Charles, I'm not so sure that Franklin is going to need "a whole lot more than the Tempest"
The Tempest is just the fulcrum point on which Franklin pivots, on one side (side A) of the teeter-totter you have the underlying technology that gives them the clarity that others only dream about and on the other side (side B) you have an open architecture on which to build new features such as Fax, Video, Camp-ons, find-me/follow-me, etc.
Side A could easily lead to revenue stream via licensing fees.
Side B could easily become a endless stream of add-on products that would rely on Side A's proprietary platform.
Very similar comparisons to a computer supporting UBS (Universal Bus Support) the add-on peripherals can be endless.
Question to ask is where does the industry go from here? What comes after IT is perfected? Is there a natural progression to video? If so are the others ready based on their present platforms?
All buildings are built on a foundation. But if the earth quakes, who's left standing? Those that followed the crowd, or those that
planned for the event and addressed the issue before the Richter jumped off the paper? Then again there are those that built away from the fault line.
My point is that many companies have chose to enter the Internet Telephony highway for the immediate prospects without looking beyond the next entry ramp. What happens when the heat is turned up a notch and price wars include video conferncing for the price others are charging for a plain phone call? Not to mention fax, and other features that appeal to the high-end corporate customer.
What then?
Again, the real question one needs to ask when evaluating Franklin compared to others in this IT arena, is what makes their technology different.
Could it be this proprietary difference that gives them a consistently clearer signal, seemingly unaffected by the high traffic periods.
And if so, do you think that it would also apply to larger packets such as video data? Or better yet, video and voice simultaneously broadcast? Or Fax, video, voice, white-board, and data all simultaneous?
While your mind is trying to grasp that, here's some more things to consider.
Once you have solved the problem of completing a circuit with consistent clarity as Franklin seemingly has done. How do you address those things that you have no control over? Dirty lines, overloaded circuits, failed equipment?
If you're going to be a reliable utility, customers could give a shit less about why their call was terminated or without clarity.
Those are the issues that create the real technological barriers.
How do you automate a monitor to detect the signal strength, and then sans seam switch to a better routing without interruption of the call?
So when you think about Internet Telephony and why everyone is touting their entry into this seemingly lucrative sector, don't get discouraged by the lack of real online present day entities.
There is lot more to this than flipping a switch. And Franklin is already well ahead of the curve on many of these issues. Remember Franklin has the advantage of addressing the issues from a telco's standpoint, afterall their building one. Keep that in mind.
And also consider that no man stands alone as an island unto himself. By that I mean, it is safe to assume that Franklin is already working hand in hand with at least one, if not more, telcos and their engineering staffs in addressing these many critical issues that would make them a true world class Intnernet Telephony utililty. Rather than another wannabe called the Mickey Mouse Tiny Tinkle Phone Company.
After all it took Bell from the turn of the century to the mid 1940's to figure out how to place a call without operator assistance. And to think pot-to-pot IT was really born only late last year.
Aren't we silly? Really?
rb |
