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December 21, 2009

Guest Blogger: FWD Nova Trial: HD Communications via a Web Model - By: Daniel Berninger

The FWD Nova Trial tests the utility of a web like business model for enabling HD communications. Telephone companies connect end points for a fee tied to the location of end points and the duration the connection. Browsing the web involves connecting nd points to a server for the cost of a broadband connection and a computer. No one considers the location of a web server before clicking on a link. The Nova Trial connects HD capable end points to a virtual location (the Nova). Two or more parties visiting the same Nova get connected to each other. Trial participation involves a one time $100 setup fee, but Nova owners incur no costs associated with the location of end points or how long one end point remains connected to another via the Nova.

Getting connected involves meeting at a Nova rather than dialing a telephone number. The telephone becomes a mechanism for accessing a Nova location rather than a destination, so one shares the location of the Nova rather than the device telephone number. Creating a Nova for a specific person, business, or family conversation gives communication a dimension of context absent from traditional telephone calls. Caller ID helps establish the context of a telephone call, but Caller ID does not always work and the existence of a telephone number makes unwanted telephone calls inevitable. Accessing a Nova may involve dialing a telephone number, an access number and code, a SIP URI, clicking a URL, a voice command, posting Twitter message, or any other means capable of connecting an HD end point and a Nova server via the Internet.

The Nova offer of unmetered, high definition, and contextual connections addresses a voice intensive need not met by existing communication options. HD offers an experience closer to in-person communication than a standard definition telephone call. Internet enabled options from email and instant messaging to Twitter and Facebook do not offer the same emotional connection as voice. Video options from the prohibitively expensive telepresence, championed by Cisco CEO John Chambers, to the relatively cheap casual video, associated with PC video cameras and free software (e.g. Skype), have their place, but the Nova gives stand alone voice a long overdue boost.

Setting up a Nova does not translate into communication until someone visits the Nova. Creating a Nova like posting a website arises from a "build it and they will come" attitude. Getting people to visit you at a Nova requires awareness of the existence of the Nova, a HD capable device, and navigating the device configuration obstacles. The latter two represent startup only obstacles. This mirrors the state of affairs in the early days of the web when there existed very few people with Internet connected computers and very limited web content. The hope is to replicate the virtuous cycle (new audience attracts new content and new content attracts new audience) that produced ten fold annual increases in the number of websites during most of the 1990's.

Nova startup costs are modest compared to the cost and complexities of connecting a computer to the Internet in the early 1990's. However, the current landscape is already crowded with a long list of options competing for the finite amount of time people devote to communication. Implementing a Nova represents a new option for anyone seeking the closest approximation to being there in-person. Even beyond the utility of high definition voice, the absence of usage based charges can mean leaving a Nova connection up all the time and a sense of presence not available by any other means. In any case and as with the early days of the web, the case for participating in the trial rests as much on the promise of a Nova based model as on the cost benefit merits of HD communications as it exists today.

Submit an application to participate in the trial via the web form at
http://www.siptosip.net/content.html

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Daniel Berninger is CEO, FWD. His bio can be seen here.

Tags: VoIP, HD VoIP, HD Communications,Daniel Berninger

Posted by jeff on December 21, 2009 11:04 PM | Permalink

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