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Atlanta, GA
Georgia World Congress Center

Despite the lingering slump, and tension surrounding the FCC Triennial Review release, the ILECs put on a brave face at SuperComm this year. Their focus was firmly on the future, with discussions of fiber to the home (FTTH), the triple play, and focusing on customers. Yet, they could not ignore the past and present, and a melancholy tone undercut presentations such as those by Patricia Russo of Lucent, and Duane Ackerman of BellSouth. These shadows were thrown into sharp relief by the Wednesday keynote, entitled simply "Cable Has It All."

In the rest of the world, DSL outnumbers cable 2 to 1, but in the US these numbers are reversed. FTTH stands forth as the new ILEC response, based on the unbundling relief given to new fiber by the FCC announcement. FTTH will provide the basis for the triple play, the combination of voice, data, and video on a single pipe to the home. But cable has a head start, and they are realizing: bundling reduces churn but does not add value. When both ILEC and MSO offers the triple play it will quickly become a commodity. No one, including cable, can guess what the actual value-added, profitable applications will be over a ubiquitous high-speed converged network to the home. The ones with the most experience are likely to figure it out first, and DSL is behind.

SuperComm has traditionally been the best place to tap into the ILEC mindset. Their continuing stature was reinforced by the sheer size of the conference: 3 buildings, 2 exhibit floors, thousands of exhibitors, and hundreds of sessions. Supercomm is a complex event. A co-located “educational” conference was being conducted by IEC, International Engineering Consortium, at the same time, and the WAVE Report bounced between the two depending on the sessions and speakers.

AT&T Keynote

The opening keynote was given by David Dorman the Chairman and CEO of AT&T. We heard David give the keynote at CompTel and he is effective in conveying his leadership of AT&T. Yet, he presented a totally different side here at Supercomm. Here it was all about AT&T’s worldwide network and what he was doing to make the transition to a single IP –MPLS based network. His key points, which also played to this audience, included the following.

Capital has fled this sector. We are caught up in a ever receding recovery. There are expectations that this cannot go on forever.

When I joined AT&T in 2000 a decision was made to reduce debt. We went from $65B to $12B and in the process sold both our cable and wireless assets. Now we have our credit quality back up.

Our top priorities are to improve the long neglected customer experience and to deliver simplified and fully integrated networking environments. We are making a $500m investment on the customer side. For example, we seek to lower our billing defects by 25% by the end of 2003.

An example of our transition is that in 2000 we had 67 billing systems, now have 30 and will go to 1 by the end of 2004.

At AT&T we are on the path reduce all our networks to one- IP based with MPLS. This one physical network will create many logical networks based on the products and services that will ride on it. The creation of these logical networks will happen at the edge. We are working with a number of suppliers. Cisco is supplying a multi-service edge device which we are using now. These edge devices will be fully deployed on a world wide basis by 2005.

AT&T will make WiFi access to its network available at many hotels and airports and be on a global basis by 2004. Our partner in this venture is Comedia Networks.

AT&T is the largest carrier of IP data. We transport 1 petabyte a day and this is up 2X since May 2002.

We also receive over 50,000 attempts to hit our network servers a day. We have some of the most effective tools to combat cyberterrorism.

IEC British Telecom Presentation

Sitting here in the US we are blinded by our own narrow view of the world. No other country is so lucky to have these endless debates about policy and where every new attempt to make it is bogged down in endless court challenges. In spite of its own strong legal system, England offers a contrast.

Paul France gave a BT perspective of the situation in the UK. It has been stated that the British culture is such that they will vehemently oppose the imposition of direction but once the decision is made will move ahead with speed and commitment. Thus, when BT finally accepted the need to compete and provide a wholesale business they did it with full intent. Paul’s presentation reflected this.

There are 289 ISPs that gain access to customers using BT Wholesale IP Streams. In spite of this BT still has 52% of the retail market.

There are 1,250 exchanges supportive of DSL and this is 69% of all the homes.

The total number of broadband homes is 1.8m, with 950K on ADSL and 920K on cable. The add rate difference is significant. ADSL is taking on 100,000 per month and cable only 20,000 per month.

As required by the regulator in the UK there is an open market for ISPs.

The goal in the UK is 100% coverage and currently BT is seeking to expand DSL coverage and to use other technologies including Mesh Radio, Broadband Fixed Wireless and satellite to reach these homes.

The contrast here is striking. In the UK the arguments of ROI, fiber to the home, line sharing and protection for BT have passed. The result is that BT has made broadband both a wholesale and retail business. Yes, BT has lost share, barely holds to its monopoly status but the big gains are to consumers.

IEC Lucent Presentation

If any one company has been battered by the bad times in telecommunications it is Lucent. At least it is still operating but one has to keep in mind that this was at one time the equipment arm of AT&T and the Bell System. Lucent has endured lay off after lay off as it seeks to stay in business. The industry looks to Pat Russo for her perspective on the status of the industry. But being a public company she at the same time has to be cautious. The best words she had to offer were:

It appears that the slope of the decline is getting less.

There was also a clear message coming for a major supplier of the telephone companies and this included:

Equipment providers must address both CapEx and OpEx issues. The ILECs are being driven by rapid returns in any investment they make.

Hot areas include: wireless, broadband, and security.

We no longer have the luxury of one source for a complete solution and technology set, as was the case when the Bell System existed. Now this industry must do what has not traditionally done in the past - partner.

IEC Executive Workshop: Broadband Services – ILEC Compelling Plans

On this panel were:

Augustine Cruciotti
Executive VP, Network Services
Qwest Communications

Ross Ireland
Senior Executive VP, Services
SBC Communications

Paul Lacouture
President, Network Services Group
Verizon Communications

William Smith
Chief Product Development and Technology Officer
BellSouth

The common threads included:

They all spoke multiple times in their presentation on the upcoming triennial review order by the FCC. This is rumored to be 800 pages. Each ILEC stated that the wording on the fiber investment portion of the order will have a significant impact on what they will do with future infrastructure investments, especially to the home.

On May 30th, Verizon Communications, SBC Communications and BellSouth, the three largest U.S. local telephone companies, agreed on standards for BPON (Broadband Passive Optical Networking). This was characterized as a set of common technical requirements and specifications for fiber to the premises (FTTP) technologies. The announcement took the form of a letter issued to vendors and stated that they would be seeking requests for proposals soon based on those requirements. BellSouth, SBC, and Verizon will independently finalize their FTTP deployment plans for 2004 and beyond, based on the evaluation of these proposals, ongoing internal studies, and on the resolution of related regulatory issues. This will form the basis of a common buying pool for this equipment. The RFP is expected to be released on June 19th.

It was very interesting to hear the comparison made between value added services and CLASS services now being widely sold by the ILECs. This is a pure cash cow and they are seeking the same “class” of broadband services that will drive both revenue and profits.

Each of the presenters discussed how they must be focused on customer needs not just supplying telecommunications services. However, how each ILEC interprets this is different. It could be said that they are being forced up the value chain in order to sustain or grow the business. Certainly IP transport is changing how the ILECs see the communications opportunities. For example, VPN, Internet access and VoIP are seen as additional services.

There is a new buzz word – Capital-Success Based. This means that any capital funds spent will be evaluated on its overall ability to improve not only ROI, but OpEx and generate new high margin revenue streams. One criteria applied is that 75% of the capital investment would fit this criteria and the other 25% would be risk based, i.e., the more tradition capital investment.

Now to the individual presentations.

Qwest

Qwest has provided DSL since 1997 and has 535,000 subscribers at year end 2002.

It will spend $75m to deploy additional DSL capacity where the demand is strong. This will increase customer availability by 20%. As a part of this they will be removing bridge taps, load coils and UDCs to increase the reach of DSL.

Qwest sees the top broadband applications being:

Home Networking
Online Music
Online Gaming
Online Video
Network Based Services
Firewall
Access Controls
Home Controls

It has been Qwest’s experience that the greater the number of services the lower the churn rate.

Qwest has gone one step beyond the Triple Play. They call it the Grand Slam and it includes:

Long distance
Phone and Features
Broadband
Video and
Wireless

SBC

The strategy was quite interesting:

Circuits to Packets
Electrical to Optical
Seamless Wireless/Wireline Integration

VoIP was described as the business “killer app.” Supporting this are enhanced business features including web-based user management.

SBC has deployed 7,400 RTs (Remote terminals) which have the effect of being like a mini-CO (central office). This brings the node closer to the home. Supporting these RTs is 2.1m miles of fiber. As SBC stated – “this is our DSL build.”

SBC was very bullish on BPON. They expect to achieve on the 1st generation: 20Mb/s down; 5Mb/s up.

To implement BPON they are looking for economies of scale from the suppliers.

SBC also stated they are looking for ideas from the supplier community.

Verizon

Verizon was strong in its support of FTTP. They see Ethernet as a key part of the interface to both small business and the home.

Verizon presented a very interesting view of the broadband services platform and this was done in tiers:

Complete Voice Services

Local/Long Distance
Packet Telephony
Instant ADLs

Basic and Advanced Data Services

Broadband – 1Mb/s to 10Mb/s and beyond
Customized Bandwidth
Data and Video convergence – including a web pad
Home Networking

Basic and Advanced Video Services

Broadcast and Premium Channels
Pay Per View and VoD
High Definition TV

It has been Verizon’s experience that the customer tolerance for outages with broadband is much less than telephone service. That is, if broadband goes out they know about it immediately and the customers want repair at the same rate.

Verizon placed some important requirements on the systems and processes to support the new broadband access technology. This included:

Graphical interfaces for Verizon internal operations, maintenance and provisioning;
Remote provisioning;
Web-Based Customer Access;
Auto-Inventory Discovery;
Bandwidth Allocation and
Proactive Performance Monitoring.

Verzion’s plans for FTTP or BPON are:

RFP – June
Select Network Suppliers – Q3
Deploy in 1st Phase Cities and wire centers – Q1 2004

In a marked shift from the past this sound bite says much:
Access Changes the Game
This is where the dollars are.

Verizon, in response to a question, stated that they have 200 Class 5 switches in the Boston area. By going to softswitches it will be possible to reduce this to 18 fiber based switches.

BellSouth

BellSouth had the most pragmatic view of the future. It is what they called multi-faceted. It was made clear that their future cannot wait until fiber comes – a more near term solution is required. That is,

FTTP
DSL Expansion
VDSL and
DBS.

Technologies being considered for this include:

Deeper penetration of DSLAMs including:

FDI based solutions
DSLAMs on Customer Premise
ADSL over Fiber in the Loop

ADSL 2
ADSL +
VDSL (3 – 50Mb/s)
G.shdsl
Fixed Wireless
First Mile Ethernet over copper
ADSL 2 Pair Bonding

It was cautioned that not all this would make it but this is what is being considered.

BellSouth has 15m homes passed. There are 3 – 3.5m new home starts per year. To date approximately 1m homes have FTTC. There are 1m DSL customers. There are 40,000 RTs in the BellSouth network and they intend to put DSLAMs in these. This places a heavy emphasis on DLC and the result is a short copper loop. The net result is much flexibility to deploy extensions on DSL technology.

Of special note was the $10/month Home Networking offering now being sold by BellSouth. This was credited with reducing churn. Product support is 7/24. The service uses 802.11b. The take rate is 17%. An independent study showed the wireless was easy to accomplish. BellSouth emphasized that the next step is networking PCs, TV, phone, security and home appliances.

BellSouth feels that when they reach 4 – 5Mb/s this is the foundation for video delivery – VoD and PPV. Also a part of this is expected to be a PVR element. BellSouth will have a VoD trial in 30 days.

The industry views CableLabs with envy. The CableModem spec has been critical to setting the standard for what all the cable industry will use. If we in the carrier space had not used a common purchasing function for DSL we would not have had a similar effect. (This is news to me). It is that same advantage that we are hoping to realize with the BPON specifications and purchasing function.

Hawks Descend on SuperComm -- Cable Keynote

In a one two punch, Patrick Esser, EVP of Operations, Cox Communications, and Richard Green, President and CEO of CableLabs gave the keynote on Wednesday.

Patrick’s presentation was arrogant and in-your-face. Reduced to the essence it was:

We have the platform to deliver broadband and are running all over DSL. Today our market share is 2 times DSL and we are available, reliable and simple. When consumers have a choice between cable and DSL in the Cox serving area we get 70% share. DOCSIS is a huge success. The prices have gone from $400 to $40 for a modem. In the Cox system, 70% are purchased at retail. We are moving to do the same with the set top box. We are the 12th largest phone company in the US and will grow to 1m phone lines by the end of 2003.

The most important portion was an announcement of two applications. One is in trials now and the next one coming. The trial is for a home web cam that provides video over the Cox system. Users can access this remotely to determine when kids come home from school and many other uses. Secondly, coming soon will be a health application of the Cox network. This will allow for the measurement of weight, blood pressure and other important vitals. The interaction with the system is via the TV including with the medical provider. But in probably the only statement that had a tinge of humility, Patrick stated:

We are not sure what the killer app is.

Richard Green began by touting the cable modem. There are now 350 models and these are installed in 12m households the US and 18m worldwide. Cable broadband is growing by 100,000 subscribers per week. Broadband has 25% penetration in households that have a PC. CableLabs are working to make cable voice a primary line service and this relies on VoIP. It is currently in trial. Another major effort is to eliminate the set top box. This fall there will be televisions that have plug in modules to do just this. Cable Home is to solve the networking problem in the home. Richard used the analogy that the fox has entered the chicken house by coming by SuperComm. It was a wake up call to the telephone industry that cable will be aggressive with technology and marketing to protect is market share. Hawks are more a more fitting predator.

DSL Forum -- Announcing DSL Home

It was fitting, the same day that cable came to Supercomm, that the DSL Forum announced its DSLHome initiative--a clear response to CableHome. Details on DSLHome are scant. We picked up the following:

The intent is to enable managed home networking with DSL as the outside transport;
There will be a spec – most likely under a year and could be as soon as 6 months;
The effort will include testing and such items as provisioning and QoS will be evaluated;
DSLHome is packet based and looks a lot like CableHome; and
DSLHome is in-home transport agnostic – HPNA, Wireless, HomePlug, take a pick.

Cisco Inverts the Network -The User is the Center

At an IEC Workshop, Cisco presented one view on the nature of broadband to the home as a whole and in a larger context the entire ecosystem. Currently the value is based on always-on and better-than-dial-up speed, where the food chain stops at the carrier. The view by many, especially carriers, is based on hardware. Broadband is the connection between a home and a CO or headend, with a fast, persistent data rate. Or is it?

Roland Acra, Senior VP and CTO, Service Providers, Cisco, emphasized the point that the focus must shift to the user, away from the hardware. From this he sees that broadband is no longer a connection from site to site, but from user to network. As he stated:

Broadband subscriber access rides above varying access methods such as ISDN, DSL, cable, Metro, FTTX, and wireless last mile options and dynamically binds the subscriber to revenue generating services.

Dynamic refers to the varying contexts in which users will access the network. These include public contexts, such as the Internet or public applications, private contexts, such as VPNs or private applications, and walled gardens such as video or other content, or voice. The key to providing value to users will be the ease with which they can switch their context. Thus service providers must provide dynamic policies that enable a high degree of flexibility in how the user accesses the different contexts of services offered on the network. The key to profits will therefore be adequate back-end systems—those that enable simple self-service, while providing service providers with a variety of billing options.

The user must be identified and authenticated as they move into different contexts. This involves varying amounts of personal information. Who the user will entrust with that information will determine who provides the gateway to services, and control of the revenue stream. The telecomm industry will compete with others such as other broadband providers, content providers, or ISPs, for this relationship.

Triennial Review and a Visit by FCC Commissioner Kevin Martin

Kevin Martin was seen as a champion here at Supercomm. In a packed room he came to deliver an old speech and answer a few questions. Yes, the Triennial Review order is due any day he stated in response to a question. We are all waiting for 827 pages to get clarity and prepare for the next round of legal challenges.

Following Kevin’s brief remarks, Jeff Linder of the law firm of Wiley, Rein and Fielding gave an overview of the recent actions at the FCC with an emphasis on the Triennial Review. The TIA, as reflected in the work done by Wiley, Rein and Fielding, sees the review as a big win. How could this be when the opposite camp, represented by CompTel has the same view?

The answer is simple. It is all about preserving your own markets. In the case of CompTel they wanted to keep UNE-P in order to sustain the business of their members. With the regulatory responsibility shifting to the states they see this as a big win, compared to loosing all of UNE-P. Yet, much to my surprise UNE-P was largely dismissed. The major emphasis was on eliminating bundling for advanced services, i.e., the Internet, and getting exclusive rights over services which use new fiber builds. Jeff saw this decision as a very bold one for the FCC as it normally does not place such strong exemptions in a market. Thus, the ILECs feel that the impact of UNE-P decision will erode with time and especially in their ability to wear down the states. But most importantly, they have a clear path to maintaining monopoly status in what is seen as their future.

Network Protocols

This SuperComm Industry Update session looked at the protocols used in networking today, and what will be needed for the future. Larry Roberts, founder and CTO of Caspian Networks, addressed the protocol that he helped implement onto the ARPANet 20 years ago—IP—in the context of new, time-sensitive applications. IP by itself is simply a way to packetize and send data. Two protocols run on top:

TCP is a protocol for file transfers. IP packet routers handle each packet independently, discarding some when the saturation point is reached. The transmitting terminal begins slowly and picks up transmission speed until it begins to detect packet loss, at which point it slows down and retransmits lost packets. In this way the network automatically and dynamically manages its own load, and no packets are lost. Zero packet loss is holy and speed is negotiable.

Less well known, UDP is a protocol for real-time data streams such as voice or video. The transmission data rate is static and set by the transmitting terminal. UDP is assigned a separate queue or queues on an IP packet router, and when the queue(s) fill up, the router drops packets equally from all flows. Packets are not retransmitted and represent signal degradation in a real-time stream, and perhaps destruction of compressed or encrypted streams. Speed is holy, and packet loss negotiable.

Larry presented the premise that there is a third option for dynamic network traffic management—flow routing. This is not a protocol change, but rather a change in the way that routers handle the IP packets that pass through them. Unlike current IP routers, flow routers would be cognizant of flow state—the relationship between packets in one file or one real-time stream. This would allow a flow router to do things like route once per flow (rather than once per packet), to police promised flow rates, and to reject new UDP flows when limits are reached. The last point is the key to avoiding packet loss from real time flows, while controlling network traffic--by prioritizing established flows over new ones. In this way, QoS controls are available for IP, without using protocols such as MPLS, which, according to Larry, is too slow for today’s compressed VoIP calls.

Bob Tye approached the VoIP protocol question from a different perspective—that of the carriers. Phone carriers already use IP extensively for trunking, but some are looking at pushing the IP signal all the way into the home. For carriers, SIP could have disadvantages. It depends on an intelligent terminal on both ends, which has the dual negative effect of making CPE expensive, while reducing the network between the terminals to dumb transport. To a carrier used to charging for call control, this is a negative. Bob stated that in some cases, carriers may instead opt for a more centralized IP telephony standard such as MGCP (the basis for CableLabs’ VoIP standard) or the similar Megaco ITU standard. This approach would allow a carrier to maintain centralized control over calls, and provide affordable CPE. But, SIP will certainly have a place, especially for communication between softswitches.

Tidbit - China and Broadband

There are 90m cable subscribers in China but the government prohibits these connections from carrying data. If this rule is overturned China could very rapidly jump to the largest country with broadband connectivity.

China is expected to grow the deployment of DSL very rapidly in 2004.

On the Floor

SIP Forum

Rather than a booth, the SIP Forum hosted a SuperDemo--an area of the floor for SIP vendors to set up their equipment, interconnect, and conduct demos for whoever passed by. The WAVE Report spoke to both Ed Keegan, Manager of the SIP Forum, and Chairman of the Forum Jorgen Bjorkner, VP of Concept Development at Hotsip.

The SIP Forum holds SIPit events twice per year. These are informal gatherings of vendors to interconnect products and test the compatibility. From the events come a classification of interoperability--either basic, intermediate or advanced.

The SIP Forum is moving to formal certification of interoperability, similar to that provided for WLAN products by the Wi-Fi Alliance. This move is intended to increase the attractiveness of SIP VoIP products to service providers and carriers.

SIP is more popular as a VoIP protocol with ISPs than with telcos. However, some telcos are talking to SIP vendors--because they have to, according to Jorgen. Centrally controlled protocols like Megaco are more familiar to telcos, but have no future for advanced services such as video, IM, and presence. SIP does.

The WAVE tried out the Hotsip soft client on a call to the company headquarters in Stockholm, across the public Internet. The quality was astonishingly clear.

SDR Forum

Tucked away in the mobility section of the show floor was a booth for the Software Defined Radio Forum. This has been a pie in the sky concept driven in the public sector by the FCC. The concept is getting real. The forum holds its annual conference in November. What struck us was that the next step – Cognitive Radios – are now developing. These are radios that have intelligence, including the ability to seek out and use available spectrum. There have, in fact, been conferences on the topic. On Thursday, the White House announced its Spectrum Policy Initiative, which has the long term potential to make additional but disparate spectrum available. Thus, the value of cognitive radios becomes all the more important.

GoDigital

This company has an ADSL range extension product. Basically it converts 4 ADSL lines to run over one copper pair and will go up to 25 miles with repeaters. Without repeaters it will go 12,000’. The company also has a 8:1 telephone line multiplexer. Thus, by using two phone lines and their technology is it possible to support 8 phones and 4 DSL broadband users. The technology used is G.shdsl. Their equipment intercepts the ADLS lines right after the DSLAM to reformat it and then does the deformatting on a pedestal box outside the home. Thus, in terms of the external interfaces this product is very simple – ADSL signals in and ADSL signals out but over a much longer distance than previously available. Key points include:

The core buyer is the rural telephone company. They have sold to 220 ILECs and this DSL product has been bought by 100 ILECs.

A viral marketing approach is used when there is doubt expressed by the ILEC. Install the unit and try it. No units have been returned.

GoDigital has a strong ROI argument – without repeaters the ROI is 1 year and with repeaters it is 2 years.

GoDigital stated that the ILECs do not care what happens between the DSLAM in the CO or RT and the pedestal termination on the customer premise.

D-Link

We had several conversations in the booth including an extended discussion with Steven Joe, President. Here are key points.

Cox is buying some of the equipment they need for their broadband application trials from us.

Product support is critical to the profitability of business. Every support call means that the profits have been lost on the device that generated the call.

i2eye Video Conferencing Hardware

We are only on the first generation of these products. What makes i2eye significant is that it is the only single chip implementation of this technology. In addition to the existing model we have a wireless one and a business model coming. We have yet to go mass market. It is critical to get all the issues worked in advance. Today we have sold to early adopters. Mass market sales are expected to begin in July.

The reason we do not support video output to a PC is cost. The price point when price does not influence the sales of this product is $99. This is where we are heading but we are not there yet.

A potential major market is schools.

H.323 compatibility has not been an issue. In spite of the fact that the codec is not a part of H.323 we have been able to support most implementations.

We are seeing the emergence of home technology installers. They will install networks and even our camera. Prices range for an installer to come to they home for electronics installation $120 - $300.

We see wireless as an important addition to the product line in that is enables uses to accomplish much easier installs.

FinePoint Technologies

FinePoint Technologies offers a variety of service management products to both broadband and dial-up ISPs. We spoke with Antonia Townsend, VP of Marketing, at some length. She stated that their PPPoE products were the core business of the company, and that FinePoint had a 60% share of the US market with their WinPoET product. Customers include Verizon and Earthlink DSL. The company is primarily involved in the US and UK markets, but they are starting to sell into South America and Africa as well. The products include:

CyberTRUCK - Subscriber management software package for broadband ISPs, including PC qualification, installation, diagnostics, messaging, portal generation, and a client-side firewall application

Total Internet - This is subscriber management for a dial-up ISP, very similar in purpose to CyberTRUCK. Antonia referred to both this and CyberTRUCK as "ISP in a box."

WinPoET and ServPoET - These are PPPoE (Point to point protocol over Ethernet) management products. WinPoET is a Microsoft-certified Windows PPPoE driver (the Mac version is MacPoET). ServPoET is a hardware/software solution for the provider's office, to take the broadband PPPoE load off of routers.

TestPoint - This technology allows customer-initiated, automatic loop qualification for DSL. The customer loads the TestPoint CD (sent out by the SP), and sits back. The software works by placing 3 calls to the FinePoint servers (which must pass through the local CO) and analyzing the line screech as it connects. FinePoint claims over 99% accuracy on the qualifications. After the qualification, a notice given to the customer, and a detailed line report sent to the service provider.

The advantage that TestPoint provides to SPs is in the increased foot print that is possible. The capability to easily individually test each line allows the SP to advertise to a larger geographic area. Since most SPs do not characterize each line, they define their footprints conservatively to manage customer expectations. When customers can accurately self-qualify, the marketing footprint can be expanded based on the aggregate results of those tests.

At the show, FinePoint announced the launch of TestPoint server. This allows the TestPoint technology to terminate calls in the SP's own office, rather than at FinePoint. A managed solution is still available.

FinePoint also provides a solution for ISPs to implement Amber Alerts, the automatic alerts of missing children recently approved by Congress, as small pop-up windows on the customer's machine.

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Page updated 1/24/07
Copyright 4th Wave Inc, 2007