Worldwide IT spending increases were pretty anemic as IT and telecom services spending were seriously curtailed last year. It seems that things are going better. Telecom services spending, which has been curtailed in the past few years, only grew by a tenth of a point in 2012, to $1.661tr, but Gartner projects spending on mobile data services to grow enough to more than compensate for declines in fixed and mobile voice revenues. Infonetics Research Report sees telecom sector growth outpacing GDP growth. Global capital expenditure (capex) by telecommunications service providers is expected to increase at a compounded rate of 1.5% over the next five years, from $207 billion in 2012 to $223.3 billion in 2017, says a new market report from Insight Research Corp.
Europe’s Telco Giants In Talks To Create Pan-European Network. Europe’s largest mobile network operators are considering pooling their resources to create pan-European network infrastructure, the FT is reporting. Mobile network operators are frustrated by a “disjointed European market” that’s making it harder for them to compete.
“Internet of Things” gets new push. Ten Companies (Including Logitech) Team Up To Create The Internet Of Things Consortium article tell that your Internet-connected devices may be getting more cooperative, thanks to group of startups and established players who have come together to create a new nonprofit group called the Internet of Things Consortium.
Machine-to-Machine (M2M) communications are more and more used. Machine-to-machine technology made great strides in 2012, and I expect an explosion of applications in 2013. Mobile M2M communication offers developers a basis for countless new applications for all manner of industries. Extreme conditions M2M communication article tells that M2M devices often need to function in extreme conditions. According to market analysts at Berg Insight, the number of communicating machines is set to rise to around 270 million by 2015. The booming M2M market is due to unlimited uses for M2M communications. The more and more areas of life and work will rely on M2M.
Car of the future is M2M-ready and has Ethernet. Ethernet has already been widely accepted by the automotive industry as the preferred interface for on-board-diagnostics (OBD). Many cars already feature also Internet connectivity. Many manufacturers taking an additional step to develop vehicle connectivity. One such example is the European Commission’s emergency eCall system, which is on target for installation in every new car by 2015. There is also aim of Vehicle-to-Vehicle communications and Internet connectivity within vehicles is to detect traffic jams promptly and prevent them from getting any worse.
M2M branches beyond one-to-one links article tells that M2M is no longer a one-to-one connection but has evolved to become a system of networks transmitting data to a growing number of personal devices. Today, sophisticated and wireless M2M data modules boast many features.
The Industrial Internet of Things article tells that one of the biggest stories in automation and control for 2013 could be the continuing emergence of what some have called the Internet of Things, or what GE is now marketing as the Industrial Internet. The big question is whether companies will see the payback on the needed investment. And there are many security issues that needs to be carefully weighted out.
Very high speed 60GHz wireless will be talked a lot in 2013. Standards sultan sanctifies 60GHz wireless LAN tech: IEEE blesses WiGig’s HDMI-over-the-air, publishes 802.11ad. WiFi and WiGig Alliances become one, work to promote 60GHz wireless. Wi-Fi, WiGig Alliances to wed, breed 60GHz progeny. WiGig Alliance’s 60GHz “USB/PCI/HDMI/DisplayPort” technology sits on top of the IEEE radio-based communications spec. WiGig’s everything-over-the-air system is expected to deliver up to 7Gbit of data per second, albeit only over a relatively short distance from the wireless access point. Fastest Wi-Fi ever is almost ready for real-world use as WiGig routers, docking stations, laptop, and tablet were shown at CES. It’s possible the next wireless router you buy will use the 60GHz frequency as well as the lower ones typically used in Wi-Fi, allowing for incredibly fast performance when you’re within the same room as the router and normal performance when you’re in a different room.
Communications on power line still gets some interest at least inside house. HomePlug and G.hn are tussling it out to emerge as the de-facto powerline standard, but HomePlug has enjoyed a lot of success as the incumbent.
Silicon photonics ushers in 100G networks article tells that a handful of companies are edging closer to silicon photonics, hoping to enable a future generation of 100 Gbit/s networks.
Now that 100G optical units are entering volume deployment, faster speeds are very clearly on the horizon. The push is on for a 400G Ethernet standard. Looking beyond 100G toward 400G standardization article tells that 400G is very clearly on the horizon. The push is now officially “on” for 400-Gigabit Ethernet standard. The industry is trying to avoid the mistakes made with 40G optics, which lacked any industry standards.
Market for free-space optical wireless systems expanding. Such systems are often positioned as an alternative to fiber-optic cables, particularly when laying such cables would be cost-prohibitive or where permitting presents an insurmountable obstacle. DARPA Begins Work On 100Gbps Wireless Tech With 120-mile Range.
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Tomi Engdahl says:
Mobile data expected exponential growth of 1100 per cent
According to a recent study by mobile network data traffic doubled last year to the first quarter of this year to the corresponding period. By 2018, mobile networks, data traffic is expected to increase 12-fold.
Produced by Ericsson Mobility Report, the mobile data traffic growth was due to many reasons. More and more access to the network while on the move, an increasing number of mobile devices and the increasing amount of data addressing. In addition, smart phones are sold all the time.
Mobile networks, the contents of the fastest-growing mobile video, which is all traffic for 30 per cent. Ericsson predicts that the amount of video data is growing at an annual 60 per cent, and in 2018 at the end of the video makes up about half of the world’s mobile data traffic.
The study also shows that a 4g or LTE networks are spreading faster than expected. In 2012, the LTE network covered about 10 per cent of the world’s population, the figure is expected to be five years from now about 60 per cent.
Particularly fast LTE is growing, mainly in North America. The trend in Europe has been slower in some cases very advanced 3G networks.
Source: http://www.tietoviikko.fi/kaikki_uutiset/mobiilidatassa+odotetaan+huimaa+1100+prosentin+kasvua/a906614?s=r&wtm=tietoviikko/-04062013&
Tomi Engdahl says:
Europe Is Losing the 4G Race
http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB10001424127887324412604578515222989449746-lMyQjAxMTAzMDAwMzEwNDMyWj.html
Once a Pioneer in Cellphone Technology, the Region Trails Asia and the U.S. as Regulation Threatens Network Investment
Europe was a trailblazer in cellphone technology 15 years ago. Now it is lagging badly in the rollout of high-speed mobile services and desperately trying to catch up.
The continent trails the U.S. and parts of Asia in embracing fourth-generation technologies such as LTE, which enable faster Internet surfing and video streaming for computers, tablets and smartphones.
Mobile operators blame Europe’s weak economy and stifling regulation for a lack of investment in their networks in recent years, although some are now rolling out faster services as governments auction off fourth-generation spectrum.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Ericsson forecasts 4.5 billion smartphone subscriptions and 60% LTE coverage worldwide by 2018
http://thenextweb.com/insider/2013/06/03/ericsson-4-5b-global-smartphone-subscriptions-and-60-of-the-world-covered-by-lte-in-2018/
Telecommunications company Ericsson has released its latest mobility report which predicts that in the next five years, the number of smartphones subscriptions in the world is expected to reach 4.5 billion, with 60 percent of the world’s population covered by LTE. Other findings show that with the proliferation of better network speeds, video traffic will also grow by 60 percent annually and data traffic volume will grow 12-fold by 2018.
With more people sharing photos on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter, should we be surprised by the fact that faster network speeds are becoming available throughout the world?
Where is the biggest penetration in mobile technology? Europe. Globally, this number is at 90 percent, but there in Central and Eastern Europe, that number is 132 percent while it’s 128 percent in Western Europe. China, Africa, and India are the three main regions that do not have a penetration rate above 100 percent.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Freescale rolls IoT toolkit
http://www.eetimes.com/electronics-news/4415715/Freescale-rolls-IoT-toolkit-at-Computex-
With engineers in short supply, and with the most experienced Internet of Things (IoT) designers commanding top salaries when they can be found, Freescale has attempted to lower the expertise bar for developing context-aware applications by offering an open-source toolkit called its intelligent sensing framework (ISF) at Computex. The Xtrinsic ISF makes it easier for designers to differentiate IoT devices by simplifying the backend work of collecting and fusing sensor data for context-aware use cases.
“Sensor fusion remains important, but is no longer enough alone is not enough anymore for context-aware connected devices,” said Babak Taheri, vice president and general manager of Freescale’s sensor and actuator solutions division. “Developers need an open platform that enables data fusion and facilitates the creation of differentiated, context-aware devices that drive the Internet of Things.”
Pre-built adapters handle all the communications details for collecting sensor data and built-in power-management, host proxy and command interpreter functions as well as simplify the coding effort especially for novel sensor arrays mixing sensors from various manufacturers.
Tomi Engdahl says:
High-performance oscillators target cloud computing
http://www.edn.com/electronics-products/other/4415436/High-performance-oscillators-target-cloud-computing-
Silicon Labs has introduced a new family of crystal oscillators for ultra-low jitter reference timing for 10G, 40G and 100G cloud computing and networking equipment.
The devices offer jitter performance of <200 femtoseconds (fs) RMS jitter (integrated from 10 kHz to 1 MHz) for common Ethernet and Fibre Channel reference frequencies. They support LVDS and LVPECL output formats at 2.5 V and 3.3 V and offer both ±20 ppm and 31.5 ppm total stability, simplifying interfacing to a wide variety of processors, switches, PHYs and FPGAs.
To support the increasing demand for cloud computing-based services, data center equipment is migrating to higher speed serial data transmission, often 10G or faster. In parallel, there is a significant trend to maximize energy efficiency by consolidating switching, storage and computing resources into fewer components. These trends have given rise to processors, Ethernet switch ICs and FPGAs with integrated High-Speed serializer-deserializer (SerDes) technology that requires low-jitter timing references. Silicon Labs’ Si535/536 oscillators provide the ultra-low jitter and ±20 ppm stability required by state-of-the-art cloud computing and networking infrastructure equipment.
“Cloud computing switches, routers and storage equipment are moving to higher speed serial data links, increasing the necessity for high-performance timing,”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Online throttling and site-blocking to be outlawed in Europe under net neutrality plan
http://www.zdnet.com/online-throttling-and-site-blocking-to-be-outlawed-in-europe-under-net-neutrality-plan-7000016324/
Summary: We will guarantee access to the full and open internet on every device, on every network, says the EU’s digital chief.
ISPs will be barred from blocking or throttling customers’ access to services that rival their own under new net neutrality rules that could soon be enforced across Europe.
The European Commission said that around 100 million Europeans face restrictions on their internet services because ISPs are reluctant give customers access to services which compete with their own offerings.
Plans to mandate net neutrality now being put forward by the EC’s digital chief, Commission vice president Neelie Kroes, would prevent anti-competitive blocking of rival services.
Currently only the Netherlands and Slovenia have net neutrality guarantees but Kroes said she wants similar rights for the rest of Europe.
Net neutrality is an issue that Europe has been discussing for a number of years, with momentum gradually moving towards making it a standard across Europe.
Kroes said that some services such as Skype and WhatsApp are being deliberately degraded or blocked outright by some ISP “simply to avoid the competition”.
“In my view, such ideas are on their way out. Most consumers see the richness and vibrancy of the full, unlimited internet and wouldn’t want anything less,” she said
Tomi Engdahl says:
Wi-Fi signals enable gesture recognition throughout entire home
http://www.washington.edu/news/2013/06/04/wi-fi-signals-enable-gesture-recognition-throughout-entire-home/
“This is repurposing wireless signals that already exist in new ways,” said lead researcher Shyam Gollakota, a UW assistant professor of computer science and engineering. “You can actually use wireless for gesture recognition without needing to deploy more sensors.”
The UW research team that includes Shwetak Patel, an assistant professor of computer science and engineering and of electrical engineering and his lab, published their findings online this week. This technology, which they call “WiSee,” has been submitted to The 19th Annual International Conference on Mobile Computing and Networking.
When a person moves, there is a slight change in the frequency of the wireless signal. Moving a hand or foot causes the receiver to detect a pattern of changes known as the Doppler frequency shift.
These frequency changes are very small – only several hertz – when compared with Wi-Fi signals that have a 20 megahertz bandwidth and operate at 5 gigahertz. Researchers developed an algorithm to detect these slight shifts. The technology also accounts for gaps in wireless signals when devices aren’t transmitting.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Implementing Ethernet QoS for use in Automotive Networking Designs
http://techonline.com/electrical-engineers/education-training/webinars/4411388/Implementing-Ethernet-QoS-for-use-in-Automotive-Networking-Designs
Ethernet is becoming mainstream in the automotive market due to the proliferation of in-vehicle infotainment systems and subsystems networked in today’s automobiles. For success in this market, designers must understand how to most effectively interface to their Ethernet subsystems via commercial PHY devices, which allow Ethernet packets to be transmitted over a single twisted pair cable instead of a traditional Ethernet cable. In addition, designers should understand how to best implement their designs in hardware and software.
This webinar will review Audio Video Bridging (AVB), the main standard used to enable in-vehicle technology, and the driving forces and predictions for Ethernet in the automotive market.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Rogue beer fridge caught by Telstra ‘robot’
http://www.itnews.com.au/News/345494,rogue-beer-fridge-caught-by-telstra-robot.aspx
How data analysis drives interference out of NextG network.
A beer fridge in north-east Victoria is the latest victim of an increasingly-sophisticated software “robot” employed by Telstra to identify things that interfere with its mobile network.
The Herald Sun reported late Sunday night that the “rogue beer fridge” had been traced to a Wangaratta man’s garage after an investigation by Telstra’s operations personnel.
The fridge is believed to have been interrupting mobile signals in “several neighbourhoods” of the town of 17,000, which lies about 230km from Melbourne.
Though it is at the more unusual end of the spectrum of equipment that might interfere with mobile networks,
“The sources vary — it can be domestic equipment, it can be [TV] masthead amplifiers, it can be electric or plastic welding stuff in industrial estates, it can be illegal repeaters,” he said.
“We just look at them all and go after the ones that are worst and approach it that way.”
Having charted the impacts of uplink noise for years, Henderson said engineers had become adept at recognising the unique noise “signatures” generated by particular pieces of equipment, such as illegal repeaters.
“The more you look at [noise charts], the more you get to recognise some of the signatures,” Henderson said.
Henderson said illegal repeaters remained a problem for engineers but “they’re not as bad as they once were.”
One of the challenges in tracking sources of interference is determining whether or not the culprit actually resides in Telstra’s own network.
“Sometimes you generate internal noise from within the base station,” Henderson said. “We’ve got to be able to differentiate between that [and external sources] because that then determines how we attack the problem.”
Internal issues — known as passive intermodulation (PIM) — may be the result of “dodgy RF cabling” or ageing connectors in the base station.
“PIM is still a pretty big one for us and it’s ongoing as these RF components degrade over time,” Henderson said.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Fridge fault causes Telstra mobile network blackouts
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/fridge-fault-causes-telstra-mobile-network-blackouts/story-fni0fit3-1226655474358
A team of the telco’s crack black-spot cops tracked the rogue beer fridge to a garage in Wangaratta.
Telstra engineers say any electric spark of a large enough magnitude can generate radio frequency noise that is wide enough to create blackouts on the 850mHz spectrum that carries our mobile voice calls
Engineers said the motor in the beer fridge was causing the interference.
“I’m amazed something like that could knock out part of the network,”
Tomi Engdahl says:
ZTE in 4G boost after ‘world-first’ VoTD-LTE call
Landmark call could accelerate adoption of FDD alternative
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/06/07/zte_claims_world_first_voice_td_lte_call/
Chinese telecoms kit maker ZTE has moved to cement its place at the forefront of next-generation LTE services and fly the flag for the TDD variant by completing what it claims to be the world’s first voice-over TD-LTE (VoTD-LTE) call.
The Shenzhen-based firm’s TD-LTE equipment powers a China Mobile network in the nearby city of Guangzhou and it was here that the historic call was completed – on 5-mode, 13-band smartphones powered by Marvell chipsets.
ZTE claimed that VoTD-LTE calls using its IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) platform offer superior voice quality, lower latency and more efficient smartphone energy consumption than alternatives using CS Fall Back (CSFB) or dual standby methods, which effectively use 2G/3G networks for voice.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Comcast expands Wi-Fi network with new ‘neighborhood’ initiative
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-57588325-94/comcast-expands-wi-fi-network-with-new-neighborhood-initiative/?part=rss&subj=news&tag=title
Comcast users will soon be contributing to the company’s Wi-Fi network coverage through a gateway that transmits a public Wi-Fi signal that can be accessed by any Xfinity subscriber.
Comcast is making it even easier for its broadband subscribers to access the Internet outside the confines of their homes.
For the past couple of years, the company, along with several other cable operators, has been building out a Wi-Fi network in public areas, such as train platforms and in small businesses such as cafes and retail locations, to allow its broadband customers mobile access to the Internet at no additional charge.
On Monday, the company will make two announcements that will expand this network.
The first is the launch of the new home-based, neighborhood hot-spot initiative, in which subscribers will host Wi-Fi hot spots that other Comcast customers can use as part of their monthly broadband service. The way it works is that Comcast subscribers who are using the company’s newest wireless gateways for home Wi-Fi will broadcast an additional Xfinity Wi-Fi signal. And that additional signal will be the one that other Comcast customers, who already have access to Comcast’s public Wi-Fi network, will use.
This signal is completely different from the signal that subscribers have in their home. This means that if customers subscribe to a 50Mbps broadband service, they will have full access to that speed and capacity, without any interference or degradation in service from the public Wi-Fi portion.
“Our broadband customers will continue to get the service that they are paying for,”
Indeed, it also means that people can keep their home Wi-Fi networks more secure. Instead of giving out their password to visitors, these people can use the public Comcast Wi-Fi network, which is transmitting from the same gateway device.
Wi-Fi has increasingly become an important part of Comcast’s overall strategy.
CableWiFi Alliance, which allows Comcast broadband customers to also get access to indoor and outdoor hot spots set up by other cable operators in other parts of the country.
Tomi Engdahl says:
NONLINEAR OPTICS: NLO waveguide structures advance quantum communications
http://www.laserfocusworld.com/articles/print/volume-49/issue-05/features/nonlinear-optics–nlo-waveguide-structures-advance-quantum-commu.html
Periodically poled nonlinear optic (NLO) crystal waveguides overcome obstacles inherent in bulk NLO devices, generating useful quantum states that support leading-edge quantum-communication technology.
Researchers developing the next generation of quantum-communication technology are increasingly using waveguided nonlinear optic (NLO) crystal structures as the basis for creating the photon transmitters and repeaters necessary for the high-security quantum-communications market.
Encrypted communications are based on the simple concept of using a defined basis for coding the communication—an “encryption key”—and providing this key to the receiving party to decode the transmission. Truly secure communications requires the remote generation of unconditionally secure encryption keys, which is not possible with classical cryptography.
Quantum mechanics, on the other hand, can be used to remotely create provably unconditionally secure encryption keys. It allows two parties to create a shared secret random key over an unsecure channel with the ability to detect with certainty the presence of any eavesdropper. Several companies (such as ID Quantique SA and MagiQ Technologies Inc.) now offer quantum-key distribution (QKD) systems, and small QKD networks exist as well-for instance, the DARPA Quantum Network in Boston, MA, running on 10 nodes over both fiber and free-space links.
Various preliminary setups using single-photon approaches have been demonstrated using bulk (nonwaveguided) poled NLO structures (from suppliers such as AdvR, Covesion, HC Photonics, and Gooch & Housego), greatly attenuated lasers, and other means; these setups have helped to identify obstacles to the introduction of practical and cost-effective QKD systems having long-term viability. For example, the current practical state of the art limits both fiber and free-space systems to lengths of about 100 miles due to optical losses and the lack of repeaters able to boost a quantum signal.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Report: Carrier Wi-Fi market is ‘red hot’
http://www.cablinginstall.com/articles/2013/06/carrier-wifi.html
Infonetics Research has released excerpts from its latest Carrier WiFi Equipment report, which tracks WiFi equipment deployed by operators in public spaces for wireless Internet access. The global carrier WiFi equipment market is forecast by Infonetics to top $3.9 billion by 2017, primarily driven by mobile operators deploying carrier WiFi for data offload.
“The Carrier WiFi space is red hot right now, driven by the explosion in demand from mobile operators using WiFi to augment their 3G/4G deployments and offload a portion of mobile data traffic to unlicensed spectrum,” reveals Richard Webb, directing analyst for microwave and Carrier WiFi at Infonetics Research.
“Mobile operators by and large have held WiFi at arm’s length, fearing that it could cannibalize their opportunity to derive data revenues,” Webb continues. “Now operators are embracing WiFi to offload excess data and enhance the broadband experience for users. For the long-term success of carrier WiFi, though, integration with the mobile network is key.”
“Mobile operators are in the midst of a land-grab, rapidly claiming prime small cell locations by deploying carrier WiFi and then later replacing the WiFi access points with dual mode 3G/WiFi and LTE/WiFi small cells,” concludes Infonetics’ Webb.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Report: WLAN gear sees rare soft quarter
http://www.cablinginstall.com/articles/2013/06/soft-wlan.html
Infonetics Research has revealed that the global wireless LAN (WLAN) market, including sales of enterprise access points, WLAN controllers, and WiFi phones, declined sequentially by 7% in Q1 of 2013, to $1 billion. However, despite the dip in sales, WLAN equipment revenue remains on a double-digit year-over-year growth trajectory for the 14th quarter in a row, reports the technology market analyst firm.
The firm’s new 1st quarter (1Q13) Wireless LAN Equipment and WiFi Phones market share and forecast report finds that independent access point shipments are down nearly 50% in an otherwise growing market, illustrating the shift toward centrally managed WLAN architectures.
“As we’ve cautioned before, growth in the WLAN market is slowing as the transition to 802.11n winds down and buyers await the arrival of 802.11ac products,”
Tomi Engdahl says:
2.5-GHz tester guarantees support for Category 8 cabling certification
http://www.cablinginstall.com/articles/2013/06/wirexpert-4500.html
Psiber Data Systems has introduced the WireXpert 4500, which has a 2.5-GHz (2,500-MHz) frequency range through which it “will fully support the proposed TIA Cat 8 standard,” as an in-the-field cabling certification tool, the company says.
“There will be a great deal of change in the network cabling industry over the coming months,” Psiber Data Systems said when announcing the tester’s availability. “Driven by new bandwidth-hungry applications and the increasing number of data centers hosting a large volume of critical data, new high-performance cabling systems are becoming necessary.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Analyst: 10G controller, adapter shipments dip for 2nd straight quarter
http://www.cablinginstall.com/articles/2013/06/10g-dip.html
A newly published report by Dell’Oro Group reveals that 10Gbps Ethernet controller and adapter shipments have contracted for the second consecutive quarter. This represents the first consecutive decline in the seven years of reporting the market, says the analyst firm.
The controller and adapter report analyzes the timing and impact of the availability of lower priced 10Gbps switches, depletion of excess inventory and the introduction of Intel’s new server platform named Ivy Bridge. Notwithstanding the decline, shipments of 10GBase-T climbed to over 10% of overall market shipments, reveals the data.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Watch: Fiber-optic cabling installation in Manhattan MDU
http://www.cablinginstall.com/articles/2013/06/nyc-mdu-installation-video.html
Though several years old, the above video shows Verizon field technicians in New York City displaying a good repetoire of perennial cabling skills in wiring up a multi-dwelling unit (MDU) in downtown Manhattan with the company’s FiOS fiber-optic connectivity.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Want a fast, private Wi-Fi channel? Fine, go fight the regulators
Testing proves technical side of satellite biz’s new model
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/06/11/want_faster_wifi_just_pay_more_for_it/
Ruckus Wireless has been helping satellite comms biz Globalstar prove that its model for a privately licensed Wi-Fi channel is technically perfect, even if it remains legislatively difficult.
Globalstar would like to create a private band for Wi-Fi (one that it can charge top-dollar for) using the spectrum it has failed to fill with satellite phones. The company has now demonstrated that using your own Wi-Fi band “vastly exceeds the performance of conventional public Wi-Fi”, despite using standard mobile phones and access points.
Globalstar can use standard kit from Ruckus because the band the satphone provider owns is part of the 2.4GHz ISM block which, outside America, is permitted for Wi-Fi use.
Within the USA, that band was allocated for satellite phones, which have proved universally unpopular and thus leaving the frequency empty, so Globalstar has been lobbying the FCC to permit a change of use.
All the satellite companies are looking to make more money from their spectrum, with various levels of success. LightSquared managed to get FCC approval, but then had it whipped away when the GPS crowd got wind that phones might be moving into their spectral neighbourhood.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Cisco and iRobot build videoconferencing robot for remote workers
AVA 500 takes telepresence to slightly creepy levels
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/06/10/ava500_robot_videoconferencing_unit/
For the last two decades videoconferencing manufacturers have been touting their systems as the ultimate tool for remote workers. Now Cisco has added one of its “telepresence” systems to a remote-control robot that can wander around the office meeting people and performing inspections.
The AVA (short for avatar) 500 unit is being built by iRobot (makers of the Roomba automatic vacuum cleaner) and consists of a robotic column topped off with Cisco’s TelePresence EX60 unit and a 21.5-inch screen. Users can access the robot with an iPad and direct it to a meeting location, adjusting the height of the screen to suit the user.
The AVA 500 won’t be available until early next year and will be sold through Cisco’s channel partners. Full pricing hasn’t been released as yet but it will be available either to buy outright or to lease for $2,500 per month, a Cisco spokeswomen told El Reg.
Tomi Engdahl says:
MEF initiates CloudEthernet Forum
http://www.cablinginstall.com/articles/2013/05/mef-cloudethernet.html
Launched earlier this month, the Metro Ethernet Forum’s (MEF) new sister organization, the CloudEthernet Forum, plans to address the issues of scaling and applying suitable Ethernet platforms that meet the stringent demands of delivering cloud data center services. James Walker, president of the CloudEthernet Forum and vice president of managed network services at Tata Communications, explains how the forum will address real-world concerns:
“Four years ago we migrated our Ethernet services over SDH to native Ethernet over PBB and it is proving highly popular with our data center customers,” says Walker. “They love Ethernet’s simplicity and scalability and want more. However, as data center networks become larger and more sophisticated, they are coming up against challenges, and the CloudEthernet Forum is committed to resolving those issues.”
With virtual machine populations running into the millions across geographically dispersed data centers, plus the migration of storage networks to Ethernet, Walker says the CloudEthernet Forum will aim to provide a unique framework for industry stakeholders to develop technology and services that address technical challenges such as VLAN scaling, Layer 2 performance and resilience across very large domains, and consolidating storage network technologies onto Ethernet.
Just as the MEF has enhanced and standardized Carrier Ethernet to create services suitable for geographically dispersed enterprises and mobile operators worldwide, the CloudEthernet Forum hopes to develop Ethernet to enable collections of millions of virtual servers and storage devices to perform reliably and efficiently across both regional and global networks.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Modules allow passive tapping of data center fiber-optic cabling for network monitoring
http://www.cablinginstall.com/articles/2013/05/cablexpress-tap-modules.html
CablExpress has introduced tap modules that allow for passive optical tapping, thereby enabling more-efficient network monitoring and cabling-infrastructure management, the company explains. The MTP-to-LC tap modules split fiber-optic signals into two fibers, CablExpress further notes, sending a portion of the data to the live network and the remaining data to a test environment.
Tomi Engdahl says:
India forges ahead with fibre-to-the-village
Six contracts let in ambitious broadband plan
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/06/12/india_forges_ahead_with_fibretothevillage/
India is readying a plan to connect 250,000 villages to fibre backhaul, announcing winning bids to connect six regions to what will ultimately be a national network.
Under the Rs 2,500 crore project – more than $US420 million – the Indian government has set up a body called Bharat Broadband Networks to oversee deliver of the fibre rollout. In the longer term, the government has set aside nearly $US3.5 billion to cover all Gram panchayats (villages) in the country.
The National Optical Fibre Network project takes fibre already deployed by entities such as Railtel and the power grid, with private companies bidding on the incremental fibre extensions on a per-kilometre basis. The completed fibre is then offered on a non-discriminatory access basis to retailers.
Under the current contract, each regional rollout is to be split between the lowest bidder on a route, which will receive 70 percent of the work, and the second-lowest bidder.
Tomi Engdahl says:
comScore Releases ‘2013 Europe Digital Future in Focus’ Report
http://www.comscore.com/Insights/Press_Releases/2013/3/comScore_Releases_2013_Europe_Digital_Future_in_Focus_Report
Russia Has Europe’s Largest Internet Audience, Whilst Turkey Counts the Youngest Users
“European consumers are more digitally-engaged than ever before and their usage of mobile, internet-enabled devices is re-defining the media landscape,”
408.3 million people in Europe used the desktop-based internet in December 2012, a 7 percent increase over the past year.Turkey has the youngest European internet audience with nearly 70 percent under the age of 35. Source: comScore MMX
57 percent of EU5 (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and UK) mobile users owned a smartphone in the 3 month average ending December 2012.
In the EU5 region, Samsung leads the OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) market with a 32 percent share, whilst Google is the operating system of choice for 50 percent of EU5 smartphone users.
EU5 online video audience grew 5 percent over the past year, whilst the number of mobile video viewers jumped by 162 percent since December 2011. Leading online video platforms across Europe are YouTube (Google), Dailymotion, Facebook and VEVO. Source: comScore Video Metrix
1 in 3 display ad impressions were never seen, according to comScore’s European validated Campaign Essentials (vCE) charter study conducted between March and August 2012.
Time spent on news/information sites increased by 10 percent amongst European internet users.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Nokia 5g-vision: the network capacity of a thousand-fold
Nokia Siemens Networks has introduced its Technology Vision 2020 program, which is now being imported into practice. The list of measures include increasing the capacity of mobile networks, a thousand-fold.
“Users have learned to use mobile broadband elämälaatunsa improvement, and they will teach in the future networks and devices of the 2020s lifestyle,” paints the NSN’s technology and innovation leader Hossein Moiin.
The aim is that by 2020, mobile networks are able to profitably provide gigabytes worth of personal data a day for each user.
One of the pillars is planned for the future of network capacity by a factor of a thousand, through the EU-funded project on METIS.
Other objectives are listed in milliseconds latency cutting, teaching intelligent networks, systems, cutting energy consumption, as well as helping cloud providers of the world.
Source: http://www.tietokone.fi/artikkeli/uutiset/nokian_5g_visio_verkkokapasiteetti_tuhatkertaiseksi
Tomi Engdahl says:
EU signs off on eCall emergency-phone-in-every-car plan
GPS and a mobe in every car – do you suppose the NSA would fancy that?
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/06/14/eu_signs_off_on_ecall_plan/
The European Union’s plan to insist every new car on the road by 2015 includes a mobile device that phones home after a crash is set to become reality, after the European Commission signed off draft legislation to enact the scheme. Assent from the European Parliament and Council of the European Union is now required, but little opposition is expected.
The idea behind the scheme, known as eCall, is simple: when a car crashes, an on-board device that combines a GPS and mobile communications device will contact Europe’s ‘112′ emergency services number. By automating that call, legislators expect emergency services response will be faster, which will mean lives will be saved.
The EU says “Taking into account economies of scale, installation of the eCall in-vehicle system is estimated to cost much less than €100 per new car.”
As we’ve previously noted, the idea is noblebut with 250m cars in the EU multiplied by 100 Euros, the bill gets very large over time.
The upside is an expected 2,500 lives saved over ten years and a likely boost for sim-free devices on mobile networks, which should please those keen on an internet of things and more machine-to-machine communications.
the spec means eCall units are “… not traceable and when there is no emergency (its normal operational status) it is not subject to any constant tracking.”
The EU also says “As it is not permanently connected to mobile networks, hackers cannot take control of it.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
India To Send World’s Last Telegram
http://tech.slashdot.org/story/13/06/15/1620217/india-to-send-worlds-last-telegram
“India will pull the plug on its 160-year-old telegram service on 14 July, this year. This will probably be the last telegram ever sent in the world.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
India to send world’s last telegram. Stop.
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Asia-South-Central/2013/0614/India-to-send-world-s-last-telegram.-Stop?nav=87-frontpage-entryInsideMonitor
Once a staple of authoritative communication across the Indian subcontinent, the telegram has lost too much ground to smartphones. One devotee is threatening a Gandhi-style fast.
The world’s last telegram message will be sent somewhere in India on July 14.
That missive will come 144 years after Samuel Morse sent the first telegram in Washington, and seven years after Western Union shuttered its services in the United States. In India, telegraph services were introduced by William O’Shaughnessy, a British doctor and inventor who used a different code for the first time in 1850 to send a message.
“We were incurring losses of over $23 million a year because SMS and smartphones have rendered this service redundant,” Shamim Akhtar, general manager of BSNL’s telegraph services, told the Monitor.
At their peak in 1985, 60 million telegrams were being sent and received a year in India from 45,000 offices. Today, only 75 offices exist, though they are located in each of India’s 671 districts through franchises. And an industry that once employed 12,500 people, today has only 998 workers.
guing that mobile penetration is much lower than it is hyped to be. Mobile penetration is indeed a dismal 26 percent, but even in the remotest village, at least someone has a phone.
Sixty-five percent of daily telegrams are sent by the government.
Tomi says:
Introducing Project Loon: Balloon-powered Internet access
http://googleblog.blogspot.fi/2013/06/introducing-project-loon.html
The Internet is one of the most transformative technologies of our lifetimes. But for 2 out of every 3 people on earth, a fast, affordable Internet connection is still out of reach. And this is far from being a solved problem.
There are many terrestrial challenges to Internet connectivity—jungles, archipelagos, mountains. There are also major cost challenges. Right now, for example, in most of the countries in the southern hemisphere, the cost of an Internet connection is more than a month’s income.
Solving these problems isn’t simply a question of time: it requires looking at the problem of access from new angles. So today we’re unveiling our latest moonshot from Google[x]: balloon-powered Internet access.
We believe that it might actually be possible to build a ring of balloons, flying around the globe on the stratospheric winds, that provides Internet access to the earth below.
we hope balloons could become an option for connecting rural, remote, and underserved areas, and for helping with communications after natural disasters.
Many projects have looked at high-altitude platforms to provide Internet access to fixed areas on the ground, but trying to stay in one place like this requires a system with major cost and complexity. So the idea we pursued was based on freeing the balloons and letting them sail freely on the winds.
Over time, we’d like to set up pilots in countries at the same latitude as New Zealand.
Tomi says:
Google floats balloons for free Wi-Fi
http://www.theage.com.au/digital-life/digital-life-news/google-floats-balloons-for-free-wifi-20130615-2oamm.html
Google has a truly sky-high idea for connecting billions of people to the internet – 19 kilometres in the air to be exact – through giant helium balloons circling the globe that are equipped to beam Wi-Fi signals down below.
Google has revealed that it has 30 balloons floating over New Zealand to provide free internet access to disaster-stricken, rural or poor areas. Eventually, as the balloons move across the stratosphere, consumers in participating countries along the 40th parallel in the Southern Hemisphere could tap into the service.
The technology will be trialled in Australia next year, possibly in Tasmania.
Called Project Loon, the experimental program was hatched by engineers at the company’s top-secret Google X laboratory in Silicon Valley, California, which invented driverless cars and Google Glass.
“The idea may sound a bit crazy – and that’s part of the reason we’re calling it Project Loon – but there’s solid science behind it,” the company said.
New Zealand Prime Minister John Key unveiled the technology on Saturday from the Air Force Museum in Wigram, Christchurch.
The design lab plans to trial the internet balloons, which can stay in the air for up to 100 days, in Australia by mid-2014 and also in Argentina.
The Southern Hemisphere, specifically the 40th parallel south, has been chosen for the trial partly because of the stratospheric conditions, with the balloons movements controlled from the ground by harnessing winds and solar power.
The thin plastic balloons hovering over New Zealand – about 15 metres in diameter and barely visible to Earth-bound spectators – use a mix of highly sophisticated and basic methods to deliver internet connections of at least 3G speeds.
The high-pressure balloons carry antennas, radios, solar-power panels and navigation equipment that talk to specialised antennas on rooftops below. But they do not have motors, and their travel largely depends on wind patterns.
The balloons currently have a lifetime of a few weeks, but DeVaul believed in future they could last hundreds of days.
“Two thirds of the world – 4.8 billion people – still don’t have the internet. It’s not that we don’t know how to provide internet access, it’s how to provide it over a large area in a cost effective way for everybody in the world,” he said.
● The balloons use antennae to connect to the internet via ground stations on the earth. They can then transmit the internet via their antennae within a 40 kilometre diameter.
● Users have a special antenna, which will connect to the internet of any balloon flying overhead.
● Each balloon can provide internet on the ground to an area of over 1200 square kilometres.
Tomi Engdahl says:
You don’t need phone lines or cable for ANYTHING, says Dish
The satellite-dish man can sort you out with phone and broadband over the air too
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/06/17/dish_demos_broadband_without_the_cable/
Dish wants everyone to know it can do broadband too: using LTE kit and radio spectrum it plans to acquire from Clearwire, the TV broadcaster has been pushing 50Mb/sec into homes.
The trials ran in rural Virginia, using two towers to deliver between 20 and 50Mb/sec to homes using a 40cm receiving box fitted by the same chap who comes round to put the satellite TV in.
That’s important, because if Dish is going to compete with existing players then it will need that quad-service offering (mobile and fixed telephony, TV and internet access).
The trials were conducted in conjunction with local outfit nTelos Wireless, who provided 194MHz of spectrum starting at 2,496MHz.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Google builds new system to eradicate child porn images from the web
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/google/10122452/Google-builds-new-system-to-eradicate-child-porn-images-from-the-web.html
Google, the internet giant, is to create a global database of child abuse images – which it will share with its rival companies – in a bid to eradicate child pornography from the web.
The new database, which is expected to be operational within a year, will allow child porn images which have already been “flagged” by child protection organisations such as the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) to be wiped from the web in one fell swoop.
Google is also setting up a £1.27 million ($2 million) fund available to independent software developers to produce new tools to combat child pornography, it announced.
Scott Rubin, Google’s spokesman, said: “We are creating an industry-wide global database of ‘hashed’ images to help all technology companies find these images, wherever they might be.
“They will then be blocked and reported.”
John Carr, a government adviser on child internet safety, said: “This is an important moment. It should focus the minds of other industry leaders in relation to how they are going to join the fight.
“We know that the best way to tackle what is some of the most horrific content online is by working with others from all over the world to combat this on a global platform.”
“Each offending image in effect gets a unique fingerprint that our computers can recognize without humans having to view them again.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Nokia device will retire in the Finnish army
Nokia’s Defence Forces in due course developed by the message device M83/90, or SanLa turns off and goes to the museum 30 years of use. New Mati battle command system (Mati = Army Information System) terminal is the Panasonic Toughbook tablet PC, says Ruotuväki magazine.
Some people have expressed doubts about the sustainability of Toughbookin compared to the old SanLa.
Artillery and grenadelaunchers will get a computer like modern terminal.
Source: http://www.tietoviikko.fi/kaikki_uutiset/nokialaite+jaa+elakkeelle+armeijasta/a909657?s=r&wtm=tietoviikko/-17062013&
Tomi Engdahl says:
Intel wants to be your new cable provider
But the chipmaker could face fierce adversaries in cable and ISP providers who control bandwidth and content
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9240059/Intel_wants_to_be_your_new_cable_provider?taxonomyId=229&pageNumber=1
Intel this year plans to sell a set-top box and Internet-based streaming media service that will bundle TV channels for subscribers, but its plans will likely face hurdles from the 800-pound gorillas of the streaming media market.
Huggers compared Intel’s as-yet-unnamed service to the BBC’s iPlayer, which makes programs available up to seven days after the original broadcast on any mobile device.
“If you miss something, it’s already there,” he said. “I think in this market we’ve yet to see a proper catch-up television service.”
Mike McGuire, a research vice president at Gartner, said that what Intel is planning is more akin to what Apple did with iTunes in that it doesn’t expect to make a profit off the service itself — at least not in the beginning.
“You can see the overall strategic value: Let’s create a service that [system manufacturers] can create apps and links to for their products, and that will compete against these other content ecosystems that are forming with Apple, Google, etc.,” McGuire said.
Jon Carvill, director of Intel corporate communications, said that while system manufacturers using Intel processors are a target market for the service, the primary product will be Intel hardware combined with its own service.
“It’s hardware, software and services coming from us,” Carvill added. “Our device is fully integrated. It’s not an app.”
Intel’s set-top box will also have a camera with recognition technology similar to that used in Microsoft’s Kinect box.
“It’s our belief that the TV experience can be more personal. They’ll have their programs and their profiles set up, especially in homes with multiple people,” he said. “And, there are ways you can watch without it as well.”
While Apple TV, Google Play and Microsoft’s Streaming Media Services can be seen as competitors, cable, Satellite and ISP providers such as Comcast, Time Warner and Verizon are also likely to push back against Intel, experts said. Those cable and ISP providers have well-established, long-term contracts with content providers such as ESPN and HBO. “They could say, ‘[If] you do sign this deal [with Intel], you’re in violation with the contract you signed with us,’” McGuire said.
One other scenario might be that cable and ISP providers simply favor their own streaming services with pricing models, or limit bandwidth based on what customers stream.
“You have the issue of access to content, but then you also have the issue of access to pipes,”
“If you just set the cap at a level where it would be unrealistic to use your broadband connection as a full cable replacement …, I think that is likely how the threat could work,” Bergmayer said.
Comcast could also offer its own IP streaming video service, and exempt its service from caps.
Tomi Engdahl says:
ISPs to include porn filters as standard in UK by 2014
http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2013-06/14/parental-filtering-industry-standard
Parental filters for pornographic content will come as a default setting for all homes in the UK by the end of 2013, says David Cameron’s special advisor on preventing the sexualisation and commercialisation of childhood, Claire Perry MP.
Internet service providers (ISP) will be expected to provide filtering technology to new and existing customers, with an emphasis on opting out, rather than opting in.
“[In the UK] we will have filters where if you do nothing, the parental filters will come pre-ticked,” said Perry, speaking at a Westminster eForum on 14 June.
The move is part of a government effort to force ISPs to make filtering a standard option across industry, and to make the technology easier for consumers to use. As ISPs are voluntarily rolling out filtering technology, it will require no new legislation or regulations.
It had previously been feared that the government would force ISPs to block access to pornographic content unless a consumer specifically requested it.
Tomi Engdahl says:
What 802.11ac Networking Is, And Why You Want It
http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2013/06/802-11ac-apple-wwdc/
With everyone gushing over iOS 7 and the new Macs, it was easy to miss the relatively low key announcement that Apple has added support for 802.11ac Wi-Fi to two key hardware products: the MacBook Air and the Airport Extreme.
802.11ac is the next generation of WiFi — the fifth, to be specific — and it’s not even officially a standard yet. But 802.11ac is poised to benefit our wireless experience with even faster throughput and more stable connections. At this point, it is worth investing in, because who doesn’t wish their home Wi-Fi was faster and more stable? Luddites and losers, that’s who.
802.11ac is “a faster and more scalable version of 802.11n,” according to a Cisco whitepaper on the subject. It’s designed to offer wireless speeds of up to 1.3 Gigabits per second. That’s more than double the bandwidth of the current standard, 802.11n. On the scalability front, it allows for up to eight multiple input, multiple output (MIMO) streams and multi-user MIMO. 802.11n, the standard we’ve been using for a few years now, stopped at four streams.
It also utilizes a technique called beamforming, which directs a concentrated wireless signal to a specific area — in this case, the 802.11ac wireless device you’re using. In order for beamforming to work, you need a router or base station that supports it, and a device capable of talking to the router.
What all of this adds up to is a faster, more stable, more capable home wireless network.
Though it’s not a fully ratified standard yet, 802.11ac is appearing in numerous consumer and enterprise wireless products.
Tomi Engdahl says:
How Clearwire Became the Darling of Telecom
http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB10001424127887323836504578551840150175824-lMyQjAxMTAzMDEwODExNDgyWj.html
Clearwire Corp. CLWR 0.00% has long been the U.S. wireless industry’s most embattled carrier. In recent months, the money-losing company has also emerged as its crown jewel.
The company, which covers less than half the U.S. population with high-speed mobile Internet service, has teetered on the brink of bankruptcy. Now, both Dish Network Corp. DISH -1.94% and SoftBank Corp. 9984.TO -0.19% are showing keen interest in Clearwire’s huge stockpile of spectrum even as they battle for control of Sprint Nextel Corp., S -1.37% a majority owner of Clearwire.
The spectrum has become a prized asset thanks to a sea change in how people use their mobile devices. Without it, Dish and Softbank’s opportunities to offer a new slate of wireless services could be limited.
The wireless data boom—as seen in Americans’ deepening addiction to using their phones and tablets to stream music, watch YouTube videos, and upload Facebook FB +1.66% photos—is behind Clearwire’s sudden popularity.
The average smartphone in the U.S. generated 577 megabytes of mobile data traffic a month last year, up from 389 megabytes in 2011, according to Cisco Systems Inc.
Rather than using the Clearwire spectrum to build a national network, SoftBank and Dish have said they would use the company’s spectrum to provide additional capacity in areas where data use is highest.
Clearwire is now in the middle of a full-blown bidding war.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Tapping: It’s not just for phones anymore
March 1, 2013
http://www.cablinginstall.com/articles/print/volume-21/issue-3/features/tapping-its-not-just-for-phones-anymore.html
Integrated tapping technology allows administrators to monitor data center traffic without disrupting the production environment.
What is port tapping?
Port tapping is a method of monitoring traffic being transmitted and received along a link in a network; this monitored traffic is then analyzed. This can be done actively via electronic devices that replicate (also called “mirroring”) the link’s data and send it to a monitoring device. Or it can be done passively with a device that simply passes through all data and sends it simultaneously to both its intended recipient and to a monitoring device. In both instances, the monitoring device filters the data and sends it to various software tools for analysis, where it is then sent to application-layer software for use by network administrators.
The question often comes up, what does tap stand for? The answer is, nothing. The word is used in the surveillance sense (a “tap” on a phone line), meaning to connect into and monitor communications that are being transmitted.
Active and passive tapping
Active tapping, sometimes called mirroring or SPAN (switch port analysis), uses active electronics to duplicate a link’s traffic and send it to a monitoring device. An active port tap requires that one of the switch ports be used solely for tapping, thereby reducing the number of ports that can be used for live network data.
Passive tapping is considered “pass through,” in that the link’s traffic is not replicated by the switch in any way. Instead, the optical signal’s power is divided, and the data stream sent simultaneously to both live traffic and monitoring electronics.
Tomi Engdahl says:
TIA’s great Category 8 debate and ISO/IEC’s cabling update
http://www.cablinginstall.com/articles/print/volume-21/issue-5/features/tias-great-category-8-debate-and-iso-iecs-cabling-update.html?cmpid=EnlCIMJune172013
Unlike previous standards, Category 8 as proposed is not an electrical-performance superset of Category 7A.
After debating the issue for three meeting cycles, the TIA TR-42.7 Copper Cabling Subcommittee adopted “Category 8″ as the name of its next-generation balanced twisted-pair cabling system that is currently under development to support 40-Gbit/sec transmission in a two-connector channel over some distance up to at least 30 meters.
While TIA specifies cabling systems up to Category 6A performance, TIA chose not to adopt Category 7 or 7A as published by ISO/IEC. TIA has now decided to call its next-generation cabling system “Category 8″ to avoid confusion with published ISO/IEC Category 7 and Category 7A standards, which are indeed supersets of each other and of Category 6A. While it is true that the currently proposed Category 8 specifications tentatively describe transmission performance up to 2 GHz, whereas ISO/IEC specifies Category 7A requirements up to 1 GHz, the performance limits proposed for Category 8 as of March 2013 do not meet or exceed Category 7A requirements up to 1 GHz.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Cat 8 cable development and test process described
http://www.cablinginstall.com/articles/2013/06/cat8-testdev.html
The group’s test summary for Category 8 F/UTP cable revealed that the cabling uses outer shielding, but does not have individually shielded pairs. The cable is round with a diameter less than 0.300″ (<7.62mm). Smooth transmission performance up to 2000 MHz is virtually assured.
The group noted that a perceivable NEXT spike at 200/250MHz is a known and understood cabling design parameter that will be addressed in forthcoming prototype iterations
Tomi Engdahl says:
EU to end mobile roaming charges next year
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/mediatechnologyandtelecoms/telecoms/10119159/EU-to-end-mobile-roaming-charges-next-year.html
Consumers will next year be able to use their mobile phones across the European Union for the same price as at home, it is planned, after officials voted to fast-track major reforms of telecoms regulation.
Roaming fees for voice calls, texts and internet access will effectively be completely scrapped under the proposals, which are part of a broader effort to create a single European telecoms market.
The group of 27 European Commissioners voted in Brussels on Tuesday to drive the package through in time for the European elections in May next year, to come into force as soon as 1 July 2014.
“They agreed that this time next year we will have got rid of these charges,” a Brussels source said
Officials will draw up and publish detailed proposals in the next six weeks
They expect the death of roaming charges to typically wipe 2pc off mobile operators’ revenues, after several years of tightening regulations designed to put an end to shockingly high bills for holiday makers and business travellers. They argue that operators will gain in the longer term by customers using their mobiles more abroad, particularly to access the internet.
The reforms are designed to encourage radical consolidation of European mobile network operators.
“There are around 100 operators in Europe and only four in the US,” the source said. “That’s not sustainable if we’re going to have a single market and investment. Europe has less 4G mobile broadband than Africa at the moment.”
“Consolidation is not the aim. The aim is a single market, but if it means we get fewer, stronger operators, that’s good.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Dish needs spectrum to fuel wireless broadband biz
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-57589752-94/dish-needs-spectrum-to-fuel-wireless-broadband-biz/
Dish Network has ambitions to become a challenger in the home broadband market, but it needs valuable spectrum from Clearwire, Sprint, and LightSquared.
Satellite TV provider Dish Network plans to take on cable and DSL broadband service with a new fixed wireless service that it’s recently begun testing. But the success of its new business could depend on its ambitions to acquire more spectrum.
Unlike other 4G LTE services from carriers, such as AT&T and Verizon Wireless, the 4G LTE service that Dish is building is for in-home broadband service only. Like it’s satellite TV service, it requires a receiver to be attached on the roof.
Right now, Dish is using wireless spectrum in the 2.5GHz band from partners such as NTelos. The company doesn’t currently own any of this particular band of high-frequency spectrum. But it hopes to get its hands on some soon.
Clearwire owns a lot of 2.5GHz wireless spectrum, which it’s used to build a nationwide fixed and mobile 4G WiMax wireless network using 2.5GHz spectrum.
While Dish may be able to strike deals and partnerships with companies, such as Ntelos to build some areas of its new fixed wireless broadband network, the company still needs some spectrum of its own to deliver this service.
What’s the service like?
As for the service itself, initial speed tests show downloads between 20Mbps and 50Mbps. Actual, customer speeds when the network is fully deployed are expected to be lower.
“We’re not looking to take over the entire broadband market,” Zufall said. “There will be places where fixed wireless works well, and other places where traditional cable is the right answer.”
How Dish plans to deploy its broadband service
And the spectrum that Clearwire owns is particularly valuable for this network. What makes 2.5GHz spectrum so valuable for Dish is that there is a lot of it
Tomi Engdahl says:
Audio Video Bridging
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audio_Video_Bridging
Audio Video Bridging (AVB) is a common name for the set of technical standards developed by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Audio Video Bridging Task Group of the IEEE 802.1 standards committee. The charter of this organization is to “provide the specifications that will allow time-synchronized low latency streaming services through IEEE 802 networks”.[1] These consist of:
IEEE 802.1AS: Timing and Synchronization for Time-Sensitive Applications (gPTP),
IEEE 802.1Qat: Stream Reservation Protocol (SRP),
IEEE 802.1Qav: Forwarding and Queuing for Time-Sensitive Streams (FQTSS), and
IEEE 802.1BA: Audio Video Bridging Systems
IEEE 802.1Qat and 802.1Qav are amendments to the base IEEE 802.1Q document, which specifies the operation of “Virtual Bridged Local Area Networks”, which are implemented by network devices typically called Ethernet switches.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Australian unis to test quantum-comms-over-fibre
Tests to see if entangled photons can survive real-world networks
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/06/18/canberra_test_bed_for_quantum_comms/
The University of New South Wales, one of the world’s leaders in quantum computing research, will get the chance to put its work to the test in Australia’s capital city, Canberra.
Within a few months, two nodes on Canberra’s ICON network – one at the Australian National University, the other at the Australian Defence Force Academy – will be connected as a validation network for quantum key distribution technologies from QuintessenceLabs (a spinoff of the Centre for Quantum Computation and Communication Technology, or CQC2T).
The group is seeking both to validate the operation of the quantum communication systems, and to test how well they operate on a live network, she said.
“At every step [of quantum communications research] you have to prove that what’s proposed is actually an advance,” she said.
An example of quantum key distribution is to create entangled photons to carry the values of the shared secret between two ends of a conversation. Should a third party intercept or observe the key, the loss of entanglement should be measurable to the recipient since the entanglement is destroyed.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Old smartphones called in to save Indonesian forests
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21829205.600-old-smartphones-called-in-to-save-indonesian-forests.html#.UcBQ2ZxsUik
A forest project that uses solar-powered smartphones hanging from trees to listen for the sounds of chainsaws could help stop illegal logging
At first, Rainforest Connection will use new phones donated for the trial, though White ultimately plans to use recycled handsets that supporters contribute when they upgrade to the latest model. The phones are outfitted with solar panels specifically designed to take advantage of the brief periods when light reaches the forest floor. Their microphones stay on at all times, and software listens for the telltale growl of a chainsaw, which triggers an alert.
Initially, only rangers will be notified, but White hopes to release a free app that lets anyone receive real-time alerts with the audio that the phones pick up and the location. “We want to make people feel like they are taking part in the dramatic events on the front lines of environmental protection,” he says.
Tomi says:
A variety of housing manufacturers are developing smart features believe in the future, with all of your home appliances are managed smoothly through the Internet, through a single user interface. Safety systems specialist Verisuren smart features of the homes will be up to triple over the next five years.
- We have moved the application key in an era where consumers want smart services and products, says the company’s CEO Dick Seger.
Several homes are already controlled through a smartphone, say, for example, home lighting and electronics, provides the energy consumption and to monitor the comings and goings of residents. Cloud services can of course also be connected to your computer, tablet or älytelevision through.
Smart housing specialist Park Associates, a consultancy firm survey, by 2014 European homes already have more broadband connections than in the United States. In addition, by 2017, at least every second European home has a smart TV.
In the future, more and more home device with internet access, which allows, for example, manufacturers and service providers can collect important information about their customers. This also means, however, that security must take account of the design.
Source: http://www.iltalehti.fi/asuminen/2013061817171038_an.shtml
Tomi Engdahl says:
Facebook’s Wi-Fi Spreads in the Wild
http://www.wired.com/business/2013/06/facebook-wifi-spreads/
The idea of offering people free Wi-Fi in exchange for their physical coordinates began at Facebook as a one-off experiment, a project by two engineers during an all-nighter in May 2012. Since then, Facebook has gradually spread what it now calls “Facebook Wi-Fi” further and further beyond the company’s corporate walls, deploying the system to cafes in Palo Alto and San Francisco and even into a line of routers made by Cisco.
The growth of Facebook’s free internet offering underscores the extent to which the social network is trying to vacuum up more and more information about its members, including their physical movements, and how valuable such data has become in selling advertising.
Intended for use in businesses like cafes, Facebook Wi-Fi asks users to “check in” at the business location using their Facebook account. Once they do, or once they click a small opt-out link, they are granted wireless internet access.
In May, Facebook Wi-Fi graduated beyond experiment as Cisco announced the service would be included as an optional service on its Meraki line of routers. Facebook is in discussions with other router makers to get Facebook Wi-Fi adopted more broadly, according to Facebook mobile product manager Erick Tseng.
Tomi Engdahl says:
A High-Tech Street Sign That’s Plugged Into Social Media
http://www.wired.com/design/2013/06/a-robotic-street-sign/
For the last three years Breakfast has been working on creating a street sign. Like most other “all points” signs in the world, this one will lead you in the right direction towards your destination. But that’s pretty much where the similarities end.
The Brooklyn-based interactive agency’s sign, called Points, is an high-tech version of a low tech tool. While it can, in fact, tell directions, Points is also able to tell you who’s winning the U.S. Open, where the nearest coffee shop is or how soon the next bus will be arriving. This is all while its shiny aluminum arms rotate 360 degrees around the pole, pointing you in the direction of the information being served.
Here’s how it works: At eye level, passers-by will see a menu of different content categories that will allow them to choose what Points displays on its arms.
Points will pull in that information based on the APIs and RSS feeds that it has been programmed with. Right now Foursquare, Twitter, public transportation APIs and news RSS feeds are the main sources, but the software can ultimately be programmed to pull from any online data source available.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Developers Can Now Ship Hard Drives To Google To Import Large Amounts Of Data To Cloud Storage
http://techcrunch.com/2013/06/18/developers-can-now-ship-hard-drives-to-google-to-import-large-amounts-of-data-to-cloud-storage/
Google just added a new service to Google Cloud Storage that will allow developers to send their hard drives to Google to import very large data sets that would otherwise be too expensive and time-consuming to import. For a flat fee of $80 per hard drive, Google will take the drive and upload the data into a Cloud Storage bucket. This, Google says, can be “faster or less expensive than transferring data over the Internet.” The service is now in limited preview for users with a U.S.-based return address.
Platforms like AWS and Google’s Cloud Platform are obviously great for analyzing large data sets.
“transferring large data sets (in the hundreds of terabytes and beyond) can be expensive and time-consuming over the public network.” Uploading 5 terabytes of data over a 100Mbps line could easily take a day or two and most developers may not even have these kinds of connections.
Tomi Engdahl says:
For Web Firms, Faster Access Comes at a Price
http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB10001424127887323836504578553170167992666-lMyQjAxMTAzMDEwOTExNDkyWj.html
Hoping to speed traffic through an increasingly congested Internet, several big Web companies including Google Inc., GOOG +0.01% Microsoft Corp. MSFT -1.11% and Facebook Inc. FB +0.41% are paying major broadband providers for connections to get faster and smoother access to their networks, say people familiar with the matter.
Netflix Inc., NFLX +1.52% though, has held out—so far. For a year it has been trying to directly connect specialized technology to the networks of broadband providers as a way to improve the quality of its video streaming, avoiding the stops and sputters common to Web video. But some of the biggest U.S. cable and phone companies have asked Netflix to pay for that access.
At the heart of the debate is an increasingly pressing question: Who is responsible for the Internet’s growing costs?
The payments, so far, aren’t huge. Comcast Corp., CMCSA -0.45% for instance, says it earns about $25 million to $30 million a year for such payments, less than 0.1% of its total revenue. Time Warner Cable Inc. TWC -0.50% generates tens of millions of dollars, network executives said. Executives at both companies say they aren’t looking to turn this revenue into a big business.
These kinds of payments long have been shrouded in secrecy, largely because the companies involved are wary of discussing unregulated territory where contract negotiations can be contentious.
Sensitivity aside, paying for these direct connections is legal. The practice doesn’t breach the Federal Communications Commission’s “open Internet” rules—enforcing the concept popularly known as “net neutrality”—which forbids landline broadband providers from favoring certain Internet traffic on their networks. The rules address traffic traveling over a providers’ “last mile” pipeline into consumer homes. But these payments are for a direct connection between content companies’ networks and the edge of broadband access networks. The rules are more ambiguous about such payments.
Nevertheless, they have raised concerns among Internet executives that smaller startups could be put at a disadvantage.
The debate is likely to intensify as more companies plan online video services.
Comcast in recent months complained to the FCC that Netflix was asking for special access to its broadband network
Web publishers have always paid middlemen to help carry their traffic. Middlemen connected with big broadband providers on terms that have evolved over time.
People close to Web content companies caution that free traffic swapping agreements for them are still more common than these paid arrangements with broadband access providers.
Meanwhile, big Web companies like Google and Facebook in recent years have invested heavily in building their own specially-designed infrastructure, extending to the edge of broadband providers’ networks, to speed the passage of their content across the Internet. By paying Internet access providers, they can establish a direct connection into the providers’ networks.
Still, some content owners worry that direct payments to broadband-access providers will eventually become their most viable option to get data-heavy traffic to consumers with the speeds and quality they expect.
Internet traffic that doesn’t go over those direct connections “is really what I would call a poor man’s backbone, and you get what you pay for,” said Lane Patterson, chief technology officer at network data center operator Equinix Inc.