|
Hill
Associates Telecom Newsletter
|
|
|
Hello!
It’s certainly been a wild summer for wireless announcements. The iPhone. The FCC 700 MHz spectrum auction. Google in the wireless business. Sprint and Clearwire joining forces. Femtocells. There has been lots of stuff for us to follow for you.
While on the subject of wireless, I’d like you to consider this comparison of wired and wireless telephony from Albert Einstein: “You see, wire telegraph is a kind of a very, very long cat. You pull his tail in New York and his head is meowing in Los Angeles. Do you understand this? And radio operates exactly the same way: you send signals here, they receive them there. The only difference is that there is no cat.” More and more of us are “removing the cat” from our communications.
As always, we appreciate your business, and the continued inputs to our electronic content. We’ll talk with you after Labor Day. Enjoy the rest of your summer!
Paul
President & CEO |
|
|
 |
| In
the News
Fake Steve Jobs revealed
If you have watched our posts about the All Things Digital conference, you know about the very famous Secret Diary of Steve Jobs. Known as the Fake Steve Jobs, the mystery blogger has now been revealed in this New York Times article. He is none other than Forbes magazine Senior Editor, Daniel Lyons. Check out this interview with Lyons about his coming clean. The blog will be moving to Forbes this month.
Harry Potter, in Network World?
Harry Potter has been mentioned in a few Network World articles recently, sometimes tongue-in-cheek, sometimes not. Apparently, the IT director for the Hogwarts School of Magic and Wizardary, J.W. Coxrid, quit unexpectedly. On a more serious note, some malware writers took advantage of the hype around the release of the new book via a new worm. So, ultimately which was hyped more—the iPhone or the new Harry Potter adventure? Go to GoogleFight to see them fight it out.
Be careful, someone’s watching you
According to a 2005 AOL/Salary study, employees often waste up to 90 minutes of their employer’s time with work time spent on personal computer activities. (Not that any of you would do that!) Why mention a two-year-old study? Because Ascentive has launched a program to help employers manage workplace activity: BeAware. Employers can install the program on just one computer and then monitor an entire network. The software can track emails, Internet activity, online chatting, and more. Ascentive offers a stealth mode, which the company claims makes the program undetectable. Ouch!
|
|
| Industry
Analysis
The world of VoIP-onomics
Cost is often cited as one of the key challenges of implementing a VoIP, or IP telephony, system. Robin Gareiss, Executive VP of Nemertes Research, has published an article in Network World about how to save money in a VoIP rollout. For a review of the technology, review our wiki post and PodSnack on VoIP, or purchase our updated ExperTech called VoIP Fundamentals.
InformationWeek’s 2007 security survey results are in
InformationWeek’s 10th annual Global Information Security survey, conducted with consulting firm Accenture, shows that two-thirds of the survey respondents in the U.S. (and 89 percent of respondents in China) are feeling just as vulnerable to security attacks as last year, or more so. Our new Information Security Fundamentals ExperTech helps you focus on what needs to be addressed.
The seven wonders of the Internet
Yeah, yeah, the new seven wonders of the world are really cool, but so are the seven wonders of the Internet. Which is your favorite? Are there any that are missing?
|
|
| Tech
Talk
The need for speed
We know about Ethernet. And we know that Ethernet has gone from standard (10 Mbps) to fast (100 Mbps) to faster (1 Gbps) to wicked fast (10 Gbps). But did you know that the IEEE Higher Speed Study Group, in its July meeting, opted for a leap to both 40 Gbps and 100 Gbps options together? Under the newly proposed IEEE 802.3ba single standard, specifications for both speeds will be addressed as noted by the Ethernet Alliance. There will be Physical Layer standards for 40 Gbps links up to 1 meter long for switch backplanes, 10 meters for copper cable, and 100 meters for multimode fiber. For 100 Gbps, the group will standardize 10-meter copper links, 100-meter multimode fiber links, and 10-kilometer and 40-kilometer distances on single-mode fiber. Now that’s fast! Check out our new Ethernet Fundamentals ExperTech too!
Forget Twitter. Do you have an invite to join Pownce?
The latest, and apparently the most sought after social networking group, is Pownce. And you need an invitation code to join. What is it? Pownce is a way to send messages, files, links, and events to your own private network of friends. The hot startup, launched by Kevin Rose (co-founder and architect of Digg), is limiting access to the site and creating a super hip-ness factor. According to an article in the New York Times, invites were even being sold on eBay. Just how disruptive will this be? We’ll have to watch.
The wacky, wide world of wireless
When your coworker says she is having problems with her wireless, which device is she talking about—her phone, her laptop, or something else? Wireless devices are certainly becoming more common, especially in the corporate world. There are lots of cool uses for the radio technology, which probably explains why there are so many investment opportunities today: Verizon’s purchase of Rural Cellular (Unicell), AT&T’s acquisition of Dobson Communications, Sprint’s WiMax partnerships with Clearwire and Google (which we noted in tHAWT), or FreeWave’s $113M capital infusion. The topic of wireless includes terms like Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and WiMax. Need help making sense of it all? Check out the newly released ExperTech 2.0 on the subject.
|
|
| Hill Associates News
Additions to the ExperTech family
Fundamentals of Storage Networking is now available! Preview it at our store. We are building our updated library as fast as we can. Look for ones on IMS and MPLS soon. Thanks to all of you for your input.
How’s your technical knowledge?
Need a refresher on core technical concepts? Our wiki now has over 600 telecom articles, including five-minute PodSnacks that relate to over 100 of those! We continue to receive requests for content, and we appreciate your comments and feedback. (We’re finding that our students are using the wiki to study!) And don’t forget to spread the word about our podcast series called the Hill Associates Week in Telecom (tHAWT).
Remember, we can customize all this content to meet your needs, requirements, and goals. Call us to see what we can do for you.
|
|
|
| |
