Hill Associates Telecom Newsletter

Some notable anniversaries
August marked the 25^th anniversary of the personal computer (PC). It is hard to believe that 25 years ago we lived without personal computers. Many articles and podcasts recognized the event, including a blog post by our own Michel Gilbert, which looks at the changing role of the PC. eWeek provided two short slide shows recognizing the event. The first slide show is the eWeek labs' top 25 products of the past 25 years. The second slide show recognizes the top 25 "spokesthings" for personal computers; several slides have links to the commercials, including Apple's infamous 1984 Super Bowl offering. The hard disk also celebrated its 50th anniversary. In his WSJ column (subscription required), Leo Gomes describes the specifications of the original 5 MB hard disk, which had to be moved by a forklift.

YouTube guitarist revealed
The Internet has made him a star. Eight months ago, a nondescript posting by funtwo on YouTube made history when a young male played Pachelbel's "Canon" on his guitar in a manner never heard. The piece is instantly recognizable—you have probably heard it at most of the weddings you have attended—but not this version. This 23-year-old self-taught virtuoso has enjoyed enormous popularity on YouTube, with over 7 million downloads and counting. NPR has now revealed the identity of this guitar wizard.

Need to appear more popular? Popularity dialer can help
If you are looking for the bizarre and humorous on the Web, take a look at the popularity dialer. Reported in an American Public Media Future Tense blog, the popularity dialer was started as a negative social commentary on the role cell phones play in our lives. However, it has proven to be more popular than the developers had anticipated. The site now allows you to schedule a call to any phone number you wish. At the appointed time, the service dials your number and plays half of a conversation, to which you can react. Teenagers can impress their friends with their popularity, and professionals can get out of those pesky meetings!

Is it the end of telephony as we know it?
Should the title of this article be changed from "Kiss Traditional Telephones Good-bye" to "Kiss the PSTN Good-bye"? Perhaps the title is too simplistic. The shift to IP telephony could also mean a new infrastructure, not just new phones. The PSTN comprises phones, loops, switches, trunks, and a signaling network. One of the current roles of the PSTN is to interconnect VoIP providers. Is this the PSTN's ultimate destiny, or will there be a new infrastructure for this purpose?

In either case, this article points out the worldwide growth in IP telephony. More importantly it shows that the IP telephony players are coming from new places, and the pressure on the traditional phone companies is growing. The turning point might occur when we drop the IP and observe that telephony now has a new infrastructure. But for now, let the name games continue.

AT&T's strategy reflects the changes occurring in the telephone network; for more information check out Michel's blog post. In addition, Dave and Mark discuss the consumer market in tHAWT episodes 17 and 18; the associated blog posts for these episodes provide references for further reading.

The six worst security mistakes
What are the most common security mistakes companies make today? Network World recently asked top security consultants their opinions. Find the list here, along with solid advice on how to avoid these mistakes.

Terabyte storage is becoming common
Consider the following typical scenario. My iPod has a 30 GB hard drive. My TiVo holds 80 hours of video. I have a laptop with a 60 GB hard drive and another computer at home with 80 GB. On my vacations, I shoot an average of 700 photos on my 5 megapixel camera, which on my last trip equated to 1.2 GB of photos (which I backed up on my NAS). Who would have thought that I would be considering a terabyte of additional storage? Yes, a terabyte! That's a thousand gigabytes…a trillion bytes. Is that possible? Yes, and quite practical today. For more on this topic, check out recent articles in the Denver Post or the Wall Street Journal (subscription required). To learn more about storage terminology, see Mark's blog post.

IP Applications
Convergence is about more than just the network; it's about the applications too. Learn more about how IP applications are emerging and converging in
this fast-paced course that examines interpersonal communication, collaboration, business intelligence, and Web 2.0 applications!

Read the course description and first chapter.

IP Multimedia Subsystem
The IP multimedia subsystem (IMS) network architecture, which has it roots
in the wireless world, has entered the telecommunications industry with great fanfare. IMS addresses the convergence of voice, data, and video in either a wired or wireless setting and offers the platform that could signal the advent of the next killer application. IMS provides an all packet-switched core network that creates an access-independent environment. The IMS architecture will be used to deliver a wide range of multimedia services to users who access the infrastructure via any device or network connection. Some have quipped that this is the "eBay model" for networks in that it "connects buyers with content suppliers" anytime, anywhere.

Read the course description and first chapter.