[kGen] What's in it for us?! (was: Speaker for Singapore...)

[Daniel Harris <daniel@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Martin,

Yes, totally agree, there is no point people taking part in Kendra 
Initiative unless they are going to get something out of it. From what you 
say it seems like you don't see what's in it for you and Level3 right now. 
If that's the case then let me explain what's in it for you...

A simplified view... The opportunity for you guys is additional revenue 
streams from offering additional services. We have a bidirectional chain:

content owners/creators <-> service providers <-> consumers.

Service providers are really everyone in between the consumers and the 
content owners/creators, trying to add value to the relationship. Content 
owners/creators essentially want to get financial rewards for their wares 
and they don't want to get involved in technology - they just want the 
delivery system to work and get cash. Consumers just want to get content 
(the higher the quality the better) as easily, quickly and conveniently as 
possible. They want what they want, when they want it. They'll pay to have 
things made easier for them - Izi calls it "time management".

But it isn't happening. The needs of the consumers and the content 
owners/creators are not being satisfied. Hence all the service providers 
are missing out on masses of potential revenue. One example is the mass 
filesharing that is going on right now with video and audio files. There is 
huge potential revenue that is just not being collected because the systems 
are just not in place.

ISPs make money from selling Internet bandwidth but, I guess, they could 
always do with additional revenue streams. When there is a system that 
allows content owners/creators to *easily* charge consumers for content 
then ISPs will be taking a slice of that revenue by: charging for caching 
content near to the consumer and so raising its quality and so increasing 
its value; charging for hosting/managing content and payment systems; 
leveraging direct consumer billing relationships; saving money on backbone 
bandwidth from all the caching; etc.

One can attempt to kill off the filesharing systems so that consumers have 
to use commercial websites and pay for content. But it's a real pain for 
consumers having to go to all these different websites with their different 
payment systems, to get only a subset of what they really want. So, if they 
can find a way around it then they will. And hence consumers are drawn to 
the convenience of filesharing systems that manage to give a good catalog 
and a quick interface but offer no system for payment.

I can't help but be reminded of that priceless line in Star Wars issued by 
Obi-Wan Kenobi when he is just about to get splatted by Mr. Vader, "If you 
strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you can possibly 
imagine." Removing consumer convenience from Napster has meant a surge in 
interest surrounding other filesharing systems, many of which are not 
convenient single entities (convenient for the lawyers, that is) that can 
be litigated against. We've just moved the problem (and maybe increased 
it), we definitely haven't solved it.

If we want to take money off consumers then we need to have systems that 
are far more attractive than filesharing systems are now. In general the 
providers servicing the content industry are moving in this direction 
(coming together) but they can always do with a bit of a nudge and a bit of 
an end goal to focus on. That's what Kendra Initiative is all about. Having 
a common content delivery platform that will allow consumers the same type 
of convenience provided by the filesharing systems.

Kendra's aims include bringing about one logical global cross vendor 
caching network because it's only from really getting the content as close 
to the consumer as possible that we can increase its quality and hence its 
value. Also, we need all the various payment/wallet systems out there to 
come up with a "banking" system that allows them to resolve financial 
transactions between each other. This would then mean that consumer 
wouldn't have to sign up to 100 different payment systems and could just 
use one. Rather like most of use only have one bank account. What convenience!

That's why you should be very interested in Kendra's proposition. In your 
companies case it's all about increasing revenue for the benefit of 
shareholder value.

If you're not convinced and ready to throw millions in to researching open 
architecture solutions then I'd like to know why. Perhaps I didn't explain 
it properly...

If anyone else has questions/comments then please feel free to post them to 
this list...

Cheers Daniel

At 15:45 27/07/01 +0100, Martin.VanderSchagt@xxxxxxxxxx wrote:
>Hallo Daniel,
>
>I'am rather new in the group but find it very interesting to take part in
>these initiatives. But of Course we theremust be something in it for Level 3
>Communications, Inc.
>
>Keep me informed,
>
>Martin van der Schagt
>Market Specialist Director Europe
>Broadcast & Media


Come to Kendra's cross-vendor edge-server content delivery network trial
Daniel Harris daniel@xxxxxxxxxxxxx   Kendra Initiative www.kendra.org.uk