NETWORK WORLD NEWSLETTER: GIBBS & BRADNER 09/16/04 Dear [EMAIL PROTECTED],
In this issue: * Net Insider columnist Scott Bradner says the next phase of ��municipal networking may be upon us * Links related to Gibbs & Bradner * Featured reader resource _______________________________________________________________ This newsletter is sponsored by SBC Gimme Shelter! Converged Services Spell Relief For Beleaguered Network Managers Switched IP networks are rapidly becoming the corporate communications architecture of choice. By converging voice, data and video onto IP telephony platforms and Virtual Private Networks, enterprises can supply bandwidth when and where end users need it, while significantly lowering administrative and equipment costs. Click here to download this Whitepaper now http://www.fattail.com/redir/redirect.asp?CID=81123 _______________________________________________________________ CHECK OUT NW FUSION'S NEW WHITE PAPER LIBRARY NW Fusion's White Paper Library was recently re-launched with new features and improved capabilities! Sort NW Fusion's library of white papers by Date and Vendor, view white papers by TECHNCIAL CATEGORY, mouse over white paper descriptions and take advantage of our IMPROVED white paper search engine. CLICK HERE: http://www.fattail.com/redir/redirect.asp?CID=81152 _______________________________________________________________ Today's focus: Unwiring cities By Scott Bradner The next phase of municipal networking might be upon us. Philadelphia is exploring whether to join a handful of other municipalities already offering Wi-Fi Internet connectivity to citizens and travelers. Any potential health issues aside, this trend bodes well for users, but I wonder if the trend suddenly will be stopped in the name of protecting consumers. Late last month, Philadelphia Mayor John Street announced the appointment of an executive committee for "Wireless Philadelphia" ( <http://www.wirelessphiladelphia.net/> ). This committee is supposed to work with Philadelphia CIO Dianah Neff to come up with a business plan for providing city-wide Wi-Fi for free or at a very low cost to users. This would be great for people wandering around Philadelphia or sitting in a hotel or coffee shop, but it might present a bit of a challenge to commercial providers of wireless hot spot service such as T-Mobile. Philadelphia is not the first city to think of doing this. Cleveland, working with Case Western Reserve University, already has deployed more than 1,500 wireless access points downtown ( <http://ramble.case.edu/its/news/archives/000110.html> ). This is only the first stage of the OneCleveland <http://www.onecleveland.org/> project, which eventually will "connect more than 1,500 institutions and organizations and every member of the community to the Internet," according to a description of the project (DocFinder: 3728). Information about many other similar projects, in the U.S. and elsewhere, can be found on the MuniWireless Web site ( <http://www.muniwireless.com/> ). The projects vary in scale and cost to the user, but have one thing in common: They are government-sponsored in some way. I've written about municipally sponsored networking ( <http://www.nwfusion.com/columnists/2003/1201bradner.html> ) in the past, and I think that such projects might play an important role in providing high-speed Internet connectivity in what I hope will be the future of the Internet and Internet service. It's very important that ISPs not restrict what applications their subscribers can run or what locations they can go to. This is important because it was this type of openness that brought us the explosive growth in Internet applications and uses over the past decade. But this same openness means that ISPs are providing commodity service and might find it hard to make much money. Under these conditions an ISP might be tempted to restrict users to services that the ISP provides and can charge extra for. This is where municipally sponsored networks can help; they do not need to make a profit so they can keep the pipe open. Not everyone likes municipal networks, especially incumbent telephone and cable companies. They tend to think it's a bit unfair that municipal networks do not have to pay taxes but instead are sometimes subsidized by the taxes the incumbents pay. Some states have sided with those who think it's unfair and have banned such networks. Last June the Supreme Court said that there was nothing in U.S. telecom law that prevented states from doing this ( <http://www.techlawjournal.com/topstories/2003/20030623.asp> ). Even though publicly owned infrastructure might be the best way to provide future Internet service, maybe with commercial ISPs using that infrastructure to offer their own service, I expect there will be a full-court press to get more states to prevent municipalities from doing what is best for their citizens. I also predict that the pressure will succeed in too many places. Disclaimer: Sometimes being old can help. Limits on Massachusetts' authority over Harvard are written into the state constitution (see Article V Section I <http://www.mass.gov/legis/const.htm> ). But the above lament of governmental power is my own opinion. _______________________________________________________________ To contact: Scott Bradner Bradner is a consultant with Harvard University's University Information Systems. He can be reached at <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> _______________________________________________________________ This newsletter is sponsored by SBC Dialing for Dollars CRATE & BARREL'S VOIP MOVE NETS SAVINGS AND FLEXIBILITY An apples-to-apples comparison showed that a centralized, software-based, IP-based platform could provide significant cost savings and productivity benefits over a comparable, traditional PBX system. Download whitepaper now, click here http://www.fattail.com/redir/redirect.asp?CID=81139 _______________________________________________________________ ARCHIVE LINKS Gibbs archive: http://www.nwfusion.com/columnists/gibbs.html Bradner archive: http://www.nwfusion.com/columnists/bradner.html _______________________________________________________________ FEATURED READER RESOURCE ACCESS NW'S IN-DEPTH REPORT ON: BLADE SERVERS Available now is Network World's Technology Insider on: Blade Servers. 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