Marc's Voice

It’s the same as the Internet, only it includes the home, mobile and auto

Dave’s post on home servers and extending the web - led me to think “oh gee, maybe I should have been clearer on what I meant by “being forced” to stop using the term ‘Server-in-the-Closet”.

That’s the original term I used for DLAs and as I expalined in that post - DLAs are the portal, the customer facing interface and value added differentiator that each brand, platform and vendors will offer - in the future.  But I said I was ‘forced to stop using the term’. 

So Dave’s post asks:

Why not?  I find that helps to position the software, if that’s really what he has in mind. I want a server in the closet, one that really works for the house as an interface to the universe, both ways.

So be to clear - Server-in-the-Closet (SITC) was supposed to represent the software layer in this convergent puzzle. 

Here’s chart I made on SITC back in the day (circa 2001):

But when I mentioned the term (SITC) to folks, they immediately assumed I was doing a hardware play.  But I’m in the software business.  So I needed to come up with a term that would position what were doing - properly. 

So then it hits me.  Digital Lifestyle Aggregation.  That’s the field we’re in and Digital Lifestyle Aggregators are the things we’re building.  But not just us - but almost everybody!  That’s what everyone wants!  A DLA to solve THEIR problems.  So naturally there’s gonna be a wide range of interpretation, implementation and variation to DLAs.

DLAs are the software layer - that connect together on-line communities, web services, remote locations and your mobile and auto based life - to your Home and Family network. 

The chart above shows a wizard process of setting up and configuring all the aspects of one’s digital lifestyle.  So that’s why I decided to change the term - as this new term said what I was managing.  Integrating.  Aggregating. And what I wanted to customize.  My digital lifestyle.

I knew this day would come, when Dave’s early insights into fractional servers and my desire to provide coolio tools to humans - would overlap.  It looks like that day has come.

Broadband Mechanics is looking for hardware vendors to bake our software into their future products.  We’re looking for brands who want to bridge between mobile, game machines, PCs and TV.

We’re looking for system integrators, resellers and ad agencies who share our vision and know a few corporate accounts to go sell and support to.

This is am entire eco-system play and software and hardware are separate pieces of the same equation.  So is 24/7 service.  That’s what Best Buy sees. 

So step back and imagine what a challenge I had.  I had to pitch my ideas, stay true to my ideas and sell people on our ability to implement this vision. 

Well what became evident very quickly - was that to participate in this eco-system we needed the equivalent of Frontier and RSS implemented in a world of free, open XML servers which extended the Internet as we see it today.  We tried several open source platforms, but eventually created our own clean room implementation of a platform that implements digital lifestyle aggregation - for all - and is available both in hosted and source code flavors.

This platform is an personification of all we stand for.  Its an ID hub, it implements structured blogging like podcasting, vlogging, reviews, events, etc. - and it has a robust, state-of-the-art social networking available in white label form.  So ANYBODY can get into the game and play!

Our next rev (V 1.2) gets us closer to our dream, but we’ll never really get there - right?

We’ll keep on dreaming of the day when……

Clouds will form for accessing everything, software-as-a-service will blossom and municipalities will provide infrastructure for storing all kinds of meta-data, microcontent and provide Wimax - too!  New kinds of brands (channels of distribution) will appear and lots of new business models will emerge to monetize and exploit - us.

All working hand in hand - with the corporate world in sync - as well.

Then tiny vendors, virtual communities and folks here and there - in every language - can mesh into this decentralized world.  And at every node - is a server. 

Well maybe it’s not a dream afterall.  Maybe it’s becoming reality.