Inescapable Data

Office-Space decline: What’s real-estate to do?

 

When we interviewed companies for our book and researched the changes in corporate worklife in general, we became aware of the huge shift to non-office office workers. Many large companies such as IBM and Sun boast that currently 33% of their workforce has no corporate ‘office space’ any longer, possibly heading toward 50% or higher. While not all companies can operate successfully without in-office office workers, a great many can, and this is likely to lead to a significant decline for the office-space real-estate market.

When spent much time thinking about “what will happen with all this unused office space”? A recent article in the Boston Globe caught my eye:

 http://www.boston.com/realestate/news/2005/june/0615_condos.html

In many desirable urban locations (such as Boston or Chicago) office space is being converted into luxury condo’s or apartments. Makes sense. While it is probably extremely expensive to convert a typical open-floor-space office into a fully equipped condo (plumbing, kitchens, etc), the value of the real-estate/location makes it worthwhile.

But what about in suburbia? Here are some ideas:

 - if old and amortized enough, bull-doze for tennis courts 

 - athletic club (good use of open floor space designs) 

 - office-parks could be strip-mall-ized

 - possible "affordable income" housing (condo-flats, apartments, etc) 

 - schools – a great use of a more ‘hardened’ type of building and perfect timing for many of our town’s aging schools.

Or...it could be that they are retained as office-space and that the remaining "downtown city" locations all move out to the burbs leaving "The City" as pure destination for arts, entertainment, and urban living but without the twice-per-day commuting crush.

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Displayable data

There is no doubt that we are being bombarded by data everywhere. The good news is that some companies are working on ways to make some of the data more 'accessible' without being more overwhelming.

We write about one particular MIT spinoff, Ambient Devices, that has a few useful new gadgets that help deliver information to us without requiring us to think. Their vision is that it takes far less cognitive load to observe a color (whose change has some meaning) or the angle of a needle (such as your car spedometer). Their mission is to find useful data sources and have them turned into less-taxing information displays. They have one device (a small globe shaped figure) that is able to glow various colors (red, yellow, green for example) and can be wirelessly tied to a variety of data source such as a particular stock or stock index. An even more useful example is their 5-day weather display. At a glance, you know the weather forecast for the next five days, continuously. The display has a column for each day and very simple graphics that summarize the future.

The point to Inescapable Data is that we are probably at the beginning stages of allowing us to absorb more information than ever before and in less intrusive ways. As the number of data sources around as explodes, and similarly the value, we'll need ingenious ways to  absorb more of it faster/easier, as well as more ways to have these new data streams self-manage (a story for another day).

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Is RFID Unfairly Targeted?

InCom Corporation www.incomcorporation.com has developed a system for taking, recording and reporting attendance in schools called InClass™ based on a convergence of RFID and other wireless computing technologies. According to the company’s sales literature; “The entire system is wireless, which allows multiple classrooms to be linked to a main dedicated server. Students wearing our unique and proprietary ID system (patent pending), are located by devices placed over the doorways. As students enter or leave a classroom, their tag is read by the device and transmitted to the central dedicated server.  All data transmissions are encrypted to insure privacy.  Handheld computers allow attendance reports, school bulletins and notices to be sent to the classroom….The attendance data is returned to the classroom and then to the teacher on a handheld computer.  The teacher need only confirm attendance on the handheld and the data is entered into the attendance logs for that period.” In Inescapable Data, we describe some of the positive benefits these types of systems have when it comes to controlling the behavior of bullies, an increasing problem for school systems that can have dire consequences.

However, an implementation of the InClass system in the small town of Sutter CA, (population 2,885) has drawn legal fire from privacy rights organizations. The June issue of Wired magazine reports that, after two weeks, the outside pressure was so intense that the system was shut down.

There are other technologies like facial recognition software, that are much harder to detect by the individual under surveillance. Yet usage of video recognition systems hardly if ever draws the same kind of intense scrutiny. Why?

Case in point: On May 23, 2005, NBA Entertainment, the production and programming division of the National Basketball Association, announced a data warehouse for NBA game videos. The data warehouse “will allow NBA broadcast engineers to catalog and store all the action from every NBA game as it occurs.” In addition, NBA Entertainment also announced the possibility of using “sophisticated pattern-recognition technology that enables overhead cameras to track the on-court movements of every player, and then render their actions in 3D so coaches can interactively study offense and defense moves from any angle.” Use of GPS and RFID to track all of the on-court action were rejected because of recent privacy rights controversies surrounding these two technologies. Perhaps the RFID and GPS-style tracking of players seemed too much like big brother, detailing our sports hero's movements. But then again, isn’t video recognition just as effective, if not more effective in some ways, at following us where ever we go? Or, could it be that players don’t object to being watched in intimate detail. They simply objected to wearing something electrified.

So we ask a question: Has RFID become stigmatized?
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Mining Retail Video

We (the author’s of Inescapable Data) believe that Video will change everything in the new world. We’re are just at the very beginning stages of deploying video in our world…just the beginning…and video will drive our networking technologies and data storage technologies to new levels. But that’s the un-interesting part.

The truly interesting part of video-everywhere is the value in mining the data. Retail stores have been “video’d” for decades, strictly as surveillance/theft/deterrent systems. The new vision in Inescapable Data is that there is far more information available in those streams than just a pack of gum tucked into a pocket. In the retail world, store owners are in desperate need of more information regarding “how” people shop and “who” they are.

Product placement (shelf location, end-isle location, etc) is critical to a product’s success or a particular promotion. Yet, the only data owners have is the end-of-day receipts. What they desire to know is:

• How many paused in front of the display
• For how long
• Who  were they? Lone shopper or mother with 2.5 children?
• Did they touch the product and then put it back?
• What  path thru the store did they take?
• How much total time did they spend in the store?
• Any clue about race or sex or age?

Retailers are still in the dark ages regarding such information. Sure, with electronic check out systems they are getting more information today than a decade ago (such as what products are co-purchased together, what time of day do certain products sell best, average total bill when a certain product is purchased, etc), but they are gravely missing ALL of the information that leads up to (or skipping of) a purchase. This is a HUGE difference and this is what the new world of Inescapable Data is all about…finding better data/information sources that cover more of the total picture.

There are some companies making products heading in this direction. We interviewed Jan Davis, CEO of ShopperTrak for our book. They make an ingenious video device that is able to very accurately “count” people; count people near a display, count people as they enter an area/doorway, etc, and it’s our guess they’ll (over time) reach for the wider values we extol in our writings. Cognex is another premier video company whose products are routinely used for manufacturing but could morph some of their technology “video print” (fingerprint) shoppers in a passive unnoticed manner for better shopping analysis.

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Companies interviewed...

Very often, people we meet who are interested in our book "Inescapable Data" ask us which companies we interviewed. We interviewed over 50 large (and some small) companies across a great many industries. We also did extensive research on many other companies to substantiate the claims and theories in the book.  Here is a partial list:

Medical & Life Sciences
Dr. Peter Slavin CEO, Mass. General Hospital
Dr. Phil Reilly CEO, Interleukin Genetics
Dr. Kris Joshi Global Executive, Healthcare, IBM
Dr. James Thrall Chief of Radiology, Mass. General
Dr. Jeff Tocci Owner, Tocci Dental
Dr. Sandra Myerson Pediatrician, Concord Mass.
Tim Surgenor CEO, Cyberkinetics
Frank Sample CEO,  VISICU

Manufacturing & Retail
Brian Jones CEO, Nypro Inc.
Dr. Bob Shillman CEO, Cognex Inc.
Mark Palmer Vice President, Progress Software
Charles Redepenning CEO, Stride Rite International
Paul Lightfoot CEO, AL Systems
Jan Davis CEO, ShopperTrak
Robert Watson Owner, Watson-Janssens Marketing

Sports
Dominic Dobson CEO, Motion Research
Dr. Rod Havriluk CEO, Swimming Technology
Peter Purdy CTO, Motion Research
Gene DeFilippo Athletic Director, Boston College

Military & Government
Robert Nesbit GM, Mitre Corporation Bedford
Jay Bertelli CEO, Mercury Computer Systems
Peter Quinn CIO, Mass. State Government
Greg Herrma President, Thermo Electron Environment
Barry Isenstein GM, Defense Electronics, Mercury
Dan Loranger CIO, Safety Insurance

Communications & Data
Mike G. Hill GM, Global Telecommunications, IBM
Jeff Bradley Sr. VP of Business Data, AT&T Wireless
Steve Nicolle CEO, Tatarasystems
David Rose CEO, Ambient Devices
Adrian Kingley-Hughes GPS Expert, author
Ken Kuenzel CEO, Convergence

Computers & Networks
Robert LeBlanc GM, Tivoli, IBM
Mark Canepa EVP, Storage and Networking, Sun
Dr. Goh CTO, SGI
David Black CTO office, EMC
Mark Bregman EVP, Core technologies, Veritas
Cheng Wu CEO, Acopia
Larry Giesel CEO, Nexaweb (former CIO Netscape)
Jack McDonnell CEO, (former CEO McData)

Miscellaneous
Dr. Nicholas Christakis Harvard University Sociologist
Paul LaCamera GM, WCVB Boston
Jack Nilles Telecommuting expert
Mike Helfrich VP/Marketing, Groove Networks
David Skok Partner, Matrix Venture Partners
Rick Burns Partner, Charles River Ventures
Jay McLellan CEO, Home Automation
Allan Meiusi COO, Truckstop.net

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Cooking-up Start-ups

Inescapable Data (ID) isn’t a cookbook for start-ups, but you could read it to find the ingredients for a host of new businesses. Start with the simple premise of Inescapable Data; that data sources can (and will) be converged to produce new types of information, and that these data sources presently surround us. Then read the book to discover what these data sources are and how they can be converged. Once you get used to the Inescapable Data mindset, new business opportunities will start appearing to you frequently.

Here are some examples:

During a flight to Las Vegas from Manchester, I was reading a Business 2.0 magazine article that described “hotspotting” a process for embedding hyperlinks in full-motion digital video – i.e the convergence of hypertext, video, and sound in real time. According to the article, a “thin” layer of flash code is integrated with the video stream such that by “mousing over” regions of an image on a laptop screen for example, options will appear superimposed on the image, that allow the you interact with the image. The problem I find with the article is that the authors seem only to be able to envision web based advertising as the primary application of hypertext and video convergence (some business models never die now matter how uninspired they may be).

With an ID mindset, other opportunities come to mind immediately. In chapter 12 we talk about the use of OLED displays – computer displays that use organic, light-emitting diode materials. Unlike today’s screens, OLED displays can ultra-thin and flexible. Display substrates can be plastic or metal foil allowing them to be rolled up. Now, combine OLED displays with a PDA-like processing device about the size of an Apple iPod (complete with 40GB hard drive), and the hypertext/video convergence capability just described, and you have video text books, video training manuals, video travel guides …and the list goes on.

Chris Stakutis, my co-author, read a story in his local paper recently about a small start-up (Wildlife Acoustics) that provides monitoring devices that can digitally capture a bird song and compare it to a database of bird songs so that the person using the device will be able to identify birds without actually seeing them. You can buy this device now for $499.00. That’s a good start, but if you were to give this device a wireless connection to the internet and a GPS receiver, then populate the countryside with these devices, you would have a way to track bird migrations in real time. The same concept could be applied to air-borne chemical sensing devices for use by Homeland Security.

Once you get the ID message, the ideas will begin to flow. Read Inescapable Data, then get your favorite VC on the phone.

--John Webster

Farming...an extreme example of data

The US farming industry is huge...$200 Billion...and more than 50% of the market is from massive large-scale farms. Farms are notably driven by efficiency, but there are changes taking place now due to wireless, GPS, and data-everywhere that are just mind-numbing.

Precision Agriculture is a term that has been around for a while, but it is taking on new meaning today in light of some incredible technologies. Global Positioning Satellite devices have been driven into farm equipment. The simple process of tilling the land (or fertilizing or seeding) requires tractors to go back-and-forth in very straight lines. Any deviation and there is measurable waste…from either over-tilling/fertilizing or missing sections…which could be as high as 10 to 20%. John Deere has a new line of tractors that are GPS controlled…the tractor steers itself and is able to keep perfect tracks. Not only does this eliminate field use waste, it significantly increases the operator’s efficiency and comfort, plus extends the work day to 24 hours. This is a pure example of technology. Driving some focused benefit. Very cool and interesting, but essentially an incremental change.

Somewhat similar, there are now tractors and harvesters that have built-in measuring sensors. These sensors can measure the volume of grain AS it is being harvested. They can measure the moisture content and some basic chemical or physical analysis. With every swath or chew of these machines, data is immediately available. Just more data…unless it is available to higher sources. So, today, many large farms have WiFi connections back their ops center so that this sort of data can be stored and converted into information and analyzed.

Step 3 is bringing it all together. Precision Agriculture is a new style of farming that takes into account as much information as possible to allow a per-square-meter approach to farming. Every square meter of a farm behaves differently due to local soil conditions, differences in irrigation, subtle shallow land ‘wells’ that change the heat-exchange equations, and so forth. Historically, farmers had to universally apply pesticides or fertilizers or seeding…over a broad area. In the new world, they want to deploy the exact right amount per square-meter based on knowledge of that exact section of the land. With GPS to know locations and soil tasters and harvesters broadcasting information back to the ops center, they can now factor all of that information together (along with weather forecast and climate databases and so forth) and turn all that back to the equipment in the field. In a somewhat bizaar twist, even on the commodity futures floor, pricing can not be set by real time access not just to farm inventory, but related to the actual amount of grain spewing off a harvester and its quality level. This is what Inescapable Data is all about…its about the fusing of many different data sources together…both real-time and historical data…from devices we would not commonly think of as “data rich”.

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Photo processing: an example of super new efficiency

Data-everywhere and networks-everywhere are truly yielding some impressive efficiencies Let's take a look at photo processing has changed. In our book, Inescapable Data, we claim that the new world is driven by 80+ percent efficiency gains and not merely the old 10% ones. Is that even possible?

In the days of film...think of all extra steps and cost compared to the new world of on-line digital photo uploading and printing.  Consider these elements:

• The time you would spend going to a store to purchase film
• The cost of the film (film became very expensive due silver costs and waste/manufacturing treatment)
• The time to fill-out the envelop for processing

On the service-provider/processing side:

• The time to transcribe the information on the envelop
• The time to open the envelop and film canister and feed into some machine
• The cost of the chemicals for developing the negatives, the environmental costs associated with proper disposing of the chemicals, the "time" to develop the film, the physical space and electricty for the development machinery.
• The hand-off from film to the printing process (manual steps plus complex inter-machinery shuffles)
• The association of the printed pictures back to the negatives and rebundling
• The costs/reputation associated to as high as 10% loss of film submitted

The final stages (the actual printing to paper) are probably the same, but look at the above list. All costs (both time and money) and to both parties (supplier and buyer...us).

This is a keen example of how our "connected" world is netting massive new efficiencies...not just 10%.  In our book, we explore many other examples across a broad range of industries.

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