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:
okia Networks, together with the Qatari Ooredoon and China Mobile reached a new speed record for LTE networks for data transmission. The new record reading of 4.1 gigabits per second.
Doha demo of Nokia combined operators TDD and FDD spectrum, so that as many as ten of the frequency of 200 MHz was created by the width of the channel. It is reached along a 4.1 Gbps maximum speed. Nokia Flexi base stations based on the demo data were transferred to the network of more than 300 Mbps speed, which is also the field of the new record.
Uplink speed is also impressive. According to Nokia, with 30 MB video clip was transferred to the network less than a second.
Source: http://www.etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2170:nokia-ylsi-4-1-gigabitin-lte-vauhtiin&catid=13&Itemid=101
Tomi Engdahl says:
Gigabit-over-copper VDSL successor G.fast signed off at last
Curb your enthusiasm: this is a short-run tech best suited to the basement
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/12/08/gfast_at_last_phy_standard_signed_off/
The long-awaited G.fast physical layer standard has been signed off by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), improving the chance that the world will see standards-compliant, interoperable kit start to ship in 2015.
The ITU almost manages to work up some excitement about the announcement, reminding a grateful world that the standard enables speeds of “up to” a gigabit per second.
However, he said, the short reach of G.fast – its acclaimed gigabit capability – would constrain the number of households each node could serve in a suburban setting, making the economics uncertain even for small nodes.
A node’s footprint might be as small as a dozen households, Brooks said, with no guarantee of getting enough takeup to justify itself. As a result, he believes in the short term there will be much more appetite for VDSL2 among providers.
Tomi Engdahl says:
WiFi Is King at Kaiser
Bluetooth… not so much
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1324875&
If you are building a medical device for use in a hospital, think WiFi and think twice about anything else — including Bluetooth and purpose-built medical networks, said a director of wireless product management and engineering at Kaiser Permanente in a talk at the BioMeDevices event here.
WiFi is king at Kaiser, a healthcare provider with $50 billion in annual revenues that manages 28,000 access points and 1.1 million Ethernet ports, said Shawn M. Jackman. Kaiser is testing a cellular network using small cells, but is trying to keep Bluetooth devices off its widely deployed, and crowded 2.4 GHz network.
Jackson told device makers here to leverage WiFi, especially the 5GHz version. Like many hospitals, Kaiser finds it pervasive, cheap, yet relatively reliable and secure. Devices should be tested rigorously for environments with many access points, security models, and consumer and clinical applications, he said.
Everything is going wireless. Our care givers are inherently mobile — they don’t sit around a desk — so the appetite for mobile is huge,” he said.
In the 2.4 GHz band, Kaiser maintains a guest network and several other services, leading to an overcrowded spectrum with Bluetooth currently losing the battle for air space. On the horizon, he sees a collision of 2.4 GHz accessories.
“I’m watching this wearables thing and its coming at me like a freight train,” he said.
“If your device is in the hospital, don’t use Bluetooth. You will get excluded from more environments than you will be allowed in”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Reds hoist flag of glorious SDN internationale
The packets, abstracted, will never be repeated, say Huawei and Red Hat
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/12/08/red_hat_sends_sdn_fedora_to_huawei/
Huawei and Red Hat are the latest vendors to join hands and clink champagne in the ever-expanding software-defined networks (SDN) love-in.
Under the partnership, the venerable Linux and open source expert will provide its OpenStack implementation to the Chinese telco vendor, which will run up its FusionSphere Cloud OS to act as the management layer.
The combo, according to Red Hat’s announcement, will give customers “a unified, flexible and production-ready” solution to support their network function virtualisation (NFV) efforts.
As always in such collaborations, the two companies promise to drop code back into OpenStack, with a particular focus on “NFV enabling features”. The two companies will also prep a certification program for their joint solutions.
2014 has been a year of SDN and NFV partnerships, whether it’s between hardware vendors (like Ericsson and Ciena), hardware/software (such as this arrangement), or pairings of software vendors (Alcatel-Lucent spinoff Nuage with Oracle).
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Internet of Things to bring a new economic boom
http://www.networkworld.com/article/2854675/internet-of-things/the-internet-of-things-may-bring-a-new-economic-boon.html
IoT is the third big technology ‘wave’ in the last 50 years — and perhaps the biggest
The Internet of Things (IoT) may be more significant in reshaping the competitive landscape than the arrival of the Internet. Its productivity potential is so powerful it will deliver a new era of prosperity.
That’s the argument put forth by Michael Porter, an economist at the Harvard Business School and James Heppelmann, president and CEO of PTC, in a recent Harvard Business Review essay. PTC is a product design software firm that recently acquired machine-to-machine (M2M) firm Axeda Corp.
In the past 50 years, IT has delivered two major transformations or “waves,” as the authors describe it. The first came in the 1960s and 1970s, with IT-enabled process automation, computer-aided design and manufacturing resource planning. The second was the Internet and everything it delivered. The third is IoT.
With IoT, “IT is becoming an integral part of the product itself,” wrote Porter and Heppelmann. It is doing this by infusing sensors, processors and software in every product imaginable and coupling it with analytics. That combination will change how businesses operate, how they deliver their products and how interact with customers.
“Another leap in productivity in the economy will be unleashed by these new and better products,” Porter and Heppelmann argue. “The third wave of IT-driven transformation thus has the potential to be the biggest yet, triggering even more innovation, productivity gains, and economic growth than the previous two.”
Velosa said IoT-related industry changes are just beginning. Usage-based insurance, for instance, based on mileage and driving behaviors, was a new thing just five years ago. Today it’s a real option.
It “highlights how an industry can change in five years,” said Velosa, “but it also points to the fact that we have just barely scratched the surface.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Verizon Wireless taps SpiderCloud for 4G small cell systems
http://www.cablinginstall.com/articles/2014/12/verizon-spidercloud-4g-smallcells.html
SpiderCloud Wireless (San Jose, CA), a provider of scalable small cell Enterprise Radio Access Network (E-RAN) systems, announced that it has begun working with Verizon Wireless, the largest 4G LTE mobile operator in the United States, to supply scalable small cell systems for its Verizon Wireless business customers.
SpiderCloud Wireless claims it is the first company to offer mobile operators a highly scalable small cell system for LAN deployment of reliable mobile services indoors for enterprise customers of any size. The E-RAN 3G system is already commercially proven for three years, adds the company. Other SpiderCloud Wireless customers include Vodafone UK, Vodafone Netherlands and leading mobile operators across several continents.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Report: Enterprise WLAN market grew 9.6% in 3Q14, driven by 11ac
http://www.cablinginstall.com/articles/2014/11/idc-enterprise-wlan-growth.html
The combined consumer and enterprise worldwide wireless local area network (WLAN) market segments increased 7.4% year over year in the third quarter of 2014 (3Q14), according to new analysis published in International Data Corporation’s (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly WLAN Tracker. The report finds that the enterprise WLAN segment continued to grow at a steady rate and increased another 9.6% over the same period last year.
While the pace of the enterprise WLAN market growth had been steadily decreasing over the last several quarters, 3Q14 represented a moderate increase in the growth rate compared to the 7.7% seen in 2Q14, notes IDC. The 802.11ac standard continues to see rapid adoption in the enterprise segment, confirms the new analysis.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Juniper white boxes itself with OpenCompute switch
If you can’t beat ‘em …
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/12/09/juniper_white_boxes_itself_with_opencompute_switch/
White box switches are generally held to be a threat to traditional network vendors, because server-based network appliances can’t attract the same premium prices as dedicated devices.
Juniper, however, appears not to be reading the script – or is perhaps trying to write the next Act – because the struggling vendor has announced a switch based on OpenCompute hardware.
The OCX1100 is due to arrive in 2015′s first quarter and is billed as a “open, cost-effective, disaggregated switching platform”. The switch will run Junos OS so should behave like any other Juniper device.
Juniper’s logic is that operators of exceptionally large data centres are keen on the concept of white box switches but aren’t happy with the prospect of building them from the ground up as hyperscale operators like Facebook have done. Building a Juniper appliance onto OCF hardware, basically servers tuned to the needs of specific workloads, is seen as a nice half-way house: not an expensive like proprietary network hardware but not an exotic new thing to integrate into a data centre.
Tomi Engdahl says:
US Ass. Commerce Sec hits back at claims global DNS is DOOMED
Starting to get messy in Washington
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/12/09/commerce_secretary_engages_in_war_of_words_with_wsj_over_iana/
US Assistant Commerce Secretary Larry Strickling – the man in charge of the critical IANA contract that keeps the internet glued together – has embarked on a war of words with Wall Street Journal columnist Gordon Crovitz.
IANA is the technical body that runs things like the global domain-name system and allocates blocks of IP addresses. Whoever controls it, controls the behind-the-scenes of the internet; today, that’s ICANN, under contract with the US government, but that agreement runs out in September 2015.
The truth of the matter is that both Strickling and Crovitz have indentified the other’s weak spots while glossing over their own.
Crovitz is also right to be concerned about what can replace the US government’s current role as IANA contract holder.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Net neutrality: EU’s three-headed beast now at war with itself
Political bodies nowhere near a final decision
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/11/26/net_neutrality_eus_threeheaded_beast_now_at_war_with_itself/
Europe’s telecoms ministers are miles from an agreement with the European Parliament on net neutrality, as differences between the EU’s governmental bodies become more apparent.
The plan was to phase out mobile roaming charges as soon as possible, but according to Council sources, national ministers are asking for more time to access the economic impact of doing so. The European Parliament is keen to finalise the law, but negotiations are difficult and there are still huge differences between the two governmental bodies.
Council sources said national ministers are keen to pursue a “principles-based” approach that will not introduce “obstacles to innovation and investment” and would be “more future-proof” than the definitions laid out by Parliament.
The Council proposal removes the definition of net neutrality, to the ire of digital rights groups
Tomi Engdahl says:
Intel introduces its own Internet of Things platform
http://thenextweb.com/insider/2014/12/09/intel-introduces-internet-things-platform/
In addition to entering the wearable market, Intel is also going full in on the Internet of Things.
The silicon-producing company announced its own IoT platform and reference design today with a focus on getting items to market quicker using the company’s software and hardware.
The Intel IoT Platform, according to the company, should helps companies deploy products quicker and because the company is teaming up with companies like Accenture, SAP, Dell, Wipro and others, there’s a robust ecosystem right out the gate.
Of course, Intel is going up against another silicon giant for an IoT platform. Qualcomm has its AllJoyn IoT protocol that it has since open-sourced and handed over to the Linux Foundation.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Intel Unifies and Simplifies Connectivity, Security for IoT
Announces Platform, Products and Expanded Company Ecosystem Designed to Accelerate Adoption and Innovation
http://newsroom.intel.com/community/intel_newsroom/blog/2014/12/09/intel-unifies-and-simplifies-connectivity-security-for-iot
NEWS HIGHLIGHTS
Intel® IoT Platform unifies gateway, connectivity and security components to simply deploy IoT.
Designed to provide a repeatable foundation for devices to deliver trusted data to the cloud.
New integrated hardware and software products based on the platform.
Announces new relationships with Accenture*, Booz Allen Hamilton*, Capgemini*, Dell*, HCL*, NTT DATA*, SAP*, Tata Consultancy* and Wipro* to develop and deploy solutions on the Intel IoT Platform.
The new products from Intel include:
Wind River Edge Management System provides cloud connectivity to facilitate device configuration, file transfers, data capture and rules-based data analysis and response. This pre-integrated technology stack enables customers to quickly build industry-specific IoT solutions and integrate disparate enterprise IT systems, utilizing API management. The cloud-based middleware runs from the embedded device up through the cloud to reduce time to market and total cost of ownership.
The latest Intel® IoT Gateway will integrate the Wind River Edge Management System via an available agent so gateways can be rapidly deployed, provisioned and managed throughout the life cycle of a system to reduce costs and time to market. In addition, the gateway includes performance improvements, support for lower cost memory options and a broader selection of available communication options. Intel IoT Gateways are currently available from seven ODMs with 13 more releasing systems in early 2015.
To get value out of the data generated in deployments using the Intel® IoT Platform, developers need a powerful yet easy-to-use approach to big data analytics. Intel is expanding its cloud analytics support for IoT Developer Kits to include the Intel® IoT Gateway series, in addition to Intel® Galileo boards and Intel® Edison Modules. Cloud analytics enables IoT application developers to detect trends and anomalies in time series at big data scale.
McAfee, a part of Intel Security, announced Enhanced Security for Intel IoT Gateways in support of the Intel IoT Platform. This pre-validated solution adds advanced security management for gateway devices.
Intel Security also announced that its Enhanced Privacy Identity (EPID) technology will be promoted to other silicon vendors. EPID has anonymity properties, in addition to hardware-enforced integrity, and is included in ISO and TCG standards. The EPID technology provides an on-ramp for other devices to securely connect to the Intel IoT Platform.
The Intel API and Traffic Management solution utilizes Intel Mashery solutions to enable creation of building blocks that make it easy to build new software applications. Customers of the Intel IoT Platform today have access to the Intel Mashery API management tools to create data APIs that can be shared internally, externally with partners or monetized as revenue-generating data services for customers.
Tomi Engdahl says:
What’s Holding Back The IoT
http://semiengineering.com/iot-growth-issues/
Device market opportunities will explode from cars to toothbrushes, but only after some fundamental changes are made.
There is a new generation of heterogeneous devices and component modules being developed for the IoT. This, in turn, could create an exploding market within certain sectors of the hardware industry.
Exact size predictions for this market vary greatly, but all of the firms making these predictions agree on one thing—it’s going to be very big. A new report by Yole Developpement pegs the market size in the $70 billion range by 2018, with the next five years presenting a golden opportunity for device makers as the IoT enters the growth stage. By 2024, the report predicts that overall market value for components will exceed of $400 billion, of which more than 10% will come from hardware alone.
Driving this growth will be technological advancements in areas such as power, wireless, and chip densities. The IoT will connect places, such as manufacturing platforms, energy grids, health-care facilities, transportation systems, retail outlets, sports and music venues, and countless other entities to the Internet.
This will happen simply because of the economies of scale and demand. The prices for components and devices continues to decline while the skyrocketing global demand for 24/7 Internet access grows exponentially. The Internet of Things [KC] growth will benefit mostly from the autonomous machine-to-machine (M2M) connectivity that will make up the bulk of the objects of the IoT. This is the main driver for double-digit growth across verticals in the electronics, and especially the semiconductor industry well into the next decade.
The convergence
General consensus is that the interconnect protocol of the IoT will be IP (Internet Protocol). As it stands today, the deployment of the billions of IoT objects can’t happen, simply because there just aren’t enough IP addresses with IPv4. And, there are some disparaging networks that are not IP-based, as well.
While there is still some discussion about how to connect the IoT, most are in agreement that the IoT protocol will be IPv6. The first step will be to convert all proprietary networks to an IP-base. Then, the implementation of IPv6 can begin.
The main reason for choosing such a large address base is because it can be subdivided into hierarchical routing domains, which will better serve the IoT’s vast number of unique address demands. The 128-bit architecture is designed to support multiple levels of hierarchy, which is missing with IPv4.
There is a small downside to IPv6, unfortunately. Intrinsic interoperability between these protocols is not possible. That has added some complications to the development, resulting in a bit of obfuscation to the transition for IPv6. However, there is development on transliteration mechanisms that will pass communication between the two hosts. Eventually, IPv6 will become the default protocol of the IoT.
The growth of the IoT will present some very interesting issues in a variety of areas. Interconnect will be one of them, but that one will see some very fast activity because unless it gets resolved there will be no IoT as it is envisioned. So one can expect that there will be very little resistance along the IPv6 pathway. But that isn’t likely to be the case for the the rest of the IoT.
“One problem with IoT is that it is a vague definition,” said David Jacoby, security analyst at Kaspersky Labs. “Do we simply mean ‘connected devices?’” That is a good point. One of the main issues, which will only get worse as the IoT evolves, is how are we going to categorize all the different objects, for example.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Microchip RN4020 Bluetooth Low Energy Module
http://www.mouser.ph/new/microchip/microchip-rn4020-module/
Microchip RN4020 Bluetooth Low Energy Module
Microchip’s RN4020 Bluetooth Low Energy Module provides a highly integrated solution for delivering low power Bluetooth 4.1 solutions. The advanced command interface offers rapid time to market. The RN4020 module complies with Bluetooth specification version 4.1. It integrates RF, a baseband controller, command API processor, making it a complete Bluetooth Low Energy Solution. The RN4020 can be used with a low cost microcontroller for intelligent Bluetooth Low Energy applications. For simple sensor applications, the RN4020 internal scripting capabilities enable basic functions to be implemented without the need for external host MCU or software development tools.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Short-Range, Low-Power Sensors
http://semiengineering.com/short-range-low-power-sensors/
What was once the last mile for connectivity is now the last 100 meters.
Over the last 10 years the world has done a remarkably good job of connecting the global wireless world. This is partly because of visionaries, partly because of marketers, and partly just because we can, but mostly because of convenience. We now never need be to be off the wide-area interconnected highway. The last decade has radically changed the way we live. The smartphone and its cousin, the tablet, was the final link to ubiquitous wireless coverage, globally.
Thanks to these smart devices, the immediacy of the Internet, and the now always-on world, we are empowered with the ability to do more, do it better, certainly more quickly than ever before. However, we are finding that to accomplish this we need to be connected to more than just our smartphones and tablets. We need to have everything in our lives online.
So far, that hasn’t happened, mainly because the short-range connected world hasn’t really needed to be connected outside of our own worlds. Today, only about 10% of the last 100 meter devices that will make up the IoT are connected. For the home, we are talking about the often referred to refrigerator, toaster and similar appliances, the alarm system, the media center – things that typically are part of a “home area network.” But the home area network is only one of the small area networks that will have short-range smart devices.
As the IoT evolves, other small cells such as businesses, city centers, malls, theaters, stadiums, event centers, and the like, will connect much of what they have on premise (soda or popcorn machines, vending machines, restaurants, parking garages, ticket kiosks, seat assignments, and a very long list of others). And, there are a very large number of devices that are short-range in all of these various cells.
Only recently, have we developed a pressing need, or desire to put our refrigerators, and everything we have access to while mobile, on the net, morphing the brave new world of the Internet of Things [KC], into the Internet of Everything (IoE). And that will make that last 100 meters—that final frontier of interconnect—a reality.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Ryan Lawler / TechCrunch:
With $16M In Funding, Helium Wants To Provide The Connective Tissue For The Internet Of Things
http://techcrunch.com/2014/12/09/helium/
Over the next few years, we’ll see a torrent of new devices emerge that are connected to the Internet and each other through a wide range of different wireless networking protocols. As a result, there’s a race on, not just to get those devices connected, but also to provide the network infrastructure necessary to managing all of them at scale.
A startup called Helium Systems, which has been quietly operating in stealth over the last two years, is looking to provide the connective tissue between all those devices, all without relying on WiFi, Bluetooth, or cellular networks. The company hopes to do that by combining low-powered wireless connectivity and a smart distribution network for data coming from those devices.
the company has already assembled a 20-person team of experts in radio frequency technology and distributed networks.
That’s because the big idea behind Helium is to use unlicensed wireless bandwidth to transmit small amounts of data from various connected device and being able to distribute it to applications that rely on it. To do that, the company is developing its own wireless data protocol and wireless modules that can be inserted into devices that manufacturers want to be a part of its network.
The belief is that since the devices in question would be delivering bytes of data rather than megabytes, it could create its own connection to them in a cost effective manner without relying on existing cellular or WiFi networks.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Very small cellular base stations for Ericsson:
Ericsson introduced over a year ago, a new base station concept, which called for the name dot.
Now Vodafone is the first operator in the commercial point of use by Radboud University in the Netherlands.
Point-mini base station weighs only 300 grams and fits in your palm. The device Ericsson considers to resolve the problems of coverage indoors. Is a simple point 3g / LTE antenna unit with an amplifier and a power amplifier.
The signal processing is done elsewhere in the base station, which point is connected to a standard Ethernet cable
One base station can be connected to up to 96 dots. These will provide comprehensive coverage of many public space, for example, a hospital or a purchasing center. The dot transmission power is one hundred milliwatts. A set of points appears to be one of the cell to base station.
The point of transmission power is one hundred milliwatts.
Source: http://etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2184:ericssonin-piste-paasi-vihdoin-tositoimiin&catid=13&Itemid=101
Tomi Engdahl says:
Nokia successfully tested the uplink technique
Various events, with a lot of people in a small space such as a sporting event or concert, data traffic towards the network is often higher than in the corresponding direction. Nokia Networks is now working together with Elisa tested that it has developed a new uplink technology really works in practice.
The solution to the bottom of the Nokia 10 Multi Radio Base Station. In more Flexi base station is connected to fiber to each other as a kind of a cluster.
Different base stations for future uplink signals are used to rebut the close of the device’s signal interference. The base station selects the 12 best in the uplink connection. The software optimizes each terminal connection to the network once per millisecond, so the uplink quality remains optimal.
Hartwall Areena in Elisa’s LTE network tehdys tests showed that the uplink capacity increased by 2.5-fold. Improved links also meant that the smartphone power consumption fell by a third.
Source: http://etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2178:nokia-testasi-onnistuneesti-uplink-tekniikkaansa&catid=13&Itemid=101
Tomi Engdahl says:
In Europe every four electric meter is read remotely
Electrical cabinets are installed firmly remotely readable meters in different pulilla Europe. End of this year 24 per cent of European electricity meters are read remotely, says Berg Insight Research.
All in all, the end of the EU countries, a total of 67.9 million smart meters in electricity. Most of these were installed in Italy, Spain and the Nordic countries.
Berg Insight predicts, however, that by 2022 Europe there are 199.7 million remote readable electricity usage meters. Next year, the unit is installed 8.4 million, mainly in France, the Netherlands and Norway.
Source: http://etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2175:euroopassa-joka-neljas-sahkomittari-luetaan-etana&catid=13&Itemid=101
Tomi Engdahl says:
FCC/CE/IC Certified Bluetooth SMART Beacon
http://www.eeweb.com/news/fccceic-certified-bluetooth-smart-beacon
EM Microelectronic announced the FCC certification for operation within the US, CE certification for the European Union, and IC certification for Canada of their EMBC01 Bluetooth beacon. EMBC01 is a tiny coin-size beacon solution that is optimized for highest performance in terms of autonomy and link range. It can be deployed anywhere iBeacon™ and Bluetooth Smart v4.0 technologies are used. Readily certified and available in a qualified and convenient housing, the EMBC01 enables rapid and easy deployment into any beacon solution.
Tomi Engdahl says:
End-to-End Communications with Advanced Fiber Optic Technologies
http://www.eeweb.com/company-blog/mouser/end-to-end-communications-with-advanced-fiber-optic-technologies
This article presents the end-to-end communications with the advanced fiber optic technologies. It briefly discusses the relationship of data rates as directly proportional to energy consumption, the Coolbit Optical Engine Product technology, as well as the industry’s leader in power efficiency with its demonstrated performance, system connectivity and how it is done.
The emergence of faster data rates to keep pace with the demands for data poses a number of technical challenges. While this is not a new or radical thought, the radical conversation on how to combat these challenges—specifically when it comes to the resources, like energy—is imperative to fuel this data deluge. Among the problems that became apparent even at 10 Gbps is the power consumption of copper-interconnect signals within systems—and the problem is compounded at 25 Gbps data rates. Power consumed by the networking equipment alone significantly contributes to the overall energy
With core networking doubling every 18 months or so and server I/O density doubling approximately every 24 months (source: IEEE802.org), delaying the inevitable transition to higher-speed data transmission capability could prove costly for many companies.
“Big Data”, a term that encompasses many of today’s technology buzzwords, including the Internet of Things (IoT), machine to machine (M2M) and wireless communication, cloud computing and more, is driving the need for more bandwidth. But the demand for more bandwidth is nothing new. So what would compel a transition to fiber optics for both inter- and intra-system high-speed communications that has been predicted for over twenty years.
Active optical cable assemblies (AOCs) embed the high-speed optics (Coolbit optical engines) behind two transceiver ends to deliver an electrical interconnection to the other system electronics
This design enables very high speed and high aggregate data rate links at costs significantly below those of separate transceivers and fibers. AOCs offer the benefits of optical with the ease-of-use of copper.
For example, the target power consumption of the CDFP product is 6 W, for the QSFP28 at 100 Gbps it is 1.5 W and for the mid-board module it is 4.5 W.
Tomi Engdahl says:
5 rules for playing nice with IoT gateways
http://www.edn.com/electronics-blogs/eye-on-iot-/4437896/5-rules-for-playing-nice-with-IoT-gateways-?_mc=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_today_20141210&cid=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_today_20141210&elq=74338f0c2fb74ad88516d8ddfd90e6bb&elqCampaignId=20600
If the IoT is to prosper, it will need to scale massively. Devices old and new, complex and simple, intelligent and, well, not so intelligent will all need to work together without getting in one another’s way. One of the IoT’s main challenges will be the design of devices and their gateways to support interoperability.
As I mentioned in my last blog, the essential function of any IoT gateway is to establish and maintain a secure, robust, fault-tolerant connection between a cloud service and edge devices. Essentially, the gateway is the traffic cop of the IoT. It manages all the on-ramps and makes sure the traffic flows into and out of the cloud smoothly.
Here are some thoughts to consider when designing a modern IoT device.
Please talk to me
Respond quickly
Don’t be chatty
Never just go away
Tolerate multiple masters
Tomi Engdahl says:
M2M Communications – There is a Better Way.
http://rtcmagazine.com/articles/view/103446
For controlling simple devices connected to local networks and also accessed via the Web, simplicity is the best approach.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Using Wi-Fi to Connect Embedded Systems with Mobile Devices
http://rtcmagazine.com/articles/view/103315
Wi-Fi modules are enabling a new generation of wireless embedded systems through Internet connectivity and the increased processing power of microcontrollers. Future module improvements will enable innumerable intelligent devices all over the world to communicate with each other and be controlled from smartphones.
Computers, smartphones and tablets comprise the majority of wirelessly connected devices. However, there is huge potential for the emerging market of embedded wirelessly connected clients, which is often called the “Internet of Things” or the “Wireless Connectivity of Things.” Some examples include temperature sensors, automotive diagnostics, blood-pressure monitors and many more. There are hundreds of applications within the smart home, energy grid, personal healthcare, medical and asset-tracking markets ready for the taking.
Tomi Engdahl says:
BitTorrent launches invite-only alpha of Project Maelstrom, the first torrent-based browser
http://venturebeat.com/2014/12/10/bittorrent-announces-project-maelstrom-the-first-torrent-based-browser/
BitTorrent today announced the first torrent-based browser. Project Maelstrom, as the app is currently called, is being made available as an invite-only alpha to “a small group of testers.”
Although BitTorrent is in the very early stages of the project (testers are being asked to help assess for usability and reliability), the company strongly believes Maelstrom “is the first step toward a truly distributed web, one that does not rely on centralized servers.” This is by no means a new idea from the company: It’s the core of the relatively successful synchronization tool BitTorrent Sync.
“Centralized architectures have not scaled well to the volume and size of data moving across the Internet,” a BitTorrent spokesperson told VentureBeat. Maybe, but building a file-sharing tool around the idea of decentralization is not the same as building a whole browser.
BitTorrent’s main argument is that a distributed browser can do more than just relieve the burden put on networks: It could help maintain a more neutral Internet. If an ISP can’t identify where traffic is originating from, then it arguably can’t throttle certain sites accessed from a browser like Maelstrom (we’d argue that it might be able to just throttle all the user’s traffic, but that’s a technical debate that will change as the project grows and we learn more about how it works).
Project Maelstrom: The Internet We Build Next
http://blog.bittorrent.com/2014/12/10/project-maelstrom-the-internet-we-build-next/
An invite-only Alpha to help build the distributed web.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Thought your household broadband was pants? Small biz has it worse
Ofcom: Only 56% of SMEs can access ‘superfast’ connections
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/12/11/small_businesses_worst_off_for_superfast_broadband_according_to_ofcom/
Smaller businesses tend to be worse off for broadband connections than average users, particularly in urban areas, according to an official report on the UK’s digital infrastructure.
Market regulator Ofcom said that its 2014 report underlined the importance of its new programme of work for small and medium enterprises (SMEs), which was announced in October. It found that 56 per cent of UK SMEs could currently access the latest “superfast” broadband connections, compared to 75 per cent average coverage. This gap was even more pronounced in urban areas, where 67 per cent SME coverage lagged significantly behind 83 per centaverage coverage.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Internet of Things will be like ecommerce – “must be included in it”
The Internet of Things is the magic word, which is currently on everyone’s lips.
In practice, it is the fact that the world will take over the small computers with sensors that can be placed anywhere. These small computers measure the environment, are connected to the network and store their data to cloud services, where the data is utilized in other systems.
Embedded systems, specialized Espotel CEO Kari Ramp (pictured) sees that the Internet of Things are currently at the same stage as the online store in the mid 1990s. Then it was believed that all are going fast network. Online Store breakthrough came, however, slower than expected.
“If the trader is not today’s online business, the spirit leaves. Also, the Internet of Things will come gradually, and companies are forced to be involved, ”
He believes that the objects were based applications are commonplace in enterprises in 10-15 years. Growth will take place at the beginning of a slow, but as the technology gains momentum, solutions based on the explosion spread by law.
The strip is explained by the Internet of Things has grown around the hype, the fact that both processors on the radio component prices have dropped. For example, the modules no longer pay one-third of what their price was a few years ago.
A small, industrial-made, network intelligence devices coupled components, the price can be 10 to 30 euros. When the background systems can be found in the cloud services, ready to go, and no longer need their own servers, the solution will be piloted to pay a few tens of thousands of euros. In the past, was even talk of a million.
Kari Liuska from Espotel is estimated that Finland can be found in all the Internet of Things solutions based on the creation of the necessary know-how – thanks to Nokia’s also a radio technology and embedded systems expertise.
“All over the world the required expertise is not. Finland is yes possibilities here. All you need is the courage and capital, ”
He raises one of the Internet of Things, for example, utilizes the start-up company Enevo, which has collected millions of private equity. The company develops technologies, which, for example, waste bins fill levels can be measured and sell this information to responsible for waste management.
Source: http://summa.talentum.fi/article/tv/uutiset/117381
Tomi Engdahl says:
Verizon Says Investment Will Be Unaffected by Net Neutrality Policy
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/12/11/verizon-says-investment-will-be-unaffected-by-net-neutrality-policy/?_r=0
A senior executive of Verizon, which successfully challenged the Federal Communications Commission’s 2010 net neutrality rules in federal court, said Tuesday that the company’s plans for future investment in its networks would not be affected even if the F.C.C. decides to begin regulating Internet access as a utility.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Qualcomm, Intel, and others speak out against Title II net neutrality
http://www.theverge.com/2014/12/10/7370009/qualcomm-intel-and-others-speak-out-against-title-ii-net-neutrality
Much of the fight over how to handle net neutrality has been between the two industries that have the most obvious stake in it: cable companies and web services. Today, though, 60 tech companies, including Intel, IBM, and Qualcomm, have signed a letter opposing reclassifying broadband service under Title II of the Telecommunications Act — a solution that’s favored by many of net neutrality’s supporters and President Barack Obama himself. The letter is addressed to members of Congress and the FCC, and it warns that this stricter regulation would stop companies from investing in broadband.
“Title II is going to lead to a slowdown, if not a hold, in broadband build out, because if you don’t know that you can recover on your investment, you won’t make it.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Multi-gigabits over the installed base of twisted-pair cabling
http://www.cablinginstall.com/articles/print/volume-22/issue-11/departments/editorial/multi-gigabits-over-the-installed-base-of-twisted-pair-cabling.html
An industry alliance launched in late October is on a mission to squeeze the most throughput possible out of the installed base of twisted-pair copper cabling. On October 27 the NBase-T Alliance announced itself to the world, headlined by Cisco and also including Aquantia, Freescale and Xilinx.
The alliance said it was established “to promote the development of 2.5- and 5-Gigabit Ethernet technology for enterprise infrastructure,” and that its founding “aligns with the demand for a unified approach to the deployment of faster data rates on twisted-pair copper cables matching the bandwidth increase driven by 802.11ac Wave 2 access points and other applications.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Euro phone, broadband giants are the 1% – yes, single-digit growth. Wow
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/12/12/telco_operators_back_in_black/
After six years in the dark, Europe’s telecoms providers see a light at the end of the tunnel. According to a new report commissioned by industry body ETNO, the sector should return to growth in 2016.
The association’s Annual Economic Report claims telecoms services revenues were 4 per cent lower in 2013 than the previous year at €252.8bn, but that rate of decline is expected to slow with 2014 revenues projected to be down by just 1.8 per cent, year on year.
The projected growth for 2016, however, is small – just 1 per cent.
Other findings include the news that by the end of 2014, fixed broadband subscriptions will outnumber traditional circuit-switched fixed lines for the first time.
According to the study, the EU is lagging behind the US in terms of investment.
Tomi Engdahl says:
MEASURING THE WEB’S GLOBAL IMPACT
http://thewebindex.org/
Tomi Engdahl says:
WWW: Finnish internet is the world’s freest
Finnish web may be the second best score in the World Wide Web Foundation’s annual report. In Finland is regarded as the world’s freest Internet and most transparent.
Figures show that the web has become less free and less equal.
The best score will go for the Nordic countries and Britain. Web space is the best in Denmark, followed by Finland, Norway, the UK and Sweden. The following countries are the United States, Iceland and South Korea. Experience the poorest score remained in Ethiopia and Myanmar. Most of the Internet in China’s investment was 44.
Scoring is taken into account in the general availability of the web, the appropriate contents and use of, the freedom and openness, and an empowering effect.
- What are richer and better educated people are, the more benefits they will receive the digital revolution
Sir Tim Berners-Lee recognize the internet as a human right:
- It means guaranteed, economically viable Internet connection for all and ensuring that the Internet data packets are delivered without political or commercial discrimination. It also means web users privacy and freedom, regardless of where they live.
Source: http://www.digitoday.fi/yhteiskunta/2014/12/12/www-suomen-internet-on-maailman-vapain/201417129/66?rss=6
MEASURING THE WEB’S GLOBAL IMPACT
http://thewebindex.org/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Alliance Prepping for Ethernet in the Industrial IoT
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1324942&
Professional audio/video (AV) distribution and industrial control have more in common than you might have thought. For one, they both have a need for low-latency, deterministic, high-bandwidth networking connectivity for time-critical distribution of information. Now they also have in common the Ethernet standards and the AVnu Alliance.
Now, the Alliance is gearing up to do the same thing for the emerging Time Sensitive Networking (TSN) extension of Ethernet AVB for industrial and automotive applications. As part of its expanded focus, the Alliance has added new members Belden, General Electric, and National Instruments to a lineup that already included such companies as Broadcom, Cisco, Intel, and Xilinx.
TSN is an expansion on Ethernet that targets industrial networking requirements, aiming to keep worst-case delays under 4 µseconds per hop (at 1 Gbit/s for short messages). It also aims to improve network robustness by providing alternative paths and multiple clock paths with instantaneous switchover, along with seamless redundancy using multiple simultaneous streams. The standard further aims to be scalable to large installations by reducing management traffic needed for configuration and bandwidth reservations.
“What’s driving the need for an industrial Ethernet standard is the Internet of Things,” says Walter. “There is a convergence of servers, data, analytics, and visualization occurring. Each has existed in its own silo, but the IoT is bringing those pieces together.”
“For the industrial IoT to work,” says Dan Sexton, project leader at GE Global Research, “we need a set of standards everyone can conform to and get the data flowing. Ethernet has tended to be a rallying point for industrial systems, but there have been concerns over a lack of determinism. The goal of TSN is to resolve the problems and create an even stronger rallying point.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Designing Wireless Mesh Networks
Posted Dec 11, 2014 at 8:00 am
http://www.eeweb.com/company-blog/renesas/designing-wireless-mesh-networks
This white paper presents designing mesh networks with the IEEE 802.15.6 and the iPv6 over 6LoWPAN technology that adds an adaptation layer between IEEE 802.15.4 and iPv6. The paper presents a Renesas RL78-family microcontroller for practical illustration with the components available today.
The ubiquitous Internet now has 1.4 billion users; it connects together a huge number of different networks and applications, enabling new business models, boosting operational margins, and reducing costs in countless ways. Yet until just a few years ago, the Internet Protocol (IP) was considered unsuitable for wireless sensor networks. Since then though, electronics technology has advanced, standard link protocols have emerged, and IP technology has evolved to the point that the wireless embedded Internet is now achievable and immensely practical.
The Internet of Things encompasses all embedded devices and networks that are natively IP enabled and Internet connected. Once their outputs and controls are accessible on the Internet, endless possibilities open up for new applications and business opportunities, including the following:
Home and building automation systems
Healthcare automation and logistical systems
Smart meeting and smart grid infrastructures
Equipment for improving energy efficiency
Real-time environmental monitoring and control equipment
Industrial automation systems
Vehicle management functions
Facility management systems
Some of the embedded devices now applied in these applications will continue to use wired communication connections. However, increasing numbers of them will achieve connectivity via wireless links. This trend is growing rapidly and will accelerate in the future.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Competition For A Place In The Internet of Things
http://www.tripwire.com/state-of-security/security-awareness/competition-for-a-place-in-the-internet-of-things-2/
The Internet of Things (IoT) is the newest buzzword on the block as it promises to connect our lives together in an ecosystem that understands how we live, work and play.
Whether we want to turn on the heat at our homes, use a webcam at work to connect with our international colleagues or be able to maintain our cars with the push of a button, the Internet of Things has the ability to help us connect the components of our lives into a mesh of interoperability.
However, it also has the potential to be a minefield of vulnerabilities that unsavory actors may want to exploit.
There is no shortage of information about the product horizons and possibilities for IoT—the options are endless. With this blue ocean opportunity, I believe the competition to be first to market will drive products to end users quickly (and often prematurely, from a security perspective).
Tomi Engdahl says:
IoT Will Give ‘Embedded’ a Shot in the Arm
Connected cities to be largest IoT market
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1324987&
On the assumption that missing Internet of Things (IoT) standards are developed over the next several years IC Insights forecasts that web-connected things will account for 85 percent of 29.5 billion Internet connections worldwide by 2020.
The sales generated by the connectivity and sensor subsystems to enabled this IoT will amount $48.3 billion in 2014 and grow 19 percent in 2015 to $57.7 billion. By 2018, the market value of IoT subsystems in equipment and Internet-connected things is projected to reach $103.6 billion worldwide, which represents a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 21.0 percent from $39.8 billion in 2013
At the level of the ICs, discrete and sensor semiconductors that go into connectivity and sensor subsystems IC Insights reckons the value was $3.9 billion in 2014. This is set to grow by 19 percent in 2015 to $5.6 billion and rise to $11.5 billion in 2018 representing a CAGR of 24.3 percent over the period 2013 to 2018.
The annual growth figure for 2015 is considerably lower than that provided by another market forecaster Gartner Inc.
Tomi Engdahl says:
IoT Metro Network Race Is On
Sigfox plans narrowband U.S., satellite nets
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1324960&
A startup based near Toulouse, France, hopes to raise more than $70 million to build a national network in the US for the Internet of Things. Sigfox hopes to close funding early next year in what it sees as a race to be the first with a broadly deployed wide-area IoT network.
The company says it has a lead with national IoT nets using ISM-band transceivers that have already been deployed in France and Spain and are in the works in the UK. It also has an unnamed partner with whom it hopes to put base stations on satellites for a future IoT network with global coverage.
The ambitious effort is part of the latest race to create low-power, wide-area networks. At least half a dozen companies (including Huawei, China’s top communications company) are engaged in separate efforts taking different approaches, many at an early stage.
The efforts face competition from entrenched cellular operators, whose prices they hope to undercut with offerings that have longer battery life and range but much lower data rates. An emerging standard for WiFi on the ISM band is likely to spawn other competitors among the big WiFi vendors, including Qualcomm.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Top 2014 Acquisitions that Advanced the Internet of Things
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1324935&
It’s undeniable: 2014 was the year when the electronics industry decidedly and collectively moved forward to push the Internet of Things (IoT).
For evidence, look no further than the myriad mergers and acquisitions among chip vendors, system companies, and software vendors this year — many in the IoT space. Beyond the usual reasons for consolidation (economy of scale, eliminating competition, expanding revenue), many companies scrambled to make deals specifically to get IoT technologies and products that were missing from their portfolios.
Google’s acquisition of Nest Labs in January 2014
Among M&A deals consummated in 2014 were Samsung’s picking up SmartThings, Facebook buying Oculus, a VR technology company, and Intel acquiring Basis Science, a smartwatch startup. At first look, these seem unrelated. But tie the common threads of IoT and wearables together, and an unstoppable market movement emerges.
Accordingly, many other chip vendors and sensor algorithm companies also jumped on the IoT bandwagon, in hopes of laying the groundwork for more useful and cost-effective IoT devices.
Sensors, MCUs, and wireless connectivity are three obvious building blocks for IoT end-node devices. Tony Massimini, chief of technology at Semico Research, adds to the list “power management, algorithm (sensor fusion), and embedded security,” driving the IoT market.
Among these prerequisites, “wireless connectivity and software (algorithms)” are the two most sought-after technologies, Massimini observes. Indeed, many M&As in 2014 have been built around those two. Expect more in 2015.
Cooley described sensor algorithms as an “IP minefield” where vendors need to look for the right partners.
Under threat
Massimini, while forecasting the number of connected devices to reach 36 billion units by 2020, cautions that “all of this new market opportunity is under threat.”
It’s because “at each point in the IoT there are vulnerabilities to malicious attacks and interception of vital information,” he says. Noting the importance of security for IoT, Massimini asks: “How valuable is the data and/or the process that must be protected? What are the consequences of not having security?” While no specific M&A moves in 2014 answered those questions, they are likely to dog the IoT industry for years to come.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Vodafone poised to ink chumship pact with T-Mobile and get back into US enterprise
Just 900 customers need apply – NOT consumers
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/12/15/vodafone_back_in_the_us_with_tmobile/
Vodafone is poised to do an MVNO deal with T-Mobile US to get back into the US market.
The aim is to provide Vodafone’s global customers with an international option, that’s the 400 multinational companies in the US and 500 companies which are based outside the US but which have a large US presence.
The US is going to 4G much faster than Europe, and so Vodafone is touting its good European 4G coverage as a reason why those big customers in the US should have a Vodafone contract that lets them roam onto the 16 Vodafone markets which have 4G and the 11 others which don’t yet. Vodafone offers 4G roaming in 40 countries.
The Vodafone enterprise services include telecommunications expense management, security products, cloud services, M2M services and Vodafone OneNet fixed-mobile converged products. These last give mobile phones landline numbers that can be diverted to colleagues and groups of colleagues. The system is heavily IP based.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Nokia to drive intelligence to the edge of the network
ETSI has been established under the leadership of the Nokia standardization working group in order to obtain more intelligence to the mobile network to the edges. MEC Group (Mobile-edge computing) The first meeting was held in early December in Munich, Nokia Networks chair.
MEC Group’s objective is to increase the IT and cloud computing in the radio network. Such a new computing power to increase either the base station or radio network controller (Radio Network Controller). The goal is to complete a five technical specification middle of next year at the latest.
Source: http://www.etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2207:nokia-ajaa-alya-verkon-reunalle&catid=13&Itemid=101
Tomi Engdahl says:
TalkTalk customers demand opt-out fix for telco’s DNS ad-jacking tactics
Error Replacement Service is a neat moneyspinner for ISP
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/12/15/talktalk_error_replacement_service_opt_out/
Budget ISP TalkTalk has been accused of forcing customers to remain opted into a so-called Error Replacement Service that swaps NXDomain DNS results with an IP address.
The option to turn off the system has been busted for months now, but subscribers are still waiting for TalkTalk to fix the error with the Error Replacement Service.
“The cynic would say TalkTalk’s apparent slowness in fixing the issue could be because the ‘service’ generates money for TalkTalk and they don’t want people to opt out,” he argued.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Shuddit, Obama! Here in Blighty, we ISPs have net neutrality nailed
BT and competition together at last
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/11/12/obama_net_neutrality_uk_perspective/
Analysis As we saw from Vodafone’s announcement on Tuesday, competition in the broadband market is thriving here in the UK. So, should consumers be fretting about the fierce net neutrality debate going on across the Atlantic?
The European Commission, steered by former unelected digi czar “Steelie” Neelie Kroes, would very much like it if we fell into step with the Americans backing that campaign, which – as we saw at the start of this week – now has direct support from President Obama, a man who thinks that the internet (a network of networks), should be treated like a utility.
We watched how the debate largely fizzled out in Europe in April, when telecom regulatory measures put forward by Kroes were waved through by the European Parliament ahead of tense negotiations with member states in the 28-nation bloc.
But the concept of “net neutrality”, while winning overwhelming support from MEPs at the time, remains exactly that. So far, Slovenia and the Netherlands are the only EU countries to have adopted a law that states that all traffic on the internet should be treated equally, even if the content – such as video-streaming – clogs up an ISP’s aged network pipes.
Tomi Engdahl says:
97% of UK gets ‘basic’ 2Mbps broadband. ‘Typical households’ need 10Mbps – Ofcom
Talks up ‘ultrafast’ connections though rural ones still pants
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/12/09/blighty_broadband_2mbps_be_ok_but_we_need_10mbps_and_then_1gbps/
Most Brits can get broadband at home these days, according to regulator Ofcom, but the service is still pretty patchy.
The telecoms authority said 97 per cent of folks in Blighty are able to get at least basic broadband of 2Mbps, and altogether 15 per cent of people are stuck below the 10Mbps mark.
Ofcom considers this speed – 10Mbps – the typical requirement for a household in these days of video streaming and near-constant connectivity.
“Fixed broadband technology is almost universally available and the average download speed for the entire UK is currently 23Mbps,” the regulator said in its infrastructure report. “However, broadband speeds available to consumers vary considerably.”
“There is emerging evidence that a typical household requires a download speed of around 10Mbps. Below this level, demand is likely to be constrained,” the report said.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Govt Docs Reveal Canadian Telcos Promise Surveillance Ready Networks
http://news.slashdot.org/story/14/12/15/158256/govt-docs-reveal-canadian-telcos-promise-surveillance-ready-networks
Michael Geist reports that Canadian telecom and Internet providers have tried to convince the government that they will voluntarily build surveillance capabilities into their networks. Hoping to avoid legislative requirements
Government Documents Reveal Canadian Telcos Envision Surveillance-Ready Networks
http://www.michaelgeist.ca/2014/12/government-documents-reveal-canadian-telcos-envision-surveillance-ready-networks-2/
After years of failed bills, public debate, and considerable controversy, lawful access legislation received royal assent last week. Public Safety Minister Peter MacKay’s Bill C-13 lumped together measures designed to combat cyberbullying with a series of new warrants to enhance police investigative powers, generating criticism from the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, civil liberties groups, and some prominent victims rights advocates. They argued that the government should have created cyberbullying safeguards without sacrificing privacy.
Perhaps the most notable revelation is that Internet providers have tried to convince the government that they will voluntarily build surveillance capabilities into their networks.
In light of the standardization of the interception capabilities, the memo notes that the Canadian providers argue that “the telecommunications market will soon shift to a point where interception capability will simply become a standard component of available equipment, and that technical changes in the way communications actually travel on communications networks will make it even easier to intercept communications.”
In other words, Canadian telecom providers are telling the government there is no need for legally mandated surveillance and interception functionality since they will be building networks that will feature those capabilities by default.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Communications > Infrastructure
Intel, IBM and Cisco team up to fight net neutrality by reclassifying the internet
Believe it will harm infrastructure development
http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2386622/intel-ibm-and-cisco-team-up-to-fight-net-neutrality-by-reclassifying-the-internet
THE BIGGEST NAMES in hardware have teamed up to send an open letter to the US Federal Communications Commission decrying proposals to reclassify the internet as a Title II utility.
The letter is signed by representatives from 60 companies, including big name corporations such as IBM, Cisco, Broadcom, D-Link and Intel, and states that they believe such a move would lead to people being “hurt by the reduced capital spend in broadband networks that would occur if broadband is classified under Title II”.
It goes on to explain that such draconian measures are not necessary to ensure an open internet, before insisting that their claims are “not idle speculation or fear mongering”.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Ofcom mulls selling UK govt’s IPv4 cache amid IPv6 rollout flak
Strategy picked apart by own expert
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/12/16/is_ofcom_holding_back_the_uks_internet_future_to_line_it_own_pockets/
The UK is in danger of falling behind the rest of the world in rolling out IPv6 networking, while Ofcom sees pound signs and focuses on workarounds, it’s claimed.
In a thought-provoking blog post, internet policy expert Emily Taylor digs into the UK’s adoption of IPv6 – an upgrade to internet infrastructure that experts have been pushing for more than a decade.
As the pool of available IPv4 addresses runs dry, the shift to IPv6 seems obvious, given the tech world is bracing for a possible explosion in internet-connected things, each potentially using IPv6.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Microsoft whips out real-time translator for Skype calls
Babel Fish in your ear not required
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/12/15/skype_translator_preview/
Microsoft has rolled out a public preview of Skype Translator, its long-ballyhooed service that provides Star Trek–style real-time translation for voice calls and online chats.
“We’ve invested in speech recognition, automatic translation and machine learning technologies for more than a decade, and now they’re emerging as important components in this more personal computing era,” Microsoft corporate VP Gurdeep Pall wrote in a blog post.
Redmond first unveiled the system at a conference in May, saying it hoped to launch a public beta later in the year. The service is now available to people who sign up for the preview program, and at launch it supports 40 instant messaging languages and two spoken ones: English and Spanish.
Over the long term, however, Pall said the goal was for Skype to be able to auto-translate “as many languages as possible.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Ultra-low-power SoC for long-range Internet of Things connectivity
http://www.edn.com/electronics-products/other/4437911/Ultra-low-power-SoC-for-long-range-Internet-of-Things-connectivity?_mc=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_productsandtools_20141215&cid=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_productsandtools_20141215&elq=091eed0dee924b0587de560c61050292&elqCampaignId=20675
The AX8052F143 SoC from AXSEM is based on the AX8052 MCU and has been certified SIGFOX-Ready for two-way connectivity.
The IC, library and development system from AXSEM enable IoT developers to easily use SIGFOX’s long-range, two-way wireless Internet-dedicated network. This combination of low costs, lowest-power consumption and international coverage makes the SoC ideal for environmental sensors, smart meters, patient monitors, security devices, streetlights and many more applications.
The AX8052F143 receives with 9.5 mA current and -129 dBm sensitivity at 600 bps GFSK. The chip features a 6 dBm transmitter with only 10 mA current consumption
The IC covers the 27 to 1050 MHz frequency range.
http://www.sigfox.com/en/
Tomi Engdahl says:
JDSU now offering virtualized network test capabilities
http://www.cablinginstall.com/articles/2014/12/jdsu-virtualized-network-test.html
JDSU (NASDAQ: JDSU) says it now offers RFC 6349 testing as a virtualized network function (VNF). The new TrueSpeed VNF software package can reduce costs and truck rolls, says JDSU, and is interoperable with the company’s hardware-based TrueSpeed capabilities contained within StrataSync-enabled T-BERD/MTS handheld network test and measurement instruments. RFC 6349 is an IETF standard set of tests that measure the end-to-end throughput of TCP transmissions. It also enables troubleshooting of underperforming links.
“Offering the TrueSpeed VNF recognizes the fact that network performance that was once predictable in a dedicated, hardware-based network appliance may now be affected in new ways when a new virtual network element is installed,” said a company product manager. “For example, physical links between network equipment that previously had been accessible for monitoring and troubleshooting are being replaced by virtual interfaces, with functional connections within software in the same or different physical servers. Therefore, test capabilities must be virtualized as well.”
Use of the TrueSpeed VNF has three principal benefits, which JDSU asserts as follows:
– It enables RFC 6349 compliance testing remotely, without the need to dispatch a field technician or dedicated test equipment.
– It enables network technicians to ensure high-quality service delivery through automated evaluation of performance between various Internet points of presence, data centers, and network handoffs. Operators can leverage their installed base of server resources to evaluate customer experience and provide actionable information.
– When field technicians need to be involved, these technicians can use TrueSpeed VNF as the far-end for their RFC 6349-compliant tests without a second device or technician.