Caron Carlson

Telephone services are on the verge of an upheaval like none seen before, and whether they ultimately become increasingly innovative and economic or stifled and above-cost will hinge on decisions reached by policy-makers in Washington over the next year or two. With POTS (plain old telephone service) now viewed as a commodity, long-distance carriers are […]

After more than a year of leaving the threat of new state- and city-levied taxes looming over Internet access providers and online merchants, Congress is poised to reimpose a moratorium on taxing Internet access. The House and the Senate reached a standoff months ago on how to prohibit taxes that could dampen e-commerce. The House […]

Authentication developers are preparing new systems that offer enhanced data security but reduce the burden strict access controls traditionally place on users. At the Inside ID Conference & Expo in Washington this week, RSA Security Inc. will unveil an SSO (single-sign-on) system for enterprises that is designed to eliminate the hassle of myriad passwords. Called […]

IQ NetSolutions Inc. this week will roll out the latest version of its enterprise presence and call control technology, expanding instant messaging and enhancing directory services. VistaPoint 4.0, which aims to increase enterprise productivity by providing a common interface for PBX systems from different vendors, now incorporates Microsoft Corp.s Windows Messenger. The Westboro, Mass., developer […]

Makers of electronic voting machines declared victory for their technology in this years presidential election, but computer scientists, who collected thousands of reports of voting glitches, said the results may reveal a different outcome. And while the problems were not great enough to affect the outcome of the presidential race, they could affect some state […]

By reaching antitrust settlements with two additional litigants—Novell Inc. and the Computer & Communications Industry Association—Microsoft Corp. has brought its cost of persuading rivals to drop lawsuits to roughly $3 billion. The two settlements announced Monday morning likely put an end to the protracted antitrust litigation in U.S. courts first brought by the Department of […]

At Shalom Adult Health Center, calling for help in medical emergencies is an unfortunate, but integral, part of the business. Until now, however, it wasnt possible to call 911 over the voice-over-IP system that the Cleveland center converted to about 18 months ago. Before VOIP can become a viable widespread substitute for traditional voice service, […]

An ISP gets a call from an FBI agent demanding the delivery of sensitive customer information and ordering the ISP not to tell anyone anything about the transaction—ever. Soon after, the same demand follows in the form of a letter on official FBI stationery, even though the FBI has no subpoena or judicial authorization to […]

Joining the arena of IP equipment manufacturers aiming to make the cell phone an extension of the PBX, NextWest Inc. this week will roll out its latest technology, called NextMobility. The offering is aimed at salespeople and field service personnel who want the functions of the office phone system—extension dialing, call transfer, voice mail—when theyre […]

Network equipment manufacturers are plugging new gear this week for telecommunications carriers of all kinds to provide faster, more reliable broadband services at lower cost. Eight years after the Telecommunications Act promised robust competition by authorizing all carriers—local, long-distance, cable and so forth—to get into one anothers businesses, networking technologies are beginning to make it […]