Published in Interface Tech News
CONCORD, N.H. ‹ Continuing a case opened in 1999, the New Hampshire Public Utilities Commission (PUC) has received closing briefs from all parties concerned in the increasingly contentious network congestion-dry copper broadband access dispute, but a timetable for further action remains unclear. There may also be broader repercussions, affecting Verizon New Hampshire's rates for all services in the state, and its ability to offer long-distance telephone service to New Hampshire customers.
In 1999, all parties agree, 911 access was unavailable in certain New Hampshire communities due to network congestion, which was blamed on the wide use of dial-up Internet service. In response, the PUC opened a case to figure out how to solve the problem.
One proposal, put forward by the New Hampshire Internet Service Providers Association (NHISPA), was to allow ISPs access to so-called "dry copper" (copper wire pairs with no equipment attached to them) so the ISPs could offer low-cost broadband Internet access, reducing the load on the telephone network.
Verizon New Hampshire now claims that the network congestion problem has been solved through the installation of additional equipment. Some PUC officials agree, adding that there have been no reports of this type of network congestion since June 2001.
"The network congestion issue has been solved," said Verizon New Hampshire spokesman Erle Pierce. As a result, he said, the discussion over whether his company should offer dry copper loops to ISPs is now moot, although he admits the ISPs could bring it up in a separate PUC case if they choose.
At least one ISP disagrees that the congestion is solved, and insists that dry copper is the way out.
"Lines are busy all the time," said Brian Susnock, president of the Nashua, N.H.-based Destek Group, which also has a federal suit pending against Verizon New Hampshire, alleging the company engaged in improper procedures regarding exceptions to standard tariffs.
Susnock said the PUC changed the reporting standards to allow more congestion, a charge PUC telecommunications director Kate Bailey denied.
Other allegations of PUC staff problems can be found in the filings.
From the NHISPA: "(The) staff's position is totally unsupportable and has no basis in fact, experience, or technology."
And from the Town of Northampton Cable TV-Broadband-Telecom Committee: "I suggest to you that your staff does not understand what is going on out in the real world of telecommunications, and that this lack of knowledge is problematic."
Bailey denied those charges, and protested their inclusion in official documents. "It was extremely rude to say the things that they did," she said. "I don't believe (our) staff said anything technically wrong."
She added that the ISPs could become CLECs ‹ regulated entities ‹ and gain access to dry copper loops that way. The ISPs would then have to offer some service that the FCC describes as "telecommunications," but not necessarily voice, Bailey said.
Susnock asserts that there would be high costs associated with becoming a CLEC, such as a sizable monthly fee charged by Verizon for access to its infrastructure database. However, Bailey claims the PUC disallowed that fee last year, and that no CLEC in New Hampshire is charged that fee or pays it.
Susnock describes Verizon's operating requirements as "anti-competitive," and vowed to continue his efforts to change them.
There may be more than just 911 access at stake with these allegations. New Hampshire's Office of the Consumer Advocate has called for a full study of Verizon's services and costs statewide (called a "rate case").
Separately, Verizon has requested permission to offer long-distance telephone service in New Hampshire under the provisions of section 271 of the 1996 Telecommunications Act.
But a decision on the network congestion case is not on the PUC agenda yet, and officials did not disclose when it might be.
Thursday, February 28, 2002
Wednesday, February 27, 2002
Intellicare combines call center software, services
Published in Interface Tech News
SOUTH PORTLAND, Maine ‹ Expanding its offerings to health care organizations, call-center specialist Intellicare is now offering a unified messaging service combining telephone, fax, e-mail, Internet chat, and voicemail in a single desk workstation.
The system, which the company calls a "blended media contact center" and sells under the product name Intelliview, can route incoming traffic to several destinations, based on several criteria. For example, a Spanish-language e-mail message would be routed to a Spanish-reading assistant, or a fax from a patient inquiring about cardiac care would go to a representative with special knowledge about cardiac issues.
It offers a solution to a problem hospitals, insurance companies, and large medical practices are having: How to prepare for providing Internet customer service at a time when most people still use the phone?
One criterion is real-time handling, according to Victor Otley, chairman, CEO, and president of Intellicare. "Live agent interaction is extremely important," Otley sai d.
But phone traffic is by far the most common means of seeking customer service, Otley said, and he doesn't see that changing quickly.
"We believe that (migration to e-mail and Internet chat service) will happen over a period of years, not months," he said.
Intellicare itself operates call centers, and can augment a client's own customer service or do it entirely, on an outsourced basis, while remaining in compliance with federal privacy laws governing medical records.
The privately held and venture-funded company has 75 full-time equivalents spread across between 100 and 200 people, Otley said.
The firm grew 45 percent last year and is expected to grow 80 percent this year, as the company steps up marketing and sales efforts to get the product out the door.
One buyer has already bitten and been pleased. Kara Goodnight, the call-center supervisor at Texas Health Resources in Arlington, Tex., said her company, which operates 13 hospitals in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and handles 200,000 customer calls per year, conducted a massive research effort before deciding to go with Intellicare's combination of software and outsourced service.
"We felt that their software was the best product to meet our needs," Goodnight said.
In addition to the advantage of sharing a support platform between Texas Health Resources' call center and Intellicare, which will handle some calls, she said that a particular hurdle was privacy.
"We were very concerned about having our data reside on somebody else's server," Goodnight said. But Intellicare was able to assuage that concern. "We feel very comfortable that they're housing our very important data," she said.
SOUTH PORTLAND, Maine ‹ Expanding its offerings to health care organizations, call-center specialist Intellicare is now offering a unified messaging service combining telephone, fax, e-mail, Internet chat, and voicemail in a single desk workstation.
The system, which the company calls a "blended media contact center" and sells under the product name Intelliview, can route incoming traffic to several destinations, based on several criteria. For example, a Spanish-language e-mail message would be routed to a Spanish-reading assistant, or a fax from a patient inquiring about cardiac care would go to a representative with special knowledge about cardiac issues.
It offers a solution to a problem hospitals, insurance companies, and large medical practices are having: How to prepare for providing Internet customer service at a time when most people still use the phone?
One criterion is real-time handling, according to Victor Otley, chairman, CEO, and president of Intellicare. "Live agent interaction is extremely important," Otley sai d.
But phone traffic is by far the most common means of seeking customer service, Otley said, and he doesn't see that changing quickly.
"We believe that (migration to e-mail and Internet chat service) will happen over a period of years, not months," he said.
Intellicare itself operates call centers, and can augment a client's own customer service or do it entirely, on an outsourced basis, while remaining in compliance with federal privacy laws governing medical records.
The privately held and venture-funded company has 75 full-time equivalents spread across between 100 and 200 people, Otley said.
The firm grew 45 percent last year and is expected to grow 80 percent this year, as the company steps up marketing and sales efforts to get the product out the door.
One buyer has already bitten and been pleased. Kara Goodnight, the call-center supervisor at Texas Health Resources in Arlington, Tex., said her company, which operates 13 hospitals in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and handles 200,000 customer calls per year, conducted a massive research effort before deciding to go with Intellicare's combination of software and outsourced service.
"We felt that their software was the best product to meet our needs," Goodnight said.
In addition to the advantage of sharing a support platform between Texas Health Resources' call center and Intellicare, which will handle some calls, she said that a particular hurdle was privacy.
"We were very concerned about having our data reside on somebody else's server," Goodnight said. But Intellicare was able to assuage that concern. "We feel very comfortable that they're housing our very important data," she said.
Thursday, February 21, 2002
Jenny’s Chickens: No fowl, just spice
Published in the Current
It’s not quite hidden, but there’s no sign out front. The only giveaway is the noise of chickens clucking and the occasional rooster’s “cock-a-doodle-doo!” Jenny’s Chickens is a small, home-based business, one of many just below the surface of Cape Elizabeth’s business community.
But the product has nothing to do with chickens, despite the ones she keeps in the garage, and in fact the business isn’t named after poultry. Instead, Jenny Campbell has borrowed the name of a Celtic reel her husband plays on the bagpipes. And she makes sofrito, a green, salsa-like sauce that is the basis for many Caribbean dishes.
“In Puerto Rican food, it just goes in everything,” Campbell said. A native of Brooklyn with a Sicilian background—Italians have a version of the sauce they call soffritto—Campbell has been making sofrito for her own use for 15 years.
She and her family moved to Cape Elizabeth seven years ago, and she always had some in the fridge. Her new friends and neighbors were always asking about the green stuff, she said.
In 2000, when her youngest son went to kindergarten, she decided to make a business of it. She chopped and cooked and her husband, a graphic designer, made the labels. She took the first case to the Pond Cove IGA, where it did well, though not in the way she would have thought.
“Everybody eats it out of the jar,” Campbell said. She also sells at the Higgins Beach Market in the summer, the Whole Foods Market in Portland, and is on the tables at Gritty McDuff’s and the Great Lost Bear, both in Portland.
In 2001, she won a Scovie “Fiery Foods” award for the sofrito, and will have a table at the New England Products Trade Show in Portland March 10-12. It’s a big jump from one of her previous jobs, making and selling felafel from a street-vendor’s cart in New York City.
She makes “under 500 cases” a year, each of which contains twelve 12-ounce jars. Each batch of 12 jars takes just under five hours, starting with cleaning the kitchen before she begins work. The process involves industrial-size food-processing machines, washing the big stockpot out, while wearing gloves and a mask to protect her from the juice of the habanero peppers that are a key ingredient in the sauce, and ending with the labeling of the jars.
She can start when her kids head off to school—two are at Pond Cove and one is at the middle school—and be done before they get home, which suits her perfectly.
“I do this so I can spend time with my kids,” she said.
It’s not quite hidden, but there’s no sign out front. The only giveaway is the noise of chickens clucking and the occasional rooster’s “cock-a-doodle-doo!” Jenny’s Chickens is a small, home-based business, one of many just below the surface of Cape Elizabeth’s business community.
But the product has nothing to do with chickens, despite the ones she keeps in the garage, and in fact the business isn’t named after poultry. Instead, Jenny Campbell has borrowed the name of a Celtic reel her husband plays on the bagpipes. And she makes sofrito, a green, salsa-like sauce that is the basis for many Caribbean dishes.
“In Puerto Rican food, it just goes in everything,” Campbell said. A native of Brooklyn with a Sicilian background—Italians have a version of the sauce they call soffritto—Campbell has been making sofrito for her own use for 15 years.
She and her family moved to Cape Elizabeth seven years ago, and she always had some in the fridge. Her new friends and neighbors were always asking about the green stuff, she said.
In 2000, when her youngest son went to kindergarten, she decided to make a business of it. She chopped and cooked and her husband, a graphic designer, made the labels. She took the first case to the Pond Cove IGA, where it did well, though not in the way she would have thought.
“Everybody eats it out of the jar,” Campbell said. She also sells at the Higgins Beach Market in the summer, the Whole Foods Market in Portland, and is on the tables at Gritty McDuff’s and the Great Lost Bear, both in Portland.
In 2001, she won a Scovie “Fiery Foods” award for the sofrito, and will have a table at the New England Products Trade Show in Portland March 10-12. It’s a big jump from one of her previous jobs, making and selling felafel from a street-vendor’s cart in New York City.
She makes “under 500 cases” a year, each of which contains twelve 12-ounce jars. Each batch of 12 jars takes just under five hours, starting with cleaning the kitchen before she begins work. The process involves industrial-size food-processing machines, washing the big stockpot out, while wearing gloves and a mask to protect her from the juice of the habanero peppers that are a key ingredient in the sauce, and ending with the labeling of the jars.
She can start when her kids head off to school—two are at Pond Cove and one is at the middle school—and be done before they get home, which suits her perfectly.
“I do this so I can spend time with my kids,” she said.
Cape may take school project to voters
Published in the Current
Some Cape Elizabeth town councilors are leaning toward sending a proposed $5-million-plus school renovation project out to referendum, although a recent state law removed the requirement for school building projects to be taken to a town-wide ballot.
But councilors are careful to say they will wait for a full proposal from the School Board before making a final decision.
“School projects have always been voted for by the public,” said Councilor Mary Ann Lynch. “I think there’s an expectation on the part of the public that they get to vote on a school project.”
Lynch said she has not yet made up her mind, but added “projects of that magnitude probably ought to go out to referendum.”
The project, expected to cost between $5 and $6 million, will include renovations to the high school and an addition to the Pond Cove School to house the kindergartners, who now use classrooms in the high school.
Lynch said she is now asking herself if all projects—school-related or not—above a certain dollar amount should go to referendum. “Put them all out or don’t,” she said.
It’s unlikely that the council would ignore the results of a referendum, Lynch said. “There would be no point in asking for a referendum if you weren’t going to follow the wishes of the voters,” she said.
Councilor Jack Roberts said he has spoken to town residents who think they should have the right to vote on the proposal. But Roberts supports either making a decision on the council or letting the voters have the final say.
“A non-binding referendum doesn’t make much sense to me,” Roberts said. But not all projects go out to the voters, he said. “Most of the municipal projects don’t go to referendum,” Roberts said. The two most recent examples are the police and fire stations and the community center.
But any of them could. “All spending projects approved by the Town Council over a certain level are subject to a voter veto,” Lynch said.
A part of the Town Charter permits any town council-approved capital expense over a certain amount to be appealed by the voters.
With the signatures of 10 percent of the registered voters of the town, residents could force a binding referendum on any project above 0.5 percent of the state valuation of the property in town. That means any project over about $400,000 would be subject to possible recall.
So rather than making a decision that could be unmade by voters, Lynch said, “have the vote first.”
One advantage of a referendum, Lynch said, would be more public awareness about the building project.
Council Chairwoman Anne Swift-Kayatta agreed with her fellow councilors that it is too early to make a decision, and said she doesn’t expect to hear a full formal proposal from the School Board until sometime in the fall.
“I trust the citizens,” Swift-Kayatta said. “A good, solid well-explained proposal has never had anything to fear” from the voters or council in Cape Elizabeth, Swift-Kayatta said.
And she said she would expect any proposal with strong community support would be approved by the Town Council.
“There’s a very strong tradition and expectation in Maine that school issues have gone before the people,” Swift-Kayatta said.
This is the first time in Cape Elizabeth that a school building project has not been subject to a state-required referendum. And according to Town Manager Michael McGovern, it is also the first time that a committee to draft a school building proposal has been appointed directly by the School Board, rather than by the Town Council in response to a request from the School Board.
So the procedure required is unclear at present, McGovern said, in terms of what the law requires or allows to be possible—binding or non-binding referenda, for example—and what role the School Board itself plays in the building proposal and funding process.
What is clear, McGovern said, is that the Town Council has the final word on whether the money gets spent, unless the council decides to ask the residents for a binding referendum.
In preparation for discussion about costs and budget constraints, the Cape School Board has examined ways to generate revenue to offset some of the expense. The board has decided that the only feasible way to do this would be through co-curricular activity fees.
A board subcommittee, led by board member Jim Rowe, is discussing the subject and will report to the board on what fee structure should be used, if the School Board decides to start charging activity fees.
A 2000-2001 study of activity fees indicated the district could bring in between $30,000 and $60,000 depending on the fee structure and whether the fees applied to middle school and high school students, or just to high school students.
Some Cape Elizabeth town councilors are leaning toward sending a proposed $5-million-plus school renovation project out to referendum, although a recent state law removed the requirement for school building projects to be taken to a town-wide ballot.
But councilors are careful to say they will wait for a full proposal from the School Board before making a final decision.
“School projects have always been voted for by the public,” said Councilor Mary Ann Lynch. “I think there’s an expectation on the part of the public that they get to vote on a school project.”
Lynch said she has not yet made up her mind, but added “projects of that magnitude probably ought to go out to referendum.”
The project, expected to cost between $5 and $6 million, will include renovations to the high school and an addition to the Pond Cove School to house the kindergartners, who now use classrooms in the high school.
Lynch said she is now asking herself if all projects—school-related or not—above a certain dollar amount should go to referendum. “Put them all out or don’t,” she said.
It’s unlikely that the council would ignore the results of a referendum, Lynch said. “There would be no point in asking for a referendum if you weren’t going to follow the wishes of the voters,” she said.
Councilor Jack Roberts said he has spoken to town residents who think they should have the right to vote on the proposal. But Roberts supports either making a decision on the council or letting the voters have the final say.
“A non-binding referendum doesn’t make much sense to me,” Roberts said. But not all projects go out to the voters, he said. “Most of the municipal projects don’t go to referendum,” Roberts said. The two most recent examples are the police and fire stations and the community center.
But any of them could. “All spending projects approved by the Town Council over a certain level are subject to a voter veto,” Lynch said.
A part of the Town Charter permits any town council-approved capital expense over a certain amount to be appealed by the voters.
With the signatures of 10 percent of the registered voters of the town, residents could force a binding referendum on any project above 0.5 percent of the state valuation of the property in town. That means any project over about $400,000 would be subject to possible recall.
So rather than making a decision that could be unmade by voters, Lynch said, “have the vote first.”
One advantage of a referendum, Lynch said, would be more public awareness about the building project.
Council Chairwoman Anne Swift-Kayatta agreed with her fellow councilors that it is too early to make a decision, and said she doesn’t expect to hear a full formal proposal from the School Board until sometime in the fall.
“I trust the citizens,” Swift-Kayatta said. “A good, solid well-explained proposal has never had anything to fear” from the voters or council in Cape Elizabeth, Swift-Kayatta said.
And she said she would expect any proposal with strong community support would be approved by the Town Council.
“There’s a very strong tradition and expectation in Maine that school issues have gone before the people,” Swift-Kayatta said.
This is the first time in Cape Elizabeth that a school building project has not been subject to a state-required referendum. And according to Town Manager Michael McGovern, it is also the first time that a committee to draft a school building proposal has been appointed directly by the School Board, rather than by the Town Council in response to a request from the School Board.
So the procedure required is unclear at present, McGovern said, in terms of what the law requires or allows to be possible—binding or non-binding referenda, for example—and what role the School Board itself plays in the building proposal and funding process.
What is clear, McGovern said, is that the Town Council has the final word on whether the money gets spent, unless the council decides to ask the residents for a binding referendum.
In preparation for discussion about costs and budget constraints, the Cape School Board has examined ways to generate revenue to offset some of the expense. The board has decided that the only feasible way to do this would be through co-curricular activity fees.
A board subcommittee, led by board member Jim Rowe, is discussing the subject and will report to the board on what fee structure should be used, if the School Board decides to start charging activity fees.
A 2000-2001 study of activity fees indicated the district could bring in between $30,000 and $60,000 depending on the fee structure and whether the fees applied to middle school and high school students, or just to high school students.
Tuesday, February 19, 2002
Expert Server Group gears up for expansion
Published in Interface Tech News
BEDFORD, N.H. ‹ Responding to increasing customer demand and space constraints, Expert Server Group (ESG) plans to add staff to its enterprise services group ‹ expected to triple in revenue in 2002 ‹ and will begin a five-year building program to add 130,000 square feet to the company's present 20,000 square feet of space.
The company offers procurement, installation, and maintenance services for custom-designed IT systems, including hardware, software, and product support.
According to ESG president Doug Weisberg, the enterprise services part of ESG's business, which provided about ten percent of the total company revenue in 2001, is expected to reach one-third of company activity in 2002. "This year's business will basically triple what we did last year in that segment," Weisberg said.
While disclosing that hiring is already underway, Weisberg was not sure exactly how many employees the company would add. He noted that the bursting of the dot-com bubble has provided a large pool of available workers with good qualifications.
The staff additions have put additional pressure on the company's working space, now split between its main building in Bedford and a smaller space in Manchester, N.H. A few years ago, ESG bought 30 acres next to the Bedford property, and is now planning a progressive build-out of that property that will result in the closing of the Manchester office.
"We would like to consolidate the facilities," Weisberg said.
The initial phase, still in the permitting process, will be a 30,000 square-foot building. Two-thirds of it is planned for offices, with the remainder intended for staging, configuration, light assembly work, and warehousing to support the company's build-to-order services.
"We are out of space," Weisberg said, adding that, over the next five years, the company wants to build an additional 100,000 square feet of space.
This type of company is not common, according to Carl Howe, research director at Forrester Research, but ESG may be doing quite well. While Forrester does not track the small, privately held ESG specifically, Howe said there may be some challenges for such a company, including competition from local value-added resellers.
Laurie Orloff, also an analyst at Forrester, said procurement services is a very viable market, because contract negotiations are time-consuming. She explained that if a company can be an effective middleman ‹ getting better deals for its clients than they would get on their own ‹ while still making a profit, that's very good.
BEDFORD, N.H. ‹ Responding to increasing customer demand and space constraints, Expert Server Group (ESG) plans to add staff to its enterprise services group ‹ expected to triple in revenue in 2002 ‹ and will begin a five-year building program to add 130,000 square feet to the company's present 20,000 square feet of space.
The company offers procurement, installation, and maintenance services for custom-designed IT systems, including hardware, software, and product support.
According to ESG president Doug Weisberg, the enterprise services part of ESG's business, which provided about ten percent of the total company revenue in 2001, is expected to reach one-third of company activity in 2002. "This year's business will basically triple what we did last year in that segment," Weisberg said.
While disclosing that hiring is already underway, Weisberg was not sure exactly how many employees the company would add. He noted that the bursting of the dot-com bubble has provided a large pool of available workers with good qualifications.
The staff additions have put additional pressure on the company's working space, now split between its main building in Bedford and a smaller space in Manchester, N.H. A few years ago, ESG bought 30 acres next to the Bedford property, and is now planning a progressive build-out of that property that will result in the closing of the Manchester office.
"We would like to consolidate the facilities," Weisberg said.
The initial phase, still in the permitting process, will be a 30,000 square-foot building. Two-thirds of it is planned for offices, with the remainder intended for staging, configuration, light assembly work, and warehousing to support the company's build-to-order services.
"We are out of space," Weisberg said, adding that, over the next five years, the company wants to build an additional 100,000 square feet of space.
This type of company is not common, according to Carl Howe, research director at Forrester Research, but ESG may be doing quite well. While Forrester does not track the small, privately held ESG specifically, Howe said there may be some challenges for such a company, including competition from local value-added resellers.
Laurie Orloff, also an analyst at Forrester, said procurement services is a very viable market, because contract negotiations are time-consuming. She explained that if a company can be an effective middleman ‹ getting better deals for its clients than they would get on their own ‹ while still making a profit, that's very good.
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