BU SHI KE FOU

It's a Big World Out There.

April 2007

Proving once again that whether the bottle is half full or half empty depends on where you sit. According to the U.S., the country is falling behind in terms of broadband communications connections when compared to other countries. But according to those "other" countries, they are simply moving ahead.

Overall, according to information released this week by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, U.S. broadband penetration among worldwide industrialized nations dropped from 12th to 15th place. Moreover, the U.S. ranks 20th in the 30-member OECD roster in terms of growth rate of broadband penetration in the last year. Still, the U.S. did manage to keep its lead position with the largest total number of broadband subscribers in the OECD -- 58 million. Interestingly, the U.S. differs from most other countries in that its broadband deployment is provided by cable TV companies, compared to DSL provided by phone companies elsewhere.

In its analysis of additional OECD broadband statistics, Free Press, a lobbying group focusing on universal access, said that U.S. consumers pay dearly for broadband -- $10 per Mbps versus the $1 or less per Mbps that is paid on average by other OECD nations.

European countries are leading broadband deployment with Denmark, the Netherlands, Iceland, Switzerland, Finland, Norway, and Sweden in the forefront of the rankings.

Posted by Jon Erickson at 02:19 PM  Permalink |

by Jonathan Erickson

Matsushita Electric has opened another -- its third -- R&D center in southeast Asia, this on ein Vietnam. The research center will focus on embedded software development, primarily software for digital consumer electronics and home electric appliances, and will collaborate with Hanoi University of Technology to train embedded software engineers.

The new company, which opened this week in Hanoi and will operate under the name of Panasonic R&D Center Vietnam Co. Ltd., will initally have 19 employees, but plans call 50 engineers by 2009 and eventually as many as 200 engineers.

At the same time, the university announced it will launch a new course on embedded software technology that will turn out aobut 30 engineers per year. Matsushita said it will provide text books and class materials and send company engineers to lecture at the university.

Posted by Jon Erickson at 10:04 AM  Permalink |