Was your product RUS accepted? Really? Congratulations. The world no longer cares

Phil Harvey, Editor-in-Chief

May 26, 2011

2 Min Read
RUS Shreds List of Materials

Jonathan S. Adelstein, administrator of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) ’s Rural Utilities Service, says the agency will no longer supply its borrowers with an approved shopping list of gear for telecom networks.

In a letter published earlier this week, Adelstein blamed his budget for killing the hallowed List of Materials. For a telco borrowing funds to build a network, the List was a vetting process used by smaller telcos and consulting engineers for guidance in selecting suppliers.

"It boils down to: Does the system do what the supplier says it is supposed to do?" explains Kermit Ross, principal of Millennium Marketing. "The List has been the only way for small telcos to have any assurance of that."

Why this matters
The RUS lends money to rural telcos for constructing networks, procuring equipment and modernizing old networks to run new services, like broadband. With one stroke of his red crayon, Adelstein has removed one way for the USDA to make sure that taxpayer dollars aren't squandered on faulty or dangerous equipment.

[Ed. Note: Though it has nothing at all to do with the RUS list, or this story, we can't help but recall what sometimes happens when telcos don't thoroughly check out their gear. Kaboom!]

For telecom equipment vendors, getting on the RUS List of Materials -- being "RUS accepted," as the vendors put it -- was a great thing for two reasons:

  1. It provided vendors a chance for publicity, much like passing a certification or getting an industry award.

  2. The RUS list narrowed the universe of companies who were competing for certain service provider dollars. If you got on the list, you only had a few fellow vendors to beat, not the entire world of potential telecom gear suppliers.



In The List's place, Adelstein writes, the RUS will "transition from a listing process to an approach which ensures that construction financed by RUS meets applicable industry standards." Whew. Well. Problem solved, then.

For more
Further reading about the RUS and what it's been funding:



— Phil Harvey, Editor-in-Chief, Light Reading

About the Author(s)

Phil Harvey

Editor-in-Chief, Light Reading

Phil Harvey has been a Light Reading writer and editor for more than 18 years combined. He began his second tour as the site's chief editor in April 2020.

His interest in speed and scale means he often covers optical networking and the foundational technologies powering the modern Internet.

Harvey covered networking, Internet infrastructure and dot-com mania in the late 90s for Silicon Valley magazines like UPSIDE and Red Herring before joining Light Reading (for the first time) in late 2000.

After moving to the Republic of Texas, Harvey spent eight years as a contributing tech writer for D CEO magazine, producing columns about tech advances in everything from supercomputing to cellphone recycling.

Harvey is an avid photographer and camera collector – if you accept that compulsive shopping and "collecting" are the same.

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