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Hill
Associates Telecom Newsletter
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I want to extend my personal
thanks to those of you who read the Hill Associates May newsletter, especially
those of you who took the time to contact me. I hope you enjoyed it and found
it valuable. The overwhelming response to the newsletter was extremely positive.
Many of you responded
with questions about how to use podcasts and blogs
to get additional information on topics of interest.
The most popular question was: Do I need an iPod
to listen to podcasts? The short answer is no.
Our podcasts are MP3 files and can be listened
to on any computer or MP3 player. See the FAQ
on our podcasts site for more details. While there,
see if there are other topics you would like to
learn more about. Our podcast library is growing
every week; it provides a concise, quick way to
keep you up-to-date on what's happening in the
telecommunications industry.
The Hill Associates
blog is yet another way to get deeper coverage
on topics of interest. The beauty of the blog
is its interactive nature. Join our community
to read and comment on posts on a wide range of
subjects like RFID, storage, IP telephony, and
staying current in today's changing world of telecommunications.
On the blog, our instructors provide notes on
their podcasts, expand on technological topics,
and point you to articles they find useful. Post
a comment and invite an instructor and others
to discuss the topic even further, in an open
forum.
I encourage you to send
any other questions and/or suggestions to newsletter@hill.com
or to me. I am off to enjoy the long weekend.
I hope you do too!
Paul
President & CEO
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| Industry
Analysis
Managed storage comes of age
With
the advent of regulatory compliance, and the death of
distance, Gartner reported in 2005 that only 5 percent
of all businesses surveyed would not consider out-tasking
their data backup to an off-site service provider. Things
have certainly changed! That number dropped dramatically
from 40 percent in 2004.
This article from the May 22, 2006 Network World
Special Report notes that today's businesses are seeing
huge increases in data, as well as an increased need
for regulatory compliance and disaster recovery planning.
A storage service provider is starting to make sense
for many companies, companies of all sizes. The article
also contains an excellent checklist of the five factors
to consider when choosing an SSP. Listen to our
podcasts for additional information on storage fundamentals,
the realities of tape, and today's perfect storm for
storage.
Selling business continuity
solutions to the small business
Most large enterprises have entire
organizations dedicated to protecting the business from failure. Unfortunately,
most small and some medium-sized businesses have no solid protection strategy, even
though business continuity is just as important to the small business as it is to
the large business. Providers of business continuity services must be aware of the
needs of small businesses and be able to educate them about their needs. This
document is aimed toward
helping small to mid-sized businesses create a disaster recovery plan.
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| In
the News
How much is long distance calling
worth?
In January 1984 the Bell System was divided
into seven local exchange carriers and one long distance carrier, AT&T. The belief
was that AT&T was in a strong position based on the high profits in the long distance
business. Today the long distance business is extremely competitive. Domestic calling
plans usually charge 5-10c per minute, calling cards 2-5c per minute, and Internet
offerings, such as those from Skype
and Yahoo,
range from 0-2c per minute. For international calling, the savings are even greater. Recently,
Skype announced free calling to any telephone in the U.S. and Canada until 2007. This Light Reading
article
speculates about the reasons behind Skype's move. Further discussion is provided in the
blog post. Join in.
Vonage IPO: Is it a good buy?
Vonage
is the leader in Internet-based telephony, but for how
long? A recent New York Times
article explores the challenges faced by Vonage as new entrants begin to challenge its
leadership. For more discussion listen to the
tHAWT podcast, in which Todd, Trevor,
and Dave discuss the various VoIP options, challenges,
and directions.
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| Tech
Talk
The IPTV experience
Ever
wonder what is going on behind the IPTV experience?
What type of signaling and what type of compression
are used? How will the IP networks be tested for QoS,
and what are the critical QoS values for IPTV? Robert
Winters's
article considers these questions and more. He describes
a zap rate for changing channels and the mechanisms
necessary for a low zap rate.
VoIP and ENUM will change how we communicate
Have
you phoned a friend using Vonage or Skype? If so, you
used voice over the Internet Protocol (VoIP). And, you're
not alone—Vonage and Skype now have millions of
subscribers. Many do not realize that VoIP offerings
are just island technologies interconnected by the plain
old telephone service (POTS) network. Only if a Skype
subscriber calls another Skype subscriber (or a Vonage
subscriber calls another Vonage subscriber) do they
stay in the packet world. If a Skype subscriber calls
a Vonage subscriber, or vice versa, they pass through
the POTS network. Why? There is no clearinghouse for
telephone numbers and no uniform means for looking up
a VoIP name in the current Internet. However, this is
all changing; ENUM standards are being implemented.
The ENUM system maps telephone numbers to names to IP
addresses, using the existing DNS structure to host
new records and new capabilities. But this ability will
not come to an ISP any time soon, as there are still
many technical hurdles to overcome. This article,
written by one of the DNS system's initial developers,
lists the capabilities of the ENUM system and the technical
problems that must be solved. However, once solved,
VoIP and ENUM have the potential to change how we communicate
forever.
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