The innovation gap is real, all right
Sep. 03, 2008
Recently Judy Estrin, former Cisco CTO and current Silicon Valley luminary, published a book called Closing the Innovation Gap. I haven't read it (yet), but she reportedly argues that the United States has what she ...
The many modes of communication
Aug. 27, 2008
Your E911 strategy, remote access policies and more depend on examining what "communication" means
Buying bandwidth for fun and profit
Aug. 13, 2008
You've got to hand it to the Canadians. Not only do they come up with great hockey, outstanding comedians and my friend Dave Keck (an up-and-coming science fiction writer) they've also generated one of the most ...
FCC right to tell Comcast: Hands off
Aug. 06, 2008
Regular readers of this column know I take a nuanced view when it comes to net neutrality: On one hand, carriers shouldn't be limiting or blocking traffic based on source, destination or traffic type, with the exception ...
Crafting a WAN? Consider the edges
Jul. 31, 2008
Many IT executives consider the WAN to be a monolithic entity: a giant network that connects all the organization's sites across a common infrastructure.
The carrier commodity conundrum
Jul. 22, 2008
We all know that these days, bandwidth is "free." Specifically, it's a commodity service whose cost is so low that it's no longer a significant component of telecom costs.
Building a new data center? Think WAN
Jul. 16, 2008
Practically every company I talk with is consolidating data centers, constructing new ones, or both. These aren't the old "glass house" models of the 1980s and 1990s: They're next-generation designs with racks of blade ...
Don't be pooh-poohing social networking
Jul. 10, 2008
A while back, I wrote about the concept of social networking. The upshot: Although the wisdom of crowds may be overhyped, the phenomenon of social networking isn't.
A proposal for governing the 'Net
Aug. 22, 2005
We need a body like the IETF but providing a forum in which parties focused on operations and economics can work together.
What's next for BellSouth?
Jul. 25, 2005
BellSouth needs to make a move - but which one?
Municipal Wi-Fi: Taking on the industry
Jun. 20, 2005
Sprint, Verizon, SBC and BellSouth have joined with Comcast and other cable companies to fight the threat of government-run municipal Wi-Fi across the nation.
Taking on the industry
Jun. 20, 2005
Sprint, Verizon, SBC and BellSouth have joined with Comcast and other cable companies to fight the threat of government-run municipal Wi-Fi across the nation.
Going green, virtually speaking
Jun. 30, 2008
Broadly speaking, there are two main reasons for companies to go green. The first is to reduce energy costs, thereby saving the company money. As one IT executive put it to me recently, "Green computing is all about ...
Does your phone make you smarter?
Jun. 26, 2008
We've been hearing a lot lately about how communications technology reduces productivity and makes people stupider — mainly by interrupting people too often, in too many ways. Some studies have gone so far as to ...
With Amazon's Kindle, it's love at first byte
Jun. 19, 2008
It's not that often electronics can change your life — but it happened to me a few days ago, when I bought an Amazon Kindle.
Navigating the wild world of wireless
Jun. 12, 2008
Verizon's proposed $28 billion acquisition of privately held Alltel signals the start of hurricane season for wireless providers. And this season might just include the perfect storm: Technology shifts, consolidation ...
'Net traffic: Knowing what we don’t know
Jun. 04, 2008
Determining how fast the Internet is growing is almost a parlor game among pundits these days. Part of the reason is simple practicality: Companies that depend for their livelihoods on supplying or using Internet ...
The waning of the WAN? Not so fast.
May. 28, 2008
Many of my clients are thinking about how they can use Internet services to augment -- or even replace -- their WANs.
Be an ISP: internal services provider
May. 22, 2008
A big buzzword these days for network and communications teams is "internal services provider." The idea is for the communications group to position itself as a provider of a range of services to the organization's ...
A virtual workplace poses new IT challenges
May. 15, 2008
One of the interesting things that's been happening over the past few years is that just as workforces have become less centralized, IT departments have gotten more so. The vast majority of companies I work with ...
It's not your father's wireless anymore
May. 08, 2008
Back in the day, wireless data was a neatly self-contained niche technology used by folks such as field force workers and logistics companies, but virtually ignored by everyone else.
Lessons from leaders in telecom management
May. 01, 2008
Last week, I mentioned that telecom managers have my deepest respect. That's easy to say, but in this case, I really did put my money where my mouth is: Last month, my company honored 10 of the top enterprise ...
The hidden costs of remote and mobile workers
Mar. 29, 2004
The first step is to recognize they exist. Conduct a company-wide audit to uncover hidden telecom expenditures. Who's using them, and why?
Handling the remote-office revolution
Feb. 16, 2004
The remote-office revolution affects everything from the WAN to security policy to disaster recovery to switching fabrics
Is your WAN a strategic asset?
Apr. 24, 2008
In an alternate life, Rodney Dangerfield was probably a telecom manager: All too often, telecom folks get no respect. Users (and higher-ups) expect the infrastructure to simply work, while drooling over the flashy new ...
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