May 30, 2005

EarthLink is offering new customers a $70 (after rebate) PC, running the Xandros operating system. The PC features an AMD Sempron 2200+ processor, 256 MB of RAM, 40 GB hard drive, and a 52x CD-ROM.

May 11, 2005

AOL is introducing a free Web mail service for all users of AIM instant messaging. The new mail service will offer 2 GB of storage and compete with Google's GMail, Yahoo Mail, and Microsoft's Hotmail. In addition, the new AIM Mail service allows access by third-party mail clients via IMAP and includes server side anti-virus protection from McAfee.

May 9, 2005

Tom's Networking has published complete coverage of Interop 2005 show in Las Vegas. The primary focus seemed to be on the Small and Medium Business (SMB) market. Some of the products highlighted include the Cisco 800 Series Integrated Services Router and ASA 5500 Adaptive Security Appliance, the 3Com NBX V3000 VOIP PBX platform, other VOIP PBX hardware from Netgear, the ADTRAN NetVanta 1224R and 1224STR routers, the Netgear SC101 NAS storage device, the Lantronix WiBox and SecureBox device servers, new KVM-over-IP switches from Startech, the Maxus MJR-0918 cell phone blocker, the D-Link DWS-1008 AirPremier Wireless Switch, the FVS124G and FVS114 ProSafe VPN firewalls from Netgear, the Cisco 1800, 870 and 850 series of VPN routers, and the Xirrus 8 radio WLAN array.

April 19, 2005

Verizon has announced that it will let existing DSL customers in 13 Northeast states get DSL service without having to pay for telephone service on the DSL line. Customers who have DSL with phone service may drop the phone service and keep the DSL. This would also allow them to get voice over IP (VOIP) over the DSL connection instead, and not have to pay for regular phone service as well.

April 11, 2005

According to a new report by outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, technology companies eliminated 60,000 jobs in the first quarter of this year, which is twice the number eliminated during the same period last year. The telecommunications industry accounted for more than 35,000 job cuts. Other companies in the computer industry accounted for the remaining layoffs. Many of the cuts have been blamed on the AT&T Wireless/Cingular and the Sprint/Nextel mergers. Other consolidations like AT&T/SBC and the buyout of MCI by either Verizon or Qwest are expected to continue this trend for a while longer.

April 11, 2005

The Register has published an article summarizing the happenings at last week's WiMAX Summit in Paris. While fixed WiMAX (802.16d also known as 802.16-2004) is ready, the hot topic at the summit was WiMAX mobility and the standards needed to make it happen. Several competing implementations such as a proposed 802.16e as well as 802.16d+ are competing for standards approval. Chip makers and equipment makers like Alcatel, Nortel, and Intel have a lot riding on what happens with mobile WiMAX because any further delays or confusion could impede planned large scale network deployments of WiMAX as a whole.

April 9, 2005

The ICANN Board has approved the creation of two new top level domains (TLDs). The .jobs and .travel top level domain registries have been designated to be Employ Media and Tralliance Corporation, respectively. Customers will not be able to register domains with these suffixes for several months while the new registries set up registration procedures and hire customer support personel.

April 7, 2005

America Online has announced the availability of its Internet phone service in more than 40 cities. In an agressive move, the company is charging $13.99 per month to existing AOL subscribers. The monthly rate is for a local calling plan and increases by $5 after three months. Service to non-AOL subscribers and other calling plans are priced similarly to competing VOIP offerings from companies like Vonage and AT&T.

April 6, 2005

Cable modem speeds over existing lines could increase 400% to 1,600% in the next year or two. CableLabs, the cable industry's standard-setting consortium plans to endorse the new DOCSIS 3.0 cable modem transmission standard this month. Current downstream cable modem speeds of 3 megabits per second could rise to between 15 and 50 megabits per second under the new standard.

April 4, 2005

According to market research firm IDC, the number of residential voice over IP (VOIP) subscribers in the U.S. will jump to 27 million by 2009, up from an estimated 3 million today.

April 3, 2005

The IEEE has called for proposals for the 802.11s wireless mesh network standard. Currently, mesh networking hardware providers like PacketHop, Strix Systems, and Tropos Networks use proprietary mesh routing protocols.

April 2, 2005

Verizon's chief technology officer has stated that the company may launch a VOIP over EVDO offering in the next three years. The move is intended to compete with VOIP over WiMAX services expected to be launched in the next two years.

March 29, 2005

A report issued yesterday says that the job market for wireless and networking jobs is heating up quickly. More than 74% of wireless industry professionals stated that the job market in their field is strong and growing. Online job listing sites report that listings for wireless-related jobs have doubled over the same period last year, and listings for other data networking jobs have increased 40%. However, the job market for other IT careers is still mixed due to recent mergers, layoffs, and off-shore outsourcing.

March 28, 2005

A group of telecom and networking firms have joined forces in an effort to fight hackers. The companies, which include British Telecommunications, Cisco Systems, EarthLink, MCI, Asia Netcom, Broadwing Communications, Verizon, XO Communications, and NTT Communications, have decided to share information on individuals suspected of launching online attacks. The alliance will use technology from Arbor Networks to help identify, track, and monitor hacking activity.

March 26, 2005

Tom's Networking put five VOIP providers to the test, including Verizon VoiceWing, AT&T CallVantage, iConnectHere, Vonage, and Packet8. The review compares features, overall quality, pricing, telephone number availability, and more. Their final pick for best current VOIP provider was Packet8.

March 24, 2005

Voice over IP (VOIP) is growing all across Europe, as businesses look to save money and gain new features such as unified messaging and collaboration. Revenue from European customers of VOIP is growing at an explosive rate of 13% per quarter.

March 7, 2005

You can build your own PBX for your home or small office using inexpensive parts and Asterisk open source software. This is a real PBX with features like Call Forward on Busy, Call Forward on No Answer, Blind Transfer, Call Monitoring, Call Parking, Call Transfer, Voice Mail, VoIP Gateway, and much more.

March 3, 2005

Using voice over IP (VOIP) technology, cable companies are increasingly taking customers and profits away from traditional phone companies like Bellsouth, SBC, Verizon, and Qwest. The number of cable phone subscribers in the U.S. currently stands at around 3.5 million customers, but the rate of growth, at least several hundred percent per year, is huge.

February 24, 2005

According to this article on the O'Reilly Network, Miss Hilton was hacked because T-Mobile allows anyone to reset the password to a T-Mobile account by answering a simple question. T-Mobile should be ashamed of themselves for having such a huge and obvious security flaw.

February 14, 2005

Vonage has filed complaints with the FCC claiming that competitor ISPs are blocking Vonage traffic. It is unclear whether this type of blocking is actually illegal, but the FCC is taking this very seriously.