Tuesday, October 27, 2009
After the digital switch, that grand fiasco that forced the upgrade of every household in America to a digital television signal, Verizon snatched up the 700mz spectrum in an FCC auction to beef up their coverage on the wireless broadband scene. Now, the FCC is talking about reclaiming even more of the spectrum currently devoted to television broadcast and dedicating it to wireless broadband (see FCC Considers Shifting Some TV Airwaves to Broadband).

What's the motivation? Well, it's two-fold -- and I'm not sure which is more important. First, there's money to be made. By reclaiming licenses on certain ranges of the spectrum (currently offered to free broadcast networks) and then reselling those to the more lucrative broadband industry, it's estimated that our government could add over $60 million to their coffers.

Second, however, is the infrastructure that it would augment. As a nation, we still lag behind other developed countries in our ability to provide fast, reliable broadband to everyone everywhere. There's no doubt, especially for rural areas, fixed wireless broadband is the answer. In catching up, the projection is that our businesses will be more competitive. Our small business markets will be strengthened (underpinning a strong economy all around). And, our dear old friends like Verizon and AT&T will have more goodies to hock.

What are the costs to you? Well, there are few drawbacks to the idea of being more efficient and more targeted with our airwaves. There's only so much of a spectrum that can be used, so it makes sense to put those waves to good use in the most needed area: broadband. After all, you can watch tv on the internet now! In the WSJ's article (cited above) there is some talk about converting all free broadcast television to paid subscription. It will be a shock for some at first, but when you think about it, on par with most other forms of modern communication.

What do you think? Would you pay for TV (if you don't already) in the interest of seeing more of America reached with broadband connectivity?

Labels: "Internet infrastructure", FCC, Federal Communications Commission, Fixed Wireless Broadband, Rural Broadband, Rural Broadband Access, Verizon

posted by Unknown at 2:33 PM Link to this Article  0 Comments

Wednesday, October 14, 2009
To some, a broadband network means nothing more than a Cat5 cable that goes into the wall, and from there, who knows. All they know is when they're plugged in, they're online. But to the network admin, the CIO, the IT managers, the directors of information systems, and the like, that Cat5 cable is no more of the broadband network than the speedometer needle is of your car.

And since 2004, it's hard to have a conversation about an enterprise broadband network without mentioning the PCI-DSS. You see, as that yellow cable runs from your tower to the jack in the wall, there's little risk that any data will be hijacked by ill-willed intruders. But what about on the journey that packet of data takes from your office to the headquarters, hundreds of miles away? How many switches and routers does it hit? How many different networks does it traverse--from Time Warner to Verizon to the local Bell company?

Among other things (lots of other things) the PCI-DSS has put requirements in place which make it your business to know how that data is handled. Because, after all, are we really talking about the average user sending a mundane email to his aunt about Thanksgiving dinner? No, we're talking about company financials emailed to the accounting department for projections and analysis. We're talking about payroll and health benefits being sorted out by managers at locations across the country. And, of course, we know that those Cat5 cables also plug into credit card terminals, point-of-sale computers, and the ATM in the lobby.

This year, Accel Networks once again received a PCI Compliance renewal--the proverbial "nod" and "atta-boy" from the PCI and Visa CISP. Our fixed wireless broadband networks are not only built for quick deployment and cost-effective rural broadband, but we back it up with a layer 2 broadband network that you can take to the bank (literally, with cardholder data).

Labels: Broadband, Fixed Wireless Broadband, Layer 2, PCI Compliant Broadband, PCI-DSS, Rural Broadband

posted by Unknown at 5:53 AM Link to this Article  0 Comments

Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Early in my career, I was working on a major account sale with a relatively new product to market. The building design and construction industry had been (and still is, to a large part) plagued by huge design files and geographically dispersed design teams. We had the solution, or so we thought. After unveiling a revolutionary web-based project management and file repository solution, we couldn't believe the reaction. I think I know how comedians feel when they get booed off stage.

You see, these guys weren't designing Aunt Jane's new sun room, or even the new shopping mall on the outside of town. Big contracts in architecture are big buildings--precisely the kind of buildings that make the top of the list of terrorist targets. Or, worse yet, government buildings with intense security requirements.

"Store our design files on the internet?" they scoffed. "Are you crazy?"

Indeed, it would seem, we were. We neglected to realize that these users relied on VPN and firewalled tunnels, not because they didn't know any better, but because even email was unsecured. The DOD had even banned USB drives for a period of time. What they needed was a broadband network that never touched the Internet. A layer 2 broadband network.

Architecture is just one example, though, and frankly one of the less strict when it comes to security standards. For retail and hospitality establishments, especially the c-stores that dot our rural landscape, passing credit card data from point-of-sale to central nerve centers must also be accomplished without ever touching the network layer (Internet). Where can you find a PCI-Compliant broadband network that can connect even the most remote of locations with broadband speed?

Accel Networks fixed wireless broadband solutions offer the security of layer 2 isolation. What's more, our solutions have been CISP certified and are PCI-Compliant. When you face challenges of both network access and security considerations, no other solution has you covered like Accel Networks.

Labels: Convenience Stores, Fixed Wireless Broadband, Layer 2, Rural Broadband

posted by Unknown at 5:32 AM Link to this Article  0 Comments