BRIEFS

Terabeam transceiver certified

Terabeam Corp. has announced that the FCC certified the first high-frequency millimeter wave wireless transceiver to transmit and receive data at a gigabit per second.

Terabeam’s GigE Gigalink is the first radio frequency product certified by the FCC that provides full duplex gigabit line rates, the company said. The GigE Gigalink provides a gigabit interface into a customer’s communications network and transmits and receives signals at a full gigabit per second.

With the certification of Terabeam’s GigE Gigalink, two technologies developed by Terabeam — free space optics and millimeter wave — offer transceivers that transmit at a full gigabit. Terabeam’s free space optics transceivers send up to a gigabit of data on an invisible light beam, primarily through office windows. Terabeam’s high-frequency millimeter wave transceivers send data via a 60 GHz radio signal from building rooftops or through office windows.

These products allow telecommunications carriers and enterprises to use high-speed broadband connectivity without the high expense and delays of fiber optic cabling.

WebNet earns million-dollar fine

The FCC released an order imposing a $1.2 million fine against WebNet Communications Inc. for “willful or repeated violations of the Communications Act and the commission’s rules against slamming.”

Slamming is the illegal practice of switching consumers’ preferred long-distance or other telephone service providers without consent.

According to a statement released by the FCC, “The commission found that WebNet had engaged in a pattern of intentional and egregious misconduct, such as the gross deficiencies in WebNet’s verification procedures, which demonstrated a disregard for the commission’s rules.”

This proceeding represents the first joint federal/state effort against a company engaged in slamming.

Fourteen state agencies joined the commission in this investigation: Alabama, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Missouri, Montana, Ohio, South Carolina, South Dakota, Washington and Wisconsin, along with the District of Columbia.

NRIC offers early report

The Network Reliability and Interoperability Council VI presented its initial report on the nation’s commercial telecommunications networks’ ability to serve the public safety community in times of crisis.

The council also offered a series of recommendations to the communications industry.

NRIC’s Public Safety Focus Group presented its findings and recommendations to the 56-member Council at its quarterly meeting at the FCC. The Council is comprised of leaders from the telecommunications, ISP, satellite and cable industries.

The Public Safety Focus Group, led by Don Dautel, vice president, global technology development group, Motorola, and Mike Roden, director – RF engineering network operations, Cingular Wireless, surveyed more than 200 first responders and public safety officials from federal, state and local law enforcement agencies, emergency medical services, county and local fire departments, communications officers and state and local government officials nationwide and in Canada.

The survey was conducted between August and October, 2002.

Among the findings:

• During a crisis, wireline networks were used at an incident scene 67 percent of the time, wireless 47 percent of the time and paging 55 percent of the time. Internet usage is increasing and should continue to increase in the future. There was little use of cable and satellite services during a crisis.

• While 67 percent of the survey respondents expressed that wireline applications were relied upon extensively by their agencies, they were not considered reliable enough to be their primary network. In fact, in times of crisis, commercial networks were perceived as severely impaired or grid locked.

• 57 percent of survey respondents felt the public network met expectations, but 37 percent of respondents indicated they experienced problems.

• There was low awareness of priority access communications services, with 67 percent of respondents indicating they were not aware of the Wireless Priority Access Service or Government Emergency Telecommunications Service programs.

Among the council’s recommendations:

• Priority Access: Increase awareness of priority access programs, including Telecommunications Service Priority System and Wireless Priority Access Service and encourage subscription, as appropriate.

• 911 Access: Provide caller location and call origination information to 911 overflow centers to ensure fast and accurate response to 911 calls — both wireless and wireline — during emergencies when 911 call volumes spike.

• Troubleshooting: Service providers and network operators should identify, in coordination with emergency operations personnel, key facilities serving public safety and develop an emergency restoration plan prioritizing restoration of these facilities.

• Network Diversity and Reliability: Secure government funding to enable network diversity.