Fall 2010 - Northern Virginia Technology Council

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TeleCom Today: a New world of NeTworkiNg This spring, Verizon Communications announced it was phasing out two staples in Virginia that go back to among the earliest days of Ma Bell: the White Pages and the dial-the-weather service. Given the ubiquity of Google searches and smartphones, it was less a surprise than a reminder that we’ve reached a tipping point in the telecommunications world, where technology that’s been talked about and had its tires kicked by early adopters for years is now becoming the status quo, displacing tools we’ve taken for granted. In the pages that follow, we take a look at some trends transforming this $4.25 trillion global sector. As with the White Pages, many are familiar, but what’s less so is how quickly they’re being adopted—particularly in our wired, fiber-rich region. Even five years ago, it was common to walk into an enterprise’s IT shop and see two different teams maintaining two different networks: one for telephone calls, and another for data and the Internet. Now, you’re more likely to see one converged network — or nothing at all. “It’s all consolidated into one group, all categorized as data with voice as one of the key offerings,” says Jeff Lowney, vice president and general manager of tw telecom. Credit voice-over-IP (VoIP) technology, which has allowed voice calls to travel as data across the Internet for more than a decade. Today, more and more companies have begun entrusting VoIP with their most critical data — the flow of telephone calls in and out of their businesses. “If you can’t make a phone call or accept a credit card, it impacts the business,” says Mike Toplisek, chief marketing officer for business services at XO Communications. “In the last couple of years, VoIP has gone from something that people talked about, or stuck their toes into the water, to something that’s fully trusted and adopted in the marketplace.” XO launched its VoIP services back in 2005. Last October, it broke the 1 million “line” mark. The result has been an ongoing shift to “unified communications,” which bring together not just voice and data, but also videoconferencing, instant messaging, voicemail and other services. “Behind the scenes, the technology has been getting more and more robust,” says Chris Sikora, Level 3 Communications’ Converged Networking regional vice president for the Northeast. While companies have long seen the benefits of integrating such services, it’s the advent of VoIP-enabled technology, such as Level 3’s SIP (session initiation protocol) trunking, that are now also making unified communications cost-effective by providing a single solution for multiple locations and uses, adds William Ganey, Level 3’s general manager for Virginia and D.C. “SIP trunking is the lynchpin that puts these pieces together,” he says. As cloud services grow in popularity, increasing numbers of businesses are shifting from software as a service (SaaS) models that put business applications on remote servers connected to their networks to infrastructure as a service (IaaS)— which moves much of the hardware powering those voice and data networks out of the enterprise altogether. Telecom providers offer services like cloudbased PBX (private branch exchange) systems and VPNs (virtual private networks), some of which include a new acronym-twisting take on VoIP — VoPI, or voice over private Internet. To get a sense of how far this “cloudsourcing” approach might go, consider the current interest in PC over IP services, which basically puts the desktop computer and all its applications and data in the cloud, accessed by an Internet-based “thin client” on the user’s desktop. Those of us who lived through the “dumb terminals” of the 1970s know exactly where we’re going: back to the future. 16 THE VOICE OF TECHNOLOGY www.nvtc.org Fall 2011
VERIZON SMARTPHONES. Twice as fast as any AT&T smartphone. NEW! Revolution by LG NEW! ThunderBolt by HTC Limited-Time Offer 3 MONTHS FREE NETFLIX SUBSCRIPTION with purchase of Revolution by LG ($7.99/month thereafter; data charges may apply for use).* NEW! DROID CHARGE by Samsung Twice as Fast compares expected speeds of Verizon 4G LTE smartphones operating in 4G LTE markets vs. AT&T smartphones operating in HSPA+ markets. *Netflix offer: Valid on LG Revolution purchases between 7/22/11-8/28/11; after 3 months, $7.99/mo (plus other charges) applies unless you cancel earlier. Activation fee/line: $35. IMPORTANT CONSUMER INFORMATION: Subject to Cust. Agmt, Calling Plan, rebate form & credit approval. Up to $350 early termination fee/line & add’l charges for extra minutes, data sent/received & device capabilities. Offers & coverage, varying by svc, not available everywhere; see vzw.com. Limited-time offer. Restocking fee may apply. Rebate debit card takes up to 6 wks & expires in 12 months. LTE is a trademark of ETSI. 4G LTE is available in 55 metros & 80 major airports in the U.S. DROID is a trademark of Lucasfilm Ltd. and its related companies. Used under license. © 2011 Verizon Wireless. E0645
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Page 5 and 6: A M E S S A G E F R O M B O B B I E
Page 7 and 8: P E R S P E C T I V E S Mobile Comp
Page 9 and 10: NVTC Members Appointed to State Inv
Page 11 and 12: Board Member Company Noblis to Esta
Page 13 and 14: A I S Network NVTC members have a u
Page 15 and 16: which attendees learned from expert
Page 17: COVER STORY Telecom Today: A NEw wO
Page 21 and 22: TelecoM Today: a New woRld of NeTwo
Page 23 and 24: AT&T covers 97% of all Americans. E
Page 25 and 26: Q&A NVTC sat down with Sprint Chief
Page 27 and 28: Q&A with Bob Johnson, Mike Maiorana
Page 29 and 30: Sprint Is the #1 Most Improved Comp
Page 31 and 32: Q&A with Bob Johnson, Mike Maiorana
Page 33 and 34: orge the Future of Wireless p Virgi
Page 35 and 36: WAMU.ORG Accredited Investors: Spot
Page 37 and 38: Ten years ago I was: In Pittsburgh,
Page 39 and 40: Kathryn Wolf, Courtney Burke, Mike
Page 41 and 42: N E W M E M B E R S as of 08/31/11
Page 44: WHAT YOUR BUSINESS NEEDS. WHATEVER

Fall 2010 - Northern Virginia Technology Council

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