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:
Eero wants to eliminate Wi-Fi dead spots in your home without extenders
http://thenextweb.com/gadgets/2015/02/03/eero-wants-eliminate-wi-fi-dead-spots-home-without-extenders/
Relying on one router to serve up Wi-Fi for your entire house can be frustrating and lead to dead spots. San Francisco-based startup, Eero, thinks it has the answer to that issue and doesn’t rely on irritating Wi-Fi extenders. Rather than using a single router, Eero encourages you to deploy a distributed system of smaller devices that connect to each other via mesh networking. One will set you back $129, with a pack of three priced at $299. The company claims three will provide good coverage for a typical home.
Read more at The Next Web: http://thenextweb.com/gadgets/2015/02/03/eero-wants-eliminate-wi-fi-dead-spots-home-without-extenders/ or follow us on Twitter: @TheNextWeb
Tomi Engdahl says:
Finland’s first 5g test network in Oulu
VTT Technical Research Centre and the University of Oulu build cooperation with companies 5g test network with the development of critical technologies, and to test their performance in a realistic environment.
Oulu be built in the test network consists of two parts. One of these is the VTT’s premises in a closed network. Premises of the University will be a public network.
The public network is intended to make an open test environment to all interested parties.
Source: http://www.tivi.fi/Kaikki_uutiset/2015-02-12/Suomen-ensimm%C3%A4inen-5g-testiverkko-Ouluun-3215663.html
Tomi Engdahl says:
Information technology giant Cisco’s earnings and revenue growth in the fourth quarter.
Growth was brought about especially sdn-architecture , which related to the Cisco managed switches sold well. Cisco sold these switches to 350 per cent higher than a year earlier.
Source: http://www.tivi.fi/Kaikki_uutiset/2015-02-12/Myynti-350–%E2%80%93-uudentyyppisten-kytkimien-siivitt%C3%A4m%C3%A4n%C3%A4-Ciscon-saalis-paisui-miljardilla-3215662.html
Tomi Engdahl says:
Software-defined networking
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software-defined_networking
Tomi Engdahl says:
Meerkats helped Ofcom unlock White Space spectrum-hopping
No, not the insurance salesmen – real live ones in a zoo
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/02/12/meerkats_prove_whitespace_has_a_future_ofcom/
A trial at London Zoo has paved the way for Ofcom guidelines on using the unused “White Space” parts of the radio spectrum in the 470 to 790 MHz frequency band.
Three webcams were set up: two in the meerkats’ home and one in the otters’ enclosure. All three were linked to a web server using White Space radio as TVWS – TV White Space.
Normally the process of hiding the cameras in the enclosure behind trees and tyres would mean a poor radio connection but, because White Space is at a lower frequency than Wi-Fi, the signal propagation is better. TVWS signals are able to penetrate foliage and buildings to establish a fast data connection capable of streaming high quality video to YouTube.
The current denizens of that spectrum are Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT), including local TV, and Programme Making and Special Events (PMSE), including in particular wireless microphone users.
With White Space radio things are a little more regulated. The sharing will take place dynamically, controlled by databases which will hold information on the location of DTT and PMSE users and White Space devices.
Equipment for White Space use is largely still in the early stages of development. While there is an ETSI harmonised standard, and Ofcom will specify minimum technical requirements that equipment must meet to operate in White Space, the organisation admits that they do not yet know what the actual characteristics of mass consumer White Space equipment will be.
Simplez: OLD SCHOOL TECH can SAVE the MEERKAT
More TV white space magic
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/11/28/tv_whitespace_poachers/
Ever wondered who tried to steal your meerkat? Well, worry no longer thanks to the London Zoo, Google and CCTV biz Kinesense.
During our review of Nominet and LoveHz use of TV whitespace to create a flood early warning system in Oxford, we stumbled across another test program in the works – the use of cameras to catch poachers in Kenya.
To recap, White Space is that area of spectrum that is no longer use to broadcast analogue TV signals thanks to the modern wonders of digitisation. UK regulator Ofcom plans to sell this space off to mobile phone companies – and with Nominet managing to get 13Mbps through a single channel, it looks like a useful backup.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Small cell backhaul seen driving $21B microwave transmission equipment market
http://www.cablinginstall.com/articles/2015/02/delloro-smallcell-microwave.html
Dell’Oro Group is forecasting the point-to-point microwave transmission market to generate approximately $21 billion in equipment revenue over the next five years. “The environment for microwave transmission equipment began to improve in 2014. We believe this positive trend will last for a few more years as operators continue to roll out new cell sites and upgrade to 4G LTE,” said Jimmy Yu, vice president of microwave transmission research at Dell’Oro Group. “‘
“Within the next five years, we also anticipate the installation of small cells will become more pronounced, driving a change in the microwave market,” Yu added. “That is, since the requirements for small cell backhaul are fundamentally different from those of macro cells, we envision the variety of microwave transmission equipment deployed will change in unison.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
PON and Blown Fiber: The Optimum Solution for Today’s High Gigabit Speed Enterprise Networks
http://www.cablinginstall.com/whitepapers/2015/02/pon-and-blown-fiber-the-optimum-solution-for-today-s-high-gigabit-speed-enterprise-networks.html
As enterprise network managers, challenged like never before, seek to keep up with current and future exponential growth of data and to find the most reliable, efficient, and cost effective means to support 40Gbs/100Gbs, more and more are looking toward the passive optical network (PON) as a viable solution.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Ethernet Plot Twists Play Out
http://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=36&doc_id=1325652&
A wide array of new Ethernet projects are in the works from 2.5 to 400 Gbits/second that will have impacts for big data centers, businesses and consumers.
If Ethernet was a novel, 2014 would be a chapter that introduced new characters and plot twists. The casual reader would scratch her head, perhaps somewhat in confusion, and say, “Wow, I didn’t see that coming.”
It would have been no surprise that last year the next higher speed project, 400 Gigabit Ethernet (400GbE), continued in earnest. Ethernet also expanded its 40GbE and 100GbE optical and copper families and developed 25Gb/s electrical signaling in support of 100GbE. Ethernet also continued introducing new application spaces, such as Vehicular (or automotive) Ethernet.
The plot twists in 2014 came with the introduction of two new efforts. Next Generation Enterprise Access BASE-T (NGEABT) is expected to introduce two new Ethernet rates, 2.5GbE and 5GbE. The definition of the 25GbE is spawning two new IEEE 802.3 projects targeting the server-to-switch interconnect. Both of these efforts breathed new life into the Ethernet BASE-T roadmap.
Potential impacts of last year’s plot changes are starting to show.
In addition, discussions have started about a smaller, lower profile connector than the long-dominant RJ-45 to support newer, lower profile products or to achieve greater density. Such discussions have been going on for a long time, so it will be interesting to see how this effort will proceed.
Meanwhile, the first 25GbE effort, the IEEE P802.3by 25GbE Task Force, will be specifying 25GbE operation over backplanes, twin-axial cabling, and multi-mode fiber, mainly geared to serve big data centers. One of the trickier tasks will be dealing with forward error correction for the 3 meter intra-rack and 5 meter inter-rack application spaces. Significant market expectations will help to drive consensus quickly, so the project likely will be completed mid-next year.
The second effort is 25GBASE-T which is expected to have implications for enterprises looking to upgrade 10G nets. Based on a January meeting, the effort is expected to leverage work on the 40GBASE-T project to date, enabling it to progress rapidly and complete in the first half of next year.
The January IEEE meeting was supposed to be one where 400G technical proposals were selected.
Electrically, the group is considering proposals on either NRZ or PAM-4 signaling for chip-to-chip or chip-to-modulation applications. Optically, multiple proposals were submitted for single-mode fiber reaches of 500 meters, 2 km, and 10 km. These schemes leverage NRZ, PAM-4, or DMT signaling, based on either 4 or 8 optical lambdas, running at effective lane rates of either 50 or 100 Gbits/second. Given the fundamental implications of the choices, these proposals need to be thoroughly examined before a decision is made.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Bloomberg Business:
Q&A with Mark Zuckerberg on Internet.org: barriers to connectivity, why ads are not a priority at current stage, more — Mark Zuckerberg Q&A: The Full Interview on Connecting the World —
Mark Zuckerberg Q&A: The Full Interview on Connecting the World
The Facebook chief executive officer talks drones, lasers, and debates with Bill Gates
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-02-19/mark-zuckerberg-q-a-the-full-interview-on-connecting-the-world
Tomi Engdahl says:
NBN Co’s HFC build will be DOCSIS 3.1 ready, but use 3.0 only
Arris named as HFC supplier
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/02/23/nbn_co_names_arris_for_hfc_network_upgrade/
NBN Co has settled on its key partner for the HFC part of its network, with Arris nominated to provide cable termination and passive equipment.
Arris executives today told The Register that the equipment it will use will deliver a service using DOCSIS 3.0, a gigabit-capable standard, and will be upgradable to ten-gigabit-capable DOCSIS 3.1 should NBN Co chose to upgrade in future.
Arris CTO Joshau Eum said the nodes for the network will be “shoebox”-sized and can be deployed on poles, in the ground or even on a strand of wire.
Arris will deliver speeds that mirror existing NBN Co speeds, meaning they will top out at 100mbps downloads, with node-to-premises cable runs of up to 10kms (when signal-to-noise ratios are right) as signal does not degrade with Arris’ planned kit.
Key products used in the build will be Arris’ E6000 edge router, CORWave forward path transmitters, OM4100 optical receivers, and service assurance solutions.
Tomi Engdahl says:
4G NETWORKS TO COVER MORE THAN A THIRD OF THE GLOBAL POPULATION THIS YEAR, ACCORDING TO NEW GSMA INTELLIGENCE DATA
http://www.gsma.com/newsroom/press-release/4g-networks-to-cover-more-third-of-global-pop-this-year/
Number of 4G Operators Worldwide Surpasses 350; 4G Forecast to Account For More Than 30 Per Cent of Mobile Connections Globally by 2020
According to new data from GSMA Intelligence, 4G-LTE networks will cover more than a third of the global population by year-end as 4G deployments continue to accelerate across the world. The new data released today calculates that 4G coverage will be available to 35 per cent of the global population by the end of 2015, up from 27 per cent at the end of last year.
The first commercial 4G networks were launched in December 2009; by the end of January 2015, the number of live 4G operators globally stood at 352. The number of 4G connections is also growing rapidly, more than doubling from 200 million at the end of 2013 to almost half a billion (490 million) at the end of last year. Seven per cent of all global mobile connections1 were running on 4G networks at the end of 2014, up from 3 per cent a year earlier.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Net neutrality: UK Lords call for internet to be reclassified as a utility
Committee calls for sweeping changes before the UK gets digitally swamped
http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2396148/net-neutrality-uk-lords-call-for-internet-to-be-reclassified-as-a-utility
THE HOUSE OF LORDS IS BACKING the idea of a free and gloriously open internet that is available to all, and is – rather less exciting sounding – reclassified as a utility.
The plans come on the heels of similar noises from the US where Title II reclassification is a hot and contentious topic.
There is a lot to chew over in a long report, and a number of recommendations for change. The question will be how much of it the government chooses to take on board, and whether it decides to make the changes in time.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Advanced communications system for mobile, fixed and Wi-Fi applications will save lives
http://www.edn.com/design/analog/4438697/Advanced-communications-system-for-mobile–fixed-and-Wi-Fi-applications-will-save-lives?_mc=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_analog_20150219&cid=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_analog_20150219&elq=eb12e6edd18d487a943e60b3482926e3&elqCampaignId=21718
By December 31, 2015 the US Congress and the US Dept. of Transportation/Federal Railroad Administration has mandated that rail companies meet and implement Positive Train Control (PTC).
PTC is a GPS-based life-saving system that makes rail travel safer by preventing train-to-train collisions, derailments caused by excessive speed, unauthorized incursion into work zones and train movement by track or other switches left in the wrong position.
Lilee Systems is a leading provider of advanced wired and wireless communication products, solutions and services for the transportation industry.
Their TransAir™ LMS-2450 series is based on the newly released LileeOS 2.8 platform. This new locomotive messaging and application server (LMS) series gives freight and passenger rail operators the ability to achieve positive train control (PTC) compliance for safety and speed enforcement, as well as manage other business data without having to invest in additional software or hardware for what is typically limited onboard cabinet space.
robust connectivity and an x86 application engine that allows users to load any business or PTC applications they wish to support. Other features of this system are integrated GPS, multiple mobile broadband modems, Ethernet, Wi-Fi, and an ITCM-capable software defined radio (SDR).
Dynamic on-the-fly roaming, multi-link aggregation, plus static and dynamic load balancing, and link monitoring ensure seamless connectivity and best user experience between back office and mobile environments. With the increasing reliance on Wi-Fi for universal connectivity, the system offers a solution for passenger Wi-Fi, applicable for both trains and buses. And a flexible, modular design delivers scalability that enables users to expand over time.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Patch cords prove to be networks’ weakest links
http://www.cablinginstall.com/articles/print/volume-23/issue-2/departments/perspective/patch-cords-prove-to-be-networks-weakest-links.html
They don’t need to be weak links, but the proliferation of low-quality and counterfeit products makes them so.
In today’s networks, substandard patch cords have become that weakest link, wreaking havoc on speed and performance, damaging networks, and ultimately costing many companies many dollars in lost productivity and system damage.
It’s easy to amass tens of thousands of dollars in wasted time with a computer system that’s not reacting properly–all in the name of saving a buck or two on a patch cord. Substandard products also are damaging cabling systems and electronics, in the form of bad ports causing pins to get bent, and modular plugs out-of-dimension getting stuck in ports.
The occurrence is commonplace in both commercial and personal realms. For example, every day, vast numbers of consumers buy expensive, high-end HDTVs and associated components, then link them together with cheap patch cords that cripple performance–perhaps saving a handful of dollars in the process.
It sounds insane when viewed on that level, doesn’t it? Yet, this same mindset pervades commercial network decision-making.
Save a buck, support counterfeiters, ruin a network
Why is this happening? Because U.S. consumers, both in personal and commercial environments, have embraced cost-savings obsessively. Unscrupulous manufacturers respond to our quest for ever-cheaper components by insidiously providing ever-lower quality. Instead of disclosing the downside of these cheaper products, they remain silent and simply manufacture them to match the price specs.
Buyers get products that appear to make the grade, until tests reveal flammable bulk cable that uses inferior insulating compounds, does not have correct copper conductors
Counterfeiters don’t stop there. Modular plugs contain a cheaper plastic, improper base materials for the pins, and improperly processed plating materials, especially gold. Molds are not in tolerances. Finished assemblies never see an actual performance test. That’s how they can make a Category 5e patch cord for 30 cents when a compliant one would cost three times that much. But hey, it works, kind of … right?
When challenged, counterfeiters shrug their shoulders.
So, does fault lie with the makers of this third-rate product or with those purchasing it? The answer is, “Yes.” That is, both are culpable.
This is not a new problem by any stretch of the imagination. A 2002 study by the International Academy of Science documented problems with Ethernet cable and switches, and concluded that problems cost an average of $25,000 annually, per user, in user-productivity loss, network manager effort, and business downtime. Why would anyone in their right mind have tolerated this insanity, especially when the fix is so easy and cost-effective? Why does anyone still tolerate it?
Though critical, they get no respect
Patch cords are the most misunderstood and abused item in the structured cabling industry.
End users pay $150 to $250 per drop, depending on the category or cable being installed. They will demand that the contractor do a permanent-link test to confirm that the installed cabling system does indeed perform to Category 5e, 6 or 6A standards. They may also demand a manufacturer’s 15- to 25-year warranty on the installed cabling system. Then they will buy a patch cord for $1.50 that says “Cat 6″ or “Cat 6e” and “UL” on the jacket, and assume all is well. Often, this is not the case–all is not well–as counterfeit use of these designations is rampant.
Failure should not be an option
The Communications Cable and Connectivity Association (CCCA), founded in 2007, is an organization whose mission is researching substandard and fraudulent structured cabling products.
” A whopping 322 of the 379 offshore cords failed to meet the performance specifications of TIA-568-C.2. CCCA reports that 78 percent of the failing samples failed by a margin of 3 dB or more, and 45 percent of the failing cords were 6 dB or more worse than 568-C.2 performance specs.”
How to fix it
The solution, albeit straightforward, is anything but simple. Given the seeming rampant willingness of contractors and end-users to buy this garbage, industry regulatory bodies need to institute tough new standards and protocols that document quality and prevent counterfeiters from continuing to peddle inferior products. And buyers–from contractors to end users–will have a clear choice when it comes to the quality they are willing, or unwilling, to pay for.
Until that happens, the most definitive way to gauge performance is to do a live network test with both good and bad patch cords, then measure latency and user experience.
Tomi Engdahl says:
IEEE to study new Base-T data rates for data centers and enterprise applications
http://www.cablinginstall.com/articles/print/volume-23/issue-2/features/technology/ieee-to-study-new-base-t-data-rates-for-data-centers-and-enterprise-applications.html?cmpid=EnlDataCentersFebruary172015
Why and how the IEEE is developing 2.5G, 5G, 25G and 40GBase-T.
Observing the work of recent projects, one can see that IEEE 802.3 is continuing to expand the Ethernet ecosystem by providing standards that meet the needs of well-defined uses and applications. This is somewhat of a departure from the early days of Ethernet, which defined 10-fold data rate increases with every project driven by a “build it and they will come” paradigm.
Enterprise office space vs. enterprise servers
Although both of the new study groups are focused on Base-T technology, they are driven by different use cases that will guide the definition of required data rates and reaches over specific cabling categories. At the most basic level, we are describing the distinction between enterprise office spaces and enterprise data centers.
So what’s changing now? The development and deployment of IEEE 802.11ac-2013 standard is enabling greater wireless access capabilities, but is also putting more pressure on the supporting wired infrastructure. Furthermore, today the existing infrastructure is predominantly populated with Category 5e and Category 6 cabling. These factors are driving the proposal to standardize higher-rate Base-T physical layer specifications for Category 5e and Category 6 cabling.
Thus, extending the useful life and data capacity of installed base of Category 5e and Category 6 twisted-pair cabling is a high priority because of the cost associated with retrofitting additional cables.
Given the per-port data rate requirements noted above, the two data rates that the Next Generation Enterprise Access Base-T PHY study group is proposing are 2.5 Gbits/sec and 5 Gbits/sec. The group has strong consensus that 2.5 Gbits/sec can be achieved cost effectively on 100 meters of Category 5e, and 5Gbits/sec on 100 meters of Category 6.
Roadmap for 25/40GBase-T
In contrast to data centers run by cloud service providers, which have already made the leap to 10GbE for server connections and are now eyeing 25GbE, enterprise-owned servers and data centers are still largely utilizing 1000Base-T connections for server access and just making the transition to 10GbE.
As bandwidth needs exceed 10 Gbits/sec, 25G/40G Base-T efforts will address enterprise server room and data center application requirements, using similar modulation techniques for the respective specifications. Largely based upon 10GBase-T signaling whose data rate has been sped up four times, the 40GBase-T project took a hard look at the 100-meter reach convention used for prior Base-T PHYs. With server-to-switch connections as the target use for 40GBase-T, 30-meter reach was seen as sufficient for installations using middle-of-row or end-of-row placement for switching equipment.
Supporting this 30-meter-reach objective and the 40-Gbit/sec data rate, IEEE P802.3bq 40GBase-T Task Force has been collaborating with cabling standards organizations on defining Category 8 cabling specifications.
Investment in 10G as a technology platform
The underlying technology enabling 10GBase-T has become a technology platform adaptable to new uses and data rates. The run rate of 10GBase-T ports in servers and switches is now at several million units per year and continues to grow.
Tomi Engdahl says:
OIF unveils plans for ‘FlexEthernet’ toolkit
http://www.cablinginstall.com/articles/2015/02/oif-flexethernet.html
As members of the Optical Internetworking Forum (OIF) gathered last month for their first quarterly meeting of 2015, the organization launched a new project to enable flexible Ethernet by providing a toolkit to expand the utility of existing and future Ethernet interfaces.
The new project, labeled FlexEthernet, provides a way for Ethernet equipment to more efficiently utilize optical link bandwidth, says OIF. The consortium says its FlexEthernet toolkit provides channelization, bonding and sub-rate functionality to connect one or more Ethernet MACs using standard Ethernet PMDs between equipment, either directly or through transport links.
Building upon the OIF’s multi-link gearbox (MLG) work that addresses multilaneconfiguration, the FlexEthernet platform provides support for speeds in between and beyond the fixed speeds currently defined, driving a wider set of applications needed by data centers and carriers.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Report: ICT downtime costs businesses $4 million per year
http://www.cablinginstall.com/articles/2015/02/infonetics-ict-downtime-survey.html
Technology researcher Infonetics Research, now part of IHS, Inc. (NYSE: IHS), recently conducted in-depth surveys with 205 medium and large businesses in North America and discovered that companies are losing as much as $100 million per year to downtime related to information and communication technology (ICT).
“Businesses participating in our ICT downtime survey are losing almost $4 million a year to downtime on average, about half a percent of their total revenue,” comments Matthias Machowinski, directing analyst for enterprise networks and video at Infonetics Research.
According to the survey, the most common causes of ICT downtime are failures of equipment, software and third-party services; power outages; and human error. Infonetics’ respondent organizations said they experience an average of two outages and four degradations per month, with each event lasting around six hours.
“Fixing the downtime issue is the smallest cost component,” adds Machowinski. “The real cost is the toll downtime takes on employee productivity and company revenue, illustrating the criticality of ICT infrastructure in the day-to-day operations of an organization.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Outdoor transceiver drives long-range Ethernet over coax or Cat 5e cabling
http://www.cablinginstall.com/articles/2015/02/altronix-longrange-ethernet.html
Altronix (Brooklyn, NY) has expanded its eBridge Ethernet over Coax product line with the introduction of its eBridge200WPM transceiver, designed for rugged outdoor use. The new unit transmits IP video/data and power over coaxial cabling up to 300m or Cat 5e cabling up to 500m without repeaters.
The eBridge200WPM is Hi-PoE (60W) as well as PoE/PoE+ -compliant and supports cameras/edge devices beyond the standard 100m distance, says the company.
According to the company, the eBridge200WPM can support a single Hi-PoE (60W) camera/device or two PoE/PoE+ cameras/devices at 100Mbps full duplex.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Wi-Fi Alliance lauds advancement of Wi-Fi Innovation Act
http://www.cablinginstall.com/articles/2015/02/wifi-innovation-act.html
On February 10, in the United States Congress, Senators Rubio (R-FL) and Booker (D-NJ) put forth the Wi-Fi Innovation Act, with a House companion measure co-sponsored by Representatives Latta (R-OH) and Eshoo (D-CA). The bill directs the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to work with the U.S. Department of Transportation (DoT) and National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) to closely study the impact of opening the 5.9 GHz spectrum band for use by a wide array of devices. Wi-Fi Alliance issued a statement welcoming the proposed U.S. legislation and urging lawmakers to take action swiftly to advance innovation in unlicensed spectrum.
“We applaud this group of Senators and Representatives for their recognition of the value of unlicensed spectrum in enabling innovation and economic benefits today,” said Edgar Figueroa, president and CEO of Wi-Fi Alliance. “It’s well understood that more unlicensed spectrum is critical to meet our society’s ongoing requirements for connectivity.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Ways to make DAS more intelligent
http://www.cablinginstall.com/articles/2015/02/rcr-dali-intelligent-das.html
Dali introduced the HDS, billed as an integrated solution for wireless coverage and capacity, Wi-Fi and video monitoring, at last year’s Mobile World Congress 2014.
“Having the power to add IP modules such as Wi-Fi access points and video cameras in a plug and play fashion to the remotes of an integrated cellular network, and offload the content to remote management centers with the IP backhaul gives organizations great flexibility to manage their wireless needs,” said Stapleton.
Tomi Engdahl says:
TIA comments on FCC’s Title II regulation proposal for Net Neutrality
http://www.cablinginstall.com/articles/2015/02/tia-fcc-net-neutriality-title2.html
“While the FCC is staking out ground on the far end of the regulatory spectrum, we believe a much more balanced approach will eventually win the day. We will continue to lead an industry effort to make certain that innovation, jobs and economic growth don’t become casualties of the desire to tighten Internet regulations.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Wi-Fi network interference, analysis, and optimization
http://www.edn.com/electronics-blogs/the-emc-blog/4438663/Wi-Fi-network-interference–analysis–and-optimization?_mc=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_review_20150220&cid=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_review_20150220&elq=13046a04ed09481bbfbbe17950cce9ee&elqCampaignId=21741
One aspect related to EMC today is that, with the proliferation of embedded wireless systems in all imaginable products, comes the risk of increasing interference and resulting slowdown in data transfer. As we transition to a more mobile society, the number of Wi-Fi (home appliances and control) and Bluetooth-enabled devices (speakers, headset, watches, etc.) is rapidly increasing. Add to that the increasing number of residential control (lighting, thermostats, and security systems) utilizing wireless technology. But, more importantly, if you live or work in the city, it’s not unusual to have ten, or more, separate 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi access points (APs) or “hot spots” within range of your own system. Fortunately, I live out in the country, but my system can still “see” a half-dozen APs nearby. If two, or more, nearby APs are using the same channel, the result can be a slowdown in data transfer for both systems. Add to this many wireless phones, baby monitors, and microwave ovens, all operating in this same 2.4 GHz Industrial, Scientific, and Medical (ISM) band and you can imagine the resulting interference issues possible.
Tomi Engdahl says:
AT&T is putting a price on privacy. That is outrageous
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/feb/20/att-price-on-privacy
Poor customers should not have to choose between being spied on and forking over money
Imagine if the postal service started offering discount shipping in exchange for permission to scan every letter you receive and then target you with junk mail based on the contents of your personal mail.
One of the largest telecommunications companies in America, AT&T, is doing just that for customers of its super-fast gigabit broadband service, which is rolling out in select cities.
The tracking and ad targeting associated with the gigabit service cannot be avoided using browser privacy settings: as AT&T explained, the program “works independently of your browser’s privacy settings regarding cookies, do-not-track and private browsing.” In other words, AT&T is performing deep packet inspection, a controversial practice through which internet service providers, by virtue of their privileged position, monitor all the internet traffic of their subscribers and collect data on the content of those communications.
What if customers do not want to be spied on by their internet service providers? AT&T allows gigabit service subscribers to opt out – for a $29 fee per month.
But charging extra for privacy has significant social justice implications: broadband access is hard to come by for many communities, and subscribers on the lower rungs of the income ladder may not be able to afford an additional fee to protect their privacy. Privacy should not be reserved for the rich, and the poor should not be forced to choose between broadband, an essential tool in modern life, and their privacy.
Moreover, it is not clear what gigabit subscribers get when they pay the $29 fee to opt out. AT&T says that it “may collect and use web browsing information for other purposes
Even worse, the virtual lack of competition in the broadband market makes it difficult for many subscribers to jump to another, more privacy-protective company.
AT&T does not have a stellar track record when it comes to protecting its subscribers’ information from government intrusion, as the company’s early collaboration with the NSA proved.
There is one silver lining to this dark cloud: AT&T says it is not attempting to monitor its customers’ connections to encrypted websites (like Google, Yahoo!, Facebook and Twitter), which could endanger its customers’ security. This is small comfort, however, given the wide array of websites that do not support HTTPS by default.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The new LTE-U may interfere with the Wi-Fi connections
The fourth-generation LTE technology is being brought in a number of different versions of evolution, of which the greater bandwidth for LTE-Advanced is the most famous. Work is also under LTE-U, which has begun to worry WLAN technology to manage and coordinate the WiFi Alliance.
LTE-U’s idea is simple. In the LTE connection exported in the unlicensed frequency range of five gigahertz. The same spectrum is now also wifi.
LTE-U can be implemented in several ways. WiFi Alliance, according to LTE U should take option where LTE-U is paired with the current five-GHz WLAN connections ( the second option is LTE-U is connected only).
According to Qualcomm’s LTE-U does not interfere with the Wi-Fi signals.
Source: http://www.etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2434:uusi-lte-u-voi-haitata-wifi-yhteyksia&catid=13&Itemid=101
Tomi Engdahl says:
IEEE standards patent rules change
IEEE organization has changed its patent policy. The new policy is intended to prevent Patent troll activities, and to guarantee that the patents used to restrain competition. The new practice is clearly weakens the position of those developing technology.
The most important new policy is that the future of patent fees paid to the IEEE standards – such as, say, WiFi – the components of the price. So far, royalties have had to pay the price of the final product.
IEEE’s view, the former FRAND policy, with standard forming part of the patent must be given to others on fair cost and fair (fair, reasonable and non-Discriminatory) has not worked. This principle has been used to restrict competition.
In practice, all the technology they develop and the patentoimala protect companies seeking to oppose the IEEE’s new practice.
US Department of Justice supports the IEEE’s new rules.
IEEE decision result in the long term is that the techniques that have ratified it becomes less important. For example, the 5G-standardization is going to happen with other organizations such as 3GPP inside.
Source: http://www.etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2416:ieee-standardien-patenttikaytanto-muuttuu&catid=13&Itemid=101
Tomi Engdahl says:
Chip Packs 100, 64-bit ARM Cores
200G Tilera-MX joins ARM party
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1325714&
EZchip will pack a hundred 64-bit ARM A53 cores into a network processor competing for sockets in servers and communications systems with the likes of Broadcom, Cavium and Intel. The 200 Gbit/second Tile-Mx100 could outgun most if not all competitors despite the fact it will be made in a 28nm process and probably won’t be in production until 2017.
The chip is based on the Tile-Gx multicore architecture EZchip acquired in July from Tilera. Besides moving Tile-Gx from a proprietary to an ARM core, the new generation adopts some key blocks from EZchip such as a traffic manager it hopes helps it stand apart from its larger competitors.
“No one else we know of has announced a 100-core ARM v8 processor, so it will be one of the most powerful networking processors out there,” said Tom Halfhill, senior analyst with market watcher The Linley Group (Mountain View, Calif.)
Cavium will deliver later this year its ThunderX, a 48-core chip using a single-threaded 64-bit ARM core. Broadcom is designing a competing 16nm chip based on multi-threaded superscalar ARM cores expected to be in production next year. Its existing XLP980 chip using 20 MIPS cores is already a heady competitor because its quad-threaded architecture enables it to handle many packet flows.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Kevin Fitchard / Gigaom:
Artemis is building 4G network using its pCell technology on Dish spectrum to cover most of SF
Artemis is building a 4G network in SF to prove its pCell tech works
https://gigaom.com/2015/02/23/artemis-is-building-a-4g-network-in-sf-to-prove-its-pcell-tech-works/
For the last year WebTV creator Steve Perlman has been trying to convince a skeptical wireless industry that his most recent startup Artemis Networks has developed an LTE technology that solves the mobile data capacity crunch, and now he aims to prove it. Artemis is building a network using its pCell LTE technology that will cover most of San Francisco using Dish Network’s spectrum.
it will sell unlimited 4G data and voice-over-LTE plans to consumers via a SIM card that they can plug into any iPhone 6 and 6 Plus as well as select Android handsets.
Now Artemis claims it can improve that spectral efficiency by a factor of 35 by replacing big tower-mounted macrocells with a dense layer of pCells distributed throughout a city.
While devices normally have to share the available capacity of the network, Artemis claims its technology will deliver the theoretical maximum speed to every device it connects to no matter how many smartphones or tablets are competing for attention. Artemis has demonstrated this by placing dozens of iPhones side by side all streaming different videos over the same spectrum, something that would be nearly impossible on standard LTE networks.
pCell accomplishes this by turning the topology of cellular networks inside out.
Artemis, however, isn’t creating a grid of non-interfering cells. It’s throwing its signals straight at one another creating a network where the vast majority of physical space contains a miasma of cross-interfering airwaves. But according to Perlman, there is order in that chaos. Artemis is really shaping the radio airwaves to create tiny oases of pristine signal reception — the pCells themselves — which just happen to be centered on wherever our devices are in the network.
It’s a hard concept to wrap your mind around
I’ve talked to several mobile networking veterans who — while acknowledging that Perlman’s claims are theoretically possible — are very skeptical that Artemis can pull off such a feat with today’s technology. The limited technical explanations Artemis has so far provided just haven’t been good enough to convince them otherwise. As one CTO of a major global mobile carrier put it, “Artemis needs to show its math.”
rtemis will have to build a network comprised of thousands of pWaves (its pCell transmitters) on Webpass’s 600 rooftops scattered throughout the city.
Artemis also has to build the core infrastructure to support a VoLTE service so its customers can make phone calls and send text messages. And it needs to strike a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) deal with a nationwide mobile carrier so its customers can roam outside of the city limits.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Report: FTTH, FTTB connectivity booming in Europe
http://www.cablinginstall.com/articles/2015/02/ftthb-booming-in-europe.html
As reported by Stephen Hardy, lead editor for CablingInstall.com’s sister site Lightwave, a chronicler of the fiber-optic telecom/datacom industry, “research commissioned by the FTTH Council Europe and released at the organization’s annual conference last week indicates that the number of fiber to the home (FTTH) and fiber to the building (FTTB) subscribers in Europe reached approximately 14.5 million in 2014.”
This total represents a 50% increase over 2013, notes Hardy, but does not include the 14.8 homes and buildings served via fiber-optic broadband in Russia and the Ukraine. Market research firm IDATE conducted the study and provided the data for the FTTH Council Europe. “This is phenomenal progress, and it proves that FTTH/B is poised to become the mass market broadband product in Europe, even though there is still a long way to go to reach the Digital Agenda target of 100 Mbps for 50% of Europe’s households by 2020,” commented Karin Ahl, president of the FTTH Council Europe.
Tomi Engdahl says:
You’ll soon be able to try the technology that could make your phone’s internet 1,000 times faster than 4G
http://uk.businessinsider.com/pcell-launch-san-francisco-2015-2?r=US
About a year ago, Artemis Networks CEO Steve Perlman said his startup was working on technology that could make your smartphone’s internet connection 1,000 times faster than it is today. Now that technology is finally making its debut in San Francisco.
Artemis Networks announced that consumers in San Francisco would be able to purchase a SIM card from the company’s website that allows phones to connect to the pCell network.
Because Artemis Networks has a partnership with Dish, the company will be using a certain block of Dish’s spectrum for pCell’s deployment in San Francisco.
If you have an unlocked iPhone 6 or iPad Air 2, you will be able to buy a SIM card directly from Artemis and insert it into the device. For Android, you will have to order an unlocked phone that is compatible with the specific spectrum pCell runs on. (Apple’s unlocked phones come with all spectrum bands built in.)
In fact, Artemis Networks’ latest white paper on pCell says the technology comes close to certain standards set for 5G, which is expected to be deployed in 2020.
It is supposedly so fast it could even potentially replace a traditional cable modem
“Our cost will be low enough that we can compete with cable modems,” Perlman said.
Perlman would not give specifics on pricing or availability, saying that would most likely be decided closer to the product’s launch. PCell is still undergoing FCC approval, and estimates suggest that process could take about six months.
The price would be able to be low because pCell works off of small, hotspot-like devices and doesn’t need a giant cell tower to be deployed. So the cost to build the network infrastructure is much lower for pCell than it is for a traditional carrier.
Because the pWaves are so small, they can be placed practically anywhere, unlike cell towers. The idea is that numerous pWaves could be placed around cities to blanket an area more accurately than can traditional towers.
Read more: http://uk.businessinsider.com/pcell-launch-san-francisco-2015-2?r=US#ixzz3SkIwHXjd
Tomi Engdahl says:
ZyXEL Launches Affordable 10G Switches, Brings UTM Devices to Home Users
by Ganesh T S on February 24, 2015 7:50 PM EST
http://www.anandtech.com/show/9007/zyxel-launches-affordable-10g-switches-brings-utm-devices-to-home-users
ZyXEL has a track record of making affordable networking equipment for both home users and service providers. Post-CES, the company has made a couple of product line announcements that warrant perusal from those keeping track ofdevelopments in the wired networking space.
The first product line targets enterprise users thinking about shifting to 10G. With platform advancements bringing down the price and power consumption for 10GBASE-T switches, we have seen a host of affordable switches enter the market from various manufacturers. Netgear took the lead a couple of years back with a number of ProSafe 10GBASE-T switches starting at $1400 for the 8-port model. A couple of years down the road, the prices have come down considerably (slightly more than $800 for the 8-port model).
ZyXEL is also touting their ZON management platform which enables IT administrators to have a unified view and streamlined control of various devices in the network. The new 10G switches are obviously compatible with the ZON platform.
Towards the middle of last year, ZyXEL updated their UTM (Unified Threat Management) solutions for SMBs. In what we believe is a first from any home networking equipment vendor, ZyXEL is marketing the 4-port solution in the home consumer market too.
The USG40HE has a WAN port and 3 LAN/DMZ ports. There is an additional port that can be configured as a secondary WAN or another LAN port.
This UTM device / home network security product provides firewall capabilities, content filtering, traffic prioritization depending on application recognition, intrusion detection and prevention and optional anti-virus / anti-spam capabilities. Similar to the tradition in the SMB market, ZyXEL is bundling a 1-yr license for the UTM services.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Huawei’s 4.5G Smartband is the first LTE-M wearable
Firm claims next-generation 4.5G technology will be commercially available next year
http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2396743/huaweis-45g-smartband-is-the-first-lte-connected-wearable
CHINESE PHONE MAKER Huawei unveiled the 4.5G Smartband at an event in London on Tuesday, claiming it as the world’s first LTE-M wearable.
The Huawei 4.5G Smartband will boast next-generation 4.5G connectivity, described as being “in the middle of 4G and 5G”, which the firm aims to make commercial next year.
the device will make use of an LTE-M chip made by Neul, following its acquisition of the start-up last year, a processor which the company claims will make a “cellular Internet of Things” (IoT) a reality.
Ryan Ding, president of products and solutions at the firm, said that 4.5G networks represent “the first time that a mobile network is not focused on people” but on “people and things”.
Huawei said that, as well as enabling technologies such as virtual reality and drones, 4.5G will provide huge benefits to the business sector, boosting industry applications such as smart metering which require low-power terminals and better network coverage.
“4.5G supports up to 100K per cell connections via LTE-M, 100 times that of 4G,” Huawei explained. “LTE-M also provides better coverage. Receivers require just 1/100th of the signal of existing 2G system, 20dB gain, using low-power terminals.”
Huawei said that 4.5G will deliver up to 1Gbps bandwidth on mobile networks when it is commercially rolled out in 2015.
Tomi Engdahl says:
University of Surrey claims ‘world’s first’ with 5G speeds of 1Tbps
5G Innovation Centre aims to demonstrate next-gen speeds to the public by 2018
http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2396726/university-of-surrey-claims-worlds-first-with-5g-speeds-of-1tbps
RECORD-BREAKING 5G speeds of 1Tbps have been achieved by the University of Surrey during trials of the next-generation technology.
As V3 exclusively reported, the University of Surrey has claimed a “world’s first” after the 1Tbps speeds trumped those previously achieved by the likes of Huawei and Samsung.
#V3mobility: University of Surrey achieves 5G speeds of 1Tbps
http://www.v3.co.uk/v3-uk/news/2396249/exclusive-university-of-surrey-achieves-5g-speeds-of-1tbps
V3 Enterprise Mobility Summit: 5G speeds of 1Tbps have been achieved during tests at the University of Surrey, far in excess of anything before.
Professor Rahim Tafazolli (pictured below), director of the 5G Innovation Centre (5GIC) at the university, told V3 that it was the first time in the world that such speeds had been achieved, far faster than any other tests such as Samsung’s 7.5Gbps results.
He explained that the 5GIC has been working on new technologies to support 5G services, which have been instrumental in producing the 1Tbps results.
“We have developed 10 more breakthrough technologies and one of them means we can exceed 1Tbps wirelessly. This is the same capacity as fibre optics but we are doing it wirelessly,” he said.
The plan is to take the technology outside the lab and onto the campus at the university during 2016 or 2017 before demonstrating it to the public in early 2018, ahead of rivals from South Korea, Russia and Japan.
“An important aspect of 5G is how it will support applications in the future. We don’t know what applications will be in use by 2020, or 2030 or 2040 for that matter, but we know they will be highly sensitive to latency,”
Despite the huge potential of 5G commercial deployments, networks running at these ultra-high speeds are unlikely to arrive until 2020.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Facebook:
Internet.org’s 2014 State of Global Connectivity report: Internet adoption growth slows to 6.6%, just 32% of people have Internet access in emerging economies
http://newsroom.fb.com/news/2015/02/the-state-of-global-connectivity/
By early 2015, 3 billion people will be online. This is an incredible milestone, but it also means that only 40% of the world’s population has ever connected to the internet.
Moreover, adoption of the internet is slowing — The rate of growth declined for the fourth year in a row to just 6.6% in 2014 (down from 14.7% in 2010). At present rates of decelerating growth, it won’t reach 4 billion people until 2019.
Infrastructure – More than 90% of the world’s population lives within range of a mobile signal.
Affordability – Globally, monthly data plans with a cap of 250MB are affordable to 50% of the population. Reducing this cap to 100MB achieves 80% affordability and 20MB reaches 90% affordability.
Relevance – Many people are not online because they are either unaware of the internet or because there is limited relevant content in their primary language. To provide relevant content to 80% of the world would require sufficient content in at least 92 languages.
Tomi Engdahl says:
5 Trends to Watch at Mobile World Congress
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1325797&
Anything and everything in the world that demands wireless connectivity — cars, phones, homes, retail transactions, factories, buildings, wearables, public transportation systems, you name it — is descending upon the Mobile World Congress (MWC) next week in Barcelona.
The MWC is no longer reserved to smartphones and cellular modem technologies. It has morphed into a gathering place to discover and debate connected devices and new network technologies tailored for different applications — best represented by Machine-to-Machine (M2M) communications, aka, the Internet of Things (IoT).
The mobile industry is already hard at work adapting LTE for “Machine Type Communications (MTC)” via the development of LTE Cat-0 or LTE-MTC. But pay attention. Watch for big-name cellular network providers to announce their plans to jump in and start operating low data-rate M2M networks promoted by companies like Sigfox and the LoRa Alliance, said IHS senior principal analyst Sam Lucero.
“5G as a standard isn’t done, but there are people who are looking at [4G and 5G] and trying to do pre-standard product,”
Setting that aside, the biggest trend among smartphones emerging in 2015 and 2016 is a host of “always-on” features embedded in handsets, according to Ceva, a DSP IP core licensor. In short, your next phone will be always listening to you and watching, so that it can add context to your actions. More important, it’s intended to anticipate your next move, Eran Briman, vice president of marketing at Ceva, told EE Times.
As a part of the connected life, “connected cars” will have a big presence again at the Mobile World Congress.
Whether enabled by cellular connectivity, NFC, RFID or vehicle-to-vehicle (V2) and vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communications, the heart of billions of connected devices is security. Lars Reger, vice president strategy, new business, and R&D for the automotive business unit at NXP, told EE Times, “Security is the name of the game…Otherwise, IoT is just a hoax.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
LTE IoT Specs Anticipated in Chips
Altair aims to get jump on 4G MTC standard
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1325762&
Altair Semiconductor hopes to drive the machine-to-machine (M2M) market toward 4G LTE with two chip sets coming out ahead of expected 3GPP standards for the Internet of Things.
“The vision behind our move to IoT was the notion that there are many use cases out there that require some kind of long-range connectivity. So far M2M has been mostly addressed by 2G technology,” Altair Co-Founder and Vice President of Marketing Eran Eshed told EE Times. “These networks are going to be sunset in the not-so-distant future. Carriers really need some upgrade paths and way to address the needs of next billion devices.”
Sometimes referred to as machine-type communications (MTC), these cellular communications face a variety of design challenges to fit a breadth of Internet of Things devices. Altair’s 1160 CAT-1 and 1150 CAT-0 chip sets use older, “disregarded” modems to provide low power, low cost communications at high data rates.
“LTE is about much more than high speed, as evidenced by the inclusion of CAT-1 in the original 3GPP LTE specification. And there’s a move by 3GPP to define even lower-cost, lower-throughput CAT-0 in next year’s Release 12,”
“There are some who see this road map as accelerating the trend for operators to shutter 2G and 3G networks and migrate to the more efficient 4G LTE technology.”
Altair’s CAT-1 modules are about half the cost of a CAT-4, which is equivalent to the price of 3G. The CAT-0 chips are priced similar to 2G modules, but would require “painful changes” to a carrier’s network.
“If carriers wait until 2018 when [LTE MTC standards should be complete and] extra low power, low size comes on board, they will have missed an extremely important window,” Eshed said, adding that Altair’s chips are ahead of industry estimates for the emergence of CAT-1 and CAT-0 by a year or two. “People are designing products without having seen the chip. To me that means the market needs this technology.”
Still, there is debate about what the LTE MTC standards will look like, whether they will be based on CAT-0 or CAT-1, and whether the Internet of Things needs 4G cellular communications at all.
Still, there are a number of companies with a vested interest in MTC communications. MediaTek has its own wireless modems and “is really seriously looking at getting into IoT and embedded applications,” while others such as Intel, Spreadtrum, and Marvell could also benefit from a new market for cellular modems. Likewise, microcontroller companies from Freescale to TI and Atmel stand to win by supplying MCUs specifically designed for MTC.
“The embedded world is accustomed to using custom solutions, but it’s easier to leverage mobile ecosystem as much as possible,” McGregor said. “I would imagine we’re going to see a variety of solutions probably through the end of this decade before we get to 5G, and they say we need a little bit better standards.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Facebook uses the most mobile data
Ericsson’s research reveals that the five most popular mobile application generates two-thirds of all mobile data. Facebook is the largest mobile data capacity eater in all countries studied.
Facebook in addition to video applications and social media in general is the fact that operators spectrum congestion.
For example, South Korea and Spain, Facebook’s share of mobile data is 20 per cent.
The other five major data consumers are Android and Chrome browsers as well as Youtube.
Mobile data growth is mainly explained by the number of smart phones a blistering growth. Last year, the operators’ networks came to 800 million new smartphone subscribers. All in all, the smartphone is already 2.7 billion people
Source: http://www.etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2477:facebook-kuluttaa-eniten-mobiilidataa&catid=13&Itemid=101
Tomi Engdahl says:
Bloomberg Business:
HP in Talks to Buy Aruba Networks for Wi-Fi Infrastructure — Don’t Miss Out — (Bloomberg) — Hewlett-Packard Co. is in talks to acquire Aruba Networks Inc., a maker of wireless-network infrastructure used by hotels, universities and shopping malls, people with knowledge of the matter said.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-02-25/hp-said-in-talks-to-buy-aruba-networks-for-wi-fi-infrastructure
Tomi Engdahl says:
5G Horizon Seen at ISSCC
Alca-Lu, Intel collaborate on air interface
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1325818&
5G cellular research projects are racing to a conclusion so proposals for formal standards can begin next year, said experts at a panel at International Solid-State Circuits Conference here. They shared their views and work to date on next-generation cellular, including a prototype 5G base station running in a university lab.
5G is expected to include a suite of radios and other network technologies aiming to deliver by 2020 a variety of advances for a wide array of applications. Alcatel-Lucent is working with Intel on the Universal Filtered OFDM air interface, which had its origins in WiMax, as just one small piece of the puzzle.
“We have a prototype air interface we showed last year and another [version to be shown] at the Mobile World Congress handing streaming video…[that] we expect to bring to standards efforts which we expect to start early next year,” said Theodore Sizer, a domain leader at Alcatel-Lucent’s Bell Laboratories.
UF-OFDM could be one of at least three air interfaces companies such as Intel propose for 5G, said Asha Keddy, a vice president of Intel’s platform engineering group. Separate air interfaces may be needed to support Internet of Things nodes in the 100 MHz to GHz bands and high-bandwidth applications in the 10-100 GHz range, she said.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Global research from element14 reveals the importance of the Internet of Things to developing economies
http://releasd.com/7a5c
the research highlights a notable thirst for increased internet connectivity in developing economies, hinting that IoT has the potential to continue the trend for increased access to the internet in developing economies that mobile has created.
On average, 31 percent of consumers in Australia, France, Germany, the U.K. and the U.S. agree that the more devices in their home that connect to the internet, the better. This figure more than doubles to 71 percent for consumers in both China and India, newly industrialised countries with lower percentages of population with internet connectivity
Other findings from the study include:
Respondents in China and India are also more likely to agree with the statement “The more of the world that is connected to the internet, the better,” indicating that desire for connectivity extends beyond their homes. On this statement, 73 percent and 86 percent concurred for each country respectively, compared to just a 55 percent average across Australia, France, Germany, the U.K. and the U.S.
People in China and India are much more open to wearing a connected device such as a smartwatch or smartglasses, with 66 percent and 63 percent agreeing, compared to 26 percent on average in the other countries surveyed.
In the U.S., more than two thirds (68 percent) are concerned about notification overload as an effect of connected devices, highlighting the need for intelligent automation and minimal interaction in IoT technology
With regards to the privacy implications of IoT, France was revealed to be the most concerned nation with 81 percent agreeing this was an issue for them. The average number was only marginally lower (77 percent), showing IoT technologies must be transparent and address privacy concerns.
Aside from India and China (which were 59 percent and 63 percent respectively), Brits and Germans are the most gadget-obsessed nations, with 50 percent of both agreeing that they cannot live without their gadgets and technology.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Small cells are like DRUNKS. They don’t use lamp posts for light, they use ‘em for support
Brit designer’s dangle-comms produce coverage for all
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/02/26/ttp_unit_cost_street_light_of_small_cells_brit_designer_/
A new design of mobile cell site that sits on top of an existing street light has been developed British design company The Technology Partnership (TTP).
Street lights are an obvious place to put mobile network infrastructure. They’re erected in the places where there are lots of people and they have a power supply.
While Ericsson has a whole street light division, formulated in conjunction with Philips, the TTP solution is a bit more softly-softly.
Like some kind of electronic mistletoe the unnamed TTP cell sits on top of existing street lights. The installer unplugs the photocell from the standard socket, plugs the cell in and then plugs the photocell back into the TTP unit.
The process is designed to require the minimum amount of work while producing coverage for the network and revenue for the street light owners. The compact design meets de minimis planning requirements, and so also simplifies official consents.
It is targeted at 50 metre cells, supporting up to 32 active users at downlink rates of up to 100Mbps, although the elephant in the room is backhaul.
It’s all very well being able to get the mobile signal to the eNodeB on the street light but getting the voice or data from the lights to the phone network is a tougher problem.
TTP kind of employs a SEP (somebody else’s problem) field solution to this, but offers a partial answer in the form of an a Gigabit interface for S1/X2 and provides Power Over Ethernet out, so that whatever is plugged in as backhaul can be connected with a single cable, and so with no need for any co-operation from the owner of the street light.
One common solution is LTE backhaul, where part of the operator’s 4G spectrum is used to link the lights to one another and then on to a switch. This is similar to the approach adopted by EE in its Cumbrian experiment.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Canonical partners with Amazon, Microsoft, and others on Internet of Things
http://www.zdnet.com/article/canonical-partners-with-amazon-microsoft-and-others-on-internet-of-things/
Summary:Ubuntu Linux aims to become the glue that holds the Internet of Things together with its new partnerships.
Maybe Microsoft does love Linux! Canonical, the company behind Ubuntu Linux, announced this week that both Microsoft and Amazon have agreed to publish their Internet of Things (IoT) application programming interfaces (APIs) on Ubuntu Core.
Canonical Announces New Partnerships for Industrial and Telecoms IoT
https://insights.ubuntu.com/2015/02/19/canonical-announces-new-partnerships-for-industrial-and-telecoms-iot/
Canonical is pleased to announce key partnerships for industrial and telecoms IoT, underscoring the importance of security for critical infrastructure by investing in fast, automated, reliable updates for the machines that drive networking and industrial systems.
Critical infrastructure systems are now an attack vector for espionage and disruption. Canonical and partners are working to deliver certified Ubuntu Core devices that are automatically updated to address systemic vulnerabilities fast. Ubuntu Core also provides best-in-class application isolation based on kernel containers, minimising the impact of errors and vulnerabilities in third-party applications.
“Certified and supported Ubuntu platforms set the standard for safety and security in connected devices” said Mark Shuttleworth, founder of Canonical and Ubuntu. “Device manufacturers who choose Ubuntu Core on certified platforms now have a popular platform that meets corporate and government requirements for security updates and management.”
Software-defined appliances simplify telco customer-premises equipment (CPE) provisioning
“Snappy Ubuntu Core is a valuable and powerful IoT enabler for talented developers and inventors. Our mission is to support them with Deutsche Telekom’s resources and business knowledge.”
Ubuntu is already the leading platform for telco OpenStack deployments. Ubuntu Core is well placed to extend that lead into the customer premises equipment market.
Network switches and routers gain apps and updates
Next-generation switches are capable of running Ubuntu Core and a collection of network-centric applications. Cavium, one of the world’s leaders in network silicon, will support Ubuntu Core for its switch and router solutions, accelerating the development of next-generation smart networking infrastructure by a wide range of OEM manufacturers.
Cloud connectivity with Azure and AWS
Both Microsoft and Amazon have agreed to publish their IoT developer APIs on Ubuntu Core for snappy developers.
“Smart industrial systems need secure cloud back-ends for data storage and analysis. Microsoft and Canonical are partnering to deliver developer APIs to enable Ubuntu Core for snappy developers. This partnership will simplify cloud-backed device development,” says John Shewchuk, Technical Fellow at Microsoft.
Raise the bar for security and certainty
Revelations of software and hardware tampering by intelligence agencies have focused attention on institutional ability to verify the integrity of appliances and systems. The system and application update mechanisms in Ubuntu Core also provide certainty for enterprises of the source and validity of the software installed on an Ubuntu Core device, contributing substantially to overall system assurance.
“The industrial IoT needs foundational building blocks that are secure, reliable and easy to use. Collaboration between the Eclipse Foundation and Canonical will dramatically accelerate time to market for developers, building on one of the truly open platforms,” says Mike Milinkovich, Executive Director at the Eclipse Foundation.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Jon Brodkin / Ars Technica:NEW
FCC enforces net neutrality, voting to regulate broadband providers as common carriers under Title II and ban paid fast lanes — FCC votes for net neutrality, a ban on paid fast lanes, and Title II — Internet providers are now common carriers, and they’re ready to sue.
FCC votes for net neutrality, a ban on paid fast lanes, and Title II
Internet providers are now common carriers, and they’re ready to sue.
http://arstechnica.com/business/2015/02/fcc-votes-for-net-neutrality-a-ban-on-paid-fast-lanes-and-title-ii/
The Federal Communications Commission today voted to enforce net neutrality rules that prevent Internet providers—including cellular carriers—from blocking or throttling traffic or giving priority to Web services in exchange for payment.
“This is no more a plan to regulate the Internet than the First Amendment is a plan to regulate free speech.”
The most controversial part of the FCC’s decision reclassifies fixed and mobile broadband as a telecommunications service, with providers to be regulated as common carriers under Title II of the Communications Act. This brings Internet service under the same type of regulatory regime faced by wireline telephone service and mobile voice, though the FCC is forbearing from stricter utility-style rules that it could also apply under Title II.
Wheeler also said putting rules in place will give network operators the certainty they need to keep investing.
Internet service providers such as Comcast, AT&T, and Verizon lobbied heavily against the Title II decision and could sue to overturn the rules. But Wheeler believes Title II puts the FCC on stronger legal ground. The FCC previously passed net neutrality rules in 2010, relying on some of its weaker authority, but the rules were largely overturned after a Verizon lawsuit.
The core net neutrality provisions are bans on blocking and throttling traffic, a ban on paid prioritization, and a requirement to disclose network management practices. Broadband providers will not be allowed to block or degrade access to legal content, applications, services, and non-harmful devices or favor some traffic over others in exchange for payment. There are exceptions for “reasonable network management” and certain data services that don’t use the “public Internet.” Those include heart monitoring services and the Voice over Internet Protocol services offered by home Internet providers.
The reasonable network management exception applies to blocking and throttling but not paid prioritization.
What’s next: Lawsuits and Congressional intervention
Although lots of ISPs publicly oppose the new rules, the industry is by no means united against the FCC.
Sir Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web, spoke to the commission via video. He credited the openness of the Internet with allowing him to create the Web 25 years ago, without having to ask “permission.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Between Ohmmeter and TDR, What are Your Cable-Test Options?
http://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=36&doc_id=1325406&
Field-test instrumentation fills the gap between a basic tester and sophisticated engineering units, providing the results you need to verify the basic integrity and performance of copper and optical-fiber cable assemblies.
Cable assemblies, meaning the electrical conductor and associated connectors at one or both ends, are components with a bipolar life. On one side, they’re simple copper links and easy to check out for basic continuity; all it takes is an ohmmeter function on a multimeter. On the other side, we expect more and more of these interconnects when handling power and especially when conveying data. After all, who would have predicted years ago that a thin, twisted-pair cable would be handling megabit-per-second data rates?
That level of performance is what we routinely get from a properly designed and constructed cable rated for Cat5 or Cat6 standards, for example. Even coaxial cables have their imperatives, with rating to hundreds of megaHertz and tens of gigaHertz. Yet when a system’s performance is not what it should be, we usually don’t think about the cable, since it was marked and marketed to fulfill the requisite specifications.
Reality is that counterfeit, substandard, or poorly installed cables are out there, shocking as it may seem. After all, why bother to produce fake ICs when it is so much easier to make or take an inadequate cable and stamp a certification on it?
It turns out that specialized instruments are available that quickly and easily test cable assemblies in the field. They’re small, lightweight, battery-powered, low cost, and easy to use.
These instruments fill the gap between the basic continuity test, which is necessary but usually insufficient, and the more sophisticated, full-range TDR (time-domain reflectometry) instrument, which many engineers use. The latter is an extremely powerful tool for fully quantifying cable-assembly specifications, or finding impedance bumps and discontinuities, but it can be too much of a good thing in terms of amount of data it offers, or basics such as weight, convenience, or cost.
Testing and integrity issues don’t end with copper, either. The increased use of optical interconnects for links of all lengths means that there’s a need to quickly and effectively evaluate a single optical link or a rack with many of them.
Tomi Engdahl says:
BER test method uses real data
http://www.edn.com/design/test-and-measurement/4438716/BER-test-method-uses-real-data?_mc=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_today_20150226&cid=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_today_20150226&elq=c7fe12f9396c4117a05f4830469c70b5&elqCampaignId=21825&elqaid=24506&elqat=1&elqTrackId=6eeb4ff981cc43429d8e391ad594ca39
Today’s methods for BER (bit-error-rate) testing of high-speed serial links such as PCIe and SATA rely on predetermined patterns that don’t represent real-world situations. These patterns use a defined amount of jitter sent through a precise channel from a DUT’s transmitter to its receiver; the DUT runs in a loopback state. Obtaining a valid BER measurement requires at least a trillion bits. The BER measurement is difficult to perform because of the test equipment needed and the setup to properly run the test.
A different method, developed at the UNH-IOL, uses real-world data. While more work needs to be done, the test method proposed here shows promise for using real-world data for testing digital communications systems such as PCIe and SATA. The advantage of the UNH-IOL-developed method is that it uses readily available equipment without the need for a pattern generator or BERT (bit-error-rate tester). It also eliminates the need for loopback testing and manually aligning clock domains.
Engineers perform BER testing to guarantee with some certainty that a DUT will have a known BER when put in a real system. Having a higher BER means the SNR (signal-to-noise ratio) is higher and by Shannon Capacity Law, this means the system capacity goes down.
All serial-communication links have jitter, which affects BER. A stressed receiver eye test is the main way to establish a BER associated with some amount of jitter.
The jitter added to the system shrinks the openings in an eye diagram, thus creating the stressed eye at the receiver.
Different mathematical models decompose jitter in different ways.
CRC codes are used as a check to see if data was corrupted in transmission.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Now The Internet Belongs To Us — And To Politics
http://www.buzzfeed.com/mathonan/now-the-internet-belongs-to-us-and-to-politics#.efBJXAYN
Thursday’s net neutrality ruling was a victory for consumers. It also ushers in a new age for the mainstream politics of the internet.
Net neutrality won. The internet is ours! We’ve taken it! Stolen it back from the people who, well, provide it to us at a pretty reasonable rate, truth be told. The entire library of human everything delivered right to your doorstep for a mere $20 to $50 or so a month, depending on how fast it is that you want that everything. Now that the FCC has voted to enshrine net neutrality, there is nothing left standing between you and the great unlimited gush of audio and video bits and packets slip-sliding right into your Sonos at democratically arrived-at speeds, unencumbered by fast or slow lanes. It means that your startup porn comes right to you with the same speed as your well-established, big business, legacy pornography. Let the binge-watching bonanza begin, this is America!
And yet, it still could serve as a political bludgeon. An example of the way President Obama overreaches
Net neutrality’s next chapter: How experts saw today’s milestone and next steps
https://gigaom.com/2015/02/26/net-neutralitys-next-chapter-how-experts-saw-todays-milestone-and-next-steps/
Let’s start with Stanford legal scholar Barbara van Schewick, who had written an excellent analysis about the upcoming rules. (You should seriously go read it.) She is optimistic about the chances that the FCC will prevail in court once one of the ISPs or affiliated organizations such as the National Telecommunications and Cable Association decides to sue.
Tomi Engdahl says:
FCC overrules state laws to help cities build out municipal broadband
3-2 vote gives local broadband an important victory
http://www.theverge.com/2015/2/26/8114205/fcc-decision-municipal-broadband-internet
Before it tackles net neutrality, the FCC is setting a major precedent for municipal broadband: it’s just voted to preempt state laws that were preventing two cities from building out their own locally run broadband networks.
the FCC’s 3-2 vote will serve as a landmark moment that other communities will point to as they try to compete against commercial ISPs and knock down those deeply restrictive state laws. “There are a few irrefutable truths about broadband,” said FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler ahead of the vote. “One is you can’t say you’re for broadband, and then turn around and endorse limits.” The commission has decided that Tennessee and North Carolina are needlessly preventing the “reasonable and timely deployment of high-speed internet access to all Americans,” a senior FCC official said during a press call a few weeks ago. It’s not hard to see the exact same logic being applied elsewhere when other petitions are brought forward.
If you’re wondering where the FCC gets power to make these decisions, it’s claiming that states are getting in the way of its authority — granted under Section 706 of the Telecommunications Act — to promote the deployment of broadband across the US.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Check out our HOT AIR INTERFACE for 5G – Huawei
“Please sir, pick my standards sir!” begs Chinese tech giant
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/02/27/how_hot_is_our_air_asks_huawei/
ockeying for position in the yet-to-be-real 5G market continues, with Huawei announcing that it’s going to demo a new air interface at Mobile World Congress in March.
The Chinese giant will be showing off techniques it calls Sparse Code Multiple Access (SCMA) and Filtered-Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (F-OFDM).
In a canned release, the company says it has “proved that the new air interface design can effectively improve spectral efficiency, increase connectivity, and reduce latency, thus facilitating the deployment of customised scenarios applied to the Internet of Things (IoT) and for high bandwidth-consuming scenarios such as virtual reality.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Dark Fibre: Reg man plunges into London’s sewers to see how pipe is laid
We’ll let him back in the office at some point
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/01/26/feature_zayo_fibre_network_in_london_sewers/
It’s not every day you get invited to descend into bowels of London’s waterways but here was an opportunity to see just how this Zayo’s latest assets pan out with a visit to the Thames Water Wick Lane Depot in Bow, East London.
Mindful of commercial sensitivity, Matt Adams, Network Engineering Manager at Zayo declined to give an exact figure on the capacity, stating instead that it was “a very high fibre count”. Looking at the diameter of the cabling, ducts of this size can accommodate 432, 864 fibres and then some, so we could well be looking at these numbers four times over at Wick Lane.
What sort of throughput you get is really down to the client. Zayo claims to be the UK’s only Open Access Network provider, where clients can lease fibre and light it themselves using whatever transmission technology is out there to get the speeds they want of say, 10, 40 or 100Gbps and beyond.
Alternatively, Zayo can provide end-to-end managed services. Either way, this communications infrastructure is out of sight and out of range from the potential disruption of some utility service severing a vital communications link with some misdirected digging. Needless to say, Zayo plays on this as a boon to security.
If you want to be old school about cabling, then the National Joint Utilities Group (NJUG) offers best practice for digging up the road
Although Zayo also relies on conventional trench digging where necessary to get the job done, when it comes to using London’s sewer network, you’re not going to find a cable poking up in the loo of a data centre when it reaches its destination. From the break out chamber you might be lucky enough to have a trench of only 3-4metres to get to the building.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Data centre hunger gives Ethernet switch market a boost
Market getting ready for 25/50 Gbps
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/01/21/data_centre_hunger_gives_ethernet_switch_market_a_boost/
Market research outfit Infonetics reckons the data centre Ethernet market is set for a shake-up as 25 Gbps and 50 Gbps drive the migration from 10 Gbps products.
Reporting on third quarter sales from 2014, the company’s Data Center Network Equipment report says with Broadcom set to ship its 25G and 50G silicon, it’s vendors are pushing ahead with product development ahead of IEEE standardisation.
Data centre, cloud and SDN directing analyst Cliff Grossner says the emerging technologies will revise data centre architectures for “large cloud service provivders looking to migrate from 10 Gbps Ethernet switching and server connectivity to 100GE switching and 25GE server connectivity”.
The 25/50 Gbps Ethernet development effort started in earnest last July when Google, Broadom, Arista and others established a consortium to drive the standardisation.
The IEEE soon followed with a study group to work on MAC layer specifications.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Internet Under Fire Gets New Manifesto
https://medium.com/backchannel/internet-under-fire-gets-new-manifests-207a922b459e