Preparing the grid for the coming Datapocalypse

Utah Broadband Summit 2015

www.emperitas.com / 801.810.5869 / 4609 South 2300 East Suite 204, Holladay, UT 84117

Hi, I’m Luciano Wheatley Pesci…

Founder & Director, Utah Community Research Group (UTAHCRG), Univ. of Utah

•  Teach microeconomics, statistics, applied research & data analytics, and American economic development & history

Co-Founder and CEO, EMPERITAS

•  Economic artificial intelligence company that finds, grows and retains most profitable customer segments using data and research

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!!! JARGON WARNING !!!

“Broadband,” “connectivity,” and “internet” will all be used interchangeably to mean large scale transmission of data by any means possible in the presentation that follows…

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My Basic (economic) Argument Today

•  How We Got Here: Broadband’s impact on the world has been incredible because it efficiently connects people

•  Why It’s Important: This allows for information sharing, invention and innovation, all of which drive economic growth and living standards

•  What’s Driving Demand: World demand for connectivity is exploding as the number of people and devices-per-person increase exponentially

•  The Datapocalypse: If the systems aren’t in place to satisfy demand the entire market will stall, huge numbers of businesses will fail, and communities will suffer…your job is very important

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How We Got Here

Back In The Day…

•  1956 was a pivotal year

•  Transatlantic cable laid, could handle 36 simultaneous transmissions

•  IBM’s RAMAC computer commercially available, 5 MB of data for $30k month in today’s prices

•  The Intergalactic Computer Network emerged

•  “An electronic commons open to all, the main and essential medium of informational interaction for governments, institutions, corporations, and individuals.”

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The Vision Was Connecting People To Share Ideas

•  When people come together the world improves through competitive decision-making based on shared information

•  Past technologies have had smaller scale effects

•  Steamboat, rail, interstate and commercial jets allowed information to travel with people

•  Telegraph, telephone, radio and television allowed information to travel in real-time

•  Nothing has matched the internet in its impact…

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Where Things Stand Today

•  In 1995 less than 1% of global population was connected, today it’s at 40%

•  First billion connected by 2005, second billion in 2010, third billion in 2014

•  The internet currently accounts for ~20% of GDP growth in advanced economies, and the trend is accelerating

•  We’ve entered the Zettabyte Era (1 billion GB per month) in internet traffic, which has driven economic growth…

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Why It’s Important

The Economic Benefits of Omnipresent Connectivity

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Time Machine

We enjoy greater flexibility in how we

work, when we work, and from where we

work thanks to internet connectivity.

Productivity Multiplier Nothing in the history of humanity has

done more for productivity than

connecting the world’s people and things.

Teleportation Device People can see, hear, and (soon)

experience something half a world away,

or across time.

Ultimate Revolutionary

Information can topple governments,

disrupt businesses, and create a global

identity as people share experiences.

Knowledge Commons

Ideas can be easily shared, critiqued and

refined almost instantaneously. It’s the

digital version of the Library of Alexandria.

Joy Accelerator

Gaming, blogging, sharing photos, and

video conferencing bring immeasurable

joy to people everywhere in the world.

What’s Driving Demand

The Driving Force Is Individual Demand

•  Population is still growing

•  By 2050 the estimated global population will be ~9.6bn people

•  Emerging markets are getting connected to the internet

•  Facebook drones and Google loon balloons connecting developing world

•  Planetary Resources Inc, SpaceX, Blue Origin will open Space to humanity

•  Number of connections-per-person growing exponentially

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The Internet of Things Is Already Underway

•  Everything will be connected. Everything.

•  It will allow us to quantifying the previously unquantifiable

•  Allows for massive efficiency gains through data analysis and better decision-making

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The Datapocalypse

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Creative Destruction Is Everywhere

•  Acting on data will be the biggest decider of who survives and who is disrupted

•  “Forty percent of businesses in this room, unfortunately, will not exist in a meaningful way in 10 years… ” -John Chambers, Outgoing CEO, Cisco (at Cicso Live 2015 Conference)

•  Invention and Innovation are both worthy goals, let risk-discounted profitability guide the decision-making

•  Test your assumptions often through data and research, fail fast to stay competitive

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Will You Be Ready?

•  Whatever data you’re planning to handle, multiply that by 1,000x

•  Ignore sunk costs (like SONET or copper-based infrastructure) in decision-making if you want to break technological lock-in and stay competitive

•  It’s the technologies we can’t imagine (yet) that pose the greatest danger to overloading the grid

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“Big” Data Now

Data On Its Way

Your Job Is Critically Important

•  Unlike other key factors of production (like capital, land, natural resources), you directly connect people with information

•  You are the bloodstream of the modern market economy

•  Prosperity lives and dies by your connections

•  The only path forward is for you to stay ahead of the rest of the economy

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Let’s talk…

Thank you for having me!

luciano@emperitas.com / www.emperitas.com / 801.810.5869 / 4609 South 2300 East Suite 204, Holladay, UT 84117