xchange magazine Articles

Operators Benefit From Ramped-Up Dark Fiber Programs

Tue, 25 May 2010 14:59:12 PDT

Fiber optic systems represent the sole future-proof network investment as the world gobbles bandwidth like it’s zero-calorie candy. But laying fiber to connect homes and businesses costs millions, if not billions, of dollars – an eye-popping price tag for service providers in any economic environment, much less the tail-end of ...(700 words)

Why Governments Can’t Provide Broadband

Tue, 25 May 2010 14:08:21 PDT

The new ITU report on global Internet access, World Telecommunication/ICT Development Report 2010, is one of those laudable but toothless documents that sets out an ambitious goal for world progress, exhorts governments to commit resources to achieving that goal, and then attests, through its own futility, to the impossibility of ...(792 words)

Fears Linger as Frontier, Verizon Get FCC Approval

Fri, 21 May 2010 13:54:32 PDT

The FCC has approved the sale of Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) landline assets to Frontier Communications (FTR), just as the carriers had been pressing the agency to move more quickly so they could avoid “needless additional costs.” Frontier even seemed to be threatening, in a veiled manner, that delays would heighten ...(570 words)

Google & The Future of TV

Fri, 21 May 2010 13:46:06 PDT

When Igor Sikorsky demonstrated the world’s first fully controllable tail-rotor helicopter, in 1940, he was not “inventing” anything: the concept of flying machines with rotary blades had been around for more than a millennia. “The idea was not new,” according to “The Invention of the Helicopter.” “But nobody had got ...(843 words)

Handset Exclusivity Roils Rural Wireless Operators

Thu, 20 May 2010 10:25:54 PDT

The formula for success used to be simple: Provide a quality service at an affordable price, supported by exemplary customer service, and you’re a winner. But nothing is simple anymore.This formula has worked especially well in rural America, where the heads of companies meet their customers on the street, at ...(639 words)

Amdocs Shows Managed Services Focus Is Changing

Thu, 20 May 2010 10:01:49 PDT

Amdocs showcased its data and operations center in Champaign, Ill., for the first time in April and with it, its expectations for managed services. Though Amdocs wasn’t forthcoming with the financials, the data and operations center suggests a heavy investment in the future of managed services. And why not?According to ...(442 words)

Rivals Claim Stimulus Funds Duplicate Networks

Tue, 18 May 2010 16:44:18 PDT

As the federal government considers which proposals in Round 2 of the broadband stimulus program will win funding, 360networks claims that its route in eight northern states is being overbuilt, or duplicated, by a rival network that is under consideration for taxpayer dollars.360, a wholesale service provider certified as a ...(864 words)

How Incumbents Are Killing the Cloud

Fri, 14 May 2010 10:32:43 PDT

The term “cloud computing standards” has a good shot at making the list of classic oxymorons, along with “military intelligence” and “compassionate conservatism.” Plunging into this contradiction, the ITU today said it will form a committee to develop and broadcast a “global view” of cloud standardization, “to enable a global ...(668 words)

IP Transformation Provides a Challenge

Thu, 13 May 2010 14:32:17 PDT

Carriers of all stripes are readying for ongoing business transformation; it's a transformation toward IP, mobility and ever more broadband, which in turn drive new billing and operational models. Innovation is ongoing, but leveraging it appropriately is somewhat of anyone's guess at this point."Operators are facing a very difficult era ...(601 words)

AT&T: The Cloud's a Clear Winner for Carriers

Thu, 13 May 2010 14:07:26 PDT

It is understandable that with its catchy, new, very marketable name, cloud computing may seem far removed from the evolutionary steps it has taken and that there is confusion over what the technology actually is and does — and doesn’t do. Whatever the definition, Joe Weinman, ATT’s strategy guru for ...(582 words)