The COOK Report on Internet is a monthly newsletter focusing on the technology and policy complexities of Internet infrastructure development. In the wake of the telecom collapse, we shall follow, as they progress, the continuing technology developments that are reshaping the global telecom industry. By observing changes in the ability of users to implement their own networks and architectures, we shall help readers identify trends in the changing locus of power during a time of upheaval. By watching the cash rich players develop new strategies and following varied attempts to build alternative infrastructures, we identify those who will likely be able to pick up the pieces. Finally, we shall advocate a public policy that sees the Internet as a family of enabling technologies rather that a means of more efficient monopolies for distribution of content. In doing this, we hope to be able to influence an increasing awareness that the quickest end to the troubles of the industry will be found in a path that uses sound public policy to create a new foundation that will be open to innovators.

Specifically in the technology area the COOK Report examines the ways in which the carriers of the PSTN are now beginning to adopt new "internet" technology, while the green field players are suddenly on the ropes burdened with huge debt. It monitors the increasing convergence between voice and data networks as it follows the technologies that are driving the increased efficiency of packet data networks. Technology developments covered include the role of optical networks in simplification of network architecture, dense wave division multiplexing, gigabit and 10 gig Ethernet, optical routing and switching, QoS and other protocol development issues. Also local loop broadband technologies including wireless, IP telephony and so on. The COOK Report has been published since April 1992. Having no advertisments, the Report is 100% subscriber funded. Long interviews (5,000 to 15,000 words) on emerging technologies and critical companies are our hallmark. More than 50 site licenses that include the largest corporations in the industry make the COOK Report available to every employee. The result is both a broad reach and a viable economy of scale. As we look forward to beginning our 12th year of publication, to our knowledge, we offer the only independent publication focused on these issues.

The COOK Report Helps Subscribers ...

-- to understand the interaction between new technology, exponential growth, and efforts to define a viable business model for the commercial Internet. It seeks to illuminate the ways in which new all IP and optical technologies are making internet technology (as in TCP/IP) a common denominator for telecommunications of all kinds globally.

-- and to understand the technology and marketplace strategy of commercial internet providers; to understand the on- going governance battles as ones that will affect the power to shape and control telecommunications globally.

-- Through interviews that have ranged in length from five to eighteen thousand words, and by means of summaries of critical mail list discussions, The COOK Report keeps its readers fully informed of important new developments in network technology. It also explains the evolution of network operational policy (for example CIDR and NAT) as it is pushed by the need to use whatever technology necessary to maintain the extraordinarily rapid growth of the Internet world-wide. Finally, by following the complex interactions between technology and policy, wherever possible, it illuminates the on-going efforts to develop the most successful Internet business models. Readers turn to it for critical information unavailable in the "trade press."

We get on the inside track of stories like these because we are in the trenches and hear a great deal about the day-to-day details of those who work there. The COOK Report thus incorporates a lot of every day jargon which our experienced readers are quite comfortable with. However, several people have told us they could benefit from our extensive research but they find themselves lost in the technical jungle we are describing, even when they read our summaries. They said they would subscribe to The COOK Report if only they could understand all the technical terms and buzz words it contains. So we wrote a glossary which we hope will meet their needs.