[LINK] Hype alert...

[Chirgwin, Richard]

Linkers,

We're about to have this hyped to us; it's already doing the rounds of the
less critical, more credulous media to get people saying "wow"! This is
usually the precursor to float-and-run...

www.meshnetworks.com
Let's take a quick look at the "About" page:
>MeshNetworks was founded in January 2000 to commercialize a cutting edge 
>wireless technology developed for military applications. 
DING! Military mystery always gets the kiddies' eyes wide.

>MeshNetworks is a private, technology oriented corporation that has
received over $27 
>million in funding from private investors, including Apax Partners, Redwood

>Ventures, ITT, 3Com and BancBoston.
>
>Altogether, more than $170 million and six years of development have been
invested 
>in MeshNetworks' solution. It supports the simultaneous use of Voice over
Internet 
>Protocol (VoIP), data, and multimedia at high data rates

[interjection] So what? We've just proven that this is better than RS-232.
And thrown in some buzzwords because the investor press can't tell sh*t from
sugar.

> - with or without network infrastructure. 
OK. We make a network without network infrastructure. If the claim is that
members of the network can form part of the network infrastructure, okay.
But a statement like this is just snakeoil.

>MeshNetworks technology leverages each subscriber device to enhance the
network, 
>by enabling it to act as an intelligent router and repeater for other
devices in 
>the network.

Which is why P2P has replaced conventional Internet infrastructure? 

The point of this post is that it's nearly inevitable that this will get the
usual syndication coverage in the .au IT media; and that the hypesters will
not be asked to support any of their statements...

Richard Chirgwin
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