Well, well, well, broadband gets awards!

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There are umpteen awards in this country - for everything from sausage rolls onwards. But it is rare (unless we hold the CanDo Awards again!) that broadband innovation gets a look in.

This blog post can be read at 5tth.blogspot.com



I've just received an email which has led me to discover that two of our number (for we count you as part of the family which will bring the solutions, particularly to solving rural broadband) have been shortlisted down to the Final 50 for the Red Bull Future 50 Awards.

So, I'd like to congratulate Paul Evans of Sharedband and James Collier of Neul for getting noticed in what appears to be a diverse and competitive award scenario.

Neul have also been included in the top ten judge's picks, and I love the comment: "Big? This could be galactic!", and we shall all be looking out for Weightless shortly.

Good luck to both companies, now and in the future, and readers: don't forget to vote!
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Services and Applications -especially for Somerset

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Read more! Further to my post about oranges, it seems that the message just isn't getting through to people about even the very first applications and services which FTTH networks have enabled, and hence why the UK is SO FAR BEHIND in thinking, deployment and funding.

This blog post can be read at 5tth.blogspot.com



The FTTH council EU Innovation Awards were not awarded for no reason. However, the shortlists also exclude a multitude of further projects which are innovative, ingenious, relevant, sustainable, potentially profitable, niche, mass market, exciting, and more.

If I were an investor, I'd be champing at the bit right now to get FTTH networks in to begin developing apps and services for the population of the British Isles.

There are projects which will succeed, and others which will fail. Some target massive groups of users, whilst others are so niche as to be possibly only relevant to the inventor. Such is the way of the world of innovation, and which we have watched the network economy over the last two decades both foster and founder in ways that were unimaginable before the advent of the Internet and the advancement of telecommunication.

PP 28-30 give a few examples of just some uses for FTTH, all of which should inspire the UK, as well as highlight just how little we are doing here.

How can we run experiments with hundreds of FTTH users when we don't have hundreds of FTTH users, as other countries do? How can we understand the value of FTTH when we have people who really don't get what high bandwidth, low latency, etc etc offers that ADSL (of any flavour) simply cannot? All declaimers should be forced to visit countries, towns, villages and homes where FTTH is changing worlds....

As preparation for those visits, here's some light reading......

FTTH Innovation Awards
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CanDo Awards for broadband

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Read more! Way back when, we ran the CanDo Awards. These recognised the achievements of the many grassroots players who often got lost in the noise of corporate PR, and who were doing amazing things in the broadband world, but frequently in small ways only. The world has moved on and the work of small companies and communities is now frequently recognised.

This blog post can be read at 5tth.blogspot.com

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I am delighted to announce the relaunch of the these awards for 2010.

The categories are being finalised - (your contributions/suggestions are welcome) - and we hope that the many corporates who stepped up to Rory's mark at the conference and focussed on solutions for one specific rural area, will step up again to help sponsor these awards.

The award ceremony will be in a most beautiful part of the country, Eden, Cumbria (of course!) at the end of the year.

If you want to sponsor a specific award or the event, please contact either Rory's office or myself (Lindsey Annison).



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Congrats to SWBB

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Read more! Hooray! South Witham Broadband have won a medal in the e-inclusion awards for geographic inclusion for their fab community network in Lincolnshire.

Having represented them in Brussels, and followed their progress since the very early days (and written a book about them!), I would like to be the first to congratulate them on achieving such recognition at EU level.

This network has done more than just learn the lessons that should be taken on board by ANYONE planning a next gen network. It has also applied them so that it actually connects with its customers and the community it serves. SWBB is a first class example of best practice, of engaging your community, of sustainability, how to connect the 'ethnic minority' of the disconnecteds, and of how those who live and work within a community can create a co-operative solution to next generation communications.

It is unfortunate that the organisation who should be advising on these issues is now just a group of consultants, out of touch with real community networks, but for those who need to understand the solution, why not get in touch with SWBB and employ them to answer your questions and show you how it can be done?


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Vote Now!

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The community network that is the subject of my second book has been shortlisted for the UK Catalyst awards - vote for SWBB today!

South Witham Broadband has been shortlisted for the People's Choice, so let's bring broadband to the top of the agenda where it belongs. Vote for SWBB today! Read more!