O Brother, Where Art Thou?

- or - the curious tale of Data Ventures Inc.

Back in October 2003, a man came before the Penn Yan village board. His name was Marc Burling, and he was CEO of a company named Data Ventures, Inc. Mr. Burling heard about Penn Yan from his sister in law, who knew the (now former) village treasurer Dwight Rogers. Mr. Burling delivered a sales pitch before the village board that would have made Professor Harold Hill envious. Burling proposed that his company would deliver internet broadband service to village residents via a new technology called BPL (Broadband over the Powerline). He would use the village's own utility poles and cables to deliver data signals into homes for internet access. Mr. Burling claimed that there was no down-side to the BPL technology and said he was looking for investors. Burling's audacious presentation perked my curiosity. I did some digging and quickly found that, contrary to Mr. Burling's claims, there did appear to be downsides - a lot of them. I found a huge volume of material about interference problems caused by BPL technology. The ham radio community was up in arms because they said the technology interfered with their radio band waves and those of first responders. I found that Mr. Burling had recently incorporated his company in Las Vegas, Nevada, even though his firm had no physical presence in that state. (Nevada laws make the state a haven for firms seeking anonymity for both business and investment activities; the state also offers corporations liability protections that help shield assets when companies go bankrupt). I found that Mr. Burling had also served as the CEO of a short lived company named Digital Vault Inc (also DVI) down in Florida. I found a press release posted on DVI's web site where the company claimed to be delivering broadband to 3,500 customers in Penn Yan - something I knew wasn't true. When it looked like the village might be getting ready to sign a 10 year contract with Mr. Burling's company, offering them a monopoly on the use of village utility poles, I brought my concerns before the village board. I urged the board to investigate the company's background before signing a contract. At worst, I expected the board would thank me for my concerns and then ignore them. Instead, Penn Yan Mayor Douglas Marchionda got furious about my comments, said he "took offense" at them, and took offense at my insinuation that Data Ventures (DVI) was a fly-by-night outfit that came to town for "twisted reasons". Trying to push their product, DVI provided some members of the village board with free internet service at their homes in what turned out to be a lengthy test run of the technology. As soon as the trial run was announced, a fire storm of opposition descended on the mayor from the ham radio community. There was even an article about the Penn Yan controversy in the Wall Street Journal ("Utilities' High Wire Act Riles Ham Radio Fans"). Ham radio enthusiasts from every corner of the nation barraged the Penn Yan village board with phone calls and e-mail. One ham radio enthusiast even came to Penn Yan, made an audio recording of the radio interference caused by DVI's technology, and posted it on the internet. Meanwhile, attorneys spent countless hours negotiating a contract between the village and DVI . Village utility crews also invested a great deal of time installing DVI hardware on utility poles. While articles in local papers heralded how Penn Yan was soon to be on the "cutting edge"of a new technology, they made little mention of the controversial aspects of the project. As it turned out, problems did indeed develop with the technology. It never delivered as promised. Some receiving the service complained it was spotty, unreliable, and slow. Eventually, DVI dropped the much-heralded BPL technology and switched over to a common, run-of-the-mill wireless network. The revenues that the company had suggested the village might realize never materialized. In March of this year, during the public comment period of a village board meeting, someone asked mayor Douglas Marchionda whatever happened to Data Ventures Inc. The mayor refused to answer the question, and (I thought rudely) said anyone with questions about DVI could call DVI and ask for themselves. I tried doing just that. I discovered that DVI's telephone had been disconnected. I discovered that DVI had left their Rome NY headquarters, apparently without leaving a forwarding address. The State of Nevada has listed DVI's corporate status as being "in default" since December 2004. At their September 2005 meeting, the Penn Yan village board quietly moved to start proceedings to terminate the contract with DVI. I found hardly any mention of this motion in the local papers. The beginning of this story generated quite a bit of favorable publicity. I believe it's only fair that the people should know how this rather curious tale has ended.

Archive - Past "What's New" Items:

Ode to a Fallen Oak - August 7, 2004
Who Moved Our Sign? - August 14, 2004
Special Use Permits - August 21, 2004
What's Wrong with this Picture? - September 11, 2004
Who are You Calling? - September 19, 2004
Chronicle Express - Afraid to Ask the Tough Questions? - September 30, 2004
Who You Callin' - Volume 2 - December 27, 2004
Should Snowmobiles be Allowed in the Village? - January 2005
Revised EAF and so-called 'decibel study' - March 2005
A New Tour Boat for Keuka Lake - May 2005
Walgreens Proposal- July 2005
August Boat show - August 2005
O Brother, Where Art Thou? - September 2005

 

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