May 19, 2008
COVER STORY
NXTcomm 2008: Everything under the sun
With a high-powered keynote schedule and slew of exhibitors representing the latest technology trends, telecom's mega-event is set to sizzle in Las Vegas...
EDITOR'S LETTER
That time of year
Trade shows are simultaneously my favorite part of my job and something I absolutely despise. I love trade shows because they bring together a lot of people I otherwise wouldn't see regularly, and they give me a chance to pick the industry's brain, so to speak, in one brief period...
FORWARD MOTION
Naked DSL drives AT&T broadband growth
Though only a few years ago multiple state regulators tried unsuccessfully to force BellSouth to offer standalone DSL service, the company's current owners have embraced the idea...
Is a 4G race beginning?
After months of worry about the future of their WiMAX networks, Clearwire and Sprint are now set thanks to a $3.2 billion investment from Google, Intel and a handful of cable operators...
Cable regains high-speed Internet momentum
Through 2006, Information Gatekeepers Inc. had predicted in its quarterly high-speed access reports that telcos were positioned to overtake cable's early lead in broadband deployment. That prediction changed in 2007...
Bell tolls for wholesale-only muni fiber
The sale of the Provo, Utah, municipal fiber-to-the-premises network this month to greenfield FTTP provider Broadweave Networks sounded a death knell for the wholesale-only municipal fiber approach...
Turning on the computing spigot
As IT and communications converge, a number of different business models will develop. One that already is taking hold in Lafayette, La., involves a municipal fiber network, a wholesale services provider and a computing platform company offering a service dubbed IT on demand...
On-the-go 'toons
Mobile content often comes in the form of wallpaper, ringtones, music, terrified corncobs, monster rabbits OK, the last two might not sound as common, but through independent animation network Aniboom's mobile content initiative, more than 6000 animated shorts, such as the corncobs, are making their way to mobile handsets...
Could global telcos launch Skype competitor?
With voice lines eroding rapidly, AT&T, BT, NTT and other incumbent carriers soon will launch their own IP telephony competitor to Skype, predicted investment banking firm ThinkPanmure in a research note...
AWS band finally spreading its wings
Eighteen months after the close of Auction 66, operators have begun aggressive network rollouts in the first new mobile spectrum band since PCS...
Mobile TV runs into global roadblocks
The U.S. may have a head start in the global mobile TV race. Although the technology has been slow to take off, AT&T and Verizon have launched services, and more are in the works...
OPINION
Who's open now?
When Verizon Wireless started talking open, I was suspicious. Traditionally, Verizon has maintained strict control over its mobile data services from what applications customers could access to how much data they could download over their broadband access plans partly to protect its customers, partly to protect its multibillion-dollar investment in 3G...
INNOVATION
Dumbing up the network
WiMAX networks have the potential to open up wireless data to a new realm of connected devices: millions of sensors, vehicles and smart content-distribution points. The keyword is "potential," though -- at least that's wireless software-maker Proximetry's stance...
SERVICE CREATION
Mixed results
Web 2.0-style telephony development is off to a slow start, but the challenges are less about technology than changing mind-sets -- and business models...
WHAT'S NEXT
SMBs are going mobile
Does anyone work 100% of the time from the desk anymore? I doubt it. Small- to medium-sized business employees become more mobile every year, and the technology tools needed to support them must change at a faster pace...
