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Currently, KEN is a collaborative effort between Kentucky's 175 school districts, Kentucky Education Cabinet, Kentucky Department of Education, the Council on Postsecondary Education, the Education Professional Standards Board, and Kentucky workforce agencies, with the intention of including all educational entities to the network in the near future.
Currently, KEN is a collaborative effort between Kentucky's 175 school districts, Kentucky Education Cabinet, Kentucky Department of Education, the Council on Postsecondary Education, the Education Professional Standards Board, and Kentucky workforce agencies, with the intention of including all educational entities to the network in the near future.
Revision as of 14:52, 27 April 2007
- 1 Dept. of Ed. Office of Educational Technology
- 2 Mark Rutledge
- 3 Barry Bishop
- 5 Mark David Gross Chairmen Kentucky Public Service Commission
- 6 John Higginbotham
- 7 Kirk Poling
- 8 David Hemingway
- 9 Connect Kentucky
- 10 Kentucky Education Network
- 11 Meeting with Deborah Clayton
- 12 Meeting with the Kentucky State Library Staff
- 13 Follow-ups
- 14 Miko
Dept. of Ed. Office of Educational Technology
Tim Sizemore works at the office for Ed. Technology, part of the KY Dept. of Education
- What is KEN?
- KEN is the statewide network that currently connects K12 schools
- Contract with AT&T to get last mile out to school districts
- AT&T is covering all of the build out costs of digging trenches and putting in fiber (not covering costs if they need to tear up a parking lot or similar construction)
- School districts will then have fiber in within their districts to connect the individual chools
- AT&T will manage the backbone and the last mile to the district & provide an edge router @ the school district
- Nortel (under contract from Department of Ed (DoE) will manage the network behind the edge router
- Since the network is being built with an existing contract, it is covered by E-Rate w/ no competitive bid
- Funded by the state
- Kentucky DoE Office of Education Technology has experienced an large budget increase to cover management, circuits, and installation of instructional devices
- Cost Structure for state networks
- KEN-AT&T primarily contractor (per month)
- 10 Mbps $3544 Telco + $320 Commonwealth office of Technology (COT)
- 100 Mbps $8800 Telco + $320 COT
- 250 Mbps $1450 Telco + $320 COT
- KPEN-Windstream (per month)
- 10 Mbps $4000
- 100 Mbps $5500
- KEN-AT&T primarily contractor (per month)
- Brief History
- Originally started as hub and spoke w/ connection going back to Frankfort
- Lots of things are centralized @ state DoE, including records, email, etc.
- Is now installing 10 or 100 or 250 Mbps connection
- Success Factors
- Governor's prescription for innovation
- Therefore people and legislators understand technology more than they used to
- Connect Kentucky lobbied legislature for KEN
- Governor's prescription for innovation
- Barriers & Sustainability
- Wasn't sure if they would get the appropriation to pay for the network
- Now, the challenge is to maintain the appropriation and to figure out the next steps in KEN, including connecting libraries in the next round of appropriations
- B&M Gates Interventions
- Formulate plans
- Decide what the stakeholders will pay for
- Decide what Gates will pay for
- Have a split
- Program to raise awareness
- Help plan w/ stakeholders
- Formulate plans
- Misc.
- Connect Kentucky
- Tim was on an E-Community Leadership team and thought that CK was doing a great job and that the E-Community Leadership teams were great!
- The teams helped to build demand and awareness
- As possible evolution of KEN, Connect Kentucky may take over management of the network
- Ideas for Internet2 in Libs (Tim
- Video Conferencing
- Education Gaming
- Digital libraries
- Connect Kentucky
Mark Rutledge
Mark is the commissioner of the Commonwealth Office of Technology.
- Kentucky they have a procurement code
- Except for utilties
- Whatever territory they are in, they use the LEC
- What they did was develop a statewide mechanism
- This will allow standard pricing structure throughtout the state
- Developed partnerships through contracting that is managed by BellSouth now AT&T---who then sub-contracted w/ local
- Gave them a postalized rate for all connection
- Commonwealth Office of Technology (COT) then adds a group of services to the telco
- Internal wiring and management, router management & install, e-mail
- Thinks that the de-regulation by legislature helps spur broadband deployment across the state
- De-reg coupled w/ KIH helped telcos re-coup their investment
- Coupled w/ centralized purchasing authority (COT), you gain enormous efficencies
- Also commits to a period of time to allow for the build-out to occur
- KEN is a logical network that has no physical infrastructure—logical configurations to create a virtual circuit
- Libraries can join KEN
- B&M Gates
- Develop a mechanism to develop a mechanism whereby libraries can aggregate demand
- Show them a business case via the aggregated demand, coupled with multi-year contract to pay off any build out that would be required
- This is how they were able to get good rates for their network
- If telcos have to compete for each bid, they won't cut the margins as much
- Willing to help w/ telco negotiations
- Final Thoughts from Mark
- Basically, they think the postalized rates coupled with long term contract incent AT&T to build connectivity
Barry Bishop
Barry is the VP of Wireline Services at Windstream, the number two telco provider in Kentucky
- Footprint of Windstream
- Wireline around Lexington, London, Ashley, Campbell, some out west.
- In 16 other states
- Merger of Alltel & Valor wire lines
- Serves a variety of population density & demographics
- Broadband
- General offering of DSL
- DSLAM & SADSLAM (does not reside in main switch office) 80% of footprint is covered
- In new builds, they are doing fiber to the premise
- Does not market video at this time
- Will be up to mid to late 80s
- Connect Kentucky is helping to determine where to deploy
- Statewide network
- Provider to KAPEN (higher education network) 100 Mb—is prime contractor
- Run backbone and run last mile where they are the ILEC—partner with others in their territory
- Provider to KAPEN (higher education network) 100 Mb—is prime contractor
- Does not connect libraries
- Can provide DSL or dedicated circuit to connect broadband
- Everyone can have broadband (they will run T1)
- It is a question of affordable broadband
- General offering of DSL
- Connect Kentucky
- Partner & investor in CK from the get go
- They are great advocates for broadband deployment
- Not out there beating them up over broadband
- Gets leads from CK on who doesn't have broadband
- Got everyone more focused
- Would not have spread it as evenly as they would have if CK hadn't acted as a catalyst
- Would prioritized broadband deployment based upon demand (and CK help id the demand or would come straight from customers)
- CLECs
- Several CLEC competitors
- 3 facilities-based Telcos (Municipal, County & Windstream) in one city
- Barriers
- Last 10-15 percent
- Computer ownership..everyone that wants has
- 1600 new sites w/ broadband in 2k6 (in all 15 states)
- Bills
- Beneficiaries of some of the bills, but were rolling out broadband anyway.
- What factors roll out broadband
- Demand and competition
- Willing to let others set up ISP while they decided what to do with broadband
- Take rate
- Depends on the site
- Can put in sites for 8-10k all the way up to $250,000;
- 25% penetration across the state
- Good marketing helped draw the people in (Connect Kentucky played a crucial part in that)
- 10% before investment
- Depends on the site
- Gates Recommendations
- Regional library approach (would like to have something like that
- Great RFP proposal
- Then share a backbone internet connection
- Regional library approach (would like to have something like that
Joan Coleman President of AT&T and Amy Scarborough Director of Legislative and External Affairs
- They think they are building out ok and have a significant amount of deployment to public libraries
- Will have 100% broadband availability by the end of the year
- Merger conditions and what it means in Kentucky
- Commitment of 100% broadband deployment by the end of the year
- Relationship with WildBlue to deploy to areas un-served areas of the state
- Issues affecting the broadband deployment in the state
- Looks to Connect Kentucky to help (especially w/ de-regulation)
- Barriers of entry because of geography
- Wants to be the only provider for their customers
- Since 2004 to beginning in '06 all deployment was to communities of less than 900
- Success factors
- Investment in backbone to increase deployment
- Difficult to get infrastructure to get on the backbone E.g. placement of DSLAMs
- Put in remote terminals in rural areas
- Re-using equipment—when replaced, old equipment goes to where it hasn't been deployed before
- Take Rate
- Some areas with a lot of wealth that they didn't think exist before—when AT&T deployed, they used DSL for creative activities
- E.g. Editing books online, communities with professors, home businesses
- 35.95 for a 1.5 Mb connection
- Thinks that libraries can get more if they pay for more
- Some areas with a lot of wealth that they didn't think exist before—when AT&T deployed, they used DSL for creative activities
- Leg and/or Policy changes
- IPTV is a driver of deployment in every state
- Video Franchising--
- House Bill 550
- Set up the opportunity for providers to get grants, but appropriation was not made
- May get appropriation in the future
- Money from appropriation may go to help a failing dam
- AT&T likes the grant because they are able to apply
- Not intended for overbuild; is for un-served areas
- Broadband Task Force
- Has disbanded
- Looked @ deployment at the time
- Sees Connect Kentucky as the task force (views task force as a child of legislative process)
- Did good job of discussing issues @ margin and bringing together legislators
- Was put in place as an accountability measure
- Relationship w/ Wild Blue
- Does not know any details
- Partnering w/ them for deployment opportunities
- In areas where AT&T is not deploying, WildBlue is the provider
- Connect Kentucky is working to bring down the cost via partnership
- Coordinating partner w/ KIH2
- Schools were a part of KIH2
- There was a lot of work done to get connections out to each school district as part of KIH2
- Worked to get the infrastructure out there
- 17 Partners coming together because of KIH(1)
- Which partner gets which school is dependent on ILEC
- What recommendations do you have for us?
- Removing regulatory barriers to allowing providers to come in and offer service
- Did not want to have to re-sell broadband to CLEC---shares POTS but didn't want to sell DSLAM access
- Infrastructure is in place and seeing if there is an issue—the question is that is the broadband connectivity enough and is it affordable?
- A lot of work has been done and continues to be done to spur deployment
- Another avenue is in Science, Engineering and Math—Kentucky has entities has content and then to build broadband out using Science and math as a driver, which will in turn allow the libraries to be more attractive
- Removing regulatory barriers to allowing providers to come in and offer service
Mark David Gross Chairmen Kentucky Public Service Commission
- Legislation
- 2 or 3 years ago a bill was passed to de-regulate broadband provisions from the commission's jurisdiction
- Proceeding session there was a deal that de-regulated local telephone service
- Bills to de-regulate telecommunications (much less than 3 ½ years ago)
- Issue: PSC does not reg. cable so telephone argued that they are regulated but cable is not
- Impact
- De-reg of broadband has been helpful in getting broadband deployment in the state
- Telcos said they couldn't deploy because of PSC
- To get de-reg, the ILECs would have to provision broadband in rural
- Doesn't think 92% of deployment w/out de-regulation
- Bell South was able to sell investment to corporate b/c then they wouldn't need to share facilities
- Thinks they have done a good job, but there are pockets that are unserved
- Wife (school board) says that usage by children is great!
- How much oversight do you have?
- Telcos
- Virtually none
- They ask for some reporting, which they give freely
- Could not have reporting requirement
- Complaints & advertising oversight
- Regulates the basic phone service with price (basic local service w/ no frills) approx 20-25%
- De-reg has not increased complaints
- Fully regulate the power companies for their power utilities
- But not for broadband
- Duke KY has expressed interest & had pilot project of broadband over powerlines
- In some rural areas, the public utilities offer cable
- Telcos
- Power company bill
- Bill to allow power companies to drive broadband
- Main purpose: sell propane and other services (not broadband)
- Problem in his mind is that getting broadband in the last 8% of the state where the population density is low, there is a fixed, low income preventing them from adopting
- Has concerns and doubts that the last 8% will be completed
- Thinks that the wireless from DCI is interesting but not sure if wireless will be a viable solution for eastern KY
- How he characterized state of broadband:
- Vastly improved since 2004
- Gets better each month
- Thinks it will be interesting to see how close to 100% they actually get
- High-speed (anything but dial-up)…thinks most can get it
- Been happy w/ CK and telephone providers
- Pleasantly surprised—though they were being lied to about de-reg promises
- Broadband task force appointed by legislator w/ cross-section of people to monitor what the telcos were doing to ensure compliance
- Issued a report and not sure if it is still around
- Knew that they must follow through in order to get land line de-reg
- Not involved in KEN
- Had not even heard of the project
- Success factors of 92%
- The entities that have had the abilities to deploy broadband has been freed up by decision maker (e.g. corporate) that the numbers work. Even though the cost is high, they can make it up in some of the more urban areas to subsidize this high cost
- Skeptical of broadband de-reg, but is now a supporter
- The hue and cry of folks in rural Kentucky who want what their cousins in urban areas has
- Thinks the companies have been responsive to this cry—they want to make profit and if it makes sense, they will deploy
- Governor has done a good job of getting the word out and hammering the issue
- The public is aware of it b/c the governor has said it, president says it and federal people say it
- Barriers
- Geography
- Socio-economic status & abilities
- Does not want or can not afford the connection
- These people are the ones libraries should be attracting
- Bill and Melinda Gates Interventions
- Wondering if there would be some way to piggy back off of access that is already in the community
- College professor @ SE Community College…wanted high speed @ home and couldn't get it…lived within several hundred yards of fiber
- Wonders if there could be greater collaboration between public libraries and other public institutions
John Higginbotham
John is the superintendent of the Frankfort plant board that provides cable TV, telecom, water, power, Internet, and security services.
- Services they provide
- Electric and Water Plant Board of the city of Frankfort
- Muninciple provided---Independent of the city gov't
- Provide Electric, Water, Cable (1952), Telecom (CLEC—ILEC is AT&T/Bell South), Broadband (2001)
- Cannot subsidize cable and telcom w/ Water and Electric
- All three are separate businesses
- Also go to Whitford county and Shelby county
- Non-profit organization
- 10,000 residential and commercial telco lines, 9700 Internet Access, 17,000 cable
- Uses POTS and Cable VOIP (approx 60% of the residential lines)
- Interconnected city school district to central office then out to Commonwealth Office of Technology (gave them the fiber network)
- Provided 2 Mb synchronous fiber link that FPB gives to them @ retail for staff
- Provided a 8 Mb 1 Mb up cable modem
- Partners with lib for community taping industry
- Owns a network to connect state offices
- 40 municipal electric companies (12 or 13 that is in the cable/telcom)
- They have been on the leading edge of broadband; leaving the private sector behind
- Important Factors that are affecting broadband deployment
- Cost of upgrading equipment was large (only 512K until the new equipment was in place
- Now they need to go even faster
- Realized that they needed to make broadband available to library after library board was planning to build their new building
- 2 Mb for $500 /month & cable for $100 / month
- Have a few hundred homes left to wire
- Cost of upgrading equipment was large (only 512K until the new equipment was in place
- Biggest Barrier to Broadband
- Cost and ability to make revenue back on the expenditure
- Low population density
- Reaching some of the really rural areas (nearly $10,000/mile to wire)
- Topography of the county is large
- Adelphia (now bought by Time Warner) did not pay for upgrades to infrastructure
- Cost and ability to make revenue back on the expenditure
- Recommendations for Gates foundation
- Will email us later
- Interface with the library
Kirk Poling
Kirk works for Insight Communications, the largest cable company in Kentucky, but has only been with the company for 6 months. Insight is a privately held company (no public scrutiny).
- Has worked for many years on broadband deployment to various
- Trying to figure out how to get into the business market
- $1 Billion of revenue every year (7th largest)
- Is looking for a way to build out the fiber to business and figure out how to build infrastructure
- Trying to determine where there is a need (serves KY, IL, IN and OH)
- Do you serve libraries?
- They do have some libraries—do not have exact numbers
- Active in K12 space and is working on Higher Ed
- The factors that go into business decisions
- Build it they will come (attitude of the early 2000s), but ineffective
- Do not build it but hope they will come is the new attitude
- His philosophy is that it is important to look into both sides of the equation
- Want to quantify ROI on 12-36 months
- Looks at each situation case by case
- Fiber to the business; schools, universities, and libs (not to the home)
- Trying to figure out how to spread out the up-front costs for deployment
- No plans for FTTH deployment
- B&M Gates interventions
- I don't know
- IF you have value-added resource and application would be great
- Partner w/ public service organization
- Lack of dollars and cents (although cost of bandwidth is dropping)
- Look at each opportunity to determine feasibility
- What do you think of CK?
- Great initiative (let's get w/ the companies to get deployment)
- Tying to get Insight involved in CK activities
- Thinks that Insight is a good way to deploy broadband ($1 billion of revenue to spend)
- Great to help consumers and now branching out to business
David Hemingway
David is a Senior Account Executive at Digital Connections, Inc. (a infrastructure company)
- What is DCI?
- Carrier to ISP is not a function they normally have fulfilled
- DCI started as a data networking company in 1992
- @ the time that frame relay was taking hold
- Survived the crash
- Stumbled onto Connect Kentucky
- Had done several wireless integrations
- Putting together 7 conty wi-fi network
- Hooking up the service is now done w/ a partner
- Synergy is providing the Internet connectivity, hooking up, marketing and retailing of the service
- DCI provides the access points and backhaul
- 900 MHz spectrum is used (non line of site and unlicensed)
- looked @ 700 MHz, but is owned by someone who does not want to lease to DCI
- Will lease the tower from Crown Castle (a tower management company)
- Has a radio to go out to customers and then a separate radio to act as a back haul
- 2600 sq mi
- Finish up deployment by the end of the year (2007)
- Speeds
- 512k down (@29.95) to 2.5 Mb down
- Maximum speed is somewhere 3.0 Mb
- Do you have to provide services to some public entitites?
- 10% rebate has to go back to people helping to fund portions of the network
- Offer a free hotspot to all counties as part of the contract (all bandwidth is free)
- Taking customers away?
- Only satellite people for the most part (in most cases)
- There are places where there will be overlap w/ wire companies
- Is this service going well?
- Not deployed yet
- Have completed beta test that exceeded expectations
- Moving forward on more deployment
- Other providers seem to be done well
- 46 WISPs in Indiana using Motorola equipment that they will be using
- 20-25 miles is max (going to go to 10 mi) $85,000 per tower
- Profitable @ 5400 in seven counties (13-15% consumers in the county)
- B&M Gates Foundation
- Maybe some uses for libraries
Connect Kentucky
(For a different point of view on ConnectKentucky, see the public library focus group.)
What people do?
30 full time people with some part-time
Involved in county teams
Spurring demand in the counties.
Andrew – government relations
Foundation support for No Child Left Offline
Health 0- Policy and program development coordinator
Policy and advocacy group
Work with community type programs
Provide support for e-community strategies
Assessment for small companies
Technology assessments
What they have and what they need
Help organizations develop technology plans
Hardware and software needs
How bring technology to bear on their mission
KDLA issued an RFP to do technology training at the local level
Doing a technology boot camp for 4 days.
Giving an overview of skills and external resources
How to maintain technology in the library
How set up a wireless network
How maintain security
Mark – operations and communications
Poster child for CK
Kentucky native
High level view of the project
Communications internally and externally
Work with staff that produces the newsletter
Quarterly newsletter statewide
Progress reports
Monthly newsletter regionally.
Jeff – Director of program development
Try to bring order to chaos
Partnership development
Recruiting of private companies that want to be involved in private/public partnerships
Scan federal and state opportunities for funding matches with their programs
Hook resources with problems
Policy analyst
Technology policy tracking on state and federal level
Track what's going on in different states
Compile a publication that sums up what happens during the week
Work with Heather to find funding
How you developed model?
Taylor County Kentucky in 1999.
75% of adults traced their employment to one textile company.
Identities tied to the job they did.
Textile company shut its doors with unemployment at 30% level.
Scrambling for jobs and a crash course in self-assessment.
How be attractive for economic development.
Brought everybody to the table.
Had never addressed their development.
Determined that technology would be the way out.
Textile company became a major distribution center for Amazon.com
Call center for travel company.
Same story could be in the 118 rural counties.
Maybe the same should be in every county and be proactive and implement it statewide.
KC grew out of university look at telecom needs in several counties.
Governor Patton initiated CK on a statewide basis.
Governor Fletcher enlarged what is there. Prescription Kentucky launched in October, 2004.
Can only get through cooperation among industries.
Shows where there are gaps in service.
Market analysis available .
To get BB across the state, then have to know what isn't.
If industry doesn't give data, then listed at a gap, and they will help fill it.
Will map, identify deployment and close gaps cooperatively.
Don't talk about buildout until know can get an return investment.
Supply side through mapping.
Local planning team to do a technology plan.
Get someone from each of 9 sectors.
Don't move forward until have 2-4 reps from each sector.
Lead through an analysis of gap analysis
Where are they now?
Where would they like to be in the future?
Every sector knows its own vision for the future in two years.
As of December of 06, each county has a technology report.
No funding.
Labor of love on their part.
Help them identify funding.
Each county different in how aggressive they are.
Not a government entity but a 501c3
Can protect the proprietary data of telecos.
Do not do central planning
Local buy in on individual community basis.
Grass roots buy in level.
Gone from 60% BB coverage. Now at 92%.
Bench marked at FCC level.
Not set price or speed quotas.
Everything is research based.
Research need
Design solution
Evaluate impact
AT&T says their deployment rate doubled.
Solutions for getting BB differ from county to county.
Some are multi-county.
Champion in each county. Sometimes the county executive and sometimes others.
Very public process
Announce in the newspaper. Almost 100 show up. A handful stay around to be a team.
CK people around the state who serve as a catalyst to get things started and bring people to the table.
Local leadership develops on each community team.
An even playing field in the nine sectors.
Once the visionary process is done. Some have significant challenges in having traditional wire line meet their needs.
In some progressive counties that are motivated, county government are creative in finding solutions to providing coverage.
Website project.
2/3s of communities did not have a web presence.
So that became a priority.
Communities see where other counties are being a success.
Creating success locally creates state interest.
When their constituents are happy, easy to say yes to the bill.
Main legislative act was in 2004.
Began in earnest in Janaury 2005.
Earlier counties took a year.
Now takes 57 days. Really telescoped.
Supply side discussion is separate from demand side..
Comprehensive and simultaneous.
Work to suck the technical out of it.
Talk about what the technology can do.
Behaviors that can be solved technology.
For every issue face there are structural and cultural solutiosn, typically a mix of the two.
Has structural solution but cultural hasn't gotten to their yet.
How work with providers?
Mapping is key component to the supply side.
Mapping more sophisticated than just where BB is
Look at census data, sewer lines, boundaries. Household data.
Had better data than the providers have.
Providers could see market potential.
Started collecting data in 2003.
2004 session of legislature
Process to deregulate BB
In course of this legislation some interest in having accountability.
If deregulate, will the investment occur?
KC positioned through Office of New Economy.
Mapping was a way toward accountability.
Language said telecos will cooperate with Dept. of Commercialization and Ennovation.
Manage tension between government and industry. Give everybody something that they wanted.
Understanding that telcos should cooperate to get the deregulation.
Partnership wall showing the partners.
What will happen when Kentucky has full BB development?
When started showing the maps, providers would see the maps and realize their data wasn't on the map and wanted it on the map.
Early maps took at least six months to get to the first one.
Updated quarterly.
As soon as map done, it was public knowledge.
Benchmarking on website.
Borrowed from CENIC process.
Confidence not in benchmarking tool in isolation but in a statewide effort.
More important than legislation is the environment where the carriers feel comfortable giving the data.
Also have data on buildout plans for the next 18 months.
Your relation with Kentucky Education Network (KEN)
CK has been identified as a thought leader across the state.
Because of relationships with government
Ability to achieve results at CK
When there are large projects that are undertaken in the visioning stage.
Get asked to be a participant on the teams that are putting these together.
Governance is internal to government but ask CK to be a part of it.
Same for telemedicine
Consultative role, leverage relationship
Create a fertile environment for KEN to take place.
KEN recognizes connection of CK to local communities.
What are the other parts of Governor's Prescription for Innovation
1) Cover state with broadband with 2007
2) Online presence for each community
3) Impact computer literacy at the home level
4) Establish an e-community
Simultaneous, systemic response to advancing economic development through technology.
Systemic cloud over the state. Not entered through one sector. Multi-sector engagement.
Two strategies
Supply side enhancement. Make it easy for them to get to the market place
De-regulatory advocacy in the state. Deregulate broadband.
Relationship Governor's programs
Form Connected Nation to respond to requests from other states.
Also discuss with national groups to respond.
Provides consulting or replication basis.
What's next?
5 As (See brochure)
Help digital natives to bring the digital immigrants along
Help communities develop and use new applications
What will bring the most benefit to the commonwealth?
Work with libraries
Facilitated meeting with Kentucky.gov to get web portals for libraries.
Make connections they see.
Success factors
Local leadership
Transparency except for proprietary data from telecom
Outside facilitator, instigator, catalyst
Create Demand/ Provide Supply
Strategic thinking
Research based
Support of Governor's office
Need to have the head of the network politically connected with governor and legislative
Great committed staff, very dedicated, not here to get rich
Neat team to be a part of
Believe in the mission and see tangible results
In any state the government, private sector, and legislative body have to be aligned.
Any one of these alone cannot do this.
Have to have all three aligned.
Provider community do not see eye to eye.
Providers are competitors. Been able to foster cooperation in the development of the macro environment so they can compete.
Can't get enmeshed in the industry debates. Focus on the larger prize.
Develop a rising tide that will lift all the boats.
Gates Foundation
Not view libraries in isolation of context.
Can't have libraries without community and business
Accelerating technology is enhanced by a water raising exercise.
Many sectors have benefited but not a sector focused endeavor.
Libraries participate in community planning.
Match library with community assets.
Partner with Gates to implement
Technology showcase of what technology can do.
Show the public and others.
Can position and amplify.
Kentucky Education Network
Ann Riggs, Assistant Director, Technology Services
Tom Ferree, Deputy Commissioner, Commonwealth Office of Technology
Enid Wohlkstein, Director, KY Virtual Library
Miko Pattie, Senior Advisory in Information Technology, Council on Postsecondary Education
Ann described KEN, Information Technology Coordinating Committee
Interested in how to fit public libraries into network for P-20
Talked to KDLA about numbers.
Pilot in 07-08 for a library that is working with school districts
Fayett county working with the school district.
Looking at connectivity, bandwidth needs.
Connect in 08-10
10 megs
KEN is an initiative to connect all the K-12 school districts with broadband with 100 mbs. Access to internet and higher ed, instructors, online classes. Internet 2 for virtual networks. Central pipe back to Frankfort and direct access to Internet.
All k-12 go to Frankfort and then internet. Will be decentralizing so school districts can go directly to the internet.
Kentuky Postsecondary Education Network
Can also use I2.
Kentucky is the 34th state in I2.
Public libraries are eligible. How to bring them into the network.
Louieville has a pop 10 gigabites.
This will enable libraries to use the regional optical network.
KEN is the physical infrastructure that provides the pipeline to send data across.
Foundation of all other education projects.
When wanted to upgrade content in the schools, it was cumbersome to use anything with the Internet until upgrade infrastructure (pipelines) to the internet.
It is the last mile as well as the backbone.
10 gigabite/100 meg to all the schools districts.
Schools connect their own schools.
Public library would connect through AT&T will build out to the public library.
So far been able to cooperate with AT&T to build out the KEN network.
AT&T building fiber to the schools.
AT&T will build out to public libraries as well.
$3588 a month,
10 megs
Quality assurance.
Commonwealth Office of Technology $340 a month for education to manager the network.
AT&T runs the backbone.
$4000 a month.
Request money from the state to connect public libraries and sustain the connections. Kentucky Dept. of Education now pays for school district connectivity.
Dept. of Ed also applies for e-rate and applies to KEN.
KDLA could apply for erate on behalf of local libraries.
Libraries can connect into KEN right now and just pay the $4000.
All 176 school districts build out by the end of 2007.
Peering of KEN and KPEN will become one network next month.
Dept. for Workforce Investment, Dept. of the Blind will also go on the network.
Support job seekers.
Then will start on public libraries. Haven't even started with the planning.
Dept. of Finance and KOT provided the leadership to get AT&T to build out.
Tom Freese AT&T has been a good partner.
17 telcos have partnered with AT&T on the project. Tremendous success with the smaller districts. Build on existing relationships. Make sure was a collaborative effort to involve not just AT&T. Cooperative network among the telcos.
Antecedent climate of cooperation that achieved CK that laid the groundwork for the cooperation that built KEN. The environment was in place to move KEN forward.
Mapping turned out to be good for their communities and a business case.
KEN is only possible because everybody works together.
Joint budget request.
Higher Ed
Education Cabinet – Excuctive branch that falls within the cabinet.
Ed Professional Standards Board
KDLA was involved from the beginning.
Network subcommittee
Applications subcommittee
Moving forward to fit libraries.
Libs not included in the beginning because of funding.
KEN is bigger than the infrastructure that it supports. Moving from infrastructure.
Miko is looking at applications.
Started in 05 with planning.
06 got money
4 months to plan
All the vendors together, engineers, to make sure the infrastructure would work.
$8.9 million in capitol
$15 million in operating
KOT management "Maybe, if it fits with business model."
Managed services are:
Manage end points of the network.
Firewall services
Higher end infrastructure pieces
Long term goals for KEN??
KEN not just about bandwidth.
Identify applications with statewide impact.
Priorities from educational audience.
Single sign on
Desktop video conferencing
Games and simulations
Make recommendations to ITC group.
This is what we want to do and what it will cost.
More interest as the news spreads. Large group already. Welcoming new people as they ask to be on the committee.
Have a meeting every other Wednesday. Long standing committee. People welcome to come and participate.
Statewide content server for streaming data and media.
Content servers for online learning.
Multiple institutes offer courses. Log on once and find whatever course will be offered.
Statewide transfer system to transfer teacher licensure from state to state or district to district.
Distance learning in every classroom or a portable system that can move to the classroom.
Share teachers across the state from K-12 or higher ed.
Interactive learning with students in other countries.
Kentucky virtual library.
Been around since 1999.
Spend money for license databases. Some state money, Dept. of Ed, some money from local libraries. Selection database (Charlene shares).
All public institutions.
Private institutions, colleges and schools, can participate as well.
$2 mill cost for databases saves $10 million via aggregation.
Funded through multiple sources.
People can log in from home using their public library bar code.
Some libraries embed within their own web site.
Ground courier service. $300,000 a year. 445 stops around the state at public libraries and public post secondary. Regardless of where live can get through ILL and lab kits and anything related to distance learning.
Integrated ILS, Endeavor.
Support ILL fee structure for WorldCat paid for by State Library.
Endeavor designed for academic libraries. Not very user friendly.
ILS for 16 higher ed institutions.
Also do training
Outsource to UK to manage a Kentucky digitization project. Anything related to Kentucky history. Want a traveling van to take to small libraries.
KEN governance.
Executive Board approves or disapproves recommends.
ED cab
Post Secondary Board
KDE Commissioner
Prof Standards Board
Finance Cabinet
Implementation plan on the web.
Need to look at different kind of use by public libraries.
What students have
What students need
768 k per student is the average connection
Based on existing applications based on monitoring network based on current use by number of students, number of computers.
Try and forecast when will max out bandwidth and then add more.
Set baseline based on use at a peak time
Then look at any new application
Look at what bandwidth will be needed for new application.
How many people will be using the new application?
I2 is the cornerstone of KEN. The schools who have it love it.
Did a dog and pony show showing
Video conference on I2 and on commodity network to show the difference.
Best practices that worked
Leadership (secretary of education presenting to leg and governor)
Enthusiasm and excitement
Communication with agencies to find out what the needs are.
Communicating plan
Put everybody in the room to develop plans, budget, etc.
Leadership of group, everybody has the same focus on the big picture.
Ongoing awareness of people and have them advocate.
Willingness to travel and make presentations.
Professional development/training
Every legislator who voted yes has a committee at the local level to support.
Go to library association conferences to demonstrate.
Don't do as much PR as would like.
Would like to promote the education and library system.
Participation, getting people at the table.
Easy part is infrastructure, Getting them to talk about needs is less.
Want to measure success by use not existence of infrastructure.
Measure by applications being used. <br.> Decide in a vacuum what might be best. Not good.
Integration is biggest barrier. Need to integrate resources into learning applications.
Need more training for teachers
Need to match content with curriculum standards.
Has to be convenient and non-technical.
If there is an extra step, won't do it.
Need a lifelong learning portal that anyone can enter regardless of stage in life.
Recommendations to B&M Gates
Support KEN with money.
Help get KEN in place.
Back KEN in some way for monthly reoccurring charges for on two years.
Bring someone to the table to work with this.
Funding to KDLA to get people to understand how it might be used.
Connected Fayette county to KEN as a pilot.
Will evaluate to see what recommendations might make.
Meeting with Deborah Clayton
Commissioner, Department of Commercialization and Innovation
Economic Development Cabinet
Dept put in place in 2000 to support growth and startups of high tech companies in the state, 50,000 or above income.
High tech investment pool supports companies in their start up operations.
Covers patent fees,
High tech construction pool. Purchase equipment.
Easy process to apply for the money. Six Innovaction and Commercialization Centers (6) All of affiliation with higher ed.
Matching program for small business innovation and small business transfer grants.
Help companies write proposals to apply for funding.
Jumpstart a start-up company.
State venture fund.
See a return on investment already in the investment.
Supported ConnectKentucky $1 million annually. Has been higher.
What they are doing is phenomenal.
Put broadband in to impact the lives of everybody.
Impacts schools, libraries, business.
CK is not a high tech company but promote jobs and economic development.
If don't' have the IT infrastructure in place, can't do anything.
Now first in place in broadband deployment in the country.
Need to get articles out about the success of CK.
Governor's Committee in Digital Information (need to look for the report.)
Support DataSeam ($5 million) putting computers in classrooms and train the teachers. Unused time is being collected and used by cancer research center to do research. Distributed computing.
Put money into Infrastructure Management Institute looking at security issues, homeland defense.
Uof L research on Homeland Security.
Visualization and Digitization – 3 D computer work and stero.
Kentucky has a very well-run Economic Development Cabinet.
Put together a plan for each company.
Is workforce tech savvy?
Availability of broadband.
Biggest issues in attracting companies.
Good well-run community and technical college system.
Innovation and Commercial Centers
6 offices around the state that team up with Innovation Centers
Assist high tech business get off the ground and become productive.
Help businesses do a business plan.
Recommendations for Gates
Workplace development. Use assets if libraries to help develop a workforce..
Kentucky Community and Technical College System
Keith Byrd
Susan Kraft – Dept for workforce development
Champions are important. Need someone to "pitbull it".
KSTC – Kentucky Science and Technology Core
Matt McGarvey
Meeting with the Kentucky State Library Staff
Every public library in the state has a BB connecti0n of 200 KB. This might not be enough but they have it. Narrative reports show they have upgraded speed. Staying Connected grants from the Gates Foundation have helped.
Kentucky Information Highway (KIH). Bell South took the lead in putting it together.
Created in 1995, Libraries, Schools, State universities, state government all on the KIH on a 10 year contract.
KIH2 included DSL. The state contracted with different telecom carriers to cover the entire state. State wanted a presence in each county. If telecom companies could pick and choose where they wanted to serve, it would not have covered the entire state.
KEN (Kentucky Educational Network) is P-20. The state is paying for all of these to connect through private telecom companies.
Kentucky State Library. State funding for libraries goes through KSL. $4 million in state aid. KSL also handles federal LSTA programs.
118 counties in all with public libraries
Per capita income ranges from $2.10 to $118.
106 are independent taxing districts.
186 total public library outlets
Largest bookmobile service in the country.
Getting hooked up to BB is not a problem. Paying for it is the problem. Particular ongoing cost.
Not just "build it and they will come." Have to show people what's possible.
Used to have a state enterprise plan – state infrastructure, state standards. Not anymore. CK has taken over most of this along with the Dept of Commercialization and Innovation.
E-rate participation is at about 50%.
Most think it's too cumbersome for the small return.
E-rate also poses a problem with contract negotiations.
The technology is easy
The funding is harder
The policy barriers are impossible
CK helps local libraries do a business plan but does not help them do an RFP.
E-community groups are good for
* Contacts with other community groups
* plans at the county level
* but not much action
It's now a corporate model
Charlene –
CK puts together a steering team
I-2 connects
CK will be doing an applications workshop for local libraries
There is a distance learning advisory council
Steering committee
Delivery of distance learning
Kentucky Virtual Campus for P-20.
State agencies
Kentucky virtual library does:
Resource Sharing
Advisory Committee
KEN – E-TV put satellite dishes in schools to handle courses
Has there been a call for more help from the state library?
Judith – Drastic cuts in the State Library.
Regional librarians have been cut
These are missed by librarians in the state
Went from 16 to 12 regional librarians.
Public libraries want to control their own future but want assistance with training
1996 – 225 positions at the state library
2006 – 123 positions at the state library
Services are handicapped but there are no fewer responsibilities.
Kentucky Virtual Library
Council on Post Secondary Network
Part of 1999 Higher Ed Reform
KVL coordinates databases
Provides courier service
Every public library and technical and community college gets courier service
Capitol plan to build infrastructure to public libraries
COT (Commonwealth Office of Technology) may not be able to handle the traffic
Kentucky Department of Education only wants to serve children
Huge battle with COT to unfilter state library computers for adult access
There is now a new commissioner of KDE.
What are the Implications of buildout
If KEN takes a pipe to the library
What are the expenses to the library to connect other branches
Problem with Kentucky Information Highway
Libraries didn't know how to connect.
Had to send technology people to set up.
Libraries did not get help from KIH
Concern that if get funding for a network for 2 years, what happens if the funding is cut?
E-rate could help.
They would need a full-time person to do erate for all the libraries sin the state.
KEN has talked to KDLA technology person to get data on libraries
Skip Hunt is also part of the Dept. of IT group.
Miko at KEN is a real advocate for libraries.
KDLA has been asked to suggest a library as a pilot for full KEN connectivity.
Would libraries lobby for state funds to connect to KEN?
Yes if they have the information about what it would cost.
There is 200kbps for every library.
Larger libraries have strong IT people.
Some of these go to help smaller libraries.
It's a patchwork quilt of assistance. Some have contract assistance.
Some libraries share an IT support person.
What contributes to success?
Long time coming
Started I n1990 for ILL
Moving forward for a long time
First Search in 1995
Gates grants
Empower Kentucky
Leadership and vision
3 years support from Gates Foundation
Someone to call for help
Lots of training on line
Web design
Train the Trainer
How to teach in a classroom
Contract with Solinet for training
Done technology training for decades
Gates grants have supported a lot of training.
Charlene has been monumental in making ongoing training available
Librarians trust and know Charlene
She creates models
Small libraries run by librarians without an MLS
Amazing when it comes to technology
They love training
Participate in online training
$$ need more state aid
Political turfism
Lack of communication
Problem with local public libraries , some don't want to participate
Don't feel they need more bandwidth
Fear of future funding cuts
What can Gates do?
Fund training, anything to do with technology
Funding infrastructure for pipes
Fund space for computers
Use political influence to get funding
"This could be his legacy"
"He could be the new Carnegie of the 21st century."
Samantha Finke @ ConnectKY
As far as the success factor I would have to say that I think the biggest reason Kentucky has been successful has been the drive of our local communities and ConnectKentucky's grass roots efforts. We are also lucky to have several legislators who are very passionate about seeing Kentucky succeed and who recognize the role that technology, particularly broadband access, plays into that success. Thus, I don't think our success can be attributed to any one thing – instead I think the combination of public, private and local efforts has made many folks more aware of technology and the need to build infrastructure and implement applications to support growth. Kentucky is by no means perfect but we are definitely making great strides in the availability, awareness and adoption of technology!
I keep hearing the statement Nancy made about how technology centers are just not necessary in the presence of libraries and think that was a GREAT point. I think one thing that we all need to advocate at the state and local level, particularly in Kentucky, is getting people to recognize that. I agree there is no point in wasting more resources to build something in addition to what already exists in libraries. Instead, the resources that have been allocated for technology centers and the like should be put into libraries to enable them to serve as the learning/technological center of the community – it just makes the most sense. This way both the libraries and their communities will benefit. Also, with the level of broadband connectivity that now exists in KY, I think it would be very easy to reinforce libraries as the centerpiece of the community again. In recent years I think that libraries have unfortunately been neglected by states. As a result, my speculation is that those that aren't up-to-date with the technological age have probably been disregarded by some, whereas those that are up-to-date with technology have probably seen a resurgence in activity – now that is just pure speculation on my part. In any case, technology is definitely going to play a major role in the future of libraries. I think they definitely should be the hub of the community and I see interactive learning classes, programs, and such to be huge opportunities for libraries. I feel very strongly that Kentucky could use funds from the Gate's Foundation to boost libraries with technological and innovative learning programs, which in turn would draw more of the community in and bring libraries back to the stage they belong – a centerpiece for the community.
Deborah Clayton
The lack of it not being pervasive throughout the Commonwealth.
Andrew from Connect Kentucky
We appreciated the opportunity to host you all in Kentucky. The meetings have prompted a discussion between the KY Department of Libraries, the Commonwealth Office of Technology and ConnectKentucky about how to move forward on ensuring that Kentucky's libraries remain connected.
Regarding your question about what has made Kentucky successful in broadband deployment, I think the answer is clear. The work of ConnectKentucky since 2004 has changed the dynamic surrounding investment by broadband providers and policy makers in the executive and legislative branches of Kentucky. Prior to 2004, there was very much a "us vs. them" mentality between government and industry. Since 2004 – there has been far greater collaboration and cooperation embodied in the ConnectKentucky public-private partnership. The market-based policy prescriptions coupled with the market demand analysis has made Kentucky a good climate for investment in broadband connectivity and the state is realizing the results.
One thing I'd ask you to consider, while I answer that question as a ConnectKentucky employee, my opinion is also formed from my experiences prior to joining the organization. I was involved with telecom policy during my tenure in state government as the Governor's legislative director and chief of staff to the Secretary of Commerce. During that time, it was very apparent that ConnectKentucky was the central hub to many spokes which ultimately, as I have already said, changed the dynamics around the vision for greater connectivity in Kentucky. So – while I am certainly an advocate of the organization for which I work – my advocacy of ConnectKentucky pre-dates my employment.
Again – thank you for selecting Kentucky as a state visit. We're prepared to provide any additional help we can as you continue to finalize your report.
Ann Riggs
It was indeed a pleasure to meet and talk to you about one of my passions - KEN.
To answer your question ". . .what I think is the most important factor that has made Kentucky successful in broadband deployment. . ."
The success of the Kentucky Education Network (KEN) is due in large part to the great leadership we have in Kentucky. Governor Fletcher's "Prescription for Innovation" called for comprehensive broadband deployment and adoption across Kentucky while leveraging state, federal and private investments. Partnerships with ConnectKy, AT&T, and the Commonwealth Office of Technology (COT) continue to lead the initiative to deliver broadband across the state. These partnerships, along with the collaboration between the KY Education Cabinet, the Education Professional Standards Board, the Council on Postsecondary Education, and the Department of Education continue to work together and are well informed of what broadband of this nature can deliver to the education community.
How we got here:
In 1995, Kentucky became the first state in the U.S. to connect every school district to the World Wide Web through based on the technology at that time, a "high-speed" connection. As technology improved, so did the state's efforts to keep districts on the fast track of the information superhighway. In 2000, the commonwealth became the first state in the nation to connect all school districts via a true "high-speed" network to the Internet.
The use of technology in Kentucky classrooms hasn't gone unnoticed. A 2005 survey by Education Week magazine found Kentucky educators led the pack in incorporating the Internet into classroom instruction. Because of the increased demand and use of Internet content over the past few years, Kentucky's high-speed connection went from a superhighway to a snail's pace on a one-lane dirt road.
Because of the commonwealth's desire to remain a leader in technology in the classroom the idea of KEN was born. Local and state education officials took notice and began working together on a plan to get Kentucky's classrooms back in the technological fast lane. Advisory groups made up of educators at all levels, technologists within education, and students were formed to bring the user perspective into the mix.
Currently, KEN is a collaborative effort between Kentucky's 175 school districts, Kentucky Education Cabinet, Kentucky Department of Education, the Council on Postsecondary Education, the Education Professional Standards Board, and Kentucky workforce agencies, with the intention of including all educational entities to the network in the near future.
I apologize for being so late in answering your email.
I just now saw your business card and it triggered my guilt.
A group of us just returned from the Internet2 Spring
conference in Arlington where we did a presentation telling our Kentucky story. The questions from the audience was the same as yours - What makes KY successful in I2 deployment? Our answer is people - right people in the right positions at the right time.
The broadband initiative belongs to the Governor.
He had the foresight in recognizing that this enables economic development and chose the right organization - ConnectKentucky - to implement this bold project. KEN is the result of 4 state agencies coming together and said to the Governor and legislature that this is our top priority and we cannot do our education business without KEN. The strong, unified voice esp. from Ann Riggs, Al Lind, and our former Education Cabinet Secretary, Ginny Fox, was the one that gave us the strong support that resulted in funding. So, the answer to your question is still People. We really have great people here; nothing is impossible to us. Thank you for coming to KY and let us know if you need more info


text:
A patent troll that accused Rackspace of violating a patent merely by selling Linux-based servers has seen its case thrown out. A judge ruled the patent claim invalid because it describes a relatively simple math operation.
The company in question is Uniloc, which has a long history of suing tech vendors. In 2009, a US District Court judge overturned a $388 million verdict Uniloc had won against Microsoft. That litigation was finally settled late last year for an undisclosed sum. Uniloc continues litigating, however, with at least a dozen lawsuits filed just last week.
Uniloc sued Rackspace in June 2012 in US District Court in Eastern Texas (PDF), claiming Rackspace violated its patent "by or through making, using, offering for sale, selling and/or importing servers running Linux Kernel (version 2.6 or higher), which is used to process floating point operations carried out on Rackspace's servers including those servers used in conjunction with Rackspace's hosting solutions/products."
Math operations aren't automatically unpatentable, but US District Court Judge Leonard Davis ruled yesterday (PDF) that this one isn't novel enough to deserve patent protection. Why not? Because the "invention" claimed was just a decision to round numbers before, instead of after, an arithmetic computation. Seriously.
Loss comes in patent-friendly court
Uniloc's loss is remarkable for being so decisive—its complaint was tossed before it even reached trial—and because it came in a court notorious for being friendly to patent holders. Davis (whose son is the lawyer for another patent troll with cases in East Texas, Lodsys) is the chief judge in the district and recently upheld a $368.2 million verdict against Apple in a case involving FaceTime.
Uniloc's patent, filed in 1995 and granted in 1999, covers a "Method and apparatus for handling overflow and underflow in processing floating-point numbers." Uniloc acquired this patent in January 2012 from inventor James Brakefield, who works as an expert witness. This is not the primary patent Uniloc uses to sue vendors, so the rest of its lawsuits will not be impeded by Davis's decision.
The patent asserted against Rackspace has 28 claims, with 20 of them being connected to claim #1, the only one Uniloc asserted. The judge's ruling knocks out most of the patent by striking down the first claim, which reads:
A method for processing floating-point numbers, each floating-point number having at least a sign portion, an exponent portion and a mantissa portion, comprising the steps of: converting a floating-point number memory register representation to a floating-point register representation; rounding the converted floating-point number; performing an arithmetic computation upon said rounded number resulting in a new floating-point value; and converting the resulting new floating-point register value to a floating-point memory register representation.
A floating point number is a number with a decimal point and a certain number of significant figures.
Uniloc was seeking a jury trial, but Davis granted Rackspace's motion to dismiss the complaint entirely "for failure to allege infringement of a patentable claim."
Rackspace is a customer of Red Hat, maker of Red Hat Enterprise Linux. Rackspace has said it would "love to get rid of software patents," and Red Hat routinely defends itself and its customers against patent attacks. In this case, Red Hat said it "provided Rackspace's defense as part of Red Hat's commitment to standing behind customers through Red Hat's Open Source Assurance program."
Rackspace argued that the claim is unpatentable and Davis agreed. For one thing, the claim fails the "machine-or-transformation" test because it does not involve a machine, and the "the transformation portion of the test is not satisfied by the conversion of a number from one format to another," the judge wrote.
Rackspace also argued that the patent claim violates a Supreme Court "prohibition against patenting mathematical formulas and abstract ideas."
In describing just how simple the patent claim is, Davis summarized it as follows: "Claim 1 is, in essence, a formula to 'solve mathematical problems of converting one form of numerical representation to another.' Claim 1 recites a four-step method for processing floating-point numbers: (1) convert the floating-point number from a 'memory register representation' to a 'register representation'; (2) round the result; (3) 'perform an arithmetic computation' on the rounded result to obtain a new floating-point number; and (4) convert the result back to a 'memory register representation.'"
The "novelty" of the claim "is the rounding of the floating-point number before, rather than after, the arithmetic computation."
"Claim 1, then, is merely an improvement on a mathematical formula," Davis wrote. "Even when tied to computing, since floating-point numbers are a computerized numeric format, the conversion of floating-point numbers has applications across fields as diverse as science, math, communications, security, graphics, and games. Thus, a patent on Claim 1 would cover vast end uses, impeding the onward march of science. Under Flook, the improvement over the standard is insufficient to validate Claim 1's otherwise unpatentable subject matter."
"Flook" refers to Parker v. Flook, a 1978 case in which "the Supreme Court found unpatentable claims directed to an improved method for calculating, using a generalized formulation for converting numbers," Davis wrote.
Not Uniloc's only patent—far from it
Unfortunately for the many companies sued by Uniloc, the patent in the Rackspace case is just a small piece of its portfolio containing more than 50 patents. Red Hat told Ars that it is not aware of any other lawsuits based on this patent.
Uniloc's most important patent is #5,490,216, covering a system for software registration designed to prevent software piracy. The '216 patent has been used in dozens of lawsuits.
The company's website promises continued battles based on this patent. "In 2003 Uniloc filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Microsoft for the unauthorized use of a product activation anti-piracy system on Microsoft's Windows XP and Office XP products," the company states. "In 2009 a Federal Court jury in Rhode Island found Microsoft guilty of willful infringement and ordered Microsoft to pay Uniloc $388 Million in damages. ... Later that year the judge in the case overturned the jury's verdict. Uniloc has appealed this decision to the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Nevertheless, the Court maintained that Uniloc's patent is valid, so Uniloc will continue to protect its patent and defend its intellectual property." Microsoft and Uniloc settled in March of last year.
Uniloc isn't kidding about pursuing new lawsuits. It filed 12 new suits on March 21 in the Eastern District of Texas against Activision Blizzard, Aspyr Media, Digital River, Electronic Arts, McAfee, Pervasive Software, Sony, Symantec, Gear Software, Sage Software, SolarWinds, and Wildpackets. Those suits are based on the '216 patent asserted against Microsoft.
Uniloc Luxembourg filed 16 suits in the Eastern District in December 2012 and about a dozen in October 2012. Several of those cases have been withdrawn by Uniloc, probably due to settlements.
While Uniloc's litigation days aren't over, Red Hat and Rackspace declared yesterday's ruling to be an important victory against companies that file patent lawsuits despite not making any technology of their own.
"NPE [non-practicing entity] patent lawsuits are a chronic and serious problem for the technology industry," Red Hat Assistant General Counsel Rob Tiller said in an announcement. "Such lawsuits, which are frequently based on patents that should never have been granted, typically cost millions of dollars to defend. ... Courts can help address this problem by determining the validity of patents early and with appropriate care. In this case, Judge Davis did just that, and set a great example for future cases."
"The early dismissal of this case delivers a clear message that patent assertion entities can't expect quick settlements on weak claims, a tactic many patent assertion entities use to monetize questionable patents," Rackspace General Counsel Alan Schoenbaum said. "We salute Red Hat for its outstanding defense and for standing firm with its customers in defeating this patent troll. We hope that many more of these spurious software patent lawsuits will be dismissed on similar grounds."
We've asked Uniloc if it will appeal the case, but we haven't heard back yet.
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subset: commoncrawl


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The History of the Florida BiCentenial Commission Oral History Collection is one of the collections within the Oral History Digital Collections which comprise the digital holdings of both the Samuel Proctor Oral History Program at the University of Florida and the Matheson Museum (Gainesville, Florida). Together, the Oral History Digital Collections document life in Gainesville, across Florida, the Caribbean and other locales.
The oral histories can be searched using the search box above, browsed by all items, or searched and browsed within the different topical collections.


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Hey everyone. I got some time to do the latest update to the board software, but it meant that all the old modifications and styles wouldn't work anymore. So, here you have the newest iteration of LabourTalk. Please let me know by Private Message if you run into any issues with the new styling. Some new features on the board are:
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This site has been shut down. It's been a great 14 years. Thank you for all your input. Be safe, be bold but be courteous and respectful. Debate, don't argue.


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A new friend.
This is my second year of making a daily photograph with intentionality. 2017 was my first year and I really enjoyed it.
I love the creative process and working to make something new every single day pushes me out into the world to see new things and capture them. I'm constantly trying new things and then working with them for several images, playing with variants and experimenting. I'm trying not to be too picky and if I get in a bind I'll photograph wherever I am.
Join me this year and see what happens. If you'd like to be a part of the journey, let me know when you are available and I'll schedule a session with you for fun. We can make a portrait, or photograph something cool that you have, or whatever.
A new friend.


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Calvin's Puzzles - Square 1 - Black Body
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The Square 1 is made from a high quality black plastic. The idea of this puzzle is to scramble up all 6 sides and then return it so that each face only has one color on it. Due to its unique challenging design, this puzzle is also a shape-shifter, and can take on more than 200 different shapes. The Square 1 is made by Calvin's Puzzles who is a manufacturer and wholesaler company based out of Hong Kong that started in 2008.
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Rayon Span
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Model is wearing a Small
Model's Profile: Height 5'8, Bust 32", Waist 24", Hips 34"
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I was going to do a Plain Chicken themed Crock-Pot, but when I saw this orange cat background I had to pick it. The layout was perfect! I was able to add 4 photos.
I think it turned out great! I love seeing my kitties while I cook!
The nice folks at Crock-Pot are also going to give one lucky Plain Chicken reader their choice of a Crock-Pot® Create-A-Crock™ slow cooker or the NFL Crock-Pot slow cooker!
Use the Rafflecopter widget below to enter!
a Rafflecopter giveaway GOOD LUCK!
Contest ends 12/28/12 @ 11:59 PM CST.


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Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Thursday, September 09, 2010
Labels: Quest_Software
The blogspot for all of those superheros and superheroines whose powers weren't quite enough to make it onto the pages of Marvel or DC.
Labels: Quest_Software
I'm a full time dad to one son and three daughters. They are the lights of my life. They live with me half of the time and their mom half of the time after we split up in 2005. I met Rachel in late 2006 and we fell in love and married in August of 2008. Rachel and her three daughters have added a new dimension of fun and activity to our home. I'm a well-known expert in my field with a lot of books & articles in print and a couple monthly columns in IT magazines. I have very ecclectic tastes in music, art, food, and entertainment. My moods range from intellectual & introspective to goofy & silly.


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Key Facts
- High quality geo data for Bahrain
- Available for over 150 countries & territories
- Vintage compatibility between regions/boundaries and statistical data
- Seamless map data, enabling cross border analysis
- Consistent data structure across all countries
- All higher level areas are included as standard
MBI Regions & Boundaries data for Bahrain contain the up-to-date area polygons required to accurately visualise and analyse location data on a geographic basis. This product provides valuable input into targeted marketing campaigns and the visualisation of their impact. Without an accurate and up-to-date area definition (such as postcode or administrative region) the key statistics that impact business performance cannot be truly measured. In some cases, it is even more important to know what is happening in the direct vicinity of a location. The so-called Small Areas are ideal for these applications as they are generally subdivisions of the higher level administrative boundaries and allow visualisation and analysis at a more local level.
For best value-for-money, bundles of MBI data products are available including combinations of Purchasing Power, Socio-Demographics, Consumer Styles and Regions & Boundaries. Availability varies by country (see table below).
|MBI Regions & Boundaries data for Bahrain
|Post Code
|Small Area
|Region Type
|Number of Regions
|Average Population
|Additional variables available
|Households by Income Bands
|Households by Type1
|Marital Status1
|Data packages available
|Purchasing Power +
Socio-Demographics +
Consumer Styles +
Regions & Boundaries
|Purchasing Power +
Socio-Demographics +
Regions & Boundaries
|Population +
Regions & Boundaries
|Consumer Styles +
Regions & Boundaries
|Purchasing Power +
Regions & Boundaries
1 Country specific
Associated Products
MBI Purchasing Power
MBI Socio-Demographics
MBI Consumer Styles
Data Formats & Delivery
MBI Regions & Boundaries data for Bahrain is available in the following data formats:
- Esri File Geodatabase
- Esri Shapefile
- MapInfo TAB
- MapInfo MIF/MID
Other major formats can be supported by special arrangement.
MBI Regions & Boundaries data for Bahrain is supplied on USB memory stick or by online delivery.
Support, Licensing & Pricing
All geo data products supplied by Europa Technologies include free lifetime support.
Please note that MBI Regions & Boundaries data for Bahrain is licensed, not sold, and is subject to an End-User Licence Agreement (EULA).
For pricing information, please contact our data consultants (details below).
Maintenance & Updates
In an ever-changing world, it is usually essential for any professional organisation to keep their data assets up-to-date. To meet this requirement Europa Technologies offer a cost effective annual maintenance option. Please contact our data consultants for further information.
Further information on MBI Regions & Boundaries data for Bahrain
MBI Regions & Boundaries (general)
For further information on specification, pricing and licensing, please contact our experienced data consultants who will be happy to help you.
Duncan Hill
Telephone: +44 (0)1932 64 55 60 (direct)
e-mail: email@example.com
Warren Vick
Telephone: +44 (0)1932 37 97 31 (direct)
e-mail: email@example.com


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Chunky Charm Hoop Earrings
Chunky Charm Hoop Earrings
Colour: gold
UK Size: One Size
- One Size
Style Notes
Add attitude with accessories for those fashion-forward finishing touches
It's all about accessories for injecting individuality into your look. Find your festival favourites from fedora hats and floral crowns to bumbags and body glitter, play up your partywear with a pop of pastel nail polish and make a statement in oversized sunglasses. Forget less is more, this season we're all for out-there hair, beauty and jewellery.
Details & CareDiameter: 5cm 100% metal exclusive of trim
Delivery info
Delivery option Delivery times Delivery cost Republic of Ireland Super Saver Delivery Up to 7 working Days €4.99 per order Republic of Ireland Standard Delivery Up to 3 working Days €5.99 per order Republic of Ireland Next Day Delivery Next Working Day delivery if ordered by 1pm Monday to Friday or for Dublin County order by midnight Monday to Thursday, 8pm Friday Find out more. €7.99 per order
Click here for further information.
Returns info
We hope you are satisfied with all of your purchases but if you ever need to return an item, you can do so within 14 days from the date your parcel was delivered.
Please note, we cannot offer refunds on cosmetics and pierced jewellery or on swimwear and lingerie if the hygiene seal is not in place or has been broken.
boohoo ROI returns are FREE and easy and can now be made via our customers local Parcel Connect store.
Follow the steps below:
1. Click here to generate and print off your returns label and to find your nearest store.
2. Re-pack the item in its original packaging with labels and tags still attached.
3. Securely attach the Parcel Connect label to your parcel covering the original delivery label.
4. Take your parcel to your local Parcel Connect store, where you'll receive proof of postage. Keep your certificate of postage safe as you will need this as your proof of return.
Click here to view our full Returns Policy.


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"Oblivion" was quite the spectacle.
Some very minor spoilers ahead
"Oblivion" was quite the spectacle.
That isn't normal for a book, movie or even video game with a post-apocalyptic setting, but the tapestries, backdrops, CG effects and, most of all, the camera work in "Oblivion" breathe life into a film that is captivating in the beginning, compelling (though slow) in the middle and, unfortunately, flat in the end.
The cinematography of the film was better than anything to hit the big screen in a long time. Even when compared to similar high-budget, sci-fi films, "Oblivion" envelops the audience in a surreal, vibrant version of what's left of Earth after a huge war involving the destruction of the moon—and the devastating effects of that alone—changes its landscapes. This visual feat is no easy task considering that deserts and radiation zones are a large part of what's left on the surface of Earth.
See, the story is that an alien invasion threatened the very survival of the human race. In typical fashion, the humans must win no matter the cost. So they fire nukes that destroy the aliens. Unfortunately, the bombs also harm much of the Earth.
On a quick side note, pretty much all of the story's setup is explained right away in the opening scene with a long voiceover, so be ready to pay immediate attention.
The story's main character, Jack Harper (played ably by Tom Cruise, who dominates most of the screen time), must help the humans survive the big exodus into space in search of a new home. Harper is a sweeper of sorts. Large harvesting machines are installed to extract all the remaining resources from Earth, and it's Harper's job to make sure they function properly and are not attacked by scavengers or rogue drones.
Harper gets to fly around in these slick, creative hover vehicles called Bubbleships (mostly because, well, they're shaped like a bubble) as he checks the land mostly desolate and devoid of life. Yet even with that, there is a certain lush, colorful feel to Earth with mountainous regions, hidden valleys and chasms and even the occasional oasis with some greens.
In fact, one of the better characterization scenes involves Harper secluding himself in a secret backwoods area where a shack-type house still stands. Here, Harper brings items like vinyl records and books that he finds and has come to savor. He has some furniture inside and even a half-broken basketball hoop out back. It's here where Harper remembers a little bit of what his life was like before the war.
The camera is almost always on the move, rarely settling down (it's even active in dialogue-heavy scenes). When Harper finds an underground cavern, the viewpoint jumps back and forth between the first-person view of Harper's—whether he's sliding down the rope or being yanked by it after getting his leg tangled—and wide-angle views that give an unsettling feeling of the unseen.
Later in the film, Harper has a flying shootout with these drones that now are targeting him. He whisks through on a high-speed chase above a river, in between a somewhat narrow passageway by cliffs, and even through some waterfalls. While perfectly distanced for both scope and zoom, the camera flips around as Harper reverses his aircraft, which is easy because the bubble design allows everything to just switch facings and immediately race the other direction. Gorgeous cinematography. Add in, also, that the editing was not overdone. The audience is given time to follow drones in 3-D space as they make calculated moves along linear planes. A few shots even pan to look up from the ground as they fly high in the air. Very clever.
Later in the movie, Harper encounters a group of survivalists (led by underused Morgan Freeman's character, Beech) that flips the script on him. Harper learns something about himself that changes his whole purpose and perspective on what he's doing.
As details of the plot trickle in, though, the story becomes more and more muddied. One bread crumb may answer a couple questions, but several more arise as truths are revealed about who Harper is, why he has the memories he does, and what, in fact, really happened to Earth.
The ending is rushed and even more unclear. The end idea is sort of a hodgepodge of sci-fi clichés. While it wasn't necessarily disappointing, it definitely left a lot to be desired.
Clearly the strength in "Oblivion" lies more with the journey than the destination. While the ride may take a while before it accelerates, it has a beautiful view along the way.
Jeremy Costello is the Gazette Sports Editor and the Gazette Entertainment Guru. Follow him on Twitter @jdotco.


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10mm Keyless Chuck
Job Light
Variable Speed & Reverse
Max Speed 2400rpm
Side Handle
Easy-to-Use Paddle Switch
Available in 110v and 240v
Specifications of the Makita DA3011
Max. in Wood: 25mm
Max. in Steel: 10mm
No Load Speed: 0-2,400rpm
Input wattage: 450w
Net Weight: 1.4kg
Includes - side handle.
Makita has built a reputation for outstanding Service Care, which supports regular repair and part replacement. Makita will fix and service any Makita Powertool or accessory, even those models that may now be discontinued or obsolete.
Makita 3 Year Warranty
The 3 year warranty applies to tools purchased on or after July 1st 2012. This excludes batteries, chargers, outdoor power equipment, airtools and accessories. These are all supplied with a standard years warranty.
Tools must be registed online on Makita UK Warranty Registration Page within 30 days of purchase to qualify for the warranty extension otherwise a standard 1 year warranty will apply.
Any warranty claims outside of the 1st year but within the second or 3rd must be dealt with directly by Makita.
For Further details on the 3 year warranty plan see Makitas 3 Year Warranty Terms and Conditions.
What if my product becomes faulty?
You will need to contact us on 01502 440 232 and we can provide you with details of Makita's approved repair agent, your local Makita service centre, or we can send it to Makita on your behalf to be tested and repaired or replaced.
Buyaparcel offer delivery throughout the United Kingdom, including Northern Ireland, Scottish Highlands and other Islands of the UK. In addition we can now also deliver through Europe.
UK Delivery Prices
£2.95 - Royal Mail Second Class (2-5 Days Approx - selected products only)
£3.95 - Standard UK Delivery (2-3 Days Approx)
£5.95 - Next Day UK Delivery (Orders placed before 3.30pm Monday - Friday)
£8.95 - Saturday Delivery (Orders placed before 3.30pm Friday)
£36.00 - Pallet Delivery (2-3 Days Approx - selected products only)
International Delivery Prices
In addition we now deliver through Europe on a 48 Hour Delivery Service as Standard
Zone 1 – £9.99
Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg, France, Netherlands, Rep Ireland.
Zone 2- £14.99
Austria, Denmark, Czech Republic, Poland, Lithuania, Hungary.
Zone 3 – £19.99
Estonia, Spain, Sweden, Italy, Portugal, Latvia.
Zone 4 – £29.99
Bulgaria, Finland, Romania.
Zone 5 – £49.99
Bosnia, Croatia, Switzerland.
Zone 6 – £59.99
Norway, Serbia, Iceland.
Choose a Delivery Date to Suit You
You also now have the facility to choose a day you wish to have your order delivered on if your order is being delivered via courier or pallet. This can be done at the checkout stage where you will be shown a calendar if you select the book in option. You will have the option of booking in your delivery for a day that is convenient for you. Should you require the order the following day please select the next day option.
Is My Item Available for Next Day Delivery?
If your item is stocked in our immediate picking location it will available for you to choose a next day delivery. This will be highlighted by a green tick and a 1 day dispatch time on the item information.
You will have the option to choose this service if you are purchasing your item for delivery to mainland UK.
What courier will my item be delivered with?
If your item is being delivered in the UK or Ireland, it will be delivered by UK Mail or Royal Mail, with the exception of pallet items. The courier type is displayed on each item but will be confirmed at the checkout stage when you have completed your shopping.
If you are an international customer, your goods will initially be sent via UK Mail, and then exported to either Eurodis or DHL. The appropriate tracking can be provided when necessary.
Details of each courier service we offer are detailed in our Delivery Guide.
How do I track my delivery?
To track your order online, go to 'Your Account' and click on 'Purchase History' for an update on your order.
Our team work extremely hard to get your parcels to your door in the shortest possible time but please note that we recommend you do not book a plumber etc until you have received and checked your goods.
Please note:
- Delivery addresses cannot be changed once the order is placed except in the case of an error, which we will do our best to change, but orders are often shipped quickly after being processed.
- The couriers we use do not deliver to PO boxes or building sites.
Returns at Buyaparcel
We've simplified our returns process! We now offer a no-questions-asked, free returns service within the first 30 days (subject to T&Cs).
You can find our returns information in our Terms and Help page.