Curious eyes might have noticed the tab above “Wireless Broadband Book” or seen the recently introduced book cover on the right or might have come across this Amazon listing. Perhaps, time to provide some more info on the project.

2007 was a unique year for me as far as book publishing is concerned. Was fortunate to work with some great co-authors on 3 different projects. Normally, taking on one book project is a big task in of itself, 3 in a year will generally exhaust you, especially when you are also working full-time. I was blessed with great friends and co-authors that made it easier.

The first one, Mobile Advertising book was an industry first – the first book to take an in-depth look into the business of mobile advertising. We spent quite a bit of time researching and formulating our thoughts on the subject and it was an intense 6 months of writing. My long-time friend and colleague – Joe Herzog (along with Victor Melfi) was instrumental in producing a great final product. We have been pleased with the industry reception. The book is being used internally for sales training and strategy formulation in many companies worldwide. I have been also helping many companies in the ecosystem with their strategy and product plans for mobile advertising. The segment itself has been making tremendous progress every month, more on that a bit later in the year.

The second project involved expanding on my work for SAP for a peer-reviewed book project. I worked with my colleague Sami Muneer on the same. The chapter titled “Enterprise mobile product strategy using scenario planning” was published as a part of Enterprise Mobility: Applications, Technology, and Strategies (published by IOS Press of Amsterdam).

This brings us to the third and final book of the year – Wireless Broadband – Conflict and Convergence with Vern Fotheringham – a pioneer in the wireless industry.

I have known Vern Fotheringham for many years, we met when I was just starting out my consulting practice 7 years ago. He is an “idea a minute” guy who is a true entrepreneur at heart, has traveled the globe (he has enough frequent flier miles to go to Mars and come back), and is always ahead of the curve. In fact, he has been credited with many industry firsts. Last year, we got together to work on a book on Wireless Broadband, to look at its intricacies, the politics, the opportunity and risks of the industry. There was no better person to write this book with than Vern. We then found an ideal publishing partner – IEEE Press/John Wiley and a few months later here we are.

The book is being published as part of the prestigious IEEE Series on Digital and Mobile Communications.The book is almost done, we finished off all the edits and it is going to the printers any minute with the publication date of Oct 08. 

Over the course of next few days, we will introduce the book with some sample chapters, TOC, foreword etc.

We have gotten pretty good reviews for the book thus far:

“In this book, Vern Fotheringham and Chetan Sharma have done a remarkable job in laying out every aspect of this critically important and demanding topic.  Read it from cover to cover, enjoy it all, and be satisfied in knowing what every modern planner, manager, and educated citizen should know about the world’s future.” 

– By Mark Anderson CEO, Strategic News Service and SNS Project Inkwell

“This is as comprehensive a book on Wireless Broadband as I have seen. The authors of this book address the most important issues facing the players in the wireless ecosystem in great detail and provide a very thoughtful analysis.”

– Steve Elfman, President, Sprint Nextel

“Vern and Chetan have written an insightful book that takes a refreshing multi-dimensional approach to the wireless broadband industry”

– Dr. Hyun Oh Yoo, former CEO, SK Communications, CEO SKT Holdings America Inc.

Here is Vern’s full bio.

Vern Fotheringham, Managing Director, IP Broadband, Ltd.

Mr. Fotheringham is recognized internationally as an industry leader and successful entrepreneur in the wireless and broadband communications industry. Throughout his career he has been a catalyst for innovation and change in the competitive telecommunications field through direct entrepreneurial activities, as an advisor or influencer on many successful projects, a public policy and regulatory advocate for new telecommunications service rules and standards, and as an inventor and creator of new and innovative services.

Presently, he is the Managing Director of IP Broadband Ltd. developing converged IP services targeted on the Asian and North American markets for next generation services. He also provides strategic marketing and technical consulting counsel to a number of major telecommunications service providers, including Nextlink Wireless, Inc. where he is the Acting CTO. Mr. Fotheringham is also a managing member of Community Broadband, LLC a consulting firm specializing in advising municipalities on IT and telecommunications matters. Previously he was the President and CEO of ADAPTIX, Inc. a world leader in the development of next generation broadband wireless system technology. ADAPTIX, Inc. pioneered and secured patent protection for the core technology of what is now the IEEE 802.16(e) standard for OFDMA high-speed, scalable, interference immune, metropolitan area IP broadband radio systems.

Highlights of his prior career activities include: direct participation with the development and international expansion of the cellular telephone industry, working on projects in the US, Canada, Mexico, Germany, Sweden, Hong Kong, Brazil, Argentina, Venezuela and Bangladesh; the creation and development of the mobile satellite industry (Omninet/OmniTRACS, AMSC & NORCOM); earning a US nationwide license for air-to-ground communications services (Claircom / AT&T Wireless); winning the first GSM license in Hong Kong (SmarTone); pioneering in the Digital Audio Radio Service (founder and Chairman of Digital Satellite Broadcasting Corporation); and, founding the millimetric microwave industry with the creation of both Advanced Radio Telecom Corporation (ART) as a service provider (Chairman and CEO), and WavTrace a pioneering point-to-multipoint broadband wireless equipment manufacturer (now owned by Harris Corporation). ART was a NASDAQ listed CLEC and enhanced service provider that held broadband radio spectrum licenses in 207 major U.S. markets, plus five nationwide European licenses. His efforts also resulted in the adoption of the US standards for millimetric microwave regulations and licensing in Japan. Vern also pioneered Internet radio and web based distribution of world music in partnership with Quincy Jones at QRadio. He was also a pioneer in the field of broadband DSL IP access and VoIP hosted services with Bazillion, which was the first nationwide, toll quality VoIP service provider. His early career included positions in public safety with the City of Huntington Beach, California, initially as a Marine Safety Officer, then as a Firefighter and Paramedic.

Vern has also pursued a lifelong interest in specialty automobile manufacturing and motorsports through the creation of Vemac Cars Ltd. a Japanese, UK and US international partnership (see: www.vemaccars.com) that was founded to develop green high performance vehicles. Vemac cars compete in the Super GT Championship racing series in Japan with noteworthy success against the major manufacturers. He was also a pioneer of the single make racing series concept as the founder of the Formula Mazda (1981 to present) series and the Sports Toyota Championship which featured as a support race in the early years of the American LeMans series.
Vern is an IEEE member, and received his BA from California State University Fullerton. He also pursued graduate studies at the Claremont Graduate School. He presently serves as a director for a number of early stage ventures.