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     from Gilder Publishing
       THE FRIDAY LETTER
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Issue 31.0/October 26, 2001

HEADLINES:

* The Week/ The Evolution of Digital Design
* Friday Feature/ Broadband or Bust
* Friday Bonus/ Rising Star
* Friday Bonus 2/ Telecom's Dark and Stormy Night
* Poll Question/ Got Broadband?
* Readings
* Conference Calendar
* Subscribe / Unsubscribe Information
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THE WEEK/ The Evolution of Digital Design

"Why are PLD companies like Altera (ALTR) and Xilinx (XLNX) on our list
while ASIC companies like LSI Logic (LSI) are not? In electronic design,
application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) connote high performance,
high density, and low cost for high-volume uses. Think DVD player.
Programmable logic devices (PLDs) connote flexibility, low performance,
and high cost for prototyping. Think latest Cisco (CSCO) router.
Continuous improvements in PLDs raise their performance and lower their
cost, increasing the uses for which PLDs and ASICs compete. ASIC vendors
are adding programmable logic to their chips. The PLD vendors are adding
"hard" macros. Are these businesses con-verging? Or are companies like
Altera and LSI Logic practicing "diworsification?" Altera, a PLD company,
is making chips that can't be changed, and LSI Logic, an ASIC company, is
making chips that can be changed. What strategy will dominate? We'll
develop the insight to answer these questions by tracing the evolution of
digital design from the introduction of integrated circuit building blocks
-- "IC macros."

"Each technology wave changes the designer's job. As Moore's law drives
more transistors onto the chip, the design process changes. The
productivity and the skills of the designers change. The level of
abstraction for the engineer changes. By level of abstraction, I mean the
units that are the building blocks for the translation of the written
specification into the physical hardware. In the early days of digital
design, the level of abstraction was the inverter and the AND gate.
Working with inverters and AND gates was simpler and quicker than
designing with individual transistors, resistors, capacitors, and other
"discrete" components. As I trace the evolution of digital design, I'll
point out changes in the design process, designer productivity,
engineering skills, level of abstraction, verification and debug methods,
and changes in the flexibility and capability of the end systems."

That was the lead for the newest Dynamic Silicon report written by Nick
Tredennick and Brion Shimamoto. Posted this week for subscribers at
http://www.dynamicsilicon.com/. Subscribe today at
http://www.dynamicsilicon.com/
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FRIDAY FEATURE/ Broadband or Bust

"In a recent survey, by a margin of 2 to 1, Internet dial-up users said
that lack of compelling applications, rather than price or availability,
kept them from upgrading to broadband."

"In times of national emergency, as with the horror of the terror assault
on New York and Washington, communications capacity is rapidly
overloaded... The vast potential of broadband optics is the best way to
obviate the need for such rationing."

Just a few tidbits from the new report "Broadband or Bust: Networking
Society to Accelerate Economic Growth" written by George Gilder and John
Wohlstetter. Posted, free of charge, and published by our good friends at
the Discovery Institute http://www.discovery.org/
~~~~~~~~~~
FRIDAY BONUS/ Rising Star

Just yesterday the Wall Street Journal had this to say about Bret
Schundler: "The most intriguing politician this election autumn is Bret
Schundler, the 43-year-old former Mayor of Jersey City." We happen to
agree. In the current issue of the American Spectator our own Bret Swanson
sat down with the rising star.

Read the full interview at www.gilder.com, compliments of the American
Spectator, subscribe at http://www.gilder.com/AmSpec_forms/AmSpecSub.asp
~~~~~~~~~~
FRIDAY BONUS 2/ Weathering telecom's dark and stormy night

In this interview, McKinsey adviser and former FCC chairman Reed Hundt
probes the future of the telecommunications industry and discusses how
companies in it are reacting to deregulation and to their current travails
with high debt and sluggish revenues.

In-depth, insightful, lucid, and must reading if you are at all interested
in the future of the telecommunications industry.
Aren't we all? Published by The Mckinsey Quarterly at
http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/article_page.asp?tk=308062:1123:22&ar=1123&L2=22&L3=78

(free registration required)
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http://www.gilderbiotech.com/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
GET THE GILDER TECHNOLOGY REPORT
Monthly, From the Heart of the Telecosm
http://www.gildertech.com/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
GET THE DIGITAL POWER REPORT
Electrons Matter
http://www.digitalpowerreport.com/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
GET DYNAMIC SILICON
Linking the Microcosm and the Telecosm
http://www.dynamicsilicon.com/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
GET THE AMERICAN SPECTATOR
Online special--50% off cover price!
http://www.gilder.com/AmSpecSub.asp
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~~~~~~~~~~~~
Gilder.com Poll Results

Question: Should the US send ground troops into Afghanistan?
We stuck that question in and hit send last Friday right before it
happened. And 88% of you still agree that it was the right move.

Up Next: Are broadband services available where you live?
Weigh in now at http://www.gilder.com/
~~~~~~~~~~~~
READINGS

Qualcomm's European Beachhead?
http://globalarchive.ft.com/globalarchive/article.html?id=011023000566

Global Crossing rolls out VPN products
http://www.nwfusion.com/news/2001/1016globalcrossing.html

Sun's JXTA
http://www.fortune.com/indext.jhtml?channel=print_article.jhtml&doc_id=204811


Sun Debuts 'Sun One'
http://www.computerworld.com/storyba/0,4125,NAV47_STO65030,00.html

Applied Materials Begins VC Fund
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1003-200-7666900.html?tag=nbs

Tangled Telecom Strategy
http://news.ft.com/ft/gx.cgi/ftc?pagename=View&c=Article&cid=FT38YDZI7TC

AT&T Scraps "Project Angel"
http://news.ft.com/ft/gx.cgi/ftc?pagename=View&c=Article&cid=FT3HWMFX5TC

China Telecoms Strengthened by Consolidation
http://globalarchive.ft.com/globalarchive/article.html?id=011025000273

G.P.S. Aids Investigators at Attack Site
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/10/25/technology/circuits/25TOWE.html
(Registration Required)

Wireless Priority Access
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/10/22/technology/ebusiness/22NECO.html
(Registration Required)

Everything XP
http://www.cnet.com/software/0-6688749.html?tag=sd

Programmer Exposes Microsoft Flaws
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/10/23/technology/23PIRA.html
(Registration Required)

Apple's Musical Jukebox
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/10/25/technology/circuits/25STAT.html
(Registration Required)

Transformation of the Enterprise
http://www.internetweek.com/transformation2001
(Registration Required)

Electronic Paper Chase
http://www.sciam.com/2001/1101issue/1101ditlea.html

Information Warfare
http://www.technologyreview.com/magazine/nov01/freedman.asp

U.S. Army Marches into Smart-Card Era
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1003-200-7665983.html?tag=mn_hd

A Smarter Web
http://www.technologyreview.com/magazine/nov01/frauenfelder.asp

OC192 Processors: Who's First
http://www.lightreading.com/document.asp?doc_id=9088

Security and Network Management
http://www.computerworld.com/storyba/0,4125,NAV47_STO64997,00.html

Security Requests Soar At IT Services Firms
http://www.internetweek.com/story/INW20011008S0003

Our Friend: Carver Mead
http://www.redherring.com/index.asp?layout=story&channel=40000004&doc_id=150020415&rh_special_report_id


Beware the Boosted Biotechs
http://globalarchive.ft.com/globalarchive/article.html?id=011024000579

Beyond Chicken Soup
http://www.sciam.com/2001/1101issue/1101haseltine.html

Two Suitors for DirecTV
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/10/26/business/media/26BIRD.html
(Registration Required)

DOJ Investigates Record Industry
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/10/22/technology/ebusiness/22TUNE.html
(Registration Required)

Powell Reviews Media Ownership Curbs
http://globalarchive.ft.com/globalarchive/article.html?id=011024000351

It's the Cars, Not the Tires, That Sqeal
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/10/25/technology/circuits/25CARR.html
(Registration Required)

Dissent in the Maelstrom
http://www.sciam.com/2001/1101issue/1101profile.html
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-==-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
GILDER CONFERENCE CALENDAR

**Telecosm Conference Rescheduled**

Telecosm 2001: Charge of the Light Brigade
November 4-6, 2001 at The Fairmont * San Francisco, CA
For more details, visit http://www.gilder.com/telecosm

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FRIDAY LETTER STAFF
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dave Dortman (ddortman@gilder.com)
John Hammill (jhammill@gilder.com)

E-Mail Wizard Bob Sauve (rsauve@gilder.com)

CONTRIBUTORS THIS WEEK: John Hammill, Dave Dortman, Spencer Reiss, Sandy
Fleischmann

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