bookrebus Chapter 105 UHSB Alliance
Chapter 105 UHSB Alliance
At 8:15 a.m., the first car stopped downstairs at Xingchen Technology Building.
It's Michael Dale.
He came alone, without an assistant, carrying the black file folder from last night. Fiona, the receptionist, had just arrived and visibly paused when she saw Dell.
"Is Ling there?" Dell asked directly.
"Mr. Ling just arrived and is in his office. Mr. Dell, you have an appointment..." Fiona quickly flipped through her schedule.
"Now we have it." Dell walked toward the elevator.
At 8:20, Dell sat on the guest sofa in Lingyun's office. A file folder sat on the coffee table, its zipper already open.
"I had a meeting with the tech team all night last night," Dell said, his eyes bloodshot but his spirits high. "They disassembled the test board you gave us and analyzed the protocol. The conclusion was unanimous: this thing is at least ten years ahead of USB 1.0. We have to get the license."
"No rush." Ling Yun poured Dell a glass of water. "Wait for the others."
"Others?" Dale frowned. "Who else did you invite?"
"I didn't make any appointments." Ling Yun glanced at his watch. "But they should be arriving soon."
Before she could finish speaking, Fiona's internal phone rang: "Mr. Ling, Mr. Favor from Compaq has arrived."
"Please ask him to come to my office."
A minute later, Eckhard Feffer pushed open the door and paused briefly when he saw Dale, but quickly regained his composure. He was also carrying the black file folder.
"Looks like I'm not the first." Fairfax sat down opposite Dell. "Ling, your UHSB has blown my people away. We did preliminary tests overnight, and the transmission speed is stable at over 500Mbps, lower than the nominal 5Gbps, but still 300 times faster than USB. The physical design of the interface is also excellent; after 10,000 plug-in/plug-out tests, the loss rate is less than 0.1%."
Dell looked at Fairfax: "You guys tested all night too?"
"It started as soon as we got back from the stadium," Favor admitted. "The head of the technical department is still in the lab."
Ling Yun poured another glass of water without saying a word.
At 8:35, Fiona called for the third time: "Mr. Pratt from HP has arrived."
When Lou Platt came in, he saw Dale and Favor were both there and gave a wry smile. "I knew it." He placed his file folder on the coffee table, next to the other two. "Ling, you deliberately gave us the same information, the same time, and made us test each other, and then you all came over first thing this morning."
"That's more efficient." Ling Yun finally sat down, looking at the three of them. "Alright, all three of you are here. Let's get down to business."
The office fell silent.
"You want a UHSB license? I can grant it to you," Ling Yun said bluntly. "But I don't plan to do what Intel does, signing licensing agreements with each company one by one and collecting patent fees."
"So what are you going to do?" Dell asked.
"Let's form an alliance. The UHSB Alliance." Ling Yun took out three printed drafts from his drawer and handed them to the three men. "I'll put UHSB's core patents into a patent pool. Alliance members can use all the patents in the pool for free."
Febrez quickly glanced at the draft: "Patent pool? Like MPEG?"
"Similar, but more open," Ling Yun explained. "The alliance members are divided into two categories: founding members and ordinary members. Founding members have the right to participate in the evolution and revision of the standards and have board seats. Ordinary members can only use the existing standards and have no voting rights."
Platt saw a clause in the draft stating: "Founding members need to pay a one-time franchise fee, while regular members are free?"
"That's right." Ling Yun nodded. "Founding members pay a fee to obtain board seats and standard-setting rights. Ordinary members can use the patents for free but cannot participate in decision-making. All UHSB-related patents subsequently developed by members must be placed in the patent pool for use by other members."
Dell put down the draft and stared at Ling Yun: "This is the FRAND principle. Fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory authorization."
"And it's a free license," Ling Yun added. "The alliance's goal isn't to make money, but to promote the standards. The one-time franchise fee covers the alliance's operations, standard testing and certification, and compliance checks. The patent pool itself is free."
Febrez calculated, "If it's just the three of us plus you, that's four founding members. How will the board vote?"
"Major decisions require a three-quarters majority vote." Ling Yun had already thought it through. "Standard revisions, new version releases, and the admission of new founding members—all of these require the agreement of at least three of the four companies."
Platt astutely grasped the key point: "So, any one of them has veto power?"
"Yes," Ling Yun admitted, "including me. This is to prevent any single entity from becoming too dominant and steer the standards in a direction that benefits itself but is harmful to the whole. The veto power forces everyone to compromise and negotiate."
Dell was silent for a few seconds, then suddenly laughed: "Ling, you're not selling technology, you're building a republic. The four founding members are like four states, each with its own veto power, and major decisions require a supermajority."
"The analogy is apt," Ling Yun said. "The UHSB standard doesn't belong to any one company; it belongs to an alliance. The alliance belongs to all its members. This structure is the fairest and most likely to be widely accepted."
Febreze and Platt exchanged a glance. They both understood the brilliance of the design.
Intel promotes USB, but the standard is controlled by Intel; other manufacturers are merely users. Cirrus Blend promotes UHSB, but the standard is controlled by the alliance, and founding members all have a say.
More importantly, it's free to license. This means that small and medium-sized manufacturers can adopt UHSB at no cost, leading to rapid adoption.
"What is the franchise fee for founding members?" Dell asked a practical question.
"Five million US dollars," Ling Yun stated the figure. "Pay in one lump sum. This money will go into the alliance's non-profit fund and will be used for: first, establishing a standard testing laboratory; second, setting up a compliance certification program; third, paying the salaries of the alliance's operating staff; and fourth, funding the promotion of UHSB technology."
"Five million..." Febreze hesitated, "That's not expensive. But we need to know who the other founding members are."
"Currently, there are only four of us," Ling Yun said. "AMD will be the fifth. They are designing a UHSB controller chip and need a founding member seat. Other chip manufacturers that want to join can do so as ordinary members, using standard-manufactured chips, or apply to become founding members—which requires unanimous approval from existing founding members."
Pritt nodded: "Strictly controlling the number of founding members maintains decision-making efficiency. Openness to ordinary members allows for rapid dissemination of standards. This balance is excellent."
"There's another question," Dell pointed out, "What if a founding member leaves, or the company is acquired?"
"Article 12 of the draft." Ling Yun turned to the relevant page, "Founding member status is non-transferable. If the company is acquired, the acquiring party will not automatically acquire a founding member seat and will need to reapply, with the remaining founding members voting to decide. If a founding member voluntarily withdraws, their board seat will be permanently cancelled, and no new seat may be added."
Febvre carefully read Article 12. "This prevents large corporations from seizing control through acquisitions."
"Yes," Ling Yun said. "The stability of the alliance is very important. We don't want the standards to be shaken by corporate mergers and acquisitions."
The three continued reading the draft, and the only sound in the office was the turning of pages.
Ten minutes later, Dell was the first to put down the file.
"I'm in," he said. "Dell paid $500 million to become a founding member. But I want to make one thing clear: the subsequent evolution of the UHSB standard must be technology-driven, not something that a company can forcefully push forward for commercial gain."
"These are the core principles of the alliance's charter," Ling Yun said, pointing to Article 3 of the draft. "All standard revisions must be based on: first, technical necessity; second, backward compatibility; and third, member consensus. Any proposal that compromises technical integrity or compatibility purely for commercial gain can be vetoed by other members."
Febrez also put down the documents: "Compaq is joining. But I need some time to go through the internal procedures; the five million dollars require board approval."
"HP has also joined," Platt said more succinctly. "The process is similar to Compaq's, and it will take a few weeks."
"I understand," Ling Yun said. "We can sign a letter of intent first, which is legally binding. The formal agreement will be signed after your internal procedures are completed."
He took out three letters of intent from the drawer; they were already printed, only lacking signatures and dates.
Dell took the pen and signed his name directly in the signature area. "Dell can transfer the 500 million first. I believe in this alliance."
Feffer and Platt also signed a letter of intent.