SilkRoad offers response to Loring Wirbel column:
techweb.com
Wirbel's earlier column can be found at:
techweb.com
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December 21, 1998, Issue: 1040
Section: Opinion/Letters
Thank you for the attention EE Times recently devoted to SilkRoad's new photonics technology. As you might imagine, it is not an easy task to communicate a fundamentally different approach to the challenges surrounding bandwidth, data accessibility and scalability on a fiber-optic network.
To this end, we wanted to clarify some inaccuracies in Loring Wirbel's column (see Nov. 16, page 40) on the launch of SilkRoad's Refractive Synchronization Communication (SRSC) technology.
To begin, he should know that SilkRoad made the decision to brief a number of journalists in advance of the launch-including EE Times' Margaret Quan-in an effort to ensure that SRSC was fully understood. The New York Times' John Markoff, one of those journalists, apparently was sufficiently interested in what he heard to file a lengthy story for the paper's Monday "Information Industries" section-no small feat for an unknown company whose first products are still several months away.
Second, it should be noted that George Gilder, one of the country's more prolific and respected authorities on the subject of bandwidth technology, was invited to the launch event as an independent journalist-just as Loring Wirbel was. George Gilder attended. Wirbel didn't.
To say that Mr. Gilder "led . . . the spin campaign" along with Burson-Marsteller [the public relations firm] couldn't be further from the truth. Mr. Gilder has no relationship with SilkRoad, and had never previously met nor spoken with SilkRoad or Burson-Marsteller prior to the launch.
This fact should have been obvious to those who attended the event, including EE Times editor Rick Boyd-Merritt, who stood alongside Mr. Gilder as Gilder pointedly grilled SilkRoad's chief scientist Dr. James Palmer-as any good journalist might.
We believe Dr. Palmer more-than-satisfactorily addressed all of Gilder's questions, and we remain hopeful that Mr. Gilder will give SilkRoad's technology fair treatment in his editorial channels.
Third, it should be noted that the patent for SilkRoad's new technology was awarded on Oct. 6-less than four weeks before the launch announcement. While the company had successfully briefed a number of potential customers in the months leading up to the granting of the patent, the quick turnaround prohibited the company from announcing any alignments at the time of the launch.
SilkRoad expects to make announcements along these lines in the coming months, and there continues to be considerable excitement from those in the industry who have spent time evaluating the SRSC technology.
Finally, Wirbel refers to other "great ideas" in the optical-communications industry, yet he personally never took the time to be briefed by anyone from SilkRoad.
Yes, there are a number of exciting technologies under development by other companies. But to compare SilkRoad's breakthrough to other technologies without the benefit of a single conversation with SilkRoad puts him at an editorial disadvantage compared with others who did take the time learning about SRSC.
Peter Himler
Managing Director
Burson-Marsteller
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Editor's Note: SilkRoad did not invite Loring Wirbel to its press conference or attempt to brief him before the event. However, before writing his column Loring read two full-length stories on SilkRoad written by EE Times staffers, one of which contained strongly worded comments from George Gilder supporting the company's technology.
Copyright ® 1998 CMP Media Inc. |
