Lisa Everitt

Dont call Time Warner Telecom a competitive local exchange carrier. That terms too narrow for a company whose business encompasses voice, data and Internet services for wholesale and retail business customers in 39 U.S. markets. “Were an emerging carrier,” says Mike Rouleau, vice president of marketing at Time Warner Telecom. Under the leadership of CEO […]

How many times can one company reinvent itself? Five years ago, Qwest Communications International was a struggling spin-off of Southern Pacific Telecom. Then CEO Joseph P. Nacchio arrived to transform the fledgling company into a broadband powerhouse. With its 1998 purchase of LCI International, Qwest instantly became the No. 4 long-distance carrier. Two years ago, […]

As AT&T proceeds with plans to unbundle itself, rumors have been swirling about the future of AT&T Broadband. Depending on whos talking, AT&T may decide to roll its cable business into its consumer services division or sell it to other cable companies. By purchasing Tele-Communications Inc. in 1999 and MediaOne Group in 2000, AT&T acquired […]

Data and internet protocol services account for a third of AT&T Business Services revenue. Its a paradox: Business Services saw revenue slide precipitously in 2000, but volume on its IP networks doubled during that time. “We recognized that customers dont want to buy infrastructure, they want to buy services,” says Sanford Brown, vice president and […]

Down economy or no, Qwest Cyber.Solutions approaches the market with guns blazing. The 2-year-old spin-off from Qwest Communications International displays the same bravado often seen from its parent. Qwests broadband network and enormous footprint keep QCS performance high and infrastructure costs low. QCS offerings go beyond basic hosting, to application delivery and management. As a […]

Some firms are building an end-to-end solution to solve customers operational support systems problems. Others insist theyre very happy serving one slice of the market. Wisor Telecom, in Rockville, Md., has a Service Management Solution Suite, which includes “trading partner interconnection,” along with service provisioning and order management. Its products revolve around a translation engine […]

Once the domain of the deeply nerdy, operations support systems are moving out of the shadows. Analysts suggest that even as spending on network equipment slows, the OSS industry will continue to grow 5 percent to 15 percent this year. Among the drivers of this growth: the addition of wireless, packet-switched, all-optical, broadband and other […]

Dont let the mournful faces of the business-news pundits fool you. There are still companies out there spending money. And you can still sell to them — if you understand what their needs are, what their pain is and what theyre worried about. “Maybe I have too much of an old-school view, but I believe […]

Light bouncing off bubbles, tilting off tiny mirrors, refracting through crystals and shifting across holograms. Cross a seventh-grade science fair with the inventions of Rube Goldberg, add a dash of Dr. Seuss and — behold! — the state of the art in all-optical switches. Replacing the current generation of switches with true optical ones not […]

As equipment manufacturers and service providers rush to build next-generation networks, new approaches to optical tests and measurement are gaining ground. Under pressure from carriers, manufacturers need to quickly move concepts from prototype to mass production. Carriers have their own set of pressures from customers eager to deploy complex enhanced services, with high reliability, at […]