Cisco converged products target small businessesCisco this week is expected to launch a new all-in-one LAN, WAN and VoIP box for small offices with fewer than 50 users.VoIP saves colleges no money, but it’s coming anywaySaving money is no longer the object in VoIP deployments among colleges and universities – it is the search for converged communications and acceptance of the inevitable, panelists agreed at the VoIP summit this week held by ACUTA, the Association for Communications Professionals in Higher Education.Legislation promotes federal teleworkersA pair of senators has introduced legislation that would pump up federal support for telework, enabling more government employees to work from home.Alcatel-Lucent acquires optical innovator
Alcatel-Lucent this week signed an agreement to acquire Canadian metro optical network equipment maker Tropic Networks for an undisclosed amount.
Xerox scientist notches patent number 150You wouldn’t want to have to photocopy all the patents awarded to Xerox’s Santokh Badesha.FCC says no to mobile calls on airplanes
The FCC has ended a proceeding that would have allowed mobile phone calls on airplanes, for now ending the possibility of phone conversations during flights.
Interviews
Q&A: Nobody beats the used-Cisco wizMike Sheldon is president and CEO of Network Hardware Resale, one of the largest dealers of used Cisco network gear. His outfit sold more than $138 million in products last year in a market that Cisco estimates to be around $200 million to $300 million – but Sheldon says could be more like a $2 billion-plus market. Sheldon spoke with Network World Senior Editor Phil Hochmuth about the state of the used-Cisco market, where customers should and shouldn’t buy used gear, and why he’s Cisco’s biggest fan – even if the feeling isn’t mutual.Q&A: Cisco channel changes lead to smoother VoIP installs
Last year, Cisco revamped its channel partner certification programs in an effort to get the VARs and integrators – through which Cisco sells 80% of its products – to become more competent in such advanced technologies as IP telephony and voice, wireless and security. The change required partners to specialize in certain technology areas, such as VoIP or WLANs, as opposed to Cisco integrators who just resold, installed and supported the vendor’s whole product menu.
Blogs
Buzzblog: Bank of American Web site trouble? … Again?
After being called the worst of the worst in terms of reliability by one monitoring company last year, the BoA Web site again was having trouble this morning.
Buzzblog: Google giveth/taketh; FCC takes aim at records theft
A small London company says Google so croaked their business that they’ve decided to stop selling their barcode software and donate it to open-source… Meanwhile, the FCC says carriers now must password-protect customer accounts. Right move, although too late to help HP.
From Cisco Subnet: More Cisco books up for grabs; plus free chapters to read.
Win one of 43 books on security, PacketCable, and storage networking; plus read free chapters of select Cisco Press books only on Cisco Subnet.
Today on Layer 8, where we always knew size mattered:
In the world of bombs and explosives as in many other areas of life and death, size does matter. And in this case what a big one it is: a 20 foot long, 30,000lb bomb known as the Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) meant to annihilate underground bunkers and other hardened sites. Boeing recently detonated such a hunk of technology leaving one big smoking whole in the desert.
