Multimedia evangelist bets on broadband Net

BY DAVID SPEAKMAN

Best known as a founder of rich-media software innovator Macromedia Inc. of San Francisco, Marc Canter’s reputation is on the line as he bets on a sector that has eluded the promised land of profitability for years: broadband Internet.

Twelve years after leaving Macromedia, interactive multimedia evangelist Canter is creating a new type of digital lifestyle product at Broadband Mechanics Inc., a San Francisco startup he founded and funded in 1999.

Canter believes future human communication will involve technology and the Internet on a scale only imagined.

“I’m a creative type of guy. I’ve always focused on enabling people to express themselves creatively,” says Canter , whose first digital forays began in electronic music.

He expects Broadband Mechanics will revolutionize audio-, video- and text-based communications with a range of products from multimedia Web chat and conferencing to shared audio and video entertainment. His company is developing software to bridge gaps and fill niches left by current e-mail, instant messaging, chat, blogging and Web conference software.

Canter’s vision depends on universal adoption of broadband Internet, which he is quick to point out is not there yet.

“What we’re calling broadband today is what I call ‘mid-band,'” he says of digital subscriber line and cable-modem technology, which transfers data between 300 kilobits to 1 megabit a second. “Real broadband is about 5 megabits per second. If we had real broadband, we could then stream DVD-quality movies over the Internet.”

Until then, Broadband Mechanics’ research focuses on home networks, which can work at faster speeds than DSL or cable modems to connect computers, mobile phones, personal digital assistants, personal video recorders, printers and MP3 players. Broadband Mechanics is committed to producing technology based upon open standards.

“The last thing we need is Microsoft to shove another standard down our throat and control everything,” Canter says.

“Marc has the unique ability to identify with the seemingly nascent area of business down the road in the future that can be incredibly lucrative,” says Dave Jacobs, Broadband Mechanics’ acting CEO.

Canter shares his view of the digital future at http://blog.canter.com.