Thanks Lon And I remember way back when SXSW was just a couple of grunge-rockers pushing their 45s and garage-recorded demo tapes
------ Forwarded Message > From: Lon Berquist > Date: Mon, 13 Mar 2006 14:57:25 -0600 > To: Anthony Townsend > Subject: Live Concert via 802.11(g) > > http://www.statesman.com/business/content/business/stories/technology/03/13wif > i.html > (Free registration required to view) > > Rhapsody in broadband > Live concerts will flow between Austin and San Antonio in SXSW display of > digital virtuosity and civic harmony. > By Kirk Ladendorf > AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF > Monday, March 13, 2006 > > If Austin and San Antonio are going to make beautiful music together > economically, they had best be willing to collaborate and improvise. > > Maybe they should watch Andrew Donoho and a big group of friends this week. > > Donoho, a Web theorist for IBM Corp. in Austin, and others hope to link the > two > cities electronically by transmitting the live performances of two bands > Tuesday night, which coincides with the conclusion of the South by Southwest > Interactive show. > > "We are just geeks who want to pull the two cities together and pool our > resources," said San Antonio volunteer Dean McCall, who also helped organize > the effort. > > The project will demonstrate the power of new technologies, such as wireless > broadband and high-definition video, that could be important to entertainment > and business in the future. It's being done on a shoestring budget, with lots > of volunteers, the assistance of both large and small companies and the City > of > Austin. > > It's the centerpiece of a nightlong party sponsored by the Digital Convergence > Initiative, a high-tech volunteer group affiliated with the Greater Austin-San > Antonio Corridor Council. > > At Tuesday's event, rock bands will perform in both cities, and > high-definition > video of their performance will be streamed along a network between the two > locations. Donoho has dubbed the impromptu network the Comanche Bit Trail. > > If it works as expected, it will demonstrate that networks powerful enough to > handle high-definition data streams can be assembled quickly with existing > resources. That would allow almost anyone, from researchers to entertainers, > to > send high-definition data streams at much lower costs. > > The demonstration coincides with the first C3 Mobile Content Festival, which > will honor creators of top mobile games, videos and software applications. > > It all grew out of past discussions on how Austin and San Antonio artists and > tech experts could work together to create something neat, useful and > potentially profitable. > > "Digital convergence" is the merging of computers, high-speed communications > and > the new information and services, such as streaming high-definition video, > that > use them. Digital Convergence Initiative says the Austin-San Antonio region > can > benefit by exploring and exploiting the opportunities that result from > high-speed digital communications meeting up with high-speed, low-cost > computing. > > A coherent economic corridor between Austin and San Antonio long has been > talked > about but remains elusive. High-tech collaboration also is relatively unusual, > which is something the organizers of the convergence party want to change. > > Donoho, 45, a veteran IBM software and Web expert, expects the Comanche Bit > Trail to continue as a low-cost "test-bed" for other digital media > demonstrations. > > Getting the broadband multimedia streams to flow up and down the network is > relatively easy. They're carved up into small "packets" of video and audio > data > and sent on their way and must be reassembled on the other end. > > The working parts > The idea behind the Digital Convergence Initiative is to create business > alliances as well as useful technology. After Tuesday's demonstration is > completed, Donoho will develop software additions to IBM's Adaptive Web > Services software that will make it easier to control an improvised network to > deliver high-definition video, or other kinds of information, with the > simplicity of clicking on the controls in a Web browser. > > It's part of a broader goal of making increasingly better technology cheaper > and > more accessible. > > Businesses, including television networks, already set up customized broadband > computer networks to move big video files across the country. But this is > something different, says Michael Korpi, a Baylor University communications > professor who is helping out with the project. > > "If you don't have control of the whole network yourself, then this is the > kind > of arrangement you are going to be looking at," he says. "The goal is to dial > in the data-rate you need and make it look and work like a Web browser does. > If > you have the software and tools you need to make that work, then that is a > major > accomplish- ment." > > Donoho is getting plenty of help. Telcordia Technologies Inc., the successor > to > the former Bell Laboratories communications research, has been a key partner > in > the project. Other partners include the City of Austin; Grande Communications; > Dominion Lasercom Inc., a Bryan company that develops and sells > laser-communications gear; and Rackspace Managed Hosting, a large San > Antonio-based Web-hosting company. > > "All the pieces are coming together," Donoho says. "If you really approach > collaboration process with a good heart and with integrity and the right > intentions and follow through on those intentions, then pieces start to happen > for you." > > San Antonio executive Graham Weston, CEO of Rackspace, lent a big hand. The > Comanche Bit Trail will use part of Rackspace's communications network and its > San Antonio data center to deliver some of the video content to the party. And > Weston, a real estate developer, donated the lobby of his Weston Centre > building in downtown San Antonio as the venue for that part of the party. > > Weston says Rackspace, a rapidly growing international player in the hosting > business, was happy to be part of a project that would tie San Antonio and > Austin together. His company competes regularly for business with IBM, but it > was willing to collaborate anyway. "We compete with IBM all the time, but we > think this innovation in the Comanche Bit Trail is a sort of important next > step for the Internet," Weston says. "We are happy to cooperate with them on > projects like this." > > In Austin, Peter Collins, the city's chief information officer, offered to > provide a high-speed, wireless network link to beam video and music over the > first few hundred yards of its 77-mile route to San Antonio. > > The theoretical speed of the wireless link is more than 50 megabits a second, > about 10 times as fast as a standard home broadband connection. But Donoho is > counting on a speed of 25 to 30 megabits, which is enough to carry > high-definition video and audio streams. It will be a test of 802.11(g), the > next generation of the Wi-Fi technology used to provide wireless Internet > connections in offices, coffee shops and homes. > > In case of problems, Donoho has laser communications equipment as a backup > furnished by Dominion Laser- com. > > Two high-end Apple computers will make the video ready for network > transmission. > The wireless link takes the Comanche Bit Trail from the performance at Ballet > Austin to the roof of City Hall, where the city's network will transfer it to > a > fiber-optic link owned by San Marcos-based Grande Communications. From there > the > network connects with Qwest Communications' fiber backbone in Southeast > Austin, > which delivers the information to Rackspace in San Antonio. > > Collins says the city's technology staff maintains ties to Austin's tech > community as part of its planning and evaluation of potential future > technology > purchases for city government. > > Putting pieces in place > Piecing together the network and getting the needed equipment for Tuesday's > demonstration took lots of evangelizing among participating companies. > > "IBM wouldn't be involved unless it worked," Donoho says. "It is my commitment > that it is going to work. And if IBM is going to stand behind it, we are going > to do it my way." > > McCall, head of San Antonio's Salsa.Net online technology community, says he > has > spent 20 to 30 hours a week for the past two or three months ironing out > various > details tied to the demonstration. > > The two Interstate 35 corridor cities "are so much stronger together," he > said. > "This is the kickoff to the whole idea of working as a region. That is a very > powerful idea to me." > > Austin and San Antonio have some of the key ingredients toward building a new > kind of economy, says Alex Cavalli, head of the Digital Convergence > Initiative. > But they will have to work at it. Both towns have experts on computer and > Internet technology and wireless and wired networking. They also have > interesting involvements in the arts, in computer gaming and in consumer > electronics design. > > "The natural outcome is to create new products and new companies and a larger > economy," Cavalli says. > > How it will all work > The Digital Convergence Initiative, a group of Central Texas techies, plans a > bold experiment to transmit a live music show between Austin and San Antonio > during South by Southwest, showcasing various technologies, including a > traditional fiber-optic network and the next generation of Wi-Fi equipment. > Performances by bands in San Antonio and Austin will be transmitted digitally, > using a combination of networks and technologies. It's intended to demonstrate > some of the possibilities for digital media. The performances at Ballet Austin > and the Weston Centre in downtown San Antonio will be captured on > high-definition cameras and then transmitted wirelessly to the fiber-optic > networks operated by Grande Communications and Qwest for most of their journey > between the two cities. > > In the key of G: > The experiment will use the next generation of Wi-Fi, 802.11(g), to transmit > the > video streams. It's the same technology used in wireless hot spots, such as > coffee shops and restaurants. But the newest version is much faster, allowing > data transmission of up to 54 megabits per second, compared with about 6 > megabits for a standard cable modem. > > The ensemble: > IBM Corp., Grande Communications Inc., City of Austin, Dominion Lasercom, > Qwest > Communications, Rackspace, Baylor University, LifeSize Communications, > Telcordia Technologies. > > ------ End of Forwarded Message --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ TELECOM-CITIES Current searchable archives (Feb. 1, 2006 to present) at http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ Old searchble archives at http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
