Telecommunications Americas articles from December 2004

Telecommunications Americas archives from December 2004

Go on, hug a switch.(Commentary)
December 1, 2004... It's the time of year that the editors of and contributors to Telecommunications[R] magazine lovingly refer to as "case study hell." Every December for the past several years, we've used this issue to showcase the best and brightest examples of...

Call monitoring gets emotional.(FOR STARTERS)
December 1, 2004... "Poor service." Competitor names. "Cancellation." Terms and phrases like these don't gladden the hearts of telco customer service managers charged with retaining subscribers. But up until now, call monitoring software at telco call centers...

On the spot: Nortel's Mumford.(FOR STARTERS)(Greg Mumford)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2004... What technology developments are technology chiefs keeping their eyes on these days? We asked Nortel Networks' Greg Mumford, formerly CTO and now Special Advisor to CEO Bill Owens, to quickly name four advances he's excited about: SIP...

Going global: MSF sets pace for the future.(FOR STARTERS)(Multiservice Switching Forum)
December 1, 2004... There's no stopping the VoIP train. With the potential to create new services and revenue streams never thought of on the traditional TDM-based phone network, VoIP holds promise for both service providers and end users. However, obstacles still...

Report: revenue leaks continue.(FOR STARTERS)
December 1, 2004... Average revenue leakage this year for operators around the world is 10.7 percent of turnover. That was the headline finding of a survey commissioned by Azure, a revenue assurance specialist spun out from BT in April 2003. The resulting...

Copper's sweet spot.(Business Networks)
December 1, 2004... Mid-sized enterprise locations remain an extremely attractive opportunity for copper-based access technology, despite recent reports touting plans for massive deployment of fiber in the loop plant. This is so because, relative to residential or...

Re-vitalizing SONET: no, it's still not optimized for data, but two new approaches could work wonders.(Business Networks)
December 1, 2004... SONET's troubles with carrying data traffic would just be years-old news, except the situation hasn't improved much. The difficulties still represent a major problem for carriers, especially in the metro, where data traffic of all protocols...

Teaching wireless 101: American University lights up a wireless campus.(Cover Story)
December 1, 2004... It's a funny thing about networks: They didn't seem to notice there was a telecom downturn. They still needed to serve customers and carry innovative new services to attract even more customers. And they needed to do that with less investment...

Back office makeover: KPN finds unexpected benefits in simplifying its OSS.(Advanced Broadband Operational Support Systems )
December 1, 2004... Talk to any carrier and No. 1 on its mind is maximizing its network performance and reducing operational costs. It's no different for KPN, the incumbent operator in the Netherlands, whose wireline network serves 7.8 million business and...

Go fish (with your cell): Blister snags customers with location-based fishing game.(Blister Entertainment)
December 1, 2004... Talk about reality breeding fantasy... Paul Poutanen, president of Blister Entertainment, was using a fish scanner on a boat in a northern Ontario lake when he hooked an idea that would become Swordfish, the first location-based game running...

Dedicated-line VoIP: Speakeasy puts money where its mouth is.(Voice over Internet Protocol )
December 1, 2004... If you're going to offer a true alternative VoIP service, you better make sure you take responsibility for the customer experience, says Bruce Chatterley, president and CEO of Seattle-based Speakeasy. For all of the hype surrounding VoIP this...

Florida lights up: universities combine to morph into a statewide optical-based carrier.
December 1, 2004... Larry Conrad admits that when a colleague first alerted him about the National Lambda Rail (NLR) two years ago, he hadn't even heard about the project. Now, if all goes well, the NLR, a nationwide optical network, will have soon have a node in...

Scaling large IP video networks: a distributable server model can support rapid growth and service upgrades well into the future.(Network Edge)(Internet Protocol)
December 1, 2004... As broadband video networks grow in geographic reach and subscriber counts, network operators must find ways to expand their services without impacting quality, and without letting costs spiral out of control. When building out their networks,...

Keeping it simple: comprehensive E911 solutions can be provided within the existing 911 infrastructure.(Network Edge)
December 1, 2004... Many residential customers are choosing VoIP as a primary line replacement for traditional residential wireline phone service. There are many attractive aspects to residential VoIP service--it's cost-effective, allows for subscriber mobility...

It's open season for data protection.(Industry Forum)
December 1, 2004... For today's businesses, data protection and business continuity planning are akin to swimming upstream. New technological and environmental threats, stronger regulatory requirements with respect to corporate data, and the devastating impact of...

New look at managing device convergence.(Industry Forum)(speech as common user interface)
December 1, 2004... Let's face it: The only thing most people really need a PC for anymore is its full-sized keyboard. Beyond that, accessing information can be done just as easily through the vast number of mobile devices. But as these devices get smarter, so...

Critical Telecom: a flexible approach to broadband access.(Product of the Month Telecommunications 2004)(GEmini remote DSLAM platform)
December 1, 2004... www.criticaltelecom.com With their CO-based DSL deployments filling out the NFL cities and suburbia, telcos are moving to a hybrid fiber/copper or FTTN architecture, driving fiber to a remote cabinet or SAI (serving area interface) with...

ADSL2+ plug-in card.(New Products)(Advanced Digital Subscriber Line from AFC)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2004... AFC www.afc.com AFC is gussying up its UniversalDSL product line with the release of a new AccessMAX ADSL2+ plug-in card. Over a single copper pair, each card can simultaneously supply six ports of ADSL (up to 24 Mbps) and POTS...

Wide area Wi-Fi.(PRODUCT SPOT)(BelAir Networks releases BelAir 200)
December 1, 2004... BelAir Networks www.belairnetworks.com With release 2.0 of its BelAir 200 wide area Wi-Fi solution, BelAir Networks' customers will be able to organize their wireless infrastructure into multiple, secure, independent networks that fit...

Ethernet NIU.(New Products)(Hyperedge E-Marc NIU)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2004... Hyperedge www.hyperedge.com Traditionally, NIUs (network interface units) have been a necessary tool for carriers to determine the demarc point between the customer and carrier as well as a way to troubleshoot problems on TDM-based DS1...

Wi-Fi-enabled CMTS.(New Products)(Cable Modem Termination System )(Brief Article)
December 1, 2004... C9 Networks www.c9networks.com As an alternative provider to the small-to mid-sized cable operators, Sunnyvale, Calif.-based C9 Networks is betting that a CMTS with built-in Wi-Fi capabilities will be a winning combination. The C9...

Residential session control.(New Products)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2004... Netrake www.netrake.com Netrake has launched a two-phase enhancement strategy for its nCite product line. As part of phase one, Netrake has introduced a series of enhancements to the nCite SE and the nCite DE product line to support...

Packet ring access.(PRODUCT SPOT)
December 1, 2004... Luminous www.luminous.com After a slow start, carrier interest in RPR (resilient packet ring) is gaining momentum. While cable operators were the first to take on RPR, it's clear that with the ratification of the IEEE 802.17 standard,...

Offline.
December 1, 2004... As a 40-year veteran of the telecom industry, Amedia Networks CEO Frank Galuppo has seen a lot of changes since he started out as an installer of switching equipment for Western Electric in the New York metropolitan area. To begin with,...