-----Original Message-----
From: Steve [mailto:steve@telanetix.com]
Sent: Tuesday, September 18, 2001 6:28 PM
To: Steven Kean
Subject: Higher Education


Dear Steven Kean,
 
I am contacting you directly because you are the leader of Enron's educational initiatives.  I am hoping you will take a few minutes to allow me to introduce myself and my company.  I am sure you do not appreciate unsolicited mail, therefore, I apologize for this intrusion, but I believe I you will be interested in what I have to say. 
 
I am a founder in a fairly new company that is focused on a new technology for education.  We are building one-on-one relationships between major companies and universities.  We are not a distance learning company.  We do not provide content.  We simply provide a unique platform for people to communicate with each other over great distances, as though everyone involved were sitting in the same room.
 
My goal today is to provide you with information that could allow Enron to have direct links into university classrooms.  The possibilities include having Enron executives and managers attend a Stanford MBA program without having to travel to Palo Alto, or, attend a Harvard executive program, without having to leave the workplace.  Our plan is simple; Enron picks the school of its choice, we install digital classrooms at the school and at Enron.  Through the use of digital technology, these classrooms now become one.  Enron employees now attend the same class, in real time, that is being taught at a school or university.  The additional benefits to Enron are many; less time lost, all travel expenses saved, employee moral and retention, to name a few.  This also allows key executives to upgrade their skills that would normally not want to be away from their job and family.
 
My company, Telanetix, is building a network of "virtual" or digital? classrooms around the country to link major universities with major corporations.  Our digital classrooms" are unlike anything you have seen.  They appear as well appointed lecture rooms, but the front and back walls are high resolution video screens. There are no visible cameras or microphones.  Everyone in each room sees everyone else, people are life-sized, there is no latency, sound is directional, no panning or zooming is used, etc.  The technology is transparent to the participants, and this allows them to concentrate on each other.  The impression of the participants is that they are all in one large room.  No training is required to use the room...all that is required is for the participants to enter the room and start talking.
 
The digital classrooms are so real in its effect that this technology is being readily accepted among elite school as a means for distant education.  All classes or programs are exactly the same as being taught on campus today.  Prospective students still apply to the college of choice and are admitted through the same process as students who plan to attend class on campus.  All programs will have the full acceptance and accreditation of the school where the classes originate.
 
When it is all said and done, Telanetix becomes invisible.  We simply link the likes of Stanford, Harvard and MIT directly into corporate training centers.  Enron employees would interact directly with the University, and pay their tuition to the University.  Telanetix collects its fees from the University and not the students.
 
This technology is up and operating.  Our partner TeleSuite (Dayton, Ohio) has established about 25 conference rooms around the country with companies such as IBM, 3COM, CIGNA, Price Waterhouse Coopers and AOL-Time Warner.  The University of Arizona and Duke University also have rooms.  The University of Arizona is using a prototype of a teaching room to conduct two Executive MBA programs in the Silicon Valley (3COM) from their Tucson campus.  Duke uses the technology to communicate on administrative issues with their campus in Frankfurt, Germany.  Telanetix anticipates installing classrooms at Stanford University and the University of Maryland in the near future.  Additionally, we are linking overseas sites to this network in England and Australia.
 
This technology is new and cutting-edge.  I hope Enron will consider joining the small, but growing list of companies that are bringing tier one education directly into the workplace.
 
In addition to using the digital classroom for higher education, all our business customers are using them for virtual conference rooms, usually between executives in different locations.  IBM, for example, has five of these rooms and is ordering five more because they have proven to be very cost effective as a means to reduce travel.  Why?  Because the conferencing is so profoundly real in its effect that the users feel as if they are all present in the same room.  This is not video-conferencing.  This is way beyond that.
 
As executive vice president and chief of staff for Enron, I sincerely appreciate your taking the time to read this.  I believe that we have a value proposition for Enron to consider.  I would very much like to demo our digital classroom to you and discuss the benefits and possibilities it might bring.  Below I have attached a few pictures of the digital classroom.
 
For more information, please visit our web site at www.telanetix.com <http://www.telanetix.com/> .
 
I look forward to your response.
 
Sincerely,
 
Steve Bryan
Executive Vice President, Business Development
steve@telanetix.com <mailto:steve@telanetix.com>
PH: 760-496-0190
FX: 760-496-0191
CL: 858-449-8829
 
Photos of the Digital Classroom
 
24 Seat Teaching Classroom (front)
   
24 Seat Teaching Classroom (back)