History repeats itself
By Vince Vittore
Ironically, on the day that the Texas legislature passed a piece of legislation that is very important to the future of IPTV, I was speeding across the Oklahoma plains wondering aloud if I had suddenly slipped into a time warp. Telcos wanting statewide cable franchises?...
Com-muni-ism
By Tim McElligott
Lafayette, La., Mayor Joey Durel said this about his city's successful legal battle to build a municipal broadband network: "Our citizens have sent a powerful message"...
Justifying bias
By Vince Vittore
I've been accused of being biased in the past, and in all honestly I can't deny it. It's simply more fun to write about the concepts and technologies behind IP video than it is to drone on about mere data. Plus, when you tell your acquaintances what you do for a living, there's the off chance they'll believe you're in some way connected to Hollywood...
Forward-looking statements
By Jason Meyers
In the dog days of the summer earnings season, I can't stop thinking in terms of hedging bets and over-explaining shortfalls and accentuating the positive in hopes of diluting the negative--all the things that comprise any company's earnings release or quarterly call...
Interoperability, peering or “walled gardens”
By David H. Yedwab
Over the past several months--several years, actually--I’ve found myself asking the following questions innumerable times, sometimes to myself and my associates and oftentimes to high-tech industry players of all stripes...
More math
By Vince Vittore
Rare is it that there is almost universal agreement on anything in this industry. But after writing a column in this space two weeks ago about the stupidity of breaking up Supercomm at this point in the telecom recovery, the response was running more than 95% positive...
The fallout from Lafayette
It's risky to manufacture hindsight--to try to guess how a specific moment or event will be viewed in the future. But I'm going to take that risk and predict that Saturday's election in Lafayette, La., will go down as a major event in the history of community broadband networks...
Charlie and the Chocolate Home
By Vince Vittore
Maybe it was Gene Wilder's acting or perhaps the odd set-up (even for a child with a wild imagination) of a household where four grandparents never seem to get out the same bed, but "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" always struck me as a great morality play...
Carrier VoIP gains momentum
By Kevin Mitchell
VoIP, for many years, was just over the horizon and never quite here, but 2004 looked to be a breakthrough year, especially for North America, and it certainly turned out that way...
Equal footing
By Vince Vittore
For an industry that can spin positive news out of the most dismal earnings reports, it would seem odd that U.S. carriers and vendors should be concerned about broadband growth...
Chicken Little
By Vince Vittore
The sky is not falling on IPTV. It's a new technology that is going to experience plenty of hiccups along the way. So while pundits, analysts and those of us who make noise for a living can decry the "slow" analysts of deployment, it's helpful to think more long term...
Real numbers
By Vince Vittore
Though still early in the IPTV game, the initial results from some of the independent telcos deploying services in competition with incumbent cable operators suggests that the newest kids on the block should be able to capture somewhere around 30% of the available video market...
Enterprise VoIP: To adopt or not to adopt?
By Matthias Machowinski
There is no denying that IP voice is growing in public awareness. Although most enterprises still cling to their trusty circuit-switched voice networks, their grip is slackening, with IP PBXs now accounting for a majority of PBX sales...
What comes after IPTV?
By Steve Hawley
It’s hard to miss the fact that, with TV, telcos are building service portfolios well outside of their historic areas of focus. This trend won’t stop with the “triple play"...
Turning vision into action
By Susan Miller
Over the last decade, different service providers and manufacturers have maintained disparate visions of the appropriate migration path...
Act 2: Deja vu
By Ed Gubbins
This month, the Ad Hoc Telecommunications Users Committee, a group of non-carrier Fortune 500 companies that spend more than $2 billion per year collectively on telecom services...
Triple play or grand slam?
By Sarah Hofstetter
The best chance to win and keep a residential long-distance customer is by delivering a valuable bundle with a strong brand and last-mile access. The...
Slow movers
By Vince Vittore
Inertia is one of the more powerful forces known to man. Most us exist in a comfort zone, and frankly don't want to change our habits and peculiarities...
How can IPTV truly compete on content?
By Steve Hawley
It’s interesting to see how the traditional TV industry and the telco world view one another, and what each of them think will help them retain (or gain) the competitive edge...
Strange bedfellows and natural enemies
By Vince Vittore
This week, Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg told the assembled masses at the National Association of Broadcasters convention that telcos and broadcasters are natural partners as part of the effort to bring advanced digital technologies to local customers...
Cable's better
By Vince Vittore
Nothing gets telcos moving on a strategic initiative like a swift kick in the rear from a large competitor. Last week's National Cable Show in San Francisco...
Thinking nationally on video
By Vince Vittore
A content conundrum
By Steve Hawley
As we survey the IPTV future from the foot of the “hockey stick”--that mythical place early in the market adoption lifecycle at which service providers are building out their IPTV service infrastructures in earnest--it’s a good time to do a reality check...
MVNOpportunity
By Jason Meyers
Getting messy with home networking
By Vince Vittore
From the Duh Department this week comes a survey from Parks Associates that found households with a home data network are much more interested in receiving bundled services...
