Unfiltered

Rough economic times always seem to hit the largely venture capital- and ad-supported Web industry hard. One impact of the current downturn seems to be a free-for-all battle among large Web players to sew up important distribution and partnership deals with telecom service providers.

Several developments in recent days point to some reshuffling of deck chairs.

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We spoke briefly today with Larry Irving, currently co-chair of the Internet Innovation Alliance and D.C. consultant, and formerly one of the highest-ranking telecom officials in the last Democratic administration, having spent seven years as Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information and Administrator of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). Making it clear he wasn’t speaking for president-elect Barack Obama or his advisors in any way — and emphasizing that the economy and foreign policy issues would no doubt be first on the incoming administration’s priority list — Irving shared a few thoughts with us on where telecom policy, and broadband development in particular, might fit in.

In particular, Irving said he was optimistic to see that in most discussions of building America’s infrastructure, Obama often took pains to talk about the need to build the nation’s broadband networks, in particular in rural areas, as part of that effort. Overall, Irving’s comments were fairly non-partisan in nature, stressing the need for both parties to push for broadband reform, including “a lot more emphasis on private public partnerships” to drive telecom investment and growth. In addition to broadband, he several times mentioned the importance of pushing for the more efficient use of wireless spectrum, another key telecom policy issue. Also on top of Irving’s like-to-see-list: some “experimental” projects driven by the telecom industry that could help drive overall economic growth – such as assistance in connecting schools, hospitals and not-for-profit centers as well as a focus on helping hard-hit sectors such as rural farms and small businesses make better use of technology.

On a more partisan front, Irving recalled his days in the Clinton administration and noted that during the years when the democrats owned a majority in Congress – a situation that the incoming Obama administration will find itself in shortly – it made his job “much easier. We were able to have much more free, candid and unfettered conversations,” he said. On whether such an environment today would have him consider a return to the public sector, Irving replied with a no comment, noting quickly he hadn’t been asked, either.

AT&T today announced it would be the first commercial customer using Microsoft’s ‘Surface’ technology, which lets users touch, grab and manipulate data on screens. The technology isn’t used in AT&T mobile phones, but in a new table-top kiosk to be deployed in AT&T retail stores.

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HP this week delivered a major platform update for its NG OSS portfolio, adding a handful of new features but more importantly adding key underlying capabilities and standards deployments that set a new baseline for future OSS feature releases.

The updates include a new 6.0 version of HP’s TeMIP fault management system and new 5.0 version of HP Service Activator Software. Also on tap: a partnership with Cisco to deliver a managed services management solution for carriers running Cisco-based IP networks. (more…)