Caron Carlson

If you sell pumpkins, fruitcakes, flowers or firecrackers, your telecommunications costs are sure to skyrocket once a year. To give small and midsize businesses a way to even out costs, GoBeam Inc. is introducing a flat-rate pricing plan for its managed telephone and Internet access service. Color Spot Nurseries Inc.s telephone and Internet bills typically […]

The greatest threat to the nations data networks today is not nascent cyber-terrorism lurking in the shadows but rather technology vendors unwilling to invest adequately in security, experts told Congress last week. Increasingly, industry insiders are seeking ways to make vendors accountable for their products. As the Department of Homeland Security continues to shape its […]

Nortel Networks last week unveiled two switches to help enterprises deploy secure multimedia applications at the edge of their networks. The BayStack 5000 series of switches, which provide Ethernet and Gigabit connectivity, were built to improve stacking performance. Nortel integrated 48 Gigabit ports into one box, achieving two to three times greater density. The 5000 […]

The perpetual war in Washington to transform the nations monopolistic telecommunications system into a competitive, market-driven industry has not subsided; but for a moment, the warriors are taking a break. The Senate Commerce Committee took a new look at the Federal Communications Commissions powers last week. Many in industry anticipated the review would become an […]

Following a fierce outcry from Congress and private citizens over plans to build a massive data mining system—originally called the Total Information Awareness project—the Pentagon is re-examining the program and its implications. Civil rights advocates are concerned that the system, whose effectiveness has not been demonstrated, not only could violate an individuals right to privacy […]

Congress is eager to stem the rising tide of unwanted commercial e-mail this year, and although several anti-spam bills are pending, the lawmakers first step will likely be to give the Federal Trade Commission more power to catch and punish spammers. The FTC has asked for a lot—including some of the powers that historically have […]

The growth of real-time, collaborative enterprise applications, such as instant messaging and IP telephony, is spurring Nortel Networks Inc. to build greater redundancy and resilience into its switches. Tuesday, Nortel will announce two new switches designed to help enterprises deploy secure multimedia applications at the edge of their networks. Real-time collaborative applications operate on distributed […]

WorldCom Inc. continued to unravel last week with the resignations of its treasurer and general counsel. While the latest blow to the scandal-ridden company is not seen as an impediment to its emergence from bankruptcy, it is also not seen as a step toward rectifying WorldComs problems—many of which center on customer relationship difficulties. In […]

Despite its rocky, young history, DSL technology is being presented in new ways to businesses for all communications services, including data, voice and video. Last week, 11 digital subscriber line suppliers heralded united support for DMT (discrete multitone) modulation for standardizing very-high-bit-rate DSL. The standard, which is interoperable with asynchronous DSL, allows carriers to offer […]

WASHINGTON—By the end of the year, cell phone users will be entitled to keep their phone numbers if they switch to a new service provider, a federal appeals court decided today in rejecting a plea from the wireless industry to overturn the obligation. However, the industry may go back to court this fall to continue […]