In their opening remarks, Fred and Mercedes mentioned the importance to the NE\u2019s businesses of getting to grips with the coming services as broadband develops; this is especially important given that the region is increasingly looking to create new jobs in the digital and creative sectors; such as games, animation and software.\u00a0 Mercedes described how NorthenNet offers types of technology and broadband speeds to smaller companies previously only available to the very largest and on a much more flexible basis.\u00a0 She argued that \u201cIt\u2019s not about the technology; it\u2019s about the people\u201d and that the benefits of creative and technical people working together are beginning to be realised.<\/p>\n
The move from Copper to Fibre<\/h2>\n
To provide a basis for the conversation, Adrian Wooster, Chief Technology Officer of the Community Broadband Network, talked about \u201cFrom Copper to Fibre\u201d and covered the types of new services based on optical fibre technology and their impact on business.\u00a0 He mentioned that it\u2019s important to remember that it\u2019s not all about download speed.\u00a0 Increasingly the speed at which you can upload files and other content is becoming more critical to businesses.\u00a0 He said \u201cNew technologies are coming, some of them already being implemented in Gateshead, that offer the potential for new services.\u00a0 You can get closer and closer to customers.\u201d\u00a0 He stressed the business relevance and innovation potential of new services.<\/p>\n
Liz Reed from Gateshead Council (pictured above) focused on G-ti (which stands for Gateshead Technology Innovation) a ground-breaking project bringing ultra high speed service to the Baltic Business Quarter.\u00a0 \u201cOur job is to make sure we get businesses and jobs; jobs for local people.\u201d\u00a0 That G-ti is an example of collaboration between the private and public sectors, is a very open and competitive network and that it demonstrates what Gateshead needs to be competitive.\u00a0 That it\u2019s important for local authorities to demonstrate leadership.\u00a0 She spoke passionately about the \u201cneed to unite creative and technical people in using this new stuff\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0 Liz said that Gateshead was \u201cAbout getting things done.\u201d\u00a0 At the end of LIz\u2019s presentation, Brian Condon a director of CBN and an independent consultant on technology and business, did a \u2018straw poll\u2019; asking the audience to vote on whether this project was a good use of public funds – admittedly an unrepresentative audience – but they voted in favour (with not a single hand raised against).<\/p>\n Other local projects featured highly in the session – Cybermoor Limited whose Operations Director, Kevin Wood, said that in his area of Weardale \u2018NGA\u2019 stands for \u201cNot Got Anything\u201d.\u00a0 Cybermoor are working with local communities to install optical fibre and improve access to services and innovations such as high capacity \u2018Telehealth\u2019.\u00a0 He agreed with Liz that it was about \u201cGetting things done\u201d.\u00a0 He said he wasn\u2019t afraid of the \u201cCommunity\u201d word.\u00a0 He was open about some of the issues of small scale projects; and that a lack of depth of resources could give problems.\u00a0 He concluded that \u201cIt\u2019s about making things happen when no one else cares.\u201d<\/p>\n George Galloway, MD of ITPS brought what he called \u201cStories from the coalface\u201d of real business in the region.\u00a0 ITPS is a successful and growing privately owned IT services business with over \u00a310m of turnover.\u00a0 George, who was on stage with Chris Walsham from Virgin Media, provided examples of how ITPS operates.\u00a0 They were the first Service Provider to offer services on the G-ti network (there are now 5 competing providers) and they partner with a range of companies including Virgin Media.\u00a0 Chris stressed the importance of partnership working and the need to collaborate.\u00a0 He said that their strategic relationship with ITPS was a good example as it shows that both large (and Virgin Media has a \u00a315bn network) and smaller players can benefit.\u00a0 George gave the example of a successful project where a move from Copper to Fibre (of one of the types described by Adrian earlier) had delivered operating cost savings of 30% while simultaneously provding a 10-fold performance increase.\u00a0 Chris added that these new technologies can help companies reduce their carbon footprint; reducing the need to travel and saving time.<\/p>\n Simon Roberson who is the NE Regional Manager for BT Group gave a different perspective from a very big player in the market.\u00a0 He\u00a0 talked about BT\u2019s plans to deploy \u201cSuperfast Broadband\u201d to 66% of the UK population by 2015.\u00a0 He said it was a very big project and that it would be difficult to reach those people described as being in the \u201cFinal Third\u201d.\u00a0 He said \u201cWe have to remember that the \u2018Final Third\u2019 is one third of the population; not 1\/3 of the country.\u201d and that there are still very big distances to cover outside the dense urban areas.<\/p>\n Simon gave an example of partnership working in Northern Ireland as a way for the public and private sectors to work together.\u00a0 He argued that, despite what some other speakers had said, what will pay for the investments will be premium services such as HD and 3D TV which need more bandwidth than existing services.\u00a0 He said to businesses in the meeting \u201cFor you guys it\u2019s a tremendous opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n In a charismatic multimedia keynote presentation, Houston Spencer (above, left)\u00a0 Vice President of Alcatel Europe (the private sector partner in G-ti) used the Ben E. King song \u201cStand by me\u201d coupled with images from the 50s and 60s to show how much the world has changed and how much more change there is to go still.\u00a0 He showed a video called \u201cStand by me; playing for change\u201d which was made in multiple locations by multiple players and brought together to form a single performance.\u00a0 He told us that the original record had been played over 7 million times on the radio since its original release 50 years ago but that this video, released only 2 years ago had already been watched over 12 million times on YouTube.<\/p>\n Houston talked about the changes that are coming; and that big organisations came about because of the \u2018need to aggregate capital\u2019 because everything was expensive.\u00a0 The IP\/Broadband world changes all that – and that it\u2019s now much easier to create and distribute new forms of content and products using the internet.\u00a0 Houston asserted that many people mistake the intent of new forms of social media such as Facebook and Twitter; they are not about \u201cbroadcast mode\u201d; \u201cIt\u2019s not about self promotion, it\u2019s about making connections with people, building relationships and forming an \u2018ecosystem\u2019 of people connected together\u201d.\u00a0 Houston concluded that there was a risk that the big players might destroy the ecosystems they are creating by too many rules or changing the conditions that brought them about.\u00a0 He finished with an optimistic picture of how relationships sustained by the internet can result in an explosion of global collaboration and connectivity.<\/p>\n Photo credit: Simon Williams, Crest Photography<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/digital-citizen.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/05\/LizReed.jpg?resize=474%2C339\" "\\"LizReed\\"")
<\/a><\/p>\nG-ti – \u201cGetting it done\u201d in Gateshead<\/h2>\n
Caring for the \u201cNot Got Anythings\u201d<\/h2>\n
George\u2019s \u201cStories from the Coalface\u201d from ITPS and Virgin<\/h2>\n
Partnership working to \u2018bridge the gap\u2019<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/digital-citizen.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/05\/Houston-and-Brian.jpg?resize=474%2C460\" "\\"Houston")
<\/a><\/p>\nStand by me . .<\/h2>\n
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