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Design Education Globalization Internet2 Network Reading Technology

Latest read: How We Compete

Suzanne Berger and MIT’s Industrial Performance Center wrote a book after concluding a five year study of the new global economy How We Compete: What Companies Around the World Are Doing to Make it in Today’s Global Economy.

how we compete

If you want to learn more about globalization, this is a necessary addition to your bookshelf. Today companies must compete.

The study moves beyond the often discussed Dell approach to manufacturing. Lessons from auto and textile industries are included and should not be missed. How America can compete against the global marketplace?

Students entering the real world after school makes this book mandatory reading before graduating … from high school. By the time your set to graduate from college — it may be too late.

Companies that need to compete are shifting production … sometimes to very interesting locations for very interesting business reasons. Understanding this process and the major impacts of globalization will help us all prepare for tomorrow’s shifting economic climate.  There are powerful lessons from many industries that have shifted into a highly competitive marketplace with a global reach.  In doing so, these companies now compete with global brands.

Globalization can be very complicated. This book suggests very intriguing lessons from companies who need to compete are outsourcing their products, production lines or selected low end solution simply to survive against the competition.

We have a lot to learn from the Japanese and the Italians!

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Design Education Globalization Network Reading Technology

Amazon wants to rekindle your reading

kindleYou cannot shake a stick today without hitting an article about Amazon’s new Kindle wireless reading device.

10 ounces and able to ‘carry’ 200 books.  A price tag of $400.00 + the cost of content?  Well if it drives people to read more … than I call it a success, but it’s not the same model of the iPod approach to consumer devices and digital content.
–Too bad Apple’s design team didn’t get a crack at designing this device…its a bit stale looking.

And my latest read is taking a bit longer than usual. An MIT study about globalization … worth every page. Stay tuned!

Tags: Amazon, Kindle, wireless reading device, digital paper, reading, trends

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Education Globalization Internet2 Network Technology WiscNet

Internet2 & Department of Energy

Not standing still following the NLR fallout…Internet2 and the Department of Energy (DOE) have successfully deployed a nationwide network with five interconnected rings with each ring consisting of one (or more) 10gigabit path. Placed together these rings form a coast-to-coast network for the backbone of the DOE.

esnet logoThis new network, ESnet4 now connects scientists and researchers at national laboratories and universities. ESnet4 is managed by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

This project was built to meet the emerging scientific needs of the DOE’s Office of Science which manages over 30 DOE laboratories and 100,000 scientists alone.Universities and other government agencies around the country include almost 20,000 researchers and research projects that extend across the globe to CERN the particle physics lab near Geneva.

Tags: Internet2, Department of Energy, optical network, ESnet4, research, collaboration, globalization, network, WiscNet, trends

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Design Education Globalization Internet2 Milwaukee Network Technology

Internet2 – NLR breakup

i2 nlrThe on-again, off-again relationship between Internet2 and the National Lambda Rail has hit another snag. Maybe permanently.

At the Internet2’s member meeting last December in Chicago the board announced the merger was off. Then less than three months later both organizations announced they would merge…and even set up a website. This was also outlined at the 2007 WiscNet Future Technology Conference report of the WiscNet Internet2 Working Group.

Well now almost a year later we are still awaiting for the outcome. Again, it appears the merge is now “formally off”…just like last December. Arg!
–Give it six months and we’ll review where both parties are sitting at the high speed network table.

Tags: Internet2, NLR, optical network, merger, globalization, network, WiscNet, trends