April 2012

Apple = Sony

[Commentary] Apple will decline in the post Steve Jobs era. Here's why.

When Steve Jobs departed, he took three things with him: 1) singular charismatic leadership that bound the company together and elicited extraordinary performance from its people; 2) the ability to take big risks, and 3) an unparalleled ability to envision and design products. Apple's momentum will carry it for 24-48 months. But without the arrival of a new charismatic leader it will move from being a great company to being a good company, with a commensurate step down in revenue growth and product innovation. Like Sony (post Morita), Polaroid (post Land), Apple circa 1985 (post Jobs), and Disney (in the 20 years post Walt Disney), Apple will coast, and then decelerate.

Colorado Law School
Tuesday, October 9, 2012
2 pm
http://www.silicon-flatirons.org/events.php?id=1121

In the early 1980s, upstart firms were only beginning to imagine the possibilities of constructing and providing rival fiber network-based services to large business customers. At that time, the concept of "competitive access providers" (or CAPs) was only beginning to take shape. The rise of Metropolitan Fiber Networks, or MFS, demonstrated that such offerings could be the basis of a thriving business. Aided by the AT&T consent decree and state public utility commissions interested in encouraging entry, the success of such efforts laid the groundwork for a more ambitious undertaking: the Telecommunications Act of 1996.

The 1996 Telecom Act initially gave rise to considerable hopes for how Competitive Local Exchange Carriers, or CLECs, could build on the success of the CAPs. Indeed, the confidence that such CLECs were truly on the rise and constraining the legacy market power of the incumbent providers led the Kennard FCC in the late 1990s to deregulate, to a considerable degree, the market for fiber-based services to big businesses (the so-called "special access" market).

Alongside the formation of CAPs and CLECs was the commercialization of the Internet. Unbeknownst to CAPS, the Internet drove demand for high capacity circuits in the mid-1990s. Unforeseen by the authors of the 1996 Telecom Act, the biggest revenue source of CLECs was dial-up Internet Access. The Fiber Boom of the 1998 through 2001 was entirely driven by grandiose premonitions of how pervasive the Internet would become.

As it enters its third decade, the commercial Internet is transforming our economy and society. Nonetheless, the telecom bust left the once-rosy hopes for the CLEC sector is a state of disarray. That said, fiber optic connections are the lifeblood of Internet connectivity and, amidst the rubble of the telecom bust, competitive fiber providers are playing an essential role in enabling an Internet-driven society to create economic prosperity and a higher quality of life.

The Front Range plays a uniquely important role in the resurgence of the Competitive Fiber Industry. The three largest competitive fiber providers in the U.S. are Level 3 Communications, tw telecom, and Zayo Group, all of which are headquartered locally. The majority of competitive fiber constructed since 1998 is now owned and operated by these three companies. All three are growing their Colorado-based headcount. All three are led by executives who trace their roots to MFS.

In this conference, we will examine the dynamics of competitive fiber networks, with leaders of the top companies providing opening keynote addresses and expert panels providing different perspectives on how the sector developed and where it is headed.

Welcome 2:00pm - 2:05pm
Phil Weiser
Dean
University of Colorado Law School
Executive Director
Silicon Flatirons Center

Keynote Speaker 2:05pm - 2:25pm

James Crowe
CEO
Level 3 Communications

Panel 1: MFS, The 1996 Telecom Act, and the Creation of the CAP and CLEC Industry 2:25pm - 3:25pm

Dale Hatfield
Silicon Flatirons Senior Fellow
Adjunct Professor
University of Colorado

Roger Noll
Professor of Economics, Emeritus
Stanford University

Robert Quinn
Senior Vice President-Federal Regulatory & Chief Privacy Officer
AT&T

Chris Savage
Partner
Davis Wright Tremaine

Break 3:25pm - 3:35pm

Keynote Speaker 3:35pm - 3:55pm

Dan Caruso
Co-Founder, President and Chief Executive Officer
Zayo Group

Panel 2: The Internet-Driven Telecom Boom and Bust 3:55pm - 4:55pm

Colleen Boothby
Partner
Levin, Blaszak, Block & Boothby, LLP

Paul Margie
Partner
Wiltshire & Grannis LLP

Thomas Navin
Partner
Wiley Rein LLP

John Siegel
Partner
Columbia Capital

Break 4:55pm - 5:05pm

Keynote Speaker 5:05pm - 5:25pm
Mike Rouleau
Senior Vice President of Business Development and Strategy
tw telecom inc.

Panel 3: The Resurgence and Future of Competitive Fiber Networks 5:25pm - 6:25pm

Steve Davis
Senior Vice President, Public Policy and Government Relations
CenturyLink

Matt Larsen
Vistabeam

Marvin Sirbu
Professor of Engineering and Public Policy
Carnegie Mellon University

Read more about Perspectives on Competitive Fiber Networks: Past, Present, and Future

Rupert Murdoch testifies, says phone hacking is 'lazy' journalism

Media baron Rupert Murdoch scoffed at suggestions that he wields undue political influence in Britain, called critics of tabloids "elitist" and dismissed phone hacking as "a lazy way" for reporters to do their jobs.

In a London courtroom, the 81-year-old tycoon insisted that he tried "very hard to set an example of ethical behavior," despite the fact that dozens of journalists at his British newspapers have been arrested in wide-ranging investigations into illegal news-gathering practices, including bribing police. Murdoch spoke under oath at a judicial inquiry into media ethics that was set up because of the phone-hacking scandal that has engulfed his giant News Corp. and shaken the British political establishment. Even as he sat in the witness box, testimony from his son James was causing a political ruckus. A special advisor to the government minister in charge of the arts and media resigned because of revelations that he had passed sensitive information to James Murdoch's lobbyist on News Corp.'s controversial bid to take over British Sky Broadcasting.

Alabama governor gets behind online sales-tax push

Gov. Robert Bentley (R-AL) has urged lawmakers from his state to support online sales tax legislation, adding to the growing roster of GOP officials who are on board with the idea.

He told Alabama’s two senators and seven House members the online sales-tax bills would improve the state’s fiscal situation, and stressed that the legislation would not create a new tax. “The bills will give Alabama the authority to collect sales taxes — as we currently do from local brick-and-mortar retailers — that are already owed from online retailers,” Gov Bentley wrote in a letter dated April 19. “Allowing us to effectively close this sales tax loophole would help both our state’s finances and our state’s small businesses.”

ACLU pans privacy amendments to House cybersecurity bill

Lawmakers have tweaked a House cybersecurity bill to address the concerns of privacy groups, but failed to win the support of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), one of the biggest opponents of the measure. Michelle Richardson, legislative counsel for the ACLU, said the planned amendments do not "fix the fundamental problems with the bill." The ACLU is taking a harder line against the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA) than the Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT), which stopped short of endorsing the bill on Tuesday but applauded the proposed changes.

Cyberattacks on government up 680 percent

Cyberattacks on the federal government soared 680 percent in five years, an official from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) testified.

Gregory Wilshusen, director of information issues for the GAO, said federal agencies reported 42,887 cybersecurity "incidents" in 2011, compared with just 5,503 in 2006. The incidents included malicious code, denial of service attacks and unauthorized access to systems. He said foreign nations, terrorists, criminal groups and political activists were behind many of the attacks. "These agencies and organizations have experienced a wide range of incidents involving data loss or theft, computer intrusions and privacy breaches, underscoring the need for improved security practices computer intrusions, and privacy breaches," Wilshusen testified at a hearing of the House Homeland Security Committee's subcommittee on Oversight, Investigations and Management. He said securing critical infrastructure systems, such as electrical grids or chemical plants, should be a "national priority."

GOP Lawmakers criticize FCC rule requiring broadcasters to put files online

In a letter to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski, Reps. Cliff Stearns (R-FL), Brian Bilbray (R-CA) and Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) ask the chairman to explain the reasoning behind a proposed order that would require broadcasters to put their public inspection files, including information on political advertisements, online for anyone to view. They said the FCC “has not adequately assessed the costs or burdens associated with this proposal, nor articulated the need.” The lawmakers also question the need to place the information online in the first place, citing a statement by FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell that there is little evidence that public files aren't already available to anyone who wants to see them. “The commission must explain the need for this proposal before implementing such a costly endeavor,” they wrote.

FCC Pulls Noncom Fundraising From Meeting Agenda

The Federal Communications Commission has removed a noncommercial fundraising item from its April 27 public meeting agenda, which more than likely means it will be voted and approved before the meeting.

The item seeks comment on whether noncommercial broadcast stations should be allowed to conduct on-air fundraising for third-party nonprofits. They can already interrupt programming to raise money for themselves, but not for others, though there have been exceptions.

NCTA: Things Have to Change With RUS Implementation of Broadband Programs

It is no secret that the National Cable & Telecommunications Association is not a big fan of how the Department of Agriculture's Rural Utilities Service has handed out its broadband loans and grants.

Speaking for NCTA's Rural and Small Operators Committee, Suddenlink executive VP Dave Rozzelle makes that crystal clear to Congress according to the prepared testimony for a hearing in the House Agriculture Rural Development Subcommittee. Rozzelle and NCTA both support rural broadband funding, they say. What they don't support, and what they say RUS has been doing both with farm bill and broadband stimulus money, is not focusing on unserved areas and funding overbuilding of providers who are operating on risk capital rather than a government subsidy.

NCTA asks that if the broadband loan program in the farm bill is to be reauthorized, four things should happen:

Loan guarantees or grants should be limited to areas where at least 75% of residential households lack access to broadband at the FCC high-speed definition of 4 Mbps downstream and 1 Mbps upstream.
Existing providers should be able to supply evidence of service overlaps in areas proposed to be served by RUS applicants.
Give priority to loans, loan guarantees and grants to areas with the greatest proportion of households without broadband with that baseline speed.
Require grantees to report quarterly on their use of the funds, with that info published on the RUS website.

Intel to challenge antitrust fine in EU court

Intel will ask Europe's second-highest court in July to scrap a 1.06 billion euro ($1.4 billion) European Union antitrust fine, arguing regulators failed to prove it blocked a rival in their 2009 decision. The European Commission, which acts as EU competition regulator, penalized Intel with its largest ever corporate fine because of anticompetitive tactics against arch-rival Advanced Micro Devices. The decision came after an eight-year-long investigation. Intel will argue its case in a four-day hearing at the Luxembourg-based General Court on July 3 to 6.

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