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Crosstown Hurdles
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The next phase of network construction in North America
and Europe clearly is in metropolitan networks--from carrier hotels to central offices,
from central offices to businesses and homes. The need is clear enough, but meeting the
need, for several reasons, is not going to be easy.
--July 9, 2001
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Tauzin: Senate Offensive Planned for Broadband Bill
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The fireworks of last week may be a prelude to the action on
Capitol Hill when Rep. Billy Tauzin, R-La., resumes the push for passage of his controversial
broadband legislation.
--July 9, 2001
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Who's Counting Clicks?
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While beleaguered dot-coms fight for survival in the wake of
the New Economy meltdown, companies that count clicks on the Internet are brawling amongst
themselves for dominance in the audience measurement market.
--July 9, 2001
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One Year and Out for Covad's BlueStar
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In astronomy, blue stars burn brightly, but burn out fast -- so
maybe it isn't surprising that Covad Communications Inc. has snuffed out BlueStar Communications
Group Inc., a business ISP subsidiary it bought less than a year ago.
--July 9, 2001
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Fixed is In
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The fixed wireless industry got a boost as the newest
commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission voiced opposition to the
reallocation of MMDS and ITFS spectrum for use by third-generation (3G) mobile
services.
--July 9, 2001
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Studios Enter Streaming Waters
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While major media companies are still sorting out how to
make broadband film distribution to consumers commercially viable, smaller independent
studios are nimbly moving into the industry's forefront.
--July 9, 2001
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Trailers Lead the Streaming Parade
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Sony Pictures Corp. and Walt Disney Co. hit the headlines
last year as top-level executives mused about the possibility of streaming and downloading
movies from the Internet directly to consumers' homes.
--July 9, 2001
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The Rush to SVOD: Not so Fast
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For more than two years, Starz Encore Networks
chairman John Sie has been beating the drum for SVOD. But now that cable operators
are finally turning their attention to deploying the service, some are talking in
terms of years rather than months.
--July 9, 2001
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Qmedia Breaks Video's SONET Bonds
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Today's "next-generation" carriers are great at
producing sexy advertisements about how their networks are going to answer the
prayers of anybody and everybody with a high bandwidth application. But for some
potential customers, they don't always seem to be nearly as great at actually
delivering the goods.
--July 9, 2001
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Virtual Virtues
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It appears plenty of businesses are finding virtue
in switching to virtual private network technology--and there now is no shortage of
providers eager to make that connection for them.
--July 9, 2001
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Dealing with Dispersion
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The optical networking industry continues to zoom
toward 40 gigabits per second, and the subject of dispersion continues to draw more
and more attention. The issue figures to be one focus at this week's National Fiber
Optic Engineers Conference, which kicks off today in Baltimore, and the companies
zeroing in on the problem figure to be centers of attention.
--July 9, 2001
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You've Got V-Mail
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Broadband access isn't a necessity for using
AT&T's new video e-mail service, but such applications may end up helping
to spur consumer broadband subscribership.
--July 9, 2001
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PBX At a Price
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TalkingNets Inc. has come up with an innovative twist
for the applications service provider industry. Instead of renting space on its server
so that customers can access software, or store data, the company hosts voice
telephony applications.
--July 9, 2001
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With New Money, NewSouth Has Believers
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As some of its peers in the CLEC community fight for
survival, Greenville, S.C.-based NewSouth Communications -- in BellSouth territory --
is pushing to keep building momentum.
--July 9, 2001
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Packet Processing
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Another Silicon Valley startup has joined the fray at
the core of the optical network. But the engineers at CloudShield Technologies, which
publicly launched on June 25, say they aren't simply following the leaders.
--July 9, 2001
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Lining Up Behind Linux
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If a new lineup of cable and interactive TV players
have their way, Linux may be coming to set-top boxes in the not-too-distant future.
--July 9, 2001
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Voice of Reason
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Cable telephony developments continue to seesaw between
circuit-switched and voice-over-Internet Protocol (VoIP) implementations. Much of the
vendor community has been abuzz - although publicly very hush-hush - about a
request-for-information (RFI) issued recently by AT&T Broadband for a system-wide
VoIP implementation that outlines, according to a source who requested anonymity, an
aggressive time frame from RFI to request-for-proposal (RFP) to lab trials.
--July 9, 2001
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Roll 'Er Out
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When it comes to next generation, broadband
mobile wireless service, Canadian customers soon will have a choice in
carriers. The question is, will they care?
--July 9, 2001
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Broadband Antennas Get Smart
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Smart antenna technology, which originally was
developed in the 1980s, is a hot high-tech arena these days as wireless
communications companies worry how to cope with the prospect of high data
demands from broadband applications for both fixed and mobile wireless.
--July 9, 2001
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High-speed Hammerlock
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You can't fault the World Wrestling Federation for
a lack of ambition. At a time when other streaming media entertainment sites are
down for the count, the WWF plans not only to show how to win the Internet business
grapple, it also wants an active hand in shaping the streaming arena.
--July 9, 2001
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Tool Time
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Sony used the Streaming Media West conference late
last month to announce a new Web site that will let users become their own audio
and video producers using Sony's content stores.
--July 9, 2001
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Picture the Future
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Although it is starting out in modest temporary digs
on the ground level of a Universal City parking garage, a new unit backed by Panasonic
nevertheless has an ambitious goal... to bring Hollywood into the digital age.
--July 9, 2001
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Hope Flows
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It may be flowing more slowly than in the past,
but optimism and profit potential remain strong undercurrents among those who
create and deliver streaming media.
--July 9, 2001
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Connected Convoy
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NetNearU Inc., a College Station, Texas-based software
and manufacturing company, is introducing a new kiosk that will allow business
travelers and truckers to wirelessly access the Internet.
--July 9, 2001
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Beam Team
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Struggling satellite Webcast provider iBEAM
Broadcasting Corp. beamed up $40 million primarily with a deal making broadband
network operator Williams Communications a substantial part-owner.
--July 9, 2001
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"Serious Re-adjustment"
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If the sobering news wasn't clear before, it became so
for the telecom equipment sector in the final month of the second quarter: There will
be no fast market recovery, and both executives and analysts say the current period of
re-adjustment looks as if it might last into next year.
--July 9, 2001
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Broadside:
Wireless Dog Days
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Bill Menezes: As you bask in the afterglow of
an apparently successful fight with the FCC over control of a huge amount of wireless
spectrum, I have only one question for you people running NextWave Telecom:
"Where's my money?"
--July 9, 2001
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Always On:
Surprises In Store
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Gary Arlen: High-tech retailers and broadband
service providers continue building their questionable collaboration as an alliance
of inconvenience. The arms-merchant mindset in the retail trenches is fortifying
dealers' intent to offer Digital Subscriber Line, cable modem and satellite broadband
products side-by-side-by-side, along with any other revenue-enhancing service package
they can get their hands on.
--July 9, 2001
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Through the Pipe:
Bandwidth Not Wasted
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Howard E. Janzen: Recent business media reports are
leading many to believe that the investment of billions of dollars in telecom has all been
a waste. The industry is awash in over-capacity with little demand, these reports state.
This is simply untrue. Meanwhile, we have an industry that is hemorrhaging while the real
issues are being overlooked.
--July 9, 2001
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