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   Technology StocksThe *NEW* Frank Coluccio Technology Forum


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To: Frank A. Coluccio who wrote (20839)4/13/2007 7:42:47 AM
From: Peter Ecclesine
   of 46820
 
BT says no to traffic shaping
(David Meyer) ZDnet - Thursday, April 12
uk.news.yahoo.com

BT will not need to degrade certain types of traffic on its network because enough bandwidth will be created, according to one of the key executives behind the telco's next-generation network.

Matt Beal, BT Wholesale's chief technical officer, said on Thursday that the rollout of the 21st Century Network (21CN) — BT's next-generation network — would "put enough [bandwidth] volume out there… so we don't have to ".

Traffic shaping is a means of prioritising certain types of data over others to avoid network congestion. The practice is at the heart of the debate over so-called "network neutrality", as some see it as a way to protect time-sensitive applications such as VoIP, while others see it as a way for operators to promote their own services over those of rivals.

It recently emerged that the Canadian carrier, Rogers, has been traffic shaping for some time to the detriment of users who, for example, transmit encrypted data. On Thursday, Beal called such practices "quite Big Brother-ish" and maintained that 21CN, which is due for completion by 2011, had the "capacity and scalability" to make that sort of traffic shaping unnecessary.

"It is up to us at the core of the network to make sure there is enough bandwidth for [our services and those of our competitors]," said Beal, who claimed that trials of high-definition TV — the kind of bandwidth-intensive application that some fear could result in network congestion — over 21CN had been successful.

Another solution that some have claimed could ease network congestion is fibre to the premises, known generically as FTTx, but Beal appeared to dismiss the idea of that becoming a widespread reality any time soon. While he said that "proof-of-concept" FTTx trials had been "exceedingly promising", he claimed that the cost of rolling out 21CN made a fibre rollout increasingly unlikely. "It is not something I would envisage us changing our policy on in the next couple of years," Beal said, while adding that FTTx in the UK was purely a market issue, not a "technical or service or BT issue".

Beal also claimed that operators currently rolling out FTTx, such as KPN in the Netherlands, were doing so because they did not have the same kind of anti-monopolistic restrictions placed on them in their countries as BT has in the UK. In 2005 Ofcom forced BT to open up access to its exchanges to other providers — a practice known as unbundling. Beal suggested that a rollout of FTTx would mean BT would be obliged to let rival operators share in that connectivity, which was not much of a motivation.

The CTO also conceded that the headline broadband speeds that 21CN was supposed to bring — 24Mbps — were unlikely to ever be achieved "unless you are… in the exchange". He estimated that the real speeds customers were likely to achieve would be approximately 8-12Mbps. He slated other providers that are rolling out 24Mbps next-generation networks (such as Thus and Cable & Wireless), claiming their networks are so concentrated in metropolitan areas that they are "literally creating a digital divide".

Asked about BT's attitude to the upcoming spectrum auctions, which could be used for the long-range radio technology WiMax, Beal said he did not care who owned the frequencies. "BT can't afford to think like the incumbent," he said, adding that an "aggressive" auction, such as that which led operators to spend fortunes on 3G spectrum earlier this decade, might make it more expedient for BT to let someone else win the spectrum, then lease it from them.

[Aside - NAT knows flow]

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To: Peter Ecclesine who wrote (20841)4/13/2007 8:38:30 AM
From: Frank A. Coluccio
   of 46820
 
Thanks, Peter. While the gesture seems all well and proper at first glance, it quickly falls apart upon further reading. Not to mention that Matt Beal is directly contradicting the thesis set forth in the preceding sub-thread concerning the price of copper potentially forcing a move to fiber. It almost made me feel embarrassed reading this piece, it's so full of holes. What do you and others think? Can you discern any differences between Beal's stance on copper vs. fiber that's different from AT&T's? While it's inevitable that they'll both move to fiber at some point, it boggles the mind why they just don't come out and state as much, even if they have to extend their horizons. FAC

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To: Frank A. Coluccio who wrote (20832)4/13/2007 12:57:17 PM
From: Rob S.
   of 46820
 
Nextwave has to capitalize their investments somehow. They have continued to invest in both the equipment and chip component side and in the spectrum licensing side. They say they don't want to become a carrier. Just how will they achieve revenues that justify their rather large investments? They have much more investment than typical equipment or chip startups. Seems to me that they have to offer to be a wholesale network provider to carriers similar to Qualcomm's MediaFlo. I don't see any other justification that makes sense. Like I mentioned, this fits with current trends of service providers moving into triple/quadruple play of broadband, voice (VoIP) and media services... and thus less emphasis on ownership of the network.

This is not at all an MVNO situation: almost the opposite. While NextWave and similar 'wholesale network' operators may assemble and serve up a smorgasboard of content and services, they are not branding it. An MVNO is all about leveraging of branding and the user experience that rides on top of someone else's network. Example: Disney may provide their own content but they do not (yet) build the network or aggressively pursue licensing of spectrum. A network wholesaler is all about owning and operating the 'real estate'.

Some cable operators have formed consortium and are working with Sprint, Verizon and other network operators to 1) offer wireless 'last mile', 2) mobile cellular, 3) co-branding and MVNO type packages. Cable operators bring needed fiber optic, cable and media server networks and content while the wireless guys bring spectrum licenses and wireless operations.

"Everyone is in everyone else's business"

- Robert Syputa

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From: mistermj4/13/2007 1:09:39 PM
   of 46820
 
2007: The Web Widget

If there is one thing we will be seeing a lot more of this year, it is the Web widget. You may already be familiar with desktop widgets from Apple, Yahoo, Google, and Microsoft (which calls them Gadgets). These are the tiny applications that bring in all sorts of data from the Web to your desktop (like weather, headlines, Flickr photos) without you having to open up your browser. But these tend to just clutter up your desktop until you shut them down and go back to your browser, which is open all the time anyway.

The more important kind of widgets are those that let you take data from one Website and embed them into another. Sometimes these are called Web badges or snippets, but they let you remix the Web to your liking by adding, say, a customized search box to your blog, a YouTube video to your MySpace page, or create a whole page of widgets on NetVibes by pulling in your Gmail, favorite RSS feeds, and photos from around the Web. If you use TypePad, there is a whole gallery of widgets you can add to your blog, including your linkroll or a one-click video chatting button.

The reason Web widgets are important is because they are the most concrete manifestation of something else that is happening. The Web is splintering. Centralized portals don't matter anymore in an era when Google and Digg will filter the ever-changing Web for you much more efficiently. Or you can filter it yourself with a few well-chosen widgets, and bring it to your own particular corner of the Web.

Some are already calling 2007 the -year of the widget. But ever since Websites started opening up their innards a few years ago and giving away their data through open APIs any programmer could access, the widgetization of the Web was already on its way. Now, nearly anyone can grab a widget and slap it onto their blog, NetVibes or MySpace page.

But as more mainstream Web surfers catch on to the widget craze, what will that do to the economics of the Web? What does that do to pageviews if Websites no longer control the pages where their content is viewed? As VC Fred Wilson puts it:

The big reason that 2007 will mark the end of page views is that pages are not really pages anymore. They are the delivery payload for any number of web services that load with the page.

With widgets will come ad buttons and sponsored marketing messages gussied up as content. In an attempt to break through the clutter, advertisers will be creating even more of it. Widget startups will spring up that not only disseminate information to an atomized Web, but use their widgets to gather information as well in order to recentralize and repackage it. While the center may not hold, new centers will arise from the ashes of the old.

blogs.business2.com

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From: Sam Citron4/13/2007 2:10:25 PM
   of 46820
 
The Wireless Wars [WSJ Commentary]
By GEORGE GILDER
April 13, 2007; Page A13

The 10-year war mounted by EU bureaucrats and Europe's communications giants against America's leading wireless technology innovator, Qualcomm, is now reaching a climax. On Monday, Nokia refused to renew licenses on next generation technology following EU ally Broadcom's suit at the International Trade Commission to bar import of cellphones containing Qualcomm chips from factories in Taiwan.

A decade ago, with its single, unifying cellphone standard known as GSM, Europe led the world in mobile communications. But threatened by Qualcomm's CDMA breakthrough, the Europeans launched a ferocious political and PR offensive, hoping to scare off potential customers of the young American firm. The technology was all hype, they said; it "violated the laws of physics."

When Qualcomm proved them wrong and its mobile technology deployed across the U.S. and Korea, Europe went to plan B. They excluded the Americans from the standards process for third-generation, or 3G, technology, battled in the courts, and mandated their "new" system for all of Europe. But in fact, the new European and Japanese standard, called Wideband CDMA, was essentially a copy of the American CDMA system.
[We've come a long way]
We've come a long way.

With the new mobile system flourishing -- accommodating many times more voice callers and beating the previous generation in security, dropped calls and data -- everyone finally admitted that the American company had a lock on the fundamental technologies. The Europeans and Japanese licensed the American technology, CDMA and its sibling WCDMA, assuring that it would be the future of wireless mobile communications, an industry now selling a billion handsets a year.

Today, however, with those 3G licenses coming up for renewal and a fourth generation of wireless in sight, Europe is once again pushing the political levers to control the future -- this time with the unwitting assistance of the U.S. government. Although their immediate target is U.S. dominance in cellphone technology, a collateral victim would be the U.S. broadband economy.

Until recently, the obscure International Trade Commission played a minor role in the enforcement of patents. But with a Supreme Court ruling in 2006 making it more difficult for patent holders to win federal court injunctions against violators, complainants can now turn to the ITC. Unfortunately, complainants can also use an intellectual-property dispute as a cover for enmeshing competitors in the protectionist mazes of international trade law.

And that is what's happened to Qualcomm, the titan of U.S. intellectual property in wireless, with close to 5,700 patents on the next generation of cellphones and wireless data systems around the globe. Attempting to upend the San Diego titan's well-earned dominance are Broadcom and its European "Gang of Six" sponsors.

At a recent ITC public hearing, Broadcom CEO Scott MacGregor declared that the U.S. wireless telecom system would function better if it completely capitulated to the European standard. The Broadcom campaign began in May 2001 when it purchased, from an obscure bar-code and RFID company called Intermec, a set of three flimsy patents that they are now attempting to use to block the importation of all Qualcomm wireless data chips incorporating its (Qualcomm's) state-of-the-art data system called EV-DO.

EV-DO chips not only make mobile voice-over-IP possible, but they also allow cellphones to function more like multimedia computers, carrying eight to 10 times more data than previous technology. At the ITC public hearing, Verizon Vice President Richard Lynch noted that without EV-DO, "handsets go back to being voice and text."

Not coincidentally, Qualcomm recently announced an upgrade to EV-DO that permits transmissions at up to 9.3 megabits a second, a broadband service faster than U.S. wireline services and fast enough to permit mobile TV and streaming music with simultaneous voice and VoIP calling.

The Broadcom action is part of a campaign, reaching from Seoul through Brussels and cropping up in courts from New Jersey to California, to bring down Verizon's and Sprint's aggressive expansion programs for their EV-DO networks. The EU has its sights set on Qualcomm: The Eurocrats contend that with 20% of global market share in cell-phone technology, Qualcomm is a monopolist, guilty of the sin of inventing new systems needed for successful mobile Internet data access.

At stake in the litigation is who will control the next two phases of wireless technology -- 3G and 4G. Nokia's action on licenses is part of this coordinated attack.

However, with no commercially available alternatives to the Qualcomm EV-DO chips that Broadcom wants to block, the administrative law judge who considered Broadcom's claims noted that a "significant financial burden" falling on third parties, including handset manufacturers, wireless carriers and consumers, "weighed heavily" against categorical exclusion of cellphones containing the chips, which would take at least two years to replace.

And there's the rub. Wireless has become the largest source of profits for nearly all major telcos; and a paralysis on the wireless front would reverberate throughout the American broadband economy.

Verizon's mobile phones, for example, are about two-and-a-half times more profitable than its wireline phones. For the most recent quarter, Verizon Wireless profits were $804 million, while wireline profits were $393 million. AT&T affirmed the strategic importance of wireless last year when it acquired BellSouth for $67 billion. All analysts agreed AT&T's chief interest in BellSouth was the remaining 40% ownership of Cingular, the nation's largest mobile carrier with 54 million customers. And EV-DO's own strategic importance was manifest in the Sprint-Nextel merger. According to Sprint executive Bill Elliott, the ability to migrate Nextel customers to Sprint's EV-DO network "was one of the key reasons for the $35 billion merger."

In the past, U.S. telcos used wireline phone revenues to fund their wireless expansion; now they use revenues from wireless to fund fiber-to-the-home. It is profit from its wireless network, for example, that allows Verizon to maintain its stock price and attract the capital to sustain its ambitious $23 billion program of fiber deployments expected to reach 18 million households over the next four years. Any major setback at Verizon wireless would thus likely halt Verizon fiber.

Similarly, profits from the Qualcomm-based technology used by Cingular (now AT&T Wireless) for next generation systems will be critical to fund AT&T's ambitious Project Lightspeed broadband rollout.

Broadcom's attempt to close down Qualcomm on the basis of some flimsy patents on power-management techniques seems preposterous. The entire Qualcomm system, going back two decades, depends on an exquisite dance of exhaustively patented automatic gain controls and instant power regulation. But by the magic of injunctive relief at the ITC you can shut down the entire U.S. broadband industry in favor of European rivals.

With nearly all chips made or packaged overseas, the entire U.S. information economy now depends on ersatz "imports" based on designs and innovations that nearly all originate in the U.S. and generate profits here. The bottom line: Foreign governments can manipulate U.S. companies to favor their own industrial policies by pressing protectionist buttons at the ITC, putting much of U.S. broadband, wired and wireless, into sleep mode.

Is it not the ultimate irony that this new ITC authority is based on an obscure provision of that protectionist grim reaper, the disastrous Smoot-Hawley Tariff of 1930? Surely the president and Congress can act to remove this new U.S. vulnerability -- one that springs from laws and regulations based on an obsolete vision of segregated national economies shipping products across the seas in clipper ships in exchange for transfers of gold.

Mr. Gilder is a founder of the Discovery Institute and the Gilder Technology Fund. Both Broadcom and Qualcomm are on his Gilder Technology Report list of favored companies.

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To: Sam Citron who wrote (20845)4/13/2007 3:01:36 PM
From: Sam Citron
   of 46820
 
8:01AM Broadcom says charges Qualcomm with unfair competition, fraud and breach of contract (BRCM) 32.69 : Co announces that it has commenced new litigation against Qualcomm (QCOM) asserting that QCOM's conduct before prominent industry standards organizations violates California law. BRCM asserts that QCOM's misconduct before standards setting bodies includes improperly concealing its patents, reneging on licensing obligations, and exerting dominance through hidden affiliations.
[Briefing.com InPlay]

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From: Frank A. Coluccio4/13/2007 5:11:38 PM
   of 46820
 
OECD Report - PARTICIPATIVE WEB: USER-CREATED CONTENT
By Bill St.Arnaud bill.st.arnaud at canarie.ca
Apr 13 2007 | CAnet

billstarnaud.blogspot.com

Bill wrote:

Here is an excellent report from the OECD on what they call the participative web which explores the economic impacts of the new Web 2.0 and web service tools for users being part of a business or creative process. I personally believe the participative web will have a big impact on all sort of activities from participatory democracy to radically new business models to new ways of doing science and research. Hopefully it will also become a key discussion point for the upcoming OEVD Ministerial meeting on the Future of the Internet in Seoul June 2008. [BSA]
-------

oecd.org

The concept of the “participative web” is based on an Internet increasingly influenced by intelligent web services that empower the user to contribute to developing, rating, collaborating on and distributing Internet content and customising Internet applications. As the Internet is more embedded in people’s lives “users” draw on new Internet applications to express themselves through “user-created content” (UCC).

This study describes the rapid growth of UCC, its increasing role in worldwide communication and draws out implications for policy. Questions addressed include: What is user-created content? What are its key drivers, its scope and different forms? What are new value chains and business models? What are the extent and form of social, cultural and economic opportunities and impacts? What are associated challenges? Is there a government role and what form could it take?

Definition, measurement and drivers of user-created content There is no widely accepted definition of UCC, and measuring its social, cultural and economic impacts are in the early stages. In this study UCC is defined as: i) content made publicly available over the Internet, ii) which reflects a “certain amount of creative effort”, and iii) which is “created outside of professional routines and practices”. Based on this definition a taxonomy of UCC types and hosting platforms is presented.

While the measurement of UCC is in its infancy, available data show that broadband users produce and share content at a high rate, and this is particularly high for younger age groups (e.g. 50% of Korean Internet users report having a homepage and/or a blog). Given strong network effects a small number of platforms draw large amounts of traffic, and online video sites and social networking sites are developing to be the most popular websites worldwide.

The study also identifies: technological drivers (e.g. more wide-spread broadband uptake, new web technologies), social drivers (e.g. demographic factors, attitudes towards privacy), economic drivers [...]

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To: Frank A. Coluccio who wrote (20824)4/13/2007 5:13:30 PM
From: Frank A. Coluccio
   of 46820
 
Baller Herbst List: 4-13-07

BROADBAND

Municipal FTTP discussions in Montpelier, VT

timesargus.com

L.A. Times editorial: "The FCC's goal for the [700 MHz]
auction should be to encourage the development of more
broadband Internet services. So much of the economy's
potential depends on high-speed Internet access, yet the
U.S. lags many Asian and European countries in the
percentage of broadband users."

latimes.com

"'Many people have argued there's an Internet bandwidth
shortage, but it's really a last-mile issue,' said Google CEO
Eric Schmidt at a recent investor's conference. 'There is
so much fiber underground.'"

internetnews.com

"Academic researchers testing applications on
ultra-high-speed networks find that QoS issues disappear
when there is enough network capacity. However, Jansen
said it would not be cost effective to meet increased
demand solely by increasing capacity, and providers
would need to consider other solutions as well."

killerapp.com

Sen. Inouye: telecom issues are largely on the back burner

njtelecomupdate.com

Israeli startup SpeedBit "has managed to shrink the
download time for a full-length feature to about 40 minutes
over a 5 Megabit-per-second (Mbps) Internet connection.
At the higher speeds available in some countries, that
could be slashed to 20 minutes or less."

businessweek.com

Broadband access a priority for Mass. state Sen. Ben Downing

iberkshires.com

WIRELESS

HDTV over WiMAX

muniwireless.com

Most users unwilling to pay premium for broadband access via mobile phone

bbwexchange.com

MetroFi network in Concord, CA

sys-con.com

"The good and bad of WiMAX"

americasnetwork.com

CALEA

More on CALEA compliance, focusing on higher ed

convergedigest.com

VOIP

"Is cable in Verizon's crosshairs? --
A judge's broad interpretation of patents in Verizon's lawsuit
against Internet telephony provider Vonage could give the
phone company enough firepower to go after cable operators
and other voice over Internet Protocol providers."

news.com.com

OTHER NEWS

Senators propose labeling for adult websites

news.com.com

techdirt.com

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To: Sam Citron who wrote (20845)4/13/2007 5:54:52 PM
From: Frank A. Coluccio
   of 46820
 
Thanks for posting that piece, Sam.

So George is upset with Broadcom for invoking patent rights against Qualcomm? That's a bit too much for words.

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To: Frank A. Coluccio who wrote (20829)4/13/2007 6:05:54 PM
From: Frank A. Coluccio
   of 46820
 
Lightwave Direct Newsletter of April 13, 2007

[ Go to URL below for best read and access to other URLs: newsletters.pennnet.com ]


SPECIAL THEMED ISSUE: ROADMs

This week's newsletter recaps recent announcements in the reconfigurable optical add/drop multiplexer (ROADM) market, inlcuding Alcatel-Lucent's acquisition of Tropic Networks and Cisco's introduction of a multi-degree mesh ROADM.


In the news

Alcatel-Lucent to acquire Tropic Networks

In combination with Alcatel-Lucent's ROADM technology, Tropic Networks' advanced optical layer management technology delivers the flexibility and security to maximize network efficiency and operational cost savings, say Alcatel-Lucent representatives. More...
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Researchers demonstrate dynamic dispersion compensation in Optium WSS

Researchers from optical subsystems supplier Optium Corp. and the Centre for Ultrahigh-bandwidth Devices for Optical Systems at the University of Sydney, Australia, have demonstrated a WSS that provides dynamic dispersion compensation on a per-channel basis in a DWDM system. More...
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Corenet selects ECI Telecom for advanced ROADM network

The key building blocks in this deployment are wavelength-selective switch (WSS)-based ROADMs, full support of Optical Transport Network for all services, and "SDH-like" wavelength management, say ECI representatives. More...
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Fujikura and Nistica announce partnership

Fujikura will provide full production manufacturing facilities and processes for Nistica's volume delivery of the FLEDGE series of tunable filters and ROADM modules, as well as future Nistica products. More...
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New ROADM systems and subsystems

Capella receives Telcordia qualification for integrated switch module
Capella has announced the qualification of its WavePath 4500 with integrated optical channel monitor (OCM) in accordance with Telcordia and other worldwide standards. More...
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Xtellus announces WSS for C and L bands

The performance of the WSS-11000 results from an optical design that combines the best of liquid-crystal technology and free-space optics, says the company. More...
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DiCon announces what it claims is the world's smallest ROADM

The 1-CH MEMS ROADM is based on DiCon's proprietary thin film coating and MEMS technologies. A MEMS mirror is combined with a customized TFF to form a component that de-multiplexes a fixed wavelength, provides add/drop switching, and then multiplexes that wavelength back with the rest of the channels, explain DiCon representatives. More...
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Cisco enhances ONS 15454, announces new customers

Highlights include a new 40-channel, mesh ROADM supporting from two- to eight-degrees of DWDM traffic, the Ethernet Xponder (pronounced "cross-ponder"), and an MSPP-on-a-blade. More...
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CoAdna WSS-8x1 and 1x8 pass Telcordia

CoAdna Photonics Inc. has announced that its liquid crystal-based wavelength selective switch (WSS) 8x1 and 1x8 modules have been fully tested according to Telcordia standards and successfully passed all the tests. More...
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Featured articles

Digital ROADMs: Completing the promise of the optical network revolution

By Geoff Bennett, Infinera -- Due to their analog nature, ROADMs have significant limitations, including limited management capability, lack of subwavelength multiplexing, and the iunability to exploit the full benefits of a GMPLS control plane. However, a new class of ROADM, based on digital technology, is now emerging to address these limitations and deliver a range of additional benefits to the service provider. More...
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ROADMs need complementary technologies to realize opex value

By Rich Ramsay, Meriton Networks -- The value proposition of ROADM-based systems is rooted in the opex savings they can deliver. To realize those savings, however, systems require complementary features beyond the ROADM subsystem. More...

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