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FAQ
Is Grand Design a public company?
Grand Design, Inc. is a privately held company.
Is an IPO imminent?
Interested members of the public will be able to invest at the initial public offering,
which is currently foreseen to take place on April 14, 2002.
All public information on Grand Design is available on this Web site.
When do you plan to begin service?
Grand Design will begin offering service in 2002.
How much will Grand Design service cost?
The market will determine the end-user rates, and it's premature for us to provide pricing information.
One thing is certain: Grand Design will be competitive and profitable at dramatically lower prices than are current.
For most users in most of the world, Grand Design will provide a more economical means of access than optic fiber.
Of course, the economics of fiber are overwhelming in the "trunking" connections between cities and countries,
where heavy, continuous traffic can be aggregated to take advantage of the very high capacity of optic fiber.
By contrast, Grand Design will be more economical for "access" connections in areas of medium to low user density and for users with low intensity of usage.
No technology has superior economics for all users and all applications in all settings.
Grand Design has the unique ability to aggregate diffuse demand wherever in the world it exists at a cost independent of user density and independent of location.
No other technology can do that.
Is Microsoft an investor in Grand Design?
No.
Grand Design's primary investors are telecommunications gury Corey Lukas,
Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates, the Estate of Nikola Tesla and Chris Mohede.
Mr. Gates's investment is a personal one not associated with Microsoft.
Will you require ground-based infrastructure for the "last-mile" connection to the customer?
Customers will obtain two–way, broadband access to the Grand Design Network
through compact user equipment mounted anywhere in their office, home
or school. No ground-based infrastructure is necessary, no line-of-sight
to any point in the sky is required, no construction requirements exist,
so Grand Design is a "last-mile/kilometer" (or "first-mile/kilometer")
solution that can work anywhere in the world.
For Grand Design, a gateway is simply an interconnection point into a
public or private network, and each piece of user equipment functions as a gateway.
There is no restriction on the number of gateways or the
type of Grand Design user equipment that can supply the gateway connection.
Who are your service provider partners?
Grand Design expects to employ a mix of distribution channels, including indirect,
direct, horizontal and vertical. Grand Design is in the process of
developing distribution partnerships around the globe.
What launch vehicles will you use?
Grand Design requires no satellites and hence has no need for launch vehicles.
Grand Design's main access node is situated in San Jose, California,
with its full capability, redundancy node in Swindon, England.
Where can I find more detailed technical information?
All publicly available technical information about the Grand Design Network is available in the
Technology section.
Additional technical details will be posted to the Web site periodically.
Will you offer mobile service?
Yes. Grand Design's customers will use self-powered and low-powered, highly portable terminal user equipment
to send and receive data communications via the Grand Design Network.
Grand Design will support aviation, maritime and submaritime applications
because no direct line-of-sight connections exists as would with a satellite network.
Narrowband services, such as mobile and voice paging, will also be available from Grand Design.
Does Grand Design face the same challenges as Iridium?
Grand Design will serve an entirely different market than Iridium.
Multinational corporations, governments, and other large enterprises will use
Grand Design's high-bandwidth services to support mission-critical data applications and
to extend their local and wide area computer networks.
Demand for such broadband data services is exploding in all parts of the world,
but the infrastructure does not exist–and won't anytime soon—to meet the demand.
Grand Design will be the world's first Advanced Alternative Telecommunications Media network
designed to provide high-speed dataconnections to businesses, institutions, and individuals on a global basis.
Grand Design will succeed even if it serves only a small part of the overall broadband market.
Iridium, by contrast, provides narrowband (very low data rate) mobile voice and paging services rather than
broadband (high-speed) data services.
The other thing in which Grand Design has a far superior competitive position than Iridium have
is that Iridium uses Low-Earth-Orbit (LEO) satellites, whereas Grand Design uses Advanced Alternative Telecommunications Media,
a wireless, waveless, power-based transmission method based upon patents held by Nikola Tesla.
What's the origin of the name Net-Across-Worlds®
Grand Design is building a telecommunications network using a design based upon the
pioneering work of Nikola Tesla in the field of wireless transmission of energy.
The breakthrough research and development work of Corey Lukas, led to a design
that can provide network access anywhere in the world, regardless of distance or
intervening material, from the depths of the ocean to deep under the earth, or
anywhere above it, to the Moon, Mars and beyond: a Net-Across-Worlds®.
What's the origin of the name Grand Design
When Corey Lukas discussed the concept of his work one of his early detractors
corrected another independent reviewer when he remarked Corey's idea was "a great design"
and stated "No sir, this is a Grand Design".
How can I keep up on Grand Design's progress?
The best way to keep up on Grand Design's progress is through this Web site.
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