Mobile infrastructure must catch up with user needs and demands. Ubiquitous mobile computing is all around us. Some time in the next six months, the number of smartphones on earth will pass the number of PCs. As the power and capability of many mobile devices increases, the increased demand on networks. We watch more videos, and listen to music on our phones. Mobile Data Traffic To Grow 300% Globally By 2017 Led By Video, Web Use. Mobile network operators would have had an easier life if it wasn’t for smartphones and the flood of data traffic they initiated, and soon there will be also very many Internet of Things devices. Businesses and consumers want more bandwidth for less money.
More and more network bandwidth is being used by video: Netflix And YouTube Account For Over 50% Of Peak Fixed Network Data In North America. Netflix remains the biggest pig in the broadband python, representing 31.6% of all downstream Internet traffic in North America during primetime. In other parts of the world, YouTube is the biggest consumer of bandwidth. In Europe, YouTube represented of 28.7% of downstream traffic.
Gartner: Top 10 Strategic Technology Trends For 2014 expects that Software Defined Anything is a new mega-trend in data centers. Software-defined anything (SDx) is defined by “improved standards for infrastructure programmability and data center interoperability driven by automation inherent to cloud computing, DevOps and fast infrastructure provisioning.” Dominant vendors in a given sector of an infrastructure-type may elect not to follow standards that increase competition and lower margins, but end-customer will benefit from simplicity, cost reduction opportunities, and the possibility for consolidation. More hype around Software-Defined-Everything will keep the marketeers and the marchitecture specialists well employed for the next twelve months but don’t expect anything radical.
Software defined technologies are coming quickly to telecom operator networks with Network Functions Virtualisation (NFV). Intel and rather a lot of telcos want networks to operate like data centres. Today’s networks are mostly based around proprietary boxes designed to do very specific jobs. It used to be that way in the server business too until cheap generic x86 boxes took most of the market. The idea in NFV is that low-cost x86 servers can successfully many of those those pricey proprietary boxes currently attached to base-stations and other parts of the network. This scents a shift in the mood of the telcos themselves. This change is one that they want, and rather a lot of them are working together to make it happen. So the future mobile network will have more and more x86 and ARM based generic computing boxes running on Linux.
With the introduction of Network Functions Virtualisation base stations will have new functions built into them. For example NSN has announced a mobile edge computing platform that enables mobile base stations to host data and run apps. Think of this as an internet cloud server that’s really close to the customer.
Hybrid Cloud and IT as Service Broker are talked about. Telecom companies and cloud service providers are selling together service packages that have both connectivity and cloud storage sold as single service. Gartner suggests that bringing together personal clouds and external private cloud services is essential.
The type of device one has will be less important, as the personal or public cloud takes over some of the role. The push for more personal cloud technologies will lead to a shift toward services and away from devices, but there are also cases where where there is a great incentive to exploit the intelligence and storage of the client device. Gartner suggests that now through 2018, a variety of devices, user contexts, and interaction paradigms will make “everything everywhere” strategies unachievable, although many would like to see this working.
“Internet of Things” gets more push. The Internet is expanding into enterprise assets and consumer items such as cars and televisions. The concept of “Internet of Things” will evolve a step toward The Internet of Everything. Gartner identifies four basic usage models that are emerging: Manage, Monetize, Operate, Extend. The Internet of Things (IoT) will evolve into the Web of Things, increasing the coordination between things in the real world and their counterparts on the Web. The Industrial Internet of Things will be talked about. IoT takes advantage of mobile devices’ and sensors’ ability to observe and monitor their environments
Car of the future is M2M-ready and has Ethernet. 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.
Smart Home Systems Are on the Rise article tells that most automated technology is found in commercial buildings that feature automated lighting that changes in intensity depending on the amount of sunlight present. Some of these buildings have WiFi incorporated into their lighting systems. There will be new and affordable technology on the market, but people today are still reluctant to bring automation to their homes.
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Tomi Engdahl says:
Virgin Media bundles broadband, TV, landline and mobile with ‘quad-play’ package
Bag all four from £35 a month
http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2343254/virgin-media-bundles-broadband-tv-landline-and-mobile-with-quad-play-package
VIRGIN MEDIA announced the launch of “quad-play” bundles on Tuesday, packages that combine a SIM-only mobile deal with broadband, TV and landline services.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Do Linear’s Dust Networks Matter in IoT?
6LowPAN to include Time Slotted Channel Hopping
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1322232&
There is no one-size-fits-all Internet of Things (IoT) solution. The IoT deploys a variety of radios and network topologies, depending on use-case scenarios and requirements. Both ubiquitous Internet Protocols and wireless sensor networks have given rise to the IoT, but in connectivity, two constants prevail: reliability and low power.
Lately, a number of so-called “connected consumer products” — such as Google’s Nest thermostats, wearable devices, talking refrigerators and smart homes — have sucked all the oxygen from today’s IoT debate. But, before that, there was Dust Networks. More accurately, a concept called SmartDust arrayed numerous tiny sensors to detect, trace and report back the state — light, temperature, vibration, chemicals and other features — of the physical world.
Since late 2011 when Linear Technology acquired Dust Networks, Dust hasn’t changed its industrial market focus.
Dust’s sensor networks are installed in Chevron’s oil refinery in Calif. The GlaxoSmithKline plant in Cork, Ireland also uses wireless mesh networks to monitor the pharmaceutical company’s new water storage tanks. Dust’s robust wireless networks play a critical role predicting precious water supplies, gathering real-time water content data from the snowpack in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of eastern California.
More than 30,000 networks — designed by Dust and sold by its customers — are installed in 120 countries, according to Linear.
Today, Linear has two product lines: SmartMesh WirelessHart and SmartMesh IP. The former complies with the WirelessHART (IEC 62591) standard designed for industrial applications. The latter complies with the 6LoWPAN standard, providing native IPv6 addressability to every node.
Founded in 2013, the IETF 6TSCH working group is co-chaired by representatives from Cisco and Dust Networks. The group hopes to define an open standard for building and maintaining a TSCH schedule in a 6LoWPAN network
Tomi Engdahl says:
xPico® Wi-Fi Shield for Arduino Platform
http://www.eeweb.com/news/xpico-wi-fi-shield-for-arduino-platform
Lantronix, Inc. introduced the xPico® Wi-Fi Shield which supports simultaneous wireless LAN client connectivity and access point (AP) functionality. With xPico® Wi-Fi Shield, it is now easy to securely connect to an Arduino® micro-computer using web-based tools and interactive applications on smartphones or tablets.
A wireless LAN driver is not required on the Arduino microcontroller to configure wireless connectivity when you have this xPico® Wi-Fi Shield.
Tomi Engdahl says:
IoT silos bad for business: Rackspace
Upgrading its iron, cloud-herder muses on the future
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/05/07/iot_silos_bad_for_business_rackspace/
Today’s Internet of Things (IoT) devices have to break out of their vendor silos if they’re to be taken seriously in the corporate environment, according to Rackspace Asia’s CTO Alan Perkins.
Perkins said the future of cloud services is inextricably linked with the booming Internet of Things drive.
Rackspace customer SimPRO’s CEO Brad Couper said his company is already putting its brains into the Internet of Things: “Our specialty is field service, so we see the Internet of Things helping us decide how to get plumbers to cover today’s 20 jobs efficiently.”
This, however, is where many of today’s models are holding back the IoT world. “I’m really underwhelmed by the model that says ‘we’ll sell you a device that phones back to our Web service but doesn’t talk to anything else’”, Perkins explained.
Couper agreed, saying that for the IoT to be valuable for his company, “it’s crucial that we know we can connect to the devices at all times,” rather than having to rely on a vendor’s connectivity.
Tomi Engdahl says:
D-Link Enters Home Automation Market with Wi-Fi Smart Plug
by Ganesh T S on May 6, 2014 10:01 AM EST
http://www.anandtech.com/show/7992/dlink-enters-home-automation-market-with-wifi-smart-plug
In our coverage of CES 2014, we had pointed out leaks about D-Link’s entry into the home automation market with a ‘smart’ plug controlled via Wi-Fi. Today, D-Link is making the information official.
The D-Link Wi-Fi Smart Plug (DSP-W215) will be the first entry in a series of home automation solutions from the company. Amongst the touted features are power scheduling, local and remote control, monitoring of energy usage and overheating protection (with a thermal sensor) through automatic shutoff. Control and monitoring is made possible through the free mydlink Smart Plug mobile app.
The WeMo Insight and the D-Link Wi-Fi Smart Plug seem to share almost the same feature set,
The unit is available today with an EDLP (every-day low price) of $50, which undercuts the MSRP of Belkin’s WeMo Insight Switch by $10.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Nokia bets big on 5G with NTT Docomo partnership
Will collaborate on 5G research and proof of concept system
http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2343635/nokia-bets-big-on-5g-with-ntt-docomo-partnership
NOKIA ANNOUNCED on Thursday that it has joined forces with Japanese operator NTT Docomo, with the two firms set to collaborate on 5G research.
Nokia’s Network Services (NSN) arm said that along with NTT Docomo it will develop a 5G proof of concept (PoC) system, which follows a memorandum of understanding signed by the two companies in January. Previously, NSN has collaborated with the Japanese mobile operator on research surrounding 3G and LTE technologies.
Nokia said that the 5G research aims to ensure that future 5G networks meet the demands of operators, by guaranteeing cell-edge rates in excess of 100Mbps and reducing latency by a factor of 10, as the firm looks to aid the “transition towards higher bandwidths and super-fast mobile broadband”.
will initially look at exploring the potential of millimetre wave technology on the 70GHz spectrum band.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Sprint slams on the brakes for top 5% of data users in congested areas
Sprint’s (NYSE: S) pledge of unlimited data is looking increasingly less sustainable, as the carrier maneuvers to rein in network traffic generated by its heaviest data users and ensure quality of service for the majority of its customers.
a text message sent to Virgin Mobile customers said: “Beginning 6/1/14, to provide more customers with a high quality data experience during heavy usage times, Virgin Mobile USA may manage prioritization of access to network resources in congested areas for customers within the top 5 percent of data users.”
In duplicate FAQ pages on the Sprint, Virgin and Boost websites, the network operator contends the heaviest data users consume a disproportionate share of network resources. Sprint said it has employed “fairness algorithms” on its CDMA and LTE networks to “dynamically allocate available bandwidth in a way that is fair to all users.”
Read more: Sprint slams on the brakes for top 5% of data users in congested areas – FierceWirelessTech http://www.fiercewireless.com/tech/story/sprint-slams-brakes-top-5-data-users-congested-areas/2014-05-08#ixzz31Bo7HzGt
Tomi Engdahl says:
Reference design for Bluetooth Smart Beacons, in distribution
http://www.edn-europe.com/en/reference-design-for-bluetooth-smart-beacons-in-distribution.html?cmp_id=7&news_id=10003979&vID=1627&from_mail=1#.U2ybCldM0ik
Distributor Rutronik has the nRF51822 Bluetooth Smart Beacon Kit from Nordic Semiconductor. The reference design is based on Nordic’s nRF51822 multiprotocol Bluetooth Smart and proprietary 2.4GHz-SoC. It allows demonstration and development of iBeacon and proprietary beacon hardware for iOS and Android smartphones to be developed quickly and easily.
Tomi Engdahl says:
UPnP+ Bridges IoT to Cloud
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1322294&
The Universal Plug and Play Forum (UPnP) will release a new set of specifications and software later this year, extending its reach into cloud services and the Internet of Things.
UPnP+ will expand beyond the group’s traditional work on devices using Internet Protocol on WiFi LANs to create bridges to wide-area networks and non-IP devices. The specs and open-source software for it, now in a 60-day review period, should be released on a royalty-free basis before the end of the year.
“Today there’s not a good standard for accessing devices across any network, but UPnP is working on it,” said Alan Messer, a Samsung researcher in San Jose who is vice president of UPnP.
“The main problems we see are lots of proprietary protocols that don’t help anyone in developing ecosystems — we also see lots of proprietary islands,”
UPnP+ supports a product concept of a sensor bridge. The small, low-cost device can store and translate data from a variety of IoT devices that use protocols such as Ant, Z-Wave, and early versions of Zigbee that don’t support IP.
The UPnP+ Cloud Architecture uses XMPP, widely used in instant messaging services, to link to wide-area networks. However, it will not support — at least in its initial implementation — competing IoT protocols such as MQTT supported by services from IBM, Xively, and others.
A variety of other protocols and initiatives, including the AllSeen effort at the Linux Foundation aim to unify the fragmented Internet of things. Messer said UPnP will consider support for other protocols as its members request it.
“The MQTT protocol hasn’t been proven at such large scale as XMPP,” Messer said. “Some say [MQTT is] less chatty, but we think for an M2M device it’s not so chatty and we see XMPP as more proven,” he said.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Talk of an Internet Fast Lane Is Already Hurting Some Startups
http://www.technologyreview.com/news/527006/talk-of-an-internet-fast-lane-is-already-hurting-some-startups/
Some VCs say the FCC’s latest net neutrality proposal will raise costs for startups that need fast connections or use a lot of bandwidth.
Proposed rules being drafted by the FCC’s chairman, Tom Wheeler, would allow ISPs to charge content providers like Netflix to ensure speedy service, so long as those charges are “commercially reasonable.” The rules are scheduled to be released for public comment May 15.
In the absence of clear rules, some ISPs have already begun requesting—and receiving—access fees. Netflix recently agreed to pay big ISPs like Comcast interconnection fees to ensure a high quality of service
The cable industry says such charges are sensible, especially when a few large content providers like Netflix can take up a large fraction of traffic. But if deep-pocketed players can pay for a faster, more reliable service, then small startups face a crushing disadvantage, says Brad Burnham, managing partner at Union Square Ventures, a VC firm based in New York City. “This is absolutely part of our calculus now,” he says.
Burnham says his firm will now “stay away from” startups working on video and media businesses. It will also avoid investing in payment systems or in mobile wallets, which require ultrafast transaction times to make sense. “This is a bad scene for innovation in those areas,” Burnham says of the FCC proposal.
History shows that some Web-based products and services are most likely to take root when access to Internet users is free. The founders of Foursquare, as an example, were able to set up their mobile social-networking service and reach 100,000 users with a mere $25,000 budget, Burnham says. “The thing that has been so remarkable about the Internet is that it’s been possible for a small startup to reach a global audience at no cost,” he adds. “An entrepreneur can get a product in the market, demonstrate real interest, and then go to talk to investors.”
If the FCC does let ISPs impose access fees, new business models and technologies for imposing those charges will emerge. Wireless carriers like Verizon are also working out “fast lane” technology, as are Web optimization companies like Akama
Tomi Engdahl says:
Ericsson puts 5G towel on Japanese deck-chair
Standards? Everyone has some…
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/05/09/ericsson_5g_trial/
We don’t know what exactly Ericsson might mean by “5G”, since the next generation of mobile wireless internet technologies is still very much in the committee stage, but the Swedish firm is rolling out a trial in Yokosuka, Japan anyway.
Ericsson will be conducting the tests together with Japanese mobile firm NTT DoCoMo, which has always led the way with new technology, but calling what they are doing “5G” does rather seem to be getting ahead of themselves.
The trials are expected to demonstrate impressive data rates of 10Gbps using the 15GHz frequency band, but Ericsson has not gone into any more detail.
It does appear that the Swedish firm is using a metric of “uses a frequency of over 6GHz” as a qualification for 5G.
“We look forward to showing the potential of 5G radio access technologies via this experimental trial.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Hey, operators… ‘member our edge-of-SPAAACE interwebs balloons? Help! – Google
That whole licensing international spectrum thing … er, not so much
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/05/09/google_loons_with_operators/
Having failed to license spectrum around the globe, Google is now talking to mobile operators to make its Loon project work.
Loon is Google’s attempt to provide internet connectivity in rural areas through, er, balloons sent up to the stratosphere.
The revelation came in a presentation from Google X labs’ Eric “Astro” Teller at a Techcrunch event. Naturally connectivity is essential to Loon, and but even for Google the idea that it could buy harmonised spectrum was unrealistic.
Teller explained that Google had initially thought it would be essential to the project, but that it is now working on the approach of licensing the balloons to telcos as they float over the territory of that telco. It is believed that this will take place at LTE frequencies.
Using LTE will be something of a challenge as the networks are currently architected not to send signals into the stratosphere, and having something which does suddenly drift over will make for a horribly complicated radio planning problem. This won’t be so bad in the rural areas where Loon is designed to make a difference but if it floats over a major conurbation, it could have a massive impact on frequency re-use.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Google’s fiber effect: Fuel for a broadband explosion
http://www.cnet.com/news/googles-fiber-effect-fuel-for-a-broadband-explosion/
The mere promise of Google Fiber seems to be enough to send rivals scrambling to deliver ultrafast Internet service at a reasonable price. Just look at Austin, Texas.
Miller was among the first in Austin to sign-up online for Google Fiber when it was announced in April 2013. His hope: that Google’s $70 faster 1-Gbps service would be the answer to his problems.
But then he got a call from AT&T with an offer for its new GigaPower service. Even though the 1Gbps service wasn’t yet available, AT&T offered Miller 300Mbps — more than 15 times the speed he was paying for. The best news was that the cost of his service would drop from $208 a month to $120. When AT&T finishes upgrading the electronics on the network later this year, he expects to see a 50-fold improvement.
Call it the Google Fiber effect. Google makes a splashy announcement that it intends to build a super high-speed network in a city. Competition follows, which translates into higher-speed services and lower prices for consumers.
A year after Google unveiled its plans in Austin, investments in gigabit fiber networks are being announced across the country. Incumbent Internet providers, like AT&T, and new entrants alike are taking elements of the Google Fiber playbook and applying them to their own deployments as they try to stay ahead of Google. AT&T last week said it was talking to 21 major metropolitan areas about an expansion of its U-verse with GigaPower fiber service.
Like Google, which offers service over its fiber network in two cities today, these companies are striving for 1Gbps speeds at affordable prices — less than $100 a month — making ultra high-speed broadband a much more attractive offering for consumers, who stream lots of video, play online games and want to upload photos and other files in seconds rather than hours. Even slow-moving incumbent cable operator Time Warner Cable has increased speeds on its traditional copper cable infrastructure.
“The truth is, people across America want access to faster Internet,” Jenna Wandres, a spokeswoman for Google Fiber said in an email.
“Since Google Fiber came on the scene, we’ve seen a significant shift in how municipalities view network operators.”
Eric Boyer, senior vice president, AT&T U-verse
Google wasn’t the first company to use fiber to deliver high-speed broadband, but it was the first company to offer such high speeds at $70 a month. It was also the first to come up with a business plan that requires participation from the city government and community.
Even if 1Gbps is overkill for most consumers, speeds of 100Mbps or even 300Mbps may not be. Incumbent providers such as Comcast and Verizon offer such speeds in certain markets, but the pricing on these services is often well over $100. For example, Comcast and Verizon each charge more than $300 a month for their 500Mbps services, which are available only in certain markets.
Tomi Engdahl says:
WTF is NET NEUTRALITY, anyway? And how can we make everything better?
Ignore those beardies – here are the facts
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/05/09/net_neutrality_explained_and_how_to_get_a_better_internet/
This is strictly non-ideological. There will be no principled arguments for “the public good” or the sanctity of non-intervention. The internet has to work – and work well, well enough to serve everyone – not just the people who shout the loudest, or who lobby well. Today, some groups (such as the disabled) are very poorly served, as we shall see.
The well-funded Net Neutrality campaign in the USA is strongly backed (and funded) by internet content and services companies. These campaigners make an emotively powerful argument: that without intervention, we will see a “two speed” internet, with new payments forced upon people who are obliged to use a “fast lane”. Net neutrality proponents say that internet packets should be treated equally, or at least “fairly”. This is typically backed by the a claim that “it’s always been this way”.
Preferential speeds, data discrimination – thecampaigners argue – are both new and bad.
Tomi Engdahl says:
An internet fast lane could provoke a SOPA-like backlash from Silicon Valley:
Warnings Along F.C.C.’s Fast Lane
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/12/business/media/warnings-along-fccs-fast-lane.html?_r=0
But a topic that generally begets narcolepsy is about to become, well, interesting. The government is contemplating changing the rules for how content is delivered over the Internet, which could mess with people’s TV programming and web browsing, so there may soon be fire in those glazed-over eyes.
Wait, we’ve seen this before: Remember the Stop Online Piracy Act, or SOPA, the dispute two years ago in which the entertainment companies, backed by the government, took on Silicon Valley? It was the Little Big Horn. Time and again, when the government tries to insert itself between the Internet and its users, it gets clobbered. This could end up the same way.
Tomi Engdahl says:
FCC Head to Revise Broadband-Rules Plan
Agency Won’t Let Firms Segregate Web Traffic Into Fast, Slow Lanes
http://online.wsj.com/news/article_email/SB10001424052702303627504579556200630931292-lMyQjAxMTA0MDEwMTExNDEyWj
The head of the Federal Communications Commission is revising proposed rules for regulating broadband Internet, including offering assurances that the agency won’t allow companies to segregate Web traffic into fast and slow lanes.
The new language by FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler to be circulated as early as Monday is an attempt to address criticism of his proposal unveiled last month that would ban broadband providers from blocking or slowing down websites but allow them to strike deals in which content companies could pay them for faster delivery of Web content to customers.
Tomi Engdahl says:
100x the systems with the Industrial Internet of Things
http://www.controleng.com/single-article/100x-the-systems-with-the-industrial-internet-of-things/c9f9f8a91a710bad8d346234712f6df1.html
Engineering and IT Insight: Does your manufacturing IT infrastructure have tools to handle 100 times the number of current connections and manage tens of thousands of new smart network connected devices, as industry moves to the Industrial Internet of Things (I2oT) and distributed control, with every device in a facility connected to a plant-wide Ethernet network? What got you here won’t get you there.
Tomi Engdahl says:
UPnP+ Bridges IoT to Cloud
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1322294&
The Universal Plug and Play Forum (UPnP) will release a new set of specifications and software later this year, extending its reach into cloud services and the Internet of Things.
UPnP+ will expand beyond the group’s traditional work on devices using Internet Protocol on WiFi LANs to create bridges to wide-area networks and non-IP devices. The specs and open-source software for it, now in a 60-day review period, should be released on a royalty-free basis before the end of the year.
“Today there’s not a good standard for accessing devices across any network, but UPnP is working on it,” said Alan Messer, a Samsung researcher in San Jose who is vice president of UPnP.
“The main problems we see are lots of proprietary protocols that don’t help anyone in developing ecosystems — we also see lots of proprietary islands,” Messer said in a talk at an IoT event here.
Tomi Engdahl says:
US Event Flexes IoT Muscle
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1322299&
More than 100 organizations will demonstrate 24 Internet of Things projects at a June 11 summit in Washington, DC. The event is the culmination of a yearlong Smart America Challenge aimed to show the potential benefits of so-called cyber-physical systems.
“We asked people to do some significant work, and if they did, we said we would shine a national spotlight on it,” said Geoff Mulligan, one of two organizers of the challenge announced in October.
“We are trying to refocus attention on the benefits and impacts of IoT, instead of just tech for tech sake,” said Sokwoo Rhee, another challenge organizer and founder of the pioneering IoT startup Millennial Networks.
Tomi Engdahl says:
4G modems strong growth continues
LTE modems are sold online this year to 338 million units. The number is expected to rise to 47 per cent, to predict Forward Concepts.
Last year, the LTE modems were sold 219,000,000 shares. Of the 73 per cent went to smartphones, and 16 percent tabletteihiin. USB sticks sold five per cent, or just under 11 million in the modem.
Forward Concepts, the next growth engine brings radio circles is the support carrier aggregation technology. In the multiple carriers may be linked together, wherein the channel width is increased.
LTE-Advanced standard, it is possible to link together five 20 MHz 100 MHz channel width of the tube. Very few, however, is the operator of such radio resources at their disposal.
Source: http://etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1334:4g-modeemien-kova-kasvu-jatkuu&catid=13&Itemid=101
Tomi Engdahl says:
Internet of Things will be closed network of networks
All the electronics in the field of industrial companies are now talking about the Internet and the Internet of Things . IoT is a complete all of the challenges yet to be resolved . For example, security is yet to be solved , when all possible objects , and objects connected to the network .
John Jones from Avnet Memec said that their vision, the IoT will become a closed network entity. For example, your home automation system can not open the public Internet. Point to the need to bring , for example, by encrypting the mobile operator access.
- IoT is an IP traffic, but it can not have it on a public network , Jones stressed.
Avnet Memec believes – like so many others – that the IoT will bring huge opportunities for growth in the future . Estimated the number of connected devices will vary, but in any case, talking about tens of billions of nodes for the last five years.
Avnet Memec is among the first to support the IoT left the designer ready- reference platforms. For example, measuring the energy consumption of the module reference is practically complete . It brought to public access via a GSM modem , which can be found everywhere from inside the functional embedded SIM card ( Blank SIM) .
The measurement data are exported to the modem through to the cloud provider from which the user can monitor energy consumption. M2M connection are managed by Porthos management platform
Source: http://etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1330:esineiden-internetista-tulee-suljettujen-verkkojen-verkko&catid=13&Itemid=101
Tomi Engdahl says:
4G + IPv6 = Intelligently conversation between machinery
First, the Internet connects people . They were followed by a second revolution. 4G and IPv6 technology combine to produce a new , intelligent M2M communication between machines .
Technologies that enable intelligent machine -machine connections ( M2M) are high-speed wireless 4G access as well as Internet Protocol version 6 , or IPv6. Together, these techniques will help designers to create a world in which intelligent devices mahdollustavan a whole new range of M2M service development .
These possibilities are many. Your smartphone could become alert and location data , if the owner of the car is stolen. The camera could discuss the GPS tracking device with a description of the beautiful local destinations. Refrigerator could send a text message that I can remind ended . To be improved machine could send an alert to the user. All of this intelligent M2M communication allows .
Industrial applications, designers have quickly seen the potential of M2M traffic . Efficient sensors , advanced embedded microcontrollers and wireless networks has made possible the combination of a new level of control , such as industrial equipment and machinery etämonitoroinnin monitoring applications. These two applications more detailed look reveals how M2M communication can not change the way the world works. In addition to the M2M reduce costs, improve efficiency and reduce manual work.
Industrial equipment remote monitoring can take advantage of vibration, fluid leaks , temperature, mechanical wear and noise sensors to sense the interaction assessing the state of the device . Figure 2a shows the location of each sensor node with a yellow dot . They are connected in a star topology of the network , represented by a blue dot . Together, the nodes and the network coordinator forming a PAN (Personal Area Network).
The PAN coordinator acts as a gateway PAN M2M and GPRS networks between sending the data to a remote monitoring station. If the sensor detects a parameter whose value is the normal operating range values, a remote monitoring station sends an alarm, which allows for preventive maintenance work can be undertaken.
PAN communication to run an embedded micro-controller within the PAN coordinator . This micro- controller associated with both IEEE 802.15.4 transmitter and the GPRS module via the serial ports
The micro- controller controls the GPRS module AT commands
Vehicle or fleet managers have become a popular M2M applications . GPS locators vehicles equipped with a monitored and their location is communicated to the monitoring system, GPRS or GSM module through . The GPS module provides the location coordinates of the vehicle . CAN – bus is used to collect data from various vehicle modules , such as the ABS , engine ECU control unit and airbags .
32- bit microcontroller controls the CAN / GPRS Gateway interface to the CAN bus and GPRS and GPS modules
High-speed 4G connectivity and IPv6 connections between the machines become as common as the communication between people . The rapid spread of telecommunications networks and the flexibility of semiconductor solutions means that soon the Internet joined the machinery and equipment was in excess of the amount of people joining . Designers point of view , this means that M2M communication exploiting the full potential of getting their products to market first is the more important.
Source: http://etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1331
Tomi Engdahl says:
ricsson launches in Japan 5g of high-speed mobile connectivity testing, along with the country’s largest operators.
NTT DoCoMo aims to achieve Ericsson 5g test system, high-high, over 10 Gbps speed. This makes it possible to increase the capacity of the radio network of the current LTE networks in more than a thousand-fold.
The test environment is built for outdoor use area of Yokosuka in Japan.
Source: http://www.tietokone.fi/artikkeli/uutiset/yli_10_gigan_nopeudet_tavoitteena_aloitettavissa_5g_testeissa
Tomi Engdahl says:
App-happy cloud bod? You’d better keep eyes on your networks
Network performance monitoring: getting more difficult… and MORE important
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/03/28/you_need_a_thousand_eyes/
Measuring how well your application is performing is not a straightforward task. Many enterprises have multiple locations, work with cloud-based applications and have end users stationed in different parts of the world.
With the future of IT infrastructure trending toward more interconnectivity and external dependencies, it becomes both increasing difficult and important to know how your application is performing.
Performance management biz Thousand Eyes has created a network performance measurement tool that is ready for modern cloud application environments. It is able to collect data inside your enterprise environment and data from various probing points on the internet and tell you exactly how your application is performing
Enterprise environments are changing so much, you need a nimble deployment that allows a lot of flexibility. We wanted to make people understand their network problems outside their own network environment, which is a hard thing to do.
The reality is that applications are starting to move out to the cloud. When your Office 365 deployment is not working well, you do not really know whether it is your enterprise network slowing down, or your internet connection is having a bad day, or Office 365 itslef is actually having problems.
The solution is a SAAS application; you do not have to set up servers on your side. There are two ways we collect data. The first is with “private agents” which are probes that are deployed locally. If you are running multiple locations then you will need one private agent per site.
Tomi Engdahl says:
FCC chairman will reportedly revise broadband proposal
http://www.cnet.com/news/fcc-chairman-will-reportedly-revise-broadband-proposal/
New broadband rules will include assurances that ISPs will not be able to segregate web traffic into fast and slow lanes, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The chairman of the Federal Communications Commission has revised details of its proposed plan to rewrite Net neutrality to add assurances that Internet service providers will not be able to segregate Internet traffic into fast and slow lanes, according to the Wall Street Journal.
FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler is expected to reveal the new proposal as early as Monday, the Journal reported. The rules revision is an apparent attempt to quell concern that broadband providers will be allowed to degrade traffic speeds to some sites while allowing other sites to strike deals that assure preferential delivery of their web content to customers.
Tomi Engdahl says:
UPDATE Ericsson Trial 10Gbps 5G Mobile Broadband Network in Japan
Posted Monday, May 12th, 2014 (8:36 am) by Mark Jackson (Score 193)
http://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2014/05/ericsson-trial-possible-10gbps-5g-mobile-broadband-network-japan.html
The standard for the next generation of 5G mobile communications technology is still being debated, yet that hasn’t stopped telecoms giant Ericsson from teaming up with Japanese mobile firm NTT DOCOMO to test its own 10Gbps+ (Gigabits per second) capable solution in Yokosuka; albeit using the 15GHz radio frequency band.
NTT DOCOMO has always been one of the first pioneers of new mobile communication technologies and thus their plan to achieve “ultra-high bit rates” of more than 10Gbps as part of a 5G trial should thus come as no surprise.
A quick glance at one of Ericsson’s 5G white papers suggests that their technology would be designed to operate in all sorts of different frequency bands, although it’s unclear why 15GHz has been chosen for the trial. This might be more difficult to implement in the UK / Europe where such frequencies are often already allocated to Satellite, military, point-to-point communications and maritime systems.
In related news the Government of South Korea has committed around £940m to roll-out its own 5G service, with trials due by December 2017 and a commercial deployment set for 2020. No specific technology choice is mentioned, although local Smartphone giant Samsung has been testing its own unique twist on 5G connectivity using some high frequency bands.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Hardware Startup Review: Spark
http://hackaday.com/2014/05/12/hardware-startup-review-spark-io/
For our first issue, we picked a relatively innocent target – Spark, the team behind the Spark Core development board. By embracing Open Source and Open Hardware as the core part of their strategy, Spark has so far been a positive example in the sea of otherwise dull (and potentially creepy) IoT “platforms”. So we thought we should give [Zach Supalla], CEO of Spark a call.
We were curious about the choice of CC3000 as a WiFi module and [Zach] came back with a reason:
“This might still be true, but at the time of our launch, this was the only affordable WiFi module that you can purchase in low quantities extremely easily. For instance, there are other companies that make affordable WiFi modules, when you get to scale – Broadcom and Qualcomm are two of note. One of the challenges with them is that it’s difficult to gain access to these chips in low quantities. And to be meaningfully Open Source, that was important for us”.
On the communication side, Spark is using a slightly modified version of CoAP. “What we didn’t like about MQTT is two things: one, we wanted it to do request-response model and MQTT is pub-sub and second, it didn’t define the payload which felt to us like it’s not solving enough of the problem. CoAP had much more of that defined and it felt like a more complete solution”.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Application note addresses copper-clad aluminum cable from testing perspective
http://www.cablinginstall.com/articles/2014/04/fluke-cca-note.html?cmpid=EnlCIMMay122014
An application note recently published by Fluke Networks discusses the challenges industry professionals currently face regarding copper-clad aluminum (CCA) cable.
“It’s not difficult to find these [CCA] products on the Internet through wholesalers and distributors,” Peri is quoted as saying. “We tend to find more of these on the west coast because Long Beach [California] is a huge port of entry.”
Gilmore added that in Europe, “The cables are generally sold through the electrical wholesaler market rather than the data market, so I only see them after a problem has been identified. Electrical contractors are now an obvious supplier for small data cabling tasks and they are very cost-driven. The wholesalers know this and react accordingly. On many occasions the install Is not tested using ‘industry standard’ test equipment, so the problems are not found out until too late.”
Either way, once a cable is installed, identifying it as CCA can be an exercise in frustration. “Cable testing is another way to identify fake cable, but field testing these CCA cables to either ANSI/TIA or ISO/IEC might not catch the fact that they are CCA cables,”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Fiber-optic cable cut at airport causes air-travel headaches
http://www.cablinginstall.com/articles/2014/05/airport-cable-cut.html
South Florida news agency the SunSentinel recently reported on the fallout of a cut fiber-optic line at the Ft. Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport. On Wednesday, April 30, the SunSentinel’s Wayne K. Roustan reported, “Dozens of flights were delayed, rerouted or cancelled … when a construction crew cut a fiber-optic cable …”
“All cables are susceptible to breakage. The form specific to underground cables is a very rapid back hoe fade, or unintentional severing of a cable by a back hoe or other piece of construction equipment.”
there are three lessons to be learned from such a back-hoe-fade event.
How to handle the situation: “Snagging, breaking, and burying a broken cable are not viable solutions. Logic and/or witnesses will identify the responsible party. Guaranteed.”
Minimum actions to take prior to construction: “At this time [prior to breaking ground], the installer can document the marked cable locations. Without such evidence, defense will be difficult and expensive.”
Photographing the incident: “Almost everyone has a cell phone or a digital camera to document this situation. At the time of a cable hit, the installer can document actual locations and depths. With photographs before and after, the actual position of the cable will be known. If the cable is not located in the position or at the depth that the owner has indicated, the installer may not be liable for the damage.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
10G Wi-Fi chipset to drive ‘massive MIMO’
http://www.cablinginstall.com/articles/2014/04/quantenna-10g-wifi.html?cmpid=EnlCIMMay122014
Quantenna Communications announced that it is developing what it claims is “the world’s first 10G Wi-Fi chipset,” designed to drive a new generation of wireless access points in homes, enterprises and public spaces. With an architecture enabling MIMO configurations up to an unprecedented 8×8, speeds up to 10 Gbps and universal support for MU-MIMO clients, Quantenna contends that its new 10G Wi-Fi chipset will deliver unparalleled wireless performance, range and stability.
Quantenna notes that it was the first to deliver 4×4 chipsets for the 802.11n and 802.11ac Wi-Fi standards, and the first to support MU-MIMO technology for transmitting data to multiple devices at once.
Tomi Engdahl says:
5 reasons to converge video surveillance onto corporate IP networks
http://www.cablinginstall.com/articles/2014/05/5-reasons-ip-convergence.html
A recent technology brief from Allied Telesis outlines 5 reasons to converge video surveillance onto the corporate IP network
“IP cameras no longer need special cabling, special receiving equipment or special recording equipment. They just use IP-over-Ethernet, like all the other equipment in the corporate LAN,”
The five reasons for such convergence, as elucidated by Allied Telesis, include: cost-savings; consistency; opportunities for new service deployment; flexibility; and participation in a network management framework.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Report: Worldwide fiber-optic broadband subscriptions to double by 2019
May 6, 2014
http://www.cablinginstall.com/articles/2014/05/abi-fiber-subscriptions-report.html
According to new market data from ABI Research, the worldwide cable, DSL and fiber-optic fixed-line broadband subscriber base grew 6% in 2013 surpassing 665.4 million subscribers. ABI states that the fiber-optic broadband segment grew at a robust rate, 29% from 2012 to 126.6 million subscribers in 2013. By 2019, the firm projects fiber-optic broadband subscriptions to grow to 265 million subscribers, with a CAGR of 11.7%.
“Global DSL broadband service revenue dropped nearly 2% in 2013, mainly due to a declining subscriber base and average revenue per user in the Asia-Pacific,” explains Jake Saunders, ABI’s VP and practice director of core forecasting.
The new report also finds that worldwide fiber-optic broadband service revenue grew over 15% to $46 billion in 2013.
“Since revenue from traditional services such as voice and messaging is declining, innovative services and content over high-speed broadband networks are proving essential for operators to maintain overall service revenue growth. ABI Research forecast that the worldwide fiber-optic broadband market will generate $100 billion in 2019,” notes Khin Sandi Lynn, industry analyst for ABI.
Tomi Engdahl says:
TIA creating TSB to specify Category 8 deployment
http://www.cablinginstall.com/articles/2014/05/tia-cat8-task-force.html
The Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) has issued a call for interest on behalf of its TR-42.7 Engineering Committee on Telecommunications Copper Cabling Systems (568) to form a task group to develop a new TSB document. Initially titled “High Performance Structured Cabling (HPSC) Applications,” the new TSB document will provide usage details for deploying Category 8 structured cabling in data centers and other premises environments that will have a need for data rates greater than 10 Gbits/sec.
The scope of the newly formed task group is to identify, analyze, and recommend use cases (e.g. switch fabric architectures, end-of row, and top-of-rack) for HPSC application environments.
TIA contends that, since its inception in the early 1990s, twisted-pair Ethernet or BASE-T has provided end-users and designers of high speed computing networks with the most widely adopted physical interconnect technology ever developed.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Glenn Greenwald: how the NSA tampers with US-made internet routers
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/may/12/glenn-greenwald-nsa-tampers-us-internet-routers-snowden
The NSA has been covertly implanting interception tools in US servers heading overseas – even though the US government has warned against using Chinese technology for the same reasons, says Glenn Greenwald, in an extract from his new book about the Snowden affair, No Place to Hide
For years, the US government loudly warned the world that Chinese routers and other internet devices pose a “threat” because they are built with backdoor surveillance functionality that gives the Chinese government the ability to spy on anyone using them. Yet what the NSA’s documents show is that Americans have been engaged in precisely the activity that the US accused the Chinese of doing.
Tomi Engdahl says:
AT&T customers can connect their GM 4G cars to shared data plans for $10 a month
http://gigaom.com/2014/05/12/att-customers-can-connect-their-gm-4g-cars-to-shared-data-plans-for-10-a-month/
If you’re not an AT&T customer, you can buy your data a la carte, but you could wind up paying between $30 to $50 a month if you want to take advantage of all your car’s capabilities.
If you were thinking about buying one of General Motors’ new-fangled 4G cars this summer but were wondering how much that LTE connectivity would cost you, then GM and AT&T today provided an answer. The bottom line: You can get a link to the internet for as little as $5 to $10 a month, but if you plan to consume any reasonable amount of data on that 4G connection, you’ll have to pony up a lot more.
On Monday GM announced three tiers of data pricing for 30 Chevrolet, Buick, Cadillac and GMC cars debuting this year with LTE radios, starting with the 2015 Chevy Malibu next month. The best option is for current AT&T customers (or drivers willing to become AT&T customers for the sake of their vehicles) on its Mobile Share plans. AT&T is treating GM automobiles much like a tablet: You pay $10 a month for baseline connectivity and then attach the device to a shared data plan.
I say that it’s the most reasonable because AT&T rewards customers that buy data in bulk. You can buy 10 GBs to 20 GBs per month for between $100 to $150, which you can then divide among all of your or your family’s smartphones, tablets, modems and now cars.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Internet of Stuff: Cleaner washing, more milk … fewer COW FARTS?
ARM man: If we want to make it easy, we need standards
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/05/13/arm_iot_cows/
Future World Symposium Regulating cow farts to control the greenhouse effect? That’s the thing about the Internet of Things – and technology in general: you can never tell where your work will end up.
Speaking at the Future World Symposium last week, ARM’s director of IoT platforms, Simon Ford, reckoned this is one of the problems facing IT vendors right now: knowing where and how their sensors and chips will be used.
But the Blighty firm is also knee-deep in embedded: two billion of its tiny, energy-efficient “embedded” Cortex-M series controllers shipped in 2013. The 32-bit controllers, measuring just 1.6mm by 2mm, are smaller than the dimple on a golf ball and ship on everything electronic you might expect – from washing machines and cars to games units and computers.
But one place ARM’s engineers were startled to see its embedded controllers was being shoved down cows’ throats – to monitor the diet and milk yield of herds. The Cortex-M0, ARM’s smallest processor, has been inserted into cows onboard a bung-shaped device called Well Cow that’s pushed into the animals’ gullets.
“Putting a sensor in cows to monitor cow milk yield was not what we imagined would be a natural trend,” Ford said. “Although my engineers are very smart, this is something they would never have predicted.
“You are unable to predict how the technology [of IoT] would be used.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
‘Free’ Global Aircraft Tracking Service Proposed By Satellite Company
The technology could be used to track aircraft in trouble, and to store black box information in the cloud
http://www.cio.com/article/752708/_39_Free_39_Global_Aircraft_Tracking_Service_Proposed_By_Satellite_Company?taxonomyId=3061
In the wake of the loss of flight MH370, satellite communications service provider Inmarsat has proposed to develop a global airliner tracking service that can be implemented for little to no cost.
The company is offering the system to all 11,000 commercial passenger aircraft that are already equipped with Inmarsat satellite technology, which is the vast majority of the world’s long haul commercial fleet, the company said Monday. The idea was pitched to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) in advance of a conference on aviation safety being held in Montreal today.
Inmarsat will also offer what it calls a “black box in the cloud” service. Events such as an unapproved course deviation will trigger this service to start streaming historic and real-time flight data and cockpit voice recorder information via satellite to aviation safety personnel, the company said.
The tracking service, which will add location data to those pings, can be implemented right away on all ocean-going commercial aircraft using equipment that is already installed, Inmarsat said, adding that it aviation safety partners are fully supportive of expanded use of its current automatic dependent surveillance system ADS-C.
That system is used for the automatic reporting of an aircraft’s real-time position, including altitude, speed and heading, via satellite to air traffic control centers, according to the company’s website. It helps aircraft controllers to know where an aircraft is at all times.
Inmarsat also proposed the idea to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), and said the system could be made available to the industry quickly and “at little or no cost”.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Glenn Greenwald: how the NSA tampers with US-made internet routers
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/may/12/glenn-greenwald-nsa-tampers-us-internet-routers-snowden
The NSA has been covertly implanting interception tools in US servers heading overseas – even though the US government has warned against using Chinese technology for the same reasons, says Glenn Greenwald, in an extract from his new book about the Snowden affair, No Place to Hide
Tomi Engdahl says:
We’d switch mobile networks, but we can’t be bothered – survey
But 34% of users are ‘thinking about it’ AT ALL TIMES
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/05/13/customers_dont_switch_mobile_networks_because_they_cant_be_bothered/
Inertia is a principle well-known in insurance and personal banking circles, but the mobile phone industry has always conducted itself as if subscriber loyalty was governed by discounts and phone upgrades.
A survey of 4,000 people across the UK, US, Australia and South Africa found that that at any one time 34 per cent of customers were thinking of switching and that only 44 per cent of people who’d not switched were truly happy with their decision.
People are happiest when the their phones are still new, though the lustre wears off after about seven months. 58 per cent of people are looking to switch device.
Network loyalty is, however, very different with customers under 34 being twice as likely to churn from one operator to another. The longer a customer sticks with a network, the less likely they are to churn in a given year. And high spenders churn more than low spenders.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Russia to suspend US GPS stations in tit-for-tat spat
Get lost, Russian deputy tells GPS
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/05/13/russia_suspends_us_gps_stations/
Russia is about to shut down American GPS stations on Russian soil – not as a reaction to the Crimean crisis, but instead in response to Washington’s failure to agree to host ground stations for the Russian GLONASS system.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Cisco sprinkles more SDN goodness into the access network
Virtualising the last mile
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/05/14/cisco_puts_more_borg_into_the_access_network/
Cisco is pushing its “Evolved Programmable Network” architecture further into the access network, with a slew of product releases designed to make the access network more “cloudy”.
First, let’s get through the list of serial numbers. The new products cover optical access, Ethernet access, TDM access, management and virtualisation.
Tomi Engdahl says:
IETF plans to NSA-proof all future internet protocols
Standards boffins promise bloody fight for those who seek to sniff private data
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/05/14/ietf_documents_start_of_its_privacy_battle/
The IETF has taken the next small step down the long, long road of protecting user traffic from spooks, snoops and attackers, setting down the basic architectural principle that new protocols should resist monitoring.
It’s not going to be a trivial undertaking: practically every layer of the Internet protocol stack has its origins in a more innocent era.
The new document, RFC 7258 (here), formalises the decision reached at the Vancouver IETF plenary in March that pervasive monitoring is an attack on Internet users (and, in fact, “Pervasive Monitoring is an Attack” is the title of the RFC).
Tomi Engdahl says:
Internet Providers Strike Back on Net Neutrality
http://recode.net/2014/05/13/internet-providers-strike-back-on-net-neutrality/
In a surprise to no one, Internet providers warned federal regulators that treating broadband like phone lines will stunt future investments and service upgrades.
Tomi Engdahl says:
FCC considers treating cable firms like utilities in net neutrality debate
http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/may/13/fcc-net-neutrality-broadband-cable-firms-utilities
US regulator has faced criticism after it appeared to suggest it was willing to create a ‘fast-lane internet’ for those who can pay
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Internet’s Broken. Who’s Going To Invent a New One?
Press Release 14-065
Moving towards a more robust, secure and agile Internet
http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=131248&org=CISE&from=news
NSF announces $15 million in awards to develop, deploy and test future Internet architectures
“NSF-funded research has been instrumental in advancing network technologies, beginning with the first large-scale use of Internet technologies to link researchers to the nation’s supercomputing centers through NSFNET and along the way, helping to transition the network into the self-governing and commercially viable Internet we know today,” said Farnam Jahanian, head of the Computer and Information Science and Engineering Directorate at NSF.
The projects announced today explore novel network architectures and networking concepts
Tomi Engdahl says:
Blade Runner Redux: Do Embedded Systems Need A Time To Die?
https://securityledger.com/2014/05/blade-runner-redux-do-embedded-systems-need-a-time-to-die/
“The embedded systems space, already bigger than what is normally thought of as ‘a computer,’ makes the attack surface of the non-embedded space trivial if not irrelevant,” Geer said.
The problem with embedded systems (like replicants) becoming ‘immortal’ is that the longer embedded systems persist in IT environments, the harder they become to manage and defend, he said.
Computing monocultures, Geer said, raise the likelihood of what he terms “cascade failures” in which the ripple effects of attacks against a wide range of computing systems cause disruption far in excess of what would be possible by attacks on any one system.
“The Internet of Things, which is to say the appearance of network connected micro controllers in seemingly every device, should raise hackles on every neck,” he told attendees.
Geer isn’t hostile to the idea of monocultures. Rather, he argues that if we are to opt in favor of monolithic computing infrastructures, we need “tight central control” of that infrastructure. That might come either in the form of a robust and secure management infrastructure that keeps close tabs on the operation and behavior of connected devices and allows them to be rapidly updated (a la Windows update). Or it could come in the form of a kind of designed obsolescence – a ‘mortality.’
“By ‘more like humans’ I mean this: embedded systems, if having no remote management interface and thus out of reach, are a life form and as the purpose of life is to end, an embedded system without a remote management interface must be so designed as to be certain to die no later than some fixed time,”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Major ISPs Threaten To Throttle Innovation and Slow Network Upgrades
http://tech.slashdot.org/story/14/05/14/0151256/major-isps-threaten-to-throttle-innovation-and-slow-network-upgrades
“In a letter released on Tuesday and addressed to the FCC chairman, a group of the U.S.’s top ISPs have warned that if the FCC re-classifies the internet as telecommunications, then innovation would slow or halt and network upgrades would be unaffordable. ‘Under Title II, new service offerings, options, and features would be delayed or altogether foregone. Consumers would face less choice, and a less adaptive and responsive Internet.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Satellites helping to modernize railways
12 May 2014
http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Telecommunications_Integrated_Applications/Satellites_helping_to_modernise_railways
Satellites will soon make train travel safer by improving how the networks are controlled in remote areas where ground equipment is too costly.
For the first time in Europe, a project co-funded by ESA has shown how navigation and telecom satellites can be used together with existing rail signalling systems.
Railways rely on dedicated terrestrial networks that work as part of the European Railway Traffic Management System, ERTMS, used around Europe to control trains and provide instructions to drivers.
Trains pinpoint their location by means of electronic beacons positioned along the track every 500–1500 m, transmitting the information via a dedicated terrestrial cell network to control centres.
The centres then transmit route data, recommended speeds and other information back to drivers over the same network.
Satellites will increase the viability of ERTMS for low-traffic lines by avoiding the need for expensive track equipment and dedicated telecom networks.
The Train Integrated Safety Satellite System project, or 3InSat for short, co-funded by ESA’s Integrated Applications Promotion programme, has developed an integrated terrestrial and satcom system that delivers the vital link between train drivers and their control centres.
In the coming months, the 3InSat team led by Ansaldo STS and partners will verify the telecom system, which calls on Inmarsat’s satellite-based Broadband Global Area Network and Vodafone’s 3G/4G Machine-to-Machine data services.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Photos of an NSA “upgrade” factory show Cisco router getting implant
Servers, routers get “beacons” implanted at secret locations by NSA’s TAO team.
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/05/photos-of-an-nsa-upgrade-factory-show-cisco-router-getting-implant/
A document included in the trove of National Security Agency files released with Glenn Greenwald’s book No Place to Hide details how the agency’s Tailored Access Operations (TAO) unit and other NSA employees intercept servers, routers, and other network gear being shipped to organizations targeted for surveillance and install covert implant firmware onto them before they’re delivered. These Trojan horse systems were described by an NSA manager as being “some of the most productive operations in TAO because they pre-position access points into hard target networks around the world.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Cisco comments:
Internet Security Necessary for Global Technology Economy
http://blogs.cisco.com/news/internet-security-necessary-for-global-technology-economy/
Today’s security challenges are real and significant. We want governments to detect and disrupt terrorist networks before they inflict harm on our society, our citizens, and our systems of government. We also want to live in countries that respect their citizens’ basic human rights. The tension between security and freedom has become one the most pressing issues of our day. Societies wracked by terror cannot be truly free, but an overreaching government can also undermine freedom.
It is in this context that I want to offer some thoughts on actions by the US Government that in Cisco’s eyes have overreached, undermining the goals of free communication, and steps that can be taken to right that balance, and I do so on behalf of all of Cisco’s leadership team.
Confidence in the open, global Internet has brought enormous economic benefits to the United States and to billions around the world. This confidence has been eroded by revelations of government surveillance, by efforts of the US government to force US companies to provide access to communications of non-US citizens even when that violates the privacy laws of countries where US companies do business, and allegations that governments exploit rather than report security vulnerabilities in products.
This past December, eight technology companies expressed concern to the President of the United States and Members of Congress that the US government’s surveillance efforts are in fact harmful. They stated, in part, “We urge the US to take the lead and make reforms that ensure that government surveillance efforts are clearly restricted by law, proportionate to the risks, transparent and subject to independent oversight.”
This week a number of media outlets reported another serious allegation: that the National Security Agency took steps to compromise IT products enroute to customers, including Cisco products.
We comply with US laws
Governments should not interfere with the ability of companies to lawfully deliver internet infrastructure as ordered by their customers