AT&T, Verizon, and other telcos look to get the broadband price right

April 16, 2013 | By Sean Buckley

In our new report, Comparing broadband pricing: where do AT&T, Verizon, Cincinnati Bell and others stand?, FierceTelecom looks at how U.S. broadband providers are pricing their consumer standalone broadband services.

Building broadband value is important not only for Tier 1 telcos that serve larger markets, but also smaller Tier 2 and 3 telcos that see broadband service as part of a bigger strategy to step outside their traditional voice-centric telephone company shells.

The price of broadband really depends on a number of factors, including access method (DSL or fiber to the home), speeds, bundles, and contract terms.

On the access end, we saw a noticeable gap between what a telco charges for DSL versus fiber to the home (FTTH) services.

Lumos Networks (Nasdaq: LMOS), a service provider that serves mainly smaller rural markets in Virginia, offers a 6 Mbps DSL service for $34.95, while the first tier of its Broadband XL FTTH service is $54.95 a month.  

The other factor is the bundle. While not all subscribers like or want bundles, many telcos will give users a discount on broadband service if they purchase their broadband service as part of a dual- or triple-play bundle.

AT&T (NYSE: T) offers a triple-play bundle with U-verse TV, its Max Plus 18 Mbps broadband tier, and a 250 minute wireline voice plan with 20 calling features for $109.99, while a standalone 18 Mbps offering costs $56 a month.

There is value in the broadband bundle, however, for both consumers and service providers alike.

A consumer can gain immediate savings on their monthly bill and have one source to call if they have a problem with their service, while a service provider increases ARPU.  AT&T reported in Q4 2012 that subscriber ARPU was $170 and Verizon (NYSE: VZ) saw FiOS average revenue per user of $150. Not far behind AT&T and Verizon was CenturyLink (NYSE: CTL), which reported that more than "90 percent of its Prism IPTV subscribers also purchased broadband service" during the fourth quarter. 

Finally, there are the contract terms. To lure new subscribers and even those existing subscribers that want higher service, all of the service providers we profiled offer a promotional period typically of 6 or 12 months. At the end of that period, the price rises.

Cincinnati Bell (NYSE: CBB) offers its 20 Mbps Fioptics FTTH tier for $34 a month for a year. After the one-year trial is over, the price rises to $49.99 a month. Meanwhile, Windstream does raise its promotional broadband prices, but those prices will remain unchanged for the entire time that the user maintains its relationship with the service provider.

In our new report, we examine what all of the top U.S. service providers are offering for either standalone DSL or FTTH services. While this is our first report on broadband pricing, service providers will continue to evolve their broadband pricing schemes and bundled offerings to stay on competitive footing with cable. -Sean

How different are broadband subscription prices among U.S. wireline providers? With the continuing competitive challenges brought by cable operators, a key metric of choice among telcos like AT&T (NYSE: T), CenturyLink (NYSE: CTL), Verizon (NYSE: VZ) and other independent incumbents is in how they price their services.
We noticed two key pricing trend differences in developing our report. First, there is a noticeable gap between what a telco charges for DSL versus fiber to the home (FTTH) services.

Verizon, for example, charges $74.99 for its 15/5 Mbps FiOS offering without a contract, while a standard DSL package with speeds from 1-15 Mbps is $29.99. One thing that has caused ire for new Verizon DSL customers is that they can no longer purchase standalone DSL service--they must bundle in phone service, even if they don't want it, from Verizon to get DSL.

Meantime, Cincinnati Bell (NYSE: CBB) DSL subscribers pay the same price--$29.99--for 5 Mbps service as FTTH subscribers receiving 10 Mbps service.

Between carriers, prices for the same speeds can vary wildly. Consumers who crave 300 Mbps download speeds in a Verizon FiOS service area will pay around $205 per month, while those in Lumos Networks' (Nasdaq: LMOS) serving area must shell out $750.

Second, bundles and contracts can affect broadband pricing.
All of the service providers in our report offer discounts if subscribers are willing to adhere to a contract and purchase a dual- or triple-play bundle. AT&T offers a triple play bundle with U-verse TV, its Max Plus 18 Mbps broadband tier, and a 250 minute wireline voice plan with 20 calling features for $109.99, while a standalone 18 Mbps offering costs $56 a month. Likewise, Verizon offers a FiOS bundle for $89.99 a month with a two-year contract.

In this report, we look at what are carriers charging their subscribers and how those rates differ from carrier to carrier. We compared the prices that each service provider is offering for either standalone DSL or FTTH service, and the length of time that these prices will remain constant.
Take a look at these ILEC broadband pricing metrics in charts below. The first chart lists pricing by each carrier for common broadband speeds. All speeds are for fiber-based broadband, purchased as a standalone service, unless otherwise noted. The remaining charts break out speed tiers and pricing for each carrier we studied in this report.

	3 Mbps	10 Mbps	25 Mbps	100 Mbps
AT&T	$41	$51 (U-verse FTTN)	$66 (U-verse FTTN)
Verizon	$29 (DSL)	$49	$59	$129
CenturyLink		$50 (12 Mbps ADSL)	$60 (20 Mbps FTTH)
Windstream	$50 (DSL)		$55
Frontier		$55
TDS Telecom	$35 (DSL)	$25 (FTTH) $40 (DSL)	$30 (FTTH) $34.95 (18-25 DSL)
FairPoint	$36 (DSL)
Consolidated		$30 (DSL)
Cincinnati Bell		$30 (DSL)	$39	$249
Lumos Networks		$55	$80 (30 Mbps)	$380
HickoryTech	$50 (DSL)	$60 (DSL)	$80 (20 Mbps)
Shentel	$40 (DSL)	$60 (DSL)
Hawaiian Telcom		$28 (11 Mbps) (DSL)	$58
All speeds are fiber except where noted. Prices rounded up to the nearest dollar.

And here are the details for each carrier:

AT&T continues to build out its fiber to the node (FTTN) based U-verse product, reporting 8 million subscribers in Q4 2012. The provider sees a much higher ARPU from its U-verse base: $170 versus $105.63 from its approximately 8.8 million DSL subscribers.
U-verse
Max Turbo	24 Mbps	$66
Max Plus	18 Mbps	$56
Max	12 Mbps	$51
Elite	6 Mbps	$46
Pro	3 Mbps	$41
* Standard DSL
DSL Direct Elite	6 Mbps	$34.95
DSL Direct Pro	3 Mbps	$29.95
DSL Express	1.5 Mbps	$24.95
DSL Direct Basic	768 Kbps	$19.95
* prices good for 6 months

Verizon made a bold move in 2012, adding its Quantum tiers and upping existing speeds in its FiOS areas. Residential subscribers can now get up to 300/65 Mbps. During Q4 2012, the provider added 144,000 net new FiOS Internet connections and 134,000 net new FiOS video connections.
* DSL Services
Standard	.5 to 1.5 Mbps	$19.99
High Speed Internet Enhanced	1.1 to 15 Mbps	$29.99
** FiOS (FTTH)
	15/5 Mbps	$74.99
	50/25 Mbps	$84.99
	75/35 Mbps	$94.99
	150/65 Mbps	$134.99
* requires phone line ** standalone w/out contract	300/65 Mbps	$205

CenturyLink added 41,000 broadband subscribers in Q4 2012 to bring its total to 5.85 million. The telco sees a 90% attachment rate with IPTV purchases.
ADSL2+ Services
Fast	1.5 Mbps	$40
Faster	7 Mbps	$45
	12 Mbps	$50
FTTN (VDSL2 hybrid)
Fastest	20 Mbps	$60
	40 Mbps	$70

Windstream's consumer broadband service revenues rose 5 percent year-over-year to $116 and $457 million for the year 2012. However, it reported that it lost about 2,000 broadband subscribers, ending Q4 2012 with a total of 1.21 million subscribers.
* DSL Services
HSI (High Speed Internet)	3 Mbps	$49.99
HSI Plus	6 Mbps	$54.99
HSI Flash	12 Mbps	$54.99
* after 12 months (price guaranteed for life)

Frontier continued to see modest gains in broadband subscriptions in Q4, adding 5,300 new customers. At the end of Q4 2012 it had a total of 1.8 million broadband subscribers.
DSL services and FiOS FTTH in select markets
	6 Mbps	$19.99
	25 Mbps	$54.99
With TV bundle	15/5 Mbps (FiOS)	$119.99

TDS Telecom lost 1,400 and 700 CLEC broadband subscribers in Q4 2012, ending the quarter with a total of 299,900 subscribers. It reported that ILEC triple-play service penetration, which includes triple-play bundles of voice, video (satellite or IPTV), and data was 31 percent in its markets.
DSL Services
Lite Prime	1 Mbps/512 kbps	$9.95
Express Prime	2-15 Mbps	$14.95
Turbo Prime	8-15 Mbps	$19.95
Extreme Prime	18-25 Mbps	$34.95
FTTH Services
Turbo Prime	10 Mbps	$24.95
Extreme 25 Prime	25 Mbps	$29.95
Extreme 50 Prime	50/25 Mbps	$45

FairPoint added 3,816 broadband subscribers in Q4 2012, ending the year with a total of 326,367 subscribers. It has focused on expanding broadband availability in Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont--three markets it entered when it purchased Verizon's Northern New England assets in 2008.
DSL Services
Starter	768/128 kbps	$21.99
Standard	3 Mbps	$35.99
Premium	7 Mbps	$39.99
Ultra	15 Mbps	$49.99

Consolidated Communications, which expanded its broadband base into new markets including Kansas City, Mo., and Sacramento, Calif., via its acquisition of SureWest, added 11,079 broadband subscribers in Q4 2012. It had a total of 247,633 subscribers at the end of 2012.
DSL Services
Triple play bundle	3 Mbps	$71.85
Triple play bundle	6 Mbps	$81.85
	10 Mbps
	20 Mbps

Cincinnati Bell's Fioptics FTTH service continued to be the dominant driver in the telco's broadband subscriber drive in Q4 2012 as it added 5,000 new subscribers, which offset ongoing traditional DSL declines. It ended the quarter with a total of 259,000 subscribers.
* DSL (Zoom Town Internet)
	768/384 kbps	$25
	5 Mbps/768 kbps	$29.99
** Fioptics (FTTH)
	10/1 Mbps	$29.99
	20/2 Mbps	$34
	30/5 Mbps	$39
	50/10 Mbps	$69
	100/20 Mbps	$249
*  price good for 12 months ** prices good for 12 months

Lumos Networks lost 451 rural broadband subscribers in Q4 2012, ending the quarter with a total of 39,950 subscribers.
Ultra-Fast DSL
	* 6/1 Mbps	$34.95
	** 6/1 Mbps	$29.95
Broadband XL (FTTH)
	10/3 Mbps	$54.95
	15/4 Mbps	$49.95
	20/5 Mbps	$79.95
	50/20 Mbps	$184.95
	100/40 Mbps	$379.95
	200/80 Mbps	$599.95
	300/120 Mbps	$749.95
* with local phone service ** with Unlimited Bundle

HickoryTech added 454 broadband subscribers in Q4 2012. However, like other service providers it reported that competitive price compression from local cable operators impacted broadband revenue, which was down 4 percent year-over-year to $4.9 million.
DSL (Iowa)
Lite (with phone package)	384/128 kbps	$26.95
Prime	3/1 Mbps	$39.90
Pro	6/1 Mbps	$49.90
DSL (Minnesota)
Lite	1 Mbps/512 kbps	$29.90
Prime	6/1 Mbps	$39.90
Pro	9/1 Mbps	$49.90
Premium	20/1 Mbps	$64.90

Shentel, which operates both cable and traditional wireline telco networks, added 216 DSL broadband subscribers in Q4 2012. Although it did not reveal numbers in Q4 2012, the telco has begun rolling out higher speed Fiber to the Home (FTTH) services in select markets in Q4 and throughout Q1.
DSL Services
	384 kbps	$24.95
	768 kbps	$29.95
	1.5 Mbps	$34.95
	3 Mbps	$39.95
	5 Mbps	$49.95
	10 Mbps	$59.95

Hawaiian Telcom's Q4 2012 consumer high speed Internet (HSI) revenue rose year-over-year to $9.4 million due to a 4 percent increase in HSI subscribers to about 88,000. The rise in HSI subscribers was driven by high pull-through rates for new video subscribers and an increase in standalone HSI additions.
DSL Services
Basic	7 Mbps	$24.95
Advantage	11 Mbps	$27.95
Premium	15 Mbps	$37.95
Extreme	20 Mbps	$49.95
Ultimate	25 Mbps	$57.95
Elite	50 Mbps	$79.95

Savvis takes top cloud ranking in Gartner study

April 15, 2013 | By Sean Buckley

Savvis, CenturyLink's (NYSE: CTL) cloud and data center subsidiary, was named as one of the top managed hosting providers in North America on Gartner's Magic Quadrant where it is directly competing with AT&T (NYSE: T) and Verizon (NYSE: VZ).

Delivering services through its growing base of U.S. and international data centers, Savvis currently offers a set of shared, dedicated, and hybrid cloud solutions to its multi-site business clients.

"Savvis can handle extremely complex deals, including large-scale e-commerce and enterprise application hosting needs," wrote Gartner in their report. "It has a very broad portfolio of supported infrastructure, middleware stacks and application environments."

Savvis has performed consistently well for CenturyLink. Operating inside of CenturyLink as the telco's Enterprise Markets – Data Hosting division, revenues rose 12.7 percent year-over-year to $292 million in Q4 2012.

While its main focus is on serving large multinational corporation customers (MNCs), it expanded its cloud and managed service portfolio to a broader audience via the launch of its savvis direct solution last December. It also expanded its application support capabilities via its acquisition of Ciber last October.

The service provider isn't without its issues, however.
"Gartner clients have noted a dilution of focus and support quality within the business following the spate of acquisitions during the past two years that have led to the company's current organizational structure," the report said. "Savvis has multiple hosting and cloud IaaS offerings among its suite of services, which can leave customers unsure which line of service is best for their needs."

Microsoft pulls security update over software conflicts

One of Patch Tuesday's security updates has been removed after Microsoft found that it can cause errors when paired with certain third-party software.

by Lance Whitney

 April 12, 2013

A security update issued by Microsoft on Tuesday isn't playing nicely with other software, prompting Microsoft to pull it from its download center.

Dustin Childs, group manager of Microsoft Trustworthy Computing,revealed the problem in a blog post late yesterday:

We are aware that some of our customers may be experiencing difficulties after applying security update 2823324, which we provided in security bulletin MS13-036 on Tuesday, April 9. We've determined that the update, when paired with certain third-party software, can cause system errors. As a precaution, we stopped pushing 2823324 as an update when we began investigating the error reports, and have since removed it from the download center.

Childs said the system errors don't affect all Windows users and don't cause any data loss. However, he advised all people who installed the update to uninstall it by following the steps outlined in a Knowledge Base article published after the problem was discovered.

The update in question fixes a moderate-level security hole that requires someone to have physical access to a computer in order to exploit it. Tuesday's overall security package is still available but no longer contains the buggy update, so Windows users who haven't yet applied the patches should install them.

Browser realpolitik

•  Michael Wolf
 
• Friday, April 5, 2013

If you didn’t think Google’s move to fork Webkit with its own engine Blink wasn’t going to make things a little messy on the browser front, think again.

That’s because – as I wrote for this week’s weekly update – the Webkit power-center mainly revolves around Apple now, and now, given Google’s move, the Webkit folks are looking to do a little house – or rather code – cleaning.

The email is from a software engineer at Apple, and it shows how Google’s move has already started to push the camps – and code bases – farther apart. While the initial target may be only code that is specifically for Chromium, as The Register points out, there are inevitably going to be those Webkit developers who rely on Google specific code like the V8 Javascript engine.

Long term, things will get messier and slightly confusing for companies as the balkanization around browser code continues. Just as Samsung could potentially be hurt by the removal of the V8 Javascript engine, just consider that they are also in bed with Mozilla for a next-gen browser engine themselves.

Bottom line, all of these bigger companies will have to manage multiple browser engines across multiple product lines in coming years until things shake out.  But, just as with politics, it seems all the big players are working behind the scenes in a game of browserrealpolitik to gain an upper hand down the road.

Lightower completes its $2 billion merger with Sidera

April 11, 2013 | By Sean Buckley

Lightower has completed its $2 billion merger with Sidera Networks, creating what the two providers claim will be one of the largest U.S.-based metro fiber providers.

With the merger complete, the combined company will be led by Rob Shanahan and retain the Lightower brand.

As a combined service provider, the new Lightower network will have over 20,000 route miles with over 7,500 on-net locations. In addition, Lightower's network connects more than 130 data centers, over 115 carrier hotels and central offices, 40 financial exchanges and 18 Lightower colocation centers.

Another added bonus of the deal is that Lightower will gain Sidera's 1,000 route mile network that is scheduled to be completed by the end of the year.

Leading the deal was Boston-based Berkshire Partners, one of Lightower's key investors. Meanwhile, Pamlico Capital, a significant Lightower investor, and ABRY Partners, a significant Sidera investor, will remain as investors in the new company.

The service provider, however, has not revealed other financial details.
Seeing that both Lightower and Sidera were born as the product of acquisitions themselves, the next question is what will be Lightower's next acquisition move?

Some possibilities could include Tech Valley Communications, DukeNet or even Lumos Networks (Nasdaq: LMOS).

By acquiring Tech Valley, Lightower could deepen its presence in upstate NY state and northern New England states such as New Hampshire. Tech Valley expanded its Northern New England and Canadian presence via its recent acquisitions of TelJet and New Hampshire-based segTEL.

With DukeNet, Lightower could establish a foothold in the Southeast, while Lumos could give them deeper presence in West Va. and other nearby states.

Lumos itself has been cited by Cowan and Company as a possible acquisition target  given the traction it has made in the enterprise and wholesale markets.

Stopping short of revealing any other deals in 2013, Shanahan told FierceTelecom in a previous interview it will keeping a close eye on other assets that could add value to its network.
"There are other smaller independents that would be a good fit for Lightower/Sidera," he said. "We're going to have our organic growth strategy as well as acquisition opportunities for growth as well."

AT&T ups its FTTH speed to 24 Mbps

April 10, 2013 | By Sean Buckley

AT&T (NYSE: T) is increasing the speeds for customers that are on its fiber to the premises (FTTP) U-verse network to 24/3 Mbps, up from 18/1.5 Mbps, according to a Broadband DSL Reports article.

While the service provider has been an advocate of fiber to the node (FTTN), it does offer FTTP-based services in some select locations, particularly in Greenfield housing developments.

One of the users in Broadband Reports' forums said that they were only told about the speed boost when they notified AT&T they were going to switch to Time Warner Cable (NYSE: TWC).

"I called to cancel U-Verse because Time Warner offers Docsis 3.0 speeds for far cheaper in the Austin area," the user wrote. "Uverse told me that select FTTH customers can now get 24/3 instead of the previous cap of 18/1.5."

What's interesting about the new tier is that FTTP can offer much higher speeds. Besides Verizon's (NYSE: VZ) 300 Mbps Quantum offering, Google Fiber (Nasdaq: GOOG) and municipal providers such as Chattanooga, Tenn.-based EPB Fiber are providing 1 Gbps.

As part of its Project VIP initiative, AT&T said it plans to deliver 45 and later 75 Mbps to users that are close to a VRAD on their FTTN network, and possibly its FTTP infrastructure, later this year via VDSL2 with bonding and vectoring.

Following Google Fiber's announcement in Austin, Texas, on Tuesday, AT&T quickly said it would offer a 1 Gbps service in the city without offering any specific timeline.

FTC Submits Fiscal Year 2014 Budget Request and Performance Plans to Congress

The Federal Trade Commission has submitted its Fiscal Year 2014 budget request to Congress, including the FY 2014 Budget Overview Statement, and FY 2013 and FY 2014 Performance Plans required under the Government Performance and Results and Modernization Act of 2010.  The FTC’s formal budget request was submitted to Congress on April 10, 2013, in support of the President’s FY 2014 budget for the federal government.

The Commission vote to submit the budget request and performance plans to Congress was 4-0. Copies of the documents can be found on the FTC’s website. (FTC File No P859900; the staff contact is Kimberly Mayo, 202-326-2899)

The Federal Trade Commission works for consumers to prevent fraudulent, deceptive, and unfair business practices and to provide information to help spot, stop, and avoid them.  To file a complaint in English or Spanish, visit the FTC’s online Complaint Assistant or call 1-877-FTC-HELP (1-877-382-4357).  The FTC enters complaints into Consumer Sentinel, a secure, online database available to more than 2,000 civil and criminal law enforcement agencies in the U.S. and abroad.  The FTC’s website provides free information on a variety of consumer topics.  Like the FTC on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, and subscribe to press releases for the latest FTC news and resources.

MEDIA CONTACT:

Office of Public Affairs
202-326-2180

AT&T Voice DNA® Video Tour: User -- AT&T Premier

ACUTA Legislative/Regulatory Update

April 9, 2013

Welcome to the “ACUTA Legislative/Regulatory Update,” a monthly electronic newsletter summarizing Federal regulatory and legislative developments of interest to information communications technology (ICT) professionals in higher education. This membership benefit is provided monthly to all named representatives of Institutional, Corporate Affiliate, Associate and Emeritus members. This update covers the period from March 9, through April 5, 2013.

“ACUTA Legislative/Regulatory Update” is based primarily on information provided to the ACUTA Legislative/Regulatory Affairs Committee by attorneys Kenneth D. Salomon of Thompson Coburn, LLP and J.G. Harrington of Dow Lohnes Government Strategies LLC, law firms located in Washington, DC with extensive ICT and media expertise. 

**We encourage you to forward this Update to other interested parties within your institution, such as legal counsel, governmental relations staff, security officers, and Chief Information Officers.**

Are there additional people on your campus who would benefit from regularly receiving the monthly Legislative/Regulatory Update and other ACUTA publications?  Member institutions may now name as many individuals to their membership roster as desired.  All new representatives will receive the same membership benefits enjoyed by our current members, including access to members-only sections of the ACUTA website; subscriptions to the ACUTA Journal, eNews, and Legislative/Regulatory Update; and access to the new online ACUTA Community.

To add members to your college or university’s ACUTA roster, contact the primary voting member for your institution and ask that they contact Joanie Profitt or Amy Burton.  Both Joanie and Amy can also be reached at the ACUTA office, (859) 278-3338, and can assist with any changes to membership rosters.

CONGRESS

Congress began a two week work period on March 22.  The House returns to Washington on April 8 followed by the Senate on April 9. The main legislative focus after Congress returns is likely to be comprehensive immigration reform, although cybersecurity efforts will resume.

Cybersecurity

The continued flurry of congressional activity on cybersecurity can best be summed up by the March 13 comments of a POLITICO Pro Technology reporter:

Cybersecurity reform is quickly becoming Capitol Hill’s Hydra – whenever a lawmaker gavels one hearing to a close, other members call for more hearings, bills and debates quickly multiply.

It’s probably no surprise, then, that the five congressional hearings on the issue in just two weeks - - three of which happened on Wednesday [March 13] –  have spawned an entire chorus of reformers who are angling to do more than just protect the nation’s power plants, water systems and other forms of critical infrastructure from crippling cyberattacks. * * *

It all speaks to the tough road still ahead for lawmakers hoping to slay the cybersecurity beast – a victory that’s eluded the [Congress] for years.

Nevertheless, the House Majority Leader on March 15 said that House Republicans intend to “consider” cybersecurity legislation in April.  In addition, the Obama Administration announced April 4 that it will hold three in-depth workshops on the President’s February 12 Executive Order, for “Improving Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity, http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2013/02/12/executive-order-improving-critical-infrastructure-cybersecurity.  The National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) is organizing the sessions as part of NIST’s drafting a “Cybersecurity Framework” pursuant to the Executive Order.  The first workshop will be held at Carnegie Mellon University on May 29-31, http://www.hstoday.us/index.php?id=3428&no_cache=1&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=30371.   It will feature working roundtables on key topics of the Cybersecurity Framework, including basic cyberhygiene, risk management, tools and metrics, existing practices and gaps.  The other workshops are tentatively slated for July 15 and September 9.  The goal is to gather industry input and complete a first draft of the Cybersecurity Framework by October.

Electronic Communications Privacy Reform Act

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Leahy (D-VT) introduced the Electronic Communications Privacy Act Amendments, S. 607, on March 19.  It requires government officials to obtain a search warrant before accessing e-mails and other private online content.  Under current law, dating back to 1986, the government only needs a subpoena to gain access to read emails that have been opened or that are more than 180 days old.  The Leahy bill also requires the government to promptly notify an individual if their private online information has been accessed, although the government could obtain a court order to delay notification to protect an ongoing investigation.

Also on the 19th, the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security and Investigations held an Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) hearing to consider the need to clarify the protections of e-mails, text, and information stored in the cloud from unreasonable searches and seizures by the government and in civil suits.  Subcommittee Chairman Sensenbrenner (R-WI) told the hearing that it would have to be a balancing act between protecting privacy and allowing for law enforcement investigation of crime, characterizing the task as a "tough nut to crack."  During the hearing, full Committee Chairman Goodlatte (R-VA) said that updating ECPA was a top Committee priority.

Cellphone Unlocking

The bipartisan efforts to legalize cellphone unlocking to enable owners of devices to switch it to the wireless carrier of their choice came into sharper focus last month.  While several bills were introduced in the Senate in early March, the Unlocking Consumer Choice and Wireless Competition Act (S. 517) offered by Judiciary Committee Chairman Leahy and Ranking Member Grassley (R-IA), together with five other key Senators, effectively cleared the field in the Senate.  Similarly, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Goodlatte and Ranking Member Conyers (D-MI) introduced their bill (H.R. 1123) on March 14 together with the Chairman and Ranking Member of the Judiciary Intellectual Property and Technology Subcommittee.  These bills by the leadership of the House and Senate Committees of jurisdiction will be vehicles that Congress considers rather than the bills previously introduced and noted in our report last month.  The Unlocking Consumer Choice and Wireless Competition Act temporarily restores the exemption to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) that permits consumers, once they have fulfilled their contractual obligation, to unlock their cell phones without the approval of their wireless provider.  It also directs the Copyright Office to determine whether similar treatment should be given to other wireless devices. 

Late in March, several tech advocacy organizations sent a letter to Leahy and Goodlatte asking them to permanently ensure a DMCA exemption for cellphone unlocking and imploring Congress to look at the statute’s anti-circumvention provisions in more detail.

Spectrum

The Ranking GOP member of the Senate Commerce Committee, Senator John Thune (R-SD) called on March 21 for the National Telecommunications and Information Administration to focus on reallocating the 1695-1710 and 1755-1780 MHz bands for as much exclusive, non-federal use as possible. 

Rural Communications

The Senate Communications Subcommittee will hold an April 9 hearing on the state of rural communications.  The Subcommittee will examine the strengths and challenges of the rural communications market, and look at the hurdles facing companies that serve rural consumers.

Internet Governance

The House Subcommittee on Communications and Technology will mark up a draft bill to “affirm the policy of the United States regarding Internet governance” on April 10 and 11.  Congress and the Administration are concerned, as the Subcommittee’s Majority staff memorandum describes, that “attempts to drag the Internet within the ambit of international regulatory bodies just might succeed.”  These efforts have largely been led by China, Russia and Iran, among other nations.  The House and Senate last year unanimously passed resolutions opposing treaty proposals at the December 2012 World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT-12) to subject the Internet to regulation by the International Telecommunication Union, a United Nations agency.  The congressional resolutions helped prompt 54 nations to join the United States in refusing to sign the treaty, but many are convinced that international efforts to regulate the Internet will continue.  In February, the Subcommittee and the House Foreign Affairs Committee held a joint hearing on the issue, including discussion of draft legislation to convert the 2012 unanimous resolutions into U.S. policy.  In its current form, the draft legislation states that “[i]t is the policy of the United States to promote a global Internet free from government control and to preserve and advance the successful multi-stakeholder model that governs the Internet.”

FCC Oversight Hearing/E-Rate 2.0

The Senate Commerce Committee on March 12 conducted an FCC oversight hearing.  The five Commissioners testified.  During the hearing, Chairman Rockefeller said it was necessary to create a new generation of the E-Rate program, E-Rate 2.0 that would provide every school with at least one Gigabit connection by 2020.  The Chairman also expressed his desire to see E-Rate funding expanded from $5 billion to $9 billion by 2020.  Commissioner Rosenworcel supported Rockefeller’s position during the hearing and noted that the demand for E-Rate funding is double the amount made available by the FCC annually.

FCC Chairman

Both FCC Chairman Genachowski, a Democrat, and Commissioner McDowell, a Republican, announced their resignations in late March.  Genachowski’s announcement came on March 22 while McDowell announced his decision at the start of the FCC’s March 20 open meeting.  On March 22, 37 Democratic Senators wrote to President Obama to urge him to appoint Commissioner Rosenworcel as the next FCC Chairman.  If appointed, Rosenworcel would be the first female to chair the agency.  With both a GOP and a Democratic vacancy, it is most likely that the President will “pair” the nominations to facilitate the confirmation process.  This was done most recently when Commissioner Rosenworcel, a Democrat, was paired with Commissioner Pai, a Republican.

FCC

FCC Holds Technology Transitions Workshop

On March 18, the FCC held the first workshop of its Technology Transitions Task Force.  The workshop reviewed the capabilities of existing technologies, the usage and adoption of various technologies and the evolution of networks and the technologies they use.  The agenda for the workshop is available at http://transition.fcc.gov/Daily_Releases/Daily_Business/2013/db0311/DA-13-383A1.pdf, Video of the workshop, along with a transcript, presentations and other materials, is available athttp://www.fcc.gov/events/technology-transitions-policy-task-force-workshop.

FCC Adopts Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on 9-1-1 Resiliency

On March 20, the FCC adopted a notice of proposed rulemaking to examine specific steps to improve the reliability of 9-1-1 service.  The notice asks for comment on the appropriate steps to take to:  (1) Ensure that there are periodic audits of 9-1-1 circuits for physical diversity; (2) Ensure that adequate central office backup power is maintained; and (3) Maintain reliable and resilient network monitoring systems.  The notice asks what mechanisms could be used to achieve these goals, including reporting, certification, specific reliability requirements and inspections.  Comments and reply comments are due 30 and 45 days, respectively, after notice of the proposals is published in the Federal Register.  The press release is available athttp://transition.fcc.gov/Daily_Releases/Daily_Business/2013/db0320/DOC-319689A1.pdf, and the notice itself is available athttp://transition.fcc.gov/Daily_Releases/Daily_Business/2013/db0320/FCC-13-33A1.pdf.

Annual Wireless Competition Report Is Released

On March 21, the FCC released its 16th annual report on wireless competition.  As the FCC did in the first seven reports and in the last two reports, it did not reach any conclusions as to whether the wireless marketplace is competitive, but instead provided descriptive information on the wireless marketplace.  Commissioners McDowell and Pai issued statements indicating that they were concerned about the lack of a conclusion, particularly in light of their view that Congress has asked the FCC to provide that kind of analysis.  The report does note that 99.9% of the population has access to at least one wireless provider, that 99.3% has access to at least two, 97.2% has access to at least three and 92.8% has access to at least four.  The report and the commissioners’ statements are available at http://transition.fcc.gov/Daily_Releases/Daily_Business/2013/db0321/FCC-13-34A1.pdf,http://transition.fcc.gov/Daily_Releases/Daily_Business/2013/db0321/FCC-13-34A2.pdf (Genachowski), http://transition.fcc.gov/Daily_Releases/Daily_Business/2013/db0321/FCC-13-34A3.pdf (McDowell), http://transition.fcc.gov/Daily_Releases/Daily_Business/2013/db0321/FCC-13-34A4.pdf (Clyburn) and http://transition.fcc.gov/Daily_Releases/Daily_Business/2013/db0321/FCC-13-34A5.pdf(Pai).

FCC Holds Workshop on Gigabit Community Broadband Networks

On March 27, the FCC held its first workshop on gigabit community broadband networks.  The workshop included discussions of how gigabit speed networks can benefit communities; how communities can obtain gigabit speed networks; innovation in demand aggregation; and using local tools to create incentives for providers to deploy gigabit networks.  The agenda for the workshop is available at http://transition.fcc.gov/Daily_Releases/Daily_Business/2013/db0325/DA-13-548A1.pdf and video and other materials from the workshop are available at http://www.fcc.gov/events/gigabit-workshop-1.

FCC Issues Order and Rulemaking Notice on RF Exposure

On March 29, the FCC issued an order and notice of proposed rulemaking on its rules governing human exposure to radiofrequency radiation.  The order makes what the FCC describes as “technical, non-substantive” changes to the rules that do not affect the limits on exposure to radiation, but do affect how it is measured and how parties can demonstrate compliance with the rules.  The notice of proposed rulemaking is focused on harmonizing and streamlining the rules so that evaluation of RF emissions is based on the physical properties of RF-emitting devices rather than the services to which those devices are assigned.  The FCC is proposing this change, in part, because more devices are designed to use multiple frequencies at varying power levels.  In addition, the proceeding will include a notice of inquiry to begin a more general review of the FCC’s RF exposure policies, including exposure limits, options for what the FCC describes as “precautionary exposure reduction” and the process for approving equipment authorizations.  Comments and reply comments on the notice will be due, respectively, 90 and 120 days after publication in theFederal Register.  The notice is available at http://transition.fcc.gov/Daily_Releases/Daily_Business/2013/db0329/FCC-13-39A1.pdf.

Other Regulatory Issues

T-Mobile Acquisition of MetroPCS Approved

On March 12, the FCC approved the acquisition of MetroPCS by T-Mobile.  The order, issued at the staff level, found that there would be consumer benefits from increased deployment of 4G services and from bringing the MetroPCS business model to new markets.  The order and the commissioners’ statements on the decision are available at http://transition.fcc.gov/Daily_Releases/Daily_Business/2013/db0312/DA-13-384A1.pdf (order), http://transition.fcc.gov/Daily_Releases/Daily_Business/2013/db0312/DOC-319459A1.pdf (Genachowski), http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-319477A1.pdf (Clyburn),http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-319477A1.pdf (Rosenworcel) and http://transition.fcc.gov/Daily_Releases/Daily_Business/2013/db0312/DOC-319463A1.pdf (Pai).

FCC Acts to Reduce Indecency Complaint Backlog

On April 1, the FCC released a public notice announcing that it had released its backlog of complaints concerning broadcast indecency by approximately 70%, largely by dismissing more than one million pending complaints.  (This, apparently, leaves more than 400,000 complaints pending.)  In the notice, the FCC also asked for comment on whether it should it should change its broadcast indecency policies.  Although it mentioned some examples of changes that could be made, the public notice did not propose any specific modifications.  Comments and reply comments will be due 30 and 60 days, respectively, after notice is published in the Federal Register.  The public notice is available at http://transition.fcc.gov/Daily_Releases/Daily_Business/2013/db0401/DA-13-581A1.pdf.

New Limitations on Television Modification Applications Adopted

On April 5, the FCC announced that it would enforce new limitations on applications to modify existing television licenses.  Under the limits, new applications will not be accepted and pending applications will not be processed if the modified facilities would increase the noise-limited contour of a full-power station or the protected contour of a Class A station.  The FCC will, however, accept minor change applications for Class A stations to implement the digital transition.  These new processing standards went into effect immediately, and are intended to preserve the FCC’s ability to repack television stations following the planned incentive auction.  The public notice announcing the new processing standards is available at http://transition.fcc.gov/Daily_Releases/Daily_Business/2013/db0405/DA-13-618A1.pdf.

FCC Issues Citations to Robocallers

On March 15, the FCC issued official citations to two companies that persistently have made autodialed calls to mobile phones in violation of the FCC’s rules.  The citations, which are official FCC findings of violation but do not include fines, were issued to Dialing Services, LLC and Democratic Dialing.  The FCC found that the two companies had each made more than one million unauthorized calls to wireless customers.  The FCC press release is available at http://transition.fcc.gov/Daily_Releases/Daily_Business/2013/db0315/DOC-319535A1.pdf, the citation against Dialing Services is available athttp://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-13-265A1.pdf and the citation against Democratic Dialing is available athttp://transition.fcc.gov/Daily_Releases/Daily_Business/2013/db0315/DA-13-264A1.pdf. 

What Is The Process Of Asset Management In The Digital Realm?

One important thing needed in every organization is the management of their assets, especially the digital ones. These assets and information in most cases are so important and delicate that we cannot afford to lose, destroy or even harm them. However, following the process that is involved in the use and management of digital assets, the management of digital assets can be explained as the management, organization and distribution of these assets from a central repository. The principal things that it teaches are to know the systems that are used for this, what the systems can do, and how to use them to achieve maximum positive results.

Assets like photos, audio, video, presentations, files and product images are digital assets. They are stored in several formats and systems. The systems in which assets are stored are called an asset management system. Storing of data in these systems is seen over time as the most secure and accessible storage method. However, there are three main management processes that are involved in the managing of digital assets

Administration of assets

Administration of assets means the process of managing the entry, usage and exit of these assets. Most firms assign staff to this task and what they do is take charge of the regulation of the influx of all new digital assets. They assign and edit the metadata that is associated with any files. They also associate assets to users and groups with a sort of role based permission. Just as these administrators have different degrees of control over the assets, and workflows, they also assign these to users, depending on the degree of access approved for each user in each case.

Organization of assets

A visit to any well established firm might reveal that they have tens of thousands of such digital assets. Organizing these assets by just putting them together in one secure place might make them secure, but it does not augur well for the firm in question as there is much more involved in managing digital assets. Various tools should be used to organize this data for easy access and distribution. The many different file types, organ, essence and dates all need to be taken into account, and can in fact be used as yardsticks for the organization of all digital assets stored within the firm so as to give maximum productivity when it is time to use them.

Distribution of assets

The proportion of information given out and the amount of sales experienced are directly dependent on the amount of distribution of digital assets a firm can achieve. Digital asset management is an easy way to distribute the digital assets of a company in an effective manner. The proper use and distribution of these assets make sure there is consistency in marketing and communication channels. This makes sure that users can locate assets as easily as possible and use them in their campaigns or projects. This can be achieved through web browsers or on-the-fly file conversions.

Report: Google Fiber to challenge AT&T and Time Warner Cable in Austin

April 5, 2013 | By Mike Dano

Updated: Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) is planning to expand its "Fiber" project to Austin, Texas, according to a report in VentureBeat. Google and the city of Austin are planning to make an announcement on April 9 that "will have a positive impact on Austinites and the future of the city"--a VentureBeat report said the announcement involves Google bringing its Internet service to the city.

AT&T (NYSE: T) has a big presence in Austin with U-verse and Time Warner Cable (NYSE: TWC) also operates in the city as well, according to the FCC's broadband map.

Google Fiber launched in Kansas City last year, offering residents 1 Gbps Internet connections for $70 per month (Google is currently waiving the $300 installation fee). Google also offers Internet and TV service for $120 a month and "free" Internet service (after a $300 installation fee) that provides speeds of around 5 Mbps.

With the Kansas City offering, Google is taking on established incumbent cable operators Time Warner Cable and AT&T (NYSE: T) in the area, which have their own triple-play service offerings over existing HFC and hybrid copper/fiber last-mile networks.

Moreover, it appears that Google Fiber is a hit with residents in Kansas City. According to a new survey from Ideas & Solutions! Inc., 60 percent of the qualified population in Kansas City is interested in using the service.
That Google is reportedly expanding its Fiber project beyond Kansas City is not really a surprise. Google Chairman Eric Schmidt late last year said the company does not see the Google Fiber network in Kansas City as an experiment but the seed of a much larger opportunity they could replicate in other markets. "It's actually not an experiment; we're actually running it as a business," he said, noting that it has enticed a number of new startups with high bandwidth needs to locate their offices where the fiber has been installed with plans to bring it "hopefully more cities."

Rackspace sues “notorious” patent troll

by Barb Darrow

Rackspace, which just successfully defended itself in a lawsuit filed by one patent troll, is now declaring war on another.

On Thursday, the company said it sued IP Nav and Parallel Iron, asking the federal court in its hometown of San Antonio Texas for damages, for breach of contract and to enter a declaratory judgement asserting that Rackspace does not infringe on Parallel Iron’s patents.

The back story, according to a Rackspace blog post, is that Parallel Iron sued Rackspace and 11 others in Delaware. That suit alleges that the defendants infringed on three patents that Parallel Iron claims cover the use of the open-source Hadoop Distributed File System (HDFS).

In his post, Alan Schoenbaum, Rackspace SVP and general counsel wrote:

“Parallel Iron is the latest in a string of shell companies created to do nothing more than assert patent-infringement claims as part of a typical patent troll scheme of pressuring companies to pay up or else face crippling litigation costs. At least that is what it looks like on the surface.

As GigaOM’s Jeff Roberts has reported, many of these litigious companies (aka trolls) are shells created by patent aggregators. Their goal is to wring money out of targets. Sometimes, legitimate tech companies give their IP to trolls in order to harass rivals or even create their own shell to pursue this sort of litigation.

Patent shell companies claim that they give small companies — those without the resources to enforce their own patents — a way to do so. Under that theory, these small companies, or academics or a nongovernmental agency (NGO) might turn their IP over to a shell company to protect it.

That’s a contention that Shoenbaum called “laughable.” Rackspace’s complaint is here.

San Francisco, Denver, Philly Most Stressful Cities for IT Pros

By Nathan Eddy  |  Posted 2013-03-29

Feeling stressed out lately? That's nothing compared with the overwhelming stress levels experienced by IT administrators across the country, a revealing study commissioned by GFI Software indicates. The survey gauged respondents' stress levels at work and revealed their opinions on their main stressors, as well as how their stress level compares with that of friends and family and how it affects their personal and professional lives. The study found that while the number of IT professionals considering leaving their jobs due to workplace stress has declined from 67 percent last year to 57 percent in 2013—a 10-point drop in one year—the percentages are still staggeringly high. Respondents from the Western United States find their jobs more stressful than those in other regions, with more than three-quarters (76 percent) of IT administrators indicating their jobs are stressful. This represents a major shift from 2012, when the Northeast was reportedly the most stressed region for IT managers (74 percent of them felt it) and the West was the second least-stressful region to work in. eWEEK takes a look at some of the cities that made IT administrators feel so stressed out.

Windows 8 is the operating system

By Don Reisinger  |  Posted 2013-04-01

Windows 8 is the operating system that will come to define Microsoft. The operating system will either be a new beginning for a company desperately seeking some innovation credibility or the misstep that will put the brakes on profits and future business growth. Weak Windows 8 adoption will likely further erode Microsoft's dominance of an increasingly mobile PC market. The fact that Windows 8's reception so far has been so tepid and that Microsoft has hardly made its presence felt in the rapidly growing tablet market speaks volumes about the company's current position in the IT industry. Microsoft needs Windows 8 to succeed. If the operating system can't match its promise and the vendors providing the platform can't generate a strong return on their investment, Windows 8 will fail. The tablet market has come to define success or failure in today's marketplace. This eWEEK slide show examines Windows 8 tablets and determines what those devices will need to have in order to succeed. It won't be easy, of course, but with the right strategy, Windows 8 tablets might just have a shot at coming close to matching the iPad and the more popular products from Amazon and Google.

 

CenturyLink, Frontier, Windstream ask FCC for more CAF-I broadband funding

April 4, 2013 | By Sean Buckley

Three of the largest independent wireline telcos--CenturyLink (NYSE: CTL), Frontier (Nasdaq: FTR), and Windstream (Nasdaq: WIN)--have sent a letter to the FCC asking them to provide additional Connect America Fund (CAF) Phase I money to extend broadband into more rural locations.

Signing the letter were CEOs Glen F. Post, III, CEO and president of CenturyLink; Maggie Wilderotter, chairman and CEO of Frontier Communications; and Jeff Gardner, CEO and president of Windstream.

"The public policy established by the Administration and articulated in the National Broadband Plan recognizes that broadband connectivity is more than a game changer--it is a life changer and absolutely necessary to our country's economic recovery and prosperity," the executives said in the letter to the FCC. "High-speed broadband has become an indispensable platform for economic growth and job creation and provides access to educational opportunities and improved healthcare."

While CenturyLink, Frontier and Windstream jointly said they "stand ready and able to use this funding, in conjunction with our own private capital, to create jobs and invest in rural America," their use of the CAF-I funds has been divided.

Frontier was one of the first service providers to receive CAF funds to expand broadband availability in unserved and underserved areas. Last June, it accepted $71.9 million in CAF-I funding, which it will use to upgrade facilities in its territory to provide broadband DSL service to an additional 92,876 households.

CenturyLink and Windstream, however, only accepted a portion of CAF funding because they said that the $775 per household restriction the FCC imposed would not work.

Although CenturyLink was eligible for $90 million in CAF Phase I funding, it only took $35 million. Likewise, Windstream accepted only $653,000 of the $60.4 million it was offered, citing the limitations of the CAF-I rules.

Outside of these service providers, AT&T (NYSE: T) and Verizon (NYSE: VZ) decided last year to not accept CAF-I funding. At that time, AT&T said it had other ways to advance broadband in rural areas while Verizon said that the funding amount was too small.

Last November, AT&T finally revealed its rural network strategy via its Project VIP initiative, in which it will spend $14 billion to make upgrades to move its wireline network to an IP-based infrastructure and migrate some of its harder-to-reach copper customers to 4G LTE wireless services.

Gartner: AT&T gets high business marks, but faces new competition

April 4, 2013 | By Sean Buckley

AT&T (NYSE: T), according to a Gartner report focused on the U.S. business services market, took home the highest product service rating for its wireline business service product suite.

In its new "Critical Capabilities for U.S. Wireline Telecom Services" report, which evaluated eight service providers, the research firm evaluated seven key areas of critical capabilities: MPLS services, SIP trunking, dedicated Internet, metro private line, managed broadband, Ethernet WAN, and managed routers.

The carrier earned an average product rating of 4.4 in the report. AT&T has leveraged its financial strength and portfolio of high-capacity network services such as wavelength, SONET and Ethernet, to maintain its presence as one of the largest providers to the medium and large business market.

Gartner said that AT&T's high rating "reflects its depth of product capabilities across the portfolio and explicit strengths in such areas as metro and optical networking and managed broadband, where competitors' offerings are not as mature or as broadly deployed."

The telco was given a 5.0 and 4.5 rating for its metro (SONET, wavelength, Ethernet) and Ethernet WAN service suites that can fit a broad set of medium and large enterprise customers who have demanding needs and large diverse footprints. Its metro service suite includes its well-established brands, including GigaMAN, DecaMAN, and switched services in addition to EPLS-MAN OPT-E-WAN for out-of-footprint requirements. Under the Ethernet WAN umbrella, AT&T offers a mix of Ethernet private line switched Ethernet and virtual private LAN Service (VPLS) services that are available on a metro, national and global basis.

Overall, AT&T has been seeing growth in its U.S. and international IP-based business service revenues. In Q4 2012, the telco grew strategic IP-based business services 10.6 percent year-over-year and total business IP data revenues 2.4 percent year-over-year.

Like its RBOC brother Verizon (NYSE: VZ), AT&T faces various challenges. For one, AT&T's overall Q4 business revenues declined 2.1 percent to $9.1 billion year-over-year, but rose 0.6 sequentially from Q3 2012 due to what it said was economic uncertainty and slow government and business sales.
And despite its broad coverage and broad product portfolio, AT&T is not without its flaws, particularly on the customer service side.

Gartner said that said that many of its "inquiry customers continue to demand that AT&T be more responsive to network upgrade requests, including physical and logical port changes."

AT&T may be the best fit for the large enterprise segment, but it will now face strong competition from both CenturyLink (NYSE: CTL) and Windstream (Nasdaq: WIN) on the mid-sized business side. Through their acquisitions of Qwest Communications, Savvis and PAETEC, CenturyLink and Windstream have become the third and fourth largest business service providers, respectively.

Gartner said that midsize businesses with U.S. sites should "consider CenturyLink, because they are likely to find strong portfolio breadth, competitive rates, and consistent support and performance." Likewise, Windstream could be a fit for midsized enterprises that "are looking for competitive voice and data services" or large enterprises that need a second service provider source "for redundant Internet or backup data services."

Microsoft Store slashes prices on Windows 8 tablets, hybrids

Microsoft is implementing pretty stiff price cuts on some laptop-tablet hybrids. Is this just the beginning?

By Brooke Crothers

 April 2, 2013 8:26 PM PDT

In what could be a sign of things to come, the Microsoft Store is slashing prices on a variety of hybrid laptop-tablet models.

Here are some of the highlights now appearing on the Microsoft Store "Tablets and Convertibles" page:

• Toshiba Satellite U925t-S2130 Convertible Ultrabook: Cut to $799 from $1,149. 12.5-inch screen, Core i5 Intel chip, 128GB solid-state drive (SSD).
• Acer Iconia W510-1674 Tablet: reduced to $399 from $499. 10.1-inch display, Intel Atom 1.8GHz "Clover Trail" Z2760 chip, 32GB SSD.
• HP ENVY x2 11-g012nr Touchscreen: Now $599, was $849. 11.6-inch screen, Intel Atom 1.8GHz "Clover Trail" Z2760 chip, 64GB SSD.
• Samsung ATIV Smart PC Pro 700T Tablet: Cut to $999 from $1,199. 11.6-inch screen (1,920x1,080), Core i5 Intel chip, 128GB SSD.

These could be just run-of-the-mill price reductions on models that aren't moving. Or a sign of something more serious.

On that latter point, IDC analyst Bob O'Donnell told CNET last month that Windows 8 PC sales are "horribly stalled."

And IDC said in March that it expects computer shipments to drop 1.3 percent this year, worse than its prior view for a 2.8 percent rise. And that decline comes after a 3.7 percent slide in 2012.