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HEADLINES AT A GLANCE"No Fiber Optic
Link? Try a Leapfrogging Laser Beam" "No Fiber Optic Link? Try a
Leapfrogging Laser Beam" New atmospheric laser transmission, or free space optics, is helping businesses in urban centers connect to high-speed networks without a physical fiber-optic cable. Free space optical lasers can transmit data at tremendous speeds, up to one billion bits per second, and have overcome some of the irregularities that kept them from being used when introduced in the 1960s. Some of the most common disruptions are inclement weather and laser beams that miss their target. Merrill Lynch used a free space optics system from Terabeam after it lost its offices in the World Trade Center. It was able to send data between its offices in Manhattan one mile away to New Jersey, while connecting lasers beamed information to a second and third office. Proponents of free space optic systems say the idea would be well-suited for newly established office spaces that have not yet arranged to connect fiber-optic cable, which often requires costly construction delays, not to mention right-of-way disputes. (Optical Communications and Networking) "China Telecom Restructuring Limits
Investment Opportunities" Foreign telecommunications companies are currently witnessing a decline in demand for their products in China, largely because of China Telecommunications' much-delayed restructuring. Since about June 2001, China Telecom, a fixed-line monopoly, has been trying to determine how it will divide itself into two competing companies, as part of a continuing effort to increase competition in the sector. Although the basic framework is clear--China Telecom will be divided into rival southern and northern companies that will both compete on a national basis--a number of issues remain, such as personnel assignments and how to divide the fiber-optic network that stretches across the country. The indecision has paralyzed China Telecom, stalling business decisions, purchasing, and a planned stock offering. China Telecom's investment slowdown could not have come at worse time for many international companies. With the worldwide telecom market currently in a slump, many of the largest equipment suppliers in the industry, such as Cisco Systems, Nortel Networks, and Lucent Technologies, have come to depend heavily on China, which for many of these companies is already the No. 2 market after the United States. In addition, China Telecom's restructuring is affecting the Chinese company's willingness to consider new projects. This is happening just at the moment when foreign investors are anxious to enter into partnerships with China Telecom, following China's entry into the World Trade Organization. (Product Sales and Marketing) "Lucent's Invited Hackers Search
for Flaws" Scientists at Bell Labs' Internet Research Lab, owned by Lucent Technologies, are working to create comprehensive pictures of ISP networks from a hacker's perspective, highlighting dangerous infrastructure flaws that could cripple the system. Lucent offers the third-party assessment to its customers, the large carriers and ISPs that make their own Internet infrastructure, for free or at reduced prices. The Internet Research Lab scientists mimic hacking techniques, such as stealth surveys of a system's weaknesses, in a way that other third-party auditors do not, since they examine the network from inside, says researcher Thomas B. Reddington. The results go both to the targeted company so they can improve security, and back to Lucent researchers who use it to design better equipment, especially for the next-generation devices. Lucent is one of the most vocal proponents of an all-optical Internet, and AT&T, one of Lucent's major customers, already offers a localized solution to large corporations in the New York metropolitan area. All-optical networks are several years away from large deployment, but would offer great security enhancements because optical signals are much more difficult to track and translate than electronic ones. (Network Reliability, Security and Quality Assurance) "VeriSign and TrustAsia Get Unwired
With WebNum" VeriSign and TrustAsia are teaming up to offer WebNum to Southeast Asia wireless users, a market of 55 million people and growing, according to Strategis Group data. TrustAsia will fold WebNum into its current product line and pitch WebNum to both content providers and wireless customers. Minus WebNum, TrustAsia lacks domain name services offerings. WebNum allows a URL to be reduced to a one-to-seven digit, numeric sequence that is easy to use on wireless keypads. For instance, www.mtv.com could be reduced to 6-8-8, and all WebNum numeric tags are listed in Cellmania's mFinder wireless "yellow pages." Currently, 25,000 WebNum addresses are listed by Cellmania. TrustAsia will market WebNum in Thailand, Singapore, Vietnam, Malaysia, Cambodia, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, Korea, and in the Philippines. A U.S. rollout date for WebNum has yet to be set, though VeriSign's Janine Dunne says that WebNum was used during the recent Super Bowl for online voting through a partnership between Motorola and Fox Sports network. (Wireless Communications) "Ireland Ranks in Top Networked
Nations" Ireland was ranked as one of the top 20 networked countries in the world in a recent study by Harvard University's Center for International Development, entitled "The Global Information Technology Report 2001-2002: Readiness for the Networked World." A nation's overall ranking was determined according to ratings in certain sub-categories that examine factors such as general infrastructure, electronic government, policy information and communications technology (ICT), and information infrastructure. Not surprisingly, the study ranked Singapore, Northern European countries, and the United States as the world leaders in what it refers to as "networked readiness"--the ability of nations to take part in the networked world. Those countries that achieved the highest rankings were those that had the most highly developed ICTs, and the greatest potential to profit from those technologies. Ireland ranked 19th out of 75 countries, just ahead of Japan and Korea. Ireland was able to break into the top 20 because of the strength of its local software industry, which brought it an initial ranking of 13. India, Israel, and Ireland were cited as countries where the development of local infrastructure has considerably outpaced developments in the local software and services industries. (Network Operations, Management and Control) "Beefing Up 802.11b Security" The 802.11x wireless networking standard is becoming increasingly secure as new specifications are in the works that would improve the networks' security technology. The Wireless Ethernet Compatibility Alliance is currently working to gather approval for 802.11i, which uses RC4 encryption in a more secure way than with previous 802.11a and 802.11b versions. For one thing, the new Temporal Key Integrity Protocol (TKIP) standard would apply new encryption keys to every 10 kilobytes of data, unlike the old Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) security protocol. Existing 802.11x hardware will be upgradeable to TKIP, in most cases. Researchers are also working on another, even more secure version that would do away with WEP and RC4 altogether, replacing it with more secure AES-based algorithms. AES-enabled wireless networks should be available early next year, although interoperability testing for the hardware will not be finalized until at least spring. (Communications Standards) "China's Hi-Tech Companies Love
Britain" Invest UK reports that Chinese high-tech companies favor the United Kingdom as the site of their first international beachhead. Roughly 125 Chinese mainland firms have set up British offices while 90 more recently entered the market, according to the investment agency. Britain's long-term relationship with Hong Kong appears to be one of the reasons why Chinese companies are drawn to the country. "This is a neat combination of British [mainland] China and Hong Kong venture capital working together," notes Invest UK investment advisor Chris Fraser. "It demonstrates Britain's strength in value-added services such as R&D." Relaxed taxation statutes are another reason why Britain is considered prime real estate for regional headquarters. Among the sectors being spurred to set up shop in England are biotechnology, telecommunications, and IT hardware and software. (Product Sales and Marketing) "Pervasive Computing: The Walls Are
Listening" Smart Space Laboratory researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have used elements of pervasive computing to develop a prototype voice-recognition conference room. Pervasive computing is described as giving devices the ability to communicate with each other through a LAN, wired or wireless networks, or some combination of the networks. The idea is to enable people to make computations at a desktop PC or on a personal digital assistant, or even allow the pervasive computing system to make computations in the background, which is known as invisible computation. Open-source middleware, which links voice-recognition software, video cameras, and microphones, is at the heart of the NIST Smart Flow System designed by the researchers. The system can follow dictation and track people as they move around the room. "If I'm talking to you, and a computer can follow what the conversation is about, it can go out and get services," says NIST's Martin Herman, who adds that the computer can scope out online information related to the discussion. This would be a long-range goal for the meeting room. Herman says pervasive computing could turn up in other areas of everyday life, especially if computers and sensors are embedded in clothing, watches, shoes, eyeglasses, chairs, tables, and in walls. (Computer Communications, Systems and Protocols) "Predictions, Prevention Key to
Cybersecurity" U.S. National Infrastructure Protection Center (NIPC) director Ronald Dick said government and private industry was doing a better job reacting to cyberattacks, but that a system to predict cyberattacks would help prevent them. Dick's speech at the CyberCrime 2002 conference highlighted successes in networking cybersecurity efforts between different levels of government and industry, even at a time when cyberattacks are happening more frequently than ever. He said the Infraguard network of public/private groups is growing its membership by 20 percent each month, and has become one of the largest forums to share information on cybersecurity. Dick said the NIPC, the cybersecurity branch of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, can do more to provide businesses with tools to protect themselves against imminent cyberattack. One such program in development at the NIPC, a "cyberweather forecast," would allow corporate computer security managers to prevent entirely or mitigate the effect of near-term threats. (Network Reliability, Security and Quality Assurance) "Internet Group Plans
Security-Information Exchange" The Internet Software Consortium (ISC) has announced plans to develop a security information-exchange--a closed network that will facilitate awareness about security issues and security holes as a result of the recent discovery of four vulnerabilities in the Berkeley Internet Name Domain (BIND) software. Currently, ISC issues information about security alerts and patches through the Computer Emergency Response Team Coordination Center (CERT) at Carnegie Mellon University. Many discussions about these security issues tend to take place on public email lists, meaning that hackers could be using the information, says ISC Chairman Paul Vixie. Beginning in late Feb. 2002, ISC will offer an information service that will require paid registration from members; those members will be required to use encrypted email. Domain name registries, software firms like Red Hat and IBM, and developers will be allowed to join. "Anyone who ships that [BIND] software as part of their systems can be part of this," says Vixie. The service will enable security officials to gather and trade information before any alert hits the general public, where the news can be intercepted by hackers and other disrupters. The new service "allows people to have a direct relationship with the ISC rather than using CERT as an intermediary," Vixie says. (Internet Architecture, Technology and Applications) "The Network in Every Room" This winter will see the debut of a new technology that enables high-speed communications over power lines, a major step toward the vision of a completely networked home. The key challenge was boosting the technology's speed and reliability while dealing with electrical interference from radio signals, static-generating appliances, and switches being thrown, etc. The HomePlug Powerline Alliance made meeting this challenge a priority, and a team led by Intellon's Larry W. Yonge worked around the technical difficulties by using multimegahertz signals, an 84-channel spectrum, and orthogonal frequency division multiplexing to deal with rapid line fluctuations. Intellon's head of engineering William E. Earnshaw says the prototype equipment was tested in over 25 firms and 500 homes worldwide, and that it easily fulfilled the alliance's mandate to supply full capacity to 80 percent of the homes. Competing standards such as Wi-Fi, which networks via radio waves, and HomePNA, which operates through phone jacks, are limited by cost and security issues in the first case and phone jack availability in the second. HomePlug's products feature automatic encryption, which gives it a security edge over Wi-Fi, says HomePlug President Tom Reed. However, Parks Associates' Kurt Scherf notes that the technology faces two challenges: A rival specification from the Consumer Electronics Association, which is at least a year away; and the wait-and-see attitude of audio, video, and telephone manufacturers, which could delay the introduction of highly desired forms of power-line communications. (Optical Communications and Networking) "ADSL Surges Ahead of Cable in
Japan Broadband Battle" In Japan, the number of ADSL subscribers has surpassed the number of cable Internet users for the first time, according to a recent report from the Ministry of Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications. The report said that as of December 31, 2001, the number of ADSL users had increased to about 1.53 million, compared with only 1.3 million cable subscribers. In response, cable operators have adopted a number of aggressive countermeasures, including the launch of additional high-speed products and price cuts. For example, Kintetsu Cable Networks, an enterprise-targeted provider in Nara prefecture, and Its Communications, which serves Yokohama and Tokyo, are both expected to introduce new high-speed cable Internet access services over the next few months, with maximum connection speeds of 30 Mbps. (Interconnections in High-Speed Digital Systems) "Giving Hackers Their Due" People working in the computer and network security industry cannot keep up with the growing number of malicious hackers, according to convicted hacker Robert Lyttle, aka Pimpshiz. Lyttle, who is awaiting sentencing for hundreds of Web site defacements, recently wrote that the security community must forge ties with the hacker community in order to protect systems. He said the media does little to enlighten people to the intricacies in hacker culture, whose members either cause or help solve problems to some degree. Lyttle also warned that an almost infinite number of "script kiddies" pose the biggest threat to computer security because security experts and law enforcement does not have sufficient resources to clamp down on their illegal activity. Such amateur hackers borrow code from famous exploits or download pre-fabricated hacking tools from the Internet to cause damage. The FBI recently teamed with the Computer Security Institute in a survey that found 65 percent of government and financial institutions said they had incurred financial loss due to hacking. On average, these organizations lost $378 million per year. Security service firm Riptech says hacking attacks have increased against targets like high-tech companies and financial companies by 79 percent from July to December 2001. (Network Reliability, Security and Quality Assurance) "Hack Attacks Force UK Host to
Close Its Doors" U.K. hosting and ISP company Cloud Nine has closed down permanently after suffering a series of denial of service attacks. Cloud Nine issued a statement saying that the severity and constancy of the attacks destroyed the company's firewall and forced Cloud Nine to take its network offline. The day after Cloud Nine announced its shutdown, U.K. ISP V21 said it had agreed to acquire Cloud Nine's assets, but Cloud Nine CEO Emeric Miszti said that there was still some uncertainty about the deal. Rumors emerged that the company would relaunch in the future and would charge clients to release hosted domains, which gave rise to more rumors that Cloud Nine had closed because of financial insolvency. Cloud Nine's assets were eventually sold to Zetnet, an ISP. (Network Reliability, Security and Quality Assurance) "Warning: Complexity Ahead!" In an interview with Gary H. Anthes of Computerworld, writer and consultant Clay Shirky argues that decentralizing technologies such as peer-to-peer (P2P) are difficult to understand. In enterprises, such technologies can raise productivity and at the same time take control away from the IT department. IT managers no longer have an overall, global picture of the business, Shirky says. Using biological systems as a template is one possible solution, because they follow a local context, he explains. "Your kidneys only know what's going on in the kidneys, yet the whole organism functions," Shirky elucidates. He adds that converting applications into objects can give computer systems the same operational scheme as biological systems; these applications will be more protocol-based than API-based. As a result, mysterious system failures will increase in number but will be less disastrous, Shirky says. (Computer Communications, Systems and Protocols) "Abilene Christian University Goes
IP" Companies and contact centers are anticipating the integration of voice, data, and video networks by implementing voice over IP (VoIP). A case in point is Abilene Christian University (ACU), which recently launched a campus-wide VoIP system that uses Alcatel's OmniPCX 4400 switch. The system links about 3,500 lines across 35 campus buildings; nearly 50 percent of those lines are analog connections for dorm rooms. The institution's 17-year-old SL1 telephone switch lacked the capacity needed for an expanding campus, notes director of computer and network services Bob Neville. The ACU network links three contact centers run by 80 students: The Response Center, which takes calls dealing with admissions and financial aid; the tech response center, which specializes in computing and other technology-related inquiries; and the campus radio center, which is used for fundraising campaigns only a few times each year. (Multimedia Communications and Digital Media) "UWB My Valentine?" Ultrawideband (UWB) wireless technology could enter limited commercial deployment if the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) gives it the go-ahead this Feb. 14, as many industry watchers expect. The FCC has been discussing UWB for three years, partly because of the complex technical issues being debated. Opponents of UWB say it would interfere with global positioning system devices and other wireless transmissions, even spectrums used solely by air traffic control and the military. However, more recent research shows it may be possible to limit the signal interference to negligible amounts through the use of signal filters. Moreover, says Time Domain vice president Jeff Ross, the Defense Department is a big proponent of UWB with over 100 UWB contracts in development. (Wireless Communications)
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