Is It Possible That The Very Best Of Digital Is Still Yet To Come — Even Without 5G? Padraic McFreen, Founder of MiVu and referred to among Silicon Valley’s uppermost echelon of tech elite as “the genius that innovated and invented Smart and Digital,” says “without a doubt, there are opportunities yet to be disclosed.”
Over the next several weeks, you will become immersed into the world of Padraic McFreen and his world changing innovation, MiVu.
Over the next “40 Days”, this author will disclose the heretofore hidden Black History behind all things digital, share a minor fraction of the thoughts, ideas, challenges, disappointments and failures that all contributed to the design of what we now refer to as the Internet Industry.
As of the most recent numbers from the folks that tally for a living, the Internet Industry today is valued at approximately $11 Trillion USD. Ask yourself this: what was the value of the Internet Industry in 1998?2000? 2004? Did an Internet Industry exist before the year 2000?
Rather than follow boring protocols, let’s upset every English 101 professor reading this and jump right in.
Before continuing, in order for you to get a feel for what’s about to unfold here, take a moment, open another Chrome browser window, then head over to the Wayback Machine.
There, search on mivu.net. Click an early year, say 2001–2004. Watch the MiVu animation and listen to the cool music. You will witness Padraic McFreen’s visual representation of his idea: content streaming and the various application verticals enabled by his then revolutionary technologies.
You’ll see things like: MiItv (internet interactive television, pioneering IPTV); MiStation (High Definition Radio and Internet broadcasting (today branded as Podcasting); MiTalk (Voice Over IP); MiCast (today branded as FaceTime, Skype, Zoom, Teams, Meets etc.); MiMovie (Early Released Movie Rentals of existing movies and Studio First Released Movies, which studios are just launching 2o years later); MiVod (Movie Rentals VHS and DVD converted to Streaming Digital Content); MiGame (coining the phrase “GeoPlayer” in 4Q2000, multi-player Internet game play) and more.
Respectfully, the animation is a visualization of his “Big Bang Event,” the creation of the Multiservice Internet Virtual Universe. You should revisit that page often. Now, guess what? That animation was created in November of 2000.
The greatest minds at Bell Labs couldn’t understand Padraic McFreen’s ideas and designs or his networks and applications. His solution, education through visualization with the aid of animation.
So, Padraic McFreen built animation and prototype touch screens specifically for the education and training of the team at Bell Labs.
They got it then. Bell Labs loved the animation. Between 4Q/2000 — 3Q/2008 it racked up more than 1,000,000 views. Not a surprise. There’s a lot to take in — if you know what to look for.
Now that you’ve visualized the 50,000 foot view of what he had designed at the beginning of the 21st Century, read an article written about him in 2018:
‘In this Five Article Series, we’re introduced to Padraic McFreen, we learn just a bit of information behind the origin of Smart Technologies, gain an understanding of how some of the technology was conceived and are given a clear view into what is on the horizon of technology — everything Silicon Valley doesn’t want us to know.
Origin Of Smart Technologies
While managing computer labs while attending the University of Texas in 1998, Padraic McFreen had an idea: a technology-rich (software and hardware based) network similar to a university campus, but the size of a city, a state, a country and why not the entire planet? ‘We can very economically scale information technologies and associated networks similar to those used for college campus several orders of magnitude. The result would very likely be an Ethernet network encompassing the globe.’ According to Padraic McFreen, “the network would essentially make everything important to me and my life readily accessible and within arms reach — right here’. The network would present to me my view of the world.’
There were mountains of rational justifications for his idea not to work, namely, technical limitations, telecommunication networks and associated architectures, human resources and costs — not to mention politics, industry alliances, prior investments and good old fashioned resistance to change. Undaunted, Padraic McFreen pushed forward with his idea.
The Internet — Secret Behind Smart Technologies
Padraic McFreen named his idea MiVu — an acronym for Multiservice internet Virtual universe. At the time, conventions dictated the word Internet to be capitalized; however, in his MiVu, Padraic McFreen deliberately spelled internet with a lowercase “i”. Simply put, the internet in his idea was the pre-existing architecture of the World Wide Web.
Instead of using the Internet as a supplement for businesses — brick and mortar businesses — the Internet could be so much more. The Internet has all the essential components of an “universe.” The only thing missing: “a big bang.”
His idea, MiVu, did not include adding anything to the Internet, but would become the occupant of the Internet and coexist within its very confines — wherever the Internet extended, MiVu would be there too. No matter who or what connected to the Internet, MiVu would be connected too. No matter where a user wanted to go on the Internet, MiVu would instantaneously present the desired destination. To simplify, MiVu’s internet universe becomes the Internet — think of it as a symbiotic relationship between two unlikely entities coming together for a single outcome — maximum proliferation.
The complete and full realization of MiVu is a totally wireless and uncluttered universe. All of the components now exist and have existed for some time — since MiVu’s introduction to industry.
MiVu would exist within the Internet and not outside of it, nor push through it. This new and revolutionary idea of a network existing within the pre-existing network of the Internet formed the foundation for his idea — an always on, always connected network. But, that’s only a fraction of his idea — albeit, a most significant element.
Padraic McFreen’s idea, MiVu, contains many technical elements which are too many to list and discuss here; however, a simple view of the most critical elements of his idea are: the national video and content distribution network; the touchscreen application tile responsive thin client devices; and the fiber-to-the-node and bundled stream technologies.
Combined, these inventions form the actual networks in use today as well as the prototypes for what consumers understand to be the DirectConnect, Facetime, iPhones/Smart Phones, U-verse and Internet Protocol Television, High Definition Radio, Application Stores, streaming video and all things you and I refer to as Smart or digital technologies.
All of these wonderful innovations were envisioned, fully vetted and designed by Padraic McFreen. The obvious question is how did he come up with all of these innovations seamlessly connected to one another?
Padraic McFreen injected his years of radio operations and management experiences, media and networks management, computer hardware and software understandings as well as communications sciences and threw most of those learnings and understandings out the window.
Conventional wisdom would not solve for MiVu. He began with a blank white page and asked the simple question — ”why not?”
Padraic McFreen’s Startup, MiVu, LLC, Was Absorbed By Lucent Technologies In October-November 2000; Lucent Technologies Reorganized/Rebranded Itself As An Internet Network Company — The MiVu Business Model — Just A Few Months Later
Fast forward to the year 2000, Padraic McFreen had completed his idea and design phases for MiVu — having resolved all of the technological limitations presented by MiVu. In order to proceed to his implementation phase for MiVu, Padraic McFreen partnered with Lucent Technologies/Bell Labs.
Within a few short months, Padraic McFreen’s MiVu was being discussed globally. By 2003, telecommunications giants both domestic and international, were all initiating Beta-tests of key elements of MiVu. By 2007, MiVu had become the white label technological innovation behind, AT&T, Sprint, Apple, Samsung, MiViewTV, Telefonica, Bell, Rogers, and the list continues — expanding to every telecommunications company and continent on the globe.
Padraic McFreen’s MiVu had achieved the impossible for a Black startup technology company and digitally transformed the entire planet. Amazing, right? Not so fast.
Next Installment
In the next installment, Padraic McFreen discusses the MiVu National Video Distribution Network which makes IPTV and video streaming possible, MiVu Last Mile Single Point Access technologies which eliminates buffering, MiVu Bundled Stream Technologies which is the basis for the telecom industry’s Bundled Services Offerings and the MiVu Fiber-to-the-Node Network element which allow you to use any device, anywhere and anytime — always on, always connected.”
You’ve likely read this article as it has republished several times and viewed more than 756,000 times. That’s great news. People Want to know and people want to know now. That’s why I convinced Padraic McFreen to let me just tell it. Tell the biggest story in modern day tech history. It needs to be told.
There’s much work to be done and we need the greatest minds around the table helping to solve humanity’s greatest challenges.
The next “40 Days” will be packed with new, never disclosed details of the world’s most disruptive industry. It’s a big story, worthy of Hollywood or Netflix level time and attention. This author will by no stretch of her imagination, do MiVu the justice deserved. This author will do her part in advancing the ball further down field.