[GTE/MSFT servers]
Bill --
You may be the one to fill in the missing parts. My guide at GTE yesterday was very pleased to show off what I'll call a MSFT server, for lack of a better term. It's a large bank of equipment used to "house software. . . proxy server. . . web caching . . . NetShow . . . NetMeeting . . . homepages. . . .and other applications. . . " (I put in quotes because I'm not sure how all these terms inter-relate.) I was told it'll sit in the C/O or at the ISP or even in a specific company headquarters and that with it you're guaranteed the bandwidth your modem provides whereas without it you may be limited by distance and numbers of "hops" between you and your ISP or telco.
Does this make sense?
More trivia: while standing in front of the actual racks, I was told they're using a Bay router and that they were testing "some fiber to C/O. . . some T1 with router at other end. . . some DS3 to GTE/INS Internet. . . some DS3 to MSFT to LAN access. . . some FlexCap to ethernet switch. . ." (Overture 8s were at another C/O.) She also mentioned PPTP --- tunneling protocol developed by MSFT. Also that they were putting in routed network --- BAY and CSCO were in the trials and that eventually they'd have Frame Relay and after that ATM. At MSFT they have DS6 into the router and according to her some of the trial participants can access LAN at home faster than at work with ADSL.
Having learned GTE is testing Amati's modems at 2, 4, and 6Mbps and that the speeds were programmable, I phoned one of Amati's representatives in Texas (thinking he'd understand the GTE end of things) and learned that the equipment can, indeed, be pre-set. The Allegro 820, which he says will be included in the advanced trials, can be set for 1.5, 2, 4, or 6Mbps (eventually at 8+), with upstream rates of 160, 192, 384, and 640Kbps. I also asked him which Westell equipment would be used and he didn't know for certain but said he suspected it would be their RADSL product.
In a footnote to my own meager history, I learned the trials include the Lake Washington School District which happens to be where I taught my first year out of college. They were progressive then and I'm pleased still are. Incidentally, it was humbling to drive through Kirkland and not recognize a thing. Well, not surprising when you conside when I left Bill Gates was still in elementary school and Microsoft many years in the future.
Cheers!
Pat
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