Inescapable Data

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

Buy the "Inescapable Data" book

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”.

Buy the "Inescapable Data" book Tags: gps farming pervasive

Learn more:  Inescapable Data

Pop goes the cork: Video imaging revolutionizing manufacturing

Cognex machine vision is used by a major French champagne manufacturer to perform six final inspections on each bottle of champagne before it leaves the winery.  The inspections include 1) checking fill level 2) making sure the cork is properly seated and the bottle has been properly closed 3) checking for unacceptable levels of sediment in the wine 4) checking for pieces of cork which may have gotten into the wine during bottling 5) checking for glass splinters which can sometimes get into the wine if a bottle explodes on the line before the wine has been sealed and 6) verifying that the bottom of the cork is flat...i.e. has not cracked...which would impact the flavor because the glue from the inside of the cord would taint the wine.

This manufacturer--which places a high premium on quality--used to perform these six inspections on every bottle by hand....a hugely labor intensive and slow process which caused a backlog in shipping.  Cognex vision performs all six of these inspections with a higher rate of accuracy at a speed of 8,000 bottles per hour.  As it inspects, the vision system also records production data for each bottle inspected--including any defects found--for ongoing quality records and production improvements.

Buy the "Inescapable Data" book

video manufacturing

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.

Buy the "Inescapable Data" book

Learn more:  Inescapable Data