Meeting the broadband access infrastructure demands: The promise of Gigabit Ethernet

Global Internet traffic growth continues to create bandwidth demand in the telecommunications network. As 100 Mb/s Ethernet and Gigabit Ethernet LANs are widely installed in enterprises, the Intranet bandwidth grows quickly. With active adoption of ADSL and cable modem broadband accesses in the SOHO and residential markets, more data traffic is generated in these markets as well. Presently, most telecom carriers use synchronous optical network/synchronous digital hierarchy (SONET/SDH) equipment to “aggregate” data traffic in the metropolitan area network (MAN) before accessing the Internet backbone network. Because of the intrinsic limitations of SONET/SDH equipment in transporting data traffic, especially in terms of bandwidth scalability and provisioning efficiency, there is a need to find a broadband access solution that can overcome the drawbacks of SONET/SDH. Because the inherent simplicity of the technology, Ethernet offers cost effectiveness, ease of networking, packet-based IP friendly protocol, and rapid provisioning advantages while competing with other networking technologies. These advantages coupled with the newly developed gigabit WAN capability have well-positioned Gigabit Ethernet as a compelling technology to break the bandwidth bottleneck in the MAN environment. In this paper, we review the enhancement of Gigabit Ethernet technology and discuss the pros and cons of using Gigabit Ethernet technology in the MAN. We also address the implications of this technology evolution on telecom carriers.     

Onboarding: delivering on the promise

The nursing workforce continues to age and exit the workplace. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics studies indicate as many as 40% will retire or are considering retirement. Fewer qualified graduates are in place to replace aging baby boomers, leading to a knowledge and skills gap as well as a numbers gap. Globalization of the nursing workforce has increased competition for all employers to find, hire, and retain good employees.     

国外政府居家养老医疗服务政策与经验借鉴

医疗服务是政府发展居家养老服务的重要内容。国外政府发展居家养老服务起步较旱,尤其在居家养老医疗服务方面具有先进的管理经验。目前,我国的居家养老医疗服务发展水平比较低,政府在医疗制度、财政投入、法律政策等方面还存在许多不足。     

Service outsourcing: The home,the host and the provider

Although offshoring service providers have grown meteorically in the last two decades, the phenomenon is still primarily analyzed through the lens of a home country and its firms. This paper presents a framework for explaining some of the stylized facts of the offshore service provider industry. The model characterizes the service choice of offshore service providers under alternative skill distribution and also explains why complex service providers employ more skilled workers, pay higher wages, and have a lower scale of provision. Finally, it sheds light on the relationship between partnering country sizes and wage inequality.     

The legacy and promise of Vannevar Bush: rethinking the model of innovation and the role of public policy

The linear model of innovation argues that innovation takes place in a unidirectional sequence, with basic research directly diffusing in marketable product or process innovations. This perspective has served society well in past decades. However, recent productivity slowdowns in developed economies and the failure of innovation policies to continue to deliver desired results have called this perspective into question. Scholars explain these slowdowns by the oversimplification of the linear model which fails to consider the complexities associated with innovation processes. Although it is generally believed that Vannevar Bush’s report Science – The Endless Frontier – was based on his belief in a linear model of innovation and the notion that basic research is the ultimate source of all innovation, an examination of Bush’s writings and his life reveals that he believed in a more sophisticated model in which basic and applied research cross-fertilize each other and in which government’s job is not so much to stimulate basic research as it is to facilitate interactions between basic and applied research for the benefit of both and the prosperity of society. This paper explicates Bush’s model of the research and innovation process, explores the implications of that model, and derives policy recommendations.     

The costs of hospital at home: the case of the New Brunswick extra-mural hospital

Policy markers in number of countries have become concerned in recent years about steadily rising costs of hospital treatment. One approach which has been proposed involves moving some treatment out of traditional hospitals by making greater use of clinics and home care. The New Brunswick Extra Mural Hospital is a province-wide system designed to treat certain classes of patient at home rather than in hospitals. Its decentralized sturucture raises questions about coordination and control, and whether a single cost function can be said to exist for the whole system. This paper estimates a cost function for the Extra Mural Hospital and tests for structural differences across geographically separated delivery units. The results indicate that the system has been successful in maintaining a common cost sturcture, supporting the view that a decentralized hospital-at-home system can be run efficiently.     

Unlocking the promise of mobile value-added services by applying new collaborative business models

Due to the intense voice service competition and subscriber growth saturation, the average revenue per user (ARPU) of mobile communications service providers continues to decline, thereby severely affecting their total revenue and profitability. To counter this challenge, mobile communications service providers are now moving from “tariff competition” to “service competition.” As mobile communications enter the next-generation network (NGN) era, network bandwidth and transmission speed are greatly enhanced. The enhancement enables mobile communications service providers to provide content-rich, multimedia value-added services to create new service value, meet demands of customers, and increase ARPU. To understand how to construct mobile value-added services, this study uses survey forms to collect feedback from 35 industry and research institution experts and scholars and to present systematically the finding on the mobile value-added services strategy. The research employs the analytic network process (ANP) to analyze the strategy of mobile service providers in delivering mobile services in the NGN. The business strategy evaluation framework and evaluation result can be used as guides for players in the mobile communications industry to review, improve, and enhance their service and strategy.