Netscreen 5GT ADSL

It's taken a while (almost a year and a half), but with the help of a senior Netscreen person the 5GT is now working. It was quite painless once the configuration was sorted, and performance seems considerably better than the old D-Link (well more consistent).

The filtering seems relatively easy to use and the WiFi side also is working (though currently slightly fudged as DHCP relaying didn''t seem to quite work.

It's a very nice little router/firewall.

Regulation of VoIP Services

Ofcom link/ have extended the deadline for the consultation on VoIP regulation in the UK to the 10th of May.

This is an important consultation and though geared towards anyone providing VoIP services, it also covers NGNs (Next Generation Networks i.e. IP based telecoms networks).

Ofcom awards 12 licences following spectrum auction

Ofcom has announced the license winners (and how much they pay) for the GSM Gaurd band spectrum. This allows licensees to offer low power GSM services (or other technology). If GSM is chosen there are 15 channels available each carrying 8 voice channels - so there's a reasonable ammount of flexibility in frequency plans and also if multiple licensees want to operate in the same area.

The winners are: -

British Telecommunications PLC £275,112

Cable & Wireless UK ( England) £51,002

COLT Mobile Telecommunications Ltd £1,513,218

Cyberpress Ltd £151,999

FMS Solutions Ltd £113,000

Mapesbury Communications Ltd £76,660

O2 (UK) Ltd £209,888

Opal Telecom Ltd £155,555

PLDT (UK) Ltd £88,889

Shyam Telecom UK Ltd £101,011

Spring Mobil AB £50,110

Teleware PLC £1,001,880

The price varies from £50,002 to over £1.5m and as licensees pay what they bid, some must be feeling sick right now - while others who bid just above the Ofcom minimum must be giggling to themselves.

There may well now be a flurry of license trading, but some novel new GSM type services could be offered for in-building/in-area use.

Porn may decide Blu-ray, HD-DVD battle

The adult entertainment industry might well decide the winner of the Blu-Ray/HSDVD battle, as they seem to be adopting the format.

The porn industry pretty well brought the DVD format into being in the first place (that's what multi-angle is for), so they are probably a good indicator.