The Connected Home: Carriers, Vendors Address Home Automation, Security

INTERNET TELEPHONY — February 2011

The Connected Home: Carriers, Vendors Address Home Automation, Security

Various new developments could mean that the connected home for the average American is moving closer to reality…

Cover Story Articles

Cross-Platform Solutions & Home Networking Hubs
Americans love their TVs. They also love their computers, their smartphones, their tablets, and their movies and games. But wouldn’t it be nice if the different experiences and content consumers access on these various devices were more integrated? That’s exactly where we’re headed, and everyone from Cisco Systems Inc. to Microsoft Corp. is moving on the opportunity.

In-Home Connectivity
People have become accustomed to the connected lifestyle and, therefore, expect to be able to tap into the network from any corner of their homes and with good performance. With that in mind, many equipment suppliers are working on new solutions to extend Wi-Fi into the corners of our homes that currently have no or spotty coverage, and industry groups are trying to advance technology that leverages in-home wiring to expand connectivity further.

Alcatel Lucent, Partners Show Apps Aimed at Driving Retail Sales
Question: What do Americans like to do during their leisure time when they’re not at home watching TV, playing an online game, texting, or cruising the Internet?

Special Focus

TMC, INTERNET TELEPHONY Congratulate IT Product of the Year Award Winners
INTERNET TELEPHONY and its parent company, TMC, are proud to announce the winners of the IT Product of the Year Awards.

Feature Articles

The Long and the Short of IPv6
The communications industry has been talking for a decade about the threat of IPv4 address exhaust and the need to move to IPv6. Yet while many service providers today support IPv6, the vast majority of their customers have not made the transition. Why? As it turns out, IPv6 is suffering from something of a chicken-and-egg problem.

The Cloud - The Development Environment for the Future of Communications
In the beginning, the Internet was conceptualized as a way to interconnect multiple computers, and the scientists who used them, for the advancement of science and technology. Today’s Internet has surpassed that fundamental purpose by evolving into the primary communication medium that connects nearly everybody to everything. It is ubiquitous, efficient, and forever evolving.

A New Take on Improving Website Performance
While facilities-based wireless network operators are busy optimizing their networks and services for the mobile data barrage, companies continue to optimize their websites so users on both mobile and fixed connections and endpoints have a better experience during their virtual visits. One company helping them with that is Strangeloop.

Service Providers, Suppliers Address Mobile Data on Multiple Fronts
Fourth-generation wireless technologies like LTE and WiMAX promise to bring faster broadband connections and all-IP-based technology to cellular networks. In some places, they’re already doing it. But if you thought that means wireless service providers will have more than ample network capacity for the long term, or even for the immediate future, you thought wrong. With mobile data demand what it is, even some of these brand new 4G networks will soon be overwhelmed by rich media traffic.

Company Expands Simulated Lab to Cloud, Mobiles
You wouldn’t invest in a Cadillac to teach an inexperienced driver the rules of the road. Instead, at least in my day, Driver’s Ed teachers used simulators to get their students acclimated to being behind the wheel.

The Return of Layer 2: How Data Center Networking Requirements Will Change the WAN
For the past five years MPLS-based IP VPNs have been the dominant WAN transport solution for organizations of all sizes. Originally adopted and deployed by large organizations to support interconnection between thousands of sites, IP VPNs quickly trickled down market to the point of ubiquity. The widespread adoption of IP VPN has taken place because it offered a complete solution to a common corporate need – secure, fully-meshed IP connectivity with quality of service between locations.

Departments

Open Source

OpenERP Delivers Flexible Business Apps to SMBs
A five-year-old company called OpenERP is riding the wave of a variety of hot technological trends including ERP applications, open source and software as a service.

The Channel
On RAD's Radar

Where's the Beef?
Agents are looking into 2011 with awe and wonder. They aren’t alone, as VARs and carriers also try to figure out a business model for the future. The rapid adoption of cloud-based services caught many by surprise.