June 07, 2006
Follow the Guide(wire)
If you haven't checked it out yet, come on over to our new community site, Guidewire Connection. It's still in its infancy (translation - we're tweaking things here and there) but there's content a'plenty and it's open for your input, comments and suggestions.
Let the games begin!
Posted by Cathy Brooks at 05:40 PM | Comments (0)
June 06, 2006
Innovate!Showcase company, Skinkers, to announce Microsoft deal!
You may be interested by Victoria Shannon’s article that appeared today in the International Herald Tribune, which states enthusiastically that ‘European Technology is in Demand’. Those that attended our recent Innovate!Europe conference will know that this article closely echoes our experience and findings. As Chris Shipley summarised, the last 11 months have shifted focus toward celebrating Europe’s progress to emerge as a technology startup power house. More and better small companies are coming out of Europe than she has seen in the previous 10 years combined.
The 35+ technology showcase companies who took part in I!E06 were testament to the fact that, in many cases, Europe does indeed have a jump start on the USA as regards certain technologies – particularly open source software and peer-to-peer computing.
We’d like to congratulate one of our showcase companies, Skinkers, and CEO Matteo Berlucci, on their deal with Microsoft! You can download their company presentation here.
Posted by Julie LC at 11:33 AM
June 02, 2006
Clicmobile - see their "buddy finder" in action on youtube.com
You can see Clicmobile's latest product demo at youtube.com -- just click on the link below to see how their star product “buddy finder” helps James meet Leah in Geneva! The unique software combines location based services (LBS) with mobile social software (MoSoSo).
Clicmobile were select by Guidewire Group to showcase their technology at Innovate!Europe 06 recently.
Posted by Julie LC at 03:54 PM
May 22, 2006
Tilting at windmills
Endeza might have given Don Quixote a heart attack.
This company - one of the largest power companies in Europe - has a strong focus on renewable/sustainable energy sources. A group of us had the pleasure of meeting with this company's Managing Director and some board members, just before Innovate!Europe began.
We first got a presentation at their offices and then headed out for a tour on one of their properties - a farm of 300+ wind-powered generators just outside the city of Zaragoza.
On the ride over, I spoke with Jaime Ross Vice General Manager of Endeza. In this podcast posted on the Guidewire Group site, he shared perspectives on renewable power and tells of the success his firm has had over the last several decades.
Posted by Cathy Brooks at 07:07 PM | Comments (0)
Conversations with Chris
Every week I have the pleasure of sitting down and chatting with Guidewire's Grand Dame, Chris Shipley, to talk about ... well ... everything. With last week's Innovate!Europe conference, we didn't manage to get our usual chat time, and so when we boarded the train from Zaragoza to Madrid, we headed to the bar car for a beverage and a talk.
I posted several episodes on the Guidewire Group site that you should hear. So check out the following links to hear what Chris had to say about:
The difference between entrepreneurs in Europe and the U.S.
Thinking global and acting global - the new requirement for innovation
Posted by Cathy Brooks at 07:03 PM | Comments (0)
May 18, 2006
Open Source Platforms Enable European Innovators to Target Big Opportunities
Open source and open standards have unleashed a flood of software innovation in Europe. (Hey, let's not forget where Linux came from). So it was no surprise that the Innovate!Europe 2006 event in Zaragoza, Spain, heard from some open source software entrepreneurs with big plans.
Talking in his home town, Ignacio Uson introduced his Warp Networks company and its EBox platform. Ebox is a free open source network administration server for small business. Typical of the big thinking of Europe's young entrepreneurs, Ignacio sees an international potential market 25mn companies for the platform. His marketing strategy is to reach them through system integrators and ISVs. The EBox business model is to sell an annual certification and support package to these resellers. The first marketing goal is 'to get popular fast' by achieving 2500 downloads in the five months after EBox 1.0 launches in Q3.
Otodio has developed a mark-up standard for audio. The company sees a big market opportunity in enabling print publishers to reach mobile phone users via text-to-speech applications. The Otodio system will soon be compatible with all smartphone operating systems, Symbian, Windows Mobile 5.0 and Blackberry. Simon Gall of Otodio says its system is "a big step on from podcasting."
Kewego already has over 1000 corporate clients, 70 TV channels and millions of viewers using its system that brings TV to net and cellphone screens. Anyone can use Kewego to create and watch personalized TV programs. Professional versions of the technology target the broadcasting and corporate sectors.
Posted by Philip Gallagher at 10:53 AM
May 17, 2006
How Can Small Developers Dance Nimbly With Big Platform Partners?
At Innovate!Europe 2006, Zaragoza, Spain, delegates learned how the little guys can dance with the elephants of technology.
In a panel Q&A, Chris Shipley, Executive Producer of Innovate!Europe, quizzed representatives from BT, Microsoft and Symbian responsible for making deals with small developers. The picture that emerged from all three companies was of buzzing dialogues taking place with both small innovators and VCs to find new partners. Once signed to the partner community, operational groups within each of the platform creators steer the development of the relationship.
Chris Shipley's most revealing question was what mistakes eager small fry make when pitching to the big beasts. If you're talking to Sherry Roberts, Head of Partner Development at Symbian, don't just brag about about your technology. You'll need a well thought through business proposition that shows understanding of both operator and consumer needs. She'll be checking that you're marketing savvy and aware of the revenue models involved.
Mike Carr, Director of Research and Venturing at BT, also advises innovators that it doesn't all hang on how wonderful their technology is. He says that people who get good partner deals from BT understand that they are contributing a piece of the jigsaw that has to fit well with other pieces. They also understand what else needs to happen to make the whole technology chain a commercial success.
Finally if you want to win a positive hearing from David Rowe at the Emerging Business Team, Microsoft EMEA, don't bang on about your love of Linux. Telling him that your technology is so hot Microsoft will soon be dying to acquire you is another no-no. And recognize that Microsoft, like your company, is most excited about its latest offerings. So if your claim to fame if deep knowledge of mature Microsoft products, you'll have trouble winning the coveted High Potential Partner status.
Posted by Philip Gallagher at 08:30 PM
Web 2.0: Great Leap Forward?
Web 2.0 solutions from European innovators were in the spotlight at Innovate!Europe 2006, Zaragoza, Spain.
A panel of experienced VCs plus a Web 2.0 innovator discussed the significance of the buzzword, moderated by Michael Arrington, publisher of TechCrunch networks and serial entrepreneur.
Fred Destin of Atlas Venture sees the Web 2.0 movement pulling the user back to the centre of the architecture, potentially challenging the publishing, broadcasting and advertising models.
Judy Gibbons of Accel Partners -- whose career spans H-P, Apple and Microsoft -- saw Web 2.0 applications impacting the mobile phone space in Europe. Judy saw demand in Europe for continuous data access via mobile phone on the Blackberry model. She forecast that Web 2.0 applications would enabled continuous data refresh to mobile phones without having to go through the operator.
Philippe Collombel of Partech International counted himself among the Web 2.0 sceptics. Quite a number of web watchers feel Web 2.0 is a fancy name for a predictable technology evolution.
Tariq Krim of Netvibes was the Web 2.0 entrepreneur on the panel. His customisable web GUI enables users to manage all their daily information feeds and service providers from one page. Tariq said that the net has become too complicated. Web 2.0 applications will return to users control of their information.
Posted by Philip Gallagher at 07:48 PM
Curmudgeonly crunching
TechCrunch is one of the more well-read blogs in technology today and its creator, Michael Arrington, is one of those lightening rod sorts of people who tends to inspire rather intense emotions ranging from respect and interest to varying degrees of dislike.
Personally I like the guy. He's opinionated, brazen and you never need to question where you stand with him. Granted, he sometimes opens his mouth and proceeds to shove his foot past his tonsils, but his heart's in the right place and he has some solid perspectives on technology, start-ups and other industry topics.
He was a panel moderator at the Innovate!Europe conference and we had a chance to sit down after he was done being his saucy self. As you might expect Mike had some pointed remarks about innovation in Europe; but we also talked at length about some of the rather nasty experiences he's been having in regards to some cowardly chumps who have been attacking him personally for no apparent reason other than they just don't like him.
Take a listen to these two episodes, and if you have a problem with them or my standing up for him, go ahead ... take a whack at me too.
Mike's thoughts on the European innovation ecosystem and its challenges.
Posted by Cathy Brooks at 05:31 PM | Comments (0)
Global innovation - only Six(Apart) Degrees
It's a small world.
We live in a global village.
Pick whatever cliche you like, but the premise remains the same. The world in which we live grows increasingly smaller, and though there are unquestionable variations between cultures and manners of business in various parts of the world, the stark reality is that there are more similarities between one country and another - at least in terms of innovation and entrepreneurship - than not.
This week I had the pleasure of sitting down with one of Europe's more well-known entrepreneurs - Loïc Le Meur. Currently a partner with SixApart, and in charge of that firm's European operations, this affable and eloquent man has launched several companies with a great degree of success.
In our conversation, Loïc shared his thoughts on:
Continue reading "Global innovation - only Six(Apart) Degrees"
Posted by Cathy Brooks at 05:17 PM | Comments (0)
Social Media Explosion in Flattening World
Innovate!Europe 2006, Zaragoza, Spain, heard a fascinating sequence of presentations from young companies innovating in the social media space. Social media covers blogs, user-generated content, social networks and online communities.
The session was led by Loic Le Meur, one of Europe's most influential bloggers and winner of the innovator of the year award at Innovate!Europe 2005. Highlighting the speed this trend is moving, Loic said "Podcasts are already challenging TV and radio, just like blogs are seriously challenging the press." Loic pointed out that blogging is fast becoming an every day medium not a techno peculiarity. "There are now more podcasts than radio stations," he said, "and only a third of blog posts are in English. A hundred million people use Skype."
Loic said these phenomena show a new type of citizenship is emerging across a fast flattening world. People are talking to directly each other rather than via the traditional political and media establishments. Loic, whose day job is Executive V-P & General Manager EMEA at Six Apart, introduced five social media innovators:
GTP Solutions of Greece is among the companies at this Innovate!Europe offering a Web 2.0 solution. Dr. Nicholas Ampazis, the professor who heads the company, demoed Feeds 2.0 a personalized RSS aggregator that prioritizes incoming information according to the user's interests.
Skinkers, which has developed a second generation push messaging chain. The system answers one-to-many messaging needs that email can't cope with. The company has a roster of blue-chip clients.
Wakoo has a solution that enables bloggers to easily create realtime chat. The baby of two young French entrepreneurs, Wakoo also has a service for business blogs that avoids the spam threat.
Nooked from Ireland has already built a worldwide customer base for its RSS marketing solutions and is market leader in its sector.
Wee World promises to infect the net with the most irritating characters to sane adults since the Windows paperclip. Its online service allows users to create WeeMees, customizable avatars that can be used as identifiers on all kinds of mobile and online communications. Through gritted teeth we are bow in admiration to Wee World's $20+mn in funding and a partner list that includes Microsoft Messenger, Motorola, Skype and Vodafone. With over half a million sign-ups a month, Wee World is one of the world's fastest growing communities.
Posted by Philip Gallagher at 02:33 PM
The New Garage: Entrepreneurs Reveal Canny Models for Innovative Start-ups
Europe-based innovators are using skillful strategies to get their new businesses airborn. At an Innovate!Europe 06 panel moderated by Chris Shipley of Guidewire Group, three entrepreneurs revealed how they have carefully constructed their business models for growth.
First up was Gary Stewart, founder of Goa Internet Services. Gary, an American now based in Barcelona, has launched Mi Goa , a vertical search engine. Mi Goa will start by offering tightly targeted real estate, job and auto sales searches for the Barcelona area. Gary's longer term plans are to take the formula to other European cities and even Latin America (he has fluent Spanish). Gary first decided he wanted to start a business in Spain and then looked to the U.S. for commercial ideas. He was seeking models from the well-developed U.S. ecommerce market that would have early mover advantage in less developed Spain. Vertical seach and the buzz around Craig's List looked to fit the bill.
Cedric Maloux, founder of AllPeers, is French but decided the UK offered the lowest friction environment for launching his information sharing platform. And that Prague is the best bet for software development. Later stage business and marketing development will be handled from the UK. Today's European entrepreneurs are flexible and mobile when its comes to finding the best locations for their businesses at different stages.
Niclas Begstrom, founder of ReadSpeaker, described a sophisticated early growth model that shows how imaginative European entrepreneurs can be in building their businesses and market positions. The ReadSpeaker team wanted to square the circle of growing a speech processing business fast across multiple language areas, harnessing the sales drive of eager entrepreneurs in each country, while ultimately retaining a significant stake. So they created a new company and sold all the ReadSpeaker rights to it. That company then issued three year licenses for the ReadSpeaker system to entrepreneurs in target markets. Alumni of a European business school snapped up several of the franchises. At the end of three years franchises will revent to the licensing vehicle and franchisees will be granted stakes in that company on a formula that will reflect their success in building sales and margins. Smart or what?
Posted by Philip Gallagher at 12:19 PM
May 16, 2006
Pending podcasts ... stay tuned!
I've been a podcasting dervish while here in Zaragoza (must be all the queso and vino), and have quite a few more episodes in the hopper.
Stay tuned for some great commentary, includingconversations with Loic Le Meur from SixApart and TechCrunch's Michael Arrington, as well as several of the stellar innovators at this week's event.
In addition, I'll be posting a series of episodes based on a fascinating meeting we had earlier this week with some top government officials. We met with the Regional Minister for Economy, Finance and Employment for the Government of Aragon, as well as the Managing Director of Sabia, the Aragonian Government's venture capital fund and the Managing Director of Aragon Exterior who helps local companies in exports to other countries.
And be sure to check out the Guidewire Group "I of Innovation" weekly series in your favorite podcast directory. Do a search for our program and you'll find some fresh episodes this week, including part two of a seven part conversation with Ann Winblad, and some additional insights and perspectives from technology's leading innovators.
In the mean time if you have suggestions for topics to cover, or comments about what you've heard thus far - don't be shy! If you're here in Zaragoza, you can let me know in person. Otherwise, go ahead and email me!
Posted by Cathy Brooks at 05:48 PM | Comments (0)
Innovation - an international language
For all the talk of its fractured state, I'm finding a rather consistent set of themes regarding innovation among the international delegates in Zaragoza this week.
In this series of podcasts, I speak with entrepreneurs representing three very different locations in the international innovation ecosystem - Sweden, the Czech Republic and Australia.
Hjalmar Winbladh - President and CEO of Sweden-based Rebtel - says that entrepreneurship was once a rather "fishy" thing in his hometown.
Tim English of Digislide explains that even with the explosion of innovation in Australia, being down under means being a bit out of the loop.
Matt Gertner and Cedric Maloux, CTO and CEO respectively, of AllPeers discuss how the advantages of innovating in a place like Prague aren't necessarily a slam-dunk for success.
Posted by Cathy Brooks at 05:33 PM | Comments (0)
Innovate!Europe Celebrates Europe as “Innovation Powerhouse”
Opening Innovate!Europe 06, Executive Producer Chris Shipley said this year’s event is a celebration of Europe emerging as a technology innovation powerhouse. Chris said that the past year had been a cultural turning point for entrepreneurship on this side of the Atlantic. A new generation of graduates was emerging from Europe’s universities eager to try their hands at starting and building technology-based businesses. These are Internet children, Innovate!Europe’s founder stressed. The dot.com crash of half a decade ago is ancient history to them. And they have little time for previous cultural sniffyness in some European regions about creating your own business. Chris, who talks in depth to hundreds of innovators each year, reported that she has seen more and better companies launched in Europe over last 12 months than during the past 10 years here. And today’s European innovation hotshots are thinking global from the outset. Chris has found that even though these companies may start their sales locally, their Internet generation founders are acutely aware that they must create products with global opportunities and competitors in mind. At the first Innovate!Europe last year we met to explore and discuss how innovation could be boosted here, Chris said. Eleven months later she’s delighted to present over 30 companies that are driving the innovation revolution in Europe.Posted by Philip Gallagher at 05:16 AM
Challenges, opportunities and shameless plugs
And so it began ...
On Monday night the delegates for Innovate!Europe gathered at Teatro Romano in Zaragoza for a pre-event cocktail soiree. Once again, superb food and wine were plentiful - as were conversations about the state of Europe's innovation ecosystem.
In between snaring the occasional snack (I know foie gras isn't politically correct, but mmmmm ... ), I took the opportunity to speak with some of the innovators as well as a seasoned technology veteran.
Continue reading "Challenges, opportunities and shameless plugs"
Posted by Cathy Brooks at 01:17 AM | Comments (0)
May 14, 2006
Some of the earliest innovators
I always knew that monks were advanced in terms of literary education, but had no idea that they were such incredible innovators of early technology.
Continue reading "Some of the earliest innovators"
Posted by Cathy Brooks at 10:40 PM | Comments (0)
Checking out the Innovation Ecosystem in Europe
What a whirlwind! It's now quite late on Sunday night, at least that's according to the clock ... my body, however, isn't entirely sure. After a rather grueling trip across the pond (which included a missed train and an unexpected day in Madrid - but more on that another time), I connected with the Guidewire posse for a Saturday night tapas-fest.
Among our crew are some US Journalists whose daily existence revolves around tracking technology and its impact on our lives. They're here in Zaragoza to participate in Guidewire's Innovate!Europe event, and bring their perspectives to our evaluation of the ecosystem here.
Before the two tons of tapas, I took a few moments to speak with a couple of these folks - Stephen Wildstrom from Business Week and Janet Rae-Dupree who's currently deep in a media-focused fellowship at Stanford University.
Take a listen to our conversation ...
Posted by Cathy Brooks at 02:56 PM | Comments (0)
April 24, 2006
Innovate!Europe Innovators Announced
Today Guidewire Group announced the first group of early stage companies that will be participating in Innovate!Europe 2006. Amongst the 30+ companies annouced are business from a dozen countries that are targeting emerging global opportunities in telecommunications, media, financial services, security, business intelligence, mobile services and other market segments.
Register for Innovate!Europe 2006 to meet these entrepreneurs in person.
Posted by Guidewire Group at 11:12 PM
April 06, 2006
We Invite You to Take Our Survey on European Entrepreneurship and Influence the Direction of Innovation in Europe
Together with internationally-renowned PR firm, Burson-Marsteller, we are inviting entrepreneurs and executives like yourself to take a few moments to contribute your perspective on “Innovation in Europe” and to voice your opinions on topics ranging from innovation hot spots, to barriers to innovation, and the role of government in innovation.
If you want to influence the direction of innovation in Europe, please take a moment today to express your point of view and we’ll enter you in a drawing for one of 10 complimentary VIP passes to Innovate!Europe 2006—Europe’s premier innovation event.
Posted by Julie LC at 04:36 PM
3D TV Prototypes: Part 1
High-definition equipment filled the halls... However some European innovators are beavering away at next generation technology -- 3D TV.
From Philip Gallagher, European Research Director, Guidewire Group
High-definition equipment filled the halls at CeBIT 06 (Germany, March 9-15). However some European innovators are beavering away at next generation technology -- 3D TV.
Germany’s Fraunhofer Institute, comprising 59 research labs and which developed the MP3 spec, showed 3D display technology. The display produced 3D effects without the viewer needing special glasses. Though the viewer did need to stand at a precise spot.
Viewer location matters because the display achieves its effects partly by tracking the viewer’s eye movements.
We believe that eye-tracking technology will play an important role in enabling displays to become much smarter.
Two technologies are being used to create the 3D images. The simpler one uses two cameras. One camera takes a conventional image. The other takes an image in greyscale which captures the depth of the scene.
The more complex solution uses seven cameras. Eye-tracking tells the screen which angle from its repertoire of images to serve up.
This project, 3D Visualisation, is headed by Dr. Peter Eisert of the Fraunhofer-Institut für Nachrichtentechnik.
peter.eisert@hhi.fraunhofer.de
Another Fraunhofer project from the same lab involves a 3D kiosk screen. This technology enables the viewer to move by gesture recognition 3D images seeming to float in front of the screen. The project is headed by Klaus Hopf.
klaus.hopf@hhi.fraunhofer.de
Posted by Julie LC at 12:58 PM
March 30, 2006
British Telecom's Director of Research & Venturing, Mike Carr, Joins the Debate
Very large companies feed on the innovation of smaller technology start-ups in order to survive and small new companies need strong initial partner and customer to grow. It’s a mutually beneficial dance. But how do these dance partners find one another and how do very small companies best engage with the giants of the industry? At Innovate!Europe 2006, we’ll be exploring these questions and finding out how some of Europe’s leading technology companies make pioneering successes out of these partnerships.
Posted by Joanne Donn at 03:27 PM
March 29, 2006
Europe’s New Standard for Entrepreneurship: Niklas Zennström, CEO & Co-founder, Skype to Keynote at Innovate!Europe 2006
The September 2005 announcement that Skype was to be acquired by eBay for US$2.6billion set the global technology markets buzzing, and made Skype CEO & Co-founder Niklas Zennström an entrepreneurial hero. What so many viewed as an exit, however, is only a new beginning for Skype, and it is that new beginning and the challenges ahead that Zennström will address when he keynotes Innovate!Europe in May.
He will talk about his ambitious plans for Skype as a platform provider, and you’ll have the opportunity to ask questions during a moderated on-stage interview. It’s so easy to lose sight of the future among the skyrocketing success in the present. Skype’s acquisition by eBay has inspired a generation and will forever change attitudes about European entrepreneurship. But the Skype Story is just getting started.
Join us in Zaragoza in May to hear what’s coming and take part in the debate!
Posted by Joanne Donn at 04:11 PM
March 23, 2006
Philip Gallagher, Guidewire's European Research Director on Assignment at CeBit 2006
The CeBIT 06 show, which wrapped up March 15, spotlighted a clutch of major new market trends that promise to drive innovation and breed young companies in Europe.
On top of that came signs from leading EU politicians that they know more than hot air is needed to encourage technology innovation in the Euro zone.
Over the next several days we’ll be blogging about these aspects of the show. Here we’ll give snapshots the big picture trends, each likely trigger a flurry of innovations. Following mails will drill down to specific innovators and technologies.
Basic facts & figures: The seven-day show in Hannover, Germany, attracted 6262 exhibitors, from 70 nations in 3.3 million square feet / 310,000 square meters of exhibition space. A final total of 450,000 visitors is forecast, excluding exhibitor staff, around 80% expected to be deciders or co-deciders.
1.LBS (locations-based services) and telematics come of age.
A headline message from CeBIT 06 is that LBS features, today meaning GPS capability, are following MP3 functionality as a must-have feature of various types of handsets and mobile devices.
At the enterprise level, telematics in the form of fleet management technologies are an important ROI tool for companies moving goods round the 25 and rising member countries of the EU.
Both personal and corporate LBS technologies will get a strong boost when the EU launches GALILEO, its 4 billion Euro ($4.75 billion) answer to the USA’s GPS and Russia’s Glonass.
2. Big buzz about VOIP.
A buzzing VOIP (Voice over IP) exhibit at CeBIT attracted almost 300 exhibitors and 70 conference speakers.
The application has got attention at the show back to the Vocaltec days. But even last year Cisco’s strong VOIP presentations seemed to get a ho-hum reaction from corporate buyers. They were uneasy about security and QoS issues while wincing at handset prices.
Two things have changed European attitudes over 12 months. At the low-end the phenomenal uptake of Skype, the European origin company bought by eBay. Then the spread of IP-based Next Generation Networks within companies.
Granted some analysts believe Europe’s old incumbent telcos will squelch pure-play VOIP operators through regulatory attack and new PSTN pricing packages. And granted enterprise buyers still have security and control concerns.
Nevertheless the turn-out for CeBIT 06’s VOIP display showed a high-level of serious interest among the show’s professional audience. And the profusion of VOIP SOHO end-user equipment from small suppliers echoed the early days of Wi-FI.
VOIP is also marrying with cellular. Nokia showed three business handsets capable of sending data by 3G ceullular, 802.11x WLANs and VOIP. A reminder that VOIP will not spare cellular while disrupting fixed line.
(A must-have function for dual-mode cellular/WLAN handsets -- though maybe not those supplied by big cellular operators – a Skype button.)
3. HDTV finally arrives in Europe
Fifteen years ago Europe’s TV broadcasters said no-way to the Euro-standard HDTV system being pushed Philips.
The TV stations reckoned their viewers were happy with PAL-standard picture quality. Broadcasters, especially from the commercial sector, wanted to hook their audiences on more channels receivable on existing TVs with a little help from a settop box. That meant going digital without HD.
Since 1996 Europe has sprouted a profusion of standard definition digital channels, via satellite, cable and over the air.
Facing a mature subscription TV market, the big commercial media cos are finally ready to offer HDTV. And guess what, the soccer World Cup held in Germany this summer offers an ideal launch event.
So CeBIT was awash with HD LCD and plasma screens and projectors, plus home networking demos to show how the signals could be moved around the house.
At CeBIT, it was big name East Asian makers pushing this kit – the Hitachis, Panasonics and Samsungs – with Microsoft Media Center of course as the home network hub.
We expect the entrepreneurial fallout in Europe will be seen at the broadcasting trade shows, where a wave of production companies and facilities houses specialising in HD will come to the fore.
4. TV by cellphone
CeBIT saw the opening rounds of another standards battle stimulated by the soccer World Cup. TV reception is coming to cellular handsets in Europe.
Operators are placing bets on two mobile standards: DVB-H is the handheld version of Europe’s highly successful DVB digital TV standard; rival DMB has been developed in Korea.
Prototypes for DVB-H, which can deliver up to 60 channels per network, were demo’d by BenQ Siemens and Nokia. Prototypes for DMB, which though delivering fewer channels has greater range, were shown by LG and Samsung.
We believe that the content demands created by TV-to-cellular feeds, plus the HSDPA super speed overlay for 3G networks also premiered at CeBIT, will undermine the current content provision strategy of the leading cellular operators in Europe.
They have embraced a “walled garden” approach, offering exclusive closely controlled content. Content volumes have been relatively limited.
The even higher bandwidths being opened up by the technology will demand much greater content volumes. We expect to see European operators moving to the “open garden” model of DoCoMo’s imode model or France’s hugely successful pre-Internet Minitel. These two systems, like the Internet itself, allowed large numbers of service providers – large and small – to set up shop on the network. Another stimulus to Europe’s entrepreneurs.
5. RFID gets political backing
One of the world’s top retails, METRO Group, took a vast stand at CeBIT, with dozens of partners including IBM, Intel, SAP and Deutsche Telekom’s T-Systems. These companies were demonstrating their Future Store initiative, using RFID technology to revolutionise retail logistics.
Metro’s stand received a visit from Germany’s recently elected leader Angela Merkel. A significant move as RFID technology has received much criticism in Germany for threatening privacy.
More political support came from The European Commission’s Viviane Reding, responsible for information technology and media in the EU. She chaired a conference on the show site to discuss RFID issues. Star speaker was Vint Cerf, now Google Chief Evangelist. This was the first time an official holding Reding’s key technology role in Europe had taken such an active role at CeBIT.
Besides retail applications, exhibitors in the RFID hall at CeBIT showed applications for mass transit, event management (World Cup again), chemical, pharmaceutical and airline industries.
We expect the early days of RFID in Europe will generate some business for small equipment suppliers. But as the market matures, big name IT vendors will dominate, plus vertical software suppliers.
Posted by Joanne Donn at 04:20 PM
March 08, 2006
Entrepreneurs in the City of Lights
Yesterday we celebrated our inaugural Innovator!Day in Paris. During the day, Guidewire Group's Global Research Director, Chris Shipley met with 7 amazing early stage French companies vying to become Guidewire Group Global Innovators and for the opportunity to participate in Innovate!Europe 2006 and our upcoming research products.
Then in the evening, we and three of Innovate!Europe's advisors (Loic Le Meur, Marc Goldberg, and Philippe Collombel), with the generous help of our friends at Ballou PR, hosted 30 executives passionate about technology entrepreneurship at a tremendous cocktail party and dinner at Pershing Hall.
Loic took some great pictures.
Next up: Innovator!Day London.
Posted by Guidewire Group at 04:07 PM
