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:
Asia-Pacific will have 100m FTTH homes by year-end
By Mary Lennighan, Total Telecom, in Singapore
Friday 20 June 2014
http://www.totaltele.com/view.aspx?ID=486725&G=3&C=4&Page=0
FTTH Council Asia Pacific’s new president says the region’s fibre connections are growing fast, but operators still face some ‘real-world challenges’.
100 million households in the Asia-Pacific region will have a fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) connection by the end of this year, one industry body predicts.
The region was home to 92.7 million FTTH subscriptions at the end of 2013 and is adding new ones at a rate of 1,563 per hour, Bernard Lee, the newly-elected president of the FTTH Council Asia Pacific, said at CommunicAsia on Thursday.
Asia-Pacific is on track to reach 100 million connections, he said. “Wait for an announcement. It should be in Q4 this year.”
“There’s a significant migration from copper to fibre going on right now,”
There are a number of factors driving the FTTH market, not least of which is the participation of governments in rolling out national broadband network infrastructure. The likes of Singapore, Malaysia, New Zealand and Australia have all adopted different national broadband models, but in all cases the state is involved. National broadband projects in the region amount to spending of US$60 billion, Lee said.
Another major driver is the mobile market and the growing demand for LTE backhaul. “The only medium that can give you that kind of bandwidth is fibre,” Lee said.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Its present form, the fax reached in May this year the age of 50 (introduced in USA 1964), but despite their age, it is not disappearing off.
In 2013, an American graduate study, the fax is particularly popular in Japan. The second will be the United States and followed by Germany, Sweden, Denmark and Norway.
Office Machine Manufacturer Brother Finland, Sales Tom Forssell says that the fax machine sales have decreased, but demand is likely to be sufficient for years.
“While over the years many have predicted a fax to disappear, it’s not just happening in the near future,”
Faxes can be found on the main users of the business community and the public sector.
Source: http://www.tivi.fi/kaikki_uutiset/talla+ikivanhalla+keksinnolla+liikeelama+viestii++quotei+havia+lahiaikoinaquot/a995061
Tomi Engdahl says:
Shift over, TV firms: LTE Broadcast will nuke current mobile telly tech
Operators love the idea – the reality’s a whole new ballgame
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/06/23/lte_broadcast_mobile_operators_may_yet_get_it_wrong/
Telephone companies could supplant television companies as the source of goggle-box fodder, says mobile gear-maker Ericsson as it promotes the new mobile LTE Broadcast specification.
Unlike traditional mobile phone communication, which is one-to-one, LTE Broadcast sends the same data to many people.
LTE Broadcast has the full bandwidth of a 4G connection – which is easily good enough for HD video streams.
All people in a cell can watch the same video at the same time.
There is certainly a need for it when massive traffic volumes are generated by large sporting events such as the World Cup.
With LTE Broadcast, viewers can be flipped between broadcast and unicast so advertisements can be targeted to individual viewers, and while it’s essentially live TV there is a caching mechanism which allows an element of catch up if a phone drops out of coverage.
The technology has three components: eMBMS, HEVC and Mpeg-DASH.
eMBMS, stands for Evolved Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service and is the over-the-air bit which sends the signal to lots of users at once
HEVC stands for High Efficiency Video Coding, which is a new video compression standard
MPEG-DASH, or Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP. HEVC supports the use of a common player on a device and a live head-end encoder system for both unicast and broadcast
Tomi Engdahl says:
Google’s Nest div flings HALF an INSTAGRAM at Dropcam buyout
Dropcam? They’re the boys who build Wi-Fi webcams
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/06/23/googles_nest_buys_dropcams_eyes/
Google’s home automation push has a new view of the world after its Nest subsidiary wrote a half-Instagram ($555m) cheque for camera-maker Dropcam.
Dropcam’s cameras use Wi-Fi to beam video out of your home or office and into the cloud, from where it can either be beamed back to a variety of devices for you to watch it in real time or recorded for posterity.
The cameras can also be programmed, using an app, so that if certain events take place you’ll receive an alert.
The reality of the situation, however, is that Google now has a way to look inside your home.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Smart building integration
http://www.csemag.com/single-article/smart-building-integration/038f1f35701827e7871520b0b870a705.html
Historically, the facility management challenge has been to do more with less. System integration provides a solution, and offers an opportunity to lower costs and achieve greater efficiencies.
Costs associated with system integration (data storage and communications interfaces) have been falling. The concept of the Internet of Things is gaining traction. McKinsey Quarterly defines Internet of Things as “objects becoming embedded with sensors and gaining the ability to communicate.” This trend is generating free-use analytical tools and processes for integration optimization, prompting building owners to increasingly concur with McKinsey’s opinion that “the resulting information networks promise to create new business models, improve business processes, and reduce costs and risks.” The two-part challenge is to better use technology and more fully leverage data.
Tomi Engdahl says:
“Free” Wi-Fi from Xfinity and AT&T also frees you to be hacked
Ars tests how easy it is to spoof big broadband providers to grab data.
http://arstechnica.com/security/2014/06/free-wi-fi-from-xfinity-and-att-also-frees-you-to-be-hacked/
If you’ve traveled and tried to get on the Internet, you’ve probably seen some pretty suspicious looking Wi-Fi networks with names like “Free Wi-Fi” and “Totally Free Internet.” Those are likely access points you’d best avoid. But there’s a much bigger threat to your security than somebody randomly fishing for you to connect to them—the networks you’ve already connected to and trusted, like AT&T and Xfinity.
Mobile broadband providers are eager to get you to connect to their Wi-Fi-based networks while you’re away from home. AT&T has built a network of free hotspots for customers at thousands of places
These free Wi-Fi connections are popular, for good reason—they help reduce the amount of broadband cellular data you consume, and they often provide better network speeds than what you can manage over a 4G connection. But they also offer a really easy way for someone to surreptitiously tap into your Internet traffic and capture your account information for less-than-friendly purposes. Millions of AT&T and Xfinity customers could be leaving themselves exposed to surreptitious hacking of their Internet traffic, exposing their personal data as a result.
Tomi Engdahl says:
NON! French wine bods attack ICANN over .vin domain plans
Vintners – and Steelie Neelie – whine over sour grapes
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/06/23/winemakers_whine_on_about_icann/
ICANN50 Wine vendors are fighting against ICANN’s plans to introduce .wine and .vin top level domain names.
Chehade said: “We all get frustrated sometimes when we don’t get the conclusions we want.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
60GHz wireless USB link unveiled at InfoComm
http://www.cablinginstall.com/articles/2014/06/infocomm-gigabit-wireless-usb.html
Icron Technologies, a specialist in USB and video extension technology, and Quantum Electro Opto Systems Sdn. Bhd. (QEOS), a provider of high-speed, low-power connectivity, intelligent video security solutions and CMOS millimeter-wave solutions, have introduced what they say is the industry’s first successful implementation of an indoor-optimized 60 GHz wireless USB 2.0 link, with QEOS’ new 60 GHz single-chip transceiver delivering wireless multi-gigabit throughput and optimized for indoor usage.
“USB over wireless offers customers an elegant and flexible extension solution for installations where eliminating cables proves beneficial,”
“We are excited to work with Icron to combine our industry’s first 60 GHz single-chip CMOS solution with their impressive USB extension technology to demonstrate the first indoor use, consumer-friendly 60 GHz USB link,”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Net Neutrality Retreat Threatens Cloud Growth
http://www.networkcomputing.com/cloud-infrastructure/net-neutrality-retreat-threatens-cloud-growth/a/d-id/1278756
A proposal to undermine net neutrality by allowing ISPs to charge for “fast lane” traffic would create competitive barriers for businesses and stymie cloud adoption.
When artificial competitive advantages and barriers to entry are created, they often have unintended consequences. Cloud computing is largely popular because it’s allowed even the smallest companies to compete against the big players. Massive amounts of capital are no longer needed to build an online presence. Small businesses can leverage a fraction of a larger infrastructure and expand/contract as needed. But with a proposed (and likely expensive) added cost to match larger competitors, small companies and startups would either wither and die — or not even try to compete in the first place.
Tomi Engdahl says:
What Everyone Gets Wrong in the Debate Over Net Neutrality
http://www.wired.com/2014/06/net_neutrality_missing/
‘Most of the points of the debate are artificial, distracting, and based on an incorrect mental model on how the internet works.’
The only trouble is that, here in the year 2014, complaints about a fast-lane don’t make much sense. Today, privileged companies—including Google, Facebook, and Netflix—already benefit from what are essentially internet fast lanes, and this has been the case for years. Such web giants—and others—now have direct connections to big ISPs like Comcast and Verizon, and they run dedicated computer servers deep inside these ISPs. In technical lingo, these are known as “peering connections” and “content delivery servers,” and they’re a vital part of the way the internet works.
“Fast lane is how the internet is built today,” says Craig Labovitz, who, as the CEO of DeepField Networks, an outfit whose sole mission is to track how companies build internet infrastructure
The concepts driving today’s net neutrality debate caught on because the internet used to operate differently—and because they were easy for consumers to understand. In many respects, these concepts were vitally important to the evolution of the internet over the past decades. But in today’s world, they don’t address the real issue with the country’s ISPs, and if we spend too much time worried about fast lanes, we could hurt the net’s progress rather than help it.
We shouldn’t waste so much breath on the idea of keeping the network completely neutral. It isn’t neutral now. What we should really be doing is looking for ways we can increase competition among ISPs—ways we can prevent the Comcasts and the AT&Ts from gaining so much power that they can completely control the market for internet bandwidth. Sure, we don’t want ISPs blocking certain types of traffic. And we don’t want them delivering their own stuff at 10 gigabits per second and everyone else’s stuff at 1 gigabit. But competition is also the best way to stop these types of extreme behavior.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Mellanox gives InfiniBand a 5 BILLION PACKET/sec cloud dose
100 Gbps switch, HPC software, drinks less juice too
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/06/23/mellanox_spreads_infiniband_into_clouds/
Following on from its demo of 100 Gbps cables last March, the company is using ISC 2014 in Germany to launch the Switch-IB, which has 36 100 Gbps ports, a claimed aggregate throughput of 5.4 billion packets per second, and 130ns latency.
“Even if your application doesn’t need 100 Gbps today, you can go and build the network, and that allows you to reduce the number of switches you need, your power consumption, and real estate”.
The high performance demands of cloud providers also puts a premium on good RDMA performance, Shainer said, and getting solutions that can scale enough is creating a growing market opportunity for InfiniBand.
“And we support all CPU architectures – for example, IBM has demonstrated multiple cases to take advantage of InfiniBand and RDMA, in which they’re getting ten times better performance out of NoSQL,”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Should NBN Co squeeze a server into FTTN nodes?
There’s still time: node design hasn’t been settled
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/06/23/should_nbn_co_squeeze_a_server_into_fttn_nodes/
Last week, Dell revealed an item of interest in the form of the PowerEdge R420xr, a shortened and ruggedised version of its PowerEdge R420 intended for use in the field by telcos.
Dell launched the device at CommunicAsia, the region’s annual telco-fest, with a pitch that it is small enough to fit into base stations (hence the shortening) and rugged enough to survive life on the street.
The company’s spiel also suggested that putting a server closer to users is a good idea for several reasons. For one, a server can be a lovely cache. Or a smart cache: telcos could send a 4K version of a movie to the edge of their network and use the server to transcode it when subscribers happy to view it in lesser formats make the call. Perhaps the server could also be used to perform some billing functions.
The good and bad news is that NBN Co tells us FTTN node design is not sufficiently far advanced for servers to have been considered, although an Alcatel node design is being studied.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Fortify your solution with a powerful 1U, 2-socket server built for rugged reliability
http://www.dell.com/learn/us/en/555/oem/oem-poweredge-420xr
Built to meet industry-specific requirements, the Dell PowerEdge R420xr is compliant with Network Equipment Building System (NEBS) Level 3, European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) and MIL-STD-810G specifications for temperature, shock and vibration.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Google’s Nest Labs Opens Its Platform to Outside Developers
Nest Aims to Establish Itself as Operating System for Web-Connected Devices in the Home
http://online.wsj.com/news/article_email/googles-nest-labs-opens-its-platform-to-outside-developers-1403582672-lMyQjAxMTA0MDIwMzEyNDMyWj
Google Inc.’s Nest Labs is opening its platform to outside developers, a big step by the thermostat and smoke-detector maker to establish itself in a crowded market to be the operating system for Internet-connected devices in the home.
Through Nest, users will be able to communicate with appliances from Whirlpool Corp., cars from Daimler’s Mercedes-Benz, remote controls from Logitech International SA and other devices.
Google itself is a partner, allowing its personal digital assistant, Google Now, to set the temperature on a Nest thermostat automatically when it detects that a user is coming home. Nest will share limited user information with Google and other partners, and people have to opt in for each new device, said Nest co-founder Matt Rogers.
Nest will let partners link their software and applications to Nest’s thermostat, which will act as a control and information hub for devices in and around the home, Mr. Rogers said.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Home automation while it’s hot: Winter warmth for lazy technophiles
El Reg has a shufti at hooking your heating up to the Internet of Stuff
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/06/24/home_automation_kit_for_temperate_times/
Home is not just a place for the family; it’s also becoming a place that tech companies are fighting over as they scramble to develop home automation equipment for lazy savvy suburbanites.
Of course, home automation is nothing new
One of the problems facing people who want to start exploring automation is the wealth of different standards – there’s X10, ZigBee, LightwaveRF, Z-Wave, and lots of other ways of linking things together. Choose unwisely and you may end up with various sets of different devices, not all of which use the same protocols.
Sure, you can solve the problems with bridges and PC controllers that can operate across more than one protocol, but it’s often some way from the plug-and-play simplicity that such systems need if they’re going to be accepted by the less technical.
As fuel costs have rocketed in recent years, interest in the ‘internet of things’ has increased too, and the idea of intelligently controlling your home energy use has grown more and more popular.
The newer generation of “smart” thermostats is streets ahead, however. The principal choices are Google’s Nest, Hive from British Gas, the Heatmiser Neo, and Tado, all of which aim to make it much simpler to manage your heating and so, eventually, save you money.
typically it’ll cost you around £200 to get switch over to a “smart” thermostat.
Each of the systems has its own strengths and weaknesses,while working in slightly different ways.
Used wisely, any of these systems can probably save you money over time
Tomi Engdahl says:
David Cameron wants mobe network roaming INSIDE the UK
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/06/24/pm_wants_bumpkin_mobile_roaming_in_uk/
Silly Season has started early. The Times reports that the Prime Minister is backing a plan to force operators to UK customers to roam between networks in the UK.
This means that network subscribers who lose their signal while in the boondocks could piggyback onto the signal of another network. Supposing there is one.
Mandatory roaming would reward operators who invested the least in their own rural networks, and increase intra-company haggling. It introduces an incentive to “do a Netflix” and lobby regulators rather than invest in their own capacity and backhaul.
Tomi Engdahl says:
South Korea, Japan and the U.S. LTE phone owners use the data in the world.
Top countries use LTE network average data use rises to three gigabytes per month.
South Korea LTE subscriber uses a total of 12 GB of data for mobile phone and WLAN network.
Mobidian recent report by the 4G LTE network customers use significantly more data than 3G subscribers.
Source: http://www.digitoday.fi/data/2014/06/24/lte-kayttajat-ahmivat-dataa–eniten-e-koreassa/20148816/66?rss=6
Tomi Engdahl says:
How Secret Partners Expand NSA’s Surveillance Dragnet
https://firstlook.org/theintercept/article/2014/06/18/nsa-surveillance-secret-cable-partners-revealed-rampart-a/
The program, which the secret files show cost U.S. taxpayers about $170 million between 2011 and 2013, sweeps up a vast amount of communications at lightning speed. According to the intelligence community’s classified “Black Budget” for 2013, RAMPART-A enables the NSA to tap into three terabits of data every second as the data flows across the compromised cables – the equivalent of being able to download about 5,400 uncompressed high-definition movies every minute.
The secret documents reveal that the NSA has set up at least 13 RAMPART-A sites, nine of which were active in 2013. Three of the largest – codenamed AZUREPHOENIX, SPINNERET and MOONLIGHTPATH – mine data from some 70 different cables or networks.
For any foreign government, allowing the NSA to secretly tap private communications is politically explosive, hence the extreme secrecy shrouding the names of those involved.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Put the internet to work for you.
https://ifttt.com/
IFTTT is a service that lets you create powerful connections with one simple statement: if then then that
IFTTT (pronunciation: “ift” as in “gift”[1] short for “If This Then That”) is a service that enables users to connect different web applications (e.g., Facebook, Evernote, Weather, Dropbox, etc.) together through simple conditional statements known as “Recipes”. I
Personal Recipes are a combination of a Trigger and an Action
Most Personal Recipes check for new Trigger data every 15 minutes, some are even faster.
In addition to its default web-based application, IFTTT released a version of the service for iPhone and Android smart phones.
In 2012, the service entered the Internet of Things space by integrating with Belkin WeMo devices, allowing Recipes to interact with the physical world.
Tomi Engdahl says:
OK Google, crank the A/C: Nest announces new smart home API
Nest co-founder Matt Rogers on user data and making the tech more affordable.
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2014/06/ok-google-crank-the-ac-nest-announces-new-smart-home-api/
Today, in advance of Google I/O, Nest has officially announced a new developer program and API that will allow other companies’ smart devices to communicate with Nest’s Protect smoke alarm and Learning Thermostat.
Among the companies that Nest is partnering with for this initial publicity push are IFTTT, Jawbone, LIFX, Logitech, Mercedes-Benz, Whirlpool, Chamberlain, and Google itself—the latter two companies will release Nest-compatible features this fall, while the others are all available today.
All of the companies’ “Works with Nest experiences” focus on making Nest devices more useful when used together with other smart home gadgets—if the Nest Protect smoke alarm goes off, than LIFX’s lights can flash red to make it more obvious to the hearing impaired. A Chamberlain garage door opener can tell the Nest thermostat to enter and leave Away mode depending on whether the owner is entering or leaving the garage. And Google Now will let users control their thermostats with their voices and set proximity-based rules that will adjust their thermostats before they get home.
“It’s not just integration for integration’s sake, or connectivity just to connect,”
While the developer program’s goal of connecting Nest gadgets to other devices sounds pretty Google-y, Rogers told us that Nest had been working on the developer program “behind the scenes for about a year,” well before the Google acquisition happened. Nest is taking advantage of Google I/O and of Google’s sheer size to amplify the announcement and attract more interest
Rogers also sees the Nest Developer Program as “complementary” to Apple’s recently announced HomeKit project. While HomeKit is going to allow users to control smart home devices with their iPhones and will supposedly make it easier to connect those devices to your network and to each other, Nest’s API focuses on making those devices work in tandem once connected.
“This is less about ‘how do you get devices on your Wi-Fi network,’” said Rogers. “This is ‘after you get them on the Internet, what do you do with them after that?’”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Nest developer program
https://developer.nest.com/
The Nest Developer Program isn’t about simply linking and remote controlling the devices in your home. Anyone can do that. This is about working behind the scenes to anticipate people’s needs and make their lives easier. And with the Nest Developer Program, we’re providing the tools to make that a reality.
With the Nest Developer Program, we’re providing all the tools and support you need to start building across iOS, Android and the web. Our API servers use Firebase protocols to communicate with Nest in real-time. For authorization and authentication, we use the industry standards OAuth2.0 and SSL.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Forecast: Ethernet 10G, 100G service revenue to grow 300% by 2018
http://www.cablinginstall.com/articles/2014/06/infonetics-10100g-surge.html
Infonetics Research forecasts Ethernet 10G, 100G service revenue to grow 300% by 2018
Infonetics Research has released its 2014 Ethernet and IP MPLS VPN Services report, which analyzes the market for wholesale and retail Ethernet services and managed and unmanaged Layer 2 and Layer 3 IP MPLS VPN services.
“Ethernet services continued to gain momentum in 2013, easily outpacing IP MPLS VPN services,” reports Michael Howard, principal analyst for carrier networks and co-founder of Infonetics Research. “Both segments are growing at a healthy clip and will continue to do so, with Ethernet services growing about twice as fast as IP MPLS VPNs through 2017.”
According to the new report, the combined global Ethernet services and IP MPLS VPN services markets totaled $62.6 billion in 2013, up 12% from the year prior. Keeping the momentum going are cloud services accessed via IP VPNs, Ethernet services, and mobile backhaul transport over Ethernet services, notes Infonetics.
Tomi Engdahl says:
HUMMING about standards is NOT VOTING, says IETF RFC
The sweet sound of rough consensus might need to become a bit more formal
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/06/25/humming_is_not_voting_says_ietf_rfc/
It’s actually more serious than it sounds: Resnick’s point is that some of the IETF’s members are losing touch with the organisation’s founding traditions and practises – and not just newbies: “in recent years we have seen participants (and even some folks in IETF leadership) who do not understand some of the subtleties of consensus-based decision making”, Resnick writes.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Extreme Networks adds OpenDaylight to SDN suite
Another picture added to SDN’s “spot the difference” game
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/06/25/extreme_networks_adds_opendaylight_to_sdn_suite/
Extreme Networks has followed up its brand-new membership of the OpenDaylight Foundation (ODL) with an ODL-based OpenStack software defined networking (SDN) platform.
The company had, two years ago, hitched its wagon to the Open Networking Foundation (ONF). It now explains its new focus on ODL on the basis that OpenDaylight-based networking is more suitable for adding SDN and network function virtualisation (NFV) to existing networks, while ONF is a “greenfields”-style solution.
Tomi Engdahl says:
AT&T plays Game of Thrones: Every bit as ruthless as HBO version
In the GoT, you either win or you get taken over by AT&T
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/06/23/att_plays_game_of_thrones_every_bit_as_ruthless_as_hbo_version/
The drift is towards the converged operator – a large national player that has a wireless network, a fixed network, a national footprint for both large and small video services (4K and portable) and which has a secondary wireless network in Wi-Fi, as well as one that has sufficient scale to acquire both original TV content and sports rights. The race is on to become the first to achieve all of this.
By looking at what each of the surviving operators have to do to achieve this, we can perhaps glimpse the future shape of the US digital communications map.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Google offers $150 gift card for Chromebook Pixel data shutoff
Chocolate Factory pays the price for Verizon shortchanging
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/06/24/google_gives_out_150_gift_card_to_chromebook_pixel_owners_for_lost_data/
Google has chosen to issue gift cards to customers who spent $1,449 on a shiny Chromebook Pixel with free Verizon LTE data only to find that the telco decided to ditch the offer early.
At launch, the Pixel was touted as coming with two years of free LTE data from Verizon. Admittedly you only got 100MB a month, but that’s enough to at least check email occasionally without paying through the nose for a Wi-Fi port, and users could buy more Verizon time as needed.
But on Tuesday it emerged that Verizon has decided that two years is way too long to be giving its precious LTE data for free, and had begun cutting off Pixel owners after only a year.
As it turns out, $150 does buy you quite a lot of LTE time on Verizon
Tomi Engdahl says:
Do you go to Europe next week? Now you can leave the data connection on
On the first day of July data transmission costs in another EU country will not exceeding 0.2 Euros per megabyte. The current maximum has been within the EU of € 0.45.
Maximum price per minute of calls made to EUR 0.19 (previous 0.24) and received EUR 0.05 (previously 0.07). SMS messages maximum is EUR 0.06 per piece (previously 0.08 e). Prices are net of tax, so the actual limit is higher.
The EU’s ultimate goal is to roaming charges to zero by the year 2016.
Source: http://www.tivi.fi/kaikki_uutiset/menetko+eurooppaan+ensi+viikolla+nyt+voit+jattaa+datayhteyden+paalle/a995434
Tomi Engdahl says:
What decreased R&D funding means for the Smart Grid
http://www.csemag.com/single-article/what-decreased-r-d-funding-means-for-the-smart-grid/6d7cc54238899b2e17c28bd42adc78b0.html
With industries focused on efficiency, and governments emphasizing austerity, where will the funding come from for research and development (R&D), which drives systems-level standards innovation?
Tomi Engdahl says:
Watching Google’s Many Arms
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/26/technology/personaltech/a-reach-too-far-by-google.html?_r=0
One way to think of Google is as an extremely helpful, all-knowing, hyper-intelligent executive assistant. Already, it can remind you about your flight, open up your boarding pass when you get to the airport and offer you driving directions to your hotel when you land.
If what the company showed off at an event for developers on Wednesday is a true vision of our future, Google’s software will soon reach ever further into our lives, sitting on just about every other device you encounter. The software will be available to help you look up any bit of idle curiosity or accomplish any task, anytime you desire.
It’s an extremely far-reaching agenda — and that may be the company’s problem. For a company whose future depends on people voluntarily handing over their information in return for handy online services, Google’s very ambitions may now stand as its biggest hurdle. Is Google, in its globe-spanning reach, trying to do so much that it risks becoming creepy instead of helpful — the assistant who got too powerful and knows too much?
Tomi Engdahl says:
Getting Online with Arduino: Round Up of Devices
http://www.hackthings.com/getting-online-with-arduino/
If you’re manipulating the physical environment through software, or the other way around, then you need a way to get your hardware online. Arduino (and its community and ecosystem of sensors and shields) makes it easy to experiment on the physical side of things, but it wasn’t designed with any networking interface built in. That’s why many in the community right now are building devices and add-ins that make it easy to get an Arduino (or Arduino-compatible board) connected easily.
Here’s a round-up
Tomi Engdahl says:
Platforms for Connected Homes
http://makezine.com/2014/02/04/platforms-for-connected-homes/
There’s a lot of hardware out there for the connected home and while many of these devices come with their own platforms for logic, control, and remote access, they don’t always speak the same language as devices from other vendors. Some devices only give you restricted control over your home because it’s simply too hard for a vendor to guess every single way a person might want to use their product. That, coupled with a concern for security mean that these devices aren’t as flexible and connected as they could be.
Luckily, there are a few platforms out there that are taking a crack at fixing the problem of getting home automation devices to talk to each other. When we can connect devices together from different vendors, it gives us the ability to choose the best products from each of them.
IFTTT
Temboo
The Thing System
And the List Goes On…
Between IFTTT, Temboo, and The Thing System, there’s a wide breadth of options at different skill levels and customizability. But there are many other possible platforms that you could use such as openHAB, Spacebrew, Xively, BERG Cloud, and ThingSpeak.
Tomi Engdahl says:
UK.gov: Forget Google and those other chaps… Use THIS open Internet of Stuff specification
BT, ARM and IBM back ‘Google for Iot’ HyperCat
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/06/26/hypercat_internet_of_things/
The Internet of Things is all a question of semantics, according to a government-backed consortium that includes mega tech players like BT, IBM and ARM.
IoT is a “hype term” that within 10 years will simply be referred to as the internet, the boss of start-up 1248 Pilgrim Beart claimed during a presser at the House of Lords on Thursday.
He also said that too many proprietary devices were being developed that had created “vertical silos” with APIs being coded differently.
The end goal is to make machine-to-machine gadgets talk to each other much more easily by opening up data access.
“The first thing everyone said was: well, interoperability is easy, just look at our platforms,” Beart joked.
Eventually, the consortium – which is made up of more than 40 Blighty-based tech firms – came up with a new open IoT specification, dubbed HyperCat.
The specification can browse machines, searches by metadata and uses standards such as HTTPS, Restful APIs and JSON as a data format.
“What HyperCat does is it unlocks the ability to ‘Google’ IoT data effectively. You can now crawl it, you can index it, you can do all the things that machines might do,”
“We’re moving from the vertical silos,” he claimed. “They [the Googles and Apples of this world] control it all.”
“HyperCat has a strong security model; it’s the same one the web uses,” said Anderson. “But privacy is a much more complex problem because that is about humans deciding who sees what under certain circumstances.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Apple said to be working on ‘mainstream’ Smart Home hardware
http://9to5mac.com/2014/06/26/apple-said-to-be-working-on-mainstream-smart-home-hardware/
With iPhones in pockets, Macs on desks, iPads in bags, and iWatches soon coming to the wrist, Apple is said to be eyeing another category for continued growth: Smart Home hardware. The Cupertino-company is said to have assembled a team to work on various hardware products for the home that deeply integrate with the existing array of Apple devices on the market…
Apple’s introduction of HomeKit software at the recent Worldwide Developers Conference is not a coincidence as that iOS feature is said to have been developed directly with in-house hardware goals in mind. HomeKit will allow iPhone and iPad users to more easily control home appliances like lights, locks, and garage doors via apps and by voice with Siri.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Intel Gateway Solutions for the IoT Dev Kit 50
http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/intelligent-systems/gateway-hardware-platforms.html
Intel® Gateway Solutions for the Internet of Things Development Kit 50 – Software-compatible with the Arduino software development environment simplifying usability and integration
Tomi Engdahl says:
Multi-sensors gaining share of the detector market
IHS forecasts the global multi-sensor detector market to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7.0% from 2013 to 2018.
https://www.csemag.com/single-article/multi-sensors-gaining-share-of-the-detector-market/5ca485e8c8c0befbfd0734d9397b57bd.html
The mass-market trend in North America and Western Europe is toward the increased use of multi-sensor detectors. This move to combine multiple technologies into a single detector is more efficient and helps reduce false alarms. In its latest publication, the World Market for Fire Detection and Suppression Products, IHS forecasts the global multi-sensor detector market to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7.0% from 2013 to 2018.
Multi-sensors are slowly replacing the common optical detector. The most popular combination of technologies is smoke and heat, mainly because of the competitive price point.
Also contributing to growth in the multi-sensor market is the increasing awareness of carbon monoxide (CO) detection in residential and commercial applications.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Should NBN Co squeeze a server into FTTN nodes?
There’s still time: node design hasn’t been settled
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/06/23/should_nbn_co_squeeze_a_server_into_fttn_nodes/
Last week, Dell revealed an item of interest in the form of the PowerEdge R420xr, a shortened and ruggedised version of its PowerEdge R420 intended for use in the field by telcos.
Dell launched the device at CommunicAsia, the region’s annual telco-fest, with a pitch that it is small enough to fit into base stations (hence the shortening) and rugged enough to survive life on the street.
The company’s spiel also suggested that putting a server closer to users is a good idea for several reasons. For one, a server can be a lovely cache.
Or a smart cache: telcos could send a 4K version of a movie to the edge of their network and use the server to transcode it when subscribers happy to view it in lesser formats make the call.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Glastonbury debuts festival wide Wi-Fi network – fitted to COWS
A moo-ving moment in Somerset shindig’s history
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/06/23/fibreglass_cows_bring_wiffi_to_the_glastonbury_herd/
It’s one of the great problems of modern times. How does the average thirty-something festival-goer send their friends a Yo while off their chops in some far-flung field?
Luckily for the ageing denizens of Glastonbury, EE has stepped in with a flock of Wi-Fi equipped cows to make sure no meal remains un-Instagrammed and no snotty musical opinion goes un-tweeted.
The brightly coloured “Highspeed Herd” of fibreglass cows are all fitted with 4G routers and are modelled on the real bovines which call the fields of Worthy Farm home during the festival’s fallow periods.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Bondi shark alert systems beams warning to nobody on Google Plus
Who’s a clever buoy? Not the folks targeting an audience smaller than MySpace
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/05/25/shark_alert_systems_beams_warning_to_nobody_on_google_plus/
An Australian company called Shark Mitigation Systems has come up with something interesting: a sonar-equipped buoy that can spot sharks and then beam information about their presence to lifeguards over Optus’ mobile telephony network.
The first is to learn more about shark behaviour
The second is to offer real-time information about lurking piscatorial predators to lifeguards and swimmers. To help those beyond the beach, the alerts will also be sent out over Google Plus.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Internet of Things live chat with Intel and The INQUIRER
Catch up on all the action from our IoT web chat
http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2351990/internet-of-things-live-chat-with-intel-and-the-inquirer
The INQUIRER:
The most popular #IoT tech being used by firms currently is apps to manage and control the Internet of Things (27%).
Smart devices for customers are in use at 26% of firms, and some form of sensors are being used at 21% of businesses.
Analytics for managing and measuring any #IoT data collected have been rolled out across 18% of firms.
@INQ There will be a lot of development in IOT and lots of innovation. Solutions will need to have the correct management and security.
53% of INQUIRER readers cite lack of understanding of #IoT benefits as main obstacle to uptake within business. #IntelIoT
41% of INQUIRER readers say data protection worries are holding back #IoT , and 35% say it’s cost. #IntelIoT
Only 18% think IoT tech development is falling behind user demand. Good news for #IntelIoT
Looks like healthcare is biggest potential market for #IoT . 54% of @INQ readers see tools like heart-rate monitors as top benefit. #Inteliot
Madeline Bennett:
According to Berg Insight, 3 million patients worldwide were using connected home medical monitoring devices at the end of 2013. #Inteliot
Number of patients using connected home medical monitoring devices will grow to 19.1 million by 2018. Great news for healthcare? #Inteliot
Tomi Engdahl says:
GE announces $15 connected LED light bulb controlled by Wink app
http://thenextweb.com/gadgets/2014/06/28/ge-quirky-announce-15-connected-led-light-bulb/
The “Internet of things,” the “Connected Home,” the “Smart Home,” whatever you want to call it, it’s just a fancy way of turning your stuff on and off with your smartphone. Now GE has introduced a cheaper way to stay on the couch and control your lights.
The low-cost connected Link lightbulb from GE will set you back less than $15. The bulb is controlled by the Wink app (available for iOS and Android) from Quirky. In addition to switching lights on and off from anywhere (not just your couch), the app lets you schedule things like on/off times and brightness.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Widespread outages leave Verizon customers without upgrades and online payments
http://www.theverge.com/2014/6/27/5849620/verizon-wireless-systems-are-offline
Verizon Wireless is suffering widespread downtime across the country. The outages aren’t affecting calls or data service, but customers are reporting that the carrier’s online systems have been unavailable for well over 24 hours.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Industrial Fast Ethernet Fiber Optic Design
http://www.eeweb.com/company-blog/avago_technologies/industrial-fast-ethernet-fiber-optic-design1/
The AFBR-5972Z fiber optic transceiver provides the system designer with the ability to implement a cost optimized Fast Ethernet (100 Mbps) over standard plastic optical fiber (POF).
Industrial Fast Ethernet over optical fiber has many advantages over copper solutions. While copper based communication links are susceptible to EM (electromagnetic) fields and emit EM noise which may interfere with other instrumentation, fiber optic links are immune to EM fields
and do not generate them. Other advantages fiber has over copper are: low weight, complete galvanic separation between link partners, easy fi eld termination and maintenance, easier installation due to short bending radius and better performance over temperature.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Low-Power, Highly-Secure MCUs for the IoT
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1322897&
There is a lot of talk about the Internet of Things (IoT) these days, and there are a lot of microcontrollers (MCUs) available that can address the low-power demands of things like IoT sensor nodes. In the early days, however, there seemed to be a widespread lack of concern about security by end-users, MCU vendors, and equipment manufacturers.
More recently, everyone seems to be becoming more aware of security issues. People are saying things like “Home automation is a great idea, but not if anyone on the planet can take over my home!” Similarly with things like medical equipment — it’s great for doctors to be able to monitor your condition and vary your drug regime remotely as required, but you don’t want a 16-year-old delinquent hacker to have the ability to modify your insulin dose or your pain medication.
All of this explains Microchip Technology’s introduction of its PCC24F “GB2″ family of MCUs. In the case of security (the red blocks in the image below), these MCUs boast a fully featured hardware crypto engine, a hardware random number generator, and one-time programmable (512-bit) key storage for additional protection
Starting at $1.30 each in volume
Tomi Engdahl says:
Netflix Could Be Classified As a ‘Cybersecurity Threat’ Under New CISPA Rules
http://yro.slashdot.org/story/14/06/29/1653215/netflix-could-be-classified-as-a-cybersecurity-threat-under-new-cispa-rules
“The cybersecurity bill making its way through the Senate right now is so broad that it could allow ISPs to classify Netflix as a “cyber threat,” which would allow them to throttle the streaming service’s delivery to customers. “A ‘threat,’ according to the bill, is anything that makes information unavailable or less available.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Senate’s New Cybersecurity Bill Threatens Net Neutrality
http://motherboard.vice.com/read/the-senates-new-cybersecurity-threatens-net-neutrality
Cybersecurity bills are normally looked at as being terrible for privacy. But a new one being considered by the Senate has a bonus—it’s still bad for privacy, but it could also kill whatever is left of net neutrality.
CISA’s overly broad terminology would make it much easier for the NSA and local police departments to conduct surveillance.
“CISA ignores [the NSA] revelations,” the groups wrote. “Instead of reining in NSA surveillance, the bill would facilitate a vast flow of private communications data to the NSA. CISA omits many of the civil liberties protections that were incorporated, after thorough consideration, into the cybersecurity legislation the Senate last considered.”
Among the group’s concerns with CISA are the fact that “cyber threat” information from CISA would be funneled from the Department of Homeland Security, a civilian agency, to the Department of Defense (and NSA), a military one.
“CISA ignores [the NSA] revelations,” the groups wrote. “Instead of reining in NSA surveillance, the bill would facilitate a vast flow of private communications data to the NSA. CISA omits many of the civil liberties protections that were incorporated, after thorough consideration, into the cybersecurity legislation the Senate last considered.”
Among the group’s concerns with CISA are the fact that “cyber threat” information from CISA would be funneled from the Department of Homeland Security, a civilian agency, to the Department of Defense (and NSA), a military one.
As we mentioned in our earlier coverage, the bill would also create the possibility of “backdoor wiretaps”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Finnish mobile phone market has undergone Market Visio, quickly complete regime change. Nokia mobile phones dominated the market in Finland in the past completely, but the situation has changed rapidly. The Android platform, as well as lead in the whole market as well as the smartphone market share.
Tablet sales growth continues to be strong. Mobile and fixed telephony services into decline.
The Finnish telecommunications market, the situation looks bleak. Market value fell in 2013, almost six per cent and the downturn in the economy will continue to gently 2014-2016 period. Telecommunications Market size forecast, ends up in the end of 2014 to about 3.9 billion.
“Traditional communication among operators do not get an increase, the only race will be for market share. Networks need investment, but the extra income is not available. Unless operators are able to regenerate sufficiently fast rate, and open-minded enough, the result will soon be making it impossible,” says principal analyst Saija Ahlgren.
Even in 2013, smartphone sales in the industry bright spot. Finnish mobile phone market grew by nearly 5 percent in 2013. The market begins to saturate, the average unit prices fall, so the device starts to turn a declining market.
Source: http://www.tivi.fi/kaikki_uutiset/suomen+matkapuhelinvaltiaan+valtikka+vaihtoi+omistajaa++tassa+on+uusi+kuningas/a995802
Tomi Engdahl says:
UK trails on IPv6 but broadband adoption improves
UK absent from Akamai’s list of nations with the greatest IPv6 adoption
http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2352503/uk-trails-on-ipv6-but-broadband-adoption-improves
EUROPEAN COUNTRIES are leading the way on iPv6 adoption, according to figures released by internet services firm Akamai, with one notable exception – the UK is conspicuously absent from the list of nations leading the adoption of IPv6.
In the report, Akamai shows that European nations are leading the way for IPv6 adoption, taking eight of the 10 positions in its list of the countries with the largest percentage of content requests made over IPv6 via Akamai during Q1.
Belgium is the overall leader, with an impressive 14 percent of internet traffic using IPv6, which represents a 200 percent quarter-on-quarter growth. Akamai attributes this to additional IPv6 deployment by telecoms firm Telenet.
The US comes in sixth position with 6.2 percent of traffic
“Steady year-over-year growth suggests that a strong, global foundation is being built for the enjoyment of next-generation content and services like 4K video and increasingly connected homes and offices, and that connectivity will continue to evolve to support the growing demands these emerging technologies will place on the internet,”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Finnish internet is the ninth-fastest
Finnish internet is among the world elite. Speed comparison, it is ranked nine to 10.7 Mbps average speed.
World average speed of 3.9 megabits per second, which is increased 24 per cent on the previous year.
In Finland, the average speed increased by 37 per cent a year
Maximum acceleration internet speeds were seen in South Korea, where the internet increased by as much as 145 per cent. There’s an average speed of 23.6 megabits per second. The country is well ahead of Japan and Hong Kong 14.6 13.3 Mbps connection speed.
Akamai report highlights coming to do 4K Ultra HD, or high-definition standard, and reflects the current rates of such a requirement to 10 to 20 Mbps.
Source: http://www.digitoday.fi/yhteiskunta/2014/06/27/suomalaisten-internet-on-yhdeksanneksi-nopein/20149015/66?rss=6
Tomi Engdahl says:
AKAMAI’S STATE OF THE INTERNET
Q1 2014 REPORT
http://www.akamai.com/dl/akamai/akamai-soti-q114.pdf?WT.mc_id=soti_Q114
Tomi Engdahl says:
OIF, ONF tackle Transport SDN standard
http://www.cablinginstall.com/articles/2014/06/oif-onf-transport-sdn.html?cmpid=EnlCIMJune302014
The Optical Internetworking Forum (OIF) and the Open Networking Foundation (ONF) have joined forces to tackle transport software-defined networking (SDN). The two groups are collaborating throughout 2014 on a global Transport SDN demonstration in several carrier-hosted labs.
“We expect SDN, in tandem with network functions virtualization (NFV), to shape the future of telecommunications networks,” said Vishnu Shukla, of Verizon and OIF president. “It is exciting to have these two prominent groups combining resources, innovative thinking and industry support to put together a very relevant and important demo.”