EU antitrust officials carried out unannounced inspections Tuesday at several telecom companies that provide Internet connectivity services in Europe, the European Commission said Thursday (http://bit.ly/18b5pLw). The EC is concerned that the telcos may have breached antitrust rules that prohibit the abuse of a dominant market position, it said. Internet players interconnect with each other through a combination of wholesale services to cover all possible Internet destinations, the EC said. Connectivity allows market players such as content providers to connect to the Internet in order to provide their retail services or products, it said. That service is “crucial for the functioning of the Internet” as well as for end-users’ ability to reach online content with the necessary quality of service, regardless of where the provider is located, it said. Unannounced inspections are a preliminary step toward determining if certain activities are anticompetitive, it said. The fact that such raids are carried out doesn’t mean the companies are guilty of antitrust behavior or prejudge the outcome of the investigation, it said. The EC won’t publish the names of the companies at this point, it said. The European Telecommunications Network Operators’ Association had no comment. ISPs under investigation include Orange, Deutsche Telekom and Telefonica, wrote independent telecom consultant Innocenzo Genna Thursday on his radiobruxelleslibera blog (http://bit.ly/12p0UbP). The EC “intend[s] to verify the peering policies of such dominant operators because there are suspects [sic] that they may refuse peering (i.e. exchange of Internet traffic with other ISPs, normally for free) for anticompetitive purposes,” said Genna, who’s also council officer of the European Internet Services Providers’ Association. The case has a “strong connection with the net neutrality debate,” because the refusal of peering may cause artificial scarcity of Internet bandwidth, since the interconnection between the various ISPs is kept at a level that’s insufficient for the quantity of Internet traffic, he said. That results in congestion, interruptions and delays affecting users, he said. The possible goals of such alleged anticompetitive behaviour are questionable, he said. Dominant ISPs could be trying to force other operators such as carriers or rival ISPs to pay a potentially abusive price for peering directly with them, he said. The traffic of ISPs for whom peering is refused will be directed to other destinations via transit agreement and will reach the dominant ISPs through a longer path, with a negative impact on users’ quality of service, he said. Another reason for the alleged behavior may be to force hosting providers such as Google to move their servers to the dominant ISPs’ networks in order to give the latter’s clients better quality, he said. Genna stressed that Orange, Telefonica and Deutsche Telekom aren’t dominant in the peering market, but they are in the broadband access markets. The EC intends to verify whether they're leveraging that position to get higher prices in the competitive peering market, he wrote. Orange spokesperson said: “A number of Orange premises are currently subject to inspection by the European Commission and these inspections could take several days to complete. Orange is extending its full cooperation to the European Commission and at this point the Group’s working practices have not been called into question in any way. We are confident about the eventual outcome of this matter, given the French Competition Authority decision regarding Cogent which exonerated our Group. The company’s business activities are continuing as normal during the inspections.” The EC probe apparently arises from a dispute between Orange and Cogent last year, Genna wrote. Cogent was refused a free peering agreement and lost a case before France’s competition authority on the basis that Orange was allowed to charge for peering to avoid a strong imbalance of traffic from Cogent, which was hosting, among other things, the Megaupload cyberlocker service, he said. Orange was, however, required to clarify its peering policy, he said.
Senate Commerce Committee leaders circulated draft cybersecurity legislation that’s meant to be a “bipartisan consensus,” a committee official told us Thursday. The bill, backed by Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., and Ranking Member John Thune, R-S.D., is expected to be marked up by the end of the month, said the official. The draft is the Senate’s first attempt at enacting cybersecurity legislation in the 113th Congress. The House passed a revised version of the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (HR-624) in April, but industry officials have said they don’t believe it will pass the Senate, and the White House has threatened a veto.
EU antitrust officials carried out unannounced inspections Tuesday at several telecom companies that provide Internet connectivity services in Europe, the European Commission said Thursday (http://bit.ly/18b5pLw). The EC is concerned that the telcos may have breached antitrust rules that prohibit the abuse of a dominant market position, it said. Internet players interconnect with each other through a combination of wholesale services to cover all possible Internet destinations, the EC said. Connectivity allows market players such as content providers to connect to the Internet in order to provide their retail services or products, it said. That service is “crucial for the functioning of the Internet” as well as for end-users’ ability to reach online content with the necessary quality of service, regardless of where the provider is located, it said. Unannounced inspections are a preliminary step toward determining if certain activities are anticompetitive, it said. The fact that such raids are carried out doesn’t mean the companies are guilty of antitrust behavior or prejudge the outcome of the investigation, it said. The EC won’t publish the names of the companies at this point, it said. The European Telecommunications Network Operators’ Association had no comment. ISPs under investigation include Orange, Deutsche Telekom and Telefonica, wrote independent telecom consultant Innocenzo Genna Thursday on his radiobruxelleslibera blog (http://bit.ly/12p0UbP). The EC “intend[s] to verify the peering policies of such dominant operators because there are suspects [sic] that they may refuse peering (i.e. exchange of Internet traffic with other ISPs, normally for free) for anticompetitive purposes,” said Genna, who’s also council officer of the European Internet Services Providers’ Association. The case has a “strong connection with the net neutrality debate,” because the refusal of peering may cause artificial scarcity of Internet bandwidth, since the interconnection between the various ISPs is kept at a level that’s insufficient for the quantity of Internet traffic, he said. That results in congestion, interruptions and delays affecting users, he said. The possible goals of such alleged anticompetitive behaviour are questionable, he said. Dominant ISPs could be trying to force other operators such as carriers or rival ISPs to pay a potentially abusive price for peering directly with them, he said. The traffic of ISPs for whom peering is refused will be directed to other destinations via transit agreement and will reach the dominant ISPs through a longer path, with a negative impact on users’ quality of service, he said. Another reason for the alleged behavior may be to force hosting providers such as Google to move their servers to the dominant ISPs’ networks in order to give the latter’s clients better quality, he said. Genna stressed that Orange, Telefonica and Deutsche Telekom aren’t dominant in the peering market, but they are in the broadband access markets. The EC intends to verify whether they're leveraging that position to get higher prices in the competitive peering market, he wrote. Orange spokesperson said: “A number of Orange premises are currently subject to inspection by the European Commission and these inspections could take several days to complete. Orange is extending its full cooperation to the European Commission and at this point the Group’s working practices have not been called into question in any way. We are confident about the eventual outcome of this matter, given the French Competition Authority decision regarding Cogent which exonerated our Group. The company’s business activities are continuing as normal during the inspections.” The EC probe apparently arises from a dispute between Orange and Cogent last year, Genna wrote. Cogent was refused a free peering agreement and lost a case before France’s competition authority on the basis that Orange was allowed to charge for peering to avoid a strong imbalance of traffic from Cogent, which was hosting, among other things, the Megaupload cyberlocker service, he said. Orange was, however, required to clarify its peering policy, he said.
Senate Commerce Committee leaders circulated draft cybersecurity legislation that’s meant to be a “bipartisan consensus,” a committee official told us Thursday. The bill, backed by Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., and Ranking Member John Thune, R-S.D., is expected to be marked up by the end of the month, said the official. The draft is the Senate’s first attempt at enacting cybersecurity legislation in the 113th Congress. The House passed a revised version of the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (HR-624) in April, but industry officials have said they don’t believe it will pass the Senate, and the White House has threatened a veto.
A draft outline of the preliminary Cybersecurity Framework the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) released last week will be the basis for most of the discussion that occurs through Friday at NIST’s third framework development workshop, NIST officials told participants Wednesday at the University of California-San Diego. The draft outlines portions of the preliminary framework, set to be released in October for public comment (CD July 8 p9). A final version of the framework will be released in February in accordance with deadlines set in President Barack Obama’s cybersecurity executive order (CD Feb 14 p1). NIST hopes participants at the San Diego workshop will help the agency refine the outline and fill in “gaps” where NIST has not been able to collect what they feel are sufficient standards and best practices, including addressing privacy and civil liberties issues, said Donna Dodson, NIST division chief-Computer Security Division. NIST didn’t receive many responses to its initial request for information that included best practices on privacy; while the agency has since received further information, it wants to ensure it receives “enough to fill that gap,” Dodson said. NIST wants to ensure the framework that emerges from the development process is one that is “truly industry-led” and can result in strong voluntary implementation programs, said Adam Sedgewick, NIST senior information technology policy adviser. The output from the San Diego workshop will form the basis of discussion at NIST’s final framework development workshop, which is to occur in September.
The mobile PC market had the worst Q2 in 11 years due to the “nonstop onslaught” of media tablets, according to preliminary data from IHS. Combined shipments of traditional notebook PCs, netbooks and ultrathin and Ultrabook laptops fell 6.9 percent in Q2 from the first three months of 2013, the research company said Wednesday. That marked the first time the industry experienced a quarter-over-quarter decline in the category since Q2 of 2002, it said. At that time, mobile PC shipments slid 3.7 percent after the “dot.com bust flattened global demand,” it said. Since then, the mobile PC space has “always strengthened” in Q2 as shipments “recovered from a normally soft start” to the year, it said. Excluding 2002 and this year, growth in each Q2 between 2002 and 2013 ranged from 0.5 percent to 6.5 percent, it said. The first half of 2013 had the weakest performance since 2003, with an 11.2 percent decline compared to the same six-month period a year ago, it also said. In stark contrast, mobile PC shipments soared 41.7 percent in the first half of 2010, it said. The mobile PC industry is “struggling to find any momentum for growth as upheavals rock the market,” Craig Stice, IHS senior principal analyst-compute platforms, said in a news release. “In particular, more nimble devices like media tablets have taken over among consumers given their ease of use and unique form factor,” he said. At the same time, “innovation in PCs has stagnated, and the recent influx of low-cost tablets has further eaten into an already decimated mobile PC space,” he said. “With such dire numbers, many are wondering whether this signifies the start of more record declines for mobile PCs, or if the industry has hit rock-bottom,” he said. However, what “could save the market” is an “infusion of lower-cost PCs that deliver higher performance but consume less power” than today’s laptops, said IHS. Processors including Intel’s Bay Trail and Temash from Advanced Micro Devices can “go beyond what traditional entry-level processors have been able to provide, and PC makers are contemplating a new class of performance PCs that would incorporate the new processors at affordable prices,” said IHS. “Hopes also remain alive within the industry on prospects for the much more expensive” ultrathin and Ultrabook PC models, where “growth could still be expected if their prices come down and if consumers can get used to” Microsoft’s new Windows 8 operating system after a “rocky launch,” said IHS. A PC “refresh buying cycle is more than likely to occur,” it predicted. “Despite the broad appeal” of media tablets, those devices “won’t be able to fully replace PCs, and consumers will continue to need the computational power of personal computers,” said Stice. “If a new low-cost PC offering strong performance can become available on the market and meet consumer expectations, then PCs could be set for more growth -- not like the glory days of the 2000s -- but growth nonetheless,” he said. Despite that, 2013 is “very likely a write-off at this point,” said IHS. Even with the growth that’s expected in the back half, it’s “too late given the depressed” first-half results for “any positive expansion” to happen in the mobile PC and overall PC markets, it said. Total PC shipments are expected to decline in 2013, the second straight year that’s happened, it said. Last year’s decline was the first since 2001.
The Commerce Department published notices in the July 10 Federal Register on the following AD/CV duty proceedings (any notices that announce changes to AD/CV duty rates, scope, affected firms, or effective dates will be detailed in another ITT article):
A draft outline of the preliminary Cybersecurity Framework the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) released last week will be the basis for most of the discussion that occurs through Friday at NIST’s third framework development workshop, NIST officials told participants Wednesday at the University of California-San Diego. The draft outlines portions of the preliminary framework, set to be released in October for public comment (WID July 8 p1). A final version of the framework will be released in February in accordance with deadlines set in President Barack Obama’s cybersecurity executive order (WID Feb 14 p1). NIST hopes participants at the San Diego workshop will help the agency refine the outline and fill in “gaps” where NIST has not been able to collect what they feel are sufficient standards and best practices, including addressing privacy and civil liberties issues, said Donna Dodson, NIST division chief-Computer Security Division. NIST didn’t receive many responses to its initial request for information that included best practices on privacy; while the agency has since received further information, it wants to ensure it receives “enough to fill that gap,” Dodson said. NIST wants to ensure the framework that emerges from the development process is one that is “truly industry-led” and can result in strong voluntary implementation programs, said Adam Sedgewick, NIST senior information technology policy adviser. The output from the San Diego workshop will form the basis of discussion at NIST’s final framework development workshop, which is to occur in September.
The mobile PC market had the worst Q2 in 11 years due to the “nonstop onslaught” of media tablets, according to preliminary data from IHS. Combined shipments of traditional notebook PCs, netbooks and ultrathin and Ultrabook laptops fell 6.9 percent in Q2 from the first three months of 2013, the research company said Wednesday. That marked the first time the industry experienced a quarter-over-quarter decline in the category since Q2 of 2002, it said. At that time, mobile PC shipments slid 3.7 percent after the “dot.com bust flattened global demand,” it said. Since then, the mobile PC space has “always strengthened” in Q2 as shipments “recovered from a normally soft start” to the year, it said. Excluding 2002 and this year, growth in each Q2 between 2002 and 2013 ranged from 0.5 percent to 6.5 percent, it said. The first half of 2013 had the weakest performance since 2003, with an 11.2 percent decline compared to the same six-month period a year ago, it also said. In stark contrast, mobile PC shipments soared 41.7 percent in the first half of 2010, it said. The mobile PC industry is “struggling to find any momentum for growth as upheavals rock the market,” Craig Stice, IHS senior principal analyst-compute platforms, said in a news release. “In particular, more nimble devices like media tablets have taken over among consumers given their ease of use and unique form factor,” he said. At the same time, “innovation in PCs has stagnated, and the recent influx of low-cost tablets has further eaten into an already decimated mobile PC space,” he said. “With such dire numbers, many are wondering whether this signifies the start of more record declines for mobile PCs, or if the industry has hit rock-bottom,” he said. However, what “could save the market” is an “infusion of lower-cost PCs that deliver higher performance but consume less power” than today’s laptops, said IHS. Processors including Intel’s Bay Trail and Temash from Advanced Micro Devices can “go beyond what traditional entry-level processors have been able to provide, and PC makers are contemplating a new class of performance PCs that would incorporate the new processors at affordable prices,” said IHS. “Hopes also remain alive within the industry on prospects for the much more expensive” ultrathin and Ultrabook PC models, where “growth could still be expected if their prices come down and if consumers can get used to” Microsoft’s new Windows 8 operating system after a “rocky launch,” said IHS. A PC “refresh buying cycle is more than likely to occur,” it predicted. “Despite the broad appeal” of media tablets, those devices “won’t be able to fully replace PCs, and consumers will continue to need the computational power of personal computers,” said Stice. “If a new low-cost PC offering strong performance can become available on the market and meet consumer expectations, then PCs could be set for more growth -- not like the glory days of the 2000s -- but growth nonetheless,” he said. Despite that, 2013 is “very likely a write-off at this point,” said IHS. Even with the growth that’s expected in the back half, it’s “too late given the depressed” first-half results for “any positive expansion” to happen in the mobile PC and overall PC markets, it said. Total PC shipments are expected to decline in 2013, the second straight year that’s happened, it said. Last year’s decline was the first since 2001.
The mobile PC market had the worst Q2 in 11 years due to the “nonstop onslaught” of media tablets, according to preliminary data from IHS. Combined shipments of traditional notebook PCs, netbooks and ultrathin and Ultrabook laptops fell 6.9 percent in Q2 from the first three months of 2013, the research company said Wednesday. That marked the first time the industry experienced a quarter-over-quarter decline in the category since Q2 of 2002, it said. At that time, mobile PC shipments slid 3.7 percent after the “dot.com bust flattened global demand,” it said. Since then, the mobile PC space has “always strengthened” in Q2 as shipments “recovered from a normally soft start” to the year, it said. Excluding 2002 and this year, growth in each Q2 between 2002 and 2013 ranged from 0.5 percent to 6.5 percent, it said. The first half of 2013 had the weakest performance since 2003, with an 11.2 percent decline compared to the same six-month period a year ago, it also said. In stark contrast, mobile PC shipments soared 41.7 percent in the first half of 2010, it said. The mobile PC industry is “struggling to find any momentum for growth as upheavals rock the market,” Craig Stice, IHS senior principal analyst-compute platforms, said in a news release. “In particular, more nimble devices like media tablets have taken over among consumers given their ease of use and unique form factor,” he said. At the same time, “innovation in PCs has stagnated, and the recent influx of low-cost tablets has further eaten into an already decimated mobile PC space,” he said. “With such dire numbers, many are wondering whether this signifies the start of more record declines for mobile PCs, or if the industry has hit rock-bottom,” he said. However, what “could save the market” is an “infusion of lower-cost PCs that deliver higher performance but consume less power” than today’s laptops, said IHS. Processors including Intel’s Bay Trail and Temash from Advanced Micro Devices can “go beyond what traditional entry-level processors have been able to provide, and PC makers are contemplating a new class of performance PCs that would incorporate the new processors at affordable prices,” said IHS. “Hopes also remain alive within the industry on prospects for the much more expensive” ultrathin and Ultrabook PC models, where “growth could still be expected if their prices come down and if consumers can get used to” Microsoft’s new Windows 8 operating system after a “rocky launch,” said IHS. A PC “refresh buying cycle is more than likely to occur,” it predicted. “Despite the broad appeal” of media tablets, those devices “won’t be able to fully replace PCs, and consumers will continue to need the computational power of personal computers,” said Stice. “If a new low-cost PC offering strong performance can become available on the market and meet consumer expectations, then PCs could be set for more growth -- not like the glory days of the 2000s -- but growth nonetheless,” he said. Despite that, 2013 is “very likely a write-off at this point,” said IHS. Even with the growth that’s expected in the back half, it’s “too late given the depressed” first-half results for “any positive expansion” to happen in the mobile PC and overall PC markets, it said. Total PC shipments are expected to decline in 2013, the second straight year that’s happened, it said. Last year’s decline was the first since 2001.