Orcon sold for millions. Now serial entrepreneur, Seeby Woodhouse, returns with Voyager
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Championing better broadband for New Zealand 2018 / ISSUE 6
Orcon sold for millions.
Now serial entrepreneur,
Seeby Woodhouse,
returns with Voyager
Brought to you by
SMART CITIES KATE MCKENZIE FIBRE AND WIRELESS
How technology can transform Chorus CEO on Our future networks
our population centres challenge and innovation work together
Contents 2018 / ISSUE 6
22
10 Closing Taranaki
digital divide
PrimoWireless is pushing
SMART CITIES
fibre deep into hard-to-reach
Putting intelligence into our
rural areas
population centres needs more
than just technology 27
Networking in the cloud
14
Software Defined Networks
Sensing Water
promise much, but can they
Tussock Innovation uses IoT to
really deliver?
keep water clean
28
16 Amazon threat
inspires retailers
Local stores respond to global
online competition
30
THE BEST WAY TO
NETWORK YOUR HOME
Moving data around your house
doesn't have to be hard
16
Kate McKenzie
The Chorus CEO doesn't plan to
run a boring utility
19
Broadband Compare
8
Mining for ISP gold
COVER STORY: 20
SEEBY WOODHOUSE Where fibre meets wireless VIEWPOINT
The Voyager CEO says the move to Often seen as rivals, fibre and
fibre is an opportunity he can't resist wireless work best together 33
Why don't you have
REGULARS fibre yet?
InternetNZ deputy CEO
1 2 Andrew Cushen thinks uptake
Editorial In Brief could be higher
Fibre and wireless Falling broadband
prices, Stuff Pix, 33
school Wi-Fi trial
24
7 HOW STREAMING TV WORKS
The key lies in red server boxes
The Download | Editorial 1
Fibre and
Editor
Bill Bennett
Chorus Editorial Consultants
Ian Bonnar, Steve Pettigrew,
wireless,
Holly Cushen
Contributors
Rob O’Neill, Scott Bartley,
Heather Wright, Hadyn Green,
Johanna Egar, Andrew Cushen
not fibre or
Senior Account Director
LauraGrace McFarland
Senior Designer
Julian Pettitt
wireless
Publisher
Ben Fahy
On the cover
Photography by Robin Hodgkinson,
art direction by LauraGrace McFarland,
design by Julian Pettitt
Some telecommunications folk like to paint
fibre and wireless as rivals. They tell us
Published by Tangible Media, ICG.
PO Box 77027, Mt Albert we have an either/or choice. In most cases
they’ll then go on to say why one of the
Auckland 1350, New Zealand
www.tangiblemedia.co.nz
two is preferable and that it is the future.
The Download is championed by WHILE THERE ARE times when the two go head And yet Primo uses fibre to fuel its wireless connections.
Chorus to head, that’s rare compared with the times when Fibre means PrimoWireless can reach further and
PO Box 632, Wellington 6140 fibre and wireless go hand in hand. The two are deliver better performance to its rural customers.
www.chorus.co.nz complementary technologies, not opponents. It’s also worth remembering that when Telecom, now
The contents of The Download
This is a theme that runs through many of the Spark, first built the cellular network it now uses to deliver
are protected by copyright. Please stories in this edition of The Download. We look at the fixed-wireless broadband, the company’s marketeers
feel free to use the information issue in some depth in Fibre and wireless, on page 20. were at pains to point out that it performed better than
in this issue of The Download, You rarely see fibre without its rival because its towers
with attribution to The Download
wireless. And wireless works were “fibre-fed”. Fibre gave
by Chorus New Zealand Limited.
Opinions expressed in The so much better when fibre is the company a key advantage
Download are not necessarily part of the picture. It almost Because fibre will also then. It still does.
those of the publisher or the editor. always is too. By the time New Zealand’s
Information contained in The When New Zealand’s
reach many of the current wave of land-based
Download is correct at the time
of printing and while all due care
UFB fibre network reaches towers used for wireless networks are complete,
a neighbourhood, strands fibre will extend to about 87
and diligence has been taken in the
preparation of this magazine, the of glass carry data from the
broadband technologies, percent of homes. It will reach
publisher is not responsible for any exchange to the cabinet its benefits will stretch an even greater proportion
mistakes, omissions, typographical
and from the cabinet to the to almost everyone. of businesses, schools and
errors or changes to product and
service descriptions over time. buildings. Once the data is medical centres. Because fibre
inside the house or office, will also reach many of the
nine times out of 10 the job of moving it is then handed towers used for wireless broadband technologies, its
over to Wi-Fi. benefits will stretch to almost everyone.
Scott Bartley covers this in The best ways to network your Likewise, fibre will have an important role to play in
Connect with us home, on page 30. Even when homes and offices have a year or so when the mobile companies start building
Facebook.com/ChorusNZ Ethernet connections to smart televisions or desktop 5G cellular networks. If 5G is to deliver on its promise,
Twitter/ChorusNZ
Chorus NZ Limited on LinkedIn
PCs, Wi-Fi is used to connect tablets and phones. fibre will be essential.
At first sight, the name of Matthew Harrison’s The future is not fibre or wireless, it is fibre and wireless.
Taranaki-based PrimoWireless — see page 22 — firmly
www.thedownload.co.nz nails the company’s colours to one technology mast. Bill Bennett
2018 / Issue 6
2
In brief
BY THE Netflix surges
NUMBERS Researcher Nielsen says 1.2 million New
Zealanders now have Netflix access. The research
company's Connected Consumer Report for 2018
says around 434,000 households now subscribe
174GB
to the video-on-demand service. On this
showing, Netflix's New Zealand reach has almost
doubled since December 2015, when researcher
Average household
Roy Morgan reported 684,000 New Zealanders
data internet usage
had the service.
Netflix's biggest New Zealand competitor
is Spark's Lightbox, which, according to its
AVERAGE BROADBAND SPEED IN NZ
annual report, currently reaches 810,000 New
64Mbps Zealanders, via 300,000 subscriptions. Spark
says around 44 percent of the population now
use streaming video. In comparison, Sky TV has
Broadband prices around 700,000 subscribers.
tumbled in 2017
Peak traffic on the network Netflix continues to grow fast internationally.
on 1 February 2018 It added eight million new subscribers in the
1.45Tbps
last three months of 2017. That's a record and
Research company IDC says the average price
comes after a price increase. Netflix now has
of a residential 100/20 Mbps fibre plan with
close to 120 million subscribers worldwide
uncapped data fell from $119.07 to $87.78 during
– that's about the same number as the US
2017. That's a 26 percent drop. Prices across the
television viewing audience.
20,000
telecommunications industry as a whole fell by
6.3 percent. This continues a long-term trend.
Telecommunications Forum CEO Geoff
GIGABIT CONNECTIONS IN NZ
Thorn puts the drop in context, pointing out
that the cost of comparable utilities has been
increasing over time. “The latest figures
continue a trend seen across the board in Uptake of Chorus UFB fibre
New Zealand since 2006. The real cost of
telecommunications services is decreasing, even
as the quality and quantity of services provided
42%
is increasing,” he says.
300,000
Jason Attewell, Statistics New Zealand's
senior manager, Labour Market and Household
Statistics, says the price consumers pay for
CUSTOMERS WHO COULD BE
technology effectively falls over time. “In the ON BETTER CONNECTIONS
Consumer Price Index, we adjust prices to
reflect improved products or services, even if the
sticker prices stay the same,” he says.
"The New Zealand IoT Alliance's research says that IoT could bring
NZ$2.2 billion of benefit to the economy over the next ten years."
IDC New Zealand research manager for telecommunications Monica Collier after reporting
the number of local organisations implementing IoT doubled between 2016 and 2017.
thedownload.co.nz
The Download | In brief 3
Communications services
flat as NZ spending on IT KORDIA REVAMPS WITH
rises to $12 billion NEW TV BROADCAST-
Research company Gartner says it expects the New Zealand technology AS-A-SERVICE OFFERING
products and services sector to climb 2.2 percent in 2018. It will rise from Kordia is making it easier for local content producers to
NZ$11.7 billion to a shade under $12 billion. This is close to the 2.5 percent distribute their content with the aid of its Cloud for Digital
growth expected in Australia. Both countries are well behind Gartner's Playout service. A one-stop shop, it treats the transmission part
worldwide growth forecast of 4.5 percent of broadcasting as a service that is paid for monthly.
Spending on software is set to see the biggest increase during the year. The company’s head of media, Dean Brain, says there is
Gartner says spending on communications services is likely to repeat the already a lot of interest. Several shopping channels and ethnic
recent pattern and post a modest increase of around one percent. In 2017, television companies – Chinese and Indian, but also some
the market was worth $4.37 billion, in 2018 this will rise to $4.41 billion. smaller ethnic communities – are interested.
“To play their content, our TV customers have to first load
Gartner forecasts $4.42 billion in 2019.
it on to a server, then create a play list, then play it. Some of
The research company includes consumer and enterprise, fixed and
them can’t afford the equipment needed, so we’ve developed
mobile, voice and data services in its communications services forecast.
a customer-agnostic service that distributes to web platforms
like YouTube or to their own branded platform, like Rhema TV’s;
New Zealand 2017 2018 2019
the Christian broadcaster.”
Devices 1,648 1,657 1,635 Brain said the new service was aimed at New Zealand-
Data Centre Systems 364 353 345 focused television content providers. The service is an
initiative of Kordia’s revamped media division. Brain is its newly
Software 1,487 1,630 1,788 appointed head.
IT Services 3,836 3,907 3,976
Communications Services 4,378 4,413 4,425
Total Sum of End-User Spending 11,703 11,959 12,169
Source: Gartner (January 2018)
Dr Stephen Gale
ComCom educates
broadband beginners
The Commerce Commission has released two more guides as part of
its consumer education project. All the consumer education guides are
aimed at beginners. The latest additions show users how to choose a
telecommunications service provider and how to monitor its performance.
“When consumers experience problems, we want to help them
identify the potential causes, as well as giving them practical advice
about what they can do to try and improve their broadband before they
take it up with their internet service provider,” says Telecommunications
Commissioner Dr Stephen Gale.
2018 / Issue 6
4 The Download | In brief
New Zealanders less
likely to complain
about telecoms
The New Zealand Telecommunications Forum
says the number of consumer complaints about
the industry is lower than in other countries.
According to the annual Telecommunications
Dispute Resolution report, the number of
complaints in the year to July 2017 was steady,
following a rise in complaints the previous year.
The TCF says the number is “substantially lower
than the number of contacts [complaint enquires]
received as a percentage of connections by dispute
resolution bodies in other comparable sectors and
telecommunications disputes services in other
jurisdictions, such as Australia and the UK.”
During the year, the dispute service received
2,252 complaint enquiries from consumers. Only
six percent became formal complaints. The TCF
says that in most cases service providers were able
to resolve the issues raised quickly.
Telco LEVY ALLOCATION
2degrees offers
Development Wi-Fi calling
QLP Qualified revenue % of Amount of TDL to
($) industry pay ($)
qualified
Levy finalised revenue to fill mobile
The Commerce Commission has
Spark
Vodafone
1,502,143,973
1,119,526,777
35.43
26.34
17,668,014.48
13,167,722.70
coverage gaps
released its final decision on the 2degrees has introduced a service
Chorus 960,502,000 22.59 11,297,294.77
$50 million Telecommunications that allows customers in areas with
Development Levy for 2016/17. 2degrees 356,180,198 8.38 4,189,343.37 poor cellular coverage to make calls
The levy is, in effect, an extra tax on Vocus 134,057,695 3.15 1,576,768.50 or send texts using a Wi-Fi hotspot.
telecommunications companies. Ultrafast Fibre 38,659,000 0.91 454,701.94 The Wi-Fi calling service only
In round numbers, it adds about works with some handsets. At the
Teamtalk 34,401,000 0.81 404,619.91
one percent to the end-user cost of moment that's just recent Samsung
telecommunications services. Enable Networks 25,674,000 0.60 301,974.12
models. 2degrees says it will add
The money raised is used to pay Vector 21,721,000 0.51 255,479.47 other phones to the service in the
for rural broadband, fixing mobile
Kordia 16,476,000 0.39 193,788.49 coming months. When in use Wi-Fi
blackspots, the 111 emergency
Trustpower 13,901,000 0.33 163,501.68 calling appears like an ordinary
calling service and services to help
phone service.
deaf people use phones. REANNZ 9,327,000 0.22 109,702.91
As in previous years, New Zealand's Wi-Fi calling also works if
Now 5,659,908 0.13 66,571.07
largest telco, Spark, will pay the lion's customers are overseas. It means
share of the levy for the year: almost Northpower 5,443,000 0.13 64,019.83 people can receive incoming calls and
$18 million. The five biggest telco Compass 4,935,000 0.12 58,044.80 texts on their usual phone number.
companies, Spark, Vodafone, Chorus, Transpower 2,419,000 0.06 28,451.95 2degrees' chief marketing officer
2degrees and Vocus, will pay around Roy Ong says: “If you’ve got Wi-Fi,
Total Industry 4,251,026,551 100 50,000,000.00
$48 million of the $50 million total. you’ve got 2degrees cell coverage.”
thedownload.co.nz
5
Stuff Fibre in TESTING UNDERWAY FOR HAEATA
media play COMMUNITY CAMPUS TRIAL
Network for Learning and Andy Kai Fong, Principal of
Stuff Fibre now offers Stuff Pix, a movie- Greater Christchurch Schools Haeata Community Campus,
streaming service. The ISP says it has a Network have been working described the initiative as a
catalogue of movies that can be watched with Chorus on a school Wi- game-changer in that it allows
online for between $1 and $7 each. Fi trial at Haeata Community “seamless education between
Paddy Buckley, previously head of Campus in Christchurch. The school and home.”
Quickflix in New Zealand, is Stuff Pix’s project is now well underway. “A good proportion of families
general manager. The trial aims to extend the here who make weekly decisions
Stuff Fibre is a joint venture part-owned school’s managed internet about which bills they can afford
by Fairfax New Zealand that boasts a service into the homes of to pay; whether they pay rent,
sizeable number of media properties. students in some of the most food or power. When battling
With rival service providers also offering deprived areas of the city. this reality, the internet is a luxury
online media, the movie business gives The free service offers you don’t afford,” he says.
students the benefit of internet “Yet, the notion of learning Andy Kai Fong
Stuff Fibre an opportunity to differentiate
access outside of normal these days without the internet
itself from the pack.
school hours. is almost unthinkable.” telephone poles in the street,
Stuff Pix is a relatively modest entry into
Chorus and Network for Joseph Wong, Chorus’s and even trialling supplying
the streaming market, which is dominated
Learning have been working network strategy and planning power to the access points
by Netflix. The company offers a list of on the pilot to help bridge this manager, is positive about over unused copper pairs.”
700 movies; they are not exclusive. digital divide since November. the programme’s progress. Once it goes live, the Haeata
Buckley says the operation is a A prototype extended Wi-Fi “Considering what we are trying Community Campus Wi-Fi
replacement for closed video stores and network is now in place in two to do is totally different and new, network will let students log
is not a Netflix competitor. Stuff Pix of the streets within the school’s we’re tracking well,” he says. in to their own account from
will be open to all internet users and its catchment area and testing is “We’re making use of our home. They will have full access
main attraction will be price. There is no underway in six homes. existing copper, fibre and to online educational resources.
subscription fee. Instead, customers pay a
one-off fee to view each movie.
He says the prices will be the lowest
on the market. While it is technically
possible to buy movies for less by parallel
importing, customers need to set up a VPN
(virtual private network) to do this.
New Zealand's two largest ISPs,
Vodafone and Spark, have their own media
offerings. Vodafone resells Sky TV content
through its Vodafone TV service, while
Spark has its Lightbox streaming service.
ON THE BALL
Kordia’s on the ball when it comes to in such remote locations is both a joy and a
broadcasting the popular Super Rugby games challenge. “It’s like taking Meccano apart and
from the Pacific. It now delivers HD-quality then putting it back together again.”
video of Fijian and Samoan games to fans However, Pacific rugby is getting global attention,
around the world. and Kordia is earning an international reputation
Dean Brain, Kordia’s head of media, says for its expertise in broadcasting the games to the
Paddy Buckley
flying in and setting up broadcasting equipment world. HD’s reliability helps a lot, says Brain.
2018 / Issue 6
6 The Download | In brief
Chorus network FCC ENDS US NET NEUTRALITY
hits 1.45 terabits In December, the US Federal Communications
Commission voted to undo the net neutrality
certain types of content often doesn't apply.
The US net neutrality debate is often
per second regulations established by the Obama framed as a fight over free speech. It pits giant
administration. telecommunications companies like AT&T
Chorus’ broadband network hit its 2017 peak at
9.25pm on December 10. At the time it’s network This means US internet service providers are and Verizon against wealthy internet giants
was delivering 1.328 Tbps per second. Less than free to charge users more to access certain types like Facebook, Google and Amazon.
four weeks later it hit a new high. On January of content. The ISPs will be able to decide which The internet companies fear the end of net
4, at the same hour, the network was spitting content their customers can access. neutrality will give telcos too much power and
out 1.33 Tbps per second. Within a month that They will also be able to slow the delivery of an added ability to clip the ticket. At the time
record was passed. On February 1 1.449Tbps certain types of content. of writing, they are working to reverse the
passed through the network. New Zealand’s In the US, many consumers have little or December vote. A political backlash, especially
most voracious data consumers are in Porirua. no choice of ISP. The competitive pressure among younger voters, means Congress may
In December, the average Porirua household that acts as a brake on discriminating against revisit the issue later this year.
chewed through 202GB, that’s 34 percent
up on a year earlier. Nationwide average data
consumption on the Chorus network climbed
a similar amount. It is now 174GB a month.
That’s up from 123GB a year ago. Users with
fibre accounts use more data than those with a
copper connection. While the average monthly
data use across the entire Chorus network
is 174GB, customers with fibre use around
250GB. In September a Chorus forecast said
this will climb to an average of around 680GB
a month by 2020. In part the rise will come as
more accounts move from copper to fibre. The
growth is largely about television moving from
broadcast distribution to online, on-demand
delivery. Chorus network strategy manager Kurt
Rodgers says it is not just the big international
providers like Netflix driving this change. He says
TVNZ and Three launched live streaming in 2017
and that has helped online television become
mainstream. Rodgers says people are watching
on smart TVs, but they also watch on phones and
tablets connected to home Wi-Fi networks. He
says phone handsets are used more often with
Wi-Fi than cellular data.
for up to 10 years. He sees digital radio coming to
Kordia in tune with music replace AM services because of the latter’s relatively
lovers’ digital radio poor sound quality. “DAB is a beautiful clean sound,
Digital radio, beloved of music buffs and quality radio just amazing,” says Brain.
fans, could be coming to New Zealand with a little The fact that many new cars now come equipped
help from Kordia. with DAB is music to his ears. These cars are now
The broadcast-transmission provider turned common in the UK and are becoming popular in
telco has just revamped its media division and is Australia, he says. They often now come equipped with
getting behind Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB). a digital screen, so broadcasters can, for example, let
Industry veteran and DAB enthusiast Dean Brain, drivers know if there has been an accident. Brain sees
the division’s new head of media, says Kordia is “in such developments adding to the push for digital radio
discussions with the new government”. to be allocated its own frequency. He has his sights on
Brain is “positive” despite the fact DAB trials – with the AM band as he believes digital radio will eventually
Dean Brain
Radio New Zealand and others – have been running replace AM because it sounds so much better.
thedownload.co.nz
7
TGA CABLE AND
HAWAIKI ADD
RESILIENCE TO
INTERNATIONAL
LINKS
Last year scores of international flights were
cancelled when the fuel pipe supplying
Auckland airport with aviation gas was ruptured.
In the same way, New Zealand’s international
telecommunications links were, until recently,
vulnerable to a shut-down should anything
happen to our sole submarine cable network:
the Southern Cross. It links us to Australia, Fiji,
Hawaii and the US mainland.
That changed last February when the
Tasman Global Access cable went live. The
30Tbps cable, which runs between Auckland
and Sydney, provides us with greater capacity
and connectivity. It also gives us a back-up
cable. And the Spark, Vodafone and Telstra-
owned cable makes Kiwi creative hits like the
Thunderbirds series more possible too.
Wellington’s Pukeko Pictures, an offshoot of
Weta Workshop, which created the movies, works
with production shops all over the globe. Vodafone
says better cable capacity means it can share big
files much more easily with its overseas partners.
New Zealand will soon boast a third
submarine cable: the $500 million Hawaiki
Cable. This is set to go live mid-year and has
a total capacity of 42Tbps. It will link New
Zealand, Australia and the US. It is unusual
in being a split cable – one cable goes from
Northland’s Mangawhai Heads and another
from Sydney. They join up underwater to form a
single cable that lands in Oregon. There is also a
side link to American Samoa.
A fourth cable, Southern Cross’ 60Tbps Next 40 percent from Australia, now its 75 percent
cable, is due to go live late next year. It will also from Australia, 25 percent from the US. This
connect New Zealand, Australia and the US, is mainly the result of Netflix, Amazon and
with branches to several Pacific islands. Google’s YouTube now running their content
CEO Anthony Briscoe underscored the from Australian data centres.”
importance of submarine cable, saying people Entertainment is driving usage, which is
may think their Facebook and Snapchat content is doubling every 18 months, he says. But the cable
delivered by satellite, but “most of it is delivered by is good for business too, with Pukeko Pictures’
undersea cables no thicker than a garden hose.” Thunderbirds series being a good example.
“Submarine cable is among the most critical Commenting on the four cables, Rieger says:
infrastructure projects on the planet.” “Submarine cable is a critical path. We need as
Vodafone’s wholesale director Steve Rieger much diversity as we can afford, and by having ‘Thunderbirds Are Go’ – again. Better
has worked on the TGA cable project and Southern Cross, TGA and Hawaiki, and soon submarine cable capacity with the advent of the
TGA Cable makes it possible for New Zealand to
says cable traffic is changing fast. “60 percent Next, we now have this critical infrastructure
produce movie hits like Thunderbirds
of our traffic used to come from the US, much better protected.”
2018 / Issue 6
8 Cover story | Voyager
SEEBY
WOODHOUSE
AND THE ART OF THE ISP ROLL-UP
The CEO of Voyager is taking the company on a second journey as it
consolidates and takes advantage of industry changes. Rob O’Neill reports
on how Voyager is winning customers as they upgrade to fibre
THIS YEAR IS going to be a very big one for ISP If the name Voyager rings a bell, then you’ve most consumers in New Zealand will ever see,”
Voyager, says founder and CEO Seeby Woodhouse. probably got grey hair and quite a good memory. Woodhouse says. “But if you're having to pull
Voyager, which has transformed from a Woodhouse went to work for a company of the out your modem and put in fibre then obviously
business-focused ISP into a much broader same name in the early 1990s, to learn how an you’ll look around.
company through a series of acquisitions, is ISP worked and then launch one of his own. “So, part of the reason I started Voyager was
poised to finally unite all its parts, first through That early Voyager was bought first by to try and get a percentage of the customers in
its billing systems and then through branding. Australia’s OzEmail, then by US giant MCI this final change-over from DSL to fibre.”
Then Woodhouse and his team will focus on WorldCom subsidiary UUNet. However, when He also set about building a hosting business,
growth. They aim to triple the size of the business MCI found itself filing for bankruptcy, in 2002, investing in virtual private server technology from
from just under $30 million in turnover now. it closed the New Zealand business abruptly, VMware, and in domain hosting and cloud services.
It’s all about the roll-up, he says. advising its customers to go to Xtra. “Voyager started as a business-focused
Woodhouse made his first fortune from Woodhouse later bought the Voyager domain hosting company and then expanded into
selling Orcon, the ISP he founded back in 1994, and phone numbers, when their registration access; business access and then, eventually,
to state-owned broadcasting communications expired, and put them in storage, along with a residential access,” he explains.
specialist Kordia. He sold it for $24.3 million, in few hundred other domains he’d accumulated, Two of the company’s most recent
2007. His share of the sale was 80 percent. only bringing them out when his Orcon non- acquisitions could be transformative. The
That sale still seems to be on his mind though, compete agreement ended and he was ready for buy-out of New Zealand’s first ISP, Actrix, has
both as a benchmark and a regret. his next venture. given Voyager scale – one percent residential
“I think in some ways I sold Orcon too soon,” Rolling up unprofitable ISPs works because market share, in fact. While the acquisition of
he says. “I sold it once I got to $24 million the customer base is all that’s needed – the costs, cloud PBX developer Conversant has delivered
turnover and I was kind of disappointed because mainly of premises and staff, can be cut away. intellectual property.
it got to $150 million in the years afterwards. “We don't need 10 CFOs and, you know, 10 “We don't have any licensing fees, unlike
“I felt that I sort of missed out on a bit of a different branch offices and 10 different billing an Avaya phone system or something, so we
hockey stick. So, as a personal goal, I want to get systems,” Woodhouse says. can actually provide a very nice, full-featured
to $100 million in sales. I'm just excited about All of a sudden, a customer base that was corporate phone system at a low cost and,
that journey.” making little if any money, and was worth very therefore, make enough money to provide a
Orcon was the product of up to 40 little, becomes valuable. good service at a good price.”
acquisitions of small, unprofitable dial-up ISPs. Both Orcon and Voyager were launched That’s one major goal for the year: to
“I grew the company over its last five years to take advantage of major one-off industry move into cloud PBX and telephony, and
from 3000 or 4000 connections to 60,000 changes. Orcon took advantage of the arrival of help businesses migrate away from legacy
when I sold it,” he says. “With Voyager, I've the internet as a consumer service; Voyager has phone systems into applications such as next
done a similar thing, where I rolled up 10 or 15 taken advantage of the consumer shift to fibre generation video-conferencing.
little companies, put them all together and have, and the business shift to the cloud. Voyager also has a baked-in path to market
hopefully, created something that's a lot bigger “The change from DSL [Digital Subscriber for this and other services through its domain
than the sum of its parts.” Line] to fibre is the last technology change that hosting brands, which already serve 30,000
thedownload.co.nz9
– or one in five small and medium-sized New
Zealand businesses, Woodhouse says.
“We're actually a lot bigger in that space, and
we're quite unusual in that we do everything
from the domain name to email, to the website
to content management, to broadband to phone
services to the PBX. So, we've got a lot of products.”
Retiring Voyager’s multiple legacy brands is
another goal for 2018, but first the billing system
needs to be sorted.
“We’ve finally got a billing system that
can handle everything we're doing and we're
moving everyone on to it,” he says. “It's been a
plan that's three or four years overdue and a lot
harder than we thought, but there will be a lot of
synergy once that's actually done.”
"We don't have
any licensing fees,
unlike an Avaya phone
system, so we can
actually provide a very
nice, full-featured
corporate phone
system at a low cost"
Seeby Woodhouse
VOYAGER FOUNDER AND CEO
Once the integration is complete, Woodhouse
thinks his team can raise the company’s profile
dramatically and double the size of the business
quickly. That’s not to say its growth has been
tardy: over one two-year period Voyager
grew from around half a million in billings to
$14 million. Last year, Woodhouse says, the
company grew by another 50 percent.
Woodhouse’s personal approach to business
has changed dramatically. He teleconferences and
only comes into the office personally about once a
month. From being a self-described workaholic,
he now spends much of his time at his house in Los
Angeles or travelling and taking photographs. He
has visited 30 countries in the last two years.
PHOTOGRAPH BY ROBIN HODGKINSON
“I think I have a fantastic team at Voyager
[and] a really good general manager who is
amazing,” he says. “I probably only did about 10
or 20 days’ work all last year.”
Meanwhile, the Orcon sale is still there in the
back of his mind.
“Voyager is now bigger than Orcon was
when I sold it,” he says. “So that's a real
milestone for me.”
2018 / Issue 6Smart
evolution
The smart city might be a hot idea but it’s a nebulous one.
That’s because it’s still evolving, writes Bill Bennett. It’s also as
much about citizen needs as technology and network smartsCulture | Smart cities 11
E
very city has a nervous system of some at bus stops and railway stations. Likewise, Applications can be much more sophisticated
description. In smart cities that nervous billboard-sized road signs or phone apps can tell than this, however. In Singapore, a phone app lets
system is digital. It can be put to use drivers which car parks still have free spaces. citizens book seats on one of the city’s privately
making services work better, managing key Smart city applications can be as simple as run bus services. The buses serve remote parts of
assets and making people safer, and improving knowing when to turn street lights on. They can the city not reached by public transport.
their quality of life. also alert engineering crews about trouble spots, The software collects ride requests, then
Building a smart city is not a single project, it issue public health warnings, or re-route traffic dispatches a bus to pick up the passengers and
is developed over time through a series of small flows. In some cases, they can predict what will take them to their destinations. Software not
or incremental changes. Some of the changes happen in advance and act to lessen the blow only automatically guides the bus around traffic
are invisible to the public. Yet, they all add up from a potential problem. So, when essential choke points, but also determines the optimal
quickly. The whole is greater than the sum of city infrastructure equipment breaks down or, route, depending on where passengers want
its parts, especially as the components start to say, a weather forecast suggests a road should to go. Later, the stored data from these bus
interact with each other. be closed, systems can automatically kick into requests is analysed to predict demand patterns
The key is data. In a smart city you are never action without human intervention. and learn where new regular transport services
more than a metre or so away from moving may be needed.
data. It travels at the speed of light through fibre In 2016, the US State of Ohio took a different
networks under people’s feet, or over wireless smart city approach to transport by installing
connections. Most of the time, it uses the same technology along a 35-mile (56kms) stretch of
digital nervous system that powers industry, highway. The state worked with Honda to build
enables telecommunications networks and what it calls ‘The Smart Mobility Corridor’.
delivers online entertainment. The road is equipped with both fibre cable and
Data generated by a smart city is at its most embedded wireless sensors. These feed back real-
powerful when it can report immediately time data so that road monitoring staff working
on vital infrastructure, then be used to draw in a central office have frequent reports on traffic
conclusions and feed back what it has learnt into conditions, weather updates, news of accidents
control systems. This can all take place with or and information on the road’s surface conditions.
without human intervention. Whether people As well as making the road smart, the Ohio
are in the loop or not, you still have the makings team fitted government vehicles with hardware,
of a smart city. so they can send and receive data while on the
Soon, smart city data will do even more. "The smart city has move. The trial has proved successful and the
The fibre networks will reach further and will shifted from an off- US government is now planning to test similar
be complemented by wireless technologies. technology on an interstate highway linking
Systems will become more intelligent and cities the-shelf bundle of Chicago, Detroit and New York.
will become smarter as a result. As you read technological solutions Although the term smart city has been around
this, administrators and private industry around for a decade or so, it’s precise meaning is not
the world are investing in the information
to a more integrated always entirely clear. There are no completely
and communications systems that control the approach to governing smart cities, and these days only a few could be
functioning of everything from a city’s water described as dumb.
supply to traffic signals, to crowd control.
cities… however what In part, the idea of a smart city means using
Sensors can collect and transmit vast amounts makes the city ‘smart’ is sensors and other digital technologies to collect
of data on everything from pollution levels to data and make better decisions, but technological
traffic flows at key choke points; or anything else
using these technologies descriptions only scratch the surface.
that can be usefully measured and acted upon. in a user-friendly and Huawei's chief technology officer of industry
All this collected information fills vast democratic way" solutions, enterprise business group, Joe So, is
databases; these are often stored in the cloud. In the company’s smart cities’ champion. He says
some cases, they are open databases, allowing Dr Jenny McArthur while there are a lot of smart city components,
citizens to access or even contribute information RESEARCH ASSOCIATE, for now there is no single platform. He says
UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON
about the state of their city. Citizens, non- this means the idea remains a concept or a goal
PHOTOGRAPHY BY ROBIN HODGKINSON
council organisations and private enterprises can more than a clear-cut product.
use open data for their own decision-making. At the simple end of the scale, Palmerston New Zealander Dr Jenny McArthur is a
Software can then use the data to manage issues, North Council ran a project using mobile apps research associate at the Department of
often in real time. This doesn’t all have to be run and real-time data visualisation to track fly Science, Technology, Engineering and Public
by councils or government bodies. tippers. The technology allowed residents to Policy, University College London. Her work
Public transport phone apps and websites report incidents, and work crews were then focuses on urban policy and the governance of
telling you when the next bus or train will arrive dispatched to clear the rubbish. The council infrastructure systems.
are obvious familiar examples of how smart city could draw maps to locate the hot spots, and, in She says: “The smart city has shifted from an
data can be used. The same information can be a number of cases, collected the data needed to off-the-shelf bundle of technological solutions
relayed to people through electronic displays prosecute fly-tippers. to a more integrated approach to governing
2018 / Issue 612 Culture | Smart cities
cities. Innovative technology is still central, Ultrafast Broadband project gives Christchurch
however what makes the city ‘smart’ is using and other cities here the underlying technology
these technologies in a user-friendly and needed to make its cities smarter, says So.
democratic way.” Huawei also announced its Safe City
McArthur goes further, saying that a city Integrated Communication Platform at the
doesn’t necessarily have to be high-tech to conference, which, depending on your point of
be smart. “The smart city integrates a new view, could be seen as a means to help police
approach to governance, using real-time data crack down on crime. It could easily be used to
collection to learn and improve the way we supress dissent too. And that’s the downside
manage urban systems,” she says. of smart cities: in the wrong hands, the idea
This can and often does work in a democratic can have a dystopian vibe. In places like New
way, giving citizens the means to communicate Zealand this is less of an issue.
directly with decision-makers and participate in McArthur says: “When we talk about a smart
debate over possible choices. However, democracy city, it means that the infrastructure systems
is not a given. Many of the most visible and talked- are information-rich and interconnected – using
about smart city projects are in countries where new technologies to collect and interpret data, to
there isn’t a strong democratic tradition. improve the management of infrastructures such
At a 2016 Huawei conference on Smart Cities Joe So as traffic systems and lighting. What’s smart about
HUAWEI CHIEF TECHNOLOGY
in Shanghai, So named Singapore, Nanjing and OFFICER OF INDUSTRY SOLUTIONS,
this is not the technology, but the way it enables
Cameroon as three of its showcase smart cities. ENTERPRISE BUSINESS GROUP better, more responsive decision-making.”
The fourth was our own Christchurch, which Huawei’s So says that until recently the
committed to becoming a smart city when the necessary connections to make a city smart
post-earthquake rebuild started. New Zealand’s were not in place. This has changed in the
thedownload.co.nz13
last three to four years. However, he says the always have to be high-tech, the real innovation We think of New Zealand as being rural,
smart city won’t happen overnight because lies in matching technological solutions to but around three quarters of our citizens live
there is still a lot of work to be done. Huawei is people’s everyday needs.” in cities and large towns. By 2050, two thirds
involved in more than 100 smart city projects The Internet-of-Things has an important of the world’s population and an even higher
around the world, yet, he says, it will take time role to play in building smart cities. These are proportion of New Zealanders will be urban.
before any of them deliver on the promise of systems that use simple computing devices and There’s a danger city infrastructure will fall
being a truly smart city. sensors. The hardware can be connected directly behind the pace of growth. You can already see
“For a smart city to work you need an to fibre networks but is just as likely to use one this in Auckland with its housing shortage and
integrated, independent system. It has to be of a number of overlapping, low-power, wireless the massive investments in transport and water
an open IT infrastructure and there must be networking technologies to communicate. networks being made that are needed to cope
great connections — you can’t have a smart city Today’s sensors and computers are cheap with all its new residents.
without connections,” he says. enough to deploy in large numbers wherever Technology doesn’t hold all the answers,
But So says the underpinning connection there is a need. They can be built in to other but it can help to deal with problems like
infrastructure is now in place In New Zealand. devices without adding more than a few congestion, air pollution, noise and traffic
The Ultrafast Broadband network is an example cents to the cost. They make it possible for accidents. A slew of innovative ideas and
of the communications network needed to make almost anything to relay back information on developments together have the potential
smart city projects viable, he says. operational conditions in real time and to take to help solve these problems; among them
Yet, there’s more to a smart city than action in response. increases in computer processing power,
networks and sensors. McArthur says: “What Cities are set to grow even more in sensor technology, better batteries and
makes a city smart is not just the technologies, importance as more and more people move more. And we are already building the
but using them to collect and interpret data in from small towns to larger centres. Today, more communications networks that will form
real-time, enabling continuous improvement than four billion people, that’s well over half the the nervous system needed to bring these
of services and system operations. It doesn’t world’s population, live in urban centres. technologies together.
2018 / Issue 614 Internet of Things | Tussock Innovation
Sensing water
Tussock Innovation’s IoT technology promises to keep our water
clean and us dry. Heather Wright describes how Waterwatch
could mean the end of dirty storm water – and more
FLOOD AND SEWAGE contamination of our Waterwatch can do this by alerting council staff to
beaches has become common in recent months, any changes in water levels, whether stormwater
but if Jesse Teat and the team at Tussock or tidal, so the council gets an early warning
Innovation have their way this may become about areas under pressure from rising water.
less common in future. Internet of Things (IoT) “The Waterwatch sensors can be used as
technologies like Tussock’s Waterwatch should an early warning system in waterways, storm
keep cities and citizens much safer – and drier. water drains and sewerage systems, allowing
Teat is chief executive of Dunedin-based councils and their contractors to raise flags and
Tussock Innovation, an IoT technology so prevent damage to both public and private
development company and consultancy that has property,” explains Teat.
developed Waterwatch, a sensor-based remote However, Weatherwatch can do more than
water level monitoring system. Using sensors, just prevent flooding.
it detects city storm water drain problems early “What tends to happen a lot is that heavy
on, so helping councils prevent flooding during rainfall events put pressure on the stormwater
heavy rainfall. It has the potential to be used on systems and they often overflow into areas
farms as well, to monitor water tank levels and like the sewerage systems,” he says. “That
effluent remotely. puts real pressure on councils because they’re
Tussock is also adapting its sensor-based having to either put more sewage through their
technology for other uses, including a very processing plant, or they’re having to dump raw
smart smoke detector that also monitors other sewage into waterways.”
environmental conditions. It’s a problem New Zealand has seen played
Teat started Tussock five years ago with co- out numerous times this year. Heavy rains in
founder Mark Butler. They imagined working January and February resulted in closed beaches
as contract developers, designing software and around the country.
hardware, and getting them to work together Using a long-range, low-powered WAN (Wide
“really nicely”. Area Network) connected to cellular grade
“What we realised over time was that we’re networks, Waterwatch’s sensors provide continuous
really good at providing connectivity to products monitoring of water levels, with data being sent Jesse Teat (left) and Mark Butler
– especially low-powered connectivity,” says Teat. to the cloud; Amazon’s IoT cloud service. of Tussock Innovation
At the same time, IoT began to grow. For The data is then analysed and provides
Tussock Innovation it was a natural progression. threshold warnings, so action can be taken Teat notes that most councils use their own
“IoT is going to be a very, very big part of our to resolve potential threats, or to evacuate independent data warehouse, so Waterwatch
future – and by ‘our’ I mean everyone’s,” says Teat. low-lying or flood prone areas. Data can be forwards the data on for them to crunch and use
“IoT technologies that are becoming available presented spatially, or as a graph. in making any infrastructure change decisions.
now will really be the basis for knowledge. “There’s a surprising amount of data you get “But our system handles things like the early
They’re able to generate all the data points we from these low-power sensors, so you do need warning call-outs that alert the companies looking
need to make smart decisions for the future.” to have a pretty fast broadband connection,” after infrastructure for a council [regarding] the
And underlying it all, is broadband. says Teat. state of the pumping stations, manholes or sumps
“All of the towers around the country that “The broadband really comes into its own in they are monitoring,” says Teat.
are gathering information will be broadband- the processing – and then in presenting that data The Weatherwatch system is also being used
connected and they will end up being the heart for the user at the end. to monitor groundwater in test bores.
of what provides the opportunity for people to “Broadband is what provides all the links for “This tells us more about what is happening
gather information,” says Teat. us. The towers that gather all of that information with groundwater, and how sea levels are
Waterwatch came out of Dunedin’s Gigatown from your sensors – whether via cellular affecting it,” says Teat.
win – public meetings highlighted solving or Sigfox, or some other low-power WAN “With more data points collected, and a larger
flooding issues as a key desire of the community. technology – are broadband-connected towers. distribution of sensors, we are able to correlate
thedownload.co.nz15
how the water table reacts to weather events. Gigatown win, with Tussock Innovation joining the
Irrigation ponds and water tanks can also be ng Connect group. This is designed to bring com-
monitored for falling levels. "Even five years ago, panies together so they can collaborate on projects.
“With Waterwatch, we’re in a space that will you couldn’t have “Nokia put their hands up to work with us on
be very interesting for the next 20 or probably a this project in particular, and they are helping us
hundred or more years. Resources are becoming provided a council with look for tenders and market partners elsewhere
increasingly scarce and we’re providing people devices you could install in the world,” says Teat.
with the ability to study and learn more about The relationship has seen Nokia showcasing
the resources they’re consuming.”
in a sewerage system that Waterwatch globally, with demonstration products
“If IoT wasn’t a thing, we wouldn’t be able to can operate for more than currently in Sweden, Poland, Spain, Singapore,
do that. Even five years ago, you couldn’t have Thailand, the United States and Canada.
provided a council with devices you could install in
10 years on a battery for Tussock Innovation is also developing an
a sewerage system that can operate for more than the price we can now" internet-connected, very low power, long-life
10 years on a battery for the price we can now.” smoke alarm that includes environmental
Waterwatch has won the support of Nokia – Jesse Teat monitoring of humidity and air quality, and is
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OF TUSSOCK INNOVATION
another opportunity to come out of Dunedin’s designed for the rental market.
2018 / Issue 616 Interview | Kate McKenzie
BEYOND
THE UTILITY Kate McKenzie
plans a modern Chorus
When all the UFB fibre has been laid, Chorus’ CEO aims to use it to leverage
Internet of Things apps and artificial intelligence, as well as run Netflix movies.
Chorus will not be a boring utility, she tells Bill Bennett
CHORUS CHIEF EXECUTIVE Kate McKenzie It was, as she points out, a great grounding
has customers in the front of her mind. She says for a chief executive. She says: “During my time
knowing what people value and understanding their at Telstra I saw all the different aspects of the
experience when they deal with the company is vital. company. I was fortunate compared with my peers;
This is not an unusual sentiment for someone I worked on a wide variety of functions.”
running a large New Zealand business. Yet, Chorus As well as the regulatory role, McKenzie worked
has few customers in the usually accepted sense of in mergers and acquisitions, along with strategy,
the word. By law, it can only sell wholesale services. products and pricing. She ran the operations
Chorus' customers are retail service providers or environment and spent three years running
RSPs. There are around 90 or so of these. They buy Telstra's wholesale operation.
wholesale broadband services from Chorus. RSPs McKenzie says it’s helpful now she is a CEO to have
then wrap these services into their own packages, this hands-on knowledge of all aspects of a telco.
sell them to consumers and provide the support. When McKenzie first joined Telstra it was a
As McKenzie points out, RSPs pay Chorus’ bills, different organisation to the one you see today.
which is something customers do. So, on one level, The majority of Telstra's shares were still in public
her customer focus is all about meeting RSP needs ownership. Soon after she started with Telstra it
and expectations. switched from public to private ownership.
But there's another level. McKenzie says the end- This led to a cultural change. Overnight,
customers, that is the home-owners and businesses Telstra had to worry about winning and retaining
who buy from RSPs, are also important to Chorus. customers. This was something that had, in the
She says: “End-customers get our product; we past, been largely taken for granted.
are the ones who handle its delivery. This means She says: “At that time I went to Stanford and did
we need an understanding of what’s important to a strategic marketing course. There I got a bunch of PHOTOGRAPH BY ROBIN HODGKINSON
them. How we design systems, build processes and new skills. I first learned how to segment customers,
work with RSPs can make a big difference to an end- and how to think about what customers value.”
customer. You have to think of it as an entire customer Like any privately owned business, Chorus
ecosystem. In that sense, they are all our customers.” lives or dies by serving customers. But it has to
McKenzie says she learnt about meeting customer cater to another constituency: the New Zealand
needs early in her 12 years working at Telstra. Her Government. The company de-merged from
first job at Australia's largest telco was running the Telecom NZ, now Spark, as part of a government-
regulatory group. By the time she left Telstra she had led industry restructure in preparation for the fibre
managed almost every part of the company. roll-out. This means the Commerce Commission
thedownload.co.nz18 Interview | Kate McKenzie
regulates much of Chorus’ business. Among McKenzie jokes that the downside is that the are as essential as water or electricity.” The
other things the regulations say it can only sell structural model makes it easy for all the RSPs company’s shareholder base reflects this.
wholesale broadband services. to gang up on Chorus. And the lack of vertical “Compared with Spark, the former parent, we
McKenzie says: “We have a contractual integration brings challenges. “There is nowhere have a different shareholder base. Most of our
relationship with the government. In effect, it has for us to hide; we’re transparent,” she says. shareholders are longer term infrastructure
given us some interest-free loans; they all have to Yet, she looks to the positives: “On the plus investors,” she says.
be repaid. Attached to these loans are obligations side, they all get the same inputs. It means they Utilities are often seen as slow-moving
about how the [UFB] build gets done and to what have to think about what it takes to become compared with other industrial sectors.
standard it gets done. At some point, we have better retailers. They have to look for points of Chorus doesn’t have that luxury. It plays in the
to start paying a dividend if we don’t repay the differentiation to be able to compete with each fast-moving telecommunications sector. The
loan. It's a good set-up. That’s why the regulatory other. It’s a good model.” technology has already changed a lot since
environment is so important to us.” So far much of the competition has centred the company de-merged from Telecom NZ in
There’s a gulf between the New Zealand on price. McKenzie says this is one of the late 2011. Fibre and wireless networks are both
Government’s hands-off approach to the biggest challenges for the industry. “People much faster.
fibre network build compared with what are consuming enormous amounts of what we The key for Chorus once the UFB build is
happens in Australia. McKenzie says the fact produce. Growth is very high. Eventually, price complete is innovation. McKenzie uses this
that telecommunications has never become competition is not sustainable because we are word often. “We’re starting to turn our minds
a partisan political issue is a huge difference spending a motza building these networks. to what else people can do with the wonderful
between New Zealand and Australia. She also There has to be some way of adding value that fibre application that we’ve been creating. I’m
admires the NZ Inc approach to doing what’s customers are willing to pay for that will stop optimistic now that I can see more opportunity.”
best for the nation regardless of politics. the whole thing from becoming a race to the She says one aspect of technology is that it
She says: “You have to congratulate bottom.” Hence the focus on differentiation. changes customer behaviour, and business
governments here of both political flavours. She says “differentiation can come from models. Areas singled out for attention in the
They’ve made a decision and successive different places, that’s perfectly valid. In some near term are how the fibre network works with
governments have followed it through. They ways, the network is so good now that it’s hard to the coming 5G mobile world, and how to use
haven’t changed their minds every two years differentiate on network-related features.” She fibre to get more from the Internet-of-Things.
or so about what they want built and what points to moves by Spark and Vodafone to value- McKenzie is also bullish about technologies like
“I spent 12 years in the telco industry explaining to
everybody why structural separation was a terrible
idea and should never happen. I’ve definitely
changed my view on that”
Kate McKenzie
CHORUS CHIEF EXECUTIVE
they don’t want. If you’re creating long-term add with Lightbox and Vodafone TV as one kind artificial intelligence. “Gaming, Netflix, artificial
infrastructure you can’t afford to have continual of differentiation. Then there is Stuff Pix. Less intelligence and so on all need networks to
change. This bi-partisan support has meant obvious are the moves by brands in the Vocus support them.”
Chorus could focus on what it was supposed to Group to offer power alongside broadband. And The network is a fantastic asset for Chorus, its
be doing: getting on and building the network.” then there are the power retailers who now offer shareholders and for the nation, she says. “It’s
Coming to Chorus, a wholesaler, was broadband. been very well done and will reach 87 percent
something of a leap for McKenzie, despite her Meanwhile, she says Chorus’ main job is of the country by 2022. It was, for the most part,
time running Telstra’s wholesale business. “I to stay focused on getting the various stages financed by private investors.”
spent 12 years in the telco industry explaining of the UFB build completed on time and on It’s easy to forget that seven years into the UFB
to everybody why structural separation was budget. “We aim to make sure our processes project the fibre companies, not only Chorus,
a terrible idea and should never happen. I’ve and systems are fit for purpose, and that the have exceeded the expectations set down before
definitely changed my view on that,” she says. customer experience is good,” she says. the start. Many more people have chosen to
The New Zealand regulatory model makes The network build will be complete in about connect than the planners anticipated. The build
a huge difference, she says. “We now have a four years’ time. However, McKenzie has no is ahead of schedule and the fibre footprint is
set-up where an organisation like ours is open intention of sitting back then and managing a about 20 percent bigger than was mapped.
access. It’s agnostic about how the retail service steady-as-you-go network utility. McKenzie says: “Today, we have 61 percent
providers operate. This creates a completely She acknowledges the U-word describes of customers on the 100Mbps plan; it’s by far
different market dynamic. where the company is today. She says: “We’re the most popular plan. Data consumption is
“It gives us a real focus. It’s one that you don’t the fourth utility. For where we are in history going through the roof. Ten years ago, people
have in a vertically integrated organisation.” that’s right. These days our broadband services wondered if any of this would ever happen.”
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