[Summary]
Henk Slettenhaar has extensive knowledge of communication technology,
with a long career in Geneva, Switzerland, and California. In 1992, he
founded the Swiss Silicon Valley Association (SVA) and, since then, has
been taking study groups to Silicon Valley, San Francisco and other
high-tech areas. Henk wrote in July 2001: “I am experiencing a
tremendous change with having a ‘broadband’ connection at home. To be
connected at all times is so completelely different from dial-up. I now
receive email as soon as it arrives, I can listen to my favorite radio
stations wherever they are. I can listen to the news when I want to.
Get the music I like all the time. (…) The only thing which is missing
is good quality real time video. The bandwidth is too low for that.”
Ten years later, Henk has watched real time video, and read ebooks in
the Kindle and the iPad.
***
Henk Slettenhaar has extensive knowledge of communication technology,
with a long career in Geneva, Switzerland, and California. Ten years
after getting a broadband connection at gome, he reads ebooks on a
Kindle or an iPad.
Henk joined CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research) in Geneva
in 1958 to work with the first digital computer. He was involved in the
development of CERN's first digital networks.
His U.S. experience began in 1966 when he joined a team at SLAC
(Stanford Linear Accelerator Center) for 18 months to build a film
digitizer. Returning to SLAC in 1983, he designed a digital monitoring
system, which was used for more than ten years.
For 25 years he tought information technology at Webster University,
Geneva. He is the former head of the Telecom Management Program created
in fall 2000. He also worked as a consultant for a number of
international organizations.
# In 1992
In 1992, with an extensive experience in Switzerland and California,
Henk founded the Swiss Silicon Valley Association (SVA) and, since
then, has been taking study groups to Silicon Valley, San Francisco and
other high-tech areas like Los Angeles, Finland and China. These study
tours include visits to outstanding companies, start-up, research
centers and universities, with the aim of exploring new developments in
information technology such as the internet, multimedia and
telecommunications. Participants have the opportunity to learn about
state-of-the-art research and development, strategies and business
ventures through presentations and discussions, product demonstrations
and site tours.
# In 1998
Henk wrote in December 1998: “I can't imagine my professional life
without the internet. Most of my communication is now via email. I have
been using email for the last 20 years, most of that time to keep in
touch with colleagues in a very narrow field. Since the explosion of
the internet, and especially the invention of the web, I communicate
mainly by email. Most of my presentations are now on the web and the
courses I teach are all web-extended. All the details of my Silicon
Valley tours are on the web. Without the internet we wouldn't be able
to function. And I use the internet as a giant database. I can find
information today with the click of a mouse.”
# In 2000
The year 2000 was marked by “the explosion of mobile technology. The
mobile phone has become for many people, including me, the personal
communicator which allows you to be anywhere anytime and still be
reachable. But the mobile internet is still a dream. The new services
on mobile (GSM) phones are extremely primitive and expensive (WAP =
Wait and Pay).”
# In 2001
What has happened since one year? Henk wrote in July 2001: “I am
experiencing a tremendous change with having a ‘broadband’ connection
at home. To be connected at all times is so completelely different from
dial-up. I now receive email as soon as it arrives, I can listen to my
favorite radio stations wherever they are. I can listen to the news
when I want to. Get the music I like all the time. (…) The only thing
which is missing is good quality real time video. The bandwidth is too
low for that.
I now have a wired and a wireless LAN [Local Area Network] in my home.
I can use my laptop anywhere in the house and outside, even at the
neighbors and still being connected. With the same technology I am now
able to use my wireless LAN card in my computer when I travel. For
instance, during my recent visit to Stockholm, there was connectivity
in the hotel, the conference center, the airport and even in the Irish
pub!
# In 2011
Ten years later, in June 2011, Henk explained: “I have always followed
the development of ebooks with much interest, as a professor in
communication systems and an organizer of study tours in Silicon
Valley. I didn’t use them much during 40 years, because of the lack of
progress in reading devices. I never liked reading a book on a computer
or PDA. Now, with tablets like the Kindle of the iPad, I am finally
reading ebooks. I see a huge expansion of digital reading with tablets
that are easy to use and with a very large choice of ebooks thanks to
electronic commerce and companies like Amazon.”
What has he been working on lately? “I am a serial entrepreneur who is
creating a start-up in the field of mobility. I use the internet all
the time to find partners and ideas. We also use online books to learn
the art of innovation!”