Executive Thought Leadership

It’s How You Play the Game

A first person perspective.

Years ago, Bob Metcalfe recognized that the value of a network increases with every node that connects to it. While the debate continues about the exact value that each node adds, the basic premise of Metcalfe’s law holds true. More than 200 million subscribers like me now have broadband access to the Internet, and wireless technologies have extended broadband connections to millions of mobile users. And the mature protocols for secure, reliable access to this network are now useful for a wide range of applications.

Experts talk of a point at which a technology sometimes “breaks out” and has the potential to transform entire markets. Along with open standards and wide deployment, this requires the extensibility that enables a technology to sustain an ecosystem, or value chain. When these three factors align, an expanding cycle of innovation takes root and a new platform emerges.

We’re amidst a transformation in information technology, and increasingly the network is the preferred platform for innovation. While the majority of networked devices remain computers, the potential for other nodes, such as game consoles, telephony services, and data capture devices, is huge. The standards-based nature, pervasiveness, and extensibility of the Internet make it a potentially valuable platform, and developers are gravitating toward it.

A few years ago my wife had what many teenagers would consider a dream job as a video game tester for a large international entertainment company. In reality she spent long, lonely hours sequestered in a cubicle playing a game until her thumbs were red and sore. Lonely, because until recently there was little interaction involved in video gaming; the industry focused primarily on catchy graphics.

This past holiday I was looking at game consoles for my sons. Beyond the choice in hardware, what really struck me was that every console had a network connection. Even the smallest handhelds now have optional wireless network adapters. My research reveals that online gaming is the fastest growing segment of the console gaming market, with current revenues of more than a billion dollars projected to grow at over 50% per year through 2009.

The network has spurred massive growth in the video game industry. Network-based innovation delivers new games to a wider audience faster and more cheaply than ever before. In a sign of the transient nature of physical media distribution, I downloaded the last game directly to my handheld with no disk or packaging to handle at all. I find video games, already the most immersive and “sticky” form of entertainment, more interesting when I’m playing against live opponents. Increasingly, I find that it’s not the actual game that attracts me but the intangibles—the community and the overall experience.

A Bluetooth kit in my car makes it convenient to use my mobile phone while driving, but a new wireless networking standard, 802.11p, will usher in a whole new range of communications options for vehicles. From toll-road automation to global positioning and congestionavoidance systems, the network is becoming an important platform in yet another industry. Again, analysts predict the near-term potential for billions of dollars in revenue.

Recently at a theme park, my sons and I rode an attraction with an unusual twist. At the end of the ride, kiosks displayed photographs of ourselves and the other passengers. Normally a theme park sells such photos, but these kiosks were different. We selected our own images on a touch screen and, upon entering our e-mail addresses, were immediately sent free copies of the pictures. These came accompanied by a web link that presented further park information and an online video game version of the attraction. I have the pictures on my computer as wallpaper, and my sons spent hours playing the game. Of all the rides that day, this one, with its network-based interaction, created the most lasting and favorable impression. A lot of promises are made about ways the network will change our lives. It’s my belief that as the network emerges as the platform, we will see far greater innovation than we can possibly imagine.

Roger Farnsworth<br> Executive Editor, Executive Thought Leadership Quarterly