Powell wants VoIP revolution
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p2pnet.net News:- The hype around Internet phones may be getting dangerously out of hand, worries Vonage co-founder and VoIP pioneer Jeff Pulver.
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President Bush is seeking a successor to Michael K. Powell, whose chairmanship of the Federal Communications Commission has been marked by dramatically increased enforcement of broadcast indecency standards.
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BRUSSELS  - US Secretary of State Colin Powell called on European nations to look beyond their differences with the United States over Iraq and respond positively to US overtures to improve strained transatlantic ties.
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(InfoWorld) - At a global event once known for long-winded, diplomatic speeches delivered by heads of state-owned telephone companies, Viviane Reding, European Union Commissioner for Information Society and Media, was brief and blunt in her keynote speech Monday at the opening of the Telecom World conference and exhibition in Hong Kong. Speaking to a mixed audience of government officials and corporate executives, Reding said "competition drives growth -- not monopolies." Key to creating a competitive telecom market is, among other things, the development of alternative infrastructure, such as cable and wireless networks, which can compete with the public networks of entrenched incumbents, according to Reding. Regulators can play a big role in this process by supporting the development of competitive networks, she said. IP (Internet Protocol) technology is another tool regulators could use to foster competition. With platform-neutral IP, they could establish a "functional separation" between the "passive network," or underlying infrastructure consisting of cables and components, and the "active network" comprising the many different services that run on top, Reding said. A functional separation could make competition much more effective in a services-oriented environment, but such a separation would have to be done "in a careful way," she warned. Even though GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) was everything but an open global standard when the European Union initially agreed to the need to establish a pan-European mobile phone system, policy makers in Brussels have since acknowledged the need for standards to be established by the market -- and not government. Reding pointed to the current standards battle in Europe over broadcast mobile TV technology. "Several standards are fighting for the pole position," she said. But governments shouldn't decide because they could select the "wrong standard" and "lock " industry into a technology that may be inferior or commercially unattractive. Governments need to minimize regulation in the digital era, including spectrum allocation, Reding said. Many of the entry barriers in the wireless sector that exist today are bureaucratic, not technical, and governments should get rid of them as soon as possible, she said. Wrapping up her speech, Reding had a word of advice for Chinese regulators: they should participate in global telecom standards rather then favoring their own. "We are living in an open world," the Commissioner said. "Government should not be setting standards, but should be providing the legal framework to create free and open competitive standard setting." Reding's remarks mirrored the concerns of European WCDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access) equipment makers that worry about beingÂ locked out of ChinaÂ if the government favors the homegrown TD-SCDMA (Time Division Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access) standard and local suppliers that support it. At present, WCDMA, which dominates Europe and huge chunks of Asia, the U.S.-supported CDMA 2000 and China's self-developed TD-SCDMA are the three potential 3G (third-generation) mobile network technology standards for China. Â ADVERTISEMENTNEW IT SERVICES FROM IBM: EASIER TO BUY AND IMPLEMENTDiscover a simpler, more cost-effective way to get the solutions your company needs to grow more flexible and efficient.
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The nation&#39;s top telecommunications regulator said yesterday he will push -- before the next president is inaugurated -- to protect fledgling Internet telephone
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US Secretary of State Colin Powell has stressed the need for economic and political reforms in the Arab world to defeat terrorism.
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InfoWorld - Skype&#160;is looking to a 1968 ruling by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission to open up the country&#39;s mobile phone industry for &quot;unlocked&quot; devices and third-party applications -- such as Skype.
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NEW YORK - Traditional phone systems may be going the way of the Pony Express. Voice-over-Internet Protocol, technology that allows users to make and receive phone calls using the Internet, is giving the old circuit-switched system a run for its money.
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Meta Group senior analyst David Willis said that he doesn&#39;t expect the Baby Bells to bow down just yet. &quot;I don&#39;t think VoIP is going to remain entirely unregulated over the next several years,&quot; Willis said.
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VOIP has been hailed for years in the telecom industry as the next big thing, but problems with sound quality have prevented it from gaining widespread acceptance. Now VOIP, which has been available since the mid-1990s, is poised to fulfill its promise.
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The departure of Michael K. Powell from the Federal Communications Commission in a few weeks will lead to profound and subtle policy and personality changes for the agency.
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(InfoWorld) - SAN FRANCISCO -- U.S. companies and the federal government need to step up and fix the problems in their computer networks, the nation's new cybersecurity czar told attendees during his first-ever address atÂ RSA ConferenceÂ here on Thursday. Within the next 10 years, the majority of the world's communication needs will probably be handled by the Internet, said Gregory Garcia, the assistant secretary for cybersecurity and telecommunications at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS). "This proliferation of applications and devices within the converged network is going to create a breeding ground for security problems," he said. "Our networks and our systems are vulnerable and they are exposed." Garcia outlined two priorities for the year ahead. First, his office is working with federal agencies to adopt common security policies and practices. Second, he plans to work with the private sector to push forward a process called the National Infrastructure Protection Plan. This effort is intended to evaluate computer security risks on an industry-by-industry basis and outline the steps that need to be taken to address them. The broad strokes of this plan were outlined last June, and the DHS is now working with industry to flesh out sector-specific plans, Garcia said. He made it clear that the DHS expects U.S. companies to participate. "There are a lot of plans in Washington. This one is going to stick," he said. "The private sector owns and operates 90 percent of the critical infrastructure, and it's up to you all, not just the DHS, to secure this infrastructure." Companies looking for best practices already have a number of standards they can consider, Garcia said, pointing to the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 17799 specification and the guidelines prescribed by Technet, an IT industry association. Computer security has not been a top priority at the DHS, which has paid far more attention to physical security threats to the nation since its inception in 2003. And though DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff tried to put a sharper focus on computer security by creating Garcia's high-level post in 2005, the position remained vacant for more than a year. Garcia was introduced Thursday by Art Coviello, president of EMC's RSA group, who said afterward that he was encouraged by the assistant secretary's speech. "It's a combination of carrot and stick," he said in an interview. "Chiding industry to actually comply with these standards that are out there, and a veiled threat of regulation to get things done." Coviello said that cybersecurity has "languished a bit" within DHS ever since U.S. President George W. Bush signed off on his administration's comprehensive cybersecurity plan in 2003. "The Department and Secretary [Tom] Ridge and Secretary Chertoff obviously focused on the right things -- physical threats -- but now it's time to get after the critical infrastructure from the cyber side," Coviello said in the interview. "I don't think industry is looking for a lot of regulation from government," he added. "What they are looking for is leadership."
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Voice over IP, online presentations, and multiparty video conferencing under consideration.
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(OfficialWire) -- 10/28/04 -- At long last, Secretary of State Colin Powell, has alluded to the likelihood of family influence involving his son, Federal Communications
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AccessLine Communications, a leading provider of hosted VoIP (Voice over  Internet Protocol) services, today announced that its SmartVoice Service  for business now offers U.S.-based customers the ability to utilize  local phone numbers in Great Britain.
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AMERICA&#39;s chief communications regulator will seek broad regulatory authority for the US federal government over internet-based telephone services to avoid stifling the emerging market.
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Michael Powell, chairman of the F.C.C., said he would seek broad regulatory authority for the federal government over Internet-based telephone services to avoid stifling the emerging market.