AT THE CENTER
The electronic newsletter of the
Silicon Valley World Internet Center
Tuesday, February 3, 2004
Past copies
of Newsletters and Directions
to the Center are available on the Web site.
All programs
are held at the Center unless otherwise noted.
To join our
community, click on this link: http://center.infopoint.com/join.php
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PLEASE NOTE NEW DATE FOR FEBRUARY'S POWER
PUB!!
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POWER PUB: THURSDAY, FEBRUARY
5, 2004
"IPv6 vs. EPC: A FACE OFF ON THE RFID BATTLEGROUND"
Co-Pub Master: Dr. Rohit Gupta, Group Leader, NPTest, Inc. & Research
Associate, Silicon Valley World Internet Center & Mr. Dinesh Vadhia,
Founder, FortyOne, Inc.
5:00 p.m.: Networking
5:30 p.m.: Pub Exchange
6:30 p.m.: Networking
7:00 p.m.: Pub Closes!
Open to the Public. Fee: $15 (cash or check, payable at the door).
Further information below.
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SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT:
"SENSOR NETWORKS IN THE PETROLEUM INDUSTRY"
WORKING GROUP SUMMARY NOW AVAILABLE ONLINE
Further information and link to the summary, below.
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CENTER ANNOUNCEMENT: 2004
CORPORATE SPONSORSHIP PROGRAM
Further information below.
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POWER PUB: THURSDAY,
FEBRUARY 12, 2004
"IPv6 vs. EPC: A FACE OFF ON THE RFID BATTLEGROUND"
Co-Pub Master: Dr. Rohit Gupta, Group Leader, NPTest, Inc. & Research
Associate, Silicon Valley World Internet Center & Mr. Dinesh Vadhia,
Founder, FortyOne, Inc.
5:00 p.m.: Networking
5:30 p.m.: Pub Exchange
6:30 p.m.: Networking
7:00 p.m.: Pub Closes!
Open to the Public. Fee: $15 (cash or check, payable at the door).
As the marketplace for RFID warms up, questions arise as to the
key choices for the standards affecting the use of tags in supply
chain management and other applications. If the Auto-ID Center's
Electronic Product Code (EPC) is expensive or its standards are
not well defined, the U.S. military could use tags that would carry
a unique Internet Protocol address using the next generation Internet
Protocol called IP Version 6, or IPv6. It expands the length of
Internet addresses to 128 bits, which means that there will be enough
addresses to give one to every item on earth. The U.S. Department
of Defense (DOD) has mandated that its battlefield network use IPv6
by the end of 2006.
Meanwhile, on the retail side of the RFID arena, Wal-Mart announced
in 2003 that it will require its suppliers to place RFID transponders
using EPC technology on pallets and cases by January 2005.
Here is the challenge: DOD suppliers are larger than Wal-Mart's.
They include the likes of Boeing and Lockheed, and therefore if
EPC is not accepted outside of the consumer packaged goods industry,
its success will be incredibly diminished.
Please join us at the Power Pub for a townhall-style discussion
around this issue. Guiding questions for the evening are:
- What are the similarities and differences between IPv6 and
EPC implementation of RFID?
- Which route will be more effective? IPv6 or EPC?
- What are the roadblocks to the implementation of either technology?
ABOUT ROHIT GUPTA
Rohit Gupta is a Group Leader at NPTest, Inc. (http://www.nptest.com/),
which traces its rich history back to 1965 when Fairchild Semiconductor
established an automated test equipment (ATE) division. In 1979,
Schlumberger acquired Fairchild Semiconductor; and in 2003, NPTest
became a private company. Dr. Gupta has worked with clients such
as Intel, AMD, and Sun Microsystems and is responsible for systems
engineering. He also serves as a Research Associate at the Silicon
Valley World Internet Center. His current research topics are RFID
and the Next Generation Internet. Dr. Gupta is also interested in
nanotechnology and is a member of nanoSIG. He graduated from the
University of California, Santa Barbara with a Ph.D. in engineering
and worked on projects for ONR (Office of Naval Research) and DOE
(Department of Energy).
ABOUT DINESH VADHIA
Dinesh Vadhia is the founder of FortyOne, Inc., an RFID middleware
software company. Mr. Vadhia has been a senior marketing management
professional at Oracle and Sun with a track record of winning in
the competitive software market. Mr. Vadhia has a background in
engineering and marketing. Originally from London, England, he received
an MSc and BSc in Applied Math from Cranfield Institute of Technology
and the University of Kent.
Mr. Vadhia passionately believes that of all the standards to come
out of the Auto-ID Center the EPC standard is of the greatest value
and that eventually the RFID.
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SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT:
"SENSOR NETWORKS IN THE PETROLEUM INDUSTRY"
WORKING GROUP SUMMARY NOW AVAILABLE ONLINE
Further information and link to the summary, below.
The Center is pleased to release the summary from the Smart Items
Business Forum's Working Group on "Sensor Networks in the Petroleum
Industry: A Technologically Viable Path . . . or Just Marketing
Hype?" The invitation-only session, convened on October 27, 2003,
brought together a group of 17 experts in the sensors and sensor
networks arena for an interactive knowledge exchange on the viability
of sensors and sensor networks, and its underlying communications
networks, in supporting industrial control and other business applications
in the petroleum industry. The Working Group focused primarily on
insights of the key subject-matter expert, Mr. Mike Bean, Senior
Technical Consulting with the CTO's Office of BP Plc (formerly known
as British Petroleum).
The summary may be accessed from the Center's Home Page (www.worldinternetcenter.com),
under Announcements.
To access the summary from the October 27, 2003 Working Group on
"Sensor Networks in the Petroleum Industry" in the future:
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CENTER ANNOUNCEMENT:
2004 CORPORATE SPONSORSHIP PROGRAM "INVIGORATING HIGH TECH INNOVATION"
Further information below.
The Silicon Valley World Internet Center is pleased to announce
its 2004 Corporate Sponsorship Program, whose objective is to provide
a powerful and effective center - a third-party forum and nexus
of innovators - for clients from Internet- and communications-based
industries, governments and enterprise end-users to explore near-
and medium-term solutions for advanced communications, business
processes and security.
The Corporate Sponsorship Program has a $9,900 annual fee. The
Corporate Sponsorship Program will deliver series of multi-organizational
sessions, open to the public, around such topics as business applications
for sensor networks, RFID applications for supply chain management,
future of wireless broadband, convergence of nano- and biotechnology
with IT, among other cutting edge topics. The Sponsorship Program
will also highlight key advances made by members of the program,
bringing innovations into a multi-corporate community of developers
and end-users.
In November 2003, the Silicon Valley World Internet Center announced
SAP Corporate Research as the first member of the Corporate Sponsorship
Program. "As we look to 2004, our objective is to leverage the collective
and collaborative weight of about 30 industry and government leaders
to support technology, communications, and eBusiness evolution in
an open, yet critical multi-organizational environment. Having SAP
Corporate Research lead that challenge is a great first step," said
Dr. Susan Duggan, CEO of the Silicon Valley World Internet Center.
"We need to embrace, anew, the collaborative nature of innovation,"
says Dr. Joachim Schaper, vice president of SAP Corporate Research
Americas. "Our partners -large and small-should join Susan Duggan
and the World Internet Center in moving the pace and quality of
innovation forward in the Silicon Valley. SAP Corporate Research
calls for other enterprises, governments, and end-users to join
us in this challenge to focus the next generation of innovation
around the Internet and communications."
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
For further information about the Silicon Valley World Internet
Center and the 2004 Corporate Sponsor Program, please contact:
Dr. Susan J. Duggan
Chief Executive Officer
T: 650.462.9800
E: duggan@worldinternetcenter.com
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"NEW YEAR'S WISH
FROM THE WORLD INTERNET CENTER"
Candlelight and champagne sparkled our spirits at the Center's
Sixth Annual Gala held in December 2003, here at the Stanford Barn.
Amid the gowns and tuxedos, executives, scientists, professors,
and entrepreneurs toasted a new year full of promise for the re-invigoration
of high technology innovation in the Valley. Mr. Quentin Hardy,
Bureau Chief for Forbes Magazine in the Silicon Valley regaled the
revelers with visions of a positive future for technology advancements
in 2004. Our own CEO, Susan Duggan, called for significant investments
in research and development, moving the community of innovators
towards a collaborative spirit of production and success.
Below, please find excerpts from Susan Duggan's remarks from the
Gala, which serve as New Year's wishes to all of us in this global
community of innovators.
"INVIGORATING HIGH TECHNOLOGY INNOVATION"
- What does that mean?
- Invigorating?
- Sounds like working out?
- Sounds like we should sweat!
- Sounds like infusing something with results-enhancing drugs.
- I MEAN WAKING UP THE VALLEY!
I mean shaking up the R&D budgets to move beyond the head-in-the-sand
stance that many companies have taken over the last few years and
moving forward to create new ideas, products, and markets that go
beyond Q4 sales. I mean harvesting the talent of the Valley by setting
the standards high, investing in entrepreneurs with solid plans,
and culling the next-generation of inventors into a pro-active business
environment that encourages rather than discourages. This means
getting more and more companies involved at the World Internet Center.
It also means continuing to support the Community of Innovators
which spans across a broad range to include "youngsters!" from Stanford,
serial entrepreneurs, and former EVPs who are now starting their
first company at 60 years old. To this end, we have significantly
revised our CORPORATE SPONSORSHIP PROGRAM
this year to encourage involvement in the Center by a much larger
group of companies than we have had in the past.
I see this as a huge plus to all concerned. I believe we need to
get back to much more cross-fertilization between the companies
here in the Valley. We had that in '97 & '98, but then things got
tight in the last three years and companies stopped sharing-or stopped
taking the time to share. I firmly believe that to re-invigorate
innovation here in the Valley, we must come back to a concerted
arena for collaboration. And that's the Center's middle name!
This broader and larger support of the Center's activities will
help sustain the public-oriented programs here that keep the INNOVATOR'S
DIALOGUE open. We are known for our small, closed-door think
tank sessions. They wield a tremendous amount of valuable information
and relationships for our clients in a short amount of time.
But beyond that, we need to keep the finger on the pulse of change
and invention and that means having the Center's doors open to the
Valley's start up companies, entrepreneurs and inventors.
The new Corporate Sponsorship Program -- priced for quick consumption
-- is meant to support the programs and sessions for that Community
of Innovators. I am very pleased that SAP Corporate Research (http://www.sap.com/company/research.asp)
has stepped up to the plate to be our initial 2004 Corporate Sponsor.
I encourage the rest of you to join them in this effort.
FORUM FOR HOMELAND SECURITY INNOVATION
In December, we had a think tank session, sponsored by SAP Corporate
Research, around the critical needs for Homeland Security in the
State of California and the potential for collaborative research
projects to respond to those needs. In doing the recruitment for
that 20-person session, I was struck at how much the Silicon Valley
has to offer in this arena and how little we know about the actual
needs in this convoluted, but crucial space called "HOMELAND
SECURITY."
I was also struck by two other revelations:
1.) That the key responders and coordinators for much of our security
in California is the California Highway Patrol. Did you know they
oversee the largest communications infrastructure in California
and are responsible for tracking cyber-security for the State?
Their CIO expressed to me that this was the very first time anyone
had ever invited them to share their needs to with the high tech
community. Normally they just get hosed down with sales pitch on
a one-off basis. We had a great session, by the way!
2.) The other revelation was how little money is getting funneled
into California for research. (I got an earful from many on this
score.)
Both of these revelations have prompted us, here at the Center,
to take a proactive response. To that end, I am announcing, tonight,
our intention to form the FORUM FOR HOMELAND
SECURITY INNOVATION, which we will run through the World
Internet Center. We have 7 years of experience in providing high-quality
sessions designed to move the industry forward. I think it's time
to take on the California and Federal Government, and the high tech
companies, which stand to benefit -- and get them involved in this
collaborative effort. I look to you -- to this community of technology
producers and funders -- to become financially engaged in this Forum
to move your own agenda forward in a collaborative fashion with
your partners and competitors; and with a tremendous number of end-users
out there.
LET'S TALK AUTO-ID
We did a lot this year in the RFID and Sensor Network space. It
started with Mr. Dean Frew, the President of Xterprise (http://www.xterprise.com/),
our Knowledge Network Partner, giving a talk on RFID in Supply Chain
Management. We had an overflow crowd with Sun showing up with 25%
of the audience. SAP stepped up to the plate and help found the
SMART ITEMS BUSINESS FORUM and have
run several sessions under that aegis, most recently a two-part
Working Group series on business applications for sensor networks.
(Which summaries will be posted, soon, on our Website). By the way,
we would like more members in that Forum!
We ran several open-to-the public sessions around RFID and business
opportunities. And as much as the VCs may be down on this right
now, I don't agree with them. Our think tank sessions are revealing
a great deal of use (and need for further R&D) around RFID.
To that end, I call for this community to sit down with us and
structure a series of closed and public sessions that will move
this business dialogue forward and MAKE THE
VALLEY KNOWN FOR ITS CONCERTED WORK IN THE AUTO-ID AND SENSOR NETWORK
SPACE. The World Internet Center already has the forum for
it and the relationship base to move that forward. We need engaged
financial players to make this come alive.
Step up to the plate and make innovation come alive again in your
group, your department, your company and in Valley. We at the World
Internet Center will provide our INNOVATION
PLATFORM to make that collaborative initiative turn into
positive results for all in 2004!
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For further information on the Center's Sponsors and Knowledge
Network Partners, visit their Websites:
KNOWLEDGE
NETWORK PARTNERS
Halleck http://www.halleck.com
IC Growth, Inc. http://www.icgrowth.com
Market Wire http://www.marketwire.com
Incucomm http://www.incucomm.com
Xterprise http://www.xterprise.com
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To join our
community, click on this link: http://center.infopoint.com/join.php
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