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Patent Implications: Interoperability Across Old & New
For any who have read the entire patent application, it will be easy to come across the following quote:
"One embodiment of the invention provides for a portable unit that is wireless"
Once done, you sit back and see the large picture: If I want to call from my VVoIP enabled SmartPhone to a relative on their old-fashioned home phone, then the scope of the patent is seen.
It covers communication between stand alone VVoIP appliances like the Ojo Vision, the wireless SmartPhone or Tablet versions, and traditional PSTN landline phones that are so familiar to my older relatives.
When the claims are read in detail, IMHO any VVoIP call to any telecom device over the Internet or PSTN network is included. It is the foundational and pioneering patent describing the transition from Old to New: ANY VVoIP calls are encompassed by this patent.
New Patent 8,063,928 - Video System and Method
http://portal.uspto.gov/external/portal/pair
What is claimed is:
1. A videophone system including a plurality of videophones, wherein at least one videophone is connected to a videophone interface unit, the system comprising: an adapter connected to and configured for affording communication with said videophone over a PSTN network or over a broadband network; processor means for selectably linking said videophone to said PSTN network or to said broadband network, wherein the videophone can selectably receive and make calls on the PSTN network or the broadband network; and an operations center connected to said broadband network and having means for storing information related to at least one user of said videophone, said operations center being configured to communicate with said videophone over said broadband network, wherein said operations center includes means for determining information indicating whether a calling and a called party each have a videophone, and means for communicating such information to said videophone interface unit, and wherein said videophone interface unit includes means for selectably routing a call over said broadband network or PSTN network.
2. The videophone system of claim 1 wherein said videophone system includes at least one PSTN telephone which is connected to the PSTN network and to the videophone interface unit, and wherein said videophone interface unit includes means for both the PSTN telephone and said videophone to alert a user when there is an incoming call on either the PSTN network or the broadband network.
3. The video system of claim 2 wherein said videophone interface unit includes means for isolating said PSTN telephone from the PSTN network.
4. The videophone system of claim 3 further comprising means for using the same telephone number for said videophone and said PSTN telephone.
5. The videophone system of claim 1 wherein the videophone interface unit includes means for causing an incoming call on the broadband network to have a different alert on said videophone than an incoming call on the PSTN network.
6. The videophone system of claim 1 wherein said videophone interface unit includes means for selectably routing an audio and video call made on said videophone over the broadband network, and an audio only call made on said videophone over the PSTN network.
7. The videophone system of claim 1 wherein said videophone interface unit includes means for selectably routing an audio and video call made on said videophone over the broadband network, and an audio only call made on said videophone over the broadband network as a voice over internet protocol (VoIP) call.
8. A method for providing a connection using a videophone system including at least one videophone, said method comprising: configuring the videophone for communication with a PSTN network or a broadband network; determining which of the PSTN or broadband networks to use for routing a call from a calling party to a called party based upon whether the PSTN or broadband network is available to the called party, or determining which of the PSTN or broadband networks to use for routing the call based upon which of the networks is used by the calling party; storing information related to at least the calling or called party in an operations center connected to the broadband network, said operations center being configured to communicate with the videophone over the broadband network, wherein the operations center includes means for determining information indicating whether a calling and a called party each have a videophone, and means for communicating such information to a videophone interface unit, and wherein said videophone interface unit includes means for selectably routing a call over the broadband or PSTN network.
Javad Ashjaee’s LightSquared Solution Presentation at PNT Meeting
I share the American Surveyor story as it provides a clear description of one very respected engineer's solution to the LigthSquared-GPS coexistence issue. IMHO, the story does a good job of explaining the transition political transition from "Shut Down LightSquared" to "LightSquared-GPS coexistence".
Please note that there is a graphic in the story that is not carried over to this message board. IMO, it is very important to bring up the original story to review the graphic.
Javad Ashjaee’s LightSquared Solution Presentation at PNT Meeting
Written by Marc Cheves, PS
Saturday, 12 November 2011
Due to time and space constraints, my editorial in the next magazine does not tell the complete story about what happened at the recent PNT meeting. Because of the significance of the LightSquared issue, the PNT changed its schedule to allow Javad to present his solution the day before the public meeting began. Assembled were scientists and top-level experts from all over the industry, both in the public and private sectors. They were given the opportunity to grill Javad, and according to reports, Javad answered every question to the satisfaction of all present.
Probably the most significant comments at the meeting were made by Tom Stansell, who moderated the LightSquared panel. Stansell, one of the pioneers in GPS and a fifty-year veteran in the industry, opened his remarks by saying that Javad is “One of the single most innovative people in his field, bringing out products that make his competitors unhappy and uncomfortable at times because he is a leader.”
Prior to the Survey Summit last summer, Javad spoke of guarding against “aggression” toward GPS. But just before the Summit, as soon as he understood that an engineering solution was possible, he quickly began to develop a fix which he announced at the Summit. In the LightSquared press conference on October 13, Javad frankly admitted that the GPS industry has not done a proper job of designing receivers: the industry knew that a threat existed from future L-band transmissions. More about this can be found HERE.
Javad began his presentation at the PNT meeting with a slide showing how communications are the most expensive and difficult part of receiver design. (Note: Javad’s 76-page PowerPoint PNT presentation can be found HERE.) Whether by UHF or cell phone, the connection is often tenuous and difficult to maintain. With LightSquared, Javad sees a much more robust and cheaper means of relaying the correction signals.
Next, Javad displayed a graphic showing the spectrum, and where all the players lie in that spectrum. Unknown to me was the fact that LightSquared’s proposed use lies on both sides of the GPS spectrum. The two LightSquared bands lying left, or below the GPS band, are referred to as 10L and 10H (what we’ve been referring to as the lower and upper band), and the band lying to the right, or above GPS and GLONASS, is referred to as 10R.
MISSING GRAPHIC - LOOK AT ORIGINAL HERE
Something I’ve always admired about Javad is his ability to put highly technical subjects in terms that are easy to understand. And so, for the next part, Javad gave a clear explanation of power measured in decibels. Counter-intuitively, the larger the decibel value—measured in milliwatts, dBm—the weaker the signal. And the scale is logarithmic: for example, 10dB is 10 milliwatts, but 60dB is one million milliwatts. Non-military GPS signals are -133 dBm, but LightSquared is -10dBm. Stated more simply, LightSquared is a tenth of a milliwatt, but GPS is a twenty trillionth of a milliwatt. As you can see, the GPS signal is far weaker than the LightSquared signal.
The problem then becomes, How to eliminate the interference from the powerful LightSquared signal while still receiving the weak GPS signal? To evaluate his solution, Javad devised four separate tests. The first test is component simulation and analysis, and the second test is sine wave in-circuit measurements (see PowerPoint). Both of these tests clearly showed that the Javad solution works to exclude the LightSquared signals, both above and below the GPS spectrum.
Javad next showed the costs for the “fix” in the low noise amplifier (LNA) circuitry (note: an LNA acts as a cascade and is how a receiver takes the extremely weak GPS signal and makes it useable): a $30 ceramic filter, and four tiny 24-cent surface acoustic wave (SAW) filters.
The third test was to place a LightSquared signal generator and a modified receiver in an anechoic chamber. These chambers completely block all outside signals, thereby allowing the scientists to isolate the equipment being tested and evaluate it without any extraneous “noise.” Using the built-in spectrum analyzer capability of the Javad-VS receiver, this test also clearly showed that above- and below-band LightSquared signals were blocked from the receiver.
The fourth test, a zero baseline configuration—what Javad called the ultimate test—placed un-modified and modified receivers in a very high-multipath environment. (Zero baseline = one antenna feeding two receivers.) The results of this 15-hour test also clearly showed that the receiver was able to maintain a ±0.2mm accuracy on carrier phase signals for GPS L1, GPS L2 and GLN L2. Due to the fact that GLONASS uses FDMA and not CDMA (like GPS), GLN L1 was slightly higher, but was still corrected by almost two thirds (we’re still talking about only a millimeter on GLN L1).
Stansell closed the panel discussion by saying, “I think we learned, thanks to Javad, about a very clever solution to a particular problem for a particular range of products—the products he is most familiar with,” he said. “It may or may not fit in some of the other applications. What we have not addressed is sort of the elephant in the living room. That is the cost, and time delay, and changeover process if LightSquared is allowed to go forward. Will it be the lower 10, upper 10? That has to be resolved. There are very large questions remaining to be discussed, and [they] may or may not be fully solved in a short period of time."
In a subsequent conversation I had with Javad, he said he is working on a solution for the upper of the two lower bands, so even though LightSquared itself says that the 10H solution might take years, given the speediness of Javad’s lower band solution, I wouldn’t be surprised if the years turn into months. In his opening remarks, Stansell alluded to the fact that Javad has always stood alone with his innovations and approach. But whether it’s having a hand in getting GLONASS adopted by the precise community around the world, or coming up with a solution for the LightSquared issue, his presentation at the PNT meeting was one of his finest hours. To put his money where his mouth is, he brought 40 modified TRIUMPH-LS “LightSquared-Protected” receivers to the meeting, offering them to any and all who wanted to test for themselves.
Looking to the future, Javad said his company will begin manufacturing “LightSquared-Integrated” receivers in May 2012, for RTK positioning using the proposed LightSquared broadband network for high-speed communication. More information can be found HERE
You are Taking the Bait, He's Getting Your Goat
IMHO, to argue with Arthur is to argue with someone who has a Troll agenda. He economically benefits from never agreeing with you. The way he argues makes me think of the following URL:
http://www.don-lindsay-archive.org/skeptic/arguments.html
IMHO, his most recent contention about LIghtSquared leaves out the connection to O-Tel through Ahuja's other firms. He knows this, but chooses to undermine the import of this relationship with Ahuja.
Also, IMHO to ignore the fundamental economic value of supperior performance at less than 50% of the bandwidth in a capital constrained, margin sensitive environment like South Africa is ludicrous as the customers will have to pay for bandwidth consumption. The consumers of 2nd/3rd world countries can't afford to overpay for a service.
And, IMO it actually goes against the basic premise of Ahuja's wholesale model used across the three different companies: operational efficiency to provide competitive service at a very competitive price.
I am unable to do any private messages given my membership level. So I came to this board instead. The only thing more private is a direct email.
Let's Hope Ahuja Feeds VOX VVoIP Across His World
I'm with you, this could be huge if information is solid, but real business benefits (revenue) will take time, IMO.
The following YouTube video describes Eaton Tower's take on the African market and the importance of controlling capital and operational expenses with the "LightSquared" wholesale model.
http://www.eatontowers.com/Overcoming_Infrastructure_Challenges_in_Africas_Mobile_Industry.php
Substitute Broken YouTube Link with the Following: . . .
http://www.youtube.com/user/voxcommunications#p/u
Try Eaton Telecom . . . .
http://www.fiercewireless.com/special-reports/top-25-most-powerful-people-us-wireless-2011/17-sanjiv-ahuja-chairman-and-ceo-lights
Here are some leading questions that imply a perspective. Note, the perspective is not equivalent to a solid PR or guarantee of sales, it is just suggestive.
1. What are the challenges of justifying and then financing capital expenditures in 2nd/3rd world economies?
2. What is the benefit to controlling capital expenditures when using a VVoIP solution that uses less than 50% of the bandwidth of competing VVoIP services similar to Ojo's superior service quality?
3. What is the cost, convenience, and security implications of travel, relative to income, in 2nd/3rd world countries?
4. What did Vox say about building an ecosystem around their incomparable VVoIP solution?
5. Could a wholesaler like LightSquared or Eaton Towers and their associated contracting partners be described as an ecosystem driven by common economic & financial rules?
6. Why is the business model spearheaded by Ahuja growing so rapidly? What basic needs is it fulfilling for its contracting partners/customers?
LightSquared & Javad Present Findings to PNT
IMHO, more good news where the following points to a continued positive shift in the battle over LightSquared-GPS Coexistence.
Also, can anyone show the nature of the relationship between O-Tel and LightSquared . . . if you dig you will be surprised by the implications. IMHO, scary good!
LightSquared and Javad GNSS Present Findings of Interference Solution at PNT Advisory Board Meeting
RESTON, Va., Nov. 9, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/
LightSquared's executive vice president, Martin Harriman, presented the company's vision for building the nation's first coast-to-coast wireless broadband network today to the PNT Advisory Board at their second annual meeting.
Harriman detailed the company's extensive efforts to solve interference issues related to faulty GPS devices reading into spectrum licensed to LightSquared. Among the mitigation efforts taken by LightSquared has been a revised deployment plan to move the portion of spectrum it uses as far as possible from frequencies assigned to GPS. LightSquared has also agreed to lower its power levels and take further steps to reduce power levels as measured on the ground. These steps have eliminated the interference issue for general navigation devices which account for more than 99 percent of GPS equipment.
In addition to Harriman, the PNT Advisory Board also heard from Dr. Javad Ashjaee, president and CEO of Javad GNSS, who has developed high precision GPS receivers that are compatible with LightSquared's network. Ashjaee showed the panel data proving that the high precision interference issue has been resolved and that LightSquared does not present a threat to high precision GPS, which is used by the agriculture, construction and survey industries.
"Today's meeting was a watershed moment for LightSquared for three reasons," said Harriman, Executive Vice President of Ecosystem Development for LightSquared. "One, Dr. Ashjaee presented irrefutable evidence that the GPS interference issue can be solved and is not — as the GPS industry has led the public to believe, an unsolvable physics problem. Two, Trimble, a leader of the lobbying effort against LightSquared, acknowledged that it believes its own solution for the interference problem is ready to test. And three, the entire debate has turned from whether there is a solution to who pays for it. And that's a conversation we're willing to have."
Javad is one of the pioneers of high precision GPS and played a key role at several GPS equipment companies including Trimble, where he served as the chief engineer. Javad GNSS's current clients include NASA, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the U.S. Geological Survey and the U.S. Air Force.
Additional background to clarify critical facts ignored by the GPS industry:
In 2005, the FCC clearly stated that LightSquared transmitters could transmit at 1.6 kW. Based on that determination, all GPS manufacturers were required to protect their users from harmful interference that might occur if they were operating outside of their authorized band and should manufacture equipment that complied with the Part 15 rules of the FCC. This clearly did not happen. GPS customers should demand to know why this did not occur.
Numerous annual reports and SEC filings from GPS manufacturers going back to 2001 acknowledge material harm to their business due to interference with neighboring spectrum. GPS manufacturers did not prepare their devices with filters despite knowing for ten years there would be interference problems caused by their devices looking into neighboring spectrum.
_____In a 2006 filing, Trimble wrote: "Many of our products use other radio frequency bands, together with the GPS signal, to provide enhanced GPS capabilities, such as real-time kinematic precision."
_____As early as 2001, Trimble also wrote: "emissions from mobile satellite services and other equipment operating in adjacent frequency bands… may materially and adversely affect the utility and reliability of our products."
SEC documents dating back several years show that GPS makers were aware of the risks associated with using spectrum that was not licensed to them. Although their warnings to investors were buried in their reports to the SEC, they did nothing to mitigate their own risk. In fact, the FCC reminded the GPS industry in April 2011 to be mindful of their spectrum neighbors: "In the case of GPS, we note that extensive terrestrial operations have been anticipated in the L-band for at least 8 years."
Every Day It Gets Better For LightSquared, IMHO . . .
Now the Republican White House counsel for George H.W. Bush is laying in on the side of LightSquared.
LightSquared, GPS on Collision Course
C. Boyden Gray
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
“Good fences make good neighbors.” No matter how well you get along with the neighbor next door, it’s good to know where his property ends, and yours begins.
And good fences are essential for more than just real estate; other areas of the law depend on laying down clear, enforceable boundaries between one company’s intangible “property line” and another’s. Perhaps the best example of this is the communications spectrum. For more than 80 years, the Federal Communications Commission (and its predecessor, the Federal Radio Commission) has fixed the boundaries between users’ respective shares of the spectrum, and policed the spectrum to ensure that the users have obeyed those “fences.”
Spectrum allocation is by and large a low-key issue. But in recent months, one dispute among users of adjacent spectrum space has become particularly heated.
LightSquared Inc. proposes to build a telecommunications network combining both satellites and traditional land-based communications towers. LightSquared would help to bring broadband Internet access to millions of rural Americans, a critically important service for heartland residents who find themselves on the wrong side of a persistent “digital divide” between broadband “haves” and “have-nots.” And it would help close the gap between the United States, which ranks 15th in broadband adoption, and more technologically developed nations.
The FCC approved LightSquared’s network in 2005, and until recently the proposed network was not controversial. But in late 2010, the U.S. GPS Industry Council (an advocacy group promoting the satellite location technology that now serves countless cars, phones and other devices) abruptly began to assert that LightSquared’s network would “interfere” with GPS communications, which occupy the adjacent spectrum space.
As a matter of regulatory procedure, USGIC’s belated complaints were dubious: The GPS has known about LightSquared’s proposal since 2001, and the FCC approved it in 2005. Nevertheless, it attracted virtually no criticism regarding GPS; only one company briefly raised the issue in 2001, but it ceased to press its point long before the FCC’s 2005 approval order.
But perhaps, even more important, the GPS industry’s public campaign against LightSquared relies upon a fundamental misperception: To the extent that LightSquared’s and GPS’s activities would be incompatible, it is not because of malfeasance on LightSquared’s part. Quite the contrary: GPS communications spill over into LightSquared’s share of the spectrum.
Until now this has not been a problem, because LightSquared has not actively used its spectrum. Only once it became evident that LightSquared would actually make its proposal a reality - and after the company invested $1 billion - did LightSquared face a public campaign before both the FCC and the court of public opinion.
In this controversy, some have alleged that LightSquared improperly lobbied the White House to promote its cause. But my point here is not to discuss that dispute. Instead, my sole focus is on the regulatory issues. And in that respect, there is no serious dispute: Critics raised no concerns regarding LightSquared’s effects on GPS for nearly a decade. Only after LightSquared received FCC approval, and invested vast sums of capital in the project, did GPS begin to complain - and about problems of GPS’s own making.
LightSquared has offered voluntarily to shoulder much of the burden for identifying the full scope of GPS’s technological problem. But the FCC itself warned that accountability rests “not only on new entrants but on incumbent users” - namely, GPS - “who must use receivers that reasonably discriminate against reception of signals outside their allocated spectrum.”
In other words, GPS bears more than a little responsibility to contribute to a solution for a problem it helped create. It is unfair to ignore the clear public record here going back to 2001, along with the reasonable investment expectation based on that record. To do so would discourage similar future investment in new telecommunications technology, just when we need more innovation, not less.
C. Boyden Gray served as White House counsel in administration of George H.W. Bush.
Look at the Video at Top of Page. . .
It is a presentation of different video phones on Fox News. The Ojo Vision is presented ahead of Skype and Cisco.
I've Visited South Africa . . . .
I agree with you. I have to share that several years ago, I spent just over one month in South Africa to see where my late wife grew up and to visit with her friends and family. Talking about a nice group of people! ! ! They blew me away with their hospitality and importantly their economic drive.
In the Sub-Saharan region, there is no more robust economy than South Africa. Also, given the nature of the culture and social challenges after the end of apartheid, VVoIP can provide security to people who want to visit, chat, and/or conduct business without travel. IMO, this is a very social people where maintaining relationships is very important! ! !
Also, the social policies of the government have created a thriving middle class that won't blink at the cost given the superior performance and other benefits.
I have my hopes that O-Tel will do well. (Here is the original PR if you don't have the link.)
http://www.link2media.co.za/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=14177&Itemid=12
In Support of LightSquared's Wireless Ecosystem . . .
LightSquared partner, Best Buy, just spent $1.3Billion on CarPhone Warehouse. IMHO, the implicit value of the LightSquared wireless ecosystem continues to grow. And, I suggest the opportunities for Barry MacShane and Ojo Vision technology continue to grow.
Considering the industry leading quality of PVSP's VVoIP solution and that a foundational Wgat patent received a 4 year extension, the story just gets more interesting.
Only time will tell if my Long position has merit. IMHO, Barry, PVSP, and WGAT have a lot of hard work now and ahead of them.
I updated my response to include more info . . .
Read My Posts Below . . . .
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=68706162
You will find more value in reading the PVSP board as PVSP is taking the position of marketing the product it sells, one of which is the Ojo technology.
I am a Long, so if you want to read that perspective try my most recent and then look at my last 10-20 to get an idea of one Long's view.
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=68717921
History of my posts:
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/profile.aspx?user=270487
EOM => End of Message . . .
Not "End of Month".
IMHO They Will, Just Not Easily. EOM
Trimble Has Already Been Losing Market Share . . .
Javad Ashjaee has already pointed out that Trimble has been losing share for many years and that as an example Javad GNSS, a relatively new company, has brought out excellent products and taken business from Trimble.
GPS Industry Created Smokescreen to Hide Its Failures
Written by Javad Ashjaee
Saturday, 05 November 2011
I am an engineer, not a politician. That may be why I initially believed all the misinformation circulating about LightSquared. There was so much concern about LightSquared within the GPS community that I believed these fears were based on facts and hard science. Of course, that turned out not to be true. When I decided to look at LightSquared’s spectrum issues myself, I discovered that there was really no cause for alarm, only a need for problem solving.
In fact, my research and development team was able to mitigate the interference issues related to LightSquared’s network in just a few days. This was not a difficult task, my initial solution used off the shelf components. Since then, I have built a complete high precision receiver that is LightSquared compatible.
My ability to solve the interference issue in just a few days proves that the criticism of LightSquared is network is really just a smokescreen to cover a long-known fault in the design of high precision GPS devices. For years, the high precision GPS community has been designing and manufacturing devices that look in to spectrum licensed to LightSquared. GPS device makers want to wash their hands of the problem and lay all the blame on LightSquared. But they are at fault for selling products which depend on spectrum that is licensed to another company.
Now that LightSquared is ready to use its own spectrum, the GPS device makers have been caught encroaching on spectrum that they have no right to use. The problem is that the GPS device makers now have hundreds of thousands of devices out in the field that need to be recalled and they don’t want to pay for their own mistakes. That’s why they are seeking a political solution to what should be a purely technical problem.
But blocking LightSquared from moving forward with a nationwide broadband network won’t solve our industry’s long term problems. LightSquared may be the first, but it certainly won’t be the last company that will look for opportunities to exploit L-band spectrum for other uses.
With or without LightSquared, our spectrum environment is getting much more crowded. When President Clinton first authorized civilian use of the GPS constellation, there were just 44 million cell phones in the U.S. Now there are more than 300 million wireless devices in use and they generally consume much more network capacity than the first generation of voice-only phones. One smart phone uses 24 times more capacity on average than a regular cell phone. Tablets generate on average five times more data than a smart phone.
This rapid increase in network traffic is driving entrepreneurs and government officials to hunt for every slice of spectrum they can find. I promise that if LightSquared were to go away, there will soon be another company in its place, seeking to use that same spectrum.
At some point, the GPS industry is going to have to face up to the fact that it will no longer be able to use spectrum that is not assigned to them. Our industry should have prepared for this years ago and GPS companies know this. Cell phones don’t have an interference problem because of a five cent filter.
The forces arrayed against LightSquared are powerful. They have wrongly convinced a lot of people that GPS and LightSquared cannot coexist. If they can stop LightSquared, GPS high precision users will lose the opportunity to have a fast, reliable, nationwide and inexpensive RTK communication channel. But most important, if these anti-LightSquared forces succeed in blocking this new entrant in to the wireless market, consumers will suffer and the incentive to strive for innovations will get damaged by those who have a financial interest in old technologies that have failed to keep up with future needs.
I am proud to present our complete solutions at the PNT Advisory Board public meeting on November 9, where many high-level engineers from the GPS industry, academia and government will discuss this matter. I will be available to answer any questions, and encourage those who are interested in science more than politics to attend the discussion.
Dr. Javad Ashjaee is president and CEO of JAVAD GNSS Inc. based in San Jose, California.
GPS Industry Created Smokescreen to Hide Its Failures
IMHO This is a PVSP MB Question. EOM
Debt and Revenue Are Two Separate Issues
You need to ask why G3 Connect and Barry MacShane chose to invest in PVSP. Barry is an insider to both Wgat, PVSP, Ojo Tech, and the VVoIP industry. He understands how things are coming together and where LightSquared comes into play and I don't believe he has the wealth to throw away $500k.
Also, I think you need to layout a timeline of important events to occur over the next 9 months to get an idea of what needs to occur to remove the uncertainty around PVSP's (IMHO) pending success. For example, when/where do you place the FCC's decision on LightSquared on the timeline? Until this and other important factors become clear, the path to PVSP's success remains mired in discussions about debt rather than the scope of opportunities and the impact of LightSquared on the wireless VVoIP market place.
And, I think you need to come to grips about the challenges of marketing a disruptive technology like VVoIP. Until you take into account the seminal points inherent in "Technology Adoption Lifecycle" and the book "Crossing the Chasm", all will be chasing the wrong hopes. (Look in Wikipedia for both of these references.)
Certainly, there are no guarantees. But as has been said, the Trolls/Shorts have predicted the last 10 bankruptcies of Wgat and PVSP incorrectly.
Patent Issue - Patent Term Adjustment under 35 U.S.C. 154(b)
It looks like the term of protection was extended by 1482 days or just over 4 years, if my understanding is correct.
Some Info . . . . .
New Android App - VoX Mobile - Pervasip (PVSP)
Open up the dialogue/text box below the video. It outlines the most of scope of services provided. Also, it supports free calls to the Ojo Vision. No VVoIP yet.
That Makes for Very Motivated Head of Sales EOM
Helps to Build Case for Damages Against GPS Coalition
LightSquared has more than 20 contracts signed. Interesting that the Defense industry recognizes that Trimble could be on the hook for possibly billions in lost LightSquared revenue because of Trimble's stonewalling. Is the GPS coalition beginning to recognize they have picked the wrong side of the issue . . . especially if the current GPS testing proves coexistence?
LightSquared's threat of legal action raises questions
By Defense Systems Staff
Nov 02, 2011
A LightSquared spokesman has threatened to launch a legal counteroffensive to assert the company's "legal rights," but it is unclear whom the company would sue and for what it would sue, writes John Sheridan at Aviation International News.
Frustrated by delays caused by opposition to its plan for a nationwide broadband Internet project from the GPS user community, various federal agencies, members of Congress and, reportedly, inside the Federal Communications Commission itself, LightSquared's Vice President of Regulatory Affairs and Public Policy Jeffrey Carlisle said, "If it is impossible to get a decision on this that allows us to go forward, I think our way forward is pretty clear, that we then have to insist on our legal rights. If you have to be the bad guy, and go out and start...insisting on your property line, well, then that’s what we’ll do.”
LightSquared would find it difficult to bring legal action against the FCC, the GPS industry or individual members of the GPS user community; however, if the company is unable to prevent GPS interference, it might sue to be compensated for its loss of income anticipated from the contracts it has already signed with customers for its future services.
LINK>> http://defensesystems.com/articles/2011/11/02/agg-lightsqared-legal-strategy.aspx?admgarea=DS
Its FCC's Responsibility to Protect Public Good . . .
Nice posts. I am hoping that the FCC sees Orjiakor N. Isiogu's special Op Ed piece in "Roll Call" and takes heed to how they could move this LightSquared-GPS coexistence issue forward.
LightSquared Gives FCC Chance to Increase Wireless Capacity, Competition
Why Didn't They Listen to Arthur? EOM
Develop a Market, Then Financing Resolves Itself
it is fortunate that Fanning has connections though I do not like the amount of dilution occurring to support his deal for the PVSP/Vox debt. However, I keep in mind that Pervasip had very few choices; "beggars can't be choosers."
In many regards, Fanning has similar interests to the current shareholders: he may own, but is limited to 5% of the shares outstanding, if my understanding is correct. It should also be kept in mind that Pervasip/Vox does not own one of several strategic assets (the Ojo VVoIP platform and associated foundational patents). Therefore, Fanning must be cautious for fear of losing that which makes Vox unique in the herd of VoIP competitors.
Regarding the potential taking over of the company, I have little insight into what Fanning will do. To my limited understanding, he entered the game with limited ownership possibilities. IMO, this does not preclude a hostile takeover of Pervasip, but it makes it a challenge as Fanning can't afford to lose critical assets.
So the best insight I have about Fanning is that his most valuable opportunity for his position is to help make Vox a winner in the VoIP/VVoIP arena. It then becomes an asset that he might be able to contract with to support another of his ventures.
I look forward to the Android VVoIP App
I think many potential customers will like the benefits of interoperability and sales will prove it.
VOX Moves Forward on Revenue Generating Strategy
IMHO, Vox is moving to capitalize on a core point of difference: their VVoIP platform, and this is not to ignore but is in addition to their award winning cloud based capital efficient telephony platform.
They have been very clear that this VVoIP platform puts them out in front of other VoIP providers; very few have a VVoIP solution much less a solution with this level of quality delivered with extreme efficiency. A point which is important in the wireless world where bandwidth is a very valuable and scarce resource.
They are developing the VVoIP Android app and if its quality is equivalent to my own personal Ojo to Ojo experience, then they will be among the few that bridges the gap between smartphones and stand alone VVoIP appliances with excellence. And, given the results of the current Android app connecting with the Ojo Vision, I expect nothing less than industry leading excellence. The VOX engineering team is GOOD!
Barry MacCheyne comes with industry experience and contacts. He knows who is interested in an interoperable VVoIP platform and who has already been testing this particular VVoIP solution. His new position at VOX speaks for itself.
Also, IMHO a key element is LightSquared and the information that has clarified around what this wireless LTE network brings to the US telecom world. IMHO, there are many small companies that must implement some sort of 4G advanced services solution to compete against AT&T and Verizon but don't have the service or network infrastructure to support the needed solution. IMHO, that is what VOX has and is putting together. Like VOX clearly said, their VVoIP solution is being put at the center of an ecosystem. VOX did not say which ecosystem, but if it is LightSquared then I leave it to you to guess the impact on revenues.
VOX is looking to get its fair share of the social video revolution. Can you imagine the results of doing a "Coke vs Pepsi" challenge matching VOX's solution against Skype. Skype's quality is horrible and they don't even own much less have access to the core IP software for improving their quality of service.
A final piece of the puzzle is TALC, a sociological & marketing theory on how people adopt new technology and make no mistake VVoIP is a relatively new technology. (Look up TALC and "Crossing the Chasm" in Wikipedia.com) One of the core elements of TALC is that the Mass Market demands multiple choices and accepts the premise of "you get what you pay for". IMO, the market is rapidly maturing with the advent of FaceTime, Smartphones, LTE, and multiple other factors. The net result is that if Skype can charge for "garbage", then VOX can certainly charge for Excellence when aggressively marketed! ! !
LINK>> Technology Adoption Lifecycle
LINK>> Crossing the Chasm
Only time will tell what the future holds.
Approved . . . Yes, that's my guess as well.
GPS Experts Council Member Owns Millions in Trimble Stock
Talking about a "Fix" on trying to shut down LightSquared. Here is an excerpt, but you should read the whole article.
LightSquared foe bias on GPS?
By ELIZA KRIGMAN | 10/20/11 2:53 PM EDT
"When Bradford Parkinson wrote to the FCC in August, urging the commission to scuttle LightSquared’s plans for a nationwide wireless network, he signed off as vice chairman of a board of independent experts that advises federal agencies on GPS-related matters.
Here’s what he didn’t mention: Parkinson is heavily invested — to the tune of millions of dollars — in Trimble, a GPS company at the center of an all-out lobbying blitz against LightSquared in Congress and federal agencies, including the FCC."
Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1011/66459.html#ixzz1bMI7WE5K
Green is good, but the Trolls are still lurking out there.
And, VOX still has a lot of work to do to make themselves and Longs happy. So, I tend to ignore the day to day swings and keep an eye on the long term fundamentals.
Your Question is Unclear . . .
However, I will try to make a best guess as to what you mean.
The reason for the expectation of Vox putting forward to the market a VoIP/VVoIP solution is two-fold.
First, VOX put out a PR which included a statement about incorporating VVoIP in their Android application some time before the end of the year.
Second, VOX has been very clear in interviews: their VVoIP solution enables them stand out from the crowd of other VoIP service providers. The quality is incomparable at such low bandwidth and there are very few alternatives. Finally, for those in the LightSquared network, VOX's VVoIP solution is being put at the center of a VVoIP ecosystem.
It is now up to VOX to act on and fulfill those expectations. They have proven themselves with the original Android App and this recent update enabling a call with the Ojo Vision.
IMHO, he circumspectly called the General a Liar.
Also, considering Dr. Ashjaee has national security "Top Secret" confidentiality agreements with the government (he sells to the US Airforce), he took a back door way of saying "bullshit" to the GPS Coalition because he does not want to get thrown in jail.
And, I am guessing he politely said that Trimble is a bunch of hacks that f.cked up the design of their Precision GPS units given that they knew of the FCC requirements for years.
Time will tell how the story finally comes to a conclusion.
The "Father" of Precision GPS Gives His Opinion . . .
IMHO, the ultimate insider blows the cover on the LightSquared-GPS coexistence issue. I could have highlighted every paragraph. The important questions you need to answer are IMO:
1. What is the probability LightSquared will move forward?
2. What benefits will VOX gain from the 100+ customers LightSquared projects signing? and,
3. Who else will be able to present an industry leading VoIP/VVoIP solution and utilize only half the bandwidth where bandwidth is an incredibly valuable scarce resource in the wireless telecom world?
LightSquared and GPS can coexist
By Dr. Javad Ashjaee, president and CEO of JAVAD GNSS Inc. - 10/18/11 03:27 PM ET
There is a fascinating debate playing out in Washington that will impact nearly every American. It is over whether the federal government should allow an upstart company called LightSquared to enter the telecom market as a new national wireless broadband provider.
Anyone with a cell phone, computer or a tablet, should be paying attention, because LightSquared is proposing to build something that currently does not exist: a high-speed wireless system that reaches almost every corner of America, including underserved rural areas and over-capacity urban areas.
LightSquared proposed investing $14 billion in private dollars on a plan that would bring wireless broadband to 260 million Americans by 2015, and create 15,000 jobs a year over the five-year build out of the network. LightSquared is a satellite company, and its unique model would create the nation’s first broadband system that uses a combination of satellite and cell tower technology. Because satellite signals are ubiquitous, using them as a back up to terrestrial service would eliminate the massive service holes that still exist all over America, bringing high-speed internet for the first time to vast swaths of the country that have never had it.
But of course, nothing is that easy – especially in Washington. The slice of spectrum the government licensed to LightSquared is next to the spectrum allocated to GPS, which is used broadly in America for both public and commercial purposes. And the GPS industry has launched a mighty lobbying and public relations campaign, rife with scare tactics designed to stoke partisan opposition and stop LightSquared.
When initial testing showed interference with GPS devices, LightSquared went back and revised its plan, moving to spectrum that is farther away from the GPS spectrum. We have essentially created a buffer that eliminates interference for 99.5 percent of all devices, including all mass consumer GPS devices like those in your car’s navigation system and cell phones. That new deployment plan cost LightSquared $100 million.
That’s where I come in. I am a founder of GPS precision technology, pioneering devices for GPS maker Trimble , now one of the leading voices in the LightSquared opposition in the 1980s-90s. I left Trimble years ago, and now run a company in Silicon Valley that sells high-precision GPS devices to government agencies, including the Army Corp of Engineers, NASA, the U.S. Geological Survey and the Air Force.
Last month, I partnered with LightSquared to develop a technical solution for the small number of remaining high-precision devices that would still have interference issues. Despite the GPS industry’s claims that it would take 10 years and tens of billions of dollars to find an engineering solution, I found a technical solution in a few weeks, using existing technology and off-the-shelf materials. LightSquared has pledged an additional $50 million to retrofit the government’s high-precision devices with this fix.
This is a substantial concession to government because all existing government devices are already semi-obsolete and will need to be replaced when the modernized GPS signals are deployed.
Lost in the political hysteria is a crucial point: LightSquared’s spectrum does not emit signals into GPS’s spectrum. The company invested nearly $10 million in filtering technology to ensure that its signal dropped off a cliff before it crossed into GPS’ spectrum. Through a series of regulatory actions in the early 2000s, the GPS industry was told it needed to develop filtering technology for its devices so that they wouldn’t interfere with neighboring spectrum, but they failed to make these innovations.
The GPS industry and its friends in Washington persist in their opposition, scaring Americans into believing that LightSquared’s signal will “jam” GPS, therefore dropping airplanes from the sky. Nonsense.
The military has always claimed that its own precision devices were battle-hardened and resilient to sophisticated enemy jammers. But now the Pentagon is suggesting that a commercial operator like LightSquared can flip a switch and disable the U.S. defense system? Enemy jammers can be much closer to the GPS band and much more sophisticated than the benign signal format of a civilian signal like LightSquared. Surely, military receivers must have protections currently available for civilian GPS receivers that would prevent this.
Former FCC official Michael Marcus, a spectrum use expert, also recognizes this incongruity and wrote in his blog: “Is this all it takes to disrupt the military’s multibillion dollar critical investment in GPS that is so critical to our national security? If so, there is an urgent problem at hand and it is not just the LightSquared issue, it is the extreme fragility of military GPS systems! More likely, however, is that the proposed system will have no impact on military users but that the whole GPS community is ‘circling the wagons’ in an ‘all for one, one for all’ strategy to protect a few GPS manufacturers who made odd design decisions in their receivers…”
So why does the GPS opposition continue, even though a technical solution exists? Because even though LightSquared has committed $160 million to solving an interference problem not of its making, the GPS industry wants to keep them out of the marketplace and avoid paying any amount to retrofit the very small number of high-precision devices used in the commercial construction, agriculture, surveying and other industries that would still have interference problems. A simple retrofit to upgrade a device will not only ensure it’s compatible with neighboring signals, but that it also won’t become obsolete when government initiates the satellite modernization program.
The precision GPS industry has to battle interference every day, especially in crowded in urban markets, and we develop fixes. Once again, we have seen that a so-called intransigent technological problem can be solved with smart engineering. That solution came quickly from the private sector, and it allows GPS and LightSquared to peacefully co-exist.
Technology has solved the problem, now we just have to wait for the politicians to catch up.
Dr. Javad Ashjaee is president and CEO of JAVAD GNSS Inc. based in San Jose, California.
I think we are right about LightSquared. . .
LightSquared Has a Great Team . . .
I think we are! Especially after listening to multiple interviews of top LightSquared executives by the Wall Street bankers and the press.
Sanjiv Ahuja has an incredible team working on a Global Opportunity! ! !
Hilarious Moment Underscoring Back Alley Mugging . . . .
I accept the theory that AT&T & Verizon desperately back the GPS Coalition because of the fear of competition. Well, their and the GPS Coalition's desperation and willingness to act like back alley muggers is evident when you listen closely to the Deutsche Bank interview. (Keep in mind when the GPS Coalition and General Shelton were saying that the cost impact of LightSquared would be about $49Billion or so on the GPS industry.)
I listened again to the LightSquared presentation at Deutsche Bank.
LightSquared very clearly pointed out today that many of the companies in the GPS Coalition have explicitly chosen not to upgrade their equipment sold to consumers, businesses, and government agencies to prevent interference.
They held up their Blackberry and other smartphone examples, which are all GPS capable and shared that they spoke with Qualcomm about the cost of the filters currently in those smartphones preventing the interference the GPS Coalition speaks of. Qualcomm came back and said that the cost per unit was between $0.02 and $0.05. (The retail price of some TomTom GPS models are about $80 - $120)
Further, for precision-GPS units, the cost would be on the order of $6.00 per unit as presented today by another GPS engineering firm. (These types of units are so expensive, I could not find a price on the web. I did see that to rent a surveying unit would be $450/wk or $1,500/month.)
IMO, it is evident these companies screwed up when they chose not to adhere to eight year old FCC guidelines for preventing interference when the cost of compliance was negligible. Now, they potentially, IMHO, have to deal with class action lawsuits by consumers and businesses who are forced to replace defective equipment when the companies wanted to save pennies per unit. And, per the GPS Coalition, we are talking about +100Millions of units sold.
Incredible ! ! ! Someone really f.cked up ! ! !
LightSquared Says Likely FCC Guidance Is Solvable . . .
In the last few days, important additional public information indicates that the GPS-LightSquared coexistance issue for precision-GPS units could be solved by a filter as inexpensive as $6/unit. This $/unit price tag is new news as of this morning and so yesterday's estimate of a $400Million total cost for 500k high-precision GPS units is high. For other GPS units, which won't be impacted, it can be as little as $0.05/unit. Due to the nature of the expected NTIA/FCC mandated testing results and consequent FCC guidance to LightSquared, LightSquared expects to be able to move forward.
I highly recommend listening to the Q&A session sponsored by Deutsche Bank to give you all an idea of the importance of the Vox/Pvsp - LightSquared contract. The unmet demand that LightSquared sees, and therefore the benefits VOX will enjoy, is unprecedented. IMHO, it is extremely important to keep in mind that VOX is putting forward a VoIP/VVoIP solution, which per Vox is incomparable. Therefore, IMHO, VOX won't have competitors of equivalent quality at 1/2 the bandwidth in the wireless world; Vox will stand out among the better know competitors like Skype.
IMHO, this is a huge movement in support of my Long position.
Lightsquared at Deutsche Bank Securities Inc Leveraged Finance Conference
LightSquared Says FCC Guidance on Network Likely by Year’s End
LightSquared's GPS fix could cost industry $400M
Error Correction - Mark Richards, CIO of VOX . . .
I made a mistake, in the linked prior post. Mark Richards is with VOX and not LightSquared