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Cisco Government Affairs E-Update
Volume 2, Issue 17
19 April 2002
Brought to you by Cisco
Government Affairs Online: http://www.cisco.com/gov
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
NEW Cisco Government
Affairs Videos -
Please visit the Cisco Government Affairs website and see these new
Cisco videos on the following topics:
Ø
Copyright Protection/DRM
– Jeff Campbell, Senior Telecom Policy Counsel
Ø
Broadband – Jeff Campbell
Ø
California Protective
Orders Issue – Michelle Peacock, State Government Affairs Manager
Ø
U.S. State Elections
– David London, State Government Affairs Representative
All these new videos
and more can be viewed at our multimedia site at: http://www.cisco.com/gov/multimedia/index.html
This Week@WASHINGTON, DC
LAWMAKERS WILL MOVE
TO BLOCK SPECTRUM AUCTION - A quartet of influential House lawmakers
say they will attempt to block the Federal Communications Commission's
(FCC) plan to auction off a valuable swath of airwave spectrum. "This
auction is not ready for prime time," House Commerce Committee
aide Ken Johnson said today. "The FCC has no (third-generation
wireless) plan in place, they have no (high-definition television) plan
in place and most importantly, they have no spectrum management plan
in place." Johnson said
that Commerce Committee Chairman W.J. "Billy" Tauzin, R-La.,
and Ranking Democrat John Dingell, D-Mich., will join other high-ranking
Commerce Committee members next week to introduce legislation that would
postpone, indefinitely, the planned airwave auction. At issue are a
block of airwave licenses in the 700 MHz band that have many wireless
companies salivating. Broadcasters currently occupying that spectrum
band are expected to vacate the airwaves as they make the transition
to digital television. The FCC is scheduled to begin the auction June
19. http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/175991.html
TESTIMONY OF FCC CHAIRMAN
MICHAEL K. POWELL, CHAIRMAN, FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION Before
the Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, State, and the Judiciary of the
Committee on Appropriations, U.S. House of Reprentatives, on the FCC's
Fiscal Year 2003 Budget Estimates, April 17, 2002 – On Broadband: “Recently, I noted that one
of the FCC's central policymaking objectives is, and should be, the
promotion of efficient, widespread deployment of broadband infrastructure.
Recognizing the importance of broadband deployment—a topic of conversation
that is extensively discussed here on Capitol Hill, as well as at the
Commission, Wall Street, and Main Street—the Commission is taking a
concerted, comprehensive approach to bringing regulatory clarity to
what is, at best, a murky and confusing policy area. To that end, the
Commission has committed significant resources to initiate and consider
several proceedings that pointedly address broadband issues.
Of course, our actions in this area will be grounded first and
foremost in the Act, taking into account the statutory objectives of
competition, universal service, and consumer protection.
It is important to emphasize that while we have committed significant
resources to initiating or completing various rulemakings, the legal
and regulatory issues implicated here have yet to be resolved. But they
must be resolved if we collectively intend to facilitate the ubiquitous
availability of broadband to all Americans. The Commission welcomes
the input of all Americans in our deliberative process—including the
opinions of the Members of this Subcommittee and Congress as a whole—as
we proceed in developing a regulatory framework for successful broadband
deployment.” http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-221683A1.pdf
(Adobe file)
SPEECH: “BROADBAND:
AN INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVE” - David A. Gross, Deputy Assistant Secretary,
U.S. Coordinator for International Communication and Information Policy
- National regulatory environments that reward innovation and encourage
private sector competition are essential for sustainable telecommunication
development, including broadband, a senior State Department official
says. Speaking April 16 to the Media Institute in
Washington, David Gross, deputy assistant secretary for international
communications and information policy, said the United States is pursuing
policies supporting the technology's growth in bilateral and multilateral
meetings.
http://usinfo.state.gov/cgi-bin/washfile/display.pl?p=/products/washfile/topic/econ&f=02041801.cec&t=/products/washfile/newsitem.shtml
LARRY IRVING: DIGITAL
DIVIDE LIVES, FEW PEOPLE CARE -The
digital divide still is very much alive, but U.S. corporations and the
federal government have unfairly abdicated their roles in helping to
bring the Internet to U.S. citizens regardless of their race or class,
said former U.S. Commerce Undersecretary Clarence "Larry"
Irving. Irving, who made the digital divide a front-and-center issue
for the Clinton administration, said that the Bush administration's
elimination or scaling back of several important programs to close the
divide also reveals a basic lack of desire to make the Internet a ubiquitous
tool in the U.S. "It's
one thing to say that there is a job that should be done and the government
shouldn't do it," Irving said in a speech at the Computers Freedom
and Privacy 2002 conference in San Francisco. "It's another to
say that ... the divide is solved."
Irving said that the Bush administration's attitude of "Let's
declare victory and go home ... didn't work in Vietnam and it won't
work on this particular issue."
http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/176000.html
INTERNET
HOME ALLIANCE JOINS THE CONGRESSIONAL INTERNET CAUCUS ADVISORY COUNCIL
- Internet Home Alliance, a non-profit association of leading high-tech
and consumer companies, has become an official member of the Congressional
Internet Caucus Advisory Committee (ICAC), a diverse group of public
interest, non-profit and industry groups working to educate the Congress
and the public about important Internet-related policy issues. The Alliance’s detailed research resulting from live consumer pilot
programs, in which new integrated solutions are installed into homes,
will provide the Congressional Internet Caucus significant expertise
and insights into the consumer demand for Internet technology. The Alliance
will work with ICAC to promote the education of Members of Congress
and their staffs about the Internet. http://www.internethomealliance.com/docs/IHAnetcaucusrelease.pdf
(Adobe file)
EDITORIAL IN WASHINGTON
POST ON STOCK OPTIONS – “Money Talks” - ALAN GREENSPAN, perhaps the
nation's most revered economist, thinks employee stock options should
be counted, like salaries, as a company expense. Warren Buffett, perhaps
the nation's foremost investor, has long argued the same line. The Financial
Accounting Standards Board, the expert group that writes accounting
rules, reached the same conclusion eight years ago. The London-based
International Accounting Standards Board recently recommended the same
approach. In short, a rather unshort list of experts endorses the common-sense
idea that, whether you get paid in cash or company cars or options,
the expense should be recorded. Yet today's Senate Finance Committee
hearing on the issue is likely to be filled with dissenting voices.
The dissenters (also) include weighty figures in both parties. Sen.
Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.) is the chief opponent of options sanity in the
Senate, and last week President Bush himself declared that Mr. Greenspan
is wrong on this issue. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A5269-2002Apr17.html
EDITORIAL IN BUSINESSWEEK
ON STOCK OPTIONS – “Don't Blame the Stock Options” - There is a mighty
storm brewing over stock options. The dot-com blowup, the tech meltdown,
Enron, and much that has gone wrong with the economy is being blamed
on options. Warren Buffett doesn't like them. Federal Reserve Chairman
Alan Greenspan is against them. Congress is preparing legislation that
might torpedo them. But before the stampede against stock options gets
out of hand, it would be wise to ponder the possible cost of giving
up one of the best instruments for rewarding risk in our entrepreneurial
society. Some action may be necessary, but the real problem lies less
with the options themselves than with those who bestow them and their
reasons for doing so. http://www.businessweek.com/@@iyDntGcQS18HpQsA/premium/content/02_15/b3778119.htm?$se
(subscription required)
EDITORIAL IN USATODAY
ON STOCK OPTIONS – “Reward outweighs risk” - By Rick White, President
of TechNet - Bills in both houses of Congress would effectively eliminate
stock options for working people by requiring firms to report them as
cash expenses. It would be hard to think of a better way to undermine
our technology economy. For one thing, treating stock options like
current expenses doesn't make sense. Stock options aren't cash payments
like a paycheck. They are a right to buy stock in the future. They don't
reduce the company's cash or other assets.
In fact, they have nothing to do with what the company owns;
they have to do with who owns the company. It would be misleading to
suggest that the company has fewer assets than it really has.
Even worse, expensing stock options would mean that they aren't
offered to lower-level employees. Most technology companies grant options
to the vast majority — and often to 100% — of their employees. http://www.usatoday.com/news/comment/2002/04/17/ncoppf.htm
USATODAY EDITORIAL ON STOCK OPTIONS – “Firms reap tax breaks;
shareholders pay price” - Last year, Microsoft managed to pull off what
might look like a magical feat. The software giant inflated its per-share
profits by 45%, and at the same time shaved $2 billion off its income
tax bill. But Microsoft's accounting trick wasn't even
particularly novel. Any company can perform a similar act thanks to
the miracle of stock options. And it's all perfectly legal. Under existing rules, publicly traded firms that offer stock options
to employees in lieu of cash don't have to count the options' costs
as an expense on their balance sheets. That makes their profits look
bigger. At the same time these companies can count
the options' cost as an expense when filing their tax forms. That sharply
cuts their tax load, which is based on net profits. http://www.usatoday.com/news/comment/2002/04/17/nceditf.htm
WHITE
HOUSE CYBER CZAR DESCRIBES NEXT PHASE OF INTERNET PLAN - Speaking before a conference of hundreds of federal
technology personnel and industry officials Wednesday morning, Richard
Clarke, President Bush’s point man on national cybersecurity, outlined
the next phase in the controversial plan to build an impenetrable information
network for the federal government, known as Govnet. Clarke said a team
from the General Services Administration had completed a review of more
than 167 responses from technology companies on how the network could
be built, and that the reviewers had concluded that creating a stand-alone
network, one not connected to the vulnerable systems of any other networks,
is technologically feasible. The government can’t afford to put off
major upgrades to information security, Clarke said, noting that terrorists
have continued to call upon their followers to attack the nation’s critical
infrastructure of power grids and information systems, many of which
are connected to the Internet. Clarke qualified the Bush administration’s
commitment to Govnet, saying it is merely a “concept,” not an actual
program or project. “Govnet is a question…that may lead to programs,”
Clarke said. http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0402/041702h1.htm
FCC
AUTHORIZES VERIZON TO PROVIDE LONG DISTANCE SERVICE IN VERMONT - The Federal Communications Commission (FCC)
voted unanimously to approve Verizon’s application to provide in-region,
interLATA service originating in Vermont. Approval of Verizon’s application
promises substantial benefits for the state’s consumers in the form
of enhanced competition in both the local and long distance markets. With the Telecommunications Act of 1996, Congress
envisioned fundamental, pro-competitive changes in the telecommunications
markets by making a Bell Operating Company’s (BOC) entry into the long
distance market subject to the BOC first opening its local service monopoly
to competition. A BOC satisfies this contingency by demonstrating compliance
with section 271 of the 1996 Act. After a BOC files a section 271 long
distance application with the FCC, the Commission has 90 days to determine
whether a BOC has taken the statutorily required steps to open its local
telecommunications markets to competition, including compliance with
the 1996 Act’s section 271 14-point “competitive checklist.”
Since the passage of the 1996 Act, the FCC has denied five long
distance applications, and now has approved applications to provide
in-region, long distance service in 11 states. Additionally, applications
for seven states have been withdrawn.
Currently, there are applications for four states pending before
the Commission. A summary of all section 271 applications can be accessed
at the following FCC web page: www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Common_Carrier/in-region_applications/;
FCC Press Release: http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-221698A1.pdf
(Adobe file)
HOW TO FIX THE DOT-GOVERNMENT
- The first chief technology officer for the Office of Management and
Budget, Norman Lorentz, gave a speech last week at the InfoWorld CTO
Forum. The former CTO of the Postal Service, Lorentz stated, "Government
truly can be transformed using the same approaches that we take in the
private sector." Over the
next two years, he is charged with designing new ways to connect the
22,000 federal Web sites to companies such as Travelocity to handle
government travel or Monster.gov for federal recruitment. When asked
about the privacy and security issue of letting third-party sources
handle sensitive federal information, Lorentz suggested that some ventures
could be designed with both private and public components. http://www.wired.com/news/print/0,1294,51782,00.html
OMB HANDS OUT E-GOV
FUNDING - The Office of Management and Budget has selected five of the
24 proposed e-government initiatives for funding, shunning proposals
it says duplicate existing services or re-create services that are commercially
available. Those selected for funding are projects that concentrate
on expanding the foundation of electronic government.
The five are to receive $4.1 million from a $5 million fund established
to promote e-government. The remaining $900,000 is expected to be awarded
to other projects by June, said Mark Forman, OMB's associate director
for IT and E-Government. http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2002/0415/web-egov-04-18-02.asp
SPEECH: NTIA DIRECTOR
Nancy J. Victory - before the Federal Communications Bar Association
Washington, D.C. – “We in the Administration continue to be focused
on how to remove obstacles to broadband deployment and how to ensure
the development of sustained competition in the broadband marketplace.
... We have already identified rights of way regulation reform as an
important issue and are working with industry, the states and localities
to underscore best practices and eliminate worst ones." http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/speeches/2002/fcba_41202.htm
ITI NAMES NEW VICE PRESIDENT OF GOVERNMENT RELATIONS - The Information Technology
Industry Council (ITI) announced today that Matt Tanielian has been
promoted to Vice President of Government Relations. Tanielian joined
ITI in August of 1999 as Director of Government Relations. Prior to
joining ITI, Tanielian was the Chief Counsel on business and technology
issues for Senator Robert Torricelli (D-NJ) and the Senate Judiciary
Subcommittee on Administrative Oversight and the Courts. In that capacity,
he handled issues ranging from export controls to telecommunications.
http://www.itic.org/2002prs/020411.htm
This Week@EMEA
THE
GREAT AFRICAN INTERNET ROBBERY - Africa
is being ripped off - to the tune of some $500m a year - simply for
hooking up to the World Wide Web, say Kenyan internet company chiefs.
And this extra cost is partly to blame for slowing the spread of the
internet in Africa and helping sustain the digital divide, they contend.
According to Kenya's Internet Service Providers (ISP) Association,
the continent is being forced by Western companies to pay the full cost
of connecting to worldwide networks.
Chairman Richard Bell says this has led to the unfair exploitation
of the continent's young internet industry.
He says the problem is that International Telecommunications
Union regulations - which ensures the costs of telephone calls between
Africa and the West are split 50:50 - are not being enforced with regard
to the internet. "British Telecom doesn't spend one single
penny... America Online doesn't spend one single cent in sending emails
to Africa." http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/africa/newsid_1931000/1931120.stm
A CONNECT CALL FROM
ALGERIA - Algerian ambassador Idriss Jazairy encouraged a group of Northern
Virginia telecommunications and technology firms to invest in Africa's
second-largest country saying, "You'd be surprised to see the amount
of opportunities that are there." He went on to say the banking
and insurance industries are modernizing, the government is offering
exemptions on taxes and customs, and the regulatory and legal environment
is liberalizing. On average, there are 5.7 phone lines for every 1,000
people in Algeria, 20,000 Internet connections, and a total of 100,000
cell phone users. Rudy L. Baca, an analyst from the Precursor Group
said that instability in the international telecommunications market
has created a "... great, great reluctance of U.S.
markets to look at the overseas markets." However, some companies
such as BCE Teleglobe, Inc. are looking at developing countries. Roger
Wu, sales executive with BCE Teleglobe said, "We want to work with
companies looking to get into countries like Algeria...Everyone talks
about bandwidth excess
[here]. As far as other
regions are concerned there is not enough capacity on the international
side."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A62747-2002Apr16.htm
GOVERNMENTAL REPRESENTATIVES
FROM 26 COUNTRIES TACKLE DIGITAL DIVIDE - The first meeting of the Intergovernmental
Council for the Information for All Programme met in Paris this month
to discuss ways to address digital divide issues in Sub-Saharan Africa.
In 2000, only .4 percent of people in Sub-Saharan Africa used the Internet.
The Information for All Programme will focus on promoting access to
the public domain information. The meeting was held at the United Nations
Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) headquarters.
UNESCO Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura said, "We must look beyond
technical and gadget appeal of ICTs and the Internet. We must ensure
that these powerful tools and networks are used effectively to combat
poverty and foster development, to create opportunities for education
for all, to ensure cultural and linguistic diversity and to empower
civil society." http://www.unesco.org/bpi/eng/unescopress/2002/02-25e.shtml
NATIONS WARY OF E-DEMOCRACY
- In some towns in Sweden, local government meetings are carried live
on the Internet and viewers are permitted to participate by asking questions
or offering comments. Using
the Internet to encourage citizen participation in civic life puts Sweden
on the frontier of electronic democracy, the next step beyond e-government. In nearby Russia, however, only about 20 percent
of the population knows what the Internet is. And those who do are leery
of a technology that has the potential to enable the government to monitor
their online activity — which, in fact, the government does, said Anthony
Jones, director of the Gorbachev Foundation of North America. For all its promise to change government, the
Internet seems to produce more Russia-like suspicion than the Swedish-style
embrace when it comes to e-democracy. http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2002/0415/web-gov-04-17-02.asp
FRANCE
/ INTERNET VOTING- Favorable decision to allow experimental internet
voting on next presidential elections April 21 2002 and May 5th 2002.
http://www.csti.gouv.fr/fr/liens.htm
E-GOVERNMENT:
ITALY AMONGS THE EUROPEAN ADOPTERS LEADERS - "Italy IS among the first countries in Europe
for the implementation of its national e-gov plan". Giuseppe Zilioni,
from the European Commission, praises Italy during the event "
The event took place in Rimini (Italy) in the framework of the second
edition of EURO.P.A.. Also particpating Giulio De Petra, from the Department
of Innovation Technology, who illustrated the e-gov call for tender dedicated
to local governments and which expires on May 31 2002. http://www.adnkronos.com/SpecialiIGN/EuroPa/index.php
ITALY AND E-GOVERNMENT
- These 2 articles (In Italian) summarise the 10 strategic objectives
set by the Italian Government who empowered Minister
of Technology and Innovation Lucio Stanca to make Italy one of the leading
e-government nation worldwide. Among the goals, which include
electronic signature widepread implementation and electronic ID, e-local
government services and e-learning, also the intention to move
toward e-voting. http://www.tgcom.it/ArticoloTgCom/articoli/articolo53878.shtml
NEWSLETTER: The World
Summit on the Information Society Executive Secretariat is pleased to
announce the first edition of the WSIS Newsletter which will be published
approximately four times per year. The English version is available
at: http://www.itu.int/wsis/news/news01.htm;
French and Spanish versions of the newsletter will be available soon
and can be accessed directly from the WSIS website: French: http://www.itu.int/wsis/news/news02.htm;
Spanish: http://www.itu.int/wsis/news/news03.htm
SPAIN'S TECNOCOM AND DS2 INK POWERLINE BROADBAND PACT - Spanish telecommunications equipment company Tecnocomunicaciones
Y Energia SA and DS2, a Spanish company that designs chips for use in
telecommunications over powerlines, said Wednesday they had signed a
strategic alliance to provide broadband solutions over the electricity
grid.Their services would enable electricity suppliers and telecom operators
to roll out broadband, high-speed telecoms services to customers' residences,
using existing powerline networks, they said. Powerline communications,
or PLC, would achieve a share of between 15 percent and 25 percent of
the broadband access market within four years, they forecast. http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20020417/ap_wo_en_bu/spain_telecom_pact_1
BT
SATELLITE BROADBAND TARGETS RURAL CONSUMERS - BT Group announced trials of a new satellite quasi-broadband
service allowing it to widen its high speed internet access coverage
to rural areas. The service,
which will begin in May, will allow users to download information from
the internet at speeds of up to 256 kilobits a second - about five times
faster than most dial-up modems but still half the speed of BT's main
broadband offering. The move
is designed to plug the gap in BT's UK coverage for broadband. Only
two-thirds of the UK population can access broadband services via BT's
mainstream "digital subscriber line" service, as the telecoms
operator has upgraded just over 1,000 of its 5,000 exchanges.
BT said the satellite wholesale price, the fee it will charge
companies such as internet service providers that resell the facility
to consumers, will be less than £15 a month, making the cost competitive
compared with its DSL wholesale product.
http://news.ft.com/ft/gx.cgi/ftc?pagename=View&c=Article&cid=FT34A6CO20D&live=true&tagid=ZZZPCGI2B0C
NETHERLANDS - GRONINGEN
PLANS PROVINCE-WIDE BROADBAND NETWORK - The northern Dutch province
of Groningen has announced that it plans to connect all houses, companies
and institutions to broadband internet infrastructure. According to
the plan, the province should reach 90 per cent coverage in eight years.
In order to achieve a good coverage in rural areas, the government wants
to complete a province-wide main infrastructure within three years.
City districts, industrial areas, schools and other institutions should
subsequently be connected to these main branches. The project is unique
in the Netherlands. Groningen is said to be behind compared to other
areas in the Netherlands concerning IT developments. http://www.europemedia.net/shownews.asp?ArticleID=9901
UK - BT ANNOUNCES PLANS FOR UK'S FIRST PUBLIC ACCESS WIRELESS LAN
NETWORK - BT announced plans to launch a public access Wireless LAN
network based on 802.11b technology. The company plans to install approximately
400 hotspots by June 2003 and as many as 4,000 sites by June 2005. The
access points would be situated around key public sites such as hotels,
railway stations, airports, bars and coffee shops. BT estimates that
the wireless LAN will be at least three times faster and less than half
the price of 3G, and will take advantage of readily available technology.
Motorola and Cisco were named as partners to build the new network.
Full product details will be available in June and billing options will
range from an annual subscription-based charge for regular users to
pre-paid vouchers sold at retail stores. BT expects its wireless LAN
initiative is expected to generate new revenues of at least £30m a year
by the end of 2004/05. http://www.groupbt.com/Mediacentre/Agencynewsreleases/2002/an34.htm
OPEN
CONSULTATION ON PAN-EUROPEAN GOVERNMENT E-SERVICES - The purpose of this consultation is to help the Commission
and the Member States to identify the needs and opportunities of EU
enterprises and citizens in terms of pan-European Government e-services.
That is to say, the requirements for government e-services for those
enterprises and citizens that interact electronically across Europe’s
borders with public administrations in other Member States.
http://europa.eu.int/comm/enterprise/consultations/government_e-services/index.htm
This Week@Asia/Pac
ALMOST HALF OF WORLD'S
DSL USERS IN ASIA-PACIFIC - According to industry analysts RHK, nearly
one-half of the world's DSL connections and more than 7.5 million DSL
subscribers reside in the Asia-Pacific region. The report highlights
South Korea as a hotbed of DSL activity, with four million subscribers
at the end of 2001. RHK says the trend is being repeated in Japan and
other Asian countries (including China and Taiwan) are expected to follow
quickly. "Just three yease ago, Asian service providers were visiting
North America to learn how to deploy DSL and what services to offer,"
RHK's Ken Twist said in a release. "Times have changed; this region
now accounts for approximately 44 percent of the world's DSL subscribers."
http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/175904.html
BRAIN DRAIN IN TECHNOLOGY
FOUND USEFUL FOR BOTH SIDES - Hong Lu, born in Taiwan, raised in Japan,
educated at Berkeley and made wealthy in Silicon Valley, founded a company
several years ago to sell telecommunications equipment in mainland China.
His intention was to take advantage of his multicultural expertise,
aim at a growing market and, incidentally, spread the entrepreneurial
culture in Asia. He did. He gave his employees in China stock options. "At the beginning, people were very suspicious," said
Mr. Lu, a co-founder of UTStarcom, a company with its headquarters in
Alameda, Calif., and its operations in Beijing. "They said, `Don't
give me paper, give me money.' After we went public, they said, `Don't
give me raises, give me more options.' "
A survey to be published Friday suggests that it is common for
immigrants who have become a staple of Silicon Valley's growth to export
their experience — and Northern California's entrepreneurial culture
— back to their homelands. http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/19/technology/19BRAI.html
CISCO TO SUPPLY EQUIPMENT
FOR CHINA RAILCOM EXPANSION -- Cisco Systems Inc. said it has signed
an agreement to supply equipment to China Railway Communications Co.
as the telecom operator expands its Internet backbone network. Cisco
said that after the expansion, Railcom's network will connect 128 cities
in China "making it one of the world's largest broadband networks." China Railcom is a state-owned commercial operator
formed from the proprietary telecom networks of China's Ministry of
Railways. It mainly offers fixed-line telephone service and data communications.
The planned expansion, to be completed by the third quarter of
2002, will enable the company to offer broadband services to more users
in China, Railcom President Peng Peng said in a joint statement with
Cisco. http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,BT_CO_20020417_012154.djm,00.html
(Paid subscription required)
SPEECH: MR ERKKI LIIKANEN
Member of the European Commission, responsible for Enterprise and the
Information Society "Opening speech at Telecom Regulatory Workshop"
Telecom Regulatory Workshop with Ministry of Information Industry Beijing,
15 April 2002 - http://europa.eu.int/rapid/start/cgi/guesten.ksh?p_action.gettxt=gt&doc=SPEECH/02/154|0|RAPID&lg=EN&display=
This Week@Americas
International
INTERNET
CAFES' PHONE SERVICE FILLS A VOID
- Tegucigalpa, Honduras -With their simple wooden desks and glowing
computer screens, the Internet cafes in this capital city look much
like those popping up around the rest of the world, except practically
no one's typing. They're all talking.
A few inches from the door of the Multinet Cybercafe, a woman
in sandals is gossiping about some acquaintances into a black phone-like
receiver connected by a cord to the back of a machine. Across from her,
a man is inquiring about a job. Herman Mejilla, an accountant, is chatting
with his fiancee in New Jersey, asking how her university studies are
going. "Te extraño," he says. I miss you.
In Latin America and other developing areas, Internet cafes have
become this generation's equivalent of the telephone booth.
The story of Honduras offers a new perspective on the "digital
divide": While the population has fallen behind in adopting older
technologies such as conventional phones, they are at the leading edge
of some newer technologies. "The technology is increasingly empowering
people with the ability to go around the limitations and restrictions
of the traditional telecommunications networks to communicate on a global
scale," said William Drake, visiting senior fellow at the Center
for International Development and Conflict Management at the University
of Maryland. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A4969-2002Apr17.html
MICROSOFT AND MEXICO
AIM TO PUT NATION ONLINE - Mexico and Microsoft plan to announce an
agreement on Wednesday to develop digital community centers as part
of a broader ``eMexico'' initiative meant to bring the entire nation
online by 2006. Microsoft will contribute software, consulting and training
for the centers, which are to be built in remote Mexican towns and villages
to give residents free access to the Internet. Microsoft will license
its Windows, Office and Encarta software on the same terms that colleges
and universities use and will train 4,000 computer operators to run
the centers. Eventually, the Mexican government hopes to have 10,000
free public Internet kiosks in rural areas to help bring government
services to citizens and reduce what has been called the ``digital divide''
of the urban rich from the rural poor.
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/17/technology/17MEXI.html
(Free registration required)
ARGENTINE
JUDGE RULES IN FAVOR OF COMPUTER HACKERS
-Computer hackers may be the scourge of the digital age, hunted down
by police across borders, but in Argentina they have found an unlikely
ally -- the very justice system they scorned. Warning of a "dangerous
legal void" making digital crimes hard to prosecute, a judge has
ruled that hacking is legal by default in Argentina. The decision came
in the case of cyberpirates who defaced the Supreme Court's Web page.
Arguing that the law only covered crimes on "people, things and
animals" and not digital attacks, a federal court declared several
Argentines known as "X-Team" innocent of charges they broke
into the high court's Web page to accuse judges of covering up a human
rights case. "The judge ruled that hacking didn't harm things, people or
animals and thus was not covered in the law," Antonio Mille, a
lawyer for Microsoft in Argentina said.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=581&ncid=581&e=4&u=/nm/20020415/tc_nm/crime_argentina_hacking_dc_1
NET USERS AND E-MAIL
MARKETING IN CANADA - A 2002 study from Ipsos-Reid finds that 79% of
internet users in Canada have opted-in to certain websites to receive
e-mail campaigns. The study also determined that overall, 92% of internet
users in Canada use e-mail on a regular basis and 88% use it on a weekly
basis. Ipsos-Reid surveyed 1,000 Canadian internet
users online and conducted 1,000 telephone interviews for the "Email
Marketing: What the Future Holds" report. The online surveys were
conducted between 28 December 2001 and January 2002 and the telephone
surveys were conducted between 10 and 23 December 2001. The report notes
that, in particular, 54% of internet users who have opted into e-mail
campaigns turn to news and information websites and 38% opt-in to entertainment
sites. http://www.emarketer.com/estatnews/estats/email_marketing/20020416_ipsos.html
This Week@US STATES
SMALL TOWNS BUILD THEIR
OWN HIGH-SPEED INTERNET SYSTEMS - As politicians in Washington debate
over the digital divide, many small towns are building their own bypasses
to the information superhighway. "Some of these towns were too
small to get the attention of the large incumbent providers -- the rate
of return isn't there for them," said Ron Lunt, director of telecommunications
services for the American Public Power Association. According to one
government study, less than 5 percent of towns with fewer than 10,000
residents have both DSL and cable modem service available. Small towns
are building their own systems, often providing high quality service
at prices cheaper than commercial providers. Many towns are finding
benefits beyond speedy Internet access. "It's a consumer-owned
system - it helps support our parks, our pools, our police," says
Keith Hill, borough manager for Kutztown, Pennsylvania. "The money
stays in the community." Link
Hoewing, assistant vice president for Internet and technology policy
for Verizon, said that towns building their own "last mile"
systems are doing a great disservice. Hoewing argues that the patchwork
of local systems creates a disincentive for major providers to invest
and build integrated networks. Eleven states currently bar or restrict
municipalities from offering high-speed Internet service, but according
to energy and telecommunications consultant Carol Heiberger, "...the
cities and towns are saying, 'You're not doing anything for me now.
This is about economic development.'"
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/business/technology/3054045.htm
MARYLAND
BUSINESSES, CONSUMERS ESPECIALLY NET-SAVVY, STUDY FINDS - Maryland's businesses and households are significantly
more tech-savvy than those in other parts of the nation, according to
a state-sponsored report released yesterday. The study, managed by the Maryland Technology
Development Corp. but conducted by others, found that 89 percent of
businesses in Maryland use the Internet, while only 32 percent of businesses
across the country are online. "The
employers [here] require high-speed bandwidth, and there is already
a base of fiber-optic infrastructure in the region," noted Phillip
A. Singerman, executive director of the Maryland Technology Development
Corp. Maryland consumers are
also adapting to the digital age. The study says 64 percent of the state's
households have a personal computer, compared with 57 percent nationally.
As other national studies have found, income and education remain the
biggest determinants in computer access. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A12061-2002Apr18.html
STATE OFFICIALS OPTIMISTIC
ABOUT E-GOVERNMENT - A survey conducted at the National Association
of State Chief Information Officers' mid-year meeting revealed wide-ranging
opinions concerning future investment in e-government. For government-to-citizen
e-government solutions, 40% of the respondents thought spending would
increase next year, 24% said it would decrease and 36% said spending
would remain the same. In answering a question about spending for government-to-employee
e-government solutions, 46% said spending would increase, 12% said decrease,
and 42% believe it will stay the same. When asked about government-to-business
solutions, 54% said spending would remain unchanged, 38% said spending
would
increase, and 8% said
it would decrease. http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/tech/fcw1.htm
DENVER PITCHES OFFICIAL WEB SITE - In an aggressive campaign beginning
May 1, Denver will advertise its government Web site through community
newspapers, radio spots and a city-owned cable channel. It's an unusual
move within a sector unaccustomed to such marketing efforts.
"I see the need being precipitated by the competition out
there," said Steve Hansen, marketing director for the city's Television
and Internet Services Department. Scores
of "imposter" sites — such as news, travel or "underground"
sites — bill themselves as "the official Denver Web site,"
he said, and then provide links to the city's site (www.denvergov.org), which was launched in
1999. "We felt like we had to do a full-blown branding to the public,"
Hansen said, adding that the initial marketing push will last through
November. http://www.fcw.com/geb/articles/2002/0415/web-denver-04-16-02.asp
NEW
ORLEANS MAYOR SEES WEB AS TOOL - The
incoming mayor is employing high-tech hiring tactics in a city where
old-style patronage has long ruled: People are invited to apply for
the city's top jobs at popular Web sites such as Monster.com. Ray Nagin,
who was a regional cable television executive and political unknown
just months ago, has pledged to make New Orleans more business-friendly,
and says he wants to start by creating a modern, customer-friendly City
Hall. "Ray has a whole
different approach because he comes straight from the corporate world,"
said Flo Schornstein, a retired city parks director who has joined Nagin's
transition team. "And because
he's never been a politician, he doesn't come in with individuals or
groups to whom he owes anything, so the whole issue of patronage and
cronyism is out the window." Some
skepticism remains over whether substantive change will come under Nagin,
who officially takes over May 6. He grew up here and has personal and
professional relationships with some of the people known as political
insiders in Mayor Marc Morial's administration.
Nevertheless, Nagin has pledged to work to change the city, and
will use the Internet to help modernize city government. http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=528&ncid=528&e=3&u=/ap/20020417/ap_on_re_us/web_government_2
CALIFORNIA LAWMAKER PROPOSES REFORMS AT
STATE TECH AGENCY - San
Jose Assemblyman Manny Diaz, who has come under fire for championing
the troubled agency that oversees California's multibillion-dollar technology
systems, is proposing new restrictions on the Department of Information
Technology and its embattled director.
As the state auditor prepares to release a critical review of
the department's role in a $126 million no-bid contract the state signed
with Oracle last year, Diaz is urging the Legislature to ban the department
from participating in the negotiation of future technology contracts.
http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/3071285.htm
JOINT
VENTURE: SILICON VALLEY NETWORK NAMES LEADER - Marguerite Wilbur today
will be named president and chief executive of Joint Venture: Silicon
Valley Network, capping a long search for a new leader of the civic
organization that recently has struggled to find a mission.
Wilbur, a former land-use consultant and city redevelopment official,
takes the reins of Joint Venture following the early 2001 departure
of Ruben Barrales, who left for a job in the Bush administration. Founded in 1992 by then-Hewlett-Packard Chief
Executive Lew Platt and Applied Materials Chairman Jim Morgan, the consortium
of government, industry, education and community leaders set out to
revitalize the valley's economy at the depth of the early 1990s recession.
http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/local/3071419.htm
OTHER
TECH STORIES OF THE WEEK
A PIPE-DREAM FIRES
UP - Wi-Fi took off a few years ago as a way to connect local networks
without having to run cables everywhere. All Wi-Fi requires is a network
access point base station and receiver cards for each computer. As the
cost of setting up Wi-Fi falls, more and more access points are appearing
around the world - especially ones set up by idealists believing that
free Internet access should be a basic human right. But neither the
idealists nor the entrepreneurs have been successful in creating solid
WI-Fi networks. A new company in New York, Joltage, is breathing new
life into Wi-Fi networks. Joltage charges users $2.95 per hour for access to a global network.
Half of net profits are then distributed to network cells (anyone can
operate a cell). The idea being that just a few Joltage users a day
could offset the cost of running access points. There is a hitch though:
Wi-Fi cells require a fixed-line connection to the Internet that most
ISPs and telecom providers forbid the sharing or resale of. Thus far,
the fixed-line providers have turned a blind eye to use of their connections
for Wi-Fi cells, but it is just a matter of time before they go after
Joltage and Wi-Fi in much the same way the music industry went after
Napster. Fortunately, there is already a newer technology waiting to
take WiFi's place - mesh networks. http://www.guardian.co.uk/online/story/0,3605,685812,00.html
'OFF-THE-SCALE' FIBER
GLUT ROCKS TELECOM INDUSTRY - Expecting the growth of Internet traffic
to spur an increase in bandwidth has resulted in billions of dollars
in fiber networks currently going unused. Many companies have
ended up in bankruptcy court, and thousands have been laid off as telecommunications
companies try to cut their losses and regroup. "It will be years
before we'll need all the capacity out there," said Scott Cleland,
chief executive of the telecom investment research firm the Precursor
Group. "We're off-the-scale overbuilt."
The Telecommunications Act of 1996 attempted to increase competition,
thus driving demand and traffic for high-bandwidth services. The
result of the last six years is a glut of fiber in the long-haul networks
between cities, and the lack of high-speed connections linking homes
and businesses to these long-haul networks. Despite the current
glut, many people, such as telecom consultant Jeff Kagan, believe that
"...as soon we get enough homes and offices connected, we're going
to suck that bandwidth right up. Unless you
believe that the Internet
is going back to text rather than forward to audio and video, there
is going to be an incredible demand for bandwidth." http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/local/3057057.htm
AOL STRUGGLES TO IMPLEMENT
PLAN FOR HIGH-SPEED INTERNET ACCESS - AOL Time Warner Inc., whose online
service is struggling to hold on to customers who want high-speed Internet
access, is rethinking its cornerstone strategy of promoting such broadband
access nationwide. The move calls into doubt one of the main goals of
the merger that brought the Internet and media colossus into existence. Co-Chief Operating Officer Robert Pittman,
tagged last week to take over the America Online division, said in an
interview that he has told employees the unit should focus on persuading
its existing customers to retain their $23.90-a-month America Online
accounts even when they sign up for $40-to-$50-a-month high-speed Internet
access from rival cable companies. America Online's traditional dial-up
service makes the company more money -- so what's the hurry?
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB1019164145697038240.djm,00.html
(Paid Subscription required)
MOTHERS
WATCHING LESS TV, SURFING WEB MORE - Women
with children are tuning in to less television and more Internet these
days, Jupiter Media Metrix said in a report to be released Thursday.
"Women with children most likely have more time constraints, and
therefore a limited time budget for media consumption. Therefore, increased
use of the Internet is more likely to cannibalize time that was once
spent watching television for these women," said Jupiter analyst
Jon Gibs in the report. About 44 percent of women with children said
their usage of the Internet caused them to spend less time watching
TV, the Internet research firm found in its report. Jupiter recommended
that advertisers and programmers interested in reaching mothers should
therefore consider increasing their online marketing efforts relative
to TV advertising. The report comes at a time Internet companies are
trying to woo advertisers to the Web by proving to them that the ad
dollars spent online will go a long way.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=582&ncid=582&e=1&u=/nm/20020417/wr_nm/tech_women_internet_dc_1
CISCO LAUNCHES NEW
LINE OF NETWORKING EQUIPMENT - Cisco Systems Inc. said it had begun
offering wireless-networking equipment that transmits data five times
faster than traditional products. Cisco,
San Jose, Calif., said the Aironet 1200 series Access Point and radios
would transmit up to 54 million bits of data per second, compared to
11 million bits per second for older Aironet products.
The Aironet products, which use Wi-Fi, or 802.11 technology,
are primarily used to create wireless office networks, so employees
can stay connected to a corporate network while moving room to room
with a laptop computer, for example. Some entrepreneurs use Wi-Fi equipment to offer
Internet access in airports, hotels and coffee shops. And a growing
band of hobbyists use the gear to offer free Internet access in small
communities or city neighborhoods.
Cisco said the new Aironet products would be compatible with
the older models, and can be upgraded when new features or security
software become available. http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB1019028170922282080,00.html?mod=technology_main_whats_news
(Paid subscription required)
ECHOSTAR,
SBC IN INTERNET, SATELLITE TV PACT
- No. 2 U.S. local telephone company SBC Communications Inc. said it
would start selling its high-speed Internet service together with EchoStar
Communications Corp.'s satellite television service as it battles cable
operators. Cable companies are locked in a competition with both phone
and satellite TV companies to give consumers one-stop shopping for Internet,
pay television and telephone services. By bundling SBC's Internet with
EchoStar's satellite service, the two companies hope to take market
share away from cable companies that have succeeded in selling services
like digital cable and Internet services over cable lines. http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=582&ncid=582&e=8&u=/nm/20020417/wr_nm/media_echostar_sbc_dc_1
TELECOM FIRMS RACE TO INSTALL NEXT-GENERATION WIRELESS NETWORKS
THAT WILL ENABLE 'THE NEXT BIG THING' TO FLOURISH - After several years of false starts, the grand hopes
for mobile commerce in 2002 rest in no small part on the slender shoulders
of Adirem Quintel. The 25-year-old
field technician for Nortel Networks Corp. is part of an army of thousands
of workers who are quietly yet methodically visiting cellular towers
across the nation and upgrading them for a new generation of faster
wireless networks. Quintel typically visits two or three of them
a night, each time installing a sophisticated piece of digital switching
equipment for Verizon Wireless Inc. that allows cell phones, two-way
pagers and hand-held computers to transmit data as fast as desktop PCs
with dial-up connections to the Internet. Wireless carriers expect to
have their next-generation wireless networks turned on in the country's
major metropolitan areas by year-end. Verizon has launched its Express
Network in Salt Lake City, the San Francisco Bay Area and the Northeast
corridor connecting Boston, New York and Washington. Sprint PCS Group
Inc. plans to switch on its entire nationwide high-speed network this
summer. Cingular Wireless, AT&T Wireless Services Inc. and others
are going forward with new networks as well. http://www.latimes.com/technology/la-000027534apr18.story?coll=la%2Dheadlines%2Dtechnology
SBC
CONNECTS WITH DSL SUBSCRIBERS
- SBC Communications said that it has more than 1.5 million high-speed
Internet access subscribers, courtesy of strong gains in the first quarter.
The company recorded a net gain of 183,000 digital subscriber
lines in the first quarter, a 25 percent jump from the fourth quarter
and a 59 percent rise from a year ago. SBC's DSL service now reaches
more than 25 million customer locations, the company said in its quarterly
results. Morgan Stanley had expected SBC to post a net gain of 150,000
DSL subscribers. SBC attributed
part of the DSL growth to an easier installation process, dropping the
number of installation CD-ROMs from two to one and trimming the instruction
booklet from 30 pages to a one-page brochure. http://news.com.com/2100-1033-885880.html
DEAL REACHED TO COMBAT
DIGITAL PIRACY - A group of electronics makers and movie studios moved
the rollout of digital TV a step ahead Tuesday with a preliminary agreement
on copy protection for high-definition broadcasts and digital TV sets. The format, called High Definition Multimedia
Interface (HDMI), is a single, high-speed connection that would carry
full-bandwidth digital video and audio from set-top boxes to TV sets. Most observers note this agreement was necessary
for further negotiations to continue between hardware manufacturers
and studios. But they also caution that it's just one of a laundry list
of issues that must be addressed before Hollywood would be willing to
feed the pipeline for the new broadcast standard without fear of its
products being pirated. http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/tech/2002/04/17/digitaltv-usat.htm
MYOPTIC
VISION: E-LEARNING A LONG WAY FROM FLUNKING - Talk to analysts on Wall Street, and they’ll tell you that e-learning is
in a bit of a funk right now — most recently illustrated by the busted
$284 million merger between Lexington’s Centra Software Inc. and SmartForce
PLC after disappointing quarterly results for both. Talk to organizations using the technology and you will hear something
different altogether. You can
hear a lot about it next month if you choose. Vivek Pandit and other
graduates from the MIT Sloan School of Management are making e-learning
the focus of their third spring symposium, to be held on May 18 on the
Sloan campus in Cambridge. Speakers
include Andrew Lo, a Sloan finance professor who has taught a class
over long distances to businessmen in Pacific Rim nations, and Tom Kelly,
vice president of the Internet learning solutions group at Cisco Systems. Last month, Kelly gave industry analysts an update on Cisco’s e-learning
initiatives. He said that the California network equipment maker is
saving more than $40 million annually by using e-learning platforms
to educate its work force. Perhaps
more important, in a recent survey on its program’s effect on Cisco
partner companies, 72 percent said that they had decreased training
costs by at least half, and 76 percent said their satisfaction with
Cisco had increased by 50 percent. Are you listening, Wall Street? http://www.masshightech.com/displayarticledetail.asp?art_id=56497&cat_id=99
NEW YORK'S NATURAL
HISTORY MUSEUM PIONEERS USE OF INTERNET2 - More than 190 universities
are connected to Abilene, the backbone network operated by the Internet2
consortium of research universities. But only one independent museum
-- the American Museum of Natural History in New York -- participates
in the network consortium. Other museums have inquired about Internet2
but so far have not participated, says Greg Wood, a spokesman for Internet2.
In many ways, New York's natural-history museum is like a research
university, with similar needs for a high-speed research network.
http://chronicle.com/free/2002/04/2002041701t.htm
DIGITAL MUSIC DOWNLOADING
'BIGGER THAN NAPSTER' - Despite the absence of the legally challenged
Napster, the seminal file-sharing service that helped change the way
people listen to music, digital downloads and file-swapping continue
at a hefty pace. According to a study released today by market
research firm Odyssey, 31 percent of online users over the age of 16
- which translates to over 40 million U.S. consumers - have downloaded
or transferred music online in the past six months. Odyssey said respondents
reported an average of 11 downloads or file transfers per week. http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/175893.html
PEDDLING
ON THE WEB - DOT-COMS MAY BE DEAD, BUT
SMALL BUSINESSES ARE STILL USING THE INTERNET TO EXTEND THEIR REACH
- E-commerce hasn't died. It's just gone underground.
At a time when acres of glassed-in offices hold the ghosts of failed
dot-coms, one of New England's more successful online businesses operates
from the musty basement of a West Newton bicycle shop. Downstairs at
Harris Cyclery sits the computer workstation of Sheldon Brown, a bearded
veteran mechanic who has generated an international following for the
shop's Web site. It also brings in a third of the shop's sales. Harris
Cyclery avoids competing with bigger online bicycle retailers by focusing
on hard-to-find replacement parts like the fixed-gear wheels favored
by bike messengers. Brown also dispenses plenty of free advice, both
over the Web and with direct e-mails. Larger online bike retailers ''will
have the quarter-pounder with cheese,'' Brown said. ''We'll have the
replacement hamburger patties and a different kind of cheese.'' http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/105/business/Peddling_on_the_Web+.shtml
INTEL'S
QUIXOTIC QUEST FOR NEXT BILLION USERS - UNLIKELY TEAM TRYING TO INVENT
FUTURE - Humanities majors do
have a future in high tech after all.
In the heart of chip giant Intel Corp.'s research and development
group here in the great Northwest is a small cadre of researchers who
don't want anything to do with math, physics or chemistry. They are
anthropologists and psychologists who hang out with teenagers in local
hostels, young families in their living rooms, fishermen on their boats
in Alaska, American Indians on Navajo reservations and the poor in Brazil.
Their mission is to find out how technology can penetrate some
of the unlikeliest places and spell potential future market growth for
Intel. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2002/04/19/MN240804.DTL
FACTS AND STATS:
U.S. ONLINE TRAVEL
LIFTS E-COMMERCE TO ALL-TIME HIGH - Consumers spent a record
$6.9 billion at travel-related Web sites in the U.S. during the first
quarter of 2002. According to a new study by ComScore Networks, the
online travel sector's recovery from a terrible fourth quarter helped
lift total e-commerce spending to $17 billion during the first three
months of the year - also a record. http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/175928.html
KOREA SEES SIGNIFICANT
RISE IN ECOMMERCE - The Korea Times reports that online sales in Korea
increased by 84.9 percent in February, compared to the previous year.
http://www.nua.ie/surveys/index.cgi?f=VS&art_id=905357823&rel=true
AMERICANS WANT ONLINE
ACCESS TO DOCTORS - Most Americans would like to be able to contact
their doctor online, reports CyberAtlas. http://www.nua.ie/surveys/index.cgi?f=VS&art_id=905357844&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.
CISCO GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS@2002
Cisco’s top policy
focuses for 2002 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 “Contact Us ” page. http://www.cisco.com/gov/contact/index_ext.html
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