Communications options changing fast for local businesses with vision

By DIANE PETRYK Staff Writer

One mailbox for voicemail, e-mail and faxes that you can access by phone or computer and that will convert text messages to audio.

These features are coming soon.

Westelcom, the Internet service provider/telephone and computer systems company based in Westport with offices in Plattsburgh, hosted its annual technology seminar Thursday in cooperation with the Plattsburgh-North Country Chamber of Commerce.

Bob Fisher, regional sales director for Integral Access of Amherst, N.H., told particpants from the local business community that features are coming that will completely integrate computers and telephone service. Integral Access specializes in multi-protocol label swtching (MPLS). That means the technology that allows communication networks to send different types of traffic in one data stream.

"It’s going to be a ‘follow me anywhere’ system," Fisher said. It will "simplify your life."

The desire for simplicity was clear in questions asked a panel of experts at the seminar.

"How do we evaluate the many choices, avoid confusion and get the best deal?"

Westelcom was ready with a glossary of new communications-technology terms and a question form to keep handy when competitive local exchange carriers call, including questions on local, intrastate and interstate calls, possible surcharges, bandwidth options, location of service staff, and package rates for various services.

Robert Puckett, president of the New York State Telecommunications Association, said the immediate future looks bright for regional service providers like Westelcom.

"Larger, national firms are scaling back," he said. "There have been too many companies going after too few customers. But the opportunity is there for regional companies that know what their customers need."

National policy will play a role, of course. Major issues being tackled now involved broadband access in non-metro areas and provider access to tenants of large buildings or complexes.

Debate on broadband access is akin to what happened in the United States in the 1930s. Then it was decided, Puckett said, that everyone should have a reasonably priced phone, even those in the remotest areas. Now we are deciding if all are entitled to broadband cable high-speed Internet service, even those in rural areas.

Much of this debate relates to education, said Westelcom’s Eric Kreckel, a network engineer. The government is debating whether not having access to high-speed Internet service puts children in rural areas at a disadvantage.

"We’re starting to see some things taking place," he said, "like rural schools being compensated for providing broad-band access."

This is bridging what Kreckel calls the "digital divide." But when phones were mandated for all, there was only one phone company and it had a monopoly. It could subsidize services that didn’t pay with those that did — the way long distance paid for low-price local service for many years, Puckett said.

"In a competitive world it’s a little trickier," he said.

The other issue, gatekeeper versus individual rights, is being discussed now by the Federal Communications Commission and Congress, according to Westelcom General Manager William Murray.

It’s an issue with large highrises in metropolitan areas, where owners want to get paid to give exclusive access to their tenants, Murray said.

It’s also an issue here in Plattsburgh with PARC. The Plattsburgh Airbase Redevelopment Co. selected PrimeLink as its Internet service provider. All tenants must use PrimeLink. PARC has stated in the past that it put its telecommuications service up for bid and chose the best provider.

But Murray asks, "what if a tenant can find a better deal?"

Murray said he has had local branches of national companies tell him they would like to use Westelcom, but their parent company has a contract with AT&T.

Industrial parks have long been concerned with infrastructure like gas and electricity, roads, and water and sewer, he said, and now they are very concerned with access to telecommunications.

"It seems to me you wouldn’t want to do anything to restrict that."

Terry Beyer, network administrator for Optimal Robotics, a Montreal-based firm with an assembly plant at Plattsburgh’s Air Industrial Park, said the seminar was valuable to him because he is interested in pursuing voice-over MPLS to take the place of separate lines for phone and Internet.

"It would simplify things for us," he said.

By the end of the month, Westelcom expects to be able to offer long distance. With more than 380 million Internet users as of 2000, it’s not surprising that phone companies are concerned more with data transmission than voice these days.