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At first recall, reading BCR for the first time was like getting introduced to the telecom gurus. That ole' motto "Best signal-to-noise-ratio (SNR) in the industry" meant something.

Matt Brunk

January 14, 2008

2 Min Read
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At first recall, reading BCR for the first time was like getting introduced to the telecom gurus. That ole' motto "Best signal-to-noise-ratio (SNR) in the industry" meant something.

At first recall, reading BCR for the first time was like getting introduced to the telecom gurus. That ole' motto "Best signal-to-noise-ratio (SNR) in the industry" meant something.Here we are today, somehow landing on No Jitter at a different time with differences in how we apply voice to not just our businesses but our lives. Larger than life are those memories of Star Trek and those purists the Trekkies (or Trekkers). A significant theme was present in every episode along with the ability of anyone to communicate by voice to anyone else regardless of where they were- work or on liberty (vacation) to some luxurious planet.

Today, the convergence of work and living has all the indications that the separation of the two is dissolving in spite of anyone's protest or even second thought. What I mean is that the fabric that once existed between work and play is not only eroded but I think it is very thin and often transparent. It has happened maybe not to the degree of our Trekky pals, and my guess is it will continue to evolve with more barriers removed between work and play.

What's lagging is the flip side of that Trekky life- the removal of the forty hour work week. Don't laugh or shrug it off. Maybe now you can get away with it- but those stiff white shirted executives back in the 1970's shrugged off the idea and notion that employees could be trusted and managed (held accountable) if they worked from home.

The noblest of themes is one's contribution to society. The acts of doing so as indicated in Star Trek were different and the shows often left out the truisms of any society especially when it came to gain- capital or financial.

Maybe being whatever it is I am being, is akin to selling buggy whips but I still dream of the day when we will all wear communicator badges as our sole means of communicating on or off the job. I look forward to the day when we will have more technologically compatible clothing and alternative means to power our wares and so fossil fuels will be just as they are described.

The point I want to go back to and ponder is SNR. Pulse code modulation (PCM) is an old dog. Its days go back to the late 1930's nearly a century after TDM, another old dog. Then, there's SQNR (Signal-to-Quantization Noise Ratio). It appears to me that SQNR is more applicable today than ever, especially to VoIP. Isn't SQNR just another member of the old dog pack too?

SQNR SNR PCM TDM

About the Author

Matt Brunk

Matt Brunk has worked in past roles as director of IT for a multisite health care firm; president of Telecomworx, an interconnect company serving small- and medium-sized enterprises; telecommunications consultant; chief network engineer for a railroad; and as an analyst for an insurance company after having served in the U.S. Navy as a radioman. He holds a copyright on a traffic engineering theory and formula, has a current trademark in a consumer product, writes for NoJitter.com, has presented at VoiceCon (now Enterprise Connect) and has written for McGraw-Hill/DataPro. He also holds numerous industry certifications. Matt has manufactured and marketed custom products for telephony products. He also founded the NBX Group, an online community for 3Com NBX products. Matt continues to test and evaluate products and services in our industry from his home base in south Florida.