IN THIS ISSUE:

2005-A Year In Telecom

Hopefully everyone is off to a great start in 2006 and as we get farther away from December 31, I think it is important to take a look back and reflect on 2005-The Year That Was. There were mergers, acquisitions, and new partnerships established. Telecom and Cable providers are expanding services and hitting new audiences as cable companies make the transition to VoIP phones and wireless providers make the plunge to cable television. Along with TV, wireless phones now offer mp3 players, cameras, and gadgets of all types, as cell phones quickly become a necessity for every day life. Make sure to check out the highlights of Telecom in 2005 by clicking this News.com link, and while you’re there don’t forget to read up on the new music service from Endorsed MiCTA Vendor Sprint.

Announcing Two ACUTA Seminars in January!

TOPIC: Track 1: Mobility and Wireless Issues

Track 2: Best Practices in Telecom Management

MiCTA would like to announce that they will be exhibiting at the first ACUTA Conference of 2006. The conference will be held at the Renaissance Esmeralda Resort in Palm Springs, CA from January 8-11, 2006. More information is available by calling the MiCTA office at (888) 870-8677. Make sure to stop by booth 107 and say hello to Gary Green.

TOPIC: Creative Cost Savings in Communications Technology

Presenter: Jack Babbitt, Asst. Director of Networking, Univ. of Connecticut

UConn's Telecom staff looked deep into their organization and identified areas that might produce cost savings. What resulted was seven-digit savings for fiscal year 2005 with half of that becoming a recurring yearly savings. The savings came from billing reviews, renewed contract negotiations, and changed business processes. There was also a chance for UConn and other Connecticut State agencies to develop synergistic opportunities, which contributed to the savings.

Check the ACUTA website for online registration, or contact Amy White, awhite@acuta.org or at 859-278-3338.

Direct questions regarding content to Donna Hall, ACUTA Manager of Professional Development, dhall@acutaorg or phone 859-278-3338.

D.C. Update

Whitney Johnson - Northern Michigan University (Retired) - wjohnson@nmu.edu

The following articles are all part of the D.C. Update, which is a part of the ACUTA eNews. The ACUTA eNews is available in its entirety by clicking this link.

Tax Fraud
MCI has agreed to settle tax-fraud claims with 15 states and the District of Columbia that total about $315 million. The states involved are Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. Attorneys General (AGs) from several, if not all, of the states have been involved in the investigation of this problem that dates from about 1999 until MCI filed for bankruptcy in 2002.

The AG from Pennsylvania explained that MCI had engaged in a royalty scheme to avoid payment of state taxes from 1999 to 2002. He also said "the scheme, devised for MCI by accounting firm KPMG, was designed to shift income that MCI received from its subsidiaries in various states to other states where the income would not be subject to taxes."

MCI charged subsidiaries over $20 billion in royalty fees during the four-year period. The subsidiaries then deducted the fees from state taxes as a business expense, and by doing that, reduced their tax liability to those states. MCI then reported the royalty income in the state where the income was not taxable.

The state of New Jersey is expected to get the largest settlement payment of about $53 million, with Pennsylvania second at $46.5 million. Some states, in addition to the 15 listed, are also following up on these investigations and one of them, North Carolina, will be getting about $16 million. South Carolina has entered into negotiations and will most likely receive some funding.

Broadband-Over-Power-Lines (BPL)
Manassas , VA continues in the development of broadband service over the city electrical power network. The city has joined hands with Communication Technologies, Inc. (CTI) to provide cable TV service. At a press conference on Oct. 5 in Manassas, state and local officials widely praised the new BPL system, which is available to 12,500 households in the city of 37,000 people and which has already attracted 700 customers with another 500 service requests being processed.

The Manassas Mayor indicated that the BPL service deployment was "a major enhancement of what our city-owned utility provides to its customers." A CTI official indicated that what has been demonstrated at Manassas could be rolled out and put in place by literally scores of city power companies within the next year or two, particularly in small communities that have no other broadband services being offered.

Verizon and Texas
Early in October Verizon applied to the Texas Public Utility Commission (PUC) for a statewide cable franchise and permission to offer its FiOS TV service in 21 communities in the Dallas/ Fort Worth area. By the end of October, the PUC approved Verizon's statewide video franchise. Verizon has indicated that the statewide franchise will expand the service area to include at least 21 North Texas communities where they will be providing digital TV to subscribers over their fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP) network. Verizon expects to hire about 150 technicians by the end of the year and have the service available to over 400,000 North Texas households by the end of 2006.

Verizon has also indicated that they will be expanding the FiOS TV service into California, Florida, New York, and Virginia in the not too distant future.

Capitol Hill Telecom Activity
The following is a list of what is going on in Washington that may have an impact on ACUTA members.

• Senate, House Panels Plan DTV Legislation Markups.

• Senate, House Commerce Committees Approve DTV Legislation Despite Clashes.

• They have agreed to a firm deadline for the end of the transition as Dec. 31, 2008.

• Lawmakers Slam Officials Over E-Rate Plans for Gulf Coast.

• The FCC estimated that it would offer $132 million of the E-rate funds to help schools and libraries get back on schedule due to Katrina.

• Barton Suggests Telecom Bill Include Smart Radio Provisions.

• This would help Public Safety Communications in times like 9/11 & Katrina.

• DeWine: Telecom Act Rewrite Should Maximize Competition.

• As far as I have seen there has not been a bill introduced in either the House or Senate for the new Telecom Act, but there is a lot of discussion about what it may end up doing to the telecom industry.

• Groups Form Coalition to Fight for USF in Congress.

• Four groups representing small and rural independent telcos have come together and created the "Coalition to Keep America Connected," and the Coalition will lobby Congress to keep federal USF fund issues on the front burner as lawmakers discuss revamping the nation's telecommunication laws.

• Senate Commerce Committee OKs Emergency Alert Legislation.

• Hill Proposals Would Keep UN Away from Internet.

• This comes in the wake of a United Nations group's report suggesting a more multinational approach to the role of Internet governance.

• Ensign: Modernizing Laws Will Encourage Investment.

• Congress needs to revise the telecom laws if it wants the U. S. to catch up with other countries that already have faster broadband options and kick start the technology sector.

• Ensign: Broadband Bill Likely To Change, Be Delayed a Year.

• House Panel Backs Report Blasting E-rate Fraud

A House Energy and Commerce subcommittee has unanimously endorsed a bipartisan staff report on the E-rate that blisters the telecom E-rate program.

Only 11 items are listed above, but that gives the you some idea of how much is going on in the House and Senate that involves the telecom industry - and all of it is most likely to have an impact on the budgets of all ACUTA member institutions. As we are moving closer to the end of the year, I think it is most likely that there will not be anything passed in Congress that relates to telecom until well into 2006.

E911 Mandate
The FCC has established the E911 Mandate which requires that 95% of the wireless handsets sold by a carrier be location-enabled by December 31, 2005. These phones must provide the PSAP with a location from which the call is being made. Some of the carriers have determined that they will not be able to meet the requirement.

Sprint Nextel Corp. has asked the FCC for a two-year extension. As part of the merger process between Sprint and Nextel, Nextel told the FCC that at the time of the merger in August their handset penetration rate was about 50% and that they expected the rate to be about 70% by Dec. 31. Alltel has asked for an 18-month extension. They expect to be at about 85% by the end of the year. Verizon has also told the FCC that they hope to be at an 88% level by the due date. Most likely there are other carriers that will not be able to meet the date.

Audio-Visual Technology A Bright Spot On College Campuses

At least half of the nation's higher-education classrooms will be equipped with digital projectors, control systems, audio or video conferencing equipment, or other audio-visual (AV) technology within the next five years, a new study projects.

Conducted by Acclaro Growth Partners, an independent research firm, on behalf of InfoComm International, the trade association representing the AV industry, the study polled nearly 300 instructional technology buyers at colleges and universities across the country. It found the number of classrooms with AV equipment has doubled every year for the past five years--and is expected to continue to double annually through 2010.

Much of the demand for AV equipment in colleges and universities is the result of new classroom construction, researchers found. The total number of higher-education students in the United States is expected to peak in 2008, creating a boom in the construction of new facilities. Presentation technology is being integrated into these new classrooms to reflect a shift in educational methods, the study said, including the increased use of collaborative techniques and project-based assignments.

AV technology also is being used to attract increasingly tech-savvy students and to accommodate distance-education programs, which expand both the reach and revenues of academic institutions.

"We are pleased to see the higher-education community embracing AV technology," said Randal A. Lemke, executive director of InfoComm International. "It is encouraging to see colleges and universities looking at AV as a long-term investment that is enhancing the quality of education while reducing its cost, eliminating academic bottlenecks, and assisting recruitment efforts."

Two out of five institutions surveyed estimated that less than 20 percent of their classrooms were equipped with AV systems as recently as five years ago. Nearly half of these same institutions have close to 50 percent of their classrooms outfitted with AV equipment today, the study found. By the end of 2010, 80 percent of surveyed institutions predict that at least half of their classrooms will be outfitted with AV systems.

Fueling this growth is the changing nature of today's academic institutions. Spaces are transitioning from single-use classrooms to multi-purpose areas, as school administrators seek to get the most out of their infrastructural investments--and AV technology is the most often cited enabler of this transition, according to the study.

Presentation systems also make it easy to collaborate across departments or between schools--an increasingly important ability as collaborative research assumes a larger role at universities, the study found.

Moreover, just 15 percent of the total student population in the United States are traditional students, researchers said. The remaining 85 percent are working adults and part-time students, many of whom rely on technology for distance education. "Many states have a larger demand for higher education than what can be met through traditional on-campus enrollment," Acclaro explained. "AV technology allows institutions to increase enrollments and provide greater access to education, while maintaining the same or reducing the level of financial investment per student."

Business schools are the most frequent users of AV technology among four-year institutions, followed by liberal-arts schools, schools of engineering, and schools of education. Among two-year institutions, liberal-arts schools are the most frequent users, followed by business schools, schools of education, and schools of engineering.

Projectors and control devices are the most popular AV technologies in colleges and universities, followed by sound reinforcement and acoustics technology, cables, and connectors. Large-screen displays are more popular among two-year institutions, while audio and video conferencing equipment is more prevalent among four-year institutions.

Other commonly purchased AV items include steaming media and casting equipment, signal management and processing devices, wireless connections and software, and AV acquisition and delivery equipment, the study found.

This article is courtesy of eSchoolNews.com, if you have any questions regarding topics covered in this article please don’t hesitate to email the ESN staff at info@eschoolnews.com.

Tech Talk  

Kevin Tanzillo - Dux PR

Adjusting the Carburetor on Your Network Engine

Traffic congestion isn't pretty, whether you're talking about your daily commute or the situation on your network. Each of them represents a frustrating waste of important resources.

We can't offer much hope for the streets and highways around your campus, but we do have some good news about the network. There is an emerging protocol enhancement that can improve the efficiency of network data handling, and it will probably be incorporated into the equipment you buy before long.

Right now, High-Speed TCP, or HSTCP, is considered "experimental," but as it is proven to accomplish its potential, it will become part of the TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) standard.

What's it do? Well, it helps alleviate a bit of a shortcoming in the way TCP deals with network congestion. While well-designed TCP networks can cruise along at up to 100 megabits per second, when you move past the 100 Mbps milepost, the performance suffers, particularly in high-latency (high delay) environments.

HSTCP is sort of the equivalent of adjusting the carburetor for better performance on your old '69 Pontiac GTO. Yes, that was back in the days when cars weren't loaded up with intimidating electronics, and guys like me could confidently open the hood and tinker with stuff. Now, at the first hint of a problem, it's off to the dealer. We're not even sure if cars HAVE carburetors anymore. But we digress.

HSTCP's power is in its ability to adjust the carburetor - make that the "congestion window" - of TCP. You see, TCP maintains a window that will handle only a certain amount of unacknowledged data in transit in the network at any one time. In the face of congestion, TCP will cut that window in half to solve the traffic jam. Then, as the situation improves, TCP gradually builds the window back up, but by only one packet at a time.

The result of this response is that after an incident of congestion, it takes a long time, perhaps several minutes, to get the network back up to the performance levels that you were seeing prior to the congestion. That's downright inefficient.

HSTCP solves this problem by being less extreme in its reaction to congestion. Rather than slam the window halfway closed in its reaction phase, HSTCP reduces it by a smaller amount, maybe 20 percent or so. Then, in the recovery phase, rather than grow the window at a painstakingly slow packet-at-a-time pace, it increases it by several packets at a time. The result is a much faster return to the "normal" high-speed performance of an efficient network.

The exact size of the reduction and recovery rates can be selected based on the needs of the network and the values involved in the operative congestion window.

Now, if it was only this easy to deal with vehicle traffic.

Kevin Tanzillo writes for DUX Public Relations. He has been kind enough to share his work with MiCTA and ACUTA eNews. If there are specific topics you would like to see covered in the next Tech Talk, please let him know via e-mail at kevin@duxpr.com.

Let’s See Some ID , Please - The End Of Anonymity On The Internet?

While the Internet is widely regarded as a must for getting around the information super-highway, it tends to get some negative press for allowing thieves to hide in the dark, shadowy alleys of anonymity. Wireless security and identity theft are now issues that affect Internet users of all types. As hackers, crooks, and Internet prowlers get more sophisticated it’s essential to know what exactly can be seen about you and your organization, and exactly who is seeing it. A recent article details how the days of anonymous Internet usage could be quickly coming to an end and how a better, safer Internet is right around the corner. The article, written by columnist Michael Rogers is property of MSNBC.com and can be viewed by clicking this link.

As technology has increased over the years it has paid dividends ten fold for educators. Breakthroughs in technology have allowed middle school classrooms more access to information than previously available to the best colleges and universities of 15 years ago. Recently one of our members, Berrien County ISD, teamed up with Polycom to provide educators with worldwide access to over 1,500 content providers. This program makes ISDN and IP-based video conferencing programs available for the classroom. Currently the program is being used to connect people in multiple locations in a quick, efficient, and cost effective manner as well as to offer virtual tours of museums and popular field trip locations. The article is property of Berrien County ISD, Polycom, and ConferencingNews.com and can be read in its entirety by clicking this link.

Welcome New Members!

Colorado Department of Transportation

Daniel Webster College

Eisenhower Exchange Fellowships, Inc

Pikes Peak Community College

Salt Lake City Corporation Department of Airports

Town of Silverthorne

Western State College

John Sundstrom, MiCTA President sundstrj@gvsu.edu

My definition of a WIFI phone is a wirelesss portable telephone that employs the voice over IP technology and operates in the 802.11 (commonly known as WIFI ) environment. This technology is useful because it enables the leveraging of an already deloyed network (wireless broadband) for another use—voice telephony. Also, since the voice call is sent over the commodity internet for all or half of the call, it should be of lower cost than conventional cellular phones.

In this study, I did not look at VOIP phones operating in a PBX environment.

While there are 50 or more companies offering VOIP phone service over wired networks, I found few companies providing a wireless option. One company who did was Broadvoice (www.Broadvoice.com). Broadvoice costs a flat $19.95 per month for unlimited calls to the United States and Canada, which is cheaper than any cell phone offer for equavelent coverage that I am aware of. The Broadvoice phone only works when it is range of a 802.11 WI –FI “hot spot”. It works by converting human analog voice and telephone signaling into IP packets that are routed over the commodity internet. At the other end, the calls ring and sound just like a conventional cell phone or land line call. I found the call quality was “fair” but acceptable. The big limitation of the Broadvoice system is that one needs to be in range of a WI-FI system. However, this limitation is not too great of a problem if one lives in a city like Grand Haven, Michigan that has city wide wireless internet service plus numerous coffee shops providing free open WI-FI connections for the price of a cup of coffee. I think this technology will become attractive to students attending a University or College that provides WI-FI service for the campus. To find out how well the service works in a Univerity environment, I requested a test of the phone in Grand Valley State Univerity’s WIFI environment. Grand Valley State University has an enrollment of 22,000 students and is based in Allendale, Michigan. GVSU provides students, faculty & staff free WIFI access in most academic buildings and in campus housing. Although the phone did work, there were severe range problems. It was stated that the WIFI phones might make a lower cost substitution for commercial cell phones currenty issued to staff who use them just on campus. Part of the problem was the phone provided by Broadvoice had range problems and the audio quality was “fair to poor”. Broadvoice is aware of these problems and is about to replace the phones with an improved version.

One interesting aspect of internet phones is that there is no geographical limitation as to area code and exchange for the phone number. Although I live in Grand Haven, Mi, my test phone had an Ann Arbor number assigned to it (734-531-0258). Also, for $2/month, I could have a second phone number in say, Los Angeles. If one had business or relatives in these two cities, clients or relatives could call you for just the price of a local call.

I am curently testing another device. T-Mobile offered a COMPAQ 6315 combination GSM cell phone, PDA and WIFI handheld. While T-Moblie never stated that the phone/PDA would support WIFI voice over IP, others reported that they had successfully run Skype phone calls on it. Skype is a 2 year old company based in Luxembourg that claims to have over 2 million users (see www.skype.com). This seemed to offer everything that one would be looking for. The MiCTA technology committee authorized me to purchase a phone for testing. I have been able to get SKYPE working on the phone although early test calls report marginal sound quality. Skype has other feature that do work well such as messaging and file tranfer. There is a interesting article on pages 20-21 of the June 05 issue of Mobile Magazine titled “The Hype Over Skype”. I can report that the phone/PDA worked good as a pocket internet surfing device although the small screen of the device is somewhat of a limitation. In fact, it worked well enough that I cancelled T-Mobile’s monthly cellular data service in favor of just using it in a WIFI network for internet access.

However, the idea of a wireless phone that employs conventional cell phone technology when in range of a cell tower and wireless WIFI when available is appealing if for no other reason that WIFI is much faster than cell technology for internet access and the lower cost of calls.

So, will the WIFI phone replace the cell phone? Not soon, but a hybrid phone might. Phone manufactures are developing hybrid WiFi/ Cellphone combinations. For example, Motorola has announced they will WIFI enabled cell phones that will come preloaded with Skype software. WIFI phones have the limitation of lack of E-911 coverage in case of an emergency. Of course, conventional cell phone technology had the same limitation during the first two decades of deployment and the growth was still dramatic.

In summary as pocket PC WIFI PDA/phone devices improve, this technology has the potential take off due to the rapid deployment of free or low cost WI-FI networks in homes, colleges, stores and entire cities. I intend to continue testing such devices and report the results to the MiCTA membership. If you have information to share on this subject, I would appreciate hearing from you.

MiCTA Service Corporation - Job Posting

New Business Development Representative (NBDR)

MiCTA Service Corporation is seeking an energetic and creative person to work with our vendor partners, MiCTA members and MiCTA eligible organizations to generate new business and identify new business opportunities. Initially, the successful candidate will work out of the Mt. Pleasant, Michigan office, but will travel extensively and may eventually be required to relocate to a metropolitan area or other location of opportunity.

Experience in sales/ marketing and a bachelors degree are desired. Compensation will consist of a base salary and a percentage of new revenues.

Candidates should send a resume and cover letter to:

Kim Ellertson
kellertson@mictaservice.com

Closing date for this position is January 21, 2005

MiCTA Service Corporation is an equal opportunity employer.

Office Space for Rent

450-1,000 SQ. FT office space at 1500 West High Street in Mt. Pleasant. Three private offices with Receptionist. Use of Printers, Copier, and Fax machines Access to conference room, video conferencing, and kitchen. Great location, utilities included, convenient parking. Price and terms are negotiable, contact Jerry Hartman at 989-773-7007 or ghartman@mictaservice.com

Check Out This Month's Vendor Specials

GW Quote #: 0104258
Quote Date: 01/04/06 10:12 CST

E-2500D

System Quote

Part Number: 1008515
Operating System: Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional Edition (SP2)
Operating System Software Backup Media: Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional (SP2) Backup CD
Drivers Backup Media: E-2500 Drivers and Application Backup Media
AntiVirus Software: Norton Internet Security 90 day introductory offer
Manageability Software: Gateway System Manager
Processor:Intel® Pentium® 4 Processor 630 with HT Technology (3GHz, 800MHz FSB, 2MB L2 cache)
Chipset: Intel® 915GV
Memory:512MB DDR2 Dual Channel 533MHz SDRAM (2-DIMM)
Controller Card: Integrated ultra ATA100 and serial ATA150 controllers
Hard Drive: 40GB Serial ATA150 7200rpm hard drive w/ 2MB cache
Floppy Drive: 3.5" 1.44MB diskette drive
Optical Drive:48x/32x/48x CD-RW/DVD combo drive
Case: 6-bay micro-BTX mid-tower case w/ front audio ports and 305-watt power supply
Expansion Slots: 2 PCI Slots, 1 PCI-E x 1
External Ports: (6) USB 2.0 ports (2 front, 4 rear), (1) Serial, (1) Parallel, (2) PS/2, (1) RJ-45 integrated LAN, (1) VGA, (1) audio in/out, (1) microphone, front headphone ports
Certification: Energy Star Compliant
Monitor:FPD1765 17" Black LCD Flat Panel Display
Recycling Fee: My order is not shipping to California - no recycling fee required
Video: Integrated Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator 900 with up to 128MB shared memory
Keyboard: Gateway 104+ Keyboard (PS/2)
Mouse: Gateway 2-Button USB Optical Wheel Mouse and mouse pad
Sound System: Integrated Sound Blaster compatible audio
Speakers: External speakers not selected
Network Adapter: Integrated Marvell 10/100/1000 Twisted Pair Ethernet
Extended Service Plan Including Limited Warranty:Desktop Total Protection Plan -- 4 year part/labor/NBD on-site/4 year technical support w/ 4 year GPA
Additional Software: Adobe® Acrobat Reader® 6.0, McAfee AntiSpyware 30 day introductory offer and Google Toolbar
Standard Training:Not Selected

System Quantity: 1
Discounted Price (including S&H): US $1,199.00
Delivered Price (including S&H): US $1,199.00

Comments:

When placing your order, please attach this quote to your purchase order.
A copy of this quote will be held for a period of 90 days after 01/04/2006

Quote subject to terms of current Agreement signed by you and Gateway, or absent Agreement, to Gateway’s Standard Terms of Sale and applicable product and services warranties which are available by visiting gateway.com or calling 1-800-846-2000 for a free copy. Service agreements are issued and performed by third parties. May not be available in all locations. Accidental Damage Protection not available in all states. Phone charges may apply for tech support. If purchased, on-site service technician will be sent if necessary, following phone-based troubleshooting. Availability varies. Other conditions apply. YOU WILL BE CHARGED SHIPPING AND HANDLING OR RESTOCKING FEES TO RETURN PRODUCTS. All offers valid in US only and are subject to change without notice or obligation. Quoted product only available through Gateway.com or by calling 1-800-846-2000. Prices exclude shipping, handling, and taxes unless otherwise stated. FINANCE/LEASE CUSTOMERS: Financing and leasing provided by independent lenders to qualified US residents only. REBATE OFFERS: For more information about rebate offers, log onto http://www.gateway.com/rebate or call 1-800-846-4208. © 2005 Gateway, Inc. All rights reserved. Trademarks used here in are trademarks or registered trademarks of Gateway, Inc. in the United States and other countries. All other brands and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies. See important Microsoft activation requirements at http://www.gateway.com/ms-req

To ensure useful and timely distribution of MiCTA communications, the staff is now working to update member contact information. We are asking that each member email Amiee Garcia, AGarcia@mictaservice.com, at the office. Amiee will return to you, the data sheet for your organization. We ask that you review the data sheet, update appropriately and return to Amiee. If you have questions, please give Amiee a call. Your help with this important effort will be greatly appreciated.

Amiee Garcia
888-870-8677

Just For Fun

In the Mark Twain Novel Huckleberry Finn, Huck went to stay with whom while still in Missouri?
A) Aunt Sally
B) Widow Douglas
C) Uncle Silas
D) Jim

Alexander the Great, a Greek warrior, invented which of these weapons to use in fighting?
A) Full body armor
B) Bow and arrow
C) Mobile cannon
D) Torsion catapult

What happened to the original settlers on Roanoke Island?
A) They went back to England
B) They moved to live with the Indians
C) They resorted to cannabalism
D) Nobody knows

Which of these thriving modern-day cities is NOT located near an active volcano?
A) Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo
B) San Francisco, California, USA
C) Mexico City, Mexico
D) Naples, Italy

Please visit the members' home page for answers to "Just For Fun"

PREVIOUS MICTA ALERTS

• December 2005

• November 2005

• October 2005

Alert Index