Did you know that we’ve been digitally transforming since the year 2000?
Raise your hand, if you remember the New Year’s Eve predictions that kept us all on pins and needles waiting for the moment when the clocks turned from 11:59:59 pm, New Year’s Eve 1999 to 12:00:00 am, New Year’s Day 2000 and every computer system in the world was predicted to fail?
It was the Y2K Disaster that never happened.
I remember partying like it was 1999, because it literally was 1999 and with the dot.com industry hurling towards disaster, Y2K was just another “sign of the times.” Had enough? Me too.
alpha tests successfully completed before disclosing MiVu to Lucent Technologies and Bell Labs
We were set out on the road speeding towards digital transformation the moment Padraic McFreen stepped into the doors of Lucent Technologies, leading to that now infamous Bell Labs “IEEE call for interest” in MiVu’s 21st Century Access Network, which Bell Labs technically defined for IEEE as “Ethernet in the Last Mile.”
Yes, as we learned, Bell Labs did advocate for the change of the term “Last” to “First,” because, as we’ve learned, they had to contribute to Padraic McFreen’s innovations and inventions somehow in order to stake a percentage of the claim.
This author believes that it is important to point out the fact that Bell Labs hanging a technical term on the MiVu Internet Network, specifically, the elements of the network that connected to legacy telecommunications networks, did not mean the entire network and all of its elements, nor the network based servers, chips, products, services and devices.
The MiVu 21st Century Access Network and its bells and whistles was comprised of over 1,000 discrete innovations and inventions in 4Q/2000 and has increased in number several orders of magnitude since.
We’re not covering everything in these “40 Days,” just those aspects that this author believes makes good on the promise of revealing MiVu, Silicon Valley’s Black History.
Hey Netflix, Hollywood, Disney, Tyler Perry, Amazon your teams should really zoom in on this gem. Can someone say “timely?” If you know somebody, it would be a good idea to tell somebody.
Now, let’s get back to it, shall we?
Bell Labs did complete beta tests on MiVu’s technology. Interestingly enough, next to zero technical changes were made to the entire portfolio. Most of the time was spent trying to reengineer Padraic McFreen’s thought process and wrap their minds around his ability to bring the impossible into the realm of possibility.
“All manner of impossibilities are now possible. Thank you MiVu.” Padraic McFreen absolutely will not disclose the author of that thank you email.
When I learned about these early contributions of Bell Labs, the first image that came to mind was one of a patent agent staking claim to a world changing set of ideas, because the inventor walked into their office to file for the patents. Amazing.
This author will spend an installment or two or three on Bell Labs’ “renaming” contributions and its role in the introduction of the MiVu Internet Network/21st Century Access Network to the world.
As preview, you will learn about how Bell Labs, immediately (same day as “the call”), pitched MiVu to Telefonica as “MiLife.”
I can hear Bell Labs on the phone with Telefonica right now saying “…we haven’t worked out all the details, but we want you to be our premier marquee telecommunications partner…we’ll get back to you when we know more.”
Now, that was 4Q/2000, and according to reliable sources, the “battle of the brains” continues.
It is not clear from my talks with Padraic McFreen when the Genius of Bell Labs became super envious of the Genius of MiVu, but as I mentioned, Bell Labs changed the name of Padraic McFreen’s work from MiVu, to MiLife, staking claim to the, then, MiVu Services and the MiVu Marketplace (remember the “neutral exchange”, well think AppStore) tag line, “all things important in my life right here, MiVu.” Poetry.
Well, Bell Labs wouldn’t be outdone. Just days after Padraic McFreen filed for his trademark, “MiVu,” Bell Labs filed for a trademark. Wanna guess for what word? Exactly, “MiLife.”
This “battle of the brains” continues — as this author writes today’s installment. Padraic McFreen spends little to no time monitoring Bell Labs’ developments, but is certain he’s spoken with their representatives over the years.
Here’s another one for you, Padraic McFreen has since developed hundreds of products and services for the Fortune 500, government and associated NGO’s. He uses the trademark “Unthink Impossible,” for a suite of intelligent Internet computer hardware and software.
Once Bell Labs learned of Padraic McFreen’s “Unthink Impossible” successes, Bell Labs launched an innovators’ comeback marketing video series entitled, “The Future Impossible.”
What are the odds of two Geniuses coming up with the same name — I mean, one after the other? Not rhetorical. What exactly are the odds?
If Genius had its own neighborhood, how much fun would that be for them?
Can you just picture MiVu and Bell Labs as cordial but Genius level competitive neighbors? One neighbor builds a robot, the other builds a bigger robot. One neighbor builds and flies a drone, the other builds and flies a squadron. You get my point. Fun times!
I’m just telling the story here, but I bet you dollars to doughnuts, we’d get to digital transformation faster if these cordial neighbors began to work together again. Show of hands, who’s watched the movie “Core” on AmazonPrime? Exactly.
This author sat down with Padraic McFreen for some inside tech goodies
I asked Padraic McFreen to walk us through one of the most important elements of his innovations. He agreed to discuss the “always on, always connected” aspect of his 21st Century Access Network.
Here’s how our discussion went:
Author — Padraic McFreen, your background, experiences and accomplishments are quite impressive. Were you always interested in technology?
Padraic McFreen — I’ve always had an affinity for anything electronic, electricity, telecommunications, computer systems, radio and radio transmissions — pretty much anything that can occupy the spectrum.
Author — Now, you’ve promised to spend one installment walking us through all of your experiences. I believe that is slated for installment No. 35. Today, you’ve agreed to explain in a semi-technical fashion how you arrived at the idea of an “always on, always connected” network?
Padraic McFreen — Thank you for the question and thank you for convincing me to share my story with your readers. We are living through one of the most unprecedented periods, the likes of which not seen in over 100 years, and I am happy to provide insights and details about my work. Allow me to make a correction to your question.
Author — Did I misunderstand our agreed upon topic for today?
Padraic McFreen — No, absolutely not. Simply, I want to adjust the question to better reflect my response. “Always on, always connected” is not the network, its the experience. Yes, the network that we all know as the Internet, indeed is always running 24/7/365 or 8,760 hours each year. The ideal scenario is that the network that we all know as the Internet, will continue to run forever. Though there is talk of building a second or replacement network, so as to reduce the dominance advertising as an Internet Industry Business has when we consider overall schema. I suppose MiVu is to blame for some of the lopsided nature of things today. As I know you plan to discuss the intent of the MiVu Internet Network, your readers here today should be aware of the fact that the MiVu Internet Network, the 21st Century Access Network, alpha tested, August 15-October 1, 2000, passed with flying colors, even though I was running multiple 56k dial-up modems and pushing the content through the, then, state of the art legacy telecommunications switch network. I cannot disclose much more than that at this time. What led me to designing for an “always on, always connected” end-user experience was the fact that I was running my lab alone. My assistant was never allowed to be involved with any of the testing activities or task completions. The problem arose when I tripled the number of Logitech cams. Each time I increased the number of cam signals, within a random number of cycles, one cam would drop offline. When I lost a cam bank, the test failed. The methods and algorithms all passed, but the telecommunications network kept kicking me offline. It was at that time, that I began thinking about how a similar problem was solved, but for a FM radio station in Kansas City. As part of my professional experiences, I at one time managed programming and operations for a legendary broadcast group. At the time, due to the structural and geographic limitations, the broadcast studios were not in a location with clear line-of-sight between the set of studios and the transmitter. As a workaround, Southwestern Bell telecommunication lines were leased and configured to provide a solution set. These leased lines were purposed as transmission lines. Audio signals were carried from the studios, to the transmitter across these leased transmission lines. Left/Red, Right/Blue. Two mono lines, once combined, gave the listening audience an experience that, upon casual inspection, sounded like stereo. The transmission lines had to be open 24/7/365 in order to keep the radio stations on the air 100% of the time. This configuration ultimately had unintended consequences, and I solved for this problem set and the radio stations flourished substantially. This was the experience that I drew from. I posited: why can’t I configure a connection point similar to the transmission lines that connected the studios to the transmitter, but eliminate the need to dial? Answering this question led to the “always on, always connected” solution set as well as some 500 innovations and requirements. It was fun and that experience and the application of those learnings are just a few of the reasons why your Smart phone is always connected to the Internet — by way of the MiVu Internet Network of course. I know that was a longer answer than what we agreed on. I don’t believe it was too technical though. You can cut some of it out if you want. Thank you again.
Author — Padraic McFreen, thank you for your response. I will need to go back and listen to our discussion a number of times before I will be able to grasp it all. I know my readers appreciate your story.