Anandtech has an absolutely horrifying review detailing the trials and tribulations of setting up a Windows Vista home theater PC (HTPC) with the first HD capable TV tuner from ATI (AMD). Even with the on-site assistance of Dell (DELL) and Time Warner Cable (TWC) (with promptness and technical expertise you or I could never hope to see) it took two days to get the Windows Vista PC, external HDTV cable tuner, and Time Warner Network integrated and up and running. The resulting experience was great, though most consumers would have never had the patience or technical fortitude to get it up and running. It makes one wonder why anyone would bother to do this at all.
Archive for the 'Carriers' Category
Great stuff today over at the Global Crossing (GLBC) blog, where they spill the beans on their internal investigation into the cost/bit for Ethernet vs. SONET/SDH router interfaces.
The conclusion? The biggest price disparity isn’t necessarily Ethernet vs. SONET interfaces. It’s the difference between big iron routers from vendors like Cisco (CSCO) and scaled up switch routers like the Cisco 7600 or Cat 6k or equivalent products from Force 10.
Continue reading ‘Dirty Secrets of Router Interface Pricing’
England is near the top of the list of countries I don’t like to visit. My wife likes watching the tedious Victorian England dramas of BBC “Masterpiece Theatre”. I last about 10 minutes until their images force memories of stuffy rooms, bad heating, weird ergonomics and truly god-awful food to resurface.
There is one exception to my stereotype. British Telecom’s (BT) 21st Century (21CN) initiative. No Victorian Bric-a-Brac here.
Continue reading ‘BT’s 21CN - Reversing a Victorian Tradition’
Everyone talks about the explosion in Video traffic. Everyone talks about the explosion in the bandwidth required to carry it. No one talks about who is going to pay for it. There is one likely source: transit bandwidth inflation.
I had a long conversation with someone who posed this question. I know little about WiMAX but I know people who know great deal, people who have put their money where their mouth is. The question I pose isn’t whether WiMAX is going to be successful, but why is Intel (INTC) pouring so much money into making it a reality?
Level3 (LVLT) tries very hard to appear hip with the Web 2.0 vibe, and today’s WSJ article cites content distribution (namely video) as the reason for a resurgence of investor interest in carriers. Simultaneously, investors continue to flood liquidity into content delivery networks (CDNs) like Akamai (AKAM), trumpeting them as key enablers of the Web 2.0 content rage. It is impossible for both to be right, as each business is designed to eliminate the need for the other.
Continue reading ‘Level3 and Akamai - The Investment Paradox’
Source: Cachelogic
Peer to Peer (P2P) traffic is the stowaway traffic of the net. It is latency and QoS insensitive and happy to fill broadband unused capacity. The big growth rate on the above chart gives P2P the illusion of being important- The reality is it is just being efficient.
Below is a montage of AT&T (T ) ads circa 1993.
It isn’t clear whether AT&T actually expected to deliver these innovations. They certainly were beat to market by Cable with the cable modem, and I can’t think of a single application innovation out of the company in the last 16 years.
Continue reading ‘AT&T - “You Will” but They Didn’t’
It’s not just a catchy title. I lost my FiOS connectivity Saturday morning, rendering my Verizon tripe-play package of voice, data, and television inoperative. The culprit? Squirrels. Continue reading ‘Squirrels Ate My FiOS’
The big deal isn’t the iPhone itself, which is what the mainstream investment, gadget and tech media is focusing on. It’s the way that it will fundamentally challenge how carriers have coupled services with connectivity with a hardware distribution monopoly.
Wading through my morning reading I happened upon an Acme Packet (APKT) white paper that did a good job explaining my apprehension about Akamai (AKAM) and how their business might be commoditized. In the long term, do SIP and managed media sessions replace the media caching model?
Microsoft (MSFT) just announced that on November 22nd the Xbox 360 will allow users to purchase and rent high definition television and movies. I made this call back in January of 2006, and repeatedly since then (search this site for Xbox IPTV).
Broadlogic announced a chip today that provides a high density solution for converting Digital Cable TV channels to Analog. It’s a slick solution but I don’t think it will see mass adoption. Here’s why.
Everyone agrees fixed line is a dying, low margin business. Yet Cablecos like Comcast (CMCSA), Cablevision (CVC), Shaw (SJR), and Time Warner (TWX) are feverishly trying to capture market share in this business. Why?
Continue reading ‘Someone Tell the Cablecos Fixed Line is Dead’
If you pass a newsstand today or tomorrow, pick up a copy of The Economist. They are running an excellent special report on the future of Telecoms, with the independent, slightly continental perspective that makes the Economist such a good periodical.
I woke up in SFO at 4AM to make sure I could get to Tahoe in time for this debate. I’ve written extensively on Net Neutrality and stopped once I realized it was unresolvable.
Broadband Brawl: A Debate Over Net Neutrality
Continue reading ‘Net Neutrality Debate - Gilder Telecosm 2006′
Historically, Verizon (VZ) has held it’s FiOS FTTH subscriber numbers close to the vest, and has not provided detailed information about penetration rates or success metrics. Today, they opened the kimono.
An interesting piece of news speculates Amazon (AMZN) may be partnering with Tivo (TIVO) to use their DVR platform.
OK, since I’ve been called out by Om Malik, I’m going to let rip with a stream-of-conciousness monologue on optical. No backspace key, no delete key, spelling corrections ex-post-facto. Here goes.
I just discovered that Global Crossing (GLBC) has an excellent corporate blog that is admirable for it’s lack of corporate-speak and full-frontal opinion.
