THIS IS ANOTHER POST THAT IT GOT FROM FRANK COLUCCIO--INTERESTING!!!
....THE MOST INTERESTING PART IS THAT IT MENTIONS THAT BIG TELCOS ARE GENERALLY SLOW TO ADAPT HERE IN US--MEANING THEY WILL BE EVEN SLOWER IN ASIA AND MIDDLE EAST. DOES THAT MEAN THAT JIMMY WILL BEAT THEM THERE? WILL HE BE THE NEXT BERNIE EBBERS?--TIME WILL TELL.
CURTIS
May 28, 1998
Many of the largest public network telephone companies plan to launch voice-carrying Internet protocol services in the near future.
For example, Washington-based MCI [MCIC] and British Telecom [BTY] have created a joint-venture company, Concert Communications Inc. in Reston, Va., to develop a private IP-based telephony solution. The company's combined voice and data network will become operational later this year, according to product development manager Mike Pugh.
About 3,900 multinational corporations have contracted to use the service. Concert's network will provide customers with carrier- class quality and reliability, Pugh says. Concert contracted with outside companies to complete the project, but declined to identify suppliers.
Meanwhile Stamford, Conn.-based GTE [GTE] is in the midst of building a 17,000-mile, cross-country IP network that will carry long distance and local phone calls as well as fax and data transmissions.
One-third of the fiber network already has been completed, GTE spokesman Bill Kula says. GTE has built connections between Boston and Washington, Los Angeles and San Francisco, and San Francisco and Kansas City.
Construction will be completed in the third quarter of this year, as New York is linked to Kansas City. GTE will attempt to sell part of its network capacity to RBOCS, C-LECS, ISPs, and long distance companies.
Carrier Class Service Provided
The network, Kula says, will provide "close to carrier class service. " GTE has achieved latency levels as low as 125 milliseconds during cross continental tests of the network's voice quality. Kula says GTE plans to use San Jose, Calif.-based Cisco [CSCO] gateway software to deliver IP telephony services.
The company, unlike smaller Internet telephony service providers, will draw from its $3 billion to $4 billion in capital resources to continuously enhance the quality of its services. GTE will use its spending power to offer customers screen phones, digital assistance and unified messaging technology.
AT&T Leveraging Network
Basking Ridge, N.J.-based AT&T [T] is about to provide consumers with IP-based telephony capabilities. The telecommunications giant will begin a trial by the end of the second quarter.
AT&T is leveraging its existing IP network to implement the service.
Consumers who choose to participate in the trial will pay 7 1/2 to nine cents per minute for long distance calls. Those rates will apply 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The company says its engineers have developed methods of improving the quality of voice traffic carried on IP networks.
"We saw the development of IP commun-ications as a critical ele- ment of our fu-ture revenue growth," spo-keswoman Lee Ann Kuster says. "It's the next great wave of communication."
AT&T estimates that 10 percent to 15 percent of domestic calls and 20 percent of international calls eventually will be made through IP technology.
VocalTec's Offering Draws Interest
Many large telecommunications firms are thinking of buying IP telephony components from Herzliya, Israel-based VocalTec [VOCLF].
"We're on the phone talking with every telecommunication firm in the world. Many companies are in the process of choosing a vendor [to provide Internet telephony equipment] and we're on the short list of vendors around the world," says Scott Wharton, a VocalTec senior market manager.
VocalTec is developing the VocalTec Ensemble Architecture, an open IP telephony platform that will, by the end of this year, incorporate IP telephony gateways, servers, clients, and network management solutions. The platform - the first to be based on the H.323v2, or RAS Version 2, industry standard - will allow network administrators to easily add and integrate new products and services as they become available.
The VocalTec Ensemble Architecture also will offer service providers the ability to interface with third-party billing and customer management solutions. Operators will be able to use the scaleable architecture to support millions of end users, the company says. The German company Deutsche Telekom, a minority shareholder in VocalTec is one of the telecommunications companies that actively is testing components of the VocalTec Ensemble Architecture.
Wharton says the architecture will provide end users with supplementary features and capabilities. "We've gone beyond industry standards to provide services such as PC-to-phone, conference calling, and call center integration," he says.
Will RBOCS, Others Be Left Out?
Jeff Pulver, president of pulver.com, an independent consulting company based in Melville, N.Y., says that while most public telecommunications companies are examining the possibility of implementing IP telephony services, many aren't moving quickly enough.
These firms believe there is no reason to abandon the legacy, circuit-based systems that have worked for 30, Pulver says. The telecommunications companies that don't realize the critical importance of quickly developing voice-over-data services will be acquired or go out of business, he predicts.
Chicago-based Ameritech [AIT], an RBOC, has no plans to develop an Internet telephony system. The FCC has restricted RBOCs from providing long distance service, making it difficult for the Baby Bells to become Internet service providers, Ameritech spokesman Dave Pacholczyk says.
Waiting For Government Approval
Ameritech will wait for the government to approve its entry into the long distance market before aggressively developing Internet telephony technology.
The company also does not believe that customers will accept the current inferior voice quality of today's IP-based telephones, Pacholczyk says. Ameritech will consider investing more resources in IP telephony when the technology allows better voice quality, he adds.
Another RBOC, New York-based Bell Atlantic [BEL] is performing in-house tests of Internet telephony technology. The company believes it may receive authorization to become a long distance carrier by the end of the year, and wants to be prepared to eventually deliver voice-over-data services, spokesman Larry Plumb says.
Although Bell Atlantic does not believe IP telephony is currently market ready, the company anticipates the emerging technology eventually will compete well with circuit switch-based telephony.
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