Not so long ago, specific services and the associated networks were closely intertwined. Telecommunications networks delivered voice telephony. Broadcast systems delivered radio and television. The introduction of cable television and satellite transmission resulted in only a marginal increase in complexity. Today, one can no longer say that the service and the network are inextricably intertwi...

Both computing and telecommunications are experiencing a technological revolution. The networked computer is transcending its traditional focus on numerical computations and information organization and retrieval by serving as a communications platform. Telecommunications is transcending its traditional focus on telephony by leveraging the computer’s ability to manage other media, like video, g...

This paper presents a review of recent developments, issues, trends and challenges of telecommunications and information technologies. We will show how to change the telecommunications systems' design and adopt new technologies and practices that are significantly different from the past. The carriers of communications networks have to choose between going to the new business and keeping the ol...

Electronics and telecommunications are rapidly changing and are having significant impacts on social and economic activity, with major implications for transportation. Location of businesses and households may be altered as telecommunications options improve. Already, there is evidence that businesses have become less dependent on proximate locations as electronic links have become more effecti...

The current European regulation on public communications networks requires today that Telecommunications Service Providers (TSPs) take appropriate technical and organizational measures to manage the risks posed to security of networks and services. However, a key issue in this process is the risk identification activity, which roughly consists in defining what are the relevant risks regarding t...

Commonly understood as the next generation networks (NGN), a composite environment of proven telecommunications and Internet-oriented mechanisms has become generally recognized as the telecommunications environment of the future. However, the nature of the NGN environment presents several complex issues regarding quality assurance that have not existed in the legacy environments (e.g., multi-ne...

When the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) selected a radio access technology based on Wideband Code-Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), sponsored by European telecommunications equipment manufactures Ericsson and Nokia, for its third-generation wireless communications system, a bitter dispute developed between ETSI and Qualcommm Inc. Qualcomm threatened to withhold its intel...

Evidence is presented on twelve large acquisitions by telecommunications firms in Europe. Although the average effect on acquirers’ shareholder value is not significantly different from zero, there is high dispersion in the results. This suggests that detailed studies may uncover important aspects of the constraints that exist in the corporate control market of telecommunications firms. A case ...

This article considers past and present European research into communications characteristics for transport telematics applications. The background for the work is derived from the European Commission’s DRIVEITransport Telematics programs and research projects, and recent CEN TC278 activities. The prospect that a single media cannot meet all the current applications requirements is supported by...