We’re speaking today with Len Hause, Internetologist and founder of MashBrain where he consults on Internet marketing and technology strategies. Today we’re talking about the Transformation of the Grid. I’ve known Len since the early 1990’s where we worked in IT at Motorola. Len and I where involved in dozens of Intranet and Internet-based projects during the early days of the enterprise learning how to use the Internet.

There’s been quite a bit of discussion lately about the nation’s electrical grid, from aging components, demand exceeding output, discontinuity from sector to sector to potential for terrorist attacks against it.  So, I thought a conversation with Len would be helpful to get the bigger picture of how the lessons learned in building the Internet could be applied to a new generation power grid for the nation.

1. - How has the the transformation and maturity of the Internet affected other sectors? What analogies can we draw between the Internet and the electrical grid?
2. – What are the driving forces and technologies?
3. – Who are the players?
4. – What are some of the initial changes we will see?
5. – What is the scope of the transformation?
6. -What role will open source, or internet standards-based technologies play?
7. – What new markets will emerge?
8. – What role will Social Media play in this transformation?

“Twenty years from now we’ll look back and say, ‘Gee, telephone numbers were a goofy thing,’” predicts Internetologist Len Hause

Part 1 – download

Part 2 – download
In this Talking Portraits interview, Hause predicts that phone numbers will no longer be needed. After giving a summary of the evolution of telephone numbers—from simple 4-digit numbers accessed through a local exchange to today’s numbers that designate locality, region, state, and nation of origin—Hause describes how content and context (the mode of transmission) are becoming more and more orthogonal (independent of one another).

Given the number of choices we have now, including Internet voice applications that use only name-based addressing, Hause describes how and why the telephone number as we know it will give way to a futuristic persona-based system that allows us to contact one another using a names.

Bio

Len Hause is an Internetologist and founder of MashBrain where he consults on Internet marketing and technology strategies. He was a Fellow of the Technical Staff, Associate of the Science Advisory Board, and Marketing Director at Motorola where he spent more than 30 years in management roles and as an individual contributor. He has been recognized as a pioneer in the adoption of Internet protocols and culture within the Enterprise for collaboration and organizational learning. While working in the semiconductor business, he learned firsthand about the importance of the convergence of the Internet and cell phone technology.

Hause frequently participates on executive, educational, corporate, and government advisory boards and consortia. He is also an active member of Austin’s musical community. He holds a BS degree in Electrical Engineering from Lehigh University. (more…)