Caught In |
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by Al Massey |
"Software Version 1.0: Also known as "one point uh-oh", or "barely out of beta". We had to release because the lab guys had reached a point of exhaustion and the marketing guys were in a cold sweat of terror. We're praying that you'll find it more functional than, say, a computer virus and that its operation has some resemblance to that specified in the marketing copy."
OK, class, let's continue our discussion on bandwidth for the brain dead that we started last month. As I recall we ended our lesson by declaring that the telcos are holding bandwidth hostage. Digital telephone lines have been available for some time but because the telcos have priced them out of reach of most mere mortals it has been necessary for modem manufacturers to invest literally billions of dollars in funding the advance of stupid technology.
The concept of selling digital lines at a reasonable price seems to have never entered the dismally small brains of the telco execs. Today bandwidth remains a hostage of the telephone companies. In the early days of ARPANET, bandwidth on the `Net backbone consisted entirely of 56 kbps lines linking, at most, sixteen cities across the United States. It continued along these lines until the National Science Foundation got into the act around the mid eighties and conceived a much faster backbone tied together with 1.544 Mbps T1 lines.
No discussion of bandwidth would be complete without mentioning a little darlin' called "spread spectrum," a technology that sends data at high speeds (up to 3 Mbs per second) over unregulated radio frequencies primarily in the 902-928 megahertz band. Spread spectrum could connect you with your ISP at very high speeds, without dialing a phone or messing with a cable.
If you want to get the cold shoulder just ask your friendly telephone company or FCC regulator about spread spectrum. Advocates of this technology want it to be universally available for unlicensed use but, surprise, the telcos are launching an all-out lobbying effort to convince legislators that ISPs should pay access charges. "Unlicensed data communications," they say, "cheats them out of lots of dough."
The day ISPs have to start paying for per-minute usage is the day flat-rate Internet pricing becomes a thing of the past.
If the telcos and Baby Bells had spent their time advancing all this digital and spread spectrum technology and engaged in bringing it to the great unwashed instead of lingering in the halls of the FCC in search of sympathetic ears in the regulatory sector, we would all be in happy clover by now. Instead, they talk about "universal service," and tell of its death at the hands of the greedy ISPs that don't want to pay for their fair share while burdening publicly switched networks.
The only loser in this "non-issue," is you, my friends.
"Software version 1.1: We fixed all the killer bugs ..."
I have had the opportunity to test the Cardinal MVP288XS, a V.34 data-fax modem. This neat external package packs a data-fax 33.6 modem, a full-duplex speakerphone, Radish's VoiceView technology, caller-identification support, and additional telephony wizardry into one compact package.
In today's SOHO (Small-Office/Home Office), a modem and phone are as essential as electricity, and with the MVP 288XS Cardinal addresses this need admirably.
With a nod to the digitally impaired, the MVP288XS includes Cardinal's Modem Commander, an icon-based setup and configuration center similar to Windows 95's Control Panel. Toss in productivity enhancing software like Clearwave's Intellect Lite, an automated voice-mail and phone-management app with caller ID support and VoiceView support, a technology that lets you switch between voice and data communications and the SOHO user is set.
At $299 the MVP with Radish's VoiceView, Global Village's FaxWorks, Clearwave's Intellect Lite and Cardinal's Modem Commander offers more features than some of its higher priced competitors.
Throw in the additional speakerphone capabilities allowing full-duplex conference capability for spontaneous, interactive communication, eliminating noise along with hands-free, cord-free features and you have a powerful addition to your arsenal.
"Software Version 1.2: Uh, we introduced a few new bugs fixing the killer bugs and so we had to fix them, too."
Vaporware has collided with existing technology and something called "Integrated Services Architecture" has been born. ISA is being touted as the blueprint by which the Internet and public switched telephone networks may one day be merged into one. This blueprint encompasses several emerging technologies of interest to network managers who want to use the Internet as their networking vehicle of choice. These technologies include: Resource Reservation Protocol (RSVP), IP Tunneling, IP Multicast and Quality of Service (QoS).
What is interesting about ISA is the broad acceptance it seems to have. Not many people are putting the knock on it, indeed most are embracing it. ISA can be boiled down to predictable data communications on the `Net. Cut through all the hype and what this means is the `Net's days of a free ride are almost over.
Today, we rely on what is termed as a "best effort" delivery scheme when it comes to network services. Most TCP/IP packets are treated the same today with no priority given. All this is about to change when ISA comes into being. Network managers will devise billing schemes to charge more to, say the engineering department, whose weekly multicast CAD applications are notorious pipe hogs, and less to a Telecommuting sales rep whose video conference with management consumes less. In other words, if you demand more bandwidth for your packets and want them to traverse the `Net much more quickly, you will pay more than those of us that use less resources.
"Software Version 2.0: We did the product we really wanted to do to begin with. Mind you, it's really not what the customer needs yet, but we're working on it."
HO BOY! That Gates feller is starting to resemble J.R. Ewing in sneakers and blue jeans. Word's out that Microsoft is trying to wrest control of Java from Sun by taking control of the reference standard. In an attempt, viewed by some, to co-opt the Web-enabled programming language, Microsoft is lining up developers behind its implementation of core Java technology.
The number of developers selecting Microsoft's version of the Java Virtual Machine as the basis for building their applications is on the increase. Most of those developers are now saying Microsoft's Wintel code is superior to that of Sun's.
Stand by because this is more a battle between operating systems, Windows vs. UNIX, than it is over who will control the Java standard.
O'lordy, Windows, UNIX, Java, ActiveX, Wintel, Netscape, Internet Explorer. Who's on first? Abbott or Costello?
"Software Version 2.1: Well, not surprisingly, we broke some things in making major changes so we had to fix them. But we did a really good job of testing this time, so we don't think we introduced any new bugs while we were fixing these bugs."
A few thoughts on all the 56kbps modem hype. There are two approaches to the implementation of 56 kbps modems: U.S. Robotics and Rockwell Semiconductor Systems. About the only thing they have in common at the moment is their desire to increase the top speed of analog modems to 56 kbps for the inbound channel and 28.8 kbps for the return.
USR states its implementation of 56 k will be called X2 and will be available as an upgrade to its Sportster modems in January. Rockwell is terming their initiative K56PLUS architecture and plans to introduce it as an upgrade to its MAX access products in January also. (Hardware upgrade for Sportster line and flash-software for the Couriour models.)
While most of the differences between these two approaches are not immediately clear, what is clear is that the two will not be interoperable for some time. As we have seen in the past, there will be a standard for 56 kbps, but the question is when. As for me, I am going to wait and see.
The 56 kbps speed won't kick in unless one end is used by an ISP, because both implementations require one end of the connection to originate as digital. If both connecting ends are individuals the modems will connect at V.34 which is the current standard for 33.6 kbps and lower.
Al Massey is a HAL-PC member.
E-mail me at webmaster@hal-pc.org with any comments you have and tell me what you want to see here.
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