Dear Friend of Servato,

Hurricane Florence showed its immense might this past month to the Carolinas. The damage prevented the Servato team from being in either state this past month as flooding continues to be an obstacle to short-term stability. We did speak at the Oklahoma Telephone Association's Technical Conference and at the NebraskaLink Summit on "Technology Adoption for DC Power". These talks by VP of Sales, Eric Hedlund, lay a framework for how integration works in the big picture. Each year more record-breaking storms and weather-related disasters inflict billions of dollars of damage. Recovery times are long and tiring for everyone, making holistic network awareness that much more important.

Hurricane Florence

The U.S. record for the most rainfall in a concentrated area (51.88”) occurred last year during Hurricane Harvey. Hurricane Florence broke North Carolina records by pouring over 33 inches of rain into Swansboro, NC and surrounding cities. Joel Myers at AccuWeather projects that Florence will rank in the top 10 costliest hurricanes of all time in the United States with estimates up to at least $30 billion. For perspective, Katrina ranks as #1 at $190 billion with the three devastating storms last year all ranking in the top 5. Servato CEO, Chris Mangum, spoke at ISE EXPO about the increasing number of weather disasters creating in excess of $1 billion in damages. 2018 is on pace to continue the trend of costly weather-related disasters, putting additional pressure on U.S. power and telecom infrastructure.

https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/billions/

Servato's Latest Innovation: SPS-R™

The introduction of Servato’s SPS-248 earlier this year stimulated demand for adaptive battery management by hitting a sweet spot of smaller footprint, easier installation process, and capability to do more analytically with less hardware. The rapid acceptance of the SPS-248 was a critical proof point that helped justify acceleration of the SPS-R™ development and launch. Servato’s new SPS-R™ integrates the SPS-248 functionality into a best-in-class rectifier powered by GE rectifier blades, all in a 2RU shelf. The SPS-R™ builds on Servato’s proprietary power switching technology and 100 million hours of experience managing batteries to present a rectifier that extends battery life.

President Trump met with wireless executives this past Friday as rumors continuously swirl on who has the upper-hand in rolling out 5G, domestically and internationally. This additional sign of cooperation among public and private behemoths may indicate additional incentivization to come whether that's through the FCC's Universal Service Fund, NTIA's BroadbandUSA program, tax cuts, and regulations that will promote faster deployment. Overriding local lawmakers is one way that the FCC is promoting deployment by instituting shorter review periods of either 60 or 90 days depending on existing infrastructure. The President has already stated earlier this year that his intentions are to lower corporate tax rates further from 21% to 20%, down from the previous 35%. Verizon cited that this action would improve the health of their balance sheet by $3.5 billion to $4 billion under assumptions that the tax rate would hang around 24% to 26%. This same carrier ostensibly launched the first-ever 5G network in Houston, championing Clayton Harris as the first person to transmit data on a lower latency, residential network. It seems like there could have been an incredible "Willy Wonka, golden ticket promotion" marketing ploy, but I won't keep my fingers crossed. The race for 5G however, is no laughing matter. Over 2 million jobs were added in the Unites States in the 2000's as a result of the U.S. lead in 4G wireless technology development and deployment, impacting the economy net positive $100+ billion. Other countries are barreling down the development path, most notably China. A trade war, banned vendors from China by the FCC such as Huawei, and the increasing competition for 5G national data transit has heated up competition between us to new heights. What is largely being under-publicized is the wireline network that supports 99% of data transfer. This "long-distance" portion of the next-generation American network is what will drive certain mobile applications like AR/VR , and more importantly, it is what largely supports how rural broadband closes the digital divide.

USDA E-connectivity Pilot

The conclusion of the CAF-II reverse auction will bring $148 million of average annual broadband investment to services areas awarded the rural stimulus. The FCC is not the only governmental organization that is mobilizing large amounts of capital for the same demographic of America. $600 millionwas approved back in March to circulate through the Rural Utilities Service, a program through the USDA. The impending focal shift towards this program was further spurred after Commissioner O'Rielly penned a letter to the USDA suggesting another reverse auction. The vision is true considering he also cites the NTIA's Broadband Technology Opportunities Program, a $4 billion program a part of President Obama's Recovery Act. The interesting differentiator in the USDA's pilot program is application. A senior advisor to the project Jannine Miller has gone on record referencing agricultural advancement, education, and telehealth as areas wanting to be addressed with the pilot. 7 out of 8 rural counties are now dominated by an economy that is not farming. The confluence of digital adoption in rural communities and corporate farms taking over more acreage has created room for new industry which can only be augmented with 5G connectivity.

Sincerely,

Brandon Davenport

Business Development Manager

Servato

Niagra Falls

The Birthplace of Power Generation

Dorion Carr is a New England native that has spent his career building companies. He is Servato's Chief Software Architect and also manages the Support team. Those of you who have been involved in installing Smart Power Systems probably know who this man is. He took some time to visit the natural phenomenon that first powered the Greater Niagra area in the late 19th century. Nikola Tesla, for whom the electric car company is aptly named, invented the alternating current system using the hydro-electric power that was generated. The harnessing of power has come a long way since then with new battery chemistries being developed and intelligent technologies supporting existing infrastructure. It's exciting for Dorion to have the chance to visit a sacred place to the assuming electrochemist. The next 100 years will surely bring solutions that have not even been dreamt, yet.

Did You Know?

Servato's ActiView® platform hit the 100 M mark this past month in our battery operating hours. Yes, that is with a "M" not a "K". This powerful engine is what allows us to predict battery failures by continually training how we see batteries behave in the field. This large dataset also allows us to query new insights on how to best improve battery performance, best practices, and why. If you are interested in learning more about the power that is behind ActiView® then let's talk .

Upcoming Events

The Servato Sales team has covered dozens of shows this year. We hope to see you in the near future, so if you are at any of these upcoming events, please come and visit our booths.