[WP1] [WP2] [WP3] [WP4] [WP5] [WP6] [WP7]Objectives
The primary goal is to gauge market’s potential and to assess
customers’ requirements; consequently driving
technically-oriented work-packages towards the realization of an
economically viable and cost-effective solution which matches
real user’s requirements. In other words, WP6 has the vital role
of avoiding the “solution in search of a problem” pitfall that
plagues many realizations led by technical, instead than
commercial, objectives.
An additional goal is the appraisal of the project’s economic
impact at EU level, including the evaluation of the advantages
of a low-cost solution for edge access networks and its impact
in accelerating the deployment of an infrastructure capable of
making EU’s broadband-for-all policy possible.
Last but not least, a continuous work of information and
dissemination will be carried out on the objectives of this
project, in order to attract as much interest as possible, to
share results within the EU and to increase knowledge and
accelerate adoption of technical achievements obtained within
WP1 to WP4.
Description of work
Dissemination
From the very beginning of the project, a carefully planned
dissemination activity shall take place. Apart from sharing
results within EU’s technical community, this activity will
attract potential users’ interest and lead “end user” companies
to express their opinion and advice on what their “wish list” is
for edge network technologies such as the one developed in the
POF-ALL project. This activity includes the distribution of
questionnaires to and panel meetings and discussions with
possible users of broadband in-building or other short-range
networks.
Dissemination shall take place through Internet advertising
(either on participating partners’ web sites and specialised
virtual marketplaces), technical articles in specialised
magazines (such as EOS, IEEE, IEE, OSA), links with other
EU-funded projects (especially “E-PhotonOne” Network of
Excellence and e-Europe 2005), conferences participation (ECOC,
POF Conference, POF World, OFC, FiberCom) and fair participation
(Electronica, CeBit, HMI, Photonics West, Exponet). Common
magazines, especially economy-oriented ones, will also be
selectively addressed to raise interest and attract comments
from outside the consortium.
A further important channel for dissemination will be through
test and demo houses such as the InHaus-Innovation-Center
including the training of engineers in related industrial
sectors.
Every partner shall of course be allowed to publish selected
results, provided that it doesn’t infringe the Intellectual
Property and Confidentiality Agreement that will be signed at
the beginning of the project. Intellectual Property issues will
be addressed in order to guarantee that each partner benefit
from the results of the project and be allowed to commercialise
them within the scope of its activity and respecting common
rules that shall be written down to prevent future litigations.
No single partner of the consortium will hold the right to
individually patent technologies developed within the project,
unless agreed with all other members. Patenting shall extend to
non-EU countries in case of major breakthroughs, in order to
increase chances for participants to commercialise the issuing
products anywhere in the world, supporting European economy and
improving its image worldwide.
In line with its obligations regarding dissemination of
results and achievements, the Co-ordinator insures that all
public documents (including, but not restricted to, the
following material: video material covering experiments,
demonstrations and trials; animations of "real-time" simulation
results; presentations, animated/voice-over or not; promotional
material (leaflets, posters, etc.); press releases etc.)
generated by the project are duly collected in a Dissemination
Package which is associated with the periodic reports.
The project undertakes to establish a web site supported by the
project partners, to provide a unified view of the Project; a
snapshot thereof will be included in each version of the
Dissemination Package.
Economic impact and customer requirements
WP6’s primary goal will be to carry out a far-reaching
analysis on the impact of technologies derived from the POF-ALL
project to the edge network’s market. The main purpose of the
project is to develop low-cost technologies that shall
accelerate the deployment of the infrastructure required to
deliver broadband at accessible prices to every household.
In order to reach this goal it is vital to understand incumbent
and emerging carriers’ vision, strategies and requirements with
respect to broadband delivery issues. What are their plans for
the next 10 years? How do they believe that broadband shall be
delivered? What speeds do they target? What is the price target
for the enabling technologies they wish to use? These are
fundamental questions that shall help define a framework for the
technical activities carried out within work-packages 1 to 5.
Market research will of course take place from the very
beginning, in order to prevent the “solution in search of a
problem” or “technology in search of an application” downfall
which curses all technology-driven projects. This activity will
also lead to a better understanding of potential market size,
which in turn will be crucial in estimating the costs of the
technology. Market and trend analysis will be performed in close
cooperation with the European Photonics Industry Consortium
(EPIC) and the International Coalition of Optoelectronics
Industry Associations (ICOIA), where EPIC and OpTech-Net are
members,particularly thanks to UDE’s strong links with these
organizations. Inside this framework, UDE will also take care of
studying possible applications of technologies developed in
POF-ALL and their possible links to wireless networks’
technologies.
It is apparent that Fastweb and STMicroelectronics’
participation to the consortium will be key to the success of
this work-package, as they will be directly involved in physical
realisation of some electronic components and in the real-world
application in the edge network of the POF technology developed.
The latter will be implemented by Fastweb, who shall deploy FTTH
in a selected test area in an Italian town.
A selected number of potential customers shall be invited at the
real applications demo and their feedbacks will be useful to
understand if the developed technologies satisfy their
requirements.
WP6 will be led by LUCEAT, which will plan and organize market
research and communication activities. Every other member shall
contribute either by advertising on national magazines and
proprietary web sites and by assessing market potential in its
country or by catching perspective users’ attention.
A continuous, bi-directional interaction will occur with
WP1-WP2, such as the one that occurs within a company between
the marketing department and the R&D department: while WP1-WP2
will focus on addressing technological issues, WP6 will help
them focus on what’s important for the market and what customers
really want. This will ensure that the project will be
successful not only technically but, what counts most, from a
commercial point of view as well.
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