Telecommunications Americas articles from December 2002

Telecommunications Americas archives from December 2002

Dog eat dog. (Commentary).
December 1, 2002... Ah, December. The air turns crisper, the leaves have long since, fallen to the ground and the entire world seems in a celebratory spirit. So what's all this mud slinging and name calling? With the mid-term elections behind us, shouldn't all...

Surf and turf: T-Mobile launches airport Wi-Fi service. (For Starters).
December 1, 2002... Soon those frequent flier perks will include a broadband connection--a Wi-Fi connection, that is. Through an agreement signed with American Airlines, Delta Airlines and United Airlines, T-Mobile will provide Wi-Fi access in each of the...

They're counting the minutes. (For Starters).
December 1, 2002... Let's be honest. Businesspeople run down by constant traveling and time lost waiting in airports may not really care whether they're using the best calling plan. They may not want to cost their companies money, but they have enough on their...

ITC^DeltaCom ready to roll after Chapter 11 bankruptcy. (For Starters).
December 1, 2002... Perhaps the Chapter 11 filing that ITC^DeltaCom made in late June will turn out to be a blip in the history of the company. After going public five years ago, ITC^DeltaCom was growing at a rate of 40 percent a year until things started to slow...

Multiservice Switching Forum demonstrates global interoperability. (For Starters).
December 1, 2002... As the telecom industry continues to wade through what Gartner Group telecom analyst Dave Fraley calls The Telecom Great Depression, a synergistic environment among vendors, service providers and industry forums can help service providers...

Apples or oranges? (For Starters).
December 1, 2002... Which long-distance company has the most reliable network? It depends on how you interpret the numbers. WorldCom in late November ran a full-page ad in the Wall Street Journal touting its leadership role in network reliability among the major...

Time for 4G?
December 1, 2002... With much market skepticism about the overall benefits of upgrading systems to 3G wireless technologies, maybe it's time to start thinking about 4G. Many digital cellular systems are doing well with higher data speeds, and it seems as though...

ILECs at a crossroads.
December 1, 2002... The U.S. ILECs--especially their wireline telco operations--are at a strategic crossroads. They have won nearly all of the competitive battles they have chosen to fight, including the right to offer long-distance services (mostly), fended off...

Playing together nicely: merging carriers aim to simplify back-office operations.
December 1, 2002... Carriers brought together by merger or acquisition, like freshmen roommates in a college dormitory, discover everyone has their own way of doing things. But roommates can just move out if they don't get along. Businesses that fail face more...

Real private networks: virtual routers are a starting point for Cybera to offer enhanced security services. (Technologies Work).
December 1, 2002... Don't tell Cybera this is a tough time to be stepping into the service provider business. Since starting operations in mid-2001, Cybera already has 1200 customer connections and is bringing on new locations at a rate of about 150 a month. In...

A multi-flavored network: independent ILEC takes the mystery out of Wi-Fi/DSL combo. (Technologies Work).
December 1, 2002... At Walt Disney World in Orlando, Fla., the listed attractions are more likely to be Space Mountain and It's a Small World, not Wi-Fi, DSL and wholesale fiber capacity. But embedded under the fairy-tale atmosphere of Disney World is Smart City...

Building a case for video: rural LEC branches out as a CLEC, opts for next-gen Class 5 and DLC combo. (Technologies Work).
December 1, 2002... For what it lacks in size, Branch, Mich.-based Carr Telephone certainly does not lack in ambition. In operation since 1908, Carr is a debt-free rural ILEC with 2200 lines and 10 employees that serves the towns of Branch and Scottsville. Like...

How do telecoms roll out new services, integrate platforms and reduce churn? Like most things in life, it's all about looking to the right partner.
December 1, 2002... IT'S E-BUSINESS. AND IT'S HELPING TELECOMS DELIVER NEW SERVICES TO CUSTOMERS FASTER AND FOR A LOT LESS. e-business has moved to the center of telecommunications. It's helping telecoms meet customer demands by dramatically reducing...

Let IP VPNs roll: WorldCom's MPLS-based VPN is a single solution for investment banker Putnam Lovell. (Technologies Work).
December 1, 2002... Putnam Lovell not only saw the quality of its video traffic improve after it began using WorldCom's Private IP service a year ago, but as an investment banker particularly appreciates the cost savings from the new service. According to Rodric...

Getting a grip on inventory: global provider Verestar takes better stock of its parts. (Technologies Work).
December 1, 2002... Every retailer needs to take inventory now and then, to know what it has enough of on its shelves and what it needs to replenish. Telecom carriers are no different, except that for them doing inventory is tougher. Their stock may be scattered...

Not your gradpa's telco: IPTV plus Internet over DSL gives rural provider a true triple play. (Technologies Work).
December 1, 2002... Mike Foster is in a hurry. A Twin Valley Telephone (TVT) subscriber is having problems with his satellite TV dish. Foster would just as soon sign up the subscriber for the 60 TV channels that TVT hopes to begin offering this month. As TVT's...

Pass it on: Sprint borrows a page from ION, fine-tunes its order management processes. (Technologies Work).
December 1, 2002... Think about the old game Telegraph that kids play in kindergarten. Everyone sits in a circle and the teacher whispers a phrase to the first student, who whispers it to the next, and so on. By the end the phrase becomes something completely...

Judgment day: service quality management bridges the gap in the mobile domain. (Monitoring & Analysis).
December 1, 2002... The wireless market has matured since the 1980s and 1990s, when the novelty of mobile communications far outweighed the inconvenience of dropped calls, limited coverage, poor speech quality and bad customer service. Increased competition...

Netrake's nCite bridges public, private VoIP. (2002 Product of the Month).
December 1, 2002... www.netrake.com Plano, Texas-based Netrake has a simple goal for its nCite IP SC (session controller): bridge the gap between private VoIP and the public service provider network. As its name implies, nCite combines network control (n)...

Compact media gateway. (2002 Product of the Month).
December 1, 2002... www.net.com net.com net.com's new offering--the SHOUT900--is aimed at customers that need one to eight TI/El lines. SHOUT900, which allows for inter-working between H.323- and SIP-controlled calls, can be used as GPE by businesses to...

Low-profile DSLAM. (2002 Product of the Month).
December 1, 2002... Alcatel www.alcatel.com How do you cost-effectively offer DSL services to remote customers? Alcatel has tackled this problem with the introduction of its "low-profile" remote DSLAM--the 7300 ASAM LP. The LP, which was designed for...

Residential/SOHO VoIP. (2002 Product of the Month).
December 1, 2002... NetCentrex www.netcentrex.com NetCentrex has launched MyCall Residential Telephony, a VoIP solution for the residential and SOHO market. Built on NetCentrex's CSS Application Softswitch and MCS Media Control Server, MyCall enables...

MPLS Network Emulation. (2002 Product of the Month).
December 1, 2002... NetTest www.nettest.com NetTest has launched a Network Emulator application on its InterWatch Performance & Verification System, allowing providers and vendors to emulate IP/MPLS/GMPLS network performance with the ability to integrate...

DSL splitter platform. (2002 Product of the Month).
December 1, 2002... ADC www.adc.com ADC has integrated remote test capabilities into its patent-pending BroadWire 528r high-density DSL splitter platform in a move it says will minimize cabling requirements, conserve rack space and simplify DSL...

Multi-loop DSL. (Product Spot).
December 1, 2002... Spediant www.spediant.com If you've got it, you might as well use it. With the introduction of its EML 8000 MLDSL (multi-loop DSL) solution, Spediant, a newly formed spin-off of Orckit, joins a growing list of vendors with emerging...

CO Simulator. (2002 Product of the Month).
December 1, 2002... GL Communications www.gl.com GL Communications has updated its Digital Central Office Switch Simulator (DCOSS) with several features to help network engineers run networks through a variety of scenarios and capture network performance...

Subscriber management. (Product Spot).
December 1, 2002... Redback Networks www.redback.com Redback has done a major makeover of its SMS 10000 platform to make the box more of a revenue-generating platform for consumer services delivered over broadband connections. Although Redback has...

Offline.
December 1, 2002... ERROL GINSBERG Title: CEO and President, Ixia Age: 46 Resides: Malibu, Calif Length at current position: 5 years Education: B.S. in Electrical Engineering. University of Witwatersrand Northwest of Los Angeles lies...