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The Future of Bandwidth
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There's a bandwidth glut. There's a bandwidth
bottleneck. Bandwidth is a resource. Bandwidth is a commodity. Amid this tangle,
only one thing is clear: It's that paradoxical best of times and worst of times
for bandwidth, the fundamental element of electromagnetic spectrum-wired and
wireless alike-used for all types of communications.
--August 20, 2001
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Bondholders Want Cash, Equity and a Break
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The bondholders are coming. Actually, they've been
there all along, watching in hope, fascination and frustration as DLEC executives
put their money to work building networks, hiring employees, making acquisitions,
signing up customers, and leasing blimps...
--August 20, 2001
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Fritz's Fight
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Congress returns to Washington as Sen. Fritz
Hollings, D-S.C., attempts to turn the broadband legislative tide against
the Bell companies.
--August 20, 2001
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Turn of the Worm
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After wreaking havoc among broadband service
operators, the Code Red II computer worm appears to be fairly contained as more
computers become inoculated against it. But security experts warn it may be among
the first such infiltration strategies, and future worms will pack deadlier
payloads - particularly for residential broadband users.
--August 20, 2001
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Metromedia Disconnect
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It would seem as if Metromedia Fiber Network
and 360networks have plenty of pressing financial burdens to worry about. But
that hasn't precluded them from getting into a legal tussle over disputes that
allegedly led to 360networks physically disconnecting Metromedia fiber-optic
cables.
--August 20, 2001
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Covad's Next Chapter
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Covad Communications Inc. followed through on its
plans to file for Chapter 11 reorganization Aug. 15 to resolve some $1.4 billion
in outstanding debt.
--August 20, 2001
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In the Numbers
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The year 2000 was indeed a boom time for broadband
access in the United States, but it is by no means available to everyone everywhere,
according to the Federal Communications Commission.
--August 20, 2001
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Wide World of Wireless
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A fledging industry is poised to begin developing
products for commercial application of ultra wideband technology developed for the
military, provided it gets the okay from the Federal Communications Commission.
--August 20, 2001
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Broadwing's Metro Moves
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Broadwing Communications is following a fiber-optic
trend of late, having moved deeper into some major metro markets by inking a new
partnership with Sphera Optical Networks.
--August 20, 2001
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Riverstone Touts Hong Kong Deal
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The rush of activity to hit the metro space this year
hasn't been the exclusive province of the service providers. Equipment makers focused
on metro area networking continue to see benefits, and Riverstone Networks counts
itself in that group.
--August 20, 2001
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Smarter Switching
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The road to multiprotocol label switching (MPLS) in
the backbone of service providers' networks is going to be paved by the next-generation
multiservice switches (MSSWs) that are beginning to make their debut at the edge, and
in the core, of the network.
--August 20, 2001
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Innovators Drawing Interest
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Several service providers are taking notice of
multiservice switches (MSSWs) developed by start-up vendors. Vanion Inc., a
regional integrated communications provider, and Verizon, both of which are
trialing the WaveSmith boxes, admit they are intrigued with the new entrants'
offerings.
--August 20, 2001
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Multiservice Business Prospects Cool Now, Hot Later
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Carriers know what they want. These days, what pops up
most on the wish list is a network architecture that will enable multiple services and
smoothly migrate to the next generation.
--August 20, 2001
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Time Warner Preps iTV Framework
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Time Warner Cable's work to unify the many
software interfaces associated with interactive television-a project it calls
"Interactive Services Architecture" -is laying a very necessary framework for
the MSO's likely move toward personalized television services.
--August 20, 2001
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Cable Confluence
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Motorola Inc. may have added to its 800-pound
gorilla status in the broadband cable systems market with its acquisition of
RiverDelta Networks Inc.
--August 20, 2001
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Roll PON
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Comcast Business Communications (CBC) launched in
February with an obvious goal in mind. Just five months later, the latest ambitious
venture of one of the largest cable operators in the U.S. took its first substantial
step toward offering competitive services. In the process, the path may now be paved
for MSOs to start taking a dent out of the small/medium enterprise market by using
an emerging optical technology.
--August 20, 2001
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Powered Down
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A year ago, energy utilities saw shining
possibilities for broadband communications and flipped the switch on
broadband subsidiaries offering telecom and video services. But after a
year of economic blight, a funding drought and mounting upfront costs to
build high-speed networks, that light is noticeably dimmer these days.
--August 20, 2001
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Seren Circling
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After planning at one point an aggressive expansion,
Xcel Energy's cable and telecommunications unit, Seren Innovations, has circled its
wagons around its two key operations to weather the tough economic times.
--August 20, 2001
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Tele Brains
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The days of the dumb terminal telephone are fading
fast as IP telephony approaches reality. "Dumb" phone systems commonly in use today
usually have functions that reside on the private business exchange (PBX) network or
within a switched circuit platform. Today, the phone that's connected to it pretty
much sits on a desk and functions based on what the network tells it to do.
--August 20, 2001
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Gotta Match?
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Call it the matchmaker of the fiber-optic
community. No, Fiberloops.com isn't a dating service. But the new Web portal
is making plenty of new relationships work.
--August 20, 2001
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Verizon Wireless Turns Up 3G Network
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Verizon Wireless, the nation's largest mobile
wireless service provider, says it's upgraded its network in the New York and
northern New Jersey to accommodate next generation technology, but don't count
on surfing the web at high-speed on a cell phone in the New York metro area
just yet.
--August 20, 2001
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BreezeCom and Floware Wireless Complete Merger To Form Alvarion
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Broadband wireless equipment providers BreezeCom Ltd.
and Floware Wireless Systems Ltd. asked employees to help them choose a new name for
their combined company. Consensus formed around the name Alvarion, and it began
operating Aug. 1 as one of the largest pure-play providers of equipment for the
point-to-multipoint fixed wireless broadband access market.
--August 20, 2001
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The Ricochet Effect
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After announcing bankruptcy, Metricom Inc. pulled the
plug on its high-speed wireless networks, put a collection of technology and gear on
the auction block, and left reseller providers looking for alternatives.
--August 20, 2001
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Neo-Napsters Proliferate in the Wake of Napster's Demise
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The recording industry may have succeeded in
slowly squashing Napster like a scary and unpleasant cockroach, but just like
that persistent pest, peer-to-peer file sharing networks offering music and
video have proliferated on the Internet.
--August 20, 2001
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After Napster
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With Internet congestion still a plague for rich media
content, a cadre of peer-to-peer content delivery startups are following the Napster
model: they deliver content using the customers' computers to retransmit streams to
fellow viewers, with a central control system governing where and to whom the
streams are served.
--August 20, 2001
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A Fitting Format
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Life was easier when the stage for Internet content
was the big, friendly computer monitor. But with display windows now ranging from a
2-inch cell phone screen to a 20-inch monitor, finding a way to make content fit
can give providers fits.
--August 20, 2001
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Target: Animal House
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As the adage goes, youth is wasted on the young.
But for companies looking for a way to make their mark in the competitive content
arena, youth is anything but a wasteland. For these companies there exists a
captive, tech-savvy audience anxious to consume their product: The largely
untapped, broadband-enabled college student market.
--August 20, 2001
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Making a Meal of Misfortunes
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While the there seems to be little end in sight to
the economic downturn, the depressed stock prices and failing business plans are
creating opportunity. For companies with the savvy and nerve-not to mention a
strong enough financial constitution-the sector's misfortunes can make for a
satisfying, lower-cost feast.
--August 20, 2001
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Lucent Says Venture Partners Remain "Very Vibrant" Despite Financial Woes
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Lucent Technologies Inc. isn't letting financial
and restructuring problems brought on by a weak market for telecommunications
equipment interrupt its activities as a provider of venture capital for new
companies.
--August 20, 2001
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Broadside:
Live and Learn
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Bill Menezes: If nothing else, the current economic
crisis afflicting most things broadband has brought out the creativity in those who carry
the weighty responsibility of navigating their companies through the shoals of fiscal danger.
--August 20, 2001
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Always On:
Disconnect Over Content
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Gary Arlen: How frustrating to confront two groups
who should be talking to - or more significantly, seeing and listening to - each other,
but knowing that they'll never cross paths...
--August 20, 2001
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Through the Pipe:
Broadband Solutions to Economic Woes
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Michael Boland: During the second half of the 1990s,
the economy seemed invincible. Advances in information technology accounted for about a
third of our nation's growth and about two-thirds of its productivity growth. But the
economy has begun to show serious signs of weakness. So it should not be surprising that
in the face of economic challenges, we are also facing technological ones.
--August 20, 2001
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