Today's Top Stories | By Sean Buckley |  Comment |  Forward | < a href="http://links.mkt1985.com/ctt?kn=191&ms=MzU2MjA4OAS2&r=MjM2NzI3MjAzMjcS1&b=0&j=MTEyMTk3ODczS0&mt=1&rt=0" name="api_addthis_com_oexchange_Iovvzq0VyhlTptqE6s13Yg" > Twitter |  Facebook |  LinkedIn | Verizon (NYSE: VZ), as expected, has appointed Lowell McAdam as its new president and CEO, while Ivan Seidenberg will remain company chairman. McAdam has served as Verizon's president and COO since last September.  | | Lowell McAdam will take the reins as Verizon CEO on Aug. 1. | Set to start in his new role in Aug. 1, the appointment is part of the ongoing transition to hand the torch to McAdam who is in line to take over the company when Seidenberg retires later this year. As President and now CEO of Verizon Communications, McAdam will oversee all of Verizon's wireless and wireline operations and functions. Among McAdam's many challenges will be staying innovative on the wireless side as a potential new superpower looms in the combined AT&T (NYSE: T)/T-Mobile, as well as finding ways to offset ongoing losses in Verizon's traditional PSTN-based phone business with Fiber to the Premise-based FiOS and cloud services. To advance the wireline side of Verizon, McAdam is going to adopt the same "entrepreneurial culture" he helped establish as president of Verizon Wireless. "We will definitely try to bring that entrepreneurial culture from the wireless side into the wireline side," McAdam told Bloomberg. While iPhone and LTE device sales were a big part of Verizon's Q2 earnings, the wireline side reported gains with its FTTP-based FiOS and in the business segment the acquisition of cloud computing provider Terremark. For more:
- see the release
- Bloomberg has this article Related articles:
Verizon Q2: Cloud services and FiOS fuel the wireline engine
Lowell McAdam, Verizon: Wireline's most powerful people
McAdam to become Verizon's president, COO Read more about: Verizon, Ivan Seidenberg, Lowell Mcadam, personnel changes
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Rules changes plus the global nature of the sport have made Formula One racing increasingly dependent on telecommunications services to compete, a New York Times article says. Carriers like AT&T (NYSE: T), Telmex (NYSE: TMX) and Vodafone (LSE: VOD.L) are both sponsoring teams and providing technology solutions such as videoconferencing to work around cost-cutting measures imposed by racing regulators. "Formula One teams used to send as many employees as they wanted to every race around the world. But regulations now limit the number of technical and other crew that they can bring to the races," the article said. To keep on-site crews in touch with the rest of the team, AT&T, for example, has implemented a robust telecommunications infrastructure for its sponsored team to allow for fast information exchange in the midst of races. Teams can download hundreds of gigabytes of data during races, the article says, as the cars are fitted with numerous sensors that monitor temperature, pressure, speed, wheel position, etc. The real-time data allows technicians at both the garage and at the factory to quickly make adjustments. For more:
- see the New York Times article Related articles:
Sidera Networks introduces low-latency switched Ethernet service
Cloud computing can reduce business energy costs by $12.3B, says AT&T, Verdantix study Read more about: AT&T, Videoconferencing, Telmex, low latency networking
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PeakColo, a Denver, Co.-based provider of cloud-based services, has signed a deal with Zayo for dark fiber connectivity. Serving as the core connectivity in its Western-area network, PeakColo will be able to leverage Zayo's dark fiber to enhance the speed and performance of its cloud services to customers in their Colorado and Arizona data centers. Zayo, which late last year launched its own dark fiber business, is enabling competitive service providers like PeakColo offering cloud that are in need of alternative solutions that may not be readily available from a local incumbent such as CenturyLink (NYSE: CTL). PeakColo is an example of that growth. Luke Norris, president and CEO of PeakColo, said that "PeakColo has experienced 300 percent year-over-year growth and, as a result, we had an immediate need for reliable network services that could be deployed quickly." Such growth in the cloud, even for smaller service providers, shouldn't be all that surprising as more businesses look to offload non-essential functions like e-mail and storage to cloud providers like PeakColo. According to a recent CDW study, over 37 percent of large businesses have already adopted cloud-based services. For more:
- see the release Check out our new cloud eBook Related articles:
Zayo launches new managed services unit
Zayo Group secures dark fiber agreement with hosted VoIP provider T1Company
Zayo adds more locations to its Dallas fiber network Read more about: Zayo, Managed Services, cloud services, Core Connectivity
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| By Sean Buckley | Comment | Forward | < a href="http://links.mkt1985.com/ctt?kn=39&ms=MzU2MjA4OAS2&r=MjM2NzI3MjAzMjcS1&b=0&j=MTEyMTk3ODczS0&mt=1&rt=0" name="api_addthis_com_oexchange_MPd9uH7hkAqgTgKf3MTBQ" >Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn | France Telecom (NYSE: FTE) is going to pull the plug on Minitel, France's own early version of the Internet, next June. Even though Minitel is a very slow text-only service, since it debuted in 1982 it has remained popular with banks and weather forecasters, generating $43.1 million in revenue in 2010. A France Télécom spokeswoman said in a Wall Street Journal article on Friday that "The Minitel will die on June 30, 2012" because the architecture it's based on is obsolete.
The Minitel was the product of a late-1970s government-led initiative to get people to exchange information and conduct daily activities such as checking banking accounts to reduce their dependency on paper. At its peak in 2002, there were about nine million Minitel systems in France's homes.
However, opinions about the Minitel were always divided.
Critics have long argued that Minitel, which became a €1 billion cash cow for France Telecom in the late 1990s, may have actually hampered the telco's move to roll out broadband services. Minitel supports argue the service gave all residents, including those living in rural areas, a way to quickly get information. For more:
- Wall Street Journal has this article
Related articles:
France Telecom, Free enter rural FTTH pact
France Telecom sets ambitious FTTH goal of 15 million homes passed
France Telecom shoots for near-ubiquitous ADSL penetration
France's broadband subscribership rose in Q3 Read more about: France Telecom, Internet, Minitel
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It looks like the University of Wisconsin's dream to become an alternative broadband source has dodged a bullet as a Dane County judge denied Access Wisconsin's move to block the project from moving forward. A consortium led by the University of Wisconsin won $37 million in broadband stimulus grants that was centered on providing telecom to public institutions (schools, hospitals and first responders). Upon completion, the project would bring services to Eau Claire, Chippewa, Douglas, Dunn, Grant, Marathon and Menominee counties.
Access Wisconsin, one of the managing partners of the BCN, the BadgerNet Converged Network that's run in partnership with large telcos including AT&T (NYSE: T), CenturyTel (NYSE: CTL), KDL and Verizon (NYSE: VZ), argued that the project violates state law because it will compete with privately run companies. The group wanted a judge to order a temporary restraining order to prevent the project from moving forward. For more:
- WBAY.com has this article Related articles:
Wisconsin decides to return federal broadband stimulus funds
Wisconsin's stimulus rejection: Too many strings, or too much scrutiny? Read more about: Verizon, Telcos, CenturyLink, KDL
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Service providers: Raise your glasses to MEF's 10th anniversary!
