TELE 450
The Structure of the Telecom Industry
Dr. Finn
Lecture notes – Week 1-6
Week 1 - January 27
TELE 450
Agenda:

Intro to the instructor

The Syllabus

Intro to the Students – A Survey

Let’s talk Information Technology

Let’s Talk Industry Structure

Let’s Talk Intellectual Property
Areas Of Telecommunications

The Technology

Policy & Regulation

Industry Structure

Economics of the Industry

The Production of Messages

Effects of the Technology
 on Individuals
 on Groups
 on Society
Telecom Includes:

Telephony

Information Technology (IT)

Broadcasting

Multi-Channel Video Systems

Internet

Wireless

Consumer Electronics
Segments of the Telecommunications Industry
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1. Local Telephony
2. Long Distance Telephony
3. Terrestrial Mobile Wireless
4. Terrestrial Fixed Wireless
5. Satellite Broadcasting
6. Computer Hardware
7. Computer Software
8. Network Hardware & Software
9. Internet Sites (ISPs, Portals)
10. Cable Television
11. Broadcast Television
12. Film & Video
Telecom Specialty Areas

Security

Consulting
Gov’t (FCC) traditionally has distinguished



Common Carrier
Broadcasting
Computers (“Unregulated”)
Common Carrier Regulation




technical limits (interconnection, standards)
natural monopoly
rate-of-return regulation
universal service
Broadcast Regulation




technical limits: scarcity
allocation
licensing
public trustee, serve the public interest
Convergence - at the level of:
Technology

Access & Transport

End-User
Transmission
Multimedia
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Industry

Within companies (mergers & acquisitions)

Across Industries (telephony, computers, broadcasting, film, ISPs, etc.)
Content

Voice, text, still & moving image, raw data

Services (e-mail, web access, phone, VM, etc.)
Computer Technology
Components Of A Computer Network
1.
2.
3.
4.
CPU / Server

Processing

Storage Device
Transmission Medium / Conduit
Terminal Devices
Peripherals
Traditional Types Of Computers



Mainframes
Mini-Computers
Micro-Computers
New Classifications


Servers

“Minis,” “Mainframes” Disappearing
Client-Server Architecture
Four Types Of Computer “Capacity”
1.
2.
3.
4.
Processing Speed
Disk Storage Capacity
Disk Access Speed
Transmission Rate
Five Trends In Computing
1. Increased Speed
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2.
3.
4.
5.
Increased Capacity
Miniaturization
Decentralization
End-User Control
Storage And Processing:
The Heart Of The Digital Computer





A Bit:
a Zero or 1
A Byte:
8 Bits (00000001)
 There Are 256 Possible Arrangements
A Kilobyte:
1,000 Bytes (1,024) 1/2 Page Text
A Megabyte:
1,000,000 Bytes
500 Pages
A Gigabyte: 1 Billion Bytes
500,000 Pp.
My (Personal) PCs

Storage:

From NO hard drive, to:
Processing:
Fiber:
 Today:
 New Fiber:
10 Mb, 20 Mb, 340 Mb;
3.2 Gb, 20 Gb, 40 Gb
From Clock Speed of 33 Mhz to
80, 200, 650 Mhz
2.5 Gb/Sec
80 Gb/Sec
1.25m Pages
40m Pages
Intellectual Property
Patent

A property right granted by the federal government

A document fully disclosing an invention

Ideas are not patentable, only “things”

Patents last for 20 years
Criteria - it must be:

Novel invention

Useful

Not obvious
Major Patent Issue Affecting Technologies Sector

Software Patents
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Copyright

Criteria - it must be:

An original work

An expression of ideas (not simply ideas)

Fixed in a tangible medium of expression
The Rationale

To encourage people to share ideas and inventions

To ensure compensation for people who create ideas and inventions
Categories of Works Covered

Literary

Musical

Dramatic

Choreographic

Pictorial, graphic & sculptural

Film and audio-visual

Sound recordings
Copyright Holders Have the (Economic) Right to

Reproduce (in same or different formats)

Perform

Publish

Adapt

Translate

Transmit

Authorize (others)
Copyright is a bundle of separate rights

Rights are distinctive and exclusive

Can award hardcover vs. softcover publishing rights

Live vs. TV

Separate by geographic area

Grant for limited time
Assignment/Ownership of Copyright

Creator of a work is automatically the owner

Authors assign ownership to others when it is
 The assigned work of employees
 Work for hire
 The author retains “moral” rights to the work
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

Rights of Paternity

Right to claim authorship

Right to remain anonymous
 Rights of Integrity

Right to prevent certain changes
 Rights of Association

Right to prevent certain uses
Moral rights are personal rights
 Moral rights can be waived, but not sold or transferred
Duration of Copyright

If created since 1978

The author’s life + 70 years

Works for hire: 95 years from date of publication

If created before 1978

28 years, with renewal for 47 years (total: 75 years)

1998: another 20 year renewal added
The Doctrine of Fair Use

A limit on the economic rights of copyright holders

Criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research

Criteria for fair use:
 Non-profit purpose (educational, etc.)
 The nature of the copyrighted work
 Proportion of the work used
 Economic effect on the potential market
Week 2 - February 3
TELE 450
Agenda:

Syllabus Questions

Discussion:


Copyright
Lecture:

History of Computers

Transmission technologies

Trends in Telecom
Exercise
6
List all instances (activities) you can think of in the last 12 months where you were (or may have been) in
violation of U.S. Copyright law. Be specific – exactly what did you do?
Copyright “T/F” Questions
Intellectual Property is an Ancient Principle.
Intellectual Property is recognized worldwide.
Without intellectual property, few people would produce original work.
Intellectual Property is necessary to create incentives for the production of original works.
Weakening intellectual property law would result in substandard literature, art, music, and the like.
Intellectual property follows directly from the notion of physical property.
Week 3 - February 10
TELE 450
Agenda:

Housekeeping

Critique 1 questions?

Upcoming STAR Center's Sessions
"Creating, Editing, & Uploading Web Pages"
 Thu., Feb 13, 3:30-5:30
 Sat., Feb 21, 3:30-5:30
 Sun., Feb 22, 3:30-5:30
 Tue., Feb 25, 5:30-7:30
Register/see schedule at:
http://media.gmu.edu/workshops/)

Lecture:

History of Computers

Transmission technologies

Trends in Telecom

Discussion:

Copyright (Selling Wine Without Bottles)
from Moschella’s Waves of Power
Wave 1 to Wave 2
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The transition
From System-centric to PC-centric
Means a transition . . .

from corporate to individual computing

from Grosch’s to Moore’s law

Herb Grosch: computer power increases as the square of its cost (60s-70s)

Gordon Moore: semiconductor performance doubles every 2 years (actually, 18 months)

from the data center to the client/server

from proprietary to commodity systems

direct vs indirect selling

from a vertical to a horizontal supplier model
Markets
 Consumer (Residential)
 Business (Office)
 Global / International
 Business to Business
Types of Computer User Interfaces






Paper (punch cards and paper tape input)
Command Line (1960s - today)
Menu (1970s – today)
Direct Manipulation (1980s – today; Mouse, light pen, touchscreen); commonly called “GUI”
Browser (1990s – today; hyperlinks)
Voice (coming – for input and output)
Week 4 - February 17
This is –
Week 5 - February 24
“Snowed Out”
TELE 450
Agenda:

Housekeeping

Critique 1

Upcoming STAR Center's Sessions
"Creating, Editing, & Uploading Web Pages"
 Thu., Feb 13, 3:30-5:30
 Sat., Feb 21, 3:30-5:30
 Sun., Feb 22, 3:30-5:30
 Tue., Feb 25, 5:30-7:30
Who has it scheduled?
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
Lecture:

History of Computers

Transmission technologies

Trends in Telecom

Discussion:

Copyright (Selling Wine Without Bottles)
Trends in Technology

Digitization

Data is overtaking Voice

Increased Bandwidth Needed in the Network (Transport: Transmission & Switching)

Increased Bandwidth Coming - Not a Problem (?)

Broadband Access Needed in Residential Market

The “Local Loop” is the Bottleneck

Voice over IP (But customers expect telephony-level QoS)

New Demand for Wireless


Broadband Wireless in Local Loop (MMDS, LMDS)

Explosion of Cellular/PCS and Cellular Apps
Convergence
Access (to the home) Technologies
 Plain Old Telephone Service (POTS)
 Digital Subscriber Line (DSL)
 ADSL, HDSL, HDSL-2, VDSL
 Two-way cable
 Cable modems (cable company hooks into the PSTN)
 Wireless Local Loop
 Multichannel Multipoint Distribution Systems (MMDS)
 Local Multipoint Distribution Systems (LMDS)
Transport (in the network) Technologies
 Circuit Switching
 SONET
 Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM)
 Internet Protocol (IP)
Transmission Standards
 Analog
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
 Multiplexing Protocols
Digital (packet)
 Frame Relay (e.g., SONET)
 Cell Relay (e.g., ATM)
Wave 2 to Wave 3
The transition
From PC-centric to Network-centric
Means a transition . . .

From microprocessor to comm bandwidth

From Moore’s Law to Metcalfe’s Law

From internal to external networks (LANs to WANs, or Intranets)

AOL-types, UUNet-types, and telephony companies compete for this business

From GUIs to Browsers

From indirect to online distribution channels

Stand-alone products to bundled services

From client-server to e-commerce

Individual productivity to virtual communities

From a horizontal to a converged computer and communications industry

From US/global to national supplier leadership

From single vendor to distributed power
Wave 3 to Wave 4
The transition
Network-centric to Content-centric
Means a transition . . .

From electronic commerce to virtual business

From Metcalfe’s to ‘law of transformation’

An industry will be transformed to the extent that it is “digitizable”

From the wired consumer to individualized services

From bandwidth to software, info, and services


From online channels to customer pull
From a converged computer/comm/ consumer elec. industry value chain, to embedded services
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