I'm little late to the party but the U.S. court Brand X decision allowing cablecos to not share their networks could be a major blow to independent VOIP service providers such as Vonage and Lingo. It is not inconceivable to think cablecos offering their own flavor of VOIP will block the traffic of rivals. Frankly, this scenario - if it materializes - stinks because totally goes against the grain of the power of Web. Instead of offering a highway to deliver services and information to the masses, the Web could devolve into a series of private networks with "walled garden" applications/services. Sure, the carriers and cablecos have made huge investments to develop high-speed networks but they have the advantage of customer relationships and a steady revenue stream from subscribers paying for high-speed service. If the U.S. cablecos go down this path, perhaps the carriers can counter-attack by providing Vonage, et al with more love in deals that benefit both sides (co-marketing, revenue sharing, joint ventures, white-label branding, etc.). In Canada, the CRTC has extracted a promise from Bell and Telus to not block third-party traffic.

The folks in Redmond must be happy and relieved after BT decided to enter into a commercial agreement to use Microsoft's IP-TV Edition software. The deal comes on the heels of Telstra deciding not to proceed with an IP-TV trial using Microsoft's software, while Swisscom and SBC have delayed the launch of their commercial services. BT said it will conduct IP-TV trials early next year before launching a full-blown commercial offer in the summer. It is hard not to get the idea the buzz surrounding IP-TV is running ahead of the technology. While Microsoft is working on a key part of the IP-TV equation, it is just one piece of the puzzle that also includes software, hardware, network upgrades, programming and back-office billing and provisioning systems. Until all the pieces come together and carriers can provide a fully-baked service to 100s of thousands of customers, IP-TV will not be ready for prime-time. The problem is the longer carriers wait to get into the TV business, the bigger advantage the cablecos enjoy.
Addendum: It was rightly pointed out to me that many carriers are already offering "Telco TV", including Manitoba Telecom Services, Aliant and Sasktel. None of these carriers use Microsoft software.

Hey, spending nearly half a billion dollars on mid-tier systems integrator wasn't such a bad idea after all. Nortel PEC Solutions (formerly PEC Solutions Inc. before it was bought by Nortel for US$448-million) has signed to a deal with NASA's Mission Command and Telemetry Network to upgrade its networks so critical data can be shared between the Space Shuttle Discovery, the International Space Station, and NASA operations centers. Almost as important, Nortel PEC will install a "mobility solution" - how come they just don't say wireless network? - at the Kennedy Space Center so journalists attending launches can secure access the Web while moving throughout the six-acre site. Now if Nortel would only provide wireless Web access during tomorrow's AGM, that would be a very good thing.

The big question in the Canadian VOIP market these days is when Rogers will launch its cable telephony service. CEO Ted Rogers has talked about July 1, which is the 20th anniversary of Rogers Wireless, but Rogers' PR folks are sticking a "mid-summer" timeframe. UBS Securities met with Rogers COO Nadir Mohamed yesterday, who heads up the company's cable and wireless divisions. UBS believes Rogers will roll out telephony in a few weeks, and push digital cable and phone service as a way to maximize each truck roll. UBS also expects Rogers will price its telephone service at an "attractive discount" between (Shaw $55 a month and Videotron ($15.95 to $30 a month). I've got Rogers high-speed and cable so it will be interesting to see what kind of deal Ted's going to offer me. Something in the $30 a month range with Web-based features (voice-mail to e-mail, easy ways to configure services such as call-answer and call-forwarding) and a healthy amount of LD would probably lure me away from Sprint.

In response to my blog on the frustrations of blog search, Randy Charles Morin let me know about a new search tool he recently created called kbSearch. It's a meta search engine that "queries many other search engines by using their RSS interface and presents the results from these search engines in one common interface". It is a solid first step by offering an easy way to check a variety of sources without having to waste time navigating through the Web. You can also add new feeds to a number of RSS readers - NewsGator, Yahoo, Pluck, My MSN, etc. - with one mouse click. The next suggested step in kbSearch's evolution would be upgrading the interface, which is pretty basic. Nevertheless, kbSearch is definitely worth checking out. With another upgrade or two, Randy, my blog search conundrum may be solved. Then, I'd want a search engine that can weed out all the blog crap out there, and present most interesting and relevant results.

In about 24 hours, Nortel Networks CEO Bill Owens is apparently going to provide the rest of us with his strategic vision. This will make the trek to the Toronto Congress Centre in suburban Toronto worth the $70 return taxi fare ( I hope!). Nortel spokesman Anne Fuller told Reuters that "He's going to talk about some progress on the strategic plan, but also talk about priorities and strategy moving forward." Given Owens has been on the job for 14 months, it will interesting to see what Owens has to say about Nortel's technology portfolio, which is getting a bit old in the tooth despite US$2-billion of R&D a year. For all the talk about India, China, security and the U.S. government, the fundamental challenge facing Nortel is its technology portfolio. With all the distractions of the accounting scandal and the inability to match M&A moves by rivals such as Alcatel, Cisco and Juniper, Nortel has fallen behind in some key growth areas. Sure, it's a major player in wireless but Nortel is not a robust competitor in the access, router and optical markets. This is what I'd like Owens to talk about tomorrow.