January 26, 2009
Volume XXV, Issue 2
P4P Working Group Forms Non-Profit Corporate Alliance
The P4P Working Group (P4PWG) has formalized its structure as a non-profit corporate alliance in preparation for commercial deployment.
P4P refers to an advanced technology for accelerating peer-to-peer (P2P) distribution of content and optimizing utilization of Internet service provider (ISP) network resources in order to provide the best possible performance to end-user customers.
Doug Pasko, Senior Technologist at Verizon Communications, and Laird Popkin, Chief Technology Officer (CTO) at Pando Networks, who have served as co-chairs of the working group since its inception in July 2007, have been elected Co-Chairs of the Board of Directors (BOD) of the newly formed P4P Working Group Ltd. (P4PWG).
Pando CTO and P4PWG Co-Chair Laird Popkin said, "The most recent round of P4P testing demonstrated substantial progress in improving content delivery performance and reducing costs. P4P adoption will be a winning proposition for consumers, content owners, and broadband network operators. The P4P Working Group's new status as a non-profit corporate alliance will allow us to implement an intellectual property rights (IPR) policy for members and move towards that goal."
Verizon Senior Technologist and P4PWG Co-Chair Doug Pasko added, "The second round of P4P trials again illustrated how ISPs can operate more efficiently if traffic remains on their own networks. The P4P Working Group's formal structuring will facilitate the completion of work on a final specification for P4P, which will represent its next major step towards commercial deployment."
Other Members of the P4PWG Board of Directors include Yale University's Richard Yang, Akamai's Haiyong Xie, AT&T's Steven Wright, Abacast's Jim Kott, Telefonica's Emilio Sepulveda, Solid State Networks' Rick Buonincontri, and the DCIA's Marty Lafferty.
In addition to announcing the Board of Directors, P4PWG Co-Chairs Pasko and Popkin also announced that Velocix's David Ferguson has agreed to serve as Chair of the new Interoperability Sub-Group.
Membership in the non-profit corporate alliance is open on a voluntary basis to current participants in the working group and other qualified entities. Interested parties, including P2P software distributors and ISPs, are encouraged to call 410-476-7965 or e-mail P4PWG@dcia.info for more information about joining.
The Need for Standardized P2P Interoperability
Excerpted from TechCrunch Report by Erick Schonfeld
January 20th was supposed to be the day that live web video streaming took on TV broadcasting. CNN.com alone served a record 21.3 million streams, with a peak of 1.3 million simultaneous streams. And Akamai reported a peak of 5.4 million simultaneous visitors per minute to the various news sites for which it hosts video, and more than 7 million simultaneous streams.
With millions tuning in from their PCs to watch President Obama's inauguration speech, it was one of the biggest tests yet for live video streaming. But live streaming failed.
CNN kept bumping viewers into virtual waiting rooms. The stream on Hulu was even worse, with the video frozen and the audio coming in-and-out. And forget about Ustream. Not even any audio. This seemed to be the general experience out there, based on other reports.
Right now, the Internet breaks at about one million simultaneous streams. That is nothing when it comes to the audience size for historic events, or even a big football game. The Internet simply does not shine when it is used as a broadcast medium. And Tuesday proved it.
Will it get better? Yes. Akamai and others can always put up more proxy streaming servers at the edge of the network to meet demand. But that is an expensive proposition for infrequent events.
Perhaps a better solution for live streaming is a peer-to-peer (P2P) model where quality improves as more people watch. Check out RayV, which does this.
That would require everyone to download extra add-on software for their browsers. I'd do it in a second if that would solve the live-stream stuttering problem.
DCINFO Editor's Note: Major events like the US Presidential Inauguration and the upcoming Super Bowl (2/1) underscore both the need for and potential value of standardized interoperability among live P2P services and networks, as well as commercial deployment of P4P. As the next article suggests, the growing popularity of online video overall will continue to drive the industry towards the most efficient architectural solutions.
IP Networks Will Feel Traffic Pain in 2009
Excerpted from CNET News Report by Dave Rosenberg
Cisco Systems says that in 2012, Internet video traffic alone will be 400 times the traffic carried by the US Internet backbone in 2000. Video-on-demand, IPTV, peer-to-peer television (P2PTV), and Internet video are forecast to account for nearly 90% of all consumer IP traffic in 2012.
Cisco VNI projections indicate that IP traffic will increase at a combined annual growth rate (CAGR) of 46% from 2007 to 2012, nearly doubling every two years. This will result in an annual bandwidth demand on the world's IP networks of approximately 522 exabytes, or more than half a zettabyte.
With this and the continued growth of converged networks within enterprise environments, the thought of the simple data network is no more. Networks have become highly complex and distributed, tasking companies with the need to scale to monitor and analyze all aspects of voice, video, and IPTV traffic.
The network that has become overwhelmed in 2008 will become incredibly burdened in 2009 and beyond if companies do not manage their bandwidth.
Tim McCreery, CEO of network and application analysis developer WildPackets, offered a bit more on what happens next:
"First off, we'll see the growth of 10Gb networks, already rapidly becoming the mainstay for backbones within enterprise and service provider networks. 100Gb will be adopted at a faster pace because anything less won't be able to handle the traffic load.
We'll also see the trend of companies moving their network analysis tools to a web-based approach, proving extreme flexibility in data access and data reporting, coupled with an emphasis on turn-key hardware-software monitoring solutions for their converged voice, P2P, video, IPTV, and data networks.
Most importantly, with this continued growth and the popularity of large, over-taxed networks, it will become ever more important for companies to know and understand exactly how well their networks are performing and resolve potential problems quickly - before they become network-wide issues."
Report from CEO Marty Lafferty
 The Isle of Man (population 80,000) is located in the Irish Sea at the center of the British Isles. It is a self-governing British Crown Dependency with its own parliament, government, and laws.
The DCIA has been working with the Isle of Man since last year's MIDEM. One of its leading business advisors, Ron Berry, keynoted at both our P2P & MUSIC CONFERENCE at PopKomm and most recently at our P2P MEDIA SUMMIT at CES.
The Isle of Man has become one of the fastest growing economies in Europe in recent years, led by its international financial services sector. Business is attracted by the Island's competitive tax regime, professional expertise, supportive government, world-class telecom infrastructure, and sound financial regulation.
Recent growth areas of the Isle of Man economy include e-commerce, the film industry, and the space and satellite business, while traditional sectors like tourism - and the famous TT motorcycle races - are still important.
It is the policy of the Government of the Isle of Man to be both economically competitive and internationally responsible in supporting the interests of its people.
In the past year, the sovereignty has taken an increased interest in addressing one of the largest challenges facing our industry: unauthorized distribution of digital music by means of P2P technologies.
Last week at MIDEM 2009, the Isle of Man Government e-Business Division announced its innovative proposal for licensing telecommunications companies and Internet service providers (ISPs) on the Island, to enable their subscribers to access unlimited music.
The proposal was straightforward: licensing telcos and ISPs on the Island to enable their subscribers to download and share music, which is available from non-charging P2P services, for non-commercial use via fixed-line broadband or mobile devices for a blanket monthly fee.
Through the infrastructures of ISPs and telcos, it will be possible to know who is accessing what, and therefore create a fairer and more accurate way of sharing revenue than alternative approaches. This would not mean that existing commercial services became free, although it might affect their business models.
The Isle of Man presented this proposal in a series of meetings at MIDEM, inviting input from music rights holders to ensure that this can be a solution for the long term.
"This is a great opportunity for the Isle of Man and gives us the unique opportunity to lead the way in music licensing. The proposal is a culmination of a year's negotiations with key partners in the industry which began at MIDEM in 2008," said Ron Berry, Inward Investment Manager for the Isle of Man government.
"A blanket license for ISPs to allow their subscribers to download music for non-commercial use as an intrinsic part of their monthly ISP or MSP charge represents an important step forward. However, to enable this to happen, it needs to be a collaborative effort among rights holders, telecommunication providers and ISPs, and a supportive Government."
At the heart of the Island's proposition are its highly advanced technological and telecommunications capabilities, and the flexibility of its regulatory environment. This puts the Isle of Man in a unique position to shape this concept into a framework that will offer a solution to the music industry and enable the proposition to be tested in a protected environment."
Alex Downie MLC Treasury political representative, added, "The Island already has a well established reputation as a high quality, well regulated jurisdiction with an excellent e-business infrastructure. The new strategy to license music downloads highlights our commitment to help the e-business sector grow into our second largest source of revenue, behind banking, and position the Isle of Man as an international center for e-business."
In coming weeks, the DCIA will be working closely with the Isle of Man to develop plans for initial market trials to put this very exciting approach, as well as variations and alternatives, through proof-of-concept testing to validate both their revenue potential and operational feasibility. Share wisely, and take care.
Isle of Man Mulls P2P Fee Experiment
Excerpted from E-Commerce Times Report by Raphael Satter
Music fans and record labels have long fought over the rights and wrongs of file sharing, but now an island in the Irish Sea says it has come up with a way to keep the peace.
The Isle of Man's e-business advisor Ron Berry said Tuesday that the self-governing territory between England and Ireland is considering charging a nominal monthly fee to legalize file swapping for personal use. Berry said the plan was a way of "replacing piracy with principle."
"Anybody can go on to the Internet and access anything," he said. "What we're trying to do is legalize and monetize it."
But securing the blessing of rights holders - major record labels, many of whom are still fighting file sharers in court - could be difficult.
Berry argued that the Isle of Man, with a population of 80,000, was the ideal place for an experiment that could calm some of the industry's doubts.
The 221 square mile territory is dependent on the British crown but is not technically part of the United Kingdom and has its own Parliament. Its rock-bottom taxes have turned it into an important financial center, and the Island is also marketing itself as an e-commerce hub.
The Island's inhabitants, known as Manx residents, all have broadband Internet access, and would pay a reasonable monthly fee for the right to swap music, Berry said.
As to how the money would be distributed to rights holders, Berry said that has yet to be negotiated with the record industry. But the experiment could go ahead even without a negotiated deal, Berry said, explaining that the money could be held in escrow.
The International Federation of Phonographic Industries (IFPI), which represents the record industry worldwide, said that in principle it supported deals to provide unlimited music through Internet service or cell-phone providers.
Unlimited Music Downloads for Isle
Excerpted from Web User Report
The government of the Isle of Man has proposed introducing a one-off fee to be paid to Internet service providers (ISPs) for unlimited music downloads.
As a self-governing entity, the Isle of Man, located in the Irish Sea, can introduce its own laws.
Under the proposal, the government wants to introduce a blanket license for music downloads, with an opt-out provision.
This would in practice let broadband subscribers share music lawfully after paying a nominal fee.
Ron Berry, one of the men behind the plan, told the MIDEM international music market in Cannes that unauthorized digital content distribution is never going to stop.
"At the end of the day, we are not going to stop consumer-driven online music distribution, so let's embrace it," Berry said.
"This gives us the unique opportunity to lead the way in music licensing. The proposal is a culmination of a year's negotiations with key partners in the industry," he continued.
The proposal has won approval from the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), the industry's trade association and a long time anti-piracy campaigner.
Geoff Taylor, the chief executive of the BPI said: "If ISPs take the position advocated in the Isle of Man, we'll be in an enormously better position."
The Isle of Man has no capital gains tax, no corporation tax, and income tax is set at 10 percent.
MIDEM 2009 - Setting Music Free
Excerpted from Digital Media Wire Report by Hal Bringman
As readers ready themselves for the highly anticipated Digital Music Forum East, here's an overview of the MIDEM music conference that just concluded in Cannes, France. This annual music industry happening is a must-attend event for global players in the music business.
"The industry as a whole has turned a page," said MIDEM Director Dominique Leguern. "It accepts the CD era is decreasing fast and new revenues will come from other business models. Some of the old issues like digital rights management (DRM) are over so we can move into a new era."
"One thing I would change in the music business is a mindset. It's about being optimistic about the opportunities we have in front of us. We have to accept the principle that a product-based model is under severe stress. There are two primary sets of people in this business that matter - artists and fans - and we should focus on them. The Internet gives us a real opportunity to develop long-term relationships between artists and fans, and that's a huge opportunity for us all," said Brian Message, Co-Manager of Radiohead.
Andy Cato from Groove Armada commented, "Over the last few years, a lot of music has become free, and while there will be an ongoing market in recorded music for a while, the wave of free music is overwhelming. We want to find a way of embracing the fact there is free music out there - but give it value again."
Advertising exploits, aimed at making music "feel free" to consumers, include Coca-Cola and Warner Music partnering on a download release as part of the brand's new "Open Happiness" global marketing campaign.
Jupiter Research forecast says US digital music sales will grow by 17% per year on average over the next five years to make up 41% of sales by 2013, while Juniper Research predicts the success of unlimited music services on mobile platforms will significantly grow digital music revenues, with subscription-based unlimited digital music services overtaking "first generation" pay-per-track services and growing to $3.3 billion by 2012.
"Making the emerging markets accountable is the key for the future of the global music industry. As the old players helped destroy the business in China and Russia by selling for less than they could afford to, given what they had agreed to pay their artists in royalties, they will not be the ones that can be trusted with building new markets. It is clear that the consumer will pay for bandwidth and traffic, and that some of this money will be handed over to the traffic drivers, who are content rights holders. The east will be first with this as they don't have to fight existing players who protect old models. And then the rest will follow once they have seen how much sense it all makes," said Thomas Reemer, CEO, CUGate.
Music Industry Scrambles for Cash
Excerpted from BBC News Report by Ian Youngs
The music business has finally come to terms with file sharing, according to executives at the MIDEM conference in Cannes. But now they have a different problem.
Until recently, the music industry was in a blind panic about unauthorized P2P downloading. A vast 95% of all digital music comes from unlicensed sources, according to a recent estimate from the global trade body IFPI. But the blind panic now seems to have stopped. The industry seems to have reached a conclusion that the strategies for fighting file sharing will not work. It is now a fact of life.
But now there is a new panic. If we are not going to stop file sharing, and with sales still falling, the dilemma becomes, "How do we make money now?" That is the question dominating MIDEM.
Howie Singer from Warner Music said his company wanted to see "compensation and not simply control. It's interesting to be in a business where there's no issue about creating demand for your product," he said. "The issue is finding a way to get paid for it."
Former EMI boss Eric Nicoli said revenue needed to be generated in different ways. "Any company that relies on music sales will be exceedingly challenged," he said. "A growing school of thought says that if you can't beat them, join them."
If file sharing is not going to go away, then some leading figures favor finding a way of getting paid for it. Feargal Sharkey, head of the pan-industry body UK Music, said 80% of file sharers would be prepared to pay for a legitimate P2P service.
"We as an industry have to seize upon that agenda," he said.
Author and media futurist Gerd Leonhard said fighting file sharing had been fruitless, and it was time to grant permission and collect royalties. As well as asking fans to pay, Leonhard suggested money could come from advertising, sponsorship, subsidies from Internet service providers (ISPs) or portable player manufacturers.
There are high hopes for a raft of expected new legal services from ISPs, which would see an all-you-can-eat music service offered as part of a broadband, TV, and phone package.
Geoff Taylor, head of the BPI, which represents UK labels, said, "The record labels are in discussions with a number of major UK ISPs about licensed deals and I firmly believe that's the future."
Groove Armada: Plans to Stop File Sharing are Futile
Excerpted from New Media Age Report by Will Cooper
Increased government regulation of P2P services and unauthorized downloading is "futile" and out-of-step with the habits of the online music community, according to Groove Armada's Andy Cato.
Responding to reports on government recommendations to increase legislation of P2P services in the forthcoming "Digital Britain" report, Cato, one half of the Grammy-nominated British group, said file sharing was now commonplace among music fans and would be difficult to stop.
"It's utterly futile to try and stop people, just as it was futile trying to stop them from creating mix-tapes once they had two decks and a tape recorder," said Cato. "It'll just waste a lot of time and hot air, and they'll end-up looking like a government that has no idea what's going on in the street."
Over the weekend, high-profile industry figures including Internet Service Provider Alliance (ISPA) Secretary General Nicholas Lansman and UK Music CEO Feargal Sharkey told the MidemNet conference in Cannes that increased legislation could have a negative effect on the industry.
Cato's comments come as Groove Armada announced details of a file-sharing model the band has launched in partnership with Bacardi to promote their new EP. Music fans can sign up to Bacardi B-Live Share where they can share the EP with friends online, and be rewarded with additional tracks as more people download the content.
Fans can track how many people subsequently download content from their initial recommendations through an online app and compare their rankings to other people worldwide.
The launch is the latest move by Groove Armada since signing a distribution and promotion deal with Bacardi last year after leaving Sony BMG. Cato said that such deals with brands would become more commonplace in the music industry.
"Of that there's no doubt," he said. "Despite the talk of record companies restructuring to get a slice of live revenues and so on, the decline of money from record sales has put a massive dent in this industry which needs to be filled. That will be filled by other companies and brands, and that's a reality."
Regulation Would Damage Music Industry
Excerpted from The Telegraph Report by Urmee Khan
The digital music business has grown for six years in succession, the IFPI's Digital Music Report found. It accounted for a 20% slice of recorded music sales last year - up from 15% in 2007.
Feargal Sharkey, chief executive UK Music, said the government needs to tread carefully on any regulation to control unauthorized file sharing.
He said a deal between Internet service providers (ISPs) and the music industry is only "weeks away" and government intervention could be detrimental to music lovers.
"A government mandate about this has the potential to do a lot of damage, not only to the music industry but also to technology companies. It's about choice for fans, and there isn't a one size fits all solution," he said.
His comments came following a leaked early draft of Lord Carter's "Digital Britain" report, which said that a regulatory body called the Rights Agency would be introduced along with a new code of practice for ISPs and rights holders.
ISPs would be required to tell customers when they are suspected of sharing unlicensed music and films. The new regulations would also force ISPs to collect data on "serious and repeated infringers" that they would have to make available to rights holders in possession of a court order.
There has traditionally been a lack of consensus among ISPs and the music industry on how to tackle unauthorized downloading. IFPI estimates over 40 billion unlicensed files were file-shared in 2008.
"Any intervention must be designed to embrace new horizons and must be fit and proper for use in a modern world, a modern society and a modern culture," Sharkey said.
"Regulation brings a cost to all parties. We all need to be sensitive that the debt we pay for an imposed government solution does not outweigh the benefits and the rewards. By viewing ISPs as partners in the solution, I am certain that this can be the year that we all stop fretting about delivery platforms and concentrate on what really matters - the music."
The ISPs are opposed to any plans that would force them to disconnect their own customers, and claim that the problem can be solved by creating business models that steer Internet users away from infringement, or by rights holders initiating legal action themselves.
BBC's iPlayer Revamped with Velocix's Support
Excerpted from Audio News Report
The popular BBC iPlayer has been upgraded. The BBC unveiled the new version of its iPlayer so that users can experience the company's online TV service in a better way. The main attraction of the new release is that in addition to Windows users, users of Mac and Linux can also download it to integrate their computers with the online entertainment hub seamlessly.
The revamped iPlayer has been designed using Adobe's AIR software. This cross-platform program has made the iPlayer compatible with multiple operating systems. The way the player gets initiated is also improved. Earlier, the iPlayer used to load as a flash application in the web browser, but now it loads in a very convenient way, like any other executable.
The new version of iPlayer is not completely free of limitations. The BBC itself has pointed out that the new iPlayer seriously affects the broadband networks, making it still not the best player for use with mobile phones like the Nokia N96.
To rectify the broadband problems, the company is working with Velocix and creating cache servers that Internet service providers (ISPs) can use to bolster the player's operations without jamming broadband networks.
The new iPlayer will be launched in February. You can test it before its official launch by signing up for an account as an iPlayer Labs Tester on the iPlayer website.
MiniNova Welcomes Thousandth Premium Publisher
Excerpted from Torrent Freak Report
Everyone can upload torrents to MiniNova, but not everyone knows that the site also has a content distribution platform for premium publishers. The service is aimed at indie publishers who want to promote their works to the millions of BitTorrent users, free-of-charge. This week, MiniNova welcomed its 1,000th publisher.
Launched in 2007, MiniNova's content distribution platform has been growing steadily. Unlike regular uploads, all files on the content distribution platform are both tracked and seeded by MiniNova. This ensures high download speeds while the publishers don't have to worry about seeding the files themselves.
Most of the users of the service have reported great results. BitTorrent has proven to be an ideal marketing tool for musicians, writers, and other creative minds who want to promote their work and engage fans. In fact, the Dutch Band Silence is Sexy won the 2009 Interactive Marketing Award for releasing their album for free on MiniNova.
Through content distribution, MiniNova has already had about 5,800 uploads and 15 million downloads. That means some 40,000 downloads a day. The amount of data that has been downloaded equals a pile of CDs of about 30 kilometers high.
Aside from the marketing aspect, sharing files on BitTorrent is also a great cost saver. Terabytes of data can be transferred without having to invest thousands of dollars in server capacity. If Microsoft had used BitTorrent for its Windows 7 Beta release, it would not have been forced to delay the release and annoy thousands of eager early adopters, and could have even saved thousands of dollars at the same time.
Slowly, more established companies are realizing that BitTorrent is indeed a great way to reach out to a wide audience, for a fraction of the costs usually incurred. Last year, Canada's public television broadcaster CBC used MiniNova's services to distribute one of its TV-shows, after it ran into distribution problems.
With BitTorrent's ever growing popularity, MiniNova is predicting a boom in the number of premium users in the coming year, as well as a steep growth in regular users. It might be a good idea for the entertainment industry to embrace these sites, rather than attempting to take them out.
NetApp Tops Best-Company-to-Work-for List
Excerpted from CNET News Report by Dawn Kawamoto
Storage maker NetApp ranked No.1 on Fortune Magazine's list of the top 100 companies to work for, bumping Google from its perch, according to a report in the publication on Thursday.
NetApp, which employs nearly 8,000 people worldwide, was selected for its "employees' enthusiasm" along with its benefits, from nearly $11,400 in adoption aid to five paid days to do volunteer work.
And even better still, the company is in the hiring mode, seeking to fill 55 positions as of January 13th.
This year's ranking propels NetApp to the No.1 spot from its previous position last year at No.6. But it also knocks Google down from its perch at No.1, where it has remained over the previous two years. The search giant ranked No.4 on the list, after having given up on such things as an afternoon tea and its annual ski trip, according to the report.
NetApp also leapfrogged over Cisco Systems, which ranked No.6 on the list.
FTI Consulting Acquires CXO
CXO, is a premier interim and turnaround management services firm based in Dallas, TX. Led by principals Michael Katzenstein, Brian Kushner, and Stephen Dube, CXO specializes in bankruptcy debtor advisory, interim management, crisis management, turnaround consulting, operational due diligence, creditor advisory, and financial/operational restructuring.
CXO provides a complete range of consulting, management, and advisory services to companies in crisis or seeking to improve performance in specific financial or operational areas. The firm has extensive experience serving clients in service, manufacturing and technology businesses, with a particular focus on the Telecom, Cable and Media sectors.
CXO will join the Communications, Media, and Entertainment practice within the Corporate Finance/Restructuring segment of FTI Consulting. CXO offers 12 senior level personnel, all of whom have served in interim management executive positions.
RightsFlow Inks New Indie Deals
Excerpted from Billboard Business News by Ed Christman
RightsFlow has signed on three new clients for its Outsourced Music Licensing system, FLOW. These include Creazioni Artistiche Musicale (CAM), an independent record label and music publisher based in Rome; La Cupula Music (House of Music), an independent digital distributor based in Barcelona; and New England-based United for Opportunity, a company offering distribution and other services to the independent label sector.
All three deals were announced at the MIDEM convention. RightsFlow's outsourced licensing service utilizes the bulk licensing system of The Harry Fox Agency to ensure publishers and songwriters are properly compensated under US law.
In addition to helping its new clients obtain US mechanical licenses for physical releases and digital phonorecord delivery licenses, RightsFlow will also provide its clients with royalty accounting and other services.
Company Profile for GridNetworks
Excerpted from SYS-CON Media Report
GridNetworks technology does what no content delivery network (CDN) or video-platform provider can do: it gets high-value Internet video onto TVs and computers - with no additional hardware - while keeping content owners in control of their brand, content, and revenue model.
As an end-to-end P2P video delivery platform provider, GridNetworks helps content owners establish a direct relationship with TV viewers, eliminating the need to work with third parties or negotiate numerous distribution deals.
GridNetworks technology also scales quickly to meet audience growth.
GridNetworks is based in Seattle, WA, and was founded in 2005. Investors include Comcast, Cisco Systems, and Panorama Capital.
$7.4 Million for CloudSwitch
Excerpted from Innovation Economy Report by Scott Kirsner
Two venture capital firms just put the finishing touches on a $7.4 million Series A round for CloudSwitch. It's their first investment in a pure-play cloud computing start-up.
Matrix Partners incubated CloudSwitch in its offices for much of 2008, and Atlas Venture joined in the funding round. The company was founded by Ellen Rubin (CEO) and John Considine (CTO), both of whom had earlier worked at other Matrix portfolio companies.
Rubin had headed up marketing for Netezza, leaving last February following the company's 2007 IPO; Considine had worked at Pirus Systems, which was acquired by Sun in 2002.
Rubin isn't saying much about what they're up to, other than that they're developing software to help enterprises manage cloud computing services. "I don't want to say much for competitive reasons, but we're working with partners and customers now, and building out our offering." She said they'll be ready to divulge more in the spring.
The company has about ten employees, and office space in Bedford, MA. Rubin says they're hiring - working with recruiters, and talking with folks who're part of the founding team's network.
"I've been paying attention to cloud ideas for about 18 months," said David Skok of Matrix. "John Considine is a storage guy, but I kept saying, 'Go look at what Amazon is doing. It's totally amazing.' He came back with a cloud idea, and I introduced him to Ellen. Then we spent a lot of time working with them to shape a defensible idea."
Axel Bichara is the Atlas Venture partner who'll take a seat on the board. Also on the board at CloudSwitch are Jit Saxena, CEO of Netezza, and Andy Palmer, a serial entrepreneur.
GoGrid Moves API Spec to Creative Commons Licensing
GoGrid, the cloud computing division of ServePath, has released its cloudcenter application program interface (API) as an open specification (OpenSpec) under the Creative Commons ShareAlike license. This allows any cloud computing provider to build an API based on this OpenSpec, as well as to modify, share, and republish changes to the specification itself and profit from these efforts.
This innovative move reaffirms GoGrid and ServePath's continuing commitment to the open source and open license movement, as well as setting an example in establishing open standards, transparency, and commonality within the cloud computing marketplace. Tools written to this OpenSpec standard will control both the GoGrid cloud platform and the products of other compatible cloud computing providers.
GoGrid is simultaneously releasing the GoGrid cloudcontrol command line utility, which exercises the functionality in the cloudcenter API OpenSpec. This utility is released under the Lesser General Public License (LGPL) which enables the broadest adoption while also encouraging reuse and sharing in conjunction with the OpenSpec.
This release is in the spirit of the original IETF mission statement (RFC3935) that specifies the creation of standards based on "rough consensus and running code." GoGrid actively encourages the support and interest of the cloud computing community in further developing this OpenSpec and will be revising and working towards updating the cloudcenter API and the its OpenSpec in a manner that fosters the community, interoperability, and ease-of-use.
Transmission 1.50 Beta 3 Reintroduces Web UI Feature
Excerpted from Softpedia Report by Filip Truta
One of the most popular C-written BitTorrent clients for Mac OS X, Transmission, has launched its third Beta of version 1.50. The free application aims to be as efficient as possible.
Transmission is a BitTorrent client much like Vuze or uTorrent. Built from the ground up to be a lightweight, yet powerful BitTorrent client, it sports a simple, intuitive interface designed to integrate tightly with any OS. It runs natively on Mac OS X, seamlessly configuring its user's network, intelligently banning peers who send corrupted data, using protocol encryption and built-in Peer Exchange.
Everything is done in the background, so users needn't worry about manipulating settings. Whether they want to queue their torrents for maximum performance or throttle their speed during peak periods, Transmission lets its users do both. It also allows them to ration commodity efficiently, only slowing down their systems when they actually focus on it, meaning that other work won't be affected.
The new version brings back a useful feature into the Web UI, namely the "add torrent by URL." Additionally, Transmission 1.50 Beta 3 now has three high-priority peer connectivity fixes: one affecting Mac users, one affecting encrypted peer traffic, and one affecting swarms with low peer counts.
One of the more recent releases of Transmission (the first 1.50 beta) added support for Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6), the next-generation Internet layer protocol for packet-switched internetworks and the Internet.
Moving BitTorrent Downloads into the Cloud
Excerpted from Wired News Report by Scott Gilbertson
Eventually your home PC will be little more than a gateway to the Internet where all your files and software will be hosted. Services like Google Docs, Zoho, or online storage providers like DropBox, are fast making the Internet into your personal hard drive, but what about file downloads?
One thing proponents of cloud computing seldom mention is using the cloud to handle BitTorrent downloads and other high-bandwidth tasks, but clever early-adopters are already using hosting services to do just that.
What if you wanted to offload your BitTorrent downloads to a cloud service like Amazon EC2, or perhaps Google App Engine? The answer is it's possible.
Brett O'Connor at Netatedo details how he is using Amazon EC2 to host his BitTorrent downloads. If you're serious about your torrents and looking to free up some bandwidth on your home network, O'Connor's post is worth a read. It's also a fantastic guide to setting up EC2, as Hackzine notes, considerably better than Amazon's own documentation.
Boxee Adds ABC Content, Offers Windows Alpha
Excerpted from CNET News Report
Boxee is expanding its content and potential audience.
The free software that streams Web content directly to the TV has added ABC to its arsenal of content providers. Boxee already offers access to Hulu, Joost, YouTube, Netflix, and CBS.
The software is publicly available to Mac, Linux, and Apple TV users. Windows users can join too, but they have to ask for an invite, as that version is now a private alpha release.
Boxee says 200,000 Mac, Linux, and Apple TV users signed up as of early January.
Dutch Government: Net Effect of P2P Use is Positive
Excerpted from Ars Technica Report by Iljitsch van Beijnum
The Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs commissioned a study by research company TNO about how much Dutch Internet users download music, movies, and games, and what the social and economic effects of this downloading are. This resulted in a 142-page report that differentiates between paid and unpaid downloads and talks about file sharing.
According to the report, an estimated 1.5 billion to 2 billion songs are downloaded unpaid each year, which would be 7.5 songs for every song sold as a download or on CD. 35% of the Dutch population has downloaded music without paying for it, according to the study.
The report recognizes that for music, there is an important "sampling" effect where unpaid downloads are used to sample music, some of which is subsequently bought. On the other hand, the rates for buying content that was previously downloaded without authorization are rather low: the majority only does this a few times a year, in equal amounts for music, movies, and games.
On page 116, the report starts to dissect the societal effects of file sharing. The study concludes that the effects are strongly positive because consumers get to enjoy desirable content and also get to keep their cash to buy other things.
Because the consumers save much more money than the producers lose, the net economic effects are positive. The report also reinforces the truth that unpaid downloads do not translate into lost sales in anything close to a one-to-one ratio.
The report makes a number of recommendations that file sharers will be able to live with, such as supporting the development of new economic models for rights holders, not criminalizing file sharing for personal use, and so on.
The music industry especially has laid the blame for the years-long decline in revenues at the feet of online infringement, even though its own slowness to adapt to changing customer expectations and adopt new business in response is a major factor.
New Zealand Copyright Act Revision Opposed by ISPs
The Internet Service Providers Association of New Zealand (ISPANZ) has respectfully requested that the government not bring into law a new section of New Zealand's Copyright Act that would force ISPs to cut off the Internet access of those accused of copyright infringement.
"If Section 92A becomes law, ISPs will have to disconnect organizations such as businesses, public libraries, government agencies, etc. as a result of accusations that an employee has used his computer for unauthorized downloading. The customer may be innocent; there may be an error; or the downloading may have been done by a virus. Everyday Kiwis with a computer that has been inadvertently hacked may have their Internet access terminated," said ISPANZ President Jamie Baddeley.
"This law needs to go back to the drawing board, with government re-examining the issue and finding a better path forward. ISPANZ would be happy to work with government agencies and rights holders to explore better options."
ISPANZ noted with concern rights holders' claim that 60-to-80% of all Internet traffic is P2P sharing of copyright infringing files. What needs to be recognized is that, unless rights holders can 100% guarantee that accusation equals guilt, then businesses (that produce little or no P2P traffic) are at risk of being taken down through a wrongful accusation. ISPANZ believes rights holders need to qualify their claims about businesses and their use of the Internet.
Baddeley said ISPs are being placed in a terrible position. "Under the proposed section, we'd be damned if we do and damned if we don't. We'd be faced with dealing with an accusation, not proven, of a copyright infringement and making a very difficult judgment call. If we decided in favor of our customer, we'd risk being sued by global media powerhouses. If we decided in favor of the rights holder and disconnected a customer from the Internet, we'd risk being sued by customers for breach of contract. Disconnecting customers goes against everything we do."
"Over the last decade or more we've seen excellent progress in connecting the average person with friends, family, and business associates around the world in a way that is better than before. And businesses have had major increases in productivity by having more accessible information and communications technology (ICT) tools."
A lot of the progress made towards a level, more competitive playing field in the telecommunications market is also in danger of being undermined.
ISPANZ recognizes the benefits of copyright. Many of its members' customers rely on copyright for their livelihoods. However, ISPANZ has serious concerns whether Section 92a can play a part in protecting it.
"On the one hand, we're being asked to enable an economy through global networking and ICT efficiency, and on the other hand we're being asked to stop that connectivity by accusation alone, in order to try to solve another industry's problem with how it monetizes its copyright franchises."
Obama Plan Says Cyber Infrastructure is Strategic
Excerpted from Network World Report by Robert McMillan
The Obama administration has published a high-level plan to protect US computer networks, saying it considers cyber infrastructure a strategic asset, and will appoint a cyber advisor who will report directly to the President.
The six-point outline was published Wednesday as part of a paper detailing the new administration's position on homeland security. Also planned is a "safe computing R&D effort" to build the next generation of security features into computers, and plans to fight cyber-espionage and cybercrime.
The administration also wants to develop standards for securing data and making companies disclose data breaches, something that is governed by a patchwork of state laws at present. The plan largely reflects a cybersecurity strategy that US President Barack Obama first outlined in a July 16th campaign speech.
"We know that cyber-espionage and common crime is already on the rise. And yet while countries like China have been quick to recognize this change, for the last eight years we have been dragging our feet," Obama said, according to a transcript of the speech. "As President, I'll make cyber security the top priority that it should be in the 21st century."
The administration's plans are generally in line with recommendations put forward last month by a panel of security experts, according to one of the report's advisors, That report, written by the Center for Strategic and International Studies' Commission on Cybersecurity for the 44th Presidency, called for sweeping changes to the way the federal government approaches cybersecurity, including the creation of a new cybersecurity office in the White House.
Talking about computer security as a critical national asset rather than just the technology behind e-commerce shows that the Obama administration has a new approach, said Howard Schmidt, President of the Information Security Forum. "I think that's one thing that's really, really key," he said. "By declaring this a national asset, that's going to put everybody on notice that they've got to start doing their part to strengthen it."
Obama Demonstrates How Businesses Should Operate
Excerpted from Online Spin Report by Max Kalehoff
Why can't governments operate more like businesses? In a twist of fate, the White House now is demonstrating how businesses should operate. Including online. This was evidenced, perhaps more than anywhere else, at 12:01 PM during the Presidential Inauguration, at www.whitehouse.gov/blog. Yes, the White House now has a blog!
Macon Phillips, Director of New Media for the White House, explained, "Millions of Americans have powered President Obama's journey to the White House, many taking advantage of the Internet to play a role in shaping our country's future. WhiteHouse.gov is just the beginning of the new administration's efforts to expand and deepen this online engagement."
Phillips detailed three priorities.
Communication - "Americans are eager for information about the state of the economy, national security, and a host of other issues. This site will feature timely and in-depth content meant to keep everyone up-to-date and educated. Check out the briefing room, keep tabs on the blog (RSS feed), and take a moment to sign-up for e-mail updates from the President and his administration so you can be sure to know about major announcements and decisions."
Transparency - "President Obama has committed to making his administration the most open and transparent in history, and WhiteHouse.gov will play a major role in delivering on that promise. The President's executive orders and proclamations will be published for everyone to review, and that's just the beginning of our efforts to provide a window for all Americans into the business of the government. You can also learn about some of the senior leadership in the new administration and about the President's policy priorities."
Participation - "President Obama started his career as a community organizer on the South Side of Chicago, where he saw firsthand what people can do when they come together for a common cause. Citizen participation will be a priority for the Administration, and the Internet will play an important role in that. One significant addition to WhiteHouse.gov reflects a campaign promise from the President: we will publish all non-emergency legislation to the website for five days, and allow the public to review and comment before the President signs it."
Those tenets are especially relevant to our businesses.
It's too early to celebrate. We'll have to wait and see how - or if - the President delivers on his promises, including his new-media commitments. But he has at least launched on the right foot, embracing the openness and potential of the Internet. He's demonstrating, so far, the right way to set up an organization and use the Internet to enhance relationships.
Webcast of P2P File-Sharing Case Postponed
Excerpted from Citizen Media Law Project Report by David Ardia
United States District Court Judge Nancy Gertner has postponed what would have been the first live webcast of a federal court hearing in order to give the plaintiffs in the case an opportunity to seek appellate review of her decision allowing video cameras into her Boston courtroom.
Last week, Gertner issued an order allowing the Courtroom View Network to "narrowcast" the hearing in a lawsuit against Boston University graduate student Joel Tenenbaum, who allegedly downloaded seven unlicensed songs over a P2P network. The hearing was to be made available to the public on the website of the Berkman Center for Internet & Society.
Shortly after Judge Gertner issued her order, the plaintiff record companies filed a motion to stay the decision and filed in the First Circuit a Petition for a Writ of Mandamus or Prohibition and an Emergency Motion for Expedited Consideration, seeking to overturn the order.
It's clear that the record companies really don't want the world to catch a glimpse of how they are prosecuting these cases. Just take a look at their assertions as to how they will be irreparably harmed if Judge Gertner allows the public to view a broadcast of the hearing:
"Petitioners are concerned that, unlike a trial transcript, the broadcast of a court proceeding through the Internet will take on a life of its own in that forum. The broadcast will be readily subject to editing and manipulation by any reasonably tech-savvy individual. Even without improper modification, statements may be taken out of context, spliced together with other statements and rebroadcast as if it were an accurate transcript. Such an outcome can only do damage to Petitioner's case. The district court has attempted to fix this problem by ordering the broadcast to be 'gavel to gavel' and that there be no 'editing' of the proceedings. See Order at 10. But this restriction will be virtually impossible to enforce, as non-parties will still be able to excerpt and circulate portions of the proceedings in a variety of edited forms."
Petition at 21-22. So the record companies believe they will be irreparably harmed if someone makes a mash-up of the video? As David Post at Volokh Conspiracy asks, "Seriously, who is advising these guys?"
Record Labels Kill Off 'Legal P2P' Before It Gets a Chance
Excerpted from Techdirt Report
One of the big discussion points at MidemNet this year was the idea that ISPs might start offering "legalized" file-sharing offerings, where for a certain fee, you would be able to file-share without worry of a lawsuit.
Depending on how this was implemented it could be quite problematic, but structured in a voluntary way it would at least be an interesting experiment to watch.
And, in fact, at MidemNet, folks like Feargal Sharkey suggested that it would only be a matter of weeks until we heard about such offerings in the UK. That may not be the case.
The Register is now reporting that UK broadband provider Virgin has killed off plans for just such a service, which it was just about set to announce, due to ridiculous demands from at least two of the record labels involved.
Despite the fact that the plan was to create a "legal" P2P offering that would track file sharing using deep packet inspection (DPI), Sony Music and Universal Music supposedly demanded that Virgin agree to block file uploads and downloads from users' PCs.
That really doesn't make much sense - as the whole point of P2P is that it involves people uploading and downloading from their computers.
Still, this also explains part of why Virgin was so willing to jump on the recording industry's bandwagon for sending warning notices to customers and threatening to kick them offline. It was apparently step one in a negotiation to see about working out a deal for a "legalized" P2P solution.
While such a solution may not be the best way to do things, it at least seems like a step in a more reasonable direction so, of course, the big record labels were quick to kill it off.
Coming Events of Interest
Digital Music Forum East - February 25th-26th in New York, NY. Participants include top label execs, artists and reps, association heads, attorneys, investors, consumer electronics, plus technology leaders from social networks, payments companies, online retailers, mobile companies, technology start-ups, and more.
East Coast Music Awards - February 26th - March 1st in Corner Brook, NL, Canada. Live, original music during a four-day festival. Terry McBride, Co-Founder & CEO of Nettwerk Music Group, will be the keynote speaker for the conference component of the ECMA weekend.
P2P MARKET CONFERENCE - March 17th in New York, NY. Strategies to fulfill the multi-billion dollar revenue potential of the P2P and social network channel for the distribution of entertainment content. Case studies of sponsorships, cross-promotion, interactive advertising, and exciting new hybrid business models.
Media Summit New York - March 18th-19th in New York, NY. Sponsored by McGraw-Hill and Digital Hollywood, the 2009 MSNY is the premier international conference on media, broadband, advertising, television, cable & satellite, mobile, publishing, radio, magazines, news & print media, and marketing.
Future of Television West - March 24th-25th in Los Angeles, CA. A cutting-edge community of content creators, technology innovators, advertising representatives, and distributors forge relationships and share ideas about the future of television. The event is interactive.
LA Games Conference - April 28th-29th in Los Angeles, CA. Focused on business, finance and creative developments in the games industry, including mobile, online and console markets and the increasing intersection of Madison Avenue and Hollywood with the industry.
P2P MEDIA SUMMIT LA - May 4th in Santa Monica, CA. The fourth annual P2PMSLA, the DCIA's flagship event, featuring keynotes from industry-leading P2P and social network operators; tracks on policy, technology and marketing; panel discussions covering content distribution and solutions development; valuable workshops; networking opportunities; and more.
Digital Hollywood Spring - May 5th-7th in Santa Monica, CA. With many new sessions and feature events, DHS has become the premiere digital entertainment conference and exposition. DCIA Member companies will exhibit and speak on a number of panels.
Streaming Media East - May 12th-13th in New York, NY. The number-one place to see, learn, and discuss what is taking place with all forms of online video business models and technology. Content owners, viral video creators, online marketers, enterprise corporations, broadcast professionals, ad agencies, and educators.
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