Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Technology Stocks : Global Crossing - GX (formerly GBLX) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Sir Francis Drake who wrote (9007)	11/14/2000 2:27:57 PM
From: jopawa	Respond to of 15615

from cramer at thestreet.com. I actually disagree, to me today is a total disappointment and I am longer than most. Take Note of the Tells 11/14/00 2:15 PM ET I always like to take my keys from the tugs of war on Wall Street. Think back to this morning when one firm went bullish on Global Crossing (GX:NYSE) and another went bearish. The fact that GX rallied and rallied nicely, told you that today was going to be a half-full, optimisitic day. Get used to tells like that. They rarely let you down. No positions.

To: Sir Francis Drake who wrote (9007)	11/14/2000 2:34:29 PM
From: jopawa	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 15615

totaltele.com roaming standard will come at a price Joanne Taaffe 13 November 2000 A group of international network operators has set aboutcreating an alternative Internet for GPRS operators' international roaming traffic. The operators-including Cable & Wireless, UUnet and Global Crossing-plan to roll out Internet Protocol networks based on a new standard called GRX, dedicated to networks transmitting GPRS roaming traffic, defined by the GSM Association, of London. GRX will carry international data traffic from one mobile operator's network to another. Currently, the roaming structure depends on a chaotic network of separate leased lines between mobile and fixed network operators. But mobile operators using GRX are likely to force GPRS users to continue to make international dial-up calls when accessing the Internet or intranets from abroad. Roaming customers will otherwise have to make cheaper calls through local ISPs in the country. "If (the customer only) accesses a local ISP it won't generate (international) roaming traffic," said Carlo Dietaker, director of marketing, sales and roaming for Comfone Limited, a mobile roaming services management company which intends to offer GRX services. As a result "(Mobile) operators ... could block local access (to ISPs) and route the calls back home (across the GRX,)" said Dietaker. "The call will probably be brought back to the home carrier," said John Hoffmann; senior director of technical evolution for the GSM Association. "From a security and billing standpoint." The GRX standard is meant to replace the roaming infrastructure that grew up, higgledy-piggledy, around GSM voice services. GSM roaming currently depends on bilateral agreements established between individual operators using leased lines. While such an approach works if there are only 40 GSM operators worldwide, it proves unwieldy as the number climbs into the hundreds. "We never expected (GSM) to be a global network with 350 operators around the world," said Hoffmann. The result has been the development of a network of leased lines which resembles "spaghetti stuff" said Hoffmann. The GRX networks will interconnect with each other to create a tier of the Internet through which mobile operators can securely exchange IP traffic generated by their roaming customers. The GSM Association said 18 operators have so far agreed to comply with the GRX standard (see table.) Later this month operators who plan to offer GRX services will meet to hammer out how their respective GRX networks will interconnect with each other-one of the possibilities being the Internet peering model. And even if they give mobile operators a secure IP network, GRX operators have yet to tackle how a roaming customer accesses the Internet, or an intranet, when in a foreign country. The problem already exists for customers dialing into fixed networks from a laptop computer. "IP roaming (over fixed IP networks) is a bit of a disaster. We have an ad-hoc and proprietary approach," said Dr Iain Stevenson, a consultant at Ovum Limited, London. Comfone's Dietaker believes, however, that market forces will eventually push operators to offer local dial-up access to ISPs, no matter where their customer is. Already France Telecom is intending to enable its corporate mobile customers to make local calls into an IPVPN when they roam in those countries where France Telecom has subsidiaries with GPRS networks, said Yves Tyrode, director of France Telecom's mobile Internet for business division. Otherwise "they will call back to the mother country if they are not with a France Telecom partner," added Tyrode. Competition will also shake up the GRX market. Although 18 operators want to move into GRX service provision, Hoffmann expects the number of GRX providers to drop dramatically over the next couple of years. The battle will be fought over value-added services, since any IP network operator can offer GRX services, making GRX networks "a commodity in two years," according to Dietaker.