Cisco Government
Affairs E-Update
Volume 1, Issue 37
02 November 2001
Brought to you by
Cisco Government Affairs Online: http://www.cisco.com/gov
LIBERTYUNITES.ORG – Along with our friends
and partners at AOL Time Warner, Amazon.com, E-Bay, Microsoft and
Yahoo, Cisco is participating in a website to help the United States
begin the healing process after the September 11 tragedies.
As the rubble is cleared, the rebuilding process
for the survivors and their communities is only just beginning. From medical and rehabilitation needs to psychological
assistance and financial support for the families of the victims,
the burdens on charitable organizations will be staggering. Please visit www.libertyunites.org and see what you can do
to help.
This Week@Cisco in Government Affairs
Cisco's E-Update
keeps you up to date on the major policy news of the week. Focusing
on broadband, education and e-government areas, but covering high-tech
and telecom in general, the E-Update is a great source of information
for state, federal and international policymakers. To subscribe, send
a message with “subscribe” in the subject line to “Subscribe-eUpdate@cisco.com
This Week@WASHINGTON, DC
REMARKS
OF MICHAEL K. POWELL, CHAIRMAN, FCC,.
AT THE NATIONAL SUMMIT ON BROADBAND DEPLOYMENT, WASHINGTON,
DC – “Broadband is on the tip of everyone’s tongue.
It has certainly become the central communications policy objective
in America. It is, at once,
trumpeted as the elixir for everlasting life and the cure to all our
ills. Though our euphoria for broadband may, at times,
be quite over-inflated, I share the view that deployment will have
very positive benefits for the Nation and the world.”
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-217168A1.doc
FCC
COMMISSIONER KEVIN MARTIN SPEECH ON BROADBAND - Martin stated that "Encouraging broadband deployment
should be a fundamental priority of the Commission and government
in general." But, he said, "I am not speaking of making
industrial policy. Rather, I think the government should be focusing
on eliminating disincentives to broadband deployment that already
exist." http://www.fcc.gov/Speeches/Martin/2001/spkjm101.html
VICTORY GIVES
KEYNOTE AT THE NATIONAL SUMMIT ON BROADBAND DEPLOYMENT -
Nancy J. Victory, Assistant Secretary for Communications
and Information U. S. Department of Commerce, said "the Bush
Administration is a believer that new technologies and the deployment
of high-speed networks are crucial to promoting America's economic
growth and our nation's social well-being." She outlined several
steps the administration is taking towards this goal, including establishing
an Office of the 21st Century Workforce; allocating $80 million in
matching grants for community technology centers; and calling for
a permanent R&D tax credit. http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/speeches/2001/broadband_102501.htm
REMARKS BY BRUCE
P. MEHLMAN, ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR TECHNOLOGY POLICY, UNITED STATES
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE - "BUILDING OUR BROADBAND FUTURE "
- He cited a number of state, local and federal government
obstacles to broadband deployment, including the expense of obtaining
access to rights of way, licensing fees, tower siting restrictions,
building codes and zoning regulations.
Mehlman concluded that "I look to technology solutions
more than policy fixes to get broadband to all Americans." http://www.ta.doc.gov/Speeches/BPM_011026_Broadband.htm
$1
BILLION BOOST POSSIBLE FOR IT SECURITY - A
$20 billion stimulus package in the works by Senate Democrats may
include $1 billion to bankroll an information-technology fund, CNET
News.com has learned. As proposed by Sen. Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., the U.S.
Office of Management and Budget would administer the fund and award
money to projects that aim to further protect the United States' critical
infrastructures, improve the security of government computer systems,
or harden the nation's defenses against natural and manmade threats. Leslie Phillips, communications director for
the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee--headed by Lieberman--confirmed
the fund is likely to be part of the economic stimulus proposal being
created by Democratic senators. "Lieberman wants to see the economic
stimulus put to good use, and there is no better use than bolstering
our homeland defense through an IT Fund," she said in an e-mail
interview. http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,5099119,00.html?chkpt=zdnnp1tp02
INTERVIEW
WITH CHAIRMAN POWELL - Michael Powell, Chairman of the Federal Communications
Commission, recently appeared on the public radio show "Public
Interest with Kojo
Nnamdi." An audio archive of the full interview
in available on the FCC Web site. http://www.fcc.gov
SENATE
OUTLINES PLAN FOR NET TAX VOTE - Senate
Minority Leader Trent Lott on Thursday indicated that the outline
of a procedure now is in place to vote on renewing the moratorium
on Internet access taxes, reports CongressDaily. The previous
moratorium expired Oct. 21. Lott, R-Miss., said the plan is to call
up the House-passed bill, H.R. 1552, which would provide a two-year
moratorium. (National Journal’s
TechDaily)
IN
ANTHRAX AFTERMATH, GAO TURNS TO TELECOMMUTING - When the threat of anthrax infection forced members of Congress and
their staffs out of their offices recently, the General Accounting
Office gave up two floors of its G Street offices to accommodate them.
But the agency kept its work flowing by having employees telecommute
and share offices in other parts of the building. http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/1101/110011t1.htm
DEFENSE DEPARTMENT
EMPLOYEES GET NEW TELECOMMUTING DIRECTIVE - Plans to increase telecommuting
in the federal workplace are taking off at the Defense Department,
where Pentagon officials recently issued new policy and guidance on
the measure. The new policy complies with a year-old law
requiring federal agencies to establish policies allowing eligible
employees to telecommute “to the maximum extent possible without diminishing
employee performance.” http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/1001/102901t2.htm
DOD ENVISIONS VIRTUAL
PENTAGON - In the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the Defense
Department is developing plans for a "virtual Pentagon"
that would enable DOD officials to continue to work even in the event
of a large scale attack on the Pentagon, senior military information
technology officials said. The plans, which are referred to either
as the "virtual Pentagon" or the "distributed Pentagon,"
are a significant redesign of DOD's IT contingency plans, which were
found to be inadequate as a result of the crash. http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2001/1029/web-pent-10-30-01.asp
HOPE STILL
ALIVE FOR UNDERFUNDED E-GOVERNMENT PROJECTS - Twenty-two technology
projects tapped by the Office of Management and Budget last week as
part of President Bush’s e-government agenda are severly underfunded
but are a step in the right direction, observers say.
OMB’s E-Government Task Force, created in August, reviewed
more than 260 proposals before selecting the 22 projects, which will
be paid for from an interagency e-government fund proposed in the
President’s budget. The President had requested $100 million to fund
e-government programs. But, he got only $5 million in the House and
Senate versions of the Treasury-Postal spending bill.
http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/1001/102201h1.htm
CONSTITUENTS WANT
MORE ONLINE INFORMATION AND ACCOUNTABILITY - “Constituents and Your
Web Site: What Citizens Want to See on Congressional Web Sites,” a
study released yesterday by the Congress Online Project, found that
citizens want accountability when they visit a member’s Web site.
They want to know what their representatives are doing, how they vote,
and where to go when they have a question or problem that needs resolution.
Focus groups of some 80 participants from four cities were interviewed
for the study. All interviews were conducted prior to September 11.
http://www.congressonlineproject.org/focusgroups.html
This
Week@INTERNATIONAL
ALL FEMALE COLLEGE
JOINS CISCO ACADEMY PROGRAM IN INDIA - Mody College of Engineering
and Technology, an all female college in India, has just signed on
to become a local Cisco Networking academy.
Mody College joins Banasthali Vidyapith, one of the oldest
women's universities in India, which became an Academy in August.
Each Academy is estimated to train 150 students each year. This is part of the Cisco Learning Institute (CLI) and Cisco's gender
initiative in the region. A United Nations volunteer, Ms. Ruchika
Gawari, has been sponsored by CLI to help push the gender initiative
in India. Other women institutions
in India have been identified and we expect to see more women's institutions
offering the Program to their students in the future. www.cisco.com/edu
NO
ANSWER TO BT'S UNBUNDLING CALL - Despite EU and
UK Government demands that BT make it easy for its rivals to get access
to its network, few companies are taking up the chance to get inside
the telecom giant's exchanges. BT
has admitted that a vanishingly small fraction of the projected number
of telephone lines have been handed over to competitors.
And this has left BT with a multi-million pound bill for alterations
to its exchanges to host the equipment few firms seem willing, at
this stage, to install. The
blame for the collapse of interest has been put down to the loss of
confidence in technology companies and the general economic downturn.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/business/newsid_1621000/1621875.stm
EU – FUTURE OF E-COMMERCE STUDY:
Accenture has published a study on the future of e-commerce.
It shows that European businesses are continuing to invest in e-Commerce
despite the threat of economic recession.
http://www.accenture.com/xd/xd.asp?it=enWeb&xd=ideas/eeurope2001/eEurope2001_home.xml
U.K E-MINISTER PUSHES
FOR ONLINE VOTING - The U.K. government's e-minister, Douglas Alexander,
on Thursday urged the government to rethink its policy on voting over
the Internet and called on the business and Internet communities to
work together with the government to make online voting a reality
in the near future. "I believe it is time to put e-democracy
on the information age agenda and for governments to set out what
they mean by e-democracy and how they intend to use the power of technology
to strengthen democracy," said Alexander in a speech at the Democracy
in the Information Age conference in Wilton Park, England. In the last U.K. general election in June,
only one in four people eligible to vote chose to do so. http://www.idg.net/ic_719595_1794_9-10000.html
EUROPEAN COMMISSION:
EUROPE'S IT AWARDS: 20 WINNERS ANNOUNCED - The European Commission and the European Council of Applied Sciences and
Engineering (Euro-CASE) have announced the 20 winners of this year's
European Information Society Technologies Prize (EISTP). All 20 Winners
will be displayed in the Project Exhibition at Information Society
Technologies 2001 event. http://www.europa.eu.int/information_society/newsroom/index_en.htm
FRANCE : An expert
committee relased a new report to the EC on unbundling of the local
loop confirming incumbent dominates BB access in European markets.
http://www.01net.com/rdn?oid=165253&thm=UNDEFINED
(In French)
1.3 MILLION SPANISH
INVESTORS EXPECTED TO OPERATE VIA THE INTERNET BY 2003 - Though
currently less than 200,000 investors in Spain operate via the internet,
by 2003 that number should reach 1.3 million, according to J P Morgan
Chase.
http://www.europemedia.net/shownews.asp?ArticleID=6340
SLOVENIA - THE
FIRST E-SCHOOL IS OPEN
- Within the framework of Project named E-school, which
is take under the work of the Ministry of Information Society, and
with co-operation with the Ministry of Education, Science and Sport,
the door of the first four E-schools in Slovenia, schools which gives
the opportunity for free Internet access, has been opened yesterday.
By the end of this year our Ministry will open approximately 15 E-schools,
especially in small towns all over the country. http://www2.gov.si/mid/mideng.nsf/f1?OpenFrameSet&Frame=main&Src=/mid/mideng.nsf/0/5DBF642163D3E9C2C1256AEA0034536F?OpenDocument
ECOMMERCE
SET TO SOAR IN SOUTH KOREA - Ecommerce in South Korea is expected
to grow in value by an average of 81.2 percent a year until 2010,
reports the South China Morning Post.
http://www.nua.com/surveys/index.cgi?f=VS&art_id=905357335&rel=true
OVER 2 MILLION
NOW ONLINE IN CZECH REPUBLIC - Almost 2.2 million people now have
Internet access in the Czech Republic, according to GfK.
http://www.nua.com/surveys/index.cgi?f=VS&art_id=905357328&rel=true
TELEWORKING
ON THE INCREASE IN EUROPE - IDC has forecast that the number of teleworkers
in Europe will increase to over 28.8 million by 2005, up from 10 million
last year.
http://www.nua.com/surveys/index.cgi?f=VS&art_id=905357340&rel=true
ADSL USE
SKYROCKETING IN JAPAN - ADSL subscriptions have soared in Japan this
year, according to a report from Reuters. http://www.nua.com/surveys/index.cgi?f=VS&art_id=905357339&rel=true
OECD GIVES
RECOMMENDATIONS CONCERNING INTERNET TAXES: The OECD Tax Advisory Group
has recommended that Web sites should not be considered permanent
establishments within a foreign country for the purpose of taxation.
Currently, many international tax treaties provide for the taxation
of foreign companies only if it has a permanent nexus in the country
that intends to levy taxes. http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/171322.html
SPAIN: "Net
Surfers". The State of Internet in Spain" . A Study by AIMC
reveals key data of spanish Internet users, favorite web pages, etc. http://www.noticias.com/noticias/2001/0110/n01102338.htm
Spanish Science and
Technology Minister Birules has presented a new initiative to support
the creation of enteprises focusing on technologies. The new Program,
NEOTEC, targets the development and creation of new co. adopting technologies.
The government initiative includes credit facility (0 interest rates)
and a co-sharing in the capital rick encountered by new co. More information
at: http://www.larazon.es/lared/laredbirul.htm
Announcement of the
creation of the National Association
of Internet Companies in Spain. Main objective of IDG.es is to become
the "one voice" for all manufacturing and service providers
internet companies, representing the interests and requirements of
the industry. http://www.idg.es/comunicaciones/mainart.asp?id=19151
BRAZIL LOOKS
TO HEAVENS FOR NET - For the first time Brazil is using satellites
as a means to connect to the Internet. Universo Online (UOL), the
biggest ISP in Latin America, with Star One and Gilat Satellite Networks
is engaged in an effort to expand the country's Internet access. Only
5 percent of the country uses the Internet on a regular basis. Internet
users in Brazil predominantly use phone lines and traditional modems.
Bigger cities already have some broadband options, mainly based on
cable and ADSL. The biggest problem in Brazil is a lack of infrastructure.
Satellite offers the possibility of reaching the whole country without
infrastructure outlay costs. http://wired.com/news/business/0,1367,46495,00.html
This Week@US STATES
MOST SCHOOLS ARE
WIRED - New statistics compiled by Quality Education Data, a market
research firm, indicate that 97 percent of America’s public schools
are now connected to the Internet, while 84 percent of public school
classrooms are online. Jeanne Hayes, president of the research company,
attributed the high connection rates to the federal E-rate program,
which provides money to wire schools in part through fees assessed
on consumers’ phone bills. ‘‘An infusion of $2.25 billion has had
a tremendous impact, especially in the poorer schools,’’ she said.
The data also indicated that the average ratio of students-per-computer
was 5-to-1 in the 2000-2001 school year. http://www.nytimes.com/2001/10/28/technology/29DRILL.html
(free registration required)
INTERNET MAY
HELP CIVIC PARTICIPATION - The Internet may help reverse a decades-long
decline in civic participation, particularly among younger adults,
a survey from the Pew Internet & American Life Project suggests. The study released Wednesday did not attempt
to determine whether such a reversal had taken place yet. ``One of the big concerns that have existed
since the mid-1960s is that young people were withdrawing from civic
life,'' said Lee Rainie, the project's director. ``It was just striking
to see this technology that is enormously popular with young people
is a vehicle by which they are engaging in the community at some level.'' Overall, 84 percent of Internet users in the United States have
used the Internet to contact or get information from a group.
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20011031/tc/online_communities_1.html
Pew Internet and
American Life Report: http://www.pewinternet.org/reports/toc.asp?Report=47
ACCORDING TO SURVEY,
NEW YORK IS WORLD BROADBAND LEADER - When it comes to Internet bandwidth,
nobody beats the Big Apple. New
York has 43 percent more global Internet capacity than London -- the
world's number two city -- and seven times the capacity of San Francisco,
its top domestic competitor, according to a survey released Tuesday. Able to handle 150 gigabits-per-second of data -- the equivalent
of 9 million pages of text -- New York sits atop more continent-to-continent
transmission capacity than all but a handful of the world's countries. ``It's because New York is really the meeting
place for backbones between Europe and the United States,'' said Jessica
Marantz, director of business development for TeleGeography, the Washington
D.C.-based telecommunications research firm that authored the study.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/technology/AP-Internet-Hubs.html
BROADBAND SET TO SURGE,
TOP ISPS LEAD THE WAY
- After years of fits and starts, broadband access is finally poised
to become the Next Big Thing. And
much of the credit goes to major Internet service providers, which
are opening their lines to one another and rushing to offer new services
designed to take advantage of an anticipated explosion in broadband
subscribers. America Online Inc., Microsoft Corp. and Atlanta-based EarthLink
Inc. are rolling out broadband services in big cities across the country
at a fast clip. Microsoft,
for example, launched its MSN Broadband service in 45 metro areas
- including Austin and Atlanta - on Thursday. http://www.newsfactor.com/perl/story/14462.html
DSL TO RECOVER
IN US - Cahners In-Stat has forecast that the total number of DSL
subscribers
in the US
will reach 3.6 million by the end of this year, and over 13.5 million
by the end of 2005.
http://www.nua.com/surveys/index.cgi?f=VS&art_id=905357343&rel=true
CLOSING THE GAP - STATES AND CITIES ARE COMING UP WITH ALL SORTS OF WAYS TO TACKLE THE DIGITAL
DIVIDE. They feel they don't have much choice. In 1995, the U.S. government issued its first
report on the digital divide, "Falling through the Net: A survey
of the 'Have-Nots' in Rural and Urban America." Since then, the gap has narrowed -- but it's still very much here.
Race, education and location still determine who has access to and
uses the Internet. Minorities, the disabled and rural residents still
lag behind in their use of computers and other high-tech gadgetry,
as does much of the rest of the world. To bridge the gap, cities from
Seattle to Atlanta to Boston have local efforts under way designed
not only to distribute hardware and software to those in need, but
also to teach people how to use both. Meanwhile, federal and state
lawmakers are grappling with a host of issues designed to ensure that
the information-technology chasm continues to narrow. www.wsj.com (paid subscription required)
GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS
HIGH TECH COMMUNITY – Broadband Deployment – It is
estimated that 2.5 BILLION hours are wasted with people accessing
the Internet via dial-up. Broadband access, or always-on, high-speed
Internet, allows productivity increases, standard of living increases
and new applications that haven't even been thought of. Broadband
can be delivered via satellite, wireline, wireless, cable, fiber and
technologies are being tested for access through electrical wires.
Broadband is the future of the internet and the future of communications.
What does broadband mean in your life?
Add your thoughts at Cisco’s High Tech Community - http://forums.cisco.com/cgi-bin/Community/HtCom?page=main.
FACTS
AND STATS:
BUSINESS
WIRELESS NET USE TO DOMINATE - IDC forecasts there will be 84 million
wireless Internet users in the US by 2005, up from 5 million last
year. http://www.nua.com/surveys/index.cgi?f=VS&art_id=905357325&rel=true
ONLINE HOLIDAY
SEASON SALES TO INCREASE - Gartner G2 has forecast that global revenues
from online shopping in the holiday season will reach USD25.3 billion
this year, up 39 percent from the same period last year. http://www.nua.com/surveys/index.cgi?f=VS&art_id=905357324&rel=true
For Facts and Stats on the New Economy, visit our
Facts and Stats page.
Also, see our special State of the Internet report on this
page. For daily, topical
Facts and Stats visit our Hot In Tech
page.
OTHER
TECH STORIES OF THE WEEK
WHAT DO BROADBAND CONSUMERS WANT? What happens when
consumers switch from narrowband to broadband? Do they surf the same
sites? Chat more? Look for the same entertainment and community experiences
they had enjoyed through their narrowband connections? For businesses
targeting these consumers, information about what happens as they
make the transition to broadband is frequently too scarce for strategic
decision making. To bridge the information gap, McKinsey, working with Jupiter Media
Metrix and Vividence, examined the usage patterns of a group of consumers
on narrowband and then, six months later, after those same consumers
had switched, on broadband. McKinsey also used focus groups and surveys
to draw a profile of broadband consumers and what they want. The research
shows that the broadband consumer population in the United States
has moved beyond the predominantly young and male early-adopter stage
to reach a broad cross-section of age, family composition, sex, and
income. Indeed broadband is finally entering the mainstream. Companies
that closely examine these early usage patterns can draw crucial inferences
about what the mass market will want from its broadband experience
and refine their on-line offerings accordingly. http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/article_page.asp?tk=346251:1131:38&ar=1131&L2=38&L3=99
(free registration required)
JUDGE ORDERS SBC
TO PULL ANTI-CABLE ADS - SBC Communications, Pacific Bell's parent
company, has yanked ads that lampoon rivals' cable modem service for
slowing to a crawl during peak hours after a federal judge found the
commercials misleading. The humorous ads, produced by a San Francisco
ad agency and shown frequently in the Bay Area, feature a family forced
to schedule times to use the Internet in the middle of the night because
of frequent slowdowns in the late afternoon and early evening. But U.S. District Court Judge Catherine Perry
ruled that cable modem and DSL service are equally susceptible to
slowdowns if companies do not upgrade their networks as they sign
up additional customers. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2001/11/01/BU211003.DTL
NATIONAL LIBRARY
OF MEDICINE USES WEB TO EDUCATE ABOUT BIOTERRORISM - Knowing that
the current anthrax scare has people looking everywhere for information
about chemical and biological warfare, the National Library of Medicine
has developed new Web sites and updated existing ones to provide the
most up-to-date information on those subjects. MedLineplus, which
has extensive information from the National Institutes of Health and
other trusted sources on about 500 diseases and conditions, recently
added 23 new interactive health tutorials, including one on anthrax.
http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2001/1029/web-nlm-11-01-01.asp
SURVEY
OF INFORMATION OFFICERS OFFERS BLEAK OUTLOOK FOR TECHNOLOGY OUTLAYS
- Corporate spending won't rescue Silicon Valley anytime soon. Executives
polled by CIO Magazine, which is aimed at chief information officers,
expect their information-technology budgets to increase an average
of 4.7% over the next 12 months. That is up from the 3.7% rise executives
were expecting in September, in the immediate wake of the terror attacks,
but significantly below the 6% to 7% increases expected before the
attacks and the 11% rise projected earlier this year. By comparison,
poll respondents said their budgets had grown an average of 7.2% in
the past 12 months. http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB1004567597972436280.htm
(paid subscription required)
SURVEY OF COLLEGES'
SPENDING ON IT FINDS OVERALL INCREASE - New data reveal that colleges'
spending on information technology is growing faster than their spending
in other categories. The researchers who gathered the data said the
survey suggests a widening "digital divide" among American
colleges. The data, presented here Monday at the annual conference
of Educause, are from the Cost of Supporting Technology Services project.
COSTS is an annual survey of colleges' spending on information technology.
Most of the institutions included in the survey are four-year institutions
that do not offer doctorates. http://www.chronicle.com/free/2001/10/2001103001t.htm
AFTER BILLION-DOLLAR
BUILD-UP, BROADBAND PLANS ARE PUT OFF
- Call it a high-speed slowdown.
Having sunk billions into efforts to offer fast Internet connections,
some big phone companies are putting the brakes on such broadband
lines. In recent days, both Sprint Corp. and SBC Communications Inc.
announced retrenchments in their flagship high-speed offerings for
consumers and small businesses. Moreover, AT&T Wireless Services
Inc. is shutting its wireless broadband service, which served 47,000
customers, while Sprint is cutting back a similar initiative. Making
matters worse, Excite At Home Corp., which delivers fast Internet
connections to 3.6 million cable-television subscribers, has filed
for bankruptcy, and creditors are pressuring to turn the service off. http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB1004305242345271600.htm
(paid subscription required)
INTERNET-SERVICE
PROVIDERS SEE BROADBAND AS SOUND ALTERNATIVE FOR HIGH-LEVEL USERS - Until now, there wasn't much America Online could
do about the estimated 10% of subscribers who are heavy users. It
tries to kick them off the system if they are logged on too long without
activity -- but most of them have software that tricks America Online
into thinking they are active. Now,
America Online has at hand a potential solution to the heavy-user
problem: broadband, the shorthand term for high-speed Internet access
delivered via telephone lines, cable lines or satellite. Broadband
connections often come with lower profit margins, but service providers
like America Online still prefer them because they pay a fixed cost
for the connections regardless of how much time subscribers spend
online. Merrill Lynch estimates AOL could save between $100 million
and $300 million a year by converting its heavy users to broadband. http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB1004305415620548840.htm
(paid subscription required)
INTERNET SERVICES:
WHO'S SMILING NOW? - The shifting mix and management of worldwide
Internet traffic will make services such as Internet hosting and content
distribution increasingly important and put traditional information-technology
players such as AT&T, IBM and EDS back in the driver’s seat--leaving
behind smaller upstarts that have specialized in such offerings. This power shift is the result of unexpected changes in the nature
and growth of Internet traffic. Web pages, which drove Internet usage
in the past, now represent a rapidly diminishing share of total traffic.
Consumers and corporate users will increasingly turn to rich media
and to streaming live audio and video. In addition, server-to-server
traffic should become the single largest category of Internet traffic
in both the United States and Europe by 2005 as businesses come to
rely increasingly on extranets and other kinds of Internet-based communication.
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1003-200-7671036.html
PHONE MERGERS
UNLIKELY - Long-distance voice and data services company WorldCom
said on
Thursday
any merger with a Baby Bell would be years away—if ever--due to regulatory
hurdles, competitive pressures and low stock market valuations. http://cgi.zdnet.com/slink?157161:3446579
CISCO GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS@2001
Cisco’s
top policy focuses for 2001 are the areas of Education, Broadband
Deployment and eGovernment. To
read or listen to our thoughts on these issues, please visit our Government Affairs home page or our visit our multimedia
section . http://www.cisco.com/gov/multimedia/index.html
E-UPDATE
ARCHIVE
To view past issues
of Cisco’s Government Affairs E-Update, visit our E-Update Archive page . http://www.cisco.com/gov/archive/eupdates/index.html
DISCLAIMER
Positions in articles
and papers from outside sources are in no way endorsed by Cisco Systems'
Office of Government Affairs. We offer articles on topics of
interest to our audience to further the debate on the issues that
are important to high-tech. To
view our positions on the policy matters that we care about, please
visit our Government Affairs homepage. – http://www.cisco.com/gov
CISCO.COM/GOV AND E-UPDATE FEEDBACK
As
we continue to build out Cisco’s Government Affairs web site, as well
as this service, this E-Update, we welcome comments, criticisms, praise
and suggestions. Please send any feedback to John Earnhardt
at jearnhar@cisco.com.
To contact any member of the Government Affairs team, please visit our
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