Inventor celebrates 30 years of Ethernet
Published: 21 May 2003 10:22 BST
So does that have to do specifically with businesses that work with Ethernet technologies? Or is it a way of doing business modelled on the way Ethernet has evolved from an industrial perspective?
TCP/IP protocols follow the same model. That's the business model -- standards compliant, interoperable, evolving so they are backward -- compatible. It's the model that Ethernet used to kill all of its Godzillas.
Why are you now working as a venture capitalist?
My business is technology innovation, and my fourth career in that business is as a VC. First I was an engineer, then an entrepreneur. The third time I was a pundit, and my fourth career was as a VC. All of that is technology innovation.
I've been a VC since 1/1/1, and I'm still learning the trade. I'm with Polaris Venture Partners. There are 15 investing partners, and we manage about $2bn. I've only been there long enough to make a few investments, and none have panned out yet, so it's premature to declare success. We have about 70 companies actively in our portfolio now.
What are the companies you've brought into the fold?
Ember is an embedded networking company in Boston using wireless mesh technology to network the embedded processor. Only 1 or 2 percent of processors are in PCs. Ember's working on networking the remaining 98 percent.
I'm on the board of Narad, which is trying to deliver 100Mbps through the cable TV system. That's not 100 kilobytes, but 100 megabytes. Sometimes we call that true broadband, as opposed to what they're now selling.
I'm on the board of a nanotechnology company with no products yet. They're developing pretty basic technology in hopes of putting out a product. It's Nanosys in Palo Alto, California.
So what you call the Ethernet business model has helped Ethernet prevail against old competitors. What about new ones?
There are three new Godzillas. Ethernet is busily battling SONET and Fibre Channel in storage area networking business. Now 802.11 and 802.16 and 802.20 are going after the cellular telephone market using all the ideas of Ethernet -- packet switching, redistributions. That set of ideas is now in the marketplace battling SONET, the established standard for telephone backbone communication. Instead of using SONET, which is optimised for carrying 64Kbps telephone conversations, they're using Ethernet, which is optimised for Internet packets. So we're seeing Ethernet proliferate.
In the storage area networking business, it's been the practice to use specialised networking Fibre Channel, and Ethernet is encroaching in that area.
Why are people opting for Ethernet in these areas?
It's cheaper, faster, more network- and Internet-compatible. And it's more reliable.
SONET and Fibre Channel can be made to carry Internet packets, but they're not built for that. Ethernet is. Meanwhile, mobile phones and 802.11 are beginning a many-year battle for how they are going to complement or compete with each other. And since 802.11 is optimised for carrying Internet traffic in an Ethernet sort of way, I'm guessing it's going to likely win in that battle.
Previous
Did you find this article useful?
48 out of 87 people found this useful
Digg
Slashdot
Del.ici.ous
Stumble
Reddit
