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Converting from Centrex to a PBX
Something to be aware of as you plan a migration from Centrex to PBX or VoIP. There is a potential that if the customer does not use the phone system that the LEC sells, the LEC may charge the customer for the in-house wiring. There have been cases where the LEC was seeking over $100,000 for the wiring after the customer switched.
Cable plant
In some areas, regulators have allowed the LEC to carry some OSP (Outside Plant Cables) on the regulated side of the books so some projected accounting value minus the depreciation would need to be recovered by the LEC if the customer were to leave the LEC. OSP has a life expectancy of 25 years or more, especially in environmentally protected locations such as equipment rooms.
A general rule of thumb is if the cable is black jacketed it is OSP. If the cable is gray or beige it is Inside Wire or cable such as riser. In some states, at the time of the ATT break up and thereafter black jacketed cable is still carried on the LEC’s books while the gray jacket is expensed. However, the customer should talk to the LEC OSPE (Outside Plant Engineer) as soon as possible to determine your specific situation.
The OSPE may want the customer to buy the risers and black jacket, which may include a 50-year-old black jacket, a mixture of Paper & Lead (a method of insulating conductors using paper pulp and covering in a lead jacket) as well as more current PIC (Plastic Insulated Cable).
An option would be to rebuild the complex. This option could be less expensive and easier than negotiating with the OSPE to take over 50 years of infrastructure. Infrastructure which will never support any modern high-speed services.
Rebuilding the infrastructure also provides an opportunity to turn the tables on the LEC. With their own infrastructure, it is possible for the Owner to tell the LEC to vacate the building since they no longer provide service beyond the MDF. Maybe this is your opportunity to link the buildings with fiber and replace older copper while it is in good shape (having been inside most of its life).
Another tactic would be to convince the Telco into certifying that they had “abandoned the cable in place.” If the LEC has installed the infrastructure, and if they want to claim ownership of the cable then they would be responsible for removing the cable as is required by state/local building codes. In many areas, if a cable is not terminated on both ends then it is considered to be abandoned and must be removed. Removing cable is almost as expensive as installing it.
PBX Circuit sales
Another advantage Owners may have is that the LEC is the Centrex provider. A PBX deployment still represents an opportunity for DS-1, DS-3, and trunks sale. Another lever would be to keep a small Centrex as a backup, as part of a business continuity plan as well as ISDN services to remote locations.
One consideration is that when taking over the cable plant the LEC will have to deal with the fact that there may be customers within the facilities that were not part of the enterprise and which were customers of the LEC. We ended up having to sign a “Shared Sheath” or condominium agreement with the owner. The condominium agreement will let the LEC support their customers on the Owners riser system. The Owner will have to provide a technician to help the LEC in mapping out cable pathways for their customers.
Related articles
- Speaking of PBX Systems (btsadvancedcommunications.wordpress.com)
- PBX What is PBX ? (driverpanasonic.wordpress.com)
Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.
RIP Windows XP
Updated – 08-08-08 Business PC buyers are still overwhelmingly opting for Microsoft’s (MSFT) Windows XP according to HP (HPQ). Rob Kingston, Group Manager of Commercial Product Marketing for HP said in an article in APC, “Looking into the crystal ball, I don’t think businesses will see much value in upgrading to Vista until late next year, and even so, Microsoft will probably have come out with something else by then.”
Today 06-30-08 was the last day Windows XP was officially available for purchase from retail outlets, major resellers, and OEM hardware manufacturers. That of course does not mean XP is completely gone. There is still a handful of ways to get your mitts on XP.
- Users that have Vista Ultimate and Vista Business licenses can choose to downgrade to Windows XP if they wish. Dell (DELL) is offering the downgrade option through January 31, 2009, and HP will offer the XP downgrade option on most of its business desktops and notebooks through at least July 30, 2009.
- Smaller software resellers will be able to sell Windows XP until January 2009, they just can’t buy any more copies.
- Another place to look would be eBay, as always, Caveat emptor.
- Microsoft will continue to sell XP for ultraportable laptops or Nettops such as the ASUS (2357) Eee.
Microsoft says it will continue to offer tech support for Windows XP until the end of 2009 and offer limited support in some form until 2014 by then, Microsoft should have released Windows 7, the next version of its desktop OS.
Related articles
- Still on Windows XP? Don’t wait until Windows 8 to upgrade! (arstechnica.com)
Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.
1 Billion PCs
CNet News ran a blurb from Gartner. The infobit suggests that the number of personal computers in use around the world has exceeded 1 billion. This report counted installed PCs and not machines sold.
PC growth
The firm also predicts that this number will double by 2014. They say most of this growth will occur in developing markets. Gartner analysts suggest that the emerging markets will account for 70 percent of the next billion PCs to come online. They named dropping prices and improved Internet access as factors driving that trend.
eWaste concerns
According to Gartner, in 2008, some 180 million computers, or 16 percent of those now in use globally, will be retired. “We estimate a fifth of these, or some 35 million PCs, will be dumped into landfill with little or no regard for their toxic content,” Meike Escherich, principal research analyst at Gartner, said in a statement. The challenge of disposing safely of electronics waste will also expand in developing markets in the coming years, she added.
Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.
City First in Mich for Broadband Over Powerlines
From Hometownlife.com Grand Ledge Michigan is the first city first in the state to get broadband over powerlines. A New York company is opening an office in the city to be the first in Michigan to offer broadband access to the Internet over power lines. The high-speed system will be available to the city’s businesses and residents in early to late spring.
The service will be offered by David Shpigler, president of the Shpigler Group, a consulting firm that specializes in advising utility companies. The company is changing directions and is becoming more of a service supplier. The launch of the technology is one of many similar business ventures around the country. Grand Ledge was selected to be the first place to deploy broadband over powerlines technology because it is centrally located and because it is served by Consumers Energy. “This is a commercial venture. We are also considering expanding to St. Johns and then evaluating it before launching the service in the rest of the state,” Shpigler said.
“We are working with vendors to be able to have the latest and greatest technology and be able to offer the fastest speeds,” Shpigler said. BPL technology allows a broadband signal to travel on a power line and connect computers to the Internet. A customer connects to the service using a special modem inserted in an electrical outlet instead of to a telephone line or to a cable wire. The company will have a local office at 203 S. Bridge St. in downtown Grand Ledge.
The cost to residential customers is expected to be $29.99 monthly, Shpigler said. Higher speeds and additional services will also be made available to local businesses on a “built-to-suit” basis, Shpigler said. Shpigler said a name for the service has not yet been selected.
He is partnering with Consumers Energy and will play an active role in promoting Broadband Over Powerlines in Michigan. Several similar systems are in operation across the country. BPL technology is widely used in Europe.
Shpigler, who is a well-known speaker on telecommunications issues around the country. He first introduced the service last November to the Grand Ledge Area Chamber of Commerce. He said future applications of BPL may include telephones, home security, medical alert, and Web hosting.
Related articles
Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.
Category: Uncategorized |
Tags: 2008, BPL, Broadband, Broadband over Powerline, Business, Consumers Energy, Michigan
Malware to exceed 1 Million in ’08
The total number of viruses will reach one million by year’s end, according to Sophos chief technology officer Paul Ducklin in an article in PC World. Most striking to me is that Ducklin claims 25 percent of unique malware have been created in the last six months of its 20-year history. That translates into 250,000 attack vectors in 6 months or nearly 60 unique malware vectors (as defined by Sophos) an hour.
Ducklin offers some hope, “About 85 to 90 percent of malware families have a fix created for them almost immediately,” which leaves over 50 new attack vectors an hour that have to be identified, code written and updates distributed.
In the same PC World article F-Secure Asia-Pacific vice president Jari Heinonen said it logs about 25,000 malware samples each day, the highest on record.
“The total number of viruses and Trojans will pass the one million mark by the end of 2008 if this trend continues,” Heinonen said.
Both Sopho’s Ducklin and F-Secure’s Heinonen say that drive-by-downloads of malware, due to iframes vulnerabilities are growing. F-Secure’s Heinonen “Drive-by downloads are the preferred way of spreading malware [because] they happen automatically by visiting a Website unless users have a fully patched operating system, browser, and plug-ins.“
Heinonen also predicts that malware will increasingly target the kernel sector through rootkits such as Mebroot, which attacks the bootstrap sector. A resurgent Mebroot was detected last month, some 15 years after the DOS-based malware was created.
Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.