Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.4/NSCS-1.0S) id MAA19536; Mon, 13 May 1996 12:37:04 -0400 (EDT) Date: Mon, 13 May 1996 12:37:04 -0400 (EDT) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (Patrick A. Townson) Message-Id: <199605131637.MAA19536@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V16 #233 TELECOM Digest Mon, 13 May 96 12:37:00 EDT Volume 16 : Issue 233 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson NYNEX Spends Millions To Promote Obsolete Name (Van Heffner) Cheap, Secure Transactions via Modem (Carl E. Grzybowski) CMIP, CORBA and SNMP People Needed! (Michael J. Amend) Sprint Business Sense Billing Errors (srb@t10.lanl.gov) Local Broadcast of Apple Development Conference 5/15 (Kelly Breit) Judge Dwyer Decision: Cities Can Regulate Wireless Facilities (B Jacobson) ITAA Slams ACTA On Net Phone Issue (Van Heffner) Excel Goes Public (Tad Cook) Escaping From the Tele-Slime (Andy Sherman) Suggestion: Place Introductory Message at End of Digest (Leo Bueno) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 12 May 1996 23:34:38 -0700 From: vantek@northcoast.com (VANTEK COMMUNICATIONS) Subject: NYNEX Spends Millions To Promote Obsolete Name Pat, Another humorous article about NYNEX! OPINION: Those Friendly Local Monopolies By Michael S. Lelyveld, The Journal of Commerce Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News May 13 -- Why is Nynex spending millions on name-identification ads when it is about to become Bell Atlantic? The answer is, it's hard to tell. The Northeast phone giant has launched a huge campaign for the Nynex name with full-page ads in the shape of a modular plug, coinciding with the April 22 announcement that it will merge with Bell Atlantic to be called, of all things, Bell Atlantic. Nynex officials are better at explaining these things than I am. "That's not an image campaign," said Jan Keeler, Nynex vice president for marketing communications. "That's a brand-retention campaign." The curious part is that the brand name won't be around for long. The problem for Nynex is that it won't be known as Bell Atlantic until it completes its $22 billion merger in about a year. In the meantime, it has to advertise something because deregulation will bring competition for local phone service onto its turf starting Oct. 1. Switching the "attributes" to Bell Atlantic should be relatively easy later on, said Ms. Keeler. Nynex won't say what it is spending on the campaign. Watching monopolies worry about competition is more interesting than the ads they produce. The Nynex appeal is to our reliance on the little plug -- and the big company behind it -- for everything from friendship to cold sesame noodles. Personally, I prefer hot noodles and still have doubts about the plugs -- that is, the ads. It seems that every time telecommunications companies split or merge, thousands of jobs are lost. Each time, the change comes with an ad campaign, leaving some to wonder why they don't just save their breath, their budgets and some people at the same time. In the case of the Nynex-Bell Atlantic merger, the companies plan to cut 3,000 jobs to save $300 million. It's less than AT&T's plan to shed 40,000 workers, but analysts say there may be more layoffs to come. Nynex argues that without ads to "grow" the business, it can't create jobs. That's believable. But I also can't help thinking that the telecommunications industry loves those plugs. Electric utilities face similar deregulation pressures, but we hear far less about their juice. There must be something about telecommunications that makes people talk. For a decade after the 1984 AT&T breakup, consumers in my icy corner of the country were jangled by jingles for New England Telephone. "We're the one for you, New England -- New England Telephone," they crooned. The operative word was "one." It was a monopoly, and there seemed to be little call for an ad barrage. Now, New England Telephone has given way to Nynex, which still calls itself "the one" that "brings it all to you." Soon, Nynex will be gone, too. While competition may give phone companies a reason to advertise, the fact is they advertise whether there is competition or not. Are they worried that we will start using two Dixie cups and a string, or do they just love the sound of their own voice? If they can save money on people, why not on ads? How about a half-page ad that reads, "We spent the other half on a job." That's the one that will get my call. Michael Lelyveld is national correspondent for The Journal of Commerce. ------------------- Van Hefner - Editor Discount Long Distance Digest On The Web: http://www.webcom.com/longdist/ ------------------------------ From: grzbo@teleport.com (Carl E Grzybowski) Subject: Cheap, Secure Transactions via Modem Date: Sun, 12 May 1996 21:51:44 -0700 Seeking ideas for conducting secure event transactions between a central web server and many remote locations nationwide via a dedicated modem connections to the Internet. Any advice would be appreciated. Work Flow: New entries and updates to the custom POS database (ODBC) will need to be posted in near real time to a central web server database residing on the Internet. A copy of the combined inventory, derived from the many remote locations, will made available for query. Specific requests made through the central server will then be authenticated (via encrypted keys) and forwarded to the associated location. Confirmation of the change will need to be reported back to the central server and the end user. Network: Since the amount of data to be exchanged each day is very small (approx 100K) an analog connection will be sufficient for performance. ISDN is not available in most locations. To get the near real time response the circuits must be dedicated. (In most locations unlimited Internet access is available for $20/month - although a Dynamic IP address may be assigned) At the remote locations the database will be hosted on Windows NT or Novell server. The client application runs on Windows 3.1.1 workstations. The LAN protocol would be either NETBEUI, IPX or TCP/IP over Ethernet. Alternative One: A modem could be connected directly to the server or a LAN connected workstation. In this scenario: What would be the best way to keep both the Network and COM port be active at the same time? Is it possible to create a secure connection to avoid unauthorized access? Alternative Two: A modem would be connected to a inexpensive PC that provides a secure gateway into the LAN and pass only the transaction data. What type of programing would be required? Are there any commercial packages that do this? Alternative Three: A inexpensive router or network modem that supports access rights and filtering. Any suggestions and how this would be set up? Is there ANY other way to do this (i.e. X.25) without a lot of network or H/W S/W costs at each site? I prefer e-mail, but feel free to post responses too if you think it'd be useful to others. Thanks in advance, Carl Grzybowski grzbo@year.com 1-503-293-2573 Grzbo@teleport.com http://www.teleport.com/~grzbo ------------------------------ From: mamend@eos.eos.net (michael j amend) Subject: CMIP, CORBA and SNMP People Needed! Date: Mon, 13 May 1996 01:17:16 +0100 Organization: the apex group We have many IMMEDIATE contract or permanent positions available in Seattle, San Jose and St. Louis for people with any of these skillsets. Seattle: CMIP or strong telnet background, C++, UNIX, networking, or a good combination of the above. Availability is immediate and flexible. Pay is OPEN. 100% on-site is preferred, but the right candidates may be able to do a 50% onsite/50% remote split. St. Louis: CORBA, Object Oriented Design or programming and NT experience is a pre-requisite. Availability is immediate and flexible. Pay is OPEN. 100% on-site is preferred, but some may qualify for a 50/50 split onsite/remote. San Jose: SNMP/OSI or strong telnet experience, C++ and UNIX is preferred. Any combination of the above will be considered. Availability is immediate and flexible. Pay is OPEN. If you qualify for any of the above positions, please email your resume to me at mamend@eos.net at your earliest convenience. If you want to fax your resume or have any questions please call me at 513-398-3501. Please leave a voice mail if I am not available and I will return your call as promptly as possible. We also have many other positions available thoughout the U.S. If you kinow someone that may have the above qualifications, please forward them this message. If you would like to be considered for another position, please email or fax us your resume. Thank you for your time and consideration. Mike Amend mamend@eos.net 513-398-3501 ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 13 May 96 08:14:56 MDT From: srb@t10.Lanl.GOV (srb) Subject: Sprint Business Sense Billing Errors Hi all, Due to a billing errors Sprint is charging to the Friday calls made prior to 4/19 to the so called blacklisted countries. The rep simply told that it was a 'computer billing error' and agreed to give credit. Sam [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: So, now they have reneged completely on that part of the Friday Free program; even going so far as to backdate all the calls people assumed would be free under the terms of the agreement. What a bunch of con artists! As has been stressed here before, Sprint customers with disputes of any kind on their bill and *especially* those customers who have been vitimized in the so-called 'Friday free' promotion should be withholding all payments from Sprint until Robin Loyed and/or others involved respond with written explan- ations and the required credit. You are not required under Federal Trade Commission rules to pay bills in dispute until the dispute has been resolved. Instruct your accounts payable department to place a complete freeze on all payments Sprint alleges are due to them until they get this mess straightened out. If enough customers refuse to pay them anything at all, Sprint will eventually begin inquiring what is wrong. Then you tell them, and demand they make it right. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 12 May 1996 16:03:02 -0500 From: kelly.breit@netalliance.net (Kelly Breit) Subject: Local Broadcast of Apple Development Conference 5/15 Forwarded to the Digest FYI: From: JULIBER1@AppleLink.Apple.COM (Juliber, Curtis) Subject: Broadcast of Dev. Conf 5/15 ***Apple's World Wide Developer's Conference (WWDC) Satellite Broadcast*** ***Wednesday, May 15*** Find out what's new and exciting at Apple Computer with Apple's new strategic direction as well as internet and components technology ... See the satellite broadcast of keynotes by Dr. Gil Amelio and Larry Tesler and Cyberdog and OpenDoc sessions from Apple's World Wide Developers' Conference in San Jose, CA. Logistics: ---------- Date: Wednesday, May 15th Time: 10:30 am - 5:30 pm CST Come and go as your schedule allows. A box lunch will be provided around 11:15 am. Where: Apple Computer Market Center 8400 Normandale Lake Blvd., Suite 250 Bloomington, MN 55437 (494 & Normandale/Hwy 100) R.S.V.P. via email to Heidi Bodette: bodette@applelink.apple.com Limited space is available, so R.S.V.P. ASAP. Sessions: --------- 10:30-11:10: Keynote: Apple's New Strategic Direction --Dr. Gil Amelio, CEO 11:10-12:30: Keynote: Apple's Internet Strategy --Larry Tesler, R&D VP 12:30- 1:30: OpenDoc: The Future is Here 1:30- 2:30: Cyberdog Unleashed 2:30- 3:30: Cyberdog: Building Internet Components 3:30- 4:30: Adding Internet to Your Applications 4:30- 5:30: Cross-Platform OpenDoc Detailed Session Descriptions: Session Title: Gil Amelio's Apple Strategy Keynote Session Length: 40 minutes Session Title: Larry Tesler's Internet Strategy Keynote Session Length: 80 minutes Session Title: OpenDoc: The Future is Here Description: Now that OpenDoc is shipping to end users, true component software is a reality. This session will provide a strategic overview of where OpenDoc is today as well as how it will affect the future of software development. Whether you're an ISV, in-house developer, or solutions provider, you won't want to miss hearing how OpenDoc creates new opportunities for revolutionary products. Session Length: 60 minutes Session Title: Cyberdog Unleashed Description: Cyberdog is here and the Internet will never be the same. In this session, we'll take you on a tour of Apple's new OpenDoc-based Internet client and point out opportunities for you to leverage Cyberdog in your own software. Session Length: 60 minutes Session Title: Cyberdog: Building Internet Components Description: Learn how to use Cyberdog to easily create Internet components. This session is for all N&C developers as well as anyone with data types accessed via a network. Session Length: 60 minutes Session Title: Adding Internet to Your Application Description: See how easy it is to enable your current software to support Cyberdog. This session explains how to convert your existing application into an OpenDoc container that supports the embedding of parts. Session Length: 60 minutes Session Title: Cross Platform OpenDoc Description: OpenDoc isn't only for MacOS. This session profiles the Windows and AIX versions of OpenDoc and provides tips on how you can easily produce platform-specific versions of your component software. Session Length: 60 minutes Late breaking news and more information about this event will be posted to our web sites on Monday, May 6th. http://opendoc.apple.com http://cyberdog.apple.com Please join us for this very exciting day! ------------------------------ From: Bob Subject: Judge Dwyer Decision: Cities Can Regulate Wireless Facilities Date: Sun, 12 May 1996 15:00:12 -0700 Organization: Wolfe Internet Access, L.L.C. In a court case decided last week in Seattle, Federal District Court Judge Dwyer ruled that cities' land-use regulatory powers unaffected by the new Telecommunications Reform Act, which sought to overrule those powers in favor of vendors' locating facilities wherever they liked. The case was the City of Medina (Bill Gates's future home), which refused to permit Sprint Express to locate a PCS tower adjacent to Highway 520, one of the main commuter routes between Seattle and its suburbs. This means that PCS, cellular -- in fact, all providers of telecom service except actual public utilities, if any are left -- must get local governments to approve sitings of equipment. Given the tight five-year deadline imposed on the PCS industry by the FCC, to get up and running, some means of reaching an accommodation is urgently needed; and a process to carry it out. Otherwise, vendors may not be able to provide service in a timely fashion and users may not be able to get service. The cities aren't bad guys; the telecommunications industry should have considered this possibility before using the bludgeon of legislation to get their way. An appeal, by the way, could take longer than the FCC's fiat that all PCS systems must be up and running by 2000. Bob Jacobson ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 13 May 1996 00:02:08 -0700 From: vantek@northcoast.com (VANTEK COMMUNICATIONS) Subject: ITAA Slams ACTA On Net Phone Issue From: Newsbytes WASHINGTON, DC, U.S.A., 1996 MAY 10 (NB) -- Seeking to block "modern day Luddites" the Information Technology Association of America (ITAA) has called on the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to deny a petition filed to block the growth of telephone calls made over the Internet. In comments filed with the FCC this week, ITAA termed the American's Carriers Telecommunications Association (ACTA) a "modern day Luddite," seeking to maintain the status quo, ITAA spokesman Bob Cohen told Newsbytes. ACTA has asked the FCC to impose severe restrictions on Internet software vendors, asserting that such companies act as telecommunications carriers by allowing telephone calls on the Internet, Cohen said. The petition filed by ACTA last March requested the Commission to order computer software vendors to stop providing Internet telephone software unless they comply with provisions of the Communications Act of 1996. ACTA also asked the FCC to assert its jurisdiction over interstate and international telecommunications services provided through the Internet, and that the Commission institute a rule making on the kinds of telecommunications services which may be transmitted over the Internet. "The ACTA petition is thoroughly misguided, both in terms of legal interpretation and marketplace intent,' ITAA President Harris N. Miller told Newsbytes. "The group (ACTA) is seeking to make the FCC a modern day King Canute trying to hold back the technological waves," Miller said. In its comments to the FCC, ITAA called the claim that Internet telephone software vendors are telecommunications carriers "preposterous." ITAA also noted that Title II of the Communications Act "applies only to common carriers providing basic transmission services," and that Internet telephone software vendors "provide neither a service nor a transmission capacity." ITAA also rejected ACTA's argument that FCC regulation is required to maintain marketplace competition, calling the assertion "eerily reminiscent of an era whose time has long since passed." Even if Internet voice transmissions were free, which they are not, Cohen said, "such a circumstance would still be irrelevant to the regulation of Internet telephone software as a telecommunications service." (Bill Pietrucha/19960510/Press Contact: Bob Cohen, Information Technology Association of America, tel 703-284-5333) ------------------ Van Hefner - Editor Discount Long Distance Digest On The Web: http://www.webcom.com/longdist/ VANTEK COMMUNICATIONS - Eureka, California Van Hefner PublisherDiscount Long Distance Digest http://www.webcom.com/longdist/ VANTEK COMMUNICATIONS 326 'I' Street, Suite 148 Eureka, California 95501 USA 1-707-444-6686 PHONE 1-707-445-4123 FAX ------------------------------ From: Tad Cook Subject: Excel Goes Public Date: Mon, 13 May 1996 01:02:06 PDT Excel Communications Stock Nearly Doubles on First Day NEW YORK (AP) -- Shares in Excel Communications Inc., a long-distance marketer whose methods have yielded both hyperfast growth and controversy, nearly doubled on their first day of trading Friday. Excel's stock, priced at $15 on Thursday, opened at $27, rose as high as $33.12 1/2 and closed at $29.37 1/2 on the New York Stock Exchange. About 11 million shares changed hands, making it the most actively-traded stock on NYSE. The company issued 10 million shares, about 9 percent of its 107.5 million total. At $29.37 1/2 each, Excel emerged with a market value of $3.16 billion. The Dallas-based company's marketing has drawn scrutiny from some state attorneys general and its accounting practices have raised eyebrows on Wall Street. Excel buys long-distance minutes from Frontier Communications in Rochester, N.Y., and resells them through direct marketing representatives. Its revenue has grown from $31 million in 1993 to $507 million last year. The company recruits people to sell the long-distance time as well as recruit other sellers, a tactic known as multi-level marketing that is also used by companies like Mary Kay Cosmetics or Amway. The representatives earn money from the sale of long-distance service plus bonuses for the performance of the people they recruit. While Excel is besieged by people wishing to become marketers, it is also having a hard time retaining previous representatives. The company has also acknowledged that claims by some of its representatives have prompted consumer complaints to attorneys general in some states. On Wall Street, analysts have raised questions about the way Excel defers expenses, which makes earnings look better than they are. The company last year reported a profit of $44.5 million. But it deferred expenses of $85 million in the first two months of this year along. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 13 May 1996 00:01:19 -0400 From: Andy Sherman Organization: Home, Home on the Range Subject: Escaping From the Tele-slime > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Bear in mind however you still have to > receive that first call before you can tell them not to call in the > future, and the results obtained when you tell them that are dubious > at best. It is quite time-consuming to enforce your rights. PAT] When I tell a phone solicitor firmly I'm not interested early in the conversation, guess what happens? They get off and call the next guy. Remember, these guys don't get commissions for making you angry, they get commissions for selling something. If you are an obvious no-sale, they won't waste their time. The ones I get rid of in two seconds flat are the brokers and investment counselors. If you don't mind lying, you can use this one too: "Look, save your energy. I work for (name any large investment bank or broker-dealer) and as you would certainly know I can only trade through the office." Andy (from home) ------------------------------ From: Leo Bueno Subject: Suggestion: Place Introductory Message at End of Digest Date: Mon, 13 May 1996 08:52:43 EDT Although I look forward to reading the digest of messages in this list every time I log on and check my mail, I have read the introductory message (the one that describes the list, tells of its sources of funding, etc.) enough. Yes, I can scroll past it, but man, I've had to do it a zillion times already. I urge our list manager to consider placing the introductory stuff at the *end* of each digest message. What do you think? [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Okay, I'll try it that way for awhile. But if I catch anyone not reading it all the way through to the end I'll put it back on top where it always was before! PAT] ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of public service systems and networks including Compuserve and America On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu * The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax or phone at: Post Office Box 4621 Skokie, IL USA 60076 Phone: 500-677-1616 Fax: 847-329-0572 ** Article submission address: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Our archives are located at mirror.lcs.mit.edu and are available by using anonymous ftp. The archives can also be accessed using our email information service. For a copy of a helpful file explaining how to use the information service, just ask. ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from the * * International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Geneva, Switzerland * * under the aegis of its Telecom Information Exchange Services (TIES) * * project. Views expressed herein should not be construed as represent-* * ing views of the ITU. * ************************************************************************* In addition, TELECOM Digest receives a grant from Microsoft to assist with publication expenses. Editorial content in the Digest is totally independent, and does not necessarily represent the views of Microsoft. ------------------------------------------------------------ Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V16 #233 ******************************