“Business Ethernet offers higher speeds and less complexity than T1, for roughly comparable prices,” noted George Mitsopoulos, Vice President and General Manager of DSL Extreme. He added, “Business Ethernet is the next evolution that enables SMBs to operate more efficiently and move more IT services into the cloud.” Business Ethernet services from DSL Extreme meet the needs of small, medium and remote offices by enabling business customers to run the latest IP applications between multiple points on their networks. By working with Covad, which has an extensive history of managing copper services, DSL Extreme can offer new services from a trusted partner and expand the options available for their customers.

Business Ethernet over Copper
Currently available in 100 central offices in the greater Los Angeles area, Ethernet over Copper service is a dedicated Internet connection delivered over bonded copper loops, terminating at an Ethernet port. The service can be ordered with symmetrical download/upload speeds starting at 2 Mbps up to 20 Mbps. Entry-level pricing for 2Mbps service is $329 per month.

Business Ethernet over Bonded SDSL (BSDSL)
Currently available in over 2000 central offices throughout the US, Ethernet over Bonded SDSL is a dedicated Internet connection delivered over bonded SDSL loops, terminating at an Ethernet port. The service can be ordered with symmetrical download/upload speeds from 2 Mbps to 3 Mbps, with prices starting at $329.

Interested clients will be able to prequalify online and submit a simple contact form to receive a price quote and other information. To learn more about DSL Extreme’s Business Ethernet services and other Business Plus offerings, visit www.dslextreme.biz or call 866-2-GET-NET.

I am not sure if I would call Facebook clueless or unlucky.  Maybe envious or a bit jealous of what Twitter and others who chose to setup their platforms / networks as open to the public from the get go.  Though it is important to look at what your competition is doing and constantly innovating / making changes to stay ahead, you can’t do that at the expense of your customers / users.  In a conversation that we had on Friday evening at the meetup, you talked about the culture and past leadership at AOL  You mentioned they were very marketing driven and because of it had some of the highest CPM on their homepage but weren’t product driven and lost the concept of what their users wanted.  What Facebook is doing reminds me of what AOL once did.  People came to Facebook because it offered a sense of privacy.  Unlike MySpace it was a closed network which made users feel safe.  Despite the changes I can assure you the average user still thinks that is the case.

When logging into Facebook today there was a new event in my list titled “Phone is gone…..need numbers.” an event / trend that has become popular amongst the younger Facebook users.  There is no easier way to get your phone numbers back when you lose your phone than asking “your” network of friends to respond with them.  Within hours there were quite a few people that responded openly with their numbers.  They are assuming that those numbers are only being seen by their network of friends.  I don’t think they will be to happy to find those numbers in Google search results and live on the web.

Fred states, “I also believe that government should be fostering a lot of competition in the access business. That was the idea of the telcom reform act. But it hasn’t played out that way. We have an ever increasing consolidation of power in the access business. Just like we had in the banking and brokerage business. This is not good.”

I completely agree with Fred around the need for competition in the access business.  This can only be accomplished by requiring through regulation the Telco’s and cable companies to provide open access to the network infrastructure.  Open access helps keep network providers like AT&T, Verizon, Time Warner and Comcast honest.  Competition leads to consumer choice which ultimately leads to better pricing and more importantly better service for consumers.

Whenever open access is discussed the opposing argument always includes the notion that the Telcos paid for the infrastructure why should they have to open it up to competitors.  Unfortunately that argument isn’t completely true as in many cases the infrastructure costs were offset by the consumers and tax payers.

The discussion reminded me of a letter from SBC California to their clients within the greater San Diego area that I dug up and have included below. The letter states on 03/03/2005 SBC with the “endorsement” of the city of San Diego filed an application with the CPUC to add an additional monthly surcharge to their client’s bill. The surcharge would cover the cost of undergrounding the overhead telephones lines in the City of San Diego. This surcharge which is approximately 94 cents per month would be in place for the entire length of the project. They anticipate the project would start in 2006 and end in 2022. Each client that has service through SBC or a CLEC would pay approximately $200 over the 16 year period to cover the cost of SBC/AT&T moving the lines.

It is obvious that it would not be advantageous for SBC to install new copper lines as everything is moving to fiber. One can easily infer that they in fact would be installing fiber. So the question becomes, is this project truly meant to beautify the city of San Diego? Are the phone companies really paying to install their fiber networks? It is evident in this case that it is the consumers paying to have them installed and the phone companies are benefiting from it.

Many people have eluded to the notion that if the phone companies didn’t have to open up their networks that the price would be cheaper. I urge those people to look at the price of cable Internet service which is double and sometimes triple the cost for DSL service. Competition within the industry not only helps to drive cost down for consumers but forces providers to provide better customer service. As the FCC reopens discussions around open access I hope they take this into consideration.

Customers of PowerVPS get the best of both worlds – maintaining control of their IT setup without having to purchase hardware and software or hire on-site technical staff. That translates to lower costs and fewer headaches, simply by allow ing the expert team at PowerVPS to handle the burden of purchasing, hosting and managing servers, operating systems, network devices, storage and security.

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If your business or start-up is looking to make sense of all the cloud computing options, let PowerVPS and Virtacore Systems take you on a tour. Register at http://walkinthecloud.eventbrite.com/ to meet-up on November 19th at 5pm in Ashburn, VA with our hosting community and chat with leading cloud vendors, including Equinix and Parallels.

Companies that realize that participating in social media is more about service than sales will find the true value in participating.  Participating and being open in both good or bad situations will make your company transparent.  That transparency will build a brand of trust and ultimately lead to a thriving business built on trust relationships.