Presentation: Wednesday, October 26th, 8:00am to 8:30am
Jim Pickrell is the president of Brand X Internet, a local dsl and dialup based ISP in Santa Monica, California, and has been working in the Internet field since 1994. In a recent supreme court decision (Brand X V.
FCC) the court ruled against Pickrell and his allies in the independent ISP world, and apparently has given permission to the FCC to put all independent ISP's out of business, by allowing the telephone companies to lock them out of line access.
If telephone companies don't have to sell lines, and these same companies own all the radio spectrum that could provide wireless alternatives, then ISP's have no way to reach their customers. The question then becomes - what opportunities are left to the independent internet company? At Brand X the solution is a combination of running their own wires on telephone poles, to go around uncooperative cable and telephone monopolies, as well as seeking new profit centers, such as VOIP and TV, to increase revenue and cover construction costs.
Pickrell will discuss the huge opportunities that things such as CLEC registration, fiber and cable wiring, AC power data transmission, and other new technology may represent. If Cable and Telephone companies aren't willing to cooperate, the solution may be to go around them completely.
Jim Pickrell is a graduate of the University of Washington and has done graduate work at UCLA. He has taught at UCLA and at the Technical University of Munich. Pickrell is former president of the California ISP Association. Pickrell has been active in lobbying for the rights of small businesses against the telephone companies. He is a native of Seattle but lives in Santa Monica, California.
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