Mergers, security shaped networking year

There wasn’t a moment’s peace in the world of networking in 2005, from big carrier mergers announced early in the year, through a security bombshell and some major high-speed wireless launches.

Carriers consolidate

Mergers and acquisitions redrew the telecommunications map in 2005, especially in the U.S. The biggest regional carriers each swallowed up an international long-distance and business services operator, with SBC Communications Inc. emerging as the new AT&T Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc. acquiring MCI after a bitter fight with Qwest Communications International Inc. Many enterprises saw their carriers change when those deals were approved late in the year, but it was still unclear what the changes would mean for pricing and new services in the long run. Meanwhile, Sprint Corp. and Nextel Communications Inc.’s merger continued a similar consolidation in the mobile arena, and wireless consolidation gained momentum in Europe and Asia.

Cisco security jitters

A security researcher shook the networking world at the Black Hat USA conference in July with a presentation that said a hacker could gain control of a Cisco Systems Inc. router. The researcher, Michael Lynn, quit his job with security vendor Internet Security Systems Inc. to give the presentation and later went to work for router vendor Juniper Networks Inc., a Cisco rival. Cisco downplayed the importance of the threat, but other related vulnerabilities emerged later in the year. It was a dramatic highlight during a year in which networks, both wired and wireless, came under greater scrutiny and were enlisted to play larger roles in security.

Public broadband battle erupts

Philadelphia’s move to launch a citywide Wi-Fi network raised the volume on a conflict over government-backed broadband after Pennsylvania lawmakers, lobbied by incumbent carrier Verizon, effectively banned such municipal services. (They let Philadelphia’s go ahead.) Carriers slammed government involvement in networking as unfair competition and a dangerous use of public funds, while backers said municipal systems could provide the coverage and pricing that incumbents hadn’t. The plot thickened when Google Inc. proposed a service for San Francisco that would be free to both the city and users, but funded by advertising tailored to users’ locations.

VOIP comes to Main Street

EBay Inc.’s $2.6 billion purchase of peer-to-peer Internet phone company Skype Technologies SA made headlines for VOIP (voice over Internet Protocol), which was rapidly adopted by both consumers and businesses in 2005. Along with that growth came some concerns and conflicts, as service providers scrambled to meet E911 emergency-calling requirements in the U.S. and new technology raised the specter of broadband providers blocking third-party VOIP offerings that compete against their own voice calls.

3G at last

The high-speed mobile data networks that generated a wave of excitement and rich spectrum auctions in 2000 finally hit the streets in a big way in 2005. In the U.S., Sprint complemented its CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) network with EV-DO (Evolution-Data Optimized) while Verizon Wireless Inc. expanded its rollout of that technology. Cingular Wireless LLC moved to match them late in the year, launching a high-speed version of UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunication Service) called HSDPA (High-Speed Downlink Packet Access). Rollouts also continued in parts of Asia and in Europe, where 3G (third generation) entered the mainstream this year.