In few years there’ll be close to 4bn smartphones on earth. Ericsson’s annual mobility report forecasts increasing mobile subscriptions and connections through 2020.(9.5B Smartphone Subs by 2020 and eight-fold traffic increase). Ericsson’s annual mobility report expects that by 2020 90% of the world’s population over six years old will have a phone. It really talks about the connected world where everyone will have a connection one way or another.
What about the phone systems in use. Now majority of the world operates on GSM and HPSA (3G). Some countries are starting to have good 4G (LTE) coverage, but on average only 20% is covered by LTE. 4G/LTE small cells will grow at 2X the rate for 3G and surpass both 2G and 3G in 2016.
Ericsson expects that 85% of mobile subscriptions in the Asia Pacific, the Middle East, and Africa will be 3G or 4G by 2020. 75%-80% of North America and Western Europe are expected to be using LTE by 2020. China is by far the biggest smartphone market by current users in the world, and it is rapidly moving into high-speed 4G technology.
The sales of mobile broadband routers and mobile broadband “usb sticks” is expected to continue to drop. In year 2013 those devices were sold 87 million units, and in 2014 sales dropped again 24 per cent. Chinese Huawei is the market leader (45%), so it has most to loose on this.
Small cell backhaul market is expected to grow. ABI Research believes 2015 will now witness meaningful small cell deployments. Millimeter wave technology—thanks to its large bandwidth and NLOS capability—is the fastest growing technology. 4G/LTE small cell solutions will again drive most of the microwave, millimeter wave, and sub 6GHz backhaul growth in metropolitan, urban, and suburban areas. Sub 6GHz technology will capture the largest share of small cell backhaul “last mile” links.
Technology for full duplex operation at one radio frequency has been designed. The new practical circuit, known as a circulator, that lets a radio send and receive data simultaneously over the same frequency could supercharge wireless data transfer, has been designed. The new circuit design avoids magnets, and uses only conventional circuit components. The radio wave circulator utilized in wireless communications to double the bandwidth by enabling full-duplex operation, ie, devices can send and receive signals in the same frequency band simultaneously. Let’s wait to see if this technology turns to be practical.
Broadband connections are finally more popular than traditional wired telephone: In EU by the end of 2014, fixed broadband subscriptions will outnumber traditional circuit-switched fixed lines for the first time.
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 projected growth for 2016, however, is small – just 1 per cent.
With headwinds and tailwinds, how high will the cabling market fly? Cabling for enterprise local area networks (LANs) experienced growth of between 1 and 2 percent in 2013, while cabling for data centers grew 3.5 percent, according to BSRIA, for a total global growth of 2 percent. The structured cabling market is facing a turbulent time. Structured cabling in data centers continues to move toward the use of fiber. The number of smaller data centers that will use copper will decline.
Businesses will increasingly shift from buying IT products to purchasing infrastructure-as-a-service and software-as-a-service. Both trends will increase the need for processing and storage capacity in data centers. And we need also fast connections to those data centers. This will cause significant growth in WiFi traffic, which will will mean more structured cabling used to wire access points. Convergence also will result in more cabling needed for Internet Protocol (IP) cameras, building management systems, access controls and other applications. This could mean decrease in the installing of special separate cabling for those applications.
The future of your data center network is a moving target, but one thing is certain: It will be faster. The four developments are in this field are: 40GBase-T, Category 8, 32G and 128G Fibre Channel, and 400GbE.
Ethernet will more and more move away from 10, 100, 1000 speed series as proposals for new speeds are increasingly pushing in. The move beyond gigabit Ethernet is gathering pace, with a cluster of vendors gathering around the IEEE standards effort to help bring 2.5 Gbps and 5 Gbps speeds to the ubiquitous Cat 5e cable. With the IEEE standardisation process under way, the MGBase-T alliance represents industry’s effort to accelerate 2.5 Gbps and 5 Gbps speeds to be taken into use for connections to fast WLAN access points. Intense attention is being paid to the development of 25 Gigabit Ethernet (25GbE) and next-generation Ethernet access networks. There is also development of 40GBase-T going on.
Cat 5e vs. Cat 6 vs. Cat 6A – which should you choose? Stop installing Cat 5e cable. “I recommend that you install Cat 6 at a minimum today”. The cable will last much longer and support higher speeds that Cat 5e just cannot support. Category 8 cabling is coming to data centers to support 40GBase-T.
Power over Ethernet plugfest planned to happen in 2015 for testing power over Ethernet products. The plugfest will be focused on IEEE 802.3af and 802.3at standards relevant to IP cameras, wireless access points, automation, and other applications. The Power over Ethernet plugfest will test participants’ devices to the respective IEEE 802.3 PoE specifications, which distinguishes IEEE 802.3-based devices from other non-standards-based PoE solutions.
Gartner expects that wired Ethernet will start to lose it’s position in office in 2015 or in few years after that because of transition to the use of the Internet mainly on smartphones and tablets. The change is significant, because it will break Ethernet long reign in the office. Consumer devices have already moved into wireless and now is the turn to the office. Many factors speak on behalf of the mobile office. Research predicts that by 2018, 40 per cent of enterprises and organizations of various solid defines the WLAN devices by default. Current workstations, desktop phone, the projectors and the like, therefore, be transferred to wireless. Expect the wireless LAN equipment market to accelerate in 2015 as spending by service providers and education comes back, 802.11ac reaches critical mass, and Wave 2 products enter the market.
Scalable and Secure Device Management for Telecom, Network, SDN/NFV and IoT Devices will become standard feature. Whether you are building a high end router or deploying an IoT sensor network, a Device Management Framework including support for new standards such as NETCONF/YANG and Web Technologies such as Representational State Transfer (ReST) are fast becoming standard requirements. Next generation Device Management Frameworks can provide substantial advantages over legacy SNMP and proprietary frameworks.
U.S. regulators resumed consideration of mergers proposed by Comcast Corp. and AT&T Inc., suggesting a decision as early as March: Comcast’s $45.2 billion proposed purchase of Time Warner Cable Inc and AT&T’s proposed $48.5 billion acquisition of DirecTV.
There will be changes in the management of global DNS. U.S. is in the midst of handing over its oversight of ICANN to an international consortium in 2015. The National Telecommunications and Information Association, which oversees ICANN, assured people that the handover would not disrupt the Internet as the public has come to know it. Discussion is going on about what can replace the US government’s current role as IANA contract holder. 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.
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Tomi Engdahl says:
Test AOCs during design and production
http://www.edn.com/design/test-and-measurement/4440728/Test-AOCs-during-design-and-production?_mc=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_today_20151117&cid=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_today_20151117&elq=87be80ba777e408d965a7a3d084c2335&elqCampaignId=25754&elqaid=29323&elqat=1&elqTrackId=8a2a0099396e4c719ea90b655eb13a73
As communication data rates increase, maximum propagation distances over copper cable decrease. This trend is driving the use of fiber-optic links to shorter distances. Already well established in the telecom and datacom markets, optical fiber is now poised to find applications in the consumer and industrial markets.
Consumer protocols such as USB and Thunderbolt are achieving data rates of 10 Gbits/s today. Thus, the reach of traditional copper interconnects has become limited to a few meters. Optics can remove the distance limitations and enable longer-reach applications with a thinner and lighter cable. These data rates are more than adequate for most applications in the consumer and industrial space because their reach ranges from a few meters to tens of meters. Active optical cables (AOCs), which maintain electrical connections, are ideal to address the higher-speed longer-reach portion of the consumer and industrial market.
To be successful in the consumer or industrial market, optical cables need to be robust—both optically and mechanically—and low cost.
While the data transmission performance of optical links is still important in consumer and industrial applications, the prerequisites for the market—size, robustness and low cost—require certain tradeoffs during design. Testing during the manufacturing process and during system design further ensures each element of the design performs to spec despite manufacturing variability, which reduces waste and cost.
To be widely accepted in the consumer market, optical solutions have to be small, rugged, and low-cost while still maintaining a minimum optical power throughput or maximum optical loss (i.e. the “optical link budget”). Mechanical robustness of an optical fiber can be improved by reducing the overall fiber diameter as it reduces bend-induced stress.
Similarly, the core diameter can be reduced to slightly improve the optical bend loss by increasing confinement of the optical signal, but at the severe penalty of reduced ease of optical coupling.
As an extreme example, SMF (single-mode fiber) with typically an 8 µm core would need 10× or better alignment accuracies to maintain the same optical coupling compared to MMF (multimode fiber) with typically a 50 µm core.
Because consumer and industrial applications cover distances of less than a few hundred meters, MMF—with better optical coupling and shorter propagation distance—is the better choice. To improve the bend performance and optical coupling for these applications, Corning developed the ClearCurve VSDN fiber. This fiber has a reduced diameter from the typical 125 µm to 100 µm to mechanically provide a bend radius as low as 1.5 mm.
To also improve the optical coupling performance, the core diameter was increased from the typical 50 µm of a standard MMF to the 80 µm for VSDN.
With the increased core diameter and the index contrast for the ClearCurve VSDN fiber, the loss is reduced to 1 dB at a bend radius of 1.5 mm. The ClearCurve VSDN fiber was able to achieve error-free transmission of up to 10 Gbits/s over 100 m.
The cable provides another opportunity to improve on robustness. With a fiber designed for robust optical transmission and mechanical flexibility, the protective cable was then designed to allow for bends as small as 1.5 mm radius.
The cable cross-section (Figure 4) shows a slotted interior design that protects the fiber while the cable remains thin and flexible to allow for inadvertent pinching.
The slot lets the fibers move freely, which minimizes their degree of bending.
One challenging aspect to optical systems in consumer applications is the small packaging requirements. The fiber, fiber connection mechanism, any coupling optics, optoelectronics, and electronics all have to fit in a small space defined by the USB or Thunderbolt specification.
For cost considerations, the VCSEL (vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser) is a better choice than an edge-emitting laser in part due to the optical profile, but mainly due to the cost of the components. Consequently, the design of the optical system was defined by using a VCSEL and the VSDN fiber.
There are two methods to connect the fiber to the VCSEL or PD (photodiode), one that requires an electrical turn and the other an optical turn. For USB 3.1 Gen1, with speeds up to 5 Gbit/s, an electrical turn enables the lowest cost design. At 10 Gbits/s Thunderbolt and USB 3.1 Gen2 requires a slightly costlier design that utilizes an optical turn.
With either implementation, the biggest constraint is fitting within the low headroom of the cable end. An electrical turn, as implemented in USB, provides for a lower cost option due to the lack of coupling optics needed with direct coupling between the fiber and the VCSELs/PDs
Direct coupling typically requires mounting the VCSEL and PDs on a plane perpendicular to that of the PCB.
Direct coupling has the potential to allow for large misalignment tolerances if a relatively significant amount of optical loss is acceptable.
The addition of focusing optics can achieve better nominal coupling efficiency, especially at higher data rates (Thunderbolt, USB 3.1 Gen2) where PDs have a smaller aperture and reduced sensitivity (i.e. more light is needed to detect the signal over the higher noise floor). A low-cost option is a precision molded lens inserted between the fiber end-face and the VCSEL/PD.
Optical design plays an important role in lowering assembly costs.
70 µm diameter PD, typical VCSEL, and VSDN fiber. The Thunderbolt design shows that large misalignment tolerances of ±25 µm are achievable
We performed a number of tests to measure the optical and electrical signals and find the desired operation points.
For the end-to-end electronic signal, large signal analysis using a bit-error rate tester and a real-time oscilloscope was used to assess how these tradeoffs affected the quality of the electrical eye diagram and error-free transmission.
Once the design and parameters were specified, the AOC was ready for manufacturing. It is, however, important to test throughout the manufacturing process, which lets us scrap defective parts early. With this in mind, after assembly of the board, which includes the PDs, VCSELs, and coupling optics (module with the TIR, lenses and v-grooves), the board is tested to meet optical performance metrics using a golden cable assembly. Once two known good boards are verified using the golden assembly, they are assembled together to form the AOC. Prior to placing the mechanical strain relief and overmold that form the end connectors, we test the end-to-end cable again to ensure it was built within manufacturing tolerances.
As data rates continue to rise, electrical signal transmission over shorter and shorter distances becomes increasingly impractical. As a result, optical fiber is now poised to find applications in the consumer and industrial markets. Protocols such as USB and Thunderbolt, which can achieve data rates of 10 Gbits/s extend the reach of traditional copper interconnects.
Harry says:
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Tomi Engdahl says:
Data center fire kills Internet in Azerbaijan
http://www.datacenterdynamics.com/critical-environment/data-center-fire-kills-internet-in-azerbaijan/95227.article
About 90 percent of the country’s networks went down on Monday
Almost the entire population of Azerbaijan lost Internet connectivity on Monday, after a fire broke out at a telecommunications facility owned by Delta Telecom.
According to network performance specialist Dyn, the outage affected services provided by NTT, Telecom Italia, Telia, Level 3, Rostelecom and Transtelecom, as well as mobile network operator Azercell.
The only way to access Internet services for nearly eight hours was through local mobile operators Backcell and Azerfon.
A single point of failure
Turns out the outage was caused by a fire at a Delta Telecom data center in the capital Baku. Delta Telecom is the primary network provider in Azerbaijan, responsible for around 90 percent of Internet traffic, and a major player in the Caucasus region.
According to a statement from Delta, some cables in an old data center caught fire.
Interestingly, no international traffic flowing though Azerbaijan was affected by the outage.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Azerbaijan’s Internet Goes Dark after Data Center Fire
http://www.datacenterknowledge.com/archives/2015/11/17/azerbaijans-internet-goes-dark-after-data-center-fire/
http://www.datacenterknowledge.com/archives/2015/11/17/azerbaijans-internet-goes-dark-after-data-center-fire/
According to Renesys, Azerbaijan is among countries whose risk of an internet shutdown is significant because of the low amount of networks that link it to the internet. Risk level is similar among its neighbors Iran, Georgia, Armenia, and Saudi Arabia.
Tomi Engdahl says:
A breakthrough new kind of wireless Internet
TEDGlobal>London
https://www.ted.com/talks/harald_haas_a_breakthrough_new_kind_of_wireless_internet#t-177541
What if we could use existing technologies to provide Internet access to the more than 4 billion people living in places where the infrastructure can’t support it? Using off-the-shelf LEDs and solar cells, Harald Haas and his team have pioneered a new technology that transmits data using light, and it may just be the key to bridging the digital divide. Take a look at what the future of the Internet could look like.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Nokia demonstrated the new low-power of LTE in Korea
NB-LTE is the technology that drives the Nokia firmly in radio technology for equipment related to the future Internet of Things. Now, Nokia has demonnut this technology in Korea with SK Telecom for the first time.
The network used in the demo was based on the Nokia Flexi Multi Radio 10 base stations. IoT devices were GCT Semiconductor. They were connected to the LTE modem, which used a new Power Saving Mode.
In practice, this status means that the modem is the power part of the time off. IoT device do not need to be constantly connected to the network. According to Nokia, this will enable the IoT, you can meet single battery / battery up to more than 10 years.
3GPP decided in September that NB-IoT a narrow band of IoT is driven by the organization technology web links IoT devices to cellular networks. It is a compromise between the various technologies, one of which was Nokia’s NB-LTE.
Source: http://etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3612:nokia-demosi-uutta-vahavirtaista-lte-ta-koreassa&catid=13&Itemid=101
Tomi Engdahl says:
Europe lags behind 5G-introduction
Networks
5G-development work is in many ways in its early stages and standardization work either not yet started. Yet Ericsson already dares to predict that by 2021 5G-users in the world is 150 million.
GSM, and even 3G networks in Europe pulled a development, but already in LTE and now 5G’s the case, Europe is Ericsson that dropped off the train. First, 5G networks imposes a South Korea, Japan, China and the United States.
Mobility Report forecasts Ericsson believes that, for example, in North America smartphone data traffic will grow from the current 3.8 GB to 22 GB per month.
In 2012, mobile video among all mobile networks offset bits is 70 per cent. Ericsson’s report, the share of mobile YouTube videos is currently 70 per cent. Netflix proportion will reach 20 per cent in many of the countries where service is available.
Source: http://etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3615:eurooppa-jalkijunassa-5g-kayttoonotossa&catid=13&Itemid=101
Tomi Engdahl says:
Toby Shapshak / Forbes:
Facebook expands its Free Basics services, bundling with free mobile data on Bharti Airtel Africa in 17 African countries
Facebook Adds More Free Services In Africa
http://www.forbes.com/sites/tobyshapshak/2015/11/17/facebook-adds-more-free-services-in-africa/
Facebook FB +0.95% Free Basic services will be provided with free mobile data for its users on Bharti Airtel Africa in 17 countries in Africa.
Facebook announced the deal – which will begin in Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon and Niger – at AfricaCom, a big, annual mobile industry event in Cape Town.
Free Basics is part of Facebook’s Internet.org initiative and aims to provide basic websites and other services “to introduce people to the internet and demonstrate how it adds value to their lives”. Part of this is providing basic information about health, education and finance to people in emerging markets.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg called it “a big day for connecting Africa”. In a Facebook post, he wrote: “Connecting people across the African continent is critical to our mission. We’re going to keep pushing forward to develop new ways to bring people online until the whole world is connected. Internet.org first launched in Zambia and today half of the 30 countries with Free Basics are in Africa.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Klint Finley / Wired:
Comcast says Stream TV, its IP cable service, doesn’t count against data caps because it isn’t offered over the Internet, but over its cable television network — Comcast May Have Found a Major Net Neutrality Loophole — Comcast may have found a major loophole in the Federal Communication …
Comcast May Have Found a Major Net Neutrality Loophole
http://www.wired.com/2015/11/comcast-may-have-found-a-major-net-neutrality-loophole/
Comcast may have found a major loophole in the Federal Communication Commission’s network neutrality regulations.
Earlier this month the company launched a new streaming video service for Comcast broadband customers called Stream TV. The service, which is only available in the greater Boston and Chicago areas so far, allows you to watch HBO as well as live local television stations on your computer, tablet or laptop. The catch is that the service will only work from your home.
That may sound like a big limitation, but it comes with a big perk for some users: Stream TV won’t count towards the 300GB data limit imposed on some Comcast broadband users. Since users who exceed that 300GB threshold are charged an extra $10 for every extra 50GB they use, up to $30 per month1, the $15-a-month Stream TV offering could be appealing to users worried that other video services, such as Netflix or Sling TV, will eat through their data allotment.
Comcast says this isn’t a violation of network neutrality law because, although you’re viewing Stream TV on your computer via your Comcast broadband connection, the service isn’t technically offered over the Internet, but over Comcast’s cable television network, much like its Xfinity Xbox 360 service, which allowed Xbox users to view video that didn’t count against t
Earlier this year the FCC passed the Open Internet Order, which bans internet service providers from giving preferential treatment to some internet traffic over other traffic, meaning that Comcast can’t deliberately slow down, say, Netflix streaming video while giving its own services a boost.
However, the agency hasn’t outright banned so-called “zero-rating,” which allows customers to download or stream data from certain services without having it count against their data limits. Instead, the agency will review these services on a case-by-case basis.
Comcast argues that Stream TV is actually a cable television service, not an Internet service, and as such doesn’t run afoul of regulations. More specifically, it’s an “IP cable” service, which is typically delivered over infrastructure shared with Internet service providers but subject to the same requirements as traditional cable television services, such as the inclusion of local programming and emergency broadcast services.
“Stream TV is an in-home IP-cable service delivered over Comcast’s cable network, not over the public Internet,” Comcast said in a statement.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Jon Brodkin / Ars Technica:
Wheeler says FCC will keep an eye on T-Mobile’s Binge On, which offers free data for some services, but calls it “highly innovative and highly competitive”
T-Mobile’s data cap exemption for video gets FCC chairman’s approval
Wheeler: T-Mobile zero-rating is “pro-competition” and “pro-innovation.”
http://arstechnica.com/business/2015/11/t-mobiles-data-cap-exemption-for-video-gets-fcc-chairmans-approval/
T-Mobile US drew some criticism for a new program that exempts certain online video services from data caps, but Federal Communications Commission Tom Wheeler today praised the carrier’s zero-rating plan.
“Binge On” exempts 24 services including Netflix, HBO, and Hulu from T-Mobile’s high-speed data limits while downgrading quality of video to reduce data usage. The FCC’s net neutrality rules don’t specifically ban such zero-rating schemes, but they allow for complaints with the commission judging on a case-by-case basis whether a practice “unreasonably interferes” with the ability of consumers to reach content or the ability of content providers to reach consumers.
If anyone were to file a complaint against T-Mobile’s video exemption, Wheeler doesn’t seem likely to stop the practice.
“Its clear in the Open Internet Order that we said we are pro-competition and pro-innovation,” Wheeler said today. “Clearly this meets both of those criteria. It’s highly innovative and highly competitive.
Tomi Engdahl says:
All Cisco certs add cloud, IoT, ‘business transformation’
Network admins: Go buy a tie and some kool-aid, diluted to 10 per cent of your marks
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/11/23/all_cisco_certs_add_cloud_iot_business_transformation/
Tomi Engdahl says:
All Cisco certs add cloud, IoT, ‘business transformation’
Network admins: Go buy a tie and some kool-aid, diluted to 10 per cent of your marks
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/11/23/all_cisco_certs_add_cloud_iot_business_transformation/
Cisco has announced a major refresh of its certification programs, all of which will henceforth include material on cloud, the internet of things, cloud, “network programmability” and “business transformation”.
Cloud and IoT are self-explanatory while “network programmability” is software-defined networking by another name. While Cisco is making much of the three topics’ inclusion representing a major modernisation of its certifications, “core” topics beyond the three new elements will account for 90 per cent of the available score in exams.
“Business transformation” is all about making sure networking pros can speak the language of colleagues capable of saying things like “building disruptive digital businesses” without a hint of irony or self-loathing.
The biggest changes will be felt by those studying for Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert (CCIE) and Cisco Certified Design Expert (CCDE) certifications, as all candidates will be directed into fields of study that “ensure that experts are equipped to participate in meaningful business discussions about these new technical areas that are shaping business strategy and operations.”
The Cisco Certified Network Associate qualification’s Security skein has changed and now “expands focus from network security to end-to-end IT security, with emphasis on core technologies and skills needed to maintain enterprise information systems.”
Cisco’s been trying to elevate the role of networking staff for years
Tomi Engdahl says:
Cisco slurps Acano for $700m
Brit video conferencing and collaboration biz to be assimilated by the borg
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/11/23/cisco_acano/
Cisco is to hoover up London-based video conferencing and collaboration tech outfit Acano for $700m.
The Uxbridge-based organisation, whose software bridges the gap between the physical and the cloud-based worlds, was founded in 2012 by former Cisco and Tandberg staffers. It has offices in the UK, US and Australia.
The conferencing and collaboration wares bring together services from Cisco, Lifesize, Tandberg and Microsoft, with the latter indulging users in full integration with Skype got Business and Lync.
Cisco said less than 10 per cent of conference rooms are connected via video and just one per cent of users have video system on their desktop.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Facebook Shifts Switch to 100G
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1328303&
Facebook announced it is working on a 100 Gbit/second top-of-rack Ethernet switch for its next-generation data centers. The news is another example of how big Internet companies are designing their own systems, chomping at the heels of leading-edge computing and semiconductor technology.
The Wedge 100 is a 32 x 100G switch said to use Broadcom’s latest Tomahawk switch chip with a 3.2 Tbit/s aggregate maximum throughput. As with all its designs, Facebook will make the hardware open source for others to make and use. It is expected to run a variant of open source Linux-based software called FBOSS Facebook currently uses on a 40G switch.
In August, a Facebook optics expert described plans to drive 100G costs to $1/Gbyte using an 100G transceiver with single-mode fiber. The design relaxed distance requirements to 500 meters down from 2km and eased specs on operating temperature and product lifetime. It is based on a QSFP28 pluggable form factor which uses four 25Gbit/second lanes.
Facebook did not provide details on when it expects to deploy the Wedge 100 or how it will handle aggregating data from the 100G TOR switches.
Less than 18 months ago, the Web giant announced its work on a 40Gbit/s TOR Ethernet switch, the first generation Wedge.
In March, the company showed its 16 x 40G Wedge based on a Broadcom Trident II chip
At the time Facebook engineers said there were working on a 32 x 100GE switch and had plans to use 100 and 400G optical links.
“We now use thousands [of Wedge 40 TOR switches] in production and expect to continue using it for a quite a while,”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Report predicts rising salaries for wireless network engineers in 2016
http://www.cablinginstall.com/articles/pt/2015/11/report-predicts-rising-salaries-for-wireless-network-engineers-in-2016.html?cmpid=EnlCIMCablingNewsNovember232015&eid=289644432&bid=1240370
According to Wireless Week, if you’re a wireless network engineer, you could be in for a big pay raise.
Some jobs are projected to see bigger pay bumps than others. According to the Robert Half Salary Guides, Wireless Network Engineers should next year expect to see a 9.7% salary increase from 2015, with an average starting salary range of $108, 750 – $150, 750.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Are the rules different for hyperscale data centers?
http://www.cablinginstall.com/articles/pt/2015/11/are-the-rules-different-for-hyperscale-data-centers.html?cmpid=EnlCIMCablingNewsNovember232015&eid=289644432&bid=1240370
“inside hyperscale data centers there is an insatiable appetite for the fastest equipment and connections possible — which means literal forklift updates every three years. It also means ordering equipment in such quantities that common market dynamics no longer apply. Unconventional technologies, flexible Ethernet and on-board optics, for example, become attractive.”
“Hyperscale data centers are huge, measuring in multiples of sports arenas, so finding space for another rack is not an issue. The problem is the lack of enough real estate on server faceplates. Vendors are working feverishly to make interconnect smaller and denser, but it’s a tough slog, and they still need to leave space for airflow vents.”
Rules Change for Hyperscale Data Centers
http://www.lightreading.com/data-center/data-center-infrastructure/rules-change-for-hyperscale-data-centers/d/d-id/719188
Inside hyperscale data centers there is an insatiable appetite for the fastest equipment and connections possible, which means literal forklift updates every three years. It also means ordering equipment in such quantities that common market dynamics no longer apply. Unconventional technologies, flexible Ethernet and on-board optics for example, become attractive.
Oh, and there seems to be little interest in white boxes at the hyperscale level.
Ever try to get a tour of a hyperscale data center? It’s easier to get a prom date with Mila Kunis
Microsoft Azure currently runs about 100 data centers globally, equipped with over 1.4 million servers (and counting), mostly running 10G and 40G, looking to ramp to 25G and 100G, Booth said.
Cloud computing is growing at such eye-popping rates that Microsoft Azure will install the fastest equipment and connectivity it can get the moment it can get it, Booth explained.
“We’re planning to go 50G to each server. Our core will be 100G. That leaves little difference between data center and core. That’s why we’re looking at 400G,” he said.
He noted that the IEEE committee developing the standard for 400G recently announced a ten-month slip in its schedule, so that the standard is now due in December of 2017.
“People ask me, are you interested in 400G? Yeah, I’d buy it today. 1.6 terabits? I’d buy it today.”
Ordinarily a vendor brings a product to the market and sales are slow at first as first adopters test it out. If successful, the sales chart will get the classic hockey stick appearance — relatively flat and then turning sharply upward.
When Microsoft Azure makes a major upgrade, it happens immediately. “We walk in and say we need tens of thousands of these things this week. It changes the economics,”
Microsoft is a member of the Consortium for On-Board Optics (COBO), along with Broadcom, Juniper, Cisco, Finisar, Intel and others. The idea is to just move the interconnect, which also shortens the distance between connections, which means cheaper copper cable remains practical.
With standard interconnect, if there’s a problem with interconnect, you just swap out the connector. With OBO, though, if something goes wrong, the problem is inaccessible.
To get to 40G, it is possible to combine four 10Gs. But there still isn’t support for freely mixing and matching any connection you want to get to any increment you want.
“I don’t want to be constrained to 100G,” Booth said. “You go 80 kilometers, 100 kilometers? That gets expensive. If I can get 1G more out of them, it’s worth it.”
Equinix specialises in interconnect and colocation. The company has 105 data centers, and it intends to have 150. Tarazi boasted of over 1,000 peering agreements, including the most connections with the biggest hyperscale data center companies.
“We connect with AWS, Azure, Cisco, IBM. You can send 80% of your traffic on one connection.”
The company is planning to have 12 to 20 switches in every data center. In order to scale up, the company went fully SDN, using Tail-f (now part of Cisco).
Tomi Engdahl says:
Will IoT Make Taxing the Internet Inevitable?
http://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=36&doc_id=1328310&
Following Ben Franklin’s logic, if IoT is as inevitable as death, taxes are sure to follow. Have we been living in a fool’s paradise with regard to the Internet?
Have we been living in a fool’s paradise with regard to the Internet? Do global power considerations mean that the Internet is about to become a limited resource and much more expensive, even taxed?
It looks likely that global chip sales will decline in 2015 compared with 2014 implying that average selling price erosion is exceeding unit supply increases. A decline in the value of the global chip market in the absence of an economic crash, a natural catastrophe, or at least an oversupply bubble, has been very rare.
One of the problems would seem to be that the smartphone, as killer product and market driver, has more or less run its course. Many people are hoping the next killer application will be the Internet of Things; nanoelectronics everywhere.
Think twice about that, because a nanoelectronics research compendium makes the point that — without several orders of magnitude reduction in power consumption in electronics — the projected roll outs of mobile data and the IoT could cause a global energy crisis as soon as 2020. That’s just over four years away.
It’s not just the billions of end-point “leaf nodes” that will be consuming power — probably battery power unless nanoelectronics can make the nodes autonomous — but the exabytes of data being generated and sent to and from data centers. According to Hoefflinger’s book that data processing is rising at a compound annual growth rate of 61 percent at present, and is simply not sustainable.
But if it is not sustainable, what is going to give way?
Unfortunately, one of the conclusions in the book is that the traditional evolutionary progress of electronics rarely allows radical solutions to come to market — even though radical solutions are now required to reduce power consumption.
So if the electronics industry cannot prevent the global electronics power budget from increasing rapidly then EITHER many more power stations must be built – but of what type – OR the public’s insatiable demand for the Internet must be stifled, probably by higher charges or taxation.
No One Likes Taxes
Building fossil fuel, nuclear and renewable power stations are all fraught with problems and Hoefflinger’s conclusion is that the world is unlikely, in the short term, to bring online the quantity of power stations required to meet the forecast Internet demand. So it seems that the future of the Internet is power-constrained.
But taxation and the Internet is traditionally a thorny question.
It would be hard, if not impractical, to create an equitable global taxation system for the Internet. But if we do nothing significant to reduce power consumption per node and across the network and allow data volumes to double every 18 months, by 2020 the Internet’s energy demand will rival the world’s total generation capacity, according to Hoefflinger’s book. At that point communities and governments will be forced to introduce rationing and to choose between power for essential infrastructure such as hospitals and transport, power for the lights, and power for the Internet.
Brownouts of the Internet will probably precede blackouts. They will likely manifest themselves as a gradual degradation of quality of service as ISPs are forced to make their own resource allocation decisions
At the same time businesses that are based on the Internet, such as Amazon, Facebook, Google, and just about everyone else will be saying this cannot be allowed to happen. There will be thoughts about first- and second-class access to the Internet and about top-down management of peak demand, just as there is with tariffs on electricity.
A Fool’s Paradise
Have we been living in a fool’s paradise that is about to come to an end with a sickening crunch?
Of course, any such crunch will be mediated by money in some way because as resources become scarce they go up in price. One possible outcome would be significantly higher and progressive charges from Internet Service Providers used to meet government levies to pay for investment in power generation, which is effectively a tax.
Tomi Engdahl says:
High-power PoE considerations: What you need to know
http://www.cablinginstall.com/articles/2015/11/high-power-poe-considerations.html?cmpid=EnlCIMCablingNewsNovember232015&eid=289644432&bid=1240370
Power over Ethernet (PoE) technology has been quietly gaining traction in the market ever since its launch in 2003, especially in Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) telephony and IP surveillance cameras. Today’s PoE landscape has effectively split into two broad categories: The first being non-standard applications with higher power delivery capabilities, such as Cisco’s UPoE 60W and HDBaseT’s 100W; and the second, IEEE standards-compliant 24.5 W 802.3at.
These non-standard applications create a significant paradigm shift in PoE possibilities. Power delivery through 1000 mA per pair and beyond is looming on the horizon. Steps will be necessary to ensure continued compatibility with this rapidly changing environment. To address this, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is actively working on 802.3bt with expectations of powering schemes up to a maximum of 100W. This standard is expected to be ratified in 2017.
High-Power PoE Considerations
When contemplating a major increase in power, there are many key considerations. In order to go from a four-pair 60-watt output to a 100-watt output the current load changes from 600mA/pair to 1000mA/pair when the voltage of the power sourcing equipment (PSE) is kept at 50 volts. At such a drastic current capacity change, issues such as heat generation, power losses and safety protocols at the equipment end need to be studied. Heat generation, in particular, can be a serious issue for cables
Due to concerns about increased temperature rise, IEEE commissioned the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) to not only define expectations and details of the new PoE system, but also peak operating parameters and equipment requirements. The excess heat generated from cabling systems (not designed for the increased power consumption) can cause insulation and cabling heat-aging degradation as well as data transmission attenuation issues.
By assuming a 45°C maximum ambient temperature and a generalized cable operating rating of 60°C, they allowed for 15 degrees of heat rise for durability and effective data cabling use.
Category cabling option and heat rise
The conventional recommendation of PoE systems is that increased power will relate to increased category cabling. For example in 802.3at PoE+, category 5e cabling is the most basic construction, which provides sufficient conductivity without heat generation issues, therefore it became the minimum requirement. The same recommendation by TIA and the IEEE task force can then be expected with 802.3bt with the specified 600mA/pair maximum. The reduced heat generation of higher category cables is inferred mostly from the more stringent attenuation requirements of higher category cabling, causing cable manufacturers to increase conductor size. For example, a typical category 5e cable is constructed with 24 AWG conductors, while typical category 6A has 23 AWG conductors. However, now that 1000mA/pair is a real possibility, it will redefine what is acceptable for PoE between 60 and 100 watts.
It is quite clear that heat generation becomes a real issue in many of the most common cable constructions installed (or available) today. However, it is not an ideal assumption to use category designation as a PoE classification rating, because the majority of the heat generated from running amperage is due to conductor size or the presence of a shield.
Currently, in applications where higher power usage is expected in excess of 50 watts, yet higher data transmission rates are not required, there are few, if any, options. To appropriately address the increased temperature rise one could be confined to using category 6A or category 6A F/UTP. The limiting factor of many devices, especially IP cameras, nurse call systems, building management controls and point-of-sale is power consumption, not data. This places a difficulty on premise designers to justify the use of higher category cabling or the need to pull a power source onto a location.
Specifically designed with larger conductors, these EfficienC Max cables offer reduced resistances, which directly reduces the amount of heat generated within a current-carrying cable.
There are real benefits to using specially designed PoE cabling with properties such as larger, lower-gauge conductors and higher temperature cable ratings for the majority of PoE applications. Aside from having confidence that the cable will withstand higher temperature operations and generate lower temperatures, energy savings and efficiency are also considerations when deploying a large scale PoE infrastructure.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Europe gets new mobile frequencies
The International Telecommunications Union, ITU decided to ongoing WRC15 radio meeting of the 694-790 MHz frequency band reserved for the Europe for mobile broadband. The decision is important in so far that in the past the same area is reserved for mobile use in other parts of the world.
Harmonization in the global facilitates helps hardware manufacturers, because the same terminal or modem works everywhere.
Source: http://etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3647:eurooppaan-uusia-mobiiitaajuuksia&catid=13&Itemid=101
Tomi Engdahl says:
Nokia demonstrated the importance of a new frequency
Operators have a persistent shortage of frequencies, but Nokia is in conjunction with Deutsche Telekom has demoed LTE-Advanced at 3.5 GHz band. 3.5 GHz is important as in many countries in this region can be found in the available spectrum.
Athens Infocom World 2015 demo event was carried out in conjunction with Deutsche Telekom’s Greek subsidiary Cosmote. The demonstration was combined with three different bands in one link of 1.8 gigahertz frequency division Band 3 area, as well as time division Band 42 lanes of 3.5 gigahertz in carrier-aggregation system.
The demonstration of Nokia’s Flexi Multi Radio Base Stations 10 was used. Combining the three band gives operators more opportunities to increase network capacity and data rate.
Source: http://etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3648:nokia-demosi-tarkeaa-uutta-taajuutta&catid=13&Itemid=101
Tomi Engdahl says:
Alcatel-Lucent’s famous Bell Labs research laboratory (soon part of Nokia) has developed a technology that increases the capacity of optical networks by more than 10-fold.
Bell Labs introduced the revolutionary technique IEEE Photonics Conference. In practice, the technology promises to increase the fiber in a theoretical data rate of 10 to 20 terabytes petabittiluokkaan.
The technology is called MIMO-SDM (space-division multiplexed optical multiple-input-multiple-output). R & D center in New Jersey at Bell Labs demonstrated the technology at 60 km-long fiber. Data is transferred in the 6 x 6 channel access.
Nokia’s incoming Chief Technology Officer, Bell Labs director Marcus Weldon to keep the discovery a major break-trough in optical data transmission. – We are a telecom network major turning point in front of the 5G wireless networks and cloud services.
Source: http://etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3649:pian-nokialle-kuuluva-tekniikka-mullistaa-optiset-verkot&catid=13&Itemid=101
Tomi Engdahl says:
Industrial Gigabit Ethernet PHYs
http://www.eeweb.com/news/industrial-gigabit-ethernet-phys
Texas Instruments (TI) announced the release of industry’s lowest latency and highest electrostatic discharge (ESD) industrial Gigabit Ethernet physical layers (PHYs). The new family of six devices enables engineers to bring real-time industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) capabilities to rugged factory automation systems, motor drives, and test and measurement equipment. The new DP83867 family meets stringent electromagnetic interference (EMI) and electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) standards, reduces power consumption, and offers designers flexibility with multiple temperature, media access control (MAC) interface and packaging options.
Tools and support to speed design
Evaluation modules (EVMs) available today from the TI store and authorized distributors enable designers to quickly and easily evaluate the new devices. The DP83867IRPAP-EVM supports the gigabit media independent interface (GMII) and reduced GMII (RGMII) and is priced at US$199, and the DP83867ERGZ-R-EVM supports RGMII and is priced at $199.
Tomi Engdahl says:
China Cuts Mobile Service of Xinjiang Residents Evading Internet Filters
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/24/business/international/china-cuts-mobile-service-of-xinjiang-residents-evading-internet-filters.html?_r=0
HONG KONG — The Chinese government is shutting down the mobile service of residents in Xinjiang who use software that lets them circumvent Internet filters, escalating an already aggressive electronic surveillance strategy in the country’s fractious western territory.
Starting last week, shortly after terrorist attacks in Paris, the local police began cutting the service of people who had downloaded foreign messaging services and other software, according to five people affected.
The people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity over concerns about retaliation from local security forces for speaking to foreign news media, all said their telecommunications provider had told them to go to a local police station to have service restored.
Continue reading the main story
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Apple Is Said to Deactivate Its News App in ChinaOCT. 10, 2015
“Due to police notice, we will shut down your cellphone number within the next two hours in accordance with the law,” read a text message received by one of the people, who lives in the regional capital of Urumqi. “If you have any questions, please consult the cyberpolice affiliated with the police station in your vicinity as soon as possible.”
The person said that when she called the police, she was told that the service suspensions were aimed at people who had not linked their identification to their account; used virtual private networks, or V.P.N.s, to evade China’s system of Internet filters, known as the Great Firewall; or downloaded foreign messaging software, like WhatsApp or Telegram.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Toshiba is betting big on Ethernet AVB (Audio Video Bridging) coming to cars. Developed by AVnu Alliance, AVB is an evolution of standard Ethernet. The industry group added support for real-time audio video and control applications.
Toshiba has teamed up with Freescale Semiconductor to demonstrate the company’s Ethernet AVB SDK. Called NetNucleus AVB, Toshiba’s SDK is optimized for Freescale’s hardware such as i.MX6 microprocessors and Kinetis MCUs.
The key to Ethernet AVB is its ability to distribute high-resolution, high capacity content within a network with little to no latency.
For example, deterministic networking enabled by the Ethernet AVB is ideal for streaming uncompressed video in a predictable fashion inside a car, since it can offer bounded latency and precise timing/synchronization.
During its Ethernet AVB demonstration, Toshiba said that the latency between a “talker” and “listeners” inside a vehicle network is guaranteed at 2ms.
Toshiba and Freescale are scheduled to go through AVnu Alliance’s certification process, with Toshiba planning to launch the SDK in April, 2016.
Source: http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1328314&page_number=7
Tomi Engdahl says:
Jon Brodkin / Ars Technica:
T-Mobile gives existing Simple Choice customers three months of unlimited LTE, as long as they use the Binge On feature, which downgrades video streams to 480p — T-Mobile gives existing customers three months of unlimited LTE — One catch: You can’t watch high-definition video.
Ministry of Innovation / Business of Technology
T-Mobile gives existing customers three months of unlimited LTE
One catch: You can’t watch high-definition video.
http://arstechnica.com/business/2015/11/t-mobile-gives-existing-customers-three-months-of-unlimited-lte/
Tomi Engdahl says:
IoT Meets 40,000 Streetlights
San Jose lays out ROI challenge
http://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=36&doc_id=1328339&
What would you build if you could get access to 40,000 streetlights?
The City of San Jose is about to find out. Initial proposals are due November 30 for upgrading with LEDs streetlights in this northern California city of 1.1 million residents.
It sounds like a dream project for the Internet of Things, especially given its location in the heart of Silicon Valley. Indeed on August 26, 40 representatives of lighting, telecommunications, technology, energy and other companies attended an initial conference on the city’s request for proposals issued August 3.
But there’s a catch: You have to create your own return-on-investment for the project.
San Jose upgraded to LEDs about a third of its streetlights — some 23,000 units — over the last several years, using grants and demonstration projects. But it lacks the estimated $32 million it could cost to upgrade the remaining 40,000 lights, so it’s looking for creative partners.
The winning partners could get almost anything within reason from access to lease or develop a piece of city land to their name on a city playground or community center. Tech companies could mount IoT products on the poles as long as they comply with electric requirements of the local utility.
Given a streetlight has access to power and commands a safe position “10 meters above ground on average…it’s an incredibly powerful piece of real estate,”
“I picture streetlight poles with so many things strapped on to them they are leaning over,” joked Vijay Sammeta, chief information officer of the City of San Jose in a recent phone interview.
For example, even if the San Jose project is successful bidders have until the end of 2018 to get the LEDs installed. They may need that time because what they install has to interoperate with the city’s existing LED streetlights.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Washington Post:
FCC hires privacy maverick Jonathan Mayer as technical lead for probes into telephone, television, and Internet service providers on consumer protection issues
With this hire, the FCC could soon get tougher on privacy and security
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2015/11/24/with-this-hire-the-fcc-could-soon-get-tougher-on-privacy-and-security/
The Federal Communications Commission has hired Jonathan Mayer, a rising star in privacy circles, to serve as its technical lead for investigations into telephone, television and Internet service providers.
He will work primarily on consumer protection issues, especially those having to do with security and privacy, agency spokeswoman Shannon Gilson confirmed.
Mayer is not your average bureaucrat: He’s a privacy practitioner with a track record of shining light on questionable corporate behavior. And his hiring is a sign that the FCC hopes to bring an increasingly aggressive approach to protecting consumers’ personal data and their privacy to the next level.
His arrival also comes as the FCC and the Federal Trade Commission, long the government’s de facto online privacy watchdog, are trying to cooperate on handling online privacy and security issues.
The agencies have traditionally had different roles — with the FCC crafting rules for industry, while the FTC focuses more on law enforcement. But now they have shared territory.
The relationship between the two agencies grew more complicated this year when the FCC began regulating Internet providers like traditional telephone companies, a decision that opened broadband firms, such as Verizon and Comcast, to potential new privacy obligations.
Mayer is well known for original research. In 2012, Mayer spotted Google bypassing the privacy settings of Apple’s Safari browser, effectively letting them better track the online activities of millions of people.
And this January, Mayer revealed that an online advertising company used a unique code — which Verizon Wireless inserts into each customer’s mobile browsing activities — to create undeletable “zombie cookies.”
But that proactive approach has in some cases prompted probing questions from lawmakers.
“We are concerned that the [enforcement bureau] is exceeding its authority by undertaking ‘fishing expeditions’ rather than investigating specific violations based upon tangible evidence of misconduct,” a group of GOP senators wrote to the FCC last week.
Questions of the bureau’s authority, and its limits, will only become more intense as the FCC moves to implement its net neutrality rules.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Is it a Loon or is it a drone? Google seeks experimental radio license in US
[REDACTED] wants millimetre-wave experimental license because [REDACTED]
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/11/30/google_seeks_experimental_radio_license_in_us/
Google’s asked the United States’ Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to let it play with millimetre-wave technology America-wide for two years.
In a filing that’s sparked “Project Loon coming to America?” speculation, the company has filed a heavily-redacted request with the FCC for permission to run unspecified experiments in the 70 GHz and 80 GHz bands.
Those same bands were part of an application in October 2014 for Google to run tests in California.
Google’s public FCC filing is heavily-redacted, mostly related to the name of the entity it wants to run the tests, antenna characteristics, and specific locations.
Google promises that users with specific geographic licenses in the 70 and 80 GHz bands will be protected: GPS receivers on its unspecified experimental platform will track its location and velocity, the filing states, to comply with non-interference rules.
“Google is prepared to coordinate with the National Telecommunications and Information Administration to ensure that other federal operations in the band do not experience harmful interference from Google’s testing in the expanded geographic area described in this application”, the filing continues.
What we do know is that Google intends its 70/80 GHz radio tests to be mobile. If it’s not Loon, perhaps the Chocolate Factory is planning using the spectrum for communicating with its self-driving vehicles.
Google started toying with drone deliveries in Australia in 2014, and the company hopes to turn that into A Thing by 2017
Tomi Engdahl says:
International Telecommunication Union ITU-month lasted Radiocommunication Conference WRC-15 has allocated new frequencies for wireless communication
A new frequency region meeting decided the so-called 1500 MHz supplementary provision of broadband wireless broadband. In Germany, this frequency has already been auctioned licenses to operators in the summer. The frequency is designed for use in so-called additional wave band to increase data transfer rate of the network in the direction from network to the terminals. This new feature is based on the latest LTE-advanced technology.
From 2017 onwards, to be introduced 4G networks in 700 MHz frequency in respect of the meeting confirmed the terms of use. The decision to transfer about 60 megahertz frequency band for wireless communications from TV.
The examination of future 5g-networks, the Conference decided to support frequencies between 24.25 and 86 gigahertz. Network Manufacturers believe that these very high frequencies is needed in the 2020s 5g networks in order to achieve the largest 1-20 gigabit data rates.
Radio frequencies meeting on 2023 is planned to make new agreements on use of 470 – 960 MHz.
Source: http://www.tekniikkatalous.fi/tekniikka/suomi-jai-yksin-eurooppa-torjui-taajuustoiveet-6092452
Tomi Engdahl says:
APRS Repeaters Get the Signal Out of Mammoth Cave
http://hackaday.com/2015/11/25/aprs-repeaters-get-the-signal-out-of-mammoth-cave/
APRS Cave-Link uses the amateur radio’s Automatic Packet Reporting System (APRS) inside caves to get their position data (and other messages) out.
Digipeaters, as they’re known in the APRS world, take an incoming message and forward it on again. On each successive hop, the station that received the signal appends its name to a list of paths that are sent along with the message, which assures that the message propagates but doesn’t get repeated around forever in a loop.
Digipeaters and battery packs are dropped, in Hänsel and Gretel fashion, as the cavers work their way through the cave. The trick is to make sure to place one repeater before you’ve entirely lost the radio signal from the previous one, of course.
Now, GPS still doesn’t work underground, so the cavers need to bring an accurate map along with them and keep track of their own location.
http://www.aprs.org/cave-link.html
APRS Cave-Link uses the TEXT and POSITION relay capability built into some APRS radios for extending cave radio VHF/UHF communications by 7 to 14 linear hops with no prior infrastructure. This is accomplished by placing handheld (relay capable) walkie-talkies or relay boxes along a cave passage. Communications throughout the multi-hop system can be maintained including links topside. Although this concept dates back to the birth of APRS technology in the mid 1990′s ( see the original text file), the concept has recently been updated since the introduction in 2010 of the Kenwood TH-D72 APRS Handi-Talkie (HT) (shown at right) which has a built-in RELAY capability.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Nokia bids nearly $23 billion for Alcatel-Lucent
http://www.cablinginstall.com/articles/pt/2015/11/nokia-bids-nearly-23-billion-for-alcatel-lucent.html?cmpid=EnlCIMCablingNewsNovember302015&eid=289644432&bid=1243084
As noted at Computer Business Review (CBR), Nokia has launched a public exchange offer for its proposed acquisition of Alcatel-Lucent. Earlier this year, the European Commission and the US Department of Justice approved the €15.6bn (USD $22.7 billion) transaction, which is expected to close in the first half of 2016.
Suri told Reuters in an interview that the agreement matches with a new industry investment cycle set to start in 2016 to develop the next generation of 5G networks, which are anticipated to go mainstream around 2020.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
ITU: 3.2B People Now Online Globally, Mobile Broadband Overtakes Home Internet Use
http://techcrunch.com/2015/11/30/itu-3-2b-people-now-online-globally-mobile-broadband-overtakes-home-internet-use/#.ojwuxm:ezRr
Overall, there are now 3.2 billion people online, but mobile networks continue to lead the way when it comes to connecting people for the next generation of communications: Mobile subscriptions are now at 7.1 billion globally, and more than 95% of the world’s population are now within reach of a mobile network signal, according to International Telecommunication Union, which today published its annual global survey charting progress across developed and emerging markets.
The Republic of Korea — a very early adopter both in fast, affordable broadband and next-generation mobile services — has held on to its spot as the most-connected place in the world when it comes to Internet connectivity and how well data services are adopted in the country, .
The ITU’s figures show that just as mobile cellular subscriptions have overtaken those of fixed phone subs, mobile broadband subscriptions (47.2%) have now overtaken not only fixed-broadband subscriptions (mere 10.8%), but households with Internet access (46.4%).
The converse of the “good news” numbers is that there are still some 350 million people globally who have access to nada in the way of Internet access, mobile or otherwise. These include people in some of the poorest countries in the world
Tomi Engdahl says:
Simulation software gets PAM4 capability
http://www.edn.com/electronics-products/electronic-product-reviews/other/4440907/Simulation-software-gets-PAM4-capability?_mc=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_productsandtools_20151130&cid=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_productsandtools_20151130&elq=4072ffe490124c44843d2e15f3b17184&elqCampaignId=25931&elqaid=29553&elqat=1&elqTrackId=203ff0db08014fefa4688cf10af049d1
PAM4 is poised to dominate DesignCon 2016 through two panels and nine papers. Because of the interest in PAM4 signaling for 56 Gbps links, Keysight Technologies has added PAM4 modeling to its EEsof Advanced Design System (ADS) software.
With four voltage level and three eyes, PAM4 requires new design techniques for recovering embedded clocks and for identifying bits in symbols. Although it needs half the bandwidth of an equivalent NRZ-PAM2 signal for a given data rate, PAM4 does bring SNR (signal-to-noise ratio) to the forefront of design issues. In addition, three eyes means receivers need three slicers to detect each voltage level in the signal.
Because of the SNR issue, designers of SerDes channels and their components will need to simulate transmissions with and without applying equalization. You can apply DFE (decision feedback equalization) and FFE (feed forward equalization) to a channel using PAM-4 IBIS-AMI models and evaluate eye openings.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Microsoft wants to be your phone company, at least for voice
Skype for Business adds a cloudy PBX and calling plans to and from the PSTN
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/12/01/microsoft_wants_to_be_your_phone_company_at_least_for_voice/
Microsoft wants to become your phone company, at least for for voice.
Redmond’s new ambitions emerged on Monday with the announcement of just how its bringing together the telephony bits it used to call Lync and Skype.
Microsoft will soon offer a cloudy PBX, allowing connection of calls between the public switched telephone network (PSTN) and Skype clients on desktops and mobile devices. Microsoft will offer “managed calling plans and phone numbers”, taking conventional telcos out of the loop. The PBX and calling plans are US-only to start, but Microsoft’s promising to bring this to other countries real soon now.
Another new offering Skype Meeting Broadcast, which does what it says on the can for up to 10,000 people. There’s also a new PSTN Conferencing tool that allows folks on normal boring phones or Skype for Business to join the same voice and/or video conference. Dial-in numbers for 45 countries are promised.
Tomi Engdahl says:
IETF standards is ‘band-aids on top of band-aids’ says SDN veteran
Open Networking Foundation executive director Dr Dan Pitt tells El Reg net admins have to reskill, fast
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/12/01/sdn_interview_dan_pitt/
With the Open Networking Foundation preparing to take a direct presence in Australia, networking veteran and the Foundation’s executive director Dr Dan Pitt came within reach of our operatives at Vulture South. So we interviewed him.
Pitt took up his role at the Open Networking Foundation (ONF) after years hanging around with names only memorable to those who remember the excitement of the 1980s and 1990s. In the early 2000s until 2011 Pitt stayed away from an industry become dull and derivative.
That changed with the advent of software defined networking (SDN), he said. Since March 2011, Pitt told us, what’s driven him is to get the answer to the question “what does it take to get this into the market”?
That, he said, goes far beyond the surface understanding of ONF as a standards development body. The OpenFlow protocol, which the ONF inherited from Stanford University, is just a substrate for the important stuff – configuration, management, security, and how to make SDN technologies work with different chipsets.
To turn SDN to the benefit of operators, Pitt said, all the different pieces have to be in place: the northbound Layer 4-7 services, network function virtualisation, and end user packages.
The success of ONF depends on a sustainable ecosystem that covers telecommunications service providers, ISPs, data centre operators, and enterprises.
For someone with Pitt’s very long networking credentials (including stints with IBM, HP, Bay Networks and Nortel), it’s interesting to note his belief that SDN is also changing the role and importance of standards in the networking business.
The IETF standards process, he said, has become “band-aids on top of band-aids”.
Citing initiatives like the Open Compute Project, he said, “as networking becomes more of a computing task, interfaces become implementations of software that aren’t across a wire protocol.
“Standards are less important, because you’re doing more with computation.”
The open source approach, he said, means that components that don’t need vendor differentiation are opened up reasonably quickly, so everyone can collaborate on them.
“That gets you efficient development, and the commonality improves interoperability”, he said – without the long wait for a standard, or the 18 months-plus it takes for a vendor to build a feature into a product.
Not that the plumbing-level standardisation is irrelevant: it’s something that Pitt cited as a barrier to adoption of SDN.
“How do you buy a switch that does what you want, has all the features? How do you integrate: not just the switch, but the management tools?”
Over in the packet-optical networking world, he said, we still need to integrate the control planes so there’s just one to manage the packet paths and the optical paths.
Whether it’s in enterprises or network operators, Pitt said, the success of SDN depends on getting people skilled up to the new way of working.
A networking sysadmin’s day-to-day is manual configuration, which is “slow and expensive, and introduces error” (something vividly demonstrated last week in a widespread Google Cloud outage).
SDN is a huge change for those sysadmins, simply because “they don’t do programming”, Pitt said. “We can automate the configuration, the provisioning, the self-provisioning.”
Only, however, if there are people to take charge of the software.
“The network operator has to figure out a few things: how much software development do they want to keep in-house? How much IT do you want to keep in-house?”
It’s an old story, one which IT has promised for years, and never really delivered: “If the network becomes part of how the enterprise makes money, the CIO becomes someone who contributes to others’ profit centres,” Pitt remarked.
“Someone has to write the software that defines the network. This takes time!
“And then there is the looming large obstacle of culture. Organisations – SDN changes skill sets, changes processes, vendor relationships, procurement, business process and culture. That’s is the hardest thing to do.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Ofcom launches Wi-Fi checker
http://consumers.ofcom.org.uk/news/ofcom-launches-wifi-checker/
People can check whether their in-home Wi-Fi is giving them the best service by using a simple, powerful app launched by Ofcom today.
The Ofcom Wi-Fi Checker, which runs on smartphones and tablets, allows consumers and businesses to discover the quality of their wireless internet signal wherever they live or work – as well as offering practical steps to help people get the best from their connection.
Wireless broadband may not be working as well as it could in nearly six million UK homes and offices, according to Ofcom research published today. This is often caused by the Wi-Fi set-up in the house slowing down broadband.
It could be down to something as simple as interference from other electronic devices, such as a microwave oven, baby monitor, a lamp – or even Christmas fairy lights.
Ofcom launches Wi-Fi checker to improve broadband
http://media.ofcom.org.uk/news/2015/connected-nations-2015/
Six million homes and offices could improve their wireless broadband
New ‘app’ allows people to check their Wi-Fi connection for problems
More than one in four homes now ‘superfast’, but challenges remain
People can check whether their in-home Wi-Fi is giving them the best service by using a simple, powerful app launched by Ofcom today.
The Ofcom Wi-Fi Checker, which runs on smartphones and tablets, allows consumers and businesses to discover the quality of their wireless internet signal wherever they live or work – as well as offering practical steps to help people get the best from their connection.
Tomi Engdahl says:
If a picture tells a 1000 words about latency, Google won’t load it
Chrome Data Saver removes images on slow connections for the next billion
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/12/01/chrome_data_saver_removes_images_on_slow_connections/
Google’s tweaked the Data Saver in the mobile version of its Chrome browser, making images an opt-in luxury for those on slow connections.
“After the page has loaded, you can tap to show all images or just the individual ones you want, making the web faster and cheaper to access on slow connections,” Google says, claiming “up to 70 percent” of savings in data downloads.
For now, only subscribers in India and Indonesia – the world’s second and fourth most populous nations respectively – are getting this facility. Google promises the service will arrive in “additional countries in the coming months.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
High Stakes in Broadband Satellites Race
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1328369&
Data versions of low Earth orbiting (LEO) satellite networks started appearing in the late 1990’s, aiming to bring broadband Internet access to remote and poor areas of the world. They followed earlier well-funded efforts to offer mobile telephony via LEO satellites—at the time thought to represent the future of the industry—but projects such as the Bill Gates and Craig McCaw inspired Teledesic and initial versions of Iridium and Globalstar never managed to deliver on the hype—partly because of technology constraints or poor business models, more often both.
So why should broadband satellite efforts make it into this HotTech 2015 supplement?
Well, there have been huge technology advances in satellites—they can now be made much smaller and lighter, so launch costs are significantly lower. Perhaps even more importantly, the size, manufacturability and component costs associated with the different terminals and handsets have plummeted since those early days, while functionality and ease of use has moved in the opposite direction. We have also seen significant advances in the (solid-state) antennas for LEO satellite terminals, which need the ability to track a satellite as it moves across the sky and transfer seamlessly to a new one when the first satellite approaches the horizon.
Satellite solar cell efficiency has more than doubled since the early efforts, power amplifier efficiency has also surged, and improvements in electric propulsion systems have drastically reduced satellite launch mass.
These factors have clearly helped the business proposition, but doubts and uncertainties remain about the trajectory of demand, and the ever-present regulatory constraints of LEO satellites in view of frequency allocations.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Programmable Devices Unlock Potential of Virtualized Wireless Infrastructure
http://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=36&doc_id=1328390&
Wireless networks are moving towards cloud radio access networks (C-RANs) featuring wider use of remote radio heads and small cells organized using SON techniques.
I’ve been reading a lot about virtualized networks recently, and I’ve noticed that the references are nearly always to wired networking, not wireless; a deeper investigation revealed the reason.
Virtualized networks exploit open-source software with a combination of software-defined networks (SDN) and network function virtualization (NFV). The SDN/NFV software is then matched with white box or bare metal switches to create the network. This hardware uses standardized commodity processors and is (often) shipped without proprietary software.
The reason networking giants like AT&T are interested in this concept is not too difficult to understand. Operators want to avoid “vendor lock-in” and reduce their capital expenditure and their operational costs; also, they ideally want to be more responsive in the ever-changing network environments. Open source software and white box hardware promise to deliver on all three counts.
So, what’s the difference between white boxes for wired and wireless infrastructure?
Wireless white box hardware
Let’s start with the fact that, for a number of reasons, the hardware for wireless systems is more complex. The primary problem is that cellular frequency allocations vary around the world, so a white box vendor would need to cater for this variation. Even within a single country there are many diverse frequencies used
Programmable hardware
Programmable devices offer a highly flexible solution for white boxes. The baseband requirement can be met by a range of Field-Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGA) from vendors such as Altera and Xilinx. As an example, Altera Cyclone V FPGAs come in a range of different sizes and include devices that boast both ARM processors and programmable logic on a single chip; these are termed SoC FPGAs. Tasks such as selecting the channel access and transmission standard can be programmed using high-level abstraction tools such as OpenCL to efficiently create C code for the ARM. The processor can run the open APIs that interface with the open source SDN software.
Programmable RF is more problematical, but recently introduced Field-Programmable Radio Frequency (FPRF) devices from Lime Microsystems and software-defined radio (SDR) solutions from ADI provide the answer. These highly integrated chips contain complete transceivers that are programmable on the fly across all the cellular frequencies.
Open Source Software
Fortunately, Lime Microsystems is heavily committed to open sourcing and provides full visibility into how engineers can program its silicon. Open source hardware allows the freedom to study, share, and modify designs, and to sell products that are built using those designs. This openness permits engineers to innovate with FPRF devices in a way similar to how designers have used FPGAs. The flexibility of FPGAs has led to them being used in numerous applications and spawned an industry segment worth $4B.
White box wireless transceivers can be included into infrastructure in what is termed a self-organizing network (SON), and they can be physically located wherever adequate power and backhaul services are available. The concept of a SON is that the equipment analyzes the wireless environment and decides what frequencies and power levels to use so that it does not cause interference.
Towards C-RAN
Wireless networks are moving towards cloud radio access networks (C-RANs), with wider use of remote radio heads and small cells organized using SON techniques. The load can be dynamically reconfigured to give optimum user experience through carrier aggregation and Coordinated Multipoint (CoMP) whereby the system sends and receives data to and from a single user using several base stations.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Finland’s largest acquisition will be finalized today
Largest acquisition all time in Finland, Nokia and Alcatel-Lucent merger is due to be completed today with the Helsinki Ice Hall on Nokia’s Extraordinary General Meeting.
Nokia announced in mid-April the acquisition price of the French-American Alcatel-Lucent EUR 15.6 billion. Shop the full implementation of an exchange of shares, with each Alcatel-Lucent’s share is worth 0.55 Nokia shares.
Nokia announced on 22 November of last month that it had all the necessary regulatory approvals for the trade.
If the motion passes, out of ten of Nokia’s Board of Directors there are three Finns: Risto Siilasmaa, Kari Stadigh and Jouko Karvinen.
Source: http://www.digitoday.fi/bisnes/2015/12/02/suomen-suurin-yrityskauppa-viimeistellaan-tanaan-naista-kolmesta-asiasta-paatetaan/201515945/66?rss=6
Tomi Engdahl says:
Secure Intel® VPX SBCs with Integrated FPGA Solutions
http://www.xes-inc.com/view/news/170/?utm_source=Extreme%20Engineering%20Solutions%20%28X-ES%29%20News&utm_medium=email&utm_term=Hero%20Image&utm_content=Image&utm_campaign=Secure%20Intel%20SBCs%20with%20Oncard%20FPGAs&mc_cid=329b4d2e73&mc_eid=8aba6938d4
Extreme Engineering Solutions, Inc. (X-ES) announces a selection of rugged, Intel® processor-based VPX SBCs featuring onboard FPGA modules from the Xilinx Kintex UltraScale and Microsemi SmartFusion®2 families.
The 6U OpenVPX™ XCalibur4643 provides a powerful combination of a high-end System-on-Chip (SoC) and high-end FPGA integrated on a single, industry-standard card. The Xilinx Kintex UltraScale KU040 FPGA is optimized to support signal processing and RAM-intensive applications at leading performance-per-watt levels. A high-speed x8 PCI Express Gen3-capable interface to the Intel® Xeon® D SoC provides tight integration between the two.
Abundant I/O bandwidth is available with 10 Gigabit Ethernet interfaces on the CPU and high-speed serial transceivers on the FPGA. The Kintex UltraScale FPGA can accommodate secure boot applications with Trusted Platform Module (TPM) support and an interface to the CPU’s boot flash.
Host Custom Functions to Protect Data From Being Modified or Observed
The 3U OpenVPX™ XPedite7572 with a 5th Gen Intel® Core™ i7 (formerly Broadwell-H) processor and XPedite7672 with the Intel® Xeon® D (formerly Broadwell-DE) processor are low-power, high-performance SBCs that offer a sophisticated set of features for securing a critical application or securing an entire system and the information within it, while also providing best-in-class processing performance with Intel® processors.
As implemented on these SBCs, the power-on control and boot path is entirely controlled and monitored by the SmartFusion®2 to provide authentication and detection against many types of attacks.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The award-winning dissertation: Finnish researcher found a way to increase the transmission capacity
Finnish DI Taneli Riikonen solutions developed can double for the future of mobile networks throughput. Engineering academic awards Riihosen dissertation recent years as the best.
Done at Aalto University research shows Taneli Riihosen doctoral thesis idea may prove to the jury that the world hundreds of billions of worthy solution to congested radio frequency communications capability problem.
Riihonen shows in her doctoral dissertation that the next generation 5G network throughput can be almost doubled. Presented by the Riihosen full-duplex data transmission is a new promising concept, which has attracted a lot of interest internationally, but which has hardly been studied in the past.
Riikonen dissertation was developed in digital signal processing techniques gateway and analyze the performance of the link level.
Results of the study dealing with the two communications signal processing of the central themes. Link-level performance greatly affects the so-called. duplex mode, which defines how the gateway will alternate between reception and transmission. Contrary to traditional basic assumption is now presented in an advanced idea that supports bearers often send and receive at the same time, despite their self-interference caused by itself, which can also reduce now developed a signal processing methods. This can be a terrible day almost doubles the data transfer rate of the link.
The study also develops and analyzes of a number of so-called. arbitration protocols
Source: http://www.uusiteknologia.fi/2015/12/01/suomalaistutkija-loysi-keinon-nostaa-siirtokapasiteettia/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Programmable Devices Unlock Potential of Virtualized Wireless Infrastructure
http://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=36&doc_id=1328390&
Wireless networks are moving towards cloud radio access networks (C-RANs) featuring wider use of remote radio heads and small cells organized using SON techniques.
I’ve been reading a lot about virtualized networks recently, and I’ve noticed that the references are nearly always to wired networking, not wireless; a deeper investigation revealed the reason.
Virtualized networks exploit open-source software with a combination of software-defined networks (SDN) and network function virtualization (NFV). The SDN/NFV software is then matched with white box or bare metal switches to create the network. This hardware uses standardized commodity processors and is (often) shipped without proprietary software.
The reason networking giants like AT&T are interested in this concept is not too difficult to understand. Operators want to avoid “vendor lock-in” and reduce their capital expenditure and their operational costs; also, they ideally want to be more responsive in the ever-changing network environments. Open source software and white box hardware promise to deliver on all three counts.
So, what’s the difference between white boxes for wired and wireless infrastructure?
Tomi Engdahl says:
Cellphones Really Are Not As Good As They Were 10 Years Ago At Making Calls
http://mobile.slashdot.org/story/15/12/03/1441259/cellphones-really-are-not-as-good-as-they-were-10-years-ago-at-making-calls
If you ever thought that your cellphone does not make calls as well as the cellphone you had 10 years ago, you may be right. The UK’s Ofcom (roughly equivalent to the FCC) tested cellphones and found that many needed a much higher signal than the standards recommend in order to send and receive data. This applied to 2G, 3G and 4G connections.
Why your new £600 smartphone is probably not as good as your phone from a decade ago
Regulator refuses to name names as technical research finds top brands failing to meet standards
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/mediatechnologyandtelecoms/telecoms/12029524/Why-your-new-600-smartphone-is-probably-not-as-good-as-your-phone-from-a-decade-ago.html
Ever suspected that your £600, top-of-the-range smartphone is not as good for basic communications as the mobile you used a decade ago? Now there is official confirmation you are probably right.
A study commissioned by the industry regulator Ofcom has found that for all the technology packed into flagship devices by Apple, Samsung and others, a handset costing a fraction of the price typically provides better signal performance for voice calls and texts.
The research, conducted in controlled lab conditions on a selection of popular smartphones and non-smart phones currently on the market, found that on a 2G network the cheaper handsets were much better at picking up weak signals. Some smartphones require a minimum signal 10 times stronger than the best non-smart phone before they can make or receive a call, according to Ofcom’s research.
The experiments have been carried out as mobile operators come under pressure to increase coverage, particularly in rural areas where masts are typically further apart and provide a weaker connection to the network. But while network infrastructure investment is seen as key to improving coverage, handsets also play a significant role.
Ofcom’s findings will give weight to claims that the shift to smartphones encased in glass and metal rather than the plastic typically used in cheaper mobiles has contributed to calls being cut off. On average, the smartphones Ofcom tested required a minimum 2G signal seven times stronger than the average non-smartphone.
The research, due to contribute to more detailed mobile coverage maps, found smartphones performing below international standards for mobile broadband signal performance. On 3G networks the worst performer needed a signal nine times stronger than the minimum recommended by the GSMA, the mobile industry’s standards body.
On faster 4G mobile broadband the bottom of the class required seven times the recommended signal strength to send data back and forth.
For some smartphones the chances of being cut off also vary significantly depending on if it is held in the left or right hand, owing to the position of the antenna.
Tomi Engdahl says:
CloudFlare intros HTTP/2, so we can ‘spend holiday time with our family’
So … erm, that’s a good thing, probably
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/12/03/cloudflare_introduces_http2_for_everyone_ijoyeux_noli_web_devs/
CloudFlare is introducing HTTP/2 support for all of its users, to be available on all SSL/TLS connections – while still supporting SPDY – so netizens can spend more time with their families instead of waiting for pages to load this Christmas.
Talking to The Register on Tuesday night, CloudFlare CEO Matthew Prince explained the company’s “multiple step rollout” of the future of the web.
“The first step really started when we turned on TLS. Thursday will be the second step, when we announce base protocol support for everyone,” Prince said, before admitting “for most customers we’ve actually quietly already turned it on.”
“The way we do rollouts is roll out to free customers in one particular data centre: free customers in Toronto in this instance. So as of last Wednesday, they went live, so that happened quietly, and over the holiday weekend in the US we’ve been expanding that to other data centres,” said Prince.
“So, by the end of Tuesday we’d be done with the push (so it’s in all facilities) and then Wednesday is just a day of buffer before the announcement on Thursday. The third step is what we’re doing in the New Year,” he added.
Dodging HTTP/2 scanners for “a massive spike” on Thursday, Prince stated that the rollout will be “a Christmas present to the internet”.
“This is the first time that the underlying protocol of the internet, HTTP, has been updated since 1998, so it’s a pretty big change on one level, but on another level it’s just based on a protocol developed by Google called SPDY,” said Prince.
While not initially developed to replace HTTP, the method in which it overrides connection management and data transfer formats has substantially informed the Internet Engineering Task Force’s HTTP/2.
CloudFlare has supported SPDY for just over three years, and Prince claimed that “75 per cent of the top Alexa websites support SPDY because of CloudFlare”.
“When HTTP/2, which was really an outgrowth of SPDY, came out, we committed to making sure this was available to all of our users, including those using our service for free. We don’t believe you should pay a tax to be a part of the modern internet,” said Prince.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Advanced CMOS Converter Technology
http://www.eeweb.com/company-blog/socionext/advanced-cmos-converter-technology
Socionext’s advanced CMOS converter technology which power today’s internet and enable terabit networks. Among other leading products are the industry’s first 4-channel 56GSa/s ADC based on a vertically integrated 65nm CMOS process, and a 4-channel 65Gbp/s DAC.
Socionext has developed a fully integrated, single-wavelength, 100 Gbps CMOS coherent transceiver.
Tomi Engdahl says:
5G technology, cyber-threats under control
The new 5G Ensure project is a part of a big European Union’s Horizon 2020 5G PPP (European 5G Infrastructure Public Private Partnership) program, in which businesses and public bodies aiming at developing the future network infrastructure to the challenges of the 2020s.
5G networks will be critical infrastructure, on top of which for example. transport, industry, health and the new operators set up their business. For example, systems such as traffic remote control and etäkirurgian bring new security challenges.
Growing network virtualization functionality and programmability are both an opportunity and a threat to security. Legal information monitoring and related legislation will also affect security solutions 5G networks.
VTT is developing a project in virtualization and segmentation of network security functionalities related. A strong industry-led consortium, combined with 5G PPP co-operation will enable the results of the project can be exported to 5G standards.
New security functionality and their use cases demonstrated on the test network, which is being built at the same time in both France and Finland, VTT. Finnish test network integrates with the Tekes-funded national 5G test network.
Coordinated by VTT, the 5G Ensure consortium includes European telecom and network operators, IT service providers and network security experts.
Source: http://www.uusiteknologia.fi/2015/12/03/5g-tekniikan-kyberuhat-kuriin/
Tomi Engdahl says:
14 strikes and you’re out. Or not. Emails reveal how Cox lost Safe Harbor
ISP’s policy seems to have sunk it
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/12/03/14_strikes_out_internal_emails_reveal_how_cox_lost_safe_harbor/
We now know why US cable ISP Cox Communications lost the “safe harbor” DMCA liability protection afforded to those who disconnect high volume P2P file sharers.
It appears to be down to its failure to take infringement notices sufficiently seriously, a US court has ruled.
Last week in an East Virginia court, a judge stripped Cox of its protection, in a case bought by music publishers BMG Rights Management and its copyright cop, Rightscorp Inc. Cox has already lost legal support from insurer Lloyds over the loss of protection.
Judge Liam O’Grady’s memorandum explaining his decision, which the court finally published yesterday, contained internal emails which he said suggested that Cox wasn’t taking its legal obligation, or public statements seriously enough.
The memorandum described how, at the end of a 14-step process, a Cox subscriber who had been ostensibly kicked off for “infringement” could sign up for services again, and have their “infringement” count reset to 0.
The decision is likely to inspire a flood of “sky is falling” anxiety from technology companies and anti-copyright activist groups. In fact, once the smoke clears, the decision is unlikely to change the landscape in the US much, if at all … provided ISPs that do what they publicly say they already do.
If ISPs have an effective policy to kick out repeat copyright infringers – and by US law, they must – then nothing has changed.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Peter Kafka / Re/code:
Streaming video accounts for 70% of home broadband usage during peak evening hours in North America, with Netflix leading at 37% and YouTube at 17.85%
Streaming Video Now Accounts for 70 Percent of Broadband Usage
http://recode.net/2015/12/07/streaming-video-now-accounts-for-70-percent-of-broadband-usage/
You use your Internet connection to do all kinds of things. But you use it for one thing much more than anything else: To stream video and music.
If you’re reading this site (or if you work at a giant TV and broadband provider), the odds are you know that already. But it’s always useful to see it in a chart, so here you go. Here’s the latest breakdown from broadband services company Sandvine of “fixed access” — for the purposes of this piece, read it as “home broadband” — Internet usage during peak evening hours.
Again, it’s not surprising to learn that broadband is moving from “the thing that brings you websites and email” to “the thing that brings you video.” But change over time drives it home: Sandvine says that five years ago, video/audio represented 35 percent of prime-time usage. Now it has doubled, to 70 percent.
Much of the increase comes from YouTube and Netflix, which already accounted for more than half of your broadband usage a couple of years ago and continues to grow. But now those services are joined by relatively new entrants, like Amazon* and Hulu, which barely registered a couple of years ago and now account for nearly 6 percent of usage.
Tomi Engdahl says:
5G technology, cyber-threats under control
Research coordinated by VTT eurooppalaishanketta on cyber security, with 5G networks and systems will be developed of potential security and cyber threats in case. The results arising from the project are being taken in preparation 5G standards.
The new 5G Ensure project is a part of a big European Union’s Horizon 2020 5G PPP (European 5G Infrastructure Public Private Partnership) program, in which businesses and public bodies aiming at developing the future network infrastructure to the challenges of the 2020s.
5G networks will be critical infrastructure, on top of which for example. transport, industry, health and the new operators set up their business. For example, systems such as traffic remote control and remote surgery bring new security challenges.
Growing network virtualization functionality and programmability are both an opportunity and a threat to security. Legal information monitoring and related legislation will also affect security solutions 5G networks.
“5G infrastructure must be able to serve the billions of internet-connected objects of small appliances in addition to large consumers of information. It should be a seamless infrastructure that is responsible for all communication needs invisibly and reliably, ”
Source: http://www.uusiteknologia.fi/2015/12/03/5g-tekniikan-kyberuhat-kuriin/