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To: The Phoenix who wrote (8320)	9/1/2000 8:19:15 PM
From: Frank A. Coluccio	Respond to of 12823

Gary, Please explain in brief detail what you mean by signaling and what the IOS interaction is between the edge device and the core optical element (if such exists) during the lambda request. Thanks. re: the core intelligence or lack thereof down the road, maybe. But the degree of dumbness (and how semantic one wants to get in defining it) remains to be seen. There are the perennial two schools of thought on this issue, and we're beginning to see some interesting reversals in following, as we speak. I would stay tuned and monitor this for a while before placing bets on just how stupid the core will get. It seems that the allure of playing to the tune of the ITU and its larger legacy (GSTN) suppliers is making converts of some of the smaller ones. They don't want to be left without a market for their wares. This is not only taking place in core boxes, but in application level platforms, as well. IP Telephony most notably right now, where VoIP is taking form by proxy measures (old hardware devices are being replaced by newer software modules, but they preserve the same flows, effectively), instead of through innovation. FAC

To: The Phoenix who wrote (8320)	9/1/2000 11:41:58 PM
From: Frank A. Coluccio	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 12823

Let me step back a bit on the voip innovation statement I made. Yes, there is a great deal of ingenuity going into making voice work over IP these days. What I was referring to was the direction now being laid to continue using the Class 5 model, and its associated SS7 overlay. When faced with a decision three years ago (early 1997, to be precise), this is the direction I recommended for startup Internet Telephony Service Providers (ITSPs) -- including one that I was close to co-founding -- who needed to mobilize quick and begin competing with the incumbents. In this market at the time EBITDA was not about to wait for innovation. Back then, no one was integrating SS7 and its associated TCAP (transaction parts) and ISUP (ISDN user part) stacks with VoIP. No one. Man, time flies. I went to Cisco, LU, Summa Four (which Cisco subsequently acquired for this very reason), Excel (which LU did the same with), and even looked at a bunch of others, including Sattel (which didn't quite cut the mustard then, and which was subsequently transformed into Coyote Network Systems <CYOE>). None of them knew, or could see the reasoning behind, why I wanted to do this. Nor did they believe that Voice and IP had much of a future together at the time. Oh, I almost forgot. One of the above mentioned handed me an NDA form to sign, and once executed confided to me that SS7 was in their future. Now, in retrospect, I realize that what I was doing was merely seeking an "expedient." But it's precisely the direction that the industry has taken during the past three years. This wasn't true innovation, it was more like a form of imitation, or emulation. A more strenuous, yet aggressive, approach would have been to pursue true IP telephony, where voice is keyed to IP end points, like so many other wounded soldiers have pursued and almost not lived to talk about. But the ITU is in the picture now, and they aren't going to go anywhere, and the larger vendors have begun listening to them vert seriously. I don't see any hope of turning back for a while, where IPtel would be a serious contender to the G/PSTN. Softswitch and the megaco du jour, notwithstanding. Some of this stuff that is now going in is taken directly from ISDN's H.320 (323) suite. And they say ISDN has no future. Go figure. FAC