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Hill
Associates Telecom Newsletter
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Hello!
This
month brought some interesting news from the world
of telecom. First, members of Congress are raising
concerns about the AT&T/BellSouth merger scheduled
to close in October. Could there be trouble ahead
in telephone merger land? Second, Bernie Ebbers,
former WorldCom CEO and leader of the dot com
merger mania, reported for duty at the federal
prison in Louisiana. Does this signal the last
chapter in the dot com collapse? And last, Catherine
Zeta-Jones will be dumped as the celebrity spokesperson
for T-Mobile when her contract expires. Are consumers
developing a dose of celebrity overload? Or, is
it that wireless carriers need to focus instead
on performance to attract and retain customers,
as wireless markets in the U.S. approach saturation?
One thing is for sure, it is an exciting time
to be in the telecom industry.
I hope
you enjoy the articles in this newsletter as much
as I will enjoy the Harvest Moon that will light
the landscape in the next few days. Of course,
this means that winter will be here all too soon.
Until
next month,
Paul
President & CEO
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| In
the News
Stumble upon your favorite website
The
Web 2.0 service StumbleUpon
uses the power of community to find websites of interest
to you. Over 1.3 million users have rated their favorite
sites, which in turn will help you find your favorite
sites. Just download and install a tool bar to your
browser—either Firefox or Explorer—register,
and identify your favorite topics (e.g., sports, computers,
religion, health). Then click on the Stumble button.
It's that easy!
Technology tackles crime
Sticky
fingers beware! Retailers are cracking down on shoplifting
with more intelligent surveillance systems: digital
video, RFID, wireless alerts sent to handheld devices
24/7, and data mining, to name a few. One of the most
interesting new systems is the electric fence. Employees
can lock the wheels of a cart remotely, if they suspect
someone of exiting a store with a cart containing stolen
merchandise. For more information on RFID, listen to
our podcast series.
Scream 4: A Cell Phone Is Stolen
A UK
security firm has developed software that will disable
a cell phone, wipe out personal data, and even make
it scream! Read the article in eWeek.
Got blog?
Blogging
is a phenomenon
experiencing explosive growth with approximately two
blogs being created per second. Why blog? Some people
blog to communicate with friends and family, others
to share their views with the world. With the lack of
control on blog content, we are seeing an upswing in
blogging-related lawsuits.
In many ways blogging is the modern equivalent of keeping,
and sharing, a diary. If you wish to dip your toes in
blogging water, feel free to comment on our blog,
or start your own. Some popular sites include blogger
(Google), Windows
Live Spaces (Microsoft), MySpace
(News Corp.), and Vox
(Six Apart).
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| Industry
Analysis
Do you remember when the Web was young?
The wayback machine
allows users to view archives of 55 billion
Web pages from 1996 to the present. Compare our current website
with that from October 1997. Very different!
See how your favorite website has evolved.
Mobile ESPN bites the dust. Are other MVNOs in danger?
The
mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) business—companies
selling cellular services without owning a network—has
been touted as the next big thing (TNBT) in telecom
for some time. However, with less than one year in the
business, Mobile ESPN has announced it will shut down.
Many are now questioning the viability of the MVNO business
model. We believe ESPN has a much bigger opportunity
to sell its content for delivery via other operators
than the one offered by the MVNO option.
What
do you think? Post your comments
here.
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| Tech
Talk
Will VoIP peering mean the end of the PSTN?
SentitO
Networks and Stealth Communications have announced that
Internet telephone service providers (ITSP) can connect
directly to offer end-to-end IP connectivity between
VoIP users. Eighteen million telephone numbers are in
their ENUM registry, supporting call rates of 700,000
calls per day. As more ITSPs peer, the PSTN will no
longer be needed to interconnect VoIP customers. Rich
Tehrani of TMC calls 2006 the year of VoIP peering and
relates ITSP peering to Metcalf's law of value in telecommunications.
Peter Southwick reviews the constructs and benefits
of ITSP peering in this podcast and the associated blog.
Free IP telephony chapters online
The
first two chapters of a new IP telephony book are available
free on the Internet. The first chapter contains a history
of voice over IP and case histories of VoIP deployments.
The second chapter explores the IP telephony lifecycle.
These chapters are a good starting point for readers
looking for hard dollar figures for ROI and TCO. Author
Jim Cavanagh analyzes the true costs associated with
IP telephony and VoIP deployment. If you desire more
depth, consider our new IP telephony workshop, described
below.
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New
Hands-on Workshop
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IP Telephony: Protocols and Implementations
Most
enterprises will eventually move to VoIP technology
and implement IP telephony (IPT). Yet for all the "plug
and play" services from several players, setting up
a corporate IPT infrastructure can be quite complex.
Therefore, the IT staff must understand the various
technological requirements, architectural components,
and protocols critical to the successful implementation
of real-time traffic (e.g., voice within an IP infrastructure).
Specifically, implementers must understand the analysis
of the SIP protocol stack for voice calls; QoS options
in an Ethernet switched environment and an IP routed
environment; and VoIP operation in a network that employs
network address translation (NAT). Read more in the
course description.
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