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Whaooooooooo! And so it goes, a fairy tale coming true.
Thanks Mide Really excited now.
For Law Firm, Serial Plaintiff Had Golden Touch
By JULIE CRESWELL and JONATHAN D. GLATER
NYT June 6, 2006 at:http://tinyurl.com/o5qbs
When it came to investing, Howard J. Vogel seemed to possess a perverse kind of Midas touch.
In early October 1997, he bought 50 shares of Oxford Health Plans. Three weeks later, the stock nose-dived, and Mr. Vogel lost about $3,000 of his investment. Still, Mr. Vogel reaped $1.1 million.
How was that possible?
Mr. Vogel was a plaintiff in a shareholder lawsuit filed by the New York securities litigation powerhouse Milberg Weiss Bershad Hynes & Lerach against Oxford Health. In 2003, the company, along with other parties that were sued, paid $300 million to settle.
Phoning the un-phonables, reaching the un-reachebles, banking the un-bankables
(Grameen Bank <http://www.grameen-info.org.> charges an 18% annual interest rate on each 12months' 100$to 1,000$ loan to a landless woman in Bangladesh. And the repayment rate is more than 96%!!! It is called microcredit.)
The genious that is Huff is to go for the empowerment of the dis-empowered (while making money of course) with funding and technology from the most mature and powerful markets (that of the USA foremost with help from the Europeans).
Iraq, terror and illegal migrants have only added spice to the brew. And this is now being factored in, but totally unintentionally.
In fact the message from GTE is truly a message of hope for the whole of mankind. How different this is from the crystallized (and frankly boring) message of terror that is with us since 9/11.
And the GTE message of hope will first and foremost be good for all of the Brasilians and Indians and Mexican (how ironic!!!) that either as illegal or legal migrants are working in the USA and in many of the European countries (as soon as Germany comes into the fold). Of course it will very good for all the GTE shareholders too.
There is a lot in Dumas' letter to the shareholders. I have read that letter a number of times and was going to re-read it to post exactly what you posted synphyl in reply to siriuslyricher who wrote msg# 27896.
The vision is so complex that to quote from the same letter "as the new Chairman of GlobeTel, I must confess that I spent more th
an a year attempting to get my arms around the many technology and business strategy nuances which are really critical to understanding this vibrant, outside-the-box company."
If you want to benchmark some of us with our beloved COB,,, than we may have to keep reading and referring to that letter for a little bit longer... not a whole year but a few more weeks.. LOL!
Agree but the "vision thing" has been shared more than ever.
Super Huff = Super Hub = Matrix = The commoditization of the last mile
A few thoughts from the night to go with the great big wave just coming out of the ocean. HERE WE GO.
Network revenue generation “a la Huff”
versus
CPE (Customer Premise(s) Equipment) revenue “a la everybody else”
Or to paraphrase a new global communication paradigm “a la Huff”
When you do away with the CPE (the last mile capital investment) you give a voice, a message and purchasing power to every citizen of this world especially to those that have been left out and loosing out “on the globalization rat-race track”.
What Prof. Mohammed Younus has "physically" done giving "a share" in his bank to the bankless, landless women of Bangladesh (i.e. Grameen Bank:www.grameen-info.org) Huff is doing by giving the "magic money card" to the rest of world. And the rest of the world will be able to afford (for the first time ever) a ticket on the Super Hub. Get ready for the ride!
Super Huff = Super Hub = The great equalizer = Ebayers cum bloggers (aka: ebabloggers) of the world unite! Ebabloggers = The closest thing today to total, instant communication minus Super Huff = Super Hub
We are all just a whisker of a Huff away from everybody else at a fraction of the cost of the Super Haves = Murdock and the likes
TIA for your understanding and consideration
Thanks Nilremerlin always great to have an agent on the ground. Keep us posted please. Very eager to hear more on the public response to GTE and SS presentation.
U.S. Indictment for Big Law Firm in Class Actions
By JULIE CRESWELL
Milberg Weiss Bershad & Schulman was accused of paying
clients to sue in securities cases.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/19/business/19legal.html?th&emc=th
Deadline Set for Wireless Internet in NY Parks…. The NYT did it again day before yesterday. At: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/16/nyregion/16wifi.html?th=&emc=th&pagewanted=print
New York….. New York here is a fiver, but I do have the courage to post the whole article (in the middle of the night for most of you Ls&Gs) as it tells the unfolding story of Verizon versus two tiny start-up companies… with potential lessons for GTE marketing strategy.
NYT - May 16, 2006 Deadline Set for Wireless Internet in Parks By SEWELL CHAN
May 16, 2006
New York City officials set a July deadline yesterday for a city contractor to have a wireless network up and running in Central Park, in what would be a major expansion of free Internet access that the city plans to replicate across its vast ribbons of parkland during the next several years.
The effort is part of a larger initiative that would also set up wireless networks by summer's end in parts of three more large parks: Prospect Park in Brooklyn, Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx and Flushing Meadows-Corona Park in Queens.
All told, the commitment by the Department of Parks and Recreation, which announced the timetable at a City Council hearing, represents a major leap forward for a three-year-old project that has been hobbled by technical difficulties and a lack of interest by major Internet providers. However, it remained far from clear yesterday whether the deadlines could be met.
In pushing ahead, New York is, perhaps, trying to catch up with other cities, including Philadelphia and San Francisco, which have vowed to create citywide wireless networks and to treat Internet access as a broadly available public utility.
While New York's effort is limited to its parks, it is expected to have a huge impact, given the number of parks across the five boroughs and the density of the neighborhoods surrounding them. In many instances, residents and businesses near city parks are likely to be able to tap into the services.
The city is following an example set by private groups like the Bryant Park Restoration Corporation, which activated a network in Bryant Park in June 2002, and the Alliance for Downtown New York, which did the same in eight Lower Manhattan sites from 2003 to 2005, including City Hall Park, Bowling Green and the new Wall Street Park.
NYC Wireless, a nonprofit group that did the technical work for those projects, has also set up networks at Union Square, Tompkins Square and Stuyvesant Cove Parks, and is building a network at Brooklyn Bridge Park this year.
So far, the city's own efforts have paled compared with those achievements by private groups.
In June 2003, the Parks Department sought bidders willing to design, build, operate and maintain Wi-Fi networks in all or part of Battery, Central, Flushing Meadows-Corona, Pelham Bay, Prospect, Riverside, Union Square, Van Cortlandt and Washington Square Parks, as well as Orchard Beach in the Bronx.
Three companies responded — Verizon Communications and two tiny start-up companies. Verizon was selected in April 2004, but a month later it backed out of the deal.
The contract was then awarded that October to one of the two smaller companies, Wi-Fi Salon, which is based on the Upper East Side. While the company installed a network last summer at Battery Park in Lower Manhattan, it missed a deadline last fall to finish the work at the other parks.
At the City Council hearing, Robert L. Garafola, the department's deputy commissioner for management and budget, said that the city had extended the deadline to August.
"We expect Central Park to be launched in July, and the rest of the parks in the late summer," he said.
After the hearing, however, doubts began to emerge. Asked about the deadlines, Marshall W. Brown, the owner of Wi-Fi Salon, said: "That's the timetable set forth by Parks. Let's see if that's attainable." Later he added, "It's obviously going to be tight, but I'm confident we'll be able to pull it off."
The parks commissioner, Adrian Benepe, said his department would probably have to pick another contractor if Mr. Brown could not meet the new deadline.
"All of us want to see it happen," Mr. Benepe said in a telephone interview. "We'll have to make an honest assessment to see, if we can't get it done with this operator, if there's another operator who can and wants to. The technology exists; the willingness to invest in that technology up front may or may not exist."
Mr. Benepe defended the decision to rely on the private sector for the project. "We're not paying for this service and the city is not investing any money in it, so we expect the operator to pay for it."
A wireless network involves a complex system of cables, radios, antennas and nodes that allow users to tap into the Internet without a cable. Mr. Brown said he hoped to make money by partnering with a big communications company that would promote its products and also through limited advertising that park visitors would have to read before being able to browse the Web.
Under the agreement, Mr. Brown promised to pay the city the greater of $30,000 a year for three years or 10 percent of gross receipts from the park-based networks.
But since reaching the deal with Mr. Brown, the city has all but abandoned that model for future wireless contracts. In a new request for proposals in February, the city asked for bids to create wireless networks in additional parks — with almost no revenue for the city.
For instance, it has selected a partnership of the Friends of Dag Hammarskjold Plaza and NYC Wireless to create a network in the plaza, which is near the United Nations. The partnership will pay the city $1 a year.
Expert Communications/TravelNet Technologies, a Long Island company, has been chosen to build networks at the Brooklyn Heights Promenade and at Columbus Park in Downtown Brooklyn. The city expects to receive just $700 a year for each site.
Councilwoman Gale A. Brewer of Manhattan suggested that the city was finally realizing that to put wireless systems in place, it could not expect to make money from the effort.
"I don't mean to say 'I told you so,' but we did have this conversation," Ms. Brewer told Mr. Garafola at the hearing.
Other parks to be covered under the new plan are Carroll, Fort Greene and Cobble Hill Parks, all in Brooklyn.
At one point during yesterday's hearing, Councilman Joseph P. Addabbo Jr. of Queens asked whether wireless service could be established at beaches and pools some day. (He did not get a clear answer.) In any case, Councilwoman Helen D. Foster of the Bronx said she did not look forward to such a day. "I would hope I would never have to have my laptop at the beach," she said.
What GTE is up against in the USA market
(and some of the reasons behind the unique GTE vision and marketing strategy away from the home marked into the world).
Between yesterday and today I am posting too much and too much from the NYT. But this is a very interesting and comprehensive article.
(Again only for aficionados – adelante, despacito pero seguramente GTE!)
NYT - May 18, 2006
Basics Going Wireless Most Places You Go By THOMAS J. FITZGERALD
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/18/technology/18basics.html?th=&emc=th&pagewanted=print
Wi-Fi, the wireless networking technology that can create an invisible field of Internet access over a limited area, has revolutionized the world of mobile computing. But while Wi-Fi is serving up Internet access in a growing patchwork of places like coffeehouses and, in some cases, across entire cities, it can fall short of the demands of laptop users who want a gateway to the Internet essentially everywhere they go.
Another wireless option on the rise, this one from cellular carriers, provides high-speed Internet access over many of the nation's most populated and heavily traveled regions. These services, made possible by the new networks that carriers are referring to as 3G (for "third generation"), may be useful to business travelers, professionals who need a connection constantly within reach, businesses with roving employees or small groups of users looking to share a single connection.
Such services are available from Verizon Wireless, Sprint and Cingular. Access plans range from about $20 to $140 a month and, not surprisingly, the terms of the plans resemble those for cellphones: in most cases contracts with early-termination fees are required; activation fees are about $25 to $35; and rebates are offered on essential hardware — specially equipped PC cards with antennas — to entice new users to join. (T-Mobile, the other major carrier in the United States, said 3G services were scheduled for 2007.)
The services deliver download speeds of about 400 to 700 kilobits a second, which is roughly 10 times the speed of dial-up and the wireless services that have been offered by carriers for years; the upload speeds are less, though, in the range of about 50 to 100 kilobits per second, which is still usually faster than dial-up but could be slow for users who frequently need to transfer large amounts of data from a laptop to, say, a server on a corporate network or Web server.
To use the services on a laptop ordinarily requires an available PC-card slot; certain notebook models from companies like Lenovo, Hewlett-Packard and Dell offer options to include built-in wireless modems.
Competing Services
The service from Cingular (www.cingular.com), called BroadbandConnect and the most recent to be made available, provides coverage in 16 metropolitan areas including San Francisco, Phoenix and Boston, and the company expects to have it in most major metropolitan areas by year's end. Several plans are available, including unlimited access for $60 a month if you agree to a two-year contract and have a qualifying Cingular cellphone plan; $80 a month with no cellphone requirement (PC cards are $99 after a $100 rebate). Another option is use-based plans starting at $20 a month with a cap of five megabytes of data and additional charges for transfers above that. In evaluating the Cingular service, I wanted to test how well the connection would hold while mobile; I started the service on a laptop, and using Windows Media Player tuned to a live radio broadcast. I then fastened the laptop to the passenger seat of my car and drove around Austin, Tex., for just under an hour. Except for two tiny interruptions early on, the broadcast was clear throughout, whether traveling in downtown traffic or on highways that wend through hill country around Austin.
The Cingular service is based on technology called HSDPA (High-Speed Downlink Packet Access), and because Cingular's network uses the standard called GSM, the PC cards sold with the plans can be used overseas where GSM-based networks are prevalent. An international plan for $140 a month, which includes unlimited use domestically plus 100 megabytes of use on affiliated networks overseas, is available.
Sprint's service (www.sprint.com), called Sprint Mobile Broadband and based on a technology called EV-DO, provides coverage in 219 metropolitan areas and reaches more than 150 million people, according to the company. An unlimited plan with a two-year contract, for $60 a month, is available for Sprint cellphone customers; the rate is $80 a month without a voice plan, and PC cards are $50 after savings and discounts. A use-based plan, for $40 a month, provides 40 megabytes of data before additional charges apply; once a cap of $100 is reached, charges cease. The advertised download speeds of 400 to 700 kilobits per second are estimates of what users can expect from each of the services. For example, in several tests of the Sprint service, using speed meters available from Internet service providers like the one from Speakeasy (www.speakeasy.net/speedtest), I was attaining download speeds from 785 to 870 kilobits a second. Upload speeds were less, as expected, in the 96 to 118 kilobits a second range.
Sprint offers more than one PC card for its plans, as do the other carriers, and one factor to consider in a card is its design. Some cards have antennas that extend upward or outward, which can be bothersome depending upon the location of the card slot, while other cards have their antennas embedded in a rounded but larger and heavier plastic enclosure that protrudes from the edge of the laptop.
The service from Verizon (www.verizonwireless.com), called Broadband Access and also based on EV-DO technology -Evolution-Data Only (cellular technology)-, delivers coverage to 181 metropolitan areas and half the nation's population, according to the company. It, too, is available in a $60 unlimited plan with a two-year contract and cellphone plan. An $80 plan, with no cellphone requirement, is also available. For PC cards, the Kyocera KPC650 ($150 with a two-year contract, after a $30 rebate) is compatible with both Macintosh and Windows-based computers; there is also the Verizon Wireless 5740 ($50 with a two-year contract, after a $50 online discount), with support available only for PC's.
As with the services from Cingular and Sprint, when roaming outside the coverage area of the high-speed network you can still get access to an older network at no additional cost, and your connection is maintained while moving from one network to the other. In Verizon's case, speeds on the slower network, called NationalAccess, are 60 to 80 kilobits a second for both downloading and uploading, according to a Verizon spokeswoman. Speeds on Sprint's secondary network average about 50 to 70 kilobits a second, according to the company, while Cingular offers slightly faster speeds of 70 to 135 kilobits a second on its EDGE network.
Sharing a Signal One possible use of mobile high-speed Internet access is sharing a single connection among several users at once, either wirelessly using Wi-Fi or on an Ethernet-based network. Verizon and Cingular said such sharing violates the terms of their services; Sprint said it did not. (The carriers have other restrictions as well, outlined in their contracts: Verizon's contract, for example, says its service cannot be used for uploading, downloading or streaming of movies, music or games; it also prohibits peer-to-peer file sharing and Internet phone calling, known also as VoIP.) (“Thank you Verizon!” Ndr.)
One sharing method uses routers sold by companies like Kyocera (www.kyocera-wireless.com) and Junxion (www.junxion.com). These routers have slots for the PC cards and come with built-in software for establishing a connection to service providers. Once connected to a cellular broadband service, such a router acts as a hot spot, distributing the signal to Wi-Fi-enabled devices within range, or as an Internet gateway to a network of wired computers and devices.
I tested Kyocera's KR1 router ($300), which works with EV-DO services; configuring the router as a Wi-Fi hot spot was easy. An automobile power adapter, available separately for $25, enables the router to operate in vehicles.
And finally, when considering these services, it is a good idea to check coverage maps of areas you plan to frequent. Coverage in a metropolitan area can vary substantially among carriers, and sometimes a carrier's coverage will extend deep into more rural areas, particularly along highways.
Today’s Blimps tomorrow’s AirDragon? More from the NYT at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/18/washington/18border.html?pagewanted=2&th&emc=th
May 18, 2006 Seeking to Control Borders, Bush Turns to Big Military Contractors
By ERIC LIPTON
WASHINGTON, May 17 — The quick fix may involve sending in the National Guard. But to really patch up the broken border, President Bush is preparing to turn to a familiar administration partner: the nation's giant military contractors.
Lockheed Martin, Raytheon and Northrop Grumman, three of the largest, are among the companies that said they would submit bids within two weeks for a multibillion-dollar federal contract to build what the administration calls a "virtual fence" along the nation's land borders.......
.....The tools of modern warfare must be brought to bear. That means devices like the Tethered Aerostat Radar, a helium-filled airship made for the Air Force by Lockheed Martin that is twice the size of the Goodyear Blimp. Attached to the ground by a cable, the airship can hover overhead and automatically monitor any movement night or day. (One downside: it cannot operate in high winds.)
blimp at: http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2006/05/17/washington/0518-nat-webBORDERch.190.jpg
Frenzy time: Let sharks eat other sharks!
Again from today's NYT at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/17/business/17legal.html?_r=1&th=&oref=slogin&emc=th&...
Lerach Coughlin Stoia Geller Rudman & Robbins against Milberg Weiss Bershad & Schulman
From a practical standpoint, however, an indictment would be a huge blow for the firm, which celebrated its 40th anniversary last year. Clients could seek out its competitors to represent them; defense lawyers could use the indictment as leverage in negotiations; and some of the firm's 120 lawyers could head for the exit doors.
The same situation, however, could exist if the firm signs a deferred-prosecution agreement, lawyers involved in the talks said. Lawyers from competing firms could use that agreement against Milberg Weiss in their efforts to grab prospective clients or seize the lead plaintiff status in a class-action lawsuit.
"Somebody will pick up the slack," said Jerry W. Markham, a law professor at Florida International University. "The business will go elsewhere. I don't expect there will be any pause in class-action lawsuits."
Indeed, lawyers in the plaintiffs bar have been buzzing for weeks that one of the biggest beneficiaries from an indictment of the Milberg Weiss firm could be Mr. Weiss's former partner, William S. Lerach.
Today New York is on our side for once:
A Prominent Law Firm Prepares for Indictment
By JULIE CRESWELL
The firm of Milberg Weiss Bershad & Schulman may face an
indictment in connection with a six-year investigation into
illegal payments to clients.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/17/business/17legal.html?th&emc=th
..................
PS: Thanks nilremerlin for all your updates... greatly appreciated
SkyStation,a sense of deja-vu and lessons to be learnt somewhere...
International Advisory Board
Gen. Alexander M. Haig, Jr., Chairman.
Ms. Martine A. Rothblatt, Vice Chairman.
Mr. Tom Kim, Vice Chairman, Asia.
Hon. Richard Butler, AM, Asia-Pacific, Sky Station Australia.
Mr. Jean Gypguep, Sky Station Africa.
Dr. René Pellat, Sky Station France.
Ambassador Rinaldo Petrignani, Sky Station Italy
(another ex Italian Ambassador to the US)
And more of the same sense of deja-vu (only for hard core aficionados) SOMETIME END OF 1997............
Space Case: It's an odd pair: former Reaganite Alexander M. Haig Jr. and transsexual businesswoman Martine Rothblatt. They want to cut the multibillion-dollar satellite industry off at the knees
By Mark Lewyn
It was a sunny day in early April, and General Alexander M. Haig Jr. and his 44-year-old son Alex were on a mission. Not a military mission, but they did expect to come under fire. The two were off to brief officials at the Federal Communications Commission about Sky Station International Inc., a bold plan to build a sky-based communications network that could potentially deflate some high-profile telecom satellite ventures. The elder Haig, 71, is a strategic adviser and part-owner; his son is president and chief operating officer.
A month earlier, Sky Station had laid out its elaborate plan in an inch-thick filing to the FCC. Its goal is to bring high-speed wireless Internet access and phone service to 80 percent of the world's population by 2004. But to hit that lofty target the Chantilly, Virginia-based company would need the federal agency to go to bat for the project. First, by allocating the necessary radio frequencies; then by urging communications ministers from around the globe to do the same when they meet at the World Radio Conference in Geneva next year.
The Haigs were accompanied by businesswoman Martine Rothblatt, 41, their new partner and a successful regulatory attorney in Washington, DC, for more than a decade. Rothblatt gave an impressive demo, describing in detail how Sky Station could revolutionize wireless telecommunications.
Perhaps as interesting as the presentation was the odd juxtaposition of Haig, the starchy secretary of state under Ronald Reagan, and Rothblatt, a well-known transsexual who used to go by the name Martin and is the father of four. Two years ago, Rothblatt made the big gender switch and since then has spoken out extensively about transsexualism, both in a book (1995's The Apartheid of Sex: A Manifesto on the Freedom of Gender) and on talk shows such as Donahue. One senior FCC official who was at the Sky Station presentation said: "It was one of the more unusual meetings I've been to in a long time."
Fly the crowded skies
What united the unlikely duo of Haig and Rothblatt? Not money alone. Both are already millionaires. Haig made a bundle off stock options he was granted as an early director of America Online Inc. - the stock has split four times over the last three years. He has also made a fortune putting together international business deals through his company, Worldwide Associates Inc. Rothblatt's money came though several ventures she helped create: Satellite CD Radio Inc., a digital radio service; WorldSpace Inc., a satellite service for Africa, Asia, and Latin America; and Panamsat, a satellite television network for Latin America.
Instead, Haig, Rothblatt, and their partners see Sky Station as a chance to do something big - really big - and make money too, perhaps in an IPO down the road. Rothblatt's journey across the sexes has never clouded that goal. "The fact that I'm transgender has no more relevance than if I were Catholic or Buddhist," says Rothblatt. "It never once came up." The younger Haig concurs, noting that Rothblatt's extensive legal experience is invaluable, regardless of her sexual orientation.
If Sky Station works - and many are skeptical that it will - it could create "the most impressive broadband wireless communications system available in the world," says Haig.
The Sky Station partners are not alone in their enthusiasm about the potential of the wild blue yonder. There is an excitement about space communications unlike anything since the early '60s, when satellites made international phone calls and TV broadcasts commonplace. Huge parts of the globe - from villages in Sri Lanka and South Korea to much of Africa, Australia, and South America - still have no basic telephone service, let alone advanced telecommunications.
Stringing wires on utility poles in the world's far-flung corners would cost a fortune, perhaps tens of billions of dollars. From the sky, however, satellite beams can sweep over swamps and deserts. More than 100 million people are expected to use cellular telephones worldwide by 2000, up from about 40 million today, according to the Washington, DC-based Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association. Communications companies are salivating.
Right now, on the drawing board at least, the empty reaches of the heavens look darn crowded. Motorola Inc., for example, has raised over US$1 billion to build its $3.3 billion Iridium system, a network of 66 satellites designed to provide wireless telephone service anywhere in the world by 1998. Craig McCaw and Bill Gates are backing a $9 billion project called Teledesic, which in the next few years hopes to develop its own global phone network using 840 satellites. In addition, the Loral Space and Communications Ltd. and Qualcomm are working on the Globalstar network, a $2.2 billion satellite-phone system with 48 spacecraft that will go into operation in 1998. Meanwhile, American Mobile Satellite Communications, a consortium owned in part by AT&T's McCaw unit, wants to provide wireless phone links through much of North America. And ICO, the London-based satellite company, is also scrambling to assemble a satellite pocket-phone system.
Most of the proposed satellite systems - including those of Motorola, Loral, and Teledesic - are "low Earth orbit" (LEO) systems that use small spacecraft orbiting a few hundred miles up. The Sky Station approach is radically different. Rather than launch a fleet of pricey satellites - which can cost anywhere from $50 million to $200 million each - the company wants to float 250 comparatively inexpensive "platforms" in the stratosphere about 20 miles above terra firma. The 17-ton platforms, which would cost only a few million dollars apiece, will float in the area between jet cruising altitude and where satellites orbit. Each will be suspended from two airships that look like miniature versions of the Hindenburg dirigible.
The Sky Station approach offers several advantages over rival satellite systems. LEO satellites move from pole to pole. As one satellite heads over the horizon, another takes its place, providing continuous coverage. That means the entire network must be in place before investors see a dime in return - an expensive proposition.
By contrast, the Sky Station platforms - which are 300 feet long and 120 feet wide - do not orbit the Earth. They are geostationary, meaning they stay in place relative to the rotation of the Earth. The key is a nonpolluting corona ion engine. The device takes the ions that occur naturally in the air and converts them into thrust, which is then used to hold the platform stationary in the 15-knot winds occurring at that altitude.
The payoff could be quick. Unlike LEOs, there's no need to build the entire network to get one part working. Pop a Sky Station over New York and you can immediately offer service. The 250 Sky Stations will be placed aloft over a five-year period, at the rate of 50 a year. "Every time we deploy a Sky Station we have a revenue-generating service," Rothblatt says.
The platforms are closer to the Earth than satellites, so radio signals don't travel as far. That means smaller receivers, since they don't require as much battery power. Because the platforms are held up by airships, there's no need to spend big bucks on pricey rockets.
The price tag for the whole shebang is only $800 million, as opposed to the billions rivals like Teledesic and others are talking about. Finally, the Sky Station platforms, unlike satellites, can be positioned to cover only populated areas - instead of, say, oceans - making them more cost-effective. Rothblatt says the company hopes to generate $5 billion in annual revenue by 2004.
Vacuum cleaners in orbit
Sky Station wasn't hatched as a telecommunications network, though. It began as an environmental project in the mid-1980s, when UCLA physics professor Alfred Wong dreamt of developing a giant, floating vacuum cleaner that would suck up and zap the chlorine molecules that help destroy the ozone layer. Such a device would have to remain aloft for long periods and be able to navigate. So Wong created the corona ion engine.
In late 1988, Wong contacted Harry "Skip" Darlington IV, chair of the Ozone Society, an environmental group in Middleburg, Virginia. It was Darlington, with a balloon pilot's license and extensive flying experience, who introduced the idea of using airships to keep the platforms afloat. Wong liked the proposal, and Darlington signed on as a partner.
But the ambitious plan still needed financing. After several years of development work, Wong and Darlington enlisted R. Moses Thompson, founder and president of Chantilly, Virginia-based Team Technologies Inc., a consulting firm that works with development banks. Moses and his partner, Edward Silansky, were skeptical. Silansky suggested that Wong and Darlington patent the corona ion engine and form a business, never believing they would.
But in 1994, Wong applied for the patents, and Earth Sciences Technologies International was formed. Silansky joined as CEO; Darlington became chair. Sensing a larger opportunity, the two rejiggered the focus of Sky Station and the idea of a sky-based telecommunications network was born. "There wasn't anyone in the original team who saw the full extent of the telecom potential," says Silansky. "They had been thinking about this solely as an environmental project."
The environmental half of the project is still very much alive, however. Each Sky Station platform is planned to serve a dual purpose - provide telecom services and clean the ozone. The structure of the company reflects these shared values. The holding company is Earth Sciences Technologies International, which handles the environmental side. The Sky Station International subsidiary concentrates on telecom. Wong and Darlington see the duality as compatible and, perhaps more importantly, necessary to make their environmental dream come true.
But it was obvious that such a venture would require big bucks. Darlington eventually hooked up with Haig, a well-known international businessman who was instrumental in setting up a joint venture between the Chinese government and McDonnell Douglas to manufacture planes in China. Haig and his son, Alex, met with the group in July 1995. The Haigs were impressed and came aboard.
Battling bureaucrats
From the beginning, it was clear that the regulatory issues surrounding Sky Station would be as great a challenge as raising the cash necessary to float the project. The Haigs knew they would need a regulatory expert to negotiate this thicket of red tape. Rothblatt's name quickly popped up. In her previous gender, she earned a reputation as a savvy regulatory lawyer who could nimbly slalom through the governmental obstacle course. She had the right mixture of business toughness and personal finesse. Several years ago, for example, Rothblatt represented a telecommunications company seeking the FCC's permission to operate off the East Coast of the US. So Rothblatt dubbed the company the Far Eastern Regional Network, or FERN. The acronym was no accident: it was the surname of one of the FCC commissioners.
Rothblatt says she was bowled over by Sky Station. "I thought this was a fundamental breakthrough - akin to electricity. I really did."
She has spent long hours bouncing from one federal office building to another, selling to government regulators who are rarely enthusiastic about radical ideas. For starters, the Defense Department must give its blessing, since it might be possible to put a surveillance camera on a Sky Station platform and spy on military facilities. Rothblatt must also help convince Federal Aviation Administration officials that Sky Station won't fall out of the sky, as Motorola officials suggest. At least when satellites tumble from orbit, Motorola argues, they usually burn up when re-entering the atmosphere. The low-flying Sky Station platforms wouldn't have a chance to incinerate.
Sky Station's giant dirigibles are also reminiscent of the Hindenburg, an unfortunate analogy that recalls the dramatic old film clip of the giant zeppelin crashing to the ground in flames while a radio announcer wails about "the humanity."
The FAA must grapple with the preeminent safety issue: will these things fall out of the sky? Sky Station officials say no. The airships holding the platforms up have multiple shells. If the outer shell bursts, several backup shells keep it aloft. The chance of an explosion is minimized because they use nonflammable helium to levitate; the Hindenburg was filled with highly volatile hydrogen. And if the helium somehow seeps out, each platform has parachutes to slow its descent.
Even Sky Station's competitors say Motorola's safety concerns are exaggerated. Russell Daggatt, president of Teledesic, says his company "explored some of these dirigible concepts" but went with the more conventional satellite approach.
To convince the FAA, Sky Station is working with retired three-star General James Abrahamson, who ran the Strategic Defense Initiative, or Star Wars, for the Pentagon and was director of development for the space shuttle program.
The FCC must also decide if the Sky Station platforms are located in space, which is open to anyone, or airspace, which is controlled by each country. If foreign regulators decide they are in their stratosphere, then every country in the world would have to sign off on having a platform in its airspace - a daunting prospect to be sure. Ultimately, the decision may be left to an international body such as the United Nations-backed International Telecommunication Union.
Rothblatt must also press the FCC to clear out a high-frequency radio spot on the airwaves and persuade the agency to ask other countries to do the same. Again, Motorola has stood in the way, arguing that the FCC should not denigrate its reputation on such a silly idea.
Motorola, of course, has more than the public's safety and FCC's reputation in mind. "If Sky Station solves the safety and regulatory problems, it could devastate the satellite industry," says one senior FCC official.
Sky Station's real competition may ultimately come not from Iridium or Loral, but the rapid construction of land-based networks - hardwired telephone networks as well as cellular telephone systems. China, for example, plans to install 40 to 80 million telephone lines by 2000. According to a report by the US Department of Commerce, almost every country in Asia, Africa, Latin America, and Eastern Europe plans to build cellular telephone systems.
Nonetheless, Sky Station is moving forward. In July, the company began testing a miniature 40-foot version of the platform in an altitude test chamber at NASA's Lewis Research Center in Plum Brook, Ohio. In early 1997, it will launch a 100-foot prototype up 15,000 feet. If that goes well, the company hopes to launch a full-size version into the stratosphere late next year. "We're selling a dream," Haig says. "It's an exciting period, but one where you don't get a chance to put your feet up for long."
-Mark Lewyn (marklewyn@aol.com), a former technology correspondent for Business Week, is an executive at CitySearch (www.citysearch.com/), an Internet start-up building digital cities.
Jf, indeed very suspicious and tricky fellas seem to be involved in the company. And consorting and taking special interest (and pleasure) into misleading and causing misery to all of us: i.e. the very concerned and (rather) distressed shareholders of GTE.
I have forgotten many of the names and others as well, who (either as colleagues, family or friends of the same fellas, below mentioned), are undoubtedly caught up in the same web of treachery and deception. For this I sincerely apologise and will try to make amend in the future.
But in the meantime I would be so grateful if anyone of you on this board could share useful information to understand more ABOUT WHO these fellas really are? And WHY?
Yes WHY on earth are they doing such a great job at making us so unhappy?
Any intelligence: on what drives them, music, food, sports, books, leisure and pleasure is crucial, indeed necessary to prepare for the Annual SHM.
SOME (ONLY SOME) NAMES AMONG THOSE TRICKY FELLAS (given in alphabetical order) AS FOLLOWS:
Ulrich Altvater, Director GlobeTel Wireless Division
Klaus Bonn, GTE
Dan Erdberg, Director GlobeTel VoIP Division
J. Randolph Dumas, COB
Eric Heininger, Sr. Engineer
Prof Bernd Kröplin
Bob Jones, Director Stratellite Division
Joe Monterosso Director Centerline Division
Rick Searfoss, Sanswire Chairman
Joseph Serrousi Director Magic Money-Stored Value Division
Does anybody play tennis or golf with these guys? And if you do, why not tell us?
PS: Forgot TH and RB on purpose. And I am in the Caucasus and out of reach for the moment.
Agree with your statement that the article makes assumptions and provides limited information on Kerimov. I have been looking for more references. But so far no luck. I will post again if I come up with something more relevant.
Russia is and was a "very long shot". Let us hope that Germany does better. LOL!
HERE YOU GO (RUSSIAN) AT:
http://www.cnews.ru/news/top/index.shtml?2006/03/14/197672
However, on 2 March "internafta" again asked about the postponement, true, of a week ( — i.e., until 6 March) comparatively brief to the end, moreover in "internafte" they explained new delay by purely technical reason. "we are assured that all problems will be solved within the next few days , — reported then the director „Of internafty“ Maxim chernizov. — We worked together with GlobeTel at this transaction in the course of many months, and I feel, which to us remained to make several last steps in this very complex transaction. We continue to fulfill obligations and we remain vdokhnovlennymi the fact that let us provide the population of Russia with contemporary wireless network ". Meanwhile community , until now, it remains unknown, who stands after "Internaftoy" — by the mysterious Russian investor, whom, as he spoke Mr. Chernizov, "draw not obvious economic benefits from the future project, but prospect to ensure the inhabitants of Russia with contemporary technologies". In some OF THE MEDIA were presented the hypotheses that "internafta" — the company of the well-known owner Of suleymana Of kerimova, which recently actively invests into the telecommunication business (in particular, it became the owner the network- monopolists the cable television in Moscow and Saint Petersburg). However, only reason in favor of this version was only certain similarity in the name of company "internafta" and structures Mr. Kerimova "Naphtha- Moscow".
Great! LOL You have a point!!!!!
Serious,I cannot take it any more. What a stereo-type! It can barely get worse, needs, motives and all.
"Besides, they didn't know whether they could find something else that so perfectly fit their needs. Finding an apartment on exactly the right floor wouldn't be easy. He was willing to live as high as the ninth floor, but she, also an Orthodox Jew, would go no higher than six. 'Men don't wear high heels,' she said. 'They don't know what it's like to go up and down those stairs.' And so in May they bought the apartment for $592,000 and in 10 weeks, spending $150,000 more, transformed it to their liking, putting in new floors and a new kitchen, equipped to make it easy to keep kosher, with two sinks, one for dairy and one for meat, and separate water systems feeding the dishwasher drawers. They also have a large Dynasty stove with a griddle and a Sub-Zero wine storage cabinet".
So let us leave him alone and behind while we try to concentrate on "useful research into GTE's future business moves".
BINGO! And ready to "take my shareholder letter to the SEC at:
http://www.sec.gov/complaint/cf942sec9570.htm
So Logandean: please count mein and keep me posted. Thanks
Today's GTE heroes are Dino and Nilremerlin. Both of them have posted here their findings and are now referenced (not by name but still, I do hope that Bob will thank them personally) in the GTE PR concerning Sarraf Gentile Lawsuit.
Dino was solicited by Zack. See below:
Quote" Posted by: dinotori
In reply to: None
Date:4/28/2006 10:04:27 PM
Post # of 20818
This lawsuit was started by Zachary Prensky. He sent me an e-mail April 7, 2006. Read it for yourself!
Date: 4/7/2006 5:25:04 PM Eastern Standard Time
From: zach@upsidesurprise.com
To: Dinotheplumber@aol.com
Sent from the Internet (Details)
Dino:
Now that the Russian deal is dead in all but name and the stock down 40% off of its Russian-induced highs, perhaps a little more humility is due on your part. If you're willing to apologize and bury the hatchet, I may be able to help you. A law firm I know of is preparing a lawsuit against GTE for shareholder fraud and is looking for a lead plaintiff as part of a class action. If you are interested in being the lead plaintiff and can put aside your angry tendencies then drop me a line.
Zach "Unquote
Enforta Expanding Broadband Services throughout Russia.
Investment from Sumitomo Corporation and Baring Vostok Capital Partners – Company Release
AMSTERDAM AND MOSCOW – January 27, 2006 –
http://en.enforta.com/all/art1
Well Novosibirsk and Ryazan do not match up to Moscow and St Petersburg but we do have a credible GTE contender. Time is of the essence here.....
PS: Never heard of Enforta before but the company was founded in October 2003 by a group of Russian and international telecommunication industry executives with the objective to provide broadband.....
Enforta Expanding Broadband Services Throughout Russia
MARKET WIRE
January 30, 2006
Investment From Sumitomo Corporation and Baring Vostok Capital Partners
AMSTERDAM, THE NETHERLANDS and MOSCOW -- Enforta BV announced today that it will expand its broadband services to another 12 regional Russian cities by the middle of 2006 and an additional 14 regional cities by 2007. Enforta is currently providing broadband services in Novosibirsk and Ryazan. In all, Enforta will provide services in at least 28 cities over the next two years.
Enforta's expansion plans follow the announced recent financing with investments from Sumitomo Corporation and Baring Vostok Capital Partners. Sumitomo provided the initial funding for Enforta in early 2005.
During 2005 Russia became one of the top 10 Internet markets in the world in terms of users. Enforta's offering is designed to bring a low cost, high bandwidth service to meet the growing demand for high-speed Internet access by businesses and consumers throughout Russia. In addition to Internet access, Enforta is providing telephony (VoIP), email, website hosting, and dedicated ('VPN') services assuring secure communication in a variety of applications including the interconnection of ATM machines and branch offices. Service packages start for as little as $39 per month.
Enforta's initial network will use advanced 'WiMAX', a newly developed form of wireless technology which, together with other state-of-the-art connectivity solutions will allow for the rapid, cost effective deployment of networks that will support virtually all advanced communication services. By so doing, Enforta will bring cutting edge services to areas that are largely under if not un-served today.
"Enforta will be a 'first-mover' in providing broadband services to one of the fastest growing Internet markets in the world. The economics of the wireless broadband technology are well suited to provide service to this market," said Elena Ivashentseva, Partner at Baring Vostok. "The Enforta business plan is exciting and we are pleased with the results achieved in our initial trials. Sumitomo is happy to increase its investment to assure that Enforta remains a leader in the wireless broadband segment," said Katsuya Kashiki, Sumitomo's Manager of New Business and Investment in Russia.
"Enforta's market opportunity is extraordinary, and with the funding and support of Sumitomo and Baring Vostok, we are assured of the ability to deploy rapidly a first class affordable network," said Enforta's Chairman, Theodore "Ted" Schell. "We are privileged to have attracted such extraordinary partners as Sumitomo and Baring Vostok -- partners with extensive experience in working with high growth technology based service companies. This will help assure our success."
Enforta was formed in October 2003, and today operates in two cities -- Novosibirsk and Ryazan. The Company was founded by Mssrs Lee Sparkman, President, and Victor Ratnikov, General Director, both with substantial experience in building advanced telecommunications networks in emerging markets over the past 20 years; and by Mr. Theodore Schell, Enforta's Chairman, an internationally known telecommunications executive and investor.
Enforta is a member of the WiMAX Forum -- an industry-led consortium of over 300 members developing and promoting standards for IEEE 802.16 wireless broadband technology.
For more information on Enforta's current operations and planned expansion see www.enforta.com or contact pr@enforta.com.
About Sumitomo Corporation
Sumitomo Corporation is amongst the world's largest integrated trading and investment enterprises with annual turnover of $88.4 USD billion for the fiscal year ending March 2005 and not only conducts commodity transactions in all industries utilizing worldwide networks, but also provides related customers with various financing, serves as an organizer and a coordinator for various projects, and invests in businesses from the information industry to the retailing industry, thus showing great diversification as an Integrated Business Enterprise. Sumitomo Corporation is headquartered in Japan, and has offices in 69 other countries around the world. In Russia Sumitomo Corporation began its activities over 40 years ago and has 5 offices. www.sumitomocorp.co.jp/english
About Baring Vostok Capital Partners
Baring Vostok Capital Partners is the manager of three private equity funds. The NIS Fund (1994 with $160 million) was one of the first or largest shareholders in a number of Russian or CIS companies including: Burren Energy, Syktyvkar Forestry, Golden Telecom, Vimpelcom, Sladco, Borjomi, and Rogan Brewery. To date, the NIS Fund has been the number one performing Russian private equity fund and its results place it in the top quartile of global private equity funds over the same period. BVCP raised a second fund in 2000 (the Baring Vostok Private Equity Fund) with $205 million in capital and its third fund in 2004 (the Baring Vostok Private Equity Fund III) with $400 million in capital. Today, BVCP's funds own significant stakes in Europlan Leasing, CTC Media, Golden Telecom, Burren Energy, Spassk Cement, PPE Group, Yandex, Ozon, Rusfinance, and Caspian Gas Corporation. The Funds' shareholders are primarily institutional investors from Europe, North America, the Middle East and Asia. www.bvcp.ru
GlobeTel's Russian WiMAX plans 'up in the air'
TeleGeography's Daily CommsUpdate
Updated : 24 April 2006
US-owned GlobeTel has postponed a project to build a wireless internet access network in 30 Russian cities, which was scheduled to begin in April, a source close to the company told news service Interfax. The delay is due to GlobeTel's Russian partner Internafta failing to provide its USD150 million share of funding for the first phase of the rollout, which requires a total investment of USD600 million. The source said that GlobeTel has received a guarantee that the money will be paid ‘soon’. GlobeTel announced in December 2005 a plan to provide WiMAX, Wi-Fi and DECT services in Russia, using base stations deployed in aerostats (tethered balloons). It has applied to have its equipment certified in Russia, and a company source told Interfax that it has received assurances from the Ministry for Communications and Informatisation (MinSvyaz) that there will be no problem with assigning the necessary frequencies. However, rival operator Enforta has questioned the feasibility of GlobeTel’s plan, claiming that ‘The problem of aerostat stabilization for antenna systems to work from them has not yet been resolved...Using traditional technology with base stations for WiMAX in towers enables such a project to be implemented for ten times less investment.’ Enforta is in the process of building a WiMAX network in 28 Russian cities, at an estimated cost of USD54 million.
Quote" Signals from the iBurst modem can be picked up several kms away by one of the iBurst network base stations. By contrast, a WiFi has a range of only a few tens of metres, but its transfer speeds are higher."Unquote.
This statement to a non specialist (lile me) seems to clearly indicate properties that are "line of sight related" and not WiFi for sure. The question is: what is the TA on iBurst versus WiMax? WiFi is not worth comparing with IMHO.
TIA for any expert with experience in iBurst
Something new from Baku,Azerbaijan..... on iburts technology at:http://www.elcell.az/en/support3.php And do not ask me what I am doing in Azerbaijan.....
What about San Francisco????
What is iBurst?
iBurst is a technology for fast wireless broadband connection, developed by American ArrayComm Incorporation (www.arraycomm.com). The technology has the standard IEEE 802.20.
Which company produces the iBurst equipment?
The equipment for iBurst technology is produced by Kyocera Corporation (www.kyocera.com) – the world famous Japanese manufacturer for high technology ceramic products, electronic components, solar batteries, cellular phones, base stations and electronic office equipment.
What is unique about the iBurst system?
The iBurst system combines the three characteristics of:
– high speed
– true mobility
– low cost of data transmission
Does the elcell Internet work on the move?
Yes, the greatest benefit is that elcell Internet is now able to deliver what mobile professionals and people on the move have been waiting for; an effective service that allows them to work/play anywhere and at anytime inside the coverage areas.
There are few other tools that are more flexible or convenient than a "permanently on" wireless laptop connection which lets you access email and the Internet from the backseat of a moving taxi, an airport lounge, a park or the foyer of the building your next meeting is in. No longer is there the need to hold off activities until finding a location that provides connectivity, either wired or wireless.
What makes iBurst different to WiFi (Wireless LAN, 802.11)?
The main differences are range and speed. Signals from the iBurst modem can be picked up several kms away by one of the iBurst network base stations. By contrast, a WiFi has a range of only a few tens of metres, but its transfer speeds are higher. This means that elcell service is able to provide ubiquitous coverage to users, not just near a WiFi "hot-spot".
ANY COMMENTS?
Sorry no SSII peep. But usual old Skydragon seems to be making a splash.
Link properties: http://www.sanswire.com/multimedia/SkyDragon.m
but still clip is unavailable
Thanks for the find. Minority Service Related Disabled Veterans + Sanswire + Delta..... I like it!
And a new link "See a clip of our new airship" is available on Globetel home page (lower right hand corner) but not accessible and Sanswire web site is unavailable.
Ready for an SSII peep????
Thanks Mide for coming out forcefully and openly with your concerns, they are mine too 100%. As a European I can see the best of America speaking through your voice.
There are "moral hazards" around each and every corner. And here we have the cream of the cream of GTE senior mamagment involved in Delta Aero Science. With Skydragon, Stratellite and Invader...? fully in the picture at: http://www.deltaaeroscience.com/
Tim and co. are doing the right thing, i.e. they need to cover the market with more than one company and we shareholders are also doing the right thing i.e. "sticking to our choice of trust over cynicism, of community over chaos".
But we need to keep asking the hard questions and managment has to answer. I find Rob's initial response (thanks Jeff a lot for sharing) that: "Other than that, I know very little about Delta Aero except that GTE acquired the technology for Skybot and Invader from it. I do not know of any subcontracting relationships involving Delta". Very naive to say the least.
On one side we have synergies here that are crucial but we also have very real possibilities of "conflict of interests" that need to be avoided like hell if possible.
Our new chairman just told us that given 24 hrs in a day "We eat, sleep and breathe GlobeTel". So Tim, Robert and Jonathan may as well have no choice left and just dream of Delta, but if this is not the case than we need to know more about it.
I cannot but think that your decision to step down as board moderator and this issue are one and the same.
Thanks for moderating once again and keep posting..... please!
"Salaries did not go up." What a splendid simple sentence from the horse's mouth. Thanks a lot Rob and Mide, this is the kind of information that makes this board special.
DD takes time. A lot has been said since last week-end on the one-time, non-recurring charges and non-cash transactions totaling $18,726,304, Speculation has gone from "a federally classified program" to "doubling of top managment salaries". But it is allin the fine print and a correct understanding of the 10-K is emerging thanks to what I consider as a "special relationship" between this board senior members and GTE managment. And we all benefit from it.
Explanations on HotZone 4010 specs versus deployed WiMAX would be most appreciated through somebody in the knowing.
I found reading the article very interesting. Now I am quoting and asking - If US cities can get eight of 30 square miles coverage and Hotzone can hit half a mile radius then, how do we compare the performance of the Globetel solution with what is already out there in Cayman Islands or some USA “communities”?
Any clue, anybody? Showmebill??? TIA
Quote 1) Whither WiMAX?
The Cayman Islands recently completed a WiMAX project that now provides 100 percent wireless coverage to all businesses and aims to have 100 percent residential coverage this year. In Russia, GlobalTel Wireless is partnering with Moscow-based Internafta to deploy wireless networks throughout 30 Russian cities over the next two years. In addition, communities throughout the United States are beginning to roll out WiMAX hot spots covering distances from eight to 30 square miles.
Once WiMAX becomes more pervasive, the idea of a portable, updatable online news and information device seems like a logical next step. And this is where electronic newsprint can shine: Why would people want to lug around a heavy laptop or try to squint at box scores on their cell phones if instead they could get the news and information they need from their e-device?
Quote 2) Last week the HotZone 4010 was successfully tested in Mexico City, confirming the range of the DECT/VoIP application with an 800-meter or one half mile cell
Quote 3) From showmebill post 22914
an interesting post on the half-mile range:
(per CEO Huff w/permission)
"Our ability to hit 800 meters is an unbelievable advantage. Every time you double the distance in transmission you cut your network backbone cost by 75%. This is a mathematical progression that is used in RF engineering."
Globetel Wireless Europe at: http://globetel-europe.net/?changelang=2 is down.... again?
Rubikon Partners at: http://www.rubikonpartners.com/
"Since then, in the face of some early head scratching and head
shaking by my private equity partners" J. Randolph Dumas March 31, 2006
Just stay with us, will you Pit?
Quote"
Based on my erratic character, as well as my emotion towards Globetel and GTE, it is not in my best interest to continue to post on this forum, or on any other stock message board, at least, in the near future (a few months). Whether GTE is up or down on any given day, week, or month, it simply continues to bring out the absolute worst in me."Unquote.
High Altitude Secret programs..........
Budget document discloses existence of secret US Air Force UAV programme
Lockheed Martin's Skunk Works is believed to be developing a high-altitude, stealthy unmanned aircraft system (UAS) for the US Air Force (USAF) under a secret programme, funded with money taken from the terminated Joint Unmanned Combat Air System (J-UCAS) project. The existence of a classified air force UAS project was disclosed in a navy Fiscal Year 2007 budget document, which stated that the Pentagon "directed the J-UCAS programme to split into two separate programmes: one air force classified programme and a navy UCAV [unmanned combat aerial vehicle] programme".
[Jane's International Defence Review - first posted to http://idr.janes.com - 17 March 2006]
Kind of disagree with the OT=Off Topic. Rather SO=Spot On IMO.
And based on experience. Guess GTE should not worry too much about the good guys out there.
Great post. Thanks.
But what would make Skydragon a non candidate for the record breaking attempt? Each section of the airship is semi-rigid. It just happens to have five of them. I am not trying to make a joke here. The real challenge as you rightly said, is not go around the world Fosset style, but to have an airship that sails into position and stays there.
Great post. Thanks
Are you sure that Skydragon would not qualify for the record breaking event? Are you able to help with info on the strat rules for the record breaking race? In other words: who is setting the rules? TIA
GTE is going to benefit even from an ealry "release" or cession of whatever rights it has acquired on Skydragon technology. That is for sure. But the opportunity cost of exercising or being forced to exercise such an option at an early stage would be huge.
I mean when the big boys want something they normally tend to get it, sooner rather than later. In fact what about an hostile take over of GTE? Is this "absurd" idea worth contemplating?
For ezample right now if GTE wants to gain credibility and deliver on the promise to break the altitude record for a HAA, then Skydragon prototype is the best option IMHO. After all nobody is setting the rules for such a record breaking event.
Rutan and Branson Spaceship One have made headlines all right.
And they had clear standards to meet. Conquering the stratosphere is uncharted territory, something like Cousteau showing off the first SCUBA apparatus. The first one getting there will set the standards. Shareprice and all.
There are a lot of sharks out there, smelling and they are coming in for the take.
The two military configurations scenario is supported elsewhere, as well as the thinking that military involvement needs to come to GTE with guarantees and show-up somewhere at least on the accounts.
Nice to see that ideas on the military dimension of the project are threading their way into our community, weaving a net around the unspoken (no press release) and the unseen (no SSII photos).
Quoted from Rocky's GTE board. Credit to the senders.
Subject:Military Funding for GTE? Posted By:BDay43
Date/Time: 03/28/2006 9:03 AM CST Message #:564 of 565
This message has 1 reply.
Earlier this year, GTE previewed TWO different proto-types for the govt & military. Only one of these was ever discussed in PR or shown a video clip, that being the SkyDragon. If and I we don't know if this occured, but IF the govt/military liked what they saw and wanted to provide some research $$$ for this project, how would this money be shown on the financial reports?? Would it be income or wome other type of revenue. Since SkyDragon took place in Q1, this would not show up on the soon expected news due this week, but just curious on trying to determine if govt is backing development of this concept!
BDay
Subject:Re: Military Funding for GTE? Posted By:Rocky1
Date/Time:03/28/2006 9:39 AM CST Message #:565 of 565
This is a reply to message # 564 written by BDay43.
BDay,
GTE is a public company so if they or any of their subsidiaries were to receive dollars as you speak of it would most certainly be reported in some form on the financials.
My thoughts: GTE has financed the much more intense Sanswire 2 project so I don't really see why they would want or pursue funding for the Skydragon concept. Once government dollars are involved they want patent rights and control. I am not sure that would be acceptable to our partners. TAO-Technologies in Cooperation with the University of Stuttgart of Germany Led By Professor Dr. Bernd Kroplin
Just my opinion BDay...thanks "Unquote.
Thanks for the posting. I am one of the last kids on the block here (i.e. a recent newcomer when compared to you especially) but today is the best day I have seen on this board in terms of quality of the info shared.
I have gone through the article "Balloons in Today's Military" and downloaded the PDF file. Sanswire is in the article but NOT in the PDF file. Somebody has been updating the info since last December! And keeping an eye on SS.....
Now the army tends to be pretty conservatavite in their appproach to things. They do not like to be laughed at.....But now there is a definite change of perceptions across the board and they are saying it loud
Quote"
Jump forward 2,222 years: what would you say if we told you the US military was seriously considering augmenting its intelligence-gathering and communications infrastructures with helium-filled balloons? You would probably say we were crazy. However, it is true, and once we get past the “giggle factor,” we think you will agree that the concept has a lot of merit. Like Hannibal, our leaders also know the value of a robust intelligence network, meteorology, long-range communications, and the inherent advantages of owning the high ground, and we are moving out sharply to capitalize in this regime."Unquote.
They have become true believers in "those floating things up there". It can be a measure of how serious (and desperate) the situation is out there in Irak. The military has been overstreched for a long time now.
Quote "Stratfor, July 06, 2004 By George Friedman
Summary
The U.S. Department of Defense is now activating the Army's Individual Ready Reserve for combat duty. Given the inherent problems associated with such a move, it is clear that U.S. war planners were caught in a trap: Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's "revolution in warfare" has not evolved as expected."Unquote.
The message is we want these things up there ASAP, we need them badly. Let's do it now and funding is not a problem (nilremerl Post #of 22785: U.S. Unmanned Aerial Systems Market to Reach 17 Billion in Five Years).
Now what if GTE looses Skydragon to the military-industrial complex, the like of LM and NG? This would be a disaster. We need to know more where we stand in relation to SS partnership with Skydragon.
Any takers?