Re: Stanford Project ,
 ---------------------- Forwarded by Stinson Gibner/HOU/ECT on 01/03/2001=20
08:54 AM ---------------------------


Stinson Gibner
12/27/2000 05:04 PM
To: Nick Bambos <bambos@stanford.edu> @ ENRON
cc: =20
Subject: Re: Stanford Project =20

Nick,

Hope you had a nice Christmas.  Best wishes for the New Year.  =20

It would certainly be great to see you and to meet Eric some time in the ne=
xt=20
few months.     Everyone here
was very impressed with Giuseppe and we are eager to have another of your=
=20
students come to Enron.

Enron Broadband is continuing to evolve and the current vision is to rely o=
n=20
Enron's trading expertise while trying to
minimize our role as an engineering company and innovator of technology.   =
I=20
spoke recently with Jim Fallon, the current
head trader in EBS, and we put together a short list of topics of interest=
=20
where you might be able to help educate us.
I put these in the order of interest (to Mr. Fallon).

1.   Where will bandwidth prices go?   The direction of prices, obviously i=
s=20
the concern of any trader.   We realize that=20
technological innovation will continue to drive down prices, but are still=
=20
interested in trying to quantify how fast prices will fall, =20
if there are likely to be certain bottlenecks in the fiber network where yo=
u=20
could see prices stable or rising for some length of time, =20
if there are applications on the horizon which would use such prodigious=20
amounts of bandwidth as to have some effect on pricing,=20
and if there is a rational way of trying to quantify the timing and effect =
on=20
prices of new technologies.
 The term "bandwidth" might primarily mean lit fiberoptic capacity, but cou=
ld=20
also incompass dark fiber, or IP transit and transport=20
pricing.

2.  During the last year, Enron purchased a company known as "Warpspeed" in=
=20
order to acquire their MetaRouter technology.   To quote from the Enron pre=
ss=20
release:

"MetaRouter sends signals throughout distributed networks to determine the=
=20
optimal connectivity paths for any size bandwidth capacity from anywhere in=
=20
the world. Capable of processing thousands of connections per second,=20
MetaRouter significantly enhances Enron=01,s ability to automate circuit=20
provisioning."

There may be two separate questions to ask here.   First,  in the context o=
f=20
the current market (or the market which may develop in the next 1-2 years),=
=20
will the MetaRouter be a commercially viable product?   That is,  will it=
=20
address an actual need in the market, or would it be more cost effective ju=
st=20
to use technicians with jumper cables to provision circuits?

The second question (our first real technical question):  is the MetaRouter=
=20
technology scalable?     Before starting on this project, Vince and I will=
=20
need to make the proper introductions with the principles who are=20
implementing this technology.

3.  Aggregation of loads.   A recurring question comes from a number of are=
as=20
such as IP, network storage, and   streaming media transport sales:  What=
=20
value can I get form aggregating customers, each of which has some type of=
=20
stochastic load profile?   Giuseppe touched on this problem as it relates t=
o=20
IP transport, but it may be interesting to try and look in more detail.   =
=20
The main stumbling block may be that we currently have basically no actual=
=20
customer data.   I am told that in a few months we will have some more usef=
ul=20
history.   My understanding is that what will be available will be 5-minute=
=20
averages of usage, so we still will not know on a short time scale what the=
=20
distribution of load looks like.


I hope that this gives you enough information to get some idea of what our=
=20
concerns are at this point.   Please let me know your thoughts about these=
=20
topics.   I would expect, for instance that question number 1 may not be=20
reasonable as a research project, but might be a question which you would=
=20
feel comfortable in addressing by giving us  your qualitative opinions, may=
be=20
in the form of a talk here at Enron.   =20


Again,  let me know your thoughts, and I look forward to seeing you again=
=20
soon.

Stinson






Nick Bambos <bambos@stanford.edu> on 12/20/2000 12:14:40 PM
To: Vince.J.Kaminski@enron.com
cc: Stinson.Gibner@enron.com=20
Subject: Stanford Project


Hello Vince and Stinson,

First of all,

BEST WISHES FOR HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!!

If you are in the Stanford area during the holidays, let's get together
some time to have dinner.

I have formally established the project - thanks again for funding
it - and I have also recruited the second PhD student. His name is
Eric Cope, and he is a top-notch student, very mature, and entrepreneurial!

We have started working on some interesting problems in this area. I would
hope that Eric could spend the coming summer at Enron to get immersed into
the "problem/opportunity generation environment." That really helps the=20
student
to develop a realistic vision about their research.

Perhaps, our whole team could visit Enron again some time in the next quart=
er,
say in March or so, to discuss the research issues we are pursuing. And of=
=20
course
you could visit us before that too.


With my WARMEST WISHES,

Nick
vince.kaminski@enron.com