|
Hill
Associates Telecom Newsletter
|
|
 |
Greetings.
Spring is just around the
corner, despite all the snow in Vermont.
We're already looking forward to summer, and we haven't even endured mud season
yet! We also look forward to the close of FairPoint's acquisition of the Verizon assets in
Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont. We will keep you posted on what happens in this space.
We have two new things to
share with you this month. First is the availability of new video
podcasts, and the other is a series of podcasts and related information on
security and how to avoid a PCI-DSS fiasco like TJX. Look for more special
features coming soon.
We will continue to provide you the best objective views on the industry trends. Keep sending us your feedback and input! Click here for more information about the survey.
Paul
|
 |
In
the News
What the next president should focus
on regarding IT
We know about National Electronic
Health Records trying to move forward, but what else will be important for our
leaders to address? The folks at eWeek started a list of just such ideas. What would you like to see on that list? We’ll
address your ideas in an upcoming tHAWT.
Top 10 places to go on a techie date
Valentine’s Day has passed, but we couldn’t resist
including this. All you techies out there must check out these romantic hotspots.
The Internet and the developing
world
Where will the next big thing for
Internet-related capabilities come from? Could the next Amazon, eBay, or
Google spring from a developing country? This report (and associated blog comments) from Internet Evolution discusses future global impacts of the Internet.
|
|
Industry
Analysis
The changing nature of the telecom industry
In 2006, CEOs focused on innovating products and
services. Now, IBM’s new report indicates that business model transformation is emerging as
a key driver of future value for telecom providers. This will require CEOs to
change their thinking.
The end of analog cellular
On February 18th, the FCC allowed for the “analog sunset” of the advanced mobile phone system (AMPS)
networks, first deployed in the 1980s. Both AT&T and Verizon turned
off their analog networks, and while they claim only 1 percent of their
customers might be affected, that still represents over 1 million potential
users. In addition, AMPS is estimated to be used as backup notification in
roughly 400,000 home alarm systems. Check out our tHAWT for more discussion.
The commoditization of IP telephony
Bundling services into an all-in-one package—think
programming, phone, and Internet—suggests that the services in the bundle have
become commodities. Such is the case with VoIP services and IP telephony
configurations for the small business market (businesses with fewer than 100
employees). CRN magazine recently compared products from five vendors
competing in this market: Adtran’s NetVanta 7100; Avaya’s Quick Edition; Cisco’s Smart
Business Communications System; Fonality’s PBXtra; and Nortel’s BCM50. |
|
Tech
Talk
Just for you: Enterprise security references
Based on your responses to our survey, you want more information about security. We
have created a podcast series on security, specifically on how to avoid the
likes of another data breach like TJX. You can access the series, and other security
related information all on one page.
Storage remains a great opportunity
for the mid markets
According to by CIO Insight, investment in storage equipment is expected to grow almost 14 percent this year. A recent article from CIO Magazine notes that 75 percent of CIOs surveyed by Gartner are looking at, or have already deployed, iSCSI storage networks. Check out our storage networking white paper for more information on the
topic.
25 years of DNS
Check out this video commemorating 25 years
of the Domain Name System
(DNS). If you don’t know what the DNS is, this video will
explain it. Essentially, DNS provided us with the perfect Internet phone book.
|
|
Hill Associates News
Video podcasts are now available
Many of you have been
subscribing to our RSS daily PodSnack feed. Now,
we’ve added video PodSnacks. Check out the first of
our new series here. Now,
you can pack some video-on-the-go, too.
Have you had your daily PodSnack?
PodSnacks are five-minute overviews of core
technical concepts. Almost 300 of them relate to our wiki articles. If you
are feeling a bit lost on core technical concepts, or can’t remember exactly
what a term really means, check out the best telecom wiki around, with almost 1000 telecom
articles. Remember also to check out our weekly podcast series called the Hill Associates Week in Telecom
(tHAWT).
Win a free ExperTech of your choice
We conducted a survey about
the Hill Associates newsletter in late January, and we continue to add things
based on your feedback. (The security references above are an example.)
The survey has a dozen questions and should take you only a few minutes to
complete. If you have already done so, your name has been entered in our weekly
drawing for an ExperTech of your choice. Names are announced
in our weekly tHAWT. If you have not given us
your input, here is a link to the survey. The details about how you can become a weekly
winner are at the top of the survey.
|
|
Recent PodSnacks
- Information security ( Blog ) ( Wiki ) ( MP3 )
- Internet Small Computer
System Interface ( Blog ) ( Wiki ) ( MP3 )
-
Backup
Data
Center
( Blog ) ( Wiki ) ( MP3 )
|
Recent
podcasts
-P4P
-The
IT Organization: Strategic or Tactical
-Not
the Pink Tentacle
|
Recent
Blog Posts
-Backup,
Retention, and Storage
-Worst
Moments in Network Security
-Geeks
Need More than a Life
|
|
|
|
|
|
