| Q&A: Jeong H Kim
swears by innovation, and rightfully so. For, he spearheads Lucent Technologies Bell Labs as its president, the company that invented many a device that changed the pace of the world.
One of its biggest inventions was the transistor that ushered in the digital era; then the Charged Coupled Device (CCD) that made digital imaging and portable video a reality; the Unix operating system that laid the foundation of the Internet; the most widely used computer language 'C' and the laser beam among others.
Kim is in India to attend a series of Bell Labs seminar, and to learn about the industry from the technology leaders in the country. He is also evaluating the business potential for the company in a market, where innovation is overcast by cost concerns.
He also surprises many a technological wizard by stating that in the future applications would be moving over to wired lines, shattering an existing concept that wireless networks would gain prominence in the future.
Brushing away the failure of ATM technology, one of his pet innovations, Kim in a tête-à-tête with Rajesh S Kurup of Business Standard, says that the best technology should prevail. Excerpts:
What brings you to India?
We are here to share our thoughts on technology. We are also here to learn the market needs from a research perspective and take it back home. We intend to meet industry and technology leaders, and to get their side of the view on the market that will be useful for our research.
You have been visiting a lot of countries like China, Japan and Korea. Where do you find India standing on the infrastructural arena? What are Bell Labs plans for India?
This is very interesting market, with the focus is on providing value-added services. India is a high-growth market and the focus here has been to provide low-cost services, that too without charging a premium. We are trying to figure out how to provide value-added services in the country, try to grow the market as fast as you can, but at the same time offer affordable services.
This is more challenging market. It is also cost-sensitive. When you say it's cost-sensitive, you think of it as a commodity market (commodities are cost-sensitive). But if you can leverage technology and bring out high-value products that are affordable, this market need not necessarily be a commodities market.
We intend to solely focus on innovation, and we are encouraging our colleagues in India to take the same steps.
What about investments in India for research and development?
We will continue with our research and development across the globe and India is no exception. But we don't believe in the numbers game, as it was one guy who invented the laser beam, while it took just two people to invent the transistor. We'll look at recruiting a small number of quality personnel.
You had always stressed on the importance of wireline infrastructure and you also believe that wired networks would support next wave of applications. Explain.
I believe that voice is moving from wireline to wireless, while on the contrary video is moving from wireless to wireline. Wireless has its own limitations and functions mainly based on the allocation of spectrum.
With the advent of high definition data, video and other applications, there is a need for high bandwidth and only wired networks can support this. So, if you are focusing on wireless networks, then you might not be able to set up an infrastructure for the next wave of applications that would be video intensive.
So, I'll like to make a point that wireline is the future of technology, and not wireless networks.
How important is nanotechnology to Bell Labs?
Nanotechnology deals with particles that are one thousand times smaller than micro particles. Bell Labs is stressing on nanotechnology as these particles are more cost-effective and they consume less power. These particles would help in creating a robust network and we are working on it.
On other areas Bell Labs is betting big on.
Apart from nanotechnology, as bundling of services is happening in the industry, we would look at triple play (voice, data and video), creative architecture, spectrum interface, quantum physics to atomic-level physics and security in particular are some of the other technologies that the company would be concentrating on.
The next level in technology is personalisation, and with proper architecture and technology-independent standards, it would go a long way in creating specific solutions.
You had much hopes on ATM technology, which failed miserably. What is Bell Labs doing in this space? Are you planning to revisit the technology?
Rather than on ATM technology, communication has graduted to Internet Protocol (IP) networks and multiprotocol label switching (MPLS), while companies are increasingly looking at managed network services. We want to provide the best technology that is available, whether it is ATM, IP or MPLS. The processes are evolving, and new technologies will replace the earlier ones.
Bell Labs was also conducting research on broadband. What is the update?
On the broadband arena, Bell Labs had demonstrated it capacity to transferring of 107 gigabytes over 400 kms on wireline. This was conducted sometime last year and feasibility studies and prospect researches are on to make this a reality. This would have far reaching applications like transferring of huge quantum of data that can revolutionise Internet experience.
The Internet and voice transmission, mainly over Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) is quite slow due to the buffering and queuing of data. Bell Labs was working on rectifying this.
We were working on speeding up the queuing and buffering systems, and we have reached an advanced level. It is evolving and we would ready to announce a breakthrough very soon.
What is the next big thing for Bell Labs after the transistor?
The company is working on a new technology called 'Iron Trap', a initiative for quantum computing. The technology will help computers run 10 million times faster, in turn, making a sophisticated network.
On the future of computing
At present, a $1000-computer has the computing powers equivalent to that of a little mouse, and by 2025 it will increase to that of a human being and by 2060 it would have the intelligence of the entire human race. |
