Chapter 109: The Entangled Three-in-One Network
Gao Kung carried his own briefcase and then walked into this company called "American Telecom".
Just a month ago, he jumped from International Telephone and Telegraph Company, traveling thousands of miles from Britain to get here.
"US telecommunications company..."
He muttered something in Chinese.
The reason I accepted the job offer from the telecommunications company and jumped ship from International Telephone and Telegraph Company is none other than this.
Because the telecommunications company promised that they would invest $30 million in fiber optic research, and also handed over a future "All-American Network Communications" plan to Gao Kun.
These 30 million dollars, all of it is his own responsibility.
Gao Kung is a man with dreams.
What he values is not that annual salary of millions, nor is it those 5% shares that may be worth hundreds of millions or even more in the future.
But optical fiber.
As the future "Father of Fiber Optics", he has a gift in this area that others don't have.
In 1966, Kao made a breakthrough in the field of fibre optics - he calculated how to transmit light over long distances through optical fibres. This led to the development of fibre optic communications systems and laid the groundwork for the modern internet.
Catherine's plan, from the very beginning, her eyes jumped over the telephone copper wire and directly looked at the optical fiber!
"Hello Mr. Gao, welcome."
A man stepped forward, he was the CEO of Telecom company - Ralph Roberts.
Since she wanted to start a company, Catherine thought it would be inappropriate to start from scratch, so she simply acquired one - ACS, which would later become Comcast.
Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ: CMCSA) is an American telecommunications conglomerate that provides cable television, broadband internet and IP telephone services to consumers under the Xfinity brand. Its headquarters are located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Comcast is also the second-largest Internet service provider in the United States, after AT&T. In 2009, it was ranked as No. 237 on the Fortune 500 list.
The founder of this company is Ralph Roberts.
To be honest, Catherine remembered this person not because of the company, but because of the name "Ralph". Because Catherine used to like playing a game called KOF, there was a person named Ralph in it, so when Catherine saw the introduction in the book, she suddenly remembered this person.
Ralph Roberts founded the company in Tupelo, Mississippi in 1963 as Ameri-Cable Systems, providing cable television service to the local area. Over several years, the company made bids for various other regional cable television franchises, expanding its operations into nearby areas of Mississippi and Pennsylvania.
Comcast was founded in 1963, but it is now ACS.
"Hello, Mr. Roberts."
Gao Kun also politely greeted the other party.
"The working environment here is quite good, I think you will like it here."
The other party smiled at Gao Kun, dispelling his tension.
Because there are only white people around, a yellow face in front of everyone is always very rare. Now it's not the 21st century, yellow people are quite scarce.
But Gao Gun had long been used to it.
Nice to meet you.
"Me too."
The two hands clasped together.
They were just greeting each other, but perhaps no one knew that they would usher in a new era between them.
At IBM, however, Little Watson encountered a problem.
The company also has intentions to develop microcomputers.
A personal computer is a very important thing, Xiao Watson has realized it already.
Although his subordinates still thought that ridiculous calculator could not be considered a personal computer, Little Watson had a different view with his subordinates.
But now he has no way to enter the personal computer field.
It's not that Little Watson doesn't want to develop a micro CPU, but rather Catherine has a total of 48 core technology patents on the CPU, plus peripheral patents, totaling nearly a hundred!
Not just that, but also RAM, or what is commonly known as memory patents, Catherine has dozens of them!
Little Watson looked at these data, he really didn't know what expression to use to face that nearly 17-year-old girl.
This is totally learning from IBM!
That's right.
Catherine, this is what it means to study IBM.
In history, IBM's patent fortress built up with hundreds or thousands of patents every year was not that easy to break.
Even in an era when patent pools were considered monopolistic and suppressed, IBM's patent applications never stagnated but increased year after year.
For example, in LCD displays, IBM has a tight grip on patents.
The entire IBM has 170 patents in TFT and LCD!
It's just the monitor! Not all of it yet!
Although Little Watson is suffocated here, when he asks himself in his heart, Catherine has not done anything more excessive than IBM itself. She only applied for the technical core of the key part.
But it is precisely these core patents that have blocked the road.
Do other companies want to get involved in this area?
Yes!
But you have to pay patent fees to Intel Corporation, or rather, to Catherine herself!
Will they license it to IBM?
Little Watson didn't believe it.
Little Watson found himself entangled in a recent mess, all because of Intel Corporation.
Similarly struggling with this issue is Catherine.
Her grand plan for three networks convergence suffered a major setback.
Fiber is light signal and transmits digital information.
But if you enter TV... it's just impossible. Unless those users all install a converter many times larger than their TVs.
Not only that, after converting optical signals, you also need to convert digital signals into analog signals through a machine of roughly the same size.
Digital TV?
That's a product of the 21st century!
This is simply unrealistic!
Fiber-optic broadband for civilian use is really a headache!
Catherine was suddenly plunged into a severe headache.
But Catherine soon spotted a group of hapless children.
The Pentagon
That's right, it is the Pentagon itself!
Why don't you develop military-use optical fibers yourself if civilian ones are not feasible?
Fiber optic is very useful for preventing leaks!
Fibers cannot be pinched off by hand, but if they are broken, a fusion splicer must be used to weld them together.
It's different from tapping into a copper wire. Fiber optics are dedicated lines and eavesdropping is impossible!
