Eye on the Carriers

By Johna Till Johnson

Do you recognize your job description?

07/02/09

IT is undergoing one of the most significant transformations in recent memory -- yet most IT practitioners (including telecom managers) are only dimly aware of what's happening.

Events in Iran prove Bradbury wrong

06/25/09

Here's one of the more ironic juxtaposition of events in recent memory: Last week, famed science-fiction author (and anti-censorship advocate) Ray Bradbury came out against the Internet — just as the 'Net's ability to evade censorship played a crucial role in advancing the cause of democracy in Iran.

Too few fighting the good fight on privacy

06/17/09

I'm constantly amazed by the brazenness of certain large companies and governments when it comes to abuse of privacy. The most egregious recent example: The Chinese government announced that starting July 1, it will require the installation of rootkit software on all PCs sold in China — ostensibly to prevent its citizens from visiting "objectionable" sites on the Web. (If you believe that, I have a Great Wall to sell you.)

Faster, better, cheaper -- pick one

06/10/09

It's an old engineering adage that you can't have it all. As the saying goes: "Faster, better, cheaper — pick two." The idea is that any system can optimize at most two parameters, to the detriment of the third.

GM to Cisco: A momentous passing of the torch

06/04/09

It's official: General Motors is off the Dow, and Cisco Systems takes its place. The transition is more than just a dry Wall Street accounting maneuver: From a cultural, economic, and societal perspective, it marks a seismic shift in how our world is organized.

Videoconferencing hits the big time … for real

05/28/09

It feels like 1989 all over again. Wacky haircuts are back (I think I saw a mullet the other day). "Alternative rock" sounds a lot like what used to be called "new wave." Big shoulders are back. And we geeks are waxing rhapsodic about the wonders of videoconferencing.

Embedded intelligent networks are mushrooming

05/21/09

One area I'm paying a lot of attention to these days is what I'm calling "embedded intelligent networks," or networks that integrate seamlessly into physical reality, enabling us to monitor and ultimately manipulate the real world across the net.

Carrier salespeople can be (unintentionally) funny

05/14/09

Most IT professionals hate doing telecom RFPs. No surprise — much of the effort is process and paperwork, two things that many find tedious and boring.

The Internet sky really is falling

05/06/09

Many folks are familiar with the modeling we've done over the past few years highlighting the fact that Internet demand is outstripping capacity, specifically access capacity. The findings were, to put it mildly, controversial: We've been called everything from carrier shills to nut-jobs. (No, the research wasn't sponsored. And we never claimed your fillings were receiving extraterrestrial radio signals).

Of subways, government subsidies and broadband

04/30/09

There's a lot of talk these days of the "Internet as public utility." In fact, if you parse the language of the stimulus package, you definitely pick up that perspective as part of the motivation for investing $7.2 billion in Internet infrastructure.

Managing mobility is all about details: Part II

04/23/09

Last week, we talked about some great ways to get your arms around the challenge of managing the mobility initiative inside your organization. We covered the components of a mobile strategy and the need for device standardization, contract consolidation and user-profile-based issuance of devices. But as I said, there's more. What follows are some additional components of an effective mobility policy.

Managing mobility requires casting a wide net

04/16/09

Mobility represents one of the fastest-growing line items in most IT budgets as an increasing number of employees request and receive mobile services. Yet most companies don’t even have a mobility strategy: Only 40% of the IT pros I work with have deployed one (though another 40% say they’re developing one).

Of heroes and wonks in the IT ranks

04/09/09

A few weeks back, one of my clients remarked that he architected his data center network so as to "avoid the need for heroes." His point was that if the network were sufficiently robust, there would be no need for 3 a.m. heroics to keep things running.

Is the Internet doomed to fail?

04/01/09

Has the Internet passed its "use-by" date? There are worrying signs that the Internet's architecture may not be able to scale effectively much longer.

Today's IT is all about enabling the customer experience

03/25/09

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, there were two basic models for selling IT: Equipment vendors sold hardware or software. Services vendors sold maintenance contracts, professional services, or connectivity. And IT practitioners didn’t sell at all —they delivered infrastructure, applications, and support that their organizations (hopefully) found useful.

Keep an eye on smart grids and sensor nets

03/19/09

Part of being a professional pundit is having the ability — real or imagined — to “see around corners.” That is, to predict with some degree of accuracy that which hasn’t been invented yet.

What's behind move toward managed services

03/12/09

When the going gets tough, the tough get … managed? Apparently so.

Unwrapping the broadband stimulus package

03/05/09

I like presents, even when they're bought with my own money — provided they're good enough (steak, booze and cheese almost always qualify). So you can imagine my delight over the broadband stimulus package. If we're spending my money, at least it's going toward my industry. That's a good thing, right?

Recession-proofing your WAN strategy

02/25/09

It's a recession, all right. Unless, of course, it's a depression. Either way, the financial news isn't bright. Finance wonks can debate whether we've hit bottom and are now ready to rebound, or whether the worst is yet to come. But one thing we can be sure of is that things aren't going to improve right away.

Privacy: It's the databases, stupid

02/18/09

There are plenty of reasons to be outraged about the recent revelation that Alex Rodriguez tested positive for steroid use. But the one that gets me is this: Supposedly anonymous data, which was supposedly destroyed, has instead been splashed all over the newspapers.

Right-sizing your telecom team

02/11/09

Is your telecom department overstaffed? If you're like many of my clients, you've been asked that quite a bit recently — usually by higher-ups looking to cut costs. No surprises here: That's a pretty universal sentiment. The IT budget of virtually everyone I'm speaking with is flat or declining for 2009/2010.

The many flavors of carrier Ethernet

02/04/09

One of my favorite Mark Twain quotes is a riddle about semantics: If you call a dog's tail a leg, how many legs does the dog have? The answer: Four, because calling a dog's tail a leg doesn't make it one. Semantics can be tricky when it comes to technology, too. Take the concept of "carrier Ethernet."

The tangled web of universal broadband

01/28/09

I love the idea of universal broadband, but fear the devil is in the details.

Communications change we can believe in?

01/21/09

President Obama has made communications infrastructure a focus of his presidency. Net neutrality and universal broadband are clearly front-and-center on his agenda -- in fact, this may be the first inauguration speech that specifically called out universal broadband. So, does all this add up to -- I have to say it -- communications change we can believe in?

Eye on 2009: Telecom predictions for the New Year

01/15/09

Last week we looked at how well the Eye of the Carrier predictions held up for 2008. This week, let's peer into the crystal ball for 2009. You'll notice a few similarities — and a couple of key changes — for this year:

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