Driving Innovation

The TSB Digital Testbed Programme& best current thinking on Generation II

Dr. Maurizio PiluLead Technologist – ICTTechnology Strategy Board

Driving Innovation

Technology Strategy Board• The UK executive innovation

agency • Investing in business

innovation• Team drawn from business and

public sector• Working across business,

universities and government• Investment of £1bn over

the current 3 years CSR

Driving Innovation

Our programme’s Vision Statement

“For all participants in Digital Britain to benefit fairly from creation, distribution and

consumption of digital content”

Driving Innovation

The challenge unpacked

Economics of the network Technologies and models for a sustainable provision of network services

Access, protection & empowermentSecurity, privacy, trust and usability

for the consumer

Economics of content and

servicesBusiness models

and tools to create value

Digital Test Bed

Driving Innovation

Testbed programme

• A programme part of our wider programme in support to the Digital Britain agenda, where we will invest up to £30m

• We will invest up to £10m in the Digital Testbed programme

• Consulted with industry and stakehoders over the summer

SO, what do we mean by Testbed?

Driving Innovation

Digital Testbed: What do we mean?

• An environment to simulate new business models across boundaries

• Where real members of the public and businesses will try out new services and new equipment, new ways to run business and new businesses on the Internet

• A place to understand what will work for business over the coming ten years.

Driving Innovation

Enabling Technologies

Services, Content and Applications

The InternetTest Bed

The Public

Test Bed Users

Registered Materials

Driving Innovation

Digital TeStBed: Why is this needed?

• To “shake” the digital value chain• To lower barriers to innovation • To make enablers available to people and businesses• To trial new operating practices and business models• To build cooperation• To showcase UK innovation in ICT, hardware and creative

industries.• To build confidence for investment in infrastructure,

services, technologies and businesses.

Driving Innovation

What a TSB Digital Testbed is NOT• Not directly funding infrastructure per se

– Sorry! That’s not in our programme’s remit!– We’d like to leverage and add value to what is in the

ground/ether/sky already• Not just a connected user base

– There has to be a business model element or well defined “trial” leveraging enablers and advanced network capabilities

• Not just new technology– It’s mostly about innovating with it and on it.

Driving Innovation

Gen I: On today’s standard infrastructure. • An environment with enablers to test new

business modelsGen II: On existing advanced network infrastructure

• Demonstrating the additional business models that can be supported by advanced and flexible networks.

Gen III: On dedicated networks serving eg universities.

• Demonstrating possible business models and applications at extremely high bandwidth for the further future.

Three Stages of the TSB Digital Testbed

Driving Innovation

ContentRegistry

UserRegistry

ProviderRegistry

Gen I

Providers

Gen I Consumers

Clie

nt E

quip

men

t

Net

wor

k co

ntro

lsGen II Consumers

Gen III Consumers

Existing advancednetwork

Bespoke Network

UsageStats

Payment Processing

Identitymanagement

ContentTraceability

Usage Analysis

The Internet

Digital Testbed framework

Content Applications

Services

Gen II Gen III

Driving Innovation

Gen I – procurement of IT system

• Procurement for the Gen I IT system under way

Driving Innovation

Next generation infrastructure

• We are looking at two strands in the programme– What’s the best way to deploy and operate it

• One of 4 areas of £2m Sept ‘09 feasibility studies competition

• Potentially further funding available next year– “What to do with it”

•This is the rationale of the Generation II Testbed

Driving Innovation

What is a Generation II Digital Testbed• An existing advanced infrastructure …• … connected to an existing user base community • … presenting or proposing advanced enabling

network capabilities …• ... enabling co-operation to recognise value chain

players, potentially across business / network boundaries

• … that can be used to run “trials” with the user base• …. and that can be (eventually) federated to the central

Digital Testbed

Driving Innovation

An hypothetical example of Gen II

• An existing council-run network • A local ISP• A community (e.g. a town)• ..trialling alternative models for telecare• ..where e.g.

– …users can get a 10 min bandwidth boost for 50p – …and revenue is shared between the network and a

third party provider

Driving Innovation

An hypothetical example of Gen II

• An existing community broadband network..• ..trialling an alternative business model …• .. where e.g.

– For profit use of the network (e.g. for e-commerce) or– Intensive use of the network (e.g. VoD)– is recognized and paid for ..

• ..while keeping the cost of baseline services low

Driving Innovation

An hypothetical example of Gen II• Breaking the fixed monthly cost model

– Deconstructing cost-to-serve models by …– … cooperation with value chain partners

• Delivering low-cost broadband to communities…• Where people buy additional on-demand

connectivity and/or services– Such as a Iplayer video, movies, video conf,

filesharing – Push content where services providers pay for

connectivity to user base, e.g. ads.

Driving Innovation

Business innovation is key

• These examples have a few things in common– The network as potential enabler of ...– ..business model innovation– ..often across value chain boundaries

• Generation II Testbed will provide the framework and the incentives to experiment

Driving Innovation

Generation II: Our aim

• Stimulate collaboration between key actors leading to…

• ..a small number of Generation II “sites” (physical or logical) around the country

• We are access network-agnostic– What is important is what a Gen II proposal is

planning to address or demonstrate

Driving Innovation

Collaboration: key actors

• Entities owning or managing advanced infrastructure– E.g. Local and regional public sector organizations,

coops, private operators• Infrastructure/ISPs players looking for new

business models– E.g. to close the gap between current revenue models

and exploding demand• Parties interested in business experimentation

and innovation

Driving Innovation

Next steps• Generation II is at Best Current Thinking stage• Now consulting with stakeholders

– to gauge demand and gather best ideas– to refine Gen II challenge – and scope of potential competition

• Your input is essential• If interested please contact us

– directly or through test.bed@tsb.gov.uk

Driving Innovation

http://www.innovateuk.org

THANK YOU