Colin C. Haley

BOSTON — Fixed wireless broadband has long been touted as a technology for consumers in rural areas, but a Rhode Island company is successfully selling it to businesses in major U.S. cities. “We’re a true alternative,” Jeff Thompson, president and COO of TowerStream, said at the WiMAX World trade show here yesterday. “We’re doing this […]

BOSTON — Companies introducing WiMAX products and services must convince enterprises and service providers that the broadband wireless technology makes economic sense, analysts at the WiMAX World trade show said here today. Getting technology into place because it’s new is difficult to justify without being able to present productivity increases, Dale Kutnick, a META Group […]

BOSTON — Wi-Fi emerged in the early 1990s but didn’t take off until the late 1990s. By then, laptops were common and consumers wanted to use them for un-tethered network access from airports, coffee shops, hotels and homes. “Every successful wireless technology needs a dominant application to get it started,” Charlie Giancarlo, Cisco CTO, said […]

After months of vitriol, Verizon Wireless said it will drop its objections to Nextel’s controversial spectrum swap agreement with the federal government. In return, Nextel will forego trademark rights to the phrase “push-to-talk,” “PTT,” and all related “push” names in relation to walkie-talkie technology. The truce was announced in a brief statement this morning. Other […]

A startup founded by former MCI executives is launching Voice over IP service in three markets this week. SunRocket’s service went live to consumers in Baltimore, Boston and Washington, D.C. this week and plans to be in all major U.S. markets by year’s end. The privately held, venture-backed firm is entering a crowded space with […]

Further strengthening India’s position in the global communications arena, Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited will pay $130 million for Tyco’s undersea fiber-optic network, the companies announced today. If approved by regulators in the United States, India and other countries, the move would give VSNL, a telecom and Internet services provider, a network spanning 37,000 miles and […]

Avaya , a communications software, systems and services company, has announced a new Internet Protocol-based video-conferencing offering for businesses. The Avaya Video Telephony Solution, Desktop Edition, stems from a partnership with conferencing technology specialist Polycom . The offering integrates the Avaya IP Softphone, an application that works as an office phone on a computer, with […]

AT&T announced a new version of its predictive service designed to help protect far-flung businesses from worms and viruses without deploying firewalls at each location. New capabilities for AT&T’s Internet Protect service incorporate worm and virus protection into AT&T’s network-based firewall and will be available early next year. The enhancements are aimed at thwarting attacks […]

Verizon Communications may divest millions of local phone lines as its fiber-to-the-premises and wireless businesses become more central to its long-term plans, company officials said. “We are considering the possibility of divesting some access lines using a mechanism, such as a spinout — although [there is] nothing firm about that yet,” Peter Thonis, a Verizon […]

UPDATED: In a coordinated attack against spammers, some of the country’s largest ISPs have filed new lawsuits against businesses and individuals that allegedly deluged users with unwanted and offensive e-mails. The actions were brought by America Online, EarthLink , Microsoft and Yahoo under the federal Can-Spam law. It’s the second round of lawsuits filed by […]

Verizon has tapped Motorola for video network infrastructure and customer premises equipment related to the carrier’s fiber-to-the-premises push, the companies announced today. The multi-year contract also includes project integration and operational services. Mark Marchand, a Verizon spokesman, said this is the carrier’s first award for FTTP video infrastructure and customer premises equipment. Though best known […]

In recent months, regional telecoms Verizon and SBC have taken direct aim at cable giant Comcast , earmarking hundreds of millions of dollars for fiber-to-the-premises rollouts. FTTP uses hair-width, fiber-optic strands to carry content — including video programming — to residential and small business customers. The Baby Bells say the technology will enable them to […]