Sammy Huntington is forming a Web Site
Creation Support Group. She is hoping
to attract beginners, intermediates and
some mentors. There will be 2 levels of
interest: Level 1 = online, telephone
and in-person support, (among the group
members); Level 2 = e-mail only support
of questions asked by group. Answers will
be distributed to both levels. This is
for fun not profit on my part. For more
information, please respond (including
level of interest) to Sammy at 440-6311
or sammyjohn@mystical.net.
- Frank A. Fulton (savecash@budgettravel.com,
http://www.budgettravel.com)
is looking for someone who has a secured
credit card account/site on the internet.
Prefer also to have them collect/deposit
payments."
- Terry Freeman, Director of the Internet
Chamber of Commerce, announced that the
next program is Wed. 1/29/97 and will
explore "Commerce on the Internet" with
topics such as basic overview of selling,
virtual money, cyber cash, security concerns,
tours of web sites that take orders online,
perspective of local company with web
site transactions, product demonstrations,
and future trends. Events begin at 5:15
p.m. at the Regency Inn, I-25 and West
38th Ave., Denver. Admission is $7. For
more information, call (303) 691-0404
or e-mail: tfreeman@rmii.com.
- The MouseBoard, a new ergonomic computer
accessory manufactured here in Colorado,
was introduced by Alan Lovejoy and Charlee
King of Medias & Company. The MouseBoard
is designed to rest on the user' s leg
or lap, so your arm is hanging comfortably
at your side and your forearm is at a
natural 90 degree angle to your shoulder,
rather than forced into the extended out
position with a desk mousepad. Lovejoy
and King demonstrated how the MouseBoard
reduces repetitive stress problems to
the wrist, forearm and shoulders. According
to Lovejoy, "Once you use a MouseBoard,
you don't want to do without it." Medias
& Company retails the product for $18.00
and can be reached at 303-660-3693. Their
e-mail address is MouseBoard@msn.com.
At 7:15, Dan introduced Al Kolwicz
(71722.1070@compuserve.com) who is
the past president of the Colorado Open
Systems Consortium. His talk was "Beyond
the Browser! How Colorado can Compete in
the Information Age" and was presented at
the Aspen Internet-Fest in October/1996,
and updated for tonight.
[At all of our other meetings, we have
had one of the "Exec's" take notes for the
evening and then transcribe these into minutes.
Although I did this for the meeting, Al
had some written notes ... so I have used
these instead]
Beyond the Browser
How will Colorado Compete in the Information
Age?
Introduction
Good evening ladies and gentlemen. I am
very happy to be here with you this evening
to discuss one aspect of our favorite topic
the Internet. I hope to present you with
an idea for How Colorado should prepare
itself to Compete in the Information Age.
The ideas that I will describe tonight
originated from many professionals that
have contributed to this work. Particularly
I want to recognize the contributions of:
- Dave Barrett - Colorado Open Systems
Consortium
- Mark Dubin - University of Colorado
at Boulder
- Don Goodwin - Higher Education and
Advanced Technology Center at Lowry
- Jeff Richardson - Colorado Advanced
Technology Institute
Lets begin by reviewing where we are today.
The Internet is evolving ever more rapidly.
You all know that 17 % (37 million) of total
US and Canadian persons aged 16 and above
have access to the Internet. Total Internet
usage, according to a recent CommerceNet/Nielsen
study, is equivalent to the total playback
of rented video tapes. You know that the
backbone networks are being upgraded from
45 million to 155 million and soon to 622
million bits per second and are racing in
front of ever increasing demand. MCI's backbone
traffic alone has reached 350 terabits per
month.
The Web, which came to us in 1993, has
given us a platform independent multimedia
publishing and navigational system. The
addition of forms to a web page has made
it convenient to originate business transactions
from the page. Sound and video are making
the pages more attractive and useful.
"Push" technology emulates the broadcast
industry paradigm, and delivers customized
multimedia information to a highly targeted
audience. Hot links in the broadcast materials
connect viewers to web sites.
Collaboration applications are integrating
voice and video multi-conferencing with
hot documents.
The VIRTUAL Web is now online. It provides
a new 3D paradigm for exploring and navigating
the information world.
Many vendors are competing to embed native
function into the network, to create application
and content development tools, and to create
management and measurement tools. Other
vendors are using these tools to create
and repackage content.
One IBM executive estimates that $900
million of business was done on the Web
in 1996, and predicts $3 to $4 billion this
year and $1 trillion in 2000. This may be
aggressive, but we've been surprised before.
Meanwhile, what's happening in the rest
of the world?
Global population, currently 5.8 billion
persons, will double, in what 40 years?
to 12 billion people. Consumption per person
is rising. Colorado's population has nearly
doubled to 4 million since I arrived.
3 billion people today have never made
a plain old telephone call. China, with
1.3 billion people, has only 100 web servers.
The world is getting more entrepreneurial.
The days of signing up with a company for
a lifetime career are gone. The days of
a guaranteed retirement program are gone.
We are on our own to take advantage of opportunities
and to care for ourselves. Each of should
expect to have five or six careers not jobs
so the abilities to learn and adapt to change
are critical success factors.
Virtual organizations and teams (dynamically
formed) project leaders will recruit players
to collaborate over the network. When a
project is completed, the team will dissolve.
The players will find and join other teams.
Individuals must learn how to get connected
internationally.
Buyers seeking to purchase value/results
rather than time/effort. Lots of people
feel that they should be compensated for
spending their time and for trying hard.
No longer. Workers will be sharing the risk
as well as the reward.
Work put onto the network for bid knowledge
workers in Colorado will be competing for
work directly with workers in India, China,
and Egypt where excellent Ph. D's earn less
than $1,000.00 per month.
Gold collar workers today's blue collar
and white collar workers who learn how to
succeed in this competitive, opportunity-based
world will have a huge advantage over those
who do not. We call them the "gold collar"
workers.
The price of technology and it's ease
of use has improved dramatically in the
past ten years. It is only a matter of time
before the so-called "hamburger flipping"
entry position is taken over by a robot.
A robot that always gets to work on time,
produces uniform quality, and introduces
no health risks.
The top five percent of the world's population
the brightest and best, so to speak number
almost 300 million people. Our 260 million
people will be competing with them for the
interesting information age work. Some places
are stepping up to these issues. Colorado
is not.
Silicon Valley has focused its energies
to become the world's source of technology.
They have evolved a supporting system of
capital, knowledge, education, workers,
big and small companies, intellectual property
and a lifestyle that supports their dominant
position.
Companies like Microsoft, Netscape, IBM
and Sun are leveraging their vast powers
to drive the software layer that defines
the network. Standards, native network services,
and content creation tools are being produced
at an ever increasing rate.
Silicon Alley (with an A) in New York
is busily leveraging its position in the
printing and publishing industry by producing
digital publications, entertainment offerings,
and marketing content. Liberal arts majors
(screen-agers) are struggling to create
new revenue streams by applying their creative
talent to the new technologies.
CIMBA
If Colorado is to compete in the information
age, Colorado must educate and train a highly
skilled workforce and create a business
climate where global business, education,
and government leaders recognize Colorado
as an information age leader.
I believe that an opportunity exists for
such a transformation. As I said earlier,
the infrastructure needed to support development
and deployment of network delivered applications
is developing quite nicely. Publishing,
entertainment, and courseware applications
are being developed and brought to market.
What I do not see is a center of competence,
like a Silicon Valley or Silicon Alley,
a center for the development of business
applications for the new interactive multimedia
platform. These applications will not be
simple clones of existing applications.
They will support new ways of doing business,
new business processes. They will support
product cycles that are increasingly short.
They must support an international clientele.
Colorado has a unique combination of technical
and creative skills, education institutions,
and the financial motivation needed to create
such a center.
Let's start with the skills. It turns
out that computer programmer personalities
are not necessarily artistic. Just because
a programmer has a marvelous command of
the tools, it does not follow that she can
create a humorous and compelling web site.
Creative artists on the other hand are not
known for their tolerance of rules and restrictions.
Would you trust a "typical artist" to maintain
your bank balance? Would you trust a "typical
technician" to write a funny story?
The information age is going to need lots
of teams of people that can create and deploy
interactive multimedia business applications,
delivered over the network that are compelling
and effective. By building the education,
commercial and government infrastructure
needed to produce and support these teams,
Colorado can earn a place at the top.
What is an interactive multimedia business
application? Before we go on, let me explain
what I mean by an Interactive multimedia
business application.
Chart -- Employee Operated Business Applications
Chart -- Customer Operated Business Applications
Chart -- Customer Operated Interactive Multimedia
Business Application
Chart -- Interactive Multimedia Business
Application Illustration
When I went to college, registration was
a mess. We all went to the largest auditorium
on campus and worked our way around lines
of students at registration tables. Today,
the process is somewhat improved through
the use of voice response, telephone registration.
In this illustration things are further
improved.
Note the illustration of things that are
not generally present in today's WWW applications:
A. Voice input. B. Applications share
knowledge about the user: (1) what will
MY ENTIRE schedule look like? (2) what will
this cost ME? C. Information is real time:
(1) what is the count NOW? (2) interaction
with CORE DATA applications.
It is no longer good enough to build an
application that works and that is developed
on time. This application is now the primary
competitive tool to win student registrations
in a competition among many international
learning centers. The registration application
is the principal marketing tool. If it is
not effective at winning registrations,
it doesn't matter that it does it's computing
function flawlessly.
What is needed to get here? Chart What
is holding up IMBA's?
Deficiencies, such as bandwidth, security,
global-digital-cash, authentication, network
accessible ORDB, and real time processing
are being addressed as we sit here.
The more difficult aspects, such as direct
customer control of business processes,
a more realistic user interface that responds
to WHAT rather than HOW commands, network
(institutional) memory, academic & commercial
infrastructure, People-teams-talent, and
effective business applications are not
being addressed.
My collogues in the business, education
and government world believe that Colorado
can and should face the challenge of addressing
some of these opportunities.
CIMBA
Chart - Goal
We plan "to create, in Colorado, the education
and commercial infrastructure that will
advance Colorado into the information age."
Colorado has acquired a unique resource
-- the old air base at Lowry. This 1,866
acre site is rapidly being transformed into
a center of education, employment, recreation
and neighborhood living.
Lowry Digital City
The site will have three primary schools,
two college campuses, 1.5 million square
feet of commercial space, and residences
for 3,000 families.
Most importantly to our subject tonight,
the entire site will be wired with high
speed communication links. This will create
a digital city that can serve as a platform
for testing all types of products and services
in a real world environment. Schools, businesses,
and homes will all be connected to the high
speed network.
The Digital City demonstration project
is facilitated by the HEAT Center, US WEST,
Lucent Technologies, TeleMedia Applications
Inc, the University of Colorado, and the
Lowry Redevelopment Authority. The site
includes a multi-million dollar multimedia
production facility.
Education, CIMBA, Commercial Rings
of Cooperation
We plan to create a public-private laboratory
at the site. We call the laboratory the
Center for Interactive Multimedia Business
Applications CIMBA for short. Regulated
access to the Center will be on-site and
through the Internet.
The slide has three rings that signify:
Education in the center, The CIMBA Laboratory
in the next outer ring, and Commercial Enterprises
in the outer ring.
In the Education ring, it is hoped that
University researchers will conduct technology
and academic research that will be used
to drive course development and application
development. The courses will help young
and adult students learn how to develop
and deploy IMBA's. The technology will advance
the state of the art of IMBA development
and deployment.
In the CIMBA Laboratory ring, it is hoped
that there will be a powerful set of application
development and deployment tools and platforms,
a library, a staff, and a high powered Board
of Advisors. Access to the laboratory will
be authorized by CIMBA, and will be available
on-site and through the network. Work products
will be developed, deployed into the Digital
City, and evaluated for effectiveness.
In the Commercial Enterprise ring, it
is hoped that Commercial developers of IMBA's
and the supporting cottage industries will
provide personnel and facilities resources
to the Center in exchange for knowledge,
and for access to the digital city test
bed. Company employees that "graduate" from
the laboratory will bring back to their
companies' knowledge and skills that might
take years to acquire otherwise.
It is hoped that the work of the Center
will engage Colorado's business, education
and government leaders in the art of creating
an information age society.
Where we are today.
We have an agreement in principle to locate
CIMBA in the HEAT Center.
UCB, UCD, DU, and CCCOES have enthusiastically
supported the CIMBA concept and signified
their intention to participate.
Several commercial companies, and the
Colorado Open Systems Consortium have participated
in the development of the plans.
The Governor's office of Economic Development
and the Office of Management and Budgeting
have been briefed on CIMBA. The Colorado
Advanced Technology Institute (CATI) enthusiastically
supports CIMBA.
In August, CATI requested State matching
funds to support creation of the Center.
The Governor's office was not ready to support
the CATI funding request.
In December, the Board of Directors of
Colorado Open Systems Consortium authorized
me to take the CIMBA project outside of
COSC. It is my intention to work to raise
the community support needed to create the
Center.
I believe that Colorado has a real opportunity
to establish for itself a "place in the
sun." By developing CIMBA, our universities
will have unique knowledge to offer, and
our businesses will have unique and valuable
products and services to sell. If Colorado's
governmental units pick up on this, Colorado
can lead the way for governments to use
the network to deliver public information,
education, and services.
Thank you all for this opportunity to
describe CIMBA. I hope that each of you
will talk to others about CIMBA and that
you will help me to help Colorado move into
the information age.
We live in exciting times.
There were several questions from
the audience (back to Alek's notes):
One person asked about other initiatives,
and Al mentioned that both the State of
Utah &the IBM Multimedia Lab in Atlanta
are working on applications. Utah seems
to be focused on government applications.
IBM seems to be more focused on general
facilities.
One person asked if the Lowry Digital
City houses would be reserved for technically
oriented people. It is Al's understanding
that the homes will be put into the general
market. The 3,000 residences will include
single and multi-family units.
One questioner was concerned about the
rapid cycle time. Are we getting too high-tech
... and ignoring the human element of the
person that will live/work there? The folks
putting this together are trying to think
about these issue and keep the human touches.
But it is interesting how business "seizes"
on technology ... an example is automatic
teller machines, which were initially free
to folks ... but banks have started implementing
fees for these.
Al commented that while it might seem
unfair to have such a short cycle time,
we are not in charge in the United States.
Cycle times are going to get shorter. Al
expects that it may soon be possible to
make every item to order; even custom jackets
and blue jeans (later are available today).
Will the development lab teach people
how to come together/disperse quickly as
teams ... or are they primarily designed
to develop products? More of the former.
The idea is to create the infrastructure.
Some products, perhaps public service products,
will result from the effort, but the idea
is to teach people how to succeed in the
new world.
Our next meeting will be the second
Tuesday in March.
RMIUG wishes to thank Internet One of
Boulder for continued sponsorship of refreshments,
NIST for the use of their meeting room,
and XOR Network Engineering for maintenance
of RMIUG's WWW site and mailing lists.
Suggestions/comments/feedback are always
welcome - please email these to rmiug-comm@rmiug.org.
RMIUG has 3 email lists for its members.
Send an Email to rmiug@rmiug.org
for an auto-reply message with more information
or check out our Web Site at http://www.rmiug.org/rmiug/
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