Intellian Technologies: smart, articulate & classy - Panbo

Intellian Technologies: smart, articulate & classy

... written for Panbo by Ben Ellison and posted on Jun 27, 2013

Intellian Technologies has come a long way since they first introduced their own brand of satellite TV antenna systems at the 2008 NMEA Conference, where I first met them. In fact, the company may well be the fastest growing in marine electronics, going from 77 employees in 2010 to 160 today. Intellian has also gone from supplying only the relatively modest end of the marine TV antenna market to all size vessels, broadband satellite communications definitely included. The company story is interesting on many levels, but there was a particularly telling moment as Global Marketing VP Paul Comyns (standing above) and CEO Eric Sung (to his left) addressed the group of American and European boating journalists that Intellian hosted in Korea.

The moment came as Comyns showed the slide above, one of several illustrating Intellian's innovations over the years. A writer asked if this meant that no other antenna system could move around the world from one maddeningly different satellite TV technology to another without hardware modifications? That's when Sung stepped in and graciously noted that competitor KVH had developed its own solutions to the same issues. I think that's a classy way to do business and one of several reasons that Intellian has thrived.

Also impressive was how familiar Sung seemed to be with every technical detail of his business, and there are many. In the photo above he's explaining how the stress modeling software being run by that engineer allows them to refine designs even before they build prototypes. We saw a LOT of engineers

The hand above belongs to Dr. Kevin Eom -- Senior Director of the substantial R&D portion of Intellian's facility outside Seoul -- and that software is modeling how well a particular dish design can gather microwave transmissions. It was running from a Dell work station and a pair of Nvidia Quadro Plex external graphics processing units that purportedly constitute near supercomputer power.

In this photo Dr. Eom is explaining the roof-top test facility that is the next step in the R&D process. The Intellian building is sited on a south-facing hill so that all sorts of research and product quality testing chores that involve geosynchronous satellites can be done through large windows and garage doors, but that doesn't work for satellite communications that don't actually exist yet. The antenna being tested will support Inmarsat Global Express?(GX), a system that will soon be providing global broadband at up to 50 Mbps, and the signal it's receiving is coming from the roof of nearby building that fortuitously belongs to friend of Eric Song. The latest feather in Intellian's cap is a partnership with Inmarsat.

The collage above starts with a roof top collection of antenna domes, mostly GX size, that was one of my several lessons in how complex this technology can get. Intellian reports that they've invested nearly a million dollars just in perfecting the GX dome material so that it has minimal impact on signal strength while still protecting the antenna hardware. The insets of a test chamber and a box loaded with materials already tested tell more of the story. And, yes, this means that you can not simply paint a satellite antenna dome with any paint you please.?

This is a photo I feel guilty about. Paul Comyns was discussing the weight (and signal loss) differences between standard coaxial cable and the skinny fiber optic lines that Intellian now offers for some of its large systems when I asked him to pose with the different cables. He may be grinning but the poor man's right hand is hurting from hoisting that coax spool while I adjusted my camera. Incidentally, Intellian has developed a cell phone amp system that can boost the signal in a whole building, even elevators, via fiber optics, and they're thinking of marketing it beyond Korea.

The picture above shows a demo of a fire hose antenna waterproofing test, but the more impressive test gear lives insides that handsome extension of the Intellian facility. Inside are chambers able to subject even a large antenna to a temperature range of -50?C to +150?C with humidity of 20 to 98%, plus a scary machine that can torture gear with 3 axis vibration up to 150KHz and 25G x 11 millisecond shock loads!

Now we're in Intellian's first floor factory section. While a lot of modules and parts are understandably contracted out to other manufacturers because stabilized satellite antennas is such a low volume business, check out how many bits and pieces are involved in assembly. Another thing I noticed around the building was how many of the postings like those illustrated "how-to" sheets are in both English and Korean. Eric Sung confirmed that language skills are a high priority for his global company, which I'd already noticed on the marketing side.

Here are some high-end?v100GX vSAT antennas -- distinguished by their carbon fiber dishes -- being tested on the south side of the production floor. The testing screen set up for our tour shows what looks like an advanced version of the Aptus PC and iPad app that's available to installers and/or owners of many larger Intellian antenna systems.

The south windows are so tall that antennas can be set up for burn-in testing even on the north side of the factory floor. Note all the Raymarine TV antennas, which speak to Intellian's origin story. Apparently Eric Sung and a few associates from a previously successful software company founded Intellian in 2004 along with some engineers who had been working on small stabilized antennas until their company cancelled the project. One of the first tasks on the sales side was to explore the existing market at hot spots like the Ft. Lauderdale Boat Show. Once they concluded that market entry was darn difficult, they aimed at persuading the largest existing brand to sell their antennas under its brand, and they succeeded. I theorize that that's where the young company's excellent language skills first came into play, and hence the 'articulate' in my title.
? ?I may overemphasize language skills because I'm a word guy, but I can't count how many foreign companies I've met which seemed to have good ideas but I couldn't really tell because I couldn't really talk to anyone. Or how many electronics brochures I've read that are badly marred just because the company failed to have it edited by someone who really knew vernacular boat English. And, yes, I realize that Americans like me are terrible about learning the languages of the world, but the fact is that English has become the international language of business and technology. Sorry!
? ?At any rate, Intellian obviously knew this lesson at the get-go. And a further testament to how smartly they do business is the fact that Raymarine has stuck with them even after they became a direct competitor.

Yes, I'm often willing to ham it up for a camera. But what was notable here was how little muscle it took to steer that 2.4 meter?v240C C-band antenna. The careful balancing means that the stepper motor has less work to do as a ship rolls and pitches beneath. And this is what I mean by how Intellian now covers the whole gamut of marine satellite antennas. Which you could also see if you visited the Korea International Boat Show. That's just the backside of the company booth seen below, and note that Korea does not yet have many recreational boats big enough to be Intellian customers. I think the company was there largely to support their nation's growing marine industry, which also seemed to be a partial motivation for the journalist tour. Also classy, I think.
? ?And would you believe that I'm off on another interesting marine electronics junket? Yes indeed, tomorrow I fly to Sweden for a week of sailing, powerboating, and company tours hosted by the fine folks at True Heading. I will report.

Source: http://www.panbo.com/archives/2013/06/intellian_technologies_smart_articulate_classy.html

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AP Interview: UN Iraq rep urges exile cooperation

BAGHDAD (AP) ? The United Nations envoy to Iraq said Wednesday that residents of an Iranian dissident camp are denied freedom of movement by the exile group, and that efforts to relocate them outside Iraq are being stymied in part by lack of cooperation from the residents themselves.

Martin Kobler made the comments in an interview with The Associated Press in Baghdad as he prepares to leave the country at the end of his term. The U.N. has been involved in relocating members of the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq dissident group to a camp on the outskirts of the Iraqi capital while it works to resettle them abroad.

The MEK is the militant wing of a Paris-based Iranian opposition movement known as the National Council of Resistance of Iran that opposes Iran's clerical regime and has carried out assassinations and bombings there. They fear persecution if sent back to Iran.

About 3,100 MEK members live in Camp Liberty, a former U.S. military base near Baghdad airport. The Iraqi government wants the group's members out of the country. So do Iranian-backed Shiite militants, who have claimed responsibility for deadly rocket strikes on the camp.

Kobler acknowledged that a major problem in resettling camp residents is a shortage of countries willing to accept them. He repeated his call for U.N. member states, including the U.S., to do more.

"We do not have enough recipient countries. ... There is also reluctance from the side of the Liberty residents to cooperate with the UNHCR," he said, referring to the U.N. refugee agency.

Albania has agreed to take 210 camp residents, but only 71 have made the move so far. Germany has also offered to take 100 residents.

Kobler also cited concerns about what he called "human rights abuses inside Camp Liberty done by the MEK themselves."

Residents are not free to move between different sections of the camp without approval, and some are denied Internet and mobile phone access by MEK officials, he said. Medical treatment outside is also often blocked by the group, he alleged.

"There are, of course, MEK residents who probably would like to disassociate themselves from the MEK," he said. "Everybody who wants to go out of the camp ... should have the chance to do so."

The NCRI, the MEK's affiliated Paris-based group, has repeatedly criticized Kobler. He retains the backing of U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, and was recently appointed the U.N. envoy and head of the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Congo.

NCRI spokesman Shahin Gobadi dismissed Kobler's comments as baseless and intended to "cover up the failure to provide minimum security provisions" at the camp.

"The only purpose they serve is they set the stage for more attacks," he said, insisting that residents cooperate with the U.N. Gobadi also charged that "Kobler has never been an impartial person and does not represent the values of the U.N."

Iraq gave foreign diplomats as well as journalists from AP and Iraq's state-run TV a rare glimpse of the camp in September. Diplomats on the tour described conditions as acceptable.

The MEK fought alongside Saddam Hussein's forces in the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war, and several thousand of its members were given sanctuary at a facility known as Camp Ashraf near the Iranian border. The MEK renounced violence in 2001 and was removed from the U.S. terrorism list last year.

Iraq's Shiite-led government, which has close ties to Iran, considers the MEK a terrorist group. Iraqi security forces launched two deadly raids since 2009 on Camp Ashraf, and in 2012 most residents were moved to Camp Liberty, which is meant to be a temporary way station.

Ali al-Moussawi, a spokesman for Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, said Baghdad also has concerns that MEK leaders are preventing residents from leaving.

"There is intimidation being practiced by some MEK leaders against their fellow people," al-Moussawi said. "Some MEK members are willing to leave the country, but they are being threatened by a minority preventing them."

The exiles say their new home is unsafe, and they want to return to Camp Ashraf. Several residents were killed in a Feb. 9 rocket strike on the camp, and two others died in a similar attack this month.

In another development Wednesday, Iraqi electoral officials said the Kurdish-backed al-Taakhi list won the largest single bloc of seats in provincial elections in the restive northern province of Ninevah. It claimed 11 of 39 provincial council seats up for grabs.

Ninevah borders Iraq's largely autonomous Kurdish region and has a sizable Kurdish minority. Many of the remaining seats went to Arab parties, with Iraqi parliament speaker Osama al-Nujaifi's Sunni Arab-backed United bloc coming in second, with eight seats.

Residents in Ninevah and neighboring Anbar province voted last week in local elections that were delayed due to security concerns.

Also Wednesday, Iraqi authorities said two policemen were killed in a bomb blast in the Ninevah provincial capital Mosul. Four others died in an explosion in a small cafe in Baghdad's Dora neighborhood, They spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to release the information to journalists.

___

Associated Press writer Qassim Abdul-Zahra contributed reporting.

___

Follow Adam Schreck on Twitter at http://twitter.com/adamschreck

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ap-interview-un-iraq-rep-urges-exile-cooperation-163517746.html

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Study: More than 90% of U.S. smartphone owners have no interest in Facebook Home

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - R&B singer Chris Brown, on probation for beating his former girlfriend, was charged on Tuesday with a hit-and-run and driving without a valid license in connection with a May 21 traffic accident in Los Angeles. Brown, 24, allegedly rear-ended another car and faces up to six months in jail on each misdemeanor charge, L.A. City Attorney spokesman Frank Mateljan said. He will be arraigned in Los Angeles Superior Court on July 15, Mateljan said. ...

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/study-more-90-u-smartphone-owners-no-interest-164053355.html

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Engadget Giveaway: win a studio desk, courtesy of Bluelounge!

Typically, our weekly giveaways feature gadgets, but we like to spiff things up on occasion. If you're fed up with your current computer desk or workstation (or perhaps you just need a new one for kicks), this will likely be a good opportunity for you to change all that, as Bluelounge is offering up one of its very own StudioDesks. The desks, which are valued at roughly $600, give you a sliding section, a storage compartment and the ability to tuck away your ugly cords. Even if you don't win one, it's worth taking a peek at the company's lineup. In the meantime, good luck!

Filed under: Announcements, HD, Mobile, Alt

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/06/25/engadget-giveaway-studio-desk/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget

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Ireland to pay ex-residents of Catholic 'Magdalene' laundries at least $45 million

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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ireland-pay-ex-residents-catholic-magdalene-laundries-least-152241675.html

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Uncle Sam's portfolio is (partly) offsetting the public debt

America's net debt will expand to almost 10 percent of GDP by 2023, while financial assets will grow twice as fast as the public debt. As the federal investment portfolio expands, the growing public debt is overstating the US' debt burden, Gleckman says.

By Howard Gleckman,?Guest blogger / June 25, 2013

A flag hangs outside the New York Stock Exchange in New York, New York. Although many policymakers look at the US' public debt, they should also focus their attention on the government's federal assets, Gleckman says.

Eric Thayer/Reuters/File

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When policy folks talk about America?s federal borrowing, their go-to measures are the public debt, currently $12 trillion, and its ratio to gross domestic product, which is approaching 75 percent. Those figures represent the debt that Treasury has sold into public capital markets, pays interest on, and will one day roll over or repay.

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Howard Gleckman is a resident fellow at The Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, the author of Caring for Our Parents, and former senior correspondent in the Washington bureau of Business Week. (http://taxvox.taxpolicycenter.org)

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These debt measures are important, but they paint an incomplete picture of America?s fiscal health. They don?t account for the current level of interest rates, for example, or for the trajectory of future revenues and spending. A third limitation, the focus of this post, is that the public debt doesn?t give Treasury any credit for the many financial assets it owns.

As we noted last week, Uncle Sam has been borrowing not only to finance deficits but also to make student loans, build up cash, and buy other financial assets. That portfolio now stands at $1.1 trillion, equivalent to almost one-tenth of the public debt.

Those assets have real value. They pay interest and dividends and could be sold if Treasury ever cared to. In fact, Treasury has sold many financial assets in recent years, including mortgage-backed securities and equity stakes in TARP-backed companies, even as it expanded its portfolio of student loans.

One way to take account of these holdings is to subtract their value from the outstanding debt. The rationale is straightforward. If Ann and Bob each owe $30,000 in student loans and have no other debts, they both have the same gross debt. But that doesn?t mean their financial situations are the same. If Ann has $10,000 in the bank and Bob has only $5,000, then Ann is in a stronger position. Her net debt is $20,000, while Bob?s is $25,000.

The same logic applies to the federal government: $12 trillion in debt is easier to bear if the government has some offsetting financial assets than if it has none. That?s why both the Office of Management and Budget and the Congressional Budget Office regularly report the public debt net of financial assets. The net debt isn?t a perfect measure; many assets are harder to value than Ann and Bob?s bank accounts, and official valuations may not fully reflect their risk. Nonetheless, as CBO has said, the net public debt provides ?a more comprehensive picture of the government?s financial condition and its overall impact on credit markets? than does the gross public debt.

The net debt is now a bit less than $11 trillion or about 68 percent of GDP. That?s more than $1 trillion less than the usual, gross measure of public debt, or about 7 percent of GDP. That difference was only 3 percent of GDP as recently as 2006. Under President Obama?s budget, it would expand to almost 10 percent by 2023, with financial assets growing twice as fast as the public debt.

Financial assets are thus playing a bigger role in America?s debt story. Accumulating deficits remain the prime driver of the debt. But the expansion of Uncle Sam?s investment portfolio means the growing public debt overstates America?s debt burden.

This post was coauthored by Hillel Kipnis, who is interning at the Urban Institute this summer.

The Christian Science Monitor has assembled a diverse group of the best economy-related bloggers out there. Our guest bloggers are not employed or directed by the Monitor and the views expressed are the bloggers' own, as is responsibility for the content of their blogs. To contact us about a blogger, click here. To add or view a comment on a guest blog, please go to the blogger's own site by clicking on taxvox.taxpolicycenter.org.

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Snowden's HK exit shows Chinese anger over spying

HONG KONG (AP) ? Officially, admitted leaker Edward Snowden was able to leave Hong Kong because U.S. authorities made a mistake in their arrest request, but the semiautonomous Chinese city also indicated displeasure over Snowden's revelation that the former British colony had been a target of American hacking.

Beijing, meanwhile, says it had nothing to do with allowing the former National Security Agency contractor to fly to Russia on Sunday. But analysts believe the move was orchestrated by China to avoid a prolonged diplomatic tussle with the U.S. over his extradition.

Snowden slipped out of Hong Kong on an Aeroflot flight to Moscow and was expected to transit through Cuba and Venezuela en route to possible asylum in Ecuador. His journey illustrates how the United States finds itself with few friends as it tries to apprehend the former CIA technician, who disclosed information on top-secret surveillance programs.

Snowden, who had been hiding in Hong Kong for several weeks, had also revealed to a local newspaper details about the NSA's hacking of targets in Hong Kong. The revelations ratcheted up tensions between Washington and Beijing, which for months has been trying to counter U.S. accusations that its government and military are behind computer-based attacks against America.

The Hong Kong government said it allowed Snowden to leave because the U.S. request to provisionally arrest Snowden did not comply with legal requirements. At the same time, however, it mentioned that it asked the U.S. for more information on the hacking, suggesting the issue played some role in its decision.

While Hong Kong has a high degree of autonomy from the rest of China, experts said Beijing orchestrated Snowden's exit to remove a minor irritant in Sino-U.S. relations.

"The central government had to have intervened since this is an issue of international relations and national security," said Shen Dingli, director of the Center for American Studies at Shanghai's Fudan University.

Ultimately, Shen said, China compromised by deciding to neither grant Snowden protection nor hand him over as the U.S. requested. That approach has the advantage of heading off a crisis in relations with the U.S. and demonstrating to Washington that Beijing values the overall relationship over any advantage it might gain from keeping Snowden, Shen said. He said handing Snowden over would have been an unpopular move within China.

The Global Times, published by the ruling Communist Party, said in an editorial that Snowden "has performed a service" by uncovering "the sordid tale of how the U.S. government violates the rights of its citizens and conducts cyber spying throughout the entire world."

China's Foreign Ministry distanced itself from any role in Snowden's departure from Hong Kong, saying the territory had the right to make its own decision.

"We have read reports but got no details. We will continue to follow up on relevant developments," spokeswoman Hua Chunying was quoted as saying Sunday by the official Xinhua News Agency.

Hua said Beijing had "always respected" Hong Kong's ability to deal with such matters through its robust legal system.

Writing on the ministry's website, Hua also raised the issue of cybersecurity.

"We are gravely concerned about the recently disclosed cyberattacks by relevant U.S. government agencies against China," she wrote. "It shows once again that China falls victim to cyberattacks. We have made representations with the U.S."

Hong Kong lawmaker and lawyer Albert Ho said he suspects authorities in Beijing were calling the shots.

He said his firm had been representing Snowden in an effort to clarify his legal situation with the government. Snowden wanted to know what his circumstances would be like in the event he was arrested and whether he would be able to leave the city if he wanted. Ho said an intermediary who claimed to represent the government relayed a message to Snowden saying he was free to leave and should do so.

Ho said he didn't know the identity of the intermediary and wasn't sure whether the person was acting on Hong Kong's or Beijing's behalf.

"The entire decision was probably made in Beijing and Beijing decided to act on its best interests," Ho told reporters. "However, Beijing would not want to be seen on stage because it would affect Sino-U.S. relations. That's why China has somebody acting in the background."

Under Hong Kong's mini-constitution, the city is allowed a high degree of autonomy from mainland Chinese authorities until 2047, although Beijing is allowed to intervene in cases involving defense and foreign affairs. The city has its own legal and financial system, a holdover from the British colonial rule that ended in 1997.

Ho also revealed a few more details about Snowden's life in hiding in Hong Kong, saying he had been living in a "private place" after he was forced to check out of the hotel where he was staying once he was discovered by journalists.

"Most of the time he did not leave the place where he was living, though once or twice he changed locations," Ho said.

"He only left at night, very carefully. He didn't want anyone to see him. He was very cautious."

Ho said Snowden lived in a "very small place. Fortunately he had a computer. He could contact anyone in the world."

_______

Christopher Bodeen in Beijing contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/snowdens-hk-exit-shows-chinese-anger-over-spying-110229338.html

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