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Technology Stocks : Voice-on-the-net (VON), VoIP, Internet (IP) Telephony -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Stephen B. Temple who wrote (2461)	2/10/1999 10:35:00 AM
From: Stephen B. Temple	Respond to of 3178

NEC America, Inc. and Cisco Systems, Inc. Demonstrate Feature Transparent Voice over IP PBX Networking February 10, 1999 WASHINGTON, D.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE) Voice Traffic Prioritization Over IP Backbone Will Help Users Migrate to Fully Convergent Voice and Data Networks At the PBX 2000 Conference sponsored by Business Communications Review, NEC America, Inc. (NEC) and Cisco Systems, Inc. (Cisco) today demonstrated a feature transparent PBX (Private Branch Exchange) network over IP (Internet Protocol) using NEC PBXs and Cisco Systems routers. This development represents the results of their first year's collaboration on VoIP (Voice over IP) product development, an initiative jointly announced by Cisco and NEC America at the 1998 PBX2000 Conference. This collaboration is part of Cisco's five-phase multiservice networking strategy, originally announced in the fall of 1997 -- culminating in end-to-end policy-based call management, an open standards-based multiservice architecture, and true intranet/Internet telephony. For NEC, this represents an integral aspect of their overall Fusion Networks strategy of providing customers with network transport choices without compromise. Feature transparent PBX networks using VoIP provide more cost-effective ways to transport voice services and can provide many benefits including elimination of tandem PBXs, cost reduction, simplified implementation and administration, and migration to a fully convergent voice and data network without making existing PBX and internetworking systems investments obsolete. NEC and Cisco's Multiservice Networking over IP capability is made possible by NEC's Fusion Call Control Signaling (FCCS) protocol and the open packet telephony architecture in Cisco's IOS software. FCCS is a network transmission and signaling protocol compatible with Cisco's routers and switches that allows individual nodes anywhere within a PBX network to operate as if they were pieces of a single integrated PBX system. Cisco's IOS software provides a common platform across Cisco's products. The queuing mechanisms of Cisco's IOS software enable voice signals to take priority over data, ensuring quality of service without bandwidth or delay issues. "Our intent is to design and build robust, flexible networks that can handle telephony over IP while maintaining the same quality experience users have come to demand when they pick up the phone," said Dale Graver, assistant general manager, NEC America, Inc, Corporate Networks Group, Marketing and Sales Support Division. "There's just no compromising the user experience nor denying customer expectations. NEC's customers value the PBX feature set, reliability, availability and quality they've become accustomed to. As the underlying technology advances, users shouldn't be able to tell the difference. Technology advancements should enhance, not compromise the initial investments made by our customers." "We believe that Multiservice Networking-running data, voice, video, and other information over a common IP network-is the future of telecommunications, " said Peter Clarke, director of Global Alliances Group at Cisco Systems, Inc.

To: Stephen B. Temple who wrote (2461)	2/11/1999 10:22:00 AM
From: Stephen B. Temple	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 3178

Four More Years Until Net Access by Cable Feb. 10, 1999 (COMTEX) Using cable lines as Internet connections is still a pipe dream for most consumers, and AT&T expects it to stay that way a while. "It will be four to five years before AT&T's investments with the cable companies can have their full effect on consumer choice," says C. Michael Armstrong, chair of AT&T. AT&T is awaiting final regulatory approval of its merger with cable giant Telecommunications Inc. and recently announced a joint-venture agreement with Time Warner. Those two deals will give AT&T cable access to nearly 40 percent of American homes. Rebuilding the cable network to accommodate digital transmissions as well as two-way communication capabilities, which are necessary for high-speed Internet access, dictates the timetable, Armstrong says. "Upgrading the lines from low capacity to high capacity as well as implementing telephony upgrades would call for four to five years," Armstrong says. But once those upgrades have been completed, the way Internet service is viewed will change dramatically, Armstrong adds. "The cable box on your TV will not only let you order pay-per-view movies, it will be a virtual communications center," Armstrong said. A home cable line will offer multiple lines for voice and high-speed data, he said. Baby Bells Clamor In the interim, the most viable option for consumers who want high-speed Internet access is Digital Subscriber Line service, which provides digital data connections over existing phone lines. And even though the Baby Bells and AT&T are at each others' throats over long-distance pricing and other issues, representatives of the regional Bell companies said they are happy that cable access to the Internet is on the horizon. "We would like them to be a competitive threat," says Roy Neel, president of United States Telephone Association, which represents all the regional Bells as well as other telephone companies. "It would show that the marketplace is competitive." If Internet access through cable lines is a hit, the Baby Bells hope the Federal Communications Commission will be forced to relax regulations restricting their involvement in supplying DSL and other types of Internet access. Currently, federal rules force local telephone companies to give access to independent Internet service providers and limit their own entry into the lucrative business. Efforts to relax those FCC rules is bitterly opposed by independent ISPs, who say Baby Bells will undercut their pricing and service plans. Neel said the Baby Bells are rolling out DSL service as fast as possible. "The demand for DSL service has increased exponentially," Neel says. "It is in our interests to get it out to the market." Meanwhile, Armstrong says AT&T will keep building its cable line network. "We would like to get cable access up to 60 to 70 percent of our broadband access," he said.