Barbara, and All,
I've had a few afterthoughts concerning yesterday's CNBC 'discussion' between NetCore's Founder and CEO, Ashraf Dahod, World Business Review's host Casper Weinberger, and "Internet Pioneer," Vint Cerf.
I caught about 20 minutes of the half-hour byte. At first it appeared to be a CNBC news service update, but I later classified it as an infomercial, then later wondered if it wasn't some new breed of show.
Casper Weinberger and Vint Cerf doing Infomercials? Nah...
There were some mildly amusing moments for me, since I was viewing it at first amidst some distractions, and I didn't catch the meaning of Dahod's continued reference to "moos la" [Dahod has a heavy accent] until at one point it contextually fit the space of Moore's Law. Then, I was finally back on track. He said that "there is this law..."
While some of the information was pretty much patented [by now] discussion on the expanding space of the 'net, the multiplication factor cited on the show I think was a doubling of capacity every several months (cough!), and the threats of a collapse which Cerf kinda discounted with some smug references to what "others" have stated of same... clearly in my eyes referring to the dooms-day predictions about a year ago of what's his name... Bob Metcalfe.
I found NetCore's prepared presentation to be of high qualty, even entertaining, but from a purists's view, too eyewashy.
When Casper asked how NetCore's platform would fit into an Internet that was already established, and "wouldn't you need to have your equipment spread out throughout the Internet, and how would it be compatible with what's out there already," the CEO responded in so many words, that they would do this through the least common denominator, at the end points where IP was ubiquitous. IP.
He then went on to direct his reply to Cerf... here we have Dahod explaining, sorta, what IP is with several iterations of the initials IP to poor ol' Vint Cerf... wow. And Cerf just sat there and took it agreeing with him showing due deference.
At that point I became suspect of the overall presentation. It had the markings of an infomercial alright, yet here we had Casper Weinberger and Vint Cerf nodding in cadence to the observations and comments of a commercial entity's CEO's sales pitch on national television.
What added to my discomfort here [what can I tell ya, I'm old fashioned and naturally suspicious!] was the subtitled reference to Cerf as only being an Internet Pioneer, and no allusion to his current station in life as an officer of a major carrier.
Has Cerf entered the ranks of free agency? Does Weinberger do informercials? Apparently so.
Other aspects of the "show" that I thought were noteworthy were some of the solutions suggested by the guest...
After a lengthy discussion about the nature of Internet Congestion and a little bit of theory about flows, streams and tributaries... guess what NetCore's fabric solution wound up being? You guessed it, asynchronous transfer mode, or, ATM!
Also of note, and something that momentarily took me off guard, was one of Cerf's replies to one of Weinberger's carefully queued up questions.
When asked what a possible solution to the capacity issue was, vis a vis the multitude of end points and the increasing number of channels on the 'net, Cerf replied that the solution would be to 'force the problem down into the hardware, the silicon, and make the 'net more intelligent.' This, I thought, fit in nicely to what Dahod was "pushing down" something else. But it doesn't fit very nicely with the notion that the Internet should bare the traits of a stupid network, rather, just the opposite. How does this bode for the stupidists?
Did anyone else here see this presentation? I'd be interested in your thoughts, or even comments to what I've posted above. How do you feel about being shown a presentation on a news station, and following it as though it were news, only to find yourself on the other end of a paid sales pitch? Which, in fact, it was, IMO.
Check out the link Barbara provided to World Business Review, and judge for yourself. What class of broadcast activity does this fall under? I think you'll come to the same conclusions I have. I wonder what the fee structures are like...
wbrtv.com
Regards, Frank Coluccio |
