Caron Carlson

Deep personnel cuts among network gear vendors are taking their toll not only on marketing and administration employees but also on some service and support workers who help users keep their systems running. And while the cuts are designed to appease nervous investors eyeing the bottom line, they are doing little to calm the jitters […]

If youre going to battle for the heavens, youd probably want weaker adversaries than the Pentagon and the Roman Catholic Church—but those are the opponents wireless carriers face in their battle to procure new spectrum to deliver next-generation services. Efforts to meet an October presidential directive to review the status of spectrum in the United […]

President Bush stuck to his pattern of picking insiders with last weeks appointments of three Washington policy veterans to the Federal Communications Commission. The move is a departure from numerous recent FCC nominees recruited from tangential fields. Unlike some of their predecessors, Bushs choices are well-versed in the machinations of communications regulation. Two of the […]

Despite constant and strident pleas for more spectrum, wireless carriers are now apparently in no hurry to take hold of the frequencies long touted as the future home of advanced data services. The shift—evidenced by industry support for a proposed three-to-five-year delay in the 700MHz band auction—indicates the carriers are now content to develop so-called […]

Justin beech is finally fed up. In an effort to get DSL access, Beech has endured a half-dozen visits from telephone technicians and repeat visits from employees of now-defunct NorthPoint Communications Inc. Add to that the burden of subscribing to three Internet providers and hooking up modems and other gear from several vendors. For all […]

In a society where nothing is sacred and citizens are more cynical than ever about their government officials, Colin Powell and Michael Powell appear to be exceptions to the rule. Telecommunications industry executives with matters pending before either the State Department or the Federal Communications Commission—that is, almost everyone in the industry—were naturally reluctant to […]

When nine U.S. lawmakers from Washington State approached Michael Powell last month, they brought a foreboding message: If the Federal Communications Commission rejects the proposed acquisition of Washington-based VoiceStream Wireless Corp. by German telecom giant Deutsche Telekom AG, the politicians contend, FCC Chairman Powell will be responsible for sparking an international trade war. Whats a […]

When Kent Harman goes to Belgium later this year to collect tissue samples from murdered children buried in a mass grave, he will be gathering the most private of personal information—the human blueprint itself. But as complicated as that process will be, Harmans forensic testing laboratory, Genetic Technologies Inc., will also face the tedious process […]

Cylink Corp., a provider of technologies for securing e-business, rolled out two new ISDN encryptors last week for customers in Japan and Europe. The company is working on another version of the product slated for launch in the U.S. market later this year. The encryptors are designed for businesses that transmit highly confidential client information. […]

As businesses continue to clamor for better broadband access in rural areas, the government has been left in the odd position of being both a champion of, and hindrance to, telecommunications deployment efforts. The dichotomy, which has federal regulators mulling carriers expansion plans even as politicians promote incentives for new services, has left the industry […]

Hotels and office buildings with robust infrastructures need not build over the copper network to improve Internet access speeds for their diverse array of users. Thats because new IP-based very-high-speed DSL technologies are on the way touting speeds of up to 30 times faster than traditional DSL services. VDSL Systems Inc., a broadband technology provider […]

Like their monopolistic counterparts in the Regional Bell Operating Companies, local exchange carriers are concerned about encroaching services from wireless carriers and other telecom resellers, an industry study finds. But a lack of real competition is keeping the ILECs (Incumbent Local Exchange Carriers) from turning those concerns into consumer-focused action. The study, released last week […]