May 04, 2010 – TelCon Associates, Inc., a leader in telecom auditing, bill management, telemanagement, and technical support services, has been recognized as the Outstanding Multifamily Partner Award recipient for 2010. Voted on by multifamily owners, developers, and managers, the Multifamily Partner Award recognizes one vendor each year who not only understands the unique attributes of the industry, but also has a proven track record and documented evidence for adding value to multifamily owners and their apartment community residents.

Karen Thatcher, TelCon Associates President and CEO, recently accepted the award at the Broadband Properties Annual Summit in Dallas, TX.

“We are honored to have been named the recipient of this award for 2010, and the fact that our current REIT and property management clients nominated us for the award makes it even more special”, says Thatcher.

The multifamily industry poses real problems and challenges for keeping telecommunications services running smoothly and controlling ongoing expenses. More often than not, apartment community staff lacks the time and expertise to handle telecommunications problems as they arise. Thatcher adds, “We consider our role as a vital extension to our clients’ IT departments, essentially freeing up community leasing staff from dealing with tedious and time-consuming telecommunications and internet issues.”

2010 marks the second year of the annual award, the first being presented in 2009 to Verizon.

About TelCon Associates

TelCon Associates specializes in reducing and controlling telecom expenses for multifamily and property management companies. Since 1972, TelCon Associates has garnered an extensive track record for providing cost-reduction and value added services for its clients. The company’s telecom expense management services include: Telecom Auditing, Bill Management, Telemanagement, and Telecom Tech Support services.

Research published in 2006 by the Gartner group suggested that consistent low-level IT failures could spark government regulation of IT products and services in the United States.  Gartner is now predicting more widespread regulation of IT by 2015.

“Although the exact date of arrival for regulation is difficult to predict, we believe that, in recent months, the tempo and intensity of the indications of such an event have increased” says Richard Hunter, vice president and distinguished analyst at Gartner.

Recent hackings into government and other industry IT networks has raised the level of awareness to the IT security threat that the United States could face over the next few years.

Could IT Managers and Software Developers Be Held Liable?

With increased attention on the security of IT networks, IT managers and software developers could soon see a wave of litigation for breaches of security experienced by their customers.

Healthcare industry representatives have already asked the Obama administration to hold software vendors liable for failures resulting from implementation of administrative software mandated by the U.S. federal government by 2014.

Their has also been an uptick in litigation from corporate customers aimed at IT providers as well.

Hunter said software vendors need to be aware that increased liability will drive generic software out of the market, and they should prepare for transparency and product/price differentiation based on quality and certified fitness for purpose.

IT service providers should do the same and mitigate risks by incorporating strong documentation, audit right provisions and legal compliance terminology into outsourcing deals.

Additional information is available in the Gartner report “Childhood Ends: The Signs Are Clearer”

The domain name Telephone.net is currently listed in Sedo’s Premium Domain Auction at GreatDomains.com, which runs until Thursday, January 22, 2009, at 12:00 PM EST.

The generic domain name, Telephone.net, could prove to be a solid acquisition for the right buyer.

The name not only represents an industry, but is directly related to a multitude of products and services in the telecommunications arena including: telephones, cellular telephones, voice over IP (VoIP) services, long distance services, and telephone network equipment.

More information about the Telephone.net auction and to view the listing here.

The Department of Justice today issued a report on competitive developments in the telecommunications industry. The report, “Voice, Video and Broadband: The Changing Competitive Landscape and Its Impact on Consumers,” is the result of a Telecommunications Symposium hosted by the Department on Nov. 29, 2007.

The report addresses a number of issues that may affect consumers of telecommunications services and antitrust analysis in this industry, including the development of new facilities-based competition, wireless technologies as alternatives to wireline networks, price and non-price consumer benefits from competition, the significance of bundled products, and obstacles to competitive entry. The focus of the report is on telecommunications services provided to residential consumers, rather than business users.

“The symposium report highlights the extraordinary changes that have taken place in consumer telecommunications services, including expanded product offerings, increased quality of products, and, most important from an antitrust perspective, increased competition from separate technology platforms,” said Thomas O. Barnett, Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Department’s Antitrust Division.

The report is divided into four chapters. Chapter 1 describes recent trends and developments, including numbers and shares of consumers served by cable companies, telephone companies, Direct Broadcast Satellite, wireless services, and other technologies. New developments are highlighted, such as facilities-based entry by telephone companies into video, and the growth of cable telephony and consumer broadband services offered by multiple providers.

Chapter 2 begins with an overview of basic economic principles applied to telecommunications competition, then analyzes: wireless substitution for wireline telecommunications services; challenges faced by new broadband providers, such as wireless operators; the competitive implications of “triple play” service bundles; and consumer benefits from competition.

Chapter 3 discusses potential impediments to competitive entry in video, voice telephony, and broadband services, including the effects of regulation and conduct by incumbent service providers that may impede competition.

Finally, Chapter 4 summarizes the findings of the report and implications for the Department’s future enforcement activities and competition advocacy. In particular, to aid its ability to enforce the antitrust laws efficiently, the Department will continue to monitor industry trends and developments, paying particular attention to the effects of convergence and increasing substitution among services. The Department will also continue its role as an advocate for sound competition policy.

Complete information on the Telecommunications Symposium, including speaker presentations and written submissions, can be found here .

Those words that began one of histories great novels (Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities) could very well reflect some of the sentiment that is going on now world markets and industries.

As bad as things sound, and between all the talk and banter of worldwide recession, financial meltdowns, global meltdown and the imminent end of the world in general, the telecommunications industry’s future seems quite bright, thank you very much.

In fact, worldwide telecommunications industry revenues are expected to grow at a healthy rate of eight percent over the next 5 years, according to a new market analysis study done by INSIGHT Research Corporation.

Telecommunications revenue, including narrowband and broadband landline, wireless and cellular services, as well as Internet communications are expected to grow from $2.1 trillion in 2008 to more than $3 trillion by 2013 even as margins on traditional voice-related products continue contracting and the industry responds by shifting to an Internet Protocol (IP) communications fabric.

With voice revenues shrinking faster than carriers’ abilities to cut costs, landline and cellular companies are turning to IP technology to help reduce overall costs of operations. The upside of this shift to IP communications technologies is that customers should see a downward trend in costs over the next half decade. The downside is that networks will be increasingly more susceptible to outside attacks, an alarming issue that was rarely seen or considered in traditional phone networks of the past 100 years.

“The Future of Telecommunications 2008-2013″ evaluates revenue and subscriber growth in North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Americas, and Africa. Capital expenditures are also estimated by region and equipment class.

The full 119-page report contains considerable detail, but you can download a free report excerpt, table of contents to decide on purchasing or not. The report does not come cheap - a hard copy will set you back $3995. PDF copies are also available at a discount.

Get your free sample, excerpt, table of contents here, or call (973) 541-9600 for more details.