In the DataCenter – ISP’s and Video Stream Revenues Part II

Continuing on the discussion of evaluating the vanishing value of video streams, Dan and I broaden the discussion to encompass other companies, not just ISP’s, who are dependent on moving more bits across that wire.

How much value a video stream provides is not only important for a datacenter group debating this issue to understand. It is also important to companies like Cisco. According to some of the “M&A” guys I chat with, Cisco’s entire acquisition strategy right now is predicated on delivery of VOIP/VOD/MMP – and massive video production aka MVP (“Massive Video Production Debut“) fits right in. It’s all about end-to-end quality from the tech perspective, and building service models that deliver value from the business perspective.

So what does Dan Kusnetzky, Program Vice President, System Software at IDC say about this…

With Every Photo, There’s a Blast

A news photographer got a bit too close to the demolition of a bridge on the Mississippi. Well actually, he did want to get further away, but his remote setup didn’t work. So he got close in and manually handled the cameras from behind some construction equipment. Not a good idea. The blast knocked him down and destroyed all his equipment, but not the CF card.

Fascinating photos of the bridge and the camera moments after the blast.

Film would have probably been too damaged, as the camera itself was ripped open. But the images survived on a CF card. Anyone want to argue about the hardiness of digital storage now?

In the DataCenter – ISP’s and Video Stream Revenues

A debate recently arose among the datacenter staff. The oldsters think the cost per stream is more than the value per stream right now, because the cost of media is high and everyone looks at things single (one at a time). But the youngsters have noticed that a lot of new content creators are coming online wanting lower cost deployment of media, and some even lower the production time/cost itself through use of services like . They worry that the value per stream is eroding fast, and that’s a lot of ISP’s bread and butter.

So even if the value per stream is currently high, as you increase the number of media creators, what does it do to the revenues of the service providers? Does it increase their value per stream?

I asked Dan Kusnetzky, Program Vice President, System Software at IDC what he thought of the vanishing value per video stream debate. And here’s what he told me…

When the Press Gets Ugly

Hurrah for John Crumpacker’s article in the SF Chronicle today on the “ugly press” at the Olympics. It’s nice to see good people in the press take others in the press to task when they act badly, and tell them to act like journalists – not badmouths.

My family watched the opening ceremonies broadcast last Friday, and we were very annoyed at the rude comments about countries marching in the Olympics by the so-called press commentators. They displayed a willful ignorance about world history. When they had to read some piece of information gathered for them about a particular country, the male commentator would say it with a smirk and a laugh, as if it was a joke. It was just plain annoying.

Momma, Don’t Let Your Kids Grow Up to Be Programmers

Well, with all the Olympics fun, forgot to mention that the CS major percentage has dropped again a few weeks back. At the same time, 25% of 18-34 age group now watch videos on the web. Very big growth, don’t you think?

Of course, who will keep this momentum going? Don’t we need creative young people to keep up with innovation? I know that people often like to think everything that we need has been invented, but this convenient mindset can be misleading.

In 1904, physics was considered a very sedate and settled field. Then Einstein published a series of papers in 1905 on special and general relativity, and also set into motion the new fields of quantum mechanics and modern statistical mechanics. Modern physics was born.

The international physics community has set aside 2005 as the World Year of Physics as a tribute to Einstein’s centennial. Of course, I follow these things since I have a physics degree myself. But maybe everyone else should take a minute and think about how in a matter of a year the world can change forever.

Carry the Torch and Flag – and Bring the Digital Camera

I don’t know if anyone else noticed, but not only were the opening ceremonies of the Summer Olympic Games in Athens inspiring as always (I’m a student of Greek myth and legend), but the athletes marching proudly about the Olympic stadium were also using small digital cameras to take photos and clips from their own personal perspective.

What an amazing thing – as 4.5 billion people watched these athletes prepare to compete, they were taking photos and video of each other and us!

IPO Fatigue? Watch PDI!

“Forget Google. The one to watch is PDI.” ExecProducer CEO William Jolitz talks about the “other IPO” happening soon right here in Silicon Valley – the PDI Dreamworks debut. One digital media success like Pixar is an anomaly. But are two digital media successes the start of Silicon Hollywood

?

Follow the money story from start to pay off, the excitement, the risk, and how consumer electronics, Sony’s “iPOD killer” and 3G fit in here. Join William Jolitz, ExecProducer CEO on his private channel William Jolitz on ExecProducer MVP as he discusses IPO Fatigue? Watch PDI!

Oh, Where, Oh Where Has My Little AVI Gone…

Revisiting the Pew Internet study (“Content Creation“) discussing online content creation by Internet users (Mar-May 2003), it’s amusing to see how much things have changed in a year.

According to the Pew study released February of 2004 (and to be fair, the study took one year to assemble, analyze the data and release the report, so it’s understandably a bit outdated) content creators use very little digital media. It’s not popular. Right? Uhh, not anymore.

Look how far we’ve gone. Photo sharing has become far more popular. This is due to two factors – the increasing size of photos (megapixel) precludes easy mailing from person-to-person, but with new photo sites placement on one site offers convenient storage, and now a lot of people can look, when before only a few could. And even better – tools are not required for anyone to use them – it’s simply an upload.

However, video is an entirely different area. I see two different conflicting trends.

ExecProducer CTO Problem and Solution Video Pitch

So the CEO is involved in SDForum, and they like to put together “speeddate” pitches, where everyone pitches to everyone else and then critiques them. But then you go home and forget what you said and what they said and don’t get anything out of that speeddate but a hangover…
So I did my speeddate pitch for them, but since I’m not an SDForum member, I did a video pitch instead. Like it? I did it today. And I don’t have to worry about forgetting my pitch – because it’s right here. Oh, and it’s also an anniversary gift for my husband – 19 years yesterday, 3 kids, and lots of companies. He just loves pitches. 🙂

Fun Friday – Google and that analyst movie

Mike Langberg added his two cents into my recent commentary (“Lights, Camera,…No Sergey, the camera is this way!“):

“Lynne: Thanks for sharing your thoughts. Maybe you can offer Google some pointers for any future videos. They could sure use your help.”

Sure thing. I’ve got a camera! I’ll make them look real nice and bright and wholesome. That “shadows” stuff I’ll save for their backers – VC’s love the Brando “Godfather” style, and look alot better with thin ties.