Win Some, Lose Some for AT&T, Verizon, Qwest

Verizon grew consumer average revenue per unit by 9.6 percent during the quarter; AT&T grew ARPU 5.4 percent and Qwest grew ARPU 7.8 percent.

But there were gains and losses: video and fiber-based broadband were bright spots. Voice lines were not.

The former RBOCs added 2.3 million RGUs during the first quarter, helped by wireless.

During the first quarter of 2008, AT&T, Verizon and Qwest also lost lost 2.237 million access lines, though. So far, the tier-one telcos basically continue to trade market share with cable, gaining on the wireless front but not keeping up in wired services.

The quarter was by no means a disaster. But neither have the former RBOCs yet stabilized the market share battle on the wired services front.

33% Broadband Penetration at 10 Mbps = Half of Global Electricity

If a third of global citizens ever do wind up with some form of broadband access running at 10 Mbps, and current core network technology does not change, about half of all global electricity supplies will be consumed just for the transport and access of that bandwidth.

Obviously this doesn't scale. Among the solutions is use of more photonic techniques in the core and access networks.

Executives at ADVA Optical Networking argue it is better to use layer 2 rather than layer 3, and optical transport instead of layer 2, where possible.

High-density routers and switches in data centers also will help. In the access network, optical rather than electrical technology is preferable, especially passive optical networks.

What Video Does to Bandwidth Demand

When Facebook added video streaming features, there was a sharp spike in bandwidth consumed by Facebook users. That's one reason Cisco is so confident about its expectations for continued growth of global IP traffic. Video is coming, and video drives lots of bandwidth consumption.

There also seems to be a high degree of consensus that IP bandwidth demand is growing between 50 and 60 percent overall. Access and wide area network operators are reporting annual growth of about that amount on a fairly wide basis.

Downhill Slide for Yahoo?

Things seem to be going from bad to worse at Yahoo. First the controversial spurning of Microsoft's acquisition offer. And now news of major executive departures. The list includes Jeff Weiner, EVP, SVP Vish Makhijani and Brad Garlinghouse, SVP.

Some 50 top Yahoo executives have left the company since January 2007.

Observers and its own executives seem to have lost confidence in Yahoo top management, to say the least.

Cox, Qwest Ranked Highest for Data Communications Services

Cox Communications ranks highest in data service satisfaction among small and medium business customers while Qwest Communications ranks highest among large enterprise business customers in the same category.

Cox Communications leads the small and mid-size business segment, performing particularly well in five of six factors: performance and reliability; sales representatives/account executives; billing; cost of service; and customer service. Verizon follows Cox Communications in the segment rankings.

In the large enterprise business segment, Qwest ranks highest in customer satisfaction, receiving highest ratings from customers in five of six factors: performance and reliability; sales representatives/account executive; billing; cost of service; and offerings and promotions. Verizon also follows Qwest in the segment rankings.

Firefox 3 is Available, Seems Faster

The FireFox 3 beta does seem to execute faster, which is what Mozilla promises. Still some incompatibilities with apps such as Google Gears and Google Browser Sync, though. That's what happens in beta.

Mozilla says eight million copies have been downloaded in 24 hours. Mozilla also seems to be up past 12.5 million downloads in just a bit less than 24 hours.

Heavy Enterprise Web, Video Collaboration

In the UK, nine out of 10 large companies are using some form of virtual collaboration solution to enhance the quality of their communications, both within and beyond thebusinessn say researchers at Vanson Bourne .

Nearly two thirds have incorporated an element of video or Web collaboration, in addition to audio conferencing.

The survey of UK manufacturing and service businesses also found 90 percent of businesses employing 1,000 or more people have adopted a conferencing/collaboration tool as part of their communications strategy.

For businesses with 3,000 or more employees, 96 percent have done so. About 74 percent use integrated multimedia conferencing tools to some degree, with only 26 percent exclusively using audio conferencing solutions.

This pattern is especially strong in manufacturing businesses, with 81 percent of respondents using multimedia tools.

Companies are also using virtual collaboration tools more frequently. Some 29 percent of respondents are using conferencing on a daily basis. About 45 percent use it every week.

Financial services businesses are most active, with 83 percent using conferencing tools weekly or more frequently.

Some 30 percent of respondents say they would use their conferencing solution more frequently if it could more effectively replace face-to-face meetings.

Tangible evidence of cost savings and ease of use were also seen as significant barriers to greater usage by 22 percent of respondents.