Telecommunications Americas articles from February 2004

Telecommunications Americas archives from February 2004

Are 10-GigE vendors shortchanging on interoperability testing?(For Starters)
February 1, 2004... The market for 10-Gigabit Ethernet might start to show some signs of life in 2004. An economy gone cold, combined with its comparatively high price tag, kept down shipments of 10-GigE ports to a few thousand last year. But vendors predict that...

Filling cellular holes with power line technology.(For Starters)
February 1, 2004... Broadband Power Line (BPL) technology developer Corridor Systems is working on a way to use its high-speed data over power lines concept to extend and strengthen cell phone networks. Specifically, Corridor, a 3-year-old Santa Rosa, Calif....

NetGen takes messaging to next level.(For Starters)
February 1, 2004... Since the Internet's inception, the computer has been used as a communications tool. First came bulletin boards, then e-mail-to-text messaging, then instant text messaging. Now, Edison, N.J.-based NetGen Video is pushing computer communications...

Managed services: an uphill battle? There's no shortage of managed service offerings, but telco challenges loom large when it comes to winning over a broader customer base to buy them.(Survival Instinct)(Cover Story)
February 1, 2004... How well are providers tackling the competitive challenge? There's no doubt about it: It's a dog-eat-dog telecom market with cutthroat competition among providers to offer the services with the most value to end users, both residential and...

For RLECs, opportunities still outweigh obstacles; Universal Service and RUS funding fears abound, but rural carriers remain on the cutting edge.(rural local exchange carrier)
February 1, 2004... When it comes to the USF (Universal Service Fund), rural LECs are like coal miners working a profitable vein of anthracite: They realize the lode is finite, but figure there's plenty to be tapped so long as nothing causes a cave-in. The...

Facilities-based competitive carriers: an evolutionary maturation: the CLEC market has seen more than its fair share of turmoil. Is the blood-letting finally over?(competitive local exchange carrier)
February 1, 2004... More than any other segment of the communications industry, the CLEC landscape has seen more ups and downs than an amusement park roller coaster. But today's remaining facilities-based CLECs, having learned from the mistakes of their...

Power surge: can utilities stay in the game? The biggest challenge for utilities in telecom may be internal recognition.(electric utilities foray into telecom sector)
February 1, 2004... Enron. Williams Communications. The California energy crisis. The East Coast blackouts. It hasn't been an easy PR road for utility companies over the past few years, and because of that, many of their telecom subsidiaries have floundered or...

Time for a change: to deliver convergent services in a timely, accurate and cost-effective way, operators must transform their legacy BSS environments into component-based architectures.(Service Provisioning)(business support systems)
February 1, 2004... Operators today face the most challenging marketplace in memory: The global economy continues to struggle, the communications industry has been ravaged, technology is growing in complexity, and business and individual consumers are smarter and...

Convergence: what's it going to take? IP networks need to move beyond best effort.(Network Core)(internet protocol)
February 1, 2004... Escalating broadband usage, economic drivers and enabling technologies facilitates the use of IP as the foundation for high-quality voice, streaming audio and video, online gaming, wireless, and other applications. However, IP networks to data...

Extreme Networks launches extensible Ethernet switching platform.(Product of the Month Telecommunications 2004)
February 1, 2004... While the late '90s mantra of switching and routing was bigger, faster, stronger, this "Gig on steroids" approach is not the only way to gain success in the carrier class metro Ethernet switching space. Case in point is Extreme Networks, which...

Return path monitoring.(New Products)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2004... Acterna www.acterna.com As cable operators continue to roll out multiple services, the challenge will be solving problems without unnecessary truck rolls. Acterna's solution is its RSAM (Remote Service Analyzer Module) 5600. As a...

Compact CMTS.(Product Spot)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2004... ADC www.adc.com For those cable operators that can't afford the expense of large chassis-based CMTS, but need the same features and functionality, ADC has emerged with a compact version of its flagship Cuda CMTS solution: the Cuda...

Core/edge routing.(New Products)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2004... Cisco Systems www.cisco.com Never one to be outdone by emerging competitors, Cisco has made a number of enhancements to its 12000 Router Series and the 7600 Router Series. The new additions to the 12000 are the 12800, 12010 and 12006...

Enhanced SONET.(New Products)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2004... Fujitsu www.fnc.fujitsu.com Fujitsu is taking SONET up a notch by adding UPSR (Unidirectional Path Switched Ring) support for its FLASHWAVE 4010 SONET access device, which will enable service providers to reduce fiber access costs and...

Network border switching.(New Products)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2004... Sonus Networks www.sonusnet.com Sonus Networks is taking the road less traveled on the burgeoning SBC (session border control) path by incorporating this functionality directly into Release 5.1 of its GSX9000 Open Services Switch and...

Distributed HLR.(New Products)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2004... Lucent Technologies www.lucent.com For all the potential new revenue an advanced wireless network offers an operator, it's nothing if they can't track subscribers and bill them accordingly. Lucent's Flexent SDHLR (Super Distributed...

GigE switch/router.(Product Spot)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2004... Force10 Networks www.force10networks.com While taking on the big iron routing/switching leaders is no easy task, Force10 feels it's up to the challenge. The Milpitas, Calif.-based vendor, which counts 65 customers using its previous...

Offline.(Interview)
February 1, 2004... Living in the San Francisco Bay area in the 1960s and '70s, Infonetics Research principal analyst and co-founder Michael Howard got to see the emergence of the free-speech movement first hand. So the question is, did he wear tie-dyed clothing...