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The Paradox of the Perfect Network
“The Best Network Is The Hardest One to Make
Money Running”
Roxane Googin
High Tech Observer
The Best Network for Users is the Worst
for Suppliers
• The Best Network is perfectly plain
• High-Tech Economics
-What happens to pricing when there is no scarcity?
- You get the perfect capital repellent
Network Intelligence:
Total Complexity is Preserved
• Any transaction contains a fixed amount of info
• A simple transaction requires a complex network
• A complex transaction requires simple network
• Network “intelligence” impedes complex tasks
• “Deliver the bits, stupid” – David Isenberg
• The Best Network is perfectly plain
Value in Conventional Networks
No Value
Value
Value in IP Networks
No Value
Value
High-Tech Economics
• High-Tech Improves Productivity By Removing
Constraints
• Leading To Massive Scalability
• With High Entry Cost
• How Do You Price A Product That Is Not Scarce?
Conventional Economics:
The Science of Scarcity
• Adam Smith published “The Wealth of
Nations” in 1776
• Production was dominated by craftsmen
• Set-up costs were low
• Unit costs were high
• Unit prices effected volumes
Conventional Economics
$
Entry Cost
Unit Cost
Conventional Economics:
Demand Curve
$
Volume
High-Tech Economics
•Productivity gains reduce unit costs
-As well as constraints to scale
•But “set-up” costs grow
-$3B fabs
-$2B networks
-Software development vs. distribution
High-Tech Economics
$
Volume
Entry Cost
Unit Cost
High Tech Economics:
Demand Curve
$
Volume
High-Tech Economics:
Something New Under The Sun
• High entry cost and low unit cost
• Profit is determined by recovering entry cost
• Subsequent revenues are unpredictable
• The share leader has the lowest unit cost
- 50% + plus share is checkmate
• Leads to industry concentration
• Leads to financial brinksmanship to gain the
dominant position
High-Tech Economics
• Brinksmanship leads to chronic over capacity
-They have nothing to lose & everything to gain
• Airlines – 0 retained earning after 40 years
• DRAM
• Fiber Optics
• Network Capacity
Conventional Network Economics
• Consistent volumes, prices, revenues
• You had a blip on Mother’s Day
• Consistent (high) costs
• An artifact of asset-based rate of return regulation
• 99.999% reliability on top of needless complexity
• Consistent 40% EBITDA margins
Conventional Network Economics
^
^
^
$
Time
Revenues
Cost
IP Attacker Economics: Phase One
• Build the network they want
• Build it at 1/10 the cost
• Live under the Incumbent Price Umbrella
• Rake in the dough
• Billions of dollars in bonds were raised
IP Attacker Economics: Phase One
^
^
^
$
Time
Revenues
Incumbent Costs
Attacker Costs
IP Attacker Economics: Phase Two
• Low switching costs for identical services
• New capacity cannot be absorbed
• Revenue targets are missed
• Bond Holders get nervous
• Attackers drop price to gain share
• Everybody hopes prices remain above
incumbent costs
IP Attacker Economics: Phase Two
^
$
Time
Revenues
Incumbent Costs
Attacker Costs
IP Attacker Economics: Phase Three
• New capacity still cannot be absorbed
• Debt is coming due
• Attackers drop price towards cost to gain share
• Marginal price falls below Incumbents cost
IP Attacker Economics: Phase Three
^
$
Time
Revenues
Incumbent Costs
Attacker Costs
IP Attacker Economics: Phase Four
• Lower prices still do not increase demand enough
to fill the networks
• Debt is getting renegotiated
• Prices fall from total cost to marginal cost
• Total cost is a total guess anyway
IP Attacker Economics: Phase Four
^
$
Time
Revenues
Incumbent Costs
Attacker Costs
IP Attacker Economics: Phase Five
• Attacker goes bankrupt
• Vulture Capitalists buy assets for a song
• VCs plan to really under-price everyone now
• This lasts until the cash goes again - GLBCE
• There IS no bottom
• The “Chinese Restaurant” syndrome
Bundling is Not the Answer
• Bundling does not solve the problem
• Adding value in bundles may slow the curve
• But competitors will only meet features
• Then drop price to gain share
• A $100 disk drive has gone from 40MB to
100,000MB in 15 years, a 68% CAGR
• The competitive dynamics remain the same
• Eliminating competition is the only cure
The Perfect Network is
the “Perfect Capital Repellant”
• The Perfect network is perfectly plain
• So users can do exactly what they want
• It is infinitely extensible
• So no one has to wait
• It has high entry costs and low unit costs
• Generating aggressive price wars
• It guarantees losses – name a counter example
The Paradox of the Perfect Network
Roxane Googin
High Tech Observer