Fractals of Change

Fun With Google Maps

If you have a list of locations, eventually you'll want to see them on a map – count on it.

An organization I work with gathered addresses and other useful information relevant to their mission with a web form and neatly downloaded all the information into a Google Docs spreadsheet. Eventually they decided they wanted to see it on a map. Turns out they can do that rather easily – no programming involved – by using one of the paid versions of Google Earth.

All spreadsheets can save their content as a .csv file (cells in a row are separated by commas). The paid versions of Google Earth have an import function for CSV files, which asks you which columns contain which address elements and then puts a dot on its map for each row. It works whether you have each element of the address in a separate column or have the address elements all run together as you'd enter them into a query for Google Maps. Non-address data from the spreadsheet can be displayed in the balloons for the entries when they're clicked on. Google Earth Plus is $20/year and can import up to 100 addresses at a time; Google Earth Pro is $400/year but will import as much as your machine has stomach for. Once the addresses have been loaded by a paid version of Google Earth, they can be saved as a KML file which even the free version of Google Earth can open.

There are a few drawbacks to this approach:

1. If the addresses are entered incorrectly initially in the form that gathered them, they don't get coded so they don't appear on the map. "Incorrect" is whatever the map provider Google is using says it is so some addresses are bound to get rejected no matter what.
2. You need to pay for one copy of Google Earth to create the KML files.
3. Whoever is going to view the map with the points on it needs to have Google Earth (free version is fine). However, there are web-based viewers for KML available. One is here; only hitch is I haven't gotten it to work and don't have time to debug right now. But, if this works, it gives you an easy way to make your location data available on the web.
4. Address-based geocoding is only available for certain countries.

If you can do it, it's better to gather your data on a map so the user has a chance to verify the location and correct any errors or negotiate a compromise with what the map provider expects as far as street names are concerned. That's what we did with Vermont Telecommunications Authority's "who has what broadband where" map. But collecting on a map takes some programming and may not be worth it for your project. With limitations, you can gather data on a form and make it visible on a map – no programming required.

Vermont Files in Support of Using White Space for Mobile Broadband Access

The Vermont Public Service Department and the Vermont Telecommunications Authority have joined in an ex parte filing at the Federal Communications Commission urging that the Commission “move expeditiously to adopt the necessary technical parameters … and help make this promising technology [use of the so-called ‘TV whitespaces’] a reality.” Given that the docket has been open since May of 2004, a little expeditiousness is certainly in order.

“TV white spaces” is the term used by the FCC but it’s a misnomer; no broadcaster has actually paid for any of the spectrum at issue; no one is using it; in short; it’s wasted. Originally, before cable and satellite TV and before the Internet, it was reasonably believed that this spectrum would eventually be occupied by a proliferation of over-the-air stations. That’s not gonna happen. Vermont has as much radio spectrum “reserved” for over-the-air TV stations as New York City – 50 channels worth. That “reserved” spectrum is not of any use to anyone and won’t be until the FCC promulgates some rules for its use.

The filing explains the many reasons why this spectrum is ideally suited to meeting the needs or rural America for much better broadband and cellular coverage:

“First, rural areas like Vermont have relatively fewer TV broadcasters and therefore more unused ‘white spaces.’ Moreover, rural communities also have the largest geographic areas without access to wireless services. Second, the ability of TV frequencies to propagate over great distances and difficult terrain provides an opportunity to reach locations too economically challenging for existing wireless services. Third, the use of TV ‘white space’ for the provision of rural broadband is an alternative means of accomplishing the Commission’s universal service goal of deploying advanced services to all areas of the nation without requiring additional funding mechanisms. In fact, the use of TV ‘white space’ could actually decrease the demand for universal service funding at a time when the level of funding is facing heightened scrutiny.”

The filing makes clear that the petitioners do NOT think that this spectrum should be auctioned off at a high price. The greatest public good will come from making these public resources available “at low or no-cost to those entities willing to utilize them for such purpose [broadband and mobile access].”

It will take the concentrated political power of rural America to free up this spectrum to meet the rural need for better communication. But this isn’t urban vs. rural; urban areas also have something to gain from better spectrum availability and nothing to lose.

Not to over-dramatize but I see this as the public interest vs. entrenched communications interests. The TV industry would like to sit on this spectrum without paying for it “just in case”; they also may be worried about Internet use of the spectrum becoming a competing “channel” for delivering entertainment. Traditional communications carriers benefit from LACK of competition in the US broadband market; they have no reason to want to see competition growing like weeds (or, more accurately, like WiFi) in fields of open spectrum.

Google and other “Internet” companies do have an interest in keeping their paths to the consumer unblocked; competition would be good for that. This post is about a proposal Google has made for putting the unused white space to work.

Disclosure: My wife, Mary Evslin, is Chair of the Vermont Telecommunications Authority.

BroadbandWiki Beta Begins

Please help test the broadbandwiki project at http://s3.amazonaws.com/broadbandwiki/broadbandwiki.html. There’s no doubt it has bugs and it can certainly be improved. Bug reports and suggestions as comments on this post would be great.

The purpose of the broadbandwiki project, which was built with the GoogleMaps API and stores its database on Amazon’s S3 Service, is to enable Vermonters to help Vermont reach its goal of becoming the first e-state in the nation with both cellular coverage and usable broadband everywhere – which means everywhere – in the State by the end of 2010. However, in the spirit of open source and open competition, I’m happy to make the application available to any state or organization with a similar mission. In fact, I’ll make the code openly available, period, very soon. One problem may be to avoid too many databases soliciting the same information and leading to fragmentation.

The concept of the application is simple. You enter your address, type of Internet access, and provider. The app puts a pin, which is color coded to show your access type, on a map. Once there are enough pins (as there already are in Stowe, Vermont), they are immediately useful for seeing what type of access is available in a neighborhood. They also graphically illustrate where lack of access is a problem for residents and an opportunity for a provider.

Like many Web applications, this database is not really useful until it contains a critical mass of data – at least on a location by location basis. People can – and I hope will – go directly to the site and place their pin. The plan is to have this incorporated soon in the site of the Vermont Telecommunications Authority. It can also be imbedded in or linked to from the sites of the many towns which are taking an active role in providing for their broadband future. But the best way to get this populated will be for other towns to do what Stowe did while we were testing – set up a table at an event where a lot of people come together and get the people to pin their locations on the spot. After one day of work, Stowe’s part of the map reached critical mass.

If you live in Vermont, entries you make in the map are “live” and will be immediately useful. If you don’t live in Vermont, your entry will appear on the map while you are looking at it but you’ll be warned that it’s not really being stored in the database. Either way, I’d appreciate your help both in supplying the data and testing the application.

Thanks.

Verizon Wireless Update

Verizon Wireless (VZW) is updating the radios in their cellular sites to support EVDO (cellular broadband) at an impressive rate. My experience with EVDO is that I routinely get download speeds higher than 1 megabit per second and upload speeds of 400-600 kilobits per second (both better than basic DSL). Why they’re not advertising this more is beyond me. I’m giving them a plug here because they are at least a short-term fix for many people in rural areas who, up until now, had no option but satellite (which is a very poor option) for broadband coverage.

Updated interactive coverage maps are available here on the VZW site. If you last looked at these maps a few months ago and didn’t find yourself on them, take another look. BTW, these maps are very granular and so far I’ve found them accurate.

My VZW phone first started showing the presence of EVDO about six months ago both here on nerd hill and at friends’ houses in places as remote as Bear Swamp. But my EVDO card (which has worked well in cities for years) was only connecting at “National Access” speeds here – faster than dialup but not much faster. Tech support assured me that EVDO is here; certainly the map showed our location as blue (covered).

After a while I began to suspect that the problem was the EVDO card I’m using for access. I’ve had it for at least four years; I was a very early EVDO adaptor. So, despite the fact that the card worked in cities and despite tech support telling me that it should then work in Stowe, I ordered a new USB EVDO device – the high end AC595U which has an internal battery to boost its signal strength and a port for an external antenna which I also ordered.  The device turned out to be free if I renewed my contract for two years which I did. Also would’ve been free with a new contract.

Installed the device and new Verizon software that came with it and wham! EVDO Rev. A (a newer version of the protocol which apparently my old card couldn’t cope with). Speeds at least as good as I used to get in the city. And I didn’t need the antenna – at least it doesn’t seem to make any difference.

I’ve been doing a little travelling testing. When Mary and I were doing a broadband census at the High School on Town Meeting day, EVDO gave us the Internet access we needed. Bought my laptop to Bear Swamp yesterday and got blazing speed. I think I’m auditioning to replace the nerd in the VZW commercial who goes around asking “Can you hear me now?” although, of course, I’d ask “Can I connect now?”.

Also have been comparing the VZW coverage map to the map we got when we took our census. Good news and bad news there. Immediately below is some good news. Note that on the census maps the black (satellite) and white (dialup) pins in the Sterling Valley area without any red (DSL) or blue (cable) pins indicate that no broadband coverage is available there.

 

But note from the blue on the VZW coverage map that there apparently IS coverage there although the white does indicate that some areas are blocked by something.

The news is not good in Nebraska Notch. As you can see below, apparently even satellite doesn’t work with the ridge to the south and VZW does not cover there.

The service isn’t cheap. There used to be an unlimited data plan which threatened to reduce your speed if you did more than 5 gigabytes a month of data communication. The plan now allows five gig for the fixed price of $60/month and then charges .49/megabyte (which is expensive) after that. However, if up to now all you had available was dialup or satellite, it’s extremely unlikely you’re doing anything like 5 gig a month or will even want to soon. But don’t try to use this service for looking at full length high-def videos. That’ll cost you an arm and a leg; an occasional YouTube is just fine.

If you already have VZW data access, by all means bring your laptop to Vermont when you come skiing or visiting for any other reason. Very good chance you’ll get connectivity.

There are devices available which let you use one VZW access card and account to provide WiFi coverage to your whole house (or at least a good part of it) so all of your computers can be online without having a separate account for each one of them. I’ll write more about them after I’ve tested.

An earlier post on cellular data access including what other carriers are doing is here.

What I Did on Town Meeting Day

It was just like the old days on the trade show circuit except I finished the software a comfortable twelve hours before show time instead of on the plane coming out.

Mary and I got to the Stowe High School about 7am and set up our booth (really a table) in a great location that everyone had to pass right next to the Girl Scouts and their cookies and on the way to the polls. Mary used to like to get a booth location on the way to the restrooms because of the traffic although I did convince her that some people ought to be left alone until they were on their way out.

She taped her posters to the wall while I fastened my EVDO antenna to the window and set up my computer and the big monitor facing out. Polls were open so we had people coming by immediately. I was supposed to just be there for setup and then go on my way but there was too much traffic for that. Besides Mary never stays in the booth or behind the table; her position is always out in front buttonholing the prospects and this was no different.

“Hi, we’re helping the town committee which is working for better Internet access,” she said. “We’d like to ask you a couple of quick questions .”

“I don’t have anything but dialup,” some people said.

“Great,” she said. “You’re just the people we want to help. What’s your address?”

I’d key in the address if I wasn’t already working with someone else in which case she’d write it down for later inputting. The EVDO connection worked fine and, almost instantly, a new pin white pin (white was for dialup) would appear on the Google map of Stowe on my monitor. “Is that where you live?” I asked.

“Yes,” they’d say. “I hope you can help us get better access.”

“We already have broadband,” some other people said to Mary.

“Great,” she said. “If you tell us where you live, that’ll help us help other people get access.” Their pins would be red for DSL, blue for cable, green for wireless, and orange for cellular (like my EVDO).

Pretty soon the map was well enough filled out (see below) so that we were often able to say “Look at this; your neighbors on both sides seem to have DSL. Maybe you can get it to.”

Sometimes they’d say back “I’ve been calling Verizon every week and they keep telling me not yet even though they send me an ad for DSL with every bill.”

We asked the people who had recently gotten DSL (of which there were quite a few) how they’d managed to get it. Quite a few times the answer was “I was obnoxious” or “I started talking to a technician in a Verizon truck and he told me we could probably get it and helped me out.”

Some people said they had satellite access. We didn’t talk to anyone who liked it; they all wanted something better. They complained about stringent limits on the amount that can be downloaded, slow display of web sites, pathetically slow upload – especially for those with home-based businesses – and not working in rain or snow. But they said it was better than dialup and what else could they do.

Often people told us that they couldn’t find a tenant for an apartment or a buyer for a property because of lack of broadband availability.

If you look at the upper left hand corner of the map, you see no color; only white pins for dialup and black pins for satellite. That’s an affluent area called Robinson Springs; it’s a huge opportunity for some provider despite the fact that the large, expensive houses are spaced out. In the lower left, the string of white dots is Nebraska Valley; not even any satellite, perhaps because mountains obscure the southern sky. It’s a beautiful place to live with great hiking but you can see that cable (blue) didn’t go very far down the road and DSL didn’t make it at all. The telephone poles march down the street; clearly another line needs to hang from them.

You can see how cable and DSL peter out at the end of the roads away from the center of town. “Yeah, they got to my neighbor,” people said about cable; “but they want $10,000 to continue to us.”

Our hope is that the map above and maps like it that people in other towns might fill in will show providers where the opportunities are, help neighbors band together for better service, and help the State Telecommunications Authority (of which Mary is the chair) achieve their mission of 100% cellular and data coverage for Vermont by the end of 2010.

Twelve hours later we broke down our equipment, packed the car, and went home. I hadn’t eaten all day and Mary’d had just a few Girl Scout cookies. It was fun and the software didn’t even crash.

Nerding Again: It's Hard

I’m back writing code. Despite the fact that I first programmed 45 years ago and used to be a top gun (if I say so myself), it’s hard getting re-started after a 17 year hiatus in which I’ve coded nothing more complex than some VBA in Excel macros and hacked a little HTML and played a little with the OpenSocial APIs .

How I got in trouble is I promised Mary I’d write a little demo app that she could try out at Town Meeting next week and see if it’s a good way for the Vermont Telecommunications Authority (which she chairs) to get people to report on what broadband they actually use. This way the Authority and all Vermonters get a wikiMap that shows what access options really are and aren’t available and what is and isn’t used and it can be kept uptodate. If it works at Town Meeting, then they can package it up and put it on their website.

“It’d be cool,” I said, “to have this all be displayed as pins on a Google map. People should see their pin go on the map when they supply the data. I mean we’ve got to set a good example of the e-state.”

“I’ve got to be able to get the data in spreadsheet form,” Mary said. “Can you get it out that way?”

“Sure.”

Well, it’s all not so easy. My plan was to use Google Mashup Editor. It does a lot of the UI work for you and it runs on Google servers – no worry about scalability. You can even save data on the Google servers.

Nope, that won’t work. The number of entries you can save from your app is too limited even for this application. Moreover, you can’t get the data OFF the Google servers except as you display it in your browser. “Of course,” you experienced young studs’ll say, “all you have to do is talk from your browser code to a server and the server’ll store your data for you. It’s just a little bit of PHP and mySQL and you’re in business ” There’s even an example of that in the Google documentation.

But I don’t have a server and I don’t have time to learn how to set one up and program it in the next week or even learn .NET which might or might not help. Later, if the prototype works and we need to deploy so everyone can use in his or her own browser, then we can make this into a true client-server app.

So here’s the things I had to learn:

• All about how HTML stores things in the DOM (don’t ask if you don’t know).

• Javascript (which isn’t Java, BTW). My last serious programming language was Pascal for the Mac and it WASN’T object-oriented like its successor C++. So I was more than a little weak on all this object model stuff but now I’ve got my classes, objects, methods, properties, functions, and constructors pretty well straightened out.

• How Javascript interacts with the DOM.

• More about XML – it’s the right way to get data into Mary’s spreadsheet and anywhere else we may want to put it.

• The GoogleMaps API.

• How to read and write file in Visual Basic because that’s how I’m going to do it until I have server (I know this’ll only work on Windows but that limitation’ll go away when the server comes).

• How Visual Basic interacts with the DOM.

• A development environment. Writing code in notepad got old quickly. Now I’m using Antechinus Javascript Editor. It’s been helpful so far and has a very good Javascript tutorial with it but I’ve got nothing to compare it to.

• What an “HTA” is. It’s basically code written with web tools like HTML and Javascript that run on your computer like an application. Turns out that’s what the protype’ll be because it has to read and write files on my computer (remember, no server) and browsers don’t, in general, allow code that does that so that malicious web pages won’t steal or destroy local data.

But, despite all my whining, it’s really a lot easier to learn new stuff than it used to be. Everything you need is online so you never don’t have critical documentation. If you Google “xxx tutorial”, you inevitably find several good tutorials on xxx. The ones from W3 Schools are always good; they’re free; and there’s a good sandbox there to play in.

If you Google something like “Read Local Files in Browser”, you find someone on a forum or in a blog who’s answered the question for someone else. That’s how I found about HTAs.

That’s all for now; I’ve got a deadline.

Should a Cellular Carrier Be Your ISP at Home?

It’s not cheap; it’s not available everywhere; it’s not even particularly fast. But wireless Internet access from your cellular provider may be your best option for home Internet access in some parts of the US (I don’t know enough about 3G coverage outside the US to write intelligently about it). Moreover, if it works for you, it’ll probably work all over your house, in the yard, and in an increasing number of places you visit. And no installation is required.

If you already have cable-based broadband, you would only be interested in cellular coverage for roaming so you can skip to the next post. Similarly, if you have a good fixed fixed wireless connection giving you over a meg of download capacity most of the time, you’re not interested. If you’re satisfied with your DSL, even if it’s just basic DSL, you’ll probably want to stick with it because it’ll be lot cheaper than wireless from a mobile carrier.

But if dialup and satellite have been your only options, read on.

In response to my post Why Satellite Internet Access Sucks, reader Michael Hardt posted this comment:

“I'm in rural New Hampshire, and I'm always scheming to improve on my dial-up Internet. Lately I've been reading about HSDPA and EVDO. I have very spotty cell phone access where I live--generally to make a call I have to walk outside and step about thirty feet away from the house. I've heard of cell phone repeaters and amplifiers and stationary antennae but don't understand them. Is there some way that I can mount an antenna to my roof to get Internet via a cell signal? Can I find out whether HSDPA and EVDO are even available in Canaan, NH?”

Bad news is that apparently neither HSPDA (High Speed Packet Downlink Access) nor EVDO (Evolution Data Optimized) are available yet in Canaan, NH. The better news is that they may be soon. The rest of this post is about what these technologies can provide, how to tell whether or not you can get them where you live, and some facts to help you decide whether these are good alternatives for your home broadband service.

Oversimplified, HSPDA is used on GSM networks like that run by AT&T and Unicel; EVDO is used on GSM networks like those of Verizon and Sprint. If you use a different carrier, you need to check with them to see what sort of data plan they provide and find out what the coverage area for it is.

I use Verizon Wireless EVDO for roaming (although only for backup as a home service) so I know the most about that. You use it by buying (for less than $100 from Verizon Wireless) a datacard or USB device for your PC. You install some software; and, if you have coverage, you’re online. The rub is that an “unlimited” data plan costs $60/month, requires a two-year signup, and is even more if you don’t already have Verizon Wireless service.

“True” EVDO gives me download speeds at or a little above one megabit/second most of the time. Verizon advertises upload speeds of 500-800Kbps (kilobits per second) but I rarely get better than 200 to 300 and sometimes less. Latency (the time it takes for packets to get from your computer to websites and back) is typically low. This means that you can use EVDO for web browsing happily and can use VoIP over EVDO.

Be careful about downloading video and other big stuff, though. The Verizon plan says “If usage exceeds 5 GB per line during any billing period, we reserve the right to reduce throughput speeds of any application that would otherwise exceed such speed to a maximum of approximately 200 Kbps. These speeds are subject to change, in our reasonable discretion, in order to address network issues.” I’ve occasionally exceeded that with an online backup but no reason to assume they don’t mean to enforce this. They specifically ban P2P file sharing on this plan. I believe the restrictions of other carriers are at least as draconian but haven’t examined them.

Verizon’s data network does NOT provide EVDO everywhere. In many locations only 1xRTT is available. This service (which is part of the same rate plan) is a lot slower. It can go up to 110Kbps in either direction but Verizon says not to plan on more than 60Kbps (I agree). This is about twice as fast on the downlink side (from the Web to you) as most dialup connections and at least four times as fast for uplink. It’s fine for most email; slow for downloads; painful but better than dialup for web browsing; and barely usable sometimes for VoIP services like Skype. Although the download is nominally a lot slower than satellite, I found 1xRTT about equal to satellite in total experience because it has low latency (satellite latency is high) and is weather resistant.

Verizon Wireless is rapidly upgrading their network from 1xRTT to EVDO. They never install a new location or even a new radio without putting in EVDO. In Vermont the EVDO coverage area has grown like a welcome ink blot from its initial appearance in downtown Burlington a little over a year ago. Chance are, if you have good Verizon cell phone coverage, you’ll have EVDO reasonably soon – but they’re not making any promises.

So how do you find out what service is available to you? How do I know that reader Michael can’t get EVDO in Canaan right now? Two ways to find out. One is pretty simple, if you don’t have good cellular service for voice, you’re not going to be able to get it for data. Comes off the same towers. If a particular carrier doesn’t offer voice service in your area, they don’t offer data service either.

But, if you or a friend gets decent voice coverage from a mobile carrier at your house, you may be able to get good data coverage as well. The interactive Verizon coverage map is at http://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/CoverageLocatorController?requesttype=NEWREQUEST (be sure to specify that you want to see data coverage). They call EVDO “BroadbandAccess” on this map and call 1xRTT either “Enhanced Service” or “National Access”; ignore “extended enhanced services” because it includes roaming rates.

A similar map for Sprint is at http://coverage.sprintpcs.com/IMPACT.jsp?id16=evdo_coverage&covType=sprint. Note that Sprint advertises that both their EVDO and 1xRTT are a little slower than Verizon. I haven’t tested this.

The AT&T map is at http://www.wireless.att.com/coverageviewer/. They advertise that their HSPDA provides 400-700Kbps downlink and 384 Kbps uplink. Like Verizon and Sprint much of the rural portion of AT&T’s data coverage uses a lower speed technology – there is called EDGE and runs at about the same speed as 1xRTT.

I couldn’t find a map for Unicel which is a shame because they have good rural coverage. But they’re in the process of being bought by Verizon Wireless and spinning off their some of their GSM properties to AT&T.

Cellular data isn’t the affordable fast service for everyone that we need to have in Vermont and the rest of the nation. But, where it’s available, it’s a better solution than satellite or dialup for those who can afford it.

See Sharing Cellular Data Access Between Multiple PCs if you want to connect your whole home network through a cellular data connection on one computer.

A Modest Proposal

There is no doubt that electricity will deliver an increasing percentage of the power we use. We’ll heat more of our homes electrically rather than with imported ($100+ barrel oil)oil. We’ll plug our cars in at home and at work.

More electricity use means that demand outstrips current supply We could (but won’t) increase electric supply relatively rapidly by bringing more coal plants online. We will (optimistically) bring new nukes into the grid in the medium term. We are adding solar and wind to the mix at a pretty good rate and will continue to do so but they are still a tiny percentage of what we use now and are hardly a panacea for the future.

Demand-side electrical management is an important part of making this work – especially during the transition to a much more electric economy. Hydro power and nuclear power are both best used to deliver a steady supply. Solar and wind deliver real supply but it’s variable, at least on a local level. Fossil fuel is almost the only remedy we have for supplying peaks or replacing nuclear and hydro when plants go offline and solar and wind on cloudy or calm days. It’s an interesting fact that the today’s engineering guidelines call for total potential grid supply of about 130% of anticipated peak demand to allow for outages in either generating capacity or transmission facilities.

Wholesale rates to a particular grid can go up many hundreds of percent when there is an outage or multiple outages during a peak period.

So imagine that your house has three lights: green, red, and yellow. Green means your local grid is in a surplus situation as far as kilowatts are concerned. You can buy them at a bargain rate; yellow says standard rate; red says the grid is in severe deficit – kilowatt hours’ll cost you a lot. Even with just solar hot water, Mary and I are finding some things relatively easy to adjust: do the wash when there’s lots of hot water, run the dishwasher on “free” hot water at noon, shower on a flexible schedule (me only).

The dryer would be relatively easy to schedule for cheap electricity. Stove, not. Charging heat storage – yes with limits. Charging up the car’s batteries – yes with limits. Power tools and big screen TV – easy to avoid red periods (except during important sports events). In NJ where we had air conditioning (don’t need it in Vermont), we did have a rate based on the ability of the utility to cycle it off during periods of excess demand. Never noticed the difference which may have meant that it didn’t work.

But I’m sure you’re way ahead of me and know we don’t really want to be watching the colored lights all the time and really can’t watch them when we’re asleep. We need smart appliances to be reading the lights and our preferences. For example, start the washing machine any time during the day the system goes green but no later than three pm (because I need the clothes) unless the system is red. Charge the car batteries during green at night but I’m leaving at 6AM so need them to be at least half full by then even if we have to pay a premium. A usable user interface’ll be a challenge but the electronics and programming to do all this are duck soup.

This isn’t about changing lifestyles; it’s just about a little e-magic to make the best of what we have and stretch our generating facilities and grid delivery capability further. All of this magic can only work if we’re all connected to some source of information accessible to all our smart appliances which’ll be coming soon to an outlet near you (or you can put smart switches between your dumb appliances and the wall). In Vermont my wife Mary and her ten able colleagues on the Telecommunications Authority Board are gonna make sure we all have that connectivity by 2010. Hope that’s the same wherever you live.

Great Way to Make or Cap a Career

The Vermont Telecom Authority is looking for an executive director. The authority has the very tough mission of making Vermont the nation’s first e-state. Despite the tough terrain and many rural areas, the mission of the Telecom Authority is to assure that, by the end of 2010, broadband coverage and cellular voice coverage are available EVERYWHERE in the state. The broadband coverage has to be adequate and affordable – better than satellite and better than basic DSL.

Vermont is determined to make this happen. The bill which set up the authority authorized up to $40 million in revenue bonds to build enabling infrastructure (but prohibited the state from becoming a retail provider). Even more significant as an indication of how serious Vermont is about this goal, the legislature streamlined the permit process and modified Vermont’s basic environmental law, Act 250, to assure that towers can be sited and built where they’re needed when they’re needed. Such modifications don’t come easily in green Vermont. The bill was proposed by Republican Governor Jim Douglas and overwhelmingly passed by both houses of the legislature which have large Democrat majorities.

The Authority has a great volunteer Board; my wife, Mary Evslin, is the chair. They’re determined that these goals be met and are devoting much of their energy to a search for the key role of Executive Director.

You won’t get rich in this job. If you’re qualified, the pay is much less than you’re worth. There are no stock options. But it’s a job worth doing; success will lead to fame if not fortune. Other states are watching; private industry is watching (and MUST be a participant). The satisfaction from making this happen will be immense. BTW, Vermont is a great place to live.

To succeed you’ll need to be audacious and have experience in achieving outsize goals. You’ll have made a career of NOT letting engineers tell you what’s impossible. You’ll be a planner AND a doer. You’ll be good at getting other people to buy into your dream and help make it a reality.

Here’s the official notice for the job:

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Vermont Telecommunications Authority

www.telecomvt.org

The start-up Vermont Telecommunications Authority (VTA) is looking for a leader with entrepreneurial experience. Have you put deals together? Brought together multiple partners to fund, build, and manage telecommunications networks? If so, we’d like to meet you. 

The VTA seeks an Executive Director to lead the mission of bringing wireless and broadband service to all parts of the state by the end of 2010. The Executive Director will be a visible leader in Vermont and to all states looking for rural solutions.

The position will be responsible for implementing the statutory goals of the Authority, creating partnerships with multiple telecommunication providers and communities, deploying telecommunications infrastructure, and managing daily activities for the Authority. The Executive Director must have a strong background in telecommunications, with experience in technical, business, financial, regulatory, and legal matters. A minimum of ten years telecommunications experience and a master's degree or equivalent experience and experience starting an organization is desired. 

Vermont is a lovely place to live and small enough to make a real difference in. Lead the effort to make Vermont the first e-state in the nation! Please submit a cover letter, resume and salary requirements to:

Search Committee

Vermont Telecommunications Authority

National Life Records Building

One National Life Drive

Montpelier, Vermont 05620-3201

Or email to: EDsearch@telecomvt.org

The State of Vermont is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

Mary's Tough New Assignment

See below for why I'm especially proud of my wife Mary today. The position which she was selected for by Governor Jim Douglas, House Speaker Gaye Symington, and Senate President Pro Tem Peter Shumlin is both tough and crucial to Vermont. She will be the first chair of the Telecom Authority set up in the e-state legislation passed last Spring. The Authority's mission, which she has accepted, is to make sure that there is no spot in Vermont which does not have both cellular access and broadband connectivity by 2010. She can't move the Green Mountains but I'm sure she'll find a way to work around them.

State of Vermont

For Immediate Release:

Friday, August 24, 2007

Contacts:  Office of the Speaker, (802) 828-2245

Office of the President Pro Tem, (802) 828-3806

Office of the Governor, (802) 828-3333

Speaker, Pro Tem and Governor Announce Appointments to Vermont Telecommunications Authority

Montpelier, Vt. – House Speaker Gaye Symington, Governor Jim Douglas and Senate President Pro Tem Peter Shumlin today announced their appointments to the Vermont Telecommunications Authority (VTA).

The 11-member Authority is a key component of the e-State Initiative—a plan to make Vermont the first state to provide universal cellular and broadband coverage everywhere and anywhere within its borders, and building on earlier legislative initiatives to encourage broadband access in rural areas of the state.

The product of comprehensive telecommunications legislation endorsed by Governor Douglas and the Legislature in the last session, the VTA is empowered to partner with service providers, private investors, municipalities, and federal agencies to make investments in telecommunications infrastructure and advance the spread of broadband and cellular services in every area of the state. Authorized to deploy up to $40 million in state bond backing, the Authority hopes to leverage $200 million or more in private investments.

The Governor, President Pro Tem and Speaker each appointed two members and jointly appointed the Chair and Vice Chair.

Vermont Telecommunications Authority Membership:

• Mary Evslin, Chair (Jointly Appointed)

Evslin has an extensive technology background and currently works as a consultant.  She was co-founder of ITXC Corporation, the Fastest Growing Technology Company in North America according to Deloitte & Touche in 2002.  Her company had presence in over 175 countries and was considered one of the world’s largest international wholesale carriers of telephone calls and the largest Internet telephone carrier with 350 employees at its peak.  Among other community service, Evslin has served on the boards of the Helen Day Art Center in Stowe, the American Red Cross and the Vermont Humanities Council.  She is also co-founder of the Internet for All, Now Committee.

• Peter Meyer, Vice Chair (Jointly Appointed)

Prior to his retirement from state government, Meyer was the Executive Director and Environmental Analyst for the Vermont Public Service Board, where he served for 17 years.  Before joining the PSB staff, he was the Chief Coordinator for the Vermont Environmental Board for 10 years.  From 1995 to 2003, Meyer served as the Treasurer for the Central Vermont Memorial Civic Center where he helped raise funds for, build and operate a recreational facility for the Central Vermont community.  He is currently on the Board of ECHO, Lake Aquarium and Science Center at the Leahy Center for Lake Champlain. 

• Jeb Spaulding, Treasurer, State of Vermont (Ex-Officio)

Spaulding is serving his third term as Vermont State Treasurer. During his tenure, he has emphasized continuous improvement in treasury fundamentals such as timely and accurate bank reconciliations, enhanced customer service, expanded outreach and compliance in the unclaimed property division, and proactive investment management and oversight. In addition, he has initiated a new focus in the Treasurer’s Office to leverage State assets to encourage responsible corporate citizenship and to support community and economic development within Vermont.  Treasurer Spaulding served eight terms in the Vermont State Senate from 1985-2000.

• Jo Bradley, Vermont Economic Development Authority (Ex-Officio)

Bradley has served as Chief Executive Officer of the Vermont Economic Development Authority since February, 1997.  Her previous professional experience includes the positions of Deputy Secretary at the Vermont Agency of Commerce and Community Development, Commercial Loan Officer at the Vermont Economic Development Authority, and Vice President at Solomon Brothers, Inc. in Boston. She has also served as the State Government representative on the national Advisory Committee of the Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank), and serves on numerous state and local Boards.

• Al Brisard (Pro-Tem Appointee)

A proven manager with a unique combination of technical and business experience, Brisard has served in a wide range of operations, marketing and leadership positions in companies specializing in technology and telecommunications.  His experience includes the design and implementation of multi-location LAN and WAN, network monitoring and the analysis and delivery of voice over IP, audio conferencing, wireless services and other network elements. 

• Jerry Johnson (Governor Appointee)

Johnson is a senior executive with a proven record of effectively leading organizations ranging in size from less than five employees to over one thousand. With 25 years experience in telecommunications, Johnson held positions as General Manager of Integrated Planning and Vice President of Network Design at NYNEX. He later served as President and Chief Operating Officer for Hill Associates Inc in Colchester, a leading corporate telecommunications training company.  He also created an independent consulting company, Daybreak Intellectual Capital Solutions Inc. in Williston, specializing in telecom and Internet applications, technical training, and executive coaching with a focus on small companies and startup operations. Johnson served as the President of the Vermont Telecommunications Advancement Center (VTAC) established in conjunction with Gov. Dean and served on the Vermont Council on Rural Development's Telecommunication's Infrastructure Committee.

• Robin Lane (Pro-Tem Appointee)

Lane is a full-time member of the faculty in the e-business management program at Champlain College. A proven manager with a keen understanding of next generation technologies, she was CEO of the software publishing company Microseeds Publishing and CEO of Together Networks Internet service provider.