GOP to lead on high-tech issues

When the Republican Party takes control of the U.S. Senate in early January, a new crop of leaders will emerge on high-tech issues.

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), a long-time proponent of Internet privacy, likely will be the chair of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee. McCain supports more small-business and minority ownership of telecom assets and a market-based approach to broadband deployment.

The committee's Communications Subcommittee likely will be led by Sen. Conrad Burns (R-Mont.), a supporter of legislation regarding online and wireless privacy, rural availability of high-speed Internet access, antispam measures and e-government. In the Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives, the key leader on communications issues will remain Rep. Billy Tauzin (R-La.), who chairs the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Tauzin has supported legislation freeing up the Baby Bells for long-distance and broadband services, and creating new spectrum policy to encourage 3G wireless deployment.

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When the Republican Party takes control of the U.S. Senate in early January, a new crop of leaders will emerge on high-tech issues.

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), a long-time proponent of Internet privacy, likely will be the chair of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee. McCain supports more small-business and minority ownership of telecom assets and a market-based approach to broadband deployment.

The committee's Communications Subcommittee likely will be led by Sen. Conrad Burns (R-Mont.), a supporter of legislation regarding online and wireless privacy, rural availability of high-speed Internet access, antispam measures and e-government. In the Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives, the key leader on communications issues will remain Rep. Billy Tauzin (R-La.), who chairs the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Tauzin has supported legislation freeing up the Baby Bells for long-distance and broadband services, and creating new spectrum policy to encourage 3G wireless deployment.

McConnell dies

John McConnell, a well-known industry analyst and president of McConnell Associates, died suddenly Nov. 3 at his home. He was 58 years old. A computer science graduate from the University of California, Berkeley, McConnell had a career in the network industry dating back more than 25 years. He became an expert in network and systems management, working with leading management vendors such as IBM, Hewlett-Packard and Computer Associates to improve products and address customer needs. Most recently McConnell focused on service-level management, policy-based management and management technologies for e-business initiatives. McConnell spoke frequently at industry events and contributed columns to trade publications.

C&W keeps content delivery for now

Cable & Wireless won't have to turn off its content delivery network service. In the latest twist in the legal battle of the CDNs, a federal judge in Boston has denied a motion that Akamai Technologies filed to find C&W in contempt for not shutting off its service. A federal jury last year found that the Digital Island Footprint CDN service, now owned by C&W, infringed on an Akamai patent, and federal Judge Rya Zobel issued a permanent injunction against C&W this summer. C&W has said the ruling is moot because it addresses technology no longer used within its CDN service. On Nov. 1, Zobel validated that claim by denying Akamai's contempt motion.

RSA, PKWare to cross-license

RSA Security, which makes public-key infrastructure and access-control software, and PKWare, which makes the Zip compression software for storing and exchanging large data files, have agreed to cross-license each other's technologies. PKWare can use RSA's BSAFE encryption software with PKZIP compression products, while RSA can use PKZIP compression. The alliance also involves joint development on new products for desktop, server and mainframe. Use of encryption to scramble data makes it safer, but adds overhead. Compression could help reduce the overhead associated with encryption.