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Cover
Out of the Lab, Into the Real World
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| NOW |
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Reader’s Letter
An xchange reader speaks out about a recent advertisement published in xchange, and Editor-in-Chief Paula Bernier responds. Best of WiMAX World 2006 |
| RULES |
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2006: Year of the Franchise
When service providers reflect on the year 2006, they might well see it as the year of the Bell video franchise, punctuated by months of back-and-forth over net (network or Internet?) neutrality. Congress and the FCC tackled a number of issues this year, several of which seemed to explode from out of nowhere and take center stage until pending midterm elections turned focus and speculation from telecom matters to wider political considerations. |
| THEN & NOW |
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Dan Gonos on Cooking Up a Smarter Pizza Delivery System for Domino’s
Telecom pioneer and creator Daniel Gonos built a unique customer call routing system that changed the way his company, Domino’s Pizza LLC, did business and the way companies viewed the telephone network. Then a telecom manager, Gonos built the system, dubbed StoreFinder, using a pre-SS7 network in the days before 800 numbers. Currently managing director with First Step Telecommunications LLC, Gonos recently spoke with xchange’s Executive Editor Bob Wallace about telecom network intelligence. |
| ON THE TUBE |
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A Moving Target
Reaching consumers with mobile advertising is a moving target — literally. To hit their mark, service providers and advertisers need to hone in on which formats will be effective and how advertisers can leverage carrier subscriber data to deliver the right messaging at the right time. Business models are in flux for the advertisers, portal owners and carriers trying to take their share of the $100 billion brand marketing industry. |
| NEW TELEPHONY |
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The Internet Goes Mayberry
Not since the early — and illegal — days of music sharing has the Internet felt the force of the entrepreneurial and creative energy that is propelling the launch of a wave of Web sites and services dedicated to downloading television reruns. As xchange columnist Joe McGarvey of Current Analysis cautions, it is important that life-improving opportunities created by the explosion of broadband access — both for fixed and mobile devices — not take a backseat to our longtime fascination of transforming the digital displays of billions of laptops, desktops and mobile phones into glorified boob tubes. |
| TECH |
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Bursting the Optical Switching Bubble
Git-R-Done
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| AIRTIME |
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Nervous Breakdown
You know the feeling. The to-do list is growing, errands need to be done, bills need to be paid, and perhaps you have a job and a family and a fantasy football league to attend to, all at once. But before you head out to the time-management clinic, consider this: You have nothing on cellular backhaul, which soon will reach its breaking point as the demands placed upon it outstrip its existing abilities. Muni Wireless Nets More Momentum |
| BACKSTAGE |
| TV Snow and Rain Fade Weather and telecom services have a few things in common: both are subject to change and can degrade quickly. In weather, we can interpret the patterns of upper-level highs and low pressure systems to guesstimate which coat to wear in the morning. But service providers need to go beyond predictions to assurance, because if next-generation services don’t live up to their quality forecast, operators could find themselves permanently out in the cold. |
| LETTER |
| Following the Wireless Trajectory WiMAX has generated a huge amount of interest almost from the moment it first appeared on the scene. This important standard for truly broadband wireless access continues to move forward on a number of fronts. This month's cover story explores what next-generation broadband wireless services will look like and, more specifically, how Sprint Nextel Corp. is building its business around that vision. |
