Communications and Technology Blog - Tehrani.com - WiMAX Archives

xG Technology Scores Another Potential Win

2013-01-15T18:29:37Z

Yesterday I discussed how xG Technology scored with a big $6M win and today the company has announced Cornet Technology has entered into an agreement with xG to resell $5M worth of the company’s products to the government and DoD.

Cornet Technology, Inc. is a privately-held concern which designs, engineers, and manufactures a wide range of advanced command, control, communications, computer, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (C4ISR) solutions targeted at U.S. and international defense and aerospace agencies.

The deal covers part of an end-to-end two-way video streaming solution for vehicles that is currently under development.

For a company which so many predicted wouldn’t make it – the potential for $11M in sales in two days is pretty impressive. Still, while the news of this partnership is great for company backers and employees, it isn’t a done deal quite yet.

A few other points. If the company is successful selling to the government via this deal - it could do exceedingly well selling to other governments around the world and to more US agencies as well. Also, M2M could be a market which can benefit from the company's solutions.

On the negative side of the ledger is the potential for ubiquitous WiFi coverage and Super-WiFi technologies to make the company's solutions less valuable over time.

xG Technology Scores Huge Win

2013-01-14T22:08:10Z

The most controversial company I have ever reported on has to be xG Technology. They have a wireless solution which uses unlicensed spectrum in an efficient manner in order to allow service providers to provider service without needing to purchase costly licensed spectrum. Never have I been subjected to repeated scathing comments than in my writings and video posts pertaining to this company.

Bottom line was I saw a working demo and reported on it. Detractors argued the demo I saw was not scalable under any circumstances.

Now xG has just reported $6M in new orders from PMC Associates based in Hazlet, New Jersey, Communications Marketing Southeast based in Dallas, Georgia and Mobile-One Communications based in Venice, Florida.

This is quite a big win for a company that has been accused of selling bogus solutions by many people. To be fair when xG first launch the company made some claims about their technology which seemed so unbelievable that it turned out they weren’t correct.

In 2 weeks Super WiFi Summit will be held in Miami, FL, close to the company’s HQ. If I catch up with them there it will be interesting to learn if xG sees the opportunity to use white spaces as competitive or complimentary to what they provide.

See also my past posts on the company in chronological order

2005: xMax
2009: Deciphering xG Technology
2009: xG Technology xMax Works as Advertised
2010: XG Technologies Interview at ITEXPO East 2010
2011: xG Technology Making Progress

Chinese Nortel Hack Unconfirmed by my Sources

2012-02-16T01:33:35Z

Although reports have been swirling regarding Chinese hackers breaking into Nortel's computers for over ten years in order to steal trade secrets, I have been unable to confirm such a breach took place. I have tapped into a few high-level sources and they were unaware of anything like this happening - the internal Nortel employees would almost certainly need to know if such an attack was taking place.

After all, reports say that even Nortel CEO Mike Zafirovski had a computer which was compromised.

One of the reasons Nortel went bankrupt had to do with Chinese competitors Huawei and ZTE undercutting Nortel on price for carrier wireless and other products. So it easy to understand why many would easily believe that Nortel had been hacked.

And hacks from China are not unusual - they have happened to numerous US companies and even government agencies.

But again, would you not let your company workers know if this was the case?

Siobhan Gorman has a story in the Wall Street Journal on what happened at Nortel and it seems there is enough information to make you believe the hack was real. But still, I remain skeptical that the breach if it happened was on such a massive scale. I reached out to Siobhan in order to see if there are any public documents which would enlighten us. I will advise you if I hear of anything - please drop me a line if you know of anything as well.

xG Technology Making Progress

2011-12-29T23:20:06Z

You may recall xG technology is a company based in Florida - they made some incredible claims regarding their wireless technology regarding range and capacity. Over time they scaled back their claims and I went to their office to verify they had a working network.

The buzz on the Internet from detractors was that their technology wasn't scalable. Many of these detractors were quite hostile actually and attacked me directly - for basically recording in video and words what I saw with my own eyes (here is a link to many of the company's videos - many made by myself and TMC).

But getting back to the company they have a few news items worth sharing.

First off is the news they signed a teaming agreement with Force 3 allowing their technology to be bid as the cellular wireless component to the US Army. The results of the RFP will be decided in the summer of 2012. The xMax cognitive radio solution was deployed earlier this year in six-month field trials conducted by the US Army, as well as by technicians in the Army Research laboratory.

Moreover the wireless network I actually tested a few years back serving Broward and Miami-Dade counties has been leased for exclusive use for the sum of $15 million. Care21 is signing on behalf of an international investor group led by Markus Losada, the founder of Care21, and lasts for a term of five years.

The first payment of $440,000 has already been received by the company.

A few years back I was literally excoriated for even considering the idea that company had viable technology. It seems based on recent progress the company has more supporters than detractors. In the end of course it is all about dollar signs... We will see what happens with xG Technology - so far the news hasn't moved the stock which is trading around 50 cents per share.

Should We Define 4G Before the Government Does?

2011-10-13T21:19:18Z

Every few years the American people elect politicians who say one thing to get elected and do another once in office. Conflicts of interest, scandals related to campaign contributors, tax evasion and other related issues have made us numb and political ethics is a phrase you may have just read now for the first time.

But of course politicians being politicians need to help the people - at least that is what they say they want to do. One of the latest focus areas is 4G - what exactly is it? My company TMC runs a show on 4G called 4GWE (Feb 1-3, 2012 in Miami) so this topic is of great importance to me.

In a recent story on TMCnet sister site TechZone360, there is a fascinating article which begins as follows:

Today, Rep. Anna G. Eshoo (D-Palo Alto), top Democrat on the U.S. House of Representatives' Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Communications and Technology, applauded Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Senator Al Franken (D-MN) for introducing a Senate companion bill to the Next Generation Wireless Disclosure Act, which she introduced in the U.S. House in June.

The situation is as follows - the government wants a strict definition of what 4G is so consumers aren't duped into buying a service they believe to be fast only to find that it really isn't. Of course anyone who knows anything about wireless signals knows that even a blazing fast service can be bogged down by flash mobs, over-subscription, obstructions and of course weather and proximity to the tower.

So if you promise a certain speed and there is a massive traffic jam in the area causing an extra 5,000 people to make calls, download songs and watch videos around the same in a similar location, every subscriber will see performance levels fall off dramatically. And we are talking nationwide service here where there could be over-subscription in any area at any time without notice.

This isn't that different than what happens with cable broadband- if you want lightening-fast service, wake up early on a weekday... Friday-Sunday nights are typically peak periods meaning your performance will be lower than normal. Not to mention hotel broadband which can charge you an arm and leg and be slower than dial-up.

It is worth noting that the wireless situation I have outlined above means the Senate and House can easily get experts to testify that wireless speeds of 4G networks are fairly slow. They can go to busy areas, do indoor trials, etc. to get whatever outcome they want. They can then give speeches about how big evil phone companies are taking advantage of consumers and then pass laws to limit virtually everything they do.

So wireless carriers and industry - now is the time to come up with some simple guidelines related to average 4G speeds and we need disclaimers relating to the issues in this post. The best way to keep the government getting involved in and subsequently destroying our markets through unintended consequences is to act decisively and head them off now.

Expect this to be an important topic in Miami this February at 4GWE collocated with ITEXPO.

AT&T Responds to DOJ - What They Missed

2011-09-09T23:54:10Z

AT&T responded to the DOJ regarding the blocked T-Mobile USA acquisition saying that the proposed merger would be good for consumers as it would allow AT&T to gain access to T-Mobile spectrum allowing their call quality to improve and the number of dropped calls to be reduced. This in turn they argue would lead to lower prices. Ma Bell 2.0 continued to explain that the wireless business is fiercely competitive which has resulted in lower prices over time.

The interesting takeaway here is that there is nothing new being argued. These were the original reasons presented when the merger was suggested. Sure, AT&T went on to say that smaller regional players aren’t being taken that seriously by the DOJ but to this point it seems consumers aren’t taking them that seriously either.

The way I see it, AT&T is basically saying their growth will be severely limited if this merger doesn’t take place because the spectrum doesn’t exist for them to serve the growing needs of their customers. But critics would likely respond that in a free market with vibrant competition, an independent T-Mobile would take advantage of the situation and advertise their network is superior and potentially even lower prices – thus luring customers from the oversubscribed AT&T network to T-Mobile’s.

This situation is even more likely as T-Mobile USA gets a nice chunk of AT&T spectrum if the deal does not go through.

It is worth noting that the mobile market has to a certain degree been in an unusual state in the last five years in-part because of AT&T Mobility’s exclusivity on Apple products. The combination of the popularity of Apple’s iOS-based mobile devices coupled with the amount of mobile data users of these devices consumed has led to a challenge AT&T has not solved yet.

One way the company has tried to cope is to put mobile WiFi hotspots around the US – in fact there is one here in Austin where I am as I prepare for ITEXPO next week. But sadly I haven’t been able to connect to it for some reason. Perhaps it’s oversubscribed as well?

Although AT&T hasn’t argued this point – it could be the one fact they need to explain as to why competition will be vibrant in the future – even after a merger between the number one and four players in the same market. Basically it is Super WiFi or white spaces. You know – those frequencies which are unused but could potentially be the basis for a nationwide wireless network with tremendous range and capability.

Next Week at Super WiFi Summit in Austin a collocated ITEXPO event, the industry will get together to discuss how this market is evolving and come up with ways to ensure it becomes a major wireless communications enabler.

To give you an idea of how big a space this could be – take a look at who is presenting at the show. Google, Microsoft, Telcordia, Carlson, Nokia, Neul, Spectrum Bridge, 6harmononics and Adaptrum. I am told we also will have most of the attorneys and lobbying power in the rooms including Rick Whitt, Michael Calabrese, Marty Stern (K&L Gates), and Steve Coran (RiniCoran).

The goal of this piece wasn’t to bring up these TMC events but the tie-in is just too important to ignore. As I see the world, Super WiFi could be to 4G what VoIP was to the PSTN and since I am going to be part of a Death of the PSTN keynote panel this coming Tuesday there should be little doubt how that battle has ended up.

The challenges of Super WiFi are many but technology seems to find a way to enable new competitors to emerge where you least expect them. Google never knew that some college kid was going to invent social networking and challenge their dominance in online ads. Yahoo didn’t realize that their enviable position of being the premiere online destination would eventually be successfully challenged by Google, Facebook and countless others. Nokia and RIM didn’t see the iPhone coming and Microsoft, Palm and HP did see the iPad coming and Microsoft was even first to the tablet market and still Apple is gaining desktop and mobile share from all three and Microsoft still doesn’t have a new tablet OS on the market.

So my suggestions to AT&T’s lawyers would be stop explaining how a merger will create jobs because there seem to be no examples of a merger yielding more jobs – ever. Instead focus on new technology because although I would rate the real threat of Super WiFi to 4G today as very small, there was a time when the WiFi market didn’t exist at all and we saw how quickly it proliferated once the prices for hardware started to decline rapidly.

20 Millions Reasons WiMAX is Here to Stay

2011-08-22T20:19:06Z

Wait a minute. The common wisdom in the wireless world is that WiMAX lost the war to LTE. But with the news that the standard has passed 20 million subscribers, is it time to rethink that premise? The answer is that in many cases incumbent providers have opted for LTE as their 4G standard of choice and as a result, WiMAX is going to remain somewhat nichy. Even 20 million users is not a tremendous amount when you consider the billions of users predicted to eventually use LTE networks.

Although when it comes to tech, predicting the future is never easy, it seems that WiMAX is still going to occupy a small segment of the wireless market.

Beyond what I have already written, the challenge with any wireless standard has to do with the chicken-and-egg nature of devices versus network reach. In other words, does a manufacturer even want to have their device work with WiMAX if the addressable market is a small number in the tens of millions?

So really, although the news is somewhat good for WiMAX - the wireless standard needs to do better to be taken seriously by device manufacturers.

Really, the only way I see WiMAX overtaking LTE is if Apple decides to roll out a device exclusively on WiMAX and LTE. And I don't see a business case for such a scenario.

For more, check out this article on TMCnet's new Mobility Tech Zone site.

Why Windstream Bought PAETEC

2011-08-01T14:35:08Z

Broadband and communications provider Windstream Corp just agreed to purchase communications conglomerate PAETEC for $2.3 billion in order to add scale and drive growth. PAETEC is an interesting company as it not only provides broadband and IP communications services; it also has data center services, is a large telecom reseller/interconnect, provider of telecom expense management (TEM) solutions and more.

Earlier this year I reported that PAETEC CEO Arunis Chesonis was looking for potential acquisition targets in India and elsewhere and in fact the company did just pick up XETA Technologies to boost its cloud-based service offerings. Interestingly his own company may have been in play while PAETEC itself was exploring more acquisition targets. Keep reading to learn more about other potential acquirers.

Large companies getting larger

Carriers are getting larger – and not just the largest, AT&T and T-Mobile (if it closes), Verizon purchased Terremark and CenturyLink recently picked up Savvis. In order to compete in commoditized business like broadband and voice, scale matters. Peter Radizeski has important comments about this very issue worth reading on his TMCnet blog. Here is an excerpt:

All that unused fiber. The owners of the VAR's - of Quagga, XETA and USEP - who now have to feel slighted. Are probably asking themselves the same thing that I am: WTH???

But if you look at the acquisitions being all over the map - and that Arunas was in India recently where he was rumored to be trying to sell to Tata - then you have to figure the runway ran out on Wall Street for PAETEC. Meaning that organic growth just was not happening.

With everything that is going on in the economy an out industry, sustaining growth is almost impossible. Revenues can not go up when prices are dropping. (This is why the cellcos are going metered -- it's the only way to bring in much needed revenue in a flat market.)

Strong stock prices low interest rate environment

Tech and telecom companies are trading at fair to optimistic valuations and relative to other spaces, these areas are generally good places for investors to be. Moreover, borrowing costs are low, making it a good time for sellers and buyers to be exploring options.

Cloud, cloud and more cloud

A big part of the growth strategies of virtually all telecom companies is data centers and the cloud and PAETEC has been investing in this space making this an important reason for the company to be acquired.

Fiber is in strong demand

With the massive need for bandwidth for things like wireless backhaul, the combined company with 100,000 fiber route miles is in a great position to cash in on the future need for broadband speed.

This deal positions Windstream as a major force in the communications space and it will be worth watching what it decides to do with the various businesses PAETEC is in. Will it choose to invest and growth them – selling TEM services to its current customers or will it make sense to focus just on cloud-based services for the future and divest some businesses which may be considered non-core.

TMC Dallas Video Interviews 2011

2011-07-25T15:57:02Z

Recently I spent some time in Dallas doing video interviews with companies in the Dallas, Texas area and during the course of the discussions I was able to get a sense of where the markets have been and are going. The vast range of different opinions really comes together into a few themes.

They are simply that wages and turnover rates in India are skyrocketing meaning some jobs may be headed back to the US. This is offset by an interview with King White of the Site Selection Group - an organization which helps companies decide which countries and states they should locate in. He tells us that states with higher taxes are less attractive and subsequently deter companies from opening there. Simply stated, voters electing candidates who consider raising taxes are likely killing the future job prospects of their state.

This is also the case in elections of congressmen, senators and obviously presidential elections.

On the tech side, there is an increased push towards video, wireless, small cells, mobility and the call center space is enjoying renewed growth and energy.

For more details, browse the descriptions below, view the videos and read the articles.

COMPANY			Description
Site Selection Group	Video	Article	Learn how higher taxes kills jobs
Varaha Systems	Video	Article	Mobile solutions - voice, data and video
Airband Communications	Video	Article	Fixed wireless for business
Vanillasoft	Video	Article	Inside sales automation
Airwalk Communications	Video	Article	Small cells and the future of mobile & wireless
Sipera	Video	Article	Unified communications security, simpler SBCs
ABP	Video	Article	Death of value chain PBX distribution
Mavenir	Video	Article	Mobile 2.0 discussion
Working Solutions	Video	Article	Home agents, social, call center technology
Alepo	Video	Article	IT solutions for wireless carriers
Conexion One	Video	Article	Hispanic outsourcing services
ViewCast	Video	Article	Coding formats for video delivery
Doublehorn Communications	Video	Article	SMB broadband communications, SIP trunking
Samsung	Video	Article	Mobile phones, devices, content, smartphones
Reallinx	Video	Article	Better broadband, security, VoIP service & support
Spectrum Corpo	Video	Article	Contact center monitoring, data analysis
ICON Voice Networks	Video	Article	Was Iwatsu America. Now more strategic US focus
Epygi	Video	Article	More scaleable phone & video solutions
Artisan	Video	Article	Infrastructure as a service - wholesale, pure-play
MinuteMan UPS	Video	Article	Extended run-time UPS systems
Facetcorp	Video	Article	Flexible, customized PBX systems
Fonality	Video	Article	The move to cloud communications
Telstrat	Video	Article	Workforce optimization, coaching, analytics
Novo 1 Contact Centers	Video	Article	Call center agents coming back to the US
Telstrat 2	Video	Article	Evolution of the call center, recording 2.0

PSTN Death is Near

2011-07-07T14:13:04Z

I vividly remember driving my car in 1999 – two years after the company where I am CEO, TMC decided to launch Internet Telephony Magazine and thinking VoIP was going to change the way communications works and eventually kill the PSTN. It seemed to me that within five years most of the world would make the transition as the cost disparity at the time was quite large between the PSTN and VoIP connections. Moreover, there were a myriad of free calling services using VoIP such as Dialpad which were ad supported, putting even more pressure on traditional telecom networks.

Within a few years the dotcom and telecom bubbles burst (we collectively said goodbye (details) to Dialpad and its competitors) and the cost for using the PSTN dropped substantially in order to better compete with IP communications alternatives. So my internal projections which I am not sure I ever wrote about before turned out to be too optimistic.

The period between 2001-2004 could easily be referred to us the nuclear winter of VoIP – well communications in general is more like it – not to mention tech. But the last six years has seen continuing evolution in IP communications with VoIP peering and SIP trunking just some of the latest solutions to make a cost savings and productivity–boosting technology even better.

And from the consumer standpoint – they all know about Vonage, Skype – have cell phones and use IM and social networking to communicate. So it will come as little surprise to you that according to an article from TMCnet’s Peter Bernstein:

As of May 2010, 23% of respondents lived in a mobile-only household
37% of adults in the 18-24 and 30-34 age groups lived in a mobile-only household
Only 6% of the US population will still be served by the public switched telephone network (which is defined as TDM access line service) by the end of 2018

Simply stated, the PSTN is dying.

Industry leader and past TMC conference speaker Tom Evslin a person who I couldn’t respect more, even suggests the government needs to get involved to ensure there is universal access as we enter a transitionary period. Specifically he explains that USF dollars help maintain the network and as more high-value customers leave it, there are fewer dollars to maintain service in areas which are expensive/hard to reach and potentially devoid of alternatives.

Specifically he says:

Although it offends my free market sensibilities, I think government also must be involved in assuring that everyone who now has PSTN service has access to either a broadband or cellular communication alternative.

BTW – it is always tough to argue with free-market sensibilities – my confidence in the government doing anything right beyond putting out fires, enforcing contracts, and keeping us safe through the military and police force is pretty low. Of course this is in part because I see the law of unintended consequences rearing its ugly head virtually every time the government acts. See Net Neutrality: More Unintended Consequences and Dear Government, Please Stop "Helping" Us for details. Want more? Google effectiveness of Obama stimulus.

But getting back to the discussion on the PSTN – Bernstein suggests a separation between the pipe and service business. But are we to rely on the government or a separate monopoly to upgrade these pipes for us or is it better to allow a combined service/pipes company provide both? In the latter situation, the combined entity has increased incentive to upgrade the pipes quickly so as to provide value-added services over the connection.

Of course in my example I assume that one company will be responsible for maintaining both a copper and fiber network – would it make sense to have multiple companies maintain networks which are unprofitable for one company to maintain?

Moreover, would it be better to wait for Congress, the Senate and White House to come to an agreement on which fiber pairs should be run to our homes? Or will a separate company manage these networks and if so, who runs that? Will the FCC decide? By the way, is the new company regulated? Will it be forced to dig up and replace the technology from time to time? And finally, who pays for it?

Of course this situation is far from simple to solve and I wonder if satellite providers may not be a missing puzzle piece requiring more study. Then there are new technologies such as white spaces/super WiFi which could theoretically work in a meshed capacity to solve some of the remote access issues we now face.

I’d love to hear from you if you have some thoughts on how to resolve the situation and bridge the gap.

Be sure to check out TMC’s Super WiFi Summit, September 13-15 in Austin, Texas to learn more about this promising technology and how it could could be part of the solution to sunsetting the PSTN.

Ericsson Telcordia Acquisition Analysis

2011-06-14T21:38:04Z

TMCnet's latest addition to our writing team is Peter Bernstein and he has some excellent analysis of the acquisition of Telcordia by Ericsson. He believes in general the deal is a good move for Ericsson but as always, there are potential pitfalls which he details.

His intimate knowledge of the companies and space mean he mentions a number of points the financial analysts missed.

Regulatory 2.0 Conference in DC Tomorrow

2011-04-11T18:40:55Z

In an age where the government is so crucial to shaping communications and technology through its decisions on mergers, net neutrality, spectrum and a host of others, it is imperative that we take these actions into account as we plan for the future. Lawyers, decision-makers, policy-makers and everyone who could see their business fortunes change as a result of government policy shifts should be in DC tomorrow for this event.

Thank you Google who is the Diamond Sponsor and Pillsbury who is the Gold Sponsor. You can register here, this press release has more details and the schedule is below:

April 12th, 2011 The ICC FUSF NPRM:
A New Vision for the Future of Communications?

Hosted by
Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP
2300 N St. NW Washington DC

The Regulatory 2.0 Conference DC is going to focus on the following topics:

8:45 - 9:00 Opening Remarks: Jim Kohlenberger, President, JK Strategies

9:00 – 10:00 Rumors of POTS Death have been “Greatly Exaggerated”.
While packetized technology dominates the backbone of our networks, most of the end user community still experiences the revolution through the traditional twisted pair. Hear about and understand the REALITIES of today’s network.

Panel:	Dave Erickson, FreeConferenceCall.com Dave Frankel, ZIPDX Barlow Keener, Keener Law Group Brad Ramsey, NARUC
Moderator:	Glenn Richards, Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP

10:15 – 11:15 POTS in Transition
Even VoIP users are played a dial tone file. As over the top voice services become more common and embedded in other aspects of the communications experience, like gaming and social networking, end users will have to understand the transition. Where is the opportunity to highlight these changes and what is the impact on traditional issues?

Panel:	Jenny Chandra, Windstream Rebekah Goodheart, FCC Eric Burger, Georgetown University Hank Hultquist, AT&T
Moderator:	Todd Daubert, SNR Denton

11:30 – 12:30 What Dreams May Come
Is video the future? Does texting need the same solutions as Voice? Should POTS be left alone as the user’s communication choices expand? What should be left in POTS wake and what should we call it? Is there a new model of service and will regulation change? Will the rules of the web and Internet communications be the same for voice as well?

Panel:	Steve Coran, Rini Coran Trey Hanbury, Sprint Staci Pies, Skype Richard Shockey, SIP Forum
Moderator:	Marty Stern, K&L Gates

12:30 End

TMC, where I am CEO is a co-host of this event with Crossfire Media.

Heading Back from CTIA Wireless 2011

2011-03-24T13:04:09Z

I had a good week down in Orlando, FL at the CTIA show with many meetings. Some highlights included much debate about the AT&T acquisition on T-Mobile and the $3B break up fee associated with it. Then there were new tablets and a focus on backhaul, small cells, LBC and some talk of NFC as well as solutions to tie voice and data connections more tightly together over wireless networks. You'll be hearing more from me on what I learned very soon. And ironically for a wireless show, the broadband connection in the convention center was pitiful and the hotel and airport weren't much better. The connection on the airplane wasn't terrible for satellite - it's probable that there were a lot of leisure travelers on the flight down here. Hopefully the same is true for the flight back.

Location:S Park Cir,Orlando,United States

Electronic Warfare is the Future. Are You Ready?

2011-02-14T15:16:46Z

Stuxnet is Victory at Entebbe 2.0

The Stuxnet worm alleged to be the work of Israel and the US was designed to target and disable Iranian centrifuges by increasing their speeds to dangerous levels while reporting to operators that all was well. The latest report from the New York Times shows this worm has also hit five industrial sites in the land of Ahmadinejad.

It’s no secret most of the world does not want Iran to get nuclear weapons and the best weapon being used to deter the country’s nuclear program was sanctions and if they are working it would be tough to know it as the country are prospering greatly as the price of oil is much higher than what Iran has budgeted.

So electronic warfare is a nice and neat way to disable a portion of the country’s operations without the need to go to war, risk lives, etc.

Because of the nature of this attack some predict the Iranian nuclear program has been set back by two years, making this attack historic in its ingenuity. It is really Victory at Entebbe 2.0. As you may recall, Operation Entebbe was a daring hostage rescue mission pulled off by the Israel Defense Forces in 1976.

Cyberattacks are not new by any means but the level of sophistication and damage created by this attack make it something bad guys everywhere will be trying to emulate. And this means as we interconnect more systems from smart grids to smart homes… From automobiles to transit systems and full cities, we need to understand the stakes are higher than ever. Rogue countries and terrorist organizations have a new standard to try to beat and it is not out of the question to see countries engaging in more frequent cyberwars in the future. This could be in conjunction with conventional wars like when Russia and Georgia had their recent conflict or full out cyberwars like Stuxnet or when Russia targeted Estonian web servers with DDoS attacks.

For the tech industry this means massive new budgets will be allocated to not only defending against such attacks but developing ingenious new ways of disabling enemies.

And while cyberwar sounds less ominous than having bombs dropped on your head, there is no telling what sorts of damage citizens of the future will be facing if cyberterrorism and cyberwar escalates.

Sprint Doing Better But Challenges Loom

2011-02-11T16:12:17Z

Sprint added 58,000 net subscribers in its latest quarter ahead of estimates but is still losing money and now must contend with the Verizon iPhone. Beecher Tuttle has the details on TMCnet. The new challenges for Sprint are twofold.

You can now get an iPhone to work anywhere in the US where Sprint service is strong. Every carrier has some pockets of strength. The basement of Grand Central Station for example is one place where AT&T works very well and Verizon doesn't work at all. In fact, AT&T does fairly well on the train from New York up to Boston.

So for those users on the Sprint network who want the iPhone but don't want to sacrifice the solid connections in their geography, they now have the ability to utilize the Verizon or AT&T networks.

The second challenge is competition between AT&T and Verizon will make both carriers sweeten their offers to attract and/or retain customers. Basically, AT&T's network has become commoditized overnight. How bad is the war between the two major carriers becoming? Well Jason D. O'Grady at ZDNet calls AT&T's latest set of offers groveling and desperate!

But isn't that a good thing? I think it is - for consumers anyway.

Still, the challenge for Sprint is now bigger than ever and the rise of 4G networks from all major US carriers makes it tougher for Sprint to tout its new network as a differentiator.