Great article, very well written as usual, thank you. So inspiring to see amazing people tackle difficult tasks and making a difference. When do they launch in Europe and how can we get involved?
This is great, thanks for writing! The only thing is that the title doesn’t sound great in Spanish; the translation from English is too literal. I think what you really meant is “El Caballero del Cable”.
I'm a former Comcast technician; I installed cable in Texas for eight years and quit in 2022 when I realized this whole "infrastructure revolution" wasn't paying off for ordinary installers. To keep from going crazy with anger, I launched a push channel exposing cable monopolies and, at the same time, I'm pumping out antivirus software, since 90% of clients complain about hacked routers. I found the top programs here: https://richads.com/blog/top-10-antivirus-affiliate-marketing-programs/ . Within a year, I reached $7,000 per month, and now I'm my own cable baron, only without a ladder or boss.
Excellent paper. Forrest sounds a lot like Logan Alle, founder of Zorp and creator of Nockchain, a zk proof blockchain. If Forrest is moving into the AI and data center space, power for low cost compute he should definitely meet Logan to discuss how he is tackling the cost of compute and zk proofs.
Powered exclusively by EPM’s 19 hydroelectric dams? Or including its wind and thermoelectric facility? Will power transmission come from neighboring countries?
Good article. But you can not call the type of topology Somos uses Active Ethernet. What Somos actually uses is a network composed of a main switch connected via SFP fiber or microwave from brands like Mikrotik or Ubiquiti.
Several 8 port reverse PoE switches are cascaded from the main switch using UTP cable, and from there, users connect via UTP cable.
Obviously, this is not an Active Ethernet network since each user does not have their own fiber optic cable, nor do they have active P2P equipment. Somos' network is not Active Ethernet; it is the topology, something more rudimentary, worse than a PON network.
Hey! We haven't installed Mikrotik or Ubiquiti switches in 2025, all on proprietary switches designed and controlled by Somos firmware. Which, as Packy references in the piece, is the point - to swap out components as they improve and Somos brings them in house.
It's 100% an Active Ethernet network to the edge, in this case the building switch. And as Packy noted, we have FiberX tests underway to push the edge into the end user's dwelling, with every user having dedicated ports.
And it's very definitely not worse than a PON network :) ask our customers!
Packy, I have read Not Boring from the very beginning. This was, without a doubt, my favorite piece ever. Such an energizing read.
Woah, thank you Niki!!
I really appreciate you being here from the beginning and that makes me so happy to hear.
Wow. That is a deep dive. Love it. Great storytelling and detail. Perfect holiday reading. Makes you want to dash back and build
Thanks man! Back to work 🫡
Fascinating read about a fascinating guy. Made lots of notes for near future research; looking forward to following along.
Great article, very well written as usual, thank you. So inspiring to see amazing people tackle difficult tasks and making a difference. When do they launch in Europe and how can we get involved?
Thanks Seb! Europe is probably going to take a little while but will almost certainly write about it when it’s coming.
This is great, thanks for writing! The only thing is that the title doesn’t sound great in Spanish; the translation from English is too literal. I think what you really meant is “El Caballero del Cable”.
Thanks Daniel! Going for symmetry with the John Malone book Cable Cowboy at the expense of perfect translation
Hydro-powered data centers. Estupendo!
Excelent article Packy. Thank you
Such an amazing read. Need this guy Stateside asap disrupting our incumbents
Hey Packy, will there still be an audio version of this one? Would be great!
I'm a former Comcast technician; I installed cable in Texas for eight years and quit in 2022 when I realized this whole "infrastructure revolution" wasn't paying off for ordinary installers. To keep from going crazy with anger, I launched a push channel exposing cable monopolies and, at the same time, I'm pumping out antivirus software, since 90% of clients complain about hacked routers. I found the top programs here: https://richads.com/blog/top-10-antivirus-affiliate-marketing-programs/ . Within a year, I reached $7,000 per month, and now I'm my own cable baron, only without a ladder or boss.
Great read, thanks Packy!
As an aside, I think you meant "deflation", rather than "disinflation". 🙂
Excellent paper. Forrest sounds a lot like Logan Alle, founder of Zorp and creator of Nockchain, a zk proof blockchain. If Forrest is moving into the AI and data center space, power for low cost compute he should definitely meet Logan to discuss how he is tackling the cost of compute and zk proofs.
Powered exclusively by EPM’s 19 hydroelectric dams? Or including its wind and thermoelectric facility? Will power transmission come from neighboring countries?
Good article. But you can not call the type of topology Somos uses Active Ethernet. What Somos actually uses is a network composed of a main switch connected via SFP fiber or microwave from brands like Mikrotik or Ubiquiti.
Several 8 port reverse PoE switches are cascaded from the main switch using UTP cable, and from there, users connect via UTP cable.
Obviously, this is not an Active Ethernet network since each user does not have their own fiber optic cable, nor do they have active P2P equipment. Somos' network is not Active Ethernet; it is the topology, something more rudimentary, worse than a PON network.
Hey! We haven't installed Mikrotik or Ubiquiti switches in 2025, all on proprietary switches designed and controlled by Somos firmware. Which, as Packy references in the piece, is the point - to swap out components as they improve and Somos brings them in house.
It's 100% an Active Ethernet network to the edge, in this case the building switch. And as Packy noted, we have FiberX tests underway to push the edge into the end user's dwelling, with every user having dedicated ports.
And it's very definitely not worse than a PON network :) ask our customers!