Opportunities in Post-Telecom Connectivity

Dumb pipes are the face of the future as we move from the telecom era to do our own networking and keep all the value we create. Without being limited by the need to monetize networks we can focus on using the abundant capacity contained in the existing physical infrastructure. Entrepreneurs will be free to take advantage of the zero marginal cost and ambient connectivity.

We can view our common infrastructure as a bit commons rather than as a maze of tracks with each owned by a provider demanding a fee. Once we can "talk" freely we can do applications ranging from the mundane as in reporting when trash cans are full to applications that can save our lives with medical devices that can report status to our physicians well before the situation becomes an emergency.

The most exciting applications will be the most mundane - those that improve our quality of life. Individually they may be minor but together they can change everything.