SharpTelco.Com

Verizon FiOS Highest Rated by Consumer Reports

2011-04-05T13:43:00.001-07:00

In addition, for the third year in a row, Verizon FiOS and AT&T U-verse were the highest-rated providers of triple-play TV, Internet and phone bundles on the survey. Overall, the magazine polled 70,000 Consumer Reports readers, of which 14,233 were triple-play subs.

Cable operators including Cox Communications, Cablevision Systems and Bright House Networks are the "next best choice for many households" for bundled services, according to the magazine's survey. Satellite providers DirecTV and Dish Network received above-average survey scores for TV services.

Verizon FiOS had an overall average score of 78 our of 100, following by AT&T U-verse (76), Bright House (74), Cox (73), Qwest International (72); Cablevision (70); Time Warner Cable (68); Comcast (65); and Charter Communications (62). Verizon's and AT&T's "synthetic bundles" of DSL and phone plus DirecTV service both received an average score of 71.

Verizon 100Gb Ethernet Deployment

2011-03-31T12:44:00.000-07:00

Following years of tests, trials and a commercial launch in Europe, Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) has announced it will commercially deploy 100Gbit/s optical transport connections in the U.S. within the coming weeks. (See Verizon Announces 100G in US, Verizon Deploys 100G Ethernet in Europe and Verizon Switches On 100G in Europe.)

Using equipment from Ciena Corp. (Nasdaq: CIEN) (coherent optical transport) and Juniper Networks Inc. (NYSE: JNPR) (core routers), the same supplier combo as in Europe, Verizon will light up Chicago to New York, Sacramento to Los Angeles and Minneapolis to Kansas City.

"Advancing to 100G is a significant step in strengthening our global IP network to handle the bandwidth demands of our customers -- whether it's large enterprises or the average consumer," noted Ihab Tarazi, the operator's VP of network planning, in the official news announcement. "Besides greater scalability and network efficiencies, we also expect 100G deployment to improve latency on a route-by-route basis."

Verizon has long been committed to 100Gbit/s technologies, regarding it as "the new standard -- the new 10Gbit/s" (see video below), and has been waiting for the various network elements to become available at price points that suit its business plan.

Why this matters
This is an indication that true 100Gbit/s technology is not only ready to deploy in commercial networks but that systems prices have reached an inflection point. Verizon is one of the world's leading carrier supporters of the new generation of backbone transport technologies and this move will send a positive signal to other operators that the market is ready to support an acceleration in deployments.

So now the question for the Verizon team is -- what's next? (See Planning for 100G & Beyond.)

For more
The 100 Gbit/s sector, and beyond, has been white hot in 2011:

— Ray Le Maistre, International Managing Editor, Light Reading

Japan's Internet remains Up!

2011-03-14T12:02:00.000-07:00

Interesting how reliable Broadband has become over the last several years.

Computerworld - Japan's Internet infrastructure has remained surprisingly unaffected by last week's devastating earthquake and tsunami, according to an analysis by Internet monitoring firm Renesys.

Most Web sites are operational and the Internet remains available to support critical communication functions, Renesys CTO James Cowie wrote in a blog over the weekend.

In the immediate aftermath of the earthquake off the Japanese coast, about 100 of Japan's 6,000 network prefixes -- or segments -- were withdrawn from service. But they started reappearing on global routing tables just a few hours later. Similarly, traffic to and from Japan dropped by about 25 gigabits per second right after the Friday quake, but returned to normal levels a few hours later. And traffic at Japan's JPNAP Layer 2 Internet exchange service appears to have slowed by just 10% since Friday, according to Renesys.

"Why have we not seen more impact on international Internet traffic from this incredibly devastating quake? We don't know yet," Cowie wrote.

Clearwire CEO Resigns

2011-03-11T03:07:00.001-08:00

Clearwire named its chairman John Stanton as interim CEO, after Bill Morrow resigned from the position citing personal reasons. Stanton, a former CEO of VoiceStream Wireless which later became T-Mobile USA, takes over immediately while the Wimax operator seeks a replacement. Stanton became chairman in January, after serving as a director of the company since November 2008. Morrow will continue to serve as an advisor to the company during the transition period. The company has appointed a search committee, chaired by board member Dennis Hersch, to lead the hiring process for a new CEO. At the same time, Clearwire CFO Erik Prusch has been promoted to the newly created position of chief operating officer (COO). In this position, Prusch will be responsible for the company's day-to-day operations, including wholesale and retail sales, marketing, customer service, supply chain, human resources, IT and network operations. In addition, Hope Cochran, Clearwire's senior vice president and treasurer, has been promoted to the position of CFO. Cochran will be responsible for all of the company's financial and investor related functions, including overseeing Clearwire's ongoing fundraising efforts. The company also announced that Mike Sievert, chief commercial officer, and Kevin Hart, CIO, are both leaving the company to pursue other opportunities. Clearwire said the management changes "are not expected to impact the company's progress on an agreement with Sprint to resolve wholesale pricing disputes", and the company "believes that an agreement with Sprint is imminent".

Verizon starts standards-based 100Gb Ethernet rollout

2011-03-07T10:47:00.000-08:00

http://www.zdnet.co.uk/news/networking/2011/03/04/verizon-starts-standards-based-100gb-ethernet-rollout-40092031/

The 100Gb Ethernet standard was ratified at the end of May last year. Routers and blades based on 100Gb Ethernet have appeared since then, but Verizon said on Wednesday that the link on the company's European backbone network was the first to show the fruits of the standardisation. The routers came from Juniper Networks and the coherent optical transport system from Ciena.

"We don't have to look too far into the future to know that bandwidth needs will continue to grow, so Verizon is taking this next step of deploying a 100Gb Ethernet link to stay ahead of that demand," said Verizon global network planning chief Ihab Tarazi in a statement. "We will continue to deploy this technology on our global network where demand is highest."

According to Verizon, the new link can carry up to 10 times the amount of network traffic that would be manageable on a standard connection. The technology is suited to very high-bandwidth applications, being used for example in an upgrade to Cern's research network infrastructure.

On Friday, Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) and Juniper also announced a step forward in the use of 100Gb Ethernet equipment: the two companies have successfully tested 100Gb Ethernet interoperability between NSN's hiT 7300 DWDM optical transport network kit and Juniper's T1600 core router.

Obama pushes expanding high-speed wireless service

2011-01-26T09:17:00.000-08:00

http://www.cnbc.com/id/41264739

WASHINGTON - U.S. President Barack Obama on Tuesday called for expanding high-speed wireless services to meet the voracious appetite of consumers and businesses, a task that could be tough because airwaves are a finite resource and demand is almost limitless.

"Within the next five years, we will make it possible for business to deploy the next generation of high-speed wireless coverage to 98% of all Americans," Obama said during his annual State of the Union speech to the U.S. Congress.

"This isn't just about a faster Internet and fewer dropped calls. It's about connecting every part of America to the digital age," he said, noting farmers in rural areas can sell their crops abroad and doctors can chat with patients via video.

The Obama administration has endorsed making 500 megahertz of wireless airwaves, or spectrum, available over the next decade to meet the growing demand for broadband services, including the widely popular Apple iPad and proliferation of smartphones.

The Federal Communications Commission hopes to repurpose 120 megahertz of spectrum through incentive auctions where television broadcasters like CBS Corp would voluntarily give up spectrum in exchange for a portion of the proceeds.

"President Obama is helping the nation to understand the incredible benefits that broadband wireless can bring: to our business, to healthcare, to productivity and to education," said Verizon Wireless general counsel Steve Zipperstein.

"Wireless innovation requires public policies that foster innovation, growth and encourage continued investment by Verizon and our partners in the technology," he said.

However, the broadcast television industry has raised concerns about giving up its airwaves. An industry representative noted airwaves it relinquished two years have yet to be fully used.

"We would encourage Congress to immediately pass spectrum inventory legislation that fully identifies airwaves that are not being used," said Dennis Wharton, a spokesman for the National Association of Broadcasters.

Clearwave winner for stimulus funding

2011-01-19T12:13:00.000-08:00

Stimulus winner Clearwave has ambitious middle mile network plans

Although small incumbent telcos won a large portion of broadband stimulus funding, some competitive local exchange carriers also were winners. One of the larger CLEC stimulus awards went to Delta Communications, a competitive carrier that operates under the name Clearwave.

The company won a grant for $31.5 million through the stimulus program, which it will use in combination with as much as $45 million in matching funds, to build a 740-mile fiber network in rural Illinois that will interconnect anchor institutions and businesses in numerous communities. When the project is completed, anchor institutions and business customers will have dramatically improved bandwidth availability at economical rates, Clearwave President Scott Riggs told Connected Planet.

Clearwave, which already serves 1500 business customers in the area, expects to gain more. When we can come in and offer them 10 or 20 meg for less than they pay for a T-1, why wouldn't they switch over to that service? asked Riggs.

Anchor institutions such as schools, libraries, government agencies and health care facilities will see even better rates, as Clearwave promised to offer them deeply discounted services as part of its stimulus application for a three-year period. Their pricing, Riggs said, was discounted almost to the point where it's at about what it costs us to serve them.

The pricing will be so attractive in comparison with current offerings that any anchor institution not taking the new service could be viewed as shirking its fiduciary responsibility, Riggs said.

A high-speed network

Clearwave got its start in the mid-1990s, initially operating as a paging company, then transitioning into a CLEC strategy around 2001. We're now transitioning into fiber transport with some last-mile components, said Riggs.

Clearwave has already co-located in 20 incumbent central offices operated by AT&T and Frontier and will add 10 more as part of the stimulus project, connecting all COs to the fiber network.

The government requires any company using stimulus funds to build a broadband network to allow other service providers access to that network at reasonable rates and, as a result, Clearwave also expects to see other service providers coming in to offer residential broadband services, using Clearwave's network for backhaul. The Clearwave network will connect to carrier interconnection points in St. Louis and Chicago, enabling nationwide and even worldwide connectivity. Clearwave also expects to provide connectivity to numerous cell towers.

A final element of the project is a new data center, which will house key equipment, including routers. Although not part of the stimulus project, Clearwave expects to eventually use the data center to support hosted services for its customers.

If at first you don't succeed . . .

Clearwave won its stimulus funding in the second round of the stimulus program, after an unsuccessful attempt in the first round. After being rejected on its first try, Clearwave looked closely at first round applications that were successful and reworked its application to include more anchor institutions, including a 911 project.

Clearwave has not yet broken ground on the new project because it is still waiting for environmental approvals. But the company has selected key vendors including Cyan and Juniper. And Clearwave, which has about 32 employees, has hired about five new people and expects to double its work force within 12 to 18 months as a result of the stimulus project.

Apple Competition and Steve Jobs Health

2011-01-18T11:32:00.000-08:00

Steve Jobs' latest medical leave comes at a time when competition to Apple Inc.'s popular iPhone and iPad products is mounting fast.

The Cupertino, Calif.-based consumer electronics giant has set the tone for the mobile computing market. Its iPhone usurped Research In Motion Ltd.'s BlackBerry for leadership in the U.S. smartphone space and triggered a host of copycat devices that employed its touchscreen interface. Similarly, Apple set off the boom in tablet computing, selling more than 7 million iPads in less a year on the market.

But the competition is catching up. Already, handsets running Google Inc.'s Android operating system have become trendy among technophiles and neophytes alike. And though the iPad remains the dominant tablet computer, new devices are on the way from Research In Motion, Samsung Electronics Co., Acer Inc. and Dell Inc.

On Monday, Mr. Jobs, 55, told Apple employees he had been granted a leave "so I can focus on my health." Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook will run the company in Jobs's absence though Jobs would "be involved in major strategic decisions for the company."

Mr. Jobs' absence leaves Apple without its most important visionary as the competition circles the products that have come to symbolize the world's most valuable technology company. Mr. Jobs is credited with stewarding projects like the iPhone and iPad from conception to production. He is viewed as the company's top dealmaker, cutting agreements with content publishers and network operators.

Importantly, Mr. Jobs is the company's pitch man, whipping up excitement among customers for the company's latest gadget. "He has a set of skills motivating people and shepherding certain designs through in new products and in deal-making that's awfully rare," said Kevin Landis, president of SiVest Group. He added that while he sees Jobs as an essential part of Apple's strategy, the chief executive's temporary medical leave isn't going to push him to change his Apple holdings, which constitute nearly 10% of his "Technology Leaders Fund."

Apple did not respond immediately to a request for comment on how Mr. Jobs' absence might affect its competitive position.

Whether the competition can displace Apple is an open question. The company has legions of loyal fans and commands respect from technologists. Its designs regularly win plaudits for their stylish simplicity.

And Apple has weathered Mr. Jobs' health concerns before with Apple Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook filling in for the CEO.

Still, Mr. Cook can't replace Jobs' star power as a pitchman. Last week, the crowd at the launch of the iPhone on Verizon's network was noticeably deflated when Mr. Cook rather than Mr. Jobs showed up.

And competitors are stealing pages from Apple's playbook with success. In recent months, more smartphones running Android have been sold in the U.S. than those running Apple's operating system, according to Nielsen Co. Several tablet computers, including Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc. unveiled its "Xoom" tablet at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas to a warm reception. And Samsung has shipped more than one million Galaxy Tab slates, an iPad competitor, in its first quarter. "I do think the Jobs' absence is a window for the competitors," said Kim Caughey Forrest, an analyst for the Fort Pitt Capital fund, which sold all its Apple shares a few years ago. "It should be really interesting to see what happens."

4G Impact to Wireline and Backbone Carriers

2011-01-17T11:02:00.000-08:00

Interesting article as 4G rolls out will it stimulate more backbone upgrades?

Connected Planet spoke to Sanjay Mewada, NetCracker's vice president of strategy, about what critical OSS components operators like DoCoMo should be thinking about as they move to deploy LTE infrastructure and services.

Connected Planet: What's different now with LTE than all other instances of upgrades in the past?
Sanjay Mewada: Nowadays, once a competitor goes to 4g or LTE, you have to respond, so the cycle times that service providers enjoyed before are gone. With DSL or fiber-based rollouts you went market by market in a methodical way, scaling up as you went. But now, the cycle between planning, deploying and going live is very short; no more three-year cycles because of competitive pressures and the push to make public announcements to keep investors and the market happy.

Also, when upgrading bandwidth on the access side, it has a dramatic cascading effect now on the backhaul and core networks. So it's not enough to go 4G on mobile and not to do the same on fixed. If you are offering 60 Mbps on a smart phone, then your RAN has to be able to handle that, and your backhaul and core simultaneously have to. It would be of course smarter to do it even earlier than when you roll it out on the access side, as you don't want to bear the consequences of a huge surge.

It's a mistake to roll out 4G in certain areas just so you can say you have it for marketing purposes, without considering the whole footprint and the impact on service.

Connected Planet: How do tighter cycle times impact OSS strategy?
Sanjay Mewada: Your rollouts have to be as efficient as possible and bring to bear the right capabilities and tools right from the start, as there is little room for error when customers have so many choices to churn. That means something like workforce management for next-gen networks in fixed and mobile will be very important. You can't have multiple truck rolls because of scheduling problems, or because a technician forgets certain pieces of hardware, electronics or tools, or even hammers and nails for that matter! You have to do it right the first time, especially since resources are increasingly limited (physical, logical and human). Everything from the municipal approvals necessary to build base stations, to the antennae, to the hammers and nails needs to be managed in a comprehensive and complete manner.

Quality of service and service management will also be very important now that you are going beyond SMS and onto offering HD TV on mobile phones or high-quality videos. Customer expectations and tolerance for failure will rise, and drop, respectively. The stakes are much higher now that you are offering a 70-Mbps service like video streaming or video conferencing over iPads, smart phones and other devices. Now more than ever, end end-to-end management of quality will mean a lot; there cannot be unrecognized and unplacated drops of IP packets if you are going to compete successfully in terms of customer satisfaction. I think I saw a Spiderman cartoon that read: With more power comes more responsibility. Well, with more bandwidth comes more focus on quality.

Third, I think device management will be crucial with the proliferation of devices. If you have 50 billion devices (and that's before M2M comes to the fore) then you have to manage reading, messaging, viewing, interactions connectivity among Kindles, iPads, Blackberrys and so on. Ensuring connectivity is optimal for a device, for an application, for a location, for a preference will mean you will need very robust networks and very intuitive and aware OSS capabilities.

If you've been kicking the same can down the same road with your legacy systems, this is the moment of truth to invest in future proofing your systems to accommodate changes in a really rapid way.

Verizon to Carry iPhone

2011-01-13T12:09:00.000-08:00

Other than tweaking the iPhone 4G's controversial antenna, Apple has made few changes to the Verizon version that will end AT&T's exclusivity, according to media reports from Tuesday's announcement. Verizon's iPhone will not support its Long-Term Evolution 4G service, but the carrier did confirm that it would soon offer an iPad over its network. Apple priced Verizon's iPhone at $199, the same as AT&T's. Some questions remain, such as how Verizon will price its monthly packages and whether its network can handle the increased traffic demands that swamped AT&T.

Verizon to Carry iPhone

Qwest E-Line offering delivers dedicated bandwidth

2011-01-13T12:04:00.000-08:00

From USTelecomdailylead -

A new point-to-point Ethernet offering from Qwest dubbed iQ E-Line service, announced today, provides customers with end-to-end dedicated bandwidth, said Eric Bozich, vice president of Qwest National Network Services in an interview with Connected Planet.

It enables the kinds of applications we see customers looking for such as disaster recovery, data replication between data centers and mission-critical business applications, said Bozich.

Service rides on DWDM

The new service rides on top of Qwest's nationwide dense wavelength division multiplex (DWDM) network, relying on multi-protocol label switching (MPLS) for bonding and concatenation of circuits.

We're leveraging customer premises equipment (CPE) that provides granularity and gives flexibility in the loop technology, Bozich said. That equipment can support a wide range of incremental data rates, enabling customers to upgrade bandwidth speeds with a programming change, provided that their access link has sufficient bandwidth. The new E-Line service can be ordered at rates ranging from 5 Mb/s to 1 Gb/s.

The CPE underlying Qwest's offering can support a wide range of access options including Sonet, DS-1 and metro Ethernet, said Bozich. The benefit to them is that the presentation is Ethernet, he said.

From the customer premises, traffic is carried back to one of 16 Qwest points of presence nationwide that are nodes on the carrier's DWDM network. At that point, the customer's connection is aggregated with other connections, with bandwidth dedicated to each customer based on what the customer has ordered.

This approach enables Qwest to provide service level agreements and, because no queuing is required, latency is minimized, Bozich said.

E-Line vs. Ethernet private line

Until now, Qwest has offered point-to-point Ethernet only through a Sonet-based offering, which the company calls Ethernet private line. In that offering, the CPE converts the Sonet signal into Ethernet for the customer, Bozich explained.

Because it does not rely on Sonet, the new E-Line service uses bandwidth more efficiently, making it more cost-effective, Bozich said. He added, though, that some customers likely will prefer the Ethernet private line offering because it supports Sonet's inherent self-restoration capabilities.

Customers relying on DWDM connectivity, Bozich said, are designing in their own redundancy, with alternate and primary paths and diverse routing.

Qwest did not need to make any major network upgrades to support the new E-Line offering, Bozich said. But the CPE supporting the offering is new to Qwest, he said. The carrier has not revealed which manufacturer is supplying that equipment.

Grants to Rural Areas for Broadband Expansion

2010-02-19T03:02:00.000-08:00

Always encouraging to see Broadband Availability expanding to rural areas!

Anyone Need $4.8B?
Source: www.esri.com/bbstat

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration and Rural Utilities Service have announced the availability of $4.8 billion in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act grants and loans for broadband initiatives, the second funding round for the agencies' stimulus act programs.

Ten (10) U.S. states and 1 U.S. territory will soon launch comprehensive broadband mapping and planning initiatives based on ESRI's geographic information system (GIS) technology. They will use BroadbandStat, an application developed by ESRI and Connected Nation, to organize and display broadband service and related data on the Internet.

The BroadbandStat application hosts interactive Web maps that show broadband coverage across U.S. states and incorporates other relevant data. It includes tools that use service provider and demographics data to identify unserved and underserved broadband areas with optimum potential for new broadband infrastructure development. Its Web capabilities enable a shared picture of broadband data and support transparency by giving the public access to the information.

The new state broadband mapping initiatives are supported by more than $20 million in State Broadband Data and Development Program grants recently announced by the Department of Commerce's National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA).

Funds were made available through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA). More than $7 billion in ARRA stimulus funds have been designated to help expand broadband access in unserved and underserved communities across the United States.

The NTIA grants were awarded to each state's designated project entity, which in many cases is Connected Nation, a nonprofit corporation and leader in promoting broadband expansion.

Awards include the following:
- Florida: $2.5 million, to Florida Department of Management Services
- Illinois: $1.8 million, to Partnership for a Connected Illinois
- Iowa: $2.2 million, to Connected Nation
- Michigan: $1.8 million, to Connected Nation
- Minnesota: $1.7 million, to Connected Nation
- Nevada: $1.4 million, to Connected Nation
- Ohio: $1.8 million, to Ohio Office of Information Technology
- Puerto Rico: $1.4 million, to Puerto Rico Office of the Chief Information Officer
- South Carolina: $1.7 million, to Connected Nation
- Tennessee: $1.8 million, to Connected Tennessee
- Texas: $2.5 million, to Connected Nation

Time Warner Cable dropping Fox??

2009-12-25T08:34:00.000-08:00

Long term deals with FOX’s television stations in New York, Los Angeles, Austin, Dallas, Detroit, Orlando and Tampa are expiring on December 31st. More than 13 million households and 30 million people from New York to Los Angeles stand to lose some of America’s most popular entertainment including many of Fox’s cable channels, such as FX, SPEED, FUEL TV, Fox Movie Channel, Fox Reality Channel, Fox Soccer Channel, Fox Sports en Español, and FS Arizona, Florida, Houston, Indiana, Kansas City, Midwest, Southwest, West, and Prime Ticket, SportSouth, and Sun Sports unless we reach a fair agreement soon.

Fox programming included in the proposal has something for virtually everyone, everywhere – appealing to viewers who are passionate about Award-winning original dramas and comedies; live National Football League, Major League Baseball, National Basketball Association, NASCAR, National Hockey League, and Major League Soccer games; international sports competitions; racing; action-sports; and Spanish-language sports programming.

Alternatives:
Dish Network
Direct TV
Verizon FiOS

Stimulus billions fund rural broadband Internet

2009-08-12T18:05:00.000-07:00

For businesses in rural America, fast Internet connections remain a scarce luxury. A $7 billion stimulus program aims to narrow the digital gap.

By Sharon McLoone, CNNMoney.com contributing writer
August 11, 2009: 4:30 AM ET

WASHINGTON (CNNMoney.com) -- Fast Internet access is a luxury most businesses take for granted these days, but in remote areas of the country, the staticky crackle of a dial-up modem connection remains a familiar sound. A $7.2 billion stimulus initiative aims to expand broadband access and speed up the modem's extinction.

Two federal agencies, the Commerce Department's National Telecommunications Information Administration (NTIA) and the Agriculture Department's Rural Utility Service, each landed billions from the Recovery Act to fund new broadband infrastructure projects. Applications are due this week for the first wave of grants and loans from those programs.

For entrepreneurs in rural areas, a broadband connection can be an economic lifeline. Alexis Gault lives in Asheville, a city of 74,000 at the mountainous western edge of North Carolina. After losing her $8 an hour job as a photographer's assistant, she decided to turn her part-time hobby into a full-time career. Gault launched Lush Life Originals, a custom clothes line she sells online.

She relies on a speedy Internet connection to send clients e-mails with high-resolution images, maintain her Web site, and keep up with her site's e-commerce. But it's not a connection she takes for granted: Gault's Internet provider is a local nonprofit, the Mountain Area Information Network (MAIN), that relies on grants and fundraising to supplement its service fees.

"Time is literally my money. If I'm not sewing, I'm not making money," Gault says. "If someone orders something and it's not in stock any more, I don't have to run to the library to use their broadband connection to update my Web site."

Charter Communications offer DSL (digital subscriber line) service in Gault's neighborhood, but she is not able to afford its higher monthly fees.

Wally Bowen, MAIN's executive director, sees a direct connection between Internet access and economic prosperity. "One thing that we've learned is that people started making significant progress in their lives when they started using the Internet," he says. "They were able to start new businesses, manage their health care insurance and medicine online, and get more job training."

MAIN has been operating as a nonprofit in North Carolina's rural mountains since 1996. The group got its start with an NTIA grant to build infrastructure to give the area's residents dial-up Internet access through a local phone call. MAIN also introduced Internet access at local public libraries and community centers.

In 2003, MAIN expanded to offer high-speed wireless connections. Today, the organization serves 1,200 dial-up subscribers in 14 counties, 400 wireless subscribers across four counties, and hosts some 450 Web sites. Outside of MAIN, residents face few choices. DSL lines and higher-speed broadband are available from larger firms in the town center and immediate outlying area, but not much further.

"Six out of 10 people who want our wireless broadband service can't get it," Bowen says.

He sees wireless technology, which get around the region's hollows and hills, as the best and most immediate broadband solution for residents. But there's very limited spectrum available for him to offer customers service, a problem he's looking to the Federal Communications Commission to fix. The FCC took action last year to free up more spectrum for situations like these, but it has yet to issue protocols on how technology should operate within the spectrum. Until it moves forward with those rules, none of the spectrum that was freed is available for use.

MAIN, working with several partners, is angling for a $50 million grant from the $7.2 billion stimulus funding pool for broadband projects. That coalition is looking to build an optical fiber network that would bring broadband access to residents in three counties. MAIN is also seeking a separate grant to build out wireless broadband to local public housing, community centers and fire stations.

Without the federal funds, MAIN can't afford to roll out those services. Things would remain "status quo," Bowen says.

That's an option the U.S. can't afford if it wants to retain its global lead as a technology innovator. America is now ranked 15th in the world on broadband access, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. It was No. 1 in the mid-1990s.

The digital gap within the country is widening. More than two-thirds of U.S. households now subscribe to a broadband service, compared to just one-fifth five years ago, according to recent data from Leichtman Research Group. But in rural America, only 31% of residents have a broadband connection, according to the Pew Internet and American Life Project. The rural West leads in broadband connections, while the South is the worst laggard, census data says.

Sascha Meinrath, director of the Open Technology Initiative at Washington think tank New America Foundation, says lawmakers need to recognize that the state of the nation's broadband is an enormous, looming problem.

"Countries decades ago realized that you need to invest in highways if you want to have a modern economy," Meinrath says. "Those countries that didn't invest have been left behind. In the digital era, there will be those countries that don't invest and get left behind."

Do-it-yourself access
Not every region in need of a broadband buildout has turned to the government for money.

The city of Powell, Wyo., raised $6.5 million from private investors to build a high-speed fiber-to-the-home network for its 5,500 residents. The network took three years to build, and just launched in May. Qwest Communications (Q, Fortune 500) provides communications services in the area, but Logan says Qwest's connections are slower than the city's project.

"We've figured out an innovative way of funding this without taxpayers' money and without state, local or federal money," says Powell City Administrator Zane Logan.

TCT West, a regional communications company based in Basin, Wyo., is the city's service provider and has an exclusive contract with Powell for six years. "We're providing the infrastructure in the city, and we are giving TCT the ability to provide services and set rates," says Logan. "The idea was to keep businesses downtown and to attract more professional, technical-type businesses."

Logan has been down a similar path before. He was hired in 1992 as the city's electrical superintendent and worked to completely overhaul the local grid, from the substation to residents' houses. "It took 12 years, but one of the reasons I did that is because when a business comes to town they want to know who is your power company and how reliable is it," he says. "That got me to thinking about telecom."

He thinks the city's Internet gamble is already paying off: "Existing businesses here are expanding," Logan says. "People can stay at home and get as good and fast of a connection as in a big city."

Powell's broadband project has another economic fringe benefit: TCT West has been hiring Powell residents for customer service, installation and tech support.

Building a better map
The first step toward improving the nation's broadband infrastructure is finding out where the problem spots are. Some $350 million of the Recovery Act's $7.2 billion funding pool has been earmarked to map the country's broadband use and highlight which regions have high-quality access. The idea was put forward in a bill signed by President Bush last year, but the measure didn't allocate any funding for the initiative. The money showed up in President Obama's stimulus package.

Drew Clark, executive director of BroadbandCensus.com, a trade publication tracking the broadband stimulus funding, says better mapping data could be a boon for small businesses.

"A public and transparent map will be useful to helping businesses invest," he says. "You want to locate your business where there is broadband or where there's likely to be broadband. You need to know where the interstate highway type of connections are and where the dirt roads are."

The Federal Communications Commission has also been charged with presenting lawmakers with a national broadband plan by Feb. 17, 2010. One of its goals is to get affordable broadband to as many people as possible. The FCC is taking a flood of public comments on the matter and must digest them as part of putting together its recommendations. The issues it is grappling with include defining terms like "affordable broadband" and "underserved."

"We can restore economic vitality to underserved areas that for decades have not had the benefit of this IT knowledge base," says MAIN's Bowen. "People like [Microsoft cofounder] Bill Gates and others in Silicon Valley are bright people, but they had access to social capital to incubate and nurture them. The social capital has been drained out of rural America for several decades now. We can fix that."

Verizon Submits Recommendations for National Broadband Plan

2009-06-10T16:40:00.000-07:00

Verizon Communications submitted its suggestions on June 8 for the national broadband plan called for by Congress and President Obama. The suggestions are contained in a detailed, 10-point proposal filed with the Federal Communications Commission.

"Verizon looks forward to working with policymakers and other stakeholders in developing broadband policies that will ensure broadband availability to all Americans, encourage widespread adoption of broadband services, and empower consumers to make their own choices," the company said in our filing.

The FCC is assembling recommendations for Congress to consider for the plan, which is due in February 2010.

"A lively and open ecosystem of innovation and investment has helped to make broadband an integral part of the lives of millions of Americans, providing an ever-expanding array of services, applications and devices to address nearly any conceivable purpose," Verizon said. "Most consumers have choices among ever-more-robust broadband networks that meet their needs at home, at work, and on the go."

To continue that progress, Verizon suggested that, "Policymakers should ensure that any new policies maintain the healthy dynamics of the broadband marketplace that are currently creating and preserving jobs and leading to additional choices for consumers."

10 Key Elements
Verizon urged the FCC to include the following 10 elements in its recommendations to Congress:
A focused effort to encourage broadband demand.
A consumer-choice framework.
Encouraging continued innovation to improve cyber security for consumers and the nation.
Pursuing a consumer-focused approach to privacy.
Facilitating wireless broadband.
Pursuing a pro-growth regulatory approach.
Reforming the universal service fund to encourage broadband.
Encouraging broadband by encouraging IP-based services.
Effective implementation of stimulus programs.
Encouraging broadband adoption and deployment through tax reform.

How to Achieve Potential
"But much work remains to be done for broadband to achieve its full potential in the United States," the company said.

"First, policymakers -- together with industry and other stakeholders -- need to find ways of ensuring that all Americans have access to broadband," Verizon said. "Well over 90 percent" of Americans have access to broadband, and most can choose from at least two wireline, three wireless and two satellite broadband providers. This is a level of facilities-based competition hardly seen in any other country in the world. But gaps in access remain in some hard-to-serve, rural areas.

"Any national broadband plan should have as a top priority filling those gaps," the company said in its filing.

"Second, in many more areas, work remains to be done to address the other factors that prevent too many consumers from adopting broadband services," Verizon said. "Roughly 40 percent of Americans do not adopt broadband when it is available to them."

According to studies, the primary factors include the lack of computers and computer literacy, as well as "the failure to appreciate the potential relevance of broadband" to consumers' lives, Verizon said.

"Third, consumers should be empowered with choices in services, applications and devices that meet their many evolving uses of broadband," Verizon said. "[That] will depend on broadband providers and other providers of Internet services, applications and devices continuing to innovate and invest to spread the reach and capabilities of broadband and to continue the evolution of broadband networks and the services, applications, and devices that use broadband or the public Internet."

"By following this consumer-focused, pro-growth and pro-innovation framework and taking these steps to encourage broadband deployment and adoption, policymakers would encourage broadband deployment and adoption, and would empower consumers with an increasing array of choices," Verizon told the FCC.

OSP's Broadband Stimulus Update - May 29, 2009

2009-05-30T12:41:00.000-07:00

by: Dr. Bernhard Deutsch
OSP Magazine
In mid-May, both the NTIA and RUS published their much-awaited Program Plans for the broadband technologies opportunities program (BTOP) and broadband recovery plan, respectively. The intent of these Program Plans was to clarify the objectives and define the measures that will be reported to Congress on a regular basis, as well as establish a schedule for the next 16 months until the end of the program in September 2010.

However, the agencies did not provide more detailed guidelines for the application form and process, as well as definitions of key terms like "unserved" and "underserved" or "broadband." The highly debated topic "Buy American" was not addressed at all. It can be assumed that the details of these definitions and the application process will be revealed with the first Notice of Funds Available, expected in June from both agencies.

It seems it will take the agencies longer than initially planned to award the first grants. The new timeline anticipates these grants to be decided towards the end of the year now. This means that projects that require funding from the stimulus plan may not start deployment until next year. So, as a service provider, you should start deploying whatever you planned to build out this year and not wait for released funds from the plan.

While the information did not describe the application review criteria, the listed measures that the agencies will report on and what they require from grant receivers give a strong hint on what the application should focus. Below is more detailed information on what the two agencies published, but first, here is a brief summary from my point of view:

Primary focus is job creation.
This is the primary objective of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. There is good news if you are thinking about building a fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) network because studies have shown that with almost 20 jobs per $1 million spent, FTTH generates the most jobs compared to other broadband technologies:

Broadband Technology Jobs per Million $ Invested
FTTH Weighted Average Multiplier 19.7437
Cable Weighted Average Multiplier 14.7412
DSL Weighted Average Multiplier 14.7412
Wireless Weighted Average Multiplier 14.6618

[Source: Economic Effect of Tax Incentives for Broadband Infrastructure Deployment, Empiris LLC, prepared on behalf of the FTTH Council, January 2009]

If you don't have the ability to accurately forecast the jobs directly created or retained for your project, it might be worthwhile to attach a copy of this study to your application. In addition, a survey among businesses in the area where deployment is planned might be beneficial to demonstrate that indirect jobs are created or maintained because of the broadband availability.

Focus on network capability.
I recently learned (painfully I might add) that in golf, speed and reach/distance are the same, and I think this is a great analogy for broadband networks. The better the speed is (or bandwidth of the technology used), the better the reach is. While the agencies have not defined "broadband," they clearly indicate that the number of homes reached with the network is very important. If a new technology is deployed in central offices, the best way to leverage this investment might be to choose the technology with the furthest reach. This is particularly of importance in rural areas.

Focus on customer take rate.
One of the criteria listed is the number of subscribers taking the new services. It is probably best to give an estimate from your business plan when applying. However, it might be more powerful to support your assumptions with market studies. An example for FTTH broadband networks is the recent market study by Render Vanderslice & Associates [Source: Render Vanderslice & Associates, Current FTTH Status, April 2009]: With approximately 4.4 million subscribers and approximately 13.8 million homes marketed, the overall subscriber take rate is an impressive 31.8 percent after only a few years, specifically if you take into account that the homes marketed grew 3.8 million between March 2008 and March 2009. But homes connected grew 1.5 million – a clear indication that take rates are still increasing. The data becomes even more compelling if you look at the take rate outside of Regional Bell Operating Companies: a 52.6 percent subscriber take rate should be a very good argument to tell application reviewers.

Focus on timeliness.
One aspect the application review process may evaluate is the ability to execute the project within the required timeframe of two years. It may be helpful to demonstrate that you utilize modern installation methods that accelerate and simplify the installation such as directional boring and preterminated cable solutions. Here studies have shown a time savings of 30 to 50 percent.

NTIA information update.
NTIA highlighted their BTOP's intent to "enable consumers in unserved and underserved areas…to access broadband services" with the goal that these deployments "serve as an important engine for economic development, enabling communities and regions to develop and expand job-creating businesses and institutions."

The NTIA defined the following measures – and what the grantee needs to provide:

• Job creation – Report on the number and type of jobs created directly by the program.
• Expanded broadband access – Number of areas where service will be made available or improved, and how many homes and businesses will be passed by the network.
• Stimulate private-sector investments – Amount and types of investments generated from ARRA funded projects.
• High-speed access to "strategic institutions" – New equipment and capacity and estimated number of end-users who are currently using or forecasted to use the new infrastructure.
• Encourage broadband demand – New subscribers generated from demand-side projects.

BTOP's Program Office, led by its Compliance Officer, will work closely with the Grants Office to develop formal guidance for conducting quarterly desk reviews and onsite monitoring visits. NTIA is currently developing internal procedures and controls for assigning risk to grantees for the purpose of reporting and monitoring.

NTIA understands they need support in this program and plans to close on its procurement for grant program assistance services with award of this contract in June 2009. They are preparing for the "initial solicitation for proposals" and expect to publish the first Notice of Funds Availability (NOFA) also in June 2009. They stated that they plan to review these proposals between September and December 2009 with the initial grants being awarded in December 2009. The second and third "solicitation for proposals" are planned for October to December 2009 and April to June 2010, respectively. As a reminder, all grants have to be awarded by September 2010.

RUS information update.
RUS has issued an RFQ to procure a contractor for implementation, administration and oversight assistance. It plans to publish a first NOFA in June with awards for this first funding round by the end of 2009 – additional NOFAs are expected to follow with awards between the second and fourth quarter of 2010.

The USDA's RUS defined the following measures – and I think it is fair to assume that the grantee is required to provide this information on a regular basis:

• New or retained businesses in areas funded.
• Jobs created or saved (direct via network planning, engineering, construction and maintenance, and indirect from existing and new companies that utilize the new broadband access).
• Number of households and businesses receiving first-time access.
• Number of households and businesses with improved broadband access.
• Number of educational, health care and public safety providers receiving access.

Grantees will be required to report no less than quarterly after funds project benchmarks. The project performance will be tracked at least quarterly, with some measures being reported monthly and annual CPA audits will be required from all applicants. In addition, RUS field accountants will conduct audits upon project completion, and they mentioned the option to hire outside contractors to provide additional monitoring and evaluation.

The RUS also defined its expectations from the implementation of the plan to "improve the rural quality of life" by new and improved services for businesses and residences, as well as critical facilities (e.g., educational institutions, health care providers, public service/safety, and local, state and federal government).

For any questions, please contact me at econstimulusinfo@corning.com

Sources:
• RUS http://www.recovery.gov/?q=content/program-plan&program_id=5408
• NTIA http://www.recovery.gov/?q=content/program-plan&program_id=5517#measures

Legal Disclaimer: This material is intended to provide general information about that portion of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (the "Act") related to broadband deployments in the United States. These materials are based on information from multiple sources (e.g., USDA and USDC presentations, webinars by industry associations, the Act). Many factors, including the final provisions of the Act, any accompanying regulations and other government programs may change, delay or terminate public funds for broadband deployment. Corning Cable Systems makes no promises about, and does not assume any liability for, the accuracy or completeness of the information provided in this presentation. Corning Cable Systems does not assume any obligation to update this presentation or you about changes to the Act.

Updated: Verizon preps 100 Mb/s FiOS for 2009

2009-05-27T16:44:00.001-07:00

Dec 4, 2008 3:19 PM, By Ed Gubbins

Verizon Communications is preparing to enable 100-Mb/s broadband services next year for its fiber-to-the-premises network, according to Vincent O’Byrne, Verizon’s technology director.

After trialing 100-Mb/s services to a small number of users for at least a year, O’Byrne said at an event today held by Lightwave magazine, “That will be coming next year.”

However, a Verizon spokesperson contacted Telephony Friday to clarify that O'Byrne was not saying the company would necessarily roll out 100-Mb/s services next year. "Verizon expects to have its delivery processes for speeds like that locked down in 2009 so that service with speeds approaching 100 Mb/s would be enabled in the very near future," the spokesperson said. "We have no product ready to announce for deployment in 2009."

The move toward greater speed is justified by new services that will greatly increase residential bandwidth consumption, he said. “A lot of these different TVs will have inordinate demand on the bandwidth that’s required on the network in order to support them. In some cases, the requirements will be much greater than 100 Mb/s to the customer. In parallel to that, a number of TVs, a number of DVRs and network storage devices in the home will increase individual demand from customers on the network.”

For that reason, Verizon is already investigating possible successors to the GPON technology it began rolling out last year and ramped significantly this year. But O’Byrne reiterated today that GPON will serve Verizon’s needs for the foreseeable future and that post-GPON technologies aren’t likely to be standardized for a few years. Verizon’s first-generation FiOS technology, BPON, can support 100 Mb/s service, O’Byrne said, and GPON can support much more.

This summer, Verizon unveiled a new set of home gateways for FiOS aimed at boosting up in-home networking speeds from 75 Mb/s to 175 Mb/s.

At another industry event two years ago, Terry Denson, vice president of FiOS TV content strategy and acquisition for Verizon, said “very few” customers were asking for 100 Mb/s. “But it raises the ante on the competitive landscape, so that customers believe that 100 Mb/s is what they need to have,” he said in 2007. “A hundred meg ends up being a threshold because it's sexy. I don't think customer behavior is going to get there for several years. Some outliers will demand that and maybe more. But what really drives it isn't so much consumer demand. It's competitive marketing tactics.”

Verizon Says Wireless Innovation Can Help Economy

2009-04-24T11:09:00.000-07:00

Verizon Says Wireless Innovation Can Help Economy Source:
www.verizon.com

A new business model is emerging that will make the next 25 years of wireless industry growth and innovation every bit as dynamic as the first 25 years - an outcome that can be hugely beneficial to the U.S. economy, according to Ivan Seidenberg, chairman and CEO of Verizon Communications Inc.

In an address to the CTIA wireless conference on April 1, Seidenberg said that Verizon, from its position as the nation's largest wireless provider, sees the industry on the verge of a tipping point that will unleash the growth potential of next-generation wireless technology.
"I do not mean to minimize the challenges we face - as an industry or a country - as we try to get our economy going again," Seidenberg said. "But wireless innovation has been a foundation of our country's prosperity for the last 25 years, and I'm confident that this great and vibrant industry will continue to be a leader as we put our economy back on the path to growth."
He said that as the wireless industry harnesses the full innovative power of its technology, it can provide a new set of tools for addressing social issues, such as improving public safety, making businesses more productive, saving energy, improving the quality and reducing the cost of health care, and using wireless broadband to expand the economic opportunities of the digital era more broadly across society.

Seidenberg also warned that this growth and progress could be derailed, and he urged the wireless industry to focus on common issues and rally around creative solutions that will create value for customers and opportunity across the whole industry.
One challenge he cited was the need to come together on compatibility and standards. He said the market is pressing the wireless industry toward openness and compatibility, which would standardize the environment for application development. He called the global standards for LTE (long-term evolution, the next generation of wireless broadband technology) "a big step" in that direction.

A second challenge he cited was the need to maintain an environment conducive to continued investment and competition.
Another common issue Seidenberg cited was the need to come together to use the technological resources of the wireless industry to ensure national security and public safety by creating a 21st Century communications system for first-responders.

He said: "The key is to give public safety agencies the spectrum they need to meet their current and future needs - and, eight years out from 9/11, we cannot afford to wade through another round of auctions and redundant network construction to get there. Fortunately, there's another answer: assigning the D-block spectrum directly to state and local public safety agencies, then letting them work with local network providers to create the robust, interoperable system this country needs."

If common challenges are addressed, Seidenberg said, he sees the industry on the cusp of "the next wave of wireless growth." He said that Verizon has several initiatives under way to help lead the industry to this next level.

Seidenberg said that the fourth-generation LTE technology that Verizon Wireless is deploying throughout its network "will speed the transition to a truly globalized mobile broadband experience."

"LTE is quickly emerging as the global standard," Seidenberg said. "We're moving fast to get to 4G. Working with Vodafone, we've completed the market trials and standards work. We will begin deployment later this year with a few commercially-ready markets and will roll it out to 25 or 30 markets in 2010, with the expectation of faster rollout thereafter."
This infrastructure is "just one piece of the puzzle," he added. "It's the combination of devices, applications and network capabilities that will really cause this market to take off. No single company will be able to envision, let alone provide, every aspect of this whole 4G ecosystem on its own. That's why we're working with partners, entrepreneurs and inventors from across the industry to create the next-generation products and services."

At the end of 2007, Verizon announced its Open Development program - a process for certifying new wireless devices, software, and applications to run on its networks. Seidenberg said the company has so far certified 36 devices through this model, with more in the pipeline. "We expect this process to really rev up as we deploy 4G," he said.

In another initiative designed to fill up the LTE pipeline, Seidenberg said Verizon plans to launch the Verizon Wireless LTE Innovation Center later this year as an incubator for new products in the areas of consumer electronics, telematics, and machine-to-machine products for health care, security, and utility metering.

Economic Stimulus Funds for Service Providers

2009-04-06T16:06:00.000-07:00

EXCLUSIVE FEATURE -- Economic Stimulus Funds for Service ProvidersSource: www.ospmag.com
By Dr. Bernhard Deutsch, Director of Marketing and Market Development, Corning Cable Systems

When it comes to the economic stimulus package, enormous sums of money are being considered to jump-start the economy. There is also considerable uncertainty regarding where and how this money will be spent. This column intends to inform OSP® Magazine's readers regularly about the status of the broadband portion of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), signed into law on February 17, 2009, and what it means to telecommunications service providers.

The first step is to put the numbers in perspective. Out of the roughly $787 billion in the ARRA, approximately $26.4 billion is targeted for agricultural, rural aid and the FDA. Out of this, "only" $7.2 billion is assigned to the "Broadband Stimulus" package. This funding can be divided into two groups: $2.5 billion will be administrated by the Rural Utility Services (RUS) of the U.S. Department of Agriculture and $4.7 billion will be administrated by the Department of Commerce's National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) under the

Broadband Technology Opportunity Program (BTOP).
- The RUS funds will be distributed as grants, loans and loan guarantees, but no guidance has yet been provided regarding how the money should be split into these three categories. However, in their initial webcast on March 10, 2009, David Villano, Assistant Administrator for Telecommunication Programs of the USDA said that they prefer loan guarantees as this would allow them to support more applications.
- There are many categories within the NTIA funds that are intended for other uses besides broadband deployment by service providers: - $350 million for broadband mapping- $250 million for innovative programs to encourage sustainable adoption of broadband service - $200 million for expanding public computer center capacity- $10 million allocated for audits and oversight (transferred to Department of Commerce) - Three percent available for program administrative costs (~$141 million).

So if you've done the math, there is approximately $3.8 billion left for true broadband deployments from the NTIA funds. Together with the $2.5 billion from RUS, the total available funds for broadband deployment is about $6.4 billion – not enough to cover all of rural America but enough to help a large number of communities receive or improve their broadband services.
The next step is to review the current status of the rules and requirements development. Both programs, RUS and NTIA require that funds must be awarded by September 30, 2010, with substantial work to be completed within 2 years from grant award – so technically speaking, the latest spending date by service providers is September 30, 2012. Both agencies want to move fast and plan to issue three Notices of Funding Availability (NOFA) followed by three phases, each three months long to award the grants within that period of time. The first NOFA is expected in late March or early April. In addition, both agencies will publicly report applicants and grant receivers – after all it is the taxpayers' money that is spent, so full transparency will be required. The law requests the agencies work together and with the FCC to further define the rules and requirements. In addition, the applicants are required to comply with the FCC's non-discrimination and network interconnection obligations and to include the four principles of the

FCC's broadband policy statement (adopted August 5, 2005) by which consumers are entitled to:
- Access the lawful Internet content of their choice
- Run applications and use services of their choice, subject to the needs of law enforcement
- Connect their choice of legal devices that do not harm the network
- Competition among network providers, application and service providers, and content providers

For telecommunication service providers this should be nothing new.
Now that we have reviewed program similarities, here are some of the differences. To facilitate rural economic development, RUS funds are available for broadband infrastructure in the U.S. where 75 percent of the area to be served shall be in a "rural" area without "sufficient" access to "high speed broadband" service "as determined by the Secretary of Agriculture." Priority shall be given to projects that:
- Provide end-users a choice of more than one service provider
- Provide service to the highest proportion of rural residents without access to broadband services
- Are from borrowers or former borrowers under title II of the Rural Electrification Act of 1936 (or include such borrowers) – RUS has published latest list on February 4, 2009, on their Web site
- Prove that all project elements will be fully funded, can be completed and can promptly begin following approval

If RUS funds are received, then no NTIA funds will become available (no "double dipping") for the same project or equipment – and vice versa.
To apply for funding from NTIA, an applicant must be a government entity, a non-profit entity (e.g., rural telephone cooperatives may qualify) or any other entity that the NTIA finds by rule to be in the public interest (e.g., members of organizations like NTCA or U.S. Telecom, etc. may qualify automatically). Funding will be provided for:
- Improving broadband access in "unserved/underserved" areas
- Broadband education, awareness, access, equipment
- Support of certain entities/organizations (e.g., schools, libraries, healthcare providers)
- Improving use of broadband access for public safety agencies
- Stimulating broadband demand

You may have noticed many of the words above are in quotation marks, which indicates there are quite a few definitions to be clarified before the agencies can start reviewing applications. Also under discussion is whether or not the same requirements should apply to wireline and wireless broadband deployments or if they should be different. Another fundamental issue is determining the priority in ranking applications to meet the objectives of the programs; clearly, the programs are intended to create jobs – this is what our country needs the most at this time.

The broadband stimulus plan, in particular, is meant to do so by bridging the "digital divide" to ensure that rural areas have the same broadband offerings that urban areas have, where download speeds of up to 50 Mb/s and sometimes even more are already offered. The programs are also intended to increase the competitiveness of our nation in terms of broadband capability, to catch up with nations that have, on average, more than 50 Mb/s available per household, such as Japan or Korea. However, the money is not enough to achieve this for all. It is important to develop a ranking system that clarifies the objectives—connect as many communities as possible, or connect communities with high quality, high performance services.

The application process has not been fully developed and communicated, but the existing RUS loan program may serve as a model. However, the Secretary of Agriculture must submit to Congress a report on planned spending and actual obligations describing the use of the funds within 90 days of enactment (May 18, 2009) – so time is of the essence here.

NTIA plans to consider if the project increases "affordability" of and "subscribership" to services to the greatest population in an area, if it provides the greatest broadband speeds possible to the greatest population in an area, and if it enhances service for health-care delivery, education or children. They will also consider if the applicant is a "socially- and economically-disadvantaged small business" (e.g., Indian tribe or Hawaiian native owned) and ensure that it does not result in "unjust enrichment."

Again, many of the terms are in quotation marks and need further work by the agencies. This is why the agencies were on a road trip until March 24, seeking feedback via public hearings. The agencies received a lot of comments and suggestions to clarify those terms, specifically how broadband should be defined. Another key topic was to streamline the process and award grants as quickly as possible while balancing the need to avoid waste, fraud and abuse. [Note: The full transcripts of these meetings can be found at http://www.ntia.doc.gov/broadbandgrants/meetings.html

Several industry associations such as the FTTH Council or PCIA Wireless have already or are in the process of filing comments. Service providers have the opportunity to influence the plan's rules by contacting the agencies directly with their proposals to clarify the definitions and process requirements. They need to do so quickly; the deadline for comments to the RUS and NTIA is April 13, 2009. For help with contacts or to discuss what the best definitions are, please contact me at econstimulusinfo@corning.com.

Happy Birthday to WWW

2009-03-17T02:57:00.000-07:00

Article from Total Telecom - http://www.totaltele.com/view.aspx?ID=443942

By Mary Lennighan, Total Telecom
Friday 13 March 2009

We celebrate the 20th anniversary of Tim Berners-Lee's proposal that became the Internet; plus this week's news highlights. "Vague, but exciting." The words used by Mike Sendall, Tim Berners-Lee's boss at CERN, to describe Berners-Lee's proposal for an information management system that evolved into what we now know as the Internet. That proposal was submitted 20 years ago today. 20 years – is that all? For me, the Internet seems to have been around forever. And spending my days as I do, working on the Total Telecom Website, life without the World Wide Web, as Berners-Lee eventually settled on calling it, is impossible to imagine.
Working with systems engineer Robert Cailliau, Berners-Lee developed what was at the time designed to be a single information network to enable physicists at CERN to share the information stored on their individual computers.

The pair came up with the name World Wide Web in May 1990 and set up Info.cern.ch as the world's first Web site. Servers outside of CERN sprang up the following year. In February 1993 the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) released the first version of Mosaic, the browser that effectively brought the Internet to the masses.
A quick look at this week's news on the Total Telecom Website shows just how far we have come since then.

On Tuesday Google – arguably the Internet's greatest success story - admitted that its Web-based email service Gmail had suffered another outage, leaving an undisclosed number of users without access for 30 minutes. Some unlucky souls even had to manage without Gmail for 24 hours, although Google assured the world that it was working hard to fix the problem, which was caused by a software bug. Incidentally, there are now more than 113 million Gmail users worldwide, according to data tracking company comScore.

Meanwhile, CERN says the number of Websites in existence has risen to over 80 million.
Internet usage has certainly evolved over the past 20 years, at the same time throwing up legal issues that we could not have imagined at the start.

This week online video-sharing site YouTube, also owned by Google, revealed that it will start blocking access to premium music videos in the U.K., having failed to renew its licensing agreement with U.K. royalty body the Performing Rights Society for Music. ComScore tells us that YouTube is the leading online video site, having registered over 100 million viewers in the U.S. alone in January. Social networking is another phenomenon that noone could have predicted when the Internet was conceived. But now everyone's at it. Video site Hulu this week launched Hulu Friends in a bid to make its site stickier, and with the aim boosting advertising revenue.
And earlier this month Nielsen Online reported that social network is now the fourth most popular online activity, with sites visited by 67% of Internet users.
Online advertising has become big business too.

Earlier this week Google revealed a targeted advertising scheme that will enable it to tie online ads to users' interests. However, unlike the rivals that are further ahead on this road, Google is offering a set of user controls that will enable Web surfers to view and change the interest categories to which they have been assigned. The move was applauded by privacy campaigners.
Moving away from all things Web-based, there was a lot going on elsewhere in the telecoms industry this week, particularly in the mobile space.
On Tuesday a panel of EU lawmakers approved proposals to cap wholesale data roaming charges and SMS roaming rates.
The panel even went further than EU telecoms commissioner Viviane Reding had suggested, by agreeing on a €0.50-per-megabyte cap for wholesale data roaming; Reding had proposed a cap of €1.00.
The new measures will come into force this summer if the full EU parliament votes in favour next month.
There was talk of network consolidation in the U.K. mobile market, with the revelation that Vodafone and O2 are in advanced talks on a network-sharing deal.
While the operators could not confirm that such talks are taking place, they did not deny the rumours.
A deal between Voda and O2 would leave Orange in a strange position. The operator brokered a network-sharing agreement with Vodafone last year, although that deal has amounted to nothing more than sharing cell sites.
However, Orange is said to be keen to tie up with T-Mobile and 3, which have already pooled their network assets through their Mobile Broadband Network Ltd (MBNL) joint venture.
Meanwhile, Vodafone made the news again with the announcement that it will provide users with a DRM-free, device-agnostic music download service.
The operator will start selling DRM-free music in certain European markets and New Zealand this summer, with a wider rollout to follow.
Further afield, India's COAI revealed new statistics this week, reporting that the country reached 277 million GSM subscribers by the end of February. Growth was essentially flat compared with the previous month.
And a report from Chinese firm CCID predicted that China will become the world's largest 3G market by the third quarter of this year, despite its 3G rollout being still in the early stages. China will connect 660,000 3G users by Q3, with China Mobile's TD-SCDMA network accounting for almost half.
In the fixed-line space, cable operator Comcast became the third largest local telephony provider in the U.S. this week when it overtook Qwest in terms of subscribers.
Irish incumbent Eircom informed the government that it is rethinking its plans for a fibre network rollout, citing the difficult economic situation.
And in their latest joint report, Exane BNP Paribas and Arthur D Little warned fixed-line operators that although triple-play offerings have helped to stem line losses in Europe, they should not attempt to compete with pay-TV providers when it comes to premium content.
There was another sign that Nortel Networks will not emerge from bankruptcy as an intact business when reports emerged that the Canadian equipment manufacturer is in talks to sell its wireless equipment and enterprise businesses to rival players.
Turning to jobs, WiMAX operator Clearwire got a new CEO, naming William Morrow as a replacement for Benjamin Wolff.
And Australia's Telstra is believed to have identified a short list of fewer than 10 names for the position of chief executive, following Sol Trujillo's departure in June.
Former Vodafone executive Paul Donovan and BT Retail chief Gavin Patterson are on the list, according to the local press.
Finally, for those of you that are interested in seeing Tim Berners-Lee's original proposal for the Internet, you can find it on CERN's Website.
Mr Berners-Lee, we salute you. Without the Internet, I for one would be out of a job. Or I would be isolated from the world at a standalone PC, receiving press releases by fax and by post. And, horror of horrors, I might actually have to answer my phone sometimes.
And you, the readers of Total Telecom, would have to wait a lot longer to read about the comings and goings in the industry.
It just doesn't bear thinking about.

SIP Signaling

2009-02-24T16:41:00.000-08:00

Interesting article from http://www.totaltele.com/view.aspx?C=0&ID=443303

Creating Flexible Next-generation Networks with SIP Signaling

Monday 16 February 2009

Creating Flexible Next-generation Networks with SIP SignalingNext-generation network (NGN) deployments are on the rise. Mobile and fixed line operators are moving to Internet protocol (IP) technology to reduce their transport costs, deliver voice-over-IP (VoIP) services to consumers and enterprise customers, and improve the delivery and management of new multimedia services.

As IP and session initiation protocol (SIP)-based services proliferate, so do the requirements placed on the network to support them. Operators are discovering a downside to their softswitch-based NGNs; they lack the scalability and flexibility to support multimedia services, access independence or network growth.

The Missing LayerIn the push to get their NGN networks up and running, many providers took a short cut. They deployed their VoIP networks as a loose collection of elements interconnected by direct signaling links. Unlike SS7 and Internet protocol multimedia subsystem (IMS), which are hierarchical networks, there’s no signaling and session layer to handle application-layer tasks. From a signaling perspective, each network element must handle all application-layer related tasks. Every possible route must be defined at each network element, creating a spider web of logically connected SIP nodes.

Creating a Session-Control Layer in NGNsCreating a signaling and session framework in the core NGN network avoids the pitfalls created by point-to-point routing. By deploying a SIP signaling router (SSR) - a SIP proxy with enhanced routing capabilities - operators can centralize layer-5 SIP routing in the core network and relieve endpoints of session-management tasks. The resulting architecture creates a flexible framework that enables the following use cases:
Enhanced application server (AS) selection: The tight coupling between endpoints like SIP phones and SIP application servers creates a challenge for many operators. Changes made to the physical network, such as adding a new application server, have a direct impact on the way SIP phones access service. The SSR shields the endpoints by decoupling them from direct knowledge of the changing network. The SIP phones just have to be configured with a single abstract address. Endpoints send requests to the SSR, which resolves the address to the appropriate SIP AS platform and routes the request to that platform.

SIP trunking: Softswitch-based, SIP-trunking solutions, which are built on a “per-connection” cost model, can become costly very quickly. And, since softswitches usually are deployed with the switch vendor’s choice of application server, it’s difficult to gain the economy of a “best-of-breed” solution. By implementing a SSR, operators can use a session-based approach to provide fixed-line services to enterprise customers. The SSR routes on-net calls between IP PBXs and off-net calls through a public switched telephone network (PSTN) gateway to local and long-distance fixed numbers. The resulting architecture creates a volume-based cost structure and reduces costs by allowing operators to select “best-of-breed” application servers.
SIP number portability (NP): For operators with a SIP-trunking infrastructure, performing number portability for VoIP calls can present a particular problem. They can simply “dump” the calls on the PSTN gateway if there’s enough intelligent network capacity and the terminating network is time division multiplexing (TDM). But, if the terminating number is another IP PBX or belongs to a VoIP operator, the call must be shuttled from VoIP to TDM and back to VoIP again. Running pure VoIP calls over TDM wastes gateway capacity and degrades voice quality. Another alternative is to replicate a number portability solution in the SIP domain, but that’s a costly approach. Using the SS7 access feature of the SSR, operators can make TDM-NP available to the SIP network. This capability allows the SSR to augment its routing capabilities with SS7 data. Pure VoIP calls don’t have to be shuttled over the TDM network to perform NP, which maintains voice quality and saves PSTN gateway capacity.

Centralized SIP proxy: Expanding NGN networks requires the addition of new softswitches. Each new piece of equipment must be provisioned with the routing entries for all of the existing softswitches, and existing softswitches must be updated with the routing entries for new equipment. Route management, which is based on pre-defined SIP trunks, becomes increasingly complex as the network expands. Service and subscriber data are tightly coupled with the softswitch, making it difficult to change an existing service or add new applications uniformly. The SSR deployed as a SIP proxy creates a SIP-based reference architecture over the existing network. Calls are routed by default from the softswitch to the SSR. The SSR makes layer-5 SIP routing decisions based on advanced routing algorithms and forwards the request to the appropriate SIP destination.

Specialized SIP proxy: As operators consolidate their networks, many are discovering that softswitches supplied by different vendors are unable to establish sessions. That’s because each vendor uses a different SIP implementation. As long as an operator deploys equipment from a single vendor, there’s no problem. But, when equipment from another vendor is introduced, interoperability problems arise. The issue can be resolved with a customized solution, but that’s an expensive route to take. The SSR creates an architectural solution that is independent of the endpoints and eliminates interoperability problems. Deployed in the signaling layer, the SSR serves as a SIP proxy. It routes SIP traffic between the softswitches and serves as a mediation point between them, “fixing” protocol variations on the fly.

SummaryHaving softswitches and other endpoints perform layer-5 session management may be sufficient for fairly small deployments and simple management tasks. But, as the network expands, the lack of a capable session framework introduces a host of network issues. A suitable session framework offloads signaling and session tasks from the edge next-gen elements to enable efficient network expansion. Just as core routers are used to minimize the routing burden on IP endpoints, layer-5 SIP routing reduces the burden on endpoints by centralizing session management tasks at the network core. The resulting architecture can expand systematically to support VoIP subscriber growth, deliver advanced multimedia services and create the foundation for future technologies and services.

About TekelecFound at the heart of most global networks, Tekelec’s market-leading, mission-critical, high-performance network solutions enable the secure and instant delivery of calls and text messages for more than one billion mobile and fixed-line subscribers. The company’s session management solutions allow telecom operators to manage diverse applications, devices, technologies and protocols, across existing and evolving networks, to meet the demands of today’s consumer. Tekelec uniquely ensures telecom operators have a clear migration path to SIP-based IP networks, and whatever comes next, with the flexibility to deploy solutions at a pace dictated by their business needs. For more information, please visit www.tekelec.com.

Broadband Economic Stimulus Plan

2009-02-05T17:51:00.000-08:00

Interesting article from WSJ Blog

By Amy Schatz
Differences between the two broadband stimulus proposals working their way through Congress could take a little while to work out, but details of the plans that have popped up this week offer a map of where things might end up. The House and Senate haven’t agreed on much about the broadband stimulus so far, neither the cost ($6 billion in the House, $9 billion in the Senate) nor Internet speeds (“advanced broadband” in the House clocks in at 45mbps, while the Senate says “next-generation” broadband is 100 mpbs). Cable operators aren’t thrilled about language in the House and Senate bills, which sets aside grant money for broadband providers who can provide 100 mbps service, since that would tend to favor phone companies installing fiber-to-the-home service.

House lawmakers would hand out $6 billion in broadband grants. Half would be given out by the U.S. Department of Agriculture without speed requirements, although 75% of the money has to be used in “rural area(s) without sufficient access to high-speed broadband service.”
A quarter of the grant money handed out by the Commerce Department would be for “basic” broadband service (a.k.a 5 mbps download/1 mbps upload) to “un-served” areas while the rest would go for “advanced” broadband service (a.k.a 45 mbps/15 mbps) in “underserved” areas. Wireless providers would need to offer Internet service with a download speed of at least 3 mbps and upload of 1 mbps.

The House would leave it up to the FCC to decide how to define un-served and underserved areas. Senators want $9 billion in broadband, half of which would be set aside for providing service in rural areas. The Senate Finance Committee tacked on limited tax credits of 10% or 20% to providers offering “current generation” (a.k.a. 5 mbps/1 mbps) service in rural areas and 20% credit for “next generation” (a.k.a. 100 mbps/20mbps) service in rural or low-income areas. The tax credits are relatively small, estimated to cost about $110 million over 10 years.
Open access, or net neutrality, conditions could be a major sticking point for phone and cable companies, which don’t want significant government constraints on their network management practices. Right now, companies are concerned about how “open access” might be defined in the legislation.

In the House, lawmakers say the FCC would be required to define “open access” within 45 days of the legislation’s passage. Senate lawmakers say their grants would be dependent on “interconnection and nondiscrimination requirements,” although they spell out what that means.
The broadband spending would also fall on the long-term side of benefits which may came from the economic stimulus plan.

The Congressional Budget Office said Wednesday that much of the spending on broadband wouldn’t really have much of an impact on consumers for several years. It could take “up to five to seven years” to finish some projects funded by the $2.8 billion handed out by the Agriculture Department’s rural development broadband program.

Stimulating the Growth of Fiber Networks Will Immediately Create Maximum Broadband Jobs

2009-01-19T15:52:00.000-08:00

Adopting tax incentives for expanding next-generation broadband networks with direct fiber connections would ensure that the economic recovery package now under consideration in Washington, D.C., would create a large number of jobs and extensive economic growth, according to a study released recently by the Fiber-to-the-Home Council.

The study, prepared for the FTTH Council by the economic consulting firm Empiris LLC, found that enactment of tax incentives for the deployment of networks running fiber all the way to premises would generate more than 200,000 direct jobs in each of the next 3 years and increase economic output by more than $100 Billion. A key reason for these substantial job benefits is that labor accounts for almost one-half of the money spent to deploy networks with direct fiber connections. In addition to the direct effects, increased broadband penetration from these proposals would indirectly generate another 360,000 new jobs, according to the report.
The report emphasized that, because broadband providers are experienced infrastructure builders, these and other tax incentives for new next-generation broadband infrastructure would create jobs and spur economic growth almost immediately. "Not only would these proposals create jobs and help boost economic recovery right away, but they will also accelerate expansion of the basic high-tech infrastructure that will drive the U.S. economy throughout the 21st Century," said Jeffrey A. Eisenach, Chairman and Managing Partner at Empiris.
The Empiris study estimates that federal payment of bond interest for next-generation broadband networks, officially referred to as "tax credit bonds", would create 197,437 direct U.S. jobs as a result of private sector deployments, and another 19,744 direct jobs in public sector deployments in each of the next 3 years. Meanwhile, a 100 percent expensing provision for next-generation broadband would produce as many as 32,000 jobs over the same period, while a 50 percent expensing provision for rural/underserved areas would potentially create more than 5,000 jobs.

In rural and underserved areas, the FTTH Council supports tax incentives for broadband deployment at slower speeds to ensure that all Americans have access to broadband and to stimulate broadband deployment and economic activity in areas where they otherwise would not occur.

"In expanding America's broadband infrastructure, it makes sense to encourage the higher-bandwidth networks we will need to compete globally in decades to come," said Joe Savage, President of the FTTH Council. "This study provides evidence that promoting those networks also will give the maximum boost to employment and immediate economic growth."
The FTTH Council recently endorsed broadband incentives proposed by the Communications Workers of America, including provisions similar to those analyzed in the Empiris paper.
A copy of the full report Economic Effects of Tax Incentives for Broadband Infrastructure Deployment can be downloaded from the FTTH Council's website: www.ftthcouncil.org.
Additional information: www.empiris.com

Convergence Part Deux

2009-01-13T17:48:00.000-08:00

We've all heard of convergence in Telecom applications before, but we're looking at a whole new level now. It's just a matter of time until all out Telecom services are delivered ny a high speed broadband ethernet connection. TV, Interent, Telephone and even cell phone applications are all combining in our high speed broadand service. DSL, Cable Interent or FiOS service will be part of the convergence and the applications that go with them will be outstanding.

Economic Stimulus Package through Telecom Infrastructure

2009-01-06T18:19:00.000-08:00

Found this interesting article. In order to stay copetitive in the global economy we need to continue to build the broadband infrastructure and availability in this country.

Investment in 100 (Mbps) NetworkSource:
www.freepress.net

According to a new new report issued by the Freepress Action Fund, President-elect Obama and congressional leaders have concluded that a massive economic stimulus package focused on infrastructure is the best hope for pulling the U.S. economy out of the current recession. In the past, such stimulus efforts traditionally focused on highways and utilities, and these types of projects certainly belong in the new stimulus package. However, the incoming Obama administration and Congress must look beyond the interstate highways and start investing in the information superhighway. Just as President Eisenhower's economic policies brought Americans a national transportation system in the 1950s, President Obama's can connect Americans to a communications network fast becoming the foundation of the 21st Century economy.

Promoting the deployment of a national, forward-looking broadband infrastructure will provide substantial short-term and long-term economic benefits. This deployment effort will immediately create tens of thousands of new jobs in the telecommunications, manufacturing and high-tech sectors. In turn, a new, world-class broadband infrastructure will spark the creation of millions more jobs in nearly every economic sector connected to technology and communications.
In particular, these policies will provide substantial economic relief to the rural areas of America hit hardest by the current recession. They will also improve our global competitiveness, lifting us from 15th place (or by other measures, 22nd place) among developed nations in broadband adoption. Increased broadband adoption - particularly if targeted to low-income users and households with school-age children - will also substantially increase short-term consumer spending. And it will ensure long-term economic growth by bringing those on the wrong side of the digital divide into the digital economy.

Though the Internet was born here, American consumers are not benefiting from broadband's full potential because our networks are slow and expensive compared to the rest of the world. This is largely because there is no meaningful competition in the American broadband marketplace, and network operators have no incentive to make substantial long-term investments. Broadband stimulus funding should only be used to build world-class networks unlikely to be deployed absent public investment. Freepress Action Fund recommends that stimulus funds be targeted at deploying broadband services capable of delivering actual (not advertised) speeds in excess of 100 Megabits per second (Mbps) in both upstream and downstream directions.

A broadband stimulus package must be carefully targeted and tied to public service principles that ensure that American taxpayers get a strong return on their investment. In this paper, Freepress Action Fund offers a set of proposals to expand the debate about broadband stimulus and provide a foundation for further discussion.

Freepress Action Fund focuses on a set of key public policy priorities:
- Rural America — building out future-proof networks to unserved areas.
- Low-income users — supporting affordable broadband connections, computers and tech training.
- Global competitiveness — upgrading our urban infrastructure to meet world-class standards.
- Education — promoting children's access to technology at school and at home.
- Accountability — ensuring clear standards of quality, affordability and competition, and deduct up to $200 in qualifying Internet access device expenditures.

Broadband Data Improvement Act Funding($300 million over 3 years)
Congress recently passed legislation to promote broadband deployment and adoption by mapping broadband availability through the collection of comprehensive data. However, no money was appropriated to implement the programs established in the bill.
By funding the public/private programs envisioned by this already approved effort, Congress can ensure that broadband stimulus funding is directed to the areas where it is needed most.
Rural Development Community Connect Grant Program ($150 million over 3 years)
Congress should appropriate $50 million per year over three years to this USDA-led program for the explicit purpose of constructing and/or funding community centers (including libraries) that will offer free broadband services and technology training, with an emphasis on training for families with children and senior citizens.

Health Care and Public Service Digital Modernization Program ($150 million over 3 years)
President-elect Obama has expressed the desire to use the stimulus legislation to increase efficiency in our nation's health care system by bringing record-keeping and other health care services into the digital age. There is a similar need to modernize the customer service systems at local and state governmental agencies. Such modernization would vastly improve productivity in the general economy, replacing long lines with easy-to-navigate, Web-based service portals. Congress should establish a program, overseen by the NTIA, that supports modernization at health care facilities and local and state agencies.

Oversight, Accountability and Results
Though the stimulus is needed quickly, and though it is almost certain that legislation will be crafted in haste, Congress must not simply write blank checks to industry. To maximize the effectiveness of scarce taxpayer resources, oversight and accountability measures must be established. If the public is to become a financial partner in our broadband networks, the private owners of those networks must be held to public service standards.
In particular, mechanisms should be established to ensure that any tax incentives or grant monies are used to fund new broadband deployment projects. This requirement will ensure that the stimulus funds are used to create new jobs, not to prop up the stock prices of telecommunications companies.

All of the grant programs and tax policies we recommend must be available to all telecommunications providers, including municipalities, nonprofits, and non-incumbent carriers.
Further, stimulus money must be tied to strict build-out schedules and affordability and capacity requirements. This level of public investment should return a network that is world-class — not simply an incremental improvement over the status quo. The Internet service these subsidies are designed to support also must be an open, freely competitive platform for ideas and commerce.

Job Cuts in Telco

2008-11-14T03:09:00.000-08:00

Here the first of many annouced and un-annouced job cuts in the Telelcom sector. As the economy slows, Telco will feel the pinch. Hopefully not as much as other sector because Telecom services can help the bottom line by increasing efficiency and allowing employees to do more with less.

Massive job cuts at BT, but Q2 results solid
By Mary Lennighan, Total Telecom
13 November 2008
U.K. incumbent to shed 10,000 jobs; outlines plans for turning around troubled Global Services unit.
The news that BT plans to cut 10,000 jobs as part of an existing cost-reduction programme overshadowed a largely solid second-quarter results announcement from the U.K. incumbent on Thursday.

BT executives outlined their plans to turn around the ailing Global Services unit, a task that will centre on cutting costs and reducing bespoke contracts, and let slip that the unit signed a big U.K. contract yesterday. There could also be more outsourcing on the cards. But, as Livingston predicted in his presentation, Thursday's headlines will likely focus on the planned headcount reduction. The telco plans to shed a total of 10,000 positions this financial year, 4,000 of which have already gone. The remainder will largely affect indirect employees, that is agency staff, contractors, subcontractors and offshore workers.

Touch Screen Starbucks Tables & GPS Dog

2008-10-22T16:18:00.000-07:00

As we move forward with ever increasing technology and bandwidth requirements here are a couple interesting new applications. A bit off-beat, but ya just never know what creative folks will come up with next. http://sharptelco.com/

Totally Trivial: Mad scientists
By Nick Wood , Total Telecom
22 October 2008

The South Korean operator made its first foray into fantastical furniture at a special branch of Starbucks, which will use the touch-screen sporting table, equipped with advanced mobile technology, to allow customers to order and pay for items on the coffee shop's menu."Traditionally, Starbucks customers order and pay at cashier counters," said SK Telecom, in a statement that sent shockwaves through no one."Once customers select and pay for items from the 'Ubiquitous Table', the order information is immediately transmitted via mobile technology to the store's system. As soon as the order is ready, a message appears on the screen of the 'Ubiquitous Table'."The all-pervading furniture has so far been limited to one pilot store in South Korea, and as yet there are no details on a wider rollout.On a related note, rumours that Steven Spielberg is in talks with Paramount to produce 'Attack of the Ubiquitous Tables', have just been started by us.

Putin equips dog with sat navRussian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has put a collar containing satellite-guided positioning technology on his black Labrador, Koni, reports the Associated Press.The former president asked one of his deputies Sergei Ivanov for the device to help him keep tabs on his beloved dog, which is not the most unusual request from someone who used to work for the KGB."She's wagging her tail, she likes it," said Putin, in the report.The device goes into standby mode when the dog isn't moving, "if it, say, lies down in a puddle," said Ivanov, or gets squashed by an armoured car, said Nick Wood.The system itself doesn't use the US Global Positioning System (GPS), but instead relies on the Russian-developed Global Navigation Satellite System, or GLONASS for short.However, while Russia may have beaten the U.S. to blasting a dog into space when it launched the ill-fated Laika in 1957, it still trails in the deployment of navigation satellites: GLONASS is unable to provide worldwide coverage – it currently has 21 satellites in orbit, but needs 24.Still, Ivanov is doggedly determined (pun 100% intended), and claims the system will be extended to the rest of the planet by the end of 2009.

Offices Buildings - a thing of the past?

2008-10-03T12:40:00.001-07:00

Do we need office buildings anymore? As data services from T1 or DS1 to GigE continue to become more prevalent in the network the pricing of these advance data services will continue to drop. So what good is an office anymore? Do we need physical interaction? I often Instant Message people in the cubes adjacent to mine instead of talking. We just starting to see 100 Gigabit Ethernet Service tested in the Network. We can only imagine the possibilities of the applications that will be coming down the pipe to use that bandwidth. It could be entire new conferencing application to see and speak to coworkers as easily and quickly as we use instant messaging services now. Consider how much fuel could be saved if the majority of the work force worked from home, not to mention the benefits to the environment. Productivity and Accessibility are always questions when people want to want work from home. I believe given enough bandwidth and the right applications it will be nearly seamless to determine if a person is home or at the office.

100 Gigabits per second Bandwidth!!

2008-09-28T16:10:00.000-07:00

This is really a big deal to transport 100 Gbps on not a single fiber but one wavelength on a fiber. That means other wavelengths on that single piece of glass are transporting other high bandwidth services! This breakthrough continues the bandwidth revolution that will fuel our nations economic recovery.

BASKING RIDGE, N.J., Sept. 25 /PRNewswire/ -- Verizon and Nokia Siemens Networks have taken a step closer to being able to transmit commercial traffic at a speed of 100 gigabits per second (Gbps). The two companies carried out a successful 100 Gbps transmission on a single wavelength for more than 1,040 kilometers over field fiber, setting a new distance record and demonstrating better performance than conventional transmission.
The field trial, conducted on optical fiber on the Verizon network in north Dallas, successfully proved that 100 Gbps signals can be simultaneously transported with 10 Gbps and 40 Gbps signals on the same system with superior results by using advanced optical techniques.
The Nokia Siemens hiT 7500 ultra-long-haul, dense-wavelength-division-multiplexing platform -- combined with multi-level modulation, polarization multiplexing and coherent detection -- allowed the signal to be carried over ultra-long distances at high-data rates with significantly better chromatic dispersion and polarization-mode-dispersion tolerances than conventional systems.

What is Gigabit Ethernet?

2008-09-02T14:50:00.000-07:00

Gigabit Ethernet Service (GigE) is a fiber-based network service that utilizes a high speed backbone to provide customers with LAN Interconnection between multiple locations at the native Gigabit Ethernet LAN speeds in specific geographical locations. GigE service delivers a full duplex interface conforming to Gigabit Ethernet standards(1000BaseSX, 1000BaseLX) directly to the customer's LAN. The Telco Company will deploy equipment in the customer's serving central office and connect them using a high speed backbone. This backbone will consist of multiple Gigabit Ethernet trunks. Depending on the customer's location, the backbone may be shared by several customers connected to this service. GigE service provides data privacy and security through the use of 802.IQ closed user groups. Users in a group can only access their own data. Customers will connect to the C.O. equipment using fiber optic LAN extension equipment located on their premises. This, equipment, which is owned by Telco Company, will be the network interface for this service. The customer interface is a single mode or multimode fiber optic connection providing ethernet at 1 gigabit per second. If the facility has extensive bandwidth requirements, GigE is often the most cost-effective option for bandwidth and reliability. For additional information and to see if Ethernet service is available at your location - Click Here

Is Ethernet the new Telecom Backbone Circuit?

2008-02-22T07:41:00.000-08:00

Growing up as Telco Dog for 20+ years, OK maybe even becoming an old Telco Dog, T1's or DS1's have been the Telecom backbone for as long as I can remember. T1's are used to connected PSTN (public switched telephone network) switches together, T1 Circuits connect PBX's and key systems to the PSTN network, T1's are the primary means of transporting most Internet circuits across the globe. Granted there are OC3's OC12's and many other faster bigger pipelines that carry data communications around the globe, but all those circuits use T1's as the building blocks for those faster circuits. An OC3 backbone carrier circuit is really 84 1.544mb T1's packaged together. We're finally seeing a new kid emerge on the block and that's Ethernet business service. The telco world is starting to embrace Internet Protocol connectionless architecture, where instead of massing together groups of 24 64kb voice circuits to make a T1 Circuit and them massing together those T1's into bigger pipes, Ethernet service is true bandwidth and is available by what the customer needs for their business. Ethernet allows the business to directly plug-in to the Internet Cloud reducing equipment required which dramatically reduces cost per Meg or Gig of bandwidth. Naturally Ethernet for business is a new product and just like early T1's, are only available in limited areas. T1's today are available everywhere, and eventually Ethernet Business service will be too. To see if Ethernet Service is available at your location check out ShorForEthernet.Com

T1 Pricing for your Business

2008-01-22T17:45:00.000-08:00

There are so many small businesses operating today on DSL, which is OK if for a small office or work at home situation. DSL and cable internet are both great, extremely cost effective solutions when price is the most important consideration. However when your business grows out of a home office to where you depend on internet and phone service to make money and when your DSL or cable internet goes out you're losing money, then it's time to upgrade to a reliable robust T1 or DS1 circuit for you office. T1 Pricing continues to drop as competition increases among telecom carriers. $300 to $400 a month sounds like a lot to many people, but what most need to consider is that T1 line will also provide your phone service. If you have 5-6 business telephone lines and internet service, frequently you can save money by bundling your telephone lines and internet service on the T1 Line. When you consider T1 lines are ultra-reliable and monitored 24x7 for performance, T1 Pricing becomes a great value for the expanding business.

How Much Bandwidth is Enough?

2008-01-17T16:40:00.000-08:00

We're well into the 21st century, we've become an information society. I can't believe the information that is literally at my finger tips at any time of the day or night. One of my passions is motorcycles. I'm starting a project to add a fairing to my Valkyrie motorcycle. I found an old piece of junk Batwing Harley fairing at a swap meet for a couple bucks and picked it up. In the old days, I would have had a very difficult time finding the other parts to mount it to my bike by using shoe leather and the telephone. Truth be told, I probably wouldn't be successful unless I got really lucky and found someone friendly and very knowledgeable to help. Today it took me less than 20 minutes to research that it was 70's era FLH Shovelhead fairing along with a parts breakdown of the mounting brackets required to mount it. Then a quick check of ebay revealed the project could be done. Wow! I have a 5 megabyte Verizon FiOS link to my house. T1 Pricing continues to drop every month where you get an ultra-reliable 1.5 megabyte guaranteed up and down stream broadband link that's monitored 24 hours a day. The next jump for commercial broadband service is direct Ethernet connections of 10 to 30 Gigabyte data rates at very competitive rates with T1 Reliability. As more and more applications use the worldwide data network, DSL Availability residential Internet services data rates of 50 Megabytes will become common in the next couple years. Can't wait to see the applications that be common for children! More news and information at SharpTelco.Com

Ethernet Service for Business

2007-11-24T09:12:00.000-08:00

The telecommunication companies are making a giant strides for busineses that need large amounts of bandwidth at a resonable price. Instead of the traditional T1, DS1 or even DS3 Service carriers are starting to provide (up to) 10GB Ethernet Service directly to the business. The catch is the business needs to be located close to the carriers existing fiber backbone. Those clever engineers at Shop for T1 have come up with a new service to allow business customers to search for Ethernet Service and Pricing by their location to see if 10GB Ethernet service is a viable option. Shop for Ethernet

Telecommunications Future?

2006-10-09T12:00:00.000-07:00

Where is the Public Telecommunication Network going in the next 5-years, 10-years? I started to say, the sky's the limit; but as I'm typing I realize that is probably not true. We already have access to Hubble Telescope images on our computers! We see amazing new services everyday being made available to anyone with a broadband connection. I was looking at an aquarium on ebay and found I could configure a text message to my cell phone to remind me to check before the bidding ended. I've read some article that 40-50 Mb services are not uncommon to homes in certain parts of Asia. It just keeps going and going.

I made a giant step this year and am only keeping one yellow pages book. In our area, we get 5 to 7 different books from different publishers all covering slightly different areas and having different advertisers. I used to dutifully stack them up, in case I needed to find something. I've done this for the past two years and never used them at all. Everything I've needed I've found faster and easier using the internet. This year as they landed on the front porch, they went straight to the recycle bin - except one... I'm having a hard time letting go of that last one - maybe next year!

Telco Resources

2006-05-07T14:15:00.000-07:00

There are many resources available for Dedicated T1 Pricing available on the internet. There are also many other Telecom related resources and information available to help educate the consumer to find the best value for the telecommunications budget.

Here are several of my favorite blogs for T1, DSL Availability and VoIP Information.

Recommended Blogs

2006-04-19T18:32:00.000-07:00

Favorite Blogs!

GeoBlog

Persimmon Telecommunications

DSL Experts

T1 News

T1 Internet Line Connection

Broadband News

T1 Line Atlanta News

VoIP Blog

T1 Line Connection

Sprint DSL

T1 Services

Telecommunications History

2005-03-14T09:56:00.000-08:00

Where is telecommunications going in the next five years? Let's look at the history of telecommunications and see if we can learn some lessons to help us build on the foundation of events past.
Electronic communications started with the simple teletype whereby current traveled along a cable and opened and closed a relay. By using a code of short and long relay closures or dots and dashes which became known as "Morse Code" a message code passed along a wire. This was the first major technological communication advance and it was huge. Instead of days or weeks for a message to make it across a state or country using the pony express; the message could be recieved in a matter of minutes or hours to decode the message and have it delivered locally.
The next advance in electronic communication was the ability to pass voice on the wire instead of the impersonal dots and dashes. This also made communication available to anyone instead of those skilled in the use of Morse Code. This advancement was possible because the discovery of pulse code modulation. In a nutshell, pulse code modulation takes a sampling of the multitude of tones made the human voice and transforms those tones into pulse or many dots and dashes! These pulses could transmitted relatively long distance on copper wire and the CODEC reassembles the pulse back into an excellent representation of human speech.

My Links

2005-01-28T13:20:00.000-08:00

Telco Links

2005-01-27T10:10:00.000-08:00

AT&T, Sprint, Verizon, SBC, Qwest, Verizon Wireless, Adtran, Alcatel, Nortel, Lucent, Fujitsu, Siemens, Nokia, Juniper Networks, Trango, Proxim, BellSouth, CNN.Com, MSN, Yahoo, Google, New Edge, XO, MCI/WorldCom, Verizon OnLine, Alltel, Comcast, Adelphia, DSLReports, Dell, Gateway, Cisco, Microsoft, Mapquest, SuperPages, DMOS, Level3, Covad, T1sRus, DSLrUs, SharpTelco.Com, Sunshine Honey, CurbCentral.Com